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In the season of hirings and firings, it would seem that no one is safe in the WWE. Superstars who were holding belts only a few months ago, are now holding their pink slips. Vladimir Kozlov had a promising career as a comedic sidekick to Santino Marella, Melina was one of the companies most exciting Divas and Chris Masters was seemingly getting more television time than he had ever had. And all three were released last week. Every year, these casualties exist. The need to freshen the roster and cut away the excess means that the WWE has acquired this now as annual tradition. And so it makes me ...

It will not come as a surprise to many if the king of hardcore, Mick Foley reappears on our WWE television screens anytime soon. There have been rumours for months that he would make his return, even dating back to when he was in TNA. The decision by the WWE to advertise his book, Countdown to Lockdown, whilst in TNA, still baffles the mind, given that Vince McMahon is so insistent on not mentioning his competition. The man that first graced our screens as Mankind in 1996 and then as Dude Love and Cactus Jack, was an instant hit with ...

I have to say my initial thoughts on this latest WWE video game, was one of disappointment. The use of cartoon style, over-inflated wrestlers looked a lazy and even boring concept. In the age of computer realism, where we can walk through a city or fight on the D-Day beaches of Normandy in incredible detail, WWE All-Stars looked like a throw-back to the past. And in some senses, it is. Gaming fans who demand graphics and realism will not appreciate this game, when compared with, say, Smackdown vs. Raw 2011. The detail in that game greatly surpasses any other wrestling ...

World Wide Wrestling Federation, World Championship Wrestling, World Wrestling Federation, World Wrestling Entertainment, National Wrestling Alliance, Extreme Championship Wrestling. All are bound by the one word and the one tradition, wrestling. And yet, coming out of Connecticut now is the dictate that WWE is no longer a wrestling company. It is an entertainment company with many branches, including international movie studios and three publications. Wrestling is no longer acceptable. WWE is not alone in this new phenomenon. As has been reported by Lords of Pain, the most recent TNA Impact show had just nine minutes and 58 seconds of wrestling in ...

Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels' match at WrestleMania XII was a legendary encounter. Their match at the 1997 Survivor Series is perhaps the most talked about in wrestling history. They are two wrestling legends, who after April are deserving Hall of Famers. But who is the greatest? As wrestlers, they are almost polar opposites. Shawn Michaels is the ultimate showman: flamboyant, high flying and colourful. Bret Hart is technical, traditional and conservative. With their respective careers now finished in the ring, history will begin to analyse and interpret their legacies in the wrestling business. Furthermore, because we were robbed of one final showcase match between ...

I grew up watching wrestling on television. From the moment I saw my first match, I was hooked. I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up: a professional WWF superstar. I began to watch more and more shows—Raw, Nitro, ECW, Superstars, Saturday Night Main Event, Thunder, Smackdown, Afterburn. I watched religiously. I bought merchandise, ordered PPVs and I went to live events. My journey to my own super-stardom would begin at my local gym. I would focus on a mixture of cardio and muscle work, that way ensuring that I was as fast as Rey Mysterio and as strong as ...

Wrestling has always used colour to demonstrate popularity. Hulk Hogan was red and yellow. Randy Savage was multi-coloured. John Cena has been orange and purple. Kofi Kingston and Rey Mysterio change their outfits almost every week. The Attitude Era did it slightly differently, insomuch as Stone Cold Steve Austin wore simply black trunks and black boots. But that was the time; that was the style. Wrestling in its PG form can be described as cartoonish, a return to the days of the early 1990s, when wrestlers were big and loud characters, sometimes unbelievable, sometimes bizarre, but always colourful. This slideshow will highlight ...

There is an extremely fine line for wrestling heels in regards to being effective and annoying. Some will correctly argue that even if you are annoying, you are doing your job as a heel. You are being loathed. And yet, I cannot help but think that wrestling fans must surely have a limit in terms of what they are willing to accept from a heel. There must be a line in which we mark as being effective heel behaviour and something that is just poorly devised. The curious case of Michael Cole is one that divides many. His behaviour at ...

Reports coming out of Florida this week have suggested that, if asked, Hulk Hogan would be agreeable to a return to the WWE. The source is Honky Tonk Man, whose motives are, at the very least, questionable, but given that Hogan's contract situation is as yet undecided and that ratings have not improved under his tenure, could he be about to leave TNA? It would seem highly unlikely that the WWE would ever use the Hulkster again, given his commitment to TNA for the past year. Also given his back injuries, it's highly unlikely Hogan will ever wrestle again. So, is this merely ...

Don't get me wrong, I am a big Shawn Michaels fan. My very first live PPV was WrestleMania XII, and for some they don't come better than this. Shawn in his prime and at his very best, barring, of course, his matches with The Undertaker. And yet now that his career is over, and there is nothing more to write about, we as wrestling fans have a duty to assess and debate his career. Every wrestler has highs and lows, and its how they are collected together that forms a legacy. So are we able to criticise one of the greatest wrestlers in WWE ...