Review of Cage Rage: Vol. 15

Introduction

In the crazy world of professional wrestling, there is nothing more than fans love than to cheer or to boo. And, in fact, promoters love nothing more than that crowd interaction, because not only does it tell them who the new stars on the horizon are, but those cheers and boos usually translate into money, whatever the currency.

Mixed martial arts (MMA) used to shy away from promoting "good guys" and "bad guys", simply because they didn`t want the association with the scripted pro wrestling. But when the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) nearly folded in 2001, they realised that there was nothing wrong with taking the good parts of pro wrestling, such as the building of characters (in this case, real-life characters), in order to promote their product. Since these times, the product has flourished, with archetypal bad guys and good guys such as Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell respectively.

Cage Rage is a relatively new phenomenon in the UK. Holding its events at Wembley Conference Centre, it began as clearly a meagre British version of its American counterpart. Now, they are attracting new fans - including many celebrities - but yet there is still something missing, which is preventing Cage Rage from becoming as big as UFC is in America.

Enter Dave Legeno.

Dave Legeno is an actor who most recently appeared in "Batman Begins" with Christian Bale. Evidently, he is also a consummate fighter, as he gave an excellent performance in Cage Rage 14, and indeed returned for the Cage Rage 15 as well.

But the reason for this very long-winded introduction is to suggest that, whilst Cage Rage now has assembled a roster of some excellent fighters, Dave Legeno is an an absolute league of his own when it comes to playing to the crowd, and understanding what makes a crowd want to see you fight. It isn`t about how great you fight - and don`t get me wrong, the man can! - but about how much you can make the crowd want to see it.

In other words, everyone at Cage Rage should take note of Dave Legeno.

"Cage Rage 15: Adrenaline Rush" was held at the Wembley Conference Centre on 4th Febuary 2006, with a main event for the Cage Rage Light Heavyweight Title featuring champion Melvin Manhoef taking on Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos.

Video

Video is presented in 4:3 fullscreen PAL and is good for a DVD of this genre. Do not expect the pyrotechnic thrills of WWE or even UFC, but this is a solid effort for the England-based company. Image quality is not the sharpest, nor the cleanest, but this looks exactly as it did on the original Sky Sports broadcast.

Audio

Audio is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 and is good for a DVD of this genre. Commentary, led by "Fight Professor" Stephen Quadros, can be heard clearly at all times, and is always informative.

Features

Extras on this disc are in the form of pre-fight interviews. These are often unintentionally hilarious, and once you see them, you`ll understand why I spent so long building up the concept of fighters "selling" their bouts to the paying public.

Conclusion

After the excellent show that was Cage Rage 14, "Adrenaline Rush" (spelt incorrectly as "Adrenalin Rush" everywhere I`ve seen it!) was placed under the pressure of having to equal, if not better it. I am glad to say that this event was at least on a parallel with the previous one.

Naturally, there were a couple of disappointing bouts in Jason Barrett vs Mindaugas Arbocius and Paul Daley vs Jean Silva, but these were made up for by the likes of Minowa vs Legeno, Delucia vs Piamonte, and Lyttle against Mason. Those weren`t the only good bouts, either.

But on this occasion, fittingly, the main event was by far the most engrossing contest of the evening, as light heavyweight champion Melvin Manhoef took on Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos. Both men are known for their devastating stand-up fighting (basically, kickboxing), and for never taking a step back from their opponent. And so it came to pass, as both threw wild hooks at the other looking for an immediate knockout. I won`t spoil what happened, of course, except to say that this was certainly the best Cage Rage bout that I have ever seen. You might say that it was the exact opposite of the appalling Williams vs Harrison boxing match in December 2005, where both men stood around for seven eighths of the fight.

There is absolutely no question that Cage Rage is improving with every show, and that applies not only to their in-ring product, but also their production values and techniques. As I`ve mentioned, the next stage is to make the fighters themselves seem more like stars.

And Dave Legeno leads the way.