Memphis Wrestling TV Report 9.22.07

----Corey Maclin opens with the show with Kevin White. White says he has a new woman in his life. White intros Sue Young [picture with Kevin White]. Mr. White comes out and seems to be upset. He asks Kevin, “What are my grandkids going to look like??”

----Clips are shown of Brian Christopher/Ali winning the Southern Tag Team Titles from “Too Kool 2” [Tim Grind/Flex] last week. TK2 interview. TK2 beat “Hurricanes” [Axx/Maxx]. Heat on Maxx and hot tag to Axx. TK2 tried to double suplex him, but he reversed it and suplex both guys. It looks real impressive. Good match.

----Brian Christopher interview. This was horrible. Christopher talks about Sue Young and uses every stereotype that he can come up with. He was talking about women like her wait on their men and Corey Maclin joined in talking about sushi. Brian C even made mention of how Mr. White’s grandkids will look. Brian Christopher beat Kevin White by DQ, when Young got in the ring. Not a good match. It was almost all Brian C with Brian giving White very little. Mr. White gave Kevin a chain that he used on Brian C for the pin, but Young had got into the ring to cause the DQ. Mr. White was mad because Young had cost the victory. He walked over to Corey and said that he was taking the computer away from Kevin, because that is where he found her.

----Corey with Jimmy Hart, which was filmed last Saturday when Hart was in town. “Opening the Vault” segment with another Andy Kaufman. This was Kaufman’s first live appearance on Memphis TV. This interview was so good and just classic. This ends up with Jimmy Hart coming out and they start fighting with Lance Russell in the middle. Classic stuff!! The heat that this segment they got from the TV studio was unreal.

----“Insane Clowns” [Bobo/Giggles] with Rashard Devon interview. Devon brings out Grady Watson. Devon says he talked with Scott Bowden this morning and Bowden wanted to know if Watson had got rid of Jerry Lawler, because he had taken $1,000 from Bowden. Watson said he spent the money on his truck that broke down. Devon then says he has a message from Bowden and he slugs Watson. Clowns/Devon beat up Watson. Koko Ware/Jerry Lawler make the save.

----Lawler/Koko beat “Clowns” with Rashard. This was almost a total squash on the Clowns. Just a little heat on Koko with a hot tag. Devon was going to interfere, but Grady Watson came out and jumped him. Both Clowns went to look at Rashard and Lawler/Koko rolled them up from behind with both getting pinned.

----Derrick King/Johnny Dotson interview with Rashard Devon. DK/Dotson beat Dustin Starr/Chris Lexx. All four guys looked real good in this bout – good shine for Chris Lexx. There was very little heat, which was on Starr as the bout was short. After the hot tag to Lexx, Dotson used a laptop on Lexx, so DK could pin him with Rashard getting the ref’s attention. I am not sure where Starr was??

----Show ended with Maclin trying to interview DK/Dotson/Devon in ring. They were just jumping around and dancing not paying attention to Maclin. It was funny.

NOTES

----Sue Young is a Kevin White trainee [worked as Ms. Vanna at a few shows last weekend] that has been getting a lot of praise as she debuted a few weeks back. Sue Young is a character based on the “Rush Hour 3” movie character of the same name…”Hurricanes” have been heels, but were babys this week. Maclin mixed them up again also…Maclin came off horrible during the Brian C interview joining in with comments about Sue Young and laughing. Maclin needs to decide whether he is an announcer or just some guy hanging out with the boys. You would have never seen Lance Russell or Dave Brown do anything stupid like that…Grady Watson is horrible!!...Well after coming off two good booked shows, this show was bad. The highlight was the last bout, but it was not given enough time. The first bout was good, but everything in the middle was bad. What the hell happened with Dustin Starr’s feud with Kevin White/Mr. White?? Starr did a job for Mr. White!!!

Photo credit: http://www.hollywoodjimmy.com/

www.ringsidecollectibles.com Contest!!

----They have a contest over at http://www.ringsidecollectibles.com/ with Jakks Pacific. You take this long survey and enter wrestling figures that you on the scale of “Would Not Buy” to “Must Have This Figure”. By participating in the survey you are entered in a contest and Jakks will make a wrestler figure of yourself. Pretty kewl; huh?? Below are the names that I voted as “Must Have” and if you take the survey, I would appreciate the same vote on these. I own just a few figures, but I do think I would go out and buy one of each of these figures. The Assassin

The Moondogs
Men ON A Mission
Mr. Wrestling II
Magnum TA
Rock N Roll Express
Eddie Gilbert
Fantastics
Andy Kaufman [I think they have already decided to do this one]
Dutch Mantell
Rocky Johnson
The Machines
Masked Superstar

----Did you know that there was a BT Express wrestling figure already made?? Well, sort of..LOL When I was doing the zine and wrestling at the same time some guy took the Tugboat figure and made a BT Express. Photos are here on the page – don’t laugh too much. BTW, I wore a Machine mask, which was shipped from Japan to here.

Coach's Corner by Brian Tramel

----Ashley Massaro lasted at least the first round of “Survivor - China” Thursday night. It was close as some of her tribe voted for her to be eliminated. Was she a good player for the first show? No way. She was sick as a dog. She lay around dry heaving with fever. It would have been hard for me to not vote her off, if I had been part of the tribe. They voted off an old guy “Chicken”, who actually got on my nerves too. But, it also was typical of a wrestling show – the person that has the most talent sometimes gets pick over the ones that look good. As for Ashley, she is not as pretty without the makeup and glitz. One local worker asked the other night, “How did Matt Hardy get her?” and my response is – Matt Hardy could get all the pootie tang he wants!! Ashley is better looking than Lita though.

----The girls from RAW really do work their asses off to have a good match. I was really impressed with the improvement of Candace Michelle [which the “Big Cheese” noted in an earlier column] Monday night. I always thought Mickie James was so far ahead of the other three girls that in the past I would have not given them a second look. Melina has turned into a decent worker also. I don’t think Julian Hall is bad, but everything else she does, I just don’t like. Not in the ring, but outside of the ring. Beth Phoenix is one of my fave girls right now. I have seen a lot of her from OVW – that is my kind of woman – big and blonde!! LOL

----The Shimmer promotion based out of Chicago was formed in November of 2005 by former RIOT zine subscriber Dave Prazak. Prazak has grabbed some of the best working females in the US and have had them work each other. These girls wrestle and have a huge cult following. Their shows are taped for DVD and sold everywhere. Prazak has proven that women wrestling can sell not only on big boobs and good looks, but also on character development and storylines along with good workers. I have seen very little of the product, but what I have seen I have been impressed. That is almost the opposite of all wrestling promotions – when I first watch them I pick them apart. You can watch the Shimmer promotion and notice all the right things they are doing. I believe the girls in the Shimmer promotion could go toe to toe with any area worker and out work 75% of them. Former CCW photographer Emilo Lazardo travels across the country to watch their shows and owns all their DVDs.

----My all time favorite female wrestler is Chigusa Nagayo [pictured]. Most of the visitors reading this are saying – Who?? Chigusa was part of the tag team of The Crush Girls and would later become a singles star also in Japan. She did tour the US a few times and wrestled in WCW as Zero with Sonny Ono. That was just a shell of what she was in the 80s. She will go down as one of the top performers [male or female] of this sport that I have ever seen. The excitement that radiated from the all female crowds in Japan came across well on the tapes that I would get from Japan. I was fortunate enough to be able to see her perform live in October of 1988 at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis. She wrestled on the undercard against Candi Devine. The match was ok, but I was so in awe that it really didn’t matter. That card also featured a Lawler vs Fujinami match that I had forgotten was even on the show, because I had went to see Chigusa. How good was she?? In Dave Meltzer’s 2002 book The Wrestling Observers Top 100 Greatest Wrestlers of All Time, she ranked 45 on the list, which was complied by professional success, importance to the history, how good they were in the ring, their drawing power, and the main stream success they achieved. Ranked under her were Ricky Steamboat, Shawn Michaels and Randy Savage. You can also type in her name at youtube.com and take a look at some of her matches.

----Chigusa wrestled Candi Devine that night in Memphis and it reminded me of the only Devine story I have. I was wrestling I think in Waynesboro, TN against JD McKay?? I also was doing photography and working on a story for Wrestling World magazine. I took a few pics of Candi and she was going to be in my story. And, she was so sweet and nice to the point I think she was working me to make sure she got the press. She was sitting real close to me on the floor with her arm in my lap and even my friends took note of this after the show. I was thinking, damn I might get lucky with Candi Devine!! As we were talking and she was working me to no end, everyone started laughing in another part of the dressing room and yelling to Chris Champion to “put that snake up”. Champion carried a snake to the ring, but unfortunately the dressing room was not talking about THAT snake. As soon as Devine seen Chris’ “snake” it was almost like I was invisible. LOL

----I went on to publish the story and I actually was in the main event battle royal that night. I was the third to the last person out and everyone had been ribbing me about Champion’s superkick. He called for it as the finish to eliminate me over the top rope. Everyone said, “ Damn he is stiff with that – he is going to knock your head off.” I got ready for the kick and he gave it to me – light as a feather. I bumped between the second and top rope falling straight on my head, which ended up as a black eye, even though I had been hit with one of lightest superkicks in the world. That was one of my final matches.

The Ratings: Memphis Wrestling TV 9.15.07

----Four out of the last five weeks Memphis Wrestling has scored in the same range as this past Saturday’s show, which scored a 3.0 [50,871 viewers] rating overall. Should the promotion be happy with a constant audience watching their show?? Yes, but the trends within the show the last two weeks have not been good. The first quarter has been the highest rated quarter and then they drop off. The show started with over 62,000 viewers, but when it was time for it to go off – they dropped over 20,000 viewers in the course of the show. The match that seems to have lost the most viewers was The Whites vs Starr/Lexx with that quarter dropping over 13,000 viewers. I am saying that because the viewers seem to stay for the finish of the Triple Threat and heel interview of DK/Dotson. I heard a lot of criticism about Mr. White pinning Dustin Starr, but I thought it was funny. If they keep doing that angle, it will mean something. Give Starr some mic time talking about his whole future with White and it could be a good feud. The Andy Kaufman quarter even lost over 6,000 viewers. Last October an Andy Kaufman segment had over 80,000 people watching it, but also had a drop of over 5,000.

-TK2-interview
-Brian C challenges them
-Ali/Brian vs TK2
1st quarter 3.7 [62,455 viewers]

-Lawler/Koko interview
-“Opening the Vault”
2cnd quarter 3.3 [55,907 viewers] [-6548 viewers]

-Kevin White with Mr. White-interview
-The Whites vs Starr/Lexx
-Dotson/DK Interview
-Triple Threat Tag Team match
3rd Quarter 2.6 [42,812 viewers] [-13,095 viewers]

-Triple Threat Tag Team match [finish]
-DK/Dotson/Rashard interview
4th Quarter 2.5 [42,140 viewers] [-672 viewers]

12 Week Average: 3.0 [50,185 viewers]
12 week low – 1.8 [29,884 viewers] 6.30.07
12 week high – 4.3 [71,353 viewers] 7.28.07
Gain from Start to Finish [-20,315 viewers]

What was Memphis watching??
News Channel 3/CSI Miami 7.8 [131,164 viewers average]

Check out the new Cheap Heat YouTube Channel

I've put together a new Cheap Heat TV channel over at youtube where I will be adding more and more favorites. There's a ton of awesome wrestling stuff on youtube. Go check out the stuff I've added so far featuring: Stan Hansen, The British Bulldogs, The Steiners, Ultimate Warrior, IWA:Deep South, Brock Lesnar, and many more! More stuff added daily, be sure to subscribe. If you have a video you would like see here on rasslinriotonline or on the CheapHeatTV channel, email me at genejackson@charter.net.


http://www.youtube.com/cheapheattv

A Piece of my Mind-Sept 21st 2007 by "The Big Cheese" Sal Corrente

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?

Cheap Heat Match of the Week by Gene Jackson

I'm gonna start posting at least one match per week here on the board. This week's match is a T.L.C. Match from T.F.W. on May 18th of this year from Tupelo, Mississippi. "The Future" Chris Styles vs. "Perfectionist" Josh Matthews. Check it out and leave your thoughts on the message board.

Coach's Corner by Brian Tramel

----Randy Orton’s suicide attempt has been mentioned a few times here and everywhere. My thoughts are that it shows just how difficult being a WWE superstar is. You can say what you will about all the glamour and such, but some of these guys have huge pressure on themselves. Orton, just like the Von Erichs, is trying to live up to his father and his grandfather. Take all that and put on top of the paranoia that comes with business and the depression with the ups and downs on steroids, then it is horrible mixture. Depression affects people in many ways. I use to think that when famous people talked about depression that it was just them trying to give an excuse. I actually think it is sad that a guy that seems to have everything would even think of suicide.

----I am not sure if everyone understands what the Congressional meeting might mean to wrestling. If Congress decides to group everything in as “wrestling” and asks states to regulate the sport, then we better get ready for a drastic change. What if Congress just gives a general set of rules that you will have to follow to have a wrestling company?? The face of independent wrestling will change if that happens. The smaller groups will not exist. If Congress would force everyone to have their wrestlers tested and every promotion has to have insurance, then that would shut down the majority of the small promotions in the area, if not all.

----I have actually watched all the major TV shows this week and my favorite has been ECW. I think mainly because it has an indy feel to it and I like a lot of the workers on the show. Fatal Fourway gimmick with it being a triple threat next week and a single match the next is very creative. It was fun watching Tommy Dreamer work his ass off. Even though Dreamer will never be considered a GREAT worker, he still does some real smart things in the ring. Kevin Thorn is much more polished now and I’m still waiting for it to be revealed he is Kane and Taker’s brother. LOL My fave on ECW though is Elijah Burke. He is a good worker and has tons of charisma. Is it just me or does Balls looked like an indy wrestler?? You know the guy that doesn’t have enough money to buy gear??

----I have had the chance to watch some Ohio Valley Wrestling in the last week or so. The developmental crew is lacking in great workers. The guys that stand out of the bunch are mainly the guys that have already been to the WWE like Paul Burchill, Aaron Stevens and Johnny Jeter. The James Boys – KC and Cassidy make an excellent tag team could be moved up at any time. They hail from Memphis, TN and even do the Fargo strut. Cody Runnels is also very good. He still needs work in the ring and probably was brought up too quick to Raw, but he does have it. His mic skills are far better than most of the OVW roster and he comes off as a total professional. I noticed during one of his interviews that he had his fingers taped similar to Ric Flair. Is that an angle just waiting to happen or what?? Cody tells Dusty that he did not grow up idolizing him; he grew up wanting to be Ric Flair!!

----The guy that I pick as the next big thing with OVW is Shawn Spears. Spears was trained by Eric Young and has been wrestling since 2001. He was awarded a WWE developmental in January of last year. He has almost the “Randy Orton” natural heel persona, but is good looking enough to be a big time babyface. He is also very unselfish in the ring and works an old school style. Terry Funk mentioned in his book about coming in different territories as a heel champ and giving the babyface almost the whole match, but then he would win in the end. Spears defends his TV Title in almost the same matter. I watched a recent defense against Colt Cabana [another guy that will be called up] and the match was 90% Cabana, even though Spears is the heel. It was not your typical psychology of taking the heat and Cabana coming out of it, it was almost the opposite. The fans ate it up!! Spears made Cabana look like a million bucks and never once did he hurt his heat.

----Ok, I don’t get it. I know wrestling is a work and it really doesn’t matter who beat who and such. What I don’t get though is the appeal of “DC” David Cross?? Am I missing something?? I have seen DC wrestle on a few occasions and he even wrestled some CCW shows, but I don’t get how he can be TFW champion beating a guy as huge as Max Steele and still be believable?? I have no idea. DC goes totally against the grain when it comes to a guy that either has a good worker or a good gimmick to get over. Apparently he gets a great reaction at TFW and people come out to see him. I still don’t get it. LOL

Shows For The Weekend 9.21 to 9.22.07

----The “show” of the weekend has got to be “Legacy” at NBW. It is a feat to have a promotion run weekly for one full year, especially in Dyersburg, TN. Tickets are $12 and $10 and they have a $30 for VIP tickets, which include a steak supper with Jerry Lawler & Brian Christopher.

----Friday Night for USWO @ Stadium Inn in Nashville, TN…Wild Boys (Ben Jordan & Steve Neely),Arrick Andrews,Gary Valiant (w/Miss Boogie), AM Vision,Hammerjack,TJ Harley,Petey Wright,Josh Crowe,Damien Payne,Tim Renesto,Cody Diemer, LT Falk, Crazy Steve,Luscious Quinton Quarisma, Gigolo Jay Phoenix,Saint,New York Gangster,Xavier Mustafa,Michael Jablonski and more!!

----Friday Night in Osceola, AR for MCW with MCW Champion Frankie Tucker, TW Justice, Showstopper, Jackhammer, Bad Luck Lucky, The Hambone Express, Tank, Pimptacular, Chris Lexx, Derrick King, White Lightning, Tojo Yamamoto Jr, Stretch, Kilo. Mr. Excitement, Hillybilly Nate and more.

----Friday night for LAW in Rector, AR with “The Asylum” [Psycho/Arnez],“The Golden Boy” Greg Anthony, Slim Pickens, Tommy Redneck, Rockin’ Randy,Jon Michael, Tim Alfonso, Dell Tucker and many more.

----Friday night for The Future of Wrestling has a show at the TFW Arena in Tupelo, MS with Shawn Reed,Josh Matthews, Chris Styles, "Bad Attitude" Tony Dabbs, Special Ed, Cassanova Kid, Chris Kaos, Hittman, T-Byrd, "Southern Thunder" Chris Kilgore, The Freakshow, The Interns, Hunter Montgomery Jackson, and much more.Tickets are $5. Doors open at 6:30 and the show starts at 8:00.

----Saturday night in Florence, AL at the Florence Lauderdale Coliseum bell time will be at 8:00. Rikishi, Brian Christopher, Bobby Eaton, "Bullet" Bob Armstrong, Hollywood Jimmy, Fire & Flame, Lash Leroux, "The Exotic" Adrian Street with Ms. Linda, Chris Rocker, Kevin White, Bambi, Peggy Lee, Bill "Superstar" Dundee, Pat Petera, and many more.

----Saturday night, Golden Triangle Wrestling returns for a show behind Cathy's restaurant, located on Highway 45 in West Point, MS. "The Warrior" Jake Prentiss, Chris Chaos, OMEGA, LSD, Lady Reb, Devon Raynes,BB, Destiny, Bloodbath, Kaleb Kastle, and Vinnie the Blade. , and much more. I believe tickets are $5. Doors open at 7:00 and the show starts at 8:00.

----Saturday night New Blood Wrestling @ Country Nights 1901 Saint John Ave - Bell time 8:00 PM in Dyersburg, TN…NBW "Legacy" - 1 Year Anniversary Show - Commissioner vs. Commissioner match- Lawler/Brian vs. Motley and a mystery partner…Last Man Standing- Kilo vs. Mark Justice…NBW Title Match- Tim Edwards (c) vs. Tank…Hair vs. Hair match- Jeremy Moore vs. J.R. Manson…NBW Tag Title match- B.L.S. vs. East Coast Bad Boys…NBW High Risk Invitational- Lil Tim (c) vs. Gaylon Ray vs. Baron Malkavain vs. Phoenix X vs. John "Biscuit" Roberts vs. ???- one spot left open…1st round T.V. title tournament match- Zane Richards vs. Void…Brian Steele Live and in Living color concert

----Saturday night @ True Force Arena 256 Gill Street Jackson, TN at 7:30 PM in Way Cool, PK Ripper , Steven Rampage, Big Boy BOB, Moondog Rex, Lawman Williams, Ravishing Randy, Wildside, Hardknox, Johnny Thunder, Billy Joe Dream, Punisher Dra Black, Azreal.....All taking place this Saturday night bell time 7:30 tickets only $5.00

---- Saturday Night ASWF - At The Valiant Arena 201 Hwy 67 N Tuckerman Ar. (870) 349-2050 Belltime 7pm. Tickets: All Seats $6 Appearing X-Kaliber, Team Adrenaline (Austin Lane & The Juice) w/Nikki Lane & Miss Juicy,Acid, Michael Ward, Cody Murdoch, Morgan Lane, Chuck Daddy, and more.

----Saturday Night for SAW in Millersville, TN AM Vision, TJ Harley,Hammerjack (w/Charming Charles),Gary Valiant (w/Miss Boogie],Shane Eden, Rob C, Justin Spade, C-4 (w/Cocky Cody), J-5, and more.

----Saturday night in Ripley, TN with TLCW 207 Washington ST Seth Knight, Rockin Randy, TGB Greg Anthony, “Hot Topic” [Stan Lee/Derrick King], Dustin Starr, Tim Grind, Jerry Weezy,”Genocide” [Maxx Corbin/Albino Rhino], Tommy Redneck, Dell Tucker, "Rhythm & Blues" [Brian Steele/Ike Tucker] and much more!!!

----Saturday Night in Batesville, Arkansas. Main Event Wrestling located at the Old Miller Gym at 9th and Oak Street. Admission is FREE to the public, sponsored by local businesses and community leaders. With such star's as "Crazy" Luke Graham Jr., Gerry "Chubby" Graham, The Casino Kid, "Mr. Playboy" Tommy Wayne, "The Suicide King" Ray Ray, Danger Zone{"Hot Rod’ John Ellison, "Dangerous" Dave Cox, Johnny Harper}, "The Southern Submission Machine" Wild Bill, Eric Wayne, Kid Nickels, Chris Stryker, Matt Justus, and many more. Bell is 8 P.M, doors open @ 7:15 P.M.

TALENT AND MATCHES SUBJECT TO CHANGE

Cheap Heat 9/19/07 by Gene Jackson

WHERE'S SALLY STRUTHERS WHEN YOU NEED HER?

For some reason I always hear her voiceover in my head from those old "won't you help these starvin' children" commercials whenever I read these posts on the internet asking people to help bail Ricky Morton out of jail cause he won't pay his child support. Please send Ricky donations and help him out, fuck that! I was one of the biggest Rock & Roll Express marks there was back in the day but this stuff is a damn disgrace. It's time to face reality Ricky, the 80's were a long time ago and you squandered and snorted away all that money you should have banked back then and it's time to rejoin the REAL WORLD. (no I don't mean try to get on an MTV reality show) Take a long look at the picture above, your night a teen idol anymore and there's no more money to be made in the wrestling business for you, at least not enough to support your kids, so it's time to cut off the mullet, lose the bandanas and get a real job. Hell be a weekend warrior like all the other indy wrestlers out there and make you some extra cash on the weekends but you need to face facts and get a real job, and if your not willing to do that SIT YOUR ASS IN JAIL THEN, but don't have fanboys come on the internet and beg people who are working to support their familes to bail your ass out. It's really sad to see what so many of the people I looked up to when I was younger have become.


SEE HE ISN'T ALL BAD

News is spreading that Vince McMahon paid for Sherri Martel's funeral. It's funny how all the news outlets and mainstream media who spend so much time painting Vince McMahon out to be an uncaring evil tyrant will never even acknowledge this story. It's also worth mentioning that Booker T paid for the headstone. I think this was a very great gesture on the part of both men and it's sad that Sherri was another whose life took a tragic turn.



SOUTHEASTERN CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING IS DOING WELL

Glad to see that SCW is off to a good start and drawing some crowds over here in Alabama. I hope to come catch a show when they get a little closer to my neck of the woods over here, I heard they may be coming to Huntsville soon, hopefully I can come check it out and see some freinds for the first time in a while. Maybe I'll get to catch up with my old buddy, "the New Nature Boy" and I can tell him what an awesome gimmick that is and tell him Hulk Hogan asked me to get his gay ass yellow/red feather boa back for him.



DID HE OR DIDN'T HE......IT'S REALLY NONE OF OUR BUSINESS.

It's now being reported that Bob Orton has spoken out saying the rumors of Randy Orton attempting suicide are not true and that Randy has no idea where the story started. Whether or not it's true everyone really should just leave that one alone. Honestly, if he did he apparently has gotten over it cause he's still here and in a main angle and if he didn't that's a terrible rumor to start about someone especially with all the bad shit going around right now, why add more to the pile.



UNFORGIVEN......WWE SHOULD BE FOR CHARGING MONEY FOR THIS

I'm really trying to stay positive right now as evidence by my previous paragraph but Jesus H. Christ, Unforgiven sucked big time. NOTE TO WWE...IT IS NEVER.......EVER....IN ANY CIRCUMSTANCE......OK TO PUT MARK HENRY ON LAST. I read where Meltzer said it was WWE's intention to "send them home happy." When the hell has Mark Henry EVER sent ANYONE home happy?? Maybe I'm being too harsh, but worse than anything on the PPV they had Triple H beat the tag team champions in a handicap match on RAW the next night. Why do they even have have tag belts anymore?? The Cade/Murdoch vs. The Hardys series of matches had brought a little prestige back to the titles then you have HHH beat them both. Oh well. Hopefully John Cena's dad will pull in the ratings. Enough about that.


OTHER THINGS

I plan to get some more match videos posted soon here on the site. I was glad Sal posted that Zeus vs. Abby video, I had always read about those matches and never seen one. Also, I'm still looking to pick up a copy of that CHIKARA show with the Southern Saints on it, I've got plenty to trade so if someone can help me out with that, email me at genejackson@charter.net Or if you have any other indy wrestling I might find of interest or may want to put on the site, shoot me an email. Also, is anyone taping these SCW shows? If not, they should.

That's all for now, hopefully next week there will be more to discuss.

GENE

RassleTube: LAW Recap 9.14.07

Ricky Morton Update!!

----I got more news on Ricky Morton this morning. Apparently the full amount owed is $64,900. He owes his lawyers $1600 from last time in. He was not arrested while camping with his kids as it has been reported everywhere, but he was picked up at 6 am at his mom's house in Nashville. He had missed many towns last few weeks because they were looking for him. This is the 8th time since 96 he has been picked up for this. Judge told him last time he is in until it’s paid in full. So, it might be a long time before we see Morton wrestling again. Damn, why can’t the WWE give this guy a job and an advance!!!

A Piece of my Mind-Sept 18th 2007 "The Big Cheese" Sal Corrente

Though I can not be 100% sure about this, but I do believe as a referee I hold a certain distinction. It is one of those memorable matches that I think about from time to time. I am the only referee to ever work with two individuals in the only three times they wrestled each other. In one of my trips to Puerto Rico they had booked the same match two nights in a row. It was the number one heel on the island Abdullah the Butcher vs. Tiny Lister better known to wrestling fans as Zeus. The office wanted to take advantage of the huge publicity Zeus had gotten from working with Hulk Hogan in the then WWF. Here is one of the matches from Youtube.


The commentator is Hugo Savinovich. It was quite an interesting experience; in Abdullah you had the seasoned veteran with his wild man style. In Zeus you had an actor turned wrestler with a great body but very little training. Zeus was by far was not a "natural". He did have the desire to do well and that always helps. It was up to Abdullah to carry this match. I assisted as best I could. A few things stand out in my mind about the two matches. The first match was very up and down. The people were screaming at the top of their lungs at times and at others you could hear a pin drop. I recall Zeus attempting to be vicious and as I was trying to get in between them Zeus shoved me pretty hard. I looked at him and said Zeus don’t shove me like that. He looked over and said I’m sorry. In those days he was bordering on a DQ. At that point I knew he was really trying to make it work. When the very limited skills of Zeus became apparent the people were quiet ... so quiet that I couldn’t imagine saving the match. At those times Abdullah would go into high gear and somehow the people were back screaming again. I had never been a part of a match losing the people and getting them back again. It wasn’t just one time but numerous times during the course of the match. All these years later I still think about that. On night two I was approached by the Invader (yes the same Invader from the Bruiser Brody incident) who was the booker at the time and, therefore, I answered to him. He told me that the match the night before went to long. I strongly concurred with him. He told me to tell them to start fighting in the ring, after a few minutes go outside the ring continue brawling and never come back in. I gave them the instructions they followed them and the match went to a double count out. I do remember at one point watching Abdullah get hit with numerous forearms to the head. Abby was leaning against the ropes and I said "Abby that stuff looks like it hurts". He turned his head to me and said “It Does”. I knew Zeus was doing his best and so did Abby. The office needed the match to work and Abby gave it his all. I appreciated Zeus and the effort he made. This whole wrestling thing for him was like a fish being out of water. If there were any other matches with these two guys I am not aware of them.

Several month's later Rob Russen's IWA was running a show in California. I was his booker and in his selling of the show he promised the people Zeus. He knew about Abdullah and the Puerto Rico matches. I told him we had to have Abdullah carry Zeus or we would be in trouble. He contacted Abdullah who quickly made the statement "do you know how hard I have to work to carry that guy?". He informed Abdulla that he was aware. They made a deal and we were set. It was a strong show that also had Kevin Von Erich on it along with Cowboy Bob Orton. When I got to Zeus he was only half paying attention and he started telling me about working with Abby in Puerto Rico. I asked him don’t you recognize me he looked up, saw me and was so relieved. In putting the match together I actually thought that Zeus would be the heel and I told Abby to work babyface. I thought that with Abdullah’s crazy style and Zeus having the heat from working with Hogan that the crowd would support Abdullah. I can tell you this I was dead wrong. Zeus was over as a huge baby face when he came to the ring. This was not an audience filled with die hard wrestling fans. The exposure from WWE TV made Zeus a huge TV star. The lack of mainstream exposure for Abdullah made him the obvious heel to the fans. It can be argued that Abdullah may be the biggest star ever to not have done two things. He has never done WWE TV or appeared in Madison Square Garden. Of course in the match we quickly made the switch and went on to another brawl and wild finish. To the best of my knowledge that match never took place again.

If I was Vince McMahon I would give Abdullah a chance to do TV at least one time and to appear in Madison Square Garden. I think that hardcore fans would love to see it. I haven’t always agreed with Abdullah but he deserves this chance. It could make for some great TV. Just think of the numerous possibilities. Imagine John Cena bringing him in as the legend who finally gets the best of Randy Orton in a bloody and brutal attack? How about on ECW Abdullah could take out the Boogeyman or what about something with Big Daddy V. The options are many and even the (I don’t have a clue and Vince doesn’t want me to) “Creative” team could come up with a few idea’s.

Imagine you are Vince McMahon right now you know what position your company is in today. You have to sit around wondering what position it will be in thirty days from now. In the days of the Vince McMahon trial I don’t know how confident he was or wasn’t. What I do know is he wasn’t confident enough not to make contingency plans. Vince McMahon brought in Jerry Jarrett as a part of his company in case he had to go to jail. He wanted someone able to handle the day to day business if he was gone. He had made a good choice; Jerry, to my knowledge, wasn’t just a former wrestler/promoter. He was a business man and the best choice to step in. It should have been clear to everyone what intentions Vince had. Once the trial was over I am sure that the move to get Jerry Jarrett out of the company started quickly. It wasn’t long after that he was gone. Was it a good move to get rid of Jerry Jarrett? No I don’t believe that it was.

I have only been in the company of Jerry Jarrett twice. One time was when I went to Memphis with Stan Lane for the six man tag that was supposed to be the return of the Fab's. We had breakfast with Jerry at the hotel that morning and one of the things that he told us has stuck with me and I have repeated it a dozen times. We were discussing the acrobatic style of today’s younger stars and I really have to thank Jerry for putting it in perspective for me. He said that when you see one of these guys doing one of these triple back flips with a twist type moves out on to the floor for the first time you say “Oh Wow”.. The next time you see it you say "Oh isn’t that cute he catches him". Does that give you any kind of an idea why wrestling attendance and ratings are down and UFC attendance and ratings are WAY up? One of the other things that he mentioned had something to do with photos and a goat. I can remember Jerry making another point that I will discuss in a future article. I will just leave it at that with a thank you to Jerry Jarrett for great breakfast conversation that I am sure meant more to me than it did to him.


If you're Dixie Carter right now you can only hope that you have enough intelligence to start putting plans in motion. It would be a great idea to be on the offensive and present Congress with a plan to monitor your company yourself. The plan Congress comes up with may not be as palatable as one you can cook up yourself.

If you’re every other promoter in wrestling be prepared to be put out of business. Where will the dollars come from to comply with any strict guidelines that Congress puts in place? If we are all honest about it 90% of all indy promotions are run out of the promoter’s home or back pocket. The truth is that most of these companies lose money or break even at best. They do not have the infrastructure in place to comply with Congress. I can’t see how the operation that Corey Maclin runs could possibly be able to deal with any restrictions either. It won’t make sense for most people. No matter what I think of Corey, make no mistake about it; his company is profitable for him. If he had to comply with very costly restrictions, even the lure of being on TV all the time may lose its luster. We may be witnessing the end of a lot of wrestling in this country. The good news is that when something is destroyed the rebuilding process begins.

If any one is unsure about Congress and their motivation remember C.Y.A. This is a cover your ass type of operation right now. If Congress lets this slip by without taking action and the deaths keep coming what would they look like? In politics there is always one goal and that is "stop my phone from ringing with anything negative on the other end." If there is no action taken by Congress on this issue I personally would be shocked and disgusted at the same time.


The above picture was taken the first time I met Hulk Hogan in his hotel room at The George Washington Lodge in Allentown Pa. It was taken at the next TV tapings after he won the title.

Ricky Morton In Jail!!

Ricky Morton was arrested a week ago once again for being $63,000 behind on child support. His web site at http://www.rickymorton.net/
is attempting to raise money by selling personally autographed photos, personal phone calls and other things to give him at least money to raise to get out.

Credit: http://www.wrestlingobserver.com/

Poll Results!!

----Well, the readers have spoken!! The $10,000 Challenge should be ignored by Jerry Lawler and Corey Maclin. 62% voted that they should ignore him and 38% said they should take it. New Poll goes is up today. Now with a $20,000 Challenge should Jerry Lawler and Corey Maclin change their minds???

VOICE YOUR OPINION ON THE MESSAGE BOARD!!

RassleResults: LAW Rector, AR 9.14.07

At the start of the show, "The Golden Boy" Greg Anthony brought his pet, Slim "The Puppy Dog" Pickens to the ring and said he had a surprise for Slim. TGB then called out Jeff O'Dell, who had a can of dog food for Slim. Jeff tried to illustrate to Slim how a dog eats dog food, and Slim shoved Jeff's face into the dog food. TGB then beat down Slim until Stan Lee hit the ring. TGB was obviously hot about Stan's interference, so Jeff O'Dell gave TGB the night off so he could calm down. Jeff then made a match for later in the night between Slim Pickens and Stan Lee.

Jon Micheal pinned E.Z. Rider after the hitting the spear

Idol Bane pinned Chief Crazy Train after hitting The Ghost of Andy Kauffman

Stan Lee defeated Slim Pickens by submission
(Just as Slim hit the Bulldog on Stan, Jeff O'Dell got on the mic, told Slim to lay down, and told Stan to pin him. Stan refused. Jeff said if Stan didn't pin Slim, then Stan was fired. Stan told Jeff that he was not going pin Slim, and as Jeff was about to fire Stan, Slim got on the mic and said he quit so Stan would win and wouldn't get fired.)

Jon Micheal defeated Tommy Redneck by forfeit in an Olympic-Style Pose Down since Redneck did not show up. Even though he won, Jon Micheal still "treated" the fans to a few of his best poses.

L.A.W. Tag Team Champions "The Asylum" (Psycho & Arnez) defeated "The Treat Connection (Loose Cannon, San Francisco Treat, & Mr. Rotten) in a Hale County Hardcore Match

RassleResults: NBW Dyersburg, TN 9.15.07

Battle royal to determine who will face Zane Richards in the first round match of the NBW T.V. Title Tourney - Void wins, match included- B.L.S., Crazy Train, Kid, T.W. Justice, Redman, Lil Tim Alfonzo, Gunner, J.R. Manson in the battle royal it was last 2 in the ring will wrestle later on in the night, the last 2 were void and The Sicilian Kid.

Lil' Tim Alfonzo def. Baron Malkavain by DQ after Baron refused to stop biting Tim, after the match Baron dragged Lil Tim to the back.

John "Biscuit" Roberts def. Phoenix X

Void def. The Sicilian Kid to advance to face Zane at legacy

Brian Steele came out for an interview and announced that he would perform live country music at Legacy for everyone, and then stated that if he saw Crazy Train’s face again... only to be interrupted by Crazy Train leading to... Brian and Crazy went to a 10 min draw as the ref was counting 3 the bell rung for the draw

Jimmy Tidwell made his return and announced that Motley Cruz was 1 member of his team and that they would teach Jerry Lawler and Brian Christopher a lesson... He also made a handicap match... Mark Justice/Motley and J.R. Manson def. Kilo and Jeremy Moore after they worked Moore's knee over and he had to be carried to the back leaving Kilo who they left laying and bleeding from the mouth.

“Black Label Society” [AJ Bradley/Robbie] def. Tim/Tank when Allen Walker made Tim tag w/Tank in a title match, and Tim left Tank laying for B.L.S. to pick up the win, after the match, Tim tried to attack Tank again but tank gained the advantage and left w/ Tim’s title.

NBW "Legacy" - 1 Year Anniversay Show - 9.22.07

Commissioner vs. Commissioner match- Lawler/Brian vs. Motley and a mystery partner…Last Man Standing- Kilo vs. Mark Justice…NBW Title Match- Tim Edwards (c) vs. Tank…Hair vs. Hair match- Jeremy Moore vs. J.R. Manson…NBW Tag Title match- B.L.S. vs. East Coast Bad Boys…NBW High Risk Invitational- Lil Tim (c) vs. Gaylon Ray vs. Baron Malkavain vs. Phoenix X vs. John "Biscuit" Roberts vs. ???- one spot left open…1st round T.V. title tournament match- Zane Richards vs. Void…Brian Steele Live and in Living color concert

----There was around 80 paid with a gate over $400 and around 100 people in the building…This group has not shown the Justice angle where he grabbed Kilo’s kid or Auburn on TV. You know why this angle has not meant money?? They don’t show it on TV for people that don’t go there live might say “Wow, something is going on down there!!” and the people there live know that Kilo/Mark & family are still friends. Rob the announcer will be special ref in the Last Man Standing – look for a swerve…I am being told that JR Benson aka Slim Pickens has been spitting in the crowd trying to get heat. Not good. If you can’t get heat from being a heel, then you are not doing your job. JR has been told by NBW if he was going to continue to do his angle in LAW that they are not going to push him here?? Now how does that matter?? How many fans actually cross over??...I am not sure why they are doing it, but I do not believe in “Mystery” partners. I think I have covered this before, but without STRONG high rated TV, the mystery partner thing does not work. No matter whom it turns out to be, the crowd is disappointed. If Motley brought out Kevin White or Jamie Dundee, then that might surprise the people, but anything else is going to disappointed them. You have to SELL the match, not the mystery – Lawler/Dundee vs Motley/whoever with the stips…Nothing was done to further the “Hair vs Hair” match…Gunner Thompson walked out and quit...The only match that makes me want to go out and see Legacy is the Justice vs Kilo bout.

TLCW Update!!

----I am being told that they two wrestlers mentioned in an earlier article were not charged on Saturday night. Neither one was officially arrested, even though it was apparent to the people that saw the incident that they were in trouble. I have removed their names from the article, because I feel that is the right thing to do. I try to pride myself in doing fact checking on everything I post, but as I have said before, the wrestling business sometimes does not give you the opportunity to do so. Even though I am wrong on many occasions, I will always try to correct or update you the visitor one the true story. Call it "egg on the face" or whatever you want to say, but many major newspapers make mistakes every day and have to either post a retraction or more than usual just ignore it.

"Coach's Corner" by Brian Tramel

----TLCW out of Ripley, TN seems to have some troubles coming out of this weekend. I consider this promotion the model when it comes to weekly draw and such. In the early part of the year they were drawing close to 150 to 200 every weekend. Hot weather helped dropped them down and they had one of their worse crowds in over a year a couple of weeks ago. Is it just the weather or is it something to do with the booking and talent?? I would say a little combo of both.

----I hated the booking of the last couple of weeks. The team of “Genocide” [Albino Rhino/Maxx Corbin] win the belts, then lose them and then win them back on Friday night. The TLCW Title was won by “The Golden Boy” Greg Anthony in March and he has held onto the title. For someone to keep the title that long, then it makes the title mean something. Do the WWE titles mean as much as they did?? No. But, for local promotions like this, you need a selling point and that belt will slowly mean something in this area, if you don’t “hot shot” it with booking like TGB losing it Friday night and then there is plans for him to win it back this coming Saturday. Tim Grind or Dustin Starr would be the perfect pick for the next champion, but why take it off TGB without a good build??

----I sometimes do second guess what I post. Whether or not it should be posted? I ask myself that. But, I also know that to be considered a “news” site and there is news all over the place about a certain subject, then I eventually have to post it. Case in point on the two guys being caught with weed this Saturday at TLCW. I personally like both of these guys. They have has always been very respectable to me. It doesn’t change the fact that they were caught and it is something that actually pissed off some of the major talent in TLCW, because they don’t want to be grouped as doing anything illegal. Does that mean that everyone follows the rules and no one breaks the law?? Am I above all of this and never been part of anything illegal?? I would have to say that I am NOT 100% innocent, but as I have said before, there is a time and place for everything.

----Former LAW promoter Kelly Warner is back in jail serving his time for a sexual assault charge for violating parole. Tavian Robinson, an area referee, had sexual misconduct charges against him earlier this year, but the best I can tell, those chargers were dropped. Does any of that change the fact that both guys have been instrumental in roles in pro wrestling in this area?? Would you use them to work for you? Robinson had his chargers dropped, but he was featured promptly in the local papers. Does that turn off fans?? At what point does the trust factor come in on whether you want to hire a Warner, Robinson, or whoever that might cause you problems??

----Everyone seemed to crap on the Unforgiven PPV, but I talked with a friend who went to the show live and enjoyed himself. This is coming from a guy that watches mostly WWE stuff. He said the Undertaker entrance was one of the best things he has every seen live. He stated the wrestling was not great, but overall it was a fun experience. I am glad to hear that and hear that they drew a great crowd. Memphis is not consider a great drawing wrestling town now – just look at Hogan at the FedEx Forum this year. The city of Memphis also has not been one to go out and support any kind of major sports franchise. Here is a town that could have had a NFL franchise by now, but they crapped all over the NFL when the Titans were playing in Memphis. They do not have a big Redbird following and the Grizzles do not draw huge crowds. The only local sport team that is supported is the University of Memphis Tigers – both football and basketball draw fans.

----Although this really has nothing to do with wrestling, the underlining effect is the same. How in the hell can people say that Brittany Spears is too fat?? I will give you this – her performance was horrible. But, how can she be considered fat?? Damn. Has society got so infatuated with the way they look that a normal size woman that has had two kids is fat?? It fits in the wrestling world as the valets try to be smaller and the guys try to have perfect bodies and when people do not look perfect, they are not given jobs. The “look” sucks sometimes and all us fat people need to take a stand. LOL I heard one comedian say, “Only gay guys and women thought Brittany was fat, because all of us normal guys have had sex with A LOT worse!!” I think that pretty much sums it up.

RassleResults: SAW Millersville,TN 9.15.07

----Chris Michaels b Rob C…Justin Spade b Michael Jablonski when AM Vision attacked Jablonski while Spade was out on the floor being attended to by the ref…Shane Eden b C-4 (w/Cocky Cody)…SAW TV champ TJ Harley b J-5 (w/Cocky Cody)…SAW Heavyweight champ AM Vision b Arrick Andrews by countout when Andrews was thrown out to the floor and could not get back in to the ring (looked to be legit hurt)…Gary Valiant (w/Miss Boogie) b Hammerjack (w/Charming Charles & Cocky Cody) in a Texas bullrope match.

----Around 60 in the crowd…This group’s next TV taping is Sunday 9/30. Tracy Smothers is scheduled to be at SAW next Saturday. They now have a website http://www.southernwrestling.net/

Credit: Jimmie Daniel

RassleResults: TLCW Ripley, TN 9.14 & 9.15.07

“Friday Flatliner” 9.14.07 - maybe 100 people (less than Saturday night) with a gate of around $600.

----Tatt2 beat Cody Melton. Matt Foley gave Tatt2 a stink face after the match, which I guess was Tatt2’s punishment to let him come back…Derrick King beat Chris Lexx…”Genocide” [Albino Rhindo/Maxx Corbin] beat Tommy Redneck/”Rockin” Randy to win the TIWF Tag Team Titles…Tim Grind beat “The Golden Boy” Greg Anthony to win the TLCW Title…Brian Christopher beat Dustin Starr when Rikishi pinned him.

----They ran angle where Ms Vanna and Foley had manager’s licenses, but Rikishi could not come out, because he did not. I was told Rikishi didn’t work, because of the size of the crowd – he was being paid to do an autograph signing. After a ref bump, Rikishi gave Vanna/Foley a stink face and then just sit down face first on Starr. When the ref got up, he just counted Starr down with Rikishi on his face…Rikishi and Brian C both raked in the dough for gimmicks.

Saturday 9.15.07 – 120 people in attendance, but only a gate of around $550, because some of the people got in with $4 tickets because of the night before.

----Ike Tucker beat Redneck…Chris Lexx beat Shannon Lee…“Genocide” beat “Naughty by Nature” [Rude/Pokerface] to retain the tag team titles…Jon Michael beat Cody Melton…”The Golden Boy” Greg Anthony/Allen Steele beat Tim Grind/Derrick King.

---I was told TGB was supposed to get the title back, but somehow Dustin forgot to tell everyone that he wasn't going to be there the next night to do the finish they talked about. So since they couldn't do the finish without him, they just made a tag match and I guess the title match is suppose to happen next week…The return of Tatt2 Friday night did not surprise anyone, but upset some of the crew.

RassleResults: TIWF Jackson, TN 9.15.07

----Assault def. Boogeyman Scream by submission…Chico Mendoza def. Nigerian Nightmare PK Ripper def. Izzy Rotten by DQ…TIWF Regional TV Title Match Big Nasty Bob def. Cassanova Kid & Wyked in a triple threat match to retain the title TIWF Regional Heavyweight Title Match Steven Rampage def. Dre’ Black…TIWF Tag Team Title Match New Breed of Perfection ( Wildside & Way Cool) def. “Law & Order” [Lawman Williams/Jonathan Storm] to win the titles.

----No word on the crowd size…Weasal won the TIWF Title last week from Wildside, but then Steven Rampage came out to challenge him and beat him for the belt. They also ran angle where Rampage burned both Weasel & Overkill throwing fireballs on them...I guess it didn’t take long for Wildside to get another belt on himself – with him/Way Cool tagging again beating “Law & Order” for the belts…Izzy Rotten made his debut here and I was told that his bout with PK Ripper was good.

TWO BIG STORIES OUT OF TLCW THIS WEEKEND!!

----The first story being that Stan Lee, who was part of the TLCW booking team that won RRO Booker of The Year 2006, has officially quit TLCW. They ran a big injury angle a few weeks back to let Stan have some time off. But, after second thought it seems that Lee will be gone from TLCW for more than two months. It seems he is unhappy with the direction that the company is going and feels he needs to get out and do some more shows in the area. Flash Flanagan left earlier this year to wrestle in Puerto Rico leaving only Derrick King as the booker.

----The second story has the arrest of two of the TLCW roster during the show on Friday night in Ripley, TN. Allegedly both were caught behind the building smoking marijuana. The two guys were talked to by the police, but no offical charges were filed. This was apparently just the two of them sharing one joint, so it will be considered a misdemeanor in the state of Tennessee and would have been around a $250 fine, if this was their first offense. I do not look at smoking weed much worse than drinking a few beers, BUT don’t forget that weed is illegal. It also carries tougher penalties and might hurt the business. Everyone in the dressing room had been warned more than once to not smoke weed on the property.

Unforgiven WWE PPV Memphis, TN

----I usually don't cover the PPVs, but since it was in Memphis tonight I thought I would post what Dave Meltzer had to say about it on http://www.wrestlingobserver.com/. And, I am glad I did not go!!

Tonight's Unforgiven comes from the Fed Ex Forum in Memphis, and features the return of Undertaker after surgery to repair a torn biceps.

We're looking for your thoughts on tonight's show, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

C.M. Punk vs. Elijah Burke for the ECW title opens the show.

Burke dominated the match working the low back until Punk got the pin with a front rolling cradle. Decent match but the crowd wasn't much into it. Apparently they want to keep the program going because the first thing Joey Styles said was that Burke earned a rematch by dominating the match.

Matt Hardy & MVP defend the tag titles against Deuce & Domino next. Crowd was dead. Pretty much the story you'd expect with Hardy & MVP not getting along. Hardy used the old Anderson Brothers spot of using MVP's head bonking it on Domino's head and then Hardy used the twist of fate on Deuce for the pin. So-so wrestling, but continued a good storyline.

HHH vs. Carlito is up now.

Another match almost like you'd expect. The gimmick was Carlito could use foreign objects without being DQ'd but HHH couldn't. Carlito's offense was using the ring bell, garbage cans and finally powder. HHH recovered from powder without even selling one move, using a spinebuster, low blow and pedigree. Crowd was more up than the prior matches because of HHH's star power, but average match.

Candice Michelle vs. Beth Phoenix for the women's title is next.

They told a good story here with Phoenix dominating the entire match with power moves, including pulling hair out at one point. Crowd wasn't into it and some of Michelle's bumps into the corner were at the cringeworthy level. Michelle got the pin out of nowhere with a crucifix pin.

Great Khali vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Batista in a three-way for the World title is up now.

Mysterio gave both men a 619, but Batista power bombed Mysterio onto Khali and then pinned Khali with a spinebuster. I wouldn't call it a good match, but by the Khali match scale it was pretty good. Khali sure didn't help him on the lift either.

HHH congratulated Batista on winning the title.

Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch vs. Paul London & Brian Kendrick for the tag title are next. To me, it's kind of imperative that these teams have a good match to make it a good show.

Technically the best match on the show but crowd was pretty dead. Not anything special, but everything was solid and was only missing the crowd caring. Cade, who wasn't the legal man, gave Kendrick a spinebuster and Murdoch scored the pin. Basic tag match except for some flashy moves on London's hot tag.

John Cena vs. Randy Orton for the WWE title is next. So they are saving Undertaker for the main event spot.

Cena was disqualfied for not stopping punching Orton on the ropes and ref Chad Patton counted five. Shockingly, this was probably the worst title match of Cena's career including the days when he wasn't any good. After the match Orton flipped John Sr. over the rail. John went wild and and put Orton in an STFU on the floor and his father punted Orton in the head. I will say this, John's father's facials were the best stuff on the show. Even with the angle, the crowd was about 80% pro-Orton. People booed the hell out of this when it was over. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it. Obviously they are going to build for a Hell in a Cell like stip next month. I guess that explains why Undertaker is being put on last.

Jonathan Coachman announced a last man standing match for the next PPV while telling off John Sr. John Jr. snatched Coach and threw him on the ground. This whole scenario is such a great babyface scenario for Cena but the crowd still hated Cena.

Undertaker vs. Mark Henry headlines the show.

Nice ring entrance but terrible match. Crowd was so dead it was shocking. Henry kicked out of a choke slam but Undertaker used a last ride out of the corner and scored the pin. Both men were way off here. Actually worse than the Cena match. They all but announced Batista vs. Undertaker for the title next month.

Maybe the worst PPV of the year.

RassleResults: 9.15.07 Florence, AL

Southeastern Championship Wrestling held a show Saturday night at the Florence/Lauderdale County Coliseum in Florence, AL.

Fire & Flame (w/”Hollywood” Jimmy Blaylock) def. Lash LeReaux & Brad Thomas . . . Chris Rocker (w/Miss Vanna) def. “Superstar” Bill Dundee . . . “Exotic” Adrian Street (w/Miss Linda) def. Kevin White (w/Miss Vanna) . . . World Women’s Champion Bambi def. Peggy Lee Leather . . . SCW Champion Pat Patera def. Mr. America . . . Main Event: Rikishi & “Grandmaster Sexay” Brian Christopher def. “Beautiful” Bobby Eaton & Jack Lord (w/”Hollywood” Jimmy Blaylock).

RassleNotes: Crowd was around 375-400 with an approximate gate of $3,375 . . . Show was being filmed for future TV airings . . . The bottom rope broke during the main event. The two teams worked around it as Rikishi and Christopher brought two young fans in to dance while the ring crew tried to fix the rope to no luck . . . Dundee challenged Rocker for a rematch when SCW is in Sheffield, AL on Oct. 13 . . . SCW announced additional shows for Demopolis (9/29); Aliceville (10/6); Sheffield (10/13); and Dothan (10/27).

RassleResults: MEWA Batesville, AR 9.15.07

The First Match of the was a shot at the M.E.W.A World Light Heavy Weight Title later in the night with a Special 10 Minute Time Limit. It was the “Suicide King” Ray Ray taking on “Hot Rod” John Ellison. This was a battle of the High-Flyers, with both men flying inside and outside the ring. The two men fought their heart out, but time ran out. With neither one of the men a clear winner General Manager Johnny Hawk came out and announced that both men would challenge “Mr. Playboy” Tommy Wayne for the M.E.W.A World Light Heavy Weight Title.

The Second Match of the night was Big Al taking on the returning Tommy Gunn. Gunn and Big Al put on a hell of a match with no but High-Impact moves. Big Al was trying to score to a win so he could take the dress off. Gunn was up to the challenge and in a time of 8:26, Tommy Gunn got the win.

The Third Match of the night “3-G” Eric Wayne taking new comer to M.E.W.A Greg King Jr. This was a very fast paced match with King matching Wayne with every move. Wayne tried his dirty and under hand trick’s and yet King was able to test Wayne. In the end it was “3-G” Eric Wayne getting the win in a time of 11:08.

The Semi-Main Event of the night was for the M.E.W.A World Heavy Weight Title, it was the newly crown champion Kid Nickels being challenged by the returning Matt Justyce. These two men picked up from where they left a few month’s ago. Since wining the M.E.W.A World Heavy Weight Title last Nickels showed a whole new intensity, Kid used every move to his advantage. Justyce was out to prove that he deserved this title shot. In a time of 16:13 Kid Nickels showed his experience advantage over Justyce by retaining his M.E.W.A World Heavy Weight Title. As Nickels was going to celebrate his first title defense “3-G” Eric Wayne came to the ring and attacked Kid and said he was going to win that title from Nickels very soon. The newly crown champion was beaten and left in the ring and had to be helped to the back after the attack by Wayne.

The Main Event of the night was the Three Way Match for the M.E.W.A Light Heavy Weight Title. “Mr. Playboy” Tommy Wayne was defending his title against “Hot Rod” John Ellison and the “Suicide King” Ray Ray. This was the match of the night with the crown going crazy as all three men put on a High-Flying show. There was so much action going one that it took two Refs to try and control this match. The match was on the inside and outside of the ring. There were super moves in this match from Ray Ray diving on to Ellison and Wayne from the top rope to Wayne and Ellison give Ray a Double Handed Chop @ the same time. Even with two refs they could barely control all three men. In a time of 15:57 “Mr. Playboy” Tommy Wayne was able to retain his M.E.W.A Light Heavy Weight Title by beating both “Hot Rod” John Ellison and the “Suicide King” Ray Ray.

There were 281 people who made it out to see all the action this week.