Forget all the accolades of being Hall of Famer, World Heavyweight Champion, WWE Champion, Intercontinental Champion, Tag Team Champion, European Champion, and whatever else... as you can see without even playing the video (there on the right), Shawn Michaels was also a coveted winner of a MAJOR AWARD.
Showing posts with label WWE. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WWE. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Major Award Winner Shawn Michaels
I had forgotten this gem of the mid '90s... after closing the Barber Shop and putting it out of business on WWF Wrestling Challenge a few years before, Shawn Michaels started his own interview segment on WWF Superstars called the Heartbreak Hotel.
Forget all the accolades of being Hall of Famer, World Heavyweight Champion, WWE Champion, Intercontinental Champion, Tag Team Champion, European Champion, and whatever else... as you can see without even playing the video (there on the right), Shawn Michaels was also a coveted winner of a MAJOR AWARD.
Forget all the accolades of being Hall of Famer, World Heavyweight Champion, WWE Champion, Intercontinental Champion, Tag Team Champion, European Champion, and whatever else... as you can see without even playing the video (there on the right), Shawn Michaels was also a coveted winner of a MAJOR AWARD.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
#WWEClassics on @WWEFanNation
WWE has been really ramping up their YouTube content in recent weeks. Zack Ryder's YouTube show moved to their channel, and they've been doing a lot more backstage programming along with the clips from Raw and Smackdown they were already running.
One of the things they've also been running are a lot more WWE Classics videos. Here is one of the more understated stables in wrestling history and their leaders, Paul E. Dangerously and Ravishing Rick Rude, who made his WCW debut at Halloween Havoc as "the WCW Halloween Phantom". Rude was previously successful in WWE as a member of the Heenan Family, and he achieved even more success in WCW as a member of the Dangerous Alliance. April 20 was the anniversary of Rick Rude's death.
One of the things they've also been running are a lot more WWE Classics videos. Here is one of the more understated stables in wrestling history and their leaders, Paul E. Dangerously and Ravishing Rick Rude, who made his WCW debut at Halloween Havoc as "the WCW Halloween Phantom". Rude was previously successful in WWE as a member of the Heenan Family, and he achieved even more success in WCW as a member of the Dangerous Alliance. April 20 was the anniversary of Rick Rude's death.
Unfortunately for Tony Schiavone, I think that his Christine Daae joke went over the heads of most of the wrestling audience.
Friday, April 13, 2012
Pro Wrestling Needs More Genuine Emotion
This speech from the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies two weeks ago exemplifies what has made wrestling great throughout the ages and what is missing now:
This wasn't just a great promo... it was a great speech.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
5 Things That Will Never Go Out of Style in Pro Wrestling #2
2) Funny doesn't draw money.
The adage is true, but when you think of things that you remember fondly from your own memories of pro wrestling, aren't the funny things the ones that stick out in your mind?
The problem is that a lot of what wrestling offers as funny isn't funny. That's why we have moments where Triple H rigorously copulated with a mannequin named Katie Vick or Vince McMahon laughed maniacally over a penis pump he received as a gift that blew up in his face. Again, a lot of it is this "audience of one" problem that WWE has. TNA is guilty--remember how Kevin Nash buried the X-Division and made-believe he was some kind of therapist? And don't get me started on the indy show I went to where they had a "dildo on a pole" match.
The adage should really state: "funny doesn't draw money when it's not funny". There's no doubt that Rock, Austin and the stars of the Attitude era and the New World Order could back up their mic skills in the ring. But if Rock was on a show and the fans didn't get to sing along with a champ, you just KNOW there would be a riot.
The nice thing about today's crop of "funny" stars is that the humor is more natural and not as forced. Guys can be funny without cutting promos. Social media allows for more flexibility. This is why we've seen guys like Zack Ryder and Colt Cabana draw a fan base outside of the traditional WWE marketing machine.
So, yeah... funny does draw money, and it has throughout history:
Santino Marella:
The adage is true, but when you think of things that you remember fondly from your own memories of pro wrestling, aren't the funny things the ones that stick out in your mind?
The problem is that a lot of what wrestling offers as funny isn't funny. That's why we have moments where Triple H rigorously copulated with a mannequin named Katie Vick or Vince McMahon laughed maniacally over a penis pump he received as a gift that blew up in his face. Again, a lot of it is this "audience of one" problem that WWE has. TNA is guilty--remember how Kevin Nash buried the X-Division and made-believe he was some kind of therapist? And don't get me started on the indy show I went to where they had a "dildo on a pole" match.
The adage should really state: "funny doesn't draw money when it's not funny". There's no doubt that Rock, Austin and the stars of the Attitude era and the New World Order could back up their mic skills in the ring. But if Rock was on a show and the fans didn't get to sing along with a champ, you just KNOW there would be a riot.
The nice thing about today's crop of "funny" stars is that the humor is more natural and not as forced. Guys can be funny without cutting promos. Social media allows for more flexibility. This is why we've seen guys like Zack Ryder and Colt Cabana draw a fan base outside of the traditional WWE marketing machine.
So, yeah... funny does draw money, and it has throughout history:
Santino Marella:
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
5 Things in Pro Wrestling That Need to Go Away #3
#3 Vince McMahon
Vince McMahon has often been termed an "audience of one", and that has been no more apparent than at this year's Wrestlemania. McMahon has surrendered some of the day-to-day control of the on-camera product to Triple H and his daughter Stephanie, but it was widely reported that Vince still considers the annual event to be his baby.
In lieu of actually reviewing Wrestlemania 28 this year, I thought the show fit in with the theme of this series. The matches that are getting the highest praise on the show are the ones where I imagine Vince trusted the guys well enough to go where they wanted to with it. I can't imagine Vince giving Rock, Undertaker and Jericho much more than a finish and a time limit and then letting them go figure it out on their own.
On the other hand, you have the 18-second opener where Daniel Bryan dropped the World Championship to Sheamus. This match did nothing for either side, but it's the sort of thing that you know Vince was in the back saying, "Aha! Can't you see... haha! it would be funny! FUNNY! haha! If we have the fastest title match at... haha! WRRRRRRRRRESTLLLLLLLLLLEMANIAAAAAAAAAAA! And we'll do it with the pasty ginger guy! haha! And the vegetarian!"
"Ummmmmmm... what's a vegan?"
Vince McMahon has often been termed an "audience of one", and that has been no more apparent than at this year's Wrestlemania. McMahon has surrendered some of the day-to-day control of the on-camera product to Triple H and his daughter Stephanie, but it was widely reported that Vince still considers the annual event to be his baby.
In lieu of actually reviewing Wrestlemania 28 this year, I thought the show fit in with the theme of this series. The matches that are getting the highest praise on the show are the ones where I imagine Vince trusted the guys well enough to go where they wanted to with it. I can't imagine Vince giving Rock, Undertaker and Jericho much more than a finish and a time limit and then letting them go figure it out on their own.
On the other hand, you have the 18-second opener where Daniel Bryan dropped the World Championship to Sheamus. This match did nothing for either side, but it's the sort of thing that you know Vince was in the back saying, "Aha! Can't you see... haha! it would be funny! FUNNY! haha! If we have the fastest title match at... haha! WRRRRRRRRRESTLLLLLLLLLLEMANIAAAAAAAAAAA! And we'll do it with the pasty ginger guy! haha! And the vegetarian!"
"Ummmmmmm... what's a vegan?"
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Here Comes the Pain... Again!
So... yeah, Brock Lesnar is back in WWE after taking nearly a decade off to try and make it in the NFL and become the UFC Heavyweight Champion.
If we've learned anything from Wrestlemania 28, it's this: WWE has no problem offering up their cash cow as a sacrificial lamb if they think it will draw money. Your brain would tell you that John Cena should have beat Rocky on Sunday. Like he said for the last month, after Rock leaves, he'll still be there. Hogan passed the torch and did the job for Rocky, and it should have been passed along.
The current generation of fans don't remember Wrestlemania 18 in Toronto though, so this is truly their "once in a lifetime" match. The problem with promoting a once in a lifetime match: how do you get people to tune in after that? And buy the next show after that? After all, once you get that high, everything else is just crap in comparison, right? What's the next big thing?
It seems that literally is what WWE went out to get. With Lesnar, you again get a guy with credibility outside of WWE (this time in the sports world instead of the entertainment world). You get a guy that doesn't need or have to work a full-time schedule, so he'll naturally be fresh. The problem is that you can't book this match a year out. The furthest out they could promote this match would be Summer Slam, at which point Rock might get involved again.
I don't know... the whole thing seems weird to me. Although they never had the crossover appeal that Rock has, could you imagine Vince going to Undertaker this year and asking him to put over Rock at Wrestlemania? Triple H? Heck, I don't think even CM Punk would do that now, and he certainly doesn't have the tenure of those guys.
John Cena is a merchandising and publicity machine... a commodity. I think that's what we've seen the most from him over the last year. CM Punk and Rocky have played the babyface often against him when they've not been traditional babyfaces, yet he still lays out and sells out. The question you have to wonder is, how many times can they set him up to get beat up by the fans and still remain a draw?
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
5 Things That Will Never Go Out of Style in Pro Wrestling #3
3) Attempted vehicular homicide.
I used to be on the other side of the fence with this one, especially after they blew up Vince McMahon’s limo and Chris Benoit decided to do what he did a couple of weeks later. By then, they already started overusing this gimmick (especially when running over other wrestlers), but when done right, it can be pretty cool. There have been several excellent moments with vehicular assault, battery and defacements.
Awesome:
Not awesome:
I used to be on the other side of the fence with this one, especially after they blew up Vince McMahon’s limo and Chris Benoit decided to do what he did a couple of weeks later. By then, they already started overusing this gimmick (especially when running over other wrestlers), but when done right, it can be pretty cool. There have been several excellent moments with vehicular assault, battery and defacements.
Awesome:
Not awesome:
Friday, February 24, 2012
Believe It or Not, Here are Four Reasons Why You Should Watch TNA Wrestlng by Corey Henson
Corey Henson and Troy go back. Corey once worked at ADV, and he and Troy wrote for Newtype USA together before Corey came over to Shotgun. Corey was one of the three original Best Shots members with Troy and The Rev. OJ Flow. And when Troy became Newsarama's Blog@ Captain, Corey was part of that crew too. His Shotgun rep is deep, and his knowledge of comics, anime and wrestling is large. Ladies and gentlmen, Corey f'n Henson is back . . .
TNA Wrestling has been the laughing stock of professional wrestling for many years, and not without reason. Frankly, for much of its history, TNA has been completely unwatchable. As a matter of fact, I stopped watching TNA during the summer of 2009, and didn’t miss it for even a second. Recently, I decided to give Impact Wrestling another chance, and I was pleasantly surprised that the show had improved greatly while I wasn’t watching. In fact, I’d say that most weeks, TNA Impact Wrestling is a much better show than WWE Raw. If you’re a wrestling fan who’s been ignoring TNA, here is, in no particular order, a list of reasons why you may want to give the company a chance to make a positive impression.
1. THE RESURRECTION OF STING
TNA has a history of spending way too much time and money on middle-aged, washed-up wrestlers who ultimately do nothing to make positive contributions to TNA. Randy Savage, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Hulk Hogan and others have all failed to live up to contracts with more zeroes than a New Jersey night club. At the opposite end of the spectrum there’s Sting, the 52-year old legend who’s turned down numerous opportunities to sign with the WWE for the sake of multiple runs in TNA. Sting’s TNA career hasn’t always been stellar, thanks to a combination of poor booking and Sting’s own diminishing abilities as an athlete. There was also a heel turn in 2008 that was hard to watch because Sting never seemed to fully commit himself to making it work. For the past year, however, Sting has been one of the highlights of TNA. Once again, he’s reinvented his character, swapping the Crow motif he developed in 1996 for a new persona that’s equal parts Frank Gorshin’s Riddler and Heath Ledger’s Joker. It sounds utterly ridiculous on paper, but in reality it’s quite awesome, because Sting is busting his ass to make it work both in and out of the ring. Most of all, he looks like he’s having fun again, and it’s a blast to watch. If these are indeed the waning days of his wrestling career, as it’s been rumored, then he’s definitely going out on a high note.
TNA Wrestling has been the laughing stock of professional wrestling for many years, and not without reason. Frankly, for much of its history, TNA has been completely unwatchable. As a matter of fact, I stopped watching TNA during the summer of 2009, and didn’t miss it for even a second. Recently, I decided to give Impact Wrestling another chance, and I was pleasantly surprised that the show had improved greatly while I wasn’t watching. In fact, I’d say that most weeks, TNA Impact Wrestling is a much better show than WWE Raw. If you’re a wrestling fan who’s been ignoring TNA, here is, in no particular order, a list of reasons why you may want to give the company a chance to make a positive impression.
1. THE RESURRECTION OF STING
TNA has a history of spending way too much time and money on middle-aged, washed-up wrestlers who ultimately do nothing to make positive contributions to TNA. Randy Savage, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Hulk Hogan and others have all failed to live up to contracts with more zeroes than a New Jersey night club. At the opposite end of the spectrum there’s Sting, the 52-year old legend who’s turned down numerous opportunities to sign with the WWE for the sake of multiple runs in TNA. Sting’s TNA career hasn’t always been stellar, thanks to a combination of poor booking and Sting’s own diminishing abilities as an athlete. There was also a heel turn in 2008 that was hard to watch because Sting never seemed to fully commit himself to making it work. For the past year, however, Sting has been one of the highlights of TNA. Once again, he’s reinvented his character, swapping the Crow motif he developed in 1996 for a new persona that’s equal parts Frank Gorshin’s Riddler and Heath Ledger’s Joker. It sounds utterly ridiculous on paper, but in reality it’s quite awesome, because Sting is busting his ass to make it work both in and out of the ring. Most of all, he looks like he’s having fun again, and it’s a blast to watch. If these are indeed the waning days of his wrestling career, as it’s been rumored, then he’s definitely going out on a high note.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
5 Things in Pro Wrestling That Need to Go Away #5 by The Russ
#5) The “WHAT?” chant
There have been two major psychological constants in wrestling for the past decade.
One constant is that anyone will shout “WHOO!” whenever a guy chops somebody. It doesn't matter that Ric Flair is on his third retirement now and paying Dixie's money to his fourth ex-wife. It doesn't matter if the guy delivering the chop is the Heavyweight Champ working in front of millions at Wrestlemania or Jobber #3 under a hood jerking the curtain for the local indy in front of 53 people.
The Pavlovian response of wrestling fans to “chop” is “WHOO!” just like Missy Hyatt's Pavlovian response to the word "man" is asking herself, “Have I ever had sex with him?”
Maybe the “WHOO!” is a sign of respect for Flair, or maybe it’s just a collective memory we have as fans that Flair was the guy who made the knife-edge chop famous. Maybe we’re all engaged in a crowd mentality that everyone else is doing it, so why shouldn’t we? Still, most fans young or old can trace that chant back to its origin.
However, if you're not legally able to drive, do you remember how “WHAT?” started? Here's a bit of history if you don't know or remember:
There have been two major psychological constants in wrestling for the past decade.
One constant is that anyone will shout “WHOO!” whenever a guy chops somebody. It doesn't matter that Ric Flair is on his third retirement now and paying Dixie's money to his fourth ex-wife. It doesn't matter if the guy delivering the chop is the Heavyweight Champ working in front of millions at Wrestlemania or Jobber #3 under a hood jerking the curtain for the local indy in front of 53 people.
The Pavlovian response of wrestling fans to “chop” is “WHOO!” just like Missy Hyatt's Pavlovian response to the word "man" is asking herself, “Have I ever had sex with him?”
Maybe the “WHOO!” is a sign of respect for Flair, or maybe it’s just a collective memory we have as fans that Flair was the guy who made the knife-edge chop famous. Maybe we’re all engaged in a crowd mentality that everyone else is doing it, so why shouldn’t we? Still, most fans young or old can trace that chant back to its origin.
However, if you're not legally able to drive, do you remember how “WHAT?” started? Here's a bit of history if you don't know or remember:
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
5 Things That Will Never Go Out of Style in Pro Wrestling: #4 by The Russ
#4: Weddings Gone Awry
Vickie Guerrero & Edge
Miss Elizabeth & Macho Man
Paul “The Butcher” Vachon & Ophelia
unless you’re pretending to be gay:
Billy & Chuck
Monday, February 20, 2012
5 Things That Will Never Go Out of Style in Pro Wrestling by The Russ
5) We love to watch fat guys dancing.
“The Funkasaurus” Brodus Clay
Rikishi… or RA-Kishi, if you’re Jim Ross
Too Cold Scorpio
PN News
One Man Gang/Akeem
Koko B. Ware
unless you’re this guy:
Big Dick Johnson
Big Dick Johnson
Sunday, February 19, 2012
FINALLY . . . THE RUSS HAS COME BACK TO SHOTGUNREVIEWS.COM!
Top 5 Favorite Shotgun moments
I'm Russ. I used to write pro wrestling articles and was the managing editor for Shotgun for a while. If you want to know more, go bug Troy
Anyway, I think I was the third or fourth person who came on board after the site initially launched in '99, and that period to 2002 was probably my favorite time on the site and what I would consider to be my heyday. At the time, I went through 3 jobs that I hated and wrote as much as I could while on the clock just to get through the day. Here are my top 5 favorite memories of that time:
5) Free schwag. Before the internet economy tanked and then the rest of the economy afterwards, people would throw free stuff at us with just the mention of the word "press". It's only recently with the advent of social media and the resurgence of blogs that this has picked back up again, but if Troy
In the wrestling boom, we got the trifecta: ECW, WCW Monday Nitro, and a WWE house show. The house show was my favorite wrestling experience ever. I would rather watch a house show than Raw/Smackdown.
ECW was... well, it was ECW, and I guess it's one of those things that at least I could say I did it. The Indianapolis
WCW was where Troy
Also, I got a complete set of the Royal Rumble Anthology 5 years ago... I guess I still owe WWE that review.
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