How many times?

Hello all



I hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas holiday.



So I was watching Smackdown the other day, and I saw that Edge has beaten Kane, and is once again the World Heavyweight Champion. I say once again because he is now a 10-time, World Champion. He has held The World Heavyweight Championship 6-times and WWE Champion 4.



Now don’t get me wrong Edge fans, I know he has paid his dues through the years. I know he started out as a wrestler in Canada, and he has been in the WWE since 98. I know that he was a tag team champion, King of the Ring, Intercontinental Champion, and even the WCW US champion. So I know he is a very deserving champion, but my problem is the fact that he, and a lot of wrestlers (mainly in WWE), have been champion an awful lot.



Growing up there was one guy we all knew as a multi-multi time world champion, Ric Flair. And besides him, if you are my age, you remember Harley Race. But late in the 80s, Race was an 8 time champion, and Flair was a 7 time champ. Then by the end of the 90s Flair was a 9 time champ, and Hulk Hogan was a 9 time champ.



Now in total Hogan is a 12-time champion and Flair is a 16-time champion. These two men are titans of this sport, whether you like it or not. But as the last decade just came to a close, we have (and or will be) adding too many men to this list.



I am not sure if Vince McMahon and his writers are running out of ideas or if he thinks we, as an audience, would not respect a guy holding the title for a long time; but there have been too many wrestlers reining the title, and causing this number to grow.



Triple H is a 13-time champion; he has won 11 of those titles in this decade. He is the 6-time WWE and 5-time World champ. There were a few of those instances when he was the champ, lost the belt, the belt would be held up (meaning no one would be champion), for one reason or another, Then he would win it right back. What was the purpose of that?



Edge, John Cena, Randy Orton, Batista, and have all been multi time champions in this decade. But it goes a little further than that. All of these men have been champion at least 6 times……..not just in this decade, since 2004. That is only 7 years. But in the last 7 years these 4 men have had a combined 40 world title reigns. Hogan, Race, and Flair, have 36 among them.



I know some of you say will say, “What about TNA, do they have any guys who have held the belt too many times”. I’m glad you ask. Kurt Angle, who is a 12-time champ, started in WWE. His title reigns go back to 2000. And Jeff Jarrett, who is a 10 time champ, started his title reign in WCW, and as most of you know, back in the beginning of 2000, WCW was a poorly run company. And his last 6 title runs came with him as the owner of TNA.





All in all, I think the title reigns should be sacred. Every sports fan knows 755 (I know Barry Bonds broke the record, but we all know he was on the juice), as the home run record. Everyone knows 100 points in a NBA game. Everyone knows 50 touchdowns in an NFL season. We, as sports fans, know the numbers of the great records, I think 16-time world champion, should be another.

AND THAT'S THE BOTTOM LIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!


Question of the Week:
Last week's answer to the question of who was the 1st IC Champion, is Pat Patterson.

This week's question: What was the original WWE Grand Slam?(I told you guys these question would get harder, even though no one has answer any of these question, so far)

The Champ is WHO!?

As I was preparing to write this blog, as I flipping through Ric Flair’s book, “To Be the Man”, about to read it. Then I read a quote that took me back to this weeks edition of Monday Night Raw, that was about the slammy awards.



Every part of entertainment has its own line of awards. WWE is no exception. They call their’s the “The Slammy’s”. The slummy awards are the awards given to pro wrestler by the WWE.



Well at the beginning of the show, they had their 1st presenter, David Arquette, come out and give away an award. While he was getting ready to give away the award, he said something that I almost forgot, but was also brought up in this book, that makes me say, WHO THE HELL WAS IN CHARGE OF THIS!?!!!!?!!??!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?! And that is David Arquette is the 44th WCW World Heavyweight Champion.



I know you are probably wondering if you are reading this correctly, well yes you are. Arquette was the champion of the organization that has had men, great wrestlers, as their champion. An organization, whose championship heritage can be traced way back to the golden ages of pro wrestling.



Arquette was mad champion as a “work” (part of a storyline) to promote the movie “Ready to rumble”, that also stared Arquette. In the match he did not really wrestle anyone, he just so happened to be the guy who pinned the man in the match, who was not a wrestler either. He was ex-WCW president Eric Bischoff.



Now don’t get me wrong, I know that at the time WCW was trying to get into other forms of entertainment. They had dancing girls entertaining the fans in the down time between matches, they had musical acts during the show, and they had a movie produced that seems like it might be based on the life of Ric Flair, in Ready to Rumble. So I do understand why they tried to cross promote.



But HOW DARE YOU. This is the WCW Championship. Think about the entire list of great wrestlers who held this belt. Flair, Hulk Hogan, Sting, Vader, Ron Simmons, Lex Luger, Goldberg. Hell even guys who I wouldn’t consider greats in the sport, like The Giant (Big Show in WWE), Kevin Nash, and Jeff Jarrett. Not to mention all of the great wrestlers who have never (and I guess will never) worn this belt. You should have more respect for the business and for the wrestlers who have made this business what it is!


I am sure that this is why there is no more WCW. You can not run a company, in an industry drappped in tradition and respect, and not respect the tradition that your company has. And you cannot respect it if you are giving an actor your World Heavyweight Championship.

AND THAT’S THE BOTTOM LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



The answer to last week’s question: Who is the oldest WWE champion? Vince McMahon.

This week’s question: Who was the 1st Intercontinental Champion? (Feel free to answer these questions)

Boy, you look just like your daddy!

As I watch TV on Monday, Thursday, and Friday nights, I see a lot of familiar faces. Not because the same people are being given a push (different blog, for a different day), but because there are a lot of wrestlers who have been around this business their whole lives.



These are 2nd and 3rd generation performers. Most of them have seen everything there is to see about this business and are now ready to take it over.



This is not a new concept. For years, wrestling has been a family business. Back in the day, before you had wrestling companies (WWE, TNA) you had wrestling territories. Back then they were family run. AWA, WCCW, and even Jim Crocket Promotions (which later went on to become WCW), were all run by men who for the most part were wrestlers. They had their brothers, cousins, sons, and yes even some daughters, work for them. For the most part, it is because, family were the only people you could trust back then. Pro wrestling was a very cut throat business at that time.



One man who did this was AWA owner Verne Gagne. Gagne was a former a 2-time NCAA wrestling champion, before becoming a profession wrestler. He wrestled in the NWA (if you have any question, I will do a future blog about the NWA) from 1949-60, before he decided to start his own organization, the AWA. He ran the company for 30 years. In that time, Gagne brought his son into the company as a wrestler. His first role was as a jobber (someone who always gets beat), but in time he became a top draw for that company. As much as Verne wanted his son to be the champion, the fans would never accept it. So he made his son-in-law, Larry Zbyszko, champion instead.



WCCW was not much different. It was formed from a territory in Texas, in the 1960s. Fritz von Erich was a wrestler, who unlike Gagne, never made it to the top as a wrestler. He was able to stay on as a writer and booker (the person who arranges matches) until his sons become old enough to be stars. And stars they were. The Von Erich’s were very famous in Texas in the 80s. So much so, that David Von Erich was in line to become the NWA World Heavyweight Champion, defeating Ric Flair, in the process. Unfortunately he passed away before he got the chance. Then David's brother Kerry Von Erich, actually did win the World title from Flair, 3 months after David passed.



Fast forward to modern day. There are no more territories. So now we have a lot of 2nd and 3rd generation guys (and women) in pro wrestling, mainly WWE and TNA. But don’t forget that the man running the most powerful, and profitable organization in wrestling, Vince McMahon is a 2nd generation promoter.



Take Randy Orton. Another 2nd generation wrestler. Obviously Randy is one of the biggest starts in the WWE, and I’m sure you all know by now that his dad is a Hall of Famer. But I believe his presence in the industry for his whole life has helped. Natalya, the Diva’s champion is the daughter of Jim the Anvil Neidhert. David Hart Smith’s dad was The British Bulldog, Davey Boy Smith. You also have the Usos, who are the sons of Rikishi, and their manager Tamina is the daughter of Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka. Michael Mcgilicutty, and Husky Harris, two guys who competed in NXT, and are now on RAW, as members of the Nexus, are the sons of famous fathers, Curt Henning(Mr. Perfect), and Mike Rotunda(I.R.S.)



With all of the wrestling pedigree out there, I am sure that wrestling is in great hands



The answer to last's week did you know question, of "Who is the youngest Champion in WWE history"? Randy Orton

This week's Did you Know question: Who is the oldest Champion in WWE history?


AND THAT'S THE BOTTOM LINNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Phenomenal One!

I hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving holiday. I am back now, and ready to give you all my newest opinion about wrestling.

This week’s blog, I am going to do another profile of a wrestler. This one is of someone the world may know. I think everyone should know him (which is why I am doing this blog), but because he is in what is the 2nd biggest promotion in the country, he hasn’t worked anywhere else and not too many people have been exposed to him.

I have to give credit to a friend of mine. A guy I have known for more than 17 years. A guy who shares a birthday with me and a guy who is a brother to me. One day, maybe a year or two ago, we were talking about wrestling and he told me there is one guy who he watches on TNA, and that this guy is the only reason he watches. If you have not guessed by now, I am talking about the phenomenal A J Styles.

I know there are a lot of you who only watch WWE. I myself was one of those guys. I grew up watching them, and WCW. I got back into wrestling, because of Stone Cold Steve Austin (if you couldn’t tell), not Goldberg, Hollywood Hogan, or the NWO. So my loyalty was to the WWE all the way. And when WCW was bought out, I thought this would be a WWE world when it comes to major wrestling organization in North America. All of that to say, I never really thought of TNA as a real company. They are very much an upstart company. They started in 2002, by Jeff Jarrett, an ex WWE and WCW wrestler. And their headquarters are in Nashville Tennessee. Nothing against Nashville, but not the place you think big TV is going to happen, and let’s be honest, to be a factor in wrestling in the 21 century you have to be on TV (ask Paul Heyman, and ECW).

So again, I did not pay attention to TNA. Then I and my buddy were talking, and he said A.J. Styles is the only reason to watch TNA. He is a fan of wrestling, and he was at Wrestlemania 20 (he won a contest, on Spike TV, 7 years ago, I think you can Google him). So again, his wrestling opinion means something to me. So one day I flipped on TNA, and it was very tough to watch, but I didn’t turn it off until I saw Styles’ match; and I must admit, from that moment on, I was a fan.

Now Styles is not some up and comer. He is one of the TNA Originals. And though he had a 2 year stint in Ring of Honor (another organization that is small, but a lot of wrestlers have come from there, like CM Punk). I think it says a lot about the type of guy he is. I’m sure WWE has made him an offer, but he hasn’t taken the money and run.

Styles might have some of the greatest moves in pro wrestling. He has the agility of a cruiserweight, but he is big enough to pull off being in the ring with all of the heavyweights. He makes everyone he steps in the ring with, better. He always puts on a 5 star match, even on TV, unlike a lot of other people. And he is great on the mic. He is everything you want in a wrestler. He has held every title in TNA, and has even brought the TV title, a title all wrestling fans my age and old can appreciate (even though back then the champion was not always wrestling on TV like they do now).

I hope that after you guys read this blog you’ll tune into TNA, on Thursday nights, and watch the phenomenal one!

AND THAT’S THE BOTTOM LLLLLLLLLLLLLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


PS I told you guys I was going to start a “Did you know part” of the blog. Here it is. I am going to start with something easy.

Who is the youngest champion in WWE history?