INSIDE: THE MIZ n JOE E. LEGEND n WW-GEEK n CORNETTE IV n NWA 2K10 n FUTURE OF ROH?

n MORE
 CONTENTS
4 WORLD NEWS
“It's virtually a lock someone from
31 WW-GEEK
“So what am I getting at? Well, to
developmental will be replacing put it bluntly, where wrestling was
Michael Cole as announcer for once populated by superhumans
NXT.” and ‘macho men’ far removed
from the rest of us wrestling
geeks, wrestling now features
6 CHRIS JERICHO INTERVIEW
“The thing is, I have been doing
many of these geeks as ‘stars'."
this for 20 years. I have a lot of
good will built up with the fans
and people appreciate the hard
36 BRAVO CLOSING - WHERE
DOES IMPACT GO FROM
THE WRESTLING work that I do, so if I turned baby
HERE?
PRESS face tomorrow they would buy it." “TNA though are remaining
ISSuE 10 positive and upbeat about the
announcement of the closure and
THE CHRIS JERICHO YEARS
CONTACT
ed@thewrestling
press.com
16 “Chris Jericho was the rock star
seem confident in their future on
UK television.”
you dreamed of being, mixed with
the guy in high school that you COUNT-OUT WITH NOEL
CONTRIBUTORS
Phil Austin
Dusty Wolfe
couldn’t stand to be around.” 38 HARLOW
Matt Singh “The day before Mothers Day a
few years back I was doing a
Justin LaBar
Mark Satrang
Rob Sivell
20 HOW WILL HISTORY JUDGE
THE NEXUS? show at the ECW Arena and a fan
punched me in the face and gave
John Milner “But with Nexus, you are seeing a
me a black eye. I ended up
The CYNIC group unique in the history of
David Schmida knocking him on his behind."
professional wrestling. This is not
Dark Kitty
Darren Wood
a collection of elite, established

The Wrestling Press is

stars. Instead, the Nexus looks to
be a vehicle to introduce a 42 GIVING OUR BLESSINGS
WITH THE WRESTLING
an independent number of young stars to the main PRIEST: FERGAL DEVITT
publication and is in
roster all at once." “While most Western fans will
no way endorsed by
or affiliated with any think of Sheamus or Finley when
wrestling group, asked to name a successful Irish
including WWE and
TNA. The views
24 THE MIZ IS AWESOME
“A man simply known as The Miz
wrestler of the last few years,
there is one wrestler who is
expressed by the blew my mind with his promo on
writers does not garnering just as much success in
the September 6 edition of
necessarily represent the wrestling world.”
Monday Night RAW.”
the views of The
Wrestling Press. No
part of this publication
may be reproduced
TNA WOES, AND SOLUTIONS
28 “The problem can be laid directly 44 CURT HENNIG BIOGRAPHY
“In 1982, Hennig went to the
without the written WWF for the first time, tagging
permission of the at the feet of the guys in charge, with another future star and 2nd
publisher. namely Vince Russo (head writer), generation wrestler, “Hot Stuff”
© Riot! Promotions 2010
Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan.” Eddie Gilbert.”

2 www.thewrestlingpress.com
50 A CYNICAL MIND: IT IS FLEETING, IT
IS EPHEMERAL, IT MEANS NOTHING 76 NATHAN CRUZ THE SHOWSTEALER
- AND RIGHTLY SO
“Wrestling is seedy. It’s on the margins. It “It was a brilliantly constructed storyline
needs a clear out. Not of grapplers though. that culminated in a truly amazing Last
Of management and their outmoded man standing match.”
ideas.”
PBW - THE BEST IN THE LAND?

52 JIM CORNETTE INTERVIEW 80 “PBW helped current WWE superstar

“And of course, Tyler Black and Davey Drew McIntyre by giving him the platform
Richards which to me compared with a Ric to perform and hone his craft.”
Flair/Ricky Steamboat match.”

ROH: WHERE TO GO NOW?

84 MANIACO CRAZY INTERVIEW
“I’ve always been rebellious and quirky,
57 “The change in booking style under you can say I always was a little crazy.”
Pearce has rocked RoH’s position as the
perceived number three promotion in
America, with close rivals Pro Wrestling 86 UFC CLOSE TO ONTARIO MOVE
“Not only is the Ontario area a hotbed of
Guerrilla, Chikara and Dragon Gate USA MMA fandom, but with the opening up of
not far behind." that area also comes a huge step towards
what many in UFC management believe to
NWA 2K10 be the holy land; namely MMA being le-
60 “He is a very good choice as champion, galised in the state of New York.”
bringing credibility back to the NWA title.”
SHOWING COURAGE
BACK FROM THE BRINK
89 “GSW is going to present a weekly ninety
62 “Don't get back in the ring again. I’m sorry minute wrestling show revolving around
but your wrestling career is over, go play the promotion’s talents.”
chess”.”
TWP REVIEW
92 THE STRANGER
67 HORST HOFFMAN BIOGRAPHY
“He quickly became one of the biggest 93 WRESTLEMANIA 26
stars continental Europe had to offer and 94 ORIG WILLIAMS BIOGRAPHY
went on to win a great amount of 96 FWA ART OF WAR
tournaments.”
97 UFC: RAMPAGE GREATEST HITS
JOE E. LEGEND INTERVIEW
68 “I did another movie with Johnny Storm in 98 THE WOLFE PIT
England a few years ago. I will never forget “I met Lance when he was training here in
that one. It was the day they found Benoit’s San Antonio. Lance was all of 18, and
family dead. I really didn’t believe it, so we constantly hanging with “Spanky” Brian
went back to the director’s office to watch Kendrick. They were a pair that made me
RAW and, sadly, it was a reality." grin every time I saw them.”

RETROWRESTLING INTERVIEW Winners of last issue’s Abdullah signed

73 “My most memorable experience has to be
shoot DVD’s are: Stephen Tansey of
Liverpool, Phil from Worcester, Luke
when I was invited to meet Don Matthews
Faith of London, Mark Fox from Tyne &
(William Regal's Father) at his home.”
Wear and James Shaw of Stoke-on-Trent.

www.thewrestlingpress.com 3
The Wrestling Scoop
With Mike Aldren

Courtesy of
THE WRESTLING GLOBE Newsletter

WWE has updated it's Talent Wellness married to WWE agent Fit Finlay! Nanette
Program following events in Europe with the Michelle Stone, 35, faces a maximum of 16 years
Smackdown crew. The most significant in jail for two Class C felony charges of forgery.
change is that the drug Carisprodol (Somas)
Hogan is pitching a new TV series called
has been added to the banned substance list,
Hogan's Court where he handles disputes
and there will be no medical use exemption.
between siblings. Punishments may include
More updates to the program are expected to
picking up dog poop. Seriously...
be announced publicly at a later date. Former
WWE announcer Jim Ross on his website Kevin Kelly of Ring of Honor on Vince going nuts
www.jrsbarbq.com welcomed the news. "I at announcers in the headsets, he said: "It was
think that's a great idea. Too many wrestlers easy for me. I just turned the volume down and
took/take Somas recreationally, much like then would apologize later. He never said
wrestlers used to smoke weed in the '70s. anything to me that was accurate or helpful on the
Prescription pill abuse is a huge enemy of all headset. Now, JR, on the other hand was a terrific
wrestlers who abuse them. Pain medicine, producer for the announcers and the few times I
Somas, Ambien, and Xanax are an evil worked with him in that capacity, it was great!"
mixture especially when mixed with alcohol Kevin Nash' contract
and taken in excess." expires on 12th October
Matt Hardy's future with and at this point his
WWE has been determ- final date is Bound For
ined but neither side is Glory on 10/10. Most
talking. Hardy has been people in the company
active on Twitter and assume he will sign a
noted that he is looking new deal soon despite a
for a professional writer Twitter rant in which he
to help pen his autobiography. buried Jeff Hardy and
It's virtually a lock someone from develop- Rob Van Dam. Nash has
mental will be replacing Michael Cole as told friends recently
announcer for NXT. The show this past that he wants out, but they took it that he
Tuesday night did a 1.0 rating and averaged was just venting.
1.2 million viewers. Sean "Syxx-Pac" Waltman was arrested and
There’s a strange story of an Indiana woman wo charged with CDS possession while passing
was arrested after she attempted to purchase through New Jersey. He was busted by port
two properties while falsely claiming she was authority police at Newark Airport who

4 www.thewrestlingpress.com
processed him before eventually releasing him from TNA. "To be honest, and no disrespect
without bail. meant, but it wasn't a hard decision to make.
You have to want to test yourself against the
Triple H's unofficial role
best and WWE is the pinnacle of our industry.
as a senior adviser (to
They were actually the last to make me an
Vince McMahon) was
offer. I was renegotiating with ROH and TNA
recently formalized as
had made an offer, but when WWE came in it
he was given his own
was no contest. I understand that I may have
office at WWE's head-
to sacrifice a little artistic integrity – and I
quarters in Stamford,
don't know if I'll have to change my name –
CT. It's believed that he
but I'm so excited about the challenge that
will be transitioning to
lies ahead." Black finished up with ROH by
the corporate side of
dropping the heavyweight title to Rodrick
the business and
Strong.
winding down his in-
ring career over the next few years in The Winnipeg Sun
readiness for the day that McMahon, 65, reported on the mistress
hands over the business to Stephanie. of Billy Gunn / Kip James
(Monty Sopp) who has
Legendary, WWE Studios' sports drama with
been publishing audio
John Cena, Danny Glover and Patricia Clarson
rec-ordings, videos and
didn't fare too well in it's first week limited
photos from her affair
release at the U.S. box office. The film showed
with him after it ended.
in 178 theaters over its debut weekend and was
estimated at doing a little over $135,000 or Sopp, who is married, says 24-year-old Deb-
$764 per screen. orah Simmons has been harassing him after his
wife became aware of their affair. Simmons had
Critics generally gave the film a negative
posted several photos of her together with Sopp
response with many calling it predictable and
on her Facebook page.
overdone.
Chris Jericho recently turned down a spot
on Dancing with the Stars due to a
scheduling conflict but said he would love
Next Month
to do the show in the future should the For the next edition of TWP we shall have an
opportunity arise. exclusive interview with ‘Stone Cold’ Steve
Austin, along with 5 copies of his latest movie
Joey Styles' WWE talent contract recently to give away. Also planned are debut articles
expired although he remains with WWE's New from Japanese and Australian corres-
Media department. pondents, and an extensive look at tag teams
on the independent circuit.
Rob McNichol on Tyler
We hope you enjoy our efforts this issue. It
Black signing with
was a lot of hard work so please spread the
WWE.... Black, 24, says
word about the greatest free wrestling mag on
he was renegotiating with the net today!
ROH but Evan Bourne
As ever, looking forward to your comments,
convinced him to sign
suggestions and feedback.
here and that he also
turned down an offer – Ed ([email protected])

To receive all the latest professional wrestling news and gossip direct to your mailbox send an
email to [email protected]

www.thewrestlingpress.com 5
 He has won 22 championships in his
WWE career, he was the first ever
undisputed WWE Champion and
since his debut in 1990 he has enter-
tained fans throughout the world.
TWP’s Darren Wood managed to
grab an exclusive interview with
Fozzy lead singer, WWE superstar
and the best in the world at what he
does - Chris Jericho. .. .

Right first question Fozzy started off as a tribute

band and some people really didn’t take you guys
seriously – now it seems though Fozzy are a legit-
imate hard hitting rock band, what made you de-
cide to take the band in a more serious direction?
It started off as more of a hobby, just a bunch of guys get-
ting together to play some songs that we liked and as a
result we got offered a record deal by the guy who signed
Metallica & Anthrax. He wanted us to make an album of
covers and we were kind of confused by it, but like any
self respecting musician we took the cash and made the
record (laughs).
I wanted to be more than a cover band, I mean it was fine
at first, but a couple of years later Rich Ward [guitarist of
Fozzy and Stuck Mojo] and I were saying to each other
we enjoy playing together, we have good chemistry as a
band, we’re good friends and we wanna keep going with
this. So we switched the focus of what Fozzy was doing
at first into more original stuff. I think our last album ‘All
That Remains’ was really a transition record where peo-
ple who thought these guys were just a cover band lis-
tened to the record and realised how good the tunes were
and how good the band was. For this album ‘Chasing The
Grail’ it’s kind of taken us to a whole new level, its one of
those things where at this point in time – ten years later
since we started, people have (a) forgotten about the
cover albums and are just enjoying the original tunes
and (b) really have seen what we do live and seen that
we have really turned the corner. It’s been a great last
couple of years to see the band grow, especially in the
UK. We do great business over there and draw great
crowds, selling out most of our shows. At this point in
time people enjoy the music for what it is.

8 www.thewrestlingpress.com
It must be very gratifying to receive such ting bigger because I know what it takes to be
positive reviews for this, your fourth studio successful as I have done it with Chris Jericho
album, after being dismissed as a tribute in wrestling against all odds, so to speak.
band all those years ago.
It’s very gratifying; I’ve been playing in bands It seems that you have done a pretty good
since I was 12 years old. As a kid I wanted to be job, distinguishing and separating Chris Jeri-
a wrestler and a rock star. Even before I was cho the rock star and Chris Jericho the WWE
wrestling, I was playing in bands and even when superstar. Was it a hard thing to do and when
I started wrestling I was still writing songs, play- live on stage with Fozzy, is it imperative to
ing those songs in bars and stuff like that. Some show that different side of your personality?
people don’t get to live out their dream but I have Not really because they stem from the same
seen my dreams come into fruition and for them place, I mean whether it’s wrestling or its fozzy
to both have varying levels of success is very they are both entertaining the crowd. Making
gratifying. It’s taken a lot of hard work, a lot of sure that people have a great time. So that’s all
shows and a lot of songs that have been part of what you’re doing, it’s what being in show
recorded. To be able to go to the UK like we are business and being a showman is all about,
in October and do 10 shows in 10 days across there’s a lot of similarities with what I do with
Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and fozzy and what I do with WWE in terms of the
England is great. To do shows all around the reaction of what the crowd gives you. They are
world is very rewarding and I am very blessed in both very hard hitting and very aggressive forms
the fact that I have two dreams that I am living of entertainment, you want to be the party host
and able to do both. It’s a great time to be in the in both cases and make sure that people have
band for sure. fun and influence them. If they’re having a great
time you end up having a great time and it be-
You said earlier you wanted to be a rock star comes a better show because of that.
since you were 12 years old, so how come in-
stead of pursuing that passion first you in- THEY HAVE KIND OF FORGOTTEN
stead chose to pursue professional wrestling?
THAT JERICHO’S A WRESTLER,
I love them both equally and growing up in Win-
IT’S TWO SEPARATE THINGS
nipeg, Canada, the music scene consisted of
The Guess Who and The Crash Test Dummies, Being in the WWE also I’m playing a character
there wasn’t a lot around in the music scene. so, my character right now is one that is very an-
I just really got into the wrestling side of things tagonistic, he enjoys making people angry but
when I was about 17, so it was just one of those with Fozzy it’s more a character of the party
things where wrestling was the path I went host. But they both stem from the same place
down, it could just have easily been music if which is the reason why Fozzy is a great repre-
there were the same opportunities afforded. It al- sentation of a live band because we are very en-
most worked out for the best because obviously
I was a huge wrestling fan and I had a massive
passion for wrestling. I really got to explore that As a kid I
for the first 10 years of my career and then wanted to be
Fozzy started in 2000, so it has really been dou- a wrestler
ble duty in the last 10 years. It’s great though be-
cause I am seeing Fozzy grow and seeing the
and a rock
snowball roll down the hill, the same way I did star
with Chris Jericho 15 years ago. I’ve been very
fortunate to see lightning strike twice and I think
it’s one of the reasons why Fozzy is big and get-

www.thewrestlingpress.com 9
tertaining. Rich and I know how to entertain a Being a wrestler, were there any problems
crowd with us being in show business for 20 plus getting your name out there or generally
years. Show business is show business whether being accepted in the music industry?
its wrestling, rock and roll, being a game show Yeah absolutely. I mean there was a lot of people
host – it doesn’t matter, it’s still all about the con- who checked out the band because of who I was,
nection with the crowd and being in front of a live but there was just as many people who didn’t
audience. check out the band because I was in it. I think peo-
ple were like: He’s a wrestler, how can he possibly
I suppose wrestling is a great start for being sing, how can he possibly do both? After a while,
a showman? with the band being around for so long now, it
It’s not just a great start it’s the best start, that’s seems it’s got to the point where I could be a
one of the reasons why I made it in the first butcher, a baker, a candlestick maker – it doesn’t
place. When I started wrestling it was all about matter as long as it’s good music. I think people
size, I didn’t have the size in 1990 – I wasn’t really appreciate the music, the level of consis-
three hundred pounds – so I thought how can I tency that we have and the diversity of the band.
make a mark in the wrestling business and fig- They have kind of forgotten that Jericho’s a
ured that I needed to have the biggest person- wrestler, it’s two separate things. The music we do
ality and the best character I could possibly is quality stuff and that’s the most important thing.
have. That’s the reason why I’ve been able to
stand up in front of a crowd. Some of the best I AM IN CONTROL OF HOW THE
entertainers in the world are not necessarily the FANS REACTS WHETHER
best wrestlers, singers or guitar players but they THEY LIKE IT OR NOT
know how to connect with the crowd. Which in
wrestling is more important than doing a dozen You are a wrestling star, a rock star, a movie
high spots, it is all about connection with the star in Mcgruber – now how does it feel to be
crowd. a TV game show host with ABC’s downfall
and how did this come about?
Like I said it’s just a natural step and progression
for what I do it was a big opportunity for me, 150
people auditioned for Downfall and I ended up
getting a gig, it was a great experience and more
importantly for me personally it put myself in a
different light in front of a lot of influential people,
it extends what I do as an entertainer and the
Chris Jericho brand so to speak.

Could you see yourself going into film acting

or being a TV star full time?
Well yeah and the beauty of doing Downfall was
it didn’t affect anything I did in the WWE. We
filmed our episodes for three nights in LA and it
was great and it was a lot of fun to show a dif-
ferent side of Jericho, a more funnier, laid back
personality, which is good because I’ve been
playing the evil character for the last three years
so I wanted to kind of open up and do something
a bit different.

10 www.thewrestlingpress.com
Over the last few weeks some fans have been all the catchphrases, completely reinvent myself.
chanting Y2J, what is your opinion on this as Combined with the whole Shawn Michaels
you are a heel and does it annoy you in any angle, which was supposed to be just a one
way that when you came back to WWE in 2007 night thing, but ended up being 8 months and
you had to start a whole new Jericho persona one of the best feuds of all time. All this influ-
as the Y2J character didn’t really click. enced me to understand what I wanted to do
Does it annoy me? Not in the least. It wasn’t that with this new character and as far as having
the Y2J character didn’t click necessarily, it was people chant Y2J, that’s the idea at this point of
just that I knew I needed to do something new time because by proxy I am the ‘good guy’ be-
and more importantly I wanted to do something cause we faced Nexus at Summerslam and the
new, I just wasn’t exactly sure what that was whole story is yeah, Jericho has teamed up with
when I first came back. Being gone for two years Cena, he’s kind of a good guy but he’s kind of
in wrestling is like dog years, I had to reacquaint not, are we supposed to cheer him? The thing
myself with the fans and I didn’t really have is, I have been doing this for 20 years. I have a
100% commitment to that character because it lot of good will built up with the fans and people
wasn’t what I wanted to do. I thought there was appreciate the hard work that I do, so if I turned
more that I could do and I wasn’t sure what to baby face tomorrow they would buy it. I knew
do with my character until I saw the movie No they would chant Y2J when it was proposed I
Country for Old Men. I saw that character Anton was going to team with Cena and it’s what WWE
Chigurh had and how he was like a crazy psy- wants at this moment in time. Tomorrow that
cho that was very calm and monotone and that’s could change in one second if I wanted to be-
kind of what made me click and I wanted to do cause I am in control of how the fans react
that in wrestling and ditch the countdown, ditch whether they like it or not.

www.thewrestlingpress.com 11
You exert that control quite easily it seems whichever way I want. It’s my own personal de-
because I have seen lately if the fans are cision, I don’t give a damn what anybody else
cheering you all you have to do is say one thinks so it’s kind of the way it is.
thing to them and they are back to booing In 2005 when I left I had enough of wrestling, I
you again?... was getting burned out and wasn’t at my best
Yeah and it’s fun to be able do that, a lot of peo- really until the last two matches that I had be-
ple online think they know everything that’s fore I left with Cena, I had a lot of stuff going
going on but they don’t. They think they do, they on with Fozzy and I wanted to pursue acting
fool themselves into thinking that because you and spend more time at home with my family.
can read it on a website, but the only people who Humphrey Bogart had a great quote which I
know what’s happening in regards to what I’m love – “The only thing I owe my fans, is my per-
doing is me and the people who work with me, formance.” And sometimes that’s the way I
booking the angles and storylines. I love that feel – I don’t have to give you an autograph, I
people make wrong assumptions because I am don’t have to give you an interview, I don’t
like ‘well you guys know nothing that’s gonna have to do a damn thing. All I have to do is per-
happen, you have no idea what’s going on’. form well, to give you what you deserve 100%
When I was growing up we didn’t have websites, because you bought a ticket to see me and
newsletters and I would have loved to have once the show’s over so is my relationship with
known the inner workings of what’s going on but the fans. Sure I don’t feel like that all the time
it was almost just as cool that I didn’t. All I knew but when it comes to what I wanna do, I don’t
of what was going to happen was what I saw on care what anybody else thinks and I know that
TV every week. It still is that basically because anybody who doesn’t really like it if I
people don’t know as much as they think came back to wrestling the very
they do and I like that. Otherwise it’s like next day would forget about it in-
unwrapping your Christmas presents stantly.
before December 25th and where is the
fun in that? If you think you know what’s In 2007 you wrote ‘A Lion’s
going on, let me tell you that you don’t. Tale’ which was a bestseller, so
So just watch the show and enjoy it. I have to ask the question how the
sequel book is coming?
Over the years it seems that some It’s almost done; just waiting for a copy
wrestling fans have shown an ad- edit right now which is when the gram-
verse reaction when it comes to mar guys go through it, check the
a wrestling personality leav- facts and all that sort of stuff.
ing the business to do Then we will have one more
something else with their draft, one more run through
life. Did this worry you after that and I have submit-
at all when pursuing a ted all the pictures so we’ll
rock music career with decide the pictures and
Fozzy? captions for those and
Nothing worries me – I then it’s pretty much
call the shots! Nothing done. It comes out in
worries me in anything February and it goes
about wrestling because I’ve from the moment I
been doing it for so long that I entered the WWE
can be a puppet master and ma- ring until when I came
nipulate people into reacting back in 2007.

12 www.thewrestlingpress.com
During the first NXT season you men-
tored Wade Barrett, what do you think
of his victory in the competition,
thoughts on him and the Nexus story-
line that has developed?
I felt he was going to win from the mo-
ment I first saw him, as soon as I was
paired with him I thought well that’s the
guy who’s going to win because he has
got great presence, his interviews are very
strong and he’s a big guy with a good look and
was exactly what we are looking for in WWE.
I think the Nexus angle has been genius; it is a
tremendous idea that’s really great because it’s I DON’T THINK IT’S NECESSARY
a bunch of new guys that on their own mean
TO HIT PEOPLE IN THE HEAD
nothing, but together it’s the hottest angle of the
summer. I was really excited about Summer- WITH CHAIRS ANYMORE
slam, the storyline has been put together great
and every once in a while we find something positive he will be back some point in time, we
that really clicks and this is one of those things. only saw the tip of the iceberg of what he can do
It’s funny because you have a bunch of guys in a WWE ring.
that no one has ever seen, have had no TV ex-
posure whatsoever and it’s such a hot storyline. It’s a shame because he had just done that
It kind of throws off all those people who say awesome promo announcing Daniel Bryan
when coming into the business ‘you need TV was gone but Bryan Danielson was here and
time to get over, you need this to get over, you it seemed like he was coming into his own
need that to get over’ all you need is a good well and was the standout guy of Nexus. But now
followed storyline and we got that. It shows obviously that has all gone...
once again the genius of Vince McMahon, he Well that’s what happens, it doesn’t matter what
still has ingenious ideas and that was one of you do if you make one false move. It seems
them for sure. that someone reacted strongly to whatever was
done and I don’t know the inner workings of
What were your thoughts on Bryan Daniel- what happened all I can do is speculate.
son being fired from WWE and do you think
he will ever return to WWE in the future and What are your thoughts on TNA rehashing
was he a key part of Nexus? ECW and the ‘One Night Stand’ type of event
[This interview was conducted before Danielson’s at their HardCORE Justice PPV?
WWE return - Ed] Their buy rates are in the toilet anyway so if they
Of course I think he is going to return, it’s too bad can do double what they normally do then good
that he got fired and I don’t think it was quite as for them. I hope they will be able to do some-
deserved but somebody obviously got angry at thing with it. I don’t even know what to say about
something, but I think he will be back. It’s too TNA anymore because I like the company, I like
bad that he did get fired because he was the guy Dixie Carter and I think they have some great
Nexus went to, to have the five star match but it and talented people. I mean they have Jeff
doesn’t matter at this point because it’s not Hardy who in my opinion was the biggest baby
about the matches, it’s all about their group beat face in WWE when he left even more so than
down and them being a pack of animals. I’m John Cena. But I don’t know what they’re doing

www.thewrestlingpress.com 13
or what they’re thinking but I really hope they was able to beat WCW. That’s the wonderful
get it going because the better they get the bet- thing about the internet is that everyone is al-
ter the business is for everybody. They just lowed their own varying opinion. In my opinion
seem to constantly shoot themselves in the foot, though if you don’t like what’s on TV right now,
I don’t know why they do it I mean it really per- if you don’t like the WWE, then quit bitching
plexes me I don’t understand. If they have to about it and don’t watch it. Everybody is really
bring back The Sandman and do 30,000 buys critical of everything and we can’t stay the same
instead of 15,000 then good for them and hope- forever. To me it was getting every boring, you
fully they will be able to springboard onto some- know it’s like glam rock in the 80’s – there was
thing else. so much of it until Guns and Roses came along
and blew everyone out of the water and then
I know WWE has gone PG but what is your Nirvana came and blew everyone out of the
opinion on the new rules in WWE about stop- water again. If you like the nostalgia of the stuff
ping matches when people are bleeding? that was going on then that’s why there’s DVD’s
Surely it takes away from the drama in the and videos on the net and you can watch that
match? until the cows come home. If you want to watch
the stuff that’s going on now and view it in its
That’s just the way it is nowadays, you gotta
own way for what it is then please enjoy it and
evolve, morph and change with what’s going on
join us, if you don’t like it then go somewhere
now. That’s the rule that’s going on now and you
else. I really don’t care, it doesn’t matter to me.
gotta deal with it. I don’t think it’s necessary to
hit people in the head with chairs anymore any-
It seems that since WWE have gone to PG,
way, I think blood is unnecessary at this point in
it’s had some of the most intriguing story-
time. There was a point in time when Roller
lines that I can recall in while. The story with
derby was popular but that fell off the face of the
you and Shawn Michaels, the Rey Mysterio,
earth so you gotta change and keep yourself rel-
CM Punk feud and the Batista, Cena story-
evant to what’s going on or else you end up
line. WWE produce these good entertaining
stuck in the past and nothing that’s stuck in the
storylines without the need to do all this at-
past has ever really become cool.
titude era stuff...
Yeah, and guess what – there
In a recent interview you said the attitude era were great storylines in the atti-
was ‘stupid, childish and that you never liked tude era as well! That’s what
that stuff.’ A lot of people have argued wrestling is all about and
with your statement saying it was whether you have attitude era
what made WWE immensely pop- or PG era whatever you
ular and brought the company to wanna call it or brand it
new heights. What is your re- doesn’t make a difference, it’s
sponse to those people? all about the stories we are
It’s one of those things, I mean telling. Those stories have al-
there was a wrestling war ways been there, back in the
going on at the time, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, 2000’s and
wrestling was very now, and whatever window dress-
hot at the time and ing you put on it, the point is its still
it’s what took WWE storytelling and that’s what we do. Of
from being a very course there is great storylines because
cartoony company that’s playing to the level of guys like myself
to a company that who have been around and know how to tell
was relevant and a story.

14 www.thewrestlingpress.com
 What are your thoughts on your UK fans and Thanks for agreeing to the interview Chris, it
on the upcoming tour? was a pleasure talking to you. Is there any-
For whatever reason the UK has really em- thing else you would like to add?
braced Fozzy and it really is our second home. I’m excited to see everybody with Fozzy and the
We have done most of our touring there and WWE and thanks for being Chris Jericho fans, I
people ask ‘why don’t you do more touring in the appreciate it.
States’ it’s because we have such a great fan
base in the UK that it’s really a case of spending n Contact Darren at [email protected]
as much time over in the UK with our fans as
much as we can. People in the UK like music,
they don’t care what’s trendy or what’s playing
on the radio they just like what they like and Fozzy embark on their ten date tour of
that’s what is going great for Fozzy. We love the uK, starting October 10th at The
going over to the UK and like I said we sell-out Millennium Hall in Cardiff and finish-
the majority of our shows, have great fans who ing up at the orange box in Yeovil on
know the music and I am very excited to see the October 20th.
fans, its gonna be basically the first time we For more information on Fozzy’s tour of
have been back in five years besides the four the uK or the new album ‘Chasing The
shows we did in May, and I am looking forward Grail’ please visit www.fozzyrock.com
to be back on the road in the UK.

! ! W I N ! ! ! W I N ! ! !
WIN!
IG N E D F O z z Y T -S HIRT
AS
C H A S IN G T H E G RAIL CD
AND
WIN YOURSELF A FOZZY T-SHIRT AND A
COPY OF THEIR LATEST CD, BOTH SIGNED
BY THE WHOLE BAND EXCLUSIVELY FOR
ONE LUCKY TWP READER!

To enter the competition simply answer this question....

Who is Jericho’s old ‘Sudden Impact’ Tag Team Partner?
Send your answer (and address) to [email protected]
www.thewrestlingpress.com 15
Competition closes November 1st, 2010
 IN LABAR
Words: JUST

rEsTL
w _THE E r
OF

MILL EN NIU M
ric ho Years
The Chris Je

16 www.thewrestlingpress.com
“Welcome to Raw is Jericho.” He has been showcased in Japan where pro
wrestling is treated with the same respect as a
The first words that we heard as we stood star- ‘real sport’. Chris Jericho has fought guys big
ing at the back of a 5 foot 10 inch body wearing guys, small, fast, slow, technical, brawlers, ex-
tight black leather pants, a shirt that looked like perienced, inexperienced. He has the same abil-
a disco ball, topped off with a hair style that ity Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair possessed
looked like an accident. where he could have a good match with any-
On this night, August 9, 1999, in Chicago, there body. The talent doesn’t stop with the ability from
was nobody left in the wrestling world who either bell to bell to put on great matches. The psychol-
wasn’t a Jericholic or didn’t at least understand ogy that Jericho masters in the wrestling busi-
what a self-proclaimed Jericholic was addicted ness is tremendous. The only guy you need a
to. thesaurus to fully understand his promos. What
a great way to get heat. It’s one thing to insult
It was 14 years ago that Chris Jericho surfaced fans or your opponent, but when you do it with
on the American wrestling scene by arriving in words that are so sophisticated, it’s simple but
the small Philadelphia based promotion, Ex- oh so brilliant. The talent then stretches over to
treme Championship Wrestling (ECW). It took the innovation.
less than 3 months for Jericho’s talents to be ac-
quired or stolen away, depending on how you INNOVATION: It sometimes can seem difficult
look at it, and be performing for one of the two to think about because the wrestling business
major promotions in North America, World has evolved so much in the past 15 years. Jeri-
Championship Wrestling (WCW). cho’s days from 96-98 in WCW were excellent
showings of how original he could be. Looking
It was in WCW that Jericho got weekly television back at such rivalries with Dean Malenko, who
exposure to millions and began to show that he was known as “The man of a thousand holds.”
was on a level of talent, innovation and intelli- Chris Jericho decided to label himself as “The
gence that is hardly seen. man of a thousand and four holds.” Again, it was
At a time in wrestling where being bad was cool, so simple but brilliant. After a quick squash
Jericho was no exception. Stone Cold Steve match on Nitro, Jericho with a cup of water in
Austin in the WWE was on his way to becoming one hand and a list that as it dropped out of his
a mega superstar with his hell raising attitude, hands unfolding, seemed to be several feet long.
while the New World Order was issuing a He proclaimed that he counted all of the moves
gang takeover of the WCW. Chris Jericho he knew and proceeded to list each move. On
was the rock star you dreamed of being, television they faded out to a commercial, only
mixed with the guy in high school that you to return 3 minutes later with Jericho still stand-
couldn’t stand to be around. Somewhere in ing in the ring as he listed the moves in numeri-
the midst of his flashy appearance, cry baby cal order.
tantrums and insulting every other wrestler Other innovations which carried simplicity.... the
possible, people in large quantities began to feud with Goldberg as he was undefeated. Jeri-
drink the Jericho juice, of course turning them cho would walk to the ring with 2 very out of
into Jericholics. shape “Security” guards and would take 5 min-
A quick definition of a Jericholic in my dictionary utes to find his way to the ring. Chris Jericho
is “A person who is addicted to experiencing showed that simple comedic spots such as
Chris Jericho who they feel is the most talented, those, along with his goofy hair, all could draw
innovative and intelligent performer.” heat.
TALENTED: This is a guy who has wrestled all INTELLIGENCE: He had a great mind to know
over the world. Put a mask on him in Mexico and what was entertaining and how to get the reac-
he was proficient in fighting the lucha libre style. tion he wanted out of the crowd. His intelligence

www.thewrestlingpress.com 17
 middle of the ring until being interrupted by the
final 15 seconds of the clock counting down cre-
ated incredible suspense. When the lights went
out, pyros went off and the name Jericho ap-
peared on the screen while the song “Break the
walls down” screamed out. It was an electric mo-
ment. The crowd roared as they then saw Jeri-
cho standing with his back to them and arms out
in a rock star pose.
“Welcome to RAW is Jericho.” From that point
on Jericho would always be relevant in the
WWE. Never being reduced to dark matches or
the second string shows such as “Sunday Night
Heat” or “Velocity” that aired over the years.
His debut was original. The concept developed
mainly by Jericho and his microphone work al-
ways set the bar for the night. It was inevitable that
he would become a huge baby face with his quick
wit and ability to perform both in the ring and in
scripted backstage segments with anyone. The
guy was a champion fighting a women, that is how
good he was. Do you think anyone could have
went beyond how to fine tune his craft. He knew done that entertaining of a program and looked
how to deal with people. He knew how to deal the way they were supposed to look with Chyna?
with the wrestling business. He also knew how No way. Chris Jericho became the WWE’s go to
to march to the beat of his own drum. guy. His reward, forever in the history books, was
the distinction of beating The Rock and Stone
There was a phase where in the final months of
Cold Steve Austin in the same night to become
WCW prior to the sale of the company, the best
the first undisputed world champion.
wrestlers began to filter out and jump to WWE.
The Giant who would go on to be known as The Chris Jericho would leave the WWE and wrestling
Big Show was the first big established WCW all together in 2005. Once again an example of
name to go to New York. 5 months later Chris him marching to his own beat and being ahead of
Jericho would arrive in WWE to one of the most
famous entrances of all time. Jericho made the © David Seto
jump before The Radicalz which was composed
of Benoit, Guerrero, Saturn and Malenko. Jericho
made his jump before Booker T, Ric Flair, Kevin
Nash, Scott Hall, Hulk Hogan and Rey Mysterio,
who would all get picked up by the WWE.
Chris Jericho was able to see before most peo-
ple that WCW wasn’t going to be the number
one promotion for much longer. His famous Y2K
millennium spoof countdown clock in the sum-
mer of 1999 was original. The WWE’s top star
in The Rock cutting a very frustrated and comi-
cal promo against The Big Show (ironic) in the

18 www.thewrestlingpress.com
the curve. He had been wrestling for 15 straight buried, but not so political that every wrestler in
years with the most time off being the few months history wanted to break his neck. He was smart
between his WCW contract expiration and WWE enough to stand out in the crowd, but not too
debut in 1999. A situation where it seems many smart where you couldn’t comprehend him. He
wrestlers would either continue to travel and per- was able to prove that wrestlers are pop culture
form, putting their bodies and physical wellbeing celebrities. Sure The Rock, Hogan and Austin
at risk, but wisely Chris chose to leave and gave proved they could make some movies, but Jericho
his body a rest. has stretched into literally every medium possible.
Chris Jericho will never suffer from the Hulk
In that time, not only was he getting a break from
Hogan or Ric Flair syndrome. He won’t be
being in a different city every night slamming onto
wrestling into his 50’s. He won’t do it for his ego,
the mat, but Jericho was keeping his doors open
and he won’t do it for the pay day.
for life. Full with a charismatic personality, a musi-
cal career that has been exploited some in the Chris Jericho will continue to display his wrestling
WWE, Jericho was appearing on VH1 and other skills for as long as he wants. As he has shown,
outlets talking music, pop culture and just about when it is time to hang them up, he will hang them
anything. up. When he does, again as he has shown, we
can still get a weekly dose of Jericho by viewing
After 2 years, Jericho decided it was time for more
and listening to him in many different places. With
wrestling. He returns with a new haircut, some
every broadcast and show he appears on, more
new moves and another memorable entrance.
Jericholics are born. A person who is addicted to
Very similar to his appearance 8 years earlier, experiencing Chris Jericho who they feel is the
weeks of mystery surrounded the WWE as a cryp- most talented, innovative and intelligent per-
tic code of numbers and letters would appear on former.
the screen. As in 1999 when The Rock was in the
You can see and hear Justin LaBar every week
ring, in 2007 it was one of the top stars, Randy
as he is the co-host of the Chair Shot Reality
Orton, in the ring as the code flashed and re-
weekly video show on Wrestlezone.com
vealed “Save Us Y2J” and once again “RAW is
Jericho.” n Contact Justin at [email protected]
Chris Jericho continued to win championships. He
continued to use new words never heard in a
wrestling promo. He used a new finisher he called
the “code breaker.” It was a double knee face
breaker made famous in Japan. A move that was
very simple in performance. You could execute it
nearly anytime and on anyone of any size. Jericho
again was making it all look so easy.
He continued to kick open other doors and be-
came the host of ABC’s game show “Downfall”, as
well as gaining his own show on Sirius radio.
Chris Jericho has spent his 20 year career
being a poster boy for not needing to fall into
the stereotype and perception that many
wrestlers are viewed in.
He was able to look ahead and jump to the
greener grass at the right time. He was entertain-
ing. He was political enough to avoid getting
 HOW WILL HISTORY
JuDGE THE NExuS?
Could This Be the WWE’s
Next Generation of Main Eventers?
Words: JOHN M. MILNER

H
n early June 2010, the names of When was the last time a group of wrestlers have
Wade Barrett, Skip Sheffield and made such an impact on either Raw or Smack-
David Otunga were relatively down? Even the WWE version of the New World
unknown to all but the most knowledgeable Order in 2002 doesn’t quite compare. In fact, one
students of the wrestling industry. Within would have to think back to the Alliance a year
three months, all three, as members of the earlier for such a group around which much of the
Nexus, would be in the main event of what top echelon of WWE programming began to re-
many consider the second biggest pay-per- volve.
view, behind only Wrestlemania, on the
And while it remains to be seen just how the his-
WWE’s calendar.
tory of the organisation will access the
Nexus, there is an argument to be

20 www.thewrestlingpress.com
made that Team WWE (led by John Cena) vs. the credible force out to take down the WWE’s top su-
Nexus has been one of the most interesting sto- perstars. In the weeks after their initial appearance
rylines to come across Raw in quite some time. on Raw, they swarmed Cena, Ricky Steamboat,
Vince McMahon, Bret Hart, Khali, Edge and Jeri-
Of course, the naysayers may point to the fact that
cho. Perhaps it is the last two names that have
a great deal of what made the build-up to the
made the most difference. While it’s one thing for
SummerSlam main event wasn’t what the Nexus
a heel supergroup to target the organisation’s top
brought to the table. Instead, there were question
face (in this case, Cena), it’s most unusual for them
marks all over the place as to what the make-up
to undertake a beatdown of fellow heels.
of Team WWE would be when the opening bell
sounded. Would Edge and Jericho quit the team?
THEY CHOOSE
Would the Great Khali be involved? Would the Miz NO MATTER WHICH GROuP
E NEx uS AGAINST,
fill one of the empty spots? Would John Morrison TO TRY AND MEASuR
or even John Cena himself turn heel and align WILL NOT BE A FAIR COM PARISON
IT
himself with the Nexus?
It’s things like the attacks on Jericho and Edge,
Team WWE in-fighting and the speculations aside,
WWE Champion Sheamus approaching them to
the Nexus had been successfully built up to be a
negotiate a truce and even the tease of John
Cena joining them that have made the Nexus THE
Too poor for pants (l-r): Michael Tarver, driving force in WWE storylines over the last sev-
Heath Slater, David Otunga, Wade Barrett, eral months. Like them or hate them, they’ve cre-
Darren Young, Justin Gabriel, Skip Sheffield ate a real buzz throughout “the WWE Universe”.
And if nothing else, they’ve put seven (or eight, if

www.thewrestlingpress.com 21
you count Daniel Bryan) new faces at the forefront But really, do we know enough about any of them
of the WWE when fans complained the product for Sheffield, Otunga, Michael Tarver or the rest to
was becoming stale and were tired of the same become singles stars at this juncture? At this time,
names at the top of the card. There may be a time the answer is “Probably not”. However, there’s
when fans look back and note that the Nexus, with nothing that says that, over the coming months,
the help of Sheamus and the Miz, ushered in a that could not change.
new era in the WWE.
And when those wrestling historians look back at
mid-2010, they will undoubtedly try to rate the
Nexus alongside other supergroups such as the
Four Horsemen, the NWO or the Alliance. But no
matter which group they choose to try and meas-
ure Nexus against, it will not be a fair comparison.
Because, you see, there are vast differences be-
tween a group like the NWO, which included
wrestlers either in the latter part of their prime (Hall,
Nash, Scott Steiner, Syxx) or several years past
their prime (Hogan, Savage). Even the best ver-
sion of the Four Horsemen at the top of their game, Already, two members of the Nexus, Daniel Bryan
was comprised of Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully and Darren Young, have faced expulsion from the
Blanchard, and either Lex Luger or Barry Wind- group. With Bryan’s background in Ring of Honor
ham, all of whom were in the prime of their careers. and other independent wrestling organisations, he
probably had enough going for him that a singles
But with Nexus, you are seeing a group unique in
push was probably in the cards for him. Of course,
the history of professional wrestling. This is not a
his time in the Nexus, his recent (and temporary)
collection of elite, established stars, save the
departure from the WWE after he choked out ring
short-lived addition of Daniel Bryan (and even he
announcer Justin Roberts, and return in the main
was debuting in WWE). Instead, the Nexus looks
event of SummerSlam probably helped him out in
to be a vehicle to introduce a number of young
that department.
stars to the main roster all at once.
And so it will be interesting to see just how Darren
The question history must answer isn’t whether
Young adjusts to life after Nexus. As of this writing,
the Nexus is the next Horsemen, but whether it
he had only just been cut from the team, after a
was successful in launching the careers of the
loss to John Cena on Raw. Will he be able to sur-
next generation of WWE’s main event.
vive on his own and remain a part of the main
As of this writing, I believe it’s too early to tell. event scene on Raw, or will he fumble and find
While the Nexus may be one of the biggest factors himself “future endeavoured” or stuck in the lower
in WWE storylines, can anyone really say any mid-card?
member, save leader Wade Barrett and deposed
For the Nexus to have a positive lasting effect on
member Daniel Bryan have been given the oppor-
the industry of pro wrestling, it must not be
tunity to get themselves over as singles competi-
greater than the sum of its parts. Daniel Bryan
tors? In having the group used mostly to swarm
and Wade Barrett (if his time as Nexus leader is
members of the WWE roster as a group, it’s
any indication) will, most likely have solid WWE
robbed them of the opportunity to showcase much
careers ahead of them. However, it will be Dar-
of an individual personality. I mean, sure we know
ren Young and Skip Sheffield and the rest who
Justin Gabriel does a mean 450 splash. We know
will prove, one way or the other, the final legacy
Skip Sheffield looks like the next Batista and
of Nexus.
Heath Slater has red hair. We know David Otunga
is the fiancé of Hollywood star Jennifer Hudson. n Contact John at [email protected]

22 www.thewrestlingpress.com
 Words: MARK SATRANG

I was all ready to talk about the amazing run of programming that
TNA Wrestling had throughout July and the early part of August.
For better or worse they had the wrestling world talking in regards
to the “not-ECW” revival. The entire wrestling audience was split
on whether it was a good idea or a bad idea, but regardless it
got everyone talking.
Then the company supplemented that with an amazing
best-of-five series between The Motor City Machine-
guns and Beer Money, Inc. over the TNA World
Tag Team Championships. This was an ab-
solutely phenomenal series and their 2-
out-3 falls match on the Whole F’N Show
special on TNA’s August 13 show was
a treat. All five matches were off the
charts and solidified these two as two
of the best tag teams in the world, set
their rivalry up as a legitimate Feud
of the Year candidate and set the
new standard for a match series in
pro wrestling. It also showed that
tag team wrestling isn’t completely
a dead concept in American pro
wrestling.
Therefore I was all set to talk
about the dearth of tag team
wrestling in American pro
wrestling these days. But then
a man simply known as The
Miz blew my mind with his
promo on the September 6
edition of Monday Night RAW.
Forget the NXT series, World
Wrestling Entertainment has
already found their “next
breakout star” with The Miz.

24 www.thewrestlingpress.com
I have always been a fan of Mike “The Miz” tled in a boxing match at the Armageddon pay
Mizanin. From watching him debut as one of the per view in December 2004. Puder may have
kids on MTV’s The Real World and developing won the grand prize and the six-figure contract,
the early “Miz” persona into his various appear- but Miz also received a developmental contract
ances on MTV’s Real World/Road Rules Chal- out of the deal as well.
lenges I liked the guy.
Once he joined WWE in 2005, he worked prima-
He had a lifelong passion for pro wrestling and rily in the now-defunct Deep South Wrestling ter-
used his appearances on MTV’s reality television ritory, where he was the promotion’s first
to springboard himself into a wrestling career. He champion. When DSW went down, Miz was
enrolled in Southern California’s Ultimate Pro transferred to Ohio Valley Wrestling, where he
Wrestling in 2002 and began his training at the ended winning the Southern Tag Team Champi-
Ultimate University wrestling school. He officially onship.
debuted as a wrestler in 2003 and hasn’t
In the spring of 2006, Miz debuted on Smack-
looked back since.
Down, as “host” (a la Ryan Seacrest) of the
After putting in some dues on show. He maintained his training in OVW while
the independent circuit, doing his TV personality work on SmackDown,
Mizanin was selected to be and finally wrestled on WWE TV in September
on WWE’s fourth season 2006. His obnoxious attitude and former reality
of Tough Enough, where TV star stigma made him an obvious villain.
he lasted until the final
Miz toiled on the SmackDown undercard through
two. He and eventual
2006 and the first half of 2007 until he was
winner Daniel Puder bat-
drafted to ECW during the 2007 draft. Now on
ECW with a smaller roster and more attention
brought upon him, Miz was able to grow and
excel as a performer. This led to an uneasy al-
liance with John Morrison, who was also chasing
Punk’s Championship. Miz and Morison began
teaming together sporadically, and it led to them
defeating Matt Hardy and Montel Vontavious
Porter for the WWE Tag Team Championships in
November 2007. It was the start of a beautiful
partnership.
The incredibly obnoxious and cocky pair
gelled together right away and were a huge
hit on WWE television. Working together al-
lowed Miz and Morrison to refine their in-
ring skills and become much more
competent performers than they were
known to be.
Miz and Morrison were the tag team of
2008. They became both WWE Tag Team
Champions and World Tag Team Champi-
ons over the course of a year and a half
and battled teams from all three of WWE’s
brands. Despite Morrison and Miz being
ECW exclusive talents, they pretty much

www.thewrestlingpress.com 25
appeared on all three WWE next leap. Unlike the recent push of
brands weekly throughout Sheamus, Miz’s felt organic. He
the fall and winter of wasn’t immediately thrust to
2008, often times the top and given the World
wrestling on RAW, Title prematurely. He
ECW and Smack- scratched, clawed and
Down in one week. fought his way through
the undercard and into the mid-card
The next week on RAW Miz was
and through the tag ranks. He sur-
drafted to the RAW brand and at-
prised everyone when he survived
tacked Morrison after the an-
the shark infested waters of Monday
nouncement was made, signaling
Night RAW and has come out
an end to their long-standing
stronger on the other side.
partnership. While everyone (in-
cluding yours truly) assumed Whereas so many of Miz’s recent
that Morrison would be the contemporaries have seen
“Shawn Michaels” of the tandem and Miz would their pushes escalate and
be buried on RAW, he proved everyone wrong. grow only to be pulled back
Once on RAW, The Miz started a one-man cru- suddenly, Miz has come
sade against John Cena. He called Cena out through the ranks fairly un-
each week on RAW and claimed victory via for- scathed. Unlike the other supposed breakout
feit or count out. But in reality Miz was handily stars like MVP, Mr. Kennedy, Shelton Benjamin,
defeated in a series of matches. After being eas- Chris Masters, Carlito, Kenny Dykstra, Lance
ily defeated in the feud against Cena, Miz Cade, Umaga and Bobby Lashley. Even Miz’s
tweaked his image and started dressing more recent teammates and opponents like John Mor-
like a traditional pro wrestler and adding more rison, Jack Swagger, Kofi Kingston, Drew McIn-
moves to his repertoire. tyre and Dolph Ziggler are seeing the same thing
happen to them right now.
After the losses to Cena, Miz’ new quest was to
become the United States Champion. After chal- He continues to grow. With a United States
lenging Kofi Kingston throughout the summer Championship, a Money in the Bank contract, a
and fall of 2009, he finally defeated Kingston on personal lackey in Alex Riley and long-standing
RAW in October 2009 to win his first United rivalries with half the RAW roster, he has plenty
States Championship. of irons in the fire. But when he inevitably cashes
in that contract, I wouldn’t be the least bit sur-
Since that point The Miz has watched his stock
prised to see him continue the streak of every
literally soar on the RAW brand. He dominated
contract holder cashing in successfully and be-
the mid-card and has had the United States
coming only the fortieth man to capture the pres-
Championship almost welded around his waist
tigious WWE Championship.
since that point. He struck more gold when he
became the “Pro” for the “Rookie” Daniel Bryan It sounded preposterous just a couple years ago
on the first season of NXT. The feud between to think that could become a reality. But since his
those two men has been brewing for eight debut on TV he has become far more talented
months and should elevate both men in the end. in the ring, better rounded as a character and
Then he became the best part of NXT season 2 has the charisma and talent on the microphone
and won a Money in the Bank World Champi- to talk people into the arenas. He has already
onship shot back in July. conquered MTV, now it is time for him to con-
When he won that briefcase it didn’t seem like a quer WWE.
fluke. Many people predicted his victory as it n Contact Mark at [email protected]
seemed as if he was finally ready to take that

26 www.thewrestlingpress.com
 TNA WOES
And solutions
Words: MATT SINGH That’s a huge shame, as with the right creative di-
rection TNA could be a significant player in pro
wrestling, and what makes it doubly disappointing

I
t’s clear that Erich Bischoff and Hulk
Hogan are not the answer to TNA’s is that really the only thing wrong with the com-
problems, that much is proven by the pany is the booking. As stated before they have a
May and June pay-per-view buy rates; great roster of in-ring wrestlers capable of consis-
Sacrifice in May drew 8,000 buys, and tent great matches as well as a great television
Slammiversary a month later pulled a similar partnership to showcase said matches. The prob-
number. That’s way down from the typical lem can be laid directly at the feet of the guys in
25,000/30,000 the company was drawing back charge, namely Vince Russo (head writer), Eric
in 2005/6 when they had an 11pm Saturday Bischoff and Hulk Hogan. These are the real
night timeslot, as opposed to the prime-time power-players in TNA and thus have the respon-
slot they have now. sibility of whether the company fails or succeeds.
When the Sacrifice/Slammiversary numbers were Dixie Carter is also, obviously, the biggest power-
leaked, it sent shockwaves through the pro player in TNA, but as has been evident she has
wrestling industry; even with the lousy booking no clue about pro wrestling, or what the average
TNA has shown for some time, 8,000 buys is ap- fan wants to see (or more importantly, willing to
pallingly low considering TNA has a strong roster pay to see).
as well as great television coverage. Any contention of this assertion is immediately
dispelled by a quick glance at Carter’s now-infa-
mous YouShoot interview. The most notable inane
ramblings by Carter were the following...
Q. Why is there no TNA magazine?
A. Magazines are obsolete, and not a good busi-
ness decision.
Q. Do you think it would make more sense to
have first-time opponents (in TNA) have (their)
The problem with TNA (and every other promotion matches on pay-per-view (instead of) free TV?
that has struggled) is purely a creative one, but
A. The pay-per-view business is another model
also the situation is exasperated by equally incom-
that is on its decline.
petent management. The bookers/writers are al-
ways to blame in a situation like this, despite what From those two answers alone, one can deduce
they or their supporters may claim; simply put, that TNA is in a dangerous position of having an
wrestling fans aren’t buying the product TNA is incompetent owner (Carter) and booker (Vince
selling. But the reason the TNA bookers/writers Russo).
are able to write and book such horrible, non- In regards to the answers above the most con-
ticket-selling shows is because they’re allowed to, temptible is easily the second, in which Carter ar-
by the very person who should know what does rogantly and ignorantly states that pay-per-view is
or doesn’t draw money; that person is of course a declining business model; obviously TNA will try
Dixie Carter.

28 www.thewrestlingpress.com
and spin the notion that pay-per-view is
dying because TNA is drawing laughably
bad buyrate numbers. The thing that makes
Carter look like a total buffoon can be
summed-up in three initials; UFC.
TNA drew 8,000 buys for its May and June
shows, meanwhile the May and June UFC
pay-per-views drew 1.05 million, and
520,000 buys respectively. Yes, that’s right,
TNA pulled 8,000 buys consecutively for two
months, and when compared with the UFC,
TNA isn’t even on the same planet when it
comes to buyrates and buys.
Ironically, despite her being seemingly com-
pletely different from the average wrestling
power-player, the YouShoot interview alone
has exposed Carter as being the same as all
those old promoters Vince McMahon Jr. put
of business by 1988; specifically that she’ll
blame everything else, and use every scape-
goat excuse fathomable to explain why TNA
business isn’t booming, or even averagely
drawing. It’s the same kind of self-delusion
that ended the promoting careers of the likes
of Verne Gagne, Fritz von Erich and Jim
Crockett, and at the present rate will do the
same to TNA if things don’t change fast.
For a number of months now, Paul Hey-
man’s name has constantly arisen in regard
to taking over from Vince Russo. Obviously
that would be a huge step in the right direc-
tion for the company if someone with a
proven track record of writing compelling tel-
evision shows would be in charge of booking
TNA, but Heyman does have his critics due
to the fact that he booked his own company,
ECW, so dreadfully from 1999-2001. How-
ever when closely inspected those criticisms
(which are more likely than not true)
shouldn’t factor into his potential TNA tenure;
remember that Heyman was both booking
ECW as well as running the business side of
the promotion. If Heyman were to go to TNA,
obviously he wouldn’t have much (if any-
thing) to do with the business aspect of TNA.

www.thewrestlingpress.com 29
While many Russo supporters/fans will point to TNA also has the best worker of his generation,
the record-breaking ‘Attitude Era’ as proof of namely Kurt Angle. It’s no surprise that TNA’s
Russo’s creative genius, there are two main is- biggest ever pay-per-view success was when
sues to look at; the first is that Russo worked as Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle wrestled for the first
part of a booking team during his WWE tenure, time in October 2006 at the Genesis show. That
and of course Vince McMahon had final say on all show pulled 60,000 buys, a number the company
creative decisions. The second is that it’s pretty has never gotten anywhere close to since. Unfor-
well established and agreed that the whole ‘Atti- tunately TNA (basically Vince Russo) decided that
tude Era’ grew from ECW’s blood and guts televi- Joe/Angle was so successful that the two were
sion that was being booked by, you guessed it, booked to work with each again on the December
Paul Heyman. In short, to compare Vince Russo 7th edition of Impact!, and then again rematched
to Paul Heyman as creative bookers is totally ig- at the next two pay-per-view broadcasts, which
norant of the historical situation. If Heyman were obviously as you’d expect was overkill from the
to replace Russo, it’s safe to say the entire cre- fans point of view. It was basically desperation
ative look, feel and execution of TNA would booking, with Russo and management not having
change quite drastically, and instead of trying to the patience or sense (or both) to realise that they
mimic WWE, Heyman would surely create (or at had a huge money-drawing feud, at least by TNA
least try to) an alternative to WWE so TNA could standards, on their hands.
draw new fans or ones that for whatever reason
TNA also needs to make sure it doesn’t fall into
had/have drifted away from pro wrestling. There
an old WCW bad-habit; signing former or recently
are any number of ways TNA and Heyman could
released WWE workers just because they’re a
do this, but the most obvious and probably the
free agent. TNA has actually been quite astute in
most viable is to focus on the actual in-ring
their recent signings of former WWE workers, but
wrestling.
the unfortunate flip side is that TNA has decided
TNA has arguably a stronger core-group of work- to build the company around former WWE work-
ers than WWE; A.J Styles, Samoa Joe, Alex ers that are old and broken down, and thus can’t
Shelly, Chris Sabin, Doug Williams and Desmond work a program and have the big-money, big
Wolfe are among the best workers in American blow-off match at the end.
wrestling right now, and will be remembered as
Currently Impact! Is essentially built around Hulk
some of the best of their generation. Of course,
Hogan, Kevin Nash, Eric Bischoff, Rob Van Dam
and Ric Flair. One can quickly deduce then, that
Russo, Bischoff and Hogan are trying to recreate
the late-1990s, which is a sure-fire way for a
wrestling company to at least remain in neutral,
and at worst actually regress backwards towards
impending financial doom. Obviously great work-
ers like A.J Styles, Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe are
also featured heavily on Impact!, which is helping
to keep the television tapings interesting and at
times fun and compelling to watch.
The big question for TNA though is, will the com-
pany (and the powerful people making the deci-
sions) make a change at the top of the creative
ladder and turn business around before it’s too
late.
n Contact Matt at [email protected]

30 www.thewrestlingpress.com
 Wrestling has
always at-
tracted some-
thing of a
‘geek’ audi-
ence. Many
wrestling fans
are people who
wouldn’t
dream of going
to watch a
‘normal’ sport,
and many
wrestling fans
are somewhat
lacking in
matters of the
opposite sex.

Words: PHIL AUSTIN

Does that first paragraph make you angry?

Of course it does. As wrestling fans we are all
seen by the mainstream like that, a bunch of
geeks and socially inept folk who like watching
‘men in pants pretend fighting’.
Yet, like it or not, as normal as many of us may
be, there is a fair proportion of the wrestling au-
dience for whom these tags do apply. Go on
Youtube, or many of the internet forums, and
you’ll find fans whose passion for the wrestling
business strays from fandom to geekiness.
It’s something we all share really though.
There’s a bit of geek in all of us. After all, we will
all spend three hours watching a PPV show, or
discussing the intricacies of wrestling online.

www.thewrestlingpress.com 31
We’ll all defend the joys of watching wrestling
to those who don’t appreciate it, and we can all GEEK CLIP #1
Press play or click here for external link
elicit passionate soliloquies about which mem-
ber of Demolition was the best, or whether Kurt
Angle is a better worker than Shawn Michaels.
Many of us go to Memorabilia fairs for the
chance to meet some of our wrestling heroes.
And how many of us who do so have laughed
at the nerds in their Star Wars outfits, dressed
up as Spock, or getting excited about meeting
‘Stormtrooper number 37’? Then we go to a
stand and get just as excited by seeing a col-
lection of wrestling figures while wearing our
rare Ahmed Johnston T-shirt! (Did I spell but....John Morrison? The Miz? The Motor City
Ahmed’s surname correctly? I’m sure if you’re Machine Guns? Even John Cena and Batista?
a true wrestling geek, you’ll know for sure.)
So what am I getting at? Well, to put it bluntly,
So you see, as much as we knock the ‘geeks’, where wrestling was once populated by superhu-
we all have a bit of the geek in us. It’s the very mans and ‘macho men’ far removed from the rest
nature of being extremely passionate enough of us wrestling geeks, wrestling now features
about something. Passionate enough that we many of these geeks as ‘stars’.
will sit and read an online magazine about it for
I can’t say that I could ever imagine Ric Flair or
example! And I for one can’t knock that deci-
Hulk Hogan doing anything other than going out
sion!
and being a star. Likewise the second-tier stars
Randy Savage such as Mr Perfect and Jake Roberts would
never seem like the type that would rather sit and
watch Youtube wrestling matches than go out and
party.
But you look at the current crop of wrestling stars
and even the likes of Cena and Rob Van Dam are
people you can quite easily imagine sitting on
Facebook or watching a few Youtube matches
rather than hanging out at a bar till the early hours
of the morning (even Ric Flair in his recent visit
to the UK said he had to teach Cena to party).
Initially I was thinking this was just my perception
of the wrestling business as an adult. As a kid,
But recently I’ve noticed something slightly dif- these wrestlers seemed larger-than-life because
ferent happening in pro wrestling. I was that much smaller. But the more I watch the
1980s promotions, the more it still hits me.
Think back to your youth. If you’re anywhere
Wrestlers today really do have more of a ‘geek
near my age, then your wrestling back then con-
factor’ about them. And I think I’ve come to a few
sisted of the ‘real life superheroes’ like Hulk
conclusions as to why this may be.
Hogan, Sting, Randy Savage, Ric Flair and the
Road Warriors. 1. What did you grow up on?
Now look at who has replaced them in the When many of the stars of the 1980s were grow-
wrestling world today. No offence to these guys, ing up, the wrestlers they grew up on came from

32 www.thewrestlingpress.com
an era of grittiness and ‘real men’. Guys like come a star without some degree of toughness.
Bruno Sammartino, Lou Thesz and Strangler
Jump forward to the late 1990s and early part of
Lewis. Even men such as Gorgeous George
this century, and every geek on the street can put
and Buddy Rogers who had somewhat more of
out a pro wrestling school. And these schools are
the ‘showman’ about them were legitimately
not of the ilk of those in the past, where you have
tough.
to undergo severe punishment in order to prove
Conversely, the wrestlers many of today’s stars your toughness. Many of these schools merely
grew up on were the over-the-top cartoon stars show you ‘how to do moves’ without weeding out
of the 1980s. If you grow up emulating tough the tough guy from the geek in the street. Go to
guys, you’re going to come across more like a a wrestling school now and you are as likely to
superstar. If you grew up emulating cartoon su- find half a dozen guys in the class that are regu-
perheroes you’re going to come across more of larly teased at school for being ‘nerds’ as you are
a geek. to find guys from a legitimate athletic or ‘tough’
background.
Now obviously those guys that the current stars
emulated are still the guys that we are referring 3. The internet
to here as the legitimate over-the-top stars. But
Back in the day, the stars of the previous era did-
as each generation’s stars become more ‘wa-
n’t have access to the internet. The stars of that
tered down’ it has a knock-on effect to subse-
era didn’t go online, or have their own Facebook
quent generations of stars. But this is not the
page or Twitter feed. These days, access to the
only reason for the current crop of ‘geeks’.
internet has made today’s stars more accessible,
and therefore less ‘star-like’.
But the internet has also changed the fans them-
selves. Discussions that were previously limited
to a few hardcore fans gathering in bars or at
shows are now opened up to the masses across
the internet, and the general critical nature of
these discussions tends to level out the star sta-
tus of the performer. No longer is John Cena
revered as a star who we can only read about in
magazines, now he is just a ‘geek’ to be criticised
by internet ‘experts’ for his ‘lack of wrestling tech-
nique’.
The internet has made these stars appear more
Bruno Sammartino like one of us, and that makes them more like the
rest of us geeks!
2. What was wrestling when you got into it? 4. Promos
In the 1980s, wrestling was still a ‘closed shop’ Go and look at any promo from the past, whether
for the most part. There were schools, but essen- it’s Hulk Hogan’s ranting on WWF TV, or the pas-
tially to get involved in wrestling you had to be a sion of a Four Horsemen promo and you’ll see
tough guy to survive the process. You inevitably an intensity that you rarely get today. Today’s
either came from a sports background, a legit scripted promos are laced with comedy and a
fighting background, a bodybuilding background real lack of that ‘tough guy spirit’ that even the
or were a legitimate tough guy that was found most basic promo in the past had.
bouncing heads around a bar by the ‘boys’. It
was highly unlikely that some geek would be able Even the guys who didn’t cut the ‘main event’
to just walk off the street into a school and be- promos, such as Jim Duggan or the Hart Foun-

www.thewrestlingpress.com 33
 and the geek of today is how they are presented
GEEK CLIP #2 on camera. Very rarely would you see a wrestling
Press play or click here for external link
star of the past smiling inanely on camera. They
would snarl, they would sneer, they would show
intensity. But very rarely would they smile. If they
did, it was for a reason, and it was in a way that
did not distract from their intense personality.
Now, everyone is taught that you have to smile.
And smile. And smile. So Cena is pictured smil-
ing inanely on camera. John Morrison walks to
the ring with a big smile on his face. Even Low
Ki now has to wear the smiley face to the ring
while still trying to be the intense Kaval!
dation, had an intensity you just don’t see in Smiling is fine, and of course you have to be per-
today’s promos. To put it crudely, today’s promo sonable, but inane smiling, as appears to be the
guys need to have a little more ‘bass in their trend just makes you look like a geek who is
voice’ in order to seem more like an intense “having so much fun being a wrestler”. It’s a step
tough guy, and less like a geek ‘cutting a promo’. away from being Percy Watson, and I fear that
It’s just not something that is concentrated on may be the next decades watering down of our
these days, and that is a shame. wrestling stars if we’re not careful.
5. Personas
WRESTLERS TODAY REALLY DO
We’ve touched on this already. The guys in the
HAVE MORE OF A ‘GEEK
past all had these larger than life personas.
From Mr Perfect to the One Man Gang, Demoli- FACTOR’ ABOuT THEM
tion to the Ultimate Warrior, these were guys You may not agree with all wrestlers today hav-
who were far more than ‘just another guy’ who ing this ‘geekiness’ about them, and it’s certainly
you could imagine meeting in real life. And when true that there are some who don’t. Randy Orton
you did get the opportunity to meet them, you for example still exhibits some of this intensity
were in awe. that made guys in the past such stars, and of
Conversely, today most wrestling course the Undertaker will always be a persona
personas are pretty basic, giv- that can never be described as being a ‘geek’.
ing far less ‘big time feel’ to the But if wrestling is to be taken seriously by the
guy playing them. So the Miz is mainstream again, it needs to get back its stars,
just a guy who talks. John Mor- and in order to do that we need to move away
rison is just a guy who does from these ‘stars’ exhibiting elements of geeki-
moves. Even John Cena is just a ness. These stars are not just like us, and there
guy who cuts a funny promo. is no way we should even be able to perceive
Noone has that ‘big time feel’ that a that they could be. They need to be larger than
Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair or Steve life personalities (without obviously being larger
Austin had in the past. than life physically, if you get my drift!), and be
stars whenever and wherever they are seen in
6. Smile for the camera!
public.
One other thing I’ve no-
Right, that’s enough from me. I’m off to tweet to
ticed when compar-
Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston!
ing the star
of the past n Contact Phil at [email protected]
 BRAVO CLOSING
– where does Impact go from here?

Words: DARREN WOOD

I
t’s been a year of highs and lows in the The question has to be asked where TNA Impact
world of TNA Wrestling so far in 2010, the fits on the Living TV channel and whether they will
debut of Hulk Hogan and his entourage still want a wrestling show being broadcast on
to the promotion in January and the their network.
debut of their flagship show Impact on Monday
This is the million dollar question and in all honesty
Nights against WWE’s Raw were welcome
the answer is doubtful, TNA’s programming is not
statements of the companies’ intent for the
their target demographic, it won’t fit. Currently Liv-
year ahead.
ing TV plays America’s next top model and drop
Gradually though 2010 hasn’t really panned out as dead diva, which is not aimed at the same demo-
well as the company would have liked, Impact’s graphic as a wrestling show.
departure from Monday Nights after just two
The Orlando outfit has built up a real following in
months and the fact that the ratings for the show
the UK since being shown on Bravo and this year
have hardly made any increase are massive body
blows to the promotion. has seen the company regularly get viewers in ex-
cess of 56,000. Now by no means is this a ground
TNA have received another dent in their armour breaking feat compared to other shows here on
over the past few weeks, albeit this time across the our shores but the fact is Impact constantly beats
pond, the announcement could have a massive ef- WWE in the UK for ratings.
fect on their growing UK fan base.
Impact’s ratings of 100,000 viewers aren’t enough
On Wednesday 15th September it was reported for Living TV to really sit up and take notice,
that BSKYB (SKY TV to you and me) will shut scrambling to put the show on their network. TNA
down Bravo and Channel One (which were both though are remaining positive and upbeat about
owned by the Living TV Group.) the announcement of the closure and seem con-
Sky has made it clear that they want to transfer the fident in their future on UK television.
majority of programming on those channels to their
Executive Vice President of TNA Andy Barton
own station, Sky Three.
said: “Following the acquisition of Virgin Media TV
So what does this mean for TNA on our screens, I channels (now rebranded as The Living TV
here you ask? Group) by Sky, there has always been the possi-
Well, the main problem that TNA faces with this bility of fundamental changes to those channels,
closure is that Impact in the USA is broadcast by including Bravo. However, we remain confident in
Spike TV. Now whereas other TV shows will be TNA’s position due to the outstanding ratings en-
moved to SKY three, Impact cannot. This is be- joyed in 2010, and our long term contract with the
cause of the arrangement Sky has with WWE, Living TV Group.”
which is an exclusive agreement to air only their These rating’s that he talks about are only out-
wrestling product on the networks channels. standing compared to WWE’s, which is likely due
SKY has announced that they will keep the living to the fact that WWE is on Sky Sports, a premium
TV channel, so being placed on their station would channel that you have to pay extra money for.
not break the deal SKY has with WWE as although Bravo however was free; TNA doesn’t do so great
SKY have bought the group Living TV are still their against other Bravo shows such as Spartacus and
own existence. Dog the Bounty Hunter.

36 www.thewrestlingpress.com
It has to be said that the Living TV group can draw on at some godforsaken hour in the morning.
more ratings with their target demographic by put-
Channel 5 had WCW Worldwide in the late
ting on similar shows that they already have rather
1990’s, (ok so it was awful, being shown on a four
than taking what would be perceived as a gamble
or five week delay with the batman style captions
to put Impact on their schedule.
when weapons were used, but at least they had
TNA finds itself in a difficult and challenging posi- it) with these channels being so accessible and
tion; so where does it go? reaching millions of homes being on either station
could do wonders for TNA and would give them
Extreme sports network currently show their ppv’s
the mainstream publicity they desperately need.
but no one knows what channel they are on (its
channel 419 by the way), so realistically no one
will really watch the TV show either and thus view-
ership will likely decrease and so too the bragging
THE quESTION HAS TO BE
rights over WWE in the UK market. ASKED WHERE TNA IMPACT
FITS ON THE LIVING TV CHANNEL
Great Britain is without a doubt TNAs biggest
grossing market; if they cannot find another station
It would seem that Channel 5 would be the more
(or continue onto Living TV) they will be losing
viable option as they already show many US
what is effectively their biggest TV show in their
sports including NFL and UFC, they could even
most profitable region.
use a ploy that Spike have in America by tying in
They have a huge European tour coming up in UFC with TNA to increase viewership.
January and by not being on TV (or on a recog-
If TNA are smart and are deadly serious about the
nised mainstream TV channel) could really harm
UK market then going on terrestrial TV is some-
the ticket sales. Mainstay TNA fans will likely have
thing that would be a great move for them, they
their tickets already but if TNA loses Impact in the
always make known of the fact that they get more
UK, these shows will likely not attract the casual
viewers than WWE, well if they were on terrestrial
fan to attend.
TV then their ratings would absolutely eclipse
Could independent channels be an option? WWE’s on Sky Sports.
The trouble with TNA is Impact just doesn’t draw While not being able to show TNA PPV’s, Terres-
enough viewers to immediately warrant a network trial would be great to attract casual fans to the
to take a chance on them. TNA would also likely product. If viewers see recognisable names like
have to get out of their contract with the Living TV Jeff Hardy, Kurt Angle, Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan
group which could cost a lot of money. Going to being shown then this could entice casual fans
an independent channel is not a sure fire fix who are flicking through channels to regularly
though, It’s likely that the viewing audience could watch TNA.
decrease, with the channel not reaching enough
While it is known that currently we do not know
viewers or the channel not being well know
when Bravo will cease to exist, whatever the op-
enough, this will harm TNA.
tion TNA decides to make there is no doubt that
Terrestrial TV could be an alternative and one that they need to sort this situation out as quickly as
really would pay off. Wrestling has been shown on possible. Could we finally see wrestling on a main-
terrestrial in the past, Channel 4 had WWE Sun- stream terrestrial TV channel in the UK?
day Night Heat and some PPV’s were shown in
It could happen, a lot of wrestling fans on these
the early 2000’s. It is unlikely that the station would
shores would no doubt welcome it and hell we
want to show wrestling again after many consid-
might even see a live TNA PPV here for the first
ered their coverage awful with a live delay on their
time in the UK. You never know.
PPV’s cutting off a lot of the action and Channel 4
even blurred blood even though the events were n Contact Darren at [email protected]

www.thewrestlingpress.com 37
COUNT-OUT
She’s the “Queen of the Catfight” –
manageress, interviewer, model and
current squeeze of Former WWE, WCW,
TNA, and ECW Superstar Big Vito.

OUTside The riNg wiTh ....

NOel harlOw
What’s your earliest wrestling memory? What’s the funniest thing you have ever
seen in wrestling?
My earliest memory of wrestling is probably
I was at a show in Florida sitting with Stacy
watching WWF Live from the Philadelphia
“the Kat” Carter . Before the show, I was
Spectrum on the old Prism channel here in
trying to teach Vito the dance to the Beyonce
the states. I remember watching Roddy song “Single Ladies ... put a ring on it” where
Piper and thinking wow that guy is wearing a you flip your hand around back and forth.
dress but it’s kind of cool...guess that one Well, Vito kept telling me, I got it, I got it, over
must have traveled over in to adult hood . and over again. Well the song hits and here
Who has been comes Vito dressed as Marilyn Monroe
your biggest dancing around waving his hands...the wrong
influences in way. He looked like he was trying to catch a
wrestling? cab or something. I immediately busted out
laughing realising that was his attempt to do
I’ve had a lot.
the dance. Then Stacy started laughing cause
Francine and
she thought it was “cute”. She said “Look he’s
Pat Kinney
looking at you for approval” and he was with a
(Simon HUGE smile on his face. Then I looked
Diamond) taught around and realised the entire crowd is doing
me a lot. My the “Vito Version” of the dance along with
teacher Sean him. I told him afterwards he did it wrong and
Denny. Sherri he just looked at me and said “But it got over”.
Martel is my
To this day he still does the dance wrong...but
idol, I’ve seen
so does everyone else when he’s in the
everything she
building.
has ever done. I
watch I learn. What’s your favourite joke?
Bobby Heenan, Two pretzels were walking down the street,
Luna Vachon, one was a salted...that’s probably funnier
Freddie Blassie. when you say it not read it.

38 www.thewrestlingpress.com
 Had any wrestling dis
asters you’d prefer
to forget?
I’ve had certain parts pop
out of my top
during matches. I’d like
to forget that . Oh
one time I was trying to
do the “Mr Perfect
flipping neck breaker”
and my boot came off
and I landed on my hea
d funny. Could barely
move for a week! I’d like
to forget that too.
Do you think Big Vito
enjoys wearing
women’s clothing?
Yes he does, it makes
him feel sexy, and
nobody looks better in and a fan punched me
a dress than Vito. in the face and gave
He’s very comfortable me a black eye. I ended
with himself, which I up knocking him on
find sexy. his behind. Needless
to say my mother
wasn’t very happy when
I showed up for
dinner on Mothers Da
y...which also
happened to be her birt
hday...sorry Mom.
Which matches have
you watched the
most?
Wrestlemania 7 Macho
Man Vs Ultimate
Warrior, Wrestlemania
3 Macho Man vs
Ricky Steamboat, Big
Vito vs Terry Funk
for the WCW hardcore
title, Big Vito vs
Lance Storm, Ric Flair
vs Terry Funk I quit
match
Do you have any sec
Does he look to you ret weapons in your
for advice when wrestling arsenal?
shopping for clothes?
My “distraction”, it’s a
I ask him for advice, He certain part of my
’s a great shopper. body that has been kno
He helps me come up wn to stop wrestling
with great looks. matches...including the
refs (it’s my behind!).
Ever used your femini What’s your favourite
ne wiles to get your TV programme and
own way? movie?
All the time. The lord giv Desperate housewive
es you gifts, it’s s and I love all the
blasphemy if you don’t Rocky Movies being fro
use them. m Philly.
When was the last tim When were you most
e you were naked starstruck?
in the open air?
Probably sitting next to
I sleep naked, does tha Mickey Rourke at
t count? CZW Cage of death. It
was right before the
Can you recall any ba filming of The Wrestler
d experiences with and he and I are right
over eager fans? next to each other discus
sing the cage match.
Didn’t think about it rea
The day before Mothe lly till I got in the car
rs Day a few years and was like ‘WOW, I jus
back I was doing a sho t talked wrestling
w at the ECW Arena with Mickey Rourke...we
ird, but WOW!’.

www.thewrestlingpress.com 39
 I collect Buddha statues. I’m currently
studying to become a cosmetologist. I like
go to the clubs or the beach with my man.
Who’s the better cook, you or Vito?
Vito and I set the wrestling world on fire right
along with our kitchen. Neither of us are well
known for culinary skills. I can bake well I
guess.
What’s your idea of
romance?
Romance to me is
when Vito and I have
our Sunday Pizza
Who’s the most famous dinner date. No
wrestler in your address book? training, no work, just
I have a lot of wrestlers in my the two of us and
phone book. I’m just gonna say some pizza and wine
Vito-WWE, WCW, TNA, ECW, poolside.
Japan, He was even Von Krus in So, when are you
the WWF. He’s probably the most two getting
accomplished guy in my phone hitched???
book.
When the time is
Who are your best friends in right...let’s just say it
wrestling? has been discussed
I’m friends with almost everyone. I :)
worked with so many great people. Describe your
My best friend in the business is a perfect day ?
given, but most of the guys in the
Philadelphia area. A day at the beach with my man! Jersey
Shore baby!
Have you any enemies?
What would be the title of your
I’m sure somewhere I do, but I don’t’ focus
autobiography?
on the negatives.
She came, she saw, she catfought - The
What role in wrestling do you enjoy the
romantic wrestling tale of Noel Harlow
most?
“Queen of the Catfight”
Managing by far. Nothing is better to me
To visit Noel Harlow “Queen of the Catfight”
than screaming my lungs out at ringside.
on the web go to:
What’s your training regime?
www.myspace.com/noelharlow or
I don’t really have a “regime”. I try to work http://www.facebook.com/noelskisses
out when I can. I like Yoga a lot. Also check out VitoLoGrasso.com to get all
What hobbies do you have outside of your info on the toughest couple in pro
wrestling? wrestling!

40 www.thewrestlingpress.com
F
or every terrible human being that ent, nor is he one of the biggest in stature or name.
exhibits ego, self-promotion and a Fergal Devitt is a 29 year old Irish-born wrestler
horrendous wrestling ability in the who, since debuting in 2000, made his name for
wrestling business, there exist those NWA Hammerlock and his self-contained NWA Ire-
individuals that, through selfless action, land promotion. Competing in his home country,
immense worth to a promotion or the business and training many other competitors (including
as a whole, or a downright abundance of renowned female wrestler Rebecca Knox) was not
ability, are deserving of recognition. enough for young Devitt though. The former British
Commonwealth champion joined the New Japan
It is with that in mind that The Wrestling Priest dojo in 2005, after winning his second British Com-
returns once again to deliver a blessing to yet an- monwealth title on the NWA 57th Anniversary show
other deserving individual. in Nashville, Tennesee.
This issue, the special blessing goes to.... While training in the American dojo, Devitt worked
Fergal Devitt hard around the American indies. Yet he still didn’t
While most Western fans will think of Sheamus or
Finley (or, incorrectly, of Hornswoggle) when asked
to name a successful Irish wrestler of the last few
years, there is one wrestler who is garnering just FERGAL FACTS
as much success in the wrestling world.
New Japan Pro Wrestling went through something Billed height: 5ft 11in
of a ‘low’ period in recent years. Crowds were down
Billed weight: 178 lb
(as they were for all Japanese wrestling promo-
tions) and their shows were somewhat less ‘must Born: 25th July, 1981
watch’ than usual. Then things began to turn County Wicklow, Ireland
around and an influx of new stars and exciting Billed from Manchester, England
matches made New Japan the ‘must see’ promo- Trained by: NWA UK Hammerlock
tion in Japan once again.
New Japan Inoki Dojo
But one of the most successful and enjoyable of
their current crop of stars is not a homegrown tal- Debut: June 2000

42 www.thewrestlingpress.com
become anything of a household name. In fact, to be fair, Gun’ Anderson that was a dazzling match,
when Devitt surfaced on New Japan shows, even many of and one of the biggest victories of Devitt’s
the UK wrestling fans didn’t really know who he was (after career, over the former four-time IWGP
all, he had never appeared on shows with initials like ‘FWA’ champion, and one of the biggest names
or ‘IPW’, and for many that may as well meant he didn’t exist in New Japan at the moment, Hiroshi
on the UK circuit). Tanahashi.
It soon became clear that this newcomer had quite the po- Wrestling needs stories like this again.
tential. When he debuted (against long-time Junior Heavy- ‘The boyhood dream becoming a reality’,
weight competitor El Samurai), and soon after adopted the ‘the Irish boy that took on the world’. Head-
ring name Pegasus Kid II (named after the in-ring New lines like these could really benefit
Japan persona of the late Chris Benoit), it was clear the wrestling as a whole, and garner it main-
company had some significant plans for this young Irishman. stream publicity over here once again.
His Pegasus Kid II persona was as shortlived as the Quite frankly, with such a vast talent, and
Wrestleland shows on which he used it though, and soon the success he has had, Fergal Devitt is a
Fergal Devitt would become ‘Prince Devitt’. However, follow- name we can guarantee you are going to
ing a brief heel run with the CTU (Jushin Liger’s group, not hear a LOT about in the near future. n
Jack Bauer’s!), he suffered a knee injury in early 2007 that
looked to end his momentum.
A ‘nil point’ entry in the 2007 Best of the Super Jr’s tourna-
ment, and a loss to visiting TNA stars Senshi (now NXT’s
Kaval) and Christopher Daniels, spelled trouble for the
young Irishman, but it wasn’t long before he found gold for
himself and partner Minoru in the shape of the IWGP Jr tag
titles.
Back on track, Devitt was becoming a really polished and
exciting competitor in the ring, and was soon finding himself
in the finals of the 2009 Best of Super Juniors tournament,
narrowly losing out to veteran competitor Koji Kanemoto.
The 2009 Super J Cup also saw him losing in the finals, this
time to visiting NOAH star Naomichi Marufuji, who left the
ark to capture the victory in New Japan’s top Super Junior
tournament. But it was this match that had people talking
worldwide, as Devitt and Marufuji put together a mindblow-
ingly good match.
A second blinder occurred between the two six days later,
when Devitt won the IWGP Jr Heavyweight belt from Maru-
fuji. Devitt was now the king of the division, and was produc-
ing some amazing, innovative and exciting performances
night after night.
Then came the 2010 G1 Climax, and the reason why Devitt
is receiving the blessing at this time. When Naomichi Maru-
fuji was unable to compete in the tournament, Devitt took his
place and racked up four solid victories in his block. While
the victories were not enough to bring him into the finals, the
performances were some of the most outstanding of the
tournament. Particularly impressive were victories over the
huge Strong Man, an amazing victory over Karl ‘Machine

www.thewrestlingpress.com 43
 ni g b i o g ra p hy
Curt Hen
Mr PErF ECT
M . MILNER
Words: JOHN

44 www.thewrestlingpress.com
T
hroughout the history of the industry,
there have been many wrestlers who
have been great. But there was only
one who was “Perfect”.
Curt Hennig was born on March 28th, 1958 in
Robbinsdale, MN, the son of Larry “the Axe”
Hennig. (The elder Hennig had gained fame, in
part, due to his AWA Championship tag team
with “Handsome” Harley Race.)
Hennig played football in high school but a knee
injury curtailed his gridiron career and he began
training with Verne Gagne. On January 30th,
1980, “Cool” Curt Hennig, as he was known
then, made his debut.
In the early day of his career, Hennig split time
between the AWA and the Pacific Northwest and
was active in both singles and tag team compe-
tition. Hennig would win the Heavyweight title
there and become a three-time holder of the
PNW Tag Team titles, holding it with Buddy
Rose, Pat (or Scott) McGhee and, on April 27, By early 1987, the babyface Hennig had turned
1982, with his father, Larry. heel and, with the help of Larry Zbyszko, he de-
feated Bockwinkle for the title on May 2nd. He
In 1982, Hennig went to the WWF (now WWE) would hold the title for just over a year, feuding
for the first time, tagging with another future star with Bockwinkle, Greg Gagne and others. He
and 2nd generation wrestler, “Hot Stuff” Eddie would also align himself with manager Diamond
Gilbert before returning to the AWA. Dallas Page, AWA Women’s Champion Medusa
Curt’s time in the Pacific Northwest would not be Micelli (later Alundra Blayze) and Tag Team
the only time he tagged with his father. In 1985, Champions Badd Company (Paul Diamond and
the Hennigs would feud with AWA Tag Team Pat Tanaka).
Champions, the Road Warriors. While Curt On May 9th, 1988, Hennig would lose the AWA
would not snare AWA Tag Team gold against the title to Jerry “the King” Lawler in Lawler’s home-
Road Warriors, he would do so when he teamed town of Memphis.
with Scott Hall on January 18, 1986, to defeat
Jimmy Garvin and Steve Regal in Albuquerque, Shortly after the loss, Hennig would leave the
N.M. AWA and sign with the WWF. Prior to his televi-
sion debut, Hennig would be introduced, via vi-
BY LATE 1989, PERFECT WAS THE gnettes, performing various athletic feats such
as bowling a 300 game, throwing and catching
TOP CONTENDER TO HuLK
his own long football pass, scoring a hole in one
HOGAN’S WWF CHAMPIONSHIP and hitting home runs.
After Hall and Hennig lost the Tag Team titles to Although he would wrestle some house shows
Buddy Rose and Doug Somers on May 17th, as Curt Hennig, he would soon be given the
Hennig would begin his singles career. In late moniker of “Mr. Perfect”. With Lanny Poffo, nick-
1986, he battled AWA World Champion Nick named “the Genius” in his corner, Hennig took
Bockwinkle to a one-hour draw, making it known on WWF workers such as Jimmy Snuka, the
he was a legitimate contender to that title. Red Rooster and, at Wrestlemania V, the Blue

www.thewrestlingpress.com 45
Blazer (Owen Hart). By late 1989, Perfect was
the top contender to Hulk Hogan’s WWF Cham-
pionship. In order to really get under Hogan’s
skin, Perfect and the Genius stole and then de-
stroyed Hogan’s title belt after Genius got a
cheap countout victory on a Saturday Night’s
Main Event.
While Hogan and Hennig would feud for several
months in late 1989 and early 1990, it was Bru-
tus Beefcake who would face, and defeat, Hen-
nig at Wrestlemania VI. It was the first loss by
Perfect to be acknowledged by the WWF. Re-
placing the Genius with Bobby “the Brain”
Heenan as his manager, Mr. Perfect would
storm through the tournament to crown a new
Intercontinental Championship, defeating former
champion Tito Santana to win the title.
He would lose the I-C belt to “The Texas Tor-
nado” Kerry Von Erich at SummerSlam 1990,
but, with the help of Ted Dibiase, would regain
the belt in November. By the summer of 1991,
however, Hennig, now managed by “The Coach”
John Tolos, was suffering from a back injury that
would bring his career to a halt. At SummerSlam

Diamond Dallas Page, Curt Hennig and the

Diamond Doll in 1988

’91, Bret Hart would defeat Hennig to win the In-

tercontinental Championship.
Although his in-ring career was (temporarily)
halted, Hennig would remain with WWE as a
colour commentator and as the Executive Con-
sultant to WWF newcomer Ric Flair. However,
Hennig would split with Flair to team with Randy
Savage at the 1992 Survivor Series. (Hennig
and Savage would defeat Flair and Razor
Ramon.)
The Survivor Series marked Hennig’s return to
the ring, as he would feud with Flair, Lex Luger,
Shawn Michaels and others, until his back in-
juries flared up again in late 1993. He would,
however, return as a special guest referee at
Wrestlemania X, costing Lex Luger his World
title opportunity against Yokozuna.

46 www.thewrestlingpress.com
Hennig would return to the WWE in late 1995 as After the program ended, Hennig would feud
a colour commentator. In 1996, it appeared he with Shawn Stasiak and Harlem Heat before los-
was about to feud with Hunter Hearst Helmsley ing a retirement match to Buff Bagwell at WCW
(Triple H) as he was coming to ringside to spirit Mayhem in November 1999. Hennig left WCW
away the myriad of women in Helmsley’s corner. when his contract expired in the summer of
But the “feud” turned out to be a scheme to cost 2000.
Marc Mero his Intercontinental Championship in
Curt worked in several independent organisa-
October.
tions, including the short-lived XWF (where he
Hennig left the WWF in late 1996 and, the next lost to Hulk Hogan in a high profile match), the
year, arrived in World Championship Wrestling. Main Event Wrestling Federation and Super-
As Diamond Dallas Page’s mystery partner at stars of Wrestling (both organisations saw Hen-
Bash at the Beach ’97 against Randy Savage nig installed as their initial champion) and even
and Scott Hall, Hennig turned on his partner and faced NBA star Dennis Rodman in Australia.
feuded with Page. Initially it appeared Hennig
Hennig returned to the WWF at the 2002 Royal
was going to take Arn Anderson’s place in the
Rumble. His performance at the Rumble earned
Four Horsemen, only to turn on the foursome to
him a contract with the organisation. After bat-
join the New World Order.
tling Steve Austin and Rob Van Dam and form-
Hennig won the U.S. title from Steve “Mongo” ing a team with Shawn Stasiak, he was released
McMichael in September 1997 and would hold in the aftermath of the May 2002 “Plane Ride
it until the end of the year, before losing it to from Hell” after a physical altercation with Brock
Page at Starrcade ’97. Hennig would team with Lesnar.
Rick Rude in the NWO (Wolfpac and later NWO-
After his release from WWE, he headed to Total
Hollywood).
Nonstop Action and feuded with NWA World
Following his departure from the NWO, Hennig Champions Ron “The Truth” Killings (R-Truth)
teamed with Barry Windham, winning the WCW and Jeff Jarrett.
Tag Team titles and, later, forming the West
Sadly, Hennig’s career and life came to an end
Texas Rednecks with both Barry and Kendall
when he was found dead in a Brandon, FL
Windham and Bobby Duncam, Jr. Opposed to
hotel room on February 10, 2003 due to what
rap music, the Rednecks feuded with Master P’s
police termed “acute cocaine intoxication”.
No Limit Soldiers.
Hennig was 44.
But Hennig’s legacy lives on. Remembered as
one of the greatest in-ring performers of all time,
Curt was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame
in the Class of 2007, inducted by former New
York Yankee (and Hennig’s friend) Wade Boggs.
That same year, a year after his father, Curt
Hennig was inducted, by Larry Hennig, into the
George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional
Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum in Water-
loo, Iowa.
His son, Joe, and daughter, Amy, are both
wrestlers. Joe was a part of Season 2 of WWE
NXT as Michael McGillicutty.
Amy and Joe Hennig n Contact John at [email protected]

www.thewrestlingpress.com 47
Jade Chung
Jade Chung is a professional wrestler and manager
who has appeared in Border City Wrestling, IWA Mid-
South, NWA, RoH and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla.
She has managed some of the top wrestlers on the
independent circuit, as well as Mr. Hughes and the
"Franchise" Shane Douglas.
For more details see
www.jadechung.com
thewrestlingpress.com DIVA
 A
NICA L
Y
C MIND NIC
HE CY
with T

IT IS FLEETING, IT IS EPHEMERAL,
IT MEANS NOTHING .....
S
uccess, that is. And I should know. might be nothing for him. He‘ll be wanting to rehab
I have heard those words. Those as quickly, more quickly, than he can.
words I thought I would never hear. RVD lost the belt. Not in the ring. Because of an
“Have you done any work in the injury. He’d been out of the limelight for a while. Still
last two weeks?” I waited. And waited. Surely had a cachet though. That’s why TNA brought him
someone would call me? I had mates. Now I in; if not a household name then maybe a bunga-
just have Jobseekers Allowance. A colleague low one (hah ha), but one who could do it all. In the
has intimated that if Ed Milliband wins the past. That they put the title on him was a brave
leadership election, he might consider the move. The spreading midriff and lack if fluidity was
possibility, sometime in the future, of maybe a warning. But fans had accepted the first-gear
bringing me in to do some indeterminate pseudo-geriatric Sting as champ, so worth a go.
work of some type. So that’s ok. Isn’t it?
Money running out. But. Don’t panic. No. And although he has the calm Zen thing going on,
Panic. you know he wants the money, power and respect
that his spot affords him. He must be gutted.
Skip Sheffield knows. You get yourself massive,
through gym work and a freakishly supportive ge- Why do they grasp and scheme? Because their
netic makeup. And nothing else, you hear? Noth- employers make them. This is economic lesson
ing else. Oh, you did hear. Well, just in case. number 465 and you haven’t listened yet. This will
Nothing else. Good. That’s that unanswered ques- make wrestlers more healthy and owners more
tion answered. You put yourself through the indig- wealthy. I am nothing if not inclusive; but not the
nity of a grappling talent show. Now you’re in a way that you were in the ‘Man In The Mine’ pub
hard-pushed group that is making waves. And last Saturday. Yes, you know who you are.
then, in a standard house show in Hawaii of all Here it is. Wresting promoters think it pays them to
places, there’s a sickening snap as you’re looking have a conveyor belt of grapplers. Do what we say
at an operation on your ankle. or there are hundreds like you willing to put their
And bang goes that spot. He could taste it. Now bodies on the line for a sniff of success – take a
it’s nil by mouth. By the time he comes back, there bow, Jack Evans – so comply. This quick turn-

50 www.thewrestlingpress.com
around is the way owners feel is necessary to are both things that Vincent can and should
bump up profits. But it isn’t. It’s harming their busi- change.
ness.
Wrestlers want that spot. Bosses know that. They
Imagine there was a factory making widgets. Stay use it to get the most out if them. Through fear of
with me on this, you might learn something in your losing that chance. Through fear of losing that
A* dangerously underperforming brains. The fac- money. Through fear of losing that fame. And so
tory owner has done everything he (and it will be a grapplers rehab too quickly, come back too force-
he) can do to automate the process and thus turn fully and work through the pain. And so grapplers
a profit. But there’s a change in the Market; the or- climb on and off planes, in and out of cars, up and
ders are now all in specially designed widgets, the down from turnbuckles whilst their bodies scream
type that have to be made by hand. The owner can for release.
corner the Market by training his staff and paying
And they use drugs to cope. With, quite often,
them the extra wages that their new abilities merit.
deadly consequences.
A small layout for a massive return. Or he can carry
on as he is, losing orders and shouting at his staff Of course, there is something they can do. But
that he can sack them all and get a whole new staff don’t shout it too loudly in the US or you’ll be ac-
in, even doing that and replacing them with 20 new cused of being a...Socialist. Which is tantamount to
staff...who can’t make the new widgets. Until even- being called a paedophile there. Appalling, isn’t it?
tually the business goes bust. What’s wrong with workers protecting themselves?
That’s what Vince and Ditsie are doing. Bringing Yep, I’m banging on about unions again. Individu-
in generic wrestlers, then not giving them the time ally, you are nothing. Collectively, you are strong. I
or skills to stick in our minds. Replacing them with know they would be afraid of the brass pink slipping
other greenhorns. Or going back to those suc- them before they could say “comrades”, but get a
cesses in the past that you did give time to, but few like-minded fellows, join a union (they do al-
who can’t now be bothered. That’s why Paul Hey- ready exist you know) and present the manage-
man got ECW so right; he let the new boys do ment with a fait a compli. Then they might take care
there thing until the crowds felt they belonged to of their assets. Then they might cut those sched-
them. ules. Then they might not be
chasing profit above all
That’s the way to do it. else.
Because you can have the best writers in the land. And then Skip might
The best matchmakers in the land. The best CEO not be looking at his
in the land. But who provides the product every earliest return date.
week? Wrestlers. Make them scared to screw up, RVD might not be losing
make them scared to not make an instant impres- sleep. And Cade’s ex-col-
sion, make them scared to upset their masters leagues might not be popping
and what do you get? pills to get through the day.
You get wrestlers like Lance Cade. Yes, his death Wrestling is seedy. It’s on the
is extremely sad. Yes, we don’t know definitively margins. It needs a clear out.
how it happened. But he had issues with addiction Not of grapplers though. Of
when in WWE. It’s not enough to say he had an management and their out-
addiction, what are we to do? It’s not enough to moded ideas. Capitalism kills
say they put him through rehab and did what they people. And it doesn’t work
could. It’s not enough. What is enough is changing any more. Don’t you read the
the way you make your assets feel. papers Vince?
Allegedly, Cade had a Soma issue. He may have
n Contact The Cynic at
been working through an injury. He may have [email protected]
been taking the edge off a hectic schedule. These

www.thewrestlingpress.com 51
 INTERVIEW
JIM CORNETTE
Summary by JEREMY GRAVES

DKR – To begin with, as men- normal. We were actually in

The Dropkick Radio Wrestling tioned we last spoke to you the north east a lot longer
Show recently had the oppor- before the 8th Anniversary than we wanted to be. But it
tunity to welcome back to the show. Since then ROH has was a great match that got a
program, the Executive Pro- come on leaps and bounds lot of talk and got Tyler kicked
ducer of the ROH on HDNet by featuring great wrestling off well. Of course, bridging
television program, Jim Cor- and compelling stories to over to ‘The Big Bang’, the 3
nette to discuss a variety of make you want to keep up to way match with (Austin)
topics relating to Ring of date with the product which Aries, Tyler Black and Roder-
Honor. The complete inter- seems to be in it’s best posi- ick Strong! The PPV numbers
view can be found at tion in some time. What do were up slightly from Final
www.DropkickRadio.com you attribute the success of Battle. The show was very
ROH this year to and how are well received, it was about
you feeling about the growth 1000 people in the building in
of the company?
JC – Boy you know how to
ask a multi-part question! It
really has been phenomenal
the way things have been. It
To set the scene, the last time all started with Final Battle
last December in New York
DKR spoke to Jim Cornette
which really set the tone for
was shortly before the 8th An-
things to come. As you
niversary show in February.
mentioned, the February
Tyler Black was on the final
New York event that
road to becoming the ROH
featured Tyler Black
champion and dethroning
and Austin Aries was a
Austin Aries. Since then, the
great match where
second and third iPPV’s ‘The Tyler came out as
Big Bang’ and ‘Death Before Champion. The at-
Dishonor VIII’ have seen phe- tendance that night,
nomenal wrestling (of which believe it or not, was
both DVDs are available now the only New York
at ROHwrestling.com), and event not to sell out!
we are now on the road to Now that could be be-
‘Glory By Honor IX’ in New cause of the ‘state of
York City which is set to fea- emergency’ snow storm!
ture perhaps one of the most Our trip going through 2
anticipated tag team title feet of snow in Philadel-
matches in quite some time! phia and 30 inches in Bal-
timore isn’t exactly

52 www.thewrestlingpress.com
a brand new market, Charlotte, North Carolina, of as many buys as TNA is getting for their reg-
then going to May in New York featuring the big ular PPVs! I don’t know if that’s a compliment to
match between Tyler Black and Roderick Ring Of Honor or an indictment to TNA, but
Strong, once again I thought that match along we’re closing in on the number 2 folks, by doing
with the Motor City Machineguns (Alex Shelley an internet stream without the huge six figure
& Chris Sabin) vs. King Of Wrestling (Chris Hero cost of doing television PPV.
& Claudio Castagnoli) was tremendous! Then,
we go to June in Toronto, and that’s where inter-
net PPV really started kicking in, the numbers
were up at least 25% maybe more from the pre-
vious PPV! And also there was a lot of good
word of mouth buys, because the PPV was not
only live on the internet all over the world,

O
WE’RE REALLY GETTING INT
OVE WIT H THE HDNET
THE GRO
R
TELEVISION SHOW THIS YEA
through GoFightLive.TV, but also they could be
ordered On-Demand after the fact, so we got a
lot of residual buys! As well, a lot of people are DKR – Looking back at the iPPVs since their in-
saying that was probably the best Ring Of Honor ception, would you say it’s undoubtedly been a
event of all time with two match of the year can- success?
didates and another Briscoe’s/King Of Wrestling
JC – Well, actually every single one of them has
war, even better than the one in Charlotte, it’s
been a money maker, because there’s not that
one of the wildest fights i’ve seen in wrestling in
quite a while. And of course, Tyler Black and much extra cost when we’re already running the
Davey Richards which to me compared with a live event, when we’re already shooting the live
Ric Flair/Ricky Steamboat match as far as the event for DVD there’s not much extra cost in
gold standard of what in-ring competative pro broadcasting the live stream. So every one has
wrestling is in this day and age just like they been a money maker, it’s just now a question of
were in 1989! Now we’re set to go on September getting this technology worldwide and getting
11th in New York City, Glory By Honor with Rod- people to know about it. Of course, these new
erick Strong vs. Tyler Black, Terry Funk will be setups they have where you can watch your
on the show as a special guest, the Kings Of computer on your big screen now, the young
Wrestling take on Shelton Benjamin and Charlie folks (I’m too old for that, I’ve barely figured out
Haas, and there’s a lot of other surprises we’ve the fax machine yet), the young folks know how
got in store so, I think what we attribute this to is to do these things and at some point in the future
that the guys up and down the Ring Of Honor you’re literally going to be able to log on to the
roster have really stepped up their game in the PPV event you want to buy, put your computer
ring, they’ve delivered some classic matches, screen on your big screen in your living room,
we’ve tried to exploit and take advantage of the and enjoy a high quality picture! At first we had
new technology, we’re really getting in the some problems with audio and with dropping out
groove with the HDNet television show this year during Final Battle last December. We improved
(which started back in April of 2009) as a way to on that in Charlotte, but they say the June show
bridge these big events with compelling reasons was the best technically yet. So that once again,
to watch these guys face each other. The Inter- as the technology emerges and improves,
net PPV experiment with Ring Of Honor is now (means) we’re improving. I don’t know if it’s
getting to the point where we’re getting a quarter going to be a decade, five years or even next

www.thewrestlingpress.com 53
year the way things go. But people all over the want to bid on the Ring Of Honor champion as
world are going to be able to do that at the click he was becoming available, indicates that the
of a button, and basically anyone in the world big boys for all fact they want to talk about no-
will be able to see an event live as it happens or body’s in their class, their certainly looking at
on-demand after the fact whenever they want! people making waves in wrestling! Once again
Ring Of Honor is not going to open up a cheque
book and say it can compete with the billionaire
DKR – Can you go into any specifics as to how from Stamford. Linda McMahon is spending
well the internet PPVs have done from a world- $50,000,000 to buy a US Senate seat! It’s not
wide perspective? like if they don’t want somebody else’s cham-
JC – Gosh! To be quite honest that’s a great pion they can’t open a cheque book.
question to ask! I’ve never asked for it to be bro-
ken down in terms of domestic and internation-
ally. But I can say because of the Ring Of Honor I think his
DVD Mailing List, orders and things like that, that
we have a huge fan base in the UK and Ger-
ability and
many. I get a lot of emails at my website quality as a
(www.JimCornette.com) from Europe and all
over the world, but there’s a lot of Ring Of Honor human being
fans, especially in the UK! I’ve sent a lot of my will probably
Midnight Express books to the UK. There’s a
great pocket of wrestling fans in Europe that we make him a
have an advantage on the other guys because big star
sometimes, from the way I understand it, the
PPVs from WWE and TNA are shown after the
fact or delayed or shown at odd hours and
maybe free TV specials sometime after they
happen. With this technology, anyone with a I think it’s a great opportunity for Tyler, I think
computer and internet access can see it as it he’ll be a big star in wrestling. I have since the
happens! time I first saw him when I came back to Ring Of
Honor. A lot of people have problems cracking
DKR – One of the bigger stories over the past
the political and glass ceiling and everything in
few weeks relating to the ROH roster is that
the WWE. But I think his ability and quality as a
Tyler Black has reportedly signed with the WWE.
human being will probably make him a big star.
Obviously it’s a huge opportunity for him but at
Having said that, it could get to a kid’s head that
the same is a big loss for Ring Of Honor as he’s
young, who’s 24 or 25 years old, and being bid
the current champion. How do you feel about
on by every promotion in the country, that he still
this opportunity Tyler has?
hasn’t lost the Ring Of Honor title! We’re sin-
JC – Well first off, everybody’s saying he’s cerely hoping that happens before he does
‘signed’, past tense is different from ‘he’s going’, leave to go anywhere. At the same time, it’d be
I’m just making that point. Tyler really benefited awfully valuable to another promotion to have a
from the string of incredible matches he had this guy walk out on their television with somebody
year in Ring Of Honor. His contract was coming else’s title. It hasn’t happened in a while, but it
to a close this Fall and he had offers from TNA, used to cause a stir when it did. We’re hoping
he had offers from WWE, he had a lot of people that somebody can come along and zap a quick
bidding on him. And to be quite honest it’s attrib- one on him, as Vince McMahon would say, be-
utable to not only his talent but also the fact that fore anything takes place. That’s why they make
every major promotion in this country would PPV!

54 www.thewrestlingpress.com
DKR – And this brings us to they’re both great wrestlers, am-
the next internet PPV on ateur and pro. But they haven’t
GoFightLive.TV, presented had the chance to show what
by Ring Of Honor, when they can do on a mainstream
‘Glory By Honor IX’, takes basis whilst being tied up in
place in New York city on WWE limbo. So when they
September 11th. Already were both released, really very
signed is possibly one of the near each other, my idea was
most highly anticipated tag to reform the greatest tag team
matches in recent memory as and put them in Ring Of Honor
The King Of Wrestling (Chris where’s there’s so many great
Hero & Claudio Castagnoli) teams. The American Wolves
defend their ROH Tag Team (Davey Richards & Eddie Ed-
championship against the team wards), The Briscoes (Jay &
of Charlie Hass and Shelton Benjamin, formerly Mark), The Kings Of Wrestling. It just so hap-
known as ‘The Worlds Greatest Tag Team’ in the pened by the way things worked out, that the
WWE! Can you give us an insight as to how this Kings Of Wrestling were the perfect team since
came to be and how excited ROH is about pre- they are the Ring Of Honor Tag Team champi-
senting this match on such an big event in the ons now, to face these guys! You know I’ve got
ROH calendar? a soft spot for tag team wrestling!
JC – Well, we’re all looking forward to it, espe- Chris Hero has really transformed his body. He’s
cially me! Shelton and Charlie are a couple of in shape, he’s really grown up as far as his in-
our OVW (Ohio Valley Wrestling) boys. Shelton ring performance and Claudio Castagnoli is a
Benjamin got really, his first wrestling training at tremendous find! Chris has a lot to do with train-
OVW here in Louisville. He spent a couple of ing him and they are a great tag team. The days
years with us, he and Brock Lesnar came in at of tag teams staying together and travelling to-
the same time. Charlie Haas had been wrestling gether staying place to place has been over for
when he was signed by the WWE and sent to so long, for guys to get to this level of compe-
developmental here in Louisville. So we got to tence as a tag team and really want to stay to-
spend time with both of these guys. To me, they gether, we like to feed on that in Ring Of Honor!
were the consensus ‘best tag team in the world’ So it’s going to be the best in Ring Of Honor,
in the WWE 2 or 3 years ago and I guess the against the so called ‘best in the world’ from two
conventional wisdom was ‘since they got too or three years ago, and we’ll see what happens
good and we didn’t want them to, we’ll break on September 11th 2010!
them up’! I don’t know why they didn’t keep them
as a tag team. But these guys are athletic, both
Charlie and Shelton have a tremendous ama-
Ring of Honor presented ‘Glory By Honor IX’
teur background. In fact, Shelton was an assis-
on September 11th, which you can now order
tant coach on the Minnesota team the year
at GoFightLive.TV
Brock Lesnar won the NCAA (National Colle-
giate Athletic Association) heavyweight champi- See www.ROHwrestling.com for further in-
onship in 2000. They’re both great athletes, formation.

To hear the complete interview of Jim Cornette on Dropkick

Radio, please visit www.DropkickRadio.com, and the you will
find the interview included as part of the August 21st edition of
the program.

56 www.thewrestlingpress.com
 n by ROB SIVELL ([email protected])

A
s of August 15th 2010, Ring of Honor entered another
period of its history as booker ‘Scrap Iron’ Adam Pearce
departed from his creative duties and left the company.
In his place RoH owner Cary Silkin has appointed Hunter
‘Delirious’ Johnston, who will be assisted in his duties by
legendary manager and creative mind Jim Cornette.
The split between RoH and Pearce was amicable according to
reports.
“Cary Silkin gave me the chance to live a life-long dream two years
ago,” Pearce was recently quoted as saying.
“I want to thank each member of the ROH roster, for working so
hard with me to make this year a huge creative success. You all
allowed me to grow into a position that I was unqualified for
and helped make the stories in my head come to life.
“Delirious, now finds himself in that very scary and ex-
citing spot. I wish him nothing but the best; I’m sure we’ll
cross paths again.”
Cary Silkin has recently responded, saying: “We thank
Adam for everything he brought to the table, but I decided to make
a change. There were no problems between us.
“There was no blow-up and it’s entirely possible he will return down
the line either in front of the camera or in another backstage role.”
Silkin went on to praise his new booker Johnston, describing him
as a “smart, respected, hard working person.”
Cornette, who was thought to be the more obvious choice for
booker, recently spoke to TWP’s official partners, Dropkick
Radio:

www.thewrestlingpress.com 57
 The Sapolsky formula undoubtedly worked, as
Ring of Honor firmly established itself as the
number three promotion in the United States.
There was no question that this formula still
works today as Dragon Gate USA and EVOLVE
under the guidance of Sapolsky have gathered
astonishing momentum, picking up the fans
that Ring of Honor has lost. The change in
booking style under Pearce has rocked RoH’s
position as the perceived number three promo-
tion in America, with close rivals Pro Wrestling
Guerrilla, Chikara and Dragon Gate USA not far
behind.
Although none of us know what to expect from
the Johnston and Cornette booking coalition, I
hope that they draw upon the original formula
Former booker that made the company so successful. Although,
Adam Pearce focussing only on the in-ring product will not
solve all of RoH’s problems. I would like to see
“When you’re a booker and you get the job emphasis and direction put into Ring of Honor’s
you’re happy, and when you lose the job you’re lacking TV show; by providing fans with story-
happy. It is a lot of stress but he [Pearce] has lines they can care about.
done a great job.
The TV show was supposed to be the additional
“Cary wants to try a couple of things. That’s not vehicle that would expand Ring of Honor’s fan
going to mean a radical change of style in the base and demonstrate the alternative product
ring. We’re going to be looking at more of the in- they offered. However the long match time as-
dependent promotions here in this country. sociated with RoH did not translate well to TV.
Looking at more wrestling schools, we want to
Little was offered in the way of character devel-
find these young guys that are out there, and we
opment and continuous storylines to link
want to expose them first.”
episode to episode, thus leaving the show stag-
With Delirious given the support of the owner nant and giving the fans little incentive to tune in
and Cornette he will be pivotal to Ring of again the following week.
Honor’s future, but the question remains – what
One prime example of this involved tag team
does that future hold?
The Dark City Fight Club of Jon Davis and Kory
There can be no doubt that the former mystique Chavis, who beat a string of tag teams (jobbers
surrounding RoH as a ‘super-indie’ promotion, or not) week after week, but were not rewarded
constantly booking dream matches, has faded with a tag team title shot on the TV show.
since Pearce took charge.
If RoH were to cut down on the regularity of
The post Gabe Sapolsky era proved disappoint- meaningless matches and focus on its core ros-
ing for many fans as the product seemed to take ter of stars, then they can provide stories that
a downturn, with the inclusion of far too many the fans will care about, which in turn will build
disqualifications and run-in finishes. credible challengers and future champions.
Although it may sound pretentious, I felt these The company has a Television Champion in
changes tarnished what was once a pure prod- Eddie Edwards, but he rarely makes title de-
uct, where finishes were decisive and every fences against credible opponents, making each
match mattered. outcome predictable.

58 www.thewrestlingpress.com
The final problems that Johnston will inherit as Johnston should instead focus on the TV show
booker are the losses of company stars, prob- and create credible storylines, involving new and
lems that have blighted the past two bookers talented wrestlers.
(Sapolsky and Pearce).
With The Nexus, WWE has provided us with an
With current Heavyweight Champion Tyler Black example of how it can be done. In reality they
heading to WWE development as soon as Sep- were seven guys that no-one cared about and
tember and Davey Richards announcing his re- have gone from bit parts in a third rate show, to
tirement come the end of 2010. This will leave a being in the main event at this year’s Summer-
huge void at the top of the main event scene as slam against Cena, Edge, Jericho and company.
both men are considered the top two performers
Primarily because they were given a compelling
in the company.
storyline that fans cared about and believed in.
Any company would suffer if it lost its two top
If Johnston can create such instances within
stars. Even the mighty WWE would if they lost
RoH, then he is sure to be a success and with
John Cena and the Undertaker for example, al-
Jim Cornette at his side, he’ll have every chance
though the remaining talent pool available to
of helping Ring of Honor regain its notoriety as
them would soon overcome the problem; a lux-
one of the best promotions in the world.
ury RoH does not possess.

WSUWrestling.com

www.thewrestlingpress.com 59
 n by ROB SIVELL
[email protected]

T
he National Wrestling Alliance and Pearce, Brent Albright and Blue Demon Jr capture
its World Heavyweight Champion- the Heavyweight title and now in 2010 Adam
ship has played a major part Pearce is in his third reign as champion. He is a
throughout the majority of pro very good choice as champion, bringing credibility
wrestling’s history, with the title’s lineage back to the NWA title.
tracing back to the first World Champion
Pearce’s characteristics of being one of the best
Georg Hackenschmidt and his 1905 title
independent wrestlers on the microphone, who
reign. The NWA was so powerful that
wrestles with a suitably traditional old school style
legendary promoters such as Vince
that the NWA was built upon, reinforce him as
McMahon Sr, Jim Crockett and Verne Gagne
champion of choice.
sat on the board of directors; each voting for
the wrestler who they thought was the It is probably the one in-ring achievement that I’ll
leading talent in the United States and would be most remembered for,” states Pearce. “That’s
be the perfect choice to hold the coveted extremely humbling. I was proud that the organ-
NWA World Heavyweight title. isation had enough faith in me as a performer
For those unaware, the title belt is the oldest to make the best of the situation at hand. I
wrestling championship in the world and the owe a lot to the NWA.”
talent that passed through the NWA, holding Pearce’s reputation as champion and the
the gold in the process, is as a who’s who prestige of the NWA title, looks set
of any wrestling hall of fame. Names to rise even further after retaining
like ‘The Nature Boy’ Ric Flair, the title in two previous title
Ricky Steamboat, Harley Race, defences against Bryan
Dusty Rhodes, The Funk Danielson and former
brothers and Kerry Von Erich WWE star Charlie Haas.
all wore the belt, and fiercely The victorious out-
defended the title night after comes of these bouts
night across the world. continue to add legiti-
Since the glory days of the macy back to the NWA
1970’s and 80’s, the NWA’s star title.
has faded since being shafted by With independent wrestlers
Ted Turner’s World Championship now being the only available
Wrestling and then again when TNA choices as future NWA champi-
broke away in the mid 2000’s. ons and challengers, I for one would
But an effort to re-establish the NWA in Adam Pearce.
recent times has seen ‘Scrap Iron’ Adam © Scott Harvey (www.scottharvey.com)

60 www.thewrestlingpress.com
like to see the NWA affix itself to an established If the NWA were to receive financial backing from
promotion. With WWE, TNA and RoH out of the the Wilpon family, it could potentially provide the
question to host matches for the NWA Heavy- NWA with greater national television coverage
weight title on a regular basis, I think a new upstart and high production values, which would cause
promotion could be a suitable host for the NWA. the NWA’s image to rise even further amongst the
If consequences allowed, then the purported casual fan.
new Florida based promotion, backed by the Although fantasy booking ideas such as a coali-
Wilpon Family (owners of the New York Mets tion with the Wilpon Family may not come to
Baseball Team) would be a suitable coalition fruition, the NWA has so far done a valiant job of
for the NWA to attempt to develop. The upstart re-establishing itself among the wrestling frater-
promotion has reportedly signed up big name nity, using the minor promotions of NWA Anarchy,
talents of Sean Waltman, Vader, Scott Steiner NWA Pro Wrestling and NWA Mexico to its advan-
and Larry Zybsko. tage.
These guys may not be putting on five star If this re-emergence is to continue then more le-
matches any time soon, but they will help to put gitimate challengers to the NWA title such as
asses in seats, the main objective for any Danielson and Haas, will be required. Here’s hop-
wrestling company hoping to become successful. ing that the National Wrestling Alliance goes from
Such a partnership would provide a win-win situ- strength to strength.
ation for both parties, as the NWA logo embla- Fans can follow the NWA wrestling action online
zoned upon a promotion delivers instant with their free web based, NWA Wrestling Show-
recognition and credibility, which could allow it to case.
compete with TNA and RoH as the number two For more information on NWA please visit
and three promotion in the United States. www.nwawrestling.com

www.thewrestlingpress.com 61
BAC K FR O M
TH E BRIN K
F
ollowing a potentially career
ending injury last November,
young indy wrestler Jelena
(ignoring doctor’s predictions
that she would never wrestle again)
rehabbed herself back to health and
finally returned to the ring this August.
Impressed with her brave battle back to
fitness, and her determination to return
to the sport she loves so much, TWP
caught up with Jelena to ask how she’s
feeling after the injury and to learn a
little more about her career so far....

An x-ray of Jelena’s inju

ry
Now Jelena, you are only 20 years of age but thing? What are they
surprisingly you already have 5 years of ex- going to think of me?
perience under your belt. When and how did But by time you step
you get started in the wrestling business? out there and you
Ever since I was a little kid wrestling has been hear the crowd every-
something that just fascinated me. To see what thing just melts away
I consider some of the bravest people I know go and you feel at home.
out there in front of so many people every night,
they are just amazing and so determined. The How would you
lights, the fans, the noise, and the feelings I used describe your
to get watching as a kid still excite me to this day. wrestling style?
I have wanted to be a wrestler since about 8 or My wrestling style
9 years old, so when I turned 15 I went online has changed a little
looking for school's in Florida and came across bit but when I first
Dory Funk Jr. When I gave the details to my par- started wrestling my
ents my dad told me many great stories about favourite wrestler was Bret Hart, so that’s who I
Dory Funk Jr, and so a few weeks later my mom tried to emulate. I used a lot of arm drags, head-
told me she had called Dory Funk and arranged locks, take overs, old school style moves. I still
for me to go meet with him. have that touch of Bret Hart but am now starting
I trained with Dory for three months, and then to incorporate more high flying moves into my
moved onto FXE Wrestling Academy in Orlando, matches.
who I trained with for nine months under head
trainer AJ Gallant. During my time with FXE I got
Based in Florida you must have a few pro-
to meet a lot of cool people such as D’Von Dud-
motions to choose from, who have you
ley. Bumped with D’Von for a while, got to
worked for?
learn a few things from Matt Bentley and I got a
lot of help and training from Dylan Night. There is a lot of wrestling promotions to choose
from here in Florida, which is a great thing.
Both school's taught me so much that I was well
prepared for my Debut match. The main promotion I am working for right now
is DWI and the people back there are just so
amazing. They give respect and treat you just
Presumably you would have quite nervous like family. Also you have LWLL, FPWA, FSPW,
during your debut match, but how was the D1PW and many many more.
overall experience?
My debut was kind of booked last minute so I
How many titles have you won?
didn't have much time to think about it. I received
an email from the promoter for FSPW in Sara- I have had the chance to hold a few titles so far.
sota, Florida. He had asked if I would like to I earned my first title after winning a 2 out of 3
come up and wrestle Arsen, their only female pin falls match in 2007, which was for the
wrestler. Of course I wanted to! I’d only had a SSCW Woman's championship out of Georgia.
year's training under me but still I knew I was I lost the championship a few months later but
ready. So we called up AJ Gallant and told him soon got a rematch and once again became
about it as I was still training with him at the time. the SSCW Woman's champion for the second
He called the promoter and then a week later I time.
was in my first match. I then became the first ever and only LWLL
The feeling of your debut is hard to explain, so Woman's Champion for a promotion in Sara-
many things so through your head its not even sota, Florida. I held onto that until it was retired
funny. AM I ready for this? Am I doing the right in August 2010.

www.thewrestlingpress.com 63
I am also the first and current IWE Woman's would hold up, that's the stubborn person I am.
champion for a promotion in Dade City, Florida. Fortunately the match went great.
Back in November I was booked for a show but
Which match do you consider to be your for some reason I had a weird feeling not to go,
best, and who has been your favourite oppo- something just didn’t feel right. Needless to say I
nent? went to the show anyway. I would be wrestling
There has been many matches I consider to be Ferrari, a girl who I have wrestled many times be-
my favourite but I’d have to pick the return match fore. I felt safe but something still didn't feel right.
following my injury. I wrestled Ferrari to see who We went into the match, we were at a great pace
would be called the LWLL woman's champion and it was going great.
when it is retired, which I won. At a point in the match she put me in a Sit down
I was so nervous because it was 10 months after Sleeper, I tried to counter the move with a Sit
my almost career ending match. down Jaw breaker but when I came down I didn't
fall straight, I came down leaning back a little too
much. I could not get my arms back down by my
side to prevent any damage from being done, I
managed to get my arms around her neck like
they are supposed to, but just could not do any
thing to stop it. Many people have their take on
what happened and whose fault it was, but in my
opinion I won't blame anyone, it was just an acci-
dent.
We were not even a minute away from finishing
the match when it happened. I knew when I came
down something was very very wrong. I heard my
entire back just crack, I could not breath, I tried to
get back up by grabbing the rope, trying to get to
the finish but nothing was happening. Ferrari no-
ticed I was in trouble and quickly pinned me.
When the match ended everyone knew some-
thing was seriously wrong. People came in the
ring to help, including a guy by the name of Guy
Franchise who I didn't know before the show, but
of course is now a very good friend of mine. They
Jelena with The James Boys. © DWI Wrestling took me in the back and tried to sit me down, but
I couldn’t move so they laid me on the concrete
That near career ending match you refer to floor in the back. It was a good 15 minutes before
is when you sustained a horrific injury last the fire truck got there, and a good 45 minutes
November. What happened and how are you before the Ambulance even showed up. The fire-
feeling now? men could not move me but they put me on the
As of right now I am feeling a lot better. I was fi- backboard, strapped me down and braced my
nally able to get back in the ring for the first time neck.
in 10 months back in August. My comeback Once at the hospital they took X-rays and discov-
match was planned, but then again it was some- ered that I had suffered a terrible injury... three
thing I did with a risk. compressed/fractured vertebras!
When I was booked on that show I didn't get They told me that I had to wait ten months before
back into the ring at all for even practice bumps I could return to wrestling. I then had to lay in bed
or anything. I didn't get to test to see if my back on my back and not move for two months straight.

64 www.thewrestlingpress.com
A few weeks later I went back for a check-up and

jelena
was then told to wait a year before I could get
back into the ring!
I went back to the doctor a month later, at Tampa
General, and they took more X-rays and said
“OK. This is what the doctor told me to tell you. Birthday: July 18. 1990
Don't get back in the ring again. I’m sorry but Height: 5"5’
your wrestling career is over, go play chess”.
Weight: 124lbs
I was not going to sit back and never wrestle
again so I decided to get another opinion. A good Debut: 2006
wrestling friend of mine by the name of Joe Pipi- Signature Swinging Neck breaker,
tone gave me a number of a good sports doctor. move(s): Lou Thesz Press, Flying Tackle
The doctor checked my X-rays and said he didn’t
Finishing Top Rope Bulldog, Dragon Sleeper
see why I could never wrestle again, but advised move(s):
that I still had to wait another six months before
doing so. I took his advice and four month's later Entrance Move Along (All American Rejects)
got back into the ring with no problems at all. theme:
I have been through a very hard test in wrestling Titles: 2x SSCW Woman's Champion
that people don't even know about, except for 1x LWLL Woman's Champion
1x IWE Woman's Champion

my family and I. It was a huge obstacle but I

came through it OK and still have lots of plans
for the future. Next plan - TNA.

How often do you wrestle, and what other ac-

tivities / jobs do you have?
I am only allowed to take it very slow in what
show's I wrestle in. I used to wrestle Tuesday's,
Fridays, Saturdays, and some Sundays. That is
going to pick up once again to where I wrestle
every day except Wednesdays and Thursdays.
I am also a professional barrel racer with horses,
which I have been doing since I was ten years
old. It’s very fast and quite dangerous!!
And to top it all of I’m also a construction worker,
so I don't think there is one thing I do in life that
is not hard.

Is there much traveling involved in your

wrestling career and if so, does it get tire-
some?
I do a lot of traveling as it’s at least two hours
from where I live to the nearest show in Tampa,
which is where most of the great promotions are.
But I do drive a lot more than that. I used to drive
to Enigma GA every month when I was working

www.thewrestlingpress.com 65
for SSCW. But I have also drove from Fort Laud- Do you have any advice for aspiring female
erdale Florida all the way to Charlotte North Car- grapplers?
olina in one night to get to a show the following The advice I would like to give is the same ad-
morning. So yes there is a lot of travelling for me, vice I received from my mother and grand-
but it’s something I love to do. It gets tiresome mother. Coming up in this business is from the
but I see it as....this is so worth it!! start to finish, stay true to your self, if there is
something someone wants you to do and you
What's it like working in a male dominated don't feel comfortable then say no. There is so
environment, do you have to work twice as many other promotions out there that will give
hard as the guys? you nothing but respect and in this business
This is a very male dominated environment but that’s what you should strive to get. Demand
the guys I work with have so much respect for respect and give respect!!
me, and all the other female wrestlers. They do
what they can do to keep me safe and all have Thanks for your time Jelena, best of luck
my back. On the flip side, I have met a lot of for the future. Do you have any final com-
male wrestlers who just flat out don't want us ments for our readers?
girls there, don't want us to be wrestling. There I just want to thank everyone for taking the
is so many things that people don't think time to read this, it means a lot to me and I
women should do but that's all the more rea- want to thank everyone that has helped me
son to do them. You always want to work as and supported me throughout my career. I
hard as you can to prove to yourself that you want to thank my family who has taken this
belong in the ring just like they do. long trip in wrestling with me and I want to
Once again. Give Respect. Get Respect!! thank my love Todd Kostek for being caring
and loving, even when things go wrong. I love
What's your opinion of girls in the industry you all!!!
who are happy to simply strut their stuff,
avoiding the grueling training and physical
matches?
I say go for it if you are happy just walking
around the ring, that's fine. But then so many
have started out that way and then progressed
to working inside the ring, without being prop-
erly trained, which is obviously not a good
thing. I think if they are going to be anywhere
around the ring they should have the proper
training, and at least be able to withstand a
match or two because bad things can happen
out there.

What's your ambition for the future?

My ambition has been the same since I started
in wrestling....to become well known and well
liked.
For all things Jelena check out
www.Facebook.com/AlwaysJelena or
I have wanted to work for TNA ever since they
started and that is still what I push myself for. www.Myspace.com/AlwaysJelena
TNA is the one reason why I got back in the To book Jelena for your event email
ring after my injury. her at: [email protected]

66 www.thewrestlingpress.com
 Mini bio Words: DAVID SCHMIDA

Horst Hoffmann

H
e has worked for the pecially at the beginning of the bloody
American Wrestling As- feud, but came up short in the end. In
sociation, All Japan Pro September and October of 1974 the
Wrestling, Joint Promo- German challenged Verne Gagne for
tions and promoters all over con- the AWA World Heavyweight Cham-
tinental Europe. Horst Hoffmann is pionship but wasn’t able to take the
perhaps one of the best techni- prestigious championship away from
cians Germany has ever pro- him.
duced.
Hoffmann also appeared in Verne
Following a very successful period as Gagne’s independent movie “The
an amateur, Hoffmann debuted in the Wrestler” of 1974, starring Edward
world of professional wrestling in Asner, portraying promoter Frank
1961. He quickly became one of the Bass and Verne Gagne as current
biggest stars continental Europe had to offer and champion Mike Bullard.
went on to win a great amount of tournaments.
The German left the AWA in 1975 and returned to
Under promoter Gustl Kaiser, maybe the most Europe.
important promoter throughout the 50s, 60s and
The land of the rising sun marked another mile-
70s, the man born in Karlsruhe, Germany won the
stone in Hoffmann’s career. Together with Rudi
yearly held IBV “European Championship” and
Saturski and Murat Bosporus, he is the only Ger-
IBV “German Championship” multiple times
man who has ever celebrated success in Japan.
outpacing guys like “Destroyer” Dick Beyer. In
addition to that, he was able to hold the European Throughout the seventies the man known as a
Heavyweight Title, which he won in 1971 in great shooter was invited numerous times to ex-
Cologne, Germany, for almost three years. change holds with greats like “Destroyer” Dick
Beyer or the Funk brothers, just to name a few,
The mid-seventies saw Hoffmann expanding to
and was a welcome guest in venues all over
North America to work for Verne Gagne’s Ameri-
Japan. In 1977 Hoffmann teamed with his former
can Wrestling Association (AWA). Although he
nemesis Billy Robinson to take part in All Japan
was able to be victorious in plenty of singles
Pro Wrestling’s Real World Tag League and the
matches, he is best remembered for wrestling at
Open Tag League.
the side of Baron von Raschke. After a rivalry with
Billy Robinson and his ally Geoff Portz found an What Horst Hoffmann may have lacked in
end, the “German” heels turned on Superstar Billy charisma, he certainly equalized with his technical
Graham during a six man tag team match in No- skills and intensity. The man who was known for
vember 1974, which led Graham to recruit Dusty his bow and arrow Backbreaker and his side su-
Rhodes as his partner to settle the score. Due to plex retired in 1988 and remains a reverred vet-
their loaded glove gimmick Hoffmann and Von eran, not only in Germany, but across the world.
Raschke were able to win quite a few bouts, es- n Contact David at [email protected]

www.thewrestlingpress.com 67
 interview

a
Words: DaviD SchmiD

H
e brings international flair to every
wrestling show in Germany he is a
part of. What local spectators might
not know is that Joe E. Legend actually
lives in Germany. TWP talked to the man
who worked for WWE during the Attitude
Era and held the NWA World Tag Team
Championship while working for TNA.
Original photo © www.dragonhearts.de
In 1998 and 1999 you wrestled for the first

© www.dragonhearts.de
time in Germany for the Catch Wrestling
Association (CWA). Tell us a little bit about
that time.
I helped Rhino when he was first starting. He
got in at CWA through Don Callis, who knew
Rambo (Luc Piorier). Duke Droese, who
wrestled as Marshall Duke here in Germany,
was supposed to come in at the last minute but
something happened. So, I got a phone call
from Rhino asking if I wanted to work in
Germany. Two hours later I was booked. I
didn’t sign anything. They actually had me
buying my own ticket and reimbursed me when
I got here. I was committed to CWA for a seven
day schedule; even if I didn’t have to wrestle
every day nor had a night off I could have been
required to be there for the parade, for
instance. I also had to do promotional work for
the promotion.
How did you like the round system in the
CWA?
I
I love the round system. I remember talking to RHINO AND I GO WAY BACK.
Steve Corino about it. There was so much WEDDI NG
drama to be had in the tap out system. When
WAS BEST MAN AT HIS
someone tapped three times in the CWA, he
lost the match. But if he tapped twice, the never used that for the European Title. WCW
announcer went “one, two… no, he didn’t quite did something like that with the TV Belt. The
tap”. There was so much drama before he matches had a ten-minute time limit. It was
tapped. such a great way to build tension towards the
I remember Michael Kovac doing that for end of the match.
German Stampede Wrestling (GSW) once. Do you think the round system could be
The thing is, that it’s so far removed that the successfully used again in Germany?
younger audience doesn’t know it anymore. Promoters could separate themselves from the
They are more into what they see on TV. I rest. The only promotion using the round
remember also talking to some of the WWE system in Germany is the European Wrestling
writers about the European Title once. In my Promotion (EWP) in Hannover, but only for
opinion every title should have its own rules. their championship matches. It’s tough
Otherwise, what’s the difference between the because the fans see the rest of the show and
titles? They have a million hot girls under everything goes smooth. Then you have a
contract they don’t do anything with and who rounds match and it almost seems slow,
can’t wrestle. Why not have round girls like although the work is great. Also the guys who
they do in boxing? They have guys like Regal haven’t done it before, don’t understand the
and Finlay who know how to work a match with philosophy behind it, they don’t understand the
rounds. Between the rounds you can have timing. It’s a different mindset. It doesn’t come
replays and stuff like that. I am surprised they off as strong as years ago because every

www.thewrestlingpress.com 69
match had rounds. So the guys knew it. It gimmicks that are being used in matches
wouldn’t hurt to set up a rounds match every regarding the health risks for the wrestlers?
now and then to familiarise the wrestlers with
I think you’ve got to be creative when you are
the style. If not, the guys will not be as
coming up with gimmick matches and see if
experienced to give the best performance
the risk is worth it. Years ago Edge, Christian,
possible. Look at TNA. They are having five
Rhino and I worked for a promotion called ICW
gimmick matches every night. The guys need
(Insane Championship Wrestling), which was a
so much time trying to remind themselves of
low budget ECW rip off. Don’t get me wrong, it
the rules that they don’t have time to get into
was great working for them, I had the
the match. They can’t get into the emotional
opportunity to meet and work with many great
part of it
people. It was a lot of fun. But if you have
Maybe you could actually achieve more wrestlers cutting themselves in the opening
with less using, for example, the round matches bleeding all over the place you have
system. What’s your general opinion on the to top that all the time. Eventually, what is
shocking becomes common. They have lost
the ability to maintain the audience. I am all for
I REMEMBER TEACHING cool moves and stuff like that, but I am a big
CHRISTIAN ARM DRAGS IN fan of using them smartly. They try to get the
THE GYM “Ooh-Ah” instead of the “Yeah-Boo”. “Yeah-
© www.dragonhearts.de

Boo” has always made more money than the

“Ooh-Ah”.
How would you describe the atmosphere,
the fans at the CWA events?
The CWA fans were very loyal. We had people
showing up every night. I can think of three
faces right now and it was eleven years ago.
Ladies Night was a busier than other nights.
You had the championship, you could build up
to, Iron Man tournaments were held. Every
week you had different events. The roster
wasn’t very big but they were able to mix it up
while keeping the same group of wrestlers.
That attracted the fans.
How was the atmosphere backstage at that
time?
It was a real boys club. When I first showed up,
it was the usual thing. The new guy shows up
and shuts up. They brought in this guy, Texas
Claw. He was the nicest guy but just not really
good. Droese recommended him. I got in there
with him and tried to get him over. The match
was terrible and I was upset about it. I kept
trying to dig myself out of the hole and
eventually they realised that he needed more
training. At the same time they started to
realise that I was able to get over with the fans.

70 www.thewrestlingpress.com
While I got over with them I got over with the the top guy and build up heels for him to knock
guys backstage. And I have trouble getting off. In Germany it was a lot like in Japan. They
over with the boys because I am not a party build up strong foreigners who beat up
guy. The best way to get over with the locker everyone and then the Japanese Star knocks
room is to go out and have a few drinks. In the him off. It worked the same way in Germany.
beginning I was asked to go out for a drink but You need a German Champion people can
I didn’t want to, so they didn’t like that at all. relate to.
But it’s the same locker room every night and
Why do you think they didn’t do that?
with time I got on well with everybody.
I think there were different reasons. Smisl’s
heart wasn’t really into it but I think if you had
© www.dragonhearts.de

done the right thing with him, his heart would

have been into it. He also might have butted
heads with the office and maybe they took it
too personal. It should have been about who
makes the most money. And he was so easy to
work with. It wasn’t difficult for him to get over.
You could’ve put him in the ring with a chair
and people would still cheer for him.
Do you think WWE and WCW and their
presence on TV also played a part in the
demise of CWA?
When you are trying to run wrestling shows
seven days a week? Yes! The people could
stay at home and watch it for free and see all
the pyrotechnics, the international talent and
the backstage vignettes. They didn’t have to
watch every week and through recaps would
still be able to follow the story. To follow the
stories at CWA shows you had to be there
What should have been done to keep CWA every day. If you missed a day or two you
going? Do you think there were big didn’t know what happened. Not to forget that it
mistakes made? was right in the attitude era (CWA closed its
One big mistake was that they never created a doors in 1999). WWE and WCW were
monstrous German hero. Otto Wanz was a marketing their product to the moon.
huge hero, Austrian, but still. Rambo (Luc Everything looked so big. Then you come to
Piorier) came close, he was quite over. August the CWA and you see 5 matches every night
Smisl was your next guy. The audience adored and no pyro. Not that we had to hide with our
him. He was fun to watch. It was mostly roster. We had a lot of quality guys but we
comedy but even Otto (Wanz) was mostly didn’t have the marketing machine behind us.
comedy except in grudge matches or If promoters in Germany worked together
championship bouts. August Smisl was a guy and advertised the sport under one name,
you also believed in because he was a super do you think it could work?
heavyweight arm wrestling champion with both
arms. He was impossibly strong, great body I would love to say it would, but honestly, it
and super likable. They should have made won’t. I don’t see for example EWP push
every effort to make Smisl happy, make him Michael Kovac to the top or GSW push Christian

www.thewrestlingpress.com 71
Eckstein to the top. Another problem is the You told me that you were shooting movies
storylines. You start a storyline at the first show, and worked as Trainer on Celebrity
after that the wrestlers cross paths at the next Wrestling in the UK. What can you tell us
weeks’ show and then finally they have a match about your projects besides your wrestling
at the third promoters show. The third promoter career?
sells all the tickets the two other shows were just
Celebrity Wrestling was a lot of fun.
the build-up. Every promoter wants his roster to
Unfortunately it wasn’t too successful but I had
look the strongest to make more money.
a good time doing it. I got to hang out with Jack
Osbourne. I am a big Ozzy fan, so hanging out
WHEN SABIN FIRST WON THE x with his son didn’t hurt. I recently did a movie
DIVISION TITLE, HE WAS WORK- in France. I portrayed a Mexican wrestler
ING AT SuBWAY SANDWICHES under a mask named Emilio Poco Loco. I
wrestled on it and was also technical
You had matches against Rhino and coordinator for the match. We actually did the
Christian in Germany. Did these matches match in front of a live crowd.
have a special meaning to you or was it just I did another movie with Johnny Storm in
business as usual? England a few years ago. I will never forget
It’s fun to get in there with your pals. I that one. It was the day they found Benoit’s
remember teaching Christian arm drags in the family dead. I really didn’t believe it, so we
gym. Seeing how far he has developed; how went back to the director’s office to watch RAW
much instinct he has gained and knowing I had and, sadly, it was a reality.
a hand in it is just great. Getting in the ring, Do you have any plans for the time after
mixing it up is like going back to the times we your active career?
goofed around in the gym. It was so much fun
and on top of that we got paid for doing that. Currently I am
© Tony Knox

Rhino and I go way back. I was best man at his writing a column
wedding. It’s very easy for me to make him for a wrestling
laugh. So when I have him in a hold, I would tell magazine in
him jokes and crack him up. I did that with RVD France.
as well. He is such a relaxed guy but I could Essentially it’s my
make him crack up and I am proud of that. autobiography.

What do you think could be done to make For every issue I

the sport more popular in Germany? write another
chapter starting
Wrestling is a TV medium. Until somebody with the time I got
gets TV to make real big stars out of the local interested in
wrestlers, it’s not going to be perceived as big wrestling when I
time. There are plenty of talented wrestlers in was fourteen. I
Germany. But if you see a German wrestler, am also helping
who is decorated with titles from many with a lot of
promotions, on a construction site next week, it things for the
means he is not really a star. When Chris promotions I work for in France and South
Sabin first won the X Division Title, he was Africa so I could wind up doing more
working at Subway Sandwiches. You need to backstage work. Opening a wrestling school is
get TV behind it and maybe a couple of also a subject.
celebrities so that it looks like it’s the place to
be and the thing to watch. n Contact David at [email protected]

72 www.thewrestlingpress.com
 10 questions with RetroWrestling.com

S
ince establishing RetroWrestling.com in 2008 Chris Reed has had the unique
opportunity to interact with wrestling superstars and fans alike. With that in
mind The Wrestling Press cornered the ever busy Chris during a rare coffee
break and asked him ten questions about his journey so far....

Trish Stratus
personalising
items for
RetroWrestling.com
 Although your website stocks many wrestling
items, why do you focus on autographs?
We focus on autographs for a number of reasons.
We have personally queued for hours on end at
official WWE/TNA meet and greats in the UK and
America so we understand just how hard it is to
get autographs of the superstars. Also when
meeting the superstars they often do not have the
time to personalise autographs or pose for photos
as they have so many items to sign and people
to meet. With the service we offer, when we
arrange a signing session with a superstar we
can get a fan any amount of items signed person-
ally to them along with picture proof of the super-
Chris with some of his prized possessions
star signing the items.
So Chris, let's discuss your wrestling back-
What makes RetroWrestling.com unique from
ground. Presumably you were a fan first and
other wrestling websites?
foremost, but what prompted the decision to
establish RetroWrestling.com? Definitely the quality of merchandise and level of
customer service. As a fan myself, I also obtain
A number of factors contributed to the decision
autographs and memorabilia for our personal col-
really, probably the main factor being that there
lection! There may be other companies around
is no UK based company around that provide the
that specialise in figures, T-Shirts, DVD's etc but
merchandise we have on offer alongside our
who else can bring names to the table like Trish
competitive prices and friendly customer service.
Stratus to sign items for them?! However, none
On a personal level I started following wrestling
of this would be achievable without a fantastic
from around 1990 and also met my wife thanks
customer base, most of whom I know on a per-
to a live WWE show, so you could say that having
sonal level now and have struck up great friend-
a career in the wrestling business seemed like a
ships with. It really is a pleasure to be able to offer
natural progression!
such great merchandise to such hardcore collec-
Alongside the wrestling t-shirts and action tors.
figures, visitors to the site can also order au-
tographed photos. Typically, how do you ob- During your work you have encountered
tain these famous signatures? many of the biggest names from the wrestling
industry, have they always met your expecta-
We have been known to obtain autographs from
tions or have you had to nurse a few fragile
attending WWE/TNA arranged signing sessions.
egos?
However the main method we use now is dealing
with the superstars directly via their agents to Before RetroWrestling.com was established we
arrange personalised signing sessions. met a lot of superstars at WWE/TNA signing ses-
sions. We have always been very lucky and the
So, which wrestling stars have you arranged superstars have always been friendly, especially
personalised sessions with so far? Eddie Guerrero who really took the time to talk to
In the last 12 months of dealing directly with the us and spend a bit of time with us which is one of
wrestlers to offer personalised signed items we our most treasured memories. Since establishing
have been fortunate enough to hook up with Jeff RetroWrestling.com the superstars we have been
Hardy, Rey Mysterio, Ultimate Warriror, Kurt associated with have also all been very friendly.
Angle, Trish Stratus, Sting, Paul Bearer and Trish Stratus deserves a special mention for ac-
Maria. tually personalising a photo from her collection for

74 www.thewrestlingpress.com
my wife and I, gestures like this go a long way What's the most treasured piece of merchan-
and are never forgotten. dise that you own personally? And whose au-
tograph have you not yet obtained that would
Has there been any mishaps along the way? be the ultimate achievement for you?
Wrestlers missing flights, stock not turning The most treasured piece of merchandise we
up etc? own has to be a personalised 1 of 20 Jakks clas-
There was a instance in January this year when sic superstars figure of the Ultimate Warrior. This
we attended a legends of wrestling convention as figure was never available for sale, it was de-
vendors. This event went badly wrong as 6 of the signed by the Warrior himself and made exclu-
10 legends advertised to appear were turned sively by Jakks on his behalf. The figure shows
away at UK customs so only 4 of the Warrior in his WCW ring gear and is up there in
legends could appear. We are still the top 3 rarest wrestling figures of all time. War-
unaware as to why the wrestlers rior also threw in a personalised Wrestlemania VI
were turned away as the organis- 8 x 10 photo from when he defeated Hulk Hogan
ers of the convention did not dis- to become The Intercontinental and WWF Cham-
close the reasons to us. It pion, this item is on permanent display in my of-
was a great disappoint- fice. To be honest as far as obtaining autographs,
ment for everyone there, I don't think there is a single autograph of a
including us. wrestling superstar we have not had in stock at
some point. However as the years go on certain
N autographs are becoming more rare to obtain due
THREE WORDS - BRET HITMA
to the stars no longer being with us. If I had to
HART! BRET IS BOOKED
choose an autograph that would be the ultimate
FOR THE END OF OCTOBER achievement, I would have to say that I would
love a Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels or a Hulk
What has been your most memorable experi- Hogan and Ultimate Warrior joint signed item as
ence in wrestling? both rivalries are still talked about to this day and
There have been a few! Back in the late 90's I would make great collectors pieces.
stepped into the ring with Yokozuna and Earth-
quake for a Polaroid when they toured the UK with You have been involved in recent signing ses-
an independent federation, little did I know that sions with Jeff Hardy, Trish Stratus, Rey Mys-
shortly after both superstars would no longer be terio, Maria and Ric Flair: What's next on the
with us. The same goes for when I met Eddie Guer- agenda for RetroWrestling.com?
rero in 2004 at a WWE signing session. Eddie was Three words - BRET HITMAN HART! Bret is
so kind and friendly that it is no wonder he is still booked for the end of October and a range of lim-
fondly remembered by fans and peers to this day. ited edition photos and figures will be available
But I have to say my most memorable experience for personalised signing. For more details and or-
has to be when I was invited to meet Don Matthews dering details, please visit our site
(William Regal's Father) at his home. I didn't know
Don lived so close to me and it was a lovely expe- www.retrowrestling.com.
rience to meet a man so proud of his son's achieve-
ments. I will never forget, it was around 11am on a
www.RetroWrestling.Com specialises in bringing you the
Sunday morning when I called round and Don
very best in official wrestling memorabilia including gen-
gladly cracked opened a couple of beers for us and uine autographs, glossy photos, action figures, T-Shirts
sat back and talked about his son with such pride! and much more.
I think he enjoyed it just as much as I did to be hon- Striving to bring you the very best of those 'hard to get'
est. I also came out of the house with an armful of retro items, RetroWrestling also stocks the latest col-
Regal merchandise and returned the favour when- lectibles that ranges from 1980's to present day memo-
ever we get any Regal items through! rabilia

www.thewrestlingpress.com 75
 THE NATHAN CRuz
SHOWSTEALER
AND RIGHLY SO

Words: DARREN WOOD

Photos: TONY KNOX

A
rguably one of the most im- “Doing acting has definitely helped,” remarks
pressive standouts on the UK Cruz. “It has given me confidence, charisma
wrestling scene over the past and audience awareness. These are all skills
year, ‘The Prima Donna’ I transfer into my character. Being an enter-
Nathan Cruz is a young man with a bright tainer, it’s great to have experience in acting
future who has seen his stock rise ten- because you can use that skill into making
folds during 2010. the character more believable.”
Having gone from a wrestler who many fans Whilst training, Cruz gained the moniker
had never heard of he is now one of the most ‘Prima Donna’ which came when he was in
promising stars that British wrestling has to his rookie year, following a workout at a local
offer. For the past 12 months he has im- gym.
pressed fans across the UK appearing for
“I was looking for a tag line that I could work
companies such as Dynamic Pro Wrestling,
a character from. I’d just started going to the
Real Deal Wrestling and Hull’s New Genera-
gym and in my own vanity was posing in front
tion Wrestling.
of a mirror. My friend saw me and said ‘you’re
Cruz, who began watching wrestling when he just a prima donna’. So I used it from there.”
was 10 years old, has been pushed, estab-
NGW owner Richard Dunn believes that
lished and accepted as a genuine main event
Cruz can be the man to lead the company in
star, despite being only 19 years old.
years to come; he saw a lot of potential in the
Training under the tutelage of El Ligero, Cruz young up and coming competitor, swiftly
believes that ‘The Mexican Sensation’ has bringing him into the promotion.
taught him a lot in regards to the theatrical
“From the time I saw him, I knew he had re-
side of wrestling.
markable talent,” states Dunn. “In January
This is something that TWP believes Cruz 2009 I saw him competing in a four way with
has mastered. Earlier in his life he partici- Bubblegum, El Ligero & Joey Hayes. Nathan
pated in a lot of acting work and it shows. His was the odd one out, the complete unknown
charisma work on the microphone and facial but he stole the show.
expressions shown in the ring are magnifi-
“His character work kept the audience in the
cent.
match throughout and he more than held his

www.thewrestlingpress.com 77
 own with the more experienced British ing for the right person who could live up to it
wrestling favourites. I knew I’d discovered and deserved that rub.
someone special that night.
He thought Nathan was perfect. Along with
“If I had the choice of wrestlers all over the his talent, his attitude and character matched
world, Nathan Cruz would be one of the first it perfectly.”
names down on the card. He is that good.”
Cruz recalls his feelings of being told
It is in NGW where undoubtedly Cruz has that after a little more than a year
made his name, further establishing his into his wrestling career he would
growing status earlier this year when he be entering a feud with British
embarked in a great feud with British wrestling pioneer Alex Shane
wrestling pioneer Alex Shane. over the moniker.
The feud between those two cap-
tured the imagination of NGW fans
up and down the country, with
wonderful verbal exchanges
between the two; it was a
feud that was based on a
cocky youngster demanding
respect from the wily vet-
eran.
It was a brilliantly constructed
storyline that culminated in a
truly amazing Last man standing
match which took place on NGW’s
2nd anniversary event in June, for the
rights to the ‘Show stealer’ name.
Many promoters would have had reser-
vations putting a young, relatively un-
known wrestler in such a high profile
feud as Cruz was involved with Shane.
The gamble paid off for Dunn and NGW,
though it wasn’t originally Dunn’s idea to
base a feud between the two on the
‘show stealer’ name.
“Even before Alex Shane came into
NGW, I’d been telling him how much
promise Nathan had and how hard he
Alex Shane © Tony Knox

worked compared to anyone I’d met in the in-

dustry. Alex had obviously seen what I saw.
“I got a phone call from Alex asking my opin-
ion on what I thought about dropping the
Show stealer name to Nathan. Unbeknownst
to me, Alex always had in mind the idea of
dropping the name to someone but was look-

78 www.thewrestlingpress.com
CRuz VS SHANE was sceptical, realising that at 19 years of
Press play or click here for external link age there will still be a lot of things he can
learn.
“I never wanted it. When I found out I said no,
I’m still young in this business. However our
trainees have even more to learn and I can
pass on what I have been taught. It wasn’t
until Ligero told me that I was capable of
doing it that I felt up to the role.
“I feel I can do a good job though. I’ve always
been good at being a leader, whether it be
organising awards evenings or setting a re-
“I was very excited,” Cruz explains. “Here is spectful example. When you know people
a guy I used to watch on TV every week and look up to you, you have a certain responsi-
for me he was always a highlight. The feud bility to set a good example.”
itself was very well thought out and gave me
a chance to do some of the more theatrical
ALONG WITH HIS TALENT, HIS
aspects of my character that I enjoy doing.
ATTITuDE AND CHARACTER
“It was such an honour in my career; Alex is MATCHED IT PERFECTLY
one of the few people who revolutionised the
industry. To have a match with him, in a main
With a little under three years in the wrestling
event, for a moniker that he has made fa-
business, Cruz is starting to show signs of
mous for close to 20 years, I couldn’t have
developing into a real star for British
asked for much more at just 19 years old.”
wrestling. There are still things for him to
The young charismatic Cruz who has been learn though but it is scary to think how much
likened by many to WWE superstar Chris he can actually improve in the future.
Jericho, has impressed Dunn so much that
For Richard Dunn and NGW it must be hard
he was recently named assistant trainer at
to not push Cruz to the top of the card and
the NGW training school.
make him the focal point of the company. In
“He’s growing into a leader backstage and a smart move, the company has not pushed
helps other people work on stuff that is a par- him too soon. They have built him step by
ticular strength of his. The trainees often ap- step and his rise to the top has been slow
proach him and ask for any feedback on their and methodical.
performances and he always offers it in a
Fans have really started to react to his ego-
humble, mature way.
tistical, maniacal manner and there is no
“I honestly believe he is now one of the best doubt that he will have many years as a top
storytellers in the country, having been men- performer in British wrestling.
tored by El Ligero & Alex Shane, two of the
n Contact Darren at
best storytellers around at the minute. His [email protected]
strength in acting obviously helps this im-
mensely, he understands how important it is
to be a good story teller.
When told of the decision to make him assis-
tant trainer to the NGW training school, Cruz

www.thewrestlingpress.com 79
THE BEST IN THE LAND?

Words: DARREN WOOD

I
f the question was asked which “Two things I had been passionate about
wrestling promotions do you think growing up in Glasgow were wrestling and
are the biggest in the United King- business,” remarks Watson. “I had been in-
dom, how would you answer? It’s a volved with wrestling for about four years
question that most fans of professional helping companies like BCW and W3L. To-
wrestling here in Great Britain, will re- wards the end of 2005, I decided to start
spond with the usual answers of IPW:UK, PBW with the aim of putting on a few shows
FWA and LDN to name but a few. every year and hopefully make a few quid
along the way.
However that may not be the case for much
longer, over the past four years there has “I had no idea at the time just how well the
been a promotion north of the border that has whole thing was going to take off for me and
quietly but consistently grown, pushing home what a big part in my life it would play.”
grown talent and putting on quality shows.
Premier British Wrestling, based in Glasgow, HE [BuBBLEGuM] WAS
Scotland and headed by Ross Watson (who PERHAPS THE MOST POPuLAR
wrestles across the UK as Kid Fite) has for the PBW STAR OF ALL TIME.
past few years been progressing at a steady
rate, not rushing ahead with ambitious plans When the idea came together to start PBW,
and running over the top large venues like so Watson had a decisive plan of action he
many wrestling promotions on our shores. would undertake for his company.
At first the promotion ran just three shows in Realising there were two main training
their debut year in 2006. Starting with ‘Break- schools in Scotland, British Championship
ing Limits’ on 31st March 2006. By the end of Wrestling and Scottish Wrestling Alliance.
2007, the company’s schedule had grown Watson found that both companies rarely
considerably, expanding to nine shows. used each other’s talents; deciding to exploit
Since 2008, the company has ran selected that fact, he started to use the best talent
venues, built up a loyal fan base and are now from both companies mixed with top talent
well known in the local communities. The outfit from around Europe. The idea being that the
now runs 12 shows a year and like Bryan international names could be paired with
Dixon’s All Star Wrestling, have built up a PBW regulars in order to give them a rub.
healthy relationship with holiday parks, per- It’s a strategy that has worked. By pitting top
forming on 50-70 shows during the holiday talent from across the world such as Kevin
season. Thorn and Jimmy Jacobs against PBW main-

80 www.thewrestlingpress.com
stays, means workers like Bubblegum, Dark- Watson states that 2010 has been the
side and Liam Thomson have all prospered, group’s strongest year since 2007. Atten-
whether it be increasing their name value, dances at the shows have increased, DVD
gaining more experience or increasing their sales are up and more towns are being
knowledge by working with (and in some added to the companies’ ever increasing list
cases gaining victories over) their interna- of areas visited.
tional counterparts.
“One thing I am proud of is the fact we have
A good point to underline this fact is that over built up a brand identity, casual fans e-mail
the last year current PBW Heavyweight me on a regular basis asking what stars will
Champion Lionheart (who won the title back be at the shows etc. When we ad-
in December 2008, and a man who TWP vertise on radio and news-
wrote about back in issue 8) has been having paper we tell them to plug
stand out matches across the UK against the the fact that it’s PBW, not
likes of ‘the Best in the World’ Davey just wrestling.
Richards and TNA starlet Desmond Wolfe.
“I think that in the next few
These contests have helped increase his
years’ things will get bigger
standing, resulting in the Cumnock star fea-
and better and all we can do
turing on wrestling cards up and down the
is try to take the whole thing
country.
even further.”
Looking back to the promotions inception,
With PBW presenting its
PBW helped current WWE superstar Drew
fourth Maximum Impact
McIntyre by giving him the platform to per-
event on October 16th Wat-
form and hone his craft. The former Intercon-
son and PBW would like
tinental Champion was a regular (albeit not
nothing better than to
for long) with the outfit until his departure to
record their biggest at-
the Stamford based promotion in 2007. McIn-
tendance yet at the
tyre was a huge star in Scotland and Watson
event.
fully believes that every time people watch
McIntyre on Smackdown, it promotes the The company’s Maxi-
PBW brand. mum Impact show is
“Looking back, he done a lot more for PBW known for its King of
than what we did for him,” explains Watson. Cruisers six way
“He put Wolfgang over on our first show and matches, which as
that was needed to be done as we knew he the name may suggest
wasn’t going to be around much longer. We is six men, elimination
had to start building guys to fill the void. Drew rules with one winner. The
is still helping PBW to this day, every time he match has become a staple of
appears on TV he is spreading the word the promotion and previously,
about Scottish wrestling. as the format would suggest,
has produced exciting, high
“He has built up a huge following in the USA, adrenaline action.
all over the world in fact. The more fans he
gets, the more people want to search online Previous winners of the tourna-
about him and the more traffic we get to our ment are Liam Thomson and
site. I wish Drew the very best of luck and I the recently retired Bubblegum,
am sure he will end up World Champion at
some point.” Bubblegum © Tony Knox

www.thewrestlingpress.com 81
 MAxIMuM IMPACT from down south already announced the con-
Press play or click here for external link test already looks set to be a cracker.
Confirmed for the match are three of the best
cruiserweights in Europe today, El Ligero,
Marty Scurll and his Leaders of the New
School tag team partner Zack Sabre Jr.
Three more names are to be announced
shortly.
Ligero, Scurll and Sabre Jr have definitely
been involved in some standout contests on
the UK wrestling scene over the past year
and they will no doubt keep up their high
who won the previous two years. Unfortu- level of performance and consistency. TWP
nately he will not be there to defend his KOC is sure that this match will live up to its pred-
crown. ecessors and continue the tradition of the
King of Cruisers match contain-
“It is a shame and a huge loss for PBW,” ing fast paced, balls to the wall
Watson says in regards to Bubblegum’s re- action.
tirement. “He was perhaps the most popular
PBW star of all time. Both kids and adults “Every year I try my very best
alike just loved him. At least this year we to book the best available
head into Irvine knowing that talent that the UK and Ire-
a new King of Cruisers has land has to offer and for
to be crowned, which is King of Cruisers this
very exciting.” year is no different.

“Once again myself and the “Marty Scurll will be

staff at PBW wish Bubblegum all making his PBW
the happiness in the world with his debut; I am very well
new family and if he ever de- aware of what a fantas-
cides to return to wrestling, tic talent he is and look
I will be the first promoter forward to having him.
on the phone.” Rest assured this will be one
hell of a match.”
The loss of Bubblegum
to the match is without Also announced on the stacked
a doubt a massive card is a Tables, Ladders and
blow as obviously it Chairs main event (with its partici-
would have been pants as of press time not yet an-
nice to see him in nounced) and an international dream
there, to defend his match as Irish born New Japan Pro
crown. Wrestling mainstay Prince Devitt will
square off against former Ring of
But have no fear UK wrestling Honor star Matt Cross (M-Dogg 20)
fans, this year promises to be in a match that has all the makings
one of the best KOC line-ups of a show stealer.
that the outfit has promoted
and with three big names El Ligero © Tony Knox

82 www.thewrestlingpress.com
In his last appearance for PBW, Cross
squared off against Darkside and has been
looking forward to coming back to the UK
ever since. TWP recently caught up with
Cross and spoke to him about his upcoming
international contest with Devitt.
“There’s no question Prince Devitt is one hell
of a talent,” states Cross. “I first met him in
2005 when I was on a tour of Ireland. I was
invited up north to NWA Ireland to help with
a training session. I got to wrestle around
with Prince Devitt that day and it was easy to
see he was a top talent.
“In the five years since then, both of us have
improved immensely and gone on to make
names for ourselves all over the world. I’m
looking forward to testing my skills against
him and can only hope he’s looking to do the
same with me.

Marty Scurll © Tony Knox

“I think the fans can expect two top calibre

athletes going at it looking to test their repu-
tations. This is going to be PBW’s biggest
show of the year and I’m honoured to be in-
volved in a marquee match. I hope the fans
show up in force and give me a warm wel-
come like I received the last time I was in the
country. This whole event is going to be a
must-see and I’m really excited for it.”
TWP is urging fans across the UK to make
the trip to Scotland to watch Maximum Im-
pact, which if all goes to plan should be a
cracking night of wrestling action.

It all kicks off on Saturday October 16th

at the Magnum Centre, Irvine, Scotland.
Doors open at 7pm with a bell time of 7.30
pm.
For more information please visit
Zack Sabre Jr © Tony Knox www.pbwwrestling.com

www.thewrestlingpress.com 83
 INTERVIEW WITH

By Dark Kitty

How did you first get interested in the

sport of wrestling?
Like most wrestlers I got interested by watch-
ing TV and movies featuring the fighters, then
I began to attend functions in Arena Morelos,
Morelia, in about 1990. I wanted to be like
those characters that I saw in the ring, so I
started out in the gym of the same arena, right
until my debut in 1993.

Why did you choose the name Maniac

Crazy?
In fact, in the gymnasium of the arena we
were taught both styles of wrestling, but the
one style that caught my attention was being
a heel, for the interaction with the public and
I do not like people to feel sorry for me as a
face. I started with the name of Maniak II,
which lasted for about 13 years, and which
was given to me by the original Maniac of the
city of Uruapan (retired), then there is a new
Maniac (current) and to avoid problems, I de- with Ray Magno Jr. against the champions
cided to modify a little by adding the Crazy, Cara Dura and Sable Rojo.
and I’ve always been rebellious and quirky, I am currently Cruiserweight Champion after
you can say I always was a little crazy. defeating Superman Ricochet in 2007, and
welterweight champion of the state of Michoa-
Who were your teachers? can, which I won in November 2008 from
The first instructor that began teaching me the then-champion Arhgo in Salamanca Gto.
secrets of this sport was Gaby El Payasito, I’ve also wrestled against superstars from the
and then polishing my style was Ángel Do- big companies (AAA and CMLL), as well as
rado I, Black Shark y el Sable Rojo. independent fighters.

What successes have you had in your ca- Who are currently your toughest oppo-
reer as a wrestler? nents?
I was a finalist in the first championship of tag No rival is ever small, new people came push-
teams in Morelia in 1995, losing in the final ing hard, but my classic opponents who I’ve

84 www.thewrestlingpress.com
Maniaco Crazy shows you how its done!

ONE! TWO! THREE! I WIN

Anything else you want to add?

I want to thank the public from all the places
we have presented wrestling, as they
demonstrate their support for our local fight-
ers, and they know that they are given a
good show.

I had the opportunity to meet Maniaco Crazy

while visiting a show in Uruapan Michoacan.
Be it a heel or a face, this group of wrestlers
go out of their way to promote the sport of
professional wrestling wherever they go.

Maniaco Crazy with close ally Darth Maul.

tangled with many times are definitely Arhgo

and Angel Dorado II.

Who have been your best partners?

Before I had good partners such as Cara
Dura, Sable Rojo and Tony Padilla, and I am
currently coupling well with Darth Maut and n Contact Dark Kitty at
Obituary. [email protected]

www.thewrestlingpress.com 85
 Words: MATT SINGH

Georg
es S
tP
ierr
e

O
n 14th August, it was announced
via the media that the govern-
ment of Ontario would be
allowing mixed-martial arts
events to run in the province starting 2011.
With that news, a whole new territory opened
up for the UFC, which is realistically the only
MMA company that has any kind of vested
interest in MMA becoming legal in the On-
tario/Toronto area.
The legalising of the sport in this area is
something the UFC and in particular UFC
Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Marc
Ratner have pushed for for a number of
years. Not only is the Ontario/Toronto area a

86 www.thewrestlingpress.com
hotbed of MMA fandom, but with the opening up ity of 19,800, and is located in the heart of
of that area also comes a huge step towards Toronto, Canada’s biggest city.
what many in UFC management (and MMA gen-
Ottawa legalising MMA alone is great news for
erally) believe to be the holy land; namely MMA
MMA and more specifically the UFC, but surely
being legalised in the state of New York.
now it’s only a matter of time (probably less than
Less than a year ago, Ontario policy makers had a year) until the state of New York passes a bill
been dead-against the idea of allowing MMA in, making MMA legal. The bill has actually been
but money-woes on a state-level have more or on the books to be passed a number of times,
less forced politicians to let the sport become but was removed due to political indifference if
legal. “Our government has been monitoring not outright opposition to the sport. But with
MMA for a while, and the sport really evolved budgets across North American states and
and exploded” remarked Sophia Aggelonitis, provinces’ suffering from the global financial cri-
Minister of Consumer Affairs for Ontario. She sis, many territories previously hostile to the
continued “I don’t have a clear answer as to why supposed blood-sport, many are rethinking their
we’re just now getting around to sanctioning it, stance.
Germany recently banned
BREAKING THE NEGATIVE MIND-SET minors from attending
TOWARDS MMA LIES IN EDuCATING MMA events, but even
THOSE WHO THINK OF MMA AS BARB worse MMA and the UFC
ARIC w a s  b a n n e d  f r o m
broadcast television
but it’s always been on the radar and something after the first UFC
we’ve been looking at for a while”. Of course, the event (UFC 99)
untold reason is that the province is running an was met with
incredible $C20 billion budget deficit, and esti- significant
mates suggest that a UFC show run in area hostility from
could generate around $5-6 million. politicians.
Still, that hasn’t deterred the UFC from booking
The next step is for the Ontario Athletic Commis-
their second show in Germany for November.
sion to get their ducks in a row, such as adopting
the Unified MMA rules (the province already al- One thing is certain though, the UFC has total
lows kick boxing and boxing events), training dedication to breaking down the doors and
and hiring referees and judges as well as train- changing peoples’ perception that MMA is some
ing inspectors for events. Once all of those ne- sort of human cockfighting blood sport. Both
cessities are done, the UFC will be able to book Ratner and Dana White (above) have said that
venues for its events. breaking the negative mind-set towards MMA
lies in educating those who think of MMA as bar-
Upon release of the sanctioning news, rumours
baric, and a huge tool to use in regards to that
immediately abounded that the company had
is to say that both Ontario and New York are fine
booked the 60,000 capacity Rogers Center/Sky-
with hosting MMA/UFC events.
Dome for an event in early 2011. However this
turned out to be only a rumour, and the UFC is Of course, the monetary gain is also a big ad-
keeping its options open in regards to a specific vantage to use when convincing locations to le-
area or stadium for its inaugural Ontario card. galise the sport. With the UFC opening an office
There are a number of arenas that could be in China, and looking at running in Brazil, it’s
booked by the UFC; Scotiabank Place in the surely only a matter of time before New York’s
countries’ capital Ottawa has a capacity of power-players relent and pass the bill green-
19,152, Air Canada Center has a similar capac- lighting the sport. As big as the UFC is, running

www.thewrestlingpress.com 87
a 60,000 sell-out show at Rogers Center/Sky-
Dome or running Madison Square Garden would
be a new high, at least in regards to the actual
staging of events. 60,000 tickets is a lot to sell, Brock
especially as UFC ticket prices are much more Lesnar
highly priced than that of pro wrestling’s, so it’s
not entirely unreasonable to think if the UFC
does book the massive venue, there could be
two title fights, with obviously Georges St Pierre
being one of the headline fighters.
An interesting booking quirk would be if the UFC
did run MSG, there could be the possibility of
Brock Lesnar defending his UFC heavyweight
title in the same building that housed his last
WWE match.

NEW YORK ALREADY HAS A MSG or Rogers Center/SkyDome would, at least

HuGE MMA FAN BASE WITHOuT on paper, enhance the whole aura of a show run
EVER HAVING RuN A SHOW THERE in Ontario or New York. In the United States,
West Virginia and Vermont have athletic com-
The good thing about attempting to gain a missions, but have thus far refused to legalise
foothold in the New York area, is that pretty MMA, and with New York likely to do so within a
much any UFC headline guy could be booked to year, it can only be a matter of time before West
main event a New York-area show, as the area Virginia and Vermont do the same (although ob-
already has a such a large MMA fan base, and viously West Virginia and Vermont aren’t exactly
the show would be a success from a live- MMA hotbeds like New York).
gate point of view. As New York al- All in all, 44 States have legalised mixed martial
ready has a huge MMA fan base arts, and surely it can only be a matter of time
without ever having run a show before the entire 50 decide to pass a bill giving
there, it’s crazy to think how much the green light to MMA. After all, when a State
bigger a potential fan base could is in financial difficulties it will pretty much try
be once the first few shows are run anything to help bring its deficit down, and a
there. UFC show could bring in around
It’s clear that currently the 30,000 people to a geographical
name ‘UFC’ alone can sell location, and generate around
tickets and pay-per-view $4-6 million for the local
buys, but having a economy. It looks as though
huge-name headliner MMA, or more specifically
like Brock Lesnar, the UFC, is set to expand
GSP or Anderson even further in 2011 and
Silva is needed to re- that has to be a good
ally pull big com- thing for the sport in gen-
mercial numbers, eral.
and either of those n Contact Matt at
fighters fighting in [email protected]

Anderson Silva
88 www.thewrestlingpress.com
I
t was April of this year when German
Stampede Wrestling (GSW) closed its
gates. With a star filled double header
including the Kings of Wrestling, Ares,
Doug Williams, Matt Cross and the crème de it sounds strange when I talk about GSW as a
la crème of European wrestling, promoter hobby promotion since we brought stars like
Ingo Vollenberg and his team said good-bye. Bret Hart, Mick Foley, Jeff Jarrett, Christian
Cage and many more to Germany. But still,
“We had an amazing time but it was quite certain
GSW was no professional promotion in terms of
that we couldn't continue the way it was. Since
trying to make money with it. It was about having
September 2009 we had been discussing the
fun and giving the fans what they wanted while
end of the promotion. Alexander Erven, head of
not having too much stress doing so. After seven
the GSW promoting team at that time, decided
years it was too much for me and I retreated to
that he wanted to concentrate on his own pro-
finish my university degree. But I wasn’t the only
fessional life which didn't give him the time scale
one who had trouble managing both things at
that a "fun-promotion" like GSW needed. I know
the same time. It had grown too big to still run it
as a side project; we would have needed a pro-
Words: DAVID SCHMIDA fessional background. That’s why Alex decided
 EMIL SITOCI ments and if the fans support us, especially in
Press play or click here for external link
the beginning, there’s a pretty good chance
wrestling in Germany will reach a new level
soon.”
The first shows are going to be taped on 25th
and 26th September in Marburg, Germany, a
city that saw numerous outstanding and suc-
cessful GSW shows. Throughout the years Mar-
burg became something like the home of GSW
and now it might become a synonym for a fresh
start.
“Marburg is the home of GSW. The venue is
to close GSW. I helped by organising the final very small, it has space for only 250 spectators,
shows to leave the scene with dignity. The final but that’s why it’s so special. It’s a hall situated
events were really great and that was the mo- in a former railway area which is now being used
ment I realised that GSW can't die like that and
that it might be possible to run it on a profes-
sional basis.”
What many fans were hoping for becomes real-
ity now. With a whole new concept Vollenberg
brings back GSW and puts everything on the
line. But what’s different now? Most impor-
tantly GSW is going to present a weekly
ninety minute wrestling show revolving
around the promotion’s talents.
“GSW defines itself all new. I’m taking a high risk
trying it as a full time promoter. It’s a completely
new concept: new logos, a new website, new
kinds of events and much more. It’s absolutely
great to finally be able to dedicate myself entirely
to GSW and to do what needs to be done in
order to be successful and reach a new level.
Our new website, www.gsw-wrestling.de, is
the heart of the promotion. At the moment we
only have a German version but we’ll also offer
an international version in English soon. The
most important thing is that the fans can watch
our product on a regular basis.
Our new weekly show is called COURAGE and
the first edition will be shown on our website at
the end of September. It’s going to be a test run
but we want COURAGE to be available on a
weekly basis in the future. The big events will be
available through pay per view and also as click
per view on the internet with German and Eng-
lish commentary. There are so many develop- Blue Nikita
© gsw-wrestling.de

90 www.thewrestlingpress.com
 ferent in this case. On the 9th October GSW Un-
stoppable will take place at Huxleys in Berlin, a
venue which has hosted numerous wrestling
shows throughout the history of wrestling in Ger-
many.
“The “Huxleys” was an important wrestling
venue in the past and tradition means a lot to
me. I was told it would be difficult to reach the
masses in Berlin and fill the venues. But we’ll try.
Throughout the years GSW became known
through “International Impact” where we always
presented big stars. Now it’s all about an impres-
sive set, creating interesting stories and support-
“Bad Bones” John Kay. © gsw-wrestling.de ing that with a few celebrities and an interesting
framework programme. GSW is in full swing and
as a theater. The acoustics as well as the light- we want to prove that we are indeed unstop-
ing equipment are ideal. We had fantastic mo- pable.
ments there with special guests like Doug
Williams, Katie Lea and Steve Corino. But it It’ll be an interesting time, an experiment that no
wasn’t exactly about the guest stars but rather one has tried yet in Germany. I’m very much
about the things that made GSW so special. We looking forward to working with the wrestlers and
always had good storylines and great matches. meeting all the fans who will join me on the jour-
Ladies’ wrestling was also an important factor to ney.”
our success in Marburg. We had legendary bat- What Ingo Vollenberg and his team are trying in-
tles between Wesna and Blue Nikita that ele- volves a high risk and could very well end with
vated ladies’ wrestling in Europe to a new level. the final extinction of GSW. But if it doesn’t it
could enhance the level of success of independ-
T ent wrestling in Germany.
WE BROuGHT STARS LIKE BRE
T, JEFF JAR RET T, CHR IST IAN n Contact David at [email protected]
HAR
NY
AND MANY MORE TO GERMA

I’m sure we’ll show some best of moments on

the website soon so fans can get an impression
of the events in that venue. Of course now with
COURAGE we want to top all that, especially re-
garding the production. That means we want to
improve the look and the design. The wrestling
product itself has always had a very high quality
and we want to keep it like that. Holding events
in a TV style will bring changes of course. Every-
thing will be faster and more dynamic, ninety
minutes are shorter than you think and we want
action from beginning to end.”
9TH OCTOBER
Wrestling fans are used to the fact that HuxLEYS, BERLIN, GERMANY
wrestling’s TV shows lead to events where sto- www.gsw-wrestling.de
rylines culminate in high profile fights. It’s not dif-

www.thewrestlingpress.com 91
DVD
TRAILER
Press play or click here for external link

The Stranger
Discs: 1 // 86 mins // Certificate 15 // £6.99
www.anchorbay.co.uk

Since his arrival onto the

movie scene at first with
WWE’s The Condemned
and then recently with
Damage. Steve Austin
(no more ‘Stone Cold’) flashbacks from Austin's confused memory, over
has shown that he can and over and over again, we lost track of how
be a credible action film many times we saw the same images. Which we
star, in his recent straight have to admit got boring really fast, it’s almost
to DVD release, Austin as if the director didn’t film or forgot to film some
stars in ‘The Stranger’, more flashback scenes and better yet the flash-
an FBI agent with mem- backs don’t really even accomplish anything.
ory loss. In a plot that seems to borrow a lot from The apparent lack of injury that Austin suffers is
‘The Bourne Identity’ the film seems to be striving concerning; he gets hit a number of times in the
to be accepted as more than just an action film. ribs with a wooden plank and yet never has any-
When sitting down to watch an Austin movie you thing wrong with him, he gets shot at for long
would usually expect lots of arse kicking and stretches of the movie but never gets hit, with
fighting right? Wrong. Indeed there are fight the police seemingly not being able to shoot him
scenes but they are too short and not really very even when he was running in a straight line.
creative (It is explained in the special features Eventually he does get grazed a little near the
they were rushed for time and had to basically end but that is not near enough the level of dam-
choreograph the fight scenes on the spot.) so age you would expect from someone who has
there is a lot of dialogue, much more than you been through what he has encountered.
would expect. Austin’s performance was very
Overall the film ends without a clear resolution
good and we have come to expect nothing less
and seems a letdown from Austin’s other efforts,
from the former WWE Champion, he plays the
which to be honest were all rather good; the
action hero very well and looks menacing
ending seems to suggest a sequel is intended.
throughout. Of course though we can’t discount
It might be worth a DVD rental but for 86 minutes
the film on the fact that it is quite dialogue heavy
you might just have your head in a daze.
for an action flick, to be fair it does have all the
basic elements of an action film. Russian Mob’s, DVD EXTRAS: Not a lot in the way of DVD ex-
secret agents, bent cops - you get the picture. tras! There is The Stranger: Behind the Scenes
featurette, but that is only a mere five minutes
One major flaw with the film is that we came
long! Which is really bad for a DVD release,
away from it still not knowing what the bloody
should be at least half hour really. Also, there is
hell went on. (Something about Austin’s charac-
a trailer of the movie. Wow.
ter being in far more doo-doo than expected).
Much of the plot involves showing the same DARREN WOOD

92 www.thewrestlingpress.com
 DVD

Both the WWE and World Championship matches are

WrestleMania 26 solid encounters with Jericho versus Edge being the
better of the two contests, but the highlight of the Main
card is without a doubt the Undertaker versus Shawn
Discs: 3 // 8hrs 7 mins // Region 2 // Michaels, (Career vs. Streak match). Which couldn’t
Release: Out Now // £17.99 // quite live upto the standards of their last clash the pre-
Distributor: Silver vision vious year, but it is still a Wrestlemania classic.
The flaws of the main card are evident with Bret vs.
WrestleMania – without a Vince being the most anti-climactic end to a feud that
doubt the biggest wrestling we can ever remember, so much so that it actually
event ever created and may had some fans booing the Hitman. The Divas are al-
possibly the biggest event on ways forgettable and should be limited to a DVD
earth in terms of viewers and extra rather than taking up valuable time from other
people it can draw to a host important matches. The biggest gripe with Wrestle-
city. Now in its twenty-sixth Mania 26 was the crowd, which was incredibly flat
year the card looks stacked throughout the whole live broadcast; this has been
and surely cannot disappoint, addressed by the WWE editing department on the
right? DVD with added crowd noise and pops, which actu-
The opener is the Unified Tag team title match be- ally makes for more enjoyable viewing than the live
tween ShowMiz and R-Truth and Morrison, which broadcast.
doesn’t get things off to a flying start as it is cut short The DVD Extras include the 26 Man Battle Royal
and only runs a few minutes, leaving the crowd flat. that wasn’t featured on the live WrestleMania broad-
Next up the breakup of The Legacy is completed in cast. An additional five matches with accompanying
a match that establishes Orton as a fan favourite, (at interviews featuring the entrants to the WWE Hall of
least amongst the 18-30 demographic). His lone, ag- Fame 2010, a Stu Hart profile with contributions from
gressive and cold demeanour could lead him to the Hart Family. Disc 3 focuses on the 2010 Hall of
being the PG-era equivalent of Stone Cold in the Fame ceremony and features a video montage on
coming years. each inductee and their induction speech.
Money in the Bank now features ten men, and the This is a welcome addition to the DVD as it provides
concept this year seems to have become a bit a small back story to each inductee, which is useful
strained, with the participants struggling to add new to further inform fans and allow them to become fa-
variety to the match. Will it be the last ‘Mania Money miliar with the wrestlers of yesteryear.
in the Bank match, now that it has its own concept Overall WrestleMania 26 is a mixed bag, the main
pay-per view? card looked stacked on paper and is up there with
A noticeable DVD edit has been added by WWE, the best WrestleMania line-ups.
with Swagger retrieving the case in a few seconds The event though didn’t quite produce the goods,
rather than the half a minute it took him, on the live with some lacklustre performances or time con-
broadcast. straints limiting the match quality. However the Un-
The WWE’s outstanding presentation values con- dertaker vs. Michaels match is so good that it is
tinue throughout the DVD, with excellent video worth buying the DVD solely for that match. The
packages outlining the feuds between CM Punk DVD extras are nice features that make the modest
and Rey Mysterio, and HHH and Sheamus. The £17.99 price a bargain, for three discs of action.
HBK versus Taker video would probably go down WrestleMania 26 is a must for all WWE fans and
as my favourite promo video ever produced by the should be in their collection.
WWE. DARREN WOOD

www.thewrestlingpress.com 93
BOOK

of the book and be able to connect with them in

Orig Williams some way.
That’s what is good about this autobiography;
Pages: 192 // £9.95 // there really is a feeling for who Williams was and
Publisher: ylofa books, www.ylofa.cm what he stood for, a proud Welshman, who had
good leadership skills.
Orig Williams is a name that The tales included in this book are at times fas-
if you are a fan of British cinating, from his periods as a promoter in Pak-
wrestling you should be at istan, Nigeria, the Middle East and Ireland. It’s
least vaguely familiar with. seems Williams could simply get away with mur-
If not, then let me bring you der.
up to speed. Included are some very funny stories that
He is without a doubt one of wrestling fans of all ages will find entertaining:
the most famous wrestlers Williams biting the finger of a referee in a football
to ever come out of Wales match and dragging him all the way back to the
and without giving too much dressing room, and another story of an event
away, Williams or ‘El Bandito’ as he was also where crawling things were all over the ring, yet
known, was not just a wrestler, but also a former all the wrestlers still went into the ring are two
professional footballer, wrestling promoter, football that really stand out.
manager and television presenter. It was interesting to read his thoughts on the
Written with the help of Martyn Williams, journal- state of British wrestling back when ITV was
ist, TV news presenter and producer, this auto- showing World of Sport on Saturday afternoons.
biography carries a lot of information and detail Which is a period still undoubtedly revered as a
on the Williams life and his upbringing. golden era for British wrestling.

“We recorded hours of anecdotal material in It was also interesting to read about the strug-
compiling this book, before his death last year,” gles he faced as a promoter going up against
Williams recalls. ”His distaste of authority, his Joint Promotions and their precious ITV times-
schemes and exploits are documented, and the lot.
tributes to him by the likes of Mighty John Quinn, While we found the book interesting it is defi-
Dave “Fit” Finlay, Adrian Street and Mark Roller- nitely aimed at a select audience, fans who re-
ball Rocco speak of his generosity and kind- member watching British wrestling in front of the
ness. TV featuring stars of the past such as Big Daddy
“The tale of Orig Williams, El Bandito, and the and Giant Haystacks will undoubtedly be enter-
escapades will never be repeated. He did not fit tained by this book.
nor comply with contemporary politically correct For new fans of wrestling (in particular wrestling
thinking – and that is why I wrote his book.” in Britain) it’s a read that won’t be to everyone’s
What some autobiographies struggle with is taste, but if you want to expand your knowledge
conveying to the reader what sort of personality and know more about the boom period of UK
the books subject had or has, the reader must wrestling then this is the book for you.
by the end of the book understand the subject DARREN WOOD

94 www.thewrestlingpress.com
DVD
DVD
FWA FRONT LINE
Press play or click here for external link

FWA ‘Art of War’

Discs: 1 // 2hrs 51 mins // £7.99 //
www.FWASHOP.com

Since its resurgence in 2009, the FWA has risen

like a phoenix from the ashes and is now back
with a vengeance and looking to reclaim its place
at the top of the hierarchy of UK wrestling.
One thing that struck us right off the bat was the
stacked line up that was on offer, which truly is a wrestling event DVD with as high production val-
who’s who of British wrestling, also the event ues as this, other companies should use this as a
showcases a main event that has truly been one standard bearer.
of the best promoted storylines UK wrestling has Ok sometimes while watching the show, the music
seen in a long time. is a bit loud and drowns out the commentary and
Of course we are referring to The Agenda vs The sometimes the camera shots are a little clunky, but
Resistance storyline leading up to the eight man what pissed us off while watching the show was
tag elimination match. In case you haven’t been the crowd. It’s a massive shame that they do no
keeping up with developments in the FWA (why justice to what a good show this was. The
not?); The Agenda, lead by FWA Heavyweight wrestlers work there asses off for little or no reac-
Champion Martin Stone, have set their sights on tion.
using British wrestling as a stepping stone to big- Rant aside, Commentary is good and adds to the
ger and better things across the pond. event and its matches, the combination of Dave
The group have been demeaning British wrestling Bradshaw and Greg Lambert really works. The in
for months and are planning to take over the FWA ring product is very good and in some matches
(doesn’t this sound familiar to what a certain brilliant. The match between El Ligero and Jonny
Stamford based promotion has just done?) It’s a Storm (which was our favourite) is a fast paced
storyline which ushers in a certain realism and one encounter, with two men who have honed their
that has captured the imagination of British skills for many years, showcasing what they can
wrestling fans. do and producing a great match.
Of course it is a well known truth that UK wrestlers Rockstar Spud is always massively entertaining
realise that the big money is to be made in the whatever situation he is put in and against RJ
states, which is why the storyline works so well. Singh is no different and the main event is just a
UK wrestling fans are never going to want to admit classic, hatred filled brawl. Especially watch out
the truth so they will immediately despise The for Martin Stone’s promo on British wrestling
Agenda and what they are saying. mainstay Robbie Brookside, this man (who we
Granted coming into this DVD review no matter featured in TWP issue 6) is definitely one who
how hard British wrestling tries, it doesn’t have the could have a future in WWE.
production values of the multi-million dollar WWE Extras features include the FWA Frontline internet
Corporation or the professional surroundings of TV episodes which will soon get you up to speed
TNA’s ‘Impact zone’ but we haven’t seen a UK with the storylines and the incredible Alex Shane

96 www.thewrestlingpress.com
Vs Nathan Cruz – Last showstealer standing about, with the Vovchanchyn fight featuring two
match from New Generation Wrestling in Hull. monstrous slams that were so amazing we had to
Truly an amazing match which has no commen- watch both three times in a row. The fight pace
tary but in truth doesn’t need it as the emotion in slows in matches against Kevin Randleman and
that match is fully charged. Chuck Liddell, and it would have been a nice ad-
Overall I would recommend this DVD, with good dition to see the encounter against Wanderlei
production values, a decent commentary team Silva in the 2003 Grand Prix Final; but business
and one of the most stacked cards you are likely picks up again in the Ricardo Arona bout.
to see. There is something for all fans, thus mak- The UFC portion of Rampage Jackson’s career,
ing FWA ‘Art of War’ a very good purchase indeed. highlights the stark contrast between PRIDE and
UFC with the presentation and self-hype from the
UFC very foreboding, with the crowd seemingly
happy to boo anything that isn’t a slug-fest;
UFC: Rampage whereas the Japanese PRIDE fans are respectful
and their explosive reactions truly lift the fight at-
Greatest Hits DVD
mosphere.
The UFC half of the DVD features Rampage’s
2hrs 14 mins // Region 2 // £7.99 //
debut fight against Marvin Eastman, Light Heavy-
Distributor: Fight DVD
weight Title fight against Chuck Liddell,
From the Land of the Rising UFC/PRIDE title Unification versus Dan Hender-
Sun to Las Vegas and be- son, Rampage vs. Wanderlei Silva III and versus
yond, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Keith Jardine.
Jackson has wowed and en- Rampage Greatest Hits makes for entertaining
tertained fight fans across the viewing, which no doubt encompasses some of
globe. A man who is not only Quinton Jacksons most memorable moments. But
hard as nails but a fantastic it is lacking in certain areas, for instance the DVD
entertainer, it is no surprise leaves out the two battles in PRIDE against Wan-
that the UFC have devoted derlei Silva and the five round barnstormer against
an entire DVD to the exploits Forrest Griffin; although Rampage lost in these
of Rampage Jackson. contests, they are fantastic fights and would be a
The DVD opens with the usual slick montage that welcome addition to any fight DVD, which I feel
you would expect with the UFC and jumps straight would have rounded out the DVD compilation.
into the action with the narrator providing a good Rampage is known for his humorous and charis-
summary of how Rampage got to PRIDE FC and matic interviews yet there are none featured on
a short highlight of his first match with the leg- the DVD; a small thirty minute documentary fea-
endary Kazushi Sakuraba, which then guides us turing Rampage talking about his career and life,
nicely to the first fight against Ishikawa, which is in addition to the aforementioned pre/post fight in-
the perfect demonstration of what Rampage has terviews would have remedied this minor gripe.
become famous for, his striking power and huge Overall though, Rampage Greatest Hits is a good
slams. DVD featuring some great action and is a steal at
From there the DVD follows a path of Rampage’s only £7.99; definitely one for all the Rampage
career through PRIDE, with the match choices Jackson and Knockout fans to purchase.
continuing to showcase exactly what Rampage is DARREN WOOD

www.thewrestlingpress.com 97
 Dusty Wolfe

the Wolfe Pit

STORIES AND OPINIONS FROM AN ORIGINAL WRESTLING JOURNEYMAN

S eems I missed last months edition.

That omission wasn’t anything
deliberate, just the fact transitions
sometimes are rougher than other times....
came to learn every group dynamic has a stooge.
The stooge is essential to a group’s survival. In
the family, a stooge usually answers to the name
younger sister. At work, they answer to the name
of management. As we came to terms with each
I’m hanging up the boots for good in Decem-
ber. For the past three years, I’ve been attending other, we did develop a respect for each other
university, college to us Texans. I’m almost at and our talents. The wrestling this direction will
the end of my degree plan, and one year ago, I certainly be different without the General.
took my first real job since I was 19 years old. I Losing Lance Cade hit a little closer to home.
knew December was coming even then, I just The kid was just that, a 29 year old kid. I met
didn’t know it would be THIS December. And in Lance when he was training here in San Anto-
getting ready for the changes, the past summer nio. Lance was all of 18, and constantly hanging
was beyond hectic. Add in a girlfriend half my with “Spanky” Brian Kendrick. They were a pair
age that has twice my temper........... a 14 year that made me grin every time I saw them. Lance
old son. A 16 year old daughter. Two dogs and and I would catch up everytime we could in the
a nosy neighbor..... last 10 years. Meaning we didn’t catch up with
Anyway, back to some rasslin. Literally, I just
received word that Tough Tony Borne passed LANCE WAS TOO NICE OF A
away. I never met Tony, but spent more than a PERSON, AND THAT’S WHAT LED TO
few days with Matt. Condolences there, and THE ADDICTIONS THAT KILLED HIM
bless Tony on one helluva 83 years.
Closer to home, General Skandar Akbar each other nearly enough. Lance
passed recently. The man was well known this was too nice of a person, and that’s
direction. Even in these past few years when what led to the addictions that killed
the prostrate cancer had him on borrowed time, him. Guys like Chris Nowinski can
Akbar could and would go out and be Akbar. And take the nutsack less, gutless ap-
people remembered. That part always proach that everything in this world is
amazed me and proved a point all at the someone else’s fault. No one put
same time. Rasslin fans remember. Lance down his path, except
Sports entertainment smarts are Lance Cade. Lance began
only worried about how they look taking whatever he was tak-
in the moment. Akbar and I ing to help with the physical
weren’t close, even though we pain we all live with. As per-
knew each other for 25 years. sonal issues along the
Over time, I mellowed in my way became a bit much,
opinion of a stooge, and Akbar Lance would numb Lance
mellowed in his opinion of those a bit more. Instead of
that didn’t respect stooges. I dealing with mean people

98 www.thewrestlingpress.com
in a mean way, and moving forward with life, this baseball. And yet, Ty Cobb is
gentle soul would look for an escape. And he IN the baseball HOF. Ty Cobb
found it. The rest of the story...folks that follow is the man Rose re-
the scene know what happened. All of these placed on the all time
were decisions Lance made. And decisions I hits list, and Cobb
wish others, myself included, might have influ- was a despicable
enced in other ways. It’s too late now for that excuse for a
type of regret. Hopefully, those that can make a human being. I
difference don’t listen to the sob sisters like could go into
Nowinski, and look to help the individuals that guys that ARE
need the help. in the football
HOF that have
Since I’m close to the WWE as a subject, I’ll
no business being
answer a question that “M” sent from headquar-
there. But I won’t,
ters. What do I think about the WWWF/WWF/E
considering most of
Hall of Fame?
the readers here con-
sider soccer to be football. ANYWAY....let Vince
play, let some of the older guys or their families
have one last moment. And if Bruno, Backlund
and a few others don’t want to join in the fun, so
be it. Again, adults and their decisions.
I look at Hogan, Bischoff, and Bret Hart return-
ing to the rasslin bidness. I know why each did,
but I have to ask, what money making decision
could have been bulls*** into justifying Bischoff?
Bret returned to the WWE to correct some past
wrongs. Both of his end and Vince McMahon’s.
I have always said Bret would have returned
years ago, with Montreal being one huge work.
Owen’s death changed all that back then, but fi-
nancial situations, and fading animosities made
Bret’s return possible now. I’m not too sure if any
of it matters months later, but I can honestly say
one of the last rasslin shows I made sure to
watch was Bret’s return. SOOO, that paid off for
at least one night. Hogan will never go away,
What’s not to like? Yes, Bruno Sammartino and and in the correct position, the man that carried
Bob Backlund belong in any HOF that includes the wrestling industry for nearly a decade
the greatest names around. And others will get shouldn’t have to go away. The correct position
omitted as time passes, memories fade, and is key here, but damn, if you were the biggest
Vince McMahon destroys/rewrites rasslin history. star ever in your industry, you wouldn’t stay at
But...who else on a visable level is doing anything home either. Eric Bischoff proves that P.T. Bar-
to acknowledge the past? I know all the argu- num knew exactly what he was talking about
ments about how Vince Jr will take care of his cre- when it comes to minutes and the people in
ations first. And why not? It’s his toy. Vince can them.
play with that toy any way he sees fit. Over here,
we have a baseball HOF without Pete Rose be- Until next time...........
cause of Pete Rose’s bad behavior. Pete Rose n Contact Dusty at [email protected]
was the greatest hitter in the history of

www.thewrestlingpress.com 99