VWWE Universe

21 Search Results for "history"

• THE SUPPRESSED HISTORY OF PLAN

  • From: Ultimate_Warrior
  • Description:

    Condensed from Robert Morning Sky's 
    "Terra Papers: The Hidden History of Planet Earth" 
    
    I am called 'Morning Sky.' I grew up hearing the stories my grandfather told of a Space Being he helped rescue. My grandfather was one of six young Native Americans who witnessed the crash of a spaceship in 1947, shortly after the now-famous Roswell incident. 
    
    When they reached the site, they found one being still alive. They took him back to their camp where they hid and nursed him back to health. They called him 'Star Elder' out of respect; as time passed he revealed his name. He was called Bek'Ti. He revealed to them the history of mankind and the planet Earth.
    
    In the late 1960's, when I started college, I found myself entertaining the possibility that these stories might not be true. I thus enrolled in Religious Studies, an independent study program that would allow me an opportunity to research ancient records to prove or disprove the many stories of Star Elder.
    
    I submitted to my Religious Studies professor a thesis that summed up my three years of research. It was entitled "Terra, A Hidden History of Planet Earth." Within days, he had labeled it "a work of blasphemy and outrage!" It nearly got me thrown out of school.
    
    Having had no success in the academic field, I decided to contact then existing UFO organizations and researchers. The general response was to label the work "the stuff of myth and legend of Native Americans, not suitable to the serious study of a scientific phenomena."
    
    The total rejection made me angry. For nearly thirty years, I refused to even pick up a book on UFO's or New Age Phenomena. I religiously refused to read or listen to what is out there.
    
    Circumstances have changed. My Grandfather is gone, but not before he had elicited a promise from me to try once more to tell the story.
    
    The history of mankind and Earth as revealed by Bek'Ti is both exciting and frightening. Man's creation and his place in the galaxy is made clear, but in the process, Man's nobility and pride are injured. The abduction phenomena and the attending grey beings are integral parts of humanitiy's history, and explained against a framework of the Star Beings' purposes for mankind.
    
    The sources of Man's religions and the origins of legendary figures like Zeus, Osiris, Isis, the Minotaur and a number of other 'mythological' beings are explained and also placed into the framework of Earth's history.
    
    Part 2: The Story of Man's Creation 
    
    In our galaxy are billions of Star Beings. Humanoid races are the rule, not the exception. These races descended from many life forms: reptiles, insects, dinosaurs, birds and other life forms mankind cannot begin to imagine.
    
    One of the oldest Star Races in this sector of the universe is the reptilian Ari-An which descended from dinosaur ancestors in the star system of Orion. Ruled by Queens, they created the most powerful empire in this galaxy. Ari-An warriors were unmatched for ferocity and bravery, and the Ari-An Empire was unmatched in power and size.
    
    Millions of years of countless battles had allowed this Empire to develop advanced war strategies. Among these, the Ari-An practiced "conditioning" or "reprogramming" to control conquered populations and make them assets rather than liabilities. Enemies became obedient servants of the reptilian queens' throne. In this way, the Ari-Ans eliminated resistance.
    
    An unexpected evolution of another race in the star system Sirius posed a threat to the Ari-An Empire. Though not as old or as advanced as the reptilians, the warriors of the Kanus Empire, a doglike race (similar to wolves) made up for any lack with their fierceness. Even the most disciplined of the Ari-An warriors feared these vicious and barbaric Sirian warriors, who stopped to devour the flesh of their enemies on the battlefield.
    
    Rapid advancement of the Sirian warriors threatened the very existence of the Ari-An Empire. As a result, the queens approached the Sirian kings to offer an alliance. A treaty was agreed upon that delineated which sectors of the galaxy each empire was to rule and, for a time, the warriors of both empires fought side-by-side.
    
    With the birth of a new star system was born, the Sirian King was quick to claim it. As the Sirians began to exploit its resources, this new system became an outpost for both the Ari-An and Sirian Empires, and the power and wealth for both continued to grow. But eventually war broke out again, this time among rival Sirian kings. In the end, Ari-An forces joined King An. Entire worlds held by the opposition were totally destroyed, including their moons and colonies.
    
    Much later, King An sent his son Prince Ea and daughter, Princess Nin-Hur-Sag (both genetic scientists) to rebuild the destroyed world of Eridu and once again tap into the valuable and much needed resources found there. They successfully restored the atmosphere; refilled the seas with life; recreated plants, trees and flowers; and hybridized many different kinds of creatures. The planet Eridu (Earth) was reborn.
    
    New creatures were produced to inhabit the planet. One such creature, Apa-Mus, was an ape-beast hybrid whose only purpose was to serve and to slave in the fields and mines. But this beast was different from the others. It could understand orders and could communicate. Princess Nin-Hur-Sag had genetically engineered the ape-beast hybrid by using her own DNA. The beast grew in intelligence and began to teach his own quickly multiplying offspring.
    
    When another species of genetically engineered workers -- underground - dwelling Sheti Lizards, revolted and seized power, the ruling Star Beings fled from the planet. With the opposition out of the way, the Sheti used mind-control and programming techniques they learned from their masters to alter the memories of the remaining Star Being descendants. Mankind's knowledge of Star Beings was replaced with myths and legends.
    
    Sheti dominance has been and continues to be challenged by many other star races attempting to regain control of Earth -- and mankind -- for their own purposes. The struggle for power goes on.
    
    Part 3: Overthrow Attempts -- Past, Present and Future 
    
    The reptilian Ari-An race has made several attempts to overthrow the present power on Earth. In the early 20th century, the world-wide Aryan movement nearly succeeded in conquering the entire "docile" world. If, as the author suggests, they are continuing in their efforts, new movements in the supremacy groups will appear. Reptiles will appear in all aspects of the media as friendly or heroic beings, fighting on man's behalf. Reptilian superheroes will become children's role models.
    
    Religious uprisings have been staged throughout Earth's history by the Sirians. The Inquisition, the Papal Wars, the numerous "Messiahs" and the "Miracle Sightings" were engineered by them to bring mankind back into their influence. If they, too, are trying to take over the Earth as the author suggests, then a return to fundamentalism will also occur, as will the increasing appearance of angels and miraculous occurrences.
    
    Patterns show on-going efforts to direct the people of Planet Earth and also predict upcoming events: Mankind will soon be surrounded with images of asteroids and falling fiery comets. Black pigs will be seen everywhere as will angelic figures and miracles. Dinosaurs will become children's heroes and violence will be the foundation of their play. New airborne diseases, immune to existing treatments, will surface. NASA will be rendered weak and impotent, if not terminated.
    
    A galactic war of conquest rages over our heads. Earth -- and Man -- are the prize.
    
    Crop Circles -- Visual Communications 
    
    In an attempt to communicate with the descendants of Star Beings - especially those who are able to remember the "clues" -- visual signals are being sent in the form of crop circles. Signs meant for the Sirian descendants usually have a striking resemblance to ancient Egyptian glyphs, football-shaped designs, circle-in-cross forms, or circles with a dot in the center. They may also appear as mathematical formulations. 
    
    Crop circles from the Ari-Ans often have a snake-like form, or insect or bug-like creatures. Whatever the form, crop circles are signs to the descendants that they have not been forgotten.
    
    As a signal that a starship has been dispatched to the solar system and Earth, images of enormous planetary starships and crews comprised of heroic "saviours" of mankind and the Earth will be everywhere. To counter this image of a "good" heavenly body, images of falling asteroids and crashing comets will be used as justification for aiming anti-asteroid missiles skyward for "defensive" purposes.
    
    Part 4: Forms of Control 
    
    Meanwhile, to maintain control of mankind, the Sheti have introduced new devices to continue the bombarding us with a numbing and controlling electronic blanket. Many of these electronic instruments are carried on the person: Tape and CD players with headphones, virtual reality gear, pagers, pocket games, cellular phones, beepers, etc. are now commonplace.
    
    Drugs of all kinds, legal and illegal (including alcohol, tobacco and narcotics) are part of the control program to keep mankind docile.
    
    Behavior modification to prevent us from being motivated to fight for ourselves, will require that no human being be allowed status as hero. Those who do not fight back, but endure great suffering will become the new "heroes" and role models: victims, martyrs, tortured POWs, and people who die in service to their country.
    
    Population control will increase in intensity and only the select will be allowed to continue. Disappearances and abductions will increase, especially of women and young children. New airborne diseases will appear. Obesity will increase, sexual dysfunction will increase in males, and female menstrual cycles will decrease from 28 days to 25 days.
    
    To maintain control of mankind and keep us stranded on Earth, NASA will be eliminated or severely restricted in its scope. Any evidence of extraterrestrial life will be strictly suppressed and denied.
    
    Mankind's Hope: Royal Blood 
    
    The battle lines have been drawn for a coming galactic war for the domination of planet Earth. As long as mankind seeks salvation "out there," he paves the way for beings vying to become his Overlords. But mankind has another option.
    
    Though born of beasts and bred to serve, mankind was created by the genetic scientists, Prince EA and Princess Nin-Hur-Sag using their own DNA and their own royal blood. This royal line of Sirian Blood entitles mankind to claim Earth its own. This is the story that has been suppressed, the truth that was kept hidden.
    
    As long as mankind accepts Overlords and Gods, we accept an existence of servitude. When we finally remember that our own kingdom has been taken away, when we finally look to ourselves as our own Overlord or God, then and only then will we be free of extraterrestrials.
    
    The author asks the reader to investigate for himself the information presented here. Accept none of it, challenge all of it. Decide for yourself if the words of Bek'Ti are true. You are your own god, you are the master of your destiny -- if you can remember The Truth.
    
    This version of Robert Morning Sky's "Terra Papers: Hidden History of Planet Earth" was condensed especially for Perceptions by Betty Bland who lives and works in Seattle. She is executive director of Light * House Promotions, and is involved in producing the annual Ocean Shores Convergence Psychic Fair on Memorial Weekend in Ocean Shores, Washington. 
    
    Reprinted from Perspectives Magazine, March/April 1996 (800) 276-4448

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• WrestleMania approaches!

  • From: Tatanka
  • Description:
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    Hau kola, my Little Braves. I'm sitting here on a plane, waiting to arrive for the biggest show ever in the history of this business...WrestleMania 25! I'm excited to be a part of it, Pre-Show Match or not. It'll be R-Truth, JTG and Shad (Cryme Tyme) vs. Jason Cooper, Jack Swagger and myself,Tatanka, in a big six man match to get the lucky fans who get to attend WM25 live all pumped up.

     

    I'm not really too familiar with the other men participating in the match but that matters little. I will go out and give 1000% for all you fans out there each and every single time I walk that aisle, whether it be in a bingo hall, high school gymnasium or a capacity arena. I will always give my all and I will never do otherwise.

     

    I've worked very hard to make my return to the squared circle and I am proud that WWE has given me the opportunity to do it here. The front office has been great to work with and they really seem to respect and understand what I want out of this stage of my career.

     

    Titles don't matter as much as they used to to me at this stage of the game...though I wouldn't turn down any title opportunities that come my way, obviously. I'm more into simply making sure I give all my Little Braves the best matches I can. Period. If that means a golden belt finds its way around my waist, well then that's just a bonus.

     

    I will see all of you in the arenas as I make a new name for myself in the WWE...a new name for a new warrior.

     

    YIYIYIYI YI YI YI!

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  • 1 month ago
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• The Mists of Time

  • From: VWWE
  • Description:

    Authors Note: The following are some of the opening passages from what would have become "The Rise, Fall and Rise Again of Virtual WWE" a full and concise history of VWWE. They form the origins of E-Feds almost exactly eight years ago as best i understand them.

     

    ---

    As long as there has been sports, there has been fantasy, dream scenarios and matches. While the average man in the street dreams of the bright lights and glamor of his favorite sports teams, the big stadiums and moments, millions will fill online fantasy leagues of football, soccer, baseball... and professional wrestling.
    
    Originally played via mail, fantasy wrestling exploded upon the internet boom of the 1990s. Created companies, characters, real companies and characters, every possible scenario was created and played out on numerous Internet message boards and forums, hundreds of Electronic Federations or more popularly E-Feds, came and went. Wrestling fans finally had the chance to fulfill a little of their dreams.
    
    This is the tale of one such E-Fed and one community in particular, an E-Fed that some may call the Worldwide Leader in the genre, a company that has stood the test of time to last seven years and counting when most E-Feds last a matter of weeks, it is a name known and loved by many - Virtual World Wrestling Entertainment, better known maybe as VWWE.
    
    Over those seven years, VWWE seen hundreds of members pass through it's doors and leave in so many different circumstances, it's members have grown from boys to men, their lives have been shared with their colleages, babies have been born, marriages held and in one case, two members ending up in a relationship of their own.
    
    VWWE has provoked reactions from anger and fury to happiness and ecstasy, the tears have been numerous but so has the laughter. However if there's one emotion synonymous with VWWE.. it's passion. The passion that runs through WWE courses through the very foundations of their VWWE namesake, the love of wrestling kept these people together, kept the owners at the helm and helped the company survive and become the most successful E-Fed of all time.

     

    This is their story, the story of the elite few, the story of the reality and the fantasy... and the story of one very special company....

    ---

    2001: The World is Changed

     

    
    September 11, 2001, a date that will forever be remembered and never forgotten. On that American morning terrorists hijacked four aircraft, crashing them into New York's World Trade Center, the Pentagon in Washington DC and a Pennsylvania field. It was an incident that had a profound effect on the entire World including that of professional wrestling, one wrestling community on WAP enabled cellphones and an individual 3000 miles away watching events unfold in a college computer room.
    
    Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) was designed to be the first version of the internet on cellphones, debuting in 1999 with the popular Nokia 7250, the medium was considered an almost immediate failure, due largely to overhyping something later called "teletext on your phone". However, a small group of individuals seemed to embrace the concept and make the most of it, one such individual was Simon Parkhouse.
    
    Parkhouse, a wrestling enthusiast, created WapWWF in early 2001, the mediums first wrestling news site, styled very much in the vain of WrestleZone.com and Rajah, these were the sites from which most of WapWWF's news was cut and pasted. The site was simple, created easily on a sitebuilding site by the name of WapJag and later moved to a similar utility named Tagtag, it would never win site of the year but by being the only WWF's only site on WAP, the site quickly gained a large following and it's chatrooms were regularly overflowing. It was here that WAP's first wrestling community was born and from here that E-Fed's on WAP would soon spring.
    
    Over the summer, names such as both Jons (Rhyno and Silent Assassin), Dani, Jen, Sara, Graeme(Tommy Dreamer/Ryan Simmons), Mark (Dr.S), Fi (Rogue) and others all arrived along with notable future nuisences such as Mr Hogan and Mr Shaw. On September 11, these nuisances decided to insult the tragedy unfolding before the World, an event which offended the WapWWF Chat members enough to form an alliance, one of the first such alliances in the community - Team Bring It (TBI), a name taken from the WWF's current Invasion angle. The leader of TBI? a man who would become instrumental in the future of the community - Rhyno. Already the seeds of the coming months were being sown, Rhyno taking the leadership position he would follow through with the FWC E-Fed just a few months later. Meanwhile, the man who would become the nemesis of Rhyno for the majority of the next eight years, Mick, sat watching in horror the events unfolding on his TV. Just a few weeks later, Mick would pick up his cellphone and searching for WWF news, he'd stumble across WapWWF, never using the chatroom and only using the site he never became one of the WapWWF users or original E-Fed pioneers, the fateful moment Mick discovered Feds not coming for another two months at the dawn of the new year.
    
    Rhyno and Mick's time would have to wait for now however as before that would come another individual - Diddy. In November 2001, Diddy formed WAP's first ever E-Fed - WWW, World Wap Wrestling. Enlisting WapWWF members such as Dr.S, Kohl, Rhyno, Silent Assassin and Banshee, WWW used a system that is unique to WAP E-Feds - a guessing system, it is the one, with slight modification, still in use today in VWWE.
    
    WWW was a success, although a shockingly poor standard by todays comparison, the first company of it's kind drew plaudits from it's members.. and for the first time, a second chatroom sprung up. However, one individual had machinations in mind and Rhyno soon formed his own breakaway E-Fed under the same rules.... FWC or Fantasy Wrestling Championship.
    
    FWC almost immediately had the advantage, Rhyno was a better writer, his position in WapWWF and TBI allowed him to recruit many more people and soon WWW stars such as Coops and Silent Assassin began to defect, FWC had become the number one E-Fed on WAP with ease.
    
    All the stones were in place, but destiny had one more hand to play and in early 2002, while surfing WapWWF Mick stumbled across a link to a site called Wrestlenation left in one of WapWWFs guestbooks, the site was a fan site for wrestling made by Mark aka Dr.S.... with a section all about something called E-Feds, WWW and FWC. Intrigued as to what an E-Fed actually was, Mick clicked on the link to WWW..... and so was born a dynasty and an icon.

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  • 2 months ago
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• Cooper creates....another blog

  • From: Jason_Cooper
  • Description:

    WRESTLEFREAKINMANIA BABY! WOO!

    Holy shit! It's 13 days from the biggest show of the year, the granddaddy etc etc i'm sure you've heard those sayings so many times already so i won't bore you with them here. I'm not here for long, Assassin has just returned my laptop after a lenghthy period, checked my history to make sure he wasn't watching some messed up porn like Sergio claims he has on now and again, it wasn't thankfully, it was some dutch pop group called aqua (man they suck).

     

    Anyway back to the important bit, Wrestlemania! I have to be honest with you, the nerves are starting to creep in, i see guys backstage, like Ric Flair, Michael Shane (ass),  Suffering and Jeff hardy and they've got these huge matches on the card, i think to myself, i'm on the pre-show card and i'm almost crapping myself, imagine how they must be feeling! For them this is another step on the ladder to the top, to legendary status, for me this is the beginning, i want to look back a year from now, be on that main card, be an established WWE superstar and say, i started somewhere, i started at the greatest show ever seen, this is the beginning of a new era for me and the WWE.

     

    We're at a house show in Texas as i type, i'm just about to have a match with Jack Swagger, i took a look out earlier as they were letting the crowd in, this place is jam packed! It's going to be one hell of a night! Mr Swagger is about to get his ass handed to him.

     

    I'll no doubt do another one of these before Wrestlemania, i shall leave you with this image that i saw as i arrived this evening.

     

    Jeff Hardy teaching Michael Shane how to put Make up on.

     

    Peace.

     

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  • 3 months ago
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• VWWE - Beginnings

  • From: VWWE
  • Description:

    At the start of the year i began to think of what we should do for the fifth anniversary of VWWE, what sort of special features should we put out. This anniversary for me is very special, five years of anything is impressive, in the short lived World of E-Feds, stunning. E-Feds normally only have a shelf life of around three months and for one to last five years is made all the more impressive considering we were originally a WAP Fed with very limited resources and people. So i got looking through the old WWE 10th anniversary special Magazine and came across an interview with Vince McMahon where he discussed the beginning of WWE Raw and its lasting appeal, the people he's worked with, the problems he's encountered. So being the eternal plagiarist.... i stole the idea...
    
    VWWEs beginning starts at the turn of the Millennium, back when the World was a very different place than it is today. Id have been about 19 at the time and the events of September the Eleventh were still clear in everybodys mind, the looming war in Afghanistan was hanging over the World and even worse, there was rumors Hulk Hogan was about to return to WWE, dark times indeed. My first exposure to the wrestling community on WAP, like many, was through WAPWWE owned by Simon and later Big "Fat" Dave. Id been a user of the chatrooms at a community called Jumbuck and later o2 chat for a few months for about a year previous to that and knew one of the Semi-regulars toward the end from there. I didn't chat at all however in the famous chat, just used it for the results and news. While browsing one day, i came across the link to something called "WrestleManiac" owned by a certain Dr.SmackDown!. It was a little site about something called E-Feds.... Naturally enough i was intrigued, im the sort of person who simply has to have an answer to a question. So i clicked on the first link on the site, "WWW".
    
    I arrived in WWW Chat in early January of 2002 and frankly found utter chaos. The owner Diddy was leaving, i only ever exchanged a few words with him in the chat and i think after i arrived he was never seen again. Nice passing of the torch. The first three people i met in WWW however were Twisted Trucker, Physio and Banshee in that order, the latter of these would play an important role over the next three months. Physio seemed nice enough, he was a nurse in Newcastle if i remember correctly as seemed Banshee, i disliked TT from the word go however, a typically ignorant Scotsman of which Dads Army's Frazer embodies perfectly (no offense to our Scottish contingent intended lol). TT would eventually make himself the most hated man in the business at the height of the Monday Night Wars, and considering the competition that was no mean feat. My application to WWW was of course never answered as Diddy apparently went to America and left the company in the hands of Mark who at that time i feel wasn't ready to run an E-Fed, time wise or maturity wise. Becoming impatient (as always), i looked elsewhere. I'm certain theres more to the tale of the demise of WWW but with all the major players except Dr.S (Mark) having now left "the business", i doubt it'll ever be told.
    
    I soon came across an E-Fed by the name of EHW, owned by WAPWWEs rival WAPW-W-E and owned by Tazz and Extreme. WAPW-W-E was a poor alternative to the original WAPWWE, largely pasted from the net and very poorly laid out. Still, it got hits and im sure they were happy. As an inexperienced player, EHW looked brilliant, it had lots of features and sections for the time and was, compared to the awful WWW, well written. I was the first person to sign up to the original EHW and was rewarded by being in the main event of their first show against quickly and long forgotten J-Love who was a sort of male version of Jennifer Lopez (don't ask). I lost when Nightmare made a run in and attacked me with a chair, this would the very first time i was involved with Tony and in fact the first time I'd even heard of him and of course not the last. While EHW was busy building its roster however i was at a loose end and offered by services to the company in an advertising role which was accepted, i had my first backstage job. In honesty it was rather unsuccessful, i managed to get Dr.S to sign up after a few rounds of E-Mails but my moves to bring in Physio, Banshee and the others failed completely. A day before the broadcast of EHWs first show, a link was left in EHWs chat which led me to yet another E-Fed, the now infamous FWC, an offshoot of WWW.
    
    While WWW was the first E-Fed on WAP to make a splash (they were not the complete first, despite popular belief), FWC had now taken the Torch from them and was the big player. Rhyno and most of the FWC roster had all been members of WWW at one point and broken away and there seemed to be little love lost between FWCs Owner Jon Hunter (Rhyno) and Diddy. FWC was, like EHW, far better laid out and written than WWW, although under the surface were far more flaws that didnt become clear till much later.
    
    Mid-January is when everything changes (and Rhyno certainly wasn't ready). I decided to join FWC after talking with Banshee (Jo) and some of the FWC members briefly including two men who play a big part in the future of the community, Silent Assassin (also called Jon, which led to suspicions he was Rhyno for almost a year) and Doomsday (Nik). However, when i told Rhyno via mail i was also in EHW, i was told to choose between joining FWC or being in EHW, a fact that irritated me immediately and would always be amusing to me later on when Rhyno complained about VWWE asking the same of people who were also in his Fed. Nether the less, i chose FWC simply because it looked more fun and the people in their chat were more talkative and interesting. I think it was about January 14th when i debuted on FWCs Flagship Show Gore is War (named for the Owners signature finisher, of course).
    
    Two weeks later, me, aka HBK, was FWC Champion.
    
    This has always been one of the chief reasons i began to become dissatisfied with FWC, it was far too easy. Yes, i was good, its stupid for me to say otherwise considering what I've gone on to do, but nobody deserved the kind of push i received considering veterans such as Doomsday and Silent Assassin hadn't had any kind of headlining run or Title reign. I guess Rhyno saw the potential but for me, it began to show those problems i mentioned earlier - Rhyno couldn't book for shit. He had no concept of pushes, finishes, paying dues or the like and just seemed to book in a completely haphazard fashion, making no match feel important or special and making no title reign mean squat as the defenses were so frequent and often.
    
    I was outspoken in chat, which considering what many will remember of my behavior later in 2002, i guess is no surprise. This of course created tension with Rhyno and Silent Assassin, the former making the heat quite obvious while SA didn't reveal how he felt about the period till a year later during one of our famous arguments. Rhyno booked me in a completely pointless feud with TT, a man who couldnt draw flies in a shit factory. The heat got to the point where i was booked in a ladder match and somehow Rhyno had me lose via DQ, when i pointed out to him afterward that its impossible to lose via DQ in a ladder match, he booked me in a kiss my ass match against TT, which naturally enough i lost. Was i being pushed to the moon or buried? i had no idea and quite frankly, i don't think Rhyno did either. By now early February, with the looming threat of the coming nWo all over WWF Television, i decided to start a revolution of my own and the idea for the Virtual WWF E-Fed was born.
    
    Why Virtual WWF? simply i figured that its everybody in E-Feds dream to be a WWF star. People play SmackDown vs Raw, why not make the E-Fed equivalent in a simulation of the WWF? it was so simple i was surprised that nobody had attempted it on WAP yet and i began to note down what I'd need to do to get this thing off the ground. The first thing of course was the site and after enlisting the help of Nik (who didnt know what i was doing), i managed to get a very basic site working on the Hiugo host. The next three things however would prove to be far more trick - a roster, a partner and advertising.
    
    I began the build up to VWWF a week or so before the actual launch, first contacting Silent Assassin under the assumed alias of Vince McMahon (or "vince" as Sam would later have it). SA agreed to come aboard as a member of the first board/creative team, particularly after i showed him a promo match id written, he seemed genuinely impressed with my skills and eager for VWWF to get off the ground. SA very much liked to have a finger in every pie and hedge his bets with all parties, his actual reasons for coming aboard I've never really known or thought about too much. At the time all i knew was, SA was a major player in Feds, a man who'd been around a while, a leader, important to FWC and the kind of acquisition that would send a big time message to Rhyno. Next aboard was Banshee at Jon's suggestion if i remember, in honesty i dont recall what she actually did and i didnt trust her at all. Banshee and Jon were very close, the details of which im still not entirely clear on and on more than one occasion it seemed the two were conversing about VWWE and making their own agendas. This however was a very small issue and i was happy with the way of things at this point in time.
    
    I knew the roster would come from the advertising and also that there was no way VWWE could survive on the scraps from FWC, we had to bring in new people to VWWE from outside Feds and i opened negotiations with the WAPWWE Owner about adding a link. On February 15th, VWWE was launched throughout the WAP Wrestling community, firstly in FWC and then everywhere else. The initial reaction was slow with only a handful signing up, the first being Stevie Dragon (a Welshman, for the record) and Rhyno was openly hostile in that "i don't mind really" way of his. A day into the VWWF Era, we merged with Tony's fledgling BWWF Fed as i saw no point in us competing against each other and Tony was added to the Creative Team. Yet another day later, everything changed finally as WAPWWE gave us far more than we asked for - a full front page link. With this being at the height of both WAPWWE and WAPs powers, VWWE was flooded with application after application for the next three days, we couldn't get through them all before more arrived. The chat we were using at the time (a myWap Beatles page we hijacked) became almost unbearable with all the new faces giving off their enthusiasm and ironically Jon and Myself took refuge in FWCs chat for the night while i sifted through the beginnings of what was about to become the very first proper version of VWWE as we know it.
    
    Of course, knowing absolutely nothing about our new members and being an era of little character development, a lot of people who should have got bigger pushes at the start didnt and started off in the midcard while some people who didnt deserve it, did get those shots. A lot of the initial push ration went off how much "trash talk" you did in the chat (The locker) as opposed to anything else. Some prominent original members of VWWF included Mav, Pimp, WDS, Matt Hardy, Showtime, Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, Triple H, Unforgiven, Paz, Rediffusion, Forsaken, Razor Ramon, Diesel, Nitro, Kane, nWoKane and of course the members of the Creative Team and many more besides. The decision was taken early that SA would contest the WWF Undisputed Championship with HBK on the first Raw simply because we were the biggest names available at that time and once again, it would be good for the image if a "draw" was Champion. Something that almost every Indy company has done is presumed they can make their own stars and claim they're in the same league as VWWEs when of course they're not, just like TNA's own stars are nowhere near WWEs, to make new stars they need to feud with established stars in the business and thus, early VWWE was dominated with ex-FWC Stars. One of my mottos with VWWE is "image is everything" and its completely true, whether wanting to bury an opponent, get somebody over or dictate the entire style and direction of the company, how people perceive what you're doing is where everything is won and lost, a fact, just like booking, that Rhyno never got his head around.
    
    Im always one for "impact", making the big entrance and/or a huge scene, i wanted VWWE to be talked about and from day one it be everywhere, i wasn't here to be second best, i knew i could produce something FAR better than what was currently on the table. But at that point, in those initial days, there was no desire to run anybody out of business, i did believe we could have a three Fed system like the old WWF-WCW-ECW one with VWWF-FWC-EHW. Nevertheless, i knew that if VWWF was to succeed we were going to have to both get FWCs attention and its members. At this point i was leader of the D-Generation X faction in FWC as HBK, Rhyno still having not connected me to the new Fed. Id kept my identity secret simply because i wished to remain in FWC as long as possible. Rhyno still suspected nothing even when i decided to change the faction from DX to the nWo and despite another affront on his part - adding TT and Sandman to the group, it became the best thing on the show. Gore is War was fast becoming, along with FWC chat, dominated by the nWo members, myself and SA.
    
    On March 4th 2002, Raw is War debuted from Madison Square Garden, the nWo defected from FWC along with SA and the show, although very poor by todays standards, was hailed as a classic. The impact had been made and you could probably say the first shot in the coming Monday Night War had been fired. What followed was a calm, Rhyno began a few rumors of moles within VWWF, trying to unsettle the creative team and the like and of course he succeeded. At that time i was a rather paranoid individual, but of course, as somebody said, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you, and despite very little being proven, there were almost certainly people giving information to Rhyno, as of course SA and to a lesser extent, Tony was to us. The real Monday War didnt begin for around two weeks and in this time of calm, VWWE was REALLY born.
    
    Within the first two weeks several people emerged as locker room leaders, people of strong personality who stood head and shoulders above the rest both in terms of the promos they were dropping in chat, enthusiasm, knowledge and general likability. These men would become known as the Kliq. Hulk Hogan (Sam), Steve Austin (Tony) and the three Creative Team members in myself, Tony and Jon. However at this time Kane (Danny)., Triple H (Will) and Urbie were all also prominent as well as a certain Hollywood Nitro who would go one to be a controversial figure several years after leaving VWWE in much the same way the Ultimate Warrior has in real life. One of the biggest locker personalities at the time was Pimp who was very much in real life exactly what his character was. Many nights were spent in his company in these days and all that were there will remember him as possibly the most missed personality from the chat in that period.
    
    VWWEs image as a shambolic rebel promotion was always half reality, half created image based of WWFs 1997-1999 image but also our own birth, "bad" attitude and lack of site facilities. The Hiugo site crashing on an almost daily basis, a fact that maybe in a small way gave VWWE members an attitude of fighting the "corporate like" FWC with a site that never crashed and built on a PC as opposed to our built on a cell-phone. There was certainly a "backs to the wall" mentality that was reminiscent of the WWFs defense against WCW, a war of course then still fresh in the memory with the Alliance angle having ended just Three Months previously. The VWWF members developed something that FWC nor any Fed previous or since has achieved, a real community spirit and a comradeship that may have all begun when faced with the FWC onslaught that was soon to come, Hogans Crew, Nova and other idiots. We lived together and we died together to give an overly dramatic turn of phrase.
    
    VWWEs first major problem came just prior to WrestleMania X8 when my phone was broken. I was only away a week but soon discovered that a week is a long time in E-Feds and in the time off-line, not only had SA and Banshee relieved themselves of their positions on the board, but left the Fed while SA was Champion and scheduled to defend the belt in the Main Event of WrestleMania X8. To say i was mad would be an understatement. SA was officially stripped of the Undisputed Championship and hasty rewrites began. It was at this point that Sam stepped up to the plate and his first official backstage involvement began when he came aboard on discussions for the proposed ECW angle and the huge mistake of Virtual ECW, a second Fed run under the VWWE banner (it would be four and a half years before i produced an ECW show, so you know how this one ends). What SA was doing E-Fed wise between this point and his return a few months later i don't know but we still conversed frequently.
    
    WrestleMania X8 was a disaster, not much better than a normal Raw show. Three matches stuck out as quality in The Outsiders vs Too Good, the RVD Cage match and the Main Event, though the rest was a let down and in particular the ending, where a new and previously unannounced ECW faction made a run in was lame. The power had swung back toward FWC and did so for the whole next month during the Kane vs Nitro feud. Danny was not the problem, he was one of the best players of the game at the time and ive no doubt would be a major player still today, the problem was Nitro. Nitro was a poor character, even in the era of poor characters, and was a poor promo as well, bland and boring. However, he'd made a number of friends backstage and was a massive presence in the chat. In essence, there was a mini-Clique around him, some names including Hunter (George not Stu), Nemesis, Trish, Max Pain and Suppz Monkey will be familiar. This "popularity" led to him being in an awful faction by the name of AWOL and he received a push and the Main Event opportunity, firstly winning the ECW World Title (which would later become the WWE World Title, a scenario i of course didnt foresee at the time) and then WWE Champion. Nitro winning the belt was poor for VWWF, i knew this and booked him against Kane till he lost it quite frankly and following that loss he didnt receive another push. Unfortunately, six months later when Steve took over writing SmackDown, it appeared he was a fan and Nitro received a second undeserved push.
    
    While we had won the day both in February and March, FWC had won it in April. Several attacks by the likes of TT, snide comments in FWCs news and poor angles off ourselves had left me demoralized and the company losing its way somewhat. When Hiugo finally went down for what appeared to be good, it looked like it could be the end for VWWF.... and it was, for when VWWF returned on Tagtag and MyWap, we were now known as VWWE. WWE had "Got the F Out" a week or so before and we followed suit, i myself seeing it as a new beginning for the Fed and with many of the worse aspects of the last month forgotten, began several new angles that would make the Summer of 2002 possibly the most creative ever seen and a genuine golden age of VWWE and welcomed in several new faces that would become known as the second generation of Virtual WWE.
    
    With VWWE finally finding its feet, producing a quality product, chat and clearly around for the long haul, we began to attract several of FWCs stars including Tommy Dreamer, Suppz, Sabu and famously Sphere who went as far as to produce his own site detailing his reasons for leaving. They were Radicalz style Godsends, some of the final indications that FWC was dying. They all slotted in perfectly to storylines and despite the disappointments of agreeing deals with both DD and AWO only to see them fall through, VWWE was firmly back on top again. But something was missing angle wise, both a "big" star Ala Hulk Hogan, The Rock or Steve Austin in the WWE and a big time angle to center the company around. Thus was born the nWo era.
    
    Before the nWo however, came that big star and at that time there was one man who stood out for his dedication and quality above all other - Tony AKA Stone Cold Steve Austin. Austin had already headlined WrestleMania X8 and of course, then received a push in FWC (which he left shortly after the war began), so his elevation to a permanent Main Event status was no great leap up the card, plus his feud with Kane was something that both he and Danny got totally into, making it the most successful feud up till that point in VWWE. After the let down of WrestleMania and subsequent poor month in April, we needed to do what we'd done that very first Raw and make an impact. There was only one match that could do it - Hell in a Cell. It would be billed as the biggest match ever held in E-Feds, Kane the monster versus Steve Austin, the massive face looking for his first title. And did we deliver? oh hell yeah. The match was at that time, once again the most impressive match ever seen and was hailed as such, but more than that - it was a great card, everybody had something to do, a match of importance and i feel felt they had a lot of input into both it and the direction of their characters.
    
    Every good face needs a strong heel opponent. Rowdy Roddy Piper once aswed the question, would Hogan have been as big a face if he hadn't had such strong heel opponents such as himself? every Sherlock Holmes needs a Moriarty. Austin following Judgment Day was the biggest face in all E-Feds but needed an opponent, Kane had been defeated and was out of the picture as of course was SA and i was uncomfortable pushing HBK so soon again after the disastrous push he received around WrestleMania. My mind however was cast back to the very inception of VWWE and the nWo, a group that in the defection from FWC to VWWE had created possibly the largest amount of GENUINE heat from the business yet seen at that time.
    
    So the nWo would return, this time however, it would be true to both the real life nWo and DX - it would be born from the Kliq. HBK, Hulk Hogan and Nightmare formed the core to the group, Urban-Wolf and originally Triple H as the second duo, even though Urbie was of course a big star in his own right. The angle cought fire immediately, the locker loving it and truely dividing themselves into nWo and WWE groups. The addition of Booker T and Max Pain following Wills 27th firing may have diluted the group slightly but no more than a faction. The nWos political games, internal struggles and battles against Austin, Kane, RVD, Randy Savage, Nitro and the like gripped the whole community and just as the angle had done for the real WCW in 1996 through till 1998, we dominated the business.
    
    In late May, FWC finally folded. The Monday Night Wars were over (for now). Its hard to pin point and actual definite reason for its failure. I always like to point out the similarities between our small wrestling community and the real life goings on in WWE and how many times, without design, the art has immitated the life and without a doubt, the parallels with the folding of WCW are there for all to see. While FWC originally was the big cat, it got taken down by VWWE who they tried unsuccessfully to put out of business originally. Why did they go out of business? again, the similarities are there for all to see. WCW pushed stars who were either hasbeens or neverbeens such as Jarrett, Savage, Sid, FWC did the same, allowing Main Event positions to be given to the likes of AWO, Kohl, Sandman and HHH, members who today, wouldn't even be allowed a curtain jerking position in VWWE. WCWs booking decisions in its last years, particularly after the addition of Vince Russo to the creative team were nothing short of shambolic - Rhyno couldn't book for shit. Booking is an art form, you dont just throw matches out there, you need to plan ahead, what if Superstar A wins, what will we do? what if Superstar B wins, what will we do? how to we protect Superstar A if he lose? how do we give him his heat back? and so on. Rhyno never considered such action, he didn't understand this basic principle of ownership as quite frankly, so very few owners ever have. The third reason I'd put down is image which i talked about before. Once it became clear that Rhyno was out to attack VWWE in every way, by both insulting us personally and allowing others to do it, obvious that there was no peace, it became a war and the main tactic VWWE used was to destroy FWCs image. Destroy an E-Feds image and who'll want to work there? make it a joke, and what value is it? this is the exact tactic used by the WWF in the Monday Wars and it worked again here and has done again since. As said, image is everything and Rhyno again failed to conduct a defense and make himself look good, his shows, matches and belts became worthless as he produced a string of lame shows with the worst characters pushed over actual talent like Tommy Dreamer, Sphere, Doomsday and the like, he played right into our hands. And finally? its those same names. When Benoit, Saturn, Guerrero and Malenko defected to the WWF in 2000, it was seen as the death knell for WCW and although they continued on for over a year afterward, essentially WCW died that night the Radicalz debuted on Raw. When Dreamer, Suppz, Sphere, the Dawg Pound, Sabu etc all came to VWWE within a short space of time, it sent out a message that FWC was dying. A few weeks later, possibly the final straw came when Doomsday left FWC. DD had been instrumental backstage within FWC, doing much of the writing and creative duties, his leaving caused the stack of FWC cards to come crashing down around Rhynos ears, the era of FWC at an end. Although FWC did attempt comebacks later in the year and again in 2003 and again since, it never reached the heights of the Monday Wars.
    
    Of course, peace didn't rain for very long and around the same time VWWE began to encounter a very different type of opponent - Hogans Crew and Nova. Where as we'd been at war with a group/organization previous, this was a new challenge, two individuals who had no agenda other then to act like complete and utter pricks. The motivation, i cannot guess, a psychologist may know more. For those who dont recall, Hogan (NO relation to the other Hogan aka Sam btw) led a small group of idiots known as Hogans Crew (later the Devils Crew) in WAPWWE Chat. However, WAPWWE Chat began to die, several members moving to the VWWE Locker and its usership drying up. So of course, Hogan followed to where the members were, his task? to "destroy the chat". Hogans Crew, like with FWC, always claimed to have people inside VWWE and i almost know for fact this was in fact true. Hogan always knew more than he should and several incidents spring to mind immediately that confirm he was no all he seemed. Was Hogan really somebody VWWE already knew? later evidence points to that being the case, but of course, we'll never know for sure. Nova was like Hogan in many ways, simply came into chat and spouted random bullshit and insulted people. He was clearly both a child and slightly retarded, hence his joining up with Hogans Crew at one point. It was at this time i first came into contact with Fi via an opposition group named Killcrew that we supported, Sam and Myself joining toward the end. Hogans Crew were finally defeated following a memorable and in retrospect, rather odd, night in the locker. Nova however, continued to make a nuisance of himself for two whole years.
    
    Creatively, VWWE was on a high. The nWo angle had divided the locker down face and heel lines and we were on an all time high. Jon had agreed to return to the fold and we'd made new stars of RVD and Hogan (Sam always insists btw that he debuted in late March 2002 as a main eventer, this is not the case and it was early March as a midcarder lol). The nWo were the most successful group in history, but as we approached SummerSlam, the steam was running out a little. If done now, it would last 6-8 months thanks to the lesser shows and more evenly handed out airtime, but back then, the nWo was EVERYWHERE, just like in WCW of 96/97. Every segment was filled with the nWo vs WWF feud. It was decided that the nWo would split Ala Hollywood vs The Wolfpac, but instead of the Wolfpac - we'd return to DX and it would take the form of HBK, SA and a few weeks later, Doomsday. The alliance of HBK and SA, bitter enemies, and the return of DX at SummerSlam, shocked everybody and shook up the angle, the objective was achieved. However, looking back, i have to consider the thing a failure. Both Silent Assassin and Doomsday left the company shortly afterward (SA leaving for a second time while WWE Champion) and DX became swiftly HBK and Triple H (a group that would have great success with the Outlaws and X-Pac in 2003, but for the fall of 2002, was not on the map). The nWo continued on for a sort while, its line up consisting of RVD and Austin at one point before settling on Hogan, Hall and Nash and then in December, splitting up for good. With the nWo era over, in October a new one began when VWWE announced the brand extension would be coming to Raw and SmackDown. Steve aka Sphere would be taking the reigns of SmackDown while i would continue as writer of Raw and Chairman, Sam would be CEO. The ingredients were all in place for what has become the VWWE of 2007, but that as they say, is another story.
    
    So there ya go, the story of VWWEs birth. Of course, theres far more to it than this and i apologize in advance for anything or anybody ive forgotten or anything I've deliberately glossed over. Like all good books, even those published by the likes of Flair, Michaels and even Foley, need a few pages left out and a few fact maybe bent a little to make it seem like VWWE knew what they were doing all along :)

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• Inglorious Bastards: The Histo

  • From: VWWE
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    Inglorious Bastards: The History of the New World Order
    

    Many of WWE's newer fans, and even Superstars, will not know of the (in)glorious history of the New World Order within the business. While originally a WCW concept, the first instance of the nWo we shall deal with will be the one former in January of 2002 in the now defunct Fantasy Wrestling Championship (FWC).
    
    Shawn Michaels had recently comeback from a career ending back injury, persuaded by money, by his own admission, he joined the upstart FWC, reuniting with Razor Ramon and Diesel, better known as Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. The trio would soon form the nWo and the FWC Championship around the waist of Michaels. Despite the accolades and plaudits Michaels received, he and many other Superstars were unhappy in FWC due to the booking flaws of the company.
    
    In March, he and the entire nWo defected to the then WWF.
    
    In a memorable month, the group invaded Madison Square Garden, declared war on the World Wrestling Federation and laid waste Superstars such as Silent Assassin, Kane, Hollywood Nitro and Steve Austin, spraying their familiar "nWo" logo on the backs of their enemies. Michaels in particular was noted for becoming the most hated man in the industry both on TV and backstage. The New World Order era not just a gimmick, they were for real. It wasn't to last however and after the WWF decided to turn Michaels face at WrestleMania 18, the nWo drifted apart, but significantly, all it's members left Skydome as a title holder, Michaels the Undisputed Champion and The Outsiders the World Tag Team Champions.
    
    With the Monday Night Wars against FWC in full swing, WWE decided they needed to hit FWC where it hurt - in the ratings. Hell in a Cell - Steve Austin - the nWo, three knockout blows from which WWE figured FWC would never recover.. they were right.
    
    The summer of 2002 was the summer of the nWo. Forming in May, this second version of the nWo is considered the "nWo classic", the definitive and most successful version of the group.
    
    Since being in WWE Michaels had formed a backstage Kliq, a group of Superstars closely allied and working to advance their own careers and "have some fun" as HBK put it in a 2004 interview. The Kliq were loved and loathed alike, many seeing them as the saviors of the business, the ones taking the war to FWC, while others saw them as arrogant, obnoxious and holding good Superstars down. The Kliq consisted of Michaels, Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, Nightmare and Silent Assassin, the 5 men who would play a key role in what was to come.
    
    The nWo centered around three of the five members of the Kliq - Michaels, Hogan and Nightmare, with Urban-Wolf as the forth member and Shane McMahon in a management role. Triple H had been in the group for only a week but due to heat with the Kliq, was released from the company in the first sign of things to come.
    
    To feud with the nWo? Team WWE, led by Kliq member Steve Austin and later Silent Assassin.
    
    The havoc caused the first time around was nothing compared to the carnage this time, Steve Austin was stripped of the WWE Championship, Nightmare became WWE commissioner and split the brands, the nWo literally bought the company and fired Vince McMahon. HBK was awarded the WWE Championship and anybody who argued was beaten and abused. WWE was in the grip of an nWo dictatorship.
    
      A 5 on 5 elimination match for total control of WWE was arranged for SummerSlam 2002, but little know to the nWo, Shawn Michaels had become increasingly insecure about his own position within the group, Hulk Hogan having become Undisputed Champion several weeks before with Shawn struggling to get back into the title picture. Unknown to anybody, Michaels had a secret agenda and during the match betrayed the nWo to form D-Generation X with Silent Assassin, it was a tear from which the nWo Classics would not recover.
    
    Hulk Hogan immediately formed a new nWo with the returning Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, Nightmare being drafted to SmackDown and also leaving the group. While it looked like the nWo's time maybe over however, they received an unexpected boost as another consequence of the brand split - Eric Bischoff became General Manager of Raw. An nWo sympathizer since the WCW days, Bischoff brought Hogan to Raw and instantly made him World Heavyweight Champion.
    
    The nWo continued in much the same way it had, invading UWW at one point, ejecting Randy Savage from the company and creating all manner of havoc, but their power was broken - Nash and Hall were not Nightmare and Shawn Michaels. Hogan soon became disillusioned with the black and white and as America geared up for war with Iraq, Hogan's patriotic strings were pulled. In one memorable moment in early 2003, Hogan returned in the red and yellow, ready to do battle against the Iron Sheik and the Weapons of Mass Destruction tag team, finally headed to the main event of WrestleMania XIX against Steve Austin in the Icon vs Icon match. The nWo was dead.
    
    But as somebody once said, maybe everything that dies one day comes back... and it was certainly true for the nWo.
    
    With no competition, WWE's creative department became lax and by 2004 ratings had dropped like a stone. Coupled with a scandal concerning steroid and recreational drug use backstage at WWE events, WWE was in serious danger of being taken off the air. WWE decided that once again, the nWo were needed.
    
    At WrestleMania XX, Vince McMahon claimed that if the performers did not please him, he would kill WWE there and then. As he watched from a skybox at Madison Square Garden, it became ever increasingly obvious he was not happy, calling Evolution - Triple H, Batista, Ric Flair and Suffering, along with Goldberg into the skybox to watch the Main Event. As Hulk Hogan pinned Shawn Michaels, dethroning Showtime as World Champion in the process, it became clear this was no ordinary match. Eric Bischoff, X-Pac, Nash and Hall all came out - the nWo were not going to let the company die, Hulk Hogan proclaiming this was the "house that Hogan built", they were here to take what they could from the ailing company. Vince put his thumbs up, WWE lived and he accepted the challenge.
    
    The last nWo were more vicious than ever, throwing people through glass doors, belt whippings, not even interested in winning matches anymore - just taking all they could and making sure they remained on top as the likes of Evolution tried to save the company, tried to make new stars. The nWo died a few months later inside a Wargames match, the first and only such match on Raw. It would be the nWo versus Evolution, Silent Assassin and Goldberg. Suffering pinned Michaels, his future seemingly made, the nWo in crisis... but we never found out what happened next as the USA Network pulled the plug on Raw, taken off the air.
    
    And that would have been the end of the story, the final chapter ending on the last episode of the old Raw inside the cell.
    
    
    But the nWo... cannot die. Everytime WWE is in crisis, every time Hulk Hogan rears his head or Shawn Michaels hints at the past, the name is there, lurking in the background. One such moment was during the dark days of the New Generation war.
    
    The parallels are there for all to see, the upstart group led by Shane McMahon, trying to take over the WWE, even some of the same figures were present - Vince McMahon and Stone Cold leading Team WWE. But this time, McMahon had little success against his son and the New Generation, a group who's sole aim was to destroy the WWE Originals. McMahon became increasingly frustrated at the war he's fighting, ever more unhinged.
    
    Then one week he did the unthinkable - he signed a deal to reunite the original nWo, to ally Team WWE with the very men they fought such a bitter war against - a unified WWE and nWo to fight off the challenge of the New Generation.
    
    It never happened, Vince balked on the deal at the last moment... but was Vince as mad as he appears?
    
    The nWo made a career out of putting themselves over young stars, of beating down, holding down and throwing upstarts out of the company. Could it be that Vince saw this as an asset in fighting the New Generation? there can be no doubt that the nWo will stoop to tactics even Randy Orton, Suffering or Legacy would not even consider.
    
    
    The nWo were even rumored to be the power behind Eric Bischoffs half ownership just this year.... but now, we have the most interesting twist in the tale of the nWo for some time because with WWE's 2009 finincial crisis, the company was forced to sell a lot of it's trademarked names, logos and entities to rival organizations... and rumor has it one of those was the nWo.
    
    
    What would happen if the nWo were to invade TNA? would that company cumble under the weight and assault the nWo would inflict? or, like WWE, would the nWo build the company, would he lead TNA into a war with WWE that TNA could possibly win with the force of the balck and white behind it?
    
    Would buying the rights to the nWo be a smart move by Dixie Carter? possibly, but watch your back because the poison covered knife carried by Hogan, Michaels and the original Kliq will always be ready and waiting to strike...
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• The Hart Legacy: Curse of the

  • From: the_controlled_substance
  • Description:

    Controversial and Joey Nebraska seem to go hand-in-hand. But ‘controversial’ appears to have become a dirty word. People hear ‘controversial’ and they automatically assume controversy means lies. But this isn’t the case. Just because something is controversial, doesn’t take away any of its legitimacy.

     

    Ever since The Opium Den was pulled before it ever even aired, for being “too controversial”, and since ECW on Sci-Fi got scrapped, the Narcotic Nightmare & MNM have been largely without a voice – the Parents Television Council placing pressure on US Network & MyNetwork TV executives to get WWE to reduce our on-screen air time and edit our segments. For too long we have had to endure censorship bordering on suppression. (yes kids, this is the legacy ‘cool’ Michael Shane has left us with).

     

    But there’s some things you cannot edit, censor or hold down, and Joey Nebraska is one of them! So using the medium of the internet, I bring to you, the WWE Universe, MNM 2009’s first on-line dirt sheet – and our topic of discussion this week – DH Smith & the Hart Triology.

     

    Harry, last week on RAW – in only your second televised appearance, you had the audacity to call me out. But you didn’t just start a war of words – you went down the ‘personal’ path, bringing my personal life into my business.

     

    Lets start with the facts, with what you did get right – I AM Canadian by birth… but that is where the truth ends. Had you of dug a little deeper, you may have uncovered more of my story.

     

    My parents were separated when I was still young, and I spent my holidays travelling between Canada & the States. My father was well-to-do. My mother, although the picture of respectability, was, with all due respect, never an intellect. She was vulnerable. Although their divorce appeared civilized on the outside, behind closed doors it was bitter. My father’s mistress fell pregnant soon after the split, and his allegiances and focus changed. We were very much his ‘other’ family, whilst his attention turned to his new brood. Despite being young, I was fully aware of my mother’s delicate and fragile state of mind, so I made the choice to put further distance between myself and my father, by moving permanently to Stateside to be by my mother’s side. It is a decision I resented her for. And one, which despite our animosity towards each other, strangely drew me & my father closer together. Our relationship was not a loving one, yet a strong one.

     

    As a result, I spent term time with my mother, and was educated in Boston, MA. Ever since I can remember I was brought up an American, in America. My father, of dual nationality himself, never challenged this. My nationality seemed more of an issue to the playground bullies, already full of ammunition for the ‘single-parent’ kid, then it ever did to me. As I grew older, I learned about my Canadian roots, but I always considered myself to be American. It was not until later again, until I came to travel the world in pursuit of my dream to become a professional wrestler, travelling to overseas shores, such as Mexico & Japan, when I came to apply for a passport, that my nationality would again become an issue. You see, all my life, my nationality has been more about other people, than it ever has about me. Nationality doesn’t define me, it doesn’t define anybody! Nationality is just a branding device. A tool deployed by prejudice bigots, or more than likely, brain-dead patriots.

     

    That said… I am not without objection to Canada. Canada has, afterall, helped sodomize the business I love – Pro-AMERICAN-Wrestling.

     

    There’s no point denying it. Quite simply – you people need to get over it. It was over a decade ago – and without it, the WWE and wrestling itself would never have got to the heights that it did. It defined and helped spawned an era. An era which in turn captivated the minds of youthful America – of minds like me. Got me addicted. Got me hooked. And which turned me into a fan, and then a wrestler. Wrestling needed Montreal. But what seemed at first like a gift, has turned into a curse.

     

    I am sick of hearing about Montreal. SICK! Everybody knows that Bret screwed Bret. His ego, his own sense of self gratification wouldn’t allow him to drop the belt under anything than his own conditions. He got what he deserved. WCW sucked. He sucked in WCW. And WCW failed. Where is Bret Hart now? But still, it goes on.

     

    Everytime the WWE rolls in Canada, they can’t help but remind us. But they do not benefit us or themselves. They will openly boo the person portraying the good guy, Shawn Michaels. And openly cheer the person portraying the bad guy, JUST because he happens to be Canadian. Well, I’m sorry, but on my way to the top, to the big league, I jobbed a thousand times in my own hometown, busting a gut to do what I love. Hell, I’d go right out there now and do it again if it was right for business. It isn’t disrespect, it’s part of a story.

     

    My second issue with Canada, is it’s loveaffair, it’s affinity with everything Hart. It’s delusion at the Hart Dungeon and it’s worth in today’s scene. And today we have the last three surviving students, the final three graduates from Grampa Stu’s basement: Harry Smith, TJ Wilson & Natayla Neidhart on our active roster. Yes, there's an Elisabeth Fritzl joke in there somewhere.

     

    Now I don’t just talk to all Canadians, but to Harry Smith directly himself:

    Perhaps the biggest insult of all, is your blinkered and blinded view on the Hart Family Dungeon, and the fact that you disregard and disrespect any Canadian athlete who succeeds in this business, who ISN’T a product of Fuhrer Stu’s famed academy. And that’s the point.

     

    For every Canadian wrestler who busts their gut trying to make it and fails, you can bet your ass there’s a Hart, or part of their extensive family, willing and waiting just to pussyfoot into the next available generic tactical technician role in any number of backward wrestling promotions across the score. The list of wrestlers who have been buried as a direct result of having no connections with the Harts is vast and plentiful, but I’ll mention just a few:

     

    Sean Morley – better known to most people as ‘Val Venis’. A great and talented wrestler – but when it came down to it, he was lumbered a lousy, one trick-pony gimmick which amused fans for all of 1998 before it got tedious and later forgotten. Sean has my respect because he didn’t feel the need to play up his heritage. He never felt that it mattered what his nationality was, and therefore never made it a forefront of his persona. Had Sean trained under the tutelage of Stu Hart, I have no doubt we would never have seen Val Venis. I also believe Sean Morley would be a former World Champion, remembered for being a brilliant worker. But ultimately, on the downside, we would also have had the fact that he was Canadian shoved down our throats week-in, week-out, and the Harts taking all the glory of his success. Sean didn’t sell-out. As a result he was less successful in the squared circle, and walked away less well-off financially. But he did it as a matter of principle. He did things his way.

     

    But he’s not alone. There are more. Chris Jericho – the Liontamer. Y2J. One of the biggest personalities this business has ever seen – openly, and accurately dismissed his leg of training in the Dungeon as a waste of time – a rip-off in fact. No more than a tick-box fast track to pretentious, hollow success – a Fool’s Gold medal. I think there’s no coincidence that Jericho happens to be a larger-than-life, in-your-face, charismatic, loud and eccentric entertainer who saw the Hart Dungeon as a joke. Jericho is the ying to their yang. Jericho embodies everything that a Hart is not – individual. Unique. Funny. Compelling.

     

    I could go on – Lance Storm. Another son of Canadian wrestling lost in the void. And another who had nothing but a damning verdict on the actual legitimacy of Stu Hart’s Dungeon. A man who, I might add, now runs his own very successful wrestling training academy.

     

    Lance Storm – surely a guy you can sympathize with and relate too, Harry. A man with an abundance of talent, but no charisma. No character. A man who, if you were unfortunate enough to be stuck in a conversation with, would send you to sleep through the sheer boredom of his one-dimensional, robotic personality. A man who was stuck with a shitty gimmick, and although he had the ability to stand amongst World Champions, ultimately chose the dignified option of walking away himself before he became just another joke in the history of Canadian professional wrestling.

     

    I didn’t enrol in the Dungeon, not because I wasn’t talented enough, but because I was smart enough to see the Dungeon for what it truly was. Because I wanted to make it in my own right. To prove that to be the best you don’t just have to jump on the bandwagon of an institution that lives off its past reputation. I didn’t enrol at the Dungeon because I wanted to be my own man. I didn’t enrol at the Dungeon because this business does not need another star with the Sharpshooter as a finisher. I didn’t enrol at the Dungeon because Stu Hart is a senile dictator, too disillusioned by his own freakshow family and own sense of self-importance that he and his understudies have lost touch with modern wrestling. And I didn’t enrol at the Dungeon, because graduating from the Dungeon is not a gift, but a curse.

     

    Take a look. The evidence is there for all to see. I won’t mention names – we are all, regrettably, all too familiar with the events and tragedies that seem to emanate from Calgary, Alberta. (Surely the most evil place on the planet, it could be argued – Austrians take note).

     

    I have never denied my Canadian roots, but I will support and defend my American allegiance to the hills! But quite frankly, I’m not Joey Nebraska ‘the’ Canadian, neither I am Joey Nebraska ‘the’ American – I am simply Joey Nebraska ‘WRESTLER’! And my actions will speak louder and resonate around this industry for decades to come than any patriotic, borderline racist talk ever will. And perhaps that’s something the Hart Dynasty, and Canadian wrestling fans, need to take a long, hard look at.

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  • 5 months ago
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• The Ramblings of a Canadian Bu

  • From: The_New_Foundation
  • Description:

                

    
    Hey guys TJ here, just sitting in the locker room down here in Birmingham…what a night! I’m not gonna lie to any of you, it is quite surreal for DH, Nattie, and myself to be doing what we are doing right now.  You wouldn’t think that would be the case, what with Nattie and DH being second generation superstars here I the WWE.  David would be the first to tell you though, last week when we were standing tall in that ring with Shawn Michaels…I mean really no one thought that would ever happen.
    
    One thing I can tell you is what you saw tonight from David was real, he did not take kindly to what John had to say about Owen Hart.  You all know how sad a day it was when Owen lost his life, it really hit the family hard, as you could probably tell by the David’s reaction to it.  Looks like he will get to take some of that aggression out on Johnny boys ex-Canadian buddy on Smackdown, I can’t wait for that! Oh yeah, and he is gonna pull something out of his bag of tricks…nothing major, but what can I say the Hart family does it right!
    
    Being involved with one of the most iconic families in wrestling history is actually much tougher than you guys out there might think.  What you see on TV is great, but you wouldn’t believe the work we have to put in, earning respect around here is tough…it definitely doesn’t just come with a name.  Speaking of, I don’t want any emails from the fans asking if we are going to join Legacy. We got our hands full with that trio of B-list movie stars to deal with right now. 
    
    Man, I didn’t even have a match tonight and I am beat…the traveling from Tampa to New York, back to Tampa, and then to Birmingham alone has started to take its toll.  None the less, big things going on for The Hart Dynasty right now…you see my girl Natalya tonight, quite impressive out there isn’t she? Which reminds me, I definitely need to keep my tabs on her when Michael Shane is around, never know if he is gonna look for another locker room fling.  He is a good guy and all, well when he isn’t finger painting with blood at least.
    
    All in all it was a pretty good night…I think Nat, David, and myself are gonna meet up with some of the other guys for a drink or two. Doubt I for one will make it too much longer though, I think we are going to try to make a stop into some of our old stomping grounds down here in the south before we head to Tampa to make an FCW appearance.  Don’t worry though, we will keep the updates coming, giving the fans of the pink and black a glimpse into our worlds.  Feel free to email questions for any of us, and send us any pictures you may have taken if you were at any of the shows.  I can’t guarantee we will answer all of the emails, but we will try! Get at you guys soon…gotta run, Teddy is calling…usually never a good thing when he is calling this late.

  • Blog post
  • 5 months ago
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• VWWE 3.0: Come Back To What Yo

  • From: VWWE
  • Description:

    There's been a lot of talk over the past week about VWWE 3.0, what it's going to mean, a lot of hype, ideas thrown around... but what does it REALLY mean... and when you strip away all the bullshit, is it going to work, or am I selling you a dream that can never become reality?
    
    The VWWE Originals are becoming and ever rare bunch of people in the VWWE Universe, even those who remember the Monday Night Wars are starting to dwindle, the Monday Wars era is unknown by the majority of VWWE's members for possibly the first time ever.
    
    Here's the history
    
    VWWE was not originally a web E-Fed, it was designed for use with the now defunct WAP platform created in the very late 1990s, WAP being the original form of mobile Internet for cellphones. Cellphone Internet technology being in it's infancy meant that VWWE was a pioneer of sorts in the medium.. but also that shows and scenarios had to be very simple and very short for reading on the old green and black, low powered screens and devices.
    
    VWWE also luckily caught the WAP interest at just about the time the medium peaked, VWWE becoming a leader on the mobile Internet. It may seem amazing now, but VWWE once could have expected 24 hour posting in its chatroom, 1000s of hits every day and over 100 members using the chat. Within the community up to ten rival companies existed at once.
    
    It was a golden era.
    
    Those days are long gone. The mass usership has been replaced by higher production values, a fantastic (and genuinely award winning) website, long shows with excellent writing, more intelligent and experienced members, better posting in the chat.
    
    Yet the old VWWE crew often see something as "missing"
    
    While VWWEs production is at the highest peak its ever been... shows lag behind, there is often an "empty feeling", people become dissatisfied and the excitement that once ran through VWWE, except for a few months in 2008, died.
    
    Its sad to me that people such as Jon, Nath, Nathan and all VWWE's other members never experienced VWWE in full flight. That boom period last year? imagine that for two whole years. Imagine what we could achieve if we produced that boom period last year... at LENGTH, production values, site, shows and chat, all together.
    
    This morning I was excited, believed it was possible... by lunch time, doubt crept into my mind.
    
    Am I selling a dream, a fantasy, that I just cannot pull off? is this going to be another failure to tarnish a legacy?
    
    The honest answer is... I don't know.
    
    I'm not the man I was in 2002. The angry punk has given way to... whatever the hell you see now lol and the same can be said of VWWEs other originals.
    
    In a way, I feel like a band who had great success a few years ago and then a few years of mediocrity, maybe the odd hit... but is now getting ready for a comeback album (no Eminem comparisons please)... can we do it? can we possibly make a comeback and be as great as we once were?
    
    I would love to show so many of you guys what made that era so special, when we had two shows a week regularly, great atmosphere...
    
    And as concerned I am that this will fail... I will do my best to make it happen. I will sweat blood today to finish this list, this LONG list of tasks to do. I will give everything I have today and from now on to bring this fed back up.
    
    The rebranding was inspired by the likes of Batman Begins and Star Trek. What those movies did was strip away the bullshit and went back to what made the franchise great in the first place... and that's what we're going to do. VWWE isnt about these blogs, or about Twitter and videos - its about shows and a community. That's all it is.
    
    There will be no fourth chance, no 4.0. I go back to university in September, I know a lot of others will be going back as well, going to college etc... this maybe truly our last chance to make history.
    
    The movie Gladiator, my all time favorite, gave us a quote
    
    "What we do in life... echoes in eternity"
    
    I ask you to join with me as you have done so often, be inspired, be unified.. be creative and as fantastic as you always are. Join with me and the rest of VWWE in making new legacies, new moments and memories, in recreating the magic for 2009. Destiny awaits us all... and I ask you now, as Gladiator also said....
    
    To "Unleash hell"

  • Audio blog post
  • 6 months ago
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• The history goes way back...Th

  • From: The_New_Foundation
  • Description:
  • 6 months ago
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• Raw: Draft Special Review

  • From: VWWE
  • Description:

    The WWE draft is something that's sharply divided opinion but like with most things, I always like to take an objective view, look at things from all sides and draw mixed conclusions, the Raw draft is now different.
    
    The opening segment really held little interest for me, we've seen this before and it seemed a little flat. With the monotone Batista and uber-serious Triple H, it really didn't have a spark of life, I'd have much rather gone in with Mysterio vs Borne as a longer opening match, build the crowd up and given them the first big draft of the evening. Not a good start to the Show.. but it wasn't REALLY a disaster, 6/10.
    
    Rey Mysterio vs Evan Bourne. Everybody loved Bourne... and he has potential.. but.... to be honest I'm not feeling it. In ring ability is no guarantee of success, ask Shelton Benjamin, Bourne will also need to learn mat psychology and gain personality, he's rather generic in terms of look and isn't what WWE usually go for. With no cruiserweight division, where does he really fit in? could you really see Evan Bourne as WWE Champion? ... match was too short to amount to much, Rey won, which at this stage of Bourne's career was the correct decision. First draft MVP.
    
    MVP to Raw was a call I made in the run up to the Show and makes absolute sense. MVP is WAY over on SmackDown and needs to be moved to the next level, moving to Raw will do that without pushing him up as far as the main events. Equally, if he'd been pushed to the main event on SmackDown instead of on Raw, in my honest opinion it would mean far less. Raw has the bigger audience and the bigger appeal, its a higher accolade to be in that position on the red brand. I'm eagerly looking forward to MVP on Raw, though its hard to say who he'll feud with. I'm sure Matt Hardy will be in the mix as will Cody and Ted, though who else? maybe one of the later draftees such as Miz or anybody from the supplemental draft.
    
    Kane vs Brian Kendrick went as expected and I fear management has lost a lot of faith in Kendrick. Kendrick is in the same boat as Evan Bourne, talented in the extreme, with an actual personality this time.. but his size and style just do not allow him a chance. Send him to ECW possibly where the smaller guys seems to at least get decent airtime. If I was WWE, id reinstigate the CW title on that brand, make it one of the draws of it. Anyway, squash, Raw gets another pick.
    
    Big Show to Raw. This is called also... well.. I said either Edge or Big Show, with Vickie being on Raw it was obvious. This does bring a few new feuds - Big Show vs HBK? id LOVE to see that, HBK having a history with bigger men.. (that sounds gay lol), Big Show vs Batista, Orton, Triple H again, a good move.
    
    Orton's segments with Vickie = all kinds of great. I like how Orton basically doesn't care whether people are faces or heels, very Steve Austin.... now turn him face and keep it the same.
    
    Divas match - blah.
    
    Melina to SD, this did surprise me as Melina is one of Raw's better divas and of course the champion, sad to see her go :( to be honest, I don't see the point of the swap but more on that later.
    
    Cena vs Swagger: If WWE had the balls, Swagger would have gone over and become a major star in one event, just imagine the reaction had he beaten Cena? WWE have done it before like when Shelton Benjamin beat Triple H and it wouldn't have hurt Cena. In the end Cena went over but Swagger was allowed a lot of decent offense and looked good here, he wasn't buried and that's something. Trust, Swagger will be a star. A lot of people mention his lisp as a drawback, I disagree, I think its an asset, it gives opponents and crowds something easy to mock and is hardly crippling, like having one leg or something. Jack Swagger will be World Champion on day, etch it in stone, remember it, write it down. Match of the night certainly... and we get two picks for Raw.
    
    Matt Hardy: I call this one too lol, yup, expected, good move for Matt and I expect him straight into the US mix after his blow off with Jeff at Backlash
    
    Triple H: there was NOTHING shocking about this, I called it long ago. It was treated as a big deal as it should have been... but cummon guys, he's been on Raw all year lol. What does perturb me is the fact that we're back to a very familiar line up of Batista-Triple H-Orton-Cena-Michaels on Raw, it does feel like we've been here before and I have to ask what feuds there possibly is in that? the drafting of somebody like the Undertaker would have freshened everything up... but anyway, now Raw has two world titles again. Gee... I wonder what happened last time we had that scenario *que up horrific images of CM Punk pinning Edge*
    
    Santino/Khali = all kinds of greatness, even if Khali can barely keep a straight face during any of it. I do think there's potential for comedy in Khali as witnessed at last years draft with the telephone and a few other times since, this is defo the route they should take with him.
    
    Khali wins another squash, really just so SD gets a pick... and thank fucking God its Punk. I don't watch SD as religiously as Raw and often DVR it so I can just skip past him now lol, though it probably means Punk will be world champion soon to get a title on the brand... ugh.
    
    Can I also say at this point that Michael Cole was at his absolute worst during this Show, excruciatingly painful.
    
    Miz vs Kofi was a decent match... Kofi wins... and Miz goes to Raw.
    
    I have issues with what happened afterward, after so long of teaming.. Miz just turning on Morrison like that made little sense at all, no build up. The two should have gone their separate ways amicably or have been drafted together. Miz on his own is not going to be a star but at least Morrison gets a chance to shine again. Maybe he'll move in the supplemental.
    
    Next was the battle royal... and as I always say... I hate battle royals. They just seem so 1980's, there's no psychology or technical skill involved and seems a piss poor way to decide anything. This was always coming down to Edge and Big Show which made sense... Edge won two picks for SmackDown - blah, if you like battle royals I guess this was fine.
    
    Kane to SmackDown, not one of my pre-Show picks but I called it as soon as Big Show went to Raw. He's a perfect replacement for Show in the big man role. Kane is really the new Chris Ben**t in the fact that he gets swapped in every draft.
    
    Chris Jericho: To be honest... im a little sad at that as Jericho was a highlight on Raw over the past year but now he's new opponents and scenarios and I'm already thinking The Undertaker vs Jericho, I'd really like them to save that for WrestleMania however. Jericho has a lot more opportunity now with the thinner main event picture over on the blue brand, a good move for him.
    
    Shelton Benjamin vs Christian was a good match but again, not really enough time to make it special. I like both these guys and was hoping Christian would move to Raw to get in that US mix... not to be. Christian wins ECW a pick... and its Kozlov.
    
    Kozlov suits ECW, he's been buried a little recently so in ECW he can rebuild his reputation, squash some of the chaff like DJ Gabriel and build his way up. I can see Swagger losing to Christian maybe, Christian to Kozlov and the Kozlov vs Dreamer at Extreme Rules, the underdog story for Dreamer, something like that anyway. Good move for Kozlov.
    
    CM Punk vs Matt Hardy: Decent match again, nothing offensive here as you'd expect... Jeff's run in was good and I got a sense that CM Punk may bring it up with Jeff on SmackDown. Punk desperately needs to turn heel, he's MADE to be a heel, he was awesome as a heel in ROH... so whys he a damn face ffs. Have him beat the shit out of Jeff on SD please WWE :) I expect to see TLC at Backlash as the blowoff, Jeff getting the win. Anyway, Matt wins by DQ, giving Raw the win... and....
    
    Maryse to Raw. Obvious but ugh. Frankly I cant stand Maryse and swapping her for Melina = no buys.
    
    Jericho's out next... followed by Dreamer... which means SmackDown will win lol... and sure enough, Dreamer got some offense which is some consolation, but Jericho wins... and.... Rey Mysterio to SmackDown. Another of my calls, it became a lock when MVP went to Raw. And to the person who said "That's not very likely Mick, he was drafted in 2008" ... fuck off :)
    
    Draft makes sense, Rey will re add the Hispanic audience to SmackDown and frankly, he should never have left in the first place.
    
    And that's your lot. What let it down was the fact that the last draft was not last on the show and wasn't a huge name this year so it wasn't as exciting. Had the last draft been Triple H and been the last act of the Show... that would probably have left the audience with a better taste from those who disliked it.
    
    Anyway, still the Legacy shenanigans to come... and whadda ya know, Legacy lose again.
    
    Cody and Ted losing is becoming a farce, are they serious henchmen or jobbers? as they never win a match, why is Orton hanging with them? just what exactly to Cody Rhodes and Ted Dibiase offer to Randy Orton? an no, beating up the Colons doesn't count. Rhodes and Dibiase need to get their heat back, they've lost match after match recently are have zero credibility to me at the moment.
    
    The Batista/Shane/Trips uneasy alliance is a nice and interesting aspect but I think Batista needs to directly address the fact he'll be defending Triple H's WWE title. Why not have Vickie add a stip whereby if Batista wins at Backlash... HE will become Champion?
    
    Anyway, Orton vs Triple H next week? well lets hope its better than WrestleMania.

  • Blog post
  • 7 months ago
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• Characters Welcome

  • From: VWWE
  • Description:

    There were a few posts today in the chat about what makes a good created character and I've a few views on this that I've brought up in the past in creative meetings. Good characterization and character development is one of the key facets of good drama and good television and as owner and head writer, I probably have a good perspective on this... so here goes, my two cents.
    
    When VWWE started (as VWWF) it was very simple and very basic, plot depth was virtually none existent, same with characterization. What we basically looked for back then was somebody exciting, with something to say and a cool name, which was still far more than our rivals looked for who basically hired anybody, no matter how absurd. A wrestling monkey for instance.
    
    Out of these days came VWWE characters such as Silent Assassin, Mr Showtime, Sphere and Nightmare and while Nightmare has evolved through the years, technical master to Ric Flairs protege to wrestling obsessed franchise ala Triple H and latterly the veteran of VWWE, some of those other characters did not. Mr Showtime has forever been "like RVD/Y2J" and that's the sum extent of his character and background.
    
    One character that would never find a home in the VWWE of 2009 is Silent Assassin, one of the two characters I'll be using for this blog as two ends of a single spectrum. SA debuted in that simple world of 2002 and had little characterization. He had no history, his look was taken from Spike out of Buffy the Vampire slayer and personality laying like a cross between Sting and William Regal. Never was any of this explained and worst of all was that he was allowed to put himself over in promos and actions against his opponents with now giving back. Sadly, this was somewhat atypical in those days.
    
    But lets look at each aspect and compare it with a modern created character - Michael Shane. I've picked simply because I know most about him and frankly, he's brilliant. History, look/moves, character development.
    
    SA never had any history, like so many characters, he just seemingly arrived in FWC like magic. We knew he was English.. but that was it. No background. Later when he was in VWWE we managed, under protest from Jon (his handler, not OUR Jon), to construct a history where he'd started out in the Allstar Promotions in the UK in the 80's alongside the likes of Finlay and Regal and moved to the States when the NWA were looking for their answer to the WWF's British Bulldogs. Assassin then went to the WWF, WCW etc etc, I'm not reciting it all lol, but now he HAD a history, he had events that shaped him. It wasn't perfect, but it was better than nothing. Look was never expanded on, he looked the same and wore the same stuff for 5 years and kept the same moves. Character development.... well that's difficult because I'm tempted to say fuck all. SA saw himself as top dog and always wanted to be it, he did NOT put people over or show ass, I really cannot honestly think how he changed a single bit in 5 years.
    
    Characters don't need prearranged targets of where they're going to go as a character or a big master plan. What the need is the room for them to develop, they need places to potentially go.
    
    Michael Shane was a character that was developed in the space between the "old VWWE" and the "new VWWE" in mid-2005 just before our comeback and I think he was genuinely one of the first characters that was thought about as WWE would think about a character. In the era of James Steele, John Cupbord and Michael Steven Northmore, he was a new thing. After that we saw great characters such as Ryan Simmons, Primal, Adan Reyes, Joey Nebraska and the new Suffering, plus the all new generation of Assassin and Sergio Griffon.
    
    WWE always say that the best characters are the ones who are en extension of the real personality behind the character such as John Cena, Steve Austin, Badass Undertaker, The Rock, MVP, exaggerated forms of reality. Shane is no different, he is Mick in exaggerated form... some may even say not too exaggerated. He even started as a Republican and became a Democrat lol
    
    Arrogant to the point of being obnoxious but deeply respectful of the business, he loves wrestling but loves being controversial. He loves being the center of attention and is clearly a genius. He knows it. Snappy dresser, ladies man. Sadistic streak.
    
    That's a basic MO... then around that, you can fit a look. Would that gimmick and attitude fit a 7 foot Indian? no. It suits a smaller man, a good looking man, somebody akin to Chris Jericho, Shawn Michaels or John Morrison. Again, his look is inspired by myself, long hair, unshaven.
    
    Once you have a look, you have a move set. Again, power moves would never have suited... so why would he do them? the times ive seen requests that 7 footers do Luchadore moves or cruiserweights use Powerbombs etc is countless. Also, get a WELL ROUNDED move set, don't fill it with finishers.
    
    In the beginning, Shane was far more influenced by Lucha-Libre than today where the Ric Flair influence is more paramount. I was a big fan at that point and it was about 6 or so months before Eddie passed, he was massive at the time and I was a huge Eddie mark. The moveset was heavily influenced by Eddie and HBK so from Eddie came the Mexican influence and the suggestion he'd worked in Mexico, been trained by Gory, the Gory Bomb finisher.
    
    Once you have all that, you've a character, a history can be created from what you have by answering questions - whys he arrogant, what reason? whys he have the lucha moves? whys he get into wrestling?
    
    Also, id suggest giving him backstage gimmicks. Shane, being an arrogant prick, was also said to be trouble backstage in those days... shitting in bags and taking drugs etc (now in 2009, long gone as he's grown up and is respected by his peers, having won that over the past 4 years). So on day one you have this drug taking prick who was arrogant... but he was hugely talented and had great potential, he'd been trained in Mexico and had friends high in WWE with the likes of HBK. He was a rebel and potentially trouble... but also potentially a future legend. Which way would he go? giving him the arrogance and the drug abuse, these are character flaws that are ESSENTIAL. SA never had a single flw, he m,ay as well have been an automation. Theres no need to make a character a failure or a loser, but having a few things in a characters life that are wrong or they're not proud of makes them human.
    
    Now... this is the key thing for me - character development, both in terms of gimmick and emotion.
    
    Shane started off there and started in the tag division, he developed from being a tag team wrestler into the singles star. He grew in confidence and stature, bringing in the whole hip-hop styling with the new Kanye West theme and attitude, being a bit of a playboy, obsessed with money and women. But that started to get old and he rediscovered his love of wrestling during his feud with Flair. It was really this feud that marked a change again. Shane started to "grow up" around WrestleMania 24. He became serious in his wrestling talent and desire to win championships, his feud with Flair led to the New Generation attitude, the hip-hop styling's starting to vanish as he found Ashley and became a one women man. The controversial nature of their relationship with the "Rated R" segments later becoming a genuine relationship between the characters, developing over time. In 2009, Shane had his belief in wrestling tested with the Suffering incident and will have his relationship with Ashley tested. Two weeks ago there was the darker Shane in the black with the leather jacket, this we'll see again, this is the consequence of the actions and scenarios he's been put in. His mental state one that's depressed, bitter and angry. It wouldn't work if he remained an arrogant pretty boy. Its the exact same principle WWE used for Triple H after Orton RKOd Stephanie, if Trips had feuded with Randy with his DX joker gimmick.. then would truly have been no buys.
    
    A lot of where Shane had been and gone does come from myself and I really cant urge enough people to do likewise, insert yourself into the characters, change them as you change and grow. If you're a Goth... make a gothic character, emo? go emo. If you're a chav, create Ryan Simmons lol.
    
    Characters need to develop and change to stop becoming stale, they need their beliefs tested as Shane has had his belief in wrestling tested and will have his relationships tested. These tests of character create drama and emotional growth, they allow the character to develop from one thing to another and become more multi-faceted and deep.
    
    Three dimensional characters are what VWWE requires and in fact expects in 2009 and I think we have, the likes of Suffering, Joey Nebraska and Ryan Simmons have developed just as well and have just as deep histories, they are a world away from the likes of Plinny, Kohl and AWO that graced feds in 2002 when we started. In 2009 I think the majority of VWWE understand the fact that VWWE is about far more than winning and losing - its about the show. We all pull together to make a great show each week for each others enjoyment, we write promos for others to enjoy and collectively make absolute greatness. If we win... that's awesome, the titles being the highest achievement and also a fantastic feeling to win... but VWWE is so much more. Now in 2009 I think many realize that telling a story is what this game is really all about.... juts like with the WWE Superstars our job is to entertain, to tell a story. And nobody tells a story quite like VWWE :D

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  • 7 months ago
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• WrestleMania Memories

  • From: VWWE
  • Description:

    As I take a (well deserved) break from writing Raw, I thought I'd blog on WWE matters and what else could I possibly talk about other than WrestleMania?
    
    I'm going to do two pieces, one on my personal memories of WrestleMania (that's this one), and secondly, my predictions and hopes for this years event.
    
    In the beginning... Vince created WrestleMania.
    
    WrestleMania at the beginning really wasn't seen as "the Superbowl of professional wrestling", it really wasn't as grand as all that. The NWA had already promoted their Starrcade supercards and WWE had produced Showdown at Shea, make no mistake, WrestleMania was the answer to Starrcade.
    
    Vince McMahon is the kind of man, much like myself lol, who has to do everything bigger, better and badder than the opposition. Vince will have looked at Starrcade and thought - how can we blow that out of the water. At this time Vince was at the forefront of new innovation and technology, something WWE is NOT in 2009. Vince looked at cable and MTV in particular, he looked at the 1980's political landscape and gave us Hogan, Volkoff etc... he looked to pay-per-view.
    
    PPV was the single invention that changed wrestling forever, talking it out of local arenas and barns and into the front room, the revenue allowed companies to suddenly become major TV players and increase production values and wages tenfold. People like Hulk Hogan became mainstream celebrities, all from this one event. Vince apparently figuratively stakes the family jewels on this being a success... and it was. The celebrity endorsement brought in new fans and exposure and WrestleMania, in one night, made the WWF the hottest thing in America, burying the NWA in the process.
    
    My first WrestleMania was apparently WrestleMania III though I remember nothing of it. My father was allegedly something of a fan in the 1980's and literally everybody watched WrestleMania 3, I was allowed to stay up for it. Even though I don't remember it, maybe it left a subconscious memory that led me to VWWE some 15 years later lol. What follows next is my own memories of the events I saw live at the time. Many of these I, in truth, haven't watched fully again since then, so I'm just remembering off the top of my head what I can (I nearly forgot the ladder match at WM16 for one lol, so sorry if I miss anything really important out)
    
    My first actual memory of a WrestleMania is WrestleMania IX at Caesars Palace with those absurd toga costumes. All I remember remembering is how much Hulk Hogan sucked and at that time I'd wished Bret Hart had left with the title lol. In truth I probably still believe that, Hulk Hogan winning the title at WM9 being the moment Hogan Jumped the Shark in the WWF, it was one of the most shameful power plays ever seen. Bret should have left WM9 as champion and although it didn't hurt his career, it could easily have done.
    
    WrestleMania X I remember a lot more, by this point I was watching the WWF regularly with the likes of Shawn Michaels, Diesel, Razor Ramon etc being my favorites (even Bret Hart). WrestleMania X is still one of my favorite PPV's and one of the best ever WrestleMania's with Owen Hart going over Bret and the infamous Ladder Match. This was imo the PPV where the New Generation really came into their own. The main event, like last year and next year was forgettable however - Bret vs Yokozuna and I don't think imo that WrestleMania had really reached its "Superbowl" status yet and wouldn't for a long time.
    
    WrestleMania XI and the involvement of Lawrence Taylor I remember, funnily it's really only the celebrities I remembered from this PPV, Pamala Anderson of course being there with Jenny McCarthy. I didn't remember a thing about any of the matches which says everything about the quality of the show. This was a PPV where they tried to mask the lameness of the card with the celebs. Did it work? nope.
    
    WrestleMania 12 was the Ironman match and of course the Warrior vs Helmsley, losing in 12 seconds which is hilarious now... but I was pissed back then. Not for Helmsley who I hated but if there was one person I hated more it was the Warrior. I was a total New Generation freak at the time and ANYBODY who I saw as being from the 80's I hated - Hogan, Warrior, Slaughter. An Ultimate Warrior return filled me with dread, luckily it didn't last. I haven't seen the Ironman match in ages but it's always been one of my favorite matches.. yet thinking back to it, I really think HBK has had better matches since. Id certainly rather watch his Flair match or Jericho matches. Maybe I've just forgotten how great it was, I'll have to rewatch sometime.
    
    WrestleMania 13 came at a time I was becoming exasperated, for want of another word, with the WWF. I'd been watching WCW a lot in the latter half of 1996 and it was on fire, the WWF was in transition but mostly lame and WrestleMania 13 didn't buck the trend. I remember little of it and haven't seen it since first broadcast I don't think. I really had little interest in it. The only match that stands out is Bret Hart vs Steve Austin... and i'm gunna leave my thoughts on that for my 1997 history blogs lol.
    
    What a difference a year made... WrestleMania 14 and it could have been a whole different company. This was the "official" start of attitude with Tyson, Austin and Michaels being so memorable. Throughout that match it really felt like the end of an era but HBK was in such visible pain its still amazing they had the match they did. The final punch by Tyson and the 3:16 T-Shirt over the face were absolute perfect. There was much more to this PPV though, the DX Band murdering America the Beautiful was perfect for this era, LOD and Sunny was great, the dumpster match... great PPV and at this point, my favorite of them all.
    
    A year later and the WWF was now trouncing WCW... but in my own opinion, WrestleMania 15 wasn't as memorable as the year befores and all that stands out is the very poor Hell in a Cell match and the main event. The HIAC really was a snooze fest from a feud undeserving of the stipulation, it seemed tacked on and there simply to build on the reputation of the Taker/Mankind HIAC. The main event however was, like last year, genuinely the best two guys in the company and the hottest acts in wrestling. The right result with Austin again being champion led to the main event for the second year in a row being particularly memorable.
    
    WrestleMania 2000, XVI, 16, whatever you call it... it was shoite. Possibly the biggest disappointment in WrestleMania history for me, WrestleMania 16 should have been so much more. With the roster they had, the total domination... they decided for some reason to simply stick as many people as they could on the card. I'm struggling to remember much about the event, its another I haven't seen in a long time despite buying the DVD a few weeks back. Ice T I remember of course and there was the Angle/Benoit/Jericho match that was very good but could have been more. Plans I've always presumed originally featured the Undertaker who'd been scheduled to return at the 2000 Royal Rumble but in the end they had the four way that was excellent all told. Mick Foley's return however was lame and he should never have been in the match. Mick's career ending so close to WrestleMania was a perfect tragic ending to a career, it told a story. Coming back for this one match ruined that and would only have worked had Mick won the title for the fairytale ending. In the end we broke with tradition and Triple H won when many were expecting the Rock to do so. The ONLY great thing on the show as the triple threat ladder match, that's all that saved this card from being a disaster. That alone and the fact that all the matches, while not stellar, were good ranks it over WM15. Not my favorite event though....
    
    But the next one was.
    
    WrestleMania 17 from the Houston Astrodome was simply the greatest night in the history of wrestling, I'll not hear otherwise. This show was the final act in the attitude era, the last hurrah before the onset of a dark period. From top to bottom the card was utter quality. I remember watching this one live with some mates from college as everybody was still into wrestling at this point, something unthinkable just a year later. This night for me personally was the peak of wrestling's popularity even though ratings had already started to fall, but in terms of quality, passion from the fans, productions, talent, everything on this night was aligned.
    
    We had the TLC match, the gimmick battle royal, that awesome Limp Bizkit theme song, Undertaker and Triple H, the great garage brawl with Kane, Show and Raven, Angle and Benoit.
    
    McMahon vs McMahon for me at the time was just absolutely brilliant, it had been built perfectly with Shane buying WCW and on the night it was amazing storytelling with Linda rising up and kicking Vince in the balls, Shane going coast to coast - it was a fine start to the Alliance feud that sadly never lived up to these heights.
    
    The match of the evening however was Austin vs The Rock and frankly, this was one of the best built matches of all time. Austin and The Roc in the run up to this contest put in some of their finest ever performances, from Austin's NEED to be champion to the Rocks quest to actually win the belt from Kurt Angle, it was all brilliant and on the night they gave us one of the greatest WrestleMania main events ever. I loved them stealing each others finishers lol, you never seen that these days.... but the finish was what always made this special. I knew very little of backstage happenings at this point so it was a complete shock, Austin turning heel was the greatest swerve of all time, that image of Austin shaking hands with McMahon was one of the great pictures in wrestling history, played perfectly by JR and Paul Heyman. As much as I'd loved King, this event wouldn't have been quite as good without Heyman imo. It was a perfect end to a perfect show. The greatest WrestleMania of em all.
    
    For me, WrestleMania 17 was the moment that WrestleMania became WWE's answer to the Superbowl. Unlike other recent Manias, the crowd was huge, over 70,000, I cant remember the exact number. Every match on the card was fantastically built and a huge collision, the performances were off the chat as was the production. WrestleMania 17 heralded a new dawn for WrestleMania.
    
    WrestleMania 18 the year after was the first of the VWWE era, for many of our younger members, that must seem an age ago lol. The problem with WrestleMania 18 is that it followed 17 and could never live up to the previous years event despite the fact that WWE followed exactly the same formula almost. There was the big arena and crowd, the massive set, a live band... the problem? the matches.
    
    I'm as big a Chris Jericho fan as anybody but the decision to put the belt on Jericho at Vengeance in December 2001 was one of the biggest mistakes in WWE history. Following what happened at WrestleMania 17, the logical and poetic finale to the year 2001 was The Rock vs Steve Austin for the Undisputed Championship with The Rock winning and avenging his loss at WM17, possibly going on to WM18 to face Triple H. However... WWE threw us a swerve and had Jericho win and the had him hook up with Stephanie McMahon. In just a year WWE had gone from some of the greatest TV ever seen... to shoite. Jericho was a poor champion, a weak champion.. and there was never any doubt in anybodys mind that Triple H would roll over him at WM. That said, Triple H's return at the Rumble had been awesome.. but the whole fake pregnancy? not so. And Steph really looks a slut at this point as a side note lol.
    
    Steve Austin was completely wasted on this show and I've never understood why. From being the biggest draw in wrestling just 6 months previously, Austin was reduced to facing Scott Hall (no disrespect to him) in an undercard match... why? Personally, I'd have gone for - Nash and Hall challenge for the tag titles, Hogan faces The Rock, Austin faces Triple H, Undertaker faces Ric Flair. THAT would have been a challenger to WrestleMania 17.
    
    But the show wasn't a complete disaster, The Rock and Hulk Hogan was as well built as Austin/Rock had been the year previously. Who can forget "Yes.... or no?", one of the great promos of the decade? the match was absolutely electric, a magnificent example of psychology and working a crowd. This was the final answer to the idiots who believe that the likes of American Dragon have what it takes to be stars. These two men held the crowd in their palm and, frankly, out of an average match in the ring, gave us an ICONIC match through the manipulation of the crowd and the audience. The told a story and THAT is what this business is all about.
    
    Often forgotten on the card tragically is the Undertaker vs Ric Flair. Another fantastically built match, I LOVED this heel Undertaker, demanding respect and taking it if he didn't get it. Taker was awesome in the run up to this match with his beat down of David Flair for example. The match is a great street fight, another example of great storytelling but in truth, also the best actual match on the card. I MARKED for the run-in of Arn Anderson in the match, that was a WrestleMania moment for me.
    
    The main event as I mentioned... was crap. The crowd burned themselves out with Hogan/Rock which should have main evented, but besides that.. it just wasn't a good match. I never believed Jericho stood a change and frankly... his ring attire was vile. This match really marked a MASSIVE downturn in the quality of the main events in WWE for about the next six months. We had the atrocious Triple H/Hogan and Hogan/Undertaker in the moths that followed and ratings plummeted.
    
    Over all.. a letdown of a WrestleMania, but maybe not as bad as many people remember.
    
    WrestleMania XIX the year later was a return to form and a big improvement all round. WWE once again were following that formula of the past two events - big arena, live music, even Limp Bizkit returned this time.
    
    Matt Hardy vs Rey Mysterio started us off if I remember and it was a great opening match, Limp Bizkit played Taker to the ring.. Fred Durst looking an absolute midget next to Taker.
    
    This was the first WWE branded PPV and the first with the two titles. The WWE Championship match was poorly and offensively built with a vaguely racist Angle built around Triple H and Booker T which I thought was beneath Triple H and Ric Flair and even if they'd gone there, Booker T had to win the blow off... which of course he didn't. This match really held little interest for me or anybody else as I remember, there were three other matches on the card of prime importance - Michaels vs Jericho, Lesnar vs Angle and Hogan vs McMahon.
    
    There was always a sense in the early days of HBK's return, as far up to this match at WM19 that we should expect too much from him, his back could give out at any moment and going into the event, although we expected a good match, we didn't think it'd be a classic as this was. This was the moment we realized "Michaels is truly back" The ending where Jericho kicked him in the balls was great storytelling again and really got Jericho over as a heel at that point.
    
    Lesnar vs Angle was a match where Lesnar had to step up, it was make or break for him. Luckily he and Angle had a great match but what everybody talks about is that final moment where Lesnar was supposed to win with the Shooting Star Press and botched it. There was complete shock both in chat and the arena, a moment of silence where the whole world thought "he's dead". Luckily he wasn't and recovered enough, Angle has the intelligence to work a finish on the fly and all was well, but that was nearly the worst possible moment in WrestleMania history.
    
    The big match promoted here however was McMahon vs Hogan, twenty years in the making. In one way, it would have been cool had they held this off to WM20 but as it was this was built fantastically with a lot of great promos from both Hogan and McMahon on who was really responsible for the success of WrestleMania. In WWE, few people really are as good at this type of street fight as Vince McMahon, he's really pretty much mastered it over the years. The ladder and bloody Vince with the pipe were both great moments but the return of Roddy Piper was just brilliant. Very similarly booked to Undertaker vs Flair the year before in many ways.
    
    One year later and the WWE was really up shit creek. Raw had been poor, SmackDown had descended into shit central and VWWE was closed nearly, my own interest in WWE was dwindling a little, one of the few saving graces WrestleMania XX on the horizon from the iconic Madison Square Garden.... but WWE really dropped the ball here. WrestleMania 20 should have been the greatest card of all time, yet like at WrestleMania 16 WWE decided to simply cram the card with as many people as possible. There were a few saving graces going in - Evolution vs Rock/Sock, Angle vs Eddie, The Triple Threat and Christian vs Jericho.
    
    Christian vs Chris Jericho had been one of WWE's better booked programs going into the event with Christian playing the Creepy Little Bastard to perfection, perving after Trish Stratus. It was an excellent match with a great swerve finish with Trish turning on Jericho... and watch this space for VWWE ripping that Angle off soon enough :)
    
    The Rock and Sock Connection vs Evolution was a match that let me down on a lot of levels and I know many in VWWE were angry about the match and in particular by the performance of The Rock and Mick Foley that was just not up to standard. A lot of backlash went against The Rock after this in some quarters while Mick salvaged a lot with his excellent match against Orton at Backlash. However, watching iMPACT this week and Mick's words about WrestleMania... fuck him. And talking of TNA wastes... Kurt Angle. In seriousness, Angle and Eddie were on top of their games at this point, it was the height of both men's careers and after the euphoria of Eddie Guerrero winning the title at No Way Out, I think a lot was expected of this match... and for me... it failed to deliver. The match was excellent and certainly one of the best on the card... but it wasn't quite the 5 star match we were expecting and it was something of a letdown as well. After 5 hours almost, I was tired and exhausted by the main event but what happened next certainly kept me awake.
    
    The triple threat WAS a 5/5 star match. I remember the early talk in the locker was about how awesome Triple H's combination of white boots and black trunks was... which gives you an idea how "Queer Eye" Sam was back in those days lol. The match was another masterclass and an answer to the critics who'd been out in force for Triple H for well over a year. What happened after the match however is something that has changed since then. When Eddie came out to congratulate Chris Benoit in 2004, it was a poetic finale to the show, the two friends who were like brothers after all these years, champions together at last. Now it's a symbol of tragedy, the two friends locked together by a fateful future. What was once the most joyous end to a WrestleMania, is now the saddest.
    
    WrestleMania 21 had a theme - Hollywood, despite not actually being held in Hollywood. The commercials for this WrestleMania were probably the best thing about it with the "You lookin a me" one actually helping to build up Batista's character at the time I think. My personnel favorite was Austin's Gladiator one, being a big fan of that film but the Braveheart one with Flair falling off the donkey was hilarious. The event itself really marked the beginning of a new generation in WWE with Randy Orton, John Cena and Batista all in prominent singles matches for the first time.
    
    The build before the show was all about Batista, it had been going on for about six months and was the best turn WWE probably ever did. It was so subtle and Batista and Triple H played it to perfection, each week Tista got a little bit further away from Evolution. When he finally turned and powerbombed Triple H through that table, a viewing audience cheered in unison. It really seemed that Batista was the next big thing at this point, everybody was behind him. Unfortunately after his 3-0 winning streak over Triple H he got sent to SmackDown and was found out very quickly, he never reached these heights again which says a lot about Triple H's fantastic ability and is the final word to people who believe Helmsley wont do what's right for the business.
    
    Batista's victory was met with a massive response.. but on the undercard, Cena's wasn't. At this time Cena was over as a face, not to Batista's level at that time but certainly over. His win over JBL was more expected I think, the program was nowhere near as good, the crowd were bored of JBL as champion, the match was atrocious for a World title match at WrestleMania and Cole completely, as usual, failed to get the moment and its significance across. The Cena era started with a whimper.
    
    Elsewhere on the card Undertaker downed Randy Orton in a great match that's started their excellent feud and Shawn Michaels faced Kurt Angle in the match of the night, Shawn against stealing the show. To be honest though, I cant remember off the top of my head who won here, I'm pretty certain it was Angle but I wouldn't bet on it. I could go and look it up on Wiki... but I'll leave it lol.
    
    WrestleMania 21 marked a move back away from the big arenas that had made WrestleMania's 17 to 19 so great, 20 being excepted due to it being MSG and WrestleMania 21 to me always seems far smaller and less grand than many other manias, even WrestleMania 22 which was at just a small arena.
    
    WrestleMania 22 marked WWE with the Cena era in full swing and again, this isn't one of my favorite WrestleMania's. The Edge vs Mick Foley match was the highlight and an excellent match as Mick always manages in that environment, nothing less was expected. There were some great touches with the barbed wire, fire and Lita and it probably stole the show. However, there was some crap here too - the Boogeyman's involvement, Undertaker being landed with Mark Henry, Rey Mysterio winning the World title. Cena vs Triple H was excellent and I remember everybody was rooting for Triple H, having turned on Cena in the proceeding year... yet Cena won. Shawn Michaels vs Vince McMahon was another excellent match.. yet with two street fights on the card, it may have been overbooking in retrospect. Though the elbow off the ladder onto the trash canned Vince = WrestleMania moment. At the time I was caught in the atmosphere of WrestleMania and the good points outweighed the bad... but in retrospect, this was an average WrestleMania I'm sad to now say. The theme song rawked though, it was also the first web era WrestleMania for VWWE.
    
    WrestleMania 23 felt somewhat different to WrestleMania 22 to me, it was nearer WrestleMania's 17 -19 in terms of scale. WWE went back to the big arenas for it and the build up was brilliant. I've always put over the three months of Raw prior to WrestleMania 23 as some of the best Raw's ever and I still think that. With Cena, Orton, Edge and Michaels, the four of them gave us great match after great match in the build to Mania that year, coupling that with The Donald and you already had a great lineup and in truth, I was a little disappointed when Orton and Edge were put in the MITB as I thought they deserved to be in singles action after their awesome performances.
    
    Undertaker vs Batista was again, very well built on SmackDown.. even if nobody believed for a moment Batista stood a chance. Undertaker winning the title was an added bonus. Much of the build however surrounded that hair vs hair match. The less said about Bobby Lashley the better but the match was decent enough, an enjoyable clusterfuck and the crowd got what they wanted with Vince being shaved, a nice added epilogue to the McMahon/Austin feud.
    
    Much like WrestleMania 22 the main event featured John Cena, as a face, squaring off against a man who most people wanted to beat him, this time Shawn Michaels. Original plan seemed to be Triple H vs John Cena again but Helmsley of course got injured. This was really the best opportunity WWE had to put the belt on Michaels at a time most fans believed he deserved it, a lot of people thought he'd win... but no. Excellent match however and the trend of great main events continued. WrestleMania 23 was overall an excellent PPV... the feel and format of which WWE's again followed last year at WrestleMania 24 and again tonight for WrestleMania 25.
    
    WrestleMania 24 is probably my favorite WrestleMania since WrestleMania 17. The outdoors nature gave it a unique look and the set looked absolutely awesome as well. Those great images of the pyro,  a lot of the entrances couldn't have been done indoors. A decent opener from Finlay and JBL, nothing spectacular but it warmed the crowd up. The MITB, which I haven't mentioned at all this blog, was fucking amazing. Remember that Morrison bump? and Kennedy with the Green Bay Plunge to Hornswoggle? Batista vs Umaga = passable and Kane defeating Chavo, while disrespectful possibly to Chavo... was funny as hell.
    
    But now it was down to serious business - namely Ric Flair vs Shawn Michaels. When thinking of my favorite match of all time... I can't think of anything better than this. Is it either mans best match? no. Was it the best ACTUAL wrestling match of 2008? no. Was it probably the best wrestling match of the decade? oh yes. This was about spectacle, about that storytelling and that psychology. That image of Ric Flair getting up, begging Michaels to finish it and Shawn telling Ric he loved him before pulling the trigger was THEE most memorable moment in the history of WrestleMania for me personally. For most its probably Hogan slamming Andre or some huge moment... this was so different. Subtle almost, quiet.. but just as emotional. It was the death of a career and an era, Michaels and Flair told the perfect story, the perfect ending to a perfect career and no true wrestling fan can have watched that without a mix of emotions. Delight that Flair had gone out in such style, sadness that it was all over and so much more. A rollercoaster and in my humble opinion, the greatest 30 minutes in WrestleMania history and why these two men are and were peerless in this industry.
    
    The Triple Threat was excellent and somewhat unexpected as I think many believed Orton would lose the title, The Undertaker and Edge giving us a hell of a main event, definitely deserving of the spot after Taker got bumped last year, winning the title for the second year in a row.
    
    Like WrestleMania 23, much of the hype and advertising centered on the celebrity involvement - this year being Floyd Mayweather Jnr. I'd always been a fan of Floyd, getting even bigger when he beat the crap out of the annoying Ricky Hatton. Mayweather and Big Show were excellent in the run up to the event I thought, building it like they would a boxing contest. Celebrities either "get" it.. or they don't, Pete Rose for example "got it" as did Kevin Federline and Mike Tyson all those years ago, while other celebrities remain aloof backstage and believe they're above the business. Mayweather luckily "got it" and was said to be very willing to learn and very sociable. Mayweather totally performed above my expectations and his match may actually be my favorite celebrity match of them all.
    
    So... there ya go, my memories of WrestleMania. I expect WrestleMania 25 will follow the format of the past two years and I think we've seen that already - big arena, big set, celebrity, big matches, well built. The event is fitting into a predefined template almost and now at the 25th anniversary, is truly... the Superbowl of Wrestling.

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  • 7 months ago
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• WWF History: January 13, 1997

  • From: VWWE
  • Description:

    Welcome back to my review of WWE history which started last week on January 6, 1997. I wount recap any of that... you can read it below :)
    
    We are now however just one week away from the Royal Rumble so this is the go home show. In the world outside wrestling, the past week we saw the TV debut of King of the Hill, the box office hits were The Relic... which i mentioned last week, still haven't seen if it was any good or not, Scream and Jerry McGuire still being big. For a quick link to 2009, Bruce Springsteen also sang an awesome song on the soundtrack to Jerry McGuire as he did The Wrestler called Secret Garden. An awesome song. Your billboard number one was still Unbreak My Heart while in the UK... no change either, still the Spice Girls and 2 become 1.
    
    Random fact for January 97.. the biggest selling video game in the US was Super Mario 64 while the SNES was still shifting units, Donkey Kong Country 2 one of the top games in the charts.
    
    On with the show.
    
    We start with a recap from last week of Sycho Sids attack on Jose Lotharios son last week and a look at Superstars where Stone Cold attacked Bret Hart, apparently Shawn will join us live from San Antonio. Not much of a preview but as we kick off the show Hunter Herst Helmsley is entering the ring... his theme rawked :D
    
    Honky Tonk Man is on commentary, still looking for a protege.... sigh. Like it was ever gunna be Triple H lol (the business would have been quite different if it had been) his opponent will be Marc Mero. Sable gets the pop. She didn't look as slutty in these early days lol.
    
    We now notice that Jerry Lawler is prepped to fight at ringside. There's no explanation for this but it appears this is in fact a tag match as Goldusts coming out (no pun intended). So our match is in fact Jerry Lawler and Helmsley vs Goldust and Marc Mero. Its quite shocking this isn't made clear by Vince on commentary to be honest.
     
    Goldust pairs off with Trips, Lawler with Mero and the faces clean house, King telling the crowd to shut up. Honkey is decent on color commentary, i'm surprised he was never offered a perminant spot. Vince plugs Shawn being live from San Antonio and tonights matches - Undertaker vs Crush (that'll draw...) and somebody called Rocky Maivia versus The British Bulldog.
    
    "Shades of Sugar Ray Leonard" - Vince on Marc Mero. That's almost Michael Cole like lol
    
    I actually liked Mero in his early WCW days as Johnny B. Badd, the Mero character i always found bland and colorless, it was only Sable that kept him employed so long. Vince plugs whats coming up once more and this is one of the problems i have with the commentary on this show and last weeks, Vince, King and now Honky don't talk about the action in the ring half as much as they should do. They're either off topic, talking about whats coming or recapping whats been. Its fantastic watching the early days of Triple H, there's no way i'd believe this man would in 2009 be giving performances like he has been doing alongside Randy orton or become as successful as he has been. Just think thouigh, this was 12 years ago... just imagine how good Randy Orton will be in 12 years? its a staggering thought.
    
    Commercials. So far... i'd have turned to Nitro. This is a poor match to kick off Raw with. Nitro always started their show usually with a lucha match to excite the crowd, smart booking. This match would only have served to turn me over to TNT. Once again, the attitude era ideas are here but not fully here yet. Goldust was DQd and he's facing Trips on Sunday at the Rumble allegedly. Triple H is also Intercontinental Champion apparently, this fact not being mentioned until the match is over. This show in January 1997 is completely frustrating.
    
    Shawn is in San Antonio, we go live, there's a hot chick behind him. He is in high spirits.
    
    Rather worryingly at this point, we go to Sycho Sid who's in the empty Alamo Dome. Sid uses the exact same quote Michael Shane used on VWWE Raw this week from Neitziche about "he who fights monsters". Now thats just a weird coincidence. Sid gives his quietly mad promo, a very good one. Sid was underestimated on the mic, a lot of the time he could cut a very good heel promo as he does here, coming across as genuinely dangerous and unbalanced... which he probably was. Sid mentions HBK's family being at ringside and watching as Sid destroys HBK. Excellent go home promo from Sid.
    
    Back to Shawn for a second before we get a Taker/Crush graphic, commercials, back to Shawn amidst fans somewhere in San Antonio, fans mob Shawn. We get another replay of Sid/Lothario last week. 
    
    Shawn gives a equally good promo, putting over San Antonio and Texas. One thing that strikes me again here is how natural all the promos are compared with today, these are neither not scripted at all or the Superstars have just been given vague instructions, they barely seem scripted at all. In one way, thats good as its far more natural but equally you probably would never be able to have gotten highly scripted segments like Orton/Triple H at this point in time. It really did mean that you had to get by on your own talent and not the talent of a Hollywood writer though.
    
    HBK namechecks Stalin... possibly his only ever reference on WWE TV lol, gives the old favorite teeth down the throat line and adds that Sid will see them next morning in his stool sample... classic. Shawn directly talks to Vince as the Chairman which wasn't being acknowledged at this time.
    
    Back live we get the screech and beats - it's Bret, limping out after Steve Austins attack yesterday on Superstars. Steve is still been treated as a full blown heel at this point which seems odd to watch to be honest.
    
    Commercials. Quick flick back to Shawn, that cute chick pressed against him, fans everywhere, some have beer and HBK puts up the Hook-em Horns. Can there be any doubt that HBK was THEE man in 1997? lol
    
    In the arena, the Bulldog is in the ring. One of the first things you really notice is that physique which was essentially the death of him, its rare to see somebody that size now but was pretty common back then pre-Attitude when look became secondary.
    
    "I think Rocky has shown more promise than any wrestler i've ever seen in the World Wrestling Federation" - Bret Hart... see, he did once talk sense. Rocks haircut was a farce though, very mid-90s. Rocky had only been in the WWF two months at this point, it'll be a treat watching his career progress over this blog series. We get a recap from Shotgun Saturday of an altercation between Rocky and Marc Mero. Rocky looks bigger than the image we're all more familiar with at this point.
    
    Bret on commentary is a classic example of why the double turn at WrestleMania 13 happened. Bret is complaining that guys like Steve Austin are trying to end his career and it comes across as very whiny. In the 80s and early 90s it would have been a fine face interview, but from this point on when you have the tough Steve Austin, coupled with the change in attitude i mentioned in my Attitude blog, this isn't what the fans wated to hear.
    
    Bret makes a few references to Rocky Johnson and Peter Maivia, always nice to see history referenced, guess this is history within history. Honky Tonk Man suggests Bret could be his new protege... which is plainly absurd. The fact this angles getting so much air time is as well considering who eventually he selects. Waste of time imo.
    
    We get a ringside shot.. wonder where Raw was tonight, they look rather inbred. Here comes Owen Hart with his slammys to boos which his puts on the announce desk in front of Bret.... break.
     
    The Bulldog is in control, of this match, some of those nice arm drags from Rocky. Some nice near falls for Maivia.... here's Austin - Stunner to the Bulldog, fingers to Bret, Owen chases after him. Rocky wins via countout. Probably the first time The Rock and Stone Cold ever appeared together on TV.
    
    There's a Rocky chant and frankly... it sounds fake lol
    
    The Nation is backstage, Faarooq was fucking brilliant in this role as the leader of the Nation. Crush... really didn't fit.... here's Taker, an entrance that was just as awesome then as now. We cut back to Shawn in San Antonio, go to commercials.
    
    Back live, the Nation are coming out, the rappers rawked, this is pure attitude era here as was the Crush character that played on his real life jail time. Taker attacks Crush in the aisle, the Nation scatter, Faarooq looks pissed.
    
    The Undertaker had that ginger beard he has now back then, his costume very much the Phenom also, has that tear on the cheek... which is emo well before it's time. Vader suddenly appears on stage looking on at the match.. and that's our que for another break.
    
    After the break we get a Starburst sponsored rewind showing us Austins attack earlier. Live however, Crush is in control of Taker. Taker fails to Tombstone Crush... but hits the Chokeslam and the Nation storm the ring to mob the Underatker, Vader runs in and its a beat down on the Deadman, the Nation move Taker to the ropes and Vader hits the Vader Bomb on the Deadman. The bell rings frantically as Vader goes up again... second Vader Bomb.... and here's AHmed Johnson with a 2x4, stolen by Faarooq... and down goes Johnson. Faarooq smashes Ahmed in the back with the wood... and that's your show. A decent ending that promoted the Vader/Undertaker match and the Johnson/Faarooq feud, i think they'll fight at the Rumble, i'm not sure, not watching or reviewing Superstars or Shotgun Saturday obviously a slight issue. I think in these days Raw really wasn't seen as the flagship as it is today, that really didn't come in until Raw is War and the two hour format, so angles are spread out over the three shows.
    
    Although it was a strong ending.. again, i don't think highly of this episode. The oepning match was a bore. Sid and HBK gave strong go home promos however.. yet i don't see why they kept going back to Shawn after he'd said his piece, again, like last week, it seems a waste of time on a show that can't afford to be doing it. Austin was underutilized again but Rocky Maivia got his first run out of the year in a decent encounter with Bulldog. Feuds were advanced certainly.. but there's wasn't much to get excited about and i doubt this show would have persuaded me to buy the Rumble - 6/10.
    
    Next time... i'll be reviewing the Royal Rumble 1997, the first PPV of the year that will lead us to WrestleMania 13 :D

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• WWF History: January 6, 1997

  • From: VWWE
  • Description:

    Welcome to the first of a new series of regular blogs looking at the history of WWE and Monday Night Raw. These blogs won't be VWWE connected, though i may make reference to angles we stole etc lol, they will instead simply be my reviews, thoughts, opinions and knowledge on all things WWF.
    
    Starting on January 6, 1997, i will review every episode of Raw and the PPVs in order, giving those thoughts and a retrospective look at the product, how it compares to today. I'll go through the entire attitude era, from the start of 1997 and the debut of Raw is War two months later up to WrestleMania 17 and Stone Colds heel turn, possibly taking in the alliance afterward. Maybe right up to the debut of VWWE and the onset of the WWE down period... those two events entire coincidental, i can assure you.
    
    January 6, 1997 then. Lets set the scene. The Monday Night Wars are in full swing and WCW is destroying the WWF in the ratings, the nWo that was formed last year in 1996 is the hottest thing the business has seen since Hulkamania, a poor WWF product has however started to slowly improve. An unknown writer by the name of Vince Russo is working hand in hand with Vince McMahon, influenced by WCWs styles and that of the adult ECW, to also make the product adult and darker in tone. As we start off, i expect to see an odd mix of attitude and mid-90s wrestlecrap, a product not quite there yet.
    
    I also have the January 6, 1997 episode of Monday Nitro in my collection so i MAY review that also :D get both sides of the tale. Outside wrestling, Bill Clinton is President and John Major is the British Prime Minister still, Jerry McGuire, Scream and Mars Attacks were in the top 10 grossing movies the weekend just gone and your number one songs? the UK was still obsessed with the Spice Girls, 2 become 1 being their number one while Stateside.... it was Toni Braxton and Unbreak My Heart. The X-Files is probably the biggest show on TV, Seinfeld, Friends and Frasier make up a trio of classic comedy still on the air and the Nintendo 64 had just been launched.
    
    Good times :D on with the show
    
    TV-PG!!!!!! that'll soon change. I loved that "for over fifty years" intro too.
    
    We start off with a quick pre-credits promo by Vader, you don't see anything like that any more, either in terms of the Vader style or the placement on the show. Vader i've always said was one of the biggest wastes of talent ever by the WWF, as a hell he had NO peers. He was one of those rare heels that was scary and imposing without having a gimmick like the Undertaker or Kane or being a psychopath like Sid. When he got in that ring you genuinely felt that he could and would hurt his opponent, no matter how much you knew about the business. Unrivaled power and skill as well, should be a WWE Hall of Famer some day... if Vince can admit he fucked up with him in the WWF lol. Bret Hart vs Vader is our main event apparently and HBK will be at ringside.
    
    Brief recap of Shotgun Saturday Night. This show was really where attitude was born. WWE were allowed to get away with things they couldn't at that point on Raw, we have Mankind i think it is laying out Ahmed Johnson with a chair, Ahmed giving on of the Nation the Pearl River Plunge on a car and Marlena exposing herself. You DEFINITELY don't see any of that on Raw any more lol.
    
    As we enter the arena, Owen Hart is on the way to the ring with his Slammys, no pyro. The production values compared to today are poor, its dark and grimy... but i kinda like that, it looks like a wrestling arena and not a TV studio and set as it does too often these days. Mankinds out next and this will be a familiar phrase in these blogs.. you don't see anything like this any more either and that's a sad thing. The original Mankind in the brown attire with his Ode to Freud theme was a stunning piece of characterization before he became the clown he did in 1999. This mentally disturbed Foley was a brilliant heel, the vignettes in 1996 with him in the basement with the rat were brilliant and he was a multi-layed character. In one way you felt sorry for him, in another hated his actions. This character really was the first of the attitude characters.
    
    Note: Vince really sucked on commentary lol
    
    The rulebook is certainly not in effect like today here, Mankind sent onto the exposed railings... those things must have hurt, Owen hitting him with a belt and the Referee (i like its Jimmy Korderas) doesnt bat an eyelid. Seeing that ECW influence there. King is brilliant here, complete heel, joking about Mexican food blocking Jose Lotharios arteries after he'd done a heart attack angle. Jose being HBKs mentor and occasional manager in these days btw. Nice Enzuguri by Owen.. into the barrier by Foley.... hit with a plastic tray and up goes an ECW chant by a single fan lol
    
    Commercials... Freddie Blassie advertising Full Metal: The Album
    
    Owen counters the Mandible Claw.. but cant escape the Piledriver - Mankind wins. A decent opener which showed what both men are about, Owens athleticism and Foleys hardcore nature. 
    
    HBK is backstage, with hair and as much fashion sense as always. Shawn was talking to the wrong camera for half the promo. These things happened in the days when everything wasn't scripted and a lot pre-recorded i guess. Standard promo, building up Shawn's feud with Sycho Sid.
    
    Shotgun Saturday Night Recap 2.... THE FLYING NUNS!!!!! The sisters of love lol, watch this space in VWWE, i love it.
    
    Here's Kane as the Fake Diesel... and the Fake Razor. This is the wrestlecap i spoke of. Whatever gave the WWF the impression this would work i dunno.... and here's the Honky Tonk Man, looking for a protege. After Mankind, this really shows the battle backstage between the Russo camp who wanted that adult modern style and those wanting to keep the mid-90s style. The fakes will face Doug Furnas and Phil Lafon. I'm fast forwarding this, no doubt this is the point that the nation switched to Nitro. 16 minutes in... i'll check that Nitro episode later, see what was on.
    
    Commercials, Royal Rumble commercial... comes to you live from San Antonio, HBK will face Sycho Sid for his WWF Championship and Ahmed Johnson will face Faarooq.
    
    The match is still going on... back to the fast forward. 26 minutes in and it's over. I really cant believe they gave that 10 minutes of a one hour show as Raw was at this point.
    
    Here's Bret, randomly stood backstage. That's all.
    
    More Shotgun Saturday Night recaps, Marlena (Terri Runnels) exposing herself to The Sultan (Rikishi) and the crowd to give Goldust the win. A good amount of this show has already been spent recapping SSN, too much imo. People who'd already seen the show... must surely have flicked straight to Nitro, not wanting to see what they watched just two days ago once more?
    
    Back to Bret. Anti-HBK promo... an apt way to start 1997... cut off by Sycho Sids music, looks pissed, leaves.
    
    Commercials and we're now half way through the show. My thoughts.... um. As i thought it'd be, its half way between heaven and hell, the attitude era is hinted at in Mankind but the mid-90s wrestlecrap is still here and the booking, when faced with Nitro.. i have to question. The tag match was 10 minutes too long and there's too many recaps of Shotgun Saturday. But on with the show....
    
    Heeeeeeeeeres Sid. We're back to the attitude here, the fans are clearly cheering Sid despite the fact he's supposed to be an evil heel. Sid is the reigning WWE Champion, will face HBK at the Rumble as noted earlier. JR is in the ring for an interview. Sid shouts and does the "constipated smile" he does quite often. Sid seems to be a cliche of what many people thing of when they thing "wrestler" - big, dumb, shouts a lot lol. For some reason they didn't turn Sids music off during the whole interview. What Sid said seemed to make little sense but it sounded impressive and that's good enough for both me and the crowd. He is the master and the ruler of the World.
    
    OH.. OH.. OH... SHAWN... here comes HBK... in a robe and sunglasses.... Shawn proceeds to climb on the announce desk and in a stripper fashion remove his robe. Sid is amused. If you people think Jeff Hardy is gay... you really need to see this lol. Sid is actually waving at HBK from the ring... Sid leaves and HBK is unfastening his belt and pants as we go to commercials....
    
    Commercial for the Superstar Line... y'know.. the same thing that the WWF ran down WCW for running lol
    
    Back live and here comes Bret Hart o a big reaction, HBK is on commentary, we cant see whether he's sans-pants or not. Earl Hebner is the Referee... heh
    
    IT'S TIME... IT'S TIME... IT'S VADER TIME!!!!!
    
    Vince is talking about Attitude, Shawn references losing his smile as now we get a recap from Superstars yesterday.... Undertaker Tombstones Jim Cornette... fantastic, cant believe that wasn't saved for Raw. Vince calls JR the best play-by-play man in the business.... so whys he not on Raw FFS? lol
    
    Vader into the steps early, follows with the ringpost and we're just informed that Vader will be facing the Undertaker at the Rumble. Apparently Bret has been saying we was screwed out of the WWF Championship..... this really is such an apt start to the year isn't it? :D
    
    Stone Cold is backstage and is watching the match.... commercials. Rewind to Shotgun again on the return, Ahmed Johnson with the Pearl River Plunge on the car.
    
    Back live Vader has ten command of this match.... FROG SPLASH... Jesus lol, Vader + Frog Splash are two terms which really should not go together ever. The athleticism and power of Vader were off the chart as was his ability, he could have seriously injured Bret with that but as far as i'm aware, he never hurt anybody except one young man in Germany i believe it was, Mick Foley telling the tale of how he wept when this guys neck was broken and what a gentle giant Vader was.
    
    Few shoot comments from HBK on Bret being no angel on commentary... Bret gets the Knees up on the Vader Bomb. Shawn says it's "The same all the time" as Bret goes into his Five Moves of Doom lol, Austins still watching and doesn't look impressed.
    
    Sid comes out and for no reason at all pulls a cameraman backstage. Austins out now, Stunners Bret. Quite why Sid kidnapped a cameraman isn't clear.
    
    Vader Bomb - one.. two... three, Vader wins. Good match while it lasted, bit of a clusterfuck ending, could seriously have gone on longer if the show hadn't had that tag match or so many recaps.
    
    Backstage we get answers, Sid is strangling Jose Lothario's son. Shawn dashes backstage (wearing pants), Joses son is powerbombed on a very unrigged table. Commercial Break.
    
    Back again and Aldo Montoya (complete with jockstrap on his face) is making up the numbers in a small crowd, HBK tending to Pete Lothario. And thats all, thats your show.
    
    Overall.. a mixed bag. There's signs os what the show will become with HBK/Sid and Mankind but also the old wrestlecrap of the mid-90s like the fake Razor and Diesel. Some of the booking was shocking such as that tag match which i'm sure turned off a huge number, there were also too many recaps for my liking. The star power in some cases, like with Austin, no Undertaker either, was slightly wasted but that maybe understandable considering the one hour format. Over all i can't however give this opening Raw of 1997 anything more than 5 out of 10.
    
    Stay tuned this weekend and i'll review the next episode which i believe is the last one before the Royal Rumble 1997.

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  • 8 months ago
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• What We Hold To Be True

  • From: VWWE
  • Description:

    Often i'm asked by VWWE members, or problems arise from the issue - just what is canon in VWWE?
    
    For those who don't know, the canon is simply what is recognized as the true set of facts in an ongoing series of media, novels, movies, TV shows. For example, what is understood to be recognized as the true overall story of the Harry Potter franchise or the James Bond franchise? 
    
    Taking Bond as an example, many purists only acknowledge the original Ian Fleming novels as the true Bond canon, ignoring anything from the movies. Yet Sean Connery's portrayal of Bond influenced Fleming to give Bond a Scottish ancestry in his next novel following the release of Dr No in 1962. If you take only the movies as canon, then how do you explain the fact that Bond appears differently on six separate occasions - Connery, Lazenby, Moore, Dalton, Brosnan and Craig. And for that matter how can you possibly reconcile the fact that Bond only achieves his Double-O status in Casino Royale? 
    
    Reconciling these differences is part of what canon is and the end product is a sort of history book, a definitive account of what happened to who and when and why. Some things are set in canon and connect be changed, while others can be retconned. Retconning is the art of changing established facts to fit the overall canon.
    
    VWWE's problems with canon are wide raging but i believe over the past seven years we've managed to reconcile most of them.. all be it, sometimes in wild circumstances.
    
    Lets take a look first at life and death.
    
    VWWE has employed over the years several characters who were deceased in the real World at the time and on one occasion, resurrected a character we'd claimed had died.
    
    In 2003 Andre The Giant teamed with The Iron Sheik at the height of the Iraq war to face Hulk Hogan, shades somewhat of Sgt Slaughters role in the WWF during the first conflict. Of course this means that in VWWE, Andre The Giant was alive and well. The solution to this is simple, after a storied career in the 1980s, including the famous WrestleMania III match - Andre The Giant retired home to France where he lived happily in retirement until in 2003 Vince McMahon made him an offer he couldn't refuse. Taking the big pay check, Andre fought Hogan but sadly passed away later that year. Andre the Giant died in VWWE in 2003.
    
    The British Bulldogs alive/deceased status has been a matter of some controversy but he was confirmed to be alive after appearing on SmackDown in 2004. The Bulldog was in ill health and did not last long before being released from the company, he died the same year.
    
    Eddie Guerrero died in 2005 as in real life, VWWE posted tribute the week after on Raw and despite a suggested return on a VWWE show, he never did and therefore there is no conflict in Eddies status in the VWWE world.
    
    In 2007, Chris Benoit, while under contract to VWWE's ECW brand killed Nancy and Daniel Benoit and himself, for the same reasons as WWE, this tragedy has never been referenced on the product.
    
    Love Machine Art Barr is a wrestler who's status is a matter of controversy also. While not that famous in America, Barr was a star in Mexico in the mid-90s as Los Gringos Locos, teaming with Eddie, Louie Spicolli and Konnan in AAA. He died in 94 just before he was scheduled to leave for ECW with Eddie. However in 2003, Barr was brought into VWWE to team with Guerrero. Easy to reconcile...? not so. VWWE declared Barr dead in 2004 before he returned to the company for that years WrestleMania. What we say happened was, that Barr, who didnt die in 94 but in fact went on to have a great career in ECW and then WCW in the 90s, faked his own death, a crime for which is was imprisoned following his WWE release. Art Barr in VWWE's world died in 2005, a matter of weeks before Eddie, while awaiting trial on this charge. Both members of VWWE's Los Gringos Locos tag team who had my favorite ever tag match in VWWE... are therefore deceased.
    
    All other deceased wrestlers died as in real life and Diddy, former owner of the WWW fed is also dead.
    
    Also, what of those stars who debuted in VWWE as midcard wrestlers having been major real life stars?
    
    In 2002, Hulk Hogan debuted in such a scenario as did Bret Hart later that year, as did Randy Savage and others
    
    In the case of Hulk Hogan, i would suggest that after signing with the WWE to be a part of the debuting nWo with Shawn Michaels, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, Hogan unfortunately suffered an injury, forcing a change in plans. Hogan had a few matches with the likes of Pimp while he recovered simply as a way to keep him on TV, he then moved into that feud with Randy Savage, Vince seeing money in a resumption of the famous 80s feud. The original plan of Hogan being a part of the nWo then took place following that feud.
    
    In Bret Harts case he was simply being punished. 2002 was the year of the Kliq led by Sahwn Michaels, they made sure Hart was buried in the midcard.
    
    Onto more plesent matters... how about shows? what of all those great events pre-VWWE.. did they happen?
    
    Yes is the simple answer. Hogan did slam Andre, Mr T did main event a WrestleMania, Bret and Shawn did have the Ironman match and Montreal happened just at it was supposed to. Of course the likes of Nightmare etc also appeared on these shows, for example it's quite possible taht at WrestleMania 17 Nightmare faced Chris Jericho on that card or some such. This however has not been revealed and its likely that the cards for pre-VWWE shows never will be referenced unless it's a match between two real stars eg Rock vs Austin at that same event.
    
    The two companies seperate on March 4, 2002 and here's the scenario:
    
    Fresh off winning the 5 on 5 match at Survivor Series 2001 agaisnt the WCW/ECW Alliance, Vince thinks his world is back at peace... not so. Ric Flair is revealed the next night as the new co-owner of the WWF an proceeds to drive Vince round the bend. McMahon is at his wits end and goes as far as to suggest he's going to inject the poision - the nWo into the WWF. Rumors of the return of Shawn Michaels, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall from FWC as the nWo run rampant and Flair begs McMahon not to do it - no luck. McMahon declares that he'd rather destroy the WWF than let Flair have it. On the last Raw of February - McMahon snaps and declares that next week, March 3, 2002 - he's taring the WWF down - a rebranding will take place. All titles up for grabs... and the nWo are coming. Vince decalres war on Ric, raw will truly be war again, the new name is in place, the figures are in place.... and VWWF is about to be born.
    
    Thats the origins :)
    
    Finally, what about titles... if we recognize all the PPVs, do we recognize all the prior title holders prior to VWWE? what about other E-Fed titles?
    
    Firstly, lets deal with E-Feds
    
    VWWE does NOT recognize ANY titles outside of the VWWE led community. Web feds are an irrelevance.
    
    We recognize the following as world titles:
    
    The WCW World Heavyweight Championship
    The FWC Championship
    The ECW Championship
    The TNA Championship
    
    We do not recognize any other titles as World Titles. Simply calling a title a "World Title" is not good enough, the Fed in question has to achieve a relative amount of exposure and fame to have this distinction.
    
    Onto real life... what do we count?
    
    All WWE Royal Rumble and KOTR winners up to 2002 are recognized however, no other title holders are. For example, we do NOT recognize HBK as having won three WWE Championships prior to VWWE.
     
    However, we recognize the following
    
    The complete run of all ECW and WCW Championships up to 2001
    The NWA Championship from 1900 to 2009, including its run in TNA
    We recognize all Mexican and Japanese belts
    We recognize Ring of Honor
    
    We do NOT recognize the current TNA Championships due to conflict with Virtual TNA. We partially recognize OVW and FCW but will change their title histories to build up new stars.
    
    And thats about it....
    
    Next time, i'll blog on another factor in TV terminology - the fabled Jumping The Shark.

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  • 8 months ago
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• The Founding Fathers

  • From: VWWE
  • Description:

    I was reminded by Tone earlier that today marks the 7th anniversary or the first ever edition of VWWE (or VWWF as it was then) Raw, you can read whats left of the show here:

    Tony then said that there are only 3 survivors of that show still in VWWE... so lets now take a look back at what became of the VWWE Founding Fathers

    Nightmare: Nightmare went on the become a VWWE Hall of Famer and icon, winning a record 8 WWE Titles, being a member of the nWo, the Horseman and Kliq. He is an icon of the game.

    The Nick Show: Didn't do anything more in the game and really has no claim to fame.

    Edge: The original Edge went on to be a star on SmackDown following the brand split, winning four WWE Tag Team Titles with Mick as Christian and winning two Intercontinental Championships. The character will make a splash in 2009 in ECW.

    Reaper: Reaper was one of the first "indy characters" and while finding leittle success in VWWE, he had success elsewhere, notably XIW

    Phoenix: A life long enhancement talent Phoenix was another with little claim to fame other than a never ending feud with Blizzard and Angel. In 2008 his character was retconned in the VWWF Retro Fed and controlled by Nath.

    Manny: Vanished from the business but made a little impact in FWC's Crusierweight Division i believe

    Ultimate Warrior: His one and only VWWE appearance lol

    Stevie Dragon: Famous as VWWE's first ever member, this Welshman may get into the Hall of Fame one day for that alone. Hey... Vince's driver got in. One and only appearance.
    
    Banshee: One of the original members of VWWFs four man board with Jon the pervert, Tony and Mick she became one of the most controversial figures in history and regarded as a threat to VWWE's security. Her relationship to Jon has been questioned and some suspect she may have been a work.
    

    Mallory: My own then GF, i press ganged her into joining lol, the name was taken from the film Natural Born Killers and the couple Mickey and Mallory. Went onto success as Lita before we broke up.

    Rogue: The story of Fi is well known. Going on to become VWWE Womens Champion and later James Steele, Fi left in 2007 after an incident with FWC. She now lives with Mike aka Goldberg.

    Venus: One of the biggest womens stars of the era, Venus will probably be retconned into being Venus Vulu at some point lol. A far bigger star in FWC and elsewhere however, she never really got over with the VWWE crowd.
    
    Randy Savage: Seen as a potential headline act for years to come, Marty or the ginger tosser as he called himself had a major falling out with VWWE in late 2002 following the "WWWF Incident" as it's generally refereed to. Became a Bruno Sammartino like figure, bitter about what happened. He returned only once - to object to his inclusion in the HOF. A tosser indeed.

    nWoKane: Despite his objections that he did, this man later went on to play Booker T and become KOTR 2002 and United States Champion. Seen as a major breakout start for later that year and 2003, he unfortunately vanished. Was a tennis prodigy who played in national youth tournaments and for i know, may very well have been Andy Murrey lol
    
    Rob Van Dam: Irish Rob went on to be World and WWE Champion. He is a Guinness delivery man and makes sporabic appearances in the chat and VWWE. Also winning Intercontinental and tag gold in VWWE and having success in many other feds of the era, he is a Hall of Famer.

    Sandman: Gary went on to major success in FWC, becoming FWC Champion before making the switch to VWWE and taking up the mantle of William Regal. He is now VWWE Chief of Staff.

    Pimp: Became on of the most beloved superstars in VWWE history and one of VWWEs only Asian members. His debauched evenings of weed and women set the tone for the whole of VWWE. Becoming the greatest hardcore champion ever, he also won tag gold and a HOF spot. His legacy will forever live on.

    Steve Austin: Tone went on to be the face of VWWE for a generation. Main eventing three WrestleManias, having the Icion vs Icon match, leading the Monday Night Wars and becoming a great friend. Tone was the centerpiece of VWWE for the attitude era. Tony MAY be haaving one last match at WrestleMania 25... watch this space.
    
    Triple H: Possibly the most eventful career in history. Will was always the insurgent in the midst, ready to attempt to seize power at any moment and comically failing. As Triple H he main evented the first WrestleMania but never rose to that height again thanks to his backstage attitude. He took over the WWWF E-fed and absurdly allowed VWWE on board while VWWE made him 49 percent owner of VWWE, a meaningless gesture. He was involve in scandal after scandal and generally became to be considered as the plaything of the Kliq. Made numerous comebacks an attempts to takeover or subvert VWWE till finally just leaving. The characters was taken over by Mark who finally led him to the WWE Title in 2007. In 2009 he will return under a new controller on the ECW brand.

    Angel and Janus: Both men went on to be life long jobbers in VWWE, though Angel did carve out a short lived career in the indies of the day. He is also responsible for the worst VWWE angle of all time - Mr America, being the "fake" Mr America to Sam's "real" one.

    Craig Gilbert: Seen as a sort of Paul Ellering figure, he did little after VWWE's first month and vanish as quickly as his nWd charges.

    Unforgiven and Forsaken (New World Disorder): Made more famous by Morten than they ever were as themselves, the nWd were the Road Warriors of March 2002. They did little and vanished quickly. The were resurrected in 2008 by Morten and have had a little backstory added to them. Quite random.
    
    Nitro: Debate rages over whether Kyle was black or not. Originally conceived as being white, he was retconned into being VWWE's (and WWE's) first ever African-American champion in 2007. He went on to be World and as mentioned, WWE Champion. Many in hindsight consider him the 2nd worst VWWE Champion of all timebut he never lost his sense of his own self importance. Formed TNA in 2002 and has rarely been seen since then.

    Paz: God knows what became of him lol, i really have nothing to offer here. Did nothing, ever.

    Kane: Danny was an icon of the business in 2002 and was what Neal is to VWWE now. Beloved and popular, he could promo, write and was great in the chat. Winning four WWE Titles at that time was a stunning achievement and he is rightfully one of our first Hall of Famers. One of the biggest ever losses to VWWE. The character of Kane of course lives on in the excellently capable hands of Stu, one of the few members i know can carry on Dannys legacy.
    
    Chris Jericho: I dont remember much of the original Jericho besides the fact he was Intercontinental Champion and a star in FWC as well. He vanished in mid-2002.

    Ringmaster: Formerly Physio in WWW, Ringmaster cursed himself with his character that was never going to survive next to Steve Austin. An intelligent and popular member however, he was good friends with SA and Banshee and from what was gathered at the time had a falling out with them and was done away with. Not seen since then.

    HBK: Well this is me obviously, you don't need me to tell you what happened... well... OK then. HBK went on to win 5 world titles and have some of the greatest matches ever. Mick went on to win the Monday Wars and make VWWE the biggest and greatest name in all E-Feds. You know the deal :)

    SA: Became managements right ahnd man in 2002. A schemer, he always looked for ways to consolidate his own power. AFter trying to seiaze power in E-Feds in 2003, the relationship changed and faced terminal mektdown a year later afetr one famous argument. Jon's once glorious career became akin to that of the Warrior.

  • Blog post
  • 8 months ago
  • Views: 54
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• Rocking the Rumble

  • From: Sergio_Griffon
  • Description:

    The Rumble- Typically a good one.

    What about the Gathering segment though? How can that be called classy or even intriguing? Showering in another man's blood as he hangs 8 feet above the ring dying? Well let me tell you something. You don't HAVE to call it classy or intriguing. You can call that neseccary. Michael Shane spat in Suffering's face. What did he expect? Suffering to just walk away? No. Thats not how we do things in the Gathering.

    I will admit to having been approached by Suffering prior to the event asking if I wanted the chance at glory. Naturally I accepted, knowing full well that it was by no means going to be glamorous. In fact, since it was Suffering talking to me I knew it would be the exact opposite. I have no regrets in taking Suffering up on his offer.

    Now onto the other Gathering member. CM Punk. In my opinion he shouldn't even be in our little 'group.' He prances around with Mickie James like he has no care in the world. But why? Suffering is a fantastic competitor and under his guidance, I will be as well. But Punk? Come on. He didn't even have the guts to follow through with our plan to take out Michael Shane, no, he left me to do the dirty work. I didn't mind as it gave me a chance to show my loyalty to Suffering. Trust me though, soon enough Punk will be out of favour with Suffering and will ultimately be left on his own.

    Don't get me wrong, I'm not the greatest competitor ever to roam the Earth. But there is no shame in being eliminated from the Rumble by a rampant Kane is there? In my limited time in the WWE I have achieved more than Punk in his entire career. I am younger, fitter, smarter and more athletic than CM Punk and will ultimately achieve more than him in my career.

    Enough has been said about him though, you all know where I stand with him now and we will all get along in the Gathering anyway, because that is how the greatest of teams conquer all. By working together, no matter what we're doing, be it hospitalizing Michael Shane and bathing in his blood or simply winning titles we'll do it together.

    The gathering are the greatest stable in wrestling history and will dominate this business until there is no one left to break.

    Sergio

     

     

    That wasn't as good as my last one but I tried. feedback would be nice cheers guys.

  • Blog post
  • 8 months ago
  • Views: 52
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• Alvarez's View: Royal Rumble

  • From: JohnCena
  • Description:

    How's it going everybody, Bryan Alvarez here from F4W Online here with my Royal Rumble thoughts and predictions. Traditionally this is where WWE start their whole 'Road to WrestleMania' deal and I have to say, the company's looking really strong right now. Vince appears to be on a roll as far as angles are going and their multimedia push is bringing the company through to a whole new level. I'm not expecting anything short of top-tier in the month or so before 'Mania, so it's a great time for the company.

    Back to the Rumble then, and it's been booked well I think, with two big matches, the Chamber and the Rumble Match, really standing out at the top of the card. We'll get to those soon, but I wanna run through the undercard first.

    The Rock and Sock Connection vs. Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes: This is a real odd one for me, it's almost come out of nothing. I know Rock's been saying backstage he's not overly keen on teaming with Foley again after a strong singles run before SummerSlam, but he's almost lost his way at the moment, and I don't think this is a good way to use him. As for the youngsters, there were plans to have them join some kind of second-generation stable but I'm not sure whether that's the company's priority at this point. These two aren't fully over in my opinion, but that'll take time, and they're great talents. A lot of people have been speculating a shock here, and I'm thinking the same thing. Vince booking the youngsters to go over the vets wouldn't surprise, and I think that's what we'll see.

    IC Title Contenders Match A: Ryan Simmons vs. Rey Mysterio: It's been great having Mysterio back, it's a real boost for WWE to have someone as experianced as Rey back in that midcard having great matches. He hasn't been featured on RAW loads as of yet but I've seen him at some house shows and he's looked great, matter of time deal here. These two actually wrestled the other day at a house show and the reports I've recieved suggest these two can really go. Simmons is full of potential, as he always has been, and I reckon he's finally harnessed it. I can see Simmons taking this one, though whether booking him to go over strong or not remains to be seen, WWE have more sense than to bury Rey so early. Great match in store.

    No DQ Match: William Regal vs. Assasain: Another strange one, I don't think WWE have done enough to get this angle over, whether they don't have faith in the young kid or whether they don't see anything in Regal above the lower-midcard, I don't know. What I do know is that they were also booked together on the same house show as Simmons/Mysterio and it was a decent match. Assasain seems to have settled in well and being in the ring with a guy like Regal can only hope. Assasain is 0-4 in matches between the two, and unless he's done something backstage that's got him in trouble, I can't see him being buried further. A win for the Aussie could start an angle between the two, but we'll see.

    IC Title Contenders Match B: Primal vs. Jeff Hardy: The big angle here is that of Hardy's 'retirement', and it's one that I'm interested to see develop. Jeff isn't a renowned promo guy but he's really been knocking it out the park as of late and he's a babyface fans can really empathise with. Thus, there's two trains of thought on this one. Number one is that Primal will beat Jeff clean, and Jeff will indeed 'retire', leading to some sort of angle after WrestleMaia I'd assume. Number two is that Jeff wins and starts to get back his fire on the way to WrestleMania. Last I heard, Vince was keen on having Primal go over, but his changes of mind are so notorious it's impossible to say anything for certain. Personally, I think Primal will take it, as revenge for the IC Title feud these two had a few months back, and set up Primal/Simmons, an angle in itself.

    World Tag Team Championships: John Morrison and Joey Nebraska vs. CM Punk and Suffering: There's three guys in this match that Creative are pretty high on right now, and I can understand why. Punk isn't exactly anything special, but he's workmanlike, and that's why he's been kept around. As for Morrison, Nebraska and Suffering...these are three superstars in the making. They're the kinda guys who are part of the 'new' WWE, it's a little edgier, and it's fresh, these are pretty much new stars. Nebraska was in line for a push before Smackdown folded, so I think this tag team is his reward, just slightly diluted. Morrison is fantastic on the mic and in the ring, he's got the look, and Suffering is really coming into his own, something I know Michael Shane has voiced displeasure over backstage. I don't think Suffering's place is in the tag division right now, I think he'd be under-used there, so I can see Morrison and Nebraska taking it.

    IC Title: Winner of Match A vs. Winner of Match B: Basing this one on how I've said it'll go, I expect this match to be Ryan Simmons taking on Primal. WWE have been making big noises about putting these two in a program together because they've got great chemistry as well as history. One angle I heard about was the whole 'respect' deal, and I'd be all for that if they ran with it, these two are exactly the kind of guys who can pull it off. At the end of the day, for the time being, I can see Primal taking the title off Simmons in a real close match, expect Vince to tell both guys to play up the whole 'fatigue' scenario after already wrestling a match each. I can see these to feuding over the belt all the way to WrestleMania 25.

    Elimination Chamber Match for the WWE Title: John Cena vs. Forxx vs. Kane vs. Randy Orton vs. Undertaker vs. Michael Shane: Now, first of all, people have been asking me whether WWE are having this as the Main Event. I can tell you that it's almost certain they won't, Vince is a huge advocate of having the Rumble Match go on last. Still, this one is going to steal the show as far as I'm concerned, there's so much potential. Cena, Orton, Taker and Shane will probably carry this one but Forxx showed at SummerSlam that he's got ability in this type of scenario and Kane's always capable of springing a surprise in-ring. The great thing about this match is the amount of feuds it throws together, Cena/Shane, Cena/Taker, Cena/Orton and Forxx/Kane. I reckon Vince likes the idea of the two big men in a program together, so don't be surprised if we see a lot of interraction between them, a gimmick match at WrestleMania is an idea they've banded about. My biggest concern is how they're going to protect Cena, because if he goes in early, he's going to have a lot of guys going after him and he'll have a lot of work to do. If they send him in last, which I don't think they will, he can't be booked too strongly in this environment. I don't know of any concrete plans right now so I wouldn't be surprised if Vince springs a real surprise and has Michael Shane win the belt.

    Royal Rumble Match: Main Event, and it's another really interesting one this year, credit has to go to WWE for booking it so strongly year after year and maintaining such high interest in a match which is about everything but in-ring work. So many names been thrown around this year, most notably Shawn Michaels who was 'fired' by Vince McMahon a few months back. I'm of the understanding that HBK will be working the Rumble, but I can almost certainly assure you he won't be winning it, I don't think Vince sees Shawn as the 'go-to' guy in today's WWE. I think we may see some kind of angle develop between the two in fact, Vince could have Michaels' elminated, a match between the two at WrestleMania 25 can draw. Nightmare is another guy who's been mentioned, there's been some promo vids on RAW about his return and we could well see it here. Again, I don't think he'll win it though. The final surprise entrant people have been raving about is Austin, and I reckon there's a strong possibility he'll be there. Despite the possible swerve of Austin not being WWE's half-owner, I reckon we could see Steve return to in-ring competition, and Cena/Austin at WrestleMania has been talked about since last year. It's a real marquee match, almost on the level of Icon vs. Icon, something else that's been suggested for Mania. If Austin enters, I can see him winning. If he doesn't, it really is anyone's game after that because of the amount of star power that's in the Chamber Match. If WWE spring a surprise and have one of the entrants from that win the Rumble, fair play to them but Vince has said recently that a number of midcard acts are going to benefit from the Rumble match and one will recieve a huge push. If that's the case, then WWE are going to have their work cut out pushing this guy between now and WrestleMania, they've a history of hot-shotting guys to the top and then doing the build-up later. I think a decision was made on the finish on Thursday but I haven't heard a peep out of Connecticut so I'll leave it at that.

    Thanks for reading everybody, as always if you wanna leave feedback feel free to do so below and I'll hopefully be back on Monday or Tuesday to review the show.

  • Blog post
  • 9 months ago
  • Views: 44
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• Missing You

  • From: VWWE
  • Description:

    Missing You: A Tribute To Eddie Guerrero

    One of the most popular Superstars in history, Eddie was tragically taken from his friends, family and many fans little over three years ago. VWWE produced this tribute in the days that followed Eddies passing.

    Viva La Raza

  • 9 months ago
  • Views: 24
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