A LESSON IN WRESTLING MATH

How good was the NXT Revolution .?...yeah, yeah, I know I took my time, but i had to watch it a time or six, just to confirm that it was as good as it looked

Its fairly safe to say that the BEST wrestling talent in the WWE currently is going to Full Sail Uni...sure they have all worked elsewhere all over the world , but for most of the WWE Universe this is the first time they have seen the future of the company before ....unlike us lucky people who have been watching a goodly percentage of the event participants for many a year.

To be fair WWE have been producing talent from NXT for a while now ...like The Shield for instance, weve all see Ambrose and Rollins in their other secret identities at other promotions,  even Punk and Bryan were in "developmental" their for a bit....cause they had to "learn" the WWE way, what ever that is, I still havent figured out what that is, if I had to guess, its probably something about projecting to a bigger crowd 

A mate tweeted me when the talent started showing up on NXT and said something along the lines of .."this is just like Vince in the days before WM1 going cherry picking the various territorys"...and I can see his point, it is like it in some resepects.

All the hot talent on NXT (apart from Charlotte and Baron Corbin) have come from the indies, not that I have a problem with that, HELL, everybody had to start somewhere, right?

Just some of the  feds they have come from are ROH/PWG, Dragon Gate, Shimmer, New Japan and even NSW Australias own PWA , with the signing of Emma to the NXT roster.

Compare and contrast, if you will, the recent shows NXT Takeover Revolution and WWE Tables, Ladders, Chairs & Stairs...

.judging by what I saw and mates I talked to, you cant compare them, TLC had two great matches, one of which was totally f**ked up by a ridiculous exploding plasma monitor, while NXT was top heavy with brilliance, even those goofs in the Assencion pulled a great match out of themselves, of course that might of had something to do with their opponents..one Hideo Itami and Fin Balor ( Kenta and Prince Devitt for those who dont know)

The workrate and story telling on NXT is astounding, an unusual thing to say in the WWE nowadays, I'm no expert, but RAW and Smackdown have become tedious, its like everyone is decided to cruise since they cant do anything shocking due to the PG rating, well, except for Ziggler, he seems to have decided to grab the brass ring, shine it up real nice and stick that sumbitch up Vinny Macs buttocks

 NXT has got a few of the gang up to the main roster, The Shield, Big E Langston and the currently amazing Damien "Mizdow" Sandow ...Bo Dallas has had a couple of spots but I cant say his done too much for me, The Wyatts have made a bit of a splash, why they broke them up, or the Sheild for that matter,..eludes me.....surely they could of held off for a another couple of months ....although, I can see all six of the boys getting a guernsey at Wrestlemania 31, who it will be against is up to the soapy writers at Titan Towers....Oh and then there is Adam Rose, who started wrestling in South Africa in 1995 as a 16 year old...I liked the Leo Kruger gimmick...but his Russell Brand like Adam Rose is more suited to him...it will be interesting to see where it goes, at the moment, it seems they are using Rose to reform "The Age of the Fall" from ROH...;)

I must say, when Paige showed up on NXT , then WWE tv, I was happy that AJ finally had someone to work with other than Mrs Cena or Mrs Bryan...and maybe Mrs Uso too...Paige is from a long line of well trained wrestlers, her mum and dad are still going in the UK...so, to see where they go with her over the long run will be interesting.

Speaking of Divas ( I hate that name by the way) how good is Charlotte, the Nature Girl, for she is Ric Flairs daughter,  is an excellent talent, who knew, I think she has a long term future, once again as long as the writers dont f*8k it up.

I have to admit that Tyler Breeze shits me, the selfie taking numbnut, THEN, I realised his doing exactly what he is supposed to do...job well done, his come a long way from his early days in the Canadian indies as Mathias Wld

Then there is Baron Corbin, who is a bit of a flashback, he comes to NXT with nil pro wrestling experience, his a football player learning his craft, sort of like Wahoo and Ernie Ladd did back in the day....His is the current King of the Squash match, which I thoiught were a thing of the past, he has run roughshod over everyone, and looked pretty good doing it...and no one has mentioned the word streak once...how refreshing.

The only thing I'm concerned about is when the current group  on NXT get "promoted" and the half arsed excuse for creative f**k htem up with rickoculous (thanks Jericho) gimmicks or strory lines...BUT...I guess we will just have to wait and see

FINGERS CROSSED

HEAT...a lost art form...sort of

I'm fairly certain we have all heard of the term  used in wrestling called "HEAT" ...a term that a good majority of modern"creative" have no clue about (or at least very little) 

Now, you would have to agree with the theory that the bigger wrestling companies (WWE, TNA) are hog tied into a PG mode by advertisers....I mean the closest I ve seen to heat on  RAW or Smackdown is Rusev waiving his russian flag, which is stupid, cause i didnt know the cold war was still on, or Seth Rollins curb stomping all and assundry, the biggest potential heat magnet on RAW is Bray Wyatt, his potential for white hot heat is unmeasurable, but sadly, the writers that the WWE hired from daytime soap land have no f**king idea about heat.

Heat, ideally, the heel has to be thoroughly convincing that he is doing what his doing for all the right reasons ( in his mind anyway)....I heard Bill Dundee say about heat once, "kids today dont about heat, they have never had their tyres slashed or sugar in the petrol tanks, hell, I've been cut 2 or 3 times cause I had them white hot"

Like I said, I been watching wrestling a looong time..just coming up to 46 years actually....and, as I may have mentioned before, I had the great fortune to be around and going to shows in the midst of what I still consider to be the greatest angle in wrestling history, well, Australian wrestling history anyway...THE WAR.

Probably around 1972, Mark Lewin got the book in Australia and constructed the angle that was the one that got me hooked into wrestling.....Luckily, he had the ideal heel, one, William Goodman,who donned the chrome germanic helmet and became the General of the Army BIG BAD JOHN...His army of heels included Abdullah the Butcher, Waldo von Erich, Bulldog Brower, Mr Fuji, Hiro and Hito Tojo, Don Fargo, Blackjack Slade and Tiger Jeet Singh....John was one of the greatest promos I ever heard, because he was thoroughly convincing that he started the war because he was sick of Mark Lewin and his mates "taking all the gravy" out of Australia and not sharing it....a fine example of making the people believe what his character believed.

One of the best heat getters have been the "turn" to the darkside, now, these dont always work, but when they do its brilliant, unless your the Road Warriors spiking Dusty in the eye, they were getting cheered....Hell, even Mario  Milano joined up with Gary Hart in Australia, I tell you, that stunned more people than the bombing on Number 96.

MODERN HEAT [or the resemblence there of]

Like I said modern wrestlers in the "bigger" companies, for the most part have been hog tied by PG rating forced upon them by advertisers or tv channels...for instance, Imagine if Bray Wyatt had the PG rating removed, he could become the next Kevin Steen, who I will get to shortly, because the character of Bray Wyatt appears to firmly believe in what he says in his promos, can you imagine if he had cart blance to go for it...I think he would be off the charts.

Imagine if Bray was around when Randy Orton was punting people left and right  BUT Wyatt was doing it instead of Orton, fans would still be talking about it (in my humble opinion}

Recently, ROH had a crack at some heat by getting Adam Cole to cut a promo on Papa Brisco, then kick him in the skull, this led to a Fight Without Honor at Final Battle 2014, some would say that was cheap heat, but in the modern era, it was as well done as any other piece of business.

Did someone mention Kevin Steen...NOW, Im s Steen fan without question, got the shirt and the dvds...and even me after all this time was stunned when he turned on Generico, a thoughjt of "what a prick" even crossed my mind....Steen along with Corino, Cabana and Generico snuck this brilliant piece of business under the noses of the booking team at ROH and it has since become one of the greatest angles in ROH history...

Can you tell me what else was happening in ROH at the time withoiut checking dvds?...I cant, but I can tell you about chain matches and run ins etc relating to the angle....All of Steens promos including the letter he posted on the ROH website was brilliantly constructed, can you imagine if he did that during the 70s, he would need a bodyguard to get to his hotel.....this led to the SCUM angle where Steen goaded Cornette into getting his job back after losing to Generico AND getting a title match against Davey Richards, where he won the title and raised nine kinds of hell until his turn where he further increased his popularity with wrestling fans.

Both Steen and Generico or Owens and Zayn, if you like have signed with WWE and are in the NXT section of the company...someone in NXT creative has been watching ROH because when Zayn won the NXT title the first guy in the ring to hug the new champ was his best friend Kevin Owens...who as soon as the ring cleared came back down and powerbombed the new champ on the edge of the ring...AND ITS OFF TO THE RACES WE GO...again.

Speaking of modern heat getters...I recently discovered a wrestling company in the U.K called PROGRESS and two of their heels stood out in particular, the first was Michael Gilbert, who recently adopted a "no gimmicks" state of mind, he used to look like a cross between Dee Snider and Raven, but not now and like all good heels, he believes his way is the right way, for him anyway....and then their is the current champion, bloke named Jimmy Havoc quite possibly is one of the best heels I've ever seen...

.there was a 4 team tag at the Chapter 13 show, one of the teams The Swords of Essex split up mid match and at the end of the match, The London Riots and Jimmy Havoc duct taped Will Osperay to a chair and Jimmy said to Will, and I paraphrase, " Will, this has got nothing to do with you, its all the promoters fault your in this situation" then he whipped out a switchblade...and threatend to torture the kid, until the promotion stopped booking him in crazy matches trying to make him lose the title, then there was mass run in by the good guys...apparently Jimmy feels hard done by by the powers that be and seems certainly determined to hang onto his title by fair means or foul...probably more foul.

Will we ever go back to those days of white hot heat...definately not, we are way past the point of even considering it...thank the wrestling gods for DVD'S and blogs huh?

A DVD REVIEW: THE GREATEST WRESTLER ON GODS GREEN EARTH

THE LINK TO HIGHSPOTS

Ordered this the other day off Highspots after watching Ronnie Miller and Harley go to a draw on aussie tele (again)....Race has always been a favourite of mine, well, maybe not so much that "King" crap, but everybody deserves to earn a quid...he was the second NWA champ I ever saw and the first I saw live in person at the Hordern Pavillion in Sydney .....

I'd heard of Harley through the Apter mags....then sometime in '78, I heard he had won the NWA belt, which was the recognised world champ for Jim Barnetts Australia promotion, Jack Brisco had already been downunder, but i'd missed him, so I was determined to see Harley work his magic, then I saw him on channel 9 in a angle with Ronnie Miller, they had gone back and forth promoing each other...then Ronnie rolled Harley up for a time limit draw on the show...and geve Race a gob full ...this led to Ronnie getting the rub from Harley and if memory serves a standing ovation..OUTSTANDING

The next time I saw Harley was the lead up to Ric Flair and "The Flare for the Gold" cage match and the angle leading up to that with Dick Slater and Bob orton Jnr "crippling" Flair for a bounty, so Harley wouldnt lose the belt...the promos leading up to that match was brilliant.

Harley dropped the belt to Naitch and faded out of my view for a bit until he showed up dressed as a king in the WWF, cant honestly say it was my favourite incarnation of Harley, but, like I said everybody has to earn a buck.....I didnt know about the accident that finished Race in the WWF, but what a shame, he sure deserved a better exit.

Finally I saw Harley managuing Vader in WCW and his interacting with Vader was definately beliveable..if Harley said VCader was gonna crush you, you took it as dinkum....I have the WWE Hall of Fame where Race got inducted..couldnt happen to a nicer bloke.

The DVD is an outstanding telling of the Race tale from his carny days to drivin g Happy Humphrey around right through to his running of his wrestling school today.... 

 and on the dvd, available only at Highspots,  is the following

Harley Race: The Greatest Wrestler on God’s Green Earth takes a look at one of wrestling’s biggest attractions of the 70’s and 80’s. In the world of professional wrestling there is no one else like Harley Race he is truly a one of a kind. When people talk about Harley Race they talk about respect and toughness.

On this 2 disc DVD set you will hear from Harley Race like you never have before as he opens up about his life and career. From his beginnings on the carnival circuit, to teaming with Larry Henning, the 8 NWA World Title reigns, passing the torch to Ric Flair at Starrcade 83, what it was like working for Vince McMahon, and so much more. Also you will hear from all the key figures throughout Harley’s career, the people who helped and witnessed his success.

When people put a list of all time great wrestler’s together Harley Race is at the top of most of them because he is The Greatest Wrestler On God’s Green Earth. 

Disc 1 - Full Documentary - 1 hour 40 minutes, total run time disc 1 is 1 hr 51 minutes 
Chapter 1: Early Life 
Chapter 2: Happy Humphrey 
Chapter 3: Jack Long 
Chapter 4: Pretty Handsome 
Chapter 5: 1st World Title 
Chapter 6: The Champ 
Chapter 7: Starrcade 83 
Chapter 8: War With Vince 
Chapter 9: The King 
Chapter 10: WCW 
Chapter 11: Training School 
Chapter 12: Legacy 
Chapter 13: Harley Race v. Ric Flair (All Star Wrestling courtesy of Harley Race)

Disc 2 - Bonus Footage - Approximately 1 hour 45 minutes 
Chapter 1: Harley Race v. David Von Erich (courtesy of Larry Matysik) 
Chapter 2: "The Doublecross" as told by Jim Cornette and Harley Race 
Chapter 3: Harley Race v Ted Dibiase (8 MM footage courtesy of Mike Gratchner 
Chapter 4: "Great Times" told by Terry Funk 
Chapter 5: Harley Race v. Ric Flair (8 MM footage courtesy of Mike Gratchner) 
Chapter 6: "His Hands" as told by Vader 
Chapter 7: Harley Race v. Dick Murdoch (8 MM footage courtesy of Mike Gratchner) 
Chapter 8: "Bruno folklore" as told by Larry Matysik 
Chapter 9: Harley v. Tommy Martin (8MM footage courtesy of Mike Gratchner) 
Chapter 10: "New Zealand" as told by Ric Flair/Jim Cornette 
Chapter 11:Harley Race v. Pierre Lefeber (8 MM footage courtesy of Mike Gratchner) 
Chapter 12: "Outlaws" - Les Thatcher 
Chapter 13: Harley Race v. Spike Huber (courtesy of Larry Matysik) 
Chapter 14: "Vader" - Magnum TA 
Chapter 15: Harley Race v. Dory Funk Jr (courtesy of Harley Race) 
Chapter 16: US Title - William Murdock 
Chapter 17: Harley Race v. David Von Erich (8MM footage courtesy of Mike Gratchner) 
Chapter 18: "Driving Harley" featuring George South 
Chapter 19: Harley Race v. Ron Sexton (courtesy of Larry Matysik) 
Chapter 20: "Broadway" featuring Larry Matysik 
Chapter 21: Harley Race v. Omar Atlas (courtesy of Larry Matysik)

So there you go...grab it, its the goods
Recky

ANDRE..A Giant among men

I can happilly say that during my wrestling fandom down here in the colonies (starting in the laste 60's) that Ive had the great good fortune to see and occasionally meet some deadset legends of our sport...I met Bruiser Brody and Stan Hansen one night after the matches at South Sydney Juniors Rugby League Club....I met Animal and Hawk at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre (on the tour where Hawk was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy)...and then there was Andre, I got to spend a few minutes with the great man when he worked St George Leagues Club, I have to say, this was before  before Wrestlemania One, he still had long hair and moved pretty good.

Mind you, I'd been watching Andre since he started doing tours to Australia and I reckon I saw him either at TV tapings or live on everyone of them..

.the most resounding memory of the Giant was in a Russian Roulette match, or what the rest of the world called a Battle Royal, I had no idea why Barnett (or whoever was booking) called it that in Australia then and still dont....

Anyway, as per usual Andre was tossing blokes left, right and centre, until the only fellow left was Larry O'Dea and instead of chucking Larry, Andre split the cheque with him...the most amazing bit was Andre lifting Larry onto his shoulder...no small feat, Larry had to be 17 stone if he was an ounce.

At 7'4" and 500 pounds, Andre the Giant could have been famous for his size alone. His drive, talent and ambition, however, proved to be as big as Andre himself, and the wrestler became legendary for his achievements in and out of the ring.

Andre was born Andre Rene Roussimoff in Grenoble, France on May 19, 1946. His parents, Boris and Marian Roussimoff, and four siblings were of average size. Andre, however, suffered from acromegaly, a disease that results in an over abundance of growth hormones.

Also known as Giantism, this disease caused Andre's body to continue growing his whole life,  he displayed symptoms very early, reaching a height of 6'3" (190.5 cm) and a weight of 240 pounds (110 kg) by the age of 12.and by the time he was 17 he stood 6'7".

At age 17, Roussimoff moved to Paris and was taught the art of professional wrestling by a local promoter who recognized the earning potential of Roussimoff's size. He trained at night and worked as a mover during the day to pay living expenses. Roussimoff was billed as "Géant Ferré", taken from the name of a mythical French giant and began wrestling in Paris and nearby areas. 

Canadian promoter and wrestler Frank Valois met Roussimoff in 1966, becoming his business manager and adviser. Roussimoff began making a name for himself wrestling in the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, and Africa.

Due to his immense stature it seemed inevitable that Andre would excel in the wrestling world. He had just started to make a name for himself in the ring as "Monster Eiffel Tower" or "Monster Roussimoff" when French-Canadian wrestler Edouard Carpentier first laid eyes on him. Carpentier was impressed with Andre's raw talent and decided to bring him to North America. 

Andre began wrestling under the name Jean Ferre in Canada for Grand Prix Promotions. In a short time Andre went from the undercard to being a headlining name. Inspired by the movie King Kong he acquired the nickname, "The 8th Wonder of the World," which stayed with him for the rest of his career.

He made his Japanese debut in 1970, billed as "Monster Roussimoff", wrestling for the International Wrestling Enterprise. Wrestling as both a singles and tag team competitor, he quickly won the company's tag team championship alongside Michael Nador. During his time in Japan, doctors first informed Roussimoff that he suffered from acromegaly.

Due to tape trading /selling I had quite a few Andre matches on VHS...his early matches against Hogan (with Fred Blassie) were quite good..yes, he wrestled Hulk BEFORE the heel turn, contrary to what Vince jnr fed his commentators at the time...he had wrestled with Hulk in the Gagne territory as well.

One famous tale of Andres career was the night he was in Memphis about to work with Lawler, The King said to him "Well Boss, how about I pin you tonight in the match, Andre being ever affiable said sure why not...and lo and behold Lawler (along with every heel on the Memphis roster) pinned Andre in the middle of the ring....

suffice it to say  when Vince Snr found out he was less than impressed and the edict was given that The Giant would never lose again...NO MATTER WHAT !...the real King of Wrestling had spoken.

By the time Andre had performed in front of 20,000 wrestling fans in Montreal, his legend had reached Vince McMahon, Sr. at the World Wide Wrestling Federation's (WWWF) headquarters. McMahon would forever alter Andre's life. 

In 1972, McMahon signed Andre to wrestle for the WWWF and changed his name to capitalize on his colossal size. "Andre the Giant" became one of the most recognizable names in wrestling. Andre performed under his new name at Madison Square Garden, where he easily defeated his opponent Buddy Wolfe without breaking a sweat.

 Before long, Andre's venues were sold out and wrestlers lined up to perform in his shadow. As Andre's fame grew to stardom, he was featured in Sports Illustrated in the largest feature they had ever published.

In 1987 Andre drew the "alledged" biggest crowd in WWF history thus far. Fans packed the Pontiac Silver Dome in Detroit, Michigan to watch Andre wrestle fellow legend Hulk Hogan in the main event of WrestleMania III. 

I can honestly say that I dont think the heel turn was warranted as Hulk and Andre for the belt would of drawn anyway..BUT...Vince jnr aint a big fan of Face v Face main events..then or now.

In all, Andre participated at six WrestleManias and faced some of the toughest opponents in the business, including Big John Studd and Jake "The Snake" Roberts. For many years he was known as the "Uncrowned Champion," .

  Andre captured many belts,  he also won titles in the (NWA), (IWA) and the WWF Tag Team Championship.

A GIANT DRINKER

Roussimoff has been unofficially crowned "The Greatest Drunk on Earth" for once consuming 119 12-US-fluid-ounce (350 ml) beers (over 41 litres) in 6 hours. 

On an episode of WWE's Legends of Wrestling, Mike Graham said André once drank 156, 16-US-fluid-ounce (470 ml) beers in one sitting, which was confirmed by Dusty Rhodes. In her autobiography, The Fabulous Moolah writes that André drank 127 beers in a Reading, Pennsylvania, hotel bar and later passed out in the lobby. The staff could not move him and had to leave him there until the giant awoke from his slumber.

When André underwent surgery in 1987, his size made it impossible for the anesthesiologist to estimate a dosage via standard methods; consequently, his alcohol tolerance ("it usually takes two liters of vodka just to make me feel warm inside") was used as a guideline instead.

Andre's fame also opened the door to Hollywood. He made his acting debut in 1975 as "Big Foot" in The Six Million Dollar Man. Andre enjoyed the experience and went on to appear in television shows including B.J. and the Bear, The Fall Guy and The Greatest American Hero, and movies such as Conan the Destroyer, Micki and Maude, and Trading Mom. His favorite role, and the one for which he is best remembered, was the lovable giant "Fezzik" in Rob Reiner's classic The Princess Bride.

Andre's last television appearance was on a celebration of 20 years of NWA/WCW wrestling on TBS. ....André was mentioned in the 1974 Guinness Book of World Records as the highest-paid wrestler in history to that time. He had earned US$400,000 in one year during the early 1970s.

Death
Roussimoff died in his sleep of congestive heart failure on the night of January 27, 1993, in a Paris hotel room. He was in Paris to attend the funeral of his father. Roussimoff's body was cremated according to his wishes and his ashes were scattered at his ranch in Ellerbe, North Carolina.

In a eulogy after his death, William Goldman, the author of the novel and the screenplay of The Princess Bride, wrote in his nonfiction work Which Lie Did I Tell? that André was one of the gentlest and most generous people he ever knew. Whenever André treated someone to a meal in a restaurant he would pay, but he would also insist on paying when he was a guest. After one meal, Arnold Schwarzenegger had quietly moved to the cashier to pay before André could, but then found himself being physically lifted, carried from his table, and deposited on top of his car by André and Wilt Chamberlain.

ANDRE'S MOVE SET

Double underhook suplex

Elbow drop

Sitdown splash

Signature moves

Bearhug

Big boot

Body slam

Chokehold

Open-handed chop

Headbutt

Knife-edged chop

Managers

Lou Albano

Ted DiBiase

Bobby Heenan

Frank Valois

K. Y. Wakamatsu

Nicknames

" Boss"

"The Eighth Wonder of the World"

Championships and accomplishments

Championship Wrestling from Florida

NWA Florida Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Dusty Rhodes

International Pro Wrestling

IWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Michael Nador

New Japan Pro Wrestling

International Wrestling Grand Prix (1985)

MSG League (1982)

MSG Tag League (1981) – with Rene Goulet

Sagawa Express Cup (1986)

NWA Tri-State

NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Tri-State version) (1 time) – with Dusty Rhodes

Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum

Class of 2002

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

PWI Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (1977, 1982)

PWI Match of the Year (1981) vs. Killer Khan on 2 May

PWI Match of the Year (1988) vs. Hulk Hogan at The Main Event

PWI Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (1988)

PWI Editor's Award (1993)

PWI ranked him #3 in the PWI Years in 2003

Stampede Wrestling

Stampede Wrestling Hall of Fame

World Championship Wrestling (Australia)

NWA Austra-Asian Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ron Miller

World Wrestling Federation

WWF Championship (1 time)

WWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Haku

WWF Hall of Fame (Class of 1993 - inaugural inductee)

Slammy Award for Bobby "The Brain" Heenan Scholarship Award (1987) with Haku, Tama, Hercules, King Kong Bundy, and Harley Race

Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards

Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)