Author: M. Swift

The glass ceiling appears in certain industries. Professional sports seem to be one of the few settings where you won’t experience it or notice it. After all, sports are mostly performance and results-based. It’s rare for clubs and teams to say ”This player isn’t all that good but he’s marketable so he’s a star player!” In wrestling, you get the glass ceiling often and WCW and Impact Wrestling (as TNA) were notorious for it.  WCW and Its Glass Ceiling  If you watch WWE and WCW between 1994-2001, you’ll see the glass ceiling in effect. Sting represented a particular generation in WCW but he didn’t have…

In the U.S, the WCW cruiserweight division was an elite collection of talent. It had some of the best stars and up-and-comers from North America, Europe, and Japan come through it. For the most part, the division has a roll call of champions that would be hard to dispute. However, WCW mismanaged it in some ways. There weren’t many hiccups with the booking since it was presented as a purely competitive title for half of its duration. Once WCW began mixing in actual storylines things started to mixed. Depending on who was involved the title lost a little of its…

Normally when we go Into the Vault, I try to compare events from the same month and year. We got in WCW Uncensored 1995 but WWE wasn’t running monthly PPVs at this time. As a matter of fact, the In Your House shows didn’t kick off until 1995. While WCW ran big shows every month, it bolstered things with Clash of the Champions as not to compete on PPV against WWE. The 1995 PPV wrestling season kicked off with WWE Royal Rumble 1995. Let’s dive in!  Trash Tier  Go on ahead and skip Undertaker vs. IRS. It was a TV match or something you’d put…

We’ve finally reached MLW Fusion #100! You’re caught up on all the happenings in Major League Wrestling for February and now we’re in March. It can be hard to keep up with MLW since there’s so much wrestling available now and MLW Fusion can fly under the radar.  The intro is interrupted by CONTRA Unit’s ace, the MLW World Champion, Jacob Fatu—the best Fatu since Umaga. Yeah, I said it. He’s defending the title against CIMA and said that he is going murderize him! This is what I call a power promo: short but punchy.   Let’s take a look at the card for MLW Fusion #100.  MLW Fusion #100…

If you could bring one back which one would you pick? Extreme Championship Wrestling or World Championship Wrestling? While Vince McMahon’s Alpha Entertainment doesn’t have the licenses to ECW or WCW and no interest has been shown in promoting wrestling, it’s a What If, worst-case scenario.  The Alpha Entertainment-Scenario  Vince McMahon is in his early 70s and has turned most of his attention to Alpha Entertainment and is focusing on the XFL. As a matter of fact, reports are that Vince doesn’t really show up at RAW as often as he did and hasn’t been providing input on the show as he…

We’re still marching through Major League Wrestling’s MLW Fusion to catch up to #100. Fusion #99 was an eventful episode with all tag matches. On this episode, you have a six-man bout, a high flyers’ showdown, and a lumberjack match that continues the Promociones Dorada-CONTRA Unit feud. This is the first MLW Fusion episode taking matches from Major League Wrestling’s Fightland show on February 1.  Let’s look at the card for the episode.  MLW Fusion #99 Dynasty vs. Mance Warner, Savio Vega, & Logan Creed Injustice vs. Zenshi & Laredo Kid Lumberjack Match: CONTRA Unit vs. Los Parks  The show kicks off with color commentator AJ Kirsch being interrupted by Dynasty. MJF…

Sometimes wrestling needs to spiced up just a bit. When that time comes, oftentimes wrestling drops the ball. This can be in the form of new matches or just something to decide those matches. In 1992, WCW did its first Spin the Wheel, Make A Deal when Sting took on Jake ”The Snake” Roberts.   Jake in WCW, an odd fit only because of how associated he was with WWE. However, he was only there for a moment so it was fine. Not the most memorable stint but we did get Spin the Wheel, Make A Deal out of it.  WCW Delivers The Lackluster…

Saturday, MLW Fusion #101 airs so let’s do a quick run-through of what happened on episode #98 as we march through and catch up! No title bouts on this one, of course. Before we dive in, let’s see our card for the night.  MLW Fusion #98 Card Moonshine Mantell vs. Logan Creed Douglas James vs. Erick Stevens King Mo vs. Dr. Dax Grudge Match: Tom Lawlor vs. Ross von Erich Yes, that King Mo is in action on #99. I couldn’t tell you who Dr. Dax is other than he is a Jay Lethal student. Disclaimer: being the student of a well-known, good wrestler…

“The Natural” Dustin Rhodes—or Dustin now. He was rising up in early 90s WCW. As a matter of fact, he was a good sign of what WCW’s late 90s could’ve been had the company continued building towards youth. He earned his nickname by quickly picking up wrestling. Dustin is one of my biggest ”What Ifs” when looking back at the 90s.  His contemporaries would’ve included Shane Douglas (hard maybe), “Stunning” Steve Austin, Flyin’ Brian, and probably Johnny B. Badd. That is until the likes of Eddie, Malenko, Benoit, and the Harlem Heat show up. Then you’re seeing the picture getting mix up a bit.  Or…

Seriously, WWE should go ahead and establish something in Saudi Arabia. Call it NXT Saudi Arabia because WWE has never been that creative with branding.   I’m sure the company could reel in more money just by having a year-round presence in addition to their main roster tours in the kingdom. The company is still working on trying to get NXT Japan off the ground—even when they’re 2.5-7-1 with Japanese stars.  For those wondering, the two and a half are Nakamura, Asuka, and TAJIRI (the half) as far as successes. Yes, Kaientai DX made up most of the seven failures. KUSHIDA is the draw. …