Happy Birthday JohnnyMercyside.Blogspot.Com !

Hey everyone, I hope you like the new website layout. You can comment below if you want to give me feedback on it.

One year today I started this website. I had roughly a three year 'hiatus' before then, having finished my education in Wales, I moved to Hampshire and my computer broke down. I then started working full time. Not long later, my now wife, got pregnant. Everything  that was happening in my life was new to me and with no computer, I stopped writing. 

Then last year I got a computer, with the help of a good friend in Michele, I was determined to write again. In those three years beforehand, I was gathering ideas, and developing interests, the main one being the Noughtie series that you might have been witnessing for the last six months. So I started this site, and in the past 12 months I've written more than I ever did in the past eight years.  Whether it's been a review, or a 3000+ word opinion piece, a mixtape or a listing, it's been a great journey for me personally, I'm really developing my writing skills and I'm exploring my interests further. A year ago I had never written about football or wrestling, I had only written about games and music, the latter very infrequently. I still find writing about video games to be the easiest thing to do, but I hope my opinions and writing style are pleasing to some of you in the other fields. 

I just wanted to write a few paragraphs thanking everyone who has supported me not only for the past 12 months, but in my writing in general. I still have high ambitions to do this professionally one day, just on my terms. At the moment though it remains a hobby, one I'm passionate about. I've had nearly 28000 page views in that time. For me personally, that's an incredible statistic. I'm sure a lot of bloggers are out there with much more than me, but I don't mind, I'm just hoping I can continue to grow. I average around 3000 page views per month, the peak being April, where I had over 4100. These stats are just awesome, for me anyway.

Just in case you're relatively new to my work, or spontaneously found this website by chance, here are the Top 10 projects in order of pageviews that I've done on this site in the past year:

#10 - CM Punk - Legitimate World Champion

Type: The Mercy Side Opinion Article

Pageviews: 138

I only wrote this days ago and it's already my tenth highest viewed section of the site. Here I explain how CM Punk's amazing surge in popularity in recent weeks solidifies his position amongst the elite in drawing power in wrestling.

#9 - Left 4 Dead 2

Type: Video Game Review

Pageviews: 182

This is the only video game review to make the Top 10, which is a shame. I rated the game ****1/4 stars and I compare it with the original game, explaining why I personally, rate the first one more.

#8 - My Top 10 Games Featured on the GameFAQs.com Game of the Decade List

Type: Listing

Pageviews: 187

Just in case you didn't know, in the winter GameFAQs did a competition to find out what is considered the best game of the last decade, with The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask winning the entire competition. It started off with 128 games, and from that list, I picked my personal 10 favourites.

#7 - My Top 10 Favourite Levels on Platformer Games

Type: Listing

Pageviews: 252

I reminisce over my favourite levels in platformer titles. There's some great nostalgia here, as the platformer is a dying art unfortunately.

#6 - Gimmick and Shock Value in Music

Type: The Mercy Side Opinion Article

Pageviews: 256

An article going back in time at all the shock rockers of the past, and how they all eventually all are influences on Lady Gaga's rise to superstardom. To answer the question of whether or not she'll be a long term success or fall to mediocrity and outlive her gimmick, it still remains to be seen but her second album is a commercial and critical success so things are still going in her favour. Good luck to her I suppose.

#5 - Why I Want a Final Fantasy VI Remake

Type: The Mercy Side Opinion Article

Pageviews: 291

My first major opinion article on the site. It's still one I'm proud of and I still feel the same way 10 months later. I'd love a FF6 remake, it'd be fricking awesome. It sparked some decent debate too, some purists think it'd be a bad idea, an opinion I understand but disagree with. It's a good read if you haven't read it yet.

And then, there's the big four...

#4 - The British Invasion in Wrestling

Type: The Mercy Side Opinion Article

Pageviews: 3209

I couldn't believe how much interest there was in this article. It's got the most pageviews for a single post on the site. I still get people reading it today, and it's just awesome. I basically talk about how there's a lot of British talent in the WWE and TNA now and it's about time we break our duck in terms of getting our first ever British World Heavyweight Champion. 

#3 - The Top 50 Greatest Wrestling Catchphrases Past and Present

Type: Listing

Pageviews: 4330

The above post may have the most pageviews individually, but the above project was only three posts long, and they take up the spaces of 2nd, 3rd and 6th place in the Top 10 individual pageview tallies. The best part for me personally is the fact that if you seach the term "wrestling catch phrases" in Google, my site is the top option, which is brilliant. It's a good set of wrestling catchphrases, even if you're not the biggest wrestling fan in the world you must have heard of some of them. The first of the three posts is above.

#2 - Noughtie: The Best in Music 2000-2009

Type: Listings and Mixtapes

Pageviews: 4764

My six month project finally came to an end around two weeks ago. I cover everything to do with the decade of music, from my personal favourite tracks each year to the songs I think will be cemented in music history as the greatest tracks of all time. It's a very long read, the total project is over 70,000 words long, but I thoroughly enjoyed writing it. The first post is above and you can follow the links in the logo section.

#1 - My Top 50 Final Fantasy Characters

Type: Listing

Pageviews: 6094

Yep, in total for pageviews my most successful project was my first major one, my personal favourite Final Fantasy characters. I absolutely adored writing this list out and I think people enjoyed reading it too which is a good bonus. All the 11 posts in the series all have a decent amount of pageviews, unlike the Noughtie series above where some posts weren't popular, so it's the combined effort of consistency that decided this one. So it may not be the biggest, but according to the pageviews, it's the best. So if you haven't read my Top 50 FF Characters, give it a look above if you like the series. It's a project I'm proud of. The first of eleven posts is above.

And there we go. Thanks for reading my work, I thoroughly appreciate it. If you like it, you can 'like' me on Facebook, the link is now to the right after a site reshuffle. Here's to the next 12 months! Take care.

The Top 50 Greatest Wrestling Catchphrases Past and Present: #10 - #1

We’ve arrived at The Top 10 now. Once again I’ll reiterate, I believe these 10 catchphrases are the most important, the greatest, in the biz. They aren’t my personal favourite 10. For instance, one of my favourite ever catchphrases is “DAMN!” by Ron Simmons. But that’s already been. It would be wrong of me to put that in the Top 10, it’s simply not important or revolutionary enough.

Anyway, here we go, the Top 10, and also, why…

#10

Catchphrase: “To a nicer guy, it couldn't have happened!”

Wrestler: Buddy Rodgers

This is the catchphrase that pretty much popularised and revolutionised the need for wrestlers to use words to back up their great wrestling prowess. It’s been debatable about Buddy Rodgers, did he mean it? Was it kayfabe? Or was he just an egotistical man? Or was he winding people up, the way so many other guys do it today. At the time, the use of a catchphrase was pretty non-existent. That’s why Buddy Rodger’s deserves a place in the Top 10. If it wasn’t for him, where would we be today?

#9

Catchphrase: “And that's the bottom line, cuz Stone Cold said so!”

Wrestler: Stone Cold Steve Austin

 

Stone Cold has already featured in the Top 50 once before, and he will once again. His second entry is the catchphrase he usually finishes off his promos with. And man, it stuck. From the first time he said it, to his sporadic appearances now, it gets a fantastic response. Almost everything that came out of Stone Cold’s mouth was golden; he said what he wanted to say and didn’t give a shit what you thought. But then again, in The Attitude Era this was a good trait to have, he was so over at the time!

 

#8

Catchphrase: “The best there is, the best there was, the best there ever will be.”

Wrestler: Bret Hart

Not one of my particular favourites, but you can’t underestimate how popular this was. Bret Hart is a legend. This was his key phrase. Whenever people talk about him, this is one of the things people think of. It’s as simple as that. It’s a phrase so easy to think of, yet so particular to one man only – Bret Hart. That’s why he’s so high in the list.

 

#7

Catchphrase: “You're fired!”

Key figure: Vince McMahon

It’s the highest up two worded catchphrase on the list. These two words are pretty much the epitome of Mr McMahon, the evil boss of WWE, and his character. It’s not just the words, but how he says it. Man, he says it with so much vinegar, it’s so iconic, his face, his scowl, everything. It’s a fantastic catchphrase and yes, he does say it better than both Donald Trump AND Sir Alan Sugar!

 

#6

Catchphrase: “Rest in peace!”

Wrestler: The Undertaker 

Whenever I think of this phrase personally, I always laugh because in one of the video packages leading upto Wrestlemania last April, it sounded like ‘Taker said “Rest in… BEEEES!” which was funny. But on an iconic level, it’s quite simply, like Bret Hart, the phrase associated with the wrestler. But unlike Bret Hart, The Undertaker had a gimmick, one that he has used for a very long time. The character, the phrase, they just combine so easily. I don’t even know how popular “RIP” was before The Undertaker, I’d probably have to ask people who were adults in the eighties. What? I’m only 21!

 

#5

Catchphrase: “If you're not down with that, we got two words for you, suck it!”

Wrestlers: D-Generation X

This phrase, along with the crotch chop, are what went part and parcel with the Attitude Era. This is on here ahead of a few just because it’s a better line for crowd interaction. It’s so popular, Shawn Michaels doesn’t even have to say the last two words if he doesn’t have to. He can just let the crowd do it. It’s popular enough to bypass the double standards that is the WWE PG era, despite “sucking it” is most certainly not PG.

 

#4

Catchphrase: “If you smell! What the Rock is cooking!”

Wrestler: The Rock

Similar to my Top 50 Final Fantasy Characters listing, there’s a Top 4 cut off point. I’d say the Top 4 are that much better than the rest. We start off with The Rock’s ending to his promos. There are so many of the Rock’s catchphrases that could have been in this list, quantity wise. But how revolutionary they all are, is up for debate. For me, the true catchphrase The Rock used consitently was this one. He chopped it, changed it, said it more than once sometimes, and also used delays. He had the audience in his palm whenever he said the final line in his inevitably brilliant promo. Even more recently, when he did taped promos to promote something, he’d know when to stop, when to say “… is cookin’, it didn’t matter that it was taped, the audience probably didn’t even notice it wasn’t live. He’s a true legend on the mic, and this is truly his best line.

 

#3

Catchphrase: “Whatcha gonna do, when Hulkamania runs wild on you!”

Wrestler: Hulk Hogan

Which brings me to Hulk Hogan’s second and final entry into the list. This line was just phenomenal. It’s truly, like many in the Top 10, associated with the wrestler. And what a wrestler he was. Not in his in ring ability, but in his ability to work a crowd. He knew how to excite an audience, which his mannerisms, his voice, his pointing. “Brother”. But despite what he did, he wouldn’t be as big as he is today without the above catchphrase. So tell me. Whatcha gonna do?! Whatcha gonna do, when Johnny Mercyside reveals the top 2?!

 

#2

Catchphrase: “What?”

Wrestler: Stone Cold Steve Austin

The top two phrases do something that no other phrases do. There’s a big two, in a big four in this list. What? What? What? Stone Cold’s “What?” phrase, is just stupid. He knows it, we all do. But it’s fantastic. He just interrupted people mid sentence, got in their face and said, “What?”. As I said, this and #1 do something that no other phrase does. These two phrases are used universally, in any situation, in any wrestling company, with any wrestler. How many times, since the early noughties, have you heard “What?” in the background, the crowd saying it, when someone delivers a promo? Almost every heel out there, will get this. The crowd just love saying it. They love saying that one word, they love to try and piss off the heel, acting. It’s great. It’s unique. It’s simple. 

Oh the other quote that falls into this category? Well quite simply, it’s:

#1

Catchphrase: “Woo!”

Wrestler: Ric Flair

It may not be too much of a surprise. It may be. But it’s not really a dispute. What catchphrase, what word, is associated with wrestling more than anything else? Woo! More so than “What?”, this is used all the time. Primarily when a wrestler uses the chop, I used to love seeing Chris Benoit go gung ho with chops while the crowd tries to get a “Woo!” in between each one. Seeing the wrestlers chop, seeing the red skin on the wrestlers chest, hearing the “Woo!” from the crowd, that’s wrestling. One of my favourite ever promos, was when Kurt Angle got drafted to Raw a few years back, and he had a “Woo-off” with Ric Flair. It was hilarious. Of course, Kurt Angle has tried to reincarnate the “Woo!”, and does a great job with it. Ric Flair is responsible for millions (…and millions, thanks Rocky!) of fans to say that three lettered word, in almost every match on every card in every wrestling organisation.

So Ric Flair, this trophy is for you! Woo!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this list. I hope you agree with it too, I tried to be unbiased, as I said. If you disagree, let me know, convince me that I’m wrong. I’m more than willing to change the list if many people thing a phrase is unfairly omitted, or if the order is wrong. I don’t think many in the Top 10 can be disputed though, but try me!

Before I finish, here’s another 10, a consolation list, in order of wrestler’s name, not in order how good they are:

“You didn't just say that. Tell me, you did not just say that?” Booker T

“I'm the best in the world at what I do.” Chris Jericho

“That's how I roll.” Christian

“Listen here, you pencil neck geeks!” Fred Blassie

“SmackDown!'s number one announcer!” Funaki

“Will you stop?” Gorilla Monsoon

“He's being beaten like a government mule!” Jim Ross

“If I could be serious for a moment.” Lance Storm

“Ohh yyes!” Paul Bearer

“I came to fight and chew bubble gum and I'm all out of bubble gum!” Roddy Piper

Once again thank you for reading this listing, I enjoyed writing it. Also again, as Mick Foley says, “Have a nice day!”

See other parts in the listing!

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

 

For the latest updates on my work, follow me on Facebook and Twitter here!

The Top 50 Greatest Wrestling Catchphrases Past and Present: #25 - #11

Hey everyone,

I hope you're enjoying the list so far. Nothing really more to say so let's just go on!

#25

Catchphrase: "Mr Kennedy! Kennedy!"

Wrestler: Mr Kennedy

#24

Catchphrase: "Are you ready? No I said, are, you, reeady?!"

Wrestler: D-Generation X

 

#23

Catchphrase: "You'll never, eever, be the same, again!"

Wrestler: Chris Jericho

 

#22

Catchphrase: "Win if you can, lose if you must, but I always cheat!"

Wrestler: Jesse Ventura

 

#21

Catchphrase: "It's true, it's damn true."

Wrestler: Kurt Angle

 

 

#20

Catchphrase: "Give me a hell yeah!"

Wrestler: Stone Cold Steven Austin

 

#19

Catchphrase: "Who's next?!"

Wrestler: Goldberg

 

#18

Catchphrase: "I am The Game and I am that damn good!"

Wrestler: Triple H

 

#17

Catchphrase: "Everybody has a price!"

Wrestler: Ted DiBiase

 

#16

Catchphrase: "To be the man, you gotta beat the man!"

Wrestler: Ric Flair

 

#15

Catchphrase: "The champ is here!"

Wrestler: John Cena

 

#14

Catchphrase: "Ohh, what a rush!!"

Wrestler: The Road Warriors

 

#13

Catchphrase: "I lie! I cheat! I steal!"

Wrestler: Eddie Guerrero

 

#12

Catchphrase: "Ooh yeah! Dig it!"

Wrestler: Randy Savage

 

#11

Catchphrase: "You can't see me!"

Wrestler: John Cena

So once again, do you agree? Disagree? What will be in the Top 10? Let me know what you think below. Top 10 time tomorrow!

See other parts in the listing!

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

 

For the latest updates on my work, follow me on Facebook and Twitter here!

The Top 50 Greatest Wrestling Catchphrases Past and Present: #50 - #26

Hey there people,

Welcome to my Top 50 Greatest Wrestling Catchphrases listing. This will be done in three parts in three days, so don't worry, it's not a 50 day job like my Top 50 Final Fantasy Characters listing was. Day #1 is today, I'll list from #50 to #26. Tomorrow I'll list from #25 to #11. I'll then list the Top 10 on day three, but also talk about why each entry into the Top 10 got to where they are.

Also, unlike My Top 50 FF Characters listing, this isn't a biased list. This is what I truly think the most important 50 catchphrases are in the industry, past and present. By industry, yes, I mean WWE. Each wrestler (not superstar!) in this list has or does work for the company. And by past and present, I'm not focusing on one part of the history of the biz. I've got eighties, nineties, noughties and present quotes in there. I've tried to call this down the line as possible. There is also a maximum of three quotes per wrestler, and there are a few guys in there that have three, not too may though.

Disagree? Think I've placed a phrase too high or low? Think I've missed a great catchphrase? Comment below, I'm more than willing to listen and maybe even change the list if you convince me! This isn't my favourite list, I don't think #1 is my favourite catchphrase. But it's probably undisputedly the most important phrase in this wickedly addictive thing we call wrestling.

And finally, there are commentator quotes on here, but they are regular catchphrases not particular to a wrestler. this is a list of catchphrases, not quotes, there are a lot of awesome quotes out there, but they aren't regular phrases said by the respective people.

Without further ado, here:s #50 - #26 in the Greatest Catchphrases, past and present...

#50

Catchphrase: "I am Alberto Del Rio, but you already knew that."

Wrestler: Alberto Del Rio

 

#49

Catchphrase: "Know your role, and shut your mouth!"

Wrestler: The Rock

 

#48

Catchphrase: "For the benefit of those with flash photography…"

Wrestlers: Edge and Christian

 

#47

Catchphrase: "I'm the man of the hour, the man with the power, too sweet to be sour."

Wrestler: Superstar Billy Graham

 

#46

Catchphrase: "…and I quote!"

Commentator: Michael Cole

 

#45

Catchphrase: "We are evil! Indeed!"

Wrestlers: Kai En Tai

 

#44

Catchphrase: "Welcome to Raw, is, Jericho!"

Wrestler: Chris Jericho

 

#43

Catchphrase: "Iran? Number 1! Russia? Number 1! USA? Hacktui!"

Wrestler: The Iron Sheik

 

#42

Catchphrase: "Have a nice day!"

Wrestler: Mick Foley

 

#41

Catchphrase: "Vintage!"

Commentator: Michael Cole

 

#40

Catchphrase: "I'm straight edge, and that means I'm better than you."

Wrestler: CM Punk

 

#39

Catchphrase: "It's a Slobberknocker!"

Commentator: Jim Ross

 

#38

Catchphrase: "Hoo! USA! USA!"

Wrestler: Hacksaw Jim Duggan

 

#37

Catchphrase: "Bang Bang!"

Wrestler: Mick Foley

 

#36

Catchphrase: "Oh, you didnt know? Your ass better call somebody!"

Wrestlers: The New Age Outlaws

 

#35

Catchphrase: "Excuse me!"

Valet: Vicky Guerrero

 

#34

Catchphrase: "The showstopper! The icon! The main event!"

Wrestler: Shawn Michaels

 

#33

Catchphrase: "I'm a limousine ridin', jet flying, kiss stealin', wheelin' dealin', son of a gun!"

Wrestler: Ric Flair

 

#32

Catchphrase: "It doesn't matter what you think!"

Wrestler: The Rock

 

#31

Catchphrase: "I'm The Miz and I'm awesome!"

Wrestler: The Miz

 

#30

Catchphrase: "Damn!"

Wrestler: Ron Simmons

 

#29

Catchphrase: "Just when you think you know the answers, I change the questions."

Wrestler: Roddy Piper

 

#28

Catchphrase: "Can you dig that? Sucker!"

Wrestler: Booker T

 

#27

Catchphrase: "Train. Say your prayers. Eat your vitamins."

Wrestler: Hulk Hogan

 

#26

Catchphrase: "D-Von! What?! Get the tables!"

Wrestler: The Dudley Boyz

Do you think some of these should be higher? What do you think is, or should be in the Top 25? Let me know in the comments below. I'll be back tomorrow with #25 - #11!

See other parts in the listing!

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

 

For the latest updates on my work, follow me on Facebook and Twitter here!

The Mercy Side: Thoughts on TNA Final Resolution and WWE Raw

Hey everyone,

I just thought I'd quickly run through my thoughts on the latest TNA Pay-Per-View and WWE's Monday Night Raw.
 
On the whole, Final Resolution was exactly what TNA is in general at the moment, a mixed bag of good, bad, and awful. The tag team matches were well received, and the Knockouts feud was also good. That's the good. The bad was the constant fuck-ups mid-broadcast - the PPV started a few minutes late. The hell? This is the biggest night of the month for the company and they screw the production up. There were blackouts, some parts had just sound, they put some videos or segments up early or late, it was a complete disaster. Abyss/Pope and Jarrett/Joe were pretty bad too, as expected.

And then the awful. Jeff Hardy. Now there have been conflicting reports to what happened on Sunday night. It doesn't matter what the truth is, if he was drunk, if he was high, if he was wasted, or if he was tired. Was he off his tits, or exhausted due to a ridiculous travel schedule? As I said it doesn't matter, it shouldn't have happened.

If he was high or drunk, get rid of him. If he has to take drugs, drink, fine, what people do in their personal lives is up to them. I don't condone drug taking but if TNA want to turn a blind eye that's fine. But if it affects work, then that's where the line is crossed. If I turned up to work drugged up and out of it, they'd sack me. It should apply anywhere, you are a professional. Yes, this is the wrestling biz, but it's also a national and a semi international product, that is watched in many different countries. Jeff Hardy is not only a role model to many people, especially children, but is the champion. He's the main man. He is booked to get asses into seats. If he is drugged up, he's simply, not going to perform. It makes him look really bad. It will make TNA look even worse. So as much as he's money, he's a big "superstar", he will be the cause of them losing money if they continue to let him get away with it.

But the more recent report is that it was all blown out of proportion, and that Jeff Hardy has been all over the world, promoting and performing. Now, if that's the case, that's TNA's fault. Final Resolution is the main night of the month, it's PPV night. All the month's work builds up to that one night. If they exhaust their champion to death before the main night, they're not going to get 100% out of him. He should be relaxing the day before, doing his usual work out, preparing for the night. Not travelling on planes and promoting TNA. It makes me laugh in a way, TNA's schedule is nothing on WWE's, they don't promote anywhere near as much as WWE wrestlers do. Jeff should know, he spent most of his career there. I don't know if TNA worked him too hard or if he isn't dealing with it well enough. Something needs to change, if there's nothing wrong with the schedule, and he can't deal with it, he's not fit for champion. John Cena is the most popular guy with casual fans in WWE, yet he backs it up by busting his ass day after day, year after year. That's one of the main reasons he has been champion so many times for so many days. WWE trust him with their product, if it's too much for Jeff Hardy he shouldn't carry the burden.
 
Now that's out of the way, I'd like to talk about Raw last night. It sounded okay, they didn't do anything mind blowing. CM Punk is really getting used to his new commentary role. I love his "my soda!" lines he keeps saying when the wrestlers get close to the announce table, or put someone through it. It's fantastic.
 
The Michael Cole angle sounded good as well, I just hope that he is going to be an official heel now, it's just frustrating when he praises some faces, it's not good for the casual fans who see Cole like some bad guys and some good guys. He needs to be consistent. I think Michael Cole may need to develop a heel manager persona down the line, his heat is fantastic right now. I wouldn't say The Miz, he can talk for England (I mean US, sorry), but maybe Alex Riley on his own, or with a stable. Cole, Riley and some one else, or a tag team. It might work.

The Orton/Miz stuff is working so far, not that I'm excited about their PPV match. It should be an okay match, but I don't think they'll have anything close to a match of the year standard match. But The Miz can talk, and Orton is over enough for there to be interest, mainly with the casual fans who want Orton to take The Miz out for his cocky chicken-shit heel approach.

Sheamus/Morrison is carrying on it seems. That's fine, maybe Triple H isn't quite ready yet. Sheamus should go over in their next match, and then Trips come back and beat him up. I want Morrison to go over personally, I'm a decent fan of his and think he deserves a break. But for storyline purposes it makes sense for Sheamus to go out of the feud looking strong so people can debate, can he actually beat Triple H? It's been close to a year now, since they first started their feud. Time flies.

That's it from me today. I should do these type of posts once in a while, it really depends on time, and if what happened in the week interests me. I'm not going to do any play-by-play or any reports, there's enough guys out there to do that. But if you want my views on wrestling, you know where to go.
 
Tomorrow I'll start my Top 50 Greatest Wrestling Catchphrases list. I'll post from #50 to #26 tomorrow. I hope you enjoy that. Have a good night.

For the latest updates on my work, follow me on Facebook and Twitter here!

The Mercy Side: Me and Wrestling

Hey everyone,


Welcome to my next article, I'm writing this more as a preview for my next listing, which is the Top 50 Greatest Wrestling Catchphrases. That will be up in around a weeks time. This article is merely stating my bond with this "sports entertainment", why I still watch it as an adult and father, and why it will probably never leave my life.


My interest started in the spring of 2001, I used to go to my friends house, his name was Matt (still good friends with him), he watched Smackdown! on a Saturday morning repeat. I told him I didn't like it, because it was fake, but he didn't care. As the weeks went by I got sucked into this world of wrestling and bad acting, sucked into the world where it was okay to put on baby oil and grapple men in their underwear. It was stupid but I loved it. I still do. I've got my fiancee into it, and my daughter likes it. I wrestle her, just like I also wrestled my siblings all those years ago, on my parents bed. The different between me wrestling and Matt wrestling is that I wasn't stiff, he used to beat me up, not that he hated me, he was just stiff. I remember one time he got me in a Walls of Jericho and he went further back than he anticipated, it felt like I had broken my back. I was obsessed with The Undertaker and Kane, The Brothers of Destruction, and always decided that if I were to be a wrestler I also would be a masked wrestler called Flesh, a crap ripoff of Kane.


My first ever PPV was WWF Invasion, but unlike everyone else, I watched this late, on S4C (the Welsh Channel 4), who played the PPV for free, just many weeks after it actually was on live. I remember hating Stone Cold for turning on the WWF and joining the Alliance. I remember thinking how hot Trish Stratus was, and how I hoped she would lose her match so I can see her in her bra and panties. But most surprisingly, I was hooked on Rob Van Dam vs Jeff Hardy for the Hardcore title, to this day one of my favourite matches. RVD hit a sick DDT on Jeff in that match, it was fantastic.


After that PPV I was hooked. I pleaded with my parents to get a Sky box, so I could watch it every week. It didn't take long for them to oblige, my mum is a softie, still is, but she wants what's best for her children even if it doesn't make financial sense. I love her eternally for that.


I didn't watch WCW, or ECW, I unfortunately started watching wrestling after they got bought by the WWF. But I did watch the end of the Attitude era, and I'm proud to say I experienced it first hand, many younger fans envy us for experiencing wrestling in its gimmick, shock value high. I was your typical casual fan for a few years, probably going up to the point where I started to read John Canton's articles, which was around 2 years later.


Eddie Guerrero was reincarnated around this time,he was in a great tag team with Chavo Guerrero, forming Los Guerreros. Unfortunately Chavo tore his biceps muscle right before the pay per view Judgement Day. Eddie needed a new partner. Around this time I discovered John Canton, an online freelance wrestling journalist and Rajah.com, a website that focuses on backstage rumours and notes. These two have since become staples in my wrestling interest even now. Rumours were abound about who Eddie Guerrero could tag with, with Tajiri's name being the focus. It turned out the rumours were true, and they won the tag titles together at the PPV. It was then that I discovered that wrestling had a real life edge to it, not that I didn't know before (I took the micky only two years ago that it was "fake"), but injuries are inevitable, and adjustments have to be made.


From that moment on I used Rajah.com, and was intrigued about how people formed their opinions wrestling. I found myself disagreeing with Canton a lot, because I liked the big guys like The Brothers of Destruction, but he taught me about kayfabe, about why wrestlers are as good as the are, and about "booking" a wrestler correctly. Slowly I started to understand. Wrestling isn't just about a moveset and a promo, it's also about backstage politics, it's about being "over" with the crowd, and being able to draw money for the wrestling company. I then started to appreciate the smaller wrestlers who had to pay their dues due to their size, the greats like Eddie Guerrero, Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit, and started to resent the bigger guys with no talent, like the A-Train, Heidenreich and Gene Snitzky. I had become a smark.


Now, nearly 10 years later, I still see wrestling in many ways. I try not to call myself a mark, a smark, or a casual fan. I try to see why wrestling is the way it is. Daniel Bryan won't become champion overnight, he may be the best wrestler in the US right now but he has a long way to go. Wade Barrett will become champion before him, because he can draw heat and because he is a big guy. Wrestling is about making money, not about pleasing the fans, that's a bonus. If you can't make the company money, you will be sent down the bathroom plug. Some wrestlers have to pay their dues for unfortunate reasons, life isn't fair and neither is the wrestling world. We learnt that with Chris Benoit, who took many a year to finally get a championship reign all the smarks said he deserved nearly 10 years before. Where as The Great Khali never should have been champion. But he is big, and is foreign, just because of what part of the world he came from he got immediate heat. Vince capitalised on that because it was easier. Wrestling can be simple sometimes.


My favourite wrestler now is Chris Jericho, and has been for sometime. Yes I still have a feeling for The Undertaker and Kane, I mean The Undertaker is great for how big a guy he is, but I appreciate everything about wrestling, and Jericho is the complete wrestler. He can be a face, he can be a heel, he is great on the mic, he is great in the ring, he can draw money. He is popular with the casual fans and the smarks. That is pretty much it about being the complete wrestler.

My favourite feud is Eddie Guerrero vs Rey Mysterio. Eddie Guerrero for me was the best heel I've ever seen, no matter how short his heel reign was. He was a sick bastard, and he knew how to draw that crowd against him. His feud was brilliant, when he suplexed Mysterio on the ring steps my heart came out of my mouth. When he did his disturbing promo with Rey's mask I cringed. It's a shame the matches weren't as good as they should have been.

Which brings me to my favourite match. The best match I have ever seen is probably Shawn Michaels vs The Undertaker at Wrestlemania 25. That was just a brilliant showcase between two great veterans. I also appreciated that match to its fullest as any type of wrestling fan, it was a great spectacle for anyone to watch. Their rematch this year was almost as good.

I just wanted to write this article just as an introduction for myself into writing about this thing called wrestling. I hope to write a good few articles about recent events from now on. But for now, get ready for my Top 50 Catchphrases next week.


As Foley would say, have a nice day!


Date: 30/11/10