Category: Wrestling stuff

Mick Foley Dublin Gig #2!

[vc_row][vc_column][bquote prk_in=”I couldn’t pass up Mick’s return to the scene of the crime – in 2012, Mick bombed on stage on his last visit – the main problems being he’s not a comedian (anecdotes don’t have punchlines), he can’t deal with overly enthusiastic fans (shouting ‘talk about Undertaker!’) etc – stopping mid-sentence to chastise ~2 audience members, and having an extended meet and greet beforehand (so people would’ve been drinking for ~5 hours). Mick Foley had mentioned in several interviews since (including earlier this week) his disappointment at the first Dublin gig, and wanted to return to avenge his failure. Why would I pay to see Mick again? Either it’s a great show, and it’s worth seeing, or it’s a terrible show, and it’ll be very worthwhile seening! It’s win-win!”][vc_column_text]

You can view pics of the gig by Shaun Neary at Pure Rawk.com

• The event was split into three parts: The stand up, Q&A and meet and greet. He used all-new material (well, material not used in the 2012 gig), apart from recounting Hell in a Cell with the Undertaker, which he told from a different point of view. He focused on Terry Funk – Taker telling him “see if he’s dead”, being chokeslammed out of his boots, and Mick regaining consciousness and just seeing Funk’s sneakers in the ring.
• DUBLIN: Foley kicked off with talking about the first Dublin show. “Anyone from the first gig?” (I cheered!) “Let’s get you out just in case”. Mickster took almost no blame for how badly the gig went – “I didn’t have the Foley mojo back” was the extent of it; instead blaming the long meet & greet. He also mentioned a Dubliner vomiting in his seat – which wasn’t true – and then started to recount other horrible Stand-Up moments as if they happened in Dublin, which was pretty weird. He talked about being irritated by a fan holding up “Xbox 360” (a game) with The Rock on it, repeatedly hollering “The Rock”. He said he got the fan up on stage and flung his game onto the ground, only afterwards realising he was a man with special needs. I’m certain that was a lie but it was a fun bit.
• Q&A: He also limited his act to the first half of the show – leaving the second 45 minutes to an open Q&A. This was a bit of a mess – people in the crowd just put their hands up and shouted to get Mick’s attention, and 2 guys with mics would go through the crowd and hand them the mic. It was pretty disorganised, they should’ve made a queue for the mic. The Mickster made sure to pick questions from the 3 girls in the crowd! (2 of which were Irish wrestlers btw!) The quality of the Qs were pretty ass (which isn’t Mick’s fault). Lots of fantasy booking and “what you do think of X on the current roster”. My buddy Luke noted only one of the questions was self-centred (i.e. lemme tell you about me rather than ask a question) so that’s a win! Not as a knock, but he didn’t really answer most of the Qs, rather he just heard a keyword (like “Triple H”, “Montreal” etc) and had a short anecdote about it.
• Meet & Greet: The Q&A finished about 10:30pm and when we found the Meet & Greet queue, it looked like it’d be at least 30-45 minutes before seeing him, so fuck that and we left. Plus getting him to sign a Virgil Dollar might be cunty! Perhaps start earlier in the day to accomodate the meet & greet, Boards.ie’s BeakerJoe told me he looked like he wanted to be anywhere else.

Quotable Notables:

• Opening Act: Ross Browne did quite well, getting quite a big crowd response for pretty stock wrestling fodder (wrestling fans tell your girlfriend, what girlfriend etc) – he sounded genuinely ecstatic and hyper to be on stage and introducing Mick.
• Right here: He also had a fun schtick with the “RIGHT HERE! In….”, repeatedly not doing the bit, like “RIGHT HERE *waits for crowd response* “…You know where you are”. Hilarious.
• Knock Knock: Great bit “I don’t do knock knock jokes! Knock knock.” *crowd – Who’s there?* What did I just say? That’s an example of jokes I do not do… Actually, knock knock. *who’s there?* Al Snow. *Al Snow who?* Exactly.” (huge laugh). He used Al as a punchline another 2-3 times, talking about the WWF superstars and also Al Snow.
• The only real groaner of the was Mick pressing the “John Cena issue” for a crowd response, saying you should respect his work ethic etc. He’s been a booed babyface for almost a decade now, please just talk about something else!
• Survivor Series: Don’t put Fergal Devitt in the team as it’d accentuate how (relatively) small he is.
• Very fond of “Becky Smith”, immediately corrected himself with “Becky Lynch”
• Almost no TNA talk. There was one anecdote where Kurt Angle got upset that Mark Coleman (iirc) got the dates wrong and said he beat Angle in 94. This was meeting him & Mick the day after a night of fighting/drinking. Angle wouldn’t let it go “he knew what he said” and Jarrett came up to Angle the next day asking if Coleman beat him in 94. That sounds like shit but his impression of Angle being annoyed was actually quite funny.
• He’s not interested in seeing Sting v Taker, as you need someone young who can bump and bring the best out of an old guy.
• He barely moved around the stage (his hips must be done), mostly sitting down and just pacing a little bit. He just had a few swigs of water, and whipped out his iPhone from his sweatpants a few times.
• Denigrated the excellence that was his original Mankind gimmick (which I my favourite Foley incarnation). Said Vince was never a fan of his, surmised WCW Cactus Jack as “seedy” (hilarious), thought he was ugly so that’s why Mankind got a mask. “A journey of one man’s goal to cover up another man’s face”. Ha!
• However he recounted his 97 sit-down promos with JR as when he was “made” with Vince. He tried to do a bit as original Mankind but his false teeth fell out, hilarious. He said he was hit in the groin during lacrosse without wearing a cup and his testicle swelled to the size of a grapefruit, then Vince started using the term.
• Cheap pops, he described hurling as “like American football but with less compassion” and noted a previous Dublin gig-goer looked like “one of the lads from the flats”!
• After his WM21 match tagging with The Rock vs Evolution, Austin asked him if he considered him a straight shooter, and told him he stunk up the joint. (It was a disappointment but hey) Foley said it was his wish not to completely suck that night, let alone steal the show.
• He’s extremely proud of his matches with Orton and Edge at WrestleMania, wanting to showcase their vicious edge that was perceived to be lacking. Couldn’t agree more, especially with Orton at Backlash. I don’t think it’s half as famous as Foley’s match with Edge, it’s a shame they didn’t just do that Foley/Orton match at Mania. Also a shame we never saw Orton vs Rock. Would’ve been an amazing Legend to Kill for the Legend Killer.
• Mick (who said he allowed himself to drop one F-bomb per show) finished with an anecdote of being shown the RAW ramp and a massive dent in it – that he made – being told the metal ramp that doesn’t dent. How? Because he’s Mick Fucking Foley!

Overall: I’d equate Thursday’s show to George Miller and Mad Max: Having seen the 80s trilogy, I know what Miller’s capable of, and seeing Fury Road (his 4th installment in 2015), he’s improved in every aspect. Sure, by other movies’ standards, it lacks character depth and non-hammy dialogue, but Fury Road is way beyond what I thought the ceiling of Miller’s talent was. Mick knew he must be on his A-game, and it showed he was out to overturn his first outing (a second would cross the city off his map) – so all of his anecdotes were tighter, had a beginning, middle and end, finishing with a punchline for the crowd to react. Sure his delivery, impressions, anecdotes isn’t as sharp as other comedians, he rambled a bit, and a large portion of his act was name-dropping a wrestler and listening to the crowd’s response, but this was 400% the quality of his previous outing – a MASSIVE improvement. Cheap-pops are his gimmick, he had a much firmer command of the audience this time, with less whispering into the mic and some funny quick one-liners. I won’t recommend the show as it’s just decent, but he set out to avenge his horrific last outing, so mission accomplished.

p.s. It was very cool meeting some of you at half-time and after the show! Virgil dollars for everyone 🙂 So would you go see Mick Foley live?

NEW Super OSW 64 Level 6 – Jay’s videogame music show! Click here: OSWreview.com/super-osw-64-level-6
Historic first Foley gig in Dublin (the bad one!) review: OSWreview.com/FoleyGig[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

November 14, 2015
NXT TakeOver: Respect

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][bquote prk_in=”It’s NXT Takeover 7: Respekkkkkkkk! (Booker T used to reiterate the word respect in the Main Event Mafia, it was amazing.) It’s October 7, back at Full Sail University, FL in front of 400 fans. Let’s do it to it!” type=”plain”]tricker[/bquote][vc_column_text]
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]https://twitter.com/OSWreview/status/651911862636953600

FINN BALOR & SAMOA JOE vs THE MECHANICS (SCOTT DAWSON & DASH WILDER)

The first of 3 tag matches, the semi-finals and finals of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic for the #1 contenders to the Vaudevillains’ tag belts.
Finn’s not in demon attire, but in a leather jacket like his Real RockNRolla jacket without Jericho’s lite-brite!
The bigger story is the slow build for Joe vs Finn. On the weekly show, Joe went to tap Finn but hit his belt instead, and looked at it for a little longer. Great.
Finn and Joe start off hot, leading to a big tope to the outside. Tide turned with a chop block to Balor’s left knee. Dawson and Wilder work over balor’s left leg presumably to take out his coup de grace but the commentators don’t explain it. (I got so many tweets relating it to Owen and kicking his leg out of his leg, hilarious). Pasty non-flashy Dawson and Wilder look like such enhancement talent, esp. as they’re overlooked to focus on an upcoming NXT title feud. Unintentional distraction where Joe leaves the apron (and Finn high and dry) when he looked for a hot tag. Despite a hurting knee, Finn asks Joe (who’s putting in a clinic) to tag him in so he get do his finisher. Annoyed but accommodating, Joe tags him in and awkwardly Finn hits the coup de grace (his pride getting the better of him as he further injures his knee) and the win to advance to the finals.
Enjoyed the story but it was a short match, see you later on lads.

Ready, Willing and Gable! It’s JASON JORDAN & CHAD GABLE vs RHYNO & BARON CORBIN

What type of rag would you say Gable has? Lol. So why are enemies Rhyno & Corbin tagging? Rhyno convinced Baron that together they’d be unstoppable. NXT takeover unstoppable. Gable and US Olympian Jason Jordan are marketed as Team Angle amateur rasslers. I won’t compare Jordan to Shelton Benjamin because that would be racist. Gable is much smaller with long hair – it should have neat hair for this gimmick. (I should note Bayley has plain hair in a ponytail, and Sasha has full-volume loud hair, both complimenting their gimmicks perfectly)
The match focused on the amateur wrestlers. Both Gable & Jordan work over Rhyno, Jordan looks far more impressive sprawling on the mat and man-handling Rhyno. Jason gets the hot tag and does the amateur pickup into the corner and even the Kurt angle straps down, shouty firing up schtick. Near falls, Gable hits a roll-through German suplex on Corbin, very impressive. Tilt a whirl End of Days to Gable, looked awesome. So Rhyno/Corbin will meet Finn/Joe in the tournament finals.

Asuka is ALL THE BARS!
Love her submission-heavy offense. pic.twitter.com/BwxHdF9KLj

— OSW review (@OSWreview) October 8, 2015

DANA BROOKE vs ASUKA

Kana debuts in NXT! In addition to being a stiff Japanese wrestler, she’s a massive gamer, used to write for Xbox magazine and designed graphics for the Nintendo DS. How awesome is that. Brooke has a glowing orange tan and heel Emma looks sickly. I kinda felt bad for her as Asuka has come in an immediately leap-frogged her career-wise. Anywoo, this is an exhibition match to showcase her style and get her character across. Very cool to see her draped in Japanese attire and she showed lots of personality mocking Dana’s mannerisms (kinda like Liger against Breeze last time). She looked very fluid, put over her kicks, suplex and litany of submission offense. Love it! It’s also very cool to see a WWE show making a big deal out of a Japanese wrestler (as opposed to what we’re used to in Ultimo Dragon or TNA’s use of Tanashi & Okada.

TYLER BREEZE vs APOLLO CREWS

Much quieter entrance this time for Breeze, he was really just Crews’ opponent. Poor wrestling psychology in this one as Tyler works on Crews’ lower back, including a sharpshooter spot, but Crews did a press slam and then a big powerbomb for the win. Not impressed. Breeze always performs well so his matches are enjoyable (despite what I just said). How is Crews’ mic work? His acrobatics/power moves and look are both great so that’s the big question mark.

FINN BALOR & SAMOA JOE vs BARON CORBIN & RHYNO

The heels have the absolute majority of the offense; working over Joe until he gets a hot tag – he runs wild until his knee bothers him and Rhyno chop blocks him, and the heels dominate for a long stretch. Despite this, he managed to survive to give Joe the hot tag, countering the Gore with a muscle buster, and just like earlier tonight, Finn hit the coup de grace and got the pin and the win. It was oddly low key, so Finn & Joe face the Vaudevillains in December at NXT Takeover London. Afterwards the Rhodes Family awarded the trophy to Finn & Joe, Cody (not Stardust) cutting a nice, emotional babyface promo giving reverence to his dad. With a large flower bouquet and spending ages posing for pictures with a trophy, it’s really New Japan of them. Awesome.
Joe is super-smiley throughout the celebrations (even at the end when he’s beside Claire Lynch!) and Finn’s RnR leather jacket suits a heel better so it’ll be great to see what they come up with. I expect the long term booking would be Finn tagging himself in to do the Coup de Grace backfiring and causing himself and Joe to lose to the Vaudevillains in December; adding fuel to the fire.

SASHA BRAH! YOU MAKING KIDS CRY BRAH!! pic.twitter.com/J9y0GTCrji

— OSW review (@OSWreview) October 8, 2015

MAIN EVENT: NXT Women’s Title: 30-MINUTE IRON MAN MATCH
BAYLEY vs SASHA BANKS

The crowd (and everyone who watched it) were absolutely amped for this match. Bayley’s win last time at Brooklyn was a MOTY contender and Benoit/Angle’s 30-minute Iron Man Ultimate Submission from Backlash 2001 is one of my very favourite matches. The audience flip out and constantly chant, imparting their love onto the performers – Bayley had a hard time not crying for the first few minutes. They didn’t have the timer on for the entire match (boo!) but the camera did make sure to include one of the screens (with the timer on it) so we’d know.
I was impressed that both women worked a fast pace throughout, it looked like they could’ve gone for much longer. They referenced/worked off spots from the prior match, like Sasha countering the top rope reverse hurricanrana, Bayley trying to injure Sasha’s hand this time, and Banks accepting a hug (like the end of Takeover Brooklyn) only to pull her hair and slam her to the mat. Another great heel spot, Sasha blocks the ref’s vision with her body, pokes Bayley in the eyes and gets a schoolgirl to go 1-0. Bayley hit her finisher to even it up 11 minutes in. Izzy, Bayley’s biggest fan, plays a bigger part as WWE panned to her throughout the match, they went full out tugging at the heartstrings. After Sasha throws Bayley into the LED board, she gets counted out so Banks is up 2-1. Sasha gloats and heels out by throwing her glasses at Izzy, taunting her. And wow. MAKING KIDS CRY BRAH. This is hilarious how hard WWE are pushing for an emotional response. This plant is worth her weight in gold. Bayley tried a few times to do a sliding dropkick underneath the bottom turnbuckle to the outside, it didn’t look great. Bayley’s cookin and evens things up with a roll up, and into the final 3 minutes. Bayley hits a super bayley to belly but over-folds up Sasha, whose feet touch the ropes. Sasha hits the bayley to belly and into the Banks statement, as Bayley sells for a long time. Great storyline sense as Bayley hurting Sasha’s hand means that she can’t apply the Banks statement well, where Bayley’s able to escape and put on a variation of the rings of Saturn, and (kinda viciously for Bayley) pulls on her fingers and kicks the head of Banks, who verbally submits with a few seconds to go! Bayley retains in a great main event. I don’t think the crowd copped the submission finish initially. Afterwards the roster (who’re all showered up and in street attire) are at the entranceway and congratulate them, Banks stays at the entranceway and Bayley celebrates in ring. Fantastic way to cap off a great performance with superb booking.
I mean it as a compliment, but I think this match didn’t have enough time. Sasha didn’t get to dominate for long or open up a lead, despite having 30 minutes, the story they portrayed had a lot of plot points and moved along at a brisk pace to fit everything in. That’s quite a statement for a women’s match! I preferred the Brooklyn match but this was still superb. A Christmas-time feel good finish to another great NXT PPV.

Overall: Very solid show top to bottom, only small quibbles: Breeze’s match with the nonsense psychology, and the semi-final tag matches were more engaging that the finals. Positives: continuing to slow build Joe vs Finn, very high hopes for Asuka, lovely moments with the Rhodes family and the final celebrations, and of course a great main event headlined by deserving female talent. Oh and brahs sporting the WHAT BARRRRRRRR tees! That’s so awesome to see!

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So what did you make of the show overall? Did you prefer this women’s match or Takeover Brooklyn’s match? Would you rather see Joe or Finn turn heel, or both feud as babyfaces?[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

October 8, 2015
Vince Russo in Dublin!

[vc_row][vc_column][bquote prk_in=”So we went to see Vince Russo tonight! Here’s the skinny: There were about 70 at the event, free seating in a function room at a hotel, which was perfect as it was a more intimate venue. The host was a super-nice guy with mad hair, looks like Pat the NES Punk. It was Eamon D’arcy, the announcer from Irish whip wrestling! Russo loved his gimmick of putting his finger against his ear like an earpiece for questions. It was quite informal; Eamon had a few questions to kick off and then took Q&A for the rest of the panel (I think he should talk about the big milestones first and then take questions rather than straight into Q&A). They were serving drinks but it was an older crowd and respectful towards him. The event started about 8:15 with an intermission (for photos etc) and a second half ending about 11. Everyone who wanted a question asked was given the opportunity and it wasn’t rushed. He talked as if everyone was a long time hardcore wrestling fan, which they were, so good!” type=”plain”]tricker[/bquote][vc_column_text]

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]So we went to see Vince Russo tonight! Here’s the skinny – Two things are clear about Russo:
1) He is a nice guy. He sounded very relaxed and up front, great at captivating the crowd. Not arrogant at all, very humble and grateful-sounding.
2) He does not like Eric Bischoff. It’s clear he’s up to date reading newsletters/dirtsheets and is aware of what people say about him – he mentioned and went back to Bischoff/JBL’s comments about him from their WWE Network interview recently; that he was called a “liar” (re: bash at the beach); Bischoff also said Russo had horrible writing but was personable and said the right things. Russo retorted with Bischoff has an open invitation to ask anything on his podcast (nice plug Russo!).

Here’s a run down of topics and his opinions [my thoughts in bold]:

• Montreal Screwjob: Still can’t believe some people think it’s a work; was on the phone listening in when Vince pitched and Bret dismissed all other booking scenarios and would’ve done the same thing to Bret if in McMahon’s position.
• Pint of the black stuff, Guinness: Doesn’t drink, and Ireland don’t have Yoohoo. [What is it and is it good?]
• Booking in WWF: The correct number of writers is 2; to bounce ideas off of and not let things fall by the wayside, and handing it off to Vince, who would find little nuaces to tweak and make it that much better. Himself and Ed Ferrara wrote the entire show top to bottom back in the day. [Fine for just one 2-hour RAW in the 90s, but not with current WWE’s ridiculous amount of content e.g. 3 hour RAWs, Smackdown, PPV, NXT, Main Event, Superstars, web shows, YouTube content, Network exclusive content… That said, WWE’s over-saturated product is a far weaker pitch than the uber-sharp focus it was in the 90s.]
• I asked as a writer, how difficult it is working with wrestlers to do what you’ve planned: It’s a large unspoken part of the business, you have to know what to expect from each wrestler. They can’t see the forest from the trees – you may know the entire storyline but wrestlers only see what’s in front of them, that all they’d see is this week they’re losing and not how that helps the over-arching story.
• Foley/Rock This Is Your Life Segment: Notes McMahon furious with how long it went, Russo loved it; and the next day, Mick paced outside the office for over half an hour waiting to tell Vince the quarter hour numbers. Vince completely no-sold it saying “Good Job, Mick”, and not much else, not giving Mick the satisfaction.

• Decision to jump to WCW in ’99: Russo was away from his family for long stretches and asked to relocate closer to his wife’s parents to help out. McMahon replied he’s paid enough to hire a nanny; and Russo knew McMahon didn’t care about his family and would quit. [Adding Smackdown to his plate (and essentially doubling his work load) was a major factor. He of course doesn’t mention he is the only writer to be snatched from WWF and managed to talk himself and Ed Ferrara up enough to get a job.]
• Ratings in WCW: He threw out his schpiel about how ratings went up when he was first brought in [which is a lie]

[/vc_column_text][vc_accordion active_tab=”false”][vc_accordion_tab title=”Click for the actual WCW Ratings breakdown!”][vc_column_text]Ratings before Russo
Aug 1999 Nitro average – 3.27
Sep 1999 Nitro average – 3.38 (slightly higher as there were Raw pre-emptions)

Ratings under Russo:
Nov 1999 Nitro average – 3.23
Dec 1999 Nitro average – 2.98

– There was an initial spike in Nitro ratings when Russo arrived (a curiousity factor I reckon) that declined with each passing week
– Live attendance steadily declined from 5,392 in August to 3,593 in December.
– PPV buyrates declined from AugusRusso’s first PPV was Halloween Havoc 99 which did 190,000 buys; and by the end of the year, Starrcade (WCW’s WrestleMania) did 120,000 with Goldberg vs Bret in the main event.
– Worth noting September (pre-Russo) was a horrific month for WCW, Fall Brawl doing 110,000 buys with Sting vs Hogan.

The take-home message is that Russo’s arrival did cause an initial interest but his being there absolutely smashed their TV, attendance and PPV buys, but alternatives to Russo weren’t much (if any) better.[/vc_column_text][/vc_accordion_tab][/vc_accordion][vc_column_text]• Vince Russo Detractors: One thing that annoyed me was a few times he’d parrot negative statements about himself and dismissing them as they’re from “Vince Russo detractors”, as if it’s a magical wand illigitimising any accurate complaints. He does admit blame for a few things but not others (e.g. blames Bischoff over Spike/TNA’s problems, not Spike being furious over Dixie hiring Russo behind their back)
• I asked about David Arquette: “I don’t know if he’s considered a celebrity” but he was extremely respectful towards the business, as opposed to many celebrities backstage. Russo or Arquette as a better champion? Russo is a big chap and could probably take him (laughs).
• Bash at the Beach 2000 (Jarrett lays down for Hogan, shoot promo on Hogan) : The night was all pre-planned; he told and Hogan agreed he’d cut a scathing promo about him after he left. The point of contention was Hogan and Russo didn’t know the specifics of the promo. Hogan read the dirtsheets the next day saying Russo got one over on him and his ego is now hurt, and files a lawsuit.
• Silly gimmicks: Doesn’t regret or would take back doing anything (besides Oklahoma – whom he apologised and made peace with JR years ago) and says his goal was to have you see something new, that you’d remember (the Popemobile, anything on a pole, Viagra, Judy Bagwell on a Forklift, Arquette) (this all got huge laughs) [That’s awesome and all, but you were brought into WCW and TNA to improve their TV, not lose them tens of millions!]
• Wishes: He wanted to go to a more reality TV style where wrestlers would have to react to whatever Russo was doing, which was unscripted.
• New Blood: Working with Bischoff was immediately never going to work. They’re very different people; Bischoff is an excellent businessman whilst Russo is a creative writer.

• Voodoo Kin Mafia: To get attention. If you’re #2, always gun for #1, if you’re #1, ignore everyone else. [Trashing your more-successful competition, where the angle will lead nowhere because you don’t have a working contract, comes off as really bush-league. This angle ended with VKM declaring victory via no-show (obviously!) which is really lame. To me, mentioning/trashing the competition sends out warning bells that your company isn’t doing great.]
• Failures: The Last Rites match was all his fault, the electrified steel cage wasn’t.
• Success of angles/writing: Largely hinges on budget of the company. WWF had no limitations (McMahon’s car with cement, the jeep with a rocket launcher) but TNA was severely hampered – noted Tara’s having a tarantoolah was cut because TNA wouldn’t pay $200 for the spider’s handler each week. [$200 or even $10,000 on a spider gimmick wouldn’t help! Whilst I imagine stunts like Kane’s Inferno match look better with more money thrown at it, successful angles don’t require a budget: think Batista’s split from Evolution and face turn against Triple H. It was all crafted in-ring/backstage over months with a perfect execution, no smashing cars required.]
• Hogan/Bischoff in TNA: They worked Dixie Carter for all they could and doesn’t blame them one bit. Dixie brokered the deal with them behind his back and didn’t know until they were hired. Bischoff’s main goal was to become Executive Producer and was the go-between with Spike and TNA, so he could broker a deal with Spike and his production company. [Yep.]
• The Death of TNA: After 2 weeks of Bischoff (to go-between) being replaced. When TNA die, Russo’s been gone for about 18 months, asks not to blame him! [Dixie lying to Spike about hiring Russo is her fault, but Russo as head writer caused the tailspin in paid attendance and PPV buys. Despite this, TNA kept paying him a salary to book the way he’s always booked, so they got what they paid for!]

• Benoit: Lashley worked with him shortly before the incident, saw him making contorted faces by himself, was freaked out.
• McMahon’s biggest failure: Putting Stephanie in charge of creative in 2002. She was in way over her head but being a family member supersedes business sense so that’s why RAW has been declining in ratings for 15 years. Joining WWE for a matter of hours in 2002 wouldn’t work immediately as Stephanie, his would-be new boss, treated him like a child. [Worth noting Steph left creative 2 years ago, she’s WWE’s Chief Brand Officer now, there hasn’t been any kind of drastic improvement…although now she’s on TV for 30 minutes each week – more Stephanie than ever!] 🙁
• V1 asked about McMahon pinning God back in 2006 but Russo hadn’t seen it.
• WWE Hall of Fame: They knew about this stuff (eg Snuka) beforehand and was gonna bite them in the ass, and there’s more to come. Scoff’s at H’s reasoning for leaving Chyna out of the HoF (because a kid might google her and her porno career would come up) despite having dodgy people in there already (rapists, wife-beaters, murderers etc). Says Brooklyn Brawler should be in the HoF because of his decades of service and not for his win/loss record.
• The Streak: Should’ve ended especially if it was Taker’s call, as he majorly respects Brock.
• Cena: His #1 guy he’d loved to have worked with; can’t be replaced, spends the first 2 minutes feeling out the crowd to adjust his promo; there’s no-one to take his place, but says he’d turn Cena heel (with no-one to take his place?!). #2 is Bray Wyatt, who they can’t write for.
• What WWE need to do to improve: UFC ‘took’ their PPV market (?!) and WWE responded by being more wrestling-heavy. Need to cater to the casual audience with more characters and storylines. [Poor creative is WWE’s main problem: Promos, characters and storylines are the most important factors in PPV success – the promise of an excellent match appeals to only hardcores. It doesn’t help that WWE churn out far too much content; so anything that could become hot is immediately beaten to death.]
• How would you have booked Sting in WWE: *He holds his head in his hands* (Got a big laugh) Says he should’ve won at Mania to add into the Rollins storylines and eventual Rollins/Aitch match.
• People he keeps in contact with: NY guys, Tommy Dreamer; Taz (who has the most New Yorker accent he’s heard). Downplays any animosity between him and Piper saying they did a podcast and were able to maintain a friendship afterwards.
• He plugs VinceRussoBrand.com a lot and also his DVDs on KayfabeCommentaries. He asked if anyone was a member of the brand, saw one hand go up!
• WWE Network: They’re not getting his $10. He gets someone else’s password if he needs to watch something!
• He stayed afterwards if anyone wanted more autographs etc, most people got ’em at halftime, so just shook his hand and thanked him for coming.

Overall: It was a very enjoyable listen, he’s a nice guy even if his facts are dodgy and comes across well. Worth the €25.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

September 29, 2015
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
WWE Beast In The East

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WWE Beast In The East house show
New Sumo Hall, Tokyo, Japan, July 4th, 2015 (10:30am BST)

I’m so glad they made the decision to air this on the Network. Despite having hallmarks of a house show, it’s very cool to see WWE in unfamiliar surroundings with a different setup. The production was more like NXT: harsh bright lighting, less rigid camerawork – no cutting every second or zooming in/shaking on moves like stomping. With Michael Cole & Byron Saxton on commentary (live from Stamford, CT) they weren’t shilling Sonic Burger or whatever bollocks about the United Authority – there were no promos, no backstage skits – they just talked about the match being presented and the background of the wrestlers, in a reserved, relaxed way. It was much more of a legitimate sporting event feel – really great stuff.

Two untelevised matches: Cesaro submitted Diego, and Lucha Dragons got the pin over New Day.

CHRIS JERICHO vs ADRIAN NEVILLE
Jericho has his light-up jacket, which is fun to see again. Cool to think the last light-up jacket used in Japan was Prince Devitt’s, who’s now in WWE but back in Japan! Mildly jarring remembering that Jericho’s in WWE (with Tough Enough) but doesn’t wrestle. He has more knacker tattoos than ever! Cole & Saxton talk about their pre-WWE backgrounds, it’s surreal, FMW (Jericho), DG (Pac). It makes Michael Cole especially sound so much smarter and credible. The lads are wearing matching purple attire. Jericho’s very windy and Neville’s SO much faster. Oddly they don’t work the crowd. Speaking of, there’s an awesome “I’m deaf” sign. It’s so odd to hear a Japanese crowd go through the usual WWE chants (this is awesome, later on ‘let’s go Cena, Cena sucks’ etc). There’s a couple of mistakes and very short sequences i.e. they’re calling this one in the ring, but overall it’s an entertaining match. Lots of Jericho countering/cutting off Neville. Y2J didn’t do any high-risk moves, he’s too old for that! The only real choreography was the finishing sequence. He catches Neville with a lionsault, Code Breaker, countered the Red Arrow with his knees and applies the Lion Tamer (a great treat! Something we only see with smaller opponents like Tyson Kidd) for the win in 16:20. I quite enjoyed it despite being a little sloppy and a little too long.

DIVAS CHAMPIONSHIP: NIKKI BELLA (c) vs PAIGE vs TAMINA
Nothing really of note here. Tamina gets teamed up on, replies with a Tower of Doom. She gets caught with a Nigel forearm from Nikki, who retains at 7:04.

BROCK LESNAR vs KOFI KINGSTON
No Heyman and instead of pyro, dry ice discharges! Brock is SO huge. A beast of a man, if you will. Cole mentions Brock being IWGP champion, which was this whole messy affair: Antonio Inoki left NJPW to create the IGF. Champion Brock left NJPW, but kept the title over a monetary dispute. He dropped this title to Kurt Angle at the first IGF show. Kurt then wrestled in NJPW and lost it to Shinsuke Nakamura, who became their new unified IWGP/IGF champion! (And all was right with the world again).
An obvious mismatch turned to be…an obvious mismatch. Kofi’s gameplan was to WCW Brock and counter suplexes by landing on his feet. After a minute Brock stops selling Kofi’s offense (looked great) and just catches him, suplex city over and over, F5 and pin. A blowout, dominant performance in a nothing match – just him being there was the draw. That felt quite house show-y but it gets over how big a deal Lesnar is, and god help Seth Rollins. He destroys/F5s New Day afterwards.

NXT CHAMPIONSHIP: KEVIN OWENS (c) vs FINN BALOR
I haven’t mentioned it but WWE have been doing a mini-documentary about Finn for the 3 weeks leading up to this match, it’s superb viewing. Devitt comes off as very humble, professional and dedicated. He loves legos and is big pals with Tensai. Becky Lynch is given tons of time talking about Fergal and going to his wrestling school. They show lots of photos, tweets and footage from his time in the Irish, English & Scottish indies, which is really amazing to see on WWE TV. They put the three parts together into a 26-minute mini-docu called “The Demon Revealed”, track it down!
Balor’s entrance is kinda in fast-forward, he didn’t revel in it. His full-on body paint has a Japanese demon head on his back, awesome. I LOVE the giving of flowers for championship matches. It’s so out of place with Demon Balor and KO. Finn thanks the Geisha whilst Owens throws his out onto the ramp. Fans throw coloured streamers for Balor’s entrance. Oh man, I’ve said it before but I wish someone worthy in WWE would take that gimmick of the streamers. Bryan (well, it’s too late now) or Itami or Balor himself would be perfect. After a dropkick into the barricade, you can see someone dressed as Curry Man. AWESOME. There’s also a Japanese Simon Gotch.
Owens spends a lot of time working the crowd, bowing to each side. He also builds up a big head of steam and into a headlock, shouting how he hates the country and everyone in it. Hilarious. He’s great. He successfully gets even me to hate him as they wrestle a WWE match, where the heel gets the shine for the vast majority; making it a slow affair, Devitt keeps getting cut off. Owens, the man with the most feuds of anyone in wrestling (Itami, Balor, Joe, Zayn, Cena) does the 5 Knuckle Shuffle. No chained sequences, just move to move; until Finn gains momentum, hitting a reverse & regular Bloody Sunday. Owens hits a sweet release german, cannonball and package slam; before a Green Bay Plunge from the 2nd rope. Some really sweet moves but at a heel’s pace. In the end, Balor his a running dropkick, sliding dropkick in the corner, and coup de grace double footstomp to win the NXT title at 19:26! Afterwards WWE HOF’er (lol) Tatsumi Fujinami congratulates Balor and the commentators and replays put Devitt over really strong.
Overall it spent a bit too much time with the heel being intentionally slowly dominant (we’ve seen even in WWE with Cena that KO can do a much faster pace) but it’s great to see the two have a prominent match, KO dropping the belt and fully graduating to the main roster, and Balor’s next in line to do so. This should’ve main-evented.
NXT right now is this weird (awesome) hybrid of extremely talented ROH/Japan guys and then dudes like Blake and Murphy, who REALLY need developmental. I wonder if people will still love NXT after Itami, Sayn and the most talented guys leave.

MAIN EVENT: JOHN CENA & DOLPH ZIGGLER VS KANE & KING BARRETT
A tag match main event? Featuring Dolph, Kane and Barrett no less? It must be a house show! Half an hour left to kill too. This match drags and drags, lots of time spent working over Ziggler. He eventually tags in Cena, who hits all of his signature moves on Barrett and gets the win at 23:51. Sadly Kane didn’t come out with a lei (Hawaiian wreath of flowers). That would’ve been boss. Hawaiian Kane. Since he went on Va-kane-tion. I’m so sorry.

Overall: I hope they do this televised house show every so often, it’s very cool. The house show mentality (for better and worse) made for a much more refreshing WWE production. 2 hours is perfect (like NXT Takeovers). Imagine if they had Cesaro/Brock instead. Could’ve used Ambrose & Rollins in the main event instead if they were intent on a tag match. If you’re sick of WWE’s 20-minute promos and 3-hour RAWs, I recommend giving this a watch. Great place to give Balor his first title in the company.

Link to the new Tough Enough/Tough Talk “Swamp Stories” review: OSWreview.com/tough-enough-602/[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Our brah Nate’s photos and live event experience:

[/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”flexslider_fade” interval=”10″ images=”4171,4172,4173,4174,4175,4176,4177,4178,4179,4180,4181,4182,4183,4184″ onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” img_size=”717×538″]tricker[/vc_gallery][vc_accordion active_tab=”false”][vc_accordion_tab title=”Nate’s live show experience:”][vc_column_text]The crowd were straight up smoking hot! Folks got into the austere tradition and the funky colorful side of it, too: a whole gang of gents were in full Cena garb, fans were in cosplay like mad (I’ll send pics of that soon), and there were plenty of old school diehards running around – I saw Warrior shirts, Big Gold Belts, and even a Bunny!! (no Adam Rose, tho). Lots of foreign dudes were there – we all had an instant international chant-heavy connection.

Hope you loved the show! The crowd did manage to crank out some pretty good English chants, yeah? – even bigger than what was heard on the Network broadcast (someone seriously needs to muzzle Michael Cole!!). Too bad they left out the Cesaro vs. Matador Diego match, and New Day vs. Lucha Dragons, which the crowd were insane to see. All in all, it was a smaller-sized venue full of fans who were genuinely happy to be there; no cynics or grumblers in sight. They were GLUED to the performance, too – nary a side conversation going on, and so much energy for every move!!

This really was one of those cool live shows that just can’t be done proper justice on a TV. Never mind the surprisingly satisfying in-ring product (even the divas’ and the main event!) – the atmosphere was all positive, all enthused, and all inclusive. I could even hear myself roaring out “Y-2-J!!” and “Fozzy Rocks!!” on the broadcast like a mad shameless mark, but folks always got into it – people were yelling out great J-English phrases all the while: “Supa-koo(l), mahn!!” and “Yooo rock-oo!!”. Even my girlfriend was bouncing up and down for every match – too damned cool!!

Also on that, we were trying to do the old Savage / Elizabeth-on-shoulder pose for the picture. Didn’t realize that the shirts were so obscured, but that’s what a sushi / saki warm-up snack will do to a guy… C heck out the square whitish photos of Sumo wrestlers in the top left wall area! World class ! Y2J looks when I yell FOZZY and MOONGOOSE!

On the dark matches:
Yeah, they were solid! Cesaro / Diego was nice and fast with competing “Ole’s!!”, and Cesaro really knew how to work-up the crowd. He wings Diego for 27! The Matadores used some hilarious twin-magic with hugging each other and spinning in a circle at ringside, and when Cesaro went after them, they split up and ran under opposite sides of the ring, so he dug them both out and squashed both. It culminated with Torito wiggle dancing on top and pouncing on Cesaro, so he caught the baby bull and gorilla-pressed him over the turnbuckle onto Fernando before getting the pin.

New Day got great heat with the clapping and chanting, and LDragons started well with their signature speed-over-power action (awesome). Xavier looked great, and even Big E looked faster than usual with Sin Cara crawling all over him. After New Day pummeled them for a bit, Dragons turned it around with a double tope dive through the ropes, and Calisto spun around and rolled up Xavier for the win. Great opener-style match.

The crowd was just manic for both matches, and they actually kept awake for the whole show after (though some did leave during the final match — Cena just moves at such a glacial pace..). Still a surprisingly good show, and so much more fun to watch without having to listen to the commentators — this actually restores a bit of my faith in WWE, which is great considering the drop in wrestling numbers worldwide…[/vc_column_text][/vc_accordion_tab][/vc_accordion][/vc_column][/vc_row]

July 6, 2015
Tough Enough S6E02 “Swamp Stories”

Massive drop in interest around the net about Tough Enough after the premiere. Can’t blame ’em! The show averaged 1,047,000 viewers (losing 162,000 from last week, which isn’t that bad!). USA now also have a 2-hour version of RAW as a lead in.

• The format of the show is Jericho/Renee Young and the judges (Bryan, Paige & Hogan) in front of a live studio in Full Sail University, cutting to pre-recorded footage from the week’s events. Then they trot out the contestants, prod them about whatever they find most interesting, and eliminate one of them via popular vote. I also watched last week’s Tough Talk, which is an informal half hour chat by Miz, talking to the contestants and the judges butting in. It’s actually better than Tough Enough!
• Where are Jericho’s eyebrows? I know you’re 45 but grow old gracefully! Botox in men is never cool. It’s like Buff Bagwell getting calf implants!
• The Judges admit that these 13 are the best of the 11,000 submissions & most have blended into the background. Oh jaysus!
• Really forced drama this week. It kicks off with women shouting at each other, Patrick (the black guy) cutting a promo on Alex, and later Daria crying.
• Patrick chastises Alex over knowing nothing about wrestling. Alex outs himself by saying “I don’t need to know anything about history. Knowledge means nothing”. Oddly they never showcase Patrick’s knowledge, even a little bit. Right there sealed his fate – as it’s also an insult to wrestling fans.
• Courage Challenge 1 at The Swamp: In “crocodile infested waters”, swim to the boat, retrieve a NXT title and return back. I only saw one croc, it was very far away and could’ve been fake! This is ZZ’s environment but he’s not a good swimmer. Dianna (former swim team in high school) absolutely blitzes everyone for the win, whilst Tanner decides to cheat by swimming to the land and running around to beat the other guys.
• Dianna says “Lake Placid ruined me for life” – dammit Jimmy king!
• Billy Gunn chews out Daria (the lesbian MMA bartender) for dropping her title in the swamp and she starts bawling. Seems REALLY fake. Boo!
• Courage Challenge 2: At the training centre, there’s Roman Reigns and his baby blue contact lenses! There’s just something wrong with a guy who got a spot in FCW thanks to his dad and was fast-tracked to the main roster and main event giving advice to trainees. I’d MUCH rather grizzled veterans, like Funlee or Regal. Unlike S1 of Tough Enough, their guests don’t spend a few minutes talking about themselves, which was a highlight of the show. I would’ve liked to have heard Roman speak, after all he did ‘overcome not knowing’! Roman’s task: take Bull Dempsy’s finish (giant whoopsie from the top rope). Em…nothing comes of this, they’re all asked to take a back bump off the top rope instead. Patrick does the best (Billy quips ‘good job Barry Horowitz!’) and Dianna has the worst.
• Next episode I need to count the number of times they start clapping. It’s so phony and desperate, it lasts an ice age.
• Back at the camp, there’s lots of women shouting over each other calling each other bitches. Russo would be proud!
• It doesn’t help that this show has a horrendous soundtrack, a bland synth pop music that’s immediately forgettable; Vince saying ‘it’s trash, but sure this is what the idiot kids like these days’.
• Elimination Time! Bottom 3: Alex “I don’t need to know about wrestling”, Dianna (despite winning the first challenge is always arguing, so ‘doesn’t have locker-room etiquette’) and Sara Lee. No, not Sara Lee! I like what I’ve seen in the 10 seconds she’s had on camera. Her final plea is saying she won’t start fights to get on camera, and to give her a go. Was happily surprised to see she got 50% of the votes, and with only 15%, Alex gets the hoof.

Overall, this this not a good show! Their big star (ZZ) isn’t good at wrestling or has cardio but seems like a lovely dude; wasn’t featured much here. I wonder if USA are regretting picking up this show, and if the deal was made before Austin pulled out.

TOUGH TALK

• The Miz (Y2J calls him Jericho Jr.) is a FAR better host than Jericho. He’s also less overbearing than last week so he’s actually really good.
• He mentions being thrown out of the locker-room and changing in the corridor over disrespect. It’s either attributed to no-one (or JBL) but it was actually Benoit that threw him out.
• It’s main plus is that it’s unscripted, and Miz does a great job bouncing off and reacting to the contestants and judges.
• The judges tear into Alex, who doesn’t explain himself well. They end up telling him he needs to try to learn when he gets in the door.
• Paige is coming off as quite boorish and vindictive, jutting in with whatever to amuse herself and work the crowd. Maybe it’s that she’s 22 and been on the main roster for just over a year but I find her quite obnoxious as a judge. Every time she shouts ‘this is my house’ on TV it’s go-away heat.
• Bryan’s such a lovely guy. He’s the best. Everyone loves Daniel. He applauds Alex & Patrick for going in the water without being able to swim, as he can’t swim and wouldn’t want to be in their position. (Paige admits she can’t swim, and Hogan kinda agrees; which has to be bollocks – he’s all about dog-paddling past the buoys!) How come wrestlers can’t swim?
• Daria (who dropped her NXT belt in the pond during the competition) is chastised over not retrieving it from a coloured, murky, infested water that she doesn’t love the business and all that. Hogan twisting it into a respect thing will kill her.
• ZZ is asked about pie, and he says women are like pie, they are hot but when they’re cool they are sweet, and gets a round of applause.
• Gabi (the gorgeous Brazilian) is pressed about her line on Tough Enough, saying Roman Reigns makes her wet. They then jab her husband in the crowd (Bryan asks and find out it’s her 3rd marriage, to this MUCH OLDER man) but he lovingly says he trusts her and they’re committed to her success. Paige says he doesn’t wear the pants in the family.
• Oddly, they repeat the scrolling tweets at the bottom – I hope it’s laziness rather than only 30 people tweeting about Tough Enough!
• The show is actually 30 minutes long (no ads) which does drag in the final 7 minutes.

Overall: Miz & Bryan are really holding up this show. That’s about it. I’ll be back next week to review episode 3! Are you still watching Tough Enough? Tomorrow I’ll give my thoughts on the Tokyo Japan show 🙂

July 5, 2015
Tough Enough S6E1 “Boot Camp or Bust”

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Wow, nobody is talking about Tough Enough! Here’s a review of the little engine that could, but probably shouldn’t, but is anyway.

Review of the Competition Special here

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• The première of Season 6 of Tough Enough! Originally going to be a Network exclusive, WWE managed to get a deal with USA Network. It’ll be free on either WWE.com or YouTube soon for countries without a TV deal. Austin was supposed to be the host, but the repeated delays caused him to drop out of the project (hence Chris Jericho instead). Taped at Full Sail University Studios (i.e. the same media university where they tape NXT), the live portion is shot in a condensed American idol setup; smattering of fans around the host area, which is a ring with a long desk on it, facing the titantron where the contestants are standing.
• The show is set up like the finale of S1 of Tough Enough: judges and contestants in the building live, but most of the show is pre-recorded, highly-edited footage from the past week. The judges are Daniel Bryan, Paige and Hulk Hogan; which are great choices; DB being the younger veteran, Paige being a more sincere/honest & most prominent Diva and Hogan being the hot-dogging old coot.
• The show ended up doing a 0.87 (1.2m viewers) which is about ONE THIRD of what last season’s première did, and below USA Network’s 1.5m average. So this is the “boy” of WWE TV shows! News credit: PiledriverWrestling.net
• Only about 15 minutes (of the 41) of the show is live: the hello and rules at the start, a HIGHLY OBNOXIOUS 1 minute 21 second clapping segment (I shit you not) and the end where they reveal the final three, stall for time to allow voting, and send one packing.
• A small point but the rules are poorly written! The first sentence ends with “each week” and the second sentence starts with “each week”. Convoluted explanation where the judges choose their bottom three and the least-voted for gets eliminated. Judges have one “save” per season but are asked before hearing the results, so their save could be thrown away. So let’s get to it!

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• They go through the contestants, expecting you to have already watched the Competition Special (which would’ve made for a much better 1st episode)
• Always interesting to see how WWE edit the footage to show the story they want to tell – they earmark Dianna for failure as they nab a sound clip of her already complaining (“ugh, great”) about a challenge and cut to her clucking about her fiancé. Later she gets heel heat as although she says she’s hurting, she does the best stamina drills out of the women, then sneaks off to see her fiancée and gets into an argument with the Brazilian Gabi. In the live element she complains about how the editing portrayed her.
• Physical drills at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando (site of WM24). Massive blurring, it’s like 2002 all over again, likely didn’t want to give free advertising or plug the soccer team Orlando City.
• The house they’re staying in is called “the barracks”, a basic military-style digs, not flashy like previous years. It looks pretty ghetto, but it’s different for WWE, who always want to look lavish.
• ZZ’s 18 and can’t drink, so gets in the hot-tub with Patrick instead. He makes an analogy of it being like soup. If it has only meat, it’s a stew. Amazing.
• The main story is how 4 bigger guys get jealous of MMA guy Tanner, who smoked them physically in the first drill. They come off like douchebags. There’s a great little storyline of cocky Tanner saying he can do double of what the other guys do. Patrick blows up about it (which seemed very rehearsed, much like the 4 lads getting together to bitch about Tanner). The men’s average is for drills was 8, and Tanner does 16. Suck it, everyone else!
• In the live elimination portion (3 men, i.e. gender-neutral eliminations) ZZ’s called out for being unfit. Since it’s a weekly evaluation it’s a tall order for him to get up to scratch in such a short time, hopefully he won’t get bumped in a few weeks, he’s the best contestant there. I initially thought Paige was calling out Sarah Lee (who had the least amount of screen-time of anyone – which could mean getting eliminated, or perhaps the Maven-type deal where she’s a front runner, and won’t be featured until later on in the Season) but Paige calls out the completely forgettable Joshua, who evades being cut. Hank completely ducks the “he’s the worst…including the women” suffix he made out ZZ being physically unfit. I think just Paige asking the question, and the shifty response so close to voting really hurt him, and ended up getting him eliminated. He could’ve said he meant since there are two separate contracts (one male/one female) to win but he’s the overall worst. Daria said something about risk, and the whole thing wasn’t very good at all.

Overall, the most likeable person on the show is Daniel Bryan, by a wide margin! Then ZZ, and that’s about it. Feels like a soulless contestant show, not a lot of personality, but it’s early days, and I’m still happy to watch it. This live element is new but overall it’s the same mindset they’ve always had with Tough Enough, for better and worse. I hope one time they’ll only get indy wrestlers, it’d be amazing. So it’s like True Detective Season 2, not looking great but I’ll watch the next few and see how it pans out. If you can’t be arsed watching the show, I got ya covered.

Review of the Competition Special I posted earlier today!
Latest update on the next OSW Review!
Super OSW 64 returns this Saturday![/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Cool update, Shotzi (aka Ashley, the electric red-haired model/wrestler who had to withdraw) commented about her time on our facebook page! Here’s what she wrote:

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June 24, 2015
Tough Enough Competition Special

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Thoughts on the special:

• This show was the first few rounds of tryouts at the WWE performance centre, 40 were chosen from over 11,000 entries, whittled down to a final 13.
• Trainers: Booker T, Lita, Billy Gunn (Tensai is shown in clips as well). Billy admonished a hopeful for swearing, saying it was offensive to women. Thanks, Mr. Ass, the guy who made his career saying “suck it!”
• One-legged Army vet Mike was a definite with his personality and backstory, but withdrew due to medical concerns.
• Jericho is the host, he’s so much less intimidating than Austin, always smiling with his showbiz pizazz, always sounding like a nice guy. When choosing between two hopefuls he’d talk to one and swerve, it’s the other that’s being chosen. I know it’s for the cameras but it felt very unprofessional.
• They chose unique model/indie wrestler Ashley (with the electric red hair who keeps saying “ballsy”) but she also had to withdraw.
• Same with Nick, a powerlifter who had Gears of War, Zelda AND Resident Evil tattoos. Devastated.
• There’s a black exotic dancer who looks great but doesn’t know anything about wrestling. Shockingly he doesn’t make the first cut.
• Zack Ryder’s mate The Big O doesn’t make the cut in general, which is surprising and saddening.
• Most featured are Daria (“The Jersey Devil” who came out as a lesbian during the audition, is an MMA fighter and bartender) and gator wrestler ZZ, who is awesome and is tailor-made for reality shows and WWE. They cut him (to add drama, I imagine) and slot him in after another fails his medical.
• Also of note, Georgia (Lance Storm’s student from Australia) and Gabi, the gorgeous Brazilian model who’s already shown as being a bitch.

At just over an hour long, it felt about 20 minutes too long, just a new season of the same idea, a highly-edited reality show focusing on any kind of drama. However it’s always fun to see so many different personalities vying to get into WWE. Tough Enough officially started last night, review coming tonight!

The FULL competition special can be found (legally) on YouTube! Here it is:

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Cool update, Shotzi (aka Ashley, the electric red-haired model/wrestler) commented about her time on our facebook page! Here’s what she wrote:

Click here for my review of episode 1 of Tough Enough![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

June 24, 2015
DayDreamFigures Placecards!

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Hey yo! You know the sweet action figure placecards we’re using for the X7 Saga? They’re done by the lovely DayDream Figures! They shoot a bunch of pics and my favourite(s) make it into the episode. Check out the photos, plus a bonus KANE FRIZZ photo!

Follow @DayDreamFigures!
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June 16, 2015
Steve Austin Podcast: Paul Heyman

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A surprising return of Stone Cold to the WWE Network, as the softball-throwing Chris Jericho had replaced him for a brace of Network interviews, and Austin’s no longer involved in Tough Enough (due to continual delays in shooting). But to keep those new Network subscribers interested, they’ve paired up two of the biggest names in wrestling for an hour-long chat. Let’s do it to it!

From San Antonio (not backstage at RAW this time). Heyman asks Austin what’s the capital of Nebraska – it’s Lincoln. Super proud I knew that! They mention they’ve both been on each other’s podcast multiple times so they had to try find something new to talk about. There’s almost no ECW talk.

Austin joining Heyman’s Dangerous Alliance in WCW.
He recounts meeting Austin and fawns over how he hit the ropes and locked up, in that it looked like a fight rather than a smooth choreographed motion. DA was supposed to be the new Horsemen but Heyman persuaded Dusty to add a 5th (Austin). Paul E. does a great Dusty impression.

Brock Lesnar
Austin asks to go hunting with Brock. Heyman mentions Lesnar always goes back to being a farmer, and loves his kids 1st, and WWE 2nd.

More clients? (Both avoid the term “Heyman guys”)
Paul smartly bats it away saying he’s Brock’s guy so it never works with other wrestlers; except for Punk, because they were friends and he can carry the ball himself (so Heyman was in a different, supporting role). No mention of Cesaro, Ryback, Axel etc. He says Punk probably wishes he joined UFC sooner, and will either shock everyone in UFC or get his ass kicked quickly, and is man enough to take his chances.

WWE’s selling
Austin uses Jake Roberts’ DDT as a springboard to rant about the STATE of selling in WWE, moreso that simple moves that used to be finishers are now ineffective. Heyman smartly turns it into pitching giving Mark Henry a headlock as a new finish, that is protected by how it’s sold/presented by commentators and keeping it up over 30 weeks. The way Heyman sold it sounded like it’d absolutely work. As long as he has to tell Orton he can’t use the headlock anymore!

WWE’s Promos
Heyman recounts getting 4 minutes to close a WCW show putting everyone over, and forgetting to sell Starrcade; Dusty asked him “Where’s the Money?” i.e. his promo drew nothing since he forgot to mention Starrcade. So “what am I selling” is the basis of his promos, telling people who he is, why he’s here and what he is getting over, e.g. Lesnar defeating the Undertaker at WrestleMania. They don’t put any specific blame on anyone; Austin just offhand mentions a pet peeve of wrestlers talking when the mic isn’t up to their mouth.

Vince McMahon Sr.
He recounts snapping a picture of Vince Sr. with Andre and making his first $50 in wrestling out of it. He absolves Vince Jr. of his ruthless territory-killing by postulating if Vince Sr. would’ve done it if he was in the position at the time. No, he wouldn’t have. Sure he was with the NWA until 1983.

Heyman leaving WWE after December to Dismember
Says the fighting with McMahon over ECW got personal, also says he was burnt out.

WCW Road stories ending in getting blacklisted from a rent-a-car in North Carolina.

Heyman asks a few questions to Austin
Cena’s Springboard Stunner: He repeats what he’d already said; it doesn’t bother him, but since everyone kicks out of it, it’s ineffective and a wasted move.
Wanna wrestle Brock at WM? : Feels very contrived, both go into shill mode about WrestleMania 32 in Cowboy Stadium and WWE flash a graphic up. WWE would want a big Texas star to get over 100,000 fans. Austin starts cutting an actual promo and pitches a Texas Death match. Disingenuous and awkward is a poor way to end the show.

Overall: A non-confrontational, easy-going chat between two friends. It lost steam with Heyman’s rambling road stories but with two extremely engaging personalities, it’s enjoyable, but not a can’t-miss listen.

If you wanna know more about Heyman’s final days in ECW (in 2006)
Paul repeatedly told Vince all day long that “the people are going to throw this back in our face” with the horrific December to Dismember booking (RVD/CM Punk out first, Lashley winning). Vince stood his ground, let his vision pan out, and it did, and was universally hated, just as Paul predicted. The following day, Heyman was sent home, still under contract, given the boot from ECW Creative. Vince cited slumping TV ratings and a disgruntled talent roster as the cause i.e. he squarely placed the blame of Vince’s failure on Heyman.
Heyman would officially leave WWE a few months later, turning down Stephanie’s offer to go back to being head of Developmental creative. The one big positive of D2D being such a failure, it cancelled all future single-branded PPVs: All specials had all 3 rosters on it from then on. From then out, under Dave Lagana and then Dusty and the WWE braintrust, ECW meandered on until it was replaced with NXT (the talent show).

Previous Podcast Reviews:
Austin with Vince McMahon
Austin with Triple H
Jericho with John Cena

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June 4, 2015