14 Memorable Wrestling Moments of 2014

Warrior's last promo

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

This will be the final Year in Review type blog I write, I promise.  I've been reflecting on the year in wrestling, and I admit I did not venture too far outside of the WWE bubble in 2014.  I've come up with a list of my 14 favorite moments, in no particular order.

1.  Ultimate Warrior's last promo/appearance.  I was in the crowd at Raw in New Orleans on the night after Wrestlemania XXX.  We were 48 hours removed from Warrior being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame and less than 24 hours away from his untimely death.  I was pumped that Warrior came out and spoke.  His words almost predicting his destiny.  He said in part "Every man's heart one day beats its final beat. His lungs breathe a final breath. And if what that man did in his life makes the blood pulse through the body of others and makes them bleed deeper and something larger than life then his essence, his spirit, will be immortalized."  Rest in peace Warrior.  We miss you.

2.  Daniel Bryan overcomes Triple H, Batista and Randy Orton in the same night to become the WWE World Heavyweight champion.

Sheamus with Ayden Bell

3.  Sheamus grants the wish for a Make-A-Wish kid in my area.  I blogged about this a few weeks ago.  Sheamus earned big points in my eyes for how he treated Ayden Bell as he battles cancer.  Class act all the way.

4.  Chikara makes its return, Icarus wins the Grand Championship.  I still haven't seen the show, but I'm happy to know this unique promotion is back and stronger than ever.

5.  The WWE launches the WWE Network.  Shut up and take my money already.

6.  Robbie E and Brooke Adams get cast on The Amazing Race.  I think it's always good for business when wrestlers cross over into the main stream media.  Hopefully the former couple's appearance on the reality show will provide a boost for TNA when it relaunches later this month.

7.  Brock Lesnar ends the Undertaker's unbeaten streak at Wrestlemania.  I still remember the look of shock on Chad's face after the three count and the gasp from the live crowd at the SilverDome... I mean SuperDome.

8.  Seth Rollins dives off the balcony at Extreme Rules as the Shield battles Evolution.  The matches between the two factions helped make Rollins, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose legit as far as I'm concerned.

9.  Cesaro bodyslams the Big Show over the top rope to win the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.  I had picked Show to win, so this victory was an awesome surprise to me.

Neville wins
Photo courtesy: WWE

10.  Adrian Neville wins the NXT championship from Bo Dallas in a ladder match and goes on to defend it throughout most of 2014.

11.  Sami Zayn reaches the top of the mountain by beating his friend Neville for the title, only to be attacked by Kevin Owens moments later.

12.  Dolph Ziggler and Luke Harper engage in an intense and brutal ladder match at TLC for the Intercontinental Title.  Ziggler wins the belt back, proving he's still the man (at least to me)

13.  Sting appears in a WWE ring, kicking Triple H in the gut and helping Ziggler cover Rollins for Team Cena's win over Team Authority at Survivor Series.

In the ring again
USA Championship Wrestling

14.  I step back in the ring for a moment to ring announce a match at the Du Quoin State Fair.  Yes, this is an egotiscal pick, but hey if I don't promote myself, who will?  It was at a USA Championship Wrestling event by the way.  Oh, and since I'm plugging myself here, check out the podcast on JitteryMonkey or iTunes!  Thanks.

Shorely You're Kidding

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger on Twitter

I know I'm late to the party on this one, but I wanted to throw out some quick thoughts on the newest "acquisition" to TNA.  Jersey Shore star Ronnie Ortiz-Magro is making his wrestling debut on the November 3 episode of Impact.  The taping for the show is later this week, so I have no idea who his opponent is or how the match goes.

I've blogged in the past about reality stars getting into the ring.  You can check that out here.  I'm not sure what TNA's obsession is with the Jersey Shore.  They have had two other "stars" from the show wrestle (JWoww and Angelina)  Actually, I'm not sure if JWoww actually wrestled, but she was paid a rather large sum of money to appear on Impact (a show that doesn't charge fans to see in person or on TV).  Did either of these angles result in a boost in ratings?  No.  I think just the opposite happens, you alienate the fans who are watching and frustrate them.

I'm not going to pass a whole lot of judgment yet, because I don't know if this is a one shot deal or if Ronnie is actually going to try to become a wrestler.  Obviously it worked for the Miz, maybe it will for Ronnie too.  If this is a one shot deal, I ask again, why?  Jersey Shore is on OPPOSITE Impact.  So people who are regular watchers of the Shore are not going to be likely to switch the channel, are they?  Maybe I'm wrong here.

Me and Robbie E. 

One would have to assume that Ronnie will work some kind of program with Robbie E, since he's the Jersey Shore wannabe.  The teaser on the Impact Wrestling website specifically says Ronnie will be making his "wrestling debut."  Maybe he and Eric Young will team up against Robbie E and Rob Terry.  I just hope that if it is a one time deal, they don't make Ronnie's opponent look horrible in the process.  But that's the tendency when a star outside wrestling is brought in.  They're used to make someone on the roster look bad.  It's happened in every company since the beginning of time.  But that doesn't mean I have to like it, right?

Snooki at Wrestlemania

And just to be clear, I also complained when Snooki was a part of Wrestlemania 27.  I know with wrestling these days it's also about entertainment and getting that main stream media attention.  I suppose all is fair, right.  At least Ronnie has the look of a wrestler, but does he have the heart and the talent to back that up? We'll find out in a few weeks.

What are your thoughts?  Post them here or on Facebook or Twitter.

In This Corner...

Escorting Velvet Sky to the ring (photo from SI Miners)

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be a wrestling manager.  I knew that I would never be able to cut it as a wrestler.  I don't have the athleticism or physique to get in the ring and perform.

I've had a couple of opportunities in recent years to ring announce, ref, and even do some color commentary.  On June 10, I got the ultimate opportunity.  I was in the corner of TNA Impact Wrestling Knockout Velvet Sky.  Although it was a brief experience, it's one I'll never forget.

Let me start from the beginning.  A couple of months ago, TNA announced plans to hold a Basebrawl event at Rent One Park (home of the Southern Illinois Miners, in the Frontier baseball league)  As soon as the show was announced, I made contact with the folks at Rent One about getting a TNA star on the morning show I anchor.  In the past I've interviewed Billy Gunn live on the air, as well as Sid Vicious and Jerry Lawler on the phone.

D'Lo Brown in the house!

It wasn't until Wednesday that I found out who would be coming in.  It was D'Lo Brown, a former star in both TNA and the WWE.  Now he is an agent for TNA.  I've got to tell you, D'Lo was absolutely awesome.  We spoke briefly before the show and he was really cool.  I think sometimes wrestlers are leery about doing media interviews, but they are pleasantly surprised to learn the guy doing the interview is a die hard wrestling fan.

I know the product, and I think that helps make them comfortable.  Plus, I'm not going to ask silly questions or act like a mark.  At least I try not to!  D'Lo did great and told me to look him up at the stadium that night.   I had won a local radio contest to get the shot at being a manager.  D'Lo let me pick who I would manage, and I went with his suggestion of Velvet.

I made a video for the contest to get the chance to be a manager for the night.  My Facebook friends wanted me to head to the ring as Professor Wrestlestein.  But once I got to the show, I was asked not to dress up.  They didn't want me taking any attention away from Velvet, Angelina Love or Winter.  I was cool with that, but somewhat disappointed.  But it was their show, I was just there as a guest.

Our match was the second, and I waited in the "backstage" area on the field before the show started.  Cookie, Robbie E., and Eric Young kicked off the event.  I got to meet Dave (or Earl) Hebner as I waited for the ladies to show up.  D'Lo arrived with them on a golf cart and introduced me to Velvet.  He explained to her that I was a local news anchor and she started to tell me what I needed to do out there.  D'Lo interrupted and told Velvet I was a big time wrestling fan.  I think that put Velvet a bit more at ease too.  But honestly, my heart was pumping and I was so nervous.  I just didn't want to look like a tool in front of a crowd that big.  It's different than looking like a tool on the news, because those people aren't there yelling at me in person.

Hello!

We ran through the inflatable dome together and I walked around the ring as Velvet did her provocative entrance.  The fans ate it up.  And I'm not bragging here, but there were some loud "Kevin Hunsperger" chants from the front row.  Of course it was a group of guys from the AAPW group here in southern Illinois.  Other viewers of our morning show were also calling my name.  That was a great feeling, despite the fact that I felt I looked very lame out there.

This was the write up from the PW Insider on the match: ‎"Velvet Sky w/ Kevin Hunsperger defeated Angelina Love w/ Winter. Kevin won the "Be a Manager" contest from ESPN Radio. He's an anchor for WSIL TV. The ringside fans seemed more interested in chanting for Kevin, as he's a well known personality, at least in the section I was at. I believe the ending saw a failed interference attempt form Winter, which led to Velvet rolling Angelina up for the win."

Keeping Winter at bay (photo by Jim Olsen)

Basically all I did was go after Winter when she attacked Velvet.  Of course there was no contact made, as I was the baby face and baby face guys don't hit women.  I also played the role of cheer leader, pounding on the mat and starting a "Let's Go Velvet!" chant when my gal was down.  After she picked up the win, we went back stage and did an interview with the local ESPN station.  Again, it was surreal experience, and something I have always dreamed of.

I went back to my seat with the rest of the My 1-2-3 Cents posse.  My friends crack me up as they were taunting and yelling at the guys in the ring.  They even had a "We Hate Kevin" chant.  Gotta love friends.  Chad and I had a chance to go back stage again and meet several stars and get pictures taken.  Other than managing Velvet, my other highlight was getting in the ring after the show with Kurt Angle and having a picture taken.

Representin' the 3 I's...

I know in the past we've taken shots at TNA and the management of the company.  I will say this about Friday's show.  They make the evening as fan friendly as possible.  Considering this was a house show, they had a lot of meet and greets and chances for fans to get up close and personal with the stars.  The only time I've seen anything like that with the WWE was at Wrestlemania Axxess, which costs a heck of a lot more than the TNA event.

This is the tip of the iceberg, I'll do a video response a bit later.  Thanks for reading.  Check out all the photos from Friday night on My 1-2-3 Cents on Facebook.  Follow us on Twitter.  And subscribe to the YouTube channel.

Manager Interference

By Chad Smart

TNA (or Impact Wrestling) is holding one of their Basebrawl shows in Marion, IL on June 10. The local ESPN radion station is holding a contest where the winner will get to "manage" a wrestler during the show.  Anyone who wanted to enter had to email their ideas for how they would interere during the match. The following is what I wrote as my entry. Even if I don't win, I expect to use these tactics during the show.

 

While the art of the wrestling manager has been pretty much gone the way of the dodo, if given the right circumstances managers could become useful once again the the wrestling industry. One of the trademarks of a good manager is the ability to interfere and allow his charge the ability to get the upperhand on his opponent. Bobby "the Brain" Heenan was a master of distracting the referee. Jimmy "Mouth of the South" Hart and "Classy" Freddie Blassie would get the referee's attention allowing their wrestlers to use Jimmy's megaphone and Freddie's cane behind the ref's back. But that was the 80s. What would make for good manager interference today, specifically for the TNA Basebrawl show this week. Here are some ideas.

 

While normally the manager would be escorting a heel wrestler because a heel getting the better of a face due to underhanded tactics, TNA's faces are pretty bland so they'd fall for any generic taunt. In order to really get the crowd riled, I think taunting the heels would make for a more entertaining experience. Here are a few examples.

 

Matt Hardy: The no-brainer idea would be to try and get Matt riled up by saying something about his brother Jeff, the former TNA world champion who is awaiting charges for drug possesion. While there's a lot to work with there, the better taunt would be to wait until Matt has KAZ in place for a Twist of Fate.  Right as Matt is doing his patented yell, the manager would pull out a bag of grapes.  The manager would taunt Hardy with the grapes, eating some and asking Matt if he wanted some grapes.  This would be in response to a video Hardy posted on youtube a few months back where he was training and eating grapes. Matt would become obsessed with getting his hands on some grapes, he would forget about KAZ, allowing KAZ to get an easy schoolboy for the pin.

 

Jeff Jarrett: In order to distract Jeff, simply look to wrestling's past and come to the ring with a manilla envelope. During the match, the manager would get on the apron, hold up the envelope and scream, "Jeff! Before she was yours, she was mine!" Then the manager insinuates the envelope contains pictures of Karen Jarrett in comprimising positions. Of course this could backfire since Kurt Angle is also in the ring and he could take offense of you having pictures of his ex-wife.

 

Robbie E.: this would be the easiest and best. When Robbie starts fist pumping, the manager would put on a headband that says, "woo woo woo"  tell Robbie, he's no Zack Ryder, then pull out a cellphone and pull up an episode of True Long Island Story on youtube and show Robbie how a real broski rolls. Woo woo woo, you know it.

If those ways don't work and you need something more drastic, just pull a Flair. Strip down to your boxer shorts and elbow drop the mat over and over. If THAT doesn't distract everyone, nothing will.