Blog Archives
Reggie Parks: All Bow Down to The King of Belts
Let’s get to the point. Reggie Parks is the King Of Belts. This is not just a saying or a term based solely on respect, it is a FACT. Mr. Parks, a former professional wrestler, has been in the business of making championship belts for over 40 years for almost (if not every) mayor pro wrestling organization in the world, from the WW(F)E, WCW, NWA, AWA, UWF, Pro Wrestling Noah, Ring Of Honor, and NCW. Read the rest of this entry
Bleacher Report Interview with ECW Original Jason Knight
The Bleacher Report’s Seth Guttenplan interviewed former ECW original Jason Knight on his wrestling radio show, “Oh You Didn’t Know!?” with co-host John “JCD” Dimiceli on ProWrestlingPowerhouse.com Radio on February 27th, 2013. The interview covered Knight’s early run in WWF in the early 1990′s, his rise in ECW, thoughts on the current WWE product (which leaves MUCH to be dedired), the difference between being a wrestler vs. being a manager, Vince McMahon, Paul Heyman and many more. Check out the interview in the link below!
Tony Atlas & Rocky Johnson: 1st All-Black World Tag Team Champions
When World Wrestling Federation superstars “Mr. USA” Tony Atlas and “Soul Man” Rocky Johnson (as in the father of the most electrifying man in sports-entertainment…) were put together as a tag team, they became one of the top favorite and most popular tag teams in pro wrestling in the early 1980s. Atlas and Johnson’s popularity, collectively known as “The Soul Patrol”, helped propel them to a shot at the WWF World Tag Team Championship and a no-disqualification match against Afa and Sika (aka, The Wild Somoans) on December 6th, 1983 on an episode of Championship Wrestling. Due to a mistake by the Wild Somoan’s manager, Captain Lou Albino, the Soul Patrol were able to take an advantage and captured the World Wrestling Federation World Tag Team Championship, becoming the first all African-American tag team to carry out such a feat.
[Thanks WWE]
The 10 Best Football Players To Get Into Wrasslin’
Mongo vs. Reggie White
The Ravens defeated the 49ers in the Super Bowl two weeks ago (you know, the game that was initially a blowout so the lights went off because God switched the channel and Bane TOTES DID NOT show up), so this week I feel compelled to share this list from About.com on the 10 best football legends to ever square off in the wrestling ring, with the ranking based on the quality of their football careers (so sorry, no Bill Goldberg here; he did MORE than good-enough on the wrestling side of things than the football side of things). Read the rest of this entry
WWE Should Bring Back These Three Championship Titles…
HINT: This is ONE of them….
Ever since WWE extended Monday Night RAW from a two-hour show to three hours, they’ve had some difficulty providing entertaining programming to fill the entirety of the show — I’d suggest more matches, less segments/interviews. Adrian Fylonenko of The Bleacher Report suggest that the WWE bring back the Cruiserweight (or Light Heavyweight, if you prefer), European, and Hardcore championship titles to help the WWE keep up a solid, quality program for all three hours of RAW, as the reintroduction of these belts could and would create more dynamic storylines and feuds on RAW and –should it go the three-hour route as well — SmackDown. Essentially: WRESTLING > VIDEO FLASHBACKS. Read the rest of this entry
Gettysburg Without Java & Sonic Booming In Your House – WIRed #30
Also, thank you Mr. Watterson for “Calvin & Hobbes.” On episode #30 of WIRed this week, I cover the removal of a building on the site of the Battle of Gettysburg the drama behind the holes in Java security, the SONIC THE HEDGEHOG fan film, and the return of WWF In Your House (in a DVD/Blu-ray set, of course)! Read the rest of this entry
WWE To Help Rekindle Some “In Your House” Memories via DVD/Blu-Ray
You can usually depend on the huge Vault at WWE headquarters to offer some content to tickle the fond pro wrestling memories of fans of WWE, WCW, ECW, AWA, WCCW, and more event of wrestling’s past. Recently, WWEDVDNews.com confirmed that WWE will be releasing a new DVD and Blu-Ray set called the “Best of In Your House” on April 30th. Read the official synopsis after the break. Read the rest of this entry
Late Christmas Gift: The Ghosts visit Ebenezer “Rowdy” Roddy Piper
On December 20th in 1985, the WWF’s midweek, hour-long talk show, Tuesday Night Titans aired a parody skit inspired by the Charles Dicken’s classic, “A Christmas Carol,” starring “Rowdy” Roddy Piper. For the unfamiliar, Tuesday Night Titans (or TNT; named after the WWF’s then-parent company, Titan Sports) was a a loose parody of your typical late-night talk show, hosted by WWF Chairman Vince McMahon and “sidekick” Lord Alfred Hayes conducting interviews with the WWF superstars (while they remained in character) and participating in several series of skits. In this skit, the WWF’s bad boy, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper plays the role of Ebenezer Scrooge and is being visited by the three spirits, and — of course — hilarity ensures. Check out the entire four-minute skit after the break. Read the rest of this entry
“Wrestling With Shadows,” A Look Into The End of Bret Hart’s Run in the WWF
Paul Jay’s Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows is a 1998 documentary film which follows then-World Wrestling Federation Champion and superstar Bret “Hitman” Hart during his final year in the WWF, starting from his WWF Championship victory over The Undertaker at SummerSlam to his last match with the company versus “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels at the Survivor Series on November 9, 1997. This documentary is lauded and infamous for its access and rare look behind-the-scenes of the professional wrestling industry, including Hart discussing with The Undertaker and Pat Patterson about the course of their SummerSlam match, Triple H being accused by Bret’s wife, Julie, of his involvement in the “Montreal Screwjob” incident, and outside-of-the-ring endeavors of Vader, who had just acquired his real estate license and career plans after wrestling. Wrestling with Shadows also takes a rare look at the life of the extensive, wrestling-oriented Hart family and household.
Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart, WrestleMania XII, 3/31/1996
The main event at WWF WrestleMania XII was built on two goal from two different wrestlers: Bret Hart, the then-WWF Champion, aimed at wanting to retain the WWF Championship, and the challenger Shawn Michaels, who had suffered a number of setbacks over the course of the previous year (losing a title match at WrestleMania XI, forfeiting the Intercontinental Championship, suffering a concussion, and getting betrayed by Diesel, a.k.a. Kevin Nash). To add to the build up of this event, the match between Hart and Michaels would be the first-televised, sixty-minute Iron Man Match, in which whomever scored the most decisions in a one-hour period (pinfall, submission, countout or disqualification) would win the match, and the WWF Championship.
Kickstarter for ECW Documentary Surpasses Funding Goal! E-C-W!!!
Yesterday, filmmakers John Philapavage (a wrestling fan) and Kevin Kiernan (a non-wrestling fan), life-long friends and graduates of the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA, surpassed their financial goal on independent online fundraising website Kickstarter to fund an unauthorized documentary of the popular and legendary wrestling promotion, Extreme Championship Wrestling, or ECW. This project involved 50 hours of footage being shot and over 60 interviews conducted to provide context and accuracy to this oral history. This documentary has been a labor of love from the filmmakers, as the project began when they were both 19-years-old, back in March of 2000. Read the rest of this entry
Train Stations, Bluetooth Lights, Sonic/Mega Man & Classic Hart Drama – The PractitioNERD, Ep. 9
This week’s episode of The PractitioNERD discusses a simple, vernacular Canadian Train Station (The Le Massif de Charlevoix Train Station), Bluetooth-operated light bulbs (Bluetooth Light Bulbs), Sonic the Hedgehog & Mega Man form a tag team against evil (Archie Comic’s Sonic / Mega Man Series to Crossover), and The Hitman vs. British Bulldog at SummerSlam ‘92! (Hart vs. Smith for the Intercontinental Championship at SummerSlam).
…also, THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK!! Read the rest of this entry
WWF SummerSlam 1992: Bret “The Hitman” Hart vs. “British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith
Even though the top-billed main event at SummerSlam 1992 from Wembley Stadium in London, England saw then-WWF Champion “Macho Man” Randy Savage defend the title against The Ultimate Warrior, the other main event (and last match of the show) was the Intercontinental Championship match between then-champion Bret “The Hitman” Hart and “The British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith — gee, I wonder WHO the fan favorite for this match was….. –. Hart and Smith were brothers-in-law in real-life, as Smith was married to Diana Hart, Bret’s sister. On WWF television broadcasts leading up to their match at SummerSlam, several interviews with Diana and her mother Helen Hart portrayed an image that the family was being torn apart due to the upcoming match. An example included Bruce Hart publicly supporting Smith, while Owen Hart sided with his older brother, Bret. Diana stated that she did not know who she wanted to win the match or side with because she had close ties to both men, but she would finally state that she hoped neither wrestler would get seriously injured. Prior to the match, Smith was hospitalized with a legitimate staph infection (not “kayfabe,” or “written as a storyline”), and despite health concerns, he decided to work the match as planned. After an excellent back-and-forth match, it ended with Smith countering Hart’s sunset flip pin attempt, ultimately pinning Hart to win the Intercontinental Championship. After the match, Hart initially refused to shake Smith’s hand, but would later change his mind and hugged Smith as well as Diana Hart, who was celebrating with her husband as the show came to a close. Check out the match in its entirety after the break, and you’ll see just how the talent held the Intercontinental Championship in high-regard and respect at the time — as it was nick-named the “Work Horse” title by Triple H –, just (but not only) by having a match for that title main event a pay-per-view. Read the rest of this entry
