Another week has gone by in the world of pro wrestling, and you know what that means: welcome to another edition of The Eagle’s column we call Catch or Release, a rating of the week that was in the world of pro wrestling, divided up into two categories: Catch being good and Release meaning it needs to go. Before I start I would like to send out my sympathy to Fabulous Moolah’s family and friends. She will be missed greatly. She will always be a true legend that will never be forgotten. This edition of The Eagle’s Catch and Release is dedicated to her, her career, her memory, and all the great times she gave us. Now on to the business at hand. PLEASE drop me a comment to let me know your thoughts on the segment.  Thanks for visiting pro wrestling’s fastest growing site! 

CATCH —Festus and Jesse. These two are actually pretty impressive in the ring. Their gimmick is awesome and is really over with the crowd. The Eagle sees great things in their future.

RELEASE – The Chuck Palumbo/Kenny Dykstra feud. This is getting boring folks. I have seen both of these men do great things in the ring…. And they are being wasted right now.

CATCH —Scott Hall returning to wrestling. I cant wait to see “The Bad Guy” back in the ring. I have been told he looks great. Even if its just for a little while… this will give him a chance to go out with some pride.

RELEASE – Team 3D beating up the X Division. Now I’ll admit I popped for the X Division giving Team 3D a beat down this week…. But theres more to do with the X Division and Team 3D, TNA.

CATCH —Samoa Joe and Robert Roode. This was an impressive showdown on Impact this week. It ended with Joe being busted up. This is the push that Roode needs to show off his talent. Lets hope this continues.

RELEASE – Once again… the Hornswoggle saga. Ok this week wasn’t that bad but its still useless. The Eagle is all for comedy breaks but this just isn’t funny anymore.

CATCH —The development of Cody Rhodes. Rhodes has the talent and putting him with Hardcore Holly is really helping his development.

RELEASE – Junior Fatu asking for more money. There is no doubt that this guy is a asset to any company but to go in wrestle 5 matches and then ask for more money is just crazy. He has a chance and he blew it cause he got greedy.

CATCH —Tommy Dreamer’s match against Nunzio this week. This week we all seen the Tommy Dreamer we grew to love. He was aggressive and to make it better…. He didn’t job out.

Drum roll time - the biggest Catch and Release items of the week:

CATCH —JBL returning to the ring. If his attack Friday night on Undertaker and Batista wasn’t evidence that he is coming back… I don’t know what is. His comment afterwards saying “This is what I do” just adds to the conclusion he is coming back. The Eagle thinks this is great. I will say it again… JBL’s heel gimmick is only second to Edge.

RELEASE –  D.H. (Harry) Smith getting suspended for violating WWE’s wellness policy. The Eagle is very disappointed in him. His own father fell victim to steroids and at one point Harry said he wouldn’t go down that road. Another liar among the ones caught? The Eagle thinks so. At least I expected it from Chris Masters. The Eagle lost hope for him along time ago.

As promised I have added something to my Catch and Release column. It’s time for the Catch and Release matches of the week.

CATCH —Christian Cage vs Chris Harris on TNA Impact. These two men really showed off their talent this week when they went at it in The Fight For The Right Tournament. These are the kinds of match I love to see every week. When you got the talent…. Use them.

RELEASE – Coachman vs Mick Foley on Friday Night SmackDown. It was useless and predictable… need I say more?

If you would like to nominate a match for either category, drop me a line. See ya next week!

- The Eagle

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By The Bullgod
Wrestlers Ramblings.com pro wrestling news 

Ladies and Gentlemen The Bullgod is back with a special article on WWE Smackdown’s hottest new talent, Drew McIntyre. This week The Bullgod got the chance to sit down and talk with Simon, the promoter of one of the hottest indy promotions in the UK, IwW - Irish Whip Wrestling. I asked Simon for his thoughts in Drew McIntyre (known in IwW by his real name - Drew Galloway) here is what he had to say — (Editor’s note — Just another example of the kind of pro wrestling coverage you will only find here at WrestlersRamblings.com, the fastest-growing FREE wrestling site on the internet today! Bookmark us now and pass along this link to fellow friends of the squared circle and TNA fans with their octagon-whatchamacallit . . .  why not! - Mr. Mal):

Drew Galloway aka Drew McIntyre biography

‘Thee’ Drew Galloway had amassed a cult fanbase through his wrestling on the independent scene in his native Scotland, but it wasn’t until he made his debut on IwW Whiplash TV in July 2005 that people really stood up and took notice. Galloway built a love to hate relationship with the Irish Whip Wrestling fans through his cocky, often vain, ways, but his skill in the ring was undeniable and IwW officials soon pegged Drew for great things. His first rivalry in IwW was with fan favourite, Mad Man Manson. The two wrestled across the country in singles, tag-team and handicap matches always stealing wins from one another. The rivalry came to a head when Manson defeated Galloway in a memorable Street Fight at IwW’s final show in the SFX Theatre. On a card featuring such luminaries as Vampiro and ‘The Phoenix’ Jody Fleisch, the violent brawl between Manson and Galloway stole the show and even in defeat, Drew’s reputation was only enhanced by the sheer brutality he was forced to endure during the match.

The Scotsman soon embarked on an intense rivalry with the then IwW International Heavyweight Champion, ‘SOS’ Seamus O’Shaunessy (who was also recently signed to a WWE developmental deal). This rivalry was originally built because of Galloway’s proud Scottish heritage versus O’Shaunessy’s Irish pride (with the green vs. blue dynamic being reminiscent of football’s intense Celtic vs. Rangers rivalry) and sparked much emotion with fans in whatever town the two wrestled in. However, the two soon developed a personal animosity based around Galloway getting ever-closer in each attempt to wrestle the title from the grasp of ‘The Irish Curse’. Fans believed it was only a matter of time before the title eventually found its way around Galloway’s waist, and such was Drew improving in the ring each week that many of the fans even began to rally behind him in his efforts. Eventually, at IwW ‘International Intermingle’ in August 2006, Galloway managed to become only the third person to ever hold the IwW International Heavyweight Championship (pictured above left) when he defeated ‘SOS’ in perhaps their most memorable match to date.

WWE Superstars McIntyre and O’Shaunessy during their IwW days

Galloway’s reign was short-lived but memorable. He took on the world’s best, even defending the belt in the UK on several occassions, and defeated the likes of Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Go Shiozaki and Ippei Ota in the process. However, Drew’s career was taking off and, coupled with college commitments at home, he was unable to commit fully to defending the IwW International Championship on a regular basis therefore, regrettably, IwW were forced to strip him of the Championship in January 2007. (The belt was later won by current champion, Vic Viper, after he defeated Kid Kash, Mad Man Manson and Ballymun Bruiser in a four-corners match that month). Soon after, Galloway realised the potential that IwW officials first saw in him when the tall, striking Scotsman first appeared on ‘Whiplash TV’ in 2005, and was signed this year to World Wrestling Entertainment (where he now wrestles under the name Drew McIntyre - as pictured above left during his WWE debut at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, MI a few weeks back). Irish wrestling fans will always remember him as the cocky but talented former IwW International Champion though and on behalf of Irish Whip Wrestling, we would like to wish Drew the best of luck in his promising career.

-The Bullgod

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IwW photos courtesy of irishwhipwrestling.com. McIntrye photo (bottom) copyright WrestlersRamblings.com and Mr. Mal Occhio. All rights reserved. Use without prior permission is prohibited.

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By The Bullgod
Wrestlers Ramblings.com pro wrestling news 

Ladies and gentlemen after a short time away the Bullgod is back, fresh of the back of a UK tour with (belated) live notes and coverage for a second week in a row from the WWE Smackdown taping on Tuesday in Birmingham, England. Don’t worry though gang, I won’t be giving away any spoilers. ECW began with Tommy Dreamer pinning a jobber whose name I never caught (because I was on a hunt for a CM Punk t-shirt at the concession stand) in front of a less than half full arena. Tony Chimel then got in the ring to make the announcement that ECW was about to begin and would be on SKY Sports in the UK, which pretty much got everyone running for their seats. It was also good to see Joey Styles and Tazz getting a good reception as they made their way to the broadcast position.

ECW kicked off with the three potential number one contenders for the ECW title arguing over who should get the shot, with only the Miz (pictured, right) getting any real heat with some “Who are ya” chants from a rather subdued Birmingham crowd. The crowd did however come to life when CM Punk’s music hit (yes the Bullgod did mark-out I’m afraid) and even more so when CM Punk revealed Kane as his partner. After the handicap tag match a lot of people around where I was sitting where grumbling that CM Punk had been dominated by Miz for most the match (which, alongside John Morrison last week and Big Daddy V at No Mercy, means all three possible number one contenders have dominated the Champ, strange booking) but most fans where happy with the Punk/Kane victory.

After a 20 minute gap of nothing happening at all at the live event ECW continued with the Jesse and Festus vs Elijah Burke and Nunzio tag match, that the crowd couldn’t really get into after sitting around for so long. By the end of the match Festus seemed pretty over with the crowd. After Balls’ promo, a lot of fans seemed to leave for the concourse for the Morrison vs Miz match up and missed what looked like a decent match before Big Daddy V decided to interfere. The more I see of John Morrison the more I like him. I don’t agree with the ECW title being thrown on him because of his “WWE look” but he is improving so quickly and really suits this new gimmick. The Bullgod predicts big things for Morrison.

OK, now for what the fans came to see, WWE Smackdown. By this point the NIA Arena was pretty full, with only some sections having empty seats and the volume seemed to be turned up a notch with the WWE Smackdown opening and pyrotechnics. There was a lot of recap footage of last weeks Smackdown, which (from what I heard around me) seemed to annoy people as most fans seemed to “know” that the Undertaker wasn’t on the UK tour. So later on in the show when it was announced that Undertaker was fighting on the show, the roof blew of the place, by far the biggest pop of the night.

So Smackdown kicked off with the UK fans being ‘treated’ to a WrestleMania rematch of the Great Khali vs Kane (pictured, left). Khali seemed to get a fair bit of heat, which quickly turned into “you can’t wrestle chants”. I was amazed at just how big this man is in real life, and that’s standing next to Kane. Its easy to see what Vince sees in Khali, pity pro wrestling skills aren’t a factor anymore when it is decided who will get a push.

Chuck Palumbo got a good reaction when he came out and the fans seemed to be into his gimmick. The Bullgod has always been a fan of Palumbo, from his WCW days, and even sticking with him when he was going to marry Billy Gun (kayfabe of course), and am hoping Palumbo get reach and sustain mid-card status.

Drew McIntyre had another match this week against one of the Major Brother, Brett maybe, but the fans really weren’t into the match at all, which wasn’t by any means a bad match, I think it was more to do with the fans don’t know the Major Brothers, or Drew McIntyre well at all yet, and Dave Taylor (Drew’s partner seemingly) isn’t exactly a household name. The Bullgod will be bringing an exclusive article on Drew McIntyre this week so keep your eyes peeled for that here at WrestlersRambling.com.

Jimmy Wang Yang teamed with Shannon Moore for a match against Deuce and Domino, that was again, solid with good use of the contrasting styles but once again the fans weren’t into it as much as I would have expected. Things picked up with the Undertaker’s match. I have never had the pleasure of seeing the Undertaker live but watching his entrance is something else, literally sending a chill down the Bullgod’s back. JBL had an interview with the World Heavyweight Champion Batista that seemed to go down well, and the fans loved all of the MVP and Matt Hardy stuff. Second biggest pop of the night had to be Rey Mysterio, who had an excellent match with MVP (unfortinatly some fans started to leave after Undertaker’s match), and had a showdown with JBL. The latter I feel was instead of a dark match main event and will not be on the WWE Smackdown TV showing, especially as 3/4 of the arena had left by this point.

In other live notes, John Cena was getting loudly booed anytime he came on the big screen, and as a friend of mine pointed out, there were A LOT of young fans dressed up as Rey Mysterio, but none in Cena outfits. This may just be because it was a WWE Smackdown taping and Not WWE Raw but thought it was worth mentioning. The Crowd also seemed to be fed-up of seeing Big Daddy V as he was involved in three matches and had a promo over the course of ECW and Smackdown.

- The Bullgod

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