Foreign Object Friday: Finlay's shillelagh

Hornswoggle & Finlay with their shillelaghs
Courtesy: WWE

By Kevin Hunsperger

@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

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It's St. Patrick's Day so it only makes sense to talk about Irish Superstar Fit Finlay and his shillelagh in today's Foreign Object Friday. The official definition of a shillelagh is a thick stick of blackthorn or oak used in Ireland, typically as a weapon.

Lashley tastes the shillelagh
Courtesy: WWE

Like Jimmy Hart's megaphone, Mr. Fuji's cane and Jim Cornette's tennis racket, Finlay's shillelagh was often at his side. He used it more than a time or two against opponents both big and small. Bobby Lashley tasted the shillelagh after Little Bastard (eventually Hornswoggle) slid him the weapon. That blow helped Finlay capture the U.S. Championship. 

Little Boogie Man gets hit
Courtesy: WWE

Little Boogie Man was also abused by the shillelagh. Finlay used it during he and Hornswoggle's feud with the Boogie Man and his diminutive counterpart. Even the World's Strongest Man Mark Henry has been whacked with the wooden stick too.

Father and son
Courtesy: WWE

Eventually, Finlay and his son turned good, but that didn't necessarily mean an end to the shillelagh shenanigans. It was used among several other foreign objects during Finlay's Belfast Brawl match against JBL at WrestleMania 24. There were even times Finlay relied on Hornswoggle as a weapon too, launching his pint-sized partner on unsuspecting foes.

SummerSlam A to Z: Kane

Kane vs. Undertaker (2000)
Courtesy: WWE

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter
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Kane has been heating up SummerSlam events for almost two decades.  Before he was the Big Red Monster, Glenn Jacobs appeared at SummerSlam '95 as deranged dentist Dr. Isaac Yankem.  He lost to Bret Hart by disqualification before fading away and coming back as Fake Diesel and then finally as Kane.  

Defending against Rey
Courtesy: WWE

I'd say Kane's two biggest SummerSlams came in 2001 and 2010.  In '01 he and the Undertaker unified the WCW and WWF tag team titles after beating DDP and Kanyon in a steel cage match.  A year before that the two "brothers" battled to a no contest at SummerSlam and in '99 Kane and X-Pac lost the tag team titles to Undertaker and Big Show.  In '10 Kane defended the World Heavyweight championship against Rey Mysterio.  But it wasn't just gold Kane won at SummerSlam.  In 2004 he earned Lita's hand in marriage by beating Matt Hardy in a "Til Death Do Us Part" match.

Hell Yes
Courtesy: WWE

He's also beaten the likes of Rob Van Dam, Finlay and the Great Khali at the summer tradition.  Daniel Bryan beat Kane in '12 leading up to the formation of one of the most dynamic tag teams in the last five years: Team Hell No.  A year later, he was beaten by Bray Wyatt in a Ring of Fire match.  The ring was surrounded by flames and Wyatt's family members Erik Rowan and Luke Harper attacked Kane to influence the outcome.

At SummerSlam 2014 Kane was a lumberjack in a match between Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins.  Currently he's off TV after being injured, so it'll be interesting to see if Kane (corporate or Big Red Monster) makes it back in time for this year's event.  Win, loss or draw Kane has brought a great deal of entertainment to SummerSlam over the past decade and a half.

Not "Fit" For the WWE?

JBL vs. Finlay at Wrestlemania 24

By Kevin Hunsperger

After a decade with the WWE, the powers that be in Stamford have released Dave "Fit" Finlay.  While I normally don't comment on each "future endeavoured" superstar, I feel the need to write about this one.

The word on the street is that Finlay was canned over an incident at a WWE house show over the weekend.  Apparently, the Miz interrupted the National Anthem as part of the story line.  I don't believe the Miz was legit stopping the singing.  Anyway, members of the National Guard (a WWE sponsor) were in attendance and because Finlay was the agent in charge of the show, he took the fall.

First of all, I love my country.  I stand each time the National Anthem is sang or played.  I salute the flag.  I support the Constitution and plan to visit Mount Rushmore one day.  You get it, like most of you, I'm proud to be an American.  I'm not offended by the fact that someone interrupted the singing of the National Anthem.  I'm more offended by the fact that people whine and complain about the interruption.  And the fact that someone was fired over this is even more ridiculous.

Here's a thought, you're attending a wrestling show.  The bad guys come out and do things to rile up the crowd.  As far as I'm concerned, when you buy a ticket, you're giving the performers the authority to do things to piss you off.  To offend you.  To make you boo them.

So if you're offended by what happened at that house show, I say this: get over it.  It's entertainment.  If you weren't entertained by that, wait five minutes for something else to happen.  A man has lost his livelihood because of this.  Okay, rant over.

Luck of the Irish

Meetin' Horny at Wrestlemania 26 Axxess

By Kevin Hunsperger

Happy St. Patrick's Day.  I've decided to do a video, so go to My 1-2-3 Cents on YouTube for more on that.

The video focuses on my thoughts on Hornswoggle, but something I failed to mention in the video was the whole angle with him being the "son" of Vince McMahon and then the reveal being he was actually Finlay's boy.  I felt like that whole angle was thrown together.  From what I've read (so take it for what it's worth) Mr. Kennedy was actually supposed to be the bastard child, but that plan was scrapped when Kennedy was suspended.

I'm not hating on the little guy, I just felt like the angle could have played out much better.

Drew McIntyre & Sheamus with dates after HOF

Since it is St. Paddy's day, props to Sheamus for winning the U.S. title Monday night.  I've mentioned before I hope they're going to put him in that monster heel role again.  The creative team seems to have squandered opportunities with the big man in past.  Here's to hoping this title reign is better organized than his WWE championship runs.

Who can forget wrestling's favorite Irishman, Vince McMahon?  After all without his vision wrestling wouldn't be where it is today.  Good or bad, right?  I'll share more thoughts on McMahon for a future post.

Thanks for reading and watching.  Don't forget to check out My 1-2-3 Cents on Facebook too.

Happy St. Patrick's Day.