Evolution of a Wrestling God!
Originally published in 2006
Written by Darby Gatorade

November 29, 1966:
God created John Charles Layfield in Texas.

If you didn’t know it already, you should first know that I am a HUGE fan of former WWE Champion and  SmackDown! announcer, John Bradshaw Layfield. Ever since his self-important attitude adjustment over two years ago, he has consistently performed as the WWE’s second biggest heel (behind Triple H). A lot of people have been hard on JBL during his stint as a main event heel, but I think it’s the first time in a long while that a WWE wrestler is hated for all the right reasons. We’re talking about a guy who has paid his dues and perfected his craft.

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Enter The Dragon: A True Legend
Originally published in 2006
Written by Colm Kearns

Ricky Steamboat may not be the first name that comes into your head when you consider all time greats in wrestling (particularly if you are a younger fan), he hadn’t the mic skills to match Ric Flair or Shawn Michaels and he never wrestled as a heel but when it came to in ring talent and the ability to put on a classic match Steamboat was among the very best. Whether it was putting on all time classics with legends such as Ric Flair or helping to elevate younger stars like Steve Austin in WCW Steamboat done it with the skill, fluency and passion that are the mark of a great in ring talent.

Steamboat was born in New York on February 28th 1953. He was a talented amateur wrestler and planned to become a wrestling coach but was put off by the lack of job opportunities. As faith would have it, his girlfriend met Donna Gagne in Minneapolis.

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WOW Women Of Wrestling
Wow! That Sucked!
Originally published on May 24, 2003
Written by Emer Prevost

Picture it, California, the year 2000; David McLane had a dream. His dream, to make an all-female wrestling promotion. Well, he did make the promotion, but it wasn’t at all good. In fact, in certain cases, it was so bad, it was funny.

The Women Of Wrestling (WOW) promotion had everything needed to be a syndicated wrestling company: ring, arena, Lee Marshall on commentary, writers, wrestlers, guard rails, referees, and a stage. But, the talent wasn’t all that good and the writing was a joke.

I guess that the wrestlers weren’t that bad, it was just that they were all saddled with such terrible characters and gimmicks that they would make the Repo Man, Bastion Booger, Shockmaster, and even Oz look like great characters in comparison.

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The Best There Is, Was, and Ever Will Be.
Originally published on October 20, 2004
Written by Kirsty Quested

Sometimes the word “legend” is used with monotonous regularity, especially in this, the world of professional wrestling. A fickle mistress, at best. Given that legend status is also largely a matter of opinion, bestowing the title depends on the opinion of the bestowee. However, whether you’ve loved him or hated him, few would disagree that Bret “Hitman” Hart qualifies as one of the genuine legends in a business packed with wannabes and one-hit-wonders.

Bret’s talent had already shone even before Vince McMahon turned wrestling upside-down and changed it forever. His traditionalist style and personality remained a fan favorite when McMahon turned wrestling in a direction in which some thought Bret had no place. Now the legend lives on in honored retirement, his greatest matches still taking pride of place in all “best of” lists on websites across the globe, including that of the WWE.

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The Wonderful Brandon Bull
By Dr. Mike Lano
[Wrestling/boxing/MMA photojournalism]

Who’ll ever forget where they were the first time Gordon Solie called Paul that during one of his great GCW squashes?  The Brandon Bull.  He was and remains that and one pretty tough hombre, cancer be damned.
 
I think many of us first came to appreciate what a tremendous athlete Paul was in Bill Watt’s talent-laden Mid South promotion that was the standard of excellence for U.S. wrestling in the late 70’s and early 80’s amidst a crowded field(many of the territories were still great up to and including late 1983).  Others may have first marveled at his work for Ole Anderson in Georgia Championship(always talent-packed as well).
 
As with the faux Paul Ellering wrestling “brother,”  I think Watts/Mid South also had a faux Orndorff brother tagging with him at the time by the name of “Terry”(similar to Watts’ former area boss, Leroy McGuirk who tried to capitalize on the earliest incarnation of Ivan Putsky with a faux brother called Igor Putski.  Oddly,  Ivan was originally a near-carbon-copy of Sheik’s Mighty Igor Vodik(Dick Garza) doing that particular non-speaking, allegedly dim-witted Polish man-child gimmick.

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Angel Orsini Talks About Being The Unsanctioned “All Guts, No Glory” Champion in All of Women’s Wrestling

Angel Orsini, a 14 year veteran in pro wrestling has spent the last three years of her career building up Women Superstars Uncensored (WSU). Before entering WSU, Orsini made her name on the MMA circuit, before debuting in ECW. Orsini would dabble in and out of various companies, but a severe injury and car accident would put Orsini out of the pro wrestling business for most of 2006 and 2007.

Orsini entered WSU on 9/22/07 and never looked back. Orsini would reach personal career highs and made womens wrestling history on 6/6/09 when she challenged Mercedes Martinez for the WSU World Title in an Ironwoman match that went 70 minutes. This is the longest womens wrestling match ever in the history of womens wrestling, and was perhaps the fastest 70 minutes of womens wrestling you will ever witness.

However, that match was also the culmination of a year long issue between Orsini & Martinez. Orsini, the former world champion, had her 10 month reign ended by Martinez on 3/7/09. Orsini was so confident that she would regain the championship in her first one-on-one rematch, that she agreed to a clause that if she lost the rematch, she could never challenge for the WSU World Title again while it was in Martinez’s possession. Well Orsini came up on the losing end, after both women put their heart, career, sweat, tears and soul into that Ironwoman match.

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Buffalo, NY (August 4, 2010) — Former WWE superstar & six-time World Heavyweight Champion, Dave Bautista, joined the award-winning Monday Night Mayhem Radio Network to officially announce the launch of “Batista vs. Cancer,” in association with the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (OCRF) & South of France Natural Body Care.

The “Batista vs. Cancer” video was shot and filmed over the past two years, and contains footage of Dave in “Our Nation’s Capital” Washington D.C. (in front of The White House and Lincoln Memorial), in New York City (the middle of Times Square and Madison Square Garden), along with many other famous locales, in addition to containing footage of Dave working out, training with Affliction, and competing in a wrestling match against a masked heel (“Cancer”).

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A Perspective on IWF Wrestler Kevin Knight:
“If you want anything done right, do it yourself.”

By J.D. Mowery
www.BackSportsPage.com

(WEST PATERSON, NJ)- When the average fan of professional wrestling thinks about the industry, two main brands come to mind: WWE and TNA.

Why are these two brands the only ones that are recognized?

Well, that comes down to many things: corporate sponsorship, prime time air time on television stations, pay-per-view time, pyrotechnics, ratings, merchandise, appealing to a broad spectrum of an audience, and other issues.

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!BANG! TV Report – Debut Match of Dory Funk IV  (4th Generation of Funk)
 
Few in the wrestling business will forget their “Debut Match” in professional wrestling.   I am sure this will be the case of Dory Funk IV (The Doctor of Funk, Dr. Dory Funk Jr.) 
 
I can remember like yesterday my Debut match in Amarillo, with West Texas State University All American, Jerry Logan in my corner against Don Fargo with partner Jim Dalton in his corner.
 
In the audience, my Mother, Father, The West Texas University Football Team, Tascosa High School Wrestling Team and the forever loyal Amarillo, Texas Wrestling Fans. (more…)