Shadowlink
Member
So I wasted 2 hours just to see a few minutes of Sting, and he wasn't even funny. DAMN IT TNA!
WrassleGAF August Edition: Cult of Personality
- Thread starter Mr. Sam
- Start date
- Status
Professor Beef
Banned
THIS WAS ALL YOUR IDEAspindashing said:
LET'S ALL BOO SPIN OUT OF WRASSLEGAF
HarryDemeanor
Member
The ultimate troll from TNA. Amazing.
spindashing
Banned
This is the funniest shit, though.
People got so excited after seeing the Sting gifs, they were like, "You know what? Let me check TNA out to see more of this ridiculous Sting." Then, the day they start watching is the day where his gimmick isn't so batshit crazy.
I love you, TNA. :lol
People got so excited after seeing the Sting gifs, they were like, "You know what? Let me check TNA out to see more of this ridiculous Sting." Then, the day they start watching is the day where his gimmick isn't so batshit crazy.
I love you, TNA. :lol
Conrad Link
Member
TNA are like shit they actually like something we're doing, oh yea? WE'LL SEE ABOUT THAT!!!!!!!!!!!
*puts a stop to it*
*puts a stop to it*
Forceatowulf
G***n S**n*bi
I feel violated.
I sat through that entire thing for Joker-Sting action and I got basically jack shit in return. Fuck me.
Not even a 2 hour Austin movie can wash this stink off.
I sat through that entire thing for Joker-Sting action and I got basically jack shit in return. Fuck me.
Not even a 2 hour Austin movie can wash this stink off.
bean breath
Member
Man, that suuuuuuuucked.
What a waste of time.
What a waste of time.
Net_Wrecker
Member
Professor Beef said:
I LOVE IT WHEN A PLAN COMES TOGETHER
You gif beggers gets no love from JokerSting. You show up when HE'S doing it, not when you want him to "perform" like a monkey.
Code:
*****************************************************************
TNA ROSTER DIRECTORY
Name Real Name Age Yrs Pro
Abyss Chris Parks 37 16
Anarquia Matt Barela 36 12
Mr. Anderson Kenneth Holmes 35 12
Kurt Angle Kurt Angle 42 13
Austin Aries Daniel Solwold Jr. 33 11
Eric Bischoff Eric Bischoff 56 24
Jeremy Borash Jeremy Borash 37 11
Traci Brooks Traci Gurdelman 36 11
Dixie Carter Dixie Carter-Salinas 46 9
Cookie Rebecca Treston 29 9
Christopher Daniels Daniel Covell 40 19
Crimson Tommy Mercer 26 4
Devon Devon Hughes 39 19
Pope DAngelo Dinero Elijah Burke 33 8
Robbie E Robert Strauss 27 11
Ric Flair Richard Fliehr 62 39
Hector Guerrero Hector Guerrero 56 38
Gunner Chad Lail 29 10
Jeff Hardy Jeff Hardy 33 18
Matt Hardy Matt Hardy 36 19
Christy Hemme Christy Hemme 30 7
Hernandez Shawn Hernandez 38 14
Hulk Hogan Terry Bollea 58 34
Zema Ion Michael Paris 24 7
Jackie Jacqueline Moore 47 22
Mickie James Mickie James 31 13
Jeff Jarrett Jeff Jarrett 44 25
Karen Jarrett Karen Smedley-Jarrett 38 4
Samoa Joe Nuufolao Seanoa 32 12
Kazarian Frank Gurdelman 34 13
Brian Kendrick Brian Kendrick 32 12
Angelina Love Lauren Williams 29 11
Magnus Nicholas Aldis 24 8
Shannon Moore Shannon Moore 32 16
Matt Morgan Matt Morgan 34 9
Murphy Michael Cole 34 13
Jesse Neal Jesse Neal 32 3
ODB Jessica Kresa 33 10
Bully Ray Mark LoMonaco 40 20
Madison Rayne Ashley Simmons 25 6
Amazing Red Jonathan Figueroa 29 13
Bobby Roode Robert Roode 34 13
Rosita Thea Trinidad 20 1
Chris Sabin Joshua Harter 29 11
Sarita Sarah Stock 32 9
Alex Shelley Patrick Martin 28 9
Velvet Sky Jamie Szantyr 30 8
Scott Steiner Scott Rechsteiner 49 26
Sting Steven Borden 52 23
James Storm James Cox 34 14
A.J. Styles Allan Jones 33 12
Tara Lisa Marie Varon 40 11
Taz Peter Senerchia 43 24
Mike Tenay Mike Tenay 55 17
Rob Terry Rob Terry 26 4
Miss Tessmacher Brooke Adams 26 4
SoCal Val Valerie Wyndham 25 9
Rob Van Dam Robert Szatkowski 40 21
Don West Don West 48 9
Douglas Williams Douglas Durdle 38 18
Winter Katarina Waters 32 12
Eric Young Jeremy Fritz 31 13
Backgrounds:
College football: Abyss (Ohio University), Hernandez, Ric Flair (University of Minnesota 1969)
College basketball: Matt Morgan (Monmouth College 1996; Chaminade College 1997), Sting
Arena football: Hernandez
College wrestling: A.J. Styles (Anderson College, South Carolina 1997), Kurt Angle (Clarion University 1989-92, 1990 NCAA heavyweight champion, 1991 2nd place NCAA heavyweight tournament, 1992 NCAA heavyweight champion), Scott Steiner (University of Michigan 1983-86, 1986 6th place at 190 pounds, NCAA tournament)NCAA
Freestyle wrestling: Kurt Angle (1987 teenage national champion, heavyweight, 1988 teenage world champion, 220 pounds, 1995 U.S. national champion, 220 pounds, 1992 World Cup 3rd place, 220 pounds, 1995 World Cup, 2nd place, 220 pounds, 1995 U.S. team trials 1st place, 220 pounds, 1995 world championships, 1st place, 220 pounds, 1996 U.S. national champion 220 pounds, 1996 Olympic trials, 1st place, 220 pounds, 1996 Olympics, gold medalist, 220 pounds)
Amateur boxing: Pope DAngelo Dinero
High school wrestling: James Storm (1995 Tennessee state high school champion, 154 pounds), Kurt Angle (1986 Pennsylvania state championship0s, 3rd place, heavyweight, 1987 Pennsylvania state champion, heavyweight, 1987 U.S. high school champion, heavyweight), Ric Flair (1967 Minnesota state private school champion, heavyweight), A.J. Styles (1995 Georgia state high school champion, 160 pounds, 1996 Georgia state high school state champion, 160 pounds)
Junior Ice Hockey: Bobby Roode
College Ice Hockey: ODB (St. Cloud State University)
Muay Thai kickboxing: Sarita
MMA: ODB (0-1 record)
Competitive bodybuilding: Sarita, Sting, Tara, Rob Terry, ODB
Competitive fitness competition: Tara (1997 ESPN 2 Fitness America, 1st place, 1999 NPC Team Universe 2nd place)
Judo: Douglas Williams, Samoa Joe (California state teenage champion)
Competitive powerlifting: Hernandez
U.S. Military: Mr. Anderson, Gunner, Crimson, Jesse Neal
Cheerleading: Tara (1989 high school All-American)
Modeling: Christy Hemme, Miss Tessmacher, Traci Brooks
Country music singing: Mickie James
Professional dancing: Miss Tessmacher
Bikini contests: Miss Tessmacher (placed in several contests 2008-2009, 2008 Miss Hawaiian Tropics Texas winner)
Television/movies: Christy Hemme (The Man Show), Hulk Hogan, Kurt Angle, Magnus (U.K. Gladiators), Matt Morgan (American Gladiators), Christopher Daniels, Miss Tessmacher (Bikini Destinations)
Lingerie Bowl football: Christy Hemme (2004-2006)
Second generation wrestler: Jeff Jarrett (Jerry Jarrett), Hector Guerrero (Salvador Gory Guerrero)
*****************************************************************No idea why some of the formatting isn't working, IDGAF to find out why, you can figure it out, I believe in you.
Chauncy Talon
Member
Entropia said:
The only wrestler to be on the cover of High Times Magazine. Hilarious that he goes by Mr. 4:20 during story mode on one of the Smackdown vs Raw games.
Shadowlink
Member
They knew we were watching.spindashing said:
spindashing
Banned
Professor Beef said:
jmdajr said:
Shadowlink said:They knew we were watching.
In the next part of our Hall of Fame series, when looking at the history of the NWA world heavyweight title, one of the things you can look at to determine who were considered the best performers had to do with doing 60 minute draws in championship matches.
Generally speaking, and there are exceptions to every rule, during most of the title run, going 60 minutes meant you were considered a pretty good wrestler as far as a worker goes, because if you werent, going 60 minutes could be the kiss of death to a show. In addition, that also meant you were a top guy because until the title belt started getting prostituted in booking in the mid-70s when Jim Barnett took over booking the champion from Sam Muchnick, promoters were limited to how many 60 minute matches they could book the champion. But in addition, as time went on, particularly starting in the late 80s, these types of matches became rarer and rarer because the title meant less and attention spans were also less.
Before doing 60 minute draws, as best we can tell, the longest title matches of the NWA era (and in this case we are using the period from the firs convention in 1948 until the title was dropped in 1991 and became the WCW title, after which 60 minute matches were almost never held. The AWA and WWWF title had occasional 60 minute matches, but we dont have as complete records and they were far more rare. It should also be noted that records are incomplete, and at best, these numbers are probably closer to 50 to 70 percent of what the real numbers would be. But here are the leading 60 minute men of that era.
Lou Thesz 215
Harley Race 120
Dory Funk Jr. 118
Ric Flair 85
Pat OConnor 64
Gene Kiniski 62
Jack Brisco 56
Whipper Billy Watson 36
Terry Funk 31
Buddy Rogers 31
Dick Hutton 23
Wilbur Snyder 15
Ricky Steamboat 14
Kerry Von Erich 14
Don Leo Jonathan 14
Enrique Torres 14
Wahoo McDaniel 12
Johnny Valentine 13
Dusty Rhodes 11
Johnny Weaver 11
Orville Brown 11
Verne Gagne 11
Luther Lindsay 11
Dory Funk Sr. 10
Barry Windham 9
Giant Baba 8
Bruiser Brody 8
Magnum T.A. 8
Jumbo Tsuruta 8
Ilio DiPaolo 8
Pepper Gomez 8
Argentina Rocca 8
Bobby Managoff 8
Rocky Johnson 7
Fritz Von Erich 7
Billy Robinson 7
Danny Hodge 7
Dick Murdoch 6
Mr. Wrestling II 6
Ray Gunkel 6
Dick the Bruiser 5
Edouard Carpentier 5
Lonnie Mayne 5
Ron Miller 5
Paul Jones 5
Killer Kowalski 5
Its actually quite amazing since these numbers are not complete that its likely Thesz had at least 300 world title matches that went more than an hour during his career. And thats just from 1949 on, since Thesz held versions of the world title actually dating back to 1937.
The people with the most draws in title matches not in the Hall of Fame are Dick Hutton, who looks like a strong candidate as the guy was a champion, but also a major contender for years before winning the title, Wilbur Snyder (always a leading contender), Kerry Von Erich (the thing that kills him is longevity, as he was absolutely having a Hall of Fame career through about 1985, but fizzled out from there), Enrique Torres (one of those guys who every single indication is that he was a top of the line guy, main eventer everywhere and top contender and what kills him is history forgot him), Johnny Weaver (a Carolinas star for a long time), Orville Brown (the original NWA champion) and Luther Lindsay (who has to be one of the most underrated wrestlers ever, as the guy had a great reputation as a genuine wrestler, clearly must have been able to draw because in those days putting an African-American on top was touchy because of the inherent racism in the public, let alone make him a top title contender), Barry Windham (similar to Von Erich), Magnum T.A. (An auto accident ended his career), Ilio DiPaolo (the Buffalo wrestling hero), Pepper Gomez (who is another person who when looking at these records come across as a far bigger star than hes remembered, because by the 70s, he was really long past his prime and thats where most people saw him, but from 1955-65 he was one of the biggest stars in the game).
The longest NWA title matches on record were 90minutes, and those with more than one 90 minute title match were Lou Thesz (9), Rito Romero (4), Pepper Gomez (4), Pat OConnor (4), Whipper Billy Watson (2), Buddy Rogers (2), Jack Brisco (2) and Dory Funk Jr. (2).
****************************************************************
This past month was the 10th anniversary of the folding of Eyada. The final show ever on the station was Wrestling Observer Live on July 9, 2001, the day we got news that the station was closing up that night, and basically we were told it was done but asked to do a final show and were given the okay. It was the first major money attempt to do a radio station designed specifically for the Internet, was a concept that was counting on the technology that within a few years, automobiles would be equipped with radios that would pick up the Internet. That didnt happen, and the company lost millions and folded in less than two years. However, it is very much responsible for the direction of both my career and that of Bryan Alvarez.
Id known Bryan from his newsletter and also because he worked on the Wrestling Observer Hotline. After the first few Eyada shows, which were disastrous in a sense since we started with no advertising and I had to talk for two hours and just hope somebody would call and save it, Bryan was a guest and he ended up staying for every show, becoming co-host and working with the show to where he hosts the terrestrial radio version of it today.
It was kind of a fluke all this happened. Bob Meyrowitz, who owned the UFC, was the man behind the Eyada project and knew me from covering the events so hired me on to do the show. The show itself was a huge hit, between live and the ability to listen in archives, we had 50,000 to 80,000 listeners daily, making it the most popular Internet-produced show of its kind. Wed get about 150 e-mail questions in on an average day.
At business meetings, the show was pushed as the proof that Internet radio of that type works. But sadly, the time wasnt right, the advertising wasnt there, and money losses, like in so many Internet start-up companies from that era, were huge. Part of the thing was the amount of money for office space, as they rented an expensive Times Square studio, and everything was done with the appearance of being first-class. Money was pouring out and very little was coming in.
Full page ads were taken out in the biggest and most expensive magazines, Entertainment Weekly, Sports Illustrated, People, and these were the WCW version of advertising. A full page with a goofy design and the words Eyada, never saying it was an Internet radio station, promoting any of the hosts, or anything one would logically expect to have in a product advertisement.
As time went on, cuts were being made of key personnel. A couple of months before the station closed, we knew the idea of the Internet radio wasnt going to fly. The new cars didnt have the capability. That was the difference between Meyrowitzs concept and the Sirius and XM concept, which lost tons more money, but still survived and because of Howard Stern, at one point had the impression of being the cool in thing. Meyrowitz at the time was trying to get funding to buy a national radio network, where all of the programming would move to. It came down to the wire, but he couldnt raise quite enough capital and the purchase didnt go through. When the deal didnt go through, the concept closed that day.
It was only a few months after WCW and ECW closed. Unlike ECW, where you could see for a long time the end was near because people werent getting paid, and Paul Heyman was holding out with the idea that WWF moving from USA to Spike TV and his belief he could hold on longer than WCW, would leave USA, TBS and TNT all losing their wrestling product on stations used to paying millions for rights fees. Even a deal for a fraction of the money those stations were used to paying would be a grand slam home run for the size of business Heyman had. Of course, with more money coming in, even if Heyman had gotten the deal, the temptation would have been great to try and expand, and there was so much marketable talent available with the death of WCW that didnt fit into the WWF mentality of what a star wrestler was, while Heyman was a lot more liberal in his viewpoints on who could be a star. But there was no guarantee it would have been a success long-term, plus, with the USA Network being a highly rated cable station, ECW would not have lasted long on that station without the ability to garner at least a 2.5 rating. With hindsight, that was not going to happen.
Eric Bischoff led a group that actually had a press conference with Time Warner and had announced its purchase of WCW, so they were going to get TNA and TBS. But TNT had quietly decided it was dropping wrestling although that information was kept secret, and I dont think even Bischoff was aware of it. TBS wanted to keep the weekly shows that had been on the station since 1972, until Time Warner hired Jamie Kellner, a program director who hated wrestling, and in his first move, he canceled all wrestling programming. Like what just happened with Heyman, and what would happen with Meyrowitz, Bischoff had gotten the word about all Time Warner stations not being allowed to carry wrestling and had to make a TV deal literally within days, or what was left of WCW would be sold at the ridiculous price of $2.5 million to Vince McMahon, because Bischoffs backers were falling apart and felt there was no value in the company without a television deal. He went to FOX for meetings, but ultimately, they were not going to pull the trigger on a deal in a day or two, and he didnt have any longer to get the deal done.
USA and ECW negotiations went down to the wire. It was green lighted all the way up the food chain until getting to Barry Diller, who ran the network. He was not a fan, and a few years earlier had made the call to cancel both boxing and wrestling on the station, effective with the start of the 1998-99 television season. The popular Tuesday Night Fights show that old time boxing fans talk of so fondly was no more, but Raw, due to the ascension of Steve Austin and his feud with Vince McMahon, had caught ratings fire. Whether WWF could have gotten another cable station had not the Austin era happened is a very interesting question. Boxing, which had only slightly lower ratings than Raw until Raw took off with Tyson/Austin followed by McMahon/Austin, and could charge more per viewer for ads, never got a major station to do Tuesday Night Fights.
In early 2002, Meyrowitz hired me again to do a weekly show, but despite the success of the Internet show, was unable to garner any level of syndication. Things started out rocky. They wanted to debut the night of the 2002 Royal Rumble, with a show with me on location in Atlanta. My wife was due with our first child days after that show, and I wouldnt make the commitment that no matter, even if she gave birth that day or the day before, Id be in Atlanta for the show. So that led to another couple of months of delays with the show debuting the night of WrestleMania from Toronto.
There were stations that had programmers that listened to the old show, or were subscribers to the newsletter and would come to me wanting the show, but somehow the deals never were finalized. Other stations, relying on instinct for programming, tested the idea of a wrestling radio show, and what we were didnt fit what they wanted. But the idea of being able to fund a national show through advertising wasnt going to fly and it was doomed. Im not sure exactly what they expected, but two guys with guests talking about wrestling and MMA news and taking calls from people who were largely not insane was not it. Stations expecting us to be stereotypical (well, in their eyes) wrestling fans, goofballs to be laughed at, and the callers to be even worse, were sorely disappointed.
What saved the show is the only studio they could find for me to tape at was in San Francisco, the Sports Byline USA studios. We did the show and garnered so many phone calls, that Sports Byline wanted to keep the show after Meyrowitz dropped out. I did the show that way for years, giving it up when I took a job with Fox Sports.com, which led to being hired by Yahoo. At that point, I simply didnt have the time, and it wasnt long after that when I started doing the radio shows regularly on the web site.
Eyada was the second time during my career doing this newsletter when I took a job with a national entity, the first being working with The National, a daily sports newspaper that ran from 1989 to 1991, with Frank Deford at the helm. I got the position there on the reference of Dick Ebersol, who was an avid Observer reader at the time, and John Cherwa, another reader, who was at the time the sports editor of the Los Angeles Times. Because of the timing of its death, there were a number of nostalgia articles written about the publication over the past several weeks, most notably a huge story spearheaded by Bill Simmons web site because of the 20th anniversary of its death on 6/13. The National, while a financial failure due to a number of aspects, including timing and rushing into doing something before it was truly ready, is remembered today far more fondly, as this newspaper that was a living dream for the hardcore sports fan. Ten years after its folding, nobody remembered Eyada.
HERE AND THERE
Devon Hannibal Nicholson filed a $6.5 million lawsuit against Larry Abdullah the Butcher Shreeve in Superior Court of Justice in Ontario on 6/22. The lawsuit regards Nicholson getting Hepatitis C, and blaming it on a double juice match he had with Abdullah. The two wrestled each other a few times when Nicholson, 28, brought Butcher to Canada. The claim is that in a 2007 match, Abdullah bladed himself and then bladed Nicholson with the same blade, and thus Nicholson contracted Hepatitis.
Nicholson claimed he was about to sign a WWE contract in 2009, but when undergoing company medical testing, they found he had Hepatitis C and pulled the offer. He also said that in 2010, his Hepatitis C prevented him from getting a job with TNA. Nicholson has a background in amateur wrestling and at one point was advertised for MMA, but with Hepatitis meant he couldnt be sanctioned in that sport either. Nicholson claimed Butcher bladed him without either his consent or knowledge.
Nicholson claimed that in a September 2010 meeting with Abdullah in Atlanta, he agreed to be tested for Hepatitis C, but then never has been tested. However, Abdullah, 70, claims that he has gotten full medical reports that shows he has no hepatitis or AIDS, and was negative for everything. Butcher also said that Nicholson wrestled in a lot of bloody matches, both in Canada and Puerto Rico. Nicholson said that Butcher is the only wrestler where his opponent bladed him after already blading himself. He claimed he didnt know Abdullah was going to blade him with the same blade he was using on himself.
Butcher said that he never used the blade on Nicholson, only himself (from a tape it did appear Butcher bladed Nicholson). Nicholson claimed in the suit that he went into depression, needing psychiatric help as well as taking anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medication when he realized he would never reach his dream of working in WWE. He claimed in the suit that the disease cost him his career and top WWE performers can earn up to $1 million per year (actually the biggest names make considerably more than that). Some background on this is that Nicholsons father is a lawyer, who was the money behind a lot of the shows that Nicholson promoted and brought in top stars to work with him in. Nicholson has a bad reputation in some circles, notably for shooting and nearly breaking the arm of Don Paysan and also shooting and putting a choke on Tommy Dreamer in a worked match (said to be over TNAs not offering him a contract after he attended one of their gut check tryouts). Nicholson currently works as a personal trainer at the Rey Friel Rec Complex in Ottawa.
Abdullah is now needing a walker to get around. He worked a 7/23 show in Macon, GA, but could only be a manager. He also had a cane with him and was whacking the faces with it. The show, billed as Georgia Championship Wrestling, the name of the regional office as far back as anyone can remember, drew 500 fans, which also saw the reuniting of the tag team of TNT, which was the babyface team of Tommy Rich & Tony Atlas, who both became stars on national TV there. They were Georgia tag team champions in 1977 when both were 21 and they said that they hadnt teamed together since 1981.
Chris Jericho has gone into business with Chipper Jones of the Atlanta Braves and former Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Derek Brooks on a D-1 Training Center that will open in Tampa in a few months. Its part of a franchise of about 13 centers scheduled to be open with the theme of allowing athletes modern type of workout equipment and routines set up for what the top athletes do in training, as well as trying to be a gym for the family.
Jericho and Fozzy are doing another tour of the U.K. From 11/2 to 11/13.
Juggalo Championship Wrestling has updated its Legends and Icons night on 8/12 as part of their Gathering of the Juggalos. The lineup has Greg Valentine vs. Tito Santana in a cage match as a rematch of a July 6, 1985, cage match in Baltimore where Santana won the IC title; Rock & Roll Express vs. Head Bangers in what is billed as a Rock vs. Punk match, Bob Backlund vs. Ken Patera in a rematch of a 1981 series of matches that included a May 19 Texas death match in Madison Square Garden that was voted that years Match of the Year; Koko B. Ware vs. Kamala vs. Jerry Lawler vs. Dutch Mantel, Tracy Smothers vs. Tommy Rich (who were tag team partners as The FBI in ECW and have never faced each other in a singles match), Raven vs. Al Snow vs. Rhino vs. Balls Mahoney vs. Shane Douglas vs. mystery opponent from ECW; Rikishi & Brian Christopher (reuniting the tag team of Too Cool) vs. Warlord & Barbarian (reuniting the Powers of Pain, a Rumble style Battle Royal with Jim Duggan, Tony Atlas, Honky Tonk Man, Carlito, Jimmy Snuka, Big Daddy V, Rob Conway, Zach Gowen, Ron Garvin and U-Gene Dinsmore; Scott Hall (I dont know about putting him in the ring at this stage) & Kevin Nash vs. Road Dogg & Billy Gunn with Sean Waltman as referee (it would feel a lot healthier for Waltman to be the one in the match and Hall as referee although I get it in the sense Waltman was part of both factions so who is he going to side with if youre doing it is a wrestling gimmick), and Terry Funk vs. Roddy Piper (managed by Bob Orton Jr.) in an I Quit match, which is only the second time the two will have ever faced each other in a singles match (they met in a 1983 match in Toronto). The show will be on iPPV on the ICPs www.psychopathiclive.com site and Mick Foley and Kevin Gill will be announcing.
Adam Pearce regained the NWA title for the fourth time on 7/31 in Columbus, OH, at the annual show at the Ohio State Fair, before about 180 fans. Pearce won a four-way over Chance Prophet, Jimmy Rave and Shaun Tempers. The title was vacated by The Sheik, who when told he was supposed to drop it to Pearce as was the agreement when he got the title, said that he wasnt coming to Columbus, since he was getting much better money and being put over strong by Zero-One as the NWA and AWA world champion.
Speaking of Piper, he did a lengthy interview this past week in the Charleston Post-Courier to push this coming weekends NWA Legends convention in Atlanta, and noted something that a lot of people have forgotten. When he came to WWF in 1984, he had a rule of thumb, and that was that he would never work a WWF event in either Oregon or the Carolinas, due to the loyalty to Don Owen and Jim Crockett Jr., who both gave him major breaks. Even though every big star in that era came from a territory, he was the only one who made that stand.
Really, there were only two or three guys tops who could have gotten away with it. He went so far as, in 1985, when he took a vacation from WWF (and just taking a vacation in those days was something only two or three guys could have done), there was a show in Portland that celebrated Owens half-century or so in wrestling, and was the biggest show he had ever promoted, and Piper came back to work against old rival Buddy Rose as a babyface, even though he was the top heel in the country at the time. There are other guys who probably would have done it (when the Funks were in, I really dont believe theyd have worked Japan, but it was a moot point because WWF wasnt going there), but nobody else did. The only other instance I can recall something like this happening was Steve Williams, when he was in WWF, was booked by the company to work a big FMW show.
This was during the era when WWF was sending talent to other promoters in exchange for booking fees. They could make major money sending contracted wrestlers to Japan at that time. Williams refused, saying he would never work against Giant Baba. Jim Ross ended up having to fire him over it. You can imagine must have been a real bad situation for both because they were personal friends. Ross and Williams did end up being close friends after that and all the WCW booked by Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara blew over.
The next Urban Wrestling Federation PPV show, a taped show, is scheduled for 9/25.
Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins, a long-time very serious wrestling fan, is going to start his own indie group, Resistance Pro Wrestling.
Aja Kong (Erica Shishedo) will make her first U.S. wrestling appearance since 1995 as part of a Joshimania promotion by CHIKARA Pro Wrestling in December, where she and Manami Toyota, two of the three biggest stars (with Akira Hokuto) of the early 90's All Japan womens promotion that drew some of the biggest womens crowds in history including more than 30,000 once at the Tokyo Dome, will appear. Kong, a combination African American Japanese woman, now 40, was along with Dump Matsumoto one of the two most charismatic monster heels in womens wrestling history and in her day was a household name in Japan, because she endorsed so many products and it was impossible to go too far in Tokyo at one point without seeing an ad with her face on it somewhere. Kong had the most fitting ring music of her era, starting with the line, God made the devil just for fun, but when he wanted the real thing, he made Aja Kong. Awesome Kong, who was known in Japan as Amazing Kong, got the name to do a natural feud with Aja Kong years ago and the two later became a tag team. Kana, who is a current Japanese woman star at a time when womens wrestling in Japan is at a minuscule level of popularity compared with two decades ago, makes her U.S. debut with CHIKARA on 10/7 in Burlington, NC, and 10/8 in Kingsport, TN.
Generally speaking, and there are exceptions to every rule, during most of the title run, going 60 minutes meant you were considered a pretty good wrestler as far as a worker goes, because if you werent, going 60 minutes could be the kiss of death to a show. In addition, that also meant you were a top guy because until the title belt started getting prostituted in booking in the mid-70s when Jim Barnett took over booking the champion from Sam Muchnick, promoters were limited to how many 60 minute matches they could book the champion. But in addition, as time went on, particularly starting in the late 80s, these types of matches became rarer and rarer because the title meant less and attention spans were also less.
Before doing 60 minute draws, as best we can tell, the longest title matches of the NWA era (and in this case we are using the period from the firs convention in 1948 until the title was dropped in 1991 and became the WCW title, after which 60 minute matches were almost never held. The AWA and WWWF title had occasional 60 minute matches, but we dont have as complete records and they were far more rare. It should also be noted that records are incomplete, and at best, these numbers are probably closer to 50 to 70 percent of what the real numbers would be. But here are the leading 60 minute men of that era.
Lou Thesz 215
Harley Race 120
Dory Funk Jr. 118
Ric Flair 85
Pat OConnor 64
Gene Kiniski 62
Jack Brisco 56
Whipper Billy Watson 36
Terry Funk 31
Buddy Rogers 31
Dick Hutton 23
Wilbur Snyder 15
Ricky Steamboat 14
Kerry Von Erich 14
Don Leo Jonathan 14
Enrique Torres 14
Wahoo McDaniel 12
Johnny Valentine 13
Dusty Rhodes 11
Johnny Weaver 11
Orville Brown 11
Verne Gagne 11
Luther Lindsay 11
Dory Funk Sr. 10
Barry Windham 9
Giant Baba 8
Bruiser Brody 8
Magnum T.A. 8
Jumbo Tsuruta 8
Ilio DiPaolo 8
Pepper Gomez 8
Argentina Rocca 8
Bobby Managoff 8
Rocky Johnson 7
Fritz Von Erich 7
Billy Robinson 7
Danny Hodge 7
Dick Murdoch 6
Mr. Wrestling II 6
Ray Gunkel 6
Dick the Bruiser 5
Edouard Carpentier 5
Lonnie Mayne 5
Ron Miller 5
Paul Jones 5
Killer Kowalski 5
Its actually quite amazing since these numbers are not complete that its likely Thesz had at least 300 world title matches that went more than an hour during his career. And thats just from 1949 on, since Thesz held versions of the world title actually dating back to 1937.
The people with the most draws in title matches not in the Hall of Fame are Dick Hutton, who looks like a strong candidate as the guy was a champion, but also a major contender for years before winning the title, Wilbur Snyder (always a leading contender), Kerry Von Erich (the thing that kills him is longevity, as he was absolutely having a Hall of Fame career through about 1985, but fizzled out from there), Enrique Torres (one of those guys who every single indication is that he was a top of the line guy, main eventer everywhere and top contender and what kills him is history forgot him), Johnny Weaver (a Carolinas star for a long time), Orville Brown (the original NWA champion) and Luther Lindsay (who has to be one of the most underrated wrestlers ever, as the guy had a great reputation as a genuine wrestler, clearly must have been able to draw because in those days putting an African-American on top was touchy because of the inherent racism in the public, let alone make him a top title contender), Barry Windham (similar to Von Erich), Magnum T.A. (An auto accident ended his career), Ilio DiPaolo (the Buffalo wrestling hero), Pepper Gomez (who is another person who when looking at these records come across as a far bigger star than hes remembered, because by the 70s, he was really long past his prime and thats where most people saw him, but from 1955-65 he was one of the biggest stars in the game).
The longest NWA title matches on record were 90minutes, and those with more than one 90 minute title match were Lou Thesz (9), Rito Romero (4), Pepper Gomez (4), Pat OConnor (4), Whipper Billy Watson (2), Buddy Rogers (2), Jack Brisco (2) and Dory Funk Jr. (2).
****************************************************************
This past month was the 10th anniversary of the folding of Eyada. The final show ever on the station was Wrestling Observer Live on July 9, 2001, the day we got news that the station was closing up that night, and basically we were told it was done but asked to do a final show and were given the okay. It was the first major money attempt to do a radio station designed specifically for the Internet, was a concept that was counting on the technology that within a few years, automobiles would be equipped with radios that would pick up the Internet. That didnt happen, and the company lost millions and folded in less than two years. However, it is very much responsible for the direction of both my career and that of Bryan Alvarez.
Id known Bryan from his newsletter and also because he worked on the Wrestling Observer Hotline. After the first few Eyada shows, which were disastrous in a sense since we started with no advertising and I had to talk for two hours and just hope somebody would call and save it, Bryan was a guest and he ended up staying for every show, becoming co-host and working with the show to where he hosts the terrestrial radio version of it today.
It was kind of a fluke all this happened. Bob Meyrowitz, who owned the UFC, was the man behind the Eyada project and knew me from covering the events so hired me on to do the show. The show itself was a huge hit, between live and the ability to listen in archives, we had 50,000 to 80,000 listeners daily, making it the most popular Internet-produced show of its kind. Wed get about 150 e-mail questions in on an average day.
At business meetings, the show was pushed as the proof that Internet radio of that type works. But sadly, the time wasnt right, the advertising wasnt there, and money losses, like in so many Internet start-up companies from that era, were huge. Part of the thing was the amount of money for office space, as they rented an expensive Times Square studio, and everything was done with the appearance of being first-class. Money was pouring out and very little was coming in.
Full page ads were taken out in the biggest and most expensive magazines, Entertainment Weekly, Sports Illustrated, People, and these were the WCW version of advertising. A full page with a goofy design and the words Eyada, never saying it was an Internet radio station, promoting any of the hosts, or anything one would logically expect to have in a product advertisement.
As time went on, cuts were being made of key personnel. A couple of months before the station closed, we knew the idea of the Internet radio wasnt going to fly. The new cars didnt have the capability. That was the difference between Meyrowitzs concept and the Sirius and XM concept, which lost tons more money, but still survived and because of Howard Stern, at one point had the impression of being the cool in thing. Meyrowitz at the time was trying to get funding to buy a national radio network, where all of the programming would move to. It came down to the wire, but he couldnt raise quite enough capital and the purchase didnt go through. When the deal didnt go through, the concept closed that day.
It was only a few months after WCW and ECW closed. Unlike ECW, where you could see for a long time the end was near because people werent getting paid, and Paul Heyman was holding out with the idea that WWF moving from USA to Spike TV and his belief he could hold on longer than WCW, would leave USA, TBS and TNT all losing their wrestling product on stations used to paying millions for rights fees. Even a deal for a fraction of the money those stations were used to paying would be a grand slam home run for the size of business Heyman had. Of course, with more money coming in, even if Heyman had gotten the deal, the temptation would have been great to try and expand, and there was so much marketable talent available with the death of WCW that didnt fit into the WWF mentality of what a star wrestler was, while Heyman was a lot more liberal in his viewpoints on who could be a star. But there was no guarantee it would have been a success long-term, plus, with the USA Network being a highly rated cable station, ECW would not have lasted long on that station without the ability to garner at least a 2.5 rating. With hindsight, that was not going to happen.
Eric Bischoff led a group that actually had a press conference with Time Warner and had announced its purchase of WCW, so they were going to get TNA and TBS. But TNT had quietly decided it was dropping wrestling although that information was kept secret, and I dont think even Bischoff was aware of it. TBS wanted to keep the weekly shows that had been on the station since 1972, until Time Warner hired Jamie Kellner, a program director who hated wrestling, and in his first move, he canceled all wrestling programming. Like what just happened with Heyman, and what would happen with Meyrowitz, Bischoff had gotten the word about all Time Warner stations not being allowed to carry wrestling and had to make a TV deal literally within days, or what was left of WCW would be sold at the ridiculous price of $2.5 million to Vince McMahon, because Bischoffs backers were falling apart and felt there was no value in the company without a television deal. He went to FOX for meetings, but ultimately, they were not going to pull the trigger on a deal in a day or two, and he didnt have any longer to get the deal done.
USA and ECW negotiations went down to the wire. It was green lighted all the way up the food chain until getting to Barry Diller, who ran the network. He was not a fan, and a few years earlier had made the call to cancel both boxing and wrestling on the station, effective with the start of the 1998-99 television season. The popular Tuesday Night Fights show that old time boxing fans talk of so fondly was no more, but Raw, due to the ascension of Steve Austin and his feud with Vince McMahon, had caught ratings fire. Whether WWF could have gotten another cable station had not the Austin era happened is a very interesting question. Boxing, which had only slightly lower ratings than Raw until Raw took off with Tyson/Austin followed by McMahon/Austin, and could charge more per viewer for ads, never got a major station to do Tuesday Night Fights.
In early 2002, Meyrowitz hired me again to do a weekly show, but despite the success of the Internet show, was unable to garner any level of syndication. Things started out rocky. They wanted to debut the night of the 2002 Royal Rumble, with a show with me on location in Atlanta. My wife was due with our first child days after that show, and I wouldnt make the commitment that no matter, even if she gave birth that day or the day before, Id be in Atlanta for the show. So that led to another couple of months of delays with the show debuting the night of WrestleMania from Toronto.
There were stations that had programmers that listened to the old show, or were subscribers to the newsletter and would come to me wanting the show, but somehow the deals never were finalized. Other stations, relying on instinct for programming, tested the idea of a wrestling radio show, and what we were didnt fit what they wanted. But the idea of being able to fund a national show through advertising wasnt going to fly and it was doomed. Im not sure exactly what they expected, but two guys with guests talking about wrestling and MMA news and taking calls from people who were largely not insane was not it. Stations expecting us to be stereotypical (well, in their eyes) wrestling fans, goofballs to be laughed at, and the callers to be even worse, were sorely disappointed.
What saved the show is the only studio they could find for me to tape at was in San Francisco, the Sports Byline USA studios. We did the show and garnered so many phone calls, that Sports Byline wanted to keep the show after Meyrowitz dropped out. I did the show that way for years, giving it up when I took a job with Fox Sports.com, which led to being hired by Yahoo. At that point, I simply didnt have the time, and it wasnt long after that when I started doing the radio shows regularly on the web site.
Eyada was the second time during my career doing this newsletter when I took a job with a national entity, the first being working with The National, a daily sports newspaper that ran from 1989 to 1991, with Frank Deford at the helm. I got the position there on the reference of Dick Ebersol, who was an avid Observer reader at the time, and John Cherwa, another reader, who was at the time the sports editor of the Los Angeles Times. Because of the timing of its death, there were a number of nostalgia articles written about the publication over the past several weeks, most notably a huge story spearheaded by Bill Simmons web site because of the 20th anniversary of its death on 6/13. The National, while a financial failure due to a number of aspects, including timing and rushing into doing something before it was truly ready, is remembered today far more fondly, as this newspaper that was a living dream for the hardcore sports fan. Ten years after its folding, nobody remembered Eyada.
HERE AND THERE
Devon Hannibal Nicholson filed a $6.5 million lawsuit against Larry Abdullah the Butcher Shreeve in Superior Court of Justice in Ontario on 6/22. The lawsuit regards Nicholson getting Hepatitis C, and blaming it on a double juice match he had with Abdullah. The two wrestled each other a few times when Nicholson, 28, brought Butcher to Canada. The claim is that in a 2007 match, Abdullah bladed himself and then bladed Nicholson with the same blade, and thus Nicholson contracted Hepatitis.
Nicholson claimed he was about to sign a WWE contract in 2009, but when undergoing company medical testing, they found he had Hepatitis C and pulled the offer. He also said that in 2010, his Hepatitis C prevented him from getting a job with TNA. Nicholson has a background in amateur wrestling and at one point was advertised for MMA, but with Hepatitis meant he couldnt be sanctioned in that sport either. Nicholson claimed Butcher bladed him without either his consent or knowledge.
Nicholson claimed that in a September 2010 meeting with Abdullah in Atlanta, he agreed to be tested for Hepatitis C, but then never has been tested. However, Abdullah, 70, claims that he has gotten full medical reports that shows he has no hepatitis or AIDS, and was negative for everything. Butcher also said that Nicholson wrestled in a lot of bloody matches, both in Canada and Puerto Rico. Nicholson said that Butcher is the only wrestler where his opponent bladed him after already blading himself. He claimed he didnt know Abdullah was going to blade him with the same blade he was using on himself.
Butcher said that he never used the blade on Nicholson, only himself (from a tape it did appear Butcher bladed Nicholson). Nicholson claimed in the suit that he went into depression, needing psychiatric help as well as taking anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medication when he realized he would never reach his dream of working in WWE. He claimed in the suit that the disease cost him his career and top WWE performers can earn up to $1 million per year (actually the biggest names make considerably more than that). Some background on this is that Nicholsons father is a lawyer, who was the money behind a lot of the shows that Nicholson promoted and brought in top stars to work with him in. Nicholson has a bad reputation in some circles, notably for shooting and nearly breaking the arm of Don Paysan and also shooting and putting a choke on Tommy Dreamer in a worked match (said to be over TNAs not offering him a contract after he attended one of their gut check tryouts). Nicholson currently works as a personal trainer at the Rey Friel Rec Complex in Ottawa.
Abdullah is now needing a walker to get around. He worked a 7/23 show in Macon, GA, but could only be a manager. He also had a cane with him and was whacking the faces with it. The show, billed as Georgia Championship Wrestling, the name of the regional office as far back as anyone can remember, drew 500 fans, which also saw the reuniting of the tag team of TNT, which was the babyface team of Tommy Rich & Tony Atlas, who both became stars on national TV there. They were Georgia tag team champions in 1977 when both were 21 and they said that they hadnt teamed together since 1981.
Chris Jericho has gone into business with Chipper Jones of the Atlanta Braves and former Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Derek Brooks on a D-1 Training Center that will open in Tampa in a few months. Its part of a franchise of about 13 centers scheduled to be open with the theme of allowing athletes modern type of workout equipment and routines set up for what the top athletes do in training, as well as trying to be a gym for the family.
Jericho and Fozzy are doing another tour of the U.K. From 11/2 to 11/13.
Juggalo Championship Wrestling has updated its Legends and Icons night on 8/12 as part of their Gathering of the Juggalos. The lineup has Greg Valentine vs. Tito Santana in a cage match as a rematch of a July 6, 1985, cage match in Baltimore where Santana won the IC title; Rock & Roll Express vs. Head Bangers in what is billed as a Rock vs. Punk match, Bob Backlund vs. Ken Patera in a rematch of a 1981 series of matches that included a May 19 Texas death match in Madison Square Garden that was voted that years Match of the Year; Koko B. Ware vs. Kamala vs. Jerry Lawler vs. Dutch Mantel, Tracy Smothers vs. Tommy Rich (who were tag team partners as The FBI in ECW and have never faced each other in a singles match), Raven vs. Al Snow vs. Rhino vs. Balls Mahoney vs. Shane Douglas vs. mystery opponent from ECW; Rikishi & Brian Christopher (reuniting the tag team of Too Cool) vs. Warlord & Barbarian (reuniting the Powers of Pain, a Rumble style Battle Royal with Jim Duggan, Tony Atlas, Honky Tonk Man, Carlito, Jimmy Snuka, Big Daddy V, Rob Conway, Zach Gowen, Ron Garvin and U-Gene Dinsmore; Scott Hall (I dont know about putting him in the ring at this stage) & Kevin Nash vs. Road Dogg & Billy Gunn with Sean Waltman as referee (it would feel a lot healthier for Waltman to be the one in the match and Hall as referee although I get it in the sense Waltman was part of both factions so who is he going to side with if youre doing it is a wrestling gimmick), and Terry Funk vs. Roddy Piper (managed by Bob Orton Jr.) in an I Quit match, which is only the second time the two will have ever faced each other in a singles match (they met in a 1983 match in Toronto). The show will be on iPPV on the ICPs www.psychopathiclive.com site and Mick Foley and Kevin Gill will be announcing.
Adam Pearce regained the NWA title for the fourth time on 7/31 in Columbus, OH, at the annual show at the Ohio State Fair, before about 180 fans. Pearce won a four-way over Chance Prophet, Jimmy Rave and Shaun Tempers. The title was vacated by The Sheik, who when told he was supposed to drop it to Pearce as was the agreement when he got the title, said that he wasnt coming to Columbus, since he was getting much better money and being put over strong by Zero-One as the NWA and AWA world champion.
Speaking of Piper, he did a lengthy interview this past week in the Charleston Post-Courier to push this coming weekends NWA Legends convention in Atlanta, and noted something that a lot of people have forgotten. When he came to WWF in 1984, he had a rule of thumb, and that was that he would never work a WWF event in either Oregon or the Carolinas, due to the loyalty to Don Owen and Jim Crockett Jr., who both gave him major breaks. Even though every big star in that era came from a territory, he was the only one who made that stand.
Really, there were only two or three guys tops who could have gotten away with it. He went so far as, in 1985, when he took a vacation from WWF (and just taking a vacation in those days was something only two or three guys could have done), there was a show in Portland that celebrated Owens half-century or so in wrestling, and was the biggest show he had ever promoted, and Piper came back to work against old rival Buddy Rose as a babyface, even though he was the top heel in the country at the time. There are other guys who probably would have done it (when the Funks were in, I really dont believe theyd have worked Japan, but it was a moot point because WWF wasnt going there), but nobody else did. The only other instance I can recall something like this happening was Steve Williams, when he was in WWF, was booked by the company to work a big FMW show.
This was during the era when WWF was sending talent to other promoters in exchange for booking fees. They could make major money sending contracted wrestlers to Japan at that time. Williams refused, saying he would never work against Giant Baba. Jim Ross ended up having to fire him over it. You can imagine must have been a real bad situation for both because they were personal friends. Ross and Williams did end up being close friends after that and all the WCW booked by Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara blew over.
The next Urban Wrestling Federation PPV show, a taped show, is scheduled for 9/25.
Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins, a long-time very serious wrestling fan, is going to start his own indie group, Resistance Pro Wrestling.
Aja Kong (Erica Shishedo) will make her first U.S. wrestling appearance since 1995 as part of a Joshimania promotion by CHIKARA Pro Wrestling in December, where she and Manami Toyota, two of the three biggest stars (with Akira Hokuto) of the early 90's All Japan womens promotion that drew some of the biggest womens crowds in history including more than 30,000 once at the Tokyo Dome, will appear. Kong, a combination African American Japanese woman, now 40, was along with Dump Matsumoto one of the two most charismatic monster heels in womens wrestling history and in her day was a household name in Japan, because she endorsed so many products and it was impossible to go too far in Tokyo at one point without seeing an ad with her face on it somewhere. Kong had the most fitting ring music of her era, starting with the line, God made the devil just for fun, but when he wanted the real thing, he made Aja Kong. Awesome Kong, who was known in Japan as Amazing Kong, got the name to do a natural feud with Aja Kong years ago and the two later became a tag team. Kana, who is a current Japanese woman star at a time when womens wrestling in Japan is at a minuscule level of popularity compared with two decades ago, makes her U.S. debut with CHIKARA on 10/7 in Burlington, NC, and 10/8 in Kingsport, TN.
Net_Wrecker
Member
Chauncy Talon said:
RVD had the TV Title for close to 2 years*, and he pretty much WAS the World Champ at that point. Had he not broken his leg, I'm sure the next logical step was to build the World Title scene around him.
*Correction.
Ill comment more about the weekend CHIKARA events in a week or two after getting the DVD, but everyone was raving about Johnny Saint and Johnny Kidd, as I figured. Chris Cruise went to the 7/31 show in Philadelphia and said it was one of the greatest live shows hes ever seen, and hes been attending wrestling for 43 years. They had Sara Del Rey pin Claudio Castagnoli in the 12 large tournament in the main event, and worked it in a way where it got over to the live crowd. They also brought in Tsukasa Fujimoto and Makoto from the Ice Ribbon promotion in Japan, Mima Shimoda (one of the big stars of the early 90s All Japan womens heyday) from Mexico, and had a big surprise as they announced Johnny Gargano & Chuck Taylors opponents didnt show up and they were going into a hot to pick their opponents.
They first picked Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson, the double NOAH/New Japan tag champions, but then said that they werent in the building. Then they picked Atlantis & Rey Bucanero from CMLL, and everyone figured they also werent in the building, but they actually were and did the match. And they did a CMLL finish where Gargano suddenly went down behind the refs back and faked being fouled and the ref bought it and DQd the CMLL team. The win sets up Gargano & Taylor getting a shot at Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaws Campeonatos de Parejas (tag team titles).
The personal property of Walter Killer Kowalski, including wrestling memorabilia, robes, boots, outfits as well as antique furniture, approximately 300 items in all, will be auctioned off on 8/11 at the Tonya A.Chambers Auction house in Saugus, MA.
Fit Finlay debuts with PWG at its annual Battle of Los Angeles tournament on 8/20 in Reseda, CA. Announced thus far as first round matches are Finlay vs. Kevin Steen, Chris Hero vs. Willie Mack, Claudio Castagnoli vs. El Generico and Eddie Edwards vs. Roderick Strong.
Shane Helms noted that hes been in constant pain ever since his motorcycle crash in May, that left both he and his girlfriend badly hurt. He said his left leg was shattered and is currently held together with four plates and 23 screws.
Judy Sowinski, one of the major stars of the Roller Games during its heyday from 1962 until it ceased to exist as a full-time league in 1975, passed away on 7/27 at the age of 71. Sowinski had been suffering from lung cancer and had gotten word months ago that it was incurable and inoperable. She was in a medically induced coma at the time of her death. Sowinski. sometimes known as The Polish Ace, used to attend games at the old Chicago Coliseum with her aunt, and decided to try to go for it when hearing about local tryouts. She learned fast, and was the star of her training class and was put on the leagues flagship team, the San Francisco Bay Bombers, where she was named Rookie of the Year in 1960.
At the time she earned about $100 a week for skating usually five games a week. She quit Roller Derby in 1962, furious after at the last minute being removed from a tour of Hawaii (she had her bags packed and was ready to go when the phone call came), and was going to return home to Chicago. However, Roller Games, a rival league based in Los Angeles was formed by car dealer Bill Griffiths after Roller Derby dropped its Los Angeles team and many of the skaters decided to start up a new league rather than move to San Francisco. Sowinski was the No. 2 female babyface from 1962 to 1968 with that leagues flagship team, the Los Angeles Thunderbirds (named after the car). But her best run came after a heel turn against T-Birds captain Terri Lynch (a feud that mirrored what was going on in real life between the two), in 1969, as the captain of the New York Bombers, a heel team that skated against the T-Birds and the leagues other babyface team, the Philadelphia-based Eastern Warriors.
She was the leagues top heel until 1973, when Roller Derby folded, and Roller Games rearranged itself to attempt to be a real league where instead of babyface and heel teams, they had teams play home and road games, meaning all the skaters were babyfaces at home and heels on the road, which ended up not working because the road games where their team would play heel would air in the local market and leave the fans confused and the thing went down fast that year. As a comparison to the late Ann Calvello, who was Derbys top woman heel during the same time frame, Sowinski was the better skater and came across as being rougher and tougher, but Calvello was far more famous because she had an out of this world level of ego, charisma and stage presence to go along with being so media and public relations friendly. Sowinski was brought back to the T-Birds, but turned on the T-Birds in late 1974 and joined the Warriors, where she was back-up to Judy Arnold, who was the Gina Carano of that world. It was a big deal when she came to the Warriors with Arnold, because Sowinski was Arnolds biggest rival during the Philadelphia area heyday. Roller Games was a strong attraction in Los Angeles and Philadelphia until business fell off rapidly everywhere in 1974.
It was very similar to what happened with WWF in 2002, but they didnt have the type of economic base and revenue streams to stay afloat when attendance dropped. When Arnold retired in 1975, Sowinski became the top female star of the Warriors, but with attendance declining, the team folded that year. She was part of a number of short-lived attempts to revive the Warriors, including two started by people in pro wrestling. In 1976, WWWF announcer Buddy Wagner purchased the rights to the Warriors from Jerry Hill, who promoted during the glory days. Sowinski was the top female star of the team. But the revival didnt draw well and folded later that year after Wagner died. She was also in the same position as the top female star in revival attempts later in 1976, and again in 1981.
She skated her final game in 1992 in a short-lived area promotion put together by Bob Raskin, who also promoted independent wrestling. Promoters of attempts at Roller Derby revivals in the San Francisco area had contacted her many times, even as late as the last decade, about doing games, but she always turned them down, saying she was too old. Sowinski remained in Philadelphia the rest of her life, living with her girlfriend of the past 30 years, Angela Marano, and working as a lab courier at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. As much of a star as she was in skating, she actually garnered more publicity in the role of old-time skater turned coach when, starting in 2003, she volunteered to coach the new shoot version of womens Roller Derby when it opened in Philadelphia, and was one of the head trainers of the current OSDA Penn Jersey league. Eventually she became so popular with the skaters that they paid her to coach, as she became a Vince Lombardi-like figure to a new breed of skaters, most of whom were so young they had never even seen her skate or seen the original Roller Derby or Roller Games past whatever remains of youtube clips.
She practiced tough love, she didnt want to hear excuses, said skater Holly Prescott, who she coached for five years, and noted the few times Sowinski, by then in her late 60s, would put on the skates to demonstrate what she wanted, she would blow everyone away. Skater after skater in the new league referred to Sowinski as the greatest sports coach they had ever had in their lives. Sowinski and Jerry Seltzer (the promoter of Roller Derby from 1959 to 1973, who is kind of the figurehead commissioner of womens Roller Derby) are the only stars who bridged the theatrical era when the business was big on television, even though everyone used their real name, and often programmed before or after wrestling, to the all-girls era of skaters on flat tracks in a shoot sport but with amateur skaters who use fake pro wrestling like names. Sowinski was named to the Roller Derby/Roller Games Hall of Fame in 2004. She also appeared, as herself, as a heel rival to the character played by Raquel Welch in the 1972 movie, Kansas City Bomber. I had a good time in my life, I had the opportunity to travel all over the world, she said in a Philadelphia Inquirer article before she was taken ill.
Dave Hebner, 62, is said to be recovering well from heart surgery this past week.
Police in Columbus, OH, dropped all but one charge against Shad Gaspard this past week in return for pleading guilty of obstructing official business and paying a fine. Gaspard was with Josh Barnett at the Arnold Fitness Expo in March, when police arrested him for jaywalking and obstruction of justice. Gaspard had talked about suing the police department, as he went off on the officers when they arrested him, claiming they did so because he was big and black, but said he wants to put it behind him. Since leaving wrestling after being cut by WWE, Gaspard has been auditioning for acting gigs.
A correction in the Brad Rheingans story from last week. The statue of Rheingans will be unveiled in Appleton, MN, not Appleton, WI.
DUI charges against former WWE announcer Mike Adamle for an arrest in January were dropped this past week. Adamle is now the lead sportscaster for the NBC affiliate in Chicago.
Zach Gowen, 28, is now living in Ann Arbor, MI, in a structured house for people in recovery after rehab. He spent 28 days in a Minnesota rehab facility through WWE and his hoping to get his job back with WWE. WWE let him go in 2004 because even though he was amazing for what he could do with one leg, he emotionally couldnt handle the sudden fame. The problem is, they also rushed him through and kind of used up whatever value he had and the novelty ran its course and I dont think could be duplicated well.
Balls Mahoney got buried by the NWS when the sides had a falling out. They sent out a release noting Mahoney being pulled from a show over the weekend, saying, Mahoneys penchant for self-destructive childish behavior and non cooperative and just all around asinine nature has become over the pat two years more the norm in stronger legislation.
David Bollea (3-0), the nephew of Hulk Hogan, fights next on 8/20 in Las Vegas at The Orleans for Superior Cage Combat against Jimmy Jones (2-0).
They first picked Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson, the double NOAH/New Japan tag champions, but then said that they werent in the building. Then they picked Atlantis & Rey Bucanero from CMLL, and everyone figured they also werent in the building, but they actually were and did the match. And they did a CMLL finish where Gargano suddenly went down behind the refs back and faked being fouled and the ref bought it and DQd the CMLL team. The win sets up Gargano & Taylor getting a shot at Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaws Campeonatos de Parejas (tag team titles).
The personal property of Walter Killer Kowalski, including wrestling memorabilia, robes, boots, outfits as well as antique furniture, approximately 300 items in all, will be auctioned off on 8/11 at the Tonya A.Chambers Auction house in Saugus, MA.
Fit Finlay debuts with PWG at its annual Battle of Los Angeles tournament on 8/20 in Reseda, CA. Announced thus far as first round matches are Finlay vs. Kevin Steen, Chris Hero vs. Willie Mack, Claudio Castagnoli vs. El Generico and Eddie Edwards vs. Roderick Strong.
Shane Helms noted that hes been in constant pain ever since his motorcycle crash in May, that left both he and his girlfriend badly hurt. He said his left leg was shattered and is currently held together with four plates and 23 screws.
Judy Sowinski, one of the major stars of the Roller Games during its heyday from 1962 until it ceased to exist as a full-time league in 1975, passed away on 7/27 at the age of 71. Sowinski had been suffering from lung cancer and had gotten word months ago that it was incurable and inoperable. She was in a medically induced coma at the time of her death. Sowinski. sometimes known as The Polish Ace, used to attend games at the old Chicago Coliseum with her aunt, and decided to try to go for it when hearing about local tryouts. She learned fast, and was the star of her training class and was put on the leagues flagship team, the San Francisco Bay Bombers, where she was named Rookie of the Year in 1960.
At the time she earned about $100 a week for skating usually five games a week. She quit Roller Derby in 1962, furious after at the last minute being removed from a tour of Hawaii (she had her bags packed and was ready to go when the phone call came), and was going to return home to Chicago. However, Roller Games, a rival league based in Los Angeles was formed by car dealer Bill Griffiths after Roller Derby dropped its Los Angeles team and many of the skaters decided to start up a new league rather than move to San Francisco. Sowinski was the No. 2 female babyface from 1962 to 1968 with that leagues flagship team, the Los Angeles Thunderbirds (named after the car). But her best run came after a heel turn against T-Birds captain Terri Lynch (a feud that mirrored what was going on in real life between the two), in 1969, as the captain of the New York Bombers, a heel team that skated against the T-Birds and the leagues other babyface team, the Philadelphia-based Eastern Warriors.
She was the leagues top heel until 1973, when Roller Derby folded, and Roller Games rearranged itself to attempt to be a real league where instead of babyface and heel teams, they had teams play home and road games, meaning all the skaters were babyfaces at home and heels on the road, which ended up not working because the road games where their team would play heel would air in the local market and leave the fans confused and the thing went down fast that year. As a comparison to the late Ann Calvello, who was Derbys top woman heel during the same time frame, Sowinski was the better skater and came across as being rougher and tougher, but Calvello was far more famous because she had an out of this world level of ego, charisma and stage presence to go along with being so media and public relations friendly. Sowinski was brought back to the T-Birds, but turned on the T-Birds in late 1974 and joined the Warriors, where she was back-up to Judy Arnold, who was the Gina Carano of that world. It was a big deal when she came to the Warriors with Arnold, because Sowinski was Arnolds biggest rival during the Philadelphia area heyday. Roller Games was a strong attraction in Los Angeles and Philadelphia until business fell off rapidly everywhere in 1974.
It was very similar to what happened with WWF in 2002, but they didnt have the type of economic base and revenue streams to stay afloat when attendance dropped. When Arnold retired in 1975, Sowinski became the top female star of the Warriors, but with attendance declining, the team folded that year. She was part of a number of short-lived attempts to revive the Warriors, including two started by people in pro wrestling. In 1976, WWWF announcer Buddy Wagner purchased the rights to the Warriors from Jerry Hill, who promoted during the glory days. Sowinski was the top female star of the team. But the revival didnt draw well and folded later that year after Wagner died. She was also in the same position as the top female star in revival attempts later in 1976, and again in 1981.
She skated her final game in 1992 in a short-lived area promotion put together by Bob Raskin, who also promoted independent wrestling. Promoters of attempts at Roller Derby revivals in the San Francisco area had contacted her many times, even as late as the last decade, about doing games, but she always turned them down, saying she was too old. Sowinski remained in Philadelphia the rest of her life, living with her girlfriend of the past 30 years, Angela Marano, and working as a lab courier at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. As much of a star as she was in skating, she actually garnered more publicity in the role of old-time skater turned coach when, starting in 2003, she volunteered to coach the new shoot version of womens Roller Derby when it opened in Philadelphia, and was one of the head trainers of the current OSDA Penn Jersey league. Eventually she became so popular with the skaters that they paid her to coach, as she became a Vince Lombardi-like figure to a new breed of skaters, most of whom were so young they had never even seen her skate or seen the original Roller Derby or Roller Games past whatever remains of youtube clips.
She practiced tough love, she didnt want to hear excuses, said skater Holly Prescott, who she coached for five years, and noted the few times Sowinski, by then in her late 60s, would put on the skates to demonstrate what she wanted, she would blow everyone away. Skater after skater in the new league referred to Sowinski as the greatest sports coach they had ever had in their lives. Sowinski and Jerry Seltzer (the promoter of Roller Derby from 1959 to 1973, who is kind of the figurehead commissioner of womens Roller Derby) are the only stars who bridged the theatrical era when the business was big on television, even though everyone used their real name, and often programmed before or after wrestling, to the all-girls era of skaters on flat tracks in a shoot sport but with amateur skaters who use fake pro wrestling like names. Sowinski was named to the Roller Derby/Roller Games Hall of Fame in 2004. She also appeared, as herself, as a heel rival to the character played by Raquel Welch in the 1972 movie, Kansas City Bomber. I had a good time in my life, I had the opportunity to travel all over the world, she said in a Philadelphia Inquirer article before she was taken ill.
Dave Hebner, 62, is said to be recovering well from heart surgery this past week.
Police in Columbus, OH, dropped all but one charge against Shad Gaspard this past week in return for pleading guilty of obstructing official business and paying a fine. Gaspard was with Josh Barnett at the Arnold Fitness Expo in March, when police arrested him for jaywalking and obstruction of justice. Gaspard had talked about suing the police department, as he went off on the officers when they arrested him, claiming they did so because he was big and black, but said he wants to put it behind him. Since leaving wrestling after being cut by WWE, Gaspard has been auditioning for acting gigs.
A correction in the Brad Rheingans story from last week. The statue of Rheingans will be unveiled in Appleton, MN, not Appleton, WI.
DUI charges against former WWE announcer Mike Adamle for an arrest in January were dropped this past week. Adamle is now the lead sportscaster for the NBC affiliate in Chicago.
Zach Gowen, 28, is now living in Ann Arbor, MI, in a structured house for people in recovery after rehab. He spent 28 days in a Minnesota rehab facility through WWE and his hoping to get his job back with WWE. WWE let him go in 2004 because even though he was amazing for what he could do with one leg, he emotionally couldnt handle the sudden fame. The problem is, they also rushed him through and kind of used up whatever value he had and the novelty ran its course and I dont think could be duplicated well.
Balls Mahoney got buried by the NWS when the sides had a falling out. They sent out a release noting Mahoney being pulled from a show over the weekend, saying, Mahoneys penchant for self-destructive childish behavior and non cooperative and just all around asinine nature has become over the pat two years more the norm in stronger legislation.
David Bollea (3-0), the nephew of Hulk Hogan, fights next on 8/20 in Las Vegas at The Orleans for Superior Cage Combat against Jimmy Jones (2-0).
Professor Beef
Banned
Spin: Joker Sting is awesome, let's all watch TNA!
GAF: Alright, why not.
*nothing funny happens*
DAMMIT SPIN
GAF: Alright, why not.
*nothing funny happens*
DAMMIT SPIN
TOM f'N CRUISE
Member
1 more hour till tna.... havent seen it for along time
HarryDemeanor
Member
I was literally laughing at the end. The week that everyone got together to watch TNA only to be denied from seeing what they tuned in for. Bravo, TNA. Bravo.
spindashing
Banned
Wait hold up. Murphy in TNA's real name is Michael Cole?
:lol
:lol
MetalFearSolid
Banned
HarryDemeanor said:
It wasn't that good at all
RESULTS
7/26 Orlando (TNA Impact TV tapings): Madison Rayne b Miss Tessmacher, Devon b A.J. Styles, Pope DAngelo Dinero b Samoa Joe-DQ, Street fight: Hernandez b James Storm, Austin Aries b Alex Shelley, Rob Van Dam & Crimson b Scott Steiner & Gunner
7/27 Chiba (All Japan - 300): Bushi b Yasufumi Nakanoe, Joe Doering b Mazada, Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi b Takao Omori & Soshun, Kaz Hayashi & Minoru b Kai & Hiroshi Yamato, Akebono & Ryota Hama b Kenso & Rene Dupree, Suwama & Masakatsu Funaki & Shuji Kondo b Taiyo Kea & Seiya Sanada & Manabu Soya
7/27 Nobeoka (Dragon Gate - 1,400 sellout): Masato Yoshino & Rich Swann b Genki Horiguchi & Naoki Tanisaki, Gamma b Kzy, Akira Tozawa b Super Shisa, Cima & Ryo Saito b Shingo Takagi & A.R. Fox, Masaaki Mochizuki & Yamato & Kagetora b Naruki Doi & Yasushi Kanda & BxB Hulk
7/28 Austin, TX (TNA - 1,000): Shannon Moore won three-way over Hernandez and Devon, Mickie James & Velvet Sky b Rosita & Sarita, Pope DAngelo Dinero b Samoa Joe, Bobby Roode & James Storm b Bully Ray & Gunner, Crimson b Jeff Jarrett, A.J. Styles b Mr. Anderson
7/28 Nagaoka (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 800): Mohammed Yone & Shuhei Taniguchi b Ricky & Rocky Marvin, Kensuke Sasaki b Genba Hirayanagi, Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito b Takuma Sano & Yoshinari Ogawa, Go Shiozaki & Kotaro Suzuki & Atsushi Aoki b Takashi Sugiura & Takeshi Morishima & Masao Inoue, Jack Evans & Aero Star b Kenoh & Kenmai, KENTA & Yoshinobu Kanemaru b Taishi Takizawa & Zack Sabre Jr., Delirious & Eddie Edwards b Katsuhiko Nakajima & Satoshi Kajiwara
7/28 Mayakono (Dragon Gate - 870): Gamma & Rich Swann b Naruki Doi & Genki Horiguchi, Kzy b Super Shisa, Yamato b Yasushi Kanda, BxB Hulk & Naoki Tanisaki b Shingo Takagi & A.R. Fox, Masaaki Mochizuki & Masato Yoshino & Kagetora b Cima & Ryo Saito & Akira Tozawa
7/29 Peoria (WWE Raw - 3,500): Chris Masters b Jack Swagger, R-Truth & The Miz b Alex Riley & Zack Ryder, Primo b Tyler Reks, Alberto Del Rio b Kofi Kingston, Divas title: Kelly Kelly b Brie Bella, Non-title: Santino Marella & Vladimir Kozlov b David Otunga & Michael McGillicutty, U.S. title: Dolph Ziggler b Evan Bourne, WWE title vs. title: John Cena NC C.M. Punk
7/29 Tyler, TX (TNA - 750): Mickie James & Velvet Sky b Rosita & Sarita, Samoa Joe b Hernandez, Crimson b Mr. Anderson, Bobby Roode & James Storm b Shannon Moore & Devon, Bully Ray won three-way over Gunner and Pope DAngelo Dinero, A.J. Styles b Jeff Jarrett
7/29 Mexico City Arena Mexico (CMLL TV tapings): Metalico & Starman b Disturbio & Bobby Zavala, Astral & Electrico & Mascarita Dorada b Pequeno Olimpico & Pequeno Violencia & Pequeno Warrior, CMLL womens title: Amapola b Estrellita, Mr. Niebla won the Torneo Cibernetico Leyenda Azul over Atlantis, Metro, Psicosis, Angel de Oro, Strongman, Rey Bucanero El Hijo del Fantasma, El Texano Jr., Shocker, El Terrible, Blue Panther, Hector Garza, Rush, and Maximo, NWA historic middleweight title: Averno b La Mascara
7/29 Kansas City (Titan Fighting Championships): Isaac Enriquez b Paul Kolenda, Phillip Morgan b Marques Jackson, Cody Land b Anthony Gutierrez, Alex Huddleston b Daniel Gallemore, Nick Nolte b Marcio Navarro, Joe Wilk b Willian de Souza, Brendan Sequin b Rob Kimmons, Sara McMann b Tony Evinger, Clay French b James Krause
7/30 Rockford, IL (WWE Raw - 5,000): Chris Masters b Jack Swagger, R-Truth & The Miz b Zack Ryder & Alex Riley, Primo b Tyler Reks, Alberto Del Rio b Kofi Kingston, Divas title: Kelly Kelly b Brie Bella, Non-title: Santino Marella & Vladimir Kozlov b David Otunga & Michael McGillicutty, U.S. title: Dolph Ziggler b Evan Bourne, Title vs. title: John Cena NC C.M. Punk
7/30 Louisville (WWE Smackdown - 5,700): Heath Slater won Battle Royal, Natalya & A.J. b Alicia Fox & Rosa Mendes, Jinder Mahal b Tyson Kidd, IC title: Ezekiel Jackson b Heath Slater, Daniel Bryan b Wade Barrett, Usos b Ted DiBiase & Cody Rhodes, Sheamus b Mark Henry-DQ, World title: Christian b Randy Orton
7/30 Houston (TNA - 800): Mickie James & Velvet Sky b Rosita & Sarita, James Storm b Pope DAngelo Dinero-COR, Crimson won three-way over Jeff Jarrett and Shannon Moore, Bobby Roode won four-way over Devon, Samoa Joe and Gunner, Hernandez b Mr. Anderson, A.J. Styles b Bully Ray
7/30 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 2,100 sellout): Genba Hirayanagi b Osamu Namiguchi, Ricky & Rocky Marvin b Aero Star & Jack Evans, Akira Taue & Yoshinari Ogawa b Delirious & Masao Inoue, Eddie Edwards b Tatsuhito Takaiwa, Takashi Sugiura & Mohammed Yone b Kensuke Sasaki & Kento Miyahara, Kenmai & Kenoh & Katsuhiko Nakajima & Satoshi Kajiwara b Zack Sabre Jr. & Taishi Takizawa & Daisuke Harada & Atsushi Kotoge, Go Shiozaki & Takeshi Morishima & Shuhei Taniguchi b Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito & Takuma Sano, NTV Jr. tournament finals: Kotaro Suzuki & Atsushi Aoki b KENTA & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
7/30 Osaka (All Japan - 650): Joe Doering b Soshun, Taiyo Kea & Takao Omori b Kenso & Rene Dupree, Akebono & Ryota Hama b Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi, Minoru Suzuki & Kai b Masakatsu Funaki & Minoru, Suwama & Kaz Hayashi & Shuji Kondo b Seiya Sanada & Manabu Soya & Hiroshi Yamato
7/30 Tokai (Dragon Gate - 570): Naruki Doi & Kzy b Rich Swann & Gamma, Don Fujii b Yusuke Watanabe, Shingo Takagi b Tomahawk T.T., BxB Hulk & Akira Tozawa b Masato Yoshino & A.R. Fox, Masaaki Mochizuki & Dragon Kid & Yamato b Cima & Naoki Tanisaki & Cyber Kong
7/31 Springfield, IL (WWE Raw - 3,600): Chris Masters b Jack Swagger, R-Truth & The Miz b Alex Riley & Zack Ryder, Primo b Tyler Reks, Alberto Del Rio b Kofi Kingston, Divas title: Kelly Kelly b Brie Bella, Non-title: Santino Marella & Vladimir Kozlov b Michael McGillicutty & David Otunga, U.S. title: Dolph Ziggler b Evan Bourne, Champion vs. champion: John Cena DDQ C.M. Punk
7/31 Terre Haute, IN (WWE Smackdown - 2,200): Wade Barrett won Battle Royal, Natalya & Kaitlyn b Alicia Fox & Rosa Mendes, Jinder Mahal b Trent Barreta, Daniel Bryan b Tyson Kidd, IC title: Ezekiel Jackson b Wade Barrett, Usos b Ted DiBiase & Cody Rhodes, Sheamus b Mark Henry-DQ, WWE title: Christian b Randy Orton
7/31 Nagoya (All Japan - 3,250): Soshun b Yasufumi Nakanoe, Kaz Hayashi & Shuji Kondo b Manabu Soya & Bushi, Akebono & Ryota Hama b Joe Doering & Rene Dupree, Masakatsu Funaki & Hiroshi Yamato b Minoru Suzuki & Mazada, World jr. title: Kai b Minoru, World tag titles: Great Muta & Kenso b Taiyo Kea & Takao Omori, Triple Crown: Suwama b Seiya Sanada
7/31 Mexico City Arena Coliseo (CMLL TV tapings - 2,750): Aereo & Pequeno Halcon b Mercurio & Universito 2000, El Hijo de Enrique Vera & Super Halcon Jr. & Trueno b Inquisidor & Los Rayos Tapatios I & II, Goya Kong & Lady Apache & Luna Magica b Comandante & Princesa Blanca & Seductora, Misterioso Jr. & Okumura & Nobuo Yoshihashi b Blue Panther & Metal Blanco & Valiente, Shocker & Mascara Dorada & La Mascara b Alebrije & Hector Garza & Volador Jr.-DQ
7/31 Takamatsu (Dragon Gate - 720 sellout): Cima & Cyber Kong b Rich Swann & Gamma, Don Fujii b Super Shenlong, Shingo Takagi b A.R. Fox, Masato Yoshino & Dragon Kid b Yasushi Kanda & Kzy, Naruki Doi & BxB Hulk & Akira Tozawa b Masaaki Mochizuki & Yamato & Kagetora
7/31 Philadelphia (CHIKARA Pro): Tsukasa Fujimoto b Makoto, Archibald Peck b Dasher Hatfield, Daizee Haze b Mima Shimoda, Hallowicked & Frightmare & UltraMantis Black b Scott Parker & Shane Matthews & El Generico, Chuck Taylor & Johnny Gargano b Atlantis & Rey Bucanero-DQ, Eddie Kingston b Jigsaw, Mike Quackenbush & Johnny Saint b Colt Cabana & Johnny Kidd, Sara Del Rey b Claudio Castagnoli
8/1 Indianapolis (WWE Raw/Superstars TV tapings - 9,000): Brodus Clay b Alex Silva, Vladimir Kozlov b Primo, Jack Swagger b Chris Masters, Beth Phoenix won Divas Battle Royal, R-Truth & The Miz b Rey Mysterio & John Morrison, Non-title: Michael McGillicutty & David Otunga b Santino Marella & Zack Ryder, Alberto Del Rio b Evan Bourne, Title vs. title: John Cena DDQ C.M. Punk
8/1 Fukuoka (New Japan G-1 Climax - 4,500): La Sombra b Wataru Inoue, Giant Bernard b Hideo Saito, Hirooki Goto b Hiroyoshi Tenzan, IWGP jr. title: Kota Ibushi b Ryusuke Taguchi, Yujiro Takahashi b Tetsuya Naito, Lance Archer b Togi Makabe, Satoshi Kojima b Minoru Suzuki, MVP b Shinsuke Nakamura, Yuji Nagata b Hiroshi Tanahashi
8/2 Fukuoka (New Japan G-1 Climax - 4,500): Karl Anderson b La Sombra, Lance Archer b Hideo Saito, Wataru Inoue b Strongman, Jushin Liger & Ryusuke Taguchi & Hirooki Goto b Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii & Gedo, Yuji Nagata b Tetsuya Naito, Minoru Suzuki b MVP, Togi Makabe b Toru Yano, Shinsuke Nakamura b Satoshi Kojima, Hiroshi Tanahashi b Yoshihiro Takayama
8/2 Lexington (WWE Smackdown/NXT/Superstars TV tapings): Wade Barrett b Colt Cabana, Vladimir Kozlov b JTG, Titus ONeil & Matt Striker b Derrick Bateman & Darren Young, Alicia Fox b Kaitlyn, Brodus Clay b Pat Silva (Alex Silva), Sheamus b Great Khali, Natalya b A.J., Daniel Bryan b Tyson Kidd, Non-title: Ezekiel Jackson b Zack Ryder, Mark Henry b Vladimir Kozlov, David Otunga & Michael McGillicutty & JTG b Usos & Trent Baretta, Christian & R-Truth b Randy Orton & John Morrison, World title: Christian b Randy Orton
8/2 Mexico City Arena Mexico (CMLL TV tapings): Soberano & Super Halcon Jr. b Ramstein & Zayco, Astral & Electrico & Mascarita Dorada b Demus 3:16 & Pequeno Olimpico & Pequeno Violencia, Angel de Plata & Metro & Stuka Jr. b Misterioso Jr. & Okumura & Nobuo Yoshihashi, Olimpico & Psicosis & Volador Jr. b Blue Panther & Maximo & Rush, Brazo de Plata & Mascara Dorada & Shocker b El Terrible & Rey Bucanero & El Texano Jr.
CMLL
The CMLL trios title rematch off the Arena Mexico program, with new champs Averno & Mephisto & Ephesto defending against Mascara Dorada & La Mascara & La Sombra takes place on 8/19 in Guadalajara.
They continue to put Averno over at every turn, as on the 7/29 Arena Mexico main event, he retained his NWA Historic middleweight title once again pinning La Mascara after a low blow in the third fall. Brazo de Oro, the father of La Mascara, who was his second, was complaining to referee Tirantes about his heeling, and that allowed Averno to sneak in the low blow. The show also featured the annual Torneo Cibernetico for la Leyenda Azul, which is an elimination match honoring the original Blue Demon with 15 wrestlers. It came down to Mr. Niebla pinning Atlantis.
Alejandro Munoz, the son of Blue Demon (who never wrestled) awarded the Blue Demon trophy to Niebla. Blue Demon Jr. on his twitter went off on the company for holding such a tournament without getting his permission and claimed that he would never work a CMLL show, and said how bad it was that they were using his fathers name to boost their business. Amapola also retained the CMLL womens title pinning Estrellita after a back stabber. Estrellita sold it so big she went out on a stretcher.
The 8/5 show is headlined by La Mascara & Atlantis & Hector Garza (Atlantis and Garza on the face side this week) vs. Niebla & Ultimo Guerrero & Dragon Rojo Jr., plus Shocker & Delta & Angel de Oro vs. Mephisto & Ephesto & Polvora.
At the 7/25 show in Puebla, La Mascara challenged Averno to a mask vs. hair match and Averno said he wasnt afraid of the match but he would never do it in Puebla.
The 8/1 show in Puebla nearly sold out the 5,500-seat arena as Rush beat New Japans Nobuo Yoshihashi in a hair vs. hair match.
Konan Big, who has been around the Monterrey scene for years, a bodybuilder who cant wrestle, has returned on indie shows and is drawing big locally. He drew a sellout of 5,500 on 7/31 in Monterrey winning a hair vs. hair cage match over Simbolo 2000. They are bringing in Hector Garza, who is originally from Monterrey, to face him on 8/16.
CMLL is running two big shows in Bogata, Colombia, using El Hijo del Fantasma & Sagrado vs. Arkangel de la Muerte & Escandalo on 8/14 and 8/15.
There is a special show on 9/4 in Naucalpan to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the pro debut of Dos Caras (the father of Alberto Del Rio). Itll be the first time in years that the three brothers, Mil Mascaras & Dos Caras & El Sicodelico form a trio, facing Los Villanos in the main event. Rudy Reyna, one of the original Exoticos dating back to the 70s, announced he would retire, teaming with his most famous partners, Pimpinela Escarlata & May Flowers.
DRAGON GATE
The PPV that debuted on 7/29 is the final PPV at least for the time being. After everyone takes their cut, an iPPV at this point is making in the same ballpark of money and you dont have the long wait to be paid, plus it doesnt mess with show continuity and with an iPPV they can release the DVD immediately, whereas on PPV, you have to wait the two months or so until it airs, and then wait 30 days until you release the DVD. The decision was largely made some time back and this was really just fulfilling the final show of the contract.
Dragon Kid is out of action due to rib injuries.
Added to the 9/9 show in Indianapolis is Chuck Taylor & Johnny Gargano vs. Yamato & Masato Yoshino. Added to 9/11 in Milwaukee is AR Fox & Yamato vs. Sami Callihan & Arik Cannon.
The next U.S. tour after that will be 11/11 in Boston, 11/12 at B.B. Kings in New York and 11/13 in Philadelphia, which will include the return of BxB Hulk.
ALL JAPAN
They had a major show on 7/31 in Nagoya, drawing an announced 3,250 fans, for three championship matches. Suwama retained the Triple Crown as 23-year-old Seiya Sanada had the first title challenge of his career, until being pinned at 28:00 with the Last Ride power bomb. Sanada had gone to the finals as a surprise in the Champion Carnival tournament, losing to Yuji Nagata. Great Muta (who is now only working big shows) & Kenso (former WWE wrestler Kenzo Suzuki) retained the World tag team titles beating Taiyo Kea & Takao Omori in 16:17 when Kenso pinned Omori after a double kneedrop off the top rope. Kai retained the jr. title pinning former champion Minoru. Minoru had never lost the title, but was stripped of it because of his suspension in the incident where Yoshikazu Taru beat up Super Hate (Nobukazu Hirai) in the dressing room and Minoru was there and he and Kono and Mazada did nothing to stop it.
There have been no updates at all regarding the status of Hirai. Having checked with people in Japan, the last anyone has heard he was still in a coma and things were not looking good.
The company is said to be in really bad financial shape right now.
Osamu Nishimura, who hasnt wrestled since February to run for election to the Tokyo area assembly, which he won, will be working some dates this month.
A newcomer debuting on 8/17 is Lee Che Gyong, 22, from Kitami. Che Gyong placed fifth as a heavyweight in the All Japan weightlifting championships. Hes said to be 6-foot-3 and 265 pounds and the way they made a big deal about his debut indicates they have long-term plans for him.
They are doing an angle where Bushi is now going to feud with another wrestler claiming to be Bushi. The storyline is that Bushi is getting harassed in the mail in letters coming from Canada from someone claiming to be the real Bushi and hes coming to Japan. The new Bushi is going to be called Black Bushi and they have a singles match on 8/21 in Sapporo.
This groups annual junior heavyweight tournament will take place from 9/11 to 9/25. The participants will be announced at the 8/13 show at Korakuen Hall, but Kenny Omega is expected to be one of the outsiders.
Takumi Soya, the younger brother of Manabu Soya, a rookie with the group, returns on 8/13 after time off due to a broken jaw.
The title matches on the next tour are Kai defending the jr. title against former tag team partner Hiroshi Yamato on 8/13 at Korakuen Hall, and Manabu Soya & Seiya Sanada defending the All-Asian tag team titles against Kaz Hayashi & Shuji Kondo on 8/21 in Sapporo.
PRO WRESTLING NOAH
Kenta Kobashis second match back was announced for 8/6 at Differ Ariake, with Kobashi & Shuhei Taniguchi vs. Takashi Sugiura & Mohammed Yone on the company 11th anniversary show, which is headlined by Go Shiozaki vs. Jun Akiyama for the GHC heavyweight title.
Kotaro Suzuki & Atsushi Aoki won the annual NTV jr. heavyweight tag team tournament beating KENTA & Yoshinobu Kanemaru in the finals on 7/30 at Korakuen Hall before a sellout of 2,100 fans. The finish came at 30:03 when Aoki pinned Kanemaru with the assault point. The tournament came down to the 7/28 show in Nagaoka. Aoki & Suzuki had a 3-1 record and had already finished competition. Katsuhiko Nakajima & Satoshi Kajiwara, who were 2-1, were to face Delirious & Eddie Edwards of ROH. If Nakajima & Kajiwara won, they would go to the finals as the B block winner because they beat Suzuki & Aoki head-to-head. But that didnt happen, as Delirious pinned Kajiwara.
The A block came down to Kenoh & Kenmai, Taishi Takizawa & Zack Sabre Jr., and KENTA & Kanemaru. Kenoh & Kenmai lost to AAAs Jack Evans & Aero Star, to eliminate them. This meant the winner of KENTA & Kanemaru vs. Takizawa & Sabre Jr. would advance, and Kanemaru pinned Sabre Jr. in 20:20 after a brainbuster.
So the final standings were: A block--1. KENTA & Kanemaru 3-1; 2. Takizawa & Sabre Jr., Kenoh & Kenmai and Evans & Aero Star 2-2; 5. Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Osamu Namiguchi 1-3; B block1. Suzuki & Aoki 3-1; 2. Nakajima & Kajiwara, Edwards & Delirious and Atsushi Kotoge & Daisuke Harada 2-2; 5. Ricky & Rocky Marvin 1-3.
OTHER JAPAN NOTES
There was a major scandal in North Korean sports that came out a couple of weeks ago involving the government putting its athletes on anabolic steroids, which was linked to North Korean Sports Minister Pak Myong-choi, who is the son-in-law of Rikidozan. A North Korean defector claimed the Sports Science Research Institute operates two plants that produce steroids for national team athletes. This came after five members of the countrys womens soccer team tested positive for steroids. North Korean officials claimed the athletes took the steroids accidentally by using oriental medicine that contained steroid traces for recovery from injuries.
North Korean scientists were sent to East Germany in the late 80s before the iron curtain fell to learn about steroid use for athletes, and in particular, what drugs and how to use them to beat testing, which evidently improved since they just caught five members of the same team. Dating back to the 70s, East German athletes were put on regimented steroids, both men and women, and the small country became an Olympic powerhouse. But in following the athletes from that era, they encountered terrible health issues later in life. It was noted dating back to 1991, when North and South Korea sent a joint Korean team to the World Youth Soccer championship, the North Korean players were using steroids and the North Korean sports delegation head Ri Myung-song offered performance enhancing drugs to the South Korean team members. They said dating back to the 70s, the armed forces in North Korea began producing steroids at an army hospital for soldiers.
There was a popular youtube video this past week of Kenny Omega facing 9-year-old Haruka in a three minute exhibition match from the 7/24 show of the Stardom promotion, one of the numerous womens groupa. Omega bumped around for her moves to make her look good. I dont know if its good or bad to have someone at that age trained so well in pro wrestling, because she may physically burn out young like some of the youth phenoms in other sports, but as far as actually being able to perform in the ring, she blows away most of the full-time women in the U.S. Right now shes doing three-minute exhibition matches against veteran male wrestlers on the big shows.
Daichi Hashimoto of Zero-One was a guest at a major league game in Japan between the Yakult Swallows (Tokyo) vs. Toyo Carp (Hiroshima) and after throwing a pitch, which was wild, he proceeded to give one of the mascots a shining wizard.
ROH
The updated lineup for the first TV tapings for the new syndicated show on 8/13 in Chicago Ridge, IL, has announced Davey Richards vs. Roderick Strong for the ROH title, Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas vs. Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli for the tag titles, El Generico vs. Jay Lethal for the TV title, Briscoes vs. All Night Express and Eddie Edwards vs. Michael Elgin. Theyll be taping three weeks worth of television which starts airing on 9/24.
They will be doing an iPPV before TV starts running, on 9/17 from the Manhattan Center in New York. This will be the next to last iPPV of the year, before Final Battle in December.
7/26 Orlando (TNA Impact TV tapings): Madison Rayne b Miss Tessmacher, Devon b A.J. Styles, Pope DAngelo Dinero b Samoa Joe-DQ, Street fight: Hernandez b James Storm, Austin Aries b Alex Shelley, Rob Van Dam & Crimson b Scott Steiner & Gunner
7/27 Chiba (All Japan - 300): Bushi b Yasufumi Nakanoe, Joe Doering b Mazada, Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi b Takao Omori & Soshun, Kaz Hayashi & Minoru b Kai & Hiroshi Yamato, Akebono & Ryota Hama b Kenso & Rene Dupree, Suwama & Masakatsu Funaki & Shuji Kondo b Taiyo Kea & Seiya Sanada & Manabu Soya
7/27 Nobeoka (Dragon Gate - 1,400 sellout): Masato Yoshino & Rich Swann b Genki Horiguchi & Naoki Tanisaki, Gamma b Kzy, Akira Tozawa b Super Shisa, Cima & Ryo Saito b Shingo Takagi & A.R. Fox, Masaaki Mochizuki & Yamato & Kagetora b Naruki Doi & Yasushi Kanda & BxB Hulk
7/28 Austin, TX (TNA - 1,000): Shannon Moore won three-way over Hernandez and Devon, Mickie James & Velvet Sky b Rosita & Sarita, Pope DAngelo Dinero b Samoa Joe, Bobby Roode & James Storm b Bully Ray & Gunner, Crimson b Jeff Jarrett, A.J. Styles b Mr. Anderson
7/28 Nagaoka (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 800): Mohammed Yone & Shuhei Taniguchi b Ricky & Rocky Marvin, Kensuke Sasaki b Genba Hirayanagi, Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito b Takuma Sano & Yoshinari Ogawa, Go Shiozaki & Kotaro Suzuki & Atsushi Aoki b Takashi Sugiura & Takeshi Morishima & Masao Inoue, Jack Evans & Aero Star b Kenoh & Kenmai, KENTA & Yoshinobu Kanemaru b Taishi Takizawa & Zack Sabre Jr., Delirious & Eddie Edwards b Katsuhiko Nakajima & Satoshi Kajiwara
7/28 Mayakono (Dragon Gate - 870): Gamma & Rich Swann b Naruki Doi & Genki Horiguchi, Kzy b Super Shisa, Yamato b Yasushi Kanda, BxB Hulk & Naoki Tanisaki b Shingo Takagi & A.R. Fox, Masaaki Mochizuki & Masato Yoshino & Kagetora b Cima & Ryo Saito & Akira Tozawa
7/29 Peoria (WWE Raw - 3,500): Chris Masters b Jack Swagger, R-Truth & The Miz b Alex Riley & Zack Ryder, Primo b Tyler Reks, Alberto Del Rio b Kofi Kingston, Divas title: Kelly Kelly b Brie Bella, Non-title: Santino Marella & Vladimir Kozlov b David Otunga & Michael McGillicutty, U.S. title: Dolph Ziggler b Evan Bourne, WWE title vs. title: John Cena NC C.M. Punk
7/29 Tyler, TX (TNA - 750): Mickie James & Velvet Sky b Rosita & Sarita, Samoa Joe b Hernandez, Crimson b Mr. Anderson, Bobby Roode & James Storm b Shannon Moore & Devon, Bully Ray won three-way over Gunner and Pope DAngelo Dinero, A.J. Styles b Jeff Jarrett
7/29 Mexico City Arena Mexico (CMLL TV tapings): Metalico & Starman b Disturbio & Bobby Zavala, Astral & Electrico & Mascarita Dorada b Pequeno Olimpico & Pequeno Violencia & Pequeno Warrior, CMLL womens title: Amapola b Estrellita, Mr. Niebla won the Torneo Cibernetico Leyenda Azul over Atlantis, Metro, Psicosis, Angel de Oro, Strongman, Rey Bucanero El Hijo del Fantasma, El Texano Jr., Shocker, El Terrible, Blue Panther, Hector Garza, Rush, and Maximo, NWA historic middleweight title: Averno b La Mascara
7/29 Kansas City (Titan Fighting Championships): Isaac Enriquez b Paul Kolenda, Phillip Morgan b Marques Jackson, Cody Land b Anthony Gutierrez, Alex Huddleston b Daniel Gallemore, Nick Nolte b Marcio Navarro, Joe Wilk b Willian de Souza, Brendan Sequin b Rob Kimmons, Sara McMann b Tony Evinger, Clay French b James Krause
7/30 Rockford, IL (WWE Raw - 5,000): Chris Masters b Jack Swagger, R-Truth & The Miz b Zack Ryder & Alex Riley, Primo b Tyler Reks, Alberto Del Rio b Kofi Kingston, Divas title: Kelly Kelly b Brie Bella, Non-title: Santino Marella & Vladimir Kozlov b David Otunga & Michael McGillicutty, U.S. title: Dolph Ziggler b Evan Bourne, Title vs. title: John Cena NC C.M. Punk
7/30 Louisville (WWE Smackdown - 5,700): Heath Slater won Battle Royal, Natalya & A.J. b Alicia Fox & Rosa Mendes, Jinder Mahal b Tyson Kidd, IC title: Ezekiel Jackson b Heath Slater, Daniel Bryan b Wade Barrett, Usos b Ted DiBiase & Cody Rhodes, Sheamus b Mark Henry-DQ, World title: Christian b Randy Orton
7/30 Houston (TNA - 800): Mickie James & Velvet Sky b Rosita & Sarita, James Storm b Pope DAngelo Dinero-COR, Crimson won three-way over Jeff Jarrett and Shannon Moore, Bobby Roode won four-way over Devon, Samoa Joe and Gunner, Hernandez b Mr. Anderson, A.J. Styles b Bully Ray
7/30 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 2,100 sellout): Genba Hirayanagi b Osamu Namiguchi, Ricky & Rocky Marvin b Aero Star & Jack Evans, Akira Taue & Yoshinari Ogawa b Delirious & Masao Inoue, Eddie Edwards b Tatsuhito Takaiwa, Takashi Sugiura & Mohammed Yone b Kensuke Sasaki & Kento Miyahara, Kenmai & Kenoh & Katsuhiko Nakajima & Satoshi Kajiwara b Zack Sabre Jr. & Taishi Takizawa & Daisuke Harada & Atsushi Kotoge, Go Shiozaki & Takeshi Morishima & Shuhei Taniguchi b Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito & Takuma Sano, NTV Jr. tournament finals: Kotaro Suzuki & Atsushi Aoki b KENTA & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
7/30 Osaka (All Japan - 650): Joe Doering b Soshun, Taiyo Kea & Takao Omori b Kenso & Rene Dupree, Akebono & Ryota Hama b Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi, Minoru Suzuki & Kai b Masakatsu Funaki & Minoru, Suwama & Kaz Hayashi & Shuji Kondo b Seiya Sanada & Manabu Soya & Hiroshi Yamato
7/30 Tokai (Dragon Gate - 570): Naruki Doi & Kzy b Rich Swann & Gamma, Don Fujii b Yusuke Watanabe, Shingo Takagi b Tomahawk T.T., BxB Hulk & Akira Tozawa b Masato Yoshino & A.R. Fox, Masaaki Mochizuki & Dragon Kid & Yamato b Cima & Naoki Tanisaki & Cyber Kong
7/31 Springfield, IL (WWE Raw - 3,600): Chris Masters b Jack Swagger, R-Truth & The Miz b Alex Riley & Zack Ryder, Primo b Tyler Reks, Alberto Del Rio b Kofi Kingston, Divas title: Kelly Kelly b Brie Bella, Non-title: Santino Marella & Vladimir Kozlov b Michael McGillicutty & David Otunga, U.S. title: Dolph Ziggler b Evan Bourne, Champion vs. champion: John Cena DDQ C.M. Punk
7/31 Terre Haute, IN (WWE Smackdown - 2,200): Wade Barrett won Battle Royal, Natalya & Kaitlyn b Alicia Fox & Rosa Mendes, Jinder Mahal b Trent Barreta, Daniel Bryan b Tyson Kidd, IC title: Ezekiel Jackson b Wade Barrett, Usos b Ted DiBiase & Cody Rhodes, Sheamus b Mark Henry-DQ, WWE title: Christian b Randy Orton
7/31 Nagoya (All Japan - 3,250): Soshun b Yasufumi Nakanoe, Kaz Hayashi & Shuji Kondo b Manabu Soya & Bushi, Akebono & Ryota Hama b Joe Doering & Rene Dupree, Masakatsu Funaki & Hiroshi Yamato b Minoru Suzuki & Mazada, World jr. title: Kai b Minoru, World tag titles: Great Muta & Kenso b Taiyo Kea & Takao Omori, Triple Crown: Suwama b Seiya Sanada
7/31 Mexico City Arena Coliseo (CMLL TV tapings - 2,750): Aereo & Pequeno Halcon b Mercurio & Universito 2000, El Hijo de Enrique Vera & Super Halcon Jr. & Trueno b Inquisidor & Los Rayos Tapatios I & II, Goya Kong & Lady Apache & Luna Magica b Comandante & Princesa Blanca & Seductora, Misterioso Jr. & Okumura & Nobuo Yoshihashi b Blue Panther & Metal Blanco & Valiente, Shocker & Mascara Dorada & La Mascara b Alebrije & Hector Garza & Volador Jr.-DQ
7/31 Takamatsu (Dragon Gate - 720 sellout): Cima & Cyber Kong b Rich Swann & Gamma, Don Fujii b Super Shenlong, Shingo Takagi b A.R. Fox, Masato Yoshino & Dragon Kid b Yasushi Kanda & Kzy, Naruki Doi & BxB Hulk & Akira Tozawa b Masaaki Mochizuki & Yamato & Kagetora
7/31 Philadelphia (CHIKARA Pro): Tsukasa Fujimoto b Makoto, Archibald Peck b Dasher Hatfield, Daizee Haze b Mima Shimoda, Hallowicked & Frightmare & UltraMantis Black b Scott Parker & Shane Matthews & El Generico, Chuck Taylor & Johnny Gargano b Atlantis & Rey Bucanero-DQ, Eddie Kingston b Jigsaw, Mike Quackenbush & Johnny Saint b Colt Cabana & Johnny Kidd, Sara Del Rey b Claudio Castagnoli
8/1 Indianapolis (WWE Raw/Superstars TV tapings - 9,000): Brodus Clay b Alex Silva, Vladimir Kozlov b Primo, Jack Swagger b Chris Masters, Beth Phoenix won Divas Battle Royal, R-Truth & The Miz b Rey Mysterio & John Morrison, Non-title: Michael McGillicutty & David Otunga b Santino Marella & Zack Ryder, Alberto Del Rio b Evan Bourne, Title vs. title: John Cena DDQ C.M. Punk
8/1 Fukuoka (New Japan G-1 Climax - 4,500): La Sombra b Wataru Inoue, Giant Bernard b Hideo Saito, Hirooki Goto b Hiroyoshi Tenzan, IWGP jr. title: Kota Ibushi b Ryusuke Taguchi, Yujiro Takahashi b Tetsuya Naito, Lance Archer b Togi Makabe, Satoshi Kojima b Minoru Suzuki, MVP b Shinsuke Nakamura, Yuji Nagata b Hiroshi Tanahashi
8/2 Fukuoka (New Japan G-1 Climax - 4,500): Karl Anderson b La Sombra, Lance Archer b Hideo Saito, Wataru Inoue b Strongman, Jushin Liger & Ryusuke Taguchi & Hirooki Goto b Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii & Gedo, Yuji Nagata b Tetsuya Naito, Minoru Suzuki b MVP, Togi Makabe b Toru Yano, Shinsuke Nakamura b Satoshi Kojima, Hiroshi Tanahashi b Yoshihiro Takayama
8/2 Lexington (WWE Smackdown/NXT/Superstars TV tapings): Wade Barrett b Colt Cabana, Vladimir Kozlov b JTG, Titus ONeil & Matt Striker b Derrick Bateman & Darren Young, Alicia Fox b Kaitlyn, Brodus Clay b Pat Silva (Alex Silva), Sheamus b Great Khali, Natalya b A.J., Daniel Bryan b Tyson Kidd, Non-title: Ezekiel Jackson b Zack Ryder, Mark Henry b Vladimir Kozlov, David Otunga & Michael McGillicutty & JTG b Usos & Trent Baretta, Christian & R-Truth b Randy Orton & John Morrison, World title: Christian b Randy Orton
8/2 Mexico City Arena Mexico (CMLL TV tapings): Soberano & Super Halcon Jr. b Ramstein & Zayco, Astral & Electrico & Mascarita Dorada b Demus 3:16 & Pequeno Olimpico & Pequeno Violencia, Angel de Plata & Metro & Stuka Jr. b Misterioso Jr. & Okumura & Nobuo Yoshihashi, Olimpico & Psicosis & Volador Jr. b Blue Panther & Maximo & Rush, Brazo de Plata & Mascara Dorada & Shocker b El Terrible & Rey Bucanero & El Texano Jr.
CMLL
The CMLL trios title rematch off the Arena Mexico program, with new champs Averno & Mephisto & Ephesto defending against Mascara Dorada & La Mascara & La Sombra takes place on 8/19 in Guadalajara.
They continue to put Averno over at every turn, as on the 7/29 Arena Mexico main event, he retained his NWA Historic middleweight title once again pinning La Mascara after a low blow in the third fall. Brazo de Oro, the father of La Mascara, who was his second, was complaining to referee Tirantes about his heeling, and that allowed Averno to sneak in the low blow. The show also featured the annual Torneo Cibernetico for la Leyenda Azul, which is an elimination match honoring the original Blue Demon with 15 wrestlers. It came down to Mr. Niebla pinning Atlantis.
Alejandro Munoz, the son of Blue Demon (who never wrestled) awarded the Blue Demon trophy to Niebla. Blue Demon Jr. on his twitter went off on the company for holding such a tournament without getting his permission and claimed that he would never work a CMLL show, and said how bad it was that they were using his fathers name to boost their business. Amapola also retained the CMLL womens title pinning Estrellita after a back stabber. Estrellita sold it so big she went out on a stretcher.
The 8/5 show is headlined by La Mascara & Atlantis & Hector Garza (Atlantis and Garza on the face side this week) vs. Niebla & Ultimo Guerrero & Dragon Rojo Jr., plus Shocker & Delta & Angel de Oro vs. Mephisto & Ephesto & Polvora.
At the 7/25 show in Puebla, La Mascara challenged Averno to a mask vs. hair match and Averno said he wasnt afraid of the match but he would never do it in Puebla.
The 8/1 show in Puebla nearly sold out the 5,500-seat arena as Rush beat New Japans Nobuo Yoshihashi in a hair vs. hair match.
Konan Big, who has been around the Monterrey scene for years, a bodybuilder who cant wrestle, has returned on indie shows and is drawing big locally. He drew a sellout of 5,500 on 7/31 in Monterrey winning a hair vs. hair cage match over Simbolo 2000. They are bringing in Hector Garza, who is originally from Monterrey, to face him on 8/16.
CMLL is running two big shows in Bogata, Colombia, using El Hijo del Fantasma & Sagrado vs. Arkangel de la Muerte & Escandalo on 8/14 and 8/15.
There is a special show on 9/4 in Naucalpan to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the pro debut of Dos Caras (the father of Alberto Del Rio). Itll be the first time in years that the three brothers, Mil Mascaras & Dos Caras & El Sicodelico form a trio, facing Los Villanos in the main event. Rudy Reyna, one of the original Exoticos dating back to the 70s, announced he would retire, teaming with his most famous partners, Pimpinela Escarlata & May Flowers.
DRAGON GATE
The PPV that debuted on 7/29 is the final PPV at least for the time being. After everyone takes their cut, an iPPV at this point is making in the same ballpark of money and you dont have the long wait to be paid, plus it doesnt mess with show continuity and with an iPPV they can release the DVD immediately, whereas on PPV, you have to wait the two months or so until it airs, and then wait 30 days until you release the DVD. The decision was largely made some time back and this was really just fulfilling the final show of the contract.
Dragon Kid is out of action due to rib injuries.
Added to the 9/9 show in Indianapolis is Chuck Taylor & Johnny Gargano vs. Yamato & Masato Yoshino. Added to 9/11 in Milwaukee is AR Fox & Yamato vs. Sami Callihan & Arik Cannon.
The next U.S. tour after that will be 11/11 in Boston, 11/12 at B.B. Kings in New York and 11/13 in Philadelphia, which will include the return of BxB Hulk.
ALL JAPAN
They had a major show on 7/31 in Nagoya, drawing an announced 3,250 fans, for three championship matches. Suwama retained the Triple Crown as 23-year-old Seiya Sanada had the first title challenge of his career, until being pinned at 28:00 with the Last Ride power bomb. Sanada had gone to the finals as a surprise in the Champion Carnival tournament, losing to Yuji Nagata. Great Muta (who is now only working big shows) & Kenso (former WWE wrestler Kenzo Suzuki) retained the World tag team titles beating Taiyo Kea & Takao Omori in 16:17 when Kenso pinned Omori after a double kneedrop off the top rope. Kai retained the jr. title pinning former champion Minoru. Minoru had never lost the title, but was stripped of it because of his suspension in the incident where Yoshikazu Taru beat up Super Hate (Nobukazu Hirai) in the dressing room and Minoru was there and he and Kono and Mazada did nothing to stop it.
There have been no updates at all regarding the status of Hirai. Having checked with people in Japan, the last anyone has heard he was still in a coma and things were not looking good.
The company is said to be in really bad financial shape right now.
Osamu Nishimura, who hasnt wrestled since February to run for election to the Tokyo area assembly, which he won, will be working some dates this month.
A newcomer debuting on 8/17 is Lee Che Gyong, 22, from Kitami. Che Gyong placed fifth as a heavyweight in the All Japan weightlifting championships. Hes said to be 6-foot-3 and 265 pounds and the way they made a big deal about his debut indicates they have long-term plans for him.
They are doing an angle where Bushi is now going to feud with another wrestler claiming to be Bushi. The storyline is that Bushi is getting harassed in the mail in letters coming from Canada from someone claiming to be the real Bushi and hes coming to Japan. The new Bushi is going to be called Black Bushi and they have a singles match on 8/21 in Sapporo.
This groups annual junior heavyweight tournament will take place from 9/11 to 9/25. The participants will be announced at the 8/13 show at Korakuen Hall, but Kenny Omega is expected to be one of the outsiders.
Takumi Soya, the younger brother of Manabu Soya, a rookie with the group, returns on 8/13 after time off due to a broken jaw.
The title matches on the next tour are Kai defending the jr. title against former tag team partner Hiroshi Yamato on 8/13 at Korakuen Hall, and Manabu Soya & Seiya Sanada defending the All-Asian tag team titles against Kaz Hayashi & Shuji Kondo on 8/21 in Sapporo.
PRO WRESTLING NOAH
Kenta Kobashis second match back was announced for 8/6 at Differ Ariake, with Kobashi & Shuhei Taniguchi vs. Takashi Sugiura & Mohammed Yone on the company 11th anniversary show, which is headlined by Go Shiozaki vs. Jun Akiyama for the GHC heavyweight title.
Kotaro Suzuki & Atsushi Aoki won the annual NTV jr. heavyweight tag team tournament beating KENTA & Yoshinobu Kanemaru in the finals on 7/30 at Korakuen Hall before a sellout of 2,100 fans. The finish came at 30:03 when Aoki pinned Kanemaru with the assault point. The tournament came down to the 7/28 show in Nagaoka. Aoki & Suzuki had a 3-1 record and had already finished competition. Katsuhiko Nakajima & Satoshi Kajiwara, who were 2-1, were to face Delirious & Eddie Edwards of ROH. If Nakajima & Kajiwara won, they would go to the finals as the B block winner because they beat Suzuki & Aoki head-to-head. But that didnt happen, as Delirious pinned Kajiwara.
The A block came down to Kenoh & Kenmai, Taishi Takizawa & Zack Sabre Jr., and KENTA & Kanemaru. Kenoh & Kenmai lost to AAAs Jack Evans & Aero Star, to eliminate them. This meant the winner of KENTA & Kanemaru vs. Takizawa & Sabre Jr. would advance, and Kanemaru pinned Sabre Jr. in 20:20 after a brainbuster.
So the final standings were: A block--1. KENTA & Kanemaru 3-1; 2. Takizawa & Sabre Jr., Kenoh & Kenmai and Evans & Aero Star 2-2; 5. Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Osamu Namiguchi 1-3; B block1. Suzuki & Aoki 3-1; 2. Nakajima & Kajiwara, Edwards & Delirious and Atsushi Kotoge & Daisuke Harada 2-2; 5. Ricky & Rocky Marvin 1-3.
OTHER JAPAN NOTES
There was a major scandal in North Korean sports that came out a couple of weeks ago involving the government putting its athletes on anabolic steroids, which was linked to North Korean Sports Minister Pak Myong-choi, who is the son-in-law of Rikidozan. A North Korean defector claimed the Sports Science Research Institute operates two plants that produce steroids for national team athletes. This came after five members of the countrys womens soccer team tested positive for steroids. North Korean officials claimed the athletes took the steroids accidentally by using oriental medicine that contained steroid traces for recovery from injuries.
North Korean scientists were sent to East Germany in the late 80s before the iron curtain fell to learn about steroid use for athletes, and in particular, what drugs and how to use them to beat testing, which evidently improved since they just caught five members of the same team. Dating back to the 70s, East German athletes were put on regimented steroids, both men and women, and the small country became an Olympic powerhouse. But in following the athletes from that era, they encountered terrible health issues later in life. It was noted dating back to 1991, when North and South Korea sent a joint Korean team to the World Youth Soccer championship, the North Korean players were using steroids and the North Korean sports delegation head Ri Myung-song offered performance enhancing drugs to the South Korean team members. They said dating back to the 70s, the armed forces in North Korea began producing steroids at an army hospital for soldiers.
There was a popular youtube video this past week of Kenny Omega facing 9-year-old Haruka in a three minute exhibition match from the 7/24 show of the Stardom promotion, one of the numerous womens groupa. Omega bumped around for her moves to make her look good. I dont know if its good or bad to have someone at that age trained so well in pro wrestling, because she may physically burn out young like some of the youth phenoms in other sports, but as far as actually being able to perform in the ring, she blows away most of the full-time women in the U.S. Right now shes doing three-minute exhibition matches against veteran male wrestlers on the big shows.
Daichi Hashimoto of Zero-One was a guest at a major league game in Japan between the Yakult Swallows (Tokyo) vs. Toyo Carp (Hiroshima) and after throwing a pitch, which was wild, he proceeded to give one of the mascots a shining wizard.
ROH
The updated lineup for the first TV tapings for the new syndicated show on 8/13 in Chicago Ridge, IL, has announced Davey Richards vs. Roderick Strong for the ROH title, Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas vs. Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli for the tag titles, El Generico vs. Jay Lethal for the TV title, Briscoes vs. All Night Express and Eddie Edwards vs. Michael Elgin. Theyll be taping three weeks worth of television which starts airing on 9/24.
They will be doing an iPPV before TV starts running, on 9/17 from the Manhattan Center in New York. This will be the next to last iPPV of the year, before Final Battle in December.
El Pescado
Member
Murphy's real name is Michael Cole?! I'm surprised TNA isn't making him use that name. LOL
Edit: Damn it, Spin!
Edit: Damn it, Spin!
WWE
*Plywood note: I took out the 7/29 Smackdown notes, because we all saw Smackdown.
It is now official that Sin Cara will be brought back, probably in two weeks or so.
On the case with Maryse Oullet and stalker Lee Silber, Los Angeles Superior Court ruled in favor of Oullet and granted a protection order banning Silber from coming within 300 yards of Oullet at any time over the next three years. Miz, who is Oullets boyfriend, accompanied her to court.
Regarding Miz, he appeared on the George Lopez Show on TBS on 7/27 and tore it up. The audience reacted to him like a real superstar, but as a babyface. He can get on shows that others cant because he was a reality show star, but when it comes to that kind of a show, there is nobody in the company that can touch him when it comes to performing in front of that kind of an audience. He ended up dancing with some woman out of the crowd out of nowhere after he brought up being offered a spot on Dancing with the Stars. The dance segment with the women taking the bump in the audience sure seemed worked to me when watching it live, and even more so when seeing the replay of the bump on Raw. Stuff on shows like that which come across as spontaneous rarely are.
The next list DVD is Top 50 Incidents in WWE history which comes out in August. They are also doing a second ladder match compilation in October. The Bret Hart/Shawn Michaels DVD is set for a 10/25 release.
WWE shipped 421,000 DVD units in June in total, which is a big month. That doesnt mean they all sold. The biggest when it comes to units shipped of the last several months are the John Cena Experience (184,000), WrestleMania 27 (203,000), The 50 Greatest Superstars of All-Time (121,000), History of WrestleMania (116,000), DX: One Last Stand (111,000), Best of WCW Nitro (96,000) and Best of Raw 2010 (96,000).
The web site in June had 10.8 million unique visitors, which is the lowest month in years. Thats coming off April having 16.7 million and May having 13.3 million. Im really surprised because the Punk angle hit on 6/27, but that may have been too late. I expect July numbers to be way up. June was also a bad month for merchandise sales on the web, as the company averaged 533 orders per day in June as compared with 839 in May and 733 in April.
Ross in his acceptance speech in getting the Lou Thesz award for lifetime service to wrestling for the Thesz/Tragos Hall of Fame in Waterloo, IA, talked about the Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar wrestling match backstage in Fargo, ND when both were in WWE. That has become one of those urban legend stories since Angle has always claimed he won, exaggerated into pinning him multiple times, while Lesnar claimed he won. The general consensus was that it was very competitive but it was amazing with the size difference how Angle was able to hold his own, and perhaps outpoint Lesnar. Ross, who watched it, said that he didnt know who won, and said that Vince McMahon nearly fired him when he found out that the incident happened and Ross not only didnt stop it, but watched it as a spectator.
I am not so sure that Kurt Angle could have taken Brock Lesnar on that day. There was a disparity of weight, youth, but heres what I do know. Heres what I do know about that day in South Dakota. My Oklahoma ass came within this close of getting fired that day for allowing that to happen by the Chairman or the Board. "How could you be that stupid to facilitate two or our top stars getting into a real wrestling match at a pro wrestling event with nobody there to buy a ticket, the guys around the ring, how can you be that stupid?
He said in that case, McMahon was right. He also told a funny Danny Hodge story. There was a show where Hodge worked the semi and Watts, the booker, worked the main event. Now Watts was a hell of a talker, but in the ring, he was not close to the wrestler Hodge was. So Hodge worked a long match and Watts knew he couldnt follow it, and read Hodge the riot act.
Hodge, to get back at Watts, used his superhuman grip strength to turn all the hot water faucets off so tight that nobody, not Watts or anyone, could turn them back on, forcing Watts to take an ice cold shower after his match. Ross put over Gerald Brisco for helping him sign both Lesnar and Angle, and said he and Brisco were both impressed by the charisma of Ben Askren and would have been interested in signing him, but did bring up Askrens size would have been an issue.
Ross has given up on selling his sauces and beef jerky through his web site and has instead cut a deal with the WWE site to be the exclusive on-line distributor of his products.
Ross clearly was not happy with his first full show on Raw since the 2008 draft, writing, Thanks to all that tuned into Raw tonight. Sorry that I let the bickering get the better of me a time or two. Ill be back next week in San Jose. He also said that they needed time to jell. He also noted on his web site that he and Austin were going to Connecticut next week to do voiceovers for a few matches where they would do modern commentary looking back at three of what Austin considered the best matches of his career.
Michael Tarver on twitter wrote this story: I went from sleeping in a car to being on 2 Wrestlemanias. Fun fact there. So this guy has a dream job but (illegible) meets his dream girl (illegible) on his dream job. He was to be away from his kids so he makes it work while spending three years trying to get his daughter to Tampa to live away from addict mother. Now during this dream job he fights, trains, shows crazy potential on the mic, regarded as one of the best ever in developmental.
So he moves on to NXT and Raw where he is buried on TV, treated like trash backstage to the point where a certain top superstar takes notice of this. Guy building steam with his promos backstage and begins to feel threatened so one night on a PPV, the champ purposely fractures this personss arm with a chair and after the match, backstage, laughs in his face about it and walks off. You know, Im talking about you just cant see him. Anyway, he takes out threats to his throne backstage to the point where (illegible) get released from their dream job. Later he wrote, John Cena is a superstar and a workhorse for WWE, just not a very good person.
Speaking of Cena, just to show what a great job WWE has done since 1984 of trying to change the name of the genre from pro wrestling to sports entertainer, in looking at searches for Cena (the biggest star in pro wrestling over the past few years, and the face of WWE, the company trying to claim their performers are not pro wrestlers but sports entertainers), the comparison doesnt even register. In other words, to the public, for every search of John Cena as a sports entertainer, there are more than 100 searches for John Cena as a pro wrestler. Theyve been pushing this for nearly three decades on television and those figures are consistent both worldwide and in the U.S. At this rate, maybe in another 100,000 years of pushing this on television, they may get the name changed.
I wonder if Vince McMahon in his life has ever tried to push something so hard and in his own mind was getting somewhere but in the real world its almost absolute zero how many people have cared. Well, except the WBF PPV show. Heres an even scarier one. For the term WWE, when it comes to wrestling vs. sports entertainment, WWE is linked in searches more than 10,000 times more with the term wrestling than with the term entertainment, in the last eight years, and more than 1 million times (yes, no shit) than the term sports entertainment. In fact, if you look at what most people consider sports entertainment, it has to do with companies like the Maloofs (Sacramento Kings) or the Vancouver Canucks, Toronto Maple Leafs or Silicon Valley (San Jose Sharks), all of whom have parents company with the term sports entertainment or sports and entertainment in the company title, and not WWE.
That speaks to just how preposterous WWE talent interviews both on TV and in the media area where they have to use the term sports entertainer and how it always sounds fake and the speech always sounds contrived when those terms are used, because it comes across as fake rehearsed and scripted because NOBODY in the public uses those terms for the product. That also speaks volumes for how stuck in a cocoon the company is on certain subjects, this being one of them and why people say they are losing touch with the adult members of their fan base. Every time a wrestler uses the term sports entertainment and sports entertainer whether it be on television, in a promo, there is a little signal in the back of the mind of the viewer saying, hes a programmed pussy robot talking in words hed never use in real life because no human being in real life speaks like that. Hes not speaking for himself or speaking himself but hes speaking to kiss his boss ass, people can see that, and if youre a babyface nobody over the age of 18 respects you for it. A heel can get away with it because a corporate kiss ass is a heel characteristic in real life.
Although this has been written about before, the Courier-Mail in Brisbane, Australia did a story about banned terms. Now, it should be noted that this is the list that talent has been told and that overseas announcers have been told. For whatever reason, as best as we know, announcers like Cole, Lawler, Ross and the like have never been told this, I guess with the idea that they would already know. Words that are not allowed are wrestling, catch (which is European term for wrestling dating back to the 1800's Catch-as-catch-can terminology), sport, wrestlers, athletes or sportsmen. Instead of using the word sport, the term should be entertainment or action soap opera. Instead of athletes, you are supposed to use the term Entertainers with tremendous athletic prowess. The story came because WWE P.R. on the last tour of Australia gave the media the list of correct and incorrect terminology.
A new Shawn Michaels autobiography is scheduled for a December release. The book is tentatively titled, Diary of the Heartbreak Kid, and will be released as an Ebook.
The annual WWE 7/11 summer promotion will take place this entire month. Apparently Punk got passed over for the collectible cups again, as the names on the cups this year are Cena, Rock, Miz, Austin, Mysterio, Orton, Michaels and Piper. Pretty telling that in 2011, four of the eight cups are for wrestlers who rarely appear on television.
Referee Charles Lil Naitch Robinson, 47, married girlfriend Amy Charles (thank God he didnt take her last name) on 7/30 in Las Vegas. Almost nobody from the company attended since both crews were on the orad. It was his second marriage. His first wife, also named Amy, passed away in 2002 from lung cancer. Robinson, John Laurinaitis, Arn Anderson and Booker T are among the few people in WWE who remain in coming from WCW. Robinson during most of his WWE tenure was one of the few people on the roster who didnt drink, which is unique since Robinson idolized Ric Flair both growing up and after he got into the business. Robinson, after the death of his wife, at one time dated Nora Greenwald (Molly Holly).
Jeremiah Riggs of Tough Enough, getting question after question about going to WWE wrote, Im not going to the WWE. They say Im average and have a bad attitude. The word I was given on him is that he was really green, which youre going to be given he never had a match when he showed up there and had only a short amount of training under Dutch Mantel. But they felt even though he had a body that looked good on television during the show, that for WWE, he was too small. He just had a tryout in Florida and they decided not to offer him a developmental contract, which to me is kind of hilarious because Im not saying hell be a star or even make it, but if they are that blinded that they cant see at least a glimmer of natural charisma and promo ability and that the guy isnt worth a chance, it seriously blows my mind.
He walked out on Raw on the last show on 6/6 before the crowd and for no reason, he was the one who the people popped for more than 40% of the wrestlers on the roster and everyone on that show except the two finalists, and more spontaneously than either of the two finalists. He did an interview with the MMA site Around the Octagon, (Riggs before doing the show was an MMA fighter who had done undercard fights for Strikeforce and Bellator and had trained with Matt Hughes and Frank Shamrock), and said:
Two weeks ago, I was invited to go to Tampa to tryout for FCW and from what they gathered, they loved my personality but said I was only average in the ring and said I have a bad attitude and carried myself like I had something to prove. I told them if Im average, Im doing pretty damn good considering I had only done this for two months. If I can get to average in several weeks, imagine what I can do in a few months. And of course, Im eager to prove myself. I was surrounded by guys who had done this for several years and they were all wondering who this new rookie was.
I had to show them I belonged. If Im average, the pecking order starts behind me. Compared to me, none of those guys are as cut up as me. My physique puts them to shame. Maybe I do have a bad attitude. I dont give a fuck.
I went on their TV show and ran circles around everybody, with no experience. Andy wasnt the star of the show. I was. Hell, I won challenges they didnt even show on TV. I got all the camera time and I got the biggest reaction when I was on Raw.
You know why? Its because Im me. Im not a clone or a sell out. People recognize me. Thats why C.M. Punk is so hot right now. He is his character.
Hes just being himself. But I do it and I have a bad attitude. John Morrison was there at FCW and he walked up to me and shook my hand and told me that he thought I won the show. Just about all the guys said that. Ted DiBiase told me I won it, too.
His dad, the Million Dollar Man, asked me why I wasnt on TV. John Cena even tweeted me saying he thought I won. The third day I was there, I was doing promos and the only direction I got was to have fun with it and they would send it to Vince for him to see. One guy did a promo about having sex with a goat. One of the girls was really nasty with hers.
So I went out there with all guns blazing. I cussed on my first one and said I wish Vince McMahon wouldve slapped me because I wouldve kicked him in the nuts. They pulled me aside and said I couldnt cuss. So, on my next one, I decided to really have fun with it. I didnt cuss, but I did a promo about how I couldnt cuss and counted on my hands how many words I wasnt allowed to say as I said them to myself, then threw the mic over my shoulder and laughed as I walked off.
I thought it was hilarious. All the boys did, too. Just about everyone there told me they had never seen anything like that. I was doing crazy C.M. Punk stuff before he made it cool. After that, I got called to the back and Dusty Rhodes jumped on me and told me I couldnt do that and chewed me out.
He went to walk away and I told him to get back over here because I wasnt done talking to him. He walked back over and I thought he was going to piss in his pants because he was acting so nervous. I told him that I would do whatever they wanted me to do, but no one said I couldnt cuss or throw the mic. I was just having fun with it and being me. I think it kind of threw him off because no one there stood up for themselves.
I wasnt going to let anyone walk all over me. I said what I had to say and we were cool. A lot of he boys thought I got sent home and were surprised when I came back the following day. They were even more surprised when Dusty went out of his way to walk over to me and shake my hand. Im going to stand up for myself and I thin they are afraid of that. 90% of those guys are vanilla.
They are all the same. Long hair, pony tail, boring as can be. The day I left Tampa, I shaved my head because I didnt want to be anything like them. Im not going to be a clone. All of their promos sounded the same.
They are boring and play it safe. People are afraid of the truth. What do they want in a superstar? The WWE has a shitty developmental roster. No one stands out.
They are all scared of failure and half of them have been there for years. They are all the same and do the same stuff. Sure, they have a few guys with potential but they are all clones. But Im not going to be just like everybody else. What are they going to do, send me home? You cant scare someone who aint afraid.
Johnny Curtis told me a lot of the boys didnt like me because I was doing the stuff they wish they could do but were too afraid because they were all kissing ass to get ahead. The day I got there they pulled me in the office and asked me what I wanted out of the business, and I told them, I wanted to make money. I told them I dont have to be in the WWE to be happy. I told them I wasnt going to kiss their ass and tell them its been my lifelong dream because it wasnt. I want to make money to support my family and give them the life they deserve.
I told them I wasnt here to be at the bottom of the card and make hillbilly money. I would like to pursue pro wrestling because I showed in the short time I was on the show that I could be very good at it. Its all politics at FCW. People are real phony there including the trainers. Me and Bill (DeMott) were cool on the show. I heard he got a job as a scout for the WWE and I was glad to hear he was doing good for himself.
He deserves it after so long in the business. When I was in Tampa doing my match with Orlov (former AAA wrestler Alex Koslov), Bill was praising me and talking about how good I was doing. I was doing stuff that Luke and Andy couldnt do, on the first try. But when I walked into FCW a few weeks ago, he acted like he was too cool to talk to me. Hes a changed man. He think he is somebody because he was the big man on the show.
I guess Hollywood went to his head. Sure, he had a mediocre wrestling career and found new life on Tough Enough. I dont give a shit. Ill whoop his fat ass. Hes no better than me.
If I was to shoot on him, who is going to stop me? Andy sure as hell aint. Ive rolled with some badass heavyweights like Jon Madsen and Scott Barrett. Seriously, what is Bill DeMott going to do to me? All he could do is write another chapter in his sorry book about how he got run over by Big Rigg when he gets his arm out of the cast.
I lost all respect for Bill. If he only knew what the boys say about his fat lazy ass he wouldnt even come to work. Hell, Andy, the dude that won the WWE contract is a big pussy too. Hes still in FCW. Hell be in FCW the rest of his life. He had a developmental contract with WWE before the damn show aired.
Hes boring and a big fucking baby. He cried the whole time we were doing the show about his wife and his kid. He did it all for pity. I got a little boy at home, but you got to make sacrifices if you want to make something of yourself.
I thought about my little boy the whole time we were shooting but I didnt whine about it. I used it as fuel. I wanted the best for him, so I had to step it up and show them I belonged. Earlier this year, my mom had heart surgery. My dad is deployed right now and is overseas.
So Im supposed to take care of things on the farm. Her surgery was actually the week before my last fight. I shouldve backed out and stayed at home but thats not how I do things. I drove to Nashville, trained a few days before the fight when I shouldve had an eight week camp and still got the win. I fought on January 29th in Nashville and February 2nd the people from Tough Enough were at my house in Vicksburg filming behind the scenes stuff.
Two days later I was flying to Los Angeles for five weeks. He did praise Cena, HHH, Miz, DiBiase, Tom Prichard, Ricky Steamboat, Dusty Rhodes, Steve Austin and Booker T. He also claimed Seth Rollins (Tyler Black) was talking about how he almost kicked his ass, but he confronted him and Rollins backed down.
Eve Torres told the Peoria Star that the women have it much harder than the men, noting they arent given enough time to get their matches or angles over on television.
NBCs live musical video coverage of WrestleMania that airs on 8/13, the night before SummerSlam, with new footage from Cena, Rock and others talking about the show, will be preempted in the New York market for the New York Giants vs. Carolina Panthers preseason football game.
The next movie release, called Inside Out, will be released in a few theaters on 9/9 prior to a DVD release in October. HHH stars in the movie as a convicted felon who gets out (didnt he just do that same character? This time hes more sympathetic because he was in for killing his stepfather who would always abuse his mother). Like last time, he also wants to go straight but the bad guys force his hand. Instead of messing with his daughter, the bad guys mess with his best friend and family. This was filmed last year and Batista was supposed to star in it, but they pulled it from Batista because he hadnt signed a new contract, and when they pulled it from him, he wasnt happy. He had already given notice he was leaving the company long before he was pulled from the movie.
Shawn Michaels and his TV crew are in Africa this week filming an episode of MacMillan River Adventures.
Kim probably didnt do herself any political favors, but based on what shes been writing, she probably doesnt care, when she called attention on Twitter to sneaking out of the ring and eliminating herself in the Divas Battle Royal on Raw on 8/1. She rolled out of the ring and went to the back. She said nobody backstage even noticed she did it and nobody spoke to her about it. I wasnt being a mark for myself. I was being a good employee. When youre told to get out of the ring in less than a minute, I just did it the fastest way possible so really I saved some time.
*Plywood note: I took out the 7/29 Smackdown notes, because we all saw Smackdown.
It is now official that Sin Cara will be brought back, probably in two weeks or so.
On the case with Maryse Oullet and stalker Lee Silber, Los Angeles Superior Court ruled in favor of Oullet and granted a protection order banning Silber from coming within 300 yards of Oullet at any time over the next three years. Miz, who is Oullets boyfriend, accompanied her to court.
Regarding Miz, he appeared on the George Lopez Show on TBS on 7/27 and tore it up. The audience reacted to him like a real superstar, but as a babyface. He can get on shows that others cant because he was a reality show star, but when it comes to that kind of a show, there is nobody in the company that can touch him when it comes to performing in front of that kind of an audience. He ended up dancing with some woman out of the crowd out of nowhere after he brought up being offered a spot on Dancing with the Stars. The dance segment with the women taking the bump in the audience sure seemed worked to me when watching it live, and even more so when seeing the replay of the bump on Raw. Stuff on shows like that which come across as spontaneous rarely are.
The next list DVD is Top 50 Incidents in WWE history which comes out in August. They are also doing a second ladder match compilation in October. The Bret Hart/Shawn Michaels DVD is set for a 10/25 release.
WWE shipped 421,000 DVD units in June in total, which is a big month. That doesnt mean they all sold. The biggest when it comes to units shipped of the last several months are the John Cena Experience (184,000), WrestleMania 27 (203,000), The 50 Greatest Superstars of All-Time (121,000), History of WrestleMania (116,000), DX: One Last Stand (111,000), Best of WCW Nitro (96,000) and Best of Raw 2010 (96,000).
The web site in June had 10.8 million unique visitors, which is the lowest month in years. Thats coming off April having 16.7 million and May having 13.3 million. Im really surprised because the Punk angle hit on 6/27, but that may have been too late. I expect July numbers to be way up. June was also a bad month for merchandise sales on the web, as the company averaged 533 orders per day in June as compared with 839 in May and 733 in April.
Ross in his acceptance speech in getting the Lou Thesz award for lifetime service to wrestling for the Thesz/Tragos Hall of Fame in Waterloo, IA, talked about the Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar wrestling match backstage in Fargo, ND when both were in WWE. That has become one of those urban legend stories since Angle has always claimed he won, exaggerated into pinning him multiple times, while Lesnar claimed he won. The general consensus was that it was very competitive but it was amazing with the size difference how Angle was able to hold his own, and perhaps outpoint Lesnar. Ross, who watched it, said that he didnt know who won, and said that Vince McMahon nearly fired him when he found out that the incident happened and Ross not only didnt stop it, but watched it as a spectator.
I am not so sure that Kurt Angle could have taken Brock Lesnar on that day. There was a disparity of weight, youth, but heres what I do know. Heres what I do know about that day in South Dakota. My Oklahoma ass came within this close of getting fired that day for allowing that to happen by the Chairman or the Board. "How could you be that stupid to facilitate two or our top stars getting into a real wrestling match at a pro wrestling event with nobody there to buy a ticket, the guys around the ring, how can you be that stupid?
He said in that case, McMahon was right. He also told a funny Danny Hodge story. There was a show where Hodge worked the semi and Watts, the booker, worked the main event. Now Watts was a hell of a talker, but in the ring, he was not close to the wrestler Hodge was. So Hodge worked a long match and Watts knew he couldnt follow it, and read Hodge the riot act.
Hodge, to get back at Watts, used his superhuman grip strength to turn all the hot water faucets off so tight that nobody, not Watts or anyone, could turn them back on, forcing Watts to take an ice cold shower after his match. Ross put over Gerald Brisco for helping him sign both Lesnar and Angle, and said he and Brisco were both impressed by the charisma of Ben Askren and would have been interested in signing him, but did bring up Askrens size would have been an issue.
Ross has given up on selling his sauces and beef jerky through his web site and has instead cut a deal with the WWE site to be the exclusive on-line distributor of his products.
Ross clearly was not happy with his first full show on Raw since the 2008 draft, writing, Thanks to all that tuned into Raw tonight. Sorry that I let the bickering get the better of me a time or two. Ill be back next week in San Jose. He also said that they needed time to jell. He also noted on his web site that he and Austin were going to Connecticut next week to do voiceovers for a few matches where they would do modern commentary looking back at three of what Austin considered the best matches of his career.
Michael Tarver on twitter wrote this story: I went from sleeping in a car to being on 2 Wrestlemanias. Fun fact there. So this guy has a dream job but (illegible) meets his dream girl (illegible) on his dream job. He was to be away from his kids so he makes it work while spending three years trying to get his daughter to Tampa to live away from addict mother. Now during this dream job he fights, trains, shows crazy potential on the mic, regarded as one of the best ever in developmental.
So he moves on to NXT and Raw where he is buried on TV, treated like trash backstage to the point where a certain top superstar takes notice of this. Guy building steam with his promos backstage and begins to feel threatened so one night on a PPV, the champ purposely fractures this personss arm with a chair and after the match, backstage, laughs in his face about it and walks off. You know, Im talking about you just cant see him. Anyway, he takes out threats to his throne backstage to the point where (illegible) get released from their dream job. Later he wrote, John Cena is a superstar and a workhorse for WWE, just not a very good person.
Speaking of Cena, just to show what a great job WWE has done since 1984 of trying to change the name of the genre from pro wrestling to sports entertainer, in looking at searches for Cena (the biggest star in pro wrestling over the past few years, and the face of WWE, the company trying to claim their performers are not pro wrestlers but sports entertainers), the comparison doesnt even register. In other words, to the public, for every search of John Cena as a sports entertainer, there are more than 100 searches for John Cena as a pro wrestler. Theyve been pushing this for nearly three decades on television and those figures are consistent both worldwide and in the U.S. At this rate, maybe in another 100,000 years of pushing this on television, they may get the name changed.
I wonder if Vince McMahon in his life has ever tried to push something so hard and in his own mind was getting somewhere but in the real world its almost absolute zero how many people have cared. Well, except the WBF PPV show. Heres an even scarier one. For the term WWE, when it comes to wrestling vs. sports entertainment, WWE is linked in searches more than 10,000 times more with the term wrestling than with the term entertainment, in the last eight years, and more than 1 million times (yes, no shit) than the term sports entertainment. In fact, if you look at what most people consider sports entertainment, it has to do with companies like the Maloofs (Sacramento Kings) or the Vancouver Canucks, Toronto Maple Leafs or Silicon Valley (San Jose Sharks), all of whom have parents company with the term sports entertainment or sports and entertainment in the company title, and not WWE.
That speaks to just how preposterous WWE talent interviews both on TV and in the media area where they have to use the term sports entertainer and how it always sounds fake and the speech always sounds contrived when those terms are used, because it comes across as fake rehearsed and scripted because NOBODY in the public uses those terms for the product. That also speaks volumes for how stuck in a cocoon the company is on certain subjects, this being one of them and why people say they are losing touch with the adult members of their fan base. Every time a wrestler uses the term sports entertainment and sports entertainer whether it be on television, in a promo, there is a little signal in the back of the mind of the viewer saying, hes a programmed pussy robot talking in words hed never use in real life because no human being in real life speaks like that. Hes not speaking for himself or speaking himself but hes speaking to kiss his boss ass, people can see that, and if youre a babyface nobody over the age of 18 respects you for it. A heel can get away with it because a corporate kiss ass is a heel characteristic in real life.
Although this has been written about before, the Courier-Mail in Brisbane, Australia did a story about banned terms. Now, it should be noted that this is the list that talent has been told and that overseas announcers have been told. For whatever reason, as best as we know, announcers like Cole, Lawler, Ross and the like have never been told this, I guess with the idea that they would already know. Words that are not allowed are wrestling, catch (which is European term for wrestling dating back to the 1800's Catch-as-catch-can terminology), sport, wrestlers, athletes or sportsmen. Instead of using the word sport, the term should be entertainment or action soap opera. Instead of athletes, you are supposed to use the term Entertainers with tremendous athletic prowess. The story came because WWE P.R. on the last tour of Australia gave the media the list of correct and incorrect terminology.
A new Shawn Michaels autobiography is scheduled for a December release. The book is tentatively titled, Diary of the Heartbreak Kid, and will be released as an Ebook.
The annual WWE 7/11 summer promotion will take place this entire month. Apparently Punk got passed over for the collectible cups again, as the names on the cups this year are Cena, Rock, Miz, Austin, Mysterio, Orton, Michaels and Piper. Pretty telling that in 2011, four of the eight cups are for wrestlers who rarely appear on television.
Referee Charles Lil Naitch Robinson, 47, married girlfriend Amy Charles (thank God he didnt take her last name) on 7/30 in Las Vegas. Almost nobody from the company attended since both crews were on the orad. It was his second marriage. His first wife, also named Amy, passed away in 2002 from lung cancer. Robinson, John Laurinaitis, Arn Anderson and Booker T are among the few people in WWE who remain in coming from WCW. Robinson during most of his WWE tenure was one of the few people on the roster who didnt drink, which is unique since Robinson idolized Ric Flair both growing up and after he got into the business. Robinson, after the death of his wife, at one time dated Nora Greenwald (Molly Holly).
Jeremiah Riggs of Tough Enough, getting question after question about going to WWE wrote, Im not going to the WWE. They say Im average and have a bad attitude. The word I was given on him is that he was really green, which youre going to be given he never had a match when he showed up there and had only a short amount of training under Dutch Mantel. But they felt even though he had a body that looked good on television during the show, that for WWE, he was too small. He just had a tryout in Florida and they decided not to offer him a developmental contract, which to me is kind of hilarious because Im not saying hell be a star or even make it, but if they are that blinded that they cant see at least a glimmer of natural charisma and promo ability and that the guy isnt worth a chance, it seriously blows my mind.
He walked out on Raw on the last show on 6/6 before the crowd and for no reason, he was the one who the people popped for more than 40% of the wrestlers on the roster and everyone on that show except the two finalists, and more spontaneously than either of the two finalists. He did an interview with the MMA site Around the Octagon, (Riggs before doing the show was an MMA fighter who had done undercard fights for Strikeforce and Bellator and had trained with Matt Hughes and Frank Shamrock), and said:
Two weeks ago, I was invited to go to Tampa to tryout for FCW and from what they gathered, they loved my personality but said I was only average in the ring and said I have a bad attitude and carried myself like I had something to prove. I told them if Im average, Im doing pretty damn good considering I had only done this for two months. If I can get to average in several weeks, imagine what I can do in a few months. And of course, Im eager to prove myself. I was surrounded by guys who had done this for several years and they were all wondering who this new rookie was.
I had to show them I belonged. If Im average, the pecking order starts behind me. Compared to me, none of those guys are as cut up as me. My physique puts them to shame. Maybe I do have a bad attitude. I dont give a fuck.
I went on their TV show and ran circles around everybody, with no experience. Andy wasnt the star of the show. I was. Hell, I won challenges they didnt even show on TV. I got all the camera time and I got the biggest reaction when I was on Raw.
You know why? Its because Im me. Im not a clone or a sell out. People recognize me. Thats why C.M. Punk is so hot right now. He is his character.
Hes just being himself. But I do it and I have a bad attitude. John Morrison was there at FCW and he walked up to me and shook my hand and told me that he thought I won the show. Just about all the guys said that. Ted DiBiase told me I won it, too.
His dad, the Million Dollar Man, asked me why I wasnt on TV. John Cena even tweeted me saying he thought I won. The third day I was there, I was doing promos and the only direction I got was to have fun with it and they would send it to Vince for him to see. One guy did a promo about having sex with a goat. One of the girls was really nasty with hers.
So I went out there with all guns blazing. I cussed on my first one and said I wish Vince McMahon wouldve slapped me because I wouldve kicked him in the nuts. They pulled me aside and said I couldnt cuss. So, on my next one, I decided to really have fun with it. I didnt cuss, but I did a promo about how I couldnt cuss and counted on my hands how many words I wasnt allowed to say as I said them to myself, then threw the mic over my shoulder and laughed as I walked off.
I thought it was hilarious. All the boys did, too. Just about everyone there told me they had never seen anything like that. I was doing crazy C.M. Punk stuff before he made it cool. After that, I got called to the back and Dusty Rhodes jumped on me and told me I couldnt do that and chewed me out.
He went to walk away and I told him to get back over here because I wasnt done talking to him. He walked back over and I thought he was going to piss in his pants because he was acting so nervous. I told him that I would do whatever they wanted me to do, but no one said I couldnt cuss or throw the mic. I was just having fun with it and being me. I think it kind of threw him off because no one there stood up for themselves.
I wasnt going to let anyone walk all over me. I said what I had to say and we were cool. A lot of he boys thought I got sent home and were surprised when I came back the following day. They were even more surprised when Dusty went out of his way to walk over to me and shake my hand. Im going to stand up for myself and I thin they are afraid of that. 90% of those guys are vanilla.
They are all the same. Long hair, pony tail, boring as can be. The day I left Tampa, I shaved my head because I didnt want to be anything like them. Im not going to be a clone. All of their promos sounded the same.
They are boring and play it safe. People are afraid of the truth. What do they want in a superstar? The WWE has a shitty developmental roster. No one stands out.
They are all scared of failure and half of them have been there for years. They are all the same and do the same stuff. Sure, they have a few guys with potential but they are all clones. But Im not going to be just like everybody else. What are they going to do, send me home? You cant scare someone who aint afraid.
Johnny Curtis told me a lot of the boys didnt like me because I was doing the stuff they wish they could do but were too afraid because they were all kissing ass to get ahead. The day I got there they pulled me in the office and asked me what I wanted out of the business, and I told them, I wanted to make money. I told them I dont have to be in the WWE to be happy. I told them I wasnt going to kiss their ass and tell them its been my lifelong dream because it wasnt. I want to make money to support my family and give them the life they deserve.
I told them I wasnt here to be at the bottom of the card and make hillbilly money. I would like to pursue pro wrestling because I showed in the short time I was on the show that I could be very good at it. Its all politics at FCW. People are real phony there including the trainers. Me and Bill (DeMott) were cool on the show. I heard he got a job as a scout for the WWE and I was glad to hear he was doing good for himself.
He deserves it after so long in the business. When I was in Tampa doing my match with Orlov (former AAA wrestler Alex Koslov), Bill was praising me and talking about how good I was doing. I was doing stuff that Luke and Andy couldnt do, on the first try. But when I walked into FCW a few weeks ago, he acted like he was too cool to talk to me. Hes a changed man. He think he is somebody because he was the big man on the show.
I guess Hollywood went to his head. Sure, he had a mediocre wrestling career and found new life on Tough Enough. I dont give a shit. Ill whoop his fat ass. Hes no better than me.
If I was to shoot on him, who is going to stop me? Andy sure as hell aint. Ive rolled with some badass heavyweights like Jon Madsen and Scott Barrett. Seriously, what is Bill DeMott going to do to me? All he could do is write another chapter in his sorry book about how he got run over by Big Rigg when he gets his arm out of the cast.
I lost all respect for Bill. If he only knew what the boys say about his fat lazy ass he wouldnt even come to work. Hell, Andy, the dude that won the WWE contract is a big pussy too. Hes still in FCW. Hell be in FCW the rest of his life. He had a developmental contract with WWE before the damn show aired.
Hes boring and a big fucking baby. He cried the whole time we were doing the show about his wife and his kid. He did it all for pity. I got a little boy at home, but you got to make sacrifices if you want to make something of yourself.
I thought about my little boy the whole time we were shooting but I didnt whine about it. I used it as fuel. I wanted the best for him, so I had to step it up and show them I belonged. Earlier this year, my mom had heart surgery. My dad is deployed right now and is overseas.
So Im supposed to take care of things on the farm. Her surgery was actually the week before my last fight. I shouldve backed out and stayed at home but thats not how I do things. I drove to Nashville, trained a few days before the fight when I shouldve had an eight week camp and still got the win. I fought on January 29th in Nashville and February 2nd the people from Tough Enough were at my house in Vicksburg filming behind the scenes stuff.
Two days later I was flying to Los Angeles for five weeks. He did praise Cena, HHH, Miz, DiBiase, Tom Prichard, Ricky Steamboat, Dusty Rhodes, Steve Austin and Booker T. He also claimed Seth Rollins (Tyler Black) was talking about how he almost kicked his ass, but he confronted him and Rollins backed down.
Eve Torres told the Peoria Star that the women have it much harder than the men, noting they arent given enough time to get their matches or angles over on television.
NBCs live musical video coverage of WrestleMania that airs on 8/13, the night before SummerSlam, with new footage from Cena, Rock and others talking about the show, will be preempted in the New York market for the New York Giants vs. Carolina Panthers preseason football game.
The next movie release, called Inside Out, will be released in a few theaters on 9/9 prior to a DVD release in October. HHH stars in the movie as a convicted felon who gets out (didnt he just do that same character? This time hes more sympathetic because he was in for killing his stepfather who would always abuse his mother). Like last time, he also wants to go straight but the bad guys force his hand. Instead of messing with his daughter, the bad guys mess with his best friend and family. This was filmed last year and Batista was supposed to star in it, but they pulled it from Batista because he hadnt signed a new contract, and when they pulled it from him, he wasnt happy. He had already given notice he was leaving the company long before he was pulled from the movie.
Shawn Michaels and his TV crew are in Africa this week filming an episode of MacMillan River Adventures.
Kim probably didnt do herself any political favors, but based on what shes been writing, she probably doesnt care, when she called attention on Twitter to sneaking out of the ring and eliminating herself in the Divas Battle Royal on Raw on 8/1. She rolled out of the ring and went to the back. She said nobody backstage even noticed she did it and nobody spoke to her about it. I wasnt being a mark for myself. I was being a good employee. When youre told to get out of the ring in less than a minute, I just did it the fastest way possible so really I saved some time.
Chauncy Talon
Member
RVD held the TV title for 1 year and 9 months before he broke his leg in the match against Rhyno. Almost 2 years and you haven't drop the belt yet. He was giving the title for the long just to keep him from not going anywhere. I'm really shocked that he didn't go back to WCW. He might not be a jobber on his second run.
El Pescado
Member
This is the best GIF ever. I could watch it for hours.Professor Beef said:
MetalFearSolid
Banned
Professor Beef said:Spin: Joker Sting is awesome, let's all watch TNA!
GAF: Alright, why not.
*nothing funny happens*
DAMMIT SPIN
TNA always fails to repeat after it has successful momentum.
NihonTiger90
Member
Net_Wrecker
Member
evil ways said:
Yo.
I got this.
spindashing
Banned
Uh oh
If you'll excuse me...
If you'll excuse me...
Shadowlink
Member
What's wrong with you all?
MetalFearSolid
Banned
Well I am done with TNA for awhile to quote George St-Pierre "I was not impressed with your performance."
Arrowgigantic
Member
You watch TNA, you deserve what you get.
Professor Beef
Banned
It was supposed to be the height of stupidity this week, and instead we got a normal episode of wrestling!remnant said:
thisiswrasslegaf
HarryDemeanor
Member
I deserve greatness from week to week!Matthew Gallant said:
spindashing
Banned
Ah, I'm sure they were playing around. People should have just expected the cliche TNA product before they got so excited seeing the Sting gifs.remnant said:
At least there's the PPV on Sunday amirite guys? :trollface
- Status