We can be a bit ridiculous at times, and we are digging on these WWE Slamcrate‘s by LootCrate!
Here is What Phil thought:
And my thoughts:
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I have been watching wrestling since I was a small child, later participating on the independent scene myself. When I was a child, was during the heyday of 80’s wrestling. When you look at wrestlers of yesteryear and how they have evolved over time, you notice some big changes.
Historically wrestlers were strongmen types, with maybe a few normal looking grapplers thrown into the mix. The men of the ring may have been larger, but weren’t very far outside the normal realm of what a human being looked like. Wrestlers in the early to mid 1900’s you saw body types like Stanislaus Zbyszko, Ed Gotch, Gorgeous George, even through the early 70’s when Bruno Sammartino was the biggest star in wrestling, he wouldn’t be what is considered “fit” by today’s standards. This all changed in the late 70’s and early 1980’s when body builders started getting recruited by promoters, like Earl Maynard in the late 60’s to Hulk Hogan and Jesse “The Body” Ventura, in the late 70’s, and that was the beginning of the era of cartoonish, over the top looking characters that continued through the the end of the century.
Fast forward to the late 90’s -2000’s and everyone looked like they stepped out of a body building contest. Chris Masters had no neck. I was seriously worried for his health during this time, as he often looked really unhealthy despite his mass, and the things you take to get this big, cause heart issues, metabolic issues, as well as put stress on your muscle tissues. Times started to change when the company came under fire over steroid abuse, and the deaths of Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero.
Right now you will notice,wrestlers don’t look like they did during the early 2000’s when steroids, HGH, and testosterone seemed to be everywhere. They have shrunk down, lost muscle mass, you can see necks again. But in this return to the days of more average looking workers, you find an ugly side of fandom. Body shaming.
Kevin Owens, is the WWE Universal Champion. Kevin began on the independent scene, and made a name for himself. He was a guy the average person could relate with, whether he was a face or a heel. He worked his ass off, and made it to the WWE. The main gripe I hear about him, is how he looks. I consistently see people say he sucks because he is “fat”. Many of these folks would either never step in the ring themselves, or seem jealous they didn’t “make it” to the same level. He was never a super slim guy but had put on a few pounds during a hiatus in the ROH day, and has lost weight from his heaviest point since his return. He’s 6′ tall and weighs a bit over 260.
Then most recently I came across this article asking if Kassius Ohno’s weight will hold him back. People are talking about his weight gain, also stating the following…
“There are rumors that Ohno suffers from a thyroid issue that makes it difficult for him to lose weight.”
So you still feel ok posting a clickbait article about his weight gain, which could be because of a health issue? Classy. Meanwhile those of us who have watched him wrestle for the past decade (or more) respect the time and work he has put in as a wrestler and coach, while “the internet” instead of being happy for him getting a push, writes dozens of articles about how he looks? What about how he WRESTLES? Did his weight seem like it was an issue? It did not look like it to me.
You all need to reevaluate yourselves as humans. Would you like this done to you? Is it his job to entertain you with his skills or are you only entertained by looks like the WWE staff of the 90’s?
As we know men aren’t the only ones criticized for their bodies. Women face incredible challenges with promotions both mainstream and independent. We are told to lose weight, get boob jobs, that we aren’t “pretty enough” or you don’t have the “right face”, or “right build”. Though we have seen some changes to the WWE Diva’s in this respect, we still have a long way to go. I’ll be writing more on this subject in another article.
Stop idealizing body shapes, start respecting talent.
Raw opens with a memorial to Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka.
REALLY NO 10 BELL SALUTE?
Then goes directly into a strange MLK/Black History mashup, which is odd, because I am not sure Vince likes black people, after all look at how he treated Kamala.
Roman Reigns comes out to the ring, empty handed after last weeks screw job by Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens. Cuts a promo for the Royal Rumble.
Paul Heyman comes out while Roman is still in the ring and announces the return of Brock Lesner… (yuck…) The crowd is chanting Goldberg… (seriously?) Heyman goes on to explain how the Rumble works… Roman trolls Heyman, and Jericho and Owens come out to the entrance way… nothing but talking. I barely remember what wrestling looks like at this point, and this promo is seriously boring.
Then… Seth Rollins comes out, OH GOOD MORE PROMOS.
At least Seth Rollins sounds excited, like he actually WANTS TO fight!
Then Braun Strowman comes out… at least he doesn’t talk.
Then, of course, out comes Lesner, fake pumped up and as confused looking as ever. Rollins gets his wish and it breaks out in mayhem as Sami Zayn ran out of no where and attacks Strowman. This leaves us with Zayn and Lesner facing off… Lesner suplexes him. Strowman gets back in the ring… sounds like the live audience cares as much as I do… everyone else gets back involved… Lesner gives RR the F5 to end this segment. Meh.
They announce a few of the entrants into the Rumble including The Undertaker.
Rusev and Curt Hawkins are in the Ring, Big Cass and Enzo come out, looking a bit more intense than usual. A short, yet decent match ends with Enzo getting the pin on Rusev.
Ariya Daivari comes to the ring, his opponent is Lince Dorado! Nice. It really makes me happy to see folks who worked hard get to the big time, even if the match ended with him tapping out.
They come back with some highlights from the UK tournament, available on the WWE Network.
Then they show a video of Nia Jax attacking Sasha Banks during her medical evaluation earlier in the day.
Cesaro’s music hits, he comes to the entrace way, then Sheamus’s music hits and they post on the entrance ramp, they are defending the Tag Team titles against Anderson and Gallows, whom I really hate their gimmick, they remind me of neo nazi’s…
Cesaro and Anderson start it off, Anderson gets worked over Cesaro tagged Sheamus in, then Sheamus tags Cesaro back in Anderson takes over and tags Gallows in. Gallows elbows Cesaro in the chest… I guess he doesn’t know how to wrestle? He tags Anderson back in… it goes back and forth for a bit, all the guys are fighting. Gallows kicks Sheamus in the face, and… commercial break. sigh.
They come back from break with Gallows and Anderson in control, do a big double team on Sheamus, no pin. Sheamus finally tags out, as does Gallows, Cesaro unloads on Anderson, near fall. Swiss-1-9… lol, kick out, Cesaro knocks Anderson down again, 2 count. Cesaro gives Anderson the big swing into the sharp shooter, Gallows breaks the hold. Anderson is now in control, but Cesaro fights back, Anderson gives Cesaro a big spine buster but Sheamus breaks the pin. Sheamus runs into the ref… Uh oh… Cesaro gets worked over by both Anderson and Gallows, new ref comes in and Anderson and Gallows get the pin, and the belts… oh no wait… the won by DQ because Sheamus knocked out the ref, so no belts. Ha.
A Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka video montage, with voice overs from superstars, and bits of Jimmy speaking, tweets from WWE wrestlers past and present about Snuka’s passing.
Still no 10 bell salute, which I feel is super disrespectful and shows how out of touch WWE has gotten from wrestling tradition. sigh.
The come back with a locker room promo with Sami Zayn having a awkward convo with Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins… Pointless…
Rich Swann the current Cruiser-weight champion comes to the ring, Neville comes running out of the crowd and attacks Swann. Is this a match or just an attack? There was no bell but there are 3 refs in the ring. Tony Nese comes out and attacks Swann.
I guess this must be a lead up for the Rumble?
The New Day comes out, as happy and shiny as ever. Feeding the crowd Booty O’s on the way to the ring. Crowd seems happier to see them, then anyone else so far, Chanting “New Day Rocks”. They cut a promo about the Royal Rumble and how the 3 of them are entering, as individuals. They insist whoever wins, means they all win. I really hope this isn’t the beginning of the end, I can’t take the pain of the New Day breaking up. Titus O’Neil shows up at ringside, saying he doesn’t want to be in The New day, he wants to replace The New Day. He’s asking them to hook him up with one of their spots in the Rumble. They say no, he says he will take it, hes going to wrestle one of them for their spot. Big E accepts the challenge. Titus and Big E will wrestle after this… I hope Titus wrestles better than he cuts promos.
The match starts after the break, and O’Neil dominates the match, however it comes off like he’s just some big guy they stuck in the ring after training him for the day. Its almost disrespectful to Big E. He finally comes back, and hits O’Neil with The Big Ending, and wins the match. Titus O’Neil is a monster, but he needs a lot of polishing.
Charlotte comes out, cuts a promo about how she achieved her success and won the women’s championship. She then trashes Bayley for being “average” and the fans too. She then shows photos of Bayley back in her Fan days as a kid, and continues to make fun of her. Then goes on about how when Bayley was a poetry writing fan girl, she was training and playing division 1 volleyball. She pulls out an “old essay” from Bayley, and continues to berate her. Bayleys music hits, she comes to the ring, looking really pissed and chases Charlotte out of the ring. Bayley then gets the mic and tells Charlotte this is isn’t necessary. Bayley tells Charlotte, she is not embarrassed of ashamed of her passion and love for WWE. Bayley makes fun of Charlotte for having her dad get her in, when Bayleys dad did whatever he could to get her to shows growing up. This is probably the best promo of the night so far. Bayley made up a poem for Charlotte… Roses are red, violets are blue, at Royal Rumble I will defeat you. She then spits out two more poems off the top of her head about beating Charlotte at the Royal Rumble.
Is this a wrestling show or a talk show? We are 2.5 hours in and only 4 matches!!!
Cruiserweight match, Brian Kendrick vs Cedrick Alexander, Alexander takes control early in the match, Kendrick eye rakes him and takes over, Kendrick struggles to get Alexander into a full nelson but Alexander breaks the hold and takes back over until Kendrick cuts him off with a elbow. Kendrick tries to corner Alexander but it doesn’t work and he takes back over, gets a 2 count, but Kendrick breaks the pin. Kendrick gets Alexander in another submission and Alica Fox comes to the ring. (Alexander broke up with her last week on 205 Live) Kendrick chases Fox outside the ring for a moment, gets back into the ring, but Alexander is read, gets him with the lumbar chuck, and gets the pin.
Promo with Nia Jax about Sasha. Nia is proud she broke her, and the buzz is now about her.
Return from break with Alicia Fox talking about her breakup with Cedrick Alexander, freaks out… walks off…
Hall of Fame Announcement, First Inductee of 2017 is Olympic Gold Medalist and former Champion Kurt Angle.
6 man Tag team match! It’s Kevin Owens, Chris Jericho and Braun Strowman VS Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Sami Zayn.
Match starts, frankly I have no idea whats going on… 3 hrs in I am too tired for this.
Poor Sami Zayn, he is clearly going to take the brunt of the abuse in this match.
Match goes back and forth, I think Roman Reigns and Kevin Owens work well off each other. Forgot Strowman was at ringside, hes a monster, but has zero personality.
Commercial… again… in the middle of a match. I hate this shit. I hate it so much it makes me not want to finish this report… sigh. (Though I complain, I pause it on the DVR, so I can fast forward past commercials… ha!)
They come back and Roman Reigns is getting his ass beat by Owens and Jericho, and the ref if yelling at Rollins. Apparently Reigns got super kicked by Owens during the break. Owens gets reigns into a submission in the middle of the ring, but Reigns fights out of it and gives him a Samoan drop. They both get the tag, Rollins and Jericho, Rollins is in control, Rollins takes out Jericho on the outside, at the same time Zayn takes out Owens, Rollins gets Jericho back in the ring, 2 count on Jericho kick out. Rollins goes for the pedigree, but Jericho counters, they do this twice, Strowman gets in the ring after Jericho tags him in. Zayn runs in attacks Strowman, Rollins tries to Pedigree Strowman, but gets back dropped instead. Reigns gets in on it with a super punch on Strowman, he still doesn’t fall, Rollins takes out Owens and Jericho on the outside, then Zayn takes Strowman out with a high body Lateral press, but only gets the two count. Zayn gets up and runs at Strowman, but Strowman cuts him off with a clothesline, then Strowman power slams Zayn for the 3 count.
After the match Strowman continues to abuse Zayn, but Rollins comes and slaps him with a chair, then Reigns spears him. More mayhem as they tear apart the announce table to throw Strowman through it but Owens and Jericho come to his rescue. more fighting, on the entrance ramp, Kevin Owens gets the chair and wrecks everyone. He then grabs Reigns to set him up for a power bomb through the announce table.
FINALLY ITS OVER!
Final notes: Hella pissed about no 10 Bell Salute for Snuka, it was disrespectful to him and to tradition. Disappointed there wasn’t a women’s match, and lastly, I really want to see more wrestling and less talking.
Make sure you catch the Royal Rumble this weekend on the WWE Network!
We would like to extend our condolences to the Family of Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka. Jimmy was 73, and was suffering from stomach cancer. He recently was deemed unfit to stand trial for the death of his girlfriend in 1983 as we have previously reported.
Jimmy was known as a high flying wrestler, who was very much the inspiration for what you see in wrestling today. Jimmy was also one of the few wrestlers to wrestle barefooted. He also was the first person to wrestle the Undertaker. In his career he worked for many wrestling companies and territories, and worked the independent wrestling circuit until 2014.
On a personal note. I worked on a few shows with him during the time I was involved in wrestling. He treated everyone with respect, whether you were the champ or the ring crew, and was a very humble man. It was always a pleasure to be in his presence.
Rest in peace.
Sabu recently had hip replacement surgery as I wrote about previously. His manager, and my wrestling comrade, Melissa Coates is doing an incredible amount of work to help him get the funds to pay off the surgery, and to live, as he can no longer get an income from wrestling. The message below is from Melissa, who is currently helping Sabu get merchandising going. If you want to help him out, please buy through the info below, and please share this story!
SABU: BLOOD, GUTS&BARBED WIRE 2017 calendars now available. Limited number and these are almost gone! Get this awesome calendar in tribute to the Hardcore Icon Sabu, and help him pay off his hip surgery at the same time!
Go to: Gofundme.com/prowrestlersabu for any immediate donations, or invest in his hardcore calendar. $30 USD plus postage ($5 for US/CAN orders, $10 for international, please US funds only!) to paypal coateswrack@yahoo.com (his Super Genie Melissa Coates is his manager and handling his merchandise at the moment, including the Sabu Souvenir Boxes) as family/friend to avoid excess charges, and include your full address. You can inbox Melissa on her realmelissacoates fb acct, or email her at melissacoates@yahoo.com regarding other payment methods.
Sabu also has turbins, wrestling pants, barbed wire, action figures, kendo sticks, broken table pieces, dvds, 8x10s, tshirt, baseball caps, many other custom orders available. Everything can be verified to be official SABU merchandise through a certificate of authenticity, and photos of Sabu signing the item you have purchased. Be aware that just buying Sabu merchandise from anywhere DOES NOT MEAN THE MONEY IS GOING TO SABU…the only way to do this is to order through Sabu or through his Super Genie Melissa Coates, or through companies like www.prowrestlingtees.com which is the premier wrestling fans’ online tshirt store, and has a selection of amazing Sabu Tshirts, including their HARDCORE LEGEND tshirt which was made as a limited edition tshirt and includes an autographed 8×10 to donate $ towards Sabu’s recent hip replacement surgery.
Anyone wanting to donate directly, can go to gofundme.com/prowrestlersabu. Email melissacoates@yahoo.com for more any questions, comments or ideas.
Breaking News from The Morning Call
The 34-year mystery surrounding Nancy Argentino’s death may forever remain unsolved now that a Lehigh County judge has dismissed homicide charges against retired WWE wrestler Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka.
During a closed-door hearing in Allentown Tuesday, Judge Kelly L. Banach granted defense attorney Robert Kirwan’s motion to end the case, which stalled in June when the judge found Snuka, 73, incompetent to stand trial.
This was the background photo on her profile, and it seemed to be an appropriate sentiment.
If you were involved in or attended wrestling shows in New Jersey and PA, you may have come across Karen Belcher at one of these shows. We just lerned of her passing. She was well known to and liked by independent wrestlers who she helped promote through Pro Wrestling Digest. She was often armed with her camera at these events, taking photos of all the workers. I’ve personally been friends with Karen for 11 years, and we mostly spoke online. I really had a lot of love for that woman and all she did for us. She was the definition of wonderful human being. Thank you Karen!
Photo by Karen Belcher DWOW Philly
Photo by Karen Belcher JAPW Womens Division NJ
Raw opens with a promo featuring Chris Jericho, Kevin Owens, and Mick Foley. Mick Foley tells Jericho he will be suspended in a cage above the ring at The Royal Rumble, Foley shows Jericho the safety of the cage, “inadvertently” (yeah right) locking him into the cage, then “mistakenly” calls for it to be lifted off the ground, leaving Jericho begging for his life out of fear of heights.
Big Cass vs Rusev, Rusev wins by DQ. Meh… Best part of the match was the entrance.
Backstage, Jericho has gotten out of the cage, and Kevin Owens is trying to console him, while he is still in the midst of a full fledged panic attack from being suspended above the ring. I feel your pain bro.
Sasha Banks comes out to the ring on one crutch with a brace on her left knee, She cuts a promo about giving it her all, tapping out twice and almost getting her leg broken, going to war with Charlotte, and them making history in women’s wrestling. She says while she hurts from losing the belt, but the better woman won, asks Charlotte to come out so she can look her in the eyes and congratulate her. Silence for 30 seconds, then Nia Jax music hits, she comes to ringside staring down Sasha banks the whole way, entering the ring to look at Sasha, then cuts a promo, saying “she may be a boss of the sheep out there, but would never be the boss of her,… shes week, wounded and a nothing but a little girl”, then kicks the crutch out from under Sasha, then attacks the hurt knee of the former women’s champion. Damn.
Mick Foley does a backstage promo with Cesaro and Sheamus, about being proud of them, presents them with new raw tag team titles… as soon as they get the new titles they start arguing… Foley is called away to deal with Braun Strowman throwing refs and tables around, looking for Sami Zayn. Mick Foley asks Braun to take the night off, he threatens hes wants Sami or else.
Cedric Alexander vs Noam Dar starts, and immediately goes to commercial break. All I have learned thus far is they have heat from something that happened on the new cruiserweight show 205 Live which is exclusive to the WWE Network. This match is fast paced, Alicia Foxx is at ringside as Cedric’s girlfriend. Cedric takes control early in the match, and easily picks up the win. Bonus: Austin Aries on commentary
Noam Dar breathlessly cuts a promo from ringside, saying he wants Alicia. Ewww creepy.
So far, way more talking than wrestling…
Can’t fast forward through terrible commercials, despite pausing dvr, BOOOO
The New Day makes their first entrance to RAW without the tag belts. Cuts a positive promo about losing just means they can win again, as they get into the ring Cesaro’s music hits, followed by Sheamus’s music, they cut a promo before making their way to the ring, where of course they are arguing again… New Day Shames Sheamus for thinking they were congratulating him, they were thanking Cesaro. Sheamus doesn’t care what anyone thinks… Sheamus thinks he can hold the titles for 20 years… lol The New day has the POP (Power of Positivity) Anderson and Gallows come to the ring… Then the Shining Stars… Then a brawl breaks out, finally some fighting.
When we come back from commercial there is a spontaneous 4 team tag match with two teams on each side, The New Day, and the New Tag Champs Team Up, and Anderson and Gallows are with the Shining Stars, too much to follow to write about. I hate commercial breaks in the middle of matches too. Match ends with a spin and a sharpshooter from Cesaro on one of the Shining Stars.
Big Cass and Enzo talking in the locker room, Enzo gets a letter, He is required to go to mandatory sensitivity training tonight for “exposing himself in the workplace” on November 21st. (seriously???)
Neville comes to to the ring to cut a promo about destroying all the cruiserweights, as we totally needed to see ANOTHER promo on this episode of RAW. He says hes going to 205 live to obliterate the division. Rich Swan comes out, tells Neville he used to look up to him. Neville demands respect as “the True King of The cruiserweights” (wtf) Then Brian Kendrick comes out, cutting more promos, seriously, can you people all shut up and fight already? Kendrick and Neville team up on Rich Swan, TJP comes out to save Swan and gets his ass beat too.
Sensitivity training, Enzo, Jinder Mahal and others were sitting in a circle with a therapist. Hell I think I need one after all these promos. Does anyone fight on this show anymore?
Sin Cara vs Titus O’Neil, No contest as in the first 40 seconds Braun Strowman comes out and destroys them both. Mick Foley comes out pleading for Strowman to stop, Strowman threw Sin Cara through a tree and the pile of gifts, then knocked over the Christmas display.
Another backstage promo with Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho, sigh…
Charlotte Flair the new RAW Women’s Champion comes to the ring, hey its another promo! Bailey’s music hits, she comes out dancing. Charlotte is mad at being interrupted, Bailey just wants to congratulate her. Charlotte tells her to join the audience she should be paying for a ticket, Bailey declares she wants to begin a rivalry with Charlotte. Bailey challenges Charlotte to a fight after Charlotte says she isn’t good enough. Charlotte accepts, and calls for a ref. Finally wrestling… after this commercial break. Charlotte controls the first part of the match Bailey gains steam, another commercial break. these breaks really ruin the momentum of matches. We come back from break Charlotte is in control. Bailey finely comes back, Charlotte cuts her off regains control, but is cut short when Bailey pins her in this non championship bout.
More sensitivity training… sigh. Another commercial, Sensitivity training graduation ending with Rusev and Jinder beating the shit out of Enzo and putting him through a table.
Main Event, Seth Rollins and US Champion Roman Reigns vs Universal Champion Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho I’m exhausted from all the talking so it’s hard to pay attention and write. As much as I like the guys in the ring, I could care less about this match, so honestly its a little boring. How many times are we going to watch these guys wrestle before the rumble? This is why WWE needs to bring back jobbers, instead of jobbing regular talent. Braun Strowman ran out and attacked Roman Reigns just as the match was getting interesting, bell was rung, match is over. Boooo
While it is better than it was at times in the past, RAW still has a lot to work on, seriously 75% of this show is talking, I’d like to see them cut down on that tremendously in 2017, its really annoying.
So that was it, I don’t always watch RAW, and usually just catch PPV’s these days, but I figured since I had the opportunity I would recap it here for you!
Cesaro and Sheamus beat The New Day to become the new Tag Team Champions, and destroy their reign as longest title holders.
Sami Zayn outlasted Braun Strowman for the predetermined 10 minute time limit. (Stupid stipulation IMO) At one point in the match Mick Foley came to ringside with the towel, the audience chanted to him “Save his life” as Sami took a good amount of punishment tonight.
Seth Rollins beat Chris Jerocho after Kevin Owens came to ringside. Was a bit disappointed as this was a kitchen sink match, where they pulled every move out of their arsenal, but not in a way that made me care. Also I am worried about Chris Jericho, his face color wasn’t good.
Rich Swan retains the Cruiserweight Championship over Brian Kendrick and TJ Perkins.
30 minute IronWoman Match: Charlotte scores the first fall with only 10 minutes left in the match… Sasha Banks scores a fall with 8:21 left in the match…Sasha locks in the Banks Stateent scores another fall with 6 minutes left… Charlotte locks in a figure 4, with 2 minutes to go, holds it in until thete was 4 econds left, Sasha tapped, tying the match, timeran out leading to SUDDEN DEATH OVERTIME !!! Sasha banks attempts the bank statement again, Charlotte reversed it into a figure 4 neck bridge, and Sasha had no choice to tap. Charlotte is the new womens champion, and Sasha has a bloody nose.
Kevin Owens retains championship by dq because of Jerichos interference. Seth Rollins came out to start shit as well, and Roman Reigns threw Jericho through one of the announce tables, then he and Rollins teamed up on Owens and threw hin through a table (We have a lot of announce tables these days, waiting for them to go through Funakis table so he can beat them… )
I enjoyed the Womens match the most, followed by tag and cruiserweights. The main event was ok, but lackluster for a PPV match. I expect more from them. overall it was a decent show.
Final Chapter is always a tumultuous time in Perth Pro Wrestling, but this year we saw more than our fair share of endings, and at least a few new beginnings.
Bring on 2017, Perth Pro Wrestling Old School Reload, and the longest-running tag team tournament in Australian Wrestling history, the Headshrinker Samu Legacy Cup Tournament!
