WWE DVD Review - Top 25 Rivalries

WWE DVD Review: Top 25 Rivalries

This latest WWE DVD is an interesting one. Whilst many of the matches/stories featured are likely to be in a lot of wrestling fans collections, they have never been compiled like this.

The Top 25 Rivalries set is a really great effort at letting us see just how important feuds are in the world of wrestling. What is also nice is the way the WWE are embracing the products of other companies too. Which means that even though this is a WWE heavy effort, we do see some WCW, NWA, ECW and other promotions classic encounters featured too.

Of course what any fan of wrestling will know is that it is a good, well-planned rivalry that will make us tune in each week to see what is happening next. I for one have been a fan for almost 30 years so have seen my fair share of top quality feuds and witnessed their final pay-off match-ups too.

Here we get to see the top 25 rivalries from across all the promotions already mentioned. Now fans of the more modern day WWE will feel a bit put out as many of these scrap/storylines here are from eras gone by. But you know what give them a chance as this is a wonderful way to learn about the grapplers that wrestling industry we know today.

Many of the faces and matches here feature some of the industries legendary names. Now our host Renee Young and her references to the periodic table did confuse me, but that is only a minor thing for me and does in no way take anything away from the show here.

So what can you expect here? Well you will get to see Sabu and Taz battle it out in ECW, Mr McMahon and Stone Cold have the feud that took the WWE to a whole new level, Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat have matches that we all wish we could have seen live in the NWA/WCW, Edge take on John Cena in some thrilling encounters, Hulk Hogan at his WWE prime, Undertaker and Mankind's most brutal outings and much more.

What I personally enjoyed here were the references to the 1980s legends who paved the way for the rise of the WWE's 'Attitude Era' and WCW's now period. This is where we get to see the Fabulous Freebirds, Von Erich's, Bruiser Brody and many more old school stars highlighted.

The talking heads with each rivaly are well sourced and give us a nice insight into the affair at hand. Be it former announcer Mean Gene, Billy Gunn, Shane Douglas or Road Dogg, they all have a fair point and story to tell.

It is a shame that due to Hogan and others being in TNA we do not get any up to date interviews with them. But its no real big deal they are not here.

Now a few feuds featured I have not mentioned yet are the ones that will enthral many viewers the most. These are the infamous Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart one, which of course led to the Montreal Screwjob for the WWE title. There are also nice looks at Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage feud. Plus of course the way that the WWE (then WWE) built WrestleMania into the monster it is today.

The first disc here features the 25 rivalies countdown. The others house the matches and other extras. All of which are well worth a view.

WWE The Top 25 Rivalries is available from all good retailers on June 24^th 2013.

DVD RRP £24.99/Blu-Ray RRP £34.99

www.wwedvd.co.uk

www.wwe.com

By Phil Allely

Nigel McGuinness: Last of McGuinness Documentary Showing June 2013, Belfast

A few pics of myself meeting Nigel McGuinness at the Belfast showing of The Last of McGuinness documentary showing/Q&A Belfast June 3rd 2013.

Nigel McGuinness - The Last of McGuinness : UK/Irish Tour News

Former Wrestler Nigel McGuinness brings his acclaimed documentary to a town near you
 
Eros Comedy presents ‘The Last Of McGuinness’, a film by Nigel McGuinness UK/Ireland Tour

Nigel McGuinness was on the brink of wrestling superstardom… And then he wasn’t.

The Last Of McGuinness is a powerful, poignant documentary chronicling the farewell tour of Nigel McGuinness, considered by many to be one of the greatest British pro wrestling exports of all time. Directed and edited by Nigel himself, it doesn’t pull any punches depicting the wealth of conflicting emotions of a man trying to come to terms with the end of his career. From the US to the UK and back again, it also provides a unique and honest insight into the life of an independent wrestler. An incredibly moving film, regardless of whether you’re a wrestling fan.

“Unflinching in depicting Nigel’s pain, frustration and, quite often, bitterness. Give “The Last of McGuinness” a try. Nigel's heart, hopes, sadness, frustration and ultimately his redemption are all over this film.” Mick Foley, WWE Hall Of Famer
 
“You're a depressing sod, aren't you?” CM Punk, WWE Superstar
 
Tickets on sale now. Price includes an exclusive live Q&A with the Ring Of Honor and TNA star, as well as a meet & greet with autograph and photo opportunity. 
 
Sunday 26th May – The Comedy Store, Manchester
Monday 27th May – The Classic Grand, Glasgow
Tuesday 28th May – The Stand, Newcastle Upon Tyne
Wednesday 29th May – The Glee Club, Birmingham
Thursday 30th May – The Garage, London
Monday 3rd June – The Empire, Belfast
www.eroscomedy.com
www.famemagazine.co.uk/2012/03/wrestler-nigel-mcguinnes-exclusive-interview/
Fame will be at the Belfast showing, why not say to us and look out for our exclusive follow up interview with NIgel himself.
 
By Phil Allely
 
 
 

Velvet Sky Pics

Jerry Lynn Interview Highlights

Speaking to The Shining Wizards Wrestling Podcast, Jerry Lynn looked back at his career before his final Ring of Honor match at Final Battle. Highlights from the interview are as follows:

On his run with WCW and the creation of Mr. J.L.: "Brad Rheingans had ties with them, and he had asked me to come to his camp and help train the session he had at the time, and I asked him "It's been seven years, what do I have to do to get a break?" And Brad said, "Well, it's all changed, it's TV now, you have to come up with something visual." So I had an idea in my mind before he mentioned that, 'cause I'd been going to Japan quite a bit for Universal Pro and Michinoku, and saw a lot of cool masks, and no one was doing that in the states. 

"And at the time the Power Rangers were pretty popular on TV so I thought I'd come up with something similar to that but not exactly like it. And they (WCW) said that was exactly what they were looking for. So when I showed them the outfit, they brought me in, but they gave me such a lame name. But I was probably the last thing they had on their minds, because they had a lot of heavy hitters, with the NWO and stuff. I would tell people, no, that's Jushin Liger.

His time in ECW: "It was ironic that I even went to ECW because when I was living in Atlanta wrestling for WCW I'd get together at my buddy's place and watch ECW, and I always swore up and down that was one company that I would never work for. I was watching Balls and Sandman trading chair shots, then they'd hit each other with anything the fans handed over the rail; frying pans, Super Nintendos, and microwave ovens. It was crazy. But I ended up there anyway... 

"I had a tryout match in WWF with Taka Michinoku, and when that aired, Paul E. knew I wasn't with WCW anymore, and he had Chris Candido hunt me down. He asked me if I wanted to do a couple shots. So I was like OK, this is what I want, and one more thing: I don't want some idiot hitting me in the head with a frying pan. It worked out alright at first, but then I wound up getting clocked in the head with that kendo stick, a few chairs here and there, and I don't know how many tables I went through, and how many Van Daminators I took."

On working with Justin Credible and taking the next step: "At first, I would come up with ideas involving here and there, tables and who knows what else, and I always asked permission first, and I'd get shot down. And finally, Justin and I had a 2-out-of-3 falls match at the Arena, and I told Justin before the show that we're not going to ask permission to do anything out there. We're just going to go out there and do what we do. And after that, everything changed. I was just tired of being held back. I had more freedom."

Working with Rob Van Dam: "The first time I wrestled Rob, I came back through the curtain, my nose was bleeding, my lip was bleeding, I had blood coming out of my shoulder, my head was stuck turned to the side, and Al Snow sees me and said "you look like you've been through a war," and I looked at him and said "it's not supposed to be like this!" It's funny, Rob and I played rough, and it seems like every match either he or I or both of us got popped open. And the more they (the fans) were digging it, and the louder and rowdier they are, the harder we worked." 

The creation of the "New F'N Show" moniker: "This is the coolest thing. I never could never think up a weird, wacky gimmick for myself, you know, some show biz name or anything like that. And in Asbury Park at Living Dangerously, I think it was Rob and I in his first PPV match, after a series of moves, one whole section of the crown started chanting 'New F'N Show.' And the name just stuck. It was kinda cool that the fans gave me that name."

On the current state of pro wrestling: "When you have the bookers and storywriters hired from Hollywood, and they know absolutely nothing about wrestling, it becomes, you know, what do you do? When I do seminars, I tell guys watch older wrestling from the 80s. It was working, they must've done something right. Like in the earlier days of TNA, I liked the way they were furthering storylines. When I was in the feud with AJ Styles, we would do stuff like one of us would jump the other in catering, and we're fighting over tables and stuff instead of going to the ring and having a Def Comedy Jam with microphones. It's ridiculous. 

"There's so many times with guys out there sounding like two kids on a playground going 'my dad can beat up your dad.' If you're really pissed off and you're serious, and you're in a built up feud and there's heat, you're like alright, sh##'s on, let's go. That's why I miss the old NWA days where the Four Horsemen followed Dusty into the parking lot of the TV studio and jumped him. Stuff like that. Or when Eddie Gilbert and Tommy Rich in the USWA, Tommy Rich just bloodied him and Eddie came out and apologized, he had tears in his eyes, a heartfelt apology, and then he turned on him again. It was brilliant. Old school worked. Old school psychology will still work, you just fit the fancy new moves like a piece in the puzzle, where they make sense. Otherwise it's just a stunt exhibition. 

"There's a lot of guys that are in this to prove how tough they are. It's not about that. If you do this for any significant amount of time, you're gonna lose. The human body wasn't made for this whatsoever... Brad Rheingans, the guy who trained me, told me the secret to having a good match every time is if you and your opponent go out there and try to make each other look like a million bucks. But now it's so many guys that are like 'I wanna get this in.' It's all me-me-me. And when I'm gonna be in there with someone like that I'm just like 'oh, God, this is gonna be like pulling teeth' and 'am I gonna get out of this alive?' and all, and they forget the show isn't about one person, it's a team effort."

If there was anyone he didn't look forward to working with: "I'll have to admit, Rob and I were practically married it seemed for a couple of years there, and there were some nights I just wanted an easy night. And when I saw my name with Rob I was like 'oh, boy.' 'Cause he wasn't going to let up, I wasn't going to let up, we were wrestling each other three nights in a row on a weekend, it was crazy, and all those house show matches were PPV matches, I think."

If the future includes opening a wrestling school: "That's a tough gig. You gotta have a building, you gotta have a ring, you gotta have insurance in case someone gets hurt. Most people who wanna get into wrestling don't have money. I wouldn't want to put someone on a payment plan 'cause who's to say they won't quit after a few weeks and then run around and say Jerry Lynn trained me, and they're the drizzling sh##s. So I'd collect all the money up front, but no one has money. So that's a tough gig."

For more with Jerry Lynn, including his time in Global (GWF), his chemistry with Justin Credible, working up the ladder in wrestling, the family atmosphere and the fans in ECW, his time in the WWF, watching roller derby and wrestling growing up, the faceplant against Rob Van Dam, injuries over the years, the beginnings of the X-Division, his favorite metal bands, his upcoming, and last, match for Extreme Reunion with Homicide, and the possibility of coming out of retirement for Rob Van Dam's last match, go to ShiningWizards.com and listen to Episode 66.

Jim Cornette Interview Highlights

Ring Of Honor Executive Producer Jim Cornette was one of the featured guests on this week’s live edition of the award-winning Monday Night Mayhem.




You can listen to an MP3 of the audio show by clicking here.



Cornette Discusses Ring Of Honor’s First Set Of TV Tapings For The Sinclair Broadcast Group, Why He Believes The Way Sinclair Is Rolling ROH Out On Its Stations Will Work And Be Effective, Why People Will Be Surprised At What They See From The ROH Product Beginning On September 24th, The Level Of Excitement For Ring Of Honor’s Debut On SBG This Fall, His Reaction To Those Fans That Are Upset That Davey Richards Will Not Be Defending The Ring Of Honor World Title At “Death Before Dishonor IX” In New York City, His Response To Eric Bischoff’s Recent Comments Against ROH, Whether Or Not He Has Interest In Matt Hardy Coming To Ring Of Honor, How Important The Return Of Nigel McGuinness Is To ROH As The Promotion’s New Color-Commentator, The Impact That Delirious Has Made In Front Of The Camera & Behind The Scenes In Ring Of Honor, Plus Much More In His Exclusive Monday Night Mayhem Interview!



Here are some highlights of what Jim Cornette said about:



His thoughts about Ring of Honor’s first TV tapings for the Sinclair Broadcast Group, the level of excitement for ROH’s debut on SBG this fall, & why people will be surprised at what they see from the Ring of Honor product beginning on September 24th:



“It only seems like a couple of days ago, because I’ve slept about twice since then. This wrestling show, and I should emphasize this wrestling show, I’m so excited about it. It’s going to be so different and look so different from anything else on the air. We had a lot of guys in their 20′s & 30′s who work there (at Sinclair) walk past the edit suites as we were editing, and they would stop & look. To paraphrase, they said ‘Wow, this is the kind of wrestling we would like if it wasn’t so silly.’ That’s why people are going to be so pleasantly surprised with this product. It’s a great television program, and it’s different from the other programs, because they are sports-entertainment programs. We’re going to treat wrestling as a serious competition. We have great athletes, and we are going to showcase that. We are going to tell their stories, and we are not going to make any up for them.”



His reaction to those fans that are upset that Davey Richards will not be defending the ROH World Title at Ring of Honor’s next iPPV, “Death Before Dishonor IX,” on September 17th in New York City:



“There are a number of matches that are going to knock the socks off of people, and truthfully I don’t want to give out any scoops, but I know we did talk about the Eddie Edwards & Roderick Strong ‘Ringmaster’s Challenge’ Match, which is going to be fantastic & off the charts. And a lot people went ‘Oh Davey (Richards) is going to Japan…oh my god.’ The reason quite simply is we encouraged Davey to go to Japan, because he has something great lined up over there. With the television taping having a title match, we couldn’t have a title match on September 17th anyway, so we gave Davey the opportunity to go to Japan. The match between Eddie & Roddy (Strong) will determine his challenger when he comes back.”



Whether or not he and/or the ROH office/locker room would have interest in Matt Hardy coming to Ring of Honor, now that Matt has been released by TNA:



“I’ve known Matt & Jeff since they started in the business, when Matt was 18 and Jeff was 16. They used to come to the WWE TV tapings in the Carolinas. I like those guys, and they have been tremendous stars, but A.) I don’t know if their salary expectations fit in with Ring of Honor’s budgetary limitations and B.) I haven’t talked to these guys, and I don’t know what their side of the story is, but there always seems to be controversy swirling around The Hardys right now. I believe Ring of Honor would once again take the standpoint that we are going to try & find the young undeveloped talent and expose them to the world, rather than to look to be the place where people come to have a warm place to curl up when they leave the big leagues.”