Smackdown! and RAW

Summer Slam 2009 Updates

2009-08-20T15:33:00.003-05:00

I have to admit, I do LOVE this poster

SummerSlam will take place on August 23, 2009 at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.
Unless something happens, here is the current line up of matches....

Randy Orton (champion) versus John Cena in a singles match for the WWE Championship.
Chris Jericho and The Big Show (champions) versus Cryme Tyme (Shad Gaspard and JTG) in a Tag Team match for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship
Rey Mysterio (champion) versus Dolph Ziggler in a singles match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship
Jeff Hardy (champion) versus CM Punk in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match for the World Heavyweight Championship. I kinda expect Jeff to lose since this is probably his last match for the WWE.
D-Generation X (Triple H and Shawn Michaels) versus The Legacy (Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase) in a Tag Team match
The Great Khali versus Kane in a singles match
Jack Swagger versus Montel Vontavious Porter in a singles match
Christian (champion) versus William Regal in a singles match for the ECW Championship

Also, this will probably be Lilian Garcia's last event.
That really makes me sad.

And so far no WWE Diva's match for SummerSlam

John Cena on Psych

2009-08-06T10:15:00.003-05:00

WWE star John Cena will be appearing on the season premiere of its original series "Psych."
Cena will play a special ops soldier named Ewan O'Hara.

From USA's press release....

WWE Superstar John Cena, featured weekly on the ratings' phenomenon "WWE Monday Night RAW," has been a staple of the WWE family since 2002. His career highlights include World Heavyweight Champion, WWE Champion, U.S. Champion, World Tag Team Champion and the 2008 Royal Rumble Winner. In 2006, he starred in "The Marine" with Robert Patrick and Kelly Carlson and most recently starred in "12 Rounds" directed by Renny Harlin. Cena will play Ewan O'Hara, a special ops soldier and brother to Maggie Lawson's character, Detective Juliet O'Hara on PSYCH. In this episode entitled "You Can't Handle This Episode" he will help solve the murder of two soldiers and take down an officer involved in weapons trading.

The episode was originally titled "Extradition: British Columbia", so the name change must have been to cash in on Cena's appearance.

You may recall that current WWE Divas Champion Mickie James appeared on A Psych episode last year as a roller derby girl called Rita "Lethal Weapon" Westwood.

Psych premieres on Friday, August 7, 2009 at 10pm.

UPDATE:
Guess what?
Cena wasn't on the season premiere.
I guess USA moved the episodes around.

Summer Slam 2009

2009-07-29T11:49:00.001-05:00

SummerSlam dates all the way back to August 29, 1988 at the Madison Square Garden in New York.
This years SummerSlam is the 22nd one and will have wrestlers from Raw, SmackDown, and ECW.
So far there are only two announced matches on the card.....
Randy Orton versus John Cena for the WWE Championship, and Chris Jericho and Big Show will be defending their Unified Tag-Team championships against Cryme Tyme.
Tickets for SummerSlam PPV have been on sale since February 13, 2009 and they are almost sold out (They may be sold out by the time I post this).
Hey, it only took them 5 months to sell out.
::AHEM::

The WWE will be holding the first ever SummerSlam Axxess, a fan convention like WrestleMania's WrestleMania Axxess.
The event will be held at Nokia Plaza in L.A. Live from August 22 to August 23.
And as a special treat, video game publisher THQ may even preview WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 there.

Raw's Guest Hosts Continue

2009-07-23T10:14:00.001-05:00

Raw has already had Seth Green and ZZ Top as guest hosts.
The next two up....

NBA All-Star Shaquille O’Neal and Entourage star, Jeremy Piven.

Shaq will be showing up mainly because he has a new reality television program on the ABC Network that debuts on August 18th.
And on the show, Shaq challenges other sports stars to their respective sports.
Now how much of a stretch is it to think that we will see Shaq in the ring on Raw with someone like Kane?
Or at least maybe a set up for an episode of his show.

I don't really know why they chose Jeremy Piven.
I like him.
I have ever since he played Spence Kovak on "Ellen", remember that?
And I really liked him in "Smokin' Aces".
Hey, I LIKED that movie!
But why have him on Raw other than he's promoting his new movie"The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard"?

Another name that keeps getting brought up as a Raw guest host is, believe it or not, Hulk Hogan.
However, any mention of The Hulkster gets shot down by Vince.
Can you really blame him?
I mean it is his show and Vince and Hogan really don't seem to get along too well.
(Understatement)

Since they keep going with the guest hosts, here's my ideas.
I tried to keep them all wrestling related.

1. Mickey Rourke and/or Marisa Tomei
2. Jack Black
3. David Arquette (WCW tie-in, and what's he done lately?)
4. Rose McGowan (She was in "Ready to Rumble" and she has Red Sonja to promote)
5, Dwayne Johnson (You know...The Rock)

Bobby Lashley Versus Brock Lesnar?

2009-07-16T10:11:00.002-05:00

On an appearance on ESPN Radio, Bobby Lashley said that he wanted to fight current UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar.
Of course we all know that Brock and Bobby both worked for WWE.
But how cool would it be (and how many tickets would they sell) if Vince could somehow wrangle the UFC into working with the WWE to do this match up at a WWE PPV?

Of course it won't happen.
Brock has distanced himself from the WWE, although even in the cage he still acts like a good old fashioned pro wrestling heel.
Just look at his last fight. His antics after the match would make Stone Cold Steve Austin proud.
And Bobby is signed with TNA, WWE's main rival.
Yes he said in that same ESPN interview that he has signed a TNA contract and will be appearing at the TNA Victory Road pay-per-view on Sunday.

But Vince is always looking for something fresh and exciting, this would be a world class event, combining pro wrestling and MMA.
Of course the match would have to be straight up MMA rules.
No run-ins by Kane or John Cena or Batista.
No sudden appearance by the Undertaker.
(Though in the middle of the bout, how cool would it be to have the lights go out and hear "Bonnng!"?)

Last night at WWE Extreme Rules PPV......

2009-06-08T10:02:00.000-05:00

Last night at WWE Extreme Rules PPV, a lot of belts changed hands.....

Fatal-Fourway Match: (United States Title)
Kofi Kingston (champion) vs. MVP vs. Matt Hardy vs. William Regal
Kofi Kingston wins and retains the title

No Holds Barred Match: (Intercontinental Title)
Rey Mysterio (champion) vs. Chris Jericho
Chris Jericho wins, becomes the new Intercontinental champion (for the ninth time), and removes Rey's mask in the process!

Samoan Strap Match:
Umaga vs. CM Punk
"Old School" strap match with CM Punk coming out on top.

Extreme Rules Match: (ECW Title)
Christian (champion) vs. Tommy Dreamer vs. Jack Swagger
Using a crutch and a DDT, Tommy Dreamer becomes the new ECW Champion

Hog-Pen Match: (Miss WrestleMania Title)
Vickie Guerrero (champion) vs. Santina
Why am I even mentioning this?
Even with Chavo involved, Santina wins and regains the title.

Steel Cage Match: (WWE Title)
Randy Orton (champion) vs. Batista
Batista gets a clean win and becomes the Winner and new WWE champion.
Oddly enough, the new champion is scheduled for surgery on Tuesday morning for a torn biceps muscle.
Will he lose the title on Raw tonight?

Submission Match:
John Cena vs. Big Show
John Cena wins with the STF.

Ladder Match: (World Title)
Edge (champion) vs. Jeff Hardy
Winner and new World champion: Jeff Hardy.

But wait......

As soon as Hardy wins, CM Punks music hits and he runs down saying that he's cashing in his Money In The Bank briefcase.
(Holy Edge Batman!)
Punk nails the GTS and becomes the new WWE World Champion.

Good Bye Mr Kennedy

2009-06-01T09:18:00.003-05:00

After a 10 month break to rehabilitate his injured shoulder, Mr.Kennedy was released by the WWE just four days after his return.
Why?
It appears the WWE was concerned about pushing a major star that's injury prone (like Candice Michelle?).
And also in his return match, he did a poorly executed supplex that almost injured Randy Orton.
And he allegedly injured his own wrist taking an RKO from Orton.
I hate to see him go.
He has exceptional mic skills and with the proper push, I think he could have been a major star.
So I guess in about 90 days we'll see him pop up in TNA.
BTW, if you check out his website http://www.ken-kennedy.com/ , you'll see a video of him shaking out his wrists showing that he is not injured.

Now that he's gone from WWE, you can still keep up with him on Twitter and his Facebook account.

Jim Ross had a few words about Ken's release on his blog at JRsBarBQ.com......

"It is regrettable that WWE decided to release Mr. Kennedy, that ring name will be long gone, as he was at the age to really begin to come into his own. Injuries have plagued the Wisconsin native for a good part of his career but as best I know Kennedy is 100% as we speak. Without question, Kennedy has a definable upside and he will hopefully continue his journey in this biz and make his dreams become realties. Take it from me being released isn't the end of the world and things in our lives have a way of working out for the best unless one throws in the towel and simply says "what the hell?" As I mentioned before, a change of scenery sometimes is what the doctor ordered. Hopefully this will work out for the best for all involved. For the record, I do not know why Kennedy was released and look at that matter as none of my business."

Reading that, it looks almost like Good Ole JR is saying " Go to TNA".

Of course wrestling isn't the only venue Mr. Kennedy could pursue.
He appeared in a film "Fighting The Still Life", directed by Matt Burns (Sick Nick Mondo) and he appeared as MCPO Carter Holt in "Behind Enemy Lines: Colombia".

No WWE RAW Next Week?

2009-05-19T13:34:00.001-05:00

Yeah last night was Monday Night RAW, but the big news is what about next weeks Raw?
There is a conflict as to who will get an event at the Pepsi Center in Denver next Monday night.
Here is the latest update I have found.....

WWE out, Lakers-Nuggets in for Game 4
10:56 AM, May 19, 2009
The controversy over the double booking of the Pepsi Center on Monday has been resolved ... at least partially.
Kroenke Sports Enterprises, which owns the Nuggets and the arena, booked a WWE "Monday Night Raw" wrestling show on Monday, which conflicted with Game 4 of the Western Conference finals between the Nuggets and the Lakers.
The Denver Post reported that the game will go on as scheduled. Matter settled, at least as far as the arena is concerned.
WWE? That's another matter. "I'm up the creek and I don't have a paddle, either," Vince McMahon, WWE chairman, told the Denver Post. I really don't know what to do.... I have no idea what's going to happen."
Read the whole article here.

And what will happen?
The WWE is looking for a replacement venue on very short notice.
Has a Raw broadcast ever been canceled?

Rumors are floating around that they may tape RAW on Saturday night at the WWE live event in Salt Lake City.
Another idea is that they may tape RAW in Colorado Springs on Monday.
But what about all the RAW tickets already sold?
Do the people in Denver drive the 70 some odd miles to Colorado Springs?
Or will Vince just pull the WWE trucks into the Pepsi Center parking lot, go "old school" and set the ring up there and have it in the parking lot?

I have to admit, I like that last idea best no matter how illogical it is.
The idea of seeing John Cena, Batista, Matt Hardy, Randy Orton or Big Show battling under the stars outside in a ring is awesome.

WWE Wrestling News

2009-05-11T15:36:00.000-05:00

Tonight on WWE Raw will be a handicap match, John Cena and Batista versus Randy Orton, Ted DiBiase, and Cody Rhodes.

It looks like The Undertaker will be requiring arthroscopic surgery to repair some long-term hip and knee damage. The WWE is hoping one..., that they can get him back before SummerSlam, and two....that Jeff Hardy will hang around until Taker gets back.
Yes Jeff is pretty hurt up too (if you have seen him wrestle you wont wonder why) and needs a break from wrestling for awhile.
Have you noticed that WWE wrestlers seem to be getting injuries at an alarming rate lately?

The Chris Jericho / Rey Mysterio feud was started because Chris wants to work with Rey.

And speaking of Rey, the UK's Daily Mail says that rapper Eminem was seen in London this weekend wearing a Rey Mysterio mask while out in public shopping.
Shades of Micheal Jackson!
Well, Eminem likes superheroes and wrestling...so why not?
You can see pics here:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/article2422092.ece

Last Night on WWE Raw

2009-04-28T11:33:00.002-05:00

Kofi Kingston defeated "The" Brian Kendrick

Eight-Diva Tag Match: Santina, Kelly Kelly, Brie Bella and Mickie James beat Beth Phoenix, Rosa Mendez, Jillian Hall and Maryse

Matt Hardy over Goldust

The Randy Orton vs. MVP match was a no contest since Shane McMahon ran in with a kendo stick and started flailing away at Orton until Legacy came in and ran him off.

The Miz won over John Cena by forfeit.
Cena wasn't there.
Ridiculous.

Carlito and Primo defeated Jamie Noble and Chavo Guerrero

Batista defeated Big Show in a number one contender match, so Batista will face Randy Orton at the Judgment Day WWE pay-per-view.
BTW, Cena did show up there to distract Show and give Batista the win.

And the main event on next week's Raw......
Shane McMahon taking on Randy Orton.

The WWE Supplemental Draft

2009-04-16T11:53:00.000-05:00

The WWE Supplemental Draft is finally finished and here are the results.

SmackDown!
Shad Gaspard
Alicia Fox
Mike Knox
Candice Michelle
Ricky Ortiz
Layla
John Morrison
JTG
Dolph Ziggler
Charlie Haas

Raw
Brie Bella
Primo Colon
Nikki Bella
Chavo Guererro
Hornswoggle
Carlito Colon
Festus
Brian Kendrick
Mr. Kennedy

ECW
Hurricane Helms
Zach Ryder
Ezekiel Jackson
DH Smith
Natalya

Gail Kim, Offically Back in the WWE

2009-03-24T09:06:00.003-05:00

Gail Kim is officially back in the WWE.
She made her return at the SmackDown live event in Little Rock, Arkansas on March 21st teaming up with Maria to go against Michelle McCool and WWE Divas Champion Maryse.
So now I guess she WILL be in the 25 Diva Battle Royal at Wrestlemania.

HOWEVER....several sources are reporting that on the graphic promoting the 25-Diva Battle Royal at WrestleMania XXV, Gail's picture has been pulled.
Are they going to try to "surprise" us?
Everyone with internet access knows Gail is back in the WWE, there's no need for a last minute announcement.
BTW, a quick check shows that Gail is still not on the Divas list at WWE.Com

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that judging from Gail's past wrestling career, having won the WWE Women's Championship on her debut match for WWE (a battle royal no less), and being the inaugural TNA Women's Knockout Champion, if Gail IS in the battle royal, she's gonna win.
Because if she wins, the next question is where will she go?
Raw or Smackdown?

Another guess here, I see her going to Smackdown at least at first.
She'll be a face, and go up against Maryse.
However, with the draft coming, she could turn heel and go after Melina just as easily.

WWE has a good wildcard here, let's see how they play it.

Eve Torres

2009-03-17T11:22:00.000-05:00

Dancer, model, actress and professional wrestler, Eve Torres was the winner of the 2007 Diva Search.
Eve was born Eve Marie Torres on May 5, 1984 in Denver, Colorado.
She is currently working for the WWE on SmackDown, but with the draft coming that may change.

On October 29, 2007, Eve was crowned the winner of the 2007 Diva Search in Philadelphia, live on Monday Night Raw.
Soon after she got her wrestling license in the state of Kentucky (yes you have to have one of those) and started training in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW).
Eve made her official debut on SmackDown on February 1, 2008 doing interviews.
After doing interviews, participating in the "Diva Competition", and being a Lumberjill in the BunnyMania match between Maria and Ashley against Beth Phoenix and Melina at WrestleMania XXIV, she finally made her in ring debut on the November 3, 2008 episode of Raw in a 16-Diva tag team match, but she never got tagged in.
In her first actual match, she lost to Michelle McCool by submission.

Eve can solve a Rubik's cube puzzle in less than five minutes.
She is trained in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and has a blue belt.
Eve appeared with Maryse and Michelle McCool in the January 2009 issue of Muscle & Fitness magazine.
Maria, Candice Michelle, and Eve were on the August 17 episode of Sunset Tan.
She also appeared on Fuse TV's Redemption Song along with Candice, Maryse, and Mickie James.

Former WWE Wrestler Andrew 'Test' Martin Found Dead in Tampa Apartment

2009-03-14T11:59:00.006-05:00

FOXNews.com -

Former WWE Wrestler Andrew 'Test' Martin Found Dead in Tampa Apartment - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News:

"Andrew 'Test' Martin, a former WWE wrestler, was found dead in his Tampa, Fla. apartment late Friday night, MyFOXTampaBay.com reported.

Neighbors called police after seeing the 33-year-old motionless over a span of several hours.

The cause of death wasn't immediately known, but police said foul play isn't suspected. An autopsy will be performed."

Link to WWE page about his passing:
http://www.wwe.com/inside/industrynews/9571148

The official comment from the Tampa Police Department on the passing of Andrew "Test" Martin.

"At approximately 8:00pm on Friday, March 13, 2009, Tampa Police Officers responded to the Post Harbour Apartments, located at 725 Harbour Place Drive to check on the welfare of Mr. Andrew J. Martin. A neighbor reported that she could see into his apartment through a window and that Mr. Martin appeared motionless for several hours.

Officers entered the apartment and discovered Mr. Martin to be deceased. At this time there is no indication of foul play. The deceased was transported to the Medical Examiners Office for an autopsy to determine the cause of death. The date of the autopsy is undetermined at this time. The next of kin has been notified of the death.

Andrew "Test" Martin is a former wrestling champion with the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment).

Lieutenant William Ferguson

Tampa Police Department"

The Bella Twins

2009-03-06T19:06:00.001-05:00

Born in San Diego, California and raised in Scottsdale, Arizona, Brie and Nikki Garcia wrestled on WWE SmackDown! as the Bella Twins.
They were signed to developmental contracts by the WWE in the summer of 2007, and went straight into Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW).
They feuded with Nattie Neidhart and Victoria Crawford in a series of tag team matches and used the old school masked wrestler tactic of switching places behind the referee's back if one of them was injured.
They moved up to Smackdown and Brianna debuted as Brie Bella.
There they used a variation of the gimmick, with Nicole hiding under the ring and switching places with her sister under the ring when needed.
But one night Brie ran under the wrestling ring and was followed by Natalya and Victoria, who emerged with both Brie and Nicole.
Thus the WWE's worst kept secret was blown.

You can visit the twins MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/thegarciatwins
Or Brie's page at http://www.myspace.com/briannagarciacolace
Or Nikki's page at http://www.myspace.com/theofficalnicolebella

The Undertaker

2009-02-23T13:12:00.002-05:00

What can I say about the Undertaker?
The Phenom, the Deadman, Texas Red.
One half of the Brothers of Destruction with Kane.
He has always been one of my favorite wrestlers because he combines showmanship with wrestling skill.
He gives his all in that wrestling ring.
For an example, look no further than his legendary Hell in a Cell match with Mankind.
Undefeated in Wrestlemania.
The first winner of the Royal Rumble.
He's held the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship, the WCWA Texas Heavyweight Championship, the WCW Tag Team Championship (with Kane), the WWF/WWE Championship (4 times), the WWF Hardcore Championship, the World Heavyweight Championship (2 times) and the WWF Tag Team Championship (6 times).
At Wrestlemania he has defeated Jimmy Snuka, Jake Roberts, Giant Gonzales, King Kong Bundy, Diesel , Sycho Sid, Kane , The Big Boss Man, Triple H, Ric Flair, The Big Show and A-Train in a handicap match, Kane, Randy Orton, Mark Henry, Batista and Edge.

And now leading into this years Wrestlemania, will his winning streak be broken?
I hope not, I'd like to see The Deadman retire undefeated.

Ron Killings / R-Truth

2009-02-20T13:58:00.000-05:00

Ron Killings was born on January 19, 1972 in Atlanta Georgia (but grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina).
Ron currently works for the WWE on SmackDown! under the ring name R-Truth.
But before that, he wrestled for TNA as Ron "the Truth" Killings.
Ron was trained by "The Raging Bull" Manny Fernandez.
Besides WWE and TNA he has worked for Xtreme Pro Wrestling, Cyberspace Wrestling Federation, Memphis Championship Wrestling and NWA Wildside.
In TNA he held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship twice, the NWA World Tag Team Championship twice (once with Konnan and once with B.G. James) and he held the TNA World Tag Team Championship with Pacman Jones.
Back in the WWF he was the WWF Hardcore Champion twice.
But then again I think everyone was at one time or another.

Kung Fu Naki / Shoichi Funaki

2009-02-15T12:51:00.000-05:00

Shoichi Funaki has had a long career in the WWE.
He was born on August 24, 1968 in Tokyo Japan and made his debut with the (then) WWF back in 1998.
Although he entered the WWF in 1998, he had already wrestled for Yoshiaki Fujiwara's Fujiwara Gumi promotion, BattlARTS, Michinoku Pro Wrestling and Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) in Japan.
He is now known as Kung Fu Naki in the WWE.
During his career he has held the Texas Wrestling Alliance (TWA) Heavyweight Wrestling Championship, the Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) World Middleweight Wrestling Championship, the WWF Hardcore Championship and the WWE Cruiserweight Championship.

DH Smith

2009-02-09T12:05:00.000-05:00

Wow...you talk about a WWE Superstar with a pedigree, check out DH Smith.
DH was born Harry Smith on August 2, 1985 in Calgary, Alberta.
In case you're wondering, the D in DH stands for his father Davey Boy Smith, and the H stands for his uncle Bruce Hart.
This young man started his wrestling training at the age of eight, and actually made his pro wrestling debut at the age of ten!
Yes, that's right, ten.
He teamed up with his cousin Ted Annis against TJ Wilson and Andrew Picarnia at a WWF house show in Calgary.
His "official" in ring debut wasn't until the ripe old age of 15 though.
The WWE tried to snag him in 2004, but Harry turned them down, wanting to attend college and wrestle in Japan first before signing.
Harry spent some time in Japan, and later at the induction of Bret Hart into the WWE Hall of Fame, he met with WWE executives and signed a developmental contract with on April 4, 2006.
He is currently in FCW working on his in ring skills and personality.

WWE Diva Milena Roucka / Rosa Mendez

2009-02-05T11:53:00.000-05:00

Milena Roucka was born Milena Leticia Roucka on October 25, 1979 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
You know I'm just not gonna question why all these beautiful women keep coming from Canada.
I'm just gonna accept it.
Anyway.....Milena started with the WWE in the 2006 Diva Search Contest. She came in fourth, but was given a WWE developmental contract anyway.
She started out in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW).
Her first real in ring action was an eight woman tag team match in which she teamed up with Beth Phoenix, Katie Lea and Melody against ODB, Serena, Victoria Crawford, and Maryse.
In September of 2007, Milena won a 6 woman divas match to capture the OVW Women's Championship.
She lost the title later to Katie Lea and when the WWE ended their relationship with OVW, she moved on to Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW).
In FCW she had several matches against The Bella Twins, Alicia Fox, Wesley Holiday, Miss Angela (Angela Fong), Tiffany, Jenny Cash, and Veronica Blaze.
Finally, she made her first appearance on the November 24, 2008 Monday Night Raw.
She appeared as a fan now named Rosa Mendez.
I imagine the name change was because the already had a "Melina".
Rosa is doing a Beth Phoenix's Greatest fan gimmick, and I wonder if the WWE isn't traveling back down the Trish Stratus / Mickie James road.
You have to give this tomboy turned model turned wrestler credit. She's hung in there for almost 3 years and even held a title.
She's not only beautiful, she's tough.

Lilian Garcia

2009-02-03T14:00:00.000-05:00

Okay she's not a wrestler.
But what would Monday Night Raw be without Lilian Garcia?
Lilian made her debut on an episode of Raw is War back on August 23, 1999.
10 years ago?
Really?
Before she got into the WWE, she was a top ten finalist in the Miss South Carolina beauty pageant, one half of a popular morning show on radio station WYYS,"YES 97" in Colombia SC, a VJ in Atlanta, Georgia and she has been a singer since the age of five.
She even appeared in a movie with Robby Benson and Burt Reynolds called "Modern Love" before she got into the WWE.
You know Lilian was born in Madrid Spain in 1966, and Kane was born in Madrid Spain in 1967.
Wouldn't it be cool if they had known each others as kids?

WWE Diva Mickie James

2009-01-27T14:10:00.001-05:00

WWE Diva Mickie James had a long run in female wrestling before she hit the WWE.
In 1999, she made her pro wrestling debut on the independent circuit in 1999 as a valet under the ring name Alexis Laree.
She managed ECW star Tommy Dreamer when he won the KYDA Pro Heavyweight Championship in KYDA Pro Wrestling.
Not satisfied with just being a valet, Mickie went on to train with Dory Funk, Jr., the ECW dojo, Ricky Morton and Bobby Eaton.
She worked for Maryland Championship Wrestling, Ring of Honor and then landed in TNA Wrestling.
Mickie then went to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) after signing a a developmental contract with the WWE.
She finally debuted in the WWE on October 10 2005 in an episode of WWE Raw, as Trish Stratus' biggest fan.

Last Night's WWE Royal Rumble

2009-01-26T15:14:00.003-05:00

2009 Royal Rumble Winner, Randy Orton

At last nights WWE Royal Rumble there were a couple of title changes.

ECW Title Match, Matt Hardy versus Jack Swagger.
Jack Swagger held on to retain the ECW Championship.

WWE Women's Championship, Beth Phoenix versus Melina
Melina rolled up Beth Phoenix for the pin and her third WWE Women's Championship.

World Heavyweight Title Match: John Cena versus JBL with Shawn Michaels
Despite the interference of Shawn Michaels, John Cena survives a Sweet Chin Music and is still the World Heavyweight Champion

WWE Title Match, Edge versus Jeff Hardy
Vickie Guerrero came out and changed the match to no-disqualification.
Chavo Guerrero gets involved and so does Matt Hardy.
But Matt turns on Jeff and gives him a chairshot, and gives Edge the win.
New WWE Champion Edge.

30-Man Over the Top Battle Royal
After a grueling battle, Randy Orton wins the Royal Rumble.

WWE Divas, Melina

2009-01-19T12:17:00.002-05:00

Melina Nava Perez was born on March 9, 1979 in Los Angeles, California.
Melina started out as a model, won a Miss California beauty contest and modeled athletic wear for Nike.
Even though her modeling future looked bright, after talking to Empire Wrestling Federation (EWF) superstar (and family friend) Mike Henderson in 2000, Melina decided to give pro wrestling a try.
She trained at Jesse Hernandez's School of Hard Knocks in California and made her pro wrestling debut in April 2002.
After wrestling for EWF and CRUSH, Melina entered Tough Enough III, and made it to the final 21 before being eliminated.
But Al Snow noticed her ability in the ring and pulled her aside. He encouraged her to keep trying to pursue her career as a wrestler.
Melina went to OVW, and after working there, finally made her official debut on the April 14, 2005 edition of SmackDown! with MNM.
Since then, Melina has gone on to hold the WWE Women's Wrestling Championship twice.

WWE Diva, Layla El

2009-01-15T09:38:00.003-05:00

The first diva of African heritage to win the WWE Diva Search, Layla El has been with the WWE since the $250,000 WWE Diva Search back in 2006.
She started out on SmackDown!,moved to ECW and finally to Raw,making her the first WWE Diva to have been a member of all three brands.
Now on Raw, her managerial and valet position with William Regal has prevented her from getting a lot of ring time. She hasn't had a singles match since moving to Raw, and only a few tag teams.
Besides her time as a wrestler, Layla has been a dancer for Carnival Cruise Lines, a dancer for the the Miami Heat franchise of the NBA, and also danced for Kanye West at the MTV Video Music Awards.
And while working for the WWE she has appeared in FHM, King, JET, Smooth, FLEX and she was the cover girl for the first issue of Liquid magazine.
She also appeared in Timbaland's music video "Throw It On Me" featuring The Hives, appeared on an episode of Family Feud with other WWE superstars, appeared on Project Runway with several WWE Divas and appeared on an episode of Celebrity Fit Club Boot Camp as a trainer.
This is one very busy Diva.

WWE Diva, Jillian Hall

2009-01-08T09:38:00.002-05:00

Jillian Faye Fletcher was born on September 6, 1980 in Ashland, Kentucky.
She is a female pro wrestling working for the WWE on it's WWE Raw show under the ring name Jillian Hall.
Unlike some of the WWE Divas, Jillian actually had a wrestling background before the WWE.
She was trained by Dave Finlay (Yes the same Finlay) at his wrestling school, so you know she's gotta be tough.
Jillian started wrestling on the independent circuit under the ring name Macaela Mercedes in 1998.

In 2003, she went to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) and started wrestling under the name Jillian Hall.
She made her first appearance on Smackdown! on July 28, 2005.
Jillian went from heel to face and back to heel again before finally landing on WWE Raw after the 2007 Supplemental Draft.

WWE Diva: Candice Michelle

2009-01-01T12:52:00.001-05:00

Candice Michelle Beckman-Ehrlich was born September 30, 1978 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Of course WWE fans know her better as Candice Michelle or simply Candice.
You can see her on WWE's Monday Night Raw.
Candice came to the WWE via the Raw Diva Search, where she didnt even make it into the top ten finalists. However, the WWE hired her anyway and put in storylines as a makeup artist.
She was moved from Raw to Smackdown were she got involved in the Torrie Wilson / Melina feud, and got her first time actually on the wrestling mat. Although it was as a ref at The Great American Bash.
Candice went back to Raw with Torrie and they both became heels. Along with Victoria they formed the Ladies in Pink, which later became Vince's Devils.
Her background as a model and actress didn't do her a lot of good in the WWE ring where she was used pretty much as eye candy. But Candice did begin working on her in ring skills. She turned face and defeated then Champion Melina at Vengeance becoming the first Diva Search particapant to win a WWE belt.
Although she seems to really try to improve her wrestling game, Candice has suffered a few injures along the way.
Victoria kicked her in the face breaking her nose on Raw during a Diva battle royal, Beth Phoenix cracked her clavicle during her rematch for the Women's Title and in a tag team match with Maria against Victoria and Jillian Hall, she broke her clavicle in four separate places, shattering it.
But Candice keeps coming back.

WWE Diva : Beth Phoenix

2008-12-16T14:08:00.001-05:00

Elizabeth Carolan was born November 24, 1980 in New York, New York.
But WWE fans know her better as "The Glamazon", Beth Phoenix.
Beth didn't come to the WWE via a Diva Search or someone seeing her in a magazine.
Beth worked for it.
She was the first female varsity wrestler in Notre Dame High School 's history.
Beth also became the women's champion (72 kg weight class) at the New York State Fair Tournament in 1999. And she was named the most outstanding wrestler in 1999 the Brockport Freestyle Tournament.
After that Beth wrestled for various independent promotions Far North Wrestling (becoming their Cruiserweight Champion) before making her way to Ohio Valley Wrestling, becoming the OVW Women's Wrestling Champion.
Then Beth worked her way up to the WWE and became the WWE Women's Wrestling Champion.

WWE Smackdown: Zack Ryder

2008-12-15T11:47:00.002-05:00

Zack Ryder was born Matthew Cardona on May 14, 1985 in Merrick, New York.
He is a pro wrestler and one half of a tag team with Curt Hawkins on WWE Smackdown.
Zack and Curt were both trained by former ECW star Mikey Whipwreck.
Mainly a tag team performer with Curt, they have held the DSW Tag Team Wrestling Championship twice, the NYWC Tag Team Wrestling Championship twice, the OVW Southern Tag Team Wrestling Championship and the WWE Tag Team Wrestling Championship (making them the youngest tag team champions in WWE history).

SmackDown: Vladimir Kozlov

2008-12-05T12:09:00.001-05:00

Another wrestler that's fairly new to WWE fans is Vladimir Kozlov.
But like Kizarny, he may be new to the WWE, but not wrestling.
Or in Vladimir's case, fighting in general.
This guy is trained in freestyle wrestling, rugby, American football, sambo (2005 USA Open Heavyweight Sambo Champion), kickboxing ((USKBA) International Heavyweight Grappling Champion), judo, and MMA.
That translates into tough.
Vladimir was born Oleg Aleksandrovich Prudius on July 4, 1972 in the Ukraine.
He last a long string of victories in the WWE that kinda reminds me of Goldberg's run in the WCW.
Besides wrestling on Smackdown, Vladimir has appeared in several TV shows and movies.
He was in the "Werewolf Women of the SS" trailer (along with Andrew Martin aka Test) by Rob Zombie in Grindhouse, he was in the HBO series The Wire, and he was in Spike Lee's film 25th Hour, as Russian mafia enforcer. He also did some TV and even stage plays in the Ukraine.
This guy is amazingly well rounded.

SmackDown: Kizarny

2008-11-28T11:59:00.000-05:00

Kizarny may be new to the WWE, but he's not new to wrestling.
He was born Nick Cvjetkovich on August 29, 1973 in Toronto, Ontario.
Kizarny was trained as a wrestler by Rob Fuego and Ron Hutchison in Orangeville, Ontario.
Rob Fuego has trained many WWE and TNA wrestlers, including Angel Williams, Shantelle Malawski and Gail Kim.
Ron Hutchison has also trained several WWE stars such as Christian and Edge.
While Kizarny was training with them, he was also training for his Black belt at Alex Atkinson's Black Belt Institute.
His pro wrestling debut was in 2000 against El Fuego during the Apocalypse Wrestling Federation's Iron Man Tournament.
Kizarny also worked for Scott D'Amore's Border City Wrestling, Brian Dixon's All Star Wrestling (in England), Twin Wrestling Entertainment and All Canadian Wrestling.
During this time he performed with the Sideshow Carnival Diablo throughout Ontario, Manitoba and Quebec. He was featured as strong man, performing feats such as bending iron bars in his teeth, the Human Dartboard and the Electric Chair.
After wrestling some Dark Matches for the WWE in Canada, he landed in TNA in 2003, as "Sinn", where he joined a stable called The New Church, led by Father James Mitchell.
Kizarny left TNA and signed with WWE making his debut in Florida Championship Wrestling debut under the ring name "Sinn Bowdee".

WWE: Jesse

2008-11-20T13:23:00.001-05:00

Terry Ray Gordy, Jr. is a professional wrestling wrestling for the WWE on it's SmackDown promotion under the ring name Jesse.
Terry was born on March 23, 1979 in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
And yes, Jesse is the son of wrestler Terry Gordy of the Fabulous Freebirds.
The WWE seems to be getting a lot of second and third generation talent these days.
Jesse is one half of a tag team with Festus.
He has held several titles outside the WWE such as the NAWA (Georgia) Heavyweight Wrestling title, the NWA Georgia Junior Heavyweight Wrestling title and the NWA Georgia/Wildside Heavyweight Wrestling title.
Jesse also wrestled in the WWE's developmental Deep South Wrestling for quite awhile before debuting in the WWE.

WWE Smackdown! : Curt Hawkins

2008-11-13T12:51:00.001-05:00

Brian Myers was born in 1985 in Glen Cove, New York.
He is better known by his ring names Brian Major or now on WWE Smackdown!, Curt Hawkins.
Curt is one half of a tag team with Zack Ryder currently known as Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder or The Edgeheads.
Before this they were called the Major Brothers.
Curt was trained by Mikey Whipwreck at his wrestling school in Long Island NY called "New York Wrestling Connection".
Mainly a tag team performer, Curt has been one half of the NYWC (New York Wrestling Connection) Tag Team Champions, DSW (Deep South Wrestling) Tag Team Champions twice,
OVW (Ohio Valley Wrestling) Tag Team Champions and the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) Tag Team Champions.
The Edgeheads lost the WWE Tag Team belts to lost the titles to Carlito and Primo Colón in September 2008.

WWE Smackdown!: Jeff Hardy

2008-11-07T11:31:00.001-05:00

Jeff Hardy.
Wow.
I mean the man is a talented performer.
In my opinion VERY talented.
But this is a guy that's personal life seems to get in the way of his wrestling career.
If the WWE were Hollywood, Jeff would be hanging around with Paris, Britney and Lindsay.
Okay, maybe not Lindsay, her girlfriend might object, but you get the idea.
The wrestling websites constantly have Jeff's latest escapades posted and updated.
But the fact that he is still with the WWE tells you something.
Some of the best midcard matches I've seen on WWE Raw were Jeff Hardy matches.
Of course now he's on Smackdown! and I wonder what his future will hold.
But unlike a lot of the WWE's performers, Jeff's future may not rely on WWE managment, but on him.

WWE Smackdown: Ezekiel Jackson

2008-10-27T11:34:00.001-05:00

Rycklon Stephens was born on April 22, 1978, Harlem, New York.
He is better known by his ring name Ezekiel Jackson.
Ezekiel is a bodybuilder and pro wrestler currently working for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).
He signed a developmental contract with the WWE back in March of 2007 and was sent to the WWE's wrestling training program Florida Championship Wrestling in June.
Ezekiel debuted on WWE Smackdown in July 2008 as Brian Kendrick's bodyguard, under the name Ezekiel.
In August his character was expanded and "Ezekiel Jackson" was now Kendrick's "Advisor."
Ezekiel made his official wrestling debut in October on Smackdown, defeating Super Crazy.

WWE Smackdown: Scotty Goldman

2008-10-23T08:58:00.001-05:00

Scott Colton was born on born May 6, 1980 in Deerfield, Illinois.
He is a professional wrestler better known as Scotty Goldman on WWE Smackdown, and everywhere else as Colt Cabana. He also wrestled as Matt Classic on MTV's Wrestling Society X.
He made his WWE Smackdown debut on the August 15, 2008 edition of SmackDown (Before that, Scott had wrestled a few matches for the WWE on the HEAT and Velocity shows).
Colton made his debut as Scotty Goldman, losing to The Brian Kendrick.
Despite his experience and success in the independent promotions, Scotty is being used by the WWE right now as basically a jobber.

WWE Smackdown: Festus

2008-10-16T09:17:00.002-05:00

This guy.

Not this guy.

Andrew William Hankinson was born on December 22, 1984 in Cumberland, Maryland.
He is an American professional wrestler currently working for the WWE on SmackDown under the ring name Festus.
This 6 foot 7 inch, 300 pound monster was the fake Kane back on RAW in 2006. (I think everyone pretty much hated that storyline).
Festus' current character is a mentally retarded man (How does the WWE get away with that?) .... until the bell rings to begin the match.
When the bell rings at the beginning of the match, Festus' face contorts, becoming determined and monstrous.
When the bell rings at the end of the match, Festus' face returns to normal.

WWE Smackdown, Primo Colón

2008-10-09T09:15:00.001-05:00

Edwin C. "Eddie" Colón was born on December 21, 1982 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
He is a Puerto Rican pro wrestler currently signed by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) wrestling on its SmackDown brand as Primo Colón.
Primo is one-half of the WWE Tag Team Champions with his real life older brother Carlito.
He is the son of Puerto Rican wrestling legend Carlos Colón, Sr.

After wrestling almost nine years in the World Wrestling Council, he made his WWE debut on the Raw brand under the ring name Primo Colón on the August 18, 2008 episode of WWE Raw. His first match on Raw was on August 25, 2008, when he defeated Charlie Haas.

Primo was immedaitely moved to WWE SmackDown and on September 12, he debuted and teamed up with his brother Carlito. Two weeks after his Smackdown debut, Carlito and Primo won the WWE Tag Team Wrestling Championships from Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder.

Ryan Braddock

2008-10-01T10:33:00.004-05:00

Brad Bradley was born November 17, 1980 in DeKalb, Illinois. He is a pro wrestler currently wrestling for the WWE on its SmackDown brand as Ryan Braddock.

Bradley debuted on the WWE SmackDown roster on the August 15 edition, under the name Ryan Braddock. He was easily defeated by The Big Show after a knockout hook punch.
At the August 14, 2008 FCW TV taping, Bradley wrestled under the Ryan Braddock name, making it his permanent ring name.
On the August 22 edition of WWE SmackDown, Braddock competed in a battle royal to qualify for the WWE Championship Scramble match at Unforgiven, but was eliminated, again, by Big Show, who was not even officially in the match.
September 2 on ECW, Braddock lost to Ricky Ortiz after being pinned by Ortiz's Big O finisher.
On the September 19 edition of SmackDown, Braddock competed in a one fall match-up with Festus, who was accompanied by his tag team partner Jesse.
Braddock won the match as a result of a disqualification, after Jesse and Festus wrapped him in bubble wrap and duct tape.
" Bubble wrap and duct tape"?
Okay......

Side note: Bradley suffers from an overactive thyroid, which would cause him to fall asleep during some of his early matches.

Paul Wight, The Big Show

2008-09-23T10:37:00.004-05:00

Paul Randall Wight was born February 8, 1972 in Tampa Bay, Florida.
He is better known by his wrestling name, The Big Show.
Heis an American pro wrestler and actor, currently signed to WWE, wrestling on its SmackDown brand.
He is also known for his career in WCW, where he wrestled under the name The Giant from June 1995 to December 1998.
He is the only man in the history of wrestling to win the WWE Championship, WCW World Heavyweight Championship and the ECW World Championship, even though his ECW Title win was after the company was bought out by the WWE.

Like Andre the Giant, Big Show has acromegaly, a disease of the Endocrine System. Thankfully he underwent successful surgery in the early 1990s on his pituitary gland which halted the progress of this condition.
Big Show is billed as 7 feet tall and 441 pounds.
TWNP News has him listed at 7'1" and 400 pounds.
CelebHeights.com has him listed at 7 even.
Growtall.com has him listed as 7'2".
Either way...hes big!

Big Show has appeared in several movies, but my favorite appearance was in The Waterboy as Captain Insano.

Chuck Palumbo

2008-09-17T08:43:00.001-05:00

Charles Ronald "Chuck" Palumbo was born June 15, 1971 in West Warwick, Rhode Island. He is an American pro wrestler, who is currently signed to WWE, wrestling on its Raw brand.

After wrestling in WCW, Chuck Palumbo and Sean O'Haire came into the WWF on the June 28, 2001 episode of SmackDown! as part of The Alliance. Chuck and Sean dropped the WCW Tag Team Title they had won from Team Canada's Mike Awesome and Lance Storm, to The Undertaker and Kane quietly in mid-August.

Sean was sent to developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling in early September 2001, and Chuck was thrown out of The Alliance in late October by storyline co-owner of The Alliance, Stephanie McMahon after he complained he wasn't given enough air-time, so he joined the WWF in November.

After receiving the boot from The Alliance, Chuck found himself a tag team partner in Billy Gunn. The pair started as a generic babyface tandem working dark matches, but were later given a heel gimmick that saw the pair grow increasingly affectionate towards each other, showing evidence of a relationship and Palumbo became known simply as Chuck. He briefly wore his long hair in pigtails before cutting it short shortly afterwards.

On the February 21, 2002 edition of SmackDown!, Billy and Chuck defeated Tazz & Spike Dudley to win the World Tag Team Championship. They later found a "personal stylist" on March 21, 2002 in the ambiguously flamboyant then heel, Rico.

Billy and Chuck lost the tag team gold to Rikishi and Rico, who was forced to team with Rikishi on May 19, 2002 at Judgement Day. Less than a month later Rico would help Billy and Chuck recapture their titles, but this reign wouldn't last long when Billy and Chuck lost the titles to Edge and Hulk Hogan.

In the late summer of 2002, Billy and Chuck were the source of controversy when Chuck apparently proposed to Billy on September 5, 2002 edition of SmackDown! asking him to be his "partner for life". Billy and Chuck had a marriage ceremony on the 2002 season premiere of SmackDown!. Just before they tied the knot, however, they revealed that the entire ordeal was a publicity stunt. When Billy and Chuck decided not to go through with the marriage, Rico turned on them by helping Eric Bischoff and 3-Minute Warning attack the duo. Billy and Chuck both turned face and Rico subsequently jumped to Raw as the manager of 3-Minute Warning, who beat Billy and Chuck at Unforgiven 2002.

Billy Gunn was injured in early October 2002, and Chuck became a generic face, working SmackDown!'s B-show WWE Velocity for a few months using his original ring name Chuck Palumbo once again.

Technorati Tags: Chuck Palumbo Sean O'Haire Billy Gunn Rico raw wwe wrestling smackdown com wrestler divas wrestlers pro sports wwf wcw

James William Reiher, Jr., Jimmy Snuka, Jr, Deuce Shade

2008-09-11T10:26:00.001-05:00

James William Reiher, Jr. was born September 1, 1971, in Lā'ie, Hawaii.
He is better known as Jimmy Snuka, Jr.
James is an American professional wrestler and the son of pro wrestler "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka.
He is currently signed to WWE working on the WWE Raw brand under the ring name Deuce Shade, a former WWE Tag Team Wrestling Champion with his former partner Domino.

Snitsky

2008-09-04T10:46:00.002-05:00

Eugene Alan Snisky was born January 14, 1970 in Nesquehoning, Pennsylvania. He is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Snitsky, who is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) wrestling on its WWE RAW brand.

Snisky played offensive tackle for the Missouri Tigers college football team.

Gene made his WWE debut on the September 13, 2004 edition of Raw as an apparent jobber against Kane in a no-disqualification match. During this match, Snitsky hit Kane on the back with a steel chair, causing Kane to fall on his (kayfabe) pregnant wife Lita, which lead her to having a (kayfabe) miscarriage. Snitsky claimed that he was not responsible for the child's death. "It wasn't my fault" would become his catchphrase for a time.

His RAW character had a foot fixation.
He dated female wrestler Melissa Coates.

Cody Rhodes

2008-08-30T10:55:00.002-05:00

Cody Garrett Runnels was born June 30, 1985 in Marietta, Georgia. He is better known by his wrestling name, Cody Rhodes.
He is a professional wrestler currently signed by the WWE to its WWE Raw brand where he is one-half of the World Tag Team Wrestling Champions with Ted DiBiase, Jr.
Cody is the son of Dusty Rhodes as well as the half-brother of Dustin Rhodes and brother of Kevin. He is also nephew to Jerry Sags and Fred Ottman (better known as "Typhoon" or "Tugboat"), and godson of Magnum T.A..

Cody has worn wrestling gear that is half polka dots and half gold, which is a tribute to his father Dusty Rhodes and his half brother Dustin "Goldust" Runnels, respectively.
His current WWE attire consists of a pair trunks with his initials (C.R.) written on them. The colors change regularly and also he now wears a black elbow pad on his right arm like his father Dusty used to.
Also, his boots feature a Triforce symbol from the The Legend of Zelda series of video games. Rhodes admitted to re-playing A Link to the Past yearly.

Rey Mysterio

2008-08-28T16:42:00.002-05:00

Oscar Gutierrez was born on December 11, 1974, in San Diego, California.
He is better known by his wrestling name Rey Mysterio.

Rey is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE wrestling on its WWE RAW brand. He comes from a lucha libre family and has achieved success in heavyweight, cruiserweight and tag team divisions throughout his career. He is perhaps best known for his tenure with WCW from 1996 to 2001 as well as a short-lived tenure with ECW from 1995 to 1996.

Mysterio is known for having a high flying style, which helped kick-start the cruiserweight revolution in the United States, in the late 1990s during his time in WCW. His total Cruiserweight Championship reigns are record-setting 8 (5 in WCW, 3 in WWE). In WWE, he was a 1 time World Heavyweight Champion, a 3 time Cruiserweight Champion and a 4 time WWE Tag Team Champion as well as the winner of 2006 Royal Rumble. In WCW, he was a 5 time Cruiserweight Champion, a 3 time World Tag Team Champion and a 1 time Cruiserweight Tag Team Champion with Billy Kidman as part of Filthy Animals.

Rey Mysterio's bio page on WWE.com states that he is currently recuperating from a biceps injury.

WWE RAW: Santino Marella

2008-08-25T13:06:00.001-05:00

Anthony Carelli was born March 14, 1979 in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. He is a Canadian professional wrestler of Italian descent better known by his ring name Santino Marella. He is currently signed to WWE wrestling on the RAW brand where he is the reigning WWE Intercontinental Champion.
He was a MMA fighter in Japan for several years before moving to the United States in May 2005 to learn to become a professional wrestler.

John "Bradshaw" Layfield / JBL

2008-08-20T12:08:00.001-05:00

John Charles Layfield was born November 29, 1966 in Sweetwater, Texas.He is known by his current ring name John "Bradshaw" Layfield or JBL. JBL is an American professional wrestler. He is currently working for the WWE , wrestling on its Raw brand. He is the longest reigning World Champion in SmackDown history, the brand which he recently left his position as a color commentator to restart his career as an in-ring competitor.

His gimmick—a wealthy, gladhanding businessman—is based on Layfield's real-life accomplishments as a stock market investor. Layfield is a regular panelist on Fox News Channel's The Cost of Freedom and previously appeared on CNBC. He has also written a best-selling book on financial planning called Have More Money Now . While Layfield continues to perform for WWE, he also hosts a weekend talk radio program, syndicated nationally by Talk Radio Network, in which he discusses his conservative political views. Layfield is also employed by Northeast Securities as Senior Vice President.

In WWF/E, Layfield is a one-time WWE Champion, a one-time United States Champion, a one-time European Champion, a seventeen-time Hardcore Champion and a three-time World Tag Team Champion with Faarooq as part of the tag team Acolytes Protection Agency (APA).

Kofi Kingston

2008-08-09T12:08:00.001-05:00

Kofi Sarkodie-Mensah was born in 1982, in The Republic of Ghana, in West Africa.
He is a professional wrestler, better known under his ring name, Kofi Kingston. He is currently signed to WWE working on the WWE Raw brand, where he is the reigning WWE Intercontinental Wrestling Champion.

On December 6, 2007, a series of vignettes for Kingston's television debut began airing on ECW.
During this introduction phase the videos, official WWE website, and the ECW commentators all made note that he would be the first Jamaican-born person to wrestle for the company. He debuted on January 22, 2008. After wrestling sporadic matches, Kingston was involved in his first major match; a 24-man battle royal during the Wrestlemania XXIV pre-show with the winner receiving an ECW Championship match, but was eliminated by Mark Henry. Kingston remained undefeated in singles competition in ECW for months and was placed in to a feud with Shelton Benjamin at the end of April 2008. After two straight losses, Benjamin got a win over Kingston on the May 20 episode of ECW, though their feud continued until Kingston was sent to the Raw brand in the WWE Draft lottery.

As part of the 2008 WWE Supplemental Draft, Kingston was drafted to the Raw brand. At Night of Champions he defeated Chris Jericho to take the Intercontinental Championship in his first match as a member of the Raw roster.
Even though Kofi isn't actually Jamaican, His win did make history. He is the first Ghanaian wrestler to hold a championship in the WWE.

D'Lo Brown

2008-08-04T13:29:00.003-05:00

D'Lo Brown (also written D-Lo Brown) was born Accie "A.C." Conner on October 22, 1972 in Burlington, Vermont. He is an American professional wrestler. D'Lo is currently signed to the WWE appearing on WWE RAW.
In the WWE, he is a former four–time European champion and a former Intercontinental Champion. He is also known for his work in TNA Wrestling where he became a former NWA Tag Team Champion.

D'Lo made his official WWF debut in 1997 as a member of the Nation of Domination stable, Daniel Loyd Brown. After turning on the first leader of the faction, Faarooq, he eventually turned on the new leader of the group, The Rock, and joined with then–face Mark Henry. His trademark at this time was his chest protector, which he wore to the ring for a torn pectoral muscle sustained in a match against Dan "The Beast" Severn. Instead, he used the chest protector to his advantage, making his finishing move, the Lo Down (Frog splash), more effective. He eventually turned face and formed a tag team with Mark Henry in the 1990s, which was moderately successful. His career peaked when he held the European and Intercontinental Championships simultaneously. This feat was only duplicated by Jeff Jarrett, Kurt Angle, and Rob Van Dam, all of whom became World Heavyweight Champions in some form since said double–reigns.

Brown was involved in inadvertently ending the career of Darren Drozdov on October 5, 1999 when a running powerbomb was botched due to Droz's baggy shirt. The match was to be aired on the October 7 edition of SmackDown!. The match was never aired and Drozdov suffered a severe neck injury, leaving him a quadriplegic. Mick Foley recounts in his book Have a Nice Day, that he was at the hospital with D'Lo Brown after the match. D'Lo was extremely upset at what had happened. Mick Foley tells how Drozdov (on a stretcher) told D'Lo not to blame himself and that it was an accident. D'Lo was also so upset about the incident, that he deeply considered retiring from wrestling all together.

During the rest of the year and into some of the next, Brown became an ally of The Godfather, dressing and walking like him. The team ended when Brown turned heel on the Godfather.

Brown formed a tag team in July 2000 with Chaz named Lo Down. The team mostly wrestled on Sunday Night HEAT and WWE Jakked / Metal. Shortly after the team formed, Tiger Ali Singh joined the team to become their manager. The tag team then came dressed towards the ring in Arabic ring attire and took on a gimmick very similar to Tiger's. The team was removed from WWF TV in January 2001. Chaz and Tiger Ali-Singh were later be released by WWE while D'Lo Brown stayed in WWE's developmental territory. D'Lo returned to TV on the April 28, 2002 episode of Heat, losing to Eddie Guerrero.

For the rest of the year, Brown mostly wrestled on Heat, did a little bit of commentary on the show, and even started a brief feud with Raven. In late 2002, Theodore Long retired as a WWE referee and managed D'Lo, who had complained about acts of racism being talked about on him during his matches. D'Lo started Theodore Long's group Thuggin' and Buggin' Enterprises which eventually turned into a group of African Americans who worked a race in which they felt they were victims of racism and were being held down by the "white man." With Long's managerial services, D'Lo Brown went undefeated for several weeks.

Brown faced Booker T in a losing effort on the February 10, 2003 episode of RAW. His involvement with Thuggin' and Buggin' Enterprises was brought to a close when footage was shown on the February 16 episode of Heat of Theodore Long kicking D'Lo Brown to the curb and introducing his replacement Rodney Mack. He was then released from his contract on February 14, 2003.

In August 2007, Brown started wrestling in a number of dark matches again for the WWE. One of his most notable dark match wins was against Ron Killings. However, he then re-signed with TNA as a road agent. Months later, on June 5, 2008, WWE announced that he had been signed to a contract, and he began working more dark matches for the company. He made his television return on the July 21, 2008 edition of Raw, where he defeated Santino Marella.

JTG / Jayson Paul

2008-07-18T10:46:00.003-05:00

Jayson Paul was born December 10, 1984, in Harlem, New York City, New York. He is an American professional wrestler better known by the ring name JTG (Just That Gangsta)
He is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment where he and his partner Shad Gaspard wrestle on the Raw brand as the tag team, Cryme Tyme.

Jayson began his career in 2006 working in the WWE developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) under the ring name The Neighborhoodie. While there he was placed into a tag team with Shad Gaspard, and, calling themselves The Gang Stars, they held the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship for awhile.

In 2006, the team was promoted from OVW to the WWE Raw brand under the name Cryme Tyme, with Paul changing his name to JTG. On September 4, 2006, a series of vignettes start airing on RAW, hyping the debut of Cryme Tyme. On the October 16, 2006 edition of Raw, Cryme Tyme debuted and defeated two members of the then World Tag Team Champions, the Spirit Squad (Mikey & Johnny), in a non-title match. In November 2006, at Cyber Sunday, Cryme Tyme defeated Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch, Charlie Haas and Viscera and The Highlanders in a Texas Tornado match (as voted by the fans).

As part of their gimmick, Cryme Tyme regularly stole items belonging to other wrestlers and on-air personalities, and sold them to fans. A few months later at the New Year's Revolution pay-per-view, Cryme Tyme won a Tag Team Turmoil Match against The Highlanders, The World's Greatest Tag Team, Cade and Murdoch, and "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan and Super Crazy, earning them a shot at the World Tag Team Championships. At the Royal Rumble, they sold false entry numbers. They then competed mainly on Heat for the next few months, although they made a backstage appearance at WrestleMania 23. They also took part in the tag team battle royal on April 2. After Mr. McMahon's "death", Cryme Tyme plugged some merchandise and auctions on WWE.com in memory of him. On June 29, 2007, on an episode of SmackDown, Deuce 'n Domino (with Cherry) defeated Cryme Tyme in an inter-brand match tag team match. While Deuce, Domino & Cherry celebrated their victory, Cryme Tyme appeared on the titantron and stole their car, taking it to Brisco Brothers Auto Shop to sell it for parts chanting their signature catchphrase, "Money, money, yeah, yeah." On July 21, 2007, Cryme Tyme defeated the James Boys to win the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship for the second time. On August 13, 2007 Cryme Tyme returned to their hometown of New York City on an episode of RAW from Madison Square Garden, losing to then-World Tag Team Champions Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch in a non-title match by disqualification when Shad used a chair on Murdoch. On the August 20, 2007 edition of RAW, Cryme Tyme stole Murdoch's hat and sold to a fan, and the following week, stole Cade's and gave it away to a fan. In the middle of this feud, on September 2, 2007, both Paul and Gaspard were released from World Wrestling Entertainment.

Paul, along with Gaspard, wrestled at the Jersey All Pro Wrestling 10th Anniversary Show on October 27, 2007. Wrestling as Crime Time, they defeated the "Dirty Rotten Scoundrelz". Paul appeared in Derby City Wrestling (DCW) at their end of year show. He was then involved in a feud with "The Mobile Homers" in DCW.

Paul and Gaspard returned to WWE on the March 31, 2008 edition of RAW, as Cryme Tyme where they defeated Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch in their first televised WWE match in nearly six months.

Cryme Tyme began working with John Cena on the June 30 edition of Raw when they helped him interfere during JBL's match. The following week, they again appeared together in a backstage segment when they vandalised JBL's limo. After a house show match Cena confirmed that they had in fact created a faction and that its name would be CTC, "Cryme Tyme Cenation".

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Chris Jericho

2008-07-11T11:21:00.002-05:00

Christopher Keith Irvine was born November 9, 1970 in Manhasset, New York. He is better known by his ring name Chris Jericho. Chris is an Canadian-American television and stage actor, author, radio host, rock musician, and professional wrestler. He is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), wrestling on its Raw brand. As a part of WWE, he is credited as being the first-ever Undisputed Champion in professional wrestling history. Also, he has won the Intercontinental Championship a record 8 times.

Jericho is also known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and internationally in Canadian, Mexican and Japanese promotions.

Jericho is a three-time world champion, having won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship twice and the WWF Championship once.

His father, Ted Irvine, is a former National Hockey League (NHL) player. Jericho has strong Christian beliefs, and his stage name was partly inspired by the ancient Biblical city of Jericho, and partly by the heavy metal album entitled Walls of Jericho by the German power metal band Helloween. His finisher, The Walls of Jericho was the name of the first full length album by Helloween.

Outside of the WWE, Jericho is the frontman of Fozzy, an American heavy metal band, and a star of the wrestling documentary Bloodstained Memoirs.

You can visit his website here:
www.chrisjericho.com/

technorati tags: raw, extreme championship wrestling, wrestling rumors, world wrestling news

Ted DiBiase Jr.

2008-07-03T11:25:00.001-05:00

Theodore Marvin DiBiase, Jr. was born November 8, 1982. He is an American professional wrestler currently signed with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where he appears on its Raw brand, and its Florida Championship Wrestling developmental territory. He is currently one-half of the World Tag Team Wrestling Champions with Cody Rhodes.

Ted Jr. is a third generation professional wrestler. His step-grandfather "Iron" Mike DiBiase, grandmother Helen Hild, and father "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase have been professional wrestlers.

DiBiase grew up in Clinton, Mississippi, and attended Morrison Heights Baptist Church. Teddy, as he was known at Clinton, would graduate from Clinton High School in 2001. At Clinton, DiBiase was the football team's starting quarterback. He enrolled at Mississippi College in Clinton, and was a starting wide receiver for Mississippi College's football team before leaving the squad following his freshman season. He graduated in 2005 with a Bachelor's in Science and Business Administration.

After considering a career in the ministry, DiBiase and his older brother, Mike DiBiase II, decided to follow the path of their father and enter the wrestling business. Both brothers received training at the Harley Race's Wrestling Academy.

DiBiase and Mike made their professional debut on July 8, 2006 for World League Wrestling (WLW), a wrestling academy run by former world champion wrestler and WWE Hall of Famer Harley Race, in Eldon, Missouri. DiBiase also wrestled in Japan for Pro Wrestling NOAH.

On July 24, 2007, Race announced that DiBiase had signed a developmental deal with the WWE, and that he would be training at their Florida Championship Wrestling Training Ground.

On December 18, 2007, DiBiase defeated TJ Wilson to win the FCW Southern Heavyweight Championship in New Port Richey, Florida. DiBiase was however, unable to defend it due to injury, so he awarded the Championship to his partner Heath Miller in New Port Richey, Florida on January 19.

DiBiase made his WWE television debut as a heel on May 26, 2008, where he cut a promo about his intent to become a champion like his father, Ted DiBiase, challenging the World Tag Team Champions, Cody Rhodes and Hardcore Holly. At Night of Champions, DiBiase won the World Tag Team Championship in his first match in WWE, after Rhodes turned on Holly, revealing himself to be DiBiase's partner.

Hardcore Holly, part 5

2008-06-26T11:17:00.001-05:00

Bob Holly was drafted back to SmackDown! from ECW on June 17, 2007 as part of the 2007 WWE Supplemental Draft.

Holly returned to the ring on WWE RAW on September 24, 2007, defeating Cody Rhodes( son of Dusty Rhodes), starting a "respect" feud in which Holly constantly defeated Rhodes on the two following episodes of WWE RAW and a Dark match at No Mercy. On the October 22, edition of WWE RAW, Holly turned face saving Cody Rhodes from the post-match assault of Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas. On the 29th October episode of WWE RAW, Holly and Rhodes emerged victorious in a tag team match against Benjamin and Haas. They earned a shot at the World Tag Team titles by defeating Paul London and Brian Kendrick and The Highlanders in a WWE.com exclusive match after an Alabama Slam. However, Holly and Rhodes lost their title match against Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch at Survivor Series.

On December 10, 2007, on the WWE RAW 15th Anniversary episode, Holly along with Rhodes defeated Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch for the World Tag Team Championship. The following week, Holly and Rhodes retained their titles, in their first title defense, against Cade and Murdoch. They have since successfully defended their World Tag Team Championship titles against Carlito and Santino Marella, and Paul London and Brian Kendrick.

Hardcore Holly, part 4

2008-06-22T10:29:00.002-05:00

Bob Holly then underwent several surgeries to repair nagging injuries. He was hospitalized after a staph infection developed in a right arm wound. The infection was possibly career-threatening, as doctors were worried at one point that the arm may have to be amputated. The subsequent treatments were a success, however, and Holly made his in-ring WWE return at a RAW/SmackDown! supershow tapings on July 31, 2006 in a dark match, defeating Simon Dean.

Holly made a surprise appearance at WWE's Extreme Championship Wrestling house show event on August 21, 2006 in Allentown, Pennsylvania, defeating Balls Mahoney. Holly made his ECW television debut the next night, August 22, appearing in a promo with Paul Heyman, and later attacking Rob Van Dam and Danny Doring during a match. Holly, as a heel, soon joined with Heyman and his other associates to feud with RVD and others.

On September 26, 2006, Holly received 24 stitches from WWE Doctor Louis Rios in his back after suffering a severe laceration there during an Extreme Rules match against Rob Van Dam when he landed on the metal railing of a table he was suplexing Van Dam out of the ring and through during an ECW show in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Holly attained the injury early in the match but continued to wrestle for at least another 10 minutes with blood running down his back, despite his recent infections. After the match, as he was being helped out of the ring, he received a standing ovation from fans. The legitimate incident caused fans to cheer Holly in the following weeks, leading to a face turn and a feud with Paul Heyman's other enforcer Test. His second to latest run as a face was short lived as he eventually turned on Rob Van Dam when they were partners in a tag match.

When Sabu was found (kayfabe) unconscious in the back before the Extreme Elimination Chamber at December to Dismember, he was chosen as his replacement. Holly entered with Rob Van Dam as the first of two combatants. He was the second to be eliminated; he was eliminated by Test by a Running big boot.

Subsequently, he entered into a feud with CM Punk where by Holly, now a tweener, showed his endurance by surviving Punk's Anaconda Vice. Holly then gave Punk his first loss in ECW, Punk had been undefeated for half a year. After Test replaced Holly in a match against ECW World Champion Bobby Lashley, Holly vowed he would become champion whether he faced Test or Lashley. Holly then was one of ECW superstars entered in the Royal Rumble 2007, but was eliminated by The Great Khali. Holly soon became the #1 contender for Lashley's ECW Championship and faced off against Lashley, albeit unsuccessfully.

On April 3, 2007, Holly lost to Snitsky. After the match, Snitsky wedged Holly's arm between the steel steps and repeatedly hit the steps with a steel chair, resulting in a kayfabe broken arm. Hardcore Holly had surgery on April 16 because of a staph infection and missed around 5 months.

Hardcore Holly, part 3

2008-06-03T07:45:00.001-05:00

In 2002, Bob Holly turned heel on SmackDown! and began a short feud with then-face and newcomer, Randy Orton.When then-face Crash Holly was drafted from RAW to SmackDown!, he reunited with Hardcore Holly. As a result, Hardcore Holly turned face again.

Holly suffered a broken neck during a 2002 match against Brock Lesnar. Holly was wrestling a very stiff match against Lesnar and sandbagged an attempted powerbomb by Lesnar in mid-air so that Lesnar couldn't get him all the way up. This led to Lesnar powerbombing Holly neck-first onto the mat. He had a thirteen month hiatus from wrestling after surgery. Holly returned at the Survivor Series in November 2003 for revenge. He went on to challenge Lesnar for the WWE Championship at the 2004 Royal Rumble. To prove that he could take down Brock, Holly defeated the Big Show in a street fight on SmackDown!. At the Royal Rumble, Holly could not overpower Lesnar and was eventually defeated.

After this he would form short-lived tag teams with Billy Gunn, and later Charlie Haas in the hunt for the WWE Tag Team Championship gold, in which he was unsuccessful with both partners. He also failed to claim the WWE Championship from John "Bradshaw" Layfield in a hardcore match.

At the November 21, 2004 SmackDown! house show in Syracuse, New York, Hardcore Holly was involved in a tag team match with René Dupreé when Holly broke kayfabe during the match and legitimately attacked Dupree, punching and kicking him over a speeding ticket that Dupreé had picked up whilst in Holly's rental car. Dupreé gave Holly consent to "take it out on him" in the ring, but was still fined $10,000 and told by owner Vince McMahon that he was on his "last strike" with the company.

Holly next went into singles competition trying to acquire the United States Championship from Champion Orlando Jordan. After being defeated twice by Jordan, Holly finally managed to pick up a non-title win over Jordan via disqualification on WWE Velocity, which aired on August 6, 2005. In September 2005, Holly began another short-lived singles feud with the metrosexual Sylvan, addressing him by the sobriquets "Sylvy-an", "Sylvester" and "Sylvia". This feud ended with Holly winning a falls count anywhere match during an edition of SmackDown!. Holly then entered a short feud with "SmackDown!" newcomer, Mr. Kennedy. This feud climaxed on October 9, 2005 at No Mercy, where Mr. Kennedy defeated Holly after a Green Bay Plunge. After the match, Sylvan once again came out and attacked an injured Holly.

Hardcore Holly, part 2

2008-05-21T07:49:00.001-05:00

In 1999, Bob Holly entered the race for the WWF's new Hardcore Division Title, billing himself as Hardcore Holly. As part of his new gimmick, he formed an alliance/rivalry with The Big Show, a real super heavyweight embarrassed by Holly's delusions of grandeur. He then teamed up with an on-screen cousin Crash Holly, with whom he won the WWF Tag Team Championships. In 2000, Hardcore Holly challenged Chyna for a shot at the disputed Intercontinental title on Raw is War. He lost the match due to interference from Chris Jericho, and later lost a Triple Threat Match against Chyna and Jericho for the Intercontinental Championship at the 2000 Royal Rumble. Jericho became the sole Intercontinental Champion. Later in 2000, another on-screen "cousin", Molly Holly was introduced. Earlier that same year, Holly missed several months of ring time due to a legitimate broken arm, suffered at the hands of an errant moonsault from Kurt Angle.

Hardcore Holly

2008-05-07T08:39:00.002-05:00

Robert William "Bob" Howard was born January 29, 1963 in Grants Pass, Oregon. He's better known by his ring name Hardcore Holly, is an American pro wrestler. He is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment wrestling on its RAW brand where he is one-half of the reigning World Tag Team Champions with Cody Rhodes.

While in WWE, Holly has held the WWF Hardcore Championship six times and the WWF Tag Team Championship three times (with 1-2-3 Kid (Sean Waltman), Crash Holly and Cody Rhodes).

Holly trained under Stan Frazier, Eddie Sullivan, Marcelle Pringle and Rip Tyler and debuted in 1987 in the Mobile/Pensacola area in the World Organization of Wrestling where he held titles on and off, including the WOW Tag Team Championship with Ron Starr.

From there, he wrestled in Memphis and then in the NWA with moderate success before briefly going to Smoky Mountain Wrestling in early 1992 where he wrestled as "Hollywood" Bob Howard before adopting the ring name "Superstar" Bob Holly.

Holly debuted in the World Wrestling Federation on January 11, 1994. His initial gimmick was that of a NASCAR driver turned wrestler called Thurman "Sparky" Plugg, which was later changed to Bob "Spark Plug" Holly.

At the 1995 Royal Rumble, Holly and the 1-2-3 Kid defeated Bam Bam Bigelow and Tatanka in the finals of a tournament to crown new WWF Tag Team Champions. Their title reign lasted only one day, however, as the next day, on WWF Monday Night RAW, Holly and the Kid lost the tag team titles to The Smokin' Gunns.

On the May 7, 1995 episode of WWF Action Zone, Jeff Jarrett defeated Holly in a match with the vacant WWF Intercontinental Championship on the line. Jarrett pinned Holly with a roll-up.

In February 1998, Holly and Bart Gunn joined forces with Jim Cornette as part of Jeff Jarrett's National Wrestling Alliance stable. Holly, renamed "Bombastic Bob", and Gunn, renamed "Bodacious Bart" were known collectively as The New Midnight Express. The New Midnight Express defeated The Headbangers for the NWA World Tag Team Championship on March 30, 1998 and held the titles until August 14 of that year, when they were defeated by The Border Patrol.

Paul Burchill

2008-04-29T07:55:00.005-05:00

Paul Burchill was born Paul Kenneth Birchall on October 8, 1979 in Guildford, Surrey. He is an English pro wrestler, currently signed to WWE RAW. He was a former primary school teacher from Surrey, England, but got into pro wrestling in 2001 after walking into an FWA Weekend Training camp and quickly impressing the man running the camp, Mark Sloan.

Burchill competed in a dark match before the July 14, 2007 SmackDown! taping, teaming with fellow Englishman Dave Taylor in a losing effort against the tag team of Funaki and Shannon Moore. He later dressed up (ironically) as the pirate for Edge's Mardi Gras Party. Burchill competed in a dark match before the August 21, 2007 taping of SmackDown!, once again teaming with Dave Taylor in a loss to Jesse and Festus. On the January 15, 2008 edition of ECW, Burchill wrestled ECW's newest superstar Kofi Kingston in a dark match and lost.

After appearing on WWE HEAT on several occasions, Burchill made his return to television as a heel again with his (kayfabe) sister Katie Lea on the February 11, 2008 episode of RAW, defeating Brian Kendrick.

ECW: Peter Senerchia / Tazz / Taz/ Tazmaniac

2008-04-22T09:08:00.004-05:00

Peter Senerchia (born October 11, 1967), is an American retired professional wrestler and current color commentator best known by his ring name Tazz, (originally Tazmaniac and later shortened to simply Taz). He is currently under contract to WWE, where he does commentary for the ECW brand.

From his wrestling career he is probably best remembered from his tenure in Extreme Championship Wrestling, where he held the World Heavyweight, Television, and Tag Team championships, as well as created the FTW Championship, (also referred to as the Brooklyn World Championship). His World Wrestling Entertainment career came to an early halt in 2002 when mounting injuries forced him to retire from in-ring action and take up his current position as commentator, first for the SmackDown! brand, then ECW

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Armando Alejandro Estrada

2008-04-10T07:42:00.003-05:00

Hazem Ali (born December 20, 1978) is an American professional wrestler and wrestling manager of Palestinian descent, better known by his ring names Osama Rodriguez Alejandro and Armando... Alejandro ...Estrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaada. (LOL...sorry...Ha Ha!) He is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) where he serves as the General Manager on the ECW brand.

Ali began his World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) career wrestling in their "farm territory", Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), making his OVW TV debut as a bodyguard named Osama in Muhammad Hassan's entourage. When Hassan and Daivari were called up to the main roster, Ali remained in OVW wrestling with an Arab anti-American gimmick, similar to that of the Iron Sheik and began wrestling in a tag team with Da Beast.

When Paul Heyman began booking OVW he expanded Osama's name to Osama Rodriguez Alejandro, revealing him to actually be half Cuban and half Palestinian. Along with being an active wrestler he became a backstage interviewer, conducting interviews, along with a sidekick, wrestler Robbie Dawber, for his own (kayfabe) Spanish language version of OVWs TV show. At the same time he began a storyline campaign to be elected "Dictator of Kentucky", which he intended to rename "Los Kentuckos", often coming to the ring with a placard reading "Bote for Lalo", utilizing his nickname at the time: "Big Lalo".

In April 2006, Ali was called up to the main World Wrestling Entertainment roster and placed on the Raw brand. He debuted on the April 3, 2006 edition of Raw as Armando Alejandro Estrada, a Cuban businessman, and the heel manager for the also debuting Umaga. His debut saw him mocking Ric Flair, saying he was too old to still be in the business, and promising to bring about a new hero (Umaga). Estrada led Umaga in a feud against Flair until the Backlash pay-per-view at the end of the month, where Umaga dispatched Flair.

Following the feud with Flair, Umaga began a period of squashing jobbers, before and after which Estrada would cut promos about his charges greatness. During this time, his way of introducing himself - using long rolling r's - as well as a short "ha ha" laugh began to get him cheered, so he stopped introducing himself before promos.

At August's SummerSlam, Estrada offered the undefeated Umaga's services to The McMahons (Vince and Shane) to "take out" their D-Generation X (Shawn Michaels and Triple H) opponents during their tag team match. However, as Umaga attempted to deliver on Estrada's promise, he was attacked by Kane. Kane and Umaga feuded for two months, with Kane attacking Estrada on at least one occasion. The feud seemingly came to an end when, on the October 9, 2006 Raw, Estrada's interference helped Umaga defeat Kane in a Loser Leaves Raw match.

During December, Umaga, and thus Estrada, began a feud with John Cena over the WWE Championship. In the opening stages Estrada inserted himself into matches and confrontations with the two, leading to Vince McMahon's assistant Jonathan Coachman signing a match between Estrada and Cena. Before the match Estrada attempted to buy Cena off (offering him a box of Cohibas, his watch, and finally cash) only to have him refuse. The resulting match was a squash, with Cena winning with his signature F-U.

The next February, he managed Umaga to his first title, the Intercontinental Championship, and stood beside him during his partnership with Vince McMahon and feud with Bobby Lashley. As the Umaga and Lashley feud intensified Estrada became a target of Lashley when it was decreed that he could not put his hands on Umaga, Vince, or Shane McMahon outside of official matches and on the May 8 episode of ECW on Sci Fi Lashley shoved Estrada, who was confined to a wheelchair, down a ramp into a collection of garbage cans in what turned out to be his last appearance, outside of a cameo appearance, for months..

On August 14, 2007, Estrada was announced as the General Manager of the ECW brand giving him (kayfabe) power to book matches and make arrangements for the brand.

Technorati Tags: Armando Alejandro Estrada raw wwe wrestling smackdown com wrestler divas wrestlers pro sports wwf ecw

Layla El

2008-03-30T10:24:00.003-05:00

Layla El (born June 25, 1978) is a British professional wrestling diva of North African heritage, currently residing in the United States. She is employed by World Wrestling Entertainment, and appears on the ECW brand.

Before joining WWE in 2006, Layla El was a dancer for Carnival Cruise Lines, the Miami Heat franchise of the NBA, and has also danced for Kanye West at the MTV Video Music Awards.

Layla El first got in to the world of professional wrestling after her trainer suggested she try out for the $250,000 WWE Diva Search contest in 2006. During the contest she won a week's worth of "immunity" on the July 14 (taped July 10) edition of SmackDown! after winning Sgt. Slaughter's "Diva Boot Camp" obstacle course, despite having jumped over several tires in the tire hop section of the course and not having both of her feet cross the finish line due to her doing a split. She won another competition, the "Diva Search Talent Show," on the August 11 SmackDown!, when she danced dressed as a police officer. She won the entire Diva Search, beating out Jen England in the finals on August 16. She was the first non-American, first non-white, and oldest (28) winner in the history of the contest.

She made her first "official" WWE appearance at the 2006 SummerSlam pay-per-view in a backstage segment with several other divas. During the segment the other women initially taunted and teased her before revealing that "it was all in fun" and part of an "initiation" of sorts. Afterwards they dragged her into the showers, fully clothed, where they proceeded to spank her while laughing.

The week after SummerSlam, El made her debut as a member of the SmackDown! brand in an interview with Mike "The Miz" Mizanin—although he didn't allow her the chance to say much, spending most of the time talking about himself.view After this she wasn't seen on WWE TV for weeks, reappearing during the September 22 SmackDown! and getting into confrontations with both Kristal and Jillian Hall. She again went missing for a number of weeks after this, resurfacing at October's No Mercy event and embarrassing the Miz by tricking him into getting a lap dance from Big Dick Johnson while he was blindfolded and expecting it to be from her as a birthday gift.

Layla made her official in-ring debut, a "Diva Trick-or-Treat Battle Royal" on October 24. The match ended in controversial fashion when she was pulled from the ring apron by The Miz, causing her to lose. This led to Miz and Kristal briefly teaming in a feud against Layla and the Boogeyman.

On January 23, Layla was moved to the ECW brand. On ECW she joined up with Brooke and Kelly Kelly as Extreme Exposé, performing a weekly dance segment with the group. Extreme Exposé danced weekly on the ECW show for months until the Miz was also placed on the brand, at which point all three ladies began actively pursuing him. When Kelly shifted her attentions towards the much more slovenly looking Balls Mahoney, Layla, Brooke, and Miz openly mocked her. On November 1, Brooke was released from WWE, and Extreme Exposé dissolved as a group and Layla and Kelly began a feud.

Kelly Kelly, Barbara Jean "Barbie" Blank

2008-03-24T11:29:00.002-05:00

Barbara Jean "Barbie" Blank (born January 15, 1987) is an American model, professional wrestling valet, dancer, and wrestler better known by her ring name Kelly Kelly. She currently works for the WWE on their ECW brand.

Blank was a bikini model for Hawaiian Tropic and Venus Swimwear when World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Vice President of Talent Relations John " Ace" Laurinaitis offered her a developmental contract with WWE. Despite having no previous wrestling experience she accepted the contract and was assigned to the WWE's developmental territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) for training. Even after being called up to WWE's main roster she continued to fly back and forth to OVW's base city, Louisville, Kentucky, once a week to work shows; first as a ring announcer and referee then as a wrestler. One of her first matches took place at the September 6 OVW TV tapings where she participated in a Women's battle royal won by ODB.

Blank debuted for the Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) brand as Kelly Kelly on the first episode of the weekly television program—June 13, 2006—becoming the youngest diva on the WWE roster. Her character, an exhibitionist, was introduced performing a striptease for the crowd. The next week, while performing another striptease, Kelly was interrupted by her (kayfabe) boyfriend, Mike Knox, who came to the stage and covered her with a towel before dragging her backstage. Her stripping became a weekly segment known as Kelly's Exposé and usually followed the same routine; Kelly would dance and strip until she was interrupted by Knox who was "upset" by her exhibitionism and showing of her body to others. Eventually Knox began "forcing" Kelly to accompany him to ringside so he could keep an eye on her, making her his de facto valet. As a result, she found herself involved in the feud developing between Mike Knox and partner Test with Tommy Dreamer and his partner The Sandman, including being dragged into the ring and spanked by Dreamer and (kayfabe) inadvertently hit with a cane by Sandman when Knox used her as a shield. She made her ECW in-ring debut on the August 22, 2006 episode of ECW on Sci-Fi in a losing effort as part of a six-person Mixed tag team match which saw herself, Knox, and Test lose to Dreamer, Sandman and Torrie Wilson, in what became the blow off match for the feud.

Following this feud, Kelly and Knox were moved into an angle with CM Punk in which Kelly seemed to have a crush on Punk, causing Knox to become increasingly protective and jealous. Things came to a head when Kelly dressed as Punk for ECW's "Halloween Costume Contest," enraging Knox, and leading to a match between the two, during which Kelly cheered for Punk. After those problems Kelly and Knox started on the roads towards a break-up. At the December to Dismember pay-per-view they took on the team of Ariel and Kevin Thorn in a mixed tag match, during which Knox refused to allow Kelly to tag him in before abandoning her altogether, leaving her to be beaten badly by Ariel. On the following edition of ECW, Kelly defeated Ariel with a roll-up in her first ECW singles match, after which Knox made his way to the ring with flowers only to throw them in Kelly's face and hit her with his signature swinging reverse STO, ending their relationship and (kayfabe) injuring her, taking her off the show for six weeks.

She returned to television on January 16, 2007 and cut a promo announcing she was newly single and bringing back Kelly's Exposé. The next week Extreme Exposé debuted, a spin-off to the previous Exposé segment involving not just Kelly but Brooke and Layla performing choreographed dances in the ECW ring. The trio danced nearly-weekly for the next few months, tapering off when Mike "The Miz" Mizanin was moved to ECW in the June draft lottery and all three ladies began actively pursuing him. Later, however, Kelly shifted her attentions towards the much more slovenly looking Balls Mahoney, to the amusement of Miz and her Exposé sisters who spent their time mocking his look. After Brooke was released from the company in November, Extreme Exposé dissolved and Kelly began taking part in more wrestling matches, immediately starting a feud with Layla.

Stevie Richards, part 3

2008-03-12T09:35:00.002-05:00

Richards was traded to SmackDown! on June 30, 2005 and reprised the bWo group with Nova and The Blue Meanie. At the Great American Bash, the bWo lost to The Mexicools in a six-man tag team match.

Richards went on to become the main eventer of WWE Velocity and began slowly dropping the bWo gimmick as he jobbed to the likes of Hardcore Holly, Vito, and Booker T. After a while Steven Richards would not be used on WWE SmackDown! or even WWE Velocity, disappearing for over half a year. Richards made his return to the ring during an 18-Man pre-show Battle Royal before WrestleMania 22.

Shortly after the introduction of the ECW brand in 2006, Richards left the SmackDown! brand to join the ECW brand, starting with the WWE vs. ECW Head to Head show on June 7, 2006. Richards went on to appear on ECW's weekly show under his old ring name of Stevie Richards, though his TitanTron video and the on-screen display would still refer to him as Steven.

Richards soon returned to his heel persona, selling out the other ECW Originals and siding with the newer stars. He picked up his first win on ECW's weekly show on September 5, 2006, against Balls Mahoney, after interference from Kevin Thorn, who was feuding with Mahoney at the time.

Richards was part of the new ECW brand's first pay-per-view, December to Dismember, defeating Rene Dupree in a pre-PPV dark match. At WWE One Night Stand 2007, he served as a lumberjack in the Kane vs. Mark Henry match.

Richards wrestled CM Punk six times from February to July 2007, losing each time. In mid-2007, Richards turned face again due to fan reaction, and teamed with Tommy Dreamer against the New Breed on house shows, replacing The Sandman (who was drafted to RAW) in the ECW Originals.

On July 24, Richards defeated Thorn in an upset after reversing a crucifix powerbomb into a backslide pin. This was Richards' first victory on WWE television since September 2006. A week later a re-match took place throughout which Richards was dominated, however he defeated Thorn once again via roll-up. On August 7, he got ambushed by Thorn while giving an interview backstage. He would once again defeat Thorn on August 14 by DQ after the referee declared a disqualification when Thorn continued to massively "destroy" Richards after Thorn had already won. He would then get revenge by ambushing Thorn while giving an interview the next week. Their feud would continue with Richards teaming up with Dreamer and CM Punk on different occasions against Thorn and Elijah Burke with Richards losing and winning a match. Richards was eliminated from the Elimination Chase for the ECW Championship on the September 18 edition of ECW. He was then absent from WWE programming due to having throat surgery.

Almost 5 months later, Richards made his return to ECW on February 12, 2008, defeating a jobber with his signature Stevie-T.

Stevie Richards, part 2

2008-03-01T12:10:00.001-05:00

Stevie Richards, with the bWo, was one of the first ECW performers to perform on WWF programming, during a cross-promotional appearance.

In 1999, Richards went to the WWF in a full-time capacity. He would make his WWF debut on the August 15, 1999 episode of Sunday Night HEAT. After briefly using the Dude Love persona (he asked Mick Foley if he could use it and Foley agreed), being associated with the Dudley Boyz, bringing back the mocking gimmick, and teaming up with his old partner Blue Meanie, Richards got a haircut and formed a heel stable called Right to Censor (based on the WWF's then problems with the Parents Television Council organization). He changed his name to Steven Richards and became a manager for the many wrestlers that he recruited. When Chyna was featured in Playboy magazine, Richards demanded a match between Chyna's associate Eddie Guerrero and Val Venis. After Chyna had depantsed Richards leaving him in his white socks and blue briefs, costing Venis the match, Richards and his stable feuded against her.

Soon after the Right to Censor stable broke up, Richards joined The Alliance as the manager of KroniK briefly before Kronik was released. Richards remained on the brand's "B" shows until Team Alliance lost at Survivor Series 2001. Richards was fired along with the rest of the alliance roster by Vince McMahon until Ric Flair was able to save his job and get him drafted over to the RAW brand. There, Steven Richards began using the gimmick of a psychotic jobber and became a 22-time Hardcore Champion trading it several times with Bubba Ray Dudley, Booker T, Crash Holly, Shawn Stasiak, Justin Credible, Bradshaw, Terri, and Tommy Dreamer.

Richards eventually formed an alliance with Victoria in late 2002 as a psychotic couple helping each other win their matches. Richards also helped Victoria retain her WWE Women's Championship.

As Victoria started to make her latest face turn, the duo quietly separated. In August of 2004, Richards began dressing in drag and helping Victoria win matches.[1] He was finally unmasked at Unforgiven when saving Victoria from then heel, Trish Stratus, and Tyson Tomko, but ended up losing an impromptu match to Tomko.[1] Richards made a name for himself as one of the mainstays of Sunday Night HEAT and became the self-proclaimed "General Manager" of "Stevie Night HEAT". After the death of Richard's friend Crash Holly, Richards would wear tights with a similar design to the ones worn by Crash, as a tribute.

Richards's role as a jobber has been at times physically tasking and he was legitimately injured during the RAW debut match of Chris Masters in February 2005. After returning from injury, Richards faced Masters in a rematch but lost to Masters for a second time.

Richards made an appearance at the ECW reunion event ECW One Night Stand 2005, reuniting with his bWo comrades and proclaiming "We have only three words for you. We're – taking – over!"

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Stevie Richards

2008-02-26T10:54:00.002-05:00

Michael Manna (born October 9, 1971) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE wrestling on its ECW brand. Best known by his ring name, Stevie Richards, Manna has previously worked for Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and, briefly, World Championship Wrestling (WCW). He has held the WWE Hardcore Championship 22 times. He is also a two time ECW Tag Team Champion.

Stevie Richards was trained at Iron Mike Sharpe's wrestling school in Brick Township, New Jersey after being discovered by Dan Haney of the World Wide Wrestling Alliance based out of Colmar/Hatfield PA.

On February 25, 1992, Richards participated in the first ever ECW match, in a 20-minute time limit draw with Jimmy Jannetty.

Before the arrival of Raven in ECW, "Dancin'" Stevie Richards had a 'meta gimmick' of mockingly adopting the persona of other wrestlers.

ECW announcer/color commentator Joey Styles frequently described the Richards character as a "clueless putz".

When it was announced that Scott Levy, then known by relatively lightweight gimmicks (ie, Scotty 'the Body' Anthony, Scotty Flamingo, and Johnny Polo), was coming to ECW, Richards began adopting and mocking those gimmicks. One of the first things Levy did in ECW in his new gimmick as Raven was thrash "Stevie Flamingo" soundly.

From that point on, Richards acted as a flunkie for Raven in ECW, calling him "Boss".

While teaming with Raven, Richards won the ECW Tag Team Championship on two occasions.

After a dog collar match against The Pitbulls, which Richards lost, Stevie was thought of as a major superstar. Raven was in the locker room for most of that match.

Richards was also part of the bWo, a parody of the nWo.

At one point, he hinted that he was bringing the band KISS to perform. It ended up being the bWo in KISS regalia, lip-synching. This was quickly 'cleaned up' by The Sandman.

The highlight of his ECW career was perhaps participating in the main event of the first ECW pay-per-view, Barely Legal. He wrestled Terry Funk and The Sandman in a Three Way Dance to determine the number one contender to the ECW World Championship. It was during this match that Richards suffered a severe neck injury which has required numerous surgeries over the years to fix.

Richards would also do a telephone line for ECW under the name, Lloyd Van Buren. However, he would not wrestle under that name.

In May of 1997, Stevie suffered a neck injury so severe that he announced his retirement, before recovering and signing with WCW. Many people, especially Paul Heyman, debate the legitimacy of the injury to this day. Stevie wrestled briefly as a member of Raven's Flock but failed his physical exams and left WCW in October of the same year. Stevie commented on The Rise and Fall of ECW DVD that Raven had told him that he was only there to be his " lackey", and that he would get him fired if he pushed for more of a larger role, knowing both would suffer for demanding more than what was above their current status.

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James Maritato / Little Guido Maritato / Nunzio

2008-02-16T11:50:00.002-05:00

James Maritato (born March 12, 1972) better known by the ring names Little Guido Maritato and Nunzio, is an American professional wrestler currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment wrestling on its ECW brand.

While attending Nanuet Senior High School (located in Rockland County, New York), Maritato competed in football (as part of the school's 1989 team that went undefeated, untied, and unscored upon) and wrestling. He was later trained as a professional by Billy Robinson, debuting in the professional ranks in the early 1990s. Maritato then went to Japan to compete in the shoot style UWF International promotion.

He stayed in UWF until 1995 where he joined Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) under the name Damian Stone. He was later given the gimmick of Little Guido and put in the comedy stable the Full Blooded Italians (F.B.I.), alongside J.T. Smith, Tracy Smothers, and Tommy Rich.

During 1999, he became a "serious wrestler", although still accompanied by "Big" Sal E. Graziano. and proclaiming himself to be an F.B.I. member (though only the two of them were left). After his turn he was involved in some intense singles matches until late 2000, when he formed a tag team with Tony Mamaluke. The duo won the ECW Tag Team Championship in August of 2000 and held them until December when they lost them to Danny Doring and Roadkill. They continued to wrestle together until ECW folded in April 2001.

When ECW closed, Maritato wrestled for several independent promotions, mostly in the New York Tri-State area; he often teamed with former partner Tony Mamaluke. They had a notable run in Ring of Honor before Maritato was signed by World Wrestling Entertainment in 2002.

Maritato was introduced on WWE TV as Nunzio, a possible reference to the mob/bodyguard characters Guido and Nunzio in the MythAdventures series of books by Robert Asprin. As the (kayfabe) heel cousin of Jamie Noble, he attacked then babyface Crash Holly after he defeated Noble in a match on the December 12, 2002 edition of SmackDown!. Nunzio began a feud with Crash after this, defeating him on several occasions before going on to face the likes of Tajiri, Shannon Moore, and Chuck Palumbo.

The team and cousin storyline of Nunzio and Noble soon faded. Nunzio reformed the Full Blooded Italians, this time with Johnny "The Bull" Stamboli and Chuck Palumbo, but the team found little success. After WrestleMania XX, Palumbo was drafted to RAW, and the F.B.I. was reduced to a tag team. After Stamboli was released, Nunzio began competing in the cruiserweight division.

In 2005, Maritato returned to his Little Guido persona for one night; he reunited with the original Full Blooded Italians to take on Super Crazy and Tajiri in a Three-Way Dance at the ECW reunion show One Night Stand.

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Michael "Mike" Mizanin, " The Miz" part 3

2008-02-10T18:11:00.001-05:00

On March 8, 2006, WWE.com featured a video of "The Miz" stating that he was headed to Friday Night SmackDown! and throughout April, SmackDown! aired vignettes hyping his debut. However, when Mizanin actually attempted to make his debut on the April 21, 2006 edition of SmackDown! he was barred from entering the arena by "network executive" Palmer Cannon who told him that he had been "canceled" before having security escort him from the premises.

In May 31, 2006, WWE.com announced that he would serve as SmackDown!'s "host" on May 31.

Miz debuted as the "host" on June 2, 2006, announcing the planned card at the top of the show and attempting to hype up the crowd. Other "host" duties included backstage interviews and hosting a bikini contest. The hosting duties seemed sporadic at best, with some weeks having little to no Miz at all.

Starting in July, Miz, along with Ashley Massaro, became host of the annual Diva Search competition appearing on both RAW and SmackDown!. At the start of his new hosting duties, in front of the live RAW crowd, Miz was noticeably nervous and flubbed his lines, including calling contestants by the wrong name. Though he seemed to get better as the weeks went on, he quickly became the butt of on-air jokes by other WWE Superstars.

After the end of the Diva Search competition, The Miz returned exclusively to SmackDown! and adopted a cocky heel persona, starting his in-ring competition with a win over Tatanka on September 1, 2006. After this win he, along with commentator Michael Cole, began to note whenever possible that he was "undefeated", though he only wrestled five matches over the next two months, defeating such superstars as Matt Hardy, and Scotty 2 Hotty At the same time he began a feud with Diva Search winner Layla El, who spurned his advances on more than one occasion, leading to Miz helping Kristal defeat her in various competitions. Soon, however, Miz and Kristal found themselves being stalked by the returning Boogeyman, beginning a feud during which The Boogeyman handed Miz his first defeat at Armageddon.

Following a brief absence from TV, Miz returned to SmackDown! to host an interview segment called Miz TV. After the segment went nowhere, Mizanin returned to wrestling with a more intense style and began to pick up wins once again. On the June 11, 2007 edition of RAW, Mizanin faced off against Snitsky in a match to determine a draft pick for SmackDown!. Snitsky easily squashed Mizanin to give ECW the pick, but after constantly attacking The Miz after the match, the referee reversed the decision and awarded the match to Mizanin, thus allowing SmackDown! a draft pick. SmackDown!'s pick was then revealed to be Chris Masters.

Miz was drafted from SmackDown! to ECW on June 17, 2007 as part of the 2007 Supplemental Draft. He was absent from the first few weeks of ECW, though he was the subject of backstage mentions between matches and had several short Miz TV Crashes ECW video segments. He made his debut on the July 10 edition of ECW in a match against Nunzio, which he won. Following this match, Extreme Exposé began expressing admiration in him and gave him a lap-dance, starting a new gimmick for him of a self-proclaimed "chick magnet". Extreme Expose then became managers for The Miz. He then began a feud with Balls Mahoney, after Kelly Kelly began to kayfabe fall in love with Balls. On the October 2 edition of ECW, it was revealed that Miz kayfabe owned the contracts of Kelly Kelly, Layla El and Brooke Adams, and used this excuse to stop Kelly from going out with Mahoney. He was voted at Cyber Sunday to face CM Punk, for the ECW Championship but lost the match.

On November 16, 2007 on Friday Night Smackdown, Miz became one half of the WWE Tag Team Champions with John Morrison when they defeated Matt Hardy and MVP in a title match, which marks Miz's first taste of WWE gold.

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Michael "Mike" Mizanin, " The Miz" part 2

2008-01-25T14:06:00.000-05:00

Pursuing the goal of becoming a professional wrestler which he had harbored from an early age, Mizanin joined Ultimate Pro Wrestling, where he trained in the Ultimate University. He made his in-ring debut in 2003.

In October 2004, Mizanin entered the fourth season of Tough Enough, a televised competition which would award the winner a World Wrestling Entertainment contract and the sum of $1,000,000. Despite coming last in an arm wrestling tournament on November 25, 2004, Mizanin outlasted six other wrestlers. On December 12, 2004 at Armageddon 2004, Mizanin faced the other remaining entrant, Daniel Puder, in a three round "Dixie Dogfight" (boxing match). Neither man achieved a knockout, and the contest was awarded to Puder on the basis of crowd reaction. On the December 16, 2004 episode of SmackDown!, Puder was announced as the winner of Tough Enough by head trainer Al Snow.

Despite losing the Tough Enough contest, Mizanin had piqued the interest of WWE, and he was eventually offered a developmental contract. Mizanin was sent to Deep South Wrestling to train under Bill DeMott, relocating to McDonough, Georgia in the process. In July 2005 he wrestled two dark matches for WWE, teaming with former Tough Enough champion Matt Cappotelli to face The Highlanders. On December 1, 2005, Mizanin defeated Mike Knox in the finals of a tournament to crown the first Deep South Heavyweight Champion.

He continued to tag with Matt Cappotelli throughout the second half of 2005 in WWE dark matches and house shows until Cappotelli, nominally of Ohio Valley Wrestling, was diagnosed with a brain tumor after an injury at a taping in December 2005.

On January 3, 2006, it was reported that Mizanin was transferred to Ohio Valley Wrestling. On the January 18, 2006, OVW TV show, Mizanin made his debut as "The Miz", with a "Miz TV" segment, where he was shown talking backstage. He talked with Chris Cage, who was supposed to be his tag team partner in OVW, but Cage said he was quitting the business after someone had cut off Johnny Jeter's hair and wished Mizanin good luck with his wrestling career. As Chris Cage left, Mike then met with his old tag team partner Matt Cappotelli and Christy Hemme as later that night they had a six person tag team match as Christy Hemme, Matt Cappotelli, and Mike Mizanin defeated The Highlanders.

On the January 28, 2006, edition of the OVW TV show, The Miz wrestled his first match against Rene Dupree. Chet the Jet and Seth Skyfire came to ringside during the match and acted as a diversion to allow Rene Dupree to gain the upper hand on The Miz. As The Miz was about to finish Rene Dupree, Chris Cage came out and attacked Seth Skyfire. When The Miz left the ring to try to control Chris Cage, he ended up losing the match by count out.

At the February 8, 2006 TV taping, The Miz and Chris Cage captured the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship, defeating Chet the Jett and Seth Skyfire. In what was deemed a "disciplinary move," WWE released Chris Cage over the weekend of March 18, 2006 making it necessary for Miz and Cage to drop the titles. On March 19, 2006, Deuce Shade defeated The Miz in a singles contest to win the titles for his team The Untouchables (Deuce Shade & Domino). On June 8, 2007 he lost to Atlas DaBone at OVW's second Summer Sizzler Series event at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom in Louisville, Kentucky.

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Michael "Mike" Mizanin, " The Miz"

2008-01-15T10:38:00.000-05:00

Michael "Mike" Mizanin (born October 8, 1980) better known by his ring name The Miz, is an American professional wrestler working for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on its ECW brand, and also makes appearances on SmackDown!, where he currently holds one half of the WWE Tag Team Championship with John Morrison.

Mizanin is best known for his time on numerous MTV reality shows prior to becoming a professional wrestler

Mizanin, a native of Parma, Ohio, attended Miami University, where he was a member of the Theta Chi Fraternity, and studied business at the Richard T. Farmer School of Business. During his freshman year, he roomed with former Miami RedHawks member Nick Jardine, and bodybuilding male gymnast Todd J. Hartman.

Mizanin later relocated to southern California in order to attend acting classes. He also visited high schools and colleges, delivering motivational speeches.

Mizanin dropped out of college in order to appear on the tenth season of MTV's reality television program The Real World in 2001. He went on to appear in multiple spin-offs, including seasons 5, 7, 8, 9, and 10 of The Real World/Road Rules Challenge with contestants from MTV's Road Rules. He appeared on the Challenge seasons Battle of the Seasons, The Gauntlet, The Inferno, Battle of the Sexes 2, and The Inferno 2. He was known for doing well on the challenges and made it to the end of them all except for Battle of the Sexes 2, winning Battle of the Seasons and The Inferno 2.

It was during an episode of The Real World that Mizanin first displayed an alter ego known as "The Miz". In contrast to Mizanin's usually placid demeanor, The Miz was angry, confrontational and headstrong. Mizanin later realized that "The Miz" would make an excellent professional wrestling gimmick.

Mizanin had a number of relationships during his various "Challenge seasons"; during The Gauntlet he dated Trishelle Cannatella of The Real World: Las Vegas, during The Inferno he had a relationship with Kendal Sheppard of Road Rules: Campus Crawl, and during Battle of the Seasons he had another brief relationship with Tara McDaniel of Road Rules: Northern Trail.

He's also known for his roller coaster friendship with Coral Smith on The Real World and various Real World/Road Rules Challenges after.

In 2004, he appeared on the Bravo reality show Battle of the Network Reality Stars where his team finished second.

Mizanin was also a contestant in the Reality Stars episode of Fear Factor. His partner was his former girlfriend and cast mate, Trishelle Cannatella, and the two of them ended up winning the competition.

On April 20, 2007, he appeared on the game show Identity, where he appeared as a stranger, and contestant John Kim correctly identified him as a professional wrestler.

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John Hennigan, John Morrison, Johnny Nitro, part 3

2008-01-06T14:17:00.000-05:00

MNM continued on and off as a unit until Mercury was released from WWE in March 2007. Without Mercury, Nitro was paired up with Kenny Dykstra until the annual WWE draft, during which Nitro was sent to the ECW brand and Dykstra to SmackDown!.
He made his ECW debut on June 19 with a win over Nunzio. The very next week, at the Vengeance pay-per-view , he replaced Chris Benoit in a match against CM Punk; for the vacant ECW World Championship, which he won,.
A few weeks after winning the title, Nitro's name was changed to John Morrison and his character was tweaked to be more even more conceited and self-aggrandizing. After defeating CM Punk again at the Great American Bash, he began taking part in a "15 Minutes Of Fame" segment on the weekly ECW on Sci Fi television program, where if a wrestler could either defeat Morrison, or last 15 minutes without being defeated by Morrison, they would be granted a title shot. The first wrestler to do so turned out to be CM Punk, setting up another match between the two at SummerSlam, which Morrison won when he used the ring ropes for leverage.
The next week, Punk again became #1 contender,this time taking the Championship at a September 1 television taping in Cincinnati, Ohio. Hennigan was then suspended for 30 days following a violation of the WWE's Talent Wellness Policy after returning from his suspension, he renewed his feud with Punk, this time also fending off The Miz who was also after the title. Though enemies, The Miz and Morrison teamed on the November 16 (taped November 13) episode of SmackDown! to take the WWE Tag Team Championship from Matt Hardy and Montel Vontavious Porter.
At Survivor Series, Morrison and The Miz were both defeated by CM Punk in a triple threat match for the ECW Championship.

Hennigan was in a long term relationship with Melina Perez, his former on screen manager, but they have since broken up. The pair met during auditions for Tough Enough III, although she didn't make the show.

Articles posted by Sports Illustrated, the New York Daily News, and the Washington Post during the weekend of August 30, 2007, named Hennigan as one of a number of WWE superstars to have purchased pharmaceuticals from an online pharmacy, a violation of the WWE "Talent Wellness" program. Specifically, Hennigan received somatropin, anastrozole, testosterone, stanozolol and chorionic gonadotropin between June 2006 and February 2007, which is after the "no drugs from online sources" rule was instituted. As a result of the infraction, Hennigan was suspended for 30 days.

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John Hennigan, John Morrison, Johnny Nitro, part 2

2007-12-22T11:30:00.000-05:00

In March 2004 Hennigan debuted on the Raw brand. His character was depicted as the apprentice and assistant of Raw brand General Manager Eric Bischoff and given the ring name Johnny Blaze. The next week his name was changed to Johnny Spade, and the week after that it was changed to Johnny Nitro. It's worth noting that both the Johnny Spade and Johnny Blaze names had been in use before Hennigan used them, by an independent wrestler and by Marvel Comics respectively. The Nitro name, a name which finally stuck, was a reference to Monday Nitro, the flagship show of World Championship Wrestling which Bischoff had created, and to drive the point home he began using the Nitro theme music as his ring entrance music. Nitro acted as Bischoff's apprentice and assistant until the June 7 episode of Raw, during which he lost a match to Eugene which carried the stipulation that should he lose the match, he also lose his job.

After leaving Raw, Nitro returned to OVW and was put into a feud with his former partner Matt Cappotelli. During the course of the feud Melina Perez was brought in to the company as Nitro's ex-girlfriend and an ally of Cappotelli, only to double-cross him and side with Nitro. Not long after, they were joined by Joey Mercury, forming the stable "MNM". MNM wrestled in OVW for around a year, holding the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship once, before being called up to the main SmackDown! roster in April 2005. While on SmackDown!, they were put into feuds with the teams of Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero, Mysterio and Batista, the new Legion of Doom, and Paul London and Brian Kendrick. MNM held the SmackDown! brand's WWE Tag Team Championship on three occasions, all in their rookie year on the brand. At May 2006's Judgment Day MNM dropped the tag team title to London and Kendrick, with Nitro and Melina suddenly turning on Mercury after the match, breaking up the group. Later in the night, after Melina lost a match to Jillian Hall in controversial fashion, she and Nitro complained to SmackDown! General Manager Theodore Long until Melina slapped Long, getting both her and Nitro (kayfabe) fired from the brand.

The next week Nitro (with Melina) debuted on the Raw brand in a loss to WWE Champion John Cena. The following week, Melina faked a sprained ankle, which allowed Nitro to roll-up a distracted Charlie Haas for his first Raw brand win. Nitro immediately joined the hunt for the WWE Intercontinental Championship, finally defeating champion Shelton Benjamin at June's Vengeance in a Triple-Threat match, which also involved Carlito. Nitro held the belt, the first singles title of his career, for four months, feuding with several challengers before losing it to Jeff Hardy on the October 2 Raw. During his time on Raw, Nitro was also involved in a sporadic rivalry with John Cena, the man who defeated him in his first Raw match. The feud was unique in that it also involved non-wrestler Kevin Federline, who appeared on the October 16 Raw from Los Angeles.Federline was trained by Nitro for a January 1, 2007 match with Cena, which he ended up winning after outside interference from Umaga.

In the meantime, Nitro recaptured the Intercontinental title from Jeff Hardy on November 6 when former friend, and General Manager for the night, Eric Bischoff restarted a match that Nitro had been disqualified from. The very next week, however, Hardy got the title back. In November 2006 MNM reunited on an episode of Raw to accept an "open challenge" from The Hardys (Matt and Jeff) for ECW December to Dismember. MNM and The Hardys feuded across the brands, with the feud intensifying after Mercury was injured at Armageddon in December.

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John Hennigan, John Morrison, Johnny Nitro, part 1

2007-11-26T11:16:00.000-05:00

John Randall Hennigan (born October 3, 1979) better known by his ring name John Morrison, is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to the WWE, performing on their ECW brand. He is also currently co-holder of the Smackdown! brand's WWE Tag Team Championship with The Miz. He came to WWE in 2002 after co-winning their reality television program Tough Enough, and has since held championships in the company on seven occasions; having held the Tag Team Championship four times, Intercontinental Championship two times, and the ECW Championship once.

Before getting into professional wrestling, Hennigan attended University of California at Davis studying both film and to become a geologist. Deciding that wasn't right for him, he began his professional wrestling career training at the Supreme Pro Wrestling professional wrestling school. In 2002, he was accepted as a cast member for the third season of the WWE/MTV reality show WWE Tough Enough, eventually becoming co-winner with Matt Cappotelli. For winning he was awarded a WWE developmental contract and assigned to WWE's "farm territory" Ohio Valley Wrestling to continue his training. The duo made their first appearance on WWE television on an episode of Heat in January 2004, losing to Garrison Cade and Mark Jindrak in a tag team match.

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wrestling

Balls Mahoney

2007-11-24T12:00:00.000-05:00

Jonathan Rechner (born April 11, 1972) better known by his ring name Balls Mahoney, is an American professional wrestler. Mahoney is perhaps best known for his appearances with ECW in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He is currently signed to the WWE wrestling on its ECW brand.

In 2005, Mahoney made a non-wrestling appearance at the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) promoted ECW One Night Stand reunion show, taking part -- alongside Axl Rotten -- in a brawl with Kid Kash, Tommy Dreamer, The Sandman, the Dudley Boyz, and the Blue World Order before the main event. After the main event, Mahoney and Rotten returned to the ring to brawl with the "invading" Raw and SmackDown! wrestlers.

In 2006, when WWE relaunched ECW as their own brand, one of the first announcements was the signing of Balls Mahoney. His signing was announced with that of Axl Rotten, but when Rotten missed some WWE dates and was released, Balls was left to start a singles career.

During the "cross promotion" hype Balls appeared on the June 5, episode of RAW with other ECW wrestlers who proceeded to attack WWE Champion John Cena. He appeared again as a part of the ECW team in the "WWE vs. ECW team battle royal" at the WWE vs. ECW Head to Head event on June 7. The next night a match between Balls Mahoney and Masato Tanaka was officially added to the 2006 One Night Stand pay-per-view, which Balls won following a chair shot (denting the chair) to Tanaka's head.

When ECW on Sci Fi debuted, Balls started off with a small role in the company, having sporadic matches and little else. However, once the show got going he started to appear in vignettes talking about how tough he is, elevating his role on the show. On the September 12 episode of ECW on Sci Fi Mahoney entered a feud with Kevin Thorn after Thorn and his valet Ariel cost him a match against René Duprée. The following week, he brought Francine to ringside with him, marking her first televised appearance at the revived ECW ring, where she proceeded to get into a catfight with Ariel. That pairing, however, was short lived as Francine was released shortly after. On the January 2, 2007 edition of ECW on Sci Fi, Mahoney had one of his front teeth (legitimately) knocked out during a match with Kevin Thorn.

Shortly after, Balls began a short feud with Snitsky. On the June 4 edition of ECW, Balls, Tommy Dreamer, and Sandman faced Bobby Lashley in a 3 on 1 Hardcore Handicap Match for the ECW Championship, in which they were defeated. On the August 7, 2007 episode of ECW, Balls went against The Miz in a losing effort. During and after the match, it appeared that Kelly Kelly was concerned about him. Over the weeks that followed, he attempted to ask her out to dinner and flirted with her backstage, but was interrupted by The Miz, Brooke, and Layla before Kelly could get a word in. Regardless, Kelly still showed interest in him each week, wishing him good luck before his match, winking at him, and cheering him on during his match. On the September 18, 2007 edition of ECW, after defeating Mike Knox in a match, he asked Kelly Kelly if she would go out with him to which she couldn't respond due to The Miz taking her backstage. However, weeks later, Kelly Kelly asked him if he would go out with her, in which he agreed.

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Tommy Dreamer

2007-11-16T12:29:00.000-05:00

Thomas Laughlin (born February 14, 1971), is an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name, Tommy Dreamer. He is currently under contract to World Wrestling Entertainment and wrestling on the ECW brand.

In addition to his current role, Dreamer is — arguably — best known for the time he spent in the Philadelphia based Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotion, of which he has been called the "heart and soul". Though he only held the ECW World Heavyweight Championship once in his time with the company—for a grand total of about 30 minutes — he was regularly embroiled in the company's most visible angles on screen and involved in the booking, some of the business decisions, and, like a number of other ECW wrestlers, was part of the day to day operations of the company off screen.

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Wrestler Ric Flair sues S.C. auto dealer

2007-10-08T12:20:00.000-05:00

Wrestler Ric Flair sues S.C. auto dealer
Rick Brundrett
McClatchy Newspapers

COLUMBIA --World champion professional wrestler Ric "Nature Boy" Flair would like to put a courtroom body slam on a Columbia car dealership.

In a federal lawsuit filed last week in Columbia, the 58-year-old Charlotte personality, whose real name is Richard Fliehr, contends that Stivers Automotive of Columbia Inc. through its Freedom Suzuki dealership used his name, likeness and slogans in radio, TV and print ads this year without his permission.

The 6-foot-1, 230-pound-plus wrestling legend is asking for actual and punitive damages of more than $75,000 - the threshold for filing federal lawsuits when one of the parties lives out of state.

The suit was filed Thursday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Columbia; Flair was spotted later that evening on the sidelines during the football game between USC and Kentucky at Williams-Brice Stadium.

"By using his name in an unauthorized fashion and not paying for it, it lessens the value of his persona that he has cultivated both in the ring and out of the ring over 34 years," said his lawyer-agent, Eric Bland of Columbia, when contacted Thursday.

full story:
http://www.charlotte.com/business/breaking_news/story/310280.html

technorati tags: raw, wrestling, smackdown, pro wrestling, pro wrestling blog, ecw, wwe divas, tna, pro-wrestling, news

CM Punk, part 5

2007-10-06T12:09:00.000-05:00

On the April 10 edition of ECW on Sci-Fi, Punk officially joined the New Breed stable,after several weeks in which both the New Breed and the ECW Originals had attempted to recruit him. However two weeks later Punk betrayed the New Breed during a four on four elimination match between the New Breed and ECW Originals by kicking New Breed leader Elijah Burke in the back of the head costing them the match. After the match Punk proceeded to deliver his finisher, the Go To Sleep, on Burke before leaving the ring alone. WWE.com later confirmed that Punk was no longer a member of the New Breed. At Judgment Day 2007, Punk wrestled and defeated Elijah Burke in his first singles match on a pay-per-view. Punk would then go on to One Night Stand 2007 and team up with Tommy Dreamer and The Sandman in a Tables match to defeat the New Breed.

Due to the drafting of ECW World Champion Bobby Lashley to RAW the ECW World Championship was declared vacant and a mini-tournament was announced to declare a new champion between Punk, Elijah Burke, Marcus Cor Von and the recently drafted Chris Benoit. Punk defeated Marcus Cor Von on the June 19 edition of ECW on Sci-Fi. By doing so CM Punk was meant to face Chris Benoit at Vengeance 2007 for the vacant ECW World Championship, however Benoit was hastily replaced by Johnny Nitro when Benoit no-showed the event due to what was described on-air as "personal reasons". Nitro subsequently defeated Punk at Vengeance for the vacant championship. Punk won another shot at the title at The Great American Bash against Johnny Nitro, who had changed his moniker to John Morrison at this point, however Punk was defeated again by Morrison. Punk the next week would challenge Elijah Burke and Tommy Dreamer in a triple threat match to determine the next competitor in John Morrison's 15 Minutes of Fame Challenge, in which Punk came out victorious. A week later Punk would defeat Morrison with the G.T.S. to earn an ECW Championship title match at SummerSlam. At Saturday Night's Main Event CM Punk would team up with Boogeyman to take on and defeat Morrison and Big Daddy V. CM Punk lost to Morrison for the ECW Championship when Morrison used the ropes for leverage at SummerSlam.

At the September 1, 2007 ECW taping in Cincinnati, Ohio, in a "last chance" title match, Punk defeated John Morrison for the ECW Championship. The match aired on the Sci-Fi Network on September 4.

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Benoit's Brain Showed Severe Damage From Multiple Concussions

2007-09-05T11:34:00.000-05:00

Benoit's Brain Showed Severe Damage From Multiple Concussions, Doctor and Dad Say

The family of Chris Benoit has been searching for answers since late June, when the professional wrestler killed his wife, 7-year-old son and then himself.

At the crime scene, police found anabolic steroids prompting many to suspect that "roid rage" had accounted for Benoit's behavior, which his family found out of character for the 40-year-old.

His family now believes that new test results on Benoit's brain explain his vicious actions.

The tests, conducted by Julian Bailes of the Sports Legacy Institute, show that Benoit's brain was so severely damaged it resembled the brain of an 85-year-old Alzheimer's patient.

Bailes and his research team say that this damage was the result of a lifetime of chronic concussions and head trauma suffered while Benoit was in the wrestling ring.

Benoit's father, Michael Benoit, is speaking out in order to warn other athletes, both professional and student.

Full story:
http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3560015&page=1

technorati tags: raw, wrestling, smackdown, pro wrestling, pro wrestling blog, ecw, tna, pro-wrestling, news

Is there anyone left in the WWE?

2007-09-03T16:14:00.000-05:00

NEWS FLASH!
John Cena faces himself at Unforgiven!

Well it seems to be headed that way at least.

John Morrison, Chavo Guerrero, Mr. Kennedy, Umaga and Charlie Haas appear to be the wrestlers most likely to be suspended over violations of the WWE " Wellness Policy".

Six more wrestlers including Randy Orton, King Booker, William Regal, Santino Marella, Chris Masters and Funaki fates remain unclear.

( I'm willing to go double or nothing that " Bulletproof" Orton gets off scott free again)

Two more wrestlers Adam "Edge" Copeland and Gregory Helms are possible, but they are on the injured list.

Batista appears to have been cleared by everyone except the media.
( And he's pissed!)

Add to this Sylvain Grenier's release from WWE after what was apparently a backstage argument with a road agent, Eugene being fired for a third strike on the Wellness Policy, Cryme Tyme being released, Simon Dean.....

The list seems to be growing and growing.

Last one out turn off the lights......

Hulk Hogan's son seriously injured in car wreck

2007-08-27T09:30:00.000-05:00

Hulk Hogan's son seriously injured in car wreck

(CNN) -- A high-speed car accident in Florida has left the teenage son of wrestling star Hulk Hogan seriously injured and a companion in critical condition late Sunday, police said.

Nick Bollea, 17, was the driver of a Toyota Supra that went out of control while driving at a "high rate of speed" about 7:30 p.m. Sunday, said Wayne Shelor, spokesman for the Clearwater, Florida, police.

Hulk Hogan's real name is Terrence Bollea.

Bollea's injuries are not life-threatening. Passenger John J. Graziano, 22, of Dunedin, Florida, is in critical condition at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg, police said Monday.

Full story here:
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/08/27/hogan.crash/?iref=mpstoryview

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Hogan family. And we wish Nick a speedy recovery.

technorati tags: raw, wrestling, smackdown, pro wrestling, pro wrestling blog, ecw, wwe divas, tna, pro-wrestling, news

CM Punk, part 4

2007-08-16T14:05:00.000-05:00

On June 24, 2006 Punk made his ECW debut during a house show at the former ECW Arena, defeating Stevie Richards. He made his TV debut on the July 4 episode of ECW on Sci Fi, cutting a brief pre-taped face promo about his straight edge lifestyle emphasizing the disciplinary aspects of being drug and alcohol free. Although he had retained the straight edge gimmick, he now had a Muay Thai training background. Punk made his TV wrestling debut on August 1, 2006 at the Hammerstein Ballroom, defeating Justin Credible. CM Punk established himself in ECW by going undefeated, defeating opponents such as Christopher W. Anderson, Stevie Richards, and Shannon Moore.

Soon after, Punk began feuding with Mike Knox after Knox's girlfriend, Kelly Kelly, was seen to have feelings for Punk. Punk defeated Mike Knox in their first singles match (qualifying for the Extreme Elimination Chamber at December to Dismember in the process) as well as the rematch, after which Kelly Kelly celebrated CM Punk's victory over her boyfriend. Punk then went on to team with D-Generation X and The Hardy Boyz in their Survivor Series match against Rated-RKO, Knox, Johnny Nitro and Gregory Helms, a match where all the participants on DX's side survived elimination. At ECW December to Dismember, Punk participated in the Extreme Elimination Chamber for the ECW World Championship, however was the first person eliminated.

Following this, Punk entered into a feud with Hardcore Holly, who ended Punk's six month unbeaten streak in singles competition on January 9, 2007. Punk went on to feud with Matt Striker, who gave him his second singles loss since being in ECW on January 30. Following this Punk qualified for the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania 23 by defeating Johnny Nitro, being the only member of the ECW roster to qualify. In the final week leading up to WrestleMania 23 Punk made appearances on both RAW and WWE Friday Night SmackDown! defeating Kenny Dykstra and former World Heavyweight Champion King Booker[39] respectively. At WrestleMania 23 Punk competed in, but did not win, the Money in the Bank ladder match being knocked off the ladder just seconds before the winner, Mr. Kennedy, claimed the briefcase

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Brian " Crush" Adams, Dead at age 43

2007-08-13T16:05:00.000-05:00

Brian Adams (April 14, 1964 - August 13, 2007) was an actor and professional wrestler. Adams gained fame in the 1990s while performing for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) under the name Crush and for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) under his given name.

Trained in Japan by Antonio Inoki, Adams was a two time WCW World Tag Team Champion as well as a one time holder of both the WWF World Tag Team Championship and the All Japan Pro Wrestling World Tag Team Championship among other titles and accomplishments.

In 2002, Adams briefly tried a career in boxing until he was forced to retire due to a back and shoulder injury.

His death was reported by WWE on 13 August 2007.

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CM Punk, part 3

2007-08-05T15:37:00.001-05:00

Punk was assigned to Ohio Valley Wrestling, a WWE developmental territory. On September 26, 2005 in his OVW television debut, Punk suffered a ruptured eardrum and broken nose at the hands of Danny Inferno, after he was hit by an overly stiff right hand. Despite the injury, Punk finished the match and quickly recovered.

On November 9, 2005, Punk became the OVW Television Champion after defeating Ken Doane. This led immediately to a feud between Punk and Brent Albright, who had previously been feuding with Doane for the television championship and had lost his chance to wrestle Doane after Punk had hit him with a chair so he himself could wrestle Doane. This led to a series of matches, including one which ended in overtime with Albright having Punk submit to Albright's finisher, the Crowbar, however Punk was able to keep the championship as he had not agreed to the extra time. On January 4, 2006, Punk lost the OVW Television Championship during a three way dance between himself, Albright and Doane. Doane was injured halfway through the match and could not continue and was replaced by Aaron "The Idol" Stevens. Punk submitted to Albright's Crowbar and was eliminated but after interference by Punk, Stevens was able to get the pin on Albright to become the new OVW Television Champion. The feud continued after a short period in which Albright and Punk were a tag team, but they became opponents again after Albright wanted the respect of Punk who would never give it to him and instead proceeded to "punk out" (get the better of) Albright repeatedly. This continued for weeks with Punk always getting the better of Albright until a double turn occurred on February 1, 2006 when Albright turned heel during a tag match allowing The Spirit Squad to beat Punk and, in doing so, turning Punk face.

During this time CM Punk had a minor appearance at WrestleMania 22 on April 2, 2006 as one of the gangsters who rode a 1930s era car to the ring before John Cena's entrance.

When Matt Cappotelli vacated the OVW Heavyweight Championship due to a brain tumor, a tournament was held to crown a new champion. The finals were Brent Albright vs CM Punk with Albright defeating Punk to become the new champion. Punk and Albright continued their feud with Albright becoming more and more unstable and paranoid about maintaining his championship after several close call matches against Punk, resulting in acts such as threatening Maria. On May 3, 2006, Punk finally defeated Brent Albright in a strap match to win the OVW Heavyweight Championship. As champion, Punk retained the title in matches against opponents such as Shad Gaspard, Ken Kennedy, Johnny Jeter, and Mike "The Miz" Mizanin.

On July 28, 2006 Punk and Seth Skyfire defeated Shad Gaspard and the Neighborhoodie to win the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship at a house show. With the victory Punk became the second OVW wrestler to have held each of the promotion's three championships, following Brent Albright, and along with Skyfire the first to hold two championships simultaneously. They would lose the Tag Team Championship on August 2, 2006 to Deuce Shade and "Domino" Cliff Compton after an injured Skyfire tagged in an already injured Punk.

This lead to a feud between Punk and Skyfire after a rematch for the Tag Team Championship on August 7, 2006 in which a healthy Punk purposefully tagged in an injured Skyfire to be beaten by Shade and Compton. On August 30, 2006 a match was scheduled to take place between Punk and Skyfire for the OVW Heavyweight Championship however prior to the match Skyfire was attacked by Charles "The Hammer" Evans, who Skyfire had also been feuding with, and was replaced in the match by Chet Jablonski (Chet the Jet) who pinned Punk to win the OVW Heavyweight Championship. As he no longer possessed the championship OVW no longer required him so he was removed from the roster and brought up to the WWE roster full time. He continues to make sporadic appearances for the company such as at the 400th episode of OVW on television.

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CM Punk, part 2

2007-08-04T14:34:00.000-05:00

In ROH Punk faced off against ROH World Champion Samoa Joe for the championship in a famous three match series. The first match, on June 12, 2004 at World Title Classic in Dayton, Ohio, resulted in a 60 minute time-limit draw when neither Punk nor Joe could pin or cause the other to submit in the sixty minutes. The second match between Samoa Joe and CM Punk was planned to have occurred on December 4, 2004 but because Steve Corino was pulled from a match with Samoa Joe by Pro Wrestling ZERO-ONE the second match was hastily rescheduled on October 11, 2004 for October 16 in Punk's hometown of Chicago, Illinois. At Joe vs. Punk II on October 16 they wrestled to a second 60 minute draw. In addition to becoming Ring of Honor's best selling DVD at that point, the match received the first 5-star rating by Dave Meltzer's Wrestling Observer Newsletter for a match in North America since 1997. Joe ended the series by defeating Punk in the third and final match on December 4, 2004 at All-Star Extravaganza 2 in which there was a no time limit stipulation.

In June 2005, Punk accepted a deal with the WWE, after a try-out match against Val Venis on its Sunday Night HEAT show. Even though he had accepted the deal, Punk went on to defeat Austin Aries to win the ROH World Championship on June 18, 2005 at Death Before Dishonor III with the Pepsi Plunge.

Immediately after the match Punk proceeded to turn heel and started an angle where he threatened to bring the ROH World Championship to WWE with him. For weeks, Punk teased the ROH locker room and the ROH fans as well as mocking the championship he possessed, going so far as to sign his WWE contract on it. A notable part of this angle was Mick Foley making several ROH appearances, attempting to convince Punk to do the right thing and defend the title on his way out.

On August 12, 2005 in Dayton, Ohio Punk lost the ROH World Championship to James Gibson in a four corner elimination match consisting of himself, Gibson, Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels, who re-debuted after a year and half long absence following the Rob Feinstein controversy a few minutes after Punk turned heel, when Gibson countered the Pepsi Plunge with a Super Tiger Bomb. His final scheduled match in Ring of Honor took place at Punk: The Final Chapter on August 13, 2005 against long-time friend Colt Cabana in a 2 out of 3 falls match, which he lost. In his last match, he was visibly crying, and was showered with streamers when he posed in the middle of the ring.

Punk made a special appearance at the ROH show Unscripted II on February 11, 2006, when the original card had to be scrapped due to Low Ki leaving ROH the week prior and most of the roster contracted to TNA being pulled from the show due to a snowstorm that TNA officials thought might prevent performers from reaching a pay per view they were running the next day. In the main event, Punk teamed with Bryan Danielson to wrestle and ultimately defeat Jimmy Rave and Adam Pearce in a tag team match.

technorati tags: raw, wrestling, smackdown, pro wrestling, pro wrestling blog, ecw, wwe divas, tna, pro-wrestling, news

CM Punk

2007-07-23T12:47:00.000-05:00

Phil Brooks (born October 26, 1978), better known by his ring name CM Punk, is an American professional wrestler currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on its ECW brand. Before debuting in ECW, he was best known for his work on the independent circuit, especially as a member of the Ring of Honor (RoH) roster where he was a former ROH World Champion, head trainer of the wrestling school and was considered to be one of the three icons of ROH (along with Samoa Joe and Homicide). His professional wrestling gimmick is that of a follower of "straight edge", a culture which he follows in real life and of which he utilizes different aspects depending on his alignment.

Punk's first venture into wrestling was a stint in a backyard wrestling federation called the Lunatic Wrestling Federation with his friends in the mid-late 1990s where he first started using the ring name CM Punk when he was put into a tag team named the Chick Magnets with CM Venom after another performer skipped out on the card. After leaving the federation because unlike his friends Punk genuinely wanted to be a wrestler and saw it as more than simple fun Punk enrolled as a student at the "Steel Domain" wrestling school in Chicago, where he was trained by Ace Steel, Danny Dominion and Kevin Quinn to become a professional wrestler and as part of the training wrestled at St. Paul's Steel Domain Wrestling. It was in the Steel Domain that he met Scott Colton, who soon adopted the stage name Colt Cabana. Punk and Cabana became best friends and spent most of their early career together working in the same independent promotions, as opponents or allies In the independents Punk, along with fellow Steel Domain graduates Colt Cabana, Chuckie Smoothe, Adam Pearce and manager Dave Prazak, formed a stable named the Gold Bond Mafia.

Punk's home promotion for his early career is usually considered to be Independent Wrestling Association: Mid-South (IWA:Mid-South). During Punk's time in IWA:Mid-South he had high profile feuds with Colt Cabana and Chris Hero while also rising to the top of the roster winning the IWA Mid-South Light-Heavyweight Championship twice and the IWA Mid-South Heavyweight Championship on five separate occasions. Notably his feud with Hero included a 55-minute TLC match, a 93-minute two out of three falls match and several 60-minute draws. Punk's matches with Cabana led him to being hired by Ring of Honor promotion. During his time in IWA:Mid-South he would also meet, wrestle against and become a friend of Eddie Guerrero. From February 2003 until May 2004 Punk refused to wrestle for IWA:Mid-South. Punk claims that this was in protest to Ian Rotten's treatment of Chris Hero; however Hero himself has stated he believes there were other reasons and Rotten's treatment of him was just an excuse by Punk to stop working for the company. Eventually Punk returned to IWA:Mid-South and continued to perform as a wrestler and commentator for them until 2005 when he was signed to World Wrestling Entertainment. His last appearance in IWA:Mid-South was on July 2, 2005 in which he competed in a sixty-minute time limit draw against Delirious.

Punk joined Ring of Honor initially as a babyface, but was quickly turned heel in a feud with Raven that featured numerous variants of no disqualification matches. At the same time Punk joined the wrestling promotion NWA:Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, where he was paired with Julio Dinero as, ironically, members of Raven's TNA stable The Gathering.

Punk started climbing the ranks of ROH with notable achievements including coming second at the Second Anniversary show during the tournament to crown the first ROH Pure Champion, losing to A.J. Styles in the finals, and winning the ROH Tag Team Championship twice with Colt Cabana as the Second City Saints, both times defeating the Briscoe Brothers to win the championship. Circa October 2003 Punk was hired as the first head trainer of the Ring of Honor wrestling school, having previously been a trainer for the Steel Domain and Primetime Wrestling.

Meanwhile in TNA on February 25, 2004 Punk had a physical scuffle with Teddy Hart that was broken up by Sabu outside of a restaurant shortly before a TNA show stemming from an ROH show in which Hart performed three unplanned spots putting several other wrestlers in danger of injury. Punk has since stated that this had no bearing on his TNA career and that instead the reason he stopped appearing on TNA was that TNA officials believed that he and Dinero had not gotten over as heels. Punk had turned on Raven and then formed a tag team managed by their old rival James Mitchell, and so the angle had been put on hold. Punk quit TNA in March 2004 during the Rob Feinstein controversy after having a dispute with the TNA offices over his ability to compete in ROH following a TNA order that their contracted wrestlers were to no longer wrestle in ROH.

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Elijah Burke

2007-07-21T18:20:00.000-05:00

Elijah Samuel Burke (born January 1, 1978 in Jacksonville, Florida) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE wrestling on its ECW brand.

Burke is a former officer for the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office in Florida who would become an amateur boxer in Jacksonville's Club 5 and Club Plush where he claims to have had a 98-1 win/loss record. According to his WWE.com profile, Burke has a record of 103-1 with 102 knockouts in his amateur career. Both of these records are unsubstantiated. Still, according to WWE's kayfabe, the only loss he sustained was a disqualification, after he knocked his opponent out and refused to back down to his corner.

After signing with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), he was sent to their developmental territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW). There, he won the OVW Heavyweight Title on December 8, 2004. Burke was offered a spot in the Spirit Squad by the WWE Creative Team, but turned it down, forcing him to stay in Ohio Valley Wrestling on a longer stint before moving to Smackdown! with Sylvester Terkay.[citation needed]

After training with OVW, Burke would be brought up to the main roster of SmackDown! on July 28, 2006 working a mixed martial arts cornerman gimmick with the also debuting former MMA fighter Sylvester Terkay. His first WWE match saw him defeating Scott Wright and he would also break Vito's 4 month winning streak while on SmackDown!, albeit with Terkay's assistance.

On November 7, 2006, Elijah Burke and Sylvester Terkay debuted on the ECW brand by cutting a backstage promo. The following week, Burke replaced Tazz, who had knee surgery, as color commentator alongside play-by-play announcer Joey Styles. Two weeks later, Burke returned to the ring; he and Terkay lost to The Hardys. At the ECW brand's December to Dismember pay-per-view, Burke and Terkay defeated the Full Blooded Italians, a feat which the duo have since repeated. The pair were later dubbed The Knock-Out / Tap-Out Connection, in reference to Burke's amateur boxing career and Terkay's Mixed Martial Arts background.

On January 18, 2007, Terkay was released from WWE. Since then, Burke has wrestled in singles matches, and appeared in a segment where WWE owner Vince McMahon showed disdain for members of the original ECW and called Burke to the ring, naming him "The Future Of ECW". Burke was then attacked by Tommy Dreamer, Rob Van Dam, Sabu, and The Sandman, who would later form the ECW Originals stable. Burke then became the official leader of the "New Breed", a group of new ECW stars including Matt Striker, Marcus Cor Von and Kevin Thorn, who proceeded to feud with the ECW Originals. At WrestleMania 23, The New Breed faced off against The ECW Originals but were ultimately defeated.

After several weeks of trying to recruit fellow roster mate and new ECW superstar CM Punk, Burke and the New Breed were successful on April 10. However, just two weeks later, CM Punk betrayed the New Breed, attacking Burke after a match. The next week, Kevin Thorn quit the New Breed due to lack of interference in his match with CM Punk. The same night, Matt Striker and Marcus Cor Von were defeated by the Major Brothers, a debuting tag team. After being pinned, Burke screamed at Striker creating tension between the two. The New Breed would then feud with the ECW Originals, CM Punk and the Major Brothers at the same time. At Judgement Day, Burke was defeated by CM Punk. Then, at One Night Stand, Burke, Marcus Cor Von and Matt Striker were defeated by Tommy Dreamer, Sandman and CM Punk in a Tables Match. On June 19, 2007, Burke lost to Chris Benoit (which would be Benoit's last match before his death) in a match that would decide who would face either CM Punk or Marcus Cor Von for the vacant ECW World Championship at Vengeance.On June 26, 2007, Burke lost to CM Punk in a best two out of three falls match, which would see the winner becoming the number one contender to Johnny Nitro's ECW Title. On July 10, Burke would rebound with a decisive victory over Balls Mahoney.

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Marty Wright / The Boogeyman, part 2

2007-07-20T17:58:00.000-05:00

For the next few weeks The Boogeyman won numerous squash matches. Invariably these matches were short on actual wrestling content, instead focusing on the antics of The Boogeyman. Opponents were generally "flattened" in the ring, left with worms in their mouths and/or spit on their faces. His official pay-per-view debut was at December's Armageddon when he came to the ring to confront Vito and Nunzio who were dressed as Santa Claus and an elf. Though Nunzio was able to escape, Vito ended up with worms shoved into his mouth.

Boogeyman's first major feud occurred with JBL and his "fixer" Jillian Hall, beginning with his stalking the duo throughout a number of shows. During an episode of SmackDown! he caught a fleeing Hall and shoved worms down the back of her skirt. In another, during a Piper's Pit segment, he not only sniffed the "growth" on Jillian's face, but licked it and bit it off.

Layfield and The Boogeyman eventually met in a one on one contest at the 2006 Royal Rumble, with Boogeyman picking up the win in under two minutes.

A subsequent feud with Booker T, which saw him again stalking a wrestler and his female companion (this time Booker's wife Sharmell) culminated at WrestleMania 22, when Boogeyman pinned Booker T after kissing Sharmell while holding a mouthful of worms. The match was exceptionally short because shortly before WrestleMania Boogeyman tore his left biceps at a house show. To explain his absence to rehab his injury, Booker T and Sharmell obtained a restraining order against the Boogeyman, who actually had surgery on April 4, to repair his biceps tear.

As SummerSlam approached, The Boogeyman began appearing in TV spots to promote the event. Vignettes also began airing advertising his return to SmackDown!, however, on September 20 WWE.com reported that Wright had been released from the company. It was later reported that he had been doing "the bare minimum" in regards to getting back into shape and had missed several required doctor checkups. Although management warned him about this, he failed to change his behavior and they let him go. Less than a month later, on October 6, WWE.com announced that Wright had been re-hired and would be sent to be trained at Booker T and Stevie Ray's wrestling school in Houston, Texas.

Booker T was reportedly very impressed with Marty's renewed dedication and enthusiasm at his Wrestling Academy, and according to the Wrestling Observer, Wright was rehired mainly due to Booker's insistence. Wright returned on the October 27, 2006 SmackDown!, starting a feud with Mike "The Miz" Mizanin and Kristal Marshall. During the feud he again terrorized and stalked his opponents, spitting worms at them and scaring them at every opportunity, and eventually ended The Miz's undefeated streak at the Armageddon pay-per-view.

The Boogeyman then feuded with Finlay, who ended The Boogeyman's undefeated streak when Hornswoggle interfered. On the February 2 edition of SmackDown! during a title match against Chris Benoit for the U.S. Title, Boogeyman abducted Hornswoggle, distracting Finlay and giving Benoit a chance to win the match with a roll-up.

On the February 16 edition of SmackDown! the Boogeyman presented a little person of his own, Little Boogeyman. His purpose was to counteract Hornswoggle, who was proving a problem in one-on-one matches with Finlay. The Boogeyman and the Little Boogeyman lost to Finlay and Hornswoggle in a mixed tag team match at No Way Out 2007. The team lost a rematch the following week on SmackDown!, after Boogeyman was pinned by Hornswoggle

The Boogeyman appeared in a promo backstage at WrestleMania 23. He was in a room with Donald Trump and tried to scare him but failed, getting commanded by Trump to get him a sandwich. He did, however, terrify former Miss USA, Tara Conner who, upon seeing the Boogeyman, ran off looking terrified and disgusted.

On OVW's 400th anniversary show, the Boogeyman made an appearance, losing to Ryan Wilson in a table match.

The Boogeyman returned to in ring action when he joined a feud between Kane, William Regal and Dave Taylor, teaming up with Kane. This also marked the return of Little Boogeyman. The feud would be short lived as Boogeyman and Little Boogeyman would then start another feud with Finlay and Hornswoggle. Boogeyman and Little Boogeyman were defeated in mixed tag match by Finlay and Hornswoggle at Saturday Night's Main Event 2007.

On the June 11 edition of RAW, Boogeyman was drafted from SmackDown! to ECW as part of the WWE Draft. He won his ECW debut match against Matt Striker on June 12, 2007 with a Boogeybomb.

On ECW tuesday July 12th, 2007 Matt Striker got his revenge on The Boogeyman by inviting him to be educated on worms. After The Boogeyman began to become violent and aggressive during the lesson Matt Striker introduced Big Daddy V. When The Boogeyman grabbed Matt Striker and attempted to attack him, Big Daddy V stopped the attack on Matt Striker by beating down The Boogeyman with a punch and a Standing Samoan drop through a desk. Big Daddy V then threw The Boogeyman through Matt Striker's chalkboard, breaking the board as The Boogeyman fell out of the ring.

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Marty Wright / The Boogeyman, part 1

2007-07-20T17:54:00.002-05:00

Martin (Marty) Wright (born October 31, 1964 in Phoenix, Arizona) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name The Boogeyman. He is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment wrestling on its ECW brand.

Wright began his career originally intending to be a professional bodybuilder. He won some competitions, but the only recorded such victory noted online is the 2002 National Physique Committee Southern States Contest from August 2-3, 2002 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in the men's over 35 years, super heavyweight division.

Wright applied to take part in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Tough Enough IV and on October 15, 2004, attended a fifty man, two day event in Venice Beach, California, where eight finalists were chosen. Wright survived the first day of eliminations, but on the second day he admitted that he was 40 years old (5 years past the contest's cutoff of 35) and not 30 as he had claimed. As a result he was cut from the Tough Enough prospectives.

Though he'd been cut from Tough Enough, WWE officials invited him to come to their developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) for possible training. He trained between January and June of 2005, making his OVW debut on June 25, 2005.

During a dark match pitting the team of Seth Skyfire and Robert Fury against Robbie Dawber and his partner, Wright entered the ring and squashed all three men, no-selling the offense of Skyfire in the process. He then announced that he was The Boogeyman before leaving the building.

The Boogeyman gimmick further evolved into a "monster" face who would appear when another wrestler said his name and attack him, while not selling any offense he received.

On the July 11, 2005 episode of WWE Raw, horror movie style vignettes began airing to promote the debut of Wright in his "Boogeyman" persona. After a few weeks The Boogeyman the vignettes were moved from RAW to SmackDown!, but his planned debut was delayed when he hyperextended both knees and needed time to recover.

The Boogeyman made his first appearance on the October 13, 2005 SmackDown!. He was brought in by UPN Network Executive Palmer Cannon, who claimed he was going to be a part of another (unspecified) UPN show that never came to be due to an on-set "accident" involving The Boogeyman (it was implied he'd "done something" to another member of the cast, but never elaborated on). Cannon said he brought him to the SmackDown! brand as part of a "new talent initiative." The Boogeyman then proceeded to recite a version of the nursery rhyme Buckle My Shoe before smashing an oversize alarm clock on his own head. Boogeyman continued to "terrorize" other Superstars for the next couple of months.

For the next few weeks The Boogeyman (who was unknown to be a face or heel) appeared in unexpected places backstage (closets, vans, et cetera), reciting different nursery rhymes and holding up clocks before screaming his catchphrase "I'm The Boogeyman and I'm comin' to get cha!" and laughing maniacally. This would leave the performer(s) that had discovered him both confused and creeped out, usually ending with them backing out of the room slowly while the commentators remarked on how strange the whole situation was.

At the 2005 Survivor Series, The Boogeyman turned out to be a face as he helped SmackDown! General Manager Theodore Long defeat his RAW counterpart, Eric Bischoff, with a Pumphandle slam. He made his official in-ring SmackDown! debut on the December 2, defeating Simon Dean in a squash that saw him repeatedly scream, "I'm the Boogeyman!" at a confused and terrified Dean. It was during this match that another regular part of his persona came to light when he took a handful of live worms from his pocket and stuffed them into his mouth as commentators Michael Cole and Tazz screamed in disgust.

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Nelson Frazier, Jr. / Big Daddy V / King Mabel / Mabel / Nelson Knight / Viscera, part 2

2007-07-19T16:35:00.001-05:00

On July 6, 1998 Mabel made a one time, surprise return to the World Wrestling Federation to challenge, and lose to, the new King of the Ring: Ken Shamrock.

He made an official return in 1999, first appearing at the pre-show for the Royal Rumble, before appearing on the show itself, on which he was "kidnapped" by The Undertaker, his Acolytes (Bradshaw and Faarooq) and Mideon. The next night he was re-christened Viscera and began acting as the Ministry of Darkness' enforcer, adopting a more gothic look in the process; including white out contact lenses, a white mohawk, and a black bodysuit.

After the July 1999 break up of the Ministry, the Viscera character floated around the mid-card, frequently teaming with fellow former Ministry member Mideon, and becoming part of the burgeoning hardcore division -- winning the Hardcore Championship once before he parted ways with the company again in 2000.

In March 2003, Frazier, using his Nelson Knight name, made a surprise appearance at a weekly NWA: Total Nonstop Action pay-per-view at the side of Ron Killings. He appeared again the next week, but didn't stay with the company beyond that.

He made a number of other independent appearances, including returning to the Memphis area and winning the Memphis Championship Wrestling Southern Heavyweight Championship.

Frazier, returning to the Viscera name, returned to the World Wrestling Federation — now renamed World Wrestling Entertainment — in September 2004. His first appearance had him and fellow former Ministry of Darkness member Gangrel surprise and attack the one-time stable leader, The Undertaker, on behalf of John "Bradshaw" Layfield. After just two weeks on SmackDown!, however, he was moved to the RAW brand.

In his first three months on the RAW brand, Viscera mainly wrestled on RAW's sister show HEAT, only making sporadic appearances on the actual RAW show. He had his first major angle on the brand in April 2005 when he was aligned with Trish Stratus to take part in a feud against Lita and her (kayfabe) husband Kane. While they were working together, Viscera and Stratus were featured in a segment during which he attempted to "seduce" her, only to be rebuffed until he "took care of" Kane. That segment began a gimmick change for Viscera, who transformed in to "The World's Largest Love Machine"; he started wrestling his matches wearing pajamas and making overtly sexual gestures in the ring. He was also put into an angle where he was smitten with RAW ring announcer Lilian Garcia, and tried different tactics to seduce her every week. At the June Vengeance pay-per-view Garcia reciprocated, proposing to him in the center of the ring, only to get turned down and left in the ring crying when The Godfather arrived with a number of his "hos" to show Viscera what he would "be leaving behind" if he got married.

After the Lilian Garcia storyline ended, Viscera was paired with the like minded "ladies man" Val Venis to form the tag team V-Squared. They teamed together for nearly nine months, mainly on HEAT, and though their record could be considered respectable — they even challenged for the Tag Team Title on a few occasions — they never held the title. When Venis was put out of action with a (legitimate) injury in April 2006, Viscera went back to singles wrestling. His first storyline back on his own was an attempt to reconcile with Lilian Garcia, only to be interrupted and attacked by Umaga during his proposal. Two weeks later, when Garcia was (legitimately - accidentally) knocked from the ring apron by Charlie Haas, spraining her wrist the incident was worked into a storyline. Haas and Viscera began fighting over Garcia — after Haas apologized — and then both men turned on her and formed a tag team when she declared she only wanted to be friends. The team was split when Haas was put back together with Shelton Benjamin to reform The World's Greatest Tag Team.

On June 17, 2007, Frazier was sent from the RAW brand to ECW in the supplemental section of WWE's draft. Three weeks later he debuted on ECW's weekly television program completely repackaged as Big Daddy V, a powerhouse "hired gun" character in the employ of Matt Striker.

Update:
August 9th, 2008: Big Daddy V has been released from the WWE.

Nelson Frazier, Jr. / Big Daddy V / King Mabel / Mabel / Nelson Knight / Viscera

2007-07-19T16:34:00.001-05:00

Nelson Frazier, Jr. (born February 14, 1972) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring names Mabel and Viscera. He is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment wrestling on its ECW brand under the ring name Big Daddy V.

Throughout his career he has held championships in a number of promotions, including the top titles of the United States Wrestling Association off-shoots Memphis Wrestling and Memphis Championship Wrestling, and the World Wrestling Council promotion of Puerto Rico. He's also held the Hardcore and World Tag Team titles of World Wrestling Entertainment, the company where he's spent the bulk of his career.

Frazier began his professional wrestling career under the ring name Nelson Knight, comprising the team The Harlem Knights with his partner and kayfabe brother Bobby. The team wrestled in the United States Wrestling Association and the Pro Wrestling Federation (PWF), winning the PWF Tag Team Championship on two occasions, before being signed by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in July of 1993.

Upon coming to the WWF the Harlem Knights went through a gimmick change. Nelson (Frazier) became Mabel, while his "brother" became Mo, and they were given a rapping manager named Oscar. Together the new team, dubbed Men on a Mission, was introduced to the WWF audience through vignettes, which was fairly standard practice at the time, that attempted to get the team across as three African American men trying to make a positive change in inner city neighborhoods — hence the team name. The group, constantly clad in purple, debuted as solid faces, in the tag team division, and held the Tag Team Championship once, but only for two days.

In 1995 Mabel and Mo turned on and attacked Oscar, becoming heels. As a heel, Mabel began wrestling more as a singles wrestler and was pushed to a win of the King of the Ring tournament in May, with Mo acting as a manager.

Now King of the Ring, Mabel was addressed as King Mabel, with Mo similarly having his name changed to Sir Mo for his full time role as manager. Distinctly enough, during his tenure as King of the Ring, Mabel had a championship belt designed and created by belt creator Reggie Parks proclaiming the wearer to be "King of the Ring". As the World Wrestling Federation has never created a belt for the King of the Ring winner, Mabel's belt is one of a kind. For becoming "King", Mabel received the (then-) traditional WWF Championship match at August's SummerSlam, but did not get the title. Following that loss, he became involved in the Yokozuna versus the Undertaker feud, taking turns dropping legs across the Undertaker's face with Yokozuna until they (kayfabe) fractured his orbital bone following a match. Two months later, the Undertaker defeated King Mabel in a Casket match at the December 1995 In Your House: Season's Beatings pay-per-view in what turned out to be the last major event appearance for Mabel (and Mo) in the World Wrestling Federation for two years.

For December of 1995 and the first part of January 1996, Mabel took dual bookings with the World Wrestling Federation and the Puerto Rico based World Wrestling Council. In WWC, he engaged in a feud with Carly Colon, during which the Universal Heavyweight Championship was "held up" following a match between the two of them before Mabel won the championship and held it for a month.

He was released from the WWF in early 1996 and spent much the next two years in Tennessee wrestling for the United States Wrestling Association, which went through a number of changes during his stay to become Memphis Championship Wrestling and Memphis Wrestling. While there, he captured the top title twice.

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Jimmy Wang Yang

2007-07-18T10:59:00.000-05:00

James Eas Yun (born May 13, 1981) is a Korean-American professional wrestler. Yun is best known for his work in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as one-third of the Jung Dragons, Yang, and the independent circuit as Jimmy Yang. After a brief stint as Akio, a henchman for Tajiri in late 2003-early 2004, he returned to the WWE in 2006 on the SmackDown! brand as Jimmy Wang Yang.

In June 1999, Yun signed with World Championship Wrestling (WCW), making his WCW television debut in January 2000. He was originally a part of the Jung Dragons stable along with Jamie-San and Kaz Hayashi. In late 2000, when Jamie-San unmasked and left the group, forming a tag team with former 3 Count member Evan Karagias, the team of Hayashi and Yang feuded with Karagias and Jamie until the WWF purchased WCW.

In March 2001, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) acquired Yun's contract and assigned him to the company's Heartland Wrestling Association developmental territory. With no plans to call him to the main roster, the WWF eventually released Yun.[citation needed]

After his brief stint as a WWF developmental talent, Yun agreed to join All Japan Pro Wrestling where he wrestled as both a part of its tag team division and its singles junior heavyweight division.

In September 2003, following a stellar match with Tommy Dreamer on Sunday Night Heat, Yun was signed to a three year developmental deal with the renamed World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). He, along with the Japanese-American Ryan Sakoda, made their WWE debuts on October 19, 2003 at WWE No Mercy. Yun was renamed Akio (a reference to legendary Japanese wrestler Mr. Saito) and aligned himself with Sakoda, forming the heel tag team Kyo Dai (Japanese for "brothers"), the henchmen of the actual Japanese wrestler Tajiri.

Sakoda was eventually released from WWE, Tajiri was traded to RAW and Yun was left on his own to become a lower card wrestler and Velocity mainstay, competing primarily in the cruiserweight division until he was released on July 5, 2005.

After being released from WWE Yun wrestled in Ring of Honor (ROH), debuting on October 1, 2005, at the New Yorker Hotel in Manhattan, losing to James Gibson. He lost once again the following night to Christopher Daniels and again two weeks later to Roderick Strong, causing him to (kayfabe) take some time away from the company.

He returned to ROH in January 2006 where he recorded his first win in ROH, teaming with Matt Sydal and Jack Evans in the Trios Tournament, although the team were ultimately defeated by The Embassy. Yun stayed with the company for several months, wrestling as Jimmy Yang and using the same martial arts based persona he adopted in WCW. His entrance music was the theme from the spoof martial arts film The Last Dragon, and he even brought in the film's star Taimak (referred to in his appearances as 'Bruce Leroy', the name of his character) to help him in a feud with Embassy member Jimmy Rave.

In May 2006, Yun made a return to WWE, as Akio, on an edition of HEAT, working as a jobber in a try-out match with Charlie Haas. This match impressed the WWE and they would re-sign him once more.

Beginning with the August 25, 2006 edition of SmackDown! vignettes began airing featuring Yun dressed as a babyface cowboy and calling himself Jimmy Wang Yang. In the vignettes, Yang questioned why people would assume stereotypical Asian things about him while proclaiming that he was much more of a redneck, and that was something he was proud of. The vignettes played for several weeks with Yang focusing more on his redneck leanings, until the September 29 SmackDown! when he made his in-ring debut in a loss to Sylvan, who illegally used the ropes for leverage to get a pin and had a feud with Sylvan. Weeks later, on November 3, Yang debuted his valet, Amy Zidian, though she was released from WWE just a month later.

In December 2006, Yang feuded with Gregory Helms over the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. Yang challenged Helms for the Cruiserweight title and lost to him on Armageddon. Later, he participated in a Cruiserweight open at No Way Out for the Cruiserweight title. In early 2007, Wang Yang would begin a feud with Chavo. On June 15 edition of Smackdown, Wang Yang finally became the number 1 contender for the Cruiserweight Championship, after feuding with Cruiserweight Champion Chavo Guerrero for almost two months. He later teamed up with Shannon Moore to Defeat Daivari and Jamie Noble in a Tag Team Match. At Vengeance, Yang lost to Chavo after a Frog Splash. On the July 6th edition of SmackDown, Yang faced off in a match against Chris Masters which he eventually lost. After the match, The Great Khali came and attacked Yang. On July 13, Yang was defeated by Finlay and attacked by Hornswoggle post-match.

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Chris Benoit family's 'drug cocktail'

2007-07-17T18:13:00.000-05:00

Chris Benoit family's 'drug cocktail'

Wrestler Chris Benoit had a cocktail of drugs in his body when he murdered his wife and son, and even his seven-year-old son tested positive for anti-anxiety pills.

Benoit killed his wife and son, placed Bibles next to their bodies and then hanged himself on the cable of a weight machine in the family home.

According to Associated Press (AP), investigators have confirmed Benoit's body contained elevated levels of testosterone, as well as the anti-anxiety drug Xanax and the painkiller hydrocodone. However, he tested negative for alcohol.

Benoit's seven-year-old son Daniel was found to have Xanax in his system when he died, AP reported, and the wrestler's wife, Nancy, also tested positive for prescription drugs.

She had Xanax, hydrocodone and the painkiller hydromorphone in her body, according to AP.

full story here:
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22093823-2,00.html

technorati tags: raw, wrestling, smackdown, pro wrestling, pro wrestling blog, ecw, wwe divas, tna, pro-wrestling, news

Spinning the Chris Benoit Tragedy to Protect the WWE & Vince McMahon?

2007-07-15T16:04:00.000-05:00

Spinning the Chris Benoit Tragedy to Protect the WWE & Vince McMahon?
By Jack Kramer
Jul 15, 2007

A toxicology report on Chris Benoit still has not been released. The spin however continues its daily onslaught. As the debate rages many are saying that former wrestlers friendly to the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) are spinning to protect the organization and its leader Vince McMahon. I'm not certain that is a fair assessment.

full story at:
http://www.nationalledger.com/artman/publish/article_272614739.shtml

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Chris Benoit Conspiracy Theories Frustrate Investigators

2007-07-08T14:20:00.000-05:00

Chris Benoit Conspiracy Theories Frustrate Investigators
By Josh Hart
Jul 8, 2007

Did Chris Benoit really do what police have said? There are still some that believe that the very popular wrestler may have been the ultimate victim and that someone else ended the lives of Nancy, Daniel and Chris. Police say that he is the one and that he did it over a three day period. Others wonder when World Wresting Entertainment (WWE) found out about the tragedy and why if they knew, they continued with a three hour tribute about the man Vince McMahon would later call a monster.

full story at:
http://www.nationalledger.com/artman/publish/article_272614596.shtml

see also:
http://conspiracycom.blogspot.com/2007/07/chris-benoit-conspiracy.html

technorati tags: raw, wrestling, smackdown, pro wrestling, pro wrestling blog, ecw, wwe divas, tna, pro-wrestling, news

Chris Benoit: Investigators Reconstruct the Last Hours Inside the Home

2007-07-07T15:30:00.000-05:00

Chris Benoit: Investigators Reconstruct the Last Hours Inside the Home
By Jim Roberts
Jul 7, 2007

An investigative team has claimed to uncover the real story of what happened during the last hours inside the home on the tragic weekend that superstar wrestler Chris Benoit of the WWE allegedly killed his wife and child. Investigators have told American magazine The National Enquirer that they have reconstructed in detail how they believe the horror unfolded in the Benoit's once-peaceful dream house-resulting in the death of Chris’ wife Nancy, 43, and son Daniel, 7.

full story here:
http://www.nationalledger.com/artman/publish/article_272614579.shtml

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Chris Benoit's Family Secrets In "People" Magazine

2007-07-06T17:33:00.000-05:00

Chris Benoit's Family Secrets In "People" Magazine
Last Update: Jul 6, 2007 3:43 PM
Posted By: Travis Bard

This week, "People" takes a look at the life of wrestler Chris Benoit and reports new details on his suicide and double murder that claimed the lives of his wife Nancy and son Daniel.
Fayette County investigators released new details of the crime scene to "People" on July 2: Daniel, with what were described as old needle marks on his arm, was found in his bed in his pajamas with his stomach down and head turned to the side; he suffered internal damage to the throat but no sign of trauma around his neck.

full story at:
http://www.myeyewitnessnews.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=9703b59a-1699-46ea-9f01-09a34f7cadbc

technorati tags: raw, wrestling, smackdown, pro wrestling, pro wrestling blog, ecw, wwe divas, tna, pro-wrestling, news Chris Benoit,Daniel Benoit,Nancy Benoit

Chris Benoit Case Messier, Steroid Cover Up Question for Vince McMahon

2007-07-05T11:58:00.000-05:00

Chris Benoit Case Messier, Steroid Cover Up Question for Vince McMahon
By Josh Hart
Jul 5, 2007

The case of a wrestler that killed his family seemingly gets messier by the day. World Wrestling Entertainment performer Chris Benoit killed his wife and son and now the fallout continues with charges of a cover up. Poor Vince McMahon, the fingers are all pointing at him and the WWE. Is that really fair?

full story here:
http://www.nationalledger.com/artman/publish/article_272614540.shtml

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Experts downplay ‘roid rage’ factor in Benoit murder-suicide

2007-07-04T00:12:00.000-05:00

Experts downplay ‘roid rage’ factor in Benoit murder-suicide

Even though his personal doctor prescribed massive amounts of anabolic steroids to wrestler Chris Benoit, domestic violence experts are downplaying the possible role of steroids in his murder-suicide death.

Steroid usage has been linked to angry outbursts called “roid rage” and depression when usage stops. But in the case of Benoit, who killed his wife and 7-year-old son over a two-day period during the weekend of June 24 before committing suicide on a third day, they see a pattern of premeditation.

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WWE statement on Benoit

2007-06-27T16:47:00.000-05:00

World Wrestling Entertainment is stunned and saddened by the details released by local authorities concerning the double homicide-suicide involving Chris Benoit, his wife, Nancy, and his son, Daniel.

However, WWE is concerned with the sensationalistic reporting and speculation being undertaken by some members of the media following the press conference held by the Fayette County Sheriff's Department and the District Attorney. During the press conference, the investigating authorities made the following points, all of which run contrary to the media speculation that "roid rage" was a factor in the senseless murders and suicide:

full story at:
http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/6966376

technorati tags: raw, wrestling, smackdown, pro wrestling, pro wrestling blog,chris benoit, pro-wrestling, news

WWE: Dave Taylor

2007-06-06T13:38:00.000-05:00

David Steven Taylor (born May 1, 1957) is an English professional wrestler currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment wrestling on its SmackDown brand. He also worked as a trainer for the Deep South Wrestling (DSW) professional wrestling promotion, a subsidiary of World Wrestling Entertainment.

A third generation wrestler, Taylor was trained by his father Jack and grandfather Eric. After winning several awards as an amateur wrestler, Taylor made his professional debut in the late 1970s under the ring name Dave "Rocky" Taylor.

Taylor eventually joined All Star Promotions, and defeated Dave Finlay for the All-Star British Heavyweight Championship in King's Lynn on June 4, 1991. He held the title for two years before losing to Tony St. Clair on May 4, 1993 in Croydon. After St. Claire vacated the title in 1995, Taylor entered a tournament for the belt, and defeated Marty Jones in the tournament final in August 1995 in Croydon. His second reign lasted until 1996, when he was defeated by Marty Jones in Croydon

In the early 1990s, Taylor began wrestling for the German Catch Wrestling Association. On December 21, 1991 in Bremen, he and Chris Benoit defeated Franz Schumann and Miles Zrno for the CWA Tag Team Championship. They vacated the titles in June 1992 after Taylor suffered an injury and Benoit left the CWA to compete in Japan. Taylor won the CWA Tag Team Championship on a second occasion on July 18, 1993, teaming with Miles Zrno to defeat Larry Cameron and Mad Bull Buster. Cameron and Buster regained the titles on October 24, 1993 in Hanover.

In the mid 1990s, Taylor travelled to the United States of America and joined the Atlanta, Georgia-based World Championship Wrestling promotion. Taylor, renamed Squire David Taylor, formed a stable with Lord Steven Regal and Earl Robert Eaton known as the Blue Bloods. After Eaton (an American) left the group, Taylor and Regal feuded with him. Taylor continued to team with Regal until Regal was fired from WCW in 2000, at which point Taylor also left the promotion.

In 2001, Taylor joined the World Wrestling Federation, acting as a trainer and wrestler in the Heartland Wrestling Association, a subsidiary of the WWF. Taylor eventually left the WWF after they asked him to relocate to Cincinnati, Ohio, where the HWA was located.

In May 2002, Taylor, William (formerly Steven) Regal and Dave Finlay opened the Atlantan Blue Bloods Wrestling Academy, a professional wrestling school.

On April 7th, 2004 Taylor made an appearance in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling as a mentor/coach of Team Britain during the America's X-Cup Tournament.

In February 2005, Taylor came back to the UK for a three weeks with Brian Dixon's All Star Wrestling where he responded to some comments made by "The Highlander From Hell" Drew McDonald.

Taylor was hired by WWE in January 2006 to train wrestling students at Deep South Wrestling in McDonough, Georgia. On March 23, 2006, Taylor returned to the ring in DSW to once again team with Wiliam Regal.

On the October 20 episode of SmackDown!, Regal announced that Taylor would be joining him on the brand. The two debuted the same night against the team Scotty 2 Hotty and Funaki, and picked up the win after dominating their opponents. Though the pair reformed their previous tag team, Regal and Taylor would not reuse the Blue Bloods gimmick instead portraying themselves as sadistic fighters. However, the team was quickly put into jeopardy in their second match together when Taylor suffered a torn meniscus in his left knee leaving him injured. Taylor took a more relaxed role for a couple of weeks as a corner man for Regal and only wrestled a few short house shows matches. Taylor would quickly heal from his injury and the pair went on to feud with Paul London and Brian Kendrick in the hunt for the WWE Tag Team Championship.After defeating London and Kendrick on several occasions, at Armageddon 2006, they would go into a Tag Team match which would turn out as 4-way ladder match adding MNM and the Hardy Boyz, with London and Kendrick coming out on top.

After WrestleMania 23, Regal and Dave Taylor began a feud with Kane when after a match between Kane and Dave Taylor, Taylor and Regal attacked Kane. The Boogeyman soon joined the feud as Kane's tag team partner. On the May 25 edition of Smackdown!, Regal and Taylor competed in a number 1 contenders match for the WWE Tag Team Championship against Brian Kendrick and Paul London which they lost when Deuce 'N Domino interfered, making both competitors the number 1 contenders.

Taylor is married to Lisa Wynn Taylor, with whom he has a daughter, Natalie. Dave also has an adult daughter in England, from a previous marriage.

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