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Welcome to the inaugural edition of "Breakin' All The Rules" by the "Straight Shooter" Shane Stevens. Incase you haven't already broken it down, that's me.
Let me start off by saying that I don't follow trends, I set them. However, there is one trend I AM going to follow this time. That being giving shout outs. I'd like to thank the two guys who made it possible for ME to bring you this column. First, is the real "Survivor," of the Internet wrestling world, and the head honcho @ ECWNews.com, Kurt LaMont(Your boy has the belt, for now). Secondly, is the man that the entire Internet can't hold down, the guy who makes Bruce Mitchell jealous so much so that he must write about him in his columns, and a fellow I am honored to call a friend..... Tom Misnik. These two fellas deemed it absolutely necessary for me to hit y'all up with this column, so here it is.
For all of you who are taking the time to read my stuff, I appreciate it. I'm going to try to connect with my readers, so you are encouraged to get at me with your views, opinions, suggestions, hate mail, or anything else you may have for me.
I'm going to tackle Anarchy Rulz right quick, because I feel there's some things that need to be said that others may have missed. First off, I wanna say its easy to criticize something over the Internet, extremely easy actually. I remember the Sunday night after the PPV ended, I was looking through the Internet and all I saw were posts concerning the technical problems at the show. Like Rhino's nick, “Big F'N Deal.” Yes, there are technical difficulties here and there that need to be addressed, but is it required you hone in on them rather than spotlight the better things that happened?
How about, instead of going on about the lighting errors in the arena, make light (no pun intended) of Jerry Lynn defeating Justin Credible to capture his first ever ECW title? Make light of a man who has busted his ass in this business for numerous years, only to put someone else over, or have someone else take his spot. Make light of a man who brought Rob Van Dam to his greatest match yet. How about it? Guess that's too hard to report.
Ol’ Robbie V. is on his way to the Orient! Yes, that's right folks, the "Whole F'N Show" is headed to Asia!!! Actually, he's going to Thailand to be more specific, to film a movie called "Black Mask 2," with the biggest thing to hit American movie theaters since buttered popcorn, Jet Li. These two guys together in one movie.....WOW!(To check out some of Jet Li's stuff, I recommend Fist of Legend @ Blockbuster) I hope they have a fight scene against each other in the movie, because Jet Li is one hell of a phenom with his skills (can't put him over Robbie though, Jet Li may be a badass, but he’s not the Whole F’N Show *plug plug*). Be that as it may, Van Dam isn't some 3rd rate pushover off the streets. Robbie has mad skill all around and a Guiness record for a lift he created to boot(Did y’all know that?). So, there’s no doubt in my mind that whatever they put together, its going to be one hell of a showout by both guys. I can't wait to check it out!
Former ECW World Heavyweight Champion and one of my personal favorites, Justin Credible, came up injured with what was reported as a concussion a week ago(Thur. the 12th) in Salem, VA. First off, I want to wish him back to a speedy recovery because plain out, concussions suck and can end careers. Ask Eric Lindros, or Troy Aikman, or Steve Young (remember that guy?) for that matter. Credible has been one of the top card guys for some time now, and every time I've seen him live, or on TV he's put on a great match in my opinion. For that reason, he's earned my respect, and admiration. He's a hell of a nice guy in person too. Anyhow, get well Justin, things wont be the same if you’re not in the ring busting your ass like always.
Coming off the heels of praising Justin Credible as if I was some “super-phan” of his, let me get into some more introductory / explanatory stuff about me. I'm not some shmooze ass kisser by a long shot, but when I say this I mean it. There isn’t one guy in the locker room that I don’t like as a worker. I think that all of the boys deserve more credit than they’re getting now, especially from the Internet world. That’s a whole other story though, one which I’m not getting into today. Anywho, where was I? Oh yeah, I was about to embark on my personal mission of marking out for my boys, along with putting them over. *wink wink* Here we go.........
#1- “Japanese Buzzsaw” Yoshihiro Tajiri
One thing that you all will come to know, is that I'm the biggest Tajiri mark you'll ever know. No guy goes over him. With your Shane Douglas adoring Frank Romeo's of the world, or your Jerry Lynn adoring Kurt Lamont's, you've got your Shane Stevens-Tajiri connection. By the way, although I’m the biggest Tajiri fan, I don’t have a personal shrine to him like Frankie does with The Franchise. LoL.
This guy is the best thing to happen to professional wrestling since the turnbuckle. From your spotfests, to your death matches; Japanese or Mexican (take your pick), the Japanese shoot or high-flying Lucha style, or even the plain old wrestling match, Tajiri can do it. I remember seeing him tear down the house for the first time live like it was yesterday. I remember catching his first few matches, v. Antifaz, then v. Crazy. They were great, straight-up wrestling matches. From then on, I was hooked.
I popped like no other when he kicked the living shmucks out of Taz in the heel turn of the decade!!! I was outraged when Tajiri dropped the belt to Rhino at the mecca that is the ECW Arena (or is it Paul? You don't seem to think so anymore). The worst part of that, I had to be front row center for him to drop it, but hey, it took Rhino two piledrivers and a lot of his buddies to put my man Tajiri down.
With only I believe 5 years of experience under his belt, he has matured into an unbelievable worker. I’m still awaiting the day that he and RVD hook it up for the first time. When that happens, God help us all, because its going to be one for the ages. I'd pay pay-per-view price just for that match, and not because it's just "good booking" as a certain someone likes to coin it.
To wrap this Tajiri rant up, I've got a question for everyone out there about.....well......Tajiri. A trivia question which I intend to make a permanent part of my column, so lets roll if you all are ready: “What pay-per-view did Tajiri/Taz face off at, and where was it held at?” Email your answers over to straightshooterecw@hotmail.com and I will announce the winner next time around. I'm toying around with the idea for prizes, but I'll have to see how many of you out there actually READ and LIKE my stuff. For now you can just pat yourself on the back if you get it right, and are put into the next column!
#2 “The King of Old School” Steve Corino
Steve Corino.........Geez. Where do I start? “The King of Old School” might have never came to be as we know him today. Why you ask? He worked with the WWF for a bit, as well as in the Dojo. However, for some odd reason that still escapes me (with his talent, jeez, what’s wrong with them up there?), he wasn’t signed to a long-term deal. Figure that one out, because somebody dropped the ball on him. But hey, their loss is our gain.
Steve was ready for his big break after working the indy circuit for some time, working with some of the same guys he’s working with now in ECW (CW, Simon, etc.).
I’ll hit the fast-forward button on this, because I could go on forever. I had to cut myself off on Tajiri, LoL. From the time Corino walked in the door, to the present day, his workrate and character have just skyrocketed. He’s now embroiled in the World Heavyweight Title scene along with Lynn, Credible, and CW. Without a doubt, as Cyrus likes to say, its “Onward and upward” for “The King of Old School.”
#3 “Hardcore Icon” Justin Credible
I’ve already touched on pretty much alot of the aspects I like about him a few paragraphs up, as well as a little ways down. I’ll say this here in summary though..... For a guy who had to run with a horrible gimmick somewhere else and break out of the shadow of that garbage, he’s done tremendous. The chants of “Aldo” have nearly disappeared. Why? I'll tell you. It's because his workrate like the rest of the locker room's is unbelievable, and when he steps in the ring, he gets EVERYONE’S attention. Sheer respect exudes from some of the crowd, while admiration comes from others. Oh, and there are those few who still get legitly pissed when he begins to rip them on the mic. After all, they are the same ones who label it “rasslin.” Those guys are great for a laugh when they get worked up. That’s worth the price of admission alone. If you have a funny story of someone getting worked up, email it to me, and might put it in print. I know I sure have some stories to tell about some gullible fans!
Those are my top 3 guys right now, but in a future column, I’ll tackle everyone else, and rundown my favorite moments or memories of those people.
Another one of our columnists, Frank Romeo, made the prediction that Justin Credible would retain the belt in Lynn-land (AKA Minnesota). Well, Frankie, the “Jobber to the Stars” just became the World f---in’ Champion. I would say choke on that, however, someone else is using that one, and its already over-cliched. Oh, by the way, it took a lot of balls to admit to Justin putting out your man Shane before he headed off to Turner-Land. I’ll give that to ya. I might not like the *NSync hairdo you got going on (and you call yourself and ICP/hard-rock/Manson fan?) but you are most definitely a stand up fella for bringing that one to the surface. One more thing Romeo, good job on keeping up with your consistency of columns. Don’t fret, I’ll fill the void.
Picture this people........ I’m talking with a person I bought something from off of eBay...... She is the casual wrestling fan. She goes to all the events in town, blah blah blah. We were talking about ECW, and she proceeded to keep mentioning things about one guy’s ass, this guy’s chest, etc. etc. She then told me how she thought Credible was of no use to ECW, and had no place with the belt, and to hit off her words exactly, she said that he just didn't “carry” the belt like he should’ve. Based on her just going off about some of the guy’s assets, I don’t think that kind of statement holds much water in my book.
Justin Credible is one of the best, and most consistent workers in this industry. Oh yeah, I failed to mention that PJ Walker is a resilient guy. Yes, I said PJ Walker. HE refused the hospital treatment after his concussion last week when he came up injured, not “Justin Credible.”
He will be back in the ring in no time from that concussion. Why? Because he has the fire/what it takes/the desire to bust ass in the ring for the fans in attendance and at home watching just like the rest of the ECW locker room. Hence, the tightest, and best locker room in the United States today. Keep all of that political bullshit down south. This is the hardest working wrestling promotion in the country, not a breeding ground for all that crying.
Well, that’s it for now! The first edition of Breakin’ All The Rules is in the books. Next week, I’ll get the hamsters turning upstairs and get my memory jogged as I will run over a few Cyberslam memories as well as a plethora of other topics! Email me suggestions, rants/raves/hurrendous disagreements, and/or questions to StraightShooterECW@hotmail.com! Till next time.........