According to Bleeding Cool News – Ozzy Osbourne was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame last week. According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, Osbourne was an unannounced addition to the line-up at the annual event that was taped Tuesday and Wednesday of last week. Ozzy was not present to accept the honor, he did tape an acceptance video that was aired as part of the ceremony.
WWE held WrestleMania 36 last night in an empty arena on a closed set at their Performance Center in Orlando, Flordia. One of the unique matches from the event was a “Boneyard Match” between the Undertaker and the dastardly AJ Styles. In a match style never before seen before in wrestling history, it was produced more like a movie scene rather than a live wrestling event. Undertaker walked out to Metallica’s 2016 hit song “Now That We’re Dead” and seemed to be teasing was a return to his “biker” gimmick, affectionately known as the “American Badass” era of the Undertaker, because he once came out to a Kid Rock reworking of Metallica’s “Sad But True,” called “American Badass” (he later, more famously, came out to Limp Bizkit’s “Rollin.” ‘Taker returned to the character tonight, and arrived on a motorcycle as Metallica’s “Now That We’re Dead” played him in. WWE WrestleMania 36 Part Two airs tomorrow night at 7pm on the WWE Network. Watch the Undertaker’s entrance here! Continue reading
Wrestlemania 33 will be taking place tonight in Orlando, Florida, and heavy metal will be represented during WWE‘s huge event. Continue reading
Life is full of mysteries: how does the universe expand into nothing? How did The Miz ever headline Wrestlemania, why has the UK Eurovision board not called Skindred yet, and most baffling of all, how have polka metallers (?!?) Russkaja maintained a career for so long? Metal has come with a huge degree of silliness for some time, folk metal especially at times requires you to leave your mind at the door and go nuts (may also contain disco). Russkaja’s brand of Russian Turbo Folk with Ska is a step too far however, and instead proves as fun as stapling your genitals to a grizzly bear.
Given their due, Russkaja have definitely covered new ground, combining traditional Russian Polka which will be unfamiliar to many, with the bombast and sunshine of Ska upon a metal driving engine; a formula which has deviated little over the 4 album career. The problem which becomes even more apparent on Peace, Love & Russian Roll (Napalm) is how the absurdity feels forced and lacks any charm. At the songwriting’s best they are often forgettable, at its very worst, parts will burrow in to your head through sheer annoyance rather than being catchy and instant, for example ‘El Pueblo Unido’, particularly with its whistled introduction.
Fitting closely with folk metal, often this style requires a suspension of belief in return for grin inducing ecstasy; instead Peace, Love & Russian Roll leaves little more than a grimace at best. The unique idea and approach is commendable but comes off like a car crash as nuances, instruments and passages are seemingly forced in to try and grab you and make you have fun, much like the class clown who tries too many tricks to look funny and instead just becomes an irritant.
3.0/10
CHRIS TIPPELL