Category: Wrestling stuff

Happy May 19th!

TEN YEARS AGO TODAY!

Back in 2006, Imposter Kane was part of a shamelessly awesome storyline used to promote the release date of Kane’s debut movie, See No Evil. He started hearing voices in his head causing him to repeat the date over and over (May 19th). This came to a head as another Kane (in his classic 1997 garb) confronted him. Immediately the commentators sand-bagged it, saying it was an imposter (not attempting to play along with an illusion or physical manifestation of his psyche etc). Gallows here actually had his mannerisms down pat, but the crowd had absolutely NONE OF IT, especially his massive Kane Frizz wig!

His next appearance he did sort out the wig, gelled, looked perfect. Fans didn’t understand/like the storyline and their match at Vengeance 2006 was met with deafening silence. The next night on RAW, Kane demasked the imposter (it was Festus all along!), threw him out of the building, killing the storyline.

You can hear Gallows talk about it here:

Woot! If u haven’t seen it, watch our WBF Retrospective video!

May 19, 2016
WBF Retrospective!

OOC: Who’d do you know can drink a whole glass of milk in one go?
V1 (Quietly): Most people.

• This WBF segment is from our WrestleMania VIII video! You can watch the rest of the episode here!

• Our site is back in business! We’ve also moved from a shared server a dedicated server so hopefully it’ll cope when there’s an influx of traffic. (If you’re reading this then yes!)

• OSW May Update! Clicky here

• To commemorate the milestone we brought out our original blue Macho shart! You guys work super-fast but it’s available in most sizes in the UK and The US!

• Newest Super OSW 64 videogame music show (Level 8!) OSWreview.com/super-osw-64-level-8

Rock on brother brahs 🙂

Jay

May 15, 2016
Table for 3 – Four Horsemen

Table For 3 is an edited roundtable conversation between 3 wrestlers. It’s shot and lighted very well with a documentary-style three-camera setup. The shots are always slightly panning and they splicey only a few seconds of relevant footage, which is a little jarring. This edition with Arn Anderson, Ric Flair and Tully Blanchard was recorded WrestleMania weekend. Interestingly, it’s Arn and not Flair (or Tully) who does the lion’s share of the talking.

• Arn mentions JJ Dillon (who isn’t there, but he’s alive, this is table for 3!), Barry Windham isn’t (even though he was inducted into the HOF with the other Horsemen) and obviously Ole Anderson wasn’t (he isn’t well liked, and has personal grievances with Ric, WWE and many of it’s staff)

• We’ll get this devastating news out of the way – Arn did not address Triple H doing the Aloha Arn! 😛

• He drives home losing the oddly specific 20 buckets of blood during their War Games run (it used to be a house show attraction before it became an annual PPV match) so you know we’re in for a bit of kayfabe/exaggeration. War Games (which you’ll hear about in Fall Brawl 95!) was a gimmick match devised by Dusty to get the Horsemen into one big star-studded match together.

• Tully Blanchard mentions being out of wrestling for 25 years and talking to convicts. If you remember, right before Survivor Series 89, Blanchard failed a wellness test for cocaine (smellness!) and was fired, and WCW didn’t want a guy who failed a drugs test. He became a born-again Christian very quickly afterwards and despite wrestling sporadically since then, worked as a prison ministry (teaching the Gospel to inmates).

• Arn talks about giving 2nd Gen stars (Charlotte, Cody etc) a harder time because of the potential he sees in them and the BARRR set by their fathers. As a road agent, he does his duty by mentioning the WWE Network a bunch. He also likens WWE’s HOF to becoming a parent, not “getting” the full magnitude of being inducted until you’re on the other side of the podium looking out to appreciative fans and wrestlers in suits.

• The lads have a laugh at Arn’s lack of cardio, he retorts he doesn’t need to run as he’ll just hold a wrestler there.

• Interestingly, Arn cites the cause of a lot of injuries today due to not working enough. The 80s schedule of 336 days on (wrestling twice on saturday, twice on sunday) meant you got into “ring shape”, that your body built up calluses, but if you’re only working 4-5 days a week (like “kids these days”) you don’t get into ring shape. The other two agree, as Tully mentions how hard it was to get the rest of the horsemen a day off for his wedding to his second wife. The blasé statement of failed marriages and no time off (as if it’s a good thing) speaks volumes.

I can see what Arn means about injuries; with repetition/being constantly on you’re better conditioned to taking bumps – for example, you could argue Bray Wyatt has a lot of smaller incidental injuries (eg ankle) from wrestling more sporadically…but the opposite is true, workhorse Cena gets a serious injury every other year. (pec 07, neck 08, arm 12, achilles 13, shoulder 15). Arn’s peers -wrestlers from the 70s and 80s- are generally in poor health, or dead, so I’m absolutely against the notion that wrestlers should be working more. I know WWE would never do an off season for monetary reasons, so cycling wrestlers in and out (giving them 2 months off a year to heal) would be better for them in the long run, and give creative a starting and ending point. As an aside, I’ve heard that it’s not so much the matches, but travelling city to city that takes it’s toll. Big Show has the right idea of having a massive tour bus and a driver.

• The three thank each other for their time and we’re out.

Overall it’s nothing spectacular but it’s always great to hear old wrestlers talk about the good old days. Do you think Arn’s right about the cause of injuries?

Request a song for the upcoming Super OSW 64! : OSWreview.com/super-osw-64-level-8-requests

April 28, 2016
WWE Roadblock Review

WWE Roadblock
March 12th, 2016
Ricoh Coliseum, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Isn’t it great to have a WWE live event on a Saturday? WWE decided to televise the Toronto house show, as they’re looking to increase their live content on the Network (and more reasons to subscribe) as they continue to move away from traditional PPV. It also serves as a stop-gap in storylines between No Way Out (sorry, Faaaaaaaastlane!) and WrestleMania; as it was built on what looks like alternative booking plans for WrestleMania – Triple H vs Dean Ambrose, and Bray Wyatt vs Brock Lesnar. Notable by his absence is Roman Reigns – who’s been gone since t-shirt-and-jeans babyface Triple H gave him a decisive beating, kayfabe putting him on the shelf for a few weeks so Reigns could actually get nose surgery for a deviated septum. Time’s ticking as Mania’s in 3 weeks and he isn’t being missed, and right now, the ‘real’ main event is Shane McMahon vs The Undertaker. The show ran just short of 2.5 hours, and with the small entrance way and no pyro, it definitely felt like a house show. That’s a good thing though – it didn’t look like RAW or Smackdown, and was more wrestling-centred, making it an easy watch. Sadly it was the RAW commentary team of Michael Cole, JBL and Byron Saxton; so no Mauro Ranallo, who is doing a great job on smackdown, who brings much-needed credibility to the announce team.

Dark Matches: Mark Henry def. Local wrestler Randy Sharp (aka Randy Reign) and Goldust went over Viktor.

The New Day vs Sheamus & Wade Barrett

New Day pushed their Booty-Os cereal box, which is a legit box you can buy that contains their new t-shirt. Amazing — that’s some really clever, inventive WWE creativity in merch that we rarely see. Also, shout-out to their WWE-championship kids sneakers! They pushed it hard and went a bit overboard with the trombone New Day Rocks chants (3 in ~5 minutes)
It’s sad to see 4-time WWE/World Champion Sheamus, and equally-talented Wade Barrett being presented as comedy jobbers in the failed League of Nations faction. Originally the heels were built around WWE World Champion Sheamus, which fell apart within weeks as Reigns won the title. As they’re much less entertaining and cemented as a faction than New Day, they’re actually lower on the totem pole. And it showed here – they were outsmarted by 3-Man New day, as Big E delivered the Big Ending to Barrett, getting the win in 9:49. Most notable moment was Kofi doing a flying nothing off the top rope and awkwardly bowling over Sheamus!

Chris Jericho vs Jack Swagger

Yep, Jack Swagger! CAPTAIN…Jack Swagger. He’s still employed. Jericho cut a real house-show heel promo (“Canada smells, Toronto is the anus, I moved away from Canada”) cheap heat but hey, it got the desired crowd reaction. He worked in that Swagger beat him for the World title (remember that?) and Swagger’s name got booed, the opposite of his intention. After slagging the “We The People” catchphrase, Swagger comes out. It must be a house show, ha! So the Pro-American who sucks is babyface vs the heel Canadian in Canada. WHAAAT?! I think Kalisto, Neville, Zayn, even Ziggler would’ve been a better choice (they’re saving AJ for WrestleMania). Swagger’s main negative is that he’s known for injuring people, which means WWE won’t want to risk their bigger stars working programs with him (which is why he’s on Superstars/Main Event, amongst being a poor promo!). It annoys me that his world title reign precludes him from being a boy. Swagger comes out with a black t-shirt and training shorts over his attire, he looks like such a jobber! And job he does. Jericho has some nice heel touches like pulling the ref’s leg to get to the ropes. He applies a Boston Crab to Swagger (there’s absolutely no elevation to call it a Walls of Jericho) and gets the tap out win in 7:54.

Enzo & Big Cass vs The Revival (c) for the NXT tag championships

Very jarring to see an NXT match on a WWE house show, a televised first of it’s kind. Enzo & Big Cass are jersey-shore guidos that have a New Age Outlaws-esque intro that the crowd can sing-along to, and they aren’t great wrestlers (esp. Big Cass). They’ve been tagging for almost 3 years now and have never gotten the tag titles. The Revival (previously called ‘The Mechanics’) are said to be a throwback to the olden days, like Tully & Arn, which is a massive (and inaccurate!) complement, they’re grand in the ring but have “lack of flash” i.e. they’re charisma vacuuums – which make them a perfect contrast to Enzo & Cass. They do have some nice old-school tactics (eg pulling a guy out of the ring/distraction) which I do like. Big Cass used Wade Barrett’s bossman slam from earlier, dammit D’lo! Oddly Cass spent a lot of time in the ring, hoofing Enzo out into their opponents. I really like The Revival’s super-codebreaker called the Shatter machine (retaining in 10:17). Like most of the matches on the card, it was decent but unmemorable. There’s an NXT special Mania weekend, I imagine The American Alphas will get a shot in the biggest NXT show of the year.

Click here for part 2!

March 13, 2016
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
ICW in Dublin!

Yo! Myself and the lads were at ICW’s first Dublin show last night! We had a great time, never saw ICW live before. I wasn’t sure what to expect, thought it might’ve been all hardcore wrestling/bloodfests but it was similar to a WWE house show, pretty straight forward wrestling bouts (apart from Jack Jester using a chair and blood) with some spots out in the crowd.

Pic taken as soon as we got in the door – doesn’t do the crowd justice. Loved how it was standing room only, everyone just came up to the barricades. Without general seating (only at the edges) you could get in and out for a pint really easy.

• My favourite parts were when the wrestlers would give quick comments after a stiff shot (like “ooh ya bastard!”).
• There was a tron to show video packages/music videos and such which I was impressed with. There was an ad for Inside The Ropes’ Scott Steiner Q&A – I was devastated that OSW wasn’t promoted underneath the Belfast show. Must be an old ad 😛
• Billy Kirkwood did a great job of warming up the crowd – hilarious – lots of really funny jokes. (“Shawn Michaels is what I call my penis, because it doesn’t work and has a squinty eye!”)
• There was definitely a good chunk of travelling Scottish fans (which I think is pretty incredible) and big pockets of fans knowing all the chants for each wrestler.
• It wasn’t a wild atmosphere – it was hurt by being on a Sunday night, but sure they were in Belfast the night before; so you wouldn’t be drinking as much or going crazy.
• Pleasantly surprised at the amount of women at the show, probably 5%, which is loads for wrestling!
• My favourites include Sha Samuels (the East-End Butcher/lout!) and wow, Grado is absolutely bursting with charisma. He acted blown up doing his entrance and said “Grado’s fucked, lads!”. Just relentless funny spots.
• Was cool to see Drew Galloway, Noam Dar and Marty Scurll live in action for the first time.
• Wolfgang has an amazing Edge-style long brown goth jacket.
• I wonder if someone stole Davey Boy (Zero G champion)’s jocks as he was wearing plain adidas shorts!
• I would’ve liked at least one (if not both) wrestlers to cut a quick promo to get their characters over, worked a treat with those who did ala Sha Samuels.
• Was nice to see Mark Dallas out at the end to thank the crowd and swig some Jack!
• After the show the fans kept chanting for more whilst the crew tried in vain to tell people it had finished. It was pretty funny. Billy shouting “fuck off!” eventually got people moving, ha!

Overall it was a fun show, it wasn’t anything crazy – I think going to see them live for a bigger event would be a truer slice of what ICW is really about. They mentioned doing the SSE Hydro (a 13k arena!) for Fear & Loathing IX sounds amazing!

February 29, 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
Royal Rumble 2016 & RAW Review

Thoughts on the Rumble:

• Before I start I have to say congratulations to the graphics department – the CG marble statues of all the wrestlers look fantastic. It will be one of the most memorable wrestling graphics for years to come, that everyone will remember!

• Pre-Show had a 4-way tag for 2 Rumble spots. (Mark Henry/Jack Swagger (?!) def. Darren Young & Damien Sandow (?!), Dudleyz, and the Ascension. Sandow got repeated chants, match was not noteworthy otherwise. Sadly Sandow didn’t win, so Mark Henry & Swagger could both get eliminated immediately later on tonight.

• Well impressed with Ambrose vs Owens. Both are great wrestlers and the two took some vicious bumps. They work very well together, recommend watching. Throughout the night we got the fun booking rule that whoever sets up tables, goes through them. KO perfectly somersaulted through two tables so Dean could retain the IC belt.

• New Day def. Usos. New Day (as always!) are one of the best reasons to watch current WWE. Xavier – I’m certain he was quoting the Mortal Kombat Movie (“your brother’s soul is mine! This is a taste of things to come!”). Big E with the best spot of the match, perfectly catching a mid-air splash and turning it into a Big Ending. Entertaining but forgettable.

• Kalisto def. Alberto Del Rio. Del Rio can’t feud with Mysterio or Sin Cara (he injured his shoulder – hilarious he botched again!) so he’s moved onto another Mexican. I was surprised how well Kalisto works as a singles. I’m a fan of his high-flying lucha stuff, as nobody else on the roster does it. They worked well apart from one big blown spot they just moved on from. Del Rio’s ripped, holy shit. He’s like a bulkier Orton now, he’s lost a good deal of mass but gained a ton of definition. Looks awesome. No wellness testing in Mexico! His character is the same though. Kalisto got the big babyface clean win. I don’t think he’s portrayed as anything important, especially getting and losing the US title so quickly, hopefully they feature him as a bigger deal.

• Charlotte def. Becky Lynch. These girls had a great match on RAW recently, so it’s disappointing to see them have an average match on PPV. Haven’t heard anyone giving out about Ric’s sexual assault, forcing himself on Becky! JBL smartly quipped he’s “kiss-stealin’” – great save. The match wasn’t anything special from these two, who are much better than their main roster matches would suggest. There’s two factors into making a good match: great wrestlers and great booking. They’re both very talented so this match was just booked to be boring, which helps nobody. Marked out seeing Sasha Banks return after the match. That’s Becky done with, so Charlotte and Sasha next.

Royal Rumble Match:

• Roman Reigns – started #1, didn’t have many spots — and much like Austin in the 99 Rumble, sat out most of the Rumble match. I don’t know why they’d book him to go #1 (so an hour) as he’s not that seasoned/talented a performer to pull that off. So the League of Nations took him out (Rusev with a big splash through the announce table) and Roman was stretchered away. Very oddly, they showed Roman walking backstage. Maybe he was supposed to look strong that he’s walking out under his own power, but I thought he looked cowardly, actively walking away from the match, he’s had enough, lemme come back later.
• #3 — I loved this. Holy shit. Flipped my wig. Not a fan of the song, but I loved how the music played and they kept on Roman’s face (and hearing the crowd roar) so we know it’s something huge. Great job. AMAZING to see AJ Styles. Holy shit. I love this guy, it’s incredible to see him finally in WWE (and bypassing NXT). He got a Pele in and later a springboard flying forearm but other than that, with Roman and AJ in the ring they couldn’t eliminate each other, so nothing really happened. I’m really worried about AJ, that they’ll “Del Rio” him into the midcard. Please, please don’t. He can be a gigantic babyface for WWE.
• Kofi’s big spot was being caught on the way out, landing on Big E’s shoulders, who paraded him around the ring. Was a fun spot, but less memorable than past Rumble spots. It made sense to do something with the New Day members.
• 4 Wyatt members, dominated for a bit, but most were eliminated before Bray entered. Was fun to see Brock tear it up but Suplex City didn’t last very long – Wyatts beat up and eventually eliminated Brock (who had already eliminated the Wyatt boys — V1 would go nuts!). I don’t think Bray can be built up enough to make a WrestleMania match with Brock a draw. His past few feuds have all been sub-par. I do like the look of Braun Strowman though. I hope he’s not a useless wrestler – otherwise he’ll die off after he loses his first few matches!
• R-Truth’s “I thought we were in a MITB match” dumb guy spot atop a ladder was great. I wish Kane dumped him out from the top of the ladder but you can’t have it all.
• Very cool to see Sami Zayn and KO go at it – I always love feuds that carry over from previous companies. Like when Austin would always attack Pillman in WWF.
• There weren’t many spots, sadly….bit of Big Show, Kane, Titus, Swagger, Miz, Leaguey Weegies…
• Finally, #30 was Triple H, you could tell he booked this silent staredown spot with Reigns as he did the same with Undertaker. Crowd popped huge for Reigns getting eliminated and poor Ambrose never had a chance, he hilariously kept running at Aitch. In the end Triple H wins the Rumble and a 14th world title.

Parting thought, I’m really impressed how WWE have gotten fans in general to stop booing Reigns, despite him retaining all of his flaws. It’s booking very well done. (I know it was worse at the Rumble but it’s a lot better than a few months ago, where the boos were vicious.) Nobody seems to mind Reigns’ character walked away from the match and sat out the bulk of it (making him unworthy if he won it). Reigns getting eliminated makes sense, he doesn’t have to be pinned/submitted to lose — and can get his big win back at Mania. Aitch winning makes perfect sense as he’s already the top heel on RAW – it capitalises/vindicates him spending 20 minutes doing promos each week talking down to the wrestlers. I just have no interest in seeing it!

Overall I thought the PPV was ok, KO/Ambrose tore it down and seeing AJ (even if he did nothing) was just amazing. The Rumble suffered from a lot of ‘who cares’ entries and not many spots, but the booking makes sense to build to a Roman/Aitch WM main event. Sorry to say I didn’t like it.

SORRY I DIDN’T LIKE IT EARLIER! Ok that doesn’t work. but I hope you enjoyed it much more than I did! What say you, thumbs up, middle or down?

RAW thoughts:
• Cole recapped the McMahon/Triple H opening 20 minute promo in 8 seconds after coming back from break. Cheers!
• Bo-Rida rap-battled Flo-Rida. Bo legit won that battle, seriously. It’s so hilarious to hear his high-pitched voice breaking while rhyming.

• Styles had his first match on RAW against Jericho. The commentators kept bringing up parallels to Jericho’s career, who wallowed in shit for almost his first year. A lot of “this is the big leagues, you need to prove yourself” sentiments. I saw that Jericho was very proud of his match, but I thought it was a poor showcase for AJ – as it was 90% AJ selling for slow Jericho offense. I don’t think it showed the potential of AJ as an incredible talent – it wasn’t spectacular, dynamic or anything memorable. I’m also concerned about the lack of reaction for his RAW entrance, despite a much bigger pop for the backstage bit. I’m a massive fan of AJ, he’s one of my favourite wrestlers – I’m worried they’ll Alberto Del Rio him, in that they spent a lot of money but don’t have anything huge for him to do, so he’ll quickly gain a mid-card title and languish around the area. Hopefully I’m wrong on it but WWE aren’t treating him like a big deal. His debut RAW match didn’t open or close the show.

• The Rock returned and had a massive segment, meeting Lana and Big Show, working the crowd and beating up the New Day with the Usos. He’s incredible, so charismatic and captivating. You alright! He slipped in “see you at WrestleMania” so that’s about that then. Loved the booty-shaking New Day rocks, perfect comic foil.

• Alicia Fox has a new do that looks like Luna/Sheeva from MK.

• Reigns (no longer in gold chest outline ’cause he’s not the champ) got a shave (making him much less Gypsy) and is mooching off Ambrose again. Steph announced a triple threat at No Way Out (sorry, Faaaaaastlane!) between Ambrose, Reigns and Lesnar. So Reigns will pin Ambrose after the Wyatts take out Lesnar, so Roman goes on to face Aitch, save Lesnar for SummerSlam I guess?

Lots of fluff but the Bo-Rida, Rock and seeing Styles make the RAW definitely one to check out.

New Golden Nogger voting opening tonight: Favourite Quote Award!

January 25, 2016
Owen Hart: Hart of Gold review

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Format: Much in the same vein as recent WWE Home Video releases (Attitude Era, nWo etc), this release is replete with a montage of talking heads with short snippets saying generic compliments “He was always a good guy”, “just a great wrestler” etc.

Running Time: Even though Owen’s entire career was 13 years, this documentary clocks in at 1hr 7m, like the recent Macho Man: The Randy Savage Story, is just a superficial look at the wrestler’s most notable milestones.

Production: There’s heavy use of Nitro stills (panning still photographs) throughout, making the documentary feel rather cheap and quickly put together. (Q3 had Home DVDs as 1.8% of WWE’s revenue, as opposed to WWE Network’s 24.6% i.e. put money into Network docus and fuck Home Videos). Anecdotes are displayed picture-in-picture like they’re avoiding YouTube copyright, STATE of it! Part of the cheap production is WWE’s fault (they could’ve spent much more time on his WWF career) but it’s also Owen’s widow Martha Hart’s doing, as Bret told The LAW’s John Pollock back in September:

“I’m looking forward to [the DVD] but I’m not really optimistic that it’s going to be a great job. Martha handcuffed them so much. I don’t know if they’re even allowed to use any pictures from the past. It’s a poorly done DVD because of all the restraints and the limitations that Martha put on it. […] Even the interviews, the questions that they did with me were so bullshit. The whole thing was so bullshit that sure, there’s an Owen Hart DVD, but it’s the shits.”

Archival Footage: It’s great to see previously unseen footage of Owen behind the scenes. It’s mostly from when WWF are on tour (eg him playing volleyball with WWF superstars). We do get one ‘candid’ (kayfabe) interview from 1996, which looks to be before a WWF dinner, like a Slammys or press event. It’s mostly WWF footage and stills, very little Stampede and WCW (and they didn’t pay for NJPW). Between the milestones are anecdotes about Owen which are hit and miss. Given the frequency of them it feels like padding of a very short docu.

Interviewees: Most of Owen’s extended family are interviewed – brothers, sisters, and past and present wrestlers (Hart Dynasty, Canadian wrestlers). Glaringly notable by her absence is Martha Hart (who didn’t approve of the home video and has blocked WWE celebrating Owen’s career via previous attempts at an Owen docu, and also a Hall of Fame induction). Worth noting she has her own Owen docu called “The Owen Hart Foundation: A Look Back”.

Timeline thoughts/Anecdotes:
Growing up: Owen used to book his stuffed monkey and the cat to wrestle. Hilariously WWE remake B-roll to re-enact these matches. Also laughed showing animals in the Hart house as people would say that there were many animals in the house and it reeked of piss!

Stampede: Footage showing Owen doing lots of smooth high-flying moves and transitions, way ahead of what you’d expect in North America. Bret noted that on the road in the WWF, he never got to see Owen but rather just heard how great he was going. Always cool to hear wrestlers talk as fans, with Edge and especially Jericho, as we see a drawing he did of his dream to be tag champions with Owen in Stampede.

1st WWF Run as the Blue Blazer: Great bit of trivia, he actually wrestled as The British Bulldog and then as “Rodeo” Owen Hart before the Blue Blazer! I can’t find any evidence of either, though. Bret mentions being under a mask was an idea he had for himself, in case the Hart Foundation tag team bombed. His workrate style completely bombed in the steroid-infused Hulkamania big man era. Daniel Bryan’s contribution is being a huge smark (!) saying he saw him wrestle in other places so he was disappointed in this run. WWE splice a great clip of Alfred kayfabe explaining why Blazer was a jobber “he deals with quick moves with little damage and tries to out wrestle as opposed to beat them down”.

Independent Circuit: They lump pre-WWF japan in here (no footage) saying he was rebuilding his name here and Mexico after his failure in the WWF. Worth noting he returned to Stampede in 89 but it closed in December. They don’t mention that Vince bought Stampede, then stalled by delaying payment saying he couldn’t afford it (thereby killing the company during the downtime) and offered it back to them after the damage was done. Bastard.

WCW: Yes, Owen spent a cup of coffee there! JR insults WCW for not knowing what to do with Owen, moments after the docu shows WWF didn’t know what do with Owen.

Clicky here for Part 2!

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December 10, 2015
Owen Hart DVD review part 2

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Click here for Part 1!

2nd WWF Run:

Tag Teams: With Anvil as the New Hart Foundation. Nattie was ecstatic to see them together. The pair ended when Neidhart was fired for ‘unprofessional conduct’, refusing to take a drug test and trashed some TV equipment. You might remember hearing Anvil was smoking crack with Davey Boy (who was a trainwreck) in the Summer of ’92. Bret kindly says Owen ‘wasn’t thrilled’ working with Koko in High Energy and Edge notes the MC Hammer pants.

1993 Heel Turn: It was originally supposed to be Bruce Hart turning, but Bret demanded Owen get that push, as he was younger, bigger (, more talented and could benefit the most from the spotlight). That’s actually true and lead to Bret & Bruce falling out for a while. Sadly no splicey of “kick your leg outta your leg”. The sprinkle in some Heenan commentary, which is always awesome: “I know the Hart family. When their dog ran away they used to put Owen out there instead”.

1994: They splice WMX skycam footage of Bret & Owen chain wrestling. IT IS GODDAMN GORGEOUS. This New Gen footage is awesome to see. Bret mentions how during their feud they kept kayfabe by not talking in public or at home with strangers around. In the ‘96 Owen interview he talks about no-one wanting to see his lousy brother Bret, as he signs an autograph for a girl with a Bret t-shirt. Brilliant.

2-time Slammy Award Winner: Triple H speaks about Owen with a loving reverence that you never really hear him speak of other wrestlers. Himself and Gunn recount him goofing off (generally during house show matches). Aitch gives Owen full credit of turning the Slammys into a full-time gimmick (which was brilliant, the Slammys are associated most with Owen for all time) and they show a clip of the crowd gasping (!) when a Slammy breaks during a tiff with Bulldog.

Tagging with Yoko: Anecdotes are told with multiple talking heads spliced together quickly to form run-on sentences. They recount a famous Owen story where he’s tagging with Yoko vs Bulldog & Luger, where he trolled Lex so hard. He’d call to be press-slammed but would hook Lex’s shoulder so he couldn’t press Owen (making Lex look weak), but he’d bump like a boss for Davey, so he could proclaim he’s the strongest of the team. Ha!

Dec 95 In Your House 5 Seasons Beatings: It was Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs Henry Godwin in a hog pen match, where they needed animals. When the truck driver with the animals arrived, Owen pretended he was the production manager and lead him and the animals into Vince’s Office. When Vince saw them he went screaming for Owen Hart. He recounts that Owen would do such a great job no-selling it he’d almost believe he was innocent.

1997 Canadian Stampede: Talking heads note the building shaking it was so loud. It’s a shame how quickly they run through this (esp as Owen got the pinfall) and I’d class as the biggest night in Owen’s career. Did you know? When they let the extended Hart Family into the ring to celebrate (including a young Tyson Kidd), a few random children were able to walk right in as well. When Bret saw them, he told them to enjoy themselves.

Montreal Screwjob/Pillman dies/Owen stays: Ross Hart and Hunter repaint the story, that Owen wanted to stay with the WWF. Even Bret said he really didn’t want to go. This irks me as I’ve always heard Owen demanded his release and Vince wouldn’t allow it. I’ll concede that he (in general) wanted to stay with WWF and asked to leave out of loyalty to Bret. Sucks that Austin went supernova at this same time as when Owen returned (in Dec 97), as Hart initially beat up Shawn and then was angry at Vince, but Austin was in the top-slot, he went down the card substantially. By WrestleMania XIV he wrestled Shawn’s mid-card mate Hunter in a losing effort, having already lost the European title on RAW beforehand. What WWF did was absolutely right for business though. With Bret finally gone I hoped Owen would finally step out of his brother’s shadow, but his character kept the same midcard mentality and just flittered around with the Nation and eventually Jeff Jarrett.

Attitude Era/Return of the Blue Blazer: Billy Gunn’s summation of AE is hilarious. “I’ll get nekkid, you’ll get nekkid, all the girls’ll get nekkid”. They gloss over Canadian Country, tagging with Jarrett (with manager Debra) and don’t mention Owen refused to do the angle with him cheating with Debra. He didn’t want to do anything that’d shame his kids/himself. Wow, it’s amazing to see people care that much about their characters’ morals. So the anti-Attitude Era heel-goody-two-shoes superhero Blue Blazer was born. My favourite bit of this gimmick was Owen pretending it wasn’t him under the mask, even getting Koko B Ware to dress up as the Blazer, sandbagging as if everyone couldn’t tell the difference. Hilarious.

Death: They don’t spend too much time on it, just JR’s announcement, initial reaction as the same talking heads (mostly Road Dogg) get teary-eyed. It’s over very quickly. They show snippets from RAW is Owen, including Ken Shamrock, which is an odd choice. Ken did not wear a black Owen armband, he wrestled a straight-faced match and refused to do a vignette talking about him. Shamrock was punished afterwards by Vince afterwards, doing a couple jobs and moving down the card.

Final anecdotes: Owen never had check-in luggage, and his carry-on was the size of a shaving-kit, so he could get out of the airport immediately and get home. WWE touched on Owen wanting to be a fireman during his stint away from the company but not that he wanted to make money and retire from wrestling asap. We get more people saying generic nice things about Owen and we’re done!

Overall: It’s nice to spend an hour hearing about Owen, and it’s fresh material (I believe this is his first ever Home Video, I wouldn’t count Hart & Soul) which makes it an easy watch. Unfortunately it’s very superficial and rushed, with obvious production constraints by both Martha and WWE slap-dashing it. Best parts are the B-roll of Owen, the Bret/Owen wrestling footage (spooge) and the Lex anecdote. It was €38 in WrestlingMania in Stephen’s Green — absolutely not worth paying for! Owen deserves at least double this length, properly produced docu and Hall of Fame induction.
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December 10, 2015