Controversial thought - Shawn Michaels

*Note - Controversial thought will be a semi -regular piece.

After spending many years defending my stance, I am going to write about one of my favorite topics.
Shawn Michaels was not as big of a star as WWE would like you to believe.

I started watching wrestling at the end of of the Saturday Night Main Event Era and was a huge fan of Superstars of Wrestling every Saturday Morning.  I was a fanatic during the "New Generation" and it carried on to the "Attitude Era".  I am still a fan today, but I often chuckle when packages about Shawn come across my television or read social media posts about him.

Let's start with this.  Shawn Michaels was a tremendous athlete (top 5 all - time in that category in my opinion) and a great bump taker.  He was also an excellent heel during his first singles run in the early 90's.  He is also well deserving of his Hall of Fame induction from the WWE.

Shawn Michaels

Upon reflection though, I never knew a single Shawn fan personally until the mid - 2000's.  Watching him on television, he struggled mightily as a baby - face during his Main Event tenure.  Mid 90's RAW is suspect at times as they promoted him in multiple segments, even to the point where he is severely overexposed.  Go back and watch the crowd responses to him.  He is nowhere near Bret Hart, Undertaker, Razor Ramon, or even Sid when it comes to the adulation from the crowd.

There are many possible reasons for this, but there are two reasons I would say are the biggest contributors to this.  The first is that his gimmick was not designed to be a babyface character.  (I personally didn't find the strip shows that entertaining)  The second is that his personality is naturally a heel character.  This is where he really shone and for whatever reason, they never really went back to this in latter years.

The main thing that I notice with Shawn is that the company has spent hours and hours of television time in recent years stating that Shawn is "The greatest in-ring performer of all -time."  It's a good marketing ploy, especially in the social media era to get people wanting to see him on television and for personal appearances.  It's very subliminal in the sense that if they promote it enough, the fans will go with it.  Truthfully, that statement is very subjective and depending on your personal preference, time period you watched, and where you grew up, you may have a varying list.

That being said, there is no bigger marketing machine than the WWE and if this is the message they want to get across, so be it.  I just don't happen to agree.

Conor McGregor, UFC's best worker

Over the last week, UFC fighter Conor McGregor has continued his assault on the WWE roster by continuing to question their toughness and real fighting ability.  Many of the WWE roster as well as the fans have berated McGregor for his comments on their legitimacy as well as their own personal physche.  So, what was the point of all of this?

Headlines, headlines, and more headlines.

While McGregor (and many other UFC stars) may have been frustrated by Brock Lesnar's drug test failure, he decided to include the rest of the WWE roster as being "messed up" and stated that he could "slap all of their heads off".

Conor McGregor

There is no question that McGregor has been a proven performer within his own weight class, but for him to insinuate that he could take on an entire Pro-Wrestling roster with different weight classes, athletic backgrounds, and some legitimately tough individuals is either incredibly near sighted or terribly naive.

I would never doubt that a UFC can handle themselves in a fight, but a controlled fight with rules that is the UFC is VERY different than a non - legislative fight.  That is why you've seen boxers destroyed when fighting with UFC rules.  This is why the original incarnation of UFC saw fighters from all disciplines have a fair chance against everyone.  There were no rules.  I fear that McGregor would find out the hard way outside of the Octagon that with no rules, many of the WWE roster would have a fair chance to defeat him.

At 170 lbs (145 lbs is his normal weight class.  He has bulked up for the Diaz fight.) is McGregor going to take down the Big Show and make him tap out?  Possible, but physics may make it unlikely.  Could he take down an All American wrestler in Dolph Ziggler?  Could he budge Olympic level power lifters like Big E or Mark Henry?  Or most importantly, could he do anything to Brock Lesnar?

All subjective of course, and he knows this.  But, he's got us all talking and his fight has not yet sold out.

Or, maybe WWE has interest in using him.

Headlines, headlines, and more headlines.

Welcome back!!

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WWE Live Event - Budweiser Gardens - London, Ontario - July 5th, 2014

On July 5th, WWE invaded the Budweiser Gardens in London, Ontario for a live event.  Just like the July 4th show, WrestleRealm was there.  Below are pictures from the show and a write-up from each match.

Roman Reigns Entrance - WFCU Centre, Windsor, Ontario. - July 4, 2014.

Bray Wyatt Entrance - WFCU Centre - Windsor, Ontario, July 4th, 2014.

WWE Live Event - July 4th, 2014. WFCU Centre - Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

The WWE invaded the WFCU Centre in Windsor, Ontario, Canada on July 4th and WrestleRelm was there for all the action.  Below is a sneak peak at some of the pictures and the matches that took place.  We will have all of the pictures from the event uploaded on our site in the coming days.