22nd-28th March 2004

Monday, March 22nd, 2004;
A busy day today, as the old Two Sheds Review website gets a slight makeover on the main page, with brand spanking new logs. Not much time to watch the old TWC until around 9pm, starting off with the first new show of the day, TNA Xplosion.

15th-21st March 2004

Monday, 15th March, 2004;
What the hell was I thinking? The freakin' Wrestlemania show was nearly five f'n hours long. Hey, I know I'm a diagnosed insomniac, but even staying up until nearly five in the morning was a stretch for me,

WWE Wrestlemania XX - TV Review

By now the rest of the Internet has probably commented in some way about the events at Madison Square Garden this past Sunday, as the WWE presented their annual spectacular, Wrestlemania XX.

29th February 2004

Last year, the Frontier Wrestling Alliance unleashed their latest rookie sensation on an unsuspecting world in the form of Burchill. During many of the events, Burchill would appear, unannounced, and would destroy several of the FWA's heels in a display of power that had many thinking that the company had found their equivalent of Brock Lesnar.

First Impressions

There's a saying in life that first impressions count, and this really applies as far as the wrestling industry is concerned. In Britain, digital television channel Friendly TV have recently begun test transmissions for the new Wrestling Channel, which is due to launch fully in a few months time. So while I've found the WWE product a bit wanting in recent months, I decided that with the help of Friendly TV, it was about time to sample other fruits of the wrestling tree.

The Failed Title Reign of Lex Luger

Over the past few years there's been a great deal of debate about just what is pivotal and most controversial moment in wrestling history. Since November 1997 many have said that it's the infamous Montreal Screw job involving Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, and Vince McMahon. But those of us with even longer memories may think back to the events of the summer of 1991.

"The Nature Boy" Ric Flair was still riding high as the NWA was re-branded WCW. As the company's head booker, Flair used the old tactic that bookers who are also active wrestlers have used for decades, he kept the World title on the one man he could trust more than anyone else, himself. At a time when several young stars such as "Stunning" Steve Austin and Marc "Johnny B. Badd" Mero, and more established stars like Barry Windham, Sting & Lex Luger were yearning for more time in the spotlight, everything that WCW seemed to revolve around Flair. The latest incarnation of the legendary Four Horsemen were doing all they could to make sure that Flair remained on top of the world.

RIP Crash Holly

A few weeks ago I began one of my columns with the words "this sucks". Again, I'm going to use this phrase.

I found out a short time ago that Mike Lockwood, the artist formerly known as Crash Holly, has died. He was just two years older than me.

I don't want to sound like stuck record, but again, this sucks. Coming so soon after the deaths of Stu Hart and Road Warrior Hawk, I find myself writing about the death of a wrestler, about the death of a person who has entertained me a great deal while watching this great industry.

Of course, many fans in Britain will know Mike for his work in the WWE, first as the tag-team partner of Bob "Hardcore" Holly, and then as the man who first defended the Hardcore title under the 24/7 stipulation rule.

Goldberg v Kane

While watching Raw this week, and the build-up to the Survivor Series on November 16th (just eight days after my birthday, hint hint), the smart mark in me began to come to the fore. The armchair booker began to rear his ugly head again, and began to think that maybe, just maybe, the Raw main event for the show should be something different entirely.

At this moment in time Bill Goldberg is scheduled to defend the Raw World title against the returning Triple H, just one month removed from the previous pay-per-view offering. However, if this aspiring writer had been in charge of the booking committee, it would have been a totally different story.

In another Survivor Series match, Kane is once again scheduled to go up against Number One Son in an Ambulance match. Again, if yours truly had been in charge, this would be a totally different story.

Zach's Been Banned!

It's no secret that I'm not a big fan of Zach Gowen. I don't enjoy watching him wrestle. I never have done, and I probably never will. In my opinion Vince McMahon only hired him to prove the old adage that he can beat a one-legged man in an ass kicking contest.

I admire the kid for living his dream, for showing a tremendous amount of heart to try and make a go in the business he's loved for most of his life, especially with all that's happened in his life, but it still doesn't stop me from thinking that as far as the WWE goes he's nothing more than a freak show with a very short shelf life.

However, after reading some interesting news on various web sites, I'm led to believe that as far as Zach Gowen goes, and as far as my home country of Britain goes, political correctness is going a little too far.

The Reign of the Warrior

When the mighty World Wrestling Federation burst onto our television screens just one year after British wrestling limped away from the viewing screen, one of the guys who helped launch the product in our country was a man called Jim Hellwig, better known as the Ultimate Warrior.

The Warrior may not have been the best wrestler in the world, but he certainly had the charisma, the look, the body, and one of the best entrances in the WWF at the time.

The Warrior was one of those larger than life characters that just leapt our of the screen at you. At a time when plumbers and refuse collectors were the norm in the wrestling business, the Ultimate Warrior was just that, a warrior, a veritable human wrecking machine.

Who can forget that first feud we saw, as the Warrior and the late-Ravishing Rick Rude fought tooth and nail over the Intercontinental title, at a time when winning and holding onto championships for more then five minutes actually meant something. Who can forget the way Rude won the title at Wrestlemania V at the Trump Plaza in 1989? The cowardly way that Rude's manager, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan held the Warrior's legs as Rude pinned him.

RIP Hawk

This sucks. When one gets older in life, you expect those you've looked up to in the various fields of entertainment you've watched to pass on. Actors in films you used to watch on television during the school holidays pass on having lived a full and complete life.

But when you hear that a veritable legend of an industry you have followed all of your life dies at the young age of 45, it hits a nerve, a very raw nerve indeed.

Earlier today it was announced that Hawk, one half of the Road Warriors/Legion Of Doom tag-team had died. Details of his death had not been released yet.

Nobody Gets It Anymore

It's been quite a while since one of my columns has appeared on the Internet. Ill health and other matters have kept me away from both the world wide web and the world of wrestling.

But during this time I've done quite a bit of thinking. Lying in my bed with chronic headaches and stomach complaints left me wondering about certain things in my life, one of them being the wrestling industry. And during these many hours of contemplation, time and time again I came to just one conclusion - nobody seems to get it anymore.

Defining what I mean by "it" may take a long time. Way back when I first got into wrestling, back in the good old days of watching Kendo Nagasaki and Big Daddy on a Saturday afternoon, I watched wrestling purely as a form of entertainment, nothing more. I didn't care about anything that happened outside the ring. Hell, I was only a child at the time. I didn't care much about anything.

As the British wrestling product departed our screens and the WWF proved to be one of the biggest reasons Sky secured a large number of subscribers in the late 1980's and early 1990's, I rediscovered my love of wrestling. Larger than life characters and over the top story lines grabbed my attention week in and week out, as we all anxiously waited for the big events, hoping that certain feuds would come to an end and that new feuds would start their lives off with a bang.

Lance Storm - The Dancing Fool

This past week on Raw, I saw something I thought I would never see.

Lance Storm was dancing. And smiling. And had a hip, new trendy entrance theme.

What is the world coming to?

It's been a while since Steve Austin appeared on the Raw stage, pillow and blanket in hand, and announced to the world that Lance Storm was officially boring. Now, over the past few weeks, we've seen one of the best wrestlers in the world gradually broken down until he resembles nothing more than a dancing fool.

For me, Lance Storm was one of the best wrestlers in ECW history. He was one of the highlights during the dying days of WCW. Despite their faults, the WCW obviously had faith in the guy as a wrestler. If they hadn't, they wouldn't have put three singles titles on him in less than four weeks.

Triple H - The Cowardly Heel Played to Perfection

Summerslam 2003 is now but a fading memory (until I watch the repeat showing this coming Thursday on Sky Sports that is). There is so much to discuss about this show, but there is one aspect I would like to centre on, and it's something that many fans are up in arms over. However, they fail to see the grand scheme of things.

Cast your mind back to the final match of the card, the Elimination Chamber. Five challengers to Triple H's World Heavyweight Championship, one of them his very own team-mate. Many say that the match didn't live up to it's predecessor at the Survivor Series last November. While this may be the case, it fulfilled it's main purpose, in telling a story that, barring injury to those involved, can continue to be told for a few months to come, perhaps right up until Wrestlemania.

Best of Rainbow - Album Review

Given the nature of this website, it may seem very odd to you that I have submitted a best of/greatest hits compilation for the Classic Albums thread. However, given that this is a band formed by the god Ritchie Blackmore, then this is a different case entirely.

Global Wrestling Force -What Could Have Been

There seems to be a recurring theme in my columns of late - what if? Recently, for British website 1 Stop Wrestling, I wrote about how I would have booked WAW's October Outrage IV show last year. This time, I'm going to talk about what could have been, if it hadn't been for wrestling politics.

By now everyone will know the name of Jon Farrer. Jon, like me, originally made his name writing about wrestling on the Internet, before moving on to writing for a few magazines, eventually landing a job with Total Wrestling magazine.

Last year Jon formed his own wrestling company, the Global Wrestling Force, and held his first show in Preston, called "Battle of the Champions", which featured a tournament in which Jonny Storm was crowned the first GWF World Champion. The event was a resounding success. All of those who attended the event went away happy, and it wasn't long before Jon announced a follow-up show, "Aftermath", to be held in Blackburn last February.

What happened at that show is now the stuff of legend. After a successful fan festival at the King's Hall, a veritable who's who of British wrestling gathered for the show - Doug Williams, Jonny Storm, James Mason, Jody Fleisch, Zebra Kid, Robbie Brookside, James Mason, as well as some well-known American stars, the legendary Jake "The Snake" Roberts, and CZW's Trent Acid and Johnny Kashmere.

The WWE Cruiserweight Division: Going to Waste

When I first began to write about professional wrestling almost five years ago, one of the very first columns I wrote was about the then-WWF Light-Heavyweight division. This was around the time that Christian, then under the guidance of Gangrel, won the Light-Heavyweight title from Taka Michinoku in his very first televised match.

Taka's challengers for his title had been few and far between up until that point. Having won a tournament final against Brian Christopher, and feuded with the future Grand Master Sexay for months over the title, Taka hadn't done much on WWF television, until he met Christian on pay-per-view.

While Taka didn't receive a rematch on television, Christian would go on to lose the title to none other than Dwayne Gill, or rather, Gillberg. The fact that the champion at the time was nothing more than a glorified jobber said it all about the direction that this division was taking at the time.

ECW Can Return

There has been much talk in wrestling circles during the past few weeks about the return of a wrestling company that is regarded with godlike status by some die-hard fans. That company is Extreme Championship Wrestling.

After the WWE gained the rights to the entire ECW video library and all the logos connected with the company, may have stated that they would once again like to see ECW hold shows, under the leadership of Paul Heyman. But at the same time, many have pointed out that this wouldn't truly be ECW, that it would be nothing more than a WWE pawn, with the same writing teams that are at times heavily criticised for the way they plan and execute the weekly Raw and Smackdown shows.

It is my personal belief that as a company, ECW can live again. Shows can be promoted under the ECW banner, under the watchful eye of Paul Heyman. But it wouldn't work the way it did before. Here is my idea.

Vince McMahon & Zach Gowen - The First Meeting

Once again, I have a world exclusive for you. Some of you may recall that two years ago I published the transcript of a meeting between Fusient Media and AOL/Time Warner executives with regards to the sale of WCW. Just recently I also obtained an exclusive transcript of a Diary Room session featuring Big Brother UK contestant Cameron Stout.

Well, I've got another exclusive for you, for it would seem that Zach Gowen, one of the most-talked about wrestlers at the moment, actually approached the WWE for a job a year ago, long before his appearance for NWA:TNA. What you are about to read is a transcript, secretly recorded, of a meeting between Zach Gowen and Vince McMahon that took place in McMahon's office last year.
 

Kane - Let's Make Him More of a Monster

When the character of Kane was first introduced in the WWF in October 1997, it was done at a transitional time as far as wrestling goes. WCW were firmly ahead in the Monday night wars, and Vince McMahon knew that his company needed a new direction. It wasn't long after Kane's first appearance that the WWF product began to show the first signs of change as the so-called "Attitude" era was upon us, and the on-screen product became more reality-based, moving away from gimmicks which, at the dawn of the Internet age, were becoming nothing more than a laughing stock. The pompous snobs, the country music singers, and the guys from "parts unknown" were gradually phased out. The blue-blood Hunter Hearst Helmsley became the degenerate Triple H, and the dead man Undertaker became the
American Bad Ass.

Kane is thought of by many to be one of the last of the gimmicks, a character that has prospered in an environment that changed drastically during his time in the spotlight. From silent, brooding monster, with the help of first X-Pac, and later, Rob Van Dam, Kane came out of his shell, became a person the fans could really relate to. He changed from being a "French fried freak" to being "one of the guys." Until recently.