I understand that TNA is planning on giving more attention to woman’s wrestling in the very near future. I am not trying to suggest it’s going to help the ratings or buy rates one bit. If they are going to make this move, then how could they do it without taking Christie Ricci? In my very vocal opinion this girl is the best woman available on the Indy scene. She is a great worker that was trained by Lei Lani Kai. She's also beautiful, intelligent and all business. I can’t understand why WWE doesn’t already have her under contract. I have interacted with Christie many times. She is a total professional and deserving of a shot at the big time. I would sure like to see a Victoria vs. Christie Ricci match. Hmmm... now what Raw match would want to go on right after that one? It could bring back memories of The Glamour Girls and The Jumping Bomb Angels. No one wanted to follow them either
This one comes from the keep your fingers crossed begging and pleading department. I want to talk about John Morrison and C.M.Punk for a minute. I went to visit Jim Cornette one time at OVW and I no idea who John Morrison was. I didn't even recall his name at the time. I did not follow Tough Enough so I hadn’t seen him before. He was just starting out and Jimmy had him out passing the hat or something that night. I went over to him after observing him for a while and told him that he had what it takes to make it in this business. In a few years I believe that it has been determined that my assessment was correct. Now with that being said ... please, when Morrison comes back, leave the belt on C.M. Punk. If you put the belt back on Morrison now it will be another insult to the people. It will also prove that Vince has no respect for the suspensions and that he only handed the suspensions down because it was politically correct.
Credit has to be handed to Vince McMahon. He has created a company brand that is clearly the sign of excellence in our industry. It is quite amazing to me that the talent is almost meaningless. It could be argued that they are almost all virtually interchangeable. Over the years there have been times when this was not the case. We can talk about the Hogan era; the Austin era, The Rock era when it appeared that the roof would fall in when they left. Well they all left and the company is still strong and profitable. Now we are in the” Please bring us the next big thing era”. If they find that person will it boost profits? I’m sure it will. If they don’t find that person, unless Congress throws the final switch, they will keep on rocking on. I have to say that in itself is an accomplishment to be recognized. Wouldn’t everyone want to be Starbucks or McDonalds? So when you ask yourself”why are problem wrestlers kept around WWE?" You probably don’t come up with a very good answer. So it boils down to this, if you work so hard to create a brand name that defines an industry why would you keep a bunch of “slow leaks” around that tarnish the company’s image? Especially when you do such a great job of tarnishing the company image yourself.
We were on tour in Australia and, make no mistake about it; this was one of the greatest times in my wrestling career. I have done a lot of good things in the business but this one is high atop the list. One incident that I remember clearly involved an upcoming match between Derrick “Starfire” Dukes and Kamala "The Ugandan Giant". If you don’t know the former Sugar Bear Harris he is one funny funny man. I was heading over to the other dressing room to give “The Terminators” (Al Greene and Marc Laurinaitis) the finish for their match. At the same time Kamala told me to tell Derrick that in their match he shouldn’t arm drag him, drop kick him and to please not cover him. I laughed but I didn’t really want to do it. Well, when I was finished with The Terminators finish, I started to leave and I told Derrick what I was supposed too. It wasn’t until much later when Paul Orndorff came over to me and said “Hey Sal, when you told that kid all that stuff he looked at me and said 'well what else is there left for me to do?' The funny thing was that Dukes went in the ring and tried to hit Kamala with everything but the kitchen sink. When we were done Kamala let out that big laugh of his thinking about the young kid. It was good harmless fun. I know this wasn’t the most exciting story in the world. If you know Kamala like I and many others do it should make you smile. It always makes me smile just thinking about that trip. The only regret I have is that I didn’t take my good buddy Mick Foley with us. In retrospect, I should have taken him with us. I regret very few decisions that I make but that is one of them. I’m glad that he got over it, but I probably never will.
I have heard all the comments about last Sundays PPV and Monday Night Raw. It just makes you keep wondering what in the world is going on. I can remember when PPV’s were special and you got something for your money. It appears that those days are behind us at least for the near future. If the PPV’S are to seem special how about getting back to the days of the free TV programs having mostly squash matches and some semi competitive TV matches. If you throw a little intelligent booking in the mix the PPV’s could mean something again. You could have interviews and even the ridiculous skits that Vince must think helps. It’s a simple plan ... work it out for than fans sake ... just Git-Er-Done. How long will people keep giving you their hard earned money for the garbage you’re putting on PPV?
I always like to keep people guessing. So for this article instead of a picture that I was in I have added a picture from one of our days hanging out early on in my training. This was the kitchen of Afa "The Wild Samoan" #1's home in Hamden, Ct where he lived at the time. If you look at the picture from left to right standing is Sika “The Wild Samoan” #2, seated is Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka, Afa The Wild Samoan #1, The Tonga Kid, Samu The Wild Samoan #3 and The Tonga Kid #2 who most of you will know as Rikishi. These were the days when I would run spots with Rikishi in the back yard. The good old days where have they gone?
This one comes from the keep your fingers crossed begging and pleading department. I want to talk about John Morrison and C.M.Punk for a minute. I went to visit Jim Cornette one time at OVW and I no idea who John Morrison was. I didn't even recall his name at the time. I did not follow Tough Enough so I hadn’t seen him before. He was just starting out and Jimmy had him out passing the hat or something that night. I went over to him after observing him for a while and told him that he had what it takes to make it in this business. In a few years I believe that it has been determined that my assessment was correct. Now with that being said ... please, when Morrison comes back, leave the belt on C.M. Punk. If you put the belt back on Morrison now it will be another insult to the people. It will also prove that Vince has no respect for the suspensions and that he only handed the suspensions down because it was politically correct.
Credit has to be handed to Vince McMahon. He has created a company brand that is clearly the sign of excellence in our industry. It is quite amazing to me that the talent is almost meaningless. It could be argued that they are almost all virtually interchangeable. Over the years there have been times when this was not the case. We can talk about the Hogan era; the Austin era, The Rock era when it appeared that the roof would fall in when they left. Well they all left and the company is still strong and profitable. Now we are in the” Please bring us the next big thing era”. If they find that person will it boost profits? I’m sure it will. If they don’t find that person, unless Congress throws the final switch, they will keep on rocking on. I have to say that in itself is an accomplishment to be recognized. Wouldn’t everyone want to be Starbucks or McDonalds? So when you ask yourself”why are problem wrestlers kept around WWE?" You probably don’t come up with a very good answer. So it boils down to this, if you work so hard to create a brand name that defines an industry why would you keep a bunch of “slow leaks” around that tarnish the company’s image? Especially when you do such a great job of tarnishing the company image yourself.
We were on tour in Australia and, make no mistake about it; this was one of the greatest times in my wrestling career. I have done a lot of good things in the business but this one is high atop the list. One incident that I remember clearly involved an upcoming match between Derrick “Starfire” Dukes and Kamala "The Ugandan Giant". If you don’t know the former Sugar Bear Harris he is one funny funny man. I was heading over to the other dressing room to give “The Terminators” (Al Greene and Marc Laurinaitis) the finish for their match. At the same time Kamala told me to tell Derrick that in their match he shouldn’t arm drag him, drop kick him and to please not cover him. I laughed but I didn’t really want to do it. Well, when I was finished with The Terminators finish, I started to leave and I told Derrick what I was supposed too. It wasn’t until much later when Paul Orndorff came over to me and said “Hey Sal, when you told that kid all that stuff he looked at me and said 'well what else is there left for me to do?' The funny thing was that Dukes went in the ring and tried to hit Kamala with everything but the kitchen sink. When we were done Kamala let out that big laugh of his thinking about the young kid. It was good harmless fun. I know this wasn’t the most exciting story in the world. If you know Kamala like I and many others do it should make you smile. It always makes me smile just thinking about that trip. The only regret I have is that I didn’t take my good buddy Mick Foley with us. In retrospect, I should have taken him with us. I regret very few decisions that I make but that is one of them. I’m glad that he got over it, but I probably never will.
I have heard all the comments about last Sundays PPV and Monday Night Raw. It just makes you keep wondering what in the world is going on. I can remember when PPV’s were special and you got something for your money. It appears that those days are behind us at least for the near future. If the PPV’S are to seem special how about getting back to the days of the free TV programs having mostly squash matches and some semi competitive TV matches. If you throw a little intelligent booking in the mix the PPV’s could mean something again. You could have interviews and even the ridiculous skits that Vince must think helps. It’s a simple plan ... work it out for than fans sake ... just Git-Er-Done. How long will people keep giving you their hard earned money for the garbage you’re putting on PPV?
I always like to keep people guessing. So for this article instead of a picture that I was in I have added a picture from one of our days hanging out early on in my training. This was the kitchen of Afa "The Wild Samoan" #1's home in Hamden, Ct where he lived at the time. If you look at the picture from left to right standing is Sika “The Wild Samoan” #2, seated is Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka, Afa The Wild Samoan #1, The Tonga Kid, Samu The Wild Samoan #3 and The Tonga Kid #2 who most of you will know as Rikishi. These were the days when I would run spots with Rikishi in the back yard. The good old days where have they gone?
