Wrestling Evolution

Today we celebrate the birthday of WWE Hall of Famer Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat who turns 60 years old today. Ricky began his career in the AWA where he was given the name Sam Steamboat Jr because of his resemblance to the old wrestler Sam Steamboat then it was changed to Ricky instead of Sam. In 1977, Steamboat began feuding with his greatest rival "Nature Boy" Ric Flair this happened almost as soon as Ricky joined JCP. Then in 1985 when he debuted in the WWF after 8 years in the NWA, it was then when Ricky got his nickname "The Dragon." Ricky during his career would win: the United States title 4 times, WCW tag titles 8 times, Mid-Atlantic Tag titles 4 times, WCW TV Title 4 times, NWA US title 1 time, WWE Intercontinental title once, NWA World title once, & Mid-Atlantic World title 2 times. That amounts to 13 singles titles & 12 tag team titles over the great career of the Dragon. Ricky also has another dubious honor that not many if anyone can...

Even though it seems like RAW has gotten better then it was, well really it hasn't if you subtract the big names like Brock, Rock, & Hunter then it's just regular RAW. But they are here because like most know it's Wrestlemania season now so WWE always has better show during Wrestlemania season. Also if this past Monday is any indication they have a lot better matches as well which shouldn't just be during Wrestlemania season. See what WWE doesn't realize is they can make it better by actually believing that the fans actually know what they want. I don't mean the fans who have been begging for Cena to turn heel for years or for the Attitude Era to come back because those people need to keep quite as neither of those thing will ever happen. I would go into both those things but I have before and don't feel like doing it now. The fact that all WWE needs to do is have a really good match on the show and then still two days later people are talking about it...

To start taking advantage of Wrestlemania Season I will be doing Wrestlemania recall every week recalling a different Wrestlemania from the past as we move toward Wrestlemania 29. Also the countdown to Wrestlemania 29 is 6 weeks as we found out last night on Raw. But to the point of the post let's go back to last years Wrestlemania. Wrestlemania 28 was held in Miami, FL it was fitting because it was the first The Rock would be competing in a WWE ring in 10 years. The match was titled Once in a Lifetime: John Cena vs The Rock. But that's another story all in itself below are the highlights of that great event and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g8kxYuN77g  Wrestlemania 28 Highlights http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PyoLdNJgv0  Chris Jericho vs CM Punk April 7th 2013

August 2 nd Monday Nitro: 3 Hours JJ Dillon makes his way to the ring and tells the people as you may have heard over the weekend things have changed here at World Championship Wrestling. New Management has taken the reigns from Eric Bischoff and change has arrived in World Championship Wrestling. This new Management has decided as of this week WCW is re-launching starting today there will be a new WCW. All the championships are vacant & the Road Wild ppv has been canceled, instead on August 29 th there will be a new PPV called Future Stampede. Each of the titles will be on the line a Fatal Four Ways but the World Title is a special match because all the competitors can’t be former champions only one of them can be the rest can never have won the World Title. Ask for the United States and the Television those matches will announced as the ppv draws nearer. Kid Romeo over Lenny Lane, Harris Brothers over Ernest Miller & Buzz Stern (Ron pins Stern), Kidman over Curly...

11 years ago the independent wrestling circuit changed as many independent wrestling companies began to pop up all over the US. One of which was Ring of Honor which was started by two former ECW employees, Rob Feinstein & Gabe Sapolsky. That company had it's first show today from the Murphy Rec Center in Philadelphia. The show was called the Era of Honor begins and now 11 years later some of the matches on this card are still talked about as being some of the best in the history of the company. The Card featured: Amazing Red, Homicide, Los Maximos, a young Jay Briscoe, Xaiver, Prince Nana, Michael Shane (Matt Bentley), Spanky, Low-Ki, Christopher Daniels, Bryan Danielson, Eddie Guerrero, Super Crazy. First of all yes, Eddie was at the first Ring of Honor event and would wrestler again at the one in April before returning to the WWE. Looking at the card and some of the names that were on it like the ones I wrote above you can see how many of them had a big part in making ROH w...

I haven't done one of these in a very long time so figured why not bring it back right now when things are kind of slow news wise. Today I will be taking a look back at....... Tommy Dreamer Good on the mic Decent in the ring Throughout Tommy's career he developed a good sense of how to work the crowd while he was in the ring. He didn't during his time in ECW & during his stint with WWE. Tommy was also never a bad guy because people saw the heart & passion he had for this business and loved him for it. Tommy was also a special wrestler because he was one of the few who didn't need to be a champion to be incredibly over with the fans because he was that loved. Now he was't the best wrestler in the world no doubt but he give it everything he had every night and for that I have no doubt in my mind one day Tommy will get the call that he will be getting inducted into the Hall of Fame because he deserves it. Nobody was more unique with ways to try and hurt ...

To be specific I am not rebooking two years I am just rebooking from August 1999 to the end of March 2000. This will be different then any other How I would book it that I have done before because instead of just keeping the roster and everything I am changing a lot with this company. Below are somethings that I am changing and people that I will be letting go. But first the background: In 1997-1998 WCW had the two best years by far any wrestling company has ever had they could do nothing wrong but they did. All the things they did wrong seemed to start catching up with them in 1999 and people began to noticed the ship beginning to sink. A month before Bischoff got fired in real life I am going to step in and stop the ship from even going down. At the end of this series I would like feedback to see if you guys think this could have helped WCW. So now join as we journey back to a time when Wrestling was cool and relevant, people were excited to see it and never missed it. Join ...

This day 13 years ago many thought would just be the day that WCW would have another one of their ppv's but little did they know this day would be the ending of and era in away. The ppv I am referring to is Superbrawl 2000 which was headlined by Sid Vicious vs Jeff Jarrett vs Scott Hall for the World Title. Some other matches on the show were: Billy Kidman vs Vampiro, Hulk Hogan vs Lex Luger, 3 Count vs Norman Smiley, "Texas Death Match" Ric Flair vs Terry Funk, Big Vito & Johnny Stamboli vs David Flair & Crowbar & others. The Main event was Sid vs Scott Hall vs Jeff Jarrett for Sid's World Title; many thought this would be Scott's last show in WCW. But it wasn't his last show because he got injured at the event and went into surgery but it was his last WCW match. For that reason I said this ppv would the end of an era because it was the last WCW ppv for Scott Hall. Scott with Kevin Nash helped revolutionize the business in 1996 when they formed ...

This blog post is about a match that has taken place during the history of wrestling that either people still sit there and say I don't believe this happened or I still remember this match and where you were when i saw it the first time. With the 11th Anniversary of ROH right around the corner I thought it would be very fitting to take a trip back in time to the first Ring of Honor show. ROH has been doing some flashback matches over the last few weeks so my timing makes it that much better. The match below was the Main Event of the first ever ROH show back in February 2002 called: Era of Honor Begins. Chris Daniels vs Bryan Danielson vs Low-Ki -Enjoy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3JlAGkBd1M  Low Ki vs Christopher Daniels vs Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan)

This day in the history of this great sport we look back in time two a three year span where two great superstars left this business far to young and far to soon. Instead of me going over there career highlights I will be showing them to you in the best way possible and that is them in the ring. I am speaking of two greats in this sport: "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert & "Texas Tornado" Kerry Von Erich these two both passed away on this day in 1995 & 1993 respectively. Kerry left us first after taking his own life on his families ranch in Denton, TX. Then 2 years to the date the wrestling was saddened again losing a great in Eddie Gilbert to Heart Disease. Both these men where really atheletically gifted and knew how to make the fans love them or hate them. Both of these men are incredibly missed by the fans who saw them wrestle and those who knew who they were. RIP Eddie Gilbert & Kerry Von Erich!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OW2CWhaM50  Eddie Gilbe...

Elimination Chamber       Pre-Show Team Rhodes Scholars vs Tensai & Brodus Clay Because of the fact that this is a pre show match this match will be nothing special but it is good to see WWE still believes some what in the tag team division. With the fact that Rhodes & Sandow aren't teaming anymore I am going with Clay & Tensai to win this one (c) Kaitlyn vs Tamina  this will be the usual divas match nothing special, I think it will be on the card just to fill sometime between two matches. I think Kaitlyn retains the title as she just won the gold Smackdown Elimination Chamber: Chris Jericho, Kane, Daniel Bryan, Mark Henry, Jack Swagger, & Randy Orton this should be one of the better matches on the show because of the fact the Chamber matches usually are good matches. Dirt sheet knowledge tells me that Orton will win but I don't think so because other things that would point to that haven't happened. So, I am going with Dan...

As of this writing the WWE is planning to have Brock Lesnar vs The Rock Main Event Summerslam this year. Because, Summerslam is going to be in Los Angeles and a match like would probably give them a lot of mainstream appeal. Which is true and they also hope a match like this would call for some Hollywood stars to be at AXXESS. If they do this match I think it could help them put Summerslam back on the map as an important ppv. The rumor that surfaced a few days on the Internet was that John Cena did indeed have an affair while married with Kendra Lust. For those who don't know Kendra is an adult film star & as of right now says the rumors that she and Cena had any sort of relationship are untrue. Even though it Cena's Ex-Wife who started the "rumor." I guess it's one of thos were you have to chose who you believe. As of right now nothing is definite for the Undertaker competing at this years Wrestlemania as many don't know if he is healthy enough or i...

First the good news of the week is I just heard Scott Hall will be joining DDP & Jake Roberts in DDP's Sober house where Jake has been staying and remained sober for months now. I do firmly believe that with the fact that Page has changed one life long substance abuser in Jake and put him on the right path. I think he'll be able to do the same with Scott or at least I hope. Because, Scott needs to change his ways I mean he can only abuse his body for so long before time runs out. Scott will be going to the house next week to start DDP yoga and hopefully get better habits while there like we saw with Jake. I am saying this from the bottom of my heart, Scott is one of the wrestlers I grew up watching and have wanted him to get clean for years. Because it is like what Eric Bischoff said "When sober Scott is one of the best workers in the business." I honestly do believe that Scott was one of the best workers in the business but never got to get to his full potentia...

The report just broke that El Generico showed up at the Armory for the NXT show tonight and he was wearing his trademark mask. He was in the corner of Brodus Clay against Connor O Brian on the show tonight. This is a big deal because this was Generico's debut for the WWE, I must clarify this it was just his debut not his in ring debut. This at least means for now he is keeping the gimmick he has made famous. Right now it is unknown what his name will be in the WWE all I add is stay tuned for more. Also who could be next to join the WWE off the Independent Circuit? Only one way to find out have to wait and see. http://www.wzronline.com/wrestling-news/breaking-news-el-generico-at-nxt-event-with-mask.html  (where I got the news)

With the President doing his state of the union address tonight I figured only fitting for me to do the State of TNA Address tonight. So I guess the way to start is what's been going right then well get to what's going wrong. What TNA is doing right: When was the last time they signed a WWE talent. That means they are using new fresh faces instead of the people fans remember from the WWE. They are putting more competitive matches on TV in which boosts fan interest They are having story's that make sense and are easy to follow instead of to many going on at once. The show is centered around the wrestlers instead of the old timers trying to recapture there primes. They are taking a unique approach to PPV's by trying to make it quality over quantity. Giving champions longer reigns to bring importance back to their titles Compelling Story lines like the Ace's and Eight's Leaving the Impact Zone What TNA is doing wrong: Traveling to arenas they can...

Over the History of Wrestling there have been many great Families that have dazzled fans over generations with similarities to how the first generation operated. In this Blog series we will take a look at some of the greatest Wrestling families in the history of this great business. For this next family I want to set the stage, this is before the days of the big promotions when the business was separated into different territories. What makes this family a great wrestling family is the roots they have in the business and this families roots start in 1963 when Larry "The Axe" Hennig entered the AWA under the tutelage of Verne Gage. Larry spent most of his career in a team with WWE Hall of Famer Harley Race they became multiple time AWA tag team champions. Also we can't forget the famous knee injury that Larry sustained which took him out of action. By the time Larry returned Harley was gone from the AWA as he left to join the NWA. In the early 1970's Larry...

On this date 29 years ago, the Wrestling World was turned upside down when the news of a wrestlers death came back from the the orient. No it wasn't a Japanese wrestler it was an American, a Texan, the Yellow Rose of Texas........ David Von Erich. I can't believe it's almost been 30 years since the Wrestling world changed forever. Especially, Texas wrestling changed forever because it lost a very bright, talented young star in David. He fought Ric Flair in the last match of his career but it wasn't suppose to end that way he was suppose to become World Champion. After the match with Flair, David set up to go on tour in Japan but he died while on tour. Word has it that when David came back he was going to beat Flair for the NWA World title. But in his honor his brother Kerry won the title he kept it for 2 weeks then lost it back to Flair. The story goes after they lost David, Fritz changed how he acted I mean that's what happened when you lose a son. I find it har...

In this blog series we have taken a look at that have happened during the history of this great business, right now is a change of pace. The first four edition of this series were either great WWE or WCW moments but I pride myself on being a well rounded and well educated wrestling fan therefore this time will be different. What better way to change then with the company that changed the business forever...... ECW. The specific moment I am referring to is from August 27th 1994, or the night ECW was born. This night was the birth of ECW but it wasn't suppose to be it was just suppose to be a tournament to determine the next NWA World Champion. But the week prior to the show NWA President Dennis Coralluzzo was on the radio and buried Douglas, which is why Shane agreed to the angle that was originally something he didn't want to do. Now with out further adieu the night that began a Revolution:  http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xacmbi_birth-of-ecw-shane-doug...

Over the history of this business there have been many outlandish characters thus far I have looked back at The Shockmaster & Max Moon. Today we once again go back in the wrestling time machine to the WWF in the mid 90's, to be specific I think it was 1995 when WWF debuted Saba Simba more widely known as Mr USA Tony Atlas. Here is the man named Saba Simba in action below. Do you remember him? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lwk844HHCkU   Saba Simba vs Barbarian http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=301DL-TQjXo   Saba Simba vs Bam Bam Bigelow

As many of you may no or may not no the current TNA World Champion Jeff Hardy's contract is coming to an end at the end of February. Jeff resigned with TNA in January 2010 after WWE let him go because of his problems with the law after his arrested in September 2009. He made his return to TNA on the first ever Monday episode of Impact on Janurary 4th 2010. For most of 2010 Jeff suffered through personal issues out of the ring and was told to take a vacation after working Victory Road 2011 in no condition to compete. Jeff left TNA then came back in early 2012 after a few months away from TNA. Hardy won the TNA World title from Austin Aries at Bound for Glory last October and I do have to admit that Jeff is showing he still has it in him even after all the crazy stuff he has done in his career. Very glad that Jeff beat his addiction and was able to come back and I think TNA was smart to put the title on Jeff especaily if he is the top merchandise seller for them. Also it doesn...

Sorry if this is a local but I just can't believe they are promoting it on this show Wrestlemania 28 was promoted and hyped on Mike Francesa's radio show on WFAN. Mike talks about the prices for tickets for Wrestlemania and the projected attendance for Mania this year in Jersey. Then, Mike reminisces with Mancuso i do apologize I can't remember his first name. But they talk about wrestlers when they were young like Haystacks Calhoun, Bruno Sammartino, Gorilla Monsoon, Bobbo Brazil, and Killer Kowalski. You never were this business or who this business has reached until you have a conversation about it. I mean I said that all of the time when I was in school and the topic of wrestling some how came up I was like really they watched wrestling. But, yah wether during the territory day of the 50's, 60's, or 70's; during the Monday Night Wars or even in some way now. You never know who was a fan or secretly is a fan of this business until the word wrestling comes u...

Over the weekend WWE had a tryout for people who they could sign to developmental deals and a lot of members of ROH & other Indy companies where in attendance. Right well go through everyone who was there and what it would mean if they got signed. First a little note that WWE isn't going to sign the Briscoe's cause they aren't cosmetically appealing well then OK that's good news for us. By the way WWE you all need to "Man Up" because the Briscoes would elevate the tag division and they may not look to good but they are damn good wrestlers and brawlers. Whoops, I forgot they don't want that at the WWE they want sports entertainers because they are above the wrestling business. Below are some names that attended the Tryout: Ricky Reyes Adam Cole Mike Bennett Samuary Del Sol Smith James Luke Hawks If they were to sign with WWE (I will not talk about Adam Cole because I spoke about him a few days ago so he is out as is Smith James because I don...

First of all news broke over the weekend that the ECW Arena will once again be hosting Wrestling once the arena opens back up later on this year after the renovations that are being done to the inside. But the renovations never were suppose to happen last year but now over a year later the arena still remains closed. Which means companies won't be able to start running there again until the end of this year early next year. I still remember watching the Farwell to the Arena on January 14th 2012 presented by Evolve. The emotion in that arena on that night I mean this may sound corny but you could feel even watching it on the computer. I was watching it and still couldn't believe the Arena was closing, I was sad not just because of the history but for all the Indy's companies who ran shows there lost a venue. But now thanks to the fact thanks to a change in ownership it was made offical at the end of National Pro Wrestling when Roger Artigiani announced that Wrestling would ...

For those who may not be aware or may not know who the title is refering to, I am talking about the Longest Reigning WWE Champion of All time, one of if not the Greatest WWE star of all time the "Living Legend" Bruno Sammartino. After years of saying No to being inducted he has finally agreed to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year. Many places that are reporting this are saying Triple H had a big part in this convincing Bruno that WWE has changed and it has. Also I have heard that Bruno & Vince will be sitting down face to face at the Hall of Fame. This induction has been a long time coming and I will tell you all why: first anyone that doesn't know what Bruno Sammartino has done and why he is such an important superstar in the history of WWE please follow this link. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_Sammartino Now why was this a long time coming because many people say that they made the Hall of Fame in 1993 to celebrate what Andre The Giant had done...

Sometime last week or so I posted about the fact that WWE is seemingly raiding independent companies for talent instead of finding new stars a developing them. They take the ones companies like DGUSA, ROH, Evolve, CZW, FIP, etc have spent time developing. Guys like Dean Ambrose, Chris Hero, Daniel Bryan, Luke Harper (Brodie Lee), CM Punk, Antonio Cesaro, Seth Rollins, & now add El Generico to that. But now I bring both good a bad news the good news is that the Briscoes will not be taking the tryout with WWE. But ROH TV champion & one of CZW's top up and comers named Adam Cole is going to take the tryout with WWE. That means there is a possibility that Adam could be leaving the Indy's for the WWE like so many have done before him. Adam is the future of the Indy circuit or specially ROH and CZW, I mean at 23 he is already World Champion in two companies (PWG & PWX) & is also the current ROH TV champion. Even though it may seem like a good thing for Adam to leave...

Today, we celebrate real wrestling when over two dozen independent promotions will present 23 matches over the course of two shows  free of charge, live in Philadelphia at the National Guard Armory. This is one of the many reason why Indy wrestling is so good because they do things like this. As away to give back to the fans you this is great. Wonder why the TNA & WWE never do this, oh wait they don't care about the Hardcore fans. The first show happens today at 1 pm & the second show is tonight at 7 pm both at the National Guard Armory. Like I said above 23 matches from over two dozen different companies below is a list of some of the matches for tonight:  From the 1 pm Show:  The Briscoe Brothers vs Steve Corino & Jimmy Jacobs- ROH  Mike Quackenbush vs Colt Cabana-Wrestling is Art Tommy Dreamer vs ????- House of Hardcore  Josh Alexander vs Ethan Page- AIW (Absolute Intense Wrestling)  Sugar Dunkerton & A...