The Finals

After many weeks and far more contenders, we have made it to the finals. Rather than comparing the matchup, each wrestler will get their own argument for their place in the finals.

John Cena

John Cena is a 16 time world champion and he’s still active on a part time basis. It is hard to imagine that after his career is over, he doesn’t have the most title reigns. If The Rock and Hulk Hogan could have a baby, it would be John Cena. Cena could easily craft a career in Hollywood, but he remains loyal to the WWE, rather than taking on more acting roles. He has granted more Make-A-Wish wishes than anyone, regardless of their career path.

Ric Flair

Let's let Ric Flair tell you why he's the best: "I'm Ric Flair! The stylin', profilin', limousine riding, jet flying, kiss-stealing, wheelin' and dealin' son of a gun." “I’m every woman’s dream and every man’s nightmare.” "In my life, I've been a movie star, a rock star and a sports star all wrapped into one and worked harder at it than anybody else." Indeed no one else has done it quite like Flair.

And, in what some might consider a controversial decision, Kazuchika Okada

Recently, Kazuchika Okada has become the longest reigning IWGP world heavyweight champion of all time. By the time Wrestle Kingdom rolls around, he will have held the belt for more days in his combined. He may have been eliminated a round or two ago, but I enjoy Okadalover69's rants.

So there you have it, the matchup to decide the greatest wrestler of the past thirty years. Don't forget to vote. And as always, stay (too) sweet.

Final Four

We've come to the final four in the tournament to name the best wrestler of the past 30 years. None of these men should come as any surprise making it this far, but who makes it to the finals? You decide.

The Undertaker vs Ric Flair

The Undertaker is the greatest character in WWE history. Ric Flair is the best heel in NWA, WCW, and WWE. While these two have faced off at many times over the past 30 years, neither man was in their prime when they've clashed. Who is the winner between these two at the peak of their legendary careers.

Hulk Hogan vs John Cena

If someone asked me to name the greatest babyface in wrestling history, these two names would immediately come to mind. Both of these grapplers have been called Superman in wrestler form. Which one of these squeaky clean superstars will last another week?

Hell In A Cell and King Of Pro Wrestling 2 Shows, 1 Night

Since I've started this blog, several of my friends have told me I should post my thoughts on a show live as it happens. Tonight, I'm trying it for the first time. Not only am I writing my thoughts on Hell In A Cell as they come to me, I'll be following it up in this post with my thoughts on King of Pro Wrestling from NJPW, which starts at 3AM (EST).

We're off to a rough start immediately, as I forgot about the pre show and was cooking dinner. Pasta ruined my ability to see much of the Hype Bros vs Shelton Benjamin and Chad Gable. Gable and Benjamin win of course. From what I saw, it was a pretty standard tag team match, but admittedly, I was only half paying attention. The current format for the pre shows give me very little motivation to care about the matches on it, since they're sandwiched in a bunch of talking, often from less than likable personalities. This is unfortunate for the talent involved in the matches. Even when I attend WWE shows live, I have a hard time convincing my friends to head in for these matches.

The opening match is New Day vs Usos. The New Day is showing more and more intensity in this feud. I'm definitely surprised to see Xavier in this match. Two trombones, a cowbell, and a gong have all been used in this match. This match has felt more violent than any match I've seen in a long while from the WWE. Big E's one armed slam into Xavier's backbreaker looked particularly good. How many kendo sticks can be stored under a ring? The trap built with them was very clever. These two teams have had, for my money, the WWE's feud of the year. Between the handcuffs, the chairs, and everything else, this was a great start to the night.

I’m really going to be sick of this Snoop Dogg/2K commercial by the end of the night.

AJ Styles with the Tom Petty reference.

Rusev’s entrance really is ridiculous without pyro. Nevertheless he is in the ring, and now Randy Orton is on his way out. This match honestly hasn’t done too much for me, which sounds like every Randy Orton match. I have no idea why Orton won this match. Rusev has all the potential to be a major main event player, but they seem to be happy with building him to the cusp of that spot, just to feed him to a face.

These KFC ads don’t work for me. I did receive an email from living social that has a discount on Sam’s Club memberships. While I’m not sponsored by either of them, I’m willing to negotiate a deal to keep talking about them.

I’m pretty sure Tyr Dillinger’s gimmick is that he’s a perfect 10, but also an alien. I don’t care what anyone says about his hairline, Baron Corbin looks like a badass. And of course AJ Styles is AJ Styles. All three of these guys are holding their own in this match. The match hasn’t been some sort of crazy spot fest, but has been very good including its own right. My roommate thought this match was a fatal four way, and now I keep hoping for the ref to try to score a pin. Adding Dillinger to the mix so late gives me a feeling he’s going to squeak out the victory. Every one looked like a million bucks in this match, but Baron Corbin stole the US title tonight.

The women’s title match isn’t a match I’m excited for. I know it’ll be a good match, but I can’t convince myself to care about Natalya. Part of me is hoping that Carmella cashes in here. Solid match so far. I’ve had to reset the network at least once in each match, but this one seems to be the worst. What is with WWE’s weird obsession with having women hit their heads on the bottom turnbuckle? That was a lame finish. It doesn’t make me dislike Natalya anymore. I’m still indifferent to her.

The Fashion Files are still entertaining, but thanks to the Network freezing (again) I missed the reveal of what was in the briefcase.

Shinsuke still has one of the best entrances in the WWE. I’ve been conditioned to hate Jinder a lot more than I do. He’s not the best in the ring, he’s not the best on the mic, but there have been far worse champions. I actually like these two working together. After the Singh brothers are removed, Jinder is still able to hit his finisher and retain the title. A solid enough match before the second cell match.

Well, I completely forgot about Dolph Ziggler vs Bobby Roode. The deeper we get into this card, the less I understand how they decide who to use on SmackDown Live. A sleeper was used in this match.   The cool down match is doing just that for me. The post match Zig Zag was probably the best thing about this match for me.

For this match, I put my phone away, and my computer was streaming the show. Here is a brief summary of my thoughts throughout: Oh my god... Oh my god!... WOW... Oh wow!... That move was crazier than a road lizard!... WAIT WHAT???

And now for a 3 hour intermission.

Okay, I'm awake after a nap that lasted a couple hours. NJPW's streaming site is not easy to understand, even if you use the English translations. It just isn't as user friendly as the WWE Network. Where is the live stream? And then I realized my major mistake and the issue with dealing with multiple time zones. It doesn't actually start for another hour. That's no big deal, I'll rest my eyes again for another hour, and use the time the young lions will be wrestling to wake myself up.

And then I didn’t wake up. Well, I did. For about 2 minutes of the junior heavyweight tag title match. Then another minute of the heavyweight tag titles. And again during a video package. I failed on my mission of watching both shows in their entirety.

 When I think about it, this is probably for the best. It’s hard to go from the WWE’s style to NJPW. It becomes even harder when it requires watching for longer than the average work day. Hell in a Cell was a decent show with two stellar cell matches. King of Pro Wrestling will finalize the main event for Wrestle Kingdom. Both shows deserve fully rested attention, and my life deserves balance. Stay tuned to an actual review of King of Pro Wrestling when I get a chance to not watch it at 4AM.

Until then, stay (too) sweet!

The Elite Eight

We're down to just eight competitor's in Figure Four Writer's Block's tournament to determine the greatest wrestler of the past thirty years. No one won by less than two thirds of the votes, but there were definitely some major upsets. There were also some clean sweeps. Without any further ado, here are the four match-ups with the remaining competitors.

Kazuchika Okada vs The Undertaker

Okada taking down Goldberg was certainly a major upset. It appears I have a big following in Japan. Or Okadalover69 has been skewing the numbers... Either way, he meets the Deadman in the elite eight. Two of the best tombstone piledrivers in the business go head to head. The greatest character in recent memory takes on the best in-ring performer in the world today. Only one can move on to the final four.

Sting vs Ric Flair

And these two meet each other once again. Both of these performers can be argued as these other's greatest feud. They first met in 1988 and had a singles match against one another in 2011. You'd be hard pressed to find another pairing of wrestlers that this can be said about.

Jushin Thunder Liger vs Hulk Hogan

Another major upset saw Liger beat Bret Hart. Now he takes on Hulk Hogan. Does the greatest junior heavyweight of all-time have what it takes to beat one of the most popular superstars of all time.

Steve Austin vs John Cena

The face of the Attitude Era battles the face of, well, basically the past decade. Cena has granted more Make-A-Wish wishes than anyone ever. Stone Cold probably drank more beers on live television than anyone ever. Who do you prefer? Sick kids, or beer??

Vote here to share your opinions. Tonight, or tomorrow really, I'll be posting my live, in-the-moment thoughts of both Hell In A Cell and King of Pro Wrestling. It might be great. It might be terrible. It might be funny. But it will definitely be a unique post, and I hope you like it. Until next time, stay (too) sweet!

Ric Flair by Tim O'Meara

Growing up in the north, I didn’t see Ric Flair until his first run with the then WWF in the early nineties. It wasn’t until later that my small town got access to cable and finally, the superstation TBS so I could watch him on a more regular basis. Like all of us, we knew immediately that we were watching near perfection in the ring whenever he preformed. His role was to get you to hate him, and my God did he do that. He was flashy to the point of being flamboyant. In the macho world of pro wrestling, that took major backbone both in the ring and in the locker room. We knew he had to be tough because anyone who acted like that had to be able to back it up. Unlike the rock band Kiss, which is all style and not much substance-Ric Flair had it all.

It’s often said that in wrestling, the heel carries the face in the match. It’s true of course, but it’s much deeper than that. In reality, the face is only as good as the heel is. After all, if a good guy beats up a loser, how good can he really be? This is evidenced by Hulk Hogans first run in the WCW. No one cared to see him beat up Ed Leslie. When Flair went back into the WCW and challenged him, ratings and buy rates when up. Flair carried Hogan to some of the best matches that the Hulkster was ever involved in. Flair carried every one of his opponents. From great ones like Sting and Steamboat to mediocre ones like Hogan.

Wrestlers have shelf lives. Very, very few of them have the ability and charisma to last more than a few years. We are in awe of those who do-from Bruno Samartino to Andre the Giant. Hulk Hogan to Bret Hart, Undertaker to Stone Cold to John Cena. As in awe as we are for those who last so long, it’s a rarity. That Flair had lasted so long at a high level in the ring is nothing short of astounding. From the 70’s to the early 2000’s he wrestled at a high level, going though promotions and changes in the wrestling industry. He was a star in the regional world of wrestling in the late 70s. He was a legend in the steroid scandaled 80s, and he became an icon in the 90s during the Monday Night Wars.


Eric’s note: We all know who Tim is voting for, but what about you? Voting closes on Sunday.

Sweet 16 In FFWB's Tournament

After two weeks, we've narrowed the field down to the sweet 16. As the competition gets smaller and smaller, we can expect the votes to get closer and closer. This week, 6 matches were decided by a single vote. Let's take a look at who moved on.

Goldberg VS Okada

Goldberg is best known for going on one of the longest winning streaks of all time. By his next major threat for the title, Okada will be the longest reigning IWGP World Heavyweight Champion of all time. He is the last competitor on the list who has never wrestled for Vince McMahon. With how badly TNA treated him, I wouldn't be surprised if he never competes for a major US promotion (outside of a working deal with NJPW) ever again. While this isn't a bad thing, and some might even consider it a good thing, it might be held against him in a situation like this.

Randy Orton VS The Undertaker

Do you remember this feud? It was pretty great. The legend taking on the legend killer. Of course, this was very early in Orton's career, and he would go on to become a legend in his own right, but this was one of the feuds that put him on the map.

Sting VS Scott Hall

The original Outsider and founder of the NWO is battling it out against the ultimate defender of the WCW. Sting has never lost to Scott Hall in one on one competition. Is this because he was the better star and wrestler? Or is it because Scott Hall is the kind of wrestler who doesn't need the wins?

Finn Balor VS Ric Flair

The Demon and the Nature Boy face off here for a chance to make it to the elite 8. While Flair is known as the standard bearer for Greatest of All Time conversations, Balor/Devitt has made a strong case for himself in his brief 14 year career. Who moves on, and who becomes just another name?

Bret Hart VS Jushin Thunder Liger

The greatest junior heavyweight of all time takes on the excellence of execution. Both of these men made great careers out of being what many in the industry would consider undersized. One of these men walks out of this match up Napoleon, the other, Verne Troyer.

CM Punk VS Hulk Hogan

CM Punk took down one member of the Mega Powers, can he beat the others? These are two men I could have easily seen meeting in the finals, and are probably favorites to win this half of the tournament. Hell, I'm wearing a CM Punk shirt right now (thanks prowrestlingtees.com!). The Hulkster may have made wrestling mainstream, but Punk represents the, well, punk and alternative side of professional wrestling. So what do you want? Top 40 or rebelling against the machine? Even if that machine has a Pepsi Cola logo tattooed on his arm...

AJ Styles VS Stone Cold Steve Austin

Similar to the last pairing, this is a battle between new school and old school. It is also a clash of styles (no pun intended). The Phenomenal One is one of the best technical wrestlers in recent memory, as well as one of the best high flyers. The Texas Rattlesnake is one of the greatest characters in the history of professional wrestling. Which is more important to a successful career? You decide.

Mick Foley VS John Cena

I was actually extrememly surprised to see that these two have never faced off in the ring. Not that their careers truly overlapped, but Foley arguably hung on a little too long, and Cena was arguably thrust into the main event scene a bit too early. These are probably the only negative things I can say about either of these guys. Cena has carried the company on his back for the past decade. Foley is one of the greatest hardcore wrestlers of all time and just as highly ranked as a character worker. A real match between these two in their primes would be a real barnburner.

And just like that, the matches are set. Who are you voting for in these battles? Stay tuned for a special piece a bit later in the week attempting to persuade some votes. Will it work on you? We'll see.

Until next time, stay (too) sweet Copyright 2015 World Wrestling Entertainment!