I wish I'd been able to call into the anniversary special radio show yesterday, it sounds like it was a very fun show. I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet but I hope to get a chance this evening. First off I wanna welcome Downtown Bruno on board as a writer here, Bruno is a great guy who can really add some interesting insight here having been a large part of both the Memphis scene (which is this site's specialty) for many, many years but also being on the inside of the WWE for the past 17 years or so will give a unique perspective that should make for some entertaining reading. Bruno has been very helpful towards me sending me material for my book I'm working on and judging from what I've read there, I'm looking forward to reading his columns.
I know I say it all the time but I really intend to do more writing here on the site. I can officially say other than perhaps on a very rare special occasion Cheap Heat Radio is dead. With my wife at home all the time now due to her heart problems, two kids, and two dogs that live inside there's just no way to schedule a radio show at a time where it's gonna be quiet around here to do one. So with that no longer being an issue, hopefully I can focus more on writing although right now most of my rare spare time is spent working on the Eddie Gilbert book, or a couple of other of writing projects I have going on.
I'd like to do more video reviews in the future, of both past and present wrestling. I don't watch any of the promotions on television on a weekly basis but I do watch various dvds so I'm gonna start writing about them more than I have been. Right now I've got a couple of the New Experience Wrestling dvds on the way so I plan to watch them then give my opinions on them in comparison (or perhaps contrast) to what my feelings on it were in the beginning. Speaking of N.E.W. one of the hot topics of discussion around here lately has been the injury to Greg King Jr's face at the hands (well foot, I guess) of Eric Wayne. It's a very unfortunate situation, from what I've seen of Greg King he's a very talented guy who seems to have a great future in the business and it's always a shame when guys get hurt in the ring whether it's in front of 30 people or 30,000.
I like Eric Wayne, I think he's a good kid and has a lot of talent, but if he get's saddled this early on with being careless and dangerous in the ring it will not serve him well in the future. While I'm sure it was an accident, after a while it no longer matters whose fault it is or whether you meant to hurt someone, if people are getting hurt from doing things that are generally considered to be unsafe like someone people in the face, perhaps it's time to drop that from the repotoire. I know these guys are going for a different style, a more competitive "stiff"/"strong style" but the fact of the matter is you can present a match as being more competitive without being overly stiff and in the end being stiff doesn't serve any purpose because fans no longer believe ANYTHING they see in the ring anyway. No matter what happens "real" or not, fans assume if it happened in the context of a wrestling match it's "fake" no matter what you say or do. There were people who walked out of Kemper Arena in Kansas City in May of '99 having just witnessed Owen Hart die right in front of their very eyes thinking it was "just a stunt" until they went home and saw it on CNN. So kicking someone in the face to "make it look legit" while it might make some folks cringe and go "damn, how do they fake that?", it's not worth the risk. Just ask Greg King Jr and his family and I'm sure they will agree.
I do have to say, though as I mentioned I haven't listened to it myself yet, I did read on 'The Starr Treatment' (yes, I read it almost daily) that Ken Wayne even came on the RRO radio show and agreed that Eric is careless. I think that shows a lot character on Ken's part as many times in wrestling (well in life in general) folks are inclined to take the side of their family or friends merely out of loyalty rather than honesty. Again, I like Eric and I don't think there was any intent to hurt anyone in any of the incidents where people have gotten hurt in the ring but I do think he needs to take it for what it's worth and learn from it. You really don't want to get straddled with the reputation of being dangerous or careless in the ring because it's a hard one to shake. Best of luck to Greg King Jr. for a speedy recovery and hopefully all this will blow over for Eric as well.
Another bit of controversy I missed out on a couple of weeks back is when Coach BT went to Mississippi on the book tour and came back saying essentially that Mississippi wrestling sucks and that there's only a handful of guys in the state that actually know how to work. He went on to say that wrestling in Tennessee and Arkansas is "10 times better" than the wrestling in Mississippi. This raised the ire of Axeman who basically told BT if he doesn't like Mississippi wrestling then stay the hell out of the state. So here's my unsolicited opinion on the matter. Personally I think they both are too close to the situation to look at it from an unbiased perspective. Axeman has come up around Mississippi wrestling (not counting his days in World Class out in Texas) so he's a little bisased towards Mississippi wrestlers. On the other hand, BT while not actually "in" the business anymore is close to a lot of guys from the Tennessee and Arkansas area. The sad truth is there is a LOT of shitty wrestlers in ALL THREE STATES. I'm not saying their aren't quite a few good ones but their are so many bad ones it kinda overshadows the good ones. Keep in mind, I'm not saying this from a worker's perspective (I never claimed to be a good worker) I'm saying this from the perspective of a guy who has studied the business his entire life, if your really honest with yourselves you can just read 80% of the results posted here and at the Wrestling Newscenter and know most of the guys can't "work" based on reading what went on during their match. Yes, there seems to be a larger margin of bad wrestlers in Mississippi than in Tennessee but that's because there are more shows in TN. If you combined and listed all the rasslers in all three states and then let someone unbiased and unafraid to speak their mind (their true feelings, not ones they need to say to keep getting bookings or access to the dressing room) they would tell you that only maybe 25% of the guys from all three states can actually "work" and aren't just marks in a wrestling ring. I know it makes people mad when I write things like this but it's just the sad truth. The guys who can work, and mean really can "work". The guys who "get it" know who they are and that's why they usually have heat with all the ones who can't. Tell me that's not true. If your reading this right now saying "that fatass Gene Jackson is full of shit" then your one of the ones I'm talking about, meanwhile the guys who get written about anonymously on message boards and are called "pricks with the big head" are reading this right now shaking their head saying "that's absolutely true." Now be honest with yourself, which one were you thinking before you finished this paragraph?
So not to end on a sour note, once again congrats to all involved especially our ring leader Brian Tramel to 3 years of reporting all the "shiznit" from around the Mid South and the rest of the wrestling world. I'm glad to be a part of it and hope to be for a long time to come. Before I go, once again I want welcome Downtown Bruno and here's a little video of RRO's newest staff member joining Jerry Lawler to call out Vince McMahon himself on USWA television
Oh and remember, "Don't be re-dick-uh-luss, VOTE FOR COREY MACLIN!!"
He's Corey Maclin and he probably doesn't approve of this message
