New Book on History of Stampede Wrestling

I haven't seen a copy so I can't offer any opinion on how good and/or accurate it is, but here's the Amazon link for anyone who is interested.

http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/701-8630490-5103522

TNA News September 16, 2005

It isn't often that TNA will have enough news to get their own post. But hey -- let's give it to them.

Jeff Jarrett is once again NWA World champion. The self-proclaimed “King of the Mountain” Jeff Jarrett regained the NWA World Heavyweight Title on Thursday night in Oldcastle, Ontario, Canada, defeating Raven with the help of America’s Most Wanted.

In a shocking turn of events, “Wildcat” Chris Harris and “Cowboy” James Storm turned their backs on the fans and aligned themselves with Jarrett, ultimately costing Raven the bout and the World Title.

The NWA World Heavyweight Title match took place under the banner of Border City Wrestling out of Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

SD: Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb! Especially since the show is debuting on Spike in about 2 weeks. Raven is by far a more appropriate centerpiece for a company looking to attract a bigger audience. I am so getting into this when (if?) I finally get to the appropriate section in my “On Booking” series. And I know you guys have something to say about this one, so let's hear it.

TNA arrives at the middle-to-lower class Macy's, Wal-Mart. The DVD box set, “TNA Anthology: The Epic Set” is now available exclusively at Wal-Mart Supercenter stores nationwide.

The set includes over 10 hours of Total Nonstop Action from “Victory Road 2004”, “Turning Point 2004,” and “Lockdown 2005” for only $24.96.

SD: That is an attractive offer. Maybe I’ll grab it next month and put a couple people out of work.

-TNAwrestling.com has learned that Japanese wrestling legend Jushin "Thunder" Liger will be competing at TNA's "Bound For Glory" Pay-Per-View on Sunday, October 23!


Here are the results from this past Sunday’s Unbreakable
3LK def Diamonds in the Rough in a 6 man tag
Austin Aries def Roderick Strong
Kip James & Monty Brown def Lance Hoyt & Apolo
Chris Sabin def Petey Williams
Abyss def Sabu
Bobby Roode def Jeff Hardy
The Naturals def Team Canada & AlexShelley/Johnny Candido in an elimination tag match
Raven def Rhino to retain the NWA championship
AJ Styles def Christopher Daniels & Samoa Joe in a triple threat match to capture the X Division championship

Secret Marks

The business section of Toronto's Globe and Mail today has a lengthy profile of David Radler. His name probably doesn't ring bells right away, but he is the former right-hand man of newspaper publisher Conrad Black, who has been charged with a number of criminal counts involving suspicious transactions between the various companies he owns. Radler has also been charged in relation to some of the same transactions, but has now agreed to plead guilty in exchange for a reduced sentence and for telling what he knows about Black's activities.

I was totally surprised to read in the article that one of Radler's main passions is wrestling, to the point where he would phone up his managers late at night to discuss what was going on in the wrestling world. (Although, having known people who worked at Black-owned publications and were occasionally subject to Radler's wrath, I now wonder if Radler was copying his management style on Vince McMahon's....especially the "You're fired!!!" part.)

But now I'm wondering.....how many other marks are in charge at major corporations?

Thoughts From An Ex-Fan

I promised Stefan I’d write something for the site because I’ve been absent for a while now, so here it is: I’m drawing a blank.

I’ll start with a confession: the only ways I follow professional wrestling any more is from habitual visits to the Wrestling Observer, Puroresu Power and RSPW. I can’t summon the will to sit in front of the TV for two hours, twice a week, and watch bland, predictable WWE TV any more. I’m not exactly sure why, because I forced myself to watch SummerSlam and, while it wasn’t perfect, it rekindled a bit of a spark for my old love of the mat game. Certainly nothing on it was horrible.

So this week, for the first time in a year, I sat down to watch the two hour international Smackdown. I did it with the benefit of fast forward, but here are my random impressions.

• Mr. Ken Kennedy could be the future of Smackdown, if they give him time to grow. That said, we’ve said similar things about Carlito, and it led to him promptly being transferred to Raw and lost in the crowd. He comes off like The Rock and looks like Bob Holly, but he’s not half bad at all for a new character. This is not a cue for WWE creative to push him to the moon and completely over expose him.

• Randy Orton, like any non-charismatic face, is 1,000% more entertaining as a heel. I won’t pretend I like him, but he has much more potential for entertainment this way.

• JBL will forever be on that borderline between love and hate. He sucks, but he’s far more amusing than he has any right to be on the mic.

• Paul Burchill is not ready for prime time network television. Giving him squashes is not the way to work around this.

I have nothing more to add. Meh.