Random Ramblings January Part 3

Welcome to the latest instalmet of TSR. I hope everyone is fine. Well, the long Christmas break I am being forced to endure will end this coming Sunday, as I return to the mind-numbing, energy sapping talent wasting job of mine! Oh well, I have to get my money somewhere I suppose!

Anyway, this week, a wave of nostalga has swept over me. This is because of three things.

The first - Channel 4 showing the 100 Greatest Number One Singles, as voted by the British public. Although I didn't actually vote, we Brits got it right by putting (in reverse order) Hey Jude by the Beatles, Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, and Imagine by John Lennon at the top spot. Three great songs, and a tragedy that two of the greatest performers of all time, John Lennon and Freddie Mercury, are no longer with us.
 

The second - seeing the first episode of Hill Street Blues again. Stephen Bochco is a genius. Perhaps WCW should try using his talents.

The third - Sky Sports, in their infinate wisdom, have jumped forward a few years in their Wrestling Classics programmes. We are now seeing action from 1986, and by my guess, just after Wrestlemania 2. It brought back memories seeing the likes of The Bulldogs, Jake the Snake and the Macho Man in their prime.

It was around about this time, if I recall correctly, that ITV tried out WWF shows in their wrestling slot. World of Sport had just finished, and to suppliment the usual wrestling from York Town Hall, they treated us to the occassional Saturday Night's Main Event. My memories of this peroid may be clouded a little, but I seem to recall that this idea went down like a led balloon.

It may have been that ITV didn't really know how to handle the WWF product. Most likely, it was probably because pro wrestling was on the decline in Britain anyway. Many were annoyed that they tried to make the British product like the American product. They even tried to give us our own Hulk Hogan, in the form of a fat bloke named Shirley. But as the great Jackie Pallo said, the problem here was that, in Big Daddy, they chose a man who was ten years older than Hogan.

Needless to say, like Hogan, I didn't care for old Big D. My favourite at the time was Kendo Nagasaki, perhaps the greatest heel British wrestling had ever seen. In his prime, he would have been perfect for the WWF.Seeing this old show also made me think about how far some have fallen since 1986. Jake Roberts was at his best. His interplay with Savage was classic stuff. But I couldn't help but think of what he's become now.And then there was the Bulldogs. Dynamite Kid now confined to a wheelchair, and Davey Boy with enough family problems to keep Jerry Springer occupied for a whole season. It also reminded me of the Jeff Jarrett/Debra thing a couple of years ago - with Savage cutting a promo asking the fans not to cheer for Elizabeth, but to cheer for him instead. And it was also the time of the now-classic Hogan/Orndorff feud. Enough said about that.

In essence, I really recommend that all wrestling fans tune into the Wrestling Classics show, on Sky Sports on Mondays. I know that there are a lot of younger fans out there. I really think that you should watch this. It may seem quite tame to some of the stuff we see in ECW now, but without them, without Vince McMahon putting together an improved product, I wouldn't be here writing this now, and you probably wouldn't be reading this.

And now onto other things. Guilty as Charged - and two more ECW World Champions are crowned. I know ECW are having a few problems at the moment, but at the last three PPVs, the world title has changed hands. Could it be that, like Vince Russo before him, Paul Heyman considers the world title as just a prop?Being given the world title should mean something. It should mean that you are considered the best man in the company - for a few weeks, or in ECW's case, a few seconds. World title's should mean something. I remember reading the other day that WCW had 21 world title changes last year. 21! Looks like the WCW writers ran out of body
parts to count on.At least the WWF is sensible in this case. I'd like to see Kurt Angle retain the title right up until Wrestlemania, but I doubt if this would happen.

News has also reached me that Ken Shamrock could be back by the end of February. Would now be a good time to petition for a Shamrock v Benoit submission match for Wrestlemania? Come on Vince! Give us old school fans what we want!

Now I'm going to talk about THAT disrobing from Raw last week. All I will say is this - at least one McMahon sibling is willing to walk around the ring without a shirt on, and I'm glad it wasn't Shane.

A hello to Graysox there, and thanks for the mention. Adam Honey will be pleased you mentioned his website. Hopefully this column will be there soon as well.

Don't forget, the upcoming fanzine review. Sadly, I've had no replies yet. Someone told me that this is because people seem to concentrate more on email newsletters this day. I really hope this isn't so.

And sadly, only one reply to my little competition - to guess who I stole the fairwell from. And then you didn't even leave a name! So I'll put you out of yor misery. I'LL SEE THEE was said by legendary Yorkshire and England cricket legend Fred Trueman, when he presented the indoor sports lunchtime programme Indoor League on ITV. It was brilliantly parodied by Frank Skinner and David Baddiel a couple of years back on Fantasy Football.

And now, an announcement. Coming soon to the Two Sheds Review will be an exclusive column by none other than the host of the TSR Awards, THE PROFESSOR. Yes, you heard me. The Professor is an actual person. It's not an alter ego of yours truly. The Professor actually exists. He will be presenting his views on the current wrestling world, which should provide interesting reading because he isn't actually a wrestling fan. To show that he actually exists, I will also be giving his email address in the article, so you'll be able to give him some feedback on his views. Anyway, I've got to go now. To quote the great Hank Kingsley (The Larry Sanders Show, weeknights 11pm, PlayUK), "Hey now!"