Archive for June, 2010

David Batista-MMA Superstar?

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

Is 'The Animal' ready for MMA?

If there was a second Brock Lesnar out there he would have made himself known by now. Lesnar is a giant of a man possessing the athletic virtues of a half god; he is as physically amazing as he is rare. By way of a successful freestyle wrestling base ( 106-5 record over a four year collegiate period, finishing NCAA runner up as a heavyweight in 1999 and champion the subsequent year) and his major genetic advantages he became the UFC heavyweight champion in a very short time period.

David Batista has a body fat level in the low single digit percentile and a lot of experience performing in front of big audiences. however, he is 41 years of age and has no serious athletic background (body building doesn’t count) or combat sport training other than the worked pageantry of professional wrestling.

Most followers of the sport are all to familiar with this kind of posturing from professional wrestlers, they threaten to cross over all the time and the ones who do seldom survive. However, if Batista has his head screwed on right, a tall order after multiple blows from a steel chair, he can do something most can’t in this sport: make money for minimum effort.

Take Bobby Lashley for instance, who recently fought a long past his prime Wes Sims in strike force. Lashley has been knocking off novelty sized heavyweights for a couple of years now and demanding top dollar for his exploits. Given the staggering drop off in talent between your average cruiser and heavyweights; it’s not unlikely that Mr. Batista can find himself matched up against some rotund punch bags and turn a quick dollar for his troubles.

For the record, it’s The Boston Crabs belief that Batista’s success in the WWE came directly from an incredible display of explosive power on all his power moves, the kind of snap and fast twitch force one might expect from an Olympic weightlifter. He might not be Brock Lesnar but we do believe the man can have his way with the sport provided he doesn’t bite off more than he can chew.

In a positive display of mental well being; when asked about the prospect of fighting Fedor Emelianenko he responded: “I want nothing to do with that guy.” I’m sure Fedor thinks the same.

Colm Ivers

Posted in MMA, WWE | 2 Comments »

Owen Hart’s Widow to File Lawsuit Against WWE

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

Owen Hart

The Boston Crab has learned that Owen Hart’s widow, Martha Hart, is to file a lawsuit against the WWE over a breach of contract between herself and WWE. According to Martha, Vince McMahon agreed that Owen’s name or image would not be used to promote the WWE or its products. She wrote today that she learned about Owen appearing on WWE products and television at the start of the year, which led to the lawsuit.

This is the second time that Martha has sued WWE. After Owens tragic death in 1999 (Where he fell 78 feet to his death during the PPV ‘Over the Edge’) she brought WWE to court, which led to an $18 million settlement in 2000.

“In the 11 years since Owen’s tragic and avoidable death, I have worked tirelessly to disassociate Owen’s name and likeness from anything related to WWE in order to protect our children from any reminder of the circumstances surrounding their father’s death, and to avoid any misplaced perception that I endorse WWE” Martha said in a statement about the lawsuit. WWE’s representatives are expected to make a statement before the end of the day.

So what could have brought this all about, and is Martha within her rights? Well while no single example has been cited just yet, the release of the Hart Family DVD (Hart & Soul) may be the main cause. The DVD features family members discussing Owen and has 8 matches featuring Owen. Also, Bret has worn a t-shirt featuring Owen’s image on Raw and has mentioned him a few times.

While one can understand Martha’s pain over losing Owen in such a tragic manner, we here at The Boston Crab are wondering if this really is worth going to court over. The cost of such a high-level of over-protectiveness is great on Owen’s millions of fans. We have no access to official matches and cannot enjoy his matches without going through old VHS tapes or unofficial and illegal DVDs. We will never see Owen receive his place in the Hall of Fame which he deserves so much (Being inducted as part of The Hart Family just doesn’t cut how important and loved Owen was).

Martha says that she doesn’t want her kids to be reminded about their father’s death, but surely this court case will lead to so much media attention (which it already is receiving in the US) that her children will be unable to avoid. Not only that, but it will be media coverage that revolves around the death of Owen. In the Hart & Soul DVD at least the very short sections on Owen revolve around his family talking about him growing up and how gifted he was in the ring and how he was an even better father. Surely if one memory of Owen was to be brought to the public domain, would this not be the best one?

The outcome of this is hard to tell at the moment, but it could result in Owen’s memory become more and more distant to new fans, which is a crime to the wrestling community; since Owen was arguably the most complete Hart family member in the ring and even ahead of Bret in terms of talent and mic skills. Martha is within her rights as far as we can see, but it doesn’t mean we agree with the court case.

We will keep you posted as more news becomes public.

Seán Reid

Posted in WWE | 6 Comments »

Trent Acid Found Dead

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

Trent Acid

We here at The Boston Crab are deeply saddened to learn that independent wrestler Trent Acid has passed away, he was only 29 years old. Acid (real name: Michael Verdi) was found Friday morning (June 18th).

Trent Acid enjoyed some notoriety in Ring Of Honor, Jersey All Pro Wrestling and Combat Zone Wrestling, most notably as one half of the tag team The Backseat Boyz with Johnny Kashmere holding multiple tag titles. Some of his most memorable moments were in ROH, competing in outlandish matches like the Scramble Cage. However he also fought in singles competition.

Amongst countless wrestlers, Trent Acid was considered by many to be a massive miss by WWE and TNA.

At this time there is no word on Acid’s cause of death. However he has a notable drug use history and was awaiting a trial in July following his arrest for heroin possession in April.

Our condolences go out to Verdi’s family and friends.

Posted in Indies | No Comments »

Daniel Bryan and Working the Internet

Monday, June 14th, 2010

On Friday, wwe.com announced that Bryan Danielson/ Daniel Bryan had been released from the WWE. Since then, the internet wrestling community has exploded with various different theories of why this has happened and cries of outrage from pissed off fans.

Is This Man Too Violent For WWE?

The news item came at a very convenient time, as the last Monday night Raw ended with easily the best 15 minutes of WWE TV for a very long time that made all the crew here at The Boston Crab feel like they where 13 again and watching the Attitude Era that we all loved, which featured Danielson is a prime role. Bryan and the other NXT Season 1 rookies, lead by Wade Barrett, took to the arena and destroyed not only CM Punk, not only WWE “Golden Boy” John Cena, but the entire set and ringside crew. It was exciting, different and extremely entertaining.

This segment is what led to the alleged firing of Danielson. During the ambush, Bryan attacked ring announcer Justin Roberts and began to choke him with Roberts’ tie, all of which got captured perfectly by the cameraman at ringside.

Footage of “The Choke Heard Around The World”

This action allegedly angered someone with a lot of power, and complaints were made to Vince McMahon. The complainer, who some sources have stated as being toy giant Mattel, felt that the actions of Danielson were too violent for a PG rated show and they did not wish to be associated with a company that promotes this kind violence. Vince then fired Danielson but was not happy about the decision, and word on the streets is that he intends on hiring Bryan again once all this has died down.

This, however, is only one side of the story, as many fans out there believe that Bryan has not received a pink slip at all and Vince is trying to work the internet once again. Let it be said that, at the time of writing, no 100% official reason has been given for the firing, and it has not been posted on WWE’s corporate website, unlike every other firing that cam before this one. This has caused many eyebrows to become raised and, as we stated at the start of this piece, the firing has come at a convenient time. A rookie comes in and assaults a member of staff? Fire his ass! It’s a perfect continuation of the story-line that only leads to more questions, most of which will hopefully be answered tonight on Raw.

Whether the firing is real or not, the internet has been buzzing non-stop. Our email with fans promoting petition after petition to get Bryan his job back. This kind of buzz is one that WWE needs in order to keep fans interested and, more importantly, keep them guessing. Today, fans are able to know everything about wrestling at a click of a button. Surprises are far and few as secrets often get leaked online hours before they hit TV. By the time an episode of Raw rolls around, many fans already know who and what to expect, often to the annoyance of the power that be in the WWE. Remember when Chris Jericho was going to make his return and all the cryptic messages began to appear on Raw, only for fans to figure out who it was at the same time? Vince was so angry that he delayed the return, feeling the dirt-sheets had ruined the surprise. And we here at The Boston Crab cannot blame him. It’s so hard to surprise the audience any more that it takes some of the fun and mystic behind professional wrestling away from it. Imagine if we knew years ago that Vince would be head of The Ministry of Darkness, or that Hulk Hogan was the third member of the NWO. Those moments would not have been half as shocking, nor brilliant, had we read about it online before the shows aired. We need moments like that, and this is something that Vince himself knows. The last great surprise we got is one that still sticks in a lot of peoples heads, and that was John Cena turning up as a surprise entrant to the Royal Rumble in 2008. The moment was so great that even the notoriously smarky crowd in New York forgot that is was “cool” to boo John Cena and cheered him on like the young kids they often criticise.

The ending to last week’s Raw was the latest moment, and if the firing of Bryan Danielson is indeed a work, then Vince might have finally unlocked the key to working the internet fans and keep all his surprises just what they are intended to be; surprises. By playing to the idea that what outside the ring can influence what happens within the WWE, the lines will become blurred and the shows become almost essential viewing. When Chris Jericho punched a fan in a parking lot, the WWE spun it brilliantly and allowed Jericho to play it up with his in-ring character, bringing excellent and refreshing results.

If, however, the firing is legit and Vince intends on bringing Bryan back once this has all died down, then hopefully creative will allow Danielson to use the firing as part of his anti-establishment character, which would be a win-win situation for Bryan, the WWE and, most importantly, the WWE fans, both casual and smarks.

Seán Reid

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Posted in WWE | No Comments »

What’s Left For Bret?

Monday, June 14th, 2010

When Bret Hart walked through that curtain and down that aisle on the January 4th edition of Raw there was a beautiful feeling of closure for all fans. For too long, both Hart and Vince McMahon had carried a chip on their respective shoulders that would make more sense to call a boulder to be honest. While many fans will chime in with their two cents on that notorious night in Montreal the fact is that none of us know, 100%, what the deal was or how each party really felt. We may get to 99.99% but never 100 – that’s just the way it is.

But moving on, the first words uttered by Hart with mic in hand that night were: “Well I guess hell froze over.” And it couldn’t have been truer.

His moment was a majestic one. The reconciliation with Shawn Michaels was the first few puzzle pieces falling into place, but no such luck would emerge with Vince. The rivalry that spent twelve year brewing in a pot of bile and pent up anger and violence would spend another few weeks in the kitchen. The build to their Wrestlemania 26 encounter may have dwindled in parts, but it was still Bret vs. Vince. Come on!

The rivalry itself came to a very mishmash ending. There was a comical value to seeing the entire Hart family gang up and systematically dismantling of Vinny Mac. However, in another sense it diminished the meaning of feuding, especially such an inimitable one as this.

But the glorified Hart family onslaught led to Bret aligning himself with the Hart Dynasty which would result in tag team gold, to much praise from the WWE universe. Although we all together scratched our heads with fervour as Bret lifted up the US strap after a nonsensical victory over The Miz on Raw. But of course, every cloud is equipped with a silver lining of some sort. Bret would become Raw’s new GM and the title would land with a more than deserving R-Truth.

So Bret `The Hitman’ Hart is the general manager of Raw now. So, why are there still horrendous guest hosts? Ok sorry, sorry that’s a rant for another day. The real question we’ve been treading towards is – What’s left for Bret Hart?

He’s `buried the hatchet’ with Shawn Michaels, he’s return to the company where he made his name much to the adulation of fans and wrestlers alike and of course he tore Vince a new one. Then, for a little icing on that delicious looking cake he’s elevated the Hart Dynasty to tag team champions, won a title and is now the frickin’ GM!

But even though it seems a feud of sorts with Vince is going to reignite, what does Bret in an authoritative position actually accomplish? Sure, we the fans love seeing Bret Hart in any capacity because he’s Bret Hart.

Though is he going to add any new striking layers to Monday nights? It could be fair to say that fans have been yearning for a new general manager after countless dull guest hosts. However could the Bret Hart novelty be beginning to wear out now? After all he’s been back for just over six months and was originally speculated to be staying until just Wrestlemania. So, with that said maybe there are a plethora of ideas from Vince, Bret and writers that will keep things interesting. But alas we all know that you can’t rely on that thought and that’s not stab at WWE or an attempt to be a negative, BS talking wrestling fan that’s got some mean skills with a keyboard and a forum account.

In all seriousness though The Hit Man certainly can’t wrestle again (properly that is, not applying a sharpshooter here and there) and if he decided to do so would be a tad bit silly considering his physical state right now. What will his GM role possibly entail in the next 3 months? Or the next 6 months? Or even a year?

Time will tell but the crystal ball doesn’t forecast anything shocking or overwhelming. However crystal balls can malfunction, in fact some models have been recalled, and so the second half of 2010 could play out well for a certain Mr. Hart but a little more importantly, the fans.

Jonathan Keane

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Posted in WWE | No Comments »