A Tribute To Edge - April 14, 2011

This edition is all about Edge. One of my favorite superstars ever and just want to share my thoughts on his career and what others are saying as well.

Where do I start with Edge? If you've known me for a long time, you know that I jumped on board with this guy right from the start. I was hooked just watching those promos in 1998 that were setting up his debut. Who was this mysterious guy in a trenchcoat running around the streets with the "you think you know me" line playing over the video? I was pumped by the time this guy even debuted and I liked what I saw right from the debut match. I was one of the first Edgeheads. I just loved watching him. Music playing, spotlight all over the arena, and there he is. Trying to figure out where this mysterious figure was going to walk from to get to the ring. Edge would go into tag team stardom pretty early on and have that exclamation point during the first ever tag team ladder match on PPV in late 1999. It was that first big moment to where it gave a signal to the crowd that you had better pay attention to this guy. The Edge and Christian tag team quickly became my favorite. They turned into a great comedy team that saw so many fun moments that just reeked of awesomeness. Like how I got one of their lines in there? I still laugh at them at Stephanie's birthday party and playing Triple H's music on the kazoo. "It's my time, it's my time". LOL It erupted the room gathered watching it into laughter as Triple H kicked them out of the room. The five second pose stuff. Just loved it. Team ECK. Remember that? Edge and Christian would go along with The Hardys and The Dudleys to take tag team wrestling and extreme to the next level with a match we still see today, TLC. It was great at SummerSlam and tore the house down at WrestleMania X-7. The spear of Edge on to Hardy off the ladder is still all over the highlight reels and probably will be his defining big spot moment that people will remember cause it was at such a high profile event. I always knew that Edge could be a singles star. I had seen it in 1998. When the team was split up, I just knew that it was going to be big things for him. It was. Edge would win his first Intercontinental title in 2001 and was on his way. By the time that 2002 rolled around, he was one of the best stars in WWE. He had that great entrance where he would run out, run up and down the stage, and just pump that crowd up. I loved it!! I often get asked what is the best match that I've seen live? I have always answered this and still do. Edge vs. Kurt Angle at Judgment Day 2002 in Nashville. Hair vs. Hair. This match was just off the charts good. They had the crowd in the palm of their hands and we were reacting on everything. Just two incredible performers. I have seen some great matches live but that one still tops the list to this day. 2002 was a break out year for Edge and I just knew that 2003 was going to be bigger. Then, unfortunately came the neck fusion surgery. It would keep him out of the ring for a long time and it did seem to break his momentum. WWE didn't help matters by putting his first feud with Kane. They're great friends but I have just never seen good in ring chemistry with those two together. It also didn't help that WWE shot an angle upon Edge's disappearance where someone had knocked him out in the back. Did WWE do a storyline upon his return where he looked for who took him out? Nope. They acted like it never happened and wanted us to think that it never did happen. It's funny too cause in Edge's book, he talks about how he argued the same point saying shouldn't I be looking for who did this to me? Edge worked his way back in and got his momentum rolling again. He was turned heel and eventually paired up with Lita. The feud with Edge and Matt Hardy was great TV and basically cause it played off of a real life situation. WWE did what WWE does a lot of times and broke that momentum of the feud that everyone was into and it fizzled out. It was a shame but Edge had big momentum as a heel. He was that big time jerk of a heel that people just loved to hate. I still loved him. LOL. It's always funny when you see such genuinely nice guys play such horrible people on TV and are able to make it work. Edge would launch into the stratosphere in January of 2006. New Year's Revolution in Albany, NY. One of my favorite moments ever. John Cena wins the Elimination Chamber match and the Albany crowd is just furious. This was when the Cena dislike had really gotten rolling. That crowd was booing everything that Cena did. Vince McMahon walks out and announces that Edge is cashing in his Money In The Bank. Edge walks to the ring and that place popped like you would not believe. I heard someone that was in the building that night describe it as a hero's welcome that he got. Edge pulls such a heel tactic by cashing in at the most opportune time on a hurt Cena. Edge hits the spear and wins the WWE title for the first time and the place goes insane. It is hilarious to watch the show and see the reaction from that crowd. It was said to be unbelievably loud there live including people jumping up and down. Me? Duh, of course I loved it. Edge's title reign wouldn't last long unfortunately but it was the first of many to come. Edge became one of those guys in WWE that you could count on to have a great match. Edge and Cena was one of my favorite rivalries in recent years and they just had a bunch of great matches. The big culmination was the TLC match that just tore the house down. So many big spots in it. Another one of my favorite feuds in recent years was his feud with The Undertaker. Lots of mind games played between the two and great matches including WrestleMania. Edge had bad timing at a lot of times due to injuries just after he would win the title. Just felt so bad for the guy. Then, he would come back and jump right back in the mix where he was. Edge has jumped from face to heel a lot in the last couple of years but has become the face of Smackdown. You knew that you were going to get something quality on that show with him being on it. My last time seeing Edge live, so far anyway, was last year at Raw in Nashville. It was the night after he won the Royal Rumble as he was the surprise return entrant that night. Edge opened the show to a mixed reaction from the fans not knowing whether he was a face or heel really. It didn't matter to me as I was up out of my chair screaming when his music hit. LOL. He had a face off with Sheamus as he teased on who he was going to face at WrestleMania as the challenger. Sheamus attacked but Edge ended up laying him out with a spear. The crowd was definitely into him then. I had thought about attending a Smackdown live event in the future just to make sure that I got to see him again knowing that his career was winding down. Just wasn't expecting it so suddenly. Edge's last match would be fittingly enough at WrestleMania XXVII a few weeks ago. He walked in and walked out as champion in front of a sold out crowd. Hard to beat that for your last match. I have heard that Christian was likely added to that match with WWE wanting them to come full circle just in case this was his last match. WWE was definitely planning on a just in case deal there. Edge has always been known for having those great matches. Lots of high risk moments. All of those risks and injuries have piled up and unfortunately ended his career way too young. His WWE career was 13 years in length. Seems like a short time compared to others but look at the accomplishments in those 13 years. 31 championship wins. The most by any WWE superstar ever. 11 world titles (4 WWE titles, 7 World titles), 5 Intercontinental titles, 14 tag team titles, and 1 U.S. title reign. He won King Of The Ring in 2001, main evented WrestleMania, and just did everything that you can do. That is one topic this week. What really was there left for him to do anyway to accomplish? He was that great solid performer that we could count on. Now, unfortunately we won't get to see him compete again but I do look forward to seeing him go into the Hall Of Fame.

The farewell for Edge is not over. Raw was not the last moment. I'm not going to spoil anything for Smackdown cause it has already been announced. Edge does appear on Smackdown to give up the world title and gives another great speech. I have seen the video of it already and it is tremendous. What is even more tremendous is the stuff that I don't think we will see on TV. I'm fairly sure that the post show stuff will not air with Edge getting a locker room wide ovation from the fans. Triple H gets involved and it is just great stuff including his "get back in there" thing.

Many people took to Twitter to comment on Edge and his retirement. Just so many great messages and you can see just how well loved this guy is. I don't have them all in here so just know that there are a TON of messages. I just picked out some of them.

"I've shed my tears..And from here on out I choose 2celebrate 1 of the greatest careers in WWE history..Cant wait2 induct u in the HOF #Edge." - Christian

"Edge will always be one of my favorites. I'm so grateful I was in a role to help him launch his wwe dream. Dreams do come true. Edge=HOF!" - Jim Ross

"Have had contact w/Edge & he is looking 4ward 2what the future holds. It will b great, good things happen 2 good people & he is just that." - Shawn Michaels

"Edge - you are my brother, an inspiration and define the word "superstar". THANK YOU Adam.. for everything." - The Rock

"CeNation. I am very proud of edge for all that he has accomplished. He is certain to be in the hall of fame. Im proud to have had so many Great moments with him. He is a true wrestling purist and one of the smartest people I've had the pleasure of wrestling with. For your last match to be a championship win at WrestleMania ...is a good finish to one great career." - John Cena

"I remember training w/both Edge & Christian in a ring @ my house back in '97 & he'll always be one of my guys. Such an abrupt end to a great career saddens the entire wrestling world. Cheers to the rated-R Superstar." - Bret Hart

"Will miss Edge not only in ring, but in the lockeroom even more. He was one of the few who I could call a friend. I learned alot from him." - Randy Orton

"Thank you Adam for everything.. you've been such a great friend your an amazing person, n inspiration and I had the honor of working with u!" - Kelly Kelly

"In wrestling you make many acquaintances and few friends. Edge is a friend. My friend, seeing you was always a pleasure and never a chore." - Joey Styles

"Edge is a great performer and 1 of my favorite opponents. He's also got an incredible MIND for the business. Congrats on an amazing career" - Chris Jericho

"An emotional night for sure. #ThankYouEdge. One of the most creative, hard working, passionate, & helpful men in the WWE. We'll miss you!" - Eve

"I'm so sad to see Edge leave...I'm honored I got to learn so much from him. He will be missed." - Vickie Guererro

"My motto has always been I wrestle every single match like it is my last, cause 1 day I know it will b. Thanks Edge 4 everything u hav done" - Tommy Dreamer

"It's sad to see my friend Edge Retire from WWE. Edge was one of the Best. Your Fans will miss You dearly. I know I will. Luv u Edge!!!!" - Kurt Angle

"A sad day for wrestling, but what an amazing career for Edge. I was so fortunate to have been his opponent, his partner, his friend." - Mick Foley

"Thank u Edge for everything u have given to the business and ur friendship. We r sad 2 c u go but grateful 4 ur health.also can't wait 2 c christian induct u to the HOF" - Gail Kim

"Thank you Edge for everything that you gave and meant to this industry, and personally speaking, thank you for your friendship!" - Howard Finkel

"Wishing Edge the very best. What a outstanding gentleman and friend, notwithstanding a fine athlete and performer." - Paul Bearer

"A Little late but I just heard about Edge's Retirement. Good People, GREAT wrestler, and will sorely be missed in the ring." - Samoa Joe

"Best of luck to Edge. Class guy and a great talent. He will find success in anything he pursues." - Eric Bischoff

"the loss of Edge is a sad day 4 the WWE great in ring,but such a special guy out,he still has years left to give" - Kevin Nash

"Thank you Edge..." - Maryse

"Heard Adam is retiring because of physical issues that won't allow him to safely continue wrestling. He'll be missed, we've certainly had our fair share of issues.. Both good and bad. But I tip my hat to Edge who is one of the greatest I've ever been in the ring with. Adam resides in NC now-sure I'll run into him down the road. Glad that him & I are in a good place. We came in as friends, & went out that way." - Matt Hardy

"EDGE will be missed. It was an honor to share the ring with him, and compete against him. Truly one of the best. Stay in touch Edger" - Charlie Haas

"I have a tremendous amount of respect for Edge. A great career and a great human being." - Wade Barrett

"Beside's I love the guy & I hope he enjoys his retirement, for how ever long it may be. He deserves everything he achieved" - Sean Waltman

"Seeing edge say goodbye was surreal. He is irreplaceable." - Beth Phoenix

"Didn't catch raw but heard about most important part. I love you Edger! Thank you all you've given to a biz I have always loved! Mad respect" - Michelle McCool

"Edge, 1 of the GREAT guys in the biz. Awesone talent & awesome guy! I live the numbness in arms due to neck issues also, scary.Be well bro." - Taz

"Yeah my wife told me about Edge turning in his boots last night. I'm Happy that he knows when the ring is a danger. You guys remember that Wrestling is a Biz to us and luxury to you. Edge will do great in his next steps of Life. Thank you Edge for all the bumps and bruises that you put your body through. You where one of the best in the ring. Hopefully some young guys takes notes. Young man does well for himself =makes money=saves money=retires young=lives ever after a good life. Who knows he might get better and make a big return. You never know!!!!!" - Shannon Moore

"I always enjoyed Edge. Good dude too. Always nice (must be the Canadian in him). Good luck to him in his future. Def HOF guy." - Steve Corino

"Good luck to Edge on his future endeavors. He will be missed. But he is going to love retirement. Enjoy !" - Tara, the artist formerly known as Victoria.

So, there you have it. A lot of great tributes to Edge. You can tell just how loved that he is in this business and how missed he is going to be. I know I'm going to miss him. One of my favorite superstars ever and one of the greatest ever. Edgehead since 1998 and that will go on. Thanks for everything Edge.

Raw Thoughts, Trish/Morrison, & More - April 12, 2011

Welcome to the "we'll miss you Edge" edition of The Wrestling List. The buzz of the wrestling world continues to center around Edge's announcement last night of his retirement. Many in the wrestling world have posted comments on Twitter about him and wishing him well. I'll have a tribute Wrestling List coming up later in the week looking back on my favorite moments of his career.

Last night's Raw obviously centered around Edge's announcement and it was also that feeling of seeing what WWE was going to do moving forward. We got the announcement of the five way gauntlet match to determine the challenger for Miz at Extreme Rules. It featured Orton, Cena, R Truth, Morrison, and Ziggler. I was surprised to see Orton eliminated so early as the Nexus members caused the distraction. Morrison made his way to the ring and I thought maybe this was his big chance but I wondered if WWE would go with him on it. Then, he gets eliminated by R Truth. WOW. That left us with Cena and R Truth. There was no doubt in my mind who was getting the title shot and I think the fans in attendance felt the same way. It fueled the anti-Cena crowd as they got loud against Cena knowing that he was likely to win. I was also thinking that with Edge going down, you're going with Cena AGAIN. Miz and Riley then attack Cena and R Truth. The GM then makes the announcement that it will be Cena, Truth, and Miz in a triple threat match at Extreme Rules. Cena and Truth started to kind of mess with one another in a jokingly kind of fashion knowing that they were going for the title against one another but it ended with a huge shove from Cena. Truth laughed and left the ring. It made me wonder what WWE had planned for Cena cause it kind of felt like a heel kind of tactic in a way. Lawler battled Swagger with JR and Cole in opposite corners. Interesting that Vince loves Cole so much that he had Josh completely stay quiet so we could listen to mostly Cole rant and rave at ringside. JR got in there especially at the end yelling for Lawler. Lawler wins and now gets the rematch with Cole at Extreme Rules. Cole goes off on Swagger for dropping the ball while Swagger blamed Cole for distracting him as he was up on the apron. Cole slaps Swagger and bails before Swagger can retaliate. Lawler then announces the match as it will be a tag match, Lawler and JR against Cole and Swagger. New Divas champion as Brie Bella defeated Eve. I like the Bellas as heels and I like the whole "loser" thing that they do after the pinfall. Corre vs. Apple. Seriously?? Barely paid attention as I was trying to find out what the Edge story was at this point anyway. Sin Cara made his in ring TV debut against Primo. The spot at the end was messed up a bit and Cara tried to save the messup by making it look like Primo threw him to the floor. Really impressive finish which looks like the old spanish fly finisher.

Other thoughts. Wow, nothing screams squash when you see Primo in the ring on Raw. JR shaking the Cole Mine to get to Cole was pretty funny. On a side note, how annoyed would you be to have to sit behind that thing at ringside? That would block a ton of your view. I like Sin Cara. I think he will be a lot of fun to watch. Scary moment last week when he almost landed on his head during his entrance. Funny deal with Eve demanding that one Bella be marked on her hand to prevent the switch from happening. Why not put a Killer Bees mask on one of them?

One thing that I noticed last night is that I no longer have a real favorite wrestler. Very bizarre and a bummer. Edge has been right behind Shawn Michaels so I just moved Edge into that spot when Shawn retired. Now, there is no one behind him. There is plenty of great talent but the booking of them make me not like them as much. Waving at TNA here. I was thinking last night who I like the most and I have to say. It looks like it may be Mizville - population ME. LOL.

Sad news out of the wrestling world in the last few days. Larry Sweeney passed away. Lots of people in the business very sad over the loss of him. My prayers obviously go out to his family and friends that are missing him.

Some back and forth between John Morrison and Trish Stratus this week. There has been issues between the two revolving around WrestleMania. It was made public when Trish was asked in an interview about the rumors. She didn't duck the question and answered it. She was asked if she got a bit of a cold shoulder action from him and she replied: "I got a bit of cold shoulder action, correct. John Morrison himself is amazing. He’s a great athlete. I was really looking forward to working with him. I thought it would be cool if we could do some stuff together. He didn’t think it would be that cool. It happens. Hey whatever. It happens. You know he’s into his thing and just didn’t think that I should part of his thing I guess, but I still admire him as an athlete, as a performer. I think he does a great job out there. Cold shoulder? Yeah I felt it. I was shunned. Some people are not smart maybe? You know they wrestle well, but maybe they’re not smart. I don’t know." Morrison took to Twitter to make fun of the comments. One was a reply to Melina's comment about how their bags were taking an hour to get to baggage claim to which Morrison added to it that "American Airlines is not smart". He later tweeted something else saying "Raw in Bridgeport today - Lookout @HEELZiggler....I got a mean punch, a furious kick, and a cold shoulder!" Now, you know who I'm siding with in this deal. Pretty obvious if you know me.

Lots of great comments being posted about Edge from his friends in the business. I'll put them in the next List which will be reflecting back on Edge's career. Take care and God bless!!

Edge Retires - April 11, 2011

I want to talk about the obvious big news that came out of Raw tonight. That is the retirement of Edge. Edge has retired and everything that he said is the truth. The show kicked off tonight with the announcement of Edge having something big to say with the tease of retirement. There has been rumblings for a while now that Edge's career was coming to a close. His neck still had been bothering him and he was starting to look at things the way that Shawn Michaels did. Pick a date and retire. However, it sounds like that his recent test results have changed that plan. Edge has battled neck troubles for a lot of his career. Edge broke his neck back and had spinal fusion surgery in 2003. Edge was able to return the ring obviously and have many more great years in the ring. His best years in my opinion. Edge walked out on Raw and was clearly shaken with the news that he was about to deliver. He talked about his career and the business overall along with the fans. Edge got choked up when he said the words that he was told that he could end up in a wheelchair. Test results had shown that he was going to have to hang it up. He talked about how he wanted to go out on his own terms while Christian had told him that his whole career had been on his own terms. He talked about getting to finish his career as world champion and competing at WrestleMania. Edge said farewell and the crowd gave him a huge ovation of appreciation. We then got to see him walk through the hallway in the back saying goodbye to the talent. That was a touching scene. This has been kept quiet. Even when I was watching it, I wasn't sure what I was seeing. It was so far out of the blue especially with the announcement of a Edge/Del Rio match set for Extreme Rules. Glad that he got those test results now before he did that match. Whew. WWE.com has posted an article on Edge. Basically, he has been "suffering numbness and uncontrollable trembling in his arms and hands". They are symptoms of nueropraxia. He had a MRI done last week and was sent to a neurosurgeon. It was determined that Edge has stenosis of the spine which is a narrowing of the spinal column above and below the fused discs from the surgery. The narrowing decreases the amount of fluid needed to protect the spinal cord. Edge competing could result in him being paralyzed or could even kill him. There is no way around it other than to say that that is flat out scary. SCARY!! I'm just glad that they did find this out now and that he isn't going to be doing worse damage to himself. I am so sad as an Edge fan. I've been an Edge fan since 1998. I became a fan just by watching those promos teasing his debut. I've annoyed a lot of people over the years with my cheering of a heel Edge. LOL. Just a great, great talent and he is going to be missed.

A quick note to WWE. People have been saying this for a while but you guys had better start getting some talent elevated. Not this start/stop stuff that you do with the young talent. You need to get these young guys over to the fans and quit pulling the rug out from under them. Chris Jericho did that interview within the last year about how this current generation is almost gone from the business and how he is concerned about how WWE hasn't done enough to replace them. Shawn Michaels has retired. Triple H is going to see little action now as he is settling into his office position. Undertaker is at the very end of his career with a shoulder that is barely holding on. Edge has retired. Jericho is in and out. How many times can you do John Cena vs. Randy Orton?

I'll have more in the next Wrestling List along with Raw thoughts and other happenings from the week but I wanted to get something out tonight cause people are asking me what is going on.

Have a great night!! Take care and God bless!!

Raw, Hall Of Fame, Tough Enough Premiere, & More - April 5, 2011

Welcome to the "Rock, Austin, Triple H, and Trish on Raw in 2011" edition of The Wrestling List.

WWE's week in Atlanta continued last night with Raw being held in Phillips Arena. I bet that 95% of that crowd was at WrestleMania the night before. We got the big announcement of the main event of WrestleMania XXVIIII. Rock and Cena closed Raw out with the big challenge being laid out. It will be Rock vs. Cena at WrestleMania XXVIII in Miami. WWE has never announced the main event this far out. Now, I'm sure that WWE has done this in the past as far as booking cause back in the day they used to go ahead to WrestleMania's planned main event for the next year and book backwards on how to get there. That is a gamble to book that far in advance and that automatically takes Cena out of the title picture for WrestleMania. Well, I guess they could always throw that in but I don't see the point. A title doesn't need to be added cause people are already going to care about it. I liked Triple H's promo where he said that he hit Undertaker with everything that he had and hit him harder than he had ever hit anybody but he still kept going. He closed it by saying that he knew Undertaker would be back and that he would be waiting for him when he did. I was thrilled to see JR open the show on commentary but it was not to be as we soon got the return of Michael Cole. We finally got the U.S. title match with Sheamus and Daniel Bryan. The big moment out of it was the debut of Sin Cara. He has been getting rave reviews on the house shows and he had a big debut here. His jump to the floor looked incredible. I look forward to seeing him work a full match. Trish Stratus on Raw. Great thing. Always happy about that. Austin was on the show and introduced the Tough Enough cast. Austin then was confronted by The Miz. Miz attacks Austin and then leaves him for Alex Riley to have. Austin takes out Riley and then heads over to the Cole Mine to have some fun with Cole. Wow, three segments for Orton and Mysterio against Punk and Rhodes. That surprised me. Solid match.

Other notes from Raw. How hilarious was the "stun them all" chant from the fans in the front row to Austin for the Tough Enough contestants? Austin got a laugh out of it too. Soon after, the rest of the crowd joined in on it. Funny how Triple H and Undertaker happens and then suddenly Triple H mentions, oh by the way, we have wrestled before at WrestleMania. Funny how that works. I wonder if Cena is going to hear those "fruity pebbles" chants every week now. I'll be curious to see what the reaction is to Cena over the next several weeks. It will depend on what part of the country they are in obviously but has this Rock deal brought the boos back out more nationally now? How wild is it that it is 2011 and we have a Raw that has Rock, Austin, Triple H, and Trish Stratus all on it? I like 2011 if that is the case. Speaking of that, the face off with Austin and Triple H was fun. I like these little segments over the last couple of shows just having these old rivals have a face off to give us fans a retro moment.

Moving on to the Hall Of Fame from this past Saturday night. I did watch the special last night on USA. I don't watch it really closely cause I know it is going to be heavily edited due to time and all. I usually really wait to pay close attention to when the full special is released on the WrestleMania DVD. That being said there was a LOT of editing on that thing last night. I'm talking about just the speeches that they did show as I was following the live online coverage of it during the night. Dusty's speech was chopped amazingly. He had a lot of stories to tell and they basically cut him down to saying, I introduce the Road Warriors. Drew Carey had a lot of editing done to it and that was from a technical point of view. He was booed throughout his speech. They did some big time audio editing to that to where it almost sounded like that I heard a laugh track at one point to cover the boos. You could very faintly hear the boos in the background during the speech and his entrance had the music cranked up really loud. Fans just aren't going to like that induction. The Shawn speech was edited down but contained a lot of it. Triple H's speech was edited down too. Good that they did show the Kliq reunion at the end of the Hall Of Fame with Kevin Nash and Sean Waltman making their way to the stage. Shawn's speech was good and he was extremely nervous based on him getting his Hall Of Fame ring backstage before the show. He said he was less nervous performing in front of 70,000 people but this was making him nervous. Triple H had fun with his speech picking at Shawn. I loved Shawn's comment saying that he came to the Hall Of Fame and a roast broke out. Triple H got very emotional though when it was time to stop the joking and introduce his friend. Shawn spoke more about his early career in his speech and his family. Fun moment. I was disappointed that Sunny's induction was just glazed over so I look forward to that on the DVD. The Hall Of Fame special was fun but it was edited big time. If you want the full version, pick up the DVD or wait for it to air on Classics.

There were no injuries coming out of WrestleMania which is great to hear.

Shawn Michaels reaction to watching the Triple H/Undertaker match was caught on camera and you can watch it at this link.

The other must see video is this one which shows Vince McMahon presenting Shawn with his Hall of Fame ring. Really touching moment including Shawn telling Vince, thanks for putting up with me.


WWE has set something in motion that they are no longer a wrestling company. They are an "entertainment" company. Wrestling is to not be used in talking about the company anymore. They are also being referred to now straightly as WWE and not World Wrestling Entertainment because they don't want wrestling in there.

Last night was the premiere of WWE Tough Enough. I'm going to talk spoilers here so if you haven't seen it and don't want to know things about it, read this later. I enjoyed the show. I liked the original show so I was interested to see what the return would be like. Stone Cold Steve Austin serves as the host with the trainers, Trish Stratus, Booker T, and Bill DeMott. It is very much like the original show. The cast is put through the training and learn the basics. Simple things like running the ropes, doing a roll, and taking bumps. That was the first episode. We had some moments in this first episode including Miss USA using a pad to protect herself on bouncing off the ropes. Ariane was voted off as she didn't have the fire that Austin was looking for. She really knew nothing about the business including her telling Austin that her favorite match ever was Melina vs. Alicia Fox. Austin's face was stunned when he heard that. She didn't help her cause with running the ropes and holding on to her pants the whole time from falling down. Trish's biggest pet peeve is that the women have got to do everything possible to make sure they are clothes ready when they enter the ring. The show went by fast watching it. I wasn't crazy about some of the language used in it and the fact that it wasn't bleeped. Those that know me will know what that was. Never like that. Overall, the show is definitely worth watching. Give it a shot and see what you think of it.

That is it for this week. Big week for all of us wrestling fans. Love WrestleMania week! Take care and God bless!!

WrestleMania XXVII Recap and Thoughts - April 4, 2011

Last night was the super bowl of wrestling, WWE WrestleMania XXVII. I thought it was a solid show. There was some of the booking that left me scratching my head but overall I enjoyed the show. Over 71,617 fans were in attendance at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. It was sold out and looked packed. First, the dark match. This got a lot of people angry. The Daniel Bryan/Sheamus U.S. title match was bumped from the PPV to the dark match due to time. The match then turned into a battle royal. Fans were not happy to see that title match live as the dark match. Definitely got a negative reaction from the live crowd.

WrestleMania went on the air with America The Beautiful sang by Keri Hilson. We go right into the introduction of The Rock. Huge ovation for Rock as he did an in ring promo to open the show. First time ever for WrestleMania to start with an in ring promo like that. Good talking from the Rock setting up his plans for the night. We go into the awesome as always video package starting the show. Pyro goes off and we're into the action. Are you kidding me? The World title match was first. I was not expecting that!! Crowd was into the match. Edge gets the win after hitting the spear. Good reaction from the crowd. I was anticipating a Del Rio win and/or a Christian heel turn. After the match, Edge and Christian go about destroying Del Rio's car. Solid match and the crowd was into it. Next match was Cody Rhodes taking on Rey Mysterio. Captain America look for Rey this year at WrestleMania keeping with his superhero tradition. This match surprised me. It was a lot more entertaining than I thought it would be. I have not watched Rhodes in a while so I was impressed with him. Crowd was split in this match which was fun. Quite a few fans cheering for Rhodes. How impressive was that standing superplex? He held him for a while with that. I actually thought that pulled more fans over to his side in cheering for him. Cody wins with the crossrhodes. I liked the back and forth with the mask against the knee brace. Backstage segment with Snoop Dogg and Teddy Long auditioning people for his tour. Goofy segment but some of it was fun. I always like a Piper cameo. It ended with Hornswoggle rapping (yes, he was talking) with the Bella twins. The next match had me thinking, wow, just how short of time are you on this show? The 8 man tag team match with Show, Kane, Santino, and Kofi (replacing Kozlov where an angle was done at Axxess where the Corre took him out) against The Corre. Wow, this match was a blur as The Corre got squashed in no time. Sure didn't do them any favors. Wow. Backstage to Rock and Eve. This was a fun segment with Rock telling Eve he would make a WrestleMania moment with whoever walked around the corner next. That turned out to be Mae Young. Funny stuff there. The best was the slap by Mae at the end and Rock's face to it. Then, he makes the same offer and he turns to see Stone Cold Steve Austin. That was awesome to see the two of them on camera together again. Just felt right. On to CM Punk and Randy Orton. I liked this match. I liked the finish. Punk had Orton hurt and where he wanted him. Orton stumbles on the kick. Punk regroups but then has to avoid a RKO. Punk was sitting laughing at how he now had the upper hand. He goes for the springboard move and lands right into a RKO. Fun finish. Another Rock segment in the back. Pee Wee Herman. I think seeing Mean Gene in the Cena gear was enough for me to like this segment. Hall Of Fame introductions are next. Great to see everyone. Sunny looks great and just looks happy. First time I've seen her in a year probably. Poor Drew Carey gets booed again. Yes, he got booed badly at the Hall Of Fame ceremony too. Shawn Michaels gets the big moment at the end. Great stuff.

Into the second half of the show. Next is Cole against Lawler with Austin as the referee. Loved having JR getting to do commentary. Booker T joined him and Josh Mathews. Swagger's entrance was stopped by Austin driving the four wheeler to the ring. That was great stuff. Swagger having to jump out of the way was funny. Loved Lawler coming out in the old school AWA outfit. Great stuff. The match itself was what it was. Funny moment with Lawler pulling Cole's face right into the Cole Mine wall. His face was hilarious. The match had Cole on offense for too long and the crowd started a boring chant. Lawler got on offense and Swagger tried to throw in the towel. Austin took the towel and wiped his sweat with it not allowing for the match to be stopped. Austin stuns Swagger. Cole puts his hands on Austin and the ohhhh reaction was hilarious from the Atlanta crowd knowing that Cole was about to get his. Austin sends Cole right to Lawler for more offense. Lawler hits the fist drop but won't do the pinfall. Austin laughs and lets it continue. Lawler uses an ankle lock submission and Cole is tapping. Austin won't signal for the bell as he continues to ask Cole if he wants to give up. Lawler wins and Austin calls for the bash. If you watch Lawler, you will notice that he did not drink one of them. The reason being is that he doesn't drink. Good for him on that I say. Booker T hits the ring and does a spinarooni to get in on the action. Austin lets him join in the bash as well but eventually gets a stunner too. Then, the GM noise kicks in. Mathews reads it which says that Lawler was DQ'd due to Austin stepping over his boundaries as referee. Austin and Lawler are furious and Austin nails Josh with a stunner taking out the messenger. Lawler then joins JR to call the rest of the show. LOVE that! Now, we get into the match of the night. Triple H vs. Undertaker. Awesome entrances. Triple H does a combo entrance of Metallica's For Whom The Bell Tolls and his usual Game music. Undertaker walks out to Johnny Cash. Just so visually impressive were both of these entrances. The concern for a while has been Undertaker's shoulder. It is not in good shape at all and we are likely seeing his career getting near the end. So, what does a guy that has a bad shoulder in such horrible shape do? His normal dive over the top rope. Blew my mind. Then, Triple H puts Taker through the table a few seconds later. You knew that this was going to be a big time brawl and it was. Lots of big moves hit by both guys and kickouts. Awesome moment where Undertaker had the pin and had his tongue out anticipating the win only for Triple H to kick out. A frustrated Triple H finally went to a chair to get business done. The last one was one to the head. My first thought was I thought we weren't doing chairshots to the head anymore. On about the third replay, I finally saw that he did get his hand up to block it. Great job by Undertaker. He did it so quick that you could hardly tell. Taker still kept kicking out. Triple H hits a tombstone and I sat up with my blood pressure going up on it. I thought it was over. He's going to lose the streak on his own move???!! Undertaker kicked out. Whew. Undertaker looks destroyed. Triple H goes for the sledgehammer and goes to use it. However, he ends up right in the choke submission move. Triple H ends up dropping the sledgehammer. I loved the build of it with you knowing that if he can find that sledgehammer, things are going to change. Just a great moment wondering what is going to happen. Triple H finds it and goes to use it. However, the submission is too much and he drops it. Triple H taps slowly on Taker's shoulder. 19-0 for Undertaker. Huge amount of pyro while both guys just lay on the mat. What a match!! Just incredible. Triple H gets up first and just has this look of amazement and frustration on his face. Undertaker is helped up by officials. Great, great match. Time for the mixed tag match. Morrison, Trish, and Snooki against Ziggler, and LayCool. Trish looked really good on offense here and I enjoyed the back and forth with her and Michelle. One spot for Morrison in the match as he dives over and takes out Ziggler. Tag in for Snooki. She hits a handspring elbow on Michelle to get the pin. Crowd booed Snooki when she tagged in but I think she won a lot of them over with that move cause it did look good. Main event time. Miz defending against John Cena. That video to Hate Me Now for Miz was awesome. No pun intended. Great video and it just made me cheer for him when he came out. I loved the tie in to his younger days and showing old clips of him. He had a great entrance. Cena then had his video play hyping up his story and had a choir singing. I felt bad for the choir cause there were boos. Boos weren't for the choir. They were directed at Cena who came out in his new t-shirt color of red. I thought about and the last time that Cena wasn't booed bad at WrestleMania was WrestleMania 21 in Los Angeles. The match was just kind of there. I kept watching the clock thinking they don't have much time especially knowing Rock was going to get involved. Big size of the crowd booing Cena and cheering Miz. The two end up on the floor battling and end up over the barricade in the crowd. A double countout. Seriously?? I knew it wasn't going to stand but it just strange. Rock hits the ring. GM thing hits and Rock starts to read. He then throws it to the floor. He announces that the match is going to restart and have no DQ or countout rules. Cena then hit the fireman's carry quickly. I thought you have got to be kidding me that it is over for Miz now. Miz kicks out which got a big pop from the people cheering for him. Myself included who sat up quickly clapping. LOL. However, Rock was standing right behind Cena. Rock bottom to Cena which allows Miz to get the pin and retain the title. Miz stumbles around celebrating. Rock then hits the ring and takes out Miz with a people's elbow. Rock poses to close the show.

Overall thoughts. Ok, the booking of the main event just wasn't too my liking. I don't like crazy booked finishes for WrestleMania main events. If they were going to do this finish, I wish they would have let Triple H and Undertaker close the show. It just didn't have that big feel of a close to the super bowl. It is obviously going to set up more going forward beginning tonight with Rock on Raw. I was bummed that the 8 man tag got such a short amount of time and that the U.S. title got bumped from the broadcast all together. It's not like they could pull some other things out of it. They ran two match build video packages all night. One with Triple H and Undertaker which needed to air. The other for Punk and Orton. That could have been pulled but what is two minutes going to help? They ran the WrestleMania week package which needs to air cause it shows all the big things that go on during the week. They went off the air at 9:59. How close is that??!! I think some time could have been pulled from Cole/Lawler cause that went on too long. Kind of like Bret and Vince last year where we just watched Bret beat up Vince for an eternity of ten minutes. LOL. Felt kind of bad for Michelle getting pinned by Snooki. It gives WWE the highlight stuff on the various entertainment shows which is good for them for publicity. I would have liked that match to get a longer time. Triple H and Undertaker was the big thing of this show. It was great. They just pounded each other and it was all about survival. They kept you guessing on who was going to win. Rock was fun. Austin was fun. Overall, I enjoyed the show. I thought it could have had more and the booking wasn't as good as I would have liked. I enjoyed it though.

There is plenty more to discuss from the weekend including the Hall Of Fame and more but I'll save it for the next List which will also cover tonight's Raw. Hope you enjoyed the WrestleMania recap. Take care and God bless!!

WrestleMania Preview, Early Hall of Fame Stuff, & More - April 2, 2011

Welcome to the "Chicago still doesn't like John Cena" edition of The Wrestling List. I've been trying to find time to finish this List all week. I'm about to run out of time so I'm hurrying it out cause it's almost outdated!!

We are just days away from WrestleMania XXVII and we basically have had our final show before the big event. Friday's Smackdown was mostly a video package kind of deal but did have a main event match in there. So, Raw was the big last build for the show. The show was obviously hyped on two things. The Rock's return and the face off between Triple H and The Undertaker. I enjoyed both segment. I'm going to start with the face off. This was great start to finish with Triple H, Undertaker, and the surprise of Shawn Michaels. Undertaker stopping Triple H's entrance was fantastic. Really cool thing to start. Then, I loved having Shawn coming down dancing to the ring saying that there was no way possible that he was going to miss this face off in person. The story of this segment was really good. Shawn stepping up and putting his two cents in there including him going to Triple H and saying what makes you think you can do what I couldn't do. I liked Triple H's reasoning with him saying that Shawn was always great no matter if there was a win or loss. Triple H didn't think that way. Triple H said that he was 1 as in 18-1. Good stuff there. Good turn with Undertaker getting on the mic and saying how Shawn gave him two of the greatest matches but now he has to live with being close but not getting the job done. Shawn continued to get annoyed with things and then went to throw a superkick. It was caught and then Undertaker went for the chokeslam but Triple H stepped in and stood eye to eye. The next part was very telling with how the segment turned. Shawn had gotten rattled by Undertaker's comments and would not step up and tell how Triple H was going to beat him. Shawn mouthed sorry you can't beat him to Triple H as he walked away. Great finish with having Undertaker just laugh and smirk while tipping his hat. Really cool segment. Loved it. That gets us to Rock, Cena, and Miz. Rock gets a huge ovation and John Cena gets what I expected, boos out of the building. Remember that John Cena does not ever get good reactions in Chicago. That is one of those cities that he has just not won over. That was very clear back at WrestleMania 22 when Chicago cheered heavily for a heel Triple H against Cena in that title match. Good back and forth between the two but we really didn't get to hear a lot of Rock rebuttal to Cena due to Miz interrupting. I thought Miz was good in the segment but he got shut down pretty quickly with a people's elbow after Miz and Riley attacked Rock. Very interesting finish with Cena slipping back in the ring and hitting the fireman's carry on Rock to a round of heavy riot sounding boos from the Chicago crowd.

Other notes from Raw. Rock was talking about his first WrestleMania in Chicago and the great experience with it. I am trying to remember but didn't the "die Rocky die" chants and signs start that event in Chicago which really got the Rocky Maivia backlash going?

Interest was definitely in this show. The second hour saw Raw get up to a 4.0 rating.

Remember when I said that I thought they had announced the last Hall of Fame inductees? Well, I was wrong. They saved a great one for last in their home town. The Road Warriors. Hawk, Animal, and Paul Ellering will be going into the WWE Hall of Fame. I wish they had played the pop for this video on TV as the reaction was said to be loud in the building when the video started playing. The Road Warriors are one of the most legendary tag teams of all time. I have so many memories of them. Just this destroyer of a tag team. When I first started watching wrestling, they were heels and I thought they were just plain scary. They had the spikes, the face paint, and the evil sounding music as they hit the ring. Just one of those teams that you did not want to cross. You knew you were going to get intensity when you saw these guys hit the ring. My favorite memories of the Road Warriors are in the NWA. Yeah, their WWF run was solid but not like that NWA run. Great video piece that WWE did on them as well.

WWE held their WrestleMania press conference this week from New York City. Not a lot of big happenings. Just mostly publicity type stuff. Rock was there. Stephanie McMahon handled the hosting duties of it. Triple H was there helping her out as well along with taking part in it. John Cena was booed heavily. The fans gave him the "same old" chant that you might remember from the ECW One Night Stand PPV a few years ago at the Hammerstein. Snooki also got booed. Just a lot of face off kind of stuff for the most part.

The WWE Hall Of Fame ceremony will be tonight. Going in will be Shawn Michaels, The Road Warriors and Paul Ellering, Sunny, Abdullah The Butcher, Bullet Bob Armstrong, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, and Drew Carey. With WWE not airing the Hall Of Fame special on USA until Monday night, I'm really hoping that this means WWE will get back to not limiting people on their talking time. It has ruined the last couple of years of the Hall Of Fame. Guys are allowed to talk for about five minutes and that is it. With the time limit, we lost the amount of time that these Hall Of Famer's were able to get up there and just tell stories. That took a LOT of fun out of the Hall Of Fame. I'm hoping that the time restrictions will be taken off this year.

Let's look at the WrestleMania XXVII card. This is looking to be a very solid show on paper. I wasn't sure how this show was going to be as far as top drawing matches a couple of months ago. The Rock was brought in and it just seemed like things got going from there. Here is the lineup and my thoughts on them.
The Miz defends the WWE title against John Cena. The Rock is obviously going to have some kind of role in this so it will be interesting to see what happens. Do we have another Cena wins the title moment on a WrestleMania? I'm hoping not. Hoping that Miz retains.
Edge defends the World title against Alberto Del Rio. Christian will be in Edge's corner while Brodus Clay will be in Alberto's. I don't watch a lot of Smackdown so I have not kept up with this feud as much. I just paused even trying to think what to type about this match so I guess I'll just leave it at that.
The Undertaker vs. Triple H - No Holds Barred. Undertaker's streak stays in tact. That is what I want to see. Hoping that these guys put on a great show. Undertaker makes it through this without being injured worse. That is what is best case scenario for me.
Sheamus defends the US title against Daniel Bryan. This is one of those undercard matches that I really hope is strong. Not a lot of attention on it and I think both guys need this to be a great match.
Randy Orton vs. CM Punk. Good build and two solid performers. Should be a good one and I'm looking forward to it. I think Punk gets the win.
Michael Cole vs. Jerry Lawler with Stone Cold Steve Austin as the special referee. Swagger will be in Cole's corner. This is all about getting to watch Michael Cole finally get beaten up. Isn't that the scenario that is likely to play out with fans finally getting to see what they've wanted for months now? Austin will be fun as always.
John Morrison, Trish Stratus, and Snooki vs. Dolph Ziggler and LayCool. I think this will be a fun match. Good balance and I always look forward to having Trish in the ring. Snooki will get the media highlights which is what WWE wants. LayCool will be fun. Morrison and Ziggler will deliver. I think it will be good. Just a matter of what the finish is.
The Corre vs. Santino, Kozlov, Big Show, and Kane. Yeah, really nothing to say about this one.
Rey Mysterio vs. Cody Rhodes. If you would have told me a year ago that Rhodes would have a WrestleMania match instead of Dibiase, I never would have believed it. This should be a solid one.

Tonight is the WWE Hall Of Fame and Shawn Michaels is doing a video diary for WWE.com. Two very good videos already posted. One with Ric Flair giving Shawn a belt buckle which goes back to Shawn giving him a watch for his Hall Of Fame night. The other one is the Kliq reunited. A video has been posted of Shawn, Triple H, Kevin Nash, and Sean Waltman together. That is wild to see.



Have a great rest of the weekend. Take care and God bless!!

Looking Back At The Undertaker's WrestleMania Streak - March 17, 2011

Bonus Wrestling List this week. Hope you all are having a great week.

I want to give TNA the credit that they deserve this week. That statement could probably be taken as I'm about to rip on them for something. LOL. No, it is good. They have taken a ton of heat this week over how the Victory Road PPV ended. Fans feeling cheated. Well, TNA has informed fans that if you bought the PPV, they are going to offer you six months free of their TNA On Demand programming on their site. They put out a press release basically saying that they want to give their best to the fans and that they didn't do that this past Sunday. I have seen their On Demand site on their website and there is a lot of stuff on there to watch. Good for TNA that they are looking to make good with the disappointed fans. They are showing effort and I give them a bunch of credit for that. To get the six months free, you send your PPV purchase receipt, name, address, and email address to this address and they'll set you up with the info on how to get it.
TNA OnDemand Offer
209 10th Avenue South, #302
Nashville, TN 37203.

Ok, this idea goes to Corey. He suggested to me a few weeks ago about doing a look back on the Undertaker's WrestleMania streak. Memories of the matches and all. Sounds like fun to me so if it's good, thank him. If it's bad, blame him. Completely kidding!! LOL. I love his idea so here we go.

1-0 - WrestleMania VII - vs. Jimmy Snuka. Who knew how important that this match would be as far as setting up the future of the streak? There was no doubt who was winning this match. Even me as a kid knew who was winning this one. Snuka on the back side of his career against the WWF newcomer, The Undertaker. This was basically a squash. Undertaker got the win at the LA Sports Arena and the streak begins.

2-0 - WrestleMania VIII - vs. Jake The Snake Roberts. This was a match that I was looking forward to at the time. This feud basically turned Undertaker face. Remember that on Saturday Night's Main Event that Roberts had taken on Randy Savage with their continuing feud. Roberts lost and was waiting backstage on Savage and Elizabeth to come through the curtain so he could blast them with a steel chair. When they walked through, Roberts went to swing and the chair was caught by Undertaker. Savage and Elizabeth ducked out of the way and Savage pounded on Roberts. That was the face turn and set up the dark feud between Undertaker and Roberts. Now, the match wasn't what it could have been probably due to Roberts having a falling out with the company and this being his last match. Undertaker gets the win including him taking a DDT on the floor. 2-0 at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis.

3-0 - WrestleMania IX - vs. Giant Gonzales. Yeah, this is one of his matches that isn't remembered well. In fact that whole WrestleMania isn't remembered well. The idea was to put Gonzales in a furry costume which looked bad. The whole idea was how Undertaker would respond to having to face a giant of a man bigger than him. The end result was that it wasn't a good match. Undertaker got beaten down and was taken backstage. He returned a few seconds later looking for payback. 3-0 at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.

4-0 - WrestleMania XI - vs. King Kong Bundy. A lot of people can't stand WrestleMania IX. Well, I can't stand WrestleMania XI. That is my least favorite WrestleMania ever. Just a bad show with Shawn/Diesel being the only highlight on it for me. There was no Undertaker at WrestleMania X due to him taking time off from the company. They did the angle at the Royal Rumble where something like 15 guys beat him down in a casket match against Yokozuna. He would return at SummerSlam that year. Against Bundy, I don't have a lot of memories of this match mostly cause I don't try to think about this PPV at all. LOL. This was also during the whole Million Dollar Corporation gimmick but the focus of that was mostly on Bam Bam and LT. 4-0 at the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, CT.

5-0 - WrestleMania XII - vs. Diesel. Ok, here is the one where I was clearly cheering against Undertaker as a fan. At this time in 1996, I was solidly behind Shawn Michaels and his partner in crime, Diesel. I was a big fan of Big Daddy Cool. I liked the build to this match with most opponents being afraid of Undertaker. Diesel was one of the first guys to really be built as I'm not afraid of you. I still remember the interview with Diesel saying "I'm not afraid of the dark". This also culminated in the big triangle that had been going for the WWF title between Undertaker, Bret Hart, and Diesel. Diesel had cost Undertaker the title at The Royal Rumble. Undertaker returned the favor by costing Diesel the title at the In Your House PPV in Louisville by coming up from under the ring during the cage match and pulling Diesel underneath it allowing Bret to retain. The big match would happen at WrestleMania XII. It was a typical big man match but I thought it was solid and have good memories of it. It was the biggest opponent for Undertaker to date at a WrestleMania. 5-0 in Anaheim, CA.

6-0 - WrestleMania XIII - vs. Sycho Sid. This match closed the show in Chicago and unfortunately had to follow the epic Bret Hart/Steve Austin submission match. Shawn Michaels was at ringside doing commentary. There had been a big battle for the title leading up to this show involving several guys including Undertaker, Bret Hart, Sid, Vader, and Shawn Michaels. Shawn of course dropped the title in February leaving the others to battle for it. The culmination of this would be Undertaker winning the WWF title for the second time in his career and getting a big WrestleMania moment. 6-0 in Chicago, IL

7-0 - WrestleMania XIV - vs. Kane. The brothers clash at WrestleMania. The build of this match went back to Kane's debut at the Badd Blood PPV in St. Louis. The match was built up and this was the big face off. Not a lot of memories for me on this match but it was a fine match. 7-0 in Boston.

8-0 - WrestleMania XV - vs. The Big Boss Man. The only cell match to take place on a WrestleMania event. Yeah, it wasn't a good one at all. The finish was disturbing and just didn't do anything for me. This was also during the evil Undertaker era which was just too much as well. Blocked this one out. This is actually one of my least favorite WrestleMania events ever as well. 8-0 in Philadelphia.

9-0 - WrestleMania X-7 - vs. Triple H
Undertaker didn't make WrestleMania 2000 so his next match would be at Wrestlemania X-7 in Houston. This was a big match at the time and one that WWE is not bothering to mention in their current build. Guessing that they want us to forget that they have wrestled before at a WrestleMania. Triple H was on a major role at this point and Undertaker was on to the biker gimmick. Good match that ended up around the building. I remember being such a Triple H fan at the time that I uttered the words after the pinfall of Undertaker winning that this ranks right up there with Hogan/Warrior on garbage moments at WrestleMania. LOL. I was kidding of course. This was part of one of the best WrestleMania events ever. 9-0 at the Astrodome in Houston.

10-0 - WrestleMania X-8 - vs. Ric Flair. The streak continues as Undertaker has to battle a legend. I don't think any of us really expected Flair to be given the win but it intrigued us by having a legend as Flair challenging the streak. My favorite memory of this match had nothing to do with either guy. It involved a run in from Arn Anderson who hit a spinebuster on the Undertaker. It got my room into a big time pop of cheers. It was awesome!! Good back and forth between Undertaker and Flair and it was a solid match. 10-0 at the Skydome in Toronto.

11-0 - WrestleMania XIX - vs. A-Train and the Big Show in a handicap match. Yeah, this is another one of those not great matches. Feels like a pad the stat kind of match for 2003. 11-0 at Safeco Field in Seattle.

12-0 - WrestleMania XX - vs. Kane. This was a very anticipated match from fans based on this being the return of the original Undertaker gimmick. Gone was the biker gimmick and back was the original Undertaker. Big entrance as expected and the MSG crowd ate it up. The match was what it was. It wasn't a classic but the match itself wasn't the attraction. It was the return of the Undertaker. 12-0 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

13-0 - WrestleMania 21 - vs. Randy Orton. I have good memories of this match. This was the build of could Randy Orton add to his list of legends? He was doing the legend killer gimmick at the time and could the youngster end the streak? Really fun match and my big memory of this match was Orton countering Undertaker's chokeslam into a RKO. It looked awesome and got the crowd on its feet. Really fun match. 13-0 at Staples Center in Los Angeles.

14-0 - WrestleMania 22 - vs. Mark Henry. My first thought when this match was announced was that I knew that the streak was safe. If Mark Henry ends the streak, something is wrong. Just felt like a filler kind of match for that year with the streak. This WrestleMania is one of my favorites and it had a hot crowd backing it up. 14-0 in Chicago.

15-0 - WrestleMania 23 - vs. Batista. This match was better than I expected it to be. I'm not a Batista fan which all of you should know by now. LOL. I thought Undertaker got a good solid match out of him. Undertaker won the World Heavyweight title for the first time. 15-0 at Ford Field in Detroit.

16-0 - WrestleMania XXIV - vs. Edge. This was a match that I really looked forward to and got the honor of closing the show. I looked forward to seeing what the two of these guys could do. They had good chemistry. Undertaker wins his second World title which both wins taking place at back to back WrestleMania's. 16-0 at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando.

17-0 - WrestleMania XXV - vs. Shawn Michaels. Well, what can be said here? I mean really. What a match at the 25th anniversary of WrestleMania. Just incredible. One of the best matches in WrestleMania history and one of the best matches that I've ever seen in my life. These two showed everyone just how you work a crowd into a frenzy. We were hanging on every pinfall attempt. There were so many false finishes in this that it just had you cheering. You didn't know when it was going to end and you didn't want it to end! This match had the feel of that the streak could very well end. If anybody was going to do it, it could have been Shawn. After a match that left us exhausted watching, Undertaker's streak continued. The bad thing about this match? They messed up and didn't put it last leaving Triple H and Randy Orton having no chance to get the crowd with them after that. One of the greatest matches ever with Undertaker and Shawn. 17-0 at Reliant Stadium in Houston.

18-0 - WrestleMania XXVI - vs. Shawn Michaels. Streak vs. Career. Which would give? The build to this match started back in January with Shawn wanting his rematch. The story would have Shawn be so obsessed with the streak that nothing else mattered to him. Shawn would get no for an answer for a rematch. So, he would go for the Rumble win so he could challenge him as champion. Shawn would lose and then superkick everyone out of frustration when he was eliminated. The story would have Shawn getting his match after his interference in the Elimination Chamber to cost Undertaker the title. The match was set and a deal was made to have Shawn put up his career. This was a great story build to this match. Great job to WWE cause this gave us a great match to care about. They had yet another classic that had the drama all the way to the end. I still remember watching the finish of Shawn climbing off the mat up to Undertaker while he yelled for Shawn to "just stay down". Shawn then was defiant right to the end with the throat slash and slap to Undertaker's face. This was followed by a jumping tombstone that had me saying that is definitely the finish. No kickout of that monster tombstone. It would be the end of Shawn's career and the two built a great legacy that will have their careers at WrestleMania revolve around each other forever. 18-0 at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Phoenix.

That brings us to WrestleMania XXVII in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. A WrestleMania rematch with Triple H. Will the streak end? I hope not and don't think it will. This streak has become such a great thing in WrestleMania history and deserves to continue. There won't be anything else like this again. I just don't see anyone getting that kind of build. The question for me is just how many WrestleMania matches are we going to see out of Undertaker? I would love to see him go an even 20-0 but he is banged up pretty bad. Can you keep him as an attraction kind of star and have him back next year for another match? I could see it happening. His health is a concern on that one. What a lot of fun it has been though and it's wild to look back on it all.

So, there you go. If anyone has any ideas of stuff like this that you'd like me to do for a future Wrestling List, please let me know.

That is it for tonight. Have a great weekend and get out and enjoy this great weather!! Take care and God bless!!

Raw Thoughts, Victory Road Makes Headlines, & More - March 15, 2011

Welcome to the "it's ok John Cena" edition of The Wrestling List.

Last night's Raw was a solid show from St. Louis. The show opened with that really fun taped segment of The Rock talking to the little kid that was supposed to be John Cena. Really funny and really well done. I laughed quite a bit through it. It's ok, John Cena. You took the ball and ran with it. You didn't run far but you tried. Effort. Funny line there. The show closed with The Miz coming out dressed as The Rock to attack John Cena. I bet that crowd had to be furious when they realized it was Miz and it took a few seconds for the fans to realize that it wasn't Rock. It was that convincing. I have to say that Snooki wasn't bad in her role last night. She was the guest star of the night and was put out there during the Trish Stratus/Vickie Guerrero match. LayCool hit the ring and took out Trish helping Vickie get the win which gets her hired on Raw. Then, Michelle got in Snooki's face and she went after LayCool. Trish got back up and going. The two of them along with John Morrison got the best of LayCool, Vickie, and Dolph Ziggler. Now, you know I love seeing Trish back in the ring so that was great for me as a fan. Randy Orton got the huge hometown pop with his entrance. He took out the last member of Nexus that Punk had with a punt to the head. That leaves Orton and Punk one on one. When Cole announced that he had a surprise from Lawler's past, I called it right saying it would be Brian Christopher. My reasoning was that they already had Cole talking about family previously so I thought maybe they'd go down that road again. Wasn't it just bizarre to see Christopher back on TV? I wondered how many of the fans knew who he was with this new generation of fans. After that confrontation, we had another one with JR and Cole. Great to see JR back on Raw. Just wish we could get him back in that announce booth. Swagger takes out Lawler leaving JR against him and Cole. I thought it did a good job of getting more heat on that match. Sheamus is the new U.S. champion after defeating Bryan with a boot countering Bryan's top rope move. Sheamus had put his career on the line so it was clear who was going to win the match.

Other notes from Raw. I laughed a lot when I saw them go on the air with Cole in his protected table. I thought that was hilarious. Although, he made a big deal about how he was staying in the box away from Lawler. Then, a few seconds later the GM sound goes off and he walks out right past Lawler. That made no sense as I just thought why are you leaving the box??!!! Cole is a really good heel character. Notice that I said heel "character". I don't like a heel play by play announcer that takes the attention off the talent in the ring. If they would just make him a character and have him as the mouthpiece for Swagger, I think it would help. I just don't like him dominating the talk especially like last week where he stopped the divas match telling everyone how lousy that it was. That doesn't do a thing to help the talent. Like I said, I loved the Rock segment. Laughed at it a lot. Rock and that kid played off of each other really well. So, I guess Snooki got Kelly Kelly's spot in the WrestleMania match. The rumor had been that six person tag but with Kelly involved with Trish and Morrison. Fun to see the promos with Edge and Christian's reunion being pushed. Loved that tag team.

TNA's Victory Road PPV is making all sorts of headlines..….mostly for the wrong reasons. If you missed the happenings, here we go. The main event went around 90 seconds in length. Yes, the main event went for that long. Sting taking on Jeff Hardy. Eric Bischoff made his way to the ring to announce that this match was now going to be a no DQ match. Sting went right at Hardy landing punches followed by the scorpion death drop and got the pin to retain the title. The crowd was really mad afterwards with chants that were heard over TV. So, the question is what was going on with that finish? Well, there is reasoning behind it and then I'll follow with my criticism of the way this all got handled. Jeff was said to not be in good condition backstage. They went with the quick finish with Sting making sure to hold him down. If Hardy is in that kind of condition backstage, why do you do the match? Why not change the booking? This company does all sorts of last minute booking including them not even having matches announced for this PPV as of about a week ago. Somebody backstage didn't say that we shouldn't send Jeff out there? The backlash has been big among fans as you would expect. People pay money for a show and when you deliver a minute and a half main event, people are going to complain. When this company is trying to draw in PPV buys as it is, this kind of thing doesn't help. So, what is the fallout of this situation? Well, Hardy was sent home from the tapings on Monday. No word yet on potential longterm punishment type scenarios. Sting was said to be very professional considering the situation that he was put in. Fans are furious over it. So, here is my rant over this situation. I blame TNA on this deal. They have made a lot of decisions lately that have made me think, hmm ok. Why do you have this match even happen? Shoot a segment backstage with something happening to Hardy and change up the match. Do something to warrant a change in the main event. It short changed the fans that spent $35 on the PPV, turned off your fan base, and was just a bad decision all around. I don't know what happened with Hardy obviously but there should have been some better decision making here than what they went with.

On the bright side of Victory Road, I am hearing really good things about the AJ Styles/Matt Hardy match on the show. Sounded like it was really good. Actually, several of the matches were said to be good but it's going to be hard for that to overshadow the main event.

Drew Carey is the latest inductee into the WWE Hall Of Fame. Hmm, ok. I think he has made two appearances ever. I know of the 2001 Royal Rumble appearance which was shown last night. It was a funny twist into the Rumble and all of us watching that night got a good laugh out of it especially when we realized that Kane would likely be the next entrant. Now, I think he has appeared again on WWE TV in the last couple of years, right? I think he has but maybe I'm wrong. Yeah, I know they like to put a celebrity in every year but there are so many celebrities that have made many more appearances. I like Drew but this is just a bizarre kind of pick.

WWE is currently airing their March Mania tournament in the shorties section of WWE Classics On Demand. I spoke of this last week. Well, Hogan was a 1 seed and Big Boss Man was a 8 seed. They showed a match from MSG that resulted in a DQ win for the Boss Man. That puts Hogan out and my first thought was wow, they really don't like Hogan right now. LOL. I do enjoy waiting to see what matches that they are going to pick to show with these brackets. When I saw Sting vs. Muta in the first round, I thought well, they'll show either the Bash 89 or Starrcade 89 match. I was wrong. They showed a rare match from the old Power Hour show from 1989. I forgot all about that match and loved seeing it. Way to go WWE. Way to pick a rarity instead of the same matches we've seen over and over.

There are some in the business that I would love to see drop their Twitter accounts. It hasn't been a good thing for them. There are some that have really used it well and it has been a great vehicle for them to keep in touch with fans and promote stuff that they're doing. However, there are some that really need to probably just not use Twitter.

That is it for this week. Take care and God bless all of you!!

Austin Returns On Raw, & More - March 8, 2011

Welcome to the "JBL's return last night put a William Regal sour looking face on me" edition of The Wrestling List.

Well, all of the returns can't be good. However one was and that was the return of Stone Cold Steve Austin. Michael Cole brought out JBL as the surprise referee for Cole and Lawler at WrestleMania. It was then interrupted by Austin who took out JBL and then he signed the contract to become the special referee. Austin then poured beer on a very upset Michael Cole. He got in the ring and did the toast tease with JBL followed by a stunner. More celebration from Austin and the classic mess with the camera guy moment where he started chasing the camera guy on the ramp. It looked like he was having a lot of fun out there. You could see the huge grin on his face when he walked toward that first ring corner during his entrance. So, in 2011, we're talking about Austin but we're also talking about Rock. Cena had his followup promo to last week's Rock segment. He went with a hip hop type theme this week instead of the rap. Cena held up his own version of Rock's new shirt that said "I Bring It Via Satellite". He basically told the Rock to just show up for a change. The segment ended with Miz attacking Cena and laying him out while he boasted about himself to Cena and also introducing himself to the Rock over the camera. Really thinking we'll see Rock next week from St. Louis. Just my prediction. Speaking of who is in St. Louis, Trish Stratus will be on the show as it was announced by the Raw GM that she will take on Vickie Guerrero. Always going to be happy to have Trish back on TV. Triple H and Undertaker continue their war of words back and forth. Probably better expect that more than anything. Undertaker is really banged up and word is that his arm is past the point of no return on fixing it. He has been working through it and putting off surgery. It's been so long that it can't be surgically repaired now. That was the story going around and then Kevin Nash confirmed it in recent comments.

Other notes from Raw. When I saw Austin putting up fingers on the entrance, I thought, well, so much for PG again. Then, I noticed the director moving those cameras in closer on him when he raised his arms so you couldn't see it. I have got to say that Undertaker walking out to that Johnny Cash song really does add something different to that entrance. Did you hear the fan yell "Houston" at R Truth just as he was about to yell "Dallas, TX"? I laughed at that which is playing off of Truth messing up a few weeks ago on yelling where he was at. I am enjoying the taped pieces with Shawn Michaels talking about Triple H and Undertaker. I have to say that I laughed at the new commercial with Randy Orton just popping up and hanging out sitting in the house with the family.

Last night's Hall Of Fame inductee was named and it wasn't as surprise as this name has been talked about for a while now. Sunny. Tammy Sytch is going into the WWE Hall Of Fame and rightfully so. I'm a long time fan of hers going back to her Smoky Mountain days. I remember reading so much about her in the Apter magazines back in the day and there was a lot of talk about her. So, I bought a Smoky Mountain Wrestling tape to see what all the talk was about. I became a fan of hers and of Candido's. Needless to say that I was very happy when she jumped over to WWF. She was one of those managers that wasn't afraid to mix it up physically and verbally. She then was put into the tag team ranks with her story of that she would jump with whatever team had the gold. I thought that was a lot of fun and yes, I jumped to whatever team that she did too. LOL. 1996 was the big launch of Sunny when WWF had their site on AOL. They would post downloadable pictures of her on the site and she became the most downloaded person on the internet. It was a huge deal at the time. Sunny was the launching pad for the future divas. She opened the door for women like Sable and Marlena to be a female star attraction in the company and not just be sidekicks. She ran into personal problems which really hurt her career in the late 90's. In the last several years, she has made a comeback after going through such terrible adversity including the loss of Candido. Things are going much better in her life and it's great to see. This is a woman that deserves the Hall Of Fame honors. She was a trail blazer for women in this business. The original WWE "diva" as far as the line of them that happened from the late 90's on up to today. Yes, there were women before her that opened the door for her obviously but she took it to another level as well. Happy to see her go into the Hall Of Fame.

Things are getting ugly in a war of words between Hulk Hogan and Bret Hart on Twitter. Wow, UGLY. No love lost between those two.

So, I tend to disagree with a lot of Eric Bischoff says lately but I do tend to agree with him on a statement that he had made recently on his Facebook page. He said that the number of PPV's needed to be dropped down in TNA and how a PPV a month worked in the 90's but just doesn't work now. This has been talked about a lot in recent years with PPV buyrates. I know I've had this conversation with a bunch of you over the years. Remember back in the day when we had the big four PPV's in WWE. It was WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Rumble, and Survivor Series. Later, King Of The Ring was added. WCW back around that same time was running Wrestle War, Great American Bash, Halloween Havoc, and Starrcade. The shows felt important. Keep in mind that WWF was running Saturday Night's Main Event shows just about every month. WCW was running Clash Of Champions shows. My question is would the business be better off maybe running a PPV every other month and just scaling back a bit? From a WWE point of view, I'm not sure it would work cause their bottom line is really focused on needing that monthly PPV money. They're not going to budge off of that. There have been a lot of WWE PPV's over the last few years that just felt thrown together at the last minute and have no hype to it at all to make you want to buy it. However, WWE loves that PPV money. WWE knows how to make money and my only complaint is their fix being to raise the PPV prices every year or so. From a match build point of view, I think they could make PPV interest higher with a lower number of shows. Revenue wise, I just don't think it would work for them. However from a TNA point of view, we don't know their buyrate numbers because they don't release them. I can't think that they are something to be jumping up and down about though based on their ratings. I think TNA could be in a good position to gamble. Scale back the number of PPV's. If anything, maybe just do some random TV specials with a Clash kind of feel to them. It would be different and then you don't have to worry about building to a PPV every single month. You can build to a smaller number of PPV's on these shows. On another note, TNA really needs to get out of that Impact Zone more. A change of scenery does them good because it just makes the product feel different.

Bret Hart has been answering a lot of questions from fans on Twitter and it has been a lot of fun to read. He is very honest. Just thought I'd throw out some highlights on comments he has made. He and Shawn Michaels do stay in touch are on good terms. His favorite PPV that he was on was the Calgary Stampede show with the awesome crowd reaction from the Canadian crowd in 1997. His favorite match: Austin at Wrestlemania 13. His least favorite was against Backlund at WrestleMania 11 which he says is because of the match stipulation instead of the opponent. He talks about his problems with the match in his book by the way. This next one goes back to the war of words between he and Hogan this week as he was asked if Hogan ducked him back in WWF and Bret says yes, he absolutely did. Bret talks in his book about how he and Hogan were set to face off against each other at SummerSlam 1993 and how the match was all set to take place including them talking about it. Hogan then left and dropped the title to Yokozuna at King Of The Ring. Bret wasn't happy about it at the time including the happenings of WrestleMania IX and apparently still isn't. He did also say that Hogan and Bischoff needed to be tarred and feathered as to what needed to be done to help TNA. This got the Hart/Hogan war of words started but it got way personal after that. His favorite match that he wasn't involved with is the Lesnar/Angle match from WrestleMania XIX. His response to Michael Cole was him saying that Cole does a terrible job of putting over the talent and that he couldn't lace Jim Ross's boots. On who he would like to wrestle today, he named Orton, Cena, and Sheamus. His favorite angle that he was involved in? The USA vs. Canada angle with the new Hart Foundation in 1997. Yeah, that was awesome!! His favorite time period as champion was 1997. One of his favorite matches of all time was his match with Diesel at the 1995 Survivor Series while he also pointed out that the table wasn't gimmicked. He was asked if he holds any ill will to Goldberg for the kick that ended up ending his career and Bret said that he never had any and had great respect for Goldberg while saying that what happened was an accident. Favorite female wrestlers? Melina, Nattie Neidhart, Beth Phoenix, and of course Gail Kim. He was asked about if he would like to induct Shawn into the Hall Of Fame and he said he would like to but Triple H makes more sense. Bret said that Cena is one of the hardest working guy sin WWE history. He put over Miz and Punk as guys that he enjoys from today's product. Interesting comments from Bret.

Have a great week! Take care and God bless!!

Raw Thoughts, Jericho, TNA, WWE Classics, & More - March 2, 2011

Last night's Raw saw a lot of familiar faces on it with returns including Rock, Triple H, and Shawn Michaels. Rock and Shawn were taped segments of course but it was still great stuff. I loved Rock's promo going back at Cena. Rock blasted Cena saying how dare he criticize him for leaving WWE and going to Hollywood and Rock said that he blew the door wide open for other talents in WWE to make a move to entertainment as well. He had a lot of other great points that he shot back at Cena with that was good. It was a very serious promo. Well, except for the beginning with Rock wearing the Cena cap sideways and mocking the "you can't see me". Rock did say that he would be seeing Cena at WrestleMania but told Cena that he will be seeing him before then. A definite tease of a Rock/Cena face to face on an upcoming Raw. Triple H opened Raw saying how there wasn't anyone in the locker room that he hadn't beaten and said that Undertaker was the only guy for him. From what I've heard, this did not go over well with a lot of the talents in the locker room that were watching that and felt disrespected. Speaking of disrespected, that brings me to Sheamus. Wow, that poor guy. He was getting pushed to the moon and even put out Triple H. So, Sheamus comes out to confront Triple H. Then, he gets squashed huge including getting pedigreed through the announce table. Who did Sheamus make mad behind the scenes is what many have been wondering for weeks? Evan Bourne also made his return to Raw and defeated Sheamus who had just been taking out by Triple H. Jerry Lawler and Michael Cole is on for WrestleMania. In the corner of Cole will be Jack Swagger. Shawn Michaels was part of a pre tape where he talked about Undertaker vs. Triple H.

The Raw ratings are up with the show recently doing a 3.8. The big returns have got the viewers coming in.

I have already read over 250 pages of the new Chris Jericho book. I would also like to point out that I read all of that in one day. If I had more hours in that day, I would have finished it. It is that good and hard to put down. I laughed out loud just barely into it when he talked about an old foe of his that returned that has been with him through his career. If you read the first book, you'll know it when you read it. He has a lot of interesting stories about dealing with Vince McMahon, how he struggled early on in WWE, out of the ring tales, and great stories about The Rock who he names as his favorite opponent. The foreward of the book is written by Mick Foley where he talks about Jericho may now have the best wrestling book in history after reading his first book. I can already tell you just by reading a little over half of this book, pick it up. Do yourself a favor and get it.

It was announced this week that Chris Jericho will be competing on the new season of Dancing With The Stars.

Big news last week out of WWE with them signing Mistico from Mexico. He is going to go by the name of Sin Cara in WWE.

It was announced on WWE.com this week that Bob Armstrong is going into the Hall Of Fame. There is talk also of Abdullah The Butcher going in.

So, TNA's 3/3/11 video? Oh wow. I don't even know what to say and I'm not speaking excitement. TNA pushed to watch the last few minutes of Impact with a big surprise. The result was a video that spoofed WWE's 2/21/11 video. Right down to the graphic. This video for 3/3/11 was pushing Sting. Ok, I get that they are trying to play off of the fact that a lot of fans were speculating that Sting might be coming to WWE. However, I just get tired of TNA playing off of WWE all the time. There is always mentions of I did this or that in WWE instead of talking about TNA. I have heard the spoiler for what happens involving Sting on tomorrow night's Impact so tune in if you want. I just can't take that show. Like I've said countless times, I want to like their show. I want to. Why do they always choose to make me not want to tune in? That can be said for so many people unfortunately. The foundation is there. If they could creatively get that company going, they could do something.

Speaking of TNA, a wedding involving Jarrett and Angle and the kids? Seriously??!!

WWE Classics On Demand is doing their second annual March Mania tournament. Basically, they play off of the NCAA tournament. They have a bracket with all the superstars on it. Let's say that the first round has Savage vs. Santana. If Savage moves on, they'll play a match with Savage getting the win. Then, they'll find a match with whoever he faces in the second round from wrestling history. It's kind of fun. They also let you fill out a bracket online. I try to think ahead and see who has faced who and won. I am not sure about the whole concept of WWE doing some interviews with it this year. They had a "play in" bracket which is currently airing. Well, Joey Styles interviews William Regal who is talking about how he has faced Larry Zybysco before and how he'd beat him this time. Now, keep in mind that he is cutting a promo talking about how he is going to win....a match that has already happened. The really bizarre one that just struck me odd was that they interviewed The Brooklyn Brawler. He cuts a promo about how he is going to win his match in the March Mania "play in". He cuts a promo on...The Big Boss Man. He talks about how if Boss Man shows up that he is going down. Yes, he was cutting a promo about a guy that passed away several years ago. It was weird. Really weird. I get that WWE is looking to have fun with the tournament but can't you pick a different match to do a promo with.

This month's Hall Of Fame profile on WWE Classics is on The Million Dollar Man including matches and moments. That should be good stuff. The new roundtable show will be airing as well which will be a panel including Bret Hart. This particular panel looks really strong and I look forward to hearing it.

I am happy to see that the Prime Time Wrestling airings are now up to February 1989 on WWE Classics which is after the MegaPowers exploded on. I have not seen the Savage promos on Hogan in a long time and am looking forward to seeing them. If you don't remember them, Savage did these long taped interviews where he would recount the year and show his take of the videos of how Hogan had been going behind his back all year.

Have a great rest of the week!! Take care and God bless!!