Hello, and welcome to the Late Friday News. It WOULD be the Regular Friday News, but I decided that sleeping in this morning sounded infinitely better than getting up at 7 to do the update. Can you blame me? I’m sure there’s a few military people out there (Eric included) who know what it’s like to get up at 4:30am every morning to do PT, so at least some of you will understand the blissful joys of sleeping past 8am. Actually, most of you probably sleep past 12pm every single day, so I guess I’m preaching to the crowd here.
I’ve got some Bradshaw quotes, news on the big Ring Of Honor/RF Video split, Impact spoilers, and Smackdown stuff. There’s also a few random news items and some plugs and links for you.
Oh, and before I begin — I’m not sure if anyone has mentioned this or not, but you REALLY need to stay tuned to our live coverage of Badd Blood on Sunday, because we’re going to drop some big news and a big URL. You’re gonna wanna bookmark this one and make it a multi-time daily visit. The staff is raring and waiting for your arrival…so again, stay tuned to our Badd Blood coverage on Sunday.
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BRADSHAW AIN’T THE SMARTEST
Bradshaw’s still being hung out to dry by the American media. I almost feel sorry for the guy, because really, he’s just playing a character and the job of that character is to be a bad guy. Despite what you have read on this site, Bradshaw did not goose-step for the purposes of supporting the Nazis or promoting the Holocaust — he did it to mock Germans, who apparently are sensitive to that kind of thing.
Here’s the deal, Germany — you killed millions of people. You might not directly have had a hand in it, but most of your grandfathers took part in the most horrible act in history, and like it or not, you will pay the price now and you will pay the price for centuries to come. It’s called a “generational curse,” and America has them, too. We will forever be trying to right the wrongs our forefathers committed with racism; the difference is that we don’t try to erase it from history and punish anyone who brings it up. Instead of acting like it doesn’t exist, you learn from what you’ve gone and know not to make the same mistakes the second time around.
All that being said, Bradshaw probably should have done a little research before committing to doing something like this in front of a live crowd. And I *do* find it quite amusing that the very same people he lambasted several weeks back (internet fans) are the ones that got him fired. Who’s got no pull now, John?
I still enjoy the JBL gimmick very much, though.
Here’s some quotes from a recent JBL interview with the Washington Post.
“They hung me out to dry.”
“I was playing a character. It’s the same as Vin Diesel playing a Nazi.”
“I’m a bad guy. I’m supposed to incite the crowd. I’ve done [the Nazi gestures] for decades. I really didn’t think anything of it — I know how bad it is, I’ve lived [in Germany]. I’ve been to Dachau, seen those places where they exterminated millions of Jews.”
“I draw the line between me and my character. That’s like saying Anthony Hopkins really enjoys cannibalism.”
“The only thing they asked me not to play was a stock market cheat or fraud. Other than that, they said they totally understood, that it was like Arnold Schwarzenegger playing a cyborg…”
“I thought I had it covered. I thought they understood the character is a bad guy and is going to do bad things… [JBL] has done some reprehensible things recently.
“I’m the worst bad guy they have…”
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RING OF HONOR/RF SPLIT
Ring Of Honor and RF Video have apparently split up and are running as two separate companies at this point. I’m not REALLY sure how this happened, because I thought that Feinstein owned everything…and so his sale of the company would also include Ring Of Honor….so how could Ring Of Honor employees split off and legally continue to use the Ring Of Honor name?
Anyway, the split happened because — as we all assumed back in March — Feinstein is still involved with RF Video. ROH Gabe Sapolsky rightly wanted nothing to do with Feinstein, so there was a rift that led to the splitting up of the two companies.
Personally, this is the best thing that could possibly happen to Ring Of Honor, and the worst thing that could happen to RF Video. If it turns out that Feinstein is still involved, then fans are going to stop using the RF Video service, and it will go bankrupt. Good riddance, Feinstein.
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IMPACT SPOILERS
*Kid Kash pinned The Amazing Red with the MoneyMaker.
*Backstage, Vince Russo approached Dusty Rhodes and asks him to be a judge for the AJ Styles vs. Frankie Kazarian rematch to determine a winner if it goes to a draw.
*NWA:TNA X-Division champion AJ Styles pinned Frankie Kazarian with the Styles Clash, but was laid out by Kid Kash and Dallas.
*3 Live Kru defeated David Young and the Naturals.
*NWA champion Jeff Jarrett was cutting a promo when Dusty Rhodes came out and sent word that Jarrett would be defending the belt against Ron Killings in the main event of TNA’s Second Anniversary show.
*Monty Brown pinned Sonny Siaki with the pounce.
*Team Canada’s Eric Young & Bobby Rude & Petey Williams defeated Team Mexico after Scott D’Amore’s interference leads to Rude pinning Heavy Metal with the deathvalleydriver. Team Canada laid out Team Mexico. Hector Garza tried to make the save, but failed. Team NWA finally made the save.
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DIRTY STABBIN’ DICK
Here’s the AP article on Dick Slater, was was sentenced to a year of house arrest followed by two years of probation…FOR STABBING HIS GIRLFRIEND. How in the WORLD does someone commit assault with a deadly weapon and get a year of HOUSE ARREST? Slater better learn to love video games real fast, because that’s about the only option he’s gonna have at this point.
Who else thinks it’s only a matter of time before Slater puts up a website?
CLEARWATER, FL. (AP-STAFF) — Former professional wrestler Richard “Dirty Dick” Van Slater has been sentenced to a year of house arrest followed by two year’s probation for the stabbing of his former girlfriend.
Van Slater, 53, was sentenced Tuesday in Pinellas Circuit Court after pleading no contest to one count of aggravated battery in the December stabbing. Besides the house arrest and probation, Slater was ordered to stay away from the victim and pay restitution, fines, and investigative and court costs of more than $18,000.
Police say Slater was arrested December 27 after he stabbed Theresa Marie Halbert with an 8-inch butcher knife and “watched her bleed” in her home. He had been in the home to move out the last of his possessions.
Prosecutors charged him with aggravated battery. Slater had apparently overdosed on pain medications after the stabbing, and was found at a residence off Seminole Boulevard.
Slater was a professional wrestler who competed mainly in the Southeast for 20 years, using the names “Dirty Dick” and “Mr. Unpredictable.”
Born in Albany, NY and raised in Tampa, FL, Slater lettered in wrestling, football and track at Robinson High School, and then attended the University of Tampa (where future pro wrestling Paul Orndorff was also going at the time). He turned pro under the Florida Championship Wrestling group, led by Eddie Graham and Hiro Matsuda, in 1972. Others in his training class were Bob Roop, Mike Graham and Mike McCord/Austin Idol.
Slater was a heel from the get-go in Florida, and later went to San Francisco, Georgia, St. Louis, Mid-Atlantic, and numerous trips to Japan.
He first worked as a booker in Knoxville, Tennessee after Ron Fuller sold his promotion to Jim Barnett. But his greater fame came in the Mid-South/UWF territory run by Bill Watts, where he was also the booker.
In the UWF, he brought in Dark Journey as his valet, whom he had met in a strip joint. Eventually, the dual drain of booking such a huge territory and his relationship with Dark Journey took their toll.
“I had enough of booking and doing 3,000 and taking care of Dark Journey and having to put up with Bill Watts. That was enough. My mind couldn’t take it anymore. My body couldn’t take it anymore,” he told the Wrestling Perspective newsletter.
In the WWF, he was made into a babyface, using “The Rebel” nickname. He lasted about a year, and eventually just left the promotion, returning to his Florida home to fish.
He retired from wrestling in 1996 after a back injury in WCW, where he had teamed with Bunkhouse Buck to win the tag team titles.
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TIDBITS
— Billy Graham has signed a 3-year deal with the WWE.
— Torch says that Kane will impregnate Lita and they’ll even have a live, on-air pregnancy test. How charming.
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EXCESS PLUGGAGE
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IN CLOSING
My condolences to the family of Ray Charles, who died yesterday at 73 years of age. The saddest part about it? He never saw it coming.
Oh man, I’m going to hell for that. Everyone have a good weekend, enjoy the National Day Of Mourning, and I’ll be back on Sunday at the other….well, you’ll have to tune in to the Badd Blood Live Results for that, won’t you?
