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.

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

Stacy Keibler - The Duchess of Dudleyville

Remember back when Stacy Keibler was the manager of The Dudley Boyz, the "Duchess of Dudleyville"?
Remember when The Dudley Boyz were "The Dudley Boyz"?

 Yep it was during the WCW/ECW Invasion storyine in the WWF.
Good times.

The Hardy Boyz and Lita

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

WCW: Miss Alexandra York

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/

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.

Chad Fortune

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

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 - WCW

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.

Mike Enos

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.

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.

"The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels

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.

Chris Candito

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.