Tuesday 28 April 2009

Rare Shot Of Rey Mysterio Without His Mask


Here is a photo taken in Belfast (during the sold out Wrestlemania Revenge Tour) of Rey Mysterio and Santino, note Rey sans mask and blending in to the crowd (a bit).

Undertaker's Rest In Peace Tour To Hit Belfast

The WWE have announced that their Undertaker Rest In Peace (retirement) Tour wil be in Belfast on November 15th. Look out for tickets and more info soon.

Looks like the dead man will call it a day around next years Wrestlemania. His knees are said to be giving him serious problems and it looks highly likely that this will be the last time we all get to see him in action.

WWE in Belfast Pics April 2009






Thursday 23 April 2009

TNA Lockdown Review

T|NA Lockdown 2009

So here we go my own personal review of this years all-cage ppv from TNA Lockdown. I was not able to review this for the Sun this year as our editor Si was lucky enough to be there live and you can read his own review on site.

The Danny Bonnaduce and Eric Young challenge match was the events dark match, I recommend you like myself watch it online and see how the former Hulk Hogan’s CCW wrestler fared. I don’t want to ruin it for you. I am a bit shocked that it was not part of the main ppv, as it has been heavily hyped up (including an exclusive story by myself).

The X Division kicked off the show as champion Suicide, Jay Lethal, Kiyoshi, Consequences Creed and Sheik Abdul Bashir took to the ring to do their stuff. This was a decent opener, the double duty Chris Daniels (as Suicide and himself later) impressed with some superb moves and a death defying finishing move off the cage. Nice X Division match and one to savour.

Unfortunately the Queen of the Cage bout next between Madison rayne, Sojo Bolt, Dafney and ODB could not rise to meet our expectations. Rayne fared well, Daffney (former WCW star) looked good and the liquored up ODB did well to win the match and a potential Knockouts title match down the line.

Now here’s a puzzle, LAX’s Hernandez can in no way be called a junior heavyweight grappler, yet the big man was featured in this three team tornado match for the IWGP Jr Tag Team belts. He and his partner Homicide were against champs the Motor City Machine Guns and former title holders No Limit.
This was a thoroughly exciting affair, all six having some fine moments, the teams all working well together and showing their own styles and talents. MCMG winning after a nice version of their made in Detroit finisher.

OK puzzle time part two, Abyss took on Matt Morgan in a Doomsday Chamber of Blood match next, now forgive me here but if this was a simple first blood match I’d have understood it, but no this had the stipulation that the winner was the man who pinned the other after the other had bled! A typical Abyss/Morgan match and yes they bled, the finish came when Dr Stevie (Ecw’s Stevie Richards) made his on screen debut and distracted Abyss, allowing Morgan to nail the win.

The TNA Knockouts Tile was on the line next as the monster of a woman that is Awesome Kong took on Taylor Wilde and Angelina Love in a triple threat match. All three did their best here, Wilde we know can wrestle Kong with aplomb, but Love did some decent working too. The Beautiful People member pulled off the upset win and raised the title form Kong.

Since this was taking place in Philadelphia, you just knew Team 3D would be making their presence felt, but when you factor in opponents Beer Money and the TNA/IWGP Tag Team straps were on the line, you just know it was going to be a storming brawl. This was a street fight for all of the marbles and boy did the teams work for them. The foursome battled in and out of the cage, through the crowd, used weapons and gave their bodies some serious bruises, before Team 3D netted their 22nd set of major tag team titles.

Lethal Lockdown was up next, now it at least has rules you can understand, two men enter, they battle for five minutes, then every minute or so alternate members of the four man teams join in the fray, giving one team an advantage for a few minutes. The eight men were Team Jarrett, Jeff Jarrett (of course), Samoa Joe, AJ Styles and Chris Daniels, on the other side were the Main Event Mafia members Kurt Angle, Scott Steiner, Kevin Nash (his first match in a while) and Booker T.

An enjoyable match the combatants brawled nicely, even on the roof of the cage, before the roof descended and the weapons came into play. We saw some nice pairings, Steiner pulled off a pretty good Frankensteiner, Jeff teased a change of sides by decking AJ with a chair shot and the suicidal Angle took some major bumps. Team Jarrett of course won and were like the live crowd in awe as former WWE star Bobby Lashley made an appearance on the entrance ramp.

Main event time now, current champ Sting was going back in time to face an old enemy he last faced a decade or so ago in WCW, Mick Foley (as Cactus Jack). Of course whilst Sting has kept in fairly enviable ring shape (for his advancing age), Foley is a pale shadow of his former self. Saying that the duo really did have a good-above average bout. Foley gave as good as he got and Sting made him look like a star and every bit as dangerous as he was in his old days.

12 time champ Sting is the longest reigning TNA champion and for his own personal record has made this his longest tenure as champion too. Foley is a three time former World Champion himself and you feel he never thought he’d be back in the title picture again eh!

Foley re-opened his eye cut early on, showing his maniacal tendencies, the crowd seems mixed, Sting was the obvious face, even though he is part of the heel MEM group. This was a solid match, Foley used his barb-wire baseball bat, Sting battered Foley and the pair made the best of their ageing frames. The shock finish came as both brawled on the cage and Foley beat Sting to the floor to raise his first TNA title.

So Lockdown had some thrills, plenty of spills and title changes galore. Will Foley be a transitional champion? Probably, I’d say he’ll either jump to the Main Event Mafia and swap places with Sting or he’ll lose the belt to Angle. Sting will be a great addition to the Frontline group. Lashley may join the former champions on the MEM and the teased Taz (as Joe’s unseen mentor) may join the announce or backstage team.

All in all this is what TNA need to do on a regular basis, we need this level of creativity or we’ll simply turn off and not come back, we require a few decent PPV’s in a row, plus the always enjoyable weekly Impact shows.

Phil Allely

Tuesday 21 April 2009

TNA Jeff Jarrett DVD Review

I have just received the latest TNA DVD release, it is a superb four disc set featuring the company's main man and co-owner Jeff Jarrett.
Now we all know that Jeff has been known as the man who books himself and his friends above others, but this set actually has some sterling efforts by JJ on in. There are matches form the whole of Jeff's TNA career up to 2008. You will even see him in some rare mid-late 1980s matches, against such names as Jerry Lawler, Hector Guerrero, Cactus Jack and Bill Dundee.
Some more recent standout matches are against Scott Hall, Raven, AJ Styles, Jeff Hardy, Kurt Angle and pretty much every other big name TNA star, plus some fine showings by legends like The Road Warriors, Dusty Rhodes and even an in-ring appearance by Vince Russo.
Ok this is a TNA made DVD that looks at the career of its boss, but it does offer up some great matches and at least they are varied and not on a single theme, the participants in each are varied too, meaning each one is pretty fresh to watch, some are brutal, some exciting and most are well worth investing your time into.

8 out of 10

WWE Raw Dublin: Results & Pics


As you know I attended the WWE Raw tour shows in Dublin, Ireland this past week. I've already had my live review published n The Sun's website, now I'd like to share some of my personal insights, the full results and a few pics from the events too.

The 02 venue, Dublin, capacity 11,000 (sold out both nights)
Wed April 15th 2009:

1.Kofi Kingston kicked off the night with an easy win over The Miz
2.Beth Phoenix and Layla, w/Rosa Mendez fell to Kelly Kelly and Melina.
3.Santino was beaten by Goldust and Stone cold Charlie Haas.
4.CM Punk pulled off a tough win over William Regal.
5.Mike Knox and Kane lost to Primo & Carlito Colon.
6.Chris Jericho fell to a 619 against Rey Mysterio.
7.John Cena pinned Edge.

Thu April 16th 2009:

1.Kofi Kingston got a win over William Regal.
2.Santino beat Charlie Haas.
3.Goldust pinned The Miz
4.Melina retained her womens title against Beth Phoenix.
5.The Colons beat Kane and Mike KNox.
6.CM Punk pinned Chris Jericho.
7.Big Show and Edge fell to John Cena and Rey Mysterio.

my comments:

There were some great matches here, CM Punk, Edge, Jericho, Mysterio and even Cena impressed.
Fans loved it when Kelly Kelly appeared as guest referee the second night, lots of camera flashes there.
Regal seemed to be in a bitter mood, his matches seemed very hard and tough on his opponents.
Goldust, Charlie Haas and especially Santino deserve a nod for their comedy inserts. the trio were in good form indeed.
Big Show apearing the second nights was a big surpsie for all of us.
One donwside was that many fans seemed to think they would be seeing the likes of HHH etc, but as the draft has only taken place it's fair to say the WWE did right having the current roster on this tour.
The O2 was an interesting venue, the fans loved having the WWE back after so many years of an absence.

Tuesday 14 April 2009

TNA Dvd Releases

TNA are set to release a few superb looking DVDs very soon.
First up is the TNA X Cup 2008, the event that featured a host of international stars alongside a TNA team was very good indeed and should make for a great DVD.

Also due for release is second to none, a lively look at the company's tag team division and the numerous pairs of grapplers that have worked for the company over the years.

WWE In Dublin

I'm off to see the WWE in action from tomorrow (15th April) for two nights, look out for my review on The Sun's website.
Should be good fun, especially now the draft lottery has taken place, should make for some interesting matches.

Thursday 9 April 2009

new and rumours

According to various reports WWE's Mr Kennedy has stated that his recurring shoulder injury may force him to retire from active competition and perhaps become a trainer for up and coming wrestlers.

The Mizz/Morrison tag team may be set to split as part of the upcoming draft lottery, WWE will be looking to pad out the Raw roster now that the Smackdown one has stabilised after last years influx of top names to bolster its ratings.

Victoria has ben in talks with TNA President Dixie Carter about a possible role witin the company, the former WWE women's champion would certainly make a good addition to the flagging TNA Knockouts division.

It seesm as if the Danny Bonnaduce/Eric Young match at lockdown will be bumped down to the dark match of the night, not sure why, but perhaps TNA feel Danny is not up to PPV level.

Tuesday 7 April 2009

Undertaker's Knees

Rumour has it that Undertaker was hardly seen over wrestlemania weekend, his knees are clearly bothering him more than ever, I'd expect him to slow down and work a very sporadic schedule from now on.
Considering Michaels has some knee problems too, the pair still achieved so much they deserve a break.

Mania Notes

Wrestlemania was by all accounts a superb show and of course many sites have full reviews up.
I thought it best to simply make a few observations on the ppv.

Mickey Rourke's involvement in the legends match was OK, but looked false, however Rocky Steamboat showed true class cannot age, if Ricky jnr has any of that skill Vince better hang on to the guy.

The Divas battle royal had a dodgy finish, perhaps if a true diva had have been crowned it would have worked better. I cannot fathom why they had no introductions either (surely time restrictions can't have been that bad). Sunny looked pretty good eh!

My other note would be that Michaels v Undertaker (although the ending was expected) has all the makings of the best Mania match ever, it had it all and if the two never achieve that level of intensity again, it does not matter.

The rest of the matches were all decent to good, good to see CM Punk winning MITB again too.

Wednesday 1 April 2009

Tommy Dreamer News

ECW original Tommy Dreamer was at one point slated to be a part of the Money In The Bank ladder match at Wrestlemania. However it was decided that whilst dreamer can take the bumps and moves the match needs to achieve its awe-inspiring set-up, he would not be able to help carry the match. So his spot has gone top Finlay instead, the ring veteran is deemed more worthy of the spot and can lead the other participants through the moves and set-pieces needed to work the hard-going match. Finay is of course only too willing to take some good bumps too.

Tazz Gone From WWE

So in a shock to the line-up and plans for Wrestlemania, Smackdown announcer Tazz has left the company. The former ECW champion has been a fixture in the WWE for some ten years, but has decided to leave the company during what is their busiest week of the year. You have to wonder has Tazz finally succumbed to the same annoyances that Mick Foley reported having during his short stint as an announcer. Foley is said to have got fed up ahving Vince Mcmahon and co yelling into his earpiece during live broadcasts. It will be interesting to see who covers Tazzs announcing duties at Mania, good money should be on locker room hero Joey Styles (he punched out bully boy JBL not long ago), Styles of course was the original ECW announcer and still ha sa huge following, even though his style is something Vince McMahon detests.
we'll just have to see where Tazz turns up next.