PRO WRESTLING from PLANET VELVET

Will The WWE World Title Change Overseas?

2019-10-20T09:15:00.000+02:00

The second installment of WWE’s Crown Jewel promises to bring the worlds of pro wrestling, boxing, and MMA together. However, there are two matches that truly interest me.

Newly-crowned WWE World heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar will defend against Cain Velasquez. WWE’s other world championship will be on the line as Seth Rollins defends his Universal championship against “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt. Both are very intriguing matches and have many opinions floating around. Although Cain did defeat Lesnar for the UFC title, WWE is a much different beast. His chances of walking away with the victory is anyone’s guess. As for Wyatt, he has a very legitimate chance at capturing his second WWE World title.

These matches beg the question: how likely are we to see another WWE World title change outside of North America? Chances are very slim. To understand this, you must revisit the history of the championship itself.

WWE’s oldest championship has changed hands a total of eight times outside of the United States The first time it changed outside the U.S. was when The Ultimate Warrior ended Hulk Hogan’s second WWE title reign at WrestleMania VI in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on April 1^st 1990. Since then only five more of the championships total 128 title changes have happened ion Canada. The most famous of those changes was the infamous Montreal Screwjob in 1997. The first official WWE World title reign outside of America was a couple of years ago when A.J. Styles defeated Jinder Mahal to win his second WWE title in Manchester, England. However, the first title change remain one of the few unrecognized title changes in the belt’s history.
with only seven of those changes being recognized.

On November 30, 1979, the legendary Antonio Inoki defeated Bob Backlund to capture the WWE championship in Tokyo, Japan. Backlund would receive a rematch for the title a week later but the match would be ruled a no-contest after Tiger Jeet Singh interfered. Inoki would immediately vacate the championship. Backlund would recapture the vacant title in a match against Bobby Duncum 11 days later in New York City. To this day, WWE doesn’t acknowledge any other three matches.

The world of wrestling has changed dramatically in 40 years. WWE is recognized as the world leader in sports-entertainment. Decades ago, there were many organizations that attempted to further their world title claims with defenses and a few title changes overseas. The AWA and World Class come to mind almost instantly. WWE really doesn’t need that as they are instantly equated to pro wrestling the world over. Still, WWE is continuing to further its global dominance of the industry. They are bringing their larger-than-life shows to Saudi Arabia - a country that is beginning to change its ways politically, socially, and economically. Saudi Arabia is just like any other country. They want to see one of their own succeed. Personally, I could see Monsoor capturing a lower-tier WWE title in Saudi Arabia before seeing either World title change hands at Crown Jewel. Despite my opinions, I know the world will be glued to the WWE Network on Halloween.

WWE’s Crown Jewel PPV takes place on October 31^st in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

UNITL NEXT TIME: Peace from the Planet

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Trained by former WWE head trainer Bill DeMott, Anthony Velvet Hall is a retired multi-time, championship pro wrestler. Now a professional actor, Anthony Hall has multiple television and film credits to his name

Epilogue.

2018-01-05T15:03:00.001+02:00

It’s been a minute since I wrote one of these things. I’ve been pretty busy living that thing outside of wrestling called life. All has been well, thanks for asking. I did take time out of my schedule to check out the yearly Tipping Point Podcast Awards. I did notice a very big difference.

This year, the awards owned up to what they have always been – peer awards. In the past, they have fancied themselves as awards that highlighted the best wrestlers in the state, all the while ignoring virtually half of it. Titling the awards as being Georgia Awards was always misleading considering the governing body’s fragmented view of wrestling in the state. However, this admission definitely quiets those in south Georgia who weren’t nominated considering they weren’t in the conversation to begin with. Nonetheless, congrats to all the winners.

Not that we got that outta the way….

I guess it shocked quite a few people when I announced that I was retiring from active competition. The questions came almost immediately. The biggest question was “Why are you leaving?”. Well, that question has quite a few answers.

First, let me state that my leaving the GIWA had no effect on my decision to hang up my boots. In fact, I’d discussed leaving with the promoter months in advance. The plan was simple. Me and Chris Nelms had been friends since he was a teenager. I figured I’d do him a solid and pass the GIWA belt to him. So, while I forget the month I lost the belt to him, he should have been champion months earlier. The only reason that didn’t happen is because the promoter was hesitant about putting the belt on Nelms because he was one of the worst wrestlers on the show. But when the time came to drop it, I did it with no hesitation. So I’d been ready to leave for a while. What more is there for me to do?

People I speak to are always mentioning trying out for WWE and other larger organizations. But let’s face it, I didn’t go to college twice to be getting dropped on my head 300 nights out of the year. Those who say “wrestling is life” would condemn me for that last statement. Before you do that, look at the shattered lives of the 50 or so ex-wrestlers who are part of the class action concussion lawsuit against WWE trying to make a quick buck, all the while taking the same risks at an advanced age on the indy circuit and making far less money. Yeah, you can have that.

The second reason is I made a promise years ago that I would not be one of those middle-aged weekend warriors whose idea of living for the weekend was putting my body on the line in a school gym or armory every Saturday. I’d done it for many years. Back then, it was appealing. I did it under the premise that hard work would be its own reward. However, pro wrestling politics and the legendary “good ole boy” system in pro wrestling take precedent over your presence or training in some places. My real world success has been the direct result of putting my head down and working for everything I have. Admittedly, I’ve chosen in the past not to enjoy the fruits of my real world labor funding and enjoying a weekend hobby known as indy wrestling.

It’s cool to tell the stories of four- and six-hour drives to do a show. What sucks is the idea that when I get to those shows, I check into my hotel, hit the arena, wrestle, come back to the room, shower, go to sleep late, wake up extra early, and am back on my way home for another six hours. So while I’ve frequented the Carolinas often to wrestle, I’ve never gotten a chance to truly enjoy Mt. Airy or Wilmington.

Finally, I want to enjoy life out of the ring because I actually can now. The years of 2013 and 2014 were probably the busiest of my entire career. That was totally by design. Hitting the interstate and wrestling everywhere someone would book me was all the space I needed to run from the one thing I couldn’t process or handle back then: losing my beloved fiancée. I know see that I’ve missed out on a lot running. Now, I can either stand still or more freely in the world and accept the universe’s blessings.

So despite the unfair notion that I was bitter and angry all the time, the truth is those actions were reflections of the “character” Velvet Jones, but the man behind him hasn’t been this happy in a long time. And make no mistake about: Velvet is a character. A character who had an uninterrupted four-year title run between two championships in one of Georgia largest drawing shows. I can take him off just as well as I can put him on. Not everyone else can say that as this world of fantasy has become the sad reality of many. Life happens every day. Unfortunately, many in this business only truly live on the weekends for less than 30 minutes at a time. If that’s your dream, chase it and I wish you the best in catching it.

This isn’t goodbye.. ..just until we meet again.

Lose Now, Win Later: The Modern-Day WWE Tournament

2017-07-18T09:32:00.000+03:00

I have always been a fan of tournaments in professional wrestling. They are full of suspense, possible dream match-ups, and a guaranteed champion at the end. For me, all of these are the elements that keep me glued to a tournament from beginning to end. In 1988, the WWF World title was vacated as a result of a controversial title change that saw Andre the Giant defeat Hulk Hogan and subsequently surrender the championship to Ted DiBiase. On that same day in March, I was riding shotgun with my cousin up and down the New Jersey turnpike after dropping my sister off at Rutgers University. The Turnpike is cool, but I would have much rather been at Trump Plaza to see a new champion crowned. Eventually, I got back home to see Randy Savage capture his first World championship.

Since that day nearly 30 years ago, I’ve seen almost as many tournaments as I’ve seen wrestling organizations. WCW hosted tournaments for revived NWA singles and tag team World championships, The King of Cable tournament and BattleBowl. The WWE World title was determined in the “Deadly Game tournament” at the Survivor Series in the Late 1990’s along with the tourney to crown the first-ever European champion and its yearly King Of The Ring tournament. Today’s wrestling fan has witnessed tourneys on various levels. Ring of Honor crowned it’s first-ever Television champion a number of years ago. New Japan came to these shores and crowned its very first United States champion. And until its completion, Lucha Underground will present its Cueto Cup tournament every Wednesday night on the El Rey network.

WWE has always been ahead of the game in so many ways. The same can be same for its modern-day tournaments. It’s kind of weird, though. WWE’s two most historic championships (the WWE World Heavyweight and Intercontinental championships) were decided in apocryphal tournaments in 1963 and 1977, respectively. Generations ago, tournaments were meant to crown champions. But in the modern-day WWE, they mean so much more. Both the Cruiserweight Classic and the United Kingdom title tournamnet laid the groundwork for fledgling brands. In that same spirit, the WWE has created the Mae Young Classic. Mae Young was a true pioneer in professional wrestling. She helped in increase the popularity of the sport after World War II and won several championships in the National Wrestling Alliance in the process. Her involvement in pro wrestling was not only pioneering, but revolutionary.

WWE has a rich history when it comes to women in wrestling. That history was compromised with WWE’s ill-fated attempt to keep up with the times by labelling their women as Divas. Things went so far that WWE actually had a Divas championship. The original WWE Women’s title had been unified with this championship and retired afterwards. However, women in wrestling were much more than Divas and eye candy. They were suddenly being recognized for what they have always been: strong, fierce, intelligent, brave, determined, and a host of other qualities that complement their amazing beauty. Being seen in a different light saw women (not Divas) cause a revolution. The culmination of this revolution would be the shelving of the blinged-out butterfly eyesore of a Divas championship and the creation of a brand-new WWE Women's champinship

The WWE Women's division has been very successful. Women's championship matches have not

only main-evented RAW, but have stolen the show at WrestleMania a few years ago. The division has also split in two with each brand having its own Women's division. A year and some change later, we have two divisions and two seperate championships. But let's face it: things in these divisions are getting very repetitive. The champions of each division are fairly new champions. SmackDown has Naomi as its queenpin while Alexa Bliss rules the roost over on RAW. The pool of contenders consist of former champions (Bayley, Charlotte, Sasha Banks, Naomi) to successful veterans who have climbed the mountain (Mickie James and Natalya) to role players who deserve worlds better than they've gotten (Nia Jax) to the criminally misused (Tamina Snuka). In wrestling, success or time in the spotlight are fleeting. The corporate structure of most American companies has always been to make as much money as you can while cutting costs. Reducing your head count is an option. WWE does have a reputation of trimming its roster from time to time and women are no exception to the rule.

Once again, it's time to look at the bigger picture. WWE remains the worldwide leader in sports-entertainment. No one is sure of the exact formula when it comes to getting in the door there. If that were the case, a lot of your favorite middle-age indy wrestling veterans of 20 years of more would have THAT as a career highlight as opposed to a fleeting championship reign absolutely no one cares about (BANG), but that's another story. WWE has grown tremendously over the past few decades and continues to grow. Some call WWE “The Machine” and rightfully so. But as Triple-H has said so many times over, their most valuable resource – the one that fuels The Machine - is talent. Sure, you can train someone to be better than they were at the WWE Performance Center as long as you like. But honestly, is there any better way to gauge a wrestler's talent than to put him under the lights and watch he or she wrestle?

The experience of women competing in the Mae Young Classic range from a few years to a decade and some change. And while all of them want to be the eventual victor and win the tournament, there may be so much more waiting for them on the other side of a loss. Remember, no one is exempt when it comes to roster cuts and creative changes in direction. The primary source for revitalizing the Women's division has to be the Women of NXT. It's almost a given that Asuka will make the main roster before long and I'm certain she won't be coming alone. What better way to repopulate a depleted NXT Women's division than with some new blood? What's that old saying?

“It's not whether you win or lose. It's how you play the game”

Well “The Game” is watching the way you play.

Play on, ladies. Play on.

"The Game".. ..of life.

2017-05-29T08:22:00.000+03:00

“The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet” - Aristotle

The wrestler known as Sabu is known the world over. His high-risk style was one of the biggest bricks in the foundation of the influential Extreme Championship Wrestling. Sabu would catch a mysterious virus that left him temporarily paralyzed. A benefit show was held in his honor on his birthday in 2004 to help him cover the medical bills he incurred. The proceeds were given to him. Five months later, he made a full recovery and was back in the ring.

12 years later, a GoFundMe page was created for Sabu. Many people from the pro wrestling community have asked wrestling fans for their help as Sabu needs hip surgery. How active Sabu is nowadays is anyone's guess. But two things are certain. At press time, Sabu's page has generated over $26,000 - a little more than half of its $50,000 goal. Plus, the hardcore veteran turns 53 years old this year. And if history is an indicator, he'll be wrestling after he completely heals from surgery.

Ricky Morton was known in the 80's as a part of The Rock-N-Roll Express tag team with Robert Gibson. Their double dropkick finisher led to four of their NWA World tag team titles. Morton fell on hard times after the prime of his career. Legal fees and back payments to his ex-wife were the motivations behind at least two benefit shows in 2006 that raised nearly $2,500. Morton was rearrested a year later for the same charges and a website to raise his bail was established. Today, Morton runs his School of Morton and is a WWE Hall of Famer (and rightfully so). However, it's safe to say he learned some hard lessons a decade ago.

Lance Hoyt has wrestled all over the world. He is probably one of the few wrestlers to have held the NWA World tag team championship twice with two different partners. Hoyt has given his all to pro wrestling. So much so that he needed to have back surgery recently. A benefit show was held in his honor to with the proceeds helping him until he “goes back to work again”. To the best of my knowledge, Hoyt is the only one of the three men I've mentioned with a college degree (English).

Three men who have seen things that most indy wrestlers only dream of. They've traveled places most of the weekend warriors will never go. Three men who have given their all to a business that can easily take years off of your life.

I became an active indy wrestler much later than most people in this business - a month shy of my 30^th birthday. In the years before that time, I got the first of my college degrees and worked my way up to a supervisory position at my job. I will say this: I'm not saying that a college education is a guarantee that you'll be successful in life. In fact, I learned more by simply living than I ever did in college. Still, a college education can make a huge difference in where life takes you.

Recently, I watched the 2017 WWE Business Partner Summit. Several of WWE's EVP's (Executive Vice Presidents) took the stage. The Summit was anchored by Paul “Triple H” Levesque. One of HHH's biggest contributions to the business has been the creation of the WWE Performance Center. Most people think that the Performance Center only manufactures pro wrestlers and performers. However, something HHH said caught my attention and did not let go.

"We train these athletes at the WWE Performance Center to not only become successful performers.. ..but also in life. WWE offers advanced education, including the opportunity to earn a degree, learn new languages, life skill training – all while using social media platforms to promote WWE, to promote our partners as well as their own individual brand” - Paul Levesque

That's huge.

WWE has transformed in so many ways over the past two decades since becoming a corporate entity. Like so many other businesses, they have a program in place to help pay for employees who seek higher education. In hearing that, I wished that HHH would have spoken a lot more about WWE's personal development programs for talent. But understanding the true purpose of the event, I can understand why that didn't happen. Several of the sport's greats have learned many a lesson over the years by simply living life as a wrestler and a wrestler only. Examples like the ones used at the beginning of this article proves that those lessons don't always translate into being beneficial outside of wrestling.

On the smaller scale of indy wrestling, there are guys and gals who have been active and have found ways to give back to the sport outside of the ring like Morton. There are men and women who have left the business completely after getting their fill for a decade or two who have made great strides in fields far removed from sports-entertainment.

Then, there are those weekend warriors whose 20 years in the business will be celebrated by others and punctuated by their desire to give 20 more years to the business. Not because wrestling is what they're good at, but because wrestling is all they're good at.

The moral of the story is if you are pro wrestler, the ring lights go out on all of us sooner or later. When that happens, you've got nowhere to go but home. Make sure you have the knowledge and resources to keep the lights on there. It makes life after wrestling a whole lot easier.

If you think life is a work, you should probably work on your life.

Fin.

The bigger picture.....

2017-05-22T14:26:00.001+03:00

It goes without saying that Jinder Mahal's ascension to the WWE World championship has caused quite a bit of shock throughout the sports-entertainment landscape. As expected, people on twitter are having a hissy-fit that rivals the yearly post-WrestleMania bellaching. No one saw Jinder winning the championship. Sure, wrestling has its storylines. But when it comes to the business of wrestling, there's a much bigger story at work.

Let's journey back to the year 2006. It was during that year, WWE signed a 7'1” freak of nature named Dalip Singh to a pro wrestling contract. With all due respect to the late Greg Korvas, Dalip was legitimately the world's largest bodybuilder. He would then be known as The Great Khali and moved to Smackdown after spending time in WWE's developmental territory – Jody Hamilton's ill-fated Deep South Wrestling. Khali would tear through many an opponent to eventually face The Undertaker. Khali's nearly nine-year run saw feuds with John Cena over the WWE championship, The Big Show, and a run as the World Heavyweight champion.

During this time, the Indian market remained an emerging global market. So much so that the company would establish WWE India in 2011. The goals were simple establish a presence in the emerging market, continue the company's expansion along all lines of business, and increase revenue generated from India across all platforms.

While they have never been on the same level as WWE, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling had its eye on the emerging market as well. The potential seen in the market and the chance to take the TNA brand abroad inspired North America's second-largest wrestling company to back a fed called Ring Ka King in 2011. India's Ring Ka King produced a season made up of 26 episodes that aired in 2012. The product mirrored TNA a lot, even with Jarrett serving as the leader of a powerful rulebreaking faction.

After the first season, rumor began to spread that there would not be a second season. Those rumors appear to be true as only one season of Ring Ka King has aired. One of the good things that came from Ring Ka King for TNA was Mahabali Shera. Shera would become the final RKK champion before its doors closed. Shera would officially sign with TNA in 2014. Since then, Shera has competed in the organization with mixed success.

Fast forward six years later. A lot has changed when it comes to TNA. Those three letters have been tossed out of the window. Jarrett has left and returned to the fold of what is now known as IMPACT Wrestling. With the return of Jarrett has come renewed enthusiasm about the product. It's no secret Jarrett has plans to place IMPACT Wrestling on a grander stage. With this, he has explored and re-established international relationships around the globe.

The following is an excerpt from a global press release from the company distributed on March 13^th of this year:

During the week, IMPACT Wrestling also reached agreement with its partners in India to begin taping in India. On May 30 and May 31, episodes of IMPACT Wrestling will be taped in Mumbai to be aired in the four weeks leading up to Slammiversary. Discussions are now underway with local sponsors and promotions to launch a new show featuring local talent in association with the IMPACT Wrestling roster to be filmed in India commencing as early as Q4 2017.

“We are excited to be in a position to bring our show to our fans in India,” said Ed Nordholm, president of IMPACT Wrestling. “This is an initial step in what we hope will become a regular part of our programming cycle, leading to live events in all of our key markets.”

By no means is this to undermine the success of Jinder Mahal. I think it's incredible that he would graduate from what amounted to a comedy trioka in 3MB to the WWE champion. Still, IMPACT has been nothing short of great since Jarrett's return Global Force Wrestling merging into the fold. IMPACT has done all that it could do lately to beautifully bridge the gap between its past and present while laying the groundwork for its future. The payoff is the upcoming Slammiversary pay-per-view in June. Through different means, IMPACT Wrestling is trying to accomplish everything WWE sought to beginning in 2011 and all they things fell short in doing with Ring Ka King. However, one of the key elements of business is timing.

Mahal is a magnificent specimen. The guy is ripped to shreds. He is much more athletically gifted than Khali ever was. He is convincing without trying too hard to be so. And considering the tweets coming from his fellow WWE Superstars, his hard work deserves to be rewarded with a World title. Strangely enough, his work's culmination happens almost two weeks before IMPACT Wrestling begins taping shows in Mumbai. The aforementioned Shera is still trying to figure things out after three years in a fed that has finally remembered what it is. So what does it all boil down to?

An established global juggernaut with a convincing new champion as its figurehead versus a rebranded organization whose only tie to the market is a mid-card wrestler whose still lost in the shuffle. Does IMPACT get lulled into taking the familiar role of throwing subtle jabs WWE can't feel nor acknowledge on its program? Does IMPACT have an ace up its sleeve? Over the course of a month and reaching the pinnacle in one night, WWE gave IMPACT's global expansion a gut punch it never saw coming.

Well played, machine. Well played.

No Flips, Just Fists.

2017-05-15T07:34:00.000+03:00

I'm not a fan of strong style wrestling.

As someone who has trained in American karate, taekwondo, muay thai and a handful of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu sessions, I think the notion of standing still so someone can hit you as hard as they can in a safe place so you can growl and return the favor not only isn't convincing, but isn't half as believable as punching a person in the face. Am I saying that wrestling matches should be all about punching someone in the face? Not at all. I just think hitting someone as hard as you can with the intention of NOT hurting them is stupid as shit.

There is an art that comes with the entertainment aspect of pro wrestling. It's so beautiful and authentic, it goes beyond attempting the dignify the question of whether what we do is real or not with a response. If done correctly, there's no need to go to extremes to keep people into what you are doing. “Mean” Mike Stratus says it best: entertain the fans, not your ego.

I'm old school as they come. I find it hard believing a 190-pound cruiserweight can subdue a near 400-pound man with one blow. Sure, power won't win every battle. Still, wrestling has preached for so many years that only the strong survive. There is definitely an audience for the Ring of Honor-type wrestling out there. I enjoy it in spurts.

But at the end of the day, I like a good fight.

For this story, I have scoured the roster of both NXT and IMPACT Wrestling. While one is a brand and the other is the name of an entire organization, I'd venture to say this is the only WWE brand IMPACT can remotely compare itself to now. I did this in search of bruisers – guys who are big and work the part well. Granted, each roster has well-established bruisers to offer. IMPACT has Eli Drake's lackey Tyrus, the returning Matt Morgan and the immensely versatile World champion Bobby Lashley. NXT has its Tag Team champions – the Paul Ellering-led Authors Of Pain. However, I wanted to choose individuals who are still (as my brother Johnny Camo likes to say) finding their feet. With that said, here is the fight club.

KILLIAN DAIN. The Sanity collective's hardest hitter is a big man indeed. Six-foot-three and over 300 pounds, this guy is no slouch. Usually, guys his size are meant to play the background while Eric Young and the rest of his stablemates get all the props. However, Dain has impressed with his performance in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal at this year's WrestleMania. He continued to impress recently on an episode 390 of NXT by mopping the damn floor with the overwhelmed and grossly overmatched Danny Burch (aka Martin Stone). With a singles scene that tends to shine more of a favorable light on smaller wrestlers from time to time, seeing this monster wreak havoc and bring the genuine fight element that makes wrestling so entertaining back wouldn't be a bad thing at all.
KONGO KONG. IMPACT Wrestling's resident savage has a style and persona that pays homage to monsters of the past like The Missing Link and Umaga. Initially part of Jeff Jarrett's Global Force Wrestling roster, Kong has begun to make his mark on IMPACT. Long legs that protrude from a very flabby upper body give him one of the sport's worst physiques. Still, he makes destructive use of his 6-foot7, 400 pound frame. His corner cannonball usually sets up for what appears to be one of the stiffest top rope splashes ever in wrestling. Having the extremely entertaining Laurel Van Ness guiding him makes for the most interesting combination in the fed. In time, maybe he can be the monster Abyss was supposed to be 15 years ago.
VETERANS OF WAR. Jax Dane has made a name for himself over the past few years as the NWA World champion. After losing the belt and competing in some Ring Of Honor matches, he was signed by IMPACT Wrestling and paired with former TNA Tag Team champion Crimson. Now using the names Wilcox and Mayweather, the two have been rechristened the Veterans of War – a duo of former U.S. Soldiers who bleed red, white, and blue. Their initial outing wasn't the smoothest. Both guys are probably still making the adjustment from being singles wrestlers and their timing was a little off. But considering their individual successes, this powerful and imposing team probably just needs some time to gel and make a real IMPA--... ...never mind.
DYLAN MILEY. This guy is savage and looks every bit the part. A recent episode of NXT saw Miley team with Michael Blias against D.I.Y. The former Tag Team champions offense and style has been celebrated for quite a while now. However, the undersized acrobats had no answer for the brute strength and straight-forward approach of the 6-foot-3, 270 pound beast. He nullified their attacks and looked untouchable until tagging out to Blais - who would ultimately be pinned. So how did Miley react? By attacking his partner after the match in brutal fashion. This bruiser was the most unsightly breath of fresh air for a viewer like me. He's a true throwback brawler. I hope he's featured on NXT more in the near future.

The heavy hitters don't stop there. IMPACT has KN and Fallah Bahh while NXT has the tag team of Heavy Machinery. All look intimidating. In all honesty, I haven't seen enough of any of these guys to know how that translates to the ring. Still, I'm certain none of them are pushovers. So when either of these shows dares to venture into acrobatic overkill, it is my hope that at least one of these individuals brings the fight to Wednesday or Thursday night.

Impact's Interesting Again,

2017-05-09T05:50:00.001+03:00

The year was 1999. WWE was riding high in the midst of its “Attitude Era” . When it seemed nothing could stop the momentum that was (and still is) the sports-entertainment juggernaut, tragedy struck when Owen Hart died after injuries suffered from a stunt gone wrong. Owen's loss left a huge hole in the heart of WWE. The road to recovery for everyone in the organization would not be easy. But in the midst of this tragic occurrence, WWE would create a show called SmackDown! The show marked WWE's return to prime time television. Over time, SmackDown! would become its own brand with a separate roster. But in its infancy, it re-established WWE as a force on prime time television.

During this time, WWE was engaged in an epic battle with Ted Turner's World Championship

Wrestling for complete control of the pro wrestling landscape. WCW's strategy when it came to competing against WWE was simply: do what they do, only better. That was the motive, but the execution left much to be desired. Having already created WCW Monday Nitro to oppose WWE Monday Night RAW, WCW created Thunder to compete against SmackDown! Why, you ask? Simple: because WWE had a show on Thursday nights. Did this development birth a “Thursday Night War”? Heavens no, it didn't. In all all honesty, Thunder was a pretty forgettable casualty of the WWE-WCW war.

This is what wrestling on Thursday night meant to fans a generation ago. So is there still wrestling on Thursday nights? Why yes! Yes, there is! That wrestling has a first name, it's.....

I-M-P-A-C-T.

Before you ask, I'm not kidding. IMPACT Wrestling has made wrestling on Thursday nights worth watching again. With a new direction and the organization's original visionary back in the fold, the fed formerly known as Total Nonstop Action Wrestling has become rather interesting. And the cool part is, there is something for everyone. I'm more than certain if you watch IMPACT, you'll take something different from it than I will. Nonetheless, it's beginning to show signs of life after being declared dead a thousand times over for the past few years.

Here are my favorite reasons to watch the all-new IMPACT Wrestling.

The mystery surrounding the IMPACT-GFW merger. At this juncture, the only thing we know about the IMPACT-GFW merger is just that: they've merge and not much else. To the world of people with the attention span of a fruit fly, this would drive them crazy. To me, it's a good thing. One thing we do know is that IMPACT will be presenting Slammiversary XV on July 2^nd. While the pieces fall into place for the PPV, the mystery surrounding this merger can slowly unravel over the next month. TV taping reports and spoilers be damned, this is a great way to not only build up the show but to also put IMPACT Wrestling's new direction on center stage. I'm excited to see where this goes.
Laurel Van Ness. The backstory behind this character is pretty funny. Van Ness blackmailed Braxton Sutter and was prepared to marry him. Sutter had enough and said “no” when asked if he would take Van Ness as his wife during the weeding. Sutter professing his love for Allie drove Van Ness off the deep end. A week later, she emerged a disheveled, comical wreck. Still sporting her wedding dress, smeared lipstick, and bottle of champagne to boot, Laurel now seeks a man to call her own. Rejecting her advances is usually followed by a beating at the hands of Kongo Kong. All of that aside, Laurel's strange and goofy mannerisms are a refreshing departure from moody divas who take themselves too seriously. You never know what she is gonna do from one week to the next. This is always the highlight of my Thursday nights.
Low-Ki vs Sonjay Dutt. Some of wrestling's best stories happen by accident. Triple H's

“curtain call” antics ultimately led to the birth of Austin 3:16. Sting getting attacked by Jake Roberts laid the groundwork for Ron Simmons becoming pro wrestling's universally recognized African-American World champion. April 20th's six-pack challenge for the X-Division championship was highlighted by the return of former X-Division pioneer Low-Ki. Low-Ki used that momentum to capture his fifth X-Division championship. During the match, Sonjay Dutt suffered a huge hematoma over his eye. The injury was just cause for Dutt to sit out the match. He did the exact opposite and kept fighting until the end. With that, a potentially awesome storyline was hatched. Ki s the near-legendary multiple-time titleholder. Dutt has done almost everything except become X-Division champion. Can Dutt end his title futility and capture the big one? Sure, the story has been done before with other wrestlers in the past (Chris Jericho's breakthrough WCW World title victory over The Rock for example). But considering the things these two men can do in the ring, the payoff could be amazing.

The stories and entertainment don't stop there. The Rockstar Spud hospital vignette was pretty cool. The ten-man main event featuring IMPACT World champion Bobby Lashley on one side and GFW Global champion Magnus on the other exceeded its billing. Plus... ...HEEL JOSH MATTHEWS!!! He's impulsive and unreserved on commentary now. Definitely an entertaining far cry from his previous incarnations.

Thursday nights nowadays aren't bookended by egomaniacal billionaires seeking to completely obliterate the other anymore. And despite losing wrestlers like The Hardys, Drew McIntyre and others, IMPACT is putting its addition by subtraction on display. I'm a worker who was a fan first and is a fan still. And like most fans, I don't know where IMPACT Wrestling is going but I'm gonna strap in and enjoy the ride.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Trained by former WWE head trainer Bill DeMott, “Southside Seduction” Velvet Jones is the reigning four-time Heavyweight champion of the Georgia Independent Wrestling Alliance - one of the top drawing pro wrestling organizations in the state of Georgia. A noted blogger and vlogger, Velvet works remotely from Georgia for Masters of Ring Entertainment – a special-events professional wrestling organization based in Wilmington, NC. To learn more about his career and current pursuits, visit his website at PLANETVELVET,NET

In a perfect world.......

2017-05-02T16:48:00.000+03:00

The wrestling bug hit me when I was a kid growing up in New Jersey. My dad was a huge sports fan. Throughout the week, we'd watch the Mets and Yankees play baseball on tv. Sunday afternoons were usually spent watching either the Giants or the Jets. Sunday mornings were usually spent watching WWF All-American Wrestling on the USA Network. It was a cool show that introduced me to a lot of my wrestling favorites.

I caught the business bug just before my freshman year in high school. I was selected from a group of kids in Newark to attend Essex County College in the summer. The program was called the Pre-College Consortium. I ran wild amongst the rest of my other soon-to-be freshman peers. Even still, we learned a lot about college courses and basic business techniques.

It's never strange for me put my two loves together. When I think of the wrestling business, I think of WWE. It has reshaped the entire business in its image. It has taken no prisoners. After Vince McMahon bought Capitol Wrestling Corporation from his father, his plan to implement change in his vision began. The long-standing territorial system of professional wrestling would soon be a thing of the past. Countless wrestling organizations were obliterated to make way for what I refer to the original version of pro wrestling's “new world order”. No t-shirts or offshoots defined by a pair of colors. Just a series of events that led to widespread change forever altering the course of history.

One of the final pieces destroyed en route to the machine becoming a global juggernaut was Extreme Championship Wrestling. In the video, My Name Is Paul Heyman, Mr. Heyman mentions a concept that was presented to him before ECW's demise. Among several options proposed in an effort to save the financially-strapped fed, one concept would see Shane McMahon buy ECW and broadcast it entirely in digital form. This - like every other option – was denied by Heyman. Ultimately, ECW was shut down, WWE paid all of its outstanding debts, and became owners of the ECW video library.

Ten years later, the WWE Network was made public to the world. Although it didn't officially launch until 2014, it was yet another chapter of change in the business birthed by WWE. Recently, I have given a lot of thought to the digital programming concept presented to Heyman before ECW ended. Had Heyman said yes to the concept, the revolutionary organization could have become revolutionary once more. This concept could have been the main show on the precursor to the WWE Network, WWE On-Demand. However, I can't think about the WWE version of ECW without thinking about the disastrous relaunch that did the original concept no justice. In WWE's defense, it viewed ECW as a product that played to a niche market. And while WWE's Attitude Era was ECW with more financial resources, the audience that loved ECW still loathed sports-entertainment. There was great divide between the two sides that just could not be filled.

Then, I began thinking some more. Could some of the territories from the 80's actually have been saved if there was a WWE Network 25 years ago? My answer is yes. Now here's the big question: what organization probably would benefit the most from a partnership with the WWE.

World Class? Nope. Fritz Von Erich would have lobbied for all of his surviving sons to be World champion one after the other.

WCW? Billionaire egos would clash on the regular.

My answer would be the good old American Wrestling Association. Although it has been reduced to a footnote in pro wrestling history, the AWA housed some of the best wrestling this business has ever seen. The Gagnes ran the place. But unlike the World Class and the Von Erichs, the AWA was defined by so much more than one family name. Nick Bockwinkle's multiple title reigns and one-of-a-kind presence. The bar room brawling style of legendary tag team Crusher and The Bruiser. The first Tag Team championship of The Road Warriors triple crown. Red Bastein and Billy Robinson, Diamond Dallas Page, The Guerreros, the Midnight Rockers, Curt Hennig, Scott Hall, and so many other great wrestlers defined this organization.

Now I know what you are thinking: “Velvet, are you crazy?!”. You've got a right to think so. A long list of wrestlers who defined WWE in the 80's came from the AWA. Hulk Hogan, Bobby Heenan, Ken Patera, Jim Brunzell and so many others immediately come to mind. But in a perfect world, this might actually work. I know that WWE owns the rights to the video libraries of countless feds. I'm not so sure they own the rights to the business names of some of these organizations. But.. ...let's assume WWE did own enough of whatever is necessary to relaunch the AWA. Let's just say it started off as a show on the WWE network. An organization started in the 60's is reborn as a fully-functioning modern-day entertainment brand of WWE. Anything is possible.

So what would it take for this to work: BUILDING A FUTURE WITH RESPECT FOR THE PAST. This was one of the many reasons WWE's version of ECW did not work. WWE has a habit of recreating what has been proven to work in their image with mixed results. It's why Sting waited so long to go there. WWE does this to make things better and gradually develop them. Watching The Zombie on ECW was like kicking Raven in the testicles – painful on all levels. You can't build a new house with old wood. But if the foundation is still good, leave it be. Just continue to build upward.

The WWE may have an ace up its sleeve it probably isn't using. The AWA is one of the few feds whose reputation hasn't truly been tarnished in the wake of WWE's game-changing concept. Then again, WWE has concepts it is trying to establish not only as brands, but as touring, money-making brands. Honestly, it would be kind of cool to see if WWE could resurrect a brand with lessons learned from the ECW debacle to a point a relevance and financial gain.

I'm done rambling, but never done thinking. This brain of mine, I tell ya.......

Jeff Jarrett: Ain't I Great or Great, I Ain't? Depends on How YOU Look At it.

2017-01-10T19:05:00.000+03:00

The reach of pro wrestling has always been amazing. Even without television, wrestling matches were contested all over the world. Pro wrestling’s first World championship came as a result of the European Greco-Roman heavyweight champion defeating American champion Tom Jenkins. I (@Velvet 478) grew up in New Jersey, so my wrestling diet consisted of a healthy dose of the World Wrestling Federation. Shows would populate the weekend on Fox 5 and WWOR-TV (Channel 9). Cable television came into play and that allowed me to watch wrestling from other places. One of my favorites to watch was World Class Championship Wrestling. The legendary Texas-based fed was easily dominated by The Von Erichs. But somewhere in the mid-card, there were matches being contested by a chubby bearded guy named Eric Embry and a young blonde kid.

That kid was Jeff Jarrett. He and Embry went back-and-forth for the WCCW Light-Heavyweight championship. And even then, I didn’t know that Jarrett would have such a long career in wrestling. I have followed his career since then and seen almost every change he has gone through. Memorable Jarrett moment for me include the time he got carried out of an arena on the shoulders of his fellow wrestlers after having his arm broken by Robert Fuller’s baseball bat, his awesome performance in a losing effort against Shawn Michaels for his Intercontinental title, setting a record for I-C title wins (which has since been broken by Chris Jericho), and his controversial time in World Championship Wrestling. It might be a bitter pill for WWE to swallow, but Jarrett was wrestling’s original third-generation superstar.On paper, his accomplishments are amazing. Of his 77 championship runs, 10 of those are universally-recognized World championship wins. But just like everything else in the latter part of Jarrett’s career, those things have come under major scrutiny. Some say Jarrett becoming WCW champion was the beginning of the end for the company. One of Jarrett’s reigns was ended by actor David Arquette. His six NWA World title runs occurred as co-owner of the company. Most saw it as a cheap way to make himself a World champion.

I met Jeff last year at a Masters Of Ring Entertainment show I was on. He's a cool as hell and is a damn hard worker. Polite, but straightforward. Wish I got a chance to pick his brain but the guy never stops moving. I had to scratch my head in wondering why the guy never gets any credit for his achievements.

This sport can be really fickle and funny at times. People in wrestling cosign what benefits them and condemns what doesn’t. Ever since he became WCW champion, all of Jarrett’s moves have been dissected and his accomplishments minimized by just about everyone. He’s won championships on just about every continent where wrestling is regularly held. And sadly, almost no one cares or gives him props. It’s crazy and borderline hilarious how easily someone whose career has been placed under the microscope for the sake of scrutiny is now been viewed by everyone with a set of eyes in a brand-new light. That happened at the end of last week.

Anthem Sports and Entertainment announced that it had purchased controlling interest in TNA Wrestling. It was also announced that Dixie Carter would step down from her position as Chairwoman of the fed to accept a new position within ASE. For long time fans of wrestling, that was awesome news. Even bigger news came when it was announced that Jarrett would return to the fold as a consultant within the company. So many eyes lit up. So many hopes were given new life and new energy. In the eyes of wrestling fans, Jeff Jarrett has suddenly become the answer for all things great to be accomplished in TNA…..

…but for how long? Remember, this a fickle business. Here a couple of scenarios that could take place.

OPTION A: Jeff Jarrett infuses the formula that helped TNA make its initial IMPACT (pun intended) on the World of pro wrestling. This formula put a plethora of regional and national stars on a much bigger stage than they’d ever been on before. In turn, this influx of talent brought to light shortcomings in the WWE product at the time: tag team and cruiserweight action. The X-Division championship has about as much value as the Money In The Bank briefcase nowadays and almost no one pays attention to the tag team scene anymore. Maybe Jarrett’s years of experience could breathe life into these divisions.
OPTION B: Jarrett could use his experience of doing international business in recent years to halt the latest wave in WWE’s global expansion. Despite flaws in the product, something TNA could always boast about in recent years was its international relationships. All but maybe one or two of those working relationships are dead. If WWE’s upcoming UK-title tournament is a success, don’t look for them to stop there. Jarrett has also not abandoned his own Global Force Wrestling imprint. He could do three things at once with this venture: slow down WWE’s global progression, re-establish foreign relationships for TNA, and lay the groundwork for GFW to continue doing more global business.
OPTION C: Jarrett could do all of the above and live up to the expectations of his detractors by making himself the focal point of TNA again. Whether it is in a position that features him prominently on TNA programming or another six World title reigns, Jarrett could become TNA’s version of “the face that runs the place” again. However, that may not be a bad thing. Some would say Hulk Hogan did the same thing in WCW. But as big a shadow as Jarrett can cast, Hogan’s is enormous and selfish in nature. That is what would set Jarrett apart. What wrestler isn’t a shameless self-promoter (GUILTY AM I!)? The difference is Jarrett recognizes the TNA is one product and he is another. As result, there is much better chance of prosperity under Jarrett’s watch for ALL involved.

I (@Velvet478) can’t wait to see how all of this plays out. I also can’t wait to see how the vision of all those watching will change in the coming year. Despite criticism, Jarrett hasn't let anyone or anything stop him from achieving anything in this sport. I'm hoping the trend continues with this new venture. One man with years of experience brings infinite possibilities for the future of TNA. I’ll be watching.. …but it won’t be through a microscope.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Trained by former NXT Trainer and WCW United States champion Bill DeMott, Anthony "Velvet" Hall has been a professional wrestler for over eleven years under the name Velvet Jones. A noted blogger and vlogger, Anthony works remotely from Georgia as a Brand Development/Sales Representative for Masters Of Ring Entertainment - a special-events pro wrestling company based in Wilmington, NC.

The Three Keys To The Success Of WWE United Kingdom

2016-12-15T22:32:00.001+03:00

WWE has a pretty awesome way of doing things. I (@Velvet478 on IG and Twitter) was just as surprised as anyone when news came of a press conference in the UK being held by Triple-H came across my facebook feed. I started watching around the middle of the conference. Trips outlined a lot of things going on with the Machine to ultimately say that WWE will create a United Kingdom championship. So far, the reaction among my peers has been mixed. One of the most obvious stances is that WWE now has too many championships. But if all you take from this announcement is the creation of another strap, you are truly missing the big picture.

It is easy to look at WWE and think that when it comes to diversifying and expanding the brand, the alpha and omega of this concept is the tv shows and their respective rosters. But for people who have been fans for decades, WWE has tried to expand their brand with mixed results. A few years

after changing their parent name from Titan Sports to World Wrestling Federation, Inc., the fed that would become WWE created the World Bodybuilding Federation. The goal was to become a direct competitor with the well-established International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IBFF). After two years or so, the organization ceased operations. Nearly a decade later, WWF Inc. created the Xtreme Football League (XFL). A joint venture between WWF and NBC, the organization only lasted one year.

There is a bit of organizational ego that got backhanded by the end of each attempt to expand the WWF brand. WWE attempted to buy into other sports avenues and compete with the leaders in each industry. They did so by trying to passively remind the viewers that these were WWE entities. Ultimately, that would be the downfall of both those organizations. It wasn’t until NXT came into fruition that the brand extension concept truly saw some long-lasting success. Say what you want about it, but no one does pro wrestling better than WWE. For that reason alone, NXT has surpassed anyone’s expectations and grown into its own brand.

Certainly, WWE wants its newest excursion to be successful. And it seems that they will be using the same business model applied to the Cruiserweight division to help accomplish this goal. I’m truly optimistic about this concept. Here are three reasons I (me, @Velvet478 on IG and Twitter) think it will do well:

WILLIAM REGAL and ROBBIE BROOKSIDE: The WWE used to be infamous for releasing talent by the tens at about the same time every year. With established brands and those in development, this may not always be the case. Every person hired is an asset and can contribute in some way. Regal and Brookside have proven to be valuable to WWE in their post-ring careers on NXT and Breaking Ground, respectively. It’s a safe bet to say they’ve both had a hand in the formation of this new brand and will continue to do so. If not, they can surely contribute to its initially moves and/or mentor those who are not familiar with the United Kingdom wrestling scene.

THE WWE NETWORK and LIVE EVENTS: Before making his announcement, Triple H spoke of how the cruiserweight classic not only led to the crowning of a new champion, but a television show as well The WWE’s streaming service not only provides a limitless library of vintage pro wrestling footage, but it also gives WWE the freedom to produce and showcase any of its new projects. Many thought the network would fail. Millions of subscribers later, nothing could be further from the truth. WWE plans to create a television show for their newest brand as well as a live events schedule. Both will be infinitely beneficial to establishing the truth presence of this brand.

.

LET.. IT.. LIVE!!! During one of the two WBF shows, the biggest story was not Gary Strydom capturing the championship, but Lex Luger lying in a hospital bed. XFL games were in their infancy when The Rock popped up on the screen making macabre football references. And while they were not pro wrestling brands, it was kind of hard to tell.. ..especially when Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler started calling the football games and bodybuilders hit the stage in gimmick outfits. These two brands were never given an honest chance to establish their own distinctive identities. A decade and change into its existence, TNA is still trying to get out of the gate for that exact same reason. WWE UK will ultimately show us what it is, but only if WWE lets it.

I’m looking forward to seeing what the future holds for this new brand. You should be too.

Thanks to everyone who has read my blog this year. Lovers, detractors, and everyone in-between. Everyone have a safe and Happy Holiday season.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Trained by former NXT Trainer and WCW United States champion Bill DeMott, Anthony "Velvet" Hall has been a professional wrestler for over eleven years under the name Velvet Jones. A noted blogger and vlogger, Anthony works remotely as a Brand Development/Sales Representative for Masters Of Ring Entertainment - a special-events pro wrestling company based in Wilmington, NC.

CONSOLIDATION: The Gift And The Curse

2016-11-29T12:16:00.000+03:00

So here we are months into WWE's brand extension part Deux. There was excitement abound when we heard of how exclusive these brands would become. Each brand would have its own major champion, secondary, tag team, and Women's champion. Plus, RAW would be the home of the Cruiserweight division.

Thus far, this incarnation of the brand extension does not have the special feeling surrounding the first incarnation of this concept. What is the reason for this? One word:

Consolidation.

Lemme break it down for ya.

The initial version of the brand extension centered around consolidation. With the folding or both WCW and ECW, WWE had established a major monopoly on pro wrestling in the United States. The band members of years gone by were tooting their horns to the tune of outright bitterness as a result of this. However, WWE found a way to make it work.. ...briefly.

RAW and SmackDown at the time were truly different. They were on different networks. The

presentation of each show was different. Most importantly, the consolidation of WWE as a whole brought truly different wrestlers from truly different companies together under one banner. So while WWE was holding all of the cards, the unique qualities of each wrestler still remained. Ultimately, it gave these wrestlers an opportunity to establish themselves under one of the greatest collective rosters in the history of pro wrestling. It laid the groundwork for many of the dream matches that many thought would never happen because of organizational and political boundaries to become a reality. A few great tag teams and stables were formed as well. Finally, the championships were different not only in name, but appearance as well.

Take a look at this incarnation. Nearly 15 years after the inception of this device, we see just how much wrestling has changed. Most of the stars from the WCW and ECW are all so far removed from the sport. The machine has gotten mileage out of nearly every possible dream match they could have had. Today, the closest thing to a dream match you'll get in a WWE ring is a surprise call-up from NXT. That's it with the the exception of AJ Styles debut earlier this year in the Royal Rumble. RAW and SmackDown are now both on the USA Network. WWE has four singles championships that look the same. At three hours of running time, RAW has become network-TV saturation at its best.

What was once a gift in the form of world-class wrestlers and an unlimited library of content has now gotten stale. Triple-H has been quoted as saying that NXT was the “guaranteed future of the WWE”. In a sport that people are now more interested in trying to figure out than enjoy and be entertained by, the future has become pretty damn predictable. The surprises aren't that much of a surprise any more. However, this version of the brand extension is still in its infancy. Let's give it a year and see what happens after it truly starts to walk. Hopefully, we won't be subjected to those live RAW/SmackDown Supershows again.

Dammit, consolidation.......

The Return of Booger Red... ...well, sorta.

2016-09-26T21:41:00.000+03:00

Announcers are always kept under a tight leash when it comes to wrestling. They aren’t listening to

popular music on those headsets, ya know. In time if successful, they are granted the freedom to infuse more of their personality into calling matches. Sometimes, it works. Other times it doesn’t. One of the greatest announcers ever is Jim Ross. During one of The Undertaker’s many persona shifts, he referred to him as “Booger Red”. It was a reference to Undertaker’s red hair and an ode to ex-Atlanta Falcon Tommy Nobis. Before long, Ross was asked to stop using the moniker. It made sense.

Unless you were the burping badass in the Revenge of The Nerds movie, being called “Booger-anything” wasn’t cool. It sounds more like an insult than anything else. However, memories of the aforementioned name have resurfaced after the creation of the WWE Universal championship. A copy of the WWE World title with a red background instead of a black one, the WWE Universe did not take to kindly to it appearance. The argument was simple: if RAW is a different brand than SmackDown, why on Earth would you present something that looks the same as their version?

The last time WWE had a brand extension, there were two top championships: the original WWE championship and the World Heavyweight championship. The World Heavyweight title was the latest and final (we hope) incarnation of the legendary Big Gold belt. And while it would eventually have its own history, it wasn’t the same thing as being the WWE Champion. So while battles of the World Heavyweight title became main event matches for brand-exclusive and co-branded pay-per-views, you never really could get into them like you did for a WWE title match.

Thankfully, the Universal championship doesn’t have this burden to bear.

The name has been used for decades by Puerto Rico’s World Wrestling Council. That particular title came into existence after a proposed but vetoed unification match between Carlos Colon and NWA World champion Ric Flair. Flair carried the physical predecessor to the Big Gold belt into battle with him against Colon (who won the match). When Flair was a traveling champion in the early 1980’s who boasted about defending his World title against challenger Hulk Hogan would not, it was the Big Gold Belt he carried. So much of pro wrestling then and now has been built on the foundation of that particular championship and the belt that represented it. Its influence can still be felt today.

The WWE Universal title is unlike any before it. It begins its existence with a clean slate and an amazing roster of wrestlers who would challenge for it now and in the future. Finn Balor’s injury when he captured the belt against Seth Rollins has set the table for Kevin Owens to do his thing. Now, WWE fans are getting to see what Owens can really do in the biggest match situations of his career. So many people say Cesaro should at least be considered for major title status. Should he be victorious against Sheamus in their best-of-seven series, he will get his opportunity. Rusev is fresh off of a United States title loss but remains a dark horse. I’d be foolish to forget Chris Jericho, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns. The best thing about all of these guys (and whoever I have failed to mention) is that they are all hungry. Each man is licking his chops for the chance to wear this new championship.

The Universal championship gives the RAW roster the change to actually CREATE history as opposed to just “making” it. So don’t pass judgment on the belt or beat up its appearance too bad. Give ol’ Booger Red a chance again. You’ll be glad you did.

Fin.

PRIME TIME WRESTLING

2016-09-21T15:48:00.003+03:00

Stock prices may be dropping on WWE stock (as they usually do around this time of the year), but pro wrestling seems to be rather healthy. A clear indication of this would have to be the weekly offerings of wrestling on broadcast and cable television. There is wrestling on TV Monday through Friday. The first three days of the week are defined (and somewhat saturated) by the WWE. Monday Night Raw, SmackDown Live on Tuesdays, and NXT on Wednesday. Thursdays are for IMPACT Wrestling while Fridays sees AXS TV bless us with matches from New Japan Pro Wrestling.

But alas, there is more backstage dialogue than there is wrestling these days. Pro wrestlers are given time to further their issues and promote their matches in the most transparent of ways. It didn’t always used to be like that. For this reason, RAW is sometimes all of WWE I can stand in a week’s time. I’m writing this on a Wednesday morning; meaning last night was Tuesday. Now I could religiously watch SmackDown Live. But instead, I ventured to the WWE Network. I’d just gotten home from the gym and showered. I was looking for something to view in the vault and what I stumble upon?

WWF Prime Time Wrestling.

This year was 1987. Prime Time Wrestling was the predecessor to Monday Night RAW for years. It was a sit-down studio show hosted by the legendary team of Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan. Monsoon was always the straight man: a former wrestler who would confuse me and countless youth with his random offerings of medical terminology. Thanks to Monsoon, I could say terms like medulla oblongata and medial collateral ligament long before I could spell them. To his right was none other than Heenan. Still managing at the time, Heenan had one-liners that would make you laugh, cringe, or both. Heenan’s trademark sequined bowtie and jacket made him stand out.

Several matches that didn’t look exciting on paper were actually pretty good for many reasons. The matches on this show would take place at several arenas around the world. The show opened up with Greg Valentine earning a cheap win over “The Rebel” Dick Slater in the legendary Boston Garden. A camera shown from ringside in the direction of the competitors also showed the Garden filled to capacity. The mezzanine seats were full and this was a damn house show! The next match saw one of my all-time favorites Sika defeat Cpl Kirschner at the Meadowlands Arena. That alone brought back memories of me and my brother arguing with grown-ups as kids in the same arena and almost getting kicked out just before The Ultimate Warrior challenged Rick Rude for the Intercontinental title years later.. ..but that’s another story.

Siva Afi pinned Frenchy Martin a match that was short, sweet, and won via sunset flip. I always knew Afi was good but didn’t know he was that athletic and graceful. There were a few 80’s skits, but they were short and took less than five minutes to view. There was Blackjack Mulligan riding horseback and rustling up some longhorns. All the while, he said he was coming to WWE and hunting for the Heenan family. Awesome visual simplicity. Next was the ill-fated Outback Jack. Jack was in Australia getting war paint put on his face by members of an Aborigine tribe. After the skit, Heenan quipped “Who was that with Jack? The Temptations?”. Hilarious! Finally, Jesse Ventura (with a head full of hair, no less) stood in the lobby of hotel with a mic in hand. Ventura heard screaming female fans and assumed that “Macho Man” Randy Savage is causing the commotion. To his dismay, the female fans are trying to get to the Can-AM Connection of Tom Zenk and former AWA World champion Rick Martel. Zenk is awestruck while Martel’s shirt is torn to shreds. Cool stuff.

Back to the action and tag team wrestling is at the plate. First, The Hart Foundation took on The Islanders at the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. Highly athletic and entertaining match. Anyone that knows me knows I absolutely LOVE the Anoa’I family. To get the chance to see Tama (Tonga Kid) work again was great. Next, WWF World Tag Team champions The British Bulldogs took on the Slick-led team of Nikolai Volkoff and The Iron Sheik. Sheiky Baby and Volkoff won after Matilda the Bulldog earned her humans a disqualification. Finally, it was main event time. “The King” Harley Race took on the modern-day concussed crybaby Billy Jack Haynes. Haynes used his size and strength to batter Race all over the ring. About three or four years removed from his last NWA World title reign, Race sported quite the belly. Still, it didn’t stop him from going to work on the big man from Oregon. The match ended when Heenan ran in the ring to stop Haynes from locking Race in the Full Nelson. So what did Haynes do? He put Heenan in it. Classic material!! The show would end with Monsoon telling fans to tune in next week for a cage match featuring World champion Hulk Hogan and Paul Orndorff.

Prime Time Wrestling would go on for about six more years. Near the end, it lost its identity. There was now a studio audience. Vince McMahon and his unflinching hair would greet weekly viewers wearing a puffy tracksuit, high top sneakers, and his trademark bravado. Even still, this trip down memory lane did what wrestling today can’t do: keep my attention for two hours straight. These guys FOUGHT with fists and feet. It was compelling. It was consistent. But most importantly, it was CONVINCING.

Ah, the good old days…….

Friday night violence

2016-07-18T15:20:00.001+03:00

With everything that I have going on nowadays, I am really starting to enjoy the idea of wrestling on Friday nights as opposed to the Saturday deals I’ve been doing for the last decade. When the chance to perform is close to home, it’s even better. Such was the case for me last weekend. I wrestled my very first show for the local upstart Southern Violence and Wrestling in Eatonton, GA.

I arrive to the VFW Building a little after 6 PM. Doors are scheduled to open at 7 PM with an 8 PM bell time. I’m alerted that the ring has yet to make it to the building. When the ring finally does arrive, it’s 7:35 PM. Nonetheless, gotta give the guys who brought the ring credit for putting it up so fast. Before long, we were off and running. My match was just before intermission. On this night, I would be taking on Zaky Blane. One look at Zach and you can see that he has an interesting bad boy kinda look. He’s a young, tall, and athletic guy.

Zach and I get right into the mix. Most matches probably started with the traditional collar-and-elbow tie-up. Me and Zach went right after each other with punches by the bunches. I got the best of him early on but the tide of the match soon turned when he posted me on the outside. He threw me back inside of the ring and stayed putting the hurt to me. I fought back to the point where I introduced a chair into the mix. This wasn’t a folding chair, but one of the more dinner table type of chairs that are usually stacked on top of one another after a show is over. What you can do and how you do it very limited in the VFW building. High flying moves are limited to the second rope at best considering the exteremely low ceiling this place has. The potential to step out of the ring an unintentionally kis a ceiling fan in dangerously high. Next, I used a folding chair to drop-toehold Mr. Blane onto the chair. After a pair of Rock Bottoms, I pinned Zach for the victory. How did I celebrate? I chased him to the back with a chair. Hey, it is called Southern Violence and Wrestling!

The night’s action was called former WCW and Global Wrestling Federation commentator Scott Hudson. It was awesome for everyone in that locker room to have their matches called by Scott and C-Double that night. After my match with Zackary, Scott complimented me and told me I had a great match. Huge pat on the back for me from I guy I’ve watched call matches featuring guys from Conan Chris Walker to Hard Work Bobby Walker and everyone in-between. The main event was actually a lot better than I thought it would be. The triple-threat match saw Skrilla win his first pro wrestling championship by pinning Ryan Michaels for the pinfall. The match also included incumbent champion Chris Nelms. There was a heel turn and a title change. Ultimately, it set the table for a lot of good matches. This fed is very young, having less than five shows under its belt. With everything that happened on Friday, the booking of the show will really be tested for future shows.

Well, my new week is just getting started. As a wrestler and wrestling fan, it’s gonna be a big one for me. The WWE Draft between two shows in happening. Title vs title match on IMPACT Wrestling – which moves to Thursday. The uncontrolled chaos of Lucha Underground on Wednesday. GIWA Wrestling in Milledgeville, GA on Friday night. And then, on Saturday, yours truly has TWO BIG MATCHES during the HUGE pro wrestling expo and show presented by Masters of Ring Entertainment in Wilmington, NC. Man, what a time to be alive and be in this business!! Everyone enjoy the week in wrestling. It may be a while before we see one quite like this again!!!

Fin.

Pay-Per-View: An Expired Expense

2016-05-31T18:38:00.000+03:00

A lot can change in 30 years, ladies and gentlemen.

In 1986, pro wrestling was entering its second year of promoting pay-per-view events. WrestleMania started off as the biggest gamble in pro wrestling history. Ultimately, it laid the blueprint for the modern-day WWE. It takes Vince and Linda McMahon to verbally express how much they stood to lose in putting on WrestleMania. So many things led to this event happening. And when it finally did, it changed the sport forever.

For the wrestling buff totally into WWE, it was all about building so many things during the Golden Era of WWE. Back then, there was wrestling outside of the WWE. It did not matter if your name was Verne Gagne or Jim Crockett or even Herb Abrams. The eyes of the pro wrestling world were focused on the success or failure of the WWE’s pay-per-view exploits. The logic was simple: if the PPV model worked for him, it will surely work for us!

Outside of WWE, the only organization that ever had continued success with PPV was the NWA/WCW. I say that Chi-Town Rumble ’89 is still one of the greatest wrestling PPV’s in history. ECW also had some moderate success with the pay-per-view model. The American Wrestling Association took a huge chance on SuperClash III - in conjunction with three other wrestling organizations - and failed miserably. The same can be said for the even more abysmal UWF Beach Brawl. With the exception of WWE, all of the other organizations are no longer in existence. WCW and ECW will probably be remembered more for their successes than their ultimate failures. Part of that is due to the PPV success. The AWA has a rich history but their PPV forays are forgettable by choice in remembering what they contributed to wrestling. UWF just flopped and its PPV was indicative of that. When an organization wanted to prove that it belonged among the elite in the sport, it put all of its chips on the table and gambled on the PPV model. For the successful few, it said “we have arrived”. For the many that failed, it said “please go quietly into the night”.

Now we are in a day and age where WWE took another gamble that has ultimately paid off – the WWE Network. One of the criticisms against the streaming network was that WWE would cut its revenue by now offering its PPV’s for $9.99. Plus, they own the libraries of most of the defunct feds mentioned and offer their PPV’s in the subscription package. The words “pay-per-view” have become more tagline than purchasing method. Unless we are talking boxing, it seems like the PPV model is slowly fading into obscurity in wrestling. The concept seems a bit dated for wrestling.

So why are there organizations still trying to sell PPV’s?

I say this on the heels of TNA’s most recent PPV offering – Slammiversary 2016. It is a show whose top three matches feature five WWE castoffs between them. All of that aside, people don’t speak as optimistically about TNA as they did a decade ago. Constantly in a state of transition and forever seeking an identity, TNA is no longer viewed as revolutionary pro wrestling. It comes off now as simply a wrestling show. At this point, is the risk worth the reward? Even after that, would YOU pay money to watch a TNA PPV? The same can be said for Ring of Honor. Owed by a conglomerate of syndicated television stations, Ring of Honor can be seen almost anywhere throughout the country during the week or weekend. And while ROH has clearly supplanted TNA as North America’s number-two organization, it’s kind of hard for me to stomach the idea of paying almost $35 for one of their offerings. I am certain I’m not the only one who feels this way either.

One of the things that WWE loves to do during its PPV’s is to acknowledge other countries offering WWE shows to their viewers on PPV. It’s a kind gesture that serves a double purpose. It also solidifies WWE’s status in doing global business. However, the same can’t be said for the other two feds. This is not a knock on either of them, but think about it. There are really only two events that are really doing big numbers consistently on PPV these days: boxing and the UFC. Brock Lesnar is a multiple-time WWE champion, but his status as the king of PPV came when he turned Frank Mir’s face into sloppy Joe at UFC 100. WWE still does good business – especially during WrestleMania – but even they are falling short of the new PPV giants’ numbers. Neither TNA and ROH can compete with WWE financially. And no matter who offers your product overseas, international offerings do not always translate into international buys. Can they truly afford to lose money – much less compete - on a PPV level?

Supply and demand will always have a place in the center of any business seeking growth. No one could fathom if Vince McMahon exaggerated the demand for WWE programming when he embarked on the journey that was WrestleMania. It was a risk that paid off. It was a calculated risk. But more importantly, it was a well-funded risk seen through the eyes of a man with a very clear vision. Had they failed, WWE could have recovered in time to give WrestleMania or the PPV market another go in time. With people starting to slowly fall out of love with cable television as a whole, maybe the PPV route isn’t the best way to go anymore. Today’s media offers other forms of broadcasting. From PPV comes iPPV. There are other streaming services that aren’t as well-known as the industry leaders, but isn’t the job of a promoter is to promote? If growth and prosperity are the ultimate goal of any organization, the smartest move to make is to take advantage of the latest way to broadcast your vision to the world. That is if you are financially stable. Work smarter, not harder, and milk these modern methods for all they are worth….

…..because a lot can change in 30 years, ladies and gentlemen.

Fin.

The Kingdom Before The Empire

2016-05-26T15:48:00.004+03:00

After both WWE Payback and Extreme Rules, there are people who are still genuinely surprised that Roman Reigns has retained the WWE World championship against A.J. Styles. Forget the fact that Roman is Styles’ physical superior. It was assumed by many that even though he defeated A.J. at Payback, Roman was destined to lose the championship to A.J. before long. Yet and still, the most-recent World title contributor the Anoa’i wrestling dynasty remains the kingpin.

Holding the wrestling world’s most prestigious title should see Roman adored by the WWE Universe. Thing haven’t gone that way for the young champion. For whatever reason, there are still some people who don’t think Roman’s reign (see what I did there?) is legit. And many people are wondering why this has happened? True enough, the fans turned on John Cena eventually. But in his quest for the belt and a good ways through it, Cena was beloved by the WWE Universe. So Roman’s run doesn’t quite mirror that of Cena. However, it does mirror the ascension of one former World champion. The man I’m speaking of is not just any wrestling king.

He is “The King Of Kings”.

The WWE’s legendary Attitude Era left quite the mark on the organization that can still be seen today. It really kicked into high gear when the WWE World championship was being fought over by guys like The Undertaker, Kane, Mankind, and – most notably – Steve Austin. Meanwhile, Triple-H was the de facto leader of the collective known as D-Generation X. Their common cause along with a boatload of sophomoric hijinks saw many titles flow freely through its ranks. Hunter himself would hold both the European and Intercontinental championships. DX feuded with The Nation, which was l led by Roman’s cousin The Rock. Eventually, The Nation would disband and Rocky would become the champion. Hunter got shot after shot for the gold but would always fall short in his challenge.

By the time the summer of 1999 had rolled around, every one other guy listed before HHH had multiple World title reigns to their credit. Hunter had changed his look in favor of shorter shorts and shorter hair. Finally, Hunter beat Mankind for the title and day after SumerSlam 1999. After seeing him fall short so many times before, his title reign looked like a fluke. Couple that with his real-life relationship with Stephanie McMahon and the jury was out on Trips. It was accepted that he got where he did because of that relationship and he didn’t earn the belt. The fact that he would lose and regain the belt within a four-and-a-half month span didn’t help his cause much either. Physically, HHH looked strong. But as a champion, he looked weak. At this point, it looked like nothing or no one could legitimize him.

Enter Mick Foley.

Tales of Cactus Jack were spread throughout the indies and WCW. Mankind was Jack with some McMahon seasoning. It was accepted that you had to be a different breed of competitor to beat Mankind. Hunter looked vulnerable and Mankind was nuts. The two locked horns in a brutal street fight at the 2000 Royal Rumble with the belt on the line. It was not for the faint of heart. They beat the crap out of each other. In the end, Hunter walked away with the victory. Up to that point, the toughest match he’d been in was probably the Hog Pen match against Henry Goodwin. The ECW influence was there and it showed. Hunter was battered, but still the titleholder. Even after that, people were not convinced. Sure, he made a believer out of some but not all. So how can you top that? Put the World title on the line against Foley’s career at in a Hell In A Cell match a month later. Surely, Hunter can’t beat Foley again, right? Wrong. Hunter did just that and forced Foley to retire. Despite his detractors, Hunter has gone on to have one of the greatest careers in wrestling history. A large part of that is due to his matches with Mick Foley.

Roman Reigns scored two victories over one of the best wrestlers in the world. It could easily be argued that because of his victories, HE is now the best wrestler in the world today. A.J. Styles was a great opponent for Roman. But I’m hoping he can hold on to the belt and have someone bigger and more accomplished do for him what JBL did for John Cena. Or what Andre did for Hogan. Or what Undertaker did for Steve Austin. Three reigns in, I personally hope this is the beginning of a great run for Roman. And even more so, I’m waiting for WWE to give him that career-defining moment.

Step By Step

2016-05-17T17:09:00.000+03:00

Running. We’ve all done it. To a larger degree, we have all run a race in some form or fashion. What makes up the race, you ask? The start, the running itself, and the eventual finish of the race. It is what it is. So why is it that people run races? No matter what happens, everyone runs against another person for a variety of reason. Some run to test the other person’s speed. For others, it can be a test of endurance. Ultimately, we run races to win.

If you are running a race, it is done with selfish reasons. You want to cross the finish line. You want your hand raised. And if you are like me, you wanna talk some smack afterwards. It’s simply my competitive nature. That’s one thing I’ll never run from. All that aside, you can apply the “running analogy” to pro wrestling. Just like in a foot race or auto race or whatever race there may be, everyone is trying to get to the finish line. And as always is the case in pro wrestling, nothing is ever as it seems. The three elements of running the race are universal. There is no denying it. Running a race in pro wrestling is not the same as running one anywhere else because people are ALWAYS watching. Because even after (or if) you cross the finish line, a new race begins immediately. But in pro wrestling, which of these elements are the most important? I guess the best way to find out is to explore the most celebrated and familiar race run in all of pro wrestling…..

….the chase for a championship.

In examining these races, four title chases immediately come to mind. They are the respective runs of three Hall Of famers and one current star. While all of these men have been World champion multiple times, I will look at their initial title reigns and the respective aftermaths.

· HULK HOGAN: Hulk Hogan’s race to his initial WWE World title reign happened mostly in Minneapolis and the old AWA. Hogan had been feuding with reigning kingpin Nick Bockwinkle in a series of really entertaining matches. I’d never seen an AWA crowd more invested in a match except when these two fought. Hogan was coming close but always falling short in his chase due to some weird technicality. Around this time, WWE had begun its national expansion. Hogan left the AWA for the WWE and a much bigger paycheck. Less than two months after returning, Hogan beat The Iron Sheik to win the World championship. Hogan’s larger-than-life image transcended organizations so much so, he had WWE fans onboard with Hulkamania before he stepped foot into a WWE ring for a second time. And the rest is history…..

· STING: In the late 1980’s, the NWA had an influx of amazing young athletes ready to make a name for themselves. The Steiner Brothers, Barry Windham, Nikita Koloff, and Lex Luger were slowly becoming the face for a new generation of NWA wrestler. Standing out above them all was Sting. He was an amazing athlete that got people of all ages behind him. His story took several turns over the years. The 45-minute draw with Ric Flair in 1988. His induction and dismissal from the Four Horsemen coupled with winning the Ironman tournament in 1989. His knee injury after being announced as a challenger for the World championship. All the while, the fans stayed on board. It all culminated in Sting true coming-of-age match in July 1990 when he finally beat Flair for the championship. With every step of the race, Sting had captured the fans interest and they ran with him to the finish line. People trying to build a champion should study his run.

· STEVE AUSTIN: Hogan and Sting were game changers and Steve Austin was no different. Gone were the days of the magnificent blonde who populated USWA (I swear, I couldn’t tell him and Rod Price apart sometimes) and WCW. Austin used his early career misfortunes as the blueprint to reinvent himself. He was the undisputed leader of the WWE Attitude Era. No matter how vulgar Austin became, he kept fan interest even when he initially told people to “knock it off” when they began cheering him during his feud with Bret Hart. Was his run a straight run to the title? Heck no. Austin had a few bumps in the road. Between his knees and his neck, he unapologetically jumped those hurdles. And through it all, the fans’ support never wavered. He’d win the Royal Rumble and defeat Shawn Michaels to begin his first title reign.

ROMAN REIGNS: The elevation of Roman Reigns is probably the most indicative piece of proof how times have changed in pro wrestling. Initially a member of the troika known as The Shield, Reigns look and demeanor made him stand out. Before long, his accomplishments within the group did the same thing as well. He was a sole survivor at Survivor Series. He nearly won the Royal Rumble only to lose en route to setting the record for most single Rumble eliminations. He became a breakout star and the fans were matching him stride for exciting stride. Somewhere along the lines, the fans turned on him. They decided they didn’t wanna run the race with Roman anymore. People said he wasn’t ready. They thought he didn’t earn anything because of his heritage. Eventually, he won the Royal Rumble and captured the WWE World championship only to lose it immediately afterward to Sheamus.

So what were the aftermaths of these respective situations? Hogan became WWE’s poster boy for the better part of a decade. His first World title reign lasted over four years and was bookmarked by some of the greatest moments in WWE history. Sting’s title reign would last less than six or seven months. He defended the title against Sid Vicious and came out on the better end of the Black Scorpion debacle only to lose the belt back to Flair. For all of the great things Austin did during his career, his championship reigns weren’t one of them. “Stone Clod’s” first reign was only 91 days long. Austin gave the sport of wrestling a major face-lift. However, Hogan’s first reign nearly triples Austin’s combined days as champion over six reigns. As for Roman, his story is just still being written. He has a great chance to make sure history remembers him well and continue the magnificent tradition of his bloodline. He’s still running.

The slow build still works in wrestling. All you have to do is grab people’s attention and hold on to it. Sting and Austin are examples of the race being more fun while it’s being run than when it’s over. People held on to their strides and missteps. Fans felt compelled to jump hurdles and go over obstacles with them. When the race was finally over, it meant a whole lot more than just dropping a belt on a guy.

If you run the race the right way, it still does.

Fin.

Death Around The Corner....

2016-05-09T18:02:00.001+03:00

Professional wrestling has many institutions that make up its very foundation. Since the 1979, Pro Wrestling Illustrated has been one of those very foundations. It comes from a family of magazines that I’m sure many wrestlers have read from in their youth. In the early days of PWI, there was the almighty National Wrestling Alliance, the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) coming into its own, and the influential – but somewhat forgotten – American Wrestling Alliance. Several organizations made claims of sanctioning a legitimate World Heavyweight championship. However, nothing validated that claim like the recognition from PWI.

Over the years, PWI has given this distinction to various championships. WCW had it until its eventual demise after Survivor Series 2001. The AWA actually lost theirs during the time when Larry Zbysko and Mr. Saito were trading the championship (need I say more?). ECW went bankrupt and so went it’s recognition. Others had their own reasons for losing the recognition. Ultimately, the WWE has kept theirs and is recognized but PWI as the only World wrestling championship in the business today. And although the WWE has gone on record by saying that they are in a place where they do not recognize themselves as wrestling company and are competing with television shows instead of wrestling events, the fact is that they put on a wrestling event better than almost anybody in the world. The only thing I’ve seen that rivals or surpasses it on all levels is New Japan’s Wrestle Kingdom.

The most recent organization to lose its World title status has been Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. I can remember when they first got their World championship status. It was during Christian’s reign as World champion. They’d been knocking at the door and had convinced A LOT of us that they had the potential to compete on equal footing with the Machine. However, years of bad decisions, reports of mismanagement and Vince pulling out his checkbook have killed that façade. It’s safe to say that no one in pro wrestling looks at TNA as having a globally-recognized World championship anymore. Having a World title status snatched away from a fed is almost like a death knell. The AWA didn’t last too many months after PWI stripped them of their identity. The NWA has benefitted from AIWF’s poor attempt at establishing a wrestling network. But since losing its World title status almost ten years ago, it has been working twice as hard to reclaim its former global glory.

So where does TNA go from here?

Check out some of the things that have happened in TNA since 2015.

· GLOBAL FORCE INVASION: The most significant thing had to be the partnership of TNA and Global Force Wrestling. Although Jeff Jarrett co-founded TNA, some people actually viewed him coming back as a detriment to the company. Global Force and TNA attempted an invasion angle that saw what a lot of us thought would happen. Why? Maybe because it attempted to mirror the WWF/WCW Invasion angle of 15 years ago. Whether it was a success or failure is anyone’s call. However, TNA looked like it got the worst end of that stick.

· SIDE-BY-SIDE COMPARISON WITH RING OF HONOR: TNA would go to Destination America. They were initially given A LOT of TV time. It was done to catch people up on TNA. Eventually, they were only given the two-hour slot for IMPACT WRESTLING. Soon after, Ring of Honor secured a deal with DA and became a lead-in for IMPACT. The differences in the two shows were painfully obvious. Both shows would leave Destination America, but I think this interaction helped ROH usurp TNA as North America’s second best wrestling company. On a side note, Josh Matthews became their lead commentator. I’m sorry, but he is better in a backstage interviewer role. I think he does something with social media for TNA. That’s where he should stay: behind the scenes. He’s just not a good lead announcer.

· WORLD TITLE SITUATION: Ethan Carter III was Derrick Bateman in WWE. However, he went to TNA and became Dixie Carter’s nephew. He’s a hard worker with a great look and one of the best choices for a World champion ever in the company. However, TNA screwed that up with a World title tournament that saw ECIII regain the belt only to lose it to Matt Hardy. ECIII was TNA’s best argument for regaining its World title status with PWI and they screwed that all to hell.

· DISMISSALS AND DEPARTURES: James Storm flirted with the idea of wrestling for WWE NXT, but returned to TNA soon after. Awesome Kong was sent packing after a run-in with Matt Hardy’s wife. Not smart, TNA. Velvet Sky gave her notice and left the company. Finally, NXT has proven to be a greener pasture for former World champions Bobby Roode, Eric Young, Austin Aries and new NXT champion Samoa Joe – who left TNA almost one year ago. So many people leaving and doing better elsewhere could speak volumes about the company.

I guess now the question is what are the positives for TNA? Well, they have moved their offices to another place. The departures open the door for younger guys to establish themselves. Mike Bennett and Maria have gone to TNA as well. Some would see Drew Galloway as the World champion as a good thing for TNA. That’s kind of hard to say and none of it is Drew’s fault. TNA does have an established global presence. How strong and profitable it is might be anyone’s guess. TNA does have somewhat of a global network, but networks only work if you can leverage those relationships to your benefit. The true test of this will be if the higher-ups at TNA can use this champion to establish a fruitful international network. Beyond all of that, TNA needs to establish a positive and intriguing identity.

Will TNA sink or swim? I guess we’ll all find out within the next 12 months.

Fin.

PLANET VELVET: Generation Reset

2016-04-29T20:33:00.002+03:00

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I’ve said on more than one occasion that today’s WWE mirrors The New Generation of years past (no I’m not talking about TW James and Tommy Lee. Shout to the both of them). The infamous steroid trial of more than two decades past had lasting effects on WWE’s product. It has been well-documented that many people thought the Titan Towers would crumble. Well-established superstars started making plans to keep their careers going regardless of the impending verdict. It left a huge gap in the WWE. Eventually, Bret Hart and members of The Kliq stepped up to become major stars.

The situation mirrored life. You know, that thing you live when you are not wrestling? So many gaps and voids created opportunities for people trying to truly establish themselves. In the next five years, the Attitude Era was in full gear and all the stars that took advantage of that opportunity reaped career benefits no one saw coming. The proceeding calamity laid the groundwork for the calm after the storm. This is kinda what today’s product feels like for so many reasons.

WWE’s PAYBACK ppv this weekend should be very interesting. This is the show that has taken the place of WWE BACKLASH in recent years. This is a day and age where there is so much parity in the WWE. Each era has been defined by at least major star. Bruno. Backlund. Billy Graham to a lesser degree. Hogan. Austin. And yes, even John Cena. With so much of the game being laid out for the public to see, the notion of fans themselves anointing a new torchbearer is pretty much done. In this day and age, that GUY is Roman Reigns. The product of the legendary Anoa’I family, the fans flipped on this guy the minute they found out he would be THE GUY in less than a year. To smarks, it felt less like a guy coming up through the ranks and more like the coronation of the fictional King title held by Harley Race, Hacksaw Duggan, Haku, and Randy Savage from decades past.

The crazy thing about it is that sometimes, hate creates heroes.

In recent weeks, the WWE’s hero of choice has been none other than AJ Styles. The Georgia product came up through the ranks to eventually make his mark all over the globe – most notably in Ring of Honor and TNA Wrestling. Styles eventually came to WWE with a well-established reputation. So well-established that he is the man of the hour nowadays. And while it may seem cliché’ to go here, this is truly a clash of styles.

Roman Reigns has the potential to follow in the footsteps of all of the greatest champions in the history of WWE. Roman is not a small man by any stretch of the imagination. Nothing makes people gravitate to you more in this sport like being larger than life. He’s got a great look and a remarkable heritage. Does he fall short in certain areas? Of course he does but what great champion didn’t? Bruno or Hogan weren’t the most technically sound. Backlund was boring . Austin started off as a wonderfully technical wrestler, but abandoned that to fight, fight, and fight some more. In hindsight, that actually wasn’t a bad thing at all. Either way, they all developed a larger-than-life appeal over time. Roman could do that as well in time. He’s exactly what a WWE champion should look like.. ..by historical standards of course.

AJ Styles is the complete opposite. HE has an absolutely amazing array of moves and maneuvers developed over years and years in the game. He’s taken on any and everybody and has fared successfully in the process. He and the Bullet Club have been the talk of wrestling for years prior to their defection to WWE. Although both Shawn Michaels were both World champions in the past, they were considered fairly small in relation to some of the giants that had been kingpins before them. AJ would be no different. A shade under 6 feet tall, his appearance isn’t that of a larger-than-life athlete. You’d best believe having an average-sized guy as champion in an organization full of extraordinary athletes would cause the marketing department major headaches.

This one match represents how different wrestling is now than it was in eras past. Sometimes, we are always looking at the past to figure out what’s going on today in and attempt to make it all make sense. If anyone objectively looks at this Sunday’s PPV main event, maybe they should be looking ahead at what may be instead of behind them to see what wrestling was. Whether you are Team Roman or Team AJ, both of these guys deserve that much. Who knows? Five years later, your opinion of this match might change dramatically.

“There’s a reason your windshield is bigger than your rearview mirror. It’s what’s in front of you that matters the most”

Fin.

The Great Divide.....

2016-04-15T18:29:00.004+03:00

Greetings, all!!!

The state of wrestling in Georgia depends on who you ask and where they are from. It’s just that simple. For years, I personally have been speaking of a huge divide in Georgia wrestling coverage. There are selective viewings and criticisms that float through wrestling in this state. If people want to come and see your product, they will. If they don't, they won't. Usually, this serves as the means to completely dismiss your existence. However, their opinions are not enough the wipe anyone off the planet much less the entire Georgia wrestling scene.

Recently, Empire Wrestling Entertainment performed its last show at the building they had been using so long. According to who you ask, this was Georgia’s best kept secret. There’s no denying this fed had some really good workers in it. Reports spoke of the great wrestling action, the amazing events they put on, and the quality of overall presentation when Empire had shows. I’ve never been to one of their shows but have seen some the guys there work. You won’t have a hard time convincing me that these things are true.

Another organization that has shut its doors is the long-running Flatline Pro Wrestling out of Augusta. Having worked with the guys on this show and seeing what they have to offer, I’m inclined to believe they could compete with any organization in Georgia on any level. A few of their workers are showing up in Why We Wrestle and several other places throughout Georgia and beyond. Anthony Henry, Ja’coby Boykins, and Shane Hexxon just to name a few. However, they were virtually ignored by what most people consider the authority on wrestling in this state. Correction: most people in that area, I should say. I hate to see Flatline shut down. I hope something happens so they can re-open.

People should take a look at NWA Southeastern. The guy who stands out down there more than anyone is Effy Gibbs. There are a lot of people in this state who don’t know him, but there is a good chance they will very soon. One thing I have always endorsed is someone who knows and embraces the product that is them and is not afraid to promote themselves. The infamously legendary Missy Hyatt serves as Gibbs’ second. Not really too familiar with the rest of the NWA:SE product. But the more digging I do and the more content they make available, the better it will be for me and anyone else into wrestling throughout the entire state of Georgia. It looks pretty good so far.

Syndicate Promotions Wrestling has been doing their thing for quite a while as well. Flanked by familiar names like C.J. Awesome, Stunt Marshall, Bubba Rage, and others, SPW is doing their thing in several parts of South Georgia. Distancing itself from the AIWF, SPW has now joined the National Wrestling Alliance as an affiliate. This is definitely a good thing as the NWA is proving that it is alive and well. AIWF’s dealings in Georgia have become predicable over the years. It usually begins with a whole lot of hype and fanfare only to end up with those doing business with them disappointed and looking for the nearest exit. DSCW and SFCW are the most obvious exceptions to this rule. But both of them are so well-established, I’d be willing to say those relationships benefit AIWF more than it does them. They could both easily prosper without AIWF attaching its name to their product. The names Charles Anschutz and Greg Hullender mean more in Georgia than that organization ever did.

AS FOR OTHER SOUTH GEORGIA SHOWS: Passion of Wrestling became Dublin Sports Entertainment only to go on hiatus after a few shows… …Jerry Stephens’ GeorgiaWrestling Extreme has also joined the NWA. Always keep your eye on Johnny Romano… …Sunbelt Wrestling Entertainment drew well for their first show. Hoping they can follow up and grow… ….”Platinum Playboy” Preston Paradise has returned to action in Extreme Pro Wrestling… ….The long-standing feud between Christian Walker and "The Snapchat Sensation" Big Bank Barfield continues and doesn’t seem to be letting up. Barfield’s World-1 Light Heavyweight championship has become the modern-day version of that International title The Golden Eagle and Prince R fought over a decade ago.

So many people in this state are quick to yell SUPPORT INDY WRESTLING as their battle cry. Those same people should be saying something about supporting Georgia wrestling – ALL of Georgia wrestling. Cities and towns such as LaGrange, Pavo, Americus, Edel, Enigma, and Albany offer pro wrestling monthly. Phrases like “shit show” and the quality of wrestling will be used a means to dispute the validity of these organizations by those who have never seen a show or plan to in the future. Those who the criticisms favor will approve those given and offer their own which usually bask in the same attempted glow. But alas, the opinions of people will always discredit facts they can’t dispute.

Keep doing your thing, South Georgia. May you continue to grow and be prosperous.

Fin.

WWE WRESTLEMANIA 2016

2016-03-31T15:33:00.000+03:00

Sometimes in order to know where you’re going, you must first know from whence you came. Unless WWE has some MAJOR plans Sunday, this year’s WrestleMania has to be the most lackluster version of the Spring Classic on paper. No need to be surprised if they pull it off, though. Last year’s Mania faced the same circumstances but was actually a lot better than people expected (me included). But even with a WWE Network subscription, I’m not sure I wanna watch the show. It’ll be great to look at during those cardio sessions in the gym after the fact, but I don’t think I’ll be watching this Sunday. I think.

But WrestleMania has lived up to its “Showcase Of The Immortals” moniker in the past. Some great line-ups have laid the groundwork for the modern-day WWE. With that, I give you my five favorite WrestleManias ever.

5. WRESTLEMANIA 14. The Mania that preceeded this one felt like the last drops of 80’s and New Generation 90’s juice had dripped off of it. After the events of the previous year’s Survivor Series and everything leading up to it, new WWE stars were about to ascend to new career heights. This WrestleMania laid the groundwork for some of the greatest careers in the business. Everyone wanted Owen Hart to beat Triple H for the European championship. Somehow, Hunter toughed it out and retained. Ken Shamrock actually beat The Rock for the Intercontinental title, but his rage got the best of him and the decision would be reversed. The manin event was part hype, part era ushering as Steve Austin beat Shawn Michaels for his first World championship. The Attitude Era kicked into high gear almost immediately afterward.

4. WRESTLEMANIA III. 80,000 fans filled the Pontiac Silverdome but the number was inflated to 93,173. Good to know that practice isn’t just limited to the indies. They came to see Hulk Hogan versus Andre the Giant, but they left talking about Ricky Steamboat and Randy Savage for the Intercontinental belt. This one match became every big league and small time wrestlers with big league egos original inspiration to “steal the show”. It was a mega event littered with regional stars now performing under WWE’s umbrella. Harley Race faced off against The legendary Junkyard Dog. Roddy Piper beat Adrian Adonis, strangely giving birth the Brutus Beefacke’s Barber persona. Jim Duggan, The Hart Foundation. The British Bulldogs. Need I say more?

3. WRESTLEMANIA IV. So where were you on March 27, 1988? I know where I was: underneath a car helping my cousin Dwayne pull a pair of pantyhose through engine pulleys because the car’s fan belt broke. Here it is, the day of WrestleMania. And here I am: 12 years old on the New Jersey Turnpike working on a car that broke down on the way back from taking my sister back to Rutgers University. Good thing they had PPV replays back in those days.

When we finally got back to my aunt’s house, Randy Savage was about to wrestle his second match. I thought he looked awesome walking down the aisle in that sequined poncho and ski glasses. Then, my older cousin says “he won the whole thing”. And that - ladies and gentlemen – was my first ever encounter with a spoiler. Even still, I’ve loved tournaments ever since. Back in these days, marquee matches were rare to see unless you watched Saturday Night’s Main Event once a month on Saturday. The syndicated shows had squash matches against jobbers (shout out to Barry Horowitz). On one show, you had top 14 top level guys all fighting to become the champion. That was rare. Demolition won their first World championship beginning the longest (and most underrated) tag team title reign in WWE history. The Ultimate Warrior and Hercules went to war as well. An unpredictable day ended on a great note.

2. WRESTLEMANIA XX. The celebratory theme of WWE’s biggest show was all over the place and it did not disappoint. Several significant moments happened on this show. The Rock teamed with Mick Foley in what would be his last match in seven years. Randy Orton began to come into his own as a member of Evolution. John Cena won his first singles WWE championship (the U.S. title). The smart marks in the New York crowd made their presence known in the Brock Lesnar-Goldberg match and rightfully so. Eddie Guerrero and Kurt Angle wrestled a great match as well. Molly Holly displayed more balls than most men by getting her head shaved after losing to Victoria. The main event is why this Mania gets ignored more often than not as Chris Benoit won the World Heavyweight championship in a magnificent triple threat match that ranks among one the greatest matches ever. You really felt good for the guy. We never saw what he would do years later coming a mile away. Still, this Mania was a celebration in all aspects.

1. WRESTLEMANIA X-SEVEN. A few weeks before this show, WWE purchased WCW to officially end their war. Now more than ever, WWE had ALL of the wrestling world’s eyes on it and it did not disappoint. There was not one bad match on this show. Even the cheesy Gimmick Battle Royal had its awesome moments. Despite Test’s foot getting hung up in the ropes, his match with Eddie Guerrero had some really cool “big vs. little” exchanges. The Undertaker vs Triple H was a violent, bloody affair. The first-ever TLC match had fanboys going bananas over its violent highspots. The undercard was magnificent and only an even more magnificent main event could top it. Steve Austin and The Rock delivered tenfold. This was my favorite WrestleMania ever.

More than anything, each of these Manias laid the groundwork for significant changes in the WWE afterward. There was no NXT to fall back on. There was no real monopoly on North American wrestling. The smart mark and IWC population was only beginning to speak loud enough to be heard. Now, every aspect of the sport is being dissected by people with half a clue trying to solve a case. Back then, we let change happen instead of trying to figure out what that change would be. These events, these magical moments represented a true and unpredictable shift in pro wrestling. All because we sat there and simply watched them happen. Our eyes and ears were the only thing open besides the occasional shout, yell or scream of enjoyment.

A guy I used to work with years ago had a saying: “we can sing together, but we can’t talk together”. This Sunday, the WWE Orchestra will compose another piece to add to its collection of works that has entertained us for three decades. Maybe we should all shut the “F” up and listen. Just… …listen.

Seeking OPPORTUNITY In Chaos.....

2016-03-21T14:05:00.002+03:00

One of the greatest mangers and minds in this business has been quoted as saying "Where's there's chaos, there is opportunity". Such is very true in the world of pro wrestling. If you are tuned in exclusively to WWE, then you probably think that I am speaking of their "universe". But for the first time in nearly 20 years, there appears to be what plenty of us have been seeking for so long.

Options.

So where does Velvet start in the exploration of these options? Where else?

WWE
This should section should have specifically been titled WrestleMania. With a roster that is depleted of some of its biggest stars at possibly the worst time, this year's "Showcase of the Immortals" doesn't look all that good on paper. The main event is Triple H defending the World championship against Roman Reigns. Remember the last time Triple H tried to manufacture a highly personal feud with the end result being a Mania main event? I do. WrestleMania 25 versus Randy Orton. Two extraordinary athletes offering what was one of the weakest main events in the show's history. It wasn't entirely their fault because they had to follow The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels. Fast forward almost a decade later and Trips is in the main event with Reigns. Roman is great guy who deserves all the success he has and will have (pretty predictable finish for this one). However, WWE fans don't like him as a good guy and aren't afraid to say so.

The opportunity for success lies in the undercard and what better place to do it. I'm willing to bet the main event isn't making people wanna watch. The fact that Shane McMahon could actually win his match against The Undertaker makes me cringe. I'm not too familiar with the undercard and honestly don't care much at this point. Still, whoever is on it should put on a world-class performance. Simply because this is what the world is watching (an old WWF promo line).

TNA
Not sure what to say about TNA and opportunity. Consistency has never been a strong point for them. Recent reports that Eric Young and Bobby Roode being "done" with the company could give off a negative reaction. John Gamburick's statement following their leaving comes off as self-serving and promotional. The there is the bright side. TNA has a new home (again). Youth is the lifeblood of business. The opportunity lies in the fact that most of the guys who were in TNA when it first came to be are gone. There are a lot of young hungry wrestlers doing today what TNA has been doing for more than a decade of yesterdays: seeking to establish their identity. The POP Network may not be the most popular but people are still watching.

ROH
Ring of Honor is now owned but Sinclair Broadcasting Group - the largest conglomerate of syndicate channels in the United States. I liken this to NWA Wrestling for me in the 1980's growing up in New Jersey. When I got tired of the WWF, I'd seek out the NWA no matter what time it came on. Back then, it was different. It was fresh! It was.. ..not the WWF! And with potentially limitless exposure on a national scale, that's what ROH represents for the casual WWE fan. From the post-production After Effects overlays to the big screens at live events, their TV production has been upgraded. SBG is worth MILLIONS of dollars. It's a publicly-traded company. Further research also shows that SBG owns the Comet Network ROH is broadcast on. The opportunity for ROH lies in continuing to showcase their amazingly talented roster while not over-investing in their television presentation to the point of overkill like WWE. Unlike TNA, Ring of Honor has its own appealing identity. Yeah, the 55 finishers and 87 double-team moves in one match can sometimes border on the ridiculous but I don't speak for every fan. There is a market that this appeals to and NO ONE has cornered it like ROH.

LUCHA UNDERGROUND
So here is the new kid on the block. Everyone worth their salt will cry and whine about pro wrestling storylines. Well peeps, this fed is full of them They are elaborate and amazing to watch unfold with cinematic detail. It's been said that pro wrestling is a soap opera for men. You may agree with that once you watch this show. This has become my newest wrestling addiction. It is different from what wrestling fans for decades have been used to seeing and I absolutely love it. It has a true underground feel to it. It pays homage to Mexico's lucha libre tradition and takes it to another level with awesome characters and some the most amazing women in wrestling. The opportunity lies in this fed continuing to be itself and marketing the product. It represents the most different product out there and has been awesome for the El Rey network. I stay watching and tweeting about this on Wednesday nights. You should do the same in both instances.

So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. The pro wrestling landscape is FULL of opportunities. I would strongly suggest to indy promoters and wrestlers to study and watch what happens next. It's gonna be fun to see. Because no matter what level you're on in the game, you never know who is watching......

Fin.

A Tale Of Two Veterans - Part Two

2016-03-16T21:39:00.001+03:00

Okay, so I recently told you about how it feels to wrestle a veteran in this game. Working Mr. Hughes was a great learning experience for yours truly. This next story.. ..eh, not so much.

One night, I went to Ft. Valley’s AWN. I’d frequented AWN for years since my career started. I remained the unfortunate target of Simon Sermon’s classic “male camel toe” jokes, but that’s another story. This was around the time my cousin Kimbro aka Mr. Jones was booking the place. Bro’s booking style was notorious. He was known for using the position to put himself in main events at other people’s expense. The concept isn’t foreign in wrestling by any means but he was just blatant with it. So one night, we were doing a show and in walks a guy that we hear is from the Pacific Northwest territory of old. I’m shuffling around trying to figure out who this guy is. I’d always followed that territory through PWI magazine and the like. Eventually, I found out who he was.

Carl Styles.

Yep, Carl Styles – two times over the NWA Pacific Northwest champion in the late 1980’s. So I’m thinking it’s gonna be great to work another guy who’s been up and down the road. But here was the thing about Carl: he was rigid. Dude was unflinching when it came to working. He pretty much vetoed anything during the match that did not favor him. So I figured I’d try to make the best of a bad situation. We begin to wrestle and I go into some simple chain wrestling with the guy. I’m working his arm and twisting the damn thing. I learned early on that you can sell the emotion in a match and draw people in with facial expressions. So here I am twisting the shit out of his wrist. I’m standing up and he’s in the ring on one knee….

…with a facial expression reminiscent of the iconic Thinker’s statue.

Now, legend has it that Carl had a severe eye injury during his earlier wrestling days. So I didn’t know if he was having a moment of gogglely-eyed confusion or what. So by this time, I’m pissed. My first instinct is to kick the shit out of him for not selling, but I digressed. That was the old me. Somehow, we got out of that and he took over. I forget most of the match but I remember one part. The 50-year Cyclops grabs me for a gut-wrench suplex and damn near broke my neck after dropping me headfirst on the mat. Thank God I learned how to tuck my chin. Eventually I lost the match but I was glad it was over. The only consolation I got from wrestling that match was afterwards. I was in the locker room and Michael Stevens aka Marv sat in front of me and said “Velvet, man I’m sorry. I’m so you had to go through that, man”. Appreciate that.

Turns out Styles had blown some smoke up Bro’s ass. Styles said that he was going to take the footage of the match with him to Puerto Rico in an effort to gain more exposure for AWN. Bro inhaled the toxic fumes and never heard from Styles again. Neither did I, but I ain’t complaining. So easily stated, all veterans aren’t great to work with because they’re veterans. Styles bragged about being a tag champion with one of the Guerreros and holding some belts I’d never heard of. Nonetheless, it was a learning experience. Happy I survived. Even happier I can still walk!

Fin.

A Tale of Two Veterans - Part One.

2016-03-14T15:42:00.000+03:00

Wrestling a veteran in this sport can be a great experience. Then again, it can be harrowing and nearly cripple you if you or your opponent don’t know what you are doing. I’ve had both experiences with two veterans of the sport in the early days of my career.

The first experience was against former WWF/WCW/ECW star and WWA4 trainer Mr. Hughes. Before a FWF show in Covington, Hughes was in the ring training some of the guys there. Guys like Chris Nelms, Osborne, and a few others I forget were in the ring working out with him when I got to the Armory that afternoon. Eager to learn, I jumped in the mix during the session. Hughes was showing us different stuff like how to apply a top-wristlock from a lockup position. Everytime he wanted someone to do something, I jumped right in there. He told me that I was a quick learner. So much so, that I made my first FWF Internet/MultiMedia title defense against him that night.

By this time, Hughes had lost A LOT of weight and was in great condition. He has always been agile for a big guy, but he really showed me how agile he was. He taught me how to work without working in that match. I was still green under the gills, but he made me look like the champion I wanted to be throughout the match. I won the match via disqualification. Just like all of my early matches, I recorded it. I got back to the locker room and watched the match. We looked over the match and he pinpointed things I did correctly and stuff I should have worked on. A link to the match is at the bottom of the page.

From the time I met him that afternoon until the time I last saw him a few years ago at one of Antrone Brewer’s FALL BRAWL deals, I learned from the guy and I’m forever grateful. To this day, a lot of people in Middle Georgia still come to me and ask about training to become a wrestler. I direct every one of them WWA4. In all honesty, there really aren’t a lot of new wrestlers being created around here anyway.

That was my best experience working a veteran in the business. A few years later, a worked a guy in Fort Valley that fans of the old NWA Pacific Northwest region should be pretty familiar with. Tune in to my BLOG this Wednesday to find out about that “experience”……

Let's talk.....

2015-11-13T17:23:00.001+03:00

Well, this is something I haven’t done in a while. Blogging that is.

Since I stopped blogging, many different imitators have popped up on the scene delivering opinionated commentary. The only problem is they lacked the one thing I have an overabundance of:

Balls.

And fyi, I manscape. Okay, maybe that’s tmi. Nonetheless, anonymity is the cloak of a coward. A visible display of bitchassness, if you will. Not quite Anglin-esque (the epitome of bitchassness), but pretty high nonetheless. So what exactly should I speak on since I’ve decided to blog once more? I’ll guess I’ll speak on random happenings this year.

· It only makes sense that I begin talking about PCW. A lot can be learned from PCW and I have learned a lot. Not just about wrestling, but about myself as well. PCW welcomes wrestlers of all skill levels and I’ve had the pleasure of testing myself against nearly all of them in singles or tag team action. Most of my time has been beating up Porterdale’s President MARKO. Hard to say who won our feud as we split wins and losses. Maybe I’ll just punch him in the face next time I see him to stay a step ahead.

· The UPWA is based out of North Carolina and is a GREAT place for anyone to work. Donald Brower is a hands-on promoter and a stickler for detail. It’s always cool to work someone you can actually learn something from. Thanks to UPWA, I’ll get the chance to wrestle in my birth state of New Jersey this weekend. Lined from one end of the locker room to the other with former and current big league stars, It’s really making a mark.

· The GIWA keeps on rolling, y’all. Still happy about our show pulling a SRO crowd of nearly 400, Just happy that THIS TIME, the fire marshal didn’t shut us down like he threatened to a few years back for too big of a crowd. Even still, we’ll be putting on our annual December show on December 5^th with the proceeds going Delta Company of the Georgia National Guard. Yep, WE GIVE BACK.. ..PROUDLY!

· Shout out to Jerry Stephens and GWE. Jerry is putting on some good shows down in Albany. And with Johnny Romano on the card, he’s got a solid worker and a former AIWF World cruiserweight champion. I’d love to work for the guy one day next year and rematch with Romano as well. Props due to Xplosive Pro in Lyons as well.

· Last, but certainly not least, is Dublin Sports Entertainment. So much fun to go down there and work as well. Once again, I get to soak up the knowledge and listen to the stories of “The Outlaw” JOEL DEATON. Wrestlers of any age should always take advantage of knowledge sitting right under their noses at wrestling shows. I’ve beena big fan of puroresu for years and Mr. Deaton connects a lot of the dots for me when it comes to some of my favorites like Toshiaki Kawada, Mitsuhara Misawa, and many others.

Well, I think I’ve said enough. This was fun. Maybe I’ll revisit this blog when the spirit hits me again. I’ll do this from time to time. Until then, please be sure to visit my website: WWW.PLANETVELVET.NET

Also check me out on youtube as well www.youtube.com/sykhosis

Peace from the Planet…….

{NOTE: A paragraph regarding an old beef was removed from this post by choice. I refuse the breathe life into dead issues and don't want the people who get off on that kinda stuff asking me about it or the bitch in question. Bitch in this situation does not refer to a female because I don't use that terminology when to comes to women. To get a better understanding, refer to the chorus from Track 8 of Ice-T's album "O.G - Original Gangster"}

PRO WRESTLING from PLANET VELVET

Will The WWE World Title Change Overseas?

Epilogue.

Lose Now, Win Later: The Modern-Day WWE Tournament

"The Game".. ..of life.

The bigger picture.....

No Flips, Just Fists.

Impact's Interesting Again,

In a perfect world.......

Jeff Jarrett: Ain't I Great or Great, I Ain't? Depends on How YOU Look At it.

The Three Keys To The Success Of WWE United Kingdom

CONSOLIDATION: The Gift And The Curse

The Return of Booger Red... ...well, sorta.

PRIME TIME WRESTLING

Friday night violence

Pay-Per-View: An Expired Expense

The Kingdom Before The Empire

Step By Step

Death Around The Corner....

PLANET VELVET: Generation Reset

BE SURE TO FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM @PLANETVELVET and TWITTER @ TEAMVELVET﻿

The Great Divide.....

WWE WRESTLEMANIA 2016

Seeking OPPORTUNITY In Chaos.....

A Tale Of Two Veterans - Part Two

A Tale of Two Veterans - Part One.

Let's talk.....

BE SURE TO FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM @PLANETVELVET and TWITTER @ TEAMVELVET