RIP Eddie Fatu (aka Umaga)

I cannot believe it. I simply cannot believe it. Former WWE wrestler Eddie Fatu (ring name Umaga) has died, only age 36. Heart attack claimed his life, according to reports.

The wrestler, also known as The Samoan Bulldozer, was actually my favourite when he was in WWE. He was a good worker, with good moves & very underrated. In case u don't know, Eddie Fatu is the cousin of Dwayne Johnson. Yes, that very same Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock during his WWE days. The very same Dwayne Johnson who featured in films as The Mummy Returns, The Scorpion King & Get Smart (as agent 23).

I will remember Umaga for his match at Wrestlemania 23, in 2007, against Bobby Lashley, in a hair match.

There u are.....another person who died prematurely, way too young. Very very sad.....this well & truly sucks. It's as if someone has to die every few months. Umaga will be sadly missed by his family, relatives, friends & wrestling fans. Wrestling is poorer for his passing.

My thoughts & prayers are with his family. RIP Eddie Fatu. You will be very sadly missed.

RIP Captain Lou Albano

Some sad news for wrestling fans. Former professional wrestling manager, Captain Lou Albano, has died aged 76. He died in his sleep.

Those who follow American professional wrestling closely would know who Lou Albano is. I remember him from watching World Wrestling Federation (as it was known back then) in the 1980s as a kid. He stands out for being on the overweight side (& I say this in a good way), his scruffy looks, longish hair & distinctive beard. He was one of the "good guys". The wrestlers he managed include such big names as Andre the Giant, Nikolai Volkoff, Greg "The Hammer" Valentine, "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka & The Iron Sheik. There were a couple of occasions where he would get into fights with rival managers. On top of that, he managed numerous tag teams. A lot of the wrestlers he managed (whether as single competitors or tag team) have won many titles. I can tell you he was some character, & I enjoyed watching him & the wrestlers he managed. If I recall correctly, there was one WWF segment where Albano was attacked by Bobby Heenan & a couple of Heenan's wrestlers, only for Albano's wrestlers to come to the rescue & take Heenan's wrestlers out. They then isolated Bobby Heenan for Albano to throw a couple of punches & dish out handsome retribution on Heenan, much to the delight of the crowd (because Heenan was one of the villains, a manager that wrestling fans loved to hate). Aaaaahhhh, memories.

Lou Albano's passing is a huge loss to the wrestling world. Outside of wrestling, I am sure his family & friends will dearly miss him.

RIP Lou Albano.

WWE released Candice Michelle :(

Yet another release from WWE - this time the fabulous diva Candice Michelle. :(

I'm definitely not happy about this. She is (or was) my favourite WWE diva! First, they let Umaga go. Now, Candice Michelle. So I can't see her on WWE anymore. What are WWE doing??? Ggrrrrrrhhh!!

Ohhhhhh well, there's always the internet: http://www.candicemichelle.com/

WWE released Umaga!

Now, for something that made me very unhappy. The WWE has just released Umaga, the 350-pound Samoan Bulldozer who is related to Dwayne Johnson.

I'm in shock. And frankly, I just don't understand this decision. Why get rid of Umaga?? What has he done to deserve this?? Was it because of something he did behind the scenes which WWE are not making public? Was it because Umaga didn't want to sign a new deal with the company? Was it because the company had no plans for Umaga? Politics, maybe? The full details may emerge later. Heck, maybe it was Umaga who requested to leave the company. But for the moment, I am assuming that WWE was the one who made the decision to get rid of Umaga, & that is a very dumb decision. Umaga is a very talented wrestler, with some good in-ring moves, & I find him to be quite entertaining. Even though he is a "bad guy"/villain in the ring, I still go for him against pretty much anyone he fought, even though his opponents are the "good guys". Umaga is a better wrestler than most of the WWE roster - yet they let him go, while inferior wrestlers are allowed to remain in the company.

I don't like how WWE has treated Umaga over the past few weeks - they scripted him to lose to CM Punk, on the recent Smackdown show & on this weekend's pay-per-view show Extreme Rules. Maybe it's better that Umaga have nothing to do with WWE, if they treat him like that.

I hear some wrestling fans lamenting the fact that WWE is going downhill, saying that wrestling these days are not as good as they were in the Attitude Era of the 1990s & early 2000s. With some "funny" decisions made by WWE of late, the latest being Umaga's release, I can understand why those fans feel that way.

WrestleMania 25 - my predictions

OK, WrestleMania 25 is coming up very very soon - tomorrow morning, Brisbane time (i.e. Sunday night, US time). The host this year is Houston, Texas.

The matches are as follows:

Singles match: The Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels (Michaels seeking to end Undertaker's WrestleMania winning streak)
Money in the Bank ladder match (winner gets future title match): CM Punk vs Kane vs Mark Henry vs Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) vs Shelton Benjamin vs Kofi Kingston vs Christian vs Finlay
WWE Championship: Triple H (c) vs Randy Orton
World Heavyweight Championship (Triple Threat match): Edge (c) vs The Big Show vs John Cena
25-Diva battle royal: Winner will be crowned "Miss WrestleMania"
Extreme rules match: Matt Hardy vs Jeff Hardy
Lumberjack match to unify the WWE Tag Team Championship & World Tag Team Championship: The Colóns (Carlito & Primo) vs John Morrison
WWE Intercontinental Championship: John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) vs Rey Mysterio
3-on-1 Handicap elimination match: Chris Jericho vs Roddy Piper, Ricky Steamboat & Jimmy Snuka (with Ric Flair)

Here are my predictions:

Undertaker to defeat Shawn Michaels after an epic battle.
MVP to capture the Money in the Bank briefcase.
Randy Orton to capture the WWE Championship from Triple H (with some help from his crew, Ted DiBiase & Cody Rhodes; also expect someone from the McMahon family to betray Triple H & cost him the belt).
Edge to retain the World Heavyweight Championship (after using some sneaky tactics as usual).
Candice Michelle or Mickie James to win the 25-diva battle royal (I would like Candice to win - she's my favourite WWE diva!).
Jeff Hardy to beat his brother in the Extreme rules match.
Miz & Morrison to defeat the The Colóns to become unified tag team champions.
JBL to retain The Intercontinental Championship.
Chris Jericho to beat the 3 past wrestlers/WWE Hall of Famers.


You know what, if I got time (very unlikely though), I will blog on the actual Wrestlemania results.

RIP Andrew Martin (aka Test)

Yet another wrestler has passed away. This time, it is the former WWE wrestler Andrew Martin, known during his time in WWE as Test. He was found dead in his Florida apartment on 13/3/2009, just 4 days from what would have been his 34th birthday. The cause of death is yet undetermined (suspected overdose).

Another one gone at such a young age. More's the shame. The giant, 6 ft 6 in, Canadian-born, Andrew Martin retired from wrestling in December 2007. Prior to that, he wrestled with WWE & then TNA. He held a few titles whilst in WWF/WWE , both at singles/solo & tag-team level. He was once bodyguard for the band Motley Crue, back in 1998. I still remember Test's first appearance in WWF back in December 1998 (complete with a pony-tail), when he assisted the Rock during his match with Triple H by attacking the latter. He would continue with WWF/WWE until 2004, leaving in 2005 before then returned to WWE in 2006, & then leaving again in 2007 to join TNA, before his retirement at the end of 2007. I have never heard a bad word being said about him. Maybe he wasn't the greatest wrestler around, but he still had something to give to the wrestling industry. Sadly, he is no longer around. RIP Andrew Martin.

WrestleMania 24 - a review of sorts

OK, WrestleMania24 has come & gone. So let's look at how my predictions went.

Hmmm, looks like many of my predictions proved correct:

Randy Orton did retain the WWE Championship belt.
The Undertaker did extend his unbeaten WrestleMania streak to 16-0.
Kane did win the Battle Royal before WrestleMania & then win the ECW Championship during WM itself.
Shawn Michaels did beat Rick Flair in the retirement match, thus forcing Flair to retire. The next day on Raw, they had a Flair retirement address, & Triple H had the everyone in WWE (the entire roster, referees, officials etc) come out to farewell him. Thanks for the memories, Rick.
Batista did beat Umaga (not the result I wanted).
JBL did beat Finlay, despite the best efforts of Hornswoggle to help Finlay.

Where I had my predictions wrong:

CM Punk won Money in the Bank Ladder Match (I tipped Jericho to win), so he will have a future title shot at the belt of his choice (he can choose from WWE Championship, World Heavyweight Championship, ECW Championship).
Ashley & Maria didn't win the BunnyMania Lumberjack match - Beth Phoenix & Melina did.
And....The Big Show lost to Floyd Mayweather. Yeah, the wrestler who is more than 7 foot tall lost to a professional boxer in wrestling! But apparently, Mayweather had help from his crew, which was legal because the match was "no disqualification", meaning anything goes. So Mayweather managed to gain the win.

All in all, I don't think I did badly at all with the predictions!

WrestleMania 24 - my predictions

For those of you who don't know, WrestleMania is the biggest & grandest annual pay-per-view event held by the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It is called "The Grandest Stage of Them All", & is usually held around the end of March or start of April. The latest edition, WrestleMania 24, is almost upon us. It will kick-off on Sunday night (US time) at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida. The final WrestleMania 24 card will be as follows:

Triple-Threat WWE Championship Match: Randy Orton (c) vJohn Cena v Triple H
WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match: Edge (c) v The Undertaker
ECW Championship Match: Chavo Guerrero (c) vs. Winner of Raw/SmackDown/ECW Battle
Royal Money In The Bank Ladder Match: Ken Kennedy vs. Chris Jericho vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Carlito vs. MVP vs. CM Punk vs. John Morrison (winner gets future title match within 1 year of the MITB Ladder match)
Career Threatening Match: Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels (Flair has to retire from wrestling if he loses)
Raw vs. SmackDown Match: Umaga (Raw) vs. Batista (Smackdown)
BunnyMania Lumberjack Match: Ashley & Maria vs. Beth Phoenix & Melina (Snoop Dogg is MC for the match)
Belfast Brawl: Finlay vs. John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL)
No Disqualification Match: The Big Show v Floyd "Money" Mayweather

Raw/SmackDown/ECW 24-Man Battle Royal: This will take place before WrestleMania. Winner gets a ECW Championship shot at WrestleMania against Chavo Guerrero. The participants: Elijah Burke, Lance Cade, Deuce, Domino, Tommy Dreamer, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, Festus, The Great Khali, Mark Henry, Hardcore Holly, Jesse, Kane, Brian Kendrick, Kofi Kingston, The Miz, Shannon Moore, Trevor Murdoch, Jamie Noble, Chuck Palumbo, Cody Rhodes, Snitsky, Stevie Richards, Val Venis & Jimmy Wang Yang.


Here are my predictions:

Randy Orton to retain the WWE Championship belt. Actually, to be honest, I find this match hard to call. Many people are sure Orton will lose the belt. Some feel Triple H will win, while others say Cena will regain the belt. Orton's chances of winning seem to be overlooked. I thought I'd go against the popular prediction & tip Orton to keep his title. Being the "bad guy", Orton will likely cheat along the way to secure victory.

The Undertaker to become the World Heavyweight Champion, & so extending his unbeaten streak at WrestleMania, as he has never before lost at WrestleMania. That is also the case with Edge, but I tip The Undertaker to win the match, meaning Edge loses his own unbeaten Wrestlemania streak (which is much shorter than the Undertaker's).

Chavo will lose the ECW Championship to Kane. (see later)

Chris Jericho to win the Money In the Bank Ladder Match. WWE didn't bring Jericho back to the company last year just to be a bit-part player. He recently won the Intercontinental Championship belt, & I think he will win Money in the Bank. I would have tipped Ken Kennedy to win, but heard that he's making a movie shortly after WrestleMania - which means he's not likely to win Money in the Bank as he will have to devote considerable time to his movie. (Unless of course the movie rumours are untrue....)

Shawn Michaels to win, & end Rick Flair's career. Flair would be inducted into the Hall of Fame the day before WrestleMania. I take that as an indication he will be retiring soon. And if he is going to retire by losing, then who more "fitting" to do the honours than veteran, well-known, well-regarded, highly respected wrestler in "The Heart Break Kid" Shawn Michaels?

Batista to win. I would definitely be supporting Umaga, but I can't see him getting over Batista, who has been with WWE for much longer & is more experienced. I heard rumours that the storyline would see Umaga switching over to Smackdown shortly after WrestleMania to continue the feud with Batista. That suggests Umaga would lose this match, to fit in with the planned storyline. Umaga may eventually win the feud, but along the way, he would lose at WrestleMania. So, Batista to win, & he will have to do it the hard hard way - no one beats Umaga easily.

Ashley & Maria to win. Enough said.

JBL to beat Finlay in the Belfast Brawl. I just can't see Finlay winning. His role in WWE is basically to put over other wrestlers. I see JBL winning as a more believable outcome. After that, I can see JBL entering a feud with either Shawn Michaels or Triple H.

The Big Show to win, of course. WWE are not going to let one of their wrestlers lose to a boxer invited to the show to make a "guest appearance". Especially not with a wrestler the stature of The Big Show (biggest wrestler in WWE). Now, the outcome of this match seems to be a foregone conclusion. But I have a feeling WWE will come up with something to make the match a little less predictable, & make Big Show's win "less straightforward".

As for the 24-Man Battle Royal, hmmm.....I think size matters, so the winner is likely to come from one of Kane, The Great Khali, Mark Henry or Snitsky, as these are the biggest 4 wrestlers taking part in the Battle Royal. I can't see Snitsky winning, so he can be discounted. I don't find it easy to pick between the other 3 (Kane, The Great Khali, Mark Henry), though I am confident whoever wins will definitely go on to take the ECW Championship. I would tip Kane, if only because WWE might see fit to reward him for years of hard work & loyal service (Kane's been around longer than Mark Henry & The Great Khali). So, I tip Kane to win the Battle Royal, & then go on to win the ECW Championship from Chavo Guerrero at WrestleMania.

Now, those are just my predictions. I don't always get them right - in fact, I get more predictions wrong than correct! I can tell u that I won't mind being wrong on my prediction of Batista beating Umaga. Anyway, those of u watching WrestleMania 24, I hope u have a most enjoyable time.

More thoughts on the Benoit thing

As various updates unfold on the circumstances surrounding the Benoit family deaths, a press conference held by the district attorney of Fayette County, Georgia confirmed that Chris Benoit had killed his wife & son. He then hanged himself. Terrible.

That is extremely sad & regrettable, that Benoit's wife & son should die in such tragic circumstances. As for Benoit, well, what can I say....why did he kill them? Hard to believe that he would do such a thing - he doesn't seem the type, but then I'm basing this on what I watch on WWE.

I have removed any references to "RIP Chris Benoit" on my previous post. I certainly do not condone what he did. Having said that, I personally prefer to remember the Benoit that I see on TV, the Benoit that is loved by fans & colleagues alike. Obviously, no one will know why he did what he did - he may have just snapped, I dunno. Police have not found any suicide note, or anything that may point to a motive behind the killings. All I can say is that the whole thing's just incomprehensibly tragic & senseless. My thoughts & prayers go to Benoit's family & friends - what a difficult time they must be going through, trying to comprehend the tragedy that's happened.

Here in Australia, I heard that RAW has been pulled from Fox & replaced with filler shows. The tribute to Chris Benoit (shown in the US) would not be shown here, & apparently it would not be shown in most other countries - not after what Benoit did. The usual RAW replays on Saturday afternoon will probably change as well. RAW will probably be back next week, & in light of Benoit's death, it looks like the "Vince McMahon death" storyline on RAW (where the WWE chairman entered his limousine a couple of weeks ago before it exploded) would be discontinued. It would be interesting to see how things transpire.

Chris Benoit (1967-2007)

Just when I thought the working week could not get any worse, it did. Shortly after arriving at work this morning, I learned the tragic news. WWE professional wrestler Chris Benoit, his wife & young son were found dead at their home in the American state of Georgia. Very very sad, terrible & unexpected, so my rest of the day was a mixture of shock & depression.

Benoit (a Canadian) was 40, & his death came less than 2 years after his best friend Eddie Guerrero died at 38 of acute heart failure (in November 2005). Guerrero was a born-again Christian, not sure about Benoit though. Many people would remember how devastated Benoit was with Guerrero's death - Benoit broke down in front of camera while giving a video testimony for Guerrero. I'm sure many tears will also have been shed by many fans as a result of Benoit's passing.

In the wake of the death, WWE cancelled their originally scheduled 3-hour live RAW show, & instead presented a 3-hour tribute to Benoit's life, career & family. Benoit was well-loved by fellow colleagues & was certainly popular among wrestling fans. He will be sadly missed & fondly remembered by many. Including myself - if a likeable person whom you see on TV weekly suddenly dies, it does affect you. Well, speaking for myself, it does. It certainly did when Guerrero died - at that time, I was extremely sad & never felt like that until now, with Benoit's death.

The county police have ruled that the deaths were not due to gunshot or stabbing. They also say that the "instruments of death" were located within the house, & were not actively looking for any suspects outside of the house. The police seem to hold the theory that the deaths were due to double murder-suicide. Namely, that Benoit killed his wife on Saturday, his son on Sunday & then himself on Monday. Many, including myself, will be wondering why. We may never know the answer.