From The Musty Yellowed Pages--2001 WrestleAmerica Guide To Professional Wrestling

What in the world happened where 2001 is suddenly fifteen years ago? It's true. It feels like yesterday. Some of you reading this may barely remember 2001 if you're young enough. It was a notable year in many respects. For me personally, the year had been ingrained in my head since 1987 when I was in pre-school. That is where I first remember hearing that my group would be the "high school graduating class of 2001." Who knew that the year would end up housing one of the most infamous days in world history? No, I'm not referring to the day that Shane McMahon showed up on Nitro, although that is the direction in which we're heading. We're about to dive into the WrestleAmerica 2001 Annual that features "Your Guide To Professional Wrestling."

If you had any interest at all in wrestling in 2001, you needed this magazine. Sure, the Internet had plenty of info, but here were 125 American wrestling promotions bundled in one place with a generous profile included for each. Sure, most were small independent promotions that shared similar rosters and "name" wrestlers doing one-shots, but this was wrestling fifteen years ago. In many respects, it's the same today. The cover may say "Unraveling WWF/WCW/ECW," but in reality they were all one at this point. And who does that cover feature? Shane and Stephanie McMahon, the stars of Smackdown and Raw. In 2001. And 2016.

It's a lot of fun to look through the pages just to see who "made it" and who didn't. In 2001 if you were talking independent wrestling and proverbial "Internet darlings," you had to be talking Reckless Youth. Nicknamed "The King of the Indies," Reckless Youth had quite the following and seemed destined to be a name that went down in wrestling history. Despite much press and a stint in WWE Developmental, Youth is now long out of professional wrestling. He is featured in several promotion profiles in the magazine along with names like Samoa Joe, Alexis Laree, Low-Ki, Michael Shane, Colt Cabana, and Phoenix who all would go on to some degrees of fame.

There are also legends like Jerry Lawler, Brian Blair, Honky Tonk Man, Jimmy Snuka, and Jacques Rougeau who were still plying their trade on the indy scene. In the case of those cousins from Tennessee, they're still at in 2016! Lastly, there are those who look like they stumbled out of the nearest bar to play "champion" in their nearest indy on weekends. I won't name any names, as they all deserve respect for at least getting into the ring at some level. And how about this Prince Justice guy shown as the champion of NWA Wildside? Guys like him often disappeared into a veritable abyss, never to be seen again.

The magazine also features "The Indy 30: The Top Prospects In Wrestling." Shall I list them? Air Paris, Scoot Andrews, Chad Collyer, Nova, Qenaan Creed, Christopher Daniels, The Island Boys (later Umaga and Rosey), Billy Fives, Russ and Charlie Haas, Tony Kozina, Randy Orton, Michael Modest, Donovan Morgan, Onyx, Brock Lesnar, Nick Dinsmore, Hotstuff Hernandez, Horseshu (later Luther Reigns), Adam Pearce, The Prototype, Jason Rumble, Mike and Todd Shane, Damien Steele, Trent Acid, Shelton Benjamin, Rico Constantino, Minoru Fujita, Dalip Singh (later The Great Khali), Lance Cade, and Jayson Reign. I guess teams count as one. What an interesting list full of highs, lows, fame, and tragedy looking back on it all these years later.

We end with a Book of Lists. "Wrestling's 10 Most Powerful People" is really the only one interesting enough to explore. We have Vince McMahon, Linda McMahon, Antonio Inoki, Stephanie McMahon, Shane McMahon, Motoko Baba, Jim Ross, Triple H, Steve Austin, and Paul Heyman. In 2016, the McMahon's are still in power, though Linda has taken a step back. Inoki, long out of New Japan Pro Wrestling, barely makes a ripple. Motoko, widow of Giant Baba, doesn't seem to be involved in much anymore, at least to the extent of puroresu that comes to my attention. Ross, Austin, and Heyman all have their own ventures but their voices are still heard loudly either in or regarding the business. As for Triple H? Some would say that he is more powerful than Vince, others would disagree. If you look at the changes in WWE over the past several years you could make a pretty good argument that in 2016, HHH tops this list.

There's too much fun stuff in this issue to show it all here. It isn't a rare magazine by any means and can be found for under $20. It's definitely a time capsule of a time when the business, and the world, was changing. Will we do this again in 2031? There may not be a magazine to show us exactly where the business was, but I fully believe that there will still be a wrestling business to showcase. I'll see you there.

TNA Live--An Experience In WRESTLING To Be Learned From

The wrestling industry is constantly changing and evolving. From The Rock and Steve Austin looking to pass the torch to the industry's "silent" battle against the fad of mixed martial arts, never before has there been more of a transition period than right now. One of the major companies has finally abandoned the "evil" title of "wrestling" altogether while the other is nearing a decade of trying to find itself.

When wrestling finally came to pay-per-view in 1985, the ultimate goals of most wrestling promoters immediately began to change. Pay-per-view buys became more important than selling tickets to live events. While these events, the sole financial backbone of the industry until '85, have survived the past twenty-six years, their importance has changed dramatically.

The matches which previously were only seen on a live basis were now available for a fee on pay-per-view or later on free television. Being under the same roof as your favorite stars and seeing cookie-cutter matches became the only real motivation to travel to your local arena and catch a live show.

TNA is a company which, for nearly ten years, has seemed somewhat lost at times. Being created as an alternative to the WWE product, many times TNA has seemingly just copied the worst of WWE. Glimpses of great things have come from the promotion, but often without capitalization or follow-up. For the past several years and deriving from several sources, TNA has done one thing right--the live event.

For many years independent wrestling promotions have been known for providing smaller shows where fans can see action from younger stars in addition to older veterans. Combine that with a usual option of getting to meet many of these stars at the show and fans of the independents usually leave the events with smiles on their faces.

TNA took those ideas from the independents and developed a unique experience that ultimately boils down to fans getting not only a great experience, but enough of a draw to get them out of the house and down to the arena. While TNA runs mostly smaller venues, fans always benefit from a more intimate setting where there really isn't a bad seat in the house.

A veteran of many live events over the past twenty years (including several TNA events), I can honestly say that TNA the event this past weekend in Rostraver, PA was one of the best I've ever been to. The company did its best to get the fans the best experience that they could have. From personal appearances in the area which included stars giving out autographs, DVDs, and show tickets to the different ticket options to meet stars at the show, I doubt a single fan left the event unhappy. Compared to the WWE's first two lackluster efforts at Pittsburgh's new Consol Energy Center, this is a far contrast.

Every TNA live event includes an "autograph party" where various stars of the promotion circle ringside with Sharpies to sign whatever the fans provide. Other signings and photo opportunities arise throughout the night as well. While buying a TNA program is encouraged by huckster Don West, I highly recommend viewing the show lineup in advance and bringing your own items in addition. The program is a very nice item to get signed, however, and nominally priced at $20.

For a few years now, perennial TNA announcer Jeremy Borash has come up with different ways for fans to obtain "backstage passes" in order to meet even more stars at the events. At the Rostraver show, sixteen commemorative Jeff Jarrett TNA guitars were available for purchase. While not in everyone's price range, the guitar included two backstage sessions as well as photo opportunities with Mickie James, Mick Foley, and Kurt Angle which were available to other attendees for a fee. Seeing the guitar in person makes you realize that this is the quintessential TNA collectible and ultimately a bargain. Considering what the included autographs and photo ops would cost on the wrestling convention scene individually it was almost a mistake to pass it up. Hopefully TNA creates other unique pieces of memorabilia such as this for future events.

The show itself was also a step above other offerings recently in the area. The card was solid, well booked, and well performed. If TNA provided the style of match and card on television that is presented on the house show level, we could see the company give the "entertainment" crew from Connecticut a run for their money. Each and every house show reaction I've witnessed live for Beer Money rivals and eclipses that of many of the Monday night superstars.

The bottom line is that both companies realize that change needs to be made in order for the ring wars to be "hot" once again. WWE believes that changing to full-blown entertainment is the way to go. TNA gets that wrestling is still on the marquee, but only seems to produce that on the house show level. There's room for athletics and entertainment in the world of wrestling, we simply need to get back to the perfect balance.

Whether you're looking to meet the stars, want to see entertaining wrestling, or pick up a couple of autographs, a TNA live event could be just what you're looking for. Don't let the stigma that the company has picked up deter you. They've changed live events the way that they needed to be changed. If the entire company followed suit, we could be in for wrestling the way we once loved it.

Jakks "Ruthless" Style Lives On...For Now!

In January of 2003, Jakks released to the public what would be their most enduring style of wrestling figure. The "Ruthless Aggression" figure series, named for a phrase coined on WWE television the previous year, featured a style that met the needs of both collecting groups. Kids had a figure that was easy to play with and enabled them to recreate their favorite wrestling moves. Collectors had a figure that was great to look at and nicely represented their favorite stars. The style also carried over into the legendary WWE Classic Superstars figure line.

When Jakks took over the TNA figure license beginning in 2010, the majority of the figures were released in the "Deluxe Aggression" style. These figures are slightly larger and have a bit more articulation. While the Deluxe figures have a large fan base, many collectors prefer the Ruthless figures due to having seven years worth of WWE characters (and countless Classic figures) in this style.

Jakks Deluxe-Style Eric Young &
Ruthless-Style Kevin Nash

To appease this group, Jakks announced that not only would the Legends of the Ring figure series be done in the "Ruthless Aggression" style, but that a series featuring current TNA stars to be sold at (then unnamed) pharmacy and grocery store chains would be produced this way as well.

Just last month I brought you a review of several of the figures from the first Legends of the Ring series. This week, Jakks announced that the second series would not be produced due to an alleged lack of interest from collectors. It has been said that these and other Legends figures (Raven and Shane Douglas have been mentioned) will be worked into future regular TNA figure series while retaining the Legends packaging. I would not hold my breath.

Despite this setback, the other promised series of "Ruthless" style figures have indeed been released. An exclusive to Walgreens pharmacies, a six-figure series including Sting, Kevin Nash, Abyss, Kurt Angle, Jay Lethal, and Suicide has hit stores as part of the chains Christmas toy offerings.

Dubbed "Ruthless Impact" by collectors, the six-figure set seems to be showing up as one set per store. It is unknown if the figures will be replenished as the holiday season nears. Thus far, the figures have shown up individually carded and sold from a graphically-collectible cardboard display box. Since there is one of each of the six figures to each display box, many collectors have obtained the boxes to display the figures in.

Dating back several years, Jakks has had a long history providing many smaller retail chains with exclusive figures. At times, these figures have suffered from less detail than their counterparts sold at regular toy retailers. This difference does not continue with these figures. Characters such as Abyss and Kevin Nash feature great detail on their tattoos while Jay Lethal, clad in his "Black Machismo" attire to pay homage to "Macho Man" Randy Savage, even has "Machismo" on the back of his tights.

While the figures do not feature realistic scale, the same can be said for the "Deluxe" versions sold at mass retail. Scale is a feature that is difficult to produce correctly in order to provide a consistent product. For a good example of this, check out Mattel's figure releases of Rey Mysterio with a pea-sized head.

In addition to the display box, the cards are nicely designed with bubbles that are firmly attached. Issues have arisen with the first series of Deluxe TNA figures to hit retail regarding poor package manufacturing. Of note is the use of Suicide's "symbol" rather than the name "Suicide" on both figure and card. This is, no doubt, due to TNA and Jakks not wanting to release a children's toy using a controversial word. While the argument can be made that the child will know the name regardless from TNA television, I believe the omission is more to avoid problems from interest groups that target such matters.

It will be interesting to see how the collectiblity of this set rises or falls in the near future. Collectors have been scouring Walgreens stores nationwide to find this set which has just begun to show up. If the current trend of one of each of the six figures PER Walgreens store continues, coupled with the price point of three of the figures for $13.98 (or about $28 for the set), things in the TNA collecting community could get interesting this holiday season. Add to the fact that the Ruthless-style Legends series has been cancelled for all intents and purposes, we may be seeing the end of one of the longest lasting figure-styles in wrestling toy history.