Author: M. Swift

I’m on a hardcore wrestling kick at the moment and the late 90s-early 00s was chockful of deathmatch stuff. One promotion that was on the rise was Xtreme Pro Wrestling out of Los Angeles. We’re getting into XPW My Bloody Valentine 2000 with the second night making it to tape. This show includes the company’s first King of the Death Matches tournament where their deathmatch champion was crowned.  Before we get into the show and what Xtreme Pro Wrestling was, let me say the show is at the bottom. Also, the egregious use of fonts and editing at the beginning is truly…

What’s up, everyone? On the last “Into the Vault” I took a dive in Juggalo Championship Wrestling by checking out its first show from December 1999. We’re jumping ahead to April 2000 for the promotion’s second show to hit tape: Juggalo Championshxt Wrestling – Volume 2.  From what I’ve gathered about this show either they ran some matches more than once that month or the tape pulls from different shows.  Who asked for it? No one. Does it top Juggalo Championshxt Wrestling – Volume 1? Let’s find out!  Low-Tier  First off, “Hornswagglin’ Hillbilly” got a hearty laugh from me. First you take the name then the…

If there was a Hall of Fame for overused wrestling moves, the Flatliner would have to be a first-ballot inductee. Other first-ballot entries would be the Spanish Fly and next week’s finisher. At any rate, the Flatliner has taken many names and everyone does it a little differently. Let’s get into why it belongs on the list with other overused wrestling moves.  Origin of the Flatliner or The Complete Shot  Depending on when you saw the move either Kanyon did it first or Gedo. Personally, I saw Kanyon use the move first as Mortis but Gedo could’ve been using it…

For this Wrestling Salvage Yard, we’re looking at the late John Kronus and seeing if he could’ve been better utilized or even pushed somewhere else in his career.  The Career of John Kronus  After training with Perry Saturn under Killer Kowalski, the Eliminators was formed. Actually, it was Harvesters of Sorrow but for the early 1990s, that name was a bit mumble-mouthed. Jerry Lawler suggested they change their name to something else but I think Harvesters of Sorrow was a cool name. The Eliminators could work in Memphis, Japan, and elsewhere on the indies before hitting ECW in 1995.  Originally, they were…

This week, we’re back with more overused wrestling moves. It’s hard to exactly say what moves are overused—unless you look at the origin of the move, it’s original intent, and the popularization of the move over the years. Let’s get into the Canadian Destroyer.  Does It Belong In The Overused Wrestling Moves Hall of Fame?  The Canadian Destroyer is one of those wrestling moves that aren’t totally overused but how quickly it was taken to bothered me. It’s not how fast the fans took to Petey Williams’ finisher, it’s how fast the move became a go-to move. A move good…

For some of the 2000s hardcore promotions I’m doing reviews on, I considered “Dumper Wrestling Reviews” as the name but let’s just say we’re heading back “Into the Vault” instead. This time, we’re getting into Juggalo Championshxt Wrestling -Volume 1 from December 1999. This was the first show of the Insane Clown Posse’s Juggalo Championship Wrestling.  At this time, it was still called “Juggalo Championshxt Wrestling” and featured many wrestlers from the Midwest/Great Lakes area alongside some legends of the business. ICP booked this with almost every match stipulation possible! Let’s get into the best and worst of this show!  Low-Tier  In the third match, the…

Brian Lee is a personal favorite of mine from 90s wrestling. He was 6’7, almost 290lbs, and could put on a respectable promo. Basically, he was The Undertaker if the Undertaker stopped developing as a wrestler at a certain point. You might know him better as The Underfaker from SummerSlam 1994 or Chainz during the Attitude Era as part of DOA. The Career of “Prime Time”  This guy always had some potential to be better throughout the 90s. His growth was slow because of the route he took in the business—also his demons and blown opportunities. Like his cousins The Undertaker…

Every so often there are finishing moves that make you go “That man is dead!” They’re just too devastating and honestly, the GM or commissioner should ban the move and suspend the wrestler! No pay window for them. Unless you were Jack Tunney and Hulk Hogan dropped the Atomic Leg Drop on the back of Kamala’s head on concrete…then you’d probably just suspend Kamala for getting himself in such a situation. Let’s get into the 10 deadliest finishing moves!  Go ahead and get ready to hold your neck, folks.  Steiner Screw Driver  This was a move that Scott Steiner used before…

We’re looking at more overused wrestling moves. Last time, it was the Burning Hammer which went from big match finisher to the realm of “Wow” spot and finishing move after perfect finishing move booking from All Japan early on. This time, we look at a move that came from the indies: The Spanish Fly.  A Move Everyone and Their Mama Does: The Spanish Fly  When the Spanish Fly was first being used, it was a tag team finisher from the original Spanish Announce Team of brothers Joel and Jose Maximo–also known as Los Maximos–during the early 2000s. Personally, this is…

We’re back with another Blemished or Blew It where we look at members of wrestling families who didn’t exactly live up to their predecessors’ goals and achievements and see if they blew their chances of making their mark in wrestling. Or maybe they made their mark in wrestling, met or exceeded those achievements but still dropped the ball down the line. This time we’re looking at the Hart Family’s Teddy Hart.  The Past, Present, and Future of Wrestling: Teddy Hart  Part of the third generation of Harts, I view him as the most athletically gifted of the Harts. Because of…