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The Wrestling Blog's OFFICIAL Best in the World Rankings for April 23, 2018

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Big Stoke holding court with Jaka, Faye Jackson, and MJF Photo Credit: TH Welcome to a feature I like to call "Best in the World" rankings. They're not traditional power rankings per se, but they're rankings to see who is really the best in the world, a term bandied about like it's bottled water or something else really common. They're rankings decided by me, and don't you dare call them arbitrary lest I smack the taste out of your mouth. Without further ado, here's this week's list: 1. Stokely Hathaway (Last Week: Not Ranked) - Big Stoke Doin' Thangs hit a new high this weekend as not only did he successfully lead one client over another in Philly, but he defeated Nick Gage in Worcester in a match that I'm sure had no interference whatsoever from anyone affiliated with him. Add that in to the BOMBSHELL revelation that he acquired the master tapes from Marvin Gaye's estate and will be featuring him on his new album, and you've got

The Wrong Dogpile

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Low Ki caused a stir in New Orleans, but it didn't warrant the dogpile Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein Saturday, the Chikara Wrestle Factory hosted a doubleheader featuring the home promotion in the first half and Beyond Wrestling in the nightcap. One of the matches on the second show was to feature Joey Janela and Penelope Ford against Wheeler Yuta and "Hot Sauce" Tracy Williams, but Ford injured her hip last Wednesday taking a backpack stunner at one of those bar wrestling shows with no ring. Referee Bryce Remsburg chose a replacement from the hat, as is the custom in Chikara, or in this case, a show on Chikara's home turf. For those who don't know the gimmick, Remsburg will choose three names from the hat. The first two names are joke names of people who "aren't in the building" before getting the third name. The joke names in this case were DJ Hyde and Low Ki. Both names were taken not in the spirit of fun, but because the people involved had axe

NXT In 60 Seconds

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...THIS Fucking Guy, Part the Nth Photo Credit: WWE.com Four Men: arrive Announcer: Please welcome the Undisputed Era ! One: announces himself Everybody, Even You: ADAM COLE, BAY BAY! Full Sailors: receive them generally favorably   Un dis pu ted! clap clap clapclapclap ACBB: Relish this, relish all the gold.  Since the beginning NXT's tried to prevent this from happening, yet here we stand. Robert Fish, Esquire: WarGames threw us to the wolves, and so did New Orleans, but at every single turn we remain one step ahead dripping in gold. Roddy Strong: Why, Roddy, why?  Well, I don't want to pat myself on the back... the Others: do it for him Roddy: ...but I had an epiphany.  I did something for myself, and it was the best decision of my career.  All Pete cares about is the WWEUK belt; how long would it have been before he turned on me?  And why should it be Roddy v. the World when I can finally have some allies and take over NXT? Kyle O'Reilly: The days of us being backed i

Twitter Request Line, Vol. 232

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What a tag team! Photo Credit: Touchstone Television It's Twitter Request Line time, everyone! I take to Twitter to get questions about issues in wrestling, past and present, and answer them on here because 140 characters can't restrain me, fool! If you don't know already, follow me @tholzerman , and wait for the call on Wednesday to ask your questions. Hash-tag your questions #TweetBag , and look for the bag to drop Thursday afternoon (most of the time). Without further ado, here are your questions and my answers: Which popular sitcom characters (any era) could most easily translate into professional wrestling stories (without worrying extensively about actors� physical attributes)? #TweetBag � Star of Savage (@StarOfSavage) April 25, 2018 Honestly, I feel like any sitcom protagonist could segue into pro wrestling and at least have the chance to be successful. What is pro wrestling, especially modern pro wrestling, but televised episodic storytelling with outsized characte

The Bad Boy and Girl and the Hot Mess Are All In, and That's Great News

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The Bad Couple signifies that All In is for real Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein All In, Cody Rhodes' and the Young Bucks' attempt at drawing 10,000 people to a non-WWE wrestling show, added three new names to the talent roster, and all of them are eye-opening. The first two are a package deal, the Bad Boy himself Joey Janela and his partner in and out of the ring, Penelope Ford. The third is former Impact Wrestling star and Tough Enough alumna Chelsea Green. They may not be the biggest names in wrestling, although Janela has been the darling of WrestleMania weekend the last two years with his Spring Break cards, but they signal more of a daring direction for All In than any of the names previously announced, even the heavy hitters like Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada. All In looked like it was going to be a standard Ring of Honor featuring the stars of New Japan Pro Wrestling show with a few adjacent additions actually up until about a month ago. Stephen Amell and Tessa Blanch

The Wrestling Blog's OFFICIAL Best in the World Rankings for April 23, 2018

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A hero. Photo Credit: News and Tribune Welcome to a feature I like to call "Best in the World" rankings. They're not traditional power rankings per se, but they're rankings to see who is really the best in the world, a term bandied about like it's bottled water or something else really common. They're rankings decided by me, and don't you dare call them arbitrary lest I smack the taste out of your mouth. Without further ado, here's this week's list: 1. James Shaw, Jr. (Last Week: Not Ranked) - The amount of mass shootings in this country is both staggering and grotesque, and rarely do good stories come out of them. The Waffle House shooter in Nashville still killed four people before Shaw heroically disarmed him with his own bare hands, so it's not exactly a perfect story. Then again, who really is prepared to deal with a naked psychopath opening fire in a public place? Not even a good guy with a gun could have prevented shots from firing, but

NXT In 60 Seconds

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Johnny, you cheeseball Photo Credit: WWE.com Reign In Power, Bruno Definitely Not Lloyd Braun In Voiceover Form: Last Week on the Leftovers: Kairi Sane made the pre-show great again by hitting THE Elbow on Lacey Evans, and Heavy Machinery and Tino Sabotelli and Riddick Moss got taken out by the War Machine Raiders. The Garganos: come out to raucous applause Johnny: (off mic but to the camera) I've got goosebumps.  Look!  (shows them) Full Sailors: Welcome back!  Johnny Wrestling! Johnny: Going into New Orleans, I dreamt of this moment and the goosebumps it's giving me right now.  It's...it's really good to be home.  I was defined by Tomasso for too long... Full Sailors: BOOO! Johnny: ...it'll happen when your best friend stabs you in the back, breaks your heart, costs you a championship and then a career. Full Sailors: BOOO! Johnny: Hell, I couldn't even say his name for the longest, I was so haunted.  But after 37 grueling minutes I've got my life back a