WWE Survivor Series on Sky Box Office - TV Review

It’s multi-man madness again, but this time in a good way as WWE present the fourth of the big pay-per-views of the year, Survivor Series, headlined by Chris Jericho defending his World title against the returning John Cena.

Festival of Martial Arts - DVD Review

So I’m walking past my local video shop one day (well, I say video shop, but he sells mobile phones, cameras and telescopes now), and I see a DVD in the box outside the shop entitled “Festival of Martial Arts”. Well, as it was dirt cheap, I thought what the hey, and decided to give it a look see. So when I got home and popped the DVD into my player, I found out what the festival was exactly - a collection of matches from various disciplines including shoot boxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, kick boxing, and professional wrestling, all brought together in honour of the memory comic book writer and artist Ikki Kajiwara in April 1988.

WWF Survivor Series 1987 - DVD Review

With this year’s Survivor Series just a few days away, I’m going to carry on with the tradition I stared a while back by reviewing a past big four show, by going back in time twenty-one years to the very first Survivor Series, held on Thanksgiving Day in 1987. The legendary team of Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse “The Body” Ventura are behind the microphone for this one.

UFC 91: Couture v Lesnar on Setanta Sports - TV Review

It’s being touted as the biggest fight in UFC history, as former WWE Champion Brock Lesnar faces the challenge of the returning Randy Couture, with the World Heavyweight title on the line. That is what’s in store as I take a look at UFC 91: Couture v Lesnar, shown live here in Britain on Setanta Sports, with Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg handling the commentary side of things.

TNA Turning Point on Bravo 2 - TV Review

It’s multi-man match madness again, and this time we’ve got a feud between the veterans and the up-and-comers, as A.J. Styles challenges Sting for the World title at TNA’s latest pay-per-view offering, Turning Point, shown here in Britain on a three day delay on Bravo 2. It’s the usual broadcast team calling the shots, Mike Tenay and Don West.

K-1 Dynamite USA - DVD Review

This coming Saturday Brock Lesnar will undertake the biggest challenge of his athletic career. Having already attained superstar status in the professional wrestling world, he’ll be looking to attain the same status in the mixed martial arts world when he attempts to dethrone current UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture. So what better time is there to take a look at his MMA debut against Min Soo Kim on the DVD release of K-1’s Dynamite USA, held at the prestigious Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Handling commentary for this one is probably the best play-by-play guy in MMA, Mauro Ranallo, Jay Glazer, and another former pro wrestling superstar, Bill Goldberg.

Pro Wrestling NOAH First Navigation 2007 - DVD Review

This edition of The Two Sheds Review sees us making a return to Japan, to take a look at the DVD release of Pro Wrestling NOAH’s first show of 2007, First Navigation, headlined by Mitsuhara Misawa defending the GHC Heavyweight title against Takeshi Morishima, and available to buy online via A-Merchandise. Commentary, in English, for this one is handled by Ken Hiriyama and Wally Yamaguchi.

Cage Rage Fighting Hurts Live Final on Nuts TV - TV Review

It’s Britain’s answer to The Ultimate Fighter, and I haven’t seen any of the episodes. In fact I didn’t even know that the live final was being shown until I checked the digital television guide to see if there was live boxing on Nuts TV. So this past Saturday, after a near two hour power cut, I tuned into the aforementioned Nuts TV for the live final of Cage Rage’s Fighting Hurts, or as some others would call it, Cage Rage Contenders 11, held at The Troxy in London.

K-1 World Max 2008 on Eurosport - TV Review

A little later than planned due to a thumb injury and a power cut this past Saturday, this edition of The Two Sheds Review sees me venturing into the stand-up world of K-1 again, with this year’s World Max final, broadcast on Eurosport this past Friday night as part of their Fight Club series.

WWE Cyber Sunday on Sky Sports - TV Review

It’s the time of the year when WWE goes interactive - well, sort of (see the rant at the end), as they ask their fans to choose stipulation and match types with Cyber Sunday, shown live on Sky Sports here in Britain.

UFC 90: Silva v Cote on Setanta Sports - TV Review

So can Anderson Silva once again prove he’s the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world? Or will Patrick Cote upset the apple cart and take his title? Well, that’s what I intend to find out by once again tuning into the world of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, as, just one week after UFC 89, UFC 90: Silva v Cote, makes it way to a live showing on Setanta Sports here in Britain. As always the hosts for the evening are Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan.

FWA v All-Star - DVD Review

I will always have a soft spot for the British Inter-Federation Cup. First contested in 2005 by the founders, the World Association of Wrestling, and their arch rivals in the Frontier Wrestling Alliance, it was thought of as a way of bringing the much fragmented British wrestling scene together. Sadly, it didn’t really work out like that. But why am I so fond of this tournament? Because I was the one who came up with the name!

UFC 89: Bisping v Leben on Setanta Sports - TV Review

It’s time for the great and the good of the Ultimate Fighting Championship to cross the pond again, and this time they’re setting up sticks at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham for UFC 89, headlined by local hero Michael Bisping taking on Chris Leben, and shown live here in Britain on Setanta Sports. As usual our hosts for the evening are Mike Goldberg and the beard-wearing Joe Rogan.

TNA Bound for Glory on Bravo 2 - TV Review

It’s multi-man gimmick match overload time again as Total Non-Stop Action travel to Chicago for their flagship pay-per-view, Bound for Glory, headlined by Sting challenging Samoa Joe for the World title, and Jeff Jarrett returning to face Kurt Angle, shown here in Britain on a three day delay on Bravo 2, with Mike Tenay and Don West, complete with a truly awful shirt/tie combination handling commentary duties.

Hero's 2007 Volume 2: The Ultimate Tournament - DVD Review

This edition of TSR sees us making a return trip to Japan and the Yokohama Arena, as we take another look at K-1’s mixed martial arts arm Hero’s, and the DVD release Hero’s 2007 Volume Two: The Ultimate Tournament, featuring the likes of Caol Uno, Vitor Ribeiro, Katsuhiko Nagata, Melvin Manhoef and more, and with commentary duties handled by Pierre Guillet and Dale Adams.

WWE No Mercy on Sky Box Office - TV Review

It’s that time of the month again where World Wrestling Entertainment move on to pay-per-view, with Jeff Hardy challenging Triple H for the WWE title, and Shawn Michaels challenging his nemesis Chris Jericho in a ladder match for the World title. It’s No Mercy, shown live here in Great Britain on Sky Box Office.

PWR Mid-Day Turbulence/Red Eye Fight - DVD Review

This edition of TSR sees the debut of Pro Wrestling Revolution in these hallowed pages. I became aware of this particular promotion when I received an e-mail the Sports Webcasting Network, who broadcast their shows online, as well as selling their DVDs. So, having gotten my hand on a couple of these, we’re going to take a look at their August 10th event at the Metro New York Balloon and Music Festival, featuring two shows - Mid-Day Turbulence and Red Eye Fight. Commentary duties for this one are handled by Robert Goldenberg and former wrestler the Puppet Master.

NECW Iron 8 Championship 2007 - DVD Review

This edition of TSR sees us taking a return trip to New England Championship Wrestling, a promotion I’ve featured a few times this year, and this time we’re going to look at the DVD release of the 2007 Iron 8 Championship, an eight-man tournament, with the final being a four-way, forty-five minute iron man match. Commentary for this one is handled by NECW’s main man, Sheldon Goldberg.

Disc one contains the four semi-finals, and they begin with “The Infamous” Bobby Fish taking on Jason Blade. Described as a technical contest by our commentator, it’s just that, between two exciting young wrestlers, and with hardly an illegal move in site. It’s a great match to open the show, very enjoyable, with both guys having their moments, with Fish advancing to the final. Blade had synched in a full nelson, but Fish pushed himself off the turnbuckles, with both wrestlers going down to the mat with Fish in the pinning position.

Semi-final #2 sees “Straight Edge” Brian Fury tackle Handsome Johnny. This one takes a few minutes to start, mainly because Johnny gets annoyed with the reception he gets from the fans. From there it develops into a very good bout, with the Handsome one playing the role of the villain particularly well, with Fury playing the young baby face on a quest to get a shot at NECW’s main title. It’s the second match in a row in which I can find no fault, only entertainment, with plenty of false finishes, and countering Johnny’s top rope superplex attempt with a sunset flip and bridging pin.

Semi-final #3 sees 2006 champion “Die Hard” Eddie Edwards against Gary Cassidy. Edwards has company for this one, in the form of his manager Sean Gorman. The third good match in a row is a pretty evenly fought contest at first, with the Irishman able to keep up with his more experienced American counterpart before Edwards takes control. Needless to say that a certain Mr. Gorman gets involved in this one. The final few moments saw both men almost get the win, with Edwards getting the win after his unique suplex variation.

Semi-final #4 sees “The Real Deal” Brandon Locke take on Antonio “The Promise” Thomas. Thomas, you may recall, had a cup of coffee in WWE as one half of The Heart Throbs. Although a good match in it’s own right, this is probably the weaker of the four semi-finals. It’s a good technical contest, but fought at a much slower pace than the previous matches, with Thomas spending a great deal of time working over Locke’s left arm and shoulder, before the Real Deal makes his comeback. The comeback worked. Thomas tried to counter Locke’s Locke Down slam finisher, only to get rolled up by Thomas for the three count. Not the best match of the first round, but okay nonetheless.

Disc two begins with a mixed tag-team match, as the aforementioned Sean Gorman, seconded by his charge D.C. Dillinger, teams with “Big” Rick Fuller against “The Human Nightmare” Evan Siks and Nikki Roxx, aka possibly TNA’s most underrated knockout, Roxxi. If I’m to be totally honest here, then this one wasn’t very good. The wrestling didn’t start until ten minutes after this segment began, which detracted from the actual match itself, which only lasted about six minutes, with Gorman getting the pin on Nikki after she’d been accidentally clobbered by Fuller, who was aiming for Siks. This was nothing more than filler material, and not very good filler material at that.

After a segment which sees NECW Triple Crown Champion D.C. Dillinger presented with a new title belt (and a mighty fine looking title belt it is), it’s on to the tournament final, four way iron man action with a forty-five minute time limit, with the wrestler with the most pins and submissions winning, with Eddie Edwards, Bobby Fish, Brandon Locke and Brian Fury. A very interesting concept match, with good performances throughout. Obviously as it has a forty-five minute time limit, it would take me too long to list everything of note here, so all I’ll say is that there were some good solid performances from all the wrestlers here, with Edwards impressing me the most, and with five minutes remaining it looked like it could be anyone’s match, with Locke and Fury tied on two falls each, with Fish and Edwards soon joining them on that score as the clocked ticked away. There was a mad rush to score that all elusive decisive pin with two minutes left, but the scores were all tied when the time limit expired, so the match went into sudden death overtime. This lead to Edwards eliminating Locke and Fury, drop kicking them off the ring apron into the guard rail, leaving him alone in the ring with Fish, and after a hard fought few minutes filled with near misses, Edwards scored the deciding pin, finishing his long-time nemesis off with a moonsault slam off the top rope. A very, very good match here. It took a while to get going, but it built up nicely before delivering an outstanding finish.

Disc two is rounded off with a few extras, including extra bonus footage, and a little look at how the Iron 8 Championship began.

In conclusion - I really liked the concept of the Iron 8 tournament, and it certainly made for interesting viewing, and while the mixed tag-team match wasn’t up to much and just seemed like filler material, it didn’t detract that much from my overall enjoyment of the tournament. The final was definitely the best match of the show, and as the action and time progressed, it didn’t seem to last as long as it did, it was that good. Mention must also be made of Sheldon Goldberg’s commentary. It was good, very good. Not over the top, and there was no shouting into the microphone when a big move was executed, he just did his job, which was to call the matches and to put over the talent. Well done sir.

So I guess what I’m trying to say here is if you’re looking for some good American indy action, then check out NECW, and to do that, visit www.necwwrestling.com. Also, if you want to download NECW’s regular online show, visit www.necw.tv. You’ll also be able to find details on how you can buy their numerous DVD releases.

With thanks to Sheldon Goldberg and NECW for supplying a copy of this DVD release.

Gorgeous George - Book Review

One of the things I love about the wrestling business is it’s history. I love reading stories from veterans of years gone by, and the re-visiting classic moments that I’ve viewed in my thirty years plus as a wrestling fan. However, I’ve always paid attention to the eras I remember, and never to those that came before I was born. Which means that I’ve never learned about the man who, with the aid of a little invention called television, became an American icon, and a man who has inspired countless others over the past sixty years.

Cage Rage 28: VIP on Nuts TV - TV Review

This past Saturday Britain’s Cage Rage mixed martial arts promotion returned to our television screens, live on Nuts TV, with their twenty-eighth show, VIP, held at The Troxy in east London. As usual our hosts for the evening were O.J. Borg and promoter Dave O’Donnell.