Sunday, April 29, 2007

WCW: Norman Smiley


Ring name(s) Black Magic,Lord Norman,Norman Smiley
Billed height 188 cm (6 ft 2 in)
Billed weight 112 kg (247 lb)
Born February 28, 1965,Northampton
Resides Miami, Florida
Trained by Rusty Brooks,Boris Malenko,Dean Malenko
Wrestling Debut October 2, 1990

Norman Smiley (born February 28, 1965 in Northampton) is a British professional wrestler currently competing for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. He is best known for his appearances in the United States of America with World Championship Wrestling as "Screamin" Norman Smiley.

Norman Smiley trained under Rusty Brooks and Boris and Dean Malenko before making his debut in 1986 on the Floridian independent circuit, originally known as Black Magic, then as the hated Lord Henry Norman. In 1992, he began wrestling for the Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre in Mexico as Black Magic, winning the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship and holding it until losing to Silver King in 1994. In 1995 and 1996, he briefly competed in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania based Extreme Championship Wrestling promotion.

Smiley joined World Championship Wrestling in 1997, wrestling primarily on WCW Saturday Night. After being removed from television, he returned several months later with a new gimmick. His new character saw him add the "Big Wiggle" to his repertoire of moves; prior to this, his signature taunt was a mimed bow-and-arrow motion, informally dubbed "The Sacagawea". After knocking an opponent down, Smiley would perform a dance that he called the "Big Wiggle." He later added the "Smiley Spank", which saw him double an opponent over, straddle him, and perform a slapping motion with his hands.

During his tenure in WCW, Smiley often teamed with Chris Adams. The duo had previously teamed together as the British participants in the 1990 NWA Pat O'Connor tag team tournament, and were close friends.

A heel turn began in a backstage interview on an episode of WCW Saturday Night when he told fans that he was European and that, as such, his name should be pronounced phonetically as "Nor-MAHN Smi-LAY." He then feuded with Chavo Guerrero, Jr., on one occasion destroying Chavo's hobby horse mascot, Pepè, by feeding it into a wood chipper on an episode of WCW Monday Nitro.

In 1999, Smiley entered the hardcore division. Smiley's character was nicknamed "Screamin'" Norman Smiley. Smiley would also come to the ring wearing a jersey (often wearing a jersey of a local professional sports team), along with padding and a football helmet to cushion blows. This comedic gimmick caused Smiley's popularity to soar, and he eventually won the WCW Hardcore Championship by defeating Brian Knobbs in a tournament final. During his 2 reigns, Smiley was a reluctant champion, even attempting to purposely lose matches (although he invariably retained the title inadvertently, much to his chagrin). Smiley holds the 2 longest WCW Hardcore Championship reigns, at 51 and 42 days, respectively.[citation needed]

Smiley feuded with Brian Knobbs, Meng and Terry Funk during his tenures as WCW Hardcore Champion, recruiting Chris Jericho's former associate Ralphus to be his manager. With the assistance of Ralphus, he stole a backyard wrestling championship from a group of children during a vignette.

Smiley remained in WCW until the company was sold to the World Wrestling Federation in March 2001. He was not hired by the WWF following the sale.
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Tuesday, April 24, 2007

WCW/NWA: Dick Slater


Real Name: Van Richard Slater
Height: 6 ft, 1 in. (1.85 m)
Weight: 233 lbs
Birthday: May 19, 1942
Hometown: Tampa, Florida
Trainer: Hiro Matsuda, Eddie Graham
Managers: Gary Hart, Col. Rob Parker, Oliver Humperdink, Curt Hennig, Dark Journey, Paul E. Dangerously, Scotty Ace
Debut Year: 1970

Dick Slater was a professional wrestler in the 1970s and 1980s who often wrestled in the NWA's Mid-Atlantic region. He went by the nicknames Dirty Dick Slater, "Mr. Unpredictable" Dick Slater, and "The Rebel" Dick Slater.

On August 12, 1977 he defeated Jack Brisco for the Missouri State Heavyweight Title.
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Wednesday, April 18, 2007

WCW: Elix Skipper


Ring name(s) Dark Guerrera,Elix Skipper,Extreme Blade,Skip Over
Billed height 5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Billed weight 228 lb (103 kg)
Born December 15, 1977,Long Island, New York
Resides Atlanta, Georgia
Trained by Pez Whatley (WCW Power Plant)
Wrestling Debut 1999

"Primetime" Elix Skipper is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling throughout the 2000s.

Prior to becoming a wrestler, Skipper participated in gymnastics, kickboxing, martial arts and weightlifting. Upon deciding to become a wrestler, he resigned from his job as a McDonald's supervisor in Long Island, New York and travelled to Atlanta, Georgia to audition at the WCW Power Plant, the professional wrestling school operated by World Championship Wrestling.

After being accepted by the Power Plant, Skipper began his training, debuting in 1999 at an independent show. After training for eight months, Skipper made his television debut on an episode of WCW Saturday Night. Seven months later, Skipper began wrestling on WCW Thunder and the WCW flagship program, WCW Monday Nitro under the ring name Skip Over, facing members of the cruiserweight division and fellow Power Plant graduates.

In August 2000 Skipper began performing under his real name, adopting the nickname "Primetime" and the catchphrases and mannerisms of athlete Deion Sanders. After interfering on behalf of Lance Storm in a bout between Storm and Mike Awesome on the August 14, 2000 episode of WCW Monday Nitro, Skipper was inducted into Storm's newly formed "Team Canada" faction, with Storm giving him the 100 Kilos and Under Championship (the renamed WCW Cruiserweight Championship). Despite his American nationality and his self-professed lack of knowledge about Canada, Skipper was billed as being a Canadian. He was also billed as a former Canadian Football League player, and wore a Grey Cup CFL Championship ring to the ring. Skipper retained the 100 Kilos and Under Championship until October 2, 2000, when Mike Sanders defeated him for the title and subsequently renamed it the WCW Cruiserweight Championship. Throughout late 2000, Team Canada feuded with the Misfits In Action and Filthy Animals stables.

In early 2001, Skipper left Team Canada and began competing principally in the cruiserweight division. Throughout February and March 2001, Skipper teamed with Kid Romeo in an eight-team tournament to determine the first holders of the newly created WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship. Skipper and Romeo won the tournament by defeating Billy Kidman and Rey Misterio, Jr. in the tournament finals on March 18, 2001 at Greed, the final WCW pay-per-view event. On the March 26, 2001 episode of WCW Monday Nitro, Skipper and Romeo lost the WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship to Kidman and Misterio.

In late March 2001, World Championship Wrestling was purchased by the World Wrestling Federation, with a number of wrestlers, including Skipper, signed to developmental contracts.
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Monday, April 16, 2007

WCW: Ron Simmons

Another one of my wrestling heroes.....
Ron Simmons.
DAMN!

Ron Simmons (born May 15, 1958) is an American semi-retired professional wrestler and retired American football player. He was the first African American to win the World Heavyweight Championship, and was thus the first officially recognized African American World Champion. (Bobo Brazil, who won the NWA Championship in 1962, was not officially recognized for his win.)

Simmons was a Florida State University All-American football player, and played for the Cleveland Browns in the National Football League and the Ottawa Rough Riders in the Canadian Football League. He became a professional wrestler in 1986, and went on to wrestle in World Championship Wrestling under his real name and in the World Wrestling Federation under both his real name and the ring names Faarooq Asad and Faarooq. He is currently under contract with the WWE and does PR work. He also appears in backstage segments on RAW, known recently for his catchphrase, "DAMN!".

Born in Perry, Georgia, Simmons attended Warner Robins High School, where he played American football as a defensive linemen. In 1976, he was named lineman of the year, and first team All-State by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Simmons was an All-American football player at Florida State University under coach Bobby Bowden (who Simmons described as "a second father"), spending four years as a defensive nose guard. In 1988, Simmons 's jersey (number 50) was retired by Florida State University, the third time a number has been retired in FSU history. In addition, Simmons was inducted into the Orange Bowl Hall of Fame for his accomplishments while playing at Florida State University.

He later had a brief career in the National Football League, selected as pick 160 in 1981. He played for the Cleveland Browns, and the USFL's Tampa Bay Bandits in 1984 and the Memphis Showboats in 1985, but it was in Tampa where he was a teammate of future professional wrester Lex Luger and Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman Nate Newton.

Simmons returned to prominence several years after the end of his football career when he was recruited by Japanese professional wrestler Hiro Matsuda. Simmons trained under Matsuda and debuted in October 1986.

Ron Simmons teamed up with Butch Reed to form Doom. Doom defeated The Steiner Brothers for the NWA World Tag Team Championship, and would be recognized along with Reed as the first (Black) holders of the WCW World Tag Team Championship in January 1991.

On August 2, 1992, a scheduled title match between Sting and WCW World Heavyweight Champion Big Van Vader was cancelled after Jake Roberts injured Sting. WCW President Bill Watts responded by holding a raffle to determine the number one contender. Simmons won the raffle, and went on to defeat Vader with a powerslam to win the Championship. By defeating Vader, Simmons became the first ever African American WCW World Heavyweight Champion.

Simmons held the title for nearly five months, during which time he consolidated his reputation as a stiff wrestler. His reign ended on December 30, 1992 when Vader defeated him to regain the title.

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Sunday, April 15, 2007

WCW: Silver KIng


Height: 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Weight: 217 lb (98 kg)
Birthday: January 9, 1968
Hometown: Torreón, Coahuila
Trained by: Dr. Wagner & Gran Markus
Debut: November, 1985
Previous identities: El Invasor, Silver King, Dr. Wagner, Jr. (for one New Japan tour), Black Tiger III, Bronco

César Cuauhtémoc González Barrón is a Mexican professional wrestler known best as Silver King or Black Tiger III. He is the son of luchador Dr. Wagner and the brother of Dr. Wagner, Jr..

He began his career as Silver King in the Universal Wrestling Association and lost his mask early to El Hijo del Santo. He formed a tag team with El Texano called "The Cowboys" and the tandem saw success with a UWA and WWA World Tag Team title reigns and an appearance on WCW's Clash of the Champions XIX in 1992 being defeated by The Fabulous Freebirds. In 1993, Texano and Silver King jumped to Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre where they continued their success by winning the vacant CMLL tag titles. In singles competition, Silver King feuded with veterans such as Scorpio and Emilio Charles, Jr. and he won the CMLL World Heavyweight title by defeating Black Magic Norman Smiley in 1994. In 1996, he and his brother Dr. Wagner, Jr. defeated Dos Caras and Último Dragón to win the vacant CMLL World Tag-Team titles but in 1997, Silver King joined WCW full time and gave up his half of the title.

Other than a Cruiserweight title challenge against Juventud Guerrera on the 1998 Fall Brawl pay-per-view, he did not receive much of a push, mostly wrestling in opening matches, even though he was a member of the short-lived Latino World Order. He began teaming with El Dandy as Los Fabulosos with Stacy Keibler managing but when Vince Russo took over booking, most of the luchadores in WCW's employ were released or given a much smaller role. After leaving WCW, he returned to CMLL and began wrestling for CMLL's Japanese affiliate, New Japan Pro Wrestling. In 2001, he adopted the Black Tiger character previously used by Eddie Guerrero. As Black Tiger, he wrestled several tours with New Japan and had an unsuccessful IWGP Tag Team Championship attempt with his brother against Jushin Liger and El Samurai in 2001. In 2003, New Japan used Mexican wrestlers less and less so Black Tiger wrestled mostly for CMLL, usually as Dr. Wagner, Jr.'s back-up. However, since Black Tiger was supposed to be Japanese (for the Mexican storyline - New Japan had always given the Black Tiger character to a foreigner), the relationship was not publicly recognized by CMLL even when Tiger, Wagner and Universo 2000 won the CMLL World Trios title that year.

After losing the title to Canek, Black Warrior and Rayo de Jalisco, Jr. in 2004, Dr. Wagner, Jr. turned técnico (face) when Dr. Wagner, Sr. died. This left Tiger without much to do and he wrestled mainly in IWRG, Arena Coliseo, CMLL's secondary arena, or he filled in holes in Arena Mexico cards. In 2005, Rocky Romero debuted as New Japan's new Black Tiger. González continued to use the name but CMLL decided to repackage him as "El Bronco." His debut, where he teamed with Elektro (a wrestler from AAA) and L.A. Park against the original members of Los Guerreros del Infierno, was a huge failure. The crowd did not buy Elektro or Bronco and a rematch set for next week on top of the Gran Alterntiva tournament was quickly changed with Hijo del Lizmark and Místico filling in and Bronco replacing Lizmark in the tournament. Elektro was never used again and Bronco was used occasionally in midcard roles. Despite the name change in CMLL, he continued to wrestle as "Black Tiger" in IWRG and in independent promotions. After months of delays due to injuries, he finally lost the Black Tiger mask to L.A. Park in his hometown of Torreón and began wrestling as Silver King again. He stars in the Paramount Pictures Production Nacho Libre as Ramses, in which he dons a golden mask; since then, he has gone on to wrestle in Mexico as the Ramses character.
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Wednesday, April 11, 2007

WCW: Sick Boy




Ring name(s) Sick Boy
Billed height 6 ft 3 in (188 cm)
Billed weight 250 lb (113 kg)
Born March 20, 1973
Charlotte, North Carolina
Trained by Dwayne Bruce,WCW Power Plant,Ohio Valley Wrestling
Wrestling Debut 1997
Retired 2005

Scott Vick (born March 20, 1973 in Charlotte, North Carolina) is an American professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with WCW as Sick Boy, a member of Raven's Flock.

Scott was born Robert Scott Vick in Charlotte, NC in 1973. He grew up in Colmbia, SC. 1989 Scott moved to Hilton Head, Sc. 1991 while in High School Scott's first contact with professional wrestling first took place. Scott was approached by a talent scout with World Championship Wrestling. 1992 Scott was an All-American in football and was named to the National Prep Magazine's Top 100 High School football players in the nation.

After high school in 1993, Scott attended the University of Cincinnati on a football scholarship. Scott later transferred to the University of South Carolina where his football career was cut short by a serious knee injury. In 1996 He signed a contract with WCW. In 1999 Scott signed with WWE.

Vick was trained at the WCW Power Plant and debuted in World Championship Wrestling in October 1997 as part of Raven's Flock. Vicks first match on Monday night nitro against Chris Benoit was the third match of his career. He left The Flock when Perry Saturn defeated Raven and won the freedom of the members of The Flock. After the Flock split-up Vick and WCW could not come to terms on the development of a new character. Vick was released from WCW in 1999.

October 1999 Vick signed a booking contract With WWE. Originally Vick was to be involved in a story line with Val Venis. Due to the direction of the Val Venis character the story line was dropped. Between 2000 and 2002 Vick made frequent appearances with World Wrestling Entertainment, wrestling in dark matches and would begin training in WWE's developmental territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling.

Between 2003 and 2004 Vick had tryouts with the CFL and the NFL.

2004 Vick was brought back in the WWE for a possible story line that involved Kane and Triple H. Soon after the story line ended, and Vick left WWE.

Vick also has a fitness consulting company that he started in 2003.

Vick wrestled a WWE dark match during March 2005 but disappeared from wrestling again soon afterwards.

Scott made a movie with Ken Kennedy called Fighting the Still Life, a drama/action film.

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Tuesday, April 10, 2007

WCW: Sonny Siaki


Ring name(s) Hawaiian GQ,Money,Sonny Siaki,Cocky Siaki
Billed height 6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Billed weight 242 lb
Born July 23, 1974,Pago Pago, American Samoa
Billed from Pago Pago, American Samoa
Trained by Paul Orndorff,WCW Power Plant,Dusty Rhodes
Wrestling Debut March 1999

Sonny Siaki (born July 23, 1974) is an American professional wrestler, currently working for WWE in the Deep South Wrestling developmental territory. Siaki was born in Pago Pago, American Samoa, but when he was three his family moved to Hawaii, then California in the United States of America before settling in Wilmington, North Carolina when Siaki was four years old. Unlike many Samoans in professional wrestling, he is not part of the large Anoa'i or Fatu family.

Sonny Siaki graduated from East Carolina University in 1998 with a Bachelor of Science degree in health and fitness. While attending university, he played football as an inside linebacker until a serious stinger injury forced him to stop playing football, preventing him from pursuing a career within the National Football League.

After his school friend Lodi notified Siaki that the WCW Power Plant was holding tryouts in early 1999, Siaki attended the tryout and was awarded a WCW developmental contract. He graduated after seven months and wrestled his first televised match on WCW Saturday Night against Alan Funk. Siaki largely appeared on Saturday Night and faced other Power Plant graduates, though he did make several appearances on Thunder and Nitro. Siaki eventually left WCW, unhappy with the way he was being utilized.

In 2003, at the Baltic Brawl event in Helsinki, Finland Siaki had a match with him teaming up with Elix Skipper against Alan Funk and Mike Sanders. During that match, Siaki botched a split-legged moonsault, and landed on Funk's face knee-first. Funk was badly injured, breaking his eardrum, nose and jaw and also cracking his orbital bone, but made a full recovery.

Siaki moved on to the Urban Wrestling Alliance in California, where he was known as Money. After nine months, the UWA folded and Siaki joined Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling where he received further training from the TCW owner, Dusty Rhodes.
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Sunday, April 8, 2007

WCW: 2 Cold Scorpio,


Ring name(s) 2 Cold Scorpio,Flash Funk,Flying Wazuma,Flyin' Scorpio,Scorpio,Too Cold Scorpio,Black Wazuma
Billed height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Billed weight 229 lb (104 kg)
Born October 25, 1965,Denver, Colorado
Resides Hanover
Billed from Denver, Colorado
Trained by Mike Starr
Wrestling Debut 1985

Charles (Charlie) Skaggs is an American professional wrestler better known by his ring names Flash Funk and 2 Cold Scorpio currently signed to WWE. He is known for his high-flying ability and high-risk wrestling style. He was an early innovator of the high-flying junior heavyweight style, and was the first American wrestler to use the 450° Splash.

Skaggs is best known for his work in ECW, where he wrestled as 2 Cold Scorpio. He debuted alongside Ron Simmons as a mystery partner on Clash Of The Champions. His aerial attacks won him 4 reigns as ECW World Television Champion and 1 reign as ECW Tag Team Champion along with The Sandman. He also had a brief reign as WCW World Tag Team Champion, teaming with Marcus Bagwell. He was arguably one of the most popular Extreme Championship Wrestling stars during this period.

WCW World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Marcus Alexander Bagwell

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Friday, April 6, 2007

WCW: 2 Cold Scorpio


Charles (Charlie) Skaggs (born October 25, 1965) is an American professional wrestler better known by his ring names Flash Funk and 2 Cold Scorpio currently signed to WWE. He is known for his high-flying ability and high-risk wrestling style. He was an early innovator of the high-flying junior heavyweight style, and was the first American wrestler to use the 450° Splash.

Skaggs is best known for his work in ECW, where he wrestled as 2 Cold Scorpio. He debuted alongside Ron Simmons as a mystery partner on Clash Of The Champions. His aerial attacks won him 4 reigns as ECW World Television Champion and 1 reign as ECW Tag Team Champion along with The Sandman. He also had a brief reign as WCW World Tag Team Champion, teaming with Marcus Bagwell. He was arguably one of the most popular Extreme Championship Wrestling stars during this period.

Skaggs made his WWF debut on November 17, 1996 at the Survivor Series pay-per-view under the name Flash Funk. The character was probably based on the many funk artists made famous in the 1970s, most notably Parliament Funkadelic. During his time there his gimmick involved dancing, and being accompanied to the ring by his "Funkettes" (years before the WWF would debut an admitted pimp, The Godfather, who was accompanied by his "hoes"). He later reverted to the Scorpio name as a member of Al Snow's JOB Squad, but it wasn't a success.

In late 1998, Flash Funk competed in the WWF's Brawl For All tournament, replacing Ken Shamrock. However, he lost in the quarterfinals to The Godfather. Skaggs was released after a blow up with his wife at the time at WrestleMania 15. Contrary to popular belief, any reports that stated that he was fired for testing positive for marijuana usage are false.

He has also competed for various American independent promotions such as Ring of Honor, Pro Pain Pro Wrestling, and the British promotion Frontier Wrestling Alliance. He has also competed at Hardcore Homecoming and TWC International Showdown.

Skaggs went on to wrestled mainly for Pro Wrestling NOAH in Japan as Scorpio, where he is a former GHC Openweight Hardcore Champion. He has also found success in NOAH's tag team division, winning the GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Championships with Vader and later with Doug Williams.

At a WRESTLE-1 GP show in October 2, 2005, Scorpio teamed up with Sumo wrestler Akebono to face the team of Mitsuharu Misawa and Yoshinari Ogawa.

On June 23, 2006, Skaggs returned to the United States to wrestle for Pro Wrestling Unplugged at their show titled Exit Sandman where Scorpio defeated Trent Acid to win the PWU Heavyweight Championship.

In March of 2007, as Flash Funk, Skaggs made his Ohio Valley Wrestling debut.

Skaggs worked a dark match for the renamed WWE at a August 22, 2006 SmackDown! taping. Skaggs, returning to his Flash Funk name, faced René Duprée. On September 21, it was reported Skaggs impressed WWE officials in the tryout and he was signed to a new, three-year, contract.

In Lisbon, Portugal on December 4 at a SmackDown live event, Skaggs made another WWE appearance wrestling Gregory Helms under the name Flash Funk, losing the match. On December 5 he teamed up with London & Kendrick to beat Chavo Guerrero, Dave Taylor, and William Regal.

According to the February 25th Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Skaggs was sitting at home collecting a paycheck to do nothing because there were no ideas for him. However, as of March 22, he has worked at least one match in WWE's developmental territory Deep South Wrestling, LLC, using the Flash Funk name and attire.

Skaggs debuted in OVW on the March 21 TV taping using the 2 Cold Scorpio named, but was wearing the Flash Funk attire. He went on to defeat Mike Kruel with the 450 Splash, but was attacked after the match by the newly formed team of Boris Alexiev and Vladimir Kozlov.

Skaggs has 1 child with Dedira Foxx, whom he married on October 10, 1996. However, they divorced on January 4, 2002. Skaggs married Noelle McLaughlin on June 7, 2006.


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Thursday, April 5, 2007

WCW: "Macho Man" Randy Savage, part 2


After months of abuse from the nWo, Savage joined them at SuperBrawl VII in 1997, when he helped Hogan defeat Roddy Piper in a rematch from their Starrcade match the previous year. He also reunited with Elizabeth, who had joined the nWo several months earlier. He began feuding with Diamond Dallas Page and Kimberly. When Hogan failed to recapture his "nWo" Title from Sting, it was Savage's turn, and he got his shot at Spring Stampede 1998. Hogan tried everything he could to make sure that Savage would not win the title because Hogan felt that he was the only nWo member who should be World Champion, since he was the leader of the stable. With the help of Nash, however, Savage beat Sting for the belt, despite tearing the ACL in his knee during the match.

The following night on WCW Monday Nitro, Hogan faced Savage for the championship. For a while it looked like Hogan had Savage beat, but for the second consecutive night, Nash came to Savage's aid, powerbombing Hogan. Savage tried to capitalize, but an interfering Bret Hart attacked Savage and preserved the victory for Hogan.

After that, Savage joined with Nash and others to form the nWo Wolfpac, a split from Hogan's group, which became known as nWo Black and White or nWo Hollywood. He went on to feud with both Bret Hart and Roddy Piper before leaving the company due to his knee injury.

For nearly a year, Randy Savage took a hiatus from the company due to recover from at least two major knee surgeries. He made only one more appearance in 1998, helping Ric Flair defeat Eric Bischoff for the Presidency of WCW on the December 28, 1998 episode of Monday Nitro. When Macho Man returned, he came back with a new look and new attitude and also brought with him his then 22-year-old girlfriend Gorgeous George as a valet. His first action was as the guest referee in the WCW world title matchup at Spring Stampede 1999, which was won by Diamond Dallas Page. For a short time after, Randy interfered in DDP's matches to make sure that Page kept his World Title (for reasons unknown and never explained by WCW), but when Kevin Nash won it at Slamboree 1999, Savage went after the title himself. It was around that time that Madusa and Miss Madness joined Macho Man as his other two valets; together they were known as Team Madness.

At The Great American Bash 1999, Sid Vicious returned to WCW and helped Macho Man attack Kevin Nash. This led to a tag team match between Kevin Nash and Sting against Randy Savage and Sid Vicious, in which whoever pinned Nash (including Sting) would win the World Title, at Bash at the Beach 1999. Savage won the WCW title for the fourth time when he pinned Nash but lost the title again to Hollywood Hogan the next night, when Nash interfered and powerbombed Macho Man (in a reversal of the situation from the previous year, where Nash had attacked Hogan to help Savage keep his title, albeit unsuccessfully).

After that, Team Madness slowly started to disband as Madusa and Miss Madness started fighting each other because they blamed the other for Savage's title loss. Savage soon fired both of them and started a feud with Dennis Rodman, defeating him at Road Wild 1999. He eventually joined the Millionaire's Club with Hogan, Jim Duggan, Flair, DDP, and other popular veteran wrestlers. When Vince Russo came to WCW and Savage's WCW contract expired, Savage and George left WCW and never returned.

His former wife Elizabeth Hulette was found dead in the home of professional wrestler Lex Luger on May 1, 2003 from a drug overdose.

In 2005, Savage told a Missouri newspaper that he couldn't wrestle right at the moment because of "health concerns," as he had apparently injured his back and shoulder blade.

Jakks Pacific tried to sign him up for the Classic Superstars line up only to be denied by Vince McMahon, despite the fact that he allowed them to sign a number of wrestlers on bad terms with WWE, including The Ultimate Warrior (signed twice by Jakks), Bruno Sammartino, The Honky Tonk Man, and even Bret "The Hitman" Hart. Savage remains one of the only big stars who hasn't signed up with Jakks for a figure.
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WCW: "Macho Man" Randy Savage, part 1


Randall Mario Poffo (born November 15, 1952), better known by his ring name "Macho Man" Randy Savage, is a professional wrestler. Savage achieved prominence in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and later World Championship Wrestling. For much of his tenure in the WWF, he was managed by his real life wife, Miss Elizabeth, to whom he was married on December 30, 1984.

Savage signed a $6 million contract with WCW, joining his "friend" Hulk Hogan, who was feuding with the 3 Faces of Fear and later the Dungeon of Doom. Savage's first appearance was slated for Starrcade 1994, for which TV announcers speculated whether Savage would arrive to "shake [Hogan's] hand or slap his face". Savage eventually saved Hogan from an attack by the Faces Of Fear, shaking hands with his oft-friend and oft-rival.

Savage resumed his rivalry with Ric Flair during this time. During the 1995 WCW United States Championship tournament (created when former champion Leon White (Vader) was stripped of the belt for attacking WCW on-air Commissioner Nick Bockwinkel), Savage interfered in Flair's match vs. Alex Wright. He attacked Flair and caused Wright to get disqualified, setting up a tournament semifinal match where the winner would face the winner of the Sting/Meng match for the United States Championship at The Great American Bash that June. Savage and Flair's match never took place, as Savage and Flair brawled in the backstage area prior to the bell ringing. They were both eliminated from the tournament, and had their own match in the main event of the Bash, which Savage won. Later on that year, during part of the storyline where Arn Anderson and Ric Flair turned on each other, Flair (looking for a partner to take on Anderson and Brian Pillman in a tag match) tried to recruit Savage to be his partner. However, remembering the rivalry (and how Flair had attacked Savage's father, Angelo Poffo, which was the catalyst for their feud back in May), he refused, telling Flair point blank to "get the hell out of here!"

In 1995, Savage pushed for WCW to place his father, Angelo Poffo, in its Hall of Fame. Commentator and wrestling legend Gordon Solie opposed this decision, because he felt wrestlers (or in this case, family of wrestlers) should not be asking for spots in the Hall—in this case, especially, since Poffo did not have much of a career in WCW. Poffo's induction went on and Solie left the company shortly after.

On November 26, 1995 at World War 3, Macho Man won the WCW World Title by winning the 60-man three-ring battle royal. He lost the title to Flair a month later. Macho Man won the title back a month afterwards but lost the title back to Flair another month later.

In January 1996, he brought Elizabeth with him into WCW as his valet once again. Elizabeth turned on Savage in his last title loss to Flair. Thereafter, Flair claimed that Elizabeth had given him a sizable amount of Savage's money, taken in their divorce settlement, and which Flair used to set up a "VIP section" at Monday Nitro events. Flair and Savage continued to feud through the Great American Bash in June 1996.

In July 1996, the nWo was formed when Hulk Hogan turned on Savage and joined The Outsiders, a tag team of former WWF wrestlers Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. After their inception, one of their main enemies became Macho Man himself. At Halloween Havoc 1996, Macho Man faced Hogan for the WCW Title but lost when the rest of the nWo interfered.

After the loss at Halloween Havoc, Savage departed WCW as his two year deal had expired. He reportedly shopped his services to the WWF, but Vince McMahon could not meet his asking price at a time of financial difficulty for his company. Ultimately Savage resigned with WCW and would return to television on 20 January 1997's Nitro, emanating from Chicago's United Center.


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Wednesday, April 4, 2007

WCW: Perry Saturn, part 2


On May 31, 1997 in Trenton, New Jersey Satullo tore his ACL when he landed on a crutch while executing a kick on Big Dick Dudley. After an intense reconstructive surgery, Satullo was given a recovery time of up to a year. He began rehabilitating after two months and returned to action in August. However, Satullo had become impatient with what he regarded as Caiazo's lack of motivation and dedication, and refused to reform the Eliminators. Paul Heyman offered to release him from his contract if he could find alternate employment, and Satullo entered into negotiations with World Championship Wrestling.

On August 28, 1997 Satullo was offered a job by WCW road agent Terry Taylor, who had been impressed by a bump that Satullo had taken in a Scaffold Match. He debuted in WCW on September 8, facing Billy Kidman, but was sidelined for a month afterwards as his knee had still not entirely healed. Later that year, both Satullo and Kidman would go on to join The Flock, a heel stable of misfits and misanthropists led by the nihilistic Raven. Satullo's childhood was referenced, with Raven bringing up the violence Satullo incurred at the hands of his stepfather. The enforcer of The Flock, Satullo would win gold on November 3, 1997 when he defeated Disco Inferno to win the WCW Television Championship. He held the title for a month before losing it to Disco in a rematch.

Early in 1998, Satullo was defeated by fellow Flock member Van Hammer in a "Loser Leaves The Flock" match. However, Raven opted to throw Hammer out of the Flock instead. Problems began to arise between Raven and Satullo, and the latter eventually left The Flock, turning face by standing up to the domineering Raven. Raven held all the other Flock members in thrall, so Satullo challenged him to match on the September 12, 1998 Fall Brawl pay-per-view. If Satullo won, The Flock would be freed, but if Raven won, Satullo would become his slave.

On the August 26 episode of Nitro, Raven's lackey Lodi challenged him to a match, with the stipulation that Lodi would leave The Flock if Satullo won, and Satullo would become Lodi's servant until Fall Brawl if he lost. Satullo unexpectedly lost following copious interference from The Flock, and Lodi forced Satullo to carry his bags, made him hold up pro-Lodi signs at ringside and ordered him to chant Lodi's name while Lodi wrestled. Lodi also used Satullo to defeat the enemies of The Flock.

Raven began questioning whether Satullo could "hurt those he wants to free so badly" and forced him to face Riggs. Satullo won cleanly, but refused Raven's order to break Riggs' fingers. When Satullo refused, Raven broke his fingers (Satullo would not break his agreement with Lodi because of a personal honor code which would not allow him to break his word, and Lodi ordered him to allow Raven to harm him). Raven repeatedly tried to goad Satullo into breaking his word, but was unable to do so. Finally, on September 13 at Fall Brawl, Satullo defeated Raven with help from Billy Kidman, disbanding The Flock forever.

Satullo went on to feud with Eddie Guerrero and Ernest Miller before beginning a rivalry with Chris Jericho. After Jericho cost Satullo a number of matches with the help of crooked referee Scott Dickinson, he mocked Satullo's complaints and accused him of crying "like a schoolgirl". This lead to Jericho challenging Satullo to a "Loser wears a dress for ninety days" match at Souled Out on January 17, 1999, which he won after some suspect officiating from Dickinson. Satullo began wearing a variety of dresses to the ring, and using a variation of Marilyn Manson's "The Beautiful People" as his entrance music. He appeared to begin enjoying wearing the dresses, and even began wearing makeup to complement the dresses. Satullo finally stopped wearing dresses after defeating Jericho in a dog collar match at Uncensored on March 14, 1999.

Raven and Satullo reunited in March 1999, feuding with Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit, members of the Four Horsemen. At Slamboree 1999 the former Flock members defeated Benoit and Malenko and champions Rey Mysterio and Billy Kidman for the WCW World Tag Team Championships. After Raven was injured, Satullo lost the titles to Bam Bam Bigelow and Diamond Dallas Page when Chris Kanyon betrayed him. He then teamed with Benoit in order to regain the titles. They were successful, but lost the titles several days later to Page and Kanyon. Benoit and Satullo continued to team together, and eventually formed a stable with Shane Douglas and Dean Malenko known as The Revolution. After Benoit left the Revolution to align himself with fellow Canadian Bret Hart, the remainder of the stable began feuding with him. They then moved on to feuds with Jim Duggan and The Filthy Animals before disbanding.

At this point, Kevin Sullivan became the WCW head booker. Sullivan bore a grudge against Benoit (who had had an affair with Sullivan's wife) and made it clear that he had no intention of pushing Benoit, along with a number of other wrestlers, including Malenko and Satullo. Benoit, Malenko and Satullo asked that neither Sullivan nor his friend road agent Mike Graham be allowed to book their matches. In response, Graham allegedly threatened them with a knife while drunk, fearing that he would lose his job. Satullo and the others used this as leverage to be allowed out of their contracts, and they began negotiations with the World Wrestling Federation, along with Eddie Guerrero. Satullo negotiated a three year contract, and, along with Benoit, Malenko and Guerrero, left for the WWF.

WCW: Perry Saturn, part 1


Ring name(s) The Gargoyle,The Iron Horseman,Perry Saturn,Saturn
Billed height 5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Billed weight 240 lb (109 kg)
Born October 25, 1966,Cleveland, Ohio
Billed from Boston, Massachusetts
Trained by Killer Kowalski
Wrestling Debut 1990

Perry Satullo, better known as Perry Saturn, is a semi-retired American professional wrestler. During his career, he has worked in Extreme Championship Wrestling, World Championship Wrestling, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation.

Satullo grew up in a broken home in less than favorable circumstances, but, to this day, still credits his father Donnie as being his number one hero. Donnie Satullo was a truck mechanic who worked long hours but was always there for Perry. When Perry was 7, Donnie hosted an arm wrestling match in their backyard with the neighborhood kids. Perry easily won the tournament, making the thought apparent to Donnie that his son would be a future wrestling hero, but with the Satullo family's low income and Perry's wild teen lifestyle, they had him enlist in the United States Army at the age of seventeen to become an Army Airborne Ranger (he logged over one hundred airplane jumps in that time) before eventually embarking on a career in professional wrestling.

Satullo began training at Killer Kowalski's school in Malden, Massachusetts around 1988, taking the ring name Saturn from the Roman god of the same name. He debuted on October 27, 1990 in Waltham, Massachusetts, wrestling for the United States Wrestling Federation, where he would later hold the Light-Heavyweight Championship. Satullo also wrestled in Kowalski's International Wrestling Federation as The Iron Horseman, a cowboy complete with black leather stetson and chaps. Satullo eventually won the IWF Light Heavyweight Championship, and would also win the IWF Tag Team Championship along with Terra Rizing. Satullo began wrestling for independent promotions throughout New England, as well as touring Japan with New Japan Pro Wrestling in 1993.

While working as the manager of a nightclub in Boston, Satullo met bouncer George Caiazo, who expressed an interest in becoming a wrestler. Satullo sent Caiazo to Kowalski's school to train, and then offered to form a tag team with him. The Greek equivalent of the god Saturn was Cronus, so Satullo chose the ring name "John Kronus" for Caiazo. As Saturn and Cronus were their cultures' respective gods of the harvest, Satullo proposed that they be known as "The Harvesters of Sorrow". Promoter Jerry Lawler advised Satullo that the significance of the name would not be evident to many fans, so they became known as "The Eliminators".

The Eliminators wrestled their first match together at a USWA house show in 1993. They were hired at a starting salary of $40 a week (they later negotiated a 100% pay rise), and shared an apartment with four other wrestlers. The Eliminators won the USWA World Tag Team Championships on May 2, 1994 from Satullo's mentor, Eddie Gilbert, and Brian Christopher. They held the titles until June 13 when they were defeated by PG-13. Satullo later traveled to Japan with Caiazo to wrestle for the WAR.

The compactly-built and heavily-tattooed Satullo and the high-flying Caiazo caught the attention of Paul Heyman's ECW when they were brought in to job to Rick and Scott Steiner, and the Eliminators were hired by ECW in 1995. Heyman quickly abandoned plans to give them a sadism and masochism gimmick and instead booked them as an unstoppable force in the ECW tag division, giving them a manager, Jason, to compensate for their weak interview skills. The Eliminators captured the ECW Tag Team titles three times between 1996 and 1997, and feuded with teams such as The Gangstas and The Pitbulls. After The Pitbulls' manager Francine cut Satullo's hair, he shaved his head in a homage to Mickey Knox, the character depicted by Woody Harrelson in Natural Born Killers (in reality, Satullo was beginning to go bald).

Satullo was a trainer in the ECW House of Hardcore, a professional wrestling school at which Taz and Mikey Whipwreck also taught. While Satullo was respected for his focus on fundamentals and technical wrestling, he was criticized for manhandling trainee Pablo Marquez after Marquez made a mistake.

Sunday, April 1, 2007

WCW: Kensuke Sasaki


Kensuke Sasaki is a Japanese professional wrestler who currently wrestles for various promotions through his own agency, such as All Japan Pro Wrestling. His agency also runs shows by itself. He has also previously worked for WCW.

Starting in Riki Chōshū's Japan Pro Wrestling Promotion (a satellite of All Japan Pro Wrestling) in 1986, and joined him in returning to NJPW in 1987. Kensuke Sasaki soon left on an overseas learning excursion in January 1989. Sasaki won his first title while in Stu Hart's Stampede promotion (the Stampede International tag team title, ironically with AJPW loyalist Sumo Hara as his partner), and would return to New Japan in March 1990. In November of that year, he formed a popular tag team with Hiroshi Hase and had two reigns as IWGP Tag Team Champions. Two more tag title reigns followed when in 1992, Kensuke Sasaki appeared as the third Road Warrior, Power Warrior. Teaming with Road Warrior Hawk as the Hell Raisers they dominated the tag scene in New Japan.

Sasaki dropped the Power Warrior persona in 1994 and began climbing the ranks in singles competition. His first major title was again a foreign title, the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship, in November 1995. He won the G-1 Climax tournament in August 1997 by defeating Hiroyoshi Tenzan in the final and captured the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship by defeating long reigning champion, Shinya Hashimoto, a few months later. Sasaki solidified his dominance in the heavyweight division by defeating both Masahiro Chono and Keiji Mutoh in his first and second title defenses.

Kensuke Sasaki won the G-1 Climax for the second time in 2000 with a victory over Manabu Nakanishi in the final. Sasaki now held a both of New Japan's two heavyweight singles crowns. In 2001 Sasaki lost the IWGP Heavyweight Title to Scott Norton and later that year resigned after a falling out with company management. In the beginning of 2003 Sasaki joined his mentor, Riki Chōshū, in his new World Japan promotion. When that company failed, Sasaki returned to New Japan as a "traitor" in 2004, now playing the role of a heel. After heated feuds with Nagata and others, Sasaki enjoyed three more IWGP Heavyweight Title reigns and established himself as one of New Japan's most successful wrestlers ever.

Afterwards, he became a freelancer who toured other promotions such as All Japan Pro Wrestling, where he won the 2005 Champion Carnival), and Pro Wrestling NOAH, where he had a famous dream match against Kenta Kobashi at the Destiny 2005 show on July 18, 2005 in the Tokyo Dome (a loss by pinfall at 23:36 after a Burning Lariat from Kobashi).

Sasaki's agency is known by the name Kensuke Office. The company represents several wrestlers, including Sasaki himself and Katsuhiko Nakajima, and has in the past organised its own shows. Kensuke Office is run by Sasaki's wife, former Joshi wrestler Akira Hokuto.

In September, 2006 Kensuke Office was announced as a member of the Global Professional Wrestling Alliance.

Kensuke Sasaki won his third IWGP Heavyweight Championship from Genichiro Tenryu while wrestling with a 39 degree fever.
Kensuke Sasaki and Akira Hokuto have two young sons. Also, Kensuke has a strong bond with his protégé Katsuhiko Nakajima, whom he considers a member of the family.


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