Michael Fitzgerald

Mike Reviews: ECW Anarchy Rulz 1999 – 19/09/1999

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Welcome to Anarchy Rulz 99, an event that is often looked upon fondly by fans of the now departed company. Certainly this show was one of my more treasured and regularly watched wrestling VHS’ back in the day, although I’m watching it on WWE Network this time just for the ease of being able to type everything up on the laptop. I’m not sure when this one was moved over to the Network, but it features some dubbed themes for the wrestlers that I’ve never heard before, some which suit them and others which don’t.

Scott sadly didn’t go back to recap this show as part of his revisit of ECW on TNN, but he did watch it back in the day and you can read what Scott from twenty years ago thought about it by clicking HERE. This review actually caused Scott some backlash from the ECW faithful back then, which led to possibly my favourite ever rant of his in the form of Netcop Vs The Mutants From Philly. This featured perhaps one of the most brain dead and hilarious emails that Scott has ever received from a reader, so I’ll post the link for it HERE.

Maybe if we all politely pester Scott he’ll go back to look at this one or again (or at least do a 2019 Scott Sez on his previous write up)? This show actually created quite a buzz online at the time as it was not only ECW’s first Pay-Per-View since getting national TV but it was also widely regarded as a good show with a big surprise appearance that got everyone talking? What was that big surprise? Well read on and you can find out!

So without further ado, let’s all recline in our favourite broken chair and nibble away on some shards of table as we take things to The Extreme!!!

Read moreMike Reviews: ECW Anarchy Rulz 1999 – 19/09/1999

Mike Reviews: ECW Hardcore TV #334 – 18/09/1999

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Here we are at the go home show for Anarchy Rulz 99. They’ve announced Taz Vs Masato Tanaka for the ECW Title in decent time ahead of the show at least, but maybe we’ll get some other matches announced as well?

As always, you can read a recap of the previous episode of ECW on TNN from Mr. Scott Keith by clicking right HERE!

So with all that dealt with, lets relax into our blood encrusted slippers and once again take things to The Extreme!!!

Read moreMike Reviews: ECW Hardcore TV #334 – 18/09/1999

New Japan Pro Wrestling Super J Cup 2019 – Night One (22/08/2019)

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The J Cup finally got uploaded to New Japan World last week. Seeing as I’ve got a day off today I’ll get Night One done. Not sure when the others will be up, so watch this space.

For those not acquainted, this is a big 16 man single elimination tournament to decide who gets to win a cool golden jacket. They’ve been doing this tournament on and off since 1994 and it’s usually provided some classic matches in past iterations, so hopefully this year’s tournament does similar!

Anyway, less chatter, let’s watch some chuffing wrestling!

Read moreNew Japan Pro Wrestling Super J Cup 2019 – Night One (22/08/2019)

205 Live #146 – 10/09/2019

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So more 205 Live again, with a notable debut this week that I’m mucho looking forward to!

The event is emanating from Madison Square Garden

Calling the action are Vic Joseph and Aiden English. With NXT now going up on USA, Nigel McGuinness has sadly departed the announce desk. However, it’s apparently essential to have three commentators for whatever reason, so former NFL player Dio Maddin steps into the chair as the replacement.

Read more205 Live #146 – 10/09/2019

Mike Reviews: ECW Hardcore TV #333 – 11/09/1999

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Back again with some more Hardcore TV. Once again, if you’d like to read a recap of the TNN show that preceded this one then you can read Scott Keith’s take on it by clicking right HERE (He’s a bit further ahead than I am currently)

Last week’s show was kind of miserable from an in ring perspective, but we at least got a good promo from Taz to build up his ECW Title match with Masato Tanaka at Anarchy Rulz 99 on the 19th of September. Hopefully we’ll get confirmation of some more matches for the show this week, although I imagine most of that sort of stuff will be dedicated to the TNN show now, with Hardcore TV playing more of a Sunday Night Heat/Velocity role in the ECW schedule.

Anyway, let’s drop toe hold ourselves right onto the comfiest chair in the house and get ready to take things to The Extreme!!!

Read moreMike Reviews: ECW Hardcore TV #333 – 11/09/1999

New Japan Pro Wrestling Royal Quest – 31/08/2019

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As of checking today the 2019 J Cup isn’t up on New Japan World yet, but the Royal Quest show from last week in London is, so that’s what we’ll look at today. I’ve actually managed to avoid all spoilers for it, so this will be a complete surprise to me. I’m fully expecting J Cup spoilers though, mainly because this show happened after that tournament concluded, but I’ll refrain from writing them here in case you are also holding out to find out what happened (Kind of weird from New Japan actually, you’d think that they’d upload the shows in order because watching this show kind of ruins the J Cup?) If everyone else could please kindly refrain from J Cup spoilers in the comments then that would be nice as well, just in case we have some readers here who are waiting to watch it and don’t want it spoiled. Cheers!

The big match on top of course will be Kazuchika Okada Vs Everyone’s Favourite Angry Old Man Minoru Suzuki, in a match which I am mightily excited for!

So let’s quit my jibber jabbering and watch some chuffing wrestling!

Read moreNew Japan Pro Wrestling Royal Quest – 31/08/2019

205 Live #145 – 03/09/2019

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The Copperbox show from 31/08/2019 is up on New Japan World now, so I’ll give it a look this week at some point, probably at the weekend. In the meantime, here’s some more of 205 Live, the show that WWE might do a big LOST like twist for one day and reveal that it was all really a nightmare of Vince McMahon’s following a particularly heavy lunch in the 80’s.

Read more205 Live #145 – 03/09/2019

Mike Reviews: ECW Hardcore TV #332 – 04/09/1999

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Here we are with the second Hardcore TV show of the TNN Era, with the last TNN show actually being both noteworthy and rather entertaining to boot. You can read what Scott Keith thought of it by clicking right HERE!

So without further ado, let’s pour ourselves a nice refreshing glass of thumbtacks and take things to The Extreme!!!

Read moreMike Reviews: ECW Hardcore TV #332 – 04/09/1999

Six of the Best – New Japan Pro Wrestling Entrance Themes

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I’ve got some free time and I’ve wanted to do this one for a while, mainly because I love entrance music. Sometimes the best thing about an entire wrestlers act can be the entrance music they use, and when a promotion gets the music right for someone it can be utterly fantastic.

I decided to start out with New Japan because I often like having New Japan themes on in the background when I’m doing some work, just because for the most part they are catchy tunes that are fun to listen to. It was tough deciding which wrestlers to include and who not to in all honesty. For example, a guy like Tenryu worked New Japan countless times and has great entrance music, but he also worked All Japan, SWS, WAR, NOAH and others during his career, so really his music didn’t strike me as New Japan’s to claim.

Ultimately I decided to go with guys who I associate in my mind as being “New Japan guys”. In lots of cases these wrestlers will have worked in other places over their long and esteemed careers, but important periods of that career will have been spent doing battle inside a New Japan ring, using the particular music listed as their entrance theme. Indeed, on this list will be people who left New Japan and, with the exception of one, I think all of them ended up changing their music when they left anyway.

As always, these are just my own personal picks. This isn’t supposed to be some sort of objective list or anything. If I leave out a track that you think warrants inclusion, then please feel free to put it down in the comments section below.

So without further to do, let’s take a look at Six of the Best New Japan entrance themes!

Read moreSix of the Best – New Japan Pro Wrestling Entrance Themes

Mike Reviews: ECW Hardcore TV #331 – 28/08/1999

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So here we are, the first Hardcore TV following the woeful debut of ECW on TNN. You can read Scott Keith’s review of that show by clicking right HERE.

As you can see from reading that, the first TNN show ended up being more of a “Welcome to ECW” kind of episode, which not only proved to be rather dull but also angered the TNN execs, as they had made it clear that they wanted original programming from the very first episode.

Despite the shaky start, I’m sure today’s Hardcore TV will be chock full of TNN recaps and references, kind of like when the WWF wouldn’t shut up about the XFL in early 2001 on episodes of Raw and Smackdown.

Anyway, let’s waste no further time and dust off our flaming tables so we can take things to The Extreme!!!

Read moreMike Reviews: ECW Hardcore TV #331 – 28/08/1999

Mike Reviews: Kenta Kobashi GHC Heavyweight History Part 2

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Welcome back to the second part of this retrospective where we look back at Kenta Kobashi’s epic reign as the GHC Heavyweight Champion from Pro Wrestling NOAH in the early-mid 00’s.

Last time out we saw Kobashi defeat Mitsuharu Misawa to win the GHC Title in a classic match before defending it in a barn burner against fellow BURNING stablemate Tamon Honda. We closed out last time with Kobash having a decent but not thrilling bout with Masahiro Chono on a New Japan Pro Wrestling event at the Tokyo Dome.

This time we’ll see Kobashi go back to defending the belt against people from his home promotion, but don’t be too surprised if those pesky invaders from New Japan show themselves once again…

Part 1

Read moreMike Reviews: Kenta Kobashi GHC Heavyweight History Part 2

Mike Reviews: ECW Hardcore TV #330 – 21/08/1999

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Back again with some more Hardcore TV, as we continue the march onto the debut of ECW on TNN. If you haven’t yet then I strongly suggest you check out Scott Keith’s reviews of those shows. I believe he’s something like 4 shows in now and it’s not only proving popular with the Blog readers but Scott seems to be somewhat enjoying it to a certain degree as well!

Sadly Hardcore TV has now kind of slipped into cruise control and is readying itself to play second fiddle in the ECW television hierarchy. But hey, I used to enjoy WWE Velocity back in the day, so if Hardcore TV becomes mostly a recap show with the odd good match chucked in then I can live with that.

So without further ado, let’s adorn our barbed wire hoodies and take things to The Extreme!!!

Read moreMike Reviews: ECW Hardcore TV #330 – 21/08/1999