Category Archives: Columns

Ron Simmons Talks Hall of Fame Career in Wrestling and Football

This morning on the ‘Open Mike’ morning show on 740 The Game in Orlando, FL, myself and Mike Bianchi spoke with Ron Simmons about going into the WWE Hall of Fame, his Hall of Fame career in college football playing with Florida State, getting into the wrestling business, becoming the first African American world champion and more.

You can follow me on Twitter @BrianFritz as I will be covering WrestleMania 28 this weekend in Miami.

WrestleMania 27 Look Back: Interview with Sheamus

Here is an interview I did last year heading into WrestleMania 27 with then United States Chamion Sheamus as he talked about his upcoming match with Daniel Bryan.  Plus, he predicts that he will be in one of the top matches at the next WrestleMania which is, in fact, the case this year as he challenges Daniel Bryan for the World Heavyweight Championship.

You can follow me on Twitter @BrianFritz as I will be covering WrestleMania 28 this weekend in Miami.

WrestleMania 26 Recap from AOL FanHouse

Oh, the good old days of working for AOL FanHouse.  I miss it.

It was just a small group that included my editor Tom Herrera, Brandon Stroud and myself and it was great.  Sure, we could have had a bigger staff but we really didn’t need it, especially at the time.  Together, we had a fantastic year-plus run covering wrestling for FanHouse.com before AOL decided to sell it off.

Truth is, there were plans to actually make the wrestling section much bigger.  We were doing really good traffic (which I’d like to take the bulk of credit for since I was the main contributor!) and work was being done to actually spin the wrestling section out of FanHouse into its own website.  Unfortunately, it didn’t happen quick enough and we ended going down with the ship like so many others working there.  It’s too bad because we had a really good thing going.

Even though FanHouse went out of business (technically, it was sold off to The Sporting News where it still exists but only by name with four writers covering sports that the 80+ employees it once had), all of my work from there is still online.  Yep, just go to http://www.aolnews.com/team/brian-fritz/ and you’ll find all the stories and interviews I did during my time there.

One of the stories I wrote was an extensive recap of WrestleMania 26 in Phoenix, Arizona which saw the last match in Shawn Michaels’ legendary career.  Here is my recap from that event.

————————————-

Undertaker Retires Michaels at WrestleMania 26

The Showstopper has been stopped — for good.

Shawn Michaels – arguably the greatest performer in WWE history — lost to The Undertaker in the main event ofWrestleMania 26 in a match where his career was on the line.

An announced crowd of 72,219 at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., witnessed another great match between the two wrestling icons. Last year at WrestleMania 25, the two had a timeless classic in what many people consider the greatest match in WrestleMania history.

This year, they met again with the highest of expectations. Plus, there was more riding on this match in that if The Undertaker lost, his undefeated streak at WrestleMania — which was at 17-0 heading into the show — would come to an end. However, Michaels’ storied career would be over if he could not beat the “Deadman.”

Throughout the match, Michaels was kicking away at The Undertaker’s left leg and left him hobbling after a while. However, it was The Undertaker with the first big move as he connected with his signature Tombstone Piledriver outside the ring. Once he got back in the ring, Michaels was able to kick out and it continued.

Later, the match again went outside the ring where the “Heartbreak Kid” landed his Sweet Chin Music with The Undertaker falling on the announcers table. Michaels then followed that up with a spectacular moonsault off the top rope onto his opponent as they crashed through the table.

After nearly 22 minutes of action, The Undertaker hit another Tombstone Piledriver in the middle of the ring but Michaels was able to kick out at the last second. With the crowd roaring, The Undertaker was ready for one more move to finish off Michaels.

As “The Showstopper” made his way to his feet, The Undertaker hesitated, as if not wanting to put an end to a great career. But Michaels motioned with a thumb across his throat that he was still in the fight. That wasn’t the case though as The Undertaker delivered another Tombstone Piledriver and scored the pin.

Afterwards, the two hugged as The Undertaker shared some words of respect. He then left the ring, leaving Michaels alone. Michaels fell to his knees and looked to the sky with tears in his eyes as the fans thanked him.

While this is wrestling and careers never seem to truly end, this one may be different. Michaels had been telling people for over a year that he wanted to hang it up and spend more time with his family. Now, he may get that chance and leave the life of a wrestler behind.

Elsewhere on the show, John Cena became a seven-time WWE Champion when he defeated Batista in a strong match. After the two powerhouses went back and forth, it was Cena leaping off the top rope but Batista caught him in mid-air with a powerbomb. He then went for his finishing maneuver — the Batista Bomb — but Cena was able to reverse it and slap on his patented STF submission move. After a moment, the “Animal” could take no more and tapped out.

Chris Jericho retained the World Heavyweight Championship with a victory over his former tag team partner Edge. The two had a fantastic match as Edge tried to land the spear on several occasions but never did. After a while, Jericho kicked away at Edge’s Achilles’ tendon, which he injured last year and kept him sidelined for over six months before returning at the Royal Rumble in January.

Jericho was able to grab the championship belt and after the referee got bumped, he clocked Edge with it but he could not score the pinfall. Edge though was limping around and Jericho capitalized by connecting with a Codebreaker and made the cover for the victory.

After the match, Jericho tried to injure Edge who was able to fight back and knocked his enemy onto an announcers table at ringside. Edge then climbed on another table and ran across, hitting the spear and driving Jericho through a barricade.

WrestleMania 26 also saw the return of Bret Hart after being gone from the company for 13 years as he faced WWE Chairman Vince McMahon – the man who screwed him over all those years ago. The two were scheduled for a No Holds Barred match but McMahon changed the rules as he came to the ring and said he was ready to give Hart a “WrestleMania-sized screwing.”

McMahon then brought out Hart’s family and said he had bought their help as they would be around the ring as lumberjacks. Before the match officially began, Hart turned the tide and said it was time that McMahon got double-crossed. He admitted that he knew something was up but had talked with his family and they would actually be on his side, not with the chairman.

The following ten minutes was an anticlimactic, one-sided beat-down as Hart got his revenge, pummeling McMahon with his family also getting in some shots of their own. Hart also used a chair and smashed McMahon over and over with it before slapping on his signature Sharpshooter and forcing his sworn enemy to give up.

Other matches included Triple H defeating Sheamus in what turned out to be a very good match. The veteran Triple H was nearly done for on several occasions against the relative newcomer. Sheamus was ready to finish him off but The Game was able to counter and connected with a Pedigree for the 1-2-3.

Rey Mysterio defeated CM Punk in a quick but fun match. Before it even began, Punk walked to the ring praising his “Straight Edge Society” and how he could be a savior to Mysterio. Late in the match, Mysterio had Punk in position to land the 619 but Serena — one of Punk’s followers — climbed up on the apron and stopped the move. Mysterio then went to run the ropes but Luke Gallows was standing on the apron on that side.

Punk had recovered and had the masked warrior in position for the GTS but Mysterio slipped out and knocked Punk into Gallows. He then hit the 619 and a splash off the ropes for the victory.

The Money in the Bank ladder match once again delivered with plenty of spills and thrills between the ten participants as Jack Swagger came away with a somewhat surprising victory. Several times, it looked like Matt Hardy was going to emerge as the winner by grabbing the briefcase over the ring. But each time, he was knocked off the ladder, including a reverse DDT by Christian at one point.

It looked like Christian was then going to win the match only for Jack Swagger to run up the other side of the ladder and crack Christian in the face with the briefcase, knocking him down to the mat. It took Swagger an extra minute with the briefcase stuck on the hook but he was finally able to pull it off for the win.

Now, Swagger will be able to cash in the briefcase at any time over the next year for a shot at any championship of his choosing.

In the opening match, the Big Show and The Miz — together known as ShoMiz — beat the team of R-Truth and John Morrison to retain the Unified Tag Team Title. After only three minutes of action, the Big Show tagged his partner but before entering the ring, he connected with his Knockout Punch to Morrison and got the pin.

Randy Orton defeated former Legacy members Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes. Orton, who was heavily booed just several months ago, came out to heavy cheers from the crowd. Early on, it was Rhodes and DiBiase double-teaming Orton before the two turned on one another. Orton was able to get the upper hand and punted Rhodes in the head, knocking him out. DiBiase snuck in behind Orton and went for his Dream Street move but Orton countered and connected with an RKO for the victory.

The other match on the show was Vickie Guerrero pinning Kelly Kelly for the win in the 10-Diva tag match. Before the pay-per-view, Yoshi Tatsu won a 26-man battle royal.

WWE has already announced that WrestleMania 27 will take place at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta on April 3, 2011.

WrestleMania 28 Coverage Coming

Well, it’s almost here … WrestleMania 28.

The Road to WrestleMania is winding down its final week.  So, I thought it would be a good time to break out some items from the past few events which I covered either here for the website or for AOL FanHouse.

I plan on posting some items including stories and videos from WrestleMania 26 and WrestleMania 27.  Plus, I’ll be posting some new items as well for WrestleMania 28 including a few podcasts if I’m able to land a few guests before the end of the week.

Speaking of this year’s event, I’ll be down in Miami to cover it along with my trusty friend Pedro and will try to get as much of the sights and sounds here on the website.  I would also suggest that everyone follow me on Twitter @BrianFritz and check out my Facebook page as well since I’ll be posting stuff there too.

I’ve said this plenty of times … if you’ve never been to a WrestleMania before, go.  It’s amazing to see a wrestling show on that big of a stage and the WWE does it right.  There are so many fans and is really a spectacular event.  And this year’s should be damn good with The Rock vs. John Cena as the headliner.

Episode 18 – Shane Douglas

The ‘Franchise’ Shane Douglas has been keeping very busy these days.  One of the things taking a lot of his time right now is the upcoming Extreme Reunion show taking place on April 28 at the Pennsylvania National Guard Armory in Philadelphia.  I spoke with Shane about the event, why he thinks it will be successful, his plans going forward with the group, if wrestling is still cool, if he is surprised that he is still in the ring at this stage of his life, what his career would have been without ECW, the resurgence of the Dynamic Dudes mentions with John Laurinaitis on WWE television and much more.

Subscribe to Between The Ropes on iTunes

Find out more about the Extreme Reunion event including talent on the show, matches and tickets

Follow me on Twitter (@BrianFritz)

Play