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M e e t t h e t e a mRichard PenalunaEditor@PenalunaChad EngleArtist@ChadEngleArtPaul CooperGraphics@Something_SaysDashing NeilRogersWriter@xtreme_neilNik TowersArtist@Pencil_TreeLee GoodfellowIndy Expert@HellionLeeMatt HardyWordsmith@mtthrdyJames MusselwhitePhotographer@Y2jimbobVisit callingspots.com todayThe EditorialSo far, 2014 has been a funny old year for prowrestling, specifically in New York; be it Daniel-Bryan-gate at the Royal Rumble, Boo-tista’scontroversial spot in the WrestleMania main event,#HijackRAW or CM Punk taking a page out ofStone Cold Steve Austin’s book. Luckily, you don’thave to worry about any of that nonsense here.Calling Spots is a safe place where you can have funwhile reading about such topics as Tom Billington’spride and the worst match in DragonGate history.Sounds good, right…?Our team for issue eight contains a few new(handsome?) faces as we continue to bring you thevery best independent journalism from the world ofpro wrestling. At the turn of the year we weredisappointed to learn that one of our favouredwrestling websites - CollarAndElbow.com - wasclosing its doors. Due to our likeminded approachto wresting journalism, we always had a goodrelationship. With that in mind, it gives me greatpleasure to be able to offer the former C&E writersa platform to be able to continue their excellentwork here in Calling Spots, starting with JamesMusselwhite. James is a fantastic photographer, asmart and witty writer as well as being somebodywho enjoys a plethora of different wrestlingproducts. He has penned a short article, to wrap upthis issue, in order to introduce himself to ourreaders and already has some fantastic ideas forsome projects he wants to bring to our fanzine in2014. We are also joined by the marginally lessfamouscounterpart of former WWE United Stateschampion Matt Hardy. Matt will be starting hiswork for us with an analysis of how ex-WWEwrestlers have faired in Ring of Honor. I also wantto give a mention to a Brett Hadley. Brett is a supertalented photographer who shoots wrestling showsup and down the UK and has provided somefantastic shots for the ’zine. You can check outmore of his work by following him on Twitter@magic_bert.Visit CallingSpots.com 2 Twitter @CallingSpots

Image used with thanks to Brett HadleyI also want to say thanks to these people because they are brilliant: Our official sponsorfor issue eight; The Attitude Era Podcast, Lauren Soar, FremantleMedia, Tidal InternationalPro Wrestling, Violet Vendetta, Alix McMurdo, Simon Rothstein, Larry Carlin,Chris Duke, Northumbria University, Kris Travis, Martin Kirby, Jim, Jon and Glen atPROGRESS Wrestling, HighSpots.com, Awesome Merchandise and the beautiful Jeni.As always, thank you so much for picking up this copy of Calling Spots. Your supportnot only means the world to us but also keeps us doing what we do. To thank you foryour support, we are giving away an exclusive LIMITED EDITION print from thebrilliant Paul Cooper of Something Studios. The print is of the exclusive Calling SpotsHall of Fame artwork on the next page. There are only two of these print in the wholeworld; one is on the wall of our office and the other could be stashed under your bed ina tube, if you’re the lucky winner. To enter, all you need to do is TWEET somebodytelling them why they should check out @CallingSpots. There is no limit on how manytimes you can enter. Each tweet will get you another entry. We will draw a winner afterWrestleMania 30. Good luck.Check out Paul’s work on Twitter @something_says and atSomething-Studio.comMake sure to check out CallingSpots.com for some extra content with this issue, includinga full HD photo shoot gallery with 1/2 of our cover stars Violet Vendetta, theanswers to our epic word search and loads more.Enjoy this issue of Calling SpotsMuch love. Richard Penaluna (Editor-in-chief) xDrop us a line: @CallingSpots or CallingSpots@Gmail.comFacebook.com/CallingSpots 3 Visit CallingSpots.com

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Calling Spots Hall of FameAnd so it begins. After two years of producing our professional wrestling fanzine; duringwhich time we have had some of the most respected journalists, artists and people fromthe world of wrestling media enter our office and discuss our passion, we have nowopened the doors to the hallowed Calling Spots Hall of Fame. In 2014, three men are tobe inducted to receive this award, all voted for by the readers of Calling Spots. We willcelebrate the achievements of these men with an article dedicated to each. So withoutfurther ado, let me introduce you to your Calling Spots Hall of Fame class of 2014.Our first inductee was in a three horse race forhis spot in the Hall of Fame, as our readersclearly separated the men from the boys in thiscategory. Being inducted for his 'contributions toBritish wrestling', we are delighted to welcome'The Dynamite Kid' Tom Billington as ourfirst inductee. Dynamite receives this award, despitespending the majority of his career betweenCanada, Japan and the United States, with justunder 29% of the votes. It was a tight affair however,with both Johnny Saint and the late, greatMick McManus both receiving just over 26% ofthe votes each. The three men were in great companyin their bracket, with Dynamite being votedin ahead of Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks, LordAlfred Hayes and Brian Dixon. Dynamite is oneof the most gifted athletes to ever grace thesquared circle, so it is fantastic for us to see ourreaders acknowledge the man for his ring work,despite his well-documented troubles outside ofthe ring. We are very pleased to welcome TheDynamite Kid as our first ever Hall of Famer.Our second inductee is to be welcomed into theHall of Fame because of his 'contributions toCalling Spots'. For this category, all former intervieweesof our fanzine were eligible. This listincludes; one of the UK's hottest rising stars -Noam Dar. DragonGate:USA and Evolvebooker - Gabe Sapolsky. The creative geniusbehind Botchamania - Maffew Gregg. FormerNWA World Champion - Adam Pierce. TNAstar - Christopher Daniels. Former Ring ofHonor World Champion and zoo enthusiast -Kevin Steen. A man who has held many championshipsin WWE, WCW and ECW - LanceStorm. WWE, ECW and TNA alumni JerryLynn. One of the UK's finest female wrestlersKay Lee Ray. ICW ring announcer and stand-upcomedian Billy Kirkwood. And of course theC l a s s o f 2 0 1 4latest inductee into the Calling Spots Hall ofFame - Martin Kirby. We originally got our interviewwith Martin backstage at a small show inSouth Shields where we spoke about blood in prowrestling and wrestlers in their undies. Martin isself-admittedly a man who does not like to partakein interviews, so we were very grateful forhis time. Afterwards Martin was happy to expresshis enjoyment of the interview and has kept intouch with us in the office ever since. We had ablast chatting to Martin in the hallway of a communitycentre and we are delighted that you guysliked to enough to vote him into our Hall ofFame.Our final inductee is one of the most decoratedwrestlers of all time, with 16 world championshipsand two WWE Hall of Fame rings to hisname. For his 'contributions to pro wrestling' weare delighted to welcome 'The Nature Boy' RicFlair into the Calling Spots Hall of Fame. Ricdefeated his old Rival Hulk Hogan to this awardwith the highest number of votes of all of ourcategories, 31% vs Hogan's 24%. Flair saw off hisstiffest competition to-date, with 'Stone Cold'Steve Austin (19%), The Undertaker (14%),Bruno Sammartino (5%), John Cena (5%) andThe Rock (2%) all in the running. Our readersleft hundreds of comment with their votes, including"The guy broke his back in a plane crashand was back within a year, wrestled in a timewhen schedule was far busier than Bruno's andgave his life to the business" and is perhaps bestsummed up with the comment "Simply the greatestprofessional wrestler I have ever seen". RicFlair is often considered the wrestling fan's wrestler;with that in mind, we are delighted to welcomeThe Nature Boy into the Calling Spots Hallof Fame, class of 2014.Facebook.com/CallingSpots 5 Visit CallingSpots.com

"Whether it was the constant pounding onmy back from all the suplexes and piledrivers,or whether it was the steroids, or acombination of both, at the age of 25, myback was starting to give me some seriouspain. Sometimes my ribs, my kidneys, mywhole body just ached. But I neverthought of cutting the high-risk movesout. They were part of what the people hadpaid to see."- Tom Billington, Pure Dynamite, 1999.Mask and eventually reaching his peak when heand his cousin Davey Boy Smith won the WWFtag-team championships. Speaking about bringinghim from the UK to Calgary, Bruce Hartdescribed his first thoughts on Dynamite as "thegreatest thing to happen to pro wrestling". Theterritory was historically a 'big man territory',meaning that the roster was full of large wrestlerswho would wrestle a certain style due totheir physical attributes and limitations. Theinitial thought was that Dynamite would not fitin with the roster or be able to have a goodmatch there due to the clash in styles; however,after seeing what Billington was able to do in thering, it wasn't long before Stu Hart's territoryhad an entire Junior-Heavyweight division inplace just to showcase their new centrepiece.Bret Hart speaks about this time in great detailin his book 'Hitman: My Real Life in the CartoonWorld of Wrestling' even stating "I wantedto be just like Dynamite".Yet, despite a career of hard-work and very solidmatches, Dynamite's decline was sudden. Today,Tom Billington lives in Manchester, England,where he is wheelchair bound with paralysis ofthe left leg. But where did it all go so wrong forthis once great British warrior?Many of Dynamite's peers will recall back to hisjovial side with fondness, recounting instanceafter instance of his ribs and hilarious jokesbackstage and on the road. Others will label himas a bully, somebody who constantly went toofar and made others miserable. Dynamite wasknown to have a dark streak, becoming moreaggressive in the ring over the years. "I havenever taken it easy in the ring", says Billington inhis autobiography. "When you are there, in a fullarena, fans shouting your name, you want to doit". Whether it was related or not; many of Billington'speers from this time period recall backto his ever increasing use of steroids and hisconstantly growing physique as the years rolledon, making reference to the known impacts thatthe drug can have on a person's mental health.Dynamite has never shied away from his steroiduse, and in a recent documentary by HighSpotstitled 'Dynamite Kid - A Matter of Pride' heeven states that this is not something he has anyregrets about at all, despite his physical healthconditions later in life and subsequent stroke inThe story of The Dynamite Kid is a sad one. It'sa story of one of the most technically giftedprofessional wrestlers our country has ever produced,one of the most gifted in the world infact. It is a story about a genuine, renownedtough guy. However it is a story that most peoplewill remember for the drug abuse, steroidabuse, domestic abuse and abuse of other people.Dynamite achieved a great deal in his career;from his time in Stu Hart's Stampede territory inCanada to his 5-star matches (Wrestling ObserverNewsletter Awards, 1983) with TigerVisit CallingSpots.com 6 Twitter @CallingSpots

late-2013. A well documented incident tookplace between Dynamite and his young cousinDavey Boy Smith, who would later become TheBritish Bulldog, when the latter first arrived inCalgary. Billington had made it very clear to StuHart that he did not want Davey Boy in theterritory, however when Calgary's new star attractionwas scheduled to go on a long tour ofJapan, Hart had to make a decision on whowould fill the gap left by Dynamite and madethe decision to bring in Smith. When the tour ofJapan fell through, Billington had no option butto accept that he and Davey Boy would have towork together. As it happened, the pair had aseries of superb matches, despite never workingtogether before. That was until one night, whenBillington sliced Davey Boy's head with a razorfrom one side of his forehead all the way to theback of his scalp while helping him "blade". Tothis day, it is unknown if Billington did this as anact of malice or if this was just a then-routinestunt that had gone wrong.In his book, Bret Hart recalls an incident whileon a tour of Japan where Billington hung out ofthe window of the tour bus to beckon over ahomeless man. As the man approached the bus,Billington made as if he was going to offer himsome money or food, only to spit in the man'sface when he got close enough. Bret talks aboutremembering how he felt seeing that incidentand hearing Billington's hearty laugh, as if hewas proud of his 'joke'. Bret talks of pinpointingthat moment as the time that he thought that,one day, karma would come back to haunt DynamiteKid. That karma was eventually forthcoming....An infamous incident took place between Dynamiteand The Rougeaus, specifically JacquesRougeau, while both were big players in theWWF's tag-team division during the late 80's.Over the years, in print and on various shootinterviews, many people have gave their versionof the preceding events, including both Billingtonand Jacques. Depending on who's side ofthe story you listen to, you will hear about adisagreement over both parties wanting tochange the order of their respective matches ona particular evening's card in order to allow TheRougeaus to leave early and visit their family, aswell as an incident involving Billington "ribbing"The Rougeaus by either stealing or vandalisingtheir clothing while they were out in the ring.For whatever reason, on the night that led tothis incident, the Rougeaus were not happy withBillington and stood up to him, verbalising theircontempt. Several days later, Jacques Rougeauwas playing cards backstage at a show in Miamiwhen Billington punched him in the face with acheap shot from behind. Dynamite continued toassault Rougeau until his brother Raymondstepped in, despite him being on crutches. Billingtonthreatened Raymond to which Raymondis reported to have asked if he was "going tobeat up a guy on crutches?". Dynamite replied"No, I'll wait for you to heal and then I'll beatyou up". Weeks went by and Jacques plannedhis revenge. He had been assaulted by Billingtonfor standing up to him and he would not let thatgo unpunished. The entire time, every day, infront of Jacques, Billington would ask Raymond"how's the leg?" - implying that he was not goingto forget and the next fight would take placesoon. After a conversation with his father,Facebook.com/CallingSpots 7 Visit CallingSpots.com

Image used with thanks to CNNJacques decided now was the time to strike,despite Vince McMahon warning both partiesthat if either started a fight they would be firedon the spot. He got a roll of quarters from thebank one afternoon, took them to the show andclenched them tight in his hand as he approachedBillington. "Hi Tom". As Dynamitelooked up, Jacques smashed him in the mouthwith the hardest punch he could throw, loadedwith the roll of quarters. Despite the blowknocking out four of Billington's teeth, his pridestopped him from leaving his feet. He stoodthere and took another couple of hard shotsbefore it was broken up.The Rougeaus didn't lose their job and Vincesent The Bulldogs on a tour of Europe, althoughit would not be long before they handedtheir notice in, citing "personal reasons". Thenews that The Bulldogs were on their way outof the WWF was bittersweet for JacqueRougeau. On one hand, they would soon be outof his life for good, on the other hand, therewas the fear that they now had nothing to lose.With Dynamite's history, and given what hadhappened, Jacque was genuinely frightened forhis life. So much so that he found the addressof Tom Billington's family, wrote it on a bit ofpaper, and showed it to the wrestlers who wereclose to Billington, advising them that everynight he called home. If one night he didn't callhome, there would be a visit paid to that address.The British Bulldogs left the WWF at the 1988Survivor Series Pay Per View in what was Billington'slast night with the company (DaveyBoy returned years later as The British Bulldogwithout his cousin). There was no reaction fromThe Dynamite Kid. The pride that had stoppedhim from leaving his feet with that punch hadbeen damaged beyond repair. Maybe he couldnot look at the boys in the back in the same wayagain. Maybe he had never been humiliated likethat or had a victim of his stand up to him inthe way Jacque did. Maybe he was worried thatothers would now follow suit in standing up tohim. Nobody will ever know why that momenthad such a profound impact on the rest of TomBillington's life other than Tom himself, but hisdecline from this point has been well documentedand will likely be remembered by mostmore prominently than will the amazing workhe did in the ring; work which made him a rolemodel to people like Bret Hart, Davey Boy,Chris Benoit and even Davey Richards in morerecent times. One thing is for sure though; Bretknew that The Dynamite kid has this coming tohim ever since they shared that bus ride in Japan.-Words by Richard PenalunaVisit CallingSpots.com 8 Twitter @CallingSpots

Image used with permission of Brett Hadley with thanks to Southside WrestlingMartin Kirby has really stepped up in 2013, takinghimself from being one of the most solidhands in the country, to a real stand-out star.Much like his tag-team partner in Project Ego -Kris Travis - you will see Martin Kirby's nameon posters for wrestling shows the length andbreadth of our country, showing the level ofdedication needed to be truly successful in thisindustry. Although Martin will tell us himself,later in this article, that one of his true highlightsof 2013 was competing against Japanese legendJushin 'Thunder' Liger for Preston City Wrestling,it was his work that earned him this marqueematch, as well as his work since, that showhow classy Martin Kirby is. Martin started theyear making his debut with DragonGate:UK onthe Japanese promotion's three-show-tour beforegoing on to having some wonderful matchesagainst the UK's finest, with notable matchesagainst Noam Dar and Kay Lee Ray. Project Egomade their debut for PROGRESS wrestling in2013 and Martin got to face another Japaneselegend in a PCW ring, this time teaming with ElLigero to take on Ultimo Dragon and his partnerDean Allmark. Despite all of these accomplishments,it was his feud with El Ligero under theguise of the evil 'Ego Dragon', for Cambridgeshirebased 'Southside Wrestling', where we perhapssaw Kirby's finest work of his career. Thefeud and its final match picked up Southside'sfan awards for feud and match of the year, withthe latter being the finest match we saw on UKsoil in the whole of 2013. At Southside's 3rdAnniversary show, titled "End Game", Kirbyand El Ligero put together an absolute masterclass in their "unsanctioned" steel cage match. Itwas hard hitting and brutal, yet watching thematch felt like watching a great artist paint hisfinest masterpiece.2013 was absolutely Martin Kirby's year, so wecaught up with him to get his thoughts on it andto accept his induction into the Calling SpotsHall of Fame.I would just like to thank all the readers ofCalling Spots who voted for me for such anaward, especially given the high level andcalibre of fellow wrestlers also nominated.2013 was a personal highlight for me givenall the great opponents I got to face andmeet as well as entertaining so many brilliantfans. One of my favourite moments of theyear was getting to meet and speak backstagewith one of my childhood heroes - BretHart. On top of this, I then later in the yeargot to compete against my other child heroin the form of Japanese legend Jushin'Thunder' Liger. I'm looking forward to seeingwhat 2014 has in store for me!If you see the name "Martin Kirby" on a posternear you, go and see that show.Facebook.com/CallingSpots 9 Visit CallingSpots.com

How do I write an article about the mostdecorated and acclaimed professional wrestlerof all time? A man who, for decades, has hadthousands of articles written about him, coveringevery subject and gracing the frontcover of more pro wrestling magazines thanwe have issues; often making them iconic inthe process? The short answer is this; I cannot.I set out penning various articles, ultimatelydeciding that they didn't quite do thejob that I wanted. I was very excited at theprospect of researching an article that wouldretrospectively look at Ric Flair's five mostimportant matches, however within six minuteof that idea entering my head I had a listof 23 matches that would have hit triple figuresif I didn't stop myself. The man won 16world championships....sixteen. Finding justfive matches would have never happened. Ialso toyed with the idea of compiling a list ofmen who had defeated Flair yet not actuallywent on to become "the man" themselves oran article that would aim to either confirm ordisprove some of Ric Flair's elaborate claims;for example Flair declaring himself as "god"on numerous occasions during his tenure withTNA. Is Ric Flair actually god? He could be....In the end, I feel that it speaks volumes aboutthe influence that Flair has had on so manypeople that I have had almost every memberof the Calling Spots team knocking on thedoor of my office and asking for an opportunityto say a few words about Flair on thisplatform. So, I am now going to hand youover to my esteemed colleagues who wouldlike to have a short say on The Nature Boy.Matt HardyThe first thing that pops into my head whensomeone says "Ric Flair" - once I’ve stoppedscreaming WOO – is that he’s pretty close tothe top of the tree when it comes to being agreat heel. His NWA promos during the ‘80swere absolute genius; boasting of Rolexes, diamondrings, custom made suits and “woo-woo-WOOing all the pretty girls”. Now we’re usedto heels these days doing the whole "girls wantme and guys want to be me” shtick, we’ve seenit from everyone from The Rock to RandyOrton, but in my humble opinion, Flair did itfirst and did it best. It was one of these promoswhere Flair coined one of the most memorableand entertaining quotes in wrestling history:“I’m Ric Flair! The stylin', profilin', limousineriding, jet flying, kiss-stealing, wheelin' n' dealin'son of a gun!”My personal favourite Ric Flair jibe will bewhen he addressed Buddy Landel when he said“Last year I spent more money on spilt liquorin bars from one side of this world to theother, than you MADE.” His over the top egowas only matched by his complete dominanceof the NWA at the time, thanks to feuds withDusty Rhodes among others. The fact thatFlair could out wit you AND out wrestle youmade him the most detestable man imaginable,and that’s why I love him!Chad EngleMy first recollection of "The Man" would bewhen my great uncle introduced me to prowrestling. The early 80's, in a small studio. Theladies would cheer as, stepping into frame,would be this physically fit, tanned, bleachedblonde, stylin' in a suit, sunglass wearing champVisit CallingSpots.com 10 Twitter @CallingSpots

Image used with thanks to Pro Wrestling IllustratedRic Flair! Letting out a Wwoooo for goodmeasure! Gorden Solie and Ric would talk peopleinto the arenas! Watching him wrestle overthe next few months, even as a young boy, Icould tell that whatever he was saying duringhis promos were wrestling gospel. Ric believedwhat he was saying, which made you believe.You either hated him for it because it was true,or respected him for it! He backed it up, fromGeorge South, to Harley Race, he carried theten pounds of gold for a reason! And then ofcourse there is the Four Horsemen! Those menwere genuinely living the dream; jet setting,parties, ladies and holding all the gold! Butthat's another story! All of those accomplishmentsand then later on in WCW, WWF, andback, just added to the legacy of Ric Flair! Ricmade you respect him! You might have wantedto kill him for things he did to "your guy", butdeep down if you were in his $300 gator shoes,you know you would have done the samething. Ric was the right guy at the right timewho had the look, could talk you into seats, andhave great believable matches with anyone.Does one match, feud, promo, or highlightcome mind as the reason that I thing Ric Flairis the Man? Absolutely not! He's the total package....orwhole package (sorry Lex) of what apro wrestler should be. That's why so manyafter him try to emulate his character!Paul CooperRic Flair, for me, has always been a polarizingcharacter. At times I’ve loved to hate him andtimes I’ve hated to love him. This is a massivecompliment however. I’ll always remember himas a cocky, arrogant heel; flaunting around inexpensive suits, cutting promos with such conviction,intensity and passion or strutting to thering in his sequined robes with such confidenceand self belief that he was the best in thering...the best in the business. Flair deservesevery accolade and all the praise that has beenheaped on him. A true legend of the squaredcircle.Neil RogersI'm a 27 year old man who got into wrestling inthe mid '90s. By that point I don't feel it wouldbe untrue to say that 'The Nature Boy' Ric Flairwas in the Indian Summer of his career. Otherthan the archived matches, I can only rememberRic Flair having a handful of good or greatmatches. Because of this fact, my favourite RicFlair memory is not one of his matches or promos.It's fair to say that Flair isn't just one ofthe most successful wrestlers of all time he isalso one of the sport's most famous faces andis recognised by millions around the world.With this celebrity comes opportunities andwhen you are "The Man" it's not just your normalwrestling merchandise. Over the last fewdecades Flair has put his name to several products/companiesand, although I appreciate theirony in Ric Flair being the face of a creditagency, given the well documented moneyproblems he has experienced in his personallife, my favourite is his appearance in severalcommercials for Command and Conquer RedAlert 3. If you haven't seen the commercialsbefore I highly recommendyou search theinternet for the clips oruse the QR code belowto witness of the funniest,most utterly randompiece of advertising Ihave ever seen.Facebook.com/CallingSpots 11 Visit CallingSpots.com

Richard PenalunaI often tell people that I feel as if grew up duringthe wrong era of professional wrestling. Asgreat as it can be to watch back, I would haveloved to have lived through the days when theNational Wrestling Alliance was at its apex; andthe reason for that was simply Ric Flair and theFour Horsemen. Life was different in the late70's and throughout the 80's. There was nointernet, less forms of global communicationand professional wrestling had not been exposed,at least not to anywhere remotely nearthe level of what it has been in 2014. Wrestlingfans were not "smart"; they enjoyed (or hated)what they saw in front of them and took it atface value. Because of this, fans emotions, be itoutrage or jubilation, were driven by what thewrestling promoter put in front of them. Ifthey were angry, it was not because their favourite"worker" was not getting a push theybelieved he deserved, but because they wereangry at the villainous acts shown by the territory'sresident bad guys. Scenes of riot were notuncommon during this era; and who was at theforefront of wrestling villainy? None other thanSlick Ric and his mates.Flair has had countless classic matches in hiscareer, my personal highlights (since I binnedoff that 'top five matches' article) include: Winninghis second world championship againstHarley Race at Starrcade 1983 inside the steelcage, taking on Savage at WrestleMania eight,Sting at the first ever Clash of the Champions,Ricky Steamboat at Clash of the Champions VIand of course his emotional "career ending"match with Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania24. I'm sorry. I love you.Ric Flair IS the man, combining in ring talent,elegance, bravado, lifestyle and charisma in onepackage unlike any other before him or since.Thank you Ric.Thank you to the entire Calling Spots teamfor their efforts in the Calling Spots Hall ofFame. Thank you to Nik Towers for hisawesome ‘wooo’ piece to finish up this article.Thank you to Paul Cooper for all of theHall of Fame graphics. Thank you to MartinKirby, Tom Billington and Ric Flair.Visit CallingSpots.com 12 Twitter @CallingSpots

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MeetViolet VendettaExclusive interview by Nik TowersHi Violet, thank you for joining us today. Ihave been a fan of your work since I saw youin HXC with Mikey Whiplash. Your lookreally stands out.Ah, Thank you, I usually dress as a 50’s pin up,but with it being an over 18’s show I thought I’ddo a dark little twist. *laughs* It’s been a pleasureto work with Mikey Whiplash. I’ve been watchinghim for years on the British wrestling scene, andhe comes from Stoke on Trent too! Big win!A couple of Stokies. Speaking of your uniquelook; you are noticeably more tattooed thanyour typical 'diva'. Have you got any moretattoos planned for 2014I am booked for more tattoos in a few weeks!*laughs* I think I will be having more and morethroughout the year. Tattoo’s are a big part of mylife and I love having them! They’re very addictive.*laughs*You got into the business as a valet but in 2012you started getting some action in the ring aswell. Anyone you're gunning for in 2014?I’ve been a valet since 2011, making my debut atAWW in Birmingham. I worked with my trainer atthe time as he wanted to give me some show experiencewhich I was very grateful for. I made myin ring debut with Dani Brooks in May 2012 atUKW. Who am I gunning for in 2014? Well… I’mstill yet to get into the ring with ‘It Girl’ MelaniePrice! We have some unfinished business me andthat girl!I think women's wrestling is certainly on theup in the UK and there are a few promotionspopping up. These have got to be excitingtimes to be involved?Yes, I’m really happy to see that women are goingto be given a chance to show that we can give asmuch as the male talent can! There is a lot of newfemale promotions starting, and I am very excitedand grateful to be a part of them. I am very muchlooking forward to the debut show of LCW Rosesin early 2014!The show has got the potential to be reallysomething...I am also looking forward seeing what The BritishBombshells have in store for their shows too.I had the pleasure of seeing a Bombshellsmatch in Leeds. They have a bright future.LCW Roses look like a promotion comingthrough with the goal of showing people whatwomen can do in the business. Are you happyto play your part of that rise?Visit CallingSpots.com 14 Twitter @CallingSpots

I am very excited to be working with LCW Roses,my match has been announced for the Debutshow in January! I get to tag with the beautifulPrincess Nadia Sapphire where we become ThePin-Up Princesses and we take on Scotland’s Viperand House Of Pain’s, Jenna!As I mentioned earlier, you also work as avalet; do you prefer this role or stepping intothe ring yourself?I absolutely love being a valet. I started in 2011and I have loved every match that I have beeninvolved with. I love wrestling; training with Stixxat House of Pain has given me the confidence Ineeded to help me develop as a wrestler. I lovebeing in the ring. I recently took on a new up-andcomingfemale wrestler called Jenna who is fromPreston. I very much enjoyed wrestling with her.So in answer to your question; which do I prefer?BOTH!*Laughs* Great answer. Are you a 'take eachday as it comes' kind of girl or have you got afive year plan?My plan is to keep training hard and travel lots!That’s what I’d like to be doing through wrestling.To see the world doing a job that I love so much.Have you got anyone in the business you lookup to. Someone that has inspired you?Watching April Davids wrestle, that girl is amazingand very inspiring to watch. April could take onthe world if she wanted to and still give an amazingmatch wherever it is and whoever it is with.Is there anyone you want to mention or saythank you too?Yes, I do! I want to say a huge thank you to Stixx,Mike Hough at HXC, Sam Bailey, Jca Servo Photography,Dave Mastiff and Keith Myatt. I wouldn’tbe where I am today without their support. In2014 everybody needs to keep an eye out for JoeVega, Lana Austin and James Drake.Violet, thank you for joining us today.You can follow Violet on Twitter@VioletVendetta.All photos used were taken by and property ofthe fantastic Alix McMurdo Photography. VisitFacebook.com/PhotosByAlixSee the extended HDgallery of the photoshoot by AlixMcMurdo atCallingSpot.com orby scanning here.Facebook.com/CallingSpots 15 Visit CallingSpots.com

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"In April 2014, Jake Roberts will be inductedinto the WWE Hall of Fame, a fitting tribute toa legendary career. There is very little that canbe said about Jake Roberts that hasn’t alreadybeen said a thousand times before, the man is asource of great fascination and controversy.Like many people who grew up watching theAttitude Era, I was exposed to very little Jake‘The Snake’ Roberts, at least until I watched thequintessential wrestling documentary, BeyondThe Mat. Hearing Jake's story was the firstglimpse I'd had at how messed up the world ofpro-wrestling can be, and even outside of anythingrelated to the squared circle, Jake's storywas one of the bleakest tales of human despairI'd ever heard. As you can imagine, I, like everyoneelse, was absolutely delighted as well asrelieved to see Jake’s astonishing turnaround inthe past two years. It’s the ultimate example ofthe “its never too late” philosophy, and perfectlysymbolised by his induction into the Hallof Fame.”Words and fantastic artwork by Adam Bibaloof the Attitude Era Podcast. Followhim on Twitter @BiblopsHashtag WrestlingHave your sayWe asked you on Twitter;What are your favourite memories of thenew WWE Hall of Famer—Jake ‘TheSnake’ Roberts?@SIRREAL718 Definitely his feuds with Savage,Andre, and Rude, to name a few. He wasway ahead of his time. #TrustMe@PetePrickly @SIRREAL718 Look up hisstuff in Mid South and see what got him there.@WillBurns6 When @JakeSnakeDDT madethe King Cobra chew on Randy Savage's arm!Vince's commentary of “Jake... He's, he's, he'sSIIICCCK!”@philallen316 One of my early memories isseeing him with Alice copper at WrestleMania.That and his amazing way with words.@droptoehold87 His part in the birth of Austin3:16 & his work with Ravishing Rick Rude.@WrestlingTsar The feuds with Rick Rudeand Ted DiBiase are timeless and every promowas golden! Loved the WCW run too!@showtimeerict Blindfold match at Wrestle-Mania 7 against Martel is so underrated.@njlake Beating Dick Slater for the NWA titleand then cutting a promo on the writer whosaid he would not win because Jake was leavingfor WWF in 2 weeks.. Watts and Robertstwisted him up.@tammckinlay9 The time he didn't appear inRoyal Rumble 2014, crushing the dreams ofmillions.@MikeBatesy Leaving a king cobra in DDP’sbathroom then f’ng off for a week.#MadBastard@calvin_berry When he turned on Warrior inthe summer of 91 by teaming with the Undertaker."I'm a snake, never trust a snake". Eitherthe heel turn or when Jake and Taker crashedRandy Savage and Miss Elizabeth's weddingreception.@ggggAz He had me proper terrified as ayoung’n, with what he did to Savage with Damien!#heelheat@JohnD198628 It has to be his feud withRandy Savage. It was intense, looked real andwas/is a classic.@nathanna Cobra. Macho man in the ropes!Or the wedding gift haha.Facebook.com/CallingSpots 17 Visit CallingSpots.com

W h a t i s a c t u a l l y w r o n g w i t h h a v i n g ab i g m a n e t h o s ?In an early issue of this very fanzine, we looked at the "WWE style" of wrestling. The positivesand negatives of this, what this meant for cultured veterans of the indy wrestling scenearound the world and the impacts this has on fans. Eight issues later, new boy Neil Rogersdelves a little deeper into the subject, specifically looking the notion that "big is beautiful"before deciding if he agrees with this or not....Let me start by saying that I am a wrestling fanfirst and a WWE fan second. I am critical ofWWE when I feel their content is poor, the sameas I am of TNA, ROH or any other independentorganisation that I have watched or attended inmy 17 years of being a fan of the sport. That’sright; I said sport and I stand by that. Dictionary.comdefines sport as “an athletic activity requiringskill or physical prowess and often of aB y N e i l R o g e r scompetitive nature“, notice that it is often competitivenot that it must be competitive.The reason I want to make it clear that I am notjust a WWE fan boy is that the article I have writtento be my debut piece (other than reviews) inthis fantastic magazine (Editor's note: You alreadyhave the job Neil, the sucking up can stop now) ispotentially quite controversial. For as long as I canremember, WWE has had a reputation for theirVisit CallingSpots.com 18 Twitter @CallingSpots

talent being “larger than life”. The reason I haveused the bunny ears is that this cliché has cometo mean large, body builder types who can’twrestle as well as their independent counterparts.Whether this is true or not will be covered laterbut the point of this article is this; IF the reputationis true, why is it used almost exclusively in anegative context? What is wrong with the WWEwanting their world champion, in a supposedcontact sport, to look the part?Like everyone who will read this article, I knowpeople who, whenever the topic of professionalwrestling is brought up, can’t get over the factthat it’s “fake”. Like many of you I have tried toexplain that the bumps really happen, point toMankind falling from the cell in 1998 as examplesof how “real” the pain these men andwomen endure actually is. I have also comparedit to other forms of entertainment, the easiestexample being that someone who watches CoronationStreet wouldn’t be criticised because it is“fake”. I am always willing to get into a debateabout storylines that are unbelievable, poorlyexecuted angles or sloppy in-ring work and feelthat I am always able to articulate a counter argumentand defend the sport I love. However,trying to explain to change someone’s opinion ofwrestling being “fake” can often be the equivalentof banging your head against a brick wall. Ibelieve one of the reasons for this is that manypeople, rightly or wrongly, believe that wrestlersare, to quote my mam, “soft as clarts”. However,if we go back to pro wrestling’s origins in theearly 20th Century, when it was believed to be agenuine athletic contest, this was almost definitelynot the case. Early champions such asGeorge Hackenschmidt and Frank Gotch wererenowned for being able to hold off anyone whowould try (to use modern lexicon) go into businessfor themselves and attempt to go againstthe agreed finish of the match. This was commonplace until as late as at least the 1970s legendaryhard-men like Harley Race were entrustedto protect the NWA title from those whomay not follow the plan.Now, I appreciate that I have moved slightly offtopic but I can return to my point; I believe thatfor professional wrestling to be taken seriously ithelps if the men who are at the top of a companylook like they could handle themselves in areal brawl. Now ask yourself this question, if youhad to, and I mean HAD TO, who would yourather faced in fight in your local pub Andre theGiant or Daniel Bryan? I am approximately 6” talland 20stone and for me the choice is clear, despitehis reputation for being one of the best in-ringworkers of all time with a history in martial arts,Daniel Bryan please (and if asked “are you sure”my response would “Yes! Yes! Yes!”). I’m notnaïve enough to actually believe I would win in alegitimate contest against the former WorldChampion but I do think the can of whoop assthat would inevitably be opened on me would besignificantly smaller than if I when nose-to-nipplewith the Eighth Wonder of the World. I haveasked several others this question and I am yet tohave anyone give me a different answer. I tookthis a step further and asked which WWE championin history would you most like to face in afight and which would you least? For me, I wouldleast like to face is the Undertaker (Brock Lesnarwas a very close second) and would be significantlyless scared of someone the stature of ReyMysterio. With very few exceptions I received asimilar sort of feedback from the people I askedwith larger or more muscular wrestlers seeminglybeing far scarier than their smaller counterparts.Realistically this comes as little surprise, fundamentallyhuman beings are animals and in theanimal kingdom it is incredibly rare for an animalto attack another that is larger or heavier thanitself. With this in mind why do people criticiseVince McMahon and the WWE for mainly promotingwrestlers who are mainly tall with a largeframe.I’m sure if you ask the average man on the streetFacebook.com/CallingSpots 19 Visit CallingSpots.com

to name a wrestler they are far more likely toname someone from the WWE (such as HulkHogan, The Undertaker or The Rock) than theyare to name Kevin Steen, Colt Cabana or AdamPearce. I think it is also more likely that someonewould name The Ultimate Warrior or “StoneCold” Steve Austin before they named currentWWE superstars like CM Punk or Daniel Bryan.So why is it that someone that hasn’t wrestled ameaningful match in years is better known thansomeone who wrestlers on a regular basis? Manywould argue that the Steen, Cabana, Pearce,Punk and Bryan are better technicians than theirbetter known counterparts (and I would agreewholeheartedly). Let’s explore this point; theWWE is a business and, to paraphrase Triple H,they want “what’s best for business”. Thereforeit stands to reason that if people want to seegreat technicians then they would pay to seethem, and if more people want to pay then theWWE would offer this so they can capitalise onthe demand and supply this to their audience(Economics 101). So, the fact that this isn’t whatthey are renowned for offering their customerssuggests that there is more to becoming a wrestlingsuperstar than being a technician.Many would argue that the first five are bettertalkers than the second five and, although this isa difficult point to disagree with, I would placeCM Punk higher on a list of all-time talkers thatUltimate Warrior so this doesn’t necessarilystand to reason.Many will also argue that, naturally, those wrestlingfor the largest wrestling organisation in theworld would be more well known that those thatspent the majority of their career in small independentcompanies. This appears to be a strangeargument as almost every wrestler wants to bepart of the WWE and have their WrestleManiamoment, so given the chance they would preferto join the WWE than stay in the indies. Storiesof wrestlers turning down the WWE are few andfar between. My counter to that argument to thatis to use CM Punk for a direct comparisonagainst The Ultimate Warrior. Ultimate Warriorspent approximately six years employed by theWWE (then WWF) over three separate spells,with the most recent being in 1996 (I feel old).In comparison CM Punk has been employedsince 2005 and made his TV debut back in 2006in ECW. Strange as it sounds, CM Punk hasspent more time employed by WWE than TheUltimate Warrior, has held the WWE Championshiplonger than The Warrior (462 days versusWarrior's 292 days) and, despite proclaiminghimself as “The Best In The World”, it is safe tosay that he is far less well known to the averageperson than The Warrior. So why is it that almosttwo decades after appearing for the WWEThe Ultimate Warrior is still better know acrossthe world than CM Punk despite being less of atechnician, and less acclaimed on the microphone?To me the answer appears to be obvious, and Iwill try to be as succinct, professional and conciseas I can when I give my explanation. Simplyput, the man was HUGE. Whether he achievedhis physique naturally or with the help of additionalsubstances (It is well documented on You-Tube that he admits to using, but not abusing,anabolic steroids) the fact remains that he had acartoonlike appearance which was a huge reasonfor him being pushed over stars of the time. Ithink it is a fairly safe bet that if The UltimateWarrior and CM Punk had each other’s physiquethen Wrestlemania 6 would have been headlinedVisit CallingSpots.com 20 Twitter @CallingSpots

y a different match and CM Punk wouldn’thave had to wait as long to graduate to the mainSmackdown/Raw roster.CM Punk and Daniel Bryan have proven, likeother before them, that if a performer is talentedenough and has a supporter behind the scenes, aloud enough fan base and/or some luck on theirside then WWE will push smaller wrestlers, ifthey feel that they will be able to sell enoughtickets and merchandise. Again, WWE are abusiness and no business doesn’t want to besuccessful.The problem is that, history tells us that this isunlikely to change. If we look back at WWEchampions over their history it is clear that, goingall the way back to the second holder of thechampionship Bruno Sammartino, the belt hasbeen held by men of above average height andbuild. The lineage of the title can be tracedthrough behemoths such the aforementioned“Superstar” Billy Graham, Hulk Hogan, Yokozunaand Batista among others. It is also welldocumented that when the WWF bucked thistrend in the early 1990s (after the steroid scandalthat forced them to introduce testing for anabolicsteroids) they saw one of the worst periodsin their history for ratings and show attendancesdespite the era being headlined by legends suchas “The Heart Break Kid” Shawn Michaels andBret “The Hitman” Hart (Hart’s first PPV titledefence against Michael’s at Survivor Series ‘92had a PPV buyrate of 1.4 which was the lowestSurvivor Series total at the time). It appears thathistorically more people will pay to see large menpretending to beat each other up than smallermen do the same so the WWE inevitably goback to their tried and tested formula.This phenomenon isn’t exclusive to professionalwrestling either; the most famous boxingmatches and boxers, until recently, were almostalways involving heavyweights than their lightercounterparts. Despite being second (to “Sugar”Ray Robinson) in ESPN’s list of all time greatfighters, Muhammad Ali won BBC’s Sports Personalityof the Century and is without a doubtone of the best known and beloved sportsmenof all time.In summary, I appreciate that not everyone is afan of the WWE style/ethos and I believe thatthe WWE themselves are aware that many wrestlingfans are not as fanatical of their product in2014 as they once were however they are undoubtedlythe largest wrestling company in theworld, the preferred destination of almost everywrestler to ever lace up a pair of boots and are sofinancially secure it is impossible for me to imagineany of that changing in the near or distantfuture. Rather than criticise the WWE for pushingthe type of wrestler that dwarves the averageman and let’s praise them for consistently beingthe best wrestling organisation in the world withmore fans than any other. Like it or loathe it,history has shown that the WWE know how tobe successful with their style and method and,unless the majority of the viewing public changetheir preference, this is unlikely to change in thenext 50 years.Neil RogersThe Daniel Bryan and Bret Hart portraitswere pained by the super-talented Gemmaof GH Portraits. Gemma’s passion for prowresting is obvious from some of the masterpiecesshe has painted, including awonderful portrait of The Undertaker’sWrestleMania 29 entrance for our office.You can check out more of her work overon her Facebook page by searching “GHPortraits” and on Twitter @GHPortraitsGemma currently take commissions, wrestlingrelated or otherwise, so please get intouch with her via social media to placeyour order, see her work or just to stop byand say hello.Facebook.com/CallingSpots 21 Visit CallingSpots.com

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O h S h i t I t s V i n c e R u s s ob y K e v i n M a h o nVince Russo. Vinny Ru. Vic Venom. Cornette’s kryptonite. Captain Swerve. Tank Abott’sadvocate. These are but some of the names (made up or otherwise) for the most polarisingand controversial figure in wrestling since the mid 90s. Who’d have thought all thoseyears ago, that the guy who was giving us the inside skinny in Raw magazine and“shooting” on Dok Hendrix on Livewire would become ingrained in every smart fansmind for years to come? I wouldn’t say I’m obsessed with the man, and unlike many fans,I wouldn’t say I hate him either. He’s done two books, countless lengthy shoot interviews,a timeline with Kayfabe Commentaries and even a live Q&A that was broadcast oniPPV. And yet still in my mind, the man is a mystery. It takes a certain combination ofpersonality, success and failure to be so overly exposed in the world of wrestling likeVince Russo is and still be viewed as “polarising”. Surely by now we’ve enough evidenceto say whether he is indeed a genius, Satan himself ( - Jim Cornette quote, probably) orsomewhere in between? I’m going to attempt to answer that now.Like many fans who grew up during the AttitudeEra and lived in my house (so me and mybrother basically), access to “insider info” waslimited. The closest thing I got to dirt-sheets wasstories of my older sibling accessing WWF.comin his school’s computer lab. I thought 200x200pixel photos of the Big Bossman standing infront of a blue background was about as muchdirt an average fan could hope to muster together.But then in late 1999, a truly significantmoment came, as Mick Foley released “Have aNice Day!”. For me, this was my first exposureto a vast majority of terms, history and personalities.At the ripe age of 11, I finally knew what aface was, what a heel was, what a Bill Watts wasand most importantly, what a Vince Russo was.The revelation that wrestling was scripted wasthe revelation that wrestling currently had writerswas something that actually warranted the use ofthe term revelation. I was soon enthralled by thisVince Russo character. Initially I thought it was amisspelling, and that Mick surely had meant towrite “Vince McMahon”? Surely no-one else inthe WWF would have the balls to also have thename as the chairman? For many more internetlessyears, Vinny Ru would remain a mysteriousfigure. 'Beyond the Mat' finally gave me aglimpse of the man. Rumblings from my brothersinternet savvy friends in early 2000 about hisrole in making WCW “woefully shite” made medoubt the man’s credibility. I thought he “wrote”the shows I loved? My friends and I all mutuallyagreed that he wrote the show. Therefore hewrote the promos, the matches, the spots, thenothing new, and therefore not a revelation, butVisit CallingSpots.com 24 Twitter @CallingSpots

finishes and everything in between? WHO WASTHIS MAN?As soon as I became pubic, I gained steady accessonline and soon became a frequent visitorof multiple dirt sheet sites. Soaking up all theopinions disguised as news, wrapped up in afalse promise of nude photos of Terri Runnels, Isoon concluded that Vince Russo was a charlatan,a fraud, an idiot, a liar, a cheat, a scam…. ano good SON OF A BITCH. It now all seemedso obvious. Details of preposterous angles inWCW on sites like WrestleCrap, a mystique bustingbreakdown of Russo’s supposed inability towrite without Vince McMahon in “Foley isGood” and the realisation that the likes of SteveAustin, The Rock and Mankind were extensionsof real life personalities as opposed to“characters” made me wonder why I everthought the man had anything to do with mybeloved Attitude Era. Maybe all the stuff I enjoyed,like the intense feuds, the overarchingstorylines and the in-your-face characters wasnothing to do with Vin-man? Maybe instead hewas in charge of all the stuff I had disliked, likethe stories that went nowhere or the failed attemptsat comedy? The internet seemed to wantme to agree with them.Another chastising moment came with the releaseof “The Wrestling Channel” in the UK.Starting in 2003, it was my first exposure to IndyWrestling, and also a start-up company calledTNA, where the most of the passengers of the“Plane ride from Hell” seemed to be working.This was the first time I saw Vince Russo as anon screen character. And good lord it was hideous.I knew enough at this stage to distinguishbetween heel heat and someone being simplyunwatchable, but good lord, Vince Russo and hisS.E.X faction from the early TNA PPV days hadto be some of the worst crap I’d ever seen. Tedious,lengthy “shoot” promos. Liberal usage ofinsider terms to no effect. Name dropping forno reason. I had decided. This man was a fraudand had nothing to contribute to the product Ihad loved. He was, as Ric Flair once so eloquentlyput it, “a fucking magazine writer”.Years passed. And as the chants of “Fire Russo”became as overheard on TNA shows as “This isAwesome” chants, I found myself feeling sorryfor Captain Swerve. Okay, I get it, he wasn’t asintegral as I initially thought to the success of theAttitude Era, but by 2009/2010, I started to getthe feeling that Vince Russo was now a whippingboy, a man whom it was your duty as a wrestlingfan to despise. Youtube became a larger part ofmy life, and along with it came a trebuchet ofregular updates on the like of Jim Cornette andevery swinging dick with a podcast/radio show. Istarted to question my stance. When I cameacross fans at a small family show at LeisureLand in Galway trying to get a FIRE RUSSOchant going as Gangrel battled Heidenreich (5stars) I started to realised what had happened.The poor man was a caricature. He was a chant,a punchline, a topic to bring up in wrestling conversationsthat were getting boring. Reading upthe lengthy history of problems in WCW, I soonstarted to question that Vince Russo even killedthat company singlehandedly during his ninemonths there! I WAS GOING ROGUE.Reliving the Attitude Era through our wee podcast,I have regained a lot of my original respectand admiration for Vince Russo. Somethingyou’ll frequently hear us say on shows we review,even when it seems during our recap we’reFacebook.com/CallingSpots 25 Visit CallingSpots.com

having an awful time, is that “I was never bored”or “It kept my attention”. Did Vince Russo createthe Attitude Era? Of course not. But he’snever really claimed that has he? Only bitterWCW employees seem to claim that he said that.Did Vince Russo come up with a lot of ideasthat missed the mark? Of course he did. Butguess what? So did Paul Heyman. So did VinceMcMahon during the 80s. He’s a product of histime. How come people now wistfully rememberBill Watts as being this innovator who pioneereda new approach to wrestling when discussingMid South but seem to ignore his disastrousearly 90s tenure in WCW? Why is it that mostwrestling bookers and writers, from Dusty Rhodesto the almighty Vince McMahon are judgedon their successes instead of their failures? Isn’tVince Russo’s “successful period” one of themost financially lucrative times in the history ofwrestling? Why does he get judged and rememberedfor nine months in WCW and a tenure inTNA where frankly, nothing was working? It’sprobably his accent. It’s probably because he hasthe misfortune of having the single most entertainingdetractor in the history of criticism JimCornette. It’s probably his frankly awful habit ofnot remembering the details of anything bad he’sever been accused of.For my money, if anything, Vince Russo was aman who, if nothing else, managed for a briefmoment to convince Vince McMahon to trysomething else. He’s a guy who was able to seethe benefit of adding vehicles to Steve Austin’ssegments. He’s a guy who gave everyone, fromMarc Mero to Undertaker, a full story with abeginning middle and end, all year round. I havewritten in this 'zine before about WWE whitewashingthe Attitude Era. Don’t believe thehype, Vince Russo certainly was more of an“architect of the Attitude Era” than HHH everwas. And if you need proof? Just watch an AttitudeEra show. You’ll see Dennis Knight in a sexdungeon and break out in a smile.Kevin Mahon.You can catch Kevin, Adam Bibalo andBilly Keable on their genuinely fantasticAttitude Era Podcast, available on iTunes,SoundCloud, Botchamania.com and anywhereelse that does Podcasts. It is superband you should listen to it. With so manywrestling 'casts available in 2014, you needto do something special to stand out fromthe pack, and these gentlemen do thatwith their (actually) witty banter and obscureFrasier references. Check them outat Facebook.com/AttitudeEraPodcast oron Twitter @AEPodcast.Visit CallingSpots.com 26 Twitter @CallingSpots

T w o P o u n d W r e s t l i n gS u r v i v o r S e r i e s 2 0 0 4£2 Wrestling is a new feature here at Calling Spots, scouring the nation's bargain bucketsand second hand shops in search of, you guessed it, pro wrestling at a cost of £2 or less.For this issue, a wander through Durham and a stop in Grainger Games produced SurvivorSeries 2004, a show I missed at the time due to it taking place during my 03-06 wrestlinghiatus. Was it worth the two British pounds I spent on it? Let's see...The show kicks off with a pretty great videopackage, accompanied by what sounds like asong by Saliva (aka WWE's go-to PPV themeband in the post-Limp Bizkit era). Turns out itwas actually by a band called "The Exies". Theopener sees Spike Dudley defend his cruiserweighttitle in a four way featuring Chavo Guerrero,a still-able-to-jump-out-of-the-stage-in-hisentranceRey Mysterio and a short haired, nonjeanshort wearing Billy Kidman that looks absolutelynothing like the Billy Kidman I idolised asan eight year old Filthy Animals fan. I can't concentrateon the first few minutes as I'm still tryingto deal with the revelation of what VinceMcMahon did to my second favourite wrestlerwhile I wasn't watching. I tune back in to Reyhitting him with a crazy headscissors from theapron to the floor that gets a non PG chant ofappreciation. The whole match is pretty muchthe Rey Mysterio show, with him flying aroundand bumping like only he could at the time (inthat company, at least), though the other threedo pull off an impressive electric chairdrop/superplex spot. Rey counters Spike's DudleyDog into the only 619 setup in history thatactually made sense, but the finish saw Spikesteal a victory after Kidman took out Chavo andRey wiped himself and his fellow Filthy Animalsalumni out. A pretty great opener, all the fastpaced high flying one would usually associatewith the first hour of Nitro, the kind of thingthat makes me agree with people who say WWEFacebook.com/CallingSpots 27 Visit CallingSpots.com

should bring the cruiserweight division back.Next up…HEIDENREICH. Oh dear. He tellsPaul Heyman to go get his jacket, before an awfullygrunt filled face off with Snitsky, who informshim that he's a fan of his poetry. Just as Istart to laugh, caught off guard in a good way,Heidenreich responds with "I like what you doto babies." WHAT?! I bust out a google searchthat I knew I'd regret, and learn all about thetime when Snitsky caused Lita to have a miscarriageand punted a baby (doll) into the crowd.Ugh. Even more shocking is that the clip I foundwas part of a recent DVD release - "OMG! Thetop 50 incidents in WWE history". This beatsKatie Vick as the thing WWE should really justpretend never happened. Going PG was the bestthing this company and its clearly insane writersever did.Shelton Benjamin comes out to defend his Intercontinentaltitle and try to convince me thatbecoming a wrestling fan wasn't the worst decisionI ever made. Christian is his challenger.They wrestle and it's great. How Shelton didn'treplace Kurt Angle as the world title picture'sresident super worker I'll never know. He fightsoff repeated interference from Christian's buddyTomko and counters the Unprettier into a T-Bone Suplex for the win, looking awesome allthe way through. My faith in wrestling is somewhatrestored.Meanwhile, backstage, Kurt Angle lambastsEdge about stuff from his book (which I'veread!). Kurt walks into Eugene and I realise thatthis show is going to be a three hour cycle ofsomething great directly followed by somethingterrible. This theory is immediately proven as itgets great again with a random replay of StoneCold beating Shawn Michaels for the title!? Apparentlyit was promotion for WrestleMania 21,somehow. Since it was in Hollywood I guessthey could have been planning a shot for shotremake of WrestleMania 14 rather than comingup with an original idea. Of course, it actuallyturned out to be the night Batista and John Cenarose to the upper echelons, I'll let you decidewhich would have been the better route.A loaded traditional Survivor Series match kicksoff and it's clear even throughout everyone else'sentrances (Eddie Guerrero, Rob Van Dam, BigShow, Kurt Angle and his cronies) that John"only person the commentators are talkingabout" Cena is the next big thing. He comes outso full of fire over something Carlito and hisbuddy Jesús did that they jump in their car andflee the arena. In time this would prove to be arecurring tactic of Cena's foes. The match was agood time, standard super babyface eliminationformula with only RVD dropping a fall on theirteam.Maven interview time! I had no idea he was stillaround at this point. He gets attackedby…Snitsky. Just when I was starting to likewrestling again. Maven bleeds and I feel bad forhim blading just to get SNITSKY, of all people,over. We segway straight into the Undertaker/Heidenreichhype video. For one of themost respected and revered performers in thehistory of the industry, it's remarkable howmuch garbage Taker has been saddled with inVisit CallingSpots.com 28 Twitter @CallingSpots

his time. Heidenreich makes his entrance and Iimmediately forgive him for everything on accountof his brilliantly ridiculous music ("HEI-DEN. HEIDENREICH. HEI. DEN.REICH."). During Taker's walk down the aislethere's a close up of someone holding a lighter,not entirely sure whether it's a fan or just a reallylow budget version of his druid entrance.Referee Brian Hebner's sell of an Undertakerglare (he pretty much dived out of the ring) is anearly highlight. Pretty much the only highlightactually. Heidenreich's breathy and weird personagoes out the window when he enters thering, dissolving into a generic, dull and generallyun-entertaining foil for the Deadman. It's a perfectlyacceptable mid card match really, but inthe age of Undertaker's annual sure-fire classicsit's kind of strange going back and watching himplough through such mediocrity.Trish vs Lita for the women's title next! Thisshould be…oh no, the feud spawned from theSnitsky induced miscarriage storyline. Not goodtimes. Even without Snitsky in the pre-matchvideo it's still pretty tasteless, but Trish reallywent there with the heel jibes and it did actuallyget me pretty hyped for the fight. "Fight" turnedout to be a pretty accurate description, as Litajust trashed the champion, getting DQ'd afterhitting her with a chair. Trish was left bloody, anextremely rare and quite shocking sight for aDivas match, even back then.Backstage, GM Teddy Long informs Cena thathe'll be able to get his hands on Carlito at thenext episode of Smackdown. It's easy to forgetthe regularity with which Cena used to say theword "yo".Booker T's challenge for JBL's WWE title justdoesn't feel like a huge occasion. I guess late2004 was an experimental time for top flightbabyfaces, since the rise of Benoit and Eddieacross No Way Out and WrestleMania hadn'tquite filled the Lesnar and Goldberg shaped void(which itself hadn't really filled the Rock andAustin shaped void). By this point they wouldhave settled on Cena and Batista as the next topguys, but those seeds were still being planted. Anunremarkable match except for a hilarious JoshMatthews run in, which actually got the biggestpop of the whole thing. They were wise not togive this the main event spot.Orton-less Evolution have one of those "TripleH really isn't picking up the hints that Batista isturning on him soon" chats backstage. Orton'ssuper babyface entrance is the first thing to haveme laughing, a far cry from his still-generally-abad-dudeface persona of 2010-14. The heelteam of Evolution plus Edge and Snitsky aresolid, but the their opponents (Orton, Benoitand Jericho) lack the fire to create anything specialfor much of the match. The early highlight isactually the bloody Maven's run in to exact revengeon Snitsky, as it turns out that attack earlierin the show did actually serve a purpose. Thefinishing stretch was great though, the crowd litup as Edge accidentally speared HHH and lefthimself prone for an RKO, before Randy tookout the champion as well. The close made it looklike there was some ace potential for face Orton,but I guess the powers that be weren't so sure ashe turned back heel shortly after.The Survivor Series matches were decent, worthchecking out if you're a Cena or Orton completist,Shelton vs Christian was good, but theopening cruiserweight four way was the clearhighlight and the only match I'm likely to watchagain. The show took a turn for the flat aroundthe time Heidenreich wrestled and it didn't reallypick back up until the closing minutes, save for afiery Trish/Lita performance. The DVD extrasinclude a backstage confrontation betweenchampions Triple H and JBL, as well as theCena/Carlito US title match which was bookedon the PPV. Overall, it was fun looking back at aperiod of WWE which I missed, Snitsky andHeidenreich awfulness aside, so...Verdict: £2 well spentLee GoodfellowFacebook.com/CallingSpots 29 Visit CallingSpots.com

Distributor: Tidal International Pro WrestlingPrice: DVD £10 Blu-ray £12Link: www.tcwrestling.bigcartel.comHaving attended the Darlington leg of the debutingTidal International Pro Wrestling 2013 tour, Igenuinely looked forward to being able to reviewthe 'Tidal Wave Tour2013' DVD. The show wasfilmed in The Cockpit, a famous bar and musicvenue in Leeds; one that is very different to thefamily-friendly leisure centres that had hosted otherlegs of the tour. As a man who likes his Britwrestlinggritty and grimy, that suits me just nicely.For their debut tour, Tidal imported ROH WorldChampion Adam Cole, Chuck Taylor as well as theworld's most famous independent wrestler - ColtCabana - to work alongside some of our country'sbrightest and best.The DVD's initial menu screen wins me over with acool montage package, interlaced with quick clips ofa ridiculously long suplex from Marty Scurll andaccompanied by the theme song from Pulp Fiction.Things briefly get a bit shaky from here, literally, asthe bass from the sound system vibrates the hardcamera to the point that the DVD seem almostunwatchable. My worries are soon alleviated whenit becomes apparent plenty of handheld camerasbeing used, with the actual end product lookingvery good.The show in Darlington predominantly featuredcomedy wrestling with less emphasis on technical in-ring action; significantly more so than is to mypersonal taste. Given then intimate venue and alcoholfuelled adult crowd at the DVD taping, I wasinterested to see if they went in a different directionhere. The show kicks off with Party Mart Scurll taking onThe Lion Kid and it immediately becomes apparent thatthere is going to be at least an element of comedy on showin this match (a theme that, like Darlington, is apparent inevery match, albeit with different results) as Marty throwsa cheap mask on and becomes "Lion MAN". The curtainjerker is easily the match of the night, and even one of thebest comedy matches I have watched in a very long time.It may be the British satire or the crowd absolutely playingtheir part in the entertainment, but this is a different classto Colt's shtick in the main event. I like Colt, but this wasexcellent! Marty Scurll is truly mastering his crowd interactionand this effort is a fine example, topped off by instigatingthe crowd to serenade Lion Kid with a rendition of"the lion sleeps tonight" of Disney's 'The Lion King' fame.The pop of the night however as to be accredited to refereeChris Roberts. After Lion Kid whipped Scurll into thereferee in error, Robert's natural reaction was to pick himup for a scoop slam. Scurll took exception to this andproceeded to push Roberts around, only for the referee totear his shirt off and deliver a Stone Cold Stunner. Brilliant.We have a women's match followed by Adam Cole teamingup with his doppelganger - Mark Haskins - going upagainst the always brilliant Project Ego. The match beginsas another comedy filled bout and good for some laughs.Despite being very enjoyable watch, it is nice to see aheavier emphasis on technical wrestling and strong stylefinish to wrap up the contest. Following the interval 'TheBastard' Dave Mastiff destroys a local wrestler calledLiam Lazarus. If you have never seen Mastiff in real life,it's easiest to just say that you could not fight him. Thebloke is a beast.The penultimate contest sees import 'Southern Gentleman'Chuck Taylor wrestle one of the UK's (Mexico's?)finest, El Ligero. There is a shift in pace here as we aretreated to a fast paced in-ring contest. Our main event isan interesting selection as Colt Cabana goes up against bigRampage Brown. Despite having the comedy spots youwould expect from a Colt Cabana match, it is nice to seehim go toe-to-toe with Rampage in terms of taking anddishing out some big, hard shots.I have tried to keep the words 'PROGRESS Wrestling' outof this review until the end, however parallels in terms ofthe feel of the show and the vibe of the live crowd areevident throughout. For anybody who has followed mywriting over the last two years (or reads the PROGRESSChapter Nine review in this very issue) will know howhigh a regard I hold the London based promotion, so thatis absolutely a good thing. Indy wrestling should alwaystake place in a dark, smoky room with a bar near the ring,so kudos to Tidal. This is the standout debut show of2013 and I expect more great things in the future. Buythis DVD, it's a solid 8.5/10.- Richard PenalunaVisit CallingSpots.com 30 Twitter @CallingSpots

Distributor: FremantleMedia.Price: DVD £19.99 Blu-ray £22.99 (RRP is £29.99 & £34.99)Link: www.WWEDVD.co.ukShawn Michaels - Mr WrestleMania is easilyone of the most apt names for a DVD set andone that documents a body of work that deservesto be re-lived time and again. Aside from TheUndertaker, there is no other name in WWEhistory that is more synonymous with Wrestle-Mania than Shawn Michaels. At WrestleMania 14,as Michaels entered the arena for his WWFChampionship main event match with 'StoneCold' Steve Austin, Jim Ross proclaimed that"Nobody has ever - EVER - outperformed ShawnMichaels in a big match situation". ShawnMichaels consistently put on show-stealing performances,on pro wrestling's grandest stage, overa period of 21 years and every one of thosematches is captured on this set, with ShawnMichaels himself offering his views on each.no rules. You win by climbing the ladder..."), the emotionalmatch that ended Ric Flair's WWE career andeven his early efforts as part of The Rockers as well asspectacular bouts with Kurt Angle and Chris Jerichoonce he returned from retirement. Although they aremassively outweighed by the great matches, there area couple of stinkers in the set to boot. Shawn's matchin 1998 with Steve Austin is hugely hampered by thefact that Shawn was wrestling through an injury thatwould take him almost five years to recover from. Asit was the match that started the era of Steve Austin, itis still a hugely pivotal moment in WWE history. Likewise,despite its acclaim from so many sources, theone-hour iron-man match against Bret Hart has to beone of the most tedious displays of Shawn Michaels’career and one that is painful to sit through again.With that said, the entrance and his first ever WWFchampionship win are still amazing moments, it's justa shame about the hour in between where we have toendure Bret Hart selling absolutely nothing.The reality is that most of these epic matches aregoing to be available elsewhere in the collection ofmost WWE fans, but it's great to have a complete setall in one place. The real added-value in this DVD setlies in the new footage provided, in which Shawnprecedes each match by giving his thoughts on boththe match itself and how it came about. We get a niceopening sequence where Shawn is watching back allhis matches on an iPad and it's great to have his insightalong the journey. Shawn doesn't just dissect thematches, far from it, instead covering such topics asthe mental impact of wrestling in 'the popcornspot' (the match straight after intermission) and hisdecision to go back on his word to Marty Jannettywhen they had both told Vince they were leaving(over a dispute with a payout) only for Shawn to u-turn, leading to the infamous 'barbershop window'angle. Shawn also addresses the rumours that he wasdifficult to work with at times, saying "people feel likeI was incredibly unprofessional and a big pain in(Vince McMahon's) backside to deal with. I havenever questioned that but I always did what he askedme to and that's why 15 years later I am still here".In wrestling, especially in WWE, you have somemen who consistently put on top draw performancesin the ring, as well as others who consistentlywrestle big, marquee, money-matches. TheIf you have a relatively small collection of WWEbiggest argument for Shawn being the all-roundbest ever is in his ability to consistently do both.DVDs then I urge you to buy this set. If you're anWhen you consider that he did this every day of ardent HBK fan then no doubt you will by this DVDthe week, peaking at each year's WrestleMania, regardless of what this review says. If you're in between,then the question really is, are the less famousthis DVD's list of matches is essentially a list ofmust-see match after must-see match, including; matches and new footage worth buying this set for?his perfect match at WrestleMania 25 against The The answer to that is, probably not. Shawn MichaelsUndertaker, the innovative ladder match with - Mr WrestleMania gets 7/10 from us because ofRazor Ramon (which was introduced by the ring how good a stand-alone DVD it is.announcer with the line "In this match there are- Richard PenalunaFacebook.com/CallingSpots 31 Visit CallingSpots.com

Distributor: PROGRESS WrestlingPrice: DVD £12 Download £10Link: www.ProgressWrestling.comMany people called PROGRESS Wrestling Chapter9 - Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kick Me, Kill Me -the country's best wrestling show of 2013. Anybodywho has been keeping even slightly abreast of thegoings-on of the British wrestling circuit will knowthat the fans of PROGRESS tend to be very loyaland make a lot of noise about what they like, whichcould explain such claims. However, anybody whohas seen any PROGRESS show will know howcapable they are of putting on a stellar performanceand such claims could easily be warranted.I am not going to beat around the bush; make nomistakes about it, PROGRESS Chapter 9 is a very,very good wrestling show. However it must be saidthat, somewhat unexpectedly given their track record,what makes this show great isn't the quality ofthe matches themselves (although the in-ring actionhere does range from reasonably solid to absolutelybreathtaking ) but rather the other developments thattook place. As an independent wrestling promoter, itcan be somewhat difficult to build storylines intoyour product with any real success. After all, it's notlike they have three hours on Sky Sports every Mondaynight. Fans may be new to the product or notable to catch every show. This is where PROGRESSreally excel. Having spent the past eight shows buildingup their ardent fan base, using social media withhuge success and putting on show-after-show offantastic wrestling; now they have a platform to dothings that other independent wrestling promotionsliterally cannot do.The main talking point of the show, and genuine shockingmoment, was the Jimmy Havok situation. Over the past twoyears, Havok has built up a true friendship with PRO-GRESS co-founder Jim Smallman; a journey that startedwith his #BookHavok Twitter campaign and eventually sawhim become the head trainer for PROGRESS' trainingschool. Due to an injury sustained the night before, Havokwas off the card for CH.9, being replaced by Tommy End,who went on to have a very hard-hitting, slow-burningmatch with 'The Bastard' Dave Mastiff. Despite his injury,Smallman asked Havok to still attend the show and drawthe winner of a charity raffle during the interval. This wouldprove to be a fateful mistake when Havok turned violentlyon his friend. In his very explicit tirade, Havok explainedwhy he hates both Smallman and the PROGRESS fans.This is how you do wrestling without a TV platform.The headline match of the show saw Stixx taking on NathanCruz in a bout that both had been building very wellvia back-and-forth YouTube videos, all of which are recappedon the DVD. Cruz's promo videos are exceptionalas he very passionately tells Stixx what he thinks of "indywrestlers" who pay for their own flights, take less pay andultimately cost professionals, like him, money. The twohave a solid match straight after the interval which, despitenot quite living up to the excellent build, seems a morefitting headline bout than our main event of RampageBrown vs. Doug Williams for the former's PROGRESSchampionship.The in-ring highlight is without doubt the triple threat betweenMark Haskins, Zack Sabre Jr and Ricochet, which issummed up by Jim Smallman on commentary with thefollowing question; "Have you watched a better match thanthis in Britain this year? Fuck off have you". Yes Jim, it wasquite splendid. As fast paced as you would expect fromthese three and some nice three-way spots to boot. Thecrowd are as exceptional as ever here, deafeningly booingHaskin out of the building as he does his own introductionand greeting every uppercut in the match with an "OOSH"that Keith Lemon would be proud of. Elsewhere on thecard we see Paul Robinson take on Eddie Dennis in a semifinalof the 'Natural Progression Series' - the winner ofwhich gets a title shot - and a comedy tag match betweenProject Ego and T-Bone taking on the Bhangra Knightsand a debuting mystery partner, who the crowd went wildfor (probably because he is the funniest person in wrestlingtoday).PROGRESS Chapter 9 has a bit of everything and I'mgiving it 8/10. If you love the promotion then I'm sure youwill have this DVD/download already. If you don't then gograb a copy and I'm confident you will love PROGRESSafter watching.- Richard PenalunaFacebook.com/CallingSpots 33 Visit CallingSpots.com

Eddie Guerrero (2002)On February 23, 2002 at the Murphy RecreationalCenter in Philadelphia - just down the street fromthe former ECW Arena - a new era of prowrestlingwas being born. This would be the firstROH show, fittingly called The Era of HonorBegins. On offer, in a converted basketball gymwith a ring in the middle would be Eddie Guerrerovs Super Crazy for the vacant IWA IntercontinentalChampionship. Commentators explainedthat Eddie was ‘taking time out’ of the WWF dueto his problems with addiction and was using the‘purity’ of ROH wrestling as part of his therapy. Inwhat was an impressive, back and forth match, fullof the technical chain wrestling you’d expect from‘Latino Heat’, Guerrero lost to Super Crazy. Guerrerowould return to the (newly named) WWE in2002.Jeff Hardy (2003)Jeff Hardy debuted for ROH in 2003 at the DeathBefore Dishonor pay-per-view in a triple threatmatch against his ‘protégé’ Krazy K and Joey Matthews.However, it’s safe to say this wasn’t one ofROH’s most eagerly anticipated debuts…Following comments from Hardy in his book thathe had ‘fallen out of love with the business’, thecrowd wanted to let him know exactly how theyfelt. They did this by nearly tearing the roof off,with a chorus of boos that met Hardy, even beforehis music hit. With chants like ‘Fuck You, Hardy’,‘You Got Fired’ and ‘We Want Matt’ being sungby every person in the arena (aside from the 100or so teenage girls that shrieked when he took hisshirt off.)T h e W W E i n f l u e n c eH o w o n e h u g e c o m p a n y i m p a c t e d R i n g o f H o n o rIn a moment of unexpected modesty, WWE.com recently released a series of interviewshighlighting the huge, positive impact one small independent wrestling company has hadon the business of sports entertainment. That company was Ring of Honor. In the article,WWE.com cites the impact as creating “a noticeable shift in the wrestling style and type ofstars that have risen to the top of WWE.” Following on from a conversation with CallingSpots’ editor Richard Penaluna, I thought it would be interesting to see how former WWEtalent fared, when stepping through the ropes of Ring of Honor.Hardy flipped off the crowd when he won thematch, which was sloppy at best and never wrestledin ROH again.Raven (2003)By the time Raven debuted in ROH in March of2003, he’d already wrestled all over the world andheld numerous titles every promotion he’d workedfor - most notably in WWF, WCW and ECW. Theveteran Raven would enter into Ring of Honor’smost well-known and loved feuds with a youngup-and-coming CM Punk. The feud centredaround Punk’s straight-edge lifestyle and how hetook exception to Raven’s life of excess and debauchery,comparing Raven to his own alcoholicfather. The two would face off in a ‘Raven’sRules’ match (essentially an ‘anything goes’ match)with some pretty sweet spots, with CM Punkworking well with Raven to get the best in-ringwork we’d seen from Raven in years. CM Punkcredited Raven with being an enormous influencein his character, and his overall ability in and outthe ring.Matt Hardy (2005)On the 11th of July, following a match betweenEdge and Kane, Matt Hardy jumped Edge, tookVisit CallingSpots.com 34 Twitter @CallingSpots

the microphone and proclaimed, “WWE can kissmy ass, watch me on Ring of Honor…. ROH!”before getting tackled and handcuffed by WWE’ssecurity detail. Hardy then debuted in ROH aweek later facing off against Christopher Daniels.The crowd seem to accept and be behind Hardy,with the commentators making a point of sayinghow much of a supporter he is of ROH on hiswebsite, not to mention shouting down the microphoneto the millions that watched RAW. That’s apretty direct sales approach!Matt Hardy would go on to have two more ROHmatches in 2005, before a #YESmovement stylecrowd reaction would see him return to WWEwhere he would stay until 2010. Hardy has sincemade a full time return to ROH where he hasbeen since 2012.It seems that the transition from Ring of Honor tothe WWE for the current stars on the roster(Bryan, Rollins, Cesaro etc.) has been for the better.Wrestling for the top prizes in the business,making enormous sums of money and putting ona show for tens of thousands of people everyweek is the culmination of years of hard graftthrough ROH and the WWE developmental systems.But I think the interesting story lies in whatthe two different organizations represent withinwrestling.On the one hand you have the WWE: the bigleagues. A grand spectacle where pure wrestling isgiven over to pure entertainment and focus onrevenue. A place where movie stars negotiatemulti-million dollar part-time contracts to boostratings and buy rates for pay-per-views. Whereputting what’s ‘best for business’ isn’t just a gimmickor an angle, but a frustrating reality.Ring of Honor is, by contrast, a wrestling promotion.It’s not Ring of Honor Entertainment, wheresuperstars come out with dancers over the toppyro, or take part in pie-eating contests. It’s aplace where you go to watch good wrestlers, puton good, technically sound wrestling matches.Ring of Honor market themselves as ‘an alternativefrom the mainstream’, the fans chant ‘This iswrestling”, and I think the former WWE stars thatgo to ROH do so to fall back in love with wrestling.In Rocky III - after Rocky’s manager, Mick, dies -Apollo Creed takes Rocky out of the open-to-thepublictraining sessions, full of merchandise, pressand distractions and takes him to a spit-andsawdustboxing gym to find that fire and regainthe ‘Eye of the Tiger.’ I think the same can be saidfor the majority of people that left the Hollywoodrollercoaster of WWE for the simpler, more pureof wrestling spirit Ring of Honor.This can be summed up in a quote from EddieGuerrero’s post-match promo, following his lossto Super Crazy in ROH’s first show in 2002:“Y’know, it’s not about angles, it’s not aboutmoney, it’s not about who wants to be a biggerstar. Ring of Honor has to do with Honor, it’s gotto do with balls, man, balls up in that ring. I losttonight, that tells me I’ve got to get hungry again,and Ring of Honor… this is where I wanna be.”I’ve only just started watching Ring of Honorregularly, and it's because of ROH’s reputation ofa wrestling-first promotion, rather than a PGentertainmentcompany. I think that that’s themajor influence the WWE has had on ROH. Ifyou haven’t already, please check it out. You canwatch all their weekly shows online for FREEover at rohwrestling.comPlease let me know your thoughts.Tweet me @mtthrdyFacebook.com/CallingSpots 35 Visit CallingSpots.com

A w i l d n i g h t i n A i c h iC I M A , C y b e r K o n g a n d t h e w o r s t D r a g o n G a t e m a t c h e v e rIn the four or five years I've been a Dragon Gate fan, there's been some good stuff. There's beensome great stuff. There's been some AWESOME stuff. But sometimes, I admit, there's beensome stuff that was a tad lacklustre. However, I don't think I've ever sat there and thought"Wow, that was truly, utterly terrible", aside from when watching Mondai Ryu matches (whichare supposed to be that way). Two years ago (2012, for anyone who happens to be reading this inthe future), the annual May pay per view in Aichi, better known as DEAD OR ALIVE, was headlinedby CIMA's Open The Dream Gate title defence against Cyber Kong. By all accounts, thismatch was atrocious, so awful that the company icon CIMA actually broke kayfabe and apologisedto the crowd afterwards. This thing catapulted into immediate infamy, but aside from aselect few, no one in the west ever saw it. For various reasons, it never made its way to us, seeminglydestined to be talked about in hushed whispers, forever pondered by folks like me, wondering;could it really be that bad? Well, what we expected to be an eternal wait is over; the showfinally made it to the internet. Feed the dog, put the kids to bed, crack open a beer, order a pizzaand sit back; it's time to watch the worst Dragon Gate match ever. Lets set the scene...Final Gate 2011, the 'Empire Strikes Back' of theBlood Warriors/Junction Three (JIII) feud; heelCIMA's underlings all retained their titles while hepersonally took the Dream Gate from the JIII heroMochizuki. It looked like a long road ahead for thegood guys, a glorious struggle to dethrone and defeatthe evil Blood Warriors, most likely culminatingin the rise of a new ace taking CIMA down at KobeWorld. However the booking committee decided tosimultaneously pull the "Cyber Kong heel turn" and"CIMA is the ace of the universe" clauses, by havingyoung Akira Tozawa enlist the exiled-from-thestableKong in an insurrection against his leader,taking Blood Warriors as his own while CIMA automaticallyturned babyface. Tozawa's Warriors destroyedJunction Three in a "Unit Disbands" matchless than a month later. There were shades of VinceRusso in the way they burned through a good sevenmonths worth of story in about five minutes, butyou know what? It was pretty awesome.As mentioned, Kong had previously been bootedfrom Blood Warriors due to taking the pinfall in a"Loser Leaves The Unit" match, which led him onthe downward spiral to jobberdom. After being fedto American newcomer Uhaa Nation, Kong decidedto make a go of it with the good guys. Naturally,most of Junction Three didn't trust him, dude hadturned heel on them little over half a year previously,but their leader had faith. Mochizuki tookVisit CallingSpots.com 36 Twitter @CallingSpots

Kong on as his new buddy, trying to help himrebuild his reputation and career…which lastedabout a week until Kong turned heel again. Withhis return to the Blood Warriors muscle role, hewas once again presented as a major threat, despitethe rebuilding angle being pretty much fast forwardedthrough. Tozawa rechristened Blood Warriorsas 'Mad Blankey', Kong won a 'CIMA Royale'to become number one contender, and the stagewas set.'Dead Or Alive' had a pretty damn good undercard;future Milennials - Eita Kobayashi andTomahawk T.T (in his imposter "Naoki Tanizaki"guise) - had a brutal chop battle. The Jimmyzclung on to the Twin Gate despite a fierce effortfrom the veterans MochiFujii, Ricochet andDragon Kid tore it up in a match that saw thelatter bust out his first Dragonrana in years tocapture the Brave Gate, before World-1 bested theJimmyz in a high octane Triangle Gate showstealer that was so typical of the now classicPAC/Doi/Yoshino trio. CIMA and Kong hadquite a lot to top. Entrances were made, Kongaccompanied by his full Mad Blankey entourage,CIMA alone with his awesome big match entrance(complete with pyro and an orchestral intro to"Me Gusta Cola"). The bell rang, and the soon tobe infamous match was underway.The initial lock up attempts saw Kong throwingsome comedic kicks at CIMA then laughing athim, to which CIMA reacted by looking legitimatelypissed off, more disinterested and unimpressedthan angry, the way one would expect hischaracter to react. This was a recurring themethroughout the match. Kong trolled CIMA somemore by leaving the ring for a drink while his buddiestripped the champion up, which led to anawkward period where everyone stood aroundlooking like they didn't know what the hell theywere doing. CIMA went for a sudden single legtakedown, leading to a weird exchange whereCIMA got on top of him and Kong ungracefullyrolled away to escape.After some CIMA stomps on the outside, therewas a stretch of lame Kong dominance full ofweak strikes and a bucket of salt, during which thechampion stared blankly out at the crowd anddidn't react to any offence, other than to pick hisnose. Seriously. Ten or so painful-to-watch minutesrolled on, then CIMA just unloaded on Kongout of nowhere. After this vicious and stifflookingassault, the champion fired up in the ring,apparently deciding to try and turn this mess intosome resemblance of a pro wrestling match.An awful botched powerbomb from Kong aside,the finishing stretch that followed was sort of ok,but the damage had been done. Two Meteoras sawCIMA retain the title, then take to the mic to berateKong and apologise to the people of Aichi.He said the match wasn't worthy of the DreamGate title, let alone a pay per view main event, andtold Kong to get out of his ring and go back tojust being a second for important matches.Well…it lived up (or down) to the hype. CIMAcan blame Kong all he wants for that disaster, thechallenger's opening was weak for sure, but it washis reactions to it that totally derailed the thing.Kong may not be the world's best worker, but youonly have to look back to summer 2011 to seeMochizuki carrying him to an excellent main eventmatch. The year that followed saw CIMA hold onto his Dream Gate again and again in far superiormatches, while Cyber Kong was sent straight onthe train to jobberville. He began to climb up thecard again in 2013, but it was purely in a supportingrole, since that fateful night in Aichi he's onlyhad one upper card singles match make TV (whichhe lost, of course).Moral of the story? Don't book your most undependablewrestler in a pay per view main event,and if you do, try and help him out instead ofpicking your nose.Check out Lee’s band - ZombieHater.You can find out all about them over atFacebook.com/ZombieHaterPunkFacebook.com/CallingSpots 37 Visit CallingSpots.com

Image used with thanks to Tidal International WrestlingHi Kris. Thanks joining us today mate.Let's get straight into it; for anybody whodoesn't follow the British scene, can youtell us who Kris Travis is?Kris Travis the wrestler is a cocky, arrogant guywho will do anything to get the job done. I goout there every single night and strive to havethe single best match that the crowd have everwitnessed. Backstage I like to think I'm a guythe younger guys come to for advice and theguy promoters can rely on.K r i s T r a v i s I n t e r v i e wB y N i k T o w e r sKristopher Travis is a man who went from being a solid hand on the British indy wrestlingscene to a genuine standout during 2013. So much so in fact that when he joined usfor this interview it was fresh on the back of a tryout match with WWE during their UKtour this past November. Kris Travis is a man who knows the sacrifice required to make itin this business that we all love; travelling to the furthest corners of our shores ensuringthat he is on every show possible. From South Shields to Sittingbourne, from the biggestindy shows in the country to the most obscure shows that only 30 people will ever see;Kris wants his name everywhere and will do whatever he needs to do to ensure that happens.He has received much acclaim for his accomplishments with his tag-team partnerin Project Ego - Martin Kirby - but more recently has stood out as a star in his own right.A particular highlight of the year for Kris had to be his wars he had with both Chris Mastersand Kevin Steen; arguably two of the bigger imports the UK had last year. With awonderful résumé already, Kris Travis seems destined for a bright future.Towards the end of last year it seemed likeeverywhere I looked online you were beingawarded with UK wrestler of the year. Howhas 2013 been for you?Professionally I was really happy with 2013. Ihad a lot of matches that I am extremely proudof, probably my best in ring career to date.Although I say this; I think I only gave 70% ofmy actual efforts to wrestling. Personal issuesgot in the way. So if that was me at 70% I'mhoping that this year I can put 100% in andVisit CallingSpots.com 38 Twitter @CallingSpots

eally make something of myself.If that was 70% I think we'll all be lookingforward to the next 30%. With so manyprofessional wrestlers having their ownsocial media presence, it can be difficult tobuy into the legitimacy certain feuds whenpeople can see you all having banter witheach other on Facebook and Twitter. Ligeroand Kirby overcame that with an immensefeud in SWE last year. What are yourthoughts on the whole social media argument?Well myself and Kevin Steen overcame it too inour PCW match, people genuinely thought hehated me. I was the young up-and-comer whowas giving him grief on social media and everyonejumped on it. In my opinion, Twitter is thefuture. Fans are smart to wrestling now so willprobably never buy into the whole 'two guyshating one another' thing. But if wrestlers use itcorrectly, and I am aware that I haven't alwaysmyself, then social media is the way forward.What was it like wrestling Steen? The guyhas got a massive reputation.It was a great experience, watching some of hiswork it was clear he was a hard hitting mofo soI was nervous. But I always give as good as Iget and if someone is putting it in with me thenthey has better expect it back tenfold. I thinkSteen and I put on a really great match and itwas memorable by me taking a big flip spill tothe floor. It hurt like hell but looks amazing inhighlight packages. *laughs*At the end of the day, that's what matters.To quote white men can't jump, "ratherlook good and lose than look bad and win".Given his tweets recently; do you thinkLionheart will keep his word and give you aPCW title shot?I'm hoping that he keeps his word.....I lovewrestling Lionheart. He is one of the UK talentsthat really gets me to up my game. Wehave stolen many shows with our matches andespecially our PCW stuff. His match against AJStyles should be something really special.I've been following your feud and it hasbeen great watching it develop. Add thePCW title into the mix and it should bewild. Are you looking to get another runwith the title this year?I'm not too fussed about wearing gold, as longas I'm stealing the shows and up and down thecountry then that's fine by me.Million pound question; What's the nextstep for British wrestling? How does it getto the next level? We have some promotionsnow that should, in my opinion, beconsidered amongst some of the best in theworld but often are not. What will take usto the level?British wrestling will only get to the next levelwhen promoters stop being marks for low levelimports and start putting the emphasis on theBritish talent. I'm all for ex-WWE guys, butwhen it becomes a random no-name importwho is presented as the star of the show then itjust makes us all appear inferior. It's bullshitand if we don't, as a nation, value our hometalent then why should the fans?Great point and well said. I think the currentfan base will continue to support Britishwrestling and hopefully all of you guyswill finally get to the level you deserve.We've discussed this before off the recordbut I'm still amazed that a promotion canFacebook.com/CallingSpots 39 Visit CallingSpots.com

Image used with thanks to Brett Hadleysell a best of DVD or any merchandise of awrestler and not give the wrestler a cut ofthe profit. What's your take on it?Basically I think it's utter bullshit. The matchesare MY matches. It's a video of me. So foranyone to tell me I can't use this footage sucksand for anyone to make profit and share nonewith me sucks even more. PCW sell Kris TravisDVD's but they are the only official ones availableright now. They give me a cut of the profits.Same with T Shirts. I have worked my assoff for 11 years to get to where I am right nowso I've earned this. I've earned the right tomake cash from my popularity, nobody elsehas.Personally, l only buy 'best of' DVDs if Iknow the guy is getting a cut. Right, lastquestion Kris and it's a tough one. I'm noteven sure if I should ask it. Are you an Austinguy or a Rock guy?ALL about The Rock!Good man. Before we wrap this up, youmay remember reading in a previous issueof our 'zine that your tag team partner inProject Ego real-life friend Martin Kirbywas essentially drooling over how great youlooked in your underpants. Do you haveany compliments you would like to payMartin in return on this prestigious platform?He has a massive penis. Hashtag, #TrueStory.*Laughs* I'm sure he will be loving thiswhen he reads it. If Kirby was to ever leaveProject Ego, who would replace him; RichardO'Brien, Patrick Stewart, John Malkovic,Andre Agassi or Dr Evil?*Laughs* Andre Agassi? *laughs* With theamount of tanning Kirby does these days thenthe only person who could replace him wouldbe Chris Akabussi!!Get him to master the laugh and we're in!Dude much love, it's been a blast, thankyou for joining us.You can follow Kris on Twitter to find outwhere he will pop up next @RealKrisTravis.Visit CallingSpots.com 40 Twitter @CallingSpots

CallingSpotsCrosswordtwoAnswers will be available at CallingSpots.comAcross2. Seth Rollins in RoH (5,5)5. One of the lucha libre 'big three', movie star, WWE hall of famerand man of a thousand masks (3,8)7. The son of nWo founding member Scott Hall (4)9. Author of the 'Holy Grail' (4,7)12. Colt Cabana's WWE persona (6,7)14. He may say he is 'the greatest' commentator 'in the history ofour sport' (4,9)32. Won the NWA championship on TNA's first evershow (3,8)Down1. WWE music composer (3,8)3. Shows ran by PROGRESS Wrestling’s PROJOtrainees (5)4. Famous wrestling convention (10)6. The ninth wonder of the world (5)8. The man that gravity forgot, pre-NXT (3)15. British wrestler who wants to take you out (5,6)10. WrestleMania 1 venue (7,6,6)16. The Hitman's Scorpion Hold (12)11. Jeff Jarrett may call you this in the year 2000 (4,4)19. Popular genre of pro wrestling in Japan (8)12. He only cares about his peaks and his freaks (5,7)23. Acronym for hull based wrestling promotion (3)13. Forget who's next...who was first? (4,6)25. Our first ever interviewee (4,3)17. Accused of having an affair with Bret Hart (5)26. Steve Austin when managed by Ted DiBiase (3,10)18. CHIKARA's 3-person accomplishment (4,2,5)27. Pre-Horsemen, he battled Magnum TA over the US Championship(5,9)21. He is a real mans man (7,5)20. He invented crosswords (5,7)29. The longest reigning PWG Champion as of January 2014 (4,4) 22. The inaugural WSX Champion (7)30. Ring of Honor's inaugural PPV (7,2,6)24. WCW's B-show (7)31. The city location of WWE's Performance Center (7)28. Ric Flair's belt (3,4)Facebook.com/CallingSpots 41 Visit CallingSpots.com

Every year people buy WrestleMania, at least in part, on the strength of the Streak matchfeaturing everyone’s favourite Deadman, Dark Prince, American Badass and Conscience,the Undertaker. Despite the mind numbing inevitability of the outcome, people spendtheir hard earned cash to witness yet another strike on the twenty one bar gate, as the manfrom Death Valley claims his annual victim. While this streak is impressive in it’s length, itsits atop a gold mine of other, less famous lossless and in some cases, winless efforts fromyears gone by. Here are just a few of the best, none of which have to rely on a cheap DQfinish at Caesar's Palace against a giant in a Captain Caveman outfit.Rob Van Dam – WrestleMania 4-0Mr PPV lives up to his reputation with this effortlessstreak at the biggest Pay Per View of them all.This is special because the original ‘Internet Darling’should never have made it to the GrandestStage of them all. His formal introduction intoWWF programming came during the Invasionangle where he, along with a selfless Jeff Hardy,managed to get himself over with fans in a series ofbreath-taking stunt-fests for the Hardcore Belt .Unable to ignore Mr Monday Night, and with thehelp of a rub from Steve Austin, Van Dam rose toprominence on Raw, before a rub with HHH hadpredictably detrimental effect.Despite this, Van Dam’s WrestleMania debut wasan InterContinental Championship show openeragainst William Regal. Those in attendance weretreated to a brilliant clash of styles as a Five StarFrog Splash secured the gold. Win number twocame at WWE’s spiritual home, Madison SquareGarden, where he, along with Booker T, retainedtheir Tag team Gold in a four corners match. A titleencased in a briefcase that Van Dam claimed atWrestleMania 22 as RVD beat five other competitorsto the top of a ladder, both literally and metaphorically,claiming the moniker ‘Mr Money in TheBank’. This contract would later be cashed, not atthe end of pay per view, or following a beatdown,but with planning, forethought and a good oldfashioned challenge to John Cena at One NightOnly, a challenge that would elevate Van Dam toWWE Champion status, before he smoked it allaway.Finally, at WrestleMania 23, Van Dam dragged theold school ECW Originals to a victory against thenew blood and Matt Striker in a near seven and ahalf minute classic that frankly should have closedthe show, if only so Matt Striker can showcase toS t r e a k sB y J a m e s M u s s e l w h i t ethe world his frankly supernatural sell of Van Dam’smonkey flip.Van Dam. Four matches, four wins, two titles, onemoney in the bank contract, no losses, a remarkableachievement for a true ECW original.Jeff Hardy -WrestleMania: 0-5 & Summerslam: 0-5Yup…you read that right,. The Charismatic Enigmahas a grand total of 10 matches and zero wins at theWWE’s two biggest shows. Admittedly a sizeableVisit CallingSpots.com 42 Twitter @CallingSpots

portion of those of matches have been as part of atag team, so you can mainly blame his brother Matt.You can also blame Matt for Jeff’s loss at Wrestle-Mania 25, after he smashed his face into a steelchair during their Extreme Rules match.Hardy fares no better in the Summer, thanks to aTag Team turmoil mauling at the hands of the Acolytesin 1999, a TLC rematch with the Dudley’s &Edge and Christian in 2000 and a brutal Laddermatch against RVD in 2001. An opening matchdefeat to MVP in 2008 and failure to capture thegold in a TLC match against CM Punk as part oftheir brilliant feud leaves the high flyer with a bigold goose egg in his win column.Lita - Survivor Series: 0-5Jeff’s fellow member of Team Extreme, while revolutionisingthe role of women in wrestling and creatinga whole new fan base almost singlehandedly,totally sucked at Survivor series. A Bloody matchagainst Ivory in 2000 ended in defeat, as did thefollowing year’s six woman match for the vacantbelt. She stared at the lights for Molly Holly in2003, and Trish Stratus beat, albeit via DQ in 2004.Her final defeat, and final WWE match came in2006 at the hands of the quite brilliant MickieJames, who pinned her clean, before Cryme Timemade their way into the arena to conduct a little“Ho-Sale” of Lita’s personal effects. Lita was gone,but her winless record still stands.Hulk Hogan – SummerSlam 6-0It comes as little surprise that Hogan’s first 4 winscame at the height of Hulkamania, mainly in tagmatches and largely in the main event.What is more surprising however is the 14 year gapbetween his win in 1991 and his victory in 2005, ina bizarre comedy match against the Heartbreak KidShawn Michaels. The Showstopper bumps aroundlike a kid on a bouncy castle who’s guzzled on toomuch Coca-cola and Haribo, and it’s joy to watch.The following year Hogan selflessly pinned thecompany’s youngest ever WWE Champion RandyOrton to seal a perfect record and his reputation asthe most giving performer in WWE history.Sable – WrestleMania 3-0Sable is amazing and mathematically at least 1/7thas good at the Undertaker at WrestleMania. Thisbrilliant record stretches as far back as 1998, whereshe won a mixed tag match with the remarkableMarc Mero and bizarre Goldust & Luna. The followingyear she retained her Women’s title against acat who couldn’t wrestle, before taking a wellearned 5 year break. It’s hard to overstate the brutalityof the Playboy Evening Gown Tag Teammatch at WrestleMania 20. Suffice to say Sablewon again and with her undefeated streak intact shewas not only Queen of the Playboy cover but alsoand the true Queen of WrestleMania.Disclaimer (and all that business):We here at the Calling Spots Fanzine are in no way affiliated with WWE, TNA, RoH or any otherwrestling promotion or entity. The views expressed in each segment, regardless of media type, are theindividual’s own and not that of Calling Spots. All the content you have enjoyed here is owned byCalling Spots Fanzine contributors and has been used with their permission. Likewise, any contentfound in these pages can only be used with the owner’s permission. None of the content of this fanzineis to be re-published online or anywhere else. Any queries, please contact us at:CallingSpots@gmail.comFacebook.com/CallingSpots 43 Visit CallingSpots.com

WeYour Feedbackthis issue of Calling Spots made me….....Help us to evolve. Please tick a box, take a photo, and tweet us @CallingSpotsFeel like I haddefeated TheUndertaker atWrestleManiaWant to do acasualYES YES YESin appreciationVisit CallingSpots.com todayWish that I waswatching TheKennel from Hellmatch on repeatVisit CallingSpots.com 44 Twitter @CallingSpots