9th September

The first Random Ramblings in a while, so here goes;

It’s nice to see another Brit finally make it onto the main WWE roster. Paul Burchill blew everyone away with his performances here in Britain. It’s hard to believe at times that he’s only three years into his professional career, and it’s been only six months since he first set foot in America on a developmental deal.

And it’s kind of weird for me seeing someone wrestling for the largest promotion in the world that I’ve actually met. I had the opportunity to meet with Paul a year ago, at the World Association of Wrestling’s tenth anniversary show. Paul is one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. He only played a small part in the show, but made a point of shaking everyone’s hand before he left at the end. A damn nice bloke, and I’ll be watching his career with a great deal of interest.

I miss Muhammad Hassan. I really do. There’s those who write for certain publications here in Britain who would have you believe that he was the drizzling s***s. Me, I enjoyed his work. He may not have been the best wrestler in the world, but there was no doubt that his character was getting over, and you have to wonder, if he stayed on Raw, would we still be seeing him every week? Well, let me put this another way - why do you think The Sopranos is shown on HBO in America, and not NBC?

I’m glad to see that the killer instinct in Kurt Angle has returned. We’ve seen the Olympic hero portray a wide variety of characters since he first burst onto the scene. He’s been everything from a nerd to a pervert, but the legit tough guy character is when he’s at his best. Angle is one of the few reasons I watch Raw at the moment.

Remember the Hardy/Edge street fight on Raw a couple of weeks back? Am I the only one who thinks that this fight would have been better at Summerslam? Their Summerslam match lacked the intensity of their rematch, and I get the feeling that their upcoming cage match won’t be their last encounter.

Is it me, or is the WWE legal department starting to go a little crazy now? Justin Credible can no longer call himself Justin Credible. Billy Kidman and the Dudley Boys are history as well. Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t these guys go by these names long before they ever stepped foot in a WWE ring?

WWE have also informed some of their wrestlers that when they’re in a large group of people, they must remain in character. A bit late to reintroduce kayfabe, isn’t it Vince? But tell me one thing, if Nick Dinsmore is to remain in character 24/7, and Animal and Heidenreich are to wear face-paint all the time, does this mean that JBL has to act like a total prick all the time as well? Oh, wait…..

Dusty Rhodes signed a contract to join the WWE creative team this week. This means we can now look forward to the following happening on WWE shows soon;

1) The return of Dustin Rhodes, as he returns to Raw and burns his Goldust costume in a trash can.

2) Dusty taking over as GM of Smackdown, and Stacey Kiebler and Christy Hemme vying for the attentions of this stud-muffin. Dusty then tells them that they must each find a tag-team and battle for his affections this way - cue the return of the Harris twins as the DOA, and the elevation of a useless jobber tag-team that nobody else has heard of.

3) An entire pay-per-view filled with steel cage matches.

Mind you, we might finally get to see a War Games match in the WWE soon. That would be a good thing.

Is it me, or is Trevor Murdoch nothing more than a Stan Hansen tribute act?

Don’t you feel sorry for Kane at the moment? We’ve been told for years that when we watch professional wrestling we must try to suspend our disbelief. Then Matt Hardy appears on Raw and basically tells us that Kane is nothing more than a fictional character. Next they’ll be telling us that the outcome of the matches is decided beforehand. Oh, wait…..

Want to see the future of women’s professional wrestling - go here - http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/21/international/americas/21bolivia.html?ei=5088&en=eb63779245f7e03b&ex=1279598400&adxnnl=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1126184999-t9AiKLNqxzgsq3F2hKl71g.

I’d like to give a big shout out to Nora Greenwald, the artist formerly known as Molly Holly. In the past few months or so I’ve started to receive DVDs from professional wrestling promotions and production companies for me to review. I recently got a copy of Nora’s shoot interview DVD from the production company, and I was more than a little surprised that Nora herself sent me a short letter, thanking me for my support. It’s a shame that not all professional wrestlers can act in such a classy way.

Finally, why is it that the internet is so down on Hardcore Holly? Sure, he has a reputation for being a bit of a bully backstage, but the next time you see him on Smackdown or Velocity, just look at the reaction he gets. The guy is over, there’s no doubt about that, and he’s definitely one of the most talented guys on the Smackdown side of things. He will never be World Heavyweight Champion, but he’s certainly entertaining, and definitely value for money.

That’s your lot for this edition. Remember, if you read something on www.wwe.com, then it’s a work. If you read it elsewhere, it’s a shoot. If you read it in Powerslam magazine, then it’s probably being critical.