The wrestling world loses another one, Matt Hardy channels “Cowboy†Bob Orton and Hoyt-mania is about to run wild on WWE.
Opening Witty Banter
They always say that tragedy comes in threes and unfortunately that was true this week in the wrestling business, as a former WWE star passed away, the son of a former WWE employee was murdered and the son of the greatest of all time got himself in some serious legal trouble. But on the bright side I may have a new job, so good for me, right?
Let’s take some ‘E…
The News of the Week
According to WSOC-TV out of Charlotte, North Carolina, Reid Flair, the 21-year-old son of wrestling legend Ric Flair, was arrested last Sunday night and his facing felony charges for possession of heroin. Flair was pulled over for driving while impaired. He was also arrested for driving with a revoked drivers license. Police then found the heroin in the vehicle while doing a vehicle search.
Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com is reported Flair is being charged with the following charges:
* Driving while impaired – $2,500 bond
* Driving with a revoked license – $2,000 bond
* Felony possession of heroin – $10,000 bond
* Misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia – $500 bond
Reid Flair was bonded out of jail for a total of $15,000.
Reid Flair (real name Richard Reid Fliehr) is a pro wrestler himself who has just begun the early stages of his pro wrestling career. He was a standout amateur wrestler in high school and won the AAU National Wrestling Tournament in his weight bracket in 1998.
He spent 2008 training to be a pro wrestler under the tutelage of wrestling legend Harley Race. His first pro match was on December 6, 2008, where he teamed with his older brother David in a tag team match against The Nasty Boys at an independent event in North Carolina. Ric Flair was in his sons’ corner as their manager and Hulk Hogan served as the match’s special guest referee.
I’m sure it was hard growing up the son of “The Nature Boy,†but I sincerely hope young Reid gets his act together and straightens himself out, not just for his career but for his life in general.
It has been reported according to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer, that “Playboy†Buddy Rose passed away on April 28. Rose (real name Paul Perschmann) was found dead by his wife in their home in Vancouver, Washington. He was 56 years old. There is no cause of death at this point, but he had diabetes and was reported to have blood sugar issues. Rose was a fairly heavyset man in his later years of wrestling but he had gained even more weight in recent years.
Buddy Rose was one of the big stars of Don Owen’s Portland wrestling territory throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s where he had long-term feuds with men like Rowdy Roddy Piper and Superfly Jimmy Snuka. He also had a long-term on-air partnership with Ed Wiskoski (more famously known as Colonel DeBeers.) In fact in recent years after his retirement, he and Wiskoski opened a wrestling training school in the Portland area.
He was in the very first WrestleMania match, wrestling as the masked Executioner against Tito Santana. In the mid ‘80s he as a big star in Verne Gagne’s American Wrestling Association, where he formed a successfully World Tag Team Championship team that feuded primarily with The Rockers (Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty) when they were just young wrestlers.
In his later years as a wrestler he gained considerable weight, which became his gimmick. The announcers would announce him by his real weight, but he would make a point to correct them and say his “real†weight was 217 pounds. His last real exposure on the national stage was in 1990 and 1991 in the World Wrestling Federation, where he used primarily as an enhancement talent while promoting his “Blow Away Diet,†that helped him contain his “trim†figure.
My condolences go out to “Playboy’s†friends and family in this rough time.
According to NBC 4 and The Columbus Dispatch out of Columbus, Ohio, the son of pro wrestler Elix Skipper, was shot and killed in his Columbus apartment on Wednesday afternoon. LeMarcus Skipper, 22, who was living with his grandmother, was gunned down after answering a knock at his door on Wednesday afternoon.
He died shortly after he was taken to Grant Medical Center. Sgt. Eric Pilya of the Columbus homicide squad said he was shot multiple times.
“Primetime†Elix Skipper, a veteran of World Championship Wrestling and TNA Wrestling, where he won Cruiserweight and Tag Team Championships. He was signed to World Wrestling Entertainment in 2001 after WCW’s closing but never made it to television.
My thoughts and prayers go out the Skipper family in this time of sorrow.
WWE’s 2009 Annual Shareholders Meeting was held this past week. Vince McMahon gave some great highlights as part of the meeting.
– He said that he isn’t interested in going into MMA.
Vince is a great wrestling promoter, but history has shown us that he just doesn’t work as well promoting other ventures. It’s best to stay with what you do best.
– He is interested in adding a Wednesday night WWE show. He said that because there are so many networks now, overexposure isn’t a concern. He also said that more WWE shows would make it easier for fans to follow the storylines.
Even I would think that would be overkill.
– Donna Goldsmith said that WWE has major marketing plans for SummerSlam.
– Goldsmith also said WWE has meetings coming up with USA Network and CNN about marketing.
– Vince said WWE turned down Playboy’s request to work together again this year due to WWE now being a PG environment.
It’s too bad that WWE turned down Playboy as it was always a profitable for both parties and there was plenty of talent under contract like Kelly Kelly or the Bella Twins that would have looked wonderful in those glossy pages.
– Vince said WWE has signed a deal with Pepsi.
A Pepsi sponsorship? CM Punk for Champion and official WWE spokesman for Pepsi!
– Vince said that WWE was planning to tour China but ran into issues, adding that he thinks China will be a major part of WWE’s future.
– Vince said WWE may cancel its May tour of Mexico due to the swine flu, but did announce another Mexico tour for October.
WWE will now run house shows in Huntsville, Alabama on the 29th and Montgomery, Alabama on the 30th.
– Vince blamed the drop in PPV buys on more fans getting together and watching PPVs together than ordering them individually.
No. That is just a nice piece of spin control. When a super WWE nerd fan like myself can’t even remember what was on a pay per view card from a year ago (when I can recite you virtually every WWE PPV card) it just means something isn’t working anymore.
– A shareholder asked if Mr. McMahon might be the one to end the Undertaker’s WrestleMania streak. Vince said it’s unlikely.
– Vince said it is unlikely that he will appear in any of WWE’s upcoming film projects because he has very little free time.
That’s too bad too, because Vince is one guy who I think would have a pretty good screen presence.
– Vince said that holding a WrestleMania overseas would be tough because it would have to air live in North America.
Matt Hardy did legitimately break his hand during his match at Backlash against his brother Jeff. But to spin a negative into a positive, Matt is now sporting the ever-fashionable arm cast. It was originally reported that he would be out 4-6 weeks, but judging by last week’s RAW he is going to work through the injury.
And if he channels Cowboy Bob Orton, Owen Hart and D-Lo Brown he could have the winning gimmick that propels him into upper card superstardom. He has always been a performer who has been able to turn a negative into a positive (Hi Lita!) so I don’t expect anything less here.
Deep South Wrestling LLC, the former developmental territory of WWE and owned by the legendary Joe “The Assassin Hamilton, have filed a lawsuit against the WWE. James D. McGuire, of Atlanta-based McGuire, Crohan, and Klinger is representing Hamilton.
But so far no details have been released about the lawsuit, so file this under “wait and see.â€
CCP’s lawsuit against WWE over the use of the name “Gangrel†has once again been dismissed. The case was dismissed with prejudice and each side will have to pay their own court costs. This means that CCP probably won’t try to pursue this case again. CCP claimed that they owned the rights to the name “Gangrel†and that WWE had used it without permission for one of their characters years back. The court had previously warned CCP that they were overdue in pursuing the case and that since nothing had advanced in six months, they were to show cause as to why the case needed to continue or risk it being thrown out. CCP failed to follow up, so the case was dismissed. The court also found that CCP was not utilizing their trademark of “Gangrel†and failed to prove that the character “Gangrel†was in any of their games.
So that’s why Gangrel’s entry in the “WWE Encyclopedia†had him listed as “David Heath (formerly known as Gangrel.)â€
WWE recently released “Superstar†Billy Graham from a consultation contract, though his release states that WWE owns the rights to the Superstar Billy Graham name.
I’m sure we’ll see Graham pop up now and again on WWE TV and this was probably more of a cost-cutting measure than anything, much like Sgt. Slaughter or Ron Simmons’ recent releases.
Lance Hoyt announced at a PCW indy show in Texas last Sunday night that he has signed a WWE contract.
Okay, Lance has everything WWE looks for in a talent – a full head of hair, well-built, tall and over 250 lbs – but I just don’t see old Lance finding much success in WWE. Call me a pessimist but I don’t see him doing much of anything on WE TV (if he makes it all) and would basically be fighting for TV time with guys like R-Truth, Mike Knox and Ezekiel Jackson. His real name of Lance Hoyt already sounds like it’s a product of the WWE developmental system, can you imagine the fake name they’ll find for him? I’m thinking of a first name of Cameron or something like that…
Wrestler of the Week
Week of April 27 – May 3: MVP
If the point of the brand expansion is to make new stars then MVP has already come through with flying colors. He looked like a star at the onset of RAW this past week when he interrupted Randy Orton’s Championship celebration. Then in the main event he stood toe-to-toe with Orton and solidified himself as main player on the A show. Just think it was only six months ago when he was jobbing to everyone under the sun. Then on SmackDown he was accompanied by “The View’s†Sherri Shepard and looked like an even bigger star thanks to the mainstream media attention he received from her appearance. But seriously, could there be any more of a random pairing than WWE and “The View?†What’s next, Barbara Walters doing a run-in on Divas Championship match?
The Road to…Judgment Day
WWE Championship
Batista v. Randy Orton (c)
World Heavyweight Championship
Jeff Hardy v. Edge (c)
ECW Championship
Christian (c) v. “All-American American†Jack Swagger
rumored matches:
John Cena v. The Big Show
The Colons v. Priceless for the WWE Unified Tag Team Championships
RAW’s On Tonight!
Judgment Day is only two weeks away and tonight’s RAW is bound to help shape up that card. Tonight’s main event will feature the third meeting between Shane McMahon and Randy Orton, which is bound to end in shenanigans. Plus last week guys like MVP, Matt Hardy and The Miz made themselves look like stars in their new home and this week look for them to gain more momentum. John Cena continues to look like superman and tonight expect his rivalry with Big Show to heat up even more. And what about Santino and Santina Marella? I’m sure they’ll both be there for more wacky hijinx.
On Last Week’s Episode…
Mikey and Clarke cover SmackDown that included the start of the much-deserved rise of John Morrison.
Marshall gives his thoughts on a Superstars that Paul Burchill of all people get ten minutes of prime time TV to showcase his skills.
Innarelli and Bones look back on ECW and saw Tommy Dreamer’s probable last chance at stardom in his home arena of Madison Square Garden.
Marshall and Kirschner review the RAW that saw MVP and The Miz became legitimate stars before our very eyes.
How They Rated
Superstars (4.23.09) – .9
SmackDown! (4.24.09) – 1.6
A.M. RAW (4.26.09) – .85
RAW (4.27.09) – 3.4
ECW (4.28.09) – 1.17
This is Boring, What Else is There to Read?
Marshall looks at TNA’s recent happenings, including Jay Lethal re-signing with the company for the foreseeable future and the very real possibility of Kurt Angle jumping back to WWE.
Wiswell has a fantastic column up on how to book Eddie Kingston the right way in Ring of Honor.
Ditch has a great interview up with Gabe Sapolsky.
For more relevant, interesting and exciting wrestling information from your truly, check out my gig as the Pro Wrestling Examiner over at Examiner.com.
