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Dragon Gate USA Presents “Freedom Fight” on PPV
Dragon Gate USA is back on PPV starting Jan. 22 with “Freedom Fight”, which features a one-night tournament to crown the first ever Open the Freedom Gate Champion. DGUSA’s last PPV received a 100% thumbs up rating in The Wrestling Observer so the second show will definately be worth checking out. There’s a preview of the Davey Richards/YAMOTO match on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRR9Q24N1-8 and there’s also a 10-minute preview that plays on cable On Demand available at http://www.vimeo.com/8335383. For more info on the show check out www.dgusa.tv

I watched the show and I was very happy. All the feedback I’ve seen from this show has been positve as well. For $20, you’re probably not going to find a better wrestling PPV this year. Well worth checking out.

 

TNA Releases
TNA Knockout Melissa Anderson was released from TNA this past week. Anderson is the niece of former pro wrestler and trainer Bill Anderson and had appeared in TNA since 2008 under a variety of gimmicks, most notably as Raisha Saeed, the manager of Awesome Kong. Anderson also wrestled under her Indy gimmick Cheerleader Melissa and had been appearing as of late as Alissa Flash. You can find an interview from early last year with Melissa in the OWW Radio archives at http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/oww/radio. You can also find an interview with her uncle Bill Anderson in the OWW Radio archives section of the OWW Genesis discussion forum.

Awesome Kong Asks for TNA Release
Awesome Kong has apparently asked for her TNA release stemming from a series of recent incidents. Kong apparently requested some time off from TNA’s UK tour, which is happening this week, to deal with the death of pro wrestling promoter Ed Chuman, who passed away last week, but the company denied her request. There’s also the incident concerning Bubba the Love Sponge.

TNA, like numerous other US companies, has gone out of it’s way to raise money for the victims of the recent Haiti earthquake. Kong herself and a number of other TNA wrestlers have even organized benefits to raise money for the disaster outside of TNA. Bubba the Love Sponge, who was hired by TNA because of his relationship with Hulk Hogan, went on his Twitter account and, among other things, wrote “f*** hati (sic).” When Kong heard of Bubba’s Tweet she approached him backstage at last week’s TV tapings and punched him in the mouth, resulting in both parties being sent home for the rest of the day. Hogan went on Bubba’s radio show soon after the story broke and even went as far as saying Kong should be “fired from TNA” as a result of what happened.

From denying her time off to grieve to siding with an idiot who’s burying the company’s own public relations attempts, TNA has done nothing but shove it’s nose in the air at Kong, one of their most over talents. The crowds love Kong and losing her would be a major blow to TNA. The company is digging it’s grave deeper with every week Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff are in control. From redesigning the iMPACT! Zone to look like the Disney Arena WCW used to bringing in WWE has beens who were midcarders at best and putting them over the talent who’ve built TNA from the ground up, the new regime seems more intent than ever to turn TNA into WCW 2.0.

TNA talents Frankie “Suicide” Kazarian and Homicide have also asked for their releases in recent months but the company refused to grant it.

WrestleFest VI: Spring Spectacular
The annual WrestleFest event is gearing up already and will be here before you know it. Scheduled for April 10 at The Radisson Hotel in Carteret, New Jersey the event is scheduled to feature Muhammed Hassan, Daivari, Mae Young, The Brooklyn Brawler, Mortis, Shark Boy, and many more stars of past and present. They’re doing a special VIP ticket sale if you pre-order before April 4. You can find more info on this year’s WrestleFest at www.kandswrestlefest.com in the Spring Spectacular section. You can also drop Ken and Steve an email at [email protected] [Thanks to Ken & Steve]

Wrestle Reunion 4
The annual Wrestle Reunion 4 takes place this coming weekend in Los Angeles, January 29th – 31st. With guests that include DDP, The Great Muta, RVD, Road Warrior Animal, Jushin Liger, Stan Hansen, Larry Zbyszko and more and two pro wrestling shows, one presented by Ring of Honor and the other by SoCal’s own Pro Wrestling Guerilla it’s sure to be a packed weekend. Check out www.wrestlereunion for more details. [Thanks to Nick Anthony]

Legends of the Ring 10
The Legends of the Ring Fanfest will return to New Jersey on May 15th for their 10th annual spring convention. Currently on the line-up are Jeff Jarrett, Jack & Jerry Brisco, Bruce Pritchard, Sean Morley, Kurrgan, Dink the Clown, The Mean Street Posse, and yes even Mantaur! For more details on the event, including how you can purchase advanced tickets, check out www.legendsofthering.com [Thanks to Terence Brennan]

Indy Wrestler Casting Call
Bob Saget (“Full House”) is doing a show for A&E on American society off the beaten path and wants to do an episode on backyard wrestling. Welcome to 1999. He’s looking for high impact, high flying, hard hitting over 18 backyard wrestlers with their own bring, costumes and gear. For more info you can e-mail [email protected]

OWW Open Call
Online World of Wrestling is currently looking for dedicated, hard working, intelligent columnists and researchers to expand the ever growing OWW Profiles section. Anyone wanting more details or wanting to submit columns should contact Brad Dykens at [email protected]

Wrestlicious Gets TV
Wrestlicious, the all-female wrestling league founded by a 19-year old Power Ball winner, has announced a new TV deal for 2010. Beginning March 1, Wrestlicious’ TakeDown will begin airing on BiteTV in Canada and MavTV in the United States. And beginning on March 6 the show will air in the US on all America 1 stations. The show will also stream online at www.bite.ca For more info on Wrestlicious check out their website, www.wreslicious.com

There is an interview with Jimmy Hart, who is working with Wrestlicious, that was conducted by Live Audio Wrestling’s Jason Agnew for Canada’s “The Surf” talk show. The interview can be downloaded at http://www.bite.ca/video/The-Surf-Jimmy-Hart-WWE/

Plugs
Fans have created a “We Want SiX Sides” petition to protest TNA Wrestling’s move to a traditional 4-sided wrestling ring. You can view and sign the petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/6sides/

New England Championship Wrestling is currently in the process of putting it’s past television shows online for viewers across the world to enjoy. You can find their latest uploaded show at http://www.necw.tv/episodes/NECW-CSN-3.wmv

http://tv.ign.com/articles/106/1061183p1.html – IGN has an interview up with Daffeny here talking different things, from her time in TNA to her custom made little top hats.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/wrestling/2815458/Jim-Cornette-blasts-WWE-over-number-of-grapplers-who-have-died-young.html – The UK Sun has an article up here where Jim Cornette blasts WWE over it’s unwillingness to take responsibility over the deaths of so many wrestlers. Personally, I don’t see how WWE or any other company for that matter can be held completely responsible.

http://www.wwe.com/superstars/wherearetheynow/spiveypart1 – WWE.com’s Where Are They Now section has an interesting interview up with Dan Spivey that’s a fairly interesting read.

http://merrick.patch.com/articles/easy-ryder – Josh Stewart of Patch Media has an article up on Zack Ryder and the Royal Rumble up here. Interesting read.

OWW Radio
OWW Radio will return tonight with an interview with Rick “The Model” Martel, which was pulled from last week’s show due to last minute schedule changes. You can also download past episodes of OWW Radio for free through iTunes. Just download the iTunes software and subscribe to “OWW Radio” to download all the old episodes and new ones as they come available every week. You can also listen to OWW Radio LIVE as it airs every Tuesday night from 9 PM – 11 PM EST, 6 PM – 8 PM PST by logging into the OWW forums, where the show is broadcast.

Graham Cawthon of The History of WWE.com is still doing weekly giveaways of Shoot Interview DVDs and, coincidentally enough, this week’s DVD is a shoot with Rick Martel. To find out how you can put your name in the hat for this and other DVDs check out Graham’s website, www.thehistoryofwwe.com [Thanks to Graham Cawthon]

OWW Radio Nominated for 2009 People’s Choice Award (Favorite Show)
Big news!! OWW Radio has been nominated for the 2009 People’s Choice Award (Favorite Show) by Wrestling Radio Awards.com.

We consider it the utmost honor and privilege to be nominated for this award.

Fans of OWW Radio can learn more and show their support by voting at the following link: http://www.wrestlingradioawards.com/
WRA 2010 will take place on “Royal Rumble Sunday” January 31st, 2010! The event will be streamed LIVE starting at 4PM EST from Atlanta (the home of WWE’s Royal Rumble later that night).

Results
NWA in Charlotte, 1-23-10: Ace Rockwell def. Jeff Lewis, Mike Posey def. Corey Hollis, Mikeal Judas def. Brody Ray Chase, Sal Rinauro def. Jimmy Rave, The New Wave def. Team Macktion, Phil Shatter def. Caprice Coleman to retain the NWA National Championship. For more info on NWA In Charlotte check out their website, www.nwaincharlotte.net You can find a video of the Mike Posey/Cory Hollis match here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-4CbWfVBrw (Part 1) and here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhoW3vJOxKk (Part 2).

!BANG! Support Your Troops 48, Genesis, 1-23-10: Blaine Rage & Luke Spencer def. The Cold Front, Hack Meyers def. Walter “Killer” Roberts, Rachel Moore def. Radiant Rain & Claudia Reiff to win Reiff’s Women’s Championship, Damien Steele def. Luke Spencer, Johnny Magnum def. Damien Steele to retain the Heavyweight Championship. For more on Dory Funk’s !BANG! TV check out his website, which has over 300 videos of matches past and present available for FREE – www.dory-funk.com

OWW Genesis
Anyone looking for up-to-the-minute breaking news should considering signing up for OWW Genesis, the Online World of Wrestling forums. We have a news forum that is continuously updated, as well as a very active community where a “Family Environment” is strictly enforced. We keep trolls, drama, foul language, and harassment to a minimum and good, clean, pro wrestling debates and discussions to a maximum.

Some features of the forum include TakeDown, an RP based efed that runs shows once a month; Undisputed, a wrestling debate league which averages one card a month; a Video Vault where matches and segments of wrestling’s past are all compiled in one easy to find place; an Open Forum for OWW Radio discussions; an active MMA community; and what I would consider a group of wrestling’s most knowledgable fans eager to talk and share their knowledge.