Tag Archives: WWE

“Best in the World” is one of WWE’s most in-depth DVD releases

Arguably the most highly anticipated DVD release in recent WWE history, CM Punk: Best in the World definitely takes a unique approach to showcasing one of wrestling’s most intriguing talents. While previous WWE DVD releases (especially those that focus on current superstars) have highlighted a respective wrestler’s best WWE matches and moments, Best in the World is just as much about CM Punk‘s straight edge punk rock lifestyle as it is about his wrestling career. And when it comes to his in-ring accomplishments, this three-disc set is not limited to the work Punk has done since he joined WWE.

For a young Punk, pro wrestling was just another oddball form of escapism for a kid coming from a broken home. While he embraced punk rock, comic books and monster movies, he also found refuge in the brash antics of “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and the other pageantry he saw in the wrestling world. With commentary from his surrogate family and close friends such as Rancid‘s Lars Frederiksen, original trainer Ace Steel, longtime wrestling friend Colt Cabana and former WWE Women’s Champion Lita, Best in the World gets at the things that make up the Punk we know today. It seems that few topics are off limits as Punk talks about the drunken father that inspired his aversion to drugs and alcohol, the origins of the CM Punk moniker, the meanings behind many of his tattoos and the years of backyard and indie wrestling where Punk paid his dues.

As a result, Best in the World plays more like a documentary on one of yesterday’s stars rather than someone who is just reaching his championship potential. From the ex-girlfriend who encouraged Punk to embrace his punk rock attitude as his wrestling persona to indie rivals like Chris Hero (who appears here as Hero, not as his NXT persona of Kassius Ohno) to WWE friends and foes like Daniel Bryan, Triple H, John Cena and The Miz, it’s apparent that Punk’s self-made family is a tight-knit circle that crosses over from his personal to professional life. In an unprecedented move on WWE’s part, Best in the World includes footage from his early matches in Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South, his rise to prominence in Ring of Honor against the likes of Samoa Joe, the infamous Summer of Punk (read my review here), during which he signed his WWE contract on the ROH title, and his early Ohio Valley Wrestling matches.

Courtesy WWE

It’s not until almost 45 minutes into Best in the World that we see Punk’s WWE debut thanks to Paul Heyman and the resurrected Extreme Championship Wrestling. And in true Punk fashion, he’s more than willing to discuss how he feels WWE misused him in his early days with the company, even during his runs as ECW, Intercontinental, World Tag Team and World Heavyweight Champion. But if there’s anything Punk is good at doing it’s adapting, and he realizes at numerous points on this DVD that in order to prove himself in WWE he will have to adapt in big ways.

In steps Punk’s big friend Luke Gallows, as well as Serena and Joseph Mercury, to form the Straight Edge Society. And while Punk was subversively turning himself into a Jesus-like Messiah on television, Best in the World reveals his more benevolent side behind the scenes when Mercury falls on hard times. Despite his best efforts with the SES, however, Punk soon becomes disgruntled yet again as others get championship opportunities. And that’s about the time that the pipe bomb goes off. In much the same way he had done years earlier in his final months with Ring of Honor, Punk dares to say what’s truly on his mind. He takes control of his fate with only a few weeks left on his WWE contract, and threatens to defeat Cena for the WWE Championship and leave the company with the title at last year’s Money in the Bank, in his hometown of Chicago.

Courtesy WWE

My only criticism of Best in the World is its glorification of the events that transpire after Punk lives up to his promise and does, indeed, walk out the front door of the arena with the WWE title (only to tweet that now-infamous picture of it sitting in his refrigerator later that night). No one can argue the impact Punk had on WWE during the time leading up to Money in the Bank. But had his WWE return been postponed for a few more weeks (if not months), his actions would have carried even more weight. But considering that few (if any) other people would have dared to risk their future with WWE the way he did, this slight glorification of a series of events that did get many people’s attention is a very minor complaint.

What Best in the World proves, without a doubt, is that the Punk we see on TV and in WWE rings is the same person you might find at a Cubs game or in an airport. He can be brash and rude, but he can also be a leader and an inspiration (as he has been for veterans like William Regal and up-and-comers like Zack Ryder). And regardless of how you feel about him personally, there’s no doubt that Punk is one of the most entertaining guys to step into a WWE ring, which is displayed on the other two discs of this set. From an OVW match against Brent Albright and his ECW debut against Justin Credible to his WrestleMania XXIV Money in the Bank win and championship victories over John Morrison, Regal, Jeff Hardy and Chris Jericho, Punk makes it hard to deny that he is, as he likes to say, the “best in the world.” And with this DVD release, it seems that WWE is finally agreeing with him.

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WWE picks its “50 Greatest Finishing Moves”

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Whenever you put together a list of the “greatest” or “best of” anything, you’re going to have a hard time narrowing your list. Having already released DVDs based on things such as the best OMG moments, top wrestlers of all time and greatest superstars of this century, WWE is arguably the authority on deciding who and what constitute the best when it comes to wrestling. But when that task is as sensitive as declaring WWE’s top 50 finishing maneuvers, you’re bound to bruise some egos and have a few “experts” who refuse to submit to some of the choices.

But that certainly hasn’t stopped WWE from putting together its latest release, The 50 Greatest Finishing Moves in WWE History. As the name implies, this three-DVD set counts down from WWE’s choice for the 50th best finishing move all the way up to the best finisher of all time. 50 Greatest Finishing Moves eschews the guest host format, presenting its countdown with graphics of a lottery ball machine presenting the successive entries on the list. But these choices are far from random, as they have each been proven to keep opponents down for the three-count or submission on multiple occasions.

There are certain finishers that simply could not have been left off of this list, such as “Diamond” Dallas Page‘s Diamond Cutter, Jerry “The King” Lawler‘s piledriver, the Road Warriors‘ Doomsday Device, Hulk Hogan‘s leg drop and Ric Flair‘s figure four leg lock. Then there’s the dominating power of moves like the Vader Bomb, Lex Luger‘s torture rack, Yokozuna‘s Bonzai Drop, Kevin Nash‘s jackknife powerbomb and the Undertaker‘s tombstone piledriver. And on the opposite end of the spectrum are the flashier moves of high fliers like Rob Van Dam‘s five-star frog splash, Rey Mysterio‘s 619, Jeff Hardy‘s Swanton Bomb. Jimmy Snuka‘s Superfly Splash and Lita‘s Litasault (the only female finisher on the list). Finally, there are the technical moves like Sting‘s Scorpion Deathlock, Bob Baklund‘s crossface chicken wing. Mr. Perfect‘s Perfect Plex, the Walls of Jericho and Bret Hart‘s Sharpshooter.

Whether you’re perplexed by the ability of a man as big as Bam Bam Bigelow to execute flawless moonsaults off the top rope, or just waiting for the wrestling machine known as Kurt Angle to slap on his ankle lock, you’ll have a hard time arguing with any of the inclusions on this list. And regardless of how you feel about their placement, you can sit back and watch more than a dozen matches where finishers such as Shawn Michaels‘ Sweet Chin Music, Triple H‘s Pedigree, Sgt. Slaughter‘s cobra clutch and Bruno Sammartino‘s bear hug are focal points. In order to get as many examples of these moves in as possible, most of these matches include multiple participants, allowing various finishers to be executed within single matches.

One thing that isn’t necessarily pointed out in 50 Greatest Finishing Moves, but that should be apparent by the wrestlers and matches featured here, is that the advent of big finishing moves is a rather recent development, with wrestlers using these athletic displays to further establish their personas and talent. And whether they are more for showmanship and entertainment value or legitimately putting one’s opponents out of commission, these finishing moves definitely provide some added drama, spectacle and athleticism to an already over-the-top form of entertainment.

For more information, go to www.wweshop.com.

From SummerSlam to the Uproar Festival, Jericho rocks the ring and stage

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With the release of Fozzy‘s new Sin and Bones album on Tuesday, the band’s inclusion on the Uproar Festival tour starting tomorrow and his match against Dolph Ziggler at SummerSlam on Sunday, it could easily be argued that Chris Jericho is the busiest man in the entertainment world right now. And that’s not even mentioning his weekly Rock of Jericho radio show, his best-selling books, his numerous TV appearances or his acting career. But for the next few months, Y2J’s focus will be on Fozzy, whose new album is above and beyond anything the band has previously released, proving that the satirical hair metal premise the band began with is long since gone. Before he hits the road for Uproar and challenges Ziggler at SummerSlam, Jericho takes a moment to talk to Wrestling with Pop Culture once again.

First of all, congratulations on the new Fozzy record. It’s definitely the band’s best album yet and it seems like I’m not the only one who feels that way.

Thanks, man. Yeah, it’s been totally cool to get a great response to a record we’ve spent so much time on. When it comes out and people say it’s your best work ever, give it ten out of ten and all this other sort of stuff, it’s a great reward for your psyche.

One of the things I really liked about it is has a darker feel to it, as well as a good bit of ’80s metal influence. From the Dexter-inspired “Dark Passenger” to Avenged Sevenfold‘s M. Shadows joining you on “Sandpaper,” how would you say that darker influence came about?

I had a bunch of lyrical ideas based around song titles, so I went backwards from there. Then when I finished all the lyrics, I realized there was kind of a dark tone to all of them. Rich [Ward, guitarist] had been writing a lot of riffs that were dark as well, so we decided we wanted to make a record similar to Metallica‘s Black Album, which was a very cohesive record that fit. Even though there was a lot of diversity on it, every song kind of lead into the next and had the same tone and vibe to it. That’s what we wanted with Sin and Bones, and I think we achieved that. There’s a lot of diversity on the record, but it all fits into the same mold and the vibe is more of a darker type of tone.

I’m a big fan of Dexter and I just loved the concept of the Dark Passenger that he talked about. I don’t know if the song is about Dexter per se, but it’s definitely the same vibe, having this Dark Passenger inside that caused him to commit these unspeakable acts. I get a lot of ideas from TV and those type of things. I wrote another song called “Walk Amongst the Dead” that’s an iTunes B-side that’s based on The Walking Dead, a zombie type of thing. But it didn’t start out that way. I was thinking about Anthrax‘s Among the Living and I thought, “What about ‘Among the Dead’?” Then, “What about, ‘Walk Amongst the Dead’?” Then I started writing it and was like, “Wait a minute. This totally should be about zombies, so I’ll go there.”

But all my lyrics were based around the song titles. The song title “Spider in My Mouth,” I read that in a Stephen King book years ago and had the thought process of, “What would it be like if somebody woke up with a spider in their mouth?” I thought it would be a cool song title, but it wasn’t really about waking up with a spider in my mouth. It started there and went from there.

You’ve clearly always been inspired by ’80s metal singers, but your singing on this album is much more accomplished than on previous Fozzy albums. Did you take vocal lessons before recording this album? Were there particular singers you drew inspiration from on Sin and Bones?

I took singing lessons a few years ago, but not recently. I’m not just inspired by ’80s singers. I like Bruce Dickinson, but I’m also a big fan of Matt Shadows from Avenged Sevenfold. But I’m not trying to emulate anyone in particular because everyone has his own voice and I don’t want to sound like anyone else. I just open my mouth and sing and that’s the voice that comes out.

Fozzy started out as a fun thing for you and your friends in Stuck Mojo, but there have been some lineup changes since then. Aside from you and Rich, who else is in the band now?

The three guys that have been in the band the whole time are myself, Rich and Frank Fontsere, our drummer. Billy Grey, who was with us in 2002, rejoined the band for Chasing the Grail. Then we got Paul Di Leo on bass, who is just a monster player. You can hear how the bass has changed from Chasing the Grail to Sin and Bones since he’s become a primary element of the band. I think adding him to the band and his performance is one of the highlights of Sin and Bones as well.

As you’re in-ring dealings with Dolph Ziggler have heated up over the past few weeks leading into your match at SummerSlam this Sunday, we’ve seen you return to your Ayatollah of Rock ‘n’ Rolla persona. The timing is good since you’ll be touring with your rock ‘n’ roll band over the next few months. Was that a conscious thing or did that all happen by chance?

It just kind of happened organically. The fans decide what they want to see and over the last three or four months they’ve been really cheering for me. I had a good three-year run as a bad guy, but after a while what’s bad is good and people just started enjoying my work and cheering for me. So I decided to just go with it and not fight it. It’s good to be out on the road with Fozzy and have my character in WWE be a good guy. Even though I keep them completely separate, a lot of times when you’re the bad guy people think you’re an asshole all the time. So it’s nice to be a nice, fun guy for once after all these years of being a jerk.

You’re one of the few wrestlers who can successfully go from being a heel to getting the fans back on your side pretty quickly. Why do you think you’re able to do that when many wrestlers are either good or bad and can’t convince the fans they are capable of changing?

I’ve been wrestling for 22 years, so I just have the experience and know how to do it. There are subtle intricacies that you need to do to make both things work in different ways. But the experience makes it a lot easier.

When you made your WWE return several months ago, you debuted the latest in your wrestling ensemble, which is your elaborately lit jacket. Will we be seeing that at the Uproar Festival or is that reserved strictly for wrestling?

No, that’s only for wrestling. If I wore that on stage, I’d also have to wear tights and kneepads, and just wouldn’t look right.

There are a lot of other bands on this tour whose music has been used by WWE and other wrestling promotions. Are there any particular bands you’re looking forward to seeing and touring with?

I’m a big Shinedown fan. I love Papa Roach, so I’m excited to see those two bands and Godsmack, obviously. It’s going to be fun and we’re excited. We did a tour last year with Avenged Sevenfold and Bullet For My Valentine, which are two of my all-time favorite bands. But this one will be fun and it’s our first full-fledged coast-to-coast tour in the States and it’s one of the biggest tours of the summer. So to be part of it is huge for us and we’re excited. We’re ready to go out there and tear people’s heads off and be one of the best bands every night and be one of the most popular bands every night. That’s what our mission is.

I interviewed Rick DeJesus from Adelitas Way a few days ago and he mentioned some comments you had made about his band on Twitter. Is there perhaps a friendly rivalry developing between the two bands?

No, I wasn’t saying anything about them. I just wanted more of the Twitter followers they had. I just said I wanted Fozzy to have more Twitter followers than Adelitas Way. And now we do, so there you go. I hope I didn’t hurt his feelings.

I think it just encouraged him to step things up on this tour. But this has been a big week for you. The album was released on Tuesday, the tour starts tomorrow and you’re wrestling Ziggler on Sunday at SummerSlam. Regardless of the outcome of that match, when do you think we might see you in the ring again? Do you have plans to keep touring after Uproar ends?

We’ve got tours booked all the way up until next March, so we have a busy schedule coming up. You can’t do both at the same time, so we’ll see. I’m sure I’ll come back to WWE at some point, but until then I’ll be on the road with Fozzy.

You wear many hats these days, and they all seem to fit equally well. But who would win in a fatal four-way between Jericho the wrestler, Jericho the rock star, Jericho the radio show host and Moongoose McQueen?

Well, Moongoose McQueen dies years ago, so he wouldn’t be much of a factor. So it would have to be a three-way draw.

For more information, go to www.fozzyrock.com.

“Undertaker – The Streak” showcases the Phenom’s 20-0 WrestleMania record

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When the Undertaker‘s WrestleMania streak began, I doubt anyone could have predicted just how long it would last. At the time, his impressive dominance over the legendary Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka at WrestleMania VII served to further establish the Deadman’s mystique as a monster who, it seemed, could feel no pain. But as his career continued and he racked up more and more victories over some of wrestling’s top talents on wrestling’s grandest stage, it became apparent after a few years that something special was shaping up in the career of the Deadman.

After defeating Triple H two years in a row, the Undertaker‘s WrestleMania streak stands at 20-0, and has become just as (if not more) important as any title match or heated rivalry that might take place each year. And just one day after celebrating a company milestone of 1000 episodes of Raw, WWE chronicles the Undertaker’s achievement with Undertaker – The Streak, a four-disc set of all 20 of his WrestleMania matches. As far as WWE releases go, this one is rather sparse on the bonuses. Aside from a somewhat brief documentary (it runs fewer than 40 minutes) that recaps the streak one opponent at a time, the other three discs consist of nothing but the matches. No background on what transpired prior to these epic confrontations or previous encounters between the Undertaker and his opponents to put things into context. Just the matches themselves.

But when you’re talking about something as monumental as never losing at the industry’s biggest show, you don’t necessarily need a lot of additional hoopla to piledrive that point home. In fact, scaling things down to just the WrestleMania encounters themselves helps illustrate the odds that the Undertaker has had to overcome to get to 20-0.

Though his first two WrestleMania opponents (Snuka and Jake “The Snake” Roberts) were accomplished adversaries, it wasn’t until WrestleMania IX that ‘Taker faced anyone that matched his own intimidating abilities in the Giant González, a towering monster standing taller than 7 feet and wearing a Sasquatch-like bodysuit airbrushed with muscles and hair. Though he technically won the match by disqualification due to the use of ether to knock him, the Undertaker proved that he’s able to overcome even that obstacle when he re-emerged from the back to stand victorious in the ring.

From there the Undertaker takes on one giant after another, with stipulations such as the Hell in a Cell cage being introduced at WrestleMania XV against the Big Boss Man. But after all the pageantry of his most recent WrestleMania victories against Shawn Michaels and Triple H, it’s easy to forget just how impressive some of these earlier WrestleMania encounters were, for both the Undertaker and his opponents.

Kevin Nash, for example, has always relied on his size to overcome anyone that stands in front of him. But when he (as Diesel) squared off against ‘Taker at WrestleMania XII, he faced someone who matched him physically. But Diesel seemed unfazed, maintaining his arrogance despite ‘Taker’s seemingly supernatural abilities, and, at times, getting the better of the Deadman. Though two big guys squaring off can often be cumbersome, ‘Taker really brought out the best in Diesel before putting him to rest like the four that came before him.

Other big men that have benefited from their WrestleMania losses to the Undertaker include Sycho Sid, Mark Henry (perhaps one of ‘Taker’s best opponents, in a casket match at WrestleMania XXII) and his brother Kane, the first to fall to ‘Taker twice (at WrestleMania XIV and XX). But one of ‘Taker’s strongest qualities as a wrestler is his versatility. Whether he’s grappling with smaller and leaner opponents like Ric Flair and Edge or taking on the Big Show and A-Train at the same time, ‘Taker is able to adapt to any opponent and environment, which is why his matches have consistently stolen the show at many WrestleManias.

And unlike most athletes, the Undertaker gets better with age despite the abuse his body has taken in the ring for so many years. His later WrestleMania matches against Henry, Batista and Edge are some of the best of the entire streak, and there’s little that can be said about his matches against Michaels at WrestleMania XXV and XXVI, and his subsequent matches against Triple H at this year’s and last year’s ‘Manias, that hasn’t already been said. (You can read what Matt Hankins had to say about the End of an Era match here.) But ‘Taker’s longevity and the weight that the streak now carries are a big part of what makes these last few matches so memorable. Whether it’s the streak versus Michaels’ career or the proverbial End of an Era that occurred when ‘Taker and Triple H met inside the Hell in a Cell at WrestleMania XXVIII, the Undertaker’s WrestleMania matches carry more and more meaning and symbolism with each passing year.

Another thing we see, both in the documentary and with each successive match, is the evolution of the Undertaker’s persona through the years. From the cartoonish ghoul who drew power from the mystical urn carried by Paul Bearer to the motorcycle-riding American Badass to the Mohawked monster we’ve seen more recently, the Undertaker has always been an imposing force whether he’s relying on supernatural abilities or pure physicality. But as age takes its toll on the Deadman, one can’t help but wonder if The Streak provides some foreshadowy closure to one of wrestling’s most celebrated careers or if the streak might continue for another few years.

For more information, go to www.wweshop.com.

“Falls Count Anywhere” shows some of WWE’s rowdiest matches

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Only a few weeks after the ECW Unreleased Volume 1 DVD set crashed onto store shelves, WWE releases another DVD set dedicated to some of wrestling’s most violent matches with Falls Count Anywhere: The Greatest Street Fights and Other Out of Control Matches. Spanning more than 30 years of chaos, Falls Count Anywhere includes more than two dozen matches from the National Wrestling Alliance, World Championship Wrestling, the World Wrestling Federation, Extreme Championship Wrestling and recent WWE history. But as you might imagine, it’s the older footage that offers a more genuine atmosphere of disorder and mayhem.

Beginning with a bloody WWF alley fight between Pat Patterson and Sgt. Slaughter at Madison Square Garden in 1981, the first disc is dominated by old NWA and WCW footage featuring the likes of the Four Horsemen, the Road Warriors, Doom and Sting. And if you’re looking for a single match that epitomizes the zany spirit of a street fight, you need look no further than the tag team match between Jimmy Valiant and Ms. Atlanta Lively taking on the Midnight Express at the Omni. This match features a cross-dressing competitor, powder being thrown into the eyes of adversaries, foreign objects and the involvement of Midnight Express manager Jim Cornette (and his signature tennis racket). Taking place at a time when fans truly didn’t know what might happen during a match like this, you can just feel the tumultuous energy as it unfolds in these matches form the ’80s and early ’90s.

Known for his numerous fights of this nature in WCW, ECW and WWE, “The Hardcore Legend” himself Mick Foley is an obvious choice to host this collection. But what’s somewhat surprising is the fact that he (as Cactus Jack) is only featured in two of Falls Count Anywhere‘s matches (one of my personal favorites from his feud with Sting in 1992, and against Triple H in 1997). What’s equally surprising is that “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, who is featured prominently on the DVD cover, is only featured in one match here. But it’s a brutal bout that culminates his feud with Bret Hart (and sees Stone Cold attack Hart in an ambulance after the conclusion of the match). And it’s an apt way to conclude the first disc since it signifies a time when street fights and the like were the breaking point of most rivalries, with both competitors pulling out all the stops to come out victorious.

With the influence of ECW’s more hardcore style, the ’90s saw an influx of street fights, strap matches and the emergence of the Hardcore Championship, which could be defended under pretty much any circumstances. That being said, the only ECW match included here features two of the hardest of the hardcore; Tazz and Bam Bam Bigelow. Hardore matches took on a very different tone and served a somewhat different purpose during the Attitude Era, and the matches on the second disc are indicative of this evolution. From Al Snow and Hardcore Holly battling into the Mississippi River for the Hardcore Championship to Mr. McMahon taking on his son Shane McMahon (and Ric Flair just a few months later), a majority of the matches on the second disc take place in 1999, which is proof of just how commonplace the idea had become by this time.

The third disc shows these types of no-holds-barred matches being reserved for dramatic conclusions or momentous turning points once again. From Shawn Michaels‘ heartfelt return after four years against his best friend Triple H in an unsanctioned street fight at 2002’s SummerSlam to a brutal street fight between Rey Mysterio and one-time friend Batista on SmackDown in 2009, the more recent matches feature more of the unpredictability of the stuff from the ’80s (and require a bit more emotional investment than the matches from the ’90s and early 2000s). We also see younger and less established talents such as Umaga, Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase rising to the chaotic occasion and using street fights (and fresher concepts such as a submissions count anywhere match between D-Generation X and Legacy at 2009’s Breaking Point) to elevate themselves closer to main event status. And the inclusion of a WWE Women’s Championship match between Melina and Mickie James from 2007 shows that falls count anywhere matches are not strictly for men.

Though it could be argued that Falls Count Anywhere suffers from the omission of certain matches (such as the last man standing match between John Cena and Batista at 2010’s Extreme Rules or anything from Memphis’ Continental Wrestling Association, arguably the birthplace of this style of match), it’s still another enjoyable collection of matches form WWE’s extensive vault of footage. And considering the extent of footage in WWE’s possession, it wouldn’t surprise me if we saw separate last man standing and Memphis collections in the near future anyway.

For more information, go to www.wweshop.com.

Booker T still brings some Harlem Heat to WWE

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Booker T originally made a name for himself in the ’90s alongside his brother Stevie Ray as Harlem Heat. Together, the brothers won the World Championship Wrestling World Tag Team Championship a record ten times before disbanding at the end of 1999. Booker went on to be one of the most decorated singles wrestlers of his time, becoming a five time (Five time! Five time!) WCW World Heavyweight Champion and having many other title reigns (including a sixth World Heavyweight Championship in WWE). Though he is likely best known to contemporary wrestling fans as the comical, yet dominant, King Booker after winning the 2006 King of the Ring tournament, WWE’s new The Best of WCW Clash of the Champions DVD is a reminder of (among many other things) just how powerfully entertaining Harlem Heat once was. As that DVD hits store shelves today (read my review here), Booker T talks to Wrestling with Pop Culture about who might become the superstars of WWE’s future and the possibility of a Harlem Heat reunion.

Courtesy WWE

What are the chances we’ll ever see a Harlem Heat reunion?

You might. I always say, “Never say, ‘Never.'” Me and my brother actually reunited just [a few weeks ago] after five years. We had a lot of friction between us. We got the same mother and the same father and sometimes it’s hard to get along that way. But [this] was the first time we came together as brothers in five years, so there is a chance you might see a Harlem Heat reunion.

What brought you back together?

Actually, it was my sister’s retirement party. She invited us all to come together and she made it happen. After five years it seemed kind of stupid to go that long without having contact.

With the way The Rock vs. John Cena was built up for a year, do you think we might see Harlem Heat at next year’s WrestleMania?

You never know. I haven’t retired yet. I’m still active. I’m working towards letting these young guys have their due and do their thing because they really are what it’s all about, the next generation. But that would be a great way for me to finish the way I started with my brother.

You have your own wrestling school, Booker T’s Pro Wrestling Academy, in Houston. Is there anyone there, at Florida Championship Wrestling or some of the younger guys on the WWE roster that you think may become some of the next top stars?

One guy I like that’s coming up is Darren Young. He’s one of the guys on our smaller shows, Superstars and NXT, but he’s a guy you really got to look out for. I like Curt Hawkins as well. He’s another kid that’s really got a lot of potential. The way they’re molded is going to really affect how far they go. Right now with a lot of guys like myself, Bill DeMott and William Regal working with them, they’re getting a lot of great insight now. So we can hopefully teach them how to bounce in the right direction. Trust me, it’s really not that easy to learn the entertainment, Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet side of what we do.

Curt Hawkins was originally in a tag team with Zack Ryder. As someone who established yourself as part of a tag team and later went on to become a successful singles wrestler, what do you think someone like Hawkins can do to attain the success that his former tag team partner has achieved, if not more?

He’s going to have to be creative just like Zach Ryder. I always tell the young guys, “Every move has been taken. There’s not anything you can do that’s different from the next guy. But you’ve got to create your aura around you to make people feel a certain way when they watch you.” That’s what Zach Ryder has done very, very well. He’s not a great wrestler at all, but I don’t think too many people care about that.

For more information, go to www.wwe.com.

“Clash of the Champions” features some of WCW’s greatest moments

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Years before World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation went head to head during the Monday Night Wars, the National Wrestling Alliance (a precursor to WCW) conceived of a different way to compete with its Northern rival. In an attempt to steal the WWF’s pay-per-view thunder, the NWA aired it’s own new top-tier event for free on the same night as WrestleMania IV called Clash of the Champions. The first Clash of the Champions was so successful that it returned not as an annual event, but up to five times a year with a total of 35 Clashes between ’88 and ’97.

As has been done with numerous other DVD releases, WWE pays homage to one of WCW’s greatest traditions with The Best of WCW Clash of the Champions DVD set. Hosted by “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes, one of the men who helped come up with the Clash of the Champions concept, this three-disc set includes more than 20 matches from 19 different Clash of the Champions events. For those of us who grew up watching wrestling during the ’80s and ’90s, this set is not only a great blast from the past, but also proof of just how good things were for wrestling at that time.

Things start out with the main event from the first Clash, as NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair (with his Four Horseman manager James J. Dillon suspended above the ring in a cage) takes on quickly rising fan favorite Sting. With both Flair and Sting in the prime of their careers, this is a mesmerizing match that ends in a 45-minute time-limit draw when the ringside judges (a mix of celebrities and wrestling industry veterans including Jason Hervey) are unable to declare a winner. This match alone shows the hearty style of storytelling the NWA was putting out at the time, with Flair retaining his title, Sting proving he could take the champion to the limit and the fans being left anticipating the next battle between these two competitors.

The presence of Sting, Flair and the Four Horsemen on all three discs shows just how integral they were to the NWA and WCW. Flair’s cohorts Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard are featured in two NWA World Tag Team Championship matches; one against Lex Luger and Barry Windham at the first Clash and another against Sting and Rhodes less than three months later. We also see Flair defend his title against WWE Hall of Famer Terry Funk in an “I Quit” match in November 1989, then challenge United States Champion Luger in what has to be one of the best matches of Luger’s career (despite Stan Hansen spitting tobacco juice on him after the match). And after Flair took the World Heavyweight Championship to the WWF, only to return to WCW to find Sting holding the new International World Heavyweight Championship that had been created in Flair’s absence, the two meet again in a literal clash of champions in June ’94 to unify the titles.

Other names synonymous with Clash of the Champions featured here in the Clash’s earlier years are Ivan Koloff, the Midnight Express, the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express and the Fabulous Freebirds. But even more familiar names show up as things progress into the ’90s in matches that might otherwise have been forgotten had they not been included here. For example, at the Feb. 6, 1990 Clash, the deranged Cactus Jack Manson (a much thinner and younger Mick Foley than the one we know today) takes on the luchador legend Mil Máscaras in a clash of styles that is exciting despite the match’s brevity. And in a 1994 World Television Championship match, Lord Steven Regal (better known as William Regal) and Dusty’s son Dustin Rhodes (before his cosmetic transformation into Goldust) go to a draw in an impressive match.

Even though it’s no secret that “Stone Cold” got his start as “Stunning” Steve Austin in WCW, it’s somewhat surprising just how prominent he was at Clash events during the early ’90s. He’s first seen here as part of a 15-man battle royal in ’91, then in a tag team match as part of the Hollywood Blonds in a two-out-of-three-falls match in June ’93, then in a clash against his former tag partner Brian Pillman just a few months later. But it’s his United States title defense against Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat in August ’94 that shows just how good Austin was at the time and why he went on to become one of WWE’s biggest stars.

Even with the influx of former WWF talents like Rick Rude, Hulk Hogan, Randy “Macho Man” Savage and the New World Order, Clash of the Champions maintains the gritty dynamic that set WCW apart from the WWF. And that’s often due to the fact that match-ups such as Hogan and Savage vs. Flair and The Giant or “Diamond” Dallas Page and Luger vs. Scoll Hall and Savage pit WCW-bred tradition against guys who made names for themselves elsewhere. But Clash of the Champions also helped nurture rising stars such as Eddie Guerrero, Harlem Heat, the Steiner Brothers, Dean Malenko and Chris Jericho, allowing them to go on to thrive in WWE and other companies.

Perhaps the greatest thing about this Clash of the Champions collection is that WWE recognizes just how good its competitor was even before the full-on ratings war of the ’90s had started. What’s even more amazing is how many of these people are still involved in the industry, many of them still actively putting on high caliber matches. And whether The Best of WCW Clash of the Champions provides you with some wrestling nostalgia or gives you a glimpse into what happened before WWE was the dominant force it is today, one can’t help but see just how electric the atmosphere always was when Clash of the Champions was on TV.

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