Buddy Rogers - WWE Wrestling Champions

Herman Gustav Rohde Jr. was born on February 20, 1921 in Camden, New Jersey.
Herman was better known by his ringname Buddy Rogers, the original "Nature Boy".
Ric Flair later adopted the "Nature Boy" name, the Figure-Four Leglock and even the Buddy Rogers strut as a tribute to him.
Buddy held more titles than you can shake a stick at including being the first WWWF World Heavyweight Champion, that title being carried down to present day as the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

Buddy Rogers, sports wrestling, wrestling, wrestling wrestling, wrestling wwe, wwe, wwe pro wrestling, wwe wrestlers, wwe wrestling champions, wwf wrestling

When Chyna Was Everywhere

Remember when WWF/WWE Diva Chyna was literally everywhere?
The WCW had Asya, but she never attained the popularity of Chyna.
Chyna was in magazines, on the covers of magazines and on TV, besides being in the WWE.
I remember that she had a reoccurring role on "3rd Rock From The Sun".
And Chyna also appeared on the cover and inside of a lot of fitness magazines as well.

You have to wonder what would have happened if the WCW's Christi Wolf aka Asya had met Chyna in the ring.

Kane and Tori - WWE

1998, when Kane formed a tag team with X-Pac and had a girlfriend...Tori.
Remember when he spoke only through the electrolarynx?
Then he could talk?
In 2000, Tori finally betrayed Kane and joined X-Pac and DX.

The Undertaker Playing Basketball

Yep.
That is the Undertaker, the Deadman, Mark Calaway number 33 playing basketball at Texas Wesleyan University during the 1985 - 1986 season.

And here he is before that at Waltrip High School in Houston Texas in 1983.
Interestingly, that is the same high school that Patrick Swayze went to, although he graduated before the Deadman's time there.

RIP Roddy Piper

He was one of a kind and he will be missed.
Rowdy Roddy Piper was a great wrestler and a great actor.
You could see how good of an actor he was just watching his ring persona.
He could go from laughing maniacally to quiet and calm in the blink of an eye.
If "artist" ever fit a wrestler, Roddy was one of those few.

The Undertaker and Sensational Sherri - WWF

Here is a real flashback.
The Undertaker (Mark Calaway) and "Sensational" Sherri (Sherri Martel) from back in the old WWF.

The Late Eddie Guerrero and Chyna

A picture of the late Eddie Guerrero and Chyna back in the WWF

Kevin Thorn and Ariel - WWE Vampires

Since tomorrow is Halloween...here are the best vampires ever in the WWE, Kevin Thorn and Ariel!

 Okay...really the best Vampires might have been Gangrel and the Brood (aka Christian and Edge...remember that?) but I have a better picture of Kevin and Ariel.

 Actually Kevin, Gangrel and Ariel were supposed to be a faction on ECW, but it never materialized.

Kevin was released from his WWE contract in 2009 and went on to work for wrestling promotions like One Pro Wrestling, Dynamic Pro Wrestling, German Stampede Wrestling and Frontier Elite Wrestling.

Ariel (Shelly Martinez) was released after Kevin in 2007 and went on to TNA as "Salinas". After that she wrestled for the Perros del Mal promotion in Mexico, the World Independent Ladies Division Wrestling and is part of the World Wrestling Fan Xperience (WWFX) Champions Showcase Tour. Along with Raven, and Cheerleader Melissa she appeared in the music video for the Smashing Pumpkins' song "Owata".

The Hardy Boyz and Lita

Ahhh the good old days.
When Team Xtreme were just really good wrestlers.

WCW - Sting

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"?

Paul Wight, The Giant

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.

Terry Funk - Pro Wrestling

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.

David Flair

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.

Edge in the WCW

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.

Hacksaw Jim Duggan - WCW

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

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.

James J. Dillon / JJ Dillon

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

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

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.

Kid Kash

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.



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