In less than a week I'm stepping back into the ring. This time I'll be teaming up with Heath Hatton against the Stride Pro Wrestling tag team champions, Jay Spade and Tony Flood. That match is happening Thursday, Aug. 29 at Rent One Park in Marion, Illinois. BE THERE!
So to gear up for the match, I'm sharing a few of my favorite tag team action figures on this week's Go Figure Friday. Take a look!
Earlier this week, one of WWE's most popular tag teams came to an end. Big Cass put the big boot to Enzo and in an instant, the longtime partners were through. The action reminds me of when three of my favorite tag teams came to an end.
Sweet chin music
Courtesy: WWE
Perhaps the most famous tag team breakup is the Rockers. In 1992 it was clear Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty were not feeling it anymore. A split had been teased for months, and finally, Shawn had enough and threw Marty through the window on the Barbershop segment. I enjoyed the Rockers as a tag team, but allowing Shawn to launch a singles career is one of the best moves WWE ever made. Adopting the HBK persona and attitude has put Shawn Michaels near the top of many fans' lists of favorites.
Mega Powers explode!
Courtesy: WWE
The Mega Powers were destined to split up. The one time enemies became quick allies when "Macho Man" Randy Savage was being abused by The Honky Tonk Man and the Hart Foundation. Suddenly, with the urging of Elizabeth, Hulk Hogan made the save. The WWF's top two guys became fast friends and tag team partners. The relationship lasted roughly 18 months before the Mega Powers exploded. The buildup and breakup of these two will go down as one of the best angles devised by WWE.
Bulldogs end!
Stampede Wrestling
Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid are still my favorite tag team of all time. The British Bulldogs teamed for a few years in WWF before heading back to the Stampede area. It was there that Kid turned his back on Davey Boy ending that duo. I never saw this play out on TV but read about it in the Apter mags as a teenager. In the long run, this too worked out well, at least for Davey Boy Smith. He would come back to the WWE a few times, winning the European, Intercontinental and Tag Team Championships. I love tag team wrestling. But I know there are times when it's necessary to split up teams and let the singles go on to bigger and better things. It's expected that Big Cass will be the big star of the most recently torn up tandem. Hopefully, Enzo finds success too, I really think he'd make a great manager/mouthpiece for someone.
Last year I had the idea to do an MVPs of WrestleMania blog, but came up with it a day or two before the big event. So I held my list waiting for WrestleMania 32 to roll around. Admittedly I've made a couple of minor tweaks to the original list and debated internally over the quality of my list. I invited Chad to play along too. While the lists aren't perfect (he's not in our top ten), I hope you enjoy. A new blog will be posted daily until March 31, the day I leave for Dallas.
Rockin' at WrestleMania 5
Courtesy: WWE
Kevin's pick:
2) Shawn Michaels: The Heartbreak Kid is of the most decorated Superstars in the history of WWE. He has been a HUGE part of WrestleMania, dating back to 1989 when he and Marty Jannetty made their Mania debut against the Twin Towers. Big Bossman and Akeem took out the Rockers that night and watching the team back then I knew Shawn was special, but I had no idea the icon he'd become. After splitting with Jannetty and going on his own, HBK had some of the best singles matches the big event has ever seen.
Retiring Ric Flair
Courtesy: WWE
His classic ladder match against Razor Ramon set a new standard in wrestling more than 20 years ago. He beat Bret Hart for his first WWF World Championship in WrestleMania's first and only Iron Man Match. That zipline entrance inspired me to do the same thing as my wedding, or at least ask if it was possible. My wife said "hell no!", but I digress. His final match during the first part of his WWE career was a torch passing moment to "Stone Cold" Steve Austin at WrestleMania 14. Years later, he'd return to the company and the big show to face Chris Jericho. Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Triple H and Vince McMahon were all rivals of HBK in that period. He also took on and lost to John Cena and retired legend Ric Flair in what has become my favorite "in person" WrestleMania match.
End of an era
Courtesy: WWE
Shawn himself would soon wrap up his own career. A year after the Flair match he wrestled the Undertaker in what many call one of the best Mania matches of all time. Then at WM 26, HBK put his career on the line and vowed to retire if he couldn't beat the Undertaker and his streak. The match closed out the show and just like the year prior, Undertaker scooped up and tombstoned Shawn for the win. He's been back as a referee and to give Sting some Sweet Chin Music. I'm sure there's plenty more guest spots in his future, assuming he wants to keep being a part of WrestleMania.
Icon vs. icon
Courtesy: WWE
Chad's pick:
2) Vince McMahon: If it weren’t
for Vince McMahon, there would be no WrestleMania. Given the events of the past
35 years, if there were no Vince, who knows if wrestling would have any
mainstream exposure today. It was a risky move to place all the chips on the
table with the first WrestleMania. Looking back at how barebones the first event was, it’s amazing to think how big WrestleMania has grown. From a
mid-afternoon, darkly lit wrestling show to a weekend extravaganza with an
average of 70,000 fans and larger than life staging, WrestleMania has
definitely earned the nickname “Super Bowl of Wrestling.” That is quite the
accomplishment for the 70-year old WWE visionary. Not to mention the handful of times he's competed in the ring at Mania against his own son, Shane, as well as Hulk Hogan and Shawn Michaels.
When I started formulating ideas for what topics to cover in this Countdown to High Noon series, I realized if I was trying to persuade people as to why they should watch Chikara, I needed to highlight the differences between the "wrestling" they see on TV on a weekly basis. Yesterday I tried to explain how important tag team wrestling was to the Chikara foundation. Today the focus is on the Young Lions.
There has been a lot of criticism towards TNA and WWE for using wrestlers that are long in the tooth instead of utilizing newer potential stars. In Chikara, it’s practically the opposite. Chikara’s roster is primarily made up of graduates of the Chikara Wrestle Factory. Over the past year there has been a steady influx of outside talents appearing on Chikara shows, but even then the talent is usually some relative young talent rather than an experienced veteran. There are exceptions, such as Johnny Saint and Johnny Kidd appearing on the Chikarasurus Rex weekend of shows and Marty Jannetty was scheduled to make his Chikara debut on October 29. For the most part though, when watching a Chikara show, fans are treated to young and hungry talent that wants to prove themselves.
Young talent has been such a focal point for Chikara that up until November 13, the only singles title the company has had during its tenure is the Young Lions Cup. Each year there is a tournament, usually held in July, to crown a new Young Lion’s Cup champion. The winner will then defend the title until the next tournament. The tournament is open to any competitor 25 years of age or younger.
The 2011 Young Lions Cup tournament saw the first over 25 competitor. Archibald Peck was initially listed for the tournament before Chikara Director of Fun, Wink Vavasseur found out Peck didn’t fall into the age limit restrictions. After being ousted from the tournament, "Marching" Archie got his barrister R.D. Evans to file an injunction claiming due to America not using the metric system; Chikara was falsely determining his age. Or something like that. Check out the video.
Some detractors could say because Chikara uses guys who are fresh out of wrestling school or guys that don’t have a lot of experience the wrestling on the shows suffer. I would argue that such detractors have never watched a Chikara show. Sure there is the occasional botched move and occasionally guys may look a little lost during a match. But those things happen to even the most seasoned wrestler. I would gladly put up any match by Frightmare, The Colony, The Osirian Portal and other Chikara wrestlers past and present against some of the "experienced" wrestlers in other companies and would be shocked if the Young Lions not only held their own, but also had a better match.
I have nothing more to add. Simply put, Chikara is home to the best young talent in the business. If you’re not familiar with them, you are missing out. I’ll leave you with a highlight video from this year’s Young Lion’s Cup tournament.
Once again, High Noon is only $15 and can be ordered by clicking here.As of now there are 5 matches announced so that’s $3 a match. Quite the bargain. For more on Chikara check out their website, and keep up to date with their official YouTube channel.
And of course, follow My123Cents on Facebook, Twitter , and YouTube. Tomorrow we look at the commentation station. Even though there have been several Young Lions Cup holders, only one can claim to be the best ever. I leave you with Tim Donst’s hit video, "Who Is the Man."
