Matthew T. Squires

Switching Gears: John Cena, Stone Cold Steve Austin & the Complexities of a WWE Heel Turn

Article taken from Bleacher Report. Image: WWE.com

In a 2011 interview with online video gaming website IGN, Stone Cold Steve Austin spoke candidly about his 15+ year career inside the squared circle. Austin, a former six-time world champion and a WWE Hall of Fame inductee, spoke at lengths about several subjects, including his admiration for the likes of Ricky Morton and Bobby Eaton, his early wrestling days in Texas and the overall demise of the American territorial system. Interestingly, when questioned on his preferred role of playing a hero or a villain, Austin – one of the most beloved babyfaces in the history of modern professional wrestling – pronounced “Shoot, man, I loved being a damn heel…”

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UK Football: The nPower Championship’s 12 Stand-Out Players of the 2012-13 Season

Article taken from This is Futbol. Image: The Sun

“The Premier League is the greatest competition in the world.”

A sentiment that is strongly considered to be accurate by a more than significant section of those involved on and off the pitch, the top tier of English football has long been hailed as the pinnacle of the world’s most popular sport, and the definitive home to some of the most successful clubs, managers and players in the history of the game.

Interestingly, then, in a surprisingly dull Premier League season that has seen Manchester United effectively crowned as champions from as early as November and Queens Park Rangers and Reading dispatched seemingly from the outset, it has been left to the second division to provide the drama typically associated with the likes of United, Arsenal and Chelsea.

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UK FOOTBALL: CHRISTIAN BENTEKE & ASTON VILLA’S SEASON OF DISCONTENT

Article taken from This Is Futbol. Image: BBC Sport.

Throughout the storied 20+ year history of the English Premier League, only a small selection of the 45 teams that have competed can truly say that they are a mainstay of the most famous competition in world football. The illustrious Manchester United is the obvious candidate for the definitive EPL team with a résumé including 12 (and soon to be 13, bar a miracle run from Manchester City) winners’ titles, but other teams such as Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal, with such monumental achievements as an undefeated streak of 49 league matches to their names, can also claim a legitimate stake at being the archetypal top-flight club.

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No Sell: WWE, TNA & the Ambiguity of Professional Wrestling in 2013

Article taken from Bleacher Report. Image: WWE.com.

“Take advantage of the ambiguity in the world. Look at something and think what else it might be…”

- Roger Von Oech (Author/Inventor)

“This is something that I’ve talked about at length with my friends; we need to figure out exactly what pro-wrestling is… the equation has changed somewhat over the years. I truly belive that wrestling can still be entertaining, and full of drama, excitement and athleticism, which are all things people want to escape to when watching entertainment.”

- Austin Aries, September 2012, Fighting Spirit Magazine

In the global arena known as the world of sports, promotion is the key component of any output. Creating intrigue and consistently drawing in new audiences is one of the toughest areas of sports production, and when done successfully, a product can become an element of national identity (see ice hockey in Canada, or soccer in the UK).

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WWE: Bo Dallas vs. Wade Barrett - the Future’s Feud

Article taken from Bleacher Report. Image: WWE.com.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, that is a career-altering win for Bo Dallas…”

- Michael Cole, RAW (01/28/2013)

WWE’s 2013 Royal Rumble pay-per-view was a remarkable event.

Featuring a tremendous amount of star power with the participation of such performers as The Rock, John Cena and Chris Jericho, the 26^th edition of the annual January extravaganza was an entertaining event that successfully showcased the abundance of talent that can be found in WWE.

However, on a night full of predictability (Cena’s second Royal Rumble Match victory, The Rock defeating CM Punk to lift the WWE title for the first time in 10 years, etc.), it was, surprisingly, left to the emerging Bo Dallas to provide the shock of the night.

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