Opps! I the Puppet Master, have committed the ultimate sin! As September rolled around, I had an uncomfortable feeling inside of me that was telling me I was closing out August without addressing something VERY IMPORTANT. As I sat and pondered this it didn't take long to realize that I had neglected to acknowledge the birthday of one of my most cherished loved ones. Now I shall attempt to rectify this irresponsible failure to appreciate! Happy Birthday Online World of Wrestling!!

I still feel quite shameful about this. As OWW has been such a huge part of my life for the last four years. So many people have contributed to the project and turned it into something truly special. I find it hilarious to tell this story to friends and family. When OWW really started to take off, I would go around telling people to check it out; They would appear interested and proclaim "that sounds cool, I'll check it out." Now, when I try to tell a wrestling fan about Online World of Wrestling, their response is almost always "Yeah, I've been there! That site is AWESOME!" It is both flattering and mind-boggling, to hear praise from wrestling fans located in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, England, Japan, and even Pakistan, India, as well as some countries I can't even pronounce, and believe it or not, even Iraq.

So we survived one more year. I have to admit, when I was writing this speech for OWW's 3rd birthday, I didn't think we'd make it another year. I honestly do hope OWW lives forever. Just like I said last year, the site continues to grow day-by-day and along with it, so does its popularity. I don't keep track of hits, but my host informs me that it is well into the thousands per day. It's something I am proud of and everybody else should be proud of too.

Some of the great features the OWW Website offers are over 3000 profiles, 100s of galleries, countless event results, revisiting columns, regular interviews, obituaries, promotional rosters, informational lists and archives, halls of fame, halls of shame, books, dvds, video games, a dictionary, wrestler of the week, wrestlinks and more! In addition to that we have affiliations with WrestleView.com (News Source), three different radio shows called Wrestle Talk Radio, Wrestling News Live, and Wrestling Weekly. Not to mention one of the greatest sites on the internet, ClickWrestle.com, which has a great selection of Streaming Media.

A lot has happened in the last 365 days (plus 30 days) in the world of professional wrestling, including the continued rise of TNA, who deserve a round of applause for securing a TV deal with SpikeTV starting October 1st! My favorite promotion, Ring of Honor, has grown in leaps and bounds over the last year, maintaining their amazing product and building on their cult following. We saw the continued success of other indy promotions like Full Impact Pro, IWA Mid South, Chikara, Jersey Pro, All-Pro Wrestling, Guerrilla, IWS in Montreal, EWE in Florida and tons more around the country. There also seems to be a quiet war developing between the established NWA (not TNA) and Dale Gagne's new AWA, which has opened the doors for new members over the last few months and has really developed into worthy opposition for the NWA. For those of you who don't know, both the NWA and AWA operate under the regional system, with members (promotions) scattered across the country all wrestling under the NWA or AWA banner. It is an old-school mentality that is experiencing a comeback in 2005. We've tried to cover all the good stuff, and some of the bad stuff that happens in wrestling. We are happy to endorse all types of respectable wrestling from all four corners of the globe.

I'd like to send out personal thank yous to the following people; Jason Deadrich, Kirsty Quested, Greg Kelly, JT, all the wrestling radio guys (and girl, Hi Ms. Magee!), all the columnists, all the researchers, and last but certainly not least, all the great obsessed fans who log onto the site every day and enjoy the abundance of information available.. Thank you for everything you've contributed to this HUGE Website!

Being the huge mark that I am, one of the truly fascinating aspects of running this site is hearing from actual workers within the wrestling business. Especially my heroes from the past. Some of the coolest people who have taken the time to contact me are Penny Banner, Ivan Koloff, Bert Prentice, Stu Saks, Paul Vachon, Steve Strong, Mikey Batts, Rock Riddle, Guillotine LeGrande, Snatch Haggis, Tank Toland, Vance Nevada, Slyk Wagner Brown, Trinity, Athena, Mason Raige, Mr. Electricity Steve Regal, Rick Michaels, Melissa Coates, Vanessa Harding, Shelly Martinez, Rick Bassman, Missy Hyatt, Ryan Shamrock and lots of others. The reason I bring this up (other than to brag) is to encourage any professional wrestler (past or present) to drop me an email to let me know you are viewing the site and give me your thoughts. It's always a thrill to hear from my heroes and a great source of energy, which helps with the daily routine of managing the site.

Maintaining this website takes its toll on me financially. I have had a PayPal account for over a year and I have gotten a total of 1 contribution. Donations are not mandatory, but they will go a long way into producing a quality website. If you would like donate $1, $2, $5, $10, or whatever, feel free to deposit into the PayPal account [email protected] | All and any donations will be greatly appreciated and certainly put to good use. The site has gotten so big that it is a huge responsibility to get webspace, bandwidth and most importantly TIME to take care of everything.

Feel free to send in Birthday wishes or general comments about The OWW Website. Let us know how long you've been checking us out, and exactly how it changed your life, haha, just kidding. Let us know what you want to see here in the future (please don't say MORE PICS because I hate that!). Let us know what aspects of the site you enjoy most, and which ones you wish we would put more (or less) emphasis on. Once again thank you for your continued support and we look forward to turning FIVE next year!

by Brad Dykens