Georgia Wrestling Now welcomes Seth DeLay, Matt “Sex” Sells and A.J. Steele

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It was a mind-boggling weekend in the Georgia wrestling scene, so we have plenty to talk about on this week’s Georgia Wrestling Now. And this weekend features even more big events from the EMPIRE/Platinum Championship Wrestling, Dragon*Con Wrestling the Peachstate Wrestling Alliance, Pro Wrestling Resurrection and more. Team All You Can Eat’s Matt Hankins and I are joined by National Wrestling Alliance North Georgia Champion “Hands of Steel” Seth DeLay from NWA Anarchy, PWR’s Matt “Sex” Sells and NWA Rampage Pro Wrestling‘s A.J. Steele. And there’s always a surprise or two, so listen live every Monday at 7 p.m., and call 347-324-5735 with questions, comments, opinions, etc.

"Hands of Steel" Seth DeLay challenges Brodie Ray Chase for the Dragon's Cup this Friday at Dragon*Con

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Asking Alexandria puts its “Reckless” days in the past with upcoming album, tour

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The Ultimate Warrior has been known to say some pretty fucked up things. But when he gets in your face and says stuff like, “You want to be a fucking monster? Be it, body, mind and soul, every-fucking-thing. I saw that fucking belly. Rip that fucking gut into an eight pack. Look like a fucking god up there. LOOK LIKE THE FUCKING IMAGES THEY PUT ON THOSE T-SHIRTS! BE SOMETHING!,” it can be pretty intimidating. Especially when he also makes you do 50 push-ups and run around a parking lot with heavy chains draped around your neck. But in the case of Asking Alexandria front man Danny Worsnop, whose sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle appeared to be steering the band into oblivion just as last year’s aptly-titled Reckless & Relentless (as well as the Stepped Up and Scratched remix album) was released, it was clearly very motivating.

Having just finished this summer’s Mayhem Festival, Worsnop and his bandmates look to put the finishing touches on the band’s third album before heading to South America for a fall tour. Before all that, however, Wrestling with Pop Culture had an opportunity to talk to Worsnop about Asking Alexandria’s appearance on the pilot episode of The Warrior Show, the band’s use of electro and dubstep in its heavy metal sound, and the short film that shows the debauchery that led up to the band’s encounter with the Warrior.

Those cowboy boots you’re wearing look familiar. Aren’t those the same ones you have on in the pilot episode of The Warrior Show?

Yeah!

How did Asking Alexandria’s inclusion on that show come about?

It came about as an elaborate ploy to get me to lose weight, via my record label and the Warrior. I had gotten up to 210 pounds and it was their elaborate way of posing to me, “Danny, you’re going to be on a TV show.” I was like, “Hell yeah, I’m going to be on a TV show!” I didn’t realize at the time that it was just a ploy, but it worked.

It being the pilot episode, do you know what the status of the show is now?

I don’t. I haven’t seen him in a while because I’ve been on the road. I’m going to try to get together with him and find out.

How long ago was that episode recorded?

It was Nov. 10, the day before we recorded our live DVD, which was also never released.

The whole band was part of the show…

Yes, but it was very much targeted at me.

Have you taken the Warrior’s teachings with you since the show was recorded?

I’ve lost 30 pounds!

You were also chugging a bottle of wine at the beginning of that show…

And I’ve quit drinking since then and quit drugs. I’ve had a life turnaround, not directly because of the show. There was other stuff involved with the alcohol and drugs, but the weight loss can definitely be attributed to the Warrior and his show.

Your latest album came out last year, and a remix album came out around the same time that you were doing The Warrior Show.

We didn’t actually write any of it. It was all other artists’ takes on what we’ve written previously. We mentioned that we wanted to do it and people started approaching us. So we just selected the best ones and put them on the CD. I think they came out really well and the respective artists did a really good job of interpreting the music.

Your last album had hints of electronica to it, so I guess it lends itself to that kind of thing. Is that something you think you’ll continue developing as you record your next album?

We’re writing our new album right now and there hasn’t really been any of that yet. But I guess we’ll see, through the recording process, what comes out of it.

How far along are you with the new album?

I’m halfway through recording it. I’m recording the second half in September and it should be out in late November/beginning of December. We also have a short film called Through Sin + Self -Destruction available on iTunes. It consists of three songs and it’s a story about debauchery in Los Angeles. There’s talks of there being a full-length movie next year. It’s autobiographical, but not jumping on this trend that’s currently forming. It’s not for cinema release or anything, it’s just some insight into our story, which is very interesting. It’s a very, very long story, so the film is going to be about two hours long.

Given that you’ve worked with the Warrior now, have you guys ever been approached by other wrestlers who want to use your  music as their entrance themes or anything like that?

There were talks with WWE for a short time about us doing the opening credit music. That just kind of dwindled out, but I think that’s something I’d like to try and re-establish and go with. We’ve done some stuff in the MMA community, but not really much within the wrestling community, although I would like to. There are two fighters in England that use our music.

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

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.

 

Georgia Wrestling Now welcomes Fred Yehi, Kyle Matthews and Murder 1

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On this week’s Georgia Wrestling Now, Team All You Can Eat’s Matt Hankins and I talk to EMPIRE/Platinum Championship Wrestling standout “Bona Fide” Fred Yehi, who takes on Jimmy Rave at Academy Theatre this Friday. National Wrestling Alliance Rampage Pro Wrestling Champion Kyle Matthews also talks about his match against NWA World Heavyweight Champion “Scrap Iron” Adam Pearce at Empire Pro Wrestling on Saturday. We also talk to Urban Wrestling Federation‘s Murder 1, who has upcoming matches in NWA RPW, NWA West Georgia X-citement, Dragon*Con Wrestling, and other promotions. Additional commentary is provided by Georgia Wrestling History‘s Larry Goodman, Ohio Valley Wrestling Overview‘s Trent Van Drisse and “Chicken Hat” Charlie. Other discussions include recent and upcoming events in NWA Deep Southern Championship Wrestling, NWA Anarchy, WWE and more.

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“ParaNorman” reanimates stop-motion fun

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With computer effects continuing to dominate the animated movie scene, it’s good to see an old-fashioned stop-motion animated picture on the big screen. Especially when said animated film features reanimated corpses, ghosts and other supernatural creatures.

Norman (Kodi Smit-McPhee) and his gang experience another fright in "ParaNorman"

Much like 2009’s Coraline, Laika‘s ParaNorman is a 3-D horror adventure based on a book (written by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel and illustrated by Ross Stewart). Norman (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is an unintentionally macabre little boy who lives in the equally morbid New England town of Blithe Hollow, which thrives off tourists’ curiousity about the witch hunts that took place there hundreds of  years ago. Given its haunted history, Blithe Hollow is naturally filled with the spirits of those who have died with yet-to-be-settled business in the mortal world. And Norman has a sixth sense, which means he sees these ghosts as he walks to school, watches TV or performs in school plays.

You’d think such abilities would be admired, especially in a town like his. But instead, Norman is an outcast at school and a disappointment to his parents (Jeff Garlin and Leslie Mann) who spends most of his time watching horror movies while having conversations with his grandmother (Elaine Stritch), whose ghost sits on the couch behind him. When crazy uncle Prenderghast (John Goodman) gives Norman the task of breaking a witch’s curse (just after comically keeling over, no less), Norman’s talents are suddenly appreciated as he is the only one who can communicate with the ghost of the witch (Jodelle Ferland) who wants her revenge on the town that cursed her to an unjust demise.

Norman (Kodi Smit-McPhee) attempts to break the witch's curse in "ParaNorman"

Norman races up witch mountain, encounters a bunch of zombies and is eventually saved by his vapid older sister Courtney (Anna Kendrick), his chubby friend Neil (Tucker Albrizzi), Neil’s jock brother Mitch (Casey Affleck) and Alvin (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), the school bully. The whole thing turns into a Goonies-like adventure as this unlikely gang fights off zombies, evades the police and tries to break the witch’s curse before she destroys the town. But no matter how many years have passed since those horrific witch trials, it doesn’t take long for the people of today’s Blithe Hollow to wage a new witch hunt as these supernatural events become harder and harder to ignore. And that only complicates things for Norman, who is suddenly tasked with more responsibility than he’s ever known before.

ParaNorman is definitely safe for kids, even with darkly comical moments including a segment when Norman is trying to pry a book out of his dead uncle’s hands, resulting in an awkward dance between child and corpse. But the references to classic horror movies ranging from Night of the Living Dead to Halloween will keep older horror fans happy, as will the sometimes crude dialogue. The redemptive quality of the story (not only for Norman, but for the witch and her one-time oppressors) keeps things lighthearted amidst the whimsically dark atmosphere. And while CGI has worked for similiar movies such as Monster House, ParaNorman probably wouldn’t have been given such vibrant life had it not been done in the stop-motion style.

ParaNorman. Directed by Sam Fell and Chris Butler. Starring Kodi Smit-McPhee, Tucker Albrizi, Anna Kendrick, Casey Affleck, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jeff Garlin and Leslie Mann. Rated PG. www.paranorman.com.

“The Awakening” opens viewers’ eyes to hauntings of a different kind

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Robert (Dominic West) attempts to comfort Florence (Rebecca Hall) in "The Awakening"

There are many theories on whether or not ghosts actually exist and, if they do, what causes these lost souls to stick around rather than moving on. The idea of proving or debunking their existence has become the subject of numerous reality shows such as Ghost Hunters, where experimental scientific methods are used to investigate paranormal activities. The British film The Awakening (not based on the feminist novel by Kate Chopin) takes ghost hunting back almost an entire century as strange occurrences at a preparatory school for orphans culminate in the death of one of its students.

Florence (Rebecca Hall) has made a career out of using scientific methods to track ghosts. Only her methods have been effective in not only disproving hauntings, but also uncovering fraudulent mediums using hoaxes to prey on those looking to reconnect with loved ones who have passed on. Her dedication to the subject has made her a famous (or infamous, depending on who you talk to) author bent on proving that there’s no such thing as ghosts. But when Robert (The Wire‘s Dominic West), a teacher from the boarding school, asks Florence for her assistance with the reported ghost sightings that resulted in the death of one student, she agrees to help. After her initial hesitation, Florence is inexplicably drawn to the school, and especially one young boy named Tom (Game of Thrones‘ Isaac Hempstead-Wright).

Florence (Rebecca Hall) endures physical and emotional distress in "The Awakening"

After her first night at the school, Florence is able to unveil a prank by some of the students, and it seems that the mystery has been solved. But after she also exposes one teacher’s abusive disciplinary methods, she starts to experience unexplainable occurrences for herself. As it turns out she, herself, is haunted by the loss of her lover in World War I. But that doesn’t fully explain the odd sightings and flashbacks that become more and more frequent the longer she stays at the school. When she insists on continuing her investigation even after Robert and Maud (Imelda Staunton), the housekeeper, are convinced that the prank explains everything, Florence’s own sanity begins to be questioned. And she gradually begins to realize that it’s not just the guilt and grief of having lost her lover that is haunting her, but something from much earlier in her life that has been repressed for many years.

By the time she figures out the source of these ghosts, chaos has broken out for those remaining at the school while the students are out on holiday. And in the tradition of The Sixth Sense and The Others, there is a big twist (or should I say, “an awakening”?) as the film reaches its climax. But The Awakening‘s big surprise is not the same surprise found in those movies. Instead, this film takes things one step further, surprising the viewer yet again just when he thinks he has it all figured out. And after all the suspense leading up to the big revelations, it’s kind of like the uneasy relief you might feel if you pulled the sheet way to find that there was never anyone underneath after all.

The Awakening. Directed by Nick Murphy. Starring Rebecca Hall, Dominic West and Imelda Staunton. Rated R. www.cohenmedia.net.

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.