the jeff hardy situation

WWE: Jeff Hardy - My Life, My Rules
by now most of you have heard of the jeff hardy arrest yesterday, if not here is tmz's coverage: http://www.tmz.com/2009/09/11/former-wwe-champion-busted-for-steroids-pills/

ok now go back and read through it again. those are not typos. the man had 262 vicoden pills, 180 soma pills, 555 milliliters of anabolic steroids and a residual amount of powder cocaine. that is an insane amount of drugs for one man to have. as most of you also know this is not hardy's first drug related issue. he has failed the wwe's wellness policy twice. this is a cry for help people.

the following is what hardy posted on his twitter page: "For the record, Matt didn't bail me out, loan me money, or is his name on anything.. He's just learning about today's situation.." and "The media is the media, I wish they would at least report the story correctly & accurately. I will make a statement later."

how much more cut and dry can it be hardy? you have a tremendous amount of drugs and a history of drug use, what else are we supposed to think?

i said this before when talking about kurt angle's situation earlier this year, but i will again. someone needs to have an intervention for this young man. he is going down the path of so many other high profile wrestlers that have died way too early. if he manages to get through this, and that is a big if, he needs to be held accountable for himself and get help. someone needs to step up and talk to him.

i guess i am just venting because i don't want to see someone else that has brought so much joy into my life prematurely end theirs by overdosing.

dvd review: the rise & fall of wcw

i just got done watching the rise & fall of wcw dvd. i was not expecting much out of the dvd. i kind of expected it to be all negative, coming from the wwe. overall i felt like i was wanting more. they either ran through important angles and moments too quickly or skipped them completely. the group of people they interviewed gave a bunch of different perspectives. from the bookers like dusty rhodes and kevin sullivan to the wrestlers like goldberg and magnum ta to backstage people like harry schiller and eric bischoff. it felt like they tried to cover all the bases in that respect.

i did like the fact that they showed respect to the fact that wcw did dominate the ratings war for a long time. the maybe should have gave a better idea of how bad off the wwe was because of this. they touched on some of the big time feuds through the history. it seems like they skipped over the importance of sting and his role in wcw.

some of the highlights of the documentary were the different bookers and how the people at turner did not want any wrestlers running the business. just goes to show how ineptly the promotion was run. also they touched on how important the cruiserweights were to the popularity of wcw. i also found it interesting that the wwe actually showed the rumors that vince russo was secretly working for the wwe to destroy wcw from the inside. they never denied it by the way.

some of the misses were not really going into the popularity of sting, he is touched on a little but he should have had a whole segment. they did not really get into the departures of the radicalz, big show, chris jericho, or even raven as turning points in wcw's demise. brett hart was not even mentioned, nor how bad the messed up what could have been a huge angle with him coming off the montreal screw job. the ric flair come back was not included either. this was a huge moment in the history of wcw. also taking jabs at jeff jarrett seamed a little bush league.

now onto the extras. i will just give quick reviews of each extra.

lost in cleveland: this was the mick foley segments when he disappeared to sell an injury. really bad stuff there, but funny to watch now.

bill watts defends himself: basically this is watts saying he is not a racist, i could have lived without this on the dvd.

spam man: interesting that wcw actually pitched an idea to spam for a wrestler with a spam gimmick. i am so glad spam turned them down.

the origin of goldberg: one of the better segments on the dvd. i am not a goldberg fan, bout i found this very interesting.

bischoff gives away raw results: i wonder if he is really regretful of giving out the results or he just said that because it was a dvd produced by wwe.

onto the matches

ric flair vs magnum ta: good match, nice way to show newer fans who never saw magnum wrestle how over he was.

sting, lex luger, and barry windham vs ric flair, arn anderson, and tully blanchard: i am guessing this is on here to showcase the horsemen.

dusty rhodes vs barry whindham: great match, these are two of the better wrestlers in wcw at the time and this match does not disappoint.

ric flair vs ricky the dragon steamboat: one of the best matches in the history of wrestling.

the rock 'n' roll express vs the midnight express: great feud, i am glad the two teams are represented here.

the steiner brothers vs sting and lex luger: ok match i guess. i think both teams have had better.

sting vs big van vader: vader was an absolute monster at this time. if you want to see him in his prime this is a good example.

rick rude vs sting: another great match. rick rude does not get enough respect for how good he was.

ric flair vs hulk hogan: i hated this match. at the time i felt like it made wcw seem minor league. to have hogan win the belt in his first match in wcw seemed to make flair less important.

ric flair vs the giant: one of the better matches from the giant in wcw, he was still really green here but flair managed to get a good match from him.

rey mysterio jr vs dean malenko: awesome match. malenko and mysterio were perfect adversaries for each other.

team wcw-sting, lex luger, ric flair, and arn anderson vs team nwo-hulk hogan, kevin nash, scott hall, and nwo sting: the build up for the match was better than the actual match. the whole is sting going to join the nwo was a huge angle. it also set up the crow sting gimmick with him in the rafters.

syxx vs eddie guerrero: this was a ladder match. probably the best match of syxx's career.

eddie guerrero vs dean malenko: another good cruiserweight match, makes me miss the cruiserweight division.

chris jericho vs juventud gurrrera: see comments from the last match.

the steiner brothers vs the outsiders: ok match. i wish the steiners were represnted better on this. at one time they were they best in the world.

diamond dallas page and karl malone vs hulk hogan and dennis rodman: malone was good but rodman was horrible.

goldberg vs ddp: i actually liked this match more now than when it happened.

booker t vs lance storm: i am shocked this match made the cut. i love both these guys as wrestlers and this match does not disappoint.

spotlight: raven

today's spotlight is going to be on one of the most controversial wrestlers that ever graced the squared circle, raven. influential, psychotic, drug addict, innovator, mastermind, hardcore, genius, all these terms have been used to describe raven. we will take a look at one of the masters of psychological warfare and some of his most memorable moments.

raven started his career as scotty the body. he would wrestle around several independent federations going by both scotty the body and scott anthony. he would gain his first national exposure as part of the global wrestling federation that aired nationally on espn. he would wrestle and announce for the gwf.

raven would join wcw as scotty flamingo. he would mainly wrestle in the light heavyweight division and win the wcw light heavyweight championship, which was a precursor to the wcw cruiserweight title. he would join the diamond mine faction with diamond dallas page, vinnie vegas(kevin nash), and the diamond studd(scott hall). he would feud with brian pillman, brad armstrong, and johnny b badd(mark mero) mostly during this run. the biggest match he had was a boxing match against johnny b badd at clash of the champions xxi. flamingo would pick up the win when ddp and vinnie vegas poured water into his gloves to make them heavier.

he would go on to a short run in wwf as johnny polo. his gimmick was to be a spoiled rich kid. mostly he was a manager for adam bomb and more successfully the quebecers. he would lead the quebecers to 3 tag team title reigns as their manager. he also would do some behind the scenes work as a producer for monday night raw.

raven would grow tired of his role in wwf. he would make a move to ecw and become one of the most interesting wrestlers on the planet. he would debut in ecw helping stevie richards attack tommy dreamer. upon his debut he became raven, a nihilistic character with a grunge style ring attire. he would immediately start a feud that would define booth men's careers with tommy dreamer. raven would claim that dreamer was an enemy form his childhood summer camp. beulah mcgillicutty was brought in as raven's valet. according to raven she had a crush on tommy dreamer when they were kids but dreamer would not date her because she was fat. beulah would grow up to be a penthouse pet. raven and dreamer would feud for the better part of 2 years with dreamer always falling short, until raven's last match in ecw before joining wcw.

his feud with the sandman would generate some of the most controversial angles in the history of wrestling. raven would brainwash the sandman's son and have him denounce his father and join raven. he would also have sandman's wife lori join him in raven's nest. this lead to a bloody feud that would include the most controversial moment in the history of ecw. after a match with the sandman, raven would have his lackeys bring out a large wooden cross. he would tie sandman to the cross and place a crown of barbed wire on sandman's head. kurt angle was in attendance and was contemplating joining ecw, but he was so incensed that he threatened to sue ecw if his name was involved at all in the same episode as the crucifixion. paul heyman forced raven to go out and apologize to the fans. raven would dominate the 2 years he was in ecw. he had 2 runs as the world champion and 2 tag team championships.

during the summer of 1997 raven would be seen in sitting in the front row at wcw tv shows. he won his return match in wcw against former ally stevie richards. he would continue to show up in the front row at wcw events, only wrestlers would join him and become the faction known as the flock. eventually raven would accept a contract with wcw commissioner james j dillon. as part of his contract his matches would be contested under raven's rules, which mean there are no rules. raven managed to win the us title from ddp at spring stampede only to loose it the next night to bill goldberg. raven blamed the flock for his loss, mainly perry saturn, and this would lead into the demise of the flock. he would loose a match at fall brawl against perry saturn that would officially put an end to the flock. after his faction disbanded he would walk out in matches and cut interviews in a depressing manor. after a match at halloween havoc with chris jericho he would not be seen for a little while.

vignettes showing raven's childhood home would be shown. he was shown to be from an upper class neighborhood. this was supposed to be in reference to his earlier persona's in wrestling. he would have feuds with kanyon, bam bam bigelow, and hardcore hak(the sandman). raven would join a short lived stable called the dead pool with vampiro and the insane clown posse. at one wcw event eric bischoff would offer any contracted wrestler that was unhappy there release right then. raven was the only one to take up his offer. the only stipulation to his release was that he could not immediately go to the wwf.

on the debut show of ecw on tnn raven would make his return. the dudley boyz were leaving ecw and this was there last show on ecw and they threatened to leave with the tag team titles. tommy dreamer would defend the honor of ecw and go out to wrestle the dudleys on his own. during the match raven would come out hit a ddt and pick up the win for the team of raven and dreamer. dreamer would continue to be confused by raven helping him after years of feuding. the two would have a successful run as tag champions despite the personal differences. he would also team with mike awesome after him and dreamer lost the titles. him and awesome would also gain tag team gold. he run in ecw was short, basically just long enough for his no compete clause to end so he could go back to the wwf.

upon his return to the wwf he would be involved in the hardcore division. he would win the hardcore title a record 27 times. raven would appear in his only wrestlemania match at wrestlemania x-seven loosing the hardcore title to kane in a three way match that also involved the big show. raven would join the wcw/ecw alliance during the invasion angle. when the alliance lost the winner takes all match at survivor series raven would not be seen until the brand extension where he was drafted to the raw brand. raven would become an announcer for both sunday night heat and excess. after a few months as commentator he would quit to resume his wrestling career. he would loose a match against old nemesis tommy dreamer where the stipulation was he would leave raw. he would go back to wrestling on heat. raven was given the opportunity to start a gimick based off the seven deadly sins with him being the main draw on heat. this again did not last long. raven would go back to raw for oine match, he would loose to jeff hardy and be fired from the wwe.

after his stay in wwf/e he would go on to mainly appearing on nwa-tna as well as wrestling in one of the biggest feuds in the history of ring of honor with cm punk. immediately after joining tna he would engage in a feud with jeff jarrett over the nwa world heavyweight title. he would claim it was his destiny to win the belt. he would again start a faction this time called the gathering. it would include his rival from roh cm punk, julio dinero, and alexis laree(mickey james). he mainly feuded with james mitchell and his disciples of the new church faction. this would lead to raven loosing a match to shane douglas where he would have his head shaved. during the head shaving james mitchel cut a little to deep and it looked like a scalping. the gathering would turn on raven and join up with james mitchell.

in june 2005 raven would fulfill his self stated destiny and win the nwa title at slammiversary. he would keep the belt until september when he lost the belt to jeff jarrett at a border city wrestling show. during the match there was a run in by america's most wanted to help jarrett win. tna director of authority larry zbyszko declared the title change official. this lead to a feud between raven and zbyszko. zbyszko would bring in wrestlers like chris k(kanyon) and pj palaco(justin credible) to take on raven. he would loose a match against sean waltman where the stipulation was if raven lost he had to leave tna.

after a hiatus from wrestling raven would return to tna. he would form a faction called serotonin. he served mainly as the manager of the faction, occasionally wrestling. this faction did not last very long. he would eventually be released from tna. after that he would wrestle on in independent federations. eventually we would return earlier this year to help old friend dr stevie(stevie richards) in his feud against abyss. he was mainly brought in to help promote tna's slammiversary pay per view. it is not known at this time if he will be brought back to tna full time or not.

the future is a big question mark for raven. who knows if he will return to tna. he seems to have burned a bridge with the wwe after being a part of a lawsuit against them for health care and other benefits. no matter what he does raven will always stay one of the most interesting men in the history of pro wrestling.

kurt angle needs an intervention

i'm am writing this blog because i have serious concerns about kurt angle's health and well being. a couple of years ago angle had a severe drug problem that ending up with him leaving the wwe. he has been linked to steroid rings for quite a while now. fast forward to now, on august 15th 2009 angle was arrested for the following charges: driving while operating privilege is suspended, prohibited acts-possession, harassment and prohibited acts. angle is an amazing athlete however i feel his demons are catching up with him. the charges he is facing are very serious. i believe that this is all related back to his drug abuse problems.

we all know now the dangers of steroid abuse. not only is angle putting himself in danger he is also putting others in danger. i am hoping that someone that is close enough to him can set up an intervention for him. he needs to get his problems under control before he becomes at the least another statistic. in a business that we have seen the drug related deaths of prominent stars like brian pillman, test, rick rude, kurt hennig, eddie guerrero, and countless others it is a real tragedy that none of his friends are setting him down to try and get the help he obviously needs. i do not want to have to turn on the tv and see that angle has died of an overdose or worse. please someone in tna, wwe, olympic wrestling, or just a friend of the man get him help. i am sorry to my readers who are used to a more light hearted blog, but i feel i had to speak out somewhere.

spotlight: mick foley

today the spotlight is going to be shined on a true legend in the wrestling business, mick foley. whether you know him as mankind, cactus jack, dude love, or just by mick foley there is no denying he has left a permanent impact. mrs foley's baby boy is arguably the greatest hardcore style wrestler ever. the only problem is what do you write about a man that has 3 top selling autobiographies? well i don't claim to be on mick's level but i am going to try and do him justice.

mick foley grew up as a huge wrestling fan. he would go as far as video taping matches that he would have in his neighborhood with other friends, this was years before backyard wrestling was popular and is probably why it became popular. while in college foley traveled to madison square garden to see a steel cage match between don muraco and jimmy "superfly" snuka. it was in watching this match that foley would decide that he wanted to be a professional wrestler. he decided to train at dominic denucci' school in freedom, pa, even though he had to drive several hours a week just to get there.

after a few years wresting on the independent circuit in the northeast he went to wccw as cactus jack manson and joined skandar akbar's stable. he would have great success in this run. he was seen as a top heel in the company. he won tag team titles three times and even was the light heavyweight champion, i know mick foley light heavyweight i had to fact check and cross reference to believe it too. after this run foley would again wrestle in some independent organizations before moving on to wcw.

in wcw cactus jack would start off right at the top of the card. the first night there he attacked sting the promotions top baby face. foley would have feuds with van hammer and abdullah the butcher before finally meeting sting at the beach blast pay per view in 1992, he lost the match. according to foley himself this was his favorite match until a match with sean michaels several years later. in early 1993 foley would suffer a knee injury that required he take time off. for the story line vader porwerbombed foley onto the concrete floor after removing the mats. during his time away wcw would run vignettes about foley going crazy and developing amnesia.

cactus jack would return to save davey boy smith from being attacked by vader. he would go on to feud with vader. they had one of the bloodiest and most violent feuds in wcw's history. during a match with vader in germany cactus would do a spot in wich he got tied in the ropes. during this he would have 2/3 of his ear ripped off. after that incident a few months later he had the option of having reconstructive surgery to repair his ear or wrestle on a pay per view with kevin sullivan where they were scheduled to win the tag team titles. he chose to win the titles. during this time he was also wrestling in ecw as part of a talent exchange. he would throw the tag title down on ecw tv and get in hot water with wcw. foley would not stay much longer with wcw.

foley would go to ecw and begin what i think was the best run of his career, creatively. early on he would wrestle in tag team matches winning the tag titles twice with mikey whipwreak. he would split time between ecw, smw, and japan during his time in ecw. foley had memorable feuds with terry funk and the sandman. he would wrestle the sandman for the ecw title. during one match he would knock sandman out and be declared the winner only to have bill alfonso reverse the decision since the belt can not change hands on a knockout. foley would journey to japan and win iwa's legendary king of the deathmatch tournament.

when foley returned to ecw he began teaming with tommy dreamer. he would begin doing his anti hardcore promos during this time. he would say he was trying to save dreamer from going down the same path he had went trying to please the blood thirsty fans. cactus jack would turn on dreamer and join dreamer's arch enemy raven's stable. as part of raven's nest he would say he sees raven's higher purpose. part of foley's gimmick was that he would praise wwf and wcw on ecw. this generated a lot of heat for him with the fans. foley would sign with the wwf and on his last night in ecw he was noticeably choked up by the fans chanting "please don't go" during the match.

foley than took on the mankind persona upon joining the wwf. once again foley started off at the top of the card. he had a feud with the top star in the wwf at the time, the undertaker. foley has the best won/loss record of any wrestler against the undertaker. foley had another stellar match with sean michaels at in your house mind games. this cemented him as a top heel in the wwf. mankind would continue to feud with taker. jim ross would have a series of sit down interviews with foley. during these interviews mick's child hood character dude love would be brought up. these interviews helped transition him into a face.

stone cold steve austin and sean michaels were tag team champions, however michaels would get injured thus austin would need a new partner. austin turned down mankind when he asked to be his partner. the next week austin was wresting the british bulldog and owen hart alone when halfway through the match foley would introduce the dude love character to the wwf and become austin's partner. the team would have to vacate the titles when austin suffered a neck injury at sumer slam. dude love would feud with hunter hearst helmsley. during this feud he would have a falls count anywhere match with helmsley. before the match mick as both mankind and dude love would argue over who would face helmsley. the two persona's agreed that cactus jack should be the man and thus his third persona would make his wwf debut. foley's old nemesis, mentor, friend, terry funk would debut as chainsaw charlie. the 2 would feud with the new age outlaws leading to a match against them at wrestlemania xiv. cactus jack and chainsaw charlie would win the titles from the outlaws only loose them back the next night on raw when the outlaws joined dx.

foley would cut a promo telling the fans they do not appreciate him, thus turning him back heel. foley would wrestle as dude love and join vince mcmahon. he would try to take the world title from austin only to keep coming up short in his attempts. after his failure to beat austin mcmahon would fire him. foley began wrestling as mankind again. he also rekindled his feud with the undertaker. in one of the most famous matches in foley's career he would face taker at king of the ring in hell in a cell.

he would transition the mankind character into more of a goofy lovable looser type. he would stumble apon the mr socko gimmick in what was supposed to be a throw away segment visiting mr mcmahon in the hospital. mcmahon would manipulate foley and set up a tournament for the wwf title. it looked as if mcmahon was fixing the tournament to have foley win only to screw him at the end and call for the bell when the rock put the sharpshooter on foley, a play off the montreal screwjob that happened the year before. foley would fued with mcmahon's corporation faction.

on december 24th 1998, january 4th tv show wise and the date wwf recognizes as the official date, mankind beat the rock for his first wwf world championship. in a bonehead move by the rival wcw on wcw's monday nitro tony schiavone was told to tell the fans that foley would win the title on raw and stated "that'll put a lot of butts in the seats." there was a mass exodus of wcw fans to raw that night to see a man that was respected by almost every wrestling fan world wide finally win a world title. this is seen as the beginning of wcw's fall and ultimate demise. he would trade the belt back and forth with the rock and end up with two title runs. a few months after the feud with the rock ended they would form the rock n sock coconnection and win the tag titles three times. during this run foley would be involved in the highest rated segment in monday night raw history, a "this is your life" type segment with the rock.

foley would take some time off to have knee surgery. upon his return he would win his third and final wwf world title at summer slam in a three way match with steve austin and triple h. he would loose the belt to triple h the next night on raw. the two would feud all the way to no way out. at no way out foley and triple h would meet in a hell in a cell where if foley lost he would retire from wrestling. he lost and would wrestle one more match at wrestlemania 2000. over the next few years foley would serve as a commissioner off and on. after this he world not be on wwf/e tv for 2 years.

he would show back up in june of 2003. he would show up sporadically wrestle here and there and put over younger wrestlers like randy orton. eventually he would become the color commentator for smackdown. he didn't last long in this role. he was not happy with his commentator role and let his wwe contract lapse without resigning.

mick foley would join tna. he would first show up as a special guest. jeff jarrett would make an offer, storyline wise only, for foley to become co owner of tna with him. mick foley would make his return to being on active wrestler and eventually win the tna world heavyweight championship on april 19th 2009 at the lockdown pay per view. he lost that title to kurt angle at slammiversary. he went on to win the legends championship and is currently defending that title. foley is nearer to the end of his career and can not do the things that he once did, but he is still one of the biggest stars in wrestling and has been part of a very successful run in tna.

the future is still bright for mick foley. he is in the process of writing a new book and will hopefully stick around and help make tna a legitimate contender with the wwe. even if he never shows his face in a wrestling ring again he will go down in history as one of the all time greats. foley has managed to stay at the top of every orginization he has been involved in over the last 20 years.

spotlight: ricky "the dragon" steamboat

Ricky Steamboat: The Life of the Dragonfor this edition of spotlight we are going to go old school. tonight we put the spotlight on my mom's favorite wrestler, ricky "the dragon" steamboat.

steamboat got his start in the awa where he originally went by sam steamboat jr after an older wrestler named sam steamboat. after that he went by his real name richard blood before finally deciding on the name he would use for the rest of his career, ricky steamboat. he would wrestle for georgia championship wrestling and championship wrestling from florida before going to the nwa and jim crocket promotions.

it was during the time in jcp that steamboat started to break through and become a main event player. steamboat won several of the promotions titles and had some amazing feuds in his 8 year stay there. his feud with ric flair during this time is still being talked about by fans that were old enough to have seen it or watched the old video tapes that went around of it, this is how i watched that feud. steamboat would form two tag teams in this run first with paul jones, who would eventually turn on steamboat and feud with him. the second team was the more memorable of the two. he formed a team with jay youngblood and the 2 had a very successful run winning both the nwa world tag team championships and nwa mid atlantic tag team championships several times. he also won several individual titles in this run.

in early 1985 steamboat jumped ship to the wwf. this is where he picked up "the dragon" as a gimmick. rumor has it that he was given this gimmick because of a resemblance to bruce lee. steamboat would wrestle matt borne at the first wrestlemania. he went on to feud with don muraco and mr fuji. after this feud he wrestled hercules st wrestlemania 2. he than went into a feud with jake "the snake" roberts. the feud with roberts came to a conclusion when roberts brought out his snake damien only to have steamboat bring out a komodo dragon to chase roberts off.

steamboat was put into an intercontinental title mach against randy "macho man" savage. steamboat won the match by count out, only to have the macho man attack him with the ring bell and injure steamboats larynx. steamboat stayed off tv for the next few months to sell the injury. he came back on a january edition of saturday nights main event to stop savage from doing the same thing he did to steamboat to george "the animal" steele. steamboat would get a chance at redemption at wrestlemania iii. the match at wrestlemania is still considered to this day by many people to be the best match in the history of wrestllemania. steamboat won the match and started what was supposed to be a long run with the intercontinental title. this would not come to fruition as steamboat requested time off to be there for the birth of is son. vince mcmahon decided to de-push steamboat due to this and had him loose the belt to the honky tonk man. steamboat would stay around for another year before announcing his retirement.

he would end his retirement in early 89 and sign with nwa/wcw. steamboat would rekindle his feud with ric flair, this time over the nwa world championship. steamboat would win the belt at the chi-town rumble pay per view. this was the first of his three matches with flair in 89. all three are considered by many to be classics. in the third and final match in this series he would loose the belt back to ric flair at the inaugural wrestlewar. next up was a feud with lex luger. luger had become frustrated that steamboat was the #1 contender even though luger was the us champion. luger would attack steamboat on an episode of clash of the champions. this set up a match at the great american bash against luger for the us title. steamboat would loose that match by disqualification. this would be the last match of note during this run.

1991 saw steamboat return to the wwf, this time just going as the dragon. his gimmick at this time was over the top. he had a very cartoon like ring get up and would breathe fire in his entrance. this was by far the most disappointing time in his career as a fan. after seeing steamboat wrestle in classic match after classic match up until this point i was personally upset that more was not done with the dragon during this run. he did win several squash matches but did not have any real feuds of significance.

steamboat would go back to wcw and in his first match back he would win the tag team titles with dustin rhodes. steamboat would go on to feud with the dangerous alliance. having several matches with members of the dangerous alliance including the famous war games match as part of stings squadron. we would have a memorable feud with a young wrestler named stunning steve austin. steamboat hurt his back in a match with austin which ultimately caused his retirement from active wrestling.

steamboat would show up from time to time on nwa tna and in ring of honor. during his time in ring of honor he had an interesting feud with cm punk. initially punk was trying to make his name by taking out the legend. punk eventually defended steamboat when generation next tried to attack him. punk would be parts of hand picked teams by steamboat in matches against generation next.

he would return to the wwe as a road agent in 2005. steamboat would come on screen during special occasions, such as the raw homecoming show and ric flairs send off on the night after wrestlemania 24. steamboat would be announced as an induction into the hall of fame at wrestlemania 25. he was attacked by chris jericho the night he was announced to be in the hall of fame. this set up the in ring return of steamboat. he would tag with jimmy "superfly" snuka and "rowdy" roddy piper against jericho at wrestlemania 25. during the match he would receive a "you still got it" after the crowd seen that he was still able to perform at the level he did during his prime. he would than compete in a 10 man tag match on the next nights episode of raw. he would have a one on one match with chris jericho at backlash and loose by submitting to the walls of jericho. he still wrestles occasionally at house shows for the wwe.

whats next for the legend? that is totally up in the air. is he going to have another short run? will he show up from time to time to face off against new heels? or just go back to being a road agent. only time will tell. if he does nothing else the body of work he has left behind is on par with the all time greats in the business.

dedicated to elaine coles, love you mommy

spotlight: cm punk

this is going to be an ongoing theme on my blog. every now and than i will pick a wrestler and go over my opinions of their careers and current angles they are involved in. i figured i would start with the guy i find most compelling on wwe television right now, cm punk. cm punk is currently involved in a feud with jeff hardy over the world title. the promos and in ring work he has done transforming from a face to a heel have been amazing. i have been a huge fan of his especially when he is a heel.


i 1st became aware of cm punk in mlw with his feud with raven. raven being another of my all time favorite wrestlers drew me in, but watching i became a fan of punk's as well. after this i watched him on some ring of honor dvd's and on the tna pay per views. everything he was doing was amazing and he seemed to be a big star in the making. he quickly raised to the top of the card in roh and had some of the best matches in the promotions history. his 3 match series with samoa joe was on par with the ricky steamboat ric flair feud in 1989 in wcw. his title run was epic, the whole i am going to leave with the belt angle was amazing. eventually the inevitable happened and he was signed to a wwe contract. he spent a year in wwe's developmental territory ovw.

after a year of wrestling in ovw punk was called up for the relaunch of ecw. starting in ecw he had an impressive 6 month undefeated streak. he had some good feuds there with the new breed, hardcore holly, and mike knox notably. he was pushed into the main event and a feud with johnny nitro/morrison. the 2 had some good matches with punk coming up just a little short until ultimately winning the ecw title. punk eventually dropped the belt to chavo guerrero.

cm punk won the money in the bank match at wrestlemania xxiv. this set up him being drafted to raw. a week after moving to raw punk cashed in his money in the bank briefcase after batista beat down edge to win the world heavyweight title. his reign was short however. he was then placed in a tag team with kofi kingston. the 2 won the tag team titles together but it was obvious that neither guy would be in that role for long. punks next big push was winning a tournament to become the #1 contender for the intercontinental title. he went on to take the belt from william reagal. eventually he dropped the belt to jbl. next up for punk was becoming the 1st two time money in the bank winner at wrestlemania xxv.

the yearly wwe draft happened and punk was moved to smack down. going to smackdown a new side of punk started to develop. after being a face for 3 years punk started the transition to being a heel. he again cashed in money in the bank after jeff hardy won a grueling match with edge. the fans started to boo punk who let them know it was the nature of the beast he was in the right for cashing in at the opportune time. he would continue to cite the differences between his straight edge lifestyle and the lifestyle that jeff hardy leads. for the 1st time i started to believe that the wwe would allow punk to reach his full potential. he lost the belt back to hardy at night of the champions. just this past friday he came out and raised jeff hardy's hand after jeff beat john morrison as a sign of respect, only to turn on him and beat him down thus completing the transformation to a heel.

the future is wide open for cm punk and i don't see anything stopping him from being a future wwe hall of famer. he has amazing charisma and ring psychology. cm punk is the future of the wwe and i truly hope that vince mcmahon can see this.

my 1st blog

hello everyone, this is my 1st blog ever. i've chosen to write about something very near and dear to my heart, professional wrestling. i have been a wrestling fan since i was a young child. growing up some of my heros were rowdy roddy piper, the road warriors, jake the snake roberts, and the four horsemen. i have watched over 25 years of pro wrestling everything from indy feds, to backyard, to japanese, to the wwe. i consider myself somewhat of an expert on the topic. my favorite wrestlers have always been the heels or bad guys as some of you would call them. to me it is like rooting for the real underdog, everyone knows the faces will ultimately win. i always wanted a career in the wrestling bussiness and i was inspired by 2 friends to do this. the 1st being my friend paul who started a really awesome blog about the philladelphia flyers and 2nd my friend will who reminded me of our dream as kids to be world tag team champions. i will post on here everything from what i think of current rumors, dvd reviews, my personal ratings, and just random rants. feel free to come in and contribute. and thank you for reading my 1st blog!!!!