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[Submit News] Readers are encouraged to submit news for the “OWW Daily News & Notes” page to [email protected]. Compile the important aspects of your news item or upcoming event into one small paragraph, and the chances that I will use it are almost 100%. Thank you for your support and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

[Birthdays & Anniversaries] Billy Graham (65), Don Muraco (59), and Greg Valentine (57) celebrated birthday’s today. Today in Memoriam: Sapphire (61, 1996), Fritz Von Erich (68, 1997), Doug Chevalier (41, 2000), and Enrique Torres (85, 2007). .. [reported by Rich Tate of www.GeorgiaWrestlingHistory.com]

[WWE News] The 2009 WWE Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony will be held at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas on April 4th. WWE is also holding Monday Night Raw at the Toyota Center on April 6th, the day after WrestleMania 25.

[SHIMMER] ScarletSpider of The SHIMMER Forum put together a farewell video for Lacey. You can either watch it here… Or download it here or here..

[SHIMMER] Canadian female wrestler DANYAH was recently profiled in a NEWS segment. Check out the news segment profiling Danyah on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_6WbeNtI6k

[Misc News] Roger Ebert gave a rave review in his column today on the Wrestler, starring Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, and Evan Rachel Wood, and directed by Darren Aronofsky. Ebert suggested Rourke’s performance could be worthy of an Oscar nomination. Ebert, who is at the Toronto International Film Festival, even speaks well of wrestling itself. “I know — pro wrestling is scripted”, he writes, “but the scripted stuff they do is brutal. Say you get thrown over the ropes and land on the floor. It’s in the script, but how would that feel?” Click here for the full review.. [reported by Rich Tate]

[Misc News] Wrestlers Rescue’s mission is to create awareness and to help raise monies to support the health care needs of Retired Professional Wrestlers due to a career choice in wrestling. To learn more about Wrestler’s Rescue, go to http://WrestlersRescue.Org

[Indy Event] Mr. Chainsaw Productions Wrestling presents “Strong Intentions” on October 11th at the Kalkaska Civic Center in Kalkaska, Michigan. For line-ups and additional information, go to www.MCPWrestling.com

[Indy Event] Brew City Wrestling, sanctioned by the American Wrestling Association, presents “Fall Brawl For It All” SUPER SHOW!! on Saturday, September 13 at the BCW Arena inside the AMF Entertainment Center located at 901 Northview Rd in Waukesha, Wisconsin. For more information, go to www.brewcitywrestling1.com

[Book News] Bruno Lauer, known professionally as Downtown Bruno or Harvey Wippleman (WWF), has published his hilariously entertaining biography, entitled “Wrestling with the Truth” though Scott Teal’s Crowbar Press (www.crowbarpress.com). The book was launched at this year’s Cauliflower Ally Club reunion but will be available to the public through www.1wrestlinglegends.com – I had the honor of being one of the proof readers for this book and I am thrilled to endorse the book and proclaim that Bruno’s story will open your eyes to the world of pro-wrestling and make you laugh out loud.

[Radio] Evan Ginzburg’s Legends Radio at www.wrestling-radio.com co-hosted by Dr. Mike Lano presented a special Killer Kowalski Tribute show with Bryan Walsh on his mentor Killer Kowalski and Author Jeff Archer/Don Bravo as well as singer Ms. Trinity.. to listen to the show go to http://www.webmediazone.net/click/click.php?id=4

[Radio] Monday Night Mayhem recently interviewed “Downtown” Bruno Lauer (aka Harvey Wippleman) about his career and recently released autobiography “Wrestling With the Truth” (from www.crowbarpress.com). To listen to this interview of a current WWE employee, go to www.mondaynightmayhemarchives.com/waxfiles/073108.wax

[Article] Q&A with Tammy “Sunny” Sytch [reported by Mike Informer]

[Historical Info] Over the past fifteen years, Vance Nevada has become an avid wrestling historian and has spent a LITTLE (actually A LOT) time digging up event results and compiling career records for wrestlers of past and present. He will be doing a massive update of the geocities sites that he has set up for this material in the coming weeks. In case you’re interested, here’s what is on file: http://www.geocities.com/vancenevada/records.html

[OWW Support] If anybody out there has been wondering how they can help keep Online World of Wrestling alive through some kind of donation, we have a pay pal account set up under the email address [email protected]. For more information click our Donations page. Another easy way to support OWW is to simply click the Ad banners once in a while. Every banner destination is safe, as it is monitored by the Google Adsense system so you don’t have to worry about being taken to malicious websites. Please do your part and click the banners! Thank you!!


The Outrageous Bad-Boy
Wrestler Who Created
American Pop Culture
By John Capouya

Price: $25.95

On Sale: 9/2/2008

This is the first-ever biography of the legendary wrestler Gorgeous George, filled with incredible never-before-told stories. George directly influenced the likes of Muhammad Ali, who took his bragging and boasting from George; James Brown, who began to wear sequined capes onstage after seeing George on TV; John Waters, whose films featured the outrageous drag queen Divine as an homage to George; and too many wrestlers to count. Amid these pop culture discoveries are firsthand accounts of the pro wrestling game from the 1930s to the 1960s.

The ideal American male used to be stoic, quiet, and dignified. But for a young couple struggling to make ends meet, in the desperation born of the lingering Depression and wartime rationing, an idea was hatched that changed the face of American popular culture, an idea so bold, so over-the-top and absurd, that it was perfect. That idea transformed journeyman wrestler George Wagner from a dark-haired, clean-cut good guy to a peroxide-blond braggart who blatantly cheated every chance he got. Crowds were stunned—they had never seen anything like this before—and they came from miles around to witness it for themselves.

Suddenly George—guided by Betty, his pistol of a wife—was a draw. With his golden tresses grown long and styled in a marcel, George went from handsome to . . . well . . . gorgeous overnight, the small, dank wrestling venues giving way to major arenas. As if the hair wasn’t enough, his robes—unmanly things of silk, lace, and chiffon in pale pinks, sunny yellows, and rich mauves—were but a prelude to the act: the regal entrance, the tailcoat-clad valet spraying the mat with perfume, the haughty looks and sneers for the “peasants” who paid to watch this outrageously prissy hulk prance around the ring. How they loved to see his glorious mane mussed up by his manly opponents. And how they loved that alluringly alliterative name . . . Gorgeous George . . . the self-proclaimed Toast of the Coast, the Sensation of the Nation!

All this was timed to the arrival of that new invention everyone was talking about—television. In its early days, professional wrestling and its larger-than-life characters dominated prime-time broadcasts—none more so than Gorgeous George, who sold as many sets as Uncle Miltie.

Fans came in droves—to boo him, to stick him with hatpins, to ogle his gowns, and to rejoice in his comeuppance. He was the man they loved to hate, and his provocative, gender-bending act took him to the top of the entertainment world. America would never be the same again.

Check out the Gorgeous George book website at: http://www.gorgeousgeorgebook.com