The oldest tradition in Wrestling is upon us once again. Never failing to provide at least one unforgettable memory per year, WrestleMania 29 really does have a lot to live up to. But as we take a stroll down the card and take a gander at the Class of 2013 Hall of Fame inductees, I think it’s safe to say that WrestleMania 29 won’t fail to live up to tradition.
Let’s hope the MetLife Stadium and East Rutherford, New Jersey are ready for the biggest show of the year. Ladies and gentlemen, this is WrestleMania 29.
WWE Championship Match
(c) The Rock vs John Cena
So here we go again. The match that WWE billed and sold to us one year ago as ‘Once in a Lifetime’ turns out to be more ‘Twice in a Year’. I’m pretty sure that had WWE told us that one year ago then the buy rate for Wrestlemania 28 wouldn’t have been as huge as it turned out to be. Personally, I think it’s a bloody cheek of WWE to book the same main event two years running, especially when the first match wasn’t as great as Vince McMahon would have us remember. WWE did it successfully with Triple H and the Undertaker at Wrestlemania’s 27 and 28 but that feud only successfully overlapped because the matches held up in the ring. The Rock vs John Cena didn’t.
I don’t want to say that this year has become all about the money for Vince and WWE, but look at the facts and its pretty damning evidence. Did Vince have to book a rematch when he promised us that the match would be a one off? No, he didn’t. Did the financial factor have a hand in the Wrestlemania 29 main event? Of course it did. There was a whole host of other options WWE could have implemented for this years event. WWE could have had C.M Punk retain the WWE Championship at Royal Rumble and then lose it to Cena in a triple threat match pitting The Rock vs C.M Punk vs John Cena. The addition of Punk in the match would have given the whole thing a fresher feel and we would have been guaranteed that the actual happening wouldn’t have been such a let down two years running.
WWE could have gone in a totally different direction for once in their lives and actually stuck to the promise they made us. The Rock could have fought the Undertaker and if John Cena has to be WWE Champion again, then he could have finally dethroned C.M Punk in the main event. There’s no excuse for WWE to give us as to why we have the same main event two years running, and no excuse that we can believe more than the money it is going garner for the already wealthy Vince McMahon. I would have liked to see another Rock vs Brock Lesnar match for example, but I guess Triple H has to be seen to get his ultimate revenge on the grandest stage of them all. God forbid he put his ego to the side until SummerSlam.
‘Greatness vs Redemption’ is the tag line for this years outing. Greatness being the Rock as he is the current WWE Champion and Redemption, being John Cena’s loss to the Rock one year ago. I would like to think that WWE haven’t given away the result of the match before its even begun but looking at the subtitle for the WWE Championship encounter then it does seem all but written in the stars. Will WWE have John Cena lose at Wrestlemania, in the main event, two years running? Maybe, but its not likely. Seeing it’s been nearly two years since John Cena has been WWE Champion, a lifetime by WWE standards, then you can almost see the end of the show now. There is however a chance that the Rock won’t drop the gold to Cena.
The Rock is leaving WWE again after Wrestlemania 29 to film Hercules, but rumours suggest that ‘The Great One’ has signed a contract extension which would take him right up to Extreme Rules, where he would also compete. Which means the Rock may drop the gold at Extreme Rules and not Wrestlemania 29. Will John Cena be champion again in 2013? Undoubtedly. With no one else on Raw ready to carry the can, and C.M Punk just come off of a marathon run, John Cena is the logical choice to once again carry the company. The other possible choice would be Brock Lesnar who has signed a two year contract extension. Would Lesnar be willing to work a fuller scheduler than both he and the Rock are working at the moment? Possibly not. For Lesnar to be champion again he’d have to be in WWE almost every week, something he’s not at the moment. The Rock has a good excuse for not being around all of the time, his schedule is packed to the brim. Lesnar on the other hand, has no real good excuse apart from he just doesn’t want to wrestle full time.
The build up to the match has been patchy this year, at least in my eyes. The Rock hasn’t been around so much and John Cena has to be stopped from going over the same old stuff he spouted in his run in to the clash with the Rock last year. There’s only so much we can take before we want to continuously pummel his face with a sledgehammer. As this is written before Wrestlemania and some of the build up has happened, it’s impossible for me to comment on everything has happened. The major new angle that WWE have cast on this match is the WWE Championship itself.
Overlooking the fact that C.M Punk had a hand in designing the new Championship and really, Punk should have been the one to unveil it, the whole new Championship design does give the feud a fresh feel in the way that WWE can centre the feud around the fact that Cena can take offense to the Rock doing away with what was essentially his Championship design. We can all agree that the WWE Championship now looks a lot classier and a lot less gaudy. Time moves on and finally WWE have moved on with it, in the sense that they’ve seen the light and trashed the spinner design. Weather they’ve moved on in the sense that they’ll allow Cena to lose again at Wrestlemania is another question that we’ll have to wait for an answer on.
You never know, if Cena does lose again to the Rock, like the Rock lost to Austin at two Wrestlemania’s then it could be the beginning of a hell turn for Cena. WWE surely cannot allow him to keep walking around with the shit eating grin on his face, should he fall to the man he wants to beat more than anything, twice. The animosity and the story would be there as would the motive to turn Cena heel. The only thing that holds WWE back from pulling the proverbial trigger is the money Cena earns as a face. Perhaps 2013 is going to be a turning point in WWE as Vince McMahon takes a back seat and allows his daughter and son in law to make some decisions about the business.
I’m trying very hard not to broach the final subject on this match. The one no one really wants to talk about because it’s too horrible to think about. Should John Cena defeat the Rock at Wrestlemania 29 then it would, for all tense and purposes, set up one final match at Wrestlemania 30, where the Rock is scheduled to compete. The feud would be tied at one apiece and there would be legitimate reason for the two to meet one more time next year. This of course would raise the ire of everyone in the locker room and every fan who was promised that last year would be a one off. To have the same main event twice in two years would be a joke, to have it three in three would be a smack in all of our faces.
Whoever you’re pulling for, whether you’re a member of the ‘Cenation’ or ‘Team Bring It’ then I wouldn’t hold out too much hope for the match itself. The Rock has done better against Punk since his return than he did against Cena last year but is still carrying considering mass and he’s only going to get bigger as we approach the big night, because he has to put it on for Hercules. John Cena...well he’s John Cena. The man you never expect too much from because his wrestling prose is non existent and his selling has become worse over the last year. Will it be worse than last year? I doubt it. Will it be the best match wither man have had? Certainly not.
Maybe we shouldn’t complain though, because it’s not getting us anywhere. Our ills are falling on deaf ears. And I don’t know about you but I’m getting a little bit bored of it. The one fact though coming from the reception John Cena has been getting since Royal Rumble, is that if John Cena were to pin The Rock after an Attitude Adjustment, the crowd in the MetLife Stadium would leave WrestleMania 29 very unsatisfied.
Winners Prediction: John Cena
C.M Punk vs The Undertaker
Whether we know it or not, the Undertaker’s WrestleMania matches are becoming a little bit of a problem. I don’t have any quarrels with Undertaker wrestling once a year, he’s so injured and broken down now that he can only manage that schedule. That is fine. Sometimes, seeing someone just once a year is better for business and a treat for us. I’d rather see Undertaker almost fit and produce one great match a year than see him hurt, beaten and produce matches that are way under par every night. The problem I’m having with the Undertaker at WrestleMania is that the results of his matches are never in doubt, no matter who he steps in the ring with and no matter how serious a threat his challenger poses.
‘The Streak’ is so closely protected, rightly so, that WWE and Undertaker will never allow it to be ended. It is of course the right thing to do. Undertaker has worked tirelessly for twenty years to build his legend and if anyone deserves the respect of the locker room, it’s Undertaker. As a fan, I never want to see the streak end and I’m sure you don’t either. But that’s where we’re caught in a catch twenty two situation as WrestleMania rolls around each year. We don’t want to see the streak end but we also don’t want a predictable match on the grandest stage of them all. As the old saying goes; you can’t have it both ways.
After Shawn Michaels and Triple H in the last four years, the standard for the Undertaker’s matches at WrestleMania are set beyond comparison. That may have been a mistake by both Undertaker and WWE. Can an injured Undertaker hold the standard of his last four Wrestlemania matches with C.M Punk? The answer should be yes. The whole point of this little tangent is the question of, is just another great WrestleMania match enough when the outcome is all but decided before the match even happens? Usually I’d say yes but I’m not so sure anymore. It doesn’t matter how much WWE hype the match or how much jeopardy they try to put around Undertaker’s streak, the fact remains that it will never end.
What makes this year’s match an exception is that it’s possible WrestleMania 29 will be Undertaker’s penultimate WrestleMania. His advanced age plus injuries are beginning to necessitate that the man born Mark Calloway steps away from the spotlight and into WWE legend. Should Wrestlemania 30 be the Undertaker’s WWE swansong then what a run its been. Should he continue on after the thirtieth anniversary then everything may begin to get just a little samey. There’s only so often we can watch a match knowing the outcome before fingers begin twitching and we wonder what else is out there to spend our time on.
And now we can move on to the match itself. Before Undertaker and C.M Punk even get to Wrestlemania 29, the match has been tainted by the passing of Paul Bearer and WWE’s deplorable treatment of the situation. Honestly, next time someone passes away WWE should just show the memorial picture and then leave it at that. Whatever urges they get to go further and make an angle of it should be locked away and never touched again. Knowing how close Mark Calloway and William Moody were in real life, one has to expect that Undertaker, after defeating Punk will pay some sort of respect or homage to Bearer. A salute or bring out the urn and hold it to heavens. It’s only natural now WWE have made this match all about the passing of Bearer and had Punk disrespect his memory in the middle of the ring.
In case you missed it, then the feud that began all about respect when C.M Punk failed to dethrone the Rock for a second time at Elimination Chamber in February. Punk has demanded respect from day one and I have to say, its startling how little has been given to him over the last year. The last time before Royal Rumble that Punk headline a pay per view event was Survivor Series in a Triple Threat Match against John Cena and Ryback. The month before he defended the WWE Championship against Ryback inside the Hell in a Cell and in the main event of Night of Champions in September against John Cena. I would like it noted now though that the last time before September 2012 that C.M Punk was in the main event of a pay per view as WWE Champion, the top guy in the company, that didn’t involve John Cena or Ryback was in December 2011 at TLC. That is true disrespect.
It was always on the cards from the moment Punk uttered the words, respect, that he would face Undertaker at Wrestlemania 29. Through all of 2012, that was going to be C.M Punk’s destiny. Knowing he was booked for such a high profile match should have and may have gone someway to soothing Punk’s pain at losing the WWE Championship to the Rock at Royal Rumble.
Back to the storyline: on March 11th Raw, which was dedicated to the memory of Paul Bearer, WWE maddeningly gave Punk permission to take the urn that Paul Bearer carried to the ring with him for all those years and smash it over Kane's head. Kane, who throughout his career has been credited with being the son of Paul Bearer. Worse, on the pre WrestleMania Raw on April 1st, WWE gave Punk the green light to dress up like Paul Bearer and then empty the contents of the urn over a prone Undertaker. When you combine this with the shocking treatment WWE gave Punk permission to bestow upon Jerry Lawler on his triumphant return to WWE after a near fatal heart attack that left Lawler technically dead for several minutes, it’s almost as if WWE are trying to make us believe that Punk is a disrespectful moron who doesn’t care about what went before. That’s all bullshit. Anyone who has watched ‘C.M Punk: Best in the World’ knows how much respect Punk has for the history and the people who paved the way for him.
The angle with the urn was designed to heap heat on Punk. WWE don’t want Punk receiving more cheers than Undertaker at WrestleMania 29 and want as much heat on him as possible. The problem with that is unlike the WWE creative team and backstage team, the WWE Universe can recognise and appreciate Punk’s contributions to wrestling in his momentous WWE Championship reign. There's a high possibility that Punk will receive the majority of the fan praise inside the MetLife Stadium on April 7th and quite frankly, for as much respect and love I have for the Undertaker, Punk deserves it.
To their credit, WWE have extracted Punk from all house show events in the run up to and after WrestleMania 29 to minimise the risk of injury so Punk can be fresh for the big night. Had they had this much thought for his welfare in 2012 then Punk’s knee injury may not have been as serious as it turned out to be. Make no mistake, C.M Punk vs the Undertaker is mightily important to WWE. Vince McMahon knows the likelihood that this match will steal the show as Undertaker has done continuously since Wrestlemania 23 and they’re also aware that their main event, The Rock vs John Cena isn’t going to set the world on fire unless John Cena can pull out something truly wonderful and Rock can condition himself to work a long main event match.
In many ways, WWE are relying on C.M Punk vs The Undertaker to be the match everyone wants to see this year. Vince knows how annoyed the majority of the WWE Universe is about being lied to that Rock vs Cena was ‘Once in a Lifetime’ and this is their chance to get us to forget about all of that. When you look at it, both men have the best of both worlds at WrestleMania 29. Should C.M Punk and Undertaker fail to put on a match that lives up to expectation then neither man will be blamed and they can put it down to injuries. If the pair give us one of the best matches in the last 50 years and I’m talking about something that tops Undertaker vs Edge, Undertaker vs Batista, Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels and Undertaker vs Triple H then they will be heralded in the eyes of the WWE Universe and rightly so.
Do we believe that C.M Punk will be the man to end the streak? No. But will that stop the two trying to make it look like Punk has Undertaker’s number? Absolutely not. C.M Punk vs The Undertaker may be predictable but then again it could be worse. At least we weren’t promised one thing and then given another. Just ask the Rock and John Cena how that feels.
Winners Prediction: The Undertaker
World Heavyweight Championship Match
(c) Alberto Del Rio vs Jack Swagger
When Jack Swagger won the Elimination Chamber match to become the number one contender to the World Heavyweight Championship and therefore challenge Alberto Del Rio for the gold at WrestleMania 29, I think it’s fair to say we were all filled with a mixture of underwhelming disappointment and hopeful joy. On first glance, Alberto Del Rio vs Jack Swagger for the World Heavyweight Championship isn’t a WrestleMania calibre main event match, but WWE could have made it so. It’s only because of WWE’s treatment of both Swagger and current World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio in 2012 that this match hasn’t got as much excitement around it.
It’s baffling that WWE have booked this match and then also buried the two men in it for so long. Presumably, somewhere around June last year WWE had the idea of booking Alberto Del Rio vs Jack Swagger for WrestleMania 29. Seeing that they plan the big event so far in advance you have to question the methods WWE used to hype this match. Had the plan been in affect for so long then surely WWE’s main priority would have been to push the two so hard that it was impossible for the match to fail. What actually happened was that Jack Swagger lost every match he fought and jobbed to Brodus Clay and Santino before taking an extended break from WWE and current champion Alberto Del Rio lost all of his Championship matches on pay per view, going down to Sheamus at Money in the Bank, SummerSlam and Night of Champions, looking at the lights for Randy Orton at Hell in a Cell and being a sacrificial lamb for ‘The Viper’ in the Team Ziggler vs Team Foley traditional Survivor Series Match at Survivor Series and then was thrown into a mediocre six man tag team match at TLC.
Before the Royal Rumble, where Del Rio defended and retained the World Heavyweight Championship against the Big Show, the last time Alberto Del Rio personally got the victory on a pay per view event, that’s pinned or made an opponent submit himself and not via a tag team partner was Hell in a Cell 2011. Fifteen months without a victory on pay per view just isn’t World Championship material. Both men are coming off of a huge burial and now is the time both must stand up and show WWE they were wrong to bury them and they were wrong to hold them back.
Or at least, Alberto Del Rio has that chance. You see, WWE gave Jack Swagger that chance upon his return to WWE in February but shortly after Elimination Chamber and what looked like a complete turn around in his career, Jack Swagger was arrested for possession of marijuana and driving under the influence. That was a dumb move. After bitching and moaning for so long that he never got the breaks in WWE, Swagger goes and does something like that. WWE have given him a clear path to the top yet again by standing him in a great position and adding Zeb Coulter, former wrestler Dutch Mantel, to his cause. Swagger had it made and he went and blew it all.
What’s even more bizarre than the fact Swagger willingly ruined his chance is that WWE have seemingly failed to punish him for it. Since his arrest, Jack Swagger hasn’t been demoted to jobber duty again or been taken out of the WrestleMania 29 match which he stands to earn a lot from, not just financially but also career wise. Had this been anyone else and had it happened at a time that wasn’t centred around WrestleMania then maybe WWE would have cast Swagger aside and given the spot to Mark Henry or if miracles do happen, to an up and coming star. As it is, Vince really didn’t want to change his plans as there was no one else to step up and has had no choice but to carry on pushing Jack Swagger as a threat to Alberto Del Rio’s World Heavyweight Championship.
We can’t get ahead of ourselves though. Because even though WWE have not yet punished Swagger, I don’t believe he will prevail at WrestleMania 29 and will face his punishment after the big event. WWE have been very vocal about their intentions to keep Coulter on after New Jersey but have been tight lipped about Jack Swagger’s fate in the company. WWE see Swagger’s offence as a betrayal. They see it the way that they invested so much in Swagger and then he goes and does something dumb like that. Anyone who thinks Vince McMahon has forgotten about Swagger’s misdemeanour will be put right sometime in April or May when no doubt, Swagger will be jobbing to the untalented once again.
One could argue that this match was set up to fail from the beginning. It’s not fair to say that WWE are uninterested in the pair but when you have John Cena vs The Rock and Undertaker vs C.M Punk on the same card as this match then WWE are bound to overlook one or two things lower down the card. As is now tradition, I expect this match to go on first to get the crowd warmed up, when in fact it should go on near the end to send a signal to the WWE Universe that WWE are once again taking the World Championship seriously. It’s an easy solution if WWE want to put more emphasis on both top tier Championships and one we will look at in the Wrestlemania 29 preview.
Underwhelming is the correct word for the build up to this match. WWE have taken the illegal immigrant path with Swagger and Coulter and their rants each week are now getting tired and old. We’re tuning in to see wrestling, not to hear Jack Swagger bang on about illegal immigrants, which neither Del Rio or Ricardo Rodriguez are. With all the creative talent in WWE now you would have thought that WWE could have come up with a more gripping story for the pair.
The other factor in this match is Dolph Ziggler. The Money in the Bank briefcase is growing heavy in his hands and the time has finally come for him to cash it in. Should WWE have Ziggler fail to cash it in and lose to Del Rio or Swagger then it will take another two years or hype and build up before Ziggler is ready to be Champions again. Having Ziggler triumph would be the better option when you think about it. If WWE are going to suspend Jack Swagger after WrestleMania 29 then they have a ready made feud in Ziggler vs Del Rio with Del Rio chasing the Championship he’s held since Royal Rumble. That would be a great feud and would yield some worthwhile matches for WWE in the WrestleMania hangover.
I don’t believe that Jack Swagger will defeat Alberto Del Rio on the grand stage and neither do I believe that either man will leave WrestleMania 29 as World Heavyweight Champion. Simply put, Dolph Ziggler’s time has come and at WrestleMania 29 its time for WWE to have the balls and take the giant step what will create a brand new star.
Winners Prediction: Alberto Del Rio
No Holds Barred Match
(If Brock Lesnar Wins, Triple H Must Retire)
Triple H vs Brock Lesnar
The match that was billed at SummerSlam 2012 as ‘The Perfect Storm’ was always headed for the shores of WrestleMania. A match as big as Brock Lesnar vs Triple H should always be decided on a stage as big and illustrious as this. SummerSlam wasn’t the perfect storm, it was merely the calm before it. Because WrestleMania 29 will be the epicentre of what was one of the finest feuds, next to C.M Punk and Daniel Bryan, of 2012 and the pair only ever fought once. That’s some achievement.
Triple H and Brock Lesnar have been given the perfect opportunity by WWE to bring the house down in the MetLife Stadium and we have no reason to believe they will do anything but. The No Holds Barred rules means that the pair have nothing holding them back and ever distraction at their disposal should they need to use them. There was a slight draw back to the match when it was first announced and before the stipulations were put in place, that the match may be an exact copy of their first class SummerSlam encounter and that was a worry that could have become reality, yet one WWE saw in advance to their credit. Knowing that Brock Lesnar hasn’t wrestled since August and that Triple H is a once in a blue moon performer now, WWE realised that they had to give the pair every fighting chance to pull out a cracker at WrestleMania 29.
A No Holds Barred match was never going to be enough, if we’re honest. Their match at SummerSlam was as good as No Holds Barred when Triple H told the referee to let the match go whatever happened. WWE may as well have added the stipulation last minute for all the use the supposed normal rules made. Taking a leaf from the Undertaker and Shawn Michaels, WWE put Triple H’s career on the line. A match where one man, especially one as respected as Triple H, could potentially lose his career has always been held in high regard by any audience and whilst the retirement rule is often lax these days with wrestling coming and going as they feel free to, there is a real danger, at least in the fans minds, that Triple H could actually be made to retire.
Both Triple H and Brock Lesnar have done a fine job in the build up and credit has to go to Vince McMahon for a damn fine performance when Lesnar attacked the owner on Raw. Unlike most WWE feuds and storylines, this one has been very well acted and built. Triple H has done a fine job of building Brock Lesnar as a massive heel who will stop at nothing to destroy him and maybe even WWE should he fail to be stopped and Brock Lesnar has exuded the same aura in every performance he’s put in, in his allocated schedule. Lesnar has even gone above and beyond where a monster usually goes to put Triple H over as a pissed off hero who seeks revenge. Lesnar’s hardway cut when Triple H shoved him into the ring post on the February 23rd Raw, looked wonderful.
I don’t want to say it but with this match, C.M Punk vs The Undertaker and The Shield vs Orton, Sheamus and Big Show, WWE are trying their very best to give us as many great matches as possible to cushion the blow of the main event. I know it sounds unfair of me to say that as it implies that WWE and the WrestleMania 29 main event, the Rock vs John Cena, know that they’re not going to be able to satisfy the fans hunger. Maybe it would be kinder on both Rock and Cena if WWE put this match on last seeing as it has the more interesting build up and heavier storyline. Triple H was lambasted during his latter career for stealing the main event away from other people, here though it would be a welcome act.
The question of whether WWE could have done even more to promote the match and get Lesnar and Triple H ready for their match on April 7th is one that will only be answered on the night. If Triple H and Lesnar go out and look sluggish and out of shape, then WWE should have booked them both to compete on house shows and even one Raw before the big night, in a tag team match. It’s naive of the company to think that it can take two men who haven’t wrestled in eight months and expect them to have an outstanding match. The fact that the two men in question are both professionals who can turn it on when needed may be the saviour of that fact.
Having signed a two year extension to his contract, Brock Lesnar will now be around WWE for quite some time to come and whilst we’ll go into his future in the company in the review, I think it’s fair to say that despite the result at WrestleMania 29, Brock Lesnar will be WWE Champion again before the end of the year. It is unknown right now if that extension contains any more dates on top of the limited schedule he currently works but should he wish to remain a factor in the company then surely WWE have got to get Lesnar to work a more regular schedule than his current one dictates. We do know that Lesnar will fight at WWE’s newest pay per view ‘Payback’ as his face is featured on the poster, so maybe we will see the rematch between Lesnar and Cena for the WWE Championship.
Whatever WWE’s plans for the big event, Triple H and Brock Lesnar will undoubtedly be in competition with Punk and Undertaker for the match of the evening and if we’re lucky, we may even get two sparkling encounters that will make up for the main event and whatever that may lack. Do we expect Triple H to once again falter and tap out to the dreaded Kumara Lock? No. The truth is, this match exists solely to allow Triple H to gain some revenge of Brock Lesnar and end this feud, allowing Lesnar to move on to his next high profile outing. Even though I’m convinced that the outcome isn’t in doubt, I’m sure both will shed blood sweat and tears to convince us otherwise.
Triple H has no intentions of retiring just yet and in his early forties could easily be WWE Champion again several times, helping mid card athletes take the giant step to the main event. That may be a very clever move for WWE should Triple H be willing to step back into the spotlight full time. As champion, Triple H can elevate talent like Wade Barrett and Dolph Ziggler much easier than John Cena or even Randy Orton, who has done wonders, can. A path which Triple H should think about walking down if he’s serious about this youth development thing. It doesn’t just count backstage, it counts in front of the cameras as well.
Triple H vs Brock Lesnar will be epic, that we can be assured of. The Paul Heyman factor will add another realm to the action and do expect to see either Stephanie or Vince make an appearance during the fracas. Sadly though, we have to believe that this will be the last match between the pair. If and probably when Triple H wins, it would bring down the whole build up and the match itself should the pair fight again and Lesnar come out on top. Instead, it would be much more sensible to have Lesnar impact elsewhere on the card and maybe even cost John Cena the WWE Championship to lead into their rumoured match at ‘Payback’. Either way, Triple H will not retire at WrestleMania 29. The Game is very much on.
Winners Prediction: Triple H
6 Man Tag Team Match
The Shield vs Randy Orton, Sheamus and Big Show
By far, The Shield are WWE’s most successful new act in years. Yet to look weak even in retreat of Orton, Sheamus and Big Show on Raw and Smackdown, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and the impressive Roman Reigns have brought the house down on every event they’ve appeared at and not just the televised ones. Even though the trio have yet to lose to anyone on WWE television they have gone down mostly via disqualification on numerous house shows in the run up to TLC and beyond.
There is a whole world of potential still on offer for the three rebels who despite continuously saying they hate WWE and are booked to look like they’ve just invaded the show, have their own line of merchandise and entrance music. It seems even though WWE have tried their very best to make the faction look like rebels who act upon their own feelings and desires, the authenticity of the claims have taken a huge hit thanks to WWE’s obsession with branding everything on their show. The way around this would have been for WWE to shed the entrance music and should merchandise been necessary, have the Shield produce their own on television with a badge on the bottom of the shirt that read ‘100% WWE Unauthorized’. It’s not a hard thing to work out. A few rogue shots of the Shield making their locker room in the parking lot whilst selling t-shirts from a cardboard box to a huge line of fans would have added to the aura that the three aren’t under the thumb of the company, even though in reality we know they are. Instead of WWE having Reigns, Ambrose and Rollins simply enter through the crowd, it would have been a better idea for the trio to have their own informant who gave them the heads up when their match was on and then have a cameraman film them making their way from the parking lot, through the fan side of the arena and then through the crowd. Why can’t WWE think of these things?
Despite that little gripe and fact which would have worked a treat, it doesn’t take away from the notion that the Shield have done nothing but shone in WWE since their debut at the end of the 2012 Survivor Series. As great as it watching the trio, it’s also frustrating. WWE have done so well protecting the three stars that it makes you wonder why the company couldn’t have done it with other wrestlers on their roster and other development talent on its roster. The whole concept of NXT was an original one when it started out with the likes of Daniel Bryan and Wade Barrett and looked like it would actually make some stars which, you could argue it did. Anyone who has watched the show recently though will know that it has become just another television programme, at least around the world if not in the states, for WWE to push out with no real consequence for those performing on it. WWE would do better discarding NXT from their weekly television schedule, cherry picking the best from their current crop of talent and trying to do something with them that has as big effect as the Shield had. It’s the way to make stars. Vince has seen it and done it more than once so there’s no reason he shouldn’t do it again.
It was only natural that after their match and victory at Elimination Chamber, over Sheamus, Ryback and John Cena, that the Shield would be put onto the WrestleMania 29 card. To leave them out would have been disastrous for WWE and the faction. In the Elimination Chamber 2013 review, we mused upon the role of the Shield at Mania, stating that the trio had to fight as a union and not separately. Well, that’s what WWE has given us and when you look below the surface of just another six man tag team match, you see a plot so devious that if defies belief WWE are actually thinking about pulling it off and for once, not playing it safe.
The team of Sheamus, Randy Orton and Big Show may seem an odd combination and Big Show’s sort of face turn to join Orton and Sheamus may have come out of the blue once again but this match is far from just a normal star builder to get all six men on the card. The Shield may stand to gain most out of the outcome should they go over ‘The Viper’, ‘The Celtic Warrior’ and Big Show on the grand stage but plans are in motion for an even bigger story to come out of this match than another victory for the Shield.
When the match was announced, WWE leaked plans for the long awaited Randy Orton heel turn. It’s been talked about so much over the last six months that it seemed like just another plan that had been cast to cutting room floor by WWE. It seems unlikely that WWE were biding their time to turn Orton heel as they had failed to build or bide their time on any important storyline in 2012, preferring to rush their plans to see instant success instead of planning for the long term. Randy Orton is the exception to this rule though. The heel turn is coming and if reports are to be believed, they can change on the night, then Randy Orton, Sheamus and Big Show will fall to the Shield for Randy Orton to turn on his partners and complete the heel turn. That would be a great ending to what will be a very good match I’m sure.
It makes sense for Randy Orton to do so at WrestleMania, that way WWE can make sure his heel turn has the full effect as is seen by the maximum number of fans at once. WWE need to use the frustration of constantly being on the losing end to turn Orton and if he loses the match at WrestleMania 29 without being involved in the decision then that would be enough to reasonably tip him over the edge. Turning a popular wrestler on pay per view is twice as effective as doing so on television; TNA had tremendous success with turning Bully Ray, formerly Bubba Ray Dudley, and revealing him as the head of the Aces and Eights gang and now WWE need to follow suit. Why waste an opportunity and stop at turning Orton heel? Why not go that extra mile and reveal him to be the mastermind behind the Shield?
You see, Paul Heyman has been paying the Shield to get involved in C.M Punk’s matches when he was still WWE Champion, but there was never a real mastermind behind their induction into the WWE. It would make perfect sense for a rogue and vengeful Randy Orton to have formed a rogue faction to take on the unfair establishment of the WWE to make a point. Rollins, Reigns and Ambrose would thrive more so than they are doing now under the guidance of Randy Orton, who has done more clean jobs in the last two years to get wrestlers over than John Cena, Sheamus and C.M Punk combined. Randy Orton deserves a high profile run at the top of the card once again, he’s worked tirelessly for it.
Sheamus and Big Show on the other hand are a different matter all together. Big Show has wound down the last few months and his form in the latter stages of 2012 has well and truly disappeared. On second viewing, his match with Alberto Del Rio at Royal Rumble failed to set the world on fire and his television output since January has been less than fantastic. Sheamus has ambled along capably if not spectacularly without a storyline to get his teeth into. His feud with the Shield has yielded a good six man at Elimination Chamber but apart from that Sheamus looks out of his depth down the card. It’s rare for a wrestler to look out of his depth down the card rather than in the main event but Sheamus has. The Irishman needs to be back in the main event scene as quickly as possible.
No doubt, should Randy Orton turn heel at WrestleMania 29 then he and Sheamus will duck it out for the next few months until Randy Orton captures the World Heavyweight Championship and the pair feud over the gold. It’s a feud that has been done before but one which could reap better rewards this time around if it rides the coattails of Orton’s heel turn and the fans reaction to it. Apart from Orton then its possible Sheamus could have another feud with Dolph Ziggler once he captures the World Heavyweight Championship but that would be a second choice seeing as Sheamus vs Randy Orton has been on the cards in Titan Towers for a long time.
Big Show has a chance at WrestleMania 29 to help elevate the Shield with a performance that is worth of a true WrestleMania moment. If Big Show can come into WrestleMania fresh and carrying no injuries then there is no reason why he shouldn't be able to perform at the level he did at Hell in a Cell, Survivor Series, TLC and the January3rd Smackdown in which he dropped the World Heavyweight Championship to Alberto Del Rio in a stunning Last Man Standing Match. If Big Show isn't carrying injuries and he doesn't put in a great performance, baring in mind that he can hide his flaws behind the rest of the five talented men in the ring, then it can be put down to nothing but sheer laziness.
Everything above is just an option WWE could and should take. There is a chance that Randy Orton won’t turn heel at WrestleMania 29 and that WWE will either scrap the plan all together or wait until a later date. Either way, I fail to see how the Shield can once again shine at WrestleMania 29 and by rights they should be given their very own WrestleMania moment. They say that at WrestleMania men become legends and legends become immortal. It’s time for the WWE to open the door to legendary status for the Shield and allow them to walk that path until they reach its conclusion.
Winners Prediction: The Shield
WWE Tag Team Championship Match
Team Hell No vs Dolph Ziggler and Big E. Langston
Dolph Ziggler and Daniel Bryan have every right to be severely pissed off at WWE bigwigs going into this year’s biggest event. Both one half of the current WWE Tag Team Champions and the holder of the Money in the Bank briefcase for title shot at the World Heavyweight Championship are destined for better things than this and both have much more talent than to be stuck in what has become basically a meaningless tag team match for a set of Championship’s that no longer matter in wrestling.
Both Ziggler and Bryan had a cracking match in the run in to WrestleMania 29, a match which should have been proof enough, as if Ziggler’s performances in 2012 weren’t, that two of WWE’s most popular superstars are cut out for bigger things. You could also be forgiven for getting the impression that this would have been better as another singles match. That way Ziggler and Bryan could have brought the roof down.
As for their tag team partners, well Big E. Langston has yet to have an actual match on WWE’s main roster, but despite what others have said, I believe that he has what it takes to succeed on the main roster if he applies his mind and body to the business. WrestleMania 29 could be the making of Langston as a star if WWE allows him ample time to show what he can do and he can put together a decent set of exchanges. Kane on the other hand has become wholly expendable in WWE and should consider himself grateful that he’s even on a card of this magnitude. Certainly, after last year’s pedestrian effort against Randy Orton in singles action, a second singles match this year was off the cards from the very beginning.
I fail to see what Dolph Ziggler and Big E. Langston can gain out of this match, except a Championship around their waist. Whilst it’s considered a privilege to have a strap around your waist or over your shoulder in WWE, one has to question if the WWE Tag Team Championships will do Ziggler any good at all. And the answer all around is no. Langston is a different matter. As someone who has broken onto the main roster and yet to have a proper match the doubles Championship could be vital to his career in WWE. Dolph Ziggler on the other hand, the hopefully soon to be World Heavyweight Champion, will surely be brought down even further than he has been by John Cena, with an affiliation with the WWE Tag Team Championships.
A wrestler like Ziggler needs a Championship that means something in 2013. A Championship that people can look at and say “He’s that good because he’s that champion!” Sadly that isn’t going to happen with the WWE Tag Team Championships and if WWE continue this path with Ziggler then they’re going to send him packing right back to 2010. Should that happen, then Ziggler’s chances of thriving with the World Championship are slim to none. That’s providing he actually wins the gold when he cashes in.
WWE created the team of A.J, Ziggler and Langston because it was short of ideas for the trio. As unbelievable as it sounds, the man who WWE should be building their future around in Dolph Ziggler, WWE had no ideas for in the run up to WrestleMania. Would you like to sound the death bell now or shall we wait until his burial is complete? There were a whole avenue of options for WWE to take with Ziggler as we approach the grandest stage of them all. He could have resumed his feud with Randy Orton to guarantee a great WrestleMania match. WWE could have taken that bold leap and inserted him into the World Heavyweight Championship picture at WrestleMania. In fact, just to prove that there were other options than saddling Ziggler with a dead tag team gimmick, I will give you and WWE one right now. Should anyone from WWE be reading this, then feel free to kick yourself at the bottom of the next section.
The Royal Rumble Match: Dolph Ziggler enters number one and through beat downs and eliminating important wrestlers, Dolph Ziggler find himself in the final three along with John Cena and Ryback. To make up for his burial at the hands of John Cena in recent weeks and months, WWE book Dolph Ziggler to eliminate both John Cena and Ryback in one foul swoop, as the pair have each other on the ropes. Dolph Ziggler wins the Royal Rumble Match and is going to WrestleMania 29 to challenge a champion of his choice. The next night on Raw, Dolph Ziggler waltzes out to a thunderous reception which would have been assured and chooses Alberto Del Rio to fight for the World Heavyweight Championship.
Elimination Chamber: Dolph Ziggler is inserted into the World Heavyweight Championship match making it a triple threat match after conniving his way into the mix, thus assuring three shots at the gold. During the match, Dolph Ziggler puts in a more than top class performance coming within second of walking out of the last stop on the Road to WrestleMania with the gold and still a Championship shot in his briefcase should he lose. Disaster strikes. After hitting Big Show with a Zig Zag from the middle rope, Dolph Ziggler is caught with an inzaguri around the head, knocked out of the ring and Alberto Del Rio who seems to be wrestling as a heel instead of a face anyway steals the pin. Dolph Ziggler has done all the work and got nothing for it. Elsewhere at Elimination Chamber, weeks before the event to spite Dolph Ziggler and ruin his chances of walking out of WrestleMania as champion, Vickie Guerrero defies orders and makes the Smackdown Elimination Chamber Match for the right to be added to the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 29. Jack Swagger, the former friend and ally of Dolph Ziggler wins the match and the triple threat for WrestleMania 29 is on.
The run in to WrestleMania: on Raw and Smackdown, Del Rio, Swagger and Ziggler all wage a war to set up their triple threat match at WrestleMania. There’s no mention of illegal immigrants and the feud is actually built around the respect for the World Heavyweight Championship. Alberto Del Rio defeats Sheamus, Jack Swagger defeats Randy Orton and Dolph Ziggler finally is allowed to pin John Cena in the middle of the ring, clean, without any help. All three men look strong in the build up and the interest for the triple threat match is at an all time high.
WrestleMania 29: as much as WWE would bill it as the Rock, John Cena, Triple H, Brock Lesnar, The Undertaker and C.M Punk’s show, the company take an unusual turn and begin to focus the night on Dolph Ziggler. In-between matches WWE air video packages of Ziggler and his challenge for the gold in the previous two months, combining it with shots of a not so cock and confident Dolph Ziggler in the locker room, contemplating his career and his future. Ziggler in these skits is confronted first by Vickie Guerrero who tells him he has no chance of walking out of WrestleMania 29 as the World Heavyweight Champion. This dents his confidence. Ziggler is shown walking through the backstage area preparing for him match where he is confronted by Bret Hart, Bob Backlund, Mick Foley and Bruno Sammartino. All great champions in their own right. They tell Ziggler than no matter what people think of him he has shown that he is more than capable of winning the Championship, they big him up, they list his accomplishments and they leave him with a sobering and motivating comment or thought. Dolph Ziggler is hyped, the crowd believe in him and then he runs into Alberto Del Rio and Jack Swagger backstage. A stare down, they put Dolph Ziggler down only for him to stick up for himself much to the delight of the audience and those watching at home. For once, Dolph Ziggler hasn’t come off the end of his confrontation looking weak. The final touch would be bumping into John Cena. The man who has buried Ziggler in reality and the man who has more sway than anyone in WWE. Cena and Ziggler stare each other down, John Cena pats Ziggler on the chest, it’s a confident pat, we should be able to tell that John Cena believes Dolph Ziggler can walk away with the World Championship; before they part company, John Cena simply says to Dolph Ziggler “Never give up!” This would hold Cena in good stead with the audience as well as make it look like Ziggler has Cena’s blessing and backing. Match time: the match goes on after Undertaker and C.M Punk, just before the Rock vs Jon Cena. Dolph Ziggler is interviewed by Josh Matthews. He’s not the old Dolph Ziggler. There’s no smirk in sight and he looks purely driven. Josh Matthews asks him about what Vickie Guerrero said and if he can win the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania. Dolph Ziggler, takes the microphone, stares deep into the camera and simply says, “My name is Dolph Ziggler! Learnt it well! Tonight I will be World Heavyweight Champion!” It sends shivers up the spine and the stage is set. Jack Swagger enters the ring first with Zeb Coulter in tow, followed by Alberto Del Rio accompanied by Ricardo Rodriguez, Dolph Ziggler is shown on his way to the ring with A.J Lee and if necessary Big E. Langston in tow. Ziggler stops at the gorilla position and turns to Lee and Langston. He tells them he doesn’t want them at ringside, that if tonight is the culmination of his destiny, then he has to do it alone. A cheer goes up from the audience and Dolph Ziggler has come of age in the WWE. A man who has grown and prospered, a man who people believe in going it alone when his opponents have help. Ziggler enters to a rapturous ovation. The match is stunning. Jack Swagger shines, Alberto Del Rio shines and Dolph Ziggler is sent to the next level in WWE, finally he is ready. Alberto Del Rio is locked in the Patriot Lock, seconds away from tapping out. Ziggler rallies, hitting the Zig Zag on Swagger, as he turns he’s hit with a power move by Del Rio. Swagger recovers and is locked in the arm bar, tapping out. Del Rio retains but is in no fit state to celebrate. The crowd are hot. Dolph Ziggler stands at ringside contemplating what to do, briefcase in hand. The crowd are chanting “Cash it in!” Dolph Ziggler cashes in the Money in the Bank briefcase and defeats Del Rio becoming the new World Heavyweight Champion.
That is fantasy booking. But it is also what should have happened. You see John Cena would have lost nothing had Dolph Ziggler won the Royal Rumble match and would have faced the Rock at WrestleMania 29 regardless of what happened on January’s super show. Cashing in the briefcase after fighting in the match and doing the damage himself would have made Ziggler look like a fighting and clever champion. There would have been no flukiness about his victory. In short, Dolph Ziggler would have been the man in WWE and all it would have taken was some guts and thought.
Team Hell No have run their course. Everyone can see that. What was once a funny and engaging team has become dull, run of the mill and only half of the Champions is worth watching in the ring. The bickering that used to come with the Team Hell No gimmick is old and tired and unrealistic. Surely had Kane and Daniel Bryan been enemies for this long they would not have been able to coexist and would have either gone to WWE on their own terms and demand the team be disbanded or sought out help to stop the infighting. Dr. Shelby aside.
For a time, Team Hell No were the hottest property in WWE, but like everything else they went off the boil fast. Thanks to WWE’s paltry booking of the trio and treatment of the tag team division under them, Kane and Daniel Bryan found themselves without serious challengers and therefore became obsolete. Team Rhodes Scholars could have been a great set of challengers and WWE could have had an explosive feud on their hands which would have culminated here at WrestleMania. WWE creative saw fit to all but pull apart the tag division and therefore the Champions have suffered as a result.
Kane is the weak link of the team. There’s no getting away from it. His wrestling ability has actually gotten worse over the years. Instead of maturing like a fine wine, he’s stagnated and become something that sits on the shelf which you know in your heart of hearts should have been thrown out years ago. WWE and the man behind the mask, Glen Jacobs, have to be given credit for sustained the Kane character for sixteen years. Upon first glance of Kane at In Your House: Bad Blood in 1997, the character didn’t look like it would last six months let alone a decade and a half. But like all things, it’s time Kane and Team Hell No came to an end.
Daniel Bryan is sorely needed in the main event scene in the post WrestleMania season, when Jack Swagger vs Alberto Del Rio gets old and the Rock leave at Extreme Rules, WWE are going to need Bryan to resume his main event career and the sooner the better. If WWE keeps him bogged down in this team any longer he’s going to be Santino number two and that would be the greatest shame of all. If we have to choose between losing the tag team division or Daniel Bryan then I’d wave goodbye to the doubles division today. Bryan is too good to lose in the shuffle. Of course, should Team Hell No finally explode at WrestleMania and lose the gold then there will be a period of Bryan vs Kane again, but that can be resolved at Extreme Rules in preparation for Bryan to move on and up.
At WrestleMania 29 I believe that Dolph Ziggler and Big E. Langston will leave with the tag team gold and I also believe that Team Hell No will wrestle their last match as a team. More importantly than that though, this tag team match should be and needs to be the catalyst to propel Ziggler and Bryan back into the spotlight and resume their journey on the path to the top of the mountain. It will be a decision that will be greeted with thanks by the fans who know that both men are better than this.
As much as the night will inevitably belong to the main six in the three main event matches, WWE have a chance to install Ziggler as a main threat in one foul swoop. The time draws ever nearer for Dolph to cash in the Money in the Bank briefcase and I can’t think of a better place than on the one stage that really matters.
Winners Prediction: Dolph Ziggler and Big E. Langston
Ryback vs Mark Henry
Like most of the WWE Universe, I find it quite hard to believe that out of all the wrestlers who need a break and the exposure that a match at WrestleMania provides, it’s Mark Henry that WWE once again choose to fill a high profile spot on the biggest stage of the year. I read a letter in the recent issue of Power Slam magazine recently that chastised Power Slam for not giving Mark Henry a break. I don’t know the guy who wrote the letter and I won’t name him because I’m sure in a few years time he’ll realise his mistake. The letter detailed how, in his opinion, Mark Henry wasn’t as bad as people said he was and that he was very good in the ring. Or words to that effect.
Now, wrestling is an opinion based business, we all know that. Some people think John Cena is a prick, some people worship the ground he walks on. Some people brandish the Rock as a sell out, others love and respect him. That’s the whole point of this industry. To divide the audience and allow us to form judgments of those who perform in front of us night in and night out. There’s not right or wrong opinion because it’s how you feel. However, said letter writer must have been watching a different WWE product since 1996 than the rest of us have been witnessing. Mark Henry has been nothing but a constant source of disappointment and boredom in WWE since the very first day he stepped through the curtain. He’s so big that he can’t move or execute a hold properly and his matches look just awful. Mark Henry does not deserve another push in WWE, let alone a spot like this at WrestleMania. In truth, Henry should have been fired years ago.
When WWE announced this match, a groan was heard around the world. Every wrestling fan pencilled this match into their WrestleMania viewing schedule as ‘Toilet Break’. Mark Henry and Ryback are so limited in what they can and are willing to do in singles competition that I cannot imagine in any way, shape or form how the pair are going to pull off a match that demands the quality of the show in question. Some of you may think this is me being horrible or biased again but I assure you, nothing is further from the truth. It’s in my as well as your best interests if this match is a show stopper. It would give us a new talking point and hope going into the rest of the year that both Ryback and Mark Henry may be able to bring something different into the main event scene as that is where the pair are obviously heading. That though isn’t going to happen and I can say that with confidence.
In reality, this was meant to be Big Show vs Ryback. That was the original plan so WWE could have Ryback hoist up Big Show and drop him with a Shell Shocked for his first WrestleMania moment. The snag there was that Ryback, for as string as he looks would never have been able to get Big Show up on his shoulders. Show is just too big. For those who witnessed the comical farce that was Ryback trying to get Tensai up for Shell Shocked first time around, the thought of Ryback doing the same to Big Show is barely worth thinking about. Credit again to the creative team and Vince McMahon who saw this problem and rectified it. The embarrassment for both Ryback and WWE had Ryback dropped Big Show and hurt him would have been too much for the company to bare.
Another questionable choice was made by WWE when looking for Big Show’s replacement. Instead of giving Ryback someone who could hide his flaws and make him look good, WWE plumed for the one man no one needs to bring down their career. Mark Henry. What made WWE believe that if Ryback couldn’t get Big Show up on his shoulders or Tensai without a struggle, that he’s going to be able to do it with the world’s most boring man? And after a ten or fifteen minute match? At no point am I saying that he won’t be able to do so because I assume that he’s already told WWE that he can. I would just like to know WWE’s reasoning behind the decision.
Can this match wow and dazzle? Maybe! If the wind is blowing in the right direction and WWE afford the pair every distraction they need then maybe it won’t be a total washout. Should WWE not book this match to go a ridiculous length of time and keep it to the minimum then maybe Henry and Ryback can work a match which adds something to the card rather than takes away. Neither man can go twenty minutes, even with Punk inside Hell in a Cell Ryback looked done after their eleven minute match. Hoofing a man two hundred pounds heavier then you around the ring for five or ten minutes is sure to take its toll on Ryback. However, a nice, short five or ten minute brawl may be just what the doctor ordered.
Both men can brawl. Both men can make the match look like an all out hardcore encounter. It’s when they try to actually wrestle their repertoire falls short. Mark Henry doesn’t possess the skills to hold a match together or carry an opponent for it’s always been him that has been carried by the likes of Randy Orton. If WWE expect Mark Henry to carry Ryback or vice versa then they’re expecting too much of both men and the match will be destined to fail.
Usually I’d gripe about WWE adding last minute stipulations on the night before the match, however I get the feeling that should WWE add a stipulation such as Falls Count Anywhere or just a plain old Hardcore match then the whole affair would be made much better. No one would complain should WWE make alterations to the match before it goes on, it’s either that or sit watch as the pair lumber around the ring for a painful amount of time trying to string together something that resembles a wrestling match.
Despite the fact that Ryback vs Mark Henry has been put together just to give Ryback his WrestleMania moment, WWE have the chance here to try at least to put Ryback and his monster aura back together again after the damage was done in the nonsensical WWE Championship feud with C.M Punk. The match won’t set the world on fire and it’s doubtful we’ll wish to remember it after the sun has set on WrestleMania night. Like everything WWE throws at us though we’ll give it the benefit of the doubt, until we’re proved right.
Winners Prediction: Ryback
Chris Jericho vs Fandango
To coin a catchphrase from The Miz; really? After several hard months in 2012 trying to get Chris Jericho to sign a new contract, WWE saddle Jericho, the man who has the potential to elevate anyone else on the card, with Fandango. A wrestler who can’t manage to complete a match because his opponents cannot pronounce his name.
Before we get onto the choice of opponent for Jericho, I would just like to take this time to note something that I’m sure has been noticed by everyone. How hard is it to pronounce his name? Anyone who sings the line of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody can pronounce the name Fandango, so I’d love to hear WWE’s excuse of why its stars cannot do the same. Maybe we’ll get one with time but maybe just like everything else that is hard to explain in WWE, it will be brushed under the carpet and never spoken about again.
We all knew that Jericho would be on the WrestleMania 29 card somewhere, though I’m pretty sure that this match is WWE’s way of punishing Jericho for not signing over the rights to his band to Vince before returning at the Royal Rumble. Yes, that’s what the delay was folks. Chris Jericho would have been back in WWE sooner, but Vince McMahon wanted the copyright and control of Jericho’s band. How egomaniacal is that? To think that just because you have more money that all of us put together, you can immediately seize control of one of your wrestlers’ outside projects. I dread to think what would have become of Fozzy, had Jericho complied with the requests and signed on the dotted line. Maybe WWE would have opened a new division within titan towers that concentrated on having its talent releasing albums to go with its other drain on resources. No, surprisingly I’m not talking about Linda McMahon’s unrelenting quest to get a senate seat, I’m talking about WWE Films. I’m sure we’d have all loved another John Cena album, especially those of us who suffer from depression and aren’t convinced that ending our lives is the right things to do. Whack on a John Cena track and their minds will be made up.
The reception Chris Jericho got upon his return at the Royal Rumble surely warranted a high spot than this at WrestleMania 29. I can’t think what went through WWE’s minds when they believed this was a good idea; in fact I was sure that they’d have had Jericho take on Dolph Ziggler in a SummerSlam 2012 rematch with Ziggler coming out on top readying him for cashing in the Money in the Bank briefcase. Hence no. It just makes one wonder what WWE’s intentions are with Jericho moving through the WrestleMania 29 period. I know for sure that Jericho is once again departing WWE’s shores to tour with Fozzy and that will irk McMahon for sure. Until then, well that’s anyone’s guess.
If WWE’s intention is to get Fandango over then Chris Jericho is the perfect opponent, just as long as the company realise that Fandango cannot walk away if Jericho should inexplicably cannot pronounce his name. The man born Christopher Irvine has a god given talent for elevating his opponents should they need an extra boost to get up the ladder and can sell like Shawn Michaels on his best days when he wishes to. Jericho’s sheer knowledge of who to work a crowd and an opponent so they come off the best are almost second to none and are skills that could have done Dolph Ziggler a lot of good had the result at SummerSlam 2012 been different.
I would like to think that this match has been made not to punish Jericho for failing to give Vince McMahon full access to his band and rather to help elevate a new wrestler, even if does turn out to be rotten. However, when you look at Chris Jericho’s previous WrestleMania main event appearances they have been less than satisfactory. His Undisputed Championship defence against Triple H at WrestleMania 18 was less than satisfactory and should have tore the house down for the hype and build up WWE gave it. His World Heavyweight Championship defence against Edge at Wrestlemania 26 was below par and dull, then his match against C.M Punk last year for the WWE Championship failed to live up to the hype. It’s undeniable that Chris Jericho is better booked on the undercard at WrestleMania, rather than in the main event. For some reason no one has managed to fathom yet, Chris Jericho, in the main event at WrestleMania is much like the England football team. They’re unmatched when they’re playing for their respective club teams but when they all come together to play for the country in the big tournaments, they fail to live up to the hype.
Fandango is a character that was hyped through the latter stages of 2012 only to be shelved for a few weeks when WWE realised that he had no future and the WWE creative team couldn’t find a decent storyline to put him in. The whole Chris Jericho storyline isn’t a bad one and for someone with the talent an ability to hold their own against the former World Heavyweight Champion and could elevate Fandango should it be booked to cover his flaws. Should you have been unlucky enough to have seen Fandango wrestle in FCW under another name then you’ll know he’s limited in the ring and needs someone to plaster over the cracks. Sadly, that’s all Chris Jericho can do.
It’s doubtful that WWE have planned long term for Fandango and lack an answer to the question of even if Chris Jericho can make him look good at WrestleMania 29, what happens when Fandango moves on and Chris Jericho isn’t there anymore? Who’s going to step into the boots and help the character and wrestler who have no real future in WWE then? The problem with wrestlers like Fandango is that WWE haven’t helped them on their journey. For a start, WWE know the wrestlers limitations and still push them onto the main roster even though it’s obvious they’re not ready. The company don’t plan long term and in Fandango’s case, WWE have booked him to walk out on every match just because no one can say his name properly. Yes, it’s characterisation but in the long run it will cost WWE.
Fandango hasn’t worked a proper fifteen to twenty minute match on the main roster yet and therefore hasn’t had the chance to develop and polish his wrestling skills to the point where they will look good at WrestleMania. There’s only so much Chris Jericho will be able to do for him and then Fandango is on his own. In many ways Fandango has suffered the Ryback and Goldberg treatment. Not allowed to work big and lengthily matches and therefore will more than likely struggler when it comes to putting it all together with an opponent who may be able to carry him but lacks the ability to work miracles.
Chris Jericho vs Fandango isn’t going to set the world on fire if we judge the book by its cover. As stated in previous blogs, it could be a hidden gem and Fandango may have saved his best for the real thing. Savage vs Steamboat it could be, then again, it could also turn south and be more Bret Hart vs Vince McMahon.
I doubt Chris Jericho will ever be WWE or World Champion again in his career but that doesn’t and shouldn’t matter to him. Because Chris Jericho has a bigger role to play in wrestling before his eventual retirement and induction into the WWE Hall of Fame. Chris Jericho has to be the man that now elevates opponents below him, forgetting the spotlight that he’s hogged for far too long. It’s going to be far better for Chris Jericho to be remembered as the man who helped push the industry along, rather than the man who stole the spot of someone who could have done the business some good on top.
I would now usually put up a summation akin to Chris Jericho’s for Fandango, but that would imply that in twenty years people would still remember him.
Winners Prediction: Chris Jericho
8 Person Mixed Tag Team Match
Tons of Funk and The Funkadactyls vs Team Rhodes Scholars and The Bella Twins
Tons of Funk! You’re telling me that is really the best WWE could come up with? It’s bad enough that they had to come up with anything at all for Clay and Tensai but Tons of Funk! Really? When this match was announced I expected ‘Pre-show’ to be stamped all over it. I’m sure you’ll agree that this is not a WrestleMania quality match in any sense of the word.
Sadly, one has to look at this as the end of Team Rhodes Scholars. They’ve been beaten in handicap matches, they’ve been trashed by the Rock, they’ve been humiliated in every way possible by WWE and now it comes to this. A feud against Tons of Funk. In the history of their short lived tag team, Rhodes and Sandow have never fallen further than this. To top it all of they’ve added the Bella Twins and The tiresome Funkadactyls to the mix, so WWE can get their annual quota of women on the card. Because as it turns out, the returning Bella Twins and a set of dancers are much more important than the WWE Divas Championship.
The Bella Twins have only come back to WWE because they failed to make it in the outside world. Like so many before them, the Bella’s thought that being in WWE automatically open doors for them in Hollywood and the modelling world. It did not. Brie and Nicky may be dating John Cena and Daniel Bryan but even the connection to WWE’s golden boy couldn’t help them in the quest outside the ring. This is the problem in WWE in 2013 as it was between 2005 and the present. WWE hire models and want to be actresses to be part of their divas division and then when they either fail or move on outside wrestling they have big trouble shaking off the wrestler image and therefore cannot get any work. It’s not just the women, Batista found the same problem when he left WWE in 2010. Taking bit parts in movies and trying to kick star a career in MMA, it’s only now that Batista finds himself entering the big time being cast as Drax the Destroyer in Marvel’s latest big screen adaption of Guardians of the Galaxy. Only a handful of male and female wrestlers have ever made it big outside the wrestling industry, most find their way back through the ropes sooner or later.
Team Rhodes Scholars. What can we say that hasn’t already been said? Cody Rhodes must be asking himself what he’s done wrong in the last few months. Since October, the duo have gone from challenging Kane and Daniel Bryan for the Tag Team Championships and slowly degenerated in the WWE food chain to doing jobs in handicap matches for Sheamus and Ryback. They hit rock bottom on the Elimination Chamber pre-show losing to Tons of Funk in what was surely a great laugh for the WWE management. Right now, the duo stand a better chance of success should WWE split them and insert them back into singles action.
Cody Rhodes is going to take another two years of re-building now after the damage of tag team action has taken its toll and it’s inconceivable how WWE would ever get Damien Sandow to a point in his career where he could look like a serious contender to anything. Sandow has been made to look like an utter coward in singles and tag matches thus stripping away all heat and hope that we once had of seeing him at the top of the mid card. Treatment like this of such two talented wrestlers is simply unforgivable in today’s wrestling landscape.
I will never know what WWE saw in Brodus Clay when they hired him. He has no talent, his confidence has been obliterated by the frustrating gimmick he currently plays out and to make it worse WWE seem to think that he’s both successful and what we want to see. At least that’s the only explanation I can find as to why they continuously book and push him. Adding Tensai to the fold hasn’t helped any. WWE should have taken Tensai and made him into a monster to rival Brock Lesnar. Tensai has the talent and he has the drive but WWE have ignored all of that at the expense of his dignity. Continuous burials for a whole year and all but killed off the Tensai character and now WWE expect it to be successful in a tag team which the man formerly known as Albert has trodden ground in before. The hip hop hippo anyone?
Am I the only one who can see this match would have been much better and had a reason to exist had WWE put Team Rhodes Scholars and Tons of Funk in the WWE Tag Team Championship Match and made it a fatal four way or a four corners elimination match? That way Ziggler and Langston wouldn’t have had to be saddled with the titles should they win them and WWE could have put the gold on Tons of Funk or Rhodes and Sandow to effectively split Team Hell No. Even though neither Team Rhodes Scholars or Tons of Funk would at this point be able to do anything but bring the doubles gold down further, I really doubt it matters when the tag team gold is concerned.
I don’t know anyone who will be looking forward to this match at WrestleMania 29 and along with Ryback vs Mark Henry will probably be the point you can take a toilet break during the four hour event which stars at midnight in the U.K. Neither team has anything to gain from this encounter and it boggles the mind as to why it was even booked.
Winners Prediction: Team Rhodes Scholars and The Bella Twins
Interactive Pre-Show Match
WWE Intercontinental Championship Match
(c) Wade Barrett vs The Miz
If you were looking into the blue recently then you will have seen this match come straight out of it. Despite rumblings on Raw and Smackdown, there was no real prior warning that Wade Barrett or the Miz would even compete at WrestleMania 29, even if it is on the pre-show. After being involved so low down the card in previous weeks on Raw, Smackdown, Elimination Chamber and Royal Rumble, it’s a bit of a thrown together match for me really.
The Miz wasn’t deemed important enough to fight on the main card of Royal Rumble in a singles match and instead was demoted to the pre-show where he lost to United States Champion, Antonio Cesaro. When the Elimination Chamber card was looking scarce WWE saw fit to throw Miz and Cesaro on again without the intention of doing anything meaningful with either man. Which is why it’s a bit of a surprise to see Miz featured not only on the card but fighting for the Intercontinental Championship. WWE have to know that we’re going to ask questions along the lines of, why is a man who couldn’t defeat the United States Champion challenging for a bigger Championship?
That’s where WWE have fallen down with the Miz. They promised us that his Intercontinental Championship loss to the soon to be heel Kofi Kingston was going to be the beginning of a rise back to the top for the recently engaged Miz, he proposed to former WWE Diva Maryse Oulet and was accepted. Nice one. In actual fact WWE did nothing with him and have still done nothing. Miz should have been the focal point of Survivor Series, TLC and been one of the last men to be eliminated in the Royal Rumble match. WWE then should have booked Miz in the Smackdown Elimination Chamber match where he needed to put in a good showing before being eliminated third from last after a valiant and heroic effort. That would have put Miz right in the frame, in the minds of the WWE Universe, for an Intercontinental Championship shot.
Fingers crossed, this may be the beginning of the Miz’s rise back to the top and WWE were just getting everything else around him sorted before they tended to him. It wouldn’t be right if Miz defeated Barrett at WrestleMania 29 because a face needs to go through trial and tribulation before he finally defeats the heel and captures the gold, but a strong showing with several killer near falls would do wonders for Miz’s image whilst WWE try to quietly brush the Antonio Cesaro feud and where it’s disappeared to under the carpet. WWE are onto a good thing with this feud. Its high profile enough to get the Miz back in contention whilst not being too high profile for it to tread on the toes of those above causing a backlash of talent and another career decline for the Miz.
In many ways, this could almost be the reinvention of the Intercontinental Championship if WWE are serious about investing in the Miz. A strong feud with Barrett and then the capture and push of the Miz could set the Intercontinental Championship apart from the rest of the mid card Championships, just as it used to be. Now more than ever, WWE need the Intercontinental Championship to be the star maker it was before because used well and wisely, it could take the Miz right back to the top of the mountain.
The current Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett has been given a life line with this thrown together match. Anyone who has eyes can see that Barrett has been treading water so much in WWE since his victory over Kofi Kingston to secure the Intercontinental Championship that he really should be wearing Wellington Boots to the ring instead of wrestling boots. I have noted before that Wade Barrett has left me cold watching his performances. I will never dispute that Barrett, a fellow Englishman, has the skills to go to the top of the card in the future, but there is something about him that doesn’t quite click for me. In recent months his performances have been lacklustre and I cannot, and I do try, put my finger on something that is truly amazing about his set in the ring.
When Wade Barrett was injured in a battle royal on Smackdown last year, it took away something from him. Before his injury, the floppy haired Barrett looked like a star. He held himself like a star and he wrestled like a star. Need proof? Look at any of his matches with Randy Orton from the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012. They were pure brilliance. And then the injury hit him and upon his return, Wade Barrett wasn’t the man he used to be. There was nothing that set him apart. Nothing that wowed you in the ring. The hope was that the Intercontinental Championship reign and feud with Kofi Kingston would reinvigorate his career, it failed to do so and then WWE hung him out to dry.
I don’t know and I don’t think Barrett or WWE do either, what it is he’s missing. But for him to succeed then he’s going to have to find it quickly. This lifeline could and may well be the last one Wade Barrett receives from WWE. For a man who has gone off the boil with the company, I can’t imagine WWE continuously giving him opportunities that go nowhere even though they have done so with Mark Henry. There has to come a point with WWE where they look at the in ring product of a wrestler and realise that it isn’t his or her best. When that point comes the wrestler either finds themselves buried on Superstars or ‘Future Endeavoured’.
Had WWE been quicker then they could have done the company a lot of good by adding Antonio Cesaro to the match and making it for both the United States Championship and Intercontinental Championship, unifying both Championships and concentrating solely on just one mid card Championship. That way they don’t have to spin storylines for two mid card challengers. A triple threat match for both Championships would have been worth watching and a sensible conclusion to the Miz’s United States Championship challenge. If the Championship doesn’t exist anymore then you can’t challenge for it, therefore turning you attention to the only mid card Championship left. There are a lot more options for WWE if this course of action was to be taken and you already have a ready made triple threat feud to carry you through Extreme Rules and the post WrestleMania season when business always takes a turn for the worst before levelling out.
Could this match be the diamond in the rough? The Randy Savage vs Ricky Steamboat for a modern age? I wouldn’t bet against it even though WWE have thoughtlessly thrown it onto the pre-show yet again. Whilst Barrett and Miz aren’t as good as Savage and Steamboat the potential is there to create something special. It’s imperative for these men to produce something at WrestleMania 29, something that shows WWE they need to be pushed and that they have much more to offer the company than just being filler material. The stage is theirs. The lights are on bright. Destiny calls them home.
Winners Prediction: Wade Barrett
Hall Of Fame Inductees
In previous years, the WWE Hall of Fame has been something to massage the egos of those who WWE have favoured during their tenure in WWE. Some people look upon it as a waste of time, citing that those who are inducted don’t deserve their place in a Hall of Fame as they gave hardly anything to the business.
The argument is a just one. Some inductees, mostly into the unnecessary celebrity wing, don’t deserve a place and WWE should have just kept it to those who laced up a pair of boots more than once and left a mark on the industry. I’ve heard arguments that the likes of Ko Ko B Ware don’t deserve to be inducted, but its there I must begin to disagree. Everyone who steps into the ring, as a wrestler, deserves their place in the hallowed halls. They may not be a memorable part of history but each and everyone means or meant someone to someone during their journey through this business and let’s not forget they’ve all put their lives on the line every night for our entertainment. For that sacrifice, they deserve every piece of thanks that is bestowed upon them.
Bruno Sammartino
For many years, fans and WWE alike have been hoping and trying to get the living legend that is Bruno Sammartino into the WWE Hall of Fame, but their efforts and pleas have fallen on deaf ears. Bruno labelled the Hall of Fame as phoney and fake and something that he would never put his name to, largely thanks to his long standing rivalry with Vince McMahon which stretches back years.
Like Randy Savage and Vince McMahon, the owner and C.E.O of WWE and Sammartino didn’t speak for years, partly because Sammartino credited McMahon with lending a hand to the demise of real wrestling. Sammartino also took a stance against McMahon’s prior use of steroids, the fact that McMahon was reputed to hand them out to his wrestlers and that his wrestling angles were utter rubbish. It was a shame that Sammartino’s beliefs which were not all totally false were excluding him from taking his rightful place alongside the greats of the business but he was more than stoic in his beliefs. Before WrestleMania 28 in 2012, WWE and most notably Triple H tried to convince Bruno to allow them to induct him but he wouldn’t budge and the Hall of Fame Ceremony went on without him.
I don’t know what it was that Triple H had to promise Bruno, one of the most celebrated and greatest WWE Champions of all time, to get him to agree to be inducted into a ceremony that he previously looked upon as a shame and a waste of time, but it worked. It is rumoured that WWE saw to and rectified Sammartino’s concerns about the way the company was portraying its talents and that unless it changed Sammartino wouldn’t be seen endorsing its product. I would like to think that Bruno Sammartino knew that his legend deserved to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame and was just trying to make a point to both Vince McMahon and the wrestling world. At time of writing this, Triple H was handling all of Sammartino’s business within WWE as Bruno clearly stated that he wanted nothing to do with Vince McMahon. It is also widely thought that Sammartino and McMahon haven’t yet spoken even though Bruno has been announced as one of the main inductees for weeks now. However business being what it is in wrestling, both men will shake hands and speak for the first time in years on April 6th. To both their credit, Sammartino and McMahon have managed to put most of the past behind them and have both behaved amicably going into the 2013 class of the WWE Hall of Fame, even managing to speak highly of the other when questioned.
It’s somewhat fitting that Bruno Sammartino will not just be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, finally, but he will be entered into those hallowed halls in the one building he helped make famous. Madison Square Garden. Inside the Garden, Sammartino gave a huge contribution to the rise and popularity of wrestling in the 70’s and early 80’s and will always be remembered for being the longest running WWE Champion of all time. A reign which lasted a total of 4040 days across two reigns, puts C.M Punk’s 434 days as the man on top of the mountain in the shade. Defeating the late and great ‘Nature Boy’ Buddy Rogers in just 48 seconds on May 17th 1963, Sammartino would hold the then WWWF Championship for an unprecedented 7 years, 8 Months and 1 Day citing immortal feuds with the likes of Gorilla Monsoon, Superstar Billy Graham, Giant Baba and Killer Kowalski to name but a few. Sammartino was the man to watch and the man to beat in a business and in a time when people looked down on the wrestling business.
All who tried to dethrone him failed and it wasn’t until January 18th 1971 that Sammartino dropped the then WWWF Championship to the very underrated Ivan Koloff. The Championship change was so unexpected that the audience was literally shocked into silence and Sammartino has even described that night and the silence in the arena like he thought he’d lost his hearing. After carrying the company for seven long and frankly arduous years, Sammartino departed WWWF after his Championship loss to Koloff to return to Los Angeles seeking out competition there. WWWF and Vince McMahon Senior tried numerous times to persuade Sammartino back to the company but failed every time. One year later Sammartino would return to the company we now know as WWE.
Sammartino’s second and final WWWF Championship reign began on December 10th 1973 when the living legend defeated Stan Stasiak. A victory that would see him hold the Championship for the last time for 3 Years, 4 Months and 20 Days. On April 30th 1977, Sammartino’s wrestling career begin to come to an end, when after suffering a fractured neck at the hands of Stan Hansen, Sammartino decided his time in the spotlight was over and agreed to drop the WWWF Championship to ‘Superstar’ Billy Graham in a match that not only shocked the world but also made sure Graham would be known for many years as one of the dirtiest and most hated wrestlers in the world.
Despite stints in WCW, NWA and other wrestling promotions, Sammartino knew that he could and would never match his previous success and eventually retired from professional wrestling. Unlike others who promise to step down and hang up their boots, Sammartino was true to his word. Apart from one of two special appearances in a non wrestling capacity for independent promotions, Sammartino has successfully managed to distance himself from the ring and the lifestyle. For that he has to be recognized as one of wrestling’s greatest success stories.
No one doubts that Bruno belongs amongst the very best this industry has ever produced. His feuds were dynamite and because he was WWE Champion for so long, it was inconceivable that he would ever lose it. The men who dethroned Sammartino gained a tremendous amount of heat and notoriety for finally being the men take away the gold that as good as Bruno’s.
It is with great pride that WWE can finally induct Sammartino into their Hall of Fame and it is with greater pride that the WWE Universe can finally rise and show their appreciation and respect for all the sacrifices that Bruno made for us and the wrestling business. Andre the Giant, the Great Khali and Big Show may all stand and have stood at near seven feet tall but there are very few real giants of the wrestling business. On April 6th 2013, one of the greatest of all time will finally take his seat upon his throne in the WWE Hall of Fame. And I can’t think of a more deserving inductee.
Mick Foley
It’s mightily impressive that WWE have managed to whittle their list of inductees down to those who really deserve it. Those who have added to their line or division of wrestling so much that they actually managed to change everything and everyone around them. Mick Foley is one of these people, even if you see him as just another stunt man who put on a decent show night after night.
Michael Francis Foley wasn’t a natural choice for a professional wrestler. Even though he was a stick of man in his early years, Foley put on considerable weight during his life between the ropes and wasn’t Vince McMahon’s first choice for a top tier star in WWE. Before his WWE tenure shot him to fame Mick Foley first had tryout / squash matches with WWE in 1983 under the name Jack Foley. Event though he wasn’t successful, Foley teamed with Les Thornton to face the British Bulldogs. The famous story that came out of Foley’s television squash matches was that he was clotheslined so hard by the Dynamite Kid that he couldn’t eat solid food for weeks. Many look at that moment in Mick’s life as the moment he realised he was cut out for the business. If not being able to eat solid foods for weeks wasn’t enough to put the future ‘Hardcore Legend’ off of wrestling, then nothing would.
As Foley moved up through the industry he stopped off in numerous promotions such as the CWA where he wrestled as Cactus Jack and the WCCW where the name Mason was added to the Cactus Jack moniker and Cactus Jack Mason was born. Apart from the CWA and WCCW, Foley also made stop offs in the UFW, Tri-State Wrestling and later in his career, ECW, Smokey Mountain Wrestling and had a thriving reputation in Japan where he would contest many brutal Death Matches with various opponents including his lifetime best friend, the wonderful Terry Funk.
September 5th 1991, is a milestone in the life of Mick Foley. After all his travelling and getting beat up at the hands of more experienced wrestlers than himself, it was on this fateful date that Mick Foley stepped into WCW and began his tirade upon Sting, attacking the much loved star and immediately getting noticed. In WCW, Foley would find his second greatest success in the wrestling industry. Involved in several great feuds with Sting and perhaps one of best big men in the business; Vader. Vader and Foley, under the guise of Cactus Jack traded a war of brutal and bloody matches which will live in wrestling infamy, the most notable of these took place on April 6th 1993, April 24th 1993, WCW Halloween Havoc 1993 and their most famous encounter in Munich, Germany on March 16th 1994, when during the match, Mick Foley tried to execute a hangman from the ring ropes in which he knotted his head between the ropes in order for Vader to supply punishment. The stunt went awry and Foley sliced off part of his ear.
After WCW, Foley would travel the world wrestling in ECW, SMW and Japan as stated above but destiny called and Foley could put off the inevitable no longer. In 1996, Mick Foley donned a ragged brown top and tights and hide his face behind a brown leather mask. No longer was he Cactus Jack. Instead, the world was introduced to Mankind. Mankind’s feuds with the Undertaker which put him on the WWE map and Hunter Hearst Helmsley warranted a killer cage match at SummerSlam 1997 before Mrs. Foley’s baby boy was given the stage on which to perform. Still under the mask Foley was granted with his Dude Love persona and finally reverted back to Cactus Jack for his excellent feud with Triple H in late 1999 – early 2000, after an excellent feud with the Rock which never dipped below very good.
It was as Mick Foley that he achieved his greatest success on Monday Night Raw in 1999, during is feud with ‘The People’s Champion’. After trying numerous times and falling short, Mick Foley pinned the Rock in the middle of the ring to life his very first WWE Championship and in the process, changed wrestling history forever. Pre-recorded, Foley’s WWE Championship win was aired against an episode of WCW Monday Nitro on which Eric Bischoff gave away the results of Monday Night Raw, as had become the normal on WCW shores, and informed the world that Mick Foley was about to defeat the Rock for the WWE Championship. It would be the first and ultimately final mistake WCW would make. Over half a million people turned the channel and left WCW behind. They would never turn back. Mick Foley will never take the credit for effectively putting the final bullet in WCW and changing the Monday Night Wars forever, but us merry few who know the truth will always know that had a dream never come true, then maybe WWE would not be around today.
That night was more than a Championship victory; it was more than the turning tide in the Monday Night Wars. When Mick Foley covered the Rock for the final time in that match, it was a victory for everyone who ever wanted to be someone. For anyone who had ever been told they couldn’t do what they dreamt of or told they’d never make it like Foley was. If Mick Foley could defy the industry and those who never gave him a chance then we, us, could do anything we set our minds to.
Mick may have promised to retire numerous times during his illustrious career and broke that promise more times than one cares to remember, but that is a minor flaw in what has been an otherwise wonderful career. His body may be broken. His health may have taken a turn for the worst but lest not forget that it has done so that we may be entertained. Contesting some of the greatest and most memorable matches in history, on April 6th Mick Foley will be known more than the man who flew at the 1998 King of the Ring. He’ll be known as more than the hardcore legend. On April 6th, Mick Foley takes the next and final step in wrestling...into the hallowed halls of immortality. And for a boy who started out hitchhiking to see Jimmy Snuka dive from the top of a steel cage and then emulating his idol by jumping from the roof of his garage onto mattresses, what an achievement and success Mick Foley has become.
Booker T
Booker T deserves a round of applause before he even takes a step into the WWE Hall of Fame. Starting life out as a gangster, Booker Tio Huffman was incarcerated in 1987 on a five year prison sentence, of which he only served nine months, for armed robbery. Upon release from jail and kept on probation, it would have been so easy for Booker to slip back into the world of guns and death but instead, the single father of one strayed away from that side of life and got himself a job in a storage company. Instead of concentrating his life on what trouble he could get into, Booker became a man who just wanted to make some money to support his child.
When his real life brother and soon to be tag team partner Stevie Ray (Lash Huffman) recommended that Booker sign up and join a new wrestling school in the area, Booker took his brothers advise and was soon training under Scott Casey. Just eight weeks after his entry into the wrestling industry, Booker T made his debut in a wrestling ring for ‘Western Wrestling Alliance Live’ as the character he would resurrect in the twilight of WCW’s years, G.I Bro and soon moved on to the Global Wrestling Alliance with Stevie Ray forming the team of The Ebony Experience. Their tag team in the Global Wrestling Alliance soon caught on and WCW saw the potential in the duo bringing them to the company where Booker T would eventually make a name for himself.
In the summer of 1993 Booker and Stevie Ray made a splash in the WCW debut as Kole and Kane, the tandem that would be known as Harlem Heat. Whilst it was clear that Booker was the best wrestler of the team, and if you’ve ever seen Harlem Heat then you’ll know why, it didn’t take the team who would eventually hold the WCW Tag Team Championships ten times long to be inserted into the main event. In September 1993 at WCW’s WarGames pay per view event, Harlem Heat were drafted to Harley Race and Col Rob Parker’s team where they would oppose WCW’s lead face Sting, Davey Boy Smith, Dustin Rhodes and The Shockmaster. It was a huge move for the pair who had only been in the company a month even though the names had to go as they were taking away the realism from the team (like the white / red and black and yellow flamed suits didn’t.
Defecting from WWE, Sensational Sherri joined WCW and rebranded as Sister Sherri, she was put together with Harlem Heat to elevate their standing in the company. This change came with another. Gone were Kole and Kane and in their place were Booker T and Stevie Ray. Harlem Heat were the most successful and popular tag team in WCW for many years and between 1994 and 1997 they held the coveted WCW World Tag Team Championships seven times, often losing them to dud opponents under WCW’s orders to preserve feuds that were either going nowhere or had run their course. Like all good things, Harlem Heat had to come to an end. It was unrealistic that Stevie Ray would ever be as popular as Booker T has become and carrying the team, it was perhaps a godsend for WCW and Booker when Stevie Ray went down with an ankle injury and took extended time off from the company.
Entering singles action in 1998, Booker T initiated what may just be his most famous feud in wrestling. With a shot at the WCW Television Championship on the line, Booker T and Chris Benoit fought a brutal and often engaging best of seven series for the right to face the WCW Television Champion Fit Finlay with the gold on the line. A storyline the pair would also resurrect in WWE over the WWE United States Championship. Winning an excellent series of matches on WCW television and pay per view, Booker T reaped the rewards on June 14th 1998 when he defeated Finlay to lift his first singles Championship and make history by becoming the first African American to win the WCW Television Championship. Good times were in store for Booker T and it was becoming obvious that he was destined for the top. A fact backed up on February 22nd 1999, when Booker T defeated Bret Hart on an edition on Monday Nitro, pinning him clean in the middle of the ring. A company doesn’t allow a mid card star to pin one of their top guys clean in the ring unless they have big plans for said wrestler. Not even the hectic and often unpredictable WCW.
Stalling his singles career for a short time, Booker T rejoined with Stevie Ray to reform Harlem Heat in 1999 before Ray turned on his brother forming Harlem Heat 2000 with former WWE star Ahmed Johnson. What a dull little time that was to be a WCW fan. After the betrayal, Booker T’s career slipped in WCW as the company began to realise that they were going out of business. Reprising his G.I Joe character, Booker was a flop as the character and went back to being plain old Booker T. From freefall to the top of the mountain, Booker T’s career took a u-turn at WCW’s Bash at the Beach 2000 when he was inserted into the WCW World Heavyweight Championship match, pinning Jeff Jarrett to shockingly become the new WCW Champion. Doing so Booker became only the second African American after Ron Simmons to hold the once sought after title. Booker’s title win was unexpected by everyone. WCW had done nothing to help elevate Booker after Harlem Heat had had their second run and much like WWE today with their younger talent, didn’t seem interested in him. Many people who had worked for WCW said on numerous occasions that from one minute to next you never knew what you were doing and that there was no plan. Judging on the product in the latter months and years I can believe it.
As WCW desperately tried to hold onto their status as a wrestling company, churning out crap pay per view events in the process, Booker T must have been worried about his future when he dropped the WCW Championship and instead defeated Rick Steiner at WCW’s Greed pay per view to capture the WCW United States Championship. There was an upside to this however as Booker T became the ninth and last grand slam winner in WCW history. WCW folded on both a sour and happy note for Booker. On the final ever edition of Monday Nitro, Booker T defeated Scott Steiner to secure his fourth WCW Championship. When WCW folded Booker T had held 21 WCW titles across the board and was WCW’s most decorates star in its history.
Forgiven for thinking he WWE tenure would be a disaster, Booker T’s best feud of his entire time with the company was in 2001 with the Rock. A feud which culminated in a very good match at SummerSlam 2001 for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. The match took place in the middle of the ill fated invasion. As well as the Rock, Booker had a feud with Steve Austin that had potential but never took off and his WWE career was saved when he formed an alliance and tag team with Goldust. An alliance which would herald several cracking tag team matches with the team of Chris Jericho and Christian.
During his reign in WWE, Booker T picked up where he left of in WCW, winning numerous Championships. A WWE Intercontinental Champion, WWE Tag Team Champion (with Goldust they defeated Chris Jericho and Christian, Lance Storm and William Regal and the Dudley Boys in an elimination match at Armageddon 2002), WWE World Tag Team Champion (with Rob Van Dam, defeated Ric Flair and Batista on the February 16th 2004 edition of Raw, losing the straps to Ric Flair and Batista on March 22nd edition of Raw), WWE United States Champion and World Heavyweight Champion (defeated Rey Mysterio at the 2006 Great American Bash). Along with his Championship decorations, Booker T also became the 2006 King of the Ring, defeating Bobby Lashley in the final at Judgment Day 2006. There is no doubt that Booker T will always remain one of the most decorated wrestlers in the history if this industry as he can now add Hall of Famer to that very long list.
Booker T’s elongated WWE career came to an abrupt end in August 2007 when news broke of the now infamous Signature Pharmacy Scandal which was thought to be distributing performance enhancing drugs to athletes. Booker T’s name, along with the name of other WWE superstars including Edge and Mr. Kennedy was on the list and Booker T was abruptly suspended by WWE even though he protested his innocence. Ignored by WWE, Booker T asked for his and wife Sharmell’s release from the company and they parted ways with the WWE.
Booker T found fame once again in TNA when he made his debut on November 11th 2007 at the Genesis pay per view, unveiled as Sting’s mystery partner against Kurt Angle and Kevin Nash. In TNA Booker would hold the first ever TNA Legends Championship, the TNA World Tag Team Championship with Scott Steiner and was a part of the short lived and marginally unsuccessful Main Event Mafia before he finally left the company in 2009. Whilst Booker T’s run with TNA wasn’t as successful as his WCW and WWE run it still was worthy of note. Travelling to Puerto and Mexico between 2009 and 2010 after his TNA exit, Booker T lent his expertise to such promotions as International Wrestling Association, World Wrestling Council and Perros del Mal but there was only once place that Booker T belong now.
Finally returning home to the WWE on January 30th 2011 to appear as a special entrant in the 40 man Royal Rumble match, Booker T was welcomed with open arms. The message to Booker T and the WWE from the audience was clear. He’d been away too long. On the February 1st edition Smackdown, Booker T was installed as a commentator on Smackdown and would go on to have a good feud with Cody Rhodes which elevated the then Intercontinental Champion before being made Smackdown General Manager on July 31st 2012.
Marrying Sharmell in February 2005 and having twins in August 2010, Booker T has done literally everything in wrestling. There isn’t a feud that he hasn’t shone in and he’s that rarest of things. A wrestler who will transcend time. Holding thirty five Championships between every organisation he’s worked in, Booker T deserves his place in the WWE Hall of Fame along the legends that inspired him and helped him along the way. From prison to the very top of the wrestling industry, Booker T is another wrestling success story and an inspiration to us all.
Trish Stratus
For some reason, WWE don’t make a huge habit of inducting women into its hallowed halls. I don’t know why, maybe like the deceased WWE don’t like to induct more than one a year because they believe it gets samey. It’s certainly a puzzler considering how much Vince loves the female talent and how much he used to invest in them. Now though, WWE recognises the contribution and talents of one of its most successful female performers and the last great female wrestler the WWE had, Trish Stratus.
If you saw Trish early in her career then I would bet that no one would have put money on her becoming the wrestler she finally moulded herself into. A fitness model who was discovered and signed to a contract by WWE in November 1999, Stratus was trained by Ron Hutchinson before her WWE debut on March 19th 2000 on a taping of Sunday Night Heat. Fair enough, it wasn’t a cataclysmic debut. All she did was come out onto the stage to scout Test and Albert (now Tensai), although she would be managing them the next night on Raw. Trish’s first real contribution to the wrestling industry didn’t come until the next month at Backlash 2000 when the blonde bombshell was driven through a table by Bubba Ray Dudley.
Better as a manager in 2000 than a wrestler, Trish managed WWE Intercontinental Champion Val Venis during his feud with Rikishi, whilst getting into the ring on sporadic occasions, opening the Fully Loaded 2000 pay per view in an intergender six person tag team match and teaming with Venis at SummerSlam 2000. For a good while, Stratus looked awkward in the ring and it really did look like the former fitness model was hurting herself when bumping. Trish’s first match was on June 22nd edition of Raw when she and T&A defeated the Hardy Boyz and Lita, a woman who Trish Stratus would ignite one of the longest and most engaging female feuds with, in WWE history.
Trish had a successful 2000 and needed something truly momentous to thrust her into the spotlight in 2001. That came in the guise of the McMahon family. In the storyline, Vince had his real life wife Linda sedated and medicated so he could assume an affair with Trish Stratus without his wife’s knowledge. To her credit, Linda played the part to perfection, being wheeled out on television every week by Trish. On February 25th 2001 at No Way Out, Trish and Vince’s daughter fought in an abysmal effort after Stephanie had come out television to oppose her father’s treatment of her mother. Trish lost the encounter thanks to a run in by William Regal. The worst for Trish was about to come.
The night after No Way Out, Trish Stratus was attacked in the ring by William Regal, Stephanie McMahon and Vince McMahon whom, after Stephanie had dumped sewage over a prone Stratus, proclaimed to a humiliated and embarrassed Trish, that she was a toy which Vince was bored playing with. The angle was putrid, truly horrible and I can only imagine how embarrassed Trish was in real life as well as her character. If we thought the worst was over then we were in for a shock when the next week on Raw, the chairman, owner and C.E.O of the WWE forced Trish Stratus to strip down to her bra and panties and crawl around the ring barking like a dog. If you didn’t witness it then you were the lucky ones. It was degrading and pointless. WWE had designed the angle to hype Trish’s vengeance at WrestleMania 17, but still, WWE could have done so in a better more intriguing way where everyone got to keep their dignity. So the stage was set, Vince McMahon vs Shane McMahon in a Street Fight at WrestleMania 17. The match was surprisingly awesome and at the end, Trish Stratus wheeled Linda to the ring, slapped Vince around the face and walked away. That was her big payback. Hardly worth the wait. The crowd pop came when Linda sprang from her chair and nailed her husband with a nice looking kick between the legs. The story was that since her betrayal at the hand of McMahon, Trish had stopped giving Linda her medication and the two had conspired. What looked like’s Trish’s big moment was nothing more than a lead in to end the McMahon storyline.
For Trish is must have been a huge let down. For a time it really did look like she would have a huge part to play in the story. In the end though, she was merely a stooge like everyone else who works under Vince McMahon. After WrestleMania 17, Trish wrestled part time was sidelined by an ankle injury. When she returned, it was a different Trish. A Trish who could execute moves without messing them up and there were glimpses of a real wrestler in her. Backed up by a face turn and capturing the WWE Women’s Championship in a Six Pack Challenge at Survivor Series 2001, it finally appeared that WWE had begun to pay back Trish for her role in the McMahon family storyline. Over the next few years, Trish perfected her art and became WWE’s lead female performer. She was game for anything and on May 6th 2002 defeated the late Crash Holly to lift the WWE Hardcore Championship which she then lost to Steven Richards.
Trish was the first woman in recent memory who would gladly wrestle any kind of match, any way and willing put herself in the line of fire to make the audience happy. Her superb and brutal Hardcore Match at Survivor Series 2002 against Victoria, in which she dropped the Championship in a stunning encounter, left few in doubt that she was the woman WWE moulding their Women’s division around. Two years later, Trish would turn heel on Chris Jericho at WrestleMania 20 and join Christian portraying lovers which is where her feud with Lita resumed and the two made wrestling history, when they main evented Monday Night Raw in a very good match for the WWE Women’s Championship. To my recollection, Trish Stratus and Lita were the first two women to ever main event an episode of Monday Night Raw and a WWE show be it television or pay per view.
As Trish’s career began to wind down and with less than a year remaining before her contract expired and she made the decision to retire from the ring, WWE introduced a character called Mickie James. Portrayed as an uber Trish Stratus fan, James would stalk Trish until the pair finally formed a union which resulted in a lesbian snog on the December 26th Raw. Spurning her number one fan, Trish paid the price and on the March 18th 2006 Saturday Night’s Main Event, Mickie James turned on her idol setting up a disappointing WWE Women’s Championship Match at WrestleMania 22. The match should have been better. Trish was on top her game and Mickie James was the hottest female prospect in WWE since Stratus. Despite the quality of the match, Trish, who knew she was on her way out of the door later in the year did the right thing and put James over on the grand stage, in the process making a true star. Mickie James owes a lot to Trish Stratus.
Like every wrestler, male or female, the call of the ring took its toll. As the year rolled on, Trish’s time in the spotlight began to fade away. News of her retirement leaked and fans could hardly believe the news. To them, Stratus was in her prime and could feasibly carry on for another five or six years. For Trish though, she’d had enough. Unlike other wrestling personalities, Trish Stratus knew when her body had been pushed to its limit and she knew that going out on top of her game would ensure her legend live on forever. It was a clever move by a clever woman. Trish would compete in her last Raw match on September 11th 2006 defeating the woman she put over at WrestleMania 22, Mickie James, ending that feud full stop before moving on to her final appearance at the Unforgiven 2006 pay per view event in her hometown of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The crowd packed into the arena to see their Wonder Woman off and what a reception she got. Her retirement was common knowledge by now and her final match, fittingly against her greatest and oldest rival, Lita, for the WWE Women’s Championship. If Trish won, she would retire as Champion. There was only one story that was going to be told on this night and that one of success and love and thanks. They say that when a wrestler is on their way out of the company they honour a time tested tradition of putting their opponent over in their last match. It’s what is done. But at Unforgiven 2006, the script had to be different. Stratus had already honoured that tradition dropping the Women’s Championship to Mickie James at WrestleMania 22 and in the process making James a star. This was Trish’s night and everyone knew it. Lita, due to injuries hadn’t been at her best in the months leading up to the match and her performances had left most disappointed. There was no sign of the fatigue and injury prone Champion as she defended against her friend and rival in her final match. Champion and Challenger pulled out a damn fine performance, one Lita doesn’t get enough credit for, and Trish Stratus pinned her friend and long time rival to lift the WWE Women’s Championship in her final match. The crowd rose to meet her with love and it was a tearful occasion for all watching. Trish Stratus had the send off of a hero and for everything she’d done and given the company in such a short amount of time, it was only right. Two weeks later Trish Stratus completed her fairytale story when she married her boyfriend of fourteen years, Ron Fisico.
Trish would resurface in WWE several times after her retirement, to make guest appearances and even a couple more matches, but her comebacks could and would never live up to her farewell. For anyone interested, Trish Stratus made appearances on the December 10th 2007 Raw which was Raw’s 15th Anniversary; May 5th 2008 Raw; December 22nd 2008 Raw where she and John Cena defeated Santino Marella and her one time protégée Beth Phoenix; September 14th 2009 Raw, which Trish guest hosted from Toronto and teamed with MVP and Mark Henry to defeat Beth Phoenix, Chris Jericho and Big Show; Elimination Chamber 2011 to announce her participation as trainer in the latest revival of WWE Tough Enough; March 14th 2011 Raw in which she lost to Vickie Guerrero after interference by LayCool, designed to set up the six person intergender match at WrestleMania 27; March 21st Raw on which she teamed with John Morrison to lose to LayCool, Vickie Guerrero and Dolph Ziggler; WrestleMania 27, teaming with John Morrison and Snooki to defeat Dolph Ziggler and LayCool; June 6th 2011 Raw; September 16th 2011 Smackdown and the July 3rd 2012 Raw which was the 1000 Episode. The last three were only backstage skits.
Trish Stratus has made a life for herself outside wrestling, successfully so. Appearing in numerous reality television programmes, her own reality television programme and movie, Trish has found most success outside the ring with her Yoga Studio ‘Stratosphere’.
I have no doubt that on April 6th, when Trish Stratus is inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame that the audience in Madison Square Garden will once again reciprocate their love and thanks for Trish. More than that though, Trish Stratus will be remembered as WWE’s greatest female performer and that in itself may be the biggest achievement of her entire life. A more than worthy addition to the hallowed halls, Trish Stratus will live forever in wrestling legend and quite right too.
Bob Backlund
Many people I speak to, have very fond memories of Bob Backlund. Personally, I will always remember Backlund from when I was a child and the shocking angle at the 1994 Survivor Series when he trapped Bret Hart in the Crossface Chicken Wing and became the new WWE Champion. Looking back at it now, it’s not that shocking. But as a child who worshiped Bret Hart and still do today, to see this man who I didn’t really have any idea of who he was, do this my hero is a childhood memory I will cherish forever.
In 1969, Bob Backlund was an all American in football and wrestling. An All American that you could say paved the way for future All American’s such as Jack Swagger, to make his name in wrestling. Trained for professional wrestling by Eddie Sharkey, Backlund made his professional wrestling debut for the AWA in 1973. Travelling the territories working for the NWA, Backlund got as much experience as he could competing for ‘Amarillo Promotion’ run by Terry and Dory Funk in 1974, defeating Terry Funk for the NWA Western States Heavyweight Championship in March 1974. He would lose the Championship to Karl Von Steiger two months later. In Mid 1975 Backlund travelled to Georgia Championship Wrestling where he captured the NWA Georgia Tag Team Championships with Jerry Brisco.
1976 held a different path for Backlund. Leaving Georgia, Backlund found himself in Florida competing on ‘Championship Wrestling Florida’ winning the NWA Florida Tag Team Championships with Steve Keirn, who would become Skinner in WWE in the early 90’s, defeating Randy Orton’s father, Bob Orton Jr and Bob Roop. It was whilst he was competing in NWA Florida that Backlund also gave his talents to St. Louis Wrestling Club, famously defeating Harley Race to take the NWA Missouri Heavyweight Championship. Backlund was always too talented to be kept oppressed on the territorial circuit, his skills were polished and honed and it was only a matter of time before nature took its course and the big time came calling.
That call came and was answered. In early 1977 Bob Backlund made the jump to the WWWF, working under Vincent J McMahon, the father of our Vincent Kennedy McMahon. One years after his debut in the company Backlund hit the jackpot when he was given the trust of the company to carry the Championship. After numerous tries, Bob Backlund defeated ‘Superstar’ Billy Graham in 1978 to be known as WWWF Champion. Backlund was partnered with Rocky Johnson, the father of the Rock, who turned on Backlund during a match for the Tag Team Championships.
Gifted and loved by the audience, Backlund was a natural successor to WWE’s other beloved superstar, Bruno Sammartino and as WWWF Champion, Backlund was the chosen one to make history by competing in a series of matches with other promotions champions. Backlund fought and defended the WWWF Championship against the likes of NWA World Heavyweight Champion Harley Race, twice. AWA World Heavyweight Champion, Nick Bockwinkle. NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Ric flair. NWF World Heavyweight Champion, Antonio Inoki. Florida Champion, Don Muaraco and International Champion, Billy Robinson. To be chosen as the man to represent WWWF was a huge honour and ego boost for Backlund, not that you’d have ever known it with his coy, shy, babyface, butter wouldn’t melt manor.
During this period, WWWF changed its name to WWF and on August 9th 1980, Bob Backlund, whilst still WWF Champion wrestled the WWF Tag Team Championships away from the Wild Samoans with Pedro Morales as his partner at the infamous ‘Showdown in Shea’. Due to rules that Backlund couldn’t be dual champion, the team had to vacate the doubles strap.
All was not well as WWF and Backlund entered 1983. Bob Backlund had become bored and tired with the WWF and being Champion. After all, there are only so many years you can go out, smile, hear the crowd chant your name and wrestle sixty minute matches before you wonder what else is out there. As the WWF passed from father to son, the man we know as Vince McMahon took over buying the company from his father and decided that Backlund’s time as champion was at an end. With the popularity of Hulk Hogan skyrocketing, Vince McMahon wanted to switch the Championship from Backlund to Hogan but faced resistance from the current title holder. Refusing to lose his Championship to Hogan in a seamless transition from old to new, Vince McMahon brought in the Iron Sheik as a caretaker Champion. The Iron Sheik defeated Bob Backlund on December 26th 1983 for the WWF Championship in a match that is still famous to this day. Whilst locked into the Sheik’s Camel Clutch, Backlund’s manager Arnold Skaaland threw in the towel and the Championship changed hands. The Championship change only happened so the Sheik could drop the gold to the uber popular Hulk Hogan.
Seeing his opportunities in WWF diminishing, Backlund took the sensible decision and left the company he’d spearheaded as Champion for five years. On August 4th 1984, Bob Backlund wrestled his last match in WWF for eight years, defeating Salvatore Bellomo. It would be the last time that Bob Backlund really mattered in the company. During his absence, Vince McMahon changed the WWF and it was no longer a place for guys like Bob Backlund. Someone had no real character and was just a plain old wrestler. Backlund wouldn’t realise he no longer fitted into the company until he returned in 1994.
Before his eventual return, Backlund grew weary of wrestling in the eight years, only managing to get work in ‘Pro Wrestling USA’. Dropping out of the wrestling scene and going into semi-retirement, Bob Backlund watched as the wrestling industry changed around him. As the territories he was once so popular in disappear thanks to the dominance of WWF and WCW. Deciding there was still more to do in the business, Backlund pulled on his tights and went to work for the UWF in 1991 and UWF International in Japan where he contested a series of matches with Nobuhiko Takada. If Backlund wanted to be relevant again, there was only one place he could do it and that was in the company that hardly recognized him upon his return in 1992.
Finding it hard to get through to the audiences who had been fed a diet of loud, brash characters who walked around in bright jackets and adopted a different kind of wrestling than he was used to, Backlund was merely a misfit in WWE in 1992. The old style of wrestling had vanished and so had the man he refuse to drop the WWF Championship to ten years pervious. Instead Backlund found himself in a company with characters who wore Viking hats, who carried mirrors to the ring with them and proclaimed they were ‘The Heartbreak Kid’, who dressed like and named themselves Undertaker. It was no wonder no one remembered who Bob Backlund was. The WWF he came back to wasn’t the he’d left in 1984. Making the best of a bad situation Backlund put in an iron man showing in the 1993 Royal Rumble match lasting 61 Minutes and 10 Seconds but was then sidelined with a dud match against Razor Ramon at WrestleMania 9.
Backlund’s last great run came in 1994 when he challenged WWE Champion Bret Hart on the July 28th 1994 edition of Superstars, in a match branded ‘New Generation vs Old Generation’. After the match, mistakenly thinking he’d won, Backlund snapped and turned heel on Hart, locking him tight in the Crossface Chicken Wing, setting up a ‘Throw in the Towel’ Submission Match for the WWE Championship at the 1994 Survivor Series on November 23rd 1994. The match, as noted at the top of this segment was a memory that shall never be forgotten, as Backlund has the valiant Champion in the Crossface Chicken Wing for seemed like an age before Owen Hart, who was in Backlund’s corner convinced his and Bret’s Mother to throw in the towel, making Backlund the new WWE Champion. The reign would only last three days though, as Bob Backlund embarked upon one of his most unselfish missions to date, getting Kevin Nash over.
At Madison Square Garden, on November 26th 1994, the building Bob Backlund had made a name for himself, he dropped the WWE Championship to Diesel in eight seconds. You may think it too hasty to do anything for the man once known as Vinnie Vegas, but you couldn’t be more wrong. Hitting the Jack-knife Powerbomb on the Champion, Diesel covered Backlund to lift the gold. It’s what Backlund would do after the match that set him apart on a class above the rest. Instead of being bitter and angry that he wasn’t champion for longer, Backlund knew that Nash needed help getting over. After the match, Bob Backlund pulled himself from the ring and crawled up the aisle and into the locker room, selling the effects of the Powerbomb. Bob Backlund could not have done more to get Kevin Nash over if he had tried.
After his Championship loss to Diesel, Backlund and the fans knew that his career was as good as over. WWE were moving away from the Backlund type of character and on April 2nd 1995 at WrestleMania 11, Bob Backlund has his very last good match in a ring. Returning the favour and losing to Bret Hart in a Submission Match, Bob Backlund retreated from active competition and stayed in WWE until 1997. His various character included a presidential candidate who never ran for office, although Backlund would run for a congress seat in Connecticut in 2000, and the manager of the short lived Sultan (Rikishi) with the man he lost his first WWF Championship to, the Iron Sheik. Shortly after April 20th 1997, Bob Backlund waved goodbye to the WWE only returning as a surprise entry in the 2000 Royal Rumble Match and the short lived manager of Kurt Angle in early 2000.
In 2007 Bob Backlund went to TNA in a bit role and returned to in ring action at the 2007 offering of TNA Slammiversary where he defeated Alex Shelly. At the companies Victory Road pay per view that same year Bob Backlund teamed with Jerry Lynn to lose to the Motor City Machine Guns shortly before leaving TNA. Backlund’s latest affiliation with wrestling was in 2012 when he returned to WWE in a Legend’s role to oppose the arrogant Heath Slater with a host of other WWE Legends.
Make no mistake; Bob Backlund is a true legend of the ring. A popular wrestler, a successful champion and according to all accounts, a very nice guy, Bob Backlund has to be one of the most underrated wrestlers to ever lace up a pair of boots. With 40 straight Madison Square Garden sell outs in a row, a Championship reign that encapsulated five years and numerous other champions from every other territory and a reputation for putting over other wrestlers to give them the best start on their journey, Bob Backlund has truly earned his status and induction amongst the elite.
Donald Trump
I don’t have much to say about this one. Some people believe the Celebrity Wing of the Hall of Fame is an illustrious thing to have. With previous inductees including Drew Carey, Pete Rose and William ‘The Refrigerator’ Perry, it’s wholly a waste of time. Actors and celebrities have their own type of Hall of Fame, they wouldn’t open up a Wrestling Wing, they don’t need to muscle in on the wrestling industry as well.
Donald Trump, the billionaire, is only being inducted here for two reasons, believe it or not. The first, is that he had dealing with WWE in the run up to WrestleMania 23, supposedly buying Raw and then selling it back to McMahon, which never happened, it was just a fabrication to get more people to watch and was involved shaving Vince McMahon’s head at WrestleMania 23 and the second is because he lives close to Madison Square Garden and wouldn’t have to travel. Well those are qualifications for the wrestling hall of fame right?
Like every other celebrity inductee, I expect Trump to hear the boos and jeers of the paying audience when he takes the stand. It’s only natural. The people have paid to see their heroes from years past be recognized for their sacrifices. Not some billionaire who has done nothing for the wrestling industry that is constructive or worthy of induction.
That’s this year’s main card and the Hall of Fame inductees. Certainly, WWE have the chance to break tradition and make some new stars at WrestleMania with Dolph Ziggler, Wade Barrett, The Miz and Daniel Bryan being the main candidates. Should Dolph cash in the Money in the Bank contract then WrestleMania 29 would end on a better high than if John Cena pinned the Rock. Daniel Bryan should have been granted a singles match and I would have loved to have seen Antonio Cesaro on the card defending the United States Championship, it would have been a character enhancing addition.
Of course, like last year, the main portion of the show is concentrated on the elstablished headline stars and the returning legends. Everything will be done to make the three main events as good as they possibly can be even if we already know the WWE Championship match is going to be a struggle to get through.
The Hall of Fame Ceremony should be an emotional affair and worth watching this year. Of course unless you’re attending then the first we’ll get to see of it is on the WrestleMania 29 DVD or Blu-ray, but I’m sure it will be worth the wait.
As a final thought, WWE have been really clever with their booking of the three main event matches. The Rock vs John Cena, Undertaker vs C.M Punk and Triple H vs Brock Lesnar. You might not have realised this, but with WrestleMania’s tag line each year being ‘The Showcase of the Immortals’, WWE are actually showcasing the six men that will be immortal in this business in years to come. So for as much as we bitch and moan about the right people not getting the right chances, WWE have actually given us what they’ve advertised and that is a showcase of the immortals.
On April 7th 2013, for four hours, the eyes of the world will be directed towards the wrestling industry. WWE never had a better chance than this to change the mind of the world about what Wrestling is and dispel the rumours that it’s just over grown men dressed in spandex, fighting each other in a homosexual way. It’s time to stand up, shout about the business we love and show everyone what they’ve been missing.
Onwards and upwards...
