Author: Marc Kick

Brendan Byrne Arena/Continental Airlines Arena/IZOD Center

From their inaugural season in New Jersey, after relocating from Denver, Colorado before the 1982-83 NHL season, the newly rechristened New Jersey Devils called the Brendan Byrne Arena home for 24 seasons.

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But the Devils weren’t the only New Jersey professional sports team to call the arena home. In fact, the arena was originally built to be a home for the relocating New York Nets, who had previously played their home games at the Nassau Coliseum. And though the arena was built to be a basketball arena, the intentions of building the arena was also to lure an NHL team to New Jersey. By the time the arena was built, the Nets had already moved out to New Jersey and were playing their home games in New Brunswick at the Rutgers University Athletic Center for a couple years. So when the arena was completed in 1981, it had an immediate tenant.

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I’m a lapsed fan…

I’ve been a prowrestling fan for a large portion of my life, however considering the directions that the business & really, WWE moreso in general have taken, I’m finding myself more and more sitting here on the outside, looking in on a business I used to live & breathe almost 24/7. I’ve heard guys like Dave Scherer & Mike Johnson on PWInsider.com speak of the lapsed fan who checks in from time to time and continues to leave again for one reason or another & I’ve now come to the conclusion that that group now includes me.

For us lapsed fans, we WANT to like the product, but there’s just a number of bad decisions whether it’s from a talent, creative or any other number of reasons that continue to turn us off from the product. I had been hoping that a return of fans to the arenas might change my stance, but even that doesn’t seem to make a difference to me now. Is it talent? Oh my God, yes! Is it just talent issues? Of course it’s not. Creative storytelling is certainly involved as well.

So how did I get here?

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The Face of WWE is…?

So for one reason or another, this morning I got to thinking about the current lineup for the upcoming WrestleMania show next month, and it occurred to me that WWE may have made a pretty sizable change recently!

Looking back through WWE history, that company/territory has traditionally been a babyface territory. Going all the way back to Bruno Sammartino, WWE has traditionally been a babyface-led territory. From Bruno, Pedro Morales, and Bob Backlund to Hulk Hogan, Bret “The Hitman” Hart, “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels, Diesel, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, The Rock all the way forward to John Cena & Roman Reigns…until now.

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Looking Back: WWF In Your House I

In watching this past week’s episode of NXT, we were informed by Triple H, Shawn Michaels & the Road Dogg that we were about to celebrate the 25ᵗʰ anniversary of the first WWF In Your House pay per view, so in it’s honor, the next TakeOver event would be named NXT TakeOver: In Your House! So to help jog the memory of those who watched and even those who maybe weren’t watching wrestling back in the spring of 1995, I’m here now to look back on that memorable night in 1995 and pay tribute to it!

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WrestleMania 36…The Show That Probably Shouldn’t Have Been

So I promised a new piece reviewing this past weekend’s WrestleMania 36 & to be honest, I really have mixed feelings on the whole thing.

To start off, thinking logically about the whole ordeal with everything going on in the world today with everyone in quarantine and seemingly every form of live entertainment put on hold with the Coronavirus pandemic, it’s really hard for me to understand the “The Show Must Go On” train of thought considering the health of everyone involved in performing, recording, producing & distributing the two nights of WWE action. However, on the other hand, with all forms of live entertainment put on hold, people holed up in their homes, WWE has always prided themselves for “putting smiles on peoples’ faces” and in this time of “social distancing”, I also see the need for a show like this — to try to provide some sense of normalcy during a time that is anything but normal.

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Professional Sports Frustrations/Satisfactions

I’ve been a fan of the New Jersey Devils for just about as long as I can remember. The team originally came to New Jersey from Colorado back in 1982 — when I was 4 years old. So during the time I’ve followed them, I’ve been there from the lowest of lows – routinely finishing in the basement of the Patrick Division to the highest highs of their existence – making it to the Stanley Cup Finals 5 times, and winning the Cup three times. Unfortunately, we’re back to one of those low points in the franchise’s existence. Since making it to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2012 and losing to the LA Kings in 6 games, the team has certainly fallen on hard times.

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