WRESTLING BOOM

WWE officially broke into the video game scene in 1989 with the Super Nintendo classic WWE Wrestlemania, a game which featured superstars such as the Hulkster, Honky Tonk Man, and Andre the Giant.  Ever since Wrestlemania was released 29 years ago, WWE, or the game publishers, have never looked back.  Join me as we count down the top 5 installments from the vast 28 game history! 5) WWE 2K14 The first game to be fully published by 2K, although developed by Yukes, there was a high amount of anticipated from the millions of WWE fans worldwide for 2K14, and the game did not disappoint.  After WWE 12 and WWE 13, which were both shoddy, 2K14 revitalized the WWE series with both enhanced visuals and 30 Years of Wrestlemania, a game mode which enabled the player to replay the greatest machetes from Mania history, being just two reasons the game was an instant hit.  The Streak and Universe modes added to the content depth and made up for the fact that a traditi...

WWE, over the past few years, has declined hugely both in terms of popularity of a mass scale and respect level from even the most loyal fans.  Since Brock Lesnar won the Universal Title at Wrestlemania 33 the product has quite frankly been agonizing for 90 percent of the time, with the expectation of a few quality angles/ matches.  Anything featuring The Miz, Jeff Hardy, Alexa Bliss, or AJ Styles, tends to get over quick well, but not even the Phenomenal one can overcome the anger of him retaining the WWE Title against Shinsuke Nakamura on 4 consecutive PPVs.  All main roster storylines not featuring these four competitors plummets the interest of the crowd, not because the wrestlers are incapable of being entertaining but because WWE has lost it's touch on how to effectively utilize their talents in a captivating manner. A prime example of how much WWE has dropped in quality over the past few years is Daniel Bryan.  In 2013 going into 2014 Bryan was on fire, ...

Over the past few years the British wrestling scene has seen in a revival both in terms of the quality of production and worldwide popularity, with several promotions running shows alongside companies such as New Japan Pro Wrestling and Ring of Honor.  Although it is NJPW taking the world by storm as of late, it is only right that we take a look at some of the promotions that are shaping the British wrestling landscape in 2018. 5) New Generation Wrestling New Generation Wrestling was founded by Luke Ingamells in 2008 but is currently owned and run by Richard Dun.  From 2012 until 2015 NGW was the feature promotion on Challenge TV's program British Wrestling Weekly which aired throughout the UK and in several countries around the world.  NGW are most famous for hosting the Davey Boy Cup Tournament throughout late 2014- early 2015, won by 'Liverpool's Number 1' Zack Gibson, as well as the Destiny Rumble which guarantees the winner a World Title shot.  The pr...

The Bullet Club, once a band of Caucasian, Japanese hating, Heels that reaped havoc throughout New Japan Pro Wrestling, have become the hottest brand in the wrestling world and will be hosting their first ever show, All In, on September 1st 2018. When The Bullet Club, after competing for New Japan and ROH for the better part of 5 years, finally  announced that they would be promoting their own show they were met with much skepticism with millions of fans believing they didn't have either the knowledge or brand power to be successful on their own.  The millions of skeptics were quickly silenced when tickets went on sale and all 10,000 seats sold out in 30 minutes, a feat which WWE would struggle to pull off in this day and age.  Just think for a second, 10,000 tickets in 30 minutes is a ticket sale every 0.18 seconds, with some tickets selling for as much as $153 for the front row.  With so much hype surrounding the show, which is still over 2 months away, there...

WWE Money in the Bank took place on Sunday night and what a disaster it was.  Expectations for the PPV was high as previous MITB PPV's have all been one of the best shows of their respective years, and WWE also had the chance to turn around it's dismal fortunes when it comes to PPVs. As with any Money in the Bank show the ladder matches are the highlight of the show with the concept being enough to draw in the fans, with multiple wrestlers all competing in the same ring for the chance to retrieve the briefcase and guarantee themselves a match for their brands World Title.  In this year's men's Ladder match we had Braun Strowman, Bobby Roode, Finn Balor, Kevin Owens, Kofi Kingston, Rusev, Samoa Joe, and The Miz all vying for the case.  The match was also the shows main event and after a meager 19 minutes it was Strowman who grabbed the case and won the match.  Now, although Strowman is a fan's favorite the problem here lies with the fact that Braun could...

Hi Boomers, are you all looking forward to TakeOver Chicago II tonight?  Although this weekend is one of WWE action today I want to talk about NJPW, more specifically the rivalry between Kazuchika Okada and Kenny Omega. When Kenny Omega defeated Hirooki Goto to win the finals of the G1 Climax tournament in 2016, he booked his place against Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom XI the following year.  Omega had only just made the transition from the Junior Heavyweight Division to the Heavyweight Division and was out to prove himself to the rest of the roster; add to this that Omega was the leader of the Bullet Club, a rival faction to Okada's Chaos, you knew you were in for a spectacle, and a spectacle it was.  At the Kingdom Okada and Omega went for 46 minutes in a hard-hitting, action packed match that not only shocked the world but also rattled the ratings scale, becoming the first 6 star match of the century.  As unlucky as ...

Money in the Bank will take place this Sunday night at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois, and will be for the 9th installment of the summer spectacular.  The card for the show looks to be a lot better than what Backlash produced so let's just hop that on the night it all lives up to the hype and delivers. AJ Styles is set to defend his WWE Championship against Shinsuke Nakamura for the 4th strait PPV, but this time it is will happen under Last Man Standing rules.  Since winning the Royal Rumble match back in January Shinsuke has been on a proving path wanting to take the WWE Title from AJ Styles in any fashion possible.  At Wrestlemania Nakamura lost to Styles in their first match against one another since Wrestle Kingdom X in 2016.  Since then Styles had retained the title at the Great Royal Rumble via disqualification and then at Backlash via champions advantage when the two went to a draw.  On Smackdown last night The King of Strong Style layed...

At Dominion on 9th June 2018 Kenny Omega did what most though was impossible, he defeated Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Title, ending the Rainmakers impressive streak.  What better way that to celebrate Okada's 720 days as Champion than to take a look back at some of the greater times from his reign that perhaps earned him the title of the King of Pro Wrestling. Okada always wore the belt in style! Okada captures the Title at Dominion in 2016 after defeating LIJ leader and long-time rival Tetsuya Naito. Kazuchika Okada takes down Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom XI.  This was the Rainmakers second defense as Champion and was the first NJPW match to be rated higher than 5, receiving a 6 rating by Dave Meltzer. At Sakura Genesis Okada defended the Title against Shibata in a quality, hard-hitting encounter that proved why Okada is such a resilient Champion.  Shibata would be forced to retire soon after due to an injury sustain...

Last night in Osaka NJPW held their annual June PPV Dominion for the 10th year running.  Over the past few years many have argued that Dominion has outperformed the promotion's signature show, Wrestle Kingdom, both in terms of in-ring action and shock-factor.  In 2016 Tetsuya Naito successfully retained the IWGP Heavyweight Title over Kazuchika Okada, in 2017 Okada and Kenny Omega put on what is considered the best wrestling match in history by millions around the world.  This year's show was no different being consistently entertaining and delivering a main event that rounded off the show perfectly. After months of build up, in which Chris Jericho claimed on Twitter that he had finished with New Japan only to attack Tetsuya Naito at Wrestling Dontaku in May, Naito and Jericho finally got to go head-to-head in a match in which the LIJ leader would put his Intercontinental Championship on the line.  The match started before the bell had officially rung and featu...

At the end of Bound For Glory 2010 Jeff Hardy shocked the wrestling world by turning on Kurt Angle and Mr Anderson at the end of the their triple threat match to side with Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan by attacking both men with a crutch before pinning Mr Anderson for the win and the Heavyweight Championship.  After 15 years of appearing as a 'can't do anything wrong' babyface, Hardy would  begin his descent into darkness by becoming a founding member of, and front-man for, Immortal. Jeff Hardy successfully defended his title against all comers through the winter of 2010, and going into 2011 it seemed as though nobody could defeat the Charismatic Enigma, especially with Hardy being backed up by fellow stablemates such as Jeff Jarrett, Abyss, and Beer Money.  Throughout the three months he had held the title, Hardy had become ruthless, unforgiving, and arrogant, knowing that as long as he he remained with Immortal the title would remain over this shoulder.  A...

Hello everyone and welcome back to Wrestling Boom, is it just me or is Raw getting worse every single week? Smackdown, on the other hand, seems to be on the rise.  Now to the article, I have always loved factions, whether that be because of the heat they can garner, the storylines they help create or the simple idea that being a part of a faction can elevate any wrestler to stardom beyond their comparability as a singles competitor.  Here are my Top 5 factions is wrestling history! 5) Evolution Evolution was formed at Unforgiven 2002 when Ric Flair aided Triple H in defending his World Heavyweight Championship against Rob Van Dam, becoming The Game's mentor in the process.  Within 3 months both Batista and Randy Orton would join the faction enabling the 4 superstars to dominate the Raw roster until August 2004, holding the WHC, Intercontiental, and World Tag Team Titles in the process.  After Summerslam 2004 the faction turned on newly crowned World Heavy...

Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, and Dean Ambrose, better known as The Shield dominated the WWE for the better part of 18 months between November 2012 and June 2014.  Some fans argue that they were the most successful faction since the NWO in the late 1990's so, with that being said, let's take a look back at some of our greatest memories of the devastating trio. Ambrose, Rollins, and Reigns make their first appearance as The Shield by way of Powerbombing Ryback through an announcer's table.  The destruction of Ryback allowed CM Punk to retain his WWE Title in triple threat match that also included John Cena.  This night would change WWE forever In their debut main roster match The Shield defeated Ryback and Team Hell No at TLC 2012.  The match would see all six men take a beating but ultimately The Shield walked out victorious, sending a message to the rest of the roster The Shield battled Randy Orton, Sheamus, and The Big Show in their first ever Wrestl...

Hello Boomers, how are we all doing?  If you haven't already you should check out the classic between The Spoiler and Ken Patera from December 1978 on Youtube.  No to the article, a few weeks ago I wrote about the failure that is Brock Lesnar's Universal Title reign and it went down like a treat but this week I decided that I should talk about something a little more positive about The Beast, that being his last great WWE match. Brock Lesnar has been dominating the WWE roster since his return to the company way back in the Spring of 2012, facing off against the greatest the company has to offer, with his only one-on-one losses coming against John Cena at Extreme Rules 2012, Triple H at Wrestlemania 29, and Goldberg at Survivor Series 2016.  Since then, Lesnar went on to win the Universal Title from Goldberg at Mania 33, defeating him for the first ever time in what was a good result at the time.  Since then, however Lesnar's matches have taken a huge downturn, ...