Magnum Milano

Im looking forward to seeing Ben Askren in action, Bellator should be awesome!

Someone who I trade DVDs with is sending me The Patriot Act shows that feature Askrens first two MMA fights and I am really looking forward to seeing them. On a similar vein, the discs that I sent him included some Cage Warriors TV from the old TWC channel that had some Jim Wallhead (aswell as early Daley, Hardy and even Bigfoot Silva fighting on them).

You want blood?

 

YOU GOT IT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FPxH2B1Iwc

 

wait til 5.00 very disturbing and no folks it aint fake not by a long shot.

Sorry to disappoint you fella, but that is fake. Invader III drank some sort of concontion of vodka and pigs blood. All worked my good man, all worked.

Can anyone list all of the Legends Roundtable episodes there has been? I have searched on Wikipedia but they do not have the full listings.

These are the ones I have, it's probably a bit out of date now:

 

WWE 24/7 Legends Of Wrestling #1: Piper & Funk [WWE 24/7] [#946]

WWE 24/7 Legends Of Wrestling #2: Hogan & Backlund [WWE 24/7] [#945]

WWE 24/7 Legends Of Wrestling #3: Sheik & Andre [WWE 24/7] [#980]

WWE 24/7 Legends Of Wrestling #4: Lawler & JYD [WWE 24/7] [#981]

WWE 24/7 Legends Of Wrestling #5: Flair & Slaughter [WWE 24/7] [#982]

WWE 24/7 Legends Of Wrestling #6: Greatest Rivalries Episode 1 [WWE 24/7] [#581]

WWE 24/7 Legends Of Wrestling #7: Greatest Rivalries Episode 2 [WWE 24/7] [#582]

WWE 24/7 Legends Of Wrestling #8: Heat Seekers [WWE 24/7] [#649]

WWE 24/7 Legends Of Wrestling #9: The Monday Night War [WWE 24/7] [#754]

WWE 24/7 Legends Of Wrestling #10: Badasses [WWE 24/7] [#938]

WWE 24/7 Legends Of Wrestling #11: The Territories [WWE 24/7] [#755]

WWE 24/7 Legends Of Wrestling #12: WrestleMania [WWE 24/7] [#740]

WWE 24/7 Legends Of Wrestling #13: Worst Characters [WWE 24/7] [#765]

WWE 24/7 Legends Of Wrestling #14: Factions [WWE 24/7] [#706]

WWE 24/7 Legends Of Wrestling #15: Most Important Moments [WWE 24/7] [#706]

WWE 24/7 Legends Of Wrestling #16: The Soul of Wrestling [WWE 24/7] [#706]

There is also these which continue after what Rick listed:

WWE 24/7 Legends of Wrestling #17: History of Texas Wrestling

WWE 24/7 Legends of Wrestling #18: Patriotism

WWE 24/7 Legends of Wrestling #19: Giants

WWE 24/7 Legends of Wrestling #20: Managers

WWE 24/7 Legends of Wrestling #21: Culture of Southern Wrestling

Nathan Jones fought on the card aswell which I never knew about and from what I saw he was as shit at MMA as he was pro wrestling

Supposedly the Kitao/Jones fight was worked.

Anyway, it's not all bad. On Sunday, I watched The Sting. It's an absolutely tremendous movie though I found it a bit confusing for the most part. It's well acted, Newman & Redford in particular are brilliant and the plot is incredible. It's a difficult film to discuss without spoiling it, so I won't, but I'd recommend it to anyone. It was made in 1973 but is set in the thirties so hasn't really dated at all.

Glad you enjoyed The Sting Rick. I am not a huge fan of films, but that is easily my favourite film of all time, and the only film I have ever bought again on DVD when it was re-released. Robert Shaw is also tremendous as Doyle Lonnegan.

WFA King of the Streets PPV 07.22.06

This was the WFA's lone venture into PPV from mid 2006. The commentary team for the event were Barry Tompkins (no idea who he is or where he came from, but he clearly had some background in announcing), Stephen Quadros and Bill Goldberg. Phil Baroni made a brief appearance at the start of the show running down the odds for the fights, but for someone who exudes confidence he was bloody awful. On to the fights:

Rob McCullough vs Harris Sarmiento These two had fought previously in the WEC, but McCullough had since gone on a six fight win streak, whilst Sarmiento had lost his last four. The fight was pretty much a Muay Thai one, and a poor one at that. McCullough utilised some hard leg kicks, but at the same time never really pressed to finish, whilst Sarmiento fought the entire fight on the backfoot. A poor opener, which Goldberg had the nerve to call 'an entertaining fight'.

Ricco Rodriguez vs Ron Waterman Another rematch, and Suave was in terrible physical shape having officially weighed in at 298lb and his gut hanging over his shorts. Waterman on the otherhand looked superb for a guy of 40. At the end of the first round both were gassed badly, and they looked as though they had gone five rounds rather than one. Waterman was just hanging in at the end of the round, as Ricco looked as though he had him beat after tagging him with some hard right hands and knees. The doctor stopped the fight at the end of the first, die to Waterman's right eye being all swollen, and H2O Man telling him that he can't see out of it. A slightly more dignified way of losing than quitting on his stool, which is what I though he was going to do.

Art Santore vs Ivan Salaverry I had never seen Santore before, but he fights out of Team Quest and came out dressed like the Godfather in a pimp suit. Last time I had seen Salaverry was in his stinker of a fight against Nate Marquardt in the main of the first Ultimate Finale show. The announcers say that this will be a ground battle, but the first round is fought entirely on its feet and at a good pace with both fighters willing to trade and exchange. Salverry just picks Santore apart in the second and lands a beautiful head kick that wobbles Santore, knocks him down with a left and then mounts him and unloads with some ground and pound before the official stops the fight. Santore's face is a bloody mess and Salaverry looked great in this fight which was easily the best on the card so far.

Jason Miller vs Lodune Sincaid Miller claims to be representing the style of 'Pro Wrestling' and is hailed as being 'from parts unknown', and he had a really entertaining entrance. This was all Miller who dominated it standing for the first 90 seconds until getting Sincaid to the ground, then handled him there, before maneuvring to a rear naked choke which finished the fight. After the fight Miller did a spinneroonie, and Goldberg referenced Booker T. Looking back I have no idea how Sincaid was ever selected for season one of The Ultimate Fighter.

Lyoto Machida vs Vernon White Terrible fight, where the lone highlight was in the second round when the crowd started booing due to the lack of reaction, so White flipped them off. Long periods of time in this one with nothing happening, and Machida was content with getting a shot in (either kick or punch) then getting out, whilst just backpedalling when White came forward. The fight went to the ground twice, but again there was not much action. Not the most auspicious of US debuts for Machida.

Bas Rutten vs Ruben Villareal El Guapo at 41, and having not fought for seven years looked in incredible physical condition. He was actually hurting pretty bad from numerous injuries (rib, ACL etc), but was getting a base pay of $200,000 so wasn't going to be dropping out of this one. Villareal ended up taking this fight on less than 48 hours notice, as Kimo (who was originally scheduled to face Rutten) failed a steroid test and couldn't fight. The crowd came alive for Rutten, who has so much charisma it is untrue. Bas started out throwing some very hard punches but Villareal just took them all, so he then switched his attention to leg kicks, and he just destoyed Ruben's left leg with them to the point he was knocked down and was unable to stand back up, and he had to quit the fight.

Quinton Jackson vs Matt Lindland Very good first round that saw Rampage get a slam in early, but after that it was pretty much all Lindland who dominated with his wrestling and even got a slam in himself. With 30 seconds of the round left he looked as though he had the fight won, as Rampage was trapped in a rear naked choke, but somehow Quinton managed to wriggle free. The second round saw a lot of the fight in the clinch, but at the same time it was never boring. Lindland went for a guillotine choke, but Rampage slammed him hard and got on top of him. There was another trip by Quinton, and one brief exchange where Rampage landed some hard shots. Going into the final round I had it scored even. The final round saw Lindland dominate the clinch for the first two minutes, before they separated and exchanged punches with both getting some good shots in. Lindland managed to slap on another guillotine, and dragged Rampage to the ground, but this was not locked in as tight as the rear naked in round one. Quinton managed to pop out and deliver some ground and pound for the final 30 seconds of the fight, including giving The Law a nasty cut on the bridge of his nose. Rampage ended up getting the split decision, though as much as it pains me to say, I scored the fight 29-28 for Lindland, and he to looked visibly shocked that he didn't get the decision. A great main event.

So ends the WFA's lone PPV. They did announce a second show for October of 2006, but nothing came of it, and eventually the UFC bought the WFA. At the time Dana White said the sole reason for doing so was so that he could acquire Quinton Jackson's contract, but that has since changed with him claiming so that he could acquire both Rampage and Machida's contract, although I don't how anyone would be interested in getting Machida after witnessing his fight here. For viewing purposes watch Rampage/Lindland, Salaverry/Santore and for historial purposes the Rutten fight, nothing else worth going out of your way to see.

This was Murray's last MMA fight (everyone knows what happened after this), and surprisingly found Murray back in Cage Rage after winning his UFC debut the same year (does anyone know why he went back to Cage Rage?).

I am sure it had something to do with legal issues (quelle suprise with Murray) that meant he was unable to get back into the US, so the UFC couldnt book him. Damn shame as the guy looked great on his debut choking out Jorge Rivera, come their was the prospect of maybe doing something with Tito down the line.

I watched the WFA's lone venture into PPV over the past two nights (headlined by Rampage vs Lindland), so expect a lengthy write up tomorrow at some point.

Cornette talking about the Santino Marella slapping incident.

 

 

This has probably been posted before, but I'll post it again 'cause it's hilarious!

That story comes up in pretty much every Cornette shoot interview, however, this version (from the NWA Wrestling Legends Fanfest 2009) is easily the best that he has told. If anyone can get hold of a copy he also tells a great story about WWE VP Kevin Dunn from when Corny was on the booking committee in the WWF.

Which brand has Zack Ryder gone to now ECW has finished?

From the latest issue of the Observer:

The other big order of business this week was the dispersal of the ECW talent with the dropping of the show. Christian, Yoshi Tatsu, Vladimir Kozlov and William Regal are earmarked for Raw. Ezekiel Jackson, Shelton Benjamin, Zack Ryder, Rosa Mendes, Trent Barretta, Caylen Croft and Vance Archer are on Smackdown. Goldust, Abraham Washington and Tiffany are up in the air. Savannah remained as ring announcer for NXT. Byron Saxton has also disappeared from view.

Marvin Eastman VS Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. Rampages debut apparently. Eastman is massive. As wide as he is tall. Rampage loses by decision in a decent fight, Eastman seems to get away with a couple of illegal elbows. Ken Shamrock mentions on commentrary that we are watching a future world champion in Rampage.

Rampage actually had two more fights prior to this one, however, it is very likely that this was the first ever recorded fight of Rampage's career as the other two were on low level regional shows. Maybe some dude and his camcorder recorded them, but it is very unlikely that copies of those fights exist.

Which CZW event was it where John Zandig got suspended from the meat hooks?

A bit of research courtesy of google tells me it is CZW Redefined from Sept. 13th 2003.

After reading so much praise for the show, I searched out a copy of the Freaks & Geeks TV series and am thoroughly enjoying it at the moment, and am currently half way through the box set.

 

For those who dont know it is set at McKinley High School in 1980, and focuses on the lives of two siblings, Lindsey and Sam Weir. Lindsey was a previous A-Grade student, who changes her image and befriends the 'Freaks' whilst her brother Sam is a 'Geek', and the show concentrates on how they make their way through high school and the problems and issues that they face. The pilot is a tremendous episode, and my other favourites are 'Beers and Weirs' (where the Weir's parents go away for the weekend, and Lindsey's new friends persuade her to have a party at their house), and 'Carded and Discarded' (where a new girl transfers to McKinley from a school in Florida, and gets befriended by Sam and the 'Geeks'. Soon however, she starts becoming pally with the head cheerleader, and they realise that she wont want to know them once she becomes friendly with 'the cool crowd'). I cant recommend this show enough, and if you can get hold of a copy from somewhere you wont be disappointed.

 

Watched the entire series in a weekend a few weeks ago. Loved it, especially seeing who outside Seth Rogan has gone on to become semi-famous since.

Finished watching the final episode last night, and yep, best TV show I have seen in a loooooooooooooong time. I almost didn't want to put it on, as I knew going in it was the last ever episode and I had enjoyed it so much. I tend to struggle when watching films or long series of shows, but I got through this one in 6 days and it held my attention throughout.

I take it that they didn't know that the show wasn't being renewed as there was plenty of scope for a new season (especially the slow build on the Nick and Lindsey relationship, which I at first didn't care for but had drawn me into come the end of the season). I felt it still finished great though, what with the 'Geeks' thinking they aren't so geeky as Desario played Dungeons & Dragons with them and Lindsey making the choice to go and follow the Grateful Dead with the Dead Heads from school and Kim, instead of going on this two week educational camp. From the final disc I thought the 'Smooching and Mooching' episode was top draw, and was cheering when Sam and Bill ended up getting it on with the hot cheerleaders, whilst 'The Little Things' episode covered a subject matter that I can't ever remember being covered on a TV show before, and was handled wonderfully.

The supporting cast were excellent (most notably Coach Fredricks, Millie, Cindy, Harris and Gordon Crisp), although I wish we had seen a bit more of Eli who was featured pretty heavily in the pilot and only made one more appearance after that. The soundtrack was superb and there were a number of songs that I had never heard before (Come Sail Away, Rosalinda's Eyes, Poor Poor Pitiful Me, You'll Accomp'ny Me) that I want to get hold of. Not being a fan of films, the only one of the cast who I was aware of was Seth Rogen, so after doing a bit of looking on the net I saw that Linda Cardellini appeared in the Scooby Doo films (which just so happens aired on ITV 2 after I had finished the disc). Several other TV series arrived with Freaks & Geeks, so I am planning on making my way through them, but I can't wait to go and revisit this show.

Just finished watching the Dan Severn/Shannon Ritch fight from X-1 and whatever it was, it was lame all the way through.

Ritch comes out looking like Jamie Dundee with this ridiculous oversized hat. The first round pretty much consists of some weak strikes (both punches and kicks), a fair bit of them in the clinch with not a lot of action, a throw by Dan, and a couple of submission attempts (with Severn practically falling into the heel hook).

Round Two kicks off with more soft offense before Ritch throws a head kick which puts Severn down. From the camera angle you cant see how much of the kick landed, but the commentators state that it wasnt a hard strike and didnt appear like much of it did. Ritch then pounces and tries for a rear naked, but fairly comfortably Severn escapes, takes an eternity to apply the arm triangle, Ritch just lies there, doesnt try to buck, wriggle free or escape and then taps.

A very suspect watch indeed.

There's another one that cause a bit of hoopla when it happened between Dan Severn & Shannon Ritch. There used to be video's of it floating about, but i cant find any now

This is on the comp I mentioned a page back. I'll try and watch is whilst I am having some tea later.

In regards to Salmon, the guy seems to have just gone backwards since main eventing the Fight Night against Rashad and being on the receiving end of a highlight reel KO.

Thanks for the info as I had not heard about either of those before, and Salmon is a tool for admitting things. I suppose nothing should really suprise me when it comes to Cage Rage and 'the baldies' (it made me chuckle).

Luckily apart from Sean Salmon and the Dave Legano saga in Cage Rage there have been less and less signs of fixed fights and corruption in recent times

Please feel free to enlighten the uninitiated, such as myself, in regards to what has happened with Salmon and Legano.

More on Belfort/Charles taken from the December 29 1997 issue of the Wrestling Observer.

Belfort was originally scheduled to face Brad Kohler at the Ultimate Japan show, but came down with a parasitic bacterial infection that had weakened him, so he couldnt train properly. He wasnt going to fight but due to the fact that so much of the promotion for the show had been based on him appearing, he was allowed to hand pick his opponent (Kohler who at this time was 7-0 was considered too much of a threat for an under par Belfort) and his team chose a 'chubby' 38 year old former judo champion, in Joe 'The Ghetto Man' Charles. Charles was 5-8 in his career, and that included one suspicious fight against Taktarov on a Vale Tudo show in Japan.

The fight went 4:04, and Belfort whose main forte is Boxing never threw one punch. Neither man had a tenseness and reactions that one would expect in a real UFC fight. There were wide openings for both to execute moves and both at times were wide open for punches, yet no blows were thrown. Charles even rolled into an advantageous position before being reversed in a RINGS looking finish. Belfort looked totally unhappy with the situation and showed no emotion in winning.

Meltzer doesnt know for sure if it was a work, but was pretty certain it was, and that there was definately some sort of pre fight agreement that neither were going to strike.

I heard Takada vs Coleman from Pride 5 was a work too and it did looked fishy to me.

 

Searched out that worked fights comp and the above is on it. Full listings are:

 

Steps' Vault of Works vol. 1

Bart Vale vs Frank Shamrock

Matt Hume vs Ken Shamrock

Oleg Taktarov vs Anthony Macias (UFC)

Oleg Taktarov vs Anthony Macias *additional live PPV footage* (on this before the fight begins you clearly see Macias wink at Taktarov. This is not shown on the commercial release of the show)

Kimo Leopoldo vs Kazushi Sakuraba

Mitsuhiro Matsunaga vs Dan Severn (U-Japan)

Don Frye vs Mark Hall II (UFC)

Gary Goodridge vs Cal Worsham (IVC)

Vitor Belfort vs Joe Charles (UFC)

Nobuhiko Takada vs Kyle Sturgeon (Pride)

Nobuhiko Takada vs Mark Coleman (Pride)

Matt Hughes vs Jeremy Horn (ADCC)

Dan Severn vs Shannon Ritch

Kimo Leopoldo vs Kazushi Sakuraba (different version to whats listed earlier)

Hughes admits this in his book and also alledges Renzo Gracie and a student through a fight at the same event

 

Havent heard about Charles vs Vitor though anyone got any info?

The Hughes one was a work, as he and Horn came to some sort of agreement where they would work the fight but try and win best throw and best submission at the grappling/submission event.

I flicked through the Vitor/Charles fight this morning when getting the listings for this disc. The only thing I can think of is that they came to some sort of agreement to have it as a grappling match, as Vitor doesn't throw any punches at all in the fight, which is completely out of character for Belfort.

I heard Takada vs Coleman from Pride 5 was a work too and it did looked fishy to me.

Searched out that worked fights comp and the above is on it. Full listings are:

Steps' Vault of Works vol. 1

Bart Vale vs Frank Shamrock

Matt Hume vs Ken Shamrock

Oleg Taktarov vs Anthony Macias (UFC)

Oleg Taktarov vs Anthony Macias *additional live PPV footage* (on this before the fight begins you clearly see Macias wink at Taktarov. This is not shown on the commercial release of the show)

Kimo Leopoldo vs Kazushi Sakuraba

Mitsuhiro Matsunaga vs Dan Severn (U-Japan)

Don Frye vs Mark Hall II (UFC)

Gary Goodridge vs Cal Worsham (IVC)

Vitor Belfort vs Joe Charles (UFC)

Nobuhiko Takada vs Kyle Sturgeon (Pride)

Nobuhiko Takada vs Mark Coleman (Pride)

Matt Hughes vs Jeremy Horn (ADCC)

Dan Severn vs Shannon Ritch

Kimo Leopoldo vs Kazushi Sakuraba (different version to whats listed earlier)

I remember reading about a fight between Takada and Trevor Berbick that was supposed to be worked but Takada started shooting and fucked Berbick up with leg kicks.Might have been in the UWFi days that one.

I think there were several shoot incidents/double crosses in the UWFi involving the likes of Takada and Gary Albright. There was also some situation that took place with the boxer Matthew Saad Muhammed, but I cant remember which fighter was involved with that.

I heard Takada vs Coleman from Pride 5 was a work too and it did looked fishy to me.Even Bas on commentary seemed very suspicious from what I remember.

To be honest, I would be suspicious of anything involving Takada. I have got a compilation that someone put together of worked matches in MMA, and will try and dig out the listings for it in the morning at some point.

By the way Haraga, if you are still planning on watching these shows in order, remember there is an Ultimate Ultimate '95 that you should watch after UFC 7.

I am going to try and avoid the spoilers. The only thing I haven't really cared for is the relationship between Nick and Lindsey, where it was clear he had a thing for her, but at the same time she really wasn't totally into him. Saying that, the way that they finished things between the two of them I thought was tremendously done.

After reading so much praise for the show, I searched out a copy of the Freaks & Geeks TV series and am thoroughly enjoying it at the moment, and am currently half way through the box set.

For those who dont know it is set at McKinley High School in 1980, and focuses on the lives of two siblings, Lindsey and Sam Weir. Lindsey was a previous A-Grade student, who changes her image and befriends the 'Freaks' whilst her brother Sam is a 'Geek', and the show concentrates on how they make their way through high school and the problems and issues that they face. The pilot is a tremendous episode, and my other favourites are 'Beers and Weirs' (where the Weir's parents go away for the weekend, and Lindsey's new friends persuade her to have a party at their house), and 'Carded and Discarded' (where a new girl transfers to McKinley from a school in Florida, and gets befriended by Sam and the 'Geeks'. Soon however, she starts becoming pally with the head cheerleader, and they realise that she wont want to know them once she becomes friendly with 'the cool crowd'). I cant recommend this show enough, and if you can get hold of a copy from somewhere you wont be disappointed.

UFC 6 was good fun. I can see why Abbott vs. Taktarov was described as "must-see". It was grinding my gears for a while, but it's probably one of the more dramatic UFC fights I've seen. Both guys were absolutely shattered so I don't mind. As for earlier fights, the first round had all sorts of goodness. My favourite being Patrick Smith EXPLODING out at the start with a kick.

Dont know if you are aware or not but the Taktarov vs Macias semi final, which went an exhausting 12 seconds was a work.

I actually dont think I have watched UFC 7 for some reason (just skipped over the disc when doing my watching), but UFC 8 is an enjoyable show with the 'David vs Goliath Tournament', primarily for the debuts of Don Frye and Gary Goodridge. Then you will have UFC 9 which features the second must see great fight in UFC history between Frye and Amaury Bitetti.

Pat Smith is still decent...not a contender or anything, but he can still throw down. He was one of the best guys in the first UFC's, always had a bit of an attitude problem too

He looked in great physical shape, and also performed well the last time I saw him fight which would have been at the Yamma show against Butterbean.