Apologies for the lack of these lately, holidays, traveling, and job took up much of my time lately. I heard Jericho stopped by on Raw and smiled at everyone for 10 minutes. Today’s topic will revolve around wrestler’s debuts.

The Good – 1999 - Chris Jericho’s WWF Debut

Talk about a polar opposite from his recent return, he went on and on in this promo while the Rock watched for much it. I feel like this was one of the most anticipated debuts in recent memory, seems like a lot of people still mention this in random forums or blogs that I come across. Everything worked here; the countdown, the music, Jericho’s pose, and subsequent rant. Oh not to mention he went head to head against the Rock, not too shabby!

The Bad – 2006 - Great Khali Destroys the Undertaker

I’m not a fan of the Great Khali, that is no secret. I was looking through debuts and forgot that he came out and destroyed the Undertaker for all to see. I get that this helps put Khali over as a monster, but it’s still bad to me. A living legend getting jobbed out to that clown just irks me. I’m all for putting over young talent (Khali was 33 at the time, not exactly young), but the WWE had to know even then, Khali wasn’t going to be some main event level superstar. When they actually did push him, he wasn’t medically cleared to be in a much hyped Punjabi Prison match. There was even a time the WWE didn’t trust him on live TV, but I’m going off topic, so moving.

The Gobbledy – 1995 - The Yeti Breaks Out!

Talk about a funny debut, lights blinking, cut to "ice block", firework blast, Yeti busts out, and the camera shows it for 3 seconds then cuts out. "What is that??" indeed Tony Schiavone! There’s really not much to say about The Yeti, I’m sure most of you have seen his humping of Hulk Hogan. It was a horrible idea with an even worse costume, the character only lasted a few appearances before being changed to a ninja, much better…

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That’s it for 1/5/12, when I started this topic, Shockmaster came to mind, but I refused to put that in, leave the guy alone, he was Tugboat!

When you think wrestling and tables, what comes to mind?

"D-Von! Get the tables!"

Or maybe it's Mike Awesome’s Awesome Bomb, or simply Sabu’s crazy ass smashing through one. Tables are one of the most popular weapons in pro wrestling today, going from a random spot in a match, to an actual match (TLC or Tables Match), to being part of a themed pay-per-view (PPV) in the WWE.

Let’s take a look at how the tables have evolved over the years.

The Early Years

Tables didn’t go mainstream until ECW showed up, but there were a few moments before then that the table was used. One of the earliest I found was Macho Man Randy Savage piledriving Ricky Morton through a table in June of 1984. As you’ll hear in the video the crowd was legitimately shocked by the move, since nothing like it had been seen before.

Continue reading this post »

Everyone has their guilty pleasures, could be a type of food, a celebrity, or a singer/band that might be embarrassing if told to others. This is no different in the wrestling world, there are "cooler" wrestlers that people can cheer for and not get hazed, but what about the other guys and gals? Well here’s my admission to my two favorite guilty pleasures in the wrestling world. I hope in the comments some of you post yours as well, don’t leave me hanging!

Goldust

via media.charleston.net

He’s one of my all-time favorites, then and still now. To me, he could do no wrong; his mind games with Roddy Piper and Razor Ramon, Marlena, tagging with Booker, getting Tourette syndrome via massive electrical shock, and finally his feud with Ted Dibiase Jr where he ended up steal the Million Dollar belt.

He’s been able to pull off being a solid heel and face, being creepy/serious or flat out funny. At one point he was a serious mid-card contender in the WWF and held the Intercontinental belt three times. I find it difficult though to show others his classic moments, when I’m asked who are some of my favorite wrestlers. Most recently I showed my girlfriend some clips and she just responded with "Why..." and would just stare silently. Oh well, he’s great, and wish he got more TV time so a new generation of fans could remember the name…ooooo…Gooooldust!

Alicia Fox

via cdn.bleacherreport.net

This is probably the worst time to bring her up after she was booked to squash both Natalya and Beth Phoenix (blowing up her face in the process), and gave horrible post-match promos after each one. I don’t care though; I like her spunk and that strange hoodie thing she wears to the ring. She’s a bit wild in the ring, but so was RVD and everyone loved him! I think she actually sells better than most of the Divas, and has some interesting moves. She still needs work on the mic, and some more time in the ring, but I’m a fan. I almost think she would be better going back to a heel with the fierce attitude and walk to the ring. She was a model before the WWE, so she didn’t exactly work her way up, and I should be a fan of Kharma/Natalya/Beth Phoenix, but I’m not, sorry.

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So there you go, my two picks, it’s the holiday season so don’t clown me too much. Who are your guilty pleasures? Post in the comments Cagesiders, if you dare!

Welcome to the final part of my series, if you missed part 1 (Click Here) or part 2 (Click Here), thanks!

Wrestling Figures Become a Necessity

via www.wrestlingfigs.com

via www.wrestlingfigs.com

Starting in the 1990’s it seemed like any wrestling company that made it to a certain level of popularity production of wrestling figures was needed. In 1996 (lasted until 1998) The Original San Francisco Toy Makers company produced WCW's second line, and boy did they suck. First they basically copied the LJN style the WWF did years earlier, and then went onto a second more possible figure with horrible detail. If you ever want Gillberg figure just grab the Goldberg figure from this line. This line is hardly thought of by collectors today, overall pretty easy to get any of the figures from it.

via www.wrestlingfigs.com

via www.wrestlingfigs.com

In 1999, the San Francisco Toy Makers produced the first ECW line. This set only lasted for a year, but was much improved compared to the previous WCW line. Aside from the figures being just better overall, this line focused on the accessories, and for me, this made the set. Again only some of the limited figures are harder to find today, everything else can be found pretty regularly on eBay.

via www.wrestlingfigs.com

Also in 1999 WCW switched over to Toybiz to produce their figures, a confusing conglomerate of one series after another (Click Here to see). This line would change radically, some had magnets on their hands and other looked like comic book heroes, no real long running sets unfortunately. This line only lasted until 2001 right around the time WCW was bought out.

via www.wrestlingfigs.com

Toybiz eventually got back into wrestling figures when they developed the TNA line from 2005-2007.

The King is Here!

via ttfigures.com

To start I ound a nice summary on Wiki of the longest running wrestling figure line ever:

"Production of WWE toys by the Jakks Pacific Corporation began in 1996, and ended in December 2009. Jakks started with the "Superstars" line. This continued until The Attitude Era where they began producing figures known as "WWF Titantron Live Figures" which contained a micro-chip that would trigger the specific Superstars entrance theme to play when used with "The Titantron" playset; they were also compatible with other products such as the "Trash Talkin' Stage." In 2003, Jakks started production of its most popular figure line, "Ruthless Aggression". These were a basic figure, often packaged with an accessory and featured 15 points of articulation. These figures went on to become the figures also featured in the "WWE Classic Superstars" line, showcasing the legends and alumni of WWE. In 2006, Jakks began producing figures with 27 points of articulation, known as "WWE Deluxe Aggression". These even found their way into their own Classic Line, known as "WWE Classic Deluxe"."

via ttfigures.com

via ttfigures.com

The Jakks Classic line, is by far my favorite wrestling figure line, it has over 300 different figures including single, tag team, 3-packs, and many exclusives. I think this line had great combination of size, possibility, detail, awesome packaging, and accessories. Carded figures here range from five dollars to thousands if you go after some of the exclusives. I think this will be a series collectors go nuts for in the future. Jakks currently makes TNA Figures in basically the same style as they did for the WWE series.

Mattel: Present and Future

via ttfigures.com

via ttfigures.com

Since January of 2010 Mattel took over WWE’s image, a major difference compared to Jakks was the change in height, no longer was Rey Mysterio the same as Kane. Mattel has looked to improve detail and added more clothing to their figures. Overall I think they are a bit on the cartoon side, and not a fan of their size, but they are extremely popular especially the Elite (current wrestlers with high details) and Legend (Old-School wrestlers) lines that are currently out. Mattel signed a long term contract with the WWE so it will be interesting to see what innovations they come up with in the coming years.

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Hope you enjoyed, there is so much more to add onto this topic, I’ll stop for fear of rambling. If you have any questions about wrestling figures please don’t hesitate to ask in the comments.

The Good – WWE Champions; Punk, Bryan, Ryder, Rhodes, Air Boom, and Beth Phoenix

After last night the WWE has a set of champions that are all solid in my eyes. We have yet to see how Bryan and Ryder handle being champs, but they definitely have momentum and the fans on their side to succeed. In 2011, Punk skyrocketed to being the promotions second biggest commodity, behind Cena and just ahead of Orton, with his anti-establishment gimmick shining through. Rhodes has turned into one of the top heels the WWE has right now with his old-school comic book villain style. Air Boom has breathed some life into the tag division; now they just need some opponents. Finally, Beth Phoenix has given some legitimacy to the Diva’s title and should get a long run into 2012. Congrats WWE, I think you have satisfied the masses ... for now.

Honorable Mentions:

• On Raw, Big Show smashing a table with both fists, chopping the hell out of Wade Barrett into the ring, and punching a chair shot.
• Christian’s promos on Raw and Tribute to the Troops (Tribute to the Canadian Army!). He’s gold on the mic.
• Primo and Epico beating Air Boom twice this week then winning against another actual tag team in the Usos.
• On Smackdown, the first 15 minutes is worth watching with Cody, Booker, and Bryan. Mark Henry laying out Swagger and a camera man. The shot on the camera man was vicious. Finally, I’m glad WWE is turning Dibiase Jr. face, and he’s spending money to make friends. His heel run didn’t work at all, even with the lovely Maryse by his side.

The Bad and the Gobbledy after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

The art of a backstage promo can be tricky, sometimes they come across masterfully (Ric Flair) or horribly (The Shockmaster). Watching multiple promotions closely I noticed a distinct difference between them, let’s take a look

The Good - TNA

via img694.imageshack.us

The way they do their promos is awesome; it’s fresh, usually not corny, and even the lightning is on point (Click Here for an example, ignore the dumb sunglasses). The use of a "hidden camera" spying on wrestlers as they talk works really well. TNA mixes things up nicely, at times the wrestlers will recognize there is a camera on them, other times they don’t, or a one-on-one interview is used to convey the message. Wrestlers walk down hallways or backstage areas and the additional lighting and shadows is creative and adds that much more drama to the situation. Whoever steered TNA to this style of promo, kudos to you!

The Bad - WWE

via flyingelbow.ca

WWE gets this spot because I feel like their promos have gone stale over the years. It’s pretty much the same with a generic walk to the ring, GM’s office conversation, or a one-on-one with an announcer. Once in awhile they will do a group backstage promo like on the recent Holiday Smackdown. When compared to previous eras I think today, WWE promos have lost their edge. It has nothing to do with PG rating; wrestlers just don’t put in the effort like a Macho Man, Hulk Hogan, or even a crazy ass Ultimate Warrior. I think back to some of Jake "The Snake" Roberts’ promos, he never lost his mind (except for that one time), and was cold and calculating as to what he would do to his opponent. WWE has the talent and funds to improve this area, so step your game up.

The Gobbledy – Ring of Honor

via media.damnfunnypictures.com

At first I didn’t mind Ring of Honor’s style, but now I find it annoying since every wrestler does it. If you don’t know what I’m talking about when a wrestler cuts a promo the TV audience will see them looking slightly to the left or right for the entire time. They don’t do a hip MTV-like cut back and forth between the two cameras, so sometimes the wrestler is looking at you. Nope all we see is them talking slightly to the side, which to me comes off as awkward. I’m guessing they are doing it like an interviewer is talking to them, but as a viewer I don’t connect at if it’s done all the time. The intensity is lost when the wrestler never once looks at you...not that I really want the Briscoes looking at me, creeeeeepy...

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That's it for 12/17/11, who do you think currently is the best at the backstage promo? Leave a comment, post a link, I'm out!

So for today I finally watched the J.R. rapping clip from Monday Night, heard it was so awful that I refused to watch J.R. embarrass himself. After seeing it, I got my topic for the day, rapping.

The Good – Christian

It’s short, funny, and worked well (crowd loved it). The post-rap commentary is amusing too, "Mark, what’s up?" Good job Christian, usually I dislike when people rap that have no business doing it.

The Bad – K-Kwik and Road Dogg

Oh man, this combo, what a treat whenever they came to the ring. Their dance moves are so funny to watch, with the silly camera turning. I almost gave this to R-Truth and Miz with their recent performances, but Road Dogg breaks the tie with those overalls.

The Gobbledy – J.R.

That was the longest minute of my life, poor J.R. Why can’t the guy just sit and do play by play, he’s amazing at it! No, instead the writers would rather put him through this garbage. This would have gone into the bad section even if J.R. could remember his few lines, but wow that was rough!

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That's it for 12/15/11, short and sweet today, have a good (or bad) wrestling rap clip? Leave a link in the comments!

If you haven’t been to a house show, I highly recommend checking one out; it’s much different than going to a Raw/televised show. I’ve been to one Raw and I remember two things; it was hot as hell and I was lucky enough to see the following: HHH, Angle, Flair, Michaels, Stone Cold, Kane, and Muhammad Hassan! Here’s the ending to the Raw I saw live:

With a televised show there is some downtime thanks to commercials, so it can be really slow. Plus any backstage segments can be tough to hear being in the crowd. The positive is they have a dark match that the TV crowd won’t get to see. These shows are great because of their star power, but I much prefer house shows.

TNA House Show via ttfigures.com

I’ve been to 10+ house shows (WWE ECW/Smackdown/Raw/TNA), not a crazy amount, but enough to be able to pick up a couple things to share.

Orton dumping Cena in front of me via ttfigures.com

CM Punk w/ Bald Guy via ttfigures.com

• Unless I’m in the first or second row, I don’t like floor seats. I was four rows back once and couldn’t believe how much I missed when random clowns would stand up continuously during matches or to get beers (stepped on my posted too!). The second issues with floor seats (WWE/TNA Shows) is they are connected, I went with my buddies who were mostly football players, needless to there was no room at all. Plus people get food/drink/merchandise, not much room at all. So unless you’re going with a group of tiny people, hit the elevated seats, it's a bit more spacious, and overall view is better.

• Get there early, if nothing to get a good parking spot, and an early place in line before the doors open. Once in, some arenas allows you to see the back entrance (or actually outside to it) and you can watch wrestlers show up. It’s cool to see who comes to the show together, and sometimes get an autograph.

• If you hate you're seats, don’t be afraid to move around once the show gets started. If you notice the show isn’t exactly packed, and see some empty sections (assuming ushers aren't checking tickets) get to them. I went with a group of 4 to a WWE ECW show, and while the audience was small, we were in the middle with tons of other people. Lot of kids were around us, and I felt like we couldn’t have fun (swear) so we moved to an empty section, most fun show I’ve been to.

Bryan vs. Sheamus via ttfigures.com

• House shows are much more interactive with the live crowd; they talk a lot to people around the ring, and try to get the crowd involved with claps or body language mid-match. Divas and lower/mid card guys get more time as well. Many times they have the best matches as the main event guys tend to phone in their matches for smaller crowds. So don't be afraid to yell out to your favorite superstar, they may respond.
  

• Pack light, I’m talking wallet, keys, phone, and camera. Maybe I’m just picky, but I like to just focus on the action, I see some people with all these huge coats, food, beer, and merchandise that don’t even watch the show. They end up being focused on all the crap around them.

Post TNA Show Signings via ttfigures.com

• Stick around after TNA house shows, fighters come out for pictures and sign things for free. WWE almost always is done when the show ends so no need to hang around, unless you can get outside to see the wrestlers leave or grab an autograph.

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Hope this helps, going to these shows are a lot of fun, especially when you bring someone who hasn't seen wrestling live. If you have any tips from your house show experiences, please leave a comment.

For Part 1 (Click Here)

The WWF's First Line

via ttfigures.com

In 1984 the WWF was riding high off their new found popularity thanks to their quality roster and Wrestlemania. To continue into the mainstream a wrestling figure set was made by LJN. The line lasted until 1989 and ended up being the largest lineup (click here for full lineup) of wrestling figures to date. Much like the Popy line, LJN went with a larger solid rubber style, that again wasn’t great for playing, but look awesome when displayed (8" tall). This is my second favorite line of figures ever, the details were pretty amazing considering the time they were produced. Each figure also came with a poster that is pretty desirable today for the rare figures.

The last series is by far the most expense today. The most popular are Andre the Giant (black strap), Ultimate Warrior, Haku, The Warlord, and a mail-away of Sgt. Slaughter. On card these go for hundreds, I’ve seen Warrior go for $800 multiple times. There are some other popular ones like the Bret Hart single card (limited release), and the Hart Foundation tag team in box, which has sold for over $1000 in good condition.

AWA Remco’s Short Run

via ttfigures.com

This lineup started in 1985, and only went until 1986, but is desired by collectors today since they were produced in limited quantity. These figures are about 4 inches tall, had more accessories, and moveable limbs for better playability. Some cool first figures of The Road Warriors, Shawn Michaels, and Marty Jannetty are included in this line (click here for lineup).

Again the last series, titled Mat Mania is the most popular today. Since the line was ending, very few figures made it to retail stores. On card some of the most rare can go for thousands of dollars, last year on eBay 3 from the Mat Mania series sold for $12,000! (Not a typo). Loose/out of package figures from the last series go for $100-$500.

Hasbro Figures Make Waves

via ttfigures.com

Topping the size of the LJN line, Hasbro was able to crank out 11 single figure series, with a host of other lines (click here for lineup). This line was built around a smaller size (4") and a specific action (spring-loaded punch or jumping action). The line ran from 1990-1994, I remember see loads of these figures on the toy racks, and wish I purchased more.

via ttfigures.com

This line was popular then, and is extremely popular still today, especially in Europe, people go nuts trying to collect everything from Hasbro thanks to the multiple variants and errors that were produced. A majority of them can be found at reasonable prices, and since they are smaller they take up less space to display. If you haven’t noticed a trend yet, the last series is the hardest to find. 1-2-3 Kid, Evil Crush, and Ludvig Borga are among the toughest to track down. Along with rare mail-away figures almost two decades later people are still highly devoted to this line.

WCW Gets Into the Mix

via ecx.images-amazon.com

This series ran from 1990-1991 and was made by Galoob, the figures were about 5" tall and were a hard plastic mold. The lineup (Click Here) has all the classic WCW wrestlers; Flair, Luger, Sting, and the Steiner Brothers. Majority of these figures go for reasonable prices, there was a set that was only sold in UK, on card those go for around $100-$200.

Figures Made in Mexico

via ttfigures.com

In 1994 the toy line Kelian developed a string of figures for the most popular wrestling organization in Mexico, AAA. This group included the first figures of Rey Mysterio Jr, Konnan, Psicosis, La Parka, and Juventud Guerrero. These were in the same style as the LJN, but smaller and a bit less bendy.

This line is not as well known as the others, and only a "collector's collector" will know to look for this line. These guys usually go for under one-hundred dollars, whether carded or loose.

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I'm guessing more of you will remember these lines, so which figure was your favorite? In the next (and final) part I will talk about the king, the present, and the future of wrestling figures! (Click Here for part 3)

Since Kane has returned, seems appropriate to dedicate today to him. It’s Kane! It’s Kane!

The Good – The Beginning

To put it simply, I was a huge fan of the whole storyline with the Undertaker. His bad ass monster gimmick worked perfectly during the Attitude Era, he would silently come out and destroy everyone to get Taker's attention. The interesting twist was that Undertaker refused to fight Kane for quite a while. This time period brought in some new gimmick matches such as the Inferno (first to burn) and First Blood (first to bleed, duh) to the WWF. It's a shame he didn't get a longer title reign during this era of his character.

The Bad – The Unmasking

The build up to this seemed like it went on forever and when he finally did it, well I remember being less than enthused. I didn’t actually expect him to be burned, but it looks like he lost a bet, what's up with that hair? It’s best to just watch the video to see the action. Eventually this led to a crazy interview with J.R. where Kane lit him on fire, which is so funny. In the end his burn scars were all in his head, which made sense, but they didn’t quite deliver this storyline as well as they could have.

The Gobbledy – The Very Strange Love Making

via img2.allvoices.com

This is storyline where I'll call on Wiki to give the details:

"In October 2002, Kane began feuding with Triple H, leading to a match at No Mercy on October 20 in which both Kane's Intercontinental Championship and Triple H's World Heavyweight Championship were at stake. In the weeks preceding the match, Triple H claimed that, several years earlier, Kane had an unrequited relationship with a woman named Katie Vick. He went on to claim that, after Vick was killed in a car crash, Kane (the driver) had sex with her. Triple H later threatened to show video footage of Kane committing the act in question; however, the footage that finally aired showed Triple H (dressed as Kane) simulating mock sex with a mannequin in a casket; Kane's tag team partner The Hurricane responded the following week by showing a video of Triple H (rather, someone wearing a Triple H series of masks) getting an enema."

Video is on YouTube of HHH and the mannequin, it's flagged though, so you'll need an account to see it. I would say this storyline was a low point in Kane’s career, that or tagging with X-Pac.

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That’s it for 12/14/11, so what’s your favorite Kane moment? I’m off to writing Part 2 of Quick History of Wrestling Figures. If interested, check out Part 1 here.

Oh, what a week (12/5-12/11) we just finished in the world of pro wrestling. Thankfully, WWE isn't pulling down every YouTube video bearing its likeness, as they actually understand how to properly market their product.

Usually.

For the week in review, I’ll pick a winner of something that was Good, Bad and so terribly horrific it was laughable, like The Gobbledy Gooker, hence the name. I'll also give a couple honorable mentions.

The image that stood out most to me this week was Cena dressed up as Zack Ryder, it really could have gone into any of my categories, but I’ll just give him a "Broski" and move along.

The Good – Cody Rhodes

Much like Zack Ryder’s coming out party on Raw, Cody got to run the show on Smackdown. He did so much it was tough to keep up. He took out Booker, did a little commentary, ripped on Lilian Garcia, cheap shotted Daniel Bryan, which lead to a quality match between the two. To top it off, now Aksana is taking a liking to him. Future manager? We'll see. Looking back, I feel stupid for at one point thinking, "now that Legacy is finished, Ted DiBiase is going to be amazing in singles' competition."

Honorable mentions:

• On Raw and Smackdown Ryder’s "Broski Boot" to Cena, Mark Henry, and Heath Slater all looked awesome! Even Cena was selling that kick after their match.
  
• WWE Network promo (Video Here) is very different, big fan of it, gets people’s attention.
  
• The ending of the Young Buck/Future shock match, you can watch the video on ROH’s website, just go to the 45 minute mark.
  
• Props to TNA for really trying to build a women’s division by having tag belts and have two (two!) matches in one show.

The Bad and The Gobbledy after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

*Sigh* Fantasy football is officially over for me this season, it’s a sad day. I think Lita had a worse weekend though getting arrested for driving while license suspended/revoked and speeding in excess of maximum limits. So let’s dedicate tonight’s article to the high flying Lita, up, up and away!

The Good – Team Xtreme Era

via teamhellions.files.wordpress.com

While I had a tough time passing up on her time with Essa Rios it didn’t exactly last long, ended with a bang though as Rios power bombed her through a table. The time most people will remember Lita is while she was a part of Team Xtreme and all of their high flying moves over the years.

She had some amazing matches with Trish, held the women’s championship multiple times, and also rocked the high thong look during this time period. Lita raised the bar for divas that I don’t think has been matched by too many.

The Bad – Edge Era

via 1.bp.blogspot.com

Oh this time period was a sad one, she went from one of the top divas to being second fiddle to Edge. She was stale and really didn’t add much to Edge, it wasn’t like he needed her to get over with the fans. It seemed like an easy role for her to play, maybe her injuries slowed her down, but her character was nothing but a girlfriend that got continually ragged on by other wrestlers and the fans.

The Ugly – Kane Era

This was a very strange storyline that just got worse and worse (see video). The best way to describe it is use the entry from Wikipedia:

"Kane began repeatedly assaulting Hardy and attempting to seduce Lita. During the course of the storyline, he kidnapped Lita and held her tied up backstage, and he persuaded Eric Bischoff to give her a title shot at Bad Blood on June 13. The next night on Raw, Lita revealed that she was pregnant. One week later, it appeared that Hardy was going to propose to Lita, but he was interrupted by Kane, who claimed to be the father of Lita's child, as Lita had slept with Kane to persuade him to stop attacking Hardy. Two months later, it was revealed that Kane was, in fact, the father. Hardy and Kane feuded for several months, culminating in a "Till Death Do Us Part" match on August 15 at SummerSlam, with the stipulation that Lita would be obliged to marry the winner of the match. Kane won the match, leading to him and a reluctant Lita marrying one another on the August 23, 2004 episode of Raw. Despite being married to Kane, Lita thwarted him during his matches, constantly aiding his opponents. On the September 13 episode of Raw, Lita miscarried after Gene Snitsky struck Kane with a chair, resulting in him falling on Lita. The miscarriage led to Lita and Kane joining forces in order to take revenge on Snitsky."

Eventually they divorced, Lita said he was like a 4th grader in bed, she tried to wed Edge, Kane interrupted it and tombstoned the priest, the end.

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That's it for 12/11/11, tomorrow's focus will be the best and worst of wrestling in the past week, I'm out!

To copy celebrate the Cageside Fave Five article from today, let’s go with Entrance Themes, music time!

The Good – Steve Blackman

Not exactly a classic, but something about this theme always stuck with me. Maybe it was the badass drums in the very beginning, simple, but effective really fit his character well.

The Bad – Chuck and Billy

Boy band entrance gets an automatic bad in my book. Plus they were "sweet" on each other so that didn’t help much either.

The Ugly – Skinner

Lame gimmick from the early 90’s, could you imagine coming out to this shit? The annoying mosquito at the end really puts this over the edge. I mean at that moment he must have known he wasn’t going to be in the WWF for long. Oh yeah the crowd will totally go nuts when you roll out to this theme Skinner. I’d rather come out to nothing compared to this gobbledy...

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Well that does it for 12/10/11, missed yesterday, beer and pizza will do that to a guy. Also one more theme because I have to get a cheap pop, Foley does it...Hollywood Hogan's theme! It's amazing (thanks Jimi), actually prefer it to the NWO group theme.

As a fan of both wrestling and collecting, wrestling figures have been a big part of my life. Played with them when I was a kid, and started up an online business where a majority of my inventory was wrestling figures. Thought it would be worth some time to go back and see how these figures have evolved, so let’s get started!

Before figures, there were hand puppets

via ttfigures.com

From what I gathered this is the first likeness of a wrestler that was produced, a hand puppet version of the great Gorgeous George. From the 1950’s, this item actually went up for sale somewhat recently and went for $750. I was amazed it went for so low, something of that rarity should have gone for much higher. I have a feeling most people just didn’t know something like this existed, so they didn’t know to look for it.

So if you are ever at yard sale and come across what looks a bit like a woman in a robe, pick it up!

Action figures arrive in Japan

via ttfigures.com

via ttfigures.com

via ttfigures.com

In 1969 JWA was a popular Japanese organization that included some possibly familiar names, Giant Baba and Antonio Inoki. From what I read this was the first action figure line ever made, pretty solid design with the big faces, belts, and moveable limbs. There were five figures in this set. Not sure on a value, easily in the hundreds especially for Inoki.

via ttfigures.com

The mass produced line was by Popy also produced in Japan in 1981. Haven’t seen one in person as they are pretty tough to find, I’m guessing they are five to six inches tall. These are simply solid rubber, not as much playability, but cool to display. This line included: Abdullah The Butcher, Andre the Giant, Antonio Inoki, Bob Backlund, Dory Funk Jr., Harley Race, Hulk Hogan, Mil Mascaras, Stan Hansen, Terry Funk. My picture shows 12 total figures, so I'm pretty sure the person who took the picture had two figures from another set in there. Again very hard to find, expect to pay hundreds for these figures.

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Thanks for reading, next time I'll get into the early years of WWF merchandise and some other companies (AWA/AAA) that joined in on the fun, peace!

For Part 2 (Click Here)

I hope Foley gets in shape for one more match so I can hear him say "ah-sha!" over and over when he punches his opponent. Today I’m looking at how WWE has handled/mishandled a couple members of its roster over the past couple years, go go go!

The Good – Kelly Kelly

via www.uso.org

To start she’s the longest tenured diva on the current roster, yes Lillian is back, but some may not consider her a diva, we’ll put her aside for now. She’s been around since 2006, has won the belt, and I would think is considered the top face in the Diva division. She may not be the best speaker or wrestler on the roster, but when given time she puts on a decent show and doesn’t look like she’s just going through the motions.

She started in ECW as a striptease dancer, who would get covered up each time by her jealous boyfriend Mike Knox, yes THE Mike Knox! I never thought she would be able to stay in the company for so long, and actually learn how to wrestle pretty much on the fly in the WWE. It’s nice to see when the WWE actually gives a wrestler time to develop before cutting them off the roster. My only suggestion is to bulk up a little, if any of you have seen her in person then you would agree, she is tiny!

The Bad – World’s Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin)

via 2.bp.blogspot.com

Shelton had a nice run in the WWE, should have pushed more though, he just needed a manager to help with promos to get him over more. Haas, well his run in the WWE wasn’t so great; his peak was probably when he tagged with Shelton. They were a really good team, and it’s a shame the WWE didn’t just keep them together for the long haul.

WWE had nothing for Haas in singles’ competition, nothing! Benjamin finally got it going with his "gold standard" gimmick, and then they release him. So the two reform in Ring of Honor and eight months later they are the champs, currently still holding the belts and moving towards one of the longest tag title reigns ever for the company. If they are the champs in a company with a legit tag division, they could have easily prospered in the WWE’s division.

The Gobbledy – Jack Swagger

via www.extremein.com

I’m just waiting for the news when he’s released, I don’t get how he’s still on TV. Goofy looking, promos suck, and that soaring eagle thing he does in the ring looks ridiculous. He’s started by winning the ECW championship, winning Money in the Bank, and then a World Championship title reign! More recently he’s been a lackey in a Cole/Lawler feud and lame sidekick of Vickie/Dolph.

The fans don’t care about him, and he only gets booed thanks to Vickie, cut the cord WWE, give his face time to something else that needs it, like say I don’t know…the tag division! Hmm, maybe if I say "tag" enough times in these articles, the idea will make it over to WWE...tag!

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Well that’s it for 12/8/11, any wrestlers you wish WWE held onto longer? I miss Mickie James...

What’s with the Rima Fakih drunk driving articles on the wrestling news sites? She was the 4th contestant bounced from the most recent Tough Enough, and the only one to not show up for the finale. Not exactly a member of the wrestling world and she was terrible on the show. Moving on!

The Good – Mid-Carders

via cdn.wrestlingnewssource.com

Maybe it’s just me, but seems like the mid-card guys are getting some really good exposure these days. The U.S. and Intercontinental belts are returning to a point where they are meaningful. Ziggler and Rhodes are great champs and in some quality feuds. Rhodes has battled Randy Orton lately, and currently with Booker T. Ziggler’s number one opponent is rising star Zach Ryder. Now Wade Barrett is feuding with Orton and Bryan Daniel’s push has begun! It’s a good time to be a quality mid-carder.

The Bad – The Divas

via www.lethalwow.com

Part of this is not the Diva’s fault, how much can they do when they get randomly inserted into quick backstage segments and matches that never go over five minutes? The problem for years is the WWE will pick a champion, usually without much of a storyline and they will pick a contender. Sometimes they fight a couple times and champ reigns supreme, or the champion ends up sucking and they quickly give the contender the belt. Wash, rinse, repeat.

The division has been booked in a way where the audience just doesn’t care when they come out. During the diva’s tag match last Raw, Alicia Fox was banging on the apron to get the crowd involved. Needless to say the crowd barely got out a whisper to cheer on Kelly Kelly and Eve, whom are considered the two top baby faces in the division.

Here’s a quick idea; have Kaitlyn and Karama (when she returns) join Natalya and Beth, to form a super stable. Rest of the divas join up to form a resistance, battle ensues, and go from there.

The Gobbledy – Tag Team Division

via i50.tinypic.com

Is this even a division? It’s really not that difficult to have a good tag division, get three quality teams feuding and fighting for the belt, that’s about it. There are so many good tag teams outside of the WWE, if they just went and picked up a couple of them, they would be set.

Air Boom haven’t been champions for long, but they’ve fought McGillicutty/Otunga (broken up), R-Truth and Miz (broken up), and their last big match was against Ziggler/Swagger who are hardly a tag team, and I could see being broken up soon as well. I’m pretty sure the only official tag team is Jey and Jimmy Uso, a duo where the announcers usually have trouble telling which is which. This division has been booked so poorly for years; please fix it, good tag matches are a joy to watch.

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Well that’s it for 12/7/11, which tag team would you bring into the WWE? I'd start with the New Zealand Sheepherders...

American Horror Story is on tonight! Just when I think that show can’t get any crazier, they have a half ghost/half human baby on the way that could start the end of the world as we know it! Oh also Survivor is on…

Welcome! Raw was all over the place unfortunately, a couple moments will make my Sunday article for the best and worst of the week in wrestling. Two moments that almost made it; Miz ripping on Dolph for needing Vickie to "get over" and Nash in a ladder match? For his sake I hope it’s one of these…

via static.www.odcdn.com

Haaaa, because he's old!...and has bad knees! Get it?....Onward!

The Good – Jim Ross

via quickwrestlingnews.com

He’s the best, every time he goes away for a little bit, then comes back to announce a match or random Raw, it’s such a joy. He obviously knows his wrestling, and has the passion to match. Yes sometimes he goes overboard at main event time, but can’t fault him giving it 110% every show.

He has some of the best quotes in wrestling history, some of my favorites; "He kicked out! He kicked out!", "Through hell, fire, and brimstone!", "Business is about to pick up!", and finally "As god is my witness, he’s broken in half!" Bonus point if you know what moment that last one is from.

Come back J.R...your replacement sucks.

The Bad – Michael Cole

via 3.bp.blogspot.com

He is the reason for this topic today, I can’t stand him. I know I’m in the majority about this, and this isn’t news to anyone, but his voice if horrendous. That’s a real problem when I turn down the TV because their lead announcer’s voice is hurting my ears.

He does get good heel heat from the crowd, so he’s doing his job, but as an announcer, his over the top act is plain annoying. I wouldn’t mind him as much if he just called the action without so much extra whine that he always does. Mix him with corny baby-face Lawler and I welcome those few times when the announcing team just goes quite to let the wrestlers tell the story. So why didn’t Cole get the Gobbledy? Well…

The Gobbledy – Mike Adamle

He was a mess, and was only on board for a year, but this video will explain nicely. Almost all of this footage was from one show.

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Well that's it for 12/6/11, who's your favorite/least favorite commentator of all time? I'm off to watch Gone with the Wind...Fight Club...what? It's a classic!

Edited and promoted to the front page by CagesideSeats.com.

On July 22, 2008 the WWE officially made all of its television shows PG rated. It’s been over three years now since the change, and that raises the question: has it helped any? Let's look at it from a TV ratings perspective, along with a quick look at the WWE finances.

First of all, I’ll put out the data that I used so you can use it as a reference guide.

This is a graph of the "Monday Night Wars" TV ratings, from Sept. 1995 until March 2001. I will focus on Raw's ratings for this article.

Next is a link to Gerweck (right here), a website that had wrestling TV ratings from 1998 until present day. It's very helpful with over 16 years of ratings. Also, if you’re not really into ratings numbers, the range from lowest to highest per show is around 1.8 to 7.4 in the 16 year span that I have to use.

I think we can agree that WWE (I’ll just refer to the WWF as the WWE throughout for ease ... and laziness) from the early to mid 90s leaned more towards PG. Going by these ratings, Raw hovered around 2.5 during this time period. In July 1996 at the King of the Ring, Austin 3:16 was born, but the ratings did not show much improvement during this time.

In fact, they declined through much of 1996.

This was when the "Attitude Era" began and WWE’s content slowly became more adult oriented thanks to the heavy influence necessitated by both WCW and ECW.

It wasn’t until 1998 when Raw began to build a larger TV audience.

Continue reading this post »

Looking forward to Raw tonight, see what sad Cena has to say this week. Can Miz continue his own impression of Mark Henry? Will the revolution of Mr. Woo Woo Woo stay on the rise? You know it! Anyways moving on…

The Good – Chair Shot

BAM! "Oooohhh!" Pretty standard chair shot sound and reaction over the past couple decades, yet it never gets old. When you think about a good chair shot who comes to mind; Mick Foley, Terry Funk, everyone on the old ECW roster? Yes WWE has banned shots to the head, with good reason, but there are plenty of moments to re-visit.

I thoroughly enjoy when a wrestler loses it, rolls out, folds up that chair, comes in and whacks the hell out of their opponent. BAM! "Oooohhh!" Some that come to mind; Mick Foley getting handcuffed and wailed on by the Rock, Ken Shamrock getting blasted square in the face, and the Hardy Boyz dual shots to Brock Lesnar. Cheer to the chair shot!

More after the jump!

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As a fan of wrestling for almost twenty years I have been witness to some of the most amazing, pathetic, and straight up "wtf?" moments the business has to offer. From the Macho Wedding to Alex Wright to Mae Young's pregnancy, there's a lot to cover, so lets get started.

The Good - CM Punk

via www.wrestlingvalley.org

Since this is the first of the series, I'll just let it be know he's the man and I'm a fan. Not because he went off the WWE months again to close Raw or anything that has happened since then. I'm a fan because of his versatility, he's able to adapt and change while not looking fake or boring (minus the non-existent Nexus leader stint). Good or bad using the straight-edge gimmick, leader of a cult-like group, or two time rouge champ threatening to run off with the title in both WWE and Ring of Honor, he's able to pull it off.

I'm a fan of his passion, it runs deep and has been cultivated for many years. As a teenager he was working on his gimmick, so when it was time to hit the big leagues he would be ready to entertain the masses. He's able to speak as well as he can wrestle, and can make big statements (big Raw speech) without forgetting the minor details.

Finally I'm a fan of Punk because he's entertaining, as simple as that may be wrestling is lacking this as of late. For fear of becoming a fan-boy on this topic I'll move along by just recommending his matches against Samoa Joe in Ring of Honor.

Moving on after the jump!

Continue reading this post »