The Realness Report - Jay Lethal: Lethal Dose of Reality

picture by Dwayne Allen

Since defeating Jay Briscoe at ROH Best in the World 2015, the pro-wrestling landscape has gotten a lethal dose of reality and that reality is the first undisputed Ring of Honor World Champion, Jay Lethal.

Since his return to Ring of Honor in 2011, Lethal quickly established himself as an integral part of the company, after spending six years as a mainstay of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling’s X-Division. Lethal is most known for his extremely accurate homage to childhood idol, the late great “Macho Man” Randy Savage. His portrayal of Black Machismo made him a fan favorite and was good enough to receive the blessing of Randy Savage himself.

Leaving the gimmicks behind, Jay Lethal quickly established himself as top dog of ROH’s mid-card by winning the ROH Television title, holding the title for 231 days during his first reign as TV champion. After losing the TV title, Lethal spent his time chasing opportunity after opportunity to become the top draw in Ring of Honor. The reality was, Lethal was missing something. He needed a dose of the “Truth”.

Jay Lethal got exactly what he needed when he accepted the help of Truth Martini to defeat Tommaso Ciampa to become the first ever 2-time, 2-time, 2-time ROH World Television Champion in company history. The House of Truth was re-born with Lethal at the helm. Not waiting for the suits and ties to give him another shot at the World title, Lethal went on to become the longest reigning World Television Champion in ROH history and counting.

Lethal solidified his place in Ring of Honor history but he was far from done. The House of Truth would not stop until Lethal was recognized as the most important champion in the company. Lethal and The House of Truth officially declared that his World Television Championship was the only title that mattered and that he was the true “world” champion of ROH. After four years of fighting, scratching, and clawing, ROH matchmaker Nigel McGuiness finally made the announcement that at Best in the World 2015; Jay Lethal would battle ROH World Champion Jay Briscoe in a “title vs. title” winner-take-all championship match.

On Friday June 19, 2015, Jay Lethal defeated Jay Briscoe to become the company’s first-ever undisputed World Champion. Lethal is also the only one to hold every singles title in company history, including the defunct ROH Pure Championship title. He is also the third triple-crown champion in company history.

The reality is, Jay Lethal has changed the landscape of professional wrestling, as we know it. Lethal has shown that there is no one better in the ring and on the microphone that can keep up with him and his title defensives. The House of Truth is the most powerful that it has ever been. Jay Lethal’s work in the ring speaks for itself, but his work on the mic is reminiscent to the “Nature Boy” Ric Flair in 1985. Flair’s influence on Lethal’s career is no secret, but there is not a heel better than Jay Lethal in all of pro-wrestling right now with the exception of WWE World and United States Champion Seth Rollins (look or sound familiar?).   

Who else defends the World and TV titles on weekly basis on ROH television and pay-per-views? Many people assumed that once Jay Lethal won the ROH World title, he would drop the TV title and a tournament would be held and a new TV champion would be crowned. Jay lethal has done the exact opposite. Instead, he continues the longest title reign in ROH history at 571+ days and counting as TV champion while defending both World and TV titles.

Jay Lethal is defending two championship titles against every major player in the Ring of Honor locker room. Who else is doing that week-in and week-out? Look at the all world champions from all the major players in pro-wrestling. You have the WWE World/US Champion Seth Rollins, ROH World/TV Champion Jay Lethal, NJPW World Champion Kazuchika Okada, and TNA World Champion Ethan Carter III. All fresh young champions looking to guarantee that the world of professional wrestling has a future.

Enjoy this list while you still see it in this way. What am I trying to say? Glad you asked. Word on the street is that WWE/NXT is extremely high on Jay Lethal and Kazuchika Okada. William Regal has recently been assigned to scouting these young talents and with WWE/NXT’s recent obsession with all the top draws of independent and international pro-wrestling, let’s see how long it takes before ROH and NJPW lose their top draws and current world champions.

-The Real Dwayne Allen

#RealnessReport

@dwayneallen24

@wrestlingwrealm

Realness Report - War Machine: Ring of Honor's Future Tag Team Champions

Picture by Dwayne Allen

You have to be living under a rock if you have not heard of the fasting rising tag team in all of professional wrestling, WAR MACHINE. This emerging tag team is comprised of power houses, Hanson and Rowe, Ring of Honor's future World Tag Team Champions.

I remember being backstage at a Ring of Honor taping in Baltimore, MD working with the photographer and they brought in a group of wrestlers who, at the time, were apart of the developmental system in ROH known as "Future of Honor". In walks this huge tag team with long beards and tats and immediately these guys had my attention.

The first thing I thought to myself was "I'm not sure who these guys are but they definitely have the look to be major stars". I began to do my research and I found out when they would be performing on the card that night and I made sure to go watch the match  so I could figure out what this tag team had to offer.

In a world where tag team wrestling has very few legitimate superstars, War Machine did not disappoint! Hanson and Rowe have an old school smash mouth style, reminiscent of The Road Warriors along with the agility to move like lightweights. From that point on, I declared that War Machine was the tag team of the future. Not just the tag team of the future in Ring of Honor, but the tag team of the future in all of professional wrestling.

They have an undeniable star power and "it factor" that very few tag teams have today. They have that same "it factor" that I remember seeing when I was first introduced to Ring of Honor and saw The Briscoes, Mark and Jay or the first time I was exposed to the Young Bucks, Nick and Matt Jackson. These home grown tag teams prove that it doesn't take "the machine" to manufacture what they believe a tag team should look like. 

Hanson and Rowe have had a ton of amazing tag team match-ups with the likes of The Killer Elite Squad, The Briscoes, The Addiction, reDRagon, Forever Hooligans, and The Bullet Club etc. My personal favorite match-ups have been when War Machine has gone to war with The Briscoes and the ROH All-Stars vs The Bullet Club at ROH/NJPW Global Wars 2015 Night one. If you need an introduction to War Machine, this is the perfect match to take notice.

War Machine has erupted into the Ring of Honor's main event scene as a tag team and the future is bright for pro-wrestling's next big tag team. Ring of Honor does the best job in creating new stars when current established stars move on to the WWE for the big paychecks. The format is no different when it comes to War Machine. The future of Ring of Honor and pro-wrestling is taking shape before our very eyes.

I'm implore you, TAKE NOTICE NOW!!!!!! WAR MACHINE IS THE FUTURE OF ALL TAG TEAM WRESTLING. When you look at all established tag teams in pro-wrestling today, very few tag teams can match up with War Machine in terms of size, in-ring work and ability, unique look and overall star power. When I look at the current pool of tag teams I honestly don't want to see War Machine match up with many of the new tag teams. 

I want to see War Machine match up with the likes of The Dudleyz, The Briscoes (again), Luke Harper and Eric Rowan, The New Age Outlaws, Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows, The Hardys and maybe The American Wolves (maybe). Outside of the tag teams I just named, there are no other tag teams in the world today (that I know of) that match up with War Machine as a total package. This intense tag team would bulldoze through all of  WWE's current tags with the exception of Harper and Rowan. 

They would destroy anything growing in NXT's tag division, (although I am a huge fan of Blake and Murphy). Do they even have any more tag teams in TNA anymore? They would over power the likes of the Time Splitters and Roponggi Vice of New Japan Pro-Wrestling and they might break The Young Bucks in half if they could ever get their hands on them.  

The clock is ticking for current Ring of Honor World Tag Team Champions, The Addiction. Although experienced, age is factor that could lead to the decline of current tag champs Frankie Kazarian and Christopher Daniels. Mark my words when I say, it is only a matter of time before Hanson and Rowe take over the world of tag team wrestling. These guys are global stars waiting to happen. Just watch.

War Machine has declared war on the wrestling world and they will destroy any wrestler or tag team that gets in their way. War Machine is Ring of Honor's Future World Tag Team Champions. This means WAR! 

- The Real Dwayne Allen, The Wrestling Wrealm 

@Dwayneallen24

@WrestlingWream

The Realness Report - Seth Rollins: The WWE's Most Wanted Man

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Years ago, I made it very clear that Seth Rollins would be the first member of The Shield to be a world champion. Not only is he the first member of The Shield to be WWE World Heavyweight Champion, he is now the MOST WANTED man in WWE. 

After aligning himself with The Authority, Seth Rollins has found new ways to scheme and plot his way to the very top of the WWE. It started with winning Money in the Bank and culminating in him cashing in at Wrestlemania 31 to outsmart both Roman Reigns and the beast incarnate, Brock Lesnar to win his first WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Since then, the King has reigned supreme. 

Surrounded by The Authority, J&J Security, and Kane, Seth Rollins has avoided losing his coveted world title in a number of scenarios. Seth Rollins has managed to escape the clutches of former world champions like John Cena and Randy Orton while barely escaping rising stars like Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns. With the lunatic fringe Dean Ambrose hot on his tail recently, Rollins' time as WWE World Heavyweight Champion may be coming to an end sooner than we realize.

Or maybe it won't be Dean Ambrose. Maybe it'll be the powerhouse Roman Reigns. Maybe it'll be a returning Daniel Bryan. Maybe it'll be a vengeful Viper in Randy Orton. Or maybe it'll be a rising NXT superstar in Kevin Owens or maybe (and the most obvious) the 295 pound elephant in the room, the beast incarnate, BROCK LESNAR!!!!!

One way or another it only confirms why Seth Rollins is the MOST WANTED man in the WWE today. Anywhere you turn, Seth Rollins has someone looking to dethrone the current King of WWE today (no offense Bad News Barrett). Only time will tell how long Seth Rollins will remain WWE World Heavyweight Champion and which hungry WWE Superstar will be the one to end his first reign as WWE World Heavyweight Champion. 

- The Real Dwayne Allen

@dwayneallen24

@wrestlingwrealm

The Realness Report - Daniel Bryan: The Truth About The Yes Movement

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I've kept quiet about Daniel Bryan who seemingly is in the same situation after Mania with an injury. I feel like guys like Sheamus try to intentionally hurt Daniel Bryan to take his spot. With that being said, Daniel Bryan needs to activate his "Dragon" bone and hit the weights to better strengthen his body and stop being so passive.

It's been revealed on a podcast interview that Vince and Triple H are behind Daniel Bryan because of his connection with the fans but a lot of talent backstage are jealous because of it. Most people think we (The YES Movement) are mad because he's not "the man"? That's the furthest from the truth.

Not once has any of us ever complained about Seth Rollins being world champion. He's earned his spot, he's developed and improved and was a given a proper build up. Reigns didn't have that and not many people wanted him. As long as Daniel Bryan is healthy he'll be world champion again.

As Ted Dibiase once told HBK "when it's all said and done, talent will always rise to the top". What does the Yes Movement want now? We want our favorite wrestler to be healthy and enjoy the rest of his career.

Whether you like it or not, the Daniel Bryan's fanbase is bigger than most of your favorite current wrestlers and once he's healthy he'll be back in the spotlight again in due time. And if you're not down with that......WE GOT TWO WORDS FOR YA...........SUCK IT! !!!!!!!!

- The Real Dwayne Allen

@dwayneallen24
@Wrestlingwrealm

The Realness Report - Curtis Axel: Enough is Enough and It's Time For a Change.

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I have had enough. There’s only so many times that as a fan I can sit back and watch one of my favorites being underutilized week after week after week.

What kind of wrestling world do we live in where the legitimate wrestlers and ring generals are only utilized to make “the gimmicks” look good in the ring? Sure, I can accept sports-entertainment and yes times have changed but what happens when enough is enough? It’s time for a change.

I’m not going to take this time and go into depth about what is and what isn’t with the WWE. The fact still remains for me that Curtis Axel is wasting valuable time wrestling three and half minute matches on prime time television when he can be main-eventing around the world.

There’s no legitimate reason in the world of pro-wrestling that Fandango should beat Curtis Axel in one on one match-up in the ring in a three and a half minute “sports-entertainment” match. I understand that Curtis Axel is a team player and that the WWE does things a certain way, but I have a suggestion.

 

I campaign that Curtis Axel transform into Curtis Hennig and head to a place where his skills and abilities as a professional wrestler can still be used and appreciated, New Japan Pro-Wrestling. In NJPW, Curtis Axel will have legitimate wrestling matches with some of the most talented pro wrestlers in the world today.

Curtis Axel deserves to be in the mix of all the action and competing in the ring with the likes of Tanahashi Hiroshi, Nakamura Shinsuke, Kazuchika Okada, AJ Styles, Naito Tetsuya, Yoshitatsu, Takahashi Yujiro, Ngata Yuji, and Ibushi Kota. The match-ups he could have are endless and we’ll get a legitimate library of Curtis Axel’s greatest wrestling matches.

Once AJ Styles jumped ship to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, we finally got a chance to see AJ Styles do what he does best, wrestle!!! His career came back to life and I believe we can see the same for a talent such as  Curtis Axel in New Japan Pro-Wrestling. At 35 years old, he still has plenty left in the tank to offer the world of pro wrestling and the time is now.

Curtis Axel’s new attitude is a perfect fit for a certain wrestling stable that currently presides in the “land of the rising sun”. A Bullet Club t-shirt is waiting for you Curtis Axel. I’m not going to ask WWE to change but I suggest that real talent go somewhere they’re utilized and appreciated. I suggest New Japan Pro-Wrestling for Curtis Axel.

- The Real Dwayne Allen

@Dwayneallen24

@WrestlingWrealm

The Realness Report - Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart: The Ladder Match That Changed Everything For Me.

Picture by Dwayne Allen

I remember like it was yesterday. It was May 8^th 1993 on a Saturday night when I sat in the basement with a spirited group of elementary school kids for my cousin’s birthday sleepover.

After an evening of go-kart racing, eating junk food, and acting silly, it was time for my cousin to finally open his presents. Let’s be honest, half the time we went to birthday parties was because we wanted to see what new toys our buddies got and how we were going to finagle a trade or cash in some favor in which they had to let you hold it for a week. But anyways…

Present after present, and nothing really caught my attention until the moment that rocked that sleepover to its core and dang-near caused a riot (or it could’ve honestly been the over eating of cake and potato chips). My cousin pulls out what seems to be a VHS tape wrapped in old comic book newspaper. He tears through the newspaper wrapper to reveal a brand new WWF tape from Coliseum Home Video! Never mind the other gifts, we wanted to see some wrestling.  It was a 1993 WWF compilation tape called “Smack em and Wack em” with a set of matches from 1992.

 

As soon as we saw the tape, the ruff-housing and wrestling began! The struggle for the foam WWF championship toy belt my cousin had was officially on. In an attempt to calm down this rowdy group of junk food filled kids, my uncle would only agree to put the tape on if we settled down and stopped trying to body slam and leg drop each other.

It was like a marathon of wrestling. Match after match after match, it seemed like the matches kept coming. There were a few gems on that tape like Ric Flair vs. Bret Hart, and The Undertaker vs. Razor Ramon but one match in particular caught my attention.

It was Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels in the WWE’s first ladder match for WWF Intercontinental Championship on July 21, 1992.

I personally was no different from most kids with a short attention span. Of course we were all pumped to watch the WWF wrestling tape but it was also late and we began to crash from all the birthday festivities and sugar we consumed. There was something different about this match in particular. As tired as I was, I was locked in to this match. Everything HBK and The Hitman did had me looking for more from Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels.

It was at that moment that I became obsessed with the work of Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart. Sure, I had seen plenty of matches at that time with Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart previously but not a lot of matches with each other. I immediately went home that Sunday afternoon and dove right into the pile of WWF magazines looking for more Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart coverage.

Every magazine I went through, I either saw coverage of Bret Hart or coverage of Shawn Michaels but never anything of Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart. Eventually, I had to settle and accept that Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels, at the time, was just a simple match-up for a taping but not a budding rivalry.

While trying to find so much coverage on Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart, I didn’t realize it but I was educating myself on so much that had happened with both Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart in the previous years. I had caught up on everything Bret Hart had done in the World Wrestling Federation from 1990 to 1993. Shawn Michaels on the other hand was just getting started in 1992, but it was the birth of “the Heartbreak Kid” persona.

I had found my two favorite wrestlers. That one match sparked a lifelong fandom for Bret “The Hitman” Hart and “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels. Everything I did wrestling related had something to do with Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. Although I had to settle for separate matches in the early 90’s from the two, in my world, I always found a way to recreate that one matchup that I saw on a WWF Coliseum Home Video in 1993.

I would draw paper wrestling figures and accessories at lunch time and cut them out and continue to recreate my favorite matchup over and over again. Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels, complete with a paper ladder and a paper championship belt. I would do this just about everyday until one of two things would happen. One, the paper action figures ripped and I would have to recreate them or two, my teacher would take them away from me for playing with them during school time.

Starting out, Bret Hart was the top guy of my two favorites because in 93’ Bret’s career was further along than Shawn Michaels’. That would begin to change later that year when I witnessed the ladder match from Wrestlemania X with Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon. Shawn Michaels skyrocketed into the atmosphere and things became more increasingly complicated for me as a fan of both. Bret Hart was still atop of his game but Shawn Michaels was evolving and the “Kliq” (HBK’s fans) was starting to take over. So you can imagine the conflict I had when Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels met at Wrestlemania XII in an iron-man match, although I enjoyed 60 plus minutes of Bret x Shawn at Wrestlemania (which is still to this day my favorite match of all time).

When I decided that paper action figures could no longer suffice, I came up with the genius idea of “why don’t you start collecting the actual WWF action figures?” Pure genius. As a kid during the 90’s, I didn’t have access to any catalogues or any Internet access with a WWF action figure checklist or anything. So my best bet was to try to convince my mother to go the mall or Kmart so I can check out the toy section to get an idea of what WWF action figures look like and if I can find suitable replacements for my paper wrestling figures. 

It was finally my day and we were heading to the mall for whatever reason and the first thing I asked my mother was, could I go pass KB Toys and she usually never had a problem with that as long as I didn’t ask her to buy me anything. I turned the corner then looked up and the first thing I saw left me speechless. I saw my one half of my favorite wrestler/s, Bret “Hitman” Hart in a blue and black carded package with a big blue WWF block logo that said “WWF Slammers” by Jakks Pacific complete with “bone crunching action”. I grab the action figure and held it in amazement. Some people may look at all this as overkill but I knew this short period of time was the only time I was going to be able to remember how cool this action figure really was. There were no camera phones so I couldn’t take a picture or anything so all I had was a few moments.

 

Once I gathered myself, I took a look around at the other WWF action figures to see what else was available and looked on the back of the figure packaging card. I looked up further on the shelf and found the next thing I was looking for, a wrestling ring. There it was, the WWF Raw is War Monster Ring! It was huge. I looked on the back to see a Bret Hart action figure in the ring with Stone Cold action figure and a referee in the ring. They also had a Vince McMahon on the outside of the ring with a Sunny figure. The next thing that I saw answered my next question. Is there a Shawn Michaels action figure and what does it look like? There it was, a Shawn Michaels action figure on the ropes in blue tights and black zebra tights looking to interfere with the action figure wrestling match going on in the toy ring.

The problem was, I had no idea how to get my hands on a Shawn Michaels action figure. It wasn’t in the store and I had no idea if they were even selling this particular HBK action figure. To make a long story short, I eventually got all my favorite WWF action figures over time and I enjoyed my endless matchups between Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart.

With all that being said, that still leaves the million-dollar question, who is my all time favorite? Bret or Shawn? Over the years, for different reasons Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels would interchange between one and two for me. Now that my favorite wrestlers are both retired and Hall of Famers, here’s how I explain it. When composing a list of all my favorite wrestlers, at the top of list there’s a 1a. and 1b. I cannot choose between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. They are collectively both my favorite wrestler/s of all time.

Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels defined the wrestling generation of my childhood, the “New Generation” of WWF superstars that kept me locked in pro-wrestling during the early 90’s. It all goes back to that night when I saw Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels face off in a ladder match for the Intercontinental championship back in 93’; the match that changed everything for me.

- The Real Dwayne Allen

@dwayneallen24

@Wrestlingwrealm