7th May 2003

It's late at night here in Cromer. The Milan derby in the Champions League semi-final is playing on the television, I'm just getting to grips with this fancy new keyboard, so I thought that now would be a good time to update my personal ramblings a little.

4th April 2003

 It's been quite a while since I put pen to paper and wrote a Personal Ramblings column for the old TSR website, and with WWE Raw playing in the background, and with nothing else to do, now seemed like a good time.

WWE Wrestlemania XIX - TV Review

Over the past couple of years many fans have said that Wrestlemania isn't that special any more, that because we now have a pay-per view, a big show, every four weeks, that Wrestlemania is just another big show. Well, I'm here to tell you that it's wrong.

Choose 80's Dance - Album Review

As you begin to read this article, you're probably starting to wonder "what the hell is this? What is Julian Radbourne, self-confessed heavy rock fan, doing buying a dance music CD?"

The Next Big Thing - Bubba Ray Dudley

Ever since the departure of Stone Cold Steve Austin from the WWE a few months ago, many names have been mentioned with regards to who will become the next big name of the Raw brand. A name that has been mentioned countless times is Rob Van Dam. However, while I am a great admirer of RVD's work, I don't think that RVD is the man - yet.

So who is going to be the man to step up to the plate, to step up to the plateau that is currently occupied by Triple H?

Raw Has Lost a Viewer

It's Tuesday night, around 11:20pm, here in Britain as I write this. I haven't watched No Mercy yet, because I didn't have the stamina to stay up until four in the morning, having partied the night away with my World Association of Wrestling buddies.

I've just taken one of my antidepressants. The pill takes a little while to kick in. I normally get a little sad this time of the evening, but tonight, I'm sad because I feel like I've lost an old friend, something that has been with me, through good times and bad, since 1989.

I haven't seen Raw yet. Us Brits don't have that honour until the Friday after it airs in the US But this Friday, I probably won't be making the effort to gather together some heavily-salted snacks, a few soft drinks (I'm not allowed my beloved beer at the moment), and a couple of chocolate bars, in anticipation of two hours of top notch entertainment.

I've read the reviews, and the condemnation. It's all over the Internet. Triple H gets dressed up as Kane, and, well, you know the rest.

Chris Jericho - Your Country Needs You

Ever since July 4th, the anniversary of the day in which the Great British Empire got rid of a piece of dead weight called the USA, I've been getting a strange feeling of deja-vu. It all began when Canadian citizens Lance Storm, Christian and Test stormed to the ring during a Smackdown broadcast, and proclaimed that everything in the good old US of A sucked. And so, the Anti-Americans were born.

Obviously, I am not, and will not be, the first, or the last, to draw comparisons to two other Canadian/anti-American scenarios in the world of professional wrestling. But this time, there is one significant difference.

Let's step into the time machine and journey back to 1997. Bret Hart, now a Yank-hating heel, sought the aid of old comrades Owen Hart, Jim Neidhart, Davey Boy Smith and Brian Pillman in forming the second incarnation of the Hart Foundation. Despised on American soil, they were national heroes in Canada. They proclaimed everything in the good old US of A sucked.

Random Ramblings March

It has now been about three months since I stopped writing about the American wrestling scene on a regular, weekly basis. While many, okay, a few, have told me they miss my weekly comments, the same few have also asked me if I missed writing about them. If I am to be totally truthful here, then I would have to say that no, I don't.

There were two main reasons I gave for giving up something that was becoming nothing more than a tiresome chore. Last December, I wrote that I was finding it difficult to report on the US wrestling scene while living here in Britain. The demise of ECW and WCW meant that, because no British television station has the guts to take a chance on an American indy show, all we get here now is the WWF, and I didn't really find that inspiring.

18th December 2002

Well, it's exactly a week before Christmas. The original Psycho (a film I've never actually seen the entire way through) is on television, and you know what, I feel fucking great.

6th December 2002

 It's nearly midnight on this cold Friday evening, and seeing as I haven't written one of these pieces in a while, I thought I'd turn what could be a couple of hours of extra boredom and write down a few thoughts.

Mark Edwards

I know what I'm about to write here could be termed libelous, but seeing as the subject of this piece seems to be something of a techno-phobe, who is scared of his own fax machine, he will probably never read this, unless his short-arsed 13 year old son knows how to access the wonderful world of the world wide web.

A Walk in the Night

This evening, I did something that most of my friends and family wouldn't have wanted me to do, especially a few months ago.

WWE No Mercy 2002 - TV Review

World Tag-Team Championship
CHRIS JERICHO & CHRISTIAN v BOOKER T & GOLDUST
At a time when the tag-team division of both WWE brands is crying out for the formation or reformation of established teams, the WWE opened up their latest pay-per-view offering with some good tag-team action involving four men who really should be embarking on flourishing singles careers, especially Jericho and Booker T.

The Biggest Disappointment of my Life

Well, it's over. Today, I finally got the news I had been waiting over a week for.

Alone

One of the things about suffering from depression is that there are times when you feel utterly alone, like you are the only person left in the world. It feels like your friends and your family have deserted you, and that is probably the worst feeling you can have when you are suffering from such an illness.

WWE Unforgiven 2002 - TV Review

A little later than the rest of the Internet, for the first time in ages, I will review a WWE pay-per-view. So here's my thoughts on "Unforgiven"

The Biggest Day of my Life

 Friday, the 20th of September, 2002, could be termed the biggest day of my life, because it was on that day I took my first steps towards doing something I love for a living.

Depression

When one hears the word depression, two things can come to mind. You might think back to the 1930s, and the era known as the Great Depression, a time of economic hardship following the Wall Street Crash in 1929.

August 20th, 2002

It's the height of summer here in Cromer, although, by looking out of the window, you'd hardly have noticed it. It's grey and windy, not like summer at all.

UFC 38 Brawl at the Royal Albert Hall - TV Review

Having watched Sky Sports' weekly coverage of the UFC in recent weeks, it was with great interest that I tuned into this pay-per-view event, hoping to see Britain's own UFC fighters going up against some of the mixed martial artists thought to be the best in the world.