Let me begin this edition of the “Thompson Perspective” by saying that I hope each and every one of you enjoyed your “Thanksgiving.”
We all sometimes get so caught up in what we are doing that we forget to be truly thankful for everything we have. I am truly blessed to have wonderful friends and family. I’m sure you all have the same so, if you didn’t yesterday, be sure to take a moment to think about what you have to be thankful for.
I’ve discussed message boards as part of my column on several occasions. We’ll, in addition to local boards, I’ve recently become hooked on the board at www.wrestlingclassics.com. You have wrestling fans and personalities from across the country discussing the business – past, present and future. And you even have the occasional off-topic discussions that are intriguing as well.
There was recently a post that I found very entertaining. Someone posted about memories of people who truly “believed.” He brought up an instance in the early 1980’s during a church service in Texas. During the portion of the service where the pastor asked for prayer requests, someone stood up and asked that everyone pray for Kevin Von Erich. The gentleman said that Kevin had been “beaten up pretty bad by the Freebirds.”
That is awesome! Those of us involved in the business have seen people who believe. I’ve seen some around here, but they are really in abundance in places I’ve been like East Tennessee, West Virginia and Virginia.
That story reminded me of my late uncle, who was married to my mom’s sister.
In the late 1980’s thru the late 1990’s, I would tape World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) television shows and take them to my grandparents’ house each Sunday. It was a weekly tradition for our family members to gather there for Sunday dinner. Well, before and after dinner, my uncle and I would watch wrestling. He was a “believer” to say the least. He always liked to yell at the referees for making bad calls. He passed in 1999 and, in a way, part of my enjoyment of wrestling died as well.
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As you have all read I’m sure, Sal Corrente has teamed with myself, Brian Tramel and the site in a re-release of Bruno Sammartino’s autobiography. I really enjoyed editing the book and I hope those of you who purchase the book will enjoy it. It is a good read and really is a story about a man who just happened to be a wrestler as much as it is a wrestler’s autobiography. Keep in mind the time frame of its release – 1990. This was LONG before the wrestling book craze primarily started by Mick Foley in 1999.
I want to tip my hat and say “thank you” to Loose Cannon for some recent kind words about me in his column that can be found at a number of locations including www.hollywoodjimmy.com. Cannon takes a lot of grief and sometimes I haven’t always agreed with his opinion, but you can’t deny that he has a lot of passion. No matter what promotion he works for, he’s very loyal to making it a success. He will do his best to get the word out. And, you can look back in the archives of this site, sometimes he has had the best or most logical matches on local cards.
I was on a show with him a couple of years ago in Harrisburg, AR, and I reported at the time that I thought he had the most logical match. So instead of jumping on the typical “bash Cannon” bandwagon, I’m going to take the high road and give him a “thank you.”
That’s it for this edition of my column.
Again, I hope you all had a great “Thanksgiving!”
Take care all.
(Brian Thompson is a contributor to www.rronews.com. He has been involved in the wrestling business since May 2000 in a variety of capacities. Currently he serves as an announcer and public relations director for New Experience Wrestling and the “Nightmare” Ken Wayne School of Professional Wrestling. He may be reached by e-mail at bptbookings@yahoo.com)
