Recently, Pro Wrestling Collision (PWC) debuted with the PWC Collision Cup to crown the inaugural PWC Heavyweight Champion. The above clip is the very first match in the history of the promotion even though Joey O’Riley is announced as the PWC No Limits Champion prior to the action. How did he get the title? Well, there’s probably a good answer to that somewhere, but for now let’s just pretend that he did a really good job washing the promoter’s car.
The bout begins with a lot of striking that all looks fairly weak until Joey pulls Matt in by the arm to give him a loud punch (or is that a slap?). On the outside there is a halfway nifty spot where Matt Irish whips Joey over some ring steps then Joey jumps over them and tries to attack Matt by jumping off of them. This is spoiled a bit by looking way too choreographed. A “you can’t wrestle” chant breaks out a short time later, which is almost never good to feature in the first match of a promotion. At least the commentators (one of which has a lisp that is impossible to miss) acknowledge it, which is more than one can say for WWE commentators whenever the same chant breaks out on their shows.
A few standalone spots stand out like Matt’s gutbuster, a running shooting star press by Joey and a springboard DDT from Joey to Matt. There are also decent moves on and through the ropes, respectively, like Matt accidentally hitting his manager Zakk Sawyer with a suicide dive and Joey missing a 450 splash. The ending is a little botched as Joey tries to pin Matt out of a cobra clutch like how Bret Hart defeated “Stone Cold” Steve Austin at Survivor Series 1996, but Joey can’t twist all the way to a stand.
Okay, you TNA haters. It is true enough that the company has been guilty of all of these sins to some extent. Still, the asylum (or former asylum anyway) is nowhere near as badly run in TNA as it was in WCW. However, here are a few wrestlers TNA could sign to start fixing that. Why, you may ask? Just for giggles.
1. Vader
Vader made a brief return to the WWE earlier this year and promptly squashed Heath Slater. He then followed this up by coming to blows with a nearly 70 year old Harley Race. Even with Vince Russo gone the company has shown a desire to continue booking worked-shoots. Well, using the WCW philosophy there is no better way to trick an audience into believing something might be real than hiring someone who may actually have a screw or two lose. How else can you explain Scott Steiner’s 2000-2001 push? Sure, the mastodon may not be as fearsome as he once was and there is no way he can cut a promo like Scott Steiner (who can?), but to live up to WCW’s name TNA needs to starting taking chances. Incredible chances, illogical chances, idiotic chances! With TNA’s riskiest recent signing being Christian York a guy who probably should have been signed to a major company ten years ago and probably gets paid with Monopoly money, TNA needs to throw some big bucks at Vader to balance things out.
2. Shark Boy
With TNA showing some love for underwhelming reveals recently the company has taken some strides to resemble the old WCW. But was Devon really as bad of a reveal as Road Warrior Animal? Perhaps. Still, sometimes “perhaps” just isn’t good enough. A way to top this would be by running some short vignettes saying that “3:16 is coming to TNA” only to reveal that instead of Austin, TNA has brought back Shark Boy with his tribute to “Stone Cold” Steve Austin gimmick. Actually, going beyond just for giggles bringing back Shark Boy may not be that bad of an idea. He could work with a lot of the X division guys and TNA could probably get away with not paying him that much. Of course as long as York is willing to share his Monopoly money with Shark Boy then why not?
3. Adam Bomb
Now, I know what you’re saying. “Isn’t that guy dead.” No, that’s Brian Adams. Yes, it is easy to get the former Demolition Crush mixed up with people whether it be his former tag team partners or a Canadian singer-songwriter. What you also may be saying is, “Hasn’t Bryan Clarke been retired for like 10 years? God knows what kind of shape he is in?” To that I answer that if Brock Lesnar can return to the WWE in 2012 then surely Adam Bomb can return to TNA in 2013. If nothing else he could be signed to a short term contract and fed to a bigger hoss the way that he was fed to Bill Goldberg in the original WCW. I think Samoa Joe is hungry.
4. El Generico
Like Shark Boy this guy could fit in great by wrestling the X division roster. Plus, one of the legacies that WCW left behind was the company’s tendency to sign world class talent and do absolutely nothing with them. They had the technical wizard himself, freaking Yuji Nagata for over a year and the most he did was briefly feud with Ultimo Dragon and then was quietly swept under the ring. Just think of all the potential they could pee away with El Generico. Generico is one of the most well traveled independent wrestles out there and has wrestled in countries as random as Peru, Chile and Sweden. TNA signing him to an exclusive contract could kill that traveling act just like Nagata’s commitment to WCW prevented who knows how many potential great matches for NJPW. Somewhere John Laurinaitis’ mouth is watering.
5. Kevin Steen
El Generico and Kevin Steen go together like peanut butter and ketchup to a weirdo without taste buds. For some reason you can’t have one without the other. If TNA signed El Generico then it stands to reason that they would have to sign Steen…then promptly make no mention of their past history together. Steen is the kind of guy who could come in and if positioned right could look like a legitimate challenge to someone the company has already built up. Say Bully Ray for example. Of course if they were to follow the WCW model they couldn’t book him that well. After all his name is Kevin Steen, not Bil Goldberg or Lance Storm. So if TNA signed Steen then perhaps the best he could hope for would be a one sided feud with Bully before quickly dropping down the card. Alternatively, they could throw him in with Aces & 8s since the company loves to throw away talent that way.
6. Scott Steiner
As mentioned earlier no one can cut a promo quite like Scott Steiner so why not bring him back? He’s already suing TNA anyway so what could be a more amicable way to end this bad blood then with a nice fat paycheck. On the negative side Scott Steiner has been hit or miss in the ring for a while now and he’s not getting any younger. On the positive side the man has that Ultimate Warrior kind of appeal that can only come from some legitimate insanity. Kind of like why Damien Demento developed a cult following after he started making Internet videos a few years back. Wait! That’s it! Give Steiner his own Internet recap show! License to print money.
2. Taka Michinoku vs. The Great Sasuke from WWF In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede (1997)
Thank you for your bandwidth. Last week, you asked me for a great match you had never seen and I gave you Sid vs. Vader. For those of you who didn’t run screaming, this week I’ll be rewarding you for your loyalty. And if you’re just tuning in, this is the second of six installments where I dig up classic matches that nobody remembers seeing. Today, we go from 1996 in the WWF to 1997, and it’s going to look like a whole new world. For those of you who don’t remember…the first image is the WWF in 1996.
WWF entryway and ring from 1996
Then came 1997…
WWF entryway and ring from 1997
This was only a nine month period, by the way. Within another nine month period, we would have practically a new company, as everything from the Raw theme to the WWF logo itself would change drastically. I got to say that to a young kid like me who spent his entire childhood watching the old red, white and blue roped product, only to hit junior high and see the WWF grow up with you, turning from a family-friendly cartoon into a cutting-edge rock music video…I really don’t care how badly I am butchering English grammar. The WWF was fucking unrecognizible from one side of the transition to the other, and I got to have a front row seat for the greatest time to be a wrestling fan. It really was another Golden Era.
But not everything was a resounding success back then. For every Steve Austin, The Rock, Mankind and D-Generation X…you have Brawl For Alls, Billy Gunn King Of The Rings and you have WWF Light Heavyweight Championships. Not all of it worked. One day I’ll rip the Brawl For All out of its own rectum in a separate article, and I know someone else will already have the ‘biggest disappointments of all time’ covered somewhere down the road. But out of all of those things I just mentioned, the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship should have not only worked…it should have flourished. It was the hardest of the three to fuck up.
In the summer of 1997, the WWF and WCW were on a hot streak that was so hot, we’re still finding pieces of molten metal to this day from the trail that the business left during that period. Every time we see Ryback squash somebody, a piece of history flies off into the crowd. One of WCW’s biggest draws was one of its smallest…its cruiserweight division. Rey Mysterio Jr. and Eddie Guerrero are the two who acheived the most success outside of WCW, but it’s not like they had a bunch of scrubs to work with: Chris Jericho, Ultimo Dragon, Psychosis, Juventud Guerrera, Alex Wright, any Mexican luchador you can think of who wasn’t signed long-term to AAA or CMLL, and many more. And while two 240-pound men can put on a mat wrestling clinic, and pack it with tons of drama and action…let’s face it. There are things a smaller wrestler can do that the big boys just got to give up and go home on. And these men would follow up such high-flying offense with a power move to equal. Chris Jericho would powerbomb your ass, pick you up off the ground, powerbomb you again, then bounce off the ropes and hit you with a springboard moonsault. You know…I think Kurt Angle is one of the best of all-time, but I don’t see him pulling off a springboard anything. (Well, given his track record wth the 450, I predict that if Kurt Angle tries to springboard anything, he will just headbutt his opponent so hard they shit themselves.)
Naturally, when your competitor is doing something different and making money at it…you have to do the obvious and copy the bastard, or come as close as you can to copying him without breaking the law. So Vince McMahon did the smart thing, and introduced the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship. Vince then did the dumb thing and booked the worst fucking tournament ever to crown the inaugural champ. This tournament was the worst of all time. At least until Survivor Series 1998. Want proof? Let me give you the first round brackets. Aguila, known better as Essa Rios, defeats Super Crazy in a botchtastic clusterfuck of a match I remember watching live on Monday Night Raw while Jim Cornette, on commentary, blasted the fuck out of it because both guys were sloppy as piss. While some people like to call him an old fogey set in his ways, you couldn’t argue with him watching this match. It was pretty bad. The rest of this thing? Eric Shelley over Scott Taylor, Brian Christopher and Flash Flanagan. Jerry Lynn was advertised to be in one of the opening matches, but something tells me the weed wore off right before the pen in his hand touched the paper because he never did show up for that first round match. Way to add prestige to your brand new title by having one of the best talents in the division ditch your tournament before the first round.
Oh, and Devon Storm lost to the eventual winner, Taka Michinoku. Taka Michinoku…now there is a man with some talents and abilities. A man that, honestly, you could watch walk into a new company in a foreign country, win a belt, and not question it because let’s face it, the guy can wrestle. But nobody in the WWF knew that. Only one of those guys had ever stepped foot in a WWF ring before this tournament in Scott Taylor, and he was perennial enhancement talent up to this point.
Well, I take that back. Two of them. Because in July, Taka Michinoku made his WWF Debut against…THE GREAT FUCKING SASUKE. That’s right. Pick the brick up that just fell from under your chair. Taka Michinoku wrestled Great Sasuke on a WWF pay-per-view. In 1997. But wrestled isn’t the word for it, more like kit-foo’d.
Kit-foo means “kicked the fuck out of.”
And that was this match. Kicks, kicks, flying kicks, flying moves, grappling, holy shit slap, kick, slap…and then they stopped playing around, and began to really tear into one another. At one point I wondered if maybe one of them owed the other money, or if Taka ate the last piece of sushi at lunch, possibly Sasuke screwed his sister and this was a precursor to the Val Venis pee pee angle…I don’t know, I just want to know why these two got in the ring, worked for two minutes, then mutually agreed that they would begin to stiff and shoot until either they died or the FBI sent riot troops to protect the crowd from the shockwaves when these guys hit each other. I thought I saw the ring ropes themselves cower in fear at some of the kicks Sasuke was landing.
Look this match up. I won’t post .gifs or stillshots of this match (other than the one above) because they won’t do it justice. No matter how high the quality or the framerate, I cannot articulate this match to you with neither words nor pictures. Stiff, stiff, stiff. No restholds necessary for these two, despite going fifteen minutes. Plenty of dives to the floor. Taka does a springboard plancha to the outside and gets so much airtime on his jump, I thought he was going to check a faulty lightbulb while he was up there. He had to have died a minimum of three times in this match, and still kicked out on rigor mortis alone. After it’s all over, Taka eventually does the job to Sasuke…who poses briefly, and then it’s back to the locker room and back to reality for the WWF fans.
Daniel pointed out to me that yes, these two did have a second match on Raw the next night after this match. Strangely enough, Taka lost yet again making me wonder who was supposed to win that belt in the first place. If it was Taka, making him lose his first two matches really hurt the credibility of the title in my opinion, particularly in such good matches. Taka needed to have a match of this caliber where he WON. They just needed to pay Sasuke whatever they needed to pay him to job this match. If they had, perhaps the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship would have been so much more prestigious that instead of the afterthought that the title had become (in less than two years, Gillberg would be your damn LHC) it might have gotten the dignity it deserved. This match should have been the showpiece for the WWF’s Light Heavyweight Division. If you had told the 12 year old me watching this match that there was an entire division with titles just for guys this small who did this stuff, I’d swear to never watch a heavyweight match again until the next week on Raw.
So…why don’t people remember this match? Because it was Calgary Stampede, a throwaway show with only one match: the ten-man tag featuring The Hart Foundation versus the makeshuft tandem of The Legion of Doom, Goldust, Ken Shamrock, and Steve Austin. The only reason this shit even sold tickets and pay-per-view buys was the fact that it took place in Calgary and the place went apeshit for the Harts. They also went apeshit for this match as well. I think this match was a treat for the smart fans of Canada, and possibly the smart fans in America as well. If this pay-per-view had taken place in, say, Pittsburgh or Kansas City…I highly doubt we would have gotten such a good match. This pay-per-view was meant to put the Harts over and make everybody a ton of money for going black and pink for a day. A lot of stuff got overlooked, including the WWF Championship itself.
A smart man would have paid The Great Sasuke whatever he asked for to do the job to Taka. I don’t know if the plan was for Taka to become the first LHC all along, but if it was, they did a shitty job of making us think he was a credible champion right out of the gate with this match. He made us believe he was a tremendous wrestler and he would never give up, that he had a fighting spirit and was somebody we all should rally behind. But those are qualities of a championship CONTENDER. Those aren’t qualities of somebody you want to put the belt on initially. If this was the route they wanted to go, they needed to put the belt on the only other person they seemed to give a shit about pushing in the Light Heavyweight division…Brian Christopher. Problem was, he was a half-ass worker from Memphis who, quite honestly, couldn’t hang with the Japanese or Mexican workers or even the American high flyers. If you don’t remember, he was Jerry Lawler’s son, and they all but told you this on TV because fuck it, had to get him over somehow.
So this thing was kind of doomed from the start, as they had to make everyone look like a credible contender all at once, and there’s only one belt you can give to a guy. Nobody knew who these guys were, and all they knew is they were good, but when we saw them the first time they got beat. Some more effort into pushing who you had, or at least going out and paying the money for a little bit more, could have went a long way. Oh well, at least we got to see a kick ass cruiserweight puro match in the WWF. And that’s awesome with me.
Next week…I’m not sure what you’re going to get, but whatever it is, rest assured it’ll be awesome. It’s a surprise. Hey, maybe you could leave comments and suggestions to me as well. I like to incorporate other people’s opinions into my work, it’s how you become a better critic. I’m also curious to see what people think of my work so far. So please drop me a line. We have a comment button for a reason. I’m Madman Szalinski, and in the words of Jim Cornette…”if you wanna know what a guy looks like with bald hair, tell me first so I can book him in a hair match and sell some tickets, k? Thank you, fuck you, bye.”
As a matter of fact, that’s how long I’ve been a wrestling fan for.
Professional wrestling has always been a stable where I live. Whether it was WCW Monday Nitro, or later with WWE Raw, there was always the sound of “Let the Bodies Hit the Floor”.
I had caught bits and pieces of SmackDown in the early summer days of 2002, but they were scattered and too far in between.
It was when I saw Raw for the first time in its entirety which got me hooked through the nose.
July 22, 2002 was the date. It was the night after Vengeance. The Rock had just become the undisputed WWE champion, Eric Bischoff was running the joint, and his newest acquisition was one HHH.
After some friendly persuasion from Shawn Michaels, HHH decided that the only way to compete in the WWE was to rekindle some of the fire left behind in the Attitude Era.
Only it would be short lived.
A thunderous pedigree during a D-Generation X reunion left a friendship shattered, and a four-year blood feud ensued.
It was the camaraderie of that, Eddie Guerrero talking trash with The Rock, amongst a host of others that finally embraced me into the wacky world of sports entertainment.
While there were times the WWE would test my patience, I always came back to it. Some of it is habit while some of it is like feeling like you’re seeing a best friend again.
Some of my favorite wrestling memories also includes:
*My brother got a tape of Wrestlemania 13 one year for Christmas. This was the first time I have watched Wrestlemania from bell to bell. I will say this: Through the horrible video and audio, that Steve Austin and Bret Hart left a lasting impression on me. Both men beat the hell out of each other while the passion they showed in their craft was more enduring. Austin, bleeding like insanity, finally passed out in Bret’s patented sharpshooter. The only thing I didn’t know at the time was that this was the most masterful double turn in the company’s history. Probably even professional wrestling too while I’m at it.
*For Wrestlemania XX at the house, it was quite the affair. A good parade of people was there with no shortage of refreshments and possibilities. One of my brother’s friends during the three way main event asked, “When will someone bleed?” A couple of minutes later, Shawn Michaels catapulted himself into the post and bled a nine on The Muta Scale. This was mere minutes after a gaggle of people, including myself, imitated Paul Bearer before the real one came out!
*June 7, 2010. That Raw was a piece of shit. Three hours long and nothing happened at all. John Cena seemingly had CM Punk disposed of. However, off in the distance, laid Wade Barrett and his steely eyes. Michael Tarver, who may have had a baby for dinner, jumped the barricade. Wait, all the NXT guys are jumping the ring! Cena got his ass whooped! “I’m not better than you,” as Daniel Bryan would kick John Cena’s fucking head in. The ring imploded, the desks were destroyed, and it left a lasting impression. For three hours of suck-ass television before it, those 15 minutes were amongst the best things in the last decade.
I hope some of you may identify with these moments, and perhaps even chuckled slightly. You’ll be enjoying more of The Tome of Bad Booking shortly.
Yesterday, I posted a little bit about how much Kazuchika Okada has progressed in a short amount of time. Despite being only 25 years-old he has already held the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, arguably the most prestigious wrestling title outside of the United States.
When this match with Taichi Ishikari took place Okada was already a four year veteran of the industry, but he was still being treated like a rookie in NJPW. Just look at those plain black tights! They’re okay if you’re “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, but for young guys in NJPW that outfit tends to mean that the jury is still out on the athletes’ future with the company.
The action begins with a lot of headlocks and reversals, but before long the match erupts into a dueling chopfest. Ishikari wins after Okada loses his balance. The pace of the match slows down a bit and Okada soon finds himself in a devastating single-leg Boston crab. Ishikari has it locked on in the middle of the ring, but Okada earns some applause when he makes the ropes. Okada battles back and even lands a sweet looking dropkick. Still, Okada comes up short when Ishikari delivers a dropkick of his own leading to the pin. Following the match Okada is nice enough to give an interview. My Japanese isn’t great, but from what I can tell he says, “my head hurts and I’m sweaty.”
Despite what many may think of Vince Russo there is one undeniable fact about him. The man knew how to take some simple wordplay and spin it into an entire gimmick. Just to name a few there was Beaver Cleavage, Val Venis sounding suspiciously like penis and even top TNA heel Bully Ray being a play on the old Buh Buh Ray Dudley name. Was Vince Russo 100 percent responsible for these gimmicks? It is tough to say for certain, but since he takes so much credit for characters like “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and The Rock anyway then lets just say that he is. With TNA and Vince Russo mutually parting ways earlier this year then there is no way fans will get these 6 Potentially Horrible TNA Gimmicks Based on Silly Wordplay.
1. AJ Styles Becomes AJ’s Bile
TNA has never shied away from attacking WWE. With AJ Lee’s annoying run as Raw General Manager over TNA could make the point that AJ had so much poison in her that even finally taking away the GM title could not prevent it from spilling out. As such it finally needed to be discharged and in doing so it became AJ’s Bile. AJ could then wear a slimy luchador costume and have a gimmick where other wrestlers refuse to touch him. At least it would give AJ a reason to go on a winning streak (under all the wrong conditions of course).
2. Bully Ray Becomes Bully Gay
With TNA going against all common sense and turning a terrific heel like Bully Ray face they might as well go all out with it. Bully Ray could make an announcement (preferably on October 11) that the reason he had been angry for so long was because he had repressed his sexual orientation. This could also put more heel heat on Devon as he could say that Devon forced him to hide his true identity. Bully could then have a a feud ready to go with AJ Styles based on some past comments that he made. This could be either before or after AJ portrays the aforementioned bodily fluid.
3. Christian York Becomes Christian Pork
Following TNA Gut Check, Christian York says what finally got him a contract in the big leagues is the fire in his gut. He thanks pork for creating this fire and takes on a gimmick where he worships pig meat. This could then lead to a feud with a Jewish wrestler who could be brought into TNA to promote the importance of a kosher diet. TNA has plenty to pick from: Raven, Bill Goldberg, even the “legendary” Brimstone. My pick would be Colt Cabana. If nothing else it would give Colt a chance to hock more of his merchandise.
4. Al Snow Becomes I’ll Blow
As a member of the TNA staff Al Snow doesn’t have the most shinning track record. Nearly every member of the TNA Gut Check competition that he said yes to has either not gotten a contract with TNA or won a contract and has promptly never been seen on TNA television again. The one exception to this is Joey Ryan. In that case he was denied a contract before causing all kinds of problems for TNA and then earning a contract after defeating…Al Snow. In this prospective storyline Snow could get fired for his lackluster performance and become hard up for money. No longer the in-ring performer he once was he has to earn money the only way he knows how…prostitution. Every week Al will come out and fans will start chanting “we want head!” Only now instead of wrestling, Al will just take a few male members of the audience to the back with him. Tragically, I could actually see this happening even without Russo.
5. James Storm Becomes James Swarm
James Storm being the lovable beer drinker that he is decides to start making a new homemade brew with honey. Rather than buy honey he decides to make it fresh by raising his own bees. The beer making and beekeeping on top of wrestling gets to be too much for him. Add to this his constant drinking and a psychological breakdown is imminent. After a hilarious worked shoot promo he goes full-on crazy heel. From now on he demands to be called James Swarm, lord of the bees. This could even lead to a cameo by Kamala’s old beekeeping manager Kimchee.
6. Kid Kash Becomes Kid CrashKid Gash Kid Rash
Kid Kash could make the leap from being a forgettable undercard heel to a forgettable undercard face based on this gimmick. Kid Kash could first gain sympathy when the commentators announce in the middle of a show that Kid has been in a car crash. He comes in next week and cuts a promo where he says that he is not going to let his accident prevent him from wrestling and will own the mishap by renaming himself Kid Crash. The following week Kid wrestles his first match back from the incident when the commentators notices a huge cut on his back. Mike Tenay and Taz quickly give him the name Kid Gash. A month or two goes by and Kid is consistently appearing on TNA television. Yet, since he never got a chance to rest from his injury his cut has become infected. He then earns the name Kid Rash…and I’ll stop right there.
Interviewer’s Note: Trent Adams wrestled his first match for the Conwy County Wrestling Academy (CCWA) this year. Aside from being a performer he is also a co-founder and co-owner of CCWA. Although Adams is based in the United Kingdom he first became interested in professional wrestling through watching American programming, in particular the WWF. Since the CCWA has launched aside from developing their own talent they have also worked with Basix Pro Wrestling (BPW) The CCWA has a website that can be viewed here and a Facebook page located here. In this interview Adams and I focus on the topic of starting out as a wrestler in the year 2012.
Daniel Johnson: My first question is for those unfamiliar with you where and when were you born? Trent Adams: I was born June 6th, 1989 in St. Asaph, a small town in Wales, UK.
Daniel Johnson: What is your first memory of professional wrestling? Trent Adams: My first memory would have to be when I was about four or five and my mother bought me one of the old Hasbro WWF wrestling rings and a Hulk Hogan figure. I don’t remember watching any wrestling at the time but I remember being quite happy with the ring.
Daniel Johnson: Who were your favorite wrestlers growing up? Trent Adams: I didn’t actually get into wrestling properly until late 1997. By that time you had guys like Steve Austin, Mankind, The Undertaker and The Rock, and they all had interesting stuff going on. These four were my favorites during the first couple of years of me watching.
Daniel Johnson: When did you first decide that you wanted to go from being a fan of professional wrestling to being an actual wrestler? Trent Adams: Really within the first few years of watching. So by around age 10 I’d kind of made up my mind that wrestling would be something I’d really like to do. The characters, athleticism, whacky storylines. All of it just appealed to me so much from an early age.
Daniel Johnson: How did your friends and family react to you wanting to become a professional wrestler? Was everyone supportive or was anyone against it? Trent Adams: My family, especially my mother has always been supportive of it. She always gives me the encouragement I need. With friends it’s a bit different. You have a few that think it’s pretty cool then there’s the rest that are like ‘yeah okay, good luck with that’ or go on about how ‘fake’ wrestling is, which is annoying.
Daniel Johnson: How did you find a place to train to become a professional wrestler? Did any of your pre-wrestling friends train with you or was it just you? Trent Adams: There’s a small wrestling company in the UK that has been going for years and is linked with the ‘World of Sport’ era of UK wrestling. They used to hold shows in Rhyl, Wales. I found out in 2006 that they allowed people to come and do a bit of training before the shows started. So I thought I’d give it a try. I remember enjoying taking the bumps and running the ropes but at the time I was out of shape and my head wasn’t where it needed to be as I had a lot of stuff going on at the time. So I only went for a few weeks. It was just me at first but I got my best friend to come along for a few sessions. He left shortly after me.
Daniel Johnson: When did you decide to go back to training? Trent Adams: After doing a bit of training in 2006 I thought to myself ‘yes I still want to do this, but I need to get in shape, be prepared and get my life sorted out first. I went through some bad times that I really didn’t recover from until last year. And it was last year that me and Will Mason, a friend from work were joking around about owning a wrestling company and were thinking up crazy gimmicks. But Will used to do wrestling a few years ago around the Birmingham area and knew some people we could get in contact with if we were serious about doing it. Not long after we thought ‘you know, let’s try and do it’. So the plan was to open a wrestling school in the local area with Will as the head trainer.
Daniel Johnson: What was the most challenging part of training? Trent Adams: I can’t really think of any aspect of the training that was too challenging, but I did have to keep reminding myself that I’ll get better and not to worry if I couldn’t do things right straight away. My first couple of months I kept thinking ‘I hope I’m doing well and progressing. I hope I can do this’.
Daniel Johnson: How would you best describe your style of wrestling? Trent Adams: I hope technical haha. That’s the style I want to use but as I gain more experience I want to mix it up with some high flying. As I said my early favorites were guys like Austin and The Rock, but as I grew up I really started to appreciate guys with ‘workrate’. Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho, Bret Hart and more recently CM Punk. Guys who could actually wrestle and tell a story in the ring. These are the people I watch and learn from.
Daniel Johnson: How did you decide on the name Trent Adams as your wrestling name? Trent Adams: I wanted to use part of my real name in there somewhere so I thought to use my first name as my last and then just wanted a cool sounding first name haha. I’ve only seen ‘Trent’ used a few times in wrestling so it’s quite original I guess. It just seems to work well.
Daniel Johnson: From your knowledge of the industry how is starting out in 2012 different from say starting in the 1980s or 1990s or even earlier? Trent Adams: I’d assume it’s easier, in nearly every aspect. I didn’t realize until getting in to the business myself that the UK is literally full of promotions. It’s pretty cool. It is kind of like the 1970s and 1980s when wrestling in America wasn’t mainstream and was just made of regional territories. The good thing with this is, if someone wants to get into wrestling these days, they don’t have to look very far for a promotion. Also, the mindset of what makes a wrestler has changed a lot I think. Promoters and fans alike know that you don’t have to be 6’5″ and 250 pounds to make it. Which is good for someone of my size as I’m 5’11″, 170 pounds.
Daniel Johnson: Do you watch any wrestling today that influences your in-ring performance? If so who are the guys in 2012 to watch and learn from for you? Trent Adams: As far as watching current wrestling, I’m still a big WWE fan, but my focus has changed from Raw and SmackDown to NXT and Superstars. So while I’ll still catch the odd CM Punk or Daniel Bryan match here and there, I’m more interested in wrestlers like Curt Hawkins, Johnny Curtis, Tyson Kidd, Michael McGillicutty and Seth Rollins. I think anyone can learn a lot from watching these, whether it’s to improve selling, working the crowd, the pacing of a match or any other aspect.
Daniel Johnson: This is a pretty broad question, but what do you like most and least about performing as a wrestler in 2012? Trent Adams: As a performer/promoter I’d say the thing I like most is what I mentioned before. The number of promotions in the UK. It’s so easy for fans to go and watch live wrestling. But this leads into what I like least. A lot of these promotions aren’t willing to help each other. We have been associated with Basix Pro Wrestling, based in Deeside, UK since we started the training school because we were smart enough to say ‘we want to open a wrestling school and eventually run shows, can you help us out?’ And they’ve helped us in so many ways, with training, helping to put on shows, etc. It seems a lot of promotions aren’t willing to do the same, apart from allowing wrestlers to work someone else’s show. It’s a shame because if more companies worked together it would be better for the UK scene as a whole.
Daniel Johnson: I saw your first match on YouTube. What was the process like of setting this match up? How were you paired with your opponent? Trent Adams: It was originally meant to be a triple threat match as that way I’d have two experienced guys to work with. Plans changed leading up to the show and it was decided to just be me and Ace Jordan. I was nervous but Ace and I had worked together a lot at training and had a general idea of what we wanted to do. I’m happy and quite surprised with the outcome as we only really planned out the first couple of spots and the finish. The rest was called as we went along. Apart from a blown spot, the match went how we wanted it to.
Daniel Johnson: I noticed that during your match someone kept blowing an air horn or something like that. What was up with that and did it throw you off at all? Trent Adams: Yeah I believe one of the guys blowing the air horns was Mike Roberts, the owner of Basix Pro Wrestling haha. Honestly it didn’t throw me off at all. The more noise, the better. It was kind of surreal in a way as even though we were in front of over 100 people, it’s like they weren’t there. I remembered to work the crowd a bit and I got a buzz off their reactions but at the same time I was able to really focus on working the match.
Daniel Johnson: You also take a spot from the outside to the floor, which looks like a pretty tough spot for someone’s first match. Was this a dangerous spot to take at all? Also, what spots have been the toughest for you to plan? Trent Adams: It was dangerous in one way as it was the first time I’ve ever been thrown out of a ring. I really had no idea how I was going to go over. You’re taught to go over the top by holding the top rope, leaning over and putting your other hand on the apron and then swinging your legs over. I knew that wouldn’t have the right impact. So Ace throws me to the ropes and I just thought ‘go for it!’ It looks nasty but it actually didn’t hurt in the slightest haha. There’s been no tough spots to plan as such but there’s a sequence in the match where we both do the headlock takeover, Japanese arm drag and the basic arm drag. I wasn’t looking forward to it at all because during training sessions my arm drags and headlock takeovers looked terrible no matter how much effort I put in. Watching the sequence back though I’m happy with it.
Daniel Johnson: What was up with the masked wrestler making an appearance after your match? Who was he? Trent Adams: That’s Byson. His character at the moment is a big guy who just likes to destroy people. He attacked another one of our guys, Jimmy Vanquish, later that night.
Daniel Johnson: Switching topics, can you give me a rundown of how you managed to pull off your first show as the co-founder and co-owner of the CCWA? What actions were taken between you first wanting to have a wrestling event and it actually happening? Trent Adams: Back when we were planning everything we knew we had to have some kind of open day for people to come along and sign up. So we asked Mike from Basix if he could come down with a few guys and put on an exhibition show with a Q & A afterwards, letting people know what they can learn and accomplish. We had that exhibition show in March and the school opened the following week. For our first proper show in May we got in touch with Mike and arranged a date, then we booked the venue. After that it’s just a matter of booking the matches, raising the money and promoting the show as much as possible.
Daniel Johnson: A lot of wrestling promotions now use new media and social media to enhance and promote their product. How do you use new media and social media? Trent Adams: We have a website and a Facebook page, but this is one area we need to improve on really. Especially keeping the website up to date.
Daniel Johnson: As part of my last few questions I like to ask five non-wrestling related questions just to bring a little uniqueness to the interview. If you don’t have an answer or don’t want to answer one of them just feel free to say, “skip.” Outside of wrestling, what television shows do you enjoy watching these days? Trent Adams: Mostly The Simpsons, especially the classic episodes. Also South Park and Family Guy.
Daniel Johnson: What was your favorite movie that came out this year? Trent Adams: I haven’t seen any movies released this year haha. Not even The Dark Knight Rises.
Daniel Johnson: Yeah, I’ve heard mixed things on that one even if it has been making a ton. Anyway, what is your favorite food that you tried for the first time this year? Trent Adams: Mango chutney haha. I tried it once on a sandwich and loved it! I have it with everything.
Daniel Johnson: What is your favorite song to come out this year? Trent Adams: No one song in particular. But, to go back to wrestling slightly, the songs used for Wrestlemania this year were pretty cool. “Good Feeling” by Flo Rida and “Invincible” by Machine Gun Kelly.
Daniel Johnson: Did you vote in your last local election? If so would you be willing to say for who? Trent Adams: No I didn’t. I should really as they say every vote counts but I have little interest haha.
Daniel Johnson: My last question is just is there anything you would like to add or mention that we haven’t talked about? Trent Adams: Yes. I just want to say to everyone, as cliche as it sounds follow your dreams, no matter how big or small. If you want to do something, do it and don’t let anyone stop you. It takes time and effort but it’s worth it when you can say you’re doing something you’ve wanted to do since you were a kid and not have to compromise or settle for anything else!
Check out Trent Adams in his debut match! Here he battles Ace Jordan at the Conwy Civic Hall:
Imagine “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Ken Shamrock, Goldust and The Legion of Doom took on Bret Hart, Owen Hart, The British Bulldog, Brian Pillman and Jim Neidhart. Wait, scratch that. That actually happened. Okay, imagine “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, Ricky Steamboat, Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle took on Bret Hart, CM Punk, Ric Flair, “Macho Man” Randy Savage and Curt Hennig all while they were at or near their prime. Now subtract one from each team and make them Japanese women and you more or less get this match.
Without hyperbole I can say that this is not only arguably the greatest women’s match in the history of professional wrestling, but arguably one of the greatest mutli-person/gimmick matches as well. This was no easy feat as it took two promotions, eight top joshi wrestlers and what could arguably be considered five matches rather than one to pull it off.
This may all be a bit confusing so let me explain. This was an interpromotional bout between Japanese Women Pro-Wrestling Project (JWP) and All Japan Women’s Pro Wrestling (AJW) called Thunder Queen Battle. Representing JWP was Hikari Fukuoka, Cutie Suzuki, Mayumi Ozaki and Dynami Kansai against AJW’s Sakie Hasegawa, Takako Inoue, Kyoko Inoue and Aja Kong. One combatant from each team was paired up in four five minute singles matches to begin the first wave of action. No matter what each singles bout had to last five minutes. If someone lost before the time ran out then the opposing team would be awarded one point. After these singles matches a 40 minute eight person tag match was held with the team earning the most points after the time expired being named the winners.
JWP gains an early advantage when Fukuoka manages to pin Hasegawa with a small package after less than three minutes of the first singles encounter. It looks like AJW is going to be the underdogs until in the last pairing Kong gets a knock out win over Kansai after some vicious striking. Brilliant! It ties things up for the main course and makes Kong look like a beast!
The tag match has plenty of action including Kyoko Inoue nearly getting embedded into the mat after the JWP team delivers a stampede of top rope stomps. Speaking of high impact moves Kong hits one of her own with a massive elbow on Suzuki for a point. Kong’s stiffness doesn’t end there because she also hits a sick looking lariat on Kansai when she is going for another splash mountain after just pinning Kyoko Inoue with that move.
As the bout winds down there is only seconds left with Ozaki and Takako Inoue as the legal wrestlers in the ring. Each promotion is tied with two points a piece. Who wins, JWP or AJW? There is only one way to find out! Watch the video if you haven’t already, you won’t regret it!
Here’s a match from four years ago with two guys who are a lot more well known now than they were in 2008 in Championship Wrestling Experience. They should have improved a lot too since that time.
On the plus side I enjoy how the commentators play up the different styles of Shiima Xion and Johnny Gargano with Xion being praised for his speed and Gargano’s technical skills being trumpeted. Also, a refreshing thing about this match is that either wrestler could convincingly win. On the negative side the match is indyrrific at times with a lot of impressive moves being done and no psychology behind them. Also, Larry Sweeney is missing, which is never a good thing. Although we do have M-Dogg 20, pre-Steve Austin attempting to scare his personality to the surface on commentary.
One trait that the pairs of Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat, Steve Austin and The Rock, Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar all have in common is amazing chemistry. Notice how the last pair is the most recent, but still seems quite less memorable than the first two? I mentioned Angle and Brock as a pair to show that the value placed on two wrestlers having fantastic chemistry seems to get overlooked often in favor of new matches between an established wrestler and a debuting or returning star.
Still, plenty of the younger crop of wrestlers have formed working relationship and who knows , maybe someday the pair of Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly can be mentioned as being comparable to Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat. This match shows that at the time they had all the moves down, but were severely lacking in psychology. Admittedly the short window of time they had for the match limits them, but still. Trading belly-to-back suplexes with Adam Cole in particular looking like being dumped on his head gave him a power up rather than a hurting is a little much. Of course the two have grown considerably since this meeting and only the future can say for sure where they’ll go.
