Shady Promoter, Jeff Katz??

One of the things the plague the independent wrestling industry are shady promoters.  They promise one thing and many many times don't deliver on them.  Things such as promoting "former WWE stars" like Doink and the Patriot and having joe-smoe play them instead of the actual guys who played them come in and work the show. 

Now, why do I mention Jeff Katz in the title?  Well, it looks as if he's, sadly, another one of those promoters, this time ripping off the fans for over 100,000 dollars worth on Kickstarter.  For those not familiar with Kickstarter, it's a website that creators can go to and appeal to fans to help fund projects.  Wrestling Retribution Project was one of those.  Mr. Katz went to Kickstarter to appeal to fans to help fund his promotion and those who pledged a certain amount would get extra goodies such as DVD's and what not. 

That was in 2011.  Since then only a trailer has been released and nothing else.  And Mr. Katz hasn't been answering questions regarding it since then.   Some fans have begun to wonder where is the product.  User Krispy Kristofferson has gone on YouTube to document the whole history of the project to this point.

Many wrestling fans counted on the fact that this guy has a history in production and that he wouldn't be a shady promoter, sadly, it looks as if he's just as shady as the ones in bumble-frick Alaska.

There's rumors rumbling that it apparantly cost more than the original 100, 000 dollars that was originially estimated.  Well, if he had been honest with the fans, they may be more forgiving, but it's looking like they got ripped off sadly.

MMA: Jamie Varner hits Melvin Guillard with "White Noise"

I don't know how many people who read SAW follow MMA, but I was watching UFC on FX earlier tonight and the ending of the Jamie Varner/Melvin Guillard fight was completely insane.

Basically, Varner picked up Guillard and delivered Sheamus' White Noise finisher.  What was really scary about it from the initial camera shot is you could not see how Guillard landed.  He immediately put Varner in a head scissors so it was clear he was fine very quickly though.  On the replay, you can see that Guillard tucks his head as he realizes Varner is going to drop him. 

For the record, I am the definition of a causal MMA fan so I have no opinions or analysis about any of the fights at UFC 155 tonight.  I do enjoy watching from time-to-time though and I'm glad I saw the end of that fight.  If you can, track it down.

BeltTalk.com

If you are a championship belt mark like me you need to check out BeltTalk.com.  They sell all sorts of solid looking wrestling belts.

If you are like me and cannot afford to buy a belt, I highly recommend "Liking" them on Facebook just to see some of the belts that they are selling or have sold. 

As for me, some of my favorite belts are Big Goldy, the old TV title (silver on red strap), the WCW US title and the AWA strap.

Merry Christmas!

Going to share yet another Third Day video this Christmas.  I hope that everyone who celebrates has a very Merry Christmas today.

I went with this one because it certainly touches on how our view of the holiday changes as we get older.  As a parent of two (5 year old boy, 3 year old girl) it warms my heart to see how excited they get about Christmas.  It's not just the presents either.  Even at Bryant's age he considers himself  "a child of God" and I think he appreciates the importance of Christmas.




Upload Credit: thirddaychannel

Royal Rumble 2013 poster featuring The Rock

Hush little baby don't say a word.. It's just the beast. Next @wwe Champion #TimesUpPunk twitter.com/TheRock/status…
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) December 23, 2012

Was pretty stoked to see this last night. I don't know the status of Punk's knee, but with this being released and the Knees 2 Faces shirt out I am going to assume that this is still happening. Can't wait.

Photo Credit: @TheRock

WCMB solves a mystery

I think this is my favorite post on Wrestling Classics Message Board since I started visiting the site.  The huge pictures thread has been mentioned here before too, but this one is just slightly better.

WCMB: Can you identify the where and when of this Randy Savage photo?

From WWE.com

Here is the background of the request from WCMB's The Following Contest.

The WWE website says St. Louis' Busch stadium in 1991. Except Busch didn't look like that and Savage wasn't dressing like that in '91.

Given his bare waist, body language and attire, I'm guessing late summer/fall of '87.

State fair? Anybody got a guess?

The thread started in June of 2012 and finally we got what appears to be a correct answer in December of 2012. WCMB's Grobbit finally delivered the correct answer. I don't want to steal his thunder so check out the thread to see the answer.

Threads like that are what makes Wrestling Classics such a great place to visit for wrestling fans.

Photo Credit: WWE.com

Sting's son heading to the SEC?

It looks like we may soon find out whether the Stinger's son has "SEC Speed" or not. 

teven Borden, a 6'3 tight end at Kilgore junior college in Texas, is planning to play major college football next year. He's down to Texas Tech and Kentucky, with new Wildcats offensive coordinator Neal Brown (formerly at Tech) looking likely to swing him along to Lexington.

It will be interesting to see this young man on the gridiron. I wish him nothing but the best...unless his team (Texas Tech or Kentucky) plays Alabama.

By the way, every single time I think of Kentucky I think of Western Kentucky's Andrew Jackson and his analysis of the Wildcats.



"They supposed to be SEC."

Upload Credit: HilltopperVideo

Evolution: Underrated?

I teased this during the It's Friday! thread this week.  I intended to have it done and posted Friday afternoon, but honestly the events in Connecticut that day took my mind away from wrestling and SAW. 

As for the topic at hand though, I wonder if I under-appreciated the stable, Evolution, due to Triple H's involvement in it.

Why would his involvement bother me?  Well, honestly I have never been a fan of "The Game."  Once he became the guy, that indifference intensified into full-blown hatred.  In my opinion he hogged the spotlight and more entertaining acts were pushed aside in order to feed his massive ego.

Why does this matter?  It matters because while a Horsemen-style stable like Evolution should have been a huge hit with me.  As it stood though I never really embraced it.  In my view there were two shining moments of this stable and they share a primary characteristic.  Let's take a look:

1. Randy Orton being tossed out.
2. Batista turning on Triple H.

The reason these worked is because in both cases someone had finally gotten over on Triple H.  The Orton feud wasn't nearly as effective as the Batista one, but both clearly went on to be huge stars.  Looking back Evolution had a lot going for it.

• Triple H was the man (in a storyline sense) at that point.  He was 1980s Flair in the 4 Horsemen.  A great centerpiece to build a glamorous stable around.
• "Nature Boy" Ric Flair is one of the all-time greats and gave a great Ole Anderson type to the stable.  A grizzled vet who added legitimacy to the stable.  A legitimacy that a group like Legacy would lack.
• Randy Orton as the brash, hotshot made perfect sense as well.  He was the future yet was already delivering from his first day there.  
• Batista was obviously the muscle and was fearsome in that role.  Teaming with Flair to win the World Tag Titles was a nice spot for him as well.  He was a great enforcer.  As he left the group he showed himself to be a thinking man's monster at that.

Beyond all of this the group had a great look and really meshed well together.  As I mentioned in the It's Friday! post, the cherry on top of this sundae was that this group had an amazing theme song.  It sounds silly, but that is an important ingredient in their success.

Ultimately I feel like I really missed the boat on this stable as my hatred for Triple H tainted my enjoyment of Evolution.  I think I am going to have to really look at some of their stuff that is out there and see if my opinion changes in the long run. 

We will see.....

It's Friday!

So Friday is here at last.  Today's music was inspired by WWE '13 as the title menu plays random entrance songs that are in the game.  This theme is a classic and looking back I question if I gave this group a fair enough shake.  More on that aspect to come later today though.

I am supposed to be taking my wife and son to the Georgia Dome tomorrow to watch Sandy Creek play for the GHSA AAAA State Football title.  Sandy Creek is my high school alma mater (Class of '96) and has won two previous titles in 2009 and 2010.  Unfortunately none of us are feeling well so that trip will most likely be canceled.  The good news is that the games are all broadcast on GPB so we will be able to watch from our home.

Anyway, hope you have a great weekend and here is your It's Friday! song of the week.



Upload Credit: Nexusmember13

WWE.com: 15 stars you never knew were in WCW

Another winner of a list from WWE.com.

WWE.com: 15 stars you didn't know competed in WCW

This is a list tailor-made for me as a huge WCW fan.  Here's how the list breaks down for me:

Knew It

• Sabu
• Edge
• Iron Sheik
• Triple H
• Marty Jannetty
• Rikishi
• Zeus
• Jimmy Snuka
• Mil Mascaras
• Greg "The Hammer" Valentine

Now I will admit that some of those I had completely forgotten about until I saw the list.

Don't Remember at All

• Rob Van Dam
• Mikey Whipwreck
• Luna Vachon
• Rhyno
• Barry Horowitz

I vaguely recall hearing that RVD made some appearances in WCW.  Same with Horowitz.  I have no recollection whatsoever of the others even though I was watching WCW weekly during the Monday Night Wars.

While I gave you the list here, I highly recommend checking out their article for further information and some really cool videos and photos.

FFA: Man of Steel trailer

Looks amazing I must say. Zod as the villain looks like he will be a formidable threat to Superman. Also, I have the sense that they understand what makes the Superman character work. While there does seem to be a touch of "tortured soul" in there (especially in the teaser trailer), it seems they understood that Superman is supposed to be a shining example for the world.

I believe I have covered this here before, but Superman is my favorite comic character precisely because he has almost unlimited power yet is still good at his core. That, to me, is interesting and inspiring and that is what Superman is about. I am excited about seeing him back on the big screen and Henry Cavill certainly pulls the look off.

Upload Credit: WarnerBrosPictures

It's Friday!

It's Friday! and I only have two more weeks until a two week Christmas vacation. Life. Is. Good.

Wanted something solid to re-introduce the It's Friday! feature here on SAW. I figured that in memory of Buddy Jack Roberts that this was the only song that was appropriate this week.

Hope you have a great weekend and Go Army, Beat Navy!



Upload Credit: UniversalWrestling

Sting declares himself a free agent

Thanks to the guys over at WCMB who brought this up. I would agree that Sting has always been suspect on the mic and the promo above is probably the pinnacle of his career so far as it relates to talking. He got his point across and sold the emotion of the moment well. It was an important promo as it launched crow Sting essentially and he hit a homer with it.

Again, if you would like to see a variety of opinions on "The Man Called" Sting, check out this thread on WCMB. This is the type of wrestling discussion you often get there and it is tremendous.

Upload Credit: PUCKWECW