The Wrestling Press July 11 by Greg Kelly

THE WRESTLING PRESS ISSuE 16 July 2011 FRONT COVER Courtesy TNA Wrestling

EDITOR & ADVERTISING Darren Wood dtwooduk@hotmail.com

ONLINE EDITOR David Schmida dschmida@hotmail.com

DESIGN & LAYOuT Greg Johnson ed@thewrestlingpress.com

The Wrestling Press is an independent publication and is in no way endorsed by WWE, TNA or UFC. The views expressed by the writers do not necessarily represent the views of The Wrestling Press. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher. © Riot! Promotions 2011

Message from the Editor

irstly, I need to issue an apology. You see, we were scheduled to have an interview with former WWE and UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar. However, as you may or may not know that he has recently undergone surgery to help battle his problems with diverticulitis. Therefore, unfortunately Lesnar was not well enough to conduct the proposed interview. At the virtual offices of TWP, we have searched high and low, across the globe to find you, the valued and loyal reader of this great publication an interview that is more than fitting to fill the void that has been left. It is with great pleasure that we at TWP are proud to announce that in this very issue, we have an interview with the only Olympic Gold Medalist in the history of professional wrestling Kurt Angle. We hope you enjoy. In other news, the last couple of months have been an exciting time for us all here at TWP Towers, recently we launched the TWP Youtube channel, which will feature interview highlights, event and DVD trailers plus preview videos of the coming issue of TWP. Check it out at http://www.youtube.com/user/TheWrestlingPress It’s about time I announce the winner of our ROH DVD competition, the lucky person who will be taking home the 3 great titles we had on offer this month is Mike McGrath-Bryan. Well done those prizes will be winging their way to you shortly. This month we will be running two separate competitions for two great wrestling DVD’s. In our first fantastic giveaway we will be offering a signed copy of the best of Adam Cole (see page 95), the Indy star who was recently named PWI rookie of the year, has been tearing up the independent scene in the US having quality contests in promotions such as Ring of Honor, CHIKARA and Combat Zone Wrestling. Our next amazing giveaway is a signed copy of superb Scottish wrestler Lionheart (see page 43), who has his own exclusive column here in TWP. The current 1 Pro Wrestling Heavyweight Champion will be offering a signed copy of his new DVD, the best of Lionheart. Be sure to enter both of those great competitions and I will be announcing the winner of these two giveaways in next month’s edition of TWP Magazine.

DARREN WOOD (Magazine Editor) – dtwooduk@hotmail.com

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CONTENTS

July 2011

4 INTERvIEW WITH KURT aNGLE

60 THIs mONTH IN WREsTLING HIsTORy

Maximum Impact in the UK

Raven vs Dreamer

9 aLTERNaTIvE aNGLE

62 caN sINcLaIR bRING ‘WREsTLING’ bacK TO Tv

‘What if’ Kurt rejoined WWE

13 LIFE aFTER WWE Why it’s not the end of the world

18 dIvas IN dIsTREss Lack of wrestling talent

22 LaNcE sTORm INTERvIEW World of Hurt!

26 Is THERE LIFE aFTER THE mIz? What does the future hold for Alex Riley?

32 REmEmbERING THE yEaR THaT cHaNGEd EvERyTHING! Fifteen years on

36 a cyNIcaL mINd Tote that barge...

38 THE ULTImaTE dRaFT Andrew Dixon’s draft picks for 2011

43 LIONHEaRT cOmp Win a signed DVD

ROH tv deal

66 THE Ippv EFFEcT ON INdy WREsTLING Part Three – AAW Wrestling

68 THE INTEGRaTION OF INTERNaTIONaL WREsTLERs INTO dRaGON GaTE Part Two – PAC

70 LEROy KINcaIdE Top UK talent speaks to TWP

76 EUROpEaN NavIGaTION Two NOAH UK show reviews

82 LIONHEaRT cOLUmN The art of selling

84 sTaRbUcK cOLUmN Getting into the wrestling business

90 aLpHa FEmaLE cOLUmN On the road!

92 REvIEWs

Jimmy Garvin

49 THE ROad TO ROyaLTy

95 adam cOLE cOmpETITION

Keiji Mutoh is blessed!

46 WHERE aRE THEy NOW?

History of King of the Ring

55 TNa REbRaNd So that’s a No then....

update WITH davId scHmIda

WrestleMania XVII Brock Lesnar’s Book Turning Point / Final Resolution Adam Cole in CZW / The Rise Lionheart PBW Maximum Impact 4

44 THE WREsTLING pRIEsT

Web

Six month ago I was assigned with the task of developing and extending the website’s content. It was one hell of a ride and I want to thank everyone involved, especially our readers, for making that ride so enjoyable. Talking about extending the content: Just recently we featured a report of a big and very well received event including Kevin Nash in the Netherlands. While the country may not be known as a glooming wrestling market, the report is a perfect example for the broad variety of wrestling related subjects TWP offers. Currently we’re working on adding regular Ring Of Honor updates. Therefore, stay tuned for the things to come!

Win a signed DVD

98 THE WOLFE pIT Randy Savage

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KuRT ANGLE INTERvIEW

Conducted by PHIL ALLELY Photos by TNA WRESTLING

NA’s Kurt Angle recently visited the UK for a fan interaction event, hyping up the upcoming Maximum Impact tour next January. He also took some time out of his busy schedule to chat to TWP’s Phil Allely about his past, his future, dreams, aspirations and much more.

Due to various reasons it has been two years since you were able to perform in the ring in front of fans in the UK. How do you feel about touring to the UK and what does it mean to you? “You know everyone has been so great to me here, the media stuff is going real well, I’ve had two days so far and I’m still pumped up doing it. The Maximum Impact tour is really selling out, its popularity is great, even more so than our previous tours, it’s looking like sell-outs all round. Stings return to the UK is a huge thing, with guys like him and I on the card it’s gearing up to be an awesome tour.” The announcement that current TNA Heavyweight Champion Sting will headline the tour has caused no end of

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added publicity for this upcoming series of live shows. It has been over a decade since The Stinger set foot in a UK ring. What are your thoughts on Sting headlining the tour and how big of a deal is it for TNA to have him appear in the UK? “Having a guy like Sting spearhead this tour is a big deal all round. I was so pleased to hear him mentioned for the shows. You know he never did tour much and it has been over a decade since he was here. So this is major news and I’m especially happy as I get to join him on this one. I’d love to face him on the shows, in fact it would make perfect sense to do just that. Us headlining would be the icing on the cake, he is one of the top guys of all time and he’s in the best shape he has been in years, both of us at our peak physically would be intense. Yeah I’m hoping that’s the case, though we do have so much talent here in TNA, the guys will be fighting to get a post on this tour. We intend to bring the best over here and put on the quality of shows you become used to.” After missing the tour this past January, are you eager to get back in the ring on UK soil and show fans why you are still at the top of your game? “You know last tour I’d just got here when I had to leave. My fiancé had complications with the birth of our daughter, luckily all was ok

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and we are a wonderful family now. The fans and TNA management were very sympathetic and everyone understood my missing the shows. So this time around I’m determined to show the loyal fans a wrestler at the top of his game. The UK has a special place in our hearts, we love coming here and they are by far our favourite fans. There’s always a good crowd, they are very vocal, smart fans even and they know the story and follow us into it. They are loud, have fun and when you have a live crowd like that it rubs off on us in the ring. They go with the program, you know realising the good guy/bad guy roles and I’d go as far as to say they are old fashioned and honest wrestling fans.” You have been embroiled in a long and heated rivalry with Jeff Jarrett and his real wife [your ex-wife] Karen Jarrett. What would you like to see happen after this feud is over, do you have aspirations to hold the TNA World Heavyweight Title one last time? “Well I believe that once I beat Jeff Jarrett once and for all at Slammiversary , that will finish our thing. Then I really think it could be me and Sting facing off for the title. Which is why I believe it could be us for the gold on the maximum Impact Tour in January. He has to of course overcome Mr Anderson, wis a great wrestler. He has the style, talent, charisma and ability to beat

Sting, so the champ will have to work hard. But Sting is on top of his game right now. I think it will be him and I next.” Most wrestlers are happy if they can have one or two big matches under their belts to make their own personal highlight reel, when their in-ring career ends. Not everyone can have the long list of top matches in various promotions to choose form like you do. What do you class as your standout moment in the squared circle? “Gee that’s a tough one. I’ve had a lot of good matches over the years. I enjoyed my one with Mr Anderson in the cage, Jeff Hardy was fun too. My favourite right now has to be my fights with AJ Styles, we have a real chemistry, our matches have been unbelievable. They are among my favourites of all time. I’d go as far as to say as to say that they have been even

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better than my WrestleMania match with Shawn Michaels.” According to rumours you are beginning to wind down your in-ring career and you hope to work a lighter schedule for the remainder of your TNA years. Do you have an idea of what you’d like to do when you eventually hang up your boots? “Well I’ve just signed a new three year contract with TNA, it will allow me a lighter schedule though, more time to be with my family and still be wrestling. What I’d really like to be able to do now and with my reduced schedule is to be able to help other wrestlers. You know give the next generation support and advice. You know a way of preparing the company for the coming years, as older guys move on and even retire. To give something back to the business and company who have done so much for me”.

Of course one big thing in the future for you is your bid to one again grace the Olympics as a member of the US wrestling team. What training are you undertaking for this and what challenges do you see yourself facing? “I started training two months ago for the Olympics, TNA are fully behind me with this and I’ll be able to do it at my speed and by my rules. A while back I was hoping to get into MMA and it just never worked out. The money was good and I did try, but it just never worked out, it all boiled down to start dates. With the Olympics it’s just like something clicked inside me, my competitive spirit returned, I’m more focused than ever. There are guys who say yeah Kurt Angle is all talk, he said he’d do MMA and didn’t so he’ll do the same with the Olympics. That’s not true, it never was a case of I never wanted to do it (MMA), it just wasn’t possible. This time the Olympic training is down to me, this stuff comes easy to me. It’s what I am used to.

“

It may be 16 years since I won the Gold medal, but this is on my terms. I know I’m up against some world class wrestlers, but I’ll make the team. You’ll see me at London 2012, once I make the team I’ll concentrate on getting another medal.”

You have recently been branching out into the world of acting, many fellow wrestlers have been able to jump to the acting world with ease and carve successful careers for themselves. How is the acting going and what’s in the pipeline for you? “I actually made five movies last year. I’ve done three this year to date; I have an MMA themed one planned soon too. They sit well alongside wrestling to TNA, interestingly my original plan was to act and then I got the wrestling bug and never looked back. Wrestling has given me the opportunity to perform in front of the camera, work to a live audience and read dialogue or work off the cuff. I think that’s why many wrestlers can be

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great actors; we have already gained the experience and training without realising it”’.

Over the past few months the WWE have been distancing themselves from the term wrestling, whereas TNA have opted to embrace it. Changing the name of their TV show to Impact Wrestling and stating ‘We are Wrestling’, even going as far as to filming videos of key wrestlers explaining ‘Why Wrestling Matters’. What is your opinion on WWE publically stepping away from wrestling and TNA embracing it?

we are a wrestling company. This development is a stepping stone for us as a company. You see that’s their (WWE) thing, they have their movies, music, TV programmes and other ventures on the go, so they want to try to distance themselves. Yet the irony is shows like Tough Enough are in fact about wrestling and TV shows, movies etc. get publicity because of the wrestlers involved. Them (WWE) doing this just helps us out even more, we are wrestling and always will be”. With wrestlers jumping ship with relative ease from company to company these days and trends moving so quickly. The chances of a big name WWE star coming to TNA has greatly increased. Recent years have seen names like Mick Foley, Christian, Hulk Hogan, Booker T, Kevin Nash and others make the trip. Given a free reign which active WWE star would you like to see make the jump? “Great question, I’ll be honest I’ve two guys I’d love to see here (TNA). Rey Mysterio is a real talent and I’d love to see him round off his career here. He still has so much to give and we could let him do that. The other guy is Randy Orton (although I believe he has just signed a new 10 year deal). Those guys would be great here and we’d see they got to shine.

“

Personally I’d enjoy being able to go around the ring against Randy and see Rey teach the X Division a thing or two. They’d be great here and compliment our already talented roster.

n Contact Phil at philallely@hotmail.com

“It’s a gigantic mistake [on WWE’s part]; you can’t take wrestling out of wrestling. If you are in this business and you have an issue, it ultimately comes down to wrestling. TNA are indeed wrestling, wrestling matters to us and

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Kurt Angle comes to the UK next January as part of TNA’s Maximum Impact Tour. Check out www.tnawrestling.com for more details.

“I am NOT going anywhere else. A lot of my fans have been asking ‘When are you going back to WWE?’, but I will end my career here in TNA” Kurt Angle, The Sun UK, March 2011

e v i t a Alern Angle Words

JAMIE KENNEDY Photos

TONY KNOX

TNA WRESTLING

restlingpress.com

hannelling the inner-strength, drive and natural athleticism which led to an Olympic Gold Medal, Kurt Angle took to professional wrestling like a duck to water. Within one calendar year of being in WWE, the native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania had become one of the biggest stars in the entire company, surprising everyone (apart from those who knew him) with his rapid rise up the ladder between late-1999 and the closing of the year 2000. Taking to the entertainment side of the industry just as well as the physical side, Angle was lauded by fans and company officials alike as a future legend and someone truly capable of having a good match with almost everyone on the promotions payroll. Building his portfolio with WWE, the only true Olympic Gold Medallist in the pro wrestling game now plies his trade for TNA/Impact Wrestling in Orlando, Florida. Even so, the topic which has dominated Angleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s career for the past 3 or 4 years has been whether or not he would ever return to WWE.

ÂŠ TONY KNOX

In 2006, the gruelling road-schedule employed by Vince McMahonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s multi-million dollar

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wrestling institution was beginning to wear on Kurt Angle. Having battled through serious neck-injuries for a number of years, Angle decided to take the plunge and seek his release from the #1 company in all of professional wrestling (or sports entertainment if you will). Moving across the country to join TNA wrestling was big news at the time and was seen as something which could feasibly elevate the fledgling promotion up a notch in the eyes of many. Capturing an exWWE star who had a lot left to offer, was a huge coup for the Orlando outfit and they immediately booked Angle as one of their top stars from the get-go. Many news sources within the world of pro wrestling have theorised about the reasons why Angle left his high-paying, comfortable position at the top of WWE cards and decided to move on to an unproven commodity. It’s clear that a lighter working schedule played a big factor in any decision made and there may also have been a degree of desire in wanting to try something a little different outside the walls of “New York”. Perhaps the much-vaunted “backstage politics” were weighing heavy on his mind and he simply had enough of it. It’s unclear if TNA (certainly in 2006) could offer Angle a comparable amount of money to wrestle for them on a limited basis as compared to his WWE salary, which could lead some

to believe that a multitude of reasons were at play in his decision. TNA does indeed offer Angle a lighter schedule but at the moment they can’t compete with WWE in terms of contracted performer’s being perceived as huge stars. Arguably, the company have taken several high-profile exWWE employees and turned them into lesser names in the pro wrestling world. Men and women such as Mick Foley, Jeff Hardy and Mickie James are nowhere near the level they were at during their WWE tenure, and this has a lot to do with the differences in brand awareness being offered by each respective promotion. Simply put, and to expand on the differences in brand awareness between the companies, we need only look at the vast comparison between both television and Pay-PerView ratings between each promotion. Taking into account that TNA are on a channel unavailable to a lot of homes in the United States, it’s fair to say that their PPV broadcasts are available in more than the 10,000-40,000 homes in which orders are reported to be placed. Worryingly, reported numbers don’t seem to fluctuate much (if at all) when names such as Jeff Hardy, Kurt Angle or even Mick Foley are on the show. The Wrestling Observer stated that the Bound For Glory PPV in 2009 (not featuring Jeff Hardy – who had only months

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earlier been a top-liner in WWE) drew around 30,000-40,000 final buys. The same show one year later, Bound For Glory 2010 (featuring Hardy) pulled in approximately 39,000 buys. It’s instances such as this which indicate a problem with the entire company, not specifically individual performer’s. Indeed the TNA/Impact Wrestling name may just not be out there enough to turn heads or initiate significant fan interest on Pay-Per-View when compared to their rivals, WWE. Assuming Angle was to ever change his mind about a return to WWE, the plethora of fresh opponents and possible candidates for longterm feuds with his former employer is rather astronomical. The WWE roster in 2011 is a lot different to that of 2006, with a large number of younger members forcing their way into the bright lights of Monday and Friday evenings. Imagine the possibilities for a rivalry with a CM Punk, Kofi Kingston, Daniel Bryan, Sheamus or Cody Rhodes? Even ignoring all the older members of the roster with whom Angle has feuded with in the past, there are a ton of options ready to be purged. It’s important to note at this point that while the locker room is vastly different in modern times, so is the company-labelled, “WWE Universe”. Families eager to see their kids’ happy faces are the main target audience for WWE these days and it’s fair to say that many of them would not have been watching the product in 2006, the last time Angle graced WWE TV. Perhaps it would also not be stretching the truth to state that a number of these young fans do not or even are not allowed by their parent’s to watch TNA programming and therefore may not have any idea who this bald-headed man who twists the hell out of other wrestler’s ankles is. We need only look at the recent audience reaction to Brian “Grand Master Sexay” Christopher on a recent edition of Monday Night RAW to illustrate this point. Christopher, the son of Jerry “The King Lawler” and an immensely popular mid-card baby face at the turn of last century, was treated with complete apathy by the capacity crowd. Indeed, there truly was an air of “Who is he?” from the

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fans in attendance to the once-cheered star. In saying that, it’d be amiss not to report the obvious; Kurt Angle is a bigger star than Brian Christopher ever has or ever will be and has only been gone from WWE programming for around half the time of Christopher. Having such a rich initial tenure with WWE, the money-making capabilities are certainly there. The company would make a financial killing from a definitive DVD collection of Kurt Angle matches and footage, maybe even waiting to pull the trigger on the set until the man has been back in the company for a year or so (in a similar fashion to that of the recent Chris Jericho release). It’s hard to imagine that a significant portion of wrestling fans in their 20’s and 30’s wouldn’t stump up to own a copy of this DVD. Critically, we must assess what the man himself is actually saying – he doesn’t see himself going back to WWE. Angle may well be happy in TNA/Impact Wrestling and doesn’t see the need to re-tread on old ground yet again for the benefit of a big payoff or the pop of the big crowds. After all, the master of the ankle lock submission is getting good (if not as good as WWE) money in TNA, has a much lighter workload and sees himself doing a lot less travelling, which is likely to wear anyone down as they get a bit older. There’s an argument to be made that Kurt could only last another year or 2 at a top-level in WWE, whereas he could be a top star for as long as he wants to be in TNA. Angle must look at his peer’s, Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker however and see them outlasting their own and everyone else’s expectations by continuing to perform at a highlevel on the grand stage for so long. Both men have prolonged injury-ravaged careers by taking a lot of time off to heal wounds and picking their big matches and feuds carefully. There is little to no reason why Kurt Angle cannot join them, ending his career on the highest note possible – performing in the company in which he made his name, at events such as WrestleMania. n Contact Jamie at jamiekennedy@live.com

Words MATT WATERS Photos TNAWRESTLING.COM

Life After WWe Why being released from WWE is not the end of the world

hen Hulk Hogan left the World Wrestling Federation 18 years ago and joined then arch rivals World Championship Wrestling it was one of the most important moments in the history of the wrestling industry, with Hogan becoming WCW’s longest reigning world champion and later cofounding the New World Order. The nWo were the group directly responsible for WCW spending the better part of two years on top of the ratings war against the WWF. However, nowadays whenever a wrestler departs World Wrestling Entertainment for any other wrestling promotion they seem to find a rather ugly label attached to them: ‘WWE Reject’. In this new era where the masses’ support of professional wrestling has died down and

the passionate, core fan base have taken to the Internet, labelling wrestlers as WWE Rejects has become the ‘popular’ thing to do, regardless of whether said wrestler leave off their own volition or are handed their termination papers by Vince McMahon. Calling a wrestler who is fired a reject is at least somewhat understandable, but even the likes of a Jeff Hardy – who chose to walk away from the WWE for the second time in his career in 2009 – have found themselves called WWE Rejects by a portion of the Internet Wrestling Community. Yet when Kevin Nash and Scott Hall left and were terminated from the WWF respectively in 1996, they joined WCW in equal standing and to this day are remembered for their work in Hogan’s nWo faction. Why is this?

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One possible reason is the level of kayfabe that could be maintained in years past compared to now. In this era of the Internet, behind the scenes gossip runs amok, with seemingly every detail of a wrestler’s departure from a company made public. 15 years ago only the smallest fraction of the wrestling audience was aware of such industry ins and outs. If we possessed the level of detail we do today back then, would we have ridiculed those wrestlers that were given their marching orders? The answer is probably not. The second reason has to do with the fact that no matter how much Total Nonstop Action Wrestling has grown over the better part of a decade; it will struggle to match the prestige of WCW in its prime. Despite many jokes about TNA resembling WCW in its dying days, the two companies aren’t even close in terms of size, monetary value and viewership, whereas the modern WWE has eclipsed all other companies when it comes to dominance of the wrestling market. Moving from one company to another when the two are on nearly equal footing and moving from the undisputed top dog to a far lesser promotion are very different things. A combination of these two factors, alongside a general perception of obnoxiousness among the die-hard Internet fan base have led to the rise of

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the term ‘WWE Reject’. But is there any credence to it? Should the WWE be the be all and end all of the wrestling industry?

elected to sign with the WWE after WCW closed operations in 2001, serving as one of TNA’s biggest boons since 2003.

Is a wrestler being let go by the WWE the end of their respectability?

But Sting is 52 years of age, and his dynasty was built when the wrestling business was at its most popular, not during his stint with TNA. The list of active wrestlers who have never worked for the WWE is a long one, but Sting may be the only one on it who can be considered a true superstar. Perhaps cases can be made for the likes of AJ Styles or Samoa Joe, but Sting was and may still be a household name. Still, while Sting and a handful of others have proved you don’t need to be in the WWE to be considered a successful professional wrestler, it’s those performers who were once a part of the WWE family that find themselves the object of ridicule from a portion of the wrestling audience.

When it comes to the former, Sting is the eternal shining light for those that don’t believe the WWE is everything, having never worked for the McMahon family and yet still enjoying his well earned moniker ‘The Icon’. Sting is without a doubt one of the most recognisable faces and respected names in the history of the wrestling business, and has built that reputation without the help of the WWE. Four times the winner of Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s Most Popular Wrestler of the Year award, Sting built his legacy through the NWA and WCW, and to the surprise of many, never

The list of names is quite honestly endless and includes the likes of Scott Steiner, Mr. Kennedy, The Dudley Boyz, Matt Hardy, MVP, and even TNA founder Jeff Jarrett to name but a few labelled as WWE Rejects. In fact, a popular opinion of TNA is that it is little more than a collection of former WWE talent, and washed up legends past their prime. But what do people expect a released wrestler to do? Retire? Try their hand at a new career? No. When a

released by the company in early 2007, Burke spent several months as part of the New Breed, and the rest of the year competing as a singles wrestler, challenging for the ECW Title. Soon however Burke found himself without much to do, appearing sporadically in multi-man matches and being taken off television altogether before his release in late 2008.

professional athlete is let go by one team they sign with another. When a programmer leaves Microsoft they go to another software developer. Are these individuals heckled as rejects? No. This process is simply accepted as a part of life. So why is that wrestling fans feel the need to belittle a talent for being fired, especially considering how many wrestlers are hired and fired by the corporate juggernaut that is the WWE on an annual basis. In many ways fans have even less right to mock a wrestler than other sportsmen and women, as the majority of releases by sports clubs are because that organisation don’t believe the individual is talented enough to keep on board. While the same can be said for a lot of wrestling releases, there are other factors at play such as backstage politics, aesthetic preferences of management, and poor utilisation of the individual in the first place. Take Elijah Burke for example. Though considered good enough to be on the main roster, his decline of a position in the Spirit Squad caused him to spend additional time in the OVW developmental territory, eventually debuting as the manager of Sylvester Terkay on Smackdown and later ECW. After Terkay was

From the moment Burke debuted in TNA as ‘The Pope’ D’Angelo Dinero he was the target of numerous WWE Reject accusations, especially as he rose from a mid-card wrestler to world championship contender during his first six months with the company. But Dinero has now spent more time on television with TNA than he ever did with the WWE, has enjoyed tremendous popularity when a babyface, and arguably has merely been given the chance to demonstrate his worth, a chance the WWE never really gave him.

“

And this is indicative of the greater problem: the WWE is a massive corporation desperate to find the next big thing, so much so that they have more than 130 wrestlers under contract at any one time, and not even close to enough hours of television to accommodate them all. With the known favourites dominating the time and attention of management, there is simply no way that everybody is going to get a fair shake.

Damien Sandow is a prime illustration: after signing with the WWE in 2001 he debuted on Smackdown in 2006 as Idol Stevens, half of the Teacher’s Pets tag team managed by Michelle McCool. Three months later he was off television but still under contract for a further year before being released. Last year he was re-signed and is still competing in FCW. It is entirely unclear why management have kept him on the payroll for nearly ten years without any kind of clear-cut plans for him. So it stands to reason that being signed by the WWE and being properly utilised by the WWE

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are two entirely different things (ask Colt Cabana if you have any doubts), and for this reason more than any other, a lot of wrestlers are going to find themselves cut for budgetary reasons. But rather than pack up their gear and go home, they have a chance to appear on television every week, make a decent living, and entertain millions of wrestling fans by signing with the likes of TNA, who see something in them and want to

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show the world what the WWE may have missed. And that isn’t just true for the likes of TNA; according to Samoa Joe & CM Punk’s Straight Shootin’ DVD the top level independent wrestlers make as much if not more than WWE developmental wrestlers.

money? For all anyone knows any number of former WWE employees could resign with the company tomorrow and main event Wrestlemania; because in this crazy business that is professional wrestling, nothing is set in stone.

So at the end of the day, WWE Reject or not, who are the fans to judge the merits of a professional wrestler if they are enjoying what they do and making good

Lest we not forget WWE’s latest Hall of Fame inductee Shawn Michaels was fired by the company in 1987.. n Contact Matt at

matt_waters2@hotmail.com

www.thewrestlingpress.com

Words : MATT ROBERTS

Divas

in distress 18

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f you’ve been watching professional wrestling for the last 5 years you’ve probably seen WWE treating its women’s division awfully strange. At times it has received a great deal of attention from Stamford, Connecticut big wigs, when the division had such stars as Trish Stratus, Mickie James and Lita and to a lesser extent, the likes of Torrie Wilson, Candice Michelle and Christy Hemme. However looking at the current crop of diva’s on WWE’s books it’s not hard to notice that there are not a lot of talented girls with which to have good matches. And when your thinking in terms of money, which as a business they surely are, do the diva’s matches on Raw, Smackdown, Superstars, etc make for enough compelling viewing for you to dig into your pocket and produce the money to watch their matches on pay per view? I would probably guess that for a vast majority the answer is no. Then why doesn’t WWE invest in recruiting the top girls and trying to make their division as exciting as they possibly can. The reason, in a similar fashion to the non-existent tag teams, WWE doesn’t particularly care about the women very much anymore. The treatment of the divas is out there for everybody to see. Such an example was this year’s WrestleMania. Former 7 time Women’s Champion Trish Stratus made her return to team with John Morrison and Snooki (for those who don’t watch MTV she’s a start on their reality show Jersey Shore) against Lay-Cool and Dolph Ziggler. Looking at two of the youngest rising stars in the company in Morrison and Ziggler, you’d think the attention would be on them to showcase what they could do right? Erm, no. This match was designed to garner mainstream publicity from Snooki’s involvement (which it did, so goal achieved) and to publicise the return of

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Tough Enough which Trish Stratus was a trainer on. The match itself wasn’t very good largely because it wasn’t given enough time to develop. However the real story of the match was the friction between John Morrison and Trish Stratus. Or more accurately the friction Morrison held against Stratus. The story goes that Morrison’s girlfriend Melina was angry at Stratus for “taking her spot” of “one of the diva’s spot” on the biggest pay day show of the year.

at least a little bit interested in the return of Tough Enough. So Melina can hate it as much as she likes but on this night the company did right.

“

In relation to Melina’s complaint what “spot” exactly did Trish Stratus and Snooki take from the girls? If you look at the last few WrestleMania’s the last one to feature a women’s match with a good deal of build up and to be treated with respect was the aforementioned Trish Stratus vs. Mickie James at Wrestlemania 22 in 2006.

The storyline went along the lines of James was an obsessive Stratus fan who saved her from a beating on an episode of Monday Night Raw. A friendship grew between the two even though Stratus was always seemingly aware that Mickie was a little crazy, eventually blossomed into a lesbian fantasy by James. Kissing her on Raw and commenting on her boobs, this started to show a different side of James. Using some of Stratus’ own moves and adopting similar names to them like The Chick Kick which James called The Mick Kick was a nice touch. The slow burn feud simmered nicely until James turned heel at Saturday Night’s Main Event by giving Stratus the Mick Kick. This led to a one on one match at WrestleMania that year which Mickie, even though was the heel, was cheered by the crowd in Chicago.

You could argue that Melina has a fair point. After all some short reality star who’s famous for her promiscuity and drinking on a television show, who has no wrestling training just waltzes into the biggest wrestling show of the year is going to wind up some of if not most of the girls. The divas are the ones who go on the road 300 plus days a year and this is the thanks they get? But if you look at it again from a strictly business point of view the match was a success. As noted it garnered main stream publicity and probably got people

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Going over, James became women’s champion, albeit after an incredibly botched finish. As noted before this was one of the finest built matches on the show and I have no doubt that it actually added something to WrestleMania and more importantly, there were fans out there that were willing to pay to see that match. How many matches can you say that about in WWE today? To show you how poorly promoted the women’s matches at WrestleMania have been since then I just tried to remember the diva’s matches from 2006 onwards. I could name just one. And that was because I remembered the lights went out

in the middle of the match, I challenge you to do the same: go ahead I’ll wait right here. No haven’t got one? Didn’t think so. If you go back further than Trish Stratus’ reign in WWE you can see other diva’s that were huge stars in the company. I would be amiss if I wrote about past or present divas without mentioning Chyna. For those who don’t know Chyna was not just the most popular women’s wrestler on the roster but also one of the most popular wrestlers on the entire roster. She competed in the Royal Rumble being the first woman to do so (in a losing effort); she won the women’s championship and yes seriously the Intercontinental Championship. Even outside of wrestling Chyna posed for Playboy and her book If They Only Knew appeared on the New York Times bestsellers list. To put it shortly, Chyna was mass success during her time in WWE. To balance it out, it should be noted that more often than not she was a dreadful worker.

Recent appearance of ‘Chyna’ © TNA WRESTLING

However the novelty of her big power moves and often wrestling with men such as Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, Jeff Jarrett, etc made her an attraction that fans would pay to see. And that’s all that matters. People didn’t care that she had bad matches they still wanted to see her. Considering that Chyna was around during the biggest boom period in wrestling history and managed to not only stand out but to shine, speaks volumes of the fan support she held. Pick a diva on the current roster with the exception of Kharma and I can guarantee that even with a monster push, fans just won’t buy into them. The diva with the biggest push right now would probably have to be Kelly Kelly due to her association with Maxim’s hot 100 list and being placed at 82. Is she being pushed because of talent? Definitely not. I’ll be honest I like Kelly because I believe that she does work extremely hard and is trying to improve which is admirable and she should be commended for that. However it’s going to take a lot more to get her to the level where she can have consistently good-great matches every single night. My advice to WWE is to re-hire (Fit) Finlay. The former WWE employee worked with the divas, in particular Trish Stratus and Victoria to improve their game around 2001. Fast forward a few years later and there was a massive improvement in their work. Imagine if Finlay took all the diva’s on the roster and extensively worked with them to improve. The man has worked miracles before and I firmly believe if given the chance would do so again. To change the diva’s fortunes around and make the once respected division that once more, WWE needs to hire Finlay. Here’s hoping that they see sense and do so because everybody would benefit from it. The diva’s, the fans, and there could even be some money to be made from it. Which after all is the order of the day in business first and foremost isn’t it? n Contact Matt at matrob90@hotmail.com Twitter: @chroniclesoffry

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by cted u d n OOD Co EN W R R DA

E C N A L M R O T S INTERvIEW

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here are many reality TV shows currently popping up seemingly on every channel TV has to offer, America’s next top Model and Dancing with the Stars are just two of the most popular. Professional wrestling has also followed the reality TV show trend with WWE Tough Enough being re-incarnated this year, now a new reality TV show with a twist has appeared on TV screens in Canada. World of Hurt showcases 10 trainee wrestlers as they learn from Lance Storm at his world renowned Storm Wrestling Academy, however unlike most reality TV shows, which feature eliminations and prizes at the end, World of Hurt goes against that trend and instead of also showcasing amateur trainees hopeful to become professional wrestlers, this show takes already established workers and aims to enhance their skills in a finishing school environment. Lance Storm took the time to chat with TWP’s Darren Wood about his thoughts on the show compared to Tough Enough, how World of Hurt is different to other reality TV shows and how much creative input he had in the show overall. Thanks for taking the time to speak to us today, WWE recently brought back Tough Enough and it’s fair to say that your new TV show World of Hurt is a little bit different from that of WWE’s show could you just explain the concept and how it differs from what people are used to? World of Hurt is a little different to Tough Enough and your typical reality TV show, in that its not a contest and there’s no elimination. It’s more of a documentary style, they are competing against each other but there’s no prize, 10 people training with me, trying to up their game and get to the next level. There is drama of a reality TV show but there’s no tasks like being attacked by dogs or whatever like Tough Enough featured. It’s more focused on wrestling than that. Looking at Tough Enough and having tasks like you mentioned before happening, do

you think that’s hokey and does it have a place in a wrestling reality TV show? I don’t think it has a place in a wrestling show, but in a reality TV show then yes. It all depends what you want from your reality show. It can be entertaining but it’s not what we wanted to do for World of Hurt. Tough Enough takes people and introduces them to the world of professional wrestling whereas your show is more of a finishing school, what do you think will attract wrestling fans to watch this show and why was World of Hurt angled toward to more of a finishing school rather than taking people from scratch? We decided to take the finishing approach, because our show is only thirty minutes long, so in that sort of a span you can’t cover a lot in detail and we didn’t want to start with this is a headlock, this is an arm bar that sort of thing, showing all that stuff has been done in shows before. So we can more look at improving the trainees game and the show can move things along faster because things are already covered. What brought you to World of Hurt in the first place, did they come to you or were you actively looking for TV work? No they came to me. They approached me after I had helped on an episode of Man on a Mission. Basically that show involves a James Bond wannabe that in every episode tries to embark on some new exciting career. On one episode they wanted him to attempt to become a professional wrestler, so they came to my school and we shot the episode. They really liked working with me and I really liked working with them, so they approached me about possibly doing World of Hurt. Why do you feel the producers chose Storm academy and yourself? I think they always had the idea, but never found somewhere to do it or someone they could work well with. They said that I had a real good professional setup and was very

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professional to deal with. So since we got along well doing Man on a Mission it was just a natural progression to do World of Hurt. How much creative input did you have into how the show is presented when plans were starting up for World of Hurt? I had a fair amount of input at the beginning, I pretty much did the casting myself and we sat down and decided what the plans were and what visions for the show we had. Along each day of shooting I had input, but once shooting finished it was no longer in my hands. Editing and how they decided to put it all together afterwards was completely up to the production company but in the beginning I had a lot of say. How has it been working on World of Hurt? It was really tiring; TV makes for a long demanding day. When I originally agreed to do it, I had visions of going in doing a couple of hours of training a day and then they would put it all together in the production studio but when you’ve got all the interview segments, pre videos and then adding in the fact that they feel they don’t have the right camera angle for a shot, then it can make for a really long day. Much longer than I expected, but it was a lot of fun. One thing that is really unique about World of Hurt is each 30 minute episode focuses primarily on one trainee, why is the show

T-Bone shows Dylan Knight and Deryck Crosse he is a force to be reckoned with © WWW.WOHTV.COM

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formatted that way, do you think it offers a different dynamic to the show and what do you think the trainees can gain from basically being solely featured in one episode of the show?

“

It was their idea and to be honest I didn’t like it at first. I fought them on it for a while and in hindsight I think it does work. My fear originally was that each episode would be too stand alone for people to follow but now I think that it gives you a much closer look at someone and it makes you get a real good feel for that one person and helps you connect more with them.

Its only 30 minutes long do you think that is beneficial for the success of the show to be that length of time instead of an hour like Tough Enough? I think I like it being a half hour, I watched the first episode and immediately once it had ended I felt like I wanted to watch more, which is a great feeling at the end of a show rather than looking at your watch realising there’s still another ten minutes to go. Perhaps in some cases one hour is too much for a show I don’t like sitting through a show looking at my watch. While some say the 30 minute formula makes the show move along a lot faster, some have longed for the show to be an hour long episode citing that once ad breaks are taken and recaps from what happened before those breaks are shown, then after that there isn’t really much of the program left. Could World of Hurt be easily expanded to an hour format and is that something you think should or could happen in the future? You could expand the show to an hour but then you run the risk of twice as much subject matter being covered and twice as much shooting and it could be overkill of featuring one individual per show . I think it’s good to leave people wanting more, maybe they would still want more after an hour who knows.

There are a lot of different nationalities presented on this show, which really is proof that people will literally come from all over the world to be trained by you is that humbling for you? I was really surprised and flattered, it really is an extra bonus when running my school to get people come across the world because it gives me so many different personalities and styles to train which is pretty cool. Is the way you teach the trainees on the show an accurate representation of how you train up and coming wrestlers at your storm academy away from the cameras usually? A portion of it is, so most of what I teach in my regular classes you will see on the TV show. But some of the things in World of Hurt we wouldn’t actually teach until 3 or 4 weeks of a regular session, so it’s a pretty accurate representation. At the moment I believe the show is on the Cave network across Canada, could you tell us how well has it been received by TV audiences and will there be any chance of the TV show airing in different markets across the world. I don’t know from a viewership standpoint how it is going but feedback I have got has been positive. I do know that the production company is actively trying to market the show in other countries so hopefully it will eventually go to different parts of the world. I know there are preliminary talks for a season two, so there may be a second season, who knows. There’s been quite a bit of tension between Irena and fellow Aussie Dylan Knight, who constantly belittles her, do you think that drama side of the show if you will has helped at all in ushering more viewers to the show? I think its probably helped viewership if anything. When you look at reality TV shows they love drama and in fighting so its probably encouraged fans who like that style of show a

bit more. I would imagine when they edited the show, they tried to find as much of the drama aspect of the show as they could. If I had edited it there would have been less drama more wrestling. For casual fans I think the fighting and drama is fine. Having a more drama aspect didn’t disappoint me because I expected it, in thirty minute episodes you only have about twenty minutes of content, so you have to try and get personalities over and I think people relate to personalities and struggles so I knew those aspects were going to be focused on. If every episode were an hour then there could have been more wrestling than drama. Are some of the drama scenes shall we say over exaggerated for TV or are tensions running high? It’s hard to say because they are pro wrestlers, we didn’t purposely re-shoot anything and say ‘hey we want you to amp that up’ but when you’re a pro wrestler and they know the cameras are rolling then of course they expressed themselves more so than they normally would. Do you feel anyone was unfairly portrayed, or too much emphasis put on one aspect of who they are? I haven’t seen all the episodes yet, so I can’t really comment. But I do think Dylan Knight has been short changed on his actual ability. So far I have seen more drama and fighting from him than is a fair representation of him. Thanks very much for your time Lance, it’s been a pleasure speaking to you and I wish you every success in the future is there anything else you would like to add? I’m just going to keep going with Storm Wrestling Academy, that’s my primary focus and we shall also see what’s going to happen with World of Hurt season 2. Thanks everybody who has followed my career and keep checking the website www.stormwrestling.com n Contact:Darren at dtwooduk@hotmail.com

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IS THERE LIFE AFTER THE MIZ?

Words JOHN MILNER

Photos JOHN SMOLEK

What Does The Future Hold for Alex Riley?

ooking back, it was probably only a matter of time before the bro-mance between the Miz and Alex Riley came to an end. After all, every great partnership in pro wrestling has a limited shelf life. Whether it was Shawn Michaels and Diesel, Curt Hennig and Ric Flair or, ironically the Miz and John Morrison, every great duo eventually goes their separate ways.

And so, it should come as no surprise that the WWE decided to split up the team of the Miz and Alex Riley, shortly after the Miz lost the WWE Championship and several rematches to John Cena. In years past, the build-up to the split might have been months in coming, with tension building as losses and miscommunication building. In 2011, the Miz and Riley went from being a top force in WWE to on the outs in a matter of weeks. Above and beyond the knowledge that Miz and Riley wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t last forever, there were signs that their split would be coming sooner than later. In late February, Riley lost a steel cage match to Cena, forcing him, temporarily, out of WWE.

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In the end, however, the Miz decided to blame his failure to recapture the title at Over the Limit on Riley. After unleashing a verbal barrage against Riley, the Miz announced that he was firing his “VP of Corporate Communications”. Rather than going quietly into the night, Riley attacked his former boss. A week later, Riley was rehired by the Anonymous Raw General Manager, but his days in the Miz’s employ were over. Instead, the two former friends have begun to feud. In addition to battles on the WWE’s house show circuit, they were also signed for face off at the Capital Punishment pay-per-view. For now, a program against the Miz is a natural for Alex Riley, but certainly the two won’t battle forever, leading this writer to wonder… Is there life after the Miz for Alex Riley? There is reason to argue “Yes” and “No” as the ultimate answer to that question. When the Miz attacked John Morrison during the 2009 Draft episode of Raw, many believed it would be Morrison whose career would skyrocket. The Miz was

expected to be the next Marty Jannetty. Following the breakup of the Rockers, Jannetty could only find success in WWE when he returned to feud with former partner, Shawn Michaels, in which he snagged a short run as Intercontinental Champion. However, once his feud with Michaels ended, Jannetty’s tenure in WWE was very off-and-on, the highlight of which was a cup of coffee as one-half of WWF Tag Team Champions with the 1-2-3 Kid. But without Michaels as either his tag team partner or his enemy, Jannetty’s WWF career was effectively over. Even his brief appearances in WWE in recent years have always had ties to Michaels. When the Miz broke with Morrison, there were those who believed he would become the Marty Jannetty of the team. And while Morrison hasn’t be relegated to the Jannetty role either, certainly the Miz has proven that he didn’t need to be tied to Morrison to have success. But the question is, can Riley follow in the footsteps of his former mentor and prove himself without the Miz either in his corner or across the ring? When the tandem of Miz and Morrison split, the Miz had been drafted to Raw. Therefore, he was instantly forced to carve out his own niche, rather than have his link to Morrison continue as part of a partner-vs.-partner program. Rather than being

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Soon back as the Miz’s “VP of Corporate Communications”, Riley was later drafted to Smackdown. Again, the Miz pulled some strings to bring him back to Raw. Even when the Miz began to express dissatisfaction with Riley, the young protégé went into battle again against Cena, this time to prove himself.

involved in matches against Morrison, the Miz began a “feud” with Cena by calling him out at times when the Miz (and of course the audience) knew Cena couldn’t respond. It allowed the Miz to instantly go from being one-half of a tag team to developing his own character. This is exactly what Riley has to do in the coming weeks and months. Much like Miz did two years ago, he has to carve out his own niche in WWE and prove that he belongs in the big time without having the Miz somewhere around. Perhaps this is where a longer build to the Miz-Riley breakup would have benefited the latter. While Riley has been in professional wrestling since October 2007, it has only been a year since he showed up on NXT, and only on Raw since September. During his short time in WWE, he’s gone from being a competitor on NXT to being the guy who accompanies the Miz to the ring. In that sense, he’s not unlike a young Kevin Nash who, after competing in WCW as Vinnie Vegas and one-half of the Master Blasters, arrived in WWF as Shawn Michaels’ bodyguard, Diesel, in 1993. After nearly two years of solid partnership, Michaels and Diesel split during a World Tag Team title match at the 1994 Survivor Series. After Diesel won the WWF Championship just days after the split, he and Michaels feuded, leading up to a

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championship match at Wrestlemania XI. A day later, with Sycho Sid attacking Michaels, Diesel would reunite with Michaels. But despite teaming and feuding with Michaels several times in the years since, Nash also had a very successful career without Michaels in the picture. Much of the reason for that was, even as he teamed with Michaels, the groundwork was laid for his post-HBK career. In addition to a Tag Team Championship, Diesel/Nash also won the Intercontinental Championship. Riley doesn’t have that, going for him. In aiding the Miz, he also always took a back seat to him. There was no shocking Royal Rumble performance, no brief run with the I-C or U.S. title, Riley and Miz never even teamed to win the Tag titles. And so, Riley is left to go, in short order, from being Miz’s NXT protégé to being his lackey (no matter what fancy storyline title he was given) to being his opponent to… To what? In his first promo following his being fired, Riley told Michael Cole that it was the best thing that ever happened to him. But was it? Certainly, Riley has all the tools to be successful in WWE. He has a good look to him, and can cut a good promo. In that, he’s not unlike John Cena when he arrived on the WWE scene in 2002. Then, Cena got the rub from Kurt Angle, putting on a good showing in a loss to the former (future?) Olympian. It took a rapper gimmick, and ultimately some retooling of that gimmick to get Cena over to a point where it was decided he was worthy of being the top guy in the company.

But before Cena could become “Super Cena” or the WWE Champion, the WE Universe had to come to care about the man. And while a certain portion of the audience may boo Cena, the crowd certainly cares about him one way or the other.

“

And for Riley to be successful in WWE, he has to make the audience care about him…not just about his program with the Miz. He has to be seen as a credible contender to Cena’s title, he has to be seen as someone they will not just cheer for when he faces C.M. Punk or boo when he battles Rey Mysterio, Jr., because he’s in the ring against them, but because he’s made an emotional connection with the crowd, pro or con.

Place a face in the ring against a heel, and there will always be cheers for the face. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the face is over with the crowd, any more than boos for a heel mean the heel is over with them. The crowd needs to cheer for Alex Riley vs. C.M. Punk because he’s Alex Riley and the crowd wants to see him successful against Punk. Does the crowd care for Alex Riley when he’s not facing the Miz? The future remains unwritten for Alex Riley. He has a lot of work cut out for him if he expects to continue to find success in WWE once his program with Miz is done. While what he does vs. Miz may help him, it will be how the crowd responds to his next program that will determine his future. n Contact John at jmilnerresume@gmail.com

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Fifteen years on:

Words PHIL AUSTIN

Remembering the year that everything changed!

veryone has been talking about the ten year anniversary of the end of Nitro recently. Ten years ago, the landscape of wrestling changed, and Vince controlled both WCW and ECW. But as important as that year was, if you step back a few years earlier, there was another year that perhaps impacted the industry every bit as much as 2001. 1996 was a defining year in professional wrestling. Several major performers changed promotions throughout the year, and some of these changes brought about some performers began a rise to greatness. Feuds were born that would have a huge impact in the years to follow, and several seemingly minor events had a much longer lasting result than anyone at the time would expect.

Perhaps the easiest way to examine the defining moments of the year 1996 is to look at where several major players were at the beginning, middle and end of the year.

Kevin Nash and Scott Hall When Hall and Nash began the year, they were in the WWF as Razor Ramon and Diesel respectively. Ramon was beginning a feud with Goldust, a feud that cost him is Intercontinental title. Meanwhile Diesel was in the process of a heel turn, feuding with Bret Hart and then the Undertaker (a feud that would take him to Wrestlemania).

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Then everything changed. After a memorable Kliq ‘curtain call’ (more on that later), Kevin Nash and Scott Hall left the WWF, and joined WCW. Or more specifically, they DIDN’T join WCW. When Scott Hall walked into the middle of a Mauler v Steve Doll match (which, in hindsight, just screams ‘this match is getting interrupted by something!’), it was something different, but still didn’t really show any of what would follow. Even the introduction of Kevin Nash as Scott Hall’s cohort, as impactful as that was, didn’t quite give an indication of just how huge this would be. The first sign of just how huge this angle would be was at the Great American Bash. In that moment, when Nash and Hall powerbombed Eric Bischoff through the stage, fans sat up and realised that this was going to be something really big. It was the WCW equivalent of Austin stunning McMahon (more on that later), and would lead to the big question ‘Who will be the third man?’. And the introduction of that third man at the Bash of the Beach would be one of the biggest moments in WCW’s history. Which leads us to.....

Hulk Hogan When 1996 started, Hogan was a red-andyellow hero, feuding with the Four Horsemen and the Dungeon of Doom. Come the Bash at the Beach, things became remarkably different. Say what you want about Hogan, but he has been a master at reinventing himself at just the right moment over the years. His heel turn at the

Bash at the Beach was a major turning point not only for him, but for the company as a whole. A tremendous heel promo, followed by Tony Schiavone’s memorable “Hulk Hogan you can go to hell...straight to hell” closing line, this kicked off the NWO. If you have been living under a Rock (more on that later), the NWO angle was one of the most important in recent history. A major turning point that completely turned around WCW’s fortunes, the NWO kicked off a huge ratings period for WCW, beginning a period when wrestling became ‘cool’ again, and making WCW Nitro THE programme to watch for a long time to come. But it wouldn’t all go Nitro’s way (see also: 2001). For WWF had a few very important cards up its sleeves, even if it didn’t realise it.

Steve Austin After a stint in ECW in 1995, fans were keen to see Steve Austin enter the WWF. Less so when he debuted as ‘the Ringmaster’ in January of 1996. And the longer The Ringmaster was in the WWF, the less likely it seemed that Austin would be any sort of big-time player in the company. Two events would change this. Event number one was in May where, after a Caribbean strap match at In Your House against Savio Vega, Ted Dibiase was gone as Austin’s manager (Austin was also now known as ‘Stonecold Steve Austin’ which was another very significant change).

Horsemen’ in a promo, it was picked up on every bit as much as that phrase was. And it became the WWF’s dream phrase. Merchandise was sold by the bucketload, and the Austin push was inevitable. The build in 1996 lead to a match with Bret Hart at the Survivor Series where Hart, in the promo as well as in the ring, put Austin over as a bonafide great performer. And this would of course lead on to Austin getting a WWF title victory at the following year’s Wrestlemania, leading in turn to the beginning of the Austin/McMahon feud and one of the most successful times in the WWF’s history. Austin is a performer who still has a resonance with fans young and old, as witnessed by his return on Raw recently. A stellar competitor, Austin was one of the most important acquisitions that the WWF has ever gained. Another one was also joining them in 1996...

The Rock When the year began, no one really knew of Rocky Maivia. He first showed up in the USWA in 1996 under the name Flex Kavana, but it was at the Survivor Series that a young man named Rocky Maivia really made his first national showing.

But it was the second event that really made the difference. “Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ass”. An unscripted promo after a King of the Ring event (a win that was directly as a result of the first choice winner, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, participating in the unsanctioned ‘curtain call’ with the rest of his Kliq buddies at Madison Square Garden), it was the single most important promo in company history.

1996 was a fairly unremarkable year for young Rocky. A tassled, smiling competitor, he was still young and fairly new to the scene. Fans weren’t ready to get behind this star just yet. But his debut in the WWF lead to a heel turn that helped him develop a personality and charisma that would help him become one of the most successful and popular competitors of all time. And a mainstream media and movie star as well. Dwayne Johnson has, since 1996, become of the one most successful wrestlers of all times in mainstream movies, and many Rock fans know him more for his movie work than his pro wrestling.

As much of a throwaway comment as when Arn Anderson used the phrase ‘Four

Alongside Steve Austin, the Rock turned around the fortunes of the WWF over the next decade,

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and pushed wrestling back to the forefront of the public’s attention. But 1996 wasn’t all about the big guys....

fans watching, and helped the careers of several other performers to develop, such as Kidman, Chris Jericho and Eddy Guerrero.

Rey Mysterio

Nobuhiko Takada

When the year began, Rey Mysterio (alongside other performers such as Juventud Guerrera and Psicosis) were battling in AAA in Mexico. They were having your generally good-to-great lucha bouts, but outside of the Mexican audience and some tape trading Lucha fans, they weren’t really gaining much attention.Step forward ECW. Paul Heyman was always looking for a way to fill any gaps left by performers that had left in a way that would take what they had brought to ECW to the next level. When Eddy Guerrero, Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit left for WCW, it deprived ECW fans of the exciting in-ring competition that these guys had brought. Step forward the luchadores. Heyman brought in Psicosis, Juventud Guerrera, Konnan and La Parka to work on his shows. But more importantly, he brought in Rey Mysterio.

In 1996, Takada and his UWFi guys were firmly entrenched in their feud with New Japan. Takada even won the IWGP title on the January 1996 Tokyo Dome show. The UWFi v New Japan feud was the biggest moneymaking feud in Japanese pro wrestling history, and inspired several promoters who witnessed it to consider their own promotional ‘invasion’ angles. Including a man by the name of Eric Bischoff.

“

An instant hit, Mysterio’s acrobatic style was above and beyond anything American fans had witnessed before and his battles with Juventud Guerrera were particularly impressive. Many people’s eyes were opened to the Lucha Libre style when they saw Rey Mysterio-in particular those of Eric Bischoff.

Bischoff got the opportunity to see Mysterio (alongside other performers he would sign, such as Psicosis, Chris Jericho and Ultimo Dragon) at Antonio Inoki’s 1996 World Wrestling Peace Festival in Los Angeles. And he liked what he saw. Debuting at the 1996 Bash at the Beach (against Dean Malenko), Mysterio immediately became a big hit on WCW television and PPV, and was thrust into the Cruiserweight scene. Buoyed by the success of Mysterio, more luchadores entered WCW, and the success of the luchadores were as much a part of WCW’s success as the NWO and main event angles. They provided an exciting undercard that kept

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Mick Foley Of all the people to make a big impact in the WWF, Mick Foley was probably not one of those on the top of many people’s lists in 1996. At the beginning of the year, the idea that Mick Foley would head to McMahonland was appalling to his hardcore fans who were watching him play out his desire to join the WWF in his ECW heel turn. Foley was a performer who didn’t have the WWF look. He didn’t have the WWF in-ring style. He didn’t even have the traditional WWF promo style. But as Mankind, Mick Foley became a compelling new character on TV by the end of the year. He would go on to huge success as a performer, whether as Mankind, Cactus Jack, Dude Love or Mick Foley. You could even argue that Foley was every bit as much the big star in the WWF that Austin and Rock were.

Brian Pillman Brian Pillman was in full on ‘Loose Cannon’ mode in 1996. On WCW at the beginning of the year, in ECW throughout the middle of the year, and in the WWF by year’s end, Pillman took his wild, unpredictable style and was literally everywhere in 1996.

So Pillman wouldn’t go on to be a huge star like Austin or Rock, but let’s not belittle the ‘Loose Cannon’s’ importance to the pro wrestling scene in 1996. Pillman showed that wrestling gimmicks can be far more than just one dimensional personas, and the depth and pure psychological mastery of the gimmick meant that it pushed an envelope that had already been pushed. Wrestling characters no longer needed to be just a simple ‘one trick pony’, now they could be in depth, complex personas. And the ‘Loose Cannon’ phenomenon would influence many to create their own psychologically complex personas and angles.

Other events in 1996 that had an impact Dave ‘Fit’ Finlay debuted in WCW in 1996, beginning a memorable feud with Lord Steven Regal. Regal and Finlay would both go on to tremendous success in both WCW and the WWF, and Finlay would have a big hand in training the WWF Divas, including training one of the most successful Women’s wrestlers of the 2000s, Trish Stratus. Chris Jericho went from Smoky Mountain to ECW, and then to WCW in 1996. Jericho would become a huge WWF star, and mainstream media personality.

More than that, Pillman and Bischoff popularised a whole new phrase in the wrestling press. “Working the Boys”.

Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels At Wrestlemania in 1996, Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels had a memorable Iron Man match. After this match, Bret Hart would walk out following his loss to Shawn Michaels. Clearly their match had not concluded their feud. And yes, the Bret/Shawn feud would continue the following year. And we ALL know what the conclusion of that feud lead to! If you don’t, look up ‘WWF Montreal Screwjob’ on Google. That should jog a few memories.

Sunny WWF began to promote several videos featuring Sunny on its programmes. Sunny, AOL’s most downloaded celebrity, was shown in provocative poses-in a bath, on a beach, in lingerie, and the success of these Sunny segments was one of the first pointers towards the new direction that the WWF would go in, a direction that in 1997 became one of its most successful of all time-the Attitude era.

Vader was also making a jump in 1996. Entering the WWF with great fanfare, sadly this would signal the end of Vader’s reign as an unstoppable monster once and for all (having left WCW the previous year after being soundly beaten by Hulk Hogan).

“

I’m reluctant to mention this, but sadly it also has an importance. During 1996, Chris Benoit and Kevin Sullivan were feuding, and this lead to Benoit dating Sullivan’s wife Nancy in real life. Sadly, this relationship would end many years later in one of the most horrific tragedies ever to occur within the wrestling industry.

And finally, Michinoku Pro were beginning an attempted international invasion in 1996, heading to All Star Promotions in the UK. The aim was to go around the world, which would eventually lead to a stint on the first ECW PPV, and a WWF contract for TAKA Michinoku, which would springboard the WWF’s Lightheavyweight (and subsequently the Cruiserweight) division. As much as anyone tries to tell you how significant a year 2001 was for pro wrestling, fifteen years ago, everything changed. After 1996, the wrestling world would never be the same again. n Contact Phil at PhilUK1@aol.com

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L A C I N Y C MIND HE CY with T

NIC

Tote That Barge...

on Killings is a lunatic. John “respect, hustle, unjustified contracts, yadda yadda” Cena said so, so it must be true. So what do you reckon is wrong? Is it depression and he’s been given a handful of antidepressants to neck? Or is he schizophrenic, an unfortunate who hears voices and has to decide whether to listen to them, on a heavy dosage of psychotropic drugs that dull his reactions and alter his thought processes? Either way, WWE is taking a big risk. What if he hurts somebody in the ring, flips out and tries to stab them, or hurts himself because he can’t cope with the reality of the grappling life. It’s questionable whether he should be sectioned for his own good. Of course not. Ron Killings is not mentally ill. He can be called that because he has turned against the fans and is pulling odd faces. In grappleland, that’s usually all it takes. And by the time you are avidly reading this and pleasuring yourself at the same time (who says I don’t know my readers?) he may be champ. Angles are always better if they have a basis in truth; Mick Foley built a career out of it. But

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this has a truth they can’t use. Killings has turned against the fans because they don’t like him enough. In the angle. But the fans also don’t like him enough. In real life.

“

There are lots of wrestlers who fans don’t like enough; mid carders, we call ‘em. Is it possible that Ron is just one of them?

Yes, of course. Except there is another issue. Killings is black. I know you’re yawning here and navigating to that website with Lindsay Lohan falling over and showing her scanties; that’ll teach her, taking herself out of the meat market so you can’t have a go, won’t it? But this racial angle is important, so bring yourself back, brain cell by brain cell...one...two, there you go! Now, many people call the US an inherently racist country. But how can this be, you may dribble through your crusted pie hole, the US has a black president! True, and that is a wonderful thing to be celebrated long into the night, every night, but in a country where there is enough bulletproof glass at his inauguration to glaze the whole of Wyoming, when right wingers bring guns to Obama’s healthcare debates, when his middle name is seen as a reason to ask if he’s terrorist, they still have some way to go.

It’s a very difficult argument to have, and one that takes concentration, so put down that copy of “60 and wide open” and let’s have a go. It’s an important point to make, and although it opens some up to allegations of racism, it is worth raising. Some have said that Barak Obama is acceptable because he is the “right” kind of black, ie not really black, almost mixed race and so not so scary to some people. He’s a westernised black man, some say, almost “one of us”, an honorary White guy and so OK at a push. It’s interesting, if disgusting and of course may be complete bunkum. But if we follow the argument, looking at Ron, he isn’t westernised. He is a black man. He cannot hide his ethnicity. And nor should he have to. In an ideal world that should not matter. I don’t think it does. But I’m not your average wrestling fan; I have opposable thumbs. Ron should be allowed to be judged on his wrestling ability; that’s what Ron Simmons, after all the guff of “First Black Champion” subsided, was sold on in WCW; he was junked seemingly because crowds wanted a better talker, but he wasn’t sold that way. How is Ron Killings sold then? Well, as K-Kwik, RTruth and Ron “The Truth” Killings, he’s been a dancer and a rapper. That’s not selling him on his wrestling abilities is it? That’s selling him on what the fans perhaps believe a black man to be;

they dance don’t they? They rap don’t they? At least he didn’t have to defend being one half of Cryme Tyme - now that really was racial profiling (and before you bleat on about it, yes, I know they were nicked from the Gangstas, who could also be considered racist). Ron has never been allowed to buck that trend; never allowed to show his undoubted stick skill without the rules of race. Never been able to show off his undoubted ring skills without that racial qualification.

R-Truth at WWE's Tribute to the Troops show in Fort Hood, Texas, on December 11, 2010. SHAMSUDDIN MUHAMMAD

And I know everyone is afraid of losing their place, but in some ways Ron has bought it on himself. He has done the dancing, the rapping, the bulging-eyed promos, just as we expect the WWE to want him to. He endorsed their view of him. He danced for them. He rapped for them. Of course, he’s just one man and can make his own choices. He may not see colour. He may just see wrestlers, work and

money. And that’s absolutely fair enough. Put pull back and aren’t there bigger points at stake? Fans have seen what Killings does and just examined their bags of cheetos. Why? They’ve seen it all before. There’s a man sitting in the commentary chair who made a career out of it, sucka! Yes, Booker T (check out that name! Really “ethnic”!) was a good wrestler, but he wasn’t allowed to get away with just that, he had to do that ridiculously created street patter too. He had to announce himself as black; what does “you damn skippy, hippy” mean anyway? Not saying that Killings is a stepin fetchit, not saying that he’s an outrageous cracker wannabe, but he has allowed himself to be a dancer and rapper, just what we’d expect some US and UK media to show us when the words “black man” are presented to them. Not that he has to be Martin Luther King of the Ring, but there are big fish to fry here. After all, does anyone remember an intelligent, witty, entertaining, reasonable black wrestler? Does anyone remember a black wrestler allowed to be? And don’t say the Rock, after all, he’s not really black to most fans, is he? No, he’s more, what shall we say...Obama. n Contact The Cynic (if you dare) at hearditallbefore@hotmail.com

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Words ANDREW DIXON email andrew.dixon_1990@yahoo.co.uk

THE uLTIMATE DRAFT EVERY YEAR THEY DO IT. Stars of Smackdown and Raw get drafted between brands to shake up the rosters. Does it work? Not always-yes, you’ll get a slight change at the top of each brand, but inevitably the branding of each show gets watered down by the draft, and there is always a subsequent need to turn people or push people in order to artificially bolster the roster. But what if the draft was extended? Back in the territorial days, and even in the days of the Monday Night Wars, part of the excitement was seeing stars suddenly jump from one promotion to another. At any point you may be watching Hulk Hogan, Roddy Piper or others on one show, only to see them suddenly turn up on another.

Of course these days, such switches are reported many weeks in advance, so when Awesome Kong appears in the WWE, or the Hardys in TNA, you probably knew it was coming months in advance if you are internet savvy. But what if there was a draft across all promotions. What if everyone’s name was up for drafting, much in the way that sports teams have a trading of their players? That one day’s draft could give fresh life to careers, promotions, and really spice things up for the fans. So for one year only, we at The Wrestling Press present our fantasy draft picks. Thirty choices, several promotions to pick from, and a whole set of opportunities to make a difference in the world of wrestling. Here are Andrew Dixon’s picks for the wrestlers in the 2011 draft:

1. Adam Cole – CZW to WWE - My first pick ultimately has to go to a guy who I've followed throughout his CZW career and someone I know would excel in WWE. He has the (self proclaimed I might add) pretty boy look of a cocky heel which he plays so well in CZW currently, that could be instantly transferred to SmackDown to great success.

2. Sami Callihan – CZW to TNA - Sticking with CZW, my second pick goes to a man who has time and time again proved his worth on the indy scene, the crowning achievement for him was winning the wXw 16 Carat tournament. His strong style would be well received in TNA, a match with Samoa Joe could be a classic.

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3 & 4. Kings of Wrestling – ROH to TNA - Arguably, the best team in ROH history...I'm sure the Briscoes and Haas and Benjamin would disagree but in terms of dominance over the past couple of years, Hero and Castagnoli have delivered always. Dream match would be against Beer Money. I could also see the British Invasion having top matches with them.

5. Lionheart – uK to ROH - Right now, the UK's top star, recently won the 1PW World Title and has consistently wowed crowds, most notably in a gallant losing effort against Jeff Jarrett during the TNA UK Tour. In ROH, there are so many great matches that could be had. Matches with guys like CM Punk and Jon Moxley (see later in draft) or even a triple threat could shine bright.

6. Noam Dar – uK to DGuSA - Even at his young age, he has impressed many across the UK just like Lionheart, and he's also currently holding 1PW gold, the Openweight title. He has so much potential and would realise it in the US. In DGUSA, he could have a killer match with AR Fox or BxB Hulk

7. Jon Moxley – FCW to ROH - As much as I'm happy for Mox and hope he'll succeed in FCW and then hopefully WWE, I'd much rather be watching him in ROH or even back in CZW, he held the CZW World Title for a whole year (barring a 6 day gap in between) and showed he could hang with top guys from all over the world when in DGUSA. ROH would be the ideal home for him to showcase what he can do, WWE just won't let him in my opinion.

8. CM Punk – WWE to ROH - Many fans would love to see this happen, Punk had some killer matches in his time there, especially the Punk v Joe series, but I'd love to see him against the current crop, as I mentioned earlier, Punk v Lionheart would be one hell of a match. Seemingly being left to stew in the midcard at the minute, so maybe when his contract runs down, this could be a very realistic possibility.

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9. Sabian – CZW to TNA - This pick is purely because the guy is entertaining and I could see him running with the Pope in his sleaze angle but only if Sabian was to reprise "The Booty Man", he isn't just talk though, he has great ability and is a hell of a heatseeker.

10. Burchill – Indies to 1PW - Before WWE ruined him with awful gimmicks and lumbered him with awful opponents, Burchill was a monster who ripped through the British independent scene, I'd welcome him back anyday to British wrestling. On YouTube, check out his "Monster Moments", just brilliant.

11. Jimmy Havoc – uK to CZW - One simple reason, Jimmy Havoc v Danny Havoc at Tournament of Death. Make it happen.

12 & 13. Osirian Portal – Chikara to WWE - These guys fit WWE's PG initiative so well, their dancing would be great provided WWE don't make them dance like Santino and turn them into complete goofs. They wouldn't need to change one bit, they are outstanding in ring too.

14, 15 & 16. The Ant Colony – Chikara to TNA - Another team who on the surface look like a comedy team but as with the Portal, these guys can hang with the best too. Knowing TNA, they'd put these guys with Eric Young in some comedy skits but hopefully their abilities would shine through.

17. B-Boy – Indies to TNA - B-Boy is so underrated it's unbelievable, he bled black and yellow for years in CZW, and had two of the best matches I've ever seen with Drake Younger, I highly recommend you check them out. In TNA, matches with Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle would be very entertaining to see. He brings a strong style which never ceases to impress, he can brawl and he can straight up wrestle too.

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18. Low Ki – Indies to NJPW - Low Ki is without a doubt one of the stiffest workers there is, don't confuse that with being sloppy or nasty, the guy just goes out and gives it his all. NJPW is a place he's already been but I'd love to see him there again, preferably for a match with Jushin Liger.

19. Shinsuke Nakamura – NJPW to WWE - A man whom I interviewed back in Issue 13 of TWP, Nakamura is someone who has expressed desire to work in the US and has the size to do so. Coming in as a strong heel against Yoshi Tatsu could bring out the best in Tatsu and also set Nakamura on the right track. Could only be good in my opinion and would definitely help WWE in the Japanese market and open the door for more NJPW stars to one day appear in WWE.

20. Prince Devitt – NJPW to WWE - One of the true hidden gems of wrestling not seen by the mainstream audiences. His performances in Japan amaze every single time and he has managed to break into and thrive in the tough Japanese scene where many have fallen. In WWE, he can get the recognition he deserves and I feel a match with Cody Rhodes on top form would be a show stealer at any event.

21. Daniel Bryan – WWE to Indies - Aside from the treatment of Kaval/Low Ki, Bryan is probably the most wasted talent in WWE history. He’s had stellar matches everywhere he’s went, yet continues to be booked in pointless matches. It’s time he came “home” and travelled the independents again, Sami Callihan v Bryan Danielson, someone book it! If anything, I just want to see him come out to “The Final Countdown” one more time!

22. Sting – TNA to WWE - Now this has been rumoured for years upon years…will he, won’t he? A potential dream match with The Undertaker would probably bomb today as both are well past their best… but the moment alone where they go face to face will be truly great. It’s probably the most unlikely of picks but the one I want most.

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23. Drew McIntyre – WWE to TNA - Another guy who was destined to be at the top but through no real fault of his own, was derailed on his rise. The Scot has always had me as a fan even from his BCW/IWW/wZw days in the UK. In TNA, he would be a very good addition to the British Invasion, his heelish smirk would be enough to get him hated and I want to see him face Kurt Angle or AJ Styles, they would be the best matches for him and I feel he’d be given a World Title run there, as I don’t see WWE giving him the run he deserves.

24. Eddie Kingston – Indies to TNA - Here’s a guy who can hit…hard. A move to TNA would yield great matches with Samoa Joe and potential for a feud with Crimson if he improves. Kingston has worked all across the indies and always puts in 110%, as is proved in his feud with Chris Hero in CZW. TNA fans would like his strong style of wrestling/brawling.

25 & 26. Motor City Machine Guns – TNA to WWE - A team who were regarded as the best team in wrestling until injuries derailed them. The one thing they are missing is a WWE run in front of bigger crowds. Admittedly, WWE’s tag division is a joke but if Vince could pull out a good team, perhaps re-sign Haas and Benjamin…then the Guns v WGTT could be the best tag match in WWE’s history.

27. PAC – Indies to WWE - The Man That Gravity Forgot had to be on my list. As a fellow Geordie, I’m biased but really, his talent speaks for itself and he would be a great fit for somebody like Sin Cara who NEEDS a top opponent to help him flourish. PAC would be the man to do it in my opinion. Every move he hits amazes those in attendance and he is more than deserving of a chance to show what he’s got to the mainstream wrestling audience.

28. M-Dogg 20/Matt Cross – Indies to WWE - Before Tough Enough, I pointed out this guy as one to watch…unfortunately he didn’t get through but I honestly believe the competition wasn’t about ability and more on the WWE “look”. Cross is as athletic as they come and is cat-like with his work. As with PAC, Cross would fit ideally with Sin Cara but could even produce magic with CM Punk if Punk stays with WWE.

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29. AR Fox – CZW to TNA - Fox is a young up and comer in CZW but has already proved he can hang with the top Jr Heavyweights and has recently captured his first title, the CZW Wired TV Title. In TNA, the X Division would get a big boost and a fresh face, bringing his own innovative offense to the company. An Ultimate X match with Fox v Amazing Red v Daniels v AJ Styles would blow fans away.

30. Michael Cole – WWE to HELL - I don’t think I really need to explain this pick. His heel run started off great, but now his voice is plain annoying every week. Take him off the air for a few months and have him resurface on SmackDown, it would work out much better for him and would give the fans a break too.

LIONHEART COMPETITION

SIGNED LIONHEART DVD TO GIVE AWAY The Wrestling Press has a signed copy of The Best of Lionheart dVd available for one lucky reader. To enter the competition simply answer the following question :

Which opponent does Lionheart talk about in his TWP column this month? Send your answer to dtwooduk@hotmail.com Please remember to include your postal address. Competition closes 25th July. Winners will be revealed in issue 17.

Read our review on page 96 www.thewrestlingpress.com

GIVING OuR BLESSINGS WITH....

s bad as pro wrestling can get at times, there is always someone that makes us proud to be a wrestling fan. Sometimes it’s an instantaneous act that can make a guy or girl (or group) a hero to the wrestling business. Sometimes it’s a whole careers worth of greatness. Such is the case with this issue’s recipient of The Wrestling Priest’s Blessings.

Keiji Mutoh recently

announced his retirement as President of All Japan Pro Wrestling. Mutoh had been every bit as influential to All Japan Pro Wrestling as he had in New Japan Pro Wrestling before that. When Mutoh came on board with All Japan, it is safe to say that the company was in dire need of a turnaround. The death of Giant Baba, and the defections of Mitsuharu Misawa and co before that, had left the company in very

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difficult circumstances, and far from the glory days of the 1990s. Mutoh defected to All Japan from New Japan in 2002, and quickly was appointed the head of the company by Giant Baba’s widow Mokoto Baba. Through careful booking, and the building of new stars (alongside cross promotional working with New Japan, Pro Wrestling NOAH and other companies), Mutoh gradually made All Japan’s cards worth watching again, and business turned around to the point where a company struggling to survive was able to thrive once again. It is not surprising that Mutoh was able to do this. A bonafide legend in the sport worldwide (fans in the US fondly remember his NWA/WCW feuds with Sting, and fans in the UK have long been in awe of the sensational Japanese wrestler), Mutoh had been a major presence in Japanese wrestling for many years.

Debuting in 1984, Keiji Mutoh grew to be one of the top three stars in New Japan in the 1980s till now. Alongside Shinya Hashimoto and Masahiro Chono, Mutoh was a huge draw, regularly filling the Tokyo Dome with crowds wanting to see him perform.

Great Muta (Keiji Mutoh) at an All Japan Pro Wrestling event NWHARRY

And while Hashimoto and Chono brought their power and violence to the table, Mutoh was the most

spectacular and varied of the three performers. From his trademark moonsault and handspring elbow, to the shining wizard (moves that are still emulated worldwide), Mutoh was a phenomenon in the wrestling world throughout his tenure. And as if that wasn’t enough, he also brought with him the Great Muta. One of the all-time greatest wrestling gimmicks, Muta was an insane, wild, mist-spitting madman who combined skill and unpredictability to produce some of the most unmissable matches of all time in both Japan and the US. Then there was the ‘Muta scale’. After a particularly horrific match with Hiroshi Hase, Muta bled so heavily that the Muta scale was invented to measure blood loss, with Muta’s bloodloss being the benchmark for heavy blood loss. Keiji Mutoh has touched the lives of so many performers. There are vast numbers of

performers worldwide who have had the pleasure of working with or against Mutoh, and there are many more who would want nothing more than to have the opportunity to do so. Is Keiji Mutoh the greatest performer of all time? Maybe not, that is certainly a matter that many would debate at length. But Mutoh is one of the all-time most influential Japanese competitors. And Mutoh is one of the few men who can be credited with singlehandedly turning around the fortunes of an entire company. What will the future hold for Keiji Mutoh? He may go back to competition in All Japan, or he may return to compete in New Japan. Maybe this is the end of his time in the business. Whatever the future holds though, one thing is for sure. Nobody who has seen a Mutoh match will ever forget it. And for his positive influence on a business, its performers and its fans, we give Mutoh deserved blessings this issue. n

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WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Jimmy Garvin

By PHIL ALLELY

ith former Fabulous Freebird and current Smackdown head honcho Michael ‘PS’ Hayes Returning to action as an on screen Manager/character on WWE TV, lets take a look at what happened to his Freebird tag team partner Gorgeous Jimmy ‘Jam’ Garvin.

“I’m so fortunate and grateful to have experienced 23 years in the business. It was incredible fun and that was the bottom line. I had a pretty good career. I just had fun everywhere I went.”

Real name James Williams, the now 58 year old veteran’s career started in the highly productive Mid-South and Florida areas during the late 1970s, he then moved onto the Von Erich family owned WCCW where The Fabulous Freebirds (Hayes, Buddy Roberts and Terry Gordy) were hot property. Garvin rapidly becoming a star in his own right and an unofficial member of that group along the way. Matches with David Von Erich, Gentleman Chris Adams and others all helping elevate Jimmy’s popularity. He then moved on to the AWA, NWA, GWF and rounded off his in-ring performances in style with WCW, making his mark on the industry along the way. Given two storyline brothers Ron and Terry (who he briefly managed and teamed with), Garvin also often had a female valet/manager accompany him to the ring. This was more than often his real life wife Patti (known as Precious) or his cousin Valerie (Sunshine). The party loving character he portrayed in the ring was not too far away from the real life man, livening things up both inside and outside of the squared circle. Garvin was one of the first wrestlers to enhance his ring entrances with music, lights and a lovely lady on his arm (something he and Hayes would continue in WCW). With such success in World Class Championship Wrestling the future was bright for the up and comer, even he is shocked by how well things worked out for him.

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Jimmy Garvin and Precious.

Garvin stated in a recent interview when asked if he regretted hanging up his tights and boots. Match/storyline highlights from Garvin’s career include main event feuds with some of the industry’s finest, Wahoo McDaniel, The Midnight Express, David Von Erich, The Road Warriors, Ric Flair and Magnum TA amongst others across various promotions all butted heads with him. Garvin’s work ethic and dedication to the sport all helped make such encounters sell-out arenas across the U.S.

Freebirds

Zenk, The ‘Wild Eyed’ Southern Boys, The Steiners, Doom and various combinations of the Four Horsemen, even netting themselves tag team and six-man tag team gold. In this period of the wrestling boom the pair even added managers to the fold, (the recently deceased Oliver Humperdink) as Big Daddy Dink and Diamond Dallas Page filling that role, a third member Bad Street (a masked Brad Armstrong) made six man matches possible and saw the old ‘Freebird rule’ rejuvenated. That rule of course has been resurrected on many occasions now, it providing a wrestler or team of wresters to have someone else who can defend their title for them. The Freebirds version meant that any combination of the current team could enter the ring as champions and fight for their gold.

In 1989’s WCW the make-up sporting flamboyant rock star (Garvin/Hayes) version of The Fabulous Freebirds made its mark on the company. With their over the top ring entrance, non-muscular physiques and heelish tactics the pair were the tag team version of the ‘Dirtiest Player in the Game’ Ric Flair, and featured heavily in pay-per-view and TV events. The pairing even got to provide colour commentary alongside the voice of WCW at the time Lance Russell. WCW seemingly being one of Garvin’s favourite work places. “We really enjoyed that (commentating) and a lot of the jokes and stuff we said on the air was stuff Michael and I wrote and came up with. We are still close friends and talk when we can.” WCW at that time was a hotbed of top talent and the Freebirds were at the forefront. This period saw many great matches on PPV and TV, the Birds providing many of them as they battled such combos as Brian Pillman and Tom

“

“We had some brutal matches there (WCW), especially against The Steiners. They really beat us about the ring and we did the same back. Michael and I gave our all during that time and we enjoyed every minute of it.”

As WCW’s ego filled ranks began to well and booking agents changed Garvin decided it was time to hang up his boots. He now works full time as an airline transport pilot for American Airlines. He and Patti are still happily married and have two daughters, his great passion now is golf. Whilst Michael Hayes went on to become an on-air manager of The Hardyz and head writer of Smackdown, Garvin never saw the sense in going to Vince McMahon’s organisation. “You know I have probably only ever said ten words to Vince. I don’t like him and he doesn’t like me. He asked me for a tryout (this was about 1992). Now I’d been in the business so long there was no way I needed to have (or be expected to do) a try out. I’m a rebel always have been, wrestling was my life then, but I still wasn’t prepared to let them change my name or character to suit them. I just knew he and I would never get on. I’m not an ass-kisser, we

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may have to sometimes, but it’s not for me. “I mean Michael was repackaged as Dok Hendrix, what was that?, Dusty in polka dots?, ‘Rugged Ronnie Garvin?. No way, I visited WWE once or so, saw some friends, left and never heard from them again about wrestling there.”

any background like it used to. I do still watch it today and say to myself what has it come to? Wrestling’s a lost art these days. Michael and I still talk, but I’m happy where I am.”

many of today’s stars wouldn’t be able to ply their trade. Garvin’s contribution to wrestling has been immense and almost covert. Not many grapplers

Jimmy does still acknowledge his past and when appropriate attend fan conventions, and has made special appearance at indy shows, but his in-ring career is long over and he’s more than happy with his lot in life. “When I was about twenty-six I said to myself, ‘When I turn forty I’m going to retire. I’m going to fly airplanes and play a little golf, now I am doing just that”. Does he ever regret walking away from the ring? “Am I ever glad I did. When I quit in ‘92 I remember cutting my hair off and my beard and going to Wal-Mart and Lowe’s. It was the first time in maybe fifteen or twenty years I could walk around without someone saying something or throwing something at me. It was a joy to walk through stores, like a new lease of life for me.” Wrestling today has these writers that write stuff like it’s a movie. In the old days, we did stuff off-the-cuff. We had some of our own ideas and some stuff just happened when we got out there. It’s entertaining but it doesn’t take

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Jimmy Garvin may not be a name that springs to mind for many of us when we think of wrestling legends. He rarely if ever appears on DVD compilations. His name is never mentioned on TV and his legacy is barely recognisable is some ways, but without guys like him

can boast a 20 year plus career of main event wrestling, countless titles, a happy family life and a new career to boot. He is indeed one of the lucky ones. n Contact Phil at philallely@hotmail.com

Words JOHN MILNER

A History of the King of the Ring

here was a time when every spring meant the King of the Ring. For a half-dozen years, it was held at a house show. For a decade it was one of the “Big Five” WWF/E pay-per-views, along side the Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania, SummerSlam and the Survivor Series. After a lengthy hiatus, King of the Ring has returned several times over the past few years, with most, and finally the entire tournament taking place on television. The very first King of the Ring was a one-night tournament, held on July 8, 1985 in Sullivan

Stadium in Foxborough, Massachussetts. Sixteen men including Ricky Steamboat, Tito Santana, Paul Orndorff, Les Thornton, Steve Lombardi and B. Brian Blair competed in the tournament. In the finals, Don Muraco defeated the Iron Sheik to win the tournament. Save some reports in wrestling magazines, Muraco’s victory and, indeed, the tournament itself was little known to most wrestling fans. A year later, on July 14, 1986 the tournament returned to Foxborough. Muraco was unable to retain his King of the Ring “crown” as he was eliminated by a returning “Rowdy” Roddy

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King Harley Race! © KEN KERR, TORONTO SUN

Piper in the first round. The other finalist from 1985, the Iron Sheik, was also eliminated in the first round, by Billy Jack Haynes. In a tournament that included Danny Spivey, Nikolai Volkoff and George “The Animal” Steele, it was two legends of the 1970s, Harley Race and Pedro Morales, who made it to the finals. Race would defeat Morales. While the tournament itself received little note by the thenWWF as a whole, Race would use the victory to develop a new gimmick for himself. No longer would he be known as “Handsome” Harley Race. Instead, he would be known as “King”. For a time, Race’s title of “King” would be an unofficial title in the WWF. When Race was sidelined in 1988 with a hernia, Race’s manager, Bobby “the Brain” Heenan, crowned Haku as the new King. “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan would defeat Haku and take the trademark crown and cape, only to later lose it to Randy Savage. Savage, who wrestled as “the Macho King” for a time, was a King of the Ring winner himself. In

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the first of five King of the Ring tournaments held in the Providence (Rhode Island) Civic Centre, Savage emerged victorious in a tournament that included Danny Davis, Ron Bass, the One Man Gang and Sika. In taking place on September 4th, King of the Ring took place later than previous events, and just as Savage was beginning to turn face. Savage defeated Bundy to win the tournament.

“

The 1988 tournament was further yet in the year, occurring on October 16th. Shawn Michaels, Ken Patera, Bad News Brown and even Iron Mike Sharpe were among the names who competed. Savage would make a good accounting of himself in his attempt to repeat as King of the Ring. Instead, he would fall to the man who was the top contender to his WWF World Championship, Ted Dibiase.

Neither Savage nor Dibiase would be involved in the King of the Ring tournament when it took place on October 14th, 1989. Instead, wrestlers

like Brutus Beefcake, Jim Neidhart, the Barbarian and both members of the Bushwackers entered the tournament. Tito Santana won the tournament by defeating his former Strike Force partner, Rick Martel. There would be no King of the Ring tournament in 1990, but would return to the Providence Civic Centre on September 7, 1991. Neither Tito Santana nor Rick Martel was entered, and instead the sixteen man tournament featured Sid Justice, the Undertaker, Ricky Steamboat and both members of the Legion of Doom. Just days after winning his first major singles title, Intercontinental Champion Bret “the Hitman” Hart would notch another accolade in defeating Irwin R. Schyster to win the King of the Ring tournament. The King of the Ring would take another hiatus in 1992. But in 1993, a fifth major event would be added to the WWF calendar, as the 1993 King of the Ring would take place on pay-perview. But while the pay-per-view occurred on June 13 in Dayton, Ohio, a series of qualifying matches would take place on WWF television over the month prior. Ironically, the winner of the last King of the Ring to take place entirely at a house show would win the first King of the Ring on pay-per-view. Bret “the Hitman” Hart, as a former WWF World Champion, received an automatic entry into the tournament. He battled past Razor Ramon, Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig and Bam Bam Bigelow to claim the crown. The tournament also featured Lex Luger, Tatanka, Jim Duggan and Mr. Hughes. While the tournament may have culminated in Hart winning, the Hitman was attacked by WWF newcomer Jerry “the King” Lawler, who claimed he was the only royalty in the company. And that was not the only news that was made that evening. There had been a history of nontournament matches occurring during the King of the Ring event. In 1985, Hulk Hogan had defended the WWF Championship against

Nikolai Volkoff and a year later, the British Bulldogs had defended the Tag Team titles against Brutus Beefcake and Greg Valentine in a steel cage match, to name but two matches. In 1993, there were three non-tournament matches during the King of the Ring tournament. Shawn Michaels defended the Intercontinental Championship against Crush, and the Smoking Gunns teamed with the Steiner Brothers to defeat the Headshrinkers and Money Inc. The third non-tournament was a rematch from Wrestlemania IX, when Hulk Hogan had received an impromptu match against thenChampion Yokozuna. During the later stages of the match, as Hogan seemingly had Yokozuna defeated, a photographer leapt up on the ring apron to take a photo. His camera exploded in Hogan’s face, giving Yokozuna the opportunity to pin Hogan with a legdrop. Yokozuna was the new champion, and Hogan left the WWF, not to return until 2002. The 1994 King of the Ring tournament was similar to the 1993 tournament in several ways. Once again, the qualifying matches took place on TV, with the Quarter-, Semi- and finals on pay-per-view, and once again a Hart won the tournament. This time, however, it was Owen Hart. Hart, who wanted to win the tournament to show he was the equal of his brother, Bret, defeated Doink the Clown to qualify for the event. Owen defeated Tatanka and the 1-2-3 Kid on the pay-per-view, which took place on June 19 in Baltimore, MD. He met Razor Ramon, who had defeated Kwang to qualify, and Bam Bam Bigelow and I.R.S. to advance. In the finals, Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart interfered to give Owen the victory. Owen would dub himself “the King of Harts”, and challenge his brother for the WWE Championship at SummerSlam later that year. Owen Hart would not get the chance to repeat as “the King of Harts”. During the qualifying round for the 1995 King of the Ring, Owen and his partner Davey Boy Smith would battle to a 15-minute draw, eliminating both men.

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Held on June 25, 1995 at the CoreStates Spectrum in Philadelphia , the 1995 King of the Ring field included Yokozuna, Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker, but it was one-half of Men on a Mission, Mabel who would claim the crown, defeating Savio Vega (filling in for a legitimately injuryed Razor Ramon) in the finals. “King Mabel”, as he was dubbed, would receive a substantial push, heading to a SummerSlam ’95 title shot against Diesel. But Mabel’s push wouldn’t last long, and indeed by the time the 1996 King of the Ring came around, he had been released from the WWF. However, the next winner of the King of the Ring would use his victory as a springboard to become one of the biggest stars in the industry. Steve Austin, who had transformed himself from “The Ringmaster” to “Stone Cold” over his then-short time in the WWF, defeated Bob Holly to qualify for the King of the Ring, and then defeated 1995 King of the Ring finalist to advance in the Quarter-finals. In a shift from previous King of the Ring, only the Semi-finals and Finals of the tournament were shown on the pay-per-view, held on June 23 at the MECCA Arena in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The bulk of the pay-per-view was made up of non-tournament matches including the Smoking Gunns retaining their Tag Team titles against the Godwinns, Ahmed Johnson winning the Intercontinental Championship from Goldust and Shawn Michaels retaining his WWF Championship against the British Bulldog, as well as Mankind defeating the Undertaker. In the King of the Ring tournament itself, Jake Roberts defeated Vader by disqualification and Austin defeated Marc Mero to set up the finals. Roberts had been injured during the match against Vader, but put up a game effort, until Austin hit “the Stone Cold Stunner” to win the match and the tournament.

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But it would be Austin’s post-match promo that would be remembered longer than the match, when he

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announced, in mocking Roberts’ religious beliefs, that “Austin 3:16 says I just whooped your ass!” A year later, the King of the Ring was even smaller. Gone were the qualifying matches, and instead the Quarter-finals played out on TV, once again leaving the Semi-finals and finals for the pay-per-view, which took place on June 8, 1997 as the King of the Ring returned to the Providence (Rhode Island) Civic Center. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin would appear at the event, but would battle Shawn Michaels to a double disqualification instead of being part of the tournament. The Undertaker would defend the WWE Championship against Farooq in the main event. In the finals, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, who had defeated Ahmed Johnson in the Semifinals, defeated Mankind, who had defeated Jerry Lawler in the other Semi-final. To a lesser extent than Austin the previous year, this was the match that began Triple H’s push. The 1998 King of the Ring, held on June 28 in the Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) Civic Arena, will most likely be remembered more for a nontournament match. The Undertaker battled Mankind in a Hell in a Cell Match that featured, among other incredible spots, ‘Taker throwing Mankind off the top of the Cell and through the Spanish announce table. The Undertaker defeated Mankind on a night where the New Age Outlaws defended the Tag Team titles against the New Midnight Express and Kane won the WWE Championship in a First Blood match against Steve Austin. Although 1998 was the fourth year to showcase only the last two rounds of the tournament on pay-per-view, the tournament, as a whole, was a 16-man tourney. The first round and the Quarter-finals played out on television. By the time he made it to Pittsburgh, Ken Shamrock had gone through Kama Mustafa and Mark Henry. He would go on to defeat Jeff

Jarrett and the Rock, who had defeated Vader, Triple H and Dan Severn to make the finals. The tournament continued to grow in 1999. Not only was the first round a 16-man tournament shown on TV, but the Quarter-, Semi- and Finals were on pay-per-view, which took place on June 27 from the Greensboro (North Carolina) Coliseum. The 1999 King of the Ring title went to “Mr. Ass” Billy Gunn. Gunn certainly had his work cut out for him, as he had to overcome Viscera, the previous year’s winner Ken Shamrock and Kane to make the finals. There, he defeated XPac, his former D-Generation X teammate to become the King of the Ring. The 2000 King of the Ring had the largest field in the tournament’s history, with 32 competitors including Chyna, Shane McMahon, Eddie Guerrero. D -Lo Brown and Chris Jericho. The first two rounds took place on WWF television, where 32 became 8. The final three rounds of the tournament took place at the King of the Ring pay-per-view, on June 25 from Boston’s Fleet Center. On that night, Edge and Christian won the WWF Tag Team titles, Gerald Brisco and Pat Patterson battled in a Evening Gown match for the Hardcore title where Crash Holly came to the ring and, under the 24/7 rule, pinned Patterson for the title, and the Rock pinned Vince McMahon during a six-man tag match (pitting the Rock, Kane and the Undertaker against Triple H, Shane and Vince McMahon) to win the WWF Championship. Kurt Angle would win the King of the Ring tournament in 2000. He made it to the payper-view by defeating Bradshaw and Bubba Ray Dudley, before getting by Chris Jericho and Crash Holly to meet, and then defeat Rikishi in the finals. After featuring 32 competitors in 2000, the 2001 tournament reverted back to the traditional 16man tournament. The tournament also seemed to be even less important to the pay-per-view, taking place on June 24 from the Continental

Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey, than in previous years. The Semi-finals opened the show, and the finals took place mid-way through the show. All four men involved in the pay-per-view were allied with one another coming into the tournament. In winning the tournament, Edge defeated Rhyno in the Semi-finals and Kurt Angle in the finals. Angle, who defeated Christian in the other Semi-final bout, would also take on and defeat Shane McMahon in a street fight later on in the show.

“

But like so many other winners, Edge would not be a factor in the following year’s tournament, forfeiting his first round match in the 2002 King of the Ring against Chris Jericho, due to a shoulder injury.

Eddie Guerrero, Booker T and Christian would help make up the field that saw Brock Lesnar emerge victorious as part of the pay-per-view, held at the Nationwide Arena on June 23 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

Lesnar defeated Test in the Semi-finals, and went to the Finals to defeat Rob Van Dam, who had defeated Chris Jericho in the other Semifinal. Like other King of the Ring winners in the past, Lesnar received a title shot at SummerSlam but was the first to truly cash in on the opportunity, defeating the Rock to win the WWE Championship. The King of the Ring tournament went on hiatus for several years, returning in 2006 as a Smackdown-only tournament. With a field of only eight men including Chris Benoit, Matt Hardy, Kurt Angle and Randy Orton, the Quarter- and Semi-finals were shown on Smackdown. The finals of the tournament, however, took place at the Judgment Day pay-per-view on May 21 at the America West Arena in Pheonix, Arizona. During the match, Booker T enlisted the help of his wife, Sharmell and Finlay to gain the victory over Bobby Lashley. King Booker was crowned that night, and followed it up by defeating Rey Mysterio to win the World

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Heavyweight Championship at the 2006 Great American Bash. The King of the Ring would return in 2008, as part of a special edition of Raw, held on April 21 from the BI-LO Center in Greenville, South Carolina. The tournament saw competitors from all three WWE brands, Raw, Smackdown and ECW, including MVP, the Great Khali and Hornswoggle. In the final, William Regal, serving as the General Manager of Raw, would defeat C.M. Punk to win the tournament. Regal, however, would have little time to enjoy being “King” as he was suspended for sixty days for his second violation of WWE’s Substance Abuse and Drug Testing Policy. In 2010, King of the Ring returned, again as a one-night tournament to take place on Raw. Entrants from Raw and Smackdown would qualify on their respective shows in late November. The tournament’s date of November 29 would be the latest in the year a King of the Ring had ever been held.

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Cody Rhodes, Ezekiel Jackson and Kofi Kingston would be among those traveling to the Wells Fargo Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to compete in the tournament. Alberto Del Rio was the Smackdown star that advanced the furthest, losing to John Morrison, who in turn, lost to Sheamus in the all-Raw finals. Since 1985, the King of the Ring tournament has gone through many changes, going from a house show tournament that many wrestling fans knew nothing about, to a pay-per-view to a special episode of Raw. Sheamus is the latest man to join Don Muraco, Harley Race, Bret and Owen Hart, Steve Austin, William Regal and others in winning the King of the Ring. For some, the victory has meant little, for others it has been a turning point in their career. It remains a question of how the tournament will play out in the years to come, and how the winner will cash in on his “crowning achievement”. n Contact John at jmilnerresume@gmail.com

tNAreBrAND

Words MARTYN LICCHELLI Photos TNA WRESTLING

So That’s A No Then....

ast month I decided, that with the name change coming up for the TNA Impact show that it would be interesting to look and see what changes we would be getting. We were promised that wrestling would matter, and it seemed like we would get that with the help of Foley and hopefully the X-Division would come back, along with the original structure of TNA which was ‘Wrestling first, talking second’. I asked the question ‘will wrestling matter?’ So far. Not really. I can’t say that the TV isn’t better, because it has improved slightly, but we’ve not really gotten to see any proof that wrestling matters in this company. Our first show under the new name of Impact Wrestling in fact featured pretty much the same amount of wrestling as other shows for the company, as everyone was seemingly out to talk about what

happened in their respective story lines at the Pay per View. Not much wrestling there, but we did have the X-Division 4 piece of Amazing Red, Max & Jeremy Buck and Brian Kendrick came out to confront Eric Bischoff during the opening moments, it was literally a confrontation as Easy E got in the faces of the 4 guys who were questioning him. Yes, that’s right. A middle aged, none wrestler, actually got in the face of four men. People get bent out of shape if John Cena stands up to four men, but for some reason I didn’t see people moaning about this as much. Maybe it was because he had his group of minions in the ring as back up. Never mind the fact that a couple of weeks prior to this, he actually got in their faces backstage too and even threw coffee in Kendrick’s face. It just came across as if the X-

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Division were no threat to anyone, let alone actual wrestlers. How could it get worse for them? Three words. Tag Team Match.

Later in the show, Easy E booked himself and Matt Hardy against Generation Me. In said match, Matt Hardy single handedly beat both Bucks down, quite easily I might add, before tagging in Bischoff to deliver a KO kick, score the pin on an already beaten Buck. It was disgraceful and made the division look pitiful. Elsewhere, we had Abyss winning the X-division title, because Bischoff was determined to destroy the division. Well, job pretty much well done, there Bisch. I say that last part both sarcastically, and with a bit of hope. I do want wrestling to matter in TNA and although the X-division has been buried these past few weeks, they are at least having four guys feature in a storyline that was relatively big on the show, and looks set to continue for a little while. If this goes to Destination X in July it could actually be something decent. If Destination X features the X Division, with Bischoff trying to take them out, we may not need Fortune vs. Immortal, because the revival of the X-Division could be even bigger and it would fit in perfectly here. Given that the poster for the PPV features a 6 sided ring and an Ultimate X structure, I’m hoping that we truly are going to get something that will really set the division alight again. We even have an easy way for Kendrick to lead the X-Division and get the title shot at Abyss, thanks to a very shiny, brand new idea, that actually is worth people’s attention. In the past month, on TNA’s recap show Xplosion, we’ve been introduced to Desmond Wolfe’s new on air role as the commissioner of Xplosion, more importantly the introduction of the Xplosion title, which seemingly works like money in the bank. Open to anyone who competes on Xplosion regularly, matches are taking place in brackets for a tournament setting. The winner, becomes the Xplosion champ and gets a title shot at any belt of their choosing. It’s the perfect way for Kendrick to get the belt back on an X-division talent. I’m sure it

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will go to someone else, probably Crimson due to his undefeated streak gimmick. But it is at least one way they could try and get the Xdivision talent over again. What’s that? They don’t want the X-Division to get over? Well that changed on the June 9th edition of Impact, the last Impact before this article hit deadline, opened with Bischoff and Hogan in the ring and with Mick Foley leaving TNA due to creative issues, TNA had written him off TV in a storyline that the Network had fired him. This is Foley, who had rebranded TNA in his first promo that got me to do this two part article. Foley, who had promised to Push the X-division, which lead to Bischoff killing it. So Foley was gone, what would happen to the new show and X-Division? Simple, Bischoff would claim that he and Hogan rebranded the show, something he said a few backs mind as a smug joke, and that to him wrestling matters and he will put the Xdivision back on the map where it belongs.

We had an interlude from Impact Wrestling for the annual Slammiversary Pay per View. This year’s show was actually really enjoyable, with no awful matches taking place. The women’s match wasn’t too great, and to be honest I could have done without Bischoff in the title match. But outside of those tiny complaints, it was all pretty well done. This is mainly due to the fact we got what we’re promised on Impact, we got wrestling! It looked like it mattered!

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In the tag match, the X-Division title match, the various singles competitions, it all looked great. In fact, I’d even say that my favourite match of the year (from the big two) came from this PPV, in the form of Bully Ray vs. AJ Styles, and I never thought I’d say that.

The two of them delivered a perfectly paced, incredibly well booked Last Man Standing. I even liked the finish, although felt it was messed up because AJ got to his feet and was kicked back down. His count should technically have restarted. But other than that, no issues, and up to the blade job from Ray, we had a good 5-6 minutes showing exactly how a Last Man Standing match could be booked within PG limitations. I really hope WWE paid attention to it.

This is kind of odd, not only does it go against the previous story, but it also leaves people to think. What now then? as last month, we had Foley promising to turn TNA around, and now we get the same promises exactly but from the two guys Foley tried to over turn, who are now promising us that wrestling will matter on Impact.

So after a successful PPV, where do we go with proving wrestling matters now?

Despite me saying at the very start of this months article that it hasn’t made a difference, if you dig deep it has if only a little. We get on average about 5 minutes more wrestling, and Impact Wrestling has actually been quite watchable the last few weeks. It’s still not a great show, still got plenty of stupidity in it such as showing us people backstage looking for another wrestler, and then never following up on it and letting us know what happened.

Apparently, we head for Destination X, with the dead X-Division. Or at least it was dead. As I said earlier in this article Destination X could be a revival for the division, and to give us hope of that we’ve got guys coming back to the company. Austin Aries, Kid Kash, Jerry Lynn and others will all be making appearances and fighting for a chance to be on the PPV and it’s hopefully going to feel like it means something. Dare I say, feel like it matters.

But it’s better than it has been for most of this year, and storylines are doing ok. With Xplosion getting more focus now, allowing some of the none Impact talent to get some action and with slightly more wrestling on the main Impact show. Wrestling may not matter as much as I’d like, but at least it’s starting to be more of a factor.

This past month wasn’t bad for TNA. It was actually decent TV, but it wasn’t the shot in the arm I wanted. I fully expect to get that shot in the next few weeks and hopefully next month I’ll be having a lot more in the way of praise for the company where so they say “Wrestling Matters”. n Contact Martyn at Martyn@psychoduck.co.uk

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This Month in Wrestling History....

r e m a e r D s v n Rave

Words MATTHEW ROBERTS

JUNE 6TH 1997 is a date that featured the culmination of one of the greatest rivalries in all of pro-wrestling at that time – Raven vs. Tommy Dreamer. The feud began in ECW in 1995 and went for nearly two years, an incredible amount of time in terms of sustaining fan interest in the storyline. The story began when Scott Levy debuted the character that fans came to know as Raven. After recently being released from the WWF this was quite the gamble for Levy to take but it’s one that paid off and altered the course of his career. The look of Raven was a dark, out-cast kind of deal. He was like one of the kids at school who everyone was afraid of and a loner, whereas his opponent Tommy Dreamer was the high school jock who got on with everybody, had all the friends, the money, etc.

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The absolute key ingredient of this entire feud was that Dreamer, the babyface, didn’t score a single victory over Raven throughout their entire feud until Wrestlepalooza 1997 – their feud ending match. In a society today where wins and losses never really matter, Paul Heyman, Dreamer and Raven managed to create something truly special which fans talk about to this day. Now seeing as this was ECW and Tommy Dreamer you were never going to see catchas-catch-can classics. Without doubt the two contested some extremely bloody battles throughout their two year long rivalry. What’s particularly amazing is that it’s not like the two wrestled once a year either. Make no mistake about it these two were booked to work together a lot – almost to the degree of John Cena –

Randy Orton matches. You could say that’s over-kill and I might be inclined to agree with you. However the ECW faithful didn’t think so and lapped up the chance to see Raven face Tommy Dreamer again and again and again. Other people were often incorporated into the feud such as the BWO (Steve Richards, Nova and The Blue Meanine,) Brian”911”Lee, Mick Foley and most importantly Beulah Mcgillicutty. Beulah was most important because she entered ECW as a “playboy playmate” after she was supposedly the fat girl at school who was in love with Tommy Dreamer who never wanted to know. Other things spawned off of Beulah’s involvement including a lesbian couple between her and Kimona. As Dreamer stated on WWE’s Rise and Fall of ECW DVD “we got kicked off of every television station we had.” It’s hard to imagine why at that point in history. When Raven met Tommy Dreamer at Wrestlepalooza June 6th 1997, it was in a “loser leaves town” match. The loser leaves town stipulation was often employed by territories to

explain performers leaving. It was in the same in this case as Raven was leaving for WCW. The chants of “you sold out” were deafening at the start of the match, it was quite the scene really. This presented a scenario where usually the performer leaving is the one who has to do the job but if Raven jobbed to Dreamer, then the feud would definitely be over. Paul Heyman had a big decision to make. It should be noted that the internet was still in its infancy at that time so not everyone would have had access to this information. However this was the ECW crowd and well, they were a whole lot different to your standard WWE audience. Looking back on it, I think that the added fact fans knew of Raven’s departure added a whole different dimension on the storyline. This was no longer simply Raven vs. Tommy Dreamer oh no, this was ECW vs. WCW. And without a doubt ECW fans absolutely loathed everything about the Atlanta based company. The match itself was a completely wild brawl. The two threw absolutely everything

they could into the match as if it were the main event of a WrestleMania. Near falls a plenty, loads of interference and weapons shots, etc. However in the end it was Tommy Dreamer who pulled off the emotional victory with a DDT onto a road sign which is an image that sticks clearly in my mind to this day. As a bloody Dreamer held Raven in position, he screamed “E-CF******-W!” and drilled him with the DDT for the pin fall. The crowd was ecstatic at the result and Dreamer looked completely relieved that the match went as well as it did. As noted this really was ECW vs. WCW and on that day, that night – ECW was the better man. n Contact Matthew at Matrob90@hotmail.com

@chroniclessofry

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CAN SINCLAIR BRING ‘WRESTLING’ BACK TO TV? Words CHRIS GST

n May 21, 2011, Ring of Honor and Sinclair Broadcast Group announced that the broadcast carrier had purchased ROH. Now former ROH owner, Cary Silkin, will remain with the company in an executive role. The promotion's programming will begin to air in September 2011 on Sinclair stations, mainly in weekend primetime on their CW and MyNetworkTV affiliates, which are not programmed by those networks. At this point that is all the information that the wrestling world knows about the future of Ring of Honor. Sure there is lots of speculation going around the net, but nothing is truly known outside of a select group of insiders to the ROH inner circle. Ring of Honor is a small independent company that since 2002 has gone through several changes and while they were on a niche channel, HDNet, they now have the ability to have more eyes see their style of wrestling. Yes, wrestling matters in Ring of Honor. Don’t let the other wrestling promotion tell you that they care about their in ring product. While I could write a dissertation about that companies lack of understanding how to build revenue within the wrestling world, I care more about Ring of Honor and how a company that is roughly the same age as TNA, is truly

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going to bring wrestling back to a television audience. Now don’t get me wrong, I understand the history of this business and how this could also spell the end of ROH if the Sinclair Broadcast Group doesn’t get behind them after the first six months of being on TV and if ROH does not bring in the revenue or the eyes that they expect to see out of a television product. We have only to look back as far as 2001 and see what it means when a wrestling company is bought by a major corporation and see how that ended not in the favor of the promotion.

“

But I will remain hopeful that this can be different for ROH and its fans. Ring of Honor has always been about presenting honor within the confines of an 18 by 18 feet squared circle and to this day it is still the fundamental basis of their product. With that has come many changes including an evolving formula as to how their shows are presented.

Back in ROH’s infancy, you literally could take any match from the opening match to the main event and see some spectacular wrestling in terms of balls-to-the-wall total non-stop action. While I am glad that they have come to have a more traditional sense of how to present their product, ROH for my money still has one of the best top to bottom presentations of pro wrestling and that it could connect with

those people out there who want to see something different. The people who want to have something that is distinctly theirs and want to feel like they are on the ground level of something revolutionary. You can look back at wrestling history to see that wrestling fans want more than what is given to them and while some have become complacent and are happy with the product that is there, there are many of us still who crave for cutting edge wrestling combined with fun storylines and feuds that draw us in. By no means is there a definitive formula for this. The two mainstream promotions clearly have yet to find this though you cannot dispute the success of WWE throughout history and I will always give TNA its due in presenting a product that allowed more eyes to see the talents of those like Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Low Ki, and many more. I just wish that TNA could understand that they cannot survive on the names from the late 80s and 90s forever and they have to start bringing more talent to the forefront. Tommy Mercer or as he is now called Crimson started out as a guy I watched on the indy scene, most specifically in AIW out of Ohio, he is one of few who I think will carry TNA into tomorrow if they allow him to grow as a performer/athlete. Guys like Samoa Joe and AJ Styles should be household names by now and yet not quite yet. I need only look back to 2003-2006 where ROH literally made Samoa Joe a monster on the wrestling scene and AJ Styles was one of the “best in the world” for his in-ring style. Obviously both men have their faults but the thing that ROH has done well is learn from the teachings of guys like Bill Watts and Paul Heyman and that is to accentuate the positives and hide the negatives.

Sinclair Broadcast Group is the operator of the largest number of local television stations in the United States with a total of 57 stations across the country in 35 primarily small and medium markets, many of which are located in the South and the Midwest. Broadcasts by SBG stations can be received by 24 percent of American households. If you live in the US you can check out their official website to learn more at http://www.sbgi.net. This is not some jonny-come-lately company as they have been around since 1971, the same time that Turner started his empire, and they have grown ever since. They also have a staff that has some wrestling history. According to the Wrestling Observer, “ Jon Koff, who will be the Chief Operating Office of the company, will run the business. He’s an advertising guy and not a wrestling guy, but did have an affiliation with wrestling from 1985-1987 when he syndicated a series of prime time specials, ‘Battle of the Belts’ from Florida, which included a legendary Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham match from Orlando. In many ways, those shows were the predecessor of WCW’s ‘Clash of Champions’. Gary Juster will be Vice President of Operations and promote house shows. Juster is a life-long wrestling fan who got involved with Jim Crockett Promotions in the mid-80s, promoting in Baltimore at first, and after being successful, branched out to other markets. After Crockett sold to WCW, Juster worked full-time with WCW for the entire existence of the company. He was generally well liked and respected by everyone other than Eric Bischoff. After WCW folded, he stayed in Atlanta and dabbed in promoting Lucha Libre shows in the Southeast and MMA shows, and promoted ‘ The Big Bang’ in Charlotte, a critically acclaimed but not commercially

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successful live event that was ROH’s first iPPV show.

Jim Cornette will be Vice President of creative. Cornette will help steer the creative direction, but Hunter Johnston (Delirious) will remain booker. Dan Bynum will be the television producer. Bynum first got into wrestling as part of the crew that did the syndicated World Class Championship Wrestling during its glory days, which transformed a dump, the Dallas Sportatorium, and made it the most rocking place on Earth on television, but a lot of that was due to having the right star power. He later went to WCW and produced television, including the Clash of Champions shows. For the past 15 years, he's done mostly sports producing.” As I stated before, I am confident that these men do understand how to promote wrestling and hopefully will not try to

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interfere with how the talent is showcased. As long as you have that dichotomy then ROH has a good shot of succeeding in my opinion. For me it has always been that historically when you had a large company buy out a wrestling promotion that the business side decided how to present the talent instead of understanding that wrestling needs to be portrayed in a more traditional sense instead of just branding it like you would a movie or a food item.

“

SBG has to allow for the bookers and creative control of the company remain within the wrestling world, a world that I will say can seem very foreign to those who do not understand how wrestling fans think. Wrestling is not like a baseball or football team where the brand is more important than the individuals. The individuals are the ones that make the brand what it is.

Of course WWE is a huge brand, TNA is trying to grow, but for a smaller company like ROH they cannot just put ROH on a coffee mug and people will instantly start watching. SBG has to allow ROH to grow by showing off their talent in a way that makes someone say, “hey that looks pretty cool, I want to be a part of that.” This won’t happen over night but I do feel that SBG should give Ring of Honor at least a year of television time to see the growth. Hopefully the ROH faithful will come out in droves and ROH will continue to bring wrestling to the mainstream. You can follow me on Twitter and on Facebook. Feel free to ask questions and leave comments. n Facebook: http://facebook.com/cgstong n Twitter: http://twitter.com/cgstong

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THE iPPV EFFECT ON

INDY WRESTLING

PART THREE

AW Wrestling Redefined is one of the top Midwest promotions in the United States and they have more than enough fire power to back that statement up. They have featured talent such as former FCW (WWE Developmental) tag team champion and former Ring of Honor World Champion Seth Rollins formerly known as Tyler Black. They have current D.U.F. member of DGUSA Arik

Cannon and returning ROH star Jimmy Jacobs as well as many more. Shane Hollister is one of the best wrestlers out there right now as well as Silas Young, Flip Kendrick, Louis Lyndon, and many more. Current Champion Dan Lawrence and Heritage Champion Mason Beck are both up-ncomers in the wrestling world and both should have great careers when it’s all said and done. AAW has also recently jumped into the iPPV game with their first iPPV EPIC

debuting on GFL already by the time this goes to print. It featured some great matches, the return to wrestling of Shane Douglas who also did commentary as only the Franchise can.

“

I was lucky enough to get an interview with Mike Petkovich, AAW producer and got to see what his views are on iPPV, the future of indy wrestling, AAW, and much more.

What do you feel iPPV has done for the indy scene as a whole and what it has done for AAW recently? “ iPPV expands viewership for indy companies instantly. There is that ability to hit a new or larger audience because of the internet. Of course, proper promotion, production, and overall show quality will easily affect buys. It's an easier way for people to check out a promotion for a little less money than having to wait for or buy the dvd. For us, it has brought in more fans, which is the ultimate goal. We gave away a free sampler on gofightlive.tv from "Path of Redemption" and

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then we filmed "Epic" and it is available at gofightlive.tv for $10. So far, the feedback from the free sampler and "Epic" have been really positive. “ Has the taping of an iPPV made AAW take a closer look at presenting stuff online more often or would once every 6 months maybe be the way to go? “I don't think you need to do one every month. We are gonna keep it scaled back and do 3 to 4 per year for right now. I think the old school approach of 3 or 4 major events a year will sell better on IPPV if we can build it by giving away free video on youtube with solid storylines, promos, and matches that tell a good story. As long as people are checking aawrestling.com and buying dvds at smartmarkvideo.com, they will be able to keep up with what's going on in AAW. “ Of course any promotion that relies on DVD sales has to grow with relationships to other promotions and how they are presented by them. AAW has a great relationship with DGUSA. How has the relationship with DGUSA affected AAW and will AAW possibly go with WWNLive.com or are you happy with GFL.tv?

“

“The relationship with DGUSA has been nothing but positive. They have really helped

solidify us at the premiere promotion in the midwest by exposing our talent to a larger audience. Right now iPPV is still really new to us. The contact with GFL was made before WWNLive started and for right now we're gonna stay where we are at and try to build an audience there. “ There are many tools and technology devices out there now that will allow fans to stream iPPVs to their high def TV’s. Are you happy with the quality of the iPPVs on GFL? “I think that we are just starting to see the beginning of new technology being used with

indy wrestling, tv, and the internet. The indy companies that take advantage of this new technology will hopefully start to see positive results. The quality of the feeds from GFL are good and they will only get better as time goes on. “ This series is going to continue next month with some interviews with those who are the most important in any promotion, the fans. I will be interviewing some of the top wrestling analysts on this subject. Thanks for reading and be sure to follow me Chris GST to give comments or ask questions. n Facebook:

http://facebook.com/cgstong n Twitter:

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The integration of international wrestlers into Dragon Gate Words JEREMY GRAVES

he man who gravity forgot, PAC is one of the finest contemporary British Exports of the past decade, so much so that he is now plying his trade in the land of the rising sun as full time roster member for Dragon Gate.

To set the scene, I first saw PAC in a six person match at the May 2006 1 Pro Wrestling (1PW) weekender entitled ‘Know Your Enemy’. I was sitting in the front row and had no idea what to expect from the Geordie born Pac, but that day he produced one of biggest reactions to a conclusion of a match I have ever witnessed in person as he performed a move that at this point in time was a signature move of the former ROH star Jack Evans, the 630 splash. It was on this night that the young man had a breakout performance and indeed a new star was born. Fast forward a year or two, PAC is now wrestling internationally on a regular basis. He’s competing throughout Europe and the United States having a multitude of great bouts including stellar matches with the always brilliant El Generico at Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG). In fact it’s quite possible that his consistently high quality of matches he was involved in for PWG are what contributed to him travelling to Japan in the first place. PAC first ventured to Dragon Gate in September of 2007. During this tour it became clear he was he was going to become a regular of some kind as he was endorsed by Matt Sydal (who at the time was set to leave Dragon Gate to pursue a career competing in WWE) to fill the spot he’d be leaving in the Typhoon faction.

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Part 2 - PAC/

It was from here that PAC notably improved as a wrestler. To some that was something special given the quality of his matches prior to arriving in Japan. His overall demeanor and physique had changed but most of all, his in ring work had vastly improved. Because he’d been working with the high quality of talent that is the Dragon Gate roster, he adopted his own way of complementing that very unique fast paced style and because he was the only British man who had been able to do that, he stood out from the pack. Integrating PAC into the roster wasn’t hard to do because his moves in the ring and the fact that he was an international competitor made him stand out. On his first tour he was taken into the Typhoon faction, a group led by the most recognisable man in the company Cima. Being aligned with a character like that already added credibility to his character and after that group had disbanded he joined the World-1 faction that featured the younger and most promising stars Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino

at the helm. His stock was rising and again that was in part because of whom he was aligned with. In November, 2009 the first ever UK event for Dragon Gate entitled the ‘Dragon Gate UK Invasion’ was held in The Regal in Oxford and PAC was put as a centre piece of the whole event. The man who travelled to Japan, improved his craft and showed everyone what he was worth had come home to showcase himself to his upmost with his fellow workers. It seemed that following the main event of that show that various members of the Dragon Gate roster looked almost surprised at how popular PAC was or were perhaps in awe of just how much the fans were reacting to him.

then he has been delivering consistently great matches and his popularity continues to grow.

I’m sure there was a feeling that he would get a good reaction amongst the Japanese wrestlers because he’s from the UK, but perhaps not to that degree.

At the 2010 Dragon Gate UK events he was again the centre piece acting as the British Ambassador and being portrayed as a champion coming home.

“

Regular UK based viewers of Japanese wrestling saw PAC’s improvements in Japan but to some who may have attended the event because they just wanted to experience something different, were shown just how much he had improved and the audience showed their appreciation for that fact.

The reaction that night might have been the largest reaction to him at that point as an overall presence in the ring since he went to Dragon Gate. It’s because of this aura that I feel this particular event acted a proving ground for the high flying Brit and because of the success, not only of his performance, but the event in general it showed his peers that he deserved to be given an opportunity to be elevated to the next level in Japan. This elevation of PAC truly began when he a won a tournament to become the Open The Brave Gate Champion (their second tier singles titles, think back to the good old days of the WWE Intercontinental title) defeating the highly regarded Susumu Yokosuka in the final. Since

Nowadays he’s a quite a focal point, in many ways he is regarded as one of the higher up wrestlers in the promotion. At the Dragon Gate USA second anniversary event he competed for the singles championship against YAMATO and is also one half of the inaugural Dragon Gate USA tag team champions with Masato Yoshino. There is certainly a big time feeling when you look at the way PAC is portrayed in Dragon Gate and who knows where it could go from here. In recent times, particularly during the last UK tour he had been feuding with Dragon Kid. That rivalry will be brought to the forefront once again when Dragon Gate returns to the UK later this year in October. A chance for PAC to showcase himself as a singles wrestler against truly one of best the promotion has to offer! An opportunity I’m sure he’s looking forward too. That is how he has been integrated into the roster to become the star he is. n Contact Jeremy at dkrjeremy@googlemail.com Catch Jeremy’s audio broadcast live every Sunday night at www.DropKickRadio.com

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IN uK WRESTLING WE TRuST

Photos by TONY KNOX

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IN uK WRESTLING WE TRuST

However in 2007, FWA folded and no shows ran under the banner for two years until Tony Simpson and Alex Shane reopened its doors. Since then the outfit has decided to try something new to expand their fan base and increase brand awareness of their product by running shows at the London MCM Expo comic convention and at the sports Memorabilia shows which take place at the Birmingham NEC.

Now the company has recently embarked on a new adventure, running shows at the nations thrill capital Thorpe Park and one of the men at the forefront of this new FWA journey is top UK singles performer Leroy Kincaide. TWP’s Darren Wood sat down with Kincaide to talk about the company running shows at Thorpe Park, the scepticism the company has endured from sections of the UK wrestling industry for running these events and how difficult it has been as a performer to wrestle in front of crowds that aren’t necessarily wrestling fans. Take us back to the day when you realised the FWA would be closing, what were your thoughts at that time and did you think it would return? When I heard it was closing in 2005, I was gutted. When I was doing my training at

rontier Wrestling Alliance or FWA as it is commonly known is one of the most well known wrestling promotions in the UK and since it’s inception by founder Mark Sloan in 1993 the company (then known as the Fratton Wrestling Association) has become one of the standard bearers for professional wrestling on these great isles.

“FOR ME THAT’S BOLLOCKS, THERE ARE A LOT OF GuYS OuT THERE NOW WHO ARE WRESTLING, BuSTING THEIR ASSES FOR NExT TO NOTHING TO PuT WRESTLING ON THE MAP AND THERE ARE PEOPLE LIKE THAT WHO TAKE THE PISS”

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ÂŠ TONY KNOX

IN uK WRESTLING WE TRuST

Dropkixx, the FWA was the daddy, the WWE of England everyone wanted to work there. Although now there is competition from IPW:UK as they have stepped up their game a lot now and there production values are very good, I still think FWA is number one. At the time though the FWA was incredible and I eventually got my chance there, I won the All England Championship and then the

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company ended. At the time I thought that FWA stage was the chance for me to become a star and step up my game, so I was gutted when it closed. So I now ask, what were your thoughts when plans were afoot to re-start the FWA? At first I thought we could go back to what the company had and I was excited but

then there was also apprehension as the company had closed once already and I was worried it would happen again. There were always rumours of the company closing, with four years out all the members of the original roster were different now, some had moved on either out of wrestling or onto different companies and I think myself, Martin Stone, Stixx and Spud are the only

IN uK WRESTLING WE TRuST

original people from the FWA. I thought it was hit or miss whether the company would continue and thank god it has and is moving from strength to strength. Since the FWA’s rebirth in 2009, the company has presented many shows at the Birmingham NEC and at the London Excel what do you think running these convention expo’s have done for FWA and how vital do you feel they are for the company and its growth? Not just for the company but for wrestling as a whole its portraying wrestling in such a different light as before its ridiculous but a lot of people don’t realise that they have to look between the lines, in a business aspect it isn’t the wisest move to have a show at the Excel centre because mostly there are no wrestling fans there at all. However, because we are running shows that are not of a wrestling demographic I feel we are getting British wrestling over to a different audience who may have thought nothing of British wrestling before. In terms of a business FWA is doing great things in terms of trying to get British wrestling over more and the FWA brand, I have big props to FWA’s Tony Simpson and Alex Shane. Recently we have done shows at Thorpe Park and those are absolutely amazing and vital to increasing the growth of the industry as a whole. There was definitely some scepticism from the boys, I mean these are not necessarily wrestling fans, this is not our audience. I didn’t think it would work but risks have to be taken sometimes. There’s huge crowds watching but sometimes it can be frustrating because they’re not necessarily wrestling fans so they sometimes don’t make much noise and can be quite dead. That’s a risk that you take, sometimes the fans are so loud and noisy though. When shows are done in a regular setting the crowd have paid their money to see FWA, so they are in for the long haul, at Thorpe Park and the expo shows crowds pass through all the time, how hard is it to gain crowds attention and how can the FWA garner more attention at these settings do you feel?

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The FWA at Thorpe Park recently had a little struggle at first as it was a case of getting the formula right at the shows. If you give fans too much they walk away judging wrestling to be fake, if you give them too much story they just want to see wrestling. So it was a case of getting the balance right, once we got that formula nailed that was it, the crowds kept coming back for more. The first day we were there it was raining outside and inside the dome where we were was packed they were watching wrestling. The day after though, it was boiling outside so people had no reason to be inside watching wrestling but unbelievably the second day even though it was hot in there it was busier the second day. It was all about the story; people felt the characters and wanted to see what happened next. That’s the formula for these kinds of shows, the characters and the stories progression. You can give them the most technical match ever and they would like it for the athleticism but generally people would pass through and not stay for the whole match. If you gave them two characters in the ring they are there, glued because you are giving them a roller coaster in the ring, the characters and believing in them is important. Do you feel that the company is maybe neglecting some fans by not running purely wrestling based settings in favour of travelling to expos and Thorpe Park? Would you like to see FWA go back to more traditional wrestling shows? I’m 50/50 its all about the companies progression I think, the main thing is if as a performer we are able to wrestle and people are able to watch us wrestle then it doesn’t matter where we do it. We are still putting on a show. I understand that all wrestling promotions have fans, who want to come and support the company through thick and thin and watch all the shows but then at the same time you cant just stay stagnant at one

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IN uK WRESTLING WE TRuST

place forever you have to expand as a business and in terms of marketing to increase your audience. The Holy Grail is to be on TV, the only way to do that is to work from the ground upwards and make contacts which will hopefully come good later on. Is wrestling at places like Thorpe Park a useful learning tool for yourself and others to engage to audiences who are not necessarily wrestling fans and does it help you to solidify your character to maybe garner more mainstream attention? Totally, it’s an unbelievable and wicked way of testing your individual product, as wrestler you are a product. This is a great tool to see how you translate to a mainstream audience and see if people are buying your individual product or if work needs to be done on your character. People buy into characters that are real or that they can be associated with, so kids look up to us want to be like us, mums are thinking that they wish they had a man like that and men are thinking they would like to look like us. This is where these shows enable us to actually really work and show people outside of the normal wrestling crowds what we have to offer. For a performer individually I believe doing these shows helps more because we gauge what

IN uK WRESTLING WE TRuST

the masses of people are going to buy into, as opposed to just the normal that wrestling fans see. The European Uprising event in November of last year certainly got a lot of people talking about the FWA, and its fair to say the event really had a mixed reaction with audiences(the show was supposed to be one of the biggest events the UK has ever seen and would also feature the first ever UK hall of fame). What are your personal thoughts on the show and from your opinion and the companies was it frustrating to see the proposed British hall of fame idea not come about in the way most would have planned? I was only there for one day so what I saw in terms of response it wasn’t the best, there wasn’t an awful lot of people about and it was difficult because it had been built up a massive amount. So it was a shame how It turned out, the show as a whole went well and there was some good feedback. The hall of fame however, I believe there were British people who were supposed to be inducted into the hall of fame but from what I heard people were talking bullshit, which is where the politics get in the way. The FWA wanted to appreciate the work that was done back in the day of Haystacks, Big Daddy etc. We wanted to do it in a nice big show, like WWE honouring people who helped pave the way for the stars of today. Now that is a very nice way of looking at it but some people have a very narrow mind and there were some people who wanted a lot of money to appear, so they snubbed it. This is the attitude I hate in wrestling, from where I am standing the people that were asked but didn’t attend due to money issues were taking a liberty, the FWA was only honouring their career. For me that’s bollocks, there are a lot of guys out there now who are wrestling, busting their asses for next to

nothing to put wrestling on the map and there are people like that who take the piss. This was everyone’s way to say thank you and some people snubbed it, just thinking of the money. It’s just an old school opinion The resistance and Agenda storyline is one which has had a mixed reaction with wrestling fans given that it does indeed blur the line between fiction and reality what are your thoughts on the storyline itself? I think the storyline is good in terms of getting people to believe in and fight for a cause; we always have people in life around us who have this hidden agenda. It happens to be very current in wrestling as people have a lot of mixed agendas. It’s a solid storyline but it has come to a point where its probably too much, it needs a diversion you cant just portray too much negative there has to be a positive to it. The storyline as a whole has a lot of twists and turns in it so it’s hard to say where its going at the moment but it seems to be working with a lot of the audiences at the Expos and Thorpe Park. I think the storyline however can be quite hard to follow when the casual fans are watching at these events and can be even harder to follow for passers by. Perhaps at these sort of shows the viewers need to have a storyline that’s a little less intense, you can still have an element of the Agenda and Resistance but you can’t have too many twists to a non regular audience or they will get lost. Thanks for the interview Leroy, is there anything else you would like to add.

Yeah, keep supporting British wrestling and the FWA. You can keep up to date with all the happenings in FWA by visiting www.fwauk.com

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IN uK WRESTLING WE TRuST

NOAH in Hoddeston by MATT WATERS

he Broxbourne Civic Hall played host to the first night of Pro

Wrestling NOAH's European Navigation 2011 – the company's first excursion to British shores in three years – and what an incredible night of action it was. Featuring some of the finest talent from Japan, Britain and the USA in seven exhilarating matches, night one of the tour left an impression on the

UK fans they aren't likely to forget any time soon. While the secluded English town of Hoddesdon might not have been the kind of venue big name stars like KENTA, Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli were used to, the Civic Hall itself made for a tremendous venue, with a spacious lobby filled with merchandise tables, plenty of seating, a modest stage for entrances, and a generous amount of room between the ring and guard rails (none of which were crushed up against the audience as can happen at some wrestling shows). Further contributing to the atmosphere was the collective electricity of the 600 strong crowd, who remained vocal from the word go until after the final curtain, enthusiastically cheering for every performer that graced the ring, from the GHC Heavyweight Champion

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IN uK WRESTLING WE TRuST

Takashi Sugiura right down to pre-show talents Danny Garnell and Robbie Dynamite. Speaking of Garnell and Dynamite, they were the pre-show match and despite being the weakest contest on the card, it was by no means a poor effort, with both men flying over the top rope and crashing onto the hardwood floor with a sickening thud, putting their bodies on the line to entertain the crowd as best they could. If not for phenomenally talented individuals they shared the billing with, this

show encounter between Dynamite and Garnell, the crowd were treated to another fine outing from rising star and UK native Zack Sabre Jr., who more than held his own against one of NOAH's finest Katsuhiko Nakajima. Sabre has built himself quite the international reputation after a one month stay in the USA that saw him compete for half a dozen promotions, each and every appearance earning him rave reviews. It was more of the same on this night as even in defeat Sabre was met with a standing ovation. But when it came to the best match of the night there could only be two contenders. The first was the frenetic opener of the main card, pitting GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion Kotaro Suzuki against rival and former partner Ricky Marvin. The second was the main event of the evening, featuring Takashi Sugiura defending his world title against one of the United Kingdom's best kept secrets Dave Mastiff. Choosing a winner from the two

Noah European Navigation 2011 : Night 1 DVD Trailer

Taiji Ishomori and Satoshi Kajiwara's match was all about high flying, with both men's agility on full display, while the Kings of Wrestling and Atsushi Aoki & Takeshi Morishima's bout was a battle of strikes, as each team did its best to knock the other out. When it came to KENTA & Bobby Fish against Go Shiozaki & Shuhei Taniguchi, the crowd got a little bit of everything, with Fish demonstrating submission expertise, Taniguchi bringing raw power, and KENTA and Shiozaki doing everything but light the ring on fire with their hate-filled and blisteringly fast-paced exchanges providing the highlight of the match.

ÂŠ ROB BRAZIER

match would have been considered a strong showing for two of the UK's stars, but few men could hope to contend with the awe inspiring abilities of the native NOAH wrestlers.

It wasn't all about the Japanese and American talent however, as in addition to the solid pre-

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IN uK WRESTLING WE TRuST

matches depends entirely on personal preferences as the former was the best technical match of the night and the latter drew the biggest reaction of the evening from the fans.

Wrestling and their opponents Morishima and Aoki signing autographs and taking pictures, as well as the usual enormous compliment of DVDs and merchandise available for purchase.

The first fifteen seconds of Suzuki and Marvin's match blew the pre-show out of the water with both men executing take downs, throws, kicks and dives in the blink of an eye. It was high speed, high risk and high impact. While Marvin's charisma and Suzuki's precision had every fan in attendance eating out of their hands, neither man could drum up the kind of frenzy that came with the GHC World Title match. Those unfamiliar with Dave Mastiff's work might have raised an eyebrow at his appearance in the main event, and his appearance generally, weighing well over 300 pounds despite being less than six feet tall. After the first few methodical minutes were spent mostly on the mat things moved into another gear when Mastiff began taking to the top rope, executing a pair of moonsaults that rallied the crowd into an absolute fever pitch. Despite Sugiura's ultimate triumph and successful title defence, Mastiff became a hero in the eyes of everyone in the building that night.

The Red Cross were present throughout the event, collecting for the Japan tsunami relief effort, and to help further raise funds a generous selection of prizes were auctioned off to the crowd, including signed DVDs and posters, tickets to night two's Meet and Greet event, and the opportunity to accompany the Kings of Wrestling to ringside for their match.

In addition to the wrestling there was plenty to entertain the Broxbourne fans, with the Kings of

All in all there wasn't a disappointed wrestling fan in the building on May 13th, with some of the finest performers on the planet putting forth a supreme effort despite the show not taking place of thousands in Madison Square Garden or Korakuen Hall. In fact yours truly went home with a signed shirt and photo with the Kings, and GHC Champion Takashi Sugiura's shirt. n Contact Matt at matt_waters2@hotmail.com

NOAH Invades Wolverhampton by ROSS STUART

ÂŠ ROB BRAZIER

aturday May 14th saw the superstars of NOAH invade Wolverhampton in an amazing night of hard hitting pro wrestling.

The first thing that is striking about Amerchandise (the organisers of the NOAH UK events) is their excellent communication with the fans. The first announcement of the wrestlers to appear on the shows is advertised months in advance along with the cost of tickets and full details of the venue. Questions from fans seem to be answered speedily and concisely and the organisers even advise fans of the approximate finish time of the event â&#x20AC;&#x201C; something that is invaluable to people often travelling considerable distances to see the show.

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IN uK WRESTLING WE TRuST

The first contest of the night was a ‘bonus match’ between current 4FW Heavyweight Champion The Saint and Taiji Ishimori. Both guys did an excellent job of getting the crowd warmed up with an array of exciting false finishes. Ishimori came out on top after an awesome 450 splash. Already the crowd were red hot and the show had not officially begun. Next up was an auction on behalf of the Japanese Red Cross in aid of the earthquake and tsunami that wreaked havoc on Japan in March. The roster came down to ringside and joined the crowd in a moments silence to remember the victims. Two especially generous fans then offered a sizable sum between them to accompany the Kings of Wrestling to the ring later in the night. The next match, and official show opener, pitted UK veteran Jonny Storm against Mexican wrestler, and mainstay of NOAH roster, Ricky Marvin. This was one for fans of fast-paced, high-flying action with both men busting out big dives, head-scissors and hurricanranas, wowing the Wolverhampton crowd. Marvin managed to best Storm with a roll-up. Next up was another long-standing member of the British wrestling scene - James Mason who was up against American Bobby Fish. This was completely different to the previous match, being a highly technical encounter full of impressive holds and counter holds, but equally as enjoyable. Mason was able to grab the win on his home soil with a quick pin. The crowd were then treated to the first allJapanese match-up of the night when NOAH wrestler Atsushi Aoki battled Satoshi Kajiwara from the Kensuke Office promotion. This was a good back-and-forth contest with Aoki taking the win via an armbar submission. Wolverhampton had already seen four topquality matches but the gears were about to get shifted dramatically. In the house were NOAH and ROH stand-outs, The Kings of Wrestling - Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli - who were about to square off with Shuhei

Taniguchi and the big man himself - Takeshi Morishima. We were about to witness something special and we certainly did. This was the hard-hitting, dramatic, rollercoaster of a match that Japanese wrestling is famed for. A great build-up with some aweinspiring moves culminating in a series of brilliant false finishes in front of a supercharged crowd made a match that everyone should go out of their way to see. The KRS-1 finished the match for the KOW in front of a standing ovation from the crowd. Amazing stuff. It was unlikely to get any better than that but Go Shiozaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima came close. This was the story of Go’s chops versus Nakajima’s kicks. A highlight included a brainbuster to Nakajima on the entrance stage continuing the theme of the fighters putting everything on the line for the crowd. This one went to a time-limit draw.

“

Next up was one of the most anticipated contests of the night British stand-out Zack Sabre Jr versus NOAH Junior Heavyweight star KENTA. Sabre more than held his own in an intense, physical bout but was ultimately bested by a GTS from KENTA. A good showing from the young Brit.

The main event featured the GHC Heavyweight Champion Takashi Suguira defending his belt against Kotaro Suzuki. It was getting increasingly difficult to follow a number of such high-calibre match-ups but this was a solid championship bout most notable for the fact that, by winning, Suiguira equalled the number of title defenses by that of Japanese legend Kenta Kobashi. A fitting end to an incredible night of professional wrestling. The DVD of this show is now on sale at Amerchandise.com. Also on sale now are tickets for their next set of supershows - this time featuring the stars of Dragon Gate wrestling. If this night was anything to go by then you definitely don’t want to miss out! n Contact Ross at ross.stuart@yahoo.co.uk

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SCOttiSH WreStLer LiONHeArt WriteS eXCLUSiVeLY fOr tWP

Wrestling Lesson #2

THE ART OF SELLING

ontinuing with my “wrestling lesson” theme, a slightly less painful one this month where I learned more about actually working properly in a match. And by working I mean more specifically selling. In March, 2008, I had what was at the time the biggest match of my career, against ROH and PWG Superstar El Generico. At the time I was so incredibly nervous about the match, by far more so than any before. When planning the match (assuming I can defy kayfabe and mention that term) I had a clear idea in my head of how I was best going to move and sell every move Generico hit me with. I was keen to make an impression and hopefully have him go away thinking I was a top rate worker, which at the time I thought I was. Fast forward to the match and despite feeling the single hardest chops I have ever felt in my life (no selling required) I was happy with how the match was progressing and how strong

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my “heat” was ( I was playing heel). Now it was time for “The Generic Luchador” comeback…. He fired up with a few shots; I cut him off with a cheap shot and ran off the ropes fully aware that a big spinning heel kick was coming my way… And boom, perfect execution from Generico who had already bounced up ready to follow it up and… I’m laying on the ground like I’m dead. Not because I’m hurt or unable to get up, but because I’m thinking that laying flat on my back as if I were dead was how to sell a move effectively. It’s funny because like most of my matches, I do cringe when I look back at it… “FEED UP YOU C**T” I find myself shouting at the TV screen.

“

Now again, like before this is down to me thinking (at the time) I knew all there was to know about working a match, selling moves etc. When very clearly I knew f**k all. Various other points in the

After the match Generico was great sitting down with me and while the match was by no means bad, there was clearly room for improvement and he took time to highlight this to me. What he told me was, in independent wrestling, you do not have the multiple TV camera angles to show you or the action from the best view, and you don’t have commentators to put over what is happening. You have to tell the story to your audience. And you do that by your body language, your facial expressions. If you are just lying there flat on the mat with no visual to the audience, you’re not telling the story, and the audience will get bored. It made perfect sense. If you are given a move and want the audience to believe you are in pain, act like you are in pain, sit up, writhe about, hold your back or whichever area is supposed to hurt, and most importantly show the pain in your face. Sell yourself and the match to your audience… Again, like most lessons I’ve learned, seems easy when you say it like that.

match weren’t much better. I’d take a backbreaker and roll onto my front with my face buried in the mat… How that sells your back I have no idea but hey ho…

I haven’t had the opportunity to work with Generico again since that time; he has gone on to even greater success than he had at that time. The 15 minutes or so he spent with me following our match taught me a great deal about “working” and really helped me better myself as a performer. Hopefully I can have the privilege of working with him again in the future. n

Interested in advertising in The Wrestling Press? E-mail Darren Wood at dtwooduk@hotmail.com for further details

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“tHe CA

XCLUSiVeLY e S e it r W L” e B e r NADiAN

fOr t WP

Getting into the wrestling business

lot of kids nowadays might have big dreams of being on the WWE stage one of these days, aspiring to break into the wrestling business to begin that arduous and snareinfested trek to their hoped-for promised land. On the other hand, there are kids who might not see WWE as the be all and end all of the wrestling business, and perhaps their aspirations lean towards becoming a star in Mexico or Japan. Heck, some of the kids that I have trained have unequivocally stated that they only aspire to wrestle in Finland per se, with no goals of wrestling abroad. Yet, whatever the goal, there are tons of kids on the outside looking for a way to get in and it stands to mention that it’s hard to hit a goal that you cannot see, so the more you can crystallize what you want to achieve the more it will drive you to succeed. For me, my initiation into the wrestling business took some balls and creativity in addition to serendipitous timing. I was 18 years old, living in Calgary, Canada on my own. I was going to the Alberta College of Art, and I hated every 84

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second of it. After one four month semester, I was done with it, and I had no aspirations of chasing my artistic potential at that point (it should be mentioned that I am a very gifted A very young Mike “Canadian illustrator and Rebel” Majalahti graphic artist, even running my own business in the past for seven years). After Art College I was out on my own, with no money coming in and my parents called to tell that all of the money they had saved up from their meagre earnings in the past (my father was a pastor of small immigrant Finnish churches in Canada and the USA) had been burned up within less than a half year at Art

College. With interest rates on student loans clocking in at a monumental 18% there was no way I was looking to end up shit creek without a paddle at that point anyway. I finally landed a job at a bottled water plant in Calgary. It was the bottom of the totem pole, I can tell you. I was the warehouse monkey, washing out plastic water bottles all day with chemicals and then refilling them with spring, distilled or what-have-you water for distribution to the drivers. I did graveyard shifts in addition to my day job, driving up from Calgary to Edmonton in the middle of the night weekly to get stocked up on spring water to bring back to Calgary. I would be nodding off at the wheel on that 350km stretch several times, and to this day I am flabbergasted that the cops never caught me coursing towards the prairie ditches. Hell, I am amazed I never had an accident on those trips, because I was being run ragged. It was no job with any kind of future and I really would have killed to be doing something more rewarding, as every second week the last five bucks I had in my bank account went into my gas tank so that I could drive to work It was brutal. Yet, during those dark and dreary times of bottled water limbo, I stumbled upon an industrial area of Calgary where a taxi company was stationed and run by a guy who had been known as the manager of Karachi Vice by the name of Abu Wizal during Stampede Wrestling’s last run. I did not recognize Wizal, but when I stepped inside the office to bring this random client his supply of weekly water, I looked at the framed photos on the walls. The office was decked with Stampede Wrestling greats, either posed or in action, and I naturally asked about the photos. That is when Wizal told me who he was, upon which I immediately grilled him as to whether there was anything happening wrestling-wise in the city at the time. Wizal mentioned that in the fall of 1992 a new company was opening up, to be run by Steve DiSalvo (formerly Steve Strong for Gino Brito’s International Wrestling

from Montreal and under his real name for Stu Hart’s Stampede) and Beef Wellington (Chris Benoit’s old Stampede tag team partner, who also wrestled in WCW’s NWA Tag Team Tournament back in the Bill Watts era of WCW in the early summer of 1992 at a Clash of the Champions event).

“

I got DiSalvo’s number off of Wizal, as it turned out that the former Steve Strong was now in the realty business. When I first called DiSalvo, I am sure I came off as the most overanxious mark in the world, as I tried to sell him on my graphic arts skills. What was I going to do, draw fan art of the coming roster for merchandizing? I didn’t have a clue, but I had a whole lot of heart and drive, and a

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Mike vs Lance Storm

lot of times those two defining factors weigh more than any other arguments you can pose. DiSalvo pretty much gave me the runaround and I cannot even remember his reply, but whatever it was it didn’t dissuade me. I showed up unannounced at DiSalvo’s realty office with my briefcase in hand, full of my original artwork. I was sure to win over DiSalvo with my graphic aptitude, and so I sat in his waiting room until all others had come and gone. DiSalvo reluctantly took me in to his office and listened to what I had to say. I basically told him if there was anything that I could do to help in their upcoming wrestling promotion, I would be glad to do it. It was at that time that I believe I pitched him the possibility of being a ring announcer for them, plus a TV announcer should they need it.

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DiSalvo quickly put me in contact with Wellington, probably to lose the unwanted shadow behind him, so here I was next, making my sales pitch to Beef Wellington. To his credit, Wellington took a chance on a total, oblivious 18-year old mark. Wellington’s and DiSalvo’s new promotion was dubbed Rocky Mountain Pro Wrestling, and they were to run weekly at Calgary’s Victoria Park Civic Center. The very first card was slated for September 1992 if I correctly recall, and I was told to dress in a suit and tie and show up. I did exactly that, shaking like an epileptic when I pulled into the driveway of the Civic Center for my first foray into the wrestling business. I was nervous as hell, being all too aware of the people with all their eyes on me when I stood center ring to do my best Gary Michael Capetta meets Rhubarb Jones (old NWA ring announcers from the mid-tolate 80’s) impersonation. The first card from

RMPW also happened to be a TV pilot, which was being commentated live by DiSalvo and some random semi-known actor from Calgary. DiSalvo’s sidekick sucked so bad that midcard DiSalvo called to have him replaced and they ushered me to fill in. Here I was again, the over-exuberant mark, talking on top of DiSalvo more times than the law would allow, but at least I was better than my predecessor. After it was all said and done, I must have done something right because they asked me back in both capacities on several occasions, and for a year and a half I was the regular ring announcer for RCMP. It was during this time that I found out about the less desirable sides of the wrestling business, such as wrestling politics and backstabbing. A referee by the name of Ed Langley had it in for me. He had gone to Wellington and ratted me out, claiming I was

talking shit about RCMP to the Harts, a few of whom I knew (that would be another story altogether, how I brazenly walked up to Stu Hart’s door and introduced myself, only to have Stu take me in and demonstrate a sleeper on me). I knew Smith Hart pretty well, and as many have probably heard, the Harts could stir a lot of shit amongst themselves even. However, this time it was Ed Langley’s void stories about my supposed subterfuge that brought Wellington to take me aside and ask what the hell was going on. I refuted all of Langley’s claims about me, and Wellington let me off the hook. Hey, I was innocent! Wellington would later drop out as the promoter, only to be replaced by Langley. It was then that I thought that my days as part of the business were over, as Ed smoked me out of the dressing room and got what he

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wanted. The only problem was, whoever they had filling in for me in the months of 1993 when I was not there was not cutting it. In short order, Karl Moffat (Jason The Terrible of Stampede Wrestling fame) had taken over booking the territory and he was the new sheriff in town. Karl called me up personally and asked me to come back and so I did. It was during Karl’s run that he took an interest in training me once a week on Wednesday nights at the Civic Center, if I correctly recall. It was me and a few of the new guys, basically very green kids who needed guidance and ring time, and Karl would run us through the mill. I recall Karl hitting us with everything. Everything connected and you sure as hell knew you were getting pasted in that ring. I remember taking headbutts from him that would clonk my skull but good. It was an old school initiation that I would learn to treasure and respect over the course of my career and life. I once put my forearm in the way of Karl’s shoulderblocks to my gut in the corner, and when he noticed what I was doing to dull the impact he screamed at me. ”If you EVER do that again, I will tear your fucking head off!” he bellowed intimidatingly.

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Needless to say, I took every shot and blow like a man from there on out. I cannot thank Karl Moffat enough for his contributions to my working morale and respect for the traditions of this business, as without his unforgiving discipline I might not be where I am today. Over the course of 1993, I had become fast friends with a few of the wrestlers in RCMP. Guys like Karl, Lance Storm, Chris Jericho and Brett Como all became friends to one degree or another. Especially Chris Jericho, who would later go on to gift me a pair of his old wrestling boots to start my active in-ring career with, and Lance Storm, whom I became training partners with for a one-year period at The Gym in Calgary. I would train with Lance three or four times a week at The Gym, and one random day Lance said to me, ”I see the passion that you

‘Wildside’ vs Jake Steele, Detroit 1994

have for wrestling, and if you want I can train you”. There was a kid from Australia that was coming in on the offseason to be trained at the Hart Bros. School and Lance needed a training partner for him, since Lance needed to focus on the coaching. It was an offer that I was sure not to turn down, let me assure you. The only problem was that when Lance made the offer to me, Ed Langley was still running the Hart Bros. Wrestling School (as was well-documented in Chris Jericho’s book A Lion’s Tale: Around the World in Spandex), and as has already become clear, Ed hated me. So I asked Lance, ”What if Ed doesn’t want me there?” to which he replied, ”If Ed doesn’t want you, then I won’t do it either.” That is the kind of bond and friendship that Lance and I shared back in the day, and I will be ever indebted to Lance for his unselfish contribution to my career. I didn’t own a pot to piss in back then (not that I own that much more now), and there was no way I could pay the circa. 5000 CAN for wrestling schooling at Hart Bros. Lance extended his hand to me in friendship and allowed me to train with him for free, never asking for a penny of compensation. That, my friends, is the mark of a quality individual. I would go on to wrestle against Lance in my debut match on January 7, 1994 in

Calgary. Lance gave me an opportunity to show some aptitude in that outing, before pinning me with a jack-knife powerbomb in 7:00 sharp. Upon getting back to the locker room, the boys broke out in applause, not believing that a green kid like me could have a match of that calibre, but then again, look at who I was in the ring with. I couldn’t have asked for a better startout, really. From there on out I would go on to wrestle across Canada as Mike Wildside (I took the last name from Motley Crue’s famous Wildside single, as they were my favourite band of all time), even venturing on occasion to the US for a few dates. In June of 1996, in the middle of a bad economic recession, I moved out to Finland, Europe (the homeland of my parents) to wait out the drought. For

reasons beyond my comprehension, I started my own graphic art business in Finland in October 1996 and I got stuck here to this day. I would go on to front several heavy rock bands, tour Europe, become the pioneer of Finnish pro wrestling in 2003, school talent in wrestling all over Scandinavia and in the process become one of the top names on the European continent, before I became a red-hot attraction in Japan recently. So it didn’t turn out too bad for this son of a preacher man, who came from very meagre means and much antagonism to live out his dream of becoming a featured somebody in this business that we call professional wrestling.

StarBuck, www.starbuck.fi

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almost missed the deadline for this column. I have been on the road quite a lot lately, because this is one of the jobs that belong to being a wrestler.

Travelling has good and bad sides, of course. It is a bit more difficult for me because I have travel-sickness and I get sick every time if someone drives in a stop-and-go style. First I

get really hot and cold and my stomach feels tight and then I always pray that I don’t throw up. But until now that has only happened once on a tour :) You really have to like travelling, sometimes we are five people in one car and take at least 10 hours. The food at the service areas and the mostly dirty toilets also shouldn’t bother you and

popular European wrestler alpha Female joins TWP with a series of exclusive articles....

E L A M E F A H P AL 90

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I travel a lot in France, I was able to go to Istanbul in Turkey lately, and I have to remark it is definitely different but still very beautiful. I also was already in Africa, Spain, Italy, Finland and so on just to name some great countries. Everything has its pros and cons in life, and however much I and the others get annoyed at having to sit in the car for so long or at all the security controls at the airport, we always get rewarded with the beauty of nature... And while I am just talking about travelling, it was my birthday at the start of the month and on June 4th, I was in Turkey, then in Germany at an intermediate stop and then in Paris for a fight. It was really funny, because who can claim to have been in three countries on his special day? Ok, the disadvantage of it was that there was no big party and my friends were waiting for me at home but I have chosen life on the road and I don’t regret it at all! The ones of you who have read my last column know that I had a title match in Turkey and I can be proud to say that I won the fight and can call myself Turkish Power Wrestling Female Champ now. I had a hard and ambitious opponent, some may know her. The wrestler Shanna from Portugal. She was successful in France and at Eve in England. She is a sporty, talented and good-looking young woman who works herself to the top with her ambition. I wish her luck and I hope we will fight some more battles in the ring. It’s always fun to go into the ring with talented women, with women who mean it seriously and who perform wrestling with passion and aren’t afraid of injuries. So I have to be fair and acknowledge that Shanna competed in Turkey with an injured knee although her doctor had desperately advised her not to. She will be operated on soon and hopefully get back into

the ring at her best. Good luck, Shanna! At the beginning of June I had a TV performance in a German broadcast called “Tell the truth”. For those who don’t know the broadcast, there are four stars who have to find the one of the three candidates who is telling the truth. In my case we were three women all claiming to be wrestlers but actually only I was one. They had invited a bodybuilder and the jury had first thought it was her but eventually they unmasked me. All in all it was a successfull performance and they showed some extracts from my fight at Pro Wrestling Eve. I try to work a lot with the media to make wrestling more popular again. Sometimes it works out quite well but of course the reports aren’t very good sometimes. My opinion is that they mainly should talk about wrestling and the viewer can decide for himself whether he likes it or not. The annoying question if wrestling is real or not I can only answer: the ones who love it don’t need any explanation and the ones who hate it can never get an answer that satisfies them! In this spirit I tell you love it or leave it! © SARAH BARRACLOUGH

well, the massive shortage of space, too. The pungent smell you usually don’t notice, only if you stop for a while and then get back into the car... But enough about the bad things. You shouldn’t forget, you get to see the most beautiful places on earth and this mostly for free if you don’t have to pay for your own flight ticket.

xoxo your Alpha Female n Website: www.alphafemale.de

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DVD

BLu-RAY

WWE WrestleMania xxVII Supplier: Silvervision (www.silvervision.co.uk) Price: DVD £17.99, Blu Ray £22.99 No. of Discs: DVD – 3, Blu Ray - 3 Wrestlemania 27 was promised to be the most electrifying event in Sports Entertainment history. It was a possibility, with The Rock and Stone Cold both being on the event, Trish Stratus returning for the Divas division, and an epic HHH and Undertaker encounter we had some great foundations for an excellent show. Sadly, Wrestlemania didn’t quite live up to it’s hype. In fact, it’s one of the poorer Mania’s of recent memory. Whilst it still had moments, there was still far too many pointless segments and the Rock as guest host seemed redundant when it was clear he was only their to get involved in the main event. However, this isn’t a review of the show, but more the quality of the DVD and Blu Ray, and these have managed to reach expectation. The Blu Ray obviously has a superior picture and greater sound quality, as well as including the preceding RAW and Smackdown shows along with the Wrestlemania 28 announcement from RAW the night after Mania 27. However the regular DVD holds it own with a DVD exclusive of the ‘Legendary Moments’ DVD that was previously only available in Wal*Mart in America. I love having the RAW and Smackdown’s included, and that usually sways me towards the Blu Ray releases, but the Legendary Moments countdown is a really fun DVD featuring many great moments.

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Outside of the difference in video and audio quality, and the extra features, the main edits of Wrestlemania are exactly the same. Some middle fingers were edited out, some crowd boos, along with Metallica and Johnny Cash’s music for the HHH and ‘Taker entrances. But everything else is clear and present. With the quality of the transfer to the Blu Ray and DVD media, it’s easy to recommend Wrestlemania 27 to any WWE collector. Whilst it’s not the best Mania is history, it’s still enjoyable, and they both come with the Complete Hall of Fame 2011 inductions, along with the extra features exclusive to each version which really add to the value, especially the DVD. Those who are perhaps just looking to pick up a DVD to see a great event with fantastic wrestling may be better served with a different event. MARTYN LICCHELLI

BOOK

Brock Lesnar: Death Clutch Print length: 224 pages Price: £9.99 paperback(Amazon) It’s pretty common knowledge that Brock Lesnar is an extremely private person; and this statement has never been more evident than in his new autobiography Death Clutch, in which he states. “When I am on the job, I am there to entertain you. But when I’m not on the job I don’t owe anything to anybody”. While over the years many autobiographies have been used as a way to share a feast of insight and dish the dirt on former employees. However when given his chance to do just that, Lesnar has chose to play his cards deceptively close to his chest. One of the most interesting parts of the book is Lesnar describing his apparent hatred for the wrestling business, constantly referring to what Curt Hennig told him “Get in to get out”. It’s evident that he hated the travel schedule, while getting on with his co-workers he never really trusted them and that he detested the politics of having to constantly shake every guy in the locker rooms hand on arrival, even though he would have only seen them a few hours ago. Other plus points are that Lesnar gives a pretty good picture of Vince McMahon’s mind games; he also reveals an intriguing insight into the fact that during his run with WWE, he was taking quantities of Vicodin and washing them down with Vodka. He also talks about his long legal battle he had to engage in to regain his freedom after foolishly signing a lengthy non-compete agreement when he left WWE. Lesnar had a whirlwind career in WWE and while some issues are explained, there isn’t much detail on offer here at all. In fact there are

too many things that are glossed over, which doesn’t come as much of a surprise, seeing as the book is only a mere 210 pages long. In-ring descriptions are something which are severely lacking. One of the matches that has undoubtedly been talked a lot about over the years (and not in glowing terms) has been his battle with Goldberg at WrestleMania XX. While Brock tells us that he was originally supposed to squash Goldberg in 30 seconds, before giving the company his notice. The details of the unbelievably surreal scene that took place at the world’s most famous arena, Madison Square Garden that night are completely missing, leaving fans with more questions than answers, what happened after the contest, what were both he and Goldberg thinking during the bout? We may never know. If you are in fact a fan of his MMA career then you may feel a little short changed, as compared to the pro wrestling chapters not much is mentioned in the way of his current stint in the UFC. He does unload quite honestly in his opinion of Frank “Golden horshoe up his ass” Mir and his thoughts on his loss to Cain Velasquez; everything else is really just glossed over. This book could have been one of the top wrestling/MMA autobiographies out there, if Lesnar had allowed himself to let go and be more vocal. On the contrary that just isn’t his personality. While the book flows nicely and there certainly are no dull moments Death Clutch will leave readers gasping for more. However, if you’re a fan of a more in depth read and enjoy hearing about a workers career in great detail, from tales of road stories to their honest thoughts on matches then I would suggest giving the book a miss. DARREN WOOD

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DVD

TNA Turning Point / Final Resolution Supplier: TNA Wrestling Price: £12.45 (TheHut.com) No. of Discs: 2 The latest in the series of TNA “Double Pack” Pay-Per-View events has hit the shelves, looking to entice you into buying by offering not one, but two full shows for effectively the price of one. As I've said before, it's a smart move from the company to offer a package which spans the companies storyline arcs over 2 months, taking in the big matches and often showing the conclusion of a certain story or feud. Turning Point and Final Resolution took place in November and December of 2010 respectively and both events feature a lot of good in-ring action, if not a little similar across the package. Disc 1 (Turning Point) features the dependable X Division opening the show in style with a great little contest between Robbie E and Jay Lethal, which makes it even more perplexing that Lethal has since been released and is no longer a member of the TNA roster. The Motor City Machine Guns also defend the TNA Tag Team Titles against Team 3D, possibly for the last time. If so, this match is a fitting way to end the career of one of the most decorated tag-teams of all time. Rob Van Dam vs. Tommy Dreamer in a No DQ match will appeal greatly to those who were fans of the original ECW while the show also serves to wrap-up the Fortune vs. EV 2.0 saga with both factions facing off in a 10-man tag bout. Unfortunately, the show drags a little towards the end as the premier trio of main event matches don't really live up to their billing. Abyss vs. “The Pope” D'Angelo Dinero offers little in the way of

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entertainment, while Jeff Jarrett vs. Samoa Joe shows just how unmotivated Joe seems to be these days with the company. Jeff Hardy defends his TNA World Heavyweight Title against Mat Morgan in a bout which comes across as nothing more than the main event of flagship broadcast, iMPACT! The one damning criticism I would have of this package would be the aforementioned similarity between the events. The top trio of matches from Turning Point are repeated, with the same running order, for the following show – Final Resolution. Disc 2 (Final Resolution), while similar to its predecessor on PPV, is the better show as a whole. Tara vs. Mickie James in a Falls Count Anywhere Match is a wild brawl which harks back to the WWF “Attitude” Era of Hardcore matches. Rob Van Dam vs. Rhino is yet another brutal brawl and Beer Money show their consistency in the opening tag contest against Ink Inc. The highlight of the entire 2 disc set is clearly the “Full Metal Mayhem” match between The Motor City Machine Guns and Generation Me. Going all out for over 15 minutes; this is action personified and is exactly why both Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley are so vital to the tag-team scene in TNA. Sadly, despite a stellar effort in the above match, there's little to recommend in actually buying this set. I hate to repeat myself like a broken record but there's little to distinguish these events in presentation from the free iMPACT! TV show and quite a lot of the in-ring action can be taken in during those broadcasts too. The company have recently re-branded themselves as, “Impact Wrestling” and its clear that there needs to be a change in the way Pay-Per-View shows are presented when compared to the TV stage. JAMIE KENNEDY

DVD

Adam Cole in CZW: The Rise Discs: 2 Price: $15 plus $5 for shipping in USA, $10 shipping elsewhere Order at: www.AdamColePro.com Very rarely, there are true talents in wrestling that have the "It Factor", Adam Cole is one person who is the complete package as you will no doubt see if you watch the independent scene. This great 2 disc set features 8 of Cole's favourite matches starting with his debut leading up to his first CZW World Jr Heavyweight Title win. Cole seamlessly links between his matches in a sitdown talk and of course anyone who knows Cole will know that his work is way up there with the best on the independent scene. It's fitting that Cole's debut match was with his best friend Tyler Veritas (now Ty Hagen) in what was a very good introduction to the Combat Zone at the Chris Ca$h Memorial show back in September '08. I was instantly impressed with his great moves that he executed (The Panama Sunrise in particular) and his overall work rate. It was predicted that big things would come his way if he kept it up. Needless to say, the fact I'm

reviewing a "Best Of" DVD of him, proves that he is doing just that. Onwards through the 2 discs, we see Cole excel in various singles and tag matches, with my favourite match being the 4 way tag match Cole and Veritas won against BLKOUT, Spanish Armada and Team Macktion. It was a great display of how tag teams should work. And when you watch through this, you are rewarded with a great final match for the CZW Jr Heavyweight Title of Cole v Sabian v Ruckus. This was the highlight for Adam at the time of the DVD being released. Since then, he's not stopped, adding the 2011 Best of the Best trophy to his collection and still holding the CZW Jr Heavyweight Belt, and has even defended it in England at one point against Joey Hayes. Also, his stellar performances have caught the attention of Ring of Honor, where he teams with Kyle O'Reilly, and if you haven't seen their matches, I seriously advise you do, they are nothing short of great. In short, Adam Cole delivers whenever needed and I'm sure he'll continue to stride forward and who knows where he may end up in 2012... But for now, I recommend all wrestling fans buy this if they want to see a true talent at work. ANDREW DIXON

COMPETITION TIME!!!

We have a copy of this great DVD SIGNED BY ADAM COLE ready to give away to a lucky reader if you can answer this simple question... Who was Adam Cole's opponent in his debut at CZW? All entries can be sent to andrew.dixon_1990@yahoo.co.uk

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DVD

Lionheart DVD Supplier: Any live event he is on or you can contact him at http://www.facebook.com/ AdrianLionheartMcCallum Price: £15 Discs: 3

WIN a sIGNEd cOpy!!!! See page 43 for details Without a doubt, Lionheart is the top star on the UK independent scene and if anyone ever needed any proof, all you have to do is check out this 3-disc set chronicling his rise up to where he is today. It is important to note that this isn’t a WWE DVD, there is no documentary, or even extra commentary from the star himself. This is as plain and simple as it comes. Disc 1 features 4 matches from April 2007 to October 2008. Lionheart fans are treated right from the get go with his entertaining scrap between then departing Drew Galloway (Drew McIntyre to WWE fans) from PBW in which both don’t hold back, I like to see it as a passing of the torch from Scotland’s then top guy to the new rising star. Further proof that Lionheart is the real deal is here in a great match with US indy favourite El Generico. The plucky Scot isn’t afraid to get extreme either as he steps up to win a four way Money in the Bank ladder match against Johnny Moss, Dave Mastiff and Falcon. And finally for disc 1, an enthralling triple threat match against Darkside and Wolfgang. Already from watching just these four matches, you can see how diverse Lionheart is, he’s what I would call a hybrid wrestler who can adapt to any style, a rare attribute in wrestling.

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Disc 2 is in much the same vein, the real highlight being a twenty minute war with “Best in the World” Davey Richards, where even in defeat, he puts on a tremendous showing and more than earns the respect of Richards and everyone in attendance. We see more action with Johnny Moss and Dave Mastiff, both very mean hard hitters who don’t let up. The final moments of disc 2 allow us to see Lionheart cash in his SWA Money in the Bank to steal the championship from a worn out Wolfgang, who also is in the first match of this disc as well as BT Gunn. Also included is a PBW clash with the big Martin Stone. Onto Disc 3 which is my personal favourite of the lot, earlier in the review, I mentioned Drew Galloway passing the torch, well I believe the first match here is another example of Scotland’s top star against the rising up and comer, Noam Dar. Both men put on a clinic and Lionheart shows his appreciation to the 16 year old afterwards. Matches with El Ligero and Bad Bones certainly don’t disappoint either. A near 20 minute top class match against Desmond Wolfe stands out to me as the best on this particular release so I highly recommend that. Also, a violent weapon filled brawl with Chris Renfrew from November 2010 is a great way to close the set. Extras include: The build up to his TNA match against Jeff Jarrett and also his BCW return in 2010 to win the Heavyweight Title. A promo to Chris Renfrew prior to their bloody ICW brawl and a highlight reel of the man himself! A truly great set showcasing the best the UK has to offer, viewers won’t be disappointed, get your copy and see for yourself just how good Lionheart is. ANDREW DIXON

DVD

PBW Maximum Impact 4 (2010) PBW Maximum Impact 4 (2010) Supplier: Premier British Wrestling Price: £11.95 (www.pbwwrestling.com) No. of Discs: 1 With companies such as WWE and TNA taking a lot more notice in what's happening on British soil these days, promotions such as Premier British Wrestling can offer talent the opportunity to shine and perhaps impress the larger outfits across the ocean in North America. Shows such as “Maximum Impact”, which is in its 4th year running, are the ideal spotlight for aspiring grappler's from the UK to show exactly what they can do in front of the camera. Taking place in the large Magnum Centre in Irvine, Scotland – Maximum Impact has become one of the biggest shows to come out of this country. The attention to detail for a smaller company is really astounding, with big-screens displaying entrance videos and replay material, impressive show lighting and a multi-camera set-up on par with companies such as Ring of Honor. Credit must be given to promoter, Ross Watson (who also performs as “Kid Fite”) for how professionally he has set-up his company. Indeed, for an independent release, there is much to like on this disc. A nice range of style's are showcased, mixing local performer's with some of the most recognisable names to wrestle in this country. The opening contest for the PBW Tag-Team Titles features “The Final Cut” (Liam Thomson and Noam Dar) vs. “High Energy” (CJ Hunter and Johnny Star) and is a fantastically lively affair. The talented Dar and the tremendous high-flyer, Star are the stars (pardon the pun) of the match. There's a lot of action to sink your teeth into here. Both Wolfgang vs. Chaos and James Scott vs. Andy Wild feature exciting moments, with the former outlining just how agile of a big man Wolfgang is and the latter playing host to some spectacular high-spots. A dangerous suplex off a

ringside table to the mats on the floor from Scott to Wild and a spike DDT from the 2nd rope are worthy of mention. Managing to secure both Prince Devitt and “MDOGG 20” Matt Cross for a one-on-one match-up was a huge coup for the company, as both lend a real superstar quality to the event. Viewer's will recognise Cross from this past season of WWE Tough Enough, while Devitt is well-regarded both in Europe aswell as in the Orient. This hard-hitting contest goes over well with the live crowd and it'd be great to see more action such as this on future cards around the country. The “King of Cruisers 2010” 6-man bout is up next and it offers bags of entertainment, in a fast-paced environment. This particular match has become such a highlight of the show each year that it's considered an honour simply to be a part of it. There's a nice range of up-and-coming talent mixed with well-known names here, with youngsters such as Chris Rampage able to tangle with stars such as Mark Haskins and Zack Sabre Jr. Paul Tracey & Red Lightning vs. “Highlander” Colin McKay and Sean South sets the scene nicely for the main event with tag action, which again goes over well with the crowd. There really is a lively, “holidaycamp” show atmosphere to the proceeding's here which only highlight how popular and memorable the various roster members are. Closing things out is a stunt-filled brawl for the PBW Heavyweight Championship between 4 men, Lionheart, Johnny Moss, Michael Knight and B.T Gunn. Taking place under “Tables, Ladders & Chairs” rules, it's fair to say that this is the worthy main event of the evening and has a real excitement surrounding it. It's not often that fans on this side of the Atlantic will see such a well-constructed or professional stunt match such as this and it adds a genuine credibility to the entire package and product of Premier British Wrestling. Maximum Impact has become known as a showcase event for the best of Scottish wrestling, but routinely holds house to some of the best independent and international talent on the scene today. Thankfully, 2010 was no different.

JAMIE KENNEDY www.thewrestlingpress.com

Dusty Wolfe

the Wolfe Pit

sTORIEs aNd OpINIONs FROm aN ORIGINaL WREsTLING jOURNEymaN

y now, I can imagine you readers have grown tired of reading that I have no clue on what topic I should opine profusely on each and every month. Can you imagine how “M” in corporate feels? Fortunately for “M”, this month’s suggestion list wasn’t tough. Professional wrestling had an actual event occur. A sad event, but a major event by any standard. I knew Randy Savage fairly well back in the day. I was always closer to his brother Lanny, but I knew a bit about the Macho Man. I won’t attempt to write some wonderful, historical obituary. Even though I can now, in all fairness, call myself a historian. Just thinking I might share some a thought or two about Randy Savage.

First, if there is anyone wishing to say this is some Vince McMahon/WWE/wrestling curse related death, I have one comment for you. You, my friend, are suffering from an acute form of optical rectitis. Randy was 59 years old, had not been in a ring in over a decade, and had not been under the influence of Vince McMahon an even longer period of time. Randy Savage was a 59 year old classic example of a type A personality. Unfortunately, 59 year old classic type A personalities pass away all over the world on a daily basis. We will agree many don’t pass away in such spectacular fashion as Randy, driving through lanes of traffic and crashing into a retaining wall, while having their heart attack. Then again, maybe wrestlers do like passing away in a manner that draws attention from others. Considering a good friend died in the ring this past Saturday of a heart attack during his ring introduction, there might be something to the idea wrestlers have this uncontrollable desire for attention. 98

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I have spent years reading the smarts opinions on some kind of feud between Randy Savage and Vince McMahon. I have repeatedly heard the Oprah level theory of this supposed feud, which truthfully, makes no sense to anyone around at the time. Of course, those making the accusations weren’t around at the time, which makes them smarter to the WWE and the wrestling world than those that were there. I know, but it makes perfect sense in the smart world. They read it, so that must be more to the truth than having lived the moment. But I digress. While I will never say never, so much of the sordid story doesn’t add up when weighed with facts and other opinions. My main point in arguing the “feud” never happened is simple. Neither Randy or Vince ever said much about the other, in a negative or positive manner. The silence was, and still is, deafening. But that fact exists. There were no hatchet job videos. No personal attacks in blogs. Nothing. And that is the whole jist of my argument against any type of feud. I don’t put much stock in the WWE Hall of Fame at any level. And yet, this is one time the HOF can be

used as starting point. The HOF is owned by Vince, and every member of the HOF gets paid. Maybe in the form of a token legends contract, or maybe in the form of the contract and a book or DVD deal. But they all get paid, taking away some of the argument about prestige and honor. Yes, being recognized for what you do in life is great, but when one man makes the choices and pays you for the chance to be in his HOF..........besides, just how legit is a WWE HOF that includes Drew Carey, and forgets all about little ole me? Johnny Rodz anyone? Before you want to knock someone for their GIVEN spot on a card. But, never a mention about Randy Savage. There is no way a man so wrapped up in his HOF ignores a major player like Savage, legit HOF or not. And yet............Not a word. Complete silence. Nothing. There have been no attacks on Randy from WWEland. Nothing. Randy was a non entity in the world of a man who was well versed in the Obama style of personal attack long before any of us ever heard of Barack Obama. While Vince never talked negative about Randy, no one else did either. Vince is a master at having others do his dirty work, burying those he wishes to bury, while never getting his hands dirty. This never happened with Randy. Randy Savage simply never existed in Vince McMahon‘s public world. Vince McMahon operates with the theory everyone connected to professional wrestling needs Vince McMahon. Have you ever noticed, the worse a man or woman talks about Vince, the happier Vince is to embrace them later? Unless you’re named Backlund or Sammartino, those that trash Vince are buried if they haven’t returned to the nest by the time Vince extends the peace offering. Randy Savage had more money than he would have ever spent, and Randy wasn’t known for spending money. I won’t say Randy was cheap, but there wasn’t a Lincoln penny in his or Lanny’s pocket that still had a beard. Penny pinching at it’s finest..weak I know. But oh so true.

And yet, unlike Bret Hart and Warrior, two others that never needed Vince again, Vince never went on the attack towards Randy. Vince has no need to attack the loudmouth that must return to Vince for safety, Vince only attacks those that can and do walk away on their terms. And again, with Randy, the silence told the story to some of us. Randy Savage didn’t break Vince’s heart in the manner the sordid rumor would have us believe. Randy broke Vince’s heart in a much different way. Simply, Randy left and never went back home. Bret and the whole Montreal moment was a money making work from the start. A work that would have made more money for more people, but for the death of Owen. But still a work, and when Bret wasn’t headed home, Vince made some noise, and we have seen the rest. Every other piece of talent Vince ever wanted has returned, WCW and TNA be damned. Except for the Warrior, and that story. Somewhere in Vince’s heart or mind, Randy Savage was the man he was handing the WWF to in future years. Everyone else was just business, even with Hogan, Vince seperated personal and business. I honestly don’t know if Vince knew Randy was headed to WCW. The memory fades over time, but I honestly remember Randy being sent off, and later hearing of the WCW deal. If the sordid rumor was true, Vince would have destroyed Randy 100 times over. If Vince felt some sort of professional betrayal at Randy going to WCW, the attacks would have been out there all along. And yet.....nothing. Randy Savage was a man that changed professional wrestling as much as any individual of his time. His Wrestlemania III match with Rick Steamboat was one huge leap from workers becoming scripted performers. Much will be written about Randy Savage and original this and unique that. I will leave that to others. Let’s hope Randy Savage rests in peace and Vince McMahon can find a way to resolve some long standing issues with himself and Randy Savage fans. n Contact Dusty at dwolfe414@msn.com

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