The Steel Cage

Four years ago this Friday, Randy Orton defeated Chris Benoit in the main event of SummerSlam 2004 to capture the world heavyweight championship.

It was the first world title win for Orton, who became the youngest world champion ever with his win. It might be easy to conclude that Orton was not quite ready carry the world champion flag - and maybe he wasn't - but the truth is he was never really given the chance. They rushed a babyface turn the very next night when the rest of Evolution attacked him, and booked Orton vs. Triple H at the very next pay per view - a match many speculated at the time would be held off until WrestleMania.

Nevertheless, this match may have helped cemented Orton's place as a legit WWE main eventer. From here Orton went on to have a money feud with the Undertaker, and competed for the Smackdown world title at WrestleMania 22. When Orton finally won another world title last October, he was more mature, more developed, and certainly more over with fans.

As for Benoit, this night marked the end of what was the biggest national push he received during his 20 year history. Benoit captured the world heavyweight championship four months earlier at WrestleMania XX, but like Orton at the time, it became quickly clear that WWE was not serious in investing in Benoit as a top headliner.

While the visual of Benoit celebrating in the ring at Madison Square Garden with his family and Eddie Guerrero was a truly historic moment - made tragically more poignant in recent years - his reign as champion was largely forgettable, and he would never again return to his position at the top of WWE cards.

I'll also throw out a question for anyone who may have recently purchased WWE's SummerSlam DVD box set: Is this match included on the 2004 DVD?

As corny as it may sound, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a pretty big thrill for me to sit down with the Ultimate Warrior last week. As I told him, it was my fascination with pro wrestling that led me to pursue a career in journalism. And, although I was a wrestling fan as far back as the early 1980s, it was the Warrior's "Ultimate Challenge" victory over Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania VI that converted my interest in wrestling into a passion.

So in some ways, a lot of who I am today, I owe to the Warrior. I told him that, and his response to me was something to the effect of, "Don't hold me responsible for that."

Touché, Mr. Warrior. But seriously, in recent years, the majority of the Warrior's press has been negative, due to his somewhat curious antics. But truth be told, he couldn't have been more gracious to me or the many fans who turned out to see him Sunday.

This is only a small portion of our interview. I hope to have the transcript up of the entire thing in the coming days.

I have to thank Jared Gladtstone at PSI Marketing for setting this up. You can visit his site at psimarketinggroup.com

Here's some video I shot outside the Nassau Coliseum before Sunday's Great American Bash. Fans arrived several hours early and tailgated in the parking lot, even in the sweltering heat. It was a pretty cool atmosphere, and I hope WWE brings pay per view back to Long Island before too long. - Alfonso

I've been sitting on this for a while - just haven't found the time to give it the proper intro. Nor do I have the time now.

For my money, A.J. Styles has always been the best thing in TNA, so it was a thrill to interview him backstage at the iMPACT! Zone over WrestleMania weekend. There are a ton of great wrestlers that WWE has missed the boat on, but I don't think any are the complete package that Styles is. He's exciting, dynamic, can work a main event style, has a good look, and most recently has shown that he has a ton of personality. That said, I'm glad WWE hasn't come calling for Styles. I expect he'd be relegated to ECW filler.

The back story to this interview was that I spent my afternoon shopping for some formal slacks for my wife to wear to WWE Hall of Fame ceremony - and ran so late that I missed the entire iMPACT! taping. Nonetheless, I was able to get backstage after the show and interview some guys. Unfortunately, I ran so late doing the interviews that I didn't have enough time to get back to my hotel room to change into my suit, so I ended up attending the blacktie HOF with the Ivan Drago T I'm sporting in this interview, and I believe my wife wore a Little Mermaid shirt. Shameful.

And for the record, Drago is the greatest movie character ever ever ever.

I don't mean to make this a video game blog - especially since I primarily use my PS2 to watch ROH DVD's - but some of the guys from Midway were kind enough to take me backstage at a recent taping of TNA iMPACT! and tell me about TNA's new videogame, which comes out this September. They also supplied me with this awesome 'making of' video.

Having been lucky enough to get an early preview of the game, I can honestly say it's the best looking wrestling game I've ever seen, loaded with plenty of new and innovative features, and very easy game play. I haven't picked up a game control in some time, but I'll definitely be picking up this game when it comes out.

Just a few days ago, I caught up with Midway Executive Producer Scot Lane and talked to him about the highly-anticipated iMPACT! game, which will be available for Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, and PS2:

Alfonso Castillo: How will this game be different than other wrestling games in the past?

Scot Lane: This is a difficult one because we were heavily influence by a few games from the past (No Mercy, Fire Pro, and a few others) That said, we feel our combat and animation speed/quality will be faster and more responsive that other games. I can’t stress enough how much time and energy we put into making our combat look and feel smooth and responsive.

AC: What are some new and unique features?

SL: One big feature is the Ultimate-X. This is a match unique to TNA where there is a large “X” hanging from two ropes crossing well above the ring. The idea is to get up there and untie the X. First one to do that wins, but it is not so easy when your opponent(s) is trying to stop you. We also have lots of moves that to my knowledge have never been in a wrestling game and we are looking so forward to getting them in the hands of the fans.

AC: What was it like working with the stars of TNA?

SL: The entire group is amazing and professional. Every time we get together for a photo shoot, motion shoot, game review, or press event something fun takes place. Some of the guys are here so often, they feel like part of the team. We’ve all learned so much about wrestling and their input will be seen in the game. They’ve really helped us learn a lot of the subtleties both in and out of the ring.

AC: How closely will the game simulate the experience of watching - or even taking part in - an intense and dramatic wrestling match?

SL: Our goal is to recreate a TNA match so I hope it looks and feels as intense and dramatic as it does when you watch. I know the wrestlers sure enjoy playing the game and they really get into it. We have created a replica of the Impact Zone in Orlando, we have amazing looking characters and we have the ringside announcers Mike Tennay and Don West so we feel we’ve done everything we can to put you in the ring during a TNA match!

AC: How far has the wrestling video game genre come from Midway's days of "WrestleMania: The Arcade Game"?

SL: It is funny you ask because we have two guys here (Sal DiVita and Mark Turmell) who created WrestleMania for Midway. Sal brought the arcade machine here that we play from time to time. I think it is safe to say we’ve come a long long long way but we have a lot more power driving our engine. We are 60FPS and we take the Wrestling aspect a lot more serious, WrestleMania had a lot of fantasy aspects to it. TNA treats wrestling with the legitimacy it deserves.

Your life isn't complete until you've been licked by a Bushwhacker.

I caught up with the Briscoe Brothers after ROH's first night in Orlando over WrestleMania weekend.
If you're not a fan of ROH and have never seen Mark and Jay in action, I can honestly tell you that it is not an exaggeration to say that they are the best tag team in country right now, and have been for a while. Of all the acts that TNA and WWE are overlooking, the biggest may be the Briscoes, who would almost immediately add new depth and legitimacy to any tag team division they joined.
The Briscoes are not only tremendous wrestlers, but, more importantly, they have a polished, cohesive act.
Proving that, if done right, a tag team division can be a focal point of a wrestling promotion and a major draw, the Briscoes have long been one of ROH' very top acts. They even headlined ROH's third pay per view, "Man UP" - which was named after the team's motto. If you haven't seen that match - in which they took on Kevin Steen and El Generico - I can't encourage you enough to seek it out.

Here's some video I took from this year's annual Bacon, Bagels and Biceps Brunch. As I wrote before, it may be hard to justify charging fans $125 for some orange juice and the opportunity to ask a panel of WWE mid carders some questions, but seeing as how proceeds go to the Make a Wish Foundation, I don't have a problem with it. Regardless, the crowd of mostly children seemed to eat everything up - the food and the superstar banter.
Incidentally, to me, the biggest star in attendance didn't appear on stage. I'm talking about none other than Tonga Fifita, who you may know as "King Haku." As a local businessman, he helped organize the event. I tried to catch up with him after the event, but lost him in the crowd. I'd ask him if he has any extra of his big rubber LJN action figures. Those are worth some serious loot.

Two days after witnessing WWE wrestling on the biggest stage of all in front of 74,000 fans at the Citrus Bowl, I got the opportunity to watch it on a far smaller stage when I attended a Florida Championship Wrestling show in New Port Richey.

FCW is essentially WWE's farm system, where stars of tomorrow are groomed before being called up to the majors. Over the years, WWE's developmental system has pumped out some of the biggest names in the industry, from Randy Orton, to Batista, to John Cena to Edge.

It was pretty cool watching a WWE-sanctioned product in a small bar before a "crowd" of about 50 fans - many of whom were their for the $1 draft special. I must confess, I took advantage of the special as well, so pardon the goofy look on my face.

Time for some predictions for Wrestlemania XXIV. And what with this being the digital age and all, words don't seem fair. So let's predict some matches in video.

Alfonso and Seth differ on the Triple Threat champ.

Alfonso and Seth both agree on this "Money" Mayweather vs. the Big Show nightmare waiting to happen.

Alfonso has a special surprise for the Bunny Mania match

Alfonso and Seth fight it out over who will win the Money in the Bank match.

Seth breaks down the undercard, including Ric Flair vs. HBK.