WWE

Why the casual fans stopped watching wrestling

Julian Cannon 1 Comment

I think it’s safe to say that when you look at the history of professional wrestling, there are two periods that stand-out when it comes to mass success within the industry–the early WrestleMania Era (I-III) and, of course, The Attitude Era. Although The New Generation Era (1992-1997) and the Ruthless Aggression Era (2002-2008) were my favorite periods of watching, Those are the only quite defined moments in history when the entire world was watching the WWE. Yes, you can argue that there were some other spikes over that period of time, but none nearly as significant as those two occasions when EVERYBODY was talking about wrestling around the water cooler.

When the wrestling business is down, it’s clearly attributed to the mass audience, or casual viewers of professional wrestling, no longer watching the product. For a number of reasons they have tuned into something else. The audience that you see watching RAW today, is the “core” wrestling audience, or the “wrestling fan base”. They are die-hard fans who eat, sleep and breathe professional wrestling, and will watch it for three hours every Monday night regardless of how good . . . or, bad it is. I always say this when it comes to the “hardcore” wrestling fans—if the word WRESTLING is somewhere in the title of the show—they’re watching it—PERIOD.

In my case, I am NO DOUBT a casual wrestling fan. Throughout my lifetime I have watched wrestling when I am throughly entertained by it—and shut it off when I’m not. If not for my responsibilities to this website . . . I WOULD NOT be watching wrestling today (12/8/2014) but I will this Friday.

So, as a casual wrestling fan, the type of fan that the industry NEEDS in order to one day thrive again, what exactly is it that turns us off to the product? Well, the truth is . . . there are a number of things and I will explain the main issue.

So here’s the first disconnect:

WRESTLERS NEED TO LOOK LIKE WRESTLERS

When a casual wrestling fan turns on a wrestling show, they expect to see actual WRESTLERS. And, to the masses, the definition of a WRESTLER is much different from that of the “die-hard” fan, or “core” wrestling audience. You see, to a casual fan, the draw of a wrestler has little to actually do with the way he “wrestles”. To us, a wrestling match is a wrestling match. Yes, some are better than others, and some are worse, but—we’re not tuning in for the “match” per say. If that were the case then we’d be tuning in every week because we would indeed be “wrestling” fans.

When it comes to casual wrestling fans, we like the wrestlers who are “larger than life”. The guys with the big frames, or impressive physiques that we all wish we had, but don’t, so we live vicariously through them. Now there are exceptions to that rule, for instance take a Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart, but those guys have very distinctive characters which made up for their “lack of” physical presence. Casual wrestling fans are drawn to the wrestlers that we grew up watching, maybe the business was a bit more selective back then who knows, but whatever the case—all those guys just LOOKED like wrestlers. They didn’t look like you and me, regular guys, they looked “different”, “special”, they just stood out in the crowd. There was no one like a “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, or a King Kong Bundy, Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan, Mick Foley, the “Rock” or, of course “Stone Cold”. No one looked like someone you would run into on the street. And, if they did, then they would be road kill much like your Barry Horowitz’s. In the mind of a casual fan, when you tune into a wrestling show—WRESTLERS need to look like WRESTLERS.

For whatever reason, I know of a few, that has changed over the years. For starters, the majority of the wrestlers of today are not as “jacked-up” as years passed, largely due to the decrease in steroids over the years. You read how in the past even though a wrestler was never “directly” told to go on the juice, it was implied that if they did . . . they would find themselves higher up on the card. And, let’s face it, many did it on their own accord because it was a “business decision” as they thought it would help their stock in the long run–regardless of what the consequences may be later on in life.

Today, with drug testing in place, the importance of being a physical specimen, has been replaced with the idea of being a “great worker”. One that can actually “wrestle”. Now, where that is a must to the “core” wrestling fan, it’s not as important to the “casual” fan. Again, remember, we don’t watch every week because we’re NOT necessarily fans of the wrestling. I’ve always said this when it comes to casual wrestling fans, when there is a guy on a wrestling show on TV that —regardles of his acrobatic performance in the ring—you actually BELIEVE YOU CAN TAKE—then you have a problem on your hands.

Look at current history. The guys that the “core” wrestling fans see as over are guys like; CM Punk, Daniel Bryan , Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose. Now again, even though the audiences who pay to see them are reacting to them, that doesn’t mean that the world is, or even the “casual” wrestling fan. All great wrestlers, and tremendous talents in their own right, but to casual wrestling fans these guys just look like “regular guys” when you stand them up next to a Brock Lesnar, or a John Cena, or a Roman Reigns even. Now granted, the WWE brain trust haven’t exactly stepped up to the plate in supplying these guys with defined characters that could help make up for some of their lack off physical prowess, but still, at the end of the day if I ran into any one of them on the street—they wouldn’t scare me. There is nothing “different”, or “unique” about them—they just look like ordinary guys (with the exception of Daniel Bryan, of course). That’s why the WWE never really pushed CM Punk, and were hesitant to push Bryan Daniel, not because of their wrestling ability, but because these guys may not necessarily appeal to the MASSES. And, that’s just fact, not opinion. Go back and look at your numbers when these guys were on top. No question that both Rollins and Ambrose are the two best “workers” on the WWE roster right now, NO DOUBT, but, when it comes to business . . . where are they getting the WWE? Look at the numbers . . . the casual fans are not watching.

The majority of the people reading this post are going to kill me with their comments, and you know why? The Internet Wrestling Community is made up of DIE-HARD wrestling fans! Casual wrestling fans don’t go to sites to find out about the insiders of the business. they don’t even know that they exist. To them, its real simple—WRESTLERS NEED TO LOOK LIKE WRESTLERS! They need to look different, stand-out, be unique and posses a LARGER THEN LIFE presence. That’s what we grew up on, that’s what we want! It’s just part of the wrestling business, and always has been. Without even knowing the card, go look at the WrestleMania I roster. Just look at what those guys looked like PHYSICALLY! Hogan, Piper, Bundy, Orndorf, JYD, Big John Studd, Andre the Giant (OK, an exception to the rule), Jimmy Snuka, Iron Shiek, Nikolai Volkoff, ALL THESE GUYS LOOKED LIKE WRESTLERS!!! Can you say the same about today’s crop? Now, face it, much of that also has to do with lack of character development, and I’ll get into that tomorrow, but out of all those guys listed—do you think you could actually take one of them? They all just had a “presence”, and the physical aspect played a huge part. Casual fans want super heroes—we always have . . . we always will.

But, at some point, the wrestling business actually started listening to the internet fans. Somewhere along the line “work rate” became more important than “physical presence”. And, again, when the vast majority of the casual fans could give two HURRICANRANAS about how good a wrestling match is, or a wrestling match at all—you’ve lost them. And, the WWE continues to go down that road. Just watching NXT last week I saw first hand how they are getting further and further away from what the MASSES want. Yeah, I saw some UNBELIVABLE wrestlers on that show, BUT—are they going to appeal to the masses—or, do they just look like regular guys?

I guess all that is a part of STAR POWER, and unfortunately, physical appearance has something to do with that in the majority of the cases.

Hey man, don’t hate the player . . . hate the game.

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SENYCC: WWE Superstar Batista Interview

Julian Cannon 1 Comment

WWE Superstar “The Animal” Batista was at the Special Edition of New York Comic Con last weekend and I with a few others had the opportunity to interview him. He is also co-starring in Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” as he plays as Drax the Destroyer. The film will be released on August 1, 2014

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SO BATISTA, YOU HAVE RETURNED TO THE WWE AFTER AN 4 YEAR ABSCNECE, WHAT IS THE LOCKER ROOM LIKE NOW COMPARED TO 4 YEARS AGO?

“Well not much has changed really except for the new hungry kids from NXT I have seen for the first time a couple of weeks ago. Guys like Adrian Neville, Sami Zayn, The Ascension and many more young guys who want to come up to the main roster, NXT is the future of this business and just like guys like me, John Cena, Randy Orton and Brock Lesnar, we went through the system in OVW. But to end the question, the locker room has been great to me.”

NOW YOU HAVE HAD MANY MATCHES AT WRESTLEMANIA, IF YOU HAD TO CHOOSE TWO OF THOSE MATCHES AS YOU’RE FAVORITES,  WHAT WOULD THOSE MATCHES BE?

“(Laughs) well the first one would be against The Undertaker at WrestleMania 23 because we stole the show on that night. When his music hits and he made his entrance, I was a bit nervous. But I was happy that we tore the house down and he trusted me. Undertaker is a good friend of mines and we have that chemistry that some others have in the ring. I would also say that my feud with him that year was one of my personal favorites as well. My second favorite is the match against Triple H at WrestleMania 21. He was the teacher and I was the student. I felt the buildup was great and the match was great. We both beat each other up in that classic match. People can say what they want about Triple H but he is the true ring general and he wants to see the younger talent go up to the level that he was.”

THAT IS GREAT TO HEAR BATISTA. NOW YOU WERE PART OF EVOLUTION FOR A FEW YEARS, FROM YOU’RE VIEW, WHAT DID YOU LIKE ABOUT IT?

“Evolution to me was great. I can tell you that it was also an learning experience too. You have Ric Flair who is one of the greatest champions of all time and Triple H who is (at that point) becoming the greatest of all time and beginning to submit his legacy, and me and Randy Orton being groomed to becoming the next faces of the WWE. Most factions like DX or NWO Didn’t have the younger stars setting out to be ready for the main event scene with the exception of Triple H. This is what is missing with factions these days. But look at The Shield. Those 3 guys ( Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns) can work their butts off and I love working with the 3 of them. Those 3 will have a great future.”

YOU ARE STARRING IN MARVEL’S “GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY” AS “Drax the Destroyer”, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT PLAYING THIS COMIC CHARACTER WHEN MARVEL SIGNED YOU?

“I have been a fan of Marvel Comics and playing Drax has been a great experience. Originally it was going to be either Isaiah Mustafa, Patrick Wade or Jason Momoa but I was selected. The movie has ties to The Avengers and will connect to other Marvel movies in the future. Drax is a human resurrected as a green warrior for the sole purpose of killing Thanos (the villain in the final-scene tease of Avengers). His powers include flight, super-strength and energy blasts and when the movie premiers in the United States, everyone will see how I will pull the character off. but it was very fun and Chris Pratt was a great guy to work with as well. The makeup took very long to put on though. I believe it was about 4 hours and after we were finished shooting, and then it took nearly 90 minutes to take it all off of me.”

WHAT ARE YOU’RE THOUGHTS ON THE WWE NETWORK?

“The WWE Network is great, I have waited a long time for it to finally launch. For Fans who have never seen what the days of the WWE or WCW was like in the 1980’s or early 1990’s, you need to check the stuff out. It is not only great stuff and matches, but it also educates the fans of the superstars of yesterday who were big such as Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior, Randy Savage, Paul Orndorff, The British Bulldogs, Andre’ The Giant and many more. There is a lot of variety for the fans to watch and the Network can change the way we all watch TV very soon. Even a lot of my matches are on the WWE Network right now as we speak.”

IF YOU WOULD BOOK RAW FOR ONE NIGHT, HOW WOULD YOU BOOK IT?

“That is a great question. Well I would not get into the whole details but I would have more in ring wrestling, less segments and little comedy. I think the fans would want that too so that way it can balance everything in a good flow. I left a few years ago due to me not agreeing with the direction with the company that it was going too. But now I am happy to be back.”

YOU HAVE RECIEVED MUCH HEAT FROM THE FANS SINCE THE ROYAL RUMBLE, DO YOU LET THAT BOTHER YOU WHILE YOU ARE IN MATCHES AT ALL?

“When I came back earlier this year, it was one of the best moments of my career. I went into the Rumble match and won it and I got booed out the arena. The names such as “Bluetista” or “Bootista” does not bother me. If the fans were in my shoes getting that kind of reception, they would either take it as it is or let that distract them. Whether the fans cheer or boo, I do not care at all as long as I am getting an reaction. It is better than no reaction at all because if you were in the ring with dead silence from the crowd, then that is a problem. Some fans take the sport too seriously with them attacking other fans and wrestlers on twitter and I can say that it has gotten out of hand, but the fans can say whatever they want.”

TO END THE INTERVIEW, DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR ANYBODY WHO WANTS TO GET INTO WRESTLING? “Yes I do. if this is for you, go for it. What we do in that ring, we do it for about 300 days a year. You have to have the passion to succeed and to be happy wrestling. Don’t let anybody tell you that you cannot do it because if you believe that you can do it, you will make it. When I was training in the WCW Power Plant, some of the trainers thought I would not make it. but I proved them wrong once I got trained more in WWE. There are other promotions out there but the WWE is the MLB of wrestling. Every night feels like the World Series and WrestleMania is the one major show you would want to make it too. Dreams come true if you stick to what you are planning and what you want to get out of it.”

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send me email to: Julian@alternativemindz.com

Why do I believe that the New Generation Era is the most underrated era in WWE history?

Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

In my opinion WWE New Generation Era (1992-1997) is the most underrated era of all time.

I mean a lot of WWE Fans consider Ruthless Agression Era great and only second to Attitude Era. I don’t know how we can call that underrated. Yeah, Ruthless Agression Era is a very good era. We have awesome wrestlers and matches.

But, with WWE New Generation Era, a lot of WWE Fans consider it’s slow and cartoonish. Yeah, that’s true. WWE had a lot of stupid cartoonish unrealistic gimmicks during this era. But, anyway this era is pretty much underrated.

WWE New Generation is the era which made The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, and Bret Hart Legends what we saw today. It wasn’t Attitude Era which made them what they are today, instead during Attitude Era they’re just helping newer stars such as The Rock and Steve Austin.

And also WWE Fans shouldn’t keep saying this era is bad. I mean, we have Bret Hart as our Icon. This man put on great matches after great matches every single night. Who can forget Bret vs Owen at WM 10 and Steel Cage Summerslam 1994? Also who can forget Bret vs HBK at WM 12 IronMan match? And HBK vs Razor Ramon Ladder WM 10 and Summerslam 1995? Also the great battles in Boiler Room Brawl and Buried Alive matches between The Undertaker and Mankind?

Also, Diesel has held the WWE championship for over a year.

I know WWE New Generation Era had a lot of bad things, but it’s one of the best era ever in WWE History and the era I started watching wrestling back In 1993. Those matches mentioned above are Legendary matches and it made many careers out if it. But in my conclusion, The ruthless Aggression (2002-2008) and The New Generation Eras (1992-1997) are my favorites. The faces of this era were Bret Hart, Diesel (Kevin Nash), Razor Ramon (Scott Hall), Undertaker and Shawn Michaels and Sid.

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Who is Mr. Wrestlemania: The Undertaker or Shawn Michaels?

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By Julian Cannon

There has been one question I have started to think about ever since WrestleMania 29. Who is the real Mr. Wrestlemania? Is it The Show Stopper Shawn Michaels or The Phenom The Undertaker. I’m going to take an overall look from their early Wrestlemania matches to the middle and the climax of their matches against each other a few years ago. Here we go.

THE BEGINNING

Shawn Michaels came into the WWE before The Undertaker as a member of the tag team The Rockers with Marty Janetty in 1988. The team would have great tag team matches with teams such as the Killer Bees, the Quebecers, Hart foundation, Demolition and more. The Rockers were arguably the start of the high-flying tag teams we would see now in the 21st century. Shawn would break away from the team and become a singles competitor . At WrestleMania VIII, in his first pay-per-view singles match, Michaels defeated El Matador. Both men had simultaneously eliminated each other from that year’s Royal Rumble and the feud started from there until Wrestlemania VIII. Shortly after that, he would wrestle his only one-on-one match against Randy Savage for the WWE Championship at the UK Rampage PPV in April 1992. Wrestlemania 10 would be the next Wrestlemania for Shawn, as this time it was against Razor Ramon for the undisputed Intercontinental Championship. The match was extremely great and HBK was starting to be the “Show Stopper” that he was becoming in the future.

The Undertaker made his debut in the 1990 Survivor Series as the mystery tag partner for Ted Dibiase. The gimmick was an unseasonable wrestler and this scared the kids around the world. I don’t think that anybody else can pull this character off like The Undertaker did at the time. His first two Wrestlemania opponents were Jimmy Snuka and Jake “The Snake” Roberts. Their matches were OK but not that special. Then in Wrestlemania 9, he faced the Giant Gonzales and many fans and observers call this the worst match in Taker’s career. I don’t think that it was his fault, though. Undertaker wins here by disqualification (his only Wrestlemania win by DQ). The next Wrestlemania, which is Wrestlemania 10, Undertaker missed this event due to an injury.

There was the first part. Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker were on the rise to fame and their paths have not crossed yet. At this time Shawn had the better matches than The Undertaker, but let’s blame Giant Gonzales for that horrible match at Wrestlemania 9. Next I will cover from Wrestlemania 11-17.

RISE OF WRESTLEMANIA STARDOM

What can I explain about Wrestlemania 11? The match card was a little out of place. Shawn Michaels would go against his bodyguard, Kevin Nash, by winning the Royal Rumble earlier that year. He would not win the match, but he put up a hell of a performance. Undertaker would go face-to-face with King Kong Bundy and he would pick up the win here in a short match. I would guess that Wrestlemania 11 got too much attention from Bam Bam Bigelow vs Lawrence Taylor, that it overshadowed all the other matches on the card. 1996, we would get The Undertaker vs Kevin Nash which was a very underrated feud in my opinion. The feud started when The Undertaker made his return during the Cage Match for the WWE Championship between Nash and Bret Hart by costing Nash the championship and the match. Their match at Wrestlemania was The Undertaker’s best performance in a Wrestlemania since his Wrestlemania debut. Shawn Michaels would go against Bret Hart in a 60 minute Iron Man match, which would go on as one of the greatest Wrestlemania matches of all time. Shawn picks up the WWE championship for the first time in this one. By the end of 1996 to mid 1997,the WWE was going through a rapid change due to WCW kicking their ass in the ratings every week and ECW being an alternative to both WWE and WCW. From January to March, there was going to be a rematch between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 13 but due to many backstage incidents, it was scrapped. So the main event for this Wrestlemania was The Undertaker going against Sid for the WWE championship in which the undertaker wins the belt for the second time in his career. Shawn did not wrestle in this event so taker takes the lead in this one. Now, in the summer of 1997,their paths finally crossed when Shawn became the referee for the undertaker vs Bret Hart match for the WWE title in which Bret wins due to Shawn costing the undertaker the match. weird huh? Well they would later have their first match against each other for the very first time in the very first hell in a cell match in which The Undertaker’s brother Kane made his debut. Shawn gets the win here and these two would face each other for the final time in a match for quite some time at the royal rumble 1998. During this match, Shawn would get a back injury that would eventually lead to his first retirement. Now to Wrestlemania 14. Undertaker squared off against Kane, a feud that has been going on for 6 months leads to this. The match was far from excellent and it was really the first time that the brawler side of the undertaker came out. Shawn Michaels put his WWE title on the line against the rising star Steve Austin. Everyone knew that Shawn was out the door and Austin was going to be the next face of the company so Shawn did the match despite the back injury. That’s right, while Undertaker would wrestle on the following Wrestlemania in a hell in s cell match, Shawn is at retirement. Taker’s next match would be against triple h. This time The Undertaker was doing the biker gimmick and he was more like himself instead of the unread wrestler. This match was my second favorite of the night and taker picks up the win after a nearly 25 minute brawl that went to outside the crowd.

What can I say about the second part. While Shawn had the better matches at this period, it was The Undertaker at this period that was starting to give us the moments of Wrestlemania that we all talk about. Shawn retired in 1998 and undertaker became one of the 5 faces of the WWE from 1998-2000. We are in the 21st century in this part now and I will cover from Wrestlemania 18-24

THE UNDEFEATED STREAK/RETURN OF THE SHOWSTOPPER

In the beginning of 2002, Undertaker was the hardcore champion for a few months before loosing it to the tough enough winner Maven by the help of Ric Flair. Ric flair then challenged undertaker to a match at Wrestlemania 18 in which the undertaker won. Jim Ross on commentary noted out that The Undertaker is now 10-0 in Wrestlemania. After that comment I thought to myself  “damn 10-0 already, he has an undefeated streak going on”. Also in that year, Shawn Michaels made his return to WWE as a member of the NWO. Yes the WWE version. Anyways, Wrestlemania 19 in 2003 was on the way and Shawn Michaels feuded with a wrestler that idolized him and that was Chris Jericho. This match was the match of the year in my opinion and both these guys wrestled like it was a mirror match. Undertaker went against the big show and A Train in a handicap match which was quite OK but not bad. This would mark the final Wrestlemania for the biker gimmick for the undertaker. Wrestlemania 20 marked the return of the undead wrestler gimmick with a new look. That’s right he knows how to change with the times too. He defeated Kane for the second time in a quick match. The main event was a triple threat match for the world title. It was Triple H vs Shawn Michaels vs Chris Benoit. This was a mix of everything here with Triple H’s brawling style to Shawn’s high-flying to Benoit ‘s technical shoot style. Overall I consider this the best triple threat match in WWE history. 2005 I would say was the peak of the Ruthless Aggression era. John Cena and Batista were the new faces of raw and Smackdown and this PPV had awesome matches. The match between Kurt angle and Shawn Michaels was a match I never thought would happen. Two points to make here. Nobody could out wrestle Kurt and nobody could out perform Shawn. When these two clashed, it was a war to see who was better than the other. Kurt would win here but it also proves that these two can work great matches together and they did. In the same PPV, Randy Orton challenged the streak and this was the first time that the undefeated streak became the focus of Wrestlemania. The part of the match that still gets me to this day was when taker went for a choke slam only for Orton to give taker the RKO out of nowhere. Taker wins by countering the tombstone attempt by Orton for a tombstone of his own injuring Orton in the process as well. Wrestlemania 22 was in 2006 and I believe this was the most underrated Wrestlemania of all time. Mark Henry attempts to break the streak in a casket match but the Dead man wins here. Also, Shawn Michaels went against Vince McMahon in a street fight in my mind or even Vince’s mind was his best match he ever had. After that spot from the ladder to the table I was really afraid that McMahon would get a heart attack.

The time now is 2007. The last two left in the royal rumble that year was The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels. This was the first one on one confrontation between these two since the royal rumble 1998. I would also consider this the best ending to a royal rumble match ever. Taker eliminates Shawn Michaels here and he goes to Wrestlemania to face Batista for the world championship while Shawn Michaels go against John Cena for the WWE championship. Oddly both of their matches were given a 5 star rating from many pro wrestling magazines and the question was, which match was better? in my mind I thought The Undertaker vs Batista match should have closed the show since he won the royal rumble a few months prior. And if you notice, the undertaker has now defeated every member of evolution at Wrestlemania (Triple H, Randy Orton, Ric Flair, Batista). Shawn Michaels lost the match against John Cena and about a month later, these two would wrestle again on Monday Night Raw from 9:59 pm all the way to the end of the show at 11:05 pm. That hour long match I would consider the greatest raw match of all time.

WrestleMania 24 came along the way and the next opponent for Shawn Michaels would be Ric Flair. The story of this was back in September 2007, Vince McMahon cut a promo on Ric Flair and since he is the chairman of the WWE, he makes the rules. the major rule that got me hooked on this storyline is that the next time he loose a match, his career will be over. I had no idea who was going to retire Ric Flair and then Shawn would make the challenge. meanwhile at Smackdown. the undertaker wins an elimination chamber match to become the #1 contender for edge’s world championship. the story behind this one was that both edge and the undertaker are undefeated at Wrestlemania. Shawn Michaels defeated and retired Ric Flair and weather if you are a fan of Ric Flair or not, the emotion to see this guy retire was just heartbreaking. Edge vs The Undertaker closed the PPV on this show and many time I actually thought Edge would break the streak. Undertaker proved me wrong after those run in’s by Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder. undertaker is now 16-0

There you have it. Both The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels made an impact on Wrestlemania in the 2000’s. both has made their mark in sports entertainment and both are glorified legends at this point. here is the final part in which I will cover from Wrestlemania 25 and 26

FIRST ENCOUNTER AND SECOND AND FINAL ENCOUNTER

By 2009, the streak has become the most important thing in Wrestlemania..even more important than both the WWE and World Heavyweight Championship. Shawn has made the challenge  to The Undertaker, pointing out that the last time they had a match was at the 1998 royal rumble in which the undertaker gave Michaels the back injury. undertaker accepts and then Shawn Michales cut some promos about how he will defeat the streak. to be honest, there were only three people before Wrestlemania 29 that really got me to believe that the streak will be broken. and that was Randy Orton, Edge and Shawn Michaels. and I would tie Shawn with CM Punk as the only two who actually came close to winning it.

So the match is now set up for Wrestlemania 25 with a lot of high expectations. From the moment this match started, I was glued on to the TV screen. The fans were back and fourth and did not know if they should cheer for the undertaker or Shawn Michaels. There were a few great spots including when the undertaker did a dive to Shawn Michaels outside the ring only for Shawn to move out and let the camera man take the bump instead. The moment when taker did the tombstone piledriver and Shawn kicked out stunned the entire audience and the world. Then Shawn went for the diving moon sault only for the undertaker to catch him and perform the tombstone again to get the victory here. Both these men stole the entire show here and many fans considered this out did the ironman match between Shawn and Bret in Wrestlemania 12 . I have to agree with the fans here and Dave Meltzer from the wrestling observer newsletter gave this match a 5 star rating. The first match in the united states to get this rating since the first hell in a cell match back in 1997. By the rest of the year of 2009, The Undertaker returned at Summerslam to feud with CM Punk and Shawn and Triple H reformed Degeneration X and would capture the tag team championship as well. At the beginning of 2010, Shawn Michaels wanted a rematch with the undertaker. Taker refused his request. Then at the elimination chamber ppv, Shawn Michaels made a run-in and give Undertaker the super kick for Chris Jericho to get the pin and become the new World Heavyweight Champion. On the next raw,undertaker accepted his challenge ..under one stipulation. If Shawn wins, the streak of 17-0 will be broken. If Shawn looses, not only the streak goes to 18-0 ,but Shawn Michaels wrestling career will be over. By this time I knew his career is coming to an end. I have watched him since 1994 and he left a lot of memories. I did not want to see it happen but it did. The match was absolutely great but the match the year before was better in my opinion . Also this was the last match on the card so it was that important to us since it was the end of Shawn Michaels.

FINAL THOUGHTS

After Shawn Michaels, it was Triple H two times and then CM Punk. Also back in 2009, I made a theory that when Undertaker reaches 20-0,he will loose the next Wrestlemania. Undertaker defeated CM Punk and he is now 21-0 .The question is, how long can the dead man go and who will break the streak. That we will leave to the WWE writers but as a fan point of view, its just a question that cannot be answered right now. Who is Mr.Wrestlemania? I would have to say the moment Shawn Michaels lost the second time, he also lost the title of “Mr. Wrestlemania “. The streak became the title that everyone wanted to break since 2005. It even had a number 1 contender match on raw this year when CM Punk defeated Big Show, Randy Orton and Sheamus. Shawn Michaels set the bar on his matches and he made himself an icon. The Undertaker has made his mark at Wrestlemania and now he is the one who to be hunted. So for now, The Undertaker can be called Mr.Wrestlemania

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Wrestling Observer Newsletter year end awards of 2013

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Today the Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards were announced and here are the results. The ones listed as “1.” are the ones that won the category

LOU THESZ/RIC FLAIR AWARD (WRESTLER OF THE YEAR)

1. HIROSHI TANAHASHI (348) 3.488

2. Kazuchika Okada (153) 2,168

3. Daniel Bryan (139) 1,444

4. John Cena (58) 925

5. C.M. Punk (31) 520

6. KENTA (13) 133

7. Shinsuke Nakamura (2) 51

MIXED MARTIAL ARTS MOST VALUABLE

1. GEORGES ST-PIERRE (569) 3,215

2. Ronda Rousey (110) 1,414

3. Jon Jones (48) 1,211

4. Cain Velasquez (41) 861

5. Anderson Silva (12) 732

6. Chris Weidman (3) 85

MOST OUTSTANDING WRESTLER

1. HIROSHI TANAHASHI (470) 3,237

2. Daniel Bryan (205) 1,894

3. Kazuchika Okada (126) 1,760

4. C.M. Punk (10) 374

5. Negro Casas (18) 275

6. Shinsuke Nakamura (22) 245

7. Antonio Cesaro (16) 163

8. Katsuyori Shibata (11) 137

9. Prince Devitt (3) 133

10. Tomohiro Ishii (1) 132

MOST OUTSTANDING FIGHTER OF THE YEAR

1. CAIN VELASQUEZ (354) 2,062

2. Jon Jones (70) 878

3. Johny Hendricks (45) 512

4. Chris Weidman (23) 502

5. Georges St-Pierre (51) 488

6. Vitor Belfort (34) 449

7. Demetrious Johnson (41) 447

8. Anthony Pettis (3) 373

9. Urijah Faber (26) 282

10. Ronda Rousey (29) 281

BEST BOX OFFICE DRAW

1. GEORGES ST-PIERRE (351) 2,699

2. The Rock (220) 1,915

3. John Cena (115) 1,533

4. Hiroshi Tanahashi (35) 562

5. Brock Lesnar (15) 309

6. Ronda Rousey (34) 305

7. Anderson Silva (2) 155

8. Daniel Bryan (1) 63

FEUD OF THE YEAR

1. HIROSHI TANAHASHI VS. KAZUCHIKA OKADA (534) 3,259

2. Ronda Rousey vs. Miesha Tate (106) 875

3. Hirooki Goto vs. Katsuyori Shibata (1) 634

4. C.M. Punk vs. Brock Lesnar (23) 623

5. C.M. Punk vs. Paul Heyman (82) 535

6. Georges St-Pierre vs. Nick Diaz (38) 447

7. The Shield vs. Kane & Daniel Bryan (44) 358

8. Negro Casas vs. Rush (52) 334

9. La Sombra vs. Volador Jr. (2) 171

10. C.M. Punk vs. The Rock (6) 142

TAG TEAM OF THE YEAR

1. SETH ROLLINS & ROMAN REIGNS (440) 2,723

2. Goldust & Cody Rhodes (72) 1,152

3. Young Bucks (94) 1,035

4. Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer (47) 705

5. Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov (10) 312

6. Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian (7) 258

7. Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish (26) 247

8. Jack Evans & Angelico (12) 205

9. Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka (11) 204

10. Jimmy & Jey Uso (2) 196

MOST IMPROVED

1. ROMAN REIGNS (323) 2,013

2. Tomohiro Ishii (51) 757

3. Goldust (89) 577

4. Lance Archer (19) 439

5. Adam Cole (35) 425

6. Davey Boy Smith Jr. (46) 285

7. Magnus (29) 272

8. Big E Langston (10) 213

9. Cody Rhodes (9) 203

10. Taryn Terrell (19) 199

BEST ON INTERVIEWS

1. PAUL HEYMAN (310) 2,150

2. C.M. Punk (206) 2,054

3. The Rock (55) 573

4. Mark Henry (24) 472

5. Chael Sonnen (39) 354

6. John Cena (19) 311

7. Bray Wyatt (23) 273

8. Bully Ray (13) 254

9. Daniel Bryan (31) 229

10. Dean Ambrose (2) 207

MOST CHARISMATIC

1. HIROSHI TANAHASHI (181) 1,425

2. The Rock (236) 1,382

3. John Cena (76) 1,078

4. Daniel Bryan (134) 1,025

5. Shinsuke Nakamura (82) 925

6. C.M. Punk (13) 482

7. Brock Lesnar (2) 129

8. Minoru Suzuki (8) 122

9. Negro Casas (16) 115

10. Chael Sonnen (2) 98

BEST TECHNICAL WRESTLER

1. DANIEL BRYAN (362) 2,269

2. Hiroshi Tanahashi (157) 1,314

3. Antonio Cesaro (34) 787

4. Blue Panther (58) 517

5. Zack Sabre Jr. (47) 443

6. Kazuchika Okada (2) 425

7. Shinsuke Nakamura (62) 363

8. Prince Devitt (36) 352

9. Davey Richards (4) 163

10. KENTA (10) 135

BRUISER BRODY MEMORIAL AWARD (BEST BRAWLER)

1. KATSUYORI SHIBATA (306) 2,187

2. Tomohiro Ishii (134) 1,330

3. Kevin Steen (107) 1,099

4. Togi Makabe (59) 767

5. Brock Lesnar (85) 629

6. Bully Ray (56) 575

7. Minoru Suzuki (22) 210

8. L.A. Park (19) 186

9. Roman Reigns (16) 154

10. Masato Tanaka (10) 145

BEST FLYING WRESTLER

1. KOTA IBUSHI (416) 2,777

2. Ricochet (186) 1,788

3. Adrian Neville (96) 1,224

4. La Sombra (88) 890

5. Sami Zayn (9) 404

6. Mascara Dorada (42) 388

7. A.R. Fox (25) 289

8. ACH (22) 246

9. Samuray del Sol (12) 228

10. Rey Cometa (3) 192

MOST OVERRATED

1. RANDY ORTON (164) 1,145

2. Ryback (104) 900

3. HHH (102) 651

4. The Miz (62) 564

5. Big Show (19) 501

6. Alberto Del Rio (28) 425

7. Magnus (31) 304

8. Curtis Axel (14) 177

9. Eva Marie (10) 120

10. Ken Anderson (8) 119

MOST UNDERRATED

1. ANTONIO CESARO (296) 2,027

2. Dolph Ziggler (149) 1,427

3. Tomohiro Ishii (49) 652

4. Chris Hero (32) 521

5. Daniel Bryan (52) 364

6. Tyson Kidd (29) 308

7. Sami Zayn (8) 224

8. Tomoaki Honma (1) 194

9. Yoshi Tatsu (26) 153

10. Austin Aries (20) 128

PROMOTION OF THE YEAR

1. NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING (634) 4,520

2. Ultimate Fighting Championship (110) 1,942

3. World Wrestling Entertainment (14) 1,136

4. Dragon Gate (2) 558

5. PWG (3) 302

6. Ring of Honor (5) 212

7. CMLL (11) 209

8. Glory (11) 60

BEST WEEKLY TV SHOW

1. WWE NXT (172) 1,837

2. WWE Raw (113) 1,210

3. Dragon Gate Infinity (83) 844

4. Ring of Honor (81) 812

5. The Ultimate Fighter (77) 660

6. WWE Total Divas (38) 393

7. WWE Smackdown (31) 372

8. New Japan World Pro Wrestling (46) 297

9. CMLL (15) 272

10. TNA Impact (16) 263

PRO WRESTLING MATCH OF THE YEAR

1. HIROSHI TANAHASHI VS. KAZUCHIKA OKADA 4/7 TOKYO (305)2,002

2. Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomohiro Ishii 8/4 Osaka (153) 1,497

3. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada 10/14 Tokyo (142) 1,151

4. Brock Lesnar vs. C.M. Punk 8/18 Los Angeles (76) 829

5. John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan 8/18 Los Angeles (34) 556

6. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii 8/2 Tokyo (14) 451

7. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kota Ibushi 8/4 Osaka (33) 338

8. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada 1/4 Tokyo (39) 252

9. Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hirooki Goto 6/22 Osaka (11) 229

10. Undertaker vs. C.M. Punk 4/7 East Rutherford (15) 212

MMA MATCH OF THE YEAR

1. GILBERT MELENDEZ VS. DIEGO SANCHEZ 10/19 Houston (345) 2,298

2. Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson 9/21 Toronto (189) 1,835

3. Wanderlei Silva vs. Brian Stann 3/3 Tokyo (82) 723

4. Eddie Alvarez vs. Michael Chandler 11/9 Long Beach (1) 629

5. Georges St-Pierre vs. Johny Hendricks 11/16 Las Vegas (41) 302

6. Chris Weidman vs. Anderson Silva 7/6 Las Vegas (34) 251

7. Matt Grice vs. Dennis Bermudez 2/23 Anaheim (14) 238

8. Carlos Condit vs. Johny Hendricks 3/16 Montreal (2) 209

9. Ronda Rousey vs. Liz Carmouche 2/23 Anaheim (6) 202

10. Miesha Tate vs. Cat Zingano 4/13 Las Vegas (13) 166

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

1. YOHEI KOMATSU (58) 906

2. Konosuke Takeshita (118) 902

3. U-T (146) 879

4. Sho Tanaka (86) 769

5. Enzo Amore (47) 361

6. Charlotte (17) 352

7. Mojo Rawley (33) 306

8. Ryotsu Shimizu (4) 301

9. Hitoshi Kumano (22) 185

10. Andrew Everett (11) 112

BEST NON-WRESTLER

1. PAUL HEYMAN (659) 2,730

2. Zeb Colter (44) 1,187

3. Gedo (2) 566

4. Vickie Guerrero (1) 328

5. Brad Maddox (10) 244

6. Ricardo Rodriguez 195

7. Maria Kanellis (9) 144

8. Stephanie McMahon (1) 121

9. Konnan (9) 113

10. Truth Martini 105

BEST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER

1. WILLIAM REGAL (173) 1,460

2. Joe Rogan (106) 1,160

3. John Layfield (92) 817

4. Shimpei Nogami (123) 686

5. Kevin Kelly (59) 634

5. Mike Goldberg (61) 428

6. Nigel McGuinness (45) 393

7. Michael Cole (10) 370

8. Jose Manuel Guillen (43) 299

9. Michael Schiavello (25) 274

10. Mike Tenay (19) 198

WORST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER

1. TAZ (124) 1,334

2. Jerry Lawler (137) 1,315

3. Michael Cole (121) 992

4. The Miz (98) 725

5. John Layfield (93) 716

6. Tony Dawson (29) 274

7. Alex Riley (3) 118

8. Mike Tenay (8) 117

9. Michael Schiavello (6) 109

10. Kevin Kelly (4) 80

BEST MAJOR WRESTLING SHOW

1. NEW JAPAN G-1 8/4 OSAKA (334) 2,517

2. New Japan Wrestle Kingdom 1/4 Tokyo Dome (286) 2,251

3. WWE SummerSlam 8/18 Los Angeles (88) 799

4. New Japan Invasion Attack 4/7 Tokyo (36) 438

5. UFC 166 10/19 Houston (37) 422

6. New Japan Dominion 6/22 Osaka (27) 315

7. WWE WrestleMania 4/7 East Rutherford (22) 186

8. Dragon Gate Kobe Festival 7/21 Kobe (25) 178

9. New Japan King of Pro Wrestling 10/14 Tokyo (2) 169

10. New Japan G-1 Climax finals 8/11 Tokyo (1) 135

WORST MAJOR WRESTLING SHOW

1. WWE BATTLEGROUND 10/6 BUFFALO 532

2. WWE Survivor Series 11/24 Boston 134

3. WWE Night of Champions 9/15 Detroit 31

BEST WRESTLING MANEUVER

1. KAZUCHIKA OKADA RAINMAKER 329

2. Antonio Cesaro Giant Swing 273

3. Daniel Bryan Busaiku Knee 64

4. Adrian Neville Red Arrow (sky twister) 31

5. Shinsuke Nakamura Bom a ye 25

6. Katsuyori Shibata Corner Dropkick 22

7. Daisuke Sekimoto Dead Lift German suplex 18

8. Yujiro Takahashi Tokyo Pimps 17

9. Hiroshi Tanahashi High Fly Flow 13

10. Tommaso Ciampa Project Ciampa 12

Roman Reigns Spear 12

MOST DISGUSTING PROMOTIONAL TACTIC

1. WWE EXPLOITING DEATH OF BILL MOODY (Paul Bearer)183

2. TNA treatment of Jesse Sorensen 180

3. CMLL not delivering Atlantis vs. Guerrero mask match 35

4. WWE false advertising talent 34

5. HHH burying the roster in promos 28

6. Daniel Bryan/HHH/Randy Orton storyline 27

7. Dana White criticizing GSP after his fight 26

8. El Hijo del Santo blaming hurricane for canceling the Wagner vs. Park vs. Santo mask match that was never going to happen 25

9. WWE firing Jim Ross 22

WORST TELEVISION SHOW

1. TNA IMPACT 449

2. WWE Raw 113

3. WWE Smackdown 61

4. WWE Total Divas 29

5. WWE Main Event 18

6. Bellator Rampage 4 Real 10

WORST MATCH OF THE YEAR

1. NATALYA & NAOMI & CAMERON & BELLA TWINS & JO JO & EVA MARIE VS. FOX & AKSANA & LEE & SNUKA & MENDES & KAITLYN & SUMMER RAE 11/24 BOSTON 142

2. Randy Orton vs. Big Show 11/24 Boston 126

3. Kane vs. Bray Wyatt 8/18 Los Angeles 118

4. Eva Marie & Jo Jo & Natalya vs. Aksana & Mendes & Fox 10/7 Pittsburgh 19

5. Mark Henry vs. Ryback 11/24 Boston 19

6. Natalya & Naomi & Cameron & Bella Twins & Jo Jo & Eva Marie vs. Fox & Aksana & Lee & Snuka & Mendes & Kaitlyn & Summer Rae 11/25 Uniondale, NY 13

7. Naoya Ogawa vs. Kazuyuki Fujita 12/31 Tokyo 12

8. Tyron Woodley vs. Jake Shields 6/15 Winnipeg 9

WORST FEUD OF THE YEAR

1. BIG SHOW VS. AUTHORITY 145

2. TNA vs. Aces and 8s 98

3. Total Divas vs. WWE Divas 77

4. A.J. Styles vs. Dixie Carter 74

5. Daniel Bryan vs. The Authority 70

6. Brock Lesnar vs. HHH 44

7. The Miz vs. Kofi Kingston 37

8. Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton 34

9. Hulk Hogan vs. Bully Ray 23

10. Kane vs. Bray Wyatt 18

WORST PROMOTION OF THE YEAR

1. TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION 485

2. All Japan Pro Wrestling 158

3. CHIKARA Pro 110

4. Ring of Honor 30

5. World Wrestling Entertainment 29

6. Bellator MMA 11

BEST BOOKER

1. GEDO & JADO 643

2. Joe Silva 142

3. Hunter Johnston 43

BEST GIMMICK

1. THE WYATT FAMILY 307

2. The Bullet Club 141

3. The Shield 139

4. Daniel Bryan 62

5. Shinsuke Nakamura 32

6. Bad Influence 18

7. Aiden English 12

8. Fandango 10

WORST GIMMICK

1. ACES & 8S 129

2. Heel owner Dixie Carter 99

3. Los Matadores 69

4. The Miz as babyface 64

5. The Authority 46

6. C.J. Parker 38

7. Fandango 36

8. Antonio Cesaro yodeling 34

9. Joseph Park 22

10. Bad News Barrett 20

BEST PRO WRESTLING BOOK

1. MAD DOGS, MIDGETS AND SCREWJOBS BY PATRIC LAPRADE & BERTRAND HEBERT 444

2. The Hardcore Truth by Bob Holly & Ross Williams 203

3. The Squared Circle by David Shoemaker 50

4. The 50 Greatest Professional Wrestlers of All-Time by Larry Matysik 41

5. Three Count by Jimmy Korderas 34

BEST PRO WRESTLING DVD

1. JIM CROCKETT PROMOTIONS: THE GOOD OLD DAYS 227

2. Legends of Mid South Wrestling 215

3. Barbed Wire City 115

4. For All Mankind 85

5. War Games 38

6. HHH: Thy Kingdom Come 32

7. Best of In Your House 25

8. History of the WWE 19

9. Fake It So Real 13

Money in the Bank Anthology 13

Sources: Wrestling observer Newsletter, pwinsider.com

My Thoughts on Triple H’s World Title run from 2002-2003

Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

There are a couple of “internet wrestling community myths” that have been passed on from generation to generation.

Ultimate Warrior died years ago

Macho Man and Stephanie McMahon – enough said

The ECW/WCW Invasion in 2001 bombed

Vince McMahon hates certain wrestlers

The list goes on and on. All of them are just pure fiction that people make up,believe, and then pass on as fact. They are just ridiculous and laughable claims. The worst part is that fans actually believe them. To a certain extent, you see it EVERY SINGLE DAY with all of the news reports that come out. Most are flat out false, yet certain fans continue to buy into ANYTHING that is posted online. Today’s topic is just like the previous mentioned myths.

Did Triple H “bury” the roster in 2003?

For those who read my work, they know that the term “buried” means nothing. Nobody is ever truly buried in WWE. The term is baseless, and I do not use it whatsoever. However, the topic has come up time and time again. As most remember, Triple H won the World Title in late 2002 and held it until September 2003. Throughout the year, he dominated the Red Brand and kept the gold through thick or thin. Let me just go through the year as it went…

Just to stall time before WrestleMania XIX, we saw the rematch at No Way Out in February between the two men( Triple H and Scott Steiner). At this point, the steam from their feud was all but over with. Evolution was formed, and Triple H was not going to drop the title a month before the biggest show of the year. On top of ALL that, Steiner was hurt. Again, nobody can convince me Steiner should have won here.

Okay, this is the biggest controversy.

I have said it before, and I will say it again.

My entire “WrestleMania party” had picked Booker T to win the World Title. Seeing as I thought that wasn’t happening, I bet with each and every friend/family member a couple of dollars each. Needless to say, I collected after the match.

The argument is that Triple H winning proved that “racism is right.”

As usual, that is not true.

Booker dominated their feud. He owns a few victories over The Game, and the record books show that. When it came time to decide who should win, the decision came down to two things:

A) Have Booker win the title

B) Build up Triple H even more

The answer was simple.

Bill Goldberg had just signed on with WWE. In order for his run to be worthwhile, he needed to become World Champion. He was bigger and more well known than Steiner. Thus, WWE had to have a big, bad heel for him to crush down the line. Instead of going right to the big Triple H vs. Goldberg showdown, they waited a few months. Booker getting the title would have only thrown a wrench in the long-term payoff.

Sorry folks, King Booker won the World Title a few years later, and the moment was well worth the wait.

fter that, Triple H was in a huge six man tag team match at Backlash. Obviously, the gold was not on the line. The Game, Ric Flair, and Chris Jericho ended up getting the win over Kevin Nash, Booker T, and Shawn Michaels. It was a great match that many fans forget.

For May, Triple H took on Nash for the World Title. The big man had recently returned from injury and was looking to take out HHH. It was the classic “best friends, better enemies” story line. At Judgment Day, they ran a DQ finish with Nash just destroying Triple H. As in most cases, this was done to set up a FINAL grudge match.

We saw that at Badd Blood in June.

Mick Foley was the special guest referee. With Nash ready to take some time off and go film a movie, the decision was another easy one. Triple H had to retain. I am sure he would have been more than happy to give his friend a nice title reign, but it just wasn’t going to happen. Fans were NOT behind Nash as the top face on Raw. He was “over” but not nearly enough. Thus, the feud came to a close, Nash teased a heel turn shortly thereafter and left with his new hair cut a few months later.

Summerslam was set to be the HUGE battle beween Triple H and Goldberg for the World Title!

Dream match.

One on one.

World Title.

HHH vs. Goldberg.

Then Triple H got injured. As World Champion, he decided to work through the pain and try to continue on. That is very admirable, but his big showdown with Goldberg was now in doubt. You can’t push your limits too much. That would just cause even WORSE pain. Thus, WWE had to switch things up a little bit in August.

The main event was Triple H vs. Goldberg vs. Nash vs. Jericho vs. HBK vs. Randy Orton in an Elimination Chamber match for the World Title. it would give a few guys some shine in the main event, as well as let HHH heal up. Also, it brought back the big steel structure in grand fashion for WWE.

I understand some folks did not like the ending of the match.

Triple H wrestled about a minute long and pinned Goldberg, after he had ran through just about everybody else before that.

That is fine. I am not going to argue that point. Goldberg was on FIRE and ready to become World Champion. That was (probably) his best night in a WWE ring. However, there is one reason that WWE didn’t do the title switch at Summerslam:

Tradition.

Call in old school. Call it predictable. Call it whatever you want. The fact of the matter is that a lot of people believe that a title switch should ONLY happen in one on one matches.

Not wild tag matches with stipulations.

Not an Elimination Chamber match.

Not a ladder match, where nobody is pinned.

None of that!

Simply a one on one match with two men wrestling where the better man wins.

That time was Unforgiven 2003.

Triple H vs. Goldberg for the World Title with EVERYTHING on the line: If HHH wins, Goldberg had to retire. If Goldberg wins, the long, long, long title reign of HHH was over.

Those were huge stakes!

Something had to give. Either fans were guaranteed a new champion (finally!) or Goldberg was going to retire.

I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a great selling point for a pay-per-view.

They did the match. Triple H lost the gold (and multiple rematches), and Goldberg was “the man” on Raw. The Game took some time off and even returned to lose again at Survivor Series 2003. Fans got their “moment” with Goldberg on top. He had his World Title, and all of the sides had won.

Without that lengthy title reign, Goldberg winning wouldn’t have meant much. There was no reason for Kane to win the title in 2002.  There was no reason for anybody to defeat HHH in 2003, except Goldberg.

Look at Honky Tonk Man’s IC title reign.

Look at HHH in 2000.

Look at JBL in 2004.

Look at CM Punk now.

The longer these reigns go, the more fans want a new champion. The more they groan every time the heel wins. The more fans cheer for the next challenger. The more intensity it adds to the match. The more and more and more and more it adds to the eventual World Title switch.

When HHH finally lost, it was HUGE!

When JBL finally lost, it was HUGE!

When Punk lost, it was HUGE!

follow me @julianexcalibur

Triple H: THY KINGDOM COME REVIEW

Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

Julian Cannon here to give everyone a new movie review. This time, it is something I picked up not too long ago: the recently released “Triple H: THY KINGDOM COME.”


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The DVD starts on how Triple H (Paul Levesque) broke into the business after winning bodybuilding competitions. He then talks about his training with Killer Kowalski and Terry Taylor. There were clips of a younger Triple H when he was cutting promos and doing matches. For a guy that young, he knew what he was doing and he learned pretty fast. Killer Kowalski gave him the name “The Terrorizer,” although Triple H hated the name because it was too “generic.” He, however, just wanted to wrestle so he took the name no matter what. After a few months, Triple H found a local wrestler in the gym who worked for WCW, who then sent in a word to Eric Bischoff for him to join WCW for a two year contract. Triple H said that he only wanted one year just because he did not want Bischoff to spend a lot of money on him until he sees what he can do in the ring. When he went to WCW, he tweaked his ring name to “Terror Rising.” He was a major player in the mid card division for a while until he met Ric Flair. The two have been friends ever since. At the end of 1994, Triple H was repackaged and brought back with a French gimmick and teamed with William Regal for a short time until in 1995, when he was called up to WWE (then WWF.)

When he arrived in WWE, he used the name “Hunter Hearst Hemsley” with a similar gimmick he had before he left WCW. Then we get interviews from Kevin Nash, Shawn Michaels and Sean “X-Pac” Waltman. They all remarked that they all took him under their wing (including Scott Hall and Justin Credible) as the backstage group was formed as the Kliq. Triple H and Kevin Nash mentioned that Lex Luger was the one to come up with the Kliq name and hand gestures. Things would go great for them until the Madison Square Garden incident in May of 1996. It was Hall and Nash’s last night before heading to WCW.  This was also the night when they, along with Triple H and Shawn Michaels, all came out and embraced in the ring out of character (breaking “kayfabe”). In the wrestling world back then, this was an extremely taboo move because behind the scenes alliances were never to be shown, especially between a heel and a face, since this would render the gimmicks as fake. Since Hall and Nash left and Shawn was the champion, Triple H was the one who had to take the fall for it. When the interview went to Vince McMahon, he said that Triple H would have gotten fired but he put him on the bottom of the ladder instead. McMahon also said that “you are going to eat plates of sh**, and you are going to like it”. That meant that Triple H would just job out in the mid card for a year, including taking the 1996 King of the Ring winner spot away from him and booking Steve Austin to win it. Triple H did not see any light until he won the Intercontinental Championship in 1997 and, later that year, going on to win the King of the Ring.

Now the attention goes to the feud with Mick Foley. Foley said that he always thought he saw something in him in WCW. Triple H said that Foley brought out the brawling style of him in every way possible. From the steel cage match to the Falls Count Anywhere match, Foley and Triple H considered those matches as their classics.

The next portion is the formation of D-Generation X. Both Hunter and Shawn needed a bodyguard when they just happen to meet Chyna (Joanie Laurer) at a gym around this very time. Vince McMahon was originally against the idea but Shawn and Hunter fought for her. Another thing I did not know was that WCW was about to sign her, which led to Shawn to contact Shane McMahon to convince his dad to give Chyna a chance. That is interesting news but, however, nobody ever mentioned that Chyna and Triple H were dating, too. None of them talked bad about Chyna at all. The next person to talk was The Undertaker. This was the first time in a very long time that Undertaker has been interviewed in a WWE documentary so seeing him in it was worth every word he said. He talks about WCW kicking their ass every week and DX being part of the reason why WWE shifted from the New Generation Era to the Attitude Era. Eventually, Road Dogg, Billy Gunn and X-Pac comes into the interviews and talked about DX’s success with the fans, merchandise, the feud with the Nation of Domination and their attempt to raid WCW Nitro. By 1999, Triple H wanted to break away from the group. Billy Gunn was the only one to not agree with that direction because he felt that DX was not ready to break up.

When DX inevitably did meet its demise, Triple H changed his entire look and attitude for his journey to become the next WWE Champion. His first title shot occurred on Summerslam 1999 in a Triple Threat Match involving the current Champion, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and Mick Foley. It was wildly rumored that Austin did not want to drop the belt to Triple H on PPV but all 3 of them on the DVD discussed their own version of that rumor. Mick Foley won the belt but, however, Triple H won the belt for the first time the next night on Raw.

A few months later, the storyline of Triple H and Stephanie McMahon started and the next portion of interviews are from Stephanie, Vince and Linda McMahon along with DX, The Big Show and The Undertaker. The McMahon family talked about Triple H and Stephanie dating and that Vince did not allow Stephanie to date the wrestlers at all. However, Linda McMahon knew and let them two secretly date. Once Vince found out, he told them the risks of what could happen and he eventually gave Triple H his blessing. This may have been good but they were now the target of the entire locker room. Both Hunter and Stephanie were aware that all the wrestlers were talking about them but they did not care at all. Footage of their wedding shows from 2003 to end the segment.

The year 2000 also was a great feud between Triple H and The Rock. The Rock talks about the matches they had, including the second ever 60 minute Ironman match at Judgment Day 2000. The Rock then says that Triple H is the best in-ring worker he has ever worked with.

Going into 2001, Hunter talks about him teaming with Steve Austin and capturing the Tag Team, Intercontinental and WWE Championship. Next, we get footage from his first knee injury as Jim Ross and Paul Heyman mentioned that they were really scared for Triple H and that they were both surprised that he actually finished the match. The next footage is from the knee surgery that many WWE fans remember when it first aired on television along with the recovery and rehabilitation period. Now we get to the night Triple H returned from his injury on the first WWE Raw of 2002. Hunter said that he had no idea to how the crowd would react and that he thought the crowd would be silent.

Moving forward to late 2002 to early 2003, we get interviews from Randy Orton and Batista about how they were chosen to be part of Evolution, which consisted of Triple H, Ric Flair, Randy Orton, and Batista. The idea of the group was to have both Orton and Batista to become the future of the WWE. I should mention that the Blu-ray edition has special clips and one of them was from a former WWE Superstar Mark Jindrak. He talks about how he was actually supposed to replace Batista as a member of Evolution but, due to time constraints, it never happened. This portion of the DVD is my favorite but it would have been great if they had talked about their Wrestlemania matches.

Next, we get the feud between Triple H and John Cena. Triple H commented that Cena is one of the most hardest working guys in the locker room and has not wrestled anybody like him before. John Cena says that it was a huge honor wrestling Hunter at Wrestlemania. Cena also feels that Triple H was the hardest opponent he has faced at the time, too.

Right after the Wrestlemania match, the DX reunion begins. The fans loved every single second of it but, however, Shawn Michaels and Triple H kind of disliked it. That goes to show that they’ve matured from those days of pulling pranks, but it was fun times nevertheless.

Triple H now talks about the same knee injury he had in 2001 but, this time, it was on the other knee. It happened in WWE New Year’s Revolution in 2007, which caused him to have to go through another operation.  Triple H was supposed to face John Cena at Wrestlemania 23 for a rematch before he got injured but Shawn Michaels took the spot instead. He returned 7 months later and in 2008, he won the WWE Championship and got drafted to Smackdown. Stephanie McMahon and Vince McMahon felt that Triple H going to Smackdown would help out young talent such as Jeff Hardy, Shelton Benjamin, MVP and more.

Going into 2009 was the feud between Triple H and Randy Orton. During this feud, the entire McMahon family was involved and the real life marriage of Triple H and Stephanie McMahon was put into the feud as well. Triple H said that his match against Randy Orton could have been better, especially since the match between Shawn Michaels and Undertaker overshadowed the main event.

Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, and Vince McMahon now talk about Hunter’s duties as the COO of the WWE. They talk about him bringing talent in, training the students, board meetings, and more stuff about the duties in the corporate offices in the WWE.

Then finally, we get closing interviews from Brock Lesnar, Shawn Michaels, Batista, The McMahon family and Undertaker along with closing details about the Hell in a Cell match at Wrestlemania 28.

MY THOUGHTS OF THE DVD:

If I would have to choose between this DVD and the Mick Foley DVD that came out a few months earlier, I would have to tie them both as the best WWE documentary of the year. Although there were a few things left out, a lot of other features made up for it. The most worthy footage from this DVD is seeing and hearing The Undertaker being interviewed out of character. This was the first time in a long while that The Undertaker has been interviewed for a documentary and it was great to see him being interviewed. The details about Triple H’s relationship with Stephanie McMahon and how he went to the WWE from WCW is very newsworthy for the younger fans that was not aware about any of what is going on behind the scenes along with many of the other interviews as well. I believe that they made Triple H look way too good in those interviews but I do not have a problem with it. For non Triple H fans, it is still worth it to pick it up and watch this. Another fact I want to bring up is that this may be the longest documentary WWE has produced, clocking in at 2 hours and 27 minutes. I give this a thumbs up so go to your video store and add this to your collection.

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