Tajiri's Burger King Ban & Jericho's Assassination Situation: Ten Things You May Have Missed In Wrestling This Week
Now with added Destrucity!
I would like to start this week by talking about The Ultimate Warrior.
I mean, I wouldn't 'like to', but introductions are tricky, y'know?
Warrior was a bit before my time, as I truly became a fan in the late 90's, my first real exposure to him being WWE's 2005 DVD release 'The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior'.
A total hit job on one of their colourful creations, this was WWE's way of denigrating Warrior's name and image during a time when he and the company were at odds.
It was also around the time of Jim Hellwig's controversial public speaking and online blogging activity, with WWE hoping to distance themselves from the former WWE Champion, while also profiting on his notoriety.
Warrior was back in the spotlight this week, as the subject of an A&E Biography piece made in conjunction with WWE, as well as the subject of an episode of The Dark Side of the Ring series.
While the A&E thing wasn't exactly glowing and didn't totally shy away from the more controversial aspects of Hellwig's life or his often fractious relationship with Vince McMahon, it was, naturally, a far more positive portrayal than the Dark Side profile.
Both are worth viewing and, either way, the shows got the wrestling world talking about the late Hall of Famer, and it's only appropriate that there's a story about him included in this issue of Ten Things, along with a bunch of other grappling happenings on the periphery.
As for my take own on the Warrior? In his prime, the man had one of the best heads of hair in the business.
Let's leave it at that.
10. Change Of The Seasons
Old, reliable Phil Brooks is usually good for a bit of online pot stirring, and this week was no different.
First, the Straight-Edge Superstar tweeted 'It's almost summer', alluding to two of his most celebrated contributions to the wrestling business - the 2005 & 2011 Summer of Punk storylines, perhaps gently teasing a return to the ring.
The first Summer of Punk was during 2005 in Ring of Honor, where he reigned as their World Champion, despite having publicly acknowledged that he had signed a WWE developmental deal and would soon be reporting to Ohio Valley Wrestling.
The second was in 2011, which peaked with the infamous Pipe Bomb promo and subsequent epic Money in the Bank WWE Title win.
It's amazing to think it has almost been one full decade since Punk beat Cena for the gold that night in Chicago.
Speaking of his old rival, Brooks took a shot at Big Match John following Cena's public apology to China for referring to Taiwan as a 'country' during an interview to promote the forthcoming Fast and Furious 9 film.
Punk tweeted 'New bio!', an illusion to the Young Bucks' incessant, comedic social media updates, momentarily changing his Twitter biography to read 'Taiwan is a country'.
So, with that 'summer' tweet, his trolling of Cena and reports of Cena's impending return to WWE, we're all set for the two to rekindle the feud ten years on, right?
I reckon a rehash of their rivalry could get the Raw ratings back up to two millions viewers once again.
Written by Lewis Howse
Features journalist for Cultaholic.com and script writer for the Cultaholic YouTube Channel.
