Killer Kowalski - wrestling's boots-and-all bad guy of the 1960s - has gone down fighting.
At 81, Kowalski hung on to life like he had it in his trademark claw hold.
He died in Boston early on Saturday, eight full days after his life support systems were turned off.
Known as a brawler who ripped one opponent's ear off, family and foes remembered him fondly.
Nephew Mark Spulnik, from Sydney, said in a tribute yesterday the 198cm, 127kg Kowalski was a kind and caring person out of the ring: "Having Killer Kowalski as an uncle was definitely cool! School bullies would keep their distance and the young girls wouldn't. How perfect."
Not everyone saw the kind uncle inside Killer Kowalski.
"A few wrestling fans looked upon my uncle as a truly evil person," Mark said.
"They thought it was their duty to wait for him in the parking lot with baseball bats and metal pipes."
Kowalski was born Edward Walter Spulnik in Canada, and wrestled as a pro from 1947 to 1977.
In World Championship Wrestling's heyday -- when 6000 fans would pack Festival Hall each week -- Kowalski was huge.
He wrestled household names such as Mario Milano, Spiros Arion, Mark Lewin Brute Bernard and Skull Murphy. Kowalski was famed for his flying knee drop, but it was his claw hold that made fans' flesh crawl.
In 1967, at the height of his fame, Kowalski put it on TV host Don Lane when an interview turned sour.
The injured Lane missed his next show, but got off lighter than some.
In 1952 Kowalski's size-16 boot grazed, and dislodged, Yukon Eric's cauliflower ear.
"His ear came off, just like you knock a fly across a table," Kowalski recalled.
"It rolled across the ring, glub, glub, glub."
Forced to apologise at the hospital, the pair burst into laughter at the absurdity.
Kowalski was pegged forever as a cruel brute who laughed in his victim's mangled face. But Ron Miller, 66, a clean-fighting Aussie wrestler who tag-teamed with Larry O'Day, remembered Kowalski as a quiet man and a vegetarian.
"He was pretty quiet and very religious," Miller said.
"Killer was an amazing guy -- six foot eight, 28 stone and that name. He was more of a brawler and just kept going, going and going and never ran out of stamina.
"He was almost unstoppable in the ring."
Outside the ring, Kowalski was happy enough to play
the victim.
"Just because I get over-enthused about my work people hate me," he complained in 1961.
"Everywhere I go they throw chairs, newspapers, cigar butts, fruit and anything else they can grab. I have been burned, knifed, blinded by pea shooters . . ."
But if he took it, he could give it too. With so much of wrestling fake, he was asked once about his boots, and whether it hurt when he stomped an opponent.
"No it doesn't hurt at all," he grinned. "I wear special thick soles and it doesn't hurt my foot at all."
For all his faults, he inspired love as well as fear.
Female fans proposed marriage and, finally, two years ago, Kowalski got caught.
He wed Theresa Ferrioli, then 77, on June 19, 2006.
Asked why, he joked: "What can I do? She was pregnant." (Credit: News.com.au)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Killer Kowalski
Wrestling Media Blog. Pro wrestling blog. WWE, WCW, WCW in Australia, ECW, NWA, interviews, promotions, news and more.
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Wrestling legend Walter 'Killer' Kowalski - News.com.au - 1st September 2008
PRO-WRESTLING pioneer and legend Walter "Killer" Kowalski has died following a heart attack. He was 81.
Kowalski died at Whidden Hospital in Everett, Massachusetts, on Saturday - 12 days after his family decided to take him off life support. He had been in critical condition since his heart attack on August 8, wife Theresa Kowalski said.
An obituary posted at Weir Mac Cuish Family Funeral Home's Web site said Kowalski began his professional career in 1947. His 6-foot-7, 275-pound frame and a brutal wrestling style soon earned him the nickname "Killer."
He became known as a villain after severing part of Yukon Eric's ear during a match in Montreal in 1954. He visited his opponent in the hospital and "the two men began laughing at how silly Eric's bandages looked. The reporter incorrectly printed that Killer was laughing at his victim and soon after, Killer quickly became wrestling's most renowned 'heel,'" according to the Web site.
Kowalski later became famous for various moves, including a stomach vice grip called the Killer Clutch. He retired in 1977, a year after he and Big John Studd captured the WWF Tag Team Championship as The Executioners.
He went on to open a wrestling school in Malden, where he trained many current stars including WWE's Triple H.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Walter "Killer" Kowalski
Kowalski died at Whidden Hospital in Everett, Massachusetts, on Saturday - 12 days after his family decided to take him off life support. He had been in critical condition since his heart attack on August 8, wife Theresa Kowalski said.
An obituary posted at Weir Mac Cuish Family Funeral Home's Web site said Kowalski began his professional career in 1947. His 6-foot-7, 275-pound frame and a brutal wrestling style soon earned him the nickname "Killer."
He became known as a villain after severing part of Yukon Eric's ear during a match in Montreal in 1954. He visited his opponent in the hospital and "the two men began laughing at how silly Eric's bandages looked. The reporter incorrectly printed that Killer was laughing at his victim and soon after, Killer quickly became wrestling's most renowned 'heel,'" according to the Web site.
Kowalski later became famous for various moves, including a stomach vice grip called the Killer Clutch. He retired in 1977, a year after he and Big John Studd captured the WWF Tag Team Championship as The Executioners.
He went on to open a wrestling school in Malden, where he trained many current stars including WWE's Triple H.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Walter "Killer" Kowalski
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Canadian wrestling pioneer Walter (Killer) Kowalski dies at age 81 - The Canadian Press - 31st August 2008
EVERETT, Mass. — Canadian pro wrestling pioneer Walter (Killer) Kowalski died early Saturday from the effects of a massive heart attack. He was 81.
Kowalski died at Whidden Hospital in Everett, 12 days after his family decided to take him off life support. He had been in critical condition in the hospital since his heart attack on Aug. 8, wife Theresa Kowalski said.
"I was right beside him. I put my hand on his chest, I felt his breathing slow down and his heart beat stop," she said. "The doctor said he was brain dead ... I was waiting, hoping somebody could do something.
"We've been together over 10, but we've been married for two years. He was a bachelor all his life. He was a wonderful man, never drank, never smoked and he was a vegetarian for almost 60 years."
An obituary posted at Weir Mac Cuish Family Funeral Home's website said Kowalski began his professional career in 1947 as "Tarzan" Kowalski. His hulking six-foot-seven, 275 pound frame and a brutal wrestling style soon earned him a nickname "Killer."
Kowalski, a native of Windsor, Ont., began to be known as a villain after hurting Yukon Eric during a match in Montreal in 1954.
He visited his opponent in hospital after the match to check up on him and "the two men began laughing at how silly Eric's bandages looked. The reporter incorrectly printed that Killer was laughing at his victim and soon after, Killer quickly became wrestling's most renowned 'heel' or "villain", according to the website.
Kowalski later became famous for various moves, including a stomach vice grip called the "Killer Clutch."
Kowalski retired in 1977, a year after he and Big John Studd captured the WWF World Wrestling Tag Team Championship as members of "The Executioners" team.
He went on to open a wrestling school in Malden. He sold the business in 2003.
Kowalski was inducted into several wrestling halls of fame, including the World Wrestling Federation Hall of Fame and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum.
A funeral is scheduled at Weir-MacCuish Golden Rule Funeral Home and burial service is set in St. Joseph's Church on Thursday morning.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Walter (Killer) Kowalski
WWE
Wrestling
Kowalski died at Whidden Hospital in Everett, 12 days after his family decided to take him off life support. He had been in critical condition in the hospital since his heart attack on Aug. 8, wife Theresa Kowalski said.
"I was right beside him. I put my hand on his chest, I felt his breathing slow down and his heart beat stop," she said. "The doctor said he was brain dead ... I was waiting, hoping somebody could do something.
"We've been together over 10, but we've been married for two years. He was a bachelor all his life. He was a wonderful man, never drank, never smoked and he was a vegetarian for almost 60 years."
An obituary posted at Weir Mac Cuish Family Funeral Home's website said Kowalski began his professional career in 1947 as "Tarzan" Kowalski. His hulking six-foot-seven, 275 pound frame and a brutal wrestling style soon earned him a nickname "Killer."
Kowalski, a native of Windsor, Ont., began to be known as a villain after hurting Yukon Eric during a match in Montreal in 1954.
He visited his opponent in hospital after the match to check up on him and "the two men began laughing at how silly Eric's bandages looked. The reporter incorrectly printed that Killer was laughing at his victim and soon after, Killer quickly became wrestling's most renowned 'heel' or "villain", according to the website.
Kowalski later became famous for various moves, including a stomach vice grip called the "Killer Clutch."
Kowalski retired in 1977, a year after he and Big John Studd captured the WWF World Wrestling Tag Team Championship as members of "The Executioners" team.
He went on to open a wrestling school in Malden. He sold the business in 2003.
Kowalski was inducted into several wrestling halls of fame, including the World Wrestling Federation Hall of Fame and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum.
A funeral is scheduled at Weir-MacCuish Golden Rule Funeral Home and burial service is set in St. Joseph's Church on Thursday morning.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Walter (Killer) Kowalski
WWE
Wrestling
Lesnar vs. Couture could be finalized next week
Sources close to the MMA world indicate that a November fight between Brock Lesnar and Randy Couture could be finalized as early as Tuesday of next week.
If a deal can be reached, the fight would likely take place in Portland's Rose Garden.
Sources also say that in a perfect world that the legendary Couture would like to have three more fights before he retires and those fights would all be for the UFC.
Lesnar vs. Couture would be an extremely intriguing match up if contracts can be worked out. One would assume that getting a deal done quickly after the Labor Day holiday would allow both fighters to officially begin their preparation within a few days.
It will also be interesting to see where the betting line starts and ends for this
one if it does happen. This match blows away the previously discussed Lesnar-Kongo fight and should do huge business on PPV. (Credit: JR)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Brock Lesnar
MMA
UFC
Sports Betting
Jim Ross
If a deal can be reached, the fight would likely take place in Portland's Rose Garden.
Sources also say that in a perfect world that the legendary Couture would like to have three more fights before he retires and those fights would all be for the UFC.
Lesnar vs. Couture would be an extremely intriguing match up if contracts can be worked out. One would assume that getting a deal done quickly after the Labor Day holiday would allow both fighters to officially begin their preparation within a few days.
It will also be interesting to see where the betting line starts and ends for this
one if it does happen. This match blows away the previously discussed Lesnar-Kongo fight and should do huge business on PPV. (Credit: JR)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Brock Lesnar
MMA
UFC
Sports Betting
Jim Ross
Friday, August 29, 2008
Wrestling with the past, by Michael Blaney - The Australian Worker - September 2008
Media Man Australia director, Greg Tingle interviewed, and supplying of photographs, for a feature article on the glory days of World Championship Wrestling in Australia in The Australian Worker.
Websites
The Australian Worker
The Australian Workers' Union
Media Man Australia Profiles
Ron Miller
Big Chief Little Wolf
Mario Milano
Websites
The Australian Worker
The Australian Workers' Union
Media Man Australia Profiles
Ron Miller
Big Chief Little Wolf
Mario Milano
Monday, August 25, 2008
Seemed like old times at Fanfest, By Mike Mooneyham - The Post and Courier - 24th August 2008
"The past is not dead; it's not even past." — William Faulkner
I had the same feeling after attending last weekend's NWA Legends Fanfest gathering in Charlotte.
For three days and four nights, wrestling fans were taken back to a time when their childhood heroes once again basked in the spotlight, relating old war stories that only seem to get better with age.
That the years have taken their inevitable toll on these ring warriors didn't seem to matter much to the hundreds of folks who converged from far and wide upon The Hilton hotel, headquarters for the event, just to pay tribute. To this group of loyal, devoted fans, their heroes stood as tall as they ever did, on a pedestal that will never be shaken.
And while time marches on, some things never change.
Rip "The Profile" Hawk, still active at age 78 and a part-time youth wrestling coach in west Texas, closed the bar at least once. The only thing missing was the late Swede Hanson, Hawk's stablemate for many years, at his side.
The 59-year-old "Nature Boy" Ric Flair, who was brought into the Carolinas nearly 35 years ago as Hawk's storyline "nephew," still drew the biggest lines, signing autographs and having pictures taken with fans nonstop for several hours. Flair, who retired as an active performer in March, also commanded the biggest fee: $100 per photo-op and $40 per autograph.
Thunderbolt Patterson, one of the most colorful orators in the history of the business, still cuts one of the longest promos. Ole Anderson, who inducted Patterson into the Hall of Heroes, joked that Patterson would "never shut up" while routinely running over on his interview time during his wrestling days. True to form, Bolt proceeded to cut a riveting 10-minute spiel on Ole, bringing the audience to its feet.
Patterson was no less reserved for a 7 a.m. Sunday worship service he conducted along with "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase. With Bruno Sammartino and Ivan Koloff anxiously waiting in the wings for a 9 a.m. Q&A session in the same location, DiBiase quietly gave a cue to Patterson, who responded, "Jesus doesn't have a time limit." And apparently He didn't, since the doors weren't opened until Bolt had finished laying hands on everyone in attendance.
Mike Jackson, the longtime "Alabama Junior Heavyweight Champion," at age 59 stole the wrestling portion of the event, putting on one of his patented mat clinics against a much younger opponent. Performers like Jackson and George South, who also worked the wrestling show, deserve credit for making many a main-event star look like a million bucks back in the day.
Reid Fliehr (Ric's son) and Dillon Eaton (Bobby's son) were on hand to watch another second-generation wrestler, Richie Steamboat, work one of his first matches as an aspiring pro.
There was a little something for everyone at the three-day convention. Tables of vendors and guest exhibitors were on display throughout the event. The "legends," along with performers with WWE and TNA affiliations, mingled with colleagues and fans alike — at the bar, in the lobby and in conference rooms.
This year's Hall of Heroes honorees were Sandy Scott (inducted by Bob Caudle), Grizzly Smith (inducted by Magnum T.A.), Johnny Weaver (inducted posthumously by Rip Hawk), Thunderbolt Patterson (inducted by Ole Anderson), Paul Jones (inducted by Jack Brisco), Ivan Koloff (inducted by Don Kernodle) and Buddy Roberts (inducted by Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin).
Some, unfortunately, could not attend this year's event.
Smith, who achieved legendary status in this area during the '60s as one half of The Kentuckians tag team with the late Luke Brown, is in declining health and living with relatives in Amarillo, Texas.
"My dad really wanted to be here, but it wasn't one of his better days," said son Sam Houston (Michael Smith), who accepted the award on his father's behalf. "My dad's got fond memories of you all."
The Assassin (Jody Hamilton), who was scheduled to induct Smith, also could not make the trip due to a scheduled knee surgery.
Others, slowed by physical maladies, displayed the same grit and toughness that had served them well during their wrestling careers. "No. 1" Paul Jones, who recently had been confined to a wheelchair and later a walker, is still recovering from prostate cancer and a "chemical malfunction." Ole Anderson, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, now requires assistance to walk. Former Freebird Buddy Roberts speaks from a voice box after having successfully battled throat cancer for more than a decade.
But they remain stalwarts in a profession that demanded much. The love and respect their fans showered them with at the event was proof positive that these ring legends certainly must have done something right all those years ago.
Greg Price, who promoted the event, already has scheduled next year's Fanfest. If you've never been and you're a longtime wrestling fan, especially of the Mid-Atlantic variety, you owe it to yourself to check it out.
To borrow a catch phrase from Thunderbolt Patterson: "You better call somebody!"
--Sonny Fargo, who gained notoriety as Jackie Fargo's crazy brother "Roughhouse" Fargo in Memphis during the '60s and '70s and later as a referee for Jim Crockett Promotions, died Wednesday at the age of 80. Fargo, whose real name was Jack Faggart Sr., passed away at his home in China Grove, N.C.
Fargo, also known as "Nuthouse," was a fan favorite in Tennessee as a wild, unpredictable brawler who real-life brother Jackie Fargo (Henry Faggart) would bring in "from the mental institution" whenever he needed a partner to settle the score with another team. The two held Southern-based tag-team titles on numerous occasions, wresting the belts from such duos as Tojo Yamamoto and Alex Perez, The Interns, and Joe Scarpa and Lester Welch.
--Former world champ Bill Goldberg told Fight Network Radio on Friday that he had begun training for a comeback in pro wrestling. Goldberg said he is looking for a one-shot deal to do another match, but hinted that it would not be with WWE or TNA.
Goldberg's last bout was on March 14, 2004, at Wrestlemania 20 where he defeated Brock Lesnar.
--Old School Championship Wrestling will hold a show today at Weekend's Pub, 428 Redbank Road, Goose Creek. Bell time is 6 p.m.
Former NWA world champ Tommy "Wildfire" Rich, making his second appearance for OSCW, will meet Hanz for the No. 1 contender spot for the IC title. Also scheduled is an elimination match between The Company and Team OSCW involving eight competitors.
For more information, visit www.oscwonline.com or call 743-4800.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Wrestling Legends
Wrestling
I had the same feeling after attending last weekend's NWA Legends Fanfest gathering in Charlotte.
For three days and four nights, wrestling fans were taken back to a time when their childhood heroes once again basked in the spotlight, relating old war stories that only seem to get better with age.
That the years have taken their inevitable toll on these ring warriors didn't seem to matter much to the hundreds of folks who converged from far and wide upon The Hilton hotel, headquarters for the event, just to pay tribute. To this group of loyal, devoted fans, their heroes stood as tall as they ever did, on a pedestal that will never be shaken.
And while time marches on, some things never change.
Rip "The Profile" Hawk, still active at age 78 and a part-time youth wrestling coach in west Texas, closed the bar at least once. The only thing missing was the late Swede Hanson, Hawk's stablemate for many years, at his side.
The 59-year-old "Nature Boy" Ric Flair, who was brought into the Carolinas nearly 35 years ago as Hawk's storyline "nephew," still drew the biggest lines, signing autographs and having pictures taken with fans nonstop for several hours. Flair, who retired as an active performer in March, also commanded the biggest fee: $100 per photo-op and $40 per autograph.
Thunderbolt Patterson, one of the most colorful orators in the history of the business, still cuts one of the longest promos. Ole Anderson, who inducted Patterson into the Hall of Heroes, joked that Patterson would "never shut up" while routinely running over on his interview time during his wrestling days. True to form, Bolt proceeded to cut a riveting 10-minute spiel on Ole, bringing the audience to its feet.
Patterson was no less reserved for a 7 a.m. Sunday worship service he conducted along with "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase. With Bruno Sammartino and Ivan Koloff anxiously waiting in the wings for a 9 a.m. Q&A session in the same location, DiBiase quietly gave a cue to Patterson, who responded, "Jesus doesn't have a time limit." And apparently He didn't, since the doors weren't opened until Bolt had finished laying hands on everyone in attendance.
Mike Jackson, the longtime "Alabama Junior Heavyweight Champion," at age 59 stole the wrestling portion of the event, putting on one of his patented mat clinics against a much younger opponent. Performers like Jackson and George South, who also worked the wrestling show, deserve credit for making many a main-event star look like a million bucks back in the day.
Reid Fliehr (Ric's son) and Dillon Eaton (Bobby's son) were on hand to watch another second-generation wrestler, Richie Steamboat, work one of his first matches as an aspiring pro.
There was a little something for everyone at the three-day convention. Tables of vendors and guest exhibitors were on display throughout the event. The "legends," along with performers with WWE and TNA affiliations, mingled with colleagues and fans alike — at the bar, in the lobby and in conference rooms.
This year's Hall of Heroes honorees were Sandy Scott (inducted by Bob Caudle), Grizzly Smith (inducted by Magnum T.A.), Johnny Weaver (inducted posthumously by Rip Hawk), Thunderbolt Patterson (inducted by Ole Anderson), Paul Jones (inducted by Jack Brisco), Ivan Koloff (inducted by Don Kernodle) and Buddy Roberts (inducted by Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin).
Some, unfortunately, could not attend this year's event.
Smith, who achieved legendary status in this area during the '60s as one half of The Kentuckians tag team with the late Luke Brown, is in declining health and living with relatives in Amarillo, Texas.
"My dad really wanted to be here, but it wasn't one of his better days," said son Sam Houston (Michael Smith), who accepted the award on his father's behalf. "My dad's got fond memories of you all."
The Assassin (Jody Hamilton), who was scheduled to induct Smith, also could not make the trip due to a scheduled knee surgery.
Others, slowed by physical maladies, displayed the same grit and toughness that had served them well during their wrestling careers. "No. 1" Paul Jones, who recently had been confined to a wheelchair and later a walker, is still recovering from prostate cancer and a "chemical malfunction." Ole Anderson, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, now requires assistance to walk. Former Freebird Buddy Roberts speaks from a voice box after having successfully battled throat cancer for more than a decade.
But they remain stalwarts in a profession that demanded much. The love and respect their fans showered them with at the event was proof positive that these ring legends certainly must have done something right all those years ago.
Greg Price, who promoted the event, already has scheduled next year's Fanfest. If you've never been and you're a longtime wrestling fan, especially of the Mid-Atlantic variety, you owe it to yourself to check it out.
To borrow a catch phrase from Thunderbolt Patterson: "You better call somebody!"
--Sonny Fargo, who gained notoriety as Jackie Fargo's crazy brother "Roughhouse" Fargo in Memphis during the '60s and '70s and later as a referee for Jim Crockett Promotions, died Wednesday at the age of 80. Fargo, whose real name was Jack Faggart Sr., passed away at his home in China Grove, N.C.
Fargo, also known as "Nuthouse," was a fan favorite in Tennessee as a wild, unpredictable brawler who real-life brother Jackie Fargo (Henry Faggart) would bring in "from the mental institution" whenever he needed a partner to settle the score with another team. The two held Southern-based tag-team titles on numerous occasions, wresting the belts from such duos as Tojo Yamamoto and Alex Perez, The Interns, and Joe Scarpa and Lester Welch.
--Former world champ Bill Goldberg told Fight Network Radio on Friday that he had begun training for a comeback in pro wrestling. Goldberg said he is looking for a one-shot deal to do another match, but hinted that it would not be with WWE or TNA.
Goldberg's last bout was on March 14, 2004, at Wrestlemania 20 where he defeated Brock Lesnar.
--Old School Championship Wrestling will hold a show today at Weekend's Pub, 428 Redbank Road, Goose Creek. Bell time is 6 p.m.
Former NWA world champ Tommy "Wildfire" Rich, making his second appearance for OSCW, will meet Hanz for the No. 1 contender spot for the IC title. Also scheduled is an elimination match between The Company and Team OSCW involving eight competitors.
For more information, visit www.oscwonline.com or call 743-4800.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Wrestling Legends
Wrestling
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Lords of the Ring - The Sunday Mail (Sunday Extra) - 16th July 2000
It starts as a sound bite in one corner of the stadium a rhythmic chant invoking the arrival of a man so famous that, just like Madonna, he no longer needs two names.
Goldberg. Goldberg! Goldberg!! They scream as others join, stamping their feet on the bleachers until 10,000 punters are caught in the moment, seduced by the biggest thing to happen to pro wrestling since Hulk Hogan.
Goldberg, a 190cm, 120kg mountain of a man who attacks opponents like the gridiron player he once was, is widely believed to earn tens of thousands of dollars every time he steps into the ring.
And Goldberg along with arch rivals Kevin "Big Sexy" Nash and Jeff Jarrett, is heading our way, as a master promoter Paul Danity brings the World Championship Wrestling juggernaut to Australia.
Well-schooled in the art of taking a punt, Danity is a shrewd operator whose longevity in the promotion game means that he knows exactly what he's doing bring the relatively unknown soap opera that is WCW to Australia.
"This deal has taken nearly two years to stitch up" Danity says.
"The only thing I can compare it to was trying to get the Rolling Stones to Australia."
"But it's worth it and on a personal level, I can't remember the last time I was so excited about bringing an act to Australia."
But why is Danity , a man not usually given to passionate outbursts of enthusiasm, so pumped?
To begin with despite the fact that WCW is a fairly low-profile sport in Australia compared to the giants of football and cricket, Danity's well-oiled research covered Australia's licensee agent for Kevin Nash has sold $10 million of Big Sexy's merchandise in the past 12 months.
Danity believes there is a huge, untapped market for pro wrestling in Australia and there's no doubt WCW is big business - wherever it plays in the world.
Since it was taken over by media mogul Ted Turner in 1988, WCW has become a law unto itself, a multi-million-$-making machine with its monolithic HQ in Atlanta Georgia.
And while Australian fans are conversant with some of the bigger names soon to arrive here, what they probably don't know is how tough it has been for every one of those wrestlers to get here.
The road to WCW fame begins at the Atlanta HQ, where at one time 100 to 150 wrestlers contracts are under contract.
Sharon Sidello (WCW's vice president of international development) is moving into dangerous territory here - there's the fine line between what's real and fake in the ring. WCW is remarkably coy about exactly what goes on in the matches and the wrestlers themselves don't take kindly to the merest suggestion that what they do isn't 100% bonfide.
During a live satellite link-up with GB, JJ and KN last week to promote the upcoming tour, all three wrestlers bristled when asked the big question is wrestling real.
"I'll tell you what." Goldberg growled, "let's you and me get in the ring and I'll show you what's real and what's not."
"I've seen them when they come out of those matches and, yes they're hurting".
They have bruises, they do bleed and they do get injured".
You can't fake falling off the top rope on to a mat with a sickening thud, you can't fake a headlock."
WCW kicks off its four-date Australian tour in Brisbane on Saturday, October 7, at the Entertainment Centre at Boondall.
Tickets go on sale this Friday through Ticketek 131 931.
The Brisbane event will feature GB, SV, KN, JJ and several other big WCW names yet to be announced.
Brisbane is the first place outside the US where filming will take place and be beamed via satellite back to the US as part of WCW's regular programming.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Paul Danity
Ted Turner
Goldberg. Goldberg! Goldberg!! They scream as others join, stamping their feet on the bleachers until 10,000 punters are caught in the moment, seduced by the biggest thing to happen to pro wrestling since Hulk Hogan.
Goldberg, a 190cm, 120kg mountain of a man who attacks opponents like the gridiron player he once was, is widely believed to earn tens of thousands of dollars every time he steps into the ring.
And Goldberg along with arch rivals Kevin "Big Sexy" Nash and Jeff Jarrett, is heading our way, as a master promoter Paul Danity brings the World Championship Wrestling juggernaut to Australia.
Well-schooled in the art of taking a punt, Danity is a shrewd operator whose longevity in the promotion game means that he knows exactly what he's doing bring the relatively unknown soap opera that is WCW to Australia.
"This deal has taken nearly two years to stitch up" Danity says.
"The only thing I can compare it to was trying to get the Rolling Stones to Australia."
"But it's worth it and on a personal level, I can't remember the last time I was so excited about bringing an act to Australia."
But why is Danity , a man not usually given to passionate outbursts of enthusiasm, so pumped?
To begin with despite the fact that WCW is a fairly low-profile sport in Australia compared to the giants of football and cricket, Danity's well-oiled research covered Australia's licensee agent for Kevin Nash has sold $10 million of Big Sexy's merchandise in the past 12 months.
Danity believes there is a huge, untapped market for pro wrestling in Australia and there's no doubt WCW is big business - wherever it plays in the world.
Since it was taken over by media mogul Ted Turner in 1988, WCW has become a law unto itself, a multi-million-$-making machine with its monolithic HQ in Atlanta Georgia.
And while Australian fans are conversant with some of the bigger names soon to arrive here, what they probably don't know is how tough it has been for every one of those wrestlers to get here.
The road to WCW fame begins at the Atlanta HQ, where at one time 100 to 150 wrestlers contracts are under contract.
Sharon Sidello (WCW's vice president of international development) is moving into dangerous territory here - there's the fine line between what's real and fake in the ring. WCW is remarkably coy about exactly what goes on in the matches and the wrestlers themselves don't take kindly to the merest suggestion that what they do isn't 100% bonfide.
During a live satellite link-up with GB, JJ and KN last week to promote the upcoming tour, all three wrestlers bristled when asked the big question is wrestling real.
"I'll tell you what." Goldberg growled, "let's you and me get in the ring and I'll show you what's real and what's not."
"I've seen them when they come out of those matches and, yes they're hurting".
They have bruises, they do bleed and they do get injured".
You can't fake falling off the top rope on to a mat with a sickening thud, you can't fake a headlock."
WCW kicks off its four-date Australian tour in Brisbane on Saturday, October 7, at the Entertainment Centre at Boondall.
Tickets go on sale this Friday through Ticketek 131 931.
The Brisbane event will feature GB, SV, KN, JJ and several other big WCW names yet to be announced.
Brisbane is the first place outside the US where filming will take place and be beamed via satellite back to the US as part of WCW's regular programming.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Paul Danity
Ted Turner
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Boxing: A Cultural History, by Peter Temple - The Sydney Morning Herald - 7th July 2008
From Mesopotamia to Madison Square Garden, boxing has enthralled and outraged.
Author Kasia Boddy
Genre Society/Politics, Sport
Publisher Reaktion Books
Pages 480
RRP $76.0
WHY do people love watching men hit each other?
Boxing is widely out of favour now, frowned upon as a violent anachronism. But this doesn't deter countless millions who watch fighting in all its forms on cable television and the internet, where it ranks second only to pornography.
Porn's appeal is obvious. But is watching men fight just as primary a stimulus? Very likely. People have been engaging in and watching boxing, dressed up as a sport and a form of exercise, for all of recorded history, with images of pugilists dated to ancient Mesopotamia.
The literature on the sport that is not a game is voluminous but few writers have attempted large-scale social histories, probably because everywhere you look, you find traces of boxing. No other non-productive activity has reached so deeply and so widely into society.
Kasia Boddy is no faint-heart. She appears to have tracked down every last reference to boxing in prose, poetry, painting, sculpture, film and video and, betraying no enthusiasm for the sport, manages to mention them all in 478 pages.
Boxing's modern history begins in the mean, gin-sodden cities of early 18th-century England, with the growth in popularity of bare-knuckle, no-holds-barred fighting. The smart money was quick to see commercial potential in providing the spectacle of men beating, gouging, choking and kicking each other senseless. The aristocracy, with little to do except drink, ride, gamble and fornicate, were drawn in, too.
So pervasive was boxing's influence that by 1785, Thomas Jefferson could complain that rich young Virginians sent to England to be educated were learning "drinking, horse racing and boxing". For young men of Lord Byron's class, the louche world of what was called the Fancy - boxing academies, prizefighters' pubs and the London fights - was addictive. Not even his mother's funeral kept Byron from his daily sparring.
And long before any other, boxing was an international sport, holding its first world title fight - for world, read Britain and the US - in 1860. In the posh part of the crowd with the nobles, merchants and rich industrialists were novelists Thackeray and Dickens, two of the dozens of famous British writers, including Hazlitt, attracted to the bloody ring.
Once boxing began to generate big money, the simple setting of men on each other like dogs had to go: capitalism needs order and regularity. Prizefighting had to take on rational characteristics.
Timeless brawls gave way to timed rounds. The square of wood or rope replaced the organic circle. Gloves were introduced, rules were invented, eventually a point-scoring system devised. Training of boxers became the norm and boxing schools sprang up.
Now boxing's ugly side could be assigned to the professionals, broken-faced pugs suffering and inflicting pain and injury for money. Amateur boxing, on the other hand, could be held up as a sport fit for gentlemen and a cleansing tonic for the dangerous youth of England's urban slums.
"They work off their restlessness and get rid of the devil in the gymnasium with the boxing gloves … they become infected with some upper-class ideals … honour and honesty, purity and temperance."
As Boddy suggests in an academic way, part of boxing's attraction for some middle-class do-gooders was the opportunities it provided for close contact with young men wearing only skimpy shorts. Indeed, for many commentators, including Byron's biographer Benita Eisler, the Fancy had more to do with sodomy than athleticism. Boxing was the social lubricant that made it possible for upper-class Englishmen to engage closely with brawny young men from the lower classes.
From early on, many of Western society's preoccupations found their bloody intersection in the square ring. In late 18th-century England, for example, the rise to champion status of the elegant Daniel Mendoza brought into the open the anti-Semitism aimed at London's growing population of Jews from abroad. Mendoza is a pivotal figure in boxing, the man who invented the ducking, weaving, back-pedalling "science" of boxing, who first showed that middleweight brain could beat heavyweight brawn. His fights against Richard Humphries (billed as "the Jew" against "the Gentleman Fighter") were sell-outs, making them, says Boddy, the first boxers "whose careers were successfully marketed in terms of ethnic hostility".
Racial prejudice had similar economic potential. Pitting white against black became another staple of boxing promotion in England and the US (and played well in Australian tent-boxing deep into the 20th century).
Jack Johnson - who won his first title in Australia - was the black champion who first set white America's teeth on edge (by marrying white women, three of them). Boddy records that in Reno the band played a tune called All Coons Look Alike to Me when he entered the ring to fight white Jim Jeffries for the world title in 1910.
From John L. Sullivan on, the US would be the home of prizefighting. And if boxing in England was redolent with social and sexual ambiguity, the distinctive smell in American boxing was always of corruption. (Sullivan's conqueror, Gentleman Jim Corbett, said it was a rare fight he was not offered a bribe to throw.)
As Boddy shows at scholarly length, in American books and plays and paintings and films, boxing came to carry a heavy symbolic freight. The gloves and the ring stood for pride and courage, sacrifice and nobility, salvation and redemption. They also stood for corruption, greed, betrayal, pain and death. No other sport - indeed, perhaps no other human activity - has been so fraught with meaning.
As radio spread in the 1930s, black boxers such as Joe Louis became national figures, inspiring downtrodden black Americans from sea to shining sea. When Louis fought Italy's Primo Carnera, the politics of the old world had arrived: the boxers were represented as Haile Selassie of Ethiopia versus Mussolini.
In 1933, Max Baer wore a Star of David on his trunks when he fought the German Max Schmeling. In 1936, it was Louis's turn to take on the German and the whole world was agog. Schmeling won and was flown home in the Hindenburg airship: an Aryan technological triumph conveying a physically superior Aryan.
But it wasn't over. In 1938, Louis fought Schmeling again, at Yankee Stadium. Now war was in the wind and Joe wasn't black any more. Now he was an American boy fighting a Nazi. And he beat him.
Almost everyone who matters in Western cultural history in the past century enters Boddy's ring. While she occasionally seems blind to the obvious or belabours what the blind can see, such is the overall quality of the job here that she can be forgiven anything.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Boxing
Wrestling
Author Kasia Boddy
Genre Society/Politics, Sport
Publisher Reaktion Books
Pages 480
RRP $76.0
WHY do people love watching men hit each other?
Boxing is widely out of favour now, frowned upon as a violent anachronism. But this doesn't deter countless millions who watch fighting in all its forms on cable television and the internet, where it ranks second only to pornography.
Porn's appeal is obvious. But is watching men fight just as primary a stimulus? Very likely. People have been engaging in and watching boxing, dressed up as a sport and a form of exercise, for all of recorded history, with images of pugilists dated to ancient Mesopotamia.
The literature on the sport that is not a game is voluminous but few writers have attempted large-scale social histories, probably because everywhere you look, you find traces of boxing. No other non-productive activity has reached so deeply and so widely into society.
Kasia Boddy is no faint-heart. She appears to have tracked down every last reference to boxing in prose, poetry, painting, sculpture, film and video and, betraying no enthusiasm for the sport, manages to mention them all in 478 pages.
Boxing's modern history begins in the mean, gin-sodden cities of early 18th-century England, with the growth in popularity of bare-knuckle, no-holds-barred fighting. The smart money was quick to see commercial potential in providing the spectacle of men beating, gouging, choking and kicking each other senseless. The aristocracy, with little to do except drink, ride, gamble and fornicate, were drawn in, too.
So pervasive was boxing's influence that by 1785, Thomas Jefferson could complain that rich young Virginians sent to England to be educated were learning "drinking, horse racing and boxing". For young men of Lord Byron's class, the louche world of what was called the Fancy - boxing academies, prizefighters' pubs and the London fights - was addictive. Not even his mother's funeral kept Byron from his daily sparring.
And long before any other, boxing was an international sport, holding its first world title fight - for world, read Britain and the US - in 1860. In the posh part of the crowd with the nobles, merchants and rich industrialists were novelists Thackeray and Dickens, two of the dozens of famous British writers, including Hazlitt, attracted to the bloody ring.
Once boxing began to generate big money, the simple setting of men on each other like dogs had to go: capitalism needs order and regularity. Prizefighting had to take on rational characteristics.
Timeless brawls gave way to timed rounds. The square of wood or rope replaced the organic circle. Gloves were introduced, rules were invented, eventually a point-scoring system devised. Training of boxers became the norm and boxing schools sprang up.
Now boxing's ugly side could be assigned to the professionals, broken-faced pugs suffering and inflicting pain and injury for money. Amateur boxing, on the other hand, could be held up as a sport fit for gentlemen and a cleansing tonic for the dangerous youth of England's urban slums.
"They work off their restlessness and get rid of the devil in the gymnasium with the boxing gloves … they become infected with some upper-class ideals … honour and honesty, purity and temperance."
As Boddy suggests in an academic way, part of boxing's attraction for some middle-class do-gooders was the opportunities it provided for close contact with young men wearing only skimpy shorts. Indeed, for many commentators, including Byron's biographer Benita Eisler, the Fancy had more to do with sodomy than athleticism. Boxing was the social lubricant that made it possible for upper-class Englishmen to engage closely with brawny young men from the lower classes.
From early on, many of Western society's preoccupations found their bloody intersection in the square ring. In late 18th-century England, for example, the rise to champion status of the elegant Daniel Mendoza brought into the open the anti-Semitism aimed at London's growing population of Jews from abroad. Mendoza is a pivotal figure in boxing, the man who invented the ducking, weaving, back-pedalling "science" of boxing, who first showed that middleweight brain could beat heavyweight brawn. His fights against Richard Humphries (billed as "the Jew" against "the Gentleman Fighter") were sell-outs, making them, says Boddy, the first boxers "whose careers were successfully marketed in terms of ethnic hostility".
Racial prejudice had similar economic potential. Pitting white against black became another staple of boxing promotion in England and the US (and played well in Australian tent-boxing deep into the 20th century).
Jack Johnson - who won his first title in Australia - was the black champion who first set white America's teeth on edge (by marrying white women, three of them). Boddy records that in Reno the band played a tune called All Coons Look Alike to Me when he entered the ring to fight white Jim Jeffries for the world title in 1910.
From John L. Sullivan on, the US would be the home of prizefighting. And if boxing in England was redolent with social and sexual ambiguity, the distinctive smell in American boxing was always of corruption. (Sullivan's conqueror, Gentleman Jim Corbett, said it was a rare fight he was not offered a bribe to throw.)
As Boddy shows at scholarly length, in American books and plays and paintings and films, boxing came to carry a heavy symbolic freight. The gloves and the ring stood for pride and courage, sacrifice and nobility, salvation and redemption. They also stood for corruption, greed, betrayal, pain and death. No other sport - indeed, perhaps no other human activity - has been so fraught with meaning.
As radio spread in the 1930s, black boxers such as Joe Louis became national figures, inspiring downtrodden black Americans from sea to shining sea. When Louis fought Italy's Primo Carnera, the politics of the old world had arrived: the boxers were represented as Haile Selassie of Ethiopia versus Mussolini.
In 1933, Max Baer wore a Star of David on his trunks when he fought the German Max Schmeling. In 1936, it was Louis's turn to take on the German and the whole world was agog. Schmeling won and was flown home in the Hindenburg airship: an Aryan technological triumph conveying a physically superior Aryan.
But it wasn't over. In 1938, Louis fought Schmeling again, at Yankee Stadium. Now war was in the wind and Joe wasn't black any more. Now he was an American boy fighting a Nazi. And he beat him.
Almost everyone who matters in Western cultural history in the past century enters Boddy's ring. While she occasionally seems blind to the obvious or belabours what the blind can see, such is the overall quality of the job here that she can be forgiven anything.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Boxing
Wrestling
Professional wrestling in Australia
Professional wrestling in Australia makes up a small but growing part of Australian culture. Unlike the North American or Japanese products which have large, globally renowned organisations such as World Wrestling Entertainment or New Japan Pro Wrestling with several hundred smaller promotions, Australia has approximately 30 smaller independent circuit promotions which exist in all but two of the states, those being the Northern Territory and Tasmania. Tours from the North American product are regularly sold out in capital cities such as Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane.
History
Professional wrestling in Australia first gained distinction in the early 1900s, however there were very few shows promoted. Nonetheless, stars such as Clarence Weber, Jack Carkeek, Clarence Whistler and Georg Hackenschmidt were made. As time went on, the sport's popularity began to grow, particularly in the 1930s as people sought to find relief from The Great Depression.
Throughout the 1940s professional wrestling suffered due to World War II but in the 1950s reached new highs as many stars from overseas were imported and created larger crowds and, in turn, a larger market. Established names such as Lou Thesz, Dr. Jerry Graham and Gorgeous George toured the country during the decade.
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Australia established its only major promotion in WCW Australia. WCW had a television deal with the Nine Network, the first in Australia to do so and attracted crowds between 2,000 and 9,000 people on a weekly basis. International stars such as Killer Kowalski, Ray Stevens, Dominic Denucci, Mario Milano, Spiros Arion, Karl Gotch, Bruno Sammartino, Gorilla Monsoon and local stars Ron Miller and Larry O’Dea were all involved with the promotion which grew steadily through the 1960s and was a well known product in the 1970s. However, with the introduction of World Series Cricket, WCW was left with no television deal and was forced to close down in 1978. This sent the Australian market into a large decline. With no access to any product anywhere in the world, the Australian market was almost dead until World Wrestling Entertainment became a prominent figure in professional wrestling in the mid-1980s.
Australia has depended on the North American product since 1985. Hosting tours in 1985 and 1986 kept a solid viewing in the sport through programmes such as Superstars of Wrestling and Saturday Night's Main Event. Small local promotions have tried to take advantage of the popularity of professional wrestling in more recent times, but there has been nothing of note since the demise of World Championship Wrestling in 1978.
However the local scene has been the subject of controversy.
In September 2002, a promotion called PCW presented a show called Carnage, in which two wrestlers faced off in the first-ever barbed-wire match in Australia. The event was billed as a "Great Family Night Out", however before the bout an announcer warned parents to take their children from the Rowville arena if they were upset by blood.
The match saw real blood, fake glass and one contestant setting fire to a chair. The ring ropes were replaced with barbed wire and a bucket of thumb tacks was dumped on the ring floor. Much of the controversy surrounded rumours about the event, suggesting that the outpour of blood was so intense that it 'splattered' onto members of the crowd. Much of this can be attributed to people who had heard about the match giving their take of it on the Internet.
Despite the fact that this event was publicised as having a gory match and the preceding warning, people complained that the match in question was 'too much'. A concerned mother called Melbourne Talkback radio station 3AW, and a wrestler heard this call and also rang in. This resulted in the main media outlets covering the story. For the record, neither of the wrestlers were seriously injured. It also resulted in a police investigation. and a furore within the local Knox City Council.
Individual wrestlers originating in Australia have struggled for the most part to obtain any international recognition. Perhaps the two biggest names when one mentions Australia are the Fabulous Kangaroos - Roy Heffernan and Al Costello. They are the only Australian wrestlers to make it big in the United States and held the WWWF Tag Team Championship, as well as being inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame. In more recent times Nathan Jones made two WWE appearances at WrestleMania XIX and at Survivor Series later that same year, making him the only Australian wrestler to ever appear on a WWE pay-per-view event. Jones also appeared on two World Wrestling All-Stars pay-per-views, losing to Jeff Jarrett at WWA: The Inception and to Scott Steiner at WWA: The Eruption. Only two other Australian wrestlers have appeared on any pay-per-view event at all. They are Chuck E. Chaos at WWA: The Eruption who lost to Jerry Lynn, and Mark Mercedes at WWA: The Reckoning who lost to Rick Steiner.
Foreign tours
Shows from North American promotions have been held in Australia as early as 1985 when WWE toured through Melbourne, Perth, Newcastle and Adelaide and through Melbourne and Brisbane again in 1986. That was the last Australia saw of a live North American product until WCW did a Nitro and Thunder taping in Melbourne and a Thunder taping in Brisbane and Sydney in 2000.
The next time WWE came to Australia was for the WWE Global Warning Tour in 2002. A crowd of 56,000 packed into Colonial Stadium as well a pay-per-view audience throughout Asia witnessed the first WWE show on Australian soil in 16 years. WWE has visited Australia regularly since Global Warning by touring at least once a year since 2003, with the latest show by the Smackdown & ECW brand's in June 2008 visiting Brisbane, Sydney, Newcastle, Adelaide and Melbourne.
Australia also hosted shows presented by World Wrestling All-Stars and various smaller shows have featured overseas talent, but nothing of note.
Television programming
History
Throughout the 1990s, both WCW Monday Nitro and RAW were broadcasted on free-to-air networks but were put in poor timeslots and were subsequently cancelled because of poor ratings. WWE's major pay-per-views (Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, King of the Ring, SummerSlam and Survivor Series) were all shown up until 2001, when every pay-per-view began being shown.
WWE programming returned in 2000 with RAW being shown on Fox Sports on Tuesday nights. SmackDown! followed and was broadcasted on FOX8 Friday nights but was moved to Saturday nights in 2001.
In September 2002 negotiations between FOX8 and WWE fell through and SmackDown! was cancelled. A special NWA-TNA package replaced it in early 2003 but only lasted a year. NWA-TNA pay-per-views were shown once a month throughout 2003 during a time when they were being presented weekly in the United States. WWE pay-per-views were also lost to Main Event in the same deal that cost Australian fans SmackDown. Village Cinemas showed them for a few months until August 2003 when SmackDown! returned on Saturday nights as well as the pay-per-views, starting with SummerSlam. RAW was moved from Fox Sports to FOX8 and was shown on Friday nights. In order to prevent spoiler hunting on the internet, FOX8 moved WWE programming to timeslots closer to their United States air date.
In February 2005, WWE Heat, WWE Velocity and The WWE Experience were added to FOX8 and set up a large wrestling program on Saturdays and Sundays. Despite Heat, Velocity and Experience all being cancelled in the United States the shows continued to be shown in Australia to fulfill contractual obligations. When SmackDown! was moved to Friday nights in the United States, in Australia it remained on Friday afternoons. ECW on Sci Fi began broadcasting in Australia from September 2, 2006 in the place of WWE Velocity on Saturdays and the WWE Fanatic Series began airing in October 2006.
After just over 3 years, TNA made it's return. Beginning with TNA Sacrifice 2006 on May 27, 2006 on tape delay. This continued for 12 months before events started being broadcast live in May 2007. TNA iMPACT! began airing on April 5, 2008 on FOX8. Just on the second week of airing, TNA averaged more viewers than both WWE Smackdown and WWE Raw.
On June 2, 2008 WWE and Channel nine announced that they would be airing WWE Afterburn on nine every Sunday at 1:30 starting on June 15
Pay-per-view
Pay-per-views in Australia are shown on Main Event, the only provider in Australia. Main Event has been broadcasting pay-per-views for both WWE starting in 1999 until the present time (including the Fanatic Series from 2006) and WCW pay-per-views from 1997 until they were bought out in March 2001. Main Event also began broadcasting TNA pay-per-views in May 2006, starting with Sacrifice. One year later, TNA pay per views were lifted from the 13 day tape delay format to a live format. (Credit: Wikipedia).
Media Man Australia Profiles
Foxtel
Network Nine Australia
Wrestling
History
Professional wrestling in Australia first gained distinction in the early 1900s, however there were very few shows promoted. Nonetheless, stars such as Clarence Weber, Jack Carkeek, Clarence Whistler and Georg Hackenschmidt were made. As time went on, the sport's popularity began to grow, particularly in the 1930s as people sought to find relief from The Great Depression.
Throughout the 1940s professional wrestling suffered due to World War II but in the 1950s reached new highs as many stars from overseas were imported and created larger crowds and, in turn, a larger market. Established names such as Lou Thesz, Dr. Jerry Graham and Gorgeous George toured the country during the decade.
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Australia established its only major promotion in WCW Australia. WCW had a television deal with the Nine Network, the first in Australia to do so and attracted crowds between 2,000 and 9,000 people on a weekly basis. International stars such as Killer Kowalski, Ray Stevens, Dominic Denucci, Mario Milano, Spiros Arion, Karl Gotch, Bruno Sammartino, Gorilla Monsoon and local stars Ron Miller and Larry O’Dea were all involved with the promotion which grew steadily through the 1960s and was a well known product in the 1970s. However, with the introduction of World Series Cricket, WCW was left with no television deal and was forced to close down in 1978. This sent the Australian market into a large decline. With no access to any product anywhere in the world, the Australian market was almost dead until World Wrestling Entertainment became a prominent figure in professional wrestling in the mid-1980s.
Australia has depended on the North American product since 1985. Hosting tours in 1985 and 1986 kept a solid viewing in the sport through programmes such as Superstars of Wrestling and Saturday Night's Main Event. Small local promotions have tried to take advantage of the popularity of professional wrestling in more recent times, but there has been nothing of note since the demise of World Championship Wrestling in 1978.
However the local scene has been the subject of controversy.
In September 2002, a promotion called PCW presented a show called Carnage, in which two wrestlers faced off in the first-ever barbed-wire match in Australia. The event was billed as a "Great Family Night Out", however before the bout an announcer warned parents to take their children from the Rowville arena if they were upset by blood.
The match saw real blood, fake glass and one contestant setting fire to a chair. The ring ropes were replaced with barbed wire and a bucket of thumb tacks was dumped on the ring floor. Much of the controversy surrounded rumours about the event, suggesting that the outpour of blood was so intense that it 'splattered' onto members of the crowd. Much of this can be attributed to people who had heard about the match giving their take of it on the Internet.
Despite the fact that this event was publicised as having a gory match and the preceding warning, people complained that the match in question was 'too much'. A concerned mother called Melbourne Talkback radio station 3AW, and a wrestler heard this call and also rang in. This resulted in the main media outlets covering the story. For the record, neither of the wrestlers were seriously injured. It also resulted in a police investigation. and a furore within the local Knox City Council.
Individual wrestlers originating in Australia have struggled for the most part to obtain any international recognition. Perhaps the two biggest names when one mentions Australia are the Fabulous Kangaroos - Roy Heffernan and Al Costello. They are the only Australian wrestlers to make it big in the United States and held the WWWF Tag Team Championship, as well as being inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame. In more recent times Nathan Jones made two WWE appearances at WrestleMania XIX and at Survivor Series later that same year, making him the only Australian wrestler to ever appear on a WWE pay-per-view event. Jones also appeared on two World Wrestling All-Stars pay-per-views, losing to Jeff Jarrett at WWA: The Inception and to Scott Steiner at WWA: The Eruption. Only two other Australian wrestlers have appeared on any pay-per-view event at all. They are Chuck E. Chaos at WWA: The Eruption who lost to Jerry Lynn, and Mark Mercedes at WWA: The Reckoning who lost to Rick Steiner.
Foreign tours
Shows from North American promotions have been held in Australia as early as 1985 when WWE toured through Melbourne, Perth, Newcastle and Adelaide and through Melbourne and Brisbane again in 1986. That was the last Australia saw of a live North American product until WCW did a Nitro and Thunder taping in Melbourne and a Thunder taping in Brisbane and Sydney in 2000.
The next time WWE came to Australia was for the WWE Global Warning Tour in 2002. A crowd of 56,000 packed into Colonial Stadium as well a pay-per-view audience throughout Asia witnessed the first WWE show on Australian soil in 16 years. WWE has visited Australia regularly since Global Warning by touring at least once a year since 2003, with the latest show by the Smackdown & ECW brand's in June 2008 visiting Brisbane, Sydney, Newcastle, Adelaide and Melbourne.
Australia also hosted shows presented by World Wrestling All-Stars and various smaller shows have featured overseas talent, but nothing of note.
Television programming
History
Throughout the 1990s, both WCW Monday Nitro and RAW were broadcasted on free-to-air networks but were put in poor timeslots and were subsequently cancelled because of poor ratings. WWE's major pay-per-views (Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, King of the Ring, SummerSlam and Survivor Series) were all shown up until 2001, when every pay-per-view began being shown.
WWE programming returned in 2000 with RAW being shown on Fox Sports on Tuesday nights. SmackDown! followed and was broadcasted on FOX8 Friday nights but was moved to Saturday nights in 2001.
In September 2002 negotiations between FOX8 and WWE fell through and SmackDown! was cancelled. A special NWA-TNA package replaced it in early 2003 but only lasted a year. NWA-TNA pay-per-views were shown once a month throughout 2003 during a time when they were being presented weekly in the United States. WWE pay-per-views were also lost to Main Event in the same deal that cost Australian fans SmackDown. Village Cinemas showed them for a few months until August 2003 when SmackDown! returned on Saturday nights as well as the pay-per-views, starting with SummerSlam. RAW was moved from Fox Sports to FOX8 and was shown on Friday nights. In order to prevent spoiler hunting on the internet, FOX8 moved WWE programming to timeslots closer to their United States air date.
In February 2005, WWE Heat, WWE Velocity and The WWE Experience were added to FOX8 and set up a large wrestling program on Saturdays and Sundays. Despite Heat, Velocity and Experience all being cancelled in the United States the shows continued to be shown in Australia to fulfill contractual obligations. When SmackDown! was moved to Friday nights in the United States, in Australia it remained on Friday afternoons. ECW on Sci Fi began broadcasting in Australia from September 2, 2006 in the place of WWE Velocity on Saturdays and the WWE Fanatic Series began airing in October 2006.
After just over 3 years, TNA made it's return. Beginning with TNA Sacrifice 2006 on May 27, 2006 on tape delay. This continued for 12 months before events started being broadcast live in May 2007. TNA iMPACT! began airing on April 5, 2008 on FOX8. Just on the second week of airing, TNA averaged more viewers than both WWE Smackdown and WWE Raw.
On June 2, 2008 WWE and Channel nine announced that they would be airing WWE Afterburn on nine every Sunday at 1:30 starting on June 15
Pay-per-view
Pay-per-views in Australia are shown on Main Event, the only provider in Australia. Main Event has been broadcasting pay-per-views for both WWE starting in 1999 until the present time (including the Fanatic Series from 2006) and WCW pay-per-views from 1997 until they were bought out in March 2001. Main Event also began broadcasting TNA pay-per-views in May 2006, starting with Sacrifice. One year later, TNA pay per views were lifted from the 13 day tape delay format to a live format. (Credit: Wikipedia).
Media Man Australia Profiles
Foxtel
Network Nine Australia
Wrestling
Saturday, July 05, 2008
Transcript of Bret Hart's Hall of Fame speech
“... The one wrestling hall of fame that captures what he was all about. I look around this room here, and there’s a lot of emotion to me. I’m going to try to stay calm and say what I have to say here. I have some very important things that I want to talk about. I see some really important people in my life and in the wrestling world in the audience here. I see Butch Goering, coming all the way out here from California. Talking to Butch, he worked for my father in the ’60s. He knows what it’s like traveling the roads back then, working for my father. Sometimes it was a thousand miles a day wrestling for wrestling fans just when they started, sort of understood wrestling from television. It was a very unique time, and it was the time when Lou Thesz was just sort of establishing a whole new understanding of wrestling through television. Lou Thesz, what a champion, he was always such a great champion, and he earned that right. You look at Red Baron [Baron von Raschke]. I know my father talked a lot about legends in wrestling, but he always talked about Baron Von Raschke all the time. He was a very, very accomplished NCAA wrestler that got into pro wrestling and was respected by every wrestler that ever worked with him. Whatever the finish was, whatever happened in his matches, he was a legend amongst the wrestlers and the fans.
“I see Bob Leonard, who worked for my father for years taking pictures of wrestlers, capturing and documenting, letting people realize the real art of wrestling, and just to capture the pictures of these young athletes dropkicking and head scissors and wrestling holds, making that magic in still pictures. I think Bob Leonard is a very, very important part of my business. Harley Race, I don’t even know how you start. Harley Race to me is the epitome of pro wrestling. He is not only a great wrestler, I don’t know anyone who would want to mess with Harley in wrestling, the fighting or brawling, the real, that moment of man versus man, to know it. Harley Race, he can do whatever he wants to do with anybody he wants, anytime he wants.
"Then there’s Saito here. I know that he wrestled in Japan, a well-accomplished amateur wrestler, got into pro wrestling, paid his dues for hanging with wrestlers that made mistakes that he wasn’t even a part of, sacrificed to come all the way from Japan to be here. I look at Danny Hodge, he’s one of the most, one of the greatest wrestlers in pro wrestling or amateur wrestling there’s ever been. To be in this room with Danny Hodge is a big, big honor to me. I look at Roddy Piper. I could name a lot of wrestlers that helped me in wrestling, gave me advice — Harley Race — but I don’t think anybody did more for me or helped me more, and helped me make those decisions to get me to where I was than Roddy Piper. To come here, he had to fight cancer, and to be part of this tonight, is just that much more special. It’s my understanding and belief that Roddy Piper came here for the sole reason just to hang out with me, to be part of this event, because it was important to me. That means a lot. I came all the way from Rome to be here.
“I flew in, and it was important from watching the news over in Italy, seeing the flood problems here, and knowing that I would be here in a few days. It would have been a lot easier to shoot home to Calgary and not worry about the floods — I’m not a good swimmer. [crowd laughs] It was important for me to be here. It made me proud to know that I was coming here. Mike Chapman, yeah, I talked to him a couple of years ago. I talked for so long, and I learned so much about wrestling, championships, and Lou Thesz, and how the origin of wrestling started, it was like sitting under the learning tree, just sitting there listening to this guy, digesting, knowing this guy knows what he’s talking about. He’s not full of it. He’s not a B.S.-er. He knows what he’s talking about, he knows these people. He’s talked to Lou Thesz. He knows the history. He knows the transition from pro wrestling and amateur wrestling.
“Now, I’m here because I was a pro wrestler. But I also know, I also know, what it’s like to hang a gold medal around my neck. I know what it’s like to wrestle a one-hour match. I know what it’s like to go full blast for that hour. And to lose, I know what it’s like to lose wrestling match by one point, I’ve been there too. I know what it’s like to snap on a knee brace. I know what it’s like to snap on a world title belt. I also know what it’s like to wrestle in front of 90,000, 100,000 people sometimes, just to have that kind of impact, and to make people — I remember wrestling the British Bulldog in Wembley Stadium, England, and make everybody in that 82,000 wrestling fans, they dismissed all their disbelief about wrestling, and wrestling for 35 minutes became real. It was real.
“There’s an art to that. There’s a science to that. It’s hard work, it’s really hard work. [clears throat, silence for at least 20 seconds.] I don’t want to be too lecturous here. What is a hall of fame? To me, a hall of fame is a place where it’s important to speak the truth, to capture history. When someone tells you they’re holding Karl Gotch’s jockstrap, or whatever it is, there’s the real jockstrap. It had better be real. I think wrestling fans want the truth, and that’s kind of what my point is here. My father was all about wrestling. He loved wrestling. He dedicated his life to wrestling; it wasn’t just about amateur wrestling, it was about pro wrestling for the whole business. It was about feeding families and making something out of nothing. Wrestling used to mean — what I always tried to get people to remember about wrestling was the honor of being a pro wrestler. There’s something about that term, doing the honors for somebody, and knowing that there’s somebody that is going to be the champion, and going to be the guy that carries the load for everybody, and everybody is going to profit by the fact that he’s Lou Thesz, and he makes people believe that wrestling is real, that he’s a real champion. It’s not just the champion, there’s a whole team of wrestlers that make this whole show, make the whole story, it’s not just the cameraman and the referees and the people that let everybody in. It’s more than that. It’s people that dedicate their lives to wrestling.
“I’ve watched wrestling, and been a part of wrestling, since I was 5 years old. I sold programs and made my first 10 cents on wrestling. It’s just something that I’ve had a passion for since I was born. I think it was my calling to be wrestler. If someone had told me when I was 16 years old that I would tour the world, be the champion, and be a hero to kids, and at the same time, to be here, amongst such great amateur wrestlers, the people who were heroes to me when I was 16 years old, people I had the deepest respect for. People like Danny Hodge. I knew all about Danny Hodge when I was 16, I appreciated Danny Hodge even though I’d never met him. But I knew all about him because I respected wrestling. I think my point is, I’m honored to be here. I know this isn’t my place to gripe about stuff, but I have a serious issue with people who write books about wrestling who don’t honor the truth.
“And you, sir, you do not honor the truth of wrestling. Greg Oliver writes these books on wrestling and it’s all made up. It’s not the truth. It’s just baloney, you know. I wrote a book that took seven years, I gave everything I had to write about some of the deepest tragedies, the truth about my life as a wrestler. For someone like this that sits in the room with me to say that on his Web site that my truth is not the truth, it’s just wrong for me to be in the same room as these people. They don’t honor the truth of wrestling.
“When you buy their books, I think you have to look at that and say these people are not telling the truth. They don’t know anything about wrestling. I’ve never seen them in the back. I’ve never seen them in the dressing room. I’ve never seen them at anything to do with wrestling. They don’t know anything at all about my business. They don’t know anything about me. They don’t have any respect for what I do or for anyone else. So I’m going to step aside now, and I just want to say that it’s not right for me to be in the same room as people who don’t do honor and justice to my profession. You either have a choice of leaving, or I will. [Silence. Someone says “get up” or “get out.”]
“I speak the truth about wrestling and I take pride in what I do. [Applause starts slowly but picks up. Sound covers part of the speech.] ... How it was and how it was done, how it should be done. These guys over here, it makes me laugh that Greg Oliver here rated me behind Sky Low Low, as, I think the 13th-greatest Canadian wrestler. I have news for him — he’s wrong. Sky Low Low was a much better wrestler than me, but he was only half the man that I was. But anyway, my point is, you know, I take a lot of pride in what I do. It means a lot to me that people would come here and be part of this, because wrestling was important to me, and I hope it was important for you. But it’s important that people tell the truth.
“When you write about wrestling, you talk about wrestling, especially when you’re among these kind of people, you owe it to tell the truth. If you want to come here and be a charlatan, well, you’re in the wrong place because this is a room filled with legends, and people that paid their dues in wrestling. We want the truth to be told about wrestling. Take your sorry-ass lies about wrestling and how you make it up, and save your books, because they’re not the truth. This is a room filled with truth. Thank you.
[Applause] I’m talking to you, Greg Oliver. Either you go or I go. [Greg Oliver waves goodbye to Hart] Greg Oliver’s going to stay. I’m going to go to my room. [A few fans yell “We want Bret,” smattering of applause, then silence for 20 seconds. Someone says, “Thanks, Bret” and applause starts again.]”
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bret Hart
WWE
Wrestling
“I see Bob Leonard, who worked for my father for years taking pictures of wrestlers, capturing and documenting, letting people realize the real art of wrestling, and just to capture the pictures of these young athletes dropkicking and head scissors and wrestling holds, making that magic in still pictures. I think Bob Leonard is a very, very important part of my business. Harley Race, I don’t even know how you start. Harley Race to me is the epitome of pro wrestling. He is not only a great wrestler, I don’t know anyone who would want to mess with Harley in wrestling, the fighting or brawling, the real, that moment of man versus man, to know it. Harley Race, he can do whatever he wants to do with anybody he wants, anytime he wants.
"Then there’s Saito here. I know that he wrestled in Japan, a well-accomplished amateur wrestler, got into pro wrestling, paid his dues for hanging with wrestlers that made mistakes that he wasn’t even a part of, sacrificed to come all the way from Japan to be here. I look at Danny Hodge, he’s one of the most, one of the greatest wrestlers in pro wrestling or amateur wrestling there’s ever been. To be in this room with Danny Hodge is a big, big honor to me. I look at Roddy Piper. I could name a lot of wrestlers that helped me in wrestling, gave me advice — Harley Race — but I don’t think anybody did more for me or helped me more, and helped me make those decisions to get me to where I was than Roddy Piper. To come here, he had to fight cancer, and to be part of this tonight, is just that much more special. It’s my understanding and belief that Roddy Piper came here for the sole reason just to hang out with me, to be part of this event, because it was important to me. That means a lot. I came all the way from Rome to be here.
“I flew in, and it was important from watching the news over in Italy, seeing the flood problems here, and knowing that I would be here in a few days. It would have been a lot easier to shoot home to Calgary and not worry about the floods — I’m not a good swimmer. [crowd laughs] It was important for me to be here. It made me proud to know that I was coming here. Mike Chapman, yeah, I talked to him a couple of years ago. I talked for so long, and I learned so much about wrestling, championships, and Lou Thesz, and how the origin of wrestling started, it was like sitting under the learning tree, just sitting there listening to this guy, digesting, knowing this guy knows what he’s talking about. He’s not full of it. He’s not a B.S.-er. He knows what he’s talking about, he knows these people. He’s talked to Lou Thesz. He knows the history. He knows the transition from pro wrestling and amateur wrestling.
“Now, I’m here because I was a pro wrestler. But I also know, I also know, what it’s like to hang a gold medal around my neck. I know what it’s like to wrestle a one-hour match. I know what it’s like to go full blast for that hour. And to lose, I know what it’s like to lose wrestling match by one point, I’ve been there too. I know what it’s like to snap on a knee brace. I know what it’s like to snap on a world title belt. I also know what it’s like to wrestle in front of 90,000, 100,000 people sometimes, just to have that kind of impact, and to make people — I remember wrestling the British Bulldog in Wembley Stadium, England, and make everybody in that 82,000 wrestling fans, they dismissed all their disbelief about wrestling, and wrestling for 35 minutes became real. It was real.
“There’s an art to that. There’s a science to that. It’s hard work, it’s really hard work. [clears throat, silence for at least 20 seconds.] I don’t want to be too lecturous here. What is a hall of fame? To me, a hall of fame is a place where it’s important to speak the truth, to capture history. When someone tells you they’re holding Karl Gotch’s jockstrap, or whatever it is, there’s the real jockstrap. It had better be real. I think wrestling fans want the truth, and that’s kind of what my point is here. My father was all about wrestling. He loved wrestling. He dedicated his life to wrestling; it wasn’t just about amateur wrestling, it was about pro wrestling for the whole business. It was about feeding families and making something out of nothing. Wrestling used to mean — what I always tried to get people to remember about wrestling was the honor of being a pro wrestler. There’s something about that term, doing the honors for somebody, and knowing that there’s somebody that is going to be the champion, and going to be the guy that carries the load for everybody, and everybody is going to profit by the fact that he’s Lou Thesz, and he makes people believe that wrestling is real, that he’s a real champion. It’s not just the champion, there’s a whole team of wrestlers that make this whole show, make the whole story, it’s not just the cameraman and the referees and the people that let everybody in. It’s more than that. It’s people that dedicate their lives to wrestling.
“I’ve watched wrestling, and been a part of wrestling, since I was 5 years old. I sold programs and made my first 10 cents on wrestling. It’s just something that I’ve had a passion for since I was born. I think it was my calling to be wrestler. If someone had told me when I was 16 years old that I would tour the world, be the champion, and be a hero to kids, and at the same time, to be here, amongst such great amateur wrestlers, the people who were heroes to me when I was 16 years old, people I had the deepest respect for. People like Danny Hodge. I knew all about Danny Hodge when I was 16, I appreciated Danny Hodge even though I’d never met him. But I knew all about him because I respected wrestling. I think my point is, I’m honored to be here. I know this isn’t my place to gripe about stuff, but I have a serious issue with people who write books about wrestling who don’t honor the truth.
“And you, sir, you do not honor the truth of wrestling. Greg Oliver writes these books on wrestling and it’s all made up. It’s not the truth. It’s just baloney, you know. I wrote a book that took seven years, I gave everything I had to write about some of the deepest tragedies, the truth about my life as a wrestler. For someone like this that sits in the room with me to say that on his Web site that my truth is not the truth, it’s just wrong for me to be in the same room as these people. They don’t honor the truth of wrestling.
“When you buy their books, I think you have to look at that and say these people are not telling the truth. They don’t know anything about wrestling. I’ve never seen them in the back. I’ve never seen them in the dressing room. I’ve never seen them at anything to do with wrestling. They don’t know anything at all about my business. They don’t know anything about me. They don’t have any respect for what I do or for anyone else. So I’m going to step aside now, and I just want to say that it’s not right for me to be in the same room as people who don’t do honor and justice to my profession. You either have a choice of leaving, or I will. [Silence. Someone says “get up” or “get out.”]
“I speak the truth about wrestling and I take pride in what I do. [Applause starts slowly but picks up. Sound covers part of the speech.] ... How it was and how it was done, how it should be done. These guys over here, it makes me laugh that Greg Oliver here rated me behind Sky Low Low, as, I think the 13th-greatest Canadian wrestler. I have news for him — he’s wrong. Sky Low Low was a much better wrestler than me, but he was only half the man that I was. But anyway, my point is, you know, I take a lot of pride in what I do. It means a lot to me that people would come here and be part of this, because wrestling was important to me, and I hope it was important for you. But it’s important that people tell the truth.
“When you write about wrestling, you talk about wrestling, especially when you’re among these kind of people, you owe it to tell the truth. If you want to come here and be a charlatan, well, you’re in the wrong place because this is a room filled with legends, and people that paid their dues in wrestling. We want the truth to be told about wrestling. Take your sorry-ass lies about wrestling and how you make it up, and save your books, because they’re not the truth. This is a room filled with truth. Thank you.
[Applause] I’m talking to you, Greg Oliver. Either you go or I go. [Greg Oliver waves goodbye to Hart] Greg Oliver’s going to stay. I’m going to go to my room. [A few fans yell “We want Bret,” smattering of applause, then silence for 20 seconds. Someone says, “Thanks, Bret” and applause starts again.]”
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bret Hart
WWE
Wrestling
Saturday, June 21, 2008
RIC FLAIR IS COMING TO FANFEST!
*That's right, folks! The one and only "Nature Boy" Ric Flair will
indeed be at this year's NWA Wrestling Legends Fanfest in Charlotte,
North Carolina. Flair's appearance is Friday afternoon, August 15
from 1-4 p.m.
I want to thank the folks at MainEventMoments.com for their help with
Ric Flair's appearance here. Flair will be a vendor guest just like we
had Arn Anderson last year. Three hours in a separate area.
We'll be offering to the first 150 people that want it, at $100 per
person, a Photo Op with Flair and his signature on one of your own
items. Like we did last year with Arn, after the Photo Op photos were
taken and before folks got them back, I had Arn sign them as well. I'd
like to do the same thing with Flair, so you'd get your Photo Op 8x10
signed too, it's just much faster if he signs them all at one time
instead of each individual person taking their Photo Op 8x10 back to
him to get it signed. I think this way, we can give folks the
autographed Photo Op 8x10 and another autograph.
Each of the 150 people would pass through Ric's line twice. The first
time, we'll be doing Photo Ops only. Once those are out of the way,
the same 150 people will go back through the line and get your one
item signed.
For those of you wanting extra items signed, it's likely we'll accept
those items at Registration like we've done in the past for extra
items. Pricing has not been determined for extra items at this time.
Right now at http://www.nwalegends.com/2008/ricflair.htm
you are able to purchase your Photo Op/Autograph Combo and secure
your once-in-a-lifetime opportunity with the Nature Boy! Don't delay,
though. The response has been tremendous so far and I expect these
tickets to sell very quickly.
I want to personally thank each of you. It's evident there's a
tremendous amount of support for one of the all-time great NWA icons.
I thank you for making it possible for him to be with us this year.
Thanks again! Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Please make plans now to be with us for 3 HUGE DAYS (and now 4 nights!)
celebrating wrestling tradition!
This will make a great summer vacation!
NWA Wrestling Legends Fanfest
Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, August 14-17, 2008
Hilton University Place Hotel; Charlotte, North Carolina
Website
NWA Legends
Media Man Australia Profiles
Ric Flair
Wrestling Legends
WWE
NWA
Wrestling
indeed be at this year's NWA Wrestling Legends Fanfest in Charlotte,
North Carolina. Flair's appearance is Friday afternoon, August 15
from 1-4 p.m.
I want to thank the folks at MainEventMoments.com for their help with
Ric Flair's appearance here. Flair will be a vendor guest just like we
had Arn Anderson last year. Three hours in a separate area.
We'll be offering to the first 150 people that want it, at $100 per
person, a Photo Op with Flair and his signature on one of your own
items. Like we did last year with Arn, after the Photo Op photos were
taken and before folks got them back, I had Arn sign them as well. I'd
like to do the same thing with Flair, so you'd get your Photo Op 8x10
signed too, it's just much faster if he signs them all at one time
instead of each individual person taking their Photo Op 8x10 back to
him to get it signed. I think this way, we can give folks the
autographed Photo Op 8x10 and another autograph.
Each of the 150 people would pass through Ric's line twice. The first
time, we'll be doing Photo Ops only. Once those are out of the way,
the same 150 people will go back through the line and get your one
item signed.
For those of you wanting extra items signed, it's likely we'll accept
those items at Registration like we've done in the past for extra
items. Pricing has not been determined for extra items at this time.
Right now at http://www.nwalegends.com/2008/ricflair.htm
you are able to purchase your Photo Op/Autograph Combo and secure
your once-in-a-lifetime opportunity with the Nature Boy! Don't delay,
though. The response has been tremendous so far and I expect these
tickets to sell very quickly.
I want to personally thank each of you. It's evident there's a
tremendous amount of support for one of the all-time great NWA icons.
I thank you for making it possible for him to be with us this year.
Thanks again! Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Please make plans now to be with us for 3 HUGE DAYS (and now 4 nights!)
celebrating wrestling tradition!
This will make a great summer vacation!
NWA Wrestling Legends Fanfest
Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, August 14-17, 2008
Hilton University Place Hotel; Charlotte, North Carolina
Website
NWA Legends
Media Man Australia Profiles
Ric Flair
Wrestling Legends
WWE
NWA
Wrestling
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Former World Champs, Dillon & Humperdink Coming To Fanfest!
Bruno Sammartino and Superstar Billy Graham, along with legendary
managers James J. Dillon and Sir Oliver Humperdink, have been added
to the list of featured guests at this summer's NWA Wrestling Legends
Fanfest in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The NWA Wrestling Legends Fanfest, three huge days and four nights
featuring dozens of wrestling's legendary heroes and villains and a
bevy of today's top superstars and future legends, returns Thursday
through Sunday, August 14-17 to the Hilton University Place Hotel.
Sammartino and Graham are icons in the sport; both former WWWF world
champions. In addition to signing autographs and taking photos with
fans (including a rare Photo Op of the two together,) the pair will
be featured in a Sunday morning question-and-answer session, sharing
stories about their historic battles and discussing their
larger-than-life careers.
Dillon and Humperdink are two fanfest favorites, both of them having
taken part in our fanfest weekends previously. Both will be in
Charlotte all three days and both will be at our Friday night Hall of
Heroes dinner banquet and awards ceremony.
Other featured legends confirmed thus far include Ole Anderson, The
Assassin, Jack Brisco, Bob Caudle, Chris Cruise, Ted Dibiase, Jimmy
Garvin and Precious, Rip Hawk, Sam Houston, Paul Jones, Ivan Koloff,
Rich Landrum and Grizzly Smith.
VIP All Access Pass holders will have early admission each day, first
access to all autograph signings and photo opportunities, exclusive
admission to three revealing Question-and-Answer sessions, and
ringside seats to the live wrestling matches both Saturday and Sunday
nights! Throw in a free fanfest weekend t-shirt and a VIP All Access
Pass with neck lanyard and you have the VIP hookup!
VIP All Access Passes are just $155 and are on sale now at
http://www.NWALegends.com
Your ticket purchase helps support our efforts to celebrate the
tradition of the National Wrestling Alliance and to honor the heroes
of wrestling's past and present. Thanks for being part of a truly
special weekend. Most folks will tell you it's a remarkable reunion.
Visit our Fanfest Forum online messageboard to join up with other
fanfest attendees, introduce yourself, and join in the discussion as
we get ready for an incredible weekend in Charlotte! Go to
http://www.nwalegends.com/fanfestforum
and join in!
Should you have any questions or comments to share, please feel free
to email us at Info@NWALegends.com
*NWA Wrestling Legends Fanfest
Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, August 14-17, 2008
Hilton University Place Hotel; Charlotte, North Carolina
VIP All Access Passes on sale now at http://www.NWALegends.com
*
Please make plans now to be with us for 3 HUGE DAYS (and now 4 nights!)
celebrating wrestling tradition!
This will make a great summer vacation!
NWA Wrestling Legends Fanfest
Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, August 14-17, 2008
Hilton University Place Hotel; Charlotte, North Carolina
Website
NWA Legends
Media Man Australia Profiles
Wrestling Legends
NWA
Wrestling
managers James J. Dillon and Sir Oliver Humperdink, have been added
to the list of featured guests at this summer's NWA Wrestling Legends
Fanfest in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The NWA Wrestling Legends Fanfest, three huge days and four nights
featuring dozens of wrestling's legendary heroes and villains and a
bevy of today's top superstars and future legends, returns Thursday
through Sunday, August 14-17 to the Hilton University Place Hotel.
Sammartino and Graham are icons in the sport; both former WWWF world
champions. In addition to signing autographs and taking photos with
fans (including a rare Photo Op of the two together,) the pair will
be featured in a Sunday morning question-and-answer session, sharing
stories about their historic battles and discussing their
larger-than-life careers.
Dillon and Humperdink are two fanfest favorites, both of them having
taken part in our fanfest weekends previously. Both will be in
Charlotte all three days and both will be at our Friday night Hall of
Heroes dinner banquet and awards ceremony.
Other featured legends confirmed thus far include Ole Anderson, The
Assassin, Jack Brisco, Bob Caudle, Chris Cruise, Ted Dibiase, Jimmy
Garvin and Precious, Rip Hawk, Sam Houston, Paul Jones, Ivan Koloff,
Rich Landrum and Grizzly Smith.
VIP All Access Pass holders will have early admission each day, first
access to all autograph signings and photo opportunities, exclusive
admission to three revealing Question-and-Answer sessions, and
ringside seats to the live wrestling matches both Saturday and Sunday
nights! Throw in a free fanfest weekend t-shirt and a VIP All Access
Pass with neck lanyard and you have the VIP hookup!
VIP All Access Passes are just $155 and are on sale now at
http://www.NWALegends.com
Your ticket purchase helps support our efforts to celebrate the
tradition of the National Wrestling Alliance and to honor the heroes
of wrestling's past and present. Thanks for being part of a truly
special weekend. Most folks will tell you it's a remarkable reunion.
Visit our Fanfest Forum online messageboard to join up with other
fanfest attendees, introduce yourself, and join in the discussion as
we get ready for an incredible weekend in Charlotte! Go to
http://www.nwalegends.com/fanfestforum
and join in!
Should you have any questions or comments to share, please feel free
to email us at Info@NWALegends.com
*NWA Wrestling Legends Fanfest
Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, August 14-17, 2008
Hilton University Place Hotel; Charlotte, North Carolina
VIP All Access Passes on sale now at http://www.NWALegends.com
*
Please make plans now to be with us for 3 HUGE DAYS (and now 4 nights!)
celebrating wrestling tradition!
This will make a great summer vacation!
NWA Wrestling Legends Fanfest
Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, August 14-17, 2008
Hilton University Place Hotel; Charlotte, North Carolina
Website
NWA Legends
Media Man Australia Profiles
Wrestling Legends
NWA
Wrestling
Friday, May 09, 2008
Kyle Sandilands gets thrown by wrestler David Wallis - The Daily Telegraph - 8th May 2008
IS David Wallis the most enviable guy in Australia?
The pro wrestler did what so many can only dream of - flooring Kyle Sandilands. Literally.
Wallis, who mixes his grappling with singing, bumped into the omnipresent TV and radio star at the Perth Australian Idol auditions on Tuesday night.
And Idol judge, Big Brother presenter and 2Day FM radio motormouth Sandilands - who is either barmier or braver than we thought - challenged him to a clinch.
Sources say Sumo Sandilands put up a good fight, but was unceremoniously roughed up and pinned to the ground by Wallis, leaving his fellow judges Marcia Hines and Ian "Dicko" Dickson and the crew in hysterics.
Unfortunately, Sandilands' personal bodyguard was downstairs at the time packing bags for the red-eye flight back to Sydney.
The impromptu wrestling match didn't stop Wallis making a good fist of the talent quest. The power ballad-singing sales assistant, 23, who loves listening to John Farnham and Metallica, made it through to the top 100.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Wrestling
The pro wrestler did what so many can only dream of - flooring Kyle Sandilands. Literally.
Wallis, who mixes his grappling with singing, bumped into the omnipresent TV and radio star at the Perth Australian Idol auditions on Tuesday night.
And Idol judge, Big Brother presenter and 2Day FM radio motormouth Sandilands - who is either barmier or braver than we thought - challenged him to a clinch.
Sources say Sumo Sandilands put up a good fight, but was unceremoniously roughed up and pinned to the ground by Wallis, leaving his fellow judges Marcia Hines and Ian "Dicko" Dickson and the crew in hysterics.
Unfortunately, Sandilands' personal bodyguard was downstairs at the time packing bags for the red-eye flight back to Sydney.
The impromptu wrestling match didn't stop Wallis making a good fist of the talent quest. The power ballad-singing sales assistant, 23, who loves listening to John Farnham and Metallica, made it through to the top 100.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Wrestling
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
UFC: Dana White Says Either Fight Or Go Home, by Garrett Gonzales - Bleacher Report - 21st April 2008
After just learning through Dave Meltzer's Wrestling Observer newsletter that the UFC was trying to cut down from 200 fighters by about twenty five percent, I noticed today that Kalib Starnes was part of that twenty five percent. Just two days after his decision loss to Nate "The Rock" Quarry at UFC 83, Dana White confirmed with Yahoo! Sports writer Kevin Iole that Starnes needed to "consider a new line of work".
During the three round match-up, Starnes, a native of British Columbia, was being booed by the crowd at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, because of his unwillingness to fight. In the first round, Starnes seemed to be trying to get Quarry to tire by running him around the octagon. But in the second round, his strategy was the same. Quarry would circle and stalk Starnes, trying to get the former TUF Season 3 contestant to mix it up, but to no avail. At the end of the third round, Quarry, frustrated because of Starnes' lack of testicular fortitude, started to mock him. He first pretended as if he was running a race, chasing Starnes around the cage. He then covered up his eyes with his inner right elbow and threw his left arm out as if to pretend he was going to fight him blindly. Starnes didn't take advantage of either ploy and simply continued to backpeddle.
Quarry won the three round decision unanimously, with one judge scoring it 30-24, which meant that either he scored each round 10-8, or that he docked Starnes heavily in the third round for his non-fighting.
Dana White gave $75,000 each to Jonathan Goulet and Kuniyoshi Hironaka for having the best match on the show. Most of the scuttlebutt after the event was about how Starnes had to be fired because of his lack of performance if White was going to put so much importance on having exciting fights. And just like that, it happened.
I believe that the UFC has the power to cut any fighter after a loss. They also could simply not renew an expired contract. I'm not sure which avenue they chose as I don't know Starnes' contract situation, but fighters should've learned a few important lessons based on this.
1. You're only as good as your last win.
2. It's better to lose swinging than to win a boring fight (in case you lose in the future).
3. When you are put on PPV, be entertaining.
But maybe the biggest lesson learned is that it is best to fight hard or risk going home. Kalib Starnes learned the hard way.
Media Man Australia Profiles
UFC
PPV
Wrestling
During the three round match-up, Starnes, a native of British Columbia, was being booed by the crowd at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, because of his unwillingness to fight. In the first round, Starnes seemed to be trying to get Quarry to tire by running him around the octagon. But in the second round, his strategy was the same. Quarry would circle and stalk Starnes, trying to get the former TUF Season 3 contestant to mix it up, but to no avail. At the end of the third round, Quarry, frustrated because of Starnes' lack of testicular fortitude, started to mock him. He first pretended as if he was running a race, chasing Starnes around the cage. He then covered up his eyes with his inner right elbow and threw his left arm out as if to pretend he was going to fight him blindly. Starnes didn't take advantage of either ploy and simply continued to backpeddle.
Quarry won the three round decision unanimously, with one judge scoring it 30-24, which meant that either he scored each round 10-8, or that he docked Starnes heavily in the third round for his non-fighting.
Dana White gave $75,000 each to Jonathan Goulet and Kuniyoshi Hironaka for having the best match on the show. Most of the scuttlebutt after the event was about how Starnes had to be fired because of his lack of performance if White was going to put so much importance on having exciting fights. And just like that, it happened.
I believe that the UFC has the power to cut any fighter after a loss. They also could simply not renew an expired contract. I'm not sure which avenue they chose as I don't know Starnes' contract situation, but fighters should've learned a few important lessons based on this.
1. You're only as good as your last win.
2. It's better to lose swinging than to win a boring fight (in case you lose in the future).
3. When you are put on PPV, be entertaining.
But maybe the biggest lesson learned is that it is best to fight hard or risk going home. Kalib Starnes learned the hard way.
Media Man Australia Profiles
UFC
PPV
Wrestling
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Killer Kowalski in hospital, by Kevin Eck - Baltimore Sun
This entry is for the old-timers (like myself).
Wladek “Killer” Kowalski, one of pro wrestling’s all-time great heels, is recovering in a physical rehabilitation center in Massachusetts after badly injuring his knees in three separate falls, according to a report on wrestlingfigs.com. Kowalski, 81, has been at the rehab facility since April 2 after a two-week stay in the hospital.
The report attributed the news of Kowalski’s condition to wrestling great Bruno Sammartino, a longtime in-ring rival of Kowalski’s who has been in contact with Kowalski’s wife.
Kowalski, a member of the WWE Hall of Fame and The Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame, wrestled from 1947 to 1977. He is most famous for a match in 1954 against Yukon Eric in which Eric’s ear was severed as the result of Kowalski’s kneedrop. Kowalski was a frequent challenger to Sammartino’s WWE title throughout the 1960s and 1970s.
After retiring from wrestling, he opened a wrestling school and trained people such as Triple H, Big John Studd, Chyna and Perry Saturn. In 1976, he and Studd formed a masked tag team known as The Executioners and won the WWE tag-team title.
Kowalski was in WWE — then known as the World Wide Wrestling Federation — when I first started following wrestling when I was 6 and believed it was real. Kowalski, a menacing figure at about 6 feet 7 and 275 pounds, was the only wrestler that actually frightened me. I still remember watching him wrestle Tony Garea at the Baltimore Civic Center around 1974 and believing that Garea might not make it out of the ring alive. I took the “Killer” moniker literally because Kowalski was so good at being bad.
I wish Kowalski well in his recovery.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Wladek “Killer” Kowalski
Wrestling
Wladek “Killer” Kowalski, one of pro wrestling’s all-time great heels, is recovering in a physical rehabilitation center in Massachusetts after badly injuring his knees in three separate falls, according to a report on wrestlingfigs.com. Kowalski, 81, has been at the rehab facility since April 2 after a two-week stay in the hospital.
The report attributed the news of Kowalski’s condition to wrestling great Bruno Sammartino, a longtime in-ring rival of Kowalski’s who has been in contact with Kowalski’s wife.
Kowalski, a member of the WWE Hall of Fame and The Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame, wrestled from 1947 to 1977. He is most famous for a match in 1954 against Yukon Eric in which Eric’s ear was severed as the result of Kowalski’s kneedrop. Kowalski was a frequent challenger to Sammartino’s WWE title throughout the 1960s and 1970s.
After retiring from wrestling, he opened a wrestling school and trained people such as Triple H, Big John Studd, Chyna and Perry Saturn. In 1976, he and Studd formed a masked tag team known as The Executioners and won the WWE tag-team title.
Kowalski was in WWE — then known as the World Wide Wrestling Federation — when I first started following wrestling when I was 6 and believed it was real. Kowalski, a menacing figure at about 6 feet 7 and 275 pounds, was the only wrestler that actually frightened me. I still remember watching him wrestle Tony Garea at the Baltimore Civic Center around 1974 and believing that Garea might not make it out of the ring alive. I took the “Killer” moniker literally because Kowalski was so good at being bad.
I wish Kowalski well in his recovery.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Wladek “Killer” Kowalski
Wrestling
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Ring Posts - Q&A with Shawn Michaels - Baltimore Sun
Shawn Michaels has earned the monikers “The Showstopper” and “Mr. WrestleMania” for his show-stealing performances on sports entertainment’s biggest stage. On March 30, Michaels will compete in his 15th WrestleMania, but this one is perhaps the most special to him. Michaels will be facing Ric Flair, the man he idolized as a youngster, in a match that very likely will be the final one of Flair’s legendary career.
I spoke briefly with Michaels about the match and his legacy at WrestleMania in a phone interview this afternoon.
You have wrestled Ric Flair before, but can you put into words what it means to you to be facing him at WrestleMania in what could be his final match?
There’s just an emotional thing here for me and for Ric that I think is probably hard for a lot of folks to get a hold of. I’m going in there with a guy that, when I was 16 years old, I sat in front of the TV and I said, “Gosh, I want to be just like him. He embodies everything I want to be. Everything I picture the wrestling life to be, he’s it.” Fast-forward 20-some-odd years later and to be a grown man and be able to call him my friend – we’ve gotten so close with each other in the last several years – and then for him to handpick me to try to get him his greatest moment. I take it so seriously and so personally because of what he’s meant to me in the past and what he means to me now as a friend, and what he’s created in this industry. I know there are so many people that believe he ought to be honored and set apart, and to be the guy that needs to get that done, on the one hand, it’s wonderful. On the other hand, I go, “Gosh, I wish I wouldn’t have been calling myself ‘The Showstopper’ and ‘Mr. WrestleMania’ all these years. I’ve really worked myself into a shoot this time.”
I’ve always gone into WrestleMania, and most of my matches and pay-per-view matches, where no matter what I was feeling on the inside – there have always been nerves and things like that – but I always went in on the outside feeling 7-feet tall and bulletproof. This is the first time that I’m visibly shaken. Can I honor him? Can I do what I really believe he deserves, and can I make it happen for him? Because I want to. There’s a strange emotional thing going on for me that I’ve tried to detach myself from as best I can, but it’s still there. There’s still a part of me that’s 16. Everyone wants me to bring my best, and to do that would mean him leaving this industry forever. Being the guy that did that, and I recognize that there’s a whole show that goes with that, but bittersweet is the only way that I can describe it. There’s an inner conflict going on with me the likes of which I’ve never really had before because there are so many real emotional levels with me. The idea of Ric Flair not being in this industry is something that I don’t even know if I’m prepared for.
I remember a TV match in 1991 or’ 92 that you had with Ric when you were still part of The Rockers. You were a young guy at that point and not yet a singles star. What was it like to work with your idol at that stage of your career?
He had been in the company for a short time and that was our first chance to get to meet each other. That was when I first began to tell him sort of how I felt about him and his impact on my life. At that time I hadn’t become an established anything yet other than a tag-team guy. I think it was one of those things that he had probably heard before and was flattered by. When we went out there, it was business as usual for him. Obviously, me, I was giddy, and it was the fastest eight minutes of my entire life. It wasn’t that long of a match, but it was something at that point in my life that I held very precious. It was like, “Holy cow, I’m in there with ‘The Naitch.’ I’m in there with this guy that I watched.”
The thing that always sort of brings me back to reality is that I’ve got this buddy, Kenny, who was there with me when I was 16 years old watching Ric. And he called me way back then and said, “I can’t believe you wrestled Ric Flair.” And, of course, now to fast-forward so many years later, and we still talk, and he’s like, “Holy cow, Shawn. Can you believe it? He might be having his last match.” There’s still a part of me that I keep tucked away and hidden here in Texas that’s still 16 and chatting with my buddy Kenny about the fact that I’m wrestling Ric Flair at WrestleMania XXIV. I was giddy then. Now, when I talk to Kenny he gets me giddy about it. But the harsh reality is that Ric Flair has always been a part of this business for as long as I can remember. Of all the interest that I’ve ever had in this line of work, he’s been involved in some aspect of it. And the idea of him not being in there – I feel like the old couple that when one of them goes, the other one loses their will to live a little bit. And I really have to wonder, as goofy as it sounds, how much more I’ll want to go on if he’s gone.
I’m in the midst of counting down the Top 20 WrestleMania moments on this blog, and, not surprisingly, you have been involved in several of them. If you had to pick just one, what would be your favorite WrestleMania moment that you were a part of?
Wow. Gosh, that’s always been a hard one for me. I suppose I always have to go back to the ladder match [with Razor Ramon in 1994] because I think that’s the one that sort of put me on the map. That’s the one where people said, “You know what? Thus guy could be a player.” I really have to credit that one for taking me to that next level. I don’t know that any of those other WrestleMania moments would have been possible had I not been in that match.
The plan for the main event at last year’s WrestleMania was John Cena vs. Triple H, but you were inserted in Triple H’s spot after he got hurt. Had he not been injured, what was the plan for you at WrestleMania?
At that time, like every other WrestleMania, there were a couple different ideas. That’s sort of how it’s been with me every year. … The last call I got before Hunter went down was, “Well, we’re thinking about maybe you and King Booker, but we’re also thinking about maybe putting you in the Donald Trump thing. How would you feel about that?” I was like, “Well, Donald Trump and Vince [McMahon] will probably get all the focus and it doesn’t really matter who you put in the match.” Those were the two talked-about scenarios. Just like it was with every other WrestleMania before that, I was like, “That’s fine.” I landed in the main event at WrestleMania XX, which wasn’t really a discussed thing. They brought to me the [Kurt] Angle match years ago. So, things have just slowly gotten better each time. The only one that I’ve ever requested on my own was [with] Vince McMahon, because, for one WrestleMania, I wanted to be in a match where I didn’t have all the pressure of having to tear the house down.
Although it still did.
And I appreciate that, but it’s a lot easier to go in when the sights are set sort of low. Again, that’s when that whole “Showstopper” and “Mr. WrestleMania” thing works against you. I’m at a point in my life now where I don’t know that I enjoy the pressure-cooker as much as I used to. So, I’d love to have a WrestleMania where all the pressure in the world wasn’t upon my shoulders. Apparently it’s not going to happen this year, that’s for sure. I’m looking forward to a day, if it ever comes, when I can maybe be just “plus one other exciting match.”
Media Man Australia Profiles
Shawn Michaels
Ric Flair
WWE
Wrestling
I spoke briefly with Michaels about the match and his legacy at WrestleMania in a phone interview this afternoon.
You have wrestled Ric Flair before, but can you put into words what it means to you to be facing him at WrestleMania in what could be his final match?
There’s just an emotional thing here for me and for Ric that I think is probably hard for a lot of folks to get a hold of. I’m going in there with a guy that, when I was 16 years old, I sat in front of the TV and I said, “Gosh, I want to be just like him. He embodies everything I want to be. Everything I picture the wrestling life to be, he’s it.” Fast-forward 20-some-odd years later and to be a grown man and be able to call him my friend – we’ve gotten so close with each other in the last several years – and then for him to handpick me to try to get him his greatest moment. I take it so seriously and so personally because of what he’s meant to me in the past and what he means to me now as a friend, and what he’s created in this industry. I know there are so many people that believe he ought to be honored and set apart, and to be the guy that needs to get that done, on the one hand, it’s wonderful. On the other hand, I go, “Gosh, I wish I wouldn’t have been calling myself ‘The Showstopper’ and ‘Mr. WrestleMania’ all these years. I’ve really worked myself into a shoot this time.”
I’ve always gone into WrestleMania, and most of my matches and pay-per-view matches, where no matter what I was feeling on the inside – there have always been nerves and things like that – but I always went in on the outside feeling 7-feet tall and bulletproof. This is the first time that I’m visibly shaken. Can I honor him? Can I do what I really believe he deserves, and can I make it happen for him? Because I want to. There’s a strange emotional thing going on for me that I’ve tried to detach myself from as best I can, but it’s still there. There’s still a part of me that’s 16. Everyone wants me to bring my best, and to do that would mean him leaving this industry forever. Being the guy that did that, and I recognize that there’s a whole show that goes with that, but bittersweet is the only way that I can describe it. There’s an inner conflict going on with me the likes of which I’ve never really had before because there are so many real emotional levels with me. The idea of Ric Flair not being in this industry is something that I don’t even know if I’m prepared for.
I remember a TV match in 1991 or’ 92 that you had with Ric when you were still part of The Rockers. You were a young guy at that point and not yet a singles star. What was it like to work with your idol at that stage of your career?
He had been in the company for a short time and that was our first chance to get to meet each other. That was when I first began to tell him sort of how I felt about him and his impact on my life. At that time I hadn’t become an established anything yet other than a tag-team guy. I think it was one of those things that he had probably heard before and was flattered by. When we went out there, it was business as usual for him. Obviously, me, I was giddy, and it was the fastest eight minutes of my entire life. It wasn’t that long of a match, but it was something at that point in my life that I held very precious. It was like, “Holy cow, I’m in there with ‘The Naitch.’ I’m in there with this guy that I watched.”
The thing that always sort of brings me back to reality is that I’ve got this buddy, Kenny, who was there with me when I was 16 years old watching Ric. And he called me way back then and said, “I can’t believe you wrestled Ric Flair.” And, of course, now to fast-forward so many years later, and we still talk, and he’s like, “Holy cow, Shawn. Can you believe it? He might be having his last match.” There’s still a part of me that I keep tucked away and hidden here in Texas that’s still 16 and chatting with my buddy Kenny about the fact that I’m wrestling Ric Flair at WrestleMania XXIV. I was giddy then. Now, when I talk to Kenny he gets me giddy about it. But the harsh reality is that Ric Flair has always been a part of this business for as long as I can remember. Of all the interest that I’ve ever had in this line of work, he’s been involved in some aspect of it. And the idea of him not being in there – I feel like the old couple that when one of them goes, the other one loses their will to live a little bit. And I really have to wonder, as goofy as it sounds, how much more I’ll want to go on if he’s gone.
I’m in the midst of counting down the Top 20 WrestleMania moments on this blog, and, not surprisingly, you have been involved in several of them. If you had to pick just one, what would be your favorite WrestleMania moment that you were a part of?
Wow. Gosh, that’s always been a hard one for me. I suppose I always have to go back to the ladder match [with Razor Ramon in 1994] because I think that’s the one that sort of put me on the map. That’s the one where people said, “You know what? Thus guy could be a player.” I really have to credit that one for taking me to that next level. I don’t know that any of those other WrestleMania moments would have been possible had I not been in that match.
The plan for the main event at last year’s WrestleMania was John Cena vs. Triple H, but you were inserted in Triple H’s spot after he got hurt. Had he not been injured, what was the plan for you at WrestleMania?
At that time, like every other WrestleMania, there were a couple different ideas. That’s sort of how it’s been with me every year. … The last call I got before Hunter went down was, “Well, we’re thinking about maybe you and King Booker, but we’re also thinking about maybe putting you in the Donald Trump thing. How would you feel about that?” I was like, “Well, Donald Trump and Vince [McMahon] will probably get all the focus and it doesn’t really matter who you put in the match.” Those were the two talked-about scenarios. Just like it was with every other WrestleMania before that, I was like, “That’s fine.” I landed in the main event at WrestleMania XX, which wasn’t really a discussed thing. They brought to me the [Kurt] Angle match years ago. So, things have just slowly gotten better each time. The only one that I’ve ever requested on my own was [with] Vince McMahon, because, for one WrestleMania, I wanted to be in a match where I didn’t have all the pressure of having to tear the house down.
Although it still did.
And I appreciate that, but it’s a lot easier to go in when the sights are set sort of low. Again, that’s when that whole “Showstopper” and “Mr. WrestleMania” thing works against you. I’m at a point in my life now where I don’t know that I enjoy the pressure-cooker as much as I used to. So, I’d love to have a WrestleMania where all the pressure in the world wasn’t upon my shoulders. Apparently it’s not going to happen this year, that’s for sure. I’m looking forward to a day, if it ever comes, when I can maybe be just “plus one other exciting match.”
Media Man Australia Profiles
Shawn Michaels
Ric Flair
WWE
Wrestling
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Manager "Playboy" Gary Hart dies at 66, By Mike Mooneyham - Post & Courier - 18th March 2008
Manager "Playboy" Gary Hart dies at 66, By Mike Mooneyham (Credit: Post & Courier)
By Mike Mooneyham
The Post and Courier; Charleston, SC
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
*"Playboy" Gary Hart, one of the most successful managers in pro
wrestling history, passed away Sunday at the age of 66 in Euless,
Texas.
Hart, whose real name was Gary Richard Williams, had just returned
from a wrestling reunion over the weekend in Allentown, Pa., when he
died at his home from an apparent heart attack.
Hart was regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time, and
for a span of nearly 30 years managed such names as The Spoiler,
Bruiser Brody, Great Kabuki, Great Muta, Terry Funk and Abdullah The
Butcher, as well as such tag teams as Rip Hawk and Swede Hanson, and
The Missouri Mauler and Brute Bernard.
Hart also played a pivotal role in some of wrestling's most famous
angles, including the Dusty Rhodes babyface turn in Florida in 1974
when Hart managed the villainous Pak Song, and serving as booker for
a classic 1982 cage match in Dallas that involved Ric Flair, the Von
Erichs and The Freebirds.
Hart, who began his career in 1963 as a wrestler based out of
Chicago, was a major figure in a number of territories throughout the
country. He later turned to a more successful role as a cocky,
well-dressed manager who would do most of the talking for his heel
charges.
His greatest success, though, came as a booker and creative force
during the glory years of the Dallas-based World Class Championship
Wrestling, a position he held from 1979 to 1987. He is credited with
helping create the classic feud between the Von Erichs and The
Freebirds that set the territory on fire.
"I spent a lot of time on the road with Gary Hart," 16-time world
champ Flair said Monday. "He was a big part of that angle and success
(in Texas)."
One of Hart's last major high-profile stints was as leader of the
J-Tex Corporation in the now-defunct World Championship Wrestling in
1989 when he managed a stable that included Muta, Funk, Buzz Sawyer,
Dick Slater and Dragonmaster in a feud with Flair and Sting.
Hart, who had made a name for himself working as a manager for
promoter Jim Barnett in Australia during the late '60s, was brought
into the Carolinas in 1970 at the behest of veteran Mid-Atlantic star
Rip Hawk (Harvey Evers).
"I brought him in right out Australia, and I had to talk like hell
to (promoter) Jim Crockett (Sr.) to get him in here. It all worked
out. It was good for everybody," said Hawk.
"Gary was a great manager," Hawk added. "He always had his brain
working. He could get on the mic and do anything. He knew how to
handle the people and he knew how top control the wrestlers he was
with. He had a lot of good ideas."
Hawk, 77, last saw his former manager last August in Charlotte when
Hart inducted Hawk and late partner Hanson into the NWA Legends Hall
of Heroes.
It was Hart who NWA Legends Fanfest founder Greg Price first talked
to about the Hall of Heroes concept.
"I talked with Gary a bunch about it, and he loved the idea from the
beginning. It was different because they are the true legends, instead
of the legends who are on top now. He loved the idea as far as
honoring Rip and Swede, and the history that he had with them, and
the Crocketts. He always spoke highly of the Crocketts and about how
first-class they were and how well they always treated him. This area
meant a lot to Gary Hart."
Former Mid-South Wrestling owner Cowboy Bill Watts, who called Hart
one of the greatest minds in the business, credits the manager with
helping jump-start his Oklahoma-based territory in the early '70s.
Hart had been sent to Watts by Texas promoter Fritz Von Erich as part
of his commitment to helping an early partnership that included Watts,
Von Erich, Verne Gagne, Danny Hodge and Leroy McGuirk.
"Gary and I just clicked right off," said Watts. "He wore quality
handmade suits and alligator shoes, and that was an era where
managers dressed on the cheap because they always had junk thrown at
them and stuff thrown on them. But Gary had first-class, handmade
suits, like you'd see on a banker, and sharp shoes to go with them.
And he had a way of talking to people that really hit all their hot
buttons, because he could get so down and dirty."
Along with The Spoiler (Don Jardine), "who never really had made any
money before," said Watts, the two popped the territory.
Watts also said Hart worked well with promoters.
"Gary was always extremely flexible in that he knew different ways
to take things that would work out and still protect the man he was
managing, along with his gimmick and longevity. I knew I could go to
him to get ideas about where we wanted to go. And that was huge,
because when you had the burden of booking and running a territory,
sooner or later your mind went dry because you had done everything
and had repeated it. You had to have new ideas."
Hart proved just how valuable he could be while Watts was booking
Florida in the '70s.
"We had billboards around town with Pak Song Nam's army and a bounty
on Dusty Rhodes and Jack Brisco. That's when Dusty Rhodes truly became
'the American Dream' in the feud with Gary and Pak Song. Gary is the
one who positioned that. He was phenomenal. In Georgia, he managed
Dick Slater and Bobby Orton Jr., who were an awesome tag team. He
also managed Maniac Mark Lewin, who was a phenomenal worker and had
that new gimmick, and then he managed Kabuki. And, of course, he was
booking for Fritz when he positioned The Freebirds' feud with the Von
Erich boys. The kids got so hot after that."
"Gary was a dear friend and a stand-up guy," said Watts. "He would
always tell you exactly what he thought. He wouldn't back down from
anybody."
Watts related a story where Hart even stood up to the imposing
Abdullah The Butcher in Atlanta. Watts had asked Abby to do an angle
that the "madman from the Sudan" didn't particularly embrace.
"I was getting ready to can his (behind) when Gary Hart walked
over," said Watts. "Now Gary had no official status. But he walked
over and cussed Abdullah out right to his face in the vernacular of
the ghetto. They had started together under (Detroit promoter) Bert
Ruby years earlier. But Gary told him off and said if he wasn't going
to do things right, get the ---- out of here. I was just shocked that
he would talk to him so strongly, because Gary was never known as a
tough guy. But for somebody like that who didn't have an ax to grind
to come to my support like that, it said a lot."
Hart survived a 1975 plane crash in Tampa that claimed the life of
wrestling star Bobby Shane. The same plane that had been piloted by
Buddy Colt, who was badly injured in the crash, had been flown to
Atlanta to Jacksonville to Tampa by Watts.
"Buddy was a student pilot, and I already had my instrument rating,"
recalled Watts. "I was coming down anyway, so I flew his plane for
him. It was the same plane he crashed later that night in Tampa Bay
where Bobby Shane drowned, and Gary, Buddy and Dennis McCord were
injured. They were lucky to get out alive because they had to swim to
the beach. Gary lost his sight in one eye in that crash."
Hart had joined fellow Texas mat personalities Skandor Akbar (Jim
Wehba) and Bill Irwin over the weekend at a wrestling-themed event in
Pennsylvania. He also had been working on the final touches of an
autobiography, whose working title is "My Life in Wrestling: With a
Little Help from My Friends," that is expected to be published later
this year.
Hart hadn't been home long after being picked up at the airport
Sunday when he collapsed.
"Jason had just gotten to the house, and said his dad was acting
like he was trying to clear his throat. He was shaking real hard, and
he was having the final moments of a heart attack."
"Gary hadn't been sick," added Watts. "He was trying to talk me into
coming to some of these fan deals and meeting him there. He'd call me
about every two weeks, and we'd just talk. He was a great guy."
In recent years Hart had become a regular at fan conventions and
other related nostalgia gatherings, and had provided a major voice in
DVDs about the World Class years.
"From the little time that I was around him, I know he really
enjoyed the fanfests," said Greg Price. "He liked doing that stuff
and being around the fans, reminiscing about wrestling. Gary Hart was
one of the most intriguing men I ever met.
"The times that I got to know him and spend with him just confirmed
whatever I ever though about the guy about how smart he was and how
on top of everything he was. When I watched him manage, he was like
the consummate professional. And when I met him and got to know him,
that just confirmed everything I ever thought about him. He was
probably one of the coolest guys I ever met."
Hart indeed wore many hats. He was booker in charge of the first
Starrcade in Greensboro, N.C., in which Flair won the NWA world title
from Harley Race.
"A lot of people talk about Gary and World Class, but they forget
that he was so much more for so many years before that," said Price.
"He's what WWE now calls creative. He was creative at a time when the
business was much more protected and much more structurally relaxed.
It's completely different from what it is now."
Price says he'll have fond memories of the colorful manager.
"Gary Hart was like the best uncle you could ever have. He was that
'Uncle Gary' to a lot of people. I know Kevin Von Erich still refers
to him as 'Uncle Gary.'"
Hart, who described himself as "a kid from Chicago who worked very
hard to make it in wrestling," will be remembered as someone who
changed the landscape of the wrestling business. Even WWE
acknowledged his contributions to the business in a note on the
company's Web site.
"Gary Hart will live on in the hearts and minds of his friends,
family, and fans and colleagues."
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.
Websites
The Post and Courier
NWA Wrestling
Media Man Australia Profiles
Wrestling
By Mike Mooneyham
The Post and Courier; Charleston, SC
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
*"Playboy" Gary Hart, one of the most successful managers in pro
wrestling history, passed away Sunday at the age of 66 in Euless,
Texas.
Hart, whose real name was Gary Richard Williams, had just returned
from a wrestling reunion over the weekend in Allentown, Pa., when he
died at his home from an apparent heart attack.
Hart was regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time, and
for a span of nearly 30 years managed such names as The Spoiler,
Bruiser Brody, Great Kabuki, Great Muta, Terry Funk and Abdullah The
Butcher, as well as such tag teams as Rip Hawk and Swede Hanson, and
The Missouri Mauler and Brute Bernard.
Hart also played a pivotal role in some of wrestling's most famous
angles, including the Dusty Rhodes babyface turn in Florida in 1974
when Hart managed the villainous Pak Song, and serving as booker for
a classic 1982 cage match in Dallas that involved Ric Flair, the Von
Erichs and The Freebirds.
Hart, who began his career in 1963 as a wrestler based out of
Chicago, was a major figure in a number of territories throughout the
country. He later turned to a more successful role as a cocky,
well-dressed manager who would do most of the talking for his heel
charges.
His greatest success, though, came as a booker and creative force
during the glory years of the Dallas-based World Class Championship
Wrestling, a position he held from 1979 to 1987. He is credited with
helping create the classic feud between the Von Erichs and The
Freebirds that set the territory on fire.
"I spent a lot of time on the road with Gary Hart," 16-time world
champ Flair said Monday. "He was a big part of that angle and success
(in Texas)."
One of Hart's last major high-profile stints was as leader of the
J-Tex Corporation in the now-defunct World Championship Wrestling in
1989 when he managed a stable that included Muta, Funk, Buzz Sawyer,
Dick Slater and Dragonmaster in a feud with Flair and Sting.
Hart, who had made a name for himself working as a manager for
promoter Jim Barnett in Australia during the late '60s, was brought
into the Carolinas in 1970 at the behest of veteran Mid-Atlantic star
Rip Hawk (Harvey Evers).
"I brought him in right out Australia, and I had to talk like hell
to (promoter) Jim Crockett (Sr.) to get him in here. It all worked
out. It was good for everybody," said Hawk.
"Gary was a great manager," Hawk added. "He always had his brain
working. He could get on the mic and do anything. He knew how to
handle the people and he knew how top control the wrestlers he was
with. He had a lot of good ideas."
Hawk, 77, last saw his former manager last August in Charlotte when
Hart inducted Hawk and late partner Hanson into the NWA Legends Hall
of Heroes.
It was Hart who NWA Legends Fanfest founder Greg Price first talked
to about the Hall of Heroes concept.
"I talked with Gary a bunch about it, and he loved the idea from the
beginning. It was different because they are the true legends, instead
of the legends who are on top now. He loved the idea as far as
honoring Rip and Swede, and the history that he had with them, and
the Crocketts. He always spoke highly of the Crocketts and about how
first-class they were and how well they always treated him. This area
meant a lot to Gary Hart."
Former Mid-South Wrestling owner Cowboy Bill Watts, who called Hart
one of the greatest minds in the business, credits the manager with
helping jump-start his Oklahoma-based territory in the early '70s.
Hart had been sent to Watts by Texas promoter Fritz Von Erich as part
of his commitment to helping an early partnership that included Watts,
Von Erich, Verne Gagne, Danny Hodge and Leroy McGuirk.
"Gary and I just clicked right off," said Watts. "He wore quality
handmade suits and alligator shoes, and that was an era where
managers dressed on the cheap because they always had junk thrown at
them and stuff thrown on them. But Gary had first-class, handmade
suits, like you'd see on a banker, and sharp shoes to go with them.
And he had a way of talking to people that really hit all their hot
buttons, because he could get so down and dirty."
Along with The Spoiler (Don Jardine), "who never really had made any
money before," said Watts, the two popped the territory.
Watts also said Hart worked well with promoters.
"Gary was always extremely flexible in that he knew different ways
to take things that would work out and still protect the man he was
managing, along with his gimmick and longevity. I knew I could go to
him to get ideas about where we wanted to go. And that was huge,
because when you had the burden of booking and running a territory,
sooner or later your mind went dry because you had done everything
and had repeated it. You had to have new ideas."
Hart proved just how valuable he could be while Watts was booking
Florida in the '70s.
"We had billboards around town with Pak Song Nam's army and a bounty
on Dusty Rhodes and Jack Brisco. That's when Dusty Rhodes truly became
'the American Dream' in the feud with Gary and Pak Song. Gary is the
one who positioned that. He was phenomenal. In Georgia, he managed
Dick Slater and Bobby Orton Jr., who were an awesome tag team. He
also managed Maniac Mark Lewin, who was a phenomenal worker and had
that new gimmick, and then he managed Kabuki. And, of course, he was
booking for Fritz when he positioned The Freebirds' feud with the Von
Erich boys. The kids got so hot after that."
"Gary was a dear friend and a stand-up guy," said Watts. "He would
always tell you exactly what he thought. He wouldn't back down from
anybody."
Watts related a story where Hart even stood up to the imposing
Abdullah The Butcher in Atlanta. Watts had asked Abby to do an angle
that the "madman from the Sudan" didn't particularly embrace.
"I was getting ready to can his (behind) when Gary Hart walked
over," said Watts. "Now Gary had no official status. But he walked
over and cussed Abdullah out right to his face in the vernacular of
the ghetto. They had started together under (Detroit promoter) Bert
Ruby years earlier. But Gary told him off and said if he wasn't going
to do things right, get the ---- out of here. I was just shocked that
he would talk to him so strongly, because Gary was never known as a
tough guy. But for somebody like that who didn't have an ax to grind
to come to my support like that, it said a lot."
Hart survived a 1975 plane crash in Tampa that claimed the life of
wrestling star Bobby Shane. The same plane that had been piloted by
Buddy Colt, who was badly injured in the crash, had been flown to
Atlanta to Jacksonville to Tampa by Watts.
"Buddy was a student pilot, and I already had my instrument rating,"
recalled Watts. "I was coming down anyway, so I flew his plane for
him. It was the same plane he crashed later that night in Tampa Bay
where Bobby Shane drowned, and Gary, Buddy and Dennis McCord were
injured. They were lucky to get out alive because they had to swim to
the beach. Gary lost his sight in one eye in that crash."
Hart had joined fellow Texas mat personalities Skandor Akbar (Jim
Wehba) and Bill Irwin over the weekend at a wrestling-themed event in
Pennsylvania. He also had been working on the final touches of an
autobiography, whose working title is "My Life in Wrestling: With a
Little Help from My Friends," that is expected to be published later
this year.
Hart hadn't been home long after being picked up at the airport
Sunday when he collapsed.
"Jason had just gotten to the house, and said his dad was acting
like he was trying to clear his throat. He was shaking real hard, and
he was having the final moments of a heart attack."
"Gary hadn't been sick," added Watts. "He was trying to talk me into
coming to some of these fan deals and meeting him there. He'd call me
about every two weeks, and we'd just talk. He was a great guy."
In recent years Hart had become a regular at fan conventions and
other related nostalgia gatherings, and had provided a major voice in
DVDs about the World Class years.
"From the little time that I was around him, I know he really
enjoyed the fanfests," said Greg Price. "He liked doing that stuff
and being around the fans, reminiscing about wrestling. Gary Hart was
one of the most intriguing men I ever met.
"The times that I got to know him and spend with him just confirmed
whatever I ever though about the guy about how smart he was and how
on top of everything he was. When I watched him manage, he was like
the consummate professional. And when I met him and got to know him,
that just confirmed everything I ever thought about him. He was
probably one of the coolest guys I ever met."
Hart indeed wore many hats. He was booker in charge of the first
Starrcade in Greensboro, N.C., in which Flair won the NWA world title
from Harley Race.
"A lot of people talk about Gary and World Class, but they forget
that he was so much more for so many years before that," said Price.
"He's what WWE now calls creative. He was creative at a time when the
business was much more protected and much more structurally relaxed.
It's completely different from what it is now."
Price says he'll have fond memories of the colorful manager.
"Gary Hart was like the best uncle you could ever have. He was that
'Uncle Gary' to a lot of people. I know Kevin Von Erich still refers
to him as 'Uncle Gary.'"
Hart, who described himself as "a kid from Chicago who worked very
hard to make it in wrestling," will be remembered as someone who
changed the landscape of the wrestling business. Even WWE
acknowledged his contributions to the business in a note on the
company's Web site.
"Gary Hart will live on in the hearts and minds of his friends,
family, and fans and colleagues."
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.
Websites
The Post and Courier
NWA Wrestling
Media Man Australia Profiles
Wrestling
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
Still remembered. The legends of wrestlings history making years - 22nd Feb 2008
GOLD COAST, Australia - Still remembered. The legends of wrestlings history making years.
World Championship Wrestling (Australia) was broadcast every Saturday and Sunday lunchtime by the 9 Network through the 60's and 70's, with record ratings, over 300 live promotions per year and set attendance records that may never be broken.
Success was guaranteed by the action filled TV show, the continuing parade of unusual characters, superb athletes, the personalities, the best wrestlers representing almost every country in the world including Australia whose epic battles filled the stadiums throughout the land.
Stars such as Harley Race, King Curtis, Killer Kowalski, Mario Milano, Spiros Arion, Brute Bernard, Bulldog Brower, Ox Baker, Playboy Gary Hart, Killer Karl Kox, Roy Heffernan, Andre the Giant, Dory Funk, John Da Silva, Skull Murphy, The Australians Larry O'Day, Ron Miller, George Barnes, Steve Rackman, John Grey and many more. The hero's the villains who became household names, and are fondly embedded in the memories of most Australians.
The announcers and Referees famous in their own right, Mike Cleary, Ted Whitton, Jack Little, Sam Menacker, Wallaby Bob M'Masters, Ron Hanson, Mike Hunt etc.
World Championship Wrestling Australia was important enough for the National Screen and Sound Archive and the National Library to gratefully accept my donations of wrestling footage and memorabilia material. Scholars such as Dr. Barry York have researched and written about it as part of our history. The National Centre for History Education has published two features on the subject.
These memories of wrestling's glory days are revived in Ron Millers RUFF TUFF & REAL documentary and classic matches collection DVD set.
Visit www.worldchampionshipwrestling.com.au for more news.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Ron Miller
Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling (Australia) was broadcast every Saturday and Sunday lunchtime by the 9 Network through the 60's and 70's, with record ratings, over 300 live promotions per year and set attendance records that may never be broken.
Success was guaranteed by the action filled TV show, the continuing parade of unusual characters, superb athletes, the personalities, the best wrestlers representing almost every country in the world including Australia whose epic battles filled the stadiums throughout the land.
Stars such as Harley Race, King Curtis, Killer Kowalski, Mario Milano, Spiros Arion, Brute Bernard, Bulldog Brower, Ox Baker, Playboy Gary Hart, Killer Karl Kox, Roy Heffernan, Andre the Giant, Dory Funk, John Da Silva, Skull Murphy, The Australians Larry O'Day, Ron Miller, George Barnes, Steve Rackman, John Grey and many more. The hero's the villains who became household names, and are fondly embedded in the memories of most Australians.
The announcers and Referees famous in their own right, Mike Cleary, Ted Whitton, Jack Little, Sam Menacker, Wallaby Bob M'Masters, Ron Hanson, Mike Hunt etc.
World Championship Wrestling Australia was important enough for the National Screen and Sound Archive and the National Library to gratefully accept my donations of wrestling footage and memorabilia material. Scholars such as Dr. Barry York have researched and written about it as part of our history. The National Centre for History Education has published two features on the subject.
These memories of wrestling's glory days are revived in Ron Millers RUFF TUFF & REAL documentary and classic matches collection DVD set.
Visit www.worldchampionshipwrestling.com.au for more news.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Ron Miller
Wrestling
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Alex Marvez's weekly look at professional wrestling, By ALEX MARVEZ, Scripps - 20th Feb 2008
The World Wrestling Entertainment return of Paul "Big Show" Wight was upstaged by an even bigger name.
Boxing champion Floyd Mayweather confronted Wight on last Sunday's "No Way Out" pay-per-view show. The undefeated welterweight was dwarfed by the 7-foot, 400-pound Wight, but Mayweather did land some punches that legitimately bloodied Big Show's nose.
Mayweather then appeared on this week's "Monday Night Raw" (9 p.m. EST, USA Network) and accepted Wight's challenge for a March 30 bout at "Wrestlemania 24" in Orlando, Fla.
A match pitting Mayweather and Rey Mysterio against Wight and Shane McMahon (who reportedly negotiated Mayweather's WWE appearance) was originally a possibility. Mysterio, though, is believed out of "Wrestlemania" -- and what would have been a sizable payday -- because of a torn right biceps.
WWE seems likely to pit Mayweather and Big Show in a wrestler-vs.-boxer match. Incidentally, Wight was training in boxing while contemplating a career change during his 14-month WWE hiatus.
WWE owner Vince McMahon Jr.'s father also promoted the same kind of bout on a major show in 1976. In one of the most memorable matches of its time, Andre the Giant defeated boxer Chuck Wepner via countout after dumping him over the top rope.
McMahon Jr. has used boxers at previous "Wrestlemanias" in various capacities, most notably Muhammad Ali (I/guest referee), Mike Tyson (XIV/ringside enforcer) and Eric "Butterbean" Esch (XV/knocked out Mike "Bart Gunn" Polchlopek in a "Brawl for All" match).
Tyson's main-event appearance was a smashing success, boosting the "'Mania" pay-per-view buy rate and also helping to raise the profile of emerging star "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Tyson counted Austin's pinfall of Sean Michaels and then KO'd the "Heartbreak Kid" with a punch afterward.
Mayweather appeared in two boxing matches last year that drew a combined 3.4 million pay-per-view orders. But Mayweather may not be able to carry such magic to "Wrestlemania," which was already expected to draw in the range of 1 million worldwide orders. WWE traditionally hasn't had much crossover appeal to boxing fans, while the promotion's mainstream image remains tainted from the fallout of last June's murder/suicide by Chris Benoit.
Still, Mayweather was wise to get involved with sports entertainment than another legitimate fighting genre like the mixed martial arts. After improving his boxing record to 39-0 with last December's TKO of Ricky Hatton, Mayweather spoke about wanting to get involved in the MMA ventures being started by Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Mayweather, though, would need years of training in jiu-jitsu, wrestling and kickboxing to avoid being the kind of one-dimensional fighter who gets dismantled in today's MMA world.
X...X...X
Mayweather's appearance was the second consecutive major surprise on a WWE pay-per-view show, as John Cena returned from a torn pectoral muscle to win last month's "Royal Rumble." Such unadvertised happenings could help once again make WWE pay-per-views into "must-see" events -- something that had become increasingly rare as the promotion increased its show lineup.
X...X...X
"Smackdown" is getting smacked down on CW, as the WWE staple will stop airing on the network in September. "Smackdown" could land on MyNetwork, which is largely comprised of former UPN affiliates that once carried the show.
X...X...X
A Total Nonstop Action Wrestling story line took on some real-life overtones when Chris Harris -- who had trashed the promotion during scripted interviews -- recently left for WWE. He and James Storm were a quality tag team as AMW (America's Most Wanted), but Harris fizzled as a solo performer once the duo split.
Scott "Raven" Levy also has left TNA after five years with the company. On his Web site (theraveneffect.com), Levy has expressed interest in opening an Atlanta-area pro-wrestling school.
X...X...X
Nigel McGuiness vs. Austin Aries will headline Ring of Honor's "Rising Above" pay-per-view show that debuts March 7 on InDemand and other pay-per-view providers. A free 10-minute preview is available at www.rohvideos.com.
(Alex Marvez writes a syndicated pro wrestling column for Scripps-Howard News Service. Contact him at alex1marv(at)aol.com.)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Wrestling
Boxing champion Floyd Mayweather confronted Wight on last Sunday's "No Way Out" pay-per-view show. The undefeated welterweight was dwarfed by the 7-foot, 400-pound Wight, but Mayweather did land some punches that legitimately bloodied Big Show's nose.
Mayweather then appeared on this week's "Monday Night Raw" (9 p.m. EST, USA Network) and accepted Wight's challenge for a March 30 bout at "Wrestlemania 24" in Orlando, Fla.
A match pitting Mayweather and Rey Mysterio against Wight and Shane McMahon (who reportedly negotiated Mayweather's WWE appearance) was originally a possibility. Mysterio, though, is believed out of "Wrestlemania" -- and what would have been a sizable payday -- because of a torn right biceps.
WWE seems likely to pit Mayweather and Big Show in a wrestler-vs.-boxer match. Incidentally, Wight was training in boxing while contemplating a career change during his 14-month WWE hiatus.
WWE owner Vince McMahon Jr.'s father also promoted the same kind of bout on a major show in 1976. In one of the most memorable matches of its time, Andre the Giant defeated boxer Chuck Wepner via countout after dumping him over the top rope.
McMahon Jr. has used boxers at previous "Wrestlemanias" in various capacities, most notably Muhammad Ali (I/guest referee), Mike Tyson (XIV/ringside enforcer) and Eric "Butterbean" Esch (XV/knocked out Mike "Bart Gunn" Polchlopek in a "Brawl for All" match).
Tyson's main-event appearance was a smashing success, boosting the "'Mania" pay-per-view buy rate and also helping to raise the profile of emerging star "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Tyson counted Austin's pinfall of Sean Michaels and then KO'd the "Heartbreak Kid" with a punch afterward.
Mayweather appeared in two boxing matches last year that drew a combined 3.4 million pay-per-view orders. But Mayweather may not be able to carry such magic to "Wrestlemania," which was already expected to draw in the range of 1 million worldwide orders. WWE traditionally hasn't had much crossover appeal to boxing fans, while the promotion's mainstream image remains tainted from the fallout of last June's murder/suicide by Chris Benoit.
Still, Mayweather was wise to get involved with sports entertainment than another legitimate fighting genre like the mixed martial arts. After improving his boxing record to 39-0 with last December's TKO of Ricky Hatton, Mayweather spoke about wanting to get involved in the MMA ventures being started by Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Mayweather, though, would need years of training in jiu-jitsu, wrestling and kickboxing to avoid being the kind of one-dimensional fighter who gets dismantled in today's MMA world.
X...X...X
Mayweather's appearance was the second consecutive major surprise on a WWE pay-per-view show, as John Cena returned from a torn pectoral muscle to win last month's "Royal Rumble." Such unadvertised happenings could help once again make WWE pay-per-views into "must-see" events -- something that had become increasingly rare as the promotion increased its show lineup.
X...X...X
"Smackdown" is getting smacked down on CW, as the WWE staple will stop airing on the network in September. "Smackdown" could land on MyNetwork, which is largely comprised of former UPN affiliates that once carried the show.
X...X...X
A Total Nonstop Action Wrestling story line took on some real-life overtones when Chris Harris -- who had trashed the promotion during scripted interviews -- recently left for WWE. He and James Storm were a quality tag team as AMW (America's Most Wanted), but Harris fizzled as a solo performer once the duo split.
Scott "Raven" Levy also has left TNA after five years with the company. On his Web site (theraveneffect.com), Levy has expressed interest in opening an Atlanta-area pro-wrestling school.
X...X...X
Nigel McGuiness vs. Austin Aries will headline Ring of Honor's "Rising Above" pay-per-view show that debuts March 7 on InDemand and other pay-per-view providers. A free 10-minute preview is available at www.rohvideos.com.
(Alex Marvez writes a syndicated pro wrestling column for Scripps-Howard News Service. Contact him at alex1marv(at)aol.com.)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Wrestling
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