Benoit incident marred pro wrestling in '07, by Mike Mooneyham - The Post and Courier - 30th December 2007

The pro wrestling industry will not soon forget 2007.

Never before in the history of the business has one story garnered such mainstream attention as the Chris Benoit double murder-suicide in late June. It was a gruesome, grisly tragedy that far transcended professional wrestling, yet its link to the business added another dimension that made the story even more sensational.

The face of pro wrestling would forever change the day the 40-year-old Benoit, wife Nancy and 7-year-old son Daniel were found dead in their suburban Atlanta home. The wrestler, who had been universally respected for years as one of the most accomplished performers in the business, took his own life by hanging himself after strangling his wife and suffocating his son. Bibles were placed near the bodies. The horrific incident drew a staggering level of public interest in the days and weeks that followed.

The story opened the floodgates for serious discussion and action concerning a number of hot-button topics including steroids, painkillers, concussions and congressional hearings. Benoit's extensive use of steroids and prescription medication exposed loopholes in WWE's drug-testing policy and drew media scrutiny.

The ramifications of the Benoit rampage are still being felt, and most likely will for years to come.

A nasty legal battle is expected in the wake of WWE's recent rejection of a deal offered by Benoit's estate. WWE has adamantly insisted that it had absolutely nothing to do with the Benoit tragedy, and balked at paying $2 million to Benoit's two surviving children from a previous marriage. The Benoit estate would have renounced any future claims against WWE in exchange for the settlement.

Medical experts in September detailed the many concussions Benoit suffered over the years while performing. The tests showed that Benoit's brain was so severely damaged it resembled the brain of an 85-year-old Alzheimer's patient. The research team claimed the damage was the result of a lifetime of chronic concussions and head trauma suffered while Benoit was in the wrestling ring.

Michael Benoit, overseeing his son's estate, alleges the WWE knew of the head injuries, but failed to provide treatment to any of their performers or much-needed rest. He believes years of head trauma his son suffered while in the ring contributed to the killings.

"Had the WWE taken the slightest interest in its wrestlers — before it became the object of the interest of district attorneys and Congress — there is little doubt that Chris Benoit and his family would still be with us today," Cary Ichter, Michael Benoit's Atlanta-based attorney, recently told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Despite the overwhelmingly negative publicity, WWE has weathered the storm, finishing the year strong with plans for major worldwide expansion in '08.

Among the many wrestling personalities we said goodbye to in 2007: Harry "Cowboy" Lang (Jan. 4, age 56); Cocoa Samoa (Ulualoaiga Onosai Tuaolo Emelio) (Jan. 9, age 62); Scott "Bam Bam" Bigelow (Jan. 19, age 45); Bob Luce (Feb. 8, age 70); Jim Melby (Feb. 11, age 57); Mike Awesome (Mike Alfonso) (Feb. 17, age 42); Ray "Thunder" Stern (Walter Bookbinder) (March 6, age 76); Bad News Brown/Allen (Allen Coage) (March 6, age 63); Ernie "Big Cat" Ladd (March 11, age 68); Arnold "Golden Boy" Skaaland (March 13, age 82); Abe Coleman (March 22, age 101); Harold "Sonny" Meyers (May 7, age 83); Ferrin "Sandy" Barr (June 2, age 69); Sensational Sherri Martel (Sherri Russell) (June 15, age 49); Princess Tona Tamah (Tona Ford) (June 15, age 72); Nancy "Woman" Benoit) (June 22, age 43); Chris Benoit (June 24, age 40); Biff Wellington (Shayne Bower) (June 24, age 42); Moondog Nathan (Nathan Brian Randolph) (July 4, age 37); John "Eliminator" Kronus (George B. Caiazzo) (July 18, age 38); Ronnie P. Gossett (July 23, age 63); Tor Kamata (McRonald Kamaka) (July 23, age 70); Karl Gotch (Karl Charles Istaz) (July 28, age 82); Frank Butcher (Francisco Garcia) (Aug. 2, age 84); Bronko Lubich (Sandor Lupsity) (Aug. 11, age 81); Brian "Crush" Adams (Aug. 13, age 43); Dewey "Missing Link" Robertson (Aug. 16, age 68); Frank Fozo (Aug. 23, age 79); Karloff Lagarde (Carlos de Lucio Lagarde) (Sept. 1, age 79); Billy Darnell (Sept. 7, age 81); Enrique Torres (Sept. 10, age 85); Zack Murray (Sept. 23, age 61); Sean "Shocker" Evans (Oct. 2, age 36); Rey "The Great Kabooki" Urbano (Oct. 16); Lillian "The Fabulous Moolah" Ellison (Nov. 2, age 84); El Gran Markus (Juan Chavarria Galicia) (Nov. 15, age 68); Dave "Angel of Death" Sheldon (Nov. 24, age 54).

Reach Mike Mooneyham at (843) 937-5517 or mooneyham@postandcourier.com. For wrestling updates during the week, call The Post and Courier Info Line at (843) 937-6000, ext. 3090.

The gurus of grapple, By Jon Geddes - The Daily Telegraph - 7th December 2007

THEY were the legends who thrilled and chilled Aussies with their antics in, and often out, of the wrestling ring for two decades.

Stars such as Mario Milano, King Curtis, Brute Bernard, Bulldog Brower, Spiros Arion, Killer Kowalski and the sinister Professor Tanaka - who threw salt in opponents' eyes - became household names.

And let's not forget our homegrown heroes Ron Miller, Larry O'Dea and George Barnes, who matched it with best of them.

Forget the glitz and showbiz associated with today's WWE. World Championship Wrestling was the real deal.

People of all ages religiously tuned into World Championship Wrestling, an institution on TCN 9 at midday on Saturdays.

"We did three TV shows a week and 300 live shows a year - which would average 15,000 a week," 66-year-old Miller said, who is retired and living at Tweed Heads.

"You would have 1000 people at the airport to meet you. We stayed in first class hotels and would get upgraded by the airlines."

On one trip to Tokyo, Miller and the other wrestlers were mobbed by 10,000 fans.

Miller said the big years for the WCW program were from 1964 to 1978 and the reasons it was so successful were the weekly TV show, the different nationalities, the characters and those fantastic language-crunching interviews.

There is no bigger character than King Curtis, who made a huge impact whenever he visited.

"For the last 26 years the King has had a hire company with surfboards and everything on Waikiki Beach, in his native Hawaii," Miller said.

"He was a really good professional guy and the master of the interview.

"In those days he was absolutely incredible. None of his rants were scripted. I don't know where he got it from. It just came to him from the top of his head.

"And then there was Mario Milano. He came to Australia in 1966 and never left."

After leaving the ring, Milano had a number of businesses including a pizza shop and travel agency and lives in retirement in Melbourne.

Killer Karl Kox became a prison warden. One day an inmate reminisced how he used to watch Kox all the time.

"Now I watch you all time time," Kox replied.

A former Australian champion himself, Miller has revived those halcyon days with a DVD called Ruff Tuff & Real, which provides an amazing insight into what really was a phenomenon in Australian life.

The DVD includes rare footage of the dark time Milano grew a moustache and turned bad guy, with referee Bob McMaster suggesting he may have been hypnotised or mesmerised by his manager.

And what about those sensational moves - the sleeper hold (Mark Lewin), the Texan brain buster (Killer Karl Kox), the coconut butt (Bobo Brazil) and the Indian death lock (Chief Billy White Wolf).

Commentator Jack Little - wrestling's version of Frank Hyde - would often warn the audience that a competitor had a "foreign object down his trunks".

There were also those mysterious wrestlers, often masked, who hailed from "parts unknown".

Miller and his long-time tag team and business partner O'Dea started their wrestling careers at a small gym in Wentworth Park.

"We did all the hard yards in the small clubs and gyms and learnt some hard lessons and how to respect the business," Miller said.

"By 1973 we owned it."

But WCW wasn't to last forever and it took something with the viewer appeal of World Series Cricket - which took its regular time-slot - to spell the end.

Miller and O'Dea remained close friends until O'Dea died in 1997.

These days Miller keeps fit by diving into the water rather than on to the canvas mat.

"I've got new knees and new hips. I'm like a mechanical man. Most of the guys are like that," he said.

And Miller told a story proving the old wrestlers really were a special breed.

He said Killer Kowalski, 79, got married for the first time last year to his blushing bride of 78.

When Killer was asked: "Why would you get married now?", he replied: "She told me she was pregnant so I had to do the right thing."

WHERE ARE THEY NOW:

Ron Miller: Retired and living in Tweed Heads

King Curtis: Runs a beach hire business on Waikiki Beach

Mark Lewin: Living in the US and is married to a Tahitian princess

George Barnes: Ran successful trucking business

Spiros Ario: Retired and living in Greece

Ox Baker: Farmer, New York state

Killer Karl Kox: Prison warden

Professor Tanaka: Ran a fishing boat before passing away

Brute Bernard: Died playing Russian roulette in a bar

Skull Murphy: Committed suicide after a failed romance

Bruiser Brody: Stabbed to death in a dressing room in Puerto Rico. Nobody saw a thing.

Big Bad John: Fatally shot in Tennessee bar

Abdullah the Butcher: Runs a restaurant in Carolina. "He doesn't have a menu, he tells you want to eat," Ron Miller said

Steve "The Crusher" Rackman: Executive manager of a gym

Jan Jansen: Former Bondi parking ranger. Now in the fitness industry on the South Coast

Media Man Australia Profiles

Ron Miller

Wrestling

Local fans infuriated by decision to pull Flair from Raw, By Mike Mooneyham - The Post and Courier - 9th December 2007

The formula was to have been fairly simple for last week's Monday Night Raw at the North Charleston Coliseum.

Ric Flair, the greatest performer in the history of the business, would make his first live local wrestling appearance in more than three years. The moment would be even sweeter considering he had returned to WWE a week earlier following a hiatus of several months. His promo on that week's edition of Raw, which aired from his hometown of Charlotte, was the highlight of the show, and his non-title win over WWE champion Randy Orton drew one of the best numbers in months for the highly rated mat program.

Some local fans remained skeptical, however, recalling past WWE shows in which Flair was pulled at the last minute for storyline reasons (selling an injury) and off-camera circumstances (fallout over a highly publicized divorce and an alleged road rage incident in which charges were later dropped).

But this event, Flair followers reasoned, would be different. Vince McMahon's "lose and you retire" stipulation was the beginning of a can't-miss, Rocky-like storyline, with fans tuning in each week to see if the 16-time world champion could beat the odds. And while Charlotte may be the Nature Boy's hometown, Charleston ranks a close second, being smack dab in the heart of Flair country.

Even of more import historically was that last Monday night most likely would have marked the 58-year-old Flair's final match in Charleston, a town where he first laced up the boots back in 1974, making his appearance that much more special. With the plan calling for Flair to retire at Wrestlemania next March, another local showing before then would be highly unlikely.

There would be no early Christmas present for local wrestling fans Monday night. Flair, once again a victim of company politics and a contract dispute, was pulled from the show. Those in attendance at the North Charleston Coliseum were left wondering why in the world were they deprived — yet again — of seeing the beloved performer who helped define a generation of wrestling in this area.

Local response was fast and furious.

"I am incensed. I don't understand," said longtime fan Robert Ellington of Charleston. "We're in Charleston, South Carolina, and this is Ric Flair country. Why did we not at least even see Ric Flair get a chance to cut a promo or do a run-in? Anything with Ric Flair would have been fine. It didn't have to be a full match. We didn't even get to hear him talk. I just don't understand it. That was really a bad move. WWE needs to do better than that."

Ellington said he hasn't seen Flair in a live appearance since 2002 and was greatly looking forward to Monday night's nationally televised event.

"It was a decent show, but it could have been that much better with Ric Flair. The pop would have been amazing."

Greg Pitt of Charleston also voiced his displeasure with the decision to scratch Flair from the show. He harkened back to the days when Flair worked for WCW and often found himself the victim of backstage politics.

"When WCW — and mainly Eric Bischoff —were trying to bury his career, it made me extremely angry and sad. One year after WCW folded, it was great to see the Nature Boy back on TV, and this time getting the respect he so richly deserved. As usual, though, over time he's put in a mid-card role and putting younger talent over. It's tremendous for the younger talent because they launch their career by getting one over on the greatest professional wrestler of all time. On the other hand, year by year, Ric has done what's best for the business only to be put down and not given what he deserves — one final title reign."

Pitt also pointed to why Flair has had to play second fiddle to Hulk Hogan during their respective careers in WWE.

"Vince McMahon made the overrated, overpaid Hulk Hogan ... but he didn't make Ric Flair. Ric was already the best when he went to the WWF the first time. That's the only reason why Vince gives Hogan more liberty and Ric less. It looks as if Ric's last match will be at Wrestlemania. Unfortunately I probably won't see it.

"Shame on Vince McMahon and the entire WWE for not doing the right thing for tradition and the business ... No one can take away what Ric Flair means to this business, this part of the country and tens of thousands of fans."

It should come as little surprise that Raw's ratings, which held up nicely the previous week on the strength of Flair's return, dropped to a 3.2 for last week's lackluster show. A strong Monday Night Football game, combined with viewers tuning out after realizing there would be no Flair, the numbers suffered.

WWE is rolling the dice with this week's installment of Raw. The company is presenting a three-hour celebration commemorating Raw's 15 years on the air, advertising such past and present WWE luminaries as Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, Mick Foley, Bischoff and Lita (Amy Dumas). Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, one of the biggest stars in the company's history, turned down an offer to appear on the show.

Flair is being listed for the special as part of an Evolution "one night only" reunion with Triple H, Batista and Orton.

--WWE has extended its contract with USA Network for two more years. Its current deal, which expires at the end of September 2008, was renewed until September 2010. The contract includes two specials per year on NBC.

--It appears that Scott Hall's short-lived stint with TNA is over. Hall no-showed the company's Turning Point pay-per-view last Sunday night. He claimed to have had food poisoning. No one bought the excuse, however, and Samoa Joe buried him in a promo during the event.

Hall, 49, whose career has been beset by personal problems, most likely squandered his last opportunity to work for a major wrestling promotion.

--Old School Championship Wrestling will hold a show tonight at Weekend's Pub, 428 Red Bank Road, Goose Creek. Main event will be an elimination match for a chance at "King of the Ring." Semifinal will be pit Josh Magnum against Roughhouse Matthews. Bell time is 6 p.m. Adult admission is $8 (kids 12 and under $5). For more information, call 743-4800 or visit www.oscwonline.com. X-Media Productions features wrestling commentary podcasts, including OSCW shows, at www.livefromthesunsetflip.com.

Reach Mike Mooneyham at (843) 937-5517 or mooneyham@postandcourier.com. For wrestling updates during the week, call The Post and Courier Info Line at (843) 937-6000, ext. 3090.

Woman behind U.S. banking rumble - Financial Post - 2nd November 2007

CIBC World Markets analyst Meredith Whitney

Duncan Mavin, Financial Post
Published: Friday, November 02, 2007

CIBC World Markets analyst Meredith Whitney, an outspoken television pundit who is married to a professional wrestler, delivered a body slam to the U.S. banking sector this week that has sent stocks reeling in markets around the world.

The champion stock-picker even talks a bit like Rowdy Roddy Piper.
"No one had the moxie to put in print, what I put in print," Ms. Whitney said yesterday.

She had earlier hit Citigroup with a downgrade when it was already hurting from weak profits.

"Is Citigroup's dividend safe?" she demanded in a tough report that followed a 57% drop in third-quarter earnings at the world's largest bank.
Ms. Whitney said Citigroup, one of the world's largest banks, is US$30-billion short of enough capital to keep up with payments to shareholders and its plans for growth during the current credit crunch.

Bank stocks fell sharply. Her report triggered the steepest tumble in Citigroup shares since September 2002, and it's not done falling yet, according to Ms. Whitney.

U.S. stocks were dragged down, with the Standard & Poor's 500 Index losing 2.6% on Thursday, destroying $369-billion in market value.
In Canada and elsewhere, bank stocks also fell. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Ms. Whitney's own employer, has seen 4% slashed off its stock price since her report was issued.

The CIBC analyst said yesterday that she has been inundated with attention from media and investors since making the call in a report issued in New York on Wednesday evening.

A spokesman for CIBC in Toronto said the bank has also had a high number of requests to get in touch with Ms. Whitney or to see her report.
"It's a very controversial call despite being a very straightforward call," Ms. Whitney said in an interview.

"I took this extremely seriously. The report is very thorough. But in my 14 years as an analyst this is the most straightforward call that I've made. It's black and white."

Despite her assuredness, the downgrade is widely seen as bold move. But as a regular guest on Fox News, Ms. Whitney has made a name for herself with forthright views.

On a Fox panel discussing the U.S. sub-prime mortgage crisis in July, she said, "I don't feel sorry for the teacher who's making $40,000 a year who squeezed herself into a $2-million dollar home and can't afford it."

On the same show, the 37-year old analyst said, "You have to have creative destruction to have a capitalist society. You have to let people fail."

Those words could also now be ringing in the ears of Citigroup chief executive Charles Prince, whom Ms. Whitney blames for the bank's declining fortunes.

"There's no question he has to leave,'' said the New York-based analyst.
Ms. Whitney is currently number two in Forbes magazine's ranking of capital markets analysts. She graduated with honors from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and married John "Bradshaw" Layfield in Key West in 2005.

Mr. Layfield is a former World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. champion and author of "Have More Money Now: A Common Sense Approach to Financial Management."

Known to his fans as JBL, Mr. Layfield apparently models his character after J.R. Ewing from the television show Dallas. His signature wrestling move is the 'Clothesline From Hell,' and his WWE Smack Down website profile warns, "Never challenge John Bradshaw Layfield to a street fight -- especially on Wall Street, or when he's offering valuable investment pointers to help bulk up your portfolio."

Like his wife, Mr. Layfield is a regular contributor to Fox News.

Ms. Whitney said her twenty-three page report on Citigroup which downgraded the bank from 'sector perform' to 'sector underperform' has been vindicated by an 11% drop in the company's stock price in the past two days.

"I had a lot of support [before issuing the report] from my firm and I've got a good track record. I lay the case out, they think about it and they trust me."

Analysts in the U.S. tend to be more aggressive with their ratings than their counterparts here in Canada, said Mario Mendonca, financial services analyst at Genuity Capital Markets in Toronto.

It is very unusual for Canadian bank analysts to give bank stocks a "sell" recommendation, though Mr. Mendonca was among a handful of his peers who did downgrade Bank of Montreal earlier this year. When he switched his recommendation on the stock to "sell" from "hold" based, the reaction to his downgrade was mixed.

"If you don't downgrade you are criticized for being too soft on the banks and if you do downgrade then people say you are wrong and missing the point of bank stocks," he said.

Meanwhile some observers in the U.S. have reacted in opposition to Ms. Whitney's report.

David Hilder, an analyst at Bear Stearns & Co., wrote in a note that "concerns about Citigroup's capital position and dividend policy raised by a competitor are over-stated."

Mr. Hilder, based in New York, maintained his 'outperform' rating on Citigroup and said the shares may climb to US$58 by the end of next year.
Anton Schutz, who oversees US$270-million as president of Mendon Capital Advisors in Rochester, New York, said the bank has too much cash to cut its payout.

"I don't believe that to be true, that they will need to cut the dividend," said Mr. Schutz, who owns Citigroup shares and said he has been buying as prices declined. "There's no doubt that there's a lot of uncertainty here, but overall this company generates a ton of capital and can certainly weather a storm."

Financial Post with files from Bloomberg News

Chris Benoit death leads to steroid crackdown - news.com.au - 2nd September 2007

WORLD Wrestling Entertainment has suspended 10 of its most popular stars for violations of a policy that tests for steroids and other drugs.

WWE said yesterday that it issued suspension notices based on information from the prosecutors investigating illegal steroid sales.

The clamp-down on performance enhancing drugs - which are believed to be widely used by wrestlers to bulk up - was prompted by the murder-suicide of star Chris Benoit.

Benoit killed his fellow-wrestler wife and seven-year-old son before hanging himself in June, in a murder-suicide believed prompted by his prolonged steroid use.

He and several other WWE wrestlers had been clients of Signature Pharmacy of Orlando, Florida.

Under a WWE drug-testing policy introduced last year, wrestlers face a 30-day suspension without pay for a first violation, a 60-day suspension for a second violation and dismissal for a third. The company has about 160 wrestlers, and they are tested at least four times a year.
Actor and former wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson said yesterday he hopes the company continues to lay the smackdown on performers who are using muscle-building drugs.

Sports Illustrated's website listed 14 wrestlers who were sent drugs through the mail. Three of those performers - Benoit, Eddie Guerrero and Brian Adams - are dead. Ten are still with the WWE, which is facing congressional scrutiny following Benoit's death.

Johnson said he wasn't happy to hear that the industry in which he thrived before shifting his acting skills to Hollywood still struggles with steroids.

"These guys have to be armed with the knowledge and understanding of how bad these drugs are and the dangers of mixing these drugs with the lifestyles they lead," he said.

Johnson wrestled in the WWE earlier this decade at the same time as Benoit.

"I was blown away," Johnson said of the tragedy.

"I had a chance to work with Chris on many occasions. He was a great guy and I knew his wife very well. "The guy I knew wasn't the guy who committed these heinous crimes.

"I've stopped trying to figure it out because Chris had wiring that allowed him to do that where anybody who was sane couldn't fathom doing that."

Profiles

WWE

Pro wrestler, wife and son killed, by Dylan Welch - 26th June 2007 - The Sydney Morning Herald

Pro wrestler, wife and son killed, by Dylan Welch - 26th June 2007 - credit: The Sydney Morning Herald

The death of one of professional wrestling's most famous stars, Chris Benoit, is already proving as fantastic and bizarre as the world of pro wrestling itself.

There were no signs of gunshot or stab wounds, but the "instruments of death were located on scene'', Tommy Pope of the Fayette County Sheriff's Department told an American broadcaster. Police were now considering it a "possible double-murder suicide'', he said.

US television station WAGA reported that investigators believe Benoit killed his wife and son over the weekend, and then himself sometime on Monday.

According to WAGA, the bodies were found in three different rooms.

Some however, would not accept that he may have harmed his family.

"He was very happy with his wife and he loved his son Daniel," Ross Hart, a friend of Benoit and member of the Hart wrestling family, told the Edmonton Journal.

"This would be very uncharacteristic of Chris to do anything self-destructive. I find it very hard to believe that he would end his life or his family's."

Benoit was scheduled to perform at a pay-per-view title fight on Sunday night in Houston, Texas, but was replaced at the last minute because of a "family emergency''.

It is now understood that his employers, worried about Benoit, asked police to check in on the former world heavyweight champion.

The bodies of the 40-year-old wrestler, his wife, Nancy Benoit, 43, and their seven-year-old son, Daniel, were discovered by police at their Atlanta, Georgia, home at about 2.30pm local time on Monday (4.30am Tuesday Sydney time).

According to the Edmonton Journal, the house is in a secluded neighbourhood set back about 60 yards off a gravel road, surrounded by stacked stone wall and a double-iron gate. On Monday night, the house was dark except for a few outside lights. There was a police car in front, along with two uniformed officers.

"The details, when they come out, are going to prove a little bizarre,'' Fayette County District Attorney Scott Ballarde told local paper the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Benoit, 40, was a former world heavyweight champion for World Wrestling Entertainment as well as a intercontinental champion and held several tag-team titles.

A Canadian native, he maintained a home in Atlanta from the time he wrestled for the now-defunct World Championship Wrestling.

His wife was a former wrestling valet who wrestled under the name "Woman''.

In a further twist, this week's live Monday Night RAW program was supposed to have been a whodunit into the fictional death of Chairman Vince McMahon, whose limousine burst into a fiery explosion moments after he stepped into it after a bout two weeks ago.

That storyline was quickly scrapped and Vince McMahon instead appeared to explain about the death of Benoit. The company then aired a three-hour tribute to Benoit.

Lovestruck: Wrestling's No. 1 Fan, by George Palathingal - The Sydney Morning Herald - 5th April 2007

A portrait of an otherwise ordinary Melbourne woman whose devotion to the sport has had a profound effect on every aspect of her life.

Before non-fans of wrestling shift their attention elsewhere, it is important to note that this documentary is not really about that most ludicrous excuse for a sport. At its big heart, and as a more careful look at its title says, Lovestruck: Wrestling's No. 1 Fan is a portrait of an otherwise ordinary Melbourne woman whose devotion to the sport has had a profound effect on pretty much every aspect of her life.

Sue Chuter was in her 40s when the director Megan Spencer met her, by chance, in the mid-1990s. This was before Spencer acquired a certain level of fame as the eloquent, passionate film critic on Triple J and on SBS's revamped but ill-fated The Movie Show. Some might think Spencer's career may have added to the time it could have taken to make this film, but the 10 years following Chuter around quickly prove the key to her tale.

Chuter is, as you'd hope, a fascinating human being. Her diminutive stature, underdog aura and lack of glamour and pretension immediately draw you to her, along with her unmissable natural quirkiness. (One of the film's funniest, and most startling, moments involves a young wrestling fan apparently wearing the wrong T-shirt.)

We spend parts of the film meeting many of her wrestling heroes, as she makes numerous trips exclusively to see them all over the country and, via Chuter's own video diary, around the United States. However, it speaks volumes about her that these colourful, extravagantly named and dressed beefcakes are rarely as interesting as she is - especially when the film gets personal. The look into her life outside wrestling, especially at her relationships with friends and family, not only ensures she doesn't come across as some one-dimensional stereotype, but it also gives the film an important emotional centre.

With Lovestruck: Wrestling's No. 1 Fan, Spencer has put together a classy, insightful doco. The gorgeous title sequence over archival wrestling footage (courtesy of her Movie Show alumnus Marc Fennell), Philip Brophy's alternately moody and tender desert-country soundtrack, and Spencer's astute interviewing and real interest in her subject, are each as impressive as those seen or heard in more celebrated documentaries. But there are flaws, too.

As is often the case with dedicated fans of anything, viewers may have liked to know how Chuter can afford to indulge her obsession to such a degree, which brings us to a more obvious shortcoming - "short" being the operative part of the word. At 52 minutes, there was clearly time to at least mention the subject's financial situation and maybe expand on, or talk about, other things, but the film seems to come to an abrupt halt.

That said, when too many films seem to be half an hour longer than they need to be, maybe time isn't really an issue. On the whole, Spencer does justice to Chuter's story, packing in lots of compelling stuff without giving viewers a chance to get bored.

On The Ropes, by Genevieve Swart - The Sydney Morning Herald - 13th April 2007

It took Megan Spencer 10 years to make Lovestruck: Wrestling's No. 1 Fan. The result is a documentary with a punch to the heart as skilfully executed as anything The Rock might deliver.

"It's full of wrestling and testosterone," the director says, "but it's almost like a legitimised chick flick for men because I've had men walking out at the end of the film just bawling their eyes out."

Best known for her role as a film critic on Triple J and SBS's The Movie Show, Spencer, 40, has come full circle with this documentary - from filmmaker to critic and back again. And not without some anxiety about how her latest effort will be received by the media.

"But all's fair in love and film criticism,'' she says, laughing.

Lovestruck is about obsession, fitting in and family. It stars Sue Chuter, a 55-year-old Melbourne fan who has spent 35 years cheering pro wrestlers, from Australian strongman Mario Milano to Memphis wrestler turned commentator Jerry "The King" Lawler.

Chuter has posters all over her home, more than 4000 wrestling videos and DVDs, has several big stars as friends and phones idols in the US to wish them happy birthday.

It's not Spencer's first foray into the world of obsessions - she also directed Heathens (1994), about St Kilda supporters, and Strange Hungers: Mistress Ursula (2001), about a dominatrix.

Spencer was working at a Melbourne CD store while studying media arts at the then Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 1995 when Chuter walked in. It was "Lovestruck" at first sight.

"She was wearing a T-shirt with a big wrestler on the front of it and I just pointed at it and said, 'Who's that?' And it was bang, instant."

The next week, Spencer arrived at Chuter's house to start filming.

Chuter is aware some people regard her obsession as "weird" but describes herself as "eccentric", Spencer says.

"Sue is a highly devoted fan and wrestlers recognise that. Jerry Lawler certainly does. They value her friendship, her expertise and knowledge - and the fact she is the greatest ambassador for wrestling that has ever walked the planet."

Spencer has some insight into wrestlemania: at age four, she began watching World Championship Wrestling on Channel Nine. She also collected about 30 muscle-bound wrestling dolls.

Her 52-minute doco was cut from about 60 hours of footage filmed over a decade, as well as archival material.

Lovestruck screened at last year's Melbourne and Perth film festivals and is on at the Chauvel. And it's not just for wrestling fans, Spencer says.

"I think Sue's story is universal.

That's ultimately the role of documentary: to give us a window on people's lives who we think are different to us. In the end, the good ones show we're pretty much forged from the same cells."

myspace.com/lovestruckthemovie

Media Man Australia Wrestling Media Update

The Media Man Australia Wrestling Profiles and WWE Profile sections has been updated.
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