A Dangerous Game

Let's start this column by taking a trip down memory lane.

November, 2001: After the failed WCW/ECW Invasion angle was finally laid to rest, "Nature Boy" Ric Flair returns to the WWF, as the new co-owner of the company. From time to time, the 50+ Flair dons the wrestling attire, most notably against Vince McMahon at Royal Rumble 02 and against the Undertaker at Wrestlemania 18.

Shortly after Wrestlemania 18, Flair becomes the "owner" of Raw after the brand extension, while still continuing to pull on his wrestling boots from time to time. It isn't long before Vince McMahon returns to Raw to regain control of the entire company from Flair.

Deciding that he has one good run left in him, Flair becomes a full-time wrestler again, and engages in high-profile matches with Eddie Guerrero and Chris Jericho, before turning heel and becoming the manager and occasional tag-team partner of Raw World Champion Triple H. At the time of writing, Flair is scheduled to team with Triple H and Jericho against Shawn Michaels, Kevin Nash and Booker T at Backlash.

Random Ramblings March

It's been a while since I've written a column covering a few different subjects, but on this sunny Friday afternoon here in merry old England, I suddenly felt inspired to put pen to paper as it were.

The big one, Wrestlemania, is now just over a week away. I've read many things of various fan forums that Wrestlemania just isn't that special any more. To this I say nonsense. Wrestlemania is, and always will be, the grand-daddy of them all. From the first Wrestlemania in 1985, this event has literally put the wrestling business on the map. It is the biggest wrestling show of all time, the show in which the WWE stars always seem to crank their efforts up a notch or three. Just ask any wrestler who has competed on that show, and they'll tell you how damn important it is.

But one thing does worry me about this year's show - Kurt Angle. The world and his wife knows all about Kurt's serious neck injury, which could not only end his career, but his life as well.

Brian Pillman

On Sunday, October 5th, 1997, Brian Pillman was scheduled to wrestle Mick Foley, in his Dude Love persona, at the WWF pay-per-view Bad Blood.

This match never happened. Brian had been found dead a few hours later, having apparently suffered a heart attack at the relatively young age of 35.

When satellite television gave the British viewer the chance to explore the US wrestling scene a great deal in 1989, one of the first performers to virtually leap from the screen at you was one "Flyin'" Brian Pillman, at the time competing for Jim Crockett's National Wrestling Alliance. With a combination of good mat work, high-flying skills, natural athleticism and natural charisma, Pillman was one of the most over wrestlers one could find in the early days of the British wrestling fan's new-found love affair with the American wrestling scene.

GWF Aftermath: What Went Wrong?

This week I had hoped to bring you a review of the Global Wrestling Force "Aftermath" show in Blackburn, which was due to take place this past Sunday. Sadly, events outside of the ring led to what could only be termed as a fiasco.

I had been invited to the show by GWF promoter Jon Farrer, who also writes for Total Wrestling magazine. So, along with loyal WAW-ites Doreen and Susan, and WAW stars the Sweet Saraya and the Zebra Kid, we made our long journey northwards from Norwich to Blackburn, arriving at the King George's Hall around 5pm, just as the fan festival was beginning to wind down.

The first thing that struck me was the absence of the most important aspect of any wrestling show - the ring. The doors to the hall were due to open around 6pm, with the show due to start around 7pm. I thought this was odd. As well as covering WAW shows in the past year, I had also reported on FWA, TWA, and UWA shows, and at each show, the ring had always been ready a good 90-120 minutes before the door opened. Ricky Knight once said to me that it doesn't make for good business for the punters to see the ring being put up. It detracts from the enjoyment, the believability of wrestling.

The Embarrassment of Scott Steiner

While watching the WWE Royal Rumble this past week, I was presented with the evidence that shows just how far apart the top titles of the respective brands are.

On Smackdown, Kurt Angle wears the WWE Championship with pride. Since the brand extension, we haven't heard any stories of political machinations backstage involving Angle. The man has got on with his job. In the past few months, he's been on the opening matches of pay-per-views, wrestled for tag-team gold, before winning Smackdown's number one championship in December. This past Sunday, he and Chris Benoit, despite the fact that they have already faced each other in various encounters on pay-per-view before, once again stole the show. These two continue to have good matches with each other. Angle continues to have good matches with anyone he is put in the ring against. He could probably even have a good match with a broomstick, if the WWE promoted this match correctly.

Random Ramblings January Part 2

Over the past few weeks I had resisted the temptation to write about an angle which, quite frankly, I had found annoying, infuriating, and a little freaky at times.

Yep, you guessed it. Al Wilson and Dawn Marie.

I had resisted the temptation to write about this angle because it seemed like the world and his wife already had. But then I read the Smackdown spoilers, a report from a fan who had attended a recent taping. That's when I heard about the latest plot twist.

To cut a long story short, Dawn Marie had humped Al Wilson to death.

Billy Gunn & Ron Simmons

News came out of the WWE this week that two of it's longest serving employees could be about to hang up their wrestling tights for the last time.

It's been rumoured that Ron Simmons, aka Faarooq in his many guises, has been considering retiring for some months now. He hasn't been on our screens much lately because of family considerations, but since the split of the APA, he hasn't really done much. He's teamed briefly with Mark Henry and D-Von Dudley, but as far as direction goes, nothing has really been done with his character since the brand extension.

Random Ramblings January Part 1

Firstly, a happy new year to one and all. Hope you all managed to get through the Christmas holidays and all that!

So let's get down to business somewhat. What's been going down? Well, let's start with a subject that has interested many a wrestling journalist of the Internet variety for a few months now. Yours truly, while trying to promote the good name of the World Association of Wrestling, has taken quite a verbal pasting at the hands of the good folks over at the UK Fan Forum. Why?

I admit that at times I may be a little overeager in promoting the work of my buddies, and the work I do on their behalf on the old World Wide Web, but it really annoys me when some people on this particular forum make stinging and personal attacks on yours truly, and the forum moderators, already annoyed at what I have done, apparently do nothing to stop these verbal attacks, even though they are against forum rules. They then ask me to discuss the situation via e-mail, but insist on airing the dirty laundry in public, something which, when I do it, they protest against.

Queen - A Kind of Magic - Album Review

It was little more than a soundtrack album to one of the best films of the 1980's. Add a song from another film, and some videos that were considered to be revolutionary at the time, and you had Queen's "A Kind Of Magic" album.

Oasis - (What's the Story) Morning Glory? - Album Review

It was 1996. The Brit Pop phenomenon was at it's highest. Bands like Blur, Suede, Republica, and their like were storming up the chart, selling millions of albums. And at the top of the pile were two brothers from Manchester, Noel and Liam Gallagher, and their band, Oasis.

The Mac Are Back!

With the release of their new album, "Say You Will", I thought I would take the opportunity to sit back and reflect on just why I've become such a big fan of Fleetwood Mac over the past few years.

Remembering Jon-Eric Hexum

Mention the name of Jon-Eric Hexum to anyone, and they probably won't know who the man is. He wasn't the best actor in the world, and probably wouldn't have won tons of awards for his work, but when he died in tragic circumstances in 1984, aged just 27, one of the most promising careers in Hollywood came to an end.

Deep Purple - Bananas - Album Review

On Monday, August 25th, a Bank Holiday here in Britain, veteran rockers Deep Purple released their latest album, Bananas. A landmark of sorts, as Purple are now one of the few musical acts to have released new studio albums in the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's and 00's.

UFC 45 Revolution - TV Review

This week we take a slight detour away from the world of professional wrestling, as we move toward the mixed martial arts field, and take a look at the Ultimate Fighting Championship's tenth anniversary show, Revolution, from last November.

WWE Raw, September 12th, 2003 - TV Review

With a great deal of time on my hands, yours truly is unveiling a first for you today - the first time I've reviewed a Raw show. So here goes.....

WWE Wrestling Classics (Actually WCW Worldwide), September 11th 2003

A change from the norm this week, as this British-based writer takes a look at the WWE Wrestling Classics, shown on Sky Sports this past Thursday, which is actually an old episode of WCW Worldwide from the spring of 1991. Confused, then blame the tree huggers and the panda lovers for this state of confusion.

4th September 2003

Hey J-Raddicts. What's up. It's that time of the month again when this ageing hack let's you know what's going on in his life, stuff he can't tell you in his regular wrestling column because there's tons of people around the world who probably don't give a shit. Which is why this column is exclusive to this website.

30th August 2003

We who follow the wrestling industry always hear about the great success stories. We love to hear about how well people have done, how they've battled adversaries both in and out of the ring to get to where they are. This happens in all aspects of this business.

12th August 2003

British wrestling referee Steve Lynskey.

"Global Wrestling Force: What Could Have Been."

There seems to be a recurring theme in my columns here at 1 Stop Wrestling - what if? Last time I put forward my idea of what should have happened at last year's October Outrage IV show in Norwich. This time, I'm going to talk about what could have been, if it hadn't been for wrestling politics.

11th August 2003

Hey gang. What's popping? It's been a while since I laid down a few words of a personal nature on this site, and quite a lot has happened on old planet Two Sheds since my last diary entry way back when.