The Ultimate wrestler

Ultimate Warrior

Yep that's how he looks now

Yes the ultimate wrestler is the Ultimate Warrior. Okay so that might be going too far. His in ring ability was far from outstanding, but his physique was, and his facepaint wasn't badly done either [contratulations to the make up artist]. After first being interested in and getting in to bodybuilding, he decided to divert his attention to wrestling. After spending some time in various promotions, including teaming with Steve Borden [Sting] in one of them, he was signed by the WWE in 1987. As Intercontinental champion he defeated Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania to be the first wrestler ever hold both the Intercontinental and World championships. 

Warrior [a name he legally now holds] left the WWE in 1991 after some contract disagreements but was asked to return in 1992. He did, but was released that same year for disputed reasons. In the years 1992 - 1996 he was semi retired, wrestling occasionally. He made one last return to the WWE in 1996 to squash Hunter Hearst Helmsley [Triple H]. Once again he was released not long after with various stories as to why he was let go.

Warrior's last appearance in the 'big time' was in WCW in 1998. Once again he did not last long [only a few months] before he left. He announced his retirement 1 year later. Where is he now? It's hard to say. One thing is for sure, there is a lot of anamosity between him and the WWE and he is no longer involved in wrestling. A recent rumour said he is in the motoring business now. How true that is , who knows?

Overrated wrestler of the week

The Rock

Yeah that's right, it's time to get controversial. It's obvious to me that many people will disagree with me on this one, but hear me out. I am by no means a hater of The Rock. I don't dislike him for going to Hollywood or not following anyone on twitter [even RVD follows people Dwayne, and he has one of the biggest egos in wrestling]. What gets to me about The Rock is his seeming untouchability [I made that word up]. He can be away from wrestling for years, then make one appearance on Raw and get more cheers and screams than Fonzy. Add to that the fact that he 'aint all that' in the ring and the reasons to be frustrated with his popularity start to increase. Even his mic work since he has become 'Hollywood Rock' has gotten worse, yet the fans still go wild when he speaks. All he has to do is run through some of his catchphrases and he has them eating right out of the palm of his hand. 

When I wind back the years and see him during the Attitude Era, I do find him to be one of the coolest and most electrifying men in sports entertainment, but seeing his very sporadic appearances now and noticing that his popularity has not dropped one bit, despite his presence in the WWE being close to non existent, definitely bring the words 'overrated' to my lips.

  

Josh Mathews, one of the luckiest guys in the WWE

Josh Mathews [real name Josh Matthew Lomberger] was primarily noted by WWE fans on the first Tough Enough, when he made it to the last 3 [in the male category] before eventually losing out to Maven. In the end both he and Chris Nowinski were signed by the WWE anyway. While Nowinski was signed to be a wrestler, the WWE had other ideas for Josh. In 2002 he started appearing in the company as a backstage interview, and the host of a number of shows including Byte This and After Burn. His first taste of announcing was on Velocity, but he has since commentated on Heat, Raw and Smackdown, where he currently sits alongside JBL as the Smackdown commentary team.

What am I getting at? The way I started this makes it sound like another one of my 'where are they now' posts, where I go through the career of a given wrestler. What I'm getting at is that Josh Matthews, indirectly, is one of the most fortunate people in the WWE. Let's face it, as much as he might have desired to be a wrestler, his current job is actually a lot safer and better for his health. Not only that, but he rose to being a WWE announcer in double quick time. If you look at some of the other announcers in the business, they all either had an extensive background in announcing or were former well known wrestlers. Michael Cole had a career in journalism and radio while people like Jerry Lawler, JBL, Booker T and Tazz were former wrestler. Josh was neither of those. He was a young guy who's dream was to be in the WWE. He went from failing to win Tough Enough to commentating on Velocity within a year. It's amazing. This career he has been handed also means he will not have to have any surgery due to a wrestling injury or have any pains thanks to the years of being battered in the ring [even if he has had the occasional match here and there].

That's why I stand by my statement that Josh Mathews, who has had his middle name converted in to his surname and the T taken off it, is one of the luckiest and most fortunate guys in the WWE today.      

The Gimmick does the job

Nick Dinsmore

He said all you need is a gimmick to make it in wrestling and he was proof of that. That is not to say that he could not wrestle, but it was true that it was the gimmick that got him far [or further] in the WWE than he would have probably gotten if he just wrestled under his own name.

After starting in the United States Wrestling Association, Nick Dinsmore soon joined OVW. During his time in OVW he made occasional appearances on WWE television, mostly wrestling as a jobber. He got a proper shot on the full WWE roster on April 5th 2004, when he debuted his 'Eugene' character. He had debuted before as Nick Dinsmore but did not get too much air time. On September 1st 2007 he was released from his contract after he failed a second drug test. 

Since then he has made appearances in Juggalo Championship Wrestling [JCW], Wrestling Fan Xperience in Canada [WFX] and the World Wrestling Council [WWC] in Puerto Rico, among other independent feds. He even made a brief return to the WWE in 2009, only to be released soon after.

He is currently in charge of the beginner's wrestling course in OVW, where he has won the World Heavyweight title 10 times. As well as wrestling in independent feds as Eugene, U-Gene and under his real name.

The art of the 'face' turn

This topic is about the art of the 'face' turn, only, to be quite honest, there is no art. Let's say the art of the 'face' turn is that there is no art to a 'face' turn, if that makes any sense. Oh just ignore the first couple of sentences. Let's start again. A 'heel' turn is an easy move to make in wrestling. All you need is for a beloved baby-face fan favorite to attack some other baby-face fan favorite, side with a 'heel' or just go out to the ring and start bad mouthing the fans. Done and dusted. A 'face' turn would seem to be a little more difficult. Only, it isn't. For some reason it is just as easy to turn a wrestler from 'heel' to 'face,' as it is 'face' to 'heel.' It's not difficult to get people not to like you but one would think that it would be more difficult to get people who did not like you, to start liking you. At least that's what I thought. 

When The Rock made his first face turn back in 1999 [he was a face once before but this was his first turn from heel to face] the fans accepted it. What baffled me was, he didn't need to do much to get the fans on his side. He went out and talked about how he was screwed at Backlash. Then he went on to trash the number one face in the company, Stone Cold Steve Austin, only to call McMahon junior a piece of monkey crap, prompting Shane and the corporation to make their way out, give The Rock a beat down, thus turning him 'face.' 

How about Stone Cold Steve Austin after the Survivor Series PPV that saw the Alliance, with him as their leader, defeated? He attacked Kurt Angle [who turned on him to cost the Alliance the match] on Raw, took his title back, and that's it, he was a 'face.' Jerry Lawler said Kurt Angle deserved more respect from the fans during that segment, I agree [for story line purposes]. People just suddenly forgot that Stone Cold had spent the last few months as the leader of a faction that wanted to kill sports entertainment. It just seemed so odd. It was as if, with the click of a finger, he was a 'face' again, with no real effort put in to it. It just seems too easy. All they do is get to together and say 'okay get him to say this or attack this guy, that'll get the fans cheering again.' Easy as 1, 2, 3.

Similar stuff is going on now. Randy Orton is a 'face,' yet whenever he climbs that turnbuckle he just seems to arrogant and 'heelish.' Perhaps that's why people say he works best as a heel. No matter what he does, he just seems so slimy and easy not to like. How about The Miz? He is supposed to be a 'face' as well, yet he too has not done anything to merit being liked yet. I'm not sure if the wrestling fans at the shows are to blame. Why do they go from booing a guy to cheering him, just like that? Why don't they remember all the bad stuff the heels have done. At least an apology from the 'heel' for their previous actions would be nice. Then again, this is wrestling, who needs logic right? If a 'heel' gets cheered just like that then so be it, job done.

Last week's Smackdown

I've made a decision. I am not going to waste my time and energy giving my ideas of how the WWE should go about their business. Truth is, a company was created and it was created in order to make money. Have they made lots of money? Yes they have. Do some of their shows suck? Yes they do, but, so what, they still make money and that's what matters most to them. Every time the ratings go down drastically and/or the company start to lose money, they do something about it [usually bringing in some 'legend' from the past to get old fans watching again. Or bring in a some celebrity to make a new fan base]. Truth is a lot of fans now like to say what the WWE is doing wrong and they like to tell them what they should have done. Sometimes the right answer is crying out to be given. Sometimes you feel like the truth needs to be said, but at the end of the day this is not our company and the fact that we are interested in it does not suddenly give us a right to say what should be happening and who should or should not be getting a push. I mean it's fun to do. I myself like to play the GM. I like wrestling simulators where you take charge of a promotion and do what you want. It's fun, but ultimately, it's meaningless.

Back to the topic of the blog post, and before I begin I would like to try and follow the rules I outlined above. I am not going to give any hints as to what could or should be done, I am simply going to give a review of the show, and since critical reviews are acceptable, this one might [or definitely will] have some criticism in it.

Let me start by shocking you. Smackdown was not bad last week. It wasn't great or anywhere near as good as many Smackdowns I've seen in the past [most of them from a long time ago] but it was watchable and that is a start. Why was it watchable? Because characters who are unwatchable were not a part of the show. Teddy Long is away and as Vince would say, wherever he is, he can stay there. There were no divas on the show either. No segment, no match. Fantastic news. That always wastes air time. There were flaws of course, like the US champion losing a non title match [why?]. The tag champs losing to the World Heavyweight champ in a 2 on 1. Why even make that match? The only way they could save it was if it ended up in a no contest with a Sheamus interference. Then neither of the champs would have to lose. This way, whatever the story behind it [in this case Kane walked off], the tag champs were defeated by one [very big] man. The opening segment was horrible. It's nice to see Cena on Smackdown, even if just to do a segment, but the story line he is involved in is horrible [but I've said that before]. It was nice to see Ryback have a match on Smackdown again too, even if you knew pretty much exactly how the match would go.

Really now, let's face it, it is almost impossible to have a perfect show these days. There are always going at least to be a couple of bouts that you see and feel the endings made no sense. This Smackdown was about as close to decent as I have seen in a while, and that is quite an achievement but the standards of mainstream wrestling these days.
  

Overrated wrestler of the week

Mick Foley

It's not because he's a fat sack of shit or has messy hair. I have nothing against him as a person, it's his reputation. It's simple. He does not deserve it!

Look, I enjoyed his leap off the Cell as much as the next fan, but it was one moment that seemed to define his reputation in the WWE. Again, don't get me wrong, he has had many other great bouts in the WWE and many others in ECW, but that 30 or 40 foot fall off the cell was the moment that made people start saying he was an amazing wrestler and he wasn't! He isn't! If you have the VHS tape of King of the Ring 98, watch that match again, from start to finish. If you don't own it, find it online somewhere and watch it. When you do you'll notice that it wasn't that great a match. It was a stop-start with a few incredible moments in it. Ric Flair was probably a little harsh to call Mick a glorified stuntman [there's a place for Flair in the overrated section waiting], but he certainly is a glorified wrestler. 

Truth is, Mick Foley was never in shape. He was probably in his best shape during his brief return in 2005. I mean, he was not in shape, but it was the best shape I ever saw him in. Kind of like Bradshaw who said he was in the best shape of his life when he swapped his gimmick for JBL. Again, he was not in great shape, but yeah, it probably was the best shape of his life. 

Mick Foley can entertain an arena full of people with his insane backyard wrestling type Hardcore stuff, but [again, to quote Ric Rlair] he could not wrestle a 1 hour Iron Man match with 4 oxygen tanks strapped to his back. A guy who has never got himself in to shape cannot be called a great wrestler. He can be respected for what he has done and for what he has put his own body through. He can be liked for all of his wacky gimmicks, for his persona and for being a nice guy, but there is that line of greatness that I don't think he has crossed or ever will [since he's pretty much retired now, not that he won't ever have a match again]. 

What's the point?

After every negative post I make I think to myself, 'you know what, I shouldn't be so negative, after all, I haven't made a post about TNA in a while so there is no need to be so  blunt in my posts.' Truth is, I just write about the latest stuff going on, and, unfortunately, it is always something stupid. Take TLC, December's PPV. I don't want to ruin anything for you but if you browse the internet a lot to look at wrestling news, you will probably know this anyway, the card is starting to shape up and some matches are, pretty much, known. Big Show will face Sheamus, Cena will face Ziggler and it seems, even though it was not officially announced yet, that CM Punk will defend his WWE championship against Ryback. I am 95% sure of this because apparently local advertisements in the area the PPV is taking place have announced the match as part of the card.

What am I getting at? Simple. What's the point in having a title match when we already know that The Rock will face Punk at the Rumble? Both men have confirmed it. Punk confirmed it recently during a parade while The Rock has made numerous tweets at Punk, ending it with the hash tag 'Royal Rumble.' Now this could all be done just to make the internet smart asses think they know what is going to happen, then suddenly they throw a curve ball and wham! Ryback wins the title at TLC! However, knowing the way the WWE works [like announcing a Wrestlemania main event 1 year early], that have no problems with there being common knowledge that a big match will take place at a big PPV, so this is not likely to be the case. Going on the assumption that Ryback is going to face Punk, it means that [unless he wins of course] they need to find a way to make him lose, again. He lost in October, he failed to win in November and no matter how you sugar coat the way he lost and will lose, if he doesn't win in December, that's 3 PPV's and a big fat 0 in the wins column. Ryback can go on squashing lower or mid carders in the opening match of a show but if he does not get the big wins, he is going to lose momentum. In all honesty it would not surprise me if Ryback's push soon grinds to a halt. The WWE seem to be concentrating more on maintaining CM Punk's push in the build up to his match with The Rock, so if Ryback has to lose to him to keep this up, he is going to. Don't be surprised if next year you don't see much of Ryback, if any of him. 

Where is the best dropkick in the business now?

Hardcore Holly

Bob Holly, better known as Hardore Holly, a name he adopted during his WWE career, began his career in WWO [World Wrestling Organisation]. He continued to wrestle in NWA and Smokey Mountain Wrestling before he briefly worked in the WWE in 1991 as a jobber. He later returned to WWE in 1994 where he later christened himself Hardcore Holly after entering the race for the Hardcore title in 1999 and winning it 6 times. Holly later teamed up with on screen cousin Crash to form the Holly's. Molly 'Holly' later joined them to make it a 3 man team. 

He was involved in an incident while being one of the mentors on Tough Enough III. In one episode he legitimately beat up on of the contestants. This caused a negative reaction and it was surprising that he managed to keep his job, after a number of wrestlers, including the owner's daughter's then partner [now husband] Triple H, said this behaviour was totally unacceptable.

After the brand split Holly was not used as much, constantly being on and off screen, returning for a while, only to later vanish from TV. His big fued was with Brock Lesnar after Lesnar had broken his neck during a match [for real]. It is believed that Hardcore Holly was unhappy having to job to Lesnar, stating he had not 'paid his dues,' so tried to 'sandbag' a powerbomb than ended up with him getting dropped on his neck. He returned a year and a half later to fued with Brock Lesnar for the WWE title that ended with him losing at the Royal Rumble where he tried to 'kayfabe' Lesnar's neck during the match.

Holly was released in January of 2009. Where is he now? Currently working independent circuits where he has also worked in Britain's Varsity Pro Wrestling. He plans to release a book next year entitled 'The Hardcore Truth.'   

Survivor Series aftermath

First a quick look back at how I did with my predictions. 4 out of 6 aint bad, could be better though. I should have remembered that they were giving Dolph a push, I would say that my decision to go for Team Foley had no real logical reasoning behind it, I just went for them since Mick was back and I thought it would make the fans feel good if his team won the match. The other prediction I missed was in a match I care very little about, that would be Kaitlyn v Eve. Again it was just a shot in the dark. I didn't care who won. As for the rest of the card, it went pretty much as I expected. Big Show retained and even though I predicted him to win it, I see his DQ loss being basically the same result. Bottom line is he kept the belt, no matter how. If you want to be picky you could say I missed that one as well, it's up to you.

Just like in October, Punk was expected to win, but the question was, how would he win? How would they make Ryback lose a match but still make him look like a monster, particularly since both matches were no DQ's [both in October and December]? It was intriguing [just a little]. Anyway they went for the old screw job from a 3rd party, twice. How original.

It looks like The Big Show v Sheamus is going to continue in to TLC, since a fued generally tends not to end with a DQ match. They have tried hard to keep Sheamus respectable, meaning even though he lost, he kept his 'heat' by pummeling Big Show after the match.

John Cena looks like he could have a match with Ziggler since I don't see another Punk v Cena match happening. Meanwhile AJ might face Vicky Guerrero [although I would not expect that to happen any earlier than the Royal Rumble or even Wrestlemania].

I'm wondering who Punk is going to face at TLC. I'm worried he might not defend his title since almost nobody with any intelligence seriously believes he is going to lose it before the Royal Rumble anyway. Some think he's going to be fighting Mick Foley, but is Foley in any shape to have a match? If he is, does anyone seriously believe he is going to have a chance to take the title [if it's a title match]? All will be revealed.