March 3rd, 2006 – Washington, D.C. – the main event of the evening for the airing of Smackdown was the rematch from No Way Out a couple of weeks prior, World Heavyweight Champion Kurt Angle defending the championship against his challenger, the Undertaker. For this match, the video package mentioned “One Gold Medalist | One Phenom | One World Heavyweight Championship | One More Time!”

The match started out with the video package, bringing the fans up to speed with what’s been going on with the feud up to the point of the match. Against normal “traditions,” World Heavyweight Champion Kurt Angle came out first, with Michael Cole calling him the “Wrestling Machine.” I honestly miss the nickname of the “Wrestling Machine.” Why do I miss Angle’s nickname of such? I think Angle’s WWF/WWE matches were the best technical wrestling matches this decade (2000-2009) that the WWE ever had, especially having Angle on the Smackdown brand.

But anyways, the Undertaker comes out second, smoke entrance, black lights, and all, and the match starts. I am happy to see that Nick Patrick was the referee for the match that I watched. That may sound weird, but I like seeing ref’s that I know for main event matches I go back and watch. Anyways…

Another thing I noticed was both guys were wearing black ring attires. That’s normal for the Undertaker, but what caught me off guard was that McMahon didn’t make Angle wear another color attire than black when facing the Undertaker. But hey, that doesn’t and shouldn’t make the match, right?

One thing that my eye caught during this match was they went back and forth wrestling each other’s wrestling styles, striking for the Undertaker and mat-based technical wrestling. And both men can go both styles of wrestling, which was really nice to see. This match on Smackdown, then on UPN, was a very entertaining match that we got for free. I do thank you, Mr. McMahon, for giving us this great match for free. Good job.

Several wrestling holds that I caught and wrote down in my notes was an arm bar that Angle had ‘Taker in, and the Dead Man even got the Wrestling Machine in the Fuji-Arm Bar as well. Great work men, another good job.

Another note worth while noting was the match’s pace went back and forth, fast and slow, when Kurt Angle had control of the match, the match was faster pace, wrestling maneuvers and wrestling holds, and when the Undertaker had control of the match, he had the match worked at a slower, striking pace. Both men made the match enjoyable, even more so, knowing each other’s styles and able to adapt fast and made this match fun to see and see what happens next.

Each man went back and forth a lot during the match with a lot of counters of one another. Something that I enjoyed, because I am a sucker for counter wrestling, and a match that is actually considered wrestling, something, a style, a lost art form, from back in the 1980’s.

One counter that I really enjoyed was when the Undertaker was going to hit the Last Ride powerbomb onto the champ, Angle was able to jump behind Taker, but being close to the ropes, the Dead Man dropped “the Wrestling Machine” onto the top rope, catching Kurt in a bad position, leaving him high and dry. The Dead Man had control for a couple of minutes, going “Vintage Undertaker,” and dropping the leg onto Kurt’s head, upon the apron outside.

Another thing I loved about this match was how much the announcers were into the match. I do thank Michael Cole and Tazz for being excited for the match. It help made my Saturday night watching this in my living room.

Body scissors from Angle to Taker, and even a top rope superplex from the champion to the challenger. Good stuff from the two veterans. We even saw a German Suplex from Angle to Taker. Before that German, I was in love with this match. Those two get another “good job” from me. Good job.

After the German Suplex, we start seeing the end come near for the match, when each man counter the other’s big moves. Angle counter’s Taker chokeslam with an Ankle Lock, Undertaker does connect with the chokeslam, a Triangle Choke applied onto Angle by the Undertaker, and a Dragon Sleeper that Taker pulled out on Angle. The couple of minutes when all of this went down, I couldn’t keep my eyes off of my television.

A counter I enjoyed seeing was the DDT Kurt Angle pulled out on the Undertaker, countering the Dragon Sleeper that was applied for about twenty seconds, give or take several seconds. After the DDT, Angle went for a Moonsault and with no such luck, missed the Moonsault, which gave the Undertaker the opening to finally hit the Tombstone Piledriver, and right when the Undertaker was getting the count, Mark Henry came out and attacked the Undertaker, causing him to win the match, but not the championship strap.

After the match, Henry continued the assault, and right at the end, jumping from the Spanish announcer’s table onto the Undertaker, putting him through the English announcer’s table, and us hearing Michael Cole hollering out “Oh my God!” Bad call Michael Cole, and bad job Mark Henry on “screwing” the Undertaker out of the World Heavyweight Championship.

Winner of the match: the Undertaker, by disqualification.

World Heavyweight Champion at end of the match: Kurt Angle.

This is Eric Darsie from Minnesota, had a great time earlier tonight, catching up with a buddy (thanks B.S.!), goodbye!

Kurt Angle vs. The Undertaker Promo

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The main event of WCW Capital Combat put challenger United States Heavyweight Champion Lex Luger (with his astro-green trunks) taking on National Wrestling Alliance/World Championship Wrestling World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair inside the Steel Cage, in Washington D.C. This was a follow up to their match at WCW Wrestle War. At Wrestle War, Luger replaced Sting days before the match and came within inches of beating Flair for the title.

To my surprise, Lex Luger was a replacement for Sting. Sting tore his knee in an angle a few days before Wrestle War at the Clash of Champions. The biggest downfall of Sting’s knee being torn is NWA/WCW took a year building the Flair/Sting storyline, and the replacement they had was Luger. The predicament they were in was that Luger was a heel, which meant they had to turn him face quickly for the match at Wrestle War, a month before the match that I watched.

The match at Capital Combat that I recently watched was a rematch between the two because Ric Flair won by a count-out at Wrestle War 1990, caused by Ole Anderson attacking Sting outside the ring and Luger running out to save his fallen friend. The attack was vicious considering that it was well known that Sting tore his knee up just days before.

The Four Horsemen were back in full force at this time. The feud started when the Horsemen turned heel and attacked Sting at the Clash of Champions. Sting won a tournament at Starrcade 89 to win a title shot. Sting was given the choice of giving up the shot or suffering the wrath of the Horsemen. Sting kept the shot, was attacked by the Horsemen, and tore up his knee later that night trying to scale a cage and seek revenge.

Looking at the match length at Wrestle War with the “Total Package” Lex Luger and the “Nature Boy” Ric Flair, their match at Wrestle War went almost forty minutes. Why that surprises me is that their match at Capital Combat was about half the length of their match at Wrestle War.

Another huge part at Capital Combat was the wild card was Robo Cop. Robo Cop was there to rescue Sting away from World Heavyweight Champion and the IV Horsemen. Why this was a huge part back in the 1990’s was the crossover promotion with having Robo Cop on National Wrestling Alliance/World Championship Wrestling television. This was the same thing for the World Wrestling Federation and Lawrence Taylor at WrestleMania XI, having him face Bam Bam Bigelow.

But anyways, that’s the background of the match, here’s the review of the match:

One of the funniest lines that I heard was when Ric Flair came out, with Woman (Nancy Benoit), Bob Caudle mentioned: “…the wrestler of the decade of the ‘80’s…” That gave me a good laugh, because one it was Ric Flair, and two, it was a great line. When Flair was being introduced, he was introduced as a six-time World Champ. A fact that the next time Flair comes back to WCW within a couple of years; he’ll be an eight-time World Champ.

Something that I did enjoy was the referee was patting down Luger, Flair, and Woman, because ref’s these days simply don’t do that anymore. And it was weird that Woman was left to stay inside the cage during the whole match. That surprised me, and at the end of the match, it still didn’t make much sense to me. But that’s okay.

One thing that we don’t see in the world of professional wrestling anymore was delayed vertical suplexes. Both Luger and Flair gave each other a delayed vertical suplex, and there was a lot of holds and moves in this match, which was something I really enjoyed during the match. Talking about holds, another move that I haven’t seen that often was Luger gave Flair a couple of Military Press Slams.

Another line that I got a good chuckle was when Bob Caudle mentioned “…most dangerous when he’s injured…,” referring to Ric Flair being outside of the ring, right by Woman, taking a break from the action with Luger inside the ring.

Where the hard camera was located, we saw the “Floor C” sign a lot for the crowd. Why I bring that up? I find that interesting that we saw that a couple of times. Good stuff. Also, I noted that I really love Flair matches around this time period, he makes everything look great.

A turning point for the match was when there was a “suplex from Lex,” which hurt his injured right knee. After which, Flair took his time on stomping Luger’s knee, ankle, leg region, setting him up for the patented Figure Four Leg Lock. Go submissions! Flair did a belly-to-back suplex, I almost cried because of all the wrestling moves and holds in this match-up.

During this time, the Horsmen came down to cage side, trying to get inside the cage, not wanting their man to lose the World’s Championship to Luger, and then Sting came down and triple teamed the Horsemen, then Ole “found” where the operating table was to raise the cage for Barry Windham to get in and attack Luger, when he had “the Nature Boy” up in his finisher, the “Torture Rack.”

A great match, I thought, especially coming from a early WCW pay-per-view, but made me realize on why I love the matches of man we know as Ric Flair, the greatest World’s Heavyweight Champion in professional wrestling history.

Another reason why I love Ric Flair was the couple of words that we were able to be graced by him after the match. “You keep your mouth shut!” That he hollered out to a fan. I love that guy. Another line was “…there is only one [referring to the World Heavyweight Championship], and it’s mine!” Ric Flair is full of great one-liners.

But I did enjoy this match, with a lot of wrestling holds and wrestling moves. I do appreciate matches like this and am happy that I do have this match on VHS. But this is Eric Darsie, jamming out to Black Stone Cherry, goodbye!

What led to the match? Check out the Four Horsemen kicking Sting out of the group at Clash of the Champions

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At one time, SummerSlam was arguably the number-two show of the year from the WWE. 2009 may not look like it, but some of the biggest matches and greatest rivalries in the WWE would come to a head at SummerSlam. There have been some great moments in SummerSlam history, and WWE.com has captured the top 10.

The list includes video highlights of all ten moments, including a story you can read about the match which takes you through the story and the match itself. WWE.com also has plenty of pictures from past SummerSlams. It is evident from the start that WWE.com put a lot of hard work into the list. Check out the entire list with videos by clicking here.

These kinds of lists are always debatable but overall I think they did a great job with this collection. I could argue the order and a few things that maybe should have or shouldn’t have made it. At the end of the highlights from the list compiled by WWE.com, I offer my own top moments from past SummerSlams. Keep in mind that the WWE wrote this list in 2007.

Some of the highlights of the WWE.com list include…

10 – Ultimate Warrior vs. Honkytonk Man WWE I-C title – SummerSlam 88

Ultimate Warrior won the match in 31 seconds. If this was a list of top ten matches I would argue, but in a list of top ten moments I think this definitely belongs in the ten spot. Anyone who grew up and watched this match remembers it which makes it an all-time Summerslam moment.

8 – Mankind vs. Undertaker Boiler Room Match – Summerslam 96

I think this definitely has to be higher up on the list. This was one of the first truly extreme matches the WWE had while re-inventing itself during the mid-late 1990s. This match was WWE’s answer to ECW’s alternative product. In my opinion, this match saved the Undertaker’s career and put Mankind right in line for a WWE title shot. This was a great choice, but I think it needs to be higher on the list.

7 – Randy Orton vs. Chris Benoit for the WWE title – SummerSlam 04

I find this match to be completely forgettable. Randy Orton won his first WWE championship in this match. Randy Orton’s first WWE title reign was a failure and it was way too soon to take it off of Benoit at this time. If Orton wasn’t challenging John Cena at Summerslam 07 when the list was written, I would almost bet that this wouldn’t have made the list.

6 – Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H Street Fight Match – Summerslam 2002

This is one of my favorite matches of all-time period. Again, if this was a list of greatest SummerSlam matches than I would definitely rank this in the top three if not number one. Shawn Michaels had been retired for four years and left the WWE at the top of his game. Shawn retired due to a broken back and he physically couldn’t wrestle again. Nobody ever expected to see him back in the ring. Not only did he return, but he returned at top form and tore down the house with Triple H.

4 – Bret Hart vs. Curt Hennig – Summerslam 1991

This is where this list gets tricky. From a match standpoint, you could argue this would be the number one greatest match in SummerSlam history. This match came at a time when the WWE was at a crossroads with its in-ring style. You had the young, athletic, fast-paced wrestlers like Bret Hart and Curt Hennig ready to break through during this time period. Unfortunately, you also had a main-event of Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan vs. Sgt. Slaughter, Iron Sheik, and Adnan El-Kaissey.

This match set a whole new barometer as to what WWE fans would expect from here on out. Both wrestlers point to this and their King of the Ring matches as two of their favorite matches that they ever had. As for a list of great SummerSlam moments, I am not quite sure this one makes the cut.

3 – Shawn Michaels vs. Hulk Hogan – Summerslam 2005

This was the battle of the icons, two of the biggest stars of each generation wrestling each other for the first time. This was both a great match and a bad match at the same time. This was one of the most fun matches that I have ever seen. However, from a technical standpoint, Shawn Michaels made a mockery of the match.

The backstory has become legendary among hardcore fans and insiders. HBK was upset that Hogan didn’t want to lose to HBK nor sell for him. Shawn winds up making a mockery of the match by overselling everything. Shawn flops and flips for the lightest punches to the lowest kicks. It is actually quite entertaining if you watch it and look for it. There is a hilarious video of this someone made which you can watch by clicking here.

So for WWE SummerSlam moments I can easily agree that this would be top five. The match was entertaining, iconic, and it was something special seeing these two legends from different eras going at it.

2 – Steve Austin vs. Owen Hart – SummerSlam 97

Steve Austin finished the match after suffering a broken neck due to a botched tombstone piledriver. I have to admit that in recollecting the list of top ten moments, this one never even crossed my mind. I don’t think anybody in the building had realized that Austin broke his neck. The post-match story is amazing considering how hot Austin was at the time and how the entire rejuvenation of the wrestling industry was in jeopardy.

1 – Bret Hart vs. Davey Boy Smith – SummerSlam 92

This is generally remembered as the greatest SummerSlam match in history. The match definitely lives up to today’s standards and still holds up today when I watch it. I had Bret on my radio show a few years ago and he called this the greatest match of his career. I give WWE credit because the relationship between the WWE and Bret Hart is not the greatest. To put him number one shows the authenticity of the list, as opposed to UFC who left Frank Shamrock, Tito Ortiz, and several others off of their recent Top 100 Fight list.

I came up with some other moments that I felt should have made the list. These aren’t necessarily in the order of importance, but I think the following moments could have bumped out several of the WWE’s top ten choices. I based these choices not only on the quality of the match itself, but the historical significance of the moment as well.

Summerslam 1990:
Kerry Von Erich vs. Curt Hennig for the I-C title
Ultimate Warrior vs. Rick Rude in a steel cage match for the WWE title

SummerSlam 1994:
Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart in a steel cage match

SummerSlam 1997:
Bret Hart vs. Undertaker with Shawn Michaels as special guest referee for the WWE title

SummerSlam 1998:
Triple H vs. The Rock in a ladder match for the WWE I-C title

SummerSlam 2002:
The Rock vs Brock Lesnar for the WWE title

SummerSlam 2005:
Matt Hardy vs. Edge

SummerSlam 2006:
Ric Flair vs. Mick Foley in an I-Quit match

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This Sunday marks the first Extreme Rules pay-per-view from the WWE. The show is an extension of the WWE/ECW One Night Stand series. One Night Stand may be gone, but it is certainly not forgotten. Today I look back at the top five moments in One Night Stand’s short history.

This year’s show has veered away from the One Night Stand brand, yet the same ECW concept of hardcore matches will still apply.  Tommy Dreamer will be the lone representative on the show from the original ECW. Rather than preview the show, I want to look back at some forgotten classics. You may still see  an “Oh my God” moment on Sunday, but you definitely won’t hear it.

The Top Five Moments in ECW/WWE One Night Stand history.

1 – Rob Van Dam vs. John Cena for the WWE title (One Night Stand 2006). This is one of the greatest main-events in all of WWE pay-per-view history. The match, the opponents, the story, but most importantly the fans have turned this match into legend.

Rob Van Dam won his opportunity to challenge for the title by winning Money in the Bank at WrestleMania. Van Dam had been a crowd favorite from his first day in the WWE. However, the politics and Rob’s lack of browning his nose kept him from getting a push that correlated with his ability to draw fans.

Surprisingly, an ex-WWE writer wrote a revealing fact about Rob Van Dam. When the WWE split brands, Van Dam was allegedly the original choice to become the SmackDown champion. Unfortunately for RVD fans, maneuvering behind the scenes switched those plans to Brock Lesnar.

A sign in the crowd that read, “If Cena wins we riot,” said it all. The fans booed John Cena like never before the second he walked through the curtain. The crowd went just as crazy for RVD’s entrance as the fans in Philly did for Hulk Hogan when I saw him in 1985 at the Spectrum. Keep in mind that the Hammerstein Ballroom only sits a couple thousand people, so the reaction was multiplied more so than most big shows.

The match was fantastic and the wrestlers played to the crowd like a tee. Cena was a true professional and had a lot of fun with the fan reaction. RVD of course soaked up the moment. RVD won the match with a controversial Paul Heyman 1-2-3. Cena’s main rival, Edge interfered as well to set up the win. I don’t think that  the WWE will ever be able to capture this kind of moment for years to come, if ever again.

2 – Paul Heyman’s promo (WWE One Night Stand 2005). Paul Heyman was the booker of ECW when it went Extreme and has been seen as the anti-establishment for years. Heyman could have walked out that night in a WCW t-shirt and the fans still would have gone crazy for their God. There were so many rumors of inner-turmoil in setting up the show that just about everyone wondered what wrestling’s evil madman was going to say.

What made this so great is that most WWE fans have never heard anything like this before. For ECW fans like me, we had heard these Heyman rants many times and loved every one of them. But the gravity of the impact is that fans unfamiliar with the “ECW” Paul Heyman were probably shocked yet curious.

The highlight of the long rant was Heyman’s comments on the Edge-Matt Hardy-Lita situation. Hardy wasn’t even under contract to the WWE at the time. Most of the fans knew the situation with the three, but it was never truly acknowledged up to this point. Once Heyman acknowledged the yellow elephant in the room, the place went absolutely crazy and made this one of the greatest moments in One Night Stand history.

3 – Mike Awesome vs. Masato Tanaka (One Night Stand 2005). In the ring, these two guys stole the show that night. The amazing part of this is that neither was under contract to the WWE at the time. In Awesome’s case, he had been under contract but never given the opportunity like this to shine. In Tanaka’s case, he was an ECW legend who finally had his chance to shine on a big stage. To the fans, this was one of their favorite ECW series coming back to life.

Both men had absolutely brutal ECW matches back in the original ECW. Yet, nobody was sure what kind of shape both would be in on this day. The two went out there and had absolute magic in the ring. The match was fast, hard, stiff, and absolutely brutal. The match ended any confusion between WWE’s version of hardcore and ECW’s version of hardcore.

I spoke to Mike Awesome about this match on my radio show before he passed away. I asked Mike whether he realized that he and Tanaka had just stolen the show following their match.

“Oh yeah, yeah it was obvious. Um, you know actually you feel it when you are having the match. You know the caliber of match that you are having while you are actually in it and as soon as it was over I felt it, I could tell. There was no question. I talked to Tanaka after and even he came up to me and said something about it. You know, and he doesn’t even speak the language.”

4 – Vince McMahon defends the ECW title against Bobby Lashley in a Street Fight Match (One Night Stand 2007). To ECW fans, this was truly a slap in the face. Of course the real slap in the face would come the following the year when the show was headlined by John Cena vs. Great Khali. Vince McMahon continued his feud with Bobby Lashley from WrestleMania and the two wrestled on the show in their first-ever Street Fight.

The match was better than you’d expect in that it was entertaining. The match featured interference from both Shane McMahon and Umaga. In the “ECW moment” of the match, Shane flew high in the air and crashed his elbow through Bobby Lashley onto a table outside of the ring. Lashley would recuperate and spear Vince for a 1-2-3 and win the ECW title.

The idea of Vince McMahon defending the ECW title on One Night Stand was appalling to most original ECW fans. Seeing Vince stroll into the ring with the title truly did make it a memorable moment. It would have been something to see if this show had been held in the Hammerstein Ballroom. The next night Vince McMahon “died” on RAW, while our hopes for the new ECW died months earlier.

5 – Joey Styles opens up One Night Stand (One Night Stand 2005). Like him or not, Joey Styles is the voice of ECW. For many wrestling fans, Styles is to them what Gordon Solie is to fans over the age of 40 from Florida and Georgia. It almost never happened, and Paul Heyman wrote about it in the Heyman Hustle.

“Even a few weeks before the show, I was writing “announcers” because the decision still hadn’t been made to finalise the deal with Joey. Trivia note, by the way: The backup plan was to go with Jim Ross.”

Seeing Joey Styles in the middle of the Hammerstein Ballroom for the first time in over four years was breathtaking. Fans of the original ECW all had chills hearing Joey open up the show. In retrospect, it is amazing think that Heyman had to fight for something that should have been the easiest decision going into the show.

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WWE hosts its 11th edition of Judgment Day. The show returns to the site of the first Judgment Day, the Rosemont Horizon in Chicago, IL. The show features a solid undercard but lacks the punch of a strong main-event.

It seems like something is missing to me from this one. The current card would be a great show in support of a big-time main event. Unfortunately with HBK, Undertaker, and Triple H on the sidelines, there is no potential for that blowout main event.

WWE Championship Match: Randy Orton vs. Batista. Batista defeated The Big Show to earn this match. Orton and Batista haven’t wrestled each other in singles matches that much over the years. However, the two are very familiar with each other from tag matches and their days together in Evolution. The Evolution history is a big part of this match.

I think that these two guys have a world of pressure going into Judgment Day. This is the first time that Batista has gotten a true opportunity to carry the ball in awhile. Orton hasn’t been a successful drawing champion in the past. Not only do the two need to go out and have a great match, they also need to draw good numbers to justify the match.

This will also be Batista’s longest match since returning from his past injury. Batista’s last big singles match before the injury was at SummerSlam against John Cena. The two had a pretty decent match back then. It will be interesting to see how Batista’s leg holds out as the match progresses.

My prediction is a decent, but not great match. I just don’t think these two have it in them. I would be absolutely shocked if Batista was to win the title on Sunday. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Triple H get involved in this one. I think Randy Orton wins this one. I expect lots of interference and a screwy finish in Orton’s favor.

WWE World Championship Match: Edge vs. Jeff Hardy. It is evident to everyone that SmackDown is the stronger brand right now. Jeff Hardy earned this match by winning a Fatal Four-Way on SmackDown. This match is proof positive of that statement. This one has the potential to blow the roof off of the Rosemont Horizon.

There is a lot of history to this one. The matches between the Hardys and Edge and Christian are now legendary. Jeff Hardy wrestled Edge on his return match to RAW a few years back. The two had a hell of a match, and I expect the same on Sunday night.

I think this one will be the match of the night. I have never seen a bad match between these two guys. I think this has the potential for a title change here. The WWE love to swerve the fans. Nobody expects Hardy to win after all of the rumors about his contract. A title switch here would undoubtedly be a welcomed surprise. I am hesitant to go out on a limb with that one, but I think it is very possible.

My gut instinct says that Edge keeps the title. I do think that it hurts business to have two heel champions. I just think it would be a little quick to take the belt from Edge. Keep an eye out on CM Punk. Judgment Day is in Punk’s hometown of Chicago, IL. If Punk was ever going to cash in with a bang it will be Sunday night.

John Cena vs. The Big Show. This match comes as a result of WWE Backlash. Show tossed Cena into a spotlight, costing him his match with Edge. Cena hasn’t been “cleared” to wrestle since then. Cena will make a “miracle” comeback this Sunday and attempt to avenge Backlash.

I have no faith in this one. I still enjoy seeing Show wrestle. I think it’s the old school fan in me that enjoys the giant. I just don’t have much confidence that these two will have a good match. I think it needs to be short, fast-paced, and hardcore. Unfortunately, I think the tables, chairs, and blood will be saved for later. I predict Show wins this one, and we see it again next month.

WWE Intercontinental Championship: Chris Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio. This match comes as a result of a match between Jericho and Jeff Hardy. Jericho wrestled Hardy for an opportunity to be a part of the WWE world title match at Judgment Day. Mysterio came to ringside and distracted Jericho, causing Y2J to lose. Hence, this match was made.

The rumor is that Jericho vs. Mysterio will be a lengthy feud going through the summer. This is great news as these two are great opponents for each other. This feud couldn’t have come at a better time for Jericho. Jericho was sliding into irrelevance following WrestleMania. Mysterio is the right opponent to give Jericho fans something they can sink their teeth into.

Mysterio is another wrestler in desperate need of a good opponent. Mysterio never got off the ground after getting drafted to WWE RAW last year. Mysterio’s swan song was a lame feud with JBL. Mysterio is a former champion and a big draw for the WWE. The right feud was crucial following WrestleMania for Mysterio. Mysterio fans can also get excited about this feud.

I predict a great match from these two guys. I would also expect an ending that would leave things open for a rematch. If the rumors are true that this one is going all summer, I predict a Mysterio win. I highly anticipate Jericho winning the title at some point. However, I don’t see it coming in their first match. Nonetheless, don’t be surprised to see this one steal the show.

Full Card…
Randy Orton vs. Batista…WWE Championship
Edge vs. Jeff Hardy…World Heavyweight Championship
Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho…WWE Intercontinental Championship
The Big Show vs. John Cena
Christian vs. Jack Swagger…ECW Championship
CM Punk vs. Umaga

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Pro Wrestling has lost another one of its favorite sons. Former AWA world tag team champion, Playboy Buddy Rose was found dead in his home by his wife on Wednesday. Rose is remembered by a lot of fans for a variety of pro wrestling accomplishments. It is fair to say that there will never be anyone like Playboy Buddy Rose in wrestling again.

Buddy Rose’s career spanned three decades wrestling for some of the biggest companies in the world. Rose’s big break came in the early 1980s in the WWE, then known as the WWWF. This is where I remember Buddy Rose. Rose was a top heel and had an incredible series of matches with then champion Bob Backlund. In my opinion, Backlund’s matches with Rose were some of the best of his entire title reign.

See a promotional video of Playboy Buddy Rose from Portland Wrestling by clicking here.

Rose would return to the WWF in the mid-1980s for some sporadic appearances. Rose never achieved the glory of his previous run. Rose’s biggest claim to fame in wrestling may be one match. Ironically, Rose would wrestle this match in a mask. Rose wrestled Tito Santana in the opening match at the first WrestleMania. Rose wore a mask and wrestled as the Executioner.

Rose is probably known most for his series of matches against the Midnight Rockers, Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty. Rose teamed with Doug Somers for a classic run against the Rockers in the AWA in 1985. Two of those matches have been memorialized on WWE home video. One match in particular, a bloodbath from ESPN has become legendary in its own right. Rose’s brief run in the AWA earned him his only world championship, winning the AWA tag team titles with Doug Somers.

See the legendary Midnight Rockers vs. Buddy Rose and Doug Somers bloodbath on the WWE – From the Vault: Shawn Michaels DVD by “>clicking here.

See the Midnight Rockers battle Playboy Buddy Rose and Doug Somers on the WWE – The Shawn Michaels Story: Heartbreak & Triumph DVD by clicking here.

Rose returned the WWE in the early 1990s.for an infamous run. Unlike his past stints in the WWE, Rose worked mainly as an enhancement wrestler. Rose was heavier than ever and didn’t have any high-profile matches. Vince McMahon actually turned Rose into a running joke by continually poking fun at his weight. WWE produced a legendary video at the time entitled, “Buddy Rose Blow Away Diet.” This was Rose’s last national run.

Click here to see the Buddy Rose Blow Away Diet.

Rose was a polarizing figure among wrestlers. Nobody would ever doubt his in-ring credentials. Many wrestlers including Shawn Michaels, Curt Hennig, and the Nasty Boys credit him with helping them when they were younger. Other wrestlers have not been too kind to the Playboy. Like him or not, nobody ever dared take credit away from him as being one of the best while in his prime.

“He knew what his role was, and he always seemed to press the right buttons to make himself a most unique character that stood out from the rest of the pack,” Fink said on his WWE Universe blog.

My condolences go out to the friends and family of the late Playboy Buddy Rose.

Headlocks and Eye Gouges – I will be back on Pro Wrestling Radio this Wednesday night May 6 at 7 PM/EST. I will talk more about Playboy Buddy Rose and I want your thoughts. I’ll also be talking about all of the fallout news in pro wrestling, mma, and more. Call in with a question or comment at -877-800-8834. Listen live at http://www.tvbydemand.com/radio_prowrestling_radioshow.asp 7-8:30 PM/EST this and every Wednesday night.