Joe, G, JT, and Jorge return for another week of BWF Radio! Divas leaving, Doinks Doinking, JBL climbing mountains, and Joe interrupting the proceedings on Friday Night SmackDown! All this and much more on BWF Radio!
BoredWrestlingFan Radio Episode 42 (MP3, 2:03:00)
Break song: Ugly Kid Joe: “Another Beer” from the album “Stairway to Hell” – MP3 Album Download
WWE Randy Orton DRIVE THRU (YouTube)
We here at BoredWrestlingFan.com cannot thank David Fuller enough for joining us on such short notice after our scheduled interview went awry. On Friday night, he took an hour out of his day to discuss his professional wrestling career.
In the 56 minute interview, David talks to BWF’s Justin Ruff about a number of things, including losing his mother at a young age, growing up wanting to be a wrestling promoter, who his favorite wrestler was growing up, what drew him to the business, training with Johnny Valentine, his first experience with NWA, being banned from an NWA show for running a successful backyard indy fed, his leper gimmick in PCW, smart fans killing the gimmick, getting involved in horror movies, paying Necro Butcher $10 for his first show, and much, much more. Click the link below to listen!
Well it’s Friday night and my cable is out and since it hasn’t stopped snowing since the end of November here and since I have an extremely busy day tomorrow, I figured I’d give you this weeks article so here it is:
Rather ironically, when I was approached about penning a column on wrestling house shows – I picked up the latest copy of the UK-based grap magazine “Fighting Spirit Magazine”, only to find that they themselves had written an article dedicated to the art and history of the non-televised event. This has happened to me quite a few times in the past when writing for various websites and it’s always freaked me out. I start thinking about an idea for an article, randomly flick through some old or current wrestling mag/book and see what I thought was my idea spread out across the page! This particular instance was no different to all the other ones and actually made me laugh a little bit, kinda like Michael Cole does when John Cena acts all immature. Thankfully, the piece was an awesome read and really helped get my creative juices flowing for putting together my own diatribe.
Still I find myself lacking the means to really write as many columns as I would like. We don’t have internet in our new flat yet and therefore I’m only managing to write this due to being home for the weekend to visit my family and spend some time chilling out. Quite honestly, I can think of no better ways to relax than watching, thinking and talking about professional wrestling. With that said, let’s take a look at the wonderful world of ‘wrestling on tour’..
Earlier this month, my good friend Richard Flynn (who is responsible for this weeks WWE Smackdown report – check it out!) and I attended a WWE live event featuring the superstars of the Friday Night Smackdown brand in action. This is a pretty regular occurrence nowadays; for us to attend these shows. On a few occasions in the past, other friends have joined us for a night of live and in colour wrasslin’ entertainment but most of the time it’s simply Flynn and myself geeking it up. To say I love spending time with the guy and watching wrestling with him would be an understatement. The amount of hours we’ve let go past by watching WWE and TNA shows is probably mind-boggling. Not to mention the oodles of time we’ve dedicated to chatting about the aforementioned companies and also our favourite moments from the past. Seriously, we have spent a lot of time thinking about wrestling together. We seem to feed off one another’s passion and it has made for some very cool and very pleasurable afternoons and evenings, to say the least.
Our continued excitement at attending these WWE and TNA shows is equal to that of pretty much any kid you know who likes wrestling. I’m glad I can say with all seriousness that I am just as thrilled by the thought of seeing this brand of entertainment live today as I would have been had I been fortunate enough to grab tickets for a show when I was 10 years old. Rather unfortunately, whenever the then WWF and then WWE visited these shores back then, I always found myself facing a ticket hotline with no more remaining tickets. As much as my parents tried (my mum phoned as early as she could every time and my dad even drove the 150 miles from our home in Campbeltown to Glasgow on the off chance the venue would still have some seats left), it just never seemed to happen. This is probably just aswell – 10 year old me would likely have passed out with excitement had he been privy to The Rock or Triple H up close!
As it pertains to the day-to-day running of any wrestling organisation, there can be no arguments that non-televised or “house” show events are the least important they have been for quite some time, maybe even in the entire history of the industry. There is far more stress placed on the signification of a Pay-Per-View event or the rating for an episode of Monday Night RAW than there is for how many fans are drawn to arenas for the next WWE nationwide tour. House shows used to be the place to see your chosen wrestling promotion but has in more recent times been usurped by TV tapings and major shows such as “Wrestlemania”. This shouldn’t take away from the overall necessity of a company touring the country or indeed the world however, far from it. The revenue boosts WWE alone will feel from visiting the UK must be worth the trip. In between ticket sales (and the fact these tickets are snapped up readily due to the scant nature of shows in any given town each year), merchandise and crossover TV appearances, it’s clearly worth the promotions while to head on over the Atlantic frequently. It’s also a valuable tool for TNA, who have played before their biggest crowds when not in the United States. Big, American pro wrestling companies are simply devoured quickly in foreign markets, such is the fascination with only having one or two chances per annum to see them.
Due to this shift in how a wrestling company, specifically WWE, views its un-televised product, it’s far more of a mixed bag when you attend one these shows. What I’m getting at here is that it’s a clear learning ground for younger members of the roster and a chance for established superstars to try out new things and further develop their characters, far away from the scathing perfection of television. It has been really rather interesting to view things at the handful of house shows Richard and I have bought tickets to which would NEVER feature on WWE TV or PPV. As mentioned before, this can bring both positives and negatives along with it. It’s engrossing to view someone such as Chavo Guerrero, a man scarcely used on the air, be allowed to partake in a 12-minute long match and fully show off his skills to the audience. On the other side of the coin, it can be disheartening to know that nothing of any great significance is likely to happen on the show in your town.
This leads me rather nicely onto an argument which has been permeating wrestling writers and fans over and across the world; have WWE officials decreed that their wrestlers shouldn’t work quite so hard and take so many chances at a non-televised show as they would when the cameras are rolling, thus reducing the risk of injuring themselves or a peer?
If this is the case then it could be argued as short-changing the loyal fan who is excited to see the company and expects to see something pretty close to what he sees on TV each and every week. Surely, with the prices as they are for admission to the typical WWE or TNA house show (I.e not very cheap!), it’s not being cheeky to expect a level of performance matching that of what you are used to. To be completely fair to TNA, they encourage their performers to give their all, regardless of the platform or if the event is being filmed. Having witnessed this with my own 2 eyes, it does make for a thrilling spectacle.
Again, using the proverbial “other side”, I really don’t think the overall feel of the shows have suffered that much. Having been in attendance for a couple of RAW-brand house shows and a few Smackdown-brand ones, the match-quality has been pretty darn good. Sure, there are restholds and not nearly as many high-flying antics as we would see on TV but it’s not exactly a million miles away from your typical match on Monday Night RAW. Infact, I’d go as far to say that the promotion makes up for this with some well-placed and excellently executed (oh boy..) storyline goodness. This writer can recall just earlier this month some TV-inspired goings on with the “Nexus” stable and also some in-ring promo’s which draw you closer into the show. Therefore, I don’t think it’d be fair to say that either WWE nor TNA treat the fans with disdain in the house show market, certainly not on this side of the pond.
With all this said, what do YOU think? Have you attended a WWE or TNA house show event in which you’ve wished you’d saved your money? Did you wish instead that you’d spend some extra cash to go to a TV taping or Pay-Per-View? Or were you like me and felt both companies did their utmost to put on a good evenings entertainment and ensure the fans would come back in droves the next time around? Your thoughts are every bit as important as mine and opinions are definitely a huge part of what makes Bored Wrestling Fan and wrestling fans in general so great! Let me know what you reckon, either by leaving me a comment below or by sending me a quickfire email to jamiekennedy@live.com ! Until the next time, TAKE IT HOME! To your house. To your house uh…show..
Oh crap, it’s Friday night… and you know what that means. Yep, I work my night job and then come home and suffer through Smackdown so you don’t have to. It’s been a weird Friday already, especially in South Africa as Brazil got upset, and Ghana threw away a certain victory in the World Cup. While no one in North America really cares about that stuff, other than Kofi Kingston who hails from Ghana (for now), let’s just jump into the legitimate sport known as professional wrestling…
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Well, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? I haven’t reviewed a WWE show in weeks. Hell, I didn’t review anything at all for the past couple of weeks. I’ve just been burnt out, guys, and for that I apologize. In any event, I’m here now, parked in front of the TV and ready for SmackDown – so let’s go!
Ah, SmackDown. I didn’t think I’d be reviewing this show anymore, but it just keeps coming back to me. Truth be told, I love covering the blue brand – Josh Matthews makes stupid faces, Matt Striker makes cool comments, and I don’t really have to wait for the show to come on to do my review. Yes folks, it’s 8AM on Friday, March 5th, and I’m here to review WWE Friday Night SmackDown!
Your Tsarina of “Smackdown” will be in attendance at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas tomorrow night for tapings of ECW and “Smackdown.” My Friday night real-time will contain references thereunto. If you watch ECW or “Smackdown,” look for me! I have four signs. “BWF.” “Drew McIntyre.” “Save Me, CM Punk.” “Goat Rabbit Alliance.” Don’t ask about that last one, it’s a long story.
Wait a minute – the byline on this article says “ThinkSoJoE.” Isn’t iMPACT! Drowgoddess territory? Well kids, yes, iMPACT! is Drowgoddess territory – but she’s been called up to the big leagues. Starting today, the Empress of iMPACT! will be plying her trade at James Guttman’s World Wrestling Insanity on Thursday nights. Don’t worry though, she’s not completely leaving Bored Wrestling Fan – she’ll be here every week to review Friday Night SmackDown! World Wrestling Insanity was the inspiration for BWF, and we’re very proud of Drow. You’re here though, so why not read on?
In a bit of a rarity, I’m actually home, awake, and parked in front of the TV on a Friday Night. That said, this review is in sort of real-time (sort of because it’s 8:16 right now and I’m just getting started. I figure I’ll catch up after a couple commercials), so make sure you hit refresh every couple of minutes to make sure you’re up to speed!