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.

The Mercy Side: The Royal Rumble and The New Movement

I haven't written much about wrestling recently, and thought I'd do a new piece on it. Another big announcement from me, it's the date the Noughtie project will be begin. It will all kick off on the 26th January. Stay tuned...

13 days to go...

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This year, let's be honest, has been substandard, ever since Wrestlemania last April nothing has really stood out immensely. To be fair to WWE, they have lost a lot of star power either to injury (Triple H, Undertaker) or to retirement (Shawn Michaels) or to contract expiration (Chris Jericho, Batista). That's a lot of star power to lose, it's the equivalent of losing half starting eleven in football. Anyone would suffer with that. For months people thought that WWE would have to depend on a lot of their newer talents, the likes of The Miz, John Morrison, Kofi Kingston, Jack Swagger and Dolph Ziggler. For months, The Miz aside, it looked as though either these wrestlers weren't given the right opportunities or that they weren't taking them when given. For months WWE has quite frankly, sucked. The only thing that was given any momentum was The Nexus angle, which has been mixed, and was definitely waning until CM Punk has given the angle a bit of fresh air. Apart from that WWE haven't done a great deal.


But it's suddenly Royal Rumble season and we all know that WWE pay great attention to their product from January to April, The Road to Wrestlemania, basically. All of a sudden, momentum has been made, and things are getting a bit more excited again. The two biggest stories for me, are that of John Morrison, and Dolph Ziggler, on Raw and Smackdown respectively.


John Morrison has always been seen as this guy who has an unusual and inventive moveset, is decent in the ring, yet can't back that on the mic, and can't draw the crowd in much. Good 'ol J.R. hinted a few months ago that JoMo needs more intensity in his work, he needs to make the crowd believe him when he is kicking that guy in the face, he needs to be aggressive. After working with Sheamus, who is quite stiff anyway, it's given JoMo exactly what J.R. thought was lacking. The crowd digged that feud between Sheamus and JoMo, and you have to give it to Sheamus for actually putting JoMo over... three times is it now? Great stuff from the relatively new guy. This gave JoMo a great push from WWE, and put him in the spotlight against his long term rival and friend The Miz for the WWE Title. They put on a better match on the first Raw of 2011 than the majority of matches in the whole of 2010. The fans have been right behind JoMo for this entire push, and it's really paved the way for the guy, I'm hoping this will actually fully elevate him to the main event status, a status I truly believe he belongs in. I've been a good fan of him for a few years, I liked his authentic in ring ability, in the ring he really does remind me of Shawn Michaels (although he doesn't compete unfortunately, HBK is the king). Does this mean that WWE will give him the Royal Rumble win? I'm not sure.


The other guy I mentioned is the awful named Dolph Ziggler, man he needs his name changed. Call him Nick Nemeth, or something, oh wait, WWE won't let him as they can't copyright someone's real name. Anyway, he was always considered an up and coming wrestler with large potential. I monitored him a lot last year, and failed to see how he could become a big star. I didn't likle much about him, especially that damn Sleeper finisher. The Sleeper is a move used to give the face a recovery phase, to let them turn the tables in the match and gain momentum lost earlier. As a finisher it doesn't spark the intense "tap!" chants and excitement as say, the Crossface, the Sharpshooter or the Walls of Jericho does. Anyway, I saw glimpses of what I'd consider greatness, particularly his great matches with JoMo last year, and Rey Mysterio. Either way, the past few months have been ridiculous for him, he's stepped up his game immensely. He really has made the Intercontinental title have a boost in its degraded reputation. He made it mean more significant than any champ since Chris Jericho. He's now passed that onto Kofi Kingston, and is the new #1 contender for the World title, against Edge, who is exactly the type of wrestler who can really make Dolph look better than before. I really hope he does too. Does that mean that he will win the title at the Rumble? I doubt it, but I'dbe happy if he did. He's got more chance of losing, then Vickie making an announcement in the Rumble that Dolph has been drafted in, and he wins that.


Which brings me to the main point of the article, the Rumble itself. The Royal Rumble is a fantastic tool at giving someone an opportunity to win the big one, similar to the Money in the Bank at Wrestlemania. However since Benoit-gate, and Lesnar/Lashley-gate, the latter just in case you're not entirely sure what I'm referring to, is giving young new wrestlers a big push for the title, only for them to leave the company disrespectfully after, WWE are very sceptical for a wrestler who is new to get the spotlight. Even Sheamus, the only talent to get a major push quickly since (does Swagger count?), wasn't given an opportunity to shine at Wrestlemania. They rarely do it unfortunately, as it's risk to their company they believe.


But with The Miz having reached the big one finally, and John Morrison and Dolph Ziggler getting nice big pushes recently, and Kofi Kingston, Jack Swagger looking more refreshed in recent weeks than recent months, is this their time? Can one of the latter four win the Rumble? Or is it just going to be used as similar to recent years, to make an already established star get another title shot? Please WWE, give one of these four great up and coming guys a chance, they are all more than capable of being champion.


Remember how great Kofi Kingston looked last year, after his fantastic feud with Randy Orton? How hot was he at Madison Square Garden then? You know, the biggest venue in WWE? Man, that was fantastic. Then they decided to give up on him. No reason really, obviously there were rumours goign around that he botched Randy's planned finish on one of the Raw episodes (Stupid! Stupid!) but nothing concrete. But he now has the Intercontinental title again, I hope they give him a big push again. As for Jack Swagger, well, how bad was his title reign? It was terrible, and it wasn't even his fault. He was just booked so badly. I don't get that at all, they did it with Rey Mysterio too. But recently he is looking okay again, after being part of horrendous comedy segments. I hope they can really make a good case for him again because he's a fantastically gifted wrestler. He has a great physique, he is good on the mic, he is a fantastic mat wrestler. I never got why they decided to treat the guy so badly.


These five guys, as well as Daniel Bryan, Alberto Del Rio and Wade Barrett, are the future of the company. They are all main event material, Bryan, Del Rio and Barrett willare also contenders for the Rumble, or at least will make a mark on Money in the Bank, these eight will be the "new breed" of WWE. The company needs to trust them, and hope to depend on them when the going gets tough, like the way it is at the moment, with so many injuries and big guys going. Also the majority of the major stars are 40+ now, and that's not healthy. The last time so many major stars were so old was the early nineties, '92 I believe. This needs to change, the WWE have had their hand forced to try and change it. The fans have spoken, will the WWE listen? I hope the Rumble will answer the question favourably. We'll see.


Date: 13/1/11

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