The Headbangers WWE Team Champions?

I pride myself on me wrestling knowledge and considering I was eighteen in 1997 during one of the hottest years in wrestling I can't believe I forgot this but, The Headbangers were the WWE Team Team Champions!

NWA Tag Team Champions: February 17 - March 30, 1998

I remember them winning the NWA Tag Team Championships and their feud with the Oddities over the Tag Team Champions of the Universe foam belts.  But, I have no recollection of them holding the WWE Tag Team gold until listening to a recent episode of Something to Wrestle.

On September 7, 1997 in Louisville, Kentucky at In Your House: Ground Zero the Headbangers won a fatal four way match for the vacant Tag Team Championships.  They were the clear underdogs in the match with opponents The Godwinns, The Legion of Doom, and Owen hart & The British Bulldog I'm sure no one expected the Headbangers to win.

The months leading up to the PPV the Headbangers were on a tremendous losing streak at house shows and on television primarily against The Godwinn's.  After winning the championships they didn't start out well losing to the Godwinn's in three minutes the next night on Raw in a non-title match.

On TV they would feud with The Godwinn's and their new manager Cletus, but pick up wins on the house shows first against Rocky Maivia & Kama and later Savio Vega & Miguel Perez Jr.

Their biggest win as champions came on September 20, 1997 in Birmingham, England at the One Night Only PPV where they defeated Savio Vega & Miguel Perez Jr. at 13:34 with the Bombs Away on Perez.

Phinneas I. and Henry O. Godwinn

Their twenty eight day reign came to end in St. Louis, Missouri at In Your House: Badd Blood on October 5, 1997 when the Godwinn's won the championships when Phinneas pinned Mosh.  The Headbangers would beat the Godwinn's in a non-title lumberjack match the next night on Raw, however the Godwinn's would lose the championships to the Legion of Doom October 7th.

The Headbangers never recaptured the WWE Tag Team championships, however they did win several regional tag team championships over the years.  2019 marks their 25th year teaming together.

I've seen the Headbangers live three times:

March 29, 1998 WrestleMania XIV, Boston, Mass
The Headbangers were in the opening 15 team battle royal that was eventually won by LOD 2000.

April 26, 2012 Live Pro Wrestling, Waterville, Maine
CCW Tag Team Champions: The Headbangers: Mosh & Thrasher defeated The Prestige: Ryan Waters & Matt Magnum with the Stage Dive on Waters.

March 7, 2015 Boston Pro Wrestling Marathon Day 2, Abington, Mass
Falls Count Anywhere: “Real Deal” Brandon Locke w/ Adam Barisano pinned “Taskmaster” Kevin Sullivan after the match Sullivan beat up Barisano and then the Headbangers: Mosh & Thrasher attacked Barisano attempting the Stage Dive but Barisano botched it.

The Headbangers were supposed to wrestle on Day 3 of the Boston Pro Wrestling Marathon but the promoter cancelled the final day of the show last minute. At both the show in 2012 & 2015 I chatted with them and got some cards signed. They were super cool to talk to and were genuinely nice guys.

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment, read my other posts, and like my blogs Facebook page and while you're at it check out my weekly podcast The Wrestling Insomniac on the Nerdy Legion Podcast Network. 

Later Readers!

Signed Trading Cards: Tommy Dreamer, Teddy Hart, Retro AG, & more

On Saturday March 9th I attended Limitless Wrestling "Welcome to the Dance" where I got these trading cards signed.  You can read my report about the show here.

Tommy Dreamer

This card is from the ECW set that was released in 2000 as an accompaniment with the Original San Francisco Toymakers ECW Bash of the Brawlers Action figures.

I'm not sure how many cards are in this set but I have cards signed by Dreamer, Lance Storm, Jerry Lynn, Steve Corino, and Super Crazy.  Other unsigned cards that I have are Tajiri, Rob Van Dam, Sandman, & Sabu.  Other cards that I have seen are Chris Candido, Axl Rotten, Nova, Balls Mahoney, Little Guido, Rhino, Justin Credible, Mike Awesome, & New Jack.  Each wrestler has two cards.

These cards and the NWA Wonderama cards are my two favorite sets to get signed because it represents my two favorite times in wrestling to go back and watch.

"Retro" Antony Greene

This card was released in the Highspots crate in the month of March 2019.  I got this card direct from AG as he had extras.  Above is the front of the card which is signed by the Platinum Hunnies and below is the back of the card signed by Greene. Typically I don't like getting the back of cards signed but the set up of the back of this card is wicked cool.  These HighSpots cards are really nice and I've managed to get a few direct from the wrestlers, it would be nice if Highspots sold them apart from the subscription box.

Teddy Hart

I have searched thoroughly in the past for a Teddy Hart trading card and as far as I know this is the only trading card out there that he is featured on.  This card is from the Limitless Wrestling Moments set that was released after the Limitless Wrestling Series I set.  This moment is from September 2017 when Josh Briggs accepted Teddy Hart's open challenge for the next show.  I got it signed by Briggs back in December at Limitless Wrestling No Control in December 2018.

Brett Domino

This card is from the Limitless Wrestling Series I released in 2018.  I had the card signed by DL Hurst at Let's Wrestle Rumble in January 2019.  You can pre-order Domino's first t-shirt via his twitter @brett_domino

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment, read my other posts, and like my blogs Facebook page and while you're at it check out my weekly podcast The Wrestling Insomniac on the Nerdy Legion Podcast Network. 

Later Readers!

Fighting with My Family Review (2019)

My History with the Film:
Last February, I reviewed Fighting With My Family, a Channel 4 documentary about the Knight family. The Knight family lives and breathes professional wrestling and in this documentary you see the rise of WWE wrestler Paige. It was an interesting peek into the world of pro wrestling in England, prior to its resurgence, and how one family worked so hard to help their children succeed in the world of sports entertainment.

The Knight family consists of some very unique and interesting people, and this caught Hollywood’s attention. A fictional account of Fighting with My Family was produced and released in theaters two weeks ago. I made my way to the local Alamo Drafthouse to check it out and here are my spoiler free thoughts.

What The Film Is About (Non-Spoiler):
Two young British wrestlers dream of making it to the WWE.

What I Liked About It:
-The acting all around was wonderful with Florence Pugh (Paige) knocking it out of the park in every scene. Equally as charming was Jack Lowden (Zak Knight) and the remaining cast Nick Frost, Lena Headey, Vince Vaughn, amongst others were near perfect in their roles.

-The wrestling scenes were the best I’ve ever seen in a movie. They were seamlessly cut together and despite my attempts at trying to catch a glimpse of Tessa Blanchard (who performed the stunts) I was unable to. Fighting with My Family did for cinematic wrestling scenes what Rocky did for boxing scenes.

-I was highly impressed with how palatable the movie was for non-wrestling fans, yet still gave us diehards something to enjoy. There is a great story here, combined with some great in-ring action, and even wrestling lingo like “receipts.” The film also addresses the whole “fake vs. scripted” arguments without coming off preachy or defensive. It offers a great explanation about what we fans love as wrestling and why we love it, and why we aren’t idiots for loving it. It’s the perfect introduction into the world of professional wrestling that I’ve ever seen.

-The movie is a drama at its core, but also features some legit laugh out loud comedic moments. 

 
-I kept my eyes peeled for indy wrestlers and other familiar faces and I didn’t see any. I actually like that. It didn’t pull me out of the story and allowed me to stay immersed in the film.

What I Didn't Like About It:
-While I enjoyed every minute of Fighting with My Family, it did feel about ten minutes too long.

-There is only one cameo scene with WWE wrestlers and it’s appropriate for the story, however it did feel tacked on. It added nothing to the story and probably should have been cut.

Additional Notes:

-IMPACT/WOW wrestler Tessa Blanchard performed the in-ring stunts as Paige.

-Scenes for the movie were shot at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, after Monday Night Raw on March 20th, 2017.

-Some filming took place in Paige’s home city of Norwich England and the nearby town of Great Yarmouth on April 3rd and 4th, 2017.

Rating:
Paige’s story is good, but I didn’t expect it to translate to the big screen so well. It’s an underdog story about a family obsessed with professional wrestling, and that doesn’t scream Hollywood production to me. Luckily, I was wrong. I took three non-wrestling fans with me to this show and all three loved the movie and expressed interest in actually going to a wrestling match afterwards. At its core, Fighting with My Family is a story about family dynamics and how those relationships can elevate us in life. It’s a story about misfits defying the odds and making it big.

It’s well acted, filmed beautiful, and feels authentic. It’s by far the best professional wrestling movie ever made and it’s a shame that it didn’t capture a bigger audience in theaters. I cannot recommend Fighting with My Family enough for non-wrestling fans, so for wrestling fans I think you’ll absolutely love it. I’d rate it five out of five and say it’s a must see.