Back to Japan

A tag team match from Japan, May 18th 1984. Dick Murdoch and Adrian Adonis (WWF Tag Team Champs) vs The Mask Superstar and Hulk Hogan.

Hogan was on his way to the WWF and the Heavyweight Championship and changing the course of pro wrestling in the USA. The Masked Superstar was Bill Eadie who in a few years would show up in the WWF as a member of Demolition (Ax) and also become a WWF Tag Team Champion.

Here in another unusual pairing where we see some down and dirty old school wrestling. Just black tights, black boots and wrestling.

Match of the Day

From 1982 WWF Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund defends against Cowboy Bob Orton. This is truly kicking it old school.

New Bits and Pieces

JR ACCEPTS NEW WWE DEAL
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has finalized a new deal - and essentially a new job description - with World Wrestling Entertainment that will see him stay with the company for the next few years. Ross has accepted a position within the talent relations department as a consultant, which he says "will not require weekly travel." JR will be often visiting Florida Championship Wrestling in Tampa to keep an eye on the development of the up and coming Superstars and Divas. His new WWE deal also allows Ross to go and do broadcast work for other non competitive areas. Basically that means he can broadcast MMA, football or anything he'd like except for wrestling. "All is good in our world as interesting days lie ahead. Thanks for all your support. We are grateful, appreciative and very blessed," Ross said.


HOGAN UNDERGOES SUCCESSFUL BACK SURGERY
- TMZ.COM is reporting that Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan underwent successful back surgery on Wednesday and is already out of the hospital. The procedure took around 4 hours to complete with doctors removing loose bone spurs from his back. Over the course of his long and storied career, Hogan had several back, knee and hip problems where at the height of the problems he was even unable to walk or stand as outlined in his book.

Family legacy important to Rikishi Fatu

CANOE -- SLAM! Sports - Wrestling - Family legacy important to Rikishi Fatu

very good article on the twins sons of Rikishi, who just debuted in the WWE.

Fatal 4-Way PPV

Here is the poster for the WWE's June Pay Per View "Fatal 4-Way"

New Bits and Pieces

ORTON SUFFERS SEPARATED SHOULDER
- Randy Orton suffered a separated shoulder yesterday during his match against Edge at the Over The Limit pay-per-view and the former WWE champ wasn't the only one who got out of the show injured. The ending of the match was apparently called on the fly to wrap it up due to the injury. Orton was attended to by trainers backstage who worked on him. TNA Superstar Ken Anderson, who was fired from WWE the week he returned to action from injury after Orton complained about their match on RAW, said on his Twitter, "I have one thing to say: Kharma is a MOTHERF***ER!!" CM Punk also needed several stitches to close his head wound which he got thanks to Rey Mysterio during their match. WWE stopped the match to try and stop the bleeding since they don't really show blood on TV anymore and Punk eventually returned to the match bleeding even more. Drew McIntyre also cut his elbow in his first match and WWE cameras were pulling away on both occasions where blood was involved to minimize its effect on television.

TNA RETURNING TO UK IN JANUARY 2011
- TNA Wrestling announced that they will be returning to their yearly UK tour in January 2011 with tickets on sale on Friday, June 4. Ric Flair is in the UK right now doing promotional work for the company and announced the tour as well that RVD and Jeff Hardy will be joining him at the shows come January. The shows are on 01/27 at the Glasgow Braehead Arena, on 01/28 at the Manchester Evening News Arena and on 01/29 at the London Wembley Arena.
"The United Kingdom continues to be one of TNA's hottest fan bases in the entire world. We've enjoyed great success bringing our live experience to the UK fans over the last three years, and now it's become a tradition. For myself and our wrestlers on the tour, it has become one of our favorite experiences every year," said TNA President Dixie Carter. Tickets can be purchased online at gigsandtours.com, ticketmaster.co.uk and gigsinscotland.com.

CANDICE MICHELLE GIVES BIRTH TO BABY DAUGHTER
- GoDaddy.com sent a press release today announcing that former WWE Diva Candice Michelle gave birth to a healthy baby daughter yesterday at a Los Angeles hospital. Candice and her husband KenGee named the six pound, 20 inches long new arrival AkiAnne Rose. The baby already has her own domain name, registered with GoDaddy of course. "I registered her dot-COM name, and a few other back-up domain names, as soon as we decided on our baby's name," Candice said earlier this month. "I wanted to be sure AkiAnne had her very
own place on the Internet, where we can post videos and photos -- it's a great way to keep in touch with friends and family. I really do think, someday soon, everyone will have a domain name, just like we all have a cell phone number." You can check out the first baby photo at akiannerose.com.

Over The Limit PPV Results

ok so I am a little late on this but here are the results from this last Sunday's very poor PPV OVER THE LIMIT:
from the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, MI.:

John Cena defeated Batista to retain the WWE title in an I Quit match;
Big Show defeated Jack Swagger with a DQ, thus Swagger kept his World Heavyweight title;
Kofi Kingston defeated Drew McIntyre to win the Intercontinental title;
Rey Mysterio defeated CM Punk in an S.E.S. Pledge vs Hair match resulting in Punk getting his hair cut
Randy Orton and Edge ended in a double count out
The Hart Dynasty defeated The Miz and Chris Jericho to retain the Unified Tag Team titles;
Eve defeated Maryse for the Divas title
R-Truth defeated Ted DiBiase.

Rockers vs The Brain Busters

From January 1989 The Brain Busters (Arn Anderson/Tully Blanchard) take on The Rockers (Shawn Michaels/Marty Janetty) at Madison Square Garden.

Odd Tag Team

Here is a match from Japan (shocking) that had 2 teams that seemed to be just put together because they all happened to be in Japan at the same time. The heel team was Sgt Slaughter and Bobby Duncam while the face team was Dusty Rhodes and Bob Backlund. While all 4 men had men in single matches, with Backlund defending his WWF Heavyweight title against Slaughter and Duncam at different times and Rhodes had met them in singles and tag team action, this was the first time I think Rhodes and Backlund were a team. The true highlight was Slaughter and Duncam having to come to the ring to "Over The Rainbow", must have been a little joke by promoter Antonio Inoki.
I believe this is from the mid 80s.

New Bits and Pieces

> CARLITO RELEASED AFTER WELLNESS PROGRAM VIOLATION
- WWE Superstar Carlito was fired from WWE after he failed the Wellness Program, his first violation which was supposed to be only a thirty day suspension with rehab. However, the 31 year old didn't want to go to rehab and WWE fired him. Carlito made his WWE debut in 2004 and lately was an NXT Pro, mentoring the rookie Michael Tarver. During his time with the company he won the World Tag Team title, WWE Tag Team title, Intercontinental title and US title. "I am sad to hear the wwe has decided to release carlito," John Cena wrote on his Twitter. "I always thought he could, and should have accomplished more than he did. I wish him the best."

> A-TEAM STARS, ASHTON KUTCHER TO HOST RAW IN JUNE
- WWE lined up more celebrity guest hosts for three upcoming Monday Night RAW shows, one of which includes a UFC fighter. On May 31, Twitter-happy Ashton Kuthcher, the star of Punk'd and husband of Demi Moore, will be hosting RAW. Kutcher worked with WWE Superstars before for episodes of Punk'd. On June 7, Bradley Cooper, Sharito Copley and UFC's Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, stars of the new A-Team movie, will be in charge while Royal Pains actor Mark Feuerstein will guest host on June 14.


> SCOTT HALL ARRESTED LAST WEEKEND
- The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that Scott Hall, the one half of the TNA tag team champions , was arrested on May 14 and charged with resisting a police officer and disorderly conduct. Police were called in at the Hitching Post Bar in Chuluota at around 1:43AM after Hall refused to leave the building. The officer who responded to the call said that Hall appeared intoxicated with slurred speech and bloodshot eyes. "Due to Scott's inordinate size, 6'05", 295 pounds, I utilized two sets of handcuffs in tandem," the officer wrote in his report. Hall "thrust out his chest" andwalked towards the officer when he was ordered out and threw out some expletive words to the officer. According to the Sentinel, Hall's occupation is listed as professional wrestler and under the field titled employer, the word unemployed was inserted in the booking sheet.

> MCMAHON WINS REPUBLICAN PARTY'S ENDORSEMENT FOR SENATE RACE
- Linda McMahon won the Republican party's endorsement yesterday at the Connecticut Republican Convention in Hartford, getting 737 delegate votes against the 632 for Simmons. The actual election will be done in November however getting the nod from your party is a major, major win for the once former WWE Chief Executive Officer. "We are rebuilding and re-energizing the Republican Party in Connecticut," McMahon told delegates. Vince McMahon Shane McMahon, Stephanie McMahon-Levesque and her husband Triple H were all with Linda, one of the very few rare occasions that the whole family has been seen together with Linda during her short political career. When addressing her potential Democratic opponent, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, McMahon said, "I venture we're going to lay the smackdown on him come November."

The Macho Man Gets Remarried

Macho Man Randy Savage got remarried recently.

Check out the photo slideshow courtesy of the The UK Sun.

Happy Birthday!

This week we have some birthdays to remember.


May 18th was the 67th birthday of Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka. He was already famous in wrestling circles but this match put him firmly on the map as a superstar and he did what today would be pretty tame, he did the superfly leap off the top of a cage.


Celebrating his 59th birthday yesterday, the underappreciated Dirty Dick Slater. He had problems with staying in one promotion for too long and usually wore out his welcome by butting heads with the bookers and wanted to do things his way, but while there he was always worth the ticket. From 1983 he teams with Harley Race to face Terry and Dory Funk Jr in Japan.






Also born on May 19th was the late Great Andre the Giant. Here is a rare clip of Andre in Mexico wrestling mexican great El Canek. He would be one of the few wrestlers to body slam Andre.

New bits and pieces

HOGAN HAS HEART SCARE
- TMZ.COM is reporting that Hulk Hogan had a heart scare this week following tests for back surgery revealed what doctors thought would be an abnormality with his heart. The doctor in charge of his back surgery sent Hogan to see a specialist at a cardiovascular medical center in Florida to check his EKG again. After more extensive tests it was decided that Hogan's heart is fine and there are no problems with it. According to sources who talked with the website, Hogan was very worried until the final results came out. The WWE Hall of Famer is still scheduled to undergo back surgery soon.

BRET HART WINS U.S. TITLE ON RAW
- Bret "Hit Man" Hart has another title to add to his long and illustrious career - the WWE United States title. Hart won the belt from The Miz during yesterday's episode of Monday Night RAW in front of fellow Canadian fans in Toronto. Hart has previously won the WCW version of the title four times before. This brings the total number of titles he won in WCW and WWE to a
total of 17.

Back to Japan

Lets go back to Japan for another classic matchup between 2 future superstars. This is billed as the Pegasus Kid vs Black Tiger, but it was a young Chris Benoit against a young Eddie Guerrero under a mask.

Match Added for Over the Limit PPV

CENA, BATISTA TO WRESTLE IN AN I QUIT MATCH
John Cena and Batista will wrestle each other in an I Quit match on May 23
at the Over The Limit pay-per-view. This match is expected to be Batista's
last match with the company for now as he did not sign another contract and
has been unhappy for the past few months. Batista was pulled from the
"Killing Karma" movie - now titled "Inside Out" - and the role was given to
Triple H. The move made Batista even more unhappy but WWE was reluctant to
give a role to someone who's not going to be under contract when the actual
movie is going to be released.

Kinji Shibuya dead at 88

CANOE -- SLAM! Sports - Wrestling - Kinji Shibuya dead at 88

Saturday Night's Main Event 11/16/1988

This edition of SNME featured the WWF Champion "Macho Man" Randy Savage facing off against the 8th Wonder of the World, Andre the Giant.
In a switch Andre was the heel this time and it was for the WWF Heavyweight Title.
From Arco Arena in Sacramento California its Saturday Night's Main Event:

News Bites

OVER THE LIMIT STARTS TAKING SHAPE
- Four matches have so far been announced for the Over The Limit pay-per-view which will be taking place from Detroit, MI., on May 23. John Cena takes on Batista for the WWE title in what is set to be Batista's final match in WWE; Jack Swagger vs Big Show for the World Heavyweight champion; Randy Orton vs Edge; and Rey Mysterio vs CM Punk in a hair vs SES pledge match. The show will be held on the same day that Owen Hart fell to his death back in 1999 in a pay-per-view similarly titled Over The Edge.







BUZZ ALDRIN TO HOST RAW ON MAY 17?
- The May 17 guest host has been revealed to be NASA Astronaut Buzz Aldrin after he posted a message on his website which was quickly pulled out later most likely to let WWE do the announcement first. Aldrin was the pilot of the Apollo 11 and was the second person to set foot on the Moon on July 20, 1969. The May 17 show is the commercial-free RAW and will be airing from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canada. Bret Hart will be wrapping up his WWE duties for the time being on that show.

WWE'S OWN CABLE CHANNEL COULD DEBUT THIS YEAR
- The plan to launch WWE's own cable channel are moving straight ahead and if everything goes according to schedule we could have WWE TV as early as this year. Vince McMahon said that when the channel launches, nothing will be changed in terms of current television shows on its broadcast partners - USA, SyFy, WGN and MyNetwork TV which is losing the Smackdown rights come Fall. McMahon said on Thursday that they are talking to several cable providers to carry WWE's network which will eventually be made up of several different shows. With WWE owning its own channel the company will be able to sell its own advertising and also be used to promote WWE's several other businesses.


DWAYNE JOHNSON IN NEGOTIATIONS FOR ROLE IN FAST & FURIOUS 5
- Extra is reporting that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is in negotiations to land a big part in the fifth installment of the Fast & Furious movie franchise. The movie so far has a working title of "Fast Five" and Variety adds that Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, director Justin Lin and producer Neal Moritz have all signed up to appear. It is set to start filming at the end of this year.

Ricky Steamboat vs The Great Muta

From 1990 New Japan Pro Wrestling, Ricky Steamboat takes on the Great Muta. This is a distinctly american style match with Muta choking out Steamboat with his robe belt thus getting the crowd to boo him. Muta was still working his heel gimmick from WCW, he would go on to use his given name of Keiji Mutoh and meet with success, even winning the NWA World Heavyweight title in 1992.

The Machines

In the WWF during 1986-87 a team was created called "The Machines", which consisted of Andre The Giant as Giant Machine, Blackjack Mulligan as Big Machine and Bill Eadie (formerly the Masked Superstar) as Super Machine. They wore new style mask that had become the rage out of Japan thanks to Junji Hirata, who was fast becoming a crowd favorite in Japan. He was known as Super Strong Machine in All Japan Pro Wrestling.
Hirata would become very famous and beloved in Japan by fans and wrestlers alike and was a sought after partner in tag team matches. In 1994 Hirata would unmask and start using his given name. In 2000 he revived Super Strong Machine for a brief fued with the masked T2000 Machine (Tatsutoshi Goto). He would switch to Black Strong Machine as he joined Masahiro Chono's Black New Japan, a version of the NWO.

The Hellraisers

From 1996 in the Tokyo Dome its The Steiner Brothers and Scott Norton vs The Hellraisers (Road Warriors Hawk & Animal and Kensuke Sasaki). This is the kind of main event Wrestlemania should have.

Sting's first NWA World Title Victory

July 7th 1990 at the Great American Bash in Baltimore MD, Sting pinned Ric Flair for his first WCW World Heavyweight Title.



(sorry for the poor audio, the better clip wouldnt embed)

Finally!!!

(courtesy the Wrestling Globe Network)
warning!! rough language in the following post

Tampa radio shock-jock and TNA personality Todd Clem (Bubba the Love
Sponge) has been fired following a stunt earlier this week where he
ambushed Kia Stevens (Awesome Kong) during a call-in interview on the
Cowhead radio show.
In a rare public firing, a statement posted last night on the TNA
Website read: Effective immediately, TNA Wrestling has elected to
terminate the services of Todd Clem p/k/a Bubba the Love Sponge. TNA dismissed Clem, the foul-mouthed and acid-tongued radio host, for what is believed to be racially charged slurs against Stevens.
Following the announcement Clem wrote on his Twitter page: "I was going
to take the high road but looks like TNA has fired the first shot."
Clem also fired off several insults aimed at TNA fans. He tweeted: "Shut the fuck up, mark...Maybe you should get your GED and stop worrying about men in tights."
"You're entire life is pointless. Go back to screwing your sister and watching TNA you white trash simpleton." "Bubba Army, you guys are simply the best. Nobody could ask for better
fans. TNA fans are nothing but a bunch of little cowardly cunts." "You love oiled up men in tights. You are a douche nozzle that thinks wrestling is real. Get a fucking life. Go away."
44-year-old Clem surfaced on TNA programming earlier this year shortly after his friend, Hulk Hogan, signed with the company. Most recently he returned to TNA television in a manager-like role for The Band.