McPinions
By: Sean “The MiC” McCaffrey
Hey everyone, and welcome to another edition of McPinions for Get in The Ring
and the Declaration of Independents. http://www.declarationofindependents.net
After my debut issue for the Get in The Ring site, I got some good feedback,
so the format will be the same. This has been a busy week in the WWE and another
great week for the indies. Well let’s get on with the column for this
week.
Last week I talked about great indy promotions, this week I am going to focus on some of the top indy talent, in no particular order. The thing about indy talent, that really establishes them from WWE talent, is the fact that indy talent has the time to wrestle a great match. On any given show, you can see an indy match be anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour. The wrestlers get a chance to show off their stuff, and don’t have to worry about tv time or commercials, and can really shine. If you see any of these names at an upcoming show around your area, you should check it out, as these guys are truly amazing to watch in the squared circle.
Paul London- Paul just won the annual ECWA Super 8 tournament. Winning the Super 8 is a great accomplishment for an indy wrestler. A lot of former Super 8 competitors have made it to the WWE, so winning it is just a great step in advancing a career. London has wrestled match of the year candidates in various promotions and is one of the highlights in Ring of Honor. His finishing move is the Shooting Star Press, and trust me, Brock Lesnar and Billy Kidman have nothing on him.
AJ Styles- The master of the Styles Clash, a move that must be seen live, is one of the hottest guys on the indy scene today. AJ Styles is a regular on NWA TNA, and is currently the ROH tag team champion. (With Red) AJ goes 100% day in day out, and has been turning out great tag team matches as well as solo matches.
Homicide- Homicide is the most underrated indy wrestler today. A lot of critics and fans compare him to New Jack based on Homicide’s character and look alone, but trust me he is nothing like New Jack at all. Homicide is the trainer of stars, and has trained numerous wrestlers all over the east coast, notably Low Ki. Homicide is a great technical wrestler, and every move he does in the ring makes sense, even the pacing of his matches are a work of art.
Low Ki- One of Homicide’s products, Low Ki is known throughout the world from USA to Japan. Low Ki is known for his ferocious kicks and his lethal finisher called the Ki Krusher. Low Ki is another former Super 8 winner and has held titles in many promotions. Low Ki also is on NWA TNA regularly.
Xavier- The former ROH Heavyweight champion has taken many strides in progressing his career. He has had many dark matches with the WWE and is one of the most solid wrestlers on the indy scene today. He is another wrestler where every action in the ring makes sense. He had a match of the year candidate with Paul London at the 2/1 ROH show.
Christopher Daniels- The ECWA Heavyweight champion is one of the more popular guys in the independents. The Fallen Angel always has a great match no matter who his opponent is. Daniels has some killer finishing moves called the Angel Wings and the Last Rites.
Some other indy guys that I am a huge fan of and who I think will be top stars soon are: Deranged, Grim Reefer, Samoa Joe, Bastion Booger (Ok not really, I just want to make sure you are still reading this), Mike Kruel, Striker, Mafia, Slyk Wagner Brown and Josh Daniels.
Of course there are great other wrestlers that I am leaving out or forgetting, so if I didn’t name your favorite indy wrestler, it wasn’t too slight them.
Upcoming Indy Shows
that should be good:
April 25 PWA, Dansbury Ct, http://www.angelfire.com/wrestling3/pwact/
April 26 NYWC Deer Park, NY http://www.nywcwrestling.com
May 3rd ECWA Wilmington, DE http://www.ecwaprowrestling.com
May 4th JCW Passiac, NJ http://www.jcwwrestling.com
I will be at all four of these shows and I hope to see you there and support these great promotions!
Moving on now, some quick WWE notes, but first Backlash Predictions.
Brock Lesnar vs
John Cena
Cena is too new here, so Brock goes over, but not without Cena getting respected
by the fans after a great match.
Goldberg vs Rock
Goldberg goes over because Wrestling 101 says, who ever goes over on the show
before the PPV, usually gets the loss at the PPV. Also, we all know that Rock
is going back to Hollywood, and the ungrateful Goldberg needs the win more.
Also figure that Rock has beaten Hulk Hogan and Stone Cold Steve Austin at
2 straight PPV’s, so he’ll probably do the j-o-b Sunday.
Triple H/Chris
Jericho/Ric Flair vs Shawn Michaels/Kevin Nash/Booker T
Without going into a big diatribe why Triple H is a scumbag living off of
nepotism, let’s just say Kevin Nash pins HHH and starts a program with
him for the next PPV, and Booker T reforms his tag team with Goldust, because
it’s back to midcard hell.
Rey Misterio Jr
vs Big Show
Rey Rey wins. Why is this match booked?
Rikishi vs Sean
O’Haire w/Roddy Piper
Sean O’Haire wins here. Obviously.
RVD/Kane vs Dudley
Boyz
RVD/Kane retain here, maybe interference from Spike Dudley?
Matt Hardy vs Kendrick
I see Matt Hardy winning here, but I’m really pulling for Kendrick. Maybe
Lita makes a run-in here?
Los Guerreros vs
Team Angle
Los Guerreros win, Team Angle need the belts more, but I think the belts are
going back to the Guerreros.
Trish Stratus vs
Jazz
Jazz wins here, because Trish can get over without the belt, just by her good
looks.
The PPV looks like a ho-hum event, even with Goldberg/Rock. I don’t see it shattering any PPV buy rate records.
The big news of the week is that Jeff Hardy has been fired. I guess that’s the reason why he didn’t make the save on Trish Stratus, while she got beat up by Bubba Dudley on Raw last Monday, as they were building toward a Trish/Jeff relationship. Frankly I could care less about Jeff Hardy getting fired, as much as I did about Raven, Credible or D-Lo Brown. Jeff Hardy doesn’t want to wrestle full time, nor work the WWE schedule and has various interests outside of wrestling. The previous 3 people I listed, have immediately jumped to NWA TNA and have taken indy bookings all over. I don’t think Jeff Hardy will do the same, because his heart isn’t in wrestling as it is like the other guys. It will be interesting to see where Jeff Hardy goes from here.
Hulk Hogan is rumored to be Mr. America. Whoop-de-freaking-doo. I stated this in my last column, and I will say it again, the old stars have to be faded out, and it’s time to start pushing new stars, or talent not being used right, such as RVD, Booker T, Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho. Hogan/Sable/Piper and whatever other guy they are going to pull out next, (There have been rumors of the Ultimate Warrior and even King Kong Bundy returning) is not going to pull the WWE out of the rut. Wrestling is a cyclical business and the fans go in and out, and they need to create new stars, to bring in new fans.
Well that does it for this week. Next week I will be back discussing the top indy tag teams and more, including the latest news and my opinions about the WWE.