ProphetFighting

E-C-W! E-C-W!

We don’t often get to link to the excellent sports blog Five Tool Tool–they cover the Philadelphia sports scene extensively and the great fighting tradition of the city notwithstanding, our subject areas don’t intersect very often these days. Today, however, in a post about ‘Top 10 benefits of the recession on sports’ they give props about the original incarnation of ECW:

7) Clique Factor. In the mid ’90s, I lived for a time without cable. So I spun the antennae in my Philadelphia hovel until I found something – anything – to take my mind off my surroundings. On a low powered UHF channel, I found old school ECW.

ECW was a super low budget wrestling federation comprised of lunatic stuntmen and women who would do anything for crowd reactions, including beat each other with whatever the crowd handed to them. The mic work was similarly freaky. Here’s a clip.

It’s hard to imagine for anyone who watches the neutered version that the WWE puts out now, but believe me when I tell you that this was frequently great. It was also, as far as I could tell, damn near a state secret. And that made it so much more fun to watch and root for. It was like, by watching it, you had ownership.

Now, think about your relationship with your favorite MLB, NBA or NFL team. Doesn’t quite feel like that, does it? It’s a business, you know it, and part of you has to hate and ignore that on a daily basis to get your enjoyment out of it. It also means that, on some level, you envy people who like college sports or English Premier League soccer, since they’ve got a little exclusivity thing going on there.

Besides, let’s face it… there’s frequently a Groucho moment about being a fan of a certain team. I was happier being an Eagles fan on the West Coast, where I didn’t have to endure so many, well, Eagles fans. The ones that blame Donovan McNabb for everything start at tiresome and only get worse.

You’ll have to go over there for the ECW highlight clip…..

ECW gets props in ‘Top 10 benefits of the recession on sports’ @ Five Tool Tool

Josh Barnett’s Affliction: Day of Reckoning opponent?

New article just posted about Josh Barnett’s as of yet unknown opponent at Affliction: Day of Reckoning:

Josh Barnett waiting for Affliction: Day of Reckoning opponent @ The Savage Science

Despite claims by Aleksander Emelianenko in the Russian fight media that he’ll be in the opposing corner against Barnett, every indication is that his opponent is still up in the air.

Aleksander Emelianenko interview translated @ Nightmare of Battle

Mayweather Wrestlemania video from ESPN

Here’s the video from ESPN.com

Mayweather at Wrestlemania play by play

If you missed the Floyd Mayweather Jr. v. Big Show matchup at Wrestlemania you can relive the “excitement” via my play-by play from the Epic Carnival:

Floyd Mayweather/Big Show Wrestlemania play by play @ Epic Carnival

I also did the play by play on the Ric Flair/Shawn Michaels match:

Ric Flair v. Shawn Michaels Wrestlemania Play by Play

[tags]Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Big Show, WWE, pro wrestling, Wrestlemania, Epic Carnival[/tags]

Tuesday Tapout: Special Friday Edition up now at the Epic Carnival

A special Tuesday Tapout Friday edition has been posted at The Epic Carnival.
Big news in the fight sports journalism world, I reassure the EC readership, plus I “cut a promo” on Bob Costas:

I want to apologize for not getting the Tuesday Tapout up until late Thursday/early Friday but I’ve been busier than Paul Lynde at a Boy Scout Jamboree. As most of you know I’ve recently relocated to the Rose City aka Portland, OR. Portland is a great city but what I didn’t expect is that they have an entirely different method of keeping time here. For example, its now 1 AM Friday morning on the East Coast but here in Portland its only 10 PM Thursday night! Crazy,huh? In addition to having to buy all new clocks since mine all ran three hours too late its really done a number on my biological clock. Anyway, we’ve got two big announcements in this week’s edition so lets get right to it. Since the Tapout this week has something of a Japanese theme, here’s a picture of the PRIDE girls….

Click the link below to read the whole thing:

TUESDAY TAPOUT: SPECIAL FRIDAY EDITION @ EPIC CARNIVAL

[tags]MMA, fight sport journalism excellence, pro wrestling, Epic Carnival, Tuesday Tapout, The Prophet[/tags]

Nastiest pro wrestling injuries ever

My homeboys over at on205th have put together a compilation of the Top 10 most gruesome pro wrestling injuries. Be forewarned that this isn’t for the faint of heart! They’ve limited the list to freak injuries in more or less traditional wrestling matches–there’s plenty of garbage match carve ups you could include but that sort of thing obviously comes with the territory when you start beating on each other with razor wire and broken light tubes.

Warning!! Lots of nasty footage of painful looking injuries at the link below. Think the Joe Theisman Monday Night Football leg break but worse…

Top 10 most gruesome pro wrestling injuries at on205th.com

[tags]on205th.com, pro wrestling injuries, pro wrestling, WWE, Sid Eudy, Sid Vicious, Hayabusa, FMW [/tags]

More on Mayweather at Wrestlemania…

If you’ve wondered why the “pound for pound” best boxer in the world agreed to get involved with Wrestlemania, here’s 20 million reasons for you…

Floyd Mayweather Jr. is a champion boxer and has tested his moves on “Dancing With the Stars.” Now the man many consider the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world is preparing to drop the gloves and do some wrasslin.’

A $20 million payday awaits the undefeated WBC welterweight champion when he takes on Big Show as part of WWE’s “WrestleMania XXIV” at Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla., on March 30.

“It’s entertainment. You have a chance to just be you and do what you want to do,” Mayweather said Monday after a chaotic Staples Center event that masqueraded as a news conference.

The boxer nicknamed “Money” clearly likes the way WWE does business.

“Wrestling takes care of business right on the spot,” Mayweather said. “Whatever they say they’re going to do, they do it right on the spot. There’s no waiting three, four, five months. Quick results, quick money. Quick big money, too.”

Were this 20 years ago my first reaction would be to assume that $20 million was a “worked” figure. The McMahons confirmed it today as well and while they’re not exactly paragons of credibility from a personal standpoint they are executive officers in a publicly held company. I’d imagine that saying they were scratching out an eight figure check to Mayweather and not have it be true would violate some SEC regulation.

Hard to say if its money well spent, but for what its worth Vinny Mac has my $49.95 or whatever he’s charging now for PPVs. I’m more interested in seeing how they work the match between Big Show and Mayweather than anything else–so far the insinuation is that it’ll be a straight wrestling match. Hard to see that being the case–Mayweather’s such a good athlete he could learn to “work” a match but the risk of injury would be too great. Word around the campfire is that Mayweather’s management and the WWE have been going back and forth on stipulations for the match and working out the “finish” so I can’t see them accepting a straight up wrestling match.

Mayweather drops gloves for Wrestlemania @ Associated Press

Apparently the WWE is trying to turn Mayweather “heel”. Holding the press conference in Los Angeles–where they knew plenty of De La Hoya fans would be on hand–was a start. Tonight on RAW he took a page right out of the playbook of “Nature Boy” Ric Flair and spent his interview talking about how good he looks and how rich he is–or, as the “Nature Boy” would have put it “stylin’ and profilin’”. Mayweather then threw some C-notes into the crowd a la Apollo Creed in the first “Rocky” movie (though if I remember correctly Creed was throwing silver dollars). Finally, The Big Show comes to the ring and suggests that he’ll be slapping Mayweather around at Wrestlemania to “show him how real wrestling can be”. Mayweather then got on a box to do a nose to nose staredown with Show as they cut to commercial.

I’m just hoping that they don’t get the evil leprechaun “Hornswoggle” involved with Mayweather. While we’re on the subject, the current storyline where the diminutive Hornswoggle is supposed to be Vince McMahon’s illegitimate son is about as good an example as you’ll find to explain why I (along with every other male over the age of 16 with an above room temperature IQ) quit watching the WWE some time ago. I’m not sure that the “VinnyMac fathers a leprechaun out of wedlock” story line is as bad as octogenarian lady wrestler Mae Young exposing her breasts or, for that matter, her giving birth to a bloody rubber hand (don’t ask–you’re better off not knowing). For sheer revulsion I don’t think anything will ever top having to see Vince McMahon’s bare ass on TV during a storyline where he forced supplicants that displeased him to (literally) kiss his ass.

At least I don’t have to witness old ladies exposing their breasts or giving birth to bloody rubber hands. The only bare ass I’ve seen is Nobuhiko Takada banging a drum wearing a sumo “diaper” (properly called a taiko miwashi) during the elaborate intro to PRIDE Shockwave 2006. I’ll put the pic of Takada bangin’ away with his cheeks exposed below. Come to think of it, I *could* see Dana White doing his own version of the “kiss my ass” club–he could drop his $250 Affliction jeans and make Josh Barnett, Frank Shamrock or whomever else he’s pissed at kiss his ass to get back in the UFC.

Anyway, tune in here for the latest of Mayweather’s dalliance with pro wrestling…

Original photo found here

[tags]MMA, mixed martial arts, WWE, pro wrestling, Big Show, Floyd Mayweather, boxing, Wrestlemania, Hornswoggle, Vince McMahon, Nobuhiko Takada, PRIDE[/tags]

WWE press conference on Monday to announce Mayweather v. Show for Wrestlemania

Dave Meltzer at The Wrestling Observer is reporting that the WWE will hold a presser on Monday to formally announce the Mayweather v. Show event for Wrestlemania. He also points out that Mayweather is *supposed* to be in Las Vegas on Monday night (including a high profile event at Jet Nightculb in the Mirage) for his 31st birthday celebration which means he won’t be on Monday Night RAW.

WWE presser for Mayweather/Show at Wrestlemania scheduled for Monday @ The Wrestling Observer

[tags]Pro wrestling, boxing, Wrestlemania, Big Show, Paul Wight, Floyd Mayweather, Jr, WWE [/tags]

Evening at The Improv with Bas Rutten…

First the backstory–there’s this conspiracy theory that Kimbo Slice’s “grown ass man” beard is an unfair advantage since it “absorbs punches”. Kimbo’s trainer, Bas Rutten, responded to this today on his website and its one of the funniest things I’ve read all week. I can’t read that “glue hair on air bags” blast without laughing….

Hey guys! First I thought that it was a joke, but now I read that people actually really believe that the beard absorbs punches? Man, I couldn’t write this message for about 5 minutes, I was laughing so uncontrollably hard, its really one of the dumbest things I have ever heard!

A person that I work with got an email from somebody saying that I shouldn’t train N******, yep the N word, more dumb stuff that goes along with people like that, and also that Kimbo cheated because his beard would absorb the punches. I told my friend not to react on it because obviously it was an 8 year old kid or somebody on the same brain level, I mean, the beard absorbs the shock?

I wish that we had to do the Nat Geo episode MMA science again. We cut of a bunch of hair of Kimbo’s beard and glue it on the head of the crash test dummy (you must see by now that if you “picture this” that it really is unbelievably dumb right?) than let Tito elbow, and me hit the head, measure the impact, take the hair of and do it again.
Do you really think that will be making a difference? If you think that, you probably also think that Superman is real (his hair is really strong), because that’s where it probably comes from, people who think that comics are real.

This is a beard from hair for crying out loud. If you believe this than you have to believe also that Kimbo has also less speed because the beard is not aerodynamic and will slow his head movement down, so that will make up for the impact absorbing BS, hahaha, man, they should glue some hair on air bags, people now will survive the crash because the one layer of beard took the impact away.

I picked up my family late yesterday evening from the airport; they had a later flight than me coming back from Miami. I asked my wife and my 11 year old if Kimbo was cheating because the beard would take away the impact of a punch (I REALLY didn’t make any judgments, just asked them point blanc), they asked me if I was serious and I told them that I read it on the internet, the reaction was a big laugh, not even an answer yes or no. Just to mention one more time, my daughter is 11 years old.

But, if you want to be right, OK, there will be of course a miniscule difference, if they have the equipment to measure such small differences on such great impact, I think it will be about the same as hitting something, than put a plastic bag over it and hit it again.

Bas Rutten LOL’s at the “Kimbo beard” conspiracy theorists @ BasRutten.TV

It did get me thinking about another way to disprove the theory that hair is the “impenetrable shield” necessary to absorb the impact of punches, kicks,etc: consider the career of pro wrestler (and current TNA booker) Dutch Mantell. For those of you not familiar with Mantell, he’s a hairy dude. One of the few funny comments I’ve read on YouTube was for a match featuring a “young Dutch Mantell” to which a poster responded that he was “shocked to find out that Mantell had ever been young” and that he assumed that he’d “popped from his mother’s womb with a full beard and hairy back”. Mantell had a very good career in pro wrestling, primarily in the Memphis area–he was solid in the ring and very good on the mic back when wrestling interviews were a product of a legit quick wit and not repetitive, banal catch phrases. He was one of the rare performers in the business who was believable in whatever role he was in and much like Harley Race or Johnny Valentine gave of the vibe that he could kick some ass in real life–an essential quality during the pre “sports entertainment” era.

Based on his body hair, however, were it the kevlar like substance theorized by the “Kimbo’s beard” conspiracy theorists he–and not Ali–would have been known as “The Greatest” since there would be no way to inflict pain upon Mantell’s head or body.

Scott Bowden, who’s as good (and funny) a wrestling writer as you’ll find, remembers Mantell’s heyday here

Here’s a pic of “Dirty Dutch” back in the day followed by a YouTube clip of a great Mantell promo followed by a heel turn on “Superstar” Bill Dundee. Dundee wasn’t assigned the role of an Australian circa early 1970′s Elvis impersonator it just worked out that way. It was Memphis after all…the video also features the great Lance Russell on commentary. This is one of my personal favorite Mantell interviews, but there’s plenty of others out there which go a long way toward explaining of how the Memphis promotion put thousands of butts in the seats of Mid South Coliseum week after week after week for so many years:

[tags]MMA, mixed martial arts, Bas Rutten, Kimbo Slice, pro wrestling, Memphis, USWA, Bill Dundee, Dutch Mantell, Lance Russell[/tags]

Lance Storm on MMA style submissions in pro wrestling

One of the bigger mistakes made by Vince McMahon in the post-WCW purchase era was the misuse of the brutally talented Lance Storm. Storm has a recurring blog on the Fight Network website and today he opines about the use–or as he sees it the misuse–of MMA type finishers in pro wrestling. In particular, he mentions the Undertaker who’s recently started to channel Shinya Aoki by using the gogoplata as a finisher. Very well done piece…

In my opinion after nearly 2 decades of Destruction, The Dead Man should not have to leave his feet to lay waste to Matt Striker. This should be a brief confrontation where Taker is left standing tall while Striker lays at his feet, closing the segment with a great visual of one man up and one man down. Instead after choke slamming Striker, which has laid out many men to date, me included, he tied him up and rolled to his back for the submission, ending the segment with both men down on the mat, a far less visual image to close the segment; it just seemed so unnecessary, and in my opinion even brought he crowd down rather than up, after the choke slam.

It’s a poor position visually, takes a fair bit of time to hook in, and isn’t going to be easy to counter in and out of in big matches to tease false finishes. That doesn’t even take into account he fact that with Taker’s incredibly long legs this hold is going to be very hard to properly hook on a wide variety of people, and will likely never be as over as the Last Ride or Choke Slam. I think the old adage, “If it aint broke, don’t fix it” applies so perfectly when it comes to the Undertaker. Taker is arguably the greatest gimmick ever created as well as one of the best working big men of all time, and has two incredibly over finishes already. I don’t understand nor see the need to switch his character to that of a submission wrestler. To me The Undertaker is the Phenom, the Dead Man, or even the American Bad Ass, a guy who lays waste to those in his path, not a technically sound submission wrestler who can beat you on the ground. If you are going to play the MMA card, I see Taker as more a Chuck Liddell than a Royce Gracie.

Lance Storm on MMA finishers in pro wrestling @ The Fight Network

[tags]MMA, mixed martial arts, pro wrestling, WWE, Undertaker, Lance Storm[/tags]