Author: Jay Hunter

Vince Interview with Steve Austin

Last week CM Punk was on the Art of Wrestling podcast, and spoke frankly about his departure from WWE, blasting all aspects of the company. It’s an incredible must-listen interview. Even if it’s only 25% true, it’s a depressing look into WWE. In amazing timing, it was released a few days after Vince was announced doing a live interview with Stone Cold on the WWE Network. This is meant to be the big draw for buying the Network this month (why they didn’t show Sting on RAW as opposed conveying that he’s gone again I don’t know!). I’ll save my specific thoughts on Punk’s interview after his follow-up Q&A with Colt this week.

Whilst I’m firmly on Punk’s side, I wanna play Devil’s Advocate here. If I were Vince, I’d mention:

• Punk didn’t get to main event WrestleMania 29 because The Rock vs John Cena was the biggest match they could promote – Rock/Cena I at WM28 is the highest grossing wrestling event of all time. Punk has a massive ego and despite many (including me) thinking he’s excellent, he’s not as big a draw as part-timers like The Rock.
• Vince needs to refute Punk’s grave allegations about WWE’s doctor’s suspicious incompetence and it’s wellness policy/concussion testing being a joke. WWE indirectly acknowledged it with a generic response (“WWE takes the health and wellness of its talent very seriously and has a comprehensive Talent Wellness Program that is led by one of the most well-respected physicians in the country, Dr. Joseph Maroon”), but if he doesn’t tackle it specifically, everyone who’s heard Punk’s interview will assume he’s speaking the truth.
• He should say that Punk’s shoot makes for a great storyline and maybe he’ll get his WrestleMania Main Event out of it (making fans think that Punk’s legitimate bitterness is all a work)

Reactions to Punk’s interview were mixed – Vince was upset, Triple H was livid (‘he wants Punk’s head’) and the locker-room were pretty ecstatic – even though they may not like Punk, they really appreciate him shining a light on health issues, testing, and dwindling payoffs thanks to the Network. Vince absolutely shouldn’t bring attention to things like WWE firing Punk on his wedding day, refusing to pay him his royalties and WWE slashing their payouts due to the Network’s enormous detriment on WWE finances and revenue. Even if he refutes these allegations, he brings attention to WWE being spiteful assholes and the company being in bad shape.

If WWE Shareholders conference calls are anything to go by, Vince is a master at dodging questions and answering with generic vague responses. He’d be wise to only indirectly mention topics in a way to give Punk’s interview as little promotion as possible. Of course I hope he works himself up into a frenzy and goes on a bat-shit crazy rant, shooting on Punk -That would be incredible! PUNK SCREWED PUNK! In any case, stay tuned to the WWF Hotline! We’ll be back later in the week with all the ska (scandal).

December 1, 2014
Survivor Series Infographic!

WWE posted a great Survivor Series Infographic! To see it in full screen click the picture, or click here!

November 23, 2014
Signature Sounds: The Music of WWE Review

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Wow, the worst artwork for a WWE DVD ever? I know it won’t sell regardless, but sheesh!

What is it? A glorified WWE Countdown DVD, ranking the top 25 entrance themes, hearing Jim Johnston and relevant superstars chat about the song for 1-3 minutes each. It just popped up on the WWE Network. I’m a big fan of wrestling music so I say a few words about each track:

25: Batista. The countdown kicks off with 1 of the 5 bands of doom! Hilarious to see Jim Johnston with Jose Scott together. Saliva are basically a WWE band that happens to also release non-WWE songs sometimes.

24: Fandango. It’s cool to hear Jim Johnston play the basic notes of a song, either by piano or guitar, and explain what he was going for. Remember when Fandango was crazy over after Mania last year? Me neither. That concussion really concussed his career.

23: Sunny’s song is garbage.

22: As is PrimeTime Players.

21: Goldust’s is way too low on the list. An incredible piece of music, intricate and beautiful. The classiest song Johnson ever produced.

20: Brodus Clay. Should be DQ’d, as it was made for Ernest Miller in 2003.

19: Warrior at 19? Bullshit! One of the most perfectly fitting character-to-music tracks ever made. Frenetic, raw, simple, intense.

18: Mankind. Described as a wonderful melancholy/searching song. Also had the amazing gimmick of a different, soothing piano piece as his win theme. Man, WWF used to really care about character.

17: The Brood. Oh God. Incredible. One of the best wrestling songs ever, strongly linked to the Attitude Era. Simple, catchy and extremely cool.

16: Randy Orton. Johnson wrote it as a folk song that Rev Theory covered. These lyrics still don’t suit him, they suit Kane.

15: Dusty Rhodes. Jimmy hart’s first appearance on the list! Fun to hear Dusty mark out over it.

14: Shane O. Yes! Some love for an awesome song and a great spectacle performer of the Attitude Era. I even bought his black baseball jersey back in the day. He’s missed.

13: RVD. A “shuffle beat”. The lyrics are awful “I got a feeling deep inside, what it is I don’t know.” It’s actually a good, catchy wrestling song. Obviously no mention that it’s a similar-but-also-different song to Walk. RVD (from 2002) chimes in.

12: Mr. Perfect. Skimmed over – Amazing (well, perfect) entrance music and cover song of Exodus by Ernest Gold.

11: Vince McMahon. Originally used as the 1999 Rumble theme song, where the storyline was Vince put a bounty on Austin’s head for people to eliminate him, so Austin had no chance in hell (of winning). They played the song after Vince won the rumble and then it became his. With long-term booking you can do that sort of cool tie-in!

10: Trish Stratus by Lil Kim. Johnston recounts Lil Kim tapping her stilletto heels on his cherry wood studio floor and made lots of dents in it. He half-jokingly tells her to fix his floor. He actually sounded a little bitter over it!

9: Rey Mysterio by POD. Thanks to Rey knowing the band. Hearing Rey explain “Booyaka! You know…watch out” is adorable.

8: Stone Cold Steve Austin. Woah! Shouldn’t this be #1?! The most iconic wrestling song of all time, with the coolest hook of all time. Johnston says the glass breaking is actually 3 glass shatterings, an explosion and car wreck mixed together.

7: The Rock. They go through the different versions of the song with the same basic notes underneath. Pretty cool.

6: HBK. Jim seems awkward talking about it since it’s a Jimmy hart/JJ Maguire creation. No shoutout for the superior Sherri version!

5: Undertaker. Jim plays a lovely piano version. Although his current song is more iconic, I love his Attitude Era song (and his first Hulkamania funeral parlour song) more.

4: Triple H. Another wrestler interview from 2002! Jim mentions his harpsichord and my time songs too. I wonder if Motorhead play any of Aitch’s songs at gigs.

3: John Cena. Did u know in 2008, WWE was sued over this song? The “BRRRRRR Abado!” intro was ‘sampled’ without permission from M.O.P.’s Ante Up. It was settled out of court.

2: Chris Jericho. Very happy to see some Jericho love – especially his debut song, which was a lot harder. Johnston’s inspiration was a Clark Gable film, where a sheet separated himself and his wife in bed. It was called the Walls of Jericho! Y2J says he doesn’t know the lyrics (which considering he’s a musician, is bollocks)

1: D-Generation X. So that means no Hulk Hogan? C’MON! Although that’d mean US Express would get credit! (Also Rick Derringer made Real American). Excellent track, very cool funk-melody made into a rock song. Chris Warren really sounds like Zack de la Rocha from Rage Against the Machine.

Overall: We could be here forever listing what they left out (Jake Roberts, Bret, Heidenreich etc), but most of Johnston’s big ones are there. A fun look at some themes, it’s an easy watch (52 minutes) but nothing in-depth, quite a rush job for a casual fan. Why a casual fan would purchase it I don’t know!

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November 14, 2014
Vince heels out on Liverpool

IRATE VINCE CUTS HEEL PROMO ON LIVERPOOL

An hour into today’s Smackdown taping in Liverpool, fans chanted “Where’s Our Network?”, prompting an unplanned Vince promo – he worked the crowd before chastising them for being a dead crowd, not having fun or making any noise. Also that “Liverpool sounds like an old man’s skin disease”, before closing with “have some fun, dammit!”. The segment won’t make it to air, but wow. Another #FuckYouBritain!

Because it’s the fans’ fault people aren’t enjoying WWE, obviously!

(Picture thanks to Daniel Hill, Video thanks to TimMcKuhen)

November 12, 2014
Outside the US? Get the WWE Network for $0.00!

Outside the US but wanna sample the WWE Network for $0.00 this month? Here’s how:

• Install “Hola” on Chrome/Firefox: hola.org and set to USA
• Go to network.wwe.com & sign up (with a new email)
• Input US details from fakenamegenerator.com/gen-male-us-us.php
• Input your paypal account (it’ll take and then cancel $9.99 this month)
• BOOM! You’ll be watching Biker Taker in no time! Just make sure to cancel paypal come the end of the month.

If Hola’s giving you grief you could always do a free week’s trial at unblock-us.com 🙂

November 9, 2014
First Videogame Video Review!

http://oswreview.com/media/game-metal-gear-solid/

October 24, 2014
STATE OF YOUR UNION ADDRESS!

Hey yo, here’s what’s going on with OSW!

• Our new episode (December to Dismember) dropped on Thursday! http://OSWreview.com/episodes

Here’s our (official) schedule for the rest of 2014:
– The Happening
– Simon Deakin’s Tattoo Review
– Monty Motörsäg’s Tattoo Review

• We haven’t decided on a new storyline but sure we’ll get these done first. A bit later we’ll ask what you guys want to see and we’ll pick from that!

• If you’re wondering why we’re reviewing The Happening, as mentioned in January’s Q&A, we’re dying to review it. Two of us say it’s shit, one thinks it’s amazing. Guess which one! We’ve been arguing about it for years. We put it off for the ECW series and now’s a good a time as ever. Should come out around mid-November, as always I’ll keep you updated.

• OOC HAS GONE TO AMERICA, so you’re stuck with me and V1 for a little while. Time-permitting we’ll do a Brucie Bonus wrestling review 🙂

• NEW VIDEOS! Myself & V1 have been doing written videogame/movie reviews, and a lot of people have asked for audio or video versions. When V1’s PS4 broke over the Summer, he completed Metal Gear 1-4. So, I recorded a podcast with him reviewing the games – I’ll splice them to video and see what ye think! It’ll be 4 separate reviews, with much quicker turnaround so it won’t interfere with OSW. If you’re wondering why in general, we love videogames, it’s just something we’d like to try out, in an effort to bring you more content more frequently.

• If you’re watching an episode of OSW, live tweet me! It’s awesome reading your thoughts as you’re watching. @OSWreview

• On Monday I asked you guys what you’d like to see from OSW and the most popular comment was “don’t change a thing” (oh you!) and “review One Night In Chyna” (Oh you &*$^!) Lol… I really appreciate how cool you guys & gals are, I know the internet is a wretched hive of scum and villany, but we’ve managed to find the absolute best of it. Please never change!

• It’s super-awesome seeing pictures of people in our tee! We mark out every time someone sends us a photo. Please don’t feel bad if you don’t get one – this isn’t our job or anything, it’s just something cool we wanted to do. If you could tell one of your friends about us then that’d be sweet 🙂 We won’t be printing any more ECW tees, so if you do want to get one, please do before your size is out! tshirt.OSWreview.com

Love,

Jay

October 22, 2014
Superstars as Superheroes!

From WWE.com. Click the picture to see it in full-resolution (WWE hid the full-res pic in .pdfs)

Rollins should really consider adding a cape to his outfit. It’s bad ass.

October 9, 2014
WWE 2K15 Trailer

New WWE 2K15 Trailer! Of Note:
1) WWE hit up one of their 5 Bands of Doom for the music track – Kid Rock’s Bawitdaba, from 1999!

2) Triple H not shown in a vulnerable position
Did you know? For Smackdown vs RAW 2009, WWE sent out memos demanding media must “refrain from showing Triple H in a losing/defeated/defenceless position.” Because Triple H has a tiny dick, of course. The decree was made public by sites and magazines including FSM, PowerSlam and GamesMaster, who scoffed at and printed the memo, along with screenshots of Triple H’s digital counterpart in a vulnerable position. In this 2K15 trailer, Aitch pedigrees WWE’s newest top babyface, Daniel Bryan. What a guy!

September 22, 2014
Roman Reigns emergency surgery, out up to 3 months

BREAKING: REIGNS NEEDS SURGERY, OUT UP TO 3 MONTHS

Roman Reigns has an incarcerated hernia and is having emergency surgery today.
• This is when part of the bowel pokes into a weak part of the abdominal wall, which can lead to obstruction. Squeezing that part leads to loss of blood supply of that part of the bowel (which is an emergency). About the surgery:
• That bowel is pushed back in (or taken out), the abdominal muscle repaired and stitched up.
• Prognosis is excellent – I’m sure he’ll make a full recovery.
• Usually stay overnight in hospital
• Return not quicker than 6 weeks
• Shouldn’t wrestle for 3 months – strenuous activity means he’ll burst his stitches and it’ll happen again.
• This means Reigns won’t be at Night of Champions.
– Dr. Jay

September 20, 2014