Friday, January 11, 2008

CHEAP HEAT - 1/12/08 by Gene Jackson

I'll have another entry in my 'why I love wrestling' series next week but there's several things that's come up this week that I wanna address in this week's 'Cheap Heat'. Let's get to it....



2008 BEGINS WITH A TRAGEDY

Well hopefully things will get better but right of the chute 2008 has started out with a terrible tragedy. A 28 year old man who was training to be a professional wrestler with Brian Steele and Motley Cruz at the New Blood Arena was rushed to the hospital in Dyersburg and later had to be moved to Memphis where he later passed away. This is a very sad story, not many details are known beyond what I just mentioned, but I'm sure it will all come out eventually. Knowing Brian and Motley, both are good guys and have trained a ton of guys and I'm sure it wasn't their fault but I know this has to be weighing on them and I feel bad for them. I also feel bad for the guy's family, it's just a bad, bad situation for everyone and yet more bad light to shine on the wrestling business. There's already rumors of lawsuits and such, I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot more of this tragic story in the months to come.


CHECK OUT SOME OLD SCHOOL RASSLIN' ON ESPN CLASSIC

For those looking to see some old school rasslers in action, Herb Abrams' UWF wrestling from around 1990 is airing from 12am-1am weeknights on ESPN Classic. While the show isn't great, and the booking and commentary leave a LOT to be desired it's still interesting to watch with a lot of great stars from the 80's in their twilight years (Ivan Kolloff, Ken Patera, Don Muraco, Bob Orton etc.) as well as guys on their way up (Cactus Jack, The Blackhearts w/Luna,etc.) and it's fun to watch just for a change of pace from the current WWE and TNA shows. Check it out one night if you get a chance and tell what you think on the message board.


COREY MACLIN IS SUING WWE

Personally, I think unless Maclin had an agreement with McMahon when he scheduled the event, he has no case. Unless Vince told him it was ok, then turned around and told Lawler not to work the show, then Maclin's beef is with Lawler, not WWE. If Vince tells his employee, Lawler that he can't do something that's between him and Lawler. If I book Derrick King to come work a show in Alabama, then Corey tells him, "no you can't go work for Gene Jackson" and Derrick chooses not to work the show, can I then sue Corey for telling him no?? Of course not, that's Derrick's decision. Just like it was Lawler who agreed to work with Hogan and Maclin, and it was Lawler who chose to listen to his employer and not work a show that he didn't want him to work. Case closed. IMHO


TRENT VAN DRISSE ENTERS THE RADIO SHOW ARENA

Mid Southern Wrestling Message Board's Trent Van Drisse will debut his new blog talk radio show this Monday night at 10pm called "Jerkin' the Curtain". Should be interesting as Trent (like myself) is very opinionated and doesn't mind saying what he thinks, looking forward to checking out the show.


SPEAKING OF RADIO SHOWS

This Monday at 10am be sure to listen for my interview with Izzy Rotten, or you may know him better as Special Ed. Whatever you know him as it promises to be very interesting interview as I talked to Izzy on the phone recently and he has a LOT on his mind and doesn't plan to hold anything back, should be good. Then next Monday January 21rst, I'll be joined by J.C. Ice himself, Jamie Dundee who also has a lot to say about Memphis Wrestling and who knows what else. It promises to be a wild show. Then on January 28th at 10am, my guest will be "Nightmare" Ken Wayne. Ken is gonna be on talking to us about his wrestling school, his training methods. We'll get his take on the Dyersburg situation as well as talk about his career and a host of other topics. All this and more already lined up for the coming weeks on Cheap Heat Radio!


IWA DEEP SOUTH CARNAGE CUP 2007

Well after hyping the event on Cheap Heat Radio in the weeks leading up to the show back in December I finally got a chance to see the Carnage Cup today. A good show if your into the Death Matches, it's not really my thing but wow what a brutal show. A lot of injuries came out of the show but the fans seem to love it, and the dvds do really well. I thought the Southern Saints were good in their 6 way match with Amasis, Chrisjen Hayme, Tim Donst, and Hydra. The match came off much better than the 4 way in Tupelo, everything was smooth, and Chris Styles took a wicked looking reverse frankensteiner from Hayme that looked like it killed him. If you get a chance check this show out, but be warned it's very bloody and brutal, if your not into Deathmatches you may wanna pass on it, aside from the six way.


RRO YEAR END AWARDS 2007

It seemed there was a great response to the awards with a bunch of people voting. I haven't heard the results yet as I'll find out with everyone else on Sunday but I do wanna thank everyone who voted for me for 'Columnist of the Year.' As much of an asshole as I come off in this column and as much heat as I get from nameless pricks on message boards, it does mean a lot to me to know that their are some folks out there who do enjoy reading my columns and I appreciate it greatly. Even if you didn't vote for me, hell even if you don't like me and you just read my stuff so you can bitch about it, I still appreciate you reading. It's why I do it.


GENE