Daniel Bryan: Hugs

Bryan Danielson, or should we say Daniel Bryan (@WWEDanielBryan), was involved in hugs (or lack there of) well prior to his current Kane/Anger Management bit with the WWE. These pre-match antics with El Generico (@ElGenerico) are pretty great. Gives you a true feel for the ROH fan base.

WWF Wrestling Buddies

Remember WWF Wrestling Buddies? With the release of WWE's new Brawlin' Buddies, it brought back memories of our childhood when we had Wrestling Buddies. Tonka came out with the four original Buddies in 1990, Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior, Randy Savage, & Ted DiBiasi. The Ultimate Warrior was our favorite at the time. Hey, when you are a kid it is all about the entrance and the gimmick, right?

Merchandise was great in the 90's and the Wrestling Buddies were really cool. Everyone had one and we used to beat the crap out of them and each other using them as weapons. The good old days.

Later on some other wrestlers were sold, Big Boss Man, Jake Roberts, & Legion of Doom. So wanted the Legion of Doom ones when they came out. And if you are like us and did not get everything you wanted as a kid, luckily we have eBay to satisfy our inner kid.

Now the WWE is trying to bring back the success of the originals and have released Brawlin' Buddies through Mattel. The four wrestlers in this series are Jon Cena, Randy Orton, Sheamus, & Rey Mysterio. This seems pretty weak compared to the four original Tonkas. Now, we know wrestling is different, it is a different time, but these Buddies have nothing that really standouts besides Mysterio and his mask and green color. Hopefully these do well and there will be a Zack Ryder, Kane, or Brodus Clay Buddy released to bring some personality back to the toys.

Check out Amazon for buying options.

ECWA: 45th Anniversary

Photo courtesy of ECWA

This post won't be about results, good guys beating bad guys (or vice versa), but rather about the independent experience. It is that small arena, intimate setting, where you hope to see guys give it their all to entertain the crowd experience we are looking for. Just like walking into a minor league baseball stadium, you hope to catch a glimpse of a star of tomorrow. Take in a memory where you can look back and say, "I knew him back when..."

ECWA recently had their 45th anniversary show, September 15, 2012. The organization is the oldest independent professional wrestling company in the United States. We had a great time at the show. So at a minor league baseball game, they have some crowd participation activities. ECWA brought that to the wrestling arena. First was a giveaway to date a wrestler. Pretty cool idea in which the lucky lady gets a free meal and transportation on her night out with an ECWA wrestler. The next event in which the audience got involved was a lumberjack match where random fans were chosen as the lumberjacks. This concept is really great to get fans in on the action. There were 12 (maybe 11 as one seemed to be a plant) chosen to surround the ring, got involved with tossing wrestlers back in the ring and even carried a heel to the ring from the back. Overall the show provided everything a wrestling fan needs, heels, babyfaces, comedy, crowd work and even a storyline reveal.

Now the actual wrestling. Besides the lumberjack match which was the comic relief, there was some great displays of wrestling put on. As wrestling historians, we loved seeing Tony Mamaluke (@newyorkwrestler). If you remember Tony was part of the FBI from the ECW days, which brought back some good memories. Tag team championship match, Fusion DS (@STBDamianDragon & @SaigonXspecial) vs The Sons of Blackheart, aka The Midnight Sensations (@TMSShields & @RockwellCPR), was a good length, some good spots and had an intriguing story line twist which we mentioned earlier with the unmasking of The Sons of Blackhearts to reveal they were really The Midnight Sensations. Don't get us wrong, other great performances were put on throughout the night but want to move onto the main event.

Greek God Papadon (@greekgodpapadon), who is the top guy in the ECWA, gives you the feeling that this guy will get called up to the majors at some point. He has skills on the mic, works aggressively in the ring and has a great persona. As a performer, he is cocky, arrogant and oozes a disdain for the fans. But before the show he was out front, selling his shirts (pretty nice looking, yeah we picked one up), interacting with fans and seems to be a pretty nice guy. Papadon was ranked 223 by PWI which seems way too low. We are hoping we can look back and take some pride in knowing we saw Papdon wrestle before he was huge. Papadon ended the night losing his championship belt to Chris Wylde (@TheChrisWylde) who held his own to make for an entertaining match.

We enjoyed our night at ECWA and they are doing independent wrestling right. It was a great, fan friendly atmosphere where families can share a night out together. Make sure you support independent wrestling.

Joey Ryan: Legalize Sleaze

Photo courtesy of joeyryanonline.bigcartel.com

Joey Ryan has finally brought something exciting to TNA. The blurry line of an independent wrestler, getting on national television, showing up and causing chaos. Whether or not Ryan has a contract (all signs show Ryan is still a true indy), it doesn't matter because this is something new, different and from a cool personality.

For those who first saw Ryan on TNA's GutCheck segement (getting rejected), Ryan has been wrestling for over 12 years. He was done work for PWG, ROH, Ring Ka King and others. The guy has the charisma that reminds you of what great wrestling is all about.

So enough background. TNA rejected Ryan and then Ryan takes to social media and self promotion. He runs promos on his youtube channel and twitter proclaiming that he deserves to be in TNA. 87% of TNA fans agreed by voting on TNA's website and the 87% has become a symbol for Ryan's fan base.

When not promoting himself, Ryan pops up on TNA wrestling getting into it with Al Snow. The interruptions have escalated to a match with Snow to get a contract. Dirt sheets are claiming that Snow (the one judge who said yes to Ryan) was thrust into the feud after Taz was ruled out for a match with Ryan due to his existing back problems. Taz and Ryan had some great heat but since he cannot wrestle, Snow was put into the spot to have a match. Fine by us, whatever gets Joey Ryan on TNA television.

Support @joeyryanonline and check out his merch at joeyryanonline.bigcartel.com.

A Documentary About Extreme Championship Wrestling

ECW, ECW, ECW! That chant still holds something something to us at Atomic Leg Drop. The mere mention of it brings back that feeling of just seen something you have never seen before. ECW was extreme, revolutionary and the alternative to the big two.

Two film makers, Kevin Kiernan and John Philapavage, have started a KickStarter project to get their documentry of ECW released. Watched the trailer and it looks awesome. The footage is from the 90s all the way up until today including footage from the Extreme Renuion show in Philadelphia. Raven, Sandman, Balls Mahoney, Shane Douglas and more favorites are showcased. In the write up we didn't see two notable names, Sabu or Paul Heyman. If these guys aren't in the film, that would be a little disappointing.

These guys have over 50 hours of wrestling footage and interviews so this should cover some great stuff. If you have any sort of fond memories of ECW (prior to it being bought by the WWE), this seems like a must watch. And it looks like it will happen as they seem to have hit their goal on KickStarter. looks like if you still want to donate, you can get in on some pretty cool swag.

SugarSlam III: Batter Royal

Photo courtesy of bakeanddestroy.net

We found something that combines two of our favorite things, pro wrestling and dessert! We bring to your attention SugarSlam. In what is its third year running (how did we miss the first two years), SugarSlam is a professional wrestling themed baking competition.

Cookbook author, cake competition judge and Bake and Destroy creator Natalie Slater is the founder of SugarSlam which blurs these two worlds with a competition that is about creativity as much as it is about baking.

This year's competition, SugarSlam III: Batter Royal featured over 80 entries all sorts of edibles featuring all sorts of wrestling subject matter. Couple of CM Punk and Cena entries but there were some Jake the Snake, Jimmy Snuka and Ultimate Warrior entries for those in search of some nostalgia. One of our favorites was "The Hulkster's Pastamania Cup Cakes" which paid homage to the Hulk's failed 90s restaurant. The thought of going to Pastamania alone makes us laugh.

The finals came down to two entries, "Jake the Cake" and "Kane The Marshmallow from Madrid". Both were creative and looked great. Since there was a tie, the first ever SugarSlam judge was brought in to break it, CM Punk! Yes, it appears CM Punk is friends with Natalie through their Chicago ties. And the winner is Kane!

Go over to Natalie's blog site and check out all the entries from SugarSlam from this year and the past two, http://bakeanddestroy.net/category/sugar-slam/. And if you have baking skills be sure to be part of the competition for next year.

The Art of Wrestling

Photo courtesy of www.welovecolt.com

The Art of Wrestling podcast, done weekly by professional wrestler Colt Cabana, has become a Thursday morning must listen. We came to the party late and have been catching up listening to past episodes, which date back to July 2010, ever since my first download of the show.

Colt interviews and discusses wrestling with his friends from the business. The interview style is great because it flows like a story, taking the listeners on a journey of the highs and lows of the names in the industry. Some of the best episodes however come from guests you may have never heard of. Road stories, the joys, the struggles…everyone has them and they are all different.

Episode 102 features Truth Martini which has become one of our favorites. Such an interesting guy and the episode covers gambling to a near death experience with a crazy chick (a bit of an adult content story). When listening, you forget this is a wrestling podcast, and that is what makes it so great.

Now don't get us wrong, we know the lesser known guests won't be for everyone, but that is OK because Colt has talked with the likes of CM Punk (his best bud), Mick Foley, Iron Sheik and Dolph Ziggler to name a few. Zack Ryder does an episode showcasing what a mark he is and confesses his affection for wrestling figures. Joining late has given us a chance to hear some of his guests being interviewed before they really popped (see Ep 20 with Austin Aries or Ep 68 with Daniel Bryan). That illustrates how well Colt's finger is on the pulse of the wrestling industry. There is a huge world of professional wrestling that lies outside from what you see on TV on WWE or TNA. Colt and many other independents travel all over the country and world to do what they love. You get some international flavor hearing of travels to Japan, trying to get across the Canadian border or having a war zone outside your hotel in Mexico.

The podcast is free and we recommend subscribing on iTunes (set it and forget it). For more information, check out www.welovecolt.com and support Colt so he can continue to put out the Art of Wrestling podcast.