Well I’m back after a brief hiatus in which my surgery went well but then I ended up experiencing the worst pain ever to getting better to be here with you all today. I was thinking about doing a “week in the life of” article on it but I figured you wouldn’t want to hear about my bodily functions anyway. So since some things have been happening since I’ve ladt been here, lets talk about some of them: (more…)
Its time once again to travel back into Calgary’s rich wrestling past for some classic Stampede action. This time around I have a match showcasing the members of my favorite tag team of all time, the famous British Bulldogs. Or should I say future favorite tag team of all time. The catch is, this match takes place well before they ever teamed together, left for the WWF to became world champions, dominated in Japan and then returned back to Calgary once again. As a matter of fact , as you will soon see, Davey boy Smith is VERY young and practically unrecognizable when compared to his much more muscular, future Bulldog self. It is very evident that both of these yet to be world famous British Bulldogs are clearly not spending the same time working out in the gym and are not “into the juice” at this point in their careers. This is a great match for the Stampede mid-heavyweight title , held by the” heel ” Dynamite Kid as he defends against a very popular new ” face”, young Smith. As usual the crowd is very into the match, and also as usual in Stampede Wrestling the referee acts both idiotic and blind, driving the crowd nuts with his final decision. Worth noting this time around is the post match interviews with both future Bulldogs. This is where you will really see how young these future legends both were at this time and also how much time they must have spent in the gym soon after! Enjoy this classic encounter that took place in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and I will see you for another ” Ring -A- Ding- Dong- Dandy” next time. Dont forget to check out www.wonderpodonline.com for more “PatMan picks” , also episode 84 of our video game podcast and much more!
[youtube xKB4NnNdTfM]
Welcome again to another fun trip back in pro wrestling history. Today we will visit a match involving one of Stampedes biggest stars at this point time, Dr. D David Shultz. Although a star in places like AWA, WWF, Japan and Stampede Wrestling , Dr. D is probably most famous for his big mouth both inside and outside the wrestling ring. It was his “open had slap” assault on a network reporter who mentioned that “Wrestling was fake” that is what most people remember Dr. D for. Ironically, it was that very event that put a halt on his career in the big wrestling organizations as his actions were rumored to result in a costly law suit that followed. Dr. D’s opponent in this classic match is the AWA World champion Nick Bockwinkle who, like other AWA world champions, would venture to the Calgary promotion several times per year to take on who ever was at the top of the card at the time. I am not sure where this match took place as it is not in the usual Stampede pavilion venue that the majority of Stampede Wrestling events were televised , but appears to be a smaller venue. Stampedes territory stretched across western Canada and even into north western US, so it could have been anywhere really. The crowd was pretty hot for the match and that’s all that matters for the Wrestlers putting on a show and Ed Whalen was there for the TV taping. Worth noting this time around is the fans chanting Nick “Bullwinkle”. Enjoy the match and decide for your self if it was a 2.5 count or a 3 count at the end ! And if you like videogame podcasts, feel free to check out wonderpod episode 79 on i Tunes and also at our website www.wonderpodonline.com where you will find all sorts of fun stuff! See you next time !
[youtube -DFgM4bMk3o]
Welcome to another episode of PatMan Picks Stampede Wrestling classics. This week I am going back in time to a point further than I remember actually watching Stampede Wrestling on television as a kid. I don’t know if my fellow Calgary man G was watching the promotion as far back as what is seen in this classic video, but I don’t personally remember actually seeing a lot of Jake Roberts or Big Daddy Ritter competing in Stampede, so its a nice treat to watch them now. As we all know, both men would become very famous wrestlers in the WWF and in other promotions around the world. However, in this video we can clearly see that both men are still in the early stages of their careers, still learning how to “evolve” into the the big super stars that they would eventually become. Worth noting this time around is that Jake Roberts was the current Stampede North American Heavyweight champion while Daddy Ritter ( JYD for most of you) was the former North American champion making this a pretty big match in Stampede for the time. But there was something else on the line in this match that maked it even more special and more interesting for classic wrestling fans. The winner of the match would go on to face the legendary Harley Race, for the world championship title on a future card in a Stampede Wrestling event. It truly was a wonderful time in wrestlings past where world champions form the big organizations would sometimes come to places like Stampede and wrestle in special matches against local territorial champions. See you all on the next PatMan Picks, and why not check out Wonderpod Videogame podcast epsidoe 71 & Patman picks PC classics over at wonderpodonline.com!
[youtube aD2Ub3npBfE]
Hooray for me actually participating this week – it gives me the right to comment on everything myself! Here goes!
1. Sheamus (Last week: 1)
On our facebook page earlier this week, I posted that only one of the three World Champions made my list this week – and this is the guy. I voted Sheamus number two after a few great promos on RAW.
2. John Cena (7)
Another guy that wasn’t bad on the mic this week is John Cena. I actually missed the end of RAW, and that could contribute to why Cena didn’t make my personal list this week.
3. Randy Orton (6)
The Viper did make my ballot this week – I actually picked him sixth. An impressive showing in the tag match on RAW and a post match RKO on Evan Bourne helped Orton in this week’s poll.
4. Rey Mysterio (4)
I didn’t pick Mysterio at all – He’s just another victim of…
5. Jack Swagger (NR)
The All American American Jack Swagger. I’ve been so impressed with Swagger the last couple of weeks that I actually picked him number one this week on my ballot. It wasn’t enough to put the former World Heavyweight Champion past number 5 on the Power Poll this week, however.
6. Abyss (5)
I didn’t vote for Abyss, but I did like the way he handled doing the crazy gimmick on iMPACT this week. The board with the nails in it may be good for chasing away aliens on “The Simpsons,” but it couldn’t stop Jeff Hardy.
7. Evan Bourne (NR)
The high flying Evan Bourne somehow managed to slip under my radar this week, as he wasn’t on my ballot. All the credit in the world to this kid, he’s been a thorn in Chris Jericho’s side for the last month or so, and is definitely the guy most people, myself included, are looking forward to watching in RAW’s Money In The Bank ladder match.
8. Kurt Angle (2)
Angle got enough votes to stay on the Power Poll this week? A promo with The Pope didn’t do it for me, but apparently it worked for some of the voters.
9. Jay Lethal (9)
Lethal has impressed lately, getting a push in the Hogan/Bischoff era of TNA. A win, albeit tainted, over Matt Morgan this week had me pick Lethal 5th on my list, and let him hang on to #9 overall.
10. Jeff Hardy (NR)
The victory over Abyss on iMPACT must have garnered Hardy enough attention from my fellow pollsters to get him into the top 10. Hardy was impressive in the win, I must admit, but I didn’t vote for him.
Participating sites: BoredWrestlingFan.com, Online World of Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Ponderings, Project Wonderboy, Ringside Rants, WrestleRage.com, Wrestlespective
By now, we all know that Matt Hardy turned on his brother Jeff this past Sunday at the Royal Rumble, blasting him with a chair and costing him the WWE Championship. From that point, several fans of the Hardys came out of the woodwork to condemn Matt’s actions on his MySpace, many of whom seem to believe that because Matt turned on Jeff, it automatically means that Matt was behind everything that’s happened to Jeff since Survivor Series in November. I’m here to tell you why it wasn’t Matt Hardy behind the attacks.
First, there was the attack the night before Survivor Series. Jeff is out of action, he can’t compete in the WWE Championship match, and Edge swoops in to win the title. The following Friday on SmackDown, Jeff competed in a “Beat the Clock Challenge.” Jeff’s match was first, where he set the pace. Matt was the opponent of Vladimir Kozlov in the challenge, and he did everything in his power to prevent Kozlov from beating Jeff’s time. This shows Matt as being supportive of his brother, rather than trying to harm him. Ultimately, Jeff tied with Triple H in the challenge and went on to a Triple Threat match at Armageddon.
Triple H had the WWE Championship won at Armageddon when Vladimir Kozlov interfered and prevented him from getting the pinfall on Edge. Matt came out and attacked Kozlov. Matt’s attack on Kozlov would make no sense if he were working with Edge, because Edge was the one Kozlov saved. Jeff went on to win the match and the WWE Championship.
In the weeks that followed, the Hardys worked together, competing in tag team matches and supporting each other as a part of the “Hardy Party,” which saw both men as World Champions. A few weeks later, mysterious things started to happen to Jeff.
First, there was the hit-and-run accident. If you watch the “police video,” the policeman asked Jeff if he know the person who hit him. Jeff said that he’d never seen him before in his life. I’m pretty sure that Jeff would have recognized his own brother, even if he didn’t know the vehicle.
Over the course of the next week, Matt loses the ECW Championship to Jack Swagger, and Jeff returns to SmackDown, only to be blown up when the pyrotechnics were tampered with. This is the only thing that’s happened to Jeff that the storyline will allow me to believe could have been done by Matt. Matt was in the building, Matt was upset because he lost his title, and perhaps he was jealous because Jeff still had his. Not to mention that Matt was the last person to come out and check on his little brother as he was being rolled away on a stretcher.
The attack at the Royal Rumble shouldn’t have been that surprising, and maybe things look suspicious, but if you look at the facts presented here, it’s clearly not Matt who did all those crazy things to Jeff…
Alright, confession time. I completely forgot to set my DVR for ECW tonight. Not that it really matters, I’m not going to be home tonight to review it on DVR anyway. So, I did a little improvising, and have ECW streaming live on my laptop and I’m doing this review on the work computers in real-time – but not posting it in real-time. I tuned in a few minutes late, but I think I saw enough to accurately give you an idea of what’s going on.
ECW Review after the jump! (more…)