Hold on THAT closed the show!

We are very close to WWE's Hell in a Cell PPV a show likely to be headlined by CM Punk defending the WWE championship against Ryback a match no one would of expected after Night of Champions happened. So while I've thought about writing about why the World titles (WWE, World heavyweight & TNA) aren't being treated like World titles or the biggest upset title wins I decided to go in a whole different direction and am looking at some of the surprising main events in the past.

Roddy Piper vs. Jerry Lawler-King of the Ring 1994: Now you may look at this match and think "These are 2 main event quality wrestlers why is this weird?" oh there are many reasons why. The first was that Jerry Lawler hadn't been in WWE long and wasn't even a full time wrestler at the time, and speaking of that Roddy Piper wasn't wrestling at all at the time he was busy with films this was a one off. The build was a very weird one mainly because they couldn't get Piper to appear on TV live. But what made this an odd choice to close a show was the rest of the card, we had the quarter finals, semi finals and finals of the King of the Ring (Owen Hart won it) which could of made sense ending the show. We also had a WWE title match as Bret Hart defended against then Intercontinental champion Diesel meaning it was a champion vs. champion match, something rather rare at the time. What really stands out is that WWE were beginning to promote their guys as the "new generation" and yet this 2 old veterans closed the show. As for the match itself it was pretty dire, Piper has never been the best worker and as much as I love King sometimes he's too Memphis for his own good. Piper would win a 12 minute match with a weird back suplex pin and he would pretty much be done, he'd do the odd WWE appearance until 1996 where WCW signed him and did a feud with Hogan because that was fresh! Don't let Dixie Carter see this she'll probably do the feud again in TNA.

The Rock vs. Chris Benoit-Fully Loaded 2000: Much like the last match you may be asking why this one is odd. Well truth be told it's was odd because Benoit had only debuted near the beginning of the year, he had been getting a great push including some Intercontinental title runs. The main push to this match came when Shane McMahon joined forces with Benoit and like a lot of WWE feuds back then it was more about McMahon vs. Rock rather than Benoit vs. Rock. Thankfully when it came to working in the ring I don't think you could ask for a better match. They added the "if the champ is DQ'd he loses the title" rule to the match which did happen and many thought Benoit was champ however it was reversed and the Rock retained, something that they would do in the 4 way main event at Unforgiven 2 months later for no reason. After those 2 shows Benoit went back into the mid-card and would really stay there until the beginning of 2004 making this push look worthless.

Rob Van Dam vs. Balls Mahoney-Anarchy Rulz 1999: RVD was arguably the most over guy in ECW during his TV title run and beyond, while you can say what you like about his work I personally don't like his always taunting, lack of selling, high spots galore style he has a ton of charisma and connects with the crowd so well. So when we compare these 2 at the time Balls was just a bleeding, chair swinging mid-card tag wrestler. Looking at this match it came off as Balls is just the challenger of the month and we assumed the ECW world title would close the show, nope that went mid way through probably because it was a 3 way which saw Taz go out quickly and Paul Heyman was probably worried that the fans wouldn't take to a Masato Tanaka/Mike Awesome match, they would and would love all their matches. Even the hilarious mess of a tag title "match" went on later. So honestly I don't get why this went on last it was probably to try to get RVD over as a real main eventer and surprisingly the match was really good, probably the best on the card if you over look Lance Storm/Jerry Lynn opener.

John Cena vs. R-Truth-Capitol Punishment 2011: Yes R-Truth, who currently talks to an invisible child and must dream of this happening again, received a WWE title match on PPV. R-Truth had began getting a push a few months before after he turned heel and was talking about conspiracies against him. He had actually scored a win over Rey Mysterio and was doing really well as a heel. But even saying that this match came off as extremely rushed. Truth really should of gained some more big wins before getting this shot. The match really seemed to be randomly announced and just happened a blip in the year of 2011 that was quickly forgotten. The match itself didn't help Truth as Cena made him look foolish and just weak after you had built him so much, a common problem with Cena feuds. What makes things worse is that you could of closed the show with Christian/Orton for the World title and no one would of argued, well almost no one. Truth quickly went back to the mid-card after, he would get a small push later in the year while teaming with the Miz but they were both victims of the Cena/Rock feud and were made to look so weak in fact Cena beat both in a handicap match so there was no point having the Rock there.

Mike Awesome vs. Spike Dudley-Guilty as Charged 2000: As I mentioned in the RVD/Balls match Mike Awesome would wrestle Tanaka for the ECW title on the same show and he would win the title. At the next PPV the 2 had a singles rematch (again it didn't end the show) and the fans raved about it. So how do you follow that up? Mike had been made to look amazing with working with Tanaka but to get him over as this giant monster Paul Heyman would put him with smaller guys hence Spike Dudley. The feud began with Mike "knocking out" Spikes girlfriends teeth, who never appeared again mind you and that was it. The match itself came off really well, within seconds Mike tossed Spike over the top through tables to the floor twice making it look like Spike was dead, this would continue with Spike getting some big moves to give hope but would end with Mike just powerbombing the hell out of Spike to win. The next PPV the same would happen with Kid Kash but that didn't end Living Dangerously Super Crazy vs. Rhino did, another match that could be on this list.

Diesel vs. Mable-Summerslam 1995: Just let the groan out. OK let's look at this. Diesel had won the WWE title in very late 1994 but wasn't really pushed as the main events on PPV, a great addition to this is Kevin Nash's WWF Timeline of 1995 DVD where he reveals how he felt about WWE's dealings with him that year and beyond. Mabel had just won the King of the Ring, one of the worst PPV's ever and one I'm thinking of reviewing in a series of the worst shows I've ever seen. This was Mabel's big chance at the title, apparently Vince McMahon was very high on Mabel at the time a line we've heard in history more often than we should I feel. As for the match just imagine it, these 2 were always awful wrestlers so putting them together just meant doomsday for us true fans. Mabel would hurt Diesel badly in a spot he asked not to happen and Mabel would be released soon after. Mabel has gone down as one of the worst Kings in history, probably right next to Mr. Ass.

Hulk Hogan vs. the Butcher-Starrcade 1994: Who's the Butcher I hear you all ask, it's Ed Leslie. The man who has probably had the most gimmicks in wrestling history. Anyone who knows Hogan knows that him and Ed are BFF's and Ed really only had a "career" because Hogan was protecting him. Anyways Hogan had debuted in WCW at Bash at the Beach, where he won the WCW title in his first match, and had gone on to do the usual Hogan routine for the rest of the year aka burying everyone in touches. This match basically came out of Hogan doing a power play and stroking his own ego. I've not seen this match and I don't want to see this match all we need to know is that this was a main event and a company allowed it to be because whether you want to admit it or not Ed Leslie was never over and only got a reaction because he was with Hogan.

The Miz vs. John Cena-Wrestlemania 27: This was recently mentioned in the awesome CM Punk "Best in the World" DVD, which you should probably be watching than reading this but it's almost done so might as well stay to the end now. The Miz won the WWE title the night after Survivor Series where he cashed his Money in the Bank contract. Since then he wasn't positioned in the main event on any PPV after winning it. Miz was doing a good job as a heel at the time but to put him in the main event with John Cena at Wrestlemania was shocking to everyone. What didn't help was that Miz wasn't even acknowledged leading into the match that much it was all about Rock and Cena, which we wouldn't get to this year's Mania (and will likely get at next year so there goes that Once in a Lifetime ad). The match itself wasn't great and was out shined by a lot on the show and it was overlooked even more when the Rock basically won the match for the Miz (shocking that he retained to be honest but that lasted a month), the highlight of the match was Cena legit knocking Miz out in the countout spot near the end. The next month they added a cage and John Morrison to get Cena to win the title and Miz's main event run would be officially killed in a I Quit match the month after.

Goldberg vs. Kronik-Halloween Havoc 2000: This match had no build, no story and no action. WCW started Goldberg's streak over again because it's probably the only thing that got him over, hey WWE you could do that with Ryback might as well copy Goldberg's entire career. This was a elimination match and it lasted 3 MINUTES! You're main event lasted 3 minutes and it killed Kronik as Goldberg just ran through them. I promise you very few fans left happy after that show mainly because the entire show was awful but this main event didn't help. Not much to write here as there was nothing there.

John Cena vs. John Laurinatis-Over the Limit: This main evented a show! Cena's on this list a lot and it shows how WWE have just ran through so many opponents and he needs a break so we can get some fresh matches. Where should I begin? How about the fact Laurinatis wasn't a wrestlers? How about the fact you had CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan for the WWE title (a match of the year candidate) on the same show? How about we could see the Big Show turn coming a mile off? How about this was long, drawn out awful comedy instead of Cena kicking his ass which was the whole story leading into it? This is my biggest problem with WWE they have to have Cena close the show and I don't know why, people aren't going to turn off the PPV after and if they do it's probably because they've conditioned people to think Cena equals the end. And for everyone who says "but Austin faced Vince in main events of PPV's" they weren't comedy matches those matches were all Austin kicking Vince's ass, which was the whole purpose of the build, and Vince would only get offence with outside help. They were also the biggest face and heel at the time and they were ultra hot at the time. I'm not mad that this match took place but it shouldn't have ended a PPV.

That's my list. Hope you like it and let me know what you think, I've probably pissed off some Cena lovers but haven't said anything new here it's all been said before when it comes to my feelings towards the character.

Remembering the Loose Cannon

"He's the new Loose Cannon" that phrase has been used so many times with certain up and coming wrestlers, most recently Jon Moxley/Dean Ambrose. 15 years after his death and people are still trying to be just like Brian Pillman. As I've said before I became a wrestling fan in 1997, Pillman was my first favourite wrestler ever and I think that speaks volumes considering he passed away in October of that year. It's been 15 years since his passing and I thought I would take a look at his career and the massive impact the man left behind.
Brian had bad luck from the very beginning of his life, he gained multiple throat polyps as a child and had to have 40 operations before he was 3 which resulted in his voice being like it was. Pillman's bad luck would continue when he tried to get a football career going, while he was seen as extremely talented his size was a huge drawback he would get drafted by teams but wouldn't last too long. His football coach at the time recommended that Pillman try to get into wrestling and lead him to the Hart family dungeon, possibly seen as one of the best starts anyone could get at the time as the family produced many superstars and Hall of Famers. Brian would start his career in Stampede and form a tag team with Bruce Hart, the duo won the tag titles twice. Brian was known as a student of the game and was always learning about the business he would also become known as "Flying" Brian as he introduced a high flying style to the company. It was this style that arguable got him noticed by NWA and he got signed, a big thing considering he was only in the business for 3 years at the time.
Brian debuted for the NWA in 1989, not changing his style one bit. He quickly got noticed and entered a feud with Lex Luger for the US title. Their match at Halloween Havoc of that year was awesome even more so because Luger was never the best worker. The NWA then decided to put Pillman in a tag team with Tom "Z-Man" Zenk, the duo won the NWA US tag titles, sadly for as much success they got the team just didn't click and was broken up rather quickly. Pillman would become involved in a feud with the 4 Horsemen mainly Barry Windham this would lead to a 5 star match in the form of War Games in 1991, Brian would lose the match after El Gigante threw in the town after Sid Vicious KILLED him with 2 awful powerbombs. Pillman would then lose a Loser leaves Town match later on and become the "Yellow Dog", a gimmick much like Dusty's Midnight Rider which would be copied by many indy wrestlers. But he would become reinstated and with the invention of the Light Heavyweight title Brian became the focal point of the title leading to an amazing feud between him and Jushin "Thunder" Liger, the match they had at Superbrawl which opened the show was incredible and still holds up today (in my view). Soon after that Brian would turn heel and team with Barry Windham, at Starrcade 1992 they would challenge Ricky Steamboat & Shane Douglas for the NWA/WCW Tag titles in an amazing match. Soon after the team split, with Barry focusing on the NWA World title but he brought a replacement in the form of "Stunning" Steve Austin and the Hollywood Blondes would be born. They would feud with Steamboat & Douglas for the unified tag titles and on March 27th 1993 they would win the title. The duo really shined and were the tag team of the year in 1993, they would feud with the 4 Horsemen which showed how entertaining they could be outside of the ring as well as in it. Sadly the Blondes, well Austin and Steven Regal who replaced an injured Pillman, would lose the tag title to Arn Anderson and one of the worst horsemen ever in the form of Paul Roma. Soon after the team split and had a short feud with Austin winning overall.
One of his forgotten moments was that he would team with Shane Douglas in a one off ECW appearance in 1994 against Ron Simmons & Too Cold Scorpio. Back in WCW Pillman kind of got lost in the shuffle for a while until Fall Brawl 1995 where he would get involved in the Anderson/Flair match. After some typical WCW booking after Flair turn face and back again within a month a new 4 horsemen was born, with Chris Benoit being the 4th man. It was during this time that Pillman became developing the Loose Cannon gimmick, a gimmick that would blur the lines of fact and fiction. Coming off as a wild, uncontrollable maniac he really pushed everything he did. Pillman would go on to create 2 of the most infamous moments in wrestling history. In a match with Eddie Guerrero Brian would mess with Bobby Heenan, who was commentating outside of the ring. Heenan, who had neck problems, would yell out "What the Fuck are You Doing?" on the mic and then would walk away for most of the match. The second was more famous at Superbrawl 6 Brian was booked to face Kevin Sullivan in a strap match, Pillman ran down and the 2 proceeded to just hit each other until Brian grabbed the mic and said "I respect you bookerman". This would ultimately end up with Pillman working Bischoff and getting his release from the company.
ECW would jump on this, like many men at the time, and Pillman would debut soon after leaving WCW. The first reaction he got was a great one from the crowd but Brian turned on them quickly  and made the die hard ECW fans hate him. Pillman's run with ECW would not last long and mainly consisted of his insane promos building towards a match with Shane Douglas. At the same time both WCW and WWE wanted to sign Pillman. But his bad luck would hit again and he would get in a car accident which caused a massive amount of damage to his body.
Surprisingly WWE did in fact sign him, injuries and all. He took part in a very honest press conference after his signing but would quickly go back to his Loose Cannon promo style soon after debuting. His promo at King of the Ring 1996 was particularly great in my view. Pillman with Owen Hart teamed with Steve Austin in Austin's campaign to get Bret Hart to return to face him. But Pillman suddenly changed his tune and Austin would attack him, during which he created the now infamous "Pillmanizer" move where you close a chair on a persons body and you jump on it. That angle would lead to one of the most controversial moments in wrestling history in "Pillman's got a gun". Within time Pillman would recover, not fully mind you, would return to TV. He would be a commentator for Shotgun Saturday Night with Jim Ross (a team I would love to listen too) and he would become part of the Hart Foundation, being seen as one as their own. Pillman would have very few matches in WWE, he teamed with Jim Neidhart against the Legion of Doom on Raw, would have a great brawl with Steve Austin on Raw and would be part of the fantastic USA/Canada feud with the incredible 10 man tag at Calgary Stampede. But Pillman's biggest feud was with Goldust, he lost to Goldust at Summerslam and was forced to wear a dress. The two would have a rematch with Pillman winning and gained Marlena's services. At Badd Blood 1997 Brian was scheduled to face Dude Love but that was the day that Pillman sadly died. He passed away from a heart condition quietly in his hotel room. By the time of his death Brian was a heavy drug user, nothing illegal and it was all to help him kill the pain he was dealing with on a daily basis. On the Raw the next night Vince McMahon interviewed his wife, mainly trying to cover their tracks and make it look like WWE were not responsible for it, it was classless on their part.
When you look back at Brian Pillman's career 2 things stand out, he was a very under-rated worker in my view. He's never seen as one of the best workers of all time but you'd rarely get a bad match from him. The second was that he created endless controversy during his time as the "Loose Cannon". There are endless stories of Pillman living the gimmick 24/7. You could argue that he probably should of only lived it when the cameras were on but you could also argue that he made the gimmick believeable at a time when wrestling was hard to believe. Like I said when I began this post this character has become one of the copied gimmicks ever, Superstar Billy Graham was the most copied style of the 80's and 90's and you can say that Pillman was the most copied of the 2000's and beyond. 
I don't know what it was about Brian that got my attention but it stuck with me. The L in my "L.R.K.P" tattoo is for him, I loved the wildness he showed but I also liked the idea of him being a completely different person to people who actually knew he. To me Brian's career was one of the most impactful in the history of wrestling. You only get a handful of guys who you can safely say made a lasting impact in wrestling and Brian was one of those guys.

Big Show, Big Let Down

I am a big anime fan and last night I stayed up till 11:30 at night watching One Piece until I got to episode 236 (note I started at around the 220 mark) for one reason, I wanted to see the Luffy/Usopp fight. I was excited for it and it lived up to the hype but it got me thinking, what if it had let me down? And so to relate this to wrestling I got to thinking about those "Big Shows" that just let you down in retrospect. I'm only going to look at 5 shows and I'm going to highlight the lesser known ones before the shows that everyone knows but they are still big shows to me.

FWA British Uprising 3-13th October 2004
If you're not a  British wrestling fan you may not know about this company but let me explain. The FWA (Frontier Wrestling Alliance) is one of the longer running & bigger British wrestling companies, there big shows were known as British Uprising. The company decided to go big for this show and got some bigger names for the show including Colt Cabana, D'Lo Brown, Jimmy Hart, Terry Funk and AJ Styles. A lot of the matches on the card were feud ending matches and were built up well, at the time the FWA had a TV slot on the Wrestling Channel (I miss you channel) which helped show the story and build the feud. As a result the company decided to risk it and hold the show at the Coventry Skydome, a bigger arena that held 3,000 plus people. Sadly they did not get close to filling it and the show overall wasn't get. The 6 man tag with Funk was just a mess which was only highlighted by Funk, an overly gimmicked Hampton Court duo won the tag titles in a silly match, Alex Shane vs. Doug Williams for the FWA title was a Raven vs. Sandman/Dreamer run in over the top type match that did not help things. Luckily James Tighe vs. AJ Styles main evented the show in an Ironman match which was probably the best match on the show. And as a side note the Wrestling Channel would hold a Supershow called "International Showdown" at the Skydome and it would sell out the place, it would rely heavily on US talent & Japanese talent (it even got Mitsuharu Misawa in a 6 man tag) and is one of the reasons why so many UK companies rely on outside talent to draw a crowd which is a sad state of affairs.

CZW Cage of Death X-13th December 2008
Cage of Death is the final show of the year and it basically ends the bigger & longer feuds within the company (something other shows do as well but we'll get there). Throughout 2008 the main feud in CZW was Danny Havoc vs. Necro Butcher, Necro had appeared in the Wrestler and had changed his gimmick to "Hollywood" Dylan Summers, the two hadn't touched and was originally planned to end it within the Cage of Death. However John Zandig, then owner, got pissed at Necro for him choosing a ROH show over CZW and didn't book him destroying everything that had happened. The month before they rushed with some stupid storyline of the talent wanting more money. So the Cage of Death match was a 6 way to grab £10,000 which was above the cage, Zandig was the surprise last entrant and won it. It was a huge mistake and the match was a huge mess, everyone involved admits that it was a horrible match including Zandig himself. Elsewhere on the card we got a "Who are they" 6 man tag involving Adam Cole, this was early on in his career, the overly done teams of the H8 Club going against BLK Out was just a waste of time, Deranged against DJ Hyde was another rushed storyline and just an excuse to do a deathmatch on the show, oh and we also got Jon Dahmer killing some kid just because. Luckily we got a 6 way Ladder match, which had a special referee for some reason, a 4 Team Tag title match and B-Boy vs. Sonjay Dutt to save the show a little bit. But overall the biggest show of the year just seemed to deflate the fans when it should of excited them for more to come.

ROH Final Battle-23rd December 2011
Much like Cage of Death ROH's Final Battle is the last big show of the year and is done to end or begin certain feuds, the Steen/Generico feud started and ended on Final Battle shows. This show was really built around Davey Richards defending the ROH World title against Eddie Edwards and the potential full time return of Kevin Steen. Sadly one of these killed the crowd and partly the show. Looking at the show the Tommaso Ciampa vs. Jimmy Rave match should have had more importance but was just another match, the 5 team gauntlet got a lot of time but it didn't us it well, Chris Hero's surprise return (he had signed with WWE but was yet to move to FCW) against Roderick Strong fell extremely flat, the Briscoes vs. WGTT was the beginning of an endless feud and then the main event happened. Davey is known for doing/wanting to do too much in his matches and this was an example of that. Him and Eddie went over 40 minutes and it just never ended, it really dragged and potential had the fans turn on them. The only saving graces on the show was Jay Lethal vs. El Generico vs. Mike Bennett and the incredible weapons brawls between Steen and Corino, which started off the best thing in ROH which is Kevin Steen.

WWF Wrestlemania 15-28th March 1998
The Grand Daddy of them all came off as just another "B" show in 1998. This was my second wrestlemania as a fan and that's sad in retrospect. This was done during the "Boom" period of wrestling and shows that wrestling was just hot at the time very little could go wrong. Usually the main event of Mania has at least some build to it but this one was just kind of thrown out there. The Austin/McMahon feud ate up most of January and February, the Rock/Mankind feud for the WWE title started in November and lasted until February. The match between Austin/Rock at Mania was just gonna happen as Austin had to be the main event and Rock was the heel in the other feud, this match didn't have the big time feel their other matches would become known for it didn't help that Austin went to the ring in a t-shirt because he legit forgot his vest. The match wasn't bad but it was the typical crazy brawl the Attitude era was known for. It was probably the best match on the show. Elsewhere we got a random duo challenging for the tag titles, held by another random duo which strangely could happen in today's WWE. We got Butterbean killing Bart Gun in seconds, Triple H getting DQ'd over Kane, an abysmal Sable/Tori "match", Shane McMahon being carried by X-Pac as best he could and the forgotten Hell in a Cell between Taker and Bossman, a match that didn't even match the Hell in a Cell DVD set showing how bad it was. Oh we also got a Triple Threat hardcore title match, a 4 way match for the Intercontinental title but was more about 3 guys banging Ryan Shamrock and Mankind vs. Big Show. Overall this has to be known as one of the worst Mania's ever, 25 and 11 are considered some of the worst but I haven't watched them so I'm putting 15 here.

WCW Starrcade -28th December 1997
WCW did many things wrong during it's run but one thing they did right was build up the Sting/Hogan feud. When the NWO formed in mid-1996 this feud really began and was one of the longest feuds in modern wrestling, partly because it wasn't overkill. It was the perfect slow build and by Starrcade 1997 it was a big match everyone wanted to see. Sadly when it happened everything died, the 2 have never been known for their work rate (Hogan more than Sting) and it showed here. The match was just terrible and the finish was meant to have referee Nick Patrick fast count Sting leading to Bret Hart saving the day, sadly Nick counted normally and it looked like Hogan was screwed. Sting would win the match and the show ended with a big celebration in the ring but 24 hours later the mess became clear. Another problem with the show was that this should have been WCW's big win over NWO but an NWO team beat a WCW team and Buff Bagwell beat Lex Luger earlier in the show, don't know why they should of lost to make it look like a turning point in the feud in my book. We got another confusing referee finish in the Larry Zbyszko/Eric Bischoff thankfully it was Bret Hart so at least it was consistent. The Raven/Benoit match just didn't happen and we got Saturn replacing Raven for the simple reason of "I don't know just cause" and an awful, AWFUL Goldberg/Steve McMichael match. While Eddie Guerrero & Dean Malenko started the show off hot and DDP/Curt Henning put on a good showing the show just came off as bad. It really showed off WCW's weakness at the time which is old guys not getting out of the way, something Hogan still is doing, and that they have no clue what they were doing. Hell they had Bret Hart, who after Montreal 1997 was the hottest wrestler on the planet, and they wasted him so badly.

Now I understand this is subjective and while I may find this shows as a let down other may not so please let me, I'm all for discussion. So thank you for reading and let me know what you think.

King of Trios is This Weekend!

Earlier this month I previewed the Battle of Los Angeles and said it was a big month for wrestling. So far Adam Cole beat Micheal Elgin in the finals of BOLA in what was said to be a fantastic tournament overall, in contrast Jeff Hardy won the Bound for Glory series at a awful PPV and a stupid decision overall (Bully Ray or Samoa Joe would of been better choices in my view). But this weekend has a lot going on, WWE will be holding Night of Champions were we will see CM Punk face John Cena (again) and Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio (again) this doesn't scream must watch to me. You know what does Chikara's King of Trios tournament! A 3 night tournament consisting of 16 teams of Trios (15 trios & 1 team of 4 this year). Usually this tournament produces some of the best wrestling you'll see all year. So lets start the preview. Now for this preview I'm going to focus on the tournament but I will look at the other matches already announced for Nights 2 & 3.
3.0 (Shane Matthews & Scott Parker) & Akuma vs. The Batiri (Kobald, Obariyan & Kodama): The odd combination of 3.0 & Akuma taking on the Batiri. The Batiri were originally under Kizarny's rule but he just disappeared and now Deliriou seems to be their leader and is building a army of his own. 3.0 & Akuma seem just odd to me, I get the feeling it's just something for Akuma to do and to help get him over as a face as 3.0 are super over. I have no doubt that this will be really good and will likely have comedy added into it well. When it comes to a winner I'm going with the Batiri. Really this is a toss up but I think it would be good to have that trio move forward and then you can get tag matches out of 3.0. Winners: The Batiri
Mike Quackenbush, Jigsaw & Manami Toyota vs. The Swarm (combatANT, deviANT) & Soldier Ant: Chikara has always been great when putting on a big, long storyline that the fans get into just look at the BDK storyline but this year the whole Swarm invasion has been a major let down and needs to end. I don't know if it's the wrestlers who are behind the masks or the fact it started as a ROH/Chikara feud and went no where (it's the same in ROH). Now Soldier Ant is not a Swarm member the Director of Fun (the guy who "runs" Chikara) thought it would be a good idea to mix members of the Colony, who won King of Trios last year, with members of the Swarm as they are Dream teams. I think they want to remove the dream of the Colony repeating as King of Trios from the get go. Their opponents were in the tournament last year, and we're treated to Toyota again. Quack has been very vicious as of late and has lost matches against the Swarm for excessive violence and to be honest I could see this happening in this match. Soldier will be the odd man out and Jigsaw will not be able to stop Quack from going to far. This could work out as we have 2 Joshi teams in the tournament so they're dreams could come true and they could work Toyota the next 2 nights maybe. Winners: The Swarm & Soldier Ant
The Colony (Fire & Green Ant) & AssailANT vs. Team Sendai Girls (Dash Chisako, Meiko Satomura & Sendai Sachiko): I'll be honest I only slightly know Meiko Satomura from Team Sendai Girls, I imagine they're all talented but I just don't follow Joshi wrestling. I see this match going one way (I'll probably be wrong) but I see the Colony working with the girls and having a straight wrestling match and it would end with AssailANT taking advantage of one of the girls and stealing the win in a underhanded way. Who knows maybe we'll get the Colony vs. The Swarm and we could see Solider & AssailANT switching sides. If the girls advanced it would likely be to see an all Joshi match in the next round but you could do Joshi matches on the next couple of nights. Winners: The Colony & AssailANT
Osaka Pro (Kikutaro, Ebessan & Takoyakida) vs. FIST (Chuck Taylor, Johnny Gargano & Icarus): This will likely be hilarious, I love Kikutaro and I've seen Kikutaro vs. Ebessan which was just funny. I think all of FIST can do comedy wrestling well and more importantly when this match breaks down I think everyone can go really well. Different versions of these teams have faced off in King of Trios splitting wins in 2010 & 2011. This version of FIST actually got to the finals last year and the version with Akuma won King of Trios. To be honest I'm going with FIST here, for some reason I see Kikutaro vs. Colt Cabana happening during the weekend at some stage and I think you need a group like FIST to go deep in the tournament to help build up teams, since they've done so well in the tournament in the past. Winners: FIST
The Spectral Envoy (Hallowicked, Frightmare & Ultramantis Black) vs. The Submission Squad (Evan Gelistico, Gary Jay, Pierre Abernathy & Davey Vega): For those of you who don't know the Submission Squad had one match in Chikara, at King of trios a couple of years back (2010 I believe) and it was awful, it really just sucked and they created videos recently blaming the fans and saying they wanted to come back in, the story that got them in the tournament. The Envoy however are one of my favourite trios, Ultramantis is one of my favourite wrestlers and they are just super over in Chikara. This has to be the Envoy killing the Squad and moving on. They may have improved since that match but to the best of my knowledge they stay in ACW in Texas and that speaks volumes. Winners: Spectral Envoy
Team JWP (Commando Bolshoi, Tsubasa Kuragaki & Kaori Yoneyama) vs. The Throwbacks (Mr. Touchdown, Dasher Hatfield & Matt Classic): Mr. Touchdown is coming is as the Young Lions Cup champion. Before I get started I see Classic cutting a line about how women shouldn't be in the ring. Again I don't know anything about Team JWP, really don't follow Joshi wrestling. The Throwbacks have never moved on from the first round, that version had Sugar Dunkerton instead of Touchdown, so I think they will finally move forward this year. I think Touchdown is such a hot story in Chikara right now and is doing a great job as a heel even if Dasher is still a face, it really works how they do it and I'm just a fan of Matt Classic overall. Like I said earlier you can do Joshi matches on the other nights if they're eliminated in the first round but you could do one in the tournament itself, in fact my original idea was that being the first round but it was not to be. Winners: The Throwbacks
The Faces of Pain (Warlord, Barbarian & Meng) vs. Team Ring of Honor (The Young Bucks & Mike Bennett) w/Maria Kanellis: It's Team Internet Heat vs. Team Old. The Bucks and Bennett get so much hate online, you could argue for good reason. It should be noted that the Buck are coming in as Campeones de Parejas (the tag champions) and it's funny their team ROH since the Bucks don't work in ROH that often anymore. The Faces of Pain are all much older but still look like monsters. I basically see this match as the Faces of Pain destroying Team ROH and then Team ROH stealing the win somehow and moving forward. No offence to the Faces of Pain but asking for 3 nights out of them may be too much and the match quality wouldn't be great, it'll be a nice nostalgia moment but shouldn't be much more. Overall one thing will come out of this, I'll be happy to see Maria and to be honest I think the combination of Bennett & Maria work extremely well together. Winners: Team ROH
Team WWF (1-2-3 Kid, Aldo Montoya & Tatanka) vs. Extreme Trio (Jerry Lynn, 2 Cold Scorpio & Tommy Dreamer): Speaking of nostalgi this match is full of it. Last year at King of Trios Sean Waltman brought back the 1-2-3 Kid gimmick and stole the weekend, he worked his ass off and was amazing he's seriously under-rated in my book. Justin Credible has brought back the Also Montoya gimmick elsewhere but it looks awful, he needs to up his gear. Jerry Lynn is on his retirement tour. In all honestly I think this match will be amazing, I think it will be the main event on Night 1. Kid, Aldo, Lynn & Scorpio can all go and even Tatanka & Dreamer can work really well when in the right situation. When it comes to a winner it's hard to choose I can see either moving forward easily but I'm going with Extreme Trio, I think they can produce better quality matches with a variety of teams overall. I could actually see that Trio getting far, Night 3 easily. Winners: Extreme Trio
Overall Winners: The thing with trios, much like my preview of BOLA, is that you could pick one to win but on the shows anyone can steal the show and win the entire thing. But to me I'm going with the Spectral Envoy to win. They're a Chikara trio for one, so the win would boost them up in storyline, they're really over and Ultramantis has never won anything big in Chikara so I think it's overdue. You could do the Envoy vs. The Batiri to help build up the Mantis/Delirious feud going into the Cibernetico but like I said anyone could win.
Night 2
On Night 2 the Quarter finals will take place but another match has been announced. Eddie Kingston will defend the Grand Championship against Tadasuke. Tadasuke won the Young Lions Cup tournament last year and never lost the cup, do you know why? Because he never came back! The Osaka Pro wrestler would defend the cup 1/2 times in Osaka Pro but would never come back to Chikara until now, a major mistake in hindsight. This kind of spells out the finish and King will keep the belt.
Night 3
We'll get the Semi-finals and finals on this night but 2 more matches have been announced. First is "The Annual 10 Team Elimination Winner Stays On Overly Long Over the Budget Tag Team Gauntlet Match" only 2 teams have been announced an old school Chikara team and the remaining BDK duo of (Jakob Hammermeir & Tim Donst), the other teams will likely be revealed during the match. The second match is women's wrestler Saturyne vs. Ophidian, I think this will be good and it's main aim will be to show how vicious Ophidian has become. I don't see Saturyne winning.

That's my personal preview of King of Trios. I think this will be a fantastic tournament, like always and a must watch for wrestling fans. It will have something for everyone on all 3 nights. One thing I love is how little is revealed for the other 2 nights as it shows how important the first night is.

A look forward to the Battle of Los Angeles



When it comes to wrestling usually the month of April is one of the biggest in the year, everything seems to happen around that time. But this year, to me at least, September is becoming one hell of a big month for wrestling. We get Night of Champions, we see who wins the Bound for Glory and we get the main event set for Bound for Glory, Ring of Honor have a iPPV, CZW have their annual Chris Ca$h memorial (which will see Masada vs. El Generico). But to me the 2 biggest events will be Chikara's King of Trios (expect a preview of that) and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla's Battle of Los Angeles. On a side note my birthday is this month as well so it's a pretty big month for me.
So the Battle of Los Angeles is an annual tournament held in PWG and has always resulted in one of the best weekends of the year when it comes to ring work, the last one I saw was 2010 and that tournament was amazing. So before I start the preview I want to let you know that on Youtube you will find promos from pretty much everyone for the tournament most on PWG's channel but some on the wrestlers very own channel. Also the line up for Night 1 is the only matches announced so far so I can't preview Night 2.

Adam Cole vs. El Generico: Generico has been a part of 8 of these tournaments and has been one of PWG's top guys, for good reason as he's one of the best out there. Generico won the last years tournament and has been World & Tag champs (at the same time) so he's one of the favourites. Cole on the other hand has not done that much in PWG but is one of the up and comers in wrestling, he is great in the ring and will be a money maker in the business. So we could see a upset but in my view Generico will win because I think on Night 2 we'll get a Tag title match and since Kyle O'Reily is also on the show we could see Super Smash Bros vs. Future Shock.
Winner: El Generico

Michael Elgin vs. Davey Richards: A rematch of a 5 star match earlier this year. Elgin only debuted in PWG at Death to All but Metal (a show earlier this year) with a lose to Willie Mack and then he beat Sami Callihan, both very impressive showings. Davey is pretty well known already, he's held all the titles and some big ones outside the company. Davey has won lots of tournaments including winning the Super 8 and BOLA both in 2006. Hopefully Tony Kozina won't be there so he'd compete and not run off with the money. Anyways this match will likely be fantastic. This could go either way but I think much like the previous match it makes more sense for Davey, who has been a PWG guy for years, to go over and move on.
Winner: Davey Richards

Ricochet vs. PWG World Champ Kevin Steen: Ricochet has improved so much over the past couple of years, he recently main evented the Death to All but Metal so against El Generico in an incredible match it told such a great and simple story, highly recommend that show as well as that match. But he's going against PWG's main guy in Steen. Since the end of 2010 Steen has done everything in PWG. He entered last years BOLA as PWG champ losing in the finals, he would lose the PWG title to Generico but rebound by winning the tag titles with Super Dragon and then winning back the PWG title making him hold all the titles, literally when Dragon would leave. Steen has to win here especially since he's a key part in a 3 way title program at the moment (which I'll get too). When it comes to the match I expect some comedy in this but it will break down into a great match, I recently wrote about Steen and how his actual wrestling ability is overlooked. It should be noted that the title is not on the line during the tournament, it has been in the past.
Winner: Kevin Steen

Eddie Edwards vs. Kyle O'Reilly: I'm not going to argue that these two are good wrestlers but they're probably 2 of the blandest wrestlers out there. I expect this to be good but I really am not bothered, it's amazing to think that Eddie was an ROH champ and now is pretty much forgotten about. When it comes to PWG both these guys haven't done much at all, Eddie has been brought in on and off while Kyle has been teaming with Cole more than anything else. Now that is a team with a lot of up side and a team ROH should of kept together instead of break up. Like I said earlier I see Future Shock challenging for the Tag titles on Night 2 so Eddie is winning this.
Winner: Eddie Edwards

Sami Callihan vs. Willie Mack: Willie Mack was the story of a fan in the PWG crowd who got to do his dream and is now a wrestler. He's made quite the impact in his short time and has been apart of some great matches in PWG. Sami is probably one of my favourite wrestlers at the moment, a great promo and just incredible in the ring. His PWG career hasn't been long or that kind to him having lost every match he's in. This will likely happen again for one reason, Willie Mack is a key figure in the PWG title picture. At the last show Mack challenged Steen for the title and ending up losing after Brian Cage interfered and attacked both men when the ref was down. So I see Mack moving on and getting far as well.
Winner: Willie Mack

TJ Perkins vs. Joey Ryan: It's amazing what putting someone in a feud with a woman can do to your career. The last BOLA I saw (2010) had Joey Ryan winning the thing and now he's just a footnote on shows, which is sad. Joey has done everything in PWG, one of the longest reigning World champs, in fact he made it a World title, and was a tag champ a few times. TJ is a really talented guy but he's never got that run anywhere, he's someone that can put on great matches but no one gets behind and pushes. You could go either way here, you could have Joey win to help build him back up to where he was in the company or have TJ win to help build him up for future shows. I personally am going with TJ as you could get more out of him for the future, you've done everything you can with Joey in PWG as you should have since he's part owner and has been there since the beginning.
Winner: TJ Perkins

B-Boy vs. Brian Cage: I've already gone over the Title situation and how Cage is involved but there's a bit more. Cage challenged Steen at Death to All but Metal and Steen barely beat him, rolling him up when Cage went to pin him after hitting a rolling lariat. Cage came off as a big deal that night. B-Boy only returned to PWG a couple of shows before this, he had an incredible match against Drake Younger at the last PWG show, which was expected as those 2 mesh so well. But to me it's pretty much set that Cage will win. I don't see how he couldn't.
Winner: Brian Cage

Roderick Strong vs. Drake Younger: I think this will be a war. Drake only debuted at the last show against B-Boy and he's very Mick Foley-ish in terms of him doing insane bumps during his matches that will likely hurt him in the long run. Strong is a killer striker and Drake will take it in spades. These 2 have faced off in IWA Mid South in a great match years ago both have improved so this should be great. What I couldn't believe is watching Drake in PWG he's really changed his gear and looks like a wrestler and not a death match guy. I'd also like to say that Strong is very much like Eddie Edwards a former ROH World champ but has become pretty forgottable, amazing to think how that's come about and shows how bad ROH has become really. When it comes to a winner I think Strong is a logical choice, you don't lose anything with Drake losing in the first round and it'll probably be kinder to his body knowing how far he'd go in his matches.
Winner: Roderick Strong

Possible Finals-Willie Mack vs. Brian Cage: Every PWG fan is pretty much thinking the same here that this will be the finals. With the winner of BOLA getting a title shot in the future and both men being picked as the next champions by the fans I think this would help decide. What I see happening is this, in the semi-finals we'd get Steen against one of these guys, I'm thinking Mack, and have him eliminate Steen and then lose in the finals. You could then do a 3 way if you wanted and you keep the loser of the finals strong by the fact he beat the champ. For me Cage is winning the entire thing. But hey this is wrestling the fact we see it coming means it probably won't happen just to prove we were wrong, that's the story of wrestling it seems these days.

There's my preview. Lets see if I'm right. Regardless I expect this to be one fantastic weekend of wrestling and a must see tournament.

War is no Game son. But the title suggests it is.

As wrestling fans we’ve all grown to gain a fondness for the War Games steel cage match. It’s still a match that is asked to be brought back in today’s wrestling, even though it is but I’ll get there. Before I look into the good and bad of the match here’s a little history of the match.

Dusty Rhodes created the idea of this match back in 1987. The concept is not all that straight forward. There are 2 teams, usually of 4 men, 1 man from each starts the match. After 5 minutes a new man, usually from the heel team, joins the match and they rotate every 2 minutes until everyone is in. When that happens the infamous “match beyond begins” during which the match can only end by submit or surrender. The match debuted at the Great American Bash 1987 and 2 would be held in that month during the Great American Bash tour. This would see the Road Warriors, Nikita Koloff, Dusty Rhodes & Paul Ellering beat the 4 Horsemen with JJ (in the first match) and War Machine (in the last). The matches went over so well that 2 more would be held over the rest of the year and in 1988, during one tour from June 26^th till August 6^th a total of 11 War Games matches where held usually seeing the 4 Horsemen lose to babyfaces such as Lex Luger, Sting, Road Warriors, Dusty and more. I can only assume that the company sensed some overkill as in 1989 they went back to 2 matches but that changed again. In 1990 no War Games was held but in 1991 at Wrestlewar Dave Meltzer gave the match between the Horsemen against Brian Pillman, Sting & the Steiners a 5 star rating. This would be followed with 5 more matches being held that year during the summer.

After that WCW would begin to hold the match just once a year. The 1992 match between Sting’s Squadron and the Dangerous Alliance would gain another 5 star rating. The match was officially moved to Fall Brawl in 1993 and not many were worth mentioning, they were however a great addition to the NWO/WCW feud in 1996 & 1997. While the match was always something of a draw for the company they would gain the need to change the match in 1998, making it 3 teams (WCW, NWO & Wolfpac) of 3 and deciding that the match could end whenever by pinfall. Oh and only 1 person would win and they would win a WCW title match. It was a wreck and one of the worst matches ever but it’s a must watch because of how bad it is. Diamond Dallas Page won by pinning Stevie Ray. I would like to say this was the last WCW War Games but in 2000 they held another on Nitro, the match was held in the Triple cage that WCW had in 2000 and was in a movie you know, it saw Team Russo against Team WCW (I guess) but much like the last one it couldn’t be simple especially since Russo was booking it. The WCW title, which Kevin Nash held, was hung at the top and the match ended when one person left the bottom cage with the belt. After doing an entire match with Nash teasing that he’d turn on Team Russo he ultimately stayed and retained the title. Again it was awful but worth watching because of it. That would be the official death of the War Games on the big stage.

Of course the match wouldn’t die out and many independent companies would pick up the concept, which some changes. Combat Zone Wrestling would put add the concept to their annual Cage of Death match. Number 5, 6, 7, 9 and 11 would all be held under War Games rules however all but 7 added an elimination theme where touching the fall or being beaten would eliminate them. The Cage of Death would be held in another company, Ring of Honor held the match to end the ROH vs. CZW feud but this wouldn’t be ROH’s only War Games type match. They would hold Steel Cage Warfare in 2005 and in 2008, while the 2005 one was a highlight in ROH’s history the 2008 one was very forgettable. Another company which picked up the match as an annual event would be NWA Wildside, I don’t know much about the company but I do know they held War Games every year.

Some companies would put on the match as a one off. The short lived Major League Wrestling also held a match with the Extreme Horsemen vs. The Funkin’ Army. Another one off was IWA Mid-South holding a 3 Team War Games seeing Team IWA vs. Team Fannin vs. Team NWA for control of the company, having 5 men on each team this would have to be the biggest War Games ever held. XPW and ECW would also hold war games matches during their histories.

While you may have missed those matches that I mentioned another “Main stream” company has picked up the concept. TNA wrestling have held the War Games style match on a regular basis first doing it during the weekly PPV era. But it would become more noticeable when TNA created the Lockdown PPV and the Lethal Lockdown was born, the match was pretty much the exact same except when the final entrant came in a roof would lower with weapons attached and it could end with pinfall. Every year at Lockdown a Lethal Lockdown match would occur with mixed reviews coming out of them.

So there’s the history of the match. Now let’s look into the match itself. Usually you can expect to see blood during the match, when you go back and watch these matches you can see that they are some of the bloodiest in the history of the business. That really adds to the effect of the match and showcases how brutal it is and it’s portrayed that way. But what really adds to the match is the constant excitement you feel while watching, seeing who comes into the match next and some of the dangerous spots really adds to the match. I think what helps in its appeal is that we don’t see it, it’s a rarity for this match to happen. Even looking around the indies as well as the main stream companies at best you’ll see it 3 times in a year so it gives off that special feeling when it comes. However there is a problem and that mainly being that the match won’t end until everyone is in, now while some companies have changed that with the elimination rule the bulk of the time you’ll see the original match concept occur. And the reason it’s a problem is that the general feeling of “I don’t know when this could end” which is a great addition when watching a match isn’t there, we know that we have to sit through 20-30 minutes until we can possibly see it end.

So have we attached a special meaning to something that doesn’t deserve it. In my view no. The War Games match has given us a lot of great matches and has become iconic over the years. The match would still work and does still work in today’s wrestling world. We’re attached it as we relate the match to some of our best and worst memories as fans. So that’s my point of view and to reward you for reading like with my last blog with a match added on. I’m going to attach a 5 star match with Sting’s Squadron vs. the Dangerous Alliance.

Is Kevin Steen the new Mick Foley?

It may seem weird but comparing Mick Foley to Kevin Steen actually makes some sense but want to give you a little retrospective on Steen first. Kevin Steen broke into wrestling in 2000 and has done a lot over his 12 year career. His first main exposure was in CZW in 2004 back then the company was beginning to use a lot more outside talent and the Canadian’s got used a lot. Steen would go on to win the, now defunct, Ironman title from Franky the Mobster and would lose it too LuFisto nearly a year later, strange how these are all Canadians. Steen has publically stated that him and then CZW owner John Zandig did not get along, Zandig has also said he didn’t like Steen. When he lost the title he would pretty much leave CZW and apart from a one off he would not come back.

After his CZW run he would get arguably his biggest break in Ring of Honor. He would debut with El Generico, a regular tag partner, and would be given a great feud from the get go. The two would feud with then ROH Tag champs the Briscoe Brothers which would produce some amazing matches. The 2 would continue to chase the titles and got to the finals of a tournament to name new champions 2008 losing to Jimmy Jacobs and Tyler Black. They would finally win the titles at Driven 2008 beating Jacobs & Black. Their reign would be a good one and they would go into a feud with the American Wolves (Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards) and they would lose the titles the Wolves in a Tables match on a TV taping in April 2009. The duo would continue to team until Final Battle 2009 were after a loss to the Young Bucks Steen would turn on Generico. This is where Steen’s wrestling style would begin to change. The feud with him & Corino against Colt Cabana & Generico would go on throughout the year and would involve some brutal matches like Street fights, Last Man Standing, Chain matches, Cage matches and ended with a Fight without Honor between Steen and Generico at Final Battle 2010. That match was for Steen’s ROH career and he wouldn’t be back until Final Battle 2011. Steen won his career back by beating Steve Corino in a wild hardcore match, after that Steen seemed to wrestle more hardcore matches than straight matches. Steen would win the ROH World title from Davey Richards at Border Wars, in the rematch at Best in the World the match would be a No Holds barred match. It’s got to the point where I think Steen has become reliant on the No DQ rules and using hardcore spots, a prime example being the recent Boiling Point PPV where the match between him and Eddie Kingston was made Anything Goes minutes before for no reason, the 2 had one match in Chikara and very little interaction in ROH.

There is no question, in my mind, that Steen is great at what he does and he is a damn good wrestler but you get this feeling that, like I said, he’s becoming reliant on the hardcore/brawling style much like Mick Foley (and there you go!). Mick to me was a fantastic promo guy and was a good to great in ring performer but if you watch his body of work he replied on big spots throughout, it’s rare to see a match were he didn’t hit the ring steps badly on fell onto the bare floor from high up. Now it’s not fair to say Mick was alone there, if you look back at WWE in 1999/2000 it was very often that come a PPV it would suddenly be announced that the main event, usually involving Steve Austin, The Rock, Mankind or Triple H, would suddenly be a No Holds Barred match it pretty much happened every month, but Mick would do these big spots all the time.

When you look at Foley and Steen you can see a lot of similarities, both are great on the mic, both have never been in the best shape and both are great in the ring but are relying on big and dangerous spots. Now to counteract this I wanted to point out that while in ROH Steen seems to be doing more brawling than wrestling if you were to check out Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, where Steen is in his 3^rd reign as PWG champion, he puts on some incredible matches without brawling. Steen shows that he is extremely talented in the ring and doesn’t have to rely on that hardcore style to get over so I wonder why he does in ROH. My main concern is that Steen could end up like Mick if this continues and could become a physical wreck, this big spots will likely have big lasting effects. The only positive is that Steen isn’t working this style every night, like I pointed out he does do normal wrestling matches elsewhere and isn’t doing the brawling style unless it makes sense and is telling a story. Ultimately I think the answer to my question is no I don’t think Steen is becoming Mick Foley, I feel that Foley relied on the hardcore style so much while Steen doesn’t have to rely on it and if he is the next Mick Foley that's no bad thing in my book.

If you read this I thought I would treat you with one of his matches so here is Steen/Generico taking on the Briscoes in a Ladder match from ROH Man Up PPV.