Wrestling News August 19, 2005

CZW wrestler, Chris Cash, died last night in a tragic accident. Chri$ Ca$h - Christopher Bauman Jr. passed away last night after being involved in a motorcycle accident near his home in South Jersey. On behalf of the CZW family we would like to send our condolences to the Bauman family who are mourning Chris as are we. The thoughts and prayers of the CZW family are with them and those of the CZW fans also are.

SD: This is a shame. CZW is one of the top indie feds going and from what I hear he was a big part of it. PTP send its condolences to Chris’s family and friends.

Joey Styles will be unable to work the wrestling show he put together due to his WWE contract. "I was approached to participate in JOEY STYLES' EXTREMELY HARDCORE well over one year before I signed a part-time, non-exclusive, two-year agreement with WWE in June in order to host ECW branded television projects. However, I am disappointed to announce that there is language in my WWE agreement which makes it necessary for me to resign from JOEY STYLES' EXTREMELY HARDCORE." said Joey Styles.

The company will continue with a new name and a new announcer but will feature the same wrestlers and style of wrestling that hardcore wrestling fans crave and sorely miss.

The card for this Saturday Night remains:
Former WCW World Champion vs. Former ECW World Champion
Dallas Page vs. Justin Credible with Francine and Jason

Hardcore Street Fight
Atlanta's New Gangstas, New Jack and Murder One vs. Balls Mahoney and Axl Rotten

Dog Eat Dog
Pitbull Gary Wolfe vs. Rotweiller Rodney Begnaud

North vs. South
Buffalo, NY's Mikey Whipwreck vs. Raleigh, NC's The Enforcer, CW Anderson

SD: The bad news is, this will only further prevent Joey Styles from joining the WWE on a fulltime basis. The worse news is that the one thing that was making me lean towards buying this ppv is now gone. The horrible news is the only match I’d want to see is Mikey Whipwreck vs CW Anderson.

TNA is now playing hardball with their contracted performers because of their new DVD distribution deal. TNA has informed their talents that they must have their indy dates approved and that they may not work for indy groups that release DVDs nationally in retail sales chains such as Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target, Best Buy, Circut City, etc. This would mean that TNA talents Raven, Jerry Lynn, Rhino and Sabu could not appear on Shane Douglas' upcoming Hardcore Homecoming shows (beginning next month) which will be distributed nationally by Big Vision Entertainment.

Now that TNA has their DVDs distributed nationally by Navarre, the national DVD restriction joins the pay-per-view restriction (and one would also assume television) for TNA talents.

This should not prevent TNA talents from appearing on Ring of Honor shows as ROH sells their DVDs direct response only.

SD: Great news for ROH fans anyway. Otherwise, this is a necessary move for TNA as they make their next move as the #2 promotion in the American wrestling scene. Merchandising is an absolutely vital move for NA at this stage of the game. If they want to look like major players they need to pretend they are and not allow other companies to put the focus on their stars in the public eye in case their people are booked to lose.

ROH News & Notes:
-If you are unsure of where to start. Check out this article for info of when the DVDs fit into their history
- The winner of the Four Corner Survival mini-tournament at "Do Or Die V" will be booked on the double shot featuring Kenta Kobashi on Oct. 1st in Manhattan and Oct. 2nd in Philadelphia.
- Tickets are now on sale for ROH's return to Chicago on Nov. 5th

WWE renewed contracts for Jonathan Coachman and Christy Hemme. Guess which one I am happy about and which makes me consider not watching Raw for a while.