TWP15 I

THE WRESTLING
PRESS ISSuE 15
Message from the Editor
u
sually in my address, i
June 2011
would hype what is
coming up in this issue
FRONT COVER but in light of what happened on
Macho Man Randy Savage May 20th 2011, i feel compelled
to take the time to dedicate a
tribute to one of the greatest
EDITOR & wrestlers of all time, a childhood
ADVERTISING icon to myself and millions of
Darren Wood other wrestling fans around the
dtwooduk@hotmail.com world “Macho Man” randy
Savage.
Having been a wrestling fan since
ONLINE EDITOR the beginning of 1992, Savage was
David Schmida a major figurehead as I grew up
dschmida@hotmail.com watching professional wrestling, in
fact one of the first matches I ever
watched was Savage in tag team
The Ultimate Warrior at
action at SummerSlam 1989 (which
DESIGN & LAYOuT SummerSlam 1992 in Wembley
my father bought me on good ole’
Greg Johnson Stadium, London.
VHS) as he teamed with Zeus in a
ed@thewrestlingpress.com His charisma was undeniable and
losing effort against Hulk Hogan
and Brutus “the barber” Beefcake. he always shone in whatever
position he was put in whether it be
THE ROCK INTERVIEW in the ring or behind the
Courtesy of epk.tv announcers’ desk.
Savage was one in a handful of
performers who transcended into
mainstream media, it is without a
The Wrestling Press is doubt he is one of the most iconic
an independent and influential wrestlers in the
publication and is in no history of professional wrestling.
way endorsed by WWE, Everyone here at TWP sends our
TNA or UFC. The views condolences out to the friends and
expressed by the writers family of Randy Savage. R.I.P
do not necessarily Randy Savage at his debut “Macho Man”.
match at Cobo Arena, Detroit for
represent the views of the Sheik in '75. © Dr Mike Lano Ohhh Yeah!
The Wrestling Press.
CoMPeTiTion: Congratulation to
No part of this publication
Throughout the years I was Thomas Feaheny who won last
may be reproduced
fortunate to see Savage participate month's competition of four WWE
without the written
in memorable contests down the DVD’s. This month we have three
permission of the ROH DVD’s to give away, check
years, his classic confrontation at
publisher. out page 15 for details.
WrestleMania 8 against Ric Flair,
his less known encounter with Darren WooD (Magazine
© Riot! Promotions 2011
Shawn Michaels and his battle with Editor) – dtwooduk@hotmail.com
2 www.thewrestlingpress.com
CONTENTS June 2011
Web
update
4 IntervIeW WIth the rocK 66 the IPPv eFFect on Indy WIth davId schmIda
Rocks talks Fast Five WrestlInG
A look at Beyond Wrestling I’d like to send out
8 randy savaGe trIbUte
my condolences
Wrestling loses a legend 70 the InteGratIon oF to the family,
InternatIonal Wrestlers friends and fans
15 roh comPetItIon Into draGon Gate of “The Macho
Win 3 top DVD’s Part 1 – setting the scene Man” Randy
16 thInKInG the Savage. The
72 lIonheart colUmn wrestling world
UnthInKable? Rough stuff with Tracy Smothers lost a true legend.
Is there wrestling after McMahon?
Whether he
74 lUcha FUtUre stepped in the
20 World ... entertaInment Mexican wrestling in the UK
Why wrestling is now a dirty word ring with the
support of the
80 alPha Female colUmn
24 the rocK vs John cena fans or drove
NEW European Champion!
Building up to WrestleMania 28 them mad with his
84 starbUcK colUmn antics, he did it
28 the rocK’s bIrthday Wrestling for SMASH!
with an unrivaled
This month in wrestling history intensity and
88 Who Is GoInG to maKe always had the
34 the WWe draFt darK KItty’s dream come people on the
An in depth look edges of their
trUe?
seats. Some of
A stark message for beginners
39 I’m ordInary our writers have
Dissection of The Miz 92 classIc Photo oF the put their thoughts
on Savage on
month
42 the WrestlInG PrIest digital paper at
Terry Taylor in the spotlight!
Kong is blessed! thewrestlingpress.com
93 the rIse and Fall oF Check it out and
44 tna rebrand maybe relive
Will a name change make a difference
crocoP
Part One – The Rise some of the many
great moments in
47 WrestlInG WIth hyPe
Juggling action and drama
98 revIeWs the career of the
The True Story of WrestleMania former “Macho
WWE Royal Rumble 2011 King”.
52 sharKboy IntervIeW
WWE Elimination Chamber 2011
Give me a Shell Yeah!
Tna Genesis 2011
DG:USA Uprising
56 the UltImate draFt
Evolve 5
Fantasy booking
104 the WolFe PIt
62 12 larGe, brother
Edge’s retirement
Chikara’s Road to the Title
www.thewrestlingpress.com 3
Click for
audio
INTERVIEW
H
ot off the heels of his starring role elevate the story. There was a great challenge of
at WrestleMania 27 in atlanta, elevating the story and the great challenge of
Georgia earlier this year, Dwayne introducing a new character which was again a
‘The rock’ Johnson stars in the part of the appeal for me to not only enthuse a
fifth instalment of the Fast and the Furious new character into the franchise but to create a
franchise. Taking some time out of his busy character that was appealing, interesting and
schedule, The rock talks all about his new that could be a very formidable presence
movie Fast Five explaining what attracted opposite your two main heroes in the movie
him to the film, what he thinks about the those being Vin Diesel’s character and Paul
character he portrays and also his thoughts Walker’s character. I also thought that it was
of going up against Vin Diesel. really fun to play and create a character that
Dwayne, tell me a little bit about your character, could be taken either way. He could be taken as
because you’re like a super human bounty a protagonist or an antagonist and if you cheer
hunter from hell. What is your job in this film? the character for what he does and what he
believes in great, if you boo him that’s great too
My job is to find these individuals whoever they you cant stop him he is still going to kick ass.
are, their names come across my desk, I hunt
them down, find them and bring them in. That’s Can you explain your character a little bit more
it, that’s my job they can come in dead or alive for people who may not be familiar with the
that’s up to them. movie?
So, what attracted you to the project? He’s a unique guy in terms of the job that he has
and the job that he embraces and the job that he
There are a couple of things, number one was loves. There’s a code that he lives by which is it
Justin Lin’s vision. I spent a lot of time with him doesn’t matter what you did, I don’t care who
and I was interested to see how he was going to you are, what gender you are, what your excuse
4
is at the end of the day I have a list, your name never see. A lot of people wanted to see
came up on that list and came across my desk Schwarzenegger and Stallone get together in
now I have to find you and bring you in. Again if the 80’s and they didn’t so we have the
you want to go in dead that’s up to you, if you opportunity now and we want to deliver. I think
want to go in alive that’s also up to you. what they’re going to get is an intense, solid and
epic matchup.
You know a lot about action, you know what it
means to audiences when you’re not doing it Perfect. This franchise is still white hot, this
in front of a green screen, when everything is is the fifth one now and it must feel pretty
live and in person. Talk about how Justin made great for you to jump into the franchise with
this feel real and how audiences are going to a pretty great character?
feel that? It feels fantastic, with a great character that we
Well I think from Justin’s perspective just as a created from scratch and that was the fun part
director he’s a very rooted director he loves about it because the character we from scratch
character. Loves a grounded sensibility and he we could work and add elements in. What would
wanted to bring that again just like he has done this character say? All those sorts of things we
in all of the Fast and Furious movies. It’s could work on and build. Its very exciting for me
interesting to see Justin’s growth as a director as an actor to be a part of something that’s this
over the years and its awesome to see. It’s my epic, that’s this successful and think about the
goal as an actor to grow, get better and try success over the past ten years that these films
different things. Justin does that, he brought that have had and that is difficult to do and to sustain
to this movie. I’ve never worked with Justin on any platform. Regardless of what you do to
before but I was really impressed with him and sustain that amount of success over ten years is
his approach and the job he did. nothing short of spectacular. So for me as an
actor to come into this, to elevate the story in
any way that I can, hunt down Vin whoop his
ass, fantastic.
And the final question is, there’s a lot at
stake in this story I mean they got you after
them, they got the baddest ass in Rio after
them and all his guys so not only is it a lot of
good action but its got a lot of story.
Its got a lot of good story and that was important,
the story was important to Justin and it was
important to all of us. Because you’re coming
back around for number 5, so you gotta come
So audiences want to see this, they want to with it, you gotta have something that’s more
see Vin vs. The Rock. What are they going to than just sizzle you need a bit of meat and the
get when they watch this film? meat has got to taste good and the audience
That’s the fun thing, I know they want to see Vin has got to feel good about it. In that you gotta
vs. The Rock, The Rock vs. Vin something you create a story that is rooted, well I think its about
never thought you would see before. It’s like family that’s my interpretations of it. Dominic
Tyson vs. Ali, you know Lebron against Jordan. Toretto loves his family, Luke Hobbs loves his
What are they gonna get? Well they’re gonna family, my men those are my family you took
get me giving Vin an all day long fucking ass those away from me now you gotta pay. So I
whooping is what they’re gonna get [laughs]. All think audiences are gonna love that.
of us recognise just the opportunity we have Fast Five is currently showing in theatres
here, this is what audiences thought they would nationwide.
1952~2011
WRESTLING LO
O
n Friday, May 20th, 2011 randy television landscape for professional wrestling
Poffo, better known to the was a lot different than it is in 2011. Instead of
wrestling world as former WWe Raw, Smackdown or Impact, where the
and WCW World Champion randy Heavyweight Champions see action every
“Macho Man” Savage, was killed in an SUV week, WWE Champion Hulk Hogan almost
crash. it is believed he had a heart attack. never wrestled on the weekly syndicated
His wife, Lynn Payne, was also involved in television programs like the Superstars of
the crash, but received only minor injuries. Wrestling or Wrestling Challenge.
Poffo was 58 years old.
Instead, it was Savage, even before he
For fans of a certain age, Randy Savage, along defeated Tito Santana for the Intercontinental
with Ric Flair, was probably the first heel we Championship, who made those shows worth
ever cheered. tuning into. No matter what else was happening
The effect that Randy Savage had on WWE in on Saturday mornings, once the first notes of
1985-1986 was a lot like that of Gorgeous “Pomp and Circumstance” hit, everything else in
George some 30 years earlier. His style and the room stopped. All eyes were glued to the TV
showmanship made him a standout among his set. In the mid-80s, Hulk Hogan might have
contemporaries. Even before he stepped into been helping put WWE on the mainstream map,
the ring, Savage’s flashy robes, his wild hair and
beard, and especially his mannerisms were of
such spectacle that it was impossible not to
notice him. And let’s not overlook the fact that
his manager, and real life wife, Miss Elizabeth
(Hulette), certainly had no small role in his
“
appeal.
But while other wrestlers might use
such style to hide a lack of in-ring
substance, Savage never suffered
from that shortcoming.
Once the bell rang, Savage performed with
such intensity that one could not be faulted for
wondering if he hadn’t left everything he had
that night in the ring. And that intensity, that
penchant Savage had for delivering the best
match of the night, came as much when he
would face S.D. Jones as when he faced Hulk
Hogan. Small wonder that, when Georgia
booker Ole Anderson gave him the moniker of
Randy Savage, it was because he wrestled “like
a savage.”
What younger fans might not realize is that, © roB DiCaTerino
when Savage first started in WWE, the
OSES A LEGEND
but it was Savage who was doing the day-to- After ICW folded, Savage began working for the
day work of making the shows entertaining. Continental Wrestling Alliance. In feuding with
Jerry “the King” Lawler over the AWA Southern
Coming out of Downers Grove North High
Heavyweight Championship, or teaming with
School at the age of 18, initially it seemed that
Lanny to battle the Rock and Roll Express,
Randy Poffo was more likely headed towards
Savage began to be noticed, not only by wrestling
the World Series than Wrestlemania. Signed by
magazines like Pro Wrestling Illustrated and, more
the St. Louis Cardinals organization as a
importantly, by people like Vince McMahon, Jr.
catcher, Poffo would play four years of minor
league baseball, mostly as an outfielder, in the In June 1985, after dropping a “Loser Leaves
Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Memphis” match to Lawler, Savage appeared in
Sox organizations.
But perhaps it was pre-determined that
Poffo would eventually make his way to a
wrestling career. His father, Angelo Poffo, was
a wrestler and promoter, with a career that
spanned from 1949-1991. His brother, Lanny,
also followed in their father’s footsteps,
eventually becoming best known as “Leaping
Lanny” Poffo and “the Genius in WWE.
Even as his baseball career was ending in the
early 1970s, Randy Poffo’s career was
beginning. In an ironic twist, Poffo, who would
later appear in “Spiderman”, initially wrestled
under a mask as “the Spider”. During much of
the early years of his career, Savage would
wrestle with father, Angelo, and brother, Lanny,
throughout the United States.
Then, in 1978, Angelo started International
Championship Wrestling, in Kentucky. ICW was
considered an “outlaw promotion”, because it
was not aligned with the National Wrestling
Alliance. Savage would be a three-time ICW
World Champion and Lanny a four-time
champion before the promotion folded in 1983.
But above and beyond any championships or
in-ring glory, ICW would be a very important
chapter in Savage’s life. It was there he met and
fell in love with Elizabeth Hulette, who was one
of the announcers for ICW. The two were
married in December 1984.
WRESTLING LO
WWE. Before long, Elizabeth joined him, as Boston Gardens. Almost immediately, Savage
Savage declined other managers’ services in began battling WWE Champion Hulk Hogan,
favour of this beautiful young woman. even going so far as to defeat Hogan by count-
out in several meetings between the two. In
Savage and elizabeth rocketed to the top of
watching Savage from this period, there is no
WWe in almost record time. Savage made it
doubt that he was something special and that
to the finals of the Wrestling Classic
he was destined for greatness.
tournament, as part of the WWE’s first ever pay-
per-view offering late in 1985, and in February He may have been mired in a
Terino
1986, used a foreign object to dethrone feud with George Steele over
Intercontinental Champion Tito Santana in the “the Animal’s” amorous
© roB DiCa
feelings towards Elizabeth for
much of 1986, but the battle
Randy Savage, right, and that would make Savage a
Roberto Soto in Macon, GA. part of history was just
August 23, 1977. months away. After a TV title
© STeVe BUrnS defense against Ricky
Steamboat, the Macho Man
showed just how “savage” he
could be. During the bout, Savage was seen to
have injured the Dragon’s larynx. His boasting
of the attack angered former WWE Champion
Bruno Sammartino, sparking a short program
between former and future Heavyweight
Champions. Even his feud with George Steele
would be incorporated into his battles with the
returning Steamboat.
On March 29th, 1987, Steamboat (with Steele in
his corner) would challenge Savage (with
Elizabeth in his corner) for the Intercontinental
Championship at Wrestlemania III. The match
became an instant classic, and is still regarded
as one of the best matches in history. It is a
testament to Savage’s ability and performance
in the ring that, even in losing the match and the
title to Steamboat, the match served only to
increase his in-ring reputation.
With Steamboat quickly dropping the title to the
Honky Tonk Man, a door opened for Savage to
turn face. It would take little effort, as many
were already cheering Savage, and many more
wanted to. Certainly, few would choose the
OSES A LEGEND
pompous pompadoured Honky Tonk Man over Savage fell down the ladder of contenders and
Savage, and by the end of his September re-invented himself as “the Macho King”
Saturday Night’s Main Event battle for the (defeating Hacksaw Jim Duggan for “the
Intercontinental Championship, Savage was crown”) with Sensational Queen Sherri at his
“
firmly established as a face. side. As the Macho King, Savage feuded with
Duggan, Dusty Rhodes and the Ultimate
That match would also see the
Warrior.
creation of the Mega Powers Tag
Team, with Savage joining forces At Wrestlemania VII, Savage lost a Retirement
with Hulk Hogan, who came to match to the Warrior, but reunited with
Savage’s aid (thanks to elizabeth) Elizabeth, who had been watching in the crowd.
following a post-match attack by the It seemed a fitting ending to Savage’s story, as
Honky Tonk Man and the Hart he began doing commentary on WWE
Foundation. telecasts. Savage even proposed to Elizabeth,
and the two were wed at SummerSlam 1991.
While the Honky Tonk Man would thwart
Savage’s run at the Intercontinental title, But Jake Roberts and the Undertaker had other
through cowardly countouts and plans, disrupting the wedding reception.
disqualifications, the Macho Man soon had Roberts had hid a live snake in one of the
another title in his grasp: the WWE World wedding gifts, and the Undertaker attacked
Heavyweight Championship. At Wrestlemania Savage with his urn. Savage was eventually
IV, Savage overcame Greg Valentine, Butch reinstated, and battled Jake Roberts in a vicious
Reed, the One Man Gang and Ted Dibiase to and violent feud that saw Roberts’ cobra
win a tournament to claim the vacant title. (devenomized, thankfully) bite Savage on the
arm and, in another incident, the Snake slapped
Over the next year, Savage defended his title
Elizabeth when she begged for her husband’s
against Dibiase, Andre the Giant, Bad News
well-being.
Brown, the Big Boss Man, Akeem and others.
Meanwhile, he also teamed with Mega Power In early 1992, Savage began a feud with Ric
partner Hulk Hogan against the Mega Bucks Flair, which garnered another WWE
team of Dibiase and the Giant and the team of Championship reign after he defeated Flair at
the Boss Man and Akeem. Wrestlemania VIII. Elizabeth quietly
disappeared from the WWE, with Savage and
However, problems began to arise between
she divorcing in September of that year.
Hogan and Savage as 1988 turned to 1989.
As Wrestlemania V approached, it was clear Savage continued to feud with Flair, with the
that the Mega Powers were doomed as a team, Nature Boy and “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig
and Savage turned heel on Hogan following a causing trouble at ringside during Savage’s
match against the Boss Man and Akeem. SummerSlam 1992 match against the Ultimate
Hogan then challenged, and defeated Savage, Warrior. After the match, Flair and Hennig
for the title at Wrestlemania. attacked Savage injuring his knee. A few weeks
later, that knee injury would be aggravated by
Savage continued to battle Hogan in rematches
Razor Ramon (Scott Hall) and Savage would
for the title, even teaming with the Hulkster’s No
drop the title back to Flair. Savage was to have
Holds Barred co-star Tiny “Zues” Lister against
teamed with the Ultimate Warrior against
Hogan and Beefcake. Eventually, however,
WRESTLING LO
Ramon and Flair, but with the Warrior’s firing
© (VinCe BUCCi /
from WWE, Mr. Perfect turned on Flair and GeTTy iMaGeS)
Bobby Heenan, and teamed with Savage.
In 1993 and 1994, Savage returned to
commentary, making sparodic appearances in
the ring (the 1993 Royal Rumble, a feud with
Crush). With his contract ending, Savage
signed with WCW. Initially, a feud with Hogan
was teased. Instead, it was Flair that Savage
battled during his first few months in WCW, with
Flair going so far as to attack Savage’s father,
“
Angelo Poffo.
after winning the WCW World
Championship in 1995, Savage and
Flair exchanged the title over the
next several months. after one title
loss, elizabeth (who had returned to
wrestling to serve again as Savage’s
valet/manager) turned on the Macho
Man and aligned herself with Flair.
With the rise of the NWO, Savage initially led
WCW’s charge against this new group, and it
was Savage who suffered the Hulk Hogan Madness”, with himself and three valets, his 22-
legdrop that signified Hogan’s allegiance to the year-old then-girlfriend Gorgeous George,
NWO. Eventually, Savage would join the NWO, Madusa and Miss Madness. Booked as a heel,
as Elizabeth herself had. Reunited, Savage and Savage targeted the WCW World
Elizabeth feuded with Diamond Dallas Page Championship, this time held by Kevin Nash. At
and his wife, Kimberly. the Great American Bash, Savage teamed with
After a feud with Lex Luger, Savage got a shot Sid Vicious against Sting and Nash in match
at Sting’s WCW title at Spring Stampede 1998. where, whomever got the pinfall would win the
Savage regained the title, much to Hogan’s WCW title. Savage pinned Nash for the title,
chagrin, but the match came at a cost, as he only to lose it to Hogan the next night on Nitro,
tore his ACL. His reign lasted just until the next when Nash interfered.
Nitro when Bret Hart’s interference cost Savage With Team Madness disintegrating as
the title. Soon, the NWO would splinter into Madusa and Miss Madness feuded, Savage
NWO Hollywood and NWO Wolfpac, with turned his attention to a short feud with
Savage being a member of the latter with Kevin Dennis rodman. After his contract with WCW
Nash and others. ended, Savage made one last appearance in a
But Savage’s knee injuries finally forced him to battle royale on Thunder in May 2000 and then
take time off for surgery. When he returned in departed the company and, for a long time, the
late December 1998, Savage formed “Team wrestling business.
OSES A LEGEND
Savage appeared in 2002’s Spiderman, as And like Ric Flair and “Rowdy” Roddy Piper,
wrestler Bonesaw McGraw, and even put out a Savage made it cool to cheer the bad guy. One
rap album that included the track “Be A Man”, could argue that without Randy Savage, there
which was directed towards Hulk Hogan. might never have been a “Stone Cold Steve
Austin” or the Rock, Triple H or Randy Orton.
In 2004, Savage returned to pro wrestling with a
short run in NWA-TNA. He teamed with A.J. in losing randy Savage, wrestling has lost
Styles and Jeff Hardy to defeat the Kings of one of the true legends of pro wrestling, one
Wrestling (Jeff Jarrett, Scott Hall and Kevin who’s importance to the industry will never
Nash) at Turning Point. Savage’s run in TNA be questioned.
was to have included a one-on-one feud with His death was widely-reported by the
Jarrett that would see Savage win the NWA mainstream press, and in the hours and days
Championship, but at the end of 2004, Savage afterwards, tributes from his friends, colleagues
left the organization. and fellow wrestlers poured in.
Despite the return of other WWE departees from Jay Lethal was one of the Macho Man’s biggest
WCW, Savage was never extended the same fans, while in TNA Lethal actually based his
invitation. Rumours abounded as to the reasons character on Savage by creating “Black
for Vince McMahon’s hostility towards the Machismo”. Lethal wrote this poem on his twitter
Macho Man. In recent years, however, page in dedication to his idol Randy Savage.
McMahon’s view towards the former 2-time
WWE Champion seemed to have thawed. There you were a tower of
power that was too sweet
was a new Randy Savage action figure and a
to be sour, you were
Macho Man retrospective DVD produced. More
funky like a monkey every
recently, Savage was included in the recent
minute of every hour.
video game release, WWE All-Stars, for which
“
the Macho Man appeared in a commercial. For you, space was the
place and time distortion
Many wrestling fans hoped that had to be, and your fans
randy Savage would soon take his here on earth wanted the
rightful place in the WWe Hall of madness for eternity.
Fame. Unfortunately, due to the you met every challenge with fists clinched and
tragic events of May 20th, that face to face, you even fought and defeats
induction, when and if it comes, will dragons and snakes.
be posthumously. Flying off the ropes with an elbow drop, There
In leaving this mortal world behind, Randy Mario was no way you could ever be stopped.
Poffo, better known to wrestling fans as Randy identifiable by your voice alone, even being
“Macho Man” Savage also left an indelible mark Dubbed the macho king while you sat on your
on the business he excelled at. throne.
We hung on your words with interviews
For those of us who were introduced to wrestling memorable and classic, and we knew it was
during the Rock’n’Wrestling Connection of the serious when you took off your glasses.
1980s, Savage was one of the key people who
i promise not to lose you in the sands of time,
kept us tuning in, every week. Savage might not
For you will always be that all time hero of
have been the only larger-than-life personality mine.
the WWE had on its roster, but his in-ring ability
set him apart from others. In Randy Savage, – jay lethal –
Vince McMahon had Hulk Hogan’s personality R.I.P.
mixed with Ricky Steamboat’s ability. Randy Savage
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To be in for a shot of winning this great prize simply answer the

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Which 2 opponents faced Christopher Daniels in roH’s
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Send your answer to dtwooduk@hotmail.com
Please remember to include your postal address. Competition closes 25th June.
Winners will be revealed in issue 16.
All the above titles, and so much more, are exclusively available
from rohwrestling.com
Is there Wrestling
after mcmahon? Words JoHn MiLner
THINKING THE
uNTHINKABLE?
I
f you ask Vince
McMahon, the
subtitle of this
article is all wrong.
it should, in fact, be “is
There entertainment
after McMahon?” over
the past few years,
Vince McMahon has
tried, with all the power
that he has (which is to
say, a substantial
amount), to steer the they wish to hear,
focus of his company, pointing to endeavours
which is now referred such as the XFL or the
to as strictly WWe, WBF, and the box office
away from its pro tallies of The Chaperone
wrestling roots, and or Knucklehead. Such
towards becoming an flamboyant failures might
“entertainment” offer proof that McMahon
company. should lean more towards
the second “W” and less
And so, it seems, as long
towards the “E” in WWE.
as Vince McMahon is at
the helm of WWE, we will Unfortunately for those
continue to see less and purists, as long as Vince
less wrestling and more McMahon can convince
and more entertainment. himself that the next
For some purists, that entertainment-type
may not be something venture will be the one
16 www.thewrestlingpress.com © JoHn SMoLek

that will be successful, he will
continue to bring his financial and
talent efforts to bear on conquering
the entertainment world, much like
he did the wrestling world in the
1980s.
Last August, Vince McMahon
turned 65, which is retirement age
for most people. Of course, Vince
McMahon isn’t “most people”, and
being a CEO of an entertainment
company isn’t the same as working
at an auto plant or as a university
professor or as a police officer. If
Vince McMahon wants to work
Stephanie McMahon
© JoHn SMoLek
the World Wrestling Federation,

national, how he lured away the top
talent from promotions across the
another 5 or 10 years, who is going country and took advantage of a
to tell him he can’t. new concept known as pay-per-
Still, one must realize there will view.
come a day when Vince decides For better or for worse, Vince
to leave Titan Towers behind. McMahon has been the most
And on that day, the wrestling (or influential man in the history of
entertainment, if we must) industry professional wrestling. The WWE,
will change. Certainly, the current and it must be argued, the industry
wrestling landscape bears little as a whole is where it is today,
resemblance to that of 1982, when because this is where Vince
McMahon purchased the Capital McMahon wanted to take it.
Wrestling Co. from his father,
But what happens when Vince has
Vince Sr.
had enough. When he decides he’d
Much has been written about the rather relax at his Connecticut
way Vince (Jr.) changed pro estate, watching his massive tape
wrestling. How he disregarded the library than have to go into the
long-established territorial office every day or make the treks
boundaries and took his company, to travel to WWE events.
What happens to the WWE? What
happens to pro wrestling?
Pro wrestling, as a whole, will probably be
okay. After all, there are hundreds of smaller
independent organizations across North
America and around the world, to say
nothing of the likes of Dragon Gate USA,
Ring of Honour and Total Non-Stop Action,
none of which are directly affiliated with
Vince McMahon. And while, due to the size
and power of the WWE, everything they do
affects the industry as a whole, if Vince
decides not to show up for work tomorrow,
odds are it will be business as usual for
ROH, TNA or others.
But is there a WWe without Vince
McMahon? a few years ago, this would
have been an easy scenario to write up.
Both of Vince’s children, Shane and
Stephanie, were involved in WWE, both as
characters and, more importantly, behind
the scenes. It certainly seemed as though
one of them were poised to fill their Dad’s
shoes.
and Executive Vice President of Talent,
For Shane, that ended in October 2009 Creative Writing, and Live Event.
when it was announced he had resigned
from the company, effective January 2010. Perhaps it is Stephanie, who might make the
Many believed Shane would take over the most seamless transition to the role of WWE
reigns as CEO of WWE whenever Vince CEO. She certainly has the experience and
retired. Instead, in August 2010, he became would have an open channel of
the CEO of China Broadband, Inc. communication to Vince if she needed
advice or a point in the right direction. She
With Shane having left the company, need only be “her father’s daughter” to have
Stephanie, currently serving as Executive the WWE continue on the same course it is
Vice President, Creative Development and currently headed.
Operations, would be the most likely
candidate to take over her father’s position. For, while Stephanie is reputed to have
While her on-air character has led many to nixed an incest angle that would have had
believe her to be an unwelcome choice to Vince declare himself the father of her child,
lead the WWE in the post-Vince era, few can she has been an intrical part of the WWE’s
argue that she hasn’t worked her way up Writing Staff over the last few years. In other
through the WWE ranks as an Account words, anyone hoping for an outsider to
Executive, Director of Television Writing, present a fresh set of ideas that might put an
Senior Vice President of Creative Writing end to the type of storylines that have been
personal game (see the many cases where
HHH – Vince’s successor? that has happened, and the less than
© JoHn SMoLek positive results). However, a WWE led by
Triple H might be steered in a different
direction than it is currently headed.
For, while Triple H has certainly been
involved in the “Entertainment” portion of
WWE (having starred in “The Chaperone”),
he has, on many occassions, professed his
love for the art of wrestling, something his
friendships with Ric Flair and Shawn
Michaels have no doubt influenced. And so,
while the WWE would not totally lose the
“E”, the prospects for more of that second
“
“W” would certainly increase.
Stephanie, like Shane before her,
could decide to step away from
the business her family has been
involved in for generation. Triple
H could decide to either follow
his wife or continue his in-ring
efforts and remain as an adviser.
In that case, it will be up to another to fill the
more and more unpopular over the last few role of CEO. If that is the case, there could
years would be disappointed. be a period of great instability for the WWE
and for pro wrestling as a whole, at least
But is Stephanie the only McMahon family until this new figure puts his stamp on the
member who could conceivably find him or company and the industry. The direction of
herself replacing Vince McMahon upon his the company, rather more towards
departure? There are some who believe that entertainment or towards wrestling, will be
the appointment of Triple H, Stephanie’s up in the air, at least during a period of
husband, to a Senior Adviser position, won’t adjustment.
be the last such backstage role that the
former WWE Champion is given. The day when Vince McMahon steps down
as CEO of WWE is coming. It’s an
Much like his wife, Triple H certainly isn’t
eventuality that has to happen, sooner or
some Johnny-Come-Lately to the
later. Who steps in to fill the role he would be
wrestling world. Dubbing himself “The
vacating will determine a lot about the future
Game” wasn’t simply a gimmick to sell t-
of the company that has become the
shirts. Triple H has long been known as an
cornerstone of this industry. It is an event
avid student of the pro wrestling industry.
that will change the face of the company
Of course, it is troubling to see any active perhaps as much as Vince himself did.
wrestler involved in a backstage role where
he might be tempted to use his influence for n Contact John at jmilnerresume@gmail.com
sored
WORLD WRESTLING • ce n s o red • cen

censored
ENTERTAINMENT
Why wrestling is a dirty word in the
WWe Universe by MaTTHeW roBerTS
O
ver the last year WWe express because most successful wrestling
or so in WWe they were now a “family- promoter of all time has
circles, one of friendly company”. turned his back on
the most “wrestling” because he
debated issues hasn’t doesn’t like it. Now that may
© JoHn SMoLek
been about the lack of seem incredibly strange but

headline talent in the there are many reasons why
company or been about Vince McMahon has
the future of Wrestlemania introduced this new initiative.
stars nor has it been about Take a look on WWE’s
Michael Cole being one of corporate website you’ll see
the most counter- a lot of facts and numbers
productive devices that the that dictate the company’s
WWe feature on television. future direction. One of the
it’s been about the change most telling numbers is that
made in 2008 to go PG. In the usual post the WWE’s main audience is
There were many reasons Wrestlemania panic, WWE over 18 and that 65.1% of
for the move such as Linda has decided on a new those are male. How can a
McMahon beginning a run approach in order to turn company decide to go PG
for senate in Conneticuit, their business around: when the majority of their
new toy company MaTTeL they’ve dropped the word audience are well over the
producing WWe “wrestling” from their age of a “family-friendly”
merchandise and many calendar. It’s really nature?
other sponsors suddenly interesting when you think As mentioned WWE have
hopping on board the about it. The biggest and never seen such a drought of
talent and due there being no territorial entertainment group as it possibly can. John
systems around are in a panic to create new Cena’s entrance for one. The company simply
stars and keep the company name boom. had to give John Cena a massive entrance to
Vince Mcmahon has gone on a tirade over make him come across as superstar I get that
the last few weeks with everything to do with completely. Why did Cena have a choir sing
the word “wrestling.” It’s been announced that his theme music? Cena’s song is not a gospel
from now on they will no longer be referred to choir; Cena’s theme is a rap song. Why did
as World Wrestling Entertainment but just WWE do this?
“WWE.” This information was included on a To be able to tout the fact they had a
“Language of WWE” document sent out to all professional choir at one of their events
employees who perform voiceovers in and to only add to the grandeur of
countries outside America. For those who Wrestlemania. Would anyone have really
haven’t seen it the list is truly remarkable. cared if Cena didn’t have a huge entrance?
The document tells employees the “correct Probably not.
terminology” for WWE. Such examples are Look back as far as the very first Wrestlemania.
“WWE is pure entertainment, WWE is an
What was the main event? Hulk Hogan and Mr
action soap opera, WWE superstars are
T vs. Roddy Piper and Cowboy Bob Orton.
entertainers with tremendous athletic
Who was one of the officials? Muhammad Ali.
prowess.” Amongst these “key sound bites”
And the timekeeper was even a celebrity in
are a list of words that are to longer be used
Major League Baseball player Billy Martin.
such as “wrestling, sports, fighting, athletes.”
WWE loaded celebrity into the main event of
You would be forgiven for looking at this list
their biggest show ever at that time.
and thinking: have these guys’ gone nuts! I
certainly would be inclined to agree with you. Granted it would be a different story today
It’s hard to run a professional wrestling because at that time, McMahon was just
company and not ever utter the word wrestling. trying to get Wrestlemania on the map but to
put numerous outsiders into the main event of
You only have
your biggest show ever, as well as dotted
to look at the
© LUiGi noVi
throughout the rest of the show, was an

Hall of Fame
extremely bold move.
just before this
year’s It’s kind of hard to ignore the mindset of the
Wrestlemania WWE Chairman, after all it’s his ideas that
and see this you see play out on television each week.
new initiative Ever since McMahon became a promoter of
already being professional wrestling he has always tried to
employed. show off to everybody else that he’s more
Road Warrior than simply a pro-wrestling promoter. This can
Animal be traced back to the days when he was
noticeably working with his father Vince McMahon Sr.
looked flustered through-out his speech as he You see Vince Sr promoted “pro-wrasslin”.
avoided the word “wrestling” and uttered This has become a term that the current
“WWE Universe” wherever he could. Sunny’s Chairman of WWE despises. It’s part of the
speech was edited out so that she didn’t utter reason why McMahon wasn’t a fan of WCW.
the word when she mentioned Smokey He always has felt that “wrasslin” is not want
Mountain Wrestling. the people want to see and why he built
Wrestlemania even featured WWE’s attempts “sports entertainment.” and created the term
at trying to become as much a mainstream “WWE Universe”.
Any connotation with any non-sports Trying to distance themselves from
entertainers/superstars Vince will instinctively professional wrestling is a strange, possibly
dismiss. Certainly you have to admire what he offensive move to a lot of people. You only
did back in the early days of the WWWF have to see Cena’s comments on the Raw
taking the company internationally and then after Wrestlemania to see why the vast
globally with his well publicised expansion, majority of people tune in to WWE television
even to the point that Vince received a star on each week: they want to see wrestling. Cena
the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his said about The Rock and himself “the time for
contributions to television and the pay-per- talk is over. They (the crowd in attendance)
view industry. do not want to see us talk, they want a
match”.
MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOuT IT, Given the fact that the WWE has put its’ faith
WWE ARE DOING VERY WELL in the Wrestlemania 28 buy rate on John
RIGHT NOW Cena vs. The Rock, tells us that they still
understand wrestling matches are what sells
This speaks volumes as he is the only guy their product. Even though there has been a
within professional wrestling with this honour. lot of negativity with this new regime, there is
But it all comes back to McMahon’s desire to hope for the future as Triple H’s move into
shy away from his wrestling image. He also power has shown. Sin Cara is widely
founded a bodybuilding league (The World regarded as Triple H project as is Kharma,
Bodybuilding Federation) and the famously both were introduced to a lot of fanfare and
“
disastrous Xtreme Football League (XFL) old school professional wrestling vignette’s.
back in 2001. The company today has their
The old school way of wrestling
own movie company and regularly promotes
led to the biggest boom period the
it. When Kane starred in “See No Evil” the
industry has and may ever see.
WWE made a storyline that for whenever he
That could be just the way forward
heard the date of the film’s release May 19th,
to keep the audience, in particular
he’d squash whoever was in his way. Simple
the 65.1% male population happy.
yet effective promotion.
Why are WWE trying to erase their The question that needs to be asked is when
professional wrestling lineage? The most looking at this regime is: does it really
plausible answer is money. WWE has been matter? In the grand scheme of things is
taken much more seriously as an saying “WWE is an action soap opera” really
entertainment brand over the last several going to affect how they do business? No it’s
years. You can point out that pay per view not. As mentioned WWE does have issues
buy rates are dropping and there’s a large which need to be addressed but this is not
talent drought, however the company is still one of them.
very profitable. They are making money by the truckload and
Make no mistake about it WWE are doing can afford to get away with whatever
very well right now. Since the inception of the entertainment aspects they like. It’s when the
guest host concept they have received a lot of money runs out and the ticket paying
positive media attention. They are attracting a audience stop paying that will be the
host of new sponsors – The National Guard problem. As for right now, like it or not, this
and K-Mart being two of the most lucrative, regime is here to say. Don’t call it World
and are only continuing to expand in the Wrestling Entertainment, its WWE!
entertainment market. n Contact Matthew at matrob90@hotmail.com
v
Words JUSTin LaBar
on april 1, 2012, John

Cena sports entertains
with The rock at
WrestleMania.
If nothing in that sentence sounded
different than the normal traditional phrase,
go back and keep reading until you get it.
Once you get it, you may begin with me on
the next paragraph.
Okay, so the main event at WrestleMania
28 will be a dream match that has 12
months of build-up. This sounds like
something that is right out of more vintage
years of WWE when WrestleMania main
events were set a year out and “wrestling”
wasn’t a bad word. The difference is now
that the WWE is not trying to build, promote
and sell a wrestling match.
So what are they trying to sell?
A movie, yes, a movie. No, WWE films is
not releasing a new picture called “12
Rounds With The Scorpion King” but they
are trying to sell a movie like story with
Rock vs. Cena. Although let me be clear
the whole idea of making a movie based on
the two pop culture personalities conflict is
not out of the realm of possibilities for
WWE. If they think it will sell on DVD, they
will produce it.
I think having a movie based outline for this
long build up between The Rock and John
© JoHn SMoLek
Cena is a good thing. Not every feud in the

WWE needs to be a year long, even a 2 or
3 month feud can benefit from traditional
movie plot outlines.
s
You have a beginning, struggle and an end.
Sounds simple but go back and look at the
amount of feuds that don’t have that done
properly. That is a whole other topic for
another issue of this publication.
As I was saying, a movie based outline of
this story between the two is a good thing
but the problem is that normally the ending
would be the payoff. Conclusion and finality
to what we have been experiencing and it’s
what we pay to see. Pay to see it end.
That is part of what makes WrestleMania a
success. It concludes stories, there is no
holding back and the finished are usually
clean with no big swerve or twist (or at least
before this past years WrestleMania).
I don’t know if we are sitting through this year
long build up and are going to get the payoff
that would be satisfying at WrestleMania 28.
Much of this comes down to The rock.
If he wants to step back in to his boots that
he wore so well 10 years ago and work a
solid 15 to 20 minute match, we will get
that. We will get that and he will make John
Cena look good. He will make Cena look
good because so much emotion and time
will have been invested into this feud. Cena
will look better to many of his critics simply
because what he does do in the ring, even
if normally considered boring and routine,
will appear more significant.
But what if The Rock doesn’t really want to
do much?
There is going to be a match on the Mania
card. We are guaranteed they will be listed
as the main event, Rock and Cena’s faces
will be on every piece of advertising and
merchandise. They will be last on the
WrestleMania card. They will have
a 30 minute curtain to curtain time
frame to work with. What happens
in the middle of those curtains to
curtains is the question.
It’s a question because the WWE
still has to open up its doors the
next day and work. They don’t
want to and I know The Rock
doesn’t want to hurt John Cena’s
character. The Rock has stayed in
character on screen, in interviews
and on twitter. Don’t let this mistake
you from his business mind. While
he has some genuine criticisms
for Cena’s character and the
direction the WWe has gone
since the departure of himself
and austin, he respects Cena
and all that he does.
He knows Cena is the biggest
representation of money in today’s
business. He knows Cena loves it
and respects the ground that was
set by guys such as Rocky
Johnson and Peter Maivia. Rock
knows this and therefore he
realizes that working with Cena on
this movie like story is going to
draw and be a big deal. So far he
is correct.
So if he knows all of this- he isn’t
going to hurt Cena’s character long
term. The Rock surely isn’t going to
damage his own legacy. We aren’t
going to see a five knuckle shuffle
and then a pin fall put away Rock.
The ending as always in a big
THE BIGGEST
HE KNOWS CENA IS name match is an issue. Not just
OF MONEY IN for the protection of those involved
REPRESENTATION but who says they want this to
TODAY’S BuSINESS end? They started this in the build
up to WrestleMania 27 and many
believed it would either conclude
there or maybe in August at
© JoHn SMoLek
SummerSlam. Nope, its now going

to April of 2012. If the level of buzz
reaches a point lucrative enough
for Rock, Cena and Vince; well we
may be talking about the next
instalment of this movie this time
next year.
Having The Rock involved with the
top WWE star of the era and being
able to visit it in the stories at an off
and on basis is great for WWE.
Whenever they can schedule it
with The Rock, they can make a
big production of a RAW during a
time where they may have no
other compelling stories going on.
IF The Rock is on then he draws.
Media picks up on it and just in
general people find out some way
and tune in some way and see
The Rock on RAW. Ratings reflect
that. He can come and go and the
conflict remains.
It’s an odd recipe that leaves a lot
of curiosity for what we are going
to get out of this. We could see an
epic match that oozes of a
WrestleMania moment.
We could get 15 minute stare
down with a few test of strengths
and then a cheap run in by
somebody they want to give a rub
too. The Rock could get hurt on a
film set. John Cena could get
hurt....again. So many questions
so much more time to tweet about
it, time for the media to run a quick
blurb on what Dwayne Johnson is
doing and time for the WWE to
revisit it ever 8 to 12 weeks.
But hey, that’s Sports
Entertainment!
n Contact Justin at
Justin.LaBar@yahoo.com
THE ROCK’S Words MaTT roBerTS
Photos JoHn SMoLek
This Month in Wrestling History
BIRTHDAY
F
or those who didn’t offered a contract. Enter Rocky
watch Monday Maivia.
night raw recently
Combining the ring names of
it was Dwayne “The
both his father and
rock” Johnson’s birthday
grandfather High Chief Peter
on May 2nd. on that day, one
Maivia, Rocky Maivia debuted
of the biggest stars the
at the infamous 1997 Survivor
professional wrestling
Series. Maivia was a babyface
industry has and maybe ever
with the company playing up
will know, was born.
the idea that he was their first
Born Dwayne Johnson to Ata ever third generation wrestler.
and Rocky Johnson, the future After little more than three
WWE Champion went to months in the company,
school at President William Maivia’s family lineage played
McKinley High School in a big part in his push and
Honolulu, Hawaii before resultant Intercontinental
relocating to Bethlehem, Championship win over Triple
Pennsylvania where he was a H on Raw in February of the
star football player. The athletic same year.
background was a big help to
his future when he ultimately it was at this time Stone Cold
decided to enter the family Steve austin was starting to
business. rise through the ranks with
his rule-breaking ways that
Trained by his father and paved the way for a new kind
wrestling legend and former of babyface character. This
Intercontinental Champion Pat left the fans starting to resent
Patterson, Johnson honed his the babyface’s of old and they
craft with Jerry Lawler’s United started to turn on Maivia who
States Wrestling Association began to refer to himself as
promotion under the ring name The Rock more and more. The
Flex Kavana. WWE bigwigs next chapter of Dwayne
were impressed with Johnson’s Johnson’s career was arguably
talent and charisma and the most important as he now
started to make a name for himself, McMahon ordered the referee ring the
without using his family’s name. bell whilst Mankind was in the
sharpshooter emulating the Montreal
The Rock dropped the Intercontinental
screw job of the previous year. The
Championship to Owen Hart on Raw in
Rock was now the WWE Champion at a
April and took some time off for an injury.
time when the belt really meant
On his return he officially turned heel and
something. Feuding with Mankind as
became a part of the heel faction “The
WWE Champion, The Rock contested
Nation of Domination” which was a black
amazing and incredibly hard hitting
group consisting of Faarooq, D-Lo Brown
matches with Mankind all the way to
and Kama. It was whilst cutting promo’s
February of 1999. Two of the most
with The Nation that the charisma which
important matches of the feud and
was seen by WWE during tryout matches
“
arguably WWE history featured Mick
finally started showing on screen.
Foley beating The Rock for the title at
at that time “The rock says” the height of the WCW Monday Night
catchphrase was even War when Stone Cold Steve Austin cost
coined. The rock continued The Rock the title.
cutting great promo’s and
The rematch took place at that years
gaining more charisma which
1999 Royal Rumble, Mankind and The
eventually caused the WWe
Rock had one of the most hard fought
to book him as the new leader
wars ever in WWE. Given what we know
of The nation, usurping
about concussions today it is incredible
former leader Faarooq.
Mick Foley took so many unprotected
Moving into a feud with Stone Cold lows to the head, with his children
Steve Austin over the Intercontinental watching in the front row no less. the
Championship proved to be very two were to finally end their long feud on
entertaining television and a glimpse of Raw in February 1999 in a ladder
the bright future as headliners that match. The recent WCW acquisition,
Stone Cold and The Rock would have. The Big Show cost Foley the title and
Other feuds with the likes of Ken The Rock was champion again heading
Shamrock and Faarooq followed but it into Wrestlemania against Stone Cold
was The Nation vs D-Generation X that Steve Austin.
would prove to be the best of The
Rock’s so far. Both faction leaders Triple THE ROCK CONTESTED AMAZING
H and The Rock met at SummerSlam in AND INCREDIBLY HARD HITTING
1998 in a ladder match at Madison MATCHES WITH MANKIND
Square Garden. To this day the match is
celebrated and definitely worth tracking
down via WWE’s “Ladder Match” DVD. It was heading into the Royal Rumble
nearly a year on after his defeat to
Heading into Survivor Series 1998 with
Stone Cold at Wrestlemania that The
severe momentum a year after making
Rock’s popularity started to explode to
his WWE debut, The Rock turned heel
unprecedented heights. Winning the
in the final match of “The Deadly Game”
2000 edition of The Royal Rumble, The
tournament, defeating Mankind via The
Rock moved into headline position once
Montreal Screw-job finish of the
again at Wrestlemania 16 in a fatal four
previous year.
way match against Mick can’t miss attraction and
Foley, The Big Show attracted the company a
and Triple H. For the record amount of pay
first time in per view buys at that
Wrestlemania history, a time. Being the main
heel retained the title event, The Rock and
after Vince McMahon Austin had to be smiling
cost The Rock the at that one. Having a
victory. purely incredibly match,
the two had the fans in
Moving into a full
Houston on their feet for
blown feud with Triple
the entirety of the match
H once again as the
until Stone Cold turned
number one
heel and sided with an
contender, the two had
aiding Vince McMahon
choice matches over the
for another WWE
coming months trading
Championship victory.
the title back and forth
including an Iron Man
match and a 6-person
tag team match at the
2000 King of The Ring
with The Rock pinning
Vince McMahon to win
the title. The Rock
moved into a
programme as a fully
established headliner
against the red hot heel
Kurt Angle and dropped
the title to him in a great At this time The Rock
match at that years No began to wind down his
Mercy event. career and took time off
to film The Mummy
His next stop was
Returns and The
Wrestlemania 17 at
Scorpion King. This
Houston, Texas against
proved to be the
Stone Cold Steve
beginning of the end of
Austin. To this day the
The Rock’s full time
Wrestlemania 17 main
career. Returning
event between The
during the amazingly
Rock and Austin
botched Invasion angle
remains one of the
of 2001, The Rock
finest pieces of work
feuded with Booker T
any wrestler has
over the WCW
accomplished. Holding
Championship in a
an amazing aura, the
short but good feud.
match looked to be a
Chris Jericho turned out to be the next Foley in 2004 at Wrestlemania, The Rock
challenge and the two stars traded the title looked like he was permanently retiring from
between them until the title was unified at the business he grew up in. The fans knew
Vengeance 2001 with Y2J walking out as the this as the reaction to every appearance and
first ever undisputed champion in the history promo was off the roof for him every single
of the WWE. time over the next few years and his return
earlier this year proved to be one of the most
adding another incredible Wrestlemania
memorable Monday Night Raw’s in years.
main event to his CV, The Rock and Hulk
Hogan had a good match. Your standard
© JoHn SMoLek
Hogan match for sure but one that featured an
overwhelming Hogan response in Toronto,
Canada. The whole story of the match was
Hogan, the heel, screwed The Rock over by
genuinely eliciting a babyface response from
the crowd, therefore going into business for
himself. The Rock found himself as WWE
Champion again and moved onto his final
WWE Championship defence against a very
green Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam, The
Rock took another lengthy hiatus and returned
in 2003 a heel for a rematch with Hogan. The Being matched up with John Cena is a wise
rematch ended up being pretty good but was move by WWE. The company’s top drawing
just a distraction for someone else’s career babyface without question has many
winding down who was waiting in the wings similarities to The Rock. His charisma and
from him: his two time Wrestlemania dance arsenal for one, anyone else liken The
partner Stone Cold Steve Austin. People’s Elbow to The Five Knuckle Shuffle?
Being given a year’s worth of hype for next
year’s Wrestlemania, WWE are expecting a
“
SENSING THAT HE WAS ONCE monster buyrate. And why shouldn’t they?
AGAIN LEAVING, THE CROWD WAS
The rock has been one of the
MIXED FOR THE MATCH . . . .
most talented performers to ever
grace a WWe ring over the last
The Rock pinned Austin at Wrestlemania 19 decade and contested classic
in a brilliant match and moved onto former matches with nearly every big
WCW Champion Goldberg. This was a dream name there is.
match for fans which resulted in good
segments and an even better match at Even though he has said that he would
Backlash 2003. Sensing that he was once “never go away again” what better retirement
again leaving, the crowd was mixed for the match could there be than against WWE’s
match: half for Goldberg, the other for The top guy in a main event in his hometown of
Rock. Taking another leave of absence The Miami, Florida? It could bring closure to one
Rock left WWE once again. of the greatest careers in sports
entertainment history and give wrestling what
It was the last big run of The Rock’s career at it so badly needs in this day and age: a
that time. Making sporadic appearances in happy ending.
segments, angles and one final match
against heel stable Evolution alongside Mick n Contact Matt at matrob90@hotmail.com
Words MaTT WaTerS
an in-depth look at the
WWE
Draft
© JoHn SMoLek
W
hen Wrestlemania 20 was with them. General consensus is that no draft
assigned the tagline ‘Where it has matched that 2005 edition, but as the
all Begins again’ the number of draftees has gradually swelled over
wrestling world collectively time, nobody can deny the event’s importance.
assumed it was just a flashy slogan to help But what of the 2011 edition of the Draft? The
promote the biggest event of the year. on most obvious observation to make is that
the contrary, it was just the start of what Smackdown lost an awful lot of star power to
was to come one week later as Vince Raw, further widening the gap between the so
McMahon declared it was time for a new called A and B shows.
WWe, and thus the first annual Draft
Lottery was born.
SMACKDOWN LOST AN AWFuL
The process of realigning roughly thirty
superstars and divas from one brand to another LOT OF STAR POWER TO RAW,
has acted as a way to keep both rosters fresh, FuRTHER WIDENING THE GAP
something that was much needed after the
company’s talent pool was divided in half At first it seemed quite the opposite would be
between Raw and Smackdown in 2002. After a happening however, as John Cena was
lacklustre first draft in 2004 the concept selected by Smackdown with the very first pick.
became known for shocking moves when in But this move was made not for the sake of
2005 when John Cena and Batista – then world events moving forward, but rather to make the
champions – switched sides and took their titles episode of Raw on which the Draft took place a
shocking one. If there are any two members of
© JoHn SMoLek
the WWE roster that are a lock to remain where
they are, it’s Cena on Raw and Undertaker on
Smackdown, and thus by immediately moving
the man most synonymous with Monday nights
stunned the WWE universe. It was the kind of
surprise that only the WWE are capable of
pulling off in this era of internet spoilers, a
surprise akin to Cena’s shock 2008 Royal
“
Rumble return.
of course taking the company’s top
star off the flagship show would
have been questionable given how
well he embraces the pressure of the
live spotlight.
Thus with the impact made and the viewing
audience’s interest in the rest of the draft peaked,
Cena was moved back from Smackdown at the
end of the night, restoring the status quo.
The third pick also seemed to be trying to make
Smackdown a bigger deal as randy orton was
also moved to Friday nights. Taking Raw’s two
biggest stars off the show seemingly left things
wide open for new blood to claim the red brand,
but Cena returning to Raw confirmed that the
proverbial town was not big enough for the both
of them.
Orton is undoubtedly the WWE’s second
biggest star and with both he and Cena as
© DaViD SeTo
babyfaces on the same brand, it was becoming

difficult to keep both looking strong at the same
time. The problem is now resolved as The
Viper will be free to cut loose on Smackdown
as the undisputed top dog, removing the
creative handcuffs that have been on him in
the last few months. In fact his impact was
immediate as he captured the World
Heavyweight Championship from Christian
mere days after Captain Charisma won the belt
for the first time at Extreme Rules.
From there things got worse for Smackdown as
Raw received a trio of main event talents in
rey Mysterio, Big Show and alberto Del rio.
With The World’s Largest Athlete temporarily
still one half of the reigning tag team
champions, Mysterio will be the one to get the
McIntyre
arrived on
Smackdown
as the
Chosen One,
complete with
Mr McMahon’s
© DaViD SeTo
seal of
approval
nod as Raw’s number two babyface, perhaps a At his best Big Show is the king of the
measure to keep the Ultimate Underdog happy monsters and a major threat to any champion,
given how often he is quoted as being unhappy at his worst he finds himself flirting with
with his position in the WWE. comedy wrestler territory, being embarrassed
by far smaller competition. If Del Rio does in
Del rio winning the royal rumble proved
fact get the nod to feud with Cena then there’s
the WWe had faith in him as a major star,
unfinished business between Miz and Big
and moving to Raw will allow him to continue
Show after their tag team title reign last year
his climb to the top. The Mexican Aristocrat’s
that ended with a huge right hand to the
chances of holding the WWE Championship
“
Awesome One’s face.
are good, and it’s been rumoured a feud with
John Cena this summer is in the works, but for raw will also receive another trio of
now Del Rio and Mysterio will bring their old potential main event talent in Jack
rivalry to a bigger audience. Swagger, Drew Mcintyre and kofi
kingston. all three will likely occupy
the upper-mid-card for the time
© JoHn SMoLek
being, but each man has the potential

to contend for the World title.
Swagger actually managed a brief reign as the
World Heavyweight Champion a year ago but
these days finds himself as little more than
Michael Cole’s cheerleader. Though he may
lack the promo skills and star power of Kurt
Angle, his similar ring-style coupled with a
much more powerful frame make him
somewhat of a sleeping giant in the WWE.
McIntyre arrived on Smackdown as The Chosen
One, complete with Mr McMahon’s seal of
approval, and has at times impressed with his
intense, strike-heavy style, but he hasn’t taken
off the way management would like thus far. Kofi
Kingston has won still lurking around, the Draft wrestlers known for their
championships left and right sent three potential main comedy spots, barely
since debuting and for a time it event heels to feud with The managing five minutes of TV
seemed he had made it to the Apex Predator at the top of time a week. On Smackdown
top when he enjoyed a high the card. The strongest of a few years prior however,
profile feud with Randy Orton, these candidates has to be Henry was a serious threat to
but nothing came of it and he Orton’s old nemesis the World Heavyweight Title,
slipped back down to the mid- Sheamus, who will be breaking out in a feud with
card, only making it to bringing the United States Kurt Angle, while Khali
Wrestlemania this year as a Championship with him to actually held the
last-minute replacement in a Friday nights. It’s a mid-card championship.
two minute match. All three
have tasted the big time, and HE HAS THE POTENTIAL TO FOLLOW IN THE
all three have slumped. Now FOOTSTEPS OF REY MYSTERIO . . . .
they’re on Raw each of these
men find themselves in the title, but with his status as a
It seems these trends will hold
same position; they must sink former world champion it
true as both men re-debuted
or swim on Monday Night Raw. seems inevitable that The
for Smackdown and
Celtic Warrior will rise back to
With Smackdown losing so immediately walked into the
the top of the card and
many of their big names who title picture as monster heels.
reignite his war with Orton.
will step up and fill the void? Neither man lights a fire under
While Christian, Kane, Wade On Raw Mark Henry and the the fans enough to make an
Barrett and Cody Rhodes are Great khali were undercard impact on Raw, but with
© JoHn SMoLek
Smackdown considered the second show, it card which is heavy on action but light on
seems they’ll be enjoying the big time once character, furthering Smackdown’s reputation
“
more. as the wrestling show.
The high-flying Mexican sensation Sin Cara raw received some spare parts in
also has a chance to compete for the world title JTG, Curt Hawkins, Chris Masters
on Smackdown now he’s been moved over and Tyler reks, all Superstars
from Raw. Triple H’s alleged pet-project, has regulars who are all considered
had a few minor blips in his live television frontrunners in the Future
performances, so Smackdown’s pre-taped endeavours club. if their jobs are in
format will suit him much better. He has the jeopardy like many have speculated
potential to follow in the footsteps of Rey then why would WWe move them?
Mysterio, and it isn’t impossible to imagine the Their inclusion in the draft suggests
luchadore in the main event, but for now he’ll the creative team may have plans
be feuding with Chavo Guerrero who will be a for them after all.
tremendous help in helping him transition from
It wasn’t just the men who found themselves
lucha libre to the WWE style.
moved in the Draft. Raw will welcome Beth
Phoenix (possibly to appease the disgruntled
© JoHn SMoLek
CM Punk whom she is rumoured to be dating)

and kelly kelly, while Smackdown will receive
natalya (fellow draftee Tyson Kidd’s girlfriend),
and alicia Fox.
Both are fairly
even swaps and
with Kharma
stomping around
on both brands,
the wrestling world
© JoHn SMoLek
is salivating over
the inevitable feud
between the
Glamazon and the
former Awesome
Kong.
All in all the Draft night itself was kept
entertaining with Cena’s one man game of
musical chairs and the likes of Orton, Mysterio
and Big Show being moved. The usually dull
supplemental draft was better than usual with
The key players aside, Smackdown
bigger names like Sheamus, Kingston and
received a number of talented grapplers
Swagger being shifted back and forth. Still not
who somewhat lack charisma, such as
many big names were moved, but rather a
Daniel Bryan, William regal, Tyson kidd,
number of lesser stars with the potential to
yoshi Tatsu, and the Usos, as well as alex
break out down the line. Raw is loaded with
riley and Ted DiBiase who have yet to
possible superstars, while Smackdown keeps
establish identities of their own after spending
a talented group of workers.
so long as the henchmen of World champions.
These six talents will help create a strong mid- n Contact Matt at matt_waters2@hotmail.com
A
NICA L
Y
C MIND NIC
HE CY
with T
a chasm a mile wide. (Like your

mousy missus after the two
kids, eh?)
I’M ORDINARY!
And then the Miz entered. At
this point he was champ. He
wandered onstage with his
partner lummox, another bulky
bloke in a big suit whose name
I haven’t bothered to
S
orry; i’m still
feeling a little memorise; it is Luther Reigns?
worse for wear Miz did that thing on the stick
here. How i which is just like what the Rock
woke up after the local does, isn’t it? The “I’m
elections with a bottle of awesome” thing.
“
JD and a funnel by my Come on, it really is.
© DaViD SeTo
side is no surprise. The He then wandered

daffodil up the jacksie down to commentary
remains a mystery with minimal crowd
though. oh, of course, encouragement and
the Welsh assembly took his seat as witty
election! commentator to the
Oh well, it took my mind off NOTHING EARTH action in the ring.
that awful business. Edge. SHATTERING. NOTHING He sat. Lawler said something
What a shock. How brave WITTY. NOTHING NEW. like “Nice to see you” in a
of him to say his goodbyes sarcastic tone, of course. And
in the ring. And what great real, adding to the shock and
sense of loss. He struck we waited for a witty rejoinder.
TV! It was very sad, a And waited. And waited.
great worker, character, exactly the right note. And he
left, hugging his peers (not Governments have fallen in the
innovator cruelly taken time he took to answer. And
from us. He really felt it in Vicky Guerrero though, did you
notice that?) to a finality that what did he come up with?
his heart; you could tell Something like “the pleasure is
that, he was struggling to was like a knife to the gut.
all yours.” Nothing earth
leave us. And yet he found A real star, a man who had shattering. Nothing witty.
the words, imperfect but grown into a headliner, leaving Nothing new.
This is your top heel. A man recycling ideas and celebrity culture. And you love to rub
cracks from mid carders. Just shows the paucity yourselves against your Simon Cowell pillow,
of talent in WWE (or whatever it’s called this don’t you? They go on these shows to make an
week) and the paucity of talent in the Miz. impact on screen, which make an impact in their
bank account and on their ego. And so the Miz
He’s seemingly been around for ever. He
as trier, as exemplar of a 5-second celebrity
entered as an annoying brat desperate to get
culture. To be consistent, he should have had
on; crashing WWE employee’s offices to pick
“
the lifespan of Just Joe, but he stuck in there.
their brains and Rolodexes in order to just get a
break. And in this role he didn’t make us yawn Why? Because he has a talent for
or scratch ourselves distractedly; yep I know, playing up. not being talented, doing
that bar is pretty low. an act, making us laugh, but a talent
for being there, staying in our
consciousness.
© JoHn SMoLek
That’s what reality TV contestants to, the just

exist in the tabloids, they don’t actually do
anything. And so he was put with Morrison, the
better-wrestling, better-looking but shyer partner
and as a tag team they fitted together well.
If it had stopped there, Miz sliding down the
card and finding his natural level, which I would
say is no better than “alright”, it wouldn’t have
been so bad. But he had been slowly advanced
until he’s had a run as champ.
How in earth can this have happened? Well,
just by dint of him being around for so long in
one case, his love of simply being in front of the
camera for another, showing off, the fodder of
variety wrestling with no real aim. He doesn’t
aspire to anything, apart from existing on
screen. For the Miz is truly a child of the celeb
age. Those auditionees on “X Factor” that say
they just want to be famous but don’t want to do
anything to get it, even disregarding the song
they’re about to sing? That‘s where we are.
People who just need to exist in celeb culture to
Why didn’t he fail in this role? Perhaps because be a celeb; and this is truly a good living for
it patterned what he is; he came to us via a many people. Miz doesn’t provide anything; not
reality TV show so had that shorthand, some of a good talker, a pretty good wrestler (and to be
us already had a view on him, some liked his fair, he has applied himself a little here) just a
breeziness, some despised his attention personality and not even much of that.
seeking. But it was a role he was born to play;
the chancer. You see, to look at the Degeneration X stuff
that Michaels and HHH did, you might think
The days of reality TV shows being that a lack of wit, a lack a lack of new jokes, a
considered a social experiment are long love of the crass and boorish are all you need.
gone, now they exist purely to titillate, fill Ah, but those two had something else, years of
scheduling hours and shit out talentless the fans communing with their characters. The
mouth breathers into the lower echelons of modern celeb culture throws mud at us and
insists we love it before we’ve had a chance to sadly mistaken. For that you need talent or at
understand it. least some signs of it: talent in acting, singing,
comedy. Miz shows none of these, he simply
and so it is with the Miz. He’s been around
struts and frets his time on the stage, sound and
for ages, but he’s always simply presented
“
fury signifying nothing.
himself, always relied on just being there to
be a star. And his latest “I’m awesome” shtick is When he is finally wished well in his
a case I’m point; cribbed from someone else future endeavours, don’t be
with no real intention of finding something new. surprised to see him falling out of
taxis and inhabiting reality TV shows
And so as he slides down the roster, the title
on cable channels nationwide.
round the waist of John Cena, will this be the
end of the experiment with ready made, modern And won’t we love it? Well, won’t you. I’ll be
media celebs? Probably not. For Vince does watching a documentary on Sartre. Or
have his muscled finger on the cultural pulse, “Weapons of Ass Destruction IV”
and no doubt marks how popular the tabloid
Meanwhile, out beloved wrestling world will be
and E channel fodder are. If the public like ‘em,
inhabited by oven-ready D-list celebs which all
who is he to spurn them? Because they make
of those reality show will spunk up.
his company a rootless, productless variety
show, that’s why. Back to Basics is not just a What a golden future. We should all be very
phrase John Major coined, you know. proud.
If Miz thinks his prancing before the lens will win n Contact The Cynic (if you dare) at
him all sorts of vertical media contracts, he is hearditallbefore@hotmail.com
GIVING OuR BLESSINGS WITH....
© Tony knox
W
restlling
has so
much to
be
negative about these
days that we at the
Wrestling Press feel that
when someone does
something positive in
this business, we should
applaud it. enter our
very own Wrestling
Priest who will be
dishing out blessings to
those who improve the
wrestling business in
some way. Whether
promoters, wrestlers,
backstage workers,
writers or fans, we will
give credit where it is
due. and this issue it
truly is kharma that we
give blessings to this
particular participant.
Women’s wrestling,
especially in the ‘big two’
has always been pretty
cookie cutter for the most
part. Blonde, skinny,
attractive girls have been
the order of the day since
Sable and Sunny ‘reinvented’ the women’s destroy these stereotyped ‘baby doll Divas’.
scene. There have been exceptions, and there That someone was Kharma.
have certainly been many women in WWE, TNA
New name, same impact. The entrance of
and (before it) WCW that have had in-ring
Kharma was tremendously done, as she
talent. But 90% of women wrestlers, especially
systematically picked apart all of the ‘pretty girls’
these days, are there more for their looks than
that were there more for looks than talent. The
how technically skilled they are in the ring.
message was clear. This was something new
So when a woman named Kong entered and fresh for the Divas division.
TNA, she was a breath of fresh air. A totally
different look from most other women, and a
© Tony knox
woman who could wrestle a solid match against
even a much smaller competitor. Kong was a
phenomenon in a promotion that had largely
failed to make phenomenons of Christian, Matt
Hardy, Sting or Mr Anderson, men who had
entered the promotion with household names,
yet soon became lost in the shuffle of TNA.
Kong was different.
Fans of womens wrestling were well aware of
Kong long before she entered TNA. Shimmer,
All Japan Women’s Wrestling, Gaea Japan,
Hustle-Kong had already garnered a lot of
success prior to entering the big leagues.
as much as Tna have reverted to type,
kong’s run in Tna will never be forgotten.
alongside Gail kim, kong redefined the
Kong, Kharma...whatever you call her, she is
division, and created excitement for the
someone who has begun to change the
knockouts that hasn’t been replicated
perception of women’s wrestling. In the same
before or since.
way that Trish Stratus and others showed
But over in the Universe of WWE, girls like Kong mainstream wrestling audiences that women
didn’t exist. Divas were still prissy, attractive girls could put on a great wrestling match as well
who could manage a few moves, but were really looking pretty, Kharma is showing that you don’t
just a ‘candy for the eye’ attraction overall. The have to be a skinny model to be in the WWE
Bellas, Kelly Kelly, god bless them, but they Women’s (it seems inappropriate to call it a
were never going to be Trish Stratus or Molly Divas division now) division. Kharma being in
Holly in the ring. the WWE is a huge positive for the women’s
Of course there were a few decent women wrestling scene, but also a huge positive for
wrestlers there. Beth Phoenix, Natalya and female viewers. Kharma gives a role model to
several others had entered via the Shimmer women who are forcefed with images of stick
promotion, and combined beauty with talent. Yet thin, overly beautiful women who they falsely
they still complied to the WWE stigma of wanting aspire to be like. Real women are less
girls who were ‘smart, sexy and talented’. concerned with being stupidly thin, and are
more concerned with having a positive and
Then we began to see the vignettes. Scary realistic self-image that enables them to
music played, a large hand clutched a doll, and concentrate on their talents. Kharma is a role
snapped its head off! The symbolism was model for real women everywhere. For that she
obvious. Someone was coming that would gets this issue’s blessings. n
Words MarTyn LiCCHeLLi
Photos Tna WreSTLinG
TNAREBRAND
whether or not a simple name change will make a difference
W
ith each month that passes, star power two years ago, I think it’s only fair to
i am assigned the duty of now point out that the addition of ‘star power’ via
writing a Tna article. This WWEs list of future endeavors has left us with a
isn’t always easy for me. i’m show that no longer brings us great womens or
not a big fan of the Tna product, that’s not x-division action, the two staples that got the
to say i hate it though. i have been a part of company attention at different times. All we get
Dropkick radio for the last 40 months, since now is the bastard love child of an unaired
it began actually, and for all that time i’ve episode of Velocity and WCW Thunder. But
had to review every minute of Tna action as perhaps, just maybe, this can change.
well as other promotions.
on the episode of impact that aired on the
Sometimes it’s been great and at other times it’s 12th May in the States, Tna impact changed
been hard going, but in all it’s left me with a lack its name and even though it plays into a
of passion for the company and seeing little in storyline, will it be more than that? So let’s
the way of a future for it. Whilst the show has take a look at things that may or may not change.
certain stand out talents, and can do decent
May 12th. Mick Foley comes out and
backstage segments when required, a lot of the
announces the change to Impact Wrestling.
show nowadays seems pointless. For the
Promising us more wrestling action, because
detractors who complained that TNA had no
that’s what the permanently short staffed stopped Hardys’ trial
fans pay to see from coming any sooner.
and by golly it’s
It was a risk that only fell short of massive public
what we deserve.
backlash due to the lack of coverage TNA gets
The handling of
in main stream media. After all, had this been
the situation, with
Hardy in WWE, it would have gotten far more
Foley announcing
coverage and been a lot worse.
it does make the
idea come across May 12th saw the debut of Kurt Angle’s
as a storyline, associate. Chyna. Yes, the same Chyna that
with him and has gone through rehab on TV shows and was
Hogan having arrested for various alcohol and drug related
different ideas for incidents over the years, most recently late last
the company year, is now a prominent figure in arguably the
almost as if at this years Slammiversary we biggest storyline in the company.
could see Team Hogan vs Team Foley in a It’s a debut that was picked up by news sites,
‘rights to the company’ match, where Jeff but is this extra press going to be what they
Hardy can return as Uber Face and take out want if it all goes awry? Whether she messes
Hogan. up or not, it’s clear TNA ignored the issues with
But with the promise of more wrestling, Hardy. Whilst Chyna is on a handshake
regardless of the long term plans, if the fans buy agreement, just having her in the company,
into it and start to watch more could we actually especially on PPV, is potential for a massive
see TNA pay attention? Hopefully, would be the cock up.
answer. Chyna in Tna though may not be that bad.
it’s an interesting idea; a dominant woman
coming in to take out Karen to make sure Kurt
can finally get Jeff one on one. As a short term
deal it works well, and she gets media too. Ok,
not all of it is good media, but she does get
attention, if she works through this period
without embarrassing
herself or the
company, not only
will it be good for
her. But it could
actually be a
TNA don’t have the best track record for beneficial part
sensible decisions. May 12th also proves this of the angle
point. Earlier this year, Jeff Hardy was taken off and maybe
of the TNA roster as he had a court date for even bring in a
drug possession, showing up to work few viewers
completely off his head, and needed to go battle who want to
his demons. It was tough, albeit right, call for see what she
TNA who had pushed Hardy massively. It’s is up to now.
something that should have shown them the Of course, that
error of their ways, after all they hired Hardy is all ‘ifs’ and
when they already knew he had drug issues ‘maybes’. She
and only a court that was apparently could be a big
surprise, but she could be another Jeff Hardy be the only one since the Hogan and Bischoff
waiting to happen. regime took over to actually gain from their
arrival.
On a lighter note, looking at guys already in the
company, TNA did give us something That is provided that he’s not booked poorly. A
reasonably promising. In yet another angle that good build up could be a huge waste of every
is littered with mine fields of stupidity, if TNA are viewer’s time if they begin to believe in Roode
able to maneuver around them we could get and he loses to Matt Hardy, or Hogan himself is
something good. The angle to which I refer is the able to take him out in a brawl. A potential feud
grouping of Brian Kendrick, Amazing Red, and with James Storm could be awkward too.
Generation ME. It’s a bit odd to see this,
Chris Harris
especially since Gen ME were at war with each
came back on the
other just a week before it aired.
12th May impact,
With constant referrals to the Jay Lethal firing, and if Storm is to
making that come off as a work, as well as reform Americas
talking about not being used correctly the whole Most Wanted then
angle is seemingly filmed in a shoot style which a feud with Roode
whilst they can make for good TV, TNA are as is an obvious
guilty as anyone for letting shoot angles just turn option, but it may
in to ridiculous nonsense. With the 4 young guys not be the best. A
wanting to be used more, and Mick Foley feud with an ex tag
promising wrestling I want to see the 4 of them partner may get a
used every week. little heat when the
split first happens,
They’re part of the division that at one time
but as TNA will repeatedly resort to any matches
defined the company, and they should be
featuring interference from Harris there will be
given a chance to bring interest back to it,
no room for growth for Roode, especially if he
and not in 2 minute matches either. All 4 men
gets a new partner to even the sides.
can deliver entertaining matches, and there’s no
reason we can’t have a good 5 minute match It would also be strange to have Storm turn on
each week for a short while with any or all of Fourtune, given he’s already turned from heel to
them involved. The X-division has been stale face in the last 2 months, and he’d given heated
lately, Kazarian has done nothing with the belt, promos when given the microphone so him
Doug Williams made a decent champ but has turning would seem like doing it just for the sake
joined with Magnus and collectively vanished. A of it, whilst it remains an option down the line for
reboot is needed, and hopefully these guys can now it would be bad.
be the start of it.
This is TNA though, a company that in the past
One last part to focus on is Bobby Roode, has had people change alignment twice or more
Roode has been solid for TNA for years. Last in a single month. I’m interested to see how TNA
month I said I would have liked James Storm to handle this though, and exactly how the shows
be taken out instead of A.J. So that Roode could will change. Next month, I’ll look at how things
go solo for a bit, with his promo at the start of the have changed, and despite being cautious I’m
5th May Impact it looks like we may get that. reasonably optimistic that TNA can do the right
thing here. Surely they have to get it right
Once again we have potential pitfalls here, if
eventually and hopefully I’ll be writing with
Roode is to lead Fourtune and is allowed to look
something loosely resembling a smile on my
strong and main event level as he takes the fight
face after seeing the changes, if any that have
to Hogan and his lackeys, with help of course,
happened.
we could see the rise of TNA’s next big,
homemade name. In fact, potentially, he could n Contact Martyn at Martyn@psychoduck.co.uk
HY P E
it’s become a
H
WRESTLING WIT noticeable trend over
the past number of
months that Tna
Wrestling are putting
more and more
emphasis on
storylines, lending
more time to things
Words JaMie kenn
eDy happening outside
the ring than inside it.
The company’s flagship television show,

iMPaCT!, featured 31 minutes and 43
seconds of actual in-ring wrestling on its
april 28th showing, with the previous week
© Tna WreSTLinG
offering up a paltry 18 minutes and 48
seconds over a 2-hour broadcast. The rest
of the time was dedicated to extra-curricular
content taking place both backstage and in
the middle of the ring, all of it dealing with
current feuds and stories.
This is a direct message from the promotion
that they want to build-up feuds in the eyes
of the fans and make them yearn to see a
match between those involved, possibly having
them pay for the privilege. With more minutes of
precious air-time being used in this way, is there
room on the pro wrestling market in 2011 for a
wrestling TV show which doesn’t feature
matches at all, instead solely being there to
hype the stories, feuds and monthly Pay-Per-
View events?
shows which don’t show any wrestling
IS THERE ROOM FOR A WRESTLING bouts whatsoever – instead focusing on
TV SHOW WHICH DOESN’T hammering home the point of their storylines
FEATuRE MATCHES AT ALL? and attempting to offer some degree of
character development.
A wrestling program which doesn’t feature much
in the way of in-ring content isn’t anything new, In 1984, Vince McMahon was attempting to take
certainly when it comes to TNA or their sports his father’s World Wrestling Federation and turn
entertainment rival, WWE. infact, both it into a global phenomenon, a product which
companies have in the past promoted could be enjoyed by families not only in North
America, but all over the world. The man was of his brazen attitude towards change and his
slowly but surely making a believer out of those willingness to embrace it.
in the business that it could go a different
Fast-forward to 2011 and the pro wrestling
direction, marketing it more as entertainment
landscape is a very different place. There isn’t
and steering away from what he felt were the
much that today’s wrestling fan hasn’t seen
“
stereotypical facets of the industry.
before and this therefore gives promotions a
Glitz and glamour were the order of much tougher job when attempting to hold their
the day, with McMahon successfully attention for longer than the proverbial cup of
re-branding his wrestlers as newly coffee. Recently, our good friends in Orlando
named “superstars” larger than life attempted the same tactic as McMahon had
action heroes as opposed to simply many year’s ago, introducing us to a new
pro wrestlers. presentation which would air immediately after
the iMPACT! TV show had finished. TNA
To drive home the point of this new directive,
“Reaction” was designed to keep the stories
Vince McMahon commissioned a show on the
running and quite literally give the reactions of
USA Network entitled, “Tuesday Night Titans”,
the men and women who were involved in the
which was intended to feature no in ring action
group’s top stories. It seemed like a viable idea,
at all.
dreamt up by Eric Bischoff, which would in theory
give fans more to work with when it came to
investing their own emotions into the storylines.
The proof of the pudding is that the promotion
have since cancelled the show and instead run
it as a part of the main iMPACT! TV broadcast,
with the last few minutes of show time being
dedicated to the concept instead of it being its
own stand-a-lone show. So why didn’t the
concept work? Why weren’t wrestling fans
interested in watching for another 60 minutes to
witness the furthering of feuds and stories, with
a real accentuation on why Wrestler A was
feuding with Wrestler B?
Can wrestlers connect with the fans without actually
wrestling? ©DAVID SETO Wrestling fans love the drama that this brand
of entertainment provides. They love
The concept ran until 1986, with the corporation suspending their disbelief and adore losing
using it as a vehicle to display their stars as themselves in a colourful world of over-the-
more than grappler’s who could entertain you top, loud action and even louder words.
from inside the squared circle. Various comedy There can be no doubting how important a part
skits were devised and ample interview time of the show, storylines are as they give us a
was given to the men and women employed by reason to care why a bunch of people are getting
the company to outline to fans their dynamic physically involved in the middle of the ring.
personalities.
Taking this into account, it’s probably fair to say
By all intents and purposes, these ideas worked that most wrestling fans still tune into a pro
and helped make Vince McMahon millions upon wrestling show because they want to see
millions of dollars in revenue from the WWF. We professional wrestling. Matches are most likely
as fans all know what happened to McMahon to be what captured our young attentions in the
and where he stands today financially, because first place and they help validate everything else
that is going on in the show. Indeed the thought opponents could be interviewed, hyping the
of eventually seeing John Cena get his hands on upcoming collision on PPV.
The Miz is what keeps us watching, for example.
TNA as a company have performers who are
If Cena and Miz never actually faced off in a
capable of delivering a brand of in-ring action
match, would people eventually tune out – bored
which is significantly different to that of WWE
of the constant talk? The build to a confrontation
and many wrestling fans would be willing to pay
is arguably the beauty of this business.
to watch these men and women perform if they
WWe have presented many shows which knew they were buying into something different,
follow the format of hyping a confrontation fresh and exciting. Instead, the matches are
which you really wouldn’t mind paying to see. thrown away on free TV with alarming regularity.
WWF Livewire, Byte This, Bottom Line, Afterburn;
all had the same goal in mind – to convince you
© Tna WreSTLinG
that you should tune into the top shows and see
the conclusion to a certain storyline or feud.
The companies own “Monday Night RAW”
program, alongside the WCW “Monday Nitro!”
show pulled in huge rating’s off the back of
presenting top matches on free television.
However, at their respective heights, both
promotions knew when to cash in on the
matches fans would pay to watch. TNA appear
to be building up more to popping a big TV-rating
a few times per month rather than building
rivalries to a crescendo on Pay-Per-View. It
could be argued that the much talked about low TNA FANS WERE ENCOuRAGED
buyrate numbers could be helped if emphasis TO FORK OuT HARD-EARNED
was placed on the importance of the PPV shows MONEY TO SEE THIS CONTEST AGAIN
with a satisfying conclusion to storylines and
feuds being promised, then delivered. It’s a question that may stand as unanswered in
this generation of pro wrestling, but it strikes me
On a regular basis, TNA Pay-Per-View shows that a wrestling TV show which underlined
are on an equal par to the product they give storyline development far more than marquee
away on free television. For example, Sting match-up’s could be a success.
returned to defeat Jeff Hardy for the TNA World
Heavyweight Championship on the March 3rd Leave the top-line bouts to Pay-Per-View and be
episode of iMPACT! Just 10 days later, TNA fans patient with pulling the trigger on any given feud
were encouraged to fork out hard-earned money or storyline. Wrestling fans have proven in the
to see this contest again on the “Victory Road” past that they will pay to see matches take place
Pay-Per-View event. or storylines conclude which they feel the
company have presented as important. One
Regardless of the way that infamous match thing is for sure, fans cannot be expected to part
turned out, it’s naïve of the promotion to expect with their cash willy-nilly to see matches they
fans to pay for something they can quite easily can see free of charge.
see for free almost every Thursday evening. In
theory, would it not have been better for the A compelling build of stories + delivering a solid
group to build this match up as one which fans match on Pay-Per-View in a big event capacity =
couldn’t bear to miss seeing occur. Instead of a good wrestling product.
top stars routinely facing off on free TV, n Contact Jamie at jamiekennedy@live.com
IntervIeW
Photos courtesy of TNA WRESTLING

He was a mainstay in Tna Wrestling for nearly ten years but on
March 3rd 2011, Sharkboy was released from the orlando based
outfit. TWP’s Darren Wood managed to catch up with Sharkboy to
talk about his time in Tna, why he wanted his release from the
company and what’s next for him in the future.
Hi Sharkboy, thanks for taking the time to disappointing to you looking back that your
talk to TWP today, how are you and what tenure with the company has been very stop
have you been up to since your release from start?
Tna?
There were definitely points when it was
I’m doing well, currently weighing up all my dissapointing, I wouldn’t describe it overall as
options at this point. I’m not in a huge hurry to dissapointing though, I mean i was on TV, in a
jump into the next thing, I’m quite content and video game, selling merchandise with my
just waiting for the right opportunity. character on and i had an action figure so
there were times when they dropped the ball
i believe you asked for your release from
and could have given me more to do, I wish
Tna why you decide to ask for your release
they gave me a chance to perform more often.
from the company?
Do you feel Tna dropped the ball with you
Basically I started back with the company at the
or were never fully behind you?
Lockdown event last year and although they
haven’t had a lot for me to do the last couple of I think there were times when they were behind
years I showed up. But even though they me, pretty strongly. Could it have been more
asked me back because they hadn’t used often or could they have done more, of course I
me that much over the years anyway, i kind think so. I think there were some great things
of always realised the writing was on the we did with my character and then again they
wall and i didn’t have much future there. I could have done more with it. The reality is they
became interested in seeing what else was out only have so much TV time every week so
there and where else I could go. It seemed like obviously a character like mine is sometimes
the time was right for me to leave. put on the back burner a little bit.
So could you please describe your feelings When you first debuted in Tna, you never
when Tna granted your release, who spoke. over time, however your character
informed you and where were you when you progressed into a more speaking role was
received the news of the release? that something you wanted to do or a
suggestion on Tna’s behalf?
I got told a couple of weeks ago from Terry
Taylor head of talent relations. We had a I guess it would add more of a dynamic to the
discussion that basically revolved around my character if I spoke all the time, but if truth be
feelings that the company had nothing for me told we could never really find a voice for
right now, I hadn’t done a lot lately and they Sharkboy. It was just something I never really
admitted they didn’t have much in the works for had a great idea what Sharkboy would sound
me. The split was very much amicable, it was a like or what things he would say. Then I did the
friendly split and I’m sure the door will be open silly Steve Austin impression for Jeff Jarrett and
for me if they ever needed me to come back. that changed everything. Jeff loved it and he
said you have to do that on TV and we did. It
you have had a very on off status with Tna
was just the craziest thing ever that Sharkboy
since starting with them in 2002, is it
would sound like Stone Cold [laughs] but I loved envelope and WWE is now the more toned
it. It was a really cool thing and added a down product. I haven’t had any talks with
different dimension to the character. WWE recently, have done tryout matches for
them over the years but obviously like any
it must be quite difficult as a masked
wrestler to work for them would be a dream.
wrestler connecting with an audience, so in
anyway did the Stone Cold gimmick help With hit movies like a Shark’s tale and other
you connect with the audience anymore do animated movies making a lot of money, do
you feel? you feel that with a gimmick like yours then
Tna or even WWe could make a lot of
I think it did to a certain degree, but also I feel it
money from marketing opportunities with
alienated me a little bit. There was a part of the
you and your gimmick?
wrestling audience that didn’t like what I was
doing and its probably the first time that Absolutely. Although the character will probably
something I had done in wrestling provoked a never lend itself to being the World Heavyweight
negative reaction with some fans. On the flip Champion, in TNA we sold a lot of Sharkboy
side it really did help me connect more, and a lot merchandise. I think Sharkboy is a character
of fans realised that the only reason i do the that the kids want to come and see, I think
Stone Cold stuff is because i truly think he is Sharkboy as a character is very marketable.
one of the greatest performers ever. I have
always admired him and his work, so doing I WOuLD HAVE LOVED TO COME
impressions of him was never meant to be a DOWN ON A GOLF BuGGY WITH
disrespectful thing it was just something that I CLAM JuICE AND SPRAYED PEOPLE
did as an admiration thing more than anything. I
looked upto Steve Austin so much when I first
in late 2010, you were brought back to TV, as
started wrestling training as he was just about to
part of the Jay Lethal and robbie e feud
become a mega star along with The Rock.
what were your thoughts of participating in
you never know somewhere down the line this feud and did you think Tna would have
we may see Stone Cold Sharkboy meets something else for you after your
Stone Cold Steve austin.. involvement with that was over?
Haha you just never know [laughs]. That would I didn’t get my hopes up to high because over
be the coolest thing ever, I heard that Steve is a the years there have been plenty of times when
fan of the Stone Cold Sharkboy stuff and thinks they have just brought me in for little bits here
its funny and entertaining so I really appreciate and there. I really didn’t get my expectations too
that and its almost like a seal of approval from high, me and Robbie E had a match on
him so that’s pretty cool. Xplosion after I got involved with him but I think
The gimmick of Sharkboy seems to be one the story between us pretty much ended when I
that could work very well in the WWe, do lost to him.
you agree with this? What do you feel you could have added or
With WWE focusing more on storytelling I feel brought to the company if given more of a
that I could fit very well. Its funny because chance?
WWE’s product during the early 2000’s was so i think the Steve austin parody stuff we
over the top and very adult that Sharkboy would could have tapped into more and done more
have never fit in, but I did in TNA during their of that, one idea I would have loved to have
early years. They were a bit more toned down done was a parody of when Austin rode to the
back then compared to what WWE were doing ring on a beer truck and sprayed everyone with
at the time. Now it seems the tables have been beer, I would have loved to have come down on
reversed, TNA are now trying to push the a golf buggy or something with clam juice and
sprayed people. It would have in, it had to be really. So I Has there been any talks
made for good TV if it had think they have accomplished between you and ring of
have happened, wish we that, however, some of the Honor?
could have explored more of things that were stated when
nope, there has been no
things the character could they first showed up haven’t
talks between me and roH,
have done. They didn’t really really materialised. For
i think it’s a company that
do much with me but just example going head to head
has a niche audience and
shove me with Curryman and on Monday nights against
their style of wrestling is
Super Eric. Raw was a bad mistake and
not really one that i am
that plan came up short but I
Could you please detail how comfortable working in, I’m
think they have changed their
different Tna Wrestling in more old school and I don’t
game plan accordingly and
2011 is to the company you think I would fit in really. Don’t
overall I think it has definitely
joined in 2002? get me wrong their product is
had an impact.
very cool and I am glad
Oh man so many things have
What are your thoughts on they’re doing well.
changed, obviously the
Dixie Carter?
weekly pay-per-view model at Thanks very much for the
the beginning now they are I thought she was the best interview; the last question
prime time on Spike TV and boss ever, I really enjoyed is what’s next for you on the
have monthly events, they working for her. I always horizon?
were a company broadcasting thought she was fair and I
You know what I don’t know,
from Nashville now they have appreciate the opportunity I
there are a couple of things
events situated at Universal got from her.
going on but you will have to
Studios in Orlando, Florida.
Having more control over keep posted to sharkboy.net
Look at the guys now – Hulk
your own matches and to find out what’s in store next.
Hogan, Ric Flair, Kurt Angle
being more creative must I’m keeping all my options on
these names are incredible.
be something you look the table. Thanks to all the
The company from the early
forward to now working the fans who take an interest in
days to now is like night
indie scene? what I do, I
and day in terms of how
appreciate all
different it is now. They have I definitely enjoy that element
your support.
grown their audience and the of the indies, I also enjoy
whole company is a being closer to the fans and
worldwide phenomenon now. interacting with them a lot
more. I enjoy signing
The arrival of Hogan and
autographs and talking with
Bischoff seemed to promise
the fans, hearing their stories.
a lot of opportunities and in
Creatively it’s a great place to
many ways usher a lot of
get out there and spread your
hope into the company do
wings and try new things,
you feel that bringing
there’s no pressure like TV
Hogan and Bischoff into
where if a match is due to last
Tna has had the effect Dixie
for six minutes it has to last 6
Carter and the whole
minutes dead on the dot. I
company thought it would?
enjoy the fact that a promoter
I think its definitely raised can say ‘go 10 to 15 minutes’.
awareness of the company to It’s also great to gauge what
the masses. I believe that was works and what doesn’t work
the main goal of them coming in front of those audiences.
www.thewrestlingpress.com
The draft
Words PHiL aUSTin Here are my picks for the wrestlers in
the 2011 draft:
E
very year they do it. Stars of
Smackdown and raw get 1. Samoa Joe
drafted between brands to Drafted to: WWE
shake up the rosters. Does it
work? not always-yes, you’ll get a Currently stuck in a
slight change at the top of each brand, bit of a rut in TNA,
but inevitably the branding of each Joe has been given
show gets watered down by the draft, the role of spoiler to
and there is always a subsequent need the push of Crimson
to turn people or push people in order as an unbeatable newcomer. A draft to the
to artificially bolster the roster. WWE roster could give him some real
opportunities to shine. There are obvious
But what if the draft was extended? issues. Joe’s body type is not really the
Back in the territorial days, and even in the ‘WWE norm’, but he would potentially have
days of the Monday Night Wars, part of the the opportunity for great matches with the
excitement was seeing stars suddenly likes of Daniel Bryan and others on the
jump from one promotion to another. At roster. Joe has pretty much done all he can
any point you may be watching Hulk in TNA, and this move could really make a
Hogan, Roddy Piper or others on one difference for him.
show, only to see them suddenly turn up
on another. 2. Zack Ryder
Drafted to: TNA
Of course these days, such switches are
reported many weeks in advance, so when The WWE just really
Awesome Kong appears in the WWE, or doesn’t seem to ‘get’
the Hardys in TNA, you probably knew it Zack Ryder. A man
was coming months in advance if you are with a great
internet savvy. following on the
internet and a charismatic presence,
But what if there was a draft across all
drafting him to TNA could give him a great
promotions. What if everyone’s name was
chance. TNA did a pretty good job allowing
up for drafting, much in the way that sports
Robbie E to shine with a similar character to
teams have a trading of their players? That
Ryder’s, and Ryder could really be an asset
one day’s draft could give fresh life to
to their midcard roster. Ryder will be unlikely
careers, promotions, and really spice
to be pushed as a main eventer in TNA, but
things up for the fans. So for one year only,
a mid card role in TNA is certainly a step up
we at The Wrestling Press present our
from the WWE jobber role he has now, and
fantasy draft picks. Thirty choices, several
he will be given more of a chance to show
promotions to pick from, and a whole set of
his creativity in TNA, and away from the
opportunities to make a difference in the
‘WWE style’.
world of wrestling.
3. The Kings lights of the WWE. Taking him from his
minimal WWE role and returning him to
of Wrestling
Japan could be a real push for the talented
Drafted to: WWE star.
Both Chris Hero
and Claudio 6. Primo
Castagnoli have Drafted to: TNA
size, ability and
Another WWE guy
charisma. All things
who has become
that would serve them well in WWE. The
lost amongst the
only down side is that WWE’s tag roster is
roster, a move to
dismal at the moment, but the addition of
TNA could give him
the Kings of Wrestling at the forefront of the
a chance to
roster could enable WWE to begin building
compete amongst the X Division and show
their roster with several great teams, either
off his highflying skills. He could, if given
by combining some of their talented stars
the chance, even get to compete against
(Daniel Bryan & Tyson Kidd anyone?) or by
higher profile TNA guys such as AJ Styles
bringing in more teams from outside.
or Kurt Angle. A move to TNA will definitely
give Primo more to do than he has in WWE
4. Sara Del Rey
at the moment.
Drafted to: WWE
Kharma’s debut in 7. Evan Bourne
WWE was much Drafted to: Ring of
lauded, but when Honor
you look down the
Too small to be a
Diva’s roster, there
major player in
are realistically only a
WWE, and lacking
few girls there who could have a decent
the real intense
match against her, let alone put up any sort
promo abilities to do much
of credible challenge. So why not bring in
on the ‘backstage skit’ based TNA, Ring of
Sara Del Rey to join Kharma on the WWE
Honor will welcome Evan Bourne back with
roster. The two could tear the house down
open arms, ready to make him a real main
and help revitalise the division.
event star there. Evan Bourne has had his
opportunities to make a name for himself in
5. Yoshi Tatsu
WWE. A return to Ring of Honor will
Drafted to: New increase his worth on the independent
Japan scene than he had before, and allow him to
Tajiri, Funaki and utilise all his skills unrestrained once again.
others have left their
WWE runs and 8. CM Punk
returned to their Drafted to: Ring of
home country of Honor
Japan. And in most cases they have ended
Reportedly unhappy
up as far bigger stars in Japan because of
with being in WWE,
it. Naofumi Yamamoto was a minor star in
a chance to return to
the promotion before he left for the bright
Ring of Honor will also be an opportunity 11. Brian
for CM Punk to regain his passion for pro
Kendrick
wrestling that may have been dampened in
the sports entertainment world. Like all Drafted to: Ring of
drafts, he could return to the WWE the Honor
following year, reinvigorated and ready to A talented youngster,
take the WWE by storm once again. Kendrick needs
more of a chance to
9. Cheerleader shine. A move back
Melissa to Ring of Honor for a while will give him
Drafted to: WWE that chance to shine, and will allow him to
make more of a name for himself on the
Smart, sexy and independent scene before possibly
powerful. That is the returning refreshed to one of the big two.
essence of the way As we have seen so often recently, being in
WWE markets their either WWE or TNA for a long period can
Divas, and that is the drain the enthusiasm from a person. A stint
essence of what Cheerleader Melissa is. back in the independents could give a guy
With Kharma tearing up the current Divas like Kendrick more passion for the business
roster, Melissa could be another major once again.
opponent for her, and produce some great
matches on WWE television. 12. Hernandez
Drafted to: WWE
10. The
Briscoes A large man with
ability, Hernandez
Drafted to:
has been bouncing
WWE
around in TNA for a
They would while now. While his
inevitably new gimmick may
be given a be one of his big pushes, Hernandez could
gimmick, fit in really well in the WWE. Pushing him
and have to against the likes of Wade Barrett, Sheamus
change or Kofi Kingston could give a real boost to
their style the career of Hernandez, and be a great
to suit the WWE style, but the Briscoes addition to the WWE roster.
could be a great addition to the tag roster in
WWE, and really up the game of everyone 13: Scott
in that division. Couple that with some of Steiner
the tremendous backstage promos they Drafted to: WWE
could get and, if we can prevent the WWE
from marketing them as the new Steiner is fairly
Bushwhackers, the Briscoes could be a limited these days,
tremendous asset to the WWE. They and is in a roster
definitely have that different look that filled with young,
makes anyone switching channels stop and highflying talent.
take notice. Putting him back in the WWE, he would still
be limited, but the WWE style could hide 17. Tyson Kidd
his limitations (look at the match an injured Drafted to: TNA
Undertaker and Triple H had) while giving
him an opportunity to participate in angles Another guy who is
against a roster that his more his size. backpedalling in
There are issues. WWE may not want to WWE, but is ready
utilise him at this stage. But if the made for the X
opportunity is presented, it could be a good Division, Tyson Kidd
move for Steiner. has shown he can
exhibit personality to enable him to be put
14. & 15. Curt into feuds and programs. The young
Hawkins & talented star could be a real asset to the X
Division, and could embark on a series of
Trent Barretta spectacular matches with AJ Styles,
Drafted to: TNA Christopher Daniels or others.
Two young talented
wrestlers who have 18. Kelly Kelly
all the ability in the Drafted to: TNA
world, yet only ever get to show it in squash With Kharma
matches and on Superstars, Hawkins and entering the Divas
Barretta could be given a real boost in division, it’s not a
TNA. The opportunity to work with the likes great time to be
of Christopher Daniels, Amazing Red or AJ Kelly Kelly.
Styles will give both guys a chance to Inevitably she will
shine, and their style is a lot more suited to become one of the victims of the new
the X Division than to the WWE. direction that division is going in, and may
end up not fitting in as well as she once did.
16. David Hart A move to TNA gives the athletic and very
Smith attractive Kelly to work alongside smaller
Drafted to: All girls in a division that is as much based
Japan Pro around looks as it is talent. There are still
Wrestling girls there she could do well with. From
Mickie James to Sarita to the combination
Japan has a real
of Angelina Love and Winter, there is a lot
passion for the
for a girl like Kelly Kelly to do in TNA.
history of the
business, specifically for
19. JTG
the past stars who have achieved success
in their country. A return to Japan as the Drafted to: TNA
son of Davey Boy Smith could be a huge JTG, another guy
boost for Smith, and make him a major star with talent but the
there. Smith could be a star in any major inability to use it in
Japanese promotion, but with several the WWE, has
former WWE stars in All Japan, and a been treading
willingness by them to accept and push water since Cryme
gaijin (foreign) competitors, that could well Tyme broke up. A move to TNA could
be the best promotion for him. give him a fresh new start as a singles
star, and they’d definitely give him a 23. The Bella Twins
decent push on entering the promotion. Drafted to: TNA
20. Jessie As with
Mckay Kelly
Kelly,
Drafted to: WWE
The
The WWE Diva’s Bellas
roster needs two are really
things. It needs going to
women who can get lost in
wrestle, and it the
needs women who look good on TV. With shuffle
Jessie Mckay you get both. A woman who quickly in
has proven herself on Shimmer shows, the Divas roster once
Mckay can be a real star on the big Kharma starts picking off the smaller girls,
stage, competing against larger so a move to TNA alongside Velvet Sky,
competitors and playing the babyface in Angelina Love and others could be a great
peril, while battling the smaller guys in chance for the Bellas to be a part of a
competitive matches. roster where they can fit in again.
21. Tyler Reks 24. & 25. Karl

Drafted to: TNA Anderson &
Tyler Reks is almost Giant Bernard
invisible in the Drafted to: WWE
WWE, unless you
Major stars in Japan,
count Superstars.
both men will
He needs a fresh
probably not want to
start, and a move
make any moves right now,
to TNA is exactly that. His look fits that
but a run for at least a year in the WWE
promotion, and he will certainly get new
could be very good for them. Both men
matches and opponents there.
have the ability to be monster heels in the
22. Jessie WWE and, whether as a tag team or as
singles competitors, Anderson and Bernard
Neal would be a major addition to the roster,
Drafted to: WWE shaking it up and revitalising the stale main
Another TNA guy events.
with the potential to
move up, Neal has 26. Prince
the size and look Nana
that could, with Drafted to: WWE
modifications, fit in quite well on the
One thing the WWE
WWE roster. Will he be a main event star
is definitely lacking
there? Maybe not, but he’d certainly get a
is managers. And
chance to be in the big leagues.
Prince Nana could
be a great manager in that promotion. Spud has already faced a number of their
With character and personality, and roster, including having entertaining
already blessed with a real WWE style matches with larger stars such as the
gimmick, Nana could be a great manager monstrous Abyss, and this could be a
for some of the talent who aren’t as great major opportunity for him
at talking. Putting him at ringside could
also help aid storylines and boost the heel 30: Zack Sabre
© Tony knox
roster. Jr
27. & 28. Dave Drafted to: Pro
© Tony knox
Wrestling NOAH
Mastiff &
One of the most
Martin Stone gifted of all the
Drafted to: WWE current crop of UK
Of course, we know talent, Zack Sabre
there are rumours Jr could realistically be a star wherever he
that Martin Stone is wants to go. He has already begun to
headed to WWE already, but a make a name for himself on US
WWE roster with both these two UK stars Independents, and has faced stars such
on it would be tremendous. Both are big as Daniel Bryan in outstanding matches.
guys, without being monstrous amongst the But with a style that is perfectly suited for
WWE roster. Both can cut great promos. the NOAH roster, and recent matches
And both can put on tremendous matches. against KENTA and Katsuhiko Nakajima
A career in WWE awaits both these men if on NOAH’s UK tour, Pro Wrestling NOAH
they want it. could be the perfect home for the young
star.
29. Rockstar
Spud
© Tony knox
Of course, all of these picks have issues.

Drafted to: TNA Promotions will have to embrace these
stars and use them wisely, talent will have
One of the best to want to make the move. But inevitably,
characters in the UK even short term, a one day draft each year
today, and a great X across the board could really shake up the
Division style wrestling world. Of course, it’ll never
performer, stardom happen. But we can always dream.
beckons for Spud, and the best
place for him to find that stardom is in TNA. n Contact Phil at PhilUk1@aol.com
Words keVin ForD - email kford13@gmail.com
12 Large, Brother
chIKara's road to the title
CHikara’s has always been a unique past, he left the determination of who would
company. From its style to its sense of be able to compete in the tournament up to
humor, CHikara has prided itself on those who knew CHIKARA best: the wrestlers
being different to any other US themselves.
independent wrestling company. one of Wink installed a voting system, allowing each
the major differences CHikara heralded member of the roster to place one vote for
was that they had no top singles who they believe should be involved in
champion. Sure, they have the young determining the first champion. The one
Lions Cup, but the group for that is so stipulation was that a wrestler could not vote
limited that by its sheer nature which for themselves. Those with the highest
keeps it from being the equivalent of a amount of votes would be put into the
World championship. This is not a slight tournament.
to CHikara, but rather just another
indication of their individuality. After that announcement, multiple wrestlers
came out and publicly stated who they voted
By the end of the calendar year, this will no for, in the hopes of getting those votes
longer be the case. CHIKARA will still be very reciprocated. Others pleaded to the CHIKARA
unique and entertaining, but they will also have locker room for votes in the hopes that they
crowned a top singles champion. Current could get an opportunity to compete. When all
Director of Fun, Wink Vavasseur explained in a was said and done, the top twelve names on
series of blogs that he felt a top singles the list were the ones chosen to compete in a
champion was necessary in the company in tournament. As a tribute to fallen comrade
order to establish a clear-cut “top dog”. Larry Sweeney, this tournament was dubbed
The next step was determining a method of “The 12 Large: Summit”, named after
choosing who amongst the vast roster would Sweeney’s “12 Large, Brother!” catchphrase.
receive an opportunity to compete for such a Let’s take a look at the twelve participants
grandiose prize. Since Wink is admittedly and see what being the first CHIKARA
inexperienced when it comes to CHIKARA’s Champion would mean for them.
blocK a
(It should be noted that Osirian Portal member amasis was one of the twelve intended for
this tournament, and the first one listed in Block A. Unfortunately, he suffered a severe non-
wrestling injury to his neck and spine and will be out of action indefinitely. As of deadline, no
replacement has been announced).
Claudio Castagnoli – Claudio racked up the most votes of any eligible wrestler,
with five to his name. We can thank his fellow Die Bruderschaft des Kreuzes,
(German for “The Brotherhood of the Cross”), BDK cohorts for that one.
No question about it, Claudio is one of the top guys in the company. He’s the
most decorated CHIKARA wrestler with 2 reigns as one-half of Los
Campeonatos de Parejas, 2 Tag World Grand Prix’s, 1 King of Trios and 1
Cibernetico victory under his belt. Claudio has claimed to be the best; winning this title will prove
that fact. His natural ability, experience, and propensity to take cheat when deemed necessary
make him one of the top seeds out of the field. With the BDK faction no longer being as dominant
as they once were, winning this title would once again bring them back to the top of the food chain.
Hallowicked – As the first Young Lions Cup champion ever, Hallowicked

knows what being a champion is all about. Nowadays Hallowicked is better
known for being in tag team and trios bouts, but has always been able to
hang with CHIKARA’s best in singles action. Many consider Hallowicked to
be the best Wrestle Factory graduate of all time. With his partner
Frightmare being the current Young Lions Cup champion, Hallowicked has
his sights set on also becoming a singles champion as well.
icarus – Although he’s unpopular with the CHIKARMY, Icarus’ two votes
(most likely from his F.I.S.T. stable mates) were enough to secure him a
spot in this tourn-ament. Icarus won the Cibernetico back in 2006, the
King
of
Trios Video courtesy of CHIKARA
tournament in 2009, and

was half of the longest
reigning Campeonatos de
Parejas team in
CHIKARA history. His
partners, Johnny
Gargano and Chuck
Taylor, have been getting
opportunities elsewhere,
lessening their impact in
CHIKARA. Now is the
time for Icarus to make
another splash in the
singles realm. This
tournament has opened
the door for him to do just
that.
Mike Quackenbush – As the founder of CHIKARA and the CHIKARA
Wrestle Factory, Quackenbush has to be considered the odds on favorite
to take the title home. Currently one half of Los Campeonatos de Parejas,
Quack has wrestled everyone in this tournament (and trained a majority of
them as well) multiple times. His experience and technical prowess is
unmatched. He has the skill and wherewithal to take this tournament
home. It would be a point of pride for Quackenbush to be the inaugural
champion for the company he founded.
Sara Del rey – Sara finds herself in a tough spot, as her block pits her
against fellow BDK member Claudio Castagnoli. Sara’s intention when
she joined the BDK was to prove that she was just as good as any male
wrestler on the roster. With Claudio and BDK leader Ares at the top of the
food chain, it’s been hard for her to go against their command and truly
breakout. This was no better demonstrated than when her and Daizee
Haze were barred for cashing in their points for a shot at Claudio and
Ares’ tag titles. Sara and Claudio will meet at some point, and that is when we will truly see
just how loyal Sara will be to the BDK with something so momentous at stake.
blocK b
Fire ant – Fire Ant is the one member of the Colony who has seen the
most success on his own. In addition to winning the 2008 Tag World
Grand Prix, the 2011 King of Trios, and Los Campeonatos de Parejas with
his fellow hormigas, he also held the Young Lions Cup for a short time in
2008. He has a tough road ahead of him, but if Fire Ant shocks us all and
wins this tournament, it would be a huge boost for his career.
Jigsaw – Considered by some to be the “grand slam champion” of

CHIKARA, he’s the only guy to have ever held the Young Lions Cup, held
the Campeonatos de Parejas (current), won King of Trios and won a
Cibernetico. Few people love CHIKARA as much as Jigsaw, and winning
the title in a tournament named after his best friend would mean the world
to him.
Brodie Lee – This monstrous trucker may pose the biggest threat to
everyone in the block. Brodie has never made it known publicly if he has
any particular championship aspirations, but I know he wouldn’t have a
problem booting the face off everyone in this tournament. If he were to to
become the champion, who could possibly dethrone him?
eddie kingston – The War King is considered by many to be the best
CHIKARA has to offer. His style and attitude has brought him numerous
victories against top tier talent such as Austin Aries, Christopher Daniels, and
Homicide. Kingston became the hero of CHIKARA when he helped to
vanquish the BDK at the 2010 Cibernetico (which he won). The thanks he
got from the rest of the locker room came in the form of votes, enough of
which put him in this tournament. Kingston has always claimed for CHIKARA
to be “his territory”, and with the title in hand, it would be more difficult than ever to argue.
Vin Gerard – Gerard’s true colors came out when he begged and pleaded
with the rest of the CHIKARA roster to vote for him. It turns out that his
bellyaching actually worked, as his 2 votes granted him a tournament
spot. Gerard is another former Young Lions Cup champion who is looking
to reclimb the ladder of success. We can assume his partner STIGMA
gave him one of his two votes, but who was the other? Can Gerard pull a
big victory off?
UitraMantis Black – As unbelievable as it is, Mantis has never won an

accolade of any kind in CHIKARA even though he’s been with the
company since its inception. Mantis at times is the unsung hero of the
company. His recent change of heart has seen him reunite with
Hallowicked (and his partner Frightmare) to take down the BDK. Is Mantis
in this tournament solely for himself, or is he most concerned with making
sure the BDK don’t get the title once again?
The tournament works like the All Japan Champions Carnival, with the winner of both blocks
facing each other to determine the ultimate victor. The tournament runs from May 21st till
November 13th. All season long, fans and wrestlers alike will ponder – just who will be the
first ever CHIKARA champion?
For further details check out www.chikarapro.com
Interested in
advertising in
The Wrestling
Press?
e-mail Darren Wood at
dtwooduk@hotmail.com
for further details
THE iPPV EFFECT ON
INDY WRESTLING
Words CHriS GST – Follow Chris on Facebook - http://facebook.com/spawnsyxx9
I
n last month’s issue WWnLive.com and beginning and while
the impact that Gabe Sapolsky is many of the talents in
having on the indy wrestling industry Beyond Wrestling are
as a whole when it comes to the US still growing their fan
indy scene was explored. bases, they are having
Before WWNLive there were two other some record highs with
companies that have stemmed the iPPV the influx of top
availability from the wrestling companies to the international talent.
fans. HybridEnt.TV and GoFightLive.TV with Most recently they
GoFightLive more highly recognized as they Drew Cordeiro brought in the Super
were the first to offer Ring of Honor which here in Smash Bros who are
the states is arguably the third largest promotion. not only popular in Canada but in the US as well
with awesome show cases in CHIKARA Pro,
ROH had just ended its PPV deal with G-Funk Ring of Honor, Dragon Gate USA, and many
and while DGUSA picked up that deal to put other promotions.
their PPVs on TV, ROH decided to reach out to
the internet wrestling community via their I CAN’T EVEN IMAGINE HOW
beloved computers. GoFightLive has picked up, MuCH IT WOuLD COST TO
due to their success with ROH, other wrestling INVEST IN DOING iPPVS IN HOuSE
“
promotions.
Beyond Wrestling started as a pet Cordeiro had a lot of things to say, some
project where wrestlers would controversial, some insightful, some borderline
perform, not in front of hundreds to heresy and I’m sure that he’ll have a lot more to
thousands of fans, but in front of say in the future as Beyond Wrestling and
each other, their own harshest GoFightLive continue to further their
critics, their peers. relationship.
It used to be that these friends would come When asked about how the relationship with
together on the weekend and bang it out with GoFightLive and Beyond Wrestling started,
each other to see who was the most talented, Cordeiro’s response was insightful as he also
who could have the most fun, and more pointed out why he chose GFL over the other
importantly see who could have the craziest possible resources at his disposal.
match possible and draw the excitement from
“We have streamed our shows for free in the
those who most would think would be the
past using services like USTREAM and
hardest to entertain.
Justin.tv. Right now we don’t have the
Drew Cordeiro, executive producer of Beyond capabilities to stream our own iPPVs and as our
Wrestling has been with the company since the organization continues to grow, we’d rather
Just for TWP
readers, cordeiro
passed this video
along as an
exclusive to
Wrestling Press
magazine so that
you, the readers,
can get a true
feeling for beyond
Wrestling.
It features the
super smash bros.
vs. the runaways
from their next iPPv
vod “World of hurt”
which should be on
GFl soon.
work with a reliable the product since Beyond new business. We’ve been
organization like GoFightLive Wrestling is far from perfect. I very happy with our
than try and do it on our own. can’t even imagine how much distribution partners thus far -
“It makes more sense for us to it would cost to invest in doing GoFightLive for VOD, iPPV
use the revenue we generate iPPVs in house. Seriously, and Smart Mark Video for
to improve other aspects of that’s like starting an entirely DVD - and I personally don’t
see that changing down the
line.”
DGUSA recently ended their
deal with GFL, so when asked
about that company severing
ties with GFL, Cordeiro
sounded surprised in
DGUSA’s decision.
“I’m seriously shocked that
DGUSA is ending the
relationship with GFL
because it also means
eliminating an outlet which
allows DGUSA to get their
product in front of ROH fans
without any political
ramifications. If DGUSA can
pull it off, kudos to them. It
solves the problem of DVD
Danny Danger Confronts DC, courtesy of Beyond Wrestling turnaround time which has
undoubtedly hurt interest in the company. Plus “I doubt it will do anything to give indy wrestling
it means they get to keep 100% of the profits more exposure. How are people learning that
from each show. But you can’t overlook the iPPVs even exist? Through the same outlets that
amount of money invested to run iPPVS in tell them where they can buy tickets to live events
house in the first place. or DVDs of past events or merchandise. It’s not
like making the product more accessible is the
“I think one of the biggest benefits of working
same as reaching a new audience - iPPVs just
with GoFightLive is that they’ve built a
make it easier for the existing audience to view
database of customers who have ordered both
content. It could open the doors for international
ROH and DGUSA iPPVs. When a new event
fans since it will eliminate shipping costs,
is approaching, GFL sends out email blasts
however. DVD or stream, though, the shows are
promoting these events to anyone that has
still being watched by the same people.”
ordered a wrestling iPPV in the past.”
HE’S BLATANTLY HONEST

ABOuT WHAT iPPVs MEAN
TO THE BuSINESS AS A WHOLE
“Personally, I don’t think iPPVs are going to do

anything to help any wrestling organization
make more money because they don’t
address a big concern with content distribution
- piracy. It’s just going to allow fans to pirate
more efficiently if anything. The industry as a
whole needs to change and that’s something I
can honestly say Beyond Wrestling is working
on. It’s no secret we release free weekly
Gospel of the Boards trailer, courtesy of Beyond Wrestling
“
matches at
www.youtube.com/beyondwrestling.
The world premiere of Beyond
“We want to give our fans a way to support Wrestling “Gospel of the Board”
Beyond Wrestling without forcing them to debuted on GoFightLive.tv’s video
support us financially. People pirate content on demand iPPV service on april 7th
for two reasons - convenience and value - and for only $9.99. Because the company
iPPVs only address convenience. If fans don’t hold their events closed to the public
feel like the product is worth supporting they have the unique opportunity to
financially, they’re never going to pay for it. Is present the first ever spoiler-free,
DGUSA good enough to pay for? At the end of pre-taped iPPV. That means that
the day, that’s the million dollar question, and there will be zero production errors.
it isn’t up to me or you to answer. It’s up to the “Gospel of the Boards” is available
fans. “ here: http://tinyurl.com/3rn7ypw
Cordeiro has experience in this business and
while he has seen his personal dreams come Websites:
to fruition with him taking more time out of his
-Official website:
personal life to further Beyond, it is obvious
http://www.LookManoFans.com
he’s very passionate and blatantly honest
about what iPPVs mean to the business as a -Facebook:
whole. http://www.facebook.com/beyondwrestling
The integration of international
wrestlers into Dragon Gate
Words JereMy GraVeS
Part 1 - Setting The Scene*
n Japanese wrestling embarking on a dream of his event to be held later that
I one thing that isn’t

hard to notice is that
there are a fair few
wrestlers who are not
natives of the country.
to compete in Japan in New
Japan Pro Wrestling.
There is quite the influx of
international talent in
Japanese wrestling and
year.
At first it appeared the title
would simply be the ‘DGUSA
title’ and will only be defended
on US soil. That thought was
although there are those quickly put to rest within 7
names mentioned above, days of the crowning of BxB
there is one promotion in Hulk as the first champion
particular with an English base when he defended the title in
where international talent has Japan for the first time in what
become very prevalent within ended up being a high profile
the general goings on in match against Susumu
Japan over the past 6 months, Yokosuka.
Dragon Gate. This match instantly
When Dragon Gate first established international
opened its USA office back in credibility to the title
January of 2009 it was a because the Japanese
fantastic idea to have some Dragon Gate office had
stars of the promotion go over acknowledged it on an
to the US and mix in with event of theirs and the title
current US independent talent, was now prevalent at their
however there was a lot of shows because the champion
Prince (Fergal) Devitt was wearing the title every
© SCoTT FinkeLSTein curiosity to see if this
international expansion would time he came out to the ring.
In New Japan Pro Wrestling actually have any bearing on Following this there were
for example you have the likes the general operations over in international extensions of
of Giant Bernard (formerly A- Japan. factions created, most notably
Train in WWE) and Karl
At the first DGUSA event in Kamikaze USA that saw (now
Anderson who are the
Philadelphia ‘Open The WWE bound) Jon Moxley at
International Wrestling Grand
Historic Gate’, the potential the forefront of the group. But
Prix Tag Team Champions.
seeds for this international while these extensions were
Prince Devitt who is the
integration were put in motion being created and established
current singles and tag team
with the announcement of the in DGUSA, there was rarely
champion of the IWGP junior
‘Open The Freedom Gate’ any acknowledgement on
heavyweight division. Even
Championship being Dragon Gate shows in Japan
MVP, who recently departed
introduced during the third about these factions.
from WWE is also now
The Young Bucks (Generation Me in TNA) were
Within the span of
technically representing the Warriors faction but
© SCoTT FinkeLSTein
a few weeks, two of
because of their regular inclusion in Japanese
the DGUSA roster
tours, were generally thought of as members of
members had been
the Japanese brand of Warriors rather than the
integrated (and
USA extension.
accepted by all
Kamikaze USA was literally Jon Moxley added accounts) into the
to the original brand to act as the mouthpiece for main Dragon Gate
the likes of YAMATO and Shingo while they roster in Japan.
were in America. Up until late 2010, British born Having the likes of
PAC was really the only international wrestler or CIMA, Genki
Gaijin as they’re sometimes referred, who was a Horiguchi and
core part of proceedings in Japan as part of the Dragon Kid (all very
World-1 group. Brodie Lee highly respected
There had been a few additions for some tours, individuals) in this
group elevated Ricochet and Brodie Lee to a
but PAC was the primary international wrestler
similar level to them because the audience saw
for Dragon Gate. No one else had become an
those individuals as stars of the promotion.
integral part of the roster like he had. That is,
until December of 2010 when during the final a very interesting aspect of this integration
tour of shows Dragon Gate were presenting for now taking place is that the overall presence
that year, Warriors International members of Dragon Gate USa has shifted in an
Ricochet and Brodie Lee appeared and made upward direction. Because they are no longer
an instant impact. perceived as simply Dragon Gate running a
show in the USA, but rather generate the
PAC & Masato Yoshino thoughts of what will happen when Dragon Gate
© SCoTT FinkeLSTein comes back to the US, there is a lot more
intrigue as to what may happen.
Earlier this year they ran three shows on the
east coast of the USA where they crowned their
first ‘Open The Ultimate Gate’ tag team
champions, a series of shows that had larger
implications than some may have been
expecting in part due to the formation of the
Blood Warriors faction (a fusion of two groups to
create one) just a few weeks earlier in Japan
that shook the foundations of the promotion!
Ricochet was being presented as the man who Om the next few months as part of the
could perform, what should really be an Japanese section, we’ll focuse on one or more
impossible move a double rotation moonsault individuals. We’ll delve into how these wrestlers
press and in many ways being Warriors answer have been integrated into the promotion and
to Pac of World-1. also look at the likes of the Young Bucks in
Brodie Lee is a huge guy who doesn’t mind Dragon Gate and explore the different ways in
beating up anyone, on the same night he made which they have become a part of the
his debut, he went into a match at the world promotion.
renowned Korakuen Hall in Tokyo against Kzy n Contact Jeremy at dkrjeremy@googlemail.com
and made short work of him to leave his mark
Catch Jeremy’s audio broadcast live every Sunday
on the promotion. night at www.Dropkickradio.com
© Sarah
Barraclough
SCOTTISH WRESTLER LIONHEART WRITES EXCLUSIVELY FOR TWP
Wrestling Lesson #1
Do not upset Tracy Smothers!
I
’m choosing to reflect back on a out an interrupt him and then Fight Club and
memory i have of a particular myself would put a beat on him to set up the
experience i had while at a show i was match.
a part of in england for a company So as Tracy is out there, my music hits and I’m
called 1PW. in my last column i spoke of fired up ready to go out for what at the time was
learning experiences and going into a pretty big deal for me. As I’m walking out the
matches or situations thinking i was the curtain, someone says to me “Do not call him
dogs bollocks or knew everything i needed an old man”. Now picture the scene, my music
to, This was one of those situations. is playing, I’m giving it the generic bounce up
At one of 1PW’s Underground events in and down at the curtain waiting for that
Doncaster, I was booked in a 6 man tag team “HUUURRGHH” Q in my music, those whacky
“
match along with Fight Club against the team of 1PW fans all know and love.
Mad Man Manson, Donny Bull, and a certain So sure enough i’m in the zone and
Tracy Smothers. When I arrived at the venue I as i’m walking out the curtain i catch
learned that not only would I be working with only the second half of previous said
Tracy, but I would be going over him. I was advisory statement, “….. call him an
really shocked and pleased as I just assumed old man”. Do you see where this is
that with him being a big name, it would make going?
sense for him to win the match (This is the first
example of how little I “got it”). I make my way to the ring, grab the
microphone, look straight at Tracy and utter the
So anyway, the set up was; Tracy would go out words. “Old man!”. Now I’m going to try and
to the ring and cut a promo talking about how upload this footage because I actually cringe
good it was to be in the UK etc, I was to come now just thinking about it. Before I can even get
the rest of my sentence out Tracy has marched loved and respected Superstar so intent on
half away across the 20 foot ring and starts kicking the hell out of me?
throwing jabs at my face. I didn’t understand, it upset me that I had made
At first I’m thinking wow he is really intense and this Superstar, this veteran of our great sport
his “angry face” is tremendous. Fast forward feel like that. Mad Man Manson, one of the most
about eleven seconds and he has me by the genuine guys I’ve met in this business could
throat against the turnbuckle looking like he is see I was upset, he told me to go talk to Tracy,
going to rip my nuts off and feed them to me. I so I did.
can only imagine the look on my face must have Tracy was sitting at the back of the hall with his
been one of “help” as Fight Club commenced merchandise, as I approached he could see I
the beat down. Out came the remaining two was a bit uneasy about what had just happened,
men and our six man tag was on. he smiled and said to go through to the other
Sure enough I ended up first in the ring with room and he’d talk to me there. Once there,
Tracy. Now hopefully you’ll get to see this if I Tracy explained to me that his Dad (or his “old
can upload the footage, but about 2 minutes in man”) had recently passed away, and by me
all I could think was “f**k me he works stiff”. calling him an old man had reminded him of that.
This was made even funnier on the DVD as He also explained that as a worker I needed to
Adam Curtis on commentary jokingly asks; be smarter. He explained that if I go out there
“Does Lionheart owe Tracy money?” As the and call someone an old man, then beat them,
match went on eventually I thought to myself who have I really beat? An old man. If I go out
f**k this, I’m not taking this off anyone. and refer to someone as a major Superstar,
So as Tracy went to slam my head into the someone who has years of experience and has
buckle i blocked it, threw him head first in, stepped in the ring with some of the best
chopped him as hard as i could and then athletes of his generation, then beat them… Get
spat in his face. Somewhat pleased with the point?
myself that i had manned up, Tracy grabbed I understood, I got it. If I had been less
me and said to me. “Good, do that again”. at concerned with getting myself over on a
this point i am delighted and thinking, ‘yeah, microphone, I could have put my opponent over
not wanting to give me shit now are you pal’. for what he had accomplished, and in turn put
So in a repeat, i blocked, chopped and spat, myself over by the end match result. Really
stood back with a smug look on my face, seems simple when you say it like that. Just one
utterly satisfied in my status as the “Mac of the many basic lessons I had to learn the
Daddy” in this match. hard way, through nothing more than my own
What followed was the most God almighty open ignorance and egotistical narrow mindedness.
hand slap to the side of my left eyeball, and as I Tracy wasn’t the first to teach me such lessons
hit the deck like a sack of tatties (potatoes or and he wasn’t the last. I remember afterward
spuds for my non Scottish friends) I swear I did Tracy and myself with Kid Fite and a few others
not know what day of the week it was. sat in the bar, just chatting and having a laugh.
A few minutes later I was able to make the tag Tracy gave me his flag which he carried to the
and compose myself on the apron. Kid Fite ever ring and thanked me for listening to him. He told
in his subtle wisdom turns to me and says. me I had tremendous potential to go very far
“That looked stiff mate, eh?” Cheers Fito. and he was happy he got to work with me. A
moment I remember fondly.
So a while later the match was over, I had just
cleanly pinned Tracy Smothers with a superkick I haven’t had the pleasure to see Tracy since
flush to the chin and as I stood there with my that time but I hope he is well and entertaining
hands in the air, I felt nothing but sadness. What like only he can be. He taught me a lot and for
had I done to piss this man off? Why was this that I thank him. n
IN uK WRESTLING WE TRuST
The organisers dub the events ‘the ultimate

night out’ as they will not only include
world-class lucha libre wrestling action but
also live music and Mexican-themed food
and drink. For those bringing children the
promotion will feature family matinees
(London and Brighton) which they say will
be suitable for children aged 5 and over.
Previous events from the organisers have
been greatly received by wrestling fans
and those who are looking for a unique
night of entertainment. The contests, which
take place in a specially constructed
circular arena, will pit good-guy tecnicos up
against the bad-boy rudos and will feature
top Mexican wrestling stars such as Blue
Demon Jr, Cassandro and Magno. Just
By ROSS STUART
announced to appear are Hanaoka,
trained by the legendary Ultimo Dragon,
LUCHa FUTUre will bring lucha libre Turbo, the current NWA Lightweight
back to the UK with a string of shows in Champion, Hantar, Arez and the high-flying
June. The team behind Lucha Libre Skayde. The final additions to the cards
London, who staged their last show will be announced on June 6.
almost three years ago, will make a much
These events promise to be a great night
anticipated return to the capital on 24-26
of wrestling action and a must-see event
June. This will followed by, for the first
for those looking to experience an
time, events in both Gateshead (28 June)
authentic lucha libre experience without
and Brighton (1-2 July) – the former giving
having to leave the UK.
wrestling fans in the north a chance to
experience the Mexican extravaganza. Mexican luchador Blue Demon, Jr is one of
South America’s most well known
professional wrestlers, the son of the
legendary original Blue Demon, he is the
first Mexican and the second masked
wrestler to win the NWA World
Heavyweight Championship. TWP’s Ross
Stuart managed to grab a quick chat with
Blue Demon Jr about Lucha Future.
Thanks for taking the time to talk

to us today. What can people
expect at the Lucha Future
events?
They can expect the lucha libre style -
more faster, harder and stronger. There
EVENT DETAILS
(for more information visit:
www.luchafuture.com)
london (roUndhoUse)
Friday 24th June – Sunday 26th June
nightly at 7pm (doors).
Family matinees at 2pm (doors) on
Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th June.
Standing £20. Seats £30 - £50.
Box office: 0844 482 8008
www.roundhouse.org.uk /
www.ticketmaster.co.uk
Gateshead (the saGe)

Tuesday 28th June
7.30pm
will be younger guys mixing it up with Tickets: £12 - £29.50
the masters. These newer wrestlers, Ticket office: 0191 443 4661
who are my students, have the www.thesagegateshead.org /
opportunity to become legends. www.ticketmaster.co.uk
How is lucha libre different to
brIGhton (brIGhton dome)
american wrestling?
Friday 1st - Saturday 2nd July
American wrestling is scripted – like a evening shows 7.45pm.
soap opera, whereas lucha libre is an Family matinee 2.15pm (doors).
improvised sport. Mexican lucha libre is Tickets: £12.50 - £32.50
a universal language. If you talk with Ticket office: 01273 709 709
other wrestlers in other countries you www.brightondome.org /
can not speak their language but you www.ticketmaster.co.uk
can speak the language of lucha libre.
What does lucha libre mean to

Mexico? years in this sport and I think I have the
In Mexico lucha libre is a cultural same legend now. I work very hard to
phenomenon, it’s an iconography of support the name. It’s not easy for me
Mexico. It’s a fight for life, good vs. evil.
It is representative of our life, we fight
for better jobs and a better life. This is
our wrestling.
Tell us about your father, Blue

Demon Sr.
My father is a big legend here in Mexico
and all over the world. But I have 26
as there is a constant comparison. To How do British fans differ from

me there is only one name and one Mexican fans?
history – Blue Demon.
There’s not too much difference! I feel
like I’m still in my country when I’m there
What is the significance of the
and the only difference is the language.
mask?
The fans will be chanting ‘Blue Demon!
The mask is very important to our Blue Demon!’ or the names of the other
culture and the history goes back to the wrestlers. When people are watching a
Aztec society. For the people, the mask show, they change, they really feel the
is representative of one wrestler or moment. This is the magic of lucha libre.
character, but to us, the wrestlers, it’s
everything. It’s our life and our identity. I How important is lucha libre to
don’t have a real identity without the you?
mask.
I love lucha libre for many reasons. My
Father taught me everything, I was able
Do you look forward to bringing
to study and make a career. Lucha libre
lucha libre to the Uk?
has provided me with food and clothes. I
I have been to the UK four times and I will love it forever.
find that the people there love Mexican
wrestling. Lucha Future is an n Contact ross at ross.stuart@yahoo.co.uk
opportunity for them to see a new style,
new wrestlers and to check out the For more information on Lucha Future
Mexican style. visit www.luchafuture.com
W
hen i was asked to write a convey the views, opinions and ideas of a
monthly column for The woman in sports entertainment. now that’s a
Wrestling Press, i was very concept.
excited. Then i realized that it One of my last shows was Pro Wrestling Eve
could be dangerous. Do i fabricate or tell the in the UK. A few of you may have noticed
truth? The truth can sting, but the sting from that a lot was tried to make this event not
the truth is far better than that from a lie. So i take place. The owner of the venue
figured: i have the power of the keyboard to cancelled two weeks beforehand and
© SaraH BarraCLoUGH
Popular european
wrestler alpha Female
joins TWP with a series
of exclusive articles....
ALP H A F E M A LE
forbade the Eve crew to stage the event in
his building.
Of course the show took place but unfortunately
one hour earlier because we had to be out of
the new venue on time, but we were glad that
someone had provided a venue on short notice.
So it was loads of stress for all participants,
nevertheless the show was a striking success.
all of the women have worked hard, hats off
to each of them. or should i say clothes off,
because that’s what most men want to see -
nothing but cat fights.
But the Pro Wrestling Eve girls are more than
that, I think it’s a shame that we often get
compared to divas and people allege that we
can’t fight. Accordingly, we haven’t got so many
viewers. But I want the ones who support us in
the name of the whole Eve team.
Of course I’m not suggesting that all
independent female wrestlers are good in the
ring but still a lot of us are underestimated.
Some have backgrounds in martial arts like
traditional wrestling or kick boxing. Some go to
the gym regularly and work their asses off to be
able to give a 100 % in the ring. everything around was great and even the
wrestlers showed really good efforts but there
were only about 15 viewers. I have never
IT’S A SHAME THAT WE OFTEN GET
experienced that before.
COMPARED TO DIVAS AND PEOPLE
ALLEGE THAT WE CAN’T FIGHT every promoter should have the goal to
produce a good show, to entertain the
audience and especially to make profit. Why
Some also look damn good and can keep up
else should one organize events?
with the divas easily, but they have the
techniques as well. At Pro Wrestling Eve the Unfortunately, some promoters don’t seem to
elite of Europe comes together and I can only see it this way, some obviously think the main
recommend everyone to watch the shows or at thing is to be in the ring and so every clown puts
least get the DVD. I’m not telling you that himself there. Don’t get me wrong but if a fan is
because I’m part of this team because if I taller, wider, more athletic than the person in the
weren’t I would do everything I could to be able ring then that is just pathetic and doesn’t have
to work there. anything to do with wrestling, and to be honest
they shouldn’t be amazed if there is no
Generally, I find the situation in the UK quite
audience.
shocking. The thought alone that others would
manipulate shows on purpose and do This is exactly the problem of the promoters
everything to make shows become a flop is very who take it seriously. Why should fans believe
sad. Some time ago I worked at an English that these are real athletes and that they will get
promotion and the setup, the ring, the lights and to see a proper show? Why should the viewer
know who X or Y is and why should they watch I will be fighting for the women’s title in Turkey
this show? on the 8th May. At present the talented wrestler
Shanna from Portugal wears it. She was able to
We all have to work together, back to the
win the title in a fight against the UK’s Britani
basics. Wrestling has to get its good reputation
Knight, which made her the first ever women’s
back again. We need our own stars. It is
champion of Turkish Power Wrestling. I will take
manageable; it only takes one to start.
the title from her in a hard battle, I’m sure of that.
In Turkey, wrestling has taken off with Turkish
[eD’S noTe: Alpha Female did indeed defeat
Power Wrestling. You should remember this
Shanna for the Turkish Power Wrestling
name as you will hear more from it. Soon their
Women’s Title! All of us at TWP congratulate
third show will take place. The first one had
her on this fantastic achievement]
about 1,500 spectators and this was achieved
without TV and big guest stars. The second I’m a warrior
show had twice as many people in attendance and I am
and the third one has already sold 5000 tickets ready to go
in the advance sale. And as mentioned above: into a war.
All that was achieved without weekly TV. The Many people
boys rely on their fellow countrymen and they think women
have great national pride. shouldn’t be in
ALPHA FEMALE VS SHANNA
The biggest name up until now has been Low the ring, many even think women haven’t got
Ki but the promoter has realized that it is not anything to say. Maybe I won’t win this battle but
worth it to spend so much money on I will always fight for my right to get into the ring.
Americans. We have so many talents here in And I tell you this: I will fight to the end. Women
Europe and we should make use of them. Two are as important as men in this business and
of the most well-known Europeans are already like them we can chose our own fate and live
signed with Turkish Power Wrestling: Joe E. like we want to. I have decided to live on the
Legend (Just Joe in WWE) and Murat road, to match in the ring and to prove myself in
Bosporus. Murat heads the training and a men’s world.
supports the still inexperienced Turkish
I call this living the dream!
wrestlers. Presently, he holds the promotion’s
International Championship title. n Website: www.alphafemale.de
IT E S E XCLUSIVELY FOR T WP
NADIAN R E B E L” W R
“THE CA
I
recently wrestled at SMaSH.15 back on
March 31 in Tokyo, Japan at korakuen
Hall. This event signaled the first
anniversary show for the rather new
SMaSH office, it has been a tremendous
year of astronomical growth and realized
potential.
SMASH.15 was originally slated for March 18th
at Korakuen Hall, but when the 9.0 earthquake
of early March 2011 hit Japan in addition to the
Fukushima nuclear plant spill, the event had to
be postponed for obvious reasons.
SMASH president Mr. Sakai and booker
Yoshihiro Tajiri were quick to find a new date as
soon as circumstances allowed, and thus
SMASH.15 went ahead at the end of the month.
The Japanese are very orderly and proficient
when it comes to just about anything and the
fact that SMASH did not sit on its laurels and
mope in the face of adversity speaks for itself.
My story with SMaSH dates back just before
their first show in March 2010. The company and the professionalism of our crew in addition
that I head up in Finland named FCF Wrestling to the strengths of several of our talents, Tajiri
brought Tajiri in for a show against myself in saw a world of potential in FCF and he decided
February 2010 held in Helsinki, and at that time to take a gamble on us.
Tajiri spoke of his plans with SMASH. Based on That gamble came to fruition in short order, as
the strong outing that I had with Tajiri in Helsinki we filmed vignettes of various FCF talent such
Hajime Ohara at SMASH.5 on July 24, 2010
cemented FCF as a force to be reckoned with
in Japan. Tajiri crafted FCF as a brand name
in Japan, and when I defeated Tajiri for the
FCF Championship for the fourth time in my
career at SMASH.6, the wrestling fans and
press were put on notice.
Since that time, FCF has enjoyed a healthy
relationship with SMASH, as both sides have
endured and prospered, spurring notable
business for both parties over the past year or
more. In the process, SMASH positioned
Ohara under my wing, thus giving FCF more
precedence in Japan with one of their own
representing our team.
as Valentine, Jessica Love, Stark Adder and

Heimo Ukonselkä for SMASH to show at their
monthly events in Tokyo. SMASH had
secured a TV deal with Japan’s top fight
channel Samurai TV, and so the faces and
personalities of FCF were brought to the
Japanese fan base.
Valentine and Jessica Love made their
At SMASH.1 back in March 2010, Ohara and
maiden voyage to SMaSH.3 in May 2010 as
Kushida wrestled in the main event of the
ambassadors of FCF Wrestling. In the
card. Both wrestlers represented a new
aftermath of that event, Valentine dropped the
beginning for a new company, with both men
FCF Championship to Tajiri, signaling
being touted as stars of the future to lead the
unprecedented wrestling history in both
company in coming years. However, the
Finnish and Japanese pro wrestling. It is a
ultra-talented Kushida (who defeated Ohara
very rare occurrence to hear of wrestling
at SMASH.1) was given a proposal by New
championships changing hands outside not
Japan to jump ship, and from what I can
only their respective countries, but on different
gather the deal was too sweet for Kushida to
continents altogether. Immediately, the FCF
turn down. Thus, one year after SMASH
Championship had more prestige and
started up at the company’s anniversary
precedence than 90% of the titles out in
show at Korakuen Hall on March 31, Ohara
Europe.
was booked to face Kushida once again in
The Japanese wrestling fans took like fish to the main event to settle the score between
water when it came to FCF talent, and my them that had steadily built up over the past
dominant debut against my to-be-protegé year.
Initially, I was supposed to face former ECW
World Champion Tommy Dreamer on the
anniversary card, but after the calamities of
March 2011 and the rescheduling of the
show Dreamer was no longer available for
the booking. This in itself was a big blow to
both SMASH and to myself personally. In
truth, I was anxiously expecting my
showdown with Dreamer, which had received
a good deal of hype and fans were strongly
buying into the looming bout between us.
SMaSH main man Tajiri scrambled to get
a reasonable replacement for Dreamer in
order to compensate for potential losses,
and much to my surprise the replacement
turned out to be DDT wrestler and
kickboxer yoshiaki yago. I personally had
very little knowledge of Yago, except for the
somewhat comedyish angle that he cut with
Akira Syoji to set up their match at
SMASH.10 back in November 2010.
I somehow was under the impression that
Yago wasn’t that big of a name, but SMASH guzzle him was brought to rest, as he
once again proved that they know how to understood that he came out of that match a
promote and hype anything that they believe bigger star than he had been coming into that
in and put their stamp of approval on. In the match, regardless of his solid loss to me.
end, Yago turned out to be a more than
worthy replacement for Dreamer at also at SMaSH.15, i was able to meet a
SMASH.15. familiar face from the past for the first time
in 16 years. yoshihiro asai aka Ultimo
As I stood behind the curtain at Korakuen Hall Dragon was on the card tagging with Taka
watching the promotional trailer for my match Michinoku, and i had last been on tour
with Yago on the big screen, I listened to the with Dragon back in november 1995 in
fan reaction and understood that there was Manitoba, Canada for Tony Condello’s iWa
anticipation in the air. When Yago made his promotion. Asai had been brought in back in
way to the ring first, the audience popped for the day for Condello to face my old friend
him in a big match kind of way. All I could do Chris Jericho in a three match series of TV
was smile, because I knew right then and tapings, and during that tour I had driven Asai
there that the fans would not be disappointed. to the gym every day to work out. I was in my
Yago fought a very serious match and made second year as a professional wrestler back
everything count before I put him away with then, green as grass still, and I was pretty
my trademark spike piledriver in 11:18. DDT sure that Asai would not recall me. However,
President Sanshiro Takagi came to the Asai hazily remembered back to that jaunt
dressing room to congratulate Yago on a and we exchanged pleasantries. I would find
solid performance and also gave me the nod out at SMASH.15 that I was scheduled to
of approval for the match psychology of that face Dragon in a tag match on the next
encounter. Yago’s initial apprehension that I Japanese tour at the end of April, much to my
would overshadow him or perhaps even pleasant surprise.
In the main event of SMASH.15, Ohara rise to his feet for short spells of time and
finally got his comeuppance against arch- there is some hope for a return to normal life
rival Kushida in an absolutely stellar match. I for him, so big props to him for fighting
was able to transpose back to the fan in me, through an absolutely dismal situation and
simply watching their match in awe. The showcasing incredible will and determination.
intensity, timing and passion of that match
All in all, SMASH.15 was a superb show that
was off the charts. Kushida got his send-off
more than lived up to expectations. After the
to New Japan also, as IWGP Champion
calamities of March 2011 in Japan a large
Tanahashi held a speech for Kushida
number of fans had canceled their tickets to
welcoming him into the New Japan fold (I
the event and the office feared that the turn-
must also mention that the IWGP
out might not exceed more than just about
Championship is something to behold in
half the house. Yet, the walk-up business on
person, with every champions name to date
the evening of March 31st almost packed
engraved onto the side plates of the belt).
Korakuen Hall to capacity and sparse seats
also making a rare appearance at were left unseated in the building.
SMaSH.15 was former WWe star Funaki,
who was on the card facing the ultra-hot
vixen kana in an intergender match. i hit if
off with Funaki immediately, as i found
that he is still working for WWe as a talent
scout, living out of San antonio, Texas
currently.
I had also managed to work a guy called
Gabriel Antonik from Norway onto the card,
as he teamed with Austria’s Michael Kovac
(the top heel in SMASH) and Kovac’s new
”bitch” Lin Byron against Tajiri, Syuri and
Sabu in a tornado hardcore match. Gabe
produced one hell of an outing and made a
definitive impression in his match, as I looked
on knowing that I had advocated the right
guy.
Sabu took Canadian indy wrestler Jon Cutler
and myself out to eat at a fantastic Korean
BBQ joint next to the Tokyo Dome, where I
sank my teeth into my very first serving of
cow’s tongue (which was mighty delicious I
might add). Sabu mentioned that he still
Thanks to SMASH, its President Mr. Sakai
manages to work about five times a month
and booker Tajiri for a tremendous card and
independently, making a pretty good living at
one hell of a successful anniversary show on
it to boot. It was nice to see Sabu again, as
March 31st! Here’s to the next chapter of
we had him in Finland back in 2003 wrestling
spurred growth and success, as I close this
against Shane Douglas, and I had not seen
piece with the words of Mr. Sakai himself:
or heard from him since. Sabu also
”SMASH is the fastest growing company in
introduced me to Hayabusa, who has been in
Japan today.”
a wheelchair since being paralyzed in the
ring back in 2001. Hayabusa is now able to StarBuck, www.starbuck.fi
WHO IS GOING TO MAKE DARK
KITTY’S DREAM COME TRuE?
O
ver two and a half years have Later in 2009 Dark
now passed since a young Kitty attended an
Mexican girl let the world know Independent
that her dream was to win the event where a
world title on December 14, 2011 – the day young male
of her 18th Birthday. Since this wrestler
declaration was made news media in challenged her
many countries have been following this into the ring. Dark
young ladies dream to become a Kitty accepted that
champion. challenge prior to
the main event of the superstars where she
won the match in 10 seconds.
2010 Dark Kitty organised a wrestling event
to benefit the building of a new high school in
her town and many independent wrestlers
attended to show their support. Dark Kitty
continued to attend wrestling events, both
independent as well as AAA matches and
everywhere she went the crowd wanted
Pictures and autographs of what was and still
is the tallest female wrestler in Mexico.
In Septemeber of 2010 Dark Kitty was invited
by Guerrero Universal to La Piedad
Michoacan where after the event all
Let’s take a look at what has happened from wrestlers’ pictures were placed on a website
that time and predict if her dream will become for Wrestler of the Bicentennial and Dark
reality. Kitty was voted way above the rest. Then the
2009 Dark Kitty participated in her debut news hit Japan that a young lady had a
match with four superstars, Kenzo Susuki dream to become a wrestler and her parents
(Japan), Alex Koslov (Russia) and Dark Kitty had built a wrestling ring in their home to help
(Mexico) versed La Parka (Mexico) and make that dream come true.
Rocky Romero (Cuban American). At 15 On December 4, 2010 Dark Kitty and a group
years old little did Dark Kitty realize the of Independent wrestlers went to a hospital to
jealousy of her being chosen to debut with visit all the sick children and present a small
four of the best wrestlers in Mexico at that gift as well as talk with the parents to take
time. Jealousy so strong that an entire group their minds away from their worries for a few
made open statements they wanted to have minutes, after that the opening of Dark Kitty’s
Dark Kitty wrestle with them so they could school in Tangancicuaro Michoacan.
break her legs and end any form of a career In 2011 Dark Kitty became a representative of
she was looking for. Make-A-Wish Mexico. It was after this date
that she started getting
verbally attacked by many
of the Independent
wrestlers as well as some
that have been in the
wrestling world for many
years. Jealousy can be a
very dangerous thing in life.
As a person gets a bit
older, with the experiences
they have endured they
could be very helpful to the
future stars of wrestling, but owners of AAA, as well as Japan’s promoter
as Dark Kitty has learned for AAA. Arriving in the biggest city in the
not only in Mexico but world she was met with emotions that she
apparently every country in had never felt before. Of course, being in a
the world jealousy takes new city means new photos needed to be
over the lives of the wrestler. Why would a taken, such as the
professional who has been at the top want to photo of one of
help a person that might become more the greatest
successful than them. What a philosophy in symbols in all
life. Just think how many people would be Mexico, DF the
crawling instead of walking had their parents Angel of
not showed them how to walk, funny way to Independence –
look at it but in reality the same thing. We all and stopping all
have to learn. It’s time the wrestling world traffic so a picture
curtails their jealousy and show the true heart could be taken in
of the profession by helping new wrestlers front of the
become the best they can. As we become so Presidential
old that we can no longer wrestle in our lives, Palace. In mid afternoon Dark Kitty visited
would it not be a wonderful thing to sit with the store of the famous wrestler Solar where
your grandchildren and say “I taught that she wanted to congratulate AAA’s Sexy
wrestler” and be proud that the new wrestler Star for what was a wonderful and fulfilling
has shown moves that you helped develop. autograph signing as fans lined up around
Dark Kitty hits Mexico DF and

Cuenavaca Morelos by storm
April 16th 2011 started out as the most
exciting moment in Dark Kitty’s life as she
headed to Mexico DF to meet with the
the block waiting for an autograph, as well April 17th 2011 off to Cuenavaca Morelos, a
as a photo with Sexy Star. new state for Dark Kitty to enter – and a test
to see how fans from that state would take to
her. Arriving in Cuenavaca Dark Kitty was
immediately taken to meet a famous wrestler
from that town called Celestrial. Dark Kitty
takes meeting any wrestlers, be it beginners
or superstars, as an honor and shows all the
respect they deserve entering the squared
circle to put a very good show on for all the
fans. Meeting the young people from the
training school in Cuenavaca was as much of
a thrill for Kitty as meeting the superstars of
the CMLL that showed up that night to
wrestle. Little was it known to Dark Kitty but
she was about to get involved in the
Later that evening off to see a AAA event and
superstar match again as the heels brought a
spend some time with new wrestling friends,
wrestler into the crowd and asked Dark Kitty
Dark Kitty was literally taking new locations
to help them. Kitty thought for a second and
by storm as one of the worst storms hit that
did as any heel would do and placed a well
night in DF and the lights of the Arena went
distributed kick into the rib cage of none other
out for almost an hour. Hail hit so hard it
than Celestrial. Again the fans went wild and
broke windshields of cars but as the storm
rushed for photos and autographs with Dark
passed and the electricity was restored in the
Kitty, showing her that Cuenavaca also loved
arena Dark Kitty had the same wonderful
this upcoming superstar.
reactions with the fans as they came to take
photos and ask for autographs.
Many interviews were done by local
newspapers as well as online wrestling
websites, Dark Kitty proved to herself it
doesn’t matter how small of a town or how
big of a City, if a wrestler is loved by their
fans they will be there.
April 18th 2011 brought disappointment to

Dark Kitty as she went to the offices of AAA
expecting to have a meeting with the owners
as was told to her and her entire reason for
travelling to Mexico DF. Things did not turn
out the way they were planned as she was
told there was no meeting scheduled with
any of the owners and the person that is
employed by AAA did not tell her the truth. To Dark Kitty
make everything even worse as Kitty and her returned to her
father were planning on returning home the state of
same person in the office told her stay Michoacan and
another day and he will test her ability to when asked
wrestle. Agreeing to stay another day and what are your
visiting the gym at 6:00 PM as told - there plans now? ‘I will
was no one from wrestling present. After be a wrestler in
about 1 hour of warm up moves in the ring, Mexico, I still
the wrestlers appeared. One wrestler stated hope that I will
he has a girl taller than Kitty which he is have the
training, but this turned out to be a tall opportunity to
women who was not quite as tall as Kitty, wrestle for the
who still is only 17 and still growing. woman’s
championship of
It was obvious watching what was going on
AAA in December of this year. Here is a
in the ring when they placed the other girl,
picture of me holding my dreams but only
who had no upper body strength at all,
time will tell if that dream will become reality’.
against Dark Kitty. It was said that the lady
was not a wrestler at all, but a local nightclub When arriving at home she received many
worker. While in the ring Kitty was told by the messages on her facebook from promoters
employee of AAA “If you want to wrestle for and businessmen asking her for autograph
AAA, you have to dress like these women”. A signings as well as offering her title shots in
very quick response from Kitty was ‘I am a their independent wrestling organizations.
wrestler, I don’t need to show my body to be
Dark Kitty has made an opened statement of
one’. At the conclusion of almost 4 hours of
the following: Any wrestler who would like to
training Kitty exited the ring knowing just
visit Mexico or visit her state of Michoacan,
what this man was up to and she presents
and would like to help train Dark Kitty I am
this warning to all young people entering the
offering free room and board as I am not a
wonderful world of Professional Wrestling:
wealthy person. As any wrestler, new or a
never listen to anyone making promises established in the profession, there is a lot I
to you. you will be promised everything need to learn and I have the heart to learn it.
from people that can nothing at all to help The thing I am missing is an instructor who
your career. it was very obvious to me can train me and not worry about the jealous
while there that the person who made remarks that will be made from what I will call
those promises was looking for one thing wannabe wrestlers, because any person who
and one thing only (sex). But he chose the is a true wrestler has the heart to watch what
wrong girl this time, because i am a they have dedicated their life to continue,
wrestler and i do not believe in using my even after their reign is over. I can be
body to get anywhere! Many young contacted at my official web page
women get taken by the thought of http://mexicodaniellakaylin.webs.com or my
stardom to do as a person suggests but facebook page run by my father at
in all honesty it’s not worth it in the long http://www.facebook.com/
run. if you are a wrestler show it by profile.php?id=100001492331298
wrestling, not by the use of your body or
you’ll be known as a Zorra De Tres Pesos n Contact Dark kitty at
(prostitute), not a wrestler. medianoche@corp.paltalk.com
cl as
PHOTO
sic OF THE MONTH
About 10 years ago

during the dying days of
WCW, Terry Taylor
(recently let go from
TNA as their primary
talent agent) was giving
his 100% intensity not
in the ring, but behind
the scenes. While Gene
Kiniski is the only
legend to have held
both the NWA and AWA
world belts, LOD all
company belts and
Dudleys most all of 'em,
Terry Taylor along with
Vince Russo may be
the only suits to have
done just that
backstage in WWF/E,
WCW and TNA. Taylor
also assisted the late,
great Eddie Gilbert in
junior booking for Bill
Watts' UWF. Taylor
shows the same
attention to detail he
always did (sans Red
Rooster gimmick forced
on him) behind the
scenes and now is like
a talented Jim Cornette
free agent floating
around. He still
occasionally wrestles
too on indie cards
besides doing fanfests.
Text and photo by

Mike Lano
UFC
Words: MaTT SinGH
The Rise
and Fall
of CroCop
PART ONE, THE RISE Tactical Unit) made the
jump to the quickly rising
Pride FC, and in his first
I
n 2005 Mirko CroCop
fight was booked against
faced the biggest
company management-
challenge of his career,
member nobuhiko Takada.
and six years on his Pride
Fighting Championship The fight, viewed by many if
World Heavyweight title not all was a dull encounter
fight against defending with Takada, hopelessly over-
champion Fedor matched, spending the
emelianenko remains the majority of the fight on ground
Croatian’s biggest single daring CroCop to engage in a
fight in MMa history. after ground battle. The fight, held
amassing a 10-6 kick- at ‘Pride 17: Championship
boxing career in the k-1 Chaos’, ended in a draw. The
organisation, CroCop, real fight was in stark contrast to
name Filipovic (the CroCop CroCop’s MMA debut-proper
nickname given due to him against Kazuyuki Fujita at the
being a former member of ‘K-1 Andy Hug Memorial GP
the Croatian anti-Terrorism Final’ on August 19th, 2001 in which CroCop defeated the
Japanese via TKO from
strikes in a mere 0:39 of the
first round. Following on from
the disappointing draw with
Takada the Croatian kick-
boxer, in only his third MMA
fight, was booked to face pro
wrestler Yuji Nagata on the
end-of-year ‘Inoki Bam-Ba-Ye’
on December 31st 2001.
Bouncing back from the dire
Takada draw CroCop
despatched Nagata in much
the same fashion he did
Fujita, downing Nagata via
TKO from punches in an even quicker 0:21 of disappoint with CroCop dominating the first
the first round. In just three fights the Croatian round with his kick boxing as Brazilian Nogueira
has gained much spotlight and a reputation as struggled to take the Croatian, and the fight,
the next big thing in the Pride heavyweight down to the ground. In the second round
division. At ‘Pride 20: Armed and Ready’, however Nogueira did indeed manage to
CroCop faced his biggest challenge in his brief ground CroCop, and after holding CroCop down
MMA career when he fought Wanderlei Silva to and landing some hammer fists/ground and
draw, which boosted the profile of both as pound, the Brazilian was able to transition
CroCop, the new star on the scene, was able to perfectly to a arm bar which forced CroCop to
compete with an established elite-level fighter submit for the first time, as well as placing a loss
like Silva, and for Silva he received plaudits for on his previously perfect MMA record.
hanging with a world-class striker and a fighter
that out-weighed him significantly. THE IRONY WAS PLAIN FOR ALL TO
SEE CONSIDERING HOW THEIR
FIRST FIGHT WENT . . . .
The loss was a huge blow to CroCop, and was

the first indication that the Croatian needed to
work on his ground skills and jujitsu in order to
compete with fighters that had both in
abundance and in 2004 CroCop brought
Brazilian Jujitsu black belt Fabricio Werdum into
his training team to remedy the problem.
CroCop rebounded from the Nogueira loss and
won his next two fights against Ron Waterman
(TKO win via soccer kick) and Yoshihisa
Yamamoto (TKO from punches), and it seemed
the Croatian, already by this point one of the
greatest MMA heavyweights of all time, was
back on track and destined to be crowned a
heavyweight champion, either in Pride or
over the next year and half CroCop ran thru elsewhere. So when it was announced that
kazushi Sakuraba, kazuyuki Fujita, Heath coming off the back of the highly successful
Herring, igor Vovchanchyn and alberto 2003 middleweight Grand Prix tournament that
rodriguez (now WWe’s alberto Del rio) all in 2004 there would be a heavyweight Grand
via Tko or ok, with the exception of Fujita who Prix and CroCop would a participant, many
CroCop beat for the second time via decision. stated boldly that he would win the tournament
The win over Vovchanchyn still remains one of outright, despite the fact the Grand Prix
the most brutal head-kick knockouts in MMA consisted of other world-class heavyweight like
history. Those five wins cemented CroCop’s Antonio ‘Minotauro’ Nogueira, Fedor
place as one of the top-five MMA heavyweights, Emelianenko (at the time Pride heavyweight
and thusly was booked to face Antonio champion), Heath Herring as well as one-
‘Minotauro’ Nogueira for the Pride interim dimensional but dangerous fighters Kevin
heavyweight title. Randleman, Naoya Ogawa and Mark Coleman.
The fight, a classic battle of striker versus jujitsu It shuck the MMA world when, in the very first
practitioner , sold 67, 450 tickets at the Tokyo round of the tournament (and first round of the
Dome on November 3rd, 2003 and didn’t fight no less) when Kevin Randleman, after
failing in trying to secure any
takedowns, actually knocked
out CroCop, first with a left
hook and then hammer fists to
a dazed CroCop’s face to get
the shock upset win via
knockout in a fight in which
most expected CroCop to end
“
with relative ease.
For the second time
in his career, when
the MMa world was
watching and
expected big things
(as well as CroCop
in the final of the
Grand Prix probably
against either
show in Pride’s calendar year, CroCop getting the slight
emelianenko or
via submission no less when advantage in the first round,
nogueira), the
CroCop caught Randleman in and actually tried his
Croatian kick-boxer
a guillotine choke in just 0:41 trademark head-kick finish but
had chocked when
of the first round. The irony Emelianenko managed to
the pressure was on.
was plain for all to see duck the kick while CroCop
November 9th, 2003 and the considering how their first fight lost his balance and fell to the
loss to Nogueira was went. Following the ground and had to pull guard.
CroCop’s first major setback, aforementioned seven The rest of the super fight was
and April 25th 2004 the loss to consecutive wins (CroCop dominated by Emelianenko
Randleman was the second. also beat Josh Barnett via grounding and pounding
Pride FC management would TKO due to a shoulder injury, CroCop, but the reigning
not be deterred though, and and the unheralded Ibragim Russian champion was
over his next seven fights Magomedov via TKO from unable to finish the Croatian,
booked CroCop mainly strikes) Pride decided to book and Emelianenko retained his
against easy opponents like the one fight they had been Pride heavyweight title via
Hiromitsu Kanehara (decision wanting for almost three decision. Again, for the third
victory), Shungo Oyama (TKO years, and scheduled Mirko time in his career, when he
from punches win), Mark CroCop versus Pride was on the biggest stage and
Coleman (Coleman was heavyweight champion Fedor with the light shinning
clearly past his best when Emelianenko in what would brightest CroCop came up
CroCop TKO’ed him from be one of the biggest fights, short.
strikes) and Aleksander not just in Pride history, but
By this point in his MMA
Emelianenko (via TKO due to the entire sport in general.
career CroCop had gained a
strikes).
47, 629 fans filled the reputation as an ‘almost man’,
CroCop also avenged the Saitama Super arena to see one of the biggest draws in
upset loss to Kevin the two best heavyweight in MMA history but when had
Randleman in a rematch at MMa at the time, and the thus far failed to shine when it
ShockWave 2004, the biggest fight didn’t disappoint with mattered most. Most all of this
could be attributed to fact that Pride FC would announcement by Pride that they would for the
book glorified squash fights, which CroCop had fourth consecutive year be running a three-
benefitted from since his debut with the event, four-month Grand Prix tournament, this
company. CroCop was great, without question, time an open-weight version of the highly
but it seemed he more than anyone excelled successful concept.
because of Pride management’s borderline
Tournament participants included former
unsporting conduct of booking said squashes.
UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett,
Following on from the Emelianenko title loss
long-time middleweight kingpin Wanderlei
Silva, former Pride heavyweight champion
antonio ‘Minotauro’ nogueira and a vastly
improved alistair overeem, as well the usual
parade of freak-show fighters like ‘Zuluzinho’
Martins, James Thompson and Yosuke
Nishijima. The first round of the tournament, on
May 5th 2006 at ‘Total Elimination Absolute’ saw
CroCop easily despatch opponent Ikuhisa
Minowa in just 1:10 of the first round via TKO
from strikes. The fight was specifically booked
to be a squash, and went according to plan.
CroCop advanced to the next round and again
fought another hopelessly over-match Japanese
native Hidehiko Yoshida (who in turn beat
woefully out-of-his-depth boxer Nishijima to move
on to face CroCop), and much like his first round
pummelling of Minowa, the Croatian leg-kicked
Yoshida into a verbal submission to get the win
via TKO on July 1st, 2006 at Critical Countdown
Absolute. However, just a month before in June,
one of the biggest stories in MMA history broke;
CroCop next rematched Josh Barnett, on June 5th, 2006, Fuji Network Television
dangerous opponent, however in the rematch announced that it had ended its contract with
CroCop comfortably beat the American by Pride Fight Championships, due to persistent
decision in the main event of ‘Pride 30: Full and substantial rumours and reports in Japanese
Loaded’ on October 23nd, 2005. Again, just as it press that the organisation was essentially run by
looked like CroCop was on track for another run the Yakuza crime syndicate.
at the heavyweight title he dropped a decision
loss to fellow kick-boxer Mark Hunt at IT WAS THE WORST BEATING
ShockWave 2005 in a fight many believed LONG-TIME MIDDLEWIGHT CHAMPION
would be a victory for the Croatian over the New SILVA HAD EVER RECEIVED
Zealand kick-boxer.
However, unable to take the fight to the ground, Of course, with the loss of major television
and unable to stop the monstrous Kiwi via exposure came the loss of any meaningful large
strikes (CroCop did however land an axe-kick in audience, as even though the company still had
spectacular fashion) CroCop left ShockWave a television deal with SKY PerfecTV, the FNT
2005 on December 31st with another significant deal provided a significant revenue stream.
loss. With the turn of the year came the Pride FC was in big trouble in mid-2006, and
the open-weight Grand Prix dominating, stopped Barnett company (probably rightfully
now took the guise of a via TKO from ground and so) is a hugely negative light.
desperate last throw of the pound strikes to get the TKO
With the scenery collapsing,
dice for the organisation. win n just 7:32 of the first
CroCop was tight-lipped
CroCop advanced to the semi round, and win the Pride 2006
about his future (Pride never
finals of the GP, where he open weight Grand Prix. The
really publically repudiated the
would face fellow MMA Croatian had final won a title,
Yakuza story, which was
superstar Wanderlei Silva in a albeit a rather unconventional
essentially an admission of
rematch from their 2002 draw. one, and in his own eyes had
guilt). On December 12th,
proven himself to be the best
Not only would CroCop face 2006 the kick-boxer pulled out
heavyweight on the planet. To
the deadly Silva, but also later of the annual ShockWave
that notion, many pointed out
on the same night he would
that Pride heavyweight
face the winner of Josh
champion Fedor Emelianenko
Barnett/Antonio ‘Minotauro’
had not participated in the
Nogueira in the final if he got
open-weight GP due to injury
past Silva. On September
and therefore many pegged
10th, 2006, in a moment that
Russian Emelianenko as the
will be remember as one of
“
bets heavyweight at the time.
his finest moments, CroCop
head-kicked Silva at 5:22 of Whether accurate
the first round to win via and true or not,
knockout and advance to the CroCop had indeed
final of the GP; CroCop blitzed thru the GP
dominated the super fight to once again claim
between the two superstars the spotlight as a event due to injury and also
with Silva getting in no big draw and one of due to champion Emelianenko
meaningful offence the best MMa agreeing to fight Mark Hunt
whatsoever, and at that point heavyweights of all instead of himself. Also at this
in his career it was the worst time. time strong rumblings were
beating long-time heard that the Croatian was
Having won the GP, many
middleweight champion Silva looking to leave Pride and fight
assumed it was a given that
had ever received. CroCop elsewhere, and indeed these
CroCop’s next challenge
would face Josh Barnett in the rumours came to bare when
would be a rematch
final of the tournament, after on December 30th Ultimate
showdown with Emelianenko
the American bested Nogueira Fighting Championships
once the Russian
via split decision in the other president Dana White
heavyweight champion had
semi-final. While CroCop had announced that CroCop had
recovered from the hand
the easier of the semi-final signed a six-fight, two-year
injury that had prevented him
fights of the night, Barnett was deal with what was now the
from taking part in the GP.
a world-class elite-level world’s biggest MMA company.
However, by late/mid-2006,
heavyweight and many
Pride FC was essentially on in next month’s issue part
thought that maybe CroCop
its death bed, reeling from two will look at CroCop’s
would choke like he had
then Yakuza revelations which UFC career, and why it
before when on the biggest
in-turn led to fans deserting didn’t live up to the hype.
stage.
the organisation in droves, n Contact Matt at
All of these doubts were and the media in Japan to run mattsingh33@gmail.com
waylaid as CroCop, after major stories showing the
DVD
superstars and even celebrities who participated

The True Story of in the events.
WrestleMania Told in a semi-chronological order (some pieces

skip forward to illustrate the event returning to a
Supplier: venue etc.) this is an at times warts and all look
www.silvervision.co.uk at how Mania has grown to become the jewel in
Price: £29.99 the WWE crown, attracted some huge star
no. of Discs: 3 endorsements and broken attendance records
along the way.
It may seem odd to some Of course this being a WWE production there
that as the WWE try to are some of the more unsavoury pieces of
step away from the word history erased, but overall that is minimal and
‘Wrestling’ this latest DVD the fact that McMahon himself admits some
box set looks at the very ideas worked better than others certainly makes
wrestling event that put the company where it is for welcome viewing. Diehard fans will enjoy the
today WrestleMania. little trivia snippets sprinkled across the disc,
The two hour documentary style piece on offer anyone who has ever wondered why
gives a pretty decent overview of how the Flair/Hogan at Mania never happened or how
concept for Mania grew out of Vince McMahon Sgt Slaughter was convinced to portray an Iraqi
Jnr’s idea of combining rock and wrestling. sympathiser will be in their element.
With that collaboration initially between 1980s This may be a slightly sugar-coated look at the
pop icon Cindi Lauper and the Hulk Hogan led ‘Grand daddy of the all’ but this is perhaps the
(then) WWF, the seeds were sown to use the best potted history of WrestleMania that we will
media, TV stars, pop stars and celebrities to ever see. By skipping at a reasonable pace
boost the WWF’s profile and get the grapple through the years and pausing briefly on only
game out of sweaty gyms and into the media key storylines and matches, the overall target of
spotlight. celebrating the success of the company’s annual
Longtime fans will already know the story of how extravaganza is met perfectly.
McMahon gambled most of his money on the Of course the subject of best match ever is
first WrestleMania. Fortunately for him, his touched upon and whilst we all debate what that
dream of a wrestling supershow of epic is, this release does let you glimpse some
proportions took the world by storm and has now matches that maybe get overlooked for the more
evolved into the must-see event of the year for obvious Undertaker/Michaels bouts,
many of us (even the odd flop main event or lack Michaels/Flair and even Hogan/Rock outings.
of star power can’t harm the buzz Mania season Some of these are luckily featured on discs two
brings). and three, including the exciting Warrior/savage
The main feature houses a host of talking heads scrap from Mania VII, Mania 2000’s three way
giving their insights, thoughts and stories of their ladder brawl for the tag team gold and a
Mania experiences. There are some vintage thoroughly enjoyable Shane versus Vince
quotes from The Hulkster amongst other veteran McMahon Street Fight from Mania 17.
stars, these sitting nicely with current WWE PHiL aLLeLy
DVD BLu-RAY
WWE Royal
Rumble 2011
Supplier: Silvervision
(www.silvervision.co.uk)
Price: £10.99 (Silvervision)
Blu ray - £17.99
run Time: 2 hours 56 Minutes,
Blu ray – 5 hours 42 minutes
Discs: 1, Blu ray Discs 2
WWE’s annual Royal Rumble event was a little

bit different this year, with no changes really
made to the formula since its inception, WWE
felt the need to change things up a little more
than just changing the amount of time between
entrants. The change they make was to
increase the number of entrants to 40 men.
As a Pay Per View, you don’t really get a lot for
your money. Whilst you get the same average If you have the Blu Ray you are also going to
length of show, this is mainly the longer rumble. benefit from getting the complete RAW and
Outside of the main attraction you have just 3 Smackdown from the week preceding the
matches. A passable Diva’s title match, an Rumble which is great benefit for those who will
enjoyable Miz and Randy Orton encounter, and go back and watch this in a year or two and
World Heavyweight Championship match want to know what was going on around the
between Edge and Dolph Ziggler in which Edge time.
is unable to use the spear is also decent. I’m happy that this has been included as it
Nothing stands out as brilliant, and it’s definitely definitely makes the Blu Ray version the
the Rumble that is the selling point here. desirable copy to have. The extra picture and
The Rumble itself is good, really enjoyable for sound quality are a nice bonus too.
the first half even and perhaps even a little Still, as an overall purchase, whilst it may not be
unpredictable. It‘s a shame that from the the best PPV ever, or even the best Royal
halfway point it becomes a little too familiar as Rumble, it’s worth a watch for those who have
certain names arrive and do their thing. not seen it and the new 40 man concept makes
The extras that round out the DVD are small, it a must for a collectors as whether it comes
but a nice addition, a little interview with Eve by back yearly or not this was the first time it’s
Todd Grisham at the Rumble, and the been done in a WWE ring. If you have the
celebration segment for the Rumble winner option of a Blu Ray version though, I’d
taken from the following nights RAW help you to recommend that you take that choice.
see where WWE went after the Rumble had MarTyn LiCCHeLLi
finished.
DVD BLu-RAY
From the Raw brand side of things, it was all

WWE Elimination about who would be the man challenging either
the Miz or Jerry Lawler for the WWE
Chamber 2011 Championship as Randy Orton, John Cena,
John Morrison, R-Truth, CM Punk and
Supplier: Silvervision Sheamus all competed for the right to headline
(www.silvervision.co.uk) the biggest event of the year, Wrestlemania
Price: £10.99 (Silvervision) XVII.
Blu ray - £17.99
run Time: 2 hours 53 Minutes, Both of these matches were very enjoyable
Blu ray – 5 hours 22 minutes and also quite different, something that long
Discs: 1, Blu ray Discs 2 time viewers of these match types may not
have been expecting.
The 2011 edition of Elimination Chamber, the Throughout the years, WWE’s February PPV
event which has been dubbed as the final stop outing has generally been one of the most
on the road to WrestleMania, boasts two enjoyable shows of the year, and the 2011
contests contested inside the ominous edition does not disappoint as it features great
Elimination Chamber structure. There are a total wrestling, high drama, good entertainment
of three title matches and a highly contested overall and is well worth reliving.
singles bout featuring two of the hottest The DVD extra’s on this title are pretty decent,
prospects in the WWE today, Alberto Del Rio they feature a highlights package containing
and Kofi Kingston. extracts from the war of words between John
The biggest surprise of the event is the WWE Cena and The Rock. This extra takes you back
Championship match pitting ‘WWE Hall Of to the night The Rock returned and said some
Famer’ Jerry Lawler against defending champion choice words for John Cena and Cena’s
The Miz. A match that proved Jerry Lawler has response to those words the following week on
still got what it takes to compete at the highest Raw in the form of rap.
possible level; here ‘The King’ shows the world However, if you want even more extras, then
why his career is filled with classics dating back perhaps you should acquire the Blu-Ray
to the days of the Memphis Wrestling territory. version of this release as it features the
This match had other significance too, as Jerry complete broadcasts of Raw and Smackdown
Lawler had never competed at a Wrestlemania from the week prior to the ‘Elimination
event and had never competed for the WWE Chamber’ event! The raw broadcast gives you
Championship despite being with the WWE for entire segment when the Rock was revealed
so many years. as the guest host of Wrestlemania 27. On
Smackdown you get the coronation of Dolph
The first ‘Elimination Chamber’ match of the Ziggler as the World Champion along with his
show was contested for the World Heavyweight first title defence afterwards! Definitely an
Championship of the Smackdown brand as extra disc worth having in your collection if
Edge, Rey Mysterio, Big Show, Kane, Drew you’re torn on deciding which version to
McIntyre and Wade Barrett fought for the right to purchase!
walk into the biggest event of the year
‘Wrestlemania XVII’ as the champion. JereMy GraVeS
DVD
James in a pretty decent women’s match which

TNA Genesis 2011 shows the popularity of James.
Unfortunately, the show never quite reaches the
Supplier: Tna Wrestling
height’s of the Tag-Team Title contest again but
Price: £12.99 (Play.com – June 13th)
the splitting of long-time team, Team 3D, is a
no. of Dics: 1
notable happening and this show marks the TNA
debut of former WWE-superstar, Matt Hardy. His
With “Genesis” being the opening Pay-Per-View
match with Rob Van Dam seems to drag a little
event of the calendar year, TNA wrestling clearly
and it’s become obvious that the elder Hardy
feel that it warrants its own stand-a-lone DVD
isn’t fully treated as a main-event level player by
release. It’s one of the main PPV shows of the
the audience. Still, for those Hardy Boy fans, it’ll
year from the company and they usually hype
be a cool moment to see their favourite in a
that big things will happen every January, much
highly different setting to that of WWE.
as they do for April’s “Lockdown” and October’s
“Bound for Glory”. Being the meat to the above sandwich, Abyss
takes on Doug Williams in a TNA TV Title match
Taking place on January 9th from the “iMPACT!
which isn’t the match which was advertised
Zone” in Orlando, Florida, this show was taking
beforehand. Due to a very real injury, AJ Styles
place a full year on from the arrivals of Hulk
was unable to take his place in the match and
Hogan and Eric Bischoff into the promotion.
therefore “The Monster” had to replace him. In
Having seen almost nothing change from a
my opinion, Williams and Abyss clash drastically
television ratings and PPV buyrate standpoint in
and never really click – which makes this come
that year must have been a source of frustration
across like a TV match.
for both men. That said, there is some great
wrestling action to sink your teeth into here, Jeff Jarrett vs. Kurt Angle in an “MMA Exhibition”
although it’s unfortunately muted in amongst the is an insult to wrestling Pay-Per-View and really
usual TNA disregard for the Pay-Per-View should have taken place on iMPACT! To expect
medium. fans to pay for this nonsense is rather silly.
Starting off with Kazarian vs. Jay Lethal for the Thankfully, the show ends on a high note with Mr.
TNA X Division Championship is a smart move Anderson first defeating Matt Morgan in a bout to
and shows why the group at one time put so determine the #1 Contender to the TNA World
much faith in the wrestler’s from that particular Heavyweight Title, then actually defeating champion,
division. The crowd were heavily into the action Jeff Hardy for the belt to close out the event. Eric
and it definitely kicks the card off in the best way Bischoff and Immortal attempted to cash in on
possible. Anderson being fatigued by making him take his title
shot immediately and it’s a nice touch to send the
The clear highlight of the evening is the TNA
fans away happy with a new babyface champ.
World Tag-Team Title bout between 2 of the best
teams on offer in North America today, The Again not the best I’ve seen from TNA and they
Motor City Machine Guns and Beer Money. A really need to try give these events more of a
near 20-minute struggle goes down extremely “big time” feel and atmosphere. I can’t
well with the live audience and is yet another remember when the last TNA DVD was a must-
match between this pair which deserves a place see release, which isn’t a fantastic thing to say.
in your collection. In between the There simply isn’t enough on this disc to justify
aforementioned matches, Madison Rayne shelling out hard-earned money.
defends the TNA Knockout’s Title against Mickie JaMie kenneDy
DVD
MASATO YOSHINO, this was a really good

DG:uSA uprising match showcasing the speed of Yoshino and
the athleticism of Hulk.
Supplier: www.dgusa.tv
Price: $20 The second disc contains a preview and promo
Discs: 2 spots for the Uprising show, along with
highlights from the show, and the following
Despite having a matches:
number of things FRAY! from 2009 DGUSA event featuring Kyle
going against it, O’Reilly, Cheech, Cloudy, Brodie Lee, Xtremo,
namely a less than Brent B., Anthony Fiasco, and Phil Atlas. Lee
spectacular venue, would reign surpreme here.
a somewhat run-
down looking ring, Shingo vs. Matt Sydal (WWE’s Evan Bourne)
and a paying crowd from FIP Fallout 2006. Viewers get to see
cut off at the knees WWE’s Daniel Bryan here as Bryan was aligned
by the inclement with Shingo in the DP Associates stable.
weather conditions, Susumu Yokosuka vs. Austin Aries from Wrestle
DGUSAs “Open JAM in 2006. Even after a huge 450 splash,
the Northern Gate” Aries can’t put away Yokosuka. Aries is turned
show is a decent inside out by a clothesline and Yokosuka wins.
DVD release from the night before the
The final bonus match is Shingo and YAMATO
Uprising PPV.
vs. Masaaki Mochizuki and Katsuhiko Nakajima
Top to bottom, every match featuring Dragon from last year’s Summer Adventure Tag League
Gate talent was at the very least engaging and III in Tokyo. In some hard-hitting action, Shingo
even the two matches featuring local talent and YAMATO prevail to win Tag League.
proved watchable as DGUSA made their
This was a fantastic show from start to finish.
Canadian debut.
I’m very excited to see the development of a
Standout contests on this event include Jon storyline based around American versions of
Moxley vs. jimmy Jacobs, which may well be stables that already exist in DGUSA. The crowd
the best Moxley match I’ve seen thus far under made this show and everyone in that building
the EVOLVE or DGUSA banners, JIGSAW & was hot from start to finish. The Shingo &
MIKE QUACKENBUSH vs. PAC & NURUKI Yamato vs. Kid & CIMA and PAC & Doi vs.
DOI was an incredible tag team encounter and Quackenbush & Jigsaw matches are must-see
once again as throughout the whole show, this and everything else on the card was good to
crowd was red hot. great.
Shingo & Yamato vs. Dragon Kid & Cima I give this show a high recommendation.
delivered exactly what you would expect, it was
The bonus disc has a handful of above average
an absolutely awesome contest which saw
matches from FIP and Dragon Gate, and only
these four wrestlers put on a clinic of what tag
serves to sweeten the deal further.
team wrestling is all about in DGUSA. Topping
off a solid night of action, BxB HULK vs. Darren WooD
DVD
Evolve 5
Danielson vs. SAWA
Supplier: www.evolvewrestling.com
Price: $15
Discs: 1
Since the inception of Evolve wrestling, the

events presented by the company have all been
of very good standard but Evolve 5, headlined
by Danielson vs. SAWA is head and shoulders
above every volume of Evolve prior to it.
While presenting some great top class wrestling
bouts this event also is very entertaining and
engaging, if Evolve can continue producing
events of this calibre then it will attract the
interest it needs to grow into a top-level
independent promotion.
Throughout the event there’s a general feeling
that what viewers are watching is important and
that there’s a greater story arc on-going for a lot a great match by simply doing the simple things
of these wrestlers. It’s been a while since while right. The match was chock-full of cringe-
watching an event that the results of a match inducing strikes and submissions, but, by my
mattered just as much as the quality of the count, each man only took a single bump.
match. That’s an amazing achievement in itself, but to
put together a four-star match that lasted 14
The top two matches have the best action on minutes and only featured two flat-back bumps
the card. O’Reilly and Ricochet went at it in a is almost awe-inspiring. Presumably this was
classic independent-style flyer vs. done to protect Danielson, who was back under
striker/submission wrestler match-up. Neither WWE contract and could risk injury.
man was lacking in pace or exuberance, and
even on paper this was a really promising Overall, Evolve 5 is easily the best Evolve DVD
match-up. I’d like to see this clash again in a available at the time of writing of this review,
year or two when both men have some more and if you’re considering picking up just one
top-level experience under their belts. As is, it Evolve DVD, this is the one to get. There may
was still a really entertaining match. Given 15 be recent shows available on DVD from other
minutes to fill, they did so confidently and companies with better matches top to bottom, or
comfortably. It’s not hard to imagine these two in shows with more fantastic stories being told, but
the main event slot within the next 18 months I think I’d be hard pushed to suggest a DVD
with this sort of a showing. release with a better overall direction and feel.
Strong recommendation.
Danielson vs. SAWA in the main event was a
rock-solid bout, and a clinic on putting together Brian LeaHy
Dusty Wolfe
the Wolfe Pit

storIes and oPInIons From an orIGInal WrestlInG JoUrneyman
A
s i was reminded, deadlines are
close, and once again, my name had
a big blank spot next to it on the BiG
planning board in “M”s’ office. i received a
suggestion that sounded great. Since edge
was retiring, why not compare thoughts on
what retirement is to me and a man like
edge. i thought i could do some serious
damage on this topic. and i was locked,
loaded, and ready to fire when i realized one
fact. Beyond the fact edge and i both
received checks from Vince McMahon; we
have absolutely nothing in common. i mean
really, he’s a Commonwealth citizen from
Canada and i’m a true blue american from
Texas.
Last night, one of the cable stations here
repeated Mickey Rourke’s “The Wrestler”, and
then the whole new concept came to me like a
beacon in the night. Almost as if “M” sent a bit of
divine intervention to Rancho Wolfe. I knew I
could link myself with Edge, using “The Wrestler © JoHn SMoLek
as a template. Even with some of the dramatic
license, Rourke does one hell of a job with the I can never judge Edge’s two or three years on
“
script that was handed to him back when. the indy scene, but I would be willing to trade
after i got past the fact a Canadian just those years with the ones I spent on the indy
can’t measure up to a Texan, i realized scene, anytime Edge might decide to trade with
two more major reasons comparing me. “The Wrestler” was so on the mark with
myself and edge was difficult at best. how so many sleazy small time want to be
promoters will use a man that needs a payday.
One, I spent 29 years in the wrestling business as
On one level, I can never blame a man that
it morphed into whatever crap it has become
pays on getting the best deal possible. When
today while Edge spent 90% of his career in Vince
Rourke was handed an envelope that was short
McMahon’s industry. That alone is an apples and
on pay, and reminded by the promoter Rourke
oranges comparison. And two, Edge was
was “needed” in that promoter’s town two
pencilled into better spots, handled himself when
months later, I just sat and stared for a moment.
handed those spots, and made more cash than I
ever will without selling my body to the ladies per I have lived that moment, and I would have to
hour (joke there, it’s one of those days). ask, when was the last time Edge ever went
through something of that nature? Vince is an Not because they never made money. Those
arrogant man by any standard, but I have never men made better money than the average
seen Vince be so arrogant as to steal pay from person. These guys also had bad habits and/or
an employee and then expect that employee to bad choices in women, and watched that money
stay loyal during two months of NO paydays. go everywhere except their savings accounts. If
Let’s think about that for a minute, a man Edge has done well, as I’ve been told, Edge will
doesn’t live up to an obligation, and expects you never be working behind the counter at some
to stay with him after two months of no money?? deli. And that is a point every last one of us that
While Vince does expect loyalty, Vince’s loyalty ever stepped into a ring should strive for.
oath equals a regular pay check.
Bless Edge for never having to deal with any of ROuRKE’S CHARACTER HAS A BIT
that. I couldn’t handle that attitude from spineless OF AN EXTREME DEATH, BuT THE
forms of human life any longer and walked away. SYMBOLISM IS NOT LOST. . . .
I have enough ex-wives, I don’t need to walk
away from a dealing feeling used, abused, lighter
in my wallet, and in need of a shower to remove Some may be able to live off their investments.
the slime. And slime is being polite in describing Some may create investments that mean some
anyone that believes they can take advantage of actual work, but these folks are working for
another in that fashion. Rourke’s character puts themselves. Some may use their college
himself there by refusing to walk away. I was in education once they decide to stay home (or go
the same boat until I woke up to the fact there is back and get an education). Others may have
a world outside of what the smart marks created. connections their semi fame created that allows
Again, bless Edge for never seeing that end of for a life after the ring, and then so many just
Vince’s industry. keep going down the road.
Official word is Edge’s neck is so damaged; he’s
facing a situation with few options. Some of us
have wrested with similar, not as bad but similar,
injuries to keep the lights on at home. In
hindsight, that’s a choice none of us should ever
make. Once our body starts’ betraying us in ways
that threaten our future, the time has arrived to
pack the bags and stay home. Rourke’s character
has a bit of an extreme death, but the symbolism
is not lost. We have given our lives to the lover
Mickey Rourke in we call wrestling, but I can tell you this, that love
‘The Wrestler’ should never end a man’s life. I have the feeling
Edge sees all this, and would like to stay around
From everyone I’ve spoken with, Edge has done for a few more years.
ok for himself financially. Again, bless the man I just hope he has sense enough to get out of
for that fact. And once again, there is no way to Canada and find some good old American
compare the two of us in that matter. I was sunshine. The fact we both went home while we
never locked out of my house, but I was always have some time left to enjoy is truly the only fact
having to work. And wrestling was the work I that remotely connects our retirements. We
enjoyed and continued with for quite a long time. made our livings in a wrestling ring, his much
Rourke’s character was that old-timer who has better than mine. Now, we both are looking to
to continue on and on because he knows live without that wrestling ring.
nothing else in his world. So many of my
generation, and some before me, are that man. n Contact Dusty at dwolfe414@msn.com
Download
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on april 1, 2012, John

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Text and photo by

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