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2 www.thewrestlingpress.com

THE WRESTLINGPRESS

ISSuE 10

CONTACT

[email protected]

CONTRIBUTORS

Phil AustinDusty WolfeMatt SinghJustin LaBarMark SatrangRob SivellJohn MilnerThe CYNICDavid SchmidaDark KittyDarren Wood

The Wrestling Press isan independentpublication and is in

no way endorsed byor affiliated with anywrestling group,including WWE andTNA. The viewsexpressed by thewriters does notnecessarily representthe views of TheWrestling Press. Nopart of this publicationmay be reproducedwithout the writtenpermission of the

publisher. Riot! Promotions 2010

WORLD NEWS

It's virtually a lock someone fromdevelopmental will be replacingMichael Cole as announcer forNXT.

CHRIS JERICHO INTERVIEW

The thing is, I have been doingthis for 20 years. I have a lot ofgood will built up with the fansand people appreciate the hardwork that I do, so if I turned babyface tomorrow they would buy it."

THE CHRIS JERICHO YEARS

Chris Jericho was the rock staryou dreamed of being, mixed withthe guy in high school that you

couldnt stand to be around.

HOW WILL HISTORY JUDGETHE NEXUS?

But with Nexus, you are seeing agroup unique in the history ofprofessional wrestling. This is nota collection of elite, establishedstars. Instead, the Nexus looks tobe a vehicle to introduce anumber of young stars to the main

roster all at once."

THE MIZ IS AWESOME

A man simply known as The Mizblew my mind with his promo onthe September 6 edition ofMonday Night RAW.

TNA WOES, AND SOLUTIONS

The problem can be laid directlyat the feet of the guys in charge,

namely Vince Russo (head writer),Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan.

WW-GEEK

So what am I getting at? Well, toput it bluntly, where wrestling wasonce populated by superhumansand macho men far removedfrom the rest of us wrestlinggeeks, wrestling now featuresmany of these geeks as stars'."

BRAVO CLOSING - WHEREDOES IMPACT GO FROMHERE?

TNA though are remainingpositive and upbeat about theannouncement of the closure andseem confident in their future onUK television.

COUNT-OUT WITH NOEL

HARLOWThe day before Mothers Day afew years back I was doing ashow at the ECW Arena and a fanpunched me in the face and gaveme a black eye. I ended upknocking him on his behind."

GIVING OUR BLESSINGSWITH THE WRESTLINGPRIEST: FERGAL DEVITT

While most Western fans willthink of Sheamus or Finley whenasked to name a successful Irishwrestler of the last few years,there is one wrestler who isgarnering just as much success inthe wrestling world.

CURT HENNIG BIOGRAPHY

In 1982, Hennig went to theWWF for the first time, taggingwith another future star and 2nd

generation wrestler, Hot StuffEddie Gilbert.

6

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4CONTENTS
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Courtesy of

THE WRESTLING GLOBE Newsletter

WWE has updated it's Talent WellnessProgram following events in Europe with the

Smackdown crew. The most significant

change is that the drug Carisprodol (Somas)

has been added to the banned substance list,

and there will be no medical use exemption.

More updates to the program are expected to

be announced publicly at a later date. Former

WWE announcer Jim Ross on his website

www.jrsbarbq.com welcomed the news. "I

think that's a great idea. Too many wrestlers

took/take Somas recreationally, much likewrestlers used to smoke weed in the '70s.

Prescription pill abuse is a huge enemy of all

wrestlers who abuse them. Pain medicine,

Somas, Ambien, and Xanax are an evil

mixture especially when mixed with alcohol

and taken in excess."

Matt Hardy's future withWWE has been determ-ined but neither side istalking. Hardy has beenactive on Twitter andnoted that he is lookingfor a professional writer

to help pen his autobiography.

It's virtually a lock someone from develop-

mental will be replacing Michael Cole as

announcer for NXT. The show this past

Tuesday night did a 1.0 rating and averaged

1.2 million viewers.

Theres a strange story of an Indiana woman wo

was arrested after she attempted to purchasetwo properties while falsely claiming she was

married to WWE agent Fit Finlay! NanetteMichelle Stone, 35, faces a maximum of 16 yearsin jail for two Class C felony charges of forgery.

Hogan is pitching a new TV series called

Hogan's Court where he handles disputes

between siblings. Punishments may include

picking up dog poop. Seriously...

Kevin Kelly of Ring of Honor on Vince going nutsat announcers in the headsets, he said: "It waseasy for me. I just turned the volume down and

then would apologize later. He never saidanything to me that was accurate or helpful on theheadset. Now, JR, on the other hand was a terrificproducer for the announcers and the few times Iworked with him in that capacity, it was great!"

Kevin Nash' contract

expires on 12th October

and at this point his

final date is Bound For

Glory on 10/10. Most

people in the company

assume he will sign a

new deal soon despite a

Twitter rant in which he

buried Jeff Hardy and

Rob Van Dam. Nash has

told friends recently

that he wants out, but they took it that he

was just venting.

Sean "Syxx-Pac" Waltman was arrested andcharged with CDS possession while passing

through New Jersey. He was busted by portauthority police at Newark Airport who

With Mike AldrenThe Wrestling Scoop

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www.thewrestlingpress.com 5

processed him before eventually releasing himwithout bail.

Triple H's unofficial role

as a senior adviser (toVince McMahon) was

recently formalized as

he was given his own

office at WWE's head-

quarters in Stamford,

CT. It's believed that he

will be transitioning to

the corporate side of

the business and

winding down his in-

ring career over the next few years in

readiness for the day that McMahon, 65,

hands over the business to Stephanie.

Legendary, WWE Studios' sports drama withJohn Cena, Danny Glover and Patricia Clarsondidn't fare too well in it's first week limitedrelease at the U.S. box office. The film showedin 178 theaters over its debut weekend and wasestimated at doing a little over $135,000 or$764 per screen.

Critics generally gave the film a negativeresponse with many calling it predictable andoverdone.

Chris Jericho recently turned down a spot

on Dancing with the Stars due to a

scheduling conflict but said he would love

to do the show in the future should the

opportunity arise.

Joey Styles' WWE talent contract recentlyexpired although he remains with WWE's New

Media department.

Rob McNichol on Tyler

Black signing with

WWE.... Black, 24, says

he was renegotiating with

ROH but Evan Bourne

convinced him to sign

here and that he also

turned down an offer

from TNA. "To be honest, and no disrespect

meant, but it wasn't a hard decision to make.

You have to want to test yourself against the

best and WWE is the pinnacle of our industry.They were actually the last to make me an

offer. I was renegotiating with ROH and TNA

had made an offer, but when WWE came in it

was no contest. I understand that I may have

to sacrifice a little artistic integrity and I

don't know if I'll have to change my name

but I'm so excited about the challenge that

lies ahead." Black finished up with ROH by

dropping the heavyweight title to Rodrick

Strong.

The Winnipeg Sunreported on the mistressof Billy Gunn / Kip James(Monty Sopp) who hasbeen publishing audiorec-ordings, videos andphotos from her affairwith him after it ended.

Sopp, who is married, says 24-year-old Deb-orah Simmons has been harassing him after his

wife became aware of their affair. Simmons hadposted several photos of her together with Soppon her Facebook page.

To receive all the latest professional wrestling news and gossip direct to your mailbox send anemail to [email protected]

Net MonthFor the next edition ofTWP we shall have anexclusive interview with Stone Cold SteveAustin, along with 5 copies of his latest movieto give away. Also planned are debut articlesfrom Japanese and Australian corres-

pondents, and an extensive look at tag teamson the independent circuit.

We hope you enjoy our efforts this issue. Itwas a lot of hard work so please spread theword about the greatest free wrestling mag onthe net today!

As ever, looking forward to your comments,suggestions and feedback.

Ed ([email protected])
http://www.thewrestlingpress.com/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.thewrestlingpress.com/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]

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He has won 22 championships in his WWE career, he was the first ever

undispted WWE Champion andsince his debt in 1990 he has enter-tained fans throghot the world.TWPs Darren Wood managed tograb an eclsive interview withFoy lead singer, WWE sperstarand the best in the world at what hedoes - Chris Jericho. . . .

Right first question Fozzy started off as a tribute

band and some people really didnt take you guys

seriously now it seems though Fozzy are a legit-

imate hard hitting rock band, what made you de-

cide to take the band in a more serious direction?

It started off as more of a hobby, just a bunch of guys get-ting together to play some songs that we liked and as aresult we got offered a record deal by the guy who signedMetallica & Anthrax. He wanted us to make an album ofcovers and we were kind of confused by it, but like any

self respecting musician we took the cash and made therecord (laughs).I wanted to be more than a cover band, I mean it was fineat first, but a couple of years later Rich Ward [guitarist ofFozzy and Stuck Mojo] and I were saying to each otherwe enjoy playing together, we have good chemistry as aband, were good friends and we wanna keep going withthis. So we switched the focus of what Fozzy was doingat first into more original stuff. I think our last album AllThat Remains was really a transition record where peo-ple who thought these guys were just a cover band lis-tened to the record and realised how good the tunes wereand how good the band was. For this album Chasing TheGrail its kind of taken us to a whole new level, its one ofthose things where at this point in time ten years latersince we started, people have (a) forgotten about thecover albums and are just enjoying the original tunesand (b) really have seen what we do live and seen thatwe have really turned the corner. Its been a great lastcouple of years to see the band grow, especially in theUK. We do great business over there and draw greatcrowds, selling out most of our shows. At this point in

time people enjoy the music for what it is.

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It must be very gratifying to receive such

positive reviews for this, your fourth studio

album, after being dismissed as a tribute

band all those years ago.Its very gratifying; Ive been playing in bandssince I was 12 years old. As a kid I wanted to bea wrestler and a rock star. Even before I waswrestling, I was playing in bands and even whenI started wrestling I was still writing songs, play-ing those songs in bars and stuff like that. Somepeople dont get to live out their dream but I haveseen my dreams come into fruition and for themto both have varying levels of success is verygratifying. Its taken a lot of hard work, a lot of

shows and a lot of songs that have beenrecorded. To be able to go to the UK like we arein October and do 10 shows in 10 days acrossNorthern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Ireland andEngland is great. To do shows all around theworld is very rewarding and I am very blessed inthe fact that I have two dreams that I am livingand able to do both. Its a great time to be in theband for sure.

You said earlier you wanted to be a rock star

since you were 12 years old, so how come in-stead of pursuing that passion first you in-

stead chose to pursue professional wrestling?

I love them both equally and growing up in Win-nipeg, Canada, the music scene consisted ofThe Guess Who and The Crash Test Dummies,there wasnt a lot around in the music scene.I just really got into the wrestling side of thingswhen I was about 17, so it was just one of thosethings where wrestling was the path I wentdown, it could just have easily been music ifthere were the same opportunities afforded. It al-most worked out for the best because obviouslyI was a huge wrestling fan and I had a massivepassion for wrestling. I really got to explore thatfor the first 10 years of my career and thenFozzy started in 2000, so it has really been dou-ble duty in the last 10 years. Its great though be-cause I am seeing Fozzy grow and seeing thesnowball roll down the hill, the same way I didwith Chris Jericho 15 years ago. Ive been veryfortunate to see lightning strike twice and I thinkits one of the reasons why Fozzy is big and get-

ting bigger because I know what it takes to besuccessful as I have done it with Chris Jerichoin wrestling against all odds, so to speak.

It seems that you have done a pretty good

job, distinguishing and separating Chris Jeri-

cho the rock star and Chris Jericho the WWE

superstar. Was it a hard thing to do and when

live on stage with Fozzy, is it imperative to

show that different side of your personality?

Not really because they stem from the sameplace, I mean whether its wrestling or its fozzythey are both entertaining the crowd. Makingsure that people have a great time. So thats allpart of what youre doing, its what being in showbusiness and being a showman is all about,theres a lot of similarities with what I do withfozzy and what I do with WWE in terms of thereaction of what the crowd gives you. They areboth very hard hitting and very aggressive formsof entertainment, you want to be the party hostin both cases and make sure that people havefun and influence them. If theyre having a greattime you end up having a great time and it be-comes a better show because of that.

Being in the WWE also Im playing a characterso, my character right now is one that is very an-tagonistic, he enjoys making people angry butwith Fozzy its more a character of the partyhost. But they both stem from the same place

which is the reason why Fozzy is a great repre-sentation of a live band because we are very en-

As a kid Iwanted to bea wrestlerand a rockstar

THEY HAVE KIND OF FORGOTTENTHAT JERICHOS A WRESTLER,

ITS TWO SEPARATE THINGS

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tertaining. Rich and I know how to entertain acrowd with us being in show business for 20 plusyears. Show business is show business whether

its wrestling, rock and roll, being a game showhost it doesnt matter, its still all about the con-nection with the crowd and being in front of a liveaudience.

I suppose wrestling is a great start for being

a showman?

Its not just a great start its the best start, thatsone of the reasons why I made it in the firstplace. When I started wrestling it was all aboutsize, I didnt have the size in 1990 I wasntthree hundred pounds so I thought how can Imake a mark in the wrestling business and fig-ured that I needed to have the biggest person-ality and the best character I could possiblyhave. Thats the reason why Ive been able tostand up in front of a crowd. Some of the bestentertainers in the world are not necessarily thebest wrestlers, singers or guitar players but theyknow how to connect with the crowd. Which inwrestling is more important than doing a dozenhigh spots, it is all about connection with thecrowd.

Being a wrestler, were there any problems

getting your name out there or generally

being accepted in the music industry?

Yeah absolutely. I mean there was a lot of peoplewho checked out the band because of who I was,but there was just as many people who didntcheck out the band because I was in it. I think peo-ple were like: Hes a wrestler, how can he possiblysing, how can he possibly do both? After a while,with the band being around for so long now, itseems its got to the point where I could be abutcher, a baker, a candlestick maker it doesntmatter as long as its good music. I think peoplereally appreciate the music, the level of consis-

tency that we have and the diversity of the band.They have kind of forgotten that Jerichos awrestler, its two separate things. The music we dois quality stuff and thats the most important thing.

You are a wrestling star, a rock star, a movie

star in Mcgruber now how does it feel to be

a TV game show host with ABCs downfall

and how did this come about?

Like I said its just a natural step and progressionfor what I do it was a big opportunity for me, 150people auditioned for Downfall and I ended upgetting a gig, it was a great experience and moreimportantly for me personally it put myself in adifferent light in front of a lot of influential people,it extends what I do as an entertainer and theChris Jericho brand so to speak.

Could you see yourself going into film acting

or being a TV star full time?

Well yeah and the beauty of doing Downfall wasit didnt affect anything I did in the WWE. Wefilmed our episodes for three nights in LA and itwas great and it was a lot of fun to show a dif-ferent side of Jericho, a more funnier, laid backpersonality, which is good because Ive beenplaying the evil character for the last three yearsso I wanted to kind of open up and do something

a bit different.


I AM IN CONTROL OF HOW THEFANS REACTS WHETHER

THEY LIKE IT OR NOT

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Over the last few weeks some fans have beenchanting Y2J, what is your opinion on this as

you are a heel and does it annoy you in any

way that when you came back to WWE in 2007

you had to start a whole new Jericho persona

as the Y2J character didnt really click.

Does it annoy me? Not in the least. It wasnt thatthe Y2J character didnt click necessarily, it wasjust that I knew I neededto do something newand more importantly I wantedto do somethingnew, I just wasnt exactly sure what that waswhen I first came back. Being gone for two yearsin wrestling is like dog years, I had to reacquaintmyself with the fans and I didnt really have100% commitment to that character because itwasnt what I wanted to do. I thought there wasmore that I could do and I wasnt sure what todo with my character until I saw the movie NoCountry for Old Men. I saw that character AntonChigurh had and how he was like a crazy psy-cho that was very calm and monotone and thatskind of what made me click and I wanted to dothat in wrestling and ditch the countdown, ditch

all the catchphrases, completely reinvent myself.Combined with the whole Shawn Michaelsangle, which was supposed to be just a onenight thing, but ended up being 8 months andone of the best feuds of all time. All this influ-enced me to understand what I wanted to dowith this new character and as far as havingpeople chant Y2J, thats the idea at this point oftime because by proxy I am the good guy be-cause we faced Nexus at Summerslam and thewhole story is yeah, Jericho has teamed up with

Cena, hes kind of a good guy but hes kind ofnot, are we supposed to cheer him? The thingis, I have been doing this for 20 years. I have alot of good will built up with the fans and peopleappreciate the hard work that I do, so if I turnedbaby face tomorrow they would buy it. I knewthey would chant Y2J when it was proposed Iwas going to team with Cena and its what WWEwants at this moment in time. Tomorrow thatcould change in one second if I wanted to be-cause I am in control of how the fans reactwhether they like it or not.

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You exert that control quite easily it seems

because I have seen lately if the fans are

cheering you all you have to do is say one

thing to them and they are back to booingyou again?...

Yeah and its fun to be able do that, a lot of peo-ple online think they know everything thatsgoing on but they dont. They think they do, theyfool themselves into thinking that because youcan read it on a website, but the only people whoknow whats happening in regards to what Imdoing is me and the people who work with me,booking the angles and storylines. I love thatpeople make wrong assumptions because I am

like well you guys know nothing thats gonnahappen, you have no idea whats going on.When I was growing up we didnt have websites,newsletters and I would have loved to haveknown the inner workings of whats going on butit was almost just as cool that I didnt. All I knewof what was going to happen was what I saw onTV every week. It still is that basically becausepeople dont know as much as they thinkthey do and I like that. Otherwise its likeunwrapping your Christmas presents

before December 25th and where is thefun in that? If you think you know whatsgoing on, let me tell you that you dont.So just watch the show and enjoy it.

Over the years it seems that some

wrestling fans have shown an ad-

verse reaction when it comes to

a wrestling personality leav-

ing the business to do

something else with theirlife. Did this worry you

at all when pursuing a

rock music career with

Fozzy?

Nothing worries me Icall the shots! Nothingworries me in anythingabout wrestling because Ivebeen doing it for so long that Ican be a puppet master and ma-

nipulate people into reacting

whichever way I want. Its my own personal de-cision, I dont give a damn what anybody elsethinks so its kind of the way it is.

In 2005 when I left I had enough of wrestling, Iwas getting burned out and wasnt at my bestreally until the last two matches that I had be-fore I left with Cena, I had a lot of stuff goingon with Fozzy and I wanted to pursue actingand spend more time at home with my family.Humphrey Bogart had a great quote which Ilove The only thing I owe my fans, is my per-formance. And sometimes thats the way Ifeel I dont have to give you an autograph, Idont have to give you an interview, I dont

have to do a damn thing. All I have to do is per-form well, to give you what you deserve 100%because you bought a ticket to see me andonce the shows over so is my relationship withthe fans. Sure I dont feel like that all the timebut when it comes to what I wanna do, I dontcare what anybody else thinks and I know that

anybody who doesnt really like it if Icame back to wrestling the verynext day would forget about it in-

stantly.

In 2007 you wrote A Lions

Tale which was a bestseller, so

I have to ask the question how the

sequel book is coming?

Its almost done; just waiting for a copyedit right now which is when the gram-

mar guys go through it, check thefacts and all that sort of stuff.

Then we will have one more

draft, one more run throughafter that and I have submit-ted all the pictures so well

decide the pictures andcaptions for those andthen its pretty much

done. It comes out inFebruary and it goesfrom the moment Ientered the WWE

ring until when I came

back in 2007.


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During the first NXT season you men-

tored Wade Barrett, what do you think

of his victory in the competition,

thoughts on him and the Nexus story-line that has developed?

I felt he was going to win from the mo-ment I first saw him, as soon as I waspaired with him I thought well thats theguy whos going to win because he hasgot great presence, his interviews are verystrong and hes a big guy with a good look andwas exactly what we are looking for in WWE.I think the Nexus angle has been genius; it is atremendous idea thats really great because its

a bunch of new guys that on their own meannothing, but together its the hottest angle of thesummer. I was really excited about Summer-slam, the storyline has been put together greatand every once in a while we find somethingthat really clicks and this is one of those things.Its funny because you have a bunch of guysthat no one has ever seen, have had no TV ex-posure whatsoever and its such a hot storyline.It kind of throws off all those people who saywhen coming into the business you need TV

time to get over, you need this to get over, youneed that to get over all you need is a good wellfollowed storyline and we got that. It showsonce again the genius of Vince McMahon, hestill has ingenious ideas and that was one ofthem for sure.

What were your thoughts on Bryan Daniel-

son being fired from WWE and do you think

he will ever return to WWE in the future and

was he a key part of Nexus?[This interview was conducted before Danielsons

WWE return - Ed]

Of course I think he is going to return, its too badthat he got fired and I dont think it was quite asdeserved but somebody obviously got angry atsomething, but I think he will be back. Its toobad that he did get fired because he was the guyNexus went to, to have the five star match but itdoesnt matter at this point because its notabout the matches, its all about their group beat

down and them being a pack of animals. Im

positive he will be back some point in time, weonly saw the tip of the iceberg of what he can doin a WWE ring.

Its a shame because he had just done that

awesome promo announcing Daniel Bryan

was gone but Bryan Danielson was here and

it seemed like he was coming into his ownand was the standout guy of Nexus. But now

obviously that has all gone...

Well thats what happens, it doesnt matter whatyou do if you make one false move. It seemsthat someone reacted strongly to whatever wasdone and I dont know the inner workings ofwhat happened all I can do is speculate.

What are your thoughts on TNA rehashing

ECW and the One Night Stand type of eventat their HardCORE Justice PPV?

Their buy rates are in the toilet anyway so if theycan do double what they normally do then goodfor them. I hope they will be able to do some-thing with it. I dont even know what to say aboutTNA anymore because I like the company, I likeDixie Carter and I think they have some greatand talented people. I mean they have JeffHardy who in my opinion was the biggest babyface in WWE when he left even more so than

John Cena. But I dont know what theyre doing

I DONT THINK ITS NECESSARYTO HIT PEOPLE IN THE HEADWITH CHAIRS ANYMORE

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or what theyre thinking but I really hope theyget it going because the better they get the bet-ter the business is for everybody. They just

seem to constantly shoot themselves in the foot,I dont know why they do it I mean it really per-plexes me I dont understand. If they have tobring back The Sandman and do 30,000 buysinstead of 15,000 then good for them and hope-fully they will be able to springboard onto some-thing else.

I know WWE has gone PG but what is your

opinion on the new rules in WWE about stop-

ping matches when people are bleeding?

Surely it takes away from the drama in thematch?

Thats just the way it is nowadays, you gottaevolve, morph and change with whats going onnow. Thats the rule thats going on now and yougotta deal with it. I dont think its necessary tohit people in the head with chairs anymore any-way, I think blood is unnecessary at this point intime. There was a point in time when Rollerderby was popular but that fell off the face of theearth so you gotta change and keep yourself rel-evant to whats going on or else you end upstuck in the past and nothing thats stuck in thepast has ever really become cool.

In a recent interview you said the attitude era

was stupid, childish and that you never liked

that stuff. A lot of people have argued

with your statement saying it was

what made WWE immensely pop-

ular and brought the company to

new heights. What is your re-sponse to those people?

Its one of those things, I meanthere was a wrestling wargoing on at the time,wrestling was veryhot at the time andits what took WWEfrom being a verycartoony companyto a company that

was relevant and

was able to beat WCW. Thats the wonderfulthing about the internet is that everyone is al-lowed their own varying opinion. In my opinion

though if you dont like whats on TV right now,if you dont like the WWE, then quit bitchingabout it and dont watch it. Everybody is reallycritical of everything and we cant stay the sameforever. To me it was getting every boring, youknow its like glam rock in the 80s there wasso much of it until Guns and Roses came alongand blew everyone out of the water and thenNirvana came and blew everyone out of thewater again. If you like the nostalgia of the stuffthat was going on then thats why theres DVDs

and videos on the net and you can watch thatuntil the cows come home. If you want to watchthe stuff thats going on now and view it in itsown way for what it is then please enjoy it andjoin us, if you dont like it then go somewhereelse. I really dont care, it doesnt matter to me.

It seems that since WWE have gone to PG,

its had some of the most intriguing story-

lines that I can recall in while. The story with

you and Shawn Michaels, the Rey Mysterio,

CM Punk feud and the Batista, Cena story-line. WWE produce these good entertaining

storylines without the need to do all this at-

titude era stuff...

Yeah, and guess what therewere great storylines in the atti-tude era as well! Thats whatwrestling is all about andwhether you have attitude eraor PG era whatever youwanna call it or brand it

doesnt make a difference, itsall about the stories we aretelling. Those stories have al-

ways been there, back in the60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s and

now, and whatever window dress-ing you put on it, the point is its still

storytelling and thats what we do. Ofcourse there is great storylines becausethats playing to the level of guys like myselfwho have been around and know how to tell

a story.


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What are your thoughts on your UK fans and

on the upcoming tour?

For whatever reason the UK has really em-

braced Fozzy and it really is our second home.We have done most of our touring there andpeople ask why dont you do more touring in theStates its because we have such a great fanbase in the UK that its really a case of spendingas much time over in the UK with our fans asmuch as we can. People in the UK like music,they dont care whats trendy or whats playingon the radio they just like what they like andthats what is going great for Fozzy. We lovegoing over to the UK and like I said we sell-out

the majority of our shows, have great fans whoknow the music and I am very excited to see thefans, its gonna be basically the first time wehave been back in five years besides the fourshows we did in May, and I am looking forwardto be back on the road in the UK.

Thanks for agreeing to the interview Chris, it

was a pleasure talking to you. Is there any-

thing else you would like to add?

Im excited to see everybody with Fozzy and theWWE and thanks for being Chris Jericho fans, Iappreciate it.

n Contact Darren at [email protected]

Foy embark on their ten date tor ofthe uK, starting October 10th at TheMillennim Hall in Cardiff and finish-

ing p at the orange bo in Yeovil onOctober 20th.

For more information on Foys tor ofthe uK or the new albm Chasing TheGrail please visitwww.fozzyrock.com

WIN!!!WIN!!!WIN!!!

WIN YOURSELF A FOZZY T-SHIRT AND A

COPY OF THEIR LATEST CD, BOTH SIGNED

BY THE WHOLE BAND EXCLUSIVELY FOR

ONE LUCKY TWP READER!

To enter the competition simply answer this question....

Who is Jerichos old Sdden Impact Tag Team Partner?Send your answer (and address) to [email protected]

Competition closes November 1st, 2010

ASIGNEDFOzzYT-SHIRT

ANDCHASINGTHEGRAILC

D
http://www.thewrestlingpress.com/mailto:[email protected]://www.fozzyrock.com/http://www.fozzyrock.com/mailto:[email protected]://www.thewrestlingpress.com/mailto:[email protected]://www.fozzyrock.com/mailto:[email protected]

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Words:JUSTINLABA

R

wrEsTLErMILLENNIUM

OF_THE

TheChrisJerichoYears

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Welcome to Raw is Jericho.

The first words that we heard as we stood star-

ing at the back of a 5 foot 10 inch body wearingtight black leather pants, a shirt that looked likea disco ball, topped off with a hair style thatlooked like an accident.

On this night, August 9, 1999, in Chicago, therewas nobody left in the wrestling world who eitherwasnt a Jericholic or didnt at least understandwhat a self-proclaimed Jericholic was addictedto.

It was 14 years ago that Chris Jericho surfaced

on the American wrestling scene by arriving inthe small Philadelphia based promotion, Ex-treme Championship Wrestling (ECW). It tookless than 3 months for Jerichos talents to be ac-quired or stolen away, depending on how youlook at it, and be performing for one of the twomajor promotions in North America, WorldChampionship Wrestling (WCW).

It was in WCW that Jericho got weekly televisionexposure to millions and began to show that hewas on a level of talent, innovation and intelli-

gence that is hardly seen.At a time in wrestling where being bad was cool,Jericho was no exception. Stone Cold SteveAustin in the WWE was on his way to becominga mega superstar with his hell raising attitude,while the New World Order was issuing agang takeover of the WCW. Chris Jerichowas the rock star you dreamed of being,mixed with the guy in high school that youcouldnt stand to be around. Somewhere in

the midst of his flashy appearance, cry babytantrums and insulting every other wrestlerpossible, people in large quantities began to

drink the Jericho juice, of course turning theminto Jericholics.

A quick definition of a Jericholic in my dictionaryis A person who is addicted to experiencingChris Jericho who they feel is the most talented,innovative and intelligent performer.

TALENTED: This is a guy who has wrestled all

over the world. Put a mask on him in Mexico andhe was proficient in fighting the lucha libre style.

He has been showcased in Japan where prowrestling is treated with the same respect as areal sport. Chris Jericho has fought guys big

guys, small, fast, slow, technical, brawlers, ex-perienced, inexperienced. He has the same abil-ity Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair possessedwhere he could have a good match with any-body. The talent doesnt stop with the ability frombell to bell to put on great matches. The psychol-ogy that Jericho masters in the wrestling busi-ness is tremendous. The only guy you need athesaurus to fully understand his promos. Whata great way to get heat. Its one thing to insultfans or your opponent, but when you do it with

words that are so sophisticated, its simple butoh so brilliant. The talent then stretches over tothe innovation.

INNOVATION: It sometimes can seem difficultto think about because the wrestling businesshas evolved so much in the past 15 years. Jeri-chos days from 96-98 in WCW were excellentshowings of how original he could be. Lookingback at such rivalries with Dean Malenko, whowas known as The man of a thousand holds.Chris Jericho decided to label himself as Theman of a thousand and four holds. Again, it wasso simple but brilliant. After a quick squashmatch on Nitro, Jericho with a cup of water inone hand and a list that as it dropped out of hishands unfolding, seemed to be several feet long.He proclaimed that he counted all of the moveshe knew and proceeded to list each move. Ontelevision they faded out to a commercial, onlyto return 3 minutes later with Jericho still stand-ing in the ring as he listed the moves in numeri-cal order.

Other innovations which carried simplicity.... thefeud with Goldberg as he was undefeated. Jeri-cho would walk to the ring with 2 very out ofshape Security guards and would take 5 min-utes to find his way to the ring. Chris Jerichoshowed that simple comedic spots such asthose, along with his goofy hair, all could drawheat.

INTELLIGENCE: He had a great mind to knowwhat was entertaining and how to get the reac-tion he wanted out of the crowd. His intelligence

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went beyond how to fine tune his craft. He knewhow to deal with people. He knew how to deal

with the wrestling business. He also knew howto march to the beat of his own drum.

There was a phase where in the final months ofWCW prior to the sale of the company, the bestwrestlers began to filter out and jump to WWE.The Giant who would go on to be known as TheBig Show was the first big established WCWname to go to New York. 5 months later ChrisJericho would arrive in WWE to one of the mostfamous entrances of all time. Jericho made thejump before The Radicalz which was composedof Benoit, Guerrero, Saturn and Malenko. Jerichomade his jump before Booker T, Ric Flair, KevinNash, Scott Hall, Hulk Hogan and Rey Mysterio,who would all get picked up by the WWE.

Chris Jericho was able to see before most peo-ple that WCW wasnt going to be the numberone promotion for much longer. His famous Y2Kmillennium spoof countdown clock in the sum-mer of 1999 was original. The WWEs top starin The Rock cutting a very frustrated and comi-

cal promo against The Big Show (ironic) in the

middle of the ring until being interrupted by thefinal 15 seconds of the clock counting down cre-ated incredible suspense. When the lights went

out, pyros went off and the name Jericho ap-peared on the screen while the song Break thewalls down screamed out. It was an electric mo-ment. The crowd roared as they then saw Jeri-cho standing with his back to them and arms outin a rock star pose.

Welcome to RAW is Jericho. From that pointon Jericho would always be relevant in theWWE. Never being reduced to dark matches orthe second string shows such as Sunday NightHeat or Velocity that aired over the years.

His debut was original. The concept developedmainly by Jericho and his microphone work al-ways set the bar for the night. It was inevitable thathe would become a huge baby face with his quickwit and ability to perform both in the ring and inscripted backstage segments with anyone. Theguy was a champion fighting a women, that is howgood he was. Do you think anyone could havedone that entertaining of a program and lookedthe way they were supposed to look with Chyna?

No way. Chris Jericho became the WWEs go toguy. His reward, forever in the history books, wasthe distinction of beating The Rock and StoneCold Steve Austin in the same night to becomethe first undisputed world champion.

Chris Jericho would leave the WWE and wrestlingall together in 2005. Once again an example ofhim marching to his own beat and being ahead of

David Seto

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the curve. He had been wrestling for 15 straightyears with the most time off being the few monthsbetween his WCW contract expiration and WWE

debut in 1999. A situation where it seems manywrestlers would either continue to travel and per-form, putting their bodies and physical wellbeingat risk, but wisely Chris chose to leave and gavehis body a rest.

In that time, not only was he getting a break frombeing in a different city every night slamming ontothe mat, but Jericho was keeping his doors openfor life. Full with a charismatic personality, a musi-cal career that has been exploited some in theWWE, Jericho was appearing on VH1 and otheroutlets talking music, pop culture and just aboutanything.

After 2 years, Jericho decided it was time for morewrestling. He returns with a new haircut, somenew moves and another memorable entrance.

Very similar to his appearance 8 years earlier,weeks of mystery surrounded the WWE as a cryp-tic code of numbers and letters would appear onthe screen. As in 1999 when The Rock was in thering, in 2007 it was one of the top stars, Randy

Orton, in the ring as the code flashed and re-vealed Save Us Y2J and once again RAW isJericho.

Chris Jericho continued to win championships. Hecontinued to use new words never heard in awrestling promo. He used a new finisher he calledthe code breaker. It was a double knee facebreaker made famous in Japan. A move that wasvery simple in performance. You could execute itnearly anytime and on anyone of any size. Jericho

again was making it all look so easy.He continued to kick open other doors and be-came the host of ABCs game show Downfall, aswell as gaining his own show on Sirius radio.

Chris Jericho has spent his 20 year careerbeing a poster boy for not needing to fall intothe stereotype and perception that manywrestlers are viewed in.

He was able to look ahead and jump to thegreener grass at the right time. He was entertain-

ing. He was political enough to avoid getting

buried, but not so political that every wrestler inhistory wanted to break his neck. He was smartenough to stand out in the crowd, but not too

smart where you couldnt comprehend him. Hewas able to prove that wrestlers are pop culturecelebrities. Sure The Rock, Hogan and Austinproved they could make some movies, but Jerichohas stretched into literally every medium possible.Chris Jericho will never suffer from the HulkHogan or Ric Flair syndrome. He wont bewrestling into his 50s. He wont do it for his ego,and he wont do it for the pay day.

Chris Jericho will continue to display his wrestlingskills for as long as he wants. As he has shown,when it is time to hang them up, he will hang themup. When he does, again as he has shown, wecan still get a weekly dose of Jericho by viewingand listening to him in many different places. Withevery broadcast and show he appears on, moreJericholics are born. A person who is addicted toexperiencing Chris Jericho who they feel is themost talented, innovative and intelligent per-former.

You can see and hear Justin LaBar every week

as he is the co-host of the Chair Shot Realityweekly video show on Wrestlezone.com

n Contact Justin at [email protected]
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]

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Cold This Be the WWEsNet Generation of Main Eventers?

Words: JOHN M. MILNER

HOW WILL HISTORYJuDGE THE NExuS?

Hn early June 2010, the names of

Wade Barrett, Skip Sheffield and

David Otunga were relativelyunknown to all but the most knowledgeable

students of the wrestling industry. Within

three months, all three, as members of the

Nexus, would be in the main event of what

many consider the second biggest pay-per-

view, behind only Wrestlemania, on the

WWEs calendar.

When was the last time a group of wrestlers havemade such an impact on either Raw or Smack-

down? Even the WWE version of the New WorldOrder in 2002 doesnt quite compare. In fact, onewould have to think back to the Alliance a yearearlier for such a group around which much of thetop echelon of WWE programming began to re-volve.

And while it remains to be seen just how the his-tory of the organisation will access theNexus, there is an argument to be

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made that Team WWE (led by John Cena) vs. theNexus has been one of the most interesting sto-rylines to come across Raw in quite some time.

Of course, the naysayers may point to the fact thata great deal of what made the build-up to theSummerSlam main event wasnt what the Nexusbrought to the table. Instead, there were questionmarks all over the place as to what the make-upof Team WWE would be when the opening bellsounded. Would Edge and Jericho quit the team?Would the Great Khali be involved? Would the Mizfill one of the empty spots? Would John Morrisonor even John Cena himself turn heel and alignhimself with the Nexus?

Team WWE in-fighting and the speculations aside,the Nexus had been successfully built up to be a

credible force out to take down the WWEs top su-perstars. In the weeks after their initial appearanceon Raw, they swarmed Cena, Ricky Steamboat,

Vince McMahon, Bret Hart, Khali, Edge and Jeri-cho. Perhaps it is the last two names that havemade the most difference. While its one thing fora heel supergroup to target the organisations topface (in this case, Cena), its most unusual for themto undertake a beatdown of fellow heels.

Its things like the attacks on Jericho and Edge,WWE Champion Sheamus approaching them tonegotiate a truce and even the tease of JohnCena joining them that have made the Nexus THEdriving force in WWE storylines over the last sev-eral months. Like them or hate them, theyve cre-ate a real buzz throughout the WWE Universe.And if nothing else, theyve put seven (or eight, if

Too poor for pants (l-r): Michael Tarver,

Heath Slater, David Otunga, Wade Barrett,

Darren Young, Justin Gabriel, Skip Sheffield

NOMATTERWHICHGROuPTHEYCHOOSE

TOTRYANDMEASuRENExuSAGAINST,

ITWILLNOTBEAFAIRCOMPARISON

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But really, do we know enough about any of themfor Sheffield, Otunga, Michael Tarver or the rest tobecome singles stars at this juncture? At this time,

the answer is Probably not. However, theresnothing that says that, over the coming months,that could not change.

Already, two members of the Nexus, Daniel Bryanand Darren Young, have faced expulsion from thegroup. With Bryans background in Ring of Honorand other independent wrestling organisations, heprobably had enough going for him that a singlespush was probably in the cards for him. Of course,his time in the Nexus, his recent (and temporary)departure from the WWE after he choked out ringannouncer Justin Roberts, and return in the mainevent of SummerSlam probably helped him out inthat department.

And so it will be interesting to see just how DarrenYoung adjusts to life after Nexus. As of this writing,he had only just been cut from the team, after aloss to John Cena on Raw. Will he be able to sur-vive on his own and remain a part of the mainevent scene on Raw, or will he fumble and find

himself future endeavoured or stuck in the lowermid-card?

For the Nexus to have a positive lasting effect onthe industry of pro wrestling, it must not begreater than the sum of its parts. Daniel Bryanand Wade Barrett (if his time as Nexus leader isany indication) will, most likely have solid WWEcareers ahead of them. However, it will be Dar-ren Young and Skip Sheffield and the rest whowill prove, one way or the other, the final legacyof Nexus.

n Contact John at [email protected]

you count Daniel Bryan) new faces at the forefrontof the WWE when fans complained the productwas becoming stale and were tired of the same

names at the top of the card. There may be a timewhen fans look back and note that the Nexus, withthe help of Sheamus and the Miz, ushered in anew era in the WWE.

And when those wrestling historians look back atmid-2010, they will undoubtedly try to rate theNexus alongside other supergroups such as theFour Horsemen, the NWO or the Alliance. But nomatter which group they choose to try and meas-ure Nexus against, it will not be a fair comparison.Because, you see, there are vast differences be-tween a group like the NWO, which includedwrestlers either in the latter part of their prime (Hall,Nash, Scott Steiner, Syxx) or several years pasttheir prime (Hogan, Savage). Even the best ver-sion of the Four Horsemen at the top of their game,was comprised of Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, TullyBlanchard, and either Lex Luger or Barry Wind-ham, all of whom were in the prime of their careers.

But with Nexus, you are seeing a group unique inthe history of professional wrestling. This is not a

collection of elite, established stars, save theshort-lived addition of Daniel Bryan (and even hewas debuting in WWE). Instead, the Nexus looksto be a vehicle to introduce a number of youngstars to the main roster all at once.

The question history must answer isnt whetherthe Nexus is the next Horsemen, but whether itwas successful in launching the careers of thenext generation of WWEs main event.

As of this writing, I believe its too early to tell.

While the Nexus may be one of the biggest factorsin WWE storylines, can anyone really say anymember, save leader Wade Barrett and deposedmember Daniel Bryan have been given the oppor-tunity to get themselves over as singles competi-tors? In having the group used mostly to swarmmembers of the WWE roster as a group, itsrobbed them of the opportunity to showcase muchof an individual personality. I mean, sure we knowJustin Gabriel does a mean 450 splash. We knowSkip Sheffield looks like the next Batista and

Heath Slater has red hair. We know David Otungais the fianc of Hollywood star Jennifer Hudson.
http://www.thewrestlingpress.com/mailto:[email protected]://www.thewrestlingpress.com/mailto:[email protected]

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I was all ready to talk about the amazing run of programming that

TNA Wrestling had throughout July and the early part of August.For better or worse they had the wrestling world talking in regards

to the not-ECW revival. The entire wrestling audience was split

on whether it was a good idea or a bad idea, but regardless it

got everyone talking.

Then the company supplemented that with an amazingbest-of-five series between The Motor City Machine-guns and Beer Money, Inc. over the TNA WorldTag Team Championships. This was an ab-solutely phenomenal series and their 2-

out-3 falls match on the Whole FN Showspecial on TNAs August 13 show wasa treat. All five matches were off thecharts and solidified these two as twoof the best tag teams in the world, settheir rivalry up as a legitimate Feudof the Year candidate and set thenew standard for a match series inpro wrestling. It also showed thattag team wrestling isnt completelya dead concept in American pro

wrestling.Therefore I was all set to talkabout the dearth of tag teamwrestling in American prowrestling these days. But thena man simply known as TheMiz blew my mind with hispromo on the September 6edition of Monday Night RAW.Forget the NXT series, WorldWrestling Entertainment has

already found their nextbreakout star with The Miz.

Words: MARK SATRANG


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I have always been a fan of Mike The MizMizanin. From watching him debut as one of thekids on MTVs The Real World and developing

the early Miz persona into his various appear-ances on MTVs Real World/Road Rules Chal-lenges I liked the guy.

He had a lifelong passion for pro wrestling andused his appearances on MTVs reality televisionto springboard himself into a wrestling career. Heenrolled in Southern Californias Ultimate ProWrestling in 2002 and began his training at theUltimate University wrestling school. He officially

debuted as a wrestler in 2003 and hasntlooked back since.

After putting in some dues onthe independent circuit,

Mizanin was selected to beon WWEs fourth seasonof Tough Enough, wherehe lasted until the finaltwo. He and eventualwinner Daniel Puder bat-

tled in a boxing match at the Armageddon payper view in December 2004. Puder may havewon the grand prize and the six-figure contract,

but Miz also received a developmental contractout of the deal as well.

Once he joined WWE in 2005, he worked prima-rily in the now-defunct Deep South Wrestling ter-ritory, where he was the promotions firstchampion. When DSW went down, Miz wastransferred to Ohio Valley Wrestling, where heended winning the Southern Tag Team Champi-onship.

In the spring of 2006, Miz debuted on Smack-

Down, as host (a la Ryan Seacrest) of theshow. He maintained his training in OVW whiledoing his TV personality work on SmackDown,and finally wrestled on WWE TV in September2006. His obnoxious attitude and former realityTV star stigma made him an obvious villain.

Miz toiled on the SmackDown undercard through2006 and the first half of 2007 until he wasdrafted to ECW during the 2007 draft. Now onECW with a smaller roster and more attentionbrought upon him, Miz was able to grow and

excel as a performer. This led to an uneasy al-liance with John Morrison, who was also chasingPunks Championship. Miz and Morison beganteaming together sporadically, and it led to themdefeating Matt Hardy and Montel VontaviousPorter for the WWE Tag Team Championships inNovember 2007. It was the start of a beautifulpartnership.

The incredibly obnoxious and cocky pairgelled together right away and were a huge

hit on WWE television. Working together al-lowed Miz and Morrison to refine their in-ring skills and become much morecompetent performers than they wereknown to be.

Miz and Morrison were the tag team of2008. They became both WWE Tag TeamChampions and World Tag Team Champi-ons over the course of a year and a half

and battled teams from all three of WWEsbrands. Despite Morrison and Miz being

ECW exclusive talents, they pretty much

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Words: MATT SINGH

Its clear that Erich Bischoff and HulkHogan are not the answer to TNAsproblems, that much is proven by theMay and June pay-per-view buy rates;

Sacrifice in May drew 8,000 buys, andSlammiversary a month later pulled a similar

number. Thats way down from the typical25,000/30,000 the company was drawing backin 2005/6 when they had an 11pm Saturdaynight timeslot, as opposed to the prime-timeslot they have now.

When the Sacrifice/Slammiversary numbers wereleaked, it sent shockwaves through the prowrestling industry; even with the lousy bookingTNA has shown for some time, 8,000 buys is ap-pallingly low considering TNA has a strong rosteras well as great television coverage.

The problem with TNA (and every other promotion

that has struggled) is purely a creative one, butalso the situation is exasperated by equally incom-petent management. The bookers/writers are al-ways to blame in a situation like this, despite whatthey or their supporters may claim; simply put,wrestling fans arent buying the product TNA isselling. But the reason the TNA bookers/writersare able to write and book such horrible, non-ticket-selling shows is because theyre allowed to,by the very person who should know what doesor doesnt draw money; that person is of course

Dixie Carter.

Thats a huge shame, as with the right creative di-rection TNA could be a significant player in prowrestling, and what makes it doubly disappointingis that really the only thing wrong with the com-pany is the booking. As stated before they have agreat roster of in-ring wrestlers capable of consis-tent great matches as well as a great televisionpartnership to showcase said matches. The prob-

lem can be laid directly at the feet of the guys incharge, namely Vince Russo (head writer), EricBischoff and Hulk Hogan. These are the realpower-players in TNA and thus have the respon-sibility of whether the company fails or succeeds.Dixie Carter is also, obviously, the biggest power-player in TNA, but as has been evident she hasno clue about pro wrestling, or what the averagefan wants to see (or more importantly, willing topay to see).

Any contention of this assertion is immediatelydispelled by a quick glance at Carters now-infa-mous YouShoot interview. The most notable inaneramblings by Carter were the following...

Q. Why is there no TNA magazine?

A. Magazines are obsolete, and not a good busi-ness decision.

Q. Do you think it would make more sense to

have first-time opponents (in TNA) have (their)

matches on pay-per-view (instead of) free TV?

A. The pay-per-view business is another modelthat is on its decline.

From those two answers alone, one can deducethat TNA is in a dangerous position of having anincompetent owner (Carter) and booker (VinceRusso).

In regards to the answers above the most con-temptible is easily the second, in which Carter ar-rogantly and ignorantly states that pay-per-view isa declining business model; obviously TNA will try

TNA WOESAnd soltions

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and spin the notion that pay-per-view isdying because TNA is drawing laughably

bad buyrate numbers. The thing that makesCarter look like a total buffoon can besummed-up in three initials; UFC.

TNA drew 8,000 buys for its May and Juneshows, meanwhile the May and June UFCpay-per-views drew 1.05 million, and520,000 buys respectively. Yes, thats right,TNA pulled 8,000 buys consecutively for twomonths, and when compared with the UFC,TNA isnt even on the same planet when itcomes to buyrates and buys.

Ironically, despite her being seemingly com-pletely different from the average wrestlingpower-player, the YouShoot interview alonehas exposed Carter as being the same as allthose old promoters Vince McMahon Jr. putof business by 1988; specifically that shellblame everything else, and use every scape-goat excuse fathomable to explain why TNAbusiness isnt booming, or even averagelydrawing. Its the same kind of self-delusion

that ended the promoting careers of the likesof Verne Gagne, Fritz von Erich and JimCrockett, and at the present rate will do thesame to TNA if things dont change fast.

For a number of months now, Paul Hey-mans name has constantly arisen in regardto taking over from Vince Russo. Obviouslythat would be a huge step in the right direc-tion for the company if someone with aproven track record of writing compelling tel-evision shows would be in charge of bookingTNA, but Heyman does have his critics dueto the fact that he booked his own company,ECW, so dreadfully from 1999-2001. How-ever when closely inspected those criticisms(which are more likely than not true)shouldnt factor into his potential TNA tenure;remember that Heyman was both bookingECW as well as running the business side ofthe promotion. If Heyman were to go to TNA,obviously he wouldnt have much (if any-thing) to do with the business aspect of TNA.

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While many Russo supporters/fans will point tothe record-breaking Attitude Era as proof ofRussos creative genius, there are two main is-

sues to look at; the first is that Russo worked aspart of a booking team during his WWE tenure,and of course Vince McMahon had final say on allcreative decisions. The second is that its prettywell established and agreed that the whole Atti-tude Era grew from ECWs blood and guts televi-sion that was being booked by, you guessed it,Paul Heyman. In short, to compare Vince Russoto Paul Heyman as creative bookers is totally ig-norant of the historical situation. If Heyman wereto replace Russo, its safe to say the entire cre-

ative look, feel and execution of TNA wouldchange quite drastically, and instead of trying tomimic WWE, Heyman would surely create (or atleast try to) an alternative to WWE so TNA coulddraw new fans or ones that for whatever reasonhad/have drifted away from pro wrestling. Thereare any number of ways TNA and Heyman coulddo this, but the most obvious and probably themost viable is to focus on the actual in-ringwrestling.

TNA has arguably a stronger core-group of work-ers than WWE; A.J Styles, Samoa Joe, AlexShelly, Chris Sabin, Doug Williams and DesmondWolfe are among the best workers in Americanwrestling right now, and will be remembered assome of the best of their generation. Of course,

TNA also has the best worker of his generation,namely Kurt Angle. Its no surprise that TNAsbiggest ever pay-per-view success was when

Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle wrestled for the firsttime in October 2006 at the Genesis show. Thatshow pulled 60,000 buys, a number the companyhas never gotten anywhere close to since. Unfor-tunately TNA (basically Vince Russo) decided thatJoe/Angle was so successful that the two werebooked to work with each again on the December7th edition of Impact!, and then again rematchedat the next two pay-per-view broadcasts, whichobviously as youd expect was overkill from thefans point of view. It was basically desperation

booking, with Russo and management not havingthe patience or sense (or both) to realise that theyhad a huge money-drawing feud, at least by TNAstandards, on their hands.

TNA also needs to make sure it doesnt fall intoan old WCW bad-habit; signing former or recentlyreleased WWE workers just because theyre afree agent. TNA has actually been quite astute intheir recent signings of former WWE workers, butthe unfortunate flip side is that TNA has decidedto build the company around former WWE work-ers that are old and broken down, and thus cantwork a program and have the big-money, bigblow-off match at the end.

Currently Impact! Is essentially built around HulkHogan, Kevin Nash, Eric Bischoff, Rob Van Damand Ric Flair. One can quickly deduce then, thatRusso, Bischoff and Hogan are trying to recreatethe late-1990s, which is a sure-fire way for awrestling company to at least remain in neutral,and at worst actually regress backwards towards

impending financial doom. Obviously great work-ers like A.J Styles, Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe arealso featured heavily on Impact!, which is helpingto keep the television tapings interesting and attimes fun and compelling to watch.

The big question for TNA though is, will the com-pany (and the powerful people making the deci-sions) make a change at the top of the creativeladder and turn business around before its toolate.

n Contact Matt at [email protected]

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Wrestlinghas

alwaysat-

tractedsome-

thingofa

geekadi-

ence.Manywrestlingfans

arepeoplewho

woldnt

dreamofgoing

towatcha

normal sport,

andmany

wrestlingfansaresomewhat

lackingin

mattersofthe

oppositese.

Does that first paragraph make you angry?

Of course it does. As wrestling fans we are allseen by the mainstream like that, a bunch ofgeeks and socially inept folk who like watching

men in pants pretend fighting.

Yet, like it or not, as normal as many of us maybe, there is a fair proportion of the wrestling au-dience for whom these tags do apply. Go onYoutube, or many of the internet forums, andyoull find fans whose passion for the wrestlingbusiness strays from fandom to geekiness.

Its something we all share really though.Theres a bit of geek in all of us. After all, we willall spend three hours watching a PPV show, or

discussing the intricacies of wrestling online.

Words: PHIL AUSTIN


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Well all defend the joys of watching wrestlingto those who dont appreciate it, and we can allelicit passionate soliloquies about which mem-

ber of Demolition was the best, or whether KurtAngle is a better worker than Shawn Michaels.

Many of us go to Memorabilia fairs for thechance to meet some of our wrestling heroes.And how many of us who do so have laughedat the nerds in their Star Wars outfits, dressedup as Spock, or getting excited about meetingStormtrooper number 37? Then we go to astand and get just as excited by seeing a col-lection of wrestling figures while wearing ourrare Ahmed Johnston T-shirt! (Did I spellAhmeds surname correctly? Im sure if yourea true wrestling geek, youll know for sure.)

So you see, as much as we knock the geeks,we all have a bit of the geek in us. Its the verynature of being extremely passionate enoughabout something. Passionate enough that wewill sit and read an online magazine about it forexample! And I for one cant knock that deci-sion!

But recently Ive noticed something slightly dif-ferent happening in pro wrestling.

Think back to your youth. If youre anywherenear my age, then your wrestling back then con-sisted of the real life superheroes like HulkHogan, Sting, Randy Savage, Ric Flair and theRoad Warriors.

Now look at who has replaced them in thewrestling world today. No offence to these guys,

but....John Morrison? The Miz? The Motor CityMachine Guns? Even John Cena and Batista?

So what am I getting at? Well, to put it bluntly,where wrestling was once populated by superhu-mans and macho men far removed from the restof us wrestling geeks, wrestling now featuresmany of these geeks as stars.

I cant say that I could ever imagine Ric Flair orHulk Hogan doing anything other than going outand being a star. Likewise the second-tier starssuch as Mr Perfect and Jake Roberts wouldnever seem like the type that would rather sit andwatch Youtube wrestling matches than go out andparty.

But you look at the current crop of wrestling starsand even the likes of Cena and Rob Van Dam arepeople you can quite easily imagine sitting onFacebook or watching a few Youtube matchesrather than hanging out at a bar till the early hoursof the morning (even Ric Flair in his recent visitto the UK said he had to teach Cena to party).

Initially I was thinking this was just my perceptionof the wrestling business as an adult. As a kid,these wrestlers seemed larger-than-life becauseI was that much smaller. But the more I watch the1980s promotions, the more it still hits me.Wrestlers today really do have more of a geekfactor about them. And I think Ive come to a fewconclusions as to why this may be.

1. What did you grow up on?

When many of the stars of the 1980s were grow-ing up, the wrestlers they grew up on came from

GEEK CLIP #1Press play orclick here for external link

Randy Savage
http://www.thewrestlingpress.com/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dQgi6HAOWshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dQgi6HAOWshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dQgi6HAOWshttp://www.thewrestlingpress.com/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dQgi6HAOWshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dQgi6HAOWs

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an era of grittiness and real men. Guys likeBruno Sammartino, Lou Thesz and StranglerLewis. Even men such as Gorgeous George

and Buddy Rogers who had somewhat more ofthe showman about them were legitimatelytough.

Conversely, the wrestlers many of todays starsgrew up on were the over-the-top cartoon starsof the 1980s. If you grow up emulating toughguys, youre going to come across more like asuperstar. If you grew up emulating cartoon su-perheroes youre going to come across more ofa geek.

Now obviously those guys that the current starsemulated are still the guys that we are referringto here as the legitimate over-the-top stars. Butas each generations stars become more wa-tered down it has a knock-on effect to subse-quent generations of stars. But this is not theonly reason for the current crop of geeks.

2. What was wrestling when you got into it?

In the 1980s, wrestling was still a closed shopfor the most part. There were schools, but essen-tially to get involved in wrestling you had to be atough guy to survive the process. You inevitablyeither came from a sports background, a legitfighting background, a bodybuilding backgroundor were a legitimate tough guy that was foundbouncing heads around a bar by the boys. It

was highly unlikely that some geek would be ableto just walk off the street into a school and be-

come a star without some degree of toughness.

Jump forward to the late 1990s and early part ofthis century, and every geek on the street can put

out a pro wrestling school. And these schools arenot of the ilk of those in the past, where you haveto undergo severe punishment in order to proveyour toughness. Many of these schools merelyshow you how to do moves without weeding outthe tough guy from the geek in the street. Go toa wrestling school now and you are as likely tofind half a dozen guys in the class that are regu-larly teased at school for being nerds as you areto find guys from a legitimate athletic or toughbackground.

3. The internet

Back in the day, the stars of the previous era did-nt have access to the internet. The stars of thatera didnt go online, or have their own Facebookpage or Twitter feed. These days, access to theinternet has made todays stars more accessible,and therefore less star-like.

But the internet has also changed the fans them-selves. Discussions that were previously limited

to a few hardcore fans gathering in bars or atshows are now opened up to the masses acrossthe internet, and the general critical nature ofthese discussions tends to level out the star sta-tus of the performer. No longer is John Cenarevered as a star who we can only read about inmagazines, now he is just a geek to be criticisedby internet experts for his lack of wrestling tech-nique.

The internet has made these stars appear morelike one of us, and that makes them more like the

rest of us geeks!

4. Promos

Go and look at any promo from the past, whetherits Hulk Hogans ranting on WWF TV, or the pas-sion of a Four Horsemen promo and youll seean intensity that you rarely get today. Todaysscripted promos are laced with comedy and areal lack of that tough guy spirit that even themost basic promo in the past had.

Even the guys who didnt cut the main eventpromos, such as Jim Duggan or the Hart Foun-

Bruno Sammartino

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dation, had an intensity you just dont see intodays promos. To put it crudely, todays promoguys need to have a little more bass in theirvoice in order to seem more like an intensetough guy, and less like a geek cutting a promo.Its just not something that is concentrated onthese days, and that is a shame.

5. Personas

Weve touched on this already. The guys in thepast all had these larger than life personas.From Mr Perfect to the One Man Gang, Demoli-tion to the Ultimate Warrior, these were guyswho were far more than just another guy whoyou could imagine meeting in real life. And whenyou did get the opportunity to meet them, youwere in awe.

Conversely, today most wrestlingpersonas are pretty basic, giv-ing far less big time feel to theguy playing them. So the Miz is

just a guy who talks. John Mor-

rison is just a guy who doesmoves. Even John Cena is just a

guy who cuts a funny promo.Noone has that big time feel that a

Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair or SteveAustin had in the past.

6. Smile for the camera!

One other thing Ive no-ticed when compar-

ing the star

of the past

and the geek of today is how they are presentedon camera. Very rarely would you see a wrestlingstar of the past smiling inanely on camera. They

would snarl, they would sneer, they would showintensity. But very rarely would they smile. If theydid, it was for a reason, and it was in a way thatdid not distract from their intense personality.

Now, everyone is taught that you have to smile.And smile. And smile. So Cena is pictured smil-ing inanely on camera. John Morrison walks tothe ring with a big smile on his face. Even LowKi now has to wear the smiley face to the ringwhile still trying to be the intense Kaval!

Smiling is fine, and of course you have to be per-sonable, but inane smiling, as appears to be thetrend just makes you look like a geek who ishaving so much fun being a wrestler. Its a stepaway from being Percy Watson, and I fear thatmay be the next decades watering down of ourwrestling stars if were not careful.

You may not agree with all wrestlers today hav-ing this geekiness about them, and its certainlytrue that there are some who dont. Randy Ortonfor example still exhibits some of this intensitythat made guys in the past such stars, and ofcourse the Undertaker will always be a personathat can never be described as being a geek.But if wrestling is to be taken seriously by themainstream again, it needs to get back its stars,and in order to do that we need to move away

from these stars exhibiting elements of geeki-ness. These stars are not just like us, and thereis no way we should even be able to perceivethat they could be. They need to be larger thanlife personalities (without obviously being largerthan life physically, if you get my drift!), and bestars whenever and wherever they are seen inpublic.

Right, thats enough from me. Im off to tweet toEvan Bourne and Kofi Kingston!

n Contact Phil at [email protected]

GEEK CLIP #2Press play orclick here for external link

WRESTLERS TODAY REALLY DOHAVE MORE OF A GEEK

FACTOR ABOuT THEM
mailto:[email protected]://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeYDFyXk7zIhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeYDFyXk7zIhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeYDFyXk7zImailto:[email protected]://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeYDFyXk7zIhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeYDFyXk7zI

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http://www.talkwrestlingonline.com/

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Its been a year of highs and lows in theworld of TNA Wrestling so far in 2010, thedebut of Hulk Hogan and his entourageto the promotion in January and the

debut of their flagship show Impact on MondayNights against WWEs Raw were welcome

statements of the companies intent for theyear ahead.

Gradually though 2010 hasnt really panned out aswell as the company would have liked, Impactsdeparture from Monday Nights after just twomonths and the fact that the ratings for the showhave hardly made any increase are massive bodyblows to the promotion.

TNA have received another dent in their armourover the past few weeks, albeit this time across thepond, the announcement could have a massive ef-fect on their growing UK fan base.

On Wednesday 15th September it was reportedthat BSKYB (SKY TV to you and me) will shutdown Bravo and Channel One (which were bothowned by the Living TV Group.)

Sky has made it clear that they want to transfer themajority of programming on those channels to theirown station, Sky Three.

So what does this mean for TNA on our screens, Ihere you ask?

Well, the main problem that TNA faces with thisclosure is that Impact in the USA is broadcast bySpike TV. Now whereas other TV shows will bemoved to SKY three, Impact cannot. This is be-cause of the arrangement Sky has with WWE,which is an exclusive agreement to air only theirwrestling product on the networks channels.

SKY has announced that they will keep the livingTV channel, so being placed on their station wouldnot break the deal SKY has with WWE as although

SKY have bought the group Living TV are still theirown existence.

The question has to be asked where TNA Impactfits on the Living TV channel and whether they willstill want a wrestling show being broadcast ontheir network.

This is the million dollar question and in all honestythe answer is doubtful, TNAs programming is not

their target demographic, it wont fit. Currently Liv-ing TV plays Americas next top model and dropdead diva, which is not aimed at the same demo-graphic as a wrestling show.

The Orlando outfit has built up a real following inthe UK since being shown on Bravo and this yearhas seen the company regularly get viewers in ex-cess of 56,000. Now by no means is this a groundbreaking feat compared to other shows here onour shores but the fact is Impact constantly beats

WWE in the UK for ratings.Impacts ratings of 100,000 viewers arent enoughfor Living TV to really sit up and take notice,scrambling to put the show on their network. TNAthough are remaining positive and upbeat aboutthe announcement of the closure and seem con-fident in their future on UK television.

Executive Vice President of TNA Andy Bartonsaid: Following the acquisition of Virgin Media TVchannels (now rebranded as The Living TV

Group) by Sky, there has always been the possi-bility of fundamental changes to those channels,including Bravo. However, we remain confident inTNAs position due to the outstanding ratings en-joyed in 2010, and our long term contract with theLiving TV Group.

These ratings that he talks about are only out-standing compared to WWEs, which is likely dueto the fact that WWE is on Sky Sports, a premiumchannel that you have to pay extra money for.Bravo however was free; TNA doesnt do so great

against other Bravo shows such as Spartacus andDog the Bounty Hunter.

BRAVO CLOSING where does Impact go from here?

Words: DARREN WOOD

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It has to be said that the Living TV group can drawmore ratings with their target demographic by put-ting on similar shows that they already have rather

than taking what would be perceived as a gambleto put Impact on their schedule.

TNA finds itself in a difficult and challenging posi-tion; so where does it go?

Extreme sports network currently show their ppvsbut no one knows what channel they are on (itschannel 419 by the way), so realistically no onewill really watch the TV show either and thus view-ership will likely decrease and so too the braggingrights over WWE in the UK market.

Great Britain is without a doubt TNAs biggestgrossing market; if they cannot find another station(or continue onto Living TV) they will be losingwhat is effectively their biggest TV show in theirmost profitable region.

They have a huge European tour coming up inJanuary and by not being on TV (or on a recog-nised mainstream TV channel) could really harmthe ticket sales. Mainstay TNA fans will likely havetheir tickets already but if TNA loses Impact in the

UK, these shows will likely not attract the casualfan to attend.

Could independent channels be an option?

The trouble with TNA is Impact just doesnt drawenough viewers to immediately warrant a networkto take a chance on them. TNA would also likelyhave to get out of their contract with the Living TVgroup which could cost a lot of money. Going toan independent channel is not a sure fire fixthough, Its likely that the viewing audience could

decrease, with the channel not reaching enoughviewers or the channel not being well knowenough, this will harm TNA.

Terrestrial TV could be an alternative and one thatreally would pay off. Wrestling has been shown onterrestrial in the past, Channel 4 had WWE Sun-day Night Heat and some PPVs were shown inthe early 2000s. It is unlikely that the station wouldwant to show wrestling again after many consid-ered their coverage awful with a live delay on theirPPVs cutting off a lot of the action and Channel 4

even blurred blood even though the events were

on at some godforsaken hour in the morning.

Channel 5 had WCW Worldwide in the late1990s, (ok so it was awful, being shown on a four

or five week delay with the batman style captionswhen weapons were used, but at least they hadit) with these channels being so accessible andreaching millions of homes being on either stationcould do wonders for TNA and would give themthe mainstream publicity they desperately need.

It would seem that Channel 5 would be the moreviable option as they already show many USsports including NFL and UFC, they could evenuse a ploy that Spike have in America by tying inUFC with TNA to increase viewership.

If TNA are smart and are deadly serious about theUK market then going on terrestrial TV is some-thing that would be a great move for them, theyalways make known of the fact that they get more

viewers than WWE, well if they were on terrestrialTV then their ratings would absolutely eclipseWWEs on Sky Sports.

While not being able to show TNA PPVs, Terres-trial would be great to attract casual fans to theproduct. If viewers see recognisable names likeJeff Hardy, Kurt Angle, Ric Flair and Hulk Hoganbeing shown then this could entice casual fanswho are flicking through channels to regularlywatch TNA.

While it is known that currently we do not knowwhen Bravo will cease to exist, whatever the op-tion TNA decides to make there is no doubt thatthey need to sort this situation out as quickly aspossible. Could we finally see wrestling on a main-stream terrestrial TV channel in the UK?

It could happen, a lot of wrestling fans on theseshores would no doubt welcome it and hell wemight even see a live TNA PPV here for the firsttime in the UK. You never know.

n Contact Darren at [email protected]

THEquESTIONHASTOBE

ASKEDWHERETNAIMPACT

FITSONTHELIVINGTVCHANNEL

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Whatsyourearliestwrestling memory?

Myearliestmemory ofwrestlingis probably

watchingWWFLivefromthePhiladelphia

Spectrumontheold Prismchannelherein

thestates. I rememberwatchingRoddy

Piperandthinkingwow that guy iswearinga

dressbut itskindofcool...guess that one

musthavetraveledoverin toadulthood.

Whohasbeen

yourbiggest

influencesin

wrestling?

Ive hadalot.

Francine and

PatKinney

(Simon

Diamond) taught

mea lot. My

teacherSean

Denny. Sherri

Martel ismy

idol,Iveseen

everythingshe

haseverdone. I

watchI learn.

Bobby Heenan,

LunaVachon,

FreddieBlassie.

Whatsthefunniestthingyouhaveever

seeninwrestling?

Iwas atashow inFloridasitting withStacy

the KatCarter. Beforetheshow,Iwas

tryingtoteachVitothedance totheBeyonce

song SingleLadies...put aringonitwhere

youflip yourhandaroundbackandforth.

Well,Vitokepttelling me, Igot it, Igot it, over

and overagain. Well the songhitsandhere

comesVitodressedasMarilyn Monroe

dancing aroundwavinghishands...the wrong

way.Helookedlikehewastryingtocatcha

caborsomething. I immediatelybustedout

laughingrealisingthatwashis attempt todo

thedance.ThenStacystartedlaughingcause

she thoughtitwas cute.She saidLookhes

looking atyouforapprovalandhewas witha

HUGEsmileonhisface.ThenI looked

aroundandrealised theentirecrowdisdoingtheVitoVersionofthe dancealongwith

him. I toldhimafterwardshediditwrongand

he justlookedat me and saidBut itgotover.

To thisdayhestill doesthedancewrong...but

sodoeseveryone elsewhenhesinthe

building.

Whatsyourfavouritejoke?

Twopretzelswerewalkingdownthestreet,

one was asalted...thatsprobably funnier

whenyousayitnot readit.

NOelharlOw

OUTsideTheriNgwiTh ....

Shes the QueenoftheCatfightmanageress, interviewer,modeland

current squeezeofFormerWWE, WCW,

TNA,andECWSuperstarBigVito.

COUNT-OUT

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Hadanywrestlingdisastersyoudprefertoforget?

Ivehadcertainpartspopoutofmytopduringmatches.Idliketoforgetthat.OhonetimeIwastryingtodotheMrPerfectflippingneckbreakerandmybootcameoffandIlandedonmyheadfunny.Couldbarelymoveforaweek!Idliketoforgetthattoo.

DoyouthinkBigVitoenjoyswearingwomensclothing?

Yeshedoes,itmakeshimfeelsexy,andnobodylooksbetterinadressthanVito.Hesverycomfortablewithhimself,whichIfindsexy.

Doeshelooktoyouforadvicewhenshoppingforclothes?Iaskhimforadvice,Hesagreatshopper.Hehelpsmecomeupwithgreatlooks.Everusedyourfemininewilestogetyourownway?

Allthetime.Thelordgivesyougifts,itsblasphemyifyoudontusethem.Whenwasthelasttimeyouwerenakedintheopenair?

Isleepnaked,doesthatcount?Canyourecallanybadexperienceswithovereagerfans?

ThedaybeforeMothersDayafewyearsbackIwasdoingashowattheECWArena

andafanpunchedmeinthefaceandgavemeablackeye.Iendedupknockinghimonhisbehind.NeedlesstosaymymotherwasntveryhappywhenIshowedupfordinneronMothersDay...whichalsohappenedtobeherbirthday...sorryMom.Whichmatcheshaveyouwatchedthemost?

Wrestlemania7MachoManVsUltimateWarrior,Wrestlemania3MachoManvsRickySteamboat, BigVitovsTerryFunkfortheWCWhardcoretitle,BigVitovsLanceStorm,RicFlairvsTerryFunkIquitmatch

Doyouhaveanysecretweaponsinyourwrestlingarsenal?

Mydistraction,itsacertain partofmybodythathasbeenknowntostopwrestlingmatches...includingtherefs(itsmybehind!).WhatsyourfavouriteTVprogrammeandmovie?

DesperatehousewivesandIlovealltheRockyMoviesbeingfromPhilly.Whenwereyoumoststarstruck?ProbablysittingnexttoMickeyRourkeatCZWCageofdeath.ItwasrightbeforethefilmingofTheWrestlerandheandIarerightnexttoeachotherdiscussingthecagematch.DidntthinkaboutitreallytillIgotinthecarandwaslikeWOW,Ij

usttalkedwrestlingwithMickeyRourke...weird,butWOW!.

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Whosthemostfamous

wrestlerinyouraddressbook?

I havealotofwrestlersinmy

phonebook.Imjustgonnasay

Vito-WWE, WCW, TNA,ECW,

Japan, HewasevenVonKrusin

theWWF. Hes probablythemost

accomplishedguyinmy phone

book.

Whoareyourbestfri

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