Indeed Wrestling Weekly

12 Rounds - Good Article

2009-03-31T10:47:00.000-07:00

http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2009/03/30/monsters-vs-aliens-is-a-dream-for-dreamworks-while-12-rounds/

Steven Mallas has an excellent article up at BloggingStocks.com discussing the latest WWE Film, 12 Rounds. While I would argue that DVD sales for WWE films have been unusually strong, all of the theatrical attempts (See No Evil, The Marine, The Condemned, Behind Enemy Lines) have failed to produce even mildly strong results at the theatrical box office. I believe there is still a market for these films as a vechicle for the talent, but I would move towards the straight-to-DVD/straight-to-Cable vehicles which might be far more lucrative in rights.

200 Fluorescent Lighttubes & Boards Death Match: Shadow WX, Ryuji Ito & Abdullah Kobayashi vs. Takashi Sasaki, Jaki Numazawa & Yuko Miyamoto

2009-01-02T14:46:00.001-08:00

BJW, 5/23/08
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1,700 Fans

200 Fluorescent Lighttubes & Boards Death Match: Shadow WX, Ryuji Ito & Abdullah Kobayashi vs. Takashi Sasaki, Jaki Numazawa & Yuko Miyamoto

Four minutes later everyone is finally in the ring and introduced. Everyone brawling bare-shirted except Shadow WX. We get some Irish whip fakes & reversals until Sasaki and Numazawa bounce off the tube-robes and deliver stereo dropkicks to Kobayashi and Ito, who in take some bulbs to the back off the ropes. Those four are down so Shadow WX & Yuko Miyamoto play chop-off in the center of the ring. Shadow grabs a HEADLOCK and runs the ropes (ignoring the bulb he busts) to deliver a shoulderblock. Yuko bumps and kips back up. Shadow goes off the ropes so Miyamoto cuts him off with a nice little dropkick. The advantage is not long as Shadow stops Yuko and clotheslines him over the ropes to the outside. WX is taking his time so he throws a lighttube out of his way and gingerly steps outside the Meanwhile, the other four have moved into the bleachers. Kobayashi drinks a fan's water. Back at the farm, Shadow grabs a half-fluorescent and starts parading Yuko around to introduce him to the area behind the bleachers. Yuko's forehead - meet Mr Lighttube. Ito and Sasaki are fighting at the top of the bleachers while Abdullah (now bleeding from both forehead and left arm) has returned ringside to brawl with Numazawa. The Black Angel rams Kobayashi's skull into one of those quintessential Japanese folding table (one foot wide, four feet long) which enrages the beast. He chucks the table back at Jaki who sidesteps the projectile, lifts a folded folding chair and rams it into Abdullah's bleeding arm. The two men both lift a Japanese Table and while holding it upside down, crack both of them on the skull simultaneously several times. Odd spot. Obviously, a battle of the heads will be coming into place this match. Ito is still being worked over by Sasaki and we get a Star Wars wipe back to the ring with Shadow WX, Miyamoto and a giant piece of wood with several lighttubes attached propped in a corner. We're moving back into tag match rules so partners are returning to their customary spots. Irish Whip reversals leads to Shadow WX feeding his back into the wooden-glass combination complete with delicious crunching noise. Miyamoto tags out to Takasahi. WX comes back up slowly with a crimson mask so Sasaki delivers the boot to the breadbasket, snapmare and collects three lighttubes for a quick trip to punishment city - he destroys the trio of tubes via indy strong kick of doom to the base of Shadow WX's spine. At this point, Jaki Numazawa, standing on the apron, visibly winces. Sasaki's dickish pin attempt is unsuccessful so he begins laying in the boots to Shadow WX. When Shadow WX begins to hulk up against the punches, Takeshi cuts him down again with some face kicks and tags out to Numazawa. He launches Shadow WX into the ropes where his back against completes some unholy communion with the lighttubes. Jaki grabs a pair of lighttubes while we discover that a fan has obtained his own lighttube. BJPW staffer runs to the bleachers to retrieve it. Numazawa plays DrumMania (copyright Konami 1999) with Shadow WX's already gushing cranium in a series of sickening blows. Shadow WX is playing deathmatch Ricky Morton face-in-peril now. Numazawa chews on the WX's brow and pronounces it Beefy. Tag out to Yuko who snaps a tube over his knee and rams in into his opponent's frons. That's a little thing we'd like to call... ouch! Unsuccessful pinfall and Yuko throws the 49-year old man into the corner, delivers a nice flying back elbow and headbutts a lighttube right into the center of Shiga's forehead. Plenty of blood (type A according to bjwfans.com) over Shadow WX's face as Takashi Sasaki enters the ring. As Shadow WX is launched off the ropes, a lighttube goes high in the air demonstrating how much collateral damage there could be to fans in a messy deathmatch like this. Takashi executes an X-pac-esque Spinning heel kick to fell the man from Niigata. Punches and kicks galore from Sasaki. Shadow WX does enjoy the posturing and rises to his feet to engage in a blow-battle which ends with Takashi's Tiger Mask spinning back kick. Tags bring in Numazawa while Yuko holds Shadow WX up in the corner. Jaki opts for executing a snap suplex onto two light tubes which mostly end up in Shadow WX's colon. Numazawa, always the perfectionist, rallies the crowd and executes the suplex again to completely bust the lighttubes. Yuko Miyamoto, the baby of the group, tags in to bodyslam Shadow WX and then drop an elbow on some lighttubes across WX's abdomen. We're about eight minutes into the tape at this point. Pinfall attempt is requisite two count. Sasaki clears Kobayashi and Ito off the apron so he can toss Shadow WX into his own corner for a back elbow and four sets of his "break-a-lighttube with-a-kick-to-the-gut" routine. The Coup de grâce? Stuffing two lighttubes down Shadow WX's shirt (only competitor wearing one) and blasting him with a front kick. THIS DOES NOT PLEASE SHADOW WX. HE RIPS OFF HIS SHIRT AND IS FIRED UP. Another blow battle ends with Sasaski's boot to the midsection but Shadow WX clotheslines Takashi after he runs the ropes for speed. Numazawa and Miyamoto jump in the ring to doubleteam Shadow WX but they miscalculate their offense allowing Shadow WX to nail a double clothesline on the pair. Ryuji Ito is finally tagged in as Shadow WX collapses in his corner. Ito's first offense is a set of dropkicks to Sasaki and Miyamoto followed by a somewhat awkward roundhouse to the back of Numazawa's skull. Ito's educated feet (Engineering Studies, Ibaraki University) work over Takashi Sasaki complete with Hogan-esque leg-drop of doom. Nice fisherman's suplex only earns him a two-count. As his wife, the ref, looks on (how impartial can she be?!), Ito culminates an exchange with Sasaki by delivering a top-rope big-back-bump-in-lots-of-shards-of-glass dropkick. Another two count. Kobayashi goes to the top rope but fails to execute his flying KARATE CHOP. Sasaki manages to block it by crossing his arms but this only angers the mighty stallion. Abdullah performs deadly throat thrusts but surprisingly gets backdropped by Sasaki in must have been a little disconcerting for the Butterbean-esque Kobayashi. Numazawa tags in, fires up the crowd, and quickly delivers a spinning back elbow to fell the man from Nagano. However, Jaki's crowd-pleasing antics aren't helpful when Kobayashi rolls out of the way of his elbow-drop to catch him in the corner and deliver a QUINTET of lightbulb-breaking headbutts to Numazawa's crown. Numazawa is tossed into the corner to receive a running manhug from the 13-year veteran. Kobayashi works him over with a series of quick blows in the corner, bodyslam and a plodding (not running - but walking with purpose) elbow drop. It's time for a Vader Bomb - which he hits. Two count. Kobayashi chooses to KARATE CHOP two lightbulbs into Numazawa but his enchanted hand betrays him as Jaki snakes into a half-nelson switched into a jaw-breaker utilizing his own skull. The two bulls decide it's time to ram horns, or in this case, heads. Both behemoths build up a head of steam, run together, and we have a double-clothesline. As they recover, Shadow WX and Yuki Miyamoto come in together. Shadow WX clothesline him in the corner, hits a nice suplex, rallies the crowd and waits for Yuki to stand up so he can clothesline him out of his boots. Two count does not end the match so Shadow WX latches on a crossface. Shadow WX grabs a handful of glass and throws them into Yuki's eyes for good measure. Nice. We're about 13.5 minutes in.
Now, how should one escape? Just press your handy-dandy "Jaki Numazawa savior Button". He'll climb in and kabong a lighttube over your opponent's skull. Shadow WX gets the crowd clapping but Miyamoto manages to execute an overhead belly-to-belly to buy enough time to tag Sasaki in. Time for giant deathmatch lighttube board of doom #2 - this instance being placed against the bottom rope so it's cranked up at about a 30 degree angle. Takashi teases the suplex but shadow WX isn't interested in going two for two through these monstrosities. The men trade waistlocks and Takashi elbows his way out so he can whip Shadow WX into the corner and deliver a running clothesline. A stunned Shadow WX almost receives a superplex but at the last moment he slips down to the mat in order to play that popular carnival game - toss the Takeshi into the board full of lighttubes. Ouch. It's Ryuji Ito's turn now. Snap-mare & indy kick of doom. Ito grabs two lighttubes but Takashi stops him from destroying them on his body. The two men are struggling over these tubes. Ito gets the upper hand with a kick down low - Takeshi takes a knee (with the tubes over his head) - and Ito drops his heel to smash those lighttubes all real nice into Takeshi's skull. Poor chap. Ito plays Lighttube collector - grabs four or five more - puts them against Takeshi's chest and kicks him to kingdom come. Poor, poor chap. In a very short span, Takashi Sasaki has been powerbombed on tubes, had them cracked over his head and broken against his chest. Still, that's only a two-count in BJPW land. Big bodyslam from Ryuji Ito followed by a surprising moonsault. Ito has been moving a little gingerly this match so I did not expect an aerial move from him at this moment. Numazawa breaks up the pinfall this time. Ito's knees have had enough so he tags in Abdullah Kobayashi. Takeshi eats a back-elbow after being whipped into the far corner. Abdullah decides to flavor that dish with two lighttubes being karate chopped into Takeshi's chest. We've all had a day like this. Takeshi gets perched up on the shoulders of Abdullah who is standing on the second rope. Falling backwards equals a big Samoan Drop. Wow – Abdullah has pointy elf shoes. What's next? A piledriver? Nope. Abdullah drops him on his belly in a fancy move whose name I don't recall. Shadow WX is in. He hurks Takeshi up for another powerbomb but Takeshi attacks the eyes. Takashi Sasaki stills get thrown in an ugly powerbomb but he recovers while shadow is clutching his face. Still, no dice for Sasaki as his suplex attempt is reversed and Shadow WX launches him over. Takeshi stops the clothesline attempt and executes a spinning back kick followed by a back brain kick and a giant kick of ouch right to Shadow WX’s thinking cap. Yuki & Jaki come in and clear their opponents off the apron. Jaki whips Shadow WX into the far corner. He runs in with a so-so clothesline. Yuki decides to grab some lighttubes and do a combination knees to the chest & tubes to the skull move which couldn’t have been fun. Top rope frankensteiner from Yuki tossing Shadow WX across the ring. Shadow WX eats a shining wizard from Jaki and then kicks out of a double pin. Jaki DVDs Shadow WX so Yuki can go to the rope and moonsault him. Oh yeah, he stuck some lighttubes in there so the chest-to-chest action busted those up. Right at the three count, Ito broke up the pin. Shadow WX definitely didn’t kick out. Ito and Jaki tussle with Jaki launching Ito over in a nice suplex. Abdullah decides it’s time to break out “fat-man drop kick” and Jaki bails. Takeshi clothesline and kicks don’t the giant. He then delivers a pair of nasty back brain kicks to Shadow WX’s head and then puts two light tubes right by Shadow’s head and delivers an immense kick shattering the tubes and spraying everyone on that side of the ring with tube-glass and tube-gas. Ito breaks up the pinfall and tosses Takeshi to the outside. So, Yuki comes in and goes after the battered Shadow WX. One bodyslam later, Yuki has the man in position. He climbs to the top rope, executes another moonsault (this time holding on the tubes) but Shadow WX moves. Yuki was able to scout this so he lands on his feet and gets in perfect position for Shadow WX to deliver a big clothesline right to the tubes. Abdullah comes in and delivers a release German suplex to Yuki which Ito follows up with a shining wizard. Yuki kicks out before the three count. Bodyslam from Ito. Flying elbowdrop from Abdullah. Lighttubes on Yuki’s chest and the Ito frogsplash of death. Takeshi & Jaki break up the pin. Abdullah chucks Jaki outside and while Ito deposes of Takeshi. Yuki is thrown against the ropes and tries a back-handspring elbow but Shadow WX isn’t playing that game anymore. He lariats Yuki back to medieval times turning him inside out. Two count so Shadow WX does a spinning sitdown powerbomb. Two count. Stalling suplex and it’s finally over. Your winners: Shadow WX, Ryuji Ito and Abdullah Kobayashi. Good match.

IWW: Interview with Colin Delaney (part one)

2008-12-29T17:59:00.001-08:00

IWW interviews Colin Delaney (part one)

Indeed Wrestling Weekly, the program with quite a misleading title, has finally returned to air the first part of our interview with former WWE Superstar and current CHIKARA performer - COLIN DELANEY~!

In part one - we talk about growing up, memories of Upstate NY wrestling, breaking in and starting his tag team with Jimmy Olsen, the epic DELANEY CLAN matches, working ROH ringcrew and more. Colin only had a little while so we stuck to mostly pre-WWE talk. The abrupt end of this conversion was because my puppy unplugged my microphone before I signed off. How professional! Anyhow, we'll be back with Colin later this week and will continue the conversation with a focus on his WWE run.

If you have questions for Colin, you can pm me, email the show (indeedwrestling@gmail.com) or post them as a response to this thread.

Hope you enjoy it! If not, well, at least it was free.

9/7/08 - WWE Supershow in Rochester, NY

2008-09-07T06:55:00.000-07:00

WWE "Super Show" House Show in Rochester, NY by Ray Rhodes

Friday Night (September 7th) I attended the WWE House Show at the Blue Cross Arena in sunny Rochester, NY. Despite being hailed as a "Super Show" that would feature all the best stars from all three brands, I figured that just meant a Raw live event with Mark Henry on the card. I wasn't that far off.

Tony Chimmel started us off by introducing our special host for the night, Eve, somewhere in the audience that the spotlight couldn't quite find. She upgraded a family to front row after asking the trivia question, "What city did Wrestlemania 24 hail from?" Many of us always joke that the WWE thinks we need constant rewinds and replays because we don't have a long enough attention span or good enough memory. Looks like they're right because I had already forgotten. It's Orlando, of course. Tony also let us know that WE the people could determine the stipulation between Matt Hardy and Mark Henry (score!) in the ECW Championship match: 2 out of 3 Falls, No DQ, or Falls Count Anywhere by joining the digital age and texting our choice. Let me first point out that it's no trick of the TV, the masses really do love Matt Hardy. And *blush*, I do too.

The opening bout featured Chavo Guerrero (w/Bam Neely) against the spastic high-flier Evan Bourne. Not to be confused with Matt Bourne, aka Doink the Clown (which would be awesome). Of course, we all know Evan Bourne used to be Matt Sydal before ECW gave him his requisite awful WWE name (see also: Ryan Braddock, Ricky Ortiz, Gavin Spears, Braden Walker).

Ways to know you're at a WWE House Show: No Pyro, A Diva Host somewhere in the crowd, and Chavo stalls and works the audience for 10 minutes. Pop Quiz later. To be honest, I've had a hard time getting into Chavo if he's not fighting Rey and to me, Evan Bourne is just Cody Rhodes with a higher vertical leap. The two wrestled for a bit before Evan hits the first of at least 35 dropkicks we would see in the night. Bam Neely looks on. Eventually, Bourne hits the sweet Shooting Star from the top to finish Chavo and take the crowd pleasing win.

Next, Beth Phoenix and Santino Marella put their titles on the line against Kofi Kingston and (I hope it's Mickie James, I hope it's Mickie James, I hope it's Mickie James), D'OH, Kelly Kelly. Despite the hot chaps, Kelly Kelly looked more green than a sea sick sailor and was baffled several times. Which was okay because Santino seemed baffled at much of Kofi's movements as well. The crowd didn't seem to mind too much though, but Santino and Beth were able to defend their belts successfully. Santino had a pretty good opening promo about only needing 62 more weeks to break the I-C record.

When you think "Super Show" I know you're thinking "Primo Colon". If so, you'd be happy when Willian Regal came out to fight the brother of Carlito himself. They decided to tell a story by working some arms and well, that's about it. Most of the match took place on the mat and not in an interesting way, either. Primo spent much of the match getting worked over, but not in a cool "Regal Stretchin' Him" or "Regal Knee Striking" kind of way but more of an "Arm Lock" kind of way. Eventually, Primo would make a comeback--in the form of 4 consecutive dropkicks. And that's it. He slapped on a backslide, took the upset and the crowd rejoiced. Sort of.

The radio spots during the week in Rochester were advertising Jeffy Hardy against Carlito against Shelton Benjamin in a Three Way Dance for the US Title. Well, 2 out of 3 ain't bad. Jeff Hardy was a no show but R-Truth was in the house to get rowdy. If he wasn't introduced as Carlito and didn't come out to his music, I wouldn't have believed it was him with his new make over. This was an elimination type match and after R-Truth's recent vignettes and Shelton Benjamin's old vignettes (I brought a gun to school once. The end), we figured this match was a "Who had the hardest childhood to overcome match". It wasn't Carlito as he was eliminated first. Poor guy. R-Truth and Benjamin battled it out for a good chunk of time and I wish I could tell you they put on a classic. If you've been alert at all in the last few years you already know that Benjamin cannot have a decent match with someone who isn't a main eventer. It all falls apart. No exception here. Truth and Benjamin were lost a few times including an Ax Kick that Wasn't Really an Ax Kick and a couple Ducking Mystery Clotheslines spots. Finally, Shelton retains.

Intermission came and went, as they usually do.

Up next we had the World Tag Team Champs, Cody Rhodes and Ted Dibiase take on Cryme Tyme. First they had a few things to say, mostly about being Priceless or whatever. Yawn. Match was alright and Cody hits his awful DDT for the win.

Everyone loves Matt Hardy and it showed. Mark Henry is a large, large man. The match, picked by texting, was the No DQ match. And here I thought the 2 out of 3 Falls would win. Huh. The two had an energetic fight with Henry looking as good as he ever probably has or will again. After several near falls for Hardy he eventually falls to the World's Strongest Slam. Good match. Special Note: Henry managed to take a "Big Show Bump" of taking a Bulldog by bumping on his back. Tremendous.

Main Event City: Kane, The Great Khali, and MVP took on Big Show, Rey and HHH. The place went nuts for Kane, Rey and HHH, of course, with Rey probably getting the nod. Match featured several SHOW DOWNS and Crotch Chops. Good work by all six, I must say, in a fun match which, of course, saw the faces go over and the place go home happy. The two main events seemed to be enough to make everyone forget about the uh, forgettable first half and the lack of Jeff Hardy, Batista, Jericho, Punk, UT, Cena, etc. To be fair, I think Hardy was the only one of that bunch that was actually advertised on local promos (Cena was too before getting hurt, I think, but that's understandable).

Overall it was a decent time but really could have used some quality talkers. Aside from Santino, no one really worked the crowd verbally, which is a shame because that's half the fun of it.

Ray Rhodes, probably more critical than I should be.

Night of Champions Review by Ray Rhodes

2008-06-30T06:02:00.000-07:00

Night of Champions Review, Thoughts, and Comments

by Ray Rhodes

After the RAW Draft and the following Supplemental draft the entire WWE was shaken, not just stirred as in previous drafts. The skeptical viewer (see: the entire IWW staff) would see this as a shameless gimmick to force people to pay attention and to order the Night of Champions PPV to see where the title belts would wind up. And, it seems, a giant swerve to the Internet Community. Jim Ross to Smackdown!? Take that, Good Ole JR! Rey Mysterio to RAW? Where what will the Hispanic audience do? HHH to Smackdown!? They said it would never happen! DH Smith to Fridays? But he was going to be Ted Dibiase's partner! The Swerves! The Intrigue!

Yet, not only was it a shameless gimmick, it was also a great way to freshen up the stale feuds for which I am entirely grateful for. So thank you, WWE, for sending Umaga to Smackdown. Funaki needs his face caved in by Umaga's ass right quick.

Tonight was the Night of Champions and for me, the gimmick worked. I am a huge mark for the title belts and title matches a just the thought of a night where all the belts would be on the line sends shivers down my spine. But since the rising cost of gas has forced Zip Whittle to cut my pay, I haven't been nearly as enthusiastic about dropping 40 bones for a PPV. Any hesitation, however, went away after the draft. Bring on Night of Champions!

With Finlay and Hornswaggle officially moving to ECW, I knew the tag titles could go either way on the hot opener. The Fighting Irish against Miz and Morrison in a worth while match would rest squarely on the ability of the four to manage hard hitting wrestling, tag psychology and comedy. Which they did and then some. Miz and Morrison are fast becoming the best tag team of the last few years (sorry, Carlito and Chris Masters) and Finlay and the sprite put up as much fight as they should without Miz and Morrison losing too much credibility. WWE went the right way here and had the Chick Magnet and the Emperor of Abs go over here.

Speaking of tag teams, the Draft sent Deuce over to RAW. They've done similar things in Drafts of Yesteryear just before they fire someone useless. Sorry, Deuce, we hardly knew ya.

Matt Hardy had to defend his US Title against someone other than MVP. And the world rejoiced. Sadly, though, that challenger would be Chavo Guerrero, who can't seem to have a good match unless it's with Rey Mysterio and 7 years ago. The two worked a decent match, to be fair, and Matt Hardy picks up the win after reversing the last suplex in the Three Amigos and hitting the Twist of Fate.

** Ray Rhodes Nice Touch Moment of the Match**

When Matt Hardy hit the Twist of Fate out of the suplexes, Chavo's bodyguard was taunting the crowd and didn't see the reversal. So when Matt went for the cover and got the three count, Neely was caught off guard and it didn't give him a chance to try and interfere. If he had been watching, it would have looked silly for him to just stand there, especially since he's a heel. So, nice touch.

The Internet World had been a buzz for weeks. Who would be Diabase's partner? Was it DH Smith? No! He went to Smackdown! Was it Teddy Hart? Yeah, right. Was it Cody Rhodes in a move that makes no sense, even to the most toothless of rednecks? Of course! In a swerve that make no legal sense, even in professional wrestling, Cody Rhodes turned on Hardcore Holly and was announced his own mystery opponent. When Dibiase pinned Holly, Rhodes lost the titles with Holly and won them with Dibiase at the same time. To make matters worse, Dibiase has the worst theme music in the last 12 years as well as the worst finisher. Million Dollar Dream into some sort of Russian Leg Sweep? Apparently money can't buy you happiness, good theme music or a decent finisher. But it can buy you an awful storyline. If Ted Dibiase Sr. was dead, he's be rolling in his grave.

Somebody in the WWE woke up and had a good idea. Use Jericho to his ability. And his ability is to be a great heel and to have incredible matches, not brawling with JBL and wrestling once a month.

Now that he's in a great feud with HBK, something had to be done with the IC Title. And that something was recent draft acquisition, Kofi Kingston. In a very strong back and forth match, Jericho did what Jericho does and Kofi showed glimpses of living up to his potential despite a few rough patches. Throw in HBK, a superkick on Lance Cade and a surprise upset and you've got some intriguing TV for the next few Raws. I admit it, I'm hooked.

Pigs began to fly and Hell was frozen over because tonight was the night Mark Henry became a World Champion. It's been a long 12 or so years of multiple let downs, painful matches, and a dozen injuries but Mark Henry has done it! Night of Champions brought us Kane, Big Show and Henry in a match of Sloths. It actually started decent until Kane got roughed up on the apron after getting dumped from the ring which left Show and Henry in the ring longer than should be allowed by law. Eventually, Henry gets the win after massive amounts of bodies crashing around. Mark Henry is a happy man tonight, but the world weeps.

Mickie James defended her Women's Championship against Katie Lea Burchill in a match that would, in my mind, make or break Katie Lea. On a side note, I was digging the Burchill v Kennedy angle but they abruptly ended it and sent Kennedy to Smackdown. Jerks. The two women had a pretty good women's match truth be told and it was an actual match, with barely a hair biel, hair pull, or hair based offense at all. Thank you. Mickie picks up the win but I hope they continue to feud for another month or so.

I originally thought whichever World Title match went on last would be the big title change of the night. So when Edge v Batista was in the Viscera Spot, my hope of Batista taking the title to RAW fell apart. After weeks of getting screwed over, it seemed like the perfect point for Batista's revenge. Sadly, Edge retains but after Batista picks up Vickie and hurls her onto La Famiglia, I'd say it was worth it.

So, logically, HHH was losing to Cena, right?

I guess not.

After hyping the match as a match that would give us a moment we would never forget, it was a typical Cena/HHH match. It almost seemed too robotical and cookie-cuttered and at no point did it reach the point of intensity it should have. Even the false finishes were predictable and with HHH winning it just seemed like a cheat. Sure, it wasn't what was expected but sometimes what is expected is what's needed. Raw needs a champion and for that not to be resolved at Night of Champions just seems like a dirty trick. Like sending Matt Striker to RAW. Sorry, Matt, you're probably not going to have a job anymore.

The best part of the night, perhaps, for comedy anyway, was when Batista and Cena were talking backstage, CM Punk came up and made sure we remembered he had the Money in the Bank Briefcase. Just the thought of Punk againt Cena or Batista made me have a fit of laughter. The day Punk beats either of them is the day Carlito beats HHH. Stranger things have happened, however, Mark Henry is a World Champion after all.

Final Word: The PPV started off good but a baffling and stupid tag team match and no title change in either of the main events brings a possible A grade to a strong B.

Future Presidents appears on RAW; King of the Ring returns!

2008-04-22T08:37:00.000-07:00

Political theatre jumped in the squared circle on Monday night as all three major Presidential Candidates appeared on RAW in taped speeches laced with wrestling catchphrases. Also on this special three-hour episode, WWE held a one-night King of the Ring tournament crowning the first champion since King Booker’s 2006 win. (Prior to that, the tournament had been retired since June 2002 when Brock Lesnar defeated RVD in the finals. Trivia note: only five of the sixteen men in that 2002 tournament – Edge, Hardcore Holly, William Regal, Val Venis and Chris Jericho – are still working for WWE now.)

WWE did not announce the participants for this tournament in advance. The news that the Presidential Candidates had each taped a message for the show was also late-breaking. No doubt, with a very close primary in Pennsylvania, any efforts to target young voters (Obama appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Monday as well), were being pursued aggressively. The overnight ratings for the show were not released yet but are expected to be higher than normal for the last two hours.

The timing for a one night, three-hour RAW directly preceding Sunday’s Backlash PPV is interesting. Typically, these specials are directives from USA. A seven-match one-night tournament like King of the Ring is an excellent way to fill the time but on a go-home show directly prior to a PPV, is it dilutive to selling Backlash? PPV storylines were woven into the tournament as well as promos for the RAW main event. However, the tri-focus of KOTR, promoting the upcoming pay-per-view and the messages by Obama, Clinton and McCain gave the show a very odd feeling.

First round was Chris Jericho (Intercontinental Champion, RAW) and Montel Vontavious Porter (US Champion, Smackdown). This pairing is especially interesting because Jericho honed his skills as one of the last modern wrestlers to really tour the world (Europe, Mexico, Japan, North America) prior to joining WWE. MVP joined the professional wrestling community much later in his life, but has shown a veracious ability to learn and improve ever since Kane literally lit a fire under his ass during their inferno match. Both have expressed a deep appreciation for Japanese strong-style wrestling. With these expectations, the match was okay but not incredible. Surprisingly, MVP submitted to the Walls of Jericho after Y2J escaped from the Play of the Day. Considering that Jericho is the referee for the Batista/HBK match and MVP has a singles match with Matt Hardy, I would have thought MVP would continue. However, seeing the rest of the matches, the decision must have been made that face-face matches would play better than heel-heel matches.

Next match was “Never say Die” Matt Hardy and “Mr. Money in the Bank” CM Punk. Considering MVP’s loss, it seemed evident that Hardy would be doing the job. Another match that would play very well in front of a ROH audience, Punk was able to get the pinfall after Hardy escaped from the G2S (KENTA’s Go 2 Sleep).

Fit Finlay and Great Khali had a short match ending in a disqualification. Khali was killing Finlay and destroying his leg by wrapping it around the ringpost. Eventually, Big Show appeared and the two had a short confrontation. I was surprised they had Khali giving Big Show the Tree-Slam on Smackdown last week. Personally, the allure of these two giants fighting one another (in my mind because Big Show had to take Khali’s place in the awful Punjabi Prison Match several years ago) is only special if we can’t see them taking bumps on free TV.

Finlay and son Hornswoggle were leaving when William Regal came out and it was announced that the diminutive former bastard son of Vince McMahon had been entered into the King of the Ring tournament. Regal made quick work of Hornswaggle by applying the Regal Stretch and immediately garnering a submission victory.

CM Punk defeated Chris Jericho in the KOTR semi-final match in the best match of the evening. These two men met just three weeks prior on Monday Night RAW during the build-up to the Money in the Bank Ladder match at Wrestlemania. In that encounter, Jericho landed the Code Breaker to defeat CM Punk in an excellent match. On Monday night, CM Punk avenged that loss when he managed to nail the G2S for the win. With a tournament which has the possibility to create new stars, CM Punk seemed like the right person to get some additional momentum. However, since he already holds the “Money in the Bank” title shot, it’s questionable whether he really would have needed to win this tournament as well.

William Regal and Fit Finlay had their usual face-bustingly violent affair. It was terrific to see them working over each other with their brutal strikes. Eventually, Regal managed to destroy Finlay with a devastating combination of senton-punches-knee lift and Regal stretch for another submission victory. Because of Finlay’s knee injury from the Khali match, I was surprised this one went as long as it did.

The finals for the 2008 King of the Ring tournament was William Regal versus CM Punk. Again, in another promotion, given sufficient time, this could be one of the finest matches of the year. On RAW, this was merely a good, albeit too short, final for a one-night tournament. In the end, Regal matched to apply the Regal Stretch for a third consecutive submission triumph.

A tournament such as King of the Ring offers an opportunity to make new stars. One of the main problems with the WWE Brand Expansion is that with the multiplying number of belts, it becomes harder and harder to establish anyone but the very top tier of the company: Triple H, Randy Orton, John Cena, Undertaker, Batista, Shawn Michaels and Edge. When you remove these players from a major tournament, you are only left with faux-main event contenders (JBL), Tag Champions (Hardcore Holly), Intermediate Belts (US Champion MVP & Intercontinental Champion Chris Jericho) and ECW “Superstars” (Kane & Chavo Guerrero). The Fit Finlays of the roster are people whose sole job is really to be a credible opponent without really being a major contender. Wasting a slot on Hornswaggle, especially without a storyline about Regal being a conniving GM stacking the tournament in his own favor, is a real shame. Instead, elevating a young star such as Lance Cade or re-establishing a potential powerhouse such as Umaga would have had far more impact. William Regal’s transition to King of the WWE will hopefully be a productive adventure. He definitely has the skills and background. The real question is – who will he defend his royal title against?

Wrestlemania in Orlando - Ric Flair retires!!

2008-03-31T14:48:00.000-07:00

JBL defeated Fit Finlay in a “Belfast Brawl” match. (An interesting choice for hot opener because it’s always tough to follow a weapons melee as the first broadcast match of the night. However, there wasn’t a lot of other choices except perhaps Umaga vs Batista or Bunnymania.) Finlay was accompanied by his returning “son”, Hornswaggle (a.k.a. the Little Bastard), who didn’t really play much of a role in the match. Finlay tried to bring the violence including kicking out the vintage Benoit/Finlay moment of diving to the outside to see the hijo answered with a nasty weapon shot. JBL’s table spot was interesting because he seemed uncertain whether he wanted to take a flip bump or not, so he ended up going shoulder/head first. Ouch. JBL ends up winning with the clothesline from hell.

Money in the Bank with Seven Men: MVP, John Morrison, Shelton Benjamin, Carlito, Chris Jericho, CM Punk and Mr Kennedy. There was no strong contender going into this match following the suspension of number eight man Jeff Hardy due to a drug test violation. As with all Money in the Bank matches, Shelton Benjamin worked hard and a spectacle ensued. Some creative spots with interlocking the ladders brought the nice innovation factor. Matt Hardy made a surprise return to knock MVP away from the briefcase which was a pleasant continuation of their feud. In the end, CM Punk won the match. However, his future is very uncertain – a title shot at ECW One Night Stand, perhaps?

Batista versus Umaga had a solid match with the Samoan Bulldozer working over the Fujian grandfather’s back. In the end, Batista narrowly managed to execute a powerbomb on the giant monster and won the “Battle for Brand Supremacy”. This did not have a big-match feeling about it, nor did feel like it was a meaningful encounter between the two brands. Umaga is probably moving off RAW in the coming weeks.

Kane won the ECW Championship (his second “world” title reign) by chokeslamming and pinning Chavo Guerrero in less than ten seconds. Kane has been on every Wrestlemania since 1998. We’ll see if his reign as ECW champion will be a ratings failure like Morrison’s.

Ric Flair lost his career-threatening match against Shawn Michaels and retired. HBK showed a lot of emotional throughout the match and put his body on line with a Asai moonsault into the announcer table that looked like it busted his ribs and a flip from the top rope to the floor that looked brutal. Arena was emotional with Flair’s last match and that sentiment will no doubt grow tonight as RAW is built around his farewell.

Bunnymania Lumberjack Match did not have Torrie Wilson as a nameless Diva on the outside. Beth Phoenix & Melina defeated Maria and her partner Ashely (filling in for a re-injured Candice Michelle). Not much to say about this match except that Snoop Dogg was given a ridiculous giant throne to watch it at ringside and later hit Santino and kissed Maria. What a great ad for his parenting reality show!

Triple H, John Cena and Randy Orton had a very well-laid out title match where the heel championship was able to retain. Crowd was vociferously booing Cena during this match as expected. Triple H was very popular but did not wear his Halloween costume. This fued will continue!

Floyd “Money” Mayweather defeated Big Show by Knock-out after Paul Wight fought an army of handlers, took several chairshots and was punched in the head by a world champ boxer while wearing brass knuckles. This match was laid out very well and the crowd was very excited to see the natural heel get hit. This may have been the best celebrity pro-wrestling match yet executed.

In the main event of the evening, Edge lost the World Heavyweight Title to The Undertaker by submission. The story of this match was the Undertaker’s 16-0 Wrestlemania streak which remains intact. Many observers pegged this match as the best on the card following a quiet beginning. Undertaker has been working hard to get the Gogoplata submission over and on Sunday, the crowd popped huge so it was a success. As usual, the show ended with a face winning a major championship.

Pre-WM IWW show: http://dl01.blastpodcast.com/indeedwrestling/15285_1206591194.mp3

SUMMERSLAM 2007

2007-08-26T19:32:00.000-07:00

Rey Mysterio returns to Summerslam covered in Volcanic Ash.

New IWW show: THE CONDEMNED~!

2007-05-06T14:14:00.000-07:00

IWW: The Condemned Review w/ Foywonder!

Another great show with B-movie guru FOYWONDER. We talk about WWE's latest: THE CONDEMNED; Roddy Piper's hits & misses; Jesse's failed buddy cop/wrestling TV show (honestly!) and much more. Also, we have a TRIVIA CONTEST for prizes. Great show!

SANTINO~!, Hogan/Lawler OFF & TNA Lockdown PPV

2007-04-18T10:32:00.000-07:00

This week WWE gave something back to their European fans by taping their flagship shows overseas. (And why not? As it stands, this current continental excursion is set to be the highest grossing tour in the history of the company!) RAW & Smackdown were taped this week in Italy. England will host next week.

One of the biggest surprises this past week was moving the Intercontinental Title from Umaga to a brand new character as the opener on RAW. Santino Marella, born Anthony Corelli, has been training at OVW for at least two years. In Kentucky, his character was Boris Alexiev, a faux-MMA superstar that was pushed during Paul Heyman’s time in charge of developmental. Ironically, the reason that Heyman was booking OVW instead of Jim Cornette was incidentally due to Corelli. Back in July 2005, Cornette blew his lid after Corelli, a plant in the front row, reacted poorly and laughed at Boogeyman’s debut in OVW. Cornette, notorious for his short temper, actually began slapping Corelli repeatedly in the face when he returned backstage. In the end, when word filtered back to the office, Jim Cornette lost his job with WWE, and eventually moved on to TNA. Corelli’s new moniker is thought to be a tribute to longtime WWF employee Gorilla Monsoon, real name Robert Otto Marella. The entire scenario was literally a last minute brainstorm by Vince McMahon who basically called Alexiev, and told him to get to Milan by the next day. Reportedly, Boris was in line for an ECW/Taz push by Dusty Rhodes, but that idea is now out of the window.

Some other updates:
• Jerry Lawler vs Hulk Hogan in Memphis has been cancelled. However, the event will continue with Hogan vs Paul Wight. WWE really pressured Lawler to not do this event and in the end, they won.
• Rene Dupree is in rehab. Bob Holly is getting elbow surgery. Kane needs knee surgery. Booker T got knee surgery. Ashley needs work on her leg that she broke last year.
• TNA Lockdown PPV Results from outside St. Louis, Missouri
-Chris Sabin won an Escape the Cage match (against Chris Sabin, Shark Boy, Alex Shelley, Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt)
-Robert Roode defeated Petey Williams
-Gail Kim beat Jackie Moore
-Senshi (Low Ki) rolled up Austin Starr (Austin Aries) for the pin.
-Former Tag Partners STORM conquered HARRIS in a BLINDFOLD match that was not good.
-Christopher Daniels overcame Jerry Lynn clean.
-TEAM 3-D won something like their 20th Tag Title from L.A.X. in an electrified cage match that was seen as very hokey by the crowd.
-STING beat Abyss in the Wargames match. The rest of the main eventers were in there too.
• Great list of Wrestling Events throughout the country.

Alternatives to WWE

2007-04-12T10:33:00.000-07:00

As life is wont to do, the weeks following the granddaddy-of-them-all Wrestlemania, are usually marked with a downturn in interest. This decline will generally stabilize over the Summer, with a small upward swing typically around Summerslam. When Football returns in the Fall, usually that picks off a lot of wrestling fans until around the Royal Rumble.

So, what causes this diminished attention? Is it because WWE typically rehashes their Wrestlemania main events? In this case, Backlash will feature Lashley versus Umaga (this time in a handicap match with Vince & Shane McMahon), The Undertaker versus Dave “the Animal” Batista (again for the Smackdown championship) and John Cena versus Shawn Michaels versus Randy Orton versus Edge (at least a slight variation on the HBK/Cena WM match). Internally, the view is that “branded” PPV, that is Pay-Per-Views where only superstars from a single brand (RAW/Smackdown!/ECW), aren’t sufficiently strong in the domestic market. December’s ECW PPV had less than 100,000 buys worldwide and registered one of the lowest gross domestic buys in North America of the past decade. So, that’s why on this next PPV all three major championships will be defended.

However, if you’re not interested in this retread, what else is out there for you?

Of course, there is TNA: Total Non-stop Action. They used to be known as NWA TNA, but the NWA moniker is being phased out. They’re going back to a NWA Heavyweight Champion touring the indies, and TNA isn’t going to be sending Christian Cage or Sting out to Elbow, West Virginia to perform in a barn. This weekend is Lockdown, the PPV with ALL cage matches. (I believe this was originally Dusty Rhodes idea .) They’re on the road for this event in St. Charles, Missouri so I expect a very rowdy crowd.
The Line-up courtesy of Brian Alvarez:
* Christian & A.J. Styles & Scott Steiner & Abyss & Tyson Tomko vs. Kurt Angle & Samoa Joe & Rhino & Sting & Jeff Jarrett in a War Games match where the guy who gets the pin wins a title shot at the next PPV.
* Latin American Exchange (LAX- Homicide & Hernadez) vs. Team 3D (The Dudleyz) for the NWA Tag Titles in an ELECTRIFIED cage match
* Austin Starr (Austin Aries) vs. Senshi (Low-ki) with Bob Backlund as the referee
* Jerry Lynn vs. Christopher Daniels
* Gail Kim vs. Jackie Moore (Jacqueline)
* Chris Sabin vs. Sonjay Dutt vs. Jay Lethal vs. Alex Shelley vs. Shark Boy in an Xscape the Cage match
* Petey Williams vs. Robert Roode (formerly Team Canada’s Bobby Roode)
* Chris Harris vs. James Storm in a blindfold match (former tag partners)
* Bashams (Christy Hemme's new team) vs. VKM (Voo Doo Kin Mafia – basically, the New Age Outlaws – Road Dogg/BG James & Billy Gunn/Kip James)
The PPV will probably be solid. There is some variety and extra stipulations where they can keep the matches varied so the crowd won’t be too burned out. Expect the D-Von & Bubba (Team 3D) to win the so they can add the NWA Tag Titles to their vast lineage. Still, the PPV is under the radar of most fans. I don’t expect anything above the normal 30k PPV buys that TNA always gets.

You could go down to Memphis, TN. Hulk Hogan and Jerry Lawler are putting together something that would qualify as one of the most noteworthy independent wrestling shows in a long time. (As Dave Meltzer has emphasized, there have also been numerous lucha libre shows throughout the United States geared towards Hispanic audiences which have drawn huge crowds.) Set for April 27, Hulk Hogan versus Jerry Lawler is billed as the “PMG Clash of the Legends” and booked for the Fed Ex Forum in Memphis. Former WCW/WWE/ECW superchamp Big Show will be coming out of his “retirement” to wrestle under his real name of Paul Wight. Plenty of 80s legends, especially Hogan’s buddies will be on hand: Greg Valentine, Brutus Beefcake, Jimmy Valiant, Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson, Koko B. Ware, The Barbarian, Jim Cornette, Abdullah the Butcher and Jerry Lawler’s son Grandmaster Sexay (Brian Christopher). The arena seats about 19,000 and Hogan is very clever. Hulk won’t wrestle in half-empty arena, especially since this is seen largely as a major play by Hogan to prove to WWE that he’s still relevant. (If anyone is planning on going to show, PLEASE send us an email.)

If you’re an adult (above 18) and interested in a very “alternative” wrestling product, you could consider Carmen Electra’s NWWL. That stands for the Naked Women’s Wrestling League. This isn’t porn stars rolling around in oil or chicken wing grease. It is still professional wrestling, except all the women wrestle nude. While the earliest tapings featured some pretty cornball storylines and questionable wrestling, to their credit, the owners of NWWL have really invested heavily in their product and production values. They have a substantially large training gym in Toronto where Ron Hutchinson, a professional wrestling trainer who’s taught a host of accomplished performers (including Trish Stratus, Edge and Christian), works with the women. Also, they’ve brought in independent talent such as April Hunter and Melissa Coates. I’ve had the opportunity to talk to NWWL Writer & Producer Dan Brown on several occasions, and I must admit that while creating a sexy product is always the goal of NWWL, they’re also very serious about writing & producing a real professional wrestling show. The latest taping of NWWL: Naked Revolution, begun airing on Monday on InDemand. It was taped last year in Canada. If you’re at all curious, please listen to the hour interview with Dan & April which was conducted on Monday. It was a very funny, interesting and enjoyable time!

Lastly, there is plenty of excellent independent wrestling out there. Ring of Honor, the winner of Wrestling Observer’s “Best Booker” award, is touring Minnesota & Chicago at the end of the month. NWA Upstate in Rochester, NY just held an excellent card last week including a Wargames cage match pitting Brodie Lee’s Team vs Jimmy Olsen’s Team. Pro Wrestling Guerilla (PWG) will be having another superstar event in West Hills, CA on May 19. Portage, Indiana will host the rising Fight Sports Midwest with Human Tornado, Low Ki, Tiger Mask IV and Marty Jannetty. There is plenty of excellent professional wrestling across the entire United States and Canada almost every weekend. We urge you to check it out!

So, don’t forget – if WWE has you down, there’s plenty of other great professional wrestling out there! And that’s not even touching on all the Mixed Marital Arts goodness that awaits you as well…

IWW reviews Wrestlemania 23

2007-04-02T08:57:00.000-07:00

Wow. That was a very solid PPV! There weren't many surprises: what you expected to deliver, really did; what you expected to stink, did just that. I want to thank everyone who commented on the recent WMpredictions pieces! (We always love to hear from readers and we're interested in what you have to say.)

This year's Wrestlemania drew a reported 80,103 fans to Ford Field in Detroit. If that number is legitimate, that would easily be the largest pro-wrestling event ever held in North America. Toronto is in third place with 67k fans to see Hulk Hogan vs The Ultimate Warrior at Wrestlemania VI in 1990 and 68k fans packing the Skydome for "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan vs The Rock at Wrestlemania X8 in 2002. WWF's claim of 93,173 for WM3 at the Silverdome isn't real. The real number for Wrestlemania in 1987 was closer to 78k. WM23 isn't even the record for Vince as they drew 82,000 to Wimbley Stadium in London, England for Summerslam 1992 for Bret Hart vs Davey Boy Smith. Any way you slice it, this year's Wrestlemania is a record for North American pro-wrestling gate, North American pro-wrestling attendance and highest Wrestlemania attendance. Next year's Wrestlemania will be at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando which will probably hold somewhere between 65 and 75 thousand people. It probably won't surpass this year's attendance, but it will be another huge event with tons of people and an enormous live gate!

On the Indeed Wrestling Weekly staff, LadyA showed her dominance by predicting seven of the eight matches correctly (only faltering on the ECW tag). Everyone else predicted either four or five matches of the matches correctly. On the whole, there wasn't much in the way of unexpected events. However, in pro-wrestling, predictability can be a really great thing: fans like to be able to see where a story is going and they like to be excited about that path. In the late 90s, Vince Russo & WCW Nitro Crash TV really pushed the envelope when it came to giving surprises and SWERVING the audience. Shocking people might increase television ratings, but it rarely plays well for viewers who have paid serious money to watch Pay-Per-Views. When it comes to the really big events - it's best not to do something dangerous. (Look at WCW Starcade 1997 with Sting vs Hogan for an example of how not just giving the fans what they wanted - a clean pinfall/submission - ruined a perfect angle.)After Aretha Franklin, her choir ("CROWN IT") and the military vignettes, we had Wrestlemania PYRO~! Then it was time for the first match.

1. MONEY IN THE BANK Jeff Hardy/Booker T/Fit Finlay/CM Punk/Mr. Ken Kennedy/Matt Hardy/Randy Orton/Edge)
Going into this match, the leading contenders were Edge, Orton and Kennedy. Edge, suffering from a torn bursa sac in his jaw, hasn't been wrestling much on television lately. In the end, a massive legdrop from Jeff Hardy through a ladder (the MASSIVE HGH LADDER OF DOOM) suspended between the ring and the guardrail (or MANSHIELD as TC Watts calls it) removed Edge and Jeff Hardy from this match. Fit Finlay really stepped up his game and set the tone for the evening: large men unexpectedly doing moves off the top rope: Air Finlay! This match really had it all - Hornswaggle's mini-ladder (stiff shot to CM Punk's head from Edge), Matt Hardy taking a nasty suplex on the ladder (again from Edge), Ken Kennedy missing a senton and landing neck-first on a ladder, Jeff Hardy giving a huge senton on Kennedy, Orton hitting an RKO off the ladder on CM Punk, Ken Kennedy delivering a rolling Samoan Drop to Finlay's midget from off the ladder, Fit Finlay executing a painful looking Celtic Cross on Matt Hardy across a ladder and much more! They laid out this match very well with people pairing up to fight on the ladder (with strong strikes and quick movements, this flowed a lot better than some other ladder matches) along with giving each wrestler their moment to shine (such as Edge's 6 spears, Booker T cleaning house, Randy Orton delivering multiple RKOs). In the end, it came down to the two newest WWE superstars: CM Punk and Ken Kennedy. While both were on the ladder, CM Punk hit a Maui thay kick to knock off Ken Kennedy. Kennedy retailated by throwing a ladder at CM Punk's face and climbing to victory. As Ray Rhodes & Zip Whittle predicted, the "golden boy" of Smackdown is now the 2007 Money in the Bank champion.
WINNER: KEN KENNEDY (19 minutes 10 seconds)

(RAW) The Great Khali VS (Smackdown!) Kane
Ultimately, this felt like a strange TV match somehow transported to our Wrestlemania screen. The encounter was less than six minutes long and still exposed how dreadfully poor Khali is at selling. We did get some old-school wrestling action with a trapeze muscle hold! Kane brought in his hook/scythe and we eventually got a serious low blow (with a chain) by Kane. This lead to the big moment where Kane bodyslammed Khali. It was a nice visual. (I wonder if in twenty years, people will remember this match as fondly as Andre/Hogan. Well, with the exception being that the crowd was at least vocal during that Wrestlemania match.) However, Khali could not be put down. He hit his hanging neck tree slam (chokebomb?) and won clean. No Mark Henry run-in. No DQ for using a Chain. They continue to build Great Khali. I assume he'll be fed either to John Cena or Bobby Lashley in the next four months.
WINNER: The Great Khali (5 minutes 31 seconds)

At this point, we had classic Wrestlemania Comedy with a bevy of cameos. Cryme Tyme & Eugene (looking quite Ox Baker-like) ran into the Extreme Expose, Moolah & Mae Young, REV. SLICK~!, Dusty Rhodes, Jimmy Hart, Mean Gene, IRS, Jerry Briscoe and RICKY F'N STEAMBOAT and lastly, FAROOQ (DAMN!). They had a dance party. It was a beautiful thing. "FAROOQ... FAROOQ... FAROOQ IS ON FIRE!"

US Championship: Chris Benoit (c) vs Montel Vontavious Porter
MVP has improved a lot, especially since Kane burned his ass. He's been in the WWE for less than a year and it starting to show a lot of potential for becoming a serious wrestler. The announcers (JBL/Cole) did a good job really building up Chris Benoit in this match as an incredible technical wrestler (Bret Hart & Eddy Guerrero are the "only guys able to go toe-for-toe"). Thus, when MVP was able to hold his own with Benoit, it really meant something. This was easily MVP's best match of his career (and it's no coincidence he was in there with Benoit) and I really thought they were going to put the Florida native over the Canadian for the US Title. However, in the end Chris Benoit pinned MVP clean using the diving headbutt! Either way, it was a fun match and a lot better than I expected. Ray Rhodes was right to predict that they two would click in a great way. I'm still not sure where they're going with Benoit down the line, whether he's going to stay on Smackdown or whether he might move to RAW. I expect this feud between Chris & MVP won't be over for awhile.
WINNER: CHRIS BENOIT (9 minutes 19 seconds)

We had a segment with Boogeyman, Donald Trump and former Miss USA 2006 Tara Connor. Wacky, worm-related comedy abounds. Trump was completely nonplussed by Boogeyman. Tara ran off. Trump claimed there were "almost 100,000 people" there and he couldn't get a sandwich. All I can say is that Vince McMahon is amazing - he's such a heel that he can turn Donald Trump, hardly a likeable guy, into a babyface.

The 2007 Hall of Fame was introduced: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Nick Bockwinkel, Mr. Fuji, The Wild Samoans (who did an awesome crazy pose), The Sheik (represented by his wife) and Mr. Perfect (represented by his mother and his father - Larry "the Ax" Hennig). I really wish that they would broadcast the HOF ceremony on PPV for $10-$20. They could sell a decent number and lots of older fans would be interested in tuning in!

WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP (SMACKDOWN! TITLE)
THE UNDERTAKER VS DAVE "THE ANIMAL" BATISTA (C)

One thing you're always guaranteed at Wrestlemania is a great Undertaker Entrance. (Always gives 20-25 indy workers the chance to throw on a black robe and walk around with fire!) My wife wondered why the druids chanted in Latin, but we all know that it's because it sounds cool. Big Dave seemed very focused. Maybe he'd read the AT&T Poll results: 82% of the voters thought he was going to lose. Both men went at it hard & heavy from the start trading strikes. The fans were audibly booing Batista and cheering Undertaker. (It was clear that Cena would be in for a ride later tonight.) Undertaker really had his working boots on tonight and was willing to pretty much kill himself in order to get over the match. He took a flip bump over the stairs on the outside, executed a picture perfect, terrifying no-hands over-the-top rope PLANCHA OF DOOM to Batista on the outside, herked Batista off the turnbuckle and planted him for a Last Ride and took a powerslam through the ECW announcer table. Batista went to the top rope and surprised us with a flying shoulderblock and had a great near fall after almost paralyzing Taker with his Batista Bomb (a jack-knife powerbomb that was so brutal that I really believed Undertaker's streak was over). However, in the end, Undertaker recovered and hit his Tombstone Piledriver to a massive ovation. This was very good; a lot of people have been calling it a highlight even above the Cena/HBK match.
WINNER AND NEW CHAMPION: THE UNDERTAKER (15 minutes 47 seconds)

Vince McMahon met with Stephanie McMahon to do a "WACKY VINCE PROMO". This one included BABY CAM and ended with the line, "She took a trump" when VKM smelled poop. It was silly but Vince can pull off a lot of stuff that would kill a mere mortal. I really was expecting Vince to get peed on in this segment.

ECW NEW BREED VS ECW ORIGINALS
(Elijah Burke/Matt Striker/Kevin Thorn/Marcus Cor Von) vs (Sandman/RVD/Dreamer/Sabu)
Ric Flair works the undercard with Carlito (against Shane Helms & Chavo Guerrero Jr.) so we can have Tommy Dreamer on Wrestlemania. At last. Anyways, at least everyone worked quickly and the audience seemed into it. The ECW Originals came in through the crowd while the New Breed made their entrance normally (with Burke looking a bit like Dee Jay from Street Fighter II). ECW fill-all, Scott Armstrong, was your referee! Sabu started the match and connected with his wacky springboard office. He tagged out to Sandman who actually executed a HYUGE legdrop across the ropes. Dreamer & Sandman did some goofy gobstopper elbows and eventually the ALPHA MALE got in the ring. Apparently, RVD was the only wrestler of this bunch who had ever been at Wrestlemania before. (Dreamer wasn’t in any hardcore battles?) The vampire came in to deliver some GOTHIC rear-chinlocks. Matt Striker knows how to take a great monkey flip! At one point, Sabu shot over the ropes and tried to kill Monty Brown. He was promptly dropped right on his head. Ouch. Anyhow, in the end ROB VAN DAM got the win with a big frogsplash. A bit of a surprising result; perhaps RVD isn’t leaving the company after all! The New Breed can’t beat the original ECW Geeks. It was a nice feel-good moment just like DJ Terry predicted.
WINNER: ECW ORIGINALS (6:26)

BATTLE OF THE BILLIONARIES: BOBBY LASHLEY VS UMAGA
Everyone got their own entrance in this match – even the barbershop platform. (No doubt it was powered by Wrestlemania 3 ring cart technology!) Vince came in with his super powerwalk. Umaga and Armando Estrada (remember him?) showed up. He still has the IC Title, by the way! Donald Trump (show with Miss Teen USA, Miss USA and Miss Universe all in the crowd) saunters in with money dropping from the ceiling. Bobby Lashley, ECW World Championship and Army Sergeant, makes his way to the ring. Stone Cold Steve Austin arrives, ready to raise hell. They ate up a significant amount of time with just getting everyone down to the ring. Eventually, the match started at Umaga & Lashley traded some flying shoulderblocks (again, as the memo encouraged all the 300-pounders). Both Umaga and Lashley also did death-defying flip bumps from the ring on to the floor which could not have felt good at all. Austin made his presence known when he hooked Umaga’s eye (just like he said he would) when Jamal wouldn’t break. So, Shane McMahon showed up and distracted Steve Austin so Umaga could hit him with the Samoan Spike. Then, in the evening low point, Bobby Lashley had to sell Shane’s comical strikes (instead, of just EATING HIM) so Shane McMahon could do his “coast-to-coast” dropkick into a trash can. (This move, a take-off of RVD’s Van Terminator, was shown in the Wrestlemania clips at the start of the show. Foreshadowing!) With Austin still out, Shane tears off his shirt to reveal he’s now a referee. Umaga does a HUGE splash and nearly flattens Bobby. He pins Lashley and it’s 1…2… AUSTIN PULLS OUT SHANE. At this moment, Trump turns to the camera and nonchalantly says, “What’s going on here.” Hilarity. Then, in a surprising spot Trump runs over and clothesline McMahon and starts delivering wacky worked punches. Umaga misses a Samoan Spike on Austin, gets a stunner, Lashley spears him and 1-2-3 it’s over! Shane McMahon receives a patented Austin combo as Vince tries to sneak away. Lashley retrieves him, throws him over his shoulder and ties him to the Sweeney Todd Barber Chair (as my wife coined it). Surprisingly, Donald Trump actually participates in the shaving of Vincent Kennedy McMahon. They even break out the cream and blades to really turn McMahon bald. VKM does his hilarious facials and tries to push himself over in the chair. Out of nowhere, Steve Austin suddenly stunners Donald Trump. What can you say about a match like this? Part debacle, part spectacle, absurd and fun. Hopefully, all the added press around this match added a hundred thousand buys. Will Vince be on RAW tonight with a wig?
WINNER: BOBBY LASHLEY (so Vince McMahon got his head shaved)

We get some footage from the Lumberjack Tag Team Match with Flair/Carlito vs Helms/Chavo that was held on the preshow to give all the guys some kind of payday. Here they were mostly trying to stall so they could clean up the ring.

WOMEN’S TITLE MATCH: ASHLEY VS MELINA – RING SURROUNDED BY LUMBERJILLS
Mickie James, Torrie Wilson, Candice Michelle, Maria, Kelly Kelly, Brooke Adams, Krystal, Victoria, Jillian Hall, Michelle McCool and the reappearing TRINITY came down followed by Playboy cover girl Ashely and Melina (without Johnny Nitro). They two didn’t have long to wrestle and didn’t ONCE leave the ring. They started with the obligatory hair-related offense and moved into the now-obligatory Stacy Kiebler leg chokes. Melina busted out a giant swing which was fun and Ashley did the headsissors & monkey flips proving any dope is capable. She missed an awful elbow drop. In the end, Melina won with a simple bridge. All the girls than got into a big fight. JBL ranted about “LUMBERJILL PANDEMONIUM.” I can’t fault the whole setup too much; they were in there for a simple purpose – to play a buffer between big matches. I’m glad they’re keeping on the title on Melina since Ashley is pretty hopeless as an actual wrestler.
WINNER: MELINA (3 minutes 14 seconds)

WWE CHAMPIONSHIP (RAW TITLE)
JOHN CENA (C) vs SHAWN MICHAELS
59% of the AT&T voters had Cena retaining. 41% chose HBK. Obviously, the outcome for this match wasn't as crystal clear as UT/Batista. JR kept claiming that Shawn hasn't held this title for nine years. What about his Elimination Chamber win?, I thought. Ray Rhodes set me straight: technically, that was for the World Heavyweight Championship which used to be on RAW until Batista & Cena swapped places. Cena's entrance this year lacked gangsters. Instead, it was a Ford Mustang shooting through the streets of Detroit ala Fast and the Furious. HBK was really heeling it up as a cocky bastard. Still, the crowd popped huge for Cena's arrival, booed his wrestling and cheered him whenever he seemed to be close to hitting his finisher(s): FU & STFU. We'd had very little blood (Fit got busted open during the opening match) so that was an element in this match. Shawn always steps it up when it comes to the big matches. Tonight he hit some nice enerzgis, an ASAI MOONSAULT and a very nice piledriver on Cena on top of the steps. The match had a number of great sequences highlighted by Cena trying to hit the FU and HBK countering with things such as a DDT and a sunset flip. Eventually, Cena switches gears and starts going for his submission hold but HBK is able to secure an inside cradle for a near fall. With both men bloody, Cena eventually secures an STFU but HBK manages to crawl to the ropes. Referee Jack Doan (the second ref in the match after the first one ate a Superkick from Shawn) rips Cena off Shawn and while he's admonishing him, HBK nails a sweet chin music on Cena. However, Cena does kickout and after a double down, Cena manages to secure the STFU for the victory. Ray Rhodes pointed out that's 3 of the last 4 Wrestlemanias where the main event had ended in a tap-out.
WINNER: JOHN CENA (28 minutes 21 seconds)

All in all? It was a great event. Both big title matches really delivered and the Battle of the Billionaires was everything is promised to be. The Money in the Bank match helped cemented rising star status for Ken Kennedy and the ECW tag match had a wonderful feel-good finish. MVP/Benoit had a surprising and exciting match with the Canadian Crippler coming out on top and both Great Khali & Melina helped balance all the face wins with some heel flavor. This will be a great event on DVD.

BEST MATCH?

Zip Whittle - Cena/HBK : The Asai Moonsault was terrific. The story was basic and riveting. Even after 3.5 hours of wrestling, this match seemed fresh and exciting.

Ray Rhodes - Batista/UT: These big men really stepped it up and Undertaker proved why he's such a legend. He hasn't looked this good in ages!

What did you think? Leave us a comment and email us at indeedwrestling@gmail.com

IWW Staff predicts WM23!

2007-03-30T10:43:00.000-07:00

I’ve been polling the Indeed Wrestling Weekly staff about Wrestlemania 23. We’re only a few days away from the big event and results are intriguing. There’s eight announced matches headlined by two Face vs Face brand Title encounters and a “Battle of the Billionaires” Hair stipulation featuring RAW’s top Heel and the babyface ECW champion. Of these three top matches, the former two still have a huge split in who is projected to win while the latter is beyond a foregone conclusion. However, WWE should be lauded for raising the stakes high enough not only to garner significant interest from casual fans but excitement from longtime fans too.

They’ve got four hours. Let’s run down the card and the latest predictions!

BATTLE OF THE BILLIONAIRES! UMAGA VS BOBBY LASHLEY
VKM’S HAIR VS TRUMP’S HAIR
While many people complained about how boring specific matches would be (in particular, the plodding Undertaker/Batista and Kane/Khali match-ups drew a number of derisive remarks), not a single person complained about the prominent Lashley/Umaga battle. I believe that everyone is eagerly awaiting the insane facials from Vince McMahon when he loses, along with the huge pops as Steve Austin delivers stunners left and right. Will Eugene be running down to help man the clippers? Will we see VKM in a wig next week ala Kurt Angle? It should be a fun spectacle.
WINNER: BOBBY LASHLEY (11-0 in IWW polling)

ASHLEY VS MELINA © for the WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP in a LUMBERJILL MATCH
This doesn’t promise to bring the house down in a technical classic. Fit Finlay and Dean Malenko have worked wonders in the past bringing out some surprisingly entertaining women’s matches in the past years. However, this one doesn’t promise to even live up to last year’s great Mickie James/Trish Stratus matchup. The pressure is reported to be on Melina to have a good match as the company sees her as a top act, but also as someone of an arrogant and possibly dangerous (Mickie James’ just got hurt again at a recent show) talent. Ashley is riding the wave of Playboy publicity but isn’t very good in the ring. Do you move an already meaningless title just so the babyface wins? Or do you keep the title on a rising act (which is now cemented as a singles act since Joey Mercury was fired) and line up new challengers such as a returning Beth Phoenix? IWW voters were also closely split 5-5. However, TC Watts weighted in at the last moment and agreed with my vote to call this one for the heel. In a year, I think Melina will still be around while Ashley will be gone or in TNA.
WINNER: MELINA (6-5 in IWW polling)

KANE VS GREAT KHALI
Originally, I had assumed this would have some kind of stipulation added to it. Not necessarily “amateur wrestling” rules, but perhaps making it a chain?, cage?, scythe?, something match. But, as of the time I’m writing this, it’s still an ordinary wrestling match. Kane has a lousy Wrestlemania Record (4-5) with his sole singles victory being a DQ win over HHH at WM15. Great Khali was moved to RAW from ECW to become a heel contender. Rumors have a returning Mark Henry feuding with Kane in coming months. What does it all mean? IWW Voters weren’t sure either:
5 votes for KANE victory
3 votes for KHALI victory
2 voters for KANE VIA DQ (i.e. Mark Henry attacks Kane and Khali is disqualified)
1 vote for KHALI VIA DQ (i.e. Kane takes out his hook and Kane is disqualified)
What do we know? As IWW Navy correspondent, Empire JH put it – “This match may even take place in slower motion than Hogan vs. Andre from 20 years ago.” Maybe that’s the real reason it’s on WM!
WINNER: KANE (7-4 in IWW polling)

ECW NEW BREED (Burke, Striker, Brown, Thorn) VS ORIGINALS (Sabu, RVD, Sandman, Dreamer)
The story of this match really is what’s happening with Rob Van Dam. As Kip Corona put it, “if RVD is planning on not resigning and will be leaving the WWE, it’ll be the New Breed. Otherwise, the Originals will win.” I laid out my thinking in this column a few months ago. I think we’re at point where the New Breed needs to win in order to really be worth something. Otherwise, they’re basically less than Tommy Dreamer on the totem pole, and can you really be any less than that? (See also, Balls Mahoney.) On the flipside, some (like IWW’s DJ Terry) have argued that giving the ECW Originals a victory at Wrestlemania would be seen by the audience as “a great feel-good moment”. Perhaps Mick Foley will get involved and help out the old-timers. Still, voting was close and...
WINNER: ECW NEW BREED (6-4 in IWW polling)

CHRIS BENOIT © VS MVP for the US CHAMPIONSHIP
It appears that Ray Rhodes & I are truly in the minority on this one in believing that Montel Vontavious Porter will take the title away from Chris Benoit. Reportedly, the two have been having long, excellent matches (not quite a rarity when you’re working with Benoit!) on house shows leading up to the PPV. While there have been rumors about moving Benoit to RAW in the next few months, it appears most IWW voters don’t think this will be the moment he’ll lose his title.
WINNER: CHRIS BENOIT (7-3 in IWW polling)

MONEY IN THE BANK MATCH
Edge, Randy Orton, Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy, Fit Finlay, CM Punk, Ken Kennedy and Booker T
This is another match with very interesting ramifications. The WWE has done an excellent job making the MITB contract into a very important thing on par with the role that the Intercontinental Title used to hold over a decade ago. IWW voters had a wide array of comments concerning this match ranging from bemoaning the lack of Shelton Benjamin, Ric Flair & Carlito to questioning whether the Edge vs Randy Orton dynamic might overshadow the match. They expanded the match to include two more competitors than last year. Whether that will be a good idea remains to be seen! As Biff from Tampa put it, “8 men? This could really be a cluster…. (mess)”.
Fit Finlay: a Smackdown star that is respected by all but not really seen as singles main event material
Randy Orton: a RAW star that has been the chosen one (in particularly, HHH wants Batista & Orton to be his legacy in creating stars) that may have been hurt by the recent drug allegations.
Jeff Hardy: has proven himself a capable performer since returning from TNA but questionable whether he’ll ever rise above the IC title.
Matt Hardy: a relentless popular performer on the Smackdown brand with some important creative people aligned against him becoming a headliner.
CM Punk: the “internet darling” who is rising in popularity; may be too soon though!
Ken Kennedy: the “golden boy” who has already feuded with top stars like Undertaker.
Booker T: the former champion who is already reduced to a role where most people forget him and wonder why he’s even in the match!
Edge: currently working through an injury, he’s been a lead heel on RAW and carried WWE’s top feud in 2006.
The favorites are EDGE (5 votes) & Mr. Kennedy (4 votes) with CM Punk, Matt Hardy, Fit Finlay and Randy Orton receiving stray mentions. I’m once again over-ruled with my personal vote: Mr. Kennedy. Edge already has had a run at the top and is well-established as heel. But perhaps the tailor-made feud with Randy Orton that will no doubt be heavily featured on the next few PPVs will include his new MITB win.
WINNER: Edge (5 votes in IWW Polling)

THE UNDERTAKER VS DAVE “THE ANIMAL” BATISTA © for the SMACKDOWN BRAND CHAMPIONSHIP (World Heavyweight Championship)
Undertaker is 14-0 at Wrestlemania having defeating Snuka, Roberts, Gonzalez, Bundy, Diesel, Sid, Kane, Bossman, HHH, Flair, A-Train, Big Show, Orton & Mark Henry. Batista is actually also undefeated (2-0) with a win over Triple H and the Evolution tag match against the Rock & Sock Connection at Wrestlemania 20. Originally, there was heavy internet gossip circulating that Batista had been the chosen one to end the Undertaker’s win streak, about the only record in Professional Wrestling that seems to matter anymore. Recent post-WM house show ads have even advertised Champion Batista vs Challenger Ken Kennedy. However, internally, the tide seems to have definitely changed. Batista’s aloof nature hasn’t won him many friends. While Smackdown creative members Michael Hayes & Dusty Rhodes (now with ECW) lobbied Vince hard for Batista to regain the championship when he returned (they didn’t support comedy heel Booker T as the top draw), it’s difficult to argue that Batista needs to keep the title against a legend like the Undertaker. Also, Batista notoriously injury-prone nature doesn’t make him a safe headliner.
All in all, IWW voters all seem equally impressed by Undertaker’s credentials. Only two voters even ventured that Batista would leave Detroit with the title (and Ray Rhodes felt that would be possible only via Disqualification!) Popular sentiment among Indeed Wrestling Weekly staff is clear.
WINNER: Undertaker (10-1, though with the outside possibility that Batista retains the title via DQ)

JOHN CENA © VS SHAWN MICHAELS for the RAW BRAND CHAMPIONSHIP (WWE Championship)
The Heartbreak Kid always brings his A-game to Wrestlemania. His matches with Razor Ramon (ladder; WM10), Bret Hart (Iron Man; WM12), Triple H & Benoit (WM 20) and Kurt Angle (WM 21) are legendary. Win or lose, this has the potential of being the best match on the card. (Money in the Bank is the other major contender.)
John Cena continues to ride a wave of enormous popularity. He really proved himself with excellent feuds against Umaga & Edge in recent months, and has been a model employee. Backstage, he’s reported spend his time closely with the boss (Vince) and as Emperor JH put it, “If they want him to be the next Rock, he’ll keep the title.” Personally, the only way I see Cena is losing is if they decide to give Shawn Michaels one more run just as a thank-you for his years of service. Triple H isn’t scheduled to return until Summerslam and so that feud seems a long way off. Additionally, if HBK were to win that would mean both titles changing hands at Wrestlemania. This year, I don’t see it happening.
WINNER: Cena (8-3 in IWW Polling)

Additionally, I asked everyone what that thought would be the last match. It’s not going to be Hair vs Hair. Kip Corona had an interesting (though unlikely) scenario where Edge cashes in his MITB title and goes right for the MITB shot that evening and goes right for the RAW Title Most people suggested “John Cena/Shawn Michaels” which I’m inclined to agree. Four voters thought it was possible that Undertaker/Batista went last, but only if Undertaker was clearly winning the title. Again, I must quote the good Emperor JH: “What will be the last match? Cena vs HBK. Even if Taker vs Batista happens to be last, I'll probably fall asleep during it, so Cena/HBK will be the last match I remember!” Well put.

Where are the tag matches? Hmmm.. let's hope for some last minute additions!

Thanks to all the IWW Staff: Ray Rhodes, Biff Cheddarhead, Geddy Lee, Zip Whittle, DJ Terry, TC Watts, Kip Corona, KGBeast, Emperor JH, WJ and LadyA!

Be sure to email your thoughts on Wrestlemania to INDEEDWRESTLING@GMAIL.COM
Also, be sure to the listen to the latest Indeed Wrestling Weekly Podcast! 44 minutes talking the final days before Wrestlemania, looking at new WWE DVDs, TNA's mini-tour, where is Rob Conway?, Mr Fuji & other HOF notes, ZUFFA BUYS PRIDE, Hogan is nuts, Batista is a jackass and MARK HENRY HAS RETURNED. A really fun show!

The Latest Posts by IWW Staff!

2007-03-23T07:47:00.000-07:00

Ray Rhodes writes about whether Melina, Nitro, Batista or CM Punk is really in the doghouse

Zip Whittle covers the latest on the Steroid Scandal which has implicated several top WWE wrestlers

Friends of IWW, Outsider Radio, interviews former WWF/All-Japan/TNA superstar D-LO BROWN!

ENJOY.

IWW TRIVIA (weeks one, two and three)

2007-03-21T07:04:00.000-07:00

INDEED WRESTLING WEEKLY TRIVIA CHALLENGE: ANSWER THESE SIMPLE WRESTLEMANIA TRIVIA QUESTIONS AND WIN GREAT PRIZES!

WEEK ONE
WWE Hall of Famer Roddy Piper has a long history of performing at Wrestlemania, particularly in the early years. So. which Wrestlemania was the Hot Rod not involved?

a) Wrestlemania II
b) Wrestlemania III
c) Wrestlemania IV
d) Wrestlemania V

WEEK TWO
Wrestlemania X at Madison Square Garden had one of the all-time great matches when Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels faced off in a Ladder Match for the IC Title. Also on that card was the Japapense behemoth, Yokozuna, defending his World Wrestling Federation Championship. Legendary manager Mr Fuji was again in Yokozuna's corner that evening. What other wrestler did Mr Fuji manage that evening?

a) Papa Shango
b) Crush
c) Adam Bomb
d) Leilani Kai

WEEK THREE
The Undertaker has been a phenom in the WWE for well over a decade. He's putting his streak on the line at Wrestlemania against Dave "The Animal" Batista. Going back, who was the Undertaker's first Wrestlemania match against?

a) Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka
b) Giant Gonzalez
c) Kamala
d) Jake "The Snake" Roberts

WHAT TO DO

Email IWWTRIVIA@GMAIL.COM with your answers for each week. Be sure to include your name & address so we can ship you the prizes if you're a winner!

IWW Raw Blog by Ray Rhodes

2007-03-20T18:52:00.000-07:00

IWW Raw Blog: 3/19/07
by Ray Rhodes

Tonight we are promised Wrestlemania Reversal, where Cena and Michaels will face someone from their upcoming Wrestlemania opponents Wrestlemania past. Got it? Cena will face Benoit, Michaels will face JBL.

HBK's out first and here comes JBL's limo. Bradshaw says he's wearing his $8,000 custom suit and he goes on to cut a $8,000 dollar promo on HBK. Those will wrote him off all those years ago...SLAP YOUR MAMA! It leads to the Superkick which is fun because it's not if it's going to happen—it's when. Great opener here and all the Internet Marks relax that JBL didn't wrestle and surprise them.

Edge and Orton discuss tonight's Last Change Battle Royal and it's for...Edge's Money in the Bank spot. Seriously, if I'm anyone else in the match I'm pissed that I'm getting the shaft but still expected to put my body on the line. Hmm, I wonder if Edge is going to roll out of the ring (or never get in) and wait until the end to enter the Rumble, easily winning?

Bobby Lashley becomes the third person to break the Masterlock, but the only one to do it "legally". Man, if Hacksaw couldn't do it...I didn't think anyone could. This would have been a big deal—before Masters' got suspended and buried when he came back. Good thought, though.

Eugene spills some coffee on Mr Mcmahon in the back, and if there's one thing we remember about spilling coffee, it's Kane and Jericho. Neither of these men are involved tonight, however, and I expect Eugene to be in a bad way by the end of the night.

Edge wins the Last Chance Battle Royal to the surprise of maybe one guy who's never seen wrestling, RAW, a WWE Battle Royal, or Edge before. Man, I miss Lita. Edge fakes an injury and slides in just in time to throw Flair over. I just have to say, Flair got clotheslined over the top rope and managed to stay on the apron. I was impressed. Edge is going to Wrestlemania...still!

Eugene feels the wrath of Umaga and McMahon snaps, shaving Eugene's head. Zip suggests a new Basham or perhaps the third Highlander?

The Internet was abuzz over real life heat between Candice and Melina all week. Some were adamant that since they weren't in a program, the HEAT was LEGIT. Then, they did the angle on Raw. Another odd commercial break as they return and Melina and Candice are mid-way through their Bra-and-Panties match. Which Melina wins. But don't worry! Here comes Ashley for a STARE DOWN. Khali makes his way to the ring to inflict violence but upcoming HOFer Jerry Lawler makes the save only to get consumed by Khali. The only thing left was his Obnoxious Shirt, which Khali spit out.

Jeff Hardy and Orton have a match but at this point me and my girlfriend's ferret has decided to go under the refrigerator and not come out. Jeff Hardy hits a leap frog leg drop off a ladder for some reason. Eh, look it up if you don't know. The WWE is trying to get as much mileage off Hardy before he GETS ADDICTED AGAIN. Smart business plan.

After a decent match, Cena makes Benoit tap-tap-tap. HBK and Cena have an amusing tease of their finishers before JBL announces next week, it's Cena and HBK v Undertaker and Batista. It's also McMahon v Lashley.

Final Thoughts: Decent build-up for Wrestlemania but at this point, you're either sold or you aren't. I'm just ready for the damn thing. I give it 4 Garvin Stomps on the week to weigh it on at about a B.

WWE plans international expansion

2007-03-20T08:03:00.001-07:00

One of the biggest stories in the past five years broke recently when it was revealed that the WWE is considering a true global expansion. CFO for World Wrestling Entertainment, Micheal Selick, discussed their developing plans in an interview with Financial Week. The idea centers on establishing separate WWE promotions which would run full-time in distinct international markets. Each region would have their own unique storylines and televisions tapings. In short, the WWE product would go from three North American-centered brands (RAW, Smackdown, ECW) to a series of brands on different continents across the world, each producing their own content for that area of the world.

Although the plan is still in the preliminary stages, the territories that are being considered for expansion are:
1) PACIFIC REGION covering Japan, South Korea, China, Australia
2) EUROPEAN REGION covering Europe
3) HISPANIC REGION covering Puerto Rico, Mexico, South America
As it stands, the idea is to export the Smackdown brand (which has shown strong rating & attendance drawing ability in the Southwest U.S.) to become the Hispanic Region brand. WWE would continue to operate two separate touring brands, RAW & ECW, in North America (covering USA & Canada). Additionally, there was mention of adding a Russian territory expansion at a later date.

These expansions would require that each region have a sufficient production team capable of creating their own weekly television programming within each of the regions. So, each territory would need an experienced TV executive (with region-specific familiarity), along with at least one senior agent and one television writer to run the territory. Of course, wrestlers for each brand would also be required to move full-time overseas. Understandably, there are plenty of questions, doubt, confusion and uncertainty internally in WWE with the prospect of having to uproot families to move across the world.

At this moment, Shane McMahon and Selick are responsible for developing the plan. Then they will present it to the executives at WWE, most notably Vince McMahon. Allegedly, Vince is very excited and interested at this international prospect. However, considering the extreme level of precision and control that Vince likes to exercise over his television, it’s questionable whether he’d allow such decentralization of production.

While the proposal is still being drafted, there have been a few discussions with specific people. Paul Heyman, who is at home, still under WWE contract but not being utilized, has been considered for the Pacific Region. Head RAW Writer Brian Gerwitz (responsible for the Rock’s most recent impromptu appearance) has been given specific assurances by Stephanie McMahon that he will not be required to move overseas. However, beyond that, much remains to be seen. There is certainly a measured amount of apprehension among the wrestlers who know they don’t have much say in whether they will be utilized domestically or internationally in such an expansion.

Obviously, the plan will call for hiring many more people with a wrestling background. In the most recent WWE annual report, they list having over 500 employees, but that doesn’t include the wrestlers (who are labeled “independent contractors” in the filing). On each RAW & Smackdown brand, you have about 27 active wrestlers. (ECW has around 18.) Additionally, there are two announcers, about four referees, and 4-6 other people (Midgets, Managers, Commissioners, people to say “DAMN!”). With all the Diva search hirings and swimsuit models, each brand has 6-8 woman and 3-6 agents and writers. In total, there at least fifty people per brand. So, these new territories would probably call for at least 150 new hires.

There are a lot of pros and cons to implementing such an ambitious and extensive expansion plan. WWE is an internationally recognized pro-wrestling brand. They are easily the biggest pro-wrestling company in the world and a market leader. Their international tours have draw strongly and over the last three years, the reality of the situation is that strong growth and support in markets outside of North America have really kept WWE financially solid.

However, there’s a significant difference when you move from sporadic international tours (coming to Europe twice or three times a year) to becoming a permanent, weekly entity. WWE’s latest plans for overseas tours have already begun showing signs of burn-out and disinterest in places such as Mexico and Australia. Are these territories stable enough to support a weekly promotion with the production values that WWE is accustom? For instance, while CMLL & AAA might draw tens of thousands of fans to major arenas in Mexico, the ticket prices are still quite low when compared to WWE. In such a fragile economy, can a brand be implemented that will be profitable at WWE’s production scale? If wrestlers will continue to receive North American wages, can the territory earn enough money to be profitable at all? Will WWE be able to strike deals with key television networks such as Televisa and replace lucha? Will the WWE style be popular in the country or will they need to change how they perform?

Japan also has established competitors with New Japan, All-Japan and NOAH. However, Japanese pro-wrestling has lost enormous popularity to MMA promotions and these former powerhouses have nearly collapsed. WWE would be entering an expensive and difficult climate where wrestling has already been pushed to the fringes of Japanese television. Again, their latest tours of the Far East have showed many signs of not drawing to expectations.

Europe’s appetite for pro-wrestling, especially in the UK, Ireland, Portugal, Germany, Spain and Italy has been exceptionally important for the WWE since the end of the boom period of the late 90s. Without a major European promotion (there are several independent companies in each country, but nothing that could be considered a legitimate competitor to WWE), less of a language barrier (English is widely understood in the EU), and a history of selling PPVs abroad, this region probably has the best shot. There are several European workers in the company (Fit Finlay, William Regal and Paul Burchill) who could work as strong lynchpins for helping establish the new brand.

The advantage of the territory system is that wrestlers can be rotated from one region to the next in order to prevent them from becoming stale. Recently, the WWE announced that for all PPVs going forth, members of all three brands (ECW/Smackdown/RAW) would be involved. While this is seen as a necessity to keeping B-level branded PPV buys strong, it will only contribute to further water down the distinctiveness of the brands and keep the same top talent consistently on the television screen. In the old territory days of wrestling, moving wrestlers around the circuit from promotion to promotion keep people fresh, but gave them experience working different styles in different types of crowds. One major criticism that veterans have for this generation of pro-wrestlers is their lack of experience working a variety of styles in front of significant crowds. In theory, a well-orchestrated system of rotation among the territories could give a vast wealth of experience and training to young wrestlers.

In the end, I believe that this expansion plan will probably be scaled back to establishing a European brand and increasing tours of the Southwest & Mexico using a more Hispanic-focused Smackdown brand. I have a lot of questions about what would happen to the developmental leagues (OVW in Kentucky & DSW in Atlanta) if these territory expansions continued (Would they send new talent overseas before bringing them on American TV?). Neither Japan nor Mexico has extensive history buying PPVs in order to really support a wrestling product. Will live attendance at events along with television rights fees be enough to support the product? Will the touring areas be too large in some case? A lot of questions remain to be seen. However, as WWE intends to compete with UFC (with their PPVs reaching over a million domestic buys, a number WWE hasn’t made in years) and PRIDE (with a faltering business that may have already been sold), they look to international markets as a source for creating new stars, new territories and new opportunities. It’ll be years before such an ambitious plan can be implemented, but it’s a very exciting idea that we’ll be following quite closely! Among industry insiders, the biggest fear is burning out or failing spectactularly in any of these international markets on a scale that would shake or destroy WWE’s reputation and confidence in global opportunities.

ZW Runs down the latest Wrestlemania Card

2007-03-14T11:43:00.000-07:00

It might be Spring Training for Baseball, but right now is the final homestretch for wrestling fans. Wrestlemania is only a few weeks away and the card is firming up quite nicely. We’ll examine the matches and also who is NOT on the card.

THE BATTLE OF THE BILLIONAIRES
Vincent Kennedy McMahon’s HAIR vs. Donald Trump’s HAIR
SPECIAL Referee: STEVE AUSTIN
BOBBY LASHLEY (ECW CHAMPION, TRUMP rep) vs. UMAGA (VKM rep)

It’s hard to believe it’s been less than a year since Umaga (formerly Jamal of 3-minute warning) vacated the All-Japan Tag Titles and returned to the WWE. The gimmick seems to be a throwback to the Wild Samoans and may have started as somewhat of a rip-off of Samoa Joe (UMAGA: “Samoan Wrecking Machine”, Joe: “Samoan Submission Machine”), Umaga firmly planted himself in the top echelon on RAW very quickly. Second only to Edge, John Cena’s feud with Umaga was resulted in a host of fantastic matches in 2006 and a very exciting encounter at this year’s Royal Rumble. I still feel that Umaga has plenty of credibility as a vicious and dangerous heel despite his losses to Cena.

Bobby Lashley’s road to this important match has been stop & start the past 18 months. Like Umaga, Lashley is relatively new to WWE television (he debuted in September 2005). He has feuded with the top heels on Smackdown (JBL, King Booker, Fit Finlay) before moving to ECW in November 2006 to win the ECW Title from Big Show. Having already defeated Test (now released), Hardcore Holly and RVD, there isn’t anyone on ECW who really represents a very credible threat to Lashley’s ECW title at this moment though I imagine that post-WM the new top ECW heel will be Snitsky. Reportedly, Vince McMahon is actually viewing the entire ECW promotion as little more than an opportunity to make a star out of Bobby Lashley. At one point, when WWE was negotiating with K1 star Bob Sapp for ECW, there was discussion of turning Lashley heel, but momentum in that direction dissipated awhile ago.

So, you have two fresh stars – a strong babyface (Lashley, aligned with Donald Trump) and a strong heel (Umaga, aligned with Vince McMahon). They’re both large, young, formidable opponents that will gain excellent exposure by being in this important event. There are still some questions that remain:
• Is there enough motivation behind the actions? Why exactly does Lashley want to defend Trump’s hair so badly?
• Austin vs. McMahon is always the undercurrent whenever Stone Cold is around. Will that add to the dynamic of the match?
• Can these two click? Lashley has been dreadfully exposed in some matches and Umaga hasn’t done a lot of long, competitive matches with anyone.
• Will all the mainstream exposure on the B-circuit television shows equate to a bigger buyrate?
• Do people actually believe there is any chance that Trump would lose?!

WWE RAW HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE
John Cena (CHAMPION) vs. Shawn Michaels

This has been the classic build for a babyface versus babyface. Cena is the hot, charismatic of the 2000s. HBK is the superstar from the 90s who has returned and been walking stars to great match. They’ve got the tag titles to build the “two guys that don’t want to get along” vibe which has always been great fun. (There was a very similar to build to the Rock/Chris Jericho feud in Fall 2001.)

Cena had a stellar year as champion in 2006 feuding with Edge & Umaga. HBK put on a clinic at the Royal Rumble with Undertaker once again demonstrating how he’s got it. I expect a very good match from these two. Michaels had a great bout with Hogan in 2005 and Cena is far more mobile and agreeable than the Hulkster has ever been! I wouldn’t at all be surprised if Micheals wins this match for another short title reign as a reward for his years of service. Then again, he’s needed time off since DX feuded with the Spirit Squad and this could finally be the big paycheck that signals his departure for a little while.

WWE SMACKDOWN HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE
Batista (CHAMPION) vs. Undertaker

Batista is a ticking tricep-tearing timebomb. Undertaker is the undefeated (at Wrestlemania) undead phenom. It would be an enormous waste to end the UT’s streak this year. The crowds are still fully behind Taker and have begun turning on Big Dave whenever they are forced to choose between the babyfaces. Undertaker showed some real fire last year in his matches with Kurt Angle and this year at the Royal Rumble showdown with HBK. The age difference between the two is a lot smaller than you’d probably ever believe. I dearly, dearly, dearly hope that Undertaker walks away with the championship. Have him do a short feud with King Booker, Fit Finlay, a returning Mark Henry or even one last time with Ken Kennedy. Just don’t leave the title on Batista.

WWE WOMEN’S TITLE
Melina (CHAMPION) vs. Ashley

Melina has cosmic heat backstage over hurting Mickie James in their latest matches. Allegedly, the ultimatum is “Have a good match with Ashley or get packing”. Some say that really the pressure is the belief that Johnny Nitro & Melina have the potential for main events, but she has to prove she’s got it. Any way you want to cut it, Ashley is basically in this match just to promote her (second) Playboy appearance. Forget the fact she can’t wrestle. This will hopefully be short and less ridiculous than the Pillow Fight. Expect this to go on before a big match as a way of calming down the crowd.

MONEY IN THE BANK LADDER MATCH
Randy Orton vs. Ken Kennedy vs. Fit Finlay vs. Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Booker T vs. CM Punk vs. Edge

The past two years have had significant, memorable Money in the Bank matches. This year has far more stories going into it as opposed to previous years. There is the Randy Orton vs. Edge RKO break-up dynamic. Ken Kennedy has been the WWE’s “Golden Boy” this past year being positioned in top feuds with Smackdown & ECW stars. Jeff Hardy & Matt Hardy will both be in this match; will we see a better encounter than the unmemorable match-ups in prior Royal Rumbles? CM Punk is the internet darling who has been positioned as a major player in ECW. And then there is Booker T. Poor Booker T, just sort of there. In terms of having the impact that Edge or RVD made last year, I can’t see Booker T making it. I expect Ken Kennedy walks away with this one. Shame there won’t be another Ric Flair/Fit Finlay “Battle-Of-The-Men-Who-Can’t-Wear-Their-Kneepads-Correctly”. I expect this to be the second best match on the show. But no Shelton Benjamin? Alas.

ECW NEW BREED vs. ORIGINALS
Tommy Dreamer, Sandman, Sabu, RVD vs. Elijah Burke, Matt Striker, Marcos Cor Von, Kevin Thorn.

RVD sneaks onto Wrestlemania teaming with SABU, SANDMAN and TOMMY DREAMER. I don’t think I’d have believed it a year ago if you told me they’d be on Wrestlemania in 2007. ECW is full of goobers. I don’t even know who this feud is really going to elevate – Monty Brown, perhaps? The heels have to go over in this one. The faces are all over as much as they will ever be and they're old, broke down men. I don't blame CM Punk though for not joining the goofs: the vampire, teacher, jumpsuit and alpha male. SHEESH~!

GREAT KHALI vs. KANE (Some Gimmick Match)

A lot of people were really down on the Kane run-in on Monday’s RAW but I liked it. For one thing, Khali/Kane needs a gimmick. Second, fans of Kane (there are actually some, believe me) dig his horror gimmick. So, adding a ridiculous meat hook/scythe is no worse than anything TNA did on it’s last PPV or the absurdity of the Inferno matches.

WHAT ELSE?

I expect tag matches, possibly with London & Kendrick and MNM. Also, there will be new ECW tag titles in the near future (Dusty Rhodes’ idea) with several teams including FBI (Nunzio & Vito) and Cade & Murdoch fighting for them. I don’t know when they are going to institute them, but perhaps soon.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Hulk Hogan claimed his offer for WM23 was $400k. I don’t know if that’s true. I do know that WWE is irate with him, especially for the stint when he put Johnny Ace’s secretary on the radio during Bubba the Love Sponge and revealed the Hall of Fame voting they were doing. It might seem surprising to have Hogan not on the 20th anniversary of his big show, especially seeing as they are back in Michigan, but his relationship with Vince McMahon is as volatile as ever right now!

Big Show is at home, losing weight and being a 35-year old guy that doesn't have to constantly tour or take bumps. Angle wants him for TNA. Hogan wants him for any project he would pretend to start. It's unknown if he'll do anything, but it's doubtful he'd commit to any long-term deal with any company besides WWE and he's already turned down the lucrative spots he could have had at WM23 so he's clearly hurting and wants time off.

Paul Heyman is still at home. Attempts to bring him back to ECW as an authority figure (RVD/Lagana's idea) were not accepted. He's also been rejected from going to OVW to teach promos.

Rey Mysterio Jr. is in for a monster push when he returns; they already have big plans for him and his merchandise continues to sell even though he's off TV; his lone appearance on Smackdown drew a very strong number!

Chris Jericho is sending out very mixed signals. He will probably return to wrestling some day, even "fairly soon" but right now there is definitely nothing definite. Hard to say whether he’d go back to WWE or rather opt for TNA’s lightened schedule.

Comments? Questions? Be sure to contact me. You can also hear the latest Indeed Wrestling Weekly podcast to catch up on all the rest of the news & notes in wrestling today!

Ray Rhodes' RAW Blog for 3/12/07

2007-03-13T05:55:00.001-07:00

by Mr. Ray Rhodes

I missed the first 15 minutes but it seems I didn't miss much. I came during Orton-Flair-Carlito and promptly went upstairs to take a shower. I made it back in time to see Orton lay out Carlito with the RKO and qualify for the Money in the Bank. That wasn't even remotely clever. Have Carlito and Flair get interrupted one week and throw in Orton to qualify. Whatever. It seems that Edge and Orton will overshadow the match itself. Thanks for showing up, King Booker.

Normally I'd applaud any RAW air time for Super Crazy and I marked out for his Super (see also, Crazy) Offense but the Masterlock Challenge was so like, 2006. Yawn.

Lilian Garcia directs us to the TitanTron for...THE ROCK! Even though it would have been 100 times more intense if he was live, the video feed was enough for me. I might have wet my pants just a lil'. Great touch!!

Cena and HBK are in a Gauntlet match for the tag titles. One, I love gauntlet matches. Two, this is a perfect way to drop the tag titles that I've been moaning on about for weeks. WGTT...DAMMIT! Cade and Murdoch . . . DAMMIT! We go to commercial as the cage drops, come back and it's mid match with MNM. Uh...not so great on tonight's segment and break layout, guys. Someone's getting fired. Well, if anyone is going to win, it's gonna be MNM.

....

DAMMIT!

Waitasecond, you mean the WWE used it's tag division as storyline fodder and buried everyone in it even more? They wouldn't do thaaattttt. Sigh.

Well, Jeff Hardy is out and so is Edge but Edge bails out and allows the The Great Khali to consume Jeff's flesh right off the bone, and then squat and take an Extreme dump on the first row. Part of that is true, at any rate. Kane comes out with his See No Evil hook-and-chain and scares off Khali and his bologna nipples. Kane loses on Smackdown (to Batista, but still) and we're supposed to take him as a threat to Khali? I JUST DON'T GET IT. I do, however, hope this brings Kane back to another level. Only thing better than his hook-and-chain would have been a flail or a mace. Every time Edge has a big gimmick match upcoming he takes like, 3 weeks off, has anyone noticed that?

Mr. Fuji is the next Hall of Famer. Strange, I thought he already was. Welcome aboard. Again.

Foley. Todd Grisham. Ashley. All in one segment. That's all I need to say.

Melina takes on Torrie in a match where the kept moving around but nothing seemed to be happening. Afterwards, plain clothes Mickie ran out looking HOT but had crazy hair and soon after Victoria got involved as well. Ashley gets herself some and Melina bails out. Torrie and Mickie throw her back in so Ashley can...throw her out. It seems Ashley is destined to follow in Christy Hemme's footsteps. Diva Contest. Pose Nude. Awful Wrestlemania match. Fired.

Backstage Edge and Mcmahon have a strange talk, Edge convinces Mcmahon to have Lashley fight Orton on ECW and if Orton doesn't show up, he'll get thrown out of the Money in the Bank. He also touched Mcmahon like, 3 times. I was waiting for Mcmahon to tell him to stop. Alas!

I have no idea what Wrestlemania Reversal means.

In a long ass segment, all the players from the Battle of the Billionaires meet up for a contract signing. Estrada has become almost phantom-like. He's there, and you can kind of see him, but he just blends into the background now. Austin comes out, and in a humorous fashion, gets in Trumps face. The segment kept going and going and there is so much tension in the air while I wait for Trump to say something ridiculous. Then, finally, Trump pushes Mcmahon over the table.

This segment had promise but was riddled with the inherent problem of lack of physicality. The main event of a wrestling show for Wrestlemania hype and the "pay off" was Mcmahon getting shoved on a table. Didn't do it for me.

Final Thoughts: Raw just didn't do it for me tonight. Some more decent build up for Wrestlemania but it's beyond me why the Edge and Orton feud is taking place in the midst of the train wreck that is Money in the Bank. It was fun seeing Rock and Austin and they prove once again that they have "it" and say, Chris Masters does not. I'll give it 3 and a half Khali Nipples which will give tonight's RAW a C+.

New IWW Episode: Week TWO of WM Trivia

2007-03-12T14:24:00.000-07:00

40 MINUTES OF ZIP WHITTLE NEWS & NOTES!

This covers a TON of news including:

* WWE's plan for international expansion (TONS of news on this important story and plenty of ZW analysis)
* Kurt Angle's payoff for a New Japan Match & his latest STEROID woes
* Big Changes for a major Japanese Company
* Lots of ratings news with WWE & TNA
* Some comments from Dana White that would get a public executive fired & maybe sued!
* Chaos between PRIDE & PRIDE USA
* Latest on ECW's new tag divison and which teams might be getting switched over
* Other international stars who recently tried out for WWE (besides Mistico!)
* WWE Tour of Mexico not looking great
* LOTS MORE PLUS WEEK TWO OF IWW TRIVIA FOR WRESTLEMANIA 23 PRIZES~!!!

TC Watts comments on Randy Couture's win last week!

2007-03-09T06:45:00.000-08:00

by TC Watts (elusive IWW cohost!)

Randy Couture at the age of 43 is the NEW UFC Heavyweight Champion of the World. I never thought I would hear those words again but on March 3, 2007 in the city of Columbus, Ohio in front of 19, 049 rabid fans, Captain America AGAIN defied the odds.

This is the same man who lost his last heavyweight fight to Ricco Rodriguez in 2002. This is the same man who lost 3 of his last 5 fights by knockout. This is the same man who dropped to light heavyweight at the end of his career. This is the same man who was retired for the previous 12 months. This is the man who DOMINATED former champion and 6' 8" (203 cm) 255 (116 kg) slugbot Tim Sylvia.

Coming into the championship bout, not many thought that the old man Couture could manage the ridiculous reach and height advantage that Sylvia possessed. The odds in the betting world told the same story. Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia (-256) vs. Randy Couture (+236) was the line in Vegas. That simply means you have to bet $256 to win $100 on Sylvia and $100 to win $236 on Couture.

I am sure there were many happy souls in Vegas and the world around come Sunday morning and many kicking themselves that they didn't BELIEVE in Mr. Couture.

Why would you believe?

Sylvia, possibly the cockiest UFC heavyweight champion ever and hated by many, was still a feared striker. With an 84 inch reach he should have had no problem battering Randy's head, right? Sylvia was 23-2 with 15 KO's. One of those KO's was against the man with the hardest head in the world, Wesley Cabbage Correira. I remember watching him pepper Cabbage with shots and Cabbage being out on his feet and thinking maybe Sylvia really is worthy. Sylvia went on to then beat heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez (you know the same one who beat up Couture) for the UFC title, only to have his arm legit snapped at the hands of Frank Mir. He eventually lost to Andrei Arlovski, by achilles lock for the vacant title after Mir nearly lost his life in a brutal motorcycle accident. That didn't stop Tim Sylvia from pushing forward and continuing his trek back to the title.

Training with some of the best at Miletich Fighting Systems, Sylvia eventually went on to throttle Mike Block, Tra Telligman(brutal head kick) and Assuerio Silva (another KO) before his rematch with the 'Caveman' Andrei Arlovski. Sylvia knocked out Arlovski in 2:43 of the first round. He then beat Arlovski and noted grappler and 5’9 Jeff Monson in 2 of the most boring fights known to man. Yet, the Maineiac continued to talk like he was the greatest heavyweight in the world even saying he would handle ANYONE in the world with ease. The temerity of Sylvia to say these things after not being able to put away a hurt Arlovski and a non striker in Monson, the world turned on him.

Right around this time, Randy Couture, who commentated, the Monson/Sylvia, fight went on to say he saw many weaknesses in Tim's game and that he could beat him. Sylvia took great offense to this and Couture signed a 3 fight deal to come back at HEAVYWEIGHT.

So the fight was set and the world began to doubt Couture again. Why not? In the real world 43 year old wrestlers with a 12 inch reach disadvantage against a striker, just have no chance in hell, right? Couture took all this to heart and formulated a phenomenal game plan to dispatch of the brash champion.

As the main event arrived the crowd was electric. I am getting chills just thinking about it again. Chants of RANDY, RANDY broke out before the fight even started and didn't stop until the arena was emptied. As hey both stood in the cage staring at each other during introductions, there was a special feeling in the air. Still though, how could Randy overcome that reach and striking ability? All questions were answered about 15 seconds into the first round.

The combatants came out circled and sized each other up. 15 seconds in Randy threw a leg kick followed by a ROCKY like right hand and dropped the big doofus right on his ass. The crowd exploded bigger than anything I have ever seen in MMA or pro wrestling. Sylvia though was not out, just rocked and as Randy charged he turned his back and Randy kept control of said back, working for a rear naked choke for the remaining 4 minutes of the first round.

The two came out in round 2 and decided to have a kickboxing match. Something Sylvia should easily get the best of, right? Well, Randy had the head and body movement of a polished championship boxer. Bobbing and weaving and circling and making Sylvia miss over and over. Meanwhile while Sylvia was striking out, Couture kept hitting the same combo over and over. Left to the body, right hand over the top, and it was effective. They clinched midway in to round 2 and despite the size and weight disadvantage
(255 to 222) Couture took him down with ease. With 30 seconds left the referee stood them up. Advantage Sylvia, right? Wrong, Couture took him right back down as the bell sounded and the current heavyweight champion of the world looked flustered and beaten.

Round 3 began and Sylvia looked tired. A round full of kickboxing followed, and with a one foot reach disadvantage he was outclassing Sylvia on his feet. The fight was dramatic because everyone knew that one punch or kick from the feared striker could floor Couture and end the fairytale. Sylvia, though, was afraid to kick out of fear of being taken down. The bobbing and weaving this round from Couture was simply a thing of beauty and something to behold. Round 3 ends and both men looked completely gassed and breathing hard. (Sylvia was even BURPING between rounds.)

Randy again took him down to begin round 4 and stayed there until the ref stood them up with 2:52 left in the round. Couture went to work and gained side mount before going for his back. Sylvia being a monster reversed and ended up in north south position. In a moment of genius, Randy left his hands on the ground so Sylvia couldn't knee him. The first 'championship' round ended and it seemed Couture was up 4-0. The crowd was ridiculous at this point, with RANDY chants breaking out more and more. Matt Hughes in the corner of Sylvia (I wonder where Tim gets his cockiness?) looked near tears at the impending doom of his friend big Tim.

Round 5 began and as Sylvia left his corner he muttered, ‘Is this the 5th?’ Not a good sign for the CHAMP. Randy Couture took him down again and went to work, grinding on him and just simply beating on him. Sylvia's left eye was now closed from all the right hands over the top. Couture garnered mount and Sylvia finally got up, only to be dumped back on the mat by the accomplished wrestler. The round finally ended and the chills began as Couture raised his hands in anticipation of the impending announcement.

The announcement came and the HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP of the WORLD was strapped around the waist of 43 friggin year old Randy Couture. In a very fitting moment, Joe Rogan appeared to interview Randy and near tears, said, 'I don't know what to say, there are no words.' Randy simply said in that Captain America style that we all love, 'Not bad for an old man!'

No, Randy, not BAD at all.

IWW Trivia Week One Question

2007-03-08T12:53:00.000-08:00

Roddy Piper was a stable of early Wrestlemanias. However, there was one that the Hot Rod wasn't at. Was it:
A) Wrestlemania II
B) Wrestlemania III
C) Wrestlemania IV
D) Wrestlemania V

email your answer to: iwwtrivia@gmail.com with your name & address to enter this contest. Answer all four weeks of trivia correctly is all it takes to be eligible to win a prize!

Wrestling Observer MOTY & Runner-Ups

2007-03-08T12:37:00.001-08:00

1980
1.) Bob Backlund vs. Ken Patera (5/19 - Madison Square Garden)
2.) Bruno Sammartino vs. Larry Zbyszko (9/8 - Shea Stadium)

1981
1.) Pat Patterson vs. Sgt. Slaughter (4/21 - Madison Square Garden)
2.) Dusty Rhodes vs. Ric Flair (9/17 - Kansas City)

1982
1.) Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid (8/5 - Tokyo)
2.) Ric Flair vs. Bob Backlund (4/7 - Atlanta)
2.) Bob Backlund vs. Jimmy Snuka (Madison Square Garden)
(unclear which was the runner-up!)

1983
1.) Harley Race vs. Ric Flair (11/24 - Greensboro)
2.) Rick Steamboat & Jay Youngblood vs. Sgt. Slaughter & Don Kernodle (3/12 - Greensboro)
3.) Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid (4/23 - Tokyo)
4.) Antonio Inoki vs. Hulk Hogan (6/2 - Tokyo)
5.) Terry Funk & Dory Funk Jr. vs. Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy (8/31 - Tokyo)

1984
1.) Freebirds vs. Von Erichs (07/04/84)
2.) Sgt. Slaughter vs. Iron Sheik (06/16/84)

1985
1.) Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Tiger Mask (Misawa) (06/12/85)
2.) Jaguar Yokota vs. Lioness Asuka (08/22/85)

1986
1.) Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham (2/14 - Orlando)
2.) Yoshiaki Yatsu & Riki Choshu vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu (1/28 - Tokyo)
3.) Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Akira Maeda (6/12 - Osaka)
4.) Midnight Express vs. Rock 'n Roll Express (8/16 - Philadelphia)
5.) Shiro Koshinaka vs. Nobuhiko Takada (9/19 - Fukuoka)

1987
1.) Rick Steamboat vs. Randy Savage (3/29 - Pontiac)
2.) Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham (1/20 - Greensboro)
3.) Chigusa Nagayo vs. Lioness Asuka (2/26 - Kawasaki)
4.) Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shiro Koshinaka (2/5 - Tokyo Sumo Hall)
5.) Akira Maeda & Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shiro Koshinaka & Keiji Muto (3/20 - Tokyo Korakuen Hall)

1988
1.) Ric Flair vs. Sting (3/27 - Greensboro)
2.) Midnight Express vs. Fantastics (3/27 - Greensboro)
3.) Midnight Express vs. Fantastics (4/26 - Chattanooga)
4.) Footloose vs. Shinichi Nakano & Shunji Takano (7/19 - Tokyo Korakuen Hall)
5.) Ted DiBiase vs. Randy Savage (4/25 - Madison Square Garden)

1989
1.) Ric Flair vs. Rick Steamboat (4/2 - New Orleans)
2.) Ric Flair vs. Rick Steamboat (5/7 - Nashville)
3.) Ric Flair vs. Rick Steamboat (2/20 - Chicago)
4.) Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk (11/15 - Troy, NY)
5.) Jushin Liger vs. Naoki Sano (9/20 - Osaka)

1990
1.) Jushin Liger vs. Naoki Sano (1-31) Osaka
2.) Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (6-8) Tokyo
3.) Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane vs. Tracy Smothers & Steve Armstrong (7-8) Baltimore
4.) Hulk Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior (4-1) Toronto
5.) Steiners vs. Nasty Boys (10-27) Chicago
6.) Atsushi Onita & Tarzan Goto vs Dragon Master & Masanobu Kurisu (4-1) Tokyo
7.) Keiji Muto vs. Hiroshi Hase (9-14) Hiroshima
8.) Ric Flair vs. Lex Luger (2-25) Greensboro
9.) Tommy Rogers & Bobby Fulton vs. Joe Malenko & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi
10.) Yoshihiro Asai vs. Negro Casas (6-7) Tokyo
11.) Jushin Liger vs. Chris Benoit (8-19) Tokyo

1991
1.) Steiners vs. Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki (3-21) Tokyo
2.) Bull Nakano vs Akira Hokuto (1-4) Tokyo
3.) Ric Flair & Larry Zbyszko & Sid Vicious & Barry Windham vs. Steiners & Sting & Brian Pillman War Games (2-24) Phoenix
4.) Cactus Jack vs. Eddie Gilbert (8-3) Philadelphia
5.) Steiners vs. Sting & Lex Luger (5-19) St. Petersburg
6.) Arn Anderson & Larry Zbyszko vs. Ricky Steamboat & Dustin Rhodes (11-18) Savannah
7.) Randy Savage vs. Ultimate Warrior (3-34) Los Angeles
8.) Curt Hennig vs. Bret Hart (8-27) New York
9.) Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi (4-20) Tokyo
10.) Jushin Liger vs. Hiroshi Hase (5-6) Tokyo
11.) Keiji Muto vs. Masahiro Chono (8-11) Tokyo
12.) Jushin Liger vs. Chris Benoit (10-18) Hiroshima
13.) Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Kenta Kobashi (5-24) Osaka
14.) Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair (10-25) Oakland
15.) Jushin Liger vs. Owen Hart (4-27) Okinawa
16.) Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Toshiaki Kawada (10-24) Yokohama
17.) Aja Kong & Bison Kimura vs. Esther Moreno & Manami Toyota (4-29) Tokyo
18.) Ric Flair vs. Tatsumi Fujinami (3-21) Tokyo

1992
1.) Dan Kroffat & Doug Furnas vs. Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (5-25) Miyagi
2.) Jushin Liger vs. Brian Pillman (2-29) Milwaukee
3.) Manami Toyota vs. Kyoko Inoue (4-25) Yokohama
4.) Jushin Liger vs. El Samurai (4-30) Tokyo
5.) Manami Toyota vs. Toshiyo Yamada (8-15) Tokyo
6.) El Hijo del Santo & Atsushi Onita & Tarzan Goto vs. Negro Casas & Tim Patterson & Horace Boulder (5-16) Los Angeles
7.) Sting & Nikita Koloff & Dustin Rhodes & Ricky Steamboat & Barry Windham vs. Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton & Steve Austin & Larry Zbyszko & Rick Rude War Games (5-17) Jacksonville
8.) Bret Hart vs. British Bulldog (8-29) London
9.) Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Yumiko Hotta & Suzuka Minami (3-17) Tokyo
10.) Eddie Gilbert vs. Terry Funk (11-14) Wayne, NJ
11.) Royal Rumble (1-19) Albany, NY
12.) Jushin Liger vs. Brian Pillman (12-27) East Rutherford, NJ
13.) Ric Flair vs. Randy Savage (4-5) Indianapolis
14.) Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels (11-27) Richfield, OH
15.) Sting vs. Cactus Jack (6-20) Mobile
16.) Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Masa Fuchi & Yoshinari Ogawa (7-5) Tokyo
17.) Sting vs. Big Van Vader (7-18) Albany
18.) Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue (4-20) Tokyo
19.) Rick Rude vs. Masahiro Chono (8-12) Tokyo

1993
1.) Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki (4-11) Osaka
2.) Steve Williams vs. Kenta Kobashi (8-31) Toyohashi
3.) Akira Hokuto vs. Shinobu Kandori (4-2) Yokohama
4.) Cactus Jack vs. Vader (10-24) New Orleans
5.) Stan Hansen vs. Kenta Kobashi (7-29) Tokyo
6.) Hikari Fukuoka & Cuty Suzuki & Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue & Sakie Hasgewa (7-31) Yokohama
7.) Sting vs. Vader (2-21) Asheville
8.) Lightning Kid (X-Pac) vs. Sabu 4-17 Minneapolis
9.) Shawn Michaels vs. Marty Jannetty (7-10) New York
10.) Stan Hansen vs. Toshiaki Kawasda (2-28) Tokyo
11.) Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi (4-14) Nagoya
12.) El Hijo del Santo vs. Heavy Metal (1-29) Mexico City
13.) Winners [Abismo Negro & Rey Misterio Jr. & Super Calo] vs. Jerry Estrada & Heavy Metal & Psicosis (1-29) Mexico City
14.) Bret Hart vs. Curt Hennig (6-11) Dayton
15.) Mitsuhau Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada (3-27) Kyoto
16.) Atsushi Onita vs. Terry Funk (5-5) Kawasaki
17.) Devil Masami vs. Bull Nakano (4-18) Tokyo
18.) Steiners vs. Tom Prichard & Jimmy Del Rey (8-30) Auburn Hills, MI
19.) Heavy Metal & Psicosis & Picudo vs. Winners & Serup Calo & Rey Misterio Jr. (2-14) Mexico City

1994
1.) Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon [Scott Hall] (3-20) New York
2.) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada (6-3) Tokyo
3.) Great Sasuke vs. Chris Benoit (4-16) Tokyo
4.) Love Machine & Eddy Guerrero vs. El Hijo del Santo & Octagon (11-6) Los Angeles
5.) Terry Funk vs. Shane Douglas vs. Sabu (2-5) Philadelphia
6.) Ric Flair vs Vader (12-27-93) Charlotte
7.) Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue (5-21) Sapporo
8.) Nasty Boys vs. Cactus Jack & Maxx Payne (4-17) Chicago
9.) Jushin Liger vs. Great Sasuke (4-16) Tokyo
10.) Cactus Jack & Kevin Sullivan vs. Nasty Boys (5-22) Philadelphia
11.) Aja Kong vs. Manami Toyota (11-20) Tokyo
12.) Akira Hokuto & Kyoko Inoue vs. Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada (12-10-93) Tokyo
13.) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Steve Williams (7-28) Tokyo
14.) Great Sasuke vs. Jinsei Shinzaki (4-29) Tokyo
15.) Chris Benoit & Shinjiro Otani vs. Black Tiger [Eddy Guerrero] & Great Sasuke (10-18) Odawara
16.) Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart (8-29) Chicago
17.) Steve Williams vs. Kenta Kobashi (9-3) Tokyo
18.) Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart (3-20) New York

1995
1.) Manami Toyota vs. Kyoko Inoue (5-7) Tokyo
2.) Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon (8-27) Pittsburgh
3.) Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Psicosis (10-7) Philadelphia
4.) Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada (1-24) Yamagata
5.) Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi (1-19) Osaka
6.) Eddy Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko (4-15) Philadelphia
7.) Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada (6-9) Tokyo
8.) Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Psicosis (9-22) Mexico City
9.) Ultimo Dragon vs. Chris Jericho (7-7) Tokyo
10.) Manami Toyota vs. Akira Hokuto (9-2) Tokyo
11.) Oleg Taktarov vs. Tank Abbott (9-8) Casper
12.) Cactus Jack & Head Hunters vs. Terry Funk & Shoji Nakamaki & Leatherface (Rick Patterson) (4-2) Tokyo
13.) Manami Toyota & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue (8-30) Osaka
14.) Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi & Stan Hansen vs. Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada & Johnny Ace (4-2) Tokyo
15.) Shawn Michaels vs. Jeff Jarrett (7-23) Nashville
16.) Sabu vs. Devon Storm (10-28) Woodbury, NJ
17.) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada (7-24) Tokyo
18.) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Akira Taue 4-15 Tokyo
19.) Rey Misterio & Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Fuerza & Juventud Guerrera (3-2) Xalapa
20.) Eddy Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko (5-13) Philadelphia
21.) Eddy Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko (8-26) Philadelphia
22.) Manami Toyota vs. Aja Kong (6-27 Sapporo
23.) Pit Bulls vs. Raven & Stevie Richards (9-16) Philadelphia

1996
1.) Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs. Steve Williams & Johnny Ace (6-7) Tokyo
2.) Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera (3-9) Philadelphia
3.) Dick Togo & Mens Teioh & Shiryu [Kaz Hayashi] & Taka Michinoku & Shoichi Funaki vs. Gran Hamada & Super Delfin & Tiger Mask & Gran Naniwa & Masato Yakushiji (10-10) Tokyo
4.) Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue (5-23) Sapporo
5.) Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels 3-31 Anaheim
6.) Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Psicosis 7-7 Daytona Beach
7.) Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin 11-17 New York
8.) Shawn Michaels vs. Diesel [Kevin Nash] 4-28 Omaha
9.) Ultimo Dragon vs. Shinjiro Otani (8-4) Tokyo
10.) Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Psicosis (12-13-95) Tokyo
11.) Shawn Michaels vs. Mankind (9-22) Philadelphia
12.) Bas Rutten vs. Masakatsu Funaki (9-7) Tokyo
13.) Kenta Kobashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada (10-18) Tokyo
14.) Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Ultimo Dragon (11-24) Norfolk
15.) Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Dean Malenko (10-27) Las Vegas
16.) Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs. Steve Williams & Johnny Ace (9-5) Tokyo
17.) Don Frye vs. Amoury Bitetti (5-17) Detroit
18.) Antonio Inoki vs. Vader (1-4) Tokyo
19.) Manami Toyota & Mima Shimoda vs. Mariko Yoshida & Kaoru Ito (8-6) Hakata
20.) Sabu vs Rob Van Dam (4-20) Philadelphia
21.) Rey Misterio Jr. & Ultimo Dragon vs. Psicosis & Heavy Metal (6-1) Los Angeles

1997
1.) Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin (3-23) Chicago
2.) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi (1-20) Osaka
3.) Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels (10-5) St. Louis
4.) Eddy Guerrero vs. Rey Misterio Jr. (10-26) Las Vegas
5.) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada (6-6) Tokyo
6.) El Samurai vs. Koji Kanemoto (6-5) Tokyo
7.) Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue (12-6-96) Tokyo
8.) Great Sasuke & Gran Hamada & Masato Yakushiji vs. Mens Teioh & Dick Togo & Taka Michinoku (4-13) Philadelphia
9.) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi (10-21) Tokyo
10.) Jushin Liger vs. Shinjiro Otani (2-9) Sapporo
11.) Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels (11-9) Montreal
12.) Bret & Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith & Jim Neidhart & Brian Pillman vs. Steve Austin & Ken Shamrock & Goldust & Legion of Doom (7-6) Calgary
13.) Ultimo Dragon vs. Dean Malenko (12-29-96) Nashville
14.) Hector Garza & Juventud Guerrera & Lizmark Jr. vs. La Parka & Psicosis & Villano IV (7-13) Daytona Beach

1998
1.) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi (10-31) Tokyo
2.) Undertaker vs. Mankind (6-28) Pittsburgh
3.) Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (6-27) Yokohama
4.) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada (5-1) Tokyo
5.) Steve Austin vs. Dude Love (5-31) Milwaukee
6.) Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue (12-5-97) Tokyo
7.) Juventud Guerrera vs. Billy Kidman (11-16) Wichita
8.) Rock vs. HHH (8-30) New York
9.) Kenta Kobashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada (6-12) Tokyo
10.) Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama (7-25) Tokyo
11.) Koji Kanemoto vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. (6-3) Osaka
12.) Ric Flair vs. Bret Hart (1-25 Dayton
13.) Steve Austin vs. Shawn Michaels (3-29) Boston
14.) Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs. Koji Kanemoto & Dr. Wagner Jr. (8-8) Osaka
15.) Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs. Jushin Liger & El Samurai (8-2) Tokyo
16.) Genichiro Tenryu vs. Shinya Hashimoto (8-1) Tokyo

1999
1.) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi (6-11) Tokyo
2.) Edge & Christian vs. Hardys (10-17) Cleveland
3.) Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit (10-4) Kansas City
4.) Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama (3-6) Tokyo
5.) Steve Austin vs. Rock (4-25) Hartford
6.) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada (1-22) Osaka
7.) Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama (10-23) Nagoya
8.) Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs. Minoru Tanaka & Koji Kanemoto (10-11) Tokyo
9.) Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Yoshihisa Yamamoto (6-24) Tokyo
10.) Juventud Guerrera vs. Blitzkrieg (4-11) Tacoma
11.) Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn (3-21) Asbury Park
12.) Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Psicosis vs. Blitzkrieg vs. Juventud Guerrera (4-19) Gainesville, FL
13.) Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn (5-16) Poughkeepsie
14.) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Vader (5-2) Tokyo
15.) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Vader (10-30) Tokyo
16.) Great Sasuke vs. Magnum Tokyo (2-7) Yokohama
17.) Masato Tanaka vs. Mike Awesome (11-7) Buffalo
18.) Jushin Liger vs. Koji Kanemoto (3-17) Hiroshima
19.) Rock vs. Mankind (1-24) Anaheim

2000
1.) Atlantis vs. Villano III (3/17 - Arena Mexico)
2.) Triple H vs. Cactus Jack (1/23 - Madison Square Garden)
3.) Dudley Boys vs. Edge & Christian vs. Hardy Boys (8/27 - Raleigh)
4.) Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kensuke Sasaki (10/9 - Tokyo Dome)
5.) Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs. Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka (6/25 - Tokyo)

2001
1.) Keiji Muto vs. Genichiro Tenryu (6/8 - Tokyo Nippon Budokan)
2.) Chris Benoit & Chris Jericho vs. Steve Austin & Triple H (5/21 - San Jose)
3.) Toshiaki Kawada & Masanobu Fuchi vs. Yuji Nagata & Takashi Iizuka (12/14/00 - Osaka)
4.) Minoru Tanaka vs. Takehiro Murahama (4/20 - Tokyo Korakuen Hall)
5.) Triple H vs. Steve Austin (2/25 - Las Vegas)

2002
1.) Chris Benoit & Kurt Angle vs. Edge & Rey Mysterio (10/20 - Little Rock)
2.) Genichiro Tenryu vs. Satoshi Kojima (7/17 - Osaka)
3.) Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels (8/25 - Madison Square Garden)
4.) Keiji Muto vs. Toshiaki Kawada (2/24 - Tokyo Nippon Budokan)
5.) American Dragon vs. Low Ki (3/30 - Philadelphia)
6.) Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama & Yuji Nagata (2/17 - Tokyo Nippon Budokan)
7.) Spanky vs. Low Ki vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Doug Williams (7/27 - Philadelphia)
8.) Naomichi Marufuji vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa (12/9/01 - Tokyo)
9.) Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle (9/22 - Los Angeles)
10.) Eddie Guerrero vs. Edge (9/24 - San Diego)

2003
1.) Misawa/Kobashi 3/1 Tokyo
2.) Angle/Benoit 1/19 Boston
3.) KENTA&Marufuji / Kanemura&Hashi 9/12 Tokyo
4.) Jerchio/Michaels 3/30 Seattle
5.) Danielson/London 4/12 Philly
6.) KENTA&Marufuji/Liger&Murahama 7/16 Osaka
7.) Angle/Lesnar 3/30 Seattle
8.) Kobashi/Nagata 9/12 Tokyo
9.) Tenzen/Akiyama 8/17 Tokyo
10.) Angle/Lesnar 9/16 Raleigh

2004
1.) Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama 7/10 Tokyo Dome (362) 2,270
2.) HHH vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Benoit 3/14 New York City Madison Square Garden (218) 1,974
3.) Samoa Joe vs. C.M. Punk 10/16 Chicago Ridge (163) 1,681
4.) Kenta Kobashi vs. Yoshihiro Takayama 4/25 Tokyo Budokan Hall(38) 410
5.) Randy Orton vs. Mick Foley 4/18 Edmonton (28) 352
6.) Eddie Guerrero vs. Brock Lesnar 2/15, San Francisco Cow Palace(7) 209
7.) Samoa Joe vs. C.M. Punk 6/12 Dayton (12) 140
8.) Kensuke Sasaki vs. Yoshihiro Takyama 8/8 Osaka (1) 124
9.) HHH vs. Shawn Michaels 12/30/03 San Antonio (4) 108
10.) HHH vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Benoit 4/18 Edmonton 94

2005
1.) Kenta Kobashi vs. Samoa Joe 10/1 New York (263) 1,968
2.) Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels 4/3 Los Angeles (176) 1,580
3.) Kenta Kobashi vs. Kensuke Sasaki 7/18 Tokyo Dome (177) 1,574
4.) Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels vs. AJ Styles 9/11 Orlando (94) 1,195
5.) Kenta Kobashi & Go Shiosaki vs. Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima 11/5 Budokan Hall (62) 514
6.) AMW vs. XXX 2/5-04 Orlando (25) 443
7.) Satoshi Kojima vs. Toshiaki Kawada 2/16 Tokyo Gym (13) 371
8.) Mistico vs. Ultimo Guerrero 2/15 Arena Mexico (12) 161
9.) AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels 2/13 Orlando (12) 148ls
10.) KENTA vs. SUWA 9/18 Budokan Hall (4) 145

2006
1.) Do Fixer vs Blood Gen. (ROH 3/31/06)
2.) KENTA vs Marufuji (NOAH 10/29/06)
3.) Bryan Danielson vs KENTA (ROH 9/16/06)
4.) Bryan Danielson vs Nigel McGuiness (ROH 8/12/06)
5.) Samoa Joe vs AJ Styles (TNA 12/11/05)
6.) KENTA vs Low Ki (ROH 12/17/05)
7.) Chris Benoit vs Finlay (WWE 5/21/06)
8.) Cage of Death: CZW vs ROH (ROH/CZW 7/15/06)
9.) Rikio/Morishima vs KENTA/Marufuji (NOAH 7/6/06)
10.) Kurt Angle vs The Undertaker (WWE 2/19/06)

2006 Honorable Mention
Averno & Mephisto vs. El Hijo del Santo & Negro Casas 12/16/05 Mexico City
Samoa Joe vs. A.J. Styles vs. Christopher Daniels
Ikuto Hidaka & Minoru Fujita vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Takashi Sugiura (3/5 Tokyo, NOAH Budokan)
Bryan Danielson vs. Roderick Strong 3/31 Chicago Ridge (ROH)
Edge vs. Mick Foley 4/2 Chicago (WWE WM22)
Chris Hero & Super Dragon & Necro Butcher vs. Samoa Joe & Adam Pearce & B.J. Whitmer 4/22 Philadelphia
Edge vs. John Cena 9/17 Toronto
Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe 11/19 Orlando

2007
1. Bryan Danielson Vs. Takeshi Morishima (8/25/07) (118) - 1,199 pts.
2. KENTA & Taiji Ishimori Vs. Kota Ibushi & Naomichi marufuji (7/15/07) (131) - 1,108 pts.
3. Bryan Danielson Vs. Nigel McGuiness (6/9/07) - (146) - 1,061 pts.
4. John Cena Vs. Shawn Michaels (4/23/07) (74) - 809 pts.
5. John Cena Vs. Umaga (1/28/07) (46) - 458 pts.
6. Briscoes Vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico (9/15/07) (28) - 403 pts.
7. John Cena Vs. Shawn Michaels Vs. Edge Vs. Randy Orton (4/29/07) (26) - 280 pts.
8. Cima, Shingo Takagi & Susuma Yokosuka Vs. Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito & Masaaki Mochizuki () (45) 267 pts.
9. Hiroshi Tanahashi Vs. Hirooki Goto (11/11/07) (2) - 212 pts.
10. Hiroshi Tanahasi Vs. Yuji Nagata (4/13/07) - (1) - 196 pts.
11. Bryan Danielson Vs. Takeshi Morishima (9/15/07) - 184 pts.
12. Undertaker Vs. Batista (4/1/07) - 173 pts.
13. John Cena Vs. Shawn Michaels (4/1/07) - 167 pts.
14. BJ Whitmer Vs. Jimmy Jacobs (3/31/07) - 127 pts.
15. Briscoes Vs. Ricky marvin & Kotaro Suzuki (1/21/07) - 125 pts.
16. Takeshi Morishima Vs. Claudio Castragnoli (8/10/07) - 119 pts.
17. Chris Harris Vs. James Storm (5/13/07) - 96 pts.
18. Briscoes Vs. Claudio Castragnoli & Matt Sydal (5/12/07) - 88 pts
19. Kurt Angle Vs. Samoa Joe (12/10/06) - 67 pts

Deceased Wrestlers

2007-03-08T09:46:00.000-08:00

Gary Will has compiled a very informative list of professional wrestlers who have passed away. People often ask about whether there an epidemic of wrestlers dying young.

So, there are about 1324 wrestlers listed there. Only 1085 have at least a year of death listed and only 854 of those have an age listed. I don't know when every person started their wrestling career, but let's just pretend they debuted when they were 18 years old. (Now granted, that puts a guy like Mike Awesome as debuting in 1983 when in reality it was several years later in 1989.)

So, by decade using this idea of a start date here are the counts:
[u]debut year[/u]
1860s -- 2
1870s -- 9
1880s -- 2
1890s -- 11
1900s -- 28
1910s -- 55
1920s -- 110
1930s -- 161
1940s -- 166
1950s -- 108
1960s -- 65
1970s -- 65
1980s -- 51
1990s -- 18
2000s -- 3

If you want to argue that most wrestlers weren't really into their career until they were about 25 (age David Von Erich died at), the list moves a bit further:

[u]decade when they were 25[/u]
1860s 1
1870s 2
1880s 8
1890s 2
1900s 19
1910s 27
1920s 67
1930s 142
1940s 156
1950s 162
1960s 82
1970s 68
1980s 63
1990s 50
2000s 5

Not perfectly scientific, but some basic analysis. Of the last five groups they divide as follows:
debuted in 1960s : 31%
debuted in 1970s : 25%
debuted in 1980s : 24%
debuted in 1990s : 19%
debuted in 2000s : 2%

Now, let's take into account average age of death for each decade:
(again I'm listing the decade of when they were 25)
1860s: 41.0 years old
1870s: 73.0 years old
1880s: 64.5 years old
1890s: 81.0 years old
1900s: 66.5 years old
1910s: 69.9 years old
1920s: 64.9 years old
1930s: 72.5 years old
1940s: 70.0 years old
1950s: 65.4 years old
1960s: 54.6 years old
1970s: 45.4 years old
1980s: 37.2 years old
1990s: 31.4 years old
2000s: 23.8 (for anyone who was less than 25 years old, I adjusted their debut date back to when they were 18)

Now, this list seems to be mostly US & Canadian wrestlers with some Mexican & Japanese personalities.

Now, it's not exactly fair to just compare 68 deaths from 70s personalities vs 50 deaths from 90s personalities because there has been more time for aging to occur. As of twenty years ago, how many people from the 70s had died and what was the average age?

As of the end of 1987... (by debut decade)
1930s: 73 deaths, avg age 61.5
1940s: 52 deaths, avg age 54.2
1950s: 28 deaths, avg age 46.9
1960s: 23 deaths, avg age 39.7
1970s: 13 deaths, avg age 32.0
1980s: 8 deaths, avg age 28.0

So, the average age of death from stars of 1990s as of now is 31.4 years old. However, there have been 50 deaths. This compares to only 13 deaths from stars of the 1970s (measured 7 years into the following decade) but at an average age of 32 years old.

Indeed.

RAW March 5, 2007 BLOG by Ray Rhodes

2007-03-06T20:39:00.001-08:00

Indeed Wrestling Weekly: RAW Blog 3/6/07 by Ray Rhodes

RAW kicks off with Cena and HBK talking backstage. Good promo exploiting the tension, with HBK saying he doesn't want or need Cena's help. The promo, at least locally, strangely cuts off and goes to commercial. When we come back, HBK is walking down the ramp. Not sure if that was a mistake or what.

It's HBK against Orton to kick off in a sweet hot opener. HBK's body is showing it's age but give the man credit, he still brings it like no one else. Good match but after Michaels takes a hard drop to the outside, the MID MATCH COMMERCIAL BREAK hits and ruins any momentum. We're back and HBK hits his patented comeback and after a series of traded reversals, a ref knock, and an attempted belt shot, Michaels gets the roll up victory. Good finish here, building on the Edge-Orton split as well. Orton gives HBK the RKO on a chair (which looked like it hurt HBK's knee just as much) but before they can continue to assault, Cena makes the save.

They show a graphic for the upcoming Guest Referee selection with the bald black shadow figure. My girlfriend remarks that if rumors are correct, the shadow actually looks like the mystery man (Austin).

Jeff Hardy gets a rematch with Umaga and since we're still in Phase One of "Let's forget Umaga lost to Cena twice and get him back on track as a monster" the outcome is already signed, sealed, and delivered. Hardy gets a few more shots in here, but can't sustain the pressure for too long. Eventually, Hardy succumbs to Umaga's Two Minutes of PAIN also known as his Signature Move Bonanza. While I get the idea of Umaga killing one of the most over face to make him more of a monster, I can't help but think he deserves better then to be eventually squashed out. He has, after all, lost some of the GUT he came back with.

Flair and Carlito have a little exchange, setting up the final Money in the Bank Qualifier. With Flair pretty much a non-factor last year with the mid-match injury angle, I hope if one of these guys has to make it, it's Carlito.

The MasterLock Challenge with....Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Is Hacksaw seriously on the roster? This has to be the most odd pity job in the company now that Animal was released. The Masterpiece wins, and one wonders if the writers actually watch week-to-week. Is Masters a goof or is he the real deal? I liked when they were breaking the hold and he was finding a technicality for saying it wasn't officially broken. Now I guess he's back to being the real deal but honestly, does anyone buy it anymore?

McMahon, Bishoff, Foley, The Phenoix Gorilla, Shane McMahon and Stone Cold Steve Austin have a Classic Raw Segment which really, makes no sense but it was entertaining and channeled some of the glory days of RAW. It's good to see Austin back and McMahon's faces were priceless.

Mickie James takes on Melina in a Falls Count Anywhere match for the Women's Title.

Hardcore Women's matches are always a hoot, remember Ivory and Ninja Tory from a few years back? Fun match which takes it backstage and into the women's lockerroom. Camera man gets taken out and we go to commericial. We come back and the women are making their way back to the ring. For a second time in a match with Melina, Mickie winds up falling on her head, this time going for a top-rope hurricanrana. That's a little thing IWW likes to call OUCH! Melina wins and Ashley, who was the guest announcer, gets into a little thing with Melina, taking the spot Mickie's more than earned. If there is one thing Christy Hemme and Ashley have taught the Divas: Pose for Playboy, Get a Wrestlemania Push. Nothing like selling out your self worth for a Wrestlemania pay day, right?

I talked with Zip on the last IWW podcast about Ashley briefly but man, she has the body of a 12 year old boy with ginormous fake breasts. Eat something! And what a pretentious entrance with the playboy cover coming down. She's so not-over Playboy has to put Chyna, Torrie, and others in the same issue. Showing the playboy bunnies on her Bazooms at No Way Out should have been a Diva Mark Out Moment...instead it was turned into another wasted moment.

Carlito and Flair wrestle for awhile until The Great Khali comes down and interrupts the match, eventually killing and eating both men, Torrie, and Chloe. He then takes a dump on the Announcer's table which looks like the pile of poop from Jurassic Park. He then utters what translator's eventually distinguish as, "I want Kane". Some of this is true, and one wonders–if Khali wanted Kane so bad why wouldn't he just you know, show up at Smackdown where KANE IS?! LIKE HE DID LAST WEEK?!

Orton tells Edge he doesn't have his back. Interesting!

Nick Bockwinkel joins Mr. Perfect, Jerry Lawler, and Dusty Rhodes in this year's Hall of Fame. Next IWW show I hope to go over this year's choices and debate with Zip on if he thinks they are good or bad choices.

Edge takes on Cena....sort of. Instead, Edge has MNM come down and in a strange promo talks about how he's colorblind and he's from Canada so Johnny Nitro gets to fight Cena. I'm honestly not sure what he was saying but RAW totally broke down at this point. Edge's promo and MNM's involvement made no sense and all it did was set up HBK's "will I, won't I" moment. Mercury and Edge beat on Cena, HBK starts to make the save but doesn't. As Edge leaves and Mercury and Nitro continue the beating, HBK still stalls. Eventually, he makes the save and walks away.

Final Thoughts: As Wrestlemania gets closer I think we're going to see less and less clean matches and lot's of interference and BS so it's going to be hard to judge on match quality. Entertainment wise, RAW moved along briskly and it was good to see a lot of old faces. The Women's match was fun and the hot opener was main event quality. I'll give it 4 out of 5 Viscera Heads, which marks a solid B, but mostly due to it's entertainment value and Wrestlemania build-up and not on it's matches.