WWW WrestleMania Revenge Tour Review Belfast April 2012

WWE Live Review: Smackdown – WrestleMania Revenge Tour 2012 (Belfast)

The WWE tour the UK/Ireland twice a year and each live show receives a huge amount of attention. These shows feature many of our favourite WWE superstars and divas, they also offer us the opportunity to get up close and personal to the action.

Belfast’s Odyssey Arena was as usual sold-out for the WrestleMania Revenge Tour by the Smackdown roster. Unless it is a TV taping/recording what’s nice about a WWE live show is that the entire crew seem intent on having fun and whilst storylines do still exist they are not as strictly stuck to here.

Glamorous ring announcer Lillian Garcia took mic duties for the night and really did make a difference with her nice attitude to proceedings and willingness to join in the fun throughout the night.

We’ll not review each match here, but we will give you an idea of just what a live WWE show can offer you.

Firstly you’ll be very close to the action and get to see the event in full context no matter where you sit, although the prime seats are slightly above ringside with a view of the whole ring or the aisle where you can briefly shake hands with your heroes.

Next thing you’ll see just how huge some of the wrestlers are, for example opening match-up winner The Great Khali was unbelievably massive, looking even bigger than his seven foot plus real height. His opponent Jinder Mahal had no real chance here, but did try his best.

The Tag Team encounter was pulled above mediocre by the unique pairing of high flyer Tyson Kidd and UK star William Regal. Regal especially was on fine comedy form and as he has done before stated that he may not have many more matches in him.

Alberto Del Rio is a fun character and a nice return to the sneaky heel of old. It is however his stooge/personal ring announcer Ricardo that maintains the flow and entertains us, the old tee-shirt throw tease went down a storm.

The highlight of the Divas match between Natalya and AJ was the addition of Hornswoggle as guest referee. The little man went through as many comedy spots as he could and loved being the centre of attention.

The Big Show was also in superb comedy form this night, something many people never really get to see these days. He is also another very large competitor that you really do need to see live to appreciate how big he is.

What’s always interesting in these shows is that the company rarely send over jobber s and low card grapplers, the norm is to send as many mid-top of the roster guys and girls and again with a few exceptions this was the case.

Rounding off the night were two encounters firstly Kane and Randy Orton in a NO DQ battle that went in and out of the ring, incorporated weapons and looked awesome.

Finally was the Mania re-match between former World Title holder Daniel Bryan and current champ Sheamus. Ireland’s own Sheamus worked very hard here and it really did round things off on  a high note.

WWE live be it the April tour or November tour always deliver the goods and did so once again here. Roll on the next one, we cannot wait.

WWE Live in the UK November 2011 DVD Review

WWE DVD Review: WWE Live in the UK – November 2011

By Phil Allely

The WWE tour the UK twice a year, these tours have grown bigger each year and recently the company have decided to record live versions of their hugely popular Raw and Smackdown shows on UK soil too.

This double DVD set offers up the live shows from last November that were recorded in Liverpool for broadcast in the UK and the US respectively.

As anyone who has seen a live WWE show knows these are always fun events, there’s never a sad face in the crowd at the end of them.  We the fans get to see our heroes in the flesh and get to see the big spectacle of shows that we usually only see on US TV.  The shows on DVD here however are far slicker affairs than non-recorded/televised ones, these are after all live shows which were being recorded for broadcast. So storylines were followed, scripts were adhered too and the entire roster were on the ball throughout.

Disc one features The November 7^th Raw episode and it features some pretty decent matches and segments. Highlights here are John Cena whipping the crowd into a frenzy, Zack Ryder’s appearances and the main event scrap between Cena/Ryder and The Miz/R-Truth.

This disc also houses an episode of NXT featuring a few nice matches and a retro match between Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Dude Love from the UK PPV ‘One Night Only’ in 1997.

Disc two on the other hand has a reasonable episode of WWE Superstars (10^th November) as its starting off point. There’s a very nice match with Daniel Bryan and William Regal here also.

The rest of the disc is taken up by the November 11^th Smackdown episode and it is a pretty good one too. Up for perusal here are a fine outing with Sheamus and Christian, Mark Henry Versus Daniel Bryan and an enjoyable Randy Orton and Wade Barrett brawl.

WWE Live in the UK – November 2011 is a very good collection of live shows and one that fans will lap up if they were in attendance or not. This is perhaps the best introduction to WWE live shows for anyone who has yet to witness them.

WWE Live in the UK – November 2011 is available now from www.silvervision.co.uk and all good retailers.

WWE PPV Review: WrestleMania 28

WWE PPV Review - WrestleMania 28

By Phil Allely

WrestleMania is the event of the year as far as the WWE are concerned, it gets a huge build up and the company always try to pull out all of the stops to ensure the card has the odds stacked in the companies favour.

2012’s event was centred around two mega match-ups, movie star The Rock’s return to the ring against company figurehead John Cena and the return match between Undertaker and Triple H. Both matches were highly anticipated and well prepared for, the question was would a Hollywood star, and two part-time wrestlers (alongside the only full time roster member Cena) be able to maintain the crowds attention and keep everyone interested in proceedings?

The dark match opener saw the combos of The Uso’s and Justin Gabriel/Tyson Kidd tackle WWE Tag Team Champs Primo/Epico in a fun encounter. This was of course left off the PPV, but will undoubtedly feature on the DVD release. The champions retained the gold after some nice exchanges.

WrestleMania proper kicked off with the World Heavyweight Title match-up. Challenger Sheamus made short work of his opponent Daniel Bryan here. Bryan spent a short while stalling and then caught a hard ‘brogue kick’ to lose the match and his treasured belt. Shamus is now once again flying the flag for Ireland as world champion.

Next up Kane and Randy Orton had a decent scrap, both men tried their best to keep things moving along and they did it admirably. Kane pulled off the win with a second rope ‘choke slam’.

The Intercontinental Title was on the line next, champ Cody Rhodes defending his gold against the mammoth Big Show. This was good David/Goliath stuff, show overpowered Rhodes with ease and Cody used his wits and skills to bring the big man down to his size as often as he could. A spear and knockout punch from Show finished things though, giving us our second title change of the night.

As per usual the Divas were given very little time to build momentum in their match. Here we saw Beth Phoenix and Eve Torres face Kelly Kelly and Maria Menounos. The teams worked well, the moves were reasonable performed and each got a few moments to strut their stuff. Menounos rolled up Phoenix to pick up the win for her team.

The Hell in a Cell match between Undertaker and Triple H was a much hyped affair and one that we all hoped would match that build up. Undertaker had been off TV and out of the ring since Mania 27 and Triple H had been semi-retired since that brutal match-up too. Adding the cell and special guest referee Shawn Michaels to the mix was sure to help gloss over any ring rust the competitors had. We also got to see the new short-haired Taker too.

The HIAC match was as expected a back and forth violent encounter (of course with no blood). The pair utilised the steel structure to their advantage and Michaels kept the pace moving well too. The combatants worked well together and made the magic from last year happen once again. Undertaker’s Mania winning streak was on the line of course and the audience did think it was possibly going to come to an end. The match ended after numerous trademark moves, near falls and ref bumps. Taker eventually nailed a ‘Tombstone’ to put Triple H down for the three-count. With the 20-0 sign flashing Taker, Michaels and Triple H embraced on the stage to huge applause.

After a Hall of Fame video package, featuring The Four Horsemen, Edge, Ron Simmons and Mike Tyson, amongst others. We were once again back to the matches.
The unnecessary team match between Team Laurinaitis and Team Long was up next and even with the winning team leader becoming both Raw & Smackdown GM it didn’t set the world alight.

This enjoyable, but at times plodding scrap saw Mark Henry, Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger, The Miz, Drew McIntyre and David Otunga (Team Laurinaitis) face Zack Ryder, Kofi Kingston, The Great Khali, R-Truth, Booker T and Santino Marella.

With so many bodies around the ring this was a match of short set-pieces, near falls, swift tags and comedy moments. The end saw The Miz hit the ‘skull crunching finale’ on Ryder to win the match for his team.

Post-match Eve struck a low blow on Ryder to hint at a heel turn.

Picking the pace up after the previous encounter were Chris Jericho and CM Punk. Here they were battling for Punk’s WWE Title and the speculation was that even with his band on tour over the Summer Jericho was on form to take the gold home with him in this one.

Punk and Jericho pulled off a superb match, thy built it perfectly, gelled wonderfully as opponents and traded near falls with ease. This was anyone’s match it seemed, the fans were really into this one. Punk eventually overcame the sneaky Jericho for the tap out win via ‘anaconda vice’.

After a one year build-up the main event between John Cena and The Rock had an awful lot to live up to. Fortunately it did just that and more, this was a match for the ages and one that saw The Rock roll back the years and highlight just how good he is as a performer.

The crowd were firmly behind Rock throughout, Cena receiving an unhealthy amount of boos. The pair went through their routines well, it may have been a meticulously planned match, but to casual fans this looked awesome in its delivery.

Rock looked slick as ever and delivered each move as crisply as he did in his prime, Cena for his faults went through the motions and both hit their trademark moves for near falls too. The match finished as predicted with the Rock successfully nailing a ‘rock bottom’ for the popular pin.

WrestleMania was a very good card from the WWE, we saw some new champs crowned, one man become the Raw/Smackdown GM and two epic encounters play out before our very eyes.

Some of the matches will be re-enacted during the upcoming WrestleMania Revenge Tour, but the big results here were Undertaker once again holding on to his winning streak, The Rock beating Cena in their grudge match and in the subsequent Raw the return of Brock Lesnar to the company.

By Phil Allely

New JR Blog Highlights

WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross is back with a new blog on jrsbarbq.com. Here are some highlights:

- I sincerely appreciated Michael Cole's handshake welcoming me to the announce table [at WrestleMania 28]. Very classy.

- Brock Lesnar's return to WWE is significant to say the least. I'm excited to see where the future takes the former WWE & UFC Champion. In mere minutes, Lesnar became a force to be dealt with in WWE. Interesting days certainly lie a head for the F5 machine.

- I covet my time in WWE's developmental program. Been here all week. Working with the enthusiastic, talented young athletes is so rewarding. Great things are on going on Dale Mabry in Tampa. Tonight is the FCW TV taping and I can't wait. Several FCW talents are either being introduced or on the cusp of such on a WWE roster. Expect to see several new personas in the coming weeks on RAW & Smackdown. Congrats to all who've earned an opportunity.

CM Punk Interview Highlights

WWE Champion CM Punk spoke with The Chicago Tribune to promote WrestleMania 28. Here are some highlights:




His relationship with Vince McMahon:



"(We) have a lot more one-on-one conversations. I wont say he takes the time to talk to me now, because he always did, but I think he views me differently now. He used to view me as maybe talking to a boy. Now he thinks he’s talking to a man after I stood up and did everything I did over the summer. I always thought I was a main event player. The difference is now he knows I’m a main event player."



Having no relationship with The Rock:



"I don’t think I have a realtionship with The Rock. Over the past few weeks, it’s been better. Probably because I’ve been outspoken (about him) in the media. Of course, everything gets sensationalized and twisted. I don’t hate The Rock or fault him for coming back. I just think heaping credit on The Rock for ratings, buyrates – that’s where I get offended. It’s a team effort 365 days a year. Me and the entire locker room bust our (butts) and all our super stoked. Give credit where credit is due. Wrestlemania had a huge buyrate last year, not because of one guy. The numbers out there prove he hasn’t done much else, like the Survivor Series buyrate."



Wrestling websites:



"I think you have to (read them). Anybody who dismisses it -- that's (crap). You have to have your fingers on the pulse of everything. You have to read it."



A possible movie career:



"(WWE) offered me a movie when I first told them I wasn’t re-signing. I immediately turned it down. They probably figured I would jump at a movie because I’m not a movie star. That’s not to say that if the right thing doesn’t come along, I won’t do it. That’s not my priority. … I think WWE films signed on three new movies. I’m sure one of them is probably slated to be a CM Punk vehicle. I haven’t heard anything yet. Nothing is set in stone. Take that for what it’s worth. I think I would love to do a movie if it’s the right project. I’m not going to be in 'The Marine 3' just because they offered it to me. If it’s something good, I’ll do it. I’d love to do it – as long as it doesn’t interfere with my wrestling schedule."

DVD Review - Stone Cold Steve Austin - The Bottom Line on the most Popular Superstar of all time

DVD Review: Stone Cold Steve Austin – The Bottom Line on The Most Popular Superstar of all Time.

By Phil Allely

‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin is one of the select few professional wrestlers who even non wrestling fans recognise (joining Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair and perhaps even Bret Hart in that elite group). Austin with his no nonsense attitude, swagger, bird flipping disregard for management and beer drinking ways cut a swathe through the WWE in the min 1990s and almost single-handedly took the company to new heights in terms of popularity and growth. If it wasn’t for a serious neck injury he could still be at the top of the pile today.

After making his name in the USWA and being unceremoniously fired by WCW, Austin joined the WWE and within a short space of time he found his feet, creating the ‘Stone Cold’ character and he never looked back.

This four disc set consists of an interview based career retrospective and eleven full matches from various promotions, plus an entire disc of promos/skits.

I have been fortunate enough to personally interview Steve and the man featured here is indeed the real thing, there are no persona’s here. It is nice to hear the man himself discuss the more controversial parts of his in-ring life, the injuries, the highs, the lows and just what wrestling means to him.

Match wise we have a nice mix of singles scraps against such luminaries as Shawn Michaels, Dude Love, Undertaker and more, there are also tag efforts alongside the likes of Ric Flair to relish as well.

When I interviewed Steve he had just finished working on the new commentaries to some of the matches here (with Jim Ross), these are fun to view and you can see why they were chosen. All in all this is a must have release for many reasons, fans old and new will lap it up.

Available now from www.silvervision.co.uk and all good retailers.

Arn Anderson Interview Highlights

Wrestling legend and current WWE producer Arn Anderson recently spoke with Mike Mooneyham of The Post & Courier. Here are some highlights:

Going into the WWE Hall of Fame with the Horsemen:

"I’m never going to be one of those guys who asked what took so long. I’m just floored by the fact that it’s happening. It’s a very elite group. I feel like I had — and am still having — a successful career. But the highlight of that career would have to be the three years I spent with that group of guys. It was a special time. I called it the golden years of the business. Both the WWF and NWA were thriving. Just to be pretty prominently figured into that group of guys is something you can tell your great grandkids about. There’s nothing like the first group. Obviously that’s special."

Thinking about what could have been:

"There’s two times when it bothers me. It bothers me when I see a match go south and I’m sitting there on headsets, and I know at that moment in time if I was in there, I could fix it. Or when it’s done really well. That’s the two times that I really miss it. And I think I might have come along too soon. What kind of value do you reckon Arn Anderson would have to this industry if I walked in the door right now with the knowledge I had at 30 years old and healthy? I know that sounds like a really conceited comment, but look at the experience level of the guys, through not any fault of their own. They’re coming in sometimes only a year right out of FCW (Florida Championship Wrestling) right into the lion’s den, and it’s tough."

Today's performers vs. stars of his era:

"By the time I got in the spot I had in ‘85, I had three really intensive years of 300-plus matches a year. How good would guys like John Cena, Randy Orton or Batista have been if they would have had 900 matches in their first three years? Can you fathom that? So we had a distinct advantage at the time. I would love to still be wrestling if my body would accommodate it in these times."

Nigel McGuinness Interview Link

Here is the link to my interview with former TNA star Nigel McGuinness...

http://www.famemagazine.co.uk/2012/03/22/wrestler-nigel-mcguinnes-exclusive-interview/

WWE Maxine St Patrick's Day Photoshoot

Steve Austin Interview Highlights

WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin was interviewed by The LAW this past week about his new movie Recoil. The LAW can be heard every Sunday night at 11pm EST with Dan Lovranski, Jason Agnew and John Pollock on TSN 1050 Toronto and online at liveaudiowrestling.com. Here are some highlights, courtesy of Chris Maffei:




Talent Having Problems with The Rock returning: "My thoughts on that are, you earn what you get in this business. Rock has earned the ability to come and go as he wants, because the business still needs him, it can still use him, and it can elevate the profile with having such a mainstream guy there. I don't know about the promos between John (Cena) and Rock. I think some of them have gotten kind of personal, you wonder how much of it's a work and how much of it's a shoot. At the end of the day, it's a worked business. Again, I think it's a good thing for Rock to be involved with this. He's earned his right to come and go and do whatever he wants."



Current talent being vocal to creative: "(CM) Punk was a guy, and is a guy who, man, that guy flew by the seat of his pants. He was pissed off, he vented, he cuts great promos. He worked himself out of a bad situation into a great situation. He knew when it was time to pick his spot, when he contract was gonna be up. That guy's been around the horn a few times, and he's been kicked around a little bit. He saw how the other guys were being treated, and he needed, and deserved, and earned the right to be treated in that same fashion. Guys, you gotta pick your spot, but you gotta be vocal. It is a very interesting machine these days. They need voices to question them. They need voices to inspire them, or fuel them, to rethink some of the things that they're doing and make it a better product."



Returning under the right circumstances: "There's nothing up in the air for me. If there's something that presents itself as a business opportunity, then I have an open ear to listen to it. It would have to be right for myself, my opponent, and obviously the company. I'm not lobbying for another match. There's always talk. People ask, 'am I capable of having another match?' Yeah. If I was in a bad situation, I would get back in the ring full time if I had to, but I don't have to. I'm happy doing what I'm doing."

The Rock interview highlights

The Rock recently spoke with Cleveland.com about facing John Cena at WrestleMania 28, returning to wrestle for WWE and more. From the embedded video below, here's some of what Rock had to say about Cena:




"Coming back into this world, I felt like I needed something real to sink my teeth into as a performer. [This is] very real. Whatever Cena has said in the past publicly, three or four years ago, I always remembered it. Then, that gave us a nice launching point. It's not personal. I don't personally hate John, I don't hate anybody but the tension is nice and real and I like it. I think it plays well into what we're doing at WrestleMania. People feel that. I don't have to be your friend, I don't want to be your friend. But when we go out there, let's entertain the people.



But that tension is very palpable and it's nice and real. I've come close a couple of times to slapping the lips off his face. It's OK. I like his lips where they're at for now. [Laughs.]"

TNADVD Review - Turning Point 2011/Final Resolution 2011

TNA DVD Review: Twin Pack – Turning Point 2011/Final Resolution 2011

The latest in the line of TNA twin pack presentations pairs up two of late 2011’s finest outings for the TNA roster, each pay-per-view offering a fair amount of quality matches, storyline developments and in-ring action.

First up is Turning Point 2011 which was main-evented by TNA World Heavyweight Champion Bobby Roode defending his championship against his former friend "The Phenomenal" AJ Styles. Elsewhere "The Charismatic Enigma" Jeff Hardy faced "The King Of The Mountain" Jeff Jarrett in an epic contest. Robbie E defended his TV title against Eric Young. Mexican America battled Ink Inc. in a six person brawl. X Division Champ Austin Aries took on Jesse Sorenson and Kid Kash. Rob Van Dam fought Christopher Daniels. Velvet Sky defended her TNA Knockouts belt against returning knock out Gail Kim. The undefeated Crimson tackled Matt Morgan in a big man scrap and Mr Anderson and Abyss teamed to face Immortal’s Bully Ray and Scott Steiner.

Final Resolution 2011 on the other hand saw Sting set up a steel cage match between Jeff Hardy and Jeff Jarrett. If Jeff Jarrett lost the match, either he or his wife, Karen Jarrett, would be fired. If Jarrett won, Hardy would be fired. There was also a 30 Minute Ironman Match between Bobby Roode & "The Phenomenal" AJ Styles for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. Other matches included Rob Van Dam versus Christopher Daniels. Mickie James faced Gail Kim in a TNA Knockouts Title cat fight. Austin Aries collided with Kid Kash for the X Division gold and James Storm battled Olympic medalist Kurt Angle in a war of wills.

Turning Point 2011 and Final Resolution were fine efforts from TNA, by putting them together in one DVD box set the company are certainly giving value for money.

Twin Pack: Turning Point 2011/Final Resolution 2011 is available now from all good retailers.

www.tnawrestling.com

Robert 'Kurrgan' Maillet Interview

http://www.famemagazine.co.uk/2012/03/11/robert-maillet-interview-i-went-from-the-wrestling-ring-to-knocking-out-iron-man/

WWE Bella Twin Pics

Kelly Kelly Pics

Brooke Hogan Pics

WWE Kaitlyn Pics

WWE Pay-Per View Review: Elimination Chamber 2012

WWE Pay-Per View Review: Elimination Chamber 2012


Elimination Chamber is one of the last events in the WWE calendar before the company’s biggest show of the year WrestleMania. It is also usually the show where some of Mania’s final pieces fall into place, feuds can end, ones can ignite and in some cases even new champions can be crowned.

2012’s Chamber PPV kicked off with the Raw cage match for the WWE Title, here as per the stipulation form last week’s TV show Chris Jericho would be the final man to enter the fray (thus being the freshest participant) .His opponents were Champion Cm Punk, Kofi Kingston, The Miz, R Ttruth and Dolph Ziggler. Kingston and Punk starting things off, the match began to heat up nicely as the in-ring numbers swelled. All the guys on hand worked hard here, picking up 2 counts and ramping up the tension where they could. Jericho made an impact in this one, eliminating Ziggler and Kingston before he took a nasty knock to the floor from Punk. Thus leaving Y2J unable to continue the bout.

The finish came as final two Miz and Punk traded near-falls, the champ nailing a good looking GTS to retain his belt.

Next up Beth Phoenix defended her Divas Title against Tamina Snuka. The daughter of WWE Hall of Famer Jimmy ‘Superfly’ Snuka tried her best here, but she was no match for the over-powering strength of the reigning champ. Phoenix won with a decent looking Glam Slam out of the corner.

Before the Smackdown Elimination Chamber match former World Champion Christian made his return in a reasonable stoyline spot alongside Teddy Long, John Laurinaitis and Alberto Del Rio.

The Chamber scrap for the World Heavyweight Title then saw a mixed bag of competitors enter the steel structure. They were World Champion Daniel Bryan, Intercontinental Champion Cody Rhodes, The Great Khali, Wade Barrett, The Big Show and shock entrant Santino Marella.

The match worked reasonably well considering Khali was involved, Marella fast became the fan favourite and although true talent like Rhodes and Bryan shone through it soon became apparent that comedy character Santino was the man many wanted to win this encounter.

This result seemed a possibility as the pins began to occur, with Bryan and Marella left as the last two men standing. It wasn’t to be however as Bryan locked in the La bell lock for the tap out win to keep his gold.

Post-match Sheamus attacked Bryan to set-up their future feud.

The United States Title encounter between Champion Jack Swagger and Justin Gabriel was an ok affair, both men gelling well and taking opportunities to showcase their talent when available. Swagger overcame this challenge relatively easily though, using the ankle lock on a weakened Gabriel to hang on to his strap.

The main event saw John Cena take Kane on in a match perfectly suited to the ‘Big Red Machine’ an Ambulance Match. This was a reasonable if not overly exciting way to round things off though. His one featured everything from outside the ring fighting and weapons shots to the now customary trip through the Spanish announcers table. Both men attempted their finishers and Cena eventually succeeded, this move was marred slightly as Kane’s landing was hidden from our view.

Cena was then able to pull his prone opponent into the back of the waiting ambulance to take the win.

Elimination Chamber was an OK event, we didn’t see any title changes and some of the roster seemed to be thrown into the matches to make up numbers. The chamber matches may be losing their fan appeal, or perhaps it was simply their place on the card that lacked that vital spark a cage match usually brings with it. The often mentioned lack of blood or overtly violent behaviour also diminishes a cage matches drawing power.

Roll on WrestleMania.

By Phil Allely

Kelly Kelly pics

WWE Maxine New Pics