18th February

While going through some old wrestling videos this week, I chanced upon a copy of the 1996 Survivor Series, and given the news that came out of the WWE concerning a now former WWE superstar, it got me thinking.

On that November night back in '96, a new young superstar made his debut, and was branded the future of the company. The young Rocky Maivia seemed to have it all, and was pushed to the moon, defeating a certain Hunter Hearst Helmsley to win the Intercontinental title soon after his debut. The only problem was that the fans weren't buying what Rocky was selling. At a time when an anti-hero such as Steve Austin was flipping the bird to everyone in sight, and a certain faction was tearing the house down in WCW, Rocky Maivia's character made the fans reach for the proverbial sick bags. The instructions he was getting from the booking team - "you just can't smile enough", would have gotten him over ten years previously, but not in the mid-nineties.

25th January

The other day, during a quiet moment, I found myself just wondering what was the biggest mistake a professional wrestling booker has ever made. There's been some good examples over the past few years, such as Kensuke Sasaki's recent IWGP title victory, or the Katie Vick saga, or the Al Wilson/Dawn Marie romance. But I quickly dismissed all of these and went back to April 25th, 2000, and a night in the history of World Championship Wrestling that will always send a shudder through the spines of wrestling fans.

Does anyone remember the film Ready To Rumble? Sadly, this wasn't a biography of legendary boxing ring announcer Michael Buffer. This was a film, sponsored by the once mighty WCW and starring David Arquette as a nerdish wrestling fan intent on helping his hero regain the World title.

Now that you've heard the name of David Arquette you'll know what I'm about to write about. But please, read on.

18th January

A year ago, Randy Orton was being hailed as the next big thing in the wrestling business. As the former next big thing, Brock Lesnar, was on his way out of the wrestling business, Orton was the shining light of Evolution, the top young star on the Raw brand, and at the beginning of a program with Mick Foley that would catapult him to the next level.

One year on, and Orton is a former Intercontinental and World Heavyweight Champion, and the number one contender to Triple H's crown. But for me, he's no longer the legend killer.

Like a lot of people a year ago, I was impressed with everything that Orton did. He carried himself well in the ring, had great matches with everyone he faced, and was one of the best talkers in the WWE. He was spitting in the face of tradition, taking himself to the next level. Indeed, he really was a killer of legends.

When Orton defeated Chris Benoit for the World title at Summerslam last August, everyone knew he was heading towards a main event showdown with his mentor and Evolution leader, Triple H. But just a day after defeating Benoit, Orton's Evolution buddies turned him face, and three weeks later, he was an ex-World Champion.

It had been rumoured for ages that an Orton/Triple H feud would headline Wrestlemania 21 in Los Angeles. We all thought that the rivalry between the two would last quite a long time, that Triple H's jealousy of his young team-mate would be a brooding one, that the affair would last up to six months, with Orton dumping Triple H out of Evolution, replacing him as leader, then facing his former mentor at the big one. But the creatives apparently had other ideas.

Orton played the role of the legend killer to perfection. He was the heel we loved to hate. There was no doubt that he would end up with the World title around his waist. We just thought that his title reign would be measured in months rather than weeks.

Since he joined the baby-face ranks last year, Orton just seems to have lost his edge a little. He's still a great wrestler, capable of putting on good matches with everyone he faces, but now he seems to have entered the generic baby-face mode. He is no longer the legend killer. He is still capable of talking a good fight, but there's something about the man that just seems a little bland these days.

I don't think I'm the only one that thinks that perhaps the wrong member of Evolution was turned face the day after Summerslam. It would have been a lot better if Orton had remained a heel, and had set his sights on killing the legend of Triple H.

You only have to look at how Edge's career has gone in the past few months. He's gone from generic baby-face to the heel obsessed with winning the World title, getting crazier by the week as he continues to fail.

In their rush to find the new Stone Cold or Rock, the WWE creatives may have bombed by turning Randy Orton so quickly after Summerslam. The WWE seriously needs another breakout star, but at the moment, it looks like Orton isn't the man.

11th January

Those of you reading this in Britain will know of Alex Shane's recent FWA title victory over Doug Williams and British Uprising III. However, although I'm sure Alex will make a fine FWA British Champion, from a story line perspective, did he really earn his title shot?

Alex had just come off a long feud with Steve Corino. During that time he also suffered losses to the rookie, Aviv Maayan, before losing the big payoff match with Corino. Alex said in a telephone interview on Blake Norton's Bagpipe Report show on The Wrestling Channel that he didn't know if he was going to get a shot at Doug's title because of his loss to Corino. Yet come November 13th, Alex was crowned the new FWA British Champion.

Late last year Booker T lost a thrilling best-of-five series with John Cena, and lost the WWE US title in the process. After his loss to Cena, Booker was thrust into a story line where he challenged John Bradshaw Layfield for the WWE title. At the time I wondered why Booker was challenging for the title when he had just lost to Cena. If he couldn't defeat Smackdown's secondary champion, why did he deserve a crack at Smackdown's main man?

WWE Armageddon 2005 - TV Review

It’s that time of the month again, as WWE present their last pay-per-view of 2005, with the Smackdown brand presenting Armageddon.

WWE Survivor Series 2005 - TV Review

It’s that time of the month again, as WWE’s Thanksgiving tradition reaches it’s 19th year, with the Survivor Series hailing from the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, the third time this show has been held at this great venue. After introductions from the various announce teams (thank God Joey Styles is still there), we move onto our first match.

WWE Raw Eddie Guerrero Tribute - TV Review

Not since 1999 has there been an edition of WWE Raw as emotional as this, as the company pays tribute to it’s fallen star, Eddie Guerrero.

WWE Taboo Tuesday - TV Review

It’s been touted as the most innovative idea in the history of wrestling on pay-per-view. Now in it’s second year, World Wrestling Entertainment presented Taboo Tuesday from San Diego, California.

An Encounter With A Dirt Digger

Three days since my last entry, and not much to write home about.

Hopefully some of you will have seen my latest Two Sheds Review column, an open letter to everyone if you will, about Julia's disappearance. It's been carried on The Sun's website as well, and will hopefully be in the letters pages of the local press over the weekend. Although I doubt if it will do any good. If you haven't read it yet, log onto my website at www.twoshedsreview.com to read it.

Ricky's still in hospital, and will probably be there for a couple of more weeks at least. The old boy, despite his problems, is still looking out for me. Can't really go into too much detail at the moment, but I'm sure someone will tease the story out of me soon.

Numb

Ever since I got back from WAW's October Outrage VII show on Saturday night, I've felt numb, like something isn't right, and that something is very wrong.

For personal reasons, I'm not going to go into what exactly happened on that show. That may happen later. But things just weren't right that night, from a match standpoint, from an angle standpoint, from every standpoint. The body was there, but the heart and soul was clearly missing from The Talk on Saturday night.

It Just Gets Worse

Things just seem to be going from bad to worse. Ricky Knight, Julia's husband, and possibly one of the mentally strongest people I have ever met was hospitalized earlier today, suffering from stress and exhaustion.

A Sad Turn Of Events

Things took a worrying turn today. Julia's daughter, Saraya-Jade, collapsed and was taken to hospital on Monday. She's okay now, but she's really suffering. She needs her mother, badly.

(Real) Sex Sells

I was browsing through the video & DVD sections in my local Woolworths today. Managed to get a bargain - Elektra on video for £4.99. Guess VHS is on the way out.

Anyway, while looking through the chart DVDs, I saw one called 9 Songs. I remember reading about this film last year. Apparently it's the nearest thing you can get to hardcore porn in a mainstream cinema since that awful French film Romance. From what I gather, the story involves, well, lots of shagging. Not sure what the plot is exactly, but I get the feeling that the people wanting to see this film aren't that bothered about plot twists and character development.

A Fridge-Fixer Is Stalking Me!!!

Not much happening today. Rang the surgery this morning and gave them a right bollocking for fucking up my prescription. No apology on their part though.

For those taking an active interest in my toilet habits, I will be hearing this week when the new bathroom suite is being installed. And in case you're wondering, no, I don't crap in a pot.

Another Cock-Up

The surgery in Cromer never ceases to amaze me with the number of times they cock things up.

I'm currently on two forms of medication, Zopiclone, to help me sleep at night, and Citalopram, an anti-depressant, which stops me from going mad. I took in my repeat prescriptions last Monday. They were on two different pieces of paper, because Dr. Lennox recently changed the doseage.

WWE No Mercy 2005 - TV Review

It’s that time of the month again, with the mighty World Wrestling Entertainment coming at us live from Texas with Smackdown’s No Mercy pay-per-view.

A Case Of Mistaken Identity

Latest news from the UKFF - I've been banned because they think I'm someone else! Oh well, bollocks to 'em. One thing I've learned in the past few weeks is that there's more to life than a stupid little forum. No doubt there'll be a spoof of what I've just said somewhere else on the internet in the next day or so.

The past couple of days has been spent looking for work, although I do actually look for work every day (except weekends). Three job applications from the job centre and one from the newspaper, so I'm over my quota of two applications a week. Things are kind of slow for people wanting to get back into the retail industry in this part of the world at the moment, with hardly any adverts in the press at all, which is a little surprising considering Christmas is just over two months away.

Town Planning

A perfect example of town planners not really thinking things through

Last year the local council spent a great deal of cash re-generating Cromer town centre. The main part of this meant narrowing the roads in the town centre. Quite ironic considering that in the 60's they demolished some of the old fishermen's cottages to make the road wider.

Anyway, I'm in the town centre this afternoon, and a funeral precession comes down the road, heading towards the church, which is more or less in the centre of the town. They're driving along at the usual respectful pace, with about ten cars behind the hearse.

WWE Unforgiven 2005 - TV Review

Well, it’s that time of the month again, as WWE bombards us with another pay-per-view, Unforgiven…..you know, I really need to get another opening line for these monthly PPV reviews.

WWE Summerslam 2005 - TV Review

It’s that time of year again, when the WWE (apparently) pulls out all the stops and brings us the second biggest show of the year, Summerslam, this year coming from the MCI Centre in Washington.