Ring of Honor: My WrestleMania Warm-Up

My brother and I just got home from our WrestleMania warm up event. Philadelphia's Ring of Honor presented "All Star Extravaganza III". Over all it was a great show and I truly enjoyed watching some of the young guns of wrestling go at it before the WWE machine gets them and makes them sports entertainers.

This one tag team, the Briscoe Brothers won the ROH Tag Team Titles from some Japanese guys. The kicker here was that one of the Briscoes (Mark Briscoe) was legitamately injured when he landed on his head attempting a flip out on to the concrete floor. Early reports say that he suffered a severe concussion. His tag partner Jay Briscoe finished the match and won the Tag Titles for his brother.

Some TNA stars were on hand and involved in the event. Chris Sabin, Alex Shelly, Homicide, Austin Aries, and Christopher Daniels. The biggest surprise of the night was a special appearance by James E. Cornette! Cornette worked the mic as me and my brother marked out hard for the Louisville Slugger.

The best part of the night was not a match but a man. Signing autographs at the show was the two-time former WWE (WWWF) Champion, BRUNO SAMMARTINO! Bruno was an incredibly nice man and took the time to talk to and shake the hand of everyone who came up for his autograph. I got an autographed Classic Superstars action figure and my brother got an 8 by 10.





During the show, Bruno entered the ring and talked about his disgust for the current wrestling product on TV and he praised ROH for bringing honor and respect back to the sport of wrestling. As Bruno was wrapping up a loud mouthed manager, Larry Sweeney and his wrestler Chris Hero came and started smart mouthing Bruno. Bruno was outnumbered when another ROH star, Nigel McGuinness came and took care of Hero and then held Sweeney while Bruno laid him out. A great moment to be a part of for sure.

Although no digital cameras were allowed I tried to take a few pics of Bruno and Jim Cornette w/ a throw away. I'll add them to this blog when I get them developed.

Thank you Bruno Sammartino for pioneering the sport I enjoy the most. Your contributions to pro-wrestling will never be forgotten.

It's a magical world...

Over the next few days I am going to be in a world of magic and excitement. A world filled with hall of famers, an animal, a dead man, a marine, a showstopper, billionaires, a Samoan bulldozer, a little baby, a big red machine, a giant, a king, an Irish fighter, a punk, a Kennedy, a rated R superstar, high fliers, legends, a legend killer, extremists, divas, a rabid wolverines, and an MVP. It is a world that only exists once a year and it's borders encompass a different city every year. It's not Camelot, Disneyland, or Candy Mountain. The world is known as WrestleMania Week and I am as excited as a sixteen year old behind the wheel of a brand new Ferrari.

My history as a wrestling fan began around the same time I did. I was kind of born a fan. My brother who is twelve years older than me was a wrestling fan and he passed the love down to his baby brother. He grew up watching wrestling during the 70s and saw some of the men who blazed the path for the guys I would grown up watching. Guys like Bruno Sammartino, Bob Backlund, Superstar Billy Graham, Dusty Rhodes, Harley Race, Roddy Piper, and Andre the Giant.

My first memory of watching wrestling is also one of my first memories period. Hulk Hogan ripping off his yellow and red Hulkamania shirt is an image that will forever be burned into my mind. Growing up Hulk was my hero and to this day I will pop out of my seat when the Hulkster re-emerges onto the scene.

As I grew into my teenage years, my natural rebelliousness lead me to like edgier characters. One such character was a brash young up-n-comer named Shawn Michaels. Much like Ric Flair before him, Michaels was a cocky, long haired prettyboy, who not only was a smartass on the mic but could back it up between the ropes. His brash attitude and pure ability appealed to my own desires to be a rebel who can talk a good game and play it just as well. He is my favorite wrestler of all time.

Over the next week I will be posting blogs about my experiences as I roam the Metro-Detroit area searching for opportunities to meet the superstars and legends that have captivated me since I was a kid. WrestleMania 23 is only five days away so get ready for a full review of my experiences this weekend.

Remembering "The Golden Boy"

Remembering:

"The Golden Boy"
Arnold Skaaland
January 21, 1925 - March 13, 2007

As a wrestler, Arnold Skaaland was fearless, taking on much larger men, and always giving them a fight. In 1967, he and Spiros Arion won the old WWE United States Tag Team Championship.

Another generation of fans remember Skaaland as a manager, regularly accompanying Bruno Sammartino to the ring during both of his WWE Championship runs. He also performed the same task for Bob Backlund during his reign as champion.

Skaaland was a legend in all facets of sports-entertainment, and in 1994, he became a member of the first full class inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

"The Golden Boy" Arnold Skaaland, WWE Hall of Famer and a member of the WWE family for over 50 years, passed away March 13, 2007. He was 82.

Waking up early and Dreams

For the past two nights I have not been able to sleep as well as I'd like. On a weekday when I have worked in the early morning I usually will go to bed when i get home and sleep for about 6 hours. On Saturday nights and Sunday nights I can actually sleep at the same time everyone else does, or stay up late and sleep in the next day. Well Saturday night I stayed up late until 4:30 AM, not to mention I had been up for 24 hours straight, and I could only sleep for 6 hours. I was slightly unhappy with my natural alarm clock. Last night I decided to go to bed early so I went to bed at 11 PM and could only sleep until 5:40! I hate this body sometimes...Jesus, I am getting anxious for the Resurrection body...

While I was sleeping I had a pretty interesting dream. Before I tell the dream I just wanted to hit on how weird dreams are. Yesterday I had a few things on my mind and they were as follows: Waking Ned Devine (a movie), my Papaw Bob, U.S. Presidents, 24 (TV Show), and my church family. With that being said, here is the weird dream I had...The dream begins on a military airfield that looks to have been decorated for a 4th of July gig or a presidential speech. In the center of the airfield is a casket that is exactly the same as the one in Waking Ned Devine. The casket belongs to my Papaw Bob who in my dream is apparently getting the honors of a fallen president. As a ceremony is going on, a suspicious photographer flashes his camera only to set off a bomb killing himself and wounding many of the mourners and knocking myself and my wife(?) down. Immediately I get up and begin scanning the nearby rooftops for snipers. Then the scene cuts to me being at my Pastor's house at describing the crazy event that I had just been a part of. I watched the news and saw video footage of the incident and then...(I woke up, lol)

"Bad News" and the "Big Cat"

The year 2007 is not yet three months old and the wrestling world has lost four of it's past stars in the past 2 months and 12 days; Two of those in the last seven....

Bad News Brown (Allen J. Coage)
October 22, 1943 - March 6, 2007

Bad News Brown was a WWE superstar in the mid-to-late 80s. His tough no-nonsense attitude made him a tough competitor in the squared-circle for guys like Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, and Roddy Piper. Although he never had much success as far as titles go, he certainly left his mark on the industry. He was one of the more memorable African American wrestlers in the WWE at the time. Bad News passed away last Tuesday morning as a result of a heart attack. He was 63.


"The Big Cat" Ernie Ladd
November 28, 1938 - March 10, 2007

Ernie Ladd played professional football from 1961 till 1968 for such teams as the San Diego Chargers, the Houston Oilers, and the Kansas City Chiefs. Ladd has been honored for his grid-iron accomplishments by being inducted into the AFL Hall of Fame, the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, and the San Diego Hall of Champions.

Ladd became "The Big Cat" when he started his journey into the realm of professional wrestling in the early 1960s. In a career that lasted nearly twenty-five years, Ladd faced some of the wrestling world's greatest champions. A list of his opponents would include Lou Thesz, Bruno Sammartino, Gene Kiniski, Andre the Giant, Dusty Rhodes, The Sheik, and Dick the Bruiser. Ladd hung up the boots in 1984 when knee injuries forced him into retirement.

Despite never winning a major World Heavyweight Title, Ernie Ladd held at least 18 championships in various wrestling promotions all over North America. This can be viewed as quite an accomplishment for a man of color in the racial environment of the 1960s and 1970s. Ladd was without a doubt a pioneer for African Americans in the world of professional wrestling.

In 1994 and 1995, "The Big Cat" was honored for his in ring accomplishments when he was inducted into the World Championship Wrestling Hall of Fame and the World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Fame respectively. He was the first person to be inducted into both prestigious Halls.

Since 2004, Ladd had battled cancer-first in his colon, then late in his stomach and bones. On March 10, 2007, Ernie Ladd passed away due to his long bout with cancer. He was 68.

Here I am...

I finally made the switch to blogger.com

we will see how this all goes and if i like it i will pack all of my other blogs up and unpack them here. for now this is it...the end