#wwe hall of fame live commentary

[jaytheinfinite]

Live WWE Hall of Fame 2023 Live Reaction HaavyInfinite Full Show Watch A...

[wrestlinghistorywithkay]

Wrestling’s Bad Boys : The Story of The nWo and The Monday Night Wars

During the 1990s , Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Federation and Ted Turner’s World Championship were in competition with each other to see which shows could get better ratings, this was called ‘ The Monday Night Wars ’. In 1993 , Ted Turner appointed a former wrestling commentator named Eric Bischoff ask executive producer of WCW. Bischoff took the failing promotion and turned it around by having creative and financial control. His vision was to turn from a Southern wrestling company to a modernized one that he knew people would tune in and watch. In order to do this, Bischoff eliminated a lot of Southern accents on commentary, increased the production value , avoided house shows with no income , and increased the number of big Pay-Per-Views for the company. He even recruited big names in the business such as Hulk Hogan and Macho Man Randy Savage.

In 1995, Bischoff wanted to compete with the WWF. He met with Ted Turner to see what he could do to compete with WWF RAW. Thus, Turner approved his idea and Monday Nitro was born. The inaugural episode of the show debuted on September 4,1995 and this kicked off the Monday Night War, and both companies battled for viewers and high ratings each week. Between 1995 and 1996, both the WWF and WCW would take turns beating each other in TV ratings. Nevertheless, WCW would be on top for 83 weeks.

The reason that WCW stayed on top of the ratings war in 1996 , was the rise of a new faction and storyline. This faction would come to be known as the New World Order ( nWo). The storyline started out with The Outsiders , Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash , leaving the WWF to come to Monday Nitro. People thought they were there on behalf of Vince McMahon to get a proxy war started. The Outsiders stated they would soon be joined by a third man. Therefore , the third man was revealed to be Hulk Hogan. Monday Nitro was always live while WWF RAW would alternate between live shows and taped shows. With this storyline , Bischoff hoped to get to WCW’s 18 to 35 year old range for their programming. Alongside the main booker for the promotion, Kevin Sullivan , Bischoff did so by using real names and edgier gimmicks. For example, Sting , one of the most popular stars of WCW went from colorful face paint to a look inspired by the movie , The Crow. They also added a new division to the show, the Cruiserweight division.

For the nWo , Eric Bischoff was influenced by NJPW when he attended their Battle Formation show in Japan in 1996.

During the nWo Invasion storyline , Eric Bischoff would be attacked by The Outsiders at Bash At The Beach in 1996. Hall and Nash kept teasing their third man during the attack as well. Nevertheless, Bischoff soon joined the group as their manager after Rowdy Roddy Piper revealed him to be the mystery new member of the group. Scott Hall called Bischoff’s gimmick , ‘ Eazy E ’. Bischoff also had a talk show similar to The Tonight Show , with Miss Elizabeth being his co host. The downfall of the promotion came in 1998 when WWF rebranded with the Attitude Era and took the top spot in the ratings. Soon, the nWo broke off into a few different groups. And the end of WCW came when Vince Russo replaced Bischoff and Vince McMahon purchasing the company.

Eric Bischoff now has a podcast called 83 weeks and a show called Wise Choices. Bischoff was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2021 and the nWo was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2020.

My Final Thoughts:

The Monday Night Wars will always be one of my favorite things to talk about when it comes to professional wrestling. I was born in 1997 during it. I also absolutely love the nWo because they were different. They made it cool to be the bad guy. I probably would’ve mainly watched WCW just so I could cheer them on. Eric Bischoff is one of the most iconic names in wrestling history. To me , he changed the game when WCW had its rebrand. He’s also a major reason I became a manager. I study him all of the time. I even bought an nWo shirt because I’m a big fan. I’ll always be nWo 4 Life!

Love You All,

- Kay

[traaaaaassh]

All Too Familiar Finn Balor x Reader One-Shot

Summary: A makeup artist for the WWE is asked to handle a big job. It doesn’t help that she’s hopelessly in love with her client.

Warnings: none

Word Count: 1622

Author’s Note: Hi!  I wrote this today in honor of Wrestlemania! This is my first one-shot attempt, my first time writing for the WWE, and my first time writing a reader insert piece. Any commentary is welcome! I want to start taking requests for WWE star oneshots and imagines, so if you have them, send them my way!

“So…” Alexa Bliss delivered a wicked grin, “Who are you going with to Hall of Fame?”

I chuckled, blending a bit more contour onto her cheeks, “I don’t even know if I’m going. The event isn’t really for the girls who do makeup.”

“Oh please,” she scoffed, “I know who you want to take, you’re just scared.”

“Alexa-”

“Y/N, if you don’t ask him, I am going to have to use my endless power as the host of Wrestlemania to make it happen.” She was smug.

Just as she finished, I spotted him. He was wearing his black trunks and a hoodie.

“Alexa, hush. He’s right over there,” I warned.

She whipped her head around quickly, making me regret my warning, “Finn! Get over here!”

I turned back to the various palettes I had laid out on the table.

“‘Ello,” I could hear the smile in Finn Balor’s voice.

“And how is my favorite soon-to-be-again Intercontinental Champ?” Alexa was so good at making things happen, and I knew she was set on this.

“Actually, I wanted to talk to Y/N about that…” Finn trailed off. I turned around, hoping the blush on my cheeks wasn’t too bad.

“Hi Finn.” I whispered. Alexa looked at me with wide eyes, encouraging me to say more. Shit I am blowing this. “What can I help you with?��

“Well, I want to bring Demon Balor to Wrestlemania but the girls who used to do the makeup left the company a while ago. Was wondering if you could help me?”

Alexa smiled big ust over Finn’s shoulder

“Sure,” I agreed, “Let’s talk business.”

“How about tonight after Raw? Maybe over a drink?”

Alexa looked like her eyes were going to pop out of her head, I’m sure I did too.

I agreed to meet Finn later and he left without another word.

“You are going on a date with Finn Balor!” Alexa squealed.

“It’s totally not a date, Lex. He just wants help with his paint.”

“Y/N Y/L/N, you are naive.”

The next two weeks passed quickly for the company. When I wasn’t helping other wrestlers with makeup and hair, Finn sat with me and a sketchbook, trying to perfect his demon paint. We ate our meals together, looking at pictures of Demon Balor from previous matches and pictures of the demon king from Irish lore. My phone was full of texts and pictures of ideas from Finn. The awkwardness of our previous encounters had completely disappeared.

Alexa demanded updates about my relationship with Finn, but I always told her there wasn’t much to tell. I was just helping him with a project and we worked long hours to make it happen.

“Hey, Picasso!” Finn called down the hall at me. I wrapped up the last of Sasha’s look for a promo and sent her on her way. It was Friday before Wrestlemania, NXT Takeover was happening a state away and everyone was in the MetLife Stadium preparing for the largest sports entertainment show of the year.

“Balor, how nice of you to show up,” I smirked. We planned on doing one, and only one, test run of the paint on his body. I had begged him to let me practice more, but he insisted I would get it right the first time.

“Sorry, love, got caught up in the gym with Rollins,” My heart skipped a beat at his nickname for me. He smiled, “Needed a shower, figured you wouldn’t want me all sweaty for you.” Oh I do.

“Well, you’re here now,” I swallowed hard, trying to shake the image of a hot and sweaty Finn Balor in front of me. As I had my back turned to him, grabbing the paint, Finn shed his shirt and sweatpants. I turned back to him to see him sitting in just his trunks. I bit the inside of my cheek.

With a shaky hand, I started outlining the black streaks down his chest to his abdomen.

“Don’t worry, love, I won’t bite,” Finn winked.

From: Finn: pick you up in 10 minutes :)

“Alexa, I’m freaking out and can’t get my eyeliner even. I look like a panda.” I whined.

“Y/N, you do makeup for a living. You look great,” she joined me in the bathroom, practically floating in her pink gown.

“I’m freaking out, I don’t go to these things. I get people ready for these things,” I frowned.

“You are going to Hall of Fame with Finn Balor. You have had a crush on him for months. You are going to go, have a few drinks, and have a great time.” She grabbed me by the shoulders.

With minimal arguing and worrying, I let Alexa lead me down to the lobby where Finn promised to wait.

He was seated in an armchair by the fireplace, looking at his phone.

“Hey, Mr. Abs, I got your hot date for you,” Alexa shouted in his direction from the elevator, pushing me into his direction.

Finn stood promptly and looked at us. He smiled widely, practically beaming.

“You look…” He wrapped me in a hug, “Amazing.”

“You look pretty great too,” I reciprocated. I took a longer look at him, he was wearing a very simple tuxedo, slim black pants and a fitted suit jacket.

“I’m just glad my suit matches,” He chuckled, staring down at my red gown.

Finn took my hand in his and led me to the waiting car, where Alexa and other stars were waiting.

“I could not have asked for a better date tonight,” He smiled before opening the car door.

“So, Finn, can you tell me a little bit about what we can expect from the Demon King tomorrow?” The reporter on the red carpet pushed the microphone into his face.

“Just know, he wants to win. And he always gets what he wants.” Finn smirked mysteriously before grabbing my waist and walking further down the carpet.

“Always gets what he wants, huh?” I snorted.

“Always, love,” Finn winked at me.

“Well, that was something else,” I sighed, walking out of the Barclays Center after Hall of Fame. Finn nodded in agreement.

“And tomorrow is a big day,” I commented, hoping he would speak this time. Since we sat in our seat in the stadium, he hadn’t said a word. He nodded again.

“Do you want to walk back to the hotel?” I asked, “It isn’t that far, like a twenty minute walk.” He wrapped his arm around my waist and kept walking, signalling his agreement again.

Even though it was April, New York was chilled at night. As we walked, passing closed buildings and dimly lit bodegas, I shivered. Finn stopped us in our tracks and slid his jacket off, handing it to me. I graciously accepted and put it around my shoulders.

“Guess I didn’t think this whole walk through,” I laughed, reveling in the warmth the jacket provided, and the strong smell of cologne that hung to it.

“Well, I can’t have my girl freezing on me,” Finn smiled, pulling me closer than before, “Besides, who would paint me up tomorrow if you get pneumonia?”

I slapped my hand to his chest, rolling my eyes, “You don’t need the demon to win.”

“No, I don’t,” He ushered me across the street, “But it gave me an excuse to talk to you.”

My heart skipped a beat, but I put on a brave face.

“Oh, please, like you needed an excuse.”

“Are you kidding?” He laughed, “Gallows and Anderson were going to kick my ass if I didn’t talk to you. There were tired of hearing me talk about you.”

“Talk about me?” I looked at Finn and then back at the street seeing our hotel in the distance, and the cameras and fans waiting outside. Finn followed my eyes and pulled me into an alley.

“I have been watching you for months,” He paused, “That came out wrong. But, I have liked you for a while now. And Gallows and Anderson would have to listen to me go on about how pretty you are and how sweet you are. So they got sick of my shit and told me if I didn’t talk to you they would make me.”

I smiled, this sounded all too familiar.

“Finn, can I tell you a secret?”

He looked at me, expectantly.

“Alexa has been trying to get me to talk to you for months… The day you came to me about painting for Mania she was threatening to use her host powers to get me to talk to you.”

Finn laughed.

“Well, since we can admit that to each other,” Finn took a step closer, pressing me against the brick wall behind me. My breath was caught in my throat. I was suddenly aware of all of the places Finn was touching me, my waist and the top of my arm were on fire.

“Finn,” before I could say another word Finn pressed his lips to mine, gently at first. His hands moved to the back of my neck and pulled me close. We separated for a moment and dove back into each other passionately.

Time passed slowly and quickly all at once, and after a while we parted. By the light of the streetlight on the road, I could see that some of my lipstick had tinted his lips.

Finn sighed,“I would take you back to my room, but-”

“Mania is tomorrow, you need rest,” I smiled.

He planted another kiss on my lips.

“But, after Mania, you and I have a very important date.”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world, Mr. Balor.”

Finn squeezed my hips tightly.

“I like the sound of that.”

[jonmoxleygivesmelife]

Road Dogg to Reportedly Take Break from WWE

“Brian "Road Dogg" James is reportedly planning to take an "extended break" from WWE, according to Mike Johnson of PWInsider.

Johnson reported last week that Road Dogg stepped down as the co-lead writer of SmackDown Live after hitting a "breaking point" and experiencing "increasing frustration" regarding WWE Chairman Vince McMahon making script changes.

Pro Wrestling Sheet's Ryan Satin followed up by reporting that Road Dogg moving out of his role was a "mutual decision" so that he could become a "utility player" for the company. Satin added that there was talk of Road Dogg becoming a producer at live events or trying his hand at commentary.

In relation to his latest report, Johnson noted that there is no timetable for Road Dogg's return to work.

The 49-year-old Road Dogg was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year as a member of D-Generation X. He is a six-time WWE Tag Team champion alongside Billy Gunn as the New Age Outlaws, and he has had a backstage role with the company since 2011.

Road Dogg debuted as a wrestler more than three decades ago, and he comes from the legendary Armstrong wrestling family, which makes him a highly knowledgeable and experienced resource for WWE.

Given Road Dogg's ability to contribute in several different areas, he figures to be an asset to WWE whenever he does return from his reported hiatus.”

It’s really unfortunate that Vince is driving away talent in all areas of the WWE. We’re all just slowly watching this ship sink and there’s nothing anyone can do about it with that ridiculous megalomaniac in charge. Smh 🤦‍♀️

[hazyheel]

Monday Night Raw 3/11/19 Review

The night started out with a classic Shield entrance through the crowd, although instead of the riot gear, the men came out in their new merch. Reigns said that if last night was his last match, he would be satisfied. They said that they all had business to take care of tonight. With that, Ambrose and Reigns left Rollins alone in the ring. He was quickly interrupted when Paul Heyman showed up. Rollins took the words out of Heyman’s mouth, saying that while Brock absolutely destroys guys that are his stature, smaller guys are his kryptonite. Heyman argued that Lesnar didn’t have time to prepare for those matches, pointing out that the matches were changed at the last minute. Heyman then showed a Lesnar hype package for some reason. At the end of the promo, Shelton Benjamin of all people attacks Rollins, hitting several German Suplexs and leaving.

Grade: A-. Really good promo, and I love the way they are building this story. The fact that they are acknowleding how good Lesnar works with smaller guys is a step in the right direction

With that, we went right into Benjamin vs. Rollins. Pretty slow match, surprisingly. But there was one point where Rollins went for a suicide dive, but Benjamin intercepted with a high knee. Heyman was on commentary, and he took a phone call, saying that it was Lesnar on the phone, and that he will be on Raw next week. Seth won with a Curb Stomp.

Grade: C-. I had high hopes for this match, but it really disappointed. They decided not to go all out for this match, so it was a bit boring. Right guy won.

Finn Balor came down to the ring as Rollins was leaving, getting in the ring for an Intercontinental Championship match against Bobby Lashley. For some reason, they just had Lashley’s face on the titantron during Balor’s entrance. On a completely unrelated note, apperently Renee Young is from Toronto, but isn’t a maple leafs fan. What a world we live in. Anyway, Lio Rush was not at ringside, apperently still recovering from some random hit from Braun Strowman last week. As Balor was about to hit Lashley with the Coup de Gras, Rush showed up at ringside, ringing the bell. Finn went for some sort of springboard move, but Lashley hit a spear for the win. Lashley is the new intercontinental Champion.

Grade: D. These guys just don’t have chemistry, not really. It’s only once in a blue moon that they put on a good match together. I didn’t want to see Balor lose the belt so soon, especially not to Lashley. Just not too enjoyable.

Backstage, Charly interviewed Baron Corbin about how he was a dick when Roman left to fight leukemia. He just said that he was gonna kick his ass, and that he had been carrying Raw.

Ronda Rousey came out to address her actions from last night. Ronda immediately heeled on the crowd, and honestly, she is kinda better at it than face promos, but it is still awkward. She said that she gave Becky Lynch the win last night so that she can embarass both of them, and that no one can stop her. Dana Brooke came out to interrupt, and I have no idea if she is face or heel. She acted face, and said that she won’t let Ronda keep disrespecting the company. She gave a whole speech, and all I could think about was how she was gonna get her ass kicked. Promo was decent though. She wanted a title shot, but Rousey just beat her up. 

Grade: D+. Just not worth having. I think that this could’ve been short and sweet, and we didn’t need an angle of her beating up a low card guy (this is coming from a guy that loves Dana Brooke for no reason at all.) Just keep it simple. Even not showing up would’ve been cool, we all know why she attacked Lynch last night, we didn’t need it spelled out for us. But either way, it was just unnecessary.

Next up, we had Bobby Roode and Chad Gable vs. Aleister Black and Ricochet. Contrary to the normal matches with Black and Ricochet, Black was the one who was selling most of the time. Roode and Gable hit an awesome neckbreaker/ german suplex combo. Match ended quickly after Black tagged in blind, and hitting Roode with a roundhouse kick, a knee and Black mass for the win. After the match, the Revival attacked Black and Ricochet.

Grade: C. It pains me to see a set of such awesome competitors get so overexposed so quickly. This feud should be awesome, but it just feels mundane now. People say it all the time, but the length of the show is really hurting feuds like this, where seeing Black and Ricochet all the time makes us think they aren’t as special. I hope they continue the feud into Wrestlemania, and they pull out all stops. But for now, they need to mix this feud up.

Then was a moment of Bliss, where Alexa was set to reveal who the host of Wrestlemania is. She revealed that she is the host of Wrestlemania. She left just as quickly as she showed up. Young and Graves were making a bunch of jokes on commentary. Graves obviously was thrilled. I’m not a huge fan of Bliss as host, I’m not really sure what she will do, but maybe it’ll be entertaining. I always thought of a comedic host, but we will see what she does. Backstage, Charly interviewed Braun Strowman about attacking Colin Jost last week. He said he didn’t really care if it was okay or not. Then a backstage aid told Strowman that his car was there, but Strowman didn’t know about it. I guess SNL, Colin Jost, bought him a car. In a card, Jost joked about Strowman destroying Vince’s limo, and how he got screwed out of a title shot. Strowman then destroyed the car. Strowman then tells the aid to tell Che and Jost that he will beat them up.

Then we had an Elias concert. He made fun of the city, and No Way Jose came out. Elias attacked him. and the rest of the conga line. Jose had new hair too! So yeah, this happened, not gonna grade it. They then showed the next inductees into the Hall of Fame: Harlem Heat. Definitely into that, Booker T is a 2 time hall of famer now, along with Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair. Lacey Evans came out, and walked over to the commentary desk, while Corey and Renee freaked out and Michael was thoroughly annoyed. She put a fan in Renee’s face. T’was humorous, and the best use of Lacey Evans yet, because she had a staredown with Nia Jax at the top of the ramp. It didn’t lead to anything, but at least it teased the possibility of Evans actually doing something. Progress?!?

So next up was Nia Jax vs. Natalya, after their confrontation last night. She said that she needed someone to have her back tonight, with Beth Phoenix coming out in her corner. The match lasted for a minute, and Beth Phoenix just caused a DQ. The heels retreated, but the Boss n’ Hug connection attacked them backstage.

Grade: D-. Kinda dumb of a segment, although it was cool to see Phoenix back. I just don’t see why Tamina and Jax need to still be in the title picture. They are bad, straight up! I wish they would just fade out of the division, and maybe Bayley and Banks take on a smackdown team. Or even Natalya and Phoenix. Anyone other than Tamina and Jax.

Next, we had the confrontation between Triple H and Batista. Batista came down to the ring dressed like a Hollywood asshole, and had security and I hate him with every bone in my body, so WWE is doing well with booking their heel. Batista was a little rusty on the promo, but he acted like a very tough, and calculating heel. He is fine with fighting Triple H, but on his own terms. He said tells Trips to give him what he wants, and Trips refuses. Trips called his security the “guardians of the independent scene.” Funny. Batista said that he left because Trips always looked down on him, and he wanted to get away. Batista said that the only reason Trips won’t give him the match is because he isn’t in control. The promo devolved into them just shouting at each other like children. The match was confirmed after a shouting match that went on for way too long. Batista’s only line was “give me what I want.” Batista said that this would be his last match, and he wants to end Triple H’s career too. Trips then said it was No Holds Barred.

Grade: D+. I was looking forward to this, but I didn’t like what happened. They ended up just yelling at each other, and it was annoying. Took way too long to get to the point. It would’ve gotten a lower grade, but I like the hint that this may end up a match for Triple H’s career. The No Holds Barred stip was a given, but I didn’t expect a career threatening match. I’m looking forward to it. But the actual segment started out strong, but quickly died a horrible, annoying death.

Kurt Angle was up next, out to address his career. He recapped his career, and put over Pittsburg. He announced that this will Wrestlemania will be his fairwell match. He then said that this would be his final match on Raw, against Apollo Crews. Huge honor for him. The two had a quick match, Angle winning with the Angle Slam.

Grade: C+. Good match, although it was short. More importantly, who will get Kurt Angle’s final match? My mind went to either Drew McIntyre or Roman Reigns. Either would be very good, but I think McIntyre deserves it, given that the two really made TNA together. But Reigns needs a match too. So this is definitely a story I’m looking forward to.

Next, we had Roman Reigns vs. Baron Corbin, but before we started Drew McIntyre attacked, and left him laying. Reigns fought back a bit, but ate a Claymore, and then a second into the ringpost. Rollins came out to check on him, and they sorta played up a concussion angle. Reigns refused medical attention, and waked out very slowly. It was on his own power, but Rollins helped him out a bit. Ambrose was pissed, and he told Trips that he wanted Drew McIntyre in a falls count anywhere match. They battled into the crowd, and Ambrose threw a little table at Mcintyre. At one point, McIntyre was lying down on a rolling case, and Dean pushed it into another equipment case. It didn’t look very good. McIntyre and Ambrose brawled on the announce table, before McIntyre hit a low blow, stabbed Ambrose in the head with a pencil, and then threw him into the LED boards. McIntyre got the win after hitting a Claymore while Ambrose’s head was in the railing.

Grade: C+. A medicore match to end out a mediocre night. The stipulation was kinda fresh, and Drew looked good, but the outcome was not in question. Kinda fun, but ulimately just being used to set up Reigns vs. McIntyre.

Overall Grade: D+

Pros: opening promo; Kurt Angle announcement; main event (kinda)

Cons: pointless Dana brooke beatdown; Intercontinental Championship match; Black and ricochet overexposure; Nia and Tamina still being relevant; triple h and batista “promo;” 

Commentary call of the night: Renee Young- “You’re excitement creeps me out.” Corey Graves “Well, uh, leave.”

[squaredcirclesirens]

Lita and Jim Ross to announce Mae Young Classic

WWE has announced that the first-ever Mae Young Classic women’s tournament will stream exclusively on WWE Network, starting Monday, Aug. 28, with the first four episodes available on demand. Episodes five through eight will be available on demand on Monday, Sept. 4. The final match will stream live from Las Vegas on Tuesday, Sept. 12 at 10 p.m. ET.

The Mae Young Classic will be called by WWE Hall of Fame announcer Jim Ross, who will be joined on color commentary by four-time Women’s Champion and WWE Hall of Famer Lita. The tournament, named after WWE Hall of Famer and one of the greatest WWE Superstars in history, Mae Young, will feature 32 of the top female competitors from around the world participating in a single-elimination tournament.

“The Mae Young Classic is a unique and exclusive offering for WWE Network subscribers and further highlights our ongoing commitment to the ‘women’s evolution’ in sports and entertainment,” said Paul “Triple H” Levesque, WWE Executive Vice President, Talent, Live Events and Creative. “It’s a privilege to showcase these talented women from around the world and to provide them with an opportunity to shine before a global audience on WWE Network.”

website | twitter | tumblr | instagram

[laughtrout72-blog]

WWE Hall Of Famer ‘Mean’ Gene Okerlund Dead At 76

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PITTSBURGH (KDKA/CBS Local)–WWE Hall of Fame Broadcaster “Mean” Gene Oklerlund has died at the age of 76.

World Wrestling Entertainment made the announcement Wednesday morning, just days after appearing in Pittsburgh for WWE Smackdown Live.

“WWE is saddened to learn that WWE Hall of Famer Gene Okerlund, the most recognizable interviewer in sports-entertainment history, has passed away at age 76.”

Okerlund started his early days in the AWA before making the move to the WWE in 1984 where he interviewed some of the biggest names in professional wrestling. In addition to his interviews, he also provided ringside commentary and hosted multiple shows for the network.

In 1993, Oklerlund added WCW to his resume where he worked in the same roles before making a return to WWE in 2001.

Source: https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2019/01/02/wwe-hall-of-famer-mean-gene-okerlund-dead-at-76/

[scuthernace-blog]

Hall Of Fame 2017 / Allen & Lexi

@spitefulpixie

The much anticipated ceremony had finally arrived. The showcase where all fans and former/current superstars and their loved ones showed respect to those being immortalized in one of the most successful business in the world today, the WWE Hall Of Fame. Still fairly early in the event, where mostly everyone was just arriving to the arena. The commentary staff doing their jobs and getting interviews with all the stars as they keep pouring in. Allen stood by the side of his long term wife while finishing up an interview with Cathy Kelley. Allen stepped away from the set with his wife by his side. He turned his attention towards her, but over in the corner of his eye he could see Smackdown Live Women's Champion, Alexa Bliss. He thought for a brief moment before turning his attention back to his wife, exchanging a few words with her to keep things calm between the two. She informed him that she was going to take a seat. He gave her a nod and watched as she walked off, AJ took a deep breath before turning his attention back over towards Lexi direction. He fixed his suit before walking forward. Once getting close enough he parted his lips and saying "Oh look who we have here." A confident grin on the side of his lips, stopping once he got to a comfortable distance with the lady. He couldn't help but to notice that even though he was not going to openly admit it, she looked good tonight. Instead of saying that, he stood there awaiting her to respond.

[rackradioshow]

New Post has been published on http://rackradioshow.com/blog/?p=661

01-19-17: Kurt Angle, WWE Announcing, Smackdown & More

Tonight live on the Wild Talk Radio Network, the Multi-Time Award Winning, The Rack returns to the airwaves at 10pm ET with your hosts Lindsey Ward & Sir Rockin. On the program this week we will be giving you the latest news in both WWE & TNA brought to us by Gerweck.net & TNASylum.net which includes:

*Kurt Angle Hall of Fame *Jimmy Snuka Passing *Jerry Lawler Returning to Commentary *A WWE Womens Tournament *AJ Styles Robbery *New Funko Pops

And More!

We will be discussing the possibility of Michael Cole taking on a new role with in WWE and if he were to step back, where it would leave the WWE Announcing Situation.

We will also give you the Smackdown Throwdown featuring LaLuchadora Revealed, Cena stirs the pot, Wyatt Family bond continues to break and more. Plus we will give you the NXT Rundown featuring the NXT Championship Contract Signing, Sanity grows stronger and more.

Plus Tweet of the Week!

Be a part of the show tonight by joining us in our live chat room and interact with the show. It all begins LIVE tonight at 10pm ET on www.rackradioshow.com & www.wildtalkradio.com presented in part by “Wrestling Figure Photography”. You can also listen to the show live on your smartphone, tablet or iPad, by downloading the TuneIn Radio App, which is free, just search for Wild Talk Radio Network.

[gamerssphere]

2K Games is getting ready to release the latest entry in the WWE 2K series with WWE 2K20. This seems to be a rather ambitious project which will bring a lot of new features for gamers to enjoy.

MyPlayer & MyCareer

For the first time ever in the franchise, gamers will be able to create and play with a male and female MyPlayer in MyCareer mode.

Of course, if we’re bringing female characters for MyPlayer, it only means we should be able to have a Mixed Tag. This is coming, too. You’ll be able to play as both superstars, and you’ll team up together in different mixed tag team matches throughout your career.

Expect to go through 18 different chapters in your career, including aroun 100 different matches and interacting with over 40 WWE Superstars from every brand, as well as legends during this game mode.

At A Glance

[su_spoiler title=”MyCareer at a glance” style=”fancy”]

For the first time ever, create both a female and male MyPLAYER and take them through MyCAREER, playing storylines and matches as each character and occasionally teaming together with the all-new Mixed Tag match feature.

Unlock WWE Legends, Career specific Superstar attires, original characters and unique environments like “Hell’s Colosseum” and a special New Day themed arena.

At one point, Red and Tre cross through an interdimensional portal to try to find the Undertaker who hasn’t been seen in years, encountering various surprises along the way.

MyCAREER is fully voiced again, this year featuring performances from nearly over 40 WWE Superstars, NXT Superstars and legends in addition to over 15 original voiced roles. Interact with newly-voiced Superstars such as Ronda Rousey, The New Day, Becky Lynch, Adam Cole, Velveteen Dream, The IIconics, Samoa Joe and more.

Track Red and Tre’s career progress with “The List” – as teenagers Red and Tre write down all the goals they’d like to someday achieve, which later becomes their road map to success. Can you cross off their final list item and get inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame?

At certain points in MyCAREER, the decisions you make affect the matches Red and Tre compete in, who they team with, and possibly even lead to some alternate outcomes. Explore different choices to see what paths they might lead you down.

Podcasts are back this year, including “The Buzz and Cole Show” featuring the return of Buzz and Cole Quinn from WWE2K19’s MyCAREER.

[/su_spoiler]

[su_spoiler title=”By the numbers” style=”fancy”]

18 chapters

Approximately 100 total matches

Over 2,700 lines of dialogue

More than 900 lines of new commentary unique to MyCAREER matches and cutscenes

Over 270 cutscenes

Around 20 hours of total play-through time

34 career goals on Red and Tre’s List

1 bionic arm

[/su_spoiler]

Soundtrack

If there’s one piece of the game that becomes key for WWE 2K20 is its soundtrack. We are normally able to just leave the game running on the homepage and listen to all the cool music. This won’t be any different as we’ll have some nice music besides the obvious superstars’ entrance music.

WWE 2K20 will include the following 12 tracks:

Banks – “Gimme”

Barns Courtney – “99”

Bring Me The Horizon ft. Dani Filth – “Wonderful Life”

Grandson – “Stigmata”

Lil Uzi Vert – “XOTour Llif3”

Motley Crue ft. Machine Gun Kelly – “The Dirt”

Muse – “The Dark Side”

Poppy – “METAL”

Saweetie – “Icy Girl”

The Black Keys – “LO / HI”

The Misfits – “Hybrid Moments”

Watt ft. Post Malone – “Burning Man”

You can get this playlist on Apple Music.

What about My Universe?

  I don’t know about all of you, but when it comes to WWE 2K games, I focus quite strongly on the Universe mode right after I’m done with MyCareer. This all means that we need a well debugged version of this game mode. Here’s everything you’ll get in this mode.

[su_spoiler title=”Universe Features” style=”fancy”]

Major and minor show match limits have increased from 7 to 9.

Pay-Per-View match limits have doubled from 7 to 14.

The number of championship titles per major show has increased from 6 to 7.

Simultaneous rivalries on major shows have increased from 3 to 4.

Pay-Per-Views can be co-hosted by up to 3 major shows versus the previous 2.

Players have more freedom to delete and add promos and matches.

50 of the most-used cutscenes have been reshot with female mocap actors to look more authentic when female Superstars are used.

25 new cutscenes have been added.

3,040 new promo lines are in the game.

Custom Matches can now be included in Match Tables, along with new Mixed Tag Matches.

New Championship Match setting in Match Tables can be used to make certain matches a title match.

Main Event matches in Match Tables have been tweaked so that those match types are more likely to occur on the show (Example: Royal Rumble match at the Royal Rumble Pay-Per-View).

New rivalry content includes options such as low-intensity enemies making peace after a single Pay-Per-View or low to mid-intensity allies slowly falling out over several weeks instead of a sudden turn.

The overall menu flow has been streamlined to make it more accessible to those new to Universe Mode. All deeper options are still available for experienced players.

[/su_spoiler]

What about the full roster?

Where should I begin with this?

We have a huge roster this time around. Let’s check out some lists:

Legends

[su_spoiler title=”Legends” style=”fancy”]

Jerry The King Lawler

Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase

The Rock

Latino Heat Eddie Guererro

Bret The Hitman Hart

Razor Ramon

Molly Holly

Ronda Rousey

Trish Stratus

The Undertaker

Andre The Giant

Batista

Beth Phoenix

Big Boss Man

Big Show

Booker T

Brutus beefcake

Christian

Chyna

Diesel

Dusty Rhodes

Edge

Goldberg

Hulk Hogan

Jake Roberts

Jim Neidhart

Kevin Nash

Kurt Angle

Lita

Mankind

Mark Henry

Mr. McMahon

Papa Shango

Randy Savage

Ric Flair

Ricky Steamboat

Rowdy Roddy Piper

Scott Hall

Shawn Michaels

[/su_spoiler]

Monday Night RAW

[su_spoiler title=”Spoilers” style=”fancy”]

Viking Raiders

AJ Styles

Bray Wyatt (Wyatt Family Version)

Akam

Alexa Bliss

Alicia Fox

Becky Lynch

Bobby Lashley

Booker T

Braun Strowman

Brie Bella

Brock Lesnar

Cesaro

Curt Hawkins

Dana Brooke

Dash Wilder

Drew McIntyre

EC3

Eric Young

Heath Slater

Jason Jordan

Jey Uso

Jimmy Uso

Gran Metalik

Kalisto

Karl Anderson

Baron Corbin

Lacey Evans

Lince Dorado

Luke Gallows

Maria Kanellis

Mojo Rawley

Naomi

Natalya

Nia Jax

Nikki Bella

No Way Jose

Rey Mysterio

The Miz

Rezar

Ricochet

Robert Roode

Ruby Riott

Sami Zayn

Samoa Joe

Sarah Logan

Sasha Banks

Scott Dawson

Seth Rollins

Shane McMahon

Stephanie McMahon

Tamina

Titus O’Neil

Triple H

Zack Ryder

[/su_spoiler]

SmackDown

[su_spoiler title=”Spoilers” style=”fancy”]

Zelina Vega

Luke Harper

Rowan

Daniel Bryan

Matt Hardy

Randy Orton

John Cena

Aleister Black

Ali

Andrade

Apollo Crews

Asuka

Baron Corbin

Bayley

Big E

Billie Kay

Bo Dallas

Buddy Murphy

Carmella

Chad Gable

Charlotte Flair

Curtis Axel

Dolph Ziggler

Elias

Ember Moon

Jeff Hardy

Jinder Mahal

Kairi Sane

Kane

Kofi Kingston

Lana

Lars Sullivan

Liv Morgan

Mandy Rose

Otis

Paige

Peyton Royce

R-Truth

Roman Reigns

Rusev

Sheamus

Shelton Benjamin

Shinsuke Nakamura

Sin Cara

Sonya Deville

Tucker

Xavier Woods

[/su_spoiler]

205 Live

[su_spoiler title=”Spoilers” style=”fancy”]

Akira Tozawa

Ariya Daivari

The Brian Kendrick

Cedric Alexander

Gentleman Jack Gallagher

Mark Andrews

Mike Kanellis

Noam Dar

Oney Lorcan

Tony Nese

[/su_spoiler]

NXT

[su_spoiler title=”Spoilers” style=”fancy”]

Io Shirai

Tommaso Ciampa

Matt Riddle

Adam Cole

Angelo Dawkins

Bianca Belair

Bobby Fish

Candace LeRae

Dakota Kai

Fandango

Finn Balor

Humberto Carrillo

Jaxson Ryker

Johnny Gargano

Kassius Ohno

Keith Lee

Kyle O’Reilly

Mia Yim

Montez Ford

Pete Dunne

Rhea Ripley

Roderick Strong

Shane Thorne

Shayna Baszler

Toni Storm

Trent Seven

Tyler Bate

Tyler Breeze

Velveteen Dream

[/su_spoiler]

Unlockables

[su_spoiler title=”Spoilers” style=”fancy”]

The Fiend

Wicked Alistair Black

Frankenstrowman

Survivor Mandy Rose

Twisted Nikki Cross

$500 Shirt The Rock

Chyna

Mankind

[/su_spoiler]

WWE 2K20 launches worldwide on Tuesday, October 22 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

All We Know About #WWE2K20 #gaming #WWE #2KGames 2K Games is getting ready to release the latest entry in the WWE 2K series with…

[daleisgreat]

Fight Owens Fight: The Kevin Owens Story

Kevin Owens was only on WWE TV for about two years before WWE gave him the best of home video treatment complete with a biography and collection of his best matches. The DVD/BluRay hit in 2017 under the title, Kevin Owens: Fight Owens Fight (trailer). It is notorious for being WWE’s final regularly released BluRay (with the only exception being WWE’s annual Wrestlemania home video still getting the BluRay treatment). All other non-Wrestlemania home video releases from WWE since have only been in DVD. The documentary portion opens with a monologue of quotes of people doubting Owens making it in the business because of his unique musculature. I was one of those doubters too, but am glad he has since proved me wrong. From watching my one or two Ring of Honor shows a year I thought Owens could have still maintained the same One Man Gang-esque image he was going for, but felt he overdid it by 20% and I was/am concerned for his health because of it. I was legit shocked when the bio opens with lots of his early indie footage from his teenage years and Owens looked nothing like he is now and was in fit shape, with no beard and doing far more acrobatic moves similar to Rob Van Dam. My only criticism of the biography is that Owens never addresses the image he has now so I do not know if it is something he is doing intentionally for his character, or if it is a personal vice he has always been battling with.

The biography is one hour long and I was surprised that nearly a third of it focuses on his indie wrestling career. There have been other WWE-produced bios that lightly touch on indie careers of other stars, but Fight Owens Fight has thorough coverage of how Owens broke in as Kevin Steen alongside Sami Zayn, then known as El Generico, as they trained in former Jacques Rougeu’s training territory and went on to greater indie fame in Combat Zone Wrestling and then Ring of Honor. The feature interviews Owens’ fellow indie colleagues of that time such as Sami Zayn, Johnny Gargano, Neville, Steve Corino and Jimmy Jacobs to help provide context of what the indie scene was like at the time and how they were involved in some of Owens’ most heated rivalries from his indie days. Big ups to Ring of Honor and other indie leagues for providing plenty of footage to flesh this portion out. The doc heats up on Kevin’s journey from being scouted by WWE and working his way through the Performance Center system and into instant success in NXT. There is a lot of vintage training footage here of Owens rehearsing promos that he touches on were big stepping stones for him that were a delight to take in. I also dug how it recapped his early WWE success with his rivalries against John Cena and tearing it up with Sami Zayn on multiple PPVs. John Cena, Daniel Bryan, Jimmy Jacobs and Zayn all provide tremendous insight to make these matches and feuds stand out.

The bio wraps up recapping how Owens was disappointed with where he was in his career opening the 2016 edition of Summerslam, but how a freak injury to Finn Balor resulted in Kevin Owens winning the title on one of the following RAWs. I remember being stunned at the quick change to Owens winning the big one at the time and how he went on to have a successful half year title reign. It closes with Kevin’s family and peers putting Owens over. One last hair I got to pick is I would have loved to see this bio recap the tremendous friendship/rivalry between Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho as that had such a great build that culminated in the memorable break-up at the ‘Festival of Friendship’ and their much hyped faceoff at Wrestlemania 33 that is included in the matches on this collection. Owens does have insight on this beloved rivalry with Jericho on his WWE Netork special for the ‘365’ series where WWE cameras followed him behind-the-scenes for one year. It is a very gritty look capturing a lot of Owens’ raw, unfiltered emotions during his run with and against Jericho and other feuds from a year of WWE television and is a terrific supplementary piece to Fight Owens Fight that I highly recommend checking out. There are an hour of deletes scenes/bonus stories on the collection, most of which are of significant caliber that they could have easily been woven into the main feature. About a third of them revolve around more indie highlights like walking out of the Jacques Rougeau league and touching on his feud with Steve Corino. Other noteworthy bonuses are crediting Enzo for ring attire ideas, and WWE Network episodes of Superstar Ink and Unfiltered with Renee Young that both featured Kevin Owens.

There are 15 matches included in Fight Owens Fight. Four of which are exclusive to the BluRay. As expected there are a few Sami Zayn matches, and unsurprisingly all of them are winners with their PPV blow-off bout at Battleground 2016 being the runaway best match of the 15 in this collection. Runners-up would be an inventive last man standing bout with Dean Ambrose and his awesome WWE PPV debut clash with John Cena at the 2015 Elimination Chamber. Definitely do not skip over the Dolph Ziggler match on a 2016 episode of Main Event. I did a double-take at its listing, but it is worth it as the match got a lot of time and has features a ton of hilarious improv from Owens getting himself over as the ‘king of headlocks’ in the match and Jerry Lawler having a blast with it on commentary. I have seen other home video collections from WWE before that they rushed out too early in a star’s career and that is not the case with Fight Owens Fight. It has a thorough biography with a surprisingly detailed look at his indie years and his early NXT/WWE success. Top it off with a mostly satisfying selection of his WWE and NXT matches and that results in this being a must-have for your collection. Past Wrestling Blogs Best of WCW Clash of Champions Best of WCW Monday Nitro Volume 2 Best of WCW Monday Nitro Volume 3 Biggest Knuckleheads Bobby The Brain Heenan Daniel Bryan: Just Say Yes Yes Yes DDP: Positively Living Dusty Rhodes WWE Network Specials ECW Unreleased: Vol 1 ECW Unreleased: Vol 2 ECW Unreleased: Vol 3 Eric Bishoff: Wrestlings Most Controversial Figure For All Mankind Goldberg: The Ultimate Collection Impact Wresting Presents: Best of Hulk Hogan Its Good to Be the King: The Jerry Lawler Story The Kliq Rules Ladies and Gentlemen My Name is Paul Heyman Legends of Mid South Wrestling Macho Man: The Randy Savage Story Memphis Heat NXT Greatest Matches Vol 1 > OMG Vol 2: Top 50 Incidents in WCW History OMG Vol 3: Top 50 Incidents in ECW History Owen: Hart of Gold RoH Supercard of Honor 2010-Present ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery Scott Hall: Living on a Razors Edge Sting: Into the Light Straight Outta Dudley-ville: Legacy of the Dudley Boyz Straight to the Top: Money in the Bank Anthology Superstar Collection: Zach Ryder TLC 2017 TNA Lockdown 2005-2016 Top 50 Superstars of All Time Tough Enough: Million Dollar Season True Giants Ultimate Fan Pack: Roman Reigns Ultimate Warrior: Always Believe War Games: WCWs Most Notorious Matches Warrior Week on WWE Network Wrestlemania 3: Championship Edition Wrestlemania 28-Present The Wrestler (2008) Wrestling Road Diaries Too Wrestling Road Diaries Three: Funny Equals Money Wrestlings Greatest Factions WWE Network Original Specials First Half 2015 WWE Network Original Specials Second Half 2015 WWE Network Original Specials First Half 2016 WWE Network Original Specials Second Half 2016 WWE Network Original Specials First Half 2017

[gdwessel]

Lion’s Gate: Project 10 - 12/21/2017: Young Lions Cup Winner Crowned; NJPW on AXS Re-Signs JR, Barnett

The final NJPW show of the year has come and gone, and with it, the Winner of  the 11th Young Lions Cup. Results:

Lion’s Gate: Project 10 - 12/21/2017, Tokyo Shinjuku FACE (NJPWWorld)

Kotetsu Yamamoto Memorial 11th Young Lions Cup: Tetsuhiro Yagi TLD Ren Narita (15:00)

Kotetsu Yamamoto Memorial 11th Young Lions Cup: Hirai Kawato d. Shota Umino (Rolling Enzuiguri, 8:27)

Kotetsu Yamamoto Memorial 11th Young Lions Cup: Katsuya Kitamura d. Tomoyuki Oka (Jackhammer, 11:20)

Manabu Nakanishi & Kotaro Yoshino [K-DOJO] d. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Dinosaur Takuma [K-DOJO] (Nakanishi > Takuma, Argentine Backbreaker, 12:42)

Satoshi Kojima d. Daisuke Kanehira [HEAT-UP] (Lariat, 11:01)

Yuji Nagata d. Yuma Aoyagi [AJPW] (Backdrop Hold, 12:10)

With these results, Katsuya Kitamura wins the Young Lions Cup. He’s had a Hell of a debut year, which wasn’t even a full calendar year. And this is a great picture.

Evolving Monster indeed. Final standings:

Kitamura: 10pts (5W 0D 0L) *** WINNER *** Kawato: 8pts (4W 0D 1L) Oka: 6pts (3W 0D 2L) Umino: 4pts (2W 0D 3L) Narita: 1pts (0W 1D 4L) Yagi: 1pts (0W 1D 4L)

And that’s it for the NJPW competitive year.

Meanwhile, on the cusp  of an unbelievable 4th season of NJPW on AXS, the network has released news that Jim Ross and Josh Barnett have re-upped their contracts to call matches for the program:

ACCLAIMED NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING COMMENTARY TEAM JIM ROSS AND JOSH BARNETT RETURN TO AXS TV IN 2018

AXS TV Announces Fourth Season of NJPW Weekly Series Scheduled for Friday Nights in 2018

Featured Events Include Wrestle Kingdom 12, New Beginning Sapporo, New Beginning Osaka and More

Credit: AXS TV/Ian Mosley

Los Angeles (Dec. 20, 2017) – Wrestling Hall of Fame broadcaster Jim Ross and champion fighter Josh Barnett will return as AXS TV’s New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) broadcast team in 2018, announced AXS TV FIGHTS CEO Andrew Simon. The acclaimed commentary duo kick off the New Year with AXS TV’s Wrestle Kingdom 12 special on Saturday, Jan. 6 at 8pE/5pP.

AXS TV’s award-winning weekly NJPW series returns to Friday nights on Jan. 12 at 8pE/5pP, with additional coverage from Wrestle Kingdom 12. Rounding out the network’s first quarter schedule will be matches from New Beginning Sapporo, New Beginning Osaka and more.

One of the most recognizable figures in pro wrestling, Ross has called thousands of televised events over the course of his 30-plus-year career and has lent his iconic voice to NJPW on AXS TV since 2016. Along with his beloved catchphrases, Ross is widely regarded for his influence on the wrestling industry, as evidenced by his induction into the WWE, NWA and National Wrestling Halls of Fame. Ross continues to share his love of wrestling in his popular podcast “The Ross Report” and his new memoir “Slobberknocker: My Life in Wrestling.”

A former UFC Heavyweight Champion and veteran wrestler, Barnett has provided expert analysis for NJPW on AXS TV since the series debuted in 2015. Barnett’s storied combat sports career is highlighted by multiple headlining and title fights in the UFC, Strikeforce, PRIDE and Pancrase. His wrestling background includes competing for heavyweight belts in NJPW, Inoki Genome Federation (IGF) and TNA. He has also trained extensively with some of NJPW’s biggest stars and currently coaches his own team of pro wrestlers and MMA fighters in Los Angeles.

“Together, Jim Ross and Josh Barnett form one of the strongest and most unique commentary teams in pro wrestling,” said Simon. “J.R.’s experience is second to none and his iconic voice provides a captivating soundtrack for NJPW, while Josh’s career in both pro wrestling and combat sports allows him to add compelling depth and combatant’s perspective to the action.”

“I’m excited to be returning to AXS TV,” said Ross, ”and with my partner Josh Barnett we look forward to another exciting year with AXS TV and their NJPW programming. NJPW has some of the finest athletes in the world performing for them and it’s an honor to be able to add a narrative to their bouts.”

“I love being a part of the growing New Japan Pro Wrestling expansion into the U.S.,” said Barnett,” and with more shows to come, I am ready to roll up my sleeves, bust out a few hundred squats, and get to calling the best wrestling action in the world.”

AXS TV produces the English language version of “New Japan Pro Wrestling” in association with TV ASAHI CORPORATION, the distributor of NJPW.

Now, I know they have to say these things, but I will say that the team does a lot better on tape than live, as G1  Special in USA proved. Barnett still has to carry JR a little bit even on tape, but it’s true that JR is into the product at least. Also, the award won was a Wrestling Observer Newsletter award, for what it’s worth. Congratulations to the team, and it’s still unreal to me that the show is now in its 4th season.

I’m done here for the year more or less. I will do an updated WK12 post before Christmas Day, but I’m pretty much done blogging unless something drastic comes up. 

[placetobenation]

*** Scott & JT’s Vintage Vault Refresh reviews are a chronological look back at WWE PPV and TV history that began with a review of WrestleMania I. The PICs have revisited these events and refreshed all of their fun facts that provide insight into the match, competitors and state of the company as well as their overviews of the match action and opinions and thoughts on the outcomes. In addition, Jeff Jarvis assists in compiling historical information and the Fun Facts in each of the reviews. Also, be sure to leave feedback on the reviews at our Facebook page. Enjoy! ***

Monday Night Raw #117

June 26, 1995 Danville High School Danville, PA Announcers: Vince McMahon & Shawn Michaels

1) Smoking Gunns defeat Jason Ahrndt & Black Phantom when Billy pins Ahrndt with the Sidewinder at  2:15

Scott: So, after… well whatever the hell happened last night in Philly we open with the Smoking Gunns. I’m still trying to wrap my head around what pile of crap I watched last night. Of all the talent in that tournament, MABEL WON? Seriously? Then Mo mush-mouthed his way through reading the scroll as Shawn Michaels just alluded to on commentary. I’m glad I’m not the only one who noticed that. At least Bret Hart won and we don’t have to deal with all this foot nonsense. The Gunns win in a pretty quick squash here, but as we continue I will delve more into last night. Grade: DUD

JT: Hey! We are finally back live here on Monday Night Raw and we are less than 24 hours removed from a very bizarre night in Philadelphia as the third annual King of the Ring is in the books. Vince McMahon and his old commentary buddy Shawn Michaels have the call for us here tonight. Michaels flamed out quickly last night, wrestling Kama to a draw and bowing out in the first round of the tournament. I would ask why they even bothered having him in it just to go that route, but whatever at this point. Vince notes that Michaels is here because the King is still cleaning out his mouth after the foot fiasco following his loss to Bret Hart last night. The Smoking Gunns head out to the ring for our opening bout as they look to rebuild their credibility and relevance a bit in the tag division. Vince and Shawn talk about Mabel shocking the world and winning the KOTR crown while Michaels quips about not realizing Mo could read. The Gunns make really swift work of these bums and pick up the win. Grade: DUD

*** Jerry Lawler joins us from the office of his personal dentist Isaac Yankem, DDS. He is there trying to get the brutal stench and smell out of his mouth after his tough loss in Philadelphia last night. Lawler vows that Hart will pay for what he did and that their issue isn’t over yet. He also mentions that Yankem, a former great wrestler, is promising to extract some revenge as well. ***

*** Barry Didinsky is in the aisle shilling the official King of the Ring shirt and hat as well as a Bret Hart hat and sunglasses combo. Order now! ***

2) Skip defeats Scott Taylor with a Frankensteiner off the top rope at 2:00

Scott: Ah Sunny…oh sorry. As I was saying, last night’s show was trash. They just had a recap to shill tomorrow’s Encore Plus of the show. Who would buy that? Anyway, Skip and my girl Sunny are here to pretty things up. I love how even Shawn rips Vince’s hair, even while a babyface. So it appears Sid begged off during last night’s tag team match. That’s an abomination. Even as a heel, Sid’s not a coward. They are totally ruining his character, turning into a typical WWF heel and not the heel he should be. Skip is getting roughed up by these jobbers before he wins matches, which isn’t helping his character in my opinion. Grade: DUD

JT: We head back down to the ring as Skip and Sunny hop on down to the ring to both fat shame the fans and beat down Scott Taylor. Michaels brags about his skills with the ladies as the Bodydonnas rant in the ring. Taylor actually starts off hot with a flurry until Skip drops him with an enziguri to take over. Vince and Shawn talk more about Jerry Lawler in the feud that just won’t ever go away. Taylor dropkicks Skip outside, where he stooges around a bit before turning the tide again. Skip chewing gum during these matches is pretty funny, as is Shawn’s clear disdain for his name. Skip hits a pretty crazy splash off the top rope to the floor and then wins with a top rope Frankensteiner, busting out the high spots in this throwaway bout. Even though he probably gives a bit too much to the jobbers, Skip has a really unique arsenal, even impressing Michaels in the end. If only he had a better name, maybe he could be a legit player, as he has really looked good in limited action thus far. Oh, and Sunny. He has her too. Grade: 1/2*

*** We check out footage from a celebrity softball game in Oklahoma City. Diesel took part of the game and all proceeds went to the families affected by the Oklahoma City bombing from earlier in the year. ***

*** We then join Todd Pettengill for a report filed last night from the Corestates Spectrum. Todd recaps all of the results from King of the Ring. He also reveals that Diesel will face Sid in a WWF Title Lumberjack Match at In Your House #2. ***

3) Man Mountain Rock defeats Phil Apollo via submission with the Whammy Bar at 1:00

Fun Fact: Tonight we say goodbye to Man Mountain Rock after a short stay in the Federation. He had asked to be an announcer when he came into the WWF, but his request was denied. During his run, he had several injuries, including a serious hernia. He also became addicted to pain pills and downers along with smoking marijuana. His substance abuse issues led to his release.

Scott: Wow, I thought they had shit canned Phil Apollo by now. Before this match we had Todd Pettengill doing a KOTR wrap-up and he announced the main event for next month’s IYH #2 from Nashville. It will be Diesel vs. Sid for the WWF Title, in a lumberjack match. That will likely be better than that snorefest they had in May. Man Mountain Rock has a cool WWF guitar, but that’s about as much as his charisma goes. He’s a mediocre worker at best, and poor Phil Apollo has to job to him. Grade: DUD

JT: Back to the ring we go as Man Mountain Rock is shredding his guitar in the middle of the ring for his prematch concert. Michaels takes shots at Bob Backlund for his stance on rock ‘n’ roll and then makes me chuckle when he says Phil Apollo has a big movie coming out: Apollo 13. Vince plugs the Superstar Line, where Jim Ross has more updates on the health of Razor Ramon. MMR picks up the layup win with the Whammy Bar. Too bad this is the last time we see the big guy because I felt like he was actually gaining some momentum and starting to establish himself a bit. The gimmick and look was pretty good, too bad he ended up flaming out so fast. Looks like Bob Backlund will win the war. Grade: DUD

4) King Mabel defeats Kenny Kendall with a belly-to-belly suplex at 1:45

Scott: So here we are. With all that talent in the tournament, they give the KOTR to this talentless hunk. I’m getting a sinking feeling that this guy is going to get a mega push over the next few months and that means…GULP… a WWF Title match. Ugh. This is an ugly squash to continue to push. Grade: DUD

JT: We waste no time getting to our next match and it is a big one as it is the first bout for Mabel as the new King of the WWF. In a nice touch, he is decked out in full royal regalia and is carried to the ring on a throne by some scrubs. That certainly adds to his presence. That said, he was clearly a very questionable and controversial choice to win the tournament, especially when you consider the other talent that filled it up. However, on the other hand they took it as an opportunity to make a new star, someone they have clearly been interested in pushing for a while now. Michaels calls “Mack Daddy Mo” the biggest piece of luggage you will ever see and jokes about his reading again, so I guess he isn’t a fan. Vince puts over the efforts of Savio Vega from last night as Mabel mows through Kenny Kendall, grabbing his first win as King. Grade: DUD

*** We pay a visit to the beach to check in on Waylon Mercy, who will make his official debut next week on Raw. He says that his opponents’ lives are going to be in his hands, you know what he means? ***

*** Todd Pettengill narrates us through a video package recapping this past weekend’s WWF Hall of Fame ceremony. ***

5) Savio Vega defeats Jeff Jarrett via disqualification at 4:45; Jarrett retains WWF Intercontinental Title

Scott: At least one positive came out of last night’s PPV, and that’s Savio Vega’s performance. He wrestled four times and almost won the tournament, and with that he’s earned an IC Title match against Jarrett, who for some bizarre reason didn’t wrestle last night. We had NO TITLE MATCHES last night. That’s bullshit. What color is Jarrett wearing? Looks like some kind of brown velour. It looks like it came off someone’s couch from 1978. Savio is taking full control and even caused some heel miscommunication with Jarrett decking the Roadie instead of the challenger. Jarrett eventually took control as Savio’s ribs are sore after Mabel’s post match beatdown, in which he also ended up attacking Savio’s friend Razor Ramon. Vega tries to make a comeback, however the Roadie trips him, and as a result Savio kicks him into Shawn Michaels at the broadcast table. Shawn and Roadie start jawing, then Jarrett tries to go after Shawn and Michaels starts throwing bombs. Roadie then ends the match by going into the ring and clotheslining Savio to force the DQ. The match really didn’t get going but it looks like we may have Shawn Michaels’ next feud. Grade: *1/2

JT: We head down to the ring for our main event of the evening as the Caribbean Legend Savio Vega is set to challenge Jeff Jarrett for the Intercontinental Title. As Jarrett and the Roadie strut out, Vince tells us that the premier of Jarrett’s music video “With My Baby Tonight” will air on Superstars this weekend. Vega had a monster night last night, winning three matches before falling to Mabel in the KOTR finals. It was a night that certainly put him on the WWF map as a threat. Not sure what the hell is going on with Jarrett’s tights this week. They are shiny plush shit brown. Roadie tries to jump Savio at the bell but Vega catches him and then works over Jarrett to compliments from Michaels, who is shocked he is a step ahead despite all his work last night. Jarrett turns the tide by slinging Vega into the corner but Savio came right back with a clothesline and right hands. Roadie gets involved again but Vega dodges a Jarrett charge and the two buddies collide on the apron. Michaels messes with Roadie’s hair and that draws Jarrett over to get in Shawn’s face. After a break, Savio pitches Jarrett back inside but Roadie punches the challenger and Jarrett gets to work with some kicks. The champ follows with a swinging neckbreaker and a nice suplex for two. Roadie got involved again but Savio fended him off and turned the tide, picking up a close near fall and then dropping Jarrett with a big uranage. Roadie again made his presence known, this time tripping Savio, who then dropkicked him right into the announce table. Michaels got in Roadie’s face again and Jarrett came to assist, leading to a brawl. Once the champ got back inside, Vega rolled him up but Roadie pounced and clotheslined Savio for the DQ and to save the belt for his pal. After the bell, Michaels got in the ring and he and Vega eventually ran off Double J and the Road Dog. This was a spirited match as Savio continues to impress, however it was all about getting Michaels into the path of Jarrett as it looks like these two will now start to feud. Roadie was real good here too, doing everything he could to help Jarrett retain and I also liked the psychology of Vega being a bit tired and Jarrett fresh after not competing last night. Grade: *1/2

Final Analysis

Scott: After the F-quality PPV last night, our episode tonight has the aforementioned King of the Shit Mabel, which at least means they’re going to strap the mini rocket ship on him. The Gunns get a win and perhaps can finally be the top babyface team they’re meant to be. We get an IC Title match which is nice, and then probably Shawn’s next feud is for the IC Title, which means he will probably win it because, well he’s Shawn. How did Undertaker lose to Mabel by the way? How did Mabel beat anybody? These next few Raws are going to be like a car accident. You probably know it’s going to suck but you can’t turn away. I won’t trash this Raw because they’re trying but there’s no light in this tunnel right now. FINAL GRADE: C-

JT: We bounce back from a tough night in Philadelphia with a pretty energetic night of Raw as they start to steer the course for the rest of the summer. We still have way too much damn focus on Jerry Lawler and his mouth issues and not as much mention or even appearance from Bret Hart. Also, I will say it was a treat having Shawn Michaels back in the booth after weeks of foot jokes from the King. Mabel is our King and we will see if the push works at all, but again at least they are trying to mix things up a bit up and down the card. The best course would be a slow burn push to build credibility but we will see. With Michaels on the face side, bumping him down to an IC Title feud makes sense because he can’t be in the main event picture with Diesel still there. It also helps elevate Jarrett and that strap a bit too. Over the course of 24 hours, Savio Vega is suddenly a reliable workhorse star for the company, and that is a good thing. Despite the grim night in Philly, I thought they actually rebounded well enough here with very focused stories and a quick paced show. We just didn’t really get a strong anchor match to really make it stand out. Final Grade: C

[ges-sa]

WWE 2K18 - Mega News Round-Up

New Post has been published on https://ges-sa.com/wwe-2k18-mega-news-round-up/

WWE 2K18 - Mega News Round-Up

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]WWE in South Africa has received something of a boost of late with weekly live episodes and Pay-Per-View specials after returning to Supersport in the final week of August. Similarly, 2K Sports looks to continue to build off their growing foundation each year with the WWE 2K series and this year is no exception. WWE 2K18 is fast approaching and the news is coming fast and it’s coming furiously. With that in mind, here is round-up of the news, features and improvements to expect in WWE 2K18.

Pre-Order and Deluxe Edition Superstars bonus Superstars:

After an absence of more than a decade, former WWE Champion and new WWE Hall of Famer: Kurt Angle has returned to WWE and makes his video game return in WWE 2K18 as this year’s pre-order DLC bonus. Not only can you play as Kurt Angle 2001 at the height of his rise at the end of the legendary “Attitude Era”, but as “The Wrestling Machine” Kurt Angle 2006 during his final days in WWE more than a decade ago as part of the short lived ECW brand. Not only is Kurt Angle considered one of the greatest amateur and professional wrestlers of all time but he also won an Olympic Gold Medal in 1996 with a broken freakin’ neck. He will no doubt be a valuable character who will not be defeated easily and is available with pre-order copies of WWE 2K18 and brad new sealed copies.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]“I was thrilled to return to WWE earlier this year, be honored as a WWE Hall of Fame inductee and find a new home with the best in the business every Monday night as the Raw General Manager,” said Kurt Angle. “And now, I get to follow in the footsteps of many incredible names, like Bill Goldberg, Sting, Ultimate Warrior and Arnold Schwarzenegger, and be featured as the WWE 2K18 pre-order character.”

In addition to Angle, those who pre-order the Deluxe or Collector’s editions of WWE 2K18 will receive extra DLC bonus characters like “Mr. Monday Night” Rob Van Dam, everybody’s favour ate Guardian of the Galaxy, Batista from 2010 as well as two extra playable versions of John Cena from ECW One Night Stand 2006 and Wrestlemania 26 in 2010.

WWE 2K18 Features Revealed

As revealed by Visual Concepts Executive Producer of WWE 2K: Mark Little, the following make up the focus of this year’s feature set. Below is an extract of what to expect this year.

“Be Like No One

The WWE 2K franchise has enabled users to “Be Like No One” through its amazing Creation Suite for a long time, and this year is no different. The Creation Suite gets even deeper with improvements to Create-a-Superstar, Create-an-Arena and Create-a-Video. The Highlight Replay System now enables users to save game replays to make into future videos and adds a free-roaming camera for further creative and editing control. In addition, we are also bringing creativity to matches with a new Create-a-Match feature. This addition lets players create a custom set of rules for a match, save them and use them in either Play Now or WWE Universe.

WWE 2K18 also delivers a new MyPLAYER experience that introduces fighting styles and a brand new upgrade and progression system. Players can choose from eight fighting styles to help define their MyPLAYER experience. Each fighting style comes with its strengths and weaknesses, so the choice of style matters. No one style can be a master of all! Are you going to be a High Flyer, a Brawler or maybe a Technician? The choice is yours.

With a compelling new MyPLAYER system, we also wanted something unique and different for your MyPLAYER to do in WWE 2K18. Thus, a brand new MyCAREER experience awaits, incorporating a new story and a free-roaming backstage area that allow your MyPLAYER to interact with other WWE Superstars and help direct the narrative. Did you take offense to someone? Are you going to go it alone?  Are you going to align with the General Managers or are you going to let your in-ring prowess speak for itself? The new MyPLAYER experience provides many choices in for how players experience their unfolding stories.

Finally, WWE 2K18 is delivering an all-new Road to Glory Mode that lets players compete against others, using their MyPLAYER characters, in a quest to qualify for WWE pay-per-view events. There is a lot more to share about the new Road to Glory Mode in the coming months, but we are really excited to see everyone bring their MyPLAYER creations to this new level of competition.

Realism

WWE 2K18 will be the most realistic WWE game to date in the franchise. This year, we developed an entirely new graphics engine that delivers spectacular new lighting, more realistic skin and new camera effects. The WWE Superstars, crowds and arenas have never looked better. Since words don’t do visuals justice, we are excited to show you how amazing WWE 2K18 looks in the near future.

Along with the great visuals, WWE 2K18 introduces a new commentary team. With the trio of Michael Cole, Byron Saxton and Corey Graves at the commentary table, a WWE 2K game has never sounded better. We also greatly improved crowd sounds, including the addition of authentic crowd chants, to bring the entire WWE experience to life. In short, WWE 2K18 has never been closer to what our fans see every week on WWE television and at live events.

Most Comprehensive WWE Game to Date

WWE 2K18 continues improving and refining the simulation gameplay experience that sits at the core of the franchise. For WWE 2K18, we are bringing new mayhem and carnage in the form of eight-person matches, including Ladder matches, the Royal Rumble, Eight-Person Tags and even a Battle Royal. Players can now experience the chaos of eight WWE Superstars all vying for the same goal!

Speaking of Royal Rumble matches, we also revamped these by implementing new elimination mechanics, a quick elimination system, new match-specific finishers and new elimination sequences. With eight WWE Superstars in the ring, combined with the new mechanics, the Royal Rumble is better than ever.

WWE 2K18 also sees the addition of a new carry system, which we’ll share more details on in the future, as well as thousands of new animations. These are just a few of the changes we made with the gameplay for WWE 2K18 as we develop the most complete WWE simulation experience.

WWE Universe Mode sees changes in WWE 2K18, including a new story system that provides more flexibility in how stories play out. The interactions between WWE Superstars build up to rivalries and determine what stories will unfold. The new story system also supports very diverse pay-per-view calendars, meaning it manages WWE’s current pay-per-view schedule alongside player-created custom pay-per-view calendars. In addition, there are new story cut scenes, new Power Rankings and even a new Superstar goal feature to be announced in the future.

For WWE 2K18, we are working hard to improve the online experience in several ways. For example, we are reworking the search system for Community Creations to ensure everyone is able to find the best amazing content created and made available by the community. Additional improvements will be announced later this year.

All of these feature additions and improvements are only made better by the largest roster in WWE gaming history. We are excited to share the roster for this year’s game soon, but for now, our recent announcement of WWE Hall of Famer and current Raw General Manager, Kurt Angle, as the game’s pre-order bonus is a sign of the good things to come with the roster.”

WWE 2K18 Soundtrack Curated by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson

2K always strives to team with the best in music and entertainment when creating their 2K sports soundtracks. They have teamed with John Cena, Whiz Khalifa and Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs in the past few years, but arguably none bigger than WWE Legend and one of the most bankable star in Hollywood today: The Rock himself, Dwayne Johnson who is the Exeuctive Soundtrack Producer for WWE 2K18.

The soundtrack, personally selected by The Rock himself, will feature 11 unique songs that represent some of Johnson’s favourite artists and music genres.

“Music is one of my soul’s anchors,” said Johnson. “All genres. I’m excited to celebrate my WWE roots by partnering with the 2K and Apple Music teams and share some of my favorite hardcore training songs with fans all over the world.”

The WWE 2K18 official soundtrack includes:

Blues Brothers – “Soul Man”;

Boston – “Smokin’”;

Bruno Mars – “Runaway Baby”;

Disturbed – “Down With The Sickness”;

Eazy-E – “Boyz-N-The-Hood”;

George Thorogood & The Destroyers – “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer”;

Joe Walsh – “Rocky Mountain Way”;

Kanye West – “Black Skinhead”;

Kid Rock – “You Never Met a White Boy Quite Like Me”;

¡MAYDAY! (feat. Tech N9ne) – “Last One Standing”;

Tech N9ne (feat. Krizz Kaliko, Serj Tankian) – “Straight Out The Gate”.

WWE 2K18 MyCAREER Details Revealed

MyCAREER is one of the signature modes among the 2K Sports titles and has been positions as the flagship mode of WWE 2K since its first inclusion in WWE 2K15. The goal is enable fans and gamers to create their ideal Superstar and live out their dreams inside the squared circle as a WWE Superstar/MyPLAYER, and hopefully earning enough accomplishments along the way to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

This year’s iteration of MyCAREER willfocus on a strong story narrative, and stories will no longer be share cutscenes with Universe mode which should allow for a unique gameplay experience in this mode. There will be two paths you can choose, namely Company Man and Fan Favourite.

Company Man – Going down the Company Man path means you’re all about helping the general managers (GMs) get what they want out of the roster on any given show. This involves conspiring with the GMs backstage, ambushing other WWE Superstars in the locker room or during their interviews and basically doing whatever it takes to maintain that GM’s power, both in the ring and backstage. The rewards are hefty, though! Continue helping the GM succeed, and you’ll gain access to awesome upgrades, such as the ability to orchestrate a run-in to help you win a match. You can also access Vince McMahon’s office to lobby for match card changes and title rematches.

Fan Favorite – Being a Fan Favorite means you don’t play the whole company game and you’re all about putting on the best matches and promos. You have a locker room full of WWE Superstars and Legends backstage. This route involves earning their respect by taking on different match types – night-in and night-out. You’ll also have WWE Superstars test your in-ring aptitude and skills on the microphone, but if you succeed at this, you will earn the whole locker room’s respect – and with that comes some perks. WWE Legends are always backstage during events. If you earn their respect, they’ll start to give you in-ring bonuses for your matches and promos. If you become the complete package – the guy who can walk the walk and talk the talk like Stone Cold Steve Austin or John Cena – you’ll be able to have your own customized WWE Championship or Universal Championship. This honor is only given to the best of the best.

It will be your choice how your road to your Wrestlemania Moment plays out.

Not only that, but free roaming will be introduced this year. Rather than manage your rivalries and partnerships through static menus, players will now be able to free-roam through the backstage area and interact with a number of WWE superstars and backstage personnel. If you don’t like the rivalries you are involved in and want a change of pace, you can walk up to somebody and attack them. If you want an interview with Renee Young, simply walk up to her and begin the backstage interview or interrupt someone else she is already interviewing and take the spotlight by force. There is no shortage of personalities to interact with from WWE Superstars, to Legends, to GMs and some of these interactions might lead to side stories where a Superstar could ask you ambush their rival or battle you in an in-ring promo.

The promo engine has received an upgrade this year as well. No longer will you have to choose disjointed responses in order to maintain your momentum for a positive or negative reaction. Now you will be rewarded for choosing a line of responses and sticking with those choices throughout the promo, leading to a more cohesive message to your opponent and the WWE Universe. This year,  a cohesive promo will combo to get you a better promo score and enable you to stick to your word. Many WWE Supserstars have unique personalities and those personalities will better be displayed this year. For example, Enzo Amore will move, talk and walk differently from The New Day who will dance to the ring, who will be different from Bray Wyatt who will have all his unique mannerisms and ticks.

And as before, if your friends have a MyCAREER save, it will be possible to port your friend’s MyPLAYER into your own MyCAREER, enabling you to encounter them backstage where you can feud or team with them. The choice is yours.

WWE 2K18 Complete Roster

WWE 2K18 will have the largest in game roster on disc ever, so there will never be  dull moment as it will take a considerable amount of time to play with everybody or even most. Almost everyone from the current roster of male and female WWE Superstars is represented and there is a healthy selection of Legends as well for those who were fans back in the day. Below is the complete roster.

Male

Aiden English

AJ Styles

Akam

Akira Tozawa

Albert

Alexander Wolfe

Andre The Giant

Apollo Crews

Bam Bam Bigelow

Baron Corbin

Big Boss Man ’91

Big Boss Man ’99

Big Cass

Big E

Big Show

Big Show ’00

Bo Dallas

Bobby Roode

Booker T

Braun Strowman

Bray Wyatt

Bret “Hitman” Hart ’97

Bret “Hitman” Hart ’98

The Brian Kendrick

British Bulldog

Brock Lesnar

Brutus Beefcake

Buddy Roberts

Butch

Cactus Jack ’92

Cactus Jack ’98

Cedric Alexander

Cesaro

Chad Gable

Chris Jericho

Chris Jericho ’00

Christian

Curt Hawkins

Curtis Axel

Daniel Bryan

Darren Young

Dash Wilder

DDP ’92

DDP ’98

Dean Ambrose

Diesel

Dolph Ziggler

Dude Love

Dusty Rhodes

Earthquake

Eddie Guerrero

Edge

Enzo Amore

Epico Colon

Eric Young

Erick Rowan

Fandango

Finn Balor

Finn Balor Demon

The Godfather

Goldberg ’98 / Goldberg ’04

Goldust

Gran Metalik

Greg Valentine

Heath Slater

Hideo Itami

Jack Gallagher

Jake Roberts ’91 / Jake Roberts ’96

Jason Jordan

JBL

Jey Uso

Jim Neidhart

Jimmy “Jam” Garvin

Jimmy Uso

Jinder Mahal

John Cena

Johnny Gargano

Kalisto

Kane / Kane (Corporate)

Kane ’98

Karl Anderson

Kassius Ohno

Kerry Von Erich

Kevin Nash

Kevin Owens

Kevin Von Erich

Killian Dain

Kofi Kingston

Konnor

Larry Zbyszko

Lex Luger

Luke

Luke Gallows

Luke Harper

Mankind

Mark Henry

Michael “PS” Hayes ’86 / ’92

The Miz

Mojo Rawley

McMahon

Perfect

Neville

Nick Miller

No Way Jose

Noam Dar

Papa Shango

Primo Colon

R-Truth

Randy Orton

Randy Savage

“Ravishing” Rick Rude

Razor Ramon

Rezar

Rhyno

Ric Flair ’88

Ric Flair ’91

Rich Swann

Rick Martel

Ricky Steamboat ’91

Ricky Steamboat ’94

Rikishi

The Rock

The Rock ’01

Roderick Strong

Roman Reigns

Rusev

Sami Zayn

Samoa Joe

Sawyer Fulton

Scott Dawson

Scott Hall

Seth Rollins

Shane McMahon

Shane Thorne

Shawn Michaels ’97

Shawn Michaels ’98

Sheamus

Shinsuke Nakamura

Sin Cara

Steve Austin ’97

Sting

Sting ’88

Sting ’91

Sting ’98

Sting ’99

“Stunning” Steve Austin

Sycho Sid

Tatanka

Tatsumi Fujinami

Titus O’neil

TJP

Tommaso Ciampa

Triple H

Triple H ’01

Triple H ’98

Tye Dillinger

Tyler Breeze

Typhoon

Tyson Kidd

Ultimate Warrior

Undertaker ’91 / Undertaker ’98 / Undertaker ’99 (Ministry of Darkness)

The Undertaker

Undertaker ’00

Vader

Viktor

Xavier Woods

Zack Ryder

  Female

Alexa Bliss

Alicia Fox

Alundra Blayze

Asuka

Bayley

Becky Lynch

Billie Kay

Brie Bella

Carmella

Charlotte

Dana Brooke

Ember Moon

Emma

Ivory

Jacqueline

Lita

Maryse

Mickie James

Naomi

Natalya

Nia Jax

Nikki Bella

Nikki Cross

Paige

Peyton Royce

Sasha Banks

Stephanie McMahon

Summer Rae

Tamina

Trish Stratus

  Manager Only

Bobby Heenan

Lana

Paul Ellering

Paul Heyman

Ted Dibiase

  Additional Content

Batista ’10

John Cena ’06

John Cena ’10

Kurt Angle ’01

Kurt Angle ’06

Rob Van Dam ’06

  WWE 2K18 is available 17 October 2017 where ever video games are sold. Anybody ordering the Deluxe and Collector’s editions will receive early access and play 4 days earlier on 13 October 2017.

This looks to be anther improvement over the previous game and if everything comes together, WWE 2K18 could be the definitive pro wrestling video game available to date.  Keep watching this space for more on WWE 2K18.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”26811,26813,26804,26812,26805,26806,26807,26808,26809,26810″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text] [/vc_column_text][/vc_column]

[wwexsports]

WWE Raw Live 11/04/2017 FULL MATCH "HIGHLIGHTS" Realy Incrediable Match Monday Night Raw, 2017 ► Subscribe To Our Channel ► ======================== https://goo.gl/XY8zBf ►Check Youtube SEO Playlist:► https://goo.gl/TAlTfc ► Facebook Page ► http://ift.tt/2mYYylP ======================== ► Google Plus Link ► http://ift.tt/2nIHnlM ======================== ► Blogger Site by Name: WWE XSPORTS ►Visit it Now ► http://ift.tt/2mZ924A ======================== ►Follow me on Twitter with my own profile► https://twitter.com/wwexsportsboy ======================== ►Follow me on TUMBLR with my own profile► http://ift.tt/2nItTGx ======================== ►Follow me on Pinterest with my own profile► http://ift.tt/2mZ9eku ======================== ►►𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐓𝐨𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞 ►► WWE Raw Still Going Strong! WWE Raw is the major cable TV program run by World Wrestling Entertainment. The program has now aired on cable television for 15 years, making it one of the longest running cable television programs today. It's featured some of the biggest and brightest wrestlers who have become celebrities in their own right. It's featured a battle with the former World Championship Wrestling on the Turner Network. It's also featured superstars, divas, stories, crazy matches and great entertainment for the WWE fans. WWE Raw began its legacy way back in 1993. It started out as a taped show from Madison Square Garden each week. It would feature top notch wrestling superstars including the Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Razor Ramon, Bret Hart and British Bulldog. The color commentary team calling the matches featured Jerry "the King" Lawler and the current chairman of WWE, Vince McMahon. Of course as the show progressed, Vince eventually entered into the show, its stories and matches more. And as the show advanced various wrestlers became superstars. The best examples include the likes of Hunter Hearst Helmsley (Triple H), Rocky "The Rock" Maivia and Stone Cold Steve Austin. WWE Raw held its 15 year anniversary show in December of 2007. The show featured highlights from the past 15 years of Raw, and even had some of its legendary superstars and divas make appearances. Stone Cold Steve Austin showed up at the very end of the show in a very fitting segment. He toasted a beer to chairman Vince McMahon in the ring, then delivered a "Stone Cold Stunner" on him, dropping Vince to the mat. WWE Raw continues to hit hard every week. The excitement of Monday Night Raw lives on! WWE Raw Superstar - Big Show's Road to the Big Show His real name is Paul Wight, and he is one of WWE's biggest Superstars-both literally and figuratively. Already in the sport for 15 years, The Big Show has carved his place among the WWE's all time greatestThe Big Show never had to toil through the independent wrestling circuit like many of his peers had to. No small, high school gyms for The Big Show.After being introduced to Hulk Hogan in 1994, Wight reported to Larry Sharpe's Monster Factory. A famous training school for professional wrestlers. After just seven months at the Monster Factory, Wight signed a contract with World Championship Wrestling (WCW). WCW at the time was one of the two biggest wrestling organizations on the planet. Keywords: wwe,wwe royal rumble 2017,wwe raw,wwenews,wwe 2k17,wwe network,wwe royal rumble,wwe rumors,wwe royal rumble 2016,wwe top 10,wwe shop,wwe 2017,wwe theme songs,wwe wrestlemania 33,wwe smackdown,wwe tickets,wwe paige,wwe survivor series 2016,wwe john cena,wwe wrestlers,wwe raw highlights,wwe 2k16,wwe bayley,wwe latest matches this week,wwe monday night raw,wwe raw 2017,wwe roster, wwe summerslam 2016,wwe roman reigns,wwetoys,wwe champions,wwe raw live,wwe hall of fame,wwe ppv,wwe royal rumble 2017,wwe raw,wwe news,wwe network,wwe rumors, wwe royal rumble,wwe shop,wwe top 10,wwe royal rumble 2016,wwe elimination chamber,wwe 2017,wwe theme songs, wwe wrestlemania 33,wwe smackdown,wwe survivor series 2016,wwe john cena,wwe paige,wwe raw highlights,wwe wrestlers,wwe royal rumble 2017 highlights,wwe latest matches this week,wwemonday night raw,wwe raw 2017, wwe summerslam 2016,wwe toys,wwe roman reigns,wwe bayley,wwe raw live,wwe roster,wwe hall of fame,wwe ajstyles,wwe action figures,wwelana,wrestling,submission wrestling,professional wrestling,wrestler,wrestling, submission wrestling,wwe professional wrestling,Combat Sport,finishing moves,,wrestler,network,Raw,SmackDown, WrestleMania,SummerSlam,الانتهاء ,التحركات ,التحركاتالانتهاء ,من ,مصارعة المحترفين ,الرياضة القتالية, चालें परिष्करण, मुकाबला खेल, व्यावसायिक कुश्ती, by WWE XSPORTS

[fromtheringapron]

WWE WrestleMania 21

Date: April 3, 2005

Location: Staples Center in Los Angeles, California 

Attendance: 20,193

Commentary: Jim Ross & Jerry Lawler (Raw), Tazz & Michael Cole (Smackdown)

Results

1. Rey Mysterio defeated Eddie Guerrero.

2. Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Edge defeated Chris Benoit, Christian, Shelton Benjamin, Chris Jericho, and Kane. 

3. The Undertaker defeated Randy Orton. 

4. WWE Women’s Championship Match: Trish Stratus (champion) defeated Christy Hemme w/Lita. 

5. Kurt Angle defeated Shawn Michaels. 

6. Sumo Match: Akebono defeated the Big Show. 

7. WWE Championship Match: John Cena defeated John Bradshaw Layfield (champion) to win the title. 

8. WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match: Batista defeated Triple H (champion) w/Ric Flair to win the title. 

Analysis

WrestleMania 21 has aged remarkably well, primarily due to its long-term impact. It’s the launching pad for John Cena and Batista, two of WWE’s biggest stars of the past decade. Their respective world title wins are foregone conclusions, which takes away  drama from the show’s last third but marks a significant change of guard. It’s fitting the show carries a Hollywood theme as Cena and Batista’s victories punch them a ticket to roles in summer blockbusters and Saturday Night Live hosting gigs years later.

Speaking of the theme, it’s shockingly well done. It could have just been an easy tie-in to having WrestleMania in Los Angeles, but they truly go above and beyond. The entrance set is sculpted to look like an old-time movie theater, complete with a billing for each match. Movie trailers were released in the weeks leading up to the show, with WWE superstars re-enacting scenes from classic films to hilarious effect. Again, it’s impressive and in a similar vein to WrestleMania IX, it’s nice to see the WWE production team having some genuine fun.

The first two-thirds of the show imitates Hollywood blockbusters as well. The high stakes and risk-taking of the first Money in the Bank ladder match rivals any popcorn action flick, and established a brand new match concept to boot. The Undertaker putting his WrestleMania streak on the line against Randy Orton carries the suspense of your average thriller, especially when it feels highly possible that Orton may just be the guy to give the Undertaker his first WrestleMania loss. It climaxes with an instant classic bout between Shawn Michaels and Kurt Angle, which boasts a story that could turn into a movie all its own.

Unfortunately, the final third of the show struggles to keep up the electric pacing. Since virtually everyone knew Cena and Batista were winning at the end of this show, the two world title matches feel like they’re dancing around the inevitable. The worse of these two is by far Cena’s match with John Bradshaw Layfield, where everyone looks like they’re going through the motions until Cena gets his moment in the spotlight. Batista’s bout fares better, with a slow first half leading to a bloody brawl leaving Triple H’s face awash wth crimson, but there’s a sense it could be so much more. Even if it’s essential the show ends with the two of its brightest stars on top, it’s a bit of a buzzkill to see WWE go so strictly by the book when the rest of the show jumps off the page.

My Random Notes

Kinda surprised they didn’t make more of a vouch for actual celebrity involvement to go with the Hollywood theme, especially since there were already plenty of celebrities in attendance. Adam Sandler is here and, while I’m definitely not a Sandler fan, he totally seems like someone who Vince McMahon would at least try to get involved with the show even if the chances were slim to none.

How weird is it that I have more of a memory of Luther Reigns exposing his ass to make fun of the Big Show in the sumo match on the episode of Smackdown after WrestleMania than I do the actual sumo match?

Man, the build to the HBK/Angle match is so good. So much thought goes into it even when the match could’ve sold itself on name value alone. I love how Angle brings up the ghost of Michaels’ past like Marty Jannetty and Sensational Sherri because not only does it add a lot to the story, but it also brings names who haven’t been dropped in years back into the fold. Sherri gets inducted into the Hall of Fame the next year, and Jannetty gets another WWE deal (or at least for like 3 days or something).

By the way, I always find it funny Angle never successfully hits his moonsault. It’s like watching an Olympic diver who attempts this beautiful dive only to smack face first in the pool.

On Christy Hemme: This show takes place smack dab in the era where WWE is hiring a bunch of women from their Diva Search and not having a clue on what to do with most of them. It’s baffling in this current era of the WWE Performance Center to think they once let someone like Hemme get a title match at WrestleMania after only a few weeks of training but that’s pretty on par with the time period. And that’s a shame, because Hemme seems like she’s just happy to here, only to find herself released within a year. At least she found a place in the toxic wasteland of TNA, right?

The positive reception to John Cena here makes me a little sad considering he’d become the most hated man in wrestling by men ages 18 to 34 a few months after this. It’s so easy to forget how well Cena initially connected with the fans that this show serves as a reminder of what could’ve been in terms of his popularity.

Poor Bob Orton. He’s been wearing that forearm cast for years and presumably not a single get well card.

On Muhammed Hassan: This may be the only chance I’ll get to discuss the infamous Muhammed Hassan so I better take advantage of it. I’m all for wrestling tapping into current events (and in this day and age, you can’t ignore the connection between wrestling and politics). But all too often WWE takes the worst angle possible. I’ve often heard fans remark on the brilliance of Hassan’s character. However, if you’re going to have a character who speaks out against the post-9/11 discrimination of Muslim Americans, then you better damn well make them a hero. It’s unsettling to watch the fan response to Hassan, especially when the character is just as relevant now as it were in 2005.  It may reveal a truth, and offer surprisingly progressive social commentary from WWE of all places, but it generates a discomforting type of heat that is to derive from his religious and racial background. It’s a line that shouldn’t be crossed, although mid 2000s WWE seems to cross it several times over.