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IGN has posted an interview with Bret Hart, presumably to go along with the Bret Hart DVD that was recently released. Here's a couple of snippets of it worth mention: http://sports.ign.com/articles/667/667878p1.html

Here's an interesting Bif Wellington article. Wellington was a talented superstar in Stampede wrestling who was jobbed out way more than he ever should've been. After that I believe he became a dominant star in westren Canada. He was also a superstar that should've gone further than he did. BIFF WELLINGTON HAS NO GRUDGE AGAINST BENOIT Originally printed on Slam! Sports, July 2004 By Greg Oliver It's impossible not to draw parallels between the careers of Biff Wellington (Shane Bower) and Chris Benoit. Both Albertans worshipped The Dynamite Kid, and broke into Stampede Wrestling about the same time, and later excelled in Japan. They also tagged…

I posted this on my blog, Loss suggested I make it a topic. This is just a bunch of stuff that I feel is necessary in all forms of pro-wrestling. Some people say you can't compare different wrestling styles. I say nonsense. While different styles require one to look for different things, there are a number of criteria that are constant in all forms of pro-wrestling. Once that is known, all that is left in order to compare the different styles of pro-wrestling is to decide whether one match does a better job in its genre's specific criteria than the next. This is of course all my opinion, in case the reader is one of those who get offended whenever one doesn't add "In…

In my own personal Mid South project, I am transcribing the words of the Cowboy and his thoughts on various wrestlers. As I go through the shoot, I'll post the Cowboy's own words and hopefully you can respond with your own thoughts. This is what I have so far.... The Freebirds The Freebirds, we found them. Gordy and Michael Hayes, I wanted Gordy. I didn?t never think Michael was worth a shit in the ring but Gordy wouldn?t leave Michael. So Michael came and we had him but Michael was such a phenomenal talker and had such psychology on the mic but he always wanted to wrestle. He had that pride. Michael has a lot of drive and I love him to death but to me he was n…

Here it is... http://www.wrestlingobserver.com/wo/news/h...t.asp?aID=15068

I was looking through my saved word documents, looking for the match listing of an old-school comp JHawk made me (if you still have the match listing, please hook me up! ) and I came across this article from Will Parrish. I was tempted to pin it but I think we have enough things pinned. Enjoy... Chronicles: The National Promotion That Never Was - the Mid-South/UWF (1979-1987) by Will Parrish ?(Bill Watts is) the brightest mind in wrestling.? -- Vince McMahon, introducing Watts for a three-month run as the WWF?s new head-booker, at a personnel meeting in October 1995. ?(Mid-South was) what pro wrestling should be when everything makes logical sense …

TORCH #890: COVER STORY Ric Flair humiliated in home state and on Raw Media looks into road rage, divorce; associates distancing themselves HEADLINE ANALYSIS By Wade Keller, Torch editor First he was accused of road rage (which he has since denied). Then local reporters in his home state of North Carolina began digging into his embarassing divorce papers. Then WWE put his road rage arrest mug shot on the big screen on Raw and compared it, in an unflattering way, to how he looked in his prime. Then local associates began disassociating with the one-time local hero. Meanwhile, the media didn't stop piling on. The Charlotte Observer reported on Dec. 2 th…

TORCH #889: COVER STORY Cena gets booed, WWE sticks with him as champ Despite strong cheers for Angle, Cena retains belt in two titles matches HEADLINE ANALYSIS By Wade Keller, Torch editor "There is nothing harder in this business than being a white-meat babyface." Those words were written by Shawn Michaels in his autobiography. John Cena is finding that out the hard way. In fact, if Vince McMahon were looking for an excuse to move the WWE Title off of Cena onto Kurt Angle, fans having been giving it to him. Cena has always drawn some scattered boos from male fans who don't like his white-bread babyface gimmick or his rap persona. The intensity …

TORCH #888: COVER STORY WWE announces drug testing policy to begin soon Vince McMahon announces steroids, prescription pills, more on list HEADLINE ANALYSIS By Wade Keller, Torch editor Vince McMahon is taking steps to rid WWE of drug abuse. If his words are taken at face value, he will be utilizing every technology available to eliminate steroids use, recreational drug use (such as cocaine and perhaps marijuana), and abuse of prescription pills. The death of Eddie Guerrero last week, a result of drug and alcohol abuse either recently, from the past, or a combination of both, prompted McMahon's actions. MSNBC, Fox News, and the New York Post's Phil Mu…

I thought it's be fun to write a tiny bit about some of the Stampede workers I'd seen. This is something I'm not too fond of doing becuase I tend to keep a lot of my negative thoughts to myself and something like this can lead you into saying negative stuff. This will be mostly positive. Owen Hart -- Overall the most spectacular of the workers after DK left. RVD and Rey Mysterio in the WWE are two of the wrestlers who capture a newbie's eyes right away. Owen Hart had that same factor. I don't think he was the best worker of the bunch though. However, he definitely was a good choice for the #1 star of the company when he was there. Hiro Hase aka one of the Vie…

http://www.wwe.com/

I found this lengthy but informative story in my local paper. They did a series on steroids, and they talked to McDevitt (who I didn't know was from here).

I'm currently going through the wrestling folder looking for all the Eddy Guerrero-related threads I can find and I'll link them here. I was going to bump them all, but instead, I'll just link them in this catch-all thread. I might also link some stuff from other boards.

http://board.deathvalleydriver.com/index.p...opic=41480&st=0 Link above for those who are interested, but I'm going to completely ape this by providing some of the best quotes and sharing them here. This is hilarious stuff.

TORCH #886: COVER STORY WWE vulnerable as TNA and Spike make waves Raw ratings dip to USA-low 3.4 same week as TNA's strong special HEADLINE ANALYSIS By Wade Keller, Torch editor Stephanie McMahon mentioned on last week's Raw that without her father, there would be no wrestling business. The McMahons' sense of ownership of the industry has never been greater or more mistaken. Their grip on dominating the industry is slipping more by the week. It's their doing, and everybody seems to have seen it coming except them. Confounding decisions born out of arrogance, ignorance, and a growing insanity and instability within the crumbling McMahon castle have op…

This was on Wrestleline in August of 1999. It's pretty wild how Meltzer has been able to predict things coming way before they actually happen. Definitely worth a read. This was originally posted at DVDVR. Interview with Dave Meltzer August 14, 1999 By Mike Samuda WrestleLine/WrestleManiacs Dave Meltzer is one of the most well known and respected inside sources in wrestling and publisher of the Wrestling Observer. On Saturday, Aug. 14, he shared his thoughts on the wrestling business and his business with Mike Samuda. MIKE: How long have you been doing the Observer, and what was the impetus to get it started? MELTZER: ... [The Observer] I star…

This thread is about two Mid South house show matches I've watched recently. 08/09/85 - Ric Flair v Butch Reed (60 minute draw; NWA World Title) 09/22/85 - Dick Murdoch v Butch Reed (47 minutes with 10-minute post-match brawl; Mid South North American Title) In the 100 matches thread, I commented a little while back on Reed's 60-minute draw with Ric Flair on 08/09/85. I felt at that time that it had to be Reed's career best match, as it was a tremendous performance on his part. The pacing of the match was terrific, the heat was awesome because the wrestlers controlled the fans like pawns, and the match constantly progressed logically from one phase to the next…

HEADLINE ANALYSIS By Wade Keller, Torch editor TNA was going to be preempted on Nov. 5 from its usual Saturday late night timeslot due to a live UFC Fight Night special. As a result Spike TV decided to reschedule TNA for prime time. With solid ratings so far, and growth most weeks, Spike expanded TNA's timeslot to a two hour special in prime time. It's TNA's first opportunity to find a prime time basic cable audience. In its entire history, it's aired in the afternoons and late night on basic cable, but never prime time. The goal for TNA, of course, is to draw a large enough audience that Spike TV deems them worthy of renegotiating their current TV schedule. A…

This is issue #884 of The Pro-Wrestling Torch Newsletter. It's actually better than most weeks as Keller managed to get a decent amount of firstrun news for a change. The Pro-Wrestling Torch Newsletter: Issue #884 TORCH #884: COVER STORY Foley, Austin to return to ring at Taboo Tuesday Jim Ross situation centerpiece of Raw as his return is at stake at PPV HEADLINE ANALYSIS By Wade Keller, Torch editor At the Taboo Tuesday PPV on Nov. 1, Steve Austin and Mick Foley will be returning to the ring. It will one of Foley?s few matches since retiring officially in 2000. It will be Austin?s first official match since he retired more quietly after his matc…

It doesn't exist. Puro encompasses many different styles and many different promotions that have a different fanbase. Someone who watches All Japan or New Japan are just as likely to frown on the Big Japan death matches as a WWE fan is going to think that CZW sucks. Are there people who have turned their back on American wrestling? Sure and when WWE wrestling was your only option, I can see why. This is why people, such as myself, would have stopped watching long ago if not for the internet, tape trading, and exposure to new promotions. I know several people who have tried to watch Japanese wrestling and couln't get into it for whatever reason. What do we call these…

The Pro-Wrestling Torch Newsletter: #882 _____________________________________ ULTIMATE WARRIOR LASHES OUT The Ultimate Warrior turned down a WWE invitation to speak his mind on WWE.com's Byte This talk show. Instead, he lashed out at WWE in a vitriolic rant on his website, www.UltimateWarrior.com. Regarding the invite, he said: "Of course, I do NOT accept this brainless, disgraceful invitation. F--- NO, I do not. You can rescue yourself, Vince. Do your own damage control. I've no ear for your begging anymore. Only if you were on fire would I help you - it'd just be too hard to resist pissing on you." Todd Grisham, Matt Striker, and Droz hosted an "Ulti…

What's your take on this? I have a lot I want to say, and I'm not even totally sure where to start. I'll come back to this shortly, but I thought he made some excellent points.

He's still a raving lunatic, but I'll be damned if I didn't enjoy the hell out of reading this.

Unforgiven Fallout: --- Ric Flair, at age 56, broke Vince McMahon's record as the oldest champion in company history when he won the IC title. --- This was the first WWF/E PPV ever held in Oklahoma. --- The show drew 8,000 fans for $485,000. --- The last Heat aired on this night with Tajiri-Rob Conway being the answer to what was the last live match ever shown on Heat. Star Ratings: Ric Flair vs. Carlito ** Ashley & Trish Stratus vs. Victoria & Torrie Wilson *1/2 Big Show vs. Gene Snitsky 1/2* Shelton Benjamin vs. Kerwin White **1/4 Matt Hardy vs. Edge ****1/4 Cade & Murdoch vs. Hurricane & Rosey *1/4 Shawn Michaels vs. Chris…