Hello and welcome to another edition of the 8 Ball for the wrestling section of 411 Mania! I am your host David McGregor, and last week I had a bus related ordeal that left me unable to write this column.

This was originally going to be the Ultimate Warrior, but I just felt that Goldust was so much more creative and innovative in comparison to someone like Warrior. Regardless of the character that Goldust was portraying and the gender bending innovativeness of it, the entrance alone still got you noticing the character from the get go. Everything from the wig to the lights to the robe was perfect and added to the allure of the character. This was at a time when Goldust was still taken seriously, and the whole androgynous aspect of the whole presentation of Goldust made him one of the brightest stars of the WWE at the time.

I was never a fan of the feminine characters in wrestling, mainly because they are usually done very badly and are more of an embarrassment to the community they are meant to represent more than anything. Look at Orlando Jordan for example, legitimately homosexual but portrayed every ugly stereotype possible. Goldust was a man dressed as a woman, yet at the same time he could kick your arse in the ring. It is like RuPaul walking into a WWE ring and beating up Triple H, which is very likely, as RuPaul looks dangerous. Goldust’s entrance was one of the campest things I have ever seen, but it was captivating and just made the whole persona so much better.

I knew that this pick would be Ric Flair, it was just a toss up between what entrance it would be. I’m a sucker for a flashy entrance so all of the emotional ones from Nitro, and the Raw after he retired were instantly out. That left me with Starrcade 1983, Wrestlemania 24 and Great American Bash 1989. Starrcade was a special moment for Flair, and the match will go down in wrestling history, but the entrance was a little too mundane. Then at Wrestlemania 24 we all knew this was his last match and it was a beaten up broken down Flair that walked out, much less so than previous years but still not the same man he was.
But Great American Bash 1989 was the perfect mix of young and old. You had a true legend of the sport in his physical peak, and the WCW were going all out and having a huge entrance for the 6 times World Heavyweight Champion (at the time). You had the pyro coming from the skies, and the women walking him to the ring as well as a brand new $15,000 robe for the occasion. But more than anything Flair looked energised and happy to be there. The entrance felt upbeat and almost celebratory before he had even entered the ring. It isn’t dramatic or fear inducing, it is just Flair out there showing the world why he is a legend.

Every person who works in the booking of wrestling should look at this as the perfect example of how to make someone look incredibly dangerous without any effort. Ryback could kill jobbers for years and still not look as vicious as Goldberg being escorted to the ring by security, not for his security but everyone else’s. This looked legitimate, like he was a genuine threat to anyone that came in contact with him. It wasn’t corny like Sabu and the Hannibal Lecter mask acting like he was some kind of animal, because realistically why would someone like that be a wrestler?

But Goldberg just looked like a wrestler who was so brutal that he was dangerous in any environment. This was all created before he was even in the ring. That’s without even discussing the fireworks and the image of Goldberg walking through the smoke and not battering an eyelid. That was priceless. Eric Bischoff gets a lot of criticism, and rightfully so, but he got every single thing right with Goldberg. People say that an unbeatable gimmick is hardly new, this is true but it was the way they used Goldberg and the added on extras that made him great. It couldn’t last forever but it was a moment of perfection that hasn’t really been replicated since.

John Cena has had a good few really entertating entrances at Wrestlemania, but I don’t think he has ever topped his Wrestlemania 23 entrance. Sure it is mostly a video, but when that Ford comes crashing through the set it is just an awesome moment, it makes Cena looks great and you instantly identify it with Detroit.

When everyone and their mother is going all out at Wrestlemania you really need to push it even further, and while it wasn’t the best of the night it was definitely a career peak for John Cena. I don’t really have much more to say about the entrance other than it was really cool. It didn’t accomplish anything of great importance, other than to one up Shawn Michaels on his stage, but it was a memorable moment of one of the biggest nights in wrestling history. That’s not just hyperbole either the WWE has the buyrates to prove it.

This was absolutely phenomenal, and if The Miz had taken off this would have been one of those integral points of his entire career. The Miz was always looked down on for being a reality star, and then this video turned that all round so that he was a guy who always wanted to be a wrestler no matter what and reality TV was just a stepping stone. That is the actual truth, but Miz was always known as that Real World guy regardless of his love for wrestling. But the video was masterfully done, and was actually my favourite moment of Wrestlemania 27 and I absolutely adored Triple H v The Undertaker.

People could argue that the vast majority of the success of Miz’s entrance was due to a video; therefore he shouldn’t be on the list. But so was John Cena’s in Wrestlemania 23 and that was still fantastic. The main point to be accomplished with an entrance is to make an impact and that is exactly what happened here. It just a shame that more people don’t remember this, and that’s because the WWE dropped the ball hugely with The Miz therefore there isn’t really much point in remembering. But if the WWE were just to air this video once or twice a lot of Miz’s credibility that he accumulated in 2011 could be restored. It seems to legitimise him more so than any 99% of the stuff they have done with Miz since 2010.

The WWE are amazing with their production company and this was just another example of this. But it begs the question why isn’t more effort put into pushing talent through videos like this and not crappy montages of wrestlers generic matches?

There was a lot of different and entertaining entrances in the Attitude Era, from Edge and Christian coming through the crowd unknown to Too Cool coming out and getting the entire audience and match participants dancing, but there was no greater than The Brood and their entrance through the fire. When you think back it isn’t really that complicated or anything, but it is so damn effective. Gangrel was meant to be some kind of demonic vampire guy, and Edge and Christian were whatever the hell they were, so it fit perfectly with the whole groups character.

It sort of worked too well for Gangrel, as his whole entrance became the most exciting part of his matches. It is a pretty double-edged sword to have a classic entrance; as if you aren’t better in the ring than your entrance then you are going to fail quicker than a hiccup. But for Edge and Christian they were able to do great things in the ring and used the interest they garnered from their entrance to further their own career. Definitely one of my favourite of all time, and it was simple and fantastic.

If you want to big and want to go bold then you do it at Wrestlemania, but no one has ever went bigger or bolder than Shawn Michaels. But some would argue that he went too big and too bold way too fast, as he shall never top his famous entrance from the rafters as he sailed down to the ring and wowed the entire WWE audience there and at home. It’s not the first or last time Shawn would do wow the audience, but that had to be the biggest and most outlandish ever.

I think the reason this is placed a lot higher that something similarly outlandish like John Cena at Wrestlemania 23 is because it has become a legendary stunt and it totally fitted with the flamboyant character that Shawn Michaels portrayed (was). Also used as a psychological tactic it works perfectly, if Michaels isn’t afraid to fly down from the rafters then he isn’t afraid of Bret Hart or a 60 minute Iron Man Match either.

Just one of those moments that stays with every wrestling fan, and has become the stuff of legend. There is Mankind being thrown off the Hell in a Cell, and right up there with it is Shawn Michaels flying down from the top of the arena.

The Undertaker has had hundreds of great entrances, from Wrestlemania 14 when he fought Kane for the first time to the introduction of the whole American Badass persona at Judgement Day in 2000. There were so many great moments to choose from. But for me there has been no greater single image than when Undertaker walked through the single strip of light at Wrestlemania 23. It was so good it looked like one of those images that they create before the PPV to slide into the show to make it look good, but no this was just a brilliant idea performed perfectly.

Just the image of The Undertaker’s shadow walking towards the arena from the light was amazing. Then you add in the huge pyrotechnic display with all the flames and the druids, and there you have an Undertaker entrance to beat all Undertaker entrances. And that is the great thing about The Undertaker; his entrance is so legendary and perfect that whether you are talking about the best continuous entrance of the best single entrance, you will always be talking about the Undertaker. Well at least for me anyway.

Next week’s 8 Ball will be: