----Maxx Corbin defeated BloodBath…Gladiator beat Grappler…”The Blackbirds” [Ice/Jazz] over Simon Reed/PK Ripper…Winner Takes All: Kevin White beat Maxx Corbin to become the new VCW Champion….Fire/Flame beat Michael Gilbert/Bill Dundee.
----75 to 100 people for the show…Chris Rocker no show…Next show for this group is Boliver, TN November 10, 2007… Local Policeman Michael Gilbert was jumped by Fire/Flame and Bill Dundee made the save to set up the main event…Cameron Miller was doing a karate demonstration and was the special ref for the main and turned on Gilbert. Both have been trained and this was their debut. I was told Gilbert looked good in the main…Best bout was White vs Corbin…This was almost a whole White trained event – Corbin, Gladiator, Grapper, Ice and Jazz…First time that Simon & PK had ever tagged. Lil Chris was working his shoot job.
Monday, October 29, 2007
"Coach's Corner" by Brian Tramel
----No, I am not going to call anyone out here, I am just stating fact. No shows suck. ASWF promoter Aaron Polson had five no shows this last Saturday night, which lead to him have to cancel two of his bouts completely. Hat’s off to Aaron, because it looks like he saved it for the fans, but what makes a worker no show?? I listed all the reasons for the guys not being there on my ASWF report. But, really – not having a ride?? Is that an excuse of not showing up?? When I worked as Coach BT for five years, I missed maybe four of my booked shows. I went to a show in Dresden, TN one night with the driver of the car having to stop every 30 minutes just so I could puke. [And probably got paid $5, so who was the fool there?? LOL] No shows not only hurt you as a worker, but hurt the business in general. If fans show up and expect a certain person to be there and they are not there – they might not come back.
----Although I did not order Cyber Sunday, I would like to say I am a big mark for these shows. Why?? Mainly because it is a shoot on the voting and it has been proven every time they do these sorts of things that the fans vote on different stuff than a normal booker would book. Should the writers take notice?? The most surprising of the votes was The Miz winning over Morrison and Big V. It is obvious that the fans could care less about Big V, even with that huge push, but why not Morrison?? The Miz comes off as the total obnoxious prick, but it looks like he is over. Everyone [including myself] talk tons about the CM Punk and Morrison being the next big thing, but what can be said about the Miz when he gets voted over Morrison?
----Slick G made some good points in his column and it got me to thinking?? Has TNA really messed up the X-Division so much that it really doesn’t matter who is in it?? I always thought that the belt and style made them “different” than the WWE and that would be a good selling point of their show. The show gets on Spike and they slowly kill the division along with adding more and more former WWE stars. It is all about making yourself different to a certain degree to get over. You can go all the way and make a total different promotion or just a slight change putting forth to make yourself noticeable. TNA did that with the X Title and now it doesn’t mean anything. And, yea, it looks like Slick G is right – you could put anyone in those roles now.
----Isn’t it weird how some fans can just get over by posting crap on a message board?? Gene Jackson pointed this out in his last column. This kind of stuff has been going on for years in fandom. In the zine days, I had a guy one time write a letter to Riot about how good a certain worker was and then another guy write how horrible he was. Guess what?? It was the same guy. He actually worked a feud with HIMSELF to put HIMSELF over. It first got everyone talking about the guy and then finally after exposing him..well, he looked like a fool. The net has brought forth a different kind of creature that is referred in many fandom circles as a troll. The troll though on wrestling boards seem to get themselves over to the point that columnists [like myself] are writing about what a prick they are and putting them over more than the local wrestlers. Other trolls will post something good about a wrestler, and then five minutes later post something bad to just keep crap going. A scary thought about all of this is – 95% of the visitors to my site or area message boards are workers in the area. Want to turn the paranoia up a notch?? The next time you are in the dressing room think about the guy next to you – he might be the one posting all the crap about you.
----Conventions – why are they such a disaster?? “The Big Cheese” has covered this a few times, but before Sal ever stepped one foot into Memphis, I knew of his reputation only because of his big conventions. I use to attend wrestling conventions in the 90s and had a blast. I am not going to spend time go over what they do wrong. It makes me wonder though with Memphis being such a historical city for wrestling if an event like this would sell in Memphis today? You could use all the local legends and maybe bring in a team like the Midnight Express and a current star like say a Samoa Joe with all the local talent?? Would that draw?? It would be something I would want to attend.
----Well, that is the end of today’s edition. Join me again on Thursday. Visit the message board and let me know what you think about a convention??
----Although I did not order Cyber Sunday, I would like to say I am a big mark for these shows. Why?? Mainly because it is a shoot on the voting and it has been proven every time they do these sorts of things that the fans vote on different stuff than a normal booker would book. Should the writers take notice?? The most surprising of the votes was The Miz winning over Morrison and Big V. It is obvious that the fans could care less about Big V, even with that huge push, but why not Morrison?? The Miz comes off as the total obnoxious prick, but it looks like he is over. Everyone [including myself] talk tons about the CM Punk and Morrison being the next big thing, but what can be said about the Miz when he gets voted over Morrison?
----Slick G made some good points in his column and it got me to thinking?? Has TNA really messed up the X-Division so much that it really doesn’t matter who is in it?? I always thought that the belt and style made them “different” than the WWE and that would be a good selling point of their show. The show gets on Spike and they slowly kill the division along with adding more and more former WWE stars. It is all about making yourself different to a certain degree to get over. You can go all the way and make a total different promotion or just a slight change putting forth to make yourself noticeable. TNA did that with the X Title and now it doesn’t mean anything. And, yea, it looks like Slick G is right – you could put anyone in those roles now.
----Isn’t it weird how some fans can just get over by posting crap on a message board?? Gene Jackson pointed this out in his last column. This kind of stuff has been going on for years in fandom. In the zine days, I had a guy one time write a letter to Riot about how good a certain worker was and then another guy write how horrible he was. Guess what?? It was the same guy. He actually worked a feud with HIMSELF to put HIMSELF over. It first got everyone talking about the guy and then finally after exposing him..well, he looked like a fool. The net has brought forth a different kind of creature that is referred in many fandom circles as a troll. The troll though on wrestling boards seem to get themselves over to the point that columnists [like myself] are writing about what a prick they are and putting them over more than the local wrestlers. Other trolls will post something good about a wrestler, and then five minutes later post something bad to just keep crap going. A scary thought about all of this is – 95% of the visitors to my site or area message boards are workers in the area. Want to turn the paranoia up a notch?? The next time you are in the dressing room think about the guy next to you – he might be the one posting all the crap about you.
----Conventions – why are they such a disaster?? “The Big Cheese” has covered this a few times, but before Sal ever stepped one foot into Memphis, I knew of his reputation only because of his big conventions. I use to attend wrestling conventions in the 90s and had a blast. I am not going to spend time go over what they do wrong. It makes me wonder though with Memphis being such a historical city for wrestling if an event like this would sell in Memphis today? You could use all the local legends and maybe bring in a team like the Midnight Express and a current star like say a Samoa Joe with all the local talent?? Would that draw?? It would be something I would want to attend.
----Well, that is the end of today’s edition. Join me again on Thursday. Visit the message board and let me know what you think about a convention??
RassleResults: XOW Independence, MS 10.27.07
Uncle Felton defeated Giant Hillbilly.
Anton Leveigh won a three way match over Chris Styles & Tatt2.
Wraith defeated Colton Anderson.
"Southern Thunder" Chris Kilgore defeated "Prime Time" Nick Grimes in a fans lumberjack strap match.
Psycho defeated Candyman in a wild & bloody hardcore match.
Brandon Barbwire & Lil' Bit defeated Josh Matthews & Anita Page.
"Superstar" Bill Dundee & Kid J w/Grady Watson defeated Sarge O'Reilly & Little Devil w/Hollywood Jimmy Blaylock.
"Spectacular" Shawn Reed & "Bad Attitude" Tony Dabbs defeated Max & John Steele.
----There was 150 to 175 with a gate close to $1,000 gate.
Anton Leveigh won a three way match over Chris Styles & Tatt2.
Wraith defeated Colton Anderson.
"Southern Thunder" Chris Kilgore defeated "Prime Time" Nick Grimes in a fans lumberjack strap match.
Psycho defeated Candyman in a wild & bloody hardcore match.
Brandon Barbwire & Lil' Bit defeated Josh Matthews & Anita Page.
"Superstar" Bill Dundee & Kid J w/Grady Watson defeated Sarge O'Reilly & Little Devil w/Hollywood Jimmy Blaylock.
"Spectacular" Shawn Reed & "Bad Attitude" Tony Dabbs defeated Max & John Steele.
----There was 150 to 175 with a gate close to $1,000 gate.
RassleResults: ASWF Tuckerman, AR 10.27 - Halloween Havoc!!
----Johnny Harper over Brian Edwards to retain his ASWF Commissionership…San Francisco Treat beat Doink The Clown…”Respect Match” : Tim Hanson beat Little Lucky…Chuck Fears beat Judgment to win the X-Title…ASWF Tag Team Titles: Acid/Scott Fury beat ”CCR” [Cody Murdoch/Wild Bill…Casket Match: XKalibur beat Loose Cannon with Rottn Randy.
----Over 100 fans in attendance…Tons of no-shows: Austin Lane [announced to the crowd as being in Orlando for TNA tryout], Reno Diamond [told it was his shoot job], Bishop [rides with Diamond], Blalock The Blazer [ditto] and Justin Smart [shoot job – he will probably be not back for a while, because he works on Saturdays]…Blazer was stripped of the X-Title and Fears was awarded the belt, but he said he would rather win it in a match…In two weeks, they have a Edwards/Harper rematch – ladies lumberjack strap match…Fury was Acid’s mystery partner…It was stated in the reported I received on the Casket match that with Loose Cannon’s lose, then it closed the door on Cannon’s career in ASWF. So, I guess he is done there for a while…Rottn Randy attacked Morgan Lane after the match to set up Lane vs Randy for this week. If Randy wins, then he gets to manage any wrestler he wants in ASWF. If Randy loses, then he has to dress up like Treat and be his valet for two months. Also this week: Rodney Mack and Jazz return along with “The Posse” [Simon Reed/Lil Chris]…Crowd had a good time with it being a Halloween event with kids doing the “Cha Cha slide” in the ring during intermission and hitting a Piñata full of candy.
----Over 100 fans in attendance…Tons of no-shows: Austin Lane [announced to the crowd as being in Orlando for TNA tryout], Reno Diamond [told it was his shoot job], Bishop [rides with Diamond], Blalock The Blazer [ditto] and Justin Smart [shoot job – he will probably be not back for a while, because he works on Saturdays]…Blazer was stripped of the X-Title and Fears was awarded the belt, but he said he would rather win it in a match…In two weeks, they have a Edwards/Harper rematch – ladies lumberjack strap match…Fury was Acid’s mystery partner…It was stated in the reported I received on the Casket match that with Loose Cannon’s lose, then it closed the door on Cannon’s career in ASWF. So, I guess he is done there for a while…Rottn Randy attacked Morgan Lane after the match to set up Lane vs Randy for this week. If Randy wins, then he gets to manage any wrestler he wants in ASWF. If Randy loses, then he has to dress up like Treat and be his valet for two months. Also this week: Rodney Mack and Jazz return along with “The Posse” [Simon Reed/Lil Chris]…Crowd had a good time with it being a Halloween event with kids doing the “Cha Cha slide” in the ring during intermission and hitting a Piñata full of candy.
Jericho On Bert Prentice!!
----This was post on Trent's board and I thought my visitors might be interested in what Chris Jericho says about Nashville wrestling promoter Bert Prentice. Trents says the following,
"Chris Jericho talks about Bert Prentice in his new book, and here's what he said about Bert when asked during a recent interview. This is pretty much the same things he said about it in his book from what I heard. Classic stuff here....Someone please forward this to Matt Boyce!!"
----All this bickering back and forth to Trent a few months back has me worried about Boyce now. What if Trent was right about everything? CLICK HERE to read the story.
Eric – About 8 years ago on my radio show you started to tell a story about a brief experience you had working for Bert Prentice and stopped. Is that a part of your new book?
Chris – Yeah actually it is in the book. It was in Wichita, Kansas and I don’t exactly remember what the name of the promotion was and I never actually had a match there. Right after I had I believe two matches, myself and a guy Mike Lorzanski who worked as Mike Anthony, another guy called Brett Cumo drove from Calgary to Wichita, KS to work for Christopher Love which is what Bert Prentice’s name was at the time. There was a promotion that was going to be starting up there so we drove down there and after about three days of driving we finally show up at Christopher Love’s palatial, Spanish-style mansion that he was living in. We knock on the door and this guy dressed as a butler opens the door and tells us to wait there and then Christopher Love will now see us. We go into this room and he’s like the Godfather, sitting behind his desk. He’s got this one guy that looks like a weeble standing on his one side and another guy looking like a weeble standing on his other side. One guy is black and one guy is white, and the guy that’s white he goes, “This is the Zebra Kid,” guy looked nothing like a Zebra, even less like a kid. The other guy was called I think Rufus I can’t even remember my own book. “And this is Rufus, and say hello to Cluck.” Cluck was this rubber chicken that he was holding in his hands. I kind of thought, “Ha, ha,” it was kind of a bad joke but nobody else was laughing. Turns out that this guy actually talks to Cluck and Cluck was his manager, but it was no joke. The whole promotion treated Cluck as if it was an individual, living, breathing manager. So I am sitting there and Christopher Love tells me in no uncertain terms that I look like Shawn Michaels and there is a lot he could do with me and I’m thinking, “I’m sure there is man.” Supremely, supremely over-the-top feminine shall we say. So we sit there and he tells us what’s going on and there’s a party that night in honor of the new promotion starting. And this thing is a freak show, like so many gay guys there, weird guys there, just very strange. We’re sitting there on this couch and one referee goes to the bathroom and I don’t really see what is going on but he comes back out and he takes a sip of his drink and everyone starts laughing. Zebra Kid is laughing, the guy dressed as a butler is laughing, and Cluck is laughing, and he says, “Oh we got you, we got you, we got you with the Penis Colada.” I guess one of the guys had taken out his swizel stick and used it as a swizel stick. Now if that had happened to me I would have torn the place apart. There’d be some asses kicked, right? The referee goes, “Oh Penis Colada, you got me again.” Again, again! You mean this happened more than once to you? So this was kind of like the zoo that was going on there, and then Christopher Love proceeded to play with my hair and I told him to stop, and then we got fired. That was my first road trip, down to Wichita, Kansas.
"Chris Jericho talks about Bert Prentice in his new book, and here's what he said about Bert when asked during a recent interview. This is pretty much the same things he said about it in his book from what I heard. Classic stuff here....Someone please forward this to Matt Boyce!!"
----All this bickering back and forth to Trent a few months back has me worried about Boyce now. What if Trent was right about everything? CLICK HERE to read the story.
Eric – About 8 years ago on my radio show you started to tell a story about a brief experience you had working for Bert Prentice and stopped. Is that a part of your new book?
Chris – Yeah actually it is in the book. It was in Wichita, Kansas and I don’t exactly remember what the name of the promotion was and I never actually had a match there. Right after I had I believe two matches, myself and a guy Mike Lorzanski who worked as Mike Anthony, another guy called Brett Cumo drove from Calgary to Wichita, KS to work for Christopher Love which is what Bert Prentice’s name was at the time. There was a promotion that was going to be starting up there so we drove down there and after about three days of driving we finally show up at Christopher Love’s palatial, Spanish-style mansion that he was living in. We knock on the door and this guy dressed as a butler opens the door and tells us to wait there and then Christopher Love will now see us. We go into this room and he’s like the Godfather, sitting behind his desk. He’s got this one guy that looks like a weeble standing on his one side and another guy looking like a weeble standing on his other side. One guy is black and one guy is white, and the guy that’s white he goes, “This is the Zebra Kid,” guy looked nothing like a Zebra, even less like a kid. The other guy was called I think Rufus I can’t even remember my own book. “And this is Rufus, and say hello to Cluck.” Cluck was this rubber chicken that he was holding in his hands. I kind of thought, “Ha, ha,” it was kind of a bad joke but nobody else was laughing. Turns out that this guy actually talks to Cluck and Cluck was his manager, but it was no joke. The whole promotion treated Cluck as if it was an individual, living, breathing manager. So I am sitting there and Christopher Love tells me in no uncertain terms that I look like Shawn Michaels and there is a lot he could do with me and I’m thinking, “I’m sure there is man.” Supremely, supremely over-the-top feminine shall we say. So we sit there and he tells us what’s going on and there’s a party that night in honor of the new promotion starting. And this thing is a freak show, like so many gay guys there, weird guys there, just very strange. We’re sitting there on this couch and one referee goes to the bathroom and I don’t really see what is going on but he comes back out and he takes a sip of his drink and everyone starts laughing. Zebra Kid is laughing, the guy dressed as a butler is laughing, and Cluck is laughing, and he says, “Oh we got you, we got you, we got you with the Penis Colada.” I guess one of the guys had taken out his swizel stick and used it as a swizel stick. Now if that had happened to me I would have torn the place apart. There’d be some asses kicked, right? The referee goes, “Oh Penis Colada, you got me again.” Again, again! You mean this happened more than once to you? So this was kind of like the zoo that was going on there, and then Christopher Love proceeded to play with my hair and I told him to stop, and then we got fired. That was my first road trip, down to Wichita, Kansas.
RassleResults: USWO Nashville, TN 10.26.07
Arrick Andrews b Drake Craven
Next 2 were semifinals of tournament for vacant tag titles
Quinton Quarisma & Jay Phoenix b New York Gangster & White Tiger when Quarisma pinned Tiger
LT Falk & Mark Anthony b Slade & JC Crowe when Falk pinned Crowe
Petey Wright b Damien Payne in a trick or treat match. Wright chose a box for Payne which had a dress and lipstick in it. Payne had to wear this the rest of the night, including coming back out for a raffle where the lucky fan got to hit him with a belt
Kevin Dunn b Tim Renesto by DQ when Renesto refused to break a hold while in the ropes
Quarisma & Phoenix b LT Falk & Anthony to win the vacant USWO Tag Team Championship when Quarisma pinned Falk after Anthony had attacked Falk. This set up promoter Tony Falk announcing that LT would team with Jerry Lynn next week against Anthony and anybody he could find.
Michael Jablonski b AM Vision (w/Anthony Cervantes) in a Chicago Street Fight to win the USWO Championship
NOTES: Vision and Andrews will be spending their Friday nights (for the forseeable future, anyway) with SAW. They announced this for Andrews after his match, though there is a good chance these guys (and others) could work the Saturday shows at the Stadium Inn on occasion...The Dundees were announced as a coming attraction...
Meanwhile, SAW has a TV taping Friday night with Jimmy Valiant coming in to join forces with Gary Valiant....Crowd was 64 with a gate close to $600.
Credit: Jimmie Daniel
Next 2 were semifinals of tournament for vacant tag titles
Quinton Quarisma & Jay Phoenix b New York Gangster & White Tiger when Quarisma pinned Tiger
LT Falk & Mark Anthony b Slade & JC Crowe when Falk pinned Crowe
Petey Wright b Damien Payne in a trick or treat match. Wright chose a box for Payne which had a dress and lipstick in it. Payne had to wear this the rest of the night, including coming back out for a raffle where the lucky fan got to hit him with a belt
Kevin Dunn b Tim Renesto by DQ when Renesto refused to break a hold while in the ropes
Quarisma & Phoenix b LT Falk & Anthony to win the vacant USWO Tag Team Championship when Quarisma pinned Falk after Anthony had attacked Falk. This set up promoter Tony Falk announcing that LT would team with Jerry Lynn next week against Anthony and anybody he could find.
Michael Jablonski b AM Vision (w/Anthony Cervantes) in a Chicago Street Fight to win the USWO Championship
NOTES: Vision and Andrews will be spending their Friday nights (for the forseeable future, anyway) with SAW. They announced this for Andrews after his match, though there is a good chance these guys (and others) could work the Saturday shows at the Stadium Inn on occasion...The Dundees were announced as a coming attraction...
Meanwhile, SAW has a TV taping Friday night with Jimmy Valiant coming in to join forces with Gary Valiant....Crowd was 64 with a gate close to $600.
Credit: Jimmie Daniel
RassleResults: TFW Tupleo, MS 10.27.07 - New Tag Champs Crowned!!
Lil' Extreme defeated Big Jake to become the #1 Contender for the TFW Light Heavyweight Championship.
TFW Light Heavyweight Champion Vinnie the Blade defeated former Champion "Prime Time" Nick Grymes to retain when Nick went for his superkick, Vinnie ducked and caught Nick with a tornado DDT off the ropes.
The Southern Saints (Shawn Reed and Chris Styles) w/ Anita Paige defeated Crazy-N-Sexy w/ Dirty Reel Moe.
Tysin Starr won a six-way dance to become #1 Contender for the TFW Championship. Other participants were Chazz, Mark mayhem, Chris Chaos, Devon Raynes, & Chop Top the Clown.
TFW Champion Max Steele defeated "The Perfectionist" Josh Matthews to retain by dq when the Southern Saints jumped Steele, Steele eventually fought off the Saints.
The New Age Cowboys (Chris Kilgore & Josh Holly) defeated Attitude, Inc. (Tony Dabbs & Bless) to win the TFW Tag Team Championship. Attitude Inc. was without the services of their manager, T-Byrd, because match stipulations required him to work in the concession stand during the match. After the match T-Byrd came to the ring to console Dabbs & Bless, and they both knocked the fire out of him. Match stipulations required that The New Age Cowboys get five minutes with T-Byrd, but it only took a couple of minutes to beat him senseless.
The Main event was a Russian Chain Match, Neil "The Real Deal" Taylor w/Tony "The Weasel" Watts vs. Fusion w/Axeman. Tony Watts & Axeman were handcuffed together for the match, much to The Weasel's dismay. It was a wild match in the ring, and just as wild outside the ring. Eventual winner was Neil Taylor.
Another great show with the crowd upwards around 100 with a gate in the $500 range.
Credit: Nick from Trent's board
TFW Light Heavyweight Champion Vinnie the Blade defeated former Champion "Prime Time" Nick Grymes to retain when Nick went for his superkick, Vinnie ducked and caught Nick with a tornado DDT off the ropes.
The Southern Saints (Shawn Reed and Chris Styles) w/ Anita Paige defeated Crazy-N-Sexy w/ Dirty Reel Moe.
Tysin Starr won a six-way dance to become #1 Contender for the TFW Championship. Other participants were Chazz, Mark mayhem, Chris Chaos, Devon Raynes, & Chop Top the Clown.
TFW Champion Max Steele defeated "The Perfectionist" Josh Matthews to retain by dq when the Southern Saints jumped Steele, Steele eventually fought off the Saints.
The New Age Cowboys (Chris Kilgore & Josh Holly) defeated Attitude, Inc. (Tony Dabbs & Bless) to win the TFW Tag Team Championship. Attitude Inc. was without the services of their manager, T-Byrd, because match stipulations required him to work in the concession stand during the match. After the match T-Byrd came to the ring to console Dabbs & Bless, and they both knocked the fire out of him. Match stipulations required that The New Age Cowboys get five minutes with T-Byrd, but it only took a couple of minutes to beat him senseless.
The Main event was a Russian Chain Match, Neil "The Real Deal" Taylor w/Tony "The Weasel" Watts vs. Fusion w/Axeman. Tony Watts & Axeman were handcuffed together for the match, much to The Weasel's dismay. It was a wild match in the ring, and just as wild outside the ring. Eventual winner was Neil Taylor.
Another great show with the crowd upwards around 100 with a gate in the $500 range.
Credit: Nick from Trent's board
"What Bothers Me..." with Slick G
----Please welcome one our new semi-regular columnists for this site – Slick G. G always posts stuff on Trent’s message board and I thought I would give him a forum to express his feeling here. This column will not appear on a specific day or have a certain length, just when Slick is feeling the need to tell the visitors of RRO what bothers him, then he will send something along.
What Bothers Me - TNA’s way of thinking.
Morale seems to always be a big issue around the net when it comes to TNA wrestling. This wrestler is unhappy or these guys want their release. Recently, a rumor making its way around the Internet Wrestling Community was that Terry Taylor told some wrestlers if they wanted to go they could go. On the other hand another recent rumor says that wrestlers asking for their release from TNA have been denied.
What bothers me is why TNA would want to hold on to these wrestlers. The rumors are that a lot of these wrestlers that want out are X-Division wrestlers. If that is the case then TNA should let these guys go. These X-Division wresters are all over the indy scene. I mean be honest here is there a huge talent gap between say Petey Williams and an indy wrestler like say Josh Abercrombie? Is Shark Boy more valuable than Tyson Dux? Couldn’t Sonjay Dutt easily be replace by a guy like Xavier? Actually, if TNA were to bring in some new faces from the Indy scene for the X-Division it might actually work out better because these guys wouldn’t have the stink of jobbing so much in TNA.
I understand that TNA is trying to avoid talent leaving and becoming stars in WWE or ROH but I also think that TNA needs to worry about TNA and holding on to disgruntled stars will only be a negative for the company.
What Bothers Me - TNA’s way of thinking.
Morale seems to always be a big issue around the net when it comes to TNA wrestling. This wrestler is unhappy or these guys want their release. Recently, a rumor making its way around the Internet Wrestling Community was that Terry Taylor told some wrestlers if they wanted to go they could go. On the other hand another recent rumor says that wrestlers asking for their release from TNA have been denied.
What bothers me is why TNA would want to hold on to these wrestlers. The rumors are that a lot of these wrestlers that want out are X-Division wrestlers. If that is the case then TNA should let these guys go. These X-Division wresters are all over the indy scene. I mean be honest here is there a huge talent gap between say Petey Williams and an indy wrestler like say Josh Abercrombie? Is Shark Boy more valuable than Tyson Dux? Couldn’t Sonjay Dutt easily be replace by a guy like Xavier? Actually, if TNA were to bring in some new faces from the Indy scene for the X-Division it might actually work out better because these guys wouldn’t have the stink of jobbing so much in TNA.
I understand that TNA is trying to avoid talent leaving and becoming stars in WWE or ROH but I also think that TNA needs to worry about TNA and holding on to disgruntled stars will only be a negative for the company.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Memphis Wrestling TV Report 10.27.07
----Corey Maclin is joined with Reggie B Fine. Clip is shown of the finish of the Triple Threat tag team match from last week.
----Derrick King/Johnny Dotson with Rashard Devon interview. “Too Kool 2” [Tim Grind/Flex] come out. Good interview. Flex throws a “Haterade” shirt on DK/Dotson. TK2 beat Grind/Flex in a good match. Heat was on Flex with hot tag to Grind. Grind had Dotson pinned a few times, but the ref Jerry Calhoon was distracted. DK wrapped a chain around his hand – Brian Christopher and Ali Stevens came out and Brian C distracted DK. Grind then rolled DK up for the pin. TK2 got out of the ring after the win and gave Brian C/Ali a high-five!!
----Fed-Ex representative comes out talking about November 4 Memphis Wrestling event with “Make A Wish.” Kevin White comes out with Sue Young & Mr. White. White says he is going to win the battle royal, so pick his name and him, Sue and his dad will come take the winner [the fan] out in a limo to a Japanese restaurant. Jerry Lawler comes out with Grady Watson. Watson says, they use sushi as fishing bait in Walnut, MS.
----Ali interview. Ali talks about Rashard calling him Rashonda and saying he has his pink panties in a wad and that it must be the time of the month for them with all their whining and crying. Rashard brings out Bobo. Rashard speaks and it is 10 times better than last week. Ali beat Bobo. Ali did a military press that looked real good. Bobo then went to the floor and Ali did a dive onto Bobo/Rashard. Have you seen how big this guy is?? Bobo got heat on Ali after Rashard hit him with his laptop. Ali comeback had Rashard trying to interfere, but Ali elbowed him off the apron. Ali used a cobra clutch, which Corey called a “Japanese sleeper” for his finisher.
----Dustin Starr/Tatt2 interview. Starr is wearing Memphis Tigers trunks [Starr is a big mark for the Tigers]. Good interview from Starr – Tatt2 needs some work. Starr/Tatt2 beat The Gladiator/Hurricane Maxx. Real good match. This was match designed to get Starr/Tatt2 over and it did it. Very little heat from heels – all shine from babys. Tatt2 took a little heat and then hot tag to Starr. Starr bumped them all over and the place and pinned Maxx.
----Brian C interview. Not good as Brian stumbled over this words. Brian C by DQ over Kevin White. Good match. Shaky start, but Brian C gave White some heat and it built for a good bout. Finish had Brian C with his comeback pounding White, when Garry White jumped in for the DQ. Brian punched Garry and Garry took a good bump. Brian grabbed Young, but Kevin saved her. Ali came in to make the save for Brian C. DK/Dotson jumped in and then TK2 ran out to make the save. Gladiator, Dustin Starr, Maxx, Tatt2, Bobo and then Lawler jumps in. This finish was done to put over the Nov 4 battle royal.
NOTES
----I guess fine is the officially color commentator of Memphis Wrestling. OH ME!!!...Corey or Fine were not putting over the fact that TK2 turned from heel to baby. Maybe they don’t know whether they are keeping face or not…Grady Watson should never be on TV. White said that Tojo Yamamoto was the chef at the Japanese restaurant…The gimmick on the battle royal is that the fans pick the winner – everyone that picks the correct winner is all put together. One lucky fan that picks the winner gets a limo ride and out to eat with the winner of the battle royal…Ali’s interview was weird, but his match was much better than anything so far he has done on TV. He needs a catchy name for the cobra clutch…. Dustin has Tatt2 back as his partner this week instead of Lexx…Brian C vs White would be a real good arena bout, if given time and a clean finish…A good show with good wrestling. Fine is so bad it hurts the show at times.
----Derrick King/Johnny Dotson with Rashard Devon interview. “Too Kool 2” [Tim Grind/Flex] come out. Good interview. Flex throws a “Haterade” shirt on DK/Dotson. TK2 beat Grind/Flex in a good match. Heat was on Flex with hot tag to Grind. Grind had Dotson pinned a few times, but the ref Jerry Calhoon was distracted. DK wrapped a chain around his hand – Brian Christopher and Ali Stevens came out and Brian C distracted DK. Grind then rolled DK up for the pin. TK2 got out of the ring after the win and gave Brian C/Ali a high-five!!
----Fed-Ex representative comes out talking about November 4 Memphis Wrestling event with “Make A Wish.” Kevin White comes out with Sue Young & Mr. White. White says he is going to win the battle royal, so pick his name and him, Sue and his dad will come take the winner [the fan] out in a limo to a Japanese restaurant. Jerry Lawler comes out with Grady Watson. Watson says, they use sushi as fishing bait in Walnut, MS.
----Ali interview. Ali talks about Rashard calling him Rashonda and saying he has his pink panties in a wad and that it must be the time of the month for them with all their whining and crying. Rashard brings out Bobo. Rashard speaks and it is 10 times better than last week. Ali beat Bobo. Ali did a military press that looked real good. Bobo then went to the floor and Ali did a dive onto Bobo/Rashard. Have you seen how big this guy is?? Bobo got heat on Ali after Rashard hit him with his laptop. Ali comeback had Rashard trying to interfere, but Ali elbowed him off the apron. Ali used a cobra clutch, which Corey called a “Japanese sleeper” for his finisher.
----Dustin Starr/Tatt2 interview. Starr is wearing Memphis Tigers trunks [Starr is a big mark for the Tigers]. Good interview from Starr – Tatt2 needs some work. Starr/Tatt2 beat The Gladiator/Hurricane Maxx. Real good match. This was match designed to get Starr/Tatt2 over and it did it. Very little heat from heels – all shine from babys. Tatt2 took a little heat and then hot tag to Starr. Starr bumped them all over and the place and pinned Maxx.
----Brian C interview. Not good as Brian stumbled over this words. Brian C by DQ over Kevin White. Good match. Shaky start, but Brian C gave White some heat and it built for a good bout. Finish had Brian C with his comeback pounding White, when Garry White jumped in for the DQ. Brian punched Garry and Garry took a good bump. Brian grabbed Young, but Kevin saved her. Ali came in to make the save for Brian C. DK/Dotson jumped in and then TK2 ran out to make the save. Gladiator, Dustin Starr, Maxx, Tatt2, Bobo and then Lawler jumps in. This finish was done to put over the Nov 4 battle royal.
NOTES
----I guess fine is the officially color commentator of Memphis Wrestling. OH ME!!!...Corey or Fine were not putting over the fact that TK2 turned from heel to baby. Maybe they don’t know whether they are keeping face or not…Grady Watson should never be on TV. White said that Tojo Yamamoto was the chef at the Japanese restaurant…The gimmick on the battle royal is that the fans pick the winner – everyone that picks the correct winner is all put together. One lucky fan that picks the winner gets a limo ride and out to eat with the winner of the battle royal…Ali’s interview was weird, but his match was much better than anything so far he has done on TV. He needs a catchy name for the cobra clutch…. Dustin has Tatt2 back as his partner this week instead of Lexx…Brian C vs White would be a real good arena bout, if given time and a clean finish…A good show with good wrestling. Fine is so bad it hurts the show at times.
RassleResults: MEWA Batesville, AR - New Tag team and Ray Ray gets his shot at the Gold!!
First Match of the night was “The Suicide King” Ray Ray taking Tommy Gunn. Before the opening bell could ring Ray jumped Tommy as he entered the ring. Ray tried to use some of his dirty, underhanded tricks like the sucker handshake, and many more. Gunn was not going to go down without a fight; Tommy even went to the 2nd rope and delivered a huge elbow to Ray’s chest. Being The Suicide King, Ray managed to fight back and delivered a Frog splash to Gunn. After 10:55, the power of Tommy Gunn was just too much and his hand was raised in victory.
The Second Match of the night was “California Dream” Christopher Lee taking on Big Al. It didn’t take long for these two men to go straight to throwing fists back and forth. Lee then decided to work Al’s neck by giving him a bulldog and D.D.T causing Big Al’s game plan to be really off course for the night. Al was able to regain his edge by delivering his huge leg drop to Lee. Al really thought he had the match going his way, but Lee used an Illegal Choke to slow Al down again. Both men were pulling out all the stops; they even collided in the center of the ring as each man went to deliver a clothesline to the other. After 8:38 of the match “The Suicide King” Ray Ray came running into the ring and jumped Big Al. Lee and Ray were beating Al down when “Mr. Playboy” Tommy Wayne came to the rescue of Big Al, and that sent Lee and Ray running to the back. Al was declared the winner by D.Q. Big Al then grabbed the mic. And said next week since the Tag Team Tournament is set to begin; Al asked Tommy if he would be his partner in the tournament? Tommy said he would be his partner, but warned Al if he crossed him or screwed him over that Big Al would never be able to get inside the ring again!
Third Match of the night was newcomer “The Prime Time Player” Zane Richards taking on veteran “Hot Rod” John Ellison. This was the first time for Richards to wrestle in M.E.W and was out to be proving himself. Richards was very impressive with his high impact and huge power moves inside the ring. But taking on a true veteran like Ellison is no easy task, as Richards would soon find out. Ellison changed his style from high flying to ground and pound style for this match, keeping Richards on the mat a lot of the match as Ellison worked on Richards left knee. This really shut down Richards Huge Power Moves, allowing “Hot Rod” John Ellison to set “The Prime Time Player” Zane Richards up for his Super Kick. In a time of 8:10, “Hot Rod” John Ellison was able to score the win.
The Semi-Main Event of the night was another newcomer to M.E.W, Sgt. Shakedown taking on “Mr. Playboy” Tommy Wayne. Right after the opening bell the fans started chanting “Barney” to Sgt. Shakedown seeing that he wrestles in a police uniform. This chant enraged Shakedown and he used his night stick behind the Ref’s back to choke Wayne down. Shakedown was out to make a name for himself here in M.E.W by just blowing through and quickly beating “Mr. Playboy” Tommy Wayne. Wayne being a seasoned pro that he is was not going down without a fight. Tommy welcomed Shakedown to M.E.W by delivering some Hard Right Hands to the head of Shakedown. Sgt. decided he needed a brake and went to the outside, but Wayne chased him back inside the ring. Neither man backed up an inch going full force against the other. They even took the match outside the ring where Wayne gave Shakedown a big Suplex on the concrete floor. Once the ref. restored order Wayne had the match in control, but as he went to deliver a running shoulder block to Sgt., Sgt. moved causing Wayne to hit the Steele ring pole. But after 10:58, “Mr. Playboy” Tommy Wayne was able to hit his Frog splash and get the win.
The Main Event of the night was a Battle Royal, and the winner would get a shot at the M.E.W.A World Heavy Weight Title next week. Tommy Gunn was the first man in the ring followed by “The Suicide King” Ray Ray, and then Big Al, “The Prime Time Player” Zane Richards, “Hot Rod” John Ellison, Sgt. Shakedown and the last man in was “Mr. Playboy” Tommy Wayne. With all the great superstar’s inside the ring, the bodies were flying everywhere looking much like a car wreck. There were no friend’s in this match; it was every man for themselves wanting that shot at the gold next week. Sgt. Shakedown was the first man out the battle royal. He was followed by “The Prime Time Player” Zane Richards. With two men out of the ring, the bad blood really came out between some of the M.E.W stars. Ray Ray, Tommy Wayne and Big Al were beating each other with all they had, while John Ellison and Tommy Gunn stood back in the corner’s waiting and watching for there shot to elimanate one of the other men. “Mr. Playboy” Tommy Wayne was the next man to be thrown over the top. The next man out was “Hot Rod” John Ellison, when Ellison hit the floor; it was a very sickening sound. Ellison had to be helped to the back, not being able to stand upright. The next man to hit floor was Tommy Gunn, leaving Big Al and “The Suicide King” Ray Ray to battle for the shot at the gold. These two men picked up from where they left off from earlier in the night when Ray jumped Al. Al started beating Ray down with his huge power moves and tossing Ray around like a rag doll. Big Al had Ray up in a Monkey Slam ready to toss him to the concrete floor below, but Ray managed to catch the top rope and pull Big Al over with him causing Al’s feet to hit the floor first. After 15:05 “The Suicide King” Ray Ray managed to out last and get the victory. So next week it will be “The Suicide King” Ray Ray challenging Kid Nickels for the M.E.W.A World Heavy Weight Title.
As promised an update on the Casino Kid. A statement was released by the M.E.W.A commission Casino is still under Dr.’s care and may be able to return as soon as next week if his ankle continues to heal.
The crowd was down a little this week with 226 people in attendance.
The Second Match of the night was “California Dream” Christopher Lee taking on Big Al. It didn’t take long for these two men to go straight to throwing fists back and forth. Lee then decided to work Al’s neck by giving him a bulldog and D.D.T causing Big Al’s game plan to be really off course for the night. Al was able to regain his edge by delivering his huge leg drop to Lee. Al really thought he had the match going his way, but Lee used an Illegal Choke to slow Al down again. Both men were pulling out all the stops; they even collided in the center of the ring as each man went to deliver a clothesline to the other. After 8:38 of the match “The Suicide King” Ray Ray came running into the ring and jumped Big Al. Lee and Ray were beating Al down when “Mr. Playboy” Tommy Wayne came to the rescue of Big Al, and that sent Lee and Ray running to the back. Al was declared the winner by D.Q. Big Al then grabbed the mic. And said next week since the Tag Team Tournament is set to begin; Al asked Tommy if he would be his partner in the tournament? Tommy said he would be his partner, but warned Al if he crossed him or screwed him over that Big Al would never be able to get inside the ring again!
Third Match of the night was newcomer “The Prime Time Player” Zane Richards taking on veteran “Hot Rod” John Ellison. This was the first time for Richards to wrestle in M.E.W and was out to be proving himself. Richards was very impressive with his high impact and huge power moves inside the ring. But taking on a true veteran like Ellison is no easy task, as Richards would soon find out. Ellison changed his style from high flying to ground and pound style for this match, keeping Richards on the mat a lot of the match as Ellison worked on Richards left knee. This really shut down Richards Huge Power Moves, allowing “Hot Rod” John Ellison to set “The Prime Time Player” Zane Richards up for his Super Kick. In a time of 8:10, “Hot Rod” John Ellison was able to score the win.
The Semi-Main Event of the night was another newcomer to M.E.W, Sgt. Shakedown taking on “Mr. Playboy” Tommy Wayne. Right after the opening bell the fans started chanting “Barney” to Sgt. Shakedown seeing that he wrestles in a police uniform. This chant enraged Shakedown and he used his night stick behind the Ref’s back to choke Wayne down. Shakedown was out to make a name for himself here in M.E.W by just blowing through and quickly beating “Mr. Playboy” Tommy Wayne. Wayne being a seasoned pro that he is was not going down without a fight. Tommy welcomed Shakedown to M.E.W by delivering some Hard Right Hands to the head of Shakedown. Sgt. decided he needed a brake and went to the outside, but Wayne chased him back inside the ring. Neither man backed up an inch going full force against the other. They even took the match outside the ring where Wayne gave Shakedown a big Suplex on the concrete floor. Once the ref. restored order Wayne had the match in control, but as he went to deliver a running shoulder block to Sgt., Sgt. moved causing Wayne to hit the Steele ring pole. But after 10:58, “Mr. Playboy” Tommy Wayne was able to hit his Frog splash and get the win.
The Main Event of the night was a Battle Royal, and the winner would get a shot at the M.E.W.A World Heavy Weight Title next week. Tommy Gunn was the first man in the ring followed by “The Suicide King” Ray Ray, and then Big Al, “The Prime Time Player” Zane Richards, “Hot Rod” John Ellison, Sgt. Shakedown and the last man in was “Mr. Playboy” Tommy Wayne. With all the great superstar’s inside the ring, the bodies were flying everywhere looking much like a car wreck. There were no friend’s in this match; it was every man for themselves wanting that shot at the gold next week. Sgt. Shakedown was the first man out the battle royal. He was followed by “The Prime Time Player” Zane Richards. With two men out of the ring, the bad blood really came out between some of the M.E.W stars. Ray Ray, Tommy Wayne and Big Al were beating each other with all they had, while John Ellison and Tommy Gunn stood back in the corner’s waiting and watching for there shot to elimanate one of the other men. “Mr. Playboy” Tommy Wayne was the next man to be thrown over the top. The next man out was “Hot Rod” John Ellison, when Ellison hit the floor; it was a very sickening sound. Ellison had to be helped to the back, not being able to stand upright. The next man to hit floor was Tommy Gunn, leaving Big Al and “The Suicide King” Ray Ray to battle for the shot at the gold. These two men picked up from where they left off from earlier in the night when Ray jumped Al. Al started beating Ray down with his huge power moves and tossing Ray around like a rag doll. Big Al had Ray up in a Monkey Slam ready to toss him to the concrete floor below, but Ray managed to catch the top rope and pull Big Al over with him causing Al’s feet to hit the floor first. After 15:05 “The Suicide King” Ray Ray managed to out last and get the victory. So next week it will be “The Suicide King” Ray Ray challenging Kid Nickels for the M.E.W.A World Heavy Weight Title.
As promised an update on the Casino Kid. A statement was released by the M.E.W.A commission Casino is still under Dr.’s care and may be able to return as soon as next week if his ankle continues to heal.
The crowd was down a little this week with 226 people in attendance.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
10 Years Ago In Memphis Wrestling.......
USWA: The promotion was now considered history, apart from being a name in a lawsuit. WMC-TV5 in Memphis had dropped wrestling from its programming. The USWA syndicated tv spots in other areas had been taken over by Bert Prentice’s new promotion, Music City Wrestling. For legal and other reasons, neither Jerry Lawler nor Brian Christopher were working for the new promotion at this time. It had since come out that the co-defendant in the Selkers’ lawsuit, Larry Burton, didn’t actually exist; that ‘Larry Burton’ wasn’t his real name (his real name was unknown at this time). At this point it was thought that the lawsuits would quietly be dropped, as all the winner of the case would acquire would be a large debt, no promotion, no tv, and possible I.R.S. problems as the old USWA promotion never paid payroll taxes on the inflated wages to the likes of ‘Burton’.
Credit: www.wrestlingobserver.com
Credit: www.wrestlingobserver.com
DC Photos!!
----Apparently "DC" David Cross is also out the hospital stemming from the accident that was report on here on Thursday night. Yesterday, Rich @ www.hollywoodjimmy.com posted some photos from the accident that he got from DC's wife Brandy Faulkner's sister's myspace. Below is one of the shots of the car. CLICK HERE for all the photos!!
A Piece of my Mind-Oct 26th,2007 by "The Big Cheese" Sal Corrente
In society most things have highs and lows. It is not realistic to believe that things can maintain a high or continue to rise with no ceiling. If you pay attention to any form of media today you are well aware that the real estate industry is crashing around us. I would say that the wrestling industry isn’t far off from real estate. It is on a steady trend downward, everything about the business right now seems to be negative. What is interesting is that while thousands of people are losing millions of dollars in the housing industry, opportunity is being created for others. Isn’t the same to be said for pro wrestling? Isn’t this the time for the creative juices to get flowing? I really need to suggest that the industry leaders grab hold of this opportunity to “reinvent” the business. A very large portion of America has absolutely no interest in the product being produced today.
I believe I know what the ultimate problem is that the wrestling business is currently waiting for “Moses” to come and lead it out of Egypt. The only problem for those that are waiting is the longer it takes for that person to come along the clearer the obvious incompetence of the people producing today’s product. I think that the worst thing you can do to an audience is to bore them and WWE and TNA are boring people.
Speaking of TNA they recently had a show in Birmingham, AL with a crowd of four hundred and fifty people. That in itself doesn’t bother me; it was a return for TNA after drawing one thousand people previously. The real issue here is that the crowd didn’t grow it went backwards. They threw the best at Birmingham that they have Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe in the main event. I could sit here and list out what should be obvious to all wrestling fans. I don’t think that is necessary in this case. It is just another indicator of two things. It shows what people are feeling about the business in general today and what they think about TNA.
I lived in Concord, NC for many years, it’s close to Charlotte. When I was working around that area for different wrestling companies I was told a story about Wahoo McDaniel and Johnny Valentine. They were wrestling in the Park Center in front of about fifty people. It was a year later after working a huge program that they were turning people away. That’s the way that it should go it doesn’t matter where you start it’s where you finish that matters. It’s not hard to figure out why things turned around with those two leading the way. They were believable people got behind Wahoo McDaniel and the fans feared Johnny Valentine. Does it remind you of two of our current stars? No I guess you're right, it doesn’t remind me of anyone either.
I saw the debut of Harry Smith on RAW, I don’t think that he set the world on fire. I would say that it’s clear that he is the son of the British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith. He is a good looking kid which proves that chestnuts don’t fall far from the tree. I don’t like how he was debuted. It was like they were trying to get him the sympathy vote. In the process they buried Carlito. I wonder who he has pissed off? If you wanted to shove him down the peoples throats how about this for a concept. I think it would have been great for The Brooklyn Brawler (someone from his dad’s era) to come out and make some speech about how he used to slap his father around. He could have talked about stopping the career of Harry Smith before it even got started. They could have even started a little program and let Harry work with a real professional for awhile on house shows. Of course that would have taken someone to stop and think for a minute and just think if it had been Vince to stop and think how many noses would he have had to pull out of his rear end?
I have to say I was always a fan of the former Sunny now going by her real name of Tammy Sytch. It has been great to hear numerous people talk about her recovery and return to form. I can only imagine what a struggle that it was. I am sure the tremendous loss of Chris Candido affected her deeply. They say that what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger I hope that is true in the case of Tammy Sytch. I had the pleasure of meeting her at a Cauliflower Alley Club convention in Newark NJ. They were honoring Afa the Wild Samoan so, of course, I attended. It was a convention that also honored Vincent J. McMahon and the surprise honoring of Vincent K McMahon along with some others like Domenic DeNucci. It was great to see old acquaintances that I hadn’t seen in a long time like Pat Patterson and Freddie Blassie. It was really great to see my old buddy that I have known since he was about nine years old Dwayne Johnson “The Rock”. I got to meet Sunny on this day thanks to wrestling personality Blackjack Brown. In those days I was known as the trouble shooting referee to a lot of people and that’s how I was introduced to her. It’s a moment I am sure she wouldn’t remember and probably one that would take me alot more years to forget.
My picture this time is from the Cauliflower Alley Club convention with Tammy Sytch and myself.
This has been a piece of my mind
If you have comments you can email me at salcorrente929@hotmail.com
Friday, October 26, 2007
Cheap Heat Match of the Week by Gene Jackson
As promised this week's 'Cheap Heat Match of the Week' comes to us all the way from Japan as WWE Developmental talent/2nd Generation star Nattie Neidhart takes on TNA's newest "Knockout" Awesome Kong or Amazing Kong as she is known in Japan. Feel free to comment on the message board what you think of this match and let me know what kind of matches you'd like to see in the future.
Feature Article: Fiasco in Frisco By JD Michaels
----JD Michaels is married to the lovely April Hunter and they made th
e trip to San Fransisco for the Convention from hell!! LOL JD is currently settling in at Louisville, KY and will start for OVW real soon. JD and April are also available for booking in this area. If anyone is interested, drop me a line and I will get you hooked up with them. Pictured here are JD, Chyna and April.
CLICK HERE for more photos from the event!!
Fiasco in Frisco by JD Michaels
Where do I begin....
We were booked for months. There is no reason why this should have been the disaster it was .There was more than enough time, period.
A few weeks back we got in touch with Chris Salisbury the promoter as we were awaiting our plane tickets and itinerary. He actually was slightly offended when we told him the whole thing seemed a bit suspicious. 'I'm not from your business of liars and bullshitters, please don't disrespect me by grouping me with those who have conned you in the past. This will be very professional'....We got our plane tickets so that was a start...but this event was over before it started.
The Fiasco In 'Frisco actually started when we got our tickets. We were scheduled to arrive Wednesday afternoon in San Francisco (via Hartford, even though we told him we were moving to Louisville) which we didn't want due to the high cost of everything out there and that we would only be getting paid for our time Friday through Sunday. We changed our tickets to Thursday which cost us a $80 change fee so from the get go, things were not on our side, or pretty much any of the other wrestlers and MMA fighters as we would soon find out. We landed Thursday afternoon in Oakland (which was 45 min away from San Fran, but cheaper plane tix...Lame) and were waiting for our 'driver' until I spotted a goober running down the sidewalk damn near tripping over his own feet with a 4X6 card that read April & Jordan. I had the luxury of riding to SF in a '89 Honda with a bullshit coffee can for a muffler while April rode in a pickup truck with our luggage. Apparently limo's were supposed to pick everyone up, but they had sent the 20 seat Hummer Limo to grab the Rowdy one himself, Roddy Piper and the other limo's were temporarily MIA. We were told we could do whatever we wanted for the rest of the day and to be ready for 10am the next day when the convention would start.
We check in and run into promoter Chris by the elevator who proceeds to tell us despite getting deposits, Hall and Nash were holding out for more money and refused to get on their planes, Kurt Angle was sick and couldn't come and Sid wouldn't show either. 'I don't know how you are apart of this business. I am already sick of dealing with wrestlers and it has only been a few months' he says. As we got on the elevator he said we would receive our itineraries later on in the day. Having been seriously deprived of sleep for the last 2 weeks due to relocating to Louisville, KY we decided to go to sleep. We woke up and ordered pizza which cost 30 bones for just the one pie, and fell back asleep around 11pm with no itinerary. Alarm goes off at 8:30 and around 9:45 we are ready to go. We call Chris to see what happened with the itineraries and he said they would be handing them out around noon. 'Noon? What happened to 10am?' we asked. 'Huh? It starts at 2pm today'. Lovely, nothing like getting up 5 hrs early and ready to roll with nowhere to go.
We head downstairs to find a big pile of wrestlers waiting to go to the Cow Palace which was apparently 25 min away. But this time, the limo's did show up and started taking us over. We headed over with Scott Norton & his wife Tammy, Blue Meanie & his gf Tracey and Larry Zybysko. Good thing we honestly didn't have any expectations going into this, because they would have been out the window as soon as we got there. Many vendors (who paid insane fees to be there) had taken up about 70% of the room with trailers and booths. They had a measly 8 tables set up for the 'photo ops' and then just a bunch of gaps. Big Scott Norton says 'Where the hell are we all supposed to sit?' I didn't even see enough room for a hundred wrestlers, let alone tables for all of us. Dr. Death Steve Williams started running out of patience fast and went, grabbed a table, table cloth and set up his own spot underneath a sponsor's banner. I asked him if he thought the sponsor would ask him to move so they could set up there and he said 'I'd like to see them move me'. The Doc has a reputation of being one of the toughest the biz has seen and his victory over cancer just proves that. The Doc has hole in his throat with a button about 2 inches deep that he has to press to speak. When he speaks now, I honestly think he is more intimidating than ever. We got word some of the wrestlers were dropped off at the front door instead of the back and security wouldn't let them in without passes. WHAT? I guess Brian Knobbs and Lance Hoyt just look like fans trying to get a freebie. April and I set up a table for us and Lance Hoyt in a open space we found.
We had a good time catching up and just bullshitting as well as commentating on what was er wasn't happening. Some people have criticized Lance's work, but I could care less 'cause he is a cool cat in my book. As the day progressed we noticed one thing above all (besides the female mannequin beside us with the huge rack...only in Cali I guess)...was the lack of fans. I mean, throughout the day, probably 350 - 400 fans came through (and by talking to most of them, they all paid hundreds to be there) but for an event of this magnitude, there should have been 3500 fans. As Tracy Brooks came over to commiserate on the lack of enthusiasm of the convention amongst other things, Bubba Ray swung by with a bottle of Jack and told everyone to take a big ass swig. It helped. Another breath of fresh air was finally meeting Bob and Mike from SLAM! Wrestling. They've written a few nice pieces involving me over the years so it was nice to meet them.
The card for Friday nights show kept changing with the no shows and the TNA guys who couldn't appear on PPV. Why did this have to air on PPV anyway? Originally I was scheduled to take on Sharkboy then it got changed to vs Sharkboy and Billy Kidman in a 3 way...but that got turned into me and Kidman vs Sharkboy and someone. Then that got scrapped and I was told I would probably take on Al Snow. But Al was then put into a 5 way ECW Hardcore match which got changed into Al and the Blue Meanie vs Luke Hawx and his partner.
CLICK HERE FOR REST OF THE STORY
e trip to San Fransisco for the Convention from hell!! LOL JD is currently settling in at Louisville, KY and will start for OVW real soon. JD and April are also available for booking in this area. If anyone is interested, drop me a line and I will get you hooked up with them. Pictured here are JD, Chyna and April.CLICK HERE for more photos from the event!!
Fiasco in Frisco by JD Michaels
Where do I begin....
We were booked for months. There is no reason why this should have been the disaster it was .There was more than enough time, period.
A few weeks back we got in touch with Chris Salisbury the promoter as we were awaiting our plane tickets and itinerary. He actually was slightly offended when we told him the whole thing seemed a bit suspicious. 'I'm not from your business of liars and bullshitters, please don't disrespect me by grouping me with those who have conned you in the past. This will be very professional'....We got our plane tickets so that was a start...but this event was over before it started.
The Fiasco In 'Frisco actually started when we got our tickets. We were scheduled to arrive Wednesday afternoon in San Francisco (via Hartford, even though we told him we were moving to Louisville) which we didn't want due to the high cost of everything out there and that we would only be getting paid for our time Friday through Sunday. We changed our tickets to Thursday which cost us a $80 change fee so from the get go, things were not on our side, or pretty much any of the other wrestlers and MMA fighters as we would soon find out. We landed Thursday afternoon in Oakland (which was 45 min away from San Fran, but cheaper plane tix...Lame) and were waiting for our 'driver' until I spotted a goober running down the sidewalk damn near tripping over his own feet with a 4X6 card that read April & Jordan. I had the luxury of riding to SF in a '89 Honda with a bullshit coffee can for a muffler while April rode in a pickup truck with our luggage. Apparently limo's were supposed to pick everyone up, but they had sent the 20 seat Hummer Limo to grab the Rowdy one himself, Roddy Piper and the other limo's were temporarily MIA. We were told we could do whatever we wanted for the rest of the day and to be ready for 10am the next day when the convention would start.
We check in and run into promoter Chris by the elevator who proceeds to tell us despite getting deposits, Hall and Nash were holding out for more money and refused to get on their planes, Kurt Angle was sick and couldn't come and Sid wouldn't show either. 'I don't know how you are apart of this business. I am already sick of dealing with wrestlers and it has only been a few months' he says. As we got on the elevator he said we would receive our itineraries later on in the day. Having been seriously deprived of sleep for the last 2 weeks due to relocating to Louisville, KY we decided to go to sleep. We woke up and ordered pizza which cost 30 bones for just the one pie, and fell back asleep around 11pm with no itinerary. Alarm goes off at 8:30 and around 9:45 we are ready to go. We call Chris to see what happened with the itineraries and he said they would be handing them out around noon. 'Noon? What happened to 10am?' we asked. 'Huh? It starts at 2pm today'. Lovely, nothing like getting up 5 hrs early and ready to roll with nowhere to go.
We head downstairs to find a big pile of wrestlers waiting to go to the Cow Palace which was apparently 25 min away. But this time, the limo's did show up and started taking us over. We headed over with Scott Norton & his wife Tammy, Blue Meanie & his gf Tracey and Larry Zybysko. Good thing we honestly didn't have any expectations going into this, because they would have been out the window as soon as we got there. Many vendors (who paid insane fees to be there) had taken up about 70% of the room with trailers and booths. They had a measly 8 tables set up for the 'photo ops' and then just a bunch of gaps. Big Scott Norton says 'Where the hell are we all supposed to sit?' I didn't even see enough room for a hundred wrestlers, let alone tables for all of us. Dr. Death Steve Williams started running out of patience fast and went, grabbed a table, table cloth and set up his own spot underneath a sponsor's banner. I asked him if he thought the sponsor would ask him to move so they could set up there and he said 'I'd like to see them move me'. The Doc has a reputation of being one of the toughest the biz has seen and his victory over cancer just proves that. The Doc has hole in his throat with a button about 2 inches deep that he has to press to speak. When he speaks now, I honestly think he is more intimidating than ever. We got word some of the wrestlers were dropped off at the front door instead of the back and security wouldn't let them in without passes. WHAT? I guess Brian Knobbs and Lance Hoyt just look like fans trying to get a freebie. April and I set up a table for us and Lance Hoyt in a open space we found.
We had a good time catching up and just bullshitting as well as commentating on what was er wasn't happening. Some people have criticized Lance's work, but I could care less 'cause he is a cool cat in my book. As the day progressed we noticed one thing above all (besides the female mannequin beside us with the huge rack...only in Cali I guess)...was the lack of fans. I mean, throughout the day, probably 350 - 400 fans came through (and by talking to most of them, they all paid hundreds to be there) but for an event of this magnitude, there should have been 3500 fans. As Tracy Brooks came over to commiserate on the lack of enthusiasm of the convention amongst other things, Bubba Ray swung by with a bottle of Jack and told everyone to take a big ass swig. It helped. Another breath of fresh air was finally meeting Bob and Mike from SLAM! Wrestling. They've written a few nice pieces involving me over the years so it was nice to meet them.
The card for Friday nights show kept changing with the no shows and the TNA guys who couldn't appear on PPV. Why did this have to air on PPV anyway? Originally I was scheduled to take on Sharkboy then it got changed to vs Sharkboy and Billy Kidman in a 3 way...but that got turned into me and Kidman vs Sharkboy and someone. Then that got scrapped and I was told I would probably take on Al Snow. But Al was then put into a 5 way ECW Hardcore match which got changed into Al and the Blue Meanie vs Luke Hawx and his partner.
CLICK HERE FOR REST OF THE STORY
Poll Results and New Poll!!
----Al Snow defeated Robert Gibson and Tony Atlas in the Who Would Be A Better Trainer? Poll. I have to agree with the visitors here. I like Gibson a lot and think he could add some stuff, but overall Snow would be a better trainer.
Al Snow 54%
Robert Gibson 37%
Tony Atlas 7%
----I am always stating about this guy and that guy should get a break from this area. How does our top guy stack up to the guys in the WWE/TNA?? What show would our top guy best be suited for?? Derrick King was RRO Wrestler of the Year 2006 and with votes was considered the top guy here. Vote and put him on the show that you think his talent would be best utilized.
Shows Of The Weekend Add Ons and Notes
Shows of The Weekend Add-On
-----TONIGHT!! for “Sex & Violence” at the Rally Point In Memphis, TN. Justin Sane vs Chair, Baby Oil Match: Ann Arky vs Sahy-rah vs Cookie, Sick Fuck Championship of The Universe: Fort Goth [c] vs Atsushi “Bars” Tonita [Tony Myers] vs Super Leatherface. All Matches Will Be Held IN A 20 Foot by 45 Barbed-Wire Steel Cage – Fans Bring All Weapons!! The bands Strange Blue and Area 69 will be there also. $7 at the door and you have be 18 to enter the club. Show starts at 9:00 PM.
----Psycho will be in Rector, AR tonight and XOW on Saturday night – not GTW like was posted.
----Saturday Senitobia, MS for All Pro 12:00 PM Psycho, Candyman, Pappy, Giant Hillbilly, Antoin LeVeigh, Brandon Barbwire, Sarge O’Reilly and more.
-----TONIGHT!! for “Sex & Violence” at the Rally Point In Memphis, TN. Justin Sane vs Chair, Baby Oil Match: Ann Arky vs Sahy-rah vs Cookie, Sick Fuck Championship of The Universe: Fort Goth [c] vs Atsushi “Bars” Tonita [Tony Myers] vs Super Leatherface. All Matches Will Be Held IN A 20 Foot by 45 Barbed-Wire Steel Cage – Fans Bring All Weapons!! The bands Strange Blue and Area 69 will be there also. $7 at the door and you have be 18 to enter the club. Show starts at 9:00 PM.
----Psycho will be in Rector, AR tonight and XOW on Saturday night – not GTW like was posted.
----Saturday Senitobia, MS for All Pro 12:00 PM Psycho, Candyman, Pappy, Giant Hillbilly, Antoin LeVeigh, Brandon Barbwire, Sarge O’Reilly and more.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Cheap Heat- 10.25.07 by Gene Jackson
WRESTLING LEGENDS CLUSTERFEST...COMING SOON TO A TOWN NEAR YOU
What the hell is the deal with all these fucked up legend shows and conventions. It seems every other week someone is promoting some big wrestling legends show or fanfest that turns out to be a complete disaster with the wrestlers AND the fans getting screwed. Do these people just get in over their head? or do they go into it knowing they are gonna take whatever money they can get and bail on the whole thing? Say what you want about Sal (and will later in the column) but those WrestleReunions he did didn't turn out that way, the shows with through as planned with everyone getting what they were promised, fans and wrestlers (or at least from all accounts I've ever heard) So that's pretty impressive when you see what clusterfucks these others turn into. There's been three in just the past few weeks, that thing up in Indiana or Kentucky or wherever it was, then the shit in Little Rock, the one last week in San Francisco and the bad thing is that all it does is make it harder on the legitimate people who want to actually run one. The guys get burned a few times so then it makes them more demanding and skeptical of promoters. The fans get burned by shelling out for expensive tickets and then not getting who they were promised so now they are not likely to go to the next one. This is part of what gives wrestling it's sleazy reputation cause there are so many con artists, crooks, and scum bags that use it to rip people off and try to make a quick buck. It happens on the large and small scale. On the local level I know a lot of promoters who have had hell running certain towns that used to draw but they couldn't get a building cause the last person ran off without paying the rent, or they can't get on the local tv station because some asshole promoter stiffed them years ago, or you get the building and you can't draw cause somebody ran a shit show with a bunch of untrained idiots and killed the town. Well enough about that, not like it's ever gonna change....
SPEAKING OF SAL CORRENTE.............
I admittedly was one of his more vocal critics when the whole Lawler case unfolded and really just assumed he was some indy manager trying to make a name for himself (not saying that's entirely untrue) but the fact is the more I read his columns (which I enjoy) I see he does have a history in the business and has been around a long time and done a lot of different things (the most amusing being carrying Vince's bags) Anyways, I was kinda skeptical when I heard he was joining the site, afraid that it would be a weekly rehash of the Lawler/Memphis ordeal but I have to admit he writes some interesting stuff and it's cool to learn some about his background in wrestling, although seeing how long he's been around and some of the people he's worked with and things he's been involved with make the whole lawsuit thing more baffling, all and all I have to say I think that Sal is a great additition to the site and would like to extend a belated welcome to him.
DIDN'T KNOW BRIAN WAS AN AWESOME KONG FAN
I must admit I'm one of the people BT was reffering to in his last column that asked "w
hy couldn't it have been one of the other women whose tits fell out?" In response to him as far as why I said that, it could be her striking resemblence to one of the lunch ladies at my high school, I didn't want to see her tits fall out either. Although, I did get footage of a match from Japan with Amazing (Awesome) Kong taking on Nattie Neidhart that I plan to post as the 'Cheap Heat Match of the Week' on friday.
INSTANT HEAT...JUST PICK A NAME AND POST
I don't get it.....I seriously don't get it. These people go on message boards and talk shit under fake names and so-called PROFESSIONAL wrestlers and promoters will sit there and argue with these assholes and put them over for weeks and weeks. It's sad when some faceless prick has more heat than anyone on your show cause you sit there and put him over on a freakin' message board. Am I the only one who sees the stupidity in this?? It's bad enough when column writers sit and put over every negative message that get's posted about them but then you have these people wasting pages and pages of space arguing about whether some pussy is gonna show up at there show that doesn't draw shit anyway. Who cares?? They get on there on sunday and brag about how the person didn't show up, well no shit, they don't have the balls to put their damn name on the internet, is there really any chance at all they will show up face to face? Everyone just looks stupid when they put these people over, that is why I'm not even mentioning any of the names here cause I refuse to put these assholes over for being internet pussies. Nor will you see anyone here offer to let them write their own column. Mind blowing, fucking mind blowing.
RANDOM THOUGHTS
Ok, so here is just a bunch of random stuff that doesn't get it's own paragraph. Jim Cornette is finally gonna marry his long time fiance known in wrestling circles as Synn on halloween night, congrats to the Louisville Slugger, If BT likes Awesome Kong, I'm sure he's fan of Synn, lol.......People think I hate the Rock & Roll Express and that's really not the case, I loved them growing up, I just can't see myself shedding a tear for them because they were too stupid to make the most out of what they were given in their heyday. With all the money they made back in the day it's sad that these guys and others like them are in the state they are now. Hopefully they can find a life after wrestling and do something besides try to live off their 80's stardom....Triple H and Stephanie are celebrating their 4th anniversary soon, congrats to another happy couple.......So it looks like ECW will live on after being renewed by Sci-Fi, now if WWE would just get serious about establishing it as it's own brand maybe it could be successful.....CM Punk is really over and could really be a break out star on that show along with John Morrison, both would be stuck in the mid-card on RAW but could really become main event established stars if handled right on ECW....Why was it such a big deal that Austin briefly mentioned TNA in an interview with David '!-800-Collect" Arquette and then WWE.com took it down, people acted like it was some grand conspiracy or something. Why is that so shocking?..I just got the new 4 disc Juggalo Championshit Wrestling Slam TV dvd set in today and have it on while I'm typing this. The wrestling is not very good but the commentary is freakin' hilarious, check it out if you get a chance......On the flipside of the 'happy couples' mentioned earlier Bret Hart recently divorced his second wife, I wonder if he's blame Vince McMahon??
Well that's all for today. I apologize for my lack of posting but I've got the holidays and an inventory coming up at work so I haven't had much free time lately.
Also as I go to post this I just read about DC and Brandy, I wish them both a speedy recovery and hopefully there's no long term serious effects from the accident.
genejackson@charter.net
GENE
What the hell is the deal with all these fucked up legend shows and conventions. It seems every other week someone is promoting some big wrestling legends show or fanfest that turns out to be a complete disaster with the wrestlers AND the fans getting screwed. Do these people just get in over their head? or do they go into it knowing they are gonna take whatever money they can get and bail on the whole thing? Say what you want about Sal (and will later in the column) but those WrestleReunions he did didn't turn out that way, the shows with through as planned with everyone getting what they were promised, fans and wrestlers (or at least from all accounts I've ever heard) So that's pretty impressive when you see what clusterfucks these others turn into. There's been three in just the past few weeks, that thing up in Indiana or Kentucky or wherever it was, then the shit in Little Rock, the one last week in San Francisco and the bad thing is that all it does is make it harder on the legitimate people who want to actually run one. The guys get burned a few times so then it makes them more demanding and skeptical of promoters. The fans get burned by shelling out for expensive tickets and then not getting who they were promised so now they are not likely to go to the next one. This is part of what gives wrestling it's sleazy reputation cause there are so many con artists, crooks, and scum bags that use it to rip people off and try to make a quick buck. It happens on the large and small scale. On the local level I know a lot of promoters who have had hell running certain towns that used to draw but they couldn't get a building cause the last person ran off without paying the rent, or they can't get on the local tv station because some asshole promoter stiffed them years ago, or you get the building and you can't draw cause somebody ran a shit show with a bunch of untrained idiots and killed the town. Well enough about that, not like it's ever gonna change....
SPEAKING OF SAL CORRENTE.............
I admittedly was one of his more vocal critics when the whole Lawler case unfolded and really just assumed he was some indy manager trying to make a name for himself (not saying that's entirely untrue) but the fact is the more I read his columns (which I enjoy) I see he does have a history in the business and has been around a long time and done a lot of different things (the most amusing being carrying Vince's bags) Anyways, I was kinda skeptical when I heard he was joining the site, afraid that it would be a weekly rehash of the Lawler/Memphis ordeal but I have to admit he writes some interesting stuff and it's cool to learn some about his background in wrestling, although seeing how long he's been around and some of the people he's worked with and things he's been involved with make the whole lawsuit thing more baffling, all and all I have to say I think that Sal is a great additition to the site and would like to extend a belated welcome to him.
DIDN'T KNOW BRIAN WAS AN AWESOME KONG FAN
I must admit I'm one of the people BT was reffering to in his last column that asked "w
hy couldn't it have been one of the other women whose tits fell out?" In response to him as far as why I said that, it could be her striking resemblence to one of the lunch ladies at my high school, I didn't want to see her tits fall out either. Although, I did get footage of a match from Japan with Amazing (Awesome) Kong taking on Nattie Neidhart that I plan to post as the 'Cheap Heat Match of the Week' on friday.INSTANT HEAT...JUST PICK A NAME AND POST
I don't get it.....I seriously don't get it. These people go on message boards and talk shit under fake names and so-called PROFESSIONAL wrestlers and promoters will sit there and argue with these assholes and put them over for weeks and weeks. It's sad when some faceless prick has more heat than anyone on your show cause you sit there and put him over on a freakin' message board. Am I the only one who sees the stupidity in this?? It's bad enough when column writers sit and put over every negative message that get's posted about them but then you have these people wasting pages and pages of space arguing about whether some pussy is gonna show up at there show that doesn't draw shit anyway. Who cares?? They get on there on sunday and brag about how the person didn't show up, well no shit, they don't have the balls to put their damn name on the internet, is there really any chance at all they will show up face to face? Everyone just looks stupid when they put these people over, that is why I'm not even mentioning any of the names here cause I refuse to put these assholes over for being internet pussies. Nor will you see anyone here offer to let them write their own column. Mind blowing, fucking mind blowing.
RANDOM THOUGHTS
Ok, so here is just a bunch of random stuff that doesn't get it's own paragraph. Jim Cornette is finally gonna marry his long time fiance known in wrestling circles as Synn on halloween night, congrats to the Louisville Slugger, If BT likes Awesome Kong, I'm sure he's fan of Synn, lol.......People think I hate the Rock & Roll Express and that's really not the case, I loved them growing up, I just can't see myself shedding a tear for them because they were too stupid to make the most out of what they were given in their heyday. With all the money they made back in the day it's sad that these guys and others like them are in the state they are now. Hopefully they can find a life after wrestling and do something besides try to live off their 80's stardom....Triple H and Stephanie are celebrating their 4th anniversary soon, congrats to another happy couple.......So it looks like ECW will live on after being renewed by Sci-Fi, now if WWE would just get serious about establishing it as it's own brand maybe it could be successful.....CM Punk is really over and could really be a break out star on that show along with John Morrison, both would be stuck in the mid-card on RAW but could really become main event established stars if handled right on ECW....Why was it such a big deal that Austin briefly mentioned TNA in an interview with David '!-800-Collect" Arquette and then WWE.com took it down, people acted like it was some grand conspiracy or something. Why is that so shocking?..I just got the new 4 disc Juggalo Championshit Wrestling Slam TV dvd set in today and have it on while I'm typing this. The wrestling is not very good but the commentary is freakin' hilarious, check it out if you get a chance......On the flipside of the 'happy couples' mentioned earlier Bret Hart recently divorced his second wife, I wonder if he's blame Vince McMahon??
Well that's all for today. I apologize for my lack of posting but I've got the holidays and an inventory coming up at work so I haven't had much free time lately.
Also as I go to post this I just read about DC and Brandy, I wish them both a speedy recovery and hopefully there's no long term serious effects from the accident.
genejackson@charter.net
GENE
DC HAS BROKEN NECK!!
----I just got word that David Cross has a broken neck. Brandy Faulkner has been sent home from the hospital. They also are not sure if DC will be paralyzed or not. Our prayers are with family and friends.
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