Wrestling Lockup with Brandon Special Edition: Diamond Dallas Page

By Brandon Albright, @B_Rock1978

What's up gang, Brandon from Triple Threat CLE back with another special edition blog for you. This time it's all about Diamond Dallas Page, who if you haven't heard has just been announced to enter the WWE Hall of Fame this year. So my question is and you can get my top five answers below....

"With Diamond Dallas Page going into the WWE Hall of Fame, which DDP moment was your favorite?"

I would love to hear what everyone's favorite moment is and I'm actually curious to know if the man himself DDP has one favorite moment that sticks out for him in his huge career.

1.) DDP Swerves The nWo: With the nWo running things in WCW they were looking to recruit more members into their faction. DDP was just beginning to make a mid card name for himself at the time, was great friends with The Outsiders, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash and even nWo/WCW President Eric Bischoff. Many considered DDP to be an automatic lock in the group and it looked like everyone was right the night Hall and Nash confronted DDP. DDP hugged Hall and Nash, accepted the nWo t-shirt and even put it on to a mixed reaction of cheers and boos from the fans. What happened next no one expected, as DDP dropped Hall with a Diamond Cutter and escaped into the crowd to celebrate with the fans and staying a loyal WCW follower in the process. DDP became public enemy #1 to the nWo and would go on to have a great feud with the nWo's Macho Man Randy Savage.

2.) Feuding With "Macho Man" Randy Savage: Savage and DDP began their feud when Savage helped Hall and Nash attack and spray paint DDP, then later revealed that DDP and his valet Kimberly were really husband and wife, which was a huge secret at the time. DDP got revenge on Savage at Spring Stampede with a victory, but that didn't stop Savage. Savage, with the help from Scott Hall would defeat DDP at The Great American Bash in an Anything Goes, Lights Out Match. Hall and Savage would again defeat DDP at Bash At The Beach after DDP's partner Curt Hennig turned on DDP and sided with the nWo. DDP would battle Savage and Hall again two months later at Fall Brawl, teaming with Lex Luger and winning in a No DQ Match. DDP pulled off one of my favorite swerves during this time frame as well. Savage battled the masked La Parka and ended up getting upset by La Parka after he hit a Diamond Cutter, unmasked and revealed himself as DDP in disguise. DDP and Savage would battle one more time in a Las Vegas Sudden Death Match at Halloween Havoc, which saw Savage come out victorious after Hulk Hogan attacked DDP dressed as Sting.

3.) Feuding With Bret "The Hitman" Hart: DDP began feuding with the Excellence of Execution, Bret "The Hitman" Hart immediately following his feud with Randy Savage. Hart was in his "is he or isn't he a member of the nWo" stage of his career at this time and was the reigning WCW United States Champion. DDP would defeat Hart on an episode of Nitro to capture the WCW United States Championship and would grant Hart his rematch at World War 3. DDP again came out victorious at the pay per view, but his reign as WCW United States Champion didn't last much longer as Hart would win back the title at the next Nitro in a No DQ Match, after The Giant attacked DDP and helped Hart come out victorious.

4.) Winning Battlebowl,

Becoming Lord Of The Ring: In May of 1996, WCW held Battlebowl: Lethal Lottery at WCW Slamboree. If you're not firmiliar with this event, WCW would pair two unlikely guys together in a series of tag matches. The winning team would move on to a battle royal to decide a winner of Battlebowl. DDP drew Barbarian as his partner and went on to defeat Meng and Hugh Morrus. DDP and Barbarian would next defeat Rick Steiner and The Bootyman to advance to Battlebowl. The battle royal came down to DDP and his partner Barbarian, with DDP hitting two Diamond Cutters and securing the Battlebowl Lord of the Ring victory.

5.) Facing Goldberg At WCW Halloween Havoc: This match was voted WCW Magazine's "Match of the Year" in 1998. I remember ordering this pay per view and being disappointed that I didn't get to see this match...why?...because Halloween Havoc ran slightly longer than expected which resulted in cable companies blacking out the end of the Hulk Hogan vs. Warrior match and all of the DDP vs. Goldberg match. Thankfully WCW aired the entire DDP vs. Goldberg match on Nitro, which won Nitro the ratings war for the week. Though DDP came up short in winning the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, the match was definitely a five star match and had an awesome spot where DDP countered the Jackhammer into a Diamond Cutter.

These five moments are just the tip of the iceberg on DDP's career, which also included The Diamond Exchange in AWA, managing Badd Company to a AWA World Tag Team Championship, managing The Freebirds, Managing Hall and Nash before they were Hall and Nash, breaking into wrestling professionally as a 35 year old rookie, his battles with the nWo, WCW Television Championship runs, WCW World Heavyweight Championship runs, losing and then winning back the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in the same night, teaming with NBA great Karl Malone and Tonight Show Host Jay Leno, creating a faction with Bam Bam Bigelow and Chris Kanyon, arriving in the WWE and finally starting DDP Yoga and helping Scott Hall and Jake Roberts better their lives after knocking on death's door.

In closing I just want to say congratulations to Diamond Dallas Page on his Hall of Fame Induction into this year's 2017 WWE Hall of Fame Class and please go back and check out some of DDP's great matches on the WWE Network, you won't be disappointed!

Self High Five! BANG!!!

Wrestlemania Flashback: Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin

By Brandon Albright, @B_Rock1978

“I’m laying in a pool of blood. This is the greatest feeling in the world."
-- "Stone Cold" Steve Austin --

Wrestling Lockup with Brandon, brought to you by Triple Threat CLE, is back with another blog entry. It's Wrestlemania season, so in my fifth blog of 2016, I'll be talking about a match that is definitely in my top 5 of greatest Wrestlemania matches of all time. I'm talking about Bret "The Hitman" Hart vs. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, at Wrestlemania 13, in a No Holds Barred, Submission Match. I recently went back and watched this match on the WWE Network and I was reminded of how much I really loved this match. I then dove into the media world and dug up some interesting facts and rumors that helped lead to one of the greatest matches in WWE history. Now any hardcore wrestling fan like myself probably already knows everything I put in this blog, but so what, there are always other noobies that might not know any of this.

- A Match That Almost Didn't Happen: Imagine what would have become of Bret Hart and Steve Austin's careers if this match didn't happen like originally planned. Many stories have circulated over the years about the original plans for Wrestlemania 13. Bret Hart had just come off of a loss in an "Iron Man Match" at Wrestlemania 12 to the "Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels. Stories from past backstage employees and wrestling writers have stated that the original main event for Wrestlemania 13 was supposed to be Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels in a rematch from their prior Wrestlemania 12 match for the WWE World Title. This however, was during the time frame when Shawn Michaels basically hated everyone in the WWE, thought he was god's gift to the WWE and was the rumored backstage jerk and trouble maker.

According to stories, the storyline was written a year in advance where Hart dropped the belt to Michaels at Wrestlemania 12 and then Michaels would return the favor at Wrestlemania 13 and drop the belt back to Hart. Michaels, who had just defeated Psycho Sid at the Royal Rumble to win the WWE World Title, now refused to do the deed and job to Bret Hart at Wrestlemania 13. At this time, whether true or not, Michaels suddenly suffered a knee injury, claimed to have lost his smile and vacated the WWE World Title. Many, including Bret Hart, stated that Michaels faked the whole thing and found a loop hole to get out of facing Hart at Wrestlemania. So now an "injured" Shawn Michaels just ruined the Wrestlemania main event that was planned out a year ago and now one of WWE's top baby faces, Bret Hart, had no match on the biggest stage in sports entertainment. This would turn into a good thing, however, for the WWE.

- Setting Up The Match, Hart and Austin's Opinions: Just three weeks before Wrestlemania, Vince McMahon, decided to revisit a past feud and go with Bret Hart facing Steve Austin in a "No Holds Barred, Submission Match". Austin recently commented on his podcast that he was sitting at home in San Antonio watching RAW, with a knee injury, when McMahon made the announcement. Austin stated that he was extremely pissed off about the announcement because it was a submission match and Austin didn't have many if any submission holds in his arsenal. Bret Hart also commented recently that he wasn't happy about the match either, because he and Austin made an agreement that their first Survivor Series encounter would be the one and only time they'd face each other. Hart wasn't comfortable with how well of a match he and Austin could perform at Wrestlemania, because they put all their ideas into their Survivor Series match thinking it would be their one and only meeting. Hart and Austin were worried, but what they didn't know was they were about to have one of the greatest matches in WWE history.

- Special Enforcer Ken Shamrock: The WWE decided to add another special attraction to what was already a special stipulated match. WWE got in contact with former UFC fighter, Ken Shamrock. The nicknamed "World's Most Dangerous Man" would end up playing a good part in the match, as the appointed special guest referee and helped in making the Bret Hart heel turn at the end believable. This turned out to be the beginning of what was a decent WWE run for Ken Shamrock, as he went into a full time WWE wrestling schedule after this match. WWE I think used Shamrock the correct way in this match as well and didn't have the spotlight on him too much. There were times watching this match that I forgot that Shamrock was even the referee because the WWE did a great job focusing on the stars of the match, Hart and Austin. WWE did, however, let Shamrock get a little bit of recognition. Go back and watch the end of this match, as Shamrock picks Bret Hart up like a rag doll and slams him down when Hart refuses to let up on Austin and becomes a heel.

- Fighting In The Crowd: Both Bret Hart and Steve Austin commented on their brawl in the stands and through the crowd to kick off the match. Hart and Austin came up with the idea, but were afraid Vince McMahon would shoot down the idea of fighting in the crowd. Vince surprising agreed to the idea only because he 100% trusted two guys like Hart and Austin to pull it off without causing any injury to a fan. Fighting through the crowd wasn't a very common thing in wrestling back then, maybe except for ECW, but this opened the door to other organizations using this as a great match time waster and climax build up to the match finale. Funny part of this was right when Bret Hart gets tossed over the barricade, a security guard gets kicked right in the back by Bret Hart on accident. Good thing it wasn't a fan.

- Austin Comments On Bleeding: The idea of having blood (aka color) in the match was all Bret Hart's idea. Austin stated that he was a little worried about doing the blade job because he never bladed before. Hart came up with the idea that he would hide the blade and do the honors on Austin's forehead when the match called for it, which would eliminate Austin being worried, because he was afraid he'd cut himself too deep. The idea worked tremendously especially when it came to the matches finale. Austin being trapped in Bret Hart's sharpshooter, in a pool of his own blood and face completely crimson masked is one of the greatest flashback moments in WWE history. Bret Hart recently stated that he was willing to put his career on the line if the blade job went wrong and if he would have caused tremendous injury to Austin. When it was all said and done, Austin said it was one of the greatest moments in his career.

- Double Turn: The closing moments of the match we began to see what would be called a double turn. Bret Hart entered the face (good guy) and Steve Austin entered the heel (bad guy). By matches end Hart began to get booed by the fans and Austin got "Austin" chants and cheers for his "refuse to submit" attitude. Hart made the fans hate him even more by refusing to let up on Austin after the match, forcing Ken Shamrock to step in and rag doll slam Hart. This time frame was also when Bret Hart went into a "What about me?" and "I'm getting screwed" gimmick. A week leading into Wrestlemania, Bret Hart had a huge temper tantrum after getting screwed out of the WWE World Title. Hart grabbed a microphone, spat on Vince McMahon and cut a curse filled promo that would've made CM Punk blush. Many felt that this was the real moment when Hart went heel and many fans wanted to see the heel Austin destroy Hart at Wrestlemania.

- What Could've Been: Supposedly stories have stated that Vince McMahon was so happy with the way Hart vs. Austin turned out, that he had already penciled in a heel Bret Hart vs. a face Steve Austin at Wrestlemania 14 for the WWE World Title, a year in advance. At Wrestlemania 14 Hart would go in as the champion and Austin would finally get the win on his arch enemy and take the WWE World Title for his first run as champion. Unfortunately, backstage politics, Bret Hart's unhappiness with the WWE's Attitude Era direction and Hart's eventual jump to WCW at the end of 1997 ended that idea. Steve Austin, as we all know still went on to Wrestlemania 14, but it was Shawn Michaels he defeated for the WWE World Title instead of Bret Hart.

So there you go, those are the stories and rumors I heard about one of the greatest matches in WWE history. Hope you enjoyed the blog, as I personally enjoyed going back down memory lane and doing research on one of my favorite Wrestlemania matches of all time. If I ever made a list of must see Wrestlemania matches, this match would definitely be in the top five.

Now go do yourself a favor and watch one of the greatest Wrestlemania matches of all time!

Thanks again for reading, you can follow me @B_Rock1978 and also please follow @TripleThreatCLE. We post about Cleveland sports, all sports in general, wrestling and entertainment news.

Wrestling Lockup with Brandon 7.8.14: WWE Raw

RAW recap baaabbbbyyyy!! As Chris Jericho would say.

Welcome back to Wrestling Lockup with Brandon, brought to you by Triple Threat Podcast. It's time for this week's RAW recap, as we move closer to WWE Battleground.

- RAW kicked off live from the city that brought you the "Montreal Screwjob" in 1997, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, with Roman Reigns cutting a promo. Reigns talks about WWE Battleground and being added to the Fatal 4 Way as being a way for The Authority to help Randy Orton win the title by putting pressure on John Cena. Reigns guarantees a World Title win as Kane interrupts. Reigns and Kane begin brawling inside and outside of the ring, after Reigns calls Kane "The Authority's bitch". WWE officials hit the ring. Reigns spears an official during the chaos then "Superman Punches" Kane off the apron.

- We find out during the opening segment that Triple H and Stephanie are not here tonight.

- The Usos vs The Wyatt Family. The Usos go for a double dive on The Wyatt's however one of The Usos get pulled to the floor by Rowan. Harper hits the clothesline on the other Uso for the pinfall.

- "One Hand Tied Behind The Back Match": Alicia Fox vs Nikki Bella. The referee ties Nikki's arm behind her back however Alicia avoids the referee and ends up attacking and stomping Nikki, not letting up. The match is thrown out.

- Rob Van Dam vs Rusev. RVD goes for "Rolling Thunder" but misses. Rusev hits his super kick then locks RVD in "The Accolade". RVD tries to fight it but taps out.

- Randy Orton vs Dean Ambrose. Ambrose almost scores the pinfall after reversing Orton's draped-DDT. Orton ends up hitting an "RKO" for the pinfall.

- Alberto Del Rio vs Dolph Ziggler. Fandango, who has an issue with Ziggler now, is doing commentary.
Del Rio scores the pinfall on Ziggler, after Fandango distracted Ziggler by dancing. Del Rio earned a United States Championship Match against Sheamus. Fandango danced on the announcers table more after Ziggler lost.

- WWE Hall of Famer, Bret Hart, returns to the city that he was screwed in back in 1997. Bret thanks the fans and says if he could still wrestle he'd do it right here in Montreal. Damien Sandow interrupts Bret dressed like Bret Hart. Sandow imitated Bret and called Shawn Michaels his idol. Bret finally heard enough as he sends Sandow flying out of the ring with a punch.

- Sheamus vs Damian Sandow. Sandow tries to wrestle like Bret Hart, performing moves from Bret's arsenal. Sheamus hits the "Brogue Kick" for the pinfall.

- Chris Jericho vs The Miz. Miz is stomping away on Jericho when out of nowhere, Jericho grabs Miz. Jericho flips Miz on his back and locks in the "Walls of Jericho". Miz eventually taps out. After the match the lights go out and when they come to, Bray Wyatt is sitting in his rocking chair on the ramp. Bray mocks Jericho and says he is still waiting for Jericho to "save" him. Jericho tells Bray to shut the hell up and action speaks louder then words and he's going to prove it. Jericho heads up the ramp to meet Bray. The lights go out again and when they come to again, Rowan and Harper are standing beside Bray. Jericho thinks twice about attacking in a 3 on 1 and backs off.

- Funkadactyls vs. Paige & AJ Lee. Cameron tags into the match and gets hit by Paige with the "Paige Turner" for the pinfall. After the match, we have a CAAATTTFFIIGGHHTTT!!!! as ECW announcer Joey Styles would say. Cameron and Naomi pull hair and fight until Cameron finally walks off.

- Cesaro vs Kofi Kingston. Kofi again for the second week in a row scores a roll up pinfall on Cesaro. After the match Cesaro attacks Kofi. Big E hits the ring and makes the save, chasing off Cesaro.

- El Torito vs. Bo Dallas. Obvious squash match as Dallas picks up the pinfall with the "Bo-Dog" and stays undefeated. Don't Stop Bo-Leiving!!!!

- John Cena vs. Seth Rollins. The match ends as Kane heads to the ring. Randy Orton appears out of no where and attacks Cena from behind as he's watching Kane. Kane and Orton beat down Cena until Roman Reigns hits the ring. Reigns "Superman Punches" Kane and Orton but then gets hit with the MITB briefcase by Rollins. Rollins hits Cena with the briefcase and is ready to cash in his contract. Before we have a legit match, Dean Ambrose hits the ring and attacks Rollins. Ambrose and Rollins brawl to the back. Cena hits an "AA" on Orton and Reigns spears Kane. RAW ends with Cena and Reigns raising each others hands.

WWE Battleground Card Currently:
**** "Fatal 4 Way, WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match":
John Cena (c) vs Randy Orton vs Roman Reigns vs Kane.
**** "WWE Intercontinental Championship Battle Royal": Winner is crowned new I-C Champ.

And that wraps up this week's RAW recap. Thanks for reading, please like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. We are Triple Threat Podcast. Till next time, tap or snap.