Jake "The Snake" Roberts as Bray Wyatt's father

I know he isn't, but in the world of kayfabe anything is possible and I mean, just think about it...

Jake was the first crowd favourite baby face with dark charisma and he went back and forth from heel to face to heel again.

He was the one teaching the Ultimate Warrior how to tap into the dark side to fight The Undertaker (still monster heel at the time) - and double-crossed him.

It was Jake that was the reason for Undertakers first face turn.

Just think back at the time - The Undertaker was a monster heel going against mega-faces such as Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior. But even he thought it was too much, when Jake was about to hit Miss Elisabeth with a steel chair - and Undertaker became a baby face with Jake "The Snake" being his heel opponent.

And don't forget how Jake delivered the DDT to the dead man at the time when his main gimmick was: no-sell. Still Jake could have won by covering Undertaker - were it not for his desire to get his hands on Paul and the urn.

Yes - Jake was a class of his own. Loved by the people, with great ability and a perfect mind for the business. He never cared for titles or how the fans reacted to him and he could have a great match with anybody and everybody.

And now Bray talks about his father abandoning him and how he's got his wings back... giving the opinion that being a dark villain, the face of fear is what he does so his father would be proud of him.

Bray’s also wanting to become the new face of fear – but the Undertaker was not the first one… Jake was. People (wrestles either in kayfabe or for real) feared him and his snake. And while the Undertaker did have supernatural powers, that’s nothing compared to the time when Jake’s king cobra took a bite out of “The Macho Man” Randy Savage. You can probably find other clips of it – but the thing is, it really happened!

Let's face it - Bray has got talent on the mic and in the ring. He's got people behind him even though he's a heel - but he's been put in strange feuds for no apparent reason, making him the random nut attacking people and then losing to them.

With Jake as his kayfabe father the feud with the Undertaker could be explained (he wanted to avenge his daddy). The fact Bray was losing could be, because he was too focused on impressing his father than on winning matches - but with his father (Jake) coming to the ring side with Bray and teaching him a few tricks, Bray could be build up to become larger then he was!

Bray needs it and deserves it - and Jake would get the break to get back into the business to which he can still greatly contribute.

Not to mention it would merge the past with the present and make for a hell of a story line - before a real and meaningful feud would be set out for them. Maybe a feud with Kane - Undertaker's brother - who could be brought back to the demon persona, as so many of the fans would simple love to happen?

What do you think? Wouldn't it be awesome?

Keep reading!

Bad News Brown – a badass of wrestling… and other ramblings?

Remember this one? Bad News Brown told a story about Andre the Giant being racist… was he really? Did BNB make Andre the Giant back out of a fight? That's what made BNB's reputation about being a bad ass in the business. Here's the story in Allen's own words: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5YxA0l2X38

Personally I don't think it's got anything to do with racism, because the only thing mentioned was the N word and sorry, it's not politically correct, but it's still got nothing to do with racism – at least that's my opinion (I mean, a guy can be all politically correct and never use a bad word, but could still be racist and hate people of other color and try to discriminate or damage them – or a guy can throw around racist words without meaning them… just think how many times you hear the b*tch word being said, but I don't really think all those guys are women haters).

So – Andre used the N word and Allen called him out – and Andre wouldn't respond. Allen even said he settled the score the next day and that it was all ok from that point on (so much even, they were in matches later on, in one of them Andre lost the control of his intestines and did his business all over Allen's chest in the ring – and Allen was feeling sorry for Andre (I'm looking all voer youtobe for it - but just can't find it... it was a longer shoot interview with Bad News Brown, will post it if I do find it... great interview).

There is, however, another account of the story, told by Hulk Hogan. He was (and Allen said so in his story as well) on the same bus, a seat behind BNB with Andre further back in the bus – so we got an eye witness account – by Hogan:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXfwQ4ICBOg (it starts after 24 min mark). According to Hogan, Andrew as telling a joke using the N word, which Bad News didn't like and mumbled something into his beard and put a hand in his bag… and Andre threatened BNB, so nothing more happened.

Which one was true? Allen told his story after Andre passed away and Hogan told his explanation after Allen had passed away, so it’s not really easy to say what was true – but Bad News was a real badass – not because of the bus story with Andre, but with everything else he did!

He was a great judo athlete who got the bronze medal – before entering wrestling and he could hold his own – even Bam Bam Bigalow (another great wrestler who passed away) said so. You can see this whole interview with Bam Bam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5l1BnYa0EGw in which he says that he was glad to have Bad News backing him in Japan, because if a shoot fight backstage would start, he’d have a reliable guy to help him.

OK, I got off topic quite a bit, but basically it’s just nostalgia talking, with Dusty passing away, I’m just remembering the other greats who passed away before him.

So I just have to put this in about Dusty as well (as Bam Bam also mentions him): TheDream may have ended, but the Legacy will go on forever!!!

Feel free to comment, subscribe, and read the next article :

We're voting about the future of WWE?

OK, this is interesting now!

WWE has votes, polls, surveys,... basically they're crowd-sourcing the material to write their stories around. And here's one of them: Who is the true future of WWE?

Sure, polls like that could show, who's popular and who's not and since this is the entertainment industry, the popular should make money - right, so go for the popular.

But today it's a bit different - isn't it?

A kid with a computer at home, a tablet, a smart phone and two friends could simply be worth 9 votes in the poll, but not a single ticket bought, not a single pay-per-view package purchased and not a single WWE Network subscription made... while a (at least semi-) grown-up person, who couldn't care less about the poll, will pay the ticket and riot at the next Royal Rumble.

So there will be two different kinds of results - and which one should WWE listen too?

I'm sure they'll smart enough and they'll listen to the kids, as those kids will grow older and will pay for merchandise in the near future and will persuade their parents to buy stuff. It's what keeps selling Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior! Were it not for us loving and idolising them as kids, there would be no nostalgia now, no want for keeping their memory.

I wonder if in 10 years The Rock and Stone Cold will have the same recognition and power to attract as Hulk still has?

But still, I must say, I'd wish Bray would be much higher, because it is in him and Ambrose that I really see the future of WWE.
I'd also love to see one of the divas higher, but that's not going to happen soon - sorry Paige!

So what do you think? Who is the true future of WWE? Vote at the official poll and see the results thus far, and feel free to comment right here!

And in the meantime, keep following.

The Mega Power of Nostalgia

This payback made me go wayback - at least the kick off show, so I have to write about it right away!

It was the eighties, the Rock'n'Wrestle connection was here, Hulk Hogan grew into the legend with Macho Man giving the energy to the entire business and taking it to the next level... And they both joined when Macho Man became the WWF Heavyweight Champion for the first time.

Both guys became a tag team that although short lived, left a lasting mark on the pop culture, because of the two men that made up the team.

It's not only that wrestling fans talk about them, it's guys like Nice Peter and Epic Lloyd that do spoofs of them (rap fighting the late leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea) - I mean this battle was Epic: Hulk Hogan vs. Kim Jong Il

Yes, both men were made fun of by the WWF when they walked out to join the WCW and that really was nasty. I mean, treating the men (without who the WWF would never become anything near what it was) in such a way as to make The Huckster and the Nacho Man - something like that just makes me wanna puke (in Vince's face).

But apart from such cases of people dressing up as mega powers, I never thought I'd see these guys again - especially after the sad news about the demise of the WWE Hall of Famer - Randy Savage.

Yet here they were! Sure, with Axelmania running as a gimmick of Curtis Axel the son of also late and very great Mr. Perfect and grandson of The Axe it seemed like recapturing nostalgia will be his thing. I mean a third generation wrestler (both him and his sister Amy) Curtis has tough time to fulfil his dreams and ambitions (just remember how difficult it was for Dustin Rhodes and how far he pushed the envelope to develop the character of Goldust - and they're making a case of it with Cody a.k.a. Stardust). So setting up a gimmick from his father's era and chosing the biggest icon in sports entertainment seemed like a good idea. And with Damien Sandow also looking for a character (Mizdow was great fun and made people love him, but it couldn't go far) I think that The (new) Mega Powers really can amount to a something great.

I know, they've been compared to fake Razor and Diesel, but it's not like that... this isn't making fun of characters people love, setting up bad carbon copies so people would hate the original, this is tribute to the original.

Honestly - how many bombs get to explode twice? Personally I'd love to see the Megapowers explode for the second time.

And while Hogan's in-ring performances probably wouldn't fly today - getting static beating, hulking up and winning - the Savage style of Macho Man would still make him a great in-ring competitor to this day. So I really hope this will develop into a real deal and won't be just a part time hoax by the WWE.

What do you think?

The Women’s Championship

What do you think of, when somebody says pro-wrestling?

Fake? Scripted? Hulk Hogan? Macho Man? Stone Cold? The Rock? John Cena? Sting? Wrestlemania? McMahon? A bunch of guys throwing each other around the ring? I don't know, maybe I'm still part of the old generation and it's OK that such things pop up first. Maybe in the new generation some will think of Divas… but I kindda doubt that.

Sure the division is there, it's growing, although it lost a lot with the departure of A.J.Lee (she was both gorgeous and good at her craft), but somehow it doesn't feel right. The Diva's championship… the Total Diva's reality show… it all makes it sound like cheap starlets, not like athletes deserving our respect. So why isn’t there a true women’s title on the line?

That’s a thought that struck me, while watching the WWE HOF 2015 again, seeing Alundra pull the real women’s belt out of the trash can! The same belt that was puled out of retirement just for her!

Man, that belt looked great – and I loved the TRUE wrestling logo on it, the logo of WWF. What can I say, I love Pandas, but I can’t imagine “The Weasel” Bobby Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon comment on a bunch of Pandas sleeping, with the same intensity as they could about Jake “The Snake” Roberts having “Macho Man” Randy Savage tied on the ropes and letting a king cobra loose on him.

But back to the belt. Alundra said something that made me wonder if WWE might bring back the real title? Not the pinkish butterfly that talented women wrestlers are competing for, but the real belt, the one that looks like it was made for a champion. The one that reminded me of the IC title that The Ultimate Warrior wore.

Women in Pro-Wrestling had many ups and downs. Remember TheFabulous Moolah? She’s the wrestling champion with the longest streak ever. Sure Bruno’s reign is more recognised, as he defended the title on so many occasion and against so many opponents, but it was Moolah that was there at the first ever Wrestlemania, although only as a manager and put Wendy Richter over, with Cidney Lauper in her corner.

Now, why is it, that Cidney’s being there meant more than the presence of the champion with the longest run with the belt? Sure, Mohamed Ali’s presence as the special referee for the Hogan/Mr.T  vs. Orndorf/Piper match was a great addition, but it was not the main thing. The match was the main draw. It wasn’t like that with Wendy Richter, there it was all about Lauper.

And why is it that when people talk about women in wrestling of the eighties, most will first think of Miss Elisabeth? Sure, she was lovely and always there at the side of either Randy Savage or Hulk Hogan (two of the greatest names), but she wasn’t a wrestler. And when you think of Sherri Martel, be honest – you either think of her as the Sensational Queen Sherri at the side of The Macho King (yup, Randy even made that crown feel important), or maybe as the woman at the side of Sean Michels at the beginning of his solo career. Hell, I haven’t even seen her wrestle, until I started doing some intense searches on several video providing channels. I mean, the division was so underrated, they even retired the title Moolah held - for being a big joke.

But all of that started changing with the debut of Alundra Blayze in WWF (before the court decided they should not use the F word anymore), with the women's title being brought back just so she could win it.

Sure, she could have had bit nicer face to look at, but she was no dog… and her body… she was well built and she could do the moves! She was all that was expected of a champion… all that, sorry to say, Moolah wasn’t. She was the woman to give seriousness to the title. The only thing she was lacking was enough competition on her level, to really get the division going.

And as it was still before they openly started explaining keyfabe to the public, she was expected to fight – and she delivered. The title was there to be defended and earned. In a way I was happy to see her with the title again at the HOF ceremony. She deserved to hold it. The current pink butterfly would not suit her and as I’ve said, it’s Alundra’s title women like Paige should be fighting for.

Sure, the division was getting built back up during the attitude era, with girls like Trish Stratus and Lita, but you really need a strong division to make it possible. Alundra was like a Hulk Hogan, but without Macho Man to fight against. Today there’s enough talented women in the ring, to make it possible.

OK, there’s still not many Diva’s matches that I really enjoy, since they seem somewhat too causes… you can actually see them pull a break before the delivery, not to hurt each other. Sure, they have to look nice and beautiful for the Total Divas… Imagine them showing up all bruised. But that’s what’s taking the wrestling out of their matches.

Remember Bam Bam Bigalow? He said that he loved being pushed. That he was a big boy and could take so rough pounding and that it was what got the crowd roused up. You can’t make them believe you’re fighting, if they’re seeing you put on the breaks not to hurt each other.

You think the Mr. McMahon persona would get over so great, if he wouldn’t take in some blows? I’m not saying that the Stunners Stone Cold dished out like candy were really all the dangerous – sure, wrestling moves are supposed to look dangerous, supposed to look to hurt like hell, but should really be performed safely. I mean, you can’t deliver a suplex without getting both competitor’s back stinging.

And that’s the kind of wrestling you got to see in Aundra. She wouldn’t slow down before a clothesline, she wouldn’t throw a punch three inches away from the face… she’d make you watch a fight just like any other high energy fight among the guys.

I wouldn’t say it was stiff, but it was pro-wrestling at its best. Just like Kurt Henning, or Bret Hart… they weren’t stiff workers, but they executed the moves with perfection of excellence.

And now, when the women wrestlers look great (they’re really hot!), that there’s enough of them to really have a working division (even with tag matches and thoughts of maybe making Diva’s tag titles) and with Alundra bringing back the real title (clearing the air about throwing it into the trash can – just wait for it, I’ll talk about it soon), it would be the perfect time, to really give Divas a chance! And what better way to do it, than to bring Alundra Blayze back in the ring (OK, maybe she’s not fighting anymore, but at least as a special guest referee for the finale of Divas tournament for the real title).

And for all the booing about throwing the title to the trash on WCW… Most of you probably forgot, or might have never known, that Vinny Mack did it first (OK, not throwing it away, but playing tricks with titles outside the federation… that darn F word again). It was in days when Hogan reigned with the WWF belt, again, and Bobby Henan introducing “the real world’s champion” to WWF. Ric Flair arrived and had his big old golden shield of a title with him, which WWF didn’t recognise and got blurred out and everything… so, in a way it was Vince who fired so many “first shots” at competition, before they could react (in the form of Eric Bischoff) that there was a straight on blitzkrieg with WWF rolling over competition before finally stopping at a barrio to have the only fight of the war Vince ever had in Monday night wars, with Alundra’s title trashing being the first real blow against Vince.

But that’s just my thoughts. What are yours? Feel free to comment.

Keep following.

Boo-man Reigns

The wild island of Samoa... that's where the savages, the canibals life - right? At least that's what one might think if he ever saw the Wild Samoans (Sika and Afa).
Well, Sika's son is, as all of you who might read this probably alerady know, no other than Roman Reighns.
A great wrestling family with star names like Peter Maivia, Yokozuna, Rikishi and Dwayn "The Rock" Johnson... there are a few of them in WWE at the moment (just think of the Uso twins).
But unlike most of the Samoans Roman seems to be too reserved.
Yes, he's young, strong, doesn't look half bad and can perform well in the ring (remember Summerslam 2014: Roman Reigns vs Randy Orton). OK, the comments on that one were split (not the first few) and yes, I agree - it was Randy who carried the match. There's nothing wrong with that. It was Rick Rude or Macho Man to carry the Ultimate Warrior's matches too (yup remembering Warrior at Summerslam in a steel cage against the Ravishing one).
But Reigns had to play his part - and he did.
There's no doubt, he could have been the top face in teh business... but for one simple fact - he's getting booed at.
And no, it's not only Royal Rumble 2015 and it's not because he's put in a spot and Daniel Bryan isn't.
People genuenly hate Reigns, as they do Cena. But Cena's playin ghte crowd with it. Reigns is still a bit too green for that.
The Shield was a great thing, but sure enough it had to break up. Unfortunately, I don't think they exploited the oportunities enough... True, it was the hernia operation that kept Reigns from the ring, but by that time Dean and Seth were already pass a major breakthrough in single's competition and Roman was left behind - and he was getting a push, although he got outshined.
Another problem is, that he couldn't be groomed. I mean, Seth would probably be in a programme against him, but with all his talent (Seth's got enough to start selling it at a garage sale)he's not one to groom. Maybe the Rock could do that... but I'm not sure either.
Now, they've given him to Big Show and possibly Kane... so maybe he'll come back more polished, but it's too late.
But his push was what made the people made!
But, getting heat from the crowd was always a good draw and by the end of an event it's only about how much money it made.
As I already wrote in my John Cena Sucks artickle, there's a whole new possibility with the babyface beeing booed upon. It's a new push, it generates new heat and WWE is being aware of it - how could they not be.
Just see how many comments there were about Wrestlemania, how the broadcast played down the intensity of boos against Reigns. I mean, it's all there to talk about - making the event a huge online trend. And as soon as you get people split over an issue, they will follow it. Up untill recently people were split when it came down to matches of crowd favorites... now they're split when just talking about one wrestler. That is optimization for WWE :)
So, does Reigns deserve to be booed at? Not really, he's done nothing wrong. But he's just got turned into a guy that the people will love to hate - and WWE didn't go overboard: Reigns didn't get the belt!

At least, that's what I think, you're always free to comment.
Keep following!

Wrestlemania 31 - Sting was only a replacement!

I know, I know... I've nothing concrete to back up what I claim, but hear me out and tell me if it still sounds crazy!

Remember the eighties, when the high energy entrance music hit the speakers and everybody was on their feet to see the painted muscle-man run down the aisle to the ring?

And he took a beating, but made a comeback being impervious to pain... a true hero to the kids, who adored him, who still have found memories of him as a wrestling legend and who watched him get inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2014.

Think about the Warrior!

He was as big as one could get in the industry, even achieving a clean victory over Hogan. But then he simply disappeared. He got in fights with McMahon and after he left the WWE/F he was basically no more. OK, he returned to WCW to form the OWN (one warrior nation), but nothing really came out of it.

WWE even made a documentary shaming the guy (The Self Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior) and things went to courts and all... ugly business.

Yet Triple H brought him back, to the HoF, class of 2014. At the ceremony he addressed his two little girls, saying how they never got to see him in action, do his Warrior thing.

Triple H admitted, he loved to watch the Ultimate Warrior, he was like a cartoon hero brought to life, and people gathered behind him. It was like Batman jumped out of the pages of the comic!

My thoughts are, that Hunter wanted to fight the Warrior at Wrestlemania 31! It's pure speculation, but it does seem more than possible. It might have had happened, were it not for the tragic death of the Ultimate Warrior (rest in peace). It was even more eerie to hear his speech on RAW before he passed away, as if he knew...

But why did he pass away?

There are, naturally, speculations. He was supposed to be done in by the illuminati. Search for it, there's a whole "report" of it on youtube (hmm, maybe I should start posting links to stuff I'm talking about).

But what do I think happened?

I think he started preparing for his return to WWE, to Wrestlemania 31, for one final fight, his retirement spectacle. But his body wasn't able to cope with it.

OK, call me crazy if you wish, call me uninformed - as I haven't read the coroner’s report (nor am I sure I'd understand it all, if I did) - but that's what I believe. He started training, and just maybe took a little something to make the training more effective... and the sadness fell to the rings worldwide as a great legend passed away.

And what to do in such a case? When you can't get the Ultimate Warrior back to ring?

Get Blade runner Rock's tag team partner, Blade runner Flash, to face the Terra Rysing at Wrestlemania 31 (thank you Keyfabenews.com for running that lovely article about these two characters facing off - had a great laugh).

So yes, there was no Warrior left, so who's left that could possibly fill the shoes of such a legend but his former tag team partner - Sting!

Many people guessed and hoped for Sting facing the Undertaker, which would have made much more sense. Just as his Triplenes would be better fitted against the Warrior as an opponent, but we will naturally never know.

However, next time I'll talk about another thing that did occur at Wrestlemania (playbutton) 31 and we might know about it as it still goes on and on and on... people's reaction to Roman Reigns!

Keep following!

The Madness of a Macho Man!

OK, I know I said I'll be writing about Roman Reigns and why he's being booed at, but I think that with Randy Savage entering the Hall of Fame this year, I'll cover this first, as I guess that the WWE Universe vs. Reigns would in a way resemble the Cena Sucks train of thought too much at this point, plus I still want it to develop a bit more (it's possible that Wrestlemania had the positive impact on the Samoan star that the creative writers were looking for).

So this year, finally, Macho Man entered the WWE Hall of Fame. Finally! I cannot repeat this enough. He deserved to enter the Hall of Fame a long time ago. The things he had done for the industry are just incredible.

He was able to learn the business from early on, with his father Angelo Poffo being a wrestler, who (to quote Hogan's HoF introduction speech) always wore canary yellow tights. He was also a very religious man and the man who held the sit-up record of 6033 sit-ups within ten minutes. And he was also a chess player (so who ever says that you either use your body or your head - a quote from Rocky - is here by proven wrong).

And Randy had his younger brother with him in the business as well. Sure, you'll say that The Genius was no prominent figure in WWF (it was when the F word was still in use), but hey - I still remember Leaping Lanny Poffo and the Frisbees he threw (I simply loved that gimmick... being a kid and all and always trying to get a Frisbee off the neighbour’s garage - and here was a guy just throwing them away at the public). And never forget that before joining the WWF the Poffo brothers were quite a violent tag team, breaking announce tables and taking it outside the ring long before extreme became awesome.

So no wonder Macho injured the Dragon with the ring bell - he was taking it outside the ring (Ricky Steamboat is another story that I'll cover at one point or the other - especially since he's one of few guys to always portrait babyfaces) and allowed for the legendary match, many still consider the greatest wrestling match in Wrestlemania history (well, there's been better matches, but this was among first great ones).

But Randy's contribution to the industry was not only the matches... it was his approach to them. When George "The Animal" Steel talked about it, he said he was offended that a relative new comer came up to him with a thick script of how the fued and match will play out. But look at George's matches from before - and look at his match with Macho Man! I mean George vs. Kamala was a 12 minutes of stare-down, with a few foot stomps. No match, no fighting - still entertaining - but I mean, how would you feel today if two guys would just be seizing each other up, not doing anything and ten minutes and one move later the match would be over?

It was Macho Man who was putting energy into matches from the first time he entered the WWF ring, right down to the last time, when he jumped from the commentary into the ring - to get "kicked from WWF," only to continue in WCW with excellent matches against DDP long after Vince decided not to give him a program with the Heartbreak Kid.

Want to see a match, which probably features the most in-ring talent gathered in a match? Find yourself the tag match between Sean Michaels & Ric Flair vs. Bret Heart & Randy Savage.

I mean, everybody always talked about Hulkamania and how Hogan was always fighting monster heels... but it was the Macho Madness that really made Hogan shine! For once there was no monster giant heel (like Andre or Bundy) nor was anybody putting people in a stretcher (like Earthquake or Psycho Sid were doing)... there was even not anti-American character (like the Sheik or Slaughter). It was Macho Man, who accused the Hulkster or eyeing Elisabeth (and I guess most people were - she really was a beauty and Randy's real life wife that he did get over protective and jealous about at times), but that made the story into something people could relate to!

Macho, along with Snuka, were the two fliers at the time when wrestling was quite static. Randy was an energetic head on colourful character that did not seem like a cartoon, but like something out of this world in a form of an almost average human. He wasn't among biggest guys in the industry, but he made it believable that he could beat anybody... and it never hurt him to lose to anybody either. That's why he wasn't beyond doing jobs and putting people over - he just made sure that he came out looking better for it, even after a lost match (just remember him and Warrior in a career ending match at Wrestlemania - one of the best matches I could think of).

Savage really did set the bar for most of the wrestlers to follow. So if you weren't 7 foot tall or over 500lbs you fell into the category of the Macho Man and had to prove you can perform on that level of intensity and in-ring speed - not to mention the other stuff he did. Choreographing the matches to perfection, always trying for something new, but still suiting the characters in the match (think Warrior with 5 shoulder blocks after his standard finisher didn't work). Think of him on the mic commenting other people in the ring. That's about as close as Vince came to finding a substitute for Ventura. And think of all the promos Randy cut. Now they were way out there - even if compared to the Ultimate Warrior (OK, guess I'll have to cover the Warrior next, since I'm mentioning him so often - and I really think the Warrior also relates to Wrestlemania 31 even though he passed away about a year ago today).

I mean - Macho was living the industry and made it grow in and out of the ring, in front of the camera or with no camera in sight (just listen to Marty Jannetty telling how Macho saved the Rockers from getting arrested). So it really was about time, to pay respect to him and have him enter the Hall of Fame.

So until next time - when I explain how I believe the Ultimate Warrior should have been fighting HHH at Wrestlemania 31, and some other time, when I cover Roman Reigns being booed, keep following!

John Cena Sucks

Now let me take you on a little journey... a journey to the past of WWE.

Remember guys like Hacksaw Jim Dugan?

Did anybody ever hear him ever get a boo?

He was a babyface and people loved him. There was no split crowd. When he gave out his Ho-oo, everybody repeated it. When he started the USA chants, the whole crowd - even outside the US - was chanting with him.

When he was up against an anti-American wrestler, there was no chance in hell you'd ever hear anybody chanting anything against Dugan.

Fast forward to Wrestlemania 31... John Cena vs. Rusev.

Rusev - an anti-American Bulgarian Brute, the hero to the Russian federation and a guy constantly humiliating the crowd... and people cheered for him. Just imagine, how much the crowd must hate Cena to support Rusev.

And it wasn't the first time. The crowd even supported Rusev against Roman Reigns at Royal Rumble, because they wanted anybody to win, except Roman! But that's something I'll come back in another blog, when I'll cover the Roman boo-ers. Now it's the Cena Suck-ers.

The crowd has been pretty much against Cena for a long time. Never have a even imagined a crowd getting so rough against a WWE babyface as was the case of the fight between Rob van Dam and John Cena. I mean, really, "Die, Cena, die!" chants, and they weren’t the worst the crowd threw at him.

There are several questions that must be asked:

a) Why does John Cena suck?

b) Why is WWE showing a guy the Universe hates down their throats?

c) Why isn't this rage the fans have with the top face of the company causing any damage to WWE?

d) How does John Cena handle it?

So does John Cena suck and if so, why?

Pure and simple - he doesn't! He's a cartoon like character. A wanna be white rapper, a wanna be real hero in a kayfabe sport with results known in advance, a wannabe people's choice that people hate,... He's everything people simply love to hate.

This would be a clear case to make him a heel - but that wouldn't work then, would it?

I mean, you're supposed to hate heels and love faces, but ever since Steve Austin came to the scene, everything we knew about wrestling in the late seventies, eighties and up to mid nineties changed.

It's like Superstar Billy Graham being a heel champion with a long run. Before him, champions were always good guys, fair, sporting... and if a heel got the belt it was just to drop it soon to the next all American boy.

Or like Jesse "The Body" Ventura on the mic. Before him commentators were cheering for faces and never defended any cheating of the heels... nor were they ever exposing the cheating of the faces... Jesse turned that around and that opened the door also to the legendary commentary team of Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Henan (a face and heel commentators).

And if the attitude era was the time that made it possible to cheer for foul mouth beer guzzling bad ass that should have been a middle finger sticking to your face heel, then the post attitude are is the time of booing the top faces the company is forcing upon the crowd - with Cena being a perfect example of it.

Yes, there are still typical faces and typical heels... Daniel Bryan is a typical face... light-hearted, cheered upon, with a - Yes - very positive chant on his side... and Bad News Barret a typical heel, who hates everybody and will bull-hammer his way through a row of pregnant women to get what he wants.

But there are now faces like Cena - and it's not a recent thing, since it's been going on for years - that the crowd just loves to hate. But not everybody. Some still like the old face image, which causes crowd battles of "Let's go Cena!" - "Cena sucks!" chants. And that is obviously selling tickets, as the crowd seems to be willing to show in person, how much they like or hate Cena and go to the live shows.

And that's what is the most important atribute of any WWE star that the company is looking for - drawing in the crowd.

So do the fans hate Cena because he can't wrestle?

He can, but he's not as good at it as the many titles he held should reflect.

But no, it's not that.

Fans hate Cena, because they still haven't gotten the satisfaction of either getting under his skin (he won't show it) or in succeeding in WWE trying to demote Cena.

This is also what got the reaction to Rusev's statement that Cena is not worthy of a US title shot at Wrestlemania. People loved hearing somebody denying Cena.

There should be more such moments, as I think the crowd would love it, would eat it up!

Just imagine, Cena being a GM of Raw, with - let's say - Ryback coming out there, saying: you can't do this, can't you hear the people against you... It's not your time, it's my time.

And both of them going at it - but ending in a friendly way with a handshake of respect or something.

I think the Universe would really appreciate popular faces coming out telling Cena, he should respect the crowd more and stand down (naturally part of keyfabe) with having a battle to shut Cena up in the name of the people.

But will the WWE do anything about Cena being booed? Probably not. There is no competition.

If there were other promotions that one could turn the channel and watch instead of WWE, I guess they'd have to do something about it - not to lose fans. Now it's basically just the other way around. By not giving the fans what they want - a raging Cena telling everybody to shut up, or pulling him off the show - they are making John an even bigger draw!

And, despite how some people say, Cena's no good on the mic, he's doing a good job of it. Does it bother him? I guess it does, or at least it has. I mean, nobody really wants people hating him. But if you put yourself in a role of a heel trying to collect heat, you expect it.

He's letting the crowd have its moments and is not lashing out on them.

Cena is in a role of a babyface getting crowd heat, which is really a quite unusual situation, but it has happened before - remember the crowd supporting Sid Justice after Royal Rumble 1993, when Hogan pulled him out of the ring?

But never has something like this been going on for so long, as "John Cena sucks" chants.

So it's a new formula in an old game. A new way to handle the masses, as I'm sure nobody can be that deaf not to hear the Universe. But to do something about it, to try and change it, it would mean messing up a good thing that draws the crowd. And I think that WWE is too skilled at crowd manipulation not to realize that.

Still, I think Roman Reigns took them off guard, but they will probably do the same with him, as I think they did realize this is the way to go. So I don't think it was an accident that Roman showed a fan out of the way... they made his through the crowd entrance so many times, they should have expected it, so they did - and the showing was part of keyfabe. But more on that another time.

Keep following!

Bray Wyatt vs. The Undertaker

Now this was the match I was looking forward to. The theatrics should have been awesome, but hey, the fireworks got messed up and - it was still bright outside!
How on Earth do you prepare an entrance for two dark, mysterious creatures of the night when there's still sunlight.
OK, neither one got the right light for the entrance, but at least the match should have been a great one - right?
I mean - The Phenom was always a huge draw at wrestlemanias and Bray is one of the most talented in-ring and on-mike performers today.
But... nothing!
I mean, it was said that Bray hurt himself prior to the match... I would even say he hurt himself during the match as well. Remember how he got the Dead man on the stairs against the ring post and just hurrled himself at the Undertaker? Remember how he hit the stairs? Jast watch him favoure the right leg afterwards.
So what did the match come down to?
Taker's rope walking (he still has it), Tombstones (there were two) and one sit-up... while on the other hand there was a little bit of spider walk and a sister Abigale.
All in all a mid-card match for Smackdown, not a wrestlemania main event.
I mean, there were no theatricks. There could have been urns involved... I really didn't care, who'd win, just that somebody's soul would be taken... as I've said before - Bray could have made the Undertaker into a zombie and have him escort to the ring in order to do damage to opponents. Taker wouldn't have to fight regularly - I'm guessing he's hurting all over - but he could have showed up on occasion when Bray would need a special weapon in a future fued. Just imagin him being able to summon up the Dead man during matches.
Or, Taker could have taken Bray's soul and become the puppet master taking Wyatt to a whole new level of sadistic meanness and madness.
But no, the match was so unremarcable, so unimaginative, I can say the creative was all used up for other matches.
Never did believe a Bray Wyatt vs. Undertaker match would be a dud.

But there are other things still to discus... I still haven't touched the US championship match at Wrestlemania... and how both faces (Cena and Reigns) are being dooed at... and there's a new week anyway with a great Raw that followed wrestlemania.
So next time, I'll share my thoughts on Cena vs. Rusev and then slowly work my way up to the real question for the Wrestling Lab - why are some of the biggest names being booed and what should/could - or I in their place - would do about it.

Keep reading.

After Wrestlemania

What to say, we knew they know how to make a show... but we always doubt they'll really pull it off.

This time they did!!!

OK, Seth Rollins cashing in money in the bank was actually expected. It was even said in one of the interviews right after Fastlane.
Still it surprised me nicely to really see it done! I thought they'd stick with Roman building his Empire, as they made such a build up to it. But now we can get the situation of Orton (who beat the new champ on the same night), Roman (who was denied of getting the title), Seth (if you got the title, the trouble is there for you) and even Brock (who proved to be a real beast on Raw) to fight it out randomly, with one or two other names that could be thrown in the mix.

But it was Sting vs. HHH that stole the show.
I wanted to see guys like Booker T. to come down - not nWo, but I guess Hogan just couldn't stay away. Still it was awesome - from the entrance right down to the handshake (and there was even some wrestling involved).

The ladder match had many great moments, and with Bryan as the IC, with many people wanting the title, the show is about to pick up. The other champs comming up to congradulate Bryan was a nice touch, but I still wouldn't put Ric Flair in there... even though he also held the strap.

The divas had an OK match, but I always feel like they're fighting with a handbrake on - except maybe for Paige, she's awesome.

And for the rest of the show - I have to talk about the match I was most looking forward, but I'll return to the return of the deadman next time.

Bye 'till then!

Wrestlemania XXXI

I know, many won’t agree with me, but here’s what I’d like to see at Wrestlemania XXXI:

Barret should keep the IC title, but the match should spark rivalries among top beloved start Ambrose, Bryan and Ziggler. It's good for heel turns, or for faces fighting each other - to make it look like it's a competition after all (let's face it - faces against the authority to keep their jobs is getting ridiculous).

Mizdow should win the Andre memorial Battle Royal, with Miz taking it away and the two should finally start fighting it out. It's been building up long enough and it would become really boring if it doesn't happen soon.

HHH should, naturally, pull all the tricks against Sting, but he should counter most of them - except being outnumbered. When they gang up on Sting, people like Booker T and other former WCW stars should rally to help - maybe even Goldberg!

Orton should destroy Seth, making the Authority want him back - and dropping Seth, who'd have to start working for his reputation again.

The Divas... don't get me started, it's so wrong... Paige and AJ had great rivalry and good matches, Bellas were fighting each other and became friends again... it's all overused as there's not enough diversity to keep the whole division going if you only play it around these four girls.

Rusev should win! I know, Cena will... but he shouldn't. This should be Rusev's face turn - stop being the hero of Russian federation, remember he's Bulgarian Brute and win for himself - not Russia... but definitely win! His streak is important to him and company - when it's gone, he's just another brute (kind of what happened to Kane, when he stopped being the devilish big red machine).

Lesner should win!!! Everybody is made to believe that Roman will get the title, because the WWE machine is putting him in such a spot. Lesner should keep the title with a clean victory. The title should remain something of an almost impossible thing to get, with a much better build-up for the next champ than - I don't think you people should hate me.

And for my personal main event - The Phenom vs. The Eater of Worlds!

Personally, I don't care which one wins. The match should be awesome, if the Dead Man is in good enough shape. But after the match, the winner should take the other person's souls in a very dramatic way - linking them both for the time to come. Where the one is the master and the other is a puppet, controlled through the urns.

If Undertaker wins, he controls Wyatt and takes him to the next level (let's say as the weapon of the Ministry or something), if Wyatt wins, Undertaker should be accompanying him to ring, to do the dirty work, to intimidate... Undertaker can have a "passive" ring side career, but should return either way (either as the puppet master or puppet - with Wyatt doing most of the wrestling).

Best wishes, Borut

Wrestling Lab goes online

Hello everybody and welcome to my new blog - Wrestling Laboratory

It's the Friday before Wrestlemania XXXI and I'll talk about that later on, but we all know Roman Reigns will probably get the title from Brock Lesner, even though many people hate the idea, Sting is expected to bash Triple H's ribs in with a bat and Daniel Bryan could make people start caring for the IC belt again... Well at least that's what I've been reading on many other posts, blogs, reports.

Now I have to say that until September 2013 I've completely forgotten about WWE - sounds crazy, right? But it got me hooked again.

It's been in the late nighties, right in the middle of the Monday night wars, when WCW was winning, that I stopped following pro-wrestling all together.

So how it all started:

I started watching pro wrestling in 1987 with my parents. Being a child in a "communist state" I started growing up with 4 TV channels (and two of them were foreign which I didn't understand, but liked the cartoons a lot). They were all public and "serious" TV, none of them showing anything like wrestling.

But in 1987 we got cable and the variety of channels grew up to 12!!! Among them there was the Euro sport that aired some catch-as-you-catch-can shows from Britain. It was time of Bud Spencer slapstick comedy (I guess most US readers have never heard of the Italian spaghetti western stars Bud Spencer and Terence Hill, but they're huge in Europe... there's no real equivalent for them in the US movie roster). So I loved first pro wrestling I saw... and when WWF started airing (on 3 of those 12 channels) I got hooked even if I still haven't understood a word of the commentary.

It was the era of Hulkamania, Macho Madness and Ultimate Warriors. Andre the Giant and the Heart Attack were the talk of the town and Jake the Snake made many of us realize - yes, there are people that do have snakes as pets (something unheard off in Yugoslavia).

The number of channels airing WWF got reduced to 1 (in German, which I started understanding by then) and no other promotion was shown, until TNT in Europe started showing Monday Nitro. I loved TNT for the great classical movies and now I got to see pro-wrestling on it - and in English (which I preferred over German) as a foreign language - NICE! At the same time Euro sport started showing WSW (I think it was New Japan... with great matches such as: Pegasus Kid a.k.a. Chris Benoit vs. Jushin Thunder Liger or Scott Norton vs. Big Van Vader).

But who were these guys? I didn't know them... oh, wait, there was that heel Ric Flair that fought Macho Man at one of the wrestlemanias... never did figure out why he was talked about so much.

Well, now I figured out there were several pro-wrestling promotions and that the one I got to see on TNT is featuring more and more characters I got to miss in the WW(still)F. There was Okerlund, there was Heenan, and there were wrestles like Scott Hall and Kevin Nash coming in (it was the beginning of the Outsider era). Naturally Hulk Hogan and Macho Man were already there, and the Warrior came in and Bret Heart (nope, I never heard of the Montreal Screw job until September 2013)... so I started following WCW for some time and lost all interest in wrestling quite soon  (as each show ended with some stupid gang take over the set and no matched ended except with interference).

So missing out on the attitude era and returning to wrestling after Wrestlemania XXIX was a huge leap into the WWE universe (first I had to read why the name changed).

Getting to know new characters and looking at them as a grown up this time, reconnecting to the childhood nostalgia, I found it an interesting world indeed.

Why would anybody like John Cena was beyond me and I really enjoyed the fact that the crowd went down the middle on him.

One of the stars I could understand and like  although he was supposed to be a heel, though, was Bray Wyatt. And when I tuned into Wrestlemania XXX and saw Hogan opening it - good old days were back! I even saw Undertaker got beaten for the first time at Wrestlemania - so I didn't really miss much. I still saw some of his early wrestlemanias where he started setting up the streak and now I saw the streak broken - by Lesnar, which did seem convincing.

And with all I've learned and experienced in life since I was a kid and looking at wrestling with completely new eyes and most importantly - catching up on lost years (not living them but getting all the info in at once) with a critical distance to the events, made me whole different kind of a wrestling fan.

Best wishes, Borut