The Life & Times of Abdullah the Butcher (A Wrestling Observer Shoot DVD) review

August 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Send to Kindle

One of the most violent men in professional wrestling, Abdullah The Butcher, has been the centre of controversy when it comes to his in-ring violence, his WWE Hall-of-Fame induction and a $6.5 million lawsuit against him.

For the first time ever Wrestling Observer has released not only a shoot interview DVD with The Butcher, but two other bonus discs along with it. One featuring Butcher’s matches against Carlos Colon, Giant Baba, Bruiser Brody and many others from Puerto Rico’s World Wrestling Council promotion. There is also a War Games match that did not take place in World Championship Wrestling. The last disc is a soundtrack of all the music used in the DVD.

For a little over two hours Butcher, along with his manager Honest John, explain in the interview how it was a rough life for Butcher growing up with seven other siblings. Begging and working people at an early age was ways for Butcher to survive. Butcher explains how he got his big break wrestling in Vancouver, his time working with Stu Hart and how he became one of the biggest stars in Japan.

At times Butcher and his manager seem to be working the host when they get upset at how he smiles or how he could ask questions that upset Butcher. For the most part though, Butcher does answer the majority of the questions and through out it all he maintains that he is a professional and always has been.

Despite the recent lashing he received from Superstar Billy Graham over the accuscations of Butcher passing on Hepatitis C to other wrestlers, Butcher has nothing but respect for Graham in the DVD since the interview was conducted the year before WrestleMania 27 in Atlanta. Butcher explains how he had not been asked to be in the WWE HOF, although he definitely believed he deserved to be in there with a good pay day.

Devon Hannibal Nicholson is only mentioned when the subject of Butcher’s last match in Montreal occurred in 2009. Butcher talks about how someone called the police when he nailed Hannibal with a coffee pot causing Hannibal to bleed heavily.

While at times arrogant, Butcher strongly believes WWE missed out on a big money opportunity by never having him in WWE to feud with Hulk Hogan and The Undertaker, even though Butcher knew both men and both of them wanted him to join the federation. Butcher briefly touches on his time wrestling in North America as his feuds and moments in Japan outnumbered them by far. The DVD gets quite emotional when Butcher talks about meeting Brody’s wife at the airport and being the one to tell her that her husband is dead.

For a first shoot DVD, Wrestling Observer give fans interested in the career and life of Butcher a lot to enjoy. Over 80 minutes of Butcher’s matches, a trip to Butcher’s House of Ribs restaurant in Atlanta that has seen many wrestlers pass through there, and English commentary for Butcher’s matches. The match with Brody does have some tracking issues, Butcher has had more memorable matches, unless you know Wrestling Observer you have no idea who the host is as he only introduces himself off-camera for the play-by-play commentary, and the second disc might make you wish the third disc was also filled with matches.

Still if you’re a fan of Abdullah The Butcher and want more of the raw excitement he provided, this DVD is worth checking out.

The Life & Times of Abdullah the Butcher (A Wrestling Observer Shoot DVD)

Wrestling Observer and Tier 2 Films

Released on Apr. 26, 2011

Run time of 257 minutes

Click here to order the DVD

Filed Under: DVD, Pro Wrestling Uncensored, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

UFC 116: Lesnar v. Carwin DVD review

December 31, 2010 By 1 Comment
Send to Kindle

The mammoth left arm of Brock Lesnar sucked the life out of challenger Shane Carwin, as Carwin tried his best to hold on before deciding to tap out for his first-ever loss in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and in mixed martial arts.

The return of ‘The Next Big Thing’ Lesnar to the UFC at UFC: 116 was a sports highlight of the 2010 summer. Lesnar’s fight was the second time in his career that he fought in a UFC Heavyweight Title Unification bout. The heavyweight title battle was far from a technical masterpiece, but Lesnar brought a lot of hype going into this.

This was Lesnar’s first title defence since July of 2009. In late 2009 Lesnar suffered from diverticulitis, which nearly took his life. While Lesnar recovered, Carwin became the interim UFC Heavyweight Champion and established a record of 12-0. Questions on if Lesnar could return to top form and if Carwin could win the big one were answered at UFC: 116.

Carwin nearly dominated the first round and some can argue that he had the fight won when he was pummeling Lesnar with the ground and pound. The fight kept going though and Carwin progressively got tired. Carwin’s fatigue was not only obvious to the announcers, but Lesnar as well. Lesnar says he waited for his chance and he made the most of it. The fight is similar to Lesnar’s comeback—you think Lesnar is done, but out of nowhere he is standing at the top of the UFC mountain at that point in time.

“I should have performed better in the first round, I’m not happy about it,” says Lesnar in the post-fight interview. However, “a win is a win. He was better than me in the first round, but I showed a lot of heart.” In a bonus feature, The Rock Dwayne Johnson congratulates Lesnar on his fight and new child in an amazing moment for fans of each superstar.

In Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Stephan Bonnar 2, it does not take long for both men to have bloody faces. Both are able to get exciting flurries against each other and credit to both men for taking such brutal abuse back-and-forth. Unlike the first fight, there is no question to the finish of this fight. Hard to believe this was not fight of the night, until you see Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Chris Leben.

Originally Wanderlei Silva vs. Akiyama, Leben took the fight two weeks before the event and after he fought two weeks prior as well. Akiyama had not fought in the UFC for about a year, but did not look like he missed a step. Fast action, hard kicks, a chess game on the ground, that once they got tired became a slugfest. Akiyama seem to have control most of the fight, but Akiyama’s heavy breathing and Leben’s toughness allowed for a shockingly dramatic finish.

The extras on the two-disc ultimate edition of UFC: 116 includes the preview show that aired on Spike TV, the prelim bouts, the weigh-in, pre-fight and post-fight comments for each fight and the standard behind-the-scenes feature that shows how the UFC event was all put together hours before it went live on pay-per-view. Lesnar’s comments on the ref not stopping the fight and getting another shot at life is a different look at one of the most hated fighters in the UFC. Watching Cain Velasquez have his own commentary segment on the Lesnar-Carwin fight was fun thanks to Velasquez’s friend putting down the fighters and putting over Velasquez.

UFC 116: Lesnar v. Carwin

Anchor Bay Entertainment Canada

Released on Sept. 14, 2010

$21.98

Click here to order the DVD

UFC: 116 Fight Card

MAIN CARD

  • Champ Brock Lesnar vs. Interim Champ Shane Carwin
    UFC Heavyweight Championship Unification
  • Chris Leben vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama
  • Chris Lytle vs. Matt Brown
  • Stephan Bonnar vs. Krzysztof Soszynski
  • Kurt Pellegrino vs. George Sotiropoulos

PRELIMINARY CARD

  • Brendan Schaub vs. Chris Tuchscherer
  • Kendall Grove vs. Goran Reljic
  • Seth Petruzelli vs. Ricardo Romero
  • Gerald Harris vs. Dave Branch
  • Daniel Roberts vs. Forrest Petz
  • Karlos Vemola vs. Jon Madsen
Filed Under: DVD, MMA, Reviews, UFC Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Minnesota’s Golden Age of Wrestling book review

June 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Send to Kindle

Allowing your family members to believe you are apart of the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang or an American-hating Russian was common before the 80′s in Minnesota’s professional wrestling scene.

Long before Vince McMahon Jr. revealed to the world that professional wrestling was just entertainment, wrestling was viewed as a legit sport—family and friends went to their graves believing what their loved ones did inside the squared circle was completely real.

In George Schire’s Minnesota’s Golden Age of Wrestling: from Verne Gagne to the Road Warriors, Schire relives how wrestling became a popular hotspot in Minneapolis, starting back in 1933 and ending in early 1990’s. The book starts off covering the local shows in the area and the ones involving the National Wrestling Alliance until Gagne started up the American Wrestling Association. The majority of the book is on the AWA and the superstars that wrestled in it full-time or once in a while.

With what seems to be a lifetime of research and collecting photos or posters, Schire has compiled an in-depth timeline of events in Minnesota. He clearly explains in the introduction how he plans to explain it. Each era feels like a series of episodes with Schire detailing each major feud or upcoming featured attractions, such as the Lou Thez-Verve Gagne title rematch that is constantly avoided. The use of old wrestling newsletter headlines, side notes on almost every page and photos from each era, helps give a little extra insight on some matters that can be easily lost in a extensive timeline.

Following the collapse of the AWA, Schire focuses on individual stars and some of the tag teams that were highly regarded in Minnesota. The book’s greatest strength over McMahon’s The Spectacular Legacy of the American Wrestling Association DVD is how Schire gives details on all the AWA stars instead of just selective ones that benefit World Wrestling Entertainment. Featuring Stan Mayslack, Hans Schmidt and Moose Evans are just a few examples of how much more AWA superstars are in the book compared to the WWE DVD.

It may seem hard to tell when Schire is going along with storylines or if a real-life situation occurred. However, when The Crusher was out with an injury in 1969 he does admit that was a work and he admits when angles were changed due to a random death. His style of writing adds to the mystery of some angles and grudges that wrestlers still have kept to this day.

The lack of a section for an overall conclusion was the main disappointment. One would believe that there is no future for pro wrestling in Minnesota besides WWE. Although the Road Warriors are mentioned in the title they are nowhere nearly as mentioned as Gagne is in the book. One could argue about other tag teams or individuals that could have been mentioned at the end of the book, but Schire wanted that so readers would get interested and think about the many superstars that came out of Minnesota.

This type of wrestling history is truly needed in an age where the Internet is seen as all knowing and yet incomplete. The view from someone that lived through a good portion of Minnesota’s Golden Age and took the time to research it through makes this book a must for wrestling historians and long-time fans of AWA.

Minnesota’s Golden Age of Wrestling: from Verne Gagne to the Road Warriors
Written by George Schire
Published by The Minnesota Historical Society Press
256 pp.
Released in May 2010

$27.95

Filed Under: Book, Pro Wrestling Uncensored, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , , , ,