Category: WWE/MMA

Calinger: McMahon risks making WWE irrelevant by ignoring fans

By J.W. CALINGER ISL Correspondent The last week has not been kind to Vince McMahon. On Monday night, he was forced to postpone a live card due to a blizzard in the Northeast, and the day before, he saw so many fans cancel their WWE Network subscriptions in disgust over the Royal Rumble match that […]

Calinger: Hard to believe Ultimate Warrior is gone

By J.W. CALINGER ISL Correspondent With all the focus on character development, story arcs, and dramatic, competitive matches, pro wrestling fans still love the occasional virtual demigod or freak of nature who simply comes down to the ring and runs over or smashes people. It’s what made Andre the Giant such a star and, more […]

Calinger: WrestleMania XXX a disappointment

By J.W. CALINGER ISL Correspondent With all the attention focused on the wrestlers who made WrestleMania the spectacle that it is, it’s easy for the WWE Universe to forget that at the end of the day, WrestleMania is Vince McMahon’s baby. A nationwide event, viewable only live or on closed-circuit TV, was an unbelievably huge […]

Calinger: McMahon screws C.M. Punk, WWE fans by pushing muscleheads

By J.W. CALINGER ISL Correspondent Call C.M. Punk what you will, but even when people despise him and wish he were gone, they usually have to admit he has a point. Arguably, his having a point is what makes people despise him and wish he were gone. Punk has the uncanny ability to take ideas […]

WWE Survivor Series delivers in Indy

By CLIFF BRUNT ISL Editor Survivor Series was quite a bit better than I expected on Sunday night. I thought the card had potential, but the execution of the matches surprised me. First of all, CM Punk held on to his WWE title against Ryback and John Cena. The match had everything. Ryback was a […]

WWE Survivor Series invades Indianapolis

By CLIFF BRUNT ISL Editor One of the WWE’s signature events, the Survivor Series, invades Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Sunday night. Indy Sports Legends’ Cliff Brunt and Justin Whitaker will be there with commentary and photos throughout the night. Survivor Series is one of the biggest wrestling events ever to hit Indianapolis. WrestleMania 8 was at the […]

Brunt talks to WWE’s Damien Sandow about Survivor Series

By CLIFF BRUNT ISL Editor I got to be Mean Gene Okerlund for a day. I interviewed WWE Superstar Damien Sandow by telephone on Thursday afternoon to promote the Survivor Series, which will be held Sunday in Indianapolis. Sandow is one half of the team “Rhodes Scholars” with Cody Rhodes. The intellectually superior one will be a part […]

Cliff Brunt’s 2007 interview with WWE owner Vince McMahon

By CLIFF BRUNT ISL Editor Note: This is the first of several WWE-related stories I will write leading up to Sunday’s Survivor Series in Indianapolis. INDIANAPOLIS — It was March 20, 2007, and I was set to interview WWE owner Vince McMahon for The Associated Press about his upcoming WrestleMania match, a “Hair vs. Hair” match in […]

WWE SmackDown hits Indy; Survivor Series coming Nov. 18

By CLIFF BRUNT ISL Editor INDIANAPOLIS — WWE SmackDown in Indy was special for multiple reasons. First, Booker T was announced as the General Manager of SmackDown. Now can you dig that…SUCKA!!! More important, it was announced that Survivor Series, the major pay-per-view that takes place around Thanksgiving each year, will be held at Bankers Life […]

WWE’s Hunico discusses getting tombstoned on Raw, his future

ISL Editor Cliff Brunt interviewed World Wrestling Entertainent superstar Hunico on Thursday in advance of SmackDown on July 31 in Indianapolis. Billed as being from Juarez, Mexico, Hunico wears a muscle shirt and a bandana, rolls to the ring on a lowrider bike and often switches back and forth between English and Spanish. He grew up a fan of the […]

ISL’s 10 favorite all-time WWE/WCW wrestling entrance themes

By CLIFF BRUNT ISL Editor This is the second of my professional wrestling lists – my 10 favorite wrestling entrance theme songs. Because everyone’s tastes are different, your list might be much different than mine. That’s OK – I just want to start conversation and take you down memory lane. Theme songs set the tone for what’s […]