The Underrated: Big Boss Man

By Speed on the Beat (@SpeedontheBeat)

Once upon a time, there was a prison guard who became more known for beating the snot out of opponents than actually enforcing any laws. Over time, said former prison guard made a name in WWF, AJPW, WCW, and other promotions. But, even though many may remember Big Boss Man, his in-ring accomplishments pale in comparison, having held the WWF Tag Team Titles once with Ken Shamrock, the Hardcore Championship four times, and a title with UWF. But, let us look at some of Big Boss Man's work.

First, any man who can do an Enziguri at 6'6" automatically gets props.

The Big Boss man was quite agile in an era where big guys were supposed to be more like Earthquake and less like Randy Savage. Now, Boss Man wasn't a technical genius. But, he could hold his own with just about anyone. His promo skills were pretty legitimate, probably because he'd actually seen some hard times (RIP Dusty). Speaking of hard times, some of BBM's early moments featured him squaring off against Dusty in JCP, just off of the strength that Dusty saw something special in the young man from Cobb County.

After a reign in UWF, Big Boss Man made his way to WWF. His work with Akeem helped set up the groundwork, storyline-wise for THE MEGA POWERS EXPLODING! Had the feud between The Twin Towers and the Mega Powers not been booked the way it was, Hogan versus Savage may not have become as etched into our memories. However, this main event rub was cut short, since The Twin Towers feuded with Demolition and BBM ended up getting suplexed off the top of a steel cage by Hogan. But, at least we still got to see him beat the crap out of jobbers and low-card wrestlers when he won a match. Let me tell you something (brother): seeing a cop figure do that, in "real life," as a kid, a few years out from Rodney King? It made me hate BBM, therefore making him an incredibly effective heel in my eyes.

As time went on, BBM started to get less and less of a push, culminating in his Nightstick on a Pole match against (mortal enemy) Nailz. By 1993, Boss Man was in WCW after a short stint in AJPW. I'll be honest. Even though Big Boss Man is an underrated talent and could go with just about anyone, his work with WCW was mostly trash. It probably didn't help that he, like most WCW talents, switched from heel to face more than Big Show circa 2010. He could still go and was still agile, but there was a big of a lost glimmer on his work for me in WCW.

Upon his return to WWF, and after his "lynching" by Undertaker (ugh), we got the infamous Kennel From Hell angle. See, the angle itself was gross. But, the action in it (aside from the Kennel from Hell match itself) was solid. Two underrated talents beating the crap out of each other and forcing people to care about the dog in the middle of the feud? That takes talent. Screw the main match between them, because, bah gawd, it was horrible. But overall, the feud's matches are something to take a look at.

After this, we got Show vs. BBM. I'm not touching it, since I already spoke on it. It's good to know that even your favorites can get involved in wonky matches and gimmicks. But, it still sucks. Upon his release from the newly renamed WWE, Boss Man worked with a smaller Japanese promotion before his death in 2004 at 41.

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Eyes on the Ring 9:06 AM  5 comments

Life In The Attitude Era Vol. 3: DX, NWO, Austin, Rock and HHH

By @GTAPeel

When we left off last time, we'd just spoken about how Vince McMahon had the balls to "screw" Bret Hart and how that decision paid off in the long-run.

This time around, let's focus on the two biggest factions of the Attitude Era - WCW's nWo and the WWF's D-Generation-X.

I'd never really thought about it until today, but basically the Kliq ran both shows.

Hall and Nash had gone over to WCW in 1996 after the now-infamous "Curtain Call" incident at MSG, where Hall, Nash, HBK and HHH broke kayfabe and hugged it out in the ring after their last match.

HBK and HHH stayed with WWF, but because HBK was the WWF Champ, they couldn't punish him, so HHH ended up in the doghouse. Times have changed huh?

The nWo had an immense impact on pro-wrestling. The gritty promos, the blurred lines between fiction and reality, and the fact they managed to do what no one else had until that time - turn Hulk Hogan heel brrrotherrr.

It was a stunning moment. One of the most memorable in the history of the business.

Since becoming WWF's biggest star, Hogan was all about eating your vitamins and saying your prayers. He'd never turned heel or been a bad guy since becoming a star.

That's why his turn at 1996's Bash at the Beach was so shocking. Nobody saw it coming. Hogan, the uber-babyface, sided with the Outsiders and ended up virtually ruling WCW.

The nWo took over and changed the face of wrestling as we knew it. Even though wrestling is a work, you didn't know what was real and what wasn't.

The nWo were essentially their own brand and marketed separately to the rest of WCW. A guerrilla-style group that took no prisoners and asked questions later. They did what they wanted, when they wanted, however they wanted to do it and it made for GREAT TV.

The ratings went through the roof and WCW firmly established itself as the number 1 wrestling company on TV.

However, don't be fooled into thinking that the nWo was the be-all, end-all.

In it's original form, it was. Three members - Hall, Nash and Hogan - made for a strong unit and that's when it was at its most effective. As time went on, more and more people joined to the point where fucking Virgil(yes, Virgil....) was a member of the nWo. That's when you knew it was time for the nWo to just give up.

Instead, there was the red and black nWo, the original nWo and everything in between. It ended up being a total and utter clusterfuck, to the point where it almost could have affected the group's legacy.

Their original run with Hall, Nash and Hogan was nWo at its best, and for those couple of years, they were untouchable. Arguably the best run a faction had had since the Four Horsemen.

Then you flip it over to WWF and D-Generation-X. Don't quote me on this, but it was around summer 1997 when DX came to be.

If you believe what they tell you, Shawn and Hunter went to Vince and told him that things needed to change if the WWF was to survive.

Thanks to the nWo and the emergence of Goldberg, WCW was killing the WWF in the ratings and in virtually every other aspect of the business. WWF was struggling. Badly. Yes, Stone Cold had emerged as the great hope of the company, but otherwise, the WWF was in bad shape.

Enter D-Generation-X. Think nWo, but with a heavy reliance on dick and fart jokes.

HBK and HHH, along with Chyna, ran roughshod over the WWF. They stuck 2 fingers up to the man at every opportunity. Michaels was the WWF Champion and HHH was (I think) European Champion at the time. They had stroke and much like the nWo, they did whatever the hell they wanted.

The original DX had a much shorter shelf-life than the nWo. About 6-8 months as far as I remember. It came to an end when Michaels suffered a back injury and ended up virtually retiring between 1998 and 2002.

We were then treated to DX 2.0. They'd had some success and were gaining traction, so with Michaels gone, clearly the WWF wanted to keep DX going. That's when a returning 1-2-3 Kid (X-Pac) came back and was added to the group, swiftly followed by Road Dogg and Billy Gunn (the New Age Outlaws).

You could argue that DX 2.0 had an even better run than the original DX. With them on the rise, ruling the upper midcard and Austin ruling the main-event scene, WWF finally overcame WCW for the first time in over 80 weeks and stayed on top for the majority of the rest of the Attitude Era.

When you look at it objectively, both factions had a huge impact on their respective companies and their runs lasted for almost the same amount of time, but which has the longer lasting legacy?

It's really up to you to decide that, but for me, there wouldn't have been a DX without the nWo, so I'd have to say nWo's legacy means more.

It wasn't just factions that made the Attitude Era though. Young stars broke through to become icons.

I'm specifically talking about Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock and HHH here.

Rock and Austin's stars rose at the same time and they battled their way through the midcard to the main event, headling countless PPV's against each other for the Intercontinental and WWF Championships, as well as headlining three WrestleMania's together.

Austin was the man of the people and initially, Rock was the company's choice.

Austin wasn't fancy. There were no airs and graces. Just a fuckload of intensity, four-letter words, bad language, flipping the bird and drinking a LOT of beer.

Rock was more subdued, corporate. No beer drinking. Just a condescending, disingenuous, smarmy, cocky son-of-a-bitch who knew how good he was, and he wasn't afraid to tell you about it either!

There have been very few rivalries which have had as much intensity, passion and chemistry as Rock and Austin had. This hype video was when it was at its peak - the WM17 pre-match video.

You can't call yourself a wrestling fan if you don't get goosebumps watching that video. I get the same feeling from it as I did when I first saw it over 14 years ago.

It's a simple equation really: Rock + Austin = Magic + $$$.

Two extremely talented guys who were in the right place, at the right time, and without whom the WWE might not exist today. They could do anything and WWF were lucky that they could count on two guys like that. It's not often you get one of those guys in a generation, never mind two. It may be the greatest rivalry of all-time. Not many rivalries come close to it.

Then we come to HHH. A man who we talked about earlier. A man who was in the doghouse in 1996 cos basically, he was the only one Vince could punish for the Curtain Call incident.

He was supposed to win the 1996 King of the Ring, but he got buried instead, and Austin won it in his place. In the long run though, it didn't do HHH any harm.

He still ended up kicking around with Michaels until he had to leave for a few years, and then he was given his own faction - DX 2.0.

HHH's DX came up against Rock's Nation of Domination in 1998-99 and those guys also had some great matches together. Their chemistry was good, but not as great as Rock had with Austin, and certainly not good enough to warrant another installment (mixed-tag or otherwise at WrestleMania 32).

The thing that gets me about HHH is would he have gotten to where he is without shacking up with the boss's daughter?

Sure, he'd have had a few WWF title reigns, but 13? I doubt it. Or have the backstage power to virtually bury everyone except Cena, Orton and Batista in the last 15 years? Probably not. But it is what it is. Nepotism sickens me.

There's probably a little bit of HHH that's bitter about the fact that he's not held in as high regard by wrestling fans as Rock and Austin are. It comes across like he's pissed that those guys have had successful careers since leaving the company, whereas he's still in the "wrasslin" business.

Try as he might, he's just never been as big a star as Rock and/or Austin and that must KILL him. But...it shouldn't. He's primed to take over the company when Vinnie Mac can't do it anymore, and he's got his own version of the WWE down in Florida, NXT, which fans LOVE.

Some people are cut out to become mainstream stars, and some aren't. HHH falls into the latter category, but that's OK. Judging by how successful NXT has become, it looks as though he's the best man to take control of the company in a few years time.

Despite your opinions and whether you like it or not, Rock, Austin and HHH were three young stars who came up at (roughly) the same time and all became icons in one way or another.

They will be remembered among the greatest of all-time. We were just lucky that they're all from our generation.

Attitude Era fans were fortunate that we got treated to great TV, like the stuff both nWo and DX produced, as well as to see stars like Rock, Austin and HHH rise to the top.

They didn't get there on their own though and without some fairly significant players, they may not have stayed there either.

That's where we'll pick things up next time. Keep supporting the team and keep your eyes on the ring.

-George

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Eyes on the Ring 4:11 PM  No comment

True's WIRTB Review: In Your House 9 International Incident

@TrueGodImmortal

Good day everyone, it is I Speed On The... Errr...Wait... I'm True God Immortal, here on a special edition of WIRTB, done by yours truly. Today, I'm going to revisit one of the In Your House Pay Per Views from 1996, IYH 9: International Incident. Hailing live from Vancouver at the General Motors Place in Canada, this PPV boasted an illustrious 6 man tag main event with the WWF Champion Shawn Michaels teaming up with the Intercontinental Champion Ahmed Johnson and Sycho Sid to take on the trio of Vader, Owen Hart and The British Bulldog. Originally The Ultimate Warrior was supposed to team with Shawn and Ahmed, but he had a booking dispute which apparently made him leave the company(I'd leave too if I was booked to put over Jerry Lawler in 1996). On top of the main event, there were four other matches, along with a Free For All match between Justin Bradshaw(JBL) vs Savio Vega. Riveting action so far.

The Card is As Follows:

Free For All Match
Justin Bradshaw vs Savio Vega

Tag Team Match
The Bodydonnas vs The Smoking Gunns

One On One Match
Mankind vs Henry O. Godwinn(this was really a match on a WWF PPV)

One on One Match
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Wildman Marc Mero

One On One Match
The Undertaker vs Goldust

6 Man Tag Main Event
Shawn Michaels, Sycho Sid, and Ahmed Johnson vs Vader, Owen Hart and British Bulldog

There you have it. The full card. Looks really unappealing right? Well, let's get to that. First, I have to make a brief mention of a hilarious occurrence on the Free For All show. The funniest part of the Free For All came when Jose Lothario was in the ring with Jim Cornette, and Cornette goes to strike Lothario, but Jose ducks and start hitting Jim. Vader runs out to save him Cornette which prompts Shawn Michaels to follow suit and help Jose. This sequence was hilarious, first because of the Cornette/Lothario action, secondly because HBK comes out and flips a table in the ring a half ass push. A recap of this Free For All moment is what leads us into the PPV.

First up, is the tag match between The Bodydonnas and The Smoking Gunns. The Bodydonnas arrive without their manager Cloudy, who was the worst idea ever in WWF damn near. Cloudy was a cross dressing cheerleader who took over after the Bodydonnas lost their original manager, the Skype Show Champion of the world Sunny. She arrives with The Smoking Gunns instead and the match begins, as the action is pretty fast paced in the match. Both teams have good in ring workers and that was vital to making this a solid opener for the night, as The Bodydonnas pull out the victory as a ref distraction helped them in the end.

Next up... Mankind vs Henry O. Godwinn... In a one on one match.... On Pay Per View....Henry O. Godwinn in a singles match on a Pay Per View. As suspected, this match lasts about 6 minutes with Mankind picking up the victory, but leaving me in disbelief that they would even put that match on a Pay Per View. Mankind was in a feud against The Undertaker at the time, so I guess this was just filler for the card, but couldn't they have gave us a better match and opponent for Mankind? I suspect if Warrior didn't walk out on the company, Sid could have fought Mankind. However, things did not work out like that and we were left with this. One interesting note, the WWF Superstar Hotline was being run that night by Brian Pillman, which was actually pretty funny.

Moving onto the next match, which was match of the night, with Austin vs Mero. Now, if you know me well, you know one of my biggest disappointments in wrestling history is finding out Marc Mero wasn't an actual black man. Marc Mero was like the 90s version of Rachel Dolezal and that isn't even an exaggeration. Moving onto the match, it wasn't a classic or anything, it was just the best match on the card, as Austin was heavily cheered through this match and Marlena even made a random appearance during. Austin wins with a less impactful stunner(no gut kick before) and continued his rise to the top.

The Undertaker vs Goldust was your semi main event and I was not a fan of this match. The action was a bit sloppy and dragged on for about 13 minutes until Taker caught Goldust with a tombstone piledriver. The funny part here is that it was obvious Taker was waiting for an interference because he was stalling on putting Goldust's arms on his chest for the signature pin. Mankind interferes in the nick of time by coming through a hole in the ring and taking Taker back down into the hole with him as the Mankind vs Taker saga continued. That match would then lead into the main event.

This match is hilarious for a few reasons, a huge reason being that Shawn, Ahmed, and Sid's team were labeled "The People's Posse". Yes, that was the name they were given. Another reason is that they virtually gave away the end result by Cornette saying that if his team of Vader, Owen and Bulldog didn't win, he would refund everyone who bought the PPV.... Now, you know damn well Vince wasn't going to let that happen. Camp Cornette ended up as the winners, with Vader getting the pin on Shawn to set up their Summerslam main event the following month. Small note: watch the awkwardness that is Shawn, Ahmed and Sid's pre match promo, as well as Shawn's entrance to see fans break the barricade, just to get a chance to touch Shawn's hand. Weird, but hey, it's wrestling.

Overall, the event felt pretty boring, with the main event falling short. So Was It Really That Bad? Yes. Yes It Was.

-True

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Eyes on the Ring 3:37 AM  No comment

The Underrated: J and J Security

By Speed On The Beat (@speedonthebeat)

Wow. So, in a bit of role reversal, True asked me to write an Underrated post. I had several options. I almost even picked JTG, but decided not to be a dick and troll people. Even though, the way he sold The Cobra on Superstars that one time was LEGEND-FUCKING-DARY. However, after a long internal debate (read: ten minutes), I chose two individuals who have been almost more vital to Seth Rollins' title reign than even Triple H himself. I'm, of course, referring to the team of Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury, also known as J and J Security. Perhaps it's because they were/are seen as JUST comedy characters, but I've always felt that these two never got the recognition they deserved. Let us begin with Jamie Noble.

Jamie Noble

My first experience with Noble was, as mentioned, late era WCW when he was the white guy in the Asian stable. Jamie-San of the Jung Dragons was, admittedly a confusing gimmick. Here's a guy who, in some ways, is playing yellowface. However, he took a shit gimmick and turned it into gold. It's probably the fact that he, just like his Jung counterparts, was agile as hell. When Jamie-San first spoke, with his incredibly thick country accent, it was endearing and reminded me of older wrestling, since I was brought up mostly on older southern wrestling.

When Noble finally got into the WWE, he somehow took the weirdest gimmicks (the jealous boyfriend of Michelle McCool, for instance) and embraced them. So, yes, Noble was a comedy character. But, unlike a Koko B Ware (sorry Koko fans), Jamie could actually go in the ring. His matches were never five-stars, but he had matches that made me pay attention, especially when he went up against bigger talents.

And when I heard that J and J Security was becoming a thing, I was elated, mainly because this guy who I secretly rooted for for years was getting, in some way, a main-event rub. And they haven't disappointed. Perhaps (after their work on RAW), we may even see J and J Security take on the role of a legitimate tag team, something that Noble and his partner are well-versed in.

Joey Mercury

Now, I believe Mercury is underrated because while he's seen the world and has kicked much ass, mainly as a part of MNM, he (in the eyes of some) never reached his full potential. But, let's look at it like this: Mercury is a man who's seen a LOT of shit over his life. He's been addicted to drugs and alcohol, but has been able to clean himself up and get back to WWE. Not many people can say that. That alone makes him underrated to me.

But, when you look at his in-ring work? Wow. Sure, he'll probably never contend for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. But, I believe he doesn't need to. Why? He's crisp in-ring. He sells and bumps like a boss. Plus, how many people can say they've taken a ladder to the face? On top of that, his work on the indie circuit has been pretty solid as well, just like Noble. He's even had matches against Seth Rollins during his Tyler Black days and held his own.

Additionally, the fact that he was cool with allowing his personal demons to be aired out in an angle (CM Punk's SES angle) takes some testicular fortitude. Not too many talents, GOAT or otherwise, would be willing to have that go down the way it did. However, Mercury embraced it, like Noble with the jealous angle et al, and made it something you could relate to, even if you'd never taken a drink or did a drug in your life. It is because of these reasons that I feel that J and J Security should be on more radars for more than just a few laughs...even though they're pretty great as "stooges" as well.

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Eyes on the Ring 9:57 PM  37 comments

Could This New Era of WWE Be The Best Ever?

By @TrueGodImmortal

The WWE is in a great position right now, one of the best positions it could possibly be in for the future. Right now, Seth Rollins is the WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Dean Ambrose is the number 1 contender, Brock Lesnar has a new 3 year contract, Roman Reigns is... umm..., Neville continues to excite, The New Day is gaining a fanbase, NXT as a whole is thriving with new arrivals Samoa Joe and Uhaa Nation destined to amaze, and of course, Kevin Owens. With this plethora of talent, could this new era be the best yet?

We have veterans still active such as Brock, Triple H, Kane, Big Show(eh), John Cena, and Randy Orton on a regular to semi regular basis, with the Wrestlemania squad of The Undertaker, The Rock and this year, possibly Hulk Hogan and Sting. That should make for a tremendous Wrestlemania 32 in Texas, but that's just one event, and the part timers/once a year guys will be gone after that. Which leads me to my point about this new era: in the last 5 to 6 years, WWE has relied heavily on veterans and part timers to be the anchor for the company. Now, with emphasis on Seth as the top guy, Kevin Owens being pushed massively, Dean Ambrose being hugely over, NXT being treated as its own brand, and a focus on the newer guys, the company is finally starting to take the right path. John Cena is in a more secondary role than usual, which has started to further the product. WWE has been injury stricken a bit, as some of their best talents have went down with injuries. Sami Zayn, Hideo Itami, and of course, Daniel Bryan have been sidelined and that's a major blow to the company, but injuries are temporary. When those stars return, just imagine the possibilities and matches we could see. Imagine how stacked in full that roster will be.

Randy Orton, John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Triple H, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Bray Wyatt, Neville, Dolph Ziggler, Wade Barrett, Cesaro, Kevin Owens, Roman Reigns, Rusev, The New Day, Lucha Dragons, Finn Balor, Sami Zayn, Uhaa Nation, Hideo Itami, Samoa Joe, Daniel Bryan, etc.... That's merely of a taste of the roster WWE has right now at the moment. Have we seen a more stacked roster with legends, veterans, indie legends, fresh faces and great in ring workers? The closest we have come to that is the Ruthless Aggression era. The Attitude Era had a lot of entertainment and grear characters, but lacked great in ring workers on a larger scale.

This era could see feuds of Kevin Owens vs Daniel Bryan, Cesaro vs Rollins, Ambrose vs Owens, Ambrose vs Balor, Balor vs Bryan, Rollins vs Balor, Wyatt vs Owens, Samoa Joe vs Bryan, Joe vs Balor, Joe vs Ambrose, Joe vs Rollins, Zayn vs Bryan, Zayn vs Joe, Uhaa vs Joe, Bryan vs Uhaa, Ziggler vs Balor, Neville vs Joe..... You get the picture?

We could very well be looking at the best era ever...and it is starting now. Let the fun begin.

-True

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Eyes on the Ring 8:21 PM  1 comment

On Dusty Rhodes and "Hard Times"

By Speed on the Beat (@SpeedontheBeat)

I was prepared to do another WIRTB Review today, make some wise cracks at 2000 WCW's expense. I was ready to make the Eyes on the Ring fanbase laugh and shudder at my thoughts on Sunny. I was going to talk about the time that David Arquette won Big Gold.

But, then I received word that a legend, The American Dream Dusty Rhodes, had died.

Rhodes, 69, was probably one of the first wrestlers I gravitated to when I started watching wrestling. My older cousins, they had some older Coliseum Videos of late 1980s WWF stuff. Now, shoot me for not starting with his pre-WWF work, but he still spoke to me. Here's this guy, who wasn't a mound of muscles, out there, wrestling and kicking ass just like the Hulk Hogans and the Warriors and the Randy Savages. He truly represented the common man, because, let's face it: how many of us have physiques like Hulk and Warrior?

His promos were both intense enough and silly enough that they could keep a young kid like me entertained. He didn't sound zonked like Hulk and Warrior (may he rest in peace). But, he didn't sound like, oh, I don't know, Tito Santana, either. He was able to take the gimmick of being a big guy in polka dots and make it work. Look far and wide, and tell me: how many talents do you know that could've made that work for them without making it look asinine? Rhodes jumped right into it. But, as I got older, and my tastes changed, I began to wonder: how does The Common Man fit into my wrestling palate?

So, I looked and looked for bigger, better examples of Rhodes' work. I started where almost anyone who's looking to get into Rhodes should/would: the Hard Times promo.

Gone were the polka dots. Sapphire, too. What remained was a man who ate thunder and crapped lightning. A man who the masses could aspire to follow. A man who, well, knew about hard times and wanted to stick it to The Man (the "Man," in this instance--as with several of Rhodes' greatest moments--was Ric Flair; True, in the coming days and weeks, will have a retrospective on this rivalry). This promo, when I saw it, I was, maybe 16 or so and had just gotten back into wrestling (and YouTube had just started to take off). It made me want more. I salivated at the idea of Rhodes getting his hands on Flair and whipping him senseless, like the bloodthirsty, less-than-politically-correct fans of old.

But more than that, it affected me in a way that many wrestling moments don't. It hit my heart. Around the time I discovered "Hard Times," I was going through some hard times of my own. I had emotional issues, romantic issues, familial issues, suicidal thoughts--the whole nine. Those three minutes of Dusty speaking about Ric Flair and how Rhodes was dedicating his win to America (and, well, the American Dream), it sparked a fire in me that has not been quelled since. I picked myself up and kept going, using each hard time as kindling, each rejection as a reminder that even when I fail, I succeed. That philosophy helped me become the man I am today. Now, I'm not perfect, and I won't get all emotional here, but this promo stuck with me.

While wrestling and I have our spats and I walk away for a while, I always keep a Rhodes promo (usually this one) in my back pocket. Why? They're words to live by. And as the sun has set on another legend, let us not mourn for him. Let us celebrate his life, because brother, we've all seen hard times. And Dusty Rhodes helped me get through mine.

Rest in Peace.

-Speed on the Beat

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Eyes on the Ring 3:12 PM  No comment