TWC Report #4 – 05/16/2016

Hello there, it’s The Wrestling Classic here, coming at you with a brand new TWC Report. If this is the first time reading a TWC report, let me tell you a little about what it is. It’s my main blog to talk about various topics happening in professional wrestling today. It’s the blog where I share my opinions, thoughts and ideas, encouraging others to chime in with theirs whenever they like. There is a chance some of the topics discussed here may be become a separate blog with the focus mainly on that topic or that a random thought may become a feature in the next TWC Report, with me going further into detail. I expect to do one to two of these a month. I hope you enjoy.

“My name is ADAM COLE BAYBAY! And we…we are the Bullet Club! Breaking news ladies and gentlemen, this is our house BITCHES!”
– Adam Cole

If you’re a fan of the ROH, NJPW, the Bullet Club and super kicks, then last Sunday rocked your world. The events that took place at Ring of Honor’s Global Wars, had the IWC filled with excitement and even those who don’t watch ROH or NJPW filled with intrigue. Adam Cole (BAY BAY!) shocked the world by joining the Bullet Club in the final hour, during the main event of the show . It was Jay Lethal defending his ROH World Title against Colt Cabana, that ended in a no contest once the Bullet Club took centre stage. Global Wars overall was a pretty good show, but it was the way it ended with chaos and controversy that will forever make it memorable.
It was exactly what ROH needed to shake things up. ROH will always provide you with fast paced and great in ring wrestling. Lately though, on a storyline basis, they haven’t been focusing on developing them on their week to week programming , so its been easy let the show just record on my DVR and watch it when I can. Now, 51 super kicks later, I felt like I had to watch this week’s episode of ROH TV to see what happens next, hoping the story would develop more. Now a week later, we found out Adam Page has also joined the club, and the drama has really been rejuvenated in ROH.
It was also what Bullet Club needed after the loss of AJ Styles, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows to the WWE this year. Yeah, The Bullet Club “Elite” is killing it in Japan with Kenny Omega in charge, but the Bullet Club is “worldwide” organization. Therefore, here on the Western side of the world, The Bullet Club needed a top star, and Adam Cole was the perfect fit for that role. He’s cool, he’s cocky, full of charisma and can lay it down in that ring. It also worked for Cole, who just finished wrapping up his feud with her old Future Shock tag team partner Kyle O’ Riley. Also, Cole has a storied relationship with the Young Bucks as allies and friends, therefore it makes perfect sense. The timing of this couldn’t have been better and everything feels important and alive again when it comes to ROH and the Bullet Club. It had a very NWO-like vibe to it, and I liked it.
On the other hand, it left me wondering. If the WWE  did anything similar to an old popular storyline, the fans would be quick to judge that they are just rehashing old storylines and not being creative. Yet, when any other wrestling company around the world does a storyline similar to an old popular one, its this amazing thing. I’m a fan of the Bullet Club and have been ever since I was introduced to them in 2014.  I loved the end of Global Wars, it was everything I loved about chaos in professional wrestling. I loved the raw chaotic feeling of it all. I’m not complaining about it at all, I fucking loved it. Its just that those same people who dislike that fact that someone would suggest that Anderon and Gallows should have been booked similar, not the exact same way, but similar to how the Outsiders were when they came to the WCW, didnt have a single complaint when Sunday’s Global Wars ended in a similar fashion as most Nitro’s during the Monday Night Wars. Global Wars ended like a 1996 Nitro, in the same fashion the NWO used to cause chaos. Everything from beating up everyone in sight, the spray paint, putting up the “too sweet” hand motion and the takeover feel, felt like NWO 96/97. It’s contradicting.
However, to me there’s a whole generation who wasn’t alive 10-20 years ago. History is bound to repeat itself. Regardless, how similar The Bullet Club feels like compared to the NWO, they still remain to find a way to stay different. It’s the badass heel stable for this generation of fans to live through. The Bullet Club is the new hip, cool and badass thing of professional wrestling today and if you think about those current and previous members of the Bullet Club that are outside of ROH, its hard to deny that the Bullet Club  rules the wrestling world today. It’s a new concept to the young fans of today who didnt grow up in the late 90s, so let them enjoy it. I’m sure as hell enjoying it.

Image via WWE.com

Shane and Stephanie McMahon have been running Raw together as a team for two weeks now, and to top it off, they’re getting along….I think for now. The only thing that is for sure about this storyline, is that we know we’re heading for some more on air McMahon family drama. McMahon family drama was a prominent angle in the WWE from 1999-2009. If you think about it, it wasn’t until Shane McMahon left the company, that the drama between the McMahon’s had seemed to have calmed down. Vince, Stephanie and Triple H never seemed to have it out for each other. Looking back at the past 7-8 years, it felt like they rarely had issues, besides that one time around Survivor Series 2014, when Vince forced them to put their jobs on the line. Overall, the three of them, Vince, Stephanie and Triple H knew their roles and worked together. There wasn’t much of an on air power struggle between the three of them on the air.
Bring Shane O’ Mac back into the picture, and its has been nothing but a power struggle. Initially it was between Shane against his father Vince and most recently between Shane and his sister Stephanie. One thing that has been flying under the radar during Shane’s whole recent stint in the WWE, is his relationship with his brother-in-law Triple H. When Shane returned during the Road to Wrestlemania, Triple H was the WWE World Champion and involved in a storyline with Roman Reigns. “The Game” made very little comments about Shane and his reach for power, besides a small reference to Stephanie, telling her not to worry about her brother in a backstage segment. At Wrestlemania, “The Cerebral Assassin” Triple H lost to Reigns in the main event and hasn’t been on WWE Television since. Therefore, he has yet to be appear on screen across from his brother-in-law Shane McMahon, since the prodigal son has returned. Leaving you wondering, how long it will be until we see Triple H return and try to put an end this little friendly co owner relationship that Shane and Stephanie have right now.
Stephanie’s last segment last week on Raw when Shane left the room after some more friendly banter between the brother and sister, added suspense. The moment Shane left the room, Stephanie picked up the picture of Shane and Vince from when Shane was a kid and there was a sense of jealousy in the air. Stephanie had a look on her face as if she felt like she was losing her spot in line that she earned for herself in her older brother’s absence, as the next owner of the company, once her father is gone, to Shane. It’s as if Stephanie just felt like the little sister again, while her Father and Brother would talk business, and she hated that feeling of being treated like a little girl. Stephanie looked as if she had something planned, and we have to be patient to see it.
Tonight on Raw, we’ll see if they still co-exist and the friendliness between the two continue. However at some point this toxic partnership will come to a crash, just as Vince McMahon wanted when he stated he wanted the two of them to slit each others throats for the position to be in charge. I believe thats when it’ll be time to play the game and yet again proving that McMahon family drama equals great television.

Image via ECCW.com
Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling, formerly Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling, has been a staple in independent wrestling here in the Northern West Coast for 20 years. Their 20th Anniversary show is actually less than a week away. On that note, I couldn’t have chosen a better time to really get this relationship between The Wrestling Classic with ECCW going. I’ve taken it upon myself to help expose ECCW on a larger and global scale, taking into consideration the following I have of humans that love Professional Wrestling. If you have been a longtime Wrestling Classic misfit or follow my SnapChat, you’ve already been exposed to some ECCW content from my posts or my Snap stories while I’m at a show live. Therefore, you’ve witnessed the talent, array of characters and energy that ECCW produces. From this moment on, you’ll be seeing myself cover the company quite a bit on this website as well.
In the upcoming days, weeks and months, I hope to spread the word about this iconic West Coast wrestling company with the rest of world even more than it has already been spread. Things you can expect are reviews for shows I attend, information of where you can watch the product, blogs about the company, possibly vlogs about when I attend the shows and podcast interviews with the ECCW staff, talent and alumni.
Independent Wrestling is the new alternative to the WWE, and has been for the past few years. The most popular independent companies, seem to be coming out of the East Coast with exception to PWG, which is down south in California. I think its time the West Coast shows what we got in quality wrestling, especially here in Canada. Im excited to be apart of that process. ECCW has a backstory to being a home to notable wrestlers, with stars such as Daniel Bryan, Natalya, Tyson Kidd, Davie Richards, Steve Cornio, Amazing Kong, Doink The Clown, Becky Lynch, Kyle O’ Riley, Jimmy Snuka, Chelsea Green, Dan Severn, Nicole Matthews, Emma and Jeff Jarrett to name a few, all making an impact in ECCW. Although, what stands out the most is the amazing amount of talent that are home grown ECCW stars, such as Bishop, El Phantasmo, The Bollywood Boys, Artemis Spencer, Tony Baroni, Billy Suede, Andy Bird, Daniel Adonis, The Good Brothers, Alexis Plexis, Sid Sylum and the Voros Twins just to name a few.
ECCW has a rich history, filled with great stories and is only getting bigger and bigger every day. Now on thewrestlingclassic.com, we join forces with ECCW to collaborate to bring wrestling fans from all around the world and from all generations together to enjoy another independent wrestling company as an alternative. I hope you all are looking forward to this new relationship as much as I am, and stay tuned because we’re just getting started. Dig It!?

Follow ECCW on Instagram – @eccw_wrestling
Follow ECCW on Twitter – @ECCW
If you’re interested in watching some ECCW content from the past, they do offer a streaming service through Pivotshare. 

• The Wrestling Classic now has a merchandise store on ProWrestlingTees.com. How awesome is that?
• Nearly two weeks ago, the community of Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada, was ravaged by a forest fire that still rages on as I type this. Thousands of people lost their homes and everything they owned and had to be evacuated from their homes immediately without gathering up their belongings. It has been one the biggest disasters in Canada of all time, where thousands of lives were at risk and an entire town had fallen victim to nature’s weakness. Living only a Province away from where this catastrophic fire is taking place, it’s really been a big deal. It could easily happen where I live as well, considering how green our provinces are and that my Province has been subject to Forest Fires, for years, but just not one that grew that big. I found it extremely cool that Kevin Owens and Tyler Breeze, both fellow Canadians, used their fame and popularity to help gain funds to donate to Red Cross Canada to support those who have been evacuated from their homes or affected by this fire. Its cool two see two professional wrestlers, going out of their way to help people in need, without it being a corporate decision by the WWE. Thank you Breeze and Owens for helping out.
  Click here to donate to Owens & Breeze’s campaign
• I recently got to watch the UK’s Progress Wrestling on demand on PivotShare, and I have to say it really did have punk rock wrestling vibe to it. I’ve seen matches from Progress before and have seen some of Progress’s stars wrestle elsewhere, for example in NJPW. However, after watching a couple of the “Chapter” shows, I realize why the company is as popular as it is. It’s not only popular in the UK but its growing a cult following here in North America as well. Stars such as Will Osprey, Marty Scrull, Tommy End, Mark Haskins and Zack Sabre Jr and their matches have been topics of discussions on social media my entire time on it as a wrestling page. I’m hoping to watch more of it, when I get the time. It’s really a great mesh of western and strong style wrestling. If you’ve never checked it out, I recommend you do so.
• Where is Sasha Banks? Are they protecting her because she is still undefeated? They have her working house shows but she hasn’t been featured on Raw or even Smackdown in a match or storyline capacity for 3 weeks now. Regardless the purpose behind it, I know I miss her charismatic presence on my television screen. #WeWantSasha
• Summer, Becky Lynch, Paige, Naomi, Tamina, Emma, Dana Brooke, Sasha Banks and Alicia Fox are all Divas who currently could be benefitting from having Women’s Tag Titles right now. I feel like I’m going to bring it up every TWC Report, until something happens.
• A Women’s Championship match at Extreme Rules with a stipulation? It’s a submission match between Charlotte and Natalya?….What?! This can’t be real? Ric Flair is banned from ringside. Talk about a interesting scenario and a change for the Women’s division.
• Finally the Ambrose/Jericho feud has moved forward from props and talk shows, and focusing on the fact that they’re both a bit psychotic. A straight jacket match, I can dig that.
• It was announced at the WWE Shareholders meeting with Vince McMahon that Seth Rollins, John Cena, Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt are all set to return to action within these two couple of months. Cena’s return has already been announced for Memorial Day. Orton mentioned returning in 2-3 months at the 2016 Hall of Fame and rumours have began to spread that Rollin’s return date is the 6th of June.
• Also at the shareholders meeting, Vince had stated that a handful of NXT superstars are expected to be called up, thus making the main roster larger than it has ever been. It once again leads me to wondering how NXT will come back from losing even more established popular names that earned their popularity on that show and if this is another sign of an eventual brand extension happening again.
• Pictures had surfaced on the interweb  of Alberto Del Rio and Paige together at a Disney theme park, either Disney World or Disney Land, being very friendly with each other, even to the extent of kissing. Clearly looking as if they’re going steady as a couple. This enraged a lot of fans, for reasons I cannot comprehend, because honestly who cares. Its fun to know these things and its always intriguing when you first hear or learn about these relationships as a fan, because wrestlers are our choice of interesting celebrities. However, to get to the extent where you are bashing them or getting angry about it is too much. It is what it is, and thats it. Im happy for them if they truly like each other and this isn’t some sort of stunt for a storyline or for Total Divas.
• I have been enjoying the chemistry between AJ Styles and Roman Reigns. Everyone is on the edge of their seats wondering if AJ Styles is gonna turn heel and admit to be in cahoots with Gallows and Anderson’s decisions to help him or if at some point those two are going to turn on AJ for not accepting their help. On the other hand, Reigns is coming off more as if he’s on slow lane to becoming heel. One he’s getting boo’d by the fans and two he seems to be the one more in conflict with who and what he thinks he is. The Usos are just kind of there to make this a fair fight. I don’t know if Styles should have taken that bump through the table a couple of weeks ago though. Rumour has it that his already injured back in feeling worse again. I also don’t know how I like the name “The Club”? Also, the referring to Reigns and the Usos as “The Family? Its like the “The Club” vs. “The Family” featuring “The Guy”. C’mon WWE, your writers got to be more creative than that. On that note, I plan to write another blog focusing on my fantasy booking of how I would have booked this whole feud and Bullet Club drama.
• Oh Adam Rose, you went from a blooming rose bud to a bad lemon real fast. I hope he catches a break and get his life together before the WWE decides he’s just too much of a risk to have on the roster, representing their company. I’m not the biggest Adam Rose fan, but it’s only human nature to feel sympathy for someone who’s life decisions seems to have them heading on a downward spiral, when they have a family to provide for and a dream career. First suspended for failing to comply with the wellness program and then suspended indefinitely for being arrested for domestic abuse. I wish the best for Adam Rose and his family. I hope everything works out for the dude.Thats it for this edition of the TWC report. I hope you guys enjoyed it and leave your feedback, opinions and ideas below. Ooooh yeah! Dig It?!

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Start a discussion below in the comments section, by leaving your comments, feedback and thoughts on some of these topics. Also, if you have any suggestions on what you want me to focus on or elaborate more on for the next TWC Report, comment below.