Author: M. Swift

Jesse White is a wrestler that might have been forgotten by now because his career was so short. The son of the 1996 Wrestling Observer Hall of Famer Vader, White made his debut in 2009 after an injury ended his collegiate football career at the University of Oklahoma. WWE Developmental Career After roughly three years in the Oklahoma indies and teaming with his father in Japan, White was picked up by WWE and entered its developmental system as Jake Carter. First, he went through Florida Championship Wrestling in 2012 where he was a regular partner of Corey Graves. The two…

Next February will mark twenty years of Ring of Honor. Its origins are humble starting out as the successor to Extreme Championship Wrestling as the premier indy company on the east coast. Current WWE consultant Gabe Sapolsky was a massive part of that as well as the direction wrestling in the U.S went in the 2000s and 2010s. Roots of Ring of Honor As a matter of fact, if you look at the final two years of ECW, there was a gradual change in the in-ring direction. While the extreme brawling element was the namesake of the company and gave it that edge that was…

It’s been a while since we ended the “Into the Vault” 1996. Let’s step into 1997 with WWE Royal Rumble 1997. This time, we’re streamlining “Into the Vault” by splitting the show up into “The Best” and “The Rest”. WWE Royal Rumble 1997: The Best Going down the card, Triple H defending his Intercontinental Championship against Goldust is definitely the best singles bout of the night. It worked as a great opener to the show and is one of those matches that really adds value to whatever title is at stake. Adding to this is that this time WWE usually featured lengthy builds to…

Some months ago, I managed to get the first UFC show from 1993 as well as some martial arts films. Those aren’t important at the moment as we’re focused on UFC 1. The reputation of mixed martial arts has changed over almost 30 years to where it is now seen as a legit sport. There are training facilities for the combat sport, it’s on television, it’s covered online instead of just features in Playboy magazine. It now makes millions upon millions a year and can afford big contracts for fighters. However, in that first tournament in 1993 the guys threw fists for $50,000. …

The debut of MLW Fusion ALPHA is basically a new season of MLW Fusion only with some slight rebranding. It’s intended to be a mini-series or a prequel to Fusion airing on Vice TV. As for this episode, it feels like another episode of Fusion instead of an entirely new show. There’s some promo and interviews to get into before we look at three matches for this episode. The matches themselves are all from the MLW Battle Riot III event from July 10th. MLW Fusion ALPHA #1 -Bunkhouse Brawl: The Von Erichs vs. Team Filthy (Kevin Ku & Kit Osbourne) -Gino Medina vs. KC Navarro -TJP vs. Davey Richards Hype Central Before we get…

After viewing the 2002 documentary The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Extreme Fighter Mark Kerr, two businessmen got the idea to establish the International Fight League. Gareb Shamus, founder of Wizard magazine and real estate developer Kurt Otto announced the MMA league in 2006 with the idea of making MMA a team sport with different franchises. There was also the goal of making sure fighters got more out of the sport by receiving salaries as well as healthcare. The International Fight League Starts IFL’s formula was interesting in promos. We’d seen UFC and PRIDE FC for several years by 2006, so…

Let’s dive right into another 3-Count Spotlight as we look at third-generation wrestler Davey Boy Smith Jr. Mic Check On the microphone, Davey Boy Smith Jr is far from awful but very short of good. He can deliver a serviceable promo to hype a match but there comes a time—especially with wrestling in the West—where a wrestler has to hold their own in a lengthier segment against another. Then again, DBS Jr has never really been in a position where his mic skills had to be better than solid. His wrestling always did the talking for him but wrestlers at…

James Storm is a TNA Original through and through. After over nine years with the company, “Cowboy” received a shot at the TNA World Heavyweight title in October 2011. Champion Kurt Angle had just defeated Storm’s partner at the time, Robert Roode. Storm was able to pick up the victory and would go on to hold the belt…for a little over a week after Roode used a Storm’s beer bottle to score the win. The World Title Escapes James Storm Forever Instead of building towards a rematch for the following month, Storm is attacked by someone backstage who is later…

Straight out of Blackpool, it’s William Regal! After several years of wrestling around the world, he received tryouts on the UK tours of WWE and WCW in 1991. In January 1993, he joined WCW full-time and would remain there until 1998. Following a stint in WWE, he rejoined WCW which was now in its death throes. The previous two stints are actually better remembered as a weird, two-year fever dream. Here you had this dope triple threat of a wrestler whose most memorable thing from this two-year period was playing “a real man’s man”. He got activated again once he returned to WWE and it was similar to his first…

There have been several wrestlers who also worked as teachers such as “The Franchise” Shane Douglas, George “The Animal” Steele, and Tim Storm. Look at that—two former NWA World champions! This was used as the premise of the late 80s Canadian sitcom Learning the Ropes. I discovered Learning the Ropes via WrestleCrap and had to watch it for myself. It’s one of those shows where you probably weren’t aware of it when it first aired but you vaguely remember it from syndication. Learning the Ropes The show starred Super Bowl XVIII Champion and Raiders defensive end Lyle Alzado as a private school teacher and…