Tag Archives: Wrestling

Will WWE Performance Center Feed the Indies with Talent?

The WWE Performance Center is the most high-tech wrestling training center in the World. The New Japan Dojo and other wrestling schools may have a higher success rate, but WWE has a ton of talent down there, but only a few will reach stardom.

On top of the WWE’s attempt to sign inexperience athletes they can mold into ‘sports entertainers’, they have been signing nearly every available indie wrestling star. Their latest coup was signing indie darlings Matt Riddle and Keith Lee.

NXT television was once a place where young, inexperienced talents could get some exposure and learn on the job, since character development is a huge part of WWE today. Now, NXT television consists of talents who have hundreds of matches under their belt and experience wrestling in front of thousands of fans.

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Toy Crazy: Summer 2018 WWE Funko Releases

We covered some upcoming Funko releases late last year. Those figures are already in my collection and look fantastic. Funko is set to release even more pop vinyl figures this Summer.

We have reviewed a lot of Mattel’s WWE Elite figures, but Funko has also released solid figures in the past. I’m a big collector and you can see some of my collection on my Instagram, @vintagetoybob.

I’ve plugged another site in a few previous Mattel/Funko posts, but if you’re looking to order Funko figures, I’d trust DCtoys.net. I’ve bought from the seller before and he is highly reputable. The best of the best for sure. You can use code ‘FREESHIPPING‘ for free domestic shipping.

Here are some pictures of Funko’s Summer 2018 WWE POP! vinyl releases.

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CM Punk Should Have Never Fought in UFC

This isn’t breaking news, but professional wrestling and mixed martial arts are two very different things.

CM Punk had his second MMA fight of his career…and it was really, really bad.

Mike Jackson, a former Golden Gloves boxer and MMA journalist, handed Punk an embarrassing loss at UFC 225. Punk gassed out after the first two minutes of the fight. Jackson then spent the rest of the fight just playing with him. He could have finished Punk at any point, but it was almost as if he wanted to show the world how inept Punk was as a fighter. Punk was doing things BJJ white belts wouldn’t even do in practice. He was over-matched, completely gassed and was just getting his face beaten in.

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20 Women Wrestlers WWE Should Sign Right Now

The WWE needs a lot of talent. They have dozens of females training at the Performance Center, but they need some women that are ready to step in the ring right now.

I posted a list of male indie wrestlers WWE should sign a month ago, but I needed to list with women wrestlers. There are so many elite women wrestlers that need some of the spotlight.

The WWE raided the independent scene for female talent to stock NXT over the years. You would think the talent base would dry up, but as soon as someone like Candice LeRae or Nixon Newell is taken away from the indies, new faces take their spot and become stars.

This list was well over forty at first, but and I narrowed it down to 20. The list is no particular order…and I even added an extra bonus name at the bottom.

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The 25 Best Wrestling Entrance Theme Songs of All-time

Great entrance music can help make a superstar. The wrestler will need to back up the hype in the ring and on the microphone, but a great entrance song can go a long way.

Let’s use Bobby Roode as an example. He had a great career in TNA, but that promotion started to die off as Roode was finishing up there. There’s no doubt he would have received a good pop upon his first appearance, but his WWE entrance theme made him look like a damn superstar. It also shows the fans that they were putting ‘the machine’ behind the wrestler, so they will push them as far as they can go.

NXT has been the starting point of some of the songs on this list. I want to credit Triple H as he’s a fan of harder music and no doubt had the final say on the music. I am just thankful Vince doesn’t have his hands in NXT or every guy would be coming out to Flo Rida or Florida Georgia Line songs.

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25 Indie Wrestlers WWE Should Sign Right Now

The WWE keeps raiding the independent scene for talent to stock NXT with experienced workers. You would think the well would run dry of new guys, but they keep emerging. New talented wrestlers keep making a name for themselves by wrestling for independent promotions all over the world.

If you’re expecting this list to be full of New Japan talent like Kenny Omega, the Young Bucks or even Cody Rhodes, you’d be disappointed. New Japan isn’t an indie promotion in my eyes. If so, Kazuchika Okada, Hiromu Takahashi and Tetsuya Naito would top the list. NJPW have so much homegrown talent that I decided to not include those guys on this list. I did add a few gaijins (foreigners) who work for New Japan (as well as otehr promotions), but they’re not the tippy-top guys.

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50 Unbelievable Photos of Andre the Giant

Every time I see a photo of the great Andre the Giant, I just stare at it. My eyes go from one side of the picture to the other and just wonder what it would have been like to be him back in his day.

Andre the Giant was born in France as Andre Roussimoff. He was always listed as being from ‘Grenoble in the French Alps’, but the new HBO documentary put that claim to rest. Grenoble was a ‘worked’ hometown as Andre was really from a town outside of Paris.

Due to Andre having acromegaly, many of his features were enlarged (especially his head, hands and feet). His pituitary gland produced too much growth hormone and many with this condition suffer from other issues that lead to a shorter than normal life expectancy.

We list some photos of Andre the Giant that you may have never seen before. We tried to picked many that were rare, as we didn’t see many of these before we did a deep dive to find some new pictures of Andre the Giant.

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Review: Wrestlemania 34

After last year’s Wrestlemania 33, a marathon of mediocrity, I didn’t have high expectations for Wrestlemania 34.

The previous night’s NXT Takeover: New Orleans show was one of the best overall shows WWE has ever produced, so I came into this year’s Mania with some apprehension.

Why was I a bit weary about this Mania?

First off, I knew it was going to be a seven-hour show (if you include the pre-show) and I didn’t want to hold Wrestlemania up to the high standard of the NXT Takeover events. It should be the opposite as NXT guys are still learning to wrestle ‘WWE style’ and the main roster guys should be the ones blowing the roof off at shows.

Did Wrestlemania 34 disappoint or did it rank among the best Wrestlemania shows of all-time?

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Review: NXT Takeover: New Orleans

I’ve been reviewing the last few NXT Takeover shows because they have been better than the ‘real’ WWE pay-per-view shows that followed it…and NXT Takeover: New Orleans will most likely be better than Wrestlemania 34.

There hasn’t been a bad NXT Takeover. It’s an impressive streak as they have been putting on four or five of them a year for the last four years. This Takeover may have been the best one yet.

We knew going in that this could possibly be one of the best Takeovers in history as the card was stacked. There were strong storylines and we all knew the six-way ladder match for the new North American Championship was going to be exciting as well.

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Let’s Rank Every Wrestlemania Ever!

Wrestlemania is arguably the biggest wrestling event of the year. The WWE goes all-out and tries to give their fans the most exciting show of the year…although not every Wrestlemania is equal.

Let’s face it, the storylines can’t be there every single year. They try to make everything seem larger than life, but sometimes things don’t line up perfectly as they would hope.

Ranking every Wrestlemania ever can be a lofty task as some years the margin is razor-thin and comes down to personal preference. We do our best and feel free to comment where you would rank various Wrestlemanias…but please, please be gentle.

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Review: NXT Takeover: Philadelphia

NXT always starts out the weekend the right way for the ‘Big 4’ WWE pay-per-views. There hasn’t been a bad one yet, so NXT Takeover: Philadelphia had a huge task of living up to all the past Takeover events…and it exceeded expectations.

WWE keeps raiding NXT for talent and Triple H keeps finding great indie wrestling talent to mix with the young guys they have down there starting from scratch. Many thought the entire brand would go down a few pegs after wrestlers like Shunsuke Nakamura, Bobby Roode and Asuka were promoted the main roster, but this Takeover event was up there with the best all-around NXT shows of all-time.

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Daniel Bryan Betting Odds Skyrocket to Win Royal Rumble

Daniel Bryan hasn’t been an active wrestler in the WWE since early 2015. He has been on the shelf since WWE’s doctor (Dr. Joseph Maroon) has medically disqualified him due to concussions. He has fought back with dozens of other doctors clearing him to wrestle, but WWE fears an NFL-level concussion lawsuit, is being cautious when dealing with concussions.

Bryan has been a character on WWE television the last 18 months or so, but he’s just a power figure as the Smackdown Live! General Manager. He is just marking time until his contract ends this September, since he has no guarantee he will wrestle for them again.

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