Category: Wrestling news

WWE Roadblock Part 2

Click here for Part 1!

Natalya vs Charlotte (c) for the Diva’s Championship
A rematch of Charlotte’s first main roster bout! I expected Nattie (whom I love) to complement Charlotte well but it was a pretty nothing match. Loved Nattie’s New Gen Bret & Owen shirt. Annoyed with Nattie absolutely no-selling a figure four, robotically shouting “no” at Charlotte. John Cena/Cinder block levels of no-selling! Something I did love was Charlotte keeping the F4 on whilst going out of the ring, which is reminiscent of what Bret used to do in the corner on the outside. Nattie hit a nice powerbomb for a 2 and applied a perfect surfboard. Nattie looked like a real idiot from the finish – releasing the Sharpshooter of her own accord to jaw-jack with Naitch, and got rolled-up for her troubles in 13:37. Fine but disappointing.

Brock Lesnar vs Bray Wyatt
A huge fuck you to the audience, Bray got Luke Harper added to the match, and then did not wrestle himself (so it was like a substitution). He fobbed it off as “making a deal with the devil”, and Lesnar allowed it, battering Harper with little resistance (winning in 4:03) and walking after Bray, who went to the back. Fuuuuuuuuuuck you Ontario! I’ve no idea why they’re saving Brock/Wyatt (especially after advertising it) as Brock is facing Ambrose at Mania. Odd. Shit.
Worth noting that Harper is actually a very underrated wrestler – he was in ROH and Dragon Gate before WWE. He hit a nice whirlwind clotheline and suicide dive to Brock.
Earlier in the night Heyman cut a babyface promo about Suplex City. It’s so weird that characters don’t change their personas and change between heel and face (as with Lesnar here). You could say they’re 3 dimensional complex characters, or more accurately, it’s just a bit of a mess and WWE can coast because he’s a star.

Sami Zayn vs Stardust
Happy to see Sami Zayn, wrestling in front of his countrymen. I haven’t mentioned it but I love Stardust’s theme. It’s one of the best wrestling themes WWE have produced in years. It’s definitely Goldust’s brother, but his own character. Anyway, the crowd died for some reason (probably seeing Stardust!) and we got CM Punk chants. The disinterested crowd really does hurt things (but it is up to WWE to get you to care!). Zayn hit the Helluva kick and got the 3 in 12:33.

Main Event: Triple H (c ) vs Dean Ambrose
Shocked to see Aitch come out first, I assumed it was to cut a promo but no, he let Ambrose come out last (as H is the champ, he should always come out last). I find it odd that Triple H has reduced his on-air time since becoming champion – he’d cut 20-minute opening RAW promos beforehand, but now he’s both staying away from the Vince/Shane storyline, and is appearing much less on TV (it’s the opposite of how it usually works being champion!). Perhaps he has an ego that had to be filled with TV time, but now doesn’t need it as he’s got the belt. It’s good to see him actually defend his belt once before dropping it to Reigns, solidify his 14th championship reign.
The crowd was somewhat split between the two (Aitch will be roundly cheered at WrestleMania against Reigns) but got behind Ambrose. It was refreshing to see an in-ring contest between H and Ambrose (as opposed to brawling on the outside, using weapons etc) and Ambrose got a lot of offense. Hilariously JBL and Cole made a point about Ambrose having a gameplan (to attack Triple H’s knee) but Saxton hadn’t a clue and was talking about Ambrose having weeks-long gameplan to get himself this match. Aitch applied the Cripper Crossface (even trapping the free arm) but no Benoit chants, but we got more CM Punk chants.
As a televised house show you expect no titles to change hands (well, not the world title under a month out from Mania anyway); there was a holy shit false finish, where Ambrose hit the Dirty Deeds DDT and got the three count. The ref immediately waved it off as Ambrose’s foot was under the rope (which isn’t true, dick ref!). It took everyone by surprise and after Ambrose missed an elbow drop to Aitch through the table, he got pedigreed upon re-entry to the ring and Aitch retained in 24:43 in a very good match.

Overall, an easy watch, but inconsequential to WrestleMania. Biggest fuck you was not getting Bray vs Lesnar, and it’s great to see Ambrose be the main event babyface, in a refreshingly straight-forward title match with a huge talking point.

Update on the next OSW! Clicky here: OSWreview.com/update-2016-march

March 13, 2016
Shane McMahon returns on RAW!

Vince saying “fucking beating” at 11 seconds!

In a huge shocker, THE BOY WONDER Shane O’Mac returned on RAW! Storyline-wise, Shane revealed Vince was once in a bind and Shane helped him out, silently gaining a lot of power of the company. Vince fumbled through his lines/explanation, but set up Shane’s match (oh shit! at WrestleMania! vs The Undertaker! A hell in the cell!); if Shane wins he gets control of RAW, if Vince wins he gets his stock back.

So amazing and surprised at the incredible pop and sustained marking out he received. Tons of Attitude Era fans in the crowd – if you started watching a decade ago you probably wouldn’t care about Shane, but if you watched in the Attitude Era, he is your boy and you know why! He’s tremendously likeable and will kill himself for your enjoyment with escalating high spots. You can imagine him looking at the set construction at Cowboy Stadium to see what he can jump off! Great to have a babyface authority figure after years of only heels, a never-ending weekly grind trying to recreate Austin vs McMahon. There was a mild undercurrent of CM Punk as he lambasted Stephanie for WWE’s woes (stock, ratings, injuries) and Stephanie dismissed it calling him a quitter, which is exactly how they handled Punk. No word if they put a post-it note over pictures of him!

They mentioned a maguffin (“Vince’s lock box”) which I hope doesn’t actually become a thing. Reminds me of TNA Knockouts lock boxes where Angelina found the women’s title inside and “won” it! Watching it, they could’ve worked in more real-life points to worm Shane in, that Steph sold a ton of shares last year for her new house and that she stepped down from creative (well, don’t call it creative) years ago to focus on her women and children’s charities. All in all it was a fantastic segment seeing the prodigal son return home, and a huge increase in interest for me watching Mania.

Notes/my thoughts from Wrestling Observer Live:

• They pitched a similar battle for control of WWE 2 years ago of Hunter/Steph (heel) vs Vince (face) which would lead to Hunter vs Austin or Rock at WrestleMania. Vince nixed it as at the time thought he was too old to be on TV. – plummeting ratings always drags Vince back out. It’s noted that Vince has had problems every week on live RAW, such as fumbling through his promos, being shown flipping off someone in the crowd, not being able to open plastic balls, or this week, messing his lines and DROPPING AN F BOMB ON LIVE TV!
• Saying FUCK on live TV. Worth mentioning that Brad Maddox was fired for saying “pricks” before a Dark Match, and Titus was suspended for 60 days for grabbing the boss during the Bryan celebration.
• Shane doesn’t have a management position in WWE, he’s on-air talent.
• “Shane lives in NY so he could be doing weekly TV whilst running his company based in China.” – worth noting he stepped down as CEO of You on Demand in 2013 (he was trying to get PPV up and running in China – it lost almost $45 million over the last 4 years/since he joined).
• “There is a significant amount of life imitating art. Apparently there’s a belief that a real life power struggle will occur if Shane’s fully back in the picture.” He’s been gone so long Stephanie has moved on from the creative team. He’s 46 and is still with YouOnDemand. I find it hard to believe Shane would get a significant place back in WWE (i.e. above or on par Triple H, Dunn, Barrios etc), enough to cause a power struggle.
• “Shane felt he would run WWE after Vince but Stephanie surpassed him to due her product knowledge” – this is news to me. Everything I’ve read before suggests there wasn’t any kind of power struggle. He tendered his resignation in late 2009 (as EVP of Global Media) but had been on the business side of things for a very long time – Steph wielding power in creative and Shane taking a back seat has been the way since 2000.
• Noting Triple H was not involved in the opening segment, only with Roman Reigns at the end “there’s a lot going on”.
• Shane & Creative: He’s a lovely guy, but “when it came to wrestling angles, it was like Stephanie & Paul are so far ahead of him that it’s not even funny” – from what I’ve read the general view of Shane was that he was great to work for but wasn’t ruthless, unlike Stephanie. It’s definitely possible he had lots of clunkers we’ve never heard about, but his business ideas included buying UFC before it exploded, ECW before it closed, a more serious wrestling-based/less child comedy product (kinda what NXT is now) and was poised to run WWECW as an online show before it landed a TV deal.
• What about a Fingerpoke of Doom scenario with Taker (so Shane can win and run RAW)? Cobblers. Taker doesn’t do bullshit shoot angles. Although facing Undertaker it’ll be face vs face; which is a very odd dynamic as people would want Shane to get his way and run RAW. Of course it’ll be grand if Shane does a massive high risk bump and wins, nobody will remember Taker losing, he’ll save face. No need for WCW ideas here, and forfeitting another spectacular Shane McMahon moment.

Byron passes Reigns a blood packet

Other notes from RAW:
Lesnar will face Ambrose at Mania, No Holds Barred (not the movie); Dean doing his crazy never-quit underdog gimmick. He’s excellent at this (and in general) – he’ll have a great match with Lesnar at Mania. They will need to show him as stronger/smarter as physically Lesnar easily batted him away. People love seeing Brock maul people as well.

The Godfather joins Sting in the 2016 Hall of Fame. Hopefully they’ll celebrate PAPA SHANGO, which is a far cooler gimmick. Anyone prefer Supreme Fighting Machine Kama?

TRI appeared in leather jacket & jeans (he’s still missing one more jean jacket!) in full babyface mode, crotch chopping Roman and face posing. Oh man, legit Triple H chants when beating up Reigns. If I were betting on it, Trips would just allow the fans to hate on Reigns, like he did vs Cena at Mania…maybe they’ve accepted Roman will be booed regardless at WM32 (which is true) and are rolling with it. Hilariously there’s a gif above showing Byron handing Roman his ketchup sachet (the blood packet).

So, happy to have Shane back in WWE, or is it another case of McMahon family bollocks? I’m a massive fan of Shane (despite knowing better!) so I’m ecstatic to see him back.

February 23, 2016
Hogan Racist comments

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My thoughts on the Hogan/racist comments:
• What he said was hateful, ignorant, and completely wrong. He admits to being a racist, to a point.
• However, this was said 8 years ago,
• in a private residence,
• in a private conversation.
• It was recorded without his knowledge/permission (Hogan says), and given to a scumbag trash website, Gawker.
• They released the sex tape but this part was withheld. Why? A common practise (with TMZ and the likes) to have this kind of leverage to basically blackmail celebrities into giving them stories.
• Hulk’s suing Gawker (for $100m) over the sex tape, and they’ll have to prove it was the public’s right to know. If Gawker leaked the racist transcript, it’ll weaken their case. Perhaps this was their leverage and he wasn’t backing down.
• Earlier today, Hogan apologised, calling it “unacceptable” and “inconsistent” with his own beliefs, saying there was no excuse for his words.

This tape cost Hulk his job and was thrown under the bus by WWE right before the news dropped (firing him and exponging him from their websites, including merchandise). It’s embarrassing for WWE as he was their ambassador, but this sweeping action put themselves under scrutiny. No stranger to racist characters, from turkey-eating savages The Headshrinkers to Cryme Tyme, Vince calling Cena ‘my n***a’ on TV was picked up by newspapers. In any case it’s all a bit hysterical at the moment – they still honour the likes of Mike Tyson, Steve Austin and Jimmy Snuka, whilst Hogan just said some awful things at his friend’s house. It’ll blow over, newspapers will move on to the next scandal, and when the Gawker lawsuit is sorted, he’ll be back, I’m sure. Might take a few years, maybe less.

One more thing, he buried wrestlers equally, no matter what their race/ethnicity 🙂 I’m saying give it time and hate Hulk for being Cunt Hogan backstage and not for something he said amidst plowing his best friend’s wife![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

July 25, 2015
Claire Lynch

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So Claire Lynch is infamous and possibly TNA’s best worst storyline. It was universally panned at the time and serves as a great example of Dixie’s boobery.

In 2012, TNA ran segments which implicated (married man) AJ Styles and (married woman) Dixie Carter having an affair, planning secret meetings etc. It came to a head when Dixie’s real-life husband, Serg, gave AJ one of the worst worked punches ever. Dixie and Styles came clean that they were actually helping mutual friend & crack addict, Claire Lynch.

It was a bomb. But she was also pregnant, with a crack-baby! Who’s the daddy? AJ Styles! Apparently. Top babyface AJ had been taking advantage of a crack addict, and she had photoshopped pictures to prove it. Shit-stirrer heels Kaz & Daniels even threw Claire a baby shower, which was actually pretty funny. This lead to a match with AJ vs Daniels, where if AJ won he’d get a paternity test to prove his innocence, but if he lost he’ll just admit he’s the father.

AJ won, but before the storyline continued further, it got out that TNA picked up the Olive Oil actress from Universal Studios, Orlando (right beside where iMPACT was being taped) called Julia Reilly to play this character.

This’d damage her career and would be hassled by wrestling fans, so she quit the gig and the angle was dropped immediately. On TV “the attorney of Claire Lynch” robotically recited that the whole angle/pregnancy was B.S., paid by Kaz & Daniels for shits and giggles. And so ends the ballad of Claire Lynch.

Shockingly, WWE copied the horrendous angle in 2012, with Stephanie revealing “Megan Miller”, Daniel Bryan’s physical therapist, with whom he cheated on Brie. It was killed off quickly amidst a torrent of abuse, Bryan openly calling the angle stupid. On TV, Brie said Stephanie paid Megan to lie about the affair and they left it at that.

In 2015? Turns out Claire Lynch is actually a homewrecker, cheating with a fiancé, and the scorned ex-bride-to-be made it public. Great job, very thorough!

So let’s all watch that Baby Shower segment. Any fond memories of the storyline?

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June 30, 2015
TNA Cancelled (again)

Destination America have cancelled TNA iMPACT.

The call was made a few days before the move to Wednesdays was announced. Why? Ratings were good, but it’s the cost to make the programming & a hard time getting advertisers. Station regulars specifically didn’t want to advertise on iMPACT. In general, wrestling has a tough time getting sponsored (it’s seen as low-brow entertainment, worse than NASCAR), it’s one of the reasons why WWE’s new TV deal last year wasn’t for much more money. It’s why we see a lot of pimple cream and fast-food advertising during wrestling. TNA’ll be off Destination America by the end of September. As the ONLY wrestling company to survive cancellation (WCW couldn’t, ECW couldn’t) maybe lightning can strike twice for them. If not, NXT might get a few more awesome signings. Which TNA wrestlers would you want NXT to sign?

Source: the upcoming WON newsletter.

As a side point, TNA are being sued by Eric Bischoff, Garrett Bischoff and Jason Hervey for $114,500.002 in back pay, the cost of ‘entering this action and reasonable attorney fees’.

NXT UNSTOPPABLE Review: OSWreview.com/nxt-unstoppable

May 21, 2015
Beefer selling Hogan pics!

The Mega-Maniacs explode! Beefer outed selling signed Hogan pics.

I never cover current Hogan antics (since he’s always working the internet to keep himself relevant) but this was too hilarious. Thanks to everyone who sent me the link!

After posting a pic of himself & Beefer on twitter, a fan replied that Beefer was selling 8x10s of Hogan. Hulk was embarrassed and said he never gave Beefer any to sell. Oh man. Beefer’s signing autographs as Hogan? This is like Virgil advertising/selling photos of the Million Dollar Man. Ed Leslie, Wrestling Superstar!

Back in the day when it was straight up brother. HH pic.twitter.com/cpVELIXNdk

— Hulk Hogan (@HulkHogan) May 3, 2015

@WrestlingOf90s sorry I never signed any 8/10s or gave any of them to Brutus to sell,not cool at all my brother. HH

— Hulk Hogan (@HulkHogan) May 3, 2015

I'm sorry,I'm embarrassed but I have never signed pictures for Brutus to sell, I'm sorry. HH

— Hulk Hogan (@HulkHogan) May 3, 2015

Say it ain’t so, Zodiac!

May 4, 2015
New WWE Network shows!

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Any of these NEW WWE Network Shows sound decent?

CAMP WWE (Late 2015)
Seth Green’s new short animated comedy series. WWE wrestlers as kids at Summer Camp run by Mr. McMahon. Touted as “WWE’s first adult comedy”. We’ll see.

SWERVED (May)
A WWE version of Jackass/Bad Grandpa.

JERRY SPRINGER PRESENTS WWE TOO HOT FOR TV (April)
Here’s the blurb: Hosted by legendary talk show host Jerry Springer, this series will re-introduce the WWE Universe to the most outrageous stunts and cringe-inducing moments in TV history. The series will be chock full of insane situations and racy romps from WWE’s past that will have members of the WWE Universe asking, “Did they really do this?!” Springer will inject his own brand of humour into each episode with themes such as “Love Hurts,” “All in the Family” and “Weddings and Funerals.” This sounds like WWE Countdown but with the only talking head being Jerry Springer.

DIVA SEARCH (This Fall)
New season of Diva Search.

LIVE! WITH CHRIS JERICHO – DEBUTS MONDAY, APRIL 6 w/JOHN CENA
Much like Austin’s TV podcast, Jericho’s got one now, one per month.

UNFILTERED: WITH RENEE YOUNG (May)
Interviews with wrestlers & celebrities about everything except what they are famous for.

CULTURE SHOCK: WITH COREY GRAVES (June)
Blurb: WWE commentator Corey Graves reveals a variety of unique venues, customs, music, food and people as WWE’s tour travels around the world. From Marvel comic headquarters to a tattoo shop on the lower east side of Manhattan, Graves examines the local culture with his unique perspective and style. Short-form (i.e. only a few minutes long)

WWE THE LIST – COMING IN JUNE
WWE Countdown but we can’t call it countdown.

NEW EPISODES:
More episodes of WWE 24, Countdown & Rivalries, as well as airing Hulk Hogan’s Rock N Wrestling.

One off SPECIAL:
FLOYD MAYWEATHER VS. THE BIG SHOW: THE BIGGEST VS. THE BEST (APRIL 27)
To capitalise on the Mayweather fight.

NXT PPVS
Although the press release said monthly, WWE later clarified it’ll be keeping the same schedule (i.e. quarterly)

AN EVENING WITH MICK FOLEY
A taped “comedy” show by Mick with some heavy editing I guarantee! They weren’t filming in Dublin sadly 🙂

Note re: New season of Tough Enough
Said to be more like American Idol (with live voting), it’s on TV (USA Network). They did recently put Season 2 of Tough Enough (with OOC’s boy Matt Morgan) on the WWE Network. I did review S1 of TE, you can check it out here!

Update on Next OSW: OSWreview.com/Update-4Apr[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

April 4, 2015
#GiveDivasAChance, AJ blasts Steph!

(Pic thanks to @WWEReaper!)

On RAW, the only Divas match was a ~30second bout with Paige & Emma vs the Bellas. Women usually get short matches on TV (regarded as the “piss break” match) but 30 seconds in a 3 hour show got wrestling fans to protest with #GiveDivasAChance on twitter, which started trending and got attention by the big wigs.

AJ Lee decided to take Stephanie to task after she praised Patty Arquette for her women’s rights speech at the Oscars:

@StephMcMahon Your female wrestlers have record selling merchandise & have starred in the highest rated segment of the show several times,

— AJ Mendez (@TheAJMendez) February 25, 2015

@StephMcMahon And yet they receive a fraction of the wages & screen time of the majority of the male roster. #UseYourVoice

— AJ Mendez (@TheAJMendez) February 25, 2015

And a couple hours later Vince, and then Steph responded

We hear you. Keep watching. #GiveDivasAChance

— Vince McMahon (@VinceMcMahon) February 25, 2015

Thank you @WWEAJLee, I appreciate your opinion. #UseYourVoice

— Stephanie McMahon (@StephMcMahon) February 25, 2015

The #GiveDivasAChance trend is definitely due to the female division on NXT, where it’s treated like a men’s division; they’re given far more time to showcase their wrestling talent (the women got 12 minutes at the last 2 NXT specials). That said, NXT has a lot of “wrestler first, diva second” women, as opposed to RAW with models taught how to wrestle (Bellas, Alicia Fox, Cameron, Eva Marie, Rosa, Eva, Summer Rae). I imagine people are standing up for the actual wrestlers (eg Nattie, Paige, AJ) who they know can actually wrestle. “Diva” is a pejorative term though, it means female storyline “I wish you died in the womb!” garbage and little emphasis on wrestling. #GiveFemaleWrestlersAChance isn’t half as catchy! It’s a lovely idea though, but I don’t expect anything to change – how can it, Vince & Kevin Dunn are still running the show and they hate women – but it does give us some hope for when Vince leaves, even if Steph & Aitch are just telling us what we want to hear. That Steph tweet looks like it was dripping with sarcasm, to the wife of the guy WWE are suing over a podcast! In the end, I am happy to see a push by fans to more serious, competitive women’s wrestling, although I worry it’s a bit bandwaggony as I’ve seen tweets referencing Sable, Chyna and other awful female wrestlers being referenced. When Patricia Arquette was asked to comment, she simply replied “Shuuuuut uppp!”

Question: how long the divas match will be on RAW monday?
They got 3 minutes on Main Event but let’s assume that was already timed out. I’m saying under a minute. YOU DON’T LIKE…

February 25, 2015
OSW News Packet – Feb 1st

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Tons of news tidbits coming out of the Rumble, let’s get to it!

• #CancelWWENetwork & 1 Million Subs
Immediately following Reigns winning the 2015 Rumble, #CancelWWENetwork was the #1 trend. Under 24 hours later WWE indirectly responded with the announcement that it’s broken 1 million subscribers. I’d naturally be skeptical of the timing, but it’s legitimate (870k American). The free month in November, launching in UK/Ireland a week prior, the Royal Rumble itself and it’s fallout put it just over the million mark sometime on Monday. Although there were unsubscribers, it’s much less than the number who signed up. Since the free month was a success they’re doing it again in February (current subscribers just won’t be charged for the month). It’s much harder to get people to subscribe than keeping them – only paying month to month hopes that users know they have that safety net but will be too lazy to unsubscribe (like my Netflix!). The other good news is their stock is up $1.81 this week following the announcement. The bad news is that WWE have launched in all of the big WWE areas (the non-Rogers-getting Canadians aside) and they’re not close to 1.4 million needed to BREAK EVEN.

• BLOODY JUNO! The snowstorm cancelled RAW’s live event and pushed Smackdown to be a live show. RAW’s sit-down interviews were excellent (a huge turnaround from the bad taste of the Rumble) but Smackdown was back to the same tripe. Big Show and Kane’s combined 89 years aren’t capable of having great matches and helping out Reigns. However Bryan’s feud with Kane was decisively finished in a casket match, so hooray!

• For next month’s FASTLANE PPV (yes, that’s the one Vince chose), WWE have booked Rusev vs Cena and an in-ring confrontation of Sting & Aitch (to further hype their WM match). If you’re wondering, Elimination Chamber is gone from the schedule because it was becoming increasingly difficult to book arenas to hang the structure from. I’m sure it’ll return but I’m happy to see it gone from the February slot, as having 1 or 2 chamber matches to secure the WrestleMania main event means the Rumble’s of far less importance (in kayfabe you’d have a better chance against 5 men in a chamber than 29 in an over-the-top challenge.)

• WrestleMania 31 is now WrestleMania Play Button. Seriously though, Vince has decreed WrestleMania will not be named numerically from now on, he thinks it sounds too old (because the Super Bowl’s been suffering greatly since Superbowl XXX!!). So it’s just called WrestleMania, and we’re getting symbols instead, like the play button (Levi’s Stadium in California is close to Silicon Valley) and a star for WM32 because they’ll be in Cowboys Stadium in Texas. Looking forward to WrestleMania Gear stick in Michigan and WrestleMania Beaver in Pennsylvania!

• MY NEXUS BOY Justin Gabriel left WWE before the rumble knowing his status is WWE is working the C- and D-shows. Hopefully he can be happier working in another company. He’d been in WWE for just over 7 years (signing with FCW in 2008) and is now working under “The Darewolf” PJ Black. Who will portray the bunny now? Maybe Kurt Angle, maybe the Undertaker. Only time will tell.

• Alberto Del Rio (Alberto Patron now) says he turned down TNA’s $400,000 offer (with minimal dates) because Lucha Underground helped him sort out his legal issues with WWE, who were trying to prevent him working in USA for a year. BTW, WWE have added this stip to everyone’s contract after Punk & Del Rio left. WWE’s thinking is that even though it wouldn’t hold up in court, you gotta have money to take them on. Independent contractors, totally![/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]• This week’s TNA tapings saw another female wrestler return and a wrestler debut (both former WWE talents) Spoilers, in case you watch TNA.

[/vc_column_text][vc_accordion active_tab=”false”][vc_accordion_tab title=”Click to reveal spoiler!”][vc_column_text]It’s Mickie James and Drew McIntyre. He went through something similar to what Roman Reigns is going through now. Back in 2008 he was presented as McMahon’s pick for the future of WWE; pushed too quickly before he was ready and was ultimately rejected and settled as a jobber in Heath Slater’s 3 Man Band. Despite improving a lot since his debut, he was attached with a stigma he couldn’t shake off.[/vc_column_text][/vc_accordion_tab][/vc_accordion][vc_column_text]

• And finally, Mick Foley DISGRACED HIMSELF by cheating at a chicken-wing eating contest! At Wing Bowl 23 in Philly, Foley then lied about it until they showed video proof of him stuffing wings into his fanny pack. Amazing carny move! Hilariously it was picked up by Time, ABC news and Yahoo’s websites. The winner Patrick Bertoletti ate 444 wings in 26 minutes. So stay away from his stand-up and wing-eating contests!

Mick Foley disqualified for sneaking wings into his fanny pack! #WingBowl pic.twitter.com/FUGHd1I0g2

— Brian J. Haddad (@BrianJHaddad) January 30, 2015

Latest on OSW:

• Royal Rumble 2014 match review: OSWreview.com/rumble2014
It’s sad that even though it was a far more vicious reaction, it was a much better Rumble than 2015!
• Royal Rumble 2015 & RAW review: OSWreview.com/rumble2015andraw
Some major blunders and a great recovery
• OSW episode updates: OSWreview.com/updatejan29
• Tough Enough S1 Eps 8-9-10 review coming tomorrow![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

February 1, 2015
WWE Network UK/Ireland for $9.99!

WWE Network coming to UK/Ireland (for realsies this time, hopefully). But it’s not $9.99 – it’s £9.99 in the UK or €12.99 in Ireland.

Sign up for $9.99 (i.e. £6.57 or €8.36) instead!

1) You’ll need an American Proxy: Install HOLA on your browser. http://hola.org/
2) Switch to USA. Go to http://network.wwe.com/ and sign up.
3) You’ll need an American address: http://www.fakenamegenerator.com/gen-male-us-us.php
I chose Alaska (no sales tax): eg 1197 Chapman Drive, Wasilla, AK 99654. United States
4) Pay via paypal. If it doesn’t accept payment then change your shipping address to the American one above.
5) Voila! Start watching WWE Network now!

EDIT: 12th Jan – WWE have turned off region blocking, so after you sign up, turn the extension off! You’re set up for $9.99 and not our overpriced option! The WWE app should be available very soon on PSN/XBL.

January 5, 2015