Posts Tagged ‘pro wrestling’

R.I.P #Hayabusa

Posted: March 14, 2016 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
Tags: , , , , , , ,
0

logo 2

haybusa1

by @anarchyroll

One of the greatest high flyers in the history of professional wrestling died recently.

Hayabusa (real name Eiji Ezaki) died on March 3, 2016.

People of a certain age likely first discovered Hayabusa under the name Hannibal in the Nintendo 64 video game WCW vs nWo World Tour.

Many US wrestling fans discovered Hayabusa while at in the wrestling VHS/DVD aisle at Sun Coast and/or Best Buy and reading about the wildest sounding deathmatches in the history of wrestling from the FMW promotion.

https://twitter.com/MattJackson13/status/705767335408238592

However, most US wrestling fans were introduced to Hayabusa in one of the most entertaining tag team matches of all time, at one of the most entertaining pay per views of all time, ECW Heatwave 1998.

Hayabusa innovated the Falcon Arrow and the Phoenix Splash. Moves used regularly in the modern era by Jay Briscoe of ROH and Seth Rollins of WWE. Two men who a year ago at this time, respectively held the world titles for two of the three biggest pro wrestling promotions in the US.

Hayabusa was so far ahead of his time, that he would just in the decade be surrounded with people of his speed, style, and talent despite debuting in 1991. Hayabusa would have fit like a glove in CZW in 2003, ROH in 2005, DGUSA in 2008, PWG in 2012, and of present day Lucha Underground seems custom made for him.

The in ring tragedy that paralyzed him is nothing short of horrific. I won’t link to the video here, but you can look it up if you’re a glutton for the suffering of others. The fact that he walked again just last year was amazing and brings strong goosebumps to me now just as it did when I first read the story.

Hayabusa to me was imaginary, video game wrestling come to life. Every person I’ve ever shown that Heatwave ’98 match to always has the same look on their face when they see him, child like awe and amazement.

The man, the myth, the legend. A series of words as befitting Hayabusa as any professional athlete or entertainer in history. For a fan of my taste he is the ultimate combination of wrestlers. Cactus Jack meets Shawn Michaels. Abdullah the Butcher meets Brian Pillman. The Sandman meets Too Cold Scorpio. AJ Styles meets Abyss. Pentagon Jr meets Prince Puma.

Hayabusa was a hero, Hayabusa was an innovator, Haybusa was a legend, Hayabusa will Rest In Power.

 

In Defense of the Currrent State of #WWE

Posted: December 9, 2015 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
1

logo 2

By @anarchyroll
12/8/15

Do you have a pro wrestling themed podcast, blog, or website? Are you a retired pro wrestler or pro wrestling personality? Do you make the choice to sit through every minute including commericials of WWE presented television every week? If so, you likely think the current state of WWE is half a drop of sweat from tiping over the point of no return into the doomsday pit of armageddon, hell, and Impact Wrestling levels of no return.

If you are not one of the types listed above but still watch and pay attention to pro wrestling on a casual or slightly dedicated status you likely think the current state of WWE is somewhere between; meh, could be better, and damn good wrestling but the promos are too scripted.

I am not a fan of the current product WWE is presenting on television every week. I think it is too predictable, formulaic, and presented in a tongue and cheek manner as PG as it has been in the last ten years.

However, the negative bias against WWE by those who choose to dedicate their time, energy, and focus on a weekly basis has reached levels previously reserved for terrorist attacks and Star Wars prequels.

If you choose to watch every minute of the seven plus hours of content WWE produces every week, it is easy to loose the forest in the trees. To think that the current product is the worst ever, which I have read and heard on numorous sites and podcasts is to also choose to ignore or not remember WWE in 1983, 1993, 1995, 2003, 2010; WCW from 1994 through the birth of the nWo ; ECW of Syfy ; and TNA Impact Wrestling from 2011- present.

To have such a viciously negative paradigm of WWE while ignoring the good to great work being done consistently by Ring of Honor, New Japan Pro Wrestling, Lucha Underground, and Pro Wrestling Guerilla makes the bloggers, podcasters, and haters part of the problem as much as Vince McMahon’s unwilligness to change/evolve/retire.

Choose to not watch, not cover, not report on the bad and to focus on the good of alternative pro wrestling. That is what I have done. I stopped watching WWE on a consistent basis during the Road to WrestleMania 21. John Cena and Dave Bautista have never been my cup of tea after 2004.

I still watch WWE, but not as often. I will read results before choosing whether or not to watch except for the big four ppvs (Rumble, Mania, Summerslam, Survivor Series). I instead choose to spend my time, focus, and money supporting ROH, NJPW, and the indies. From 2003-2009 I also happily did so for TNA.

But it is not WWE’s actual quality that all these podcasters and retired wrestling personalities hate. It’s that if they don’t choose to cover WWE someone else will. The fear of being unpopular and irrelevant. The fear WWE hasn’t had since March of 2001.

Sheamus isn’t that bad of a champion. Roman isn’t that bad of a lead babyface. Neither are my preferred choice. If were up to me the wrestlers currently feuding for the IC and NXT titles would be the faces of the company. But…..

WWE is not obligated to live up to the expectations of my imagination and personal taste.

Just because you have a blog, podcast, Twitter account, and/or a history in the pro wrestling business doesn’t mean WWE owes that to you either.

Accept that and cover them with some integrity and respect for journalism/broadcasting or accept that you are as thick headed, immature, and unable to evolve as the people booking the current WWE product.

That being said…..

CVw_aAkUYAErdjZ

 

 

#ROH : The OG Best in the World

Posted: October 14, 2014 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

logo 2ajclogo2

by @anarchyroll
10/13/2014

I have written far too little about Ring of Honor. As someone who was a fan of the original ECW, neither of the big two come close to being as good as the ROH product on a consistent basis in my opinion.

If you’re not familiar with Ring of Honor, it was founded by Paul Heyman’s #1, Gabe Sapolsky in 2002. Some of the stars and superstars that ROH has produced to TNA and WWE since their inception are;

  • CM Punk
  • Daniel Bryan
  • Samoa Joe
  • Seth Rollins
  • Austin Aries
  • Cesaro
  • Low Ki/ Kaval

The Ring of Honor product, style, and presentation has also been copied/used to build TNA’s X Divsion as well as WWE’s developmental territory NXT.

Years before either Chris Jericho or CM Punk were inserting the label Best in the World into their promos and onto their merchandise, fans were shouting those words after seeing ROH’s finest matches to the point they named their biggest show of the year Best in the World, which takes place every June.

If you’re an older wrestling fan who liked the Original ECW; then Ring of Honor is the product for your. If you’re a younger fan who likes NXT better than either RAW or Smackdown; Ring of Honor is the product for you.

I saw ROH live for the first time in 2005, during their 3rd Anniversary Show. The main event was Austin Aries vs Samoa Joe for the ROH World Title. I was hooked. The show stealer was Brian Danielson vs Homicide in a Falls Count Anywhere Match.

Ring of Honor has long been established as the top American independent professional wrestling promotion. They are the ECW of this era. They are about the best between the ropes, bell to bell wrestling on the planet. They are the only product in America that can rival the between the ropes action of Japan. If you like the matches that CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Seth Rollins, and Cesaro have been having on WWE TV for the last two years, then you’ll love Ring of Honor.

I have seen ROH live at least once a year, every year, since 2005. The product not only thoroughly entertains me, but consistently restores my faith in pro wrestling. My personal taste is pro wrestling is no better or worse than anyone else’s. I care far less about storylines and characters than I do about fast paced, physical, high intensity pro wrestling matches. I am fully aware that to draw big money like WWE has done for 50 years, the model of success is inverted from my taste.

Since 2010, there are very few who have seen the product who would disagree with the thought of; if ROH had the corporate backing that TNA has had, ROH would be in a much more prominent place in the pro wrestling and sports entertainment landscape. ROH has routinely proven they are able to produce memorable, unique, entertaining characters, promos, and storylines. People like Jimmy Jacobs, Truth Martini, and Kevin Steen have been involved in programs and promos that would have slid perfectly into the WWE’s Attitude Era.

What makes ROH great in my opinion is that in their world/universe, wrestling didn’t stop evolving after the end of the Attitude Era. They didn’t hit the pause, rewind, or erase buttons in the wake of the Austin/Rock retirements, the Chris Benoit incident, or the John Cena PG Era. ROH is what ECW on SyFy would have looked like if Paul Heyman and Tommy Dreamer would have been allowed to control the product as opposed to Kevin Dunn and Vince McMahon.

It is important that there be three major pro wrestling promotions operating within the United States. For the purpose of competition, innovation, and evolution of the business as a whole.

  1. NWA, AWA, and WWWF
  2. WWF, WCW, and ECW
  3. WWE, TNA, and ROH

Me and all the other smart marks will keep crossing our fingers and hoping someone with a lot of money decides to invest in ROH. They can make it if money isn’t as much of a limiting issue as it has always been for them. They have manufactured new superstars. They have a unique presentation style. They believe in storyline continuity and character evolution. Their product doesn’t insult anyone’s intelligence. The product would fit like a glove on FX, Adult Swim, or Showtime. The product isn’t overly vulgar or obscene. ROH routinely walks the line between family friendly and for adults only, they always have, and have always had the proper proportions.

Without ROH I likely wouldn’t be a wrestling fan anymore. What John Cena and the PG Era did to WWE and what Hulk Hogan and Eric Bishoff did to TNA were both more than enough for me to do, what so many fans of my generation have done; make a permanent switch to exclusive mixed martial arts viewing. But ROH pulls me back from the ledge everytime I need to be. With their great matches, clean finishes, intense rivalries, straight to the point promos, and continuous evolution I can’t recommend ROH enough to the casual fan whose looking for something different to Super Cena and the not ready for prime time booking of Impact Wrestling.

The Renaissance of Bobby Lashley

Posted: October 3, 2014 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

logo 2ajclogo2

by @anarchyroll
10/3/2014

As a fan of the original ECW, there are few wrestlers I want to dislike more than Bobby Lashley. And for years, Lashley made it very easy to dislike him whether he was pushed as a face or a heel in WWE or TNA.

Bobby Lashley was what is known in pro wrestling as a “body guy”. Someone whose success in pro wrestling is entirely dependent on the fact that they are or look like a body builder. Lashley’s run in WWE from 2005-2007 was the textbook definition of the WWE using their marketing machine to try to force fans to like a body guy with no charisma, no mic skills, and a mediocre at best level of technical wrestling skill.

Why as an ECW fan did I intensely dislike Lashley? Because body guys are antithesis of what ECW is all about, and when ECW was revived in 2006, at their second and final pay per view event, Lashley was chosen over CM Punk to win the only ECW Elimination Chamber match to become ECW Champion. Lashley then co main evented WrestleMania with the ECW Title around his waste and to this day, a generation of wrestling fans associate a body guy as the face of ECW. Sigh, thanks Vince.

Flash forward seven years later, and Lashley can only be classified as strictly a body guy by fervent haters of him and TNA Wrestling where he is (as of this writing) their World Heavyweight Champion. Why can Lashley no longer be classified as just a body guy? After all he still looks like a walking commercial for anabolic steroids.

Because after his run in the WWE and after his first run in TNA, Bobby Lashley went out and became the second most legitimate pro wrestling to mixed martial arts crossover in history. Second to only Brock Lesnar.

Lashley has had 3 times as many fights as Lesnar had, though no one would argue Lashley has faced nearly the same level of competition Lesnar did. But unlike Lesnar, Lashley isn’t retired, he’s still actively fighting.

It is worth noting, and praising, that Lashley while actively competing for TNA as their World Champion, fought and won a fight in Bellator MMA. That is something that Brock Lesnar never did and never will do. It is a little caveat, but a legitimate one.

Lashley’s in ring pro wrestling skills, have also improved dramatically. He tells a story with his facial features and plays to his strengths. TNA to their credit, has booked him as well as someone like Lashley can be booked. In an era where TNA can’t seem to do anything right, they have done very little if anything wrong with Lashley since he returned to the company at Lockdown in March.

Since Lashley apparently doesn’t know how to talk arrogantly, TNA gave him a mouthpiece/hype man in MVP. That was a double win as MVP was nursing a broken ankle at the time and needed something to do on camera. TNA killed two birds with one stone and now, it is almost impossible to think of or book Lashley without MVP as his version of Paul Heyman.

TNA has booked Lashley against technically proficient opponents who are able to bump for Bobby as well as mask his deficiencies in the same model of The Undertaker’s last five WrestleMania opponents. Lashley’s matches against Samoa Joe (twice), Eric Young, Austin Aries, and Bobby Roode have all been American style, pro wrestling/sports entertainment heavyweight style matches. Fans of wrestling both pre PG and pre Attitude eras would have an appreciation of those matches. Storytelling, selling, submissions, hot crowds, manuever exchanges, a high spot or two, go home. TNA has also booked him as an unstoppable monster. When he inevitably loses the world title, it will be a big deal, at least by TNA standards.

Lashley has come along way since his unwatchable runs as United States and ECW Champions in WWE. He is becoming the type of talent that Vince McMahon likely envisioned him as when he tryed to ram Lashley down the fan’s throats for almost two full years before releasing him after main eventing a pay per view with John Cena. Yeah, you read that right.

Lashley has also become a face in the argument of the legitimacy of pro wrestlers as real athletes and genuine tough guys instead of phony actors. Actively holding the world title for the #2 pro wrestling company and actively winning fights for the #2 mixed martial arts promotion is a bigger deal in both sports than many seem to want to give it credit for. It’s understandable, Lashley’s work in WWE was just awful. But his work in his first run in TNA in 2009 was good. His matches against Rhino, Samoa Joe, and Scott Steiner are all worth looking up on You Tube. He then spent four years bouncing between independent pro wrestling and mixed martial arts. Now he’s a top guy in the #2 promotion for both sports. What’s next? Lashley isn’t that old. He may not just be getting started, but he certainly isn’t finished.

It’s hard for me to believe that a body guy could be such an inspirational figure. But in the year 2014 in the worlds of pro wrestling and mixed martial arts, there is no better story than the renaissance of Bobby Lashley.

Impact Wrestling Hits the Reset Button at #TNANYC

Posted: August 27, 2014 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

logo 2ajclogo2

by @anarchyroll
8/27/2014

Better late than never, but is it too late? TNA officially hit the reset button at their recent television tapings in New York City at the Manhattan Center. How do I know they hit the reset button? Because both Kurt Angle and Taz said as much on camera during the first of six episodes taped in NYC this summer. However, in the middle of the taped episodes airing, reports surfaced that Spike TV will not be renewing their contract with TNA to keep Impact Wrestling on the air.

Coming out of the Hogan/Bishoff era, followed by the kayfabe heel Dixie Carter era, TNA desperately needed to hit the reset button. Putting the World Title on Eric Young saw ratings hit an all time low between the Lockdown and Slammiversary pay per view events.

From a skeptical distance one can chalk up the reset button being the following things;

  • Putting and keeping the World Title on Bobby Lashley
  • Bringing back the six-sided ring
  • Reuniting the Hardy and Dudley Boyz
  • Exploiting ECW nostalgia
  • Putting the annual one month spotlight on the X Division

If one were to read the results or highlights, or have a friend tell them what happened at Destination X or Hardcore Justice (two pay per view like events that aired free on Spike) one could summize that TNA simply combined WWE and ECW nostalgia acts with a couple of their own classic concepts to try to pop a rating. However, one must have watched or at least skimmed through the shows with their own eyes to see and feel how the mood has indeed changed in TNA.

  1. Bobby Lashley is being built, showcased, and promoted like a heel world champion should be. The fact that Lashley will be fighting at a Bellator MMA event as the reigning TNA World Champion is a great thing for both TNA and the wrestling business, because it is the first of its kind. Can you imagine the press WWE would get and how much their mark fan boys would be gushing if any sitting WWE champion went to fight in the UFC?
  2. The return of the six-sided ring is a metaphor that the fans’ opinions matter to TNA management.  It was ridiculous that Hogan/Bishoff got rid of the six-sided ring in the first place. It did nothing to help the product in any tangible way. Bringing it back won’t pop a rating, but it will send the message that TNA cares about their fans again. Since TNA clearly hasn’t cared about the fans’ opinions for several years now, a symbol like the return of six-sided ring is a great start to rebuilding the trust between TNA management and pro wrestling fans.
  3. In case you haven’t seen the NYC episodes, Jeff Hardy has been involved in the best match on each show he has wrestled on. His match with Lashley was the best of Lashley’s career until Lashley had a match against Austin Aries at Destination X. Both matches the reunited Hardy Boyz had (versus The American Wolves and The Dudley Boyz) were as good as tag team wrestling gets in 2014 or any year for that matter. Both the Hardys and Dudleys reuniting has worked, why? Because the matches have delivered and I am genuinely excited about the upcoming Triple Threat Tag Team Match Series that will round out the NYC tapings.
  4. WWE is allowed to exploit ECW whenever they want but when TNA does it, it’s tacky and outdated. That is the opinion of Paul Heyman and most of the internet wrestling community. This type of ridiculous bias is why it is always hard to get a true read on TNA’s quality without seeing it oneself. The fact is that is that there was kayfabe, storyline appropriate reasons for Devon Dudley and Tommy Dreamer to be brought into Bully Ray’s feud with Dixie Carter. Rhino has worked for TNA on and off since 2005 and if Al Snow can stay in that kind of physical shape, and be that over with a live crowd, there is no reason he can’t be on television for TNA, ROH, or WWE. Not to mention that as I write this, the “ECW” nostalgia angle has already been done with for as long as it was presented as an on camera angle/feud.
  5. TNA was built by the X Division. The X Division got them to Spike TV, getting to Spike TV got them to Sting, Sting got them as close to the mainstream as they’ve gotten. With Sting gone and Spike TV apparently on their way out, there is no better time to refocus on the X Division. The recent X Division showcase has been built around Samoa Joe and Low Ki. If you don’t want to see Samoa Joe and Low Ki get not only ring time but mic time weekly, on a nationally televised pro wrestling show, then my friend I suggest you binge watch reruns of Saturday Morning Slam and AWA on ESPN until the cows come home.

TNA has lost the benefit of the doubt with the vast majority of wrestling fans. Their live attendance, ratings, and problems securing a new TV deal with Spike TV reflect that. In a way, TNA deserves to go out of business. But we all know that would be bad for wrestling. I remember 2001, WCW deserved to go out of business too, but was the wrestling business better because they did? Alliance anyone?

The episodes of Impact Wrestling from New York City has looked and felt like the TNA Wrestling I was a fan of from 2003-2009. At the very least, watch the title matches. The best wrestling I have seen this summer that hasn’t involved Brock Lesnar or ROH has been the title defenses or wins involving Bobby Lashley, Samoa Joe, Gail Kim, and The Wolves.

TNA has hit the reset button. The consistent quality of the last six weeks beckons a second chance from their alienated fan base. Let’s just hope it’s not too little too late.

Older Entries