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DVD Review: Lipstick & Dynamite

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Lipstick and Dynamite: Piss and Vinegar is a 2005 documentary by Ruth Leitman that follows around some of the women wrestlers from the 1950’s – 1970’s. Thanks go out to my uncle for passing this DVD on to me over a year ago – I only recently had the chance to watch it and I’m glad that I did. As a wrestling fan, I’m always interested in learning more about the beginnings of the sport when it existed as part of the local carnivals or as sideshows. For their part, women wrestlers were an even bigger attraction than the regular men wrestlers.

Leitman interviews women wrestling legends like The Fabulous Moolah and Johnny Mae Young. Current wrestling fans are sure to recognize those two WWE Hall of Famers, but I found myself most intrigued during the documentary by the women like Gladys “Kill ’em” Gillem. Gillem was, in today’s terms, a jobber – or a wrestler whose “job” it is to lose and make their opponent look great in the process. Also, the bitterness that some of the older women wrestlers have towards Moolah is interesting. As one of the women wrestlers put it, “Moolah loves money. That’s the perfect name for her.”

I certainly wouldn’t begrudge anyone from making money at their chosen profession, but some of these women are definitely bitter about Moolah’s long-term success. The women wrestlers commented on how Moolah and Young’s presence in WWE in the early 2000’s in actual wrestling matches takes away from the accomplishments of the women’s wrestling movement. I don’t know if I necessarily agree (especially when groups like TNA are bringing back real women’s wrestling). By the way, Moolah passed away last year so some of these topics are a moot point now.

Fans will enjoy hearing the stories about one of the original promoters of “girl wrestling” and how he manipulated the sport so that his wife could retain the title. Moolah talks at length about her disgust for this guy and how she was glad to take the title from his wife and then put him out of business. At that time, Moolah became the number one trainer, promoter, and booker of women wrestlers in the world.

I have to recommend this DVD to any wrestling fan who thinks more of the sport than just a generic set of moves leading to a generic ending to a generic match. This is a DVD that follows around these women wrestlers and talks about the many hardships that they had to endure during the early years of their business. If you enjoy knowing more about the wrestling business than just what you see on Monday, Thursday, or Friday nights, then you’ll enjoy this DVD.

Total Nonstop Action is Coming to New Jersey

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Did you know that I own two wrestling websites which are operated by two magnificent webmasters with little interference by me? Creating wrestling websites is how I got my start in the online world and I’m glad that both of my current webmasters and master of the game. The other day I was browsing on one of my websites and noticed a post about Total Nonstop Action coming to New Jersey. Being a fan of the product, I had to click on it to see what was going on.

Total Nonstop Action is the alternative brand of professional wrestling to the worldwide leader, World Wrestling Entertainment. The production value isn’t as good (they tape from the same location every other week and produce two weeks’ worth of shows from one setting) and the weekly television show is sometimes burdensome to watch, but the action in the ring is amazing. They have a guy named AJ Styles who does the most ridiculous stuff that I’ve ever seen. See for yourself:

Pretty amazing stuff, huh?

TNA will be in New Jersey at Convention Hall in Asbury Park on Friday, August 8th and at the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton for their annual “Hard Justice” pay per view on Sunday, August 10th. Lucky me – I bought tickets for each show. 🙂

DVD Review: Ric Flair and the Four Horsemen

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The other day I went out and bought WWE’s new DVD set, Ric Flair and the Four Horsemen. I normally don’t buy these things when they come out because you can generally get them in the $5 or $10 bin in a year and a half or so, but this one was intriguing. I wanted to see how they would handle the creation of the Four Horsemen up through the final incarnation that was a disaster in WCW (though, oddly enough, it had guys like Benoit and Malenko involved).

After watching the DVD, one of the things that comes right out at you is the thoroughness of the sit-down interviews. All of the Horsemen except Steve McMichael, Lex Luger, Sid Vicious, Sting, and Ole Anderson are interviewed during the DVD. That’s pretty amazing considering that these weren’t the main guys (except Ole, that is). You get to hear the story of the Horsemen right from Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Chris Benoit, JJ Dillon, and Dean Malenko. I would be remiss if I didn’t say that JJ Dillon’s interviews were exceptional. This man is a true wrestling proponent and someone that should find himself in the Hall of Fame soon. If not for his excellence as a manager, then at least for his dedication to the sport.

It would do no good to go over the minutia of the DVD here, but I will say that this is one of the more candid WWE DVDs that I’ve ever seen. Paul Roma is interviewed and he comes right out and said that he shouldn’t have been a Horsemen…which is funny only because Flair’s interview is interspersed with Roma’s in that Flair (and the rest of the Horsemen) were saying how Paul Roma was not a good fit for the group and that he was just the completely wrong person for the job. Then you have Roma’s take that the “idea” of the Horsemen was becoming an ego trip for Flair and Anderson and the gang – it’s a good bit of shoot-style video.

I will say that I didn’t like how much storylines played a part in the one-on-one interviews. It was weird – they would sometimes set up the next part of the DVD by talking about the storyline and then gradually move into the backstage/real life discussion. It was odd at times.

Eric Bischoff had a good, frank discussion about his lawsuit against Ric Flair and – to the DVD author’s credit – the Flair interviews against Bischoff are included either in the extras or as a part of the main story. You have to admire the passion that Flair showed in those interviews on NITRO where he looked like he wanted to rip Bischoff’s head off of his shoulders. Though most of us knew that it was real at the time, Flair tells us straight up in the DVD that he would have killed Bischoff if he had the chance on the night that he returned in Greenville.

All in all, this is a great look at the premier “gang” in professional wrestling. I suggest watching the DVD, though I’m unsure that you should purchase it. If you can rent it for a few bucks at Blockbuster or if you’re willing to wait until the price drops from $20 to $10, then go for it. You won’t be disappointed.

DVD Review: TNA Genesis 2005

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Those of you who read TBLWrestling.com know that I recently began watching Total Nonstop Action wrestling – otherwise known as TNA. They call themselves the “new face of professional wrestling” and to help set themselves apart from WWE, they have a six-sided ring and have their weekly tapings as well as pay per views all in the same soundstage at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.

Side note – if WWE has a television contract with NBC Universal, then wouldn’t that mean that the Universal organization has some affiliation with both WWE and TNA? Weird.

This pay per view was awesome. Sure, something is certainly “missing” from it because it was held in the same arena that their weekly tapings are held in, but TNA is working to fix that situation. They are holding their first monthly PPV outside of Universal Studios this coming October. I think it’ll do them some good!

However, that is a minor point against what was a great show that not only saw a completely out of control main event (literally, they were all over the place), but that also saw the TNA debut of Christian Cage. Those of you who are interested in what the former WWE Intercontinental Champion had to say during his TNA debut can flip over to TBLWrestling.com’s quotes section and take a read.

There was one bad part of the pay per view, though. BG James (formerly Road Dogg in WWE) had a really awkward mini-tirade against WWE and Vince McMahon in his backstage interview. In my short time watching TNA, this seems to be a recurring phenomenon. A few weeks ago on TNA Impact, former ECW World Champion Rhino actually started the show with an in-ring promo against the new ECW show and Vince McMahon. There just seems to be frequent references to WWE and how it sucks or how Vince is nuts or whatever and listen – I’m not going to debate any of that stuff. I will, however, say that if I’m watching TNA then I must already be aware that there is a problem in WWE or that I just don’t like what I’m seeing in WWE.

Let me get back on topic before I miss the point of this post. This PPV was fantastic! I’m not going to go through a match-by-match recap of the deal because that’s boring and the PPV is already a few months old. The main points that I want to get across are that the while the overall feel of the show may come up to the standard of a WWE produced show, it’s damn close. TNA, however, completely surpasses WWE in terms of the wrestling that takes place in the ring. They do a phenomenal job of getting the desire and determination of their wrestlers over with the crowd – oh, and speaking of the crowd, they are completely into the show 100%. Anyone who has ever watched a wrestling show with a hot crowd or who has been to an independent show knows that a hot crowd can make a show just like a dead crowd can kill one. The TNA crowd is completely into the product and it comes off very well on screen.

And the X Division is something to see. At the time of this PPV, Samoa Joe and AJ Styles were just a few of the many young up and comers that were a part of the X Division. Folks, the quality of this division is unmatched on RAW, Smackdown!, or the Tuesday show. This is what you want when you buy a wrestling PPV – you want people giving it everything that they’ve got because you’re willing to plunk down the money to buy their show. That’s something that you don’t get in every wrestling promotion…

I give Genesis 2005 a rousing approval. If you can get your hands on a used copy of this DVD (like I did), then spend the money and buy this event. It was well worth the money because, unlike other wrestling pay per views, there’s a strong possibility that I’ll watch this event over and over again!

Good job TNA!