Nov. 23, 2009: Jesse Ventura
This week, WWE Hall of Famer Jesse Ventura will take the reins from Hershey, Pa., on a special Thanksgiving three-hour presentation of Raw. The illustrious Superstar’s role comes just more than one week before the debut of Ventura’s new truTV series, Conspiracy Theory, which airs on Dec. 2 at 10 p.m. ET.

Nov. 30, 2009: Verne Troyer
Best known for playing Mini-Me in the Austin Powers comedy series, Verne Troyer will serve as guest host on Nov. 30 from Baltimore. One of the shortest yet largely recognizable men in the world, the actor has more than 15 years of television experience.

Dec. 7, 2009: Mark Cuban
Instead of humoring the NBA Universe with his infinite antics and making authoritative basketball decisions for one night, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban will spend time delegating responsibility to WWE Superstars when he hosts Raw on Dec. 7 from Dallas.

Dec. 14, 2009: Dennis Miller
Comedian and radio talk show host Dennis Miller, meanwhile, will serve as the host of the 2009 Slammy Awards during a special three-hour presentation of Raw on Dec. 14 from Corpus Christi, Texas. The five-time Emmy award-winning comic is renowned for his improvisations and acerbic humor about pop culture and politics.

Be sure to tune in every Monday night when the biggest stars from all over the world take over as Raw’s special guest host.

Go to http://sportsentertainmentevents.tk or http://prowrestlingevents.webs.com for info about upcoming wrestling shows worldwide.

 Sean Waltman has gone by many names, most notably X-Pac in the WWE as a member of DX. His auspicious career includes numerous titles, and he broke the mold for guys under certain “size restrictions” to have a notable career in the world of professional wrestling. Knowing the hardships of several injuries in his career, Waltman is very well acquainted with the lingering effects the squared circle can have on the body, and has decided to help the future of wrestling create funds for healthcare awareness, and chose Wrestlers Rescue (http://www.wrestlersrescue.org) as the recipient.

     This is a pair of ring worn tights used in a match against Ric Flair in WCW while known as Syxx. This item is accompanied by an official Wrestlers Rescue Certificate of Authenticity. This auction will begin on Thursday November 19, 2009 , at  5pm EST , and the bidding will begin at $99.99USD and can be shipped worldwide.

       For further information about Wrestlers Rescue, including “Slam On The
High Seas” Wrestlers Rescue 2010 Cruise, the Official Wrestlers Rescue
Street Team, Jim “J.R.” Ross Raffle Tickets, and more, please visit
www.wrestlersrescue.org.
 

       To join the Wrestlers Rescue mailing list, please send an email titled “Mailing List” to wrestlersrescue@aol.com.

        Wrestlers Rescue would like to thank you in advance for posting this press release.

“M-Dogg 20” Matt Cross is quite simply “The Innovator of Aerial Insanity”. Through his natural athleticism, and skills learned from being an AAU Junior Olympic Gymnastics Champion in his youth, Cross has crafted a unique style next to impossible to replicate or recreate. Cross’ breathtaking performances, chiseled physique, and one-of-a-kind charisma have led to him becoming one of the most well-traveled athletes in all of professional wrestling today, including stops in Japan for Pro Wrestling NOAH, Europe for NWE, and everywhere from Hawaii to Egypt along the way. Through all the chaos, M-Dogg also remains one of the elite stars of Pro Wrestling Ohio, airing Sunday nights at 10:00 on Sports Time Ohio (official television network of MLB’s Cleveland Indians) throughout much of the Unites States, where he became the first-ever PWO Champion in the summer of 2008, and has waged wars with the region’s best ever since.

Now, M-Dogg’s international career hits a new plateau with the official signing of M-Dogg 20 Matt Cross for the upcoming Australian “Hulkamania” tour headlined by, who else, “The Immortal” Hulk Hogan. Hogan has quickly once again become the most talked-about name in professional wrestling due to his recent signing with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, but before he returns to US soil, Hogan intends to make major waves throughout Australia. The tour is headlined by a match featuring arguably the two most iconic figures in the sport’s history as Hogan goes one-on-one with 16-time World Champion “Nature Boy” Ric Flair in Flair’s first official match since his retirement at WrestleMania 24.

The entire card for the tour is stacked top-to-bottom with other names such as PWO alumnus Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake, The Nasty Boys, Paul London, Lacey Von Erich, and the men formerly known as Mr. Kennedy, Rikishi, Umaga, Val Venis, and many others, and PWO is proud to see one of its own join such a star-studded line-up.

Pro Wrestling Ohio wishes all the best to Matt Cross as he spends the latter-half of November down under, proudly representing PWO with some of professional wrestling’s all time greats!

–

Pro Wrestling Ohio is a regional independent professional wrestling organization headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. Since opening its doors in October 2007, PWO has been televised via the Sports Time Ohio network, official television home of the Cleveland Indians, available in over 4 million homes via basic cable and available nationwide via select sports packages on both DirecTV and Dish Network. PWO utilizes the most exciting and talented professional wrestlers in the region today, with names such as “M-Dogg 20” Matt Cross, Jason Bane, Johnny Gargano, Portia Perez, N8 Mattson and Mike Tolar. PWO also works closely with various causes, having helped raise funds & awareness for such groups as the Cops & Kids program, Wrestler‘s Rescue, and variety of other groups that aid worthy causes and communities. Pro Wrestling Ohio holds live events on a routine basis in suburban Cleveland, Ohio. For more information on PWO, please visit www.pwowrestling.com or e-mail prowrestlingohio@yahoo.com

AS I SEE IT
Bob Magee
Pro Wrestling: Between the Sheets
PWBTS.com

With Halloween over, the countdown to the Holidays begins.

Expect ads for toys and the newest electronic stuff to come soon…just after the Election Day ads end (not soon enough).

So it’s also time for me to call on wrestling promoters (and fans who see notices of these shows) to send me their Holiday related charity events, whether collections of canned food, Toys for Tots toy collections or other charity benefits. Send these to me at this address.

The holiday events I’ve been made aware of are:

First, the Toys for Tots Holiday Show at the Tri-State Wrestling Alliance return to action on December 5 at Saint Matthew’s Baptist Church, Route 322/Glassboro Road in Williamstown, NJ. The show will be collecting toys for Toys for Tots at the show. Those making a donation will receive raffle tickets for a prize drawing later in the evening.

Insanity Pro Wrestling is doing its yearly Salvation Army benefit at the The Fountain Square Salvation Army Corps, 1337 S Shelby Street, Indianapolis, IN 46203. Doors Open at 6:00 pm/7:00 pm belltime. Admission $7.. Fans are asked to bring in 3 non perishable food Items or a new unopened toy and get in for only $5..

If you’d like to make a direct donation to the Marine Toys for Tots foundation, you can go to this link.

Moving on…

As most of you know, PWBTS, the flagship site of this column, features lots of coverage of independent wrestling. As someone who happily shills independent wrestling promotions whenever possible, one of the things that’s the most maddening to me is the way independent promotions seems to have no sense about the basic sorts of things that they need to do to promote their product.

I’d like to offer some observations as to some of those things I think that promotions need to do to publicize their product online.
I realize that some people may find some of the suggestions listed below to be painfully obvious, but trust me…they aren’t. All too many independent promoters don’t use some or all of these ideas. I’ve seen all too many cases where promoters don’t…well…promote… and crowds suffer accordingly.

But that’s not all.

If you want something even more amazing…consider this: Devin Cutting, who submits a ton of independent wrestling news to PWBTS and many other websites…has actually been told by a handful of independent promoters to remove the items he’s placed online….with the comment by the promoters that “they can do it by themselves”. That misguided handful of promoters should consider going to their locker rooms at the end of the night, and ask their workers if they enjoy working in front of 50 people, and not getting paid… all because their promoter decided he could “do it all by himself”.

You don’t need to attend the Wharton School of Business to know that the most important thing, no matter whether you’re running wrestling shows or selling hamburgers… is to advertise, advertise, advertise. If wrestling websites are ready to help you do so…you’ve lost nothing, spent nothing…and quite possibly gained a lot. Better yet, you can promote your own company online as well.

Along with the usual (and necessary) grunt work of getting up posters, handing out flyers, as well as getting sponsors to defer the cost of your show, and help sell tickets for you… all of which are necessary no matter what kind of fan base you have, the most cost-effective way to promote your shows is online.

Here’s some of the things that can be done…that don’t cost much, and can potentially help a lot.

First, does your company have a website? If not, why not? it’s one of the easiest ways to promote your product to fans. A website doesn’t require technical genius to put up and keep current. Basic ones also aren’t expensive. Most internet service providers. allow you to post a personal/hobby page, which could serve as your promotion’s page. Do a MySpace page. Use social networking sites as well….there are only dozens of them around…and even the least computer-savvy people seem to scan them.

If you want to spend a bit more money, you can also buy a domain name like mine at PWBTS.com, and pay a basic monthly fee to have it hosted. What should that website consist of? If nothing else, it should use intelligible English. Use spell check. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE use spell check, and ask someone to check it for grammar and spelling mistakes before you send it out. While website owners know you want to push your show…lay off releases sent in all caps and with a dozen exclamation points. Every match is a great one (or you’d like potential fans to think so…we get the point).

After you do all that, just write it simply with items such as these:

Tell fans when your upcoming shows are…far enough in advance to let them make plans, so they don’t attend a nearby competitor’s show instead.

Tell fans where the shows are, and how to get to the shows. The locations of your shows should be listed on your website, with directions from nearby areas, using local landmarks and major highways. You can also use Yahoo Maps, Google maps, Expedia or Mapquest to illustrate where you’re running a show.

It also would be nice to include mass transit directions if you live in an area where mass transit connections exist to your venue. You can find these directions easily enough on your local transit agency’s website, then post them in your shills.

Other things to do are:

Tell fans who is on the show and tell fans your current storyline behind key matches, so fans feel there’s a reason to come to see them. Do it AHEAD OF TIME…not just days before the show.

Tell the fans what your tickets cost, and where they can get them. If you have standard ticket costs, list them. If you have remote ticket locations (local merchants that sell tickets for you), list them and where the merchants are located. If you have an e-mail address, hotline, or ticket phone line (local numbers or tollfree 800/877/888 numbers are preferable), list those as well.

If possible, have a part of your website devoted to online ticket orders. Some promotions, depending on which venues they run, may have to utilize Ticketmaster.com, Tickets.com, or other regional ticket brokers. If that’s the case, you obviously have no problem. Let Ticketmaster do the work. But be sure to post a direct order link for your show, as opposed to just a generic link to Ticketmaster.com. Trust me, Ticketmaster has made it hard sometimes to find an indy show if you’re just looking blindly.

For the rest of you, check out Ring of Honor’s online ticket reservations site as a way you can use your website to sell tickets to your show. Both allow ticket orders online. Some sites will accept credit/debit cards. Others use PayPal or similar systems. Find out which works best for your promotion’s needs and your budget.

Then, sell your merchandise.

Let’s face it, if you’re an independent promoter, you need every revenue stream that there is….or in English, you need any way you can to make a dime. Some promotions are small enough that the wrestlers just sell gimmicks at the shows. But others can also do so on their website. Promotions can also use tape dealers like Smart Mark Video to sell and tape their shows; or use Highspots.com to sell tapes and a variety of other merchandise.

Those are just some very basic suggestions for what you can include on a basic website, and some examples of how some independent promotions do those very things.

Now, does your promotion send out press releases before a show, or results afterwards to websites like PWBTS…or the Wrestling Observer…or to online wrestling newsgroups?

If not, why not?

First, press releases. They don’t have to look like something out of Northwestern University’s School of Journalism.

But let me suggest a few dos and don’ts. It’s not necessary to capitalize everything…or use exclamation points and asterisks throughout the release you send to a website. We know you want people to come to the show, so write an intelligent sounding release that makes both your company and the show you’re promoting look good….in something approaching English, please.

You might even learn a bit of basic HTML so people can just cut and paste the items into our posting script and get it up on our websites. It makes things LOTS easier when posting your releases. Some promotions do…and it makes life a LOT easier for us.

Second, as I’ve said above…PLEASE use spellcheck.

The things you need to include are largely the things we’ve discussed above… namely to: Tell fans when the show is, where the show is, how to get to the show, who is on the show, how much tickets cost, and where they can get them.

Again, any basic business course would tell you that a business must make it as easy as possible for a customer to give you their money.

But you’d be surprised at the e-mails I receive that don’t provide each of those items. You’d also be surprised at the way some of those e-mails are written. To be blunt, I get some press releases that look like a pre-schooler wrote them.

Again, press releases don’t need to look like something out of Northwestern University’s School of Journalism…but it would be nice if they had correct spelling and at least reasonably good grammar. That’s why Bill Gates put spell check and grammar check in the various versions of Windows.

I’ve gotten promotional shills for shows that I had to literally spend 15 minutes re-writing in order to post them at PWBTS. I’ve refused to run shills for certain independents, because I’d asked the promotions time after time to check them before sending them to me, because they were written so poorly that the companies should have been embarrassed to send them out in public.
Remember that your press release/shill is how a new fan sees you. If your press release is professionally written (or at least semi-literate), that new fan is more likely to read it, and their money is more likely to come your way.

Send it to widely distributed mailing lists of upcoming shows supplied to websites such as Devin Cutting, as well as newsgroups .

Post them on any one of the million wrestling related message boards that are out there, to regional wrestling websites, such as Socaluncensored.com and Michigan Indy Wrestling that cover a variety of independent promotions in their area.
Send releases to the mainstream press, such as your local daily or weekly newspaper. See if that newspaper has a weekly wrestling column. Newspapers like the Chicago Sun-Times, Miami Herald, New York Daily News, the Dallas News, and Charleston Post and Courier (just to name a few) have such columns. They’ll often run shills for your show. Mainstream coverage is a Godsend for your promotion. Again, remember the rules I listed above….use spell check and provide basic information.
If your local newspaper is a smaller weekly or daily, send it to whoever runs a section for community events, particularly if the event is to benefit a local charity, church, or community group. That’s always a good hook.

Send them to your local TV station or cable system, especially if the event is to benefit a local charity or community group.
Put together a e-mailing list of regular contacts and send it out to them to plug each and every show you run.

Consider paid advertising on certain sites. Use the major websites or those that cover either your region in particular or independent wrestling in general to advertise your product.

Get your fans to put together an e-Street Team….fans that know how to write fairly well, or provide them with the information to send yourself. Have them talk you up on message boards, websites, and newsgroups.

Make being a fan of your company not just a fun evening, but a responsibility. ECW was the first known example of a company that understood this. Fans all but MADE mainstream wrestling publications pay attention to ECW. Those fans were ECW’s best asset, because they felt obligated to let people know about the product. These days, Ring of Honor has benefited from the very same kind of dedication from its fans, who seem to feel obligated to do it.

Now, let’s talk about sending out results, including accurate crowd counts.

It’s important to realize that most online news sources based crowd counts on what they receive via e-mail, and don’t have staff to send on to your show. Thus, if someone sending results to a newsletter or website didn’t like the show, or has a grudge against your promotion, they may low-ball you with a ridiculously low crowd count, and make you look bad. Send out your own information…and, as strange as this may sound for wrestling… tell the truth. Provide websites and newsletters with ridiculously high crowd count, and you’ll be called on it.

Send them out…to everyone.

I appreciate the ones sent seemingly to just my site. But major sites like WrestlingObserver.com or PWinsider.com get more hits in an hour then PWBTS does in a week. A newsletter like The Wrestling Observer gets at least as many readers on a weekend than I get page views in 2 weeks. The Observer’s reputation is also far more well-known and respected by wrestling fans than PWBTS or this column will ever be in my wildest dreams or fantasies. Therefore, giving me information to publicize their product is a good thing, but it’d be far better if they also did the same for PWinsider.com, Pro Wrestling.net, 1wrestling.com, Wrestling Observer, or the Torch.

Promoting means just that…promoting. Sending out shills for your show is one way. Sending out results…and the shill for the next show in the same e-mail is promoting. Also… if they attend your shows, spend some time talking to the reviewer and try to get them to shill your shows. Unfortunately, some promoters seem to subscribe to the Old School of Wrestling Website Interaction…namely, that online reporters and sheetwriters are better off dead, or are “parasites” and “scum” and ignore them. Call me stupid…but if someone’s going to help me advertise my product for free…I’d kiss up to them in a New York minute.

Independent promotions that are able to do so should spend some time with the Dave Meltzers, Wade Kellers, and Mike Johnsons of the world, and develop relationships with them so as to get fair reviews for their product and encourage new people to come to shows.

Again, send your results….that night or the next morning to wrestling websites. Give a basic outline of who went over, major storylines that were advanced, how well you drew (especially if the crowd was good for your promotion), and a reminder of when your next show is happening. If you had a good show and drew a good crowd, make a point to get the word out…that’s advertising, too.

I’m not a graduate of the Wharton School of Business. I’m just one more mark sitting in the seats, who just wants to see independent wrestling succeed….at a time when the economy sucks…and when wrestling fans AGAIN need alternatives….badly.

Until next time….

If you have comments or questions, or if you’d like to add the AS I SEE IT column to your website, or if you’d like to add advertising on PWBTS.com (the flagship website of this column), e-mail me at the address above.

 (Lake Grove, NY) – A local mall became an impromptu meeting place of wrestling icons when female superstar Awesome Kong joined Hulk Hogan during a book signing.

Awesome Kong, multiple-time Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Women’s Knockout Champion and former National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) World Women’s Champion, appeared with former WWE and WCW World Champion Hogan at a book signing in Lake Grove on Tuesday, adding her larger-than-life, big time support to the publicity of Hogan’s “My Life Outside the Ring,” recently published.

When Hogan saw the world champion wrestler arrive at the Barnes and Noble bookstore in the Smith Haven Mall, he pointed to her and proclaimed, “I’m a BIG fan of yours!”

The two megastars then posed together, spoke, and then it was Awesome Kong’s turn to talk—specifically about Hogan signing with TNA, announced Tuesday in New York City.

“I’m very excited to have Hulk join me at TNA,” she said about the wrestling and entertainment empire that airs its shows on Spike TV.

Awesome Kong is widely recognized within the industry as a wrestler with huge star power and overwhelming tenacity and ferocity.

“This is a great day for me, and a great day for TNA,” Awesome Kong said about both appearing at the book signing and Hogan being brought into the fold.

The crowd at the book signing was awestruck and riveted as they watched the two high octane stars talk and share some private moments while photographers snapped pictures frantically.

Awesome Kong, a world champion wrestler and superstar in TNA, NWA, and American Wrestling Association (AWA) wrestling, is one of the most dynamic personalities in the sport today.

Pro wrestling and entertainment observers believe that not only is Awesome Kong among the most scintillating figures in the sport today, but that she is likely to maintain that status well into the future.

###

ABOUT AWESOME KONG

Awesome Kong is a professional wrestler who is currently working for Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling, SHIMMER, National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and various independent promotions in the United States and Japan. She is a multiple-time TNA Women’s Knockout Champion and former NWA World Women’s Champion. She has also been a World Champion in AWA Superstars of Wrestling and All Japan Women’s Pro-Wrestling.

ABOUT ECLECTIC MEDIA PRODUCTIONS

Eclectic Media Productions was formed in 2007 by Shannon Rose. Our mission is to provide our clients with the best in Public Relations.

Our clients have appeared in Time Magazine, Sports Illustrated, Daily Variety, Howard Stern Show, CNN, FOX NEWS, TMZ, The Insider, and others.

Our motto is “Your One Stop to Take You to the Top!”

http://mediaproductions.tv

 
The event opened with Bill Apter disguised as a grandma who escorted Terry into the room and told stories about when they first met, Japan and how by dressing as a “grandma”, he had finally gotten even with Terry for things that happened years ago while Apter was singing Karioke (sp?).
 
Next up was comedian Ryan Mahar who opened the show and started what seemed to be an overload of jokes about Missy Hyatt’s sexual prowess, Terry Funk’s many retirements and  how Terry had also done movies and started with such luminaries as Sylverster Stallone, Patrick Swaize (sp?) and more. Then he went around the room throwing “shots” against almost every wrestler in attendance.
 
Next up was New Jack, who delivered story after story about his relationship with Terry Funk including the fact that Paul Heyman kept him off the first PPV and yet delivered a 28 minute tribute to him before the PPV. He then went on to talk about certain incidents that happened over the years including Mass Transit and through it all thanked Terry Funk for helping him when he was with Smokey Mountain and other territories.
 
Next was King Kong Bundy who started off with comedy before talking about he and Funk being in Texas and delivered some funny stories about getting started with the Funk Family.
 
Next up was Kevin Von Erich who told people he was not funny but delivered some great stories about the Funk and Von Erich family and telling people that as a kid, he used to hang with Terry and one day, while gigging for frogs, Terry steered him toward a 10 foot hold in the pond where Terry laughed while Kevin tried to tred water.
 
Next up was another comedian Sean Morton (who tried but rather than give a tribute to Terry, wound up almost getting attacked for shoots on New Jack). Security as well as Mick Foley handled the matter and it was quicky resolved without an issue.
 
After that was Florida Championship Wrestling’s Mike Graham, who like Kevin Von Erich, had some great stories about growing up with the Funk Family. Mike told the crowd right up front he was not very funny, but was indeed very entertaining to the crowd.
 
The leader of the 4 Horsemen, JJ Dillon went to the podium and told people that while everyone remembers him as a manager, he was indeed a wrestler who had been taught a lot by Terry Funk and brought up stories about Florida, Georgia and other territories.
 
Next up was Kevin Sullivan who told stories about ECW, WCW, Florida Championship Wrestling, Japan and more. Kevin Sullivan is a master story-teller and had the full attendion of everyone in the room.
 
After that, we had Dennis Stamp head to the podium who proceeded to tell what a great humanitarian Terry was, giving his time to children and those who were sick and showed the selflessness side of Terry Funk, that had tears in many eyes in the room.

Not to be outdone was Superstar Billy Graham who told stories about the different territories and how proud he was to call the Funks, not just Terry but Dorry Jr. & Sr. as well as friends and family. Graham mentioned how much time Micealangelo put into working on the Sisteen Chappen, dedicating 7 years of his life to the project and told Funk that he had his own dedication and presented a drawing of Terry (among his many retirements…that joke never got old).
 
After another comedian, Matt Bridgestone (with a so-so imitation of Randy Savage including presenting a Slim Jim to Terry Funk), it was time to let Missy Hyatt get her revenge on everyone and told stories about each and everyone who had attacked her during the night. Then she went and told a nice story about Terry and that he was one of the true gentlemen of wrestling.

Finally we had Mick Foley who told everyone about stories in Japan, WWE, ECW (November to Remember), and how he wanted to know how Terry could punch and make it look so good (the truth be told, according to Mick Foley is that the punches were real, which is why they looked so good).
 
After everyone had thier say, Terry Funk took the microphone and thanked everyone for coming to see him and showed an award presented to him earlier in the day. He also showed off the painting by Superstar Graham and went and told some remarkable stories about working with each and every wrestler in the room). He then talked about what the business has become today and not keeping it old school and keeping the business safe.
 
This is just a short synopsis of the Ring Roast 2 and the tape is available for ordering by contacting info@kayfabecommentaries.com

AS I SEE IT
Bob Magee
Pro Wrestling: Between the Sheets
PWBTS.com

Back on October 27, 2000, I wrote a column that had nothing whatsoever to do with wrestling, but was a lot more important.

Longtime readers might remember this one:

‘ Yup….this is going to be another one of those columns where we don’t talk about subjects like the reason why WCW’s booking sucks these days. So if you want to go to one of those columns written by people who occasionally throw in some wrestling news and opinion in between their links to porn sites in order to get hits, have fun.

I’m not your cup of tea this week.

Instead, I want to talk about something serious that has nothing whatever to do with wrestling.
Let me start by saying that I’m always for practical ways to do good things. It’s the reason that we use some of the strategies that we use with Wrestling Fans Against Censorship. We try to do something good by doing what works most effectively and easily, while involving others. So I’m for things practical…

But at the same time, one of my favorite comic strips is Tom Batiuk’s ‘Funky Winkerbean’. So when the strip began a storyline on breast cancer back in January 1999, I stood up and took notice as I read the strip on the way into work on the subway, or with my Sunday breakfast. It explored the storyline of character ‘Lisa Moore’, who after getting tackled in a football game with friends, felt discomfort, and later did a breast self-examination. She then discovered that she had breast cancer. The last few mornings while reading before my subway stop, I noticed a series of strips that had ‘Lisa’ talking with other members of her breast cancer support group.

Then this morning, when I read the press release from BusinessWire about this project that follows this introduction, I figured it fit my philosophy of doing something good by doing what works, effectively and easily, and especially involving others. I figured I’d like to give over the column this week to share this with all of you.
Concurrently with this being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a book called ‘Lisa’s Story’ has been made of the strips that involve the ‘Lisa Moore’ storyline in the ‘Funky Winkerbean’ strip, with sales benefiting the National Alliance of Breast Cancer Organizations. You can order this book from Amazon.com through this direct order link.

Even though I’m male, I find this to be important, because many of my best friends are women. My fellow school counselor I share my office with for eight hours a day is a woman. So are many of the students I serve. For that matter, so are many of my friends, my mom, and many other important folks in my life.
I’ve also known women who’ve fought the battle against breast cancer. So I find the issue important enough to ask you to take a few minutes and read the information below. For any of the women reading this, I’d also like to suggest that you consider getting a mammogram, as well as practice breast self-examination. NABCO, as well as many local women’s and medical organizations can help you get both. For those that have women in their lives that they love, help encourage them to do so, too. To help you encourage women to do this, those who wish to do so can even sign up with an e-mail reminder service sponsored by NABCO; and ten months after your last clinical breast exam or mammogram, NABCO will send you an e-mail message, reminding you to schedule your next exam.

For additional breast cancer information, contact NABCO toll free at (888) 80-NABCO, or if living in the New York metropolitan area, call Christiana Evers at (212) 889-0606, ext. 3006. You can also get breast cancer information by visiting NABCO online at their website.

For those of you men (and women) who feel uncomfortable hearing about this subject, and who think it’s stupid for someone writing a ‘wrestling column’ to be talking about it…think about how much more ’stupid’ it will be if someone you love dies, simply because she didn’t take the time to be safe.”

That was back in 2000.

Since then, I’ve mentioned the breast cancer charity work of PWBTS writer and UK indy wrestling promoter Peter Staniforth and his significant other and promoted it on PWBTS.com.

Breast cancer has affected wrestling as well. The wrestling business saw Marianna Komlos, who worked together from 1999 with boyfriend Charles Warrington, die of breast cancer in 2004. Better known is the death of Jeff Jarrett’s wife, who died of breast cancer died May 23, 2007 at the age of 37 after a recurrence of breast cancer
As for the Lisa Moore breast cancer story, it wasn’t dropped by King Features and Tom Batiuk; including a storyline arc involving Les Moore and Lisa working to have a child, and the possible risk factor for a recurrence of her breast cancer due to increased estrogen levels. They eventually had a child named Summer.

Beginning in March 2006, Tom Batiuk took the Lisa Moore saga farther, by having ‘Lisa Moore’ suffer a recurrence of her breast cancer, a recurrence that she did not recover from…all the way through a 20 month storyline that saw her character die on October 4 in a gut-wrenching journey of pain, loss and acceptance as the strip went through the last month of Lisa Moore’s life, including her reconcilitation with her birth son who she gave up for adoption in the strip’s earlier days.

To read the strips over that final arc, go to this link, then read through the subsequent strips.

Those strips would have been difficult enough to read under any circumstances.

Then, only days before my own 50th birthday, my own mother received a diagnosis of breast cancer. She went through a full regime of one type of chemotherapy, and is midway through another. The tumor, caught at an early stage, has responded well to the chemotherapy; but watching her suffere through chemotherapy’s effects, and the other drugs she had to take as part of her regime were particularly painful to watch.

Batiuk, who is himself a cancer survivor, used the aforementioned 2000 ‘Lisa’s Story’ book to raise money for breast cancer. Now he and King Features syndicate will donate all royalties from a book called ‘Lisa’s Story: The Other Shoe’ (published by Kent State University Press to the University Hospitals Ireland Cancer Center in Cleveland, OH and a fund to be called ‘Lisa’s Legacy Fund for Cancer Research and Education, named in honor of Batiuk’s character and her subsequent story.

The University Hospitals Ireland Cancer Center is one of only 40 comprehensive National Institutes of Health cancer centers in the United States; and has been. operating for nineteen years. The Center is a leading center for patient care, cancer research, and community education about cancer care. 100% of the donations to Lisa’s Legacy Fund will go to cancer research and education at Ireland Cancer Center.

The Center is involved in ongoing research including breast cancer vaccine reasearch, as well as research toward a blood test for colon cancer, breakthrough chemotherapy and radiation treatments for all types of cancer. Ireland Cancer Center is one of only eight cancer centers in the country to have access to a pipeline of new drugs through the National Cancer Institute for early phase clinical trials.

‘Lisa’s Story: The Other Shoe’ includes the initial 1999 storyline arc, and 2007’s strips about the return of ‘Lisa’s’ disease, as well as needed resource material about breast cancer.

To read about Lisa’s Legacy Fund, go to this link.
To donate to the Fund, go to this link.

Until next time….

If you have comments or questions, or if you’d like to add the AS I SEE IT column to your website, or if you’d like to add advertising on PWBTS.com (the flagship website of this column), e-mail me at the address above.

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6 Years on: Remembering Mike ‘Hawk’ Hegstrand

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As the only team to win the AWA, NWA, WWF and All Japan tag titles, the Road Warriors- Animal & Hawk, were the highest drawing and biggest earning tandem in wrestling history. Along with Hulk Hogan, the Warriors helped to popularise the juiced up muscleman look that 75% of big name wrestlers had by the late 1980s. During their peak years from 1984-89, the Road Warriors were an awesome duo, destroying opponents with power moves, and had a huge following in the US & Japan who loved their no-selling, kick-ass ring styles and unique image. But for Hawk, his success and excessive lifestyle caught up with him in the end. The years of steroid and drug use (especially Cocaine) ended his ride for good on October 18th 2003 suffering a massive heart attack.

Mike Hegstrand was born on January 26th 1957, and made his pro wrestling debut in 1983 under the name Crusher Von Haig in Vancouver, Canada….. his stint north of the border was a short one, returning home to Minneapolis, Minnesota, his bigbreak was just around the corner. Mike and his pal Joe ‘Animal’ Laurinatis (who had also tried his hand at wrestling) were spotted by trainer Ed Sharkey whilst working as bouncers. Sharkeys gym would also give rise to such names as Rick Rude, Barry Darsow and Scott ‘Nikita Koloff’ Simpson.

It was Ole Anderson who can be credited with putting Mike & Joe together as a team, christening them Hawk & Animal: The Road Warriors, (influenced by the Mad Max movies), and the pair got over quickly in Andersons Georgia territory, with their leather attire, face paint, bizarre haircuts and destructive power offence. The spectacular finisher, Doomsday Device, clothesline from the top rope- off Animals shoulders was born, as was Hawks longstanding ‘Ohhhh What a Rush’ catchphrase.

The Warriors were guided onscreen by Paul Ellering, who later became their real life business manager, and skills at the bargaining table made the trio very wealthy men in the 80s. The Warriors were pushed with the oldest trick in the book, working short squash matches to mask their inexperience, in which their opponents would take major bumps to make them look devastating. The duo looked like unstoppable monsters who never lost clean, and no-sold their opponents offence. Hawk would even no-sell a piledriver (a sure finisher in the 80s) which drew large pops from the crowd, because no-one else was allowed to do it! Though they were supposed to be heels, the fans adored them, though less could be said of their babyface opponents who resented their popularity, selective selling and pushes without having paid their dues.

Worldwide fame and fortune also allowed Hawk to develop a huge ego, he and Animal were well known for bragging about their deafening crowd pops, to others in the dressing room, and Hawks outspoken nature got him into real life scraps with Randy Savage and Charles ‘Cold Scorpio’ Skaggs.

Nevertheless, the tandem left Georgia after 4 tag reigns, and were in such high demand, they juggled dates with the AWA, and JCP (in the times when promotions cooperated with each other). They hammered old timers Crusher & Baron Von Raschke for the AWA tag straps, and even when it was time to lose them 13 months later, outside interference was required, so not to damage their indestructible aura. The pair (with Ellering) debuted in Japan in spring 1985, earning a huge $10000 per week, (later upped to $16000) and (of course), won their matches in rapid order.

The Road Warriors then settled in JCP, and became prominent faces in the company. They won the first Crockett Cup in 1986, lifted the 6man tag belts (with Dusty Rhodes) and became so valuable to JCP, were offered $500,000 per annum contracts apiece, partly to dissuade them from jumping ship to Vince McMahons WWF. With the exception of Hogan Flair & Andre, it was more money that anyone else was making in pro wrestling at the time.

The Warriors were made to wait till late 1988 to land the NWA tag titles, as booker Dusty Rhodes liked to cast them as challengers (in typical Dusty Screwjob finishes), but by the time they defeated Stan Lane & Bobby Eaton to land the tag prize, Dusty had turned them heel (in a memorable spike attack on Dustys eye). However the heel turn was a mistake, the fans still loved them…. So they were turned face again after four months. After dropping the belts to Steve Williams & Mike Rotunda (in another screwjob finish to protect their aura) the duo meandered from one meaningless fued to the next….. had the pair seen better days? …. Jim Herd certainly thought so, and asked the Warriors to take a major paycut when their contracts were up for renewal. So offended at the offer presented, Animal & Hawk told Herd to stick it and negotiated a move to the WWF.

Known as the Legion of Doom (Vince didn’t want to confuse the Road Warriors with his WWF champion ‘Ultimate Warrior’) a fued with Demolition was the logical one to start with (Vince created a carbon copy Road Warriors tandem when he failed to sign the real thing years prior) though the fued came too late….. when original ‘Demo’ Ax was phased out with health problems, replaced by the inadequate Brian ‘Crush’ Adams…….and the ‘Real Deal’ swatted the pale imitators with ease.

Hawk & Animal made short work of Power & Glory at Wrestlemania 7, and downed the Nasty Boy for the WWF tag straps at the next PPV, Summerslam ’91. Though this completed the set of AWA/WWF/NWA tag titles (the only team to ever do so) , the Warriors were a slower, more ponderous team in the WWF. After dropping the Tag straps to Money Inc in early ’92, the pair returned at Wrestlemania 8 with Paul Ellering in tow ….. sadly the WWF creative team thought it was a good idea to align them with a Ventriloquists dummy (Rocko), which Hawk destested….. after a triumphant victory at Summerslam 92 in London, a disillusioned Hawk (whose outspoken attitude sourced his relations with Vince from day one) quit the WWF. Animal was understandably furious…. but was to take a wrestling hiatus to tend to nagging injuries, whilst Hawk toured Japan again.

Failing to find the same success without each other, the duo returned to WCW in January 1996 for a forgettable 4 months….. (leaving after a pay dispute with Eric Bischoff), returning for (yet) another run in Japan. Though Hawk left on bad terms in 1992, business was business (and a push from Bret Hart) the Road Warriors were brought back to the WWF in February 1997.

Many now saw the Roadies as being past their sell by date, yet they adapted to WWEs modern brawling style with commendable matches in a Chicago street match at WM13, a decent Summerslam match with the (abysmal) Godwinns, and featured in the breathtaking 10man tag finale at Canadian Stampede. They were rewarded with a 2nd WWF Tag reign in the autumn…. But were not impressed at dropping the belts a month later to Billy Gunn & Road Dogg (then seen as solo jobbers). Hawks tough guy aura was also broken when the ‘the New Age Outlaws’ shaved off his trademark Mohawk hair….. Hawk had never seemed more mortal.

The Roadies were repackaged with a new look and push (not that it ever changed much) at Wrestlemania 14 under the management of Sunny in a partnership that didn’t last…. nor did an attempt to fued them with Paul Ellering (who was looking after 4th rate Road Warriors impersonators D.O.A). The WWF were clearly running out of ideas for the ageing tag legends…. Vince Russo provided the kiss of death with the ‘Hawk is an alcoholic’ storyline (teasing Hawks real life struggle to battle the booze). For the first time a new LOD member (Droz) was brought in, though this made Hawk feel even worse…. Culminating in a storyline where Droz supposedly pushed a ‘Suicidal’ Hawk off the Titantron tower. A Hawk vs Droz fued seemed imminent, yet Hawk (who hated the angle and Russo) refused to take it further…. Resulting in LOD being removed off WWE screens for several months. They were given their pink slips in April 1999 when the Federation had its annual spring cleaning.

Living off their past accomplishments, the Roadies worked the Indie circuit….. Animal soon resurfaced in WCW at Sin 2001, Hawk was rumoured to follow, but WCW soon folded and the reunion never happened. The duo returned to the Indies, appeared for TNA and even Ted Dibiase religious promotion…… though their performances had slipped alarmingly, not helped by Hawks deteoriating health (he suffered a minor heart attack in 2000 and was later diagnosed with Hepatitis C). But Hawk continued to wrestle…. He had to…. Having blown a lot of his money during the good times. On May 12th 2003 LOD were given a surprise tryout in a loss to Kane & RVD… management were not impressed with their performance, nor were they happy that Hawk no-sold RVDs 5star Frog splash (old habbits never die).

During his career, Hawk was a hard-living Wildman who overdosed several times. He made an attempt to get clean towards the end… but it was too late. Feeling unwell, Hawk had decided to take a nap after spending the day packing and shifting boxes for a move to his new house. When his wife Dale discovered him hours later, he was dead. He was only 46. Like many of his peers, Rick Rude, Davey Boy Smith, Brian Pillman, Terry Gordy, Curt Hening… Mike Hegstrands body finally succumbed to the excesses he indulged in for most of his adult life.

Its been 6 years now since Hawk passed away, though his, and the Road Warriors legend lives on, the most successful tag team in wrestling history and likely to remain so.

Mike Hegstrand 1957-2003