I had the chance to spend an evening watching Shine 2. I know this is not Earth-shattering, topical or timely. But a lot of you out there probably work your 40+ hours and come home to a busy family going non-stop on weekends and weeknights. We can’t give of our time as much or as soon as we would like to. This is my reflection of my experience while watching Shine 2. If you want a play-by-play, I’m sure there is one out there. This is my stream-of-consciousness recap.

We open up the night with Leva Bates looking spot-on like Jack Sparrow. So uncanny, my 4 year-old (the girl who calls all wrestling “SHIMMER,” regardless of gender or promotion) was once watching this with me and said, “Look, Daddy, it’s a pirate.” We follow with a promo montage: Mercedes Martinez then Jessicka Havok. I love this format. Give me a few bullet points, a reason to love you or hate you. Why should I care about you or your match?

Daffney opens up the show itself as ring announcer. She is so enthusiastic and energetic, she makes the product better just by her being a host.

Kimberly vs. Su Yung

Not gonna lie. I have a little crush on Kimberly. She is quite the physical specimen. I have had the chance to see Su before many times. She is gorgeous and infectious. The story was nice here as they crescendo-ed from the chain wrestling into the more intense fury. I really liked what I saw here and even thought the match could have been longer. Every time I see Kimberly, she gets better. It was everything you could want from an opener.

Sojo Bolt vs. Taeler Hendrix vs. Heidi Lovelace

This was the OVW highlight match. I love Sojo Bolt’s look. Heidi came out with lots of enthusiasm. I like her better as a heel though. And of course Taeler is ridiculously hot and is a total star in the making. If TNA wasn’t busy financing Hulk Hogan’s retirement fund, she would be wrestling as a top name in the Knockouts Division. There were still the cool spots, but they relied on story as well. The match way exceeded my expectations. They had opportunity to showcase OVW and they held nothing back. They really took advantage of their moment.

Reby Sky cut a nice short promo.

Sassy Stephie vs. Mia Yim

Nothing more need be said about these two really good competitors. Stephie was in full heel mode, and Mia was in full face mode. I think Mia is perhaps the best women’s wrestler not signed by one of the big 2. Stephie has a nice fluidity all the while wrestling extremely nasty (in a good way), especially one chop. Mia took quite the beating or sold like crazy. This match stole the show. It was much better than it’s card placement. I would probably call this match of the night.

Jessicka Havok vs. Reby Sky

Without a doubt, Havok is one of the best wrestlers on the planet, male or female. And of course Reby has what they say is “The Look.” Sky took a lot of punishment at the beginning. I think Havok made it a goal to get Sky some respect by taking a beating from one of the best. This was quite the mugging, brutal, vicious and unrelenting. Mission accomplished. I respected Reby a lot more after this match. Plus, Havok looked like a total monster.

How you know you’re a total baller-when you get Daffney to cut your promo for you (as Jazz did). Then we cut to Kimberly kicking things after her loss. Yes, she’s cute when she’s angry.

Rain vs. Santana Garrett

Rain is one of those few wrestlers who not only doesn’t age, she seems to get younger with time. Garrett is a stunning, gorgeous up-and-comer who has a look to make it in one of the big two. Not only is Rain a thing of beauty but so is her work. Santana is such a natural athlete. Garrett bumped and sold like crazy. Rain got the win through her foot on the ropes. It reminded me of a Ric Flair ending where of course he won because he was Ric Flair. I watched her win with a smile, like, of course she won. She’s Rain.

Portia Perez vs. Leva Bates

So we had Ninja vs. Pirate (respectively). Portia Perez is by far one of the best heels out there in women’s wrestling. And with her different outfits, Leva is one of the best babyfaces. There were the serious moments of this match, but there was the comedy too. Portia Perez can just walk out into a crowd and get people to start booing. One of my favorite parts about Leva is that not only does she dress as a character, she also wrestles as that character, so she essentially never wrestles the same match twice.

Made in Sin vs. MsEerie

Made in Sin is probably the prettiest yet most deadly tag team combination. And as a matter of full disclosure, Allysin Kay is my favorite in-ring wrestler to watch. MsEerie is two really good established stars (and dare I say, in the case of MsChif, a legend). Made in Sin have such good heel chemistry together. I love MsChif’s scream. (It’s on my bucket list to have her scream at me.) The best part was Allysin taping MsChif’s mouth so she couldn’t scream. It had its comedy but it also had stiff, hard-hitting action you’d see on a Ring of Honor card. And then if this match wasn’t great enough, we got an April Hunter appearance. After the match, we had a nice interview with MIS saying they now had a “Fixer” in April Hunter.

Jazz vs. Mercedes Martinez

How do you build up this match? Jazz. Mercedes Martinez. What more do you need? You have two of the greatest women to ever set foot in a wrestling ring. As a matter of full disclosure, I used to watch Jazz wrestle at my local indy about 12 years ago. My ability to be biased might come up a little short. This match had an angle to set it up. There were no side headlocks. These were just ladies beating the piss out of each other. It ended in a no-contest. There was a really nice pull-apart.

All in all… A really nice follow-up show from the first Shine. There really wasn’t a match that stood out too much as must-see. I liked Stephie-Yim and the OVW 3-way. The combination of everything worked made this a well-taken venture. I really feel like we are getting to see some true talents as they hit an important place in their crossroads. It is still recommended viewing for any women’s wrestling fan, especially if you are a fan of any of these competitors.

Last show before Hell In A Cell.  What will Vacant have to say about Shawn Michaels’ obvious intent of screwing him out of the WWE Championship this Sunday?  Guess we’ll find out tonight!

I’m on a couple hours sleep.  Fuck it.  Let’s go.

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This morning, WWE Games unveiled their planned DLC for WWE 2K14, and there are some good ones.  The nWo (Hall, Nash, Syxx, Curt Hennig, Randy Savage, The Giant, and Scott Steiner), a couple of current Superstars and Divas (Big E Langston, Fandango, The Bella Twins, and Summer Rae), and a few WWE legends (Bruno Sammartino, Dusty Rhodes [in polka dots, no less!], Rick Rude, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, and [try not to laugh] “WWE Manager and pop culture icon Virgil.”)  Below is the press release, and be sure to check out wwe.2k.com for more information!  Don’t forget to pre-order WWE 2K14 and get your free, exclusive Ultimate Warrior playable character!

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TNA Bound For Glory is this evening from San Diego, CA, and the BoredWrestlingFan Radio crew are joined by Topher Epps of ProWrestlingPowerhouse.com to talk not only about tonight’s event, but the history of TNA Wrestling in general.  We talk about the original concept for the Monster’s Ball match, the days of the Asylum, the Impact Zone, the ill fated new Monday Night Wars and so much more.  We also give our predictions for tonight’s Bound For Glory card.

In the news, Bray Wyatt is injured, Rey Mysterio returns, and John Cena’s upcoming television dates for WWE are confirmed.  It’s Morphin’ Time as Jason David Frank of Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers fame calls out CM Punk and NXT star Xavier Woods looks to be called up to the main roster.  We get wind of where Ric Flair has been lately, and it’s apparently the same place Kurt Angle’s been hanging out while he was briefly away from TNA.  Doc Knight joins us to plug tonight’s OSW event in Alberta.

All this and a whole lot more on this week’s episode of BoredWrestlingFan Radio!

BoredWrestlingFan Radio Episode 96 (MP3, 2:28:42)

This week’s break song was “Money City Maniacs” by Sloan.  Buy it here!

I’m already disinterested. Let’s see if the WWE changes my attitude, shall we?

Hopping time…

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I’m extremely tired and cranky as hell.

Dixie comes out to start the show. She has security with her and one of them has a briefcase. Dixie says that Bound For Glory will be her masterpiece and runs down AJ, referencing his beating by Bully Ray. A “We want Hogan” chant breaks out and I wonder where these fans were when Hogan was around. Dixie planned to have the signing of the contract for the match between Bully and AJ but instead offers something else. She offers 50 thousand dollars to anyone who can make sure AJ doesn’t make it to the contract signing and makes it AJ’s last night with the company. AJ may have walked away from the money Dixie offered him, but the rest of the guys won’t. When AJ gets taken out it just means someone else will get the shot. She has the security guy open the briefcase to reveal the fifty grand and Bully Ray’s music hits.

Look, it’s Hogan’s first paycheck!

Backstage with Aces and Threes. Bully is proud of his men, both of them, for taking the spotlight he offered and tonight they’re going to get that chance again. Knuxy has a shot at earning fifty grand, which he can use to buy a new bike. He’s up against one half of the tag team champs and Bischoff will be in his corner. Bully tells them if they need him he’ll be there, just like they’ll be there for him at Bound For Glory.

Christopher Daniels vs Robbie E vs Hernandez vs Eric Young in a Four Corners Match
The winner of this match gets the advantage in the gauntlet match and that advantage is that they will be the last entrant. I guess this is another case of it being an actual gauntlet match. The way this match works is two people are in the ring at any one time and you can tag anyone in when you want. EY and Robbie start things off and they don’t take long to swap to Daniels and Hernandez. Robbie E tags himself in and attacks Hernandez. Hernandez tags in EY who takes out both heels but the numbers catch up to him. Daniels goes for the pin and Robbie breaks it up and Hernandez hits the Air Mexico. Eric does this awesome thing where he gets sent into the corner but he rolls over to the outside and slides back into the ring. The finish comes when Robbie E steals the victory from EY and pins Daniels.

Yep. This happened.

AJ comes out to the ring. He says Dixie reeks of desperation. He’s flattered that she would go so far to stop him because she’s scared because she knows he’ll win. When he wins he’s going to make her pay. He’s said that before but he’s never said what he’s actually going to do. Does that mean that he’ll actually ask her for a paycheck? He pretty much calls out anyone who wants to try and claim the bounty and Knux and Garret Bischoff come out. AJ gets the crap kicked out of him before James Storm and Gunner come out for the save. Who needs fifty grand when you have the tag team titles?

Can you feel the love tonight?

Backstage Sabin is asked about his thoughts on the bounty. Sabin goes off to find AJ while Velvet says that this isn’t him.

More backstage with Knux and Bischoff. Bischoff asks where Bully was and Knux says that the next time Bully needs help it’s going to be interesting.

Backstage still, this time with Brooke and Gail Kim. Gail brings up Lei’D Tapa and tries to form an alliance with Brooke, saying they should help eachother should Tapa come after one of them. Brooke declines.

Pretty awesome video package hyping up the Ultimate X match and the wrasslers in it. For some reason only Jeff Hardy is referred to by name.

We’re still backstage, this time with Sabin. He’s looking for AJ and refers to him as “the not so phenomenal AJ Styles”. Samoa Joe finds him instead. Sabin doesn’t have his priorities set right because tonight he’s facing Joe in one on one competition and on Sunday Joe has him in Ultimate X. If he survives all of that then maybe he can go on a bounty hunt. Unfortunately Joe is a very big “if”. Sabin backs away slowly. That was pretty awesome.

I don’t know if Joe’s gonna kill him, but he WILL rape him.

After the match Aries comes out and attacks Joe for inserting himself in the match. Hardy comes out and hits the Twist of Fate on Aries and grabs a ladder. It’s a shame he’s in an Ultimate X match but I guess he couldn’t pull out some scaffolding. Manik runs to the top of the ladder and takes out both Aries and Sabin and Hardy and Manik pose on the turnbuckles.

We’re quickly taken backstage where Bad Influence are beating the tar out of AJ Styles. AJ fights back and sprays them with a fire extuingisher before disappearing into the night like Batman.

Ethan segment. It seems Ethan is going to be related to Dixie as he says “Auntie D is gonna be real proud” or something like that.

Magnus vs Bully Ray
They start off incredibly slowly with tie up spots and tests of strength. Bully comes out on top and Magnus actually gets “Let’s go Magnus” chants without having to call for them. I really hope they don’t turn him heel now. Especially if the fans are starting to really come around to him. Magnus gets some offence in at last and hits a huge back body drop. There’s an ad break and when we get back Bully is in control of the match. He dares Magnus to hit him and Magnus complies, getting in a few good shots. The pair exchange blows and Magnus knocks Bully down and hits a back drop suplex and Big Boot. He follows that up with a huge top rope elbow for a two count. Magnus charges at Bully but Bully grabs Hebner and we get a ref bump. Bully goes for the chain but Sting comes out and grabs Bully’s arm to stop him. The ref comes too and tells Sting to let go of Bully. Sting complies and hits a low blow for the win while the ref is dealing with Sting.

STING! MY BALLS!

We’re backstage again, this time with Magnus and Sting. Sting asks Magnus if he has anything to say and the pair have a small argument that ends with Magnus saying that he’s sick and tired of ending up the losing end because people won’t let him prove he can go at it alone. Joe comes in to calm them down and tells Magnus to walk it off. Sting tells Magnus that he’ll be by himself on Sunday when it’s one on one.

Kurt Angle comes out to the ring and cuts a promo on Bobby Roode. The gist was that Roode made it personal by mocking his induction to the TNA hall of fame and that while Roode is one of the best, he will never be Kurt Angle. Presumably because Kurt Angle is Kurt Angle. I wonder if they let him out of rehab a little too early. Roode comes out and says that he’s no Kurt Angle, and he’s okay with that. He WANTED to be Kurt Angle but not anymore. Kurt was the be all and end all of professional wrestling but now Roode is and he deserves a hall of fame induction way more. Roode tells Angle that the last thing he did was two years at Bound For glory when he, Angle, beat Bobby Roode to retain the championship. After that Roode went on to be the longest reigning world champion and this Sunday Roode is going to beat Angle. Angle asks him how he can win when he’s going to be tapping. Roode starts to explain why he won’t be tapping and hits a cheap shot. Kurt locks the Ankle Lock on Roode but Bad Influence come out and beat the crap out of him. Roode dismisses Bad Influence and locks what I believe was a Crossface on and Kurt starts tapping. Roode says he won’t be tapping because he’ll make Angle tap, though I doubt it. After this your winner will be Angle by submission.

Cat Bug for champion bitches!

But does AJ have The Touch?

AJ gets the mic and says that he’s no Dusty Rhodes and Bully is no Ric Flair. Bully is no more than a big, dumb bitch who has no idea who he’s getting in the ring with. AJ is the most dangerous, desperate and intense man Bully has ever gotten in the ring with and he will win and make Dixie pay. He signs the contract and Dixie takes it. Bully says he’s not putting his title on the line and instead is going to cash in the fifty grand. Bully hits the cheap shot but AJ recovers and plants him with the briefcase. He then opens it and throws the cash at Dixie who proceeds to get on the ground and try and pick it all up. AJ shouts at Bully about how the title is everything to him and the two tell eachother what they’re going to do to eachother as the show goes off the air.

Thoughts? The show wasn’t bad actually and I think it set up the PPV pretty well. The only problem I had is that the bounty on AJ’s head never really amounted to much. He was attacked maybe three times. He should have been attacked pretty much every segment, or at least one more time as he tried to come down to the ring. Still I can say I’m looking forward to the PPV, or at least discussing it this Sunday at 2PM EST on BWF Radio.

Impact in one picture. EVERYTHING in one picture.

I heard from Diamond Dallas Page last night.  He apologizes for missing the show, apparently his assistant didn’t remind him he was booked.  I’m working directly with him on rescheduling his interview, looks like it should be sometime next week.  Anyways, I digress.  I thought last week’s RAW was a pretty solid show (though Jorge disagreed), and I’m hoping tonight will continue to trend in that direction as we march toward Hell In A Cell.  Let’s go!

I watch this show.  I write about it.  And then we’re talking about TNA all show on Sunday, so who cares?

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Well since this week is Bound For Glory and Cock Talk will mostly be a TNA themed program, I figured I dig up from the vault this little gem from the past where Joe, Sabuisgod, and myself helped out friend and original member of The Triumvirate of TN-Awesomeness Fritz Stephey with his Impact real time coverage. This was in April 2009 and while I had done a few articles and show reviews, this was my first time doing any type of real time coverage so I was quite nervous so some of what I typed probably didn’t make much sense. So without further ado, here it is: (more…)

If by “fun one” you mean “train wreck.” We’ll figure it out and get him on, folks!

A disastrous episode of BoredWrestlingFan Radio is in the books!  Joe, JT, G, Jorge, and Mark  discuss the WWE Battleground Pay Per View, and gloss over the rest of the week in wrestling television.  We find out why Stephanie McMahon has been selling a ton of stock in WWE over the last several months.  We hear reports that Vince McMahon is paranoid about WrestleMania XXX.  Who was that other masked man on SmackDown?  Where will Hulk Hogan appear next?  Why won’t we likely see Ken Shamrock in WWE anytime soon?

After our break song, we attempt to contact our scheduled guest for this week, Diamond Dallas Page.  Unfortunately, we aren’t able to get in touch with him.  G, Jorge, and JT make idle conversation while Joe scrambles to contact anybody that can let us know what’s going on.  Eventually, Original Stampede Wrestling’s Doc Knight joins us to give us an update on his recovery from his back injury, and lets us know what’s coming up for OSW.

We apologize for not being able to connect with DDP on this week’s show.  These things occasionally happen on live broadcasts.  We are working diligently to find out what happened, and we will let you guys know as soon as we know via our Twitter and Facebook pages.

BoredWrestlingFan Radio Episode 95 (MP3, 2:02:24)

Our break song this week was “Hunger Strike” by Temple of the Dog.  Buy it here!

I’m probably going to get heat for saying, “I told you so.” That’s right, on BWF Radio last Sunday (2PM EST), I mentioned that the main event would be a draw, as did a bunch of other people including ThinkSoJoE. Was it worth $55? No. Do you deserve a refund for consuming the whole thing? I’d argue no, but that was a pretty shitty PPV. I actually kind of liked that ending, because it was different. And this is coming from a guy who paid the full price for the 2006 December to Dismember.

BTW, the Rhodes Family match was great. It’s a shame it was rushed over a three-week period, but whatever. At least it was cool.

Hopping time…

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