My WrestleMania Moments

Next week signals the biggest week of the wrestling calendar itself as WWE descends on the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana for WrestleMania 34.

With Brock Lesnar set to defend the Universal Championship against Roman Reigns, The Undertaker set to return to take on John Cena, Ronda Rousey set to make her in-ring debut as she teams up with Kurt Angle to take on Triple H and Stephanie McMahon amongst other matches, it should prove to be a memorable edition.

WrestleMania 33 will mark the 16th WrestleMania I have watched live and despite the highs and lows of wrestling, it still remains something that always managed to excite me.

I was lucky enough to attend last years WrestleMania in Orlando, Florida, which was the culmination of a lifelong dream. It was a terrific experience, reminding me why I love the wacky world of professional wrestling and all it's highs and lows. 

But what do I see as the most memorable WrestleMania moments since I've been watching? Here are my top five.

The End of The Undertaker's Streak

Certainly the most shocking moment for my money, as Brock Lesnar put an end to a 21 year streak. 

The best thing about this was how low key the build up to the match was. It just seemed like it was going to be yet another victory for Taker,  all the way until the actual finish.

After that, several questions went through people's heads. Was that planned? Did Brock go into business for himself? Was the Undertaker supposed to kick out? When this daft old sport can make you question things like that, you know you're onto a winner. 

Shawn Michaels retires 

The end of the Heartbreak Kid's storied career came at the end of WrestleMania 26 in one of the best moments in recent memory. 

A two year rivalry with a wrestler's competitive spirit and obsession with achieving greatness leading to his downfall was by far the best story told in recent years.  

This is a moment that still lasts to this day, largely due to the fact that it was the definitive end for HBK when so many retirements have gone the opposite way. A true 'WrestleMania Moment'.

Daniel Bryan becomes WWE World Heavyweight Champion. 

If anything could describe Daniel Bryan defying the odds to end the biggest WrestleMania of all time, it would be fan power. 

As the fans hijacked numerous attempts by WWE to force a main event of Batista v Randy Orton on them, they were made to change their plans and the rest is history.

Although the aftermath wasn't what we wanted, there is nothing better than seeing an underdog achieve their dreams, and that is exactly what happened here.

The Rock takes on Hulk Hogan

A clash of two icons during WrestleMania X8 saw The Rock and Hulk Hogan take part in one of the biggest dream matches of the century.

It's a match that had me on the edge of my seat as a child, and my appreciation for seeing two of the best of all-time has only increased to this day. 

Showing their understanding of the crowd, Hogan wrestled the match as as a babyface and added to already electric atmosphere in the stadium, giving the fans exactly what they want.

Cena and Batista become stars  

WrestleMania has become somewhat of a nostalgia trip in recent years, with part timers coming back to take on each other becoming a new theme for the show.

The last time WWE successfully looked to the future was shockingly over a decade ago at Wrestlemania 21 when John Cena defeated John Bradshaw Layfield to become WWE Champion and Batista defeated Triple H to become World Heavyweight Champion.

By creating two detestable heels in JBL and Triple H that had talked and cheated their way to victory for months, WWE helped create two of the biggest babyfaces in recent memory, and in an era where they are severely lacking stars, the company could do worse than to follow this template again. 

Written by Andy Phillips // 

@AndyP_GY

25 Years Since SummerSlam hit Wembley - The Build Up

Many have been talking about a different 25 year anniversary this week but with the latest edition of Summerslam coming this Sunday, this year also marks 25 years since the only major pay-per-view to hit WWE shores – Summerslam 1992.

80,335 fans crammed into Wembley Stadium on 29 August 1992, two weeks after the official start of the Premier League as the WWF hit its peak in Europe in front of their second highest crowd attendance ever as hometown hero The British Bulldog went for the Intercontinental Championship against Bret ''The Hitman'' Hart, whilst ''Macho Man'' Randy Savage defended the WWF Championship against The Ultimate Warrior in a rematch of the previous years Wrestlemania VII classic.

Lee Kimber attended the event as a 16-year-old along with his friend Graham. and has fond memories of this era of wrestling, saying: ''I had only gotten into the WWF the year before when Graham loaned me his VHS recording of Wrestlemania VII. From that point I was hooked.

''In 1992 I think it’s fair to say my love of wrestling was at its peak and I was pretty much obsessed with it. My outright favourite was The Undertaker, but I was a big fan of several others, particularly Bret Hart, Ric Flair and Mr Perfect.

''The WWF was massively popular here at the time with their tours selling out all over the country. I think it was an opportunity to cash in on the huge European popularity at the time and they took it.

When the announcement was made on either Superstars or Wrestling Challenge. I remembered being stunned, then deciding that I was going to get there no matter what.''

Alan Dicks was also one of the thousands in Wembley Stadium as a 14-year-old along with his dad and sister. Speaking of his fandom at the time, he said: ''I was a huge fan, I watched both WWF and WCW and was a big fan of both Bret Hart and Randy Savage.

''There were over the top characters, a lot less TV so you didn't get to see everyone all the time and big events seemed a lot more important.

''It was hot at the time, I think WWE went with the live event in 92 due to Bret and Bulldog being very popular with the UK audience and the US business not being that strong. ''

Ollie Clark attended with several friends and concurred with these reports of the WWF in 1992, explaining: ''I was a massive fan. I'd been watching religiously since 1987, went to the first ever televised WWF show in the UK in 1989 at the London Arena and went to WrestleMania VIII in 1992.

''The night before WrestleMania VIII, I found the hotel were a lot of the wrestlers were staying and spoke to Vince McMahon!

''I asked him if he thought he would ever do Wrestlemania in the UK and he said 'never say never but probably not Wrestlemania', but another pay-per-view absolutely!

''It was really good over here at the time. I felt it peaked in between 1988 and 1990 but was still massive in the UK in 92.

''Loads of kids talked about at school and were wrestling each other.''

According to The Wrestling Observer, the plan was to do the event in Washington, DC but with business in the US down, which had a lot to do with Hulk Hogan leaving the company for the first time, the decision to come over to the UK and air the show on a two day tape delay in the States was made.

Tickets went on sale in around April 1992 for the event, and this video from Sky News shows footage of people queuing up overnight for the occasion and providing some refreshing insight on what it meant to have the show in the UK at the time.

Alan Dicks went to the show after seeing a travel package advertised in a newspaper and made his way down to the event on a travel agency coach, whilst the dark days before the internet saw Lee spend three hours on a phone hotline before getting through whilst Ollie queued up for tickets at Wembley itself.

The build up to the show revolved around a lot of drama, in particular with the two big babyface matches which were a rarity at the time.

Lee Kimber remembers this well, saying: ''It was covered heavily on weekly programming, in particular the Warrior v Savage match with speculation of whose corner Mr Perfect would be in, and the focus on Diana Hart Smith and her emotional turmoil as her husband and her brother prepared to face off.

''The national press got fully behind the event as well, with The Sun in particular giving it a lot of publicity in the run up to the event.''

Ollie Clark also remembers seeing the event advertised on television, explaining: ''It was heavily advertised in all the newspapers and remember seeing interviews on television with the promoter, Harvey Goldsmith.''

Shawn Michaels and Rick Martel were also feuding over the services of Sensational Sherri and The Undertaker's first feud of what went on to be a four year stint of him taking on big men saw him face Kamala in a Casket match, which you can see more of in Mean Gene Okerlund's special Summerslam preview two weeks before the event on an edition of Wrestling Challenge.

So the stage was set for a terrific event to unfold, and we'll continue with this when we take a look back at both the day and the show itself exactly 25 years to the day, on 29th August. See you then!

Written by Andy Phillips (@Andy_PGY)

Wrestling Isn't What It Used to Be...But Why Does That Always Have to Be a Bad Thing?

So, after what has seemed like a lifetime since I found out I would be doing this, it is time for me to write my first piece for Across The Pond Wrestling.

I was deciding for a while what I wanted to write about first, and eventually decided that I wanted to start off by writing something positive, because there doesn't seem to be so much of that out of there.

It's always easier to criticise things. People like to focus on the bad things about pro wrestling these days and don't get me wrong, I'll certainly be doing that regularly in the future but I wanted to start off by doing something a bit different.

This piece is about wrestling not being what it used to be, it is about it not being as popular as in the past but it's also about why that is absolutely okay.

Now, just to add a little bit of context to my views, I'll tell you a bit about my background. I'm 24 years old and I've been a wrestling fan since roughly late 2000, when a school friend introduced me to the crazy world of the World Wrestling Federation. It's been something that bar a couple of short hiatuses, I've had an interest in ever since.

Now, as amazing as it seemed at the time, the main angles during my first year watching wrestling saw Stone Cold Steve Austin turn heel at WrestleMania X-7 as well as the infamous Invasion angle... hindsight kind of proves that I was introduced to wrestling just as its mainstream popularity began to dwindle, which was also around the same time WCW and ECW were about to close their doors.

Since the true competition disappeared, there's been a lot of discussion amongst fans about WWE's lazy approach to storytelling, with many suggesting that they need to push boundaries in order to recapture lightning in a bottle like they did in the eighties and nineties.

I personally think that this is unlikely to happen regardless of what they try to do but that is something I'm fine with, simply because it's not something I blame the industry for.

We do live in a period where pro wrestling doesn't really fit in with society's mainstream culture any more but then what does that really mean in 2017? Pop culture in general is an a perpetual state of nostalgia when it comes to film, television and music. There's very little fresh being brought to the table in any area of entertainment.

In fact, funnily enough, I think whilst the WWE in particular can be very heavy on nostalgia at times, wrestling is actually one of the few artistic pursuits that is beginning to change. For a start, wrestling is now being made for the pure wrestling fan, which means it is catering to the audience that remains. This is a smart business strategy, even if it's not always the most successful one.

Today's wrestling has become purely athletic competition for the most part, and that is a direct result of the new generation of talent. That is never going to bring in the mainstream crowd but is it really that big a deal? Popularity and quality aren't two things that go hand in hand. As long as the industry is still surviving, and it is more than doing that, it will continue to entertain generations for years to come.

People will miss the larger than life characters from the childhood without a doubt, but the pure wrestling fan is absolutely spoilt for choice in terms of content these days if they look hard enough.

You only have to look at the situation here in the UK to see how much better our scene is for this, with the likes of PROGRESS, WCPW and IPW:UK in particular flourishing in a British scene that is hotter than it has been in years. I was used to All-Star Wrestling shows as a kid with the main attractions being WWF tribute acts. It's now the other way around, and WWE are using our wrestlers to enhance their product.

Add in the likes of New Japan, Lucha Underground and NXT across the world and there has never been such a high calibre of in ring talent in the industry.

While WWE in 2017 might not always be everyone's cup of tea, even their product has suddenly started to resemble an independent promotion these days. I'm not just talking about NXT either, RAW in particular has never been less about storylines and more about in-ring action on a weekly basis than it is today.

Something else that you can look at as a positive is the way women are treated in wrestling these days. Although as a red blooded male there were always some positives to the way women were portrayed in the past, I've also always realised that it was a bit tacky, and there wasn't really any true justification for the industry to be as misogynistic as it was.

It is truly refreshing that the industry has decided to grow up a bit and champion equality. In addition to the huge strides women's wrestling has already taken, we're getting the Mae Young Classic on the WWE Network and the first ever Women's Money In The Bank Ladder match in a few short weeks, so the boundaries are being pushed all the time.

Then, there is the most important thing. The deaths. A wrestler's lifespan has been greatly increased as a result of the changes in the industry over the last few years, and there is no way, shape or form that this can't be considered a good thing.

There was a point where it seemed a weekly occurrence that another wrestler had died young, and it was quite soul destroying. You watch pay-per-views from twenty and thirty years ago now and it's often quite ridiculous how many people on those shows have passed away when you consider how young they were at the time.

It might have taken an absolutely horrific incident in June 2007 to kick start this whole movement, but nobody should ever have to die for their craft and to entertain others, which is something that the younger generation should never have to deal with when it comes to their heroes..

So, as I said at the start of the piece, wrestling isn't what it used to be, but lets not ignore the positives either, both in and out of the ring.

Written by Andy Phillips