Road to the Royal Rumble is Heating Up

This Sunday’s Royal Rumble card appears to be finalized with eight matches that will be rounded out by the 30-Man Rumble match. The Kick-Off show will begin at 5:00 pm EST with the official pay-per-view beginning at 7:00 pm EST.

What I’m digging about this year’s Rumble is that I have absolutely no idea who is going to win. Normally, it’s easy to figure out the winner well in advanced based on story-line direction or if a particular wrestler is getting a main event push.

AJ Styles and John Cena will duke it out for the WWE Championship while Kevin Owens and Roman Reigns will battle in a No DQ match for the Universal Championship, which leaves four main event players out of the Rumble. Continue reading “Road to the Royal Rumble is Heating Up” →

Kurt Angle to Headline WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2017

In what some would call a surprising development, it was announced last Monday that Kurt Angle will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on 3/31 over WrestleMania 33 weekend. Angle will headline the 2017 class with rumored names such as Diamond Dallas Page and Ravishing Rick Rude.

Angle made his WWE debut at Survivor Series 1999 and went on to be the first and only person to win every championship inside of one year. Angle is one of the best wrestlers of all-time and may be the best worker that WWE has ever produced as he was trained in their developmental system. Continue reading “Kurt Angle to Headline WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2017” →

The Undertaker enters the 2017 Royal Rumble

The Undertaker returned to Raw on Monday and announced that he would be entering the 2017 Royal Rumble. The announcement was made during the top of the show’s second hour where Stephanie McMahon threatened GM Mick Foley with the possible loss of his job if ‘The Deadman’ didn’t appear.

Raw emanated from New Orleans where the Phenom’s WrestleMania streak was broken. Undertaker mentioned this to a course of boos and followed up with that he’s dug 29 holes for 29 souls. Undertaker closed the segment by vowing to win the Rumble and return to the main event of WrestleMania.

This was an interesting appearance on a few fronts. Taker stated that he goes where he wants, wherever he wants, and that no one controls him, which heavily suggests that he’s not going to be tied to one specific brand. Continue reading “The Undertaker enters the 2017 Royal Rumble” →

WWE to Crown Inaugural United Kingdom Champion

WWE announced a few weeks ago that it will soon crown their first United Kingdom Champion. Triple H made the announcement at a press conference in London and confirmed that a two-day tournament will be held to decide the inaugural champion.

The tournament will air live on the WWE Network and be held at the Empress Ballroom in Blackpool, England on January 14^th and 15^th. It was also announced that Nigel McGuiness, who recently left Ring of Honor, will join the broadcast team for the event.

WWE has been aggressively signing British talent and Triple H stated that WWE’s UK expansion is the next step in developing talent. The UK’s wrestling scene has exploded in the last few years while featuring some of the best wrestlers in the world. Continue reading “WWE to Crown Inaugural United Kingdom Champion” →

WWE Slam Crate 2016 Unboxing (Dream Big)

Happy New Year! 2017 is here at last, and the first post of the year is an unboxing video of WWE’s second Slam Crate, powered by Loot Crate. Unlike the last video, I remembered to show the poster, which pretty sweet.

DREAM BIG is the theme of this month’s box, which celebrates the WWE superstars that inspire us to, well, DREAM BIG. This second installment stands head and shoulders above October’s inaugural offering.

Items from wrestling’s past do not apply here as WWE’s contemporary product takes center stage with these mystery boxes. Don’t take my word for it. Check out the video and you be the judge.

Brock Lesnar: Fined, Suspended, and it Stinks

Former UFC heavyweight champion and current WWE superstar Brock Lesnar received a one-year suspension earlier today by the Nevada Athletic Commission due to two failed drug tests for his fight with Mark Hunt at UFC 200 this past July.

Lesnar also agreed to pay a fine of $250,000 in a settlement, which equals to 10% of his disclosed $2.5 million purse for the fight. His unanimous decision victory over Hunt has been officially overturned into a no contest. Continue reading “Brock Lesnar: Fined, Suspended, and it Stinks” →

A Near Death Experience with Ken Shamrock

atleekenshamrock — Ken Shamrock at UFC 45 – 2003

Ken Shamrock almost ran me over once… There is no punch line here. “The World’s Most Dangerous Man” came within an eyelash of running me down with his basil colored rental car, and it was entirely my fault.

The reckless pedestrian in me darted across the street in pursuit of autographs as wrestlers entered the Fleet Center for that evening’s WWF house show. At the moment of near impact, I went from sheer terror to pure joy when I realized who my would-be killer was. Continue reading “A Near Death Experience with Ken Shamrock” →

New Japan Announces Wrestle Kingdom 11 Card

New Japan Pro Wrestling announced the complete line-up and match order for Wrestle Kingdom 11 at a press conference on Monday. For the uninitiated, the Tokyo Dome show is New Japan’s equivalent to WrestleMania and has been traditionally held every year on January 4.

New Japan Rumble – To be honest, I usually skip this match. It’s a Royal Rumble style match without any real stakes. It’s simply a vehicle to provide some warm up entertainment before the real show begins.

Tiger Mask W vs. Tiger the Dark — This match is a promotional tool for the Tiger Mask anime show that airs on TV-Asahi. I don’t know if Koto Ibushi will be W this time around but that mask looks to be difficult to work in.

IWGP Jr. Tag Team Championship: The Young Bucks (c) vs. Roppongi Vice – Thank goodness it’s not a Fatal Four Way this time around. A straight up tag match should give all four wrestlers more time to shine, which hopefully make the match mean more instead of the usual eight-person spot fest.
Continue reading “New Japan Announces Wrestle Kingdom 11 Card” →

WWE Books the Impossible with New Comic Book

WWE: Then. Now. Forever. #1 | Writers: Dennis Hopeless, Ross Thibodeaux, Rob Schamberger, Derek Fridolfs | Artists: Dan Mora, Rob Schamberger, Rob Guillory, Daniel Bayliss, Derek Fridolfs |Publisher: BOOM! Studios | Release Date: November 9, 2016

Two years ago, when Seth Rollins’ shocking heel turn put an end to one of most prevailing factions in wrestling history, The Shield, fans were treated to the typical answer when such things occur in the world of WWE. It all added up to Rollins being tired of splitting the glory three ways and wanted it all for himself. Continue reading “WWE Books the Impossible with New Comic Book” →

Donald Trump tags Linda McMachon into the Political Ring

I normally don’t like to talk about politics, but when CNN sends me a phone notification that President-elect Donald Trump picked Linda McMahon, former CEO of WWE, to serve as the administrator of the Small Business Administration…well, I have to blog about it. Continue reading “Donald Trump tags Linda McMachon into the Political Ring” →