My Top 100 Favourite Songs 2010-14 Edition: #24

#24. "Megatron” – Crazy Town

Released: 17/12/14

Album: The Brimstone Sluggers

 

For me this was one of the biggest surprises in recent times. Not that Crazy Town would do a new album nearly 13 years away, but that I’d actually like another song by Crazy Town. “Butterfly” was a great yet silly song back in 2001 and then they practically disappeared. But this is a surprisingly good song by the band. Seriously. If you liked “Butterfly” and like the rap rock tracks and the nu-metal tracks from the early noughties then seriously give it a listen.

I actually heard this song from an unlikely source in TNA Wrestling. They changed the theme of the show to this song back in the start of 2015 and liked the sound of it. When I did research on what it was I never expected to find out that it was Crazy Town. So yeah, a welcome surprise and yes, it’s that good for it to be considered in my Top 25 favourite singles of the half decade, for sure.

Here's the video if you want to hear it!

If you missed #25 go here.

For the latest updates on my work, including all my latest radio shows, follow me on Facebook and Twitter here!

My Top 100 Favourite Songs 2010-14 Edition: #49

#49. “Supremacy" – Muse

Released: 20/2/13

Album: The 2nd Law

This is the second song by Muse on the list after "Madness" started proceedings at #100. Supremacy, if you didn't know, was the theme song for The Mercy Side throughout the year 2015. I've now changed it to "Ninety Nine" by Slaves but that's besides the point. The song is such a great song to use as a "theme song". I got the idea because I'm a wrestling fan, and there's a wrestler called Mark Andrews (aka Mandrews) who now wrestles for TNA, and while he was on the wrestling indies here in the UK he used that as his theme song.

I've always thought that "Supremacy" was one of the best songs off the album "The 2nd Law", which is actually my least favourite Muse album. Being the first song on the album, it's job is to set you up for what's to come and it does that job perfectly. With its fantastic guitar riffs and the way it speeds up towards the end, the song is just great. There's a good tint of James Bond in there too, and I mean that in a good way.

Here's the music video if you want to hear it!

If you missed #50 go here.

For the latest updates on my work, including all my latest radio shows, follow me on Facebook and Twitter here!

WWE World Champion Knockout Game - Round 1

Hey there, welcome to my project! I did quite a lot of knockout games on the official Liverpool FC forums back in 2009 and 2010 and while the principle is the same, I've arranged this particular game differently.

I did a competition asking "Who is the Best" back in November 2009 on the LFC forums and the winner was Shawn Michaels. you can see that thread here. But that's not the same as this competition. For starters, that included WWE, World, ECW, WCW and TNA and AWA champions. This is only including the WWE and World Champions, while including the WWE versions of the ECW and WCW titles (which both had very few champions). So no TNA, no old WCW, old ECW or AWA champions.

Also this game is concentrating more on champions, rather than the wrestler or your favourites. As much as some of you may hate it, there's a reason why John Cena has won the title 12 times. And as good as Evan Bourne is, he probably overall, won't make as good a World Champion as Cena does, when you think about all the things that makes a good champion.

So what does make a good champion? A combination of things, and you can take away or add to these if you wish. To me, a good champion has to get a strong reaction from the crowd, has to earn the company money, has to be a good wrestler and has to be great on the microphone. There are more things that can be included, by all means include them if you value those things.

What's also different this time round is that it's not random. I've bracketed the competition so that the "strongest" goes against the "weakest" candidates, and slowly the favourites will eliminate the rest of the competition. How did I bracket it this way? Simple, in the total tally of titles. I had 57 champions, so to make a total of 64 I added the 7 wrestlers who last won the Intercontinental or United States title. The bracket in its entirety is in the image below, you'll need to click on it to see it properly.

If you look at that picture above you'll see who is pairing off against who, the bracket number they have and the total amount of titles they have won. Of course, this isn't always the best way of pairing off people, for instance Ric Flair actually only won 2 titles in the WWE, the same number as Vince McMahon of all people, so he's very low on the list. If you don't like how the competition has been decided don't blame me! Blame the WWE for favouring these people this way! Another example is Daniel Bryan won the US title yet hasn't won the big one yet so he's going against one of the elite title winners. But it's up to you to change that! If you genuinely think that Daniel Bryan or R-Truth or Ezekiel Jackson is as good a candidate for potentially being one of the best ever world champions then vote for them!

But the biggest change in this project is that I'm extending this competition to loads of things. I've included it on two different forums I'm a member of. They're getting involved. I also have this going on my Facebook and Twitter, so if everyone gets involved I could have loads and loads of votes. Also, you can get your friends involved! You can get other forums involved! Share this webpage to your forums or friends, and they can vote and comment! They can also comment on my Facebook page and my Twitter, as long as I get their vote it counts! The bigger this thing becomes the better it will be! So please help me with this! If it works it'd be pretty amazing!

To vote, comment below, or on my Facebook page, my Twitter, or email me.

Finally before I put the first round up, here are the bracket rules. These rounds will be going on for a week at a time. So that means that Round 2 will be posted on Friday 23rd December.

Bracket Rules

In Round 1, the person in each bracket that is ranked 1 goes against ranked 8, 2 against 7, 3 against 6 and 4 against 5.

In Round 2, the winner of 1vs8 goes against 4vs5, while 2vs7 goes against 3vs6.

In Round 3, the two remaining wrestlers in each bracket face each other.

In Round 4, the quarter finals, the 1st bracket winner (The Pedigree Bracket) takes on the 8th bracket winner (The Stone Cold Stunner Bracket). The 2nd bracket winner goes against the 7th bracket winner, 3rd against 6th, and 4th against 5th.

In Round 5, the semi finals, the winner of 1vs8 goes against 4vs5, while 2vs7 goes against 3vs6.

In Round 6, the final, the two remaining wrestlers go against each other.

If there is ever a tiebreaker, the seeded number (in blue font) will be the decider, with the higher ranked seed (1 being best, 8 being worst) will automatically go through.

If you're unsure of the rules, comment below or email me!

--

Now that mumbo jumbo is out of the way, here's the first Round! Round 2 will be posted on Friday 23rd December.

Round 1

*Voting Closed*

The Pedigree Bracket

(1) Triple H vs (8) Montel Vontavious Porter 
(4) Vince McMahon vs (5) Jack Swagger 
(2) Christian vs (7) John "Bradshaw" Layfield 
(3) Mankind vs (6) Chris Benoit 

The Sweet Chin Music Bracket

(1) John Cena vs (8) Drew McIntyre 
(4) Rob Van Dam vs (5) Mark Henry 
(2) Shawn Michaels vs (7) The Great Khali 
(3) Brock Lesnar vs (6) Eddie Guerrero 

The Jackhammer Bracket

(1) Edge vs (8) R-Truth 
(4) Alberto Del Rio vs (5) Bobby Lashley 
(2) Bob Backlund vs (7) The Miz 
(3) Jeff Hardy vs (6) Goldberg 

The Brogue Kick Bracket

(1) The Rock vs (8) Daniel Bryan 
(4) Sheamus vs (5) Buddy Rodgers 
(2) Bret Hart vs (7) Dolph Ziggler 
(3) Rey Mysterio vs (6) Diesel 

The Chokeslam Bracket

(1) Randy Orton vs (8) Wade Barrett 
(4) Booker T vs (5) Ivan Koloff 
(2) CM Punk vs (7) Ezekiel Jackson 
(3) Big Show vs (6) Sgt. Slaughter 

The Tombstone Piledriver Bracket

(1) The Undertaker vs (8) Kofi Kingston 
(4) Sycho Sid vs (5) Pedro Morales 
(2) Batista vs (7) Tommy Dreamer 
(3) Kane vs (6) The Ultimate Warrior 

The Codebreaker Bracket

(1) Hulk Hogan vs (8) Cody Rhodes
(4) Yokozuna vs (5) The Iron Shiek 
(2) Chris Jericho vs (7) Matt Hardy 
(3) Bruno Sammartino (6) Andre the Giant 

The Stone Cold Stunner Bracket

(1) Stone Cold Steve Austin vs (8) John Morrison 
(4) Ric Flair vs (5) Stan Stasiak 
(2) Kurt Angle vs (7) Chavo Guerrero 
(3) Randy Savage vs (6) Billy Graham

*Voting Closed*

To summarise, to vote, you can list your preferred champions or potential champions in the polls above. But I can also accept votes elsewhere, you can vote on my Facebook, my Twitter or via email. Votes will be tallied and Round 2 will be posted on Friday 23rd December. Happy voting!

For the latest updates on my work, 'like' me on Facebook here!

The Mercy Side: King Booker

Hey everyone, it’s been over a month since I’ve last wrote a full article about wrestling. There are a few reasons for that, like focusing a lot on the football (soccer) recently, wanting to do some music reviews and  paying homage to Guitar Hero. But the most honest reason is that I had a bit of writers block when it came to wrestling. That is partly my fault, but it’s also because wrestling had a big high a few months back, and it’s kinda gone back to old ways recently. Or has it?

Now this article isn’t about King Booker, or Booker T although I really am enjoying his commentary, he’s got a really unauthentic style that contrasts everyone else and I mean that positively. He’s started to develop his own phrases (“DBry is in my Fav Five dawg”, “wut da hayel?!” and “oh my goodness!”) This article is about the booking team. See what I did there with the name of the article huh? Haha. Okay. Not so funny. Moving on…

Basically I want to start a round of applause for the booking team in this article. Why? Because I think they’ve done a decent job recently, that’s why! I read a lot of wrestling articles, mainly The John Report, but some other sources too, and I can’t really say I’ve seen anyone praising the booking team. Yes, they’re not perfect and they do things that sometimes still make us scratch our heads, but for the most part they seem to be more on alert recently and they’re paying a lot of attention to story continuation. You still don’t think they deserve praise? If not, let me see if I can convince you.

Now, when I say I’m praising the booking team it’s not because they’re pushing my favourite wrestlers. That’s one thing that pisses me off about the Internet Wrestling Community. They have their favourites, and if they’re booked badly, it’s the booking team’s fault. “It’s bad booking!” This isn’t what this article is about. I’m not going to get into the politics about who deserves a push, or who is pushed up our asses and doesn’t deserve it. My favourite wrestler might be someone you don’t like, and vice versa. While the IWC tend to agree on certain wrestlers being better than others (like CM Punk and Christian being great, and The Great Khali being awful), it doesn’t matter. What this article is about is to raise the fact that the WWE think certain wrestlers deserve a push, and others may not. And it’s obvious from the booking recently, who these people are. That’s GOOD booking. Don’t get confused between good and bad booking. If you want to see bad booking look at TNA, who for most Impact shows can’t get through one episode without fucking it up.

The best example in terms of a certain period of time where the booking was perfect was actually last week’s Raw (dated 26/9/11, or 9/26/11 for you weird North Americans who believe the month should be displayed before the day), where the first 20 minutes was booked fantastically well. Don’t you remember? Didn’t you notice? Well let me jog your memory.

The show stated with Triple H explaining his decision to fire The Miz and R-Truth last week. Pause for a second. The hook ending of last week was those two being fired. People wanted to know why they got fired, and had to wait a week to find out. They then find out at the start of the episode. Good booking.

Continuing on, he continues before Dolph Ziggler and Vicky Guerrero interrupt, and raise their grievances over Hugh Jackman ‘breaking Ziggler’s jaw’ last week. We then got further interruptions from Cody Rhodes, who complained about his attack from Randy Orton on last week’s Smackdown, then we got Christian complaining about Sheamus attacking him in the middle of his match, ‘costing him the’ title.

Triple H sorts each person out individually, by telling Dolph Ziggler he’ll defend his title against Zack Ryder, who beat him last week. Pause. Good booking here too, Zack Ryder did indeed beat the champion last week, and deserves his rematch. As Christian did his ‘one more match’ chant again, Triple H gave him ‘one more match’ against Sheamus at Hell in a Cell instead. As for Cody Rhodes, he told him he can have the night off, before Rhodes backchatted. In the end for his multiple interruptions it ended up with Triple H putting Cody Rhodes in a 10 man over the top rope Battle Royal for the Intercontinental Title.

The aftermath of this 10 man Battle Royal was Cody Rhodes retaining the title. But it was more than that. This 10 man Battle Royal continued many feuds and many storylines. Evil Sin Cara took out the original Sin Cara in the match and replaced him, furthering their feud. Good booking. Sheamus was in the match and Christian interfered to help him get eliminated, furthering their feud. Good booking. And Cody retaining for me was a good move, as he’s continuing to establish himself as a very good Intercontinental champion.

This was around 20 minutes long in total. Not a long time, but it was seamless, it answered questions that were left hanging from last week and it raised some more questions that would be answered at Hell in a Cell, like will Sheamus get his revenge against Christian, and pretty much the same thing with the Sin Caras.

It was almost perfect, the only bad thing I can say really was the ‘on the spot’ booking of Cody Rhodes at both Raw and Hell in a Cell. He had just come out a match with Ted DiBiase only a week ago and Ted DiBiase could have had more of a chance to continue that feud by maybe being left as the last man standing, only to lose to Rhodes last minute. They then could have had a match at HIAC. That would be better booking than DiBiase basically being ignored in the Battle Royal, and the ‘spontaneous’ decision to make John Morrison be the #1 contender on the actual PPV and lose was used instead. That wasn’t the best booking decision, but nearly everything else was perfect.

Now that was a long winded example of what booking a wrestling should be like, in my opinion. It’s not about your favourite guys getting (or not getting) the right push that makes the booking bad. That’s just personal taste. What makes booking bad or good is creating storylines and continuing them until they lose steam. It’s about creating interest and then maintaining it. And for the most part, the WWE booking has been just that.

I’m not going to go in too much depth now but they pretty much continued that streak at Hell in a Cell, and then on Raw last night. At Hell in a Cell, for the most part, the booking was top notch. Starting the show with The Miz and R-Truth as fans at ringside with tickets, and then getting kicked out was good. They then tried to get backstage and got kicked out. In the end of the PPV they came through the crowd and slid under the ring while the cell lowered and beat the crap into all the main eventers and referees. The cage was down, and all the ‘employed’ wrestlers tried and failed to break into the cage to get them out. Eventually the cage was broken by bolt cutters and then they got arrested. Not only visually was it a great scene, but it continued the storyline further about what those two are going to do next. What are the WWE going to do? It was fantastic booking.

Now going into the main event I just talked about, I didn’t expect Alberto Del Rio to come out victorious. But in an interview before the match, Del Rio told everyone that we’ll see a different side of him tonight. And good booking was that he delivered. Tactically using Ricardo Rodriguez to take the keys from the referee and for them both to assist in getting Cena out of the cage, locked, was indeed that ‘different side’ we were told to look out for. But more emphatically, was his display in the match. He was fucking aggressive. One of the main criticisms of Del Rio was that he was talented in the ring and on the mic, but if you’re to be a world champion you need a certain level of aggression. He lacked that. But on Sunday, he really was vicious. They booked him very strong in the match, equal to Cena and Punk. And that was a first. He always looked to be one step behind the other two competitors, on both a verbal and physical battle. But he stuck it to them, and beat Punk clean with the use of an iron pipe. It was great booking.

I could go on about the other matches but this article is getting a bit long now, but they’ve continued the ‘chaotic’ ending of the PPV onto Raw last night. In fact the cliffhanger for Raw was excellent, and I can’t remember any visual like that being done ever in the WWE. For weeks and months Triple H has slowly been losing the trust of the locker room, with multiple heels complaining of unjustice and faces being beaten up by the heels. Mark Henry’s excellent dominance and brutal beatings on certain wrestlers has also contributed to this. So Triple H was put on the spot for the fact that he wasn’t controlling these chaotic scenes; the ending of the PPV, Mark Henry, and just the general dissatisfaction of the job the COO has been doing. So they all vote ‘no confidence’ about Triple H’s job, and then one by one everyone leaves. Not just the wrestlers, EVERYONE. The cameramen went, the commentators went, and the rest of the staff went. Everyone. The only people left in theory were the fans, the main cameraman and Triple H in the ring. It was excellent. And it’s great booking. It’s great booking because this story has unfolded other a matter of months and it came to a brilliant climax last night. It also leaves people wondering what on earth can happen next week on Raw, when there could potentially be no staff to help Triple H run the show. People are going to tune into this broadcast next week. It’s just incredible booking.

I don’t want to kiss the booking team’s ass too much. The booking has been bad in parts. But it’s better than it has been long term in the past, and it’s more consistently positive. What’s the bad booking then? Well for me, the bad booking of late really was in Beth Phoenix looking dominant against Kelly Kelly for weeks and weeks, only to lose every time they were wrestling for the title. That was bad booking, but it may be rectified now that Beth Phoenix won on Sunday. That being said, for Natalya to interfere in the match still made Phoenix look a little weaker than she should have been. The other big piece of bad booking is Daniel Bryan’s continued losing streak, despite pretty much being a certainty to wrestle in the main event at Wrestlemania. That for me is bad booking.

So next time you criticise the booking team and are unhappy with a certain push or a lack of push from a certain wrestler, think about the bigger picture. Think about the fact that basically, the booking team is given a blueprint to work to, to get a certain wrestler over. It may not be your favourite, but it doesn’t matter. And this wrestler has to be streamlined through a storyline that will keep audiences intrigued about its climax and finale. In many cases recently, the booking team have done just that. Thanks for your time.

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The Mercy Side: Triple H – COO or No?

On Monday we found out who CM Punk’s opponent was going to be. All the build up so far pointed towards it being Kevin Nash, who Jackknife Powerbombed the ex champion into the mat at Summerslam. Two weeks of decent promos and altercations between the two seemed to solidify this belief amongst most fans. However in CM Punk’s ever so not discrete way, he has been making digs at Triple H week after week after week. It was inevitable that Punk and Hunter would face each other - it was never in doubt. But I don’t think many people expected them to face each other so soon, at Night of Champions, in just under three weeks.

Now feelings on this matter are mixed but edging towards unsatisfied with the change of opponent. Why? Well let’s look at the pros and cons of the situation. Being the optimist I am, I’ll start with the pros. The change of opponent is good in the respect that Triple H is a much better wrestler and worker than Kevin Nash is. Hell, Triple H has always been a better worker than Nash. Another positive is that a lot of the new generation of wrestling fans haven’t the foggiest who Kevin Nash is, where as Triple H is a huge name is wrestling, and has been for a good 12 years consistently. This on its own brings a bigger market, the PPV will sell more for having Hunter’s name on the card than Nash’s. Another? The two guys haven’t wrestled a hectic schedule for a good eighteen months, both guys that is. Nash was with TNA eighteen months ago, where as Hunter was on tour with WWE around that time. In the eighteen months that have passed, Nash left TNA and barely wrestled, where as Hunter had a few injuries and pretty much did the build up to Wrestlemania but nothing before or since. What’s my point? Well neither have wrestled a great deal, yet Triple H proved at Wrestlemania that despite not being on the road for long periods of time wrestling, he can fucking go in an instant of notice. His match against The Undertaker was a classic. It’s my personal favourite Triple H match, and he was 41, slightly passed his prime. Nash? Well he hasn’t had many great matches in his entire career, and he was 41 back in 2000, at the demise of WCW.

So in brief, the pros are Triple H is a better worker than Nash, a better wrestler than Nash, gets ‘more asses in seats’ than Nash, can work a great match despite long term absence in the ring than Nash and is 10 years younger. The cons? Well, a big con is that despite all those pros, we were lead into a storyline where Kevin Nash came back to the squared circle and laid out CM Punk at Summerslam. He made a big impact. For two weeks, there has been bickering between Punk and Nash. And yes, while Triple H has been part of the storyline, his bickering with Punk has been part of the scenery, the background. The main hook, in the fore, was Punk/Nash. Nash for two weeks managed to get his hands on Punk, while Punk has so far tried and failed to get his revenge. It was a nice little story going on. And while Hunter/Punk had their problems, they seemed to be only niggling issues at present, not issues that were blown into proportion. So from a storyline perspective, what happens to Nash now that Triple H basically knocked him off the card and took his place? It’s bad booking to build something for two weeks only for it to be completely irrelevant. You can make an argument that next week on Raw we’ll find out that Nash is actually relevant but he’s not the main man anymore. He’s now been pushed back and regardless of his input, seems pretty useless now. So that’s one con. Another? CM Punk and Triple H was bound to happen. It was never in doubt. It felt like it was going to be dragged on for months before Hunter would have enough of Punk’s pipebomb bullshit and just take his anger out on him. It was a scene I’d love to have seen done in around half a year’s time, maybe in time for Wrestlemania. All in time, Hunter would try to ignore and block CM Punk’s provocations and try to maintain his professionalism. It was being written for itself and would make fantastic television over the next few months, seeing CM Punk slowly chip through Triple H’s armour before The Game just rips him to pieces, turning heel at the same time. So now that Triple H has decided to put himself in the match only five weeks after Punk was starting to bug him. A potential feud of the year candidate has now disintegrated, as it will all come to a premature head in just over two weeks time.

But the main con with this change of direction for WWE in terms of CM Punk’s opponent at Night of Champions is actually its affect on Triple H’s role going forward. Don’t get me wrong, I completely understand and in certain ways agree with the opponent change. You can see why above. But if Triple H is the on-screen successor to Vince McMahon, the CEO of old, he needs to step away from in ring action. Yes, Triple H was, ahem, is, a wrestler and Vince wasn’t. But it doesn’t matter. Triple H, the COO of the WWE, needs to act like the man in charge. The man in charge does not take part in matches, he books them. He fires people. He sets the record straight. Yes he has an ego, but he tries to control it, for ‘the good of the business’. It doesn’t matter if it’s a storyline or kayfabe, he is the boss.

One of the main reasons Vince McMahon’s character worked so well for so long was because he rarely got involved in the ring. When Vince McMahon, le grande fromage, got in the ring shit was about to go down. Stone Cold’s feuds with Vince McMahon are legendary. But that’s because of the bickering, the bitching, and the excellent mic work. It wasn’t because of five star classics. And yes, Triple H can wrestle while Vince couldn’t, but that it doesn’t matter.

Okay, let’s look at it from a different angle. Forget wrestling is worked for a second. YOU, yes you there with the half eaten pastry in your mouth looking at my site, YOU are now the COO of the WWE. As I said forget wrestling is worked, you are in control. You’re the boss. You book the matches and sort out feuding wrestling angles. You fire the people who ‘deserve’ to get fired. What would you do if you were also a wrestler? You’d put yourself in world title matches of course! You wouldn’t go after Punk, you’d go after Alberto Del Rio who has the title. You’d book the match so it would be difficult for Del Rio to win, and take the title. Hell you’d strip him from the title and give it to yourself and then never defend it. Okay maybe this idea is a little farfetched, I mean it is YOU that would be champion. If it was me it’d make a little more sense after all, I am an incredible (yet humble and discreet) wrestler.

Okay all jokes aside; if Triple H is a wrestler AND the COO, it just doesn’t work. You can’t be both. You can’t be an active wrestler and book matches. It just doesn’t make sense. It was only four weeks ago when we were looking at a promo with CM Punk and Triple H and HHH said that he took the COO job for the fans, and with that job comes certain rules and responsibilities. He never factually said he would not compete again but he most certainly insinuated that he wouldn’t. Being a guy that can still go at a more than acceptable rate it was inevitable that Hunter would wrestle again. But as I said, it needs to be impactful. It needs to have a purpose. And with the direction it was heading in, say in six months, if Triple H was to patiently wait until that amount of pressure was built and tensions with Punk would increase on a weekly basis for that long, it would have had just that. Impact. It would have meant something. “Triple H returns! For one night only to stand up for his wife against the man with the pipebomb CM Punk!” It’s a money maker. Or it was. Now that Triple H is returning to the ring, only two months after being announced as the new COO, it’s meaningless. It lacks the edge it would have had around six months from now.

So to conclude, there are pros and cons for this change of opponent for CM Punk. The pros are Hunter is a better wrestler, worker, is better business for the company, younger and more capable of wrestling at a hands notice than Nash. The cons are it potentially makes the Nash/Punk storyline completely insignificant, it was a storyline rushed forward incredibly prematurely and the main reason, it devalues Triple H as the COO of the company. Where do I stand in this situation? I’m sure you’ve figured it out, I’m against this idea. Sure Nash won’t be able to wrestle a great match with Punk, but it’s not about a five star classic. It’s about putting CM Punk over, and believe it or not, Nash does have a certain value for Punk. Nash is a six time world heavyweight champion, and is 6’11. The match would have simply been booked for long periods of a beatdown for Punk while he overcomes the odds and bullishly defeats Nash clean with the Go to Sleep. It would have boosted Punk’s credibility amongst the marks (although the smarks are more than aware that Punk is gold at the moment and has been for sometime, some of the marks are still not convinced). It makes Punk look stronger. So there would have been value in that match.

As for Triple H, I say he can’t be an active wrestler too often (rare matches are fine, as long as they are that, rare) and be the COO of the company. So it has to be one or the other. COO or no? I say COO. Thanks for reading.

The Mercy Side: The Hardy Complex

This is going to be a slightly different edition of The Mercy Side than usual. I’m going to talk about wrestling in this article, but I also give you some life advice. It may not apply to you but you never know. Enjoy the article anyway. 

“Hardy! Hardy! Hardy!”, the little boys and girls shout at both WWE and TNA performances whenever Matt or Jeff Hardy are in the ring doing their stuff. They’re an incredibly popular tag team, and make a claim for the most popular tag team in history in terms of the general fanbase loving them (smarks tend to like Edge and Christian more, and in the past five years, Beer Money). They have really cool entrance themes, flashy clothing, cool tattoos (in Jeff’s case), and they do some excellent tag team moves (Poetry in Motion while not technically brilliant, it’s still a cool signature move). They’ve had excellent matches, both of them as a tag team and individually. Who can forget the TLC triple threat match against Edge and Christian and The Dudley Boyz? Brilliant stuff.

But… as the intelligent internet wrestling fanbase is aware… all is not as it seems with the Hardy Boyz. They have a side to them, an ugly side, which rears its head once in a while. Don’t get me wrong when sober and interested, both of the Hardy’s I can really like in the ring. Really like. Jeff Hardy’s last run in the WWE was the best Jeff Hardy I’ve ever seen. Matt Hardy had his form back a few years ago when he was feuding with Edge. I like them in the ring. I saw TNA live earlier this year, and saw both Hardy’s wrestle. They weren’t that bad. Jeff Hardy had a lot of abuse from some of the smarks, including myself and my good Irish friend John, and he took it all on the chin. We had some excellent chants, like “Hardy’s wasted” and “Just eat grapes” (for Matt). They were excellent professionals when I saw them live and I give them credit when they work hard at their craft. Despite a lot of heckling at both the Hardy Boyz from the smarks, there were still passionate kids chanting “Hardy! Hardy! Hardy!”. Only John Cena nowadays, in a bigger venue on a bigger chant, get such a strong mixed reaction on a constant basis.

Why is this? Well if you haven’t figured much out on the internet, but the reason why both men left the WWE for TNA are because of their problems with the company. Jeff Hardy’s contract was running out and it seemed quite obvious that he wanted to start using drugs again. He still has court cases dating back around two years now, for having loads of drugs at his property. As for Matt Hardy, he felt he was underused in the WWE, that he is better than some (or all) the other guys getting a big push. He caused scenes on tour. He got suspended, and wriggled out of his contract. Both guys then went to TNA, Jeff Hardy around two years ago, and Matt Hardy earlier this year.

Jeff Hardy - idol of many. It's such a shame he's such an idiot.

In this time, the Hardy Boyz had problems. Personal problems. They took their feuds with both the WWE and certain wrestlers (CM Punk being one of them) to the internet. They ripped wrestlers off on the net. They used Twitter to air their grievances. Jeff Hardy’s last match in TNA was an absolute mess. He had a match against Sting, and stumbled to the ring, completely wasted. Sting finished him off quickly and took the title. Now TNA shouldn’t have let Jeff Hardy get to the ring in that state, but Jeff shouldn’t be fucked up at work in the first place. Taking drugs is one thing, but to do it at work, regardless of your profession, is just plain stupid. Jeff claims he was just tired due to his hectic schedule, but that was bullshit; his schedule for WWE was much bigger than it ever has been for TNA. And what's even worse? He has a wife and child. Does he do drugs around his child? I certainly hope not. That would be Jeff's lowest possible ebb.

And then there’s Matt. Now for the most part, there hasn’t been any evidence that Matt has any drug problems, or he takes drugs at all for the contrary. But his attitude in general just stinks, much worse than Jeff’s for the most part. He just thinks so high of himself, heck, both Hardy brothers do. On the top of their game, Jeff Hardy is a great talent capable of having great matches, and is world champion material. Matt is a step below that; capable of having good matches with most people yet never really deserving a place in the elite. That’s my frank opinion of them both, when they’re sober and motivated. But Matt just thinks he’s better than everyone. Their attitude is disgusting.

And the thing that pisses me off the most? Is usually around December/January time, when Matt Hardy promises to himself and to his fans that “a new era of Matt Hardy has begun”. Every year he says that, without fail. He can’t come to terms with the fact that Matt Hardy is actually passed his prime. He can’t compete as well as he could in the past. He can still go, but his ability seems to be on the wane. He just thinks far too much of himself, and can never take a look in the mirror and see his true self. Matt Hardy’s worst moment of past may not have had anything to do with drugs like Jeff, but it was harming his girlfriend, Reby Sky, who I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know via Formspring. He and Jeff tasered her, live on camera, before putting it on Youtube, to the horror of many people. How fucking sick is that? Abusing your own girlfriend on camera? As I said, I’ve spoken to Reby a few times and she seems like a really nice woman, someone that really loves being with her boyfriend. But things like this just disgust me personally.

And then we come to the news from this weekend. Matt Hardy crashing into a tree, drunk. TNA immediately fire him, it was obviously the last straw for them. His reaction? He denies it, and hints at a move back to WWE? How pathetic! The WWE won’t want to go anywhere near Matt Hardy. He really must think too high of himself if he even thinks they’ll touch him again based on the problems he caused less than a year ago, and for his reckless actions. He denies it, but there’s no evidence for or against it at present. Matt and Jeff Hardy deny any wrongdoing they ever do. They just think they can do what they want, when they want and because they have a certain element of celebrity status and star power, they get away with certain things.

Matt "I wasn't drink-driving" Hardy.

Which brings me to my point for this article – The Hardy Complex. Now this article is mainly about wrestling and the Hardy Boyz in particular, but it’s also about a life lesson in general. What is The Hardy Complex? It’s a term me and my wife came up with a good six months ago, when looking at these two brothers. The Hardy Boyz have their fans, many of them. Probably in the millions. And whenever things go wrong for them, if they crash into a tree, take drugs, tase their girlfriend, or turn up to a PPV mainevent fucked up, they blame someone else. They don’t take responsibility for their actions. And The Hardy Complex? They seek comfort and sympathy from those that love them. They go to their fans; their blind fans, who will stick by them no matter what. They go to these fans who will agree with them, that it’s ‘all the others’, and never their fault. It’s not Matt Hardy’s fault he crashed into a tree, drunk. It’s not Jeff Hardy’s fault he decided to take drugs. It’s the WWE’s fault for not accepting them for the way they are, as their talent warrants this behaviour and this lifestyle. It’s TNA’s fault as well no doubt.

That’s The Hardy Complex. It’s a lot more popular than you think. You probably know many people that have it. You know, they have a problem, they don’t accept responsibility for it, and then go to all their friends and family and seek consolation, knowing that the love they receive will make them truly believe that they are not the reason their life is fucking up. I know a few people myself. The best thing to do is to stay away from them, let them believe they are not responsible for the shit that happens in their life and concentrate on your own. The Hardy Complex. Seriously, if you are having shit happening in your life, look at yourself in the mirror and truly seek a way out of the problems that occur. Don’t blame people, or things. There may be small things that make the path you’re currently on harder, there may be small things that aren’t actually your fault. But for the most part, you are the reason you are where you are. Not other people, or things. The Hardy Complex.

“Hardy! Hardy! Hardy..." what their fans be saying really is “Hardy's. Look at yourselves. Sort your life out”. Thanks for reading.

My wife made me a Facebook page, so you can now 'like' me by clicking here.

The Mercy Side: CM Punk - Legitimate World Champion

Hey everyone, after six months of non-stop music writing I bet you all forgot I'm a wrestling fan! But seriously though, anyone who watched the Money in the Bank pay-per-view on last Sunday saw one of the most amazing wrestling programs in a long time. I wanted to write about this earlier last week but I had to finish of my commitment to the Noughtie series.

I've been a fan of wrestling for around ten years now, and I honestly can't say I've seen a better pay-per-view from start to finish. The work put into that PPV, from the top, Vince McMahon and Triple H, John Laurinaitis, to the booking of anyone else involved in that side of things, and most importantly, the wrestlers. Everyone gave their all on last Sunday, and while some people were limited (Mark Henry, Kelly Kelly), they still put their all into it and produced a memorable night of wrestling/sports entertainment. Now I'm not going to place it in any list of amazing PPVs in the history of this business, for the moment I'm a bit fed up of listings, I'm here to talk about CM Punk, and the history he made on last Sunday night.

I found this picture on a Google search, I don't know if it's legitimate.

Now, I'm going to set something straight here. I'm not going to just kiss CM Punks ass in this article for a couple of thousand words. I want to put a perspective on the guy, one that you may or may not have thought of. It is my opinion that on Sunday, CM Punk became what I call a legitimate world champion. What, he's won the title four times right? He was already one before hand Johnny Mercyside! Not in my eyes he wasn't. Now before you scroll down to the bottom of the page and rip me in the comments section, hear me out.

CM Punk is now a four-time champion, a six time if you include his reigns as WWECW and ROH champion. Now, I'm going to piss off a lot of the Internet Wrestling Community off by disregarding the ROH title reign straight away. Like it or not, and the same applies to TNA, WWE is the top. It is the crème de la crème. I'm not saying that the people in the WWE are the most gifted wrestlers in the world. I'd be a fool to suggest that. You have AJ Styles, Daniels, Samoa Joe, Shelton Benjamin, Jack Evans, Low Ki, Charlie Haas and Austin Aries who are all phenomenal athletes in different ways and don't currently work for WWE. But…. TNA is not on par with WWE now. It just isn't the same as the nineties wars. I'm sorry TNA fans. There were legitimate world champions in WCW. The only person in TNA I can possibly name in the same bracket is possibly AJ Styles. He has become a magnificent diamond in the centre of TNA, and has definitely contributed to the growth of TNA worldwide in a major way. But it takes more than natural talent to become a legitimate world champion. Or at least in my eyes you do.

Hulk Hogan. Randy Savage. Ric Flair. The Undertaker. Sting. Bret Hart. Shawn Michaels. Steve Austin. The Rock. Goldberg. Triple H. Kurt Angle. John Cena. Edge. Randy Orton. Batista. There's a lot more, definitely before the wrestling boom of the eighties, but that covers a good portion of the recent ones. I'd say all the names above are legitimate world champions. There are many, many, people not on the list that are more talented.  Hulk Hogan's Leg Drop isn't the deadliest finisher in the world. John Cena's moveset does feel limited sometimes. Goldberg made a career of destroying other's careers for his own selfish motives in WCW. But all the people above, can all say they contributed to the gain of the WWE, or WCW in Sting's case, and a few others who had greater success there. They brought in a new audience, and the people that were already watching were licking their lips in awe.

Just in case you still don't understand what I'm getting at here, the names above can all turn heads in wrestling. They can get fans attention. They can, as Eric Bischoff puts it, put asses in seats. They draw fans to the product. And as flashy as some of the smaller named guys are, and seriously, I genuinely love some of those guys, they aren't going to do that all the time. They aren't the 'diamond'. Hulk Hogan is arguably the reason wrestling is on the map today, combined with Vince McMahon's vision; they are both responsible for the way things have evolved for the past thirty years. And yes, Hogan has become a stupid senile man who is tarnishing his legacy in TNA. But in the eighties, before I was born, it was all different. Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan had epic battles. It was the in ring storyline, combined with the out of the ring storyline, that created one of the best feuds of all time. I could easily name big 'moments' for all the above wrestlers, but it should be common knowledge and if you want to know their history, look it up.

There are names that are omitted from that list. One is Eddie Guerrero. A fantabulous wrestler. An amazing talent on the mic. But... did he really contribute a great deal for the WWE? Yes, I am talking about financial gain, but there is more than that too. There's the longevity, there's the consistency, there's face value, there's the dependency. That last one is arguably the most important. Eddie only won the title once remember. And can you argue they could trust their product with Eddie Guerrero? Did he have a long and luxurious title reign? I can’t say they felt they could trust him. Rest in peace dude. The same can be said about Chris Benoit. I don't think the company got to the point where they can make the guy their 'face' guy. And then he did what he did... and the rest doesn't need to be brought up.

Okay, let's try a current wrestler - Rey Mysterio. I don't see Rey in that light either. I love seeing Rey flying in the ring night after night. In the nineties there was genuinely no one like him. And he is a two-time champion. The company booking BOTH his title reigns badly suggests they don't quite like the idea of putting the title on the little man. Rey has made a lot of money for both the WWE and himself with his mask sales, his fantastic fanbase in his home country of Mexico, and his appeal to small children. But can Rey make the company and the wrestling fanbase bow to his feet? I don't think so. And what of Chris Jericho, six time champion? Well, he's my favourite wrestler. But as he really contributed significantly to the growth of the business? He's definitely one of the most all-round gifted athletes, and has helped the careers of many others, but contribute to the growth of the business dramatically? I'm not really sure.

CM Punk is a four-time champion. His three previous title reigns were quite poor. His first one, he beat Edge, and then wasn't book greatly for two months before getting punted by Randy Orton, making him vacate the title. His second and third title reigns are sandwiched between Jeff Hardy's title reign. While the feud was fantastic (best feud of the year) there was no star making moments involved. Jeff did a great Swanton Bomb off the ladder through the announce table, but did anyone's stock rise at all? Did the WWE point at this and go - this is raising people's eyebrows and will gain positive attention? It didn't accelerate interest in the product unfortunately.

And in one month, CM Punk has done just that. Has his contract genuinely run out, or are the rumours true about it actually running out in September? If it's the former, has he signed a new contract? No one knows. His promo from a few weeks back has been hailed as the best promo in ten years. It was a truly flash to a time where promos were often like that, in the Attitude Era. CM Punk was doing what arguably no member of the current roster can do at present, and that is turn heads.

Is it true that CM Punk was asked for interviews with ESPN, and other major sports media outlets? Who knows, but I wouldn't be surprised. Did his stock rise in the past month? In Stone Cold's words, oh hell yeah. And he did it in a way that you can argue is old school, he said controversial things. And it was all in PG. Yes he said ass, yes he said other offensive things. But he didn't swear. He didn't beat Cena until he bled. He cut a fantastically edgy promo, one that had many truths in it. It was a worked shoot. He created this brilliant dilemma for Vince McMahon with the WWE title. He raised major interest in WWE Ice Cream bars being resurrected. He made marks love him, despite being a heel, something that is also difficult to do nowadays. The dilemma he made with the title probably caught the attention of so many people who aren't necessarily regular WWE fans. Punk said, "ESPN and Kimmel are ringing my phone off the hook for a story". He was probably telling the truth. I bet so many people caught wind of what happened, people who aren't major wrestling fans, and wanted to know what the hell was going to go down on Sunday. I really want to know what the buyrate was for MITB.

The funny thing is, most importantly, CM Punk has single handedly made the WWE title important again, something that hasn't been done in such a long time. Him taking the title out of the WWE has made for some fantastic television. 'What is this rebel going to do next?', people will question. I hope Raw views go up. If it does, CM Punk is responsible for that. And bringing the title to Comic Con, and then to an indy show, is really selling the idea that he is unemployed, and is acting on behalf of WWE. Of course I don’t know for sure, but based on the evidence provided in the past month, you’d assume he has signed that contract.

CM Punk has finally become a legitimate world champion. In a nutshell, the fact that CM Punk can draw makes him a legitimate world champion. There were question marks over his ability to draw, there were question marks over his ability to be  a star in WWE, despite his great natural talent. He has been bitching about not getting the opportunity of showing what he is capable of when given the spotlight, and rightfully so. The WWE gave him the torch, and he set fire to the WWE. Look how it's paid off. CM Punk is the crown jewel in the hottest wrestling angle for years. The moments that are currently taking place on our screens in the last few weeks will live in the memory. Austin 3:16 Promo. Hulk slamming Andre. Montreal Screwjob. DX invading WCW. And now, the fantastic promos. The brilliant wrestling match with John Cena. The kick to Alberto Del Rio. The kiss to Vince McMahon on the ramp. Running through the Chicago home crowd, stealing the title. Yes, CM Punk taking the title from right under Vince McMahon's nose will be remembered as an OMG moment in the history of this wrestling business.

Do you agree with me? Disagree? Am I being too harsh on TNA and ROH? How about the other wrestlers I didn't include in the list? Let me know what you think of this article below. Thanks for reading.

The Mercy Side: The British Invasion in Wrestling

6 days to go...

Hey everyone, this is the last thing I'll be writing before the Noughtie series begins. I'm going away tomorrow to see a good friend in Ireland, and to watch some TNA wrasslin'. I hope you have a good weekend, and please come back to this site on Wednesday, when I kick off the Noughtie series, starting with my favourite artists of the decade (to see the entire series plan, click here). Anyway, here's another article on wrestling!

The past few years, the two biggest companies in wrestling have done something that has arguably not been done in American wrestling. They're investing a surge of British talent into their programming. We've had some decent British talent in the past make an impact in the US, such legends like Giant Haystacks, Dynamite Kid, Fit Finlay, Mark Rocco, Davey Boy Smith and William Regal. Some have been more successful than others, but all have something in common. They've never one the big one, the WWF, WWE, WCW or TNA title.

Sheamus, is the first born champion from the Republic of Ireland, something the Irish are proud of. Isn't it time the UK break the deadlock? We have more chance now more than ever. There's a fantastic surge of British talent, one that is possibly stronger than any surge in American wresting history. Let's go through the British talent in WWE and TNA now.

Wade Barrett (WWE)

Preston born Stu Bennett was trained by Al Snow at the age of 21. He had performed in America through his entire career, from the NWA, All Star Wrestling, Real Quality Wrestling before arriving in the WWE in 2007, signing for their developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling. After OVW and WWE parted ways, he moved to Florida Championship Wrestling, their new developmental territory. Two years after signing with WWE, he moved to a colour commentator position for FCW, before joining the first season of NXT, WWE's semi-reality wrestling program.

In NXT, Wade Barrett was born. He was mentored by Chris Jericho, and although he wasn't the best wrestler in the world, his work as a colour commentator and his mentor in Chris Jericho made him into easily the best talker on the show. His "winds of change" promo still sticks in my mind, as he was in front of a Manchester audience, the closest major city to his hometown. You could tell, he really wanted to be the first English born champion. Since winning NXT, he has come leaps and bounds, lead the newly born faction Nexus into one of the biggest impact storylines of the last year. He has improved his mic skills phenomenally, and his in ring work has also got better. He has had a fantastic feud with John Cena, he has main evented Pay Per Views. Since Nexus has been split into two he has now founded another faction called The Corre, who will debut officially tomorrow night.

Will he be champion?

He is one of two reasons why I am writing this article. The story of Wade Barrett is a great one. I'm so happy for him. I desperately want him to represent my country as champion, it's stupid we haven't had a British Champion in however long it's been. Wade is a very good talent, and the best thing is that he's not even close to being at his peak. He's not long turned 30, he has a good 5 years to hone his skills even further. Will he be champion? I hope so, the sky's the limit for him.

Desmond Wolfe (TNA)

From the North to the South. Steven Harworth, born in Kent, is arguably the best gifted British wrestler since Davey Boy Smith. I've had the pleasure of seeing Wolfe , also very well known as Nigel McGuiness, perform last year. Desmond started his career in America in Ohio, where he got into debt honing his skills. After debuting in the Heartland Wrestling Association, he decided to move back to England to be financially in a better position to take on the HWA. His original character, Nigel McGuiness was a punk and post punk rebel, very similar to his character now, using swear words more familiar in England (like wanker, it's much more offensive in the UK than in the US) and sticking two fingers up at everybody. His character got ridiculously over, as well as his in ring ability. He was a technical genius, but was also a stiff hitter, his combination of the two got him notoriety on the Indy wrestling scene, especially when he moved to Ring of Honor , the third biggest wrestling promotion in America, where he spent 6 years. While perfoming well in America, he also performed in Japan, where he was also well received.

It was inevitable that Wolfe would end up in TNA or WWE, it was a matter of when rather than if. Both companies tussled over his signature, when WWE came up on top, only for Wolfe to fail his medical there. TNA took advantage of this open opportunity and Wolfe was christened, and shot 

straight to the top card with a fantastic feud with Kurt Angle, one of my favourite feuds of recent memory.

Will he be champion?

I can't say. As talented as Wolfe is, he is the most talented of all the wrestlers I'll mention, ever since his first feud in TNA with Kurt Angle, which was just over a year ago now, Wolfe hasn't been used to his full potential. He has been used more like a mechanic (a guy who puts people over, but is also an in-ring general) than anything else, he has put over The Pope, Rob Van Dam and Abyss. Since then he has formed a tag team with someone else in this list, and appeared off television for undisclosed reasons. It's frustrating though, Wolfe deserves better, there aren't many completely gifted wrestlers in TNA better than him. So the truth, will he be champion? If he gets the right push, yes. If they (or him) hold him back, no.

Drew McIntyre (WWE)

Drew Galloway, from Ayr in Scotland, is the only Scottish wrestler on this list. He started training for wrestling as a 15 year old boy, and worked in both England and Scotland. He was a heavyweight champion at a very early age, and also found success afterwards in Ireland, winning the heavyweight title in Irish Whip Wrestling. 6 years after debuting in 2007 the WWE took a punt on this young wrestling prodigy. He further developed in WWE's terrirotial companies, OVW and FCW, similar to Wade Barrett. Unlike Wade though, he won the FCW heavyweight title in his time there.

It was sooner rather than later that this very well thought of young man would appear on WWE television. Drew was officially called Drew McIntyre when the inevitable happened, and made his debut by attacking R-Truth on Smackdown and started a feud. (His actual official debut was unsuccessful and is disregarded by WWE, this was his second debut.) His arrogance and cold demeanour got him over as a heel. He was given the nickname "The Chosen One", as Vince McMahon has personally chosen him as a future WWE champion (storyline-wise). He won the Intercontinental title very quickly, defeating John Morrison.

Will he be champion?

It's definitely a possibility. However recently he has gone from heading for the skies to being involved in a storyline jobber. He found some success with Cody Rhodes as a tag team but nothing big of note. WWE, like TNA with Wolfe just stopped pushing him. Drew McIntyre is very young and that's definitely in his favour, being 25 and having the experience and the potential so early will help him. His mic skills are decent, his strong Scottish accent will give him instant heat, but his in-ring work is average. But, up until recently anyway, he has been pushed strongly in every promotion he has worked in. I'd like to hope he'll get another Intercontinental title reign sometime soon, and then progress from there.

Doug Williams (TNA)

Reading born Doug Dirdle, who has wrestled as Doug Williams pretty much everywhere he has been, is actually the oldest wrestler in this group, coming in at the age of 38. His history is long, dating back to the early nineties where he worked for NWA UK Hammerlock, and became heavyweight champion there. He spent a long part of his career there, before doing a lot of tours in the US, and eventually wound up in Ring of Honor in 2002. He spent a good 5 years there, but not winning the big one. Whilst working for ROH he also worked the indy scene, and also Pro Wrestling Noah in Japan. He got his TNA break in 2008, after working in TNA's UK tour. It wasn't long before he started The British Invasion with two other guys on this list, who also aligned with the World Elite, an anti-America faction. They won the tag titles twice before Doug started to challenge for the X-Division title.

The X-Division title is where Doug Williams started to really shine. Unlike all the other X-Division wrestlers, Doug was a mat-wrestler, a technical wrestler, who used the mat to grind down the high flyers. His anti-X-Division approach made him have pretty damn good matches with Amazing Red, Shannon Moore, Kazarian, Brian Kendrick and Sabu.

Will he be champion?

No, unfortunately. The main reason is his age, he is probably feeling on top of the world right now, having very good matches, he was also part of a high storyline stable with Fourtune, and has now turned face. But he is 38, how many new champions start their first title reign at 38 nowadays? He got over in a big company too late, but I'm sure he doesn't mind, he's making decent money and having good matches, he's earned the respect of the American audience to boot. I have a lot of time for Doug Williams, but he won't be heavyweight champion.

Rob Terry (TNA)

30 year old Rob Terry is fucking huge. Steroidically huge. there's very little known about the guy, even his age is difficult to find properly, but he is from Swansea, in South Wales and he signed a developmental contract with WWE in 2007. Nothing has been discovered about him before hand really, so he could be in Year 4 of his total wrestling training and career for all we know. He didn't last long in WWE, presumably because he is a very green wrestler, but was given a chance in TNA in 2009, joining The British Invasion.

Due to his very large size, he was the muscle in the faction, and helped the tag team champions keep their gold. He didn't get in the ring often and I've barely heard him speak on the mic. When The British Invasion split, he was pushed very strongly as TNA's Global champion. He beat Eric Young back in Cardiff, near his home town of Swansea in Wales, a very memorable and emotional victory for him. TNA gave him a huge push, getting very quick victories against jobbers over and over again.

Will he be champion?

It's possible. TNA are definitely interested in him, he's a ridiculous looking guy, he's just huge. Like it or not, TNA and WWE respect big guys, he doesn't have to be able to do a Perfectplex or a BME to get over, he just has to smash someone's face off with a large clothesline, it's very effective. That's what TNA have been doing and it's working. It really depends on how the TNA fans react, they used to hate Rob Terry as he couldn't work very well, but their feelings are slowly changing, because TNA are suspending disbelief, they are telling their fans "this guy is a freak, he is kick-ass". And it's working. Will he be champion? With Hulk Hogan and Vince Russo in charge, both guys who are interested in big guys, it's possible, but he needs to get bigger and bigger reactions. Rob Terry needs to follow Batista's example, and hope to god that his Welsh accent isn't that strong, because he'll sound like a moron!

Magnus (TNA)

Nick Aldis is the youngest guy on this list, at the very young age of 24. While he's the youngest, he does have 7 years wrestling experience behind him, before any training. The only major note of his time before joining TNA in 2008 is that he had a well respected 2 out of 3 falls match with Doug Williams. But joining TNA at the age of 21 is a big boost to anyone's confidence, especially as he joined before the other two members of The British Invasion. So Magnus was born, and developed with Doug Williams and Rob Terry as the British trio, who held the tag titles together. The best thing about Magnus is his facial expressions, he has this "I'm so much better than you" smirk when posing. Doug, being the veteran, has definitely helped his development as a wrestler.

Will he be champion?

I really can't say. He is 24 and has just signed a new TNA contract, so the future is his and TNA's to make. If he does, it will be a long road ahead, he hasn't had any major push at all, Doug Williams and Rob Terry have had more prominent pushes. But he is 14 and 6 years younger than them respectively, so he has that to his advantage. Pairing him up with Desmond Wolfe is a great move for him (not so much for Wolfe), as he has another very good wrestler to learn his trade with. Will he be champ? He needs to get over more, and improve in the ring, but it's not out of the realms of possibility.

I said there was two reasons why I'm writing this article, the first being Wade Barrett's fantastic achievements so far in the WWE. The second, I'm sure you know it's coming, is this guy:

Mason Ryan (WWE)

If you watched Raw on Monday, you may have seen a guy make his debut by attacking John Cena and joining CM Punk's tweaked Nexus faction. He is Mason Ryan, or Barri Griffiths from near Porthmadog in North Wales, but some people have been calling him Batistwo, as he resembles Batista a great deal. He is very new to the sport, only starting his training 5 years ago, but his physical presence, similar to Rob Terry, is what makes him stand out. When the WWE lost Batista, they started to show strong interest in this guy, to actually make him their Batistwo, and Monday's Raw is what you got.

Will he be champion?

With how fast the WWE have pushed him into the spotlight, despite his very little experience (he actually kinda botched some of his moves on Raw) then yes, it's definitely possible. He has to use his physical appearance to his advantage, and take the Batista route to success. He'll be the bodyguard piece for Nexus, and he will benefit from CM Punk's tremendous knowledge and in ring psychology, and mic skills. Hopefully his Welsh accent, like Rob Terry's, isn't too strong as it's an awful accent to have in America. Will he become champion? Keep in the right road, get over, and then yes, definitely.

These 7 guys are The British Invasion for America. I'm hoping one, if not two or three, can finally break into the major American heavyweight title history books. I'm proud to be British, I'm proud to be born in Merseyside, and be a Scouse, and I'm proud to have spent 13 years in Wales, and learn how to speak Welsh. Seeing these 7 guys representing these Great British Isles is fantastic. I don't know if I can remember 7 guys from the UK involved strongly in big wrestling promotions. Sheamus has broke through for Ireland, can Wade Barrett do it for England? Can Mason Ryan do it for Wales? Can Drew McIntyre do it for Scotland? And Northern Ireland, where the fuck are you? Fit Finlay is too late now, bring someone else in! Let's get these UK wrestlers over, and make wrestling in this country more popular. Wrestling isn't the way it used to be in the UK, since the 70's, hopefully these 7 guys will make the UK more interested in this great sports entertainment. They have my support anyway. Thanks for reading.