Wrestling Redux

WCW, Tom Brandi

2009-08-20T15:07:00.002-05:00

Tom Brandi is a pro wrestler better know for his work in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) as Salvatore Sincere.
He is also know for his current work as The Patriot, working for wrestling promotions such as Pro-Wrestling WORLD-1, National Wrestling Superstars, and other independent wrestling promotions on the East Coast.
But before Tom showed up in the WWF as Salvatore Sincere, he worked for WCW as Johnny Gunn.
There he was pretty successful as one half of a tag team with "Z-Man" Tom Zenk.

Although he never held any titles in WCW, he did hold the AWA Superstars of Wrestling World Tag Team Championship with Buff Bagwell, the Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW) Tag Team Championship with Tommy Dreamer, the Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South (IWA) Heavyweight Championship, the International World Class Championship Wrestling (IWCCW) Tag Team Championship with King Mike Kaluah, the IWCCW Television Championship, and the NWA 2000 NWA National Heavyweight Championship.

WCW, Sting

2009-08-06T10:41:00.001-05:00

Even though Sting (Steve Borden) is in TNA now, we all remember him from his WCW days.
To cover this man's career would take an entire blog by itself I think.
But here are just the highlights of his career....
NWA World Heavyweight Champion
NWA World Television Champion
WCW International World Heavyweight Champion (twice)
WCW United States Heavyweight Champion (twice)
WCW World Heavyweight Champion (six times)
WCW World Tag Team Champion (3 times with Lex Luger, The Giant and Kevin Nash)

And also the thing I am proudest of....
He NEVER signed with the WWE!
You can respect the wrestler and respect the man.

Did you know that besides wrestling, Sting appeared in "The Nightmare Room", "Walker, Texas Ranger" and "Shutterspeed"?

WCW: Miss Alexandra York

2009-07-28T16:48:00.002-05:00

Terri Lynne Boatright Runnels began her career in wrestling in WCW as Miss Alexandra York, manager of the York Foundation.
She actually started out doing Larry King's make-up on CNN, but on the weekends, she did the makeup for the wrestlers of Jim Crockett Promotions.
In 1988 when Ted Turner bought JCP and renamed the show "World Championship Wrestling", Terri moved to Atlanta, Georgia and kept doing make-up for some of the wrestlers.
She caught the eye of then booker Ole Anderson (formerly one half of the infamous "Minnesota Wrecking Crew") who asked Terri to appear onscreen as a manager.
Over a lunch with WCW announcer Tony Schiavone, they came up with the idea of Miss Alexandra York, a laptop-carrying accountant who led an alliance known as the York Foundation.
Some notable members of the York Foundation included Thomas Rich ("Wildfire" Tommy Rich) , Richard Morton (one half of the The Rock 'n' Roll Express) , Terrance Taylor (Terry Taylor) and Michael Wallstreet (aka Mike Rotunda aka Irwin R. Schyster or I.R.S) .

Terri as Miss Alexandra York stayed with WCW for six years before leaving for the WWF.

You can read more about Terri at her website :
http://www.theterrirunnels.com/

Nitro Girl Spice

2009-07-15T08:19:00.006-05:00

Nitro Girl Spice

Melissa Anne Bellin was born on May 29, 1973, in Meadville, Pennsylvania.
She worked for the WCW as a dancer, valet and wrestler, and you may remember her better under her ring name, Nitro Girl Spice.
Before joining WCW, she was a Chiropractic student, waitress, bartender, model, aerobics instructor and personal trainer.
She started with the WCW Nitro Girls as Spice in 1997.
When Kimberly Page left the group in 1999, Spice started a feud with Nitro Girl A.C. Jazz over control of the group.
Jazz left the WCW and she was replaced with Nitro Girl Tygress.
They actually wrestled on the November 22, 1999 episode of WCW Monday Nitro, but it went to a no contest.
Spice later started a feud with Madusa after Madusa caught Spice flirting with Evan Karagias.
This lead to a match that ended with Spice pinning Madusa!
Spice then became Evan's manager, but she turned on him, cost him his WCW Cruiserweight Championship in a match with Madusa, and wound up managing her.

After Spice left WCW, she went on to join the group Diversity 5 with other ex-Nitro Girls Teri Byrne (Fyre), Sharmell Sullivan (Storm), Chae An (Chae) and Vanessa Sanchez (Tygress) and Chiquita Anderson (Chiquita).

Besides dancing, she choreographed for groups like the WCW Nitro Girls, D.C. Dancers, Reebok (she also danced for them) and the Miss Fitness USA competitors.

Michelle has gone back to her first love, and is now a chiropractor.

Spice also made an appearance in the 2000 movie, "Ready to Rumble".

In doing research for this, I ran across a website that has a ton of pictures of Spice on it......
Sugar & Spice: A Tribute to Nitro Girl Spice

Paul Wight, The Giant

2009-06-08T13:12:00.002-05:00

Paul Donald Wight, Jr. was born on February 8, 1972 in Aiken, South Carolina.
Before he was known as The Big Show in the WWE, he was known as The Giant in WCW.
Paul debuted on WCW during the Bash at the Beach in 1995.
Paul called himself The Giant and claimed to be the son of André the Giant.
He said he blamed Hulk Hogan for the death of his "father", joined the Dungeon of Doom, and began a heated feud with Hogan.

The Giant was in one of the most unusual wrestling matches I have ever seen, the "Monster Truck Battle" at Halloween Havoc.
The "match"took place on top of Cobo Hall, with each man driving a monster truck and trying to force the other truck out of a circle, as in a sumo wrestling.
Hogan won the match when the Giant got out of his vehicle and appeared to fall from the roof.
(This all started because the Giant ran over Hogan's Harley-Davidson Motorcycle with a monster truck)

Amazingly, not only was the Giant not dead, but he showed up later that night and challenged Hogan for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
The Giant got the win by disqualification after Jimmy Hart (Hogan's manager) interfered.
The "swerve" came when Hart said Hogan had signed the contract for the match, not knowing there was a "title changes hands by disqualification clause" in it.
So The Giant became the champion.
It didn't really matter anyway, because of the controversial finish of the match, the title was held up.

Another amazing (to me at least) match in the WCW was an episode of WCW Monday Nitro when Goldberg faced the Giant in a no disqualification match.
Goldberg gave him the delayed vertical suplex and then hit the Jackhammer on The Giant.

The Giant's contract expired on February 8, 1999, and he went to the then WWF.

Stephanie Bellars / Gorgeous George

2009-06-02T09:47:00.001-05:00

Stephanie Bellars was born on born January 25, 1978 in Rockford, Illinois.
She is best known for her time in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as Gorgeous George (not to be confused with 1950s wrestler, but looking at her picture, is there a chance of that?)
Stephanie made her pro wrestling debut in WCW at the 1999 Spring Stampede.
"Macho Man" Randy Savage was dating her at the time and brought her in as his valet.
This was after Savage and Miss Elizabeth had broken up again.
Savage was injured, so the two didn't make it back onto TV until April 1999. The Macho Man started a feud with Ric Flair, so Stephanie (as Gorgeous George) started a feud with Flair's handpicked referee, Charles Robinson.
There was actually a match at Slamboree on May 9, 1999 where George faced Robinson, with her using the Macho Man's moves and Robinson using Flair's.
George won the match with the flying elbow, but that was enough for Stephanie and she said she didnt want to wrestle anymore.
She claimed she was injured in the match and started using crutches, which she used on "Rowdy" Roddy Piper when she turned heel.

Stephanie left WCW and went to ECW in 2000. Since Savage had trademarked the name "Gorgeous George", she was simply called "George".
At Heatwave 2000, she was the valet of Tommy Dreamer, but she turned on him, joining Justin Credible.
During her time in ECW, she also had a feud with Francine.

In 2001, George married Misfits guitarist , Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein, and she also worked for GLOW as a referee.
She then went to Xtreme Wrestling Federation (XWF) and formed the X-Girls with former Nitro Girls Kristina Laum and Chiquita Anderson.

She showed up a few times after that in 2004 on TNA as Minsa, but it never really lead to anything.

In 2005, her husband Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein formed his own band "Gorgeous Frankenstein" named after his beautiful wife.

Héctor Garza

2009-05-25T13:40:00.000-05:00

Héctor Garza was born on June 12, 1969 in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico.
Although mainly a luchador in Mexico, Hector did wrestle for awhile for WCW.
In WCW he was known as Héctor Garza Jr., even though his father wrestled as Humberto Garza.
He was known in WCW for his twirling turnbuckle to floor plancha called the corkscrew plancha.
He did manage a victory over Scott Hall, but other than that, he really didnt get much of a push.
He was a part of Latino World Order along with Eddie Guerrero, Psychosis, La Parka and Juventud Guerrera.
After a painful injury, he left WCW and returned to Mexico to wrestle.

Jimmy "Jam" Garvin

2009-05-15T11:52:00.003-05:00

James Williams was born on September 25, 1952 in Tampa, Florida.
He is a retired pro wrestler better known under his ring name Jimmy "Jam" Garvin as a member of the legendary Fabulous Freebirds.

Jimmy debuted in 1968 as Beau James, but he soon took the name "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin.
He had two "brothers", Terry and Ron Garvin (actually Jimmy was Ron's stepson in real life) who he managed for awhile.

When Jimmy went to World Class Championship Wrestling, he brought along his real life cousin Valerie French, better known as Sunshine.
After awhile, Jimmy brought in his real life wife Patti Williams as Precious.

Jimmy left WCCW with Precious and went to American Wrestling Association (AWA).

Then he went to the Jim Crockett Promotions/World Championship Wrestling, and feuded with Wahoo McDaniel, Brad Armstrong and Magnum T.A., Ric Flair, Kevin Sullivan and others.

In 1989 he joined the Fabulous Freebirds.
Actually Jimmy had wrestled with Micheal Hayes, Buddy Roberts and Terry Gordy back in WCCW and was always considered "The fourth Freebird".

In 1993, Jimmy left WCW and went to Global Wrestling Federation.

Jimmy did go back to the WCW one more time though in 1994 at Superbrawl IV when he replaced the "injured" Michael Hayes.

He is retired now, and is an accomplished pilot and flight instructor.

Terry Funk

2009-05-07T09:05:00.002-05:00

How would I even start to do an entry on Terry Funk?
He was born on born June 30, 1944 in Hammond, Indiana and at age 64, he is still going strong.
Besides holding a honorary lifetime title from ECW, this man has held a ton of belts.
He has held titles in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), Stampede Wrestling, All Japan Pro Wrestling, Georgia Championship Wrestling, Juggalo Championship Wrestling, Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling and Championship Wrestling from Florida just to name a few.
And he has wrestled for ECW, WWF, WCW and WWE among others.
Along with his brother Dory, he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2009 by Dusty Rhodes.
Terry won the Cauliflower Alley Club's Iron Mike Mazurki Award in 2005.
In 2004, he was inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum.
Terry was in the first ever barbed-wire match in the 70s against Dusty Rhodes.
He's been in matches involving ladders, thumbtacks, exploding rings, C4 explosives and numerous "retirement" matches.
To put it mildly, this man has done it all.

Alan Funk

2009-04-30T12:25:00.003-05:00

Alan had a unique look...

Alan Funk was born July 7, 1971.
He is a professional wrestler who has worked for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).
Alan was trained at the WCW Power Plant and made his pro wrestling debut in September 1998.
He has wrestled under many ring names including Kwee Wee, Miss TNA, Rave, Funkster, Triple A, 'Angry' Alan Funk, Bruce and Queen Herod.
Alan was seriuosly injured in a match in Helsinki, Finland, when Sonny Siaki messed up a split-legged moonsault and landed knee first on Funk's face.
He suffered a broken eardrum, nose, and jaw and also cracked his orbital bone, but Alan went on to make a full recovery.

In TNA he was Miss TNA (don't ask) and he also held the BTW Ohio Tag Team Championship in Big Time Wrestling.

Alan and Paisley (Sharmell Sullivan)

Bobby Fulton

2009-04-22T10:50:00.000-05:00

Bobby Fulton of The Fantastics was born James Hines on October 4, 1961 in Chillicothe, Ohio.

Bobby made his pro wrestling debut in 1977 using the ring name Jimmy Hines.
He was 16 years old at the time.
Bobby spent most of his early years in Ohio, wrestling and training with wrestlers like Lord Zoltan (Ken Jugan), Fred Curry, Bull Curry and Charlie Fulton.
He then moved north and started working in the Hart's Calgary territory.
There he was able to work with wrestlers like Bret Hart, The Dynamite Kid, The Cuban Assassin, Bobby Bass, Ross Hart, Bruce Hart, Giant Haystacks and Davey Boy Smith.
After his time there, he moved on to Jerry Jarrett's Memphis territory there he met Tommy Rogers and they moved to "Cowboy"Bill Watts' Mid South Wrestling, where the Fantasics (Fulton and Rogers) were born.
It was also there that the feud with the Midnight Express started.

The feud went from there to World Class Championship Wrestling.
The Fantastics also had a feud with The Sheepherders (the "Bushwackers") in the Universal Wrestling Federation.
They went to NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions, continued their feud with The Midnight Express, and won the NWA United States Tag Team Titles.

You can find out more about Bobby here at his website:
http://www.bobbyfulton.4t.com/

"Big" Rick Fuller

2009-04-10T11:12:00.001-05:00

"Big" Rick Fuller was born Richard Fuller in 1969, in Middleboro, Massachusetts.
Rick trained under "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka and "Mr. USA" Tony Atlas at their wrestling school in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
He made his pro wrestling debut in 1990, and made his debut in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1997 in a match against Lex Luger.
Rick wrestled (and lost to) some of the greats in the WCW.
Besides Luger, he went up against Chris Benoit, Diamond Dallas Page, The Giant (Big Show), Booker T, Jeff Jarrett, Meng, Buff Bagwell, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan and he was one of the first victims of Goldberg's winning streak in early 1998.

After WCW closed, Rick went to the Indy circuit where he has been successful and still wrestles today.
In the independent circuit he has wrestled for promotions like Chaotic Wrestling, Eastern Wrestling Alliance (EWA), Lethal Pro Wrestling (LPW), NWA New England, NWA Southwest and New England Championship Wrestling among others.

Rick also appeared as a prison inmate in the 2008 crime drama "What Doesn't Kill You" with Ethan Hawke and Mark Ruffalo.

He also appeared in the video games WCW Nitro and WCW/NWO Thunder.

Chad Fortune

2009-03-30T16:34:00.003-05:00

Chad Fortune was born August 13, 1967 in Roswell, Georgia.
He is a former professional football player (associated with the Indianapolis Colts, Miami Dolphins, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins, Dallas Cowboys and Chicago Bears at various times), a former pro wrestler for both the WWF and WCW and a monster truck driver.

Under the ring name "Travis", he teamed with Erik Watts (under the ring name Troy) in the WWF as "Tekno Team 2000".
The gimmick never really took off in the WWF and both men were released.

Chad went to WCW in 1997, and tag teamed with Dale Torborg as "The Pit Crew".
Chad was one of the wrestlers released by WCW in October 1999.

After that, Dale began driving the WCW Nitro Machine truck.
Then he drove Karl Malone's "Power Forward" truck for three years.
But probably his coolest truck was the Superman truck in 2005.
Chad dyed his hair black and adopted a Superman themed racing outfit.
He actually looked pretty good.
And he did well.
Chad was voted the Most Improved Driver at the Monster Jam World Finals Awards Banquet in 2005.

David Flair

2009-03-23T12:04:00.003-05:00

David Flair was born David Richard Fliehr on March 6, 1979 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
He is the son of the legendary Ric Flair.

David first showed up in the WCW at the age of 14, in a backstage segment with his family and his father a Starrcade 1993.
He appeared again in 1998 sitting in the front row of WCW events, getting into it with Eric Bischoff and the nWo.
David made his in ring pro wrestling debut at WCW/nWo Souled Out on January 17, 1999, teaming up with his father.

David stayed with WCW from 1999 to 2000.
He then left and worked for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and the World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (WWF, WWE) from 2001 to 2002.
David went to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) in December 2002 and left in early 2003.

After TNA David worked for several Independent promotions including the IWA.

David is married now and lives in Shelby North Carolina.

During his career, David held the IWA Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship, the NWA Wildside Tag Team Championship with Romeo Bliss, the NWA World Tag Team Championship with Dan Factor, won the NWA Tojo Yamamoto Memorial Cup in 2002, the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship, the WCW World Tag Team Championship with Crowbar and the NWA World Tag Team Championship with Dan Factor.
He also held the AFE Heavyweight Championship.

Fit Finlay

2009-03-16T10:33:00.001-05:00

David Edward Finlay, Jr. was born on January 31,1959 in Belfast, Northern Ireland and before he became "Finlay" in the WWE, he was in the WCW as the Belfast Bruiser and Fit Finlay.
He debuted in World Championship Wrestling in 1995 using the Belfast Bruiser ring name (a nickname he had used while in the UK).
His tough guy image is NOT exaggerated.
During an episode of Monday Nitro, he was in a parking lot brawl with Lord Steven Regal that resulted in him sustaining an eye injury from broken glass, which caused him to wrestle with an eyepatch on for several months.
After this, he was involved in a match with Regal where he legitimately broke Regal's nose.
During a hardcore match at a WCW house show in Jackson, Mississippi in July 1999, Finlay suffered a badly lacerated nerve, which nearly cost him use of the leg.
When WCW was bought by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), Finlay began working for them as a trainer for new wrestlers and he eventually wound up training the Divas.

While he was in the WCW, he held the WCW World Television Championship and won the WCW Hardcore Junkyard Invitational Trophy.

Edge in the WCW

2009-02-27T12:22:00.002-05:00

Did you know that WWE superstar Edge once wrestled for the WCW?
Yes, Adam Copeland wrestled under the name Damon Striker on an edition of WCW Pro against Meng (Tonga Fifita) and Kevin Sullivan.
And in way of proof, here is the video of him wrestling Meng.

Mike Enos

2009-02-23T12:17:00.002-05:00

Mike Enos was born on June 11, 1963 in Tampa, Florida.
He is a pro wrestler probably best known for his time wrestling with World Championship Wrestling (WCW), the American Wrestling Association (AWA) and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF).
Mike was trained by "The Trainer of Champions" Eddie Sharkey and made his pro wrestling debut in 1989.
He wrestled as “Mean” Mike Enos in the AWA, Blake Beverly in the WWF and The Mauler and his real name in WCW.

Mike wrestled as the The Masked Superstar at Wrestlewar 1990.
And Mike and his tag team partner Wayne Bloom also wrestled masked as the "Minnesota Wrecking Crew" managed by Ole Anderson.
Mike Enos retired from wrestling in 2000.

"Beautiful Bobby" Eaton

2009-02-19T14:51:00.001-05:00

"Beautiful Bobby" Eaton was born Robert Lee Eaton on August 14, 1958 in Huntsville, Alabama.
"Beautiful Bobby" is probably best known by wrestling fans as one half of the Midnight Express.
During his career, Bobby has worked for several wrestling promotions including Mid-America Wrestling, Continental Wrestling Association, Mid-South Wrestling, World Class Championship Wrestling, Jim Crockett Promotions, WCW, Smoky Mountain Wrestling, ECW and TNA Wrestling.
Although most of his fame has been as a tag team wrestler, Bobby has held a few individual titles.
He was the NWA Georgia Television Champion, WCW World Television Champion, CWA World Heavyweight Champion, NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Champion, NWA Mid-America Television Champion and the SMW Beat the Champ Television Champion.

Even though Bobby wrestled most of his career as a heel, he is known as one of the nicest guys in pro wrestling.
Both Mick Foley and Stone Cold Steve Austin have pointed this out.
He is also known as one of the most under-rated wrestlers to have ever stepped into a ring.

Bobby Duncum, Jr.

2009-02-13T13:58:00.000-05:00

Bobby Duncum, Jr. was born on August 26, 1965 in Austin, Texas.
He is the son of the famous Bobby Duncum.
And is one of the wrestlers that was billed from Texas, that really was from Texas.
Bobby was trained by Skandor Akbar.
He wrestled for Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), All Japan Pro Wrestling and the WCW as a member of the West Texas Rednecks.
Bobby passed away after an accidental overdose of a prescription pain killer on January 24, 2000.

Hacksaw Jim Duggan

2009-02-08T13:56:00.001-05:00

James Stuart Duggan was born on January 14, 1954 in Glens Falls, New York.
Hacksaw was a star athlete in high school, lettering in football, track, wrestling, and basketball.
After leaving high school, Jim went to Southern Methodist University (SMU) where he played football.
It was on a recruiting trip to SMU that Jim met Fritz Von Erich.
Fritz took Jim on after college and trained him.
Duggan also trained with Samoan wrestling promoter Peter Maivia, the grandfather of The Rock.
Jim made his pro wrestling debut in 1979 against Gino Hernandez.
Hacksaw has had a long career overcoming obstacles not only in the ring but outside of it as well.
In 1998 he was diagnosed with kidney cancer and eventually beat the disease.
And hacksaw has held several titles during his wrestling career including the IWA World Heavyweight Championship, the Texas All-Star Wrestling Championship, the Mid-South Louisiana Championship , the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship, the WWWA United States Championship and Hacksaw was the first winner of the WWF Royal Rumble back in 1988.

"The Franchise" Shane Douglas

2009-02-03T14:43:00.001-05:00

Shane Douglas (Troy Shane Martin) wrestled for ECW and WCW as "The Franchise" Shane Douglas and for the WWF as Dean Douglas. He has also recently worked for TNA.
Shane was born in New Brighton, Pennsylvania on November 21, 1964.
He was trained by Dominic DeNucci (who also trained Mick Foley) and made his pro wrestling debut in 1982.
Besides ECW, WCW, WWF and TNA, he has wrestled for Border City Wrestling, International Wrestling Association, Major League Wrestling, Midwest Wrestling United and many more. In most of these promotions, he held the Heavyweight Wrestling Championship at one point or another.
Shane Douglas is currently doing motivational speaking and is writing his first book.

Glenn Gilberti / Disco Inferno

2009-01-28T14:57:00.001-05:00

Glenn Gilberti has has a long and colorful career.
He was a wrestler for the WCW as Disco Inferno, he was a wrestler and road agent for TNA Wrestling and a writer for WrestleZone.
Glenn's pro wrestling debut was on November 20, 1991 on the Georgia independent circuit.
During his wrestling career, he worked for Great Championship Wrestling, Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation, North Georgia Wrestling Association, Palmetto Pride Championship Wrestling, Swiss Wrestling Federation and WCW among others.
In several of those promotions he held the Heavyweight Wrestling Championships.
He also faced many of the greats of wrestling in the ring like Eddie Guerrero, Kevin Sullivan, Dick Slater, Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn, Booker T, La Parka, Konnan and Sting.

You can read more about Disco at the Unofficial Disco Inferno website

James J. Dillon / JJ Dillon

2009-01-12T11:52:00.002-05:00

Most people probably remember James J. Dillon as a manager.
But before that he was a wrestler.
But did you know he took the ring name James J. Dillon because he couldn't wrestle under his real name?
Dillon was born Jim Morrison on June 26, 1942 and he started his wrestling career in 1971, the same year that Jim Morrison, the lead singer of the Doors, died.
JJ started out wrestling in the Mid-Atlantic, Texas and Florida areas and became a headliner when he went to the Canadian Maritimes in 1973.
Before he became known as a manager, he held titles in Central States Wrestling, Championship Wrestling from Florida, the Eastern Sports Association and NWA Western States Sports. He held the Heavyweight Wrestling Championship in all four promotions at one time.

But everyone probably remembers him best as a manager.
When he first started managing, several of the wrestlers he managed went on to become wrestling legends.
Ron Bass, Black Bart, "Nature Boy" Buddy Landel, Jimmy Garvin and the One Man Gang to name a few.

Dillon's real fame began when he managed Tully Blanchard.
Tully and JJ began to hang out with Ric Flair and his "cousins," Ole and Arn Anderson and after they "broke" Dusty Rhodes' leg, they soon became known as the legendary wrestling stable, "The Four Horsemen.".
They feuded with Dusty Rhodes, Magnum TA, Barry Windham, The Rock 'N Roll Express, Nikita Koloff , and The Road Warriors. And they usually held most of the major belts as well.

Even with all this fame, Dillon was let go from WCW where he moved to the front office of the then WWF. This didn't last long as he moved back to the WCW and was the WCW Commissioner in 1996 when the nWo storyline started.
You can love him or hate him for this, but Dillon was responsible for bringing in Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara to the WCW.

JJ retired from the business, but returned briefly in 2002 as the commissioner of TNA.

JJ made his first (and so far only) appearance on WWE at Ric Flair's retirement party when he showed up with Tully Blanchard, Barry Windham and Arn Anderson.

He wrote a book "Wrestlers Are Like Seagulls-From McMahon To McMahon" about his career and his personal life.

The "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase

2009-01-05T10:28:00.002-05:00

What can you say about Theodore Marvin "Ted" DiBiase, Sr.?
I mean that hasn't already been said.
He was born on January 18, 1954 in Omaha, Nebraska to female pro wrestler wrestler Helen Hild. His stepfather, pro wrestler "Iron" Mike DiBiase passed away in the ring of a heart attack when Ted was just 15.
He was trained by wrestling legends Dory Funk, Jr. and Terry Funk.
If anyone has wrestling in their blood it's Ted DiBiase.
To list all of his accomplishments would take a blog by itself.
Or you could just write a book, which Ted did, called "Every Man Has His Price: The True Story of Wrestling's Million-Dollar Man
".
Even though retired from active wrestling, he makes occasional appearances on WWE programs from time to time.
But right now his passion is his promotion, Power Wrestling Alliance. The PWA events are a combined Christian/wrestling event, because Ted is a born-again Christian. He sometimes works with another fellow born-again Christian, Nikita Koloff (Nelson Scott Simpson), at the events.
All three of his sons, Mike DiBiase, Ted DiBiase, Jr. and Brett are professional wrestlers.
On May 26, 2008, Ted DiBiase, Jr. continued his father's wrestling legacy by debuting in the WWE.

Barry Darsow

2008-12-19T13:14:00.002-05:00

Barry Darsow, best known as Smash, was born October 6, 1959 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is a former pro wrestler .
During his career he worked for Jim Crockett Promotions, the WWF, WCW, and several regional promotions in the 1980s and 1990s.

Darsow got his wrestling cred early on in life. He attended Robbinsdale High School in Minneapolis with Curt Hennig, Richard Rood (Rick Rude), Brady Boone (Battle Kat), Tom Zenk, John Nord, and Scott Simpson (Nikita Koloff).
Was it some kind of Genetic Research facility?
He also worked as a bouncer with the Road Warriors, Hawk and Animal.
During his career he held the NWA Florida United States Tag Team Wrestling Championship with Jim Neidhart, the IAW Tag Team Wrestling Championship with Paul Roma, the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Wrestling Championship, the NWA United States Tag Team Wrestling Championship with Ivan Koloff, the NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Wrestling Championship twice with Ivan and Nikita Koloff, the Mid-South Television Wrestling Championship and the WWF Tag Team Wrestling Championship three times with Ax.

And his legacy lives on, as now his son Dakota Darsow has signed a developmental contract with the WWE.

Mike Maraldo / Ace Darling

2008-12-11T13:17:00.000-05:00

Mike Maraldo was born on June 27, 1975 in Jersey Shore Brick Township, New Jersey.
He is a pro wrestler best known by his wrestling name Ace Darling.
Ace has wrestled for many promotions including East Coast Wrestling Association, Jersey All-Pro Wrestling, New Jack City Wrestling, Independent Superstars of Pro Wrestling, ECW, and Pennsylvania Championship Wrestling.
He appeared on WCW in 1997 when he and Devon Storm (Crowbar) formed a tag team known as The Extremists.

"The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels

2008-12-02T12:06:00.001-05:00

And now a person that I think is really under rated.
He's a very solid in ring performer and has the showmanship ability a lot of wrestlers lack.
This has nothing to do with the fact that he's from my home state.
Heck, if this keeps up I may just do a blog on North Carolina Wrestlers.
Daniel Christopher Covell was born on December 24, 1973 Fayetteville, North Carolina.
He is a pro wrestler better known by his ring names "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels or Curry Man.
Daniels wrestled for the WCW back in 2001 and had a famous match during an episode of WCW Monday Nitro where he botched an attempted springboard moonsault, nearly breaking his neck. Despite losing almost all control of his left arm, he wrestled the match to it's finish.
Daniels was offered a 90-day contracts after the match, but the WWF bought WCW right after that and Christopher would never wrestle for the WCW again.

WCW: El Dandy

2008-11-25T13:15:00.003-05:00

Roberto Gutiérrez Frías is a Mexican professional wrestler born on October 2, 1962 in Tijuana, Baja California.
He is best known by his ring name, El Dandy.
El Dandy had wrestled with the Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) promotion in Mexico, but he is best known in the US because of his time spent in the WCW.
In WCW, El Dandy was basically a midcard wrestler, but he did have a few moments of glory.
He was a member of the Latino World Order led by Eddie Guerrero.
On March 22, 1999 on WCW Monday Nitro, he almost had a shot at the WCW Champion Ric Flair, when Flair drew his name in a random drawing. El Dandy had been injured earlier that night in an 8-man tag team bout so he turned his chance over to a fellow luchador, Rey Mysterio, Jr.
El Dandy briefly partnered with Silver King in 2000 to form Los Fabulosos. Stacy Keibler managed the team and lead them to their first major victories in WCW.
His place in wrestling was cemented in a interview between Bret Hart and Gene Okerlund when Gene doubted El Dandy being a worthy opponent for Bret. Bret responded with "Who are you to doubt El Dandy?" and a wrestling catch phrase was created.
You can see the interview here.

WCW: Damian / Galaxy

2008-11-18T11:39:00.001-05:00

Leonardo Carrera was born on June 9, 1961 in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico.
He is very famous in Mexico, wrestling under the name Damián 666.
But here in the US, he wrestled for the WCW under the ring names Galaxy and Damien.
Damian was in Eddie Guerrero's Latino World Order (LWO), along with El Dandy, La Parka, Lizmark, Jr., Rey Mysterio, Jr. and Héctor Garza.

WCW: Shannon Spruill / Daffney

2008-11-06T12:40:00.002-05:00

Shannon Spruill the wild and crazy Daffney of the WCW.
Shannon Claire Spruill was born on July 17, 1975 in Wiesbaden, Germany.
I bet her parents never thought she'd be on TV yelling and screaming in a straight jacket.
Daffney took insanity to a whole 'nother level. She was first shown on Nitro sitting on a bed chanting David Flair's name.
She did her share of gimmick matches on WCW.
A mixed tag team match with her and Crowbar against WCW World Cruiserweight Champion Chris Candido and his girlfriend Tammy Lynn Sytch.
Crowbar and Daffney won, making them co-champions.
Daffney later faced Crowbar in a match which she won after Candido came into the ring and hit Crowbar with a sitout piledriver.
That made Daffney the second woman ever to hold the Cruiserweight Championship.
Daffney later lost that title when Miss Hancock (Stacy Keibler) interfered in a three way match between Daffney, Lieutenant Loco and Disco Inferno.
This led to a feud with Miss Hancock that led into the first ever Wedding Gown match, which Daffney won.
After that she had a short feud with Shane Douglas's valet, Torrie Wilson, but Daffney rarely wrestled again.
Daffney was released by WCW on February 2, 2001 due to budget cutbacks about a month before the WWF bought them out.

David Sierra, the Cuban Assassin

2008-10-23T09:13:00.001-05:00

Fidel Sierra David Cannell was born July 27, 1960 in Miami, Florida.
He is a professional wrestler, better known as David Sierra, who is known as a longtime veteran of the World Wrestling Council (one of Puerto Rico's two main professional wrestling promotions) as well as his appearances in WCW Wrestling (As the Cuban Assassin) and Pacific Northwest Wrestling during the 1980s and 90s.

WCW: Rick Cornell / Reno

2008-10-16T08:18:00.001-05:00

http://members.tripod.com/S_A_J/wcwpictures.html

Rick Cornell was a professional wrestler in WCW Wrestling better known by his ring name Reno.
Before entering pro wrestling, Rick was an undefeated kickboxer and had been an amateur wrestler all throughout high school.
During his time in WCW, he was a member of the Natural Born Thrillers (Mike Sanders, Chuck Palumbo, Sean O'Haire, Shawn Stasiak, Mark Jindrak and Johnny the Bull).
Rick was trained at the WCW Power Plant in Atlanta and eventually made it to WCW Television.
When WCW was purchased by the WWE, Reno's contract was picked up, but he was released by the WWE before he ever appeared on television.

WCW, Debbie Combs

2008-10-08T10:37:00.000-05:00

Debbie Combs was born Debbie Szestecki on April 18, 1959 in Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
She is a female professional wrestler.
Her mother was the legendary Cora Combs.
Debbie worked briefly in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in the mid-1990s when they attempted a Women's Wrestling division.
On March 31, 1997, on WCW Monday Nitro, Combs lost to another legend, WCW Women's Champion Akira Hokuto.

Although Debbie won several titles during her career, her only major title was the NWA World Women's Title, which she won before the NWA became WCW.

The Cole Twins

2008-09-30T14:37:00.002-05:00

http://www.wrestlingworld.it/Historical/Tagteamgallery/Tagteamgallery.htm

The Cole Twins(Kent and Keith Cole) were a professional wrestling tag team that competed in North American regional and independent promotions.
But the twins were probably best known for their stint in WCW during the early 1990s.
During their time in WCW, they feuded with several tag teams including Tex Slazenger and Shanghai Pierce, Rage and Fury-The Wrecking Crew, Booker T and Stevie Ray-Harlem Heat and the Brian Pillman and Steve Austin-The Hollywood Blondes.

They were brought into WCW as a tag team by the booker at the time,Dusty Rhodes, in late-1992.
The Cole Twins regularly appeared on WCW Saturday Night, WCW Main Event and WCW Worldwide.

After a six-year absence, the twins debuted in NWA Wildside as the Kohl Brothers in the mid-2000s.
They won the NWA Wildside Tag Team Wrestling Championships twice.

Bryan Clark, Jr./ KroniK / Wrath

2008-09-23T09:36:00.002-05:00

Bryan Clark, Jr. (Bryan Clark or Bryan Clarke), was born March 14, 1964 in Tallahassee, Florida. He is an American professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with the WWF ( as Adam Bomb and one half of KroniK) and WCW (as Mortis) .

Bryan Clark's pro wrestling debut was replacing the injured Scott Hall at Starrcade '91. After that he appeared in Chicago Championship Wrestling, American Wrestling Association, Smoky Mountain Wrestling, and the UWF.

Clark rejoined the WCW in 1997 as Wrath, teaming with Mortis.

After a couple of injuries, he returned to he WCW forming a tag team with Brian Adams known as KroniK.

Kronik won the WCW Tag Team Wrestling Titles at Bash at the Beach on July 9. KroniK held the titles until August 13, 2000 when they were beaten by Vampiro and The Great Muta.

Goldberg beat both Clark and Adams in a Handicap Match at Halloween Havoc.

KroniK acted as hired muscle, helping The Boogie Knights (Alex Wright and Disco Inferno) battle the Filthy Animals, and eventually working for their former enemies, the Natural Born Thrillers.

KroniK turned face once again in January 2001 , siding with Ernest Miller. They were eventually sidelined when Clark was split open with a chair, needing stitches, and Adams was hospitalized with appendicitis. While both members of KroniK were injured, WCW was purchased by the WWF in March 2001.

WCW: Ciclope

2008-09-17T08:05:00.001-05:00

Manuel Ortiz Partida was born May 22, 1971 in Tijuana, Baja California. He is a pro wrestler who is currently wrestling on the Independent Circuit in Mexico, particularly in the Tijuana area.
He is better known by his stage name Halloween.

Manuel Ortiz Partida made his pro wrestling debut in 1990 at Auditorio de Tijuana in Tijuana, Baja California. He spent his time in the Independent Circuit.
He wrestled as "Halloween" for most of his career but switched to "Ciclope" in 1996 when he went to WCW.
Ciclope was neglected in WCW, even when compared to the other luchadors there at the time.
His biggest moment in WCW was as part of the feud between then Cruiserweight Champion Chris Jericho and Dean Malenko.
Malenko, who had been inactive for several months, dressed up as Ciclope to win a Cruiserweight battle royale to determine the number one contender for Chris Jericho's Cruiserweight Title.
Jericho had been refusing to grant Malenko a match, making the disguise necessary.
All Ciclope got out of the deal was a singles match with Jericho on Nitro, which he lost.

Here's a video of Rey Mysterio Jr wrestling Ciclope in the WCW.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoxCdWCrr2g

Technorati Tags: Manuel Ortiz Partida Halloween Ciclope Chris Jericho Dean Malenko wcw wrestling nitro nwo the pro championship

Masahiro Chono

2008-09-11T10:06:00.001-05:00

Masahiro Chono was born September 17, 1963, in Seattle, Washington.
He is a Japanese professional wrestler.
He primarily wrestles for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), but has also made appearances for the now defunct WCW, as a member of the nWo.
Chono, called Mister Black Jack when he first started as a heel, is one of the top heels in Japanese wrestling history.
He is a former NWA World Champion and IWGP Heavyweight Champion.

Chono invented the STS (Stepover Toehold Sleeper)

Chono is the owner of his own line of clothing stores called ArisTrisT. Hulk Hogan can be seen wearing Chono's ArisTrisT apparel on his TV show Hogan Knows Best. His wife Martika designs many of the clothing line's jewelry and clothing.

Curtis Thompson, Firebreaker Chip

2008-09-04T10:26:00.001-05:00

Curtis Thompson was born January 20, 1963, in Charlotte, North Carolina. He is an American professional wrestler best known for his time in WCW as Firebreaker Chip.

Curtis Thompson made his pro wrestling debut in 1987. He wrestled in Stampede Wrestling (as the masked Archangel), South Atlantic Pro Wrestling, Pacific Northwest Wrestling and Puerto Rico's World Wrestling Council. He formed a tag team with Ricky Santana called the "US Males" in PNW.

In late 1990, he joined WCW. He became Firebreaker Chip and teamed with Todd Champion as "The Patriots". They had the gimmick of being two soldiers that had returned from Desert Storm and were billed as being from "WCW Special Forces". They feuded with the Fabulous Freebirds and won the United States Tag Team Titles. They next feuded with Steve Armstrong and Tracy Smothers who beat them for the titles.

Thompson soon left WCW and wrestled in the independent promotions. He turned up in the NWA's Mid-Atlantic promotion in a tag team with Drake Dawson called "Triple X". He also wrestled briefly for Smoky Mountain Wrestling in the mid 1990s.

As of 2005, Thompson was still wrestling in the Mid-Atlantic area independent promotions.

Firebreaker Chip is well known for a backstage fight (which was told in Mick Foley's autobiography Have A Nice Day) he got in with Diamond Dallas Page in which Page placed Chip in a front face lock. He is currently attending the Cornell Intensive Wrestling for his second year camp.

Nitro Girl Chiquita

2008-08-29T10:36:00.000-05:00

Chiquita Anderson was born November 22, 1974, in Chicago, Illinois. She is an American dancer, model and former member of WCW's Nitro Girls as Nitro Girl Chiquita.

Anderson is a graduate of Philadelphia University of the Arts with an associate's degree in Dance.

In 2000, Chiquita was a member of WCW's dance team The Nitro Girls. Chiquita replaced Sharmell Sullivan when Sharmell left for the WWF. She danced alongside the other members of the group for several months before they disbanded. After the Nitro Girls were disbanded, Anderson then became part of the pop music group Diversity 5 with other former Nitro Girls when Sharmell Sullivan left the group.

She was part of the short-lived Xtreme Wrestling Federation's X-Girls in 2001 with Stephanie Bellars and Kristina Laum. They were dance troup similar to WCW's Nitro Girls.

Chastity / Denise Riffle

2008-08-24T13:43:00.001-05:00

Denise Riffle was born June 18, 1971 in Baltimore, Maryland. She is an American former professional wrestling valet, better known as Chastity.

After training under Raven and Corporal Punishment, Denise Riffle became a wrestling valet in 1996, and worked on the independent circuit as Brittany Bottoms.

She joined ECW in 1997 and changed her name to Chastity. She was the valet for the bWo before joining Raven's Nest. She gained a reputation during this time for spraying her enemies with a fire extinguisher. When Raven left ECW to join WCW in late-1997, Riffle became the valet for Justin Credible. She had several catfights with Beulah McGillicutty, and received numerous piledrivers from McGillicutty's ally Tommy Dreamer. She left ECW shortly after being "fired" by Credible, who repeatedly struck her with his Singapore cane.

Riffle joined WCW in late 1998 and was reunited with Raven when she was featured in several vignettes as his wealthy sister. She began accompanying Raven to the ring, only to turn on him and join forces with Hardcore Hak. She interfered in most of Hak's hardcore matches until she was released in 1999, after WCW discovered that she had once been featured in an adult film titled "Live Bait".

Riffle re-emerged in Xtreme Pro Wrestling as the valet of Lizzy Borden. She helped Borden in her feud with Kristi Myst and was valet of Johnny Webb.

WCW: Todd Champion

2008-08-19T13:43:00.002-05:00

Todd Bradford was born September 2, 1960 on September 2, 1960 in Los Angeles, California. He was a professional wrestler better known by his ring name, Todd Champion.

Todd Champion started out wrestling in the NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions in 1986. He was used as a jobber until he was sent to the Central States territory to team with D.J. Peterson to develop his skills. He and Peterson captured the Tag Team Titles while there and feuded with The MOD Squad and The Thunderfoots.

Todd then wrestled in Mexico as KGB where he continued to develop his skills. Champion returned to the United States in 1991 and formed a tag team called The Patriots with Firebreaker Chip in World Championship Wrestling. They feuded with The Fabulous Freebirds and The Young Pistols and captured the WCW United States Tag Team Championship and held it for 3 months.

In 1992, the Patriots disbanded and Champion went to the United States Wrestling Association where he feuded with Butch Reed and Jerry Lawler over the top title until being fired by Lawler for being reckless.

Champion went on to wrestle in the independent circuit, wrestling in Japan for Michinoku Wrestling under the ringname Perro Russo, until retiring in 2000.

Nitro Girl Chae

2008-08-09T11:27:00.002-05:00

Nitro Girl Chae

Chae An was born June 8, 1973 in Seoul, South Korea.
She graduated from Armstrong State University in Savannah, Georgia with a General Studies degree.
Chae went on to become a cheerleader for the Atlanta Falcons and became a member of the original Nitro Girls from 1997 to 2001
She dated wrestler Kevin Nash from 1996-2002.
Chae got married on October 27, 2007.
Several former Nitro Girls formed a pop music group called Diversity 5: Teri Byrne (Fyre), Melissa Bellin (Spice), Sharmell Sullivan (Storm), Chae An (Chae) and Vanessa Sanchez (Tygress). When Sharmell went to the WWF for the first time, Chiquita Anderson (Chiquita) replaced her.

Victor Mar Manuel / Black Cat

2008-08-03T14:41:00.000-05:00

Image via WikipediaVictor Mar Manuel, born October 17, 1954, passed away January 28, 2006, was a Mexican professional wrestler who was best known for his work in Japan and for his Black Cat gimmick.
Victor worked for Universal Wrestling Association, New Japan Pro Wrestling and Asistencia Asesoria y Administracion.
However in January 1998, he made two appearances with Atlanta, Georgia based World Championship Wrestling. His first WCW appearance was at January 12, 1998 edition of Nitro where he lost to Marty Jannetty. His second and final appearance with WCW was on January 15 edition of Thunder where he teamed with Ohara and Gedo but lost to Steiner Brothers and Ray Traylor in a 6-man tag team match.
In early 2006, he suffered a massive heart attack and died on January 28.

Kid Kash

2008-07-18T15:33:00.002-05:00

David Cash, born July 31, 1969 in Waynesboro, Virginia, is better known by his wrestling name Kid Kash. He is an American professional wrestler who has worked for World Championship Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment, Extreme Championship Wrestling, and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.

On March 21, 2001 Kid Kash debuted as "Cash" in World Championship Wrestling on the finale of WCW Thunder. Cash was billed as the protege of former Tag Team Champion Ricky Morton. Cash lost his debut match to another former ECW Alumni Jason Jett.

Technorati Tags: Kid Kash wcw wwe tna ecw wrestling nitro nwo the pro championship rumors professional

Dino Casanova

2008-07-05T11:29:00.002-05:00

David Mark DiMeglio (February 8, 1967-March 1, 2002) was an American professional wrestler, best known by his ring name Dino Casanova, who competed in Northeastern independent promotions including the National Wrestling Alliance, Extreme Championship Wrestling and the Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation, most notably as one half of The Cream Team with Rip Sawyer. He and Sawyer, among others such as Barry Hardy, Duane Gill and Axl Rotten, helped train Ian Rotten during his early career.

He also had a brief stint in World Championship Wrestling with Romeo Valentino during the mid-1990s. As The Goodfellas, they would continue teaming with each other on the independent circuit until his death.

On February 2, 1995,Dino and Valentino made their WCW debut on WCW Worldwide against The Fantastics (Bobby Fulton & Tommy Rogers) at Disneyworld in Orlando, Florida. Several weeks later, they would appear on WCW Saturday Night in the main event against Stars & Stripes (Marcus Bagwell & The Patriot). This would be included as a dark match at SuperBrawl V at the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, Maryland on February 19, 1995. After confronting Eric Bishoff, WCW World Heavyweight Champion Big Van Vader interfered in the match attacking all four men.

Occasionally appearing in World Championship Wrestling during the next two years, DiMeglio would be seen on WCW Saturday Night facing "Flyin'" Brian Pillman on April 29 and Sting in a match for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship at the Center Stage Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia on July 11, 1995.

Later that year, he and Frankie Lancaster would lose to Brian Pillman & Chris Benoit on WCW Saturday Night on December 9 and, several weeks later, he would face Hugh Morris at WCW Main Event on January 7, 1996.

Ray Candy

2008-06-04T10:14:00.003-05:00

Wrestler: Ray Candy
Real Name: Ray Canty
Born: December 3, 1951, Decatur, Georgia
Pro Wrestling Debut: 1973
Previous Gimmicks: Kareem Mohammad, Masked Superfly (WCCW), Blackstud Williams (Oregon-1988), Commando Ray (WCW-1988)
Notable Feuds: Bruiser Brody, Blackjack Mulligan

Ray Candy (December 3, 1951 - May 23, 1994) was a professional wrestler for the Jim Crockett Promotions and various other regional wrestling territories. He was responsible for training New Jack as a pro wrestler.

Chris Candito

2008-05-23T08:30:00.005-05:00

Christopher Candito (March 21, 1972 – April 28, 2005) was an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name Chris Candido. Throughout most of his career, he was accompanied by his high school sweetheart Tammy Lynn Sytch, though despite a long-term relationship, the two were never legally married.

Candido held major titles in Extreme Championship Wrestling, the National Wrestling Alliance, World Championship Wrestling, and the World Wrestling Federation. His highest-profile role was in the World Wrestling Federation as Skip, part of the successful tag team known as The Bodydonnas with Zip, and his girlfriend and valet Sunny.

Candito was the grandson of "Popeye" Chuck Richards, a wrestler for the World Wide Wrestling Federation, a precursor to the WWF. He started training at age 14 with Larry Sharpe and wrestled for Sharpe's World Wrestling Association. He began using the alternate spelling of Candido for his ring name.

While in high school, he met and fell in love with Tammy Sytch, and the two began a lifelong relationship. Sytch would later become his valet.

In the early 1990s, Candido was a part of Eastern Championship Wrestling (later Extreme Championship Wrestling). While in ECW, he was part of a stable called The Suicide Blonds with Johnny Hotbody and Chris Michaels. The trio had two stints as the Tag Team Champions; the first from April 2, 1993 to May 15 after winning them from Tony Stetson and Larry Winters. They lost the titles to the Super Destroyers, only to regain them the same day. They later vacated the titles when Candido left the promotion.

Candido became famous in Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW), alongside his manager and girlfriend Tammy Lynn Sytch.

On November 19, 1994, Candido won a 10-man tournament, defeating Al Snow, Dirty White Boy, and Tracy Smothers to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, which had been won and immediately vacated by Shane Douglas and ECW that August.

Candido's reign came at a time when national exposure for the National Wrestling Alliance was at an all-time low, as there was no national television outlet for the organization. His title defense matches were mostly held in small independent federations and SMW. Candido dropped the belt to Dan Severn on February 24, 1995, whose subsequent reign lasted over four years.

Candido and Sytch moved on to the WWF where Sytch was dubbed Sunny and Candido Skip, the fitness fanatics The Bodydonnas. On March 31, 1996, Candido won the WWF Tag Team Championship with Zip (Tom Prichard) from The Godwinns during the finals of a tournament for the vacated titles. However, they lost the titles on May 19, 1996 at a house show. According to Tammy Sytch in interviews post Candido's death, Candito and Sytch had a brief separation behind the scenes while working for the WWF.

After leaving the WWF, Candido joined ECW again, becoming part of the revived Triple Threat stable alongside Shane Douglas. While in the Triple Threat, he developed a rivalry with fellow member Lance Storm, who was soon replaced by Bam Bam Bigelow. However, Candido teamed with Storm to win the ECW Tag Team Championship. They won the tag titles on December 5, 1997 from Doug Furnas and Phil Lafon. Despite being a reluctant team who hated each other, Candido and Storm had a lengthy championship run. The duo held the titles for approximately six months until they lost them on June 26, 1998 against Rob Van Dam and Sabu.

He also had a brief run in World Championship Wrestling (WCW), which started when he was cleared to compete on March 16, 2000. During his stint there, he won the WCW Cruiserweight Championship. He won the title on April 16, 2000 in a six-way match at Spring Stampede 2000 against The Artist, Juventud Guerrera, Shannon Moore, Lash LeRoux, and Crowbar. He lost the title on May 15 of that same year. Later, the Triple Threat reformed in WCW, with Candido, Douglas, and Bam Bam Bigelow. However, the reformation was short lived, after Tammy was released from WCW due to backstage problems with Kimberly Page.

Candido had two runs with Xtreme Pro Wrestling. The first was in 2000, and he won the XPW World Heavyweight Championship before leaving for WCW. The second run was from late 2002 until the company's final show in 2003.

Candido wrestled with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in early 2005, until he died from a post-surgery blood clot. Due to the fact that his last performance was taped to air later in the week, he was featured on an episode of TNA iMPACT! after his death.

In addition to wrestling, Candido also trained new wrestlers, including his brother Johnny Candido.

Cactus Jack / Mick Foley

2008-05-11T11:22:00.002-05:00

Michael Francis "Mick" Foley, Sr. was born June 7, 1965 and is an American author and pro wrestler. He is currently signed to theWWE, as a color commentator on its SmackDown! brand.

Throughout his wrestling career, Foley has wrestled for many different promotions, both under his real name and under various personas (most notably Cactus Jack, Mankind and Dude Love). He is the first ever WWF Hardcore Champion and became a three-time WWF Champion as Mankind. He is also one of the most successful tag team wrestlers in history, being an eight-time WWF Tag Team Champion, a two-time ECW World Tag Team Champion, a one-time WCW World Tag Team Champion and a one-time WCWA Tag Team Champion. He is also a one-time WCWA Light Heavyweight Champion.

Foley is a multiple-time New York Times bestselling author. He was also a subject of the documentary Beyond the Mat, which followed him at the peak of his career.

On September 5, 1991, Cactus Jack debuted as a heel and attacked Sting. After feuds with Van Hammer and Abdullah the Butcher, Cactus Jack faced Sting, then WCW champion, in a non-title Falls Count Anywhere match at Beach Blast 1992, which Sting won. For a long time, Foley considered this the best match he ever worked.

Cactus Jack first wrestled Vader on April 6, 1993. Foley and Leon White wanted an intense match, so they agreed that Vader would hit Cactus with a series of heavy blows to the face. WCW edited the match heavily because it was against their policies to show the heavy bleeding that resulted. Foley suffered a broken nose, a dislocated jaw and needed twenty-seven stitches, but won the match via countout. Because the title did not change hands on a countout, WCW booked a rematch. Foley, however, wanted some time off to be with his newborn daughter and get surgery to repair a knee injury. As a result, in the rematch with Vader on April 23, the two executed a dangerous spot to sell a storyline injury. Vader removed the protective mats at ringside and power-bombed Cactus onto the exposed concrete floor, causing a legitimate concussion and causing Foley to temporarily lose sensation in his left foot and hand. While Foley was away, WCW ran an angle where Cactus Jack's absence was explained with a farcical comedy storyline in which he went crazy, was institutionalized, escaped, and developed amnesia. Foley had wanted the injury storyline to be very serious and generate genuine sympathy for him before his return. The comedy vignettes that WCW produced instead were so bad that Foley jokes in Have a Nice Day that they were the brainchild of WCW executives who regarded a surefire moneymaking feud as a problem that needed to be solved.

Foley returned in the fall of 1993 to save the British Bulldog from an attack by Vader. He then proceeded to feud with Vader and other wrestlers managed by Harley Race, Jack's former manager. In one of WCW's most brutal matches of all time, Cactus faced Vader in a Texas Death match at Halloween Havoc. Race won the match for Vader by using a cattle prod on Cactus, knocking him out for over ten seconds. The level of violence involved in this feud caused WCW to refuse to ever again book Cactus Jack against Vader on a pay-per-view. On March 16, 1994, during a WCW European tour, Foley and Vader had one of the most infamous matches in wrestling history in Munich, Germany. Foley began a hangman, a spot where a wrestler's head is tangled between the top two ring ropes, which is usually painful but safe. Unbeknownst to Foley, however, 2 Cold Scorpio had earlier complained that the ropes were too loose, resulting in the ring staff tightening the ropes to the maximum. As Foley struggled to pull himself out, he tore off two-thirds of his ear and underwent surgery later that day to reattach the cartilage from the ear to his head, so that a total reconstruction would be possible in the future. Later that year, Cactus Jack and Kevin Sullivan were scheduled to win the tag team titles at Slamboree 1994. Foley had to choose between reattaching his ear or wrestling in the pay-per-view and winning the titles. Foley chose to wrestle and won his only championship in WCW. Foley has said several times that he was frustrated by WCW's reluctance to work a storyline around losing his ear.

On April 23, in a match with Vader, Foley again took a powerbomb onto the concrete. Expecting a brilliant remark from the commentators about the fact that it was the same move that disabled him exactly one year prior, Foley was left unsatisfied with Bobby Heenan's announcement of "That'll give you Excedrine Headache No. 9." Foley recounts this as the moment that set his intention to leave WCW. At Bash at the Beach, Cactus Jack and Sullivan lost the tag team titles to Pretty Wonderful (Paul Orndorff and Paul Roma), and Sullivan then blamed Cactus for the loss. Cactus Jack officially turned heel when he attacked Kevin's kayfabe brother Dave Sullivan, however, the Sullivan brothers aroused so little sympathy from viewers that the fans reacted as though Cactus were the face. Cactus and Kevin Sullivan engaged in a summer-long feud, which culminated in a Loser Leaves Town match at Fall Brawl, which Cactus lost, ending his WCW career. After losing, Cactus decided to split his wrestling between SMW, ECW, and Japan.

Mike Awesome, part 3

2008-04-25T09:09:00.002-05:00

He dropped the '70s gimmick in favor of a "Career Killer" and later "Canadian Career Killer" gimmick and joined the Team Canada stable with Lance Storm and Elix Skipper. A feud with the Filthy Animals led to Awesome challenging Billy Kidman to a Hair-vs-Hair match, however before the bout could take place, Team Canada attacked Kidman backstage leaving him unable to compete. Konnan (who had no hair) took his place, and got the win, giving the Animals the right to cut off Awesome's long-time mullet. Awesome then faded into the background, mostly helping Lance Storm in his battles against Ernest "The Cat" Miller.

After the March 2001 purchase of WCW by the World Wrestling Federation , Awesome became part of The Invasion storyline in the WWF. His WWF debut came on the June 25, 2001 episode of Raw is War during a match which saw Test defending his WWF Hardcore Title against Rhyno. After Rhyno Gored Test against a wall and pinned him he stood celebrating his new title only to be attacked by Awesome wielding a metal pipe. He then powerbombed Rhyno onto a ladder and pinned him, becoming champion himself due to the 24/7 rule. Awesome was the first "Invader" to gain gold in the WWF, stealing away with the Hardcore belt before any WWF wrestlers could catch him. Awesome's hardcore reign came to an end a few weeks later on the July 12 edition of SmackDown! when he was pinned by Jeff Hardy. Awesome's push slowly declined and he began appearing mostly on WWF's B-shows. He was left off the majority of the Invasion storyline pay-per-views, and was eventually sidelined with an injury in November 2001.

After The Alliance ended, Awesome was not used much in storylines or matches and was drafted to SmackDown! with the brand extension. As a part of the SmackDown! roster he was still rarely seen on TV, eventually being released in September of 2002.

After his release, Awesome made a few appearances in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling but mainly competed on the independent circuit in both the United States and Japan. On the independent circuit, he had a short stint with Major League Wrestling where he won the MLW World Heavyweight Championship from Satoshi Kojima, only to lose it ten minutes later to Steve Corino (Kojima's employers, AJPW would not allow him to drop the title to an employee of a rival company ZERO-1).

Awesome made an appearance at the WWE's 2005 ECW One Night Stand reunion pay-per-view, again facing Masato Tanaka. Throughout the match, Joey Styles (who was doing commentary) frequently made references to the way Awesome left ECW in 2000, calling him a "Judas" and making somewhat disparaging comments about him and even going as far as to say that its a shame he didn't succeed at taking his life after doing a suicide dive, but also handing out praise for his in-ring work. The crowd also greeted Awesome with jeers at the beginning of the match, but by the end -- which Awesome won after Awesome Bombing Tanaka to the outside of the ring and through a table and following that up with a slingshot splash -- were chanting "This match rules!" and gave both men a standing ovation.

In February of 2006, Awesome announced his retirement from wrestling, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family and adding that he felt underpaid for his work at the One Night Stand event and that he would only return to the ring "if the money was right". In his retirement he took up selling real estate.

On February 17, 2007, at around 10:30 p.m, a group of Awesome's friends found him hanged in his Tampa home. It is believed he committed suicide. WWE recognized Awesome's death on-air by displaying an "In Memory..." graphic at the beginning of the February 20 edition of ECW on Sci Fi, and an article about his death was posted on WWE.com, saying that Awesome was found dead but it never stated the cause of death. Awesome's marriage had suffered following his arrest for domestic abuse, and beyond distraught and depressed about his marriage, which he felt was stable and secure, he killed himself shortly after his release from jail. He is survived by his wife Delisa and two children, Casey and Carissa.

Mike Awesome, part 2

2008-04-12T09:16:00.001-05:00

Awesome continued to be a major factor in ECW early in 2000, including teaming with Raven to beat Tanaka and Tommy Dreamer for the ECW World Tag Team Championship. He also gained a new manager, Judge Jeff Jones.

In April of 2000, Awesome shocked the wrestling world again, this time by making a surprise appearance on WCW Monday Nitro -- aiding the New Blood by attacking Kevin Nash -- while still reigning as ECW World Champion[. Awesome's friend Lance Storm has said that he had refused to sign a new contract with ECW until Paul Heyman paid him overdue wages.[6] Due to concern over legal issues WCW refrained from having Awesome appear on their television shows with the ECW belt. Eventually, a compromise was reached which resulted in one of the more bizarre moments in professional wrestling history. Awesome (a WCW employee and ECW champion) appeared at an ECW event, accompanied by WCW's head of security, where he lost the title to Tazz (a World Wrestling Federation employee), who lost it a week later to Tommy Dreamer (a full time ECW wrestler).

Now with WCW, Awesome continued to be a major factor with the New Blood for the next month, teaming with Billy Kidman occasionally to aide him in his feud with Hulk Hogan. Awesome also engaged in an on-and-off feud with Kevin Nash, as well as feuding with Kanyon. During 2000, his gimmick was tweaked, with him becoming infatuated with heavyset women and calling himself ""The Fat Chick Thriller" Mike Awesome"". Awesome later changed his gimmick and became "That '70s Guy" Mike Awesome (a reference to the hit TV series, That '70s Show), dressing in various 1970s inspired outfits and hosting the "Lava Lamp Lounge" interview segment. At one point, he was even given a bus painted in the style of the one featured on The Partridge Family to drive into arenas for his entrance. During this time, he had a feud with Vampiro, which created many brawls between Awesome & Vampiro's allies in the Insane Clown Posse. At one point, Awesome battled Shaggy 2 Dope & Violent J in a Handicap match, which led to Awesome Powerbombing 2 Dope on top of his van (who then slid off, injuring himself). In May of 2000, Awesome was involved in a memorable moment during which he threw Chris Kanyon off the top of the first level of a triple cage onto the entrance ramp.

technorati tags: pro wrestling news, pro wrestling, wrestling rumors, professional wrestling, ecw, wcw, wwf

Mike Awesome, part 1

2008-04-07T09:26:00.002-05:00

Mike Lee Alfonso (January 24, 1965 – February 17, 2007) better known by his ring name Mike Awesome, was an American professional wrestler best known in America for his work in ECW, WCW, and in WWE and also in Japan for his work with Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling under the name The Gladiator. Throughout his career, he was known for being exceptionally agile for his size.

Alfonso grew up with Michael Bollea. As a result of Awesome's aunt (his father's sister) marrying Hulk Hogan's brother, Awesome and Bollea (the future Horace Hogan) were cousins and the two began to consider a career in wrestling during Hulk Hogan's famous WWF run in the 1980s. Alfonso received training from Steve Keirn's training camp based out of the Pro Wrestling Federation (PWF). After wrestling for the PWF in 1989, teaming occasionally with Brett Sawyer, Alfonso moved around throughout various independent promotions, including a brief stint in the United States Wrestling Association (USWA) under the tutelage of Nate The Rat, a manager there. In that same year, he made his first television appearance for World Championship Wrestling -- as a masked jobber from San Juan, Puerto Rico named The Pro.

Early 1980s: "Big Mike" graduated from King High School in Tampa and worked out at the infamous Stan's Gym on 56th Street. He exuded energy and had an aggressive sense of humor, the baseline of his career to come. Mike was known to say "I can’t see him, but I can smell the smallness". His work ethic made him a fixture and standout at the hardcore bodybuilding cauldron.

Alfonso moved on to Japan, joining Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) in late 1990 and using the name The Gladiator.

In 1993, Alfonso appeared in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) for a short period (as "Awesome" Mike Awesome) before returning to FMW. In 1994, the Gladiator finally captured his first title, teaming with Big Titan to defeat Atsushi Onita & Katsutoshi Niyama in the finals of the FMW Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship Tournament. They lost the title that April, but Awesome won them again with new partner Mr. Pogo in October. As the Gladiator, he faced and defeated Hayabusa for his first major singles title, the FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship in September of 1995, but was forced to vacate it due to (legit) injury the next February. In May of 1996 he won the title for a second time, then unified it with the FMW Independent Heavyweight Championship after defeating W*ING Kanemura in that December. The next August, teaming with Hisakatsu Ooya & Mr. Gannosuke he won the vacated FMW World Street Fight 6-Man Tag-Team Titles, holding all three belts at once, but within a month lost all three during an epic feud with Masato Tanaka.

Awesome was involved in a backstage altercation with members of a Yakuza group at an FMW event, as a result of several Yakuza members beating up his friend and fellow wrestler Sabu. As a result, Awesome, along with the rest of the foreign wrestlers, didn't leave their locker room for over two hours, because Yakuza members were waiting in the hallway. It took Atsushi Onita to smooth things over with the group and get the foreign wrestlers safe passage out of the arena.

In the summer of 1998, Awesome began appearing for ECW again, continue his feud with Masato Tanaka in the United States. Awesome began in ECW by losing to Tanaka on an episode ECW's weekly Hardcore TV. However, following the match, he delivered an Awesome Bomb to Tanaka over the top rope through a table set up on the outside. In his final appearance of his second ECW stint, Awesome lost to Tanaka again at the August Heat Wave pay-per-view event (which Awesome claimed he was never paid for).

After returning to Japan, Alfonso seriously injured his knee during a match with Super Leather, taking him out of wrestling for nearly a year. When he returned, he continued to wrestle as The Gladiator for a brief period in All Japan Pro Wrestling before returning to ECW. Almost immediately upon arriving in ECW for his third stint, he shocked the wrestling world by winning the ECW World Heavyweight Championship at Anarchy Rulz by defeating the reigning champion Tazz and arch nemesis Masato Tanaka in a three-way dance, which was signed on the spot.

John Tenta

2008-03-27T10:04:00.001-05:00

John Anthony Tenta (June 22, 1963 – June 7, 2006) was a Canadian professional wrestler, best known for his work in the World Wrestling Federation as Earthquake.

John Tenta was born in Surrey, British Columbia. Named after his father, he was a large baby weighing 11 pounds, 3 ounces at birth. Inspired by professional wrestlers Gene Kiniski and Don Leo Jonathan, Tenta decided to pursue wrestling at age 6. He learned freestyle wrestling at North Surrey Secondary, becoming a Canadian junior champion in 1981. Shortly after his 18th birthday, he finished sixth in the super-heavyweight category at the World Junior Wrestling Championships at Vancouver.

Tenta won an athletic scholarship to Louisiana State University (LSU), where he competed in NCAA-level collegiate wrestling. At LSU he was nicknamed "Big John" Tenta, lettering on the Tiger varsity wrestling team and participating on the football team. LSU had dropped varsity wrestling to comply with Title IX in 1985, forcing Tenta to choose a new sport.

Tenta then moved to Japan to pursue a career in sumo after being recruited by a former Yokozuna who met Tenta on a trip to Vancouver. In October 1985, he joined a sumo stable, Sadogatake, run by former-Yokozuna Kotozakura Masakatsu (his stable also produced current Ōzeki Kotoōshū Katsunori from Bulgaria). Following tradition, the young sumotori took the name of Kototenta (Koto + Tenta), translated as Tenta the Harp.

Beginning the sport at age 22, he entered nearly 7 years later than many non-college aspirants. However, the combination of his size—he already weighed 192 kg (423 lb)—and training as a wrestler were to his advantage in learning and advancing in the sport. The novice won a string of 17 consecutive victories in his first six months, and was later renamed Kototenzan, Heavenly Mountain Harp. The novelty of being a rare Westerner sumotori in the mid-1980s, and the third-ever Caucasian, garnered him press coverage, and he earned the additional nickname of the "Canadian Comet".

Despite doing well as a newcomer he soon quit the sport due to the difficulty of the sumo lifestyle and the toll the hard ring surface was taking on his body. In addition, the sumo world frowned on the large tattoo of a tiger on his left biceps and, though he covered it during matches, would have required him to remove it via skin graft before moving up to the higher level competitions (in Japan tattoos are associated with gangsters). After leaving sumo, he quickly signed up for puroresu (Japanese Pro Wrestling) under the tutelage of Shohei "Giant" Baba. He made his professional wrestling debut with All Japan Pro Wrestling in May 1988. Tenta had a solid 18 month career, teaming with popular Japanese wrestlers Giant Baba and The Great Kabuki, before getting the attention of American pro-wrestling promoters.

Personal financial difficulties lead Tenta to contact WCW, Hulk Hogan, a longtime friend, lobbied to have Tenta come in, and so Tenta broke his WWF contract to join WCW.

Tenta was introduced as Avalanche and feuded with Sting, but the character name was dropped after WWF threatened legal action over similarities to the Earthquake character. He then joined the Dungeon of Doom faction as The Shark. He was even pressured by WCW management to change the tattoo on his arm of an LSU Tiger to that of a shark. He eventually left the Dungeon of Doom and wrestled under his real name after delivering a scathing promo about the many other names and gimmicks he'd been forced into in the past, including the memorable line "I'm not a fish. I'm a man".

Following a match with the Dungeon of Doom's Giant, half of Tenta's head was shaved by Big Bubba Rogers, another Dungeon member. The two would go on to feud against one another, with Rogers shaving off Tenta's beard as well.

Tenta retired from wrestling in 2004 after it was revealed that he had developed bladder cancer, in which he was given a twenty percent chance to live, assuming he continued with his chemotherapy treatments. During his November 18, 2005 interview on WrestleCrap RadioListen, Tenta announced that a recent radiation dosage did not go as planned, as it had no effect on the tumor. He also announced that multiple tumors had spread to his lungs.

The first public notice of Tenta's death was posted on WWE.com on June 7, 2006 at approximately 12:30 p.m. EDT, which read:

John "Earthquake" Tenta passed away this morning, June 7, at the age of 42 after a lengthy battle with bladder cancer. Tenta is survived by his wife and three kids.

On the June 9, 2006 edition of SmackDown! and the June 12, 2006 edition of RAW, before each show began, the WWE showed an eyecatch that said "In memory of John "Earthquake" Tenta 1963-2006."

"Stunning" Steve Austin

2008-03-14T09:48:00.001-05:00

Steve Austin (born Steven James Anderson Williams on December 18, 1964), better known by his ring name "Stone Cold", is an American film and television actor and semi-retired professional wrestler. Austin wrestled for several well-known wrestling promotions such as World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and most famously, World Wrestling Federation (WWF), which became World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2002. In the late 1990s, in WWF, Austin gained significant mainstream popularity, comparable to that of Hulk Hogan in the 1980s, as Stone Cold, a disrespectful, beer-drinking anti-hero who routinely defied his boss, Mr. McMahon. This defiance was often shown by Austin flipping McMahon off and incapacitating him with the Stone Cold Stunner, Austin's finisher.

He retired as a regular in-ring performer in 2003 due to neck, ankle and knee injuries sustained throughout his career. However, he still makes occasional in-ring appearances, often to only perform his finishing move, the Stone Cold Stunner, normally followed by an extended beer drinking session punctuated by him slamming two beer cans together in a distinctive style then pouring the beer over his face. Austin had his first starring film role as Jack Conrad in the 2007 thriller The Condemned.

Austin is a six-time WWF/E Champion, the 1996 King of the Ring, and winner of the 1997, 1998 and 2001 Royal Rumbles, and is the only man in WWE history to win the Royal Rumble three times.

Austin debuted in World Championship Wrestling in 1991 as "Stunning" Steve Austin, initially managed by Vivacious Veronica. Almost immediately after Austin's debut, Lady Blossom became his valet. Austin defeated Bobby Eaton for the WCW World Television Championship on June 3, 1991, just weeks after his debut. In late 1991, Austin joined Paul E. Dangerously's Dangerous Alliance. Austin lost the WCW Television Championship to Barry Windham in a two out of three falls match on April 27, 1992. He regained the title from Windham on May 23, 1992. He enjoyed a second lengthy reign before losing to Ricky Steamboat on September 2, 1992. The Dangerous Alliance disbanded shortly thereafter. At Halloween Havoc, he replaced Terry Gordy, teaming with "Dr. Death" Steve Williams to wrestle Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham for the unified WCW and NWA World Tag Team titles. The pair wrestled to a thirty minute time limit draw.

In January 1993, Austin formed a tag team with Brian Pillman known as the Hollywood Blonds. The Blonds won the WCW World Tag Team Championship on March 3, 1993, defeating Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas. The Hollywood Blonds held the titles for five months. At Clash of the Champions XXIII the Blonds faced Ric Flair and Arn Anderson in a two out of three falls tag team title match. Flair and Anderson defeated the Blonds, but were not awarded the titles as one fall had been determined by a disqualification.

At Clash of the Champions XXIV, Austin and Pillman were scheduled to defend the titles against Arn Anderson and his new partner, Paul Roma. An injured Pillman, however, was replaced by Steven Regal. Austin and Regal lost to Anderson and Roma. With Pillman still injured, Austin then joined Colonel Robert Parker's Stud Stable. After Pillman returned, Austin betrayed and defeated him in a singles bout at Clash of the Champions XXV.

At Starrcade 1993, in a two out of three falls match, Austin defeated Dustin Rhodes in two straight falls to win the WCW United States Championship. He lost the title to Ricky Steamboat on August 24, 1994. Austin was scheduled to face Steamboat in a rematch for the title at Fall Brawl, but Steamboat was unable to wrestle due to a back injury, and Austin was awarded the title by forfeit. His second reign ended just minutes later when he lost to Steamboat's replacement, Jim Duggan in a match that lasted twenty-nine seconds. Austin then challenged Duggan for the United States Championship at Halloween Havoc 1994 and Clash of the Champions XXIX. On both occasions, Austin lost to Duggan by disqualification. After returning from his knee injury in early 1995, he took part in a tournament for the vacant WCW United States Heavyweight title, where he defeated Duggan in the first round, but lost to Randy Savage in the quarterfinals.

Christie Wolf / Asya

2008-03-10T10:09:00.005-05:00

Christie Wolf (alternately billed/spelled as Christi Wolf, born August 7, 1966) is a bodybuilder, model and former American professional wrestler who wrestled for WCW, best known by the ring name Asya.

Christie started her career as a Hawiian Tropics model before turning to bodybuilding.

She debuted in WCW in 1999 as the Head Nurse at the mental institution where Ric Flair was put by his son David. When Flair got out, he brought her along as his valet called Asya, ostensibly as a parody of Chyna of the then-World Wrestling Federation (since "Asia" is bigger than "China").

In late 1999, she left Flair and joined The Revolution, which consisted of Shane Douglas, Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit and Perry Saturn. She wrestled in several mixed tag team matches against Torrie Wilson and the Filthy Animals.

She left the sport in 2001 before WCW was purchased by Vince McMahon. She has gone on to become one of Florida's top female pro barrel racers. She is now a pro athlete in three sports.

She married former wrestler Dale Torborg on October 5, 2000. She and Dale welcomed their first child, a daughter named Sierra Raye on August 18, 2005.

She is still a bodybuilder.

technorati tags:pro wrestling,wwe wrestling,wrestling rumors,wrestling move,wrestling results,professional wrestling,wwf wrestling,wrestling moves,wrestling,wrestling news,wwe rumors,wwf,wwe,wwe divas,ecw wrestling,tna wrestling

Steve Armstrong

2008-02-28T10:28:00.002-05:00

Steve Armstrong (born Steve James) is a professional wrestler and is the son of the legendary "Bullet" Bob Armstrong. He has three brothers that also wrestle: Scott, Brad and Brian.

Steve Armstrong started wrestling in 1983 in the Alabama-based "Southeast Championship Wrestling". He formed a team called the "Rat Patrol" with Johnny Rich and they feuded with Ron Fuller's Stud Stable (Jerry Stubbs and Arn Anderson).

Steve formed a team with Tracy Smothers in "Florida Championship Wrestling" in 1987 called The Southern Boys. They won the Tag Team Titles and feuded with "The New Breed" (Chris Champion and Sean Royal). They went back to Continental Championship Wrestling (formerly SCW) and feuded with Robert Fuller and Jimmy Golden over the Tag Team Titles.

In 1990, they went to World Championship Wrestling and feuded with The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin). In 1991, they changed their name to The Young Pistols and they became heels and won the U.S. Tag Team Titles.

In 1992-1993, Steve wrestled in the WWF as Lance Cassidy. He competed in some house shows and defeated Skinner.

Steve returned to WCW and formed a tag team with his brother Scott called "The James Boys" as they used their real last name of James. They were primarily used as jobbers.

He then went on to wrestle in the independents, including Smoky Mountain Wrestling. Steve also continued to promote wrestling shows in Pensacola Florida, which gained local fame and even television exposure. After a short hiatus, Steve's South Eastern Pro Wrestling promotion returned in January 2003, with Steve co-hosting the weekly program with wrestling announcer Taylor Mcknight. The show basically highlighted the local indy scene, including matches with The Armstrongs themselves. In June 2003, Steve won the South Eastern Pro Championship in Milton Florida, by defeating the gigantic Bull Horton. The promotion folded shortly afterward, however is remembered by video tape footage and wrestling collectors.

In 2005, Steve could be found wrestling in the independent promotions in Georgia and Alabama. In 2007 Steve retired from wrestling and currently lives in Pensacola, Florida.

Johnny Weaver Blog

2008-02-22T13:23:00.000-05:00

I didn't do a write up on Johnny Weaver's passing.

But I think this blog says more than I ever could......

Johnny Weaver Blog:
"Saying Goodbye
by Dick Bourne

Funerals are never fun to attend. But there was something uplifting about what took place at Johnny Weaver’s funeral. That was due largely to the honest and moving words delivered by two who eulogized him, and the grace of a grieving daughter still wounded by the sudden and unexpected loss of her father."

Scott Armstrong / Joseph James, Jr.

2008-02-18T11:14:00.002-05:00

Joseph James, Jr.(born on May 4, 1959) in Marietta, Georgia is a professional wrestler and referee better known as Scott Armstrong. He is the oldest son of Bob Armstrong and has three brothers that wrestle, Brad, Steve and Brian. He currently works for WWE on their ECW brand as its senior referee.

Scott James started wrestling in 1983 as Scott Armstrong. He wrestles primarily in the Georgia and Alabama areas but has wrestled for the NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions and WCW, where he formed a tag team called "The James Boys" with brother Steve.

He also wrestled as Dixie Dy-no-mite in Smoky Mountain Wrestling.

He was also a referee for WCW and TNA Wrestling.

Armstrong appeared on the July 28, 2006 SmackDown! refereeing the WWE United States Championship match between Finlay and William Regal.

In August 2006 Scott Armstrong was hired as a full time WWE referee, in WWE's ECW Brand. He became senior referee in February 2007 after Mickie Henson was moved to Smackdown.

technorati tags:pro wrestling,wwe wrestling,wrestling rumors,wrestling move,wrestling results,professional wrestling,wwf wrestling,wrestling moves,wrestling,wrestling news,wwe rumors, wwf, wwe ,ecw wrestling,tna wrestling

B.G. James, part 3

2008-02-13T12:25:00.001-05:00

After the incident, B.G. and Kip regrouped, reformed their old tag team as The James Gang, and feuded with Konnan's new stable, The Latin American Exchange, which he formed with Homicide and Apolo. Apolo was sent home from the Against All Odds PPV after complaining about being used as a jobber and was quickly replaced by a relative unknown named Machete.

On a subsequent edition of Impact!, B.G.'s real life father "Bullet" Bob Armstrong informed The James Gang that he was sick of the shenanigans of LAX and how they always used strength in numbers to their advantage. He informed them that he was going to see Larry Zbyszko to have himself added to the Destination X match as their partner, effectively making it a three-man tag team. A despondent B.G. turned to Kip James and comically uttered "Mom is gonna KILL me!". "Bullet" was in fact added to the team and, they won the match at Destination X. The next month an arm wrestling match was booked between Bullet Bob Armstrong and Konnan, where the losing team would get hit 10 times with a leather whip. Bob Armstrong prevailed with the victory, so The LAX got whipped several times upon scrambling out of the cage for survival.

Following The LAX rivalry, B.G and Kip went after Team 3D, aka the Dudley Boyz. The two teams cut promos arguing over their long term histories with past promotions such as WWE and ECW. The rivalry came to a head at TNA Sacrifice 2006 when The James Gang beat Team 3D using a lead pipe. The James Gang and Team 3D would then feud throughout the summer. They were scheduled for a #1 contendership match at Hard Justice 2006 but, due to a fire, the match was canceled. The match was rescheduled for iMPACT, but The Gang lost.

On the November 2, 2006 edition of TNA Impact!, Kip and B.G. James announced that they were going to quit TNA. Kip James grabbed the mic and tried to say something to the TNA administration and Spike TV, but each time his mic was cut off. Kip then tried to use the announcer's headset, but it was cut off as well. Frustrated, he started yelling loudly to the crowd, but he was cut off as the show went to a commercial break. When the show returned, the announcers speculated that they may have been frustrated due to the influx of new talent entering TNA. It was since reported that the segment was a worked shoot that Vince Russo had written in order to renew interest upon their eventual return.

On the November 16 airing of Impact!, The James Gang announced that they would now be known as Voodoo Kin Mafia (VKM). They spent their airtime bashing Vince McMahon and both members of D-Generation X, using their real names: Paul Levesque and Michael Hickenbottom. After calling Triple H "Triple Hollywood" and Shawn Michaels "Shawn Kiss-My-Bottom," VKM claimed they were declaring war on DX and Vincent Kennedy McMahon (VKM). On the November 23 airing of Impact!, they drove around searching for their targets, but they ended up arriving at a Target store. At the end of the episode, VKM argued, and Kip pointed straight ahead to the WWE World Headquarters. To which, B.G. responded, "We're back!". In December 2006, as acknowledged by TNA's Website, VKM accepted The Hardys' open challenge to a match at December to Dismember. However, WWE never acknowledged their challenge. Over the following weeks, VKM aired several more videos bashing DX and Vince McMahon. They also made a $1,000,000 challenge to DX as announced on the TNA website. They declared 'victory' at Final Resolution 2007.

In early 2007, James said in a shoot interview along with his tag team partner Kip James that he would jump back to WWE if he could get out of his TNA contract and got a WWE offer.

On August 4, James returned to the Boston based Millennium Wrestling Federation's Soul Survivor IV wrestling event and fanfest . James worked for the promotion when it opened in 2001, but no-showed a benefit for "Superstar" Billy Graham in October 2002 due to his "personal demons." MWF has brought the real life situation into the storyline. James and Beau Douglas went on to win the MWF Tag Team Championship from the Canadian Superstars (J-Busta & Dave Cole). During a pre-event question & answer session, James went into his hatred of Jim Ross and his feelings that WWE ruins families and lives. James and Douglas lost the titles back to the Canadians on October 27, 2007 at a Special Olympics fundraiser in Salem, MA. After five years of bad blood, James made peace with promoter Dan Mirade for sabotaging the Graham benefit and has agreed to return in the future.

At TNA Turning Point B.G won one of the cases in the Feast or Fired match which granted him a TNA World Tag Team Title match. Instead of Kip he chose his real life father Bullet Bob Armstrong to be his tag team partner. B.G. and Bullet Bob went on to lose their title match against AJ Styles and Tomko in the opening match of TNA Against All Odds.

B.G. James, part 2

2008-01-28T10:49:00.000-05:00

James returned to the WWF in 1996 as Jesse Jammes, "The Real Double J", and revealed himself to be the true singer of "With My Baby Tonight". He languished as a midcard singles wrestler until he formed a tag team with Billy Gunn, New Age Outlaws. A change in creative direction in the WWF in late 1997 led Billy Gunn, who had formerly been stuck in the unpopular gimmick of "Rockabilly," to bleach his hair blonde and assume the name "Badd Ass" Billy Gunn (also known as Mr. Ass), while James became "The Road Dogg" Jesse James. The appearance and mannerisms of the team became more and more controversial and anti-social. The team, known as the New Age Outlaws, feuded with the Road Warriors and the short-lived tag team of Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie before joining D-Generation X the night after WrestleMania XIV.

The Outlaws amassed five World Tag Team Title reigns before Gunn was (legitimately) injured in early 2000 and thrown out of DX to explain his absence. James then teamed with fellow DX member X-Pac throughout the summer of 2000 but failed to regain his former popularity or title success. The team eventually split, and DX fell apart. James then formed a tag team with newcomer K-Kwik. He was suspended in December 2000, and the WWF announced his release on January 26, 2001.

His most prominent appearance in the independent circuit was with the short lived World Wrestling All-Stars (WWA) promotion.

James debuted for the upstart Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion on September 18, 2002 wrestling as B.G. James (the popular Road Dogg gimmick was owned by WWE). He was initially a heel and one of the founding members of Vince Russo's S.E.X faction.

In July 2003, James formed the stable known as the 3Live Kru with Hispanic wrestler Konnan and the African American wrestler Ron Killings (alias his old WWF ally K-Kwik). James was presented as a white trash redneck. The group was popular from the outset and was notable because they sang their own entrance music as they approached the ring. The 3Live Kru turned out to be a successful gimmick as Killings held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship for a second time and all three members enjoyed Tag Title reigns.

Tension arose when James' former partner Billy Gunn joined TNA as "The New Age Outlaw" (later shortened to "The Outlaw") in February 2005. The Outlaw repeatedly courted James, seeking to split the Kru and recreate the New Age Outlaws. When The Outlaw began feuding with the Kru, James repeatedly found his loyalties divided, unwilling to fight either his former or current tag team partners. For a time, James stopped appearing with the Kru but did not align himself with The Outlaw, who had by then changed his name to "Kip James" as a "tribute" to James' father. However, at Sacrifice 2005, he reasserted his allegiance with 3LK as special guest referee in a match between the other members of 3LK and the team of Kip James and Monty Brown.

Kip James tried to warm up to 3LK again in the lead-up to Bound for Glory by saving B.G. several times from Team Canada. At Bound for Glory, he offered his protective services to them against Team Canada (to neutralize Scott D'Amore, as he said). When they lost, Kip James came down to the ring, appearing ready to hit Konnan with a steel chair since he originally vetoed Kip's offer. Kip instead saved Konnan from Team Canada, thus proving his original intentions.

On the November 26 episode of Impact!, B.G. brought Kip and the 3LK to the ring and asked The Truth and Konnan to give Kip James a yes/no vote to be accepted into the group. After B.G. got heated with Konnan, both gave Kip yes votes and the 4Live Kru was born. The 4Live Kru would be short lived as Konnan, still apparently upset at Kip James's induction into the Kru, bashed both B.G. and Kip over the head with a steel chair at Turning Point 2005. Konnan, still wanting Ron Killings to be his "family," tried talking with The Truth. Killings told Konnan that he was done with the Kru and wanted to leave it all behind him.

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B.G.James

2008-01-17T10:07:00.001-05:00

Brian Gerard (B.G.) James (born May 20, 1969 in Marietta, Georgia) is an American pro wrestler.
He is best known for his appearances with the WWF as "The Road Dogg" Jesse James; a former member of D-Generation X, and the tag team partner of Billy Gunn, with whom he comprised the New Age Outlaws and The James Gang (now known as the Voodoo Kin Mafia). He is currently working for TNA Wrestling.

James served in the United States Marine Corps from 1987 to 1993 and fought in Operation Desert Storm in 1991 where he was a platoon sergeant in command of 33 Marines. During his recruit training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in Parris Island, South Carolina, James was named Honor Man. Six months after receiving his discharge in 1993, James began wrestling. He feuded with Robbie Eagle (The Maestro of WCW fame) in the Carolinas.

After wrestling for a whole year in Smoky Mountain Wrestling and making occasional appearance for WCW as Brian Armstrong, James began his career with the WWF towards the end of 1994. He was billed as The Roadie, an assistant to "Double J" Jeff Jarrett, a would-be country singer. He wrestled on several PPVs and television shows, but most of his first WWF tenure was spent accompanying Jarrett and interfering in his matches. In early 1995, Jeff Jarrett would release the song "With My Baby Tonight," that Jarrett claimed he had sung himself. The planned angle was to reveal that it was The Roadie, not Jarrett, who had really performed the vocals on this song, sparking a feud between the two wrestlers. However, before this revelation could take place, Jarrett and James suddenly left the WWF following the second In Your House pay-per-view on July 23, 1995. James then joined the United States Wrestling Association
as Jesse James Armstrong, winning the heavyweight and tag titles before being forced to leave as a result of a loss at the hands of Jeff Jarrett.

Brad Armstrong

2008-01-13T12:31:00.000-05:00

Brad Armstrong (born Bradley James on June 15, 1961) is an American professional wrestler. He is the son of Bob Armstrong and has three brothers that also wrestle, Steve, Scott and Brian. He is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment working on its ECW brand.

Brad started out in Southeast Championship Wrestling in 1980. He was a face, or good guy, due to his good looks and superb wrestling ability. He feuded with Jerry Stubbs and Tom Prichard during his stay there and won the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) US Junior Heavyweight title there.

Later he moved to the Georgia part of the NWA and feuded with Ted DiBiase and with father Bob, the Fabulous Freebirds of Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy and Buddy Roberts. He also became friends with Tim Horner. He and Horner formed a team called the Lightning Express, due to Horner's nickname of "White Lightning" and Armstrong's quickness.

Brad wrestled in the Universal Wrestling Federation with Horner and they feuded with the "Sheepherders", later known as The Bushwhackers, Butch Miller and Luke Williams. They also had some matches with future superstars Sting and Rick Steiner.

In 1991, Brad was put in a mask as Badstreet, the masked member of the Fabulous Freebirds along with Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin. They won the World Championship Wrestling (WCW) World Six-Man Tag Team Titles. Brad never revealed his Badstreet identity on television.

Later that year he was given another masked gimmick, Arachnaman, who looked so much like Spider-Man that Marvel Comics sued WCW, who soon dropped the gimmick. In July 1992, Brad won the WCW Light Heavyweight Championship (also known as the first incarnation of the WCW Cruiserweight Title). He soon injured his knee and he was stripped of the title two months later. He returned in early 1993 and remained with the company until early 1995.

Armstrong worked for Smoky Mountain Wrestling for the rest of 1995, capturing their title in the process, but eventually returned to WCW. In 1999, he was repackaged as "B.A.", a member of the No Limit Soldiers stable. One feud was against Berlyn, who attacked Armstrong's brother Scott. The feud ran through the Halloween Havoc pay-per-view, where Armstrong defeated Berlyn. Shortly after that, the No Limit Soliders disbanded, Then he was given the gimmick of Buzzkill, a takeoff of his brother Brian's gimmick Road Dogg. In fact, the theme song he used for the character was very similar to the New Age Outlaws theme song in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). The gimmick was less successful due to fans feeling it an imitation of the Road Dogg persona, as well as a lack of awareness that the two were brothers.

He injured his knee early in 2000, his WCW contract expired in 2001, and left the business for a few years, until returning to the independent circuit in 2004.

On September 12, 2006, Armstrong signed a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment and began wrestling at ECW brand house shows and acting as a trainer to the younger members of the roster. In December, around the time rumors of ECW color commentator Tazz leaving the company began to circulate, Armstrong began to make sporadic appearances as a "guest commentator" on the brand. The three man booth, originally for a single match on the December 19 episode before expanding to a full show on January 9, did not last and Armstrong resumed his role as a producer.

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"Bullet" Bob Armstrong

2008-01-11T17:42:00.000-05:00

Joseph James (born October 3, 1939) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, "Bullet" Bob Armstrong. In the course of his career, which spanned five decades, Armstrong held numerous championships throughout the Southeastern United States. Armstrong is also the patriarch of the Armstrong wrestling family; he has four sons (Scott, Brad, Steve and Brian), all of whom became wrestlers.

When he was a child, Joseph James's father took him to see Gorgeous George wrestle. The young James was impressed and intrigued by the flamboyant performer. As a young man, James served in the Marine Corps of the United States armed forces and was stationed in Korea. During his recruit training in Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island on Parris Island, South Carolina, James was named Honor Man. After leaving the military, he began working for the Marietta Fire Department as a firefighter in 1962.

He debuted as a wrestler in the same year, adopting the ring name Bob Armstrong. By 1966, Armstrong had become a popular face in the Savannah, Georgia area, and in 1969 he ceased working as a firefighter and began focusing on his wrestling career.

Armstrong achieved considerable popularity in the Southeastern United States, particularly in Alabama and his home state of Georgia. He frequently wrestled for affiliates of the National Wrestling Alliance, and on October 9, 1974 in Miami Beach, Florida, Armstrong unsuccessfully challenged Jack Brisco for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

While bench pressing a dumbbell weighing upwards of 180 lb in a gym in Huntington, Georgia, the bench that Armstrong was lying upon broke, leading to the weight falling on his face. Armstrong's face was severely damaged and his nose was torn entirely off, and he required $38,000 worth of plastic surgery to repair it. While undergoing surgery, Armstrong donned a wrestling mask to conceal his disfigured features and began using the ring name "The Bullet". As "The Bullet", Armstrong feuded with the Stud Stable in Continental Championship Wrestling. He eventually discarded the mask after his surgeries were complete, but retained the nickname "Bullet" for the remainder of his career.

Armstrong trained each of his sons to wrestle, and formed tag teams with them in the 1980s and 1990s. In the course of his career, he toured both Japan and Korea.

Armstrong went into semi-retirement in the 1990s. In addition to making occasional appearance on the independent circuit in Georgia and Alabama, Armstrong acted as the commissioner of Smoky Mountain Wrestling and worked backstage with Southeast Championship Wrestling and the Continental Wrestling Federation.

Armstrong appeared on the first weekly TNA Wrestling pay-per-view on June 26, 2002 alongside fellow National Wrestling Alliance veterans Corsica Joe, Dory Funk, Jr., Harley Race, Jackie Fargo and Sarah Lee. His next appearance was on the August 14, 2002 pay-per-view, where he was introduced as an on-screen authority figure and informed Jeff Jarrett that he would face a mystery opponent one week later. The mystery opponent was revealed to be "The Masked Bullet", a masked wrestler who imitated Armstrong's mannerisms (although Armstrong himself came to ringside during the match, proving that he was not the Bullet). On the August 28, 2002 pay-per-view, Jarrett fought the Bullet to a no contest before striking Armstrong with a chair. On the September 18, 2002 pay-per-view, the Bullet unmasked, revealing himself to be Armstrong's son Brian.

On December 5, 2005, Armstrong underwent arthroscopic knee surgery. Despite being advised to refrain from wrestling until March 2006, Armstrong resumed wrestling later that month.

On the December 3, 2005 episode of TNA iMPACT!, Armstrong returned to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, congratulating the newly formed Four Live Kru on their unity. However, at Turning Point on December 11, 2005, the Four Live Kru disintegrated, with Konnan betraying fellow members Kip James and B.G. James (the youngest son of Bob Armstrong). Armstrong declared that he would reunite the Kru and unsuccessfully petitioned the fourth former member, Ron Killings, to that effect on the December 24 episode of iMPACT!. One week later, Armstrong tried once more to reform the group, this time approaching Konnan. Apparently willing to negotiate, Konnan led Armstrong backstage, only for Armstrong to be ambushed and beaten down by Konnan's newly formed stable, the Latin American Exchange (LAX). Footage from Armstrong's knee surgery from earlier that month aired on iMPACT! in January 2006, with the kayfabe explanation that the assault at the hands of the LAX had necessitated the surgical repair of Armstrong's knee.

At Against All Odds on February 12, 2006, Kip and B.G. James (the James Gang) faced the Latin American Exchange, with B.G. intent upon avenging the harm done to his "daddy". The James Gang were victorious, but were ambushed by the LAX after the match. They were saved when the returning Bob Armstrong entered the ring and chased the LAX away. The confrontation led to a six man bout between the LAX and Armstrong and the James Gang at Destination X on March 12, which was won by Kip James. Despite the two consecutive victories of the James Gang, Armstrong remained hungry for revenge, and challenged Konnan to an arm wrestling contest, which was to be held on the April 8 episode of iMPACT!. The contest did not finish due to interference from Homicide and the newest LAX member, Hernandez, who had been sent to the locker room prior, as were the James Gang. The James Gang ran back out to the ring to help Armstrong, and later in the show a rematch was announced for Lockdown on April 23. Armstrong went on to win the rematch in his final appearance with TNA.

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Road Warrior Animal, Joe Laurinaitis, part 3

2008-01-04T11:15:00.000-05:00

The Road Warriors appeared in TNA Wrestling in late 2002-early 2003 as part of a group that opposed Vince Russo’s faction Sports Entertainment Xtreme but only wrestled one actual match for the federation.

Animal and Hawk made a surprise appearance on RAW on May 12, 2003 when they took on Kane & Rob Van Dam for the World Tag Team Championship. Although Hawk and Animal came up short in their attempt to become three-time champions, it was clear that Hawk had defeated the demons that had once kept him from competing, and the Road Warriors had hopes of returning to WWE. However, Road Warrior Hawk died on October 19, 2003.

Animal made a return to WWE on an episode of SmackDown! in 2005, where he was challenged by the then-WWE Tag Team Champions MNM to a title match at The Great American Bash. Finding a new tag team partner in Heidenreich, Animal went on to defeat MNM for the titles, dedicating the win to Hawk by saying, "Hawk, this one's for you, brother!" The two would team up for a few months in a new chapter of the Legion of Doom, with Heidenreich adopting the L.O.D.'s shoulder pads, face paint, and mohawk haircut. However, this came to an end with Heidenreich's release from WWE on January 17, 2006.

On the March 3, 2006 episode of SmackDown!, Animal teamed up with Matt Hardy to face MNM. After he and Hardy lost the match, Animal turned heel for the second time in his career by attacking and injuring Hardy's knee. Animal reasoned that he had realized that Hardy and Heidenreich were screw-ups and that Road Warrior Hawk was the only tag team legend for him. After the heel turn, Animal, once again known simply as The Road Warrior, would drop many aspects of the well-known Road Warrior gimmick, losing the face paint, and shoulder pads. Animal's look at this time was similar to his old Road Warrior gimmick in the early 1980s he had prior to teaming up with Hawk.

On the May 6, 2006 edition of Velocity (taped May 2), Animal defeated Paul Burchill. This was his final WWE television appearance. On June 26, 2006, Animal was released from his WWE contract.

On June 17, 2007, Road Warrior Animal returned to TNA on the Pay-Per-View, Slammiversary, with Rick Steiner; he replaced Scott Steiner, who was out with an injury. They ended up losing to Team 3D.

Road Warrior Animal and Kensuke Sasaki teamed up on September 1 for All Japan Pro Wrestling at the Differ Ariake and they defeated "brother" YASSHI and Shuji Kondo. Sasaki wore face paint as Power Warrior, the same name he used when teamed with Road Warrior Hawk in the 90's and both men were billed as the Hell Raisers, the team name used by Sasaki and Hawk while they teamed together in AJPW. Animal was billed as Animal Warrior in a similar move to Hawk being billed as Hawk Warrior when he teamed with Sasaki.

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David Sheldon, Angel of Death, dead at 43

2007-11-28T00:58:00.000-05:00

David Sheldon was a retired professional wrestler, known by his ring name the Angel of Death, who wrestled in North American regional promotions during the 1980s and early 1990s including Stampede Wrestling, World Class Championship Wrestling, the Universal Wrestling Federation as the bodyguard of The Freebirds and the NWA, most notably as the first man who portrayed the masked wrestler Black Scorpion in Jim Crockett Promotions during the early 1990s.

It was reported that The Angel of Death was found dead in Bedford, TX over the weekend. (aged 43).

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Road Warrior Animal, Joe Laurinaitis, part 2

2007-11-26T11:49:00.001-05:00

The Road Warriors immediately signed with the WWF in 1990 and were pushed into a feud with the most famous of all “Road Warrior Clones”, Demolition (which once again included their old training partner Barry Darsow). Due to the ailing health of one of Demolition (Ax) he was replaced by Crush but the magic of the original Demolition was gone and the feud did not live up to the high hopes of the fans.

Just over a year after signing with the WWF, the Legion of Doom won the WWF World Tag Team Titles and held them for about 8 months. When they lost the titles, they briefly left the WWF only to return with long time manager Paul Ellering by their side, as well as a wooden dummy called “Rocco”. Both members of the L.O.D. thought the gimmick was stupid, and it led to Hawk quitting the WWF, leaving Animal on his own for the first time in 9 years.Animal teamed with former enemy turned “face” Crush for a while but before the team could make any kind of progress, Animal legitimately injured his back and was forced into retirement late in 1992.

For the next couple of years, Animal stayed out of the wrestling ring, collecting on a very lucrative insurance policy from Lloyd's of London while Hawk competed all over the world. Near the end of 1995, Animal's back had finally recovered enough for him to return to active competition. Three years after everyone thought the Road Warriors had ended, they reunited and signed a contract with World Championship Wrestling. Upon their debut in 1996, they immediately started a feud with the Steiner Brothers and Harlem Heat, before moving on to challenge the WCW Tag Team Champions Sting & Lex Luger. The Road Warriors had several shots at the champions but never won the titles in the 6 months they were with the company.

After leaving WCW they returned to the WWF where the Legion of Doom took part in the Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. the Hart Foundation feud, siding with Austin against the Harts. The Legion of Doom also became 2 time tag team champions on October 7, 1997 when they defeated The Godwinns. In November 1997, the Legion of Doom faced the newly formed New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg and Billy Gunn) and lost the titles to the upstart team.

After several unsuccessful challenges the L.O.D. were repackaged as Legion of Doom 2000 with manager Sunny, although she did not stay with the team for long.

In 1998, the Legion of Doom became involved in their most controversial angle to date, playing off Hawk’s real life drug and alcohol problems. Hawk started to show up drunk or “unable to perform” on TV (according to the storyline). As Hawk proved more and more erratic and unreliable, a third L.O.D. member, Puke, was introduced to team with Animal while Hawk dealt with his personal issues. The storyline ended with accusations that “Puke” had been the "enabler" of Hawk's problems, exploiting them to take Hawk’s place in the team. During this segment, Hawk infamously was shown to have fallen off the Titan Tron. It was a controversial segment that pushed the envelope of good taste and that was the hallmark of the WWF's "Attitude" era. Neither Hawk nor Animal approved of the WWF exploiting Hawk’s personal problems, essentially making light of them by turning it into a storyline and left the WWF.

While the Road Warriors never officially broke up, Animal started making an increasing number of solo appearances after they left the WWF as Hawk struggled with drug and alcohol addiction.

Animal landed a prominent position in WCW as the “Enforcer” of the stable known as The Magnificent Seven with the objective to protect WCW World Champion Scott Steiner. Animal most likely landed the high-profile part thanks to his brother John who had a powerful behind-the-scenes role with the company. The Magnificent Seven split up shortly before Vince McMahon purchased WCW, Animal’s contract was not one of the contracts the WWF picked up.

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wrestling

Road Warrior Animal, Joe Laurinaitis, part 1

2007-11-16T12:51:00.000-05:00

Joseph "Joe" Laurinaitis (born January 26, 1960) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Road Warrior Animal. Along with Road Warrior Hawk, Laurinaitis was one-half of the tag team known as the Road Warriors

Joe Laurinaitis grew up in Minnesota, having to work for a living from a very early age. Because of his size and love of power lifting, Joe was an imposing figure and thus a very effective bouncer. He worked as a bouncer at Grandma B's in the Twin Cities where he caught the eye of Eddie Sharkey, a well known wrestling trainer. Sharkey thought that Joe along with Mike Hegstrand, Richard Rood, and Barry Darsow could make it big in professional wrestling. He believed in them so much that he trained all four of them personally.

Joe made his debut in November 1982, competing as The Road Warrior using a biker gimmick. After only a few matches as a singles competitor, Joe’s career and life would change forever thanks to an idea by Paul Ellering.

When Paul Ellering was looking to put together a stable of heels in Georgia Championship Wrestling called The Legion of Doom, it was decided to put Joe together with his good friend Mike Hegstrand and change their names to Animal and Hawk respectively. Thus, the Road Warriors were born. To look more intimidating, the two shaved their heads into Mohawks and started wearing studded dog collars, spiked shoulder pads, and face paint. The look and name was taken from Mad Max 2, helping to paint the two as no-mercy monsters. Their interview style was vicious, yet charismatic and a bit humorous.

The team was an instant hit, revolutionizing the tag-team scene with their power moves, no mercy attitudes, and innovative face paint that would spawn many future imitators in wrestling. In Georgia, they won the NWA National Tag Team Championship four times before moving on to bigger promotions, such as the American Wrestling Association in the US and All Japan Pro Wrestling in Japan, and winning more tag team titles.

Their hard hitting style, no nonsense attitude, and winning ways made the Road Warriors fan favorites. Even when they were booked as heels, the fans refused to boo them. They started to split their time between the AWA and the National Wrestling Alliance until finally leaving the AWA for big money contracts with the NWA and a huge push for the monster duo. The move paid off instantly as they won the inaugural Jim Crocket Sr. Memorial Cup Tag-Team Tournament and feuded with the top stars of the NWA such as The Four Horsemen and the Russian Team (which included the Road Warriors’ old training buddy Barry Darsow). During their initial run in the NWA, they helped popularize the WarGames match, the Scaffold match, and their trademark Chicago Street Fight.

In 1988, the Road Warriors engaged in a violent feud with The Powers of Pain (The Barbarian and The Warlord) the first team that could truly match the Road Warriors in power (and who were one of the most well known Road Warrior clones). The Powers of Pain even went so far as to injure Animal’s eye (kayfabe) during a weightlifting competition. When Animal returned, he initially wore a hockey goalie mask to protect his eye. The angle abruptly ended when the Powers of Pain left the NWA after finding out they were booked against the Road Warriors in a series of Scaffold Matches and they did not want to get hurt by falling off the scaffold.

Near the end of 1988, the Road Warriors captured the NWA World Tag Team Championship from The Midnight Express whom they mauled in short order to win the titles. After being the “Uncrowned champions” for a long time the Road Warriors’ run with the tag-team titles was short lived. Teddy Long used a fast count to cheat the Road Warriors out of their titles. In their last year with the NWA, the Warriors feuded mainly with The Varsity Club, The Samoan Swat Team, and The Skyscrapers before leaving the NWA in the summer of 1990.

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Frank Andersson

2007-10-07T10:27:00.000-05:00

Frank Andersson (born May 9, 1956 in Trollhättan) is a Swedish former wrestler, most active around 1975 to 1983. In the World Championships, he won three gold medals and two silver ones. He won a bronze at the 1984 Summer Olympics. During his career as an amateur wrestler, Andersson was awarded the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal in 1977.

Andersson wrestled professionally in WCW in the early 1990s.

He has a son, Isak, who was born in 1996 and a daughter, Anna Mira Amanda who was born in June 2006.

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Brian 'Crush' Adams Autopsy Results

2007-09-29T13:47:00.000-05:00

Brian 'Crush' Adams Autopsy Results

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -Former pro wrestler Brian "Crush'' Adams died last month after accidentally ingesting a lethal mixture of prescribed medications, the medical examiner's office said Friday.

The 44-year-old Tampa resident died Aug. 13 from mixing a strong painkiller with muscle relaxants and two different types of sedatives, said Dr. Leszek Chrostowski from the Hillsborough County medical examiner's office.

Chrostowski said he found "therapeutic levels'' of each of the drugs in his system, but the mixture slowed his respiratory system enough to kill him.

There were no anabolic steroids in Adams' body, a report from the office said.

The drugs that killed Adams included buprenorphine, an opiate-based painkiller that Chrostowski said is often used like methadone in the treatment of painkiller addiction; carisoprodol, a muscle relaxant; and sedatives chlordiazepoxide and alprazolam.

Adams wasn't breathing when his wife found him unconscious in their home.

A former world tag team champion, Adams last performed for the World Wrestling Federation in 2001 and served intermittently on the roster beginning in 1990, World Wrestling Entertainment said. He wrestled his last match in January 2003 when a spinal injury forced him into retirement.

Adams' death came less than two months after pro wrestler Chris Benoit killed his wife and son before hanging himself on the cable of a weight machine in his Georgia home. Prescription anabolic steroids were found in the Benoit family's home, raising questions about whether the drugs played a role in the killings.

Bradley "Brad" Anderson

2007-09-25T16:30:00.000-05:00

Bradley "Brad" Anderson (born December 24, 1969) is an American professional wrestler and is the son of wrestler Gene Anderson.

Brad Anderson started wrestling in 1988 after being trained by his father, Gene Anderson, and Nelson Royal.

He wrestled in the National Wrestling Alliance's (NWA) Jim Crockett Promotions under his real name and as the masked Zan Panzer and Agent Steele. He wrestled in the Pacific Northwest territory and formed a tag team with Ricky Santana that won the tag team titles.

He went to Puerto Rico's World Wrestling Council in late 1991 and feuded with Santana over the Junior Heavyweight Title.

Brad once wrestled a match on WWF Monday Night Raw on January 10, 1994. He was defeated by Ludvig Borga.

In 2004, he was part of a tag team called "Triple X" in NWA Mid-Atlantic with Drake Dawson and manager Strawberry Fields.

He has never made much of an impact and has left the sport at times over the years to work construction and a salon business.

In 2005, he started touring the independents in North and South Carolina.

WCW: Arn Anderson

2007-09-05T12:19:00.000-05:00

Martin "Marty" Lunde, better known by his ring name of Arn Anderson (born September 20, 1958 in Rome, Georgia), is a retired American professional wrestler, regarded by some professional wrestling experts as the greatest professional wrestler never to have won a world title. His career has been highlighted by his alliances with Ric Flair and various members of the elite wrestling stable, "The Four Horsemen". He currently serves as the senior Producer for WWE's RAW brand.

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WWE to bring back Robert Gibson?????

2007-09-03T16:28:00.000-05:00

WWE has actually been thinking about bringing back Robert Gibson, member of the legendary Rock 'N Roll Express. Gibson, who is currently an assistant trainer in Ohio Valley Wrestling, would return as an active wrestler. He has been working in OVW since December of last year. If he is brought back in, he would be used how Dave Taylor is used, helping the younger stars get the basic wrestling moves down. Gibson who is 49 years old is said to be in good shape. Gibson was last seen in TNA in 2003 as a part of Vince Russo's stable.
http://www.wrestlezone.com/article.php?articleid=190858742

Ruben Cain (born July 19, 1958) is a professional wrestler best known by his ring name of Robert Gibson. He is famous as half of the Rock 'N Roll Express with Ricky Morton.

Ruben Cain started wrestling as Robert Gibson in 1977. He was trained by his brother Ricky Gibson and teamed with Ricky in the southern independents when he started.

In 1983, he formed the Rock 'N Roll Express with Ricky Morton. They feuded with The Midnight Express, Bobby Eaton and Dennis Condrey in the Mid-South and the feud carried over into the NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions in 1985. They won the NWA Tag Titles four times while there and feuded with the Four Horsemen, Ivan and Nikita Koloff and the team of Rick Rude and Manny Fernandez. Even though he and Morton were of similar build and wrestled a similar style, Gibson was always booked as the stronger and more powerful of the two. He was most often the recipient of the hot tag as Morton rallied the crowd by taking punishment as the Face in Peril.

Gibson was injured in 1991 and when he returned to WCW, Morton turned on him to join the "York Foundation". They feuded and Gibson teamed with Tom Zenk, but had no success and soon left WCW. He rejoined Morton in Smoky Mountain Wrestling and they feuded with the "Heavenly Bodies" led by Jim Cornette. Shortly before SMW's demise, Gibson turned heel and joined "Cornette's Army".

The team came back briefly to WCW in 1996. In 1998, they were part of the "NWA" angle in the WWF for a brief period. Their last run in a big federation was with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling when they were part of Vince Russo's Sports Entertainment Xtreme faction.

On September 15, 2006, his brother, Ricky Gibson, died.

In December 2006, Gibson became an assistant trainer for "Ohio Valley Wrestling".

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WCW: Chris Adams

2007-08-16T13:49:00.000-05:00

Christopher Adams (February 10, 1955 – October 7, 2001) was a professional wrestler, wrestling promoter, trainer and judoka. By the time Adams was 21 years old, he had won three British National Judo Championships for his age and weight. Adams wrestled primarily in the Texas promotions, most notably for World Class Championship Wrestling, where he became one of the most popular wrestlers in the promotion's history.

Adams is well known for being one of the trainers of Scott Hall in 1984 and training Stone Cold Steve Austin on his own in 1989. He also is credited for bringing the Superkick to American wrestlers. Adams was also among the first wrestlers to use the Sharpshooter, which he called the Superlock (around 1985). He was also famous for using back flips and somersaults to catch his opponent off-guard. Moreover, Adams was known for diving from the canvas through the ropes to his opponent on the floor, one of the few wrestlers to execute this dangerous maneuver.

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"Crush" Brian Adams dead at 43

2007-08-13T15:52:00.000-05:00

CANOE -- SLAM! Sports - Wrestling - "Crush" Bryan Adams dead at 43: "According to WWE.com, Brian Adams, who worked as Demolition Crush and was half of the KroniK tag team, has been found dead. He was 43. A Tampa Police Department report obtained by TMZ.com indicated that Adams 'was found by his wife unconscious in bed not breathing.' She called 911, but medical personal were unable to revive him. He was pernounced dead at the scene. No reason for his death was noted in the report."

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WCW: Brian Adams

2007-07-30T16:27:00.000-05:00

Brian Adams (born April 14, 1964) is a former actor and professional wrestler. Adams gained fame in the 1990s while performing for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) under the name Crush and for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) under his given name.

Trained in Japan by Antonio Inoki, Adams is a two time WCW World Tag Team Champion as well as a one time holder of both the WWF World Tag Team Championship and the All Japan Pro Wrestling World Tag Team Championship among other titles and accomplishments.

In 2002, Adams briefly tried a career in boxing until he was forced to retire due to a back and shoulder injury.

Brian Adams was born on April 4, 1964 in Kona, Hawaii and was raised in Kealakekua, Hawai'i and attended Konawaena High School. After graduating from Konawaena High School Adams joined the military. It was during his time in the military, while stationed in Japan, that he was exposed to wrestling. Adams was then trained in wrestling by famed Japanese wrestler and mixed martial artist Antonio Inoki. In 1986, after training in Japan, Adams came to the United States and began working in Portland, Oregon's Pacific Northwest Wrestling (PNW).

Adams signed with World Championship Wrestling (WCW), in 1998, where he was placed as part of the New World Order stable and later as part of it’s off-shoot nWo Hollywood. As a lower card performer, he often tag teamed with the likes of Scott Norton and Stevie Ray, occasionally being placed in squash matches against smaller and lesser known wrestlers. One of his most notable matches with the promotion was his involvement in a tag team tournament steel cage match on WCW Thunder, in February 1999, where he and Horace Hogan lost to Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko.

Later, he was scripted as the original Demon, a take off of Gene Simmons of the band KISS. This saw him emerging from an iron maiden with a rendition of "God of Thunder" as his entrance theme. The gimmick did not work for Adams as he made only one appearance as the Demon. Dale Torborg took over that gimmick, while Adams was placed back into tag wrestling again. He formed a team with Bryan Clark called KroniK, where he won the WCW World Tag Team Championship twice.

Abdullah the Butcher, part 2

2007-07-29T14:53:00.000-05:00

In addition to his successes in North America, Abdullah the Butcher would also become a true international superstar while performing in the Far East, Europe, the Caribbean, Australia, Africa, and practically everywhere else across the globe. On March 12, 1974, he traveled all the way to New Zealand, where he captured the prestigious British Empire Commonwealth Title by defeating the nation’s legendary champion John DaSilva. Furthermore, Abdullah would also establish himself among the premier attractions in Japan, where he competed as part of the round-robin tournament that ultimately crowned Giant Baba as All-Japan’s inaugural PWF Heavyweight Champion in February 1973. On October 18, 1978, Abdullah himself won the prestigious PWF belt when he defeated European legend and former AWA champion Billy Robinson; and then on October 13, 1980, he also beat Jumbo Tsuruta to capture the NWA United National Heavyweight Title. His feud with Terry Funk is still considered one of the hottest feuds in Japan, and Funk claims to have a personal top 3 all time greatest match with Abdullah the Butcher. Shreve is almost always paired with a manager (most notably "Playboy" Gary Hart in Texas, Georgia, and Florida, and Hugo Savinovich in Puerto Rico) and never speaks in U.S. territories. He has spoken in Japanese interviews, where promos aren't as important to get a wrestler over.

He arrived in World Class in 1986, where he subsequently defeated the Great Kabuki for the Texas Brass Knuckles Title while waging war against the equally wild Bruiser Brody. However, perhaps Abby’s most memorable encounters occurred in Puerto Rico, where he was billed as the very first WWC Universal Heavyweight Champion in July 1982 following three reigns as the Puerto Rican Champion between 1978-81. His violent battles against Carlos Colón and Hércules Ayala are legendary; and he still remains one of the area’s top attractions, as he recently defeated Carly Colón for his fifth Universal Title on January 3, 2004.

He was introduced in World Championship Wrestling in a giant, gift-wrapped box. This giant box was to be Sting's birthday gift from Cactus Jack. Sting unwrapped his gift and it turned out to be Shreve, leading to both feuding with Sting after the incident, culminating in a "Chamber of Horrors" match at Halloween Havoc 1991, in which Cactus accidentally "electrocuted" Abdullah in an electric chair. Afterwards, he had a brief feud with his old ally, Cactus Jack, in 1992.

Abdullah’s reputation as the most sadistic and bloodthirsty hardcore wrestler in history has established a legacy far greater than any single championship ever could. In addition, his dietary habits have also become the stuff of legend, as he has been known to eat announcer’s ties, whole raw fish, and he once even bit the head off a live chicken before a traumatized crowd! Moreover, his unpredictable, ultra-violent style is largely responsible for inspiring a future generation of wrestling madmen, including “Maniac” Mark Lewin, Kevin Sullivan, Cactus Jack, Kamala, and Sabu, among others; and at almost 70 years old, he still continues to compete on the independent circuit after a career that has now spanned six decades.

Abdullah worked in nearly every major wrestling promotion in the world, except WWE, but never stayed in one place for very long. He has also taken part of Juggalo Championship Wrestling owned by the Insane Clown Posse. Even at his age, he still makes wrestling appearances and still works matches as brutal as he did in his youth accompanied by his signature fork.

Besides wrestling, Shreve owns two restaurants in southwest Atlanta called "Abdullah the Butcher's House of Ribs and Chinese Food." Shreve is often onhand to meet fans and sign autographs, and the restaurant has become something of a local attraction. Shreve and his restaurant make a cameo appearance in the music video for the song "Damn!" by Atlanta recording artists Youngbloodz. Shreve's restaurant was also referenced in the 2006 Film "ATL" during a scene where the character Ant (Played by Evan Ross) and two friends argue over local BBQ. This year the WWC's Aniversary show will be dedicated to the Butcher's legacy and contributions to WWC.

technorati tags: wcw, ecw, eddie guerrero, pro wrestling, wrestlemania, hulk hogan, ric flair, booker t, tna

Abdullah the Butcher, part 1

2007-07-29T14:51:00.000-05:00

Larry Shreve (Born Lawrence Shreve on November 2, 1936), best known as Abdullah the Butcher, and also at times the Madman from Sudan, is a professional wrestler. He is known as one of the most brutal professional wrestlers of all-time.

Despite wrestling folklore, Abdullah the Butcher does not truly hail from the arid desert of the Sudan, as he was actually born Lawrence Shreeve in Windsor, Ontario on November 2, 1936. He grew up in Canada as part of a family of ten in a deeply poor household, though he managed to learn karate and judo as a youth, eventually earning the title of seventh-degree grandmaster.

Standing 6’1” and weighing a robust 360 pounds, Shreeve was eventually spotted by Montreal promoter Jack Britton, and he soon made his professional ring debut at age 22 in 1958. He initially competed in numerous independent territories north of the border while performing under such various monikers as Pussycat Pikens, Kuroi Jujutsushi (The Black Wizard) and Zeras Amala. However, he ultimately created his legendary gimmick of an evil Arabian sadist; and in a match against Gino Brito (Jack Britton’s real-life son), Abdullah the Butcher first distinguished himself as one of the world’s most feared rulebreakers when he broke a chair over his opponent’s head and then proceeded to beat him senseless with the leg.

Such acts of violence were only the beginning for the terrifying Abdullah the Butcher, whose menacing figure, excessive violence, and complete disregard for the safety of himself or his opponents quickly established his well-deserved reputation for ruthless brutality. Abdullah’s matches almost always degenerated into bloodbaths, and he was infamous for stabbing his opponent’s wounds with his trademark fork (or any other foreign weapon that he could get his hands on at the moment). In addition to his insanely hardcore style, Abdullah the Butcher was revolutionary in that he would never stay in any one territory for too long so as to maintain the novelty and incredible notoriety of his character. By constantly roaming from region to region, Abdullah positioned his reputation as the most violent wrestler in the world. Consequently, he was often brought into a territory as a hired gun to destroy a popular fan favorite, and his appearances usually sparked local interest since he was always such a huge drawing card. As a result, Abdullah thus engaged in crimson-soaked carnages against some of the sport’s greatest legends, including The Original Sheik, Buddy Rogers, Bobo Brazil, Bruiser Brody, Carlos Colón, Dusty Rhodes, Andre the Giant, Harley Race, Terry Funk, and “The Mongolian Stomper” Archie Gouldie, among others. Moreover, since his gimmick required that he speak no English (even though it was his native tongue in actuality), he possessed an extraordinary number of managers over the course of his long career, including Gary Hart, Paul Jones, Eddie Creatchman, Black Baron, the Grand Wizard, J.J. Dillon, Damian Kane, Larry Sharpe, Oliver Humperdink, George Cannon, Bearcat Wright, Big Bad John, and Rock Hunter, who were all portrayed as “handlers” commissioned to control the Sudanese madman while doing most of the talking in interviews. Furthermore, Abdullah would often bloody his opponents with foreign objects that he concealed in his pants. He frequently used a fork as his trademark weapon.

As a result of his frequent traveling, Abdullah the Butcher usually served as more of a special hardcore attraction than as a consistent championship contender. Accordingly, Abdullah never did win the World Heavyweight Championship, though he would nevertheless capture a myriad of regional titles during his legendary career. He won his first major championship on October 23, 1967 when he teamed with Dr. Jerry Graham to defeat John & Carlos Tolos for the NWACanadian Tag Team Titles in Vancouver. A few years later, he ventured to the Montreal region, where he secured three reigns as the IWA International Heavyweight Champion between 1969-72 while feuding against Ivan Koloff and Johnny Rougeau. He later served as one of the premier rulebreakers in Calgary’s Stampede territory, capturing the NWA Canadian Championship as well as six North American Heavyweight Titles during the early 1970’s while battling the likes of Archie Gouldie, Jerry Christy, and Sweet Daddy Siki. Before long, Abdullah the Butcher was also established as a well-known villain in the U.S.; and on June 24, 1972, he defeated Ernie Ladd in Akron, Ohio to capture the first of two eventual NWF World Heavyweight Titles. During the mid-1970’s, he also frequently performed in Detroit’s Big-Time Wrestling territory, where he engaged in a classic rivalry against local legend, the Sheik. Moreover, he also teamed with “Killer” Tim Brooks to win the region’s version of the NWA World Tag Team Titles before he then defeated Bobo Brazil on February 8, 1975 for the NWA United States Championship.

"Tank" Abbott

2007-07-27T14:55:00.000-05:00

David Lee "Tank" Abbott (born April 26, 1965 in Huntington Beach, California) is an American mixed martial artist. He has described his fighting style, which he developed fighting on the streets of Huntington Beach, California, as "street fighting." In addition to being a mixed martial arist, Abbott wrestled professionally between 1999 and 2001 under the ring name Tank Abbott.
Abbott worked as a professional wrestler with World Championship Wrestling (WCW); initially he was brought in as an opponent for Goldberg, on the understanding he was a "legitimate" fighter - who could render any opponent unconscious with a single punch, which became his wrestling finisher, 'The Phantom Right' - and could boost Goldberg's reputation. This feud never developed, and Abbott remained mostly a comedic wrestler, frequently being featured in segments with the boy band parody stable, Three Count. The most success he had in his wrestling career was when he teamed with Rick Steiner to feud with Scott Steiner. He also nicknamed the head of WCW security, Doug Dillinger, "Mr. Smiley," and would make quacking noises at him. Many wrestling fans consider his career irreparably damaged after he jobbed to actor (and then WCW Champion) David Arquette, losing by pinfall. Recently, he signed on to be with the WWE Classic Superstar Action Figure line set to be released in July 2007. He says his favorite wrestling game is WCW/nWo Revenge for the n64.

His bad boy image and tough biker look have led many people to believe that Abbott is nothing more than a common hoodlum with a natural ability to throw punches. In reality, he never practiced any style called "Pit Fighting" and had been boxing for up to 13 years before his UFC debut and had been wrestling since high school and during his years at college. He had been coached in boxing under Jesse Reid and Tyrone Bennett and his wrestling career began at the age of 9 and by the age of 18 he became a Junior college All-American. He is also an educated man, holding a degree in history.

Abbott was the UFC fighter who appeared on the TV show Friends, fighting (and beating) Jon Favreau's character, the millionaire Pete Becker, who was dating Monica at the time. In Pete's own words he suffered "a torn rotator cuff, a hairline fracture in my right forearm, and a severely bruised Adam's Apple." Tank has also appeared on an episode of Kenan and Kel, where he swore to get revenge on Kenan for sending him to prison. His character's name was John "The Jackhammer" Rogan.

In 2003, Abbott performed a 600 pound bench press which was recorded on video. It is alleged the press was improperly done because the barbell bounced off Abbott's chest, alleviating part of the force needed to lift the weight up. Abbott responded to this claim during an interview, highlighting the ridiculousness of someone "bouncing" 600 pounds of weight off their chest without sustaining massive injury.

technorati tags: wcw, ecw, eddie guerrero, pro wrestling, wrestlemania, hulk hogan, ric flair, booker t, tna

Super Calo

2007-07-14T16:32:00.000-05:00

Name Super Calo
Real name Rafael García
Nicknames El Rapero (The rapper)
Name history El Greco Jr. (debut - ??), El Hijo de Superzán (90 - 91?),El Diabólico Chucky (91 - 92), Super Caló (05/92 - ), Love Warrior (96 - 97)
Family Bello Greco (father), Alan & Chris Stone (brothers)
Trained by: Bello Greco, Pepe Casas
Birth date February 22, 1971 - Guadalajara, Mexico
Wrestling Debut August 5, 1990 - Arena San Juan Pantitlán - Mexico City
Height 5'8"/173 cms
Weight 192 lbs/87 kg
Signature moves Top-Rope Headscissors, Tope Con Giro, Flying Dropkick, Slingshot somersault senton plancha
Titles: Distrito Federal Trios Titles (w/ Alan & Chris Stone), Aztecas Middleweight Title

Rafael García (born February 22, 1971) is a Mexican professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Super Calo. A longtime mainstay of Asistencia Asesoría y Administración during the 1990s, he also competed in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW).

Pro Wrestling Illustrated ,PWI ranked him # 273 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003

Calo's brother Chris Stone may have worked under the Super Calo name in 2005 when he jumped to AAA. Chris jumped back to CMLL a few months later, and Calo was last reported retired and not living in Mexico, so it's unclear who's currently using the name and image.

http://www.luchawiki.org/index.php?title=Super_Cal%C3%B3

technorati tags: wrestling,pro wrestling,wrestling news,pro wrestling news, professional wrestling,lucha libre,lucha libre aaa,lucha libre mask

WCW: Kevin Sullivan, part 2

2007-07-05T12:07:00.000-05:00

Kevin Sullivan went to the ECW in early 1993 and teamed with Tasmaniac (Tazz) . Along with with Devil Angel, who was now called Woman, they won the ECW Tag Team Wrestling Titles and then feuded with "Public Enemy" Johnny Grunge and Rocco Rock. Sullivan had a bloody feud with Abdullah The Butcher. In the spring of 1994, Sullivan left Woman behind and headed to WCW.

In WCW, he formed a tag team with his kayfabe brother Dave Sullivan, a dyslexic character who referred to himself as "Evad" who was being picked on by The Nasty Boys .Kevin enlisted Cactus Jack's help and beat the Nasty Boys for the ECW Tag Team Titles. Dave was injured and out of action for awhile and Sullivan split with Cactus Jack after losing the titles. Kevin later defeated Cactus in a Loser Leaves WCW Match at Fall Brawl on September 18, 1994.

Dave came back and dressed like his idol, Hulk Hogan.( Can you say Eugene?) This infuriated Sullivan, who hated Hogan, and so the two "brothers" began feuding. Sullivan brought in Hogan's best friend, Ed Leslie, as The Butcher to feud with him. He also brought in Avalanche calling themselves 3 Faces of Fear. They feuded with Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage and Sting.

Early in 1995 , after not being able to end Hogan's career, Avalanche left the group and Sullivan turned on Butcher. Sullivan started putting together a new group with the help of his mentor, The Master. They called it the Dungeon of Doom. It was a huge stable and included Kamala, The Barbarian, Meng, Manager Jimmy Hart, Shark (formerly Avalanche), Zodiac (formerly Butcher, formerly Brutus Beefcake), Yeti, Hugh Morrus, One Man Gang and for a very short time, Vader and Big Bubba Rogers.

During this time, Sullivan began calling himself the Taskmaster. Four Dungeon of Doom members lost to The Hulkamaniacs in a WarGames match at September's Fall Brawl. As a result of Hulk Hogan's win over Zodiac, he got to spend five minutes alone with The Taskmaster. The Dungeon started a feuded with the Four Horsemen, and Sullivan acquired a certain disliking for Brian Pillman.

Once Sullivan had sent Pillman packing, the Dungeon and the Four Horsemen rejoined forces to get rid of Hogan and his friends. They brought in The Giant ( Paul Wight) , Maxx Muscle and Big Bubba Rogers. They formed the Alliance To End Hulkamania with the Horsemen in a failed attempt to do so. When they couldn't get the job done, Sullivan and Chris Benoit of the Horsemen picked up where Pillman left off and started a feud. This was a brutal feud and lasted over a year, with Benoit "stealing" Woman from Sullivan in the course of the feud. Sullivan brought in Jacquelyn to help him and also added Konnan to the Dungeon.

At Bash at the Beach on July 13, Sullivan lost a retirement match to Benoit. Kevin was already the booker so it gave him more time to do his job. Sullivan stayed on as the booker or a member of the WCW booking committee and made a brief onscreen appearance with the reformed Varsity Club of Rotunda and Rick Steiner with their cheerleader, Leia Meow. After a couple of months, he was back off TV.

Sullivan was among those blamed for the 2000 departure of Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero and Perry Saturn from WCW, though by no direct action of his own. After the departure of Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo, the resulting chaos led to Sullivan's promotion to head booker. This move angered a number of WCW wrestlers, given Sullivan's history of professional rivalries (notably Benoit) and poor decisions. At Souled Out 2000, Sullivan booked Benoit to win the WCW title in a desperate attempt to quell the uprising, but Benoit, Malenko, Guerrero and Saturn would quit the night after, immediately signing with the WWF. Sullivan would be fired before WCW's sale in 2001.

Sullivan makes occasional appearances on the independent circuit, mainly in Florida. He owns a gym in the Florida Keys called Froggy's Fitness.

In 1985, Sullivan married Nancy Daus (née Toffoloni), his valet. In the mid-1990s, Sullivan, the then WCW booker, scripted a storyline in which Daus would leave him in favor of his on-screen rival, Chris Benoit. During the execution of the storyline, Daus legitimately left Sullivan in favour of Benoit, divorcing Sullivan in 1997 and marrying Benoit in 2000. Insiders would say that Sullivan booked his own divorce.

Between June 22 and June 25, 2007, Benoit allegedly murdered Daus and their son, Daniel, before committing suicide. Following the incident, Sullivan expressed shock at Benoit's actions, stating "I'm in the dark...I wrestled with him a lot. I thought he was a great performer...it was shocking, just shocking."
On June 28, 2007, FOX News noted in an article on the incident that Sullivan had links to both Benoit and Sherri Martel, who had died earlier that month.

Source:
http://www.answers.com/topic/kevin-sullivan-wrestler

technorati tags: wcw, ecw, kevin sullivan, pro wrestling, wrestlemania, wcw,fallen angel,woman,sherri martel

WCW: Kevin Sullivan, part 1

2007-07-04T00:18:00.000-05:00

http://www.borntoride.com/hottv.html

Kevin Francis Sullivan (born October 26, 1949) is an American professional wrestler. He is perhaps best known for his feuds with the "American Dream" Dusty Rhodes and Mike Graham in the NWA's Florida Championship Wrestling, and against Chris Benoit and the Four Horsemen in World Championship Wrestling.

Sullivan started wrestling in October 1970 in Georgia. Since 1972 he was a face and teamed with Mike Graham in Championship Wrestling from Florida.

In 1976, he wrestled briefly for the World Wrestling Federation.

In 1981, he turned on Graham and started a feud. For the next few years, he was known as a Satan-worshipping heel in Florida Championship Wrestling & Southwest Championship Wrestling.

He had a stable of wrestlers and valets to help him with his nefarious doings. The Fallen Angel was his female sidekick who was evil but had model-quality looks. The "Fallen Angel" later became "Woman". Some of his male sidekicks were "Maniac" Mark Lewin,(AKA The Purple Haze), "Maniac" Mike Davis (who was put under a "spell" to act like Dusty Rhodes), Jake Roberts, Superstar Billy Graham, Buzz Sawyer (whom he led to the ring on a chain), Maha Singh, Karma, Winona Littleheart and Luna Vachon. Oliver Humperdink managed them. They feuded with Dusty Rhodes, Bugsy McGraw, Blackjack Mulligan, Barry Windham and Mike Graham.

This group broke up by 1986, and he feuded with Bad News Allen and Mike Rotunda. Sullivan spent from September to December in 1986 feuding with Brad and Steve Armstrong in Alabama's NWA Southeastern Championship Wrestling.

He was back in Florida in 1987 and feuding with Lex Luger and Scott Hall. After a brief face run in which he feuded with Dory Funk Jr. and Sir Oliver Humperdink, he left NWA Florida for the main NWA circuit in December 1987.

Sullivan formed The Varsity Club upon arrival in the NWA with Mike Rotunda and Rick Steiner. They immediately started feuding with Jimmy Garvin because Sullivan wanted his wife Precious for himself. This feud lasted a while with Sullivan "breaking" Garvin's leg at one point.

Steiner left the group and was replaced by "Dr. Death" Steve Williams and Dan Spivey. They feuded with Dusty Rhodes, the Road Warriors, Rick Steiner and Eddie Gilbert. Sullivan even attacked Gilbert's wife Missy Hyatt. By late 1989, the Varsity Club was gone, and Sullivan formed Slaughterhouse with Cactus Jack and Buzz Sawyer to feud with Rotunda.

Sullivan took time off in late 1990 and returned in early 1991 as the manager of One Man Gang, Black Blood, and the Angel of Death. They cut El Gigante's hair and had a brief feud. Sullivan also was the masked Merlin the Wizard briefly to manage Oz.

In 1992, Sullivan went to Smoky Mountain Wrestling and reunited with Fallen Angel, now called Devil Angel. He feuded with Brian Lee and managed the Nightstalker.

Source:
http://www.answers.com/topic/kevin-sullivan-wrestler

Wrestler Chris Benoit Is Found Dead With Wife, Son

2007-06-26T16:34:00.000-05:00

Wrestler Chris Benoit Is Found Dead With Wife, Son (Update1)

By Erik Matuszewski

June 26 (Bloomberg) -- Professional wrestler Chris Benoit, his wife and 7-year-old son were found dead in their Georgia home yesterday, said local law enforcement officials.

The death of the 40-year-old wrestler, a former heavyweight champion once known as the ``Canadian Crippler,'' and his family is being investigated as a murder-suicide, police said. The Associated Press today reported that Benoit strangled his wife, smothered his son and hanged himself, citing a law enforcement official that it didn't identify.

full story at:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=aAXMP3EEsTKg&refer=canada

technorati tags: chris benoit,nancy daus, murder, suicide

WCW: Bill Dannenhauer/Dave Sullivan/The Equalizer

2007-06-04T21:29:00.000-05:00

Bill Dannenhauer was a professional wrestler better known as Dave Sullivan or The Equalizer.

Bill Danenhauer started out in college football as the Offensive Coordinator at Washburn University. He met Harley Race and decided to become a professional wrestler.

He started wrestling in 1990 as The Equalizer in the National Wrestling Alliance's (NWA) Pacific Northwest Wrestling territory. He teamed with The Grappler as "The Wrecking Crew" and feuded with John Nord and Scott Norton. They then won the Pacific Northwest Tag Team title twice before he and Grappler split and feuded, with Equalizer assuming the babyface role as PNW fans rooted for him against Grappler.

He left for the Global Wrestling Federation where he wrestled as Captain Ron in 1992.

In 1993 he joined World Championship Wrestling, and teamed briefly with Rick Rude as his tag team partner/bodyguard. They feuded with Dustin Rhodes and the Road Warriors. He also teamed with Paul Orndorff.

His biggest push started in the summer of 1994 when he became Dave Sullivan or "Evad" (His gimmick was that he was dyslexic.), the brother of Kevin Sullivan. He was being picked on by The Nasty Boys and brought Kevin in to help him against them. He was injured by them, so Sullivan brought in Cactus Jack to help them out. After Kevin & Jack took care of The Nasty Boys, they split up, and Jack left. Hulk Hogan made his WCW debut that summer, and Dave became his biggest fan. Kevin hated Hogan, and problems started brewing.

Dave started teaming with Hogan and Sting against Ric Flair and his henchmen, and Kevin soon turned on Dave, which started a feud that went into 1995. After his feud with Kevin ended, Dave fell in love with Kimberly, the valet for Diamond Dallas Page (This was before it was known that DDP & Kimberly were married in real life.). DDP took offense to this and started a feud with Dave that lasted all summer. During this feud, Dave gave Kimberly presents, which infuriated DDP even more. Dave eventually lost the feud and moved on.

His next feud was with Big Bubba Rogers. Dave had a pet rabbit that he brought to ringside with him, and Bubba was allergic to rabbits. Bubba started wearing a surgical mask to keep from inhaling the germs, but Dave would always pull it off and get the victory.

Danenhauer left WCW in early 1996 after participating in the first WCW World War 3 event.

He wrestled in the independents under his original ring name The Equalizer until retiring in 2003 to become a football coach at Dana College in Blair, Nebraska.

technorati tags: wcw, ecw, eddie guerrero, pro wrestling, wrestlemania, hulk hogan, ric flair, booker t, tna

WCW: Lance Storm

2007-05-24T23:12:00.000-05:00

Lance Timothy Evers (born April 3, 1969), known professionally by his ring name Lance Storm, is a semi-retired Canadian professional wrestler. He is best known in the western world for his work in World Wrestling Entertainment, Extreme Championship Wrestling, and World Championship Wrestling. He runs a pro wrestling school Storm Wrestling Academy in Calgary, Alberta, and occasionally works in the independent circuit.

Lance Storm was trained for professional wrestling by Stu Hart in Calgary, Alberta and debuted in 1990. He mainly wrestled in Calgary, but also spent time in Japan for Genichiro Tenryu's Wrestling Association "R" (WAR) promotion. He also wrestled in Smoky Mountain Wrestling in Tennessee then moving on to a Winnipeg-based WFWA, forming a tag team with Chris Jericho called The Thrill Seekers.

In 1996, Storm joined Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). He made a name for himself by becoming a heel and first teaming with Chris Candido, then being placed with valet Dawn Marie and teaming with Justin Credible as the Impact Players, racking up two tag team title reigns along the way. During this time Storm also gained a position as a booker in ECW and had a hand in much of the product content on TV and Pay-Per-View. He also took part in a memorable match vs Rob Van Dam in ECW's 1st PPV Barely Legal 1997, though at the end of the match he was booed by the crowd for two visibly "weak" chairshots to Van Dam.

Storm left ECW in 2000 to join WCW, where he became a singles wrestler. He quickly became one of WCW's most important on-screen characters, winning the United States Heavyweight Title, World Cruiserweight Title, and Hardcore Championship in rapid succession. He renamed the titles to the Canadian Heavyweight Championship, 100 kg and Under Championship, and Saskatchewan Hardcore International Title, respectively-- complete with large stickers that covered the belts' faceplates. Storm was the first triple-champion in WCW history, and tried to win the WCW Championship as well, but his efforts were defeated by champion Booker T. Storm eventually gave up the Cruiserweight/100 kg title, presented it to Elix Skipper, as well as the Hardcore/S.H.I title, passing it on to Carl Ouellet (who lost in his first defense of said title).

Storm's stable, Team Canada, feuded with General Rection's stable, the Misfits in Action, for several months. In particular, Storm and Rection feuded with each other over Storm's "Canadian" Heavyweight Title, which Rection finally won from him and promptly renamed back to the U.S. Heavyweight Title.

Storm's three-belt championship reign is more incredible considering that WCW apparently had a rule in place that a wrestler could not hold more than one singles belt at the same time (even though Storm eventually did give up two of the belts after winning them).

technorati tags: wcw, ecw, eddie guerrero, pro wrestling, wrestlemania, hulk hogan, ric flair, booker t, tna

WCW: "Dangerous" Devon Storm

2007-05-19T20:56:00.000-05:00

Chris Ford is a professional wrestler best known by his ring names, Devon Storm or Crowbar.

Chris Ford was trained by Mike Sharpe while still in high school. He wrestled for many years on the independent scene under the ring name Devon Storm, a name which Ford came up with many years earlier while dreaming to be a pro wrestler. He had many notable feuds on the indys, including having several matches with Sabu. After years working on the indys and a short stint with ECW, Storm signed a developmental deal with WCW.

Storm went to World Championship Wrestling where they sent him to the Power Plant, WCW's main training facility. After being trained as "Dangerous" Devon Storm, he was placed in a stable with David Flair and Daffney Unger, where was given the name Crowbar. In WCW, he held the WCW World Tag Team Championship and the WCW Hardcore Championship. He also had a memorable feud with Terry Funk that culminated at the last WCW Starrcade pay-per-view.

After WCW, he spent some time in the now defunct World Wrestling All-Stars where he and Sabu resumed their feud.

He has wrestled some dark matches for WWE on both WWE Velocity and WWE Sunday Night HEAT.

In 2003, he joined TNA Wrestling and was part of Father James Mitchell's stable, The New Church. He was let go from TNA as they were still a small company at that time and could not afford to fly him down to Nashville every week.

Chris Ford now has a full time job as a physical therapist (a job he has had since the late 1990s). He still works some independent shows on the weekends, but has relaxed his schedule so that he can spend more time with his family.

technorati tags: wcw, ecw, eddie guerrero, pro wrestling, wrestlemania, hulk hogan, ric flair, booker t, tna

WCW: Tracy Smothers

2007-05-14T19:14:00.000-05:00

Tracy Smothers (born September 2, 1962) is an American professional wrestler and is the current Cleveland All-Pro Wrestling Heavyweight Champion.

Steve Armstrong and Tracy Smothers started teaming as The Southern Boys in Florida Championship Wrestling in 1987 where they feuded with The New Breed. They moved on to Southeast Championship Wrestling where they feuded with The Stud Stable.

Smothers and Armstrong competed in World Championship Wrestling for a number of and were known as the Southern Boys and later the Young Pistols. The tag team changed names when WCW decided to attempt to portray a more "national" image as opposed to a "southern" image (thus the "Southern Boys" became "The Young Pistols" when the duo turned heel) Smothers and Armstrong had a long feud with The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin). Smothers' last major appearance for WCW was on January 21, 1992 at The Clash of Champions, as he teamed with Terry Taylor in a loss to Marcus Alexander Bagwell and Brian Pillman.

Smothers achieved his greatest singles success in Jim Cornette's Smoky Mountain Wrestling promotion which was based out of Knoxville, Tennessee. Between 1992 and 1995, "The Wild Eyed Southern Boy," competed as a babyface for SMW and won the Heavyweight title twice, the tag team titles once (with "Dirty White Boy" Tony Anthony, known as the "T.H.U.G.'S"), and the "Beat the Champ" TV title on three separate occasions. Smothers had notable feuds during this time against "Prime Time" Brian Lee, Chris Candido, Tony Anthony, The Heavenly Bodies, and The Gangstas. He also competed as a heel in the United States Wrestling Association during the SMW vs. USWA feud in 1995.

After SMW folded, Smothers continued to work for the USWA (and the WWF). Smothers at one point even joined the USWA branch of the Nation of Domination, changing his name to Shaquille Ali (a take off of NBA star Shaquille O'Neal and legendary boxer Muhammad Ali).

Before SMW folded in late 1995, Smothers began wrestling in the summer of that year as Freddie Joe Floyd in the WWF as a babyface jobber to various up and comers, most notably Hunter Hearst-Helmsley and Stone Cold Steve Austin. His only meaningful win under the Floyd gimmick was an upset of Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw in his debut, which resulted in Bradshaw beating Floyd in a subsequent rematch. He also scored a count out win over Triple H, thanks to Mr. Perfect distracting Helmsley. His entire gimmick was a rib on Gerald Brisco and Jack Brisco, as they both came from Bowlegs, Oklahoma (the same home town Freddie Joe Floyd was billed as being from). Jack Brisco’s real name is Fred Joe Brisco, and Gerald’s full name is Floyd Gerald Brisco.

Later in his career he joined Extreme Championship Wrestling as "The Main Man" Tracy Smothers and was part of the Full Blooded Italians (or F.B.I.). He was most notably remembered for doing a goofy dance, that ECW announcer Joey Styles often commented on by saying "what the hell is with that awful dance." The FBI during this time was mostly a comedy heel tag team, which also featured Little Guido, "The Big Don" Tommy Rich, and the "Italian Stallion" John T. Smith. Smothers, long associated with being a stereotypical southern wrestler, was billed as being from "Nashville, Italy" during this time.

Smothers wrestled at both of the June 2005 ECW reunion shows, defeating The Blue Meanie at Hardcore Homecoming with the help of J.T. Smith, and accompanying Little Guido to ringside for his match with Yoshihiro Tajiri and Super Crazy at ECW One Night Stand 2005. On June 18, 2005 at a Championship Wrestling event, Smothers challenged WWE employee John "Bradshaw" Layfield to a fight after JBL shot on The Blue Meanie during a brawl at the end of One Night Stand. He also wrestled at all 4 Hardcore Homecoming events.

Smothers still competes on a regular basis in various independent promotions throughout the country, although based largely in the south/mid-south/midwest area. He formed a tag team with fellow SMW and ECW alum Chris Hamrick known as "Southern Comfort" and together they won several tag team championships on the indy circuit. The Smothers/Hamrick duo was known for using the theme song from The Dukes of Hazzard as their intro music.

Smothers is known for proclaiming himself a "'tweener." A "'tweener" is a wrestler who is neither a babyface nor a heel. Smothers is also known for dancing in the ring and challenging opponents to "dance offs" before or during a match.

In late 2005 and early 2006, Smothers worked a full-time schedule at various independent promotions in Tennessee and around the midwest and eastern United States. He also toured the United Kingdom and teaming with Chris Hamrick on 1 Pro Wrestling shows as 'Southern Comfort', where they competed in a tag team ladder match for the Tag Team Championship against Team SHAG (Darren Burridge and Colt Cabana) and Jonny Storm and Jody Fleisch, eventually losing to Team SHAG.

In late 2006, he worked a multi-month, full-time tour of Europe for a number of small independent promotions in the UK, Germany, and Scotland, such as Wrestle Zone Wrestling where in Hartlepool, England, Smothers was crowned the new wZw Heavyweight Champion. He later relinquished that title.

On February 25, 2007 in Cincinnati, Ohio, Smothers defeated Corporal Robinson to win the Pro Wrestling Unplugged Hardcore Championship.

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WCW: "Davey" Boy Smith

2007-05-10T21:53:00.000-05:00

David "Davey" Boy Smith (November 27, 1962 – May 18, 2002) was a British professional wrestler. Born in Golborne, Warrington (now in the Borough of Wigan), Smith is best known for his appearances in the United States of America with the World Wrestling Federation under his own name and under the ring name The British Bulldog.

Smith's middle name really was "Boy". When he was born, one of his parents mistook the "middle name" field for the "gender" field on his birth certificate, and wrote "Boy".

Smith was trained by Ted Betley in Winwick, England before relocating to Calgary, Alberta, Canada to further his training under Stu Hart. While training with Hart, Smith met Stu and Helen Hart's youngest daughter Diana, whom he later married in 1984. They had two children, Harry (born in 1985) and Georgia (born in 1987). He and Diana were divorced in 2000.

Smith had an eventful run in WCW in 1993, engaging in feuds with Sid Vicious and Big Van Vader, who he challenged for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Slamboree 1993, and formed a mildly successful alliance with Sting. He was known simply as Davey Boy Smith, as the WWF had trademarked the "British Bulldog" moniker. In 1993, he was reportedly involved in an altercation with a man at a bar who was making advances towards his wife. As a result of the altercation (and the ensuing legal issues that followed), WCW released him from his contract. According to his son he had merchandising issues which led to his departure. He worked for some independents in Great Britain before returning to the WWF.

technorati tags: wcw, ecw, eddie guerrero, pro wrestling, wrestlemania, hulk hogan, ric flair, booker t, tna

WCW: Norman Smiley

2007-04-29T13:06:00.000-05:00

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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WCW/NWA: Dick Slater

2007-04-24T13:32:00.000-05:00

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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WCW: Elix Skipper

2007-04-18T11:23:00.000-05:00

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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WCW: Ron Simmons

2007-04-16T15:55:00.000-05:00

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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WCW: Silver KIng

2007-04-15T18:40:00.000-05:00

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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WCW: Sick Boy

2007-04-11T12:51:00.000-05:00

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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WCW: Sonny Siaki

2007-04-10T13:51:00.000-05:00

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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WCW: 2 Cold Scorpio,

2007-04-08T12:50:00.000-05:00

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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WCW: 2 Cold Scorpio

2007-04-06T15:22:00.000-05:00

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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WCW: "Macho Man" Randy Savage, part 2

2007-04-05T13:27:00.000-05:00

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

2007-04-05T13:25:00.000-05:00

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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WCW: Perry Saturn, part 2

2007-04-04T18:17:00.000-05:00

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

2007-04-04T18:08:00.000-05:00

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.

WCW: Kensuke Sasaki

2007-04-01T15:19:00.000-05:00

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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