WRESTLING GLOBE NEWSLETTER
EDITION NUMBER 3
5TH MARCH 2001
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IN THE WRESTLING GLOBE NEWSLETTER THIS WEEK
LATEST NEWS - HEYMAN FOR RAW TONIGHT
JAP ATTACK
EDDIE GILBERT CAREER PROFILE - PART ONE
T & A (Trivia and Answers)!
WRESTLING HUMOUR - HULK HOGAN SUES SATAN
PLUS, EXCLUSIVELY FOR GLOBE SUBSCRIBERS, OUR INTERVIEW WITH INDEPENDENT WRESTLING STAR, RECKLESS YOUTH!
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LATEST NEWS - by Matt Singh and Andrew Evans
Without a doubt, the biggest story of the week is Jerry Lawler and his wife Stacey Carter quitting the WWF. As the story goes, both had a meeting with WWF suits before last weeks Smackdwon taping, in which Carter was fired, and this prompted Lawler to quit the company. It was also rumoured that Lawler did not have a contract with the WWF, but it seems as though he has at least two years left on his current deal, and what actually happened was that he had not signed the contract extension handed to him around 3 months ago.
Rhino, Yoshihiro Tajiri and Jerry Lynn should all be making their WWF debuts soon, either before or at Wrestlemania. Gangrel and a few other bottom tier WWF performers will likely be released from their contracts in the near future. Shawn Michaels will probably have a role at Wrestlemania, although it’s very doubtful he will perform in-ring.
JUST IN! Raw Is War tonight should tell us more on ECW's long term future as Paul Heyman is reporting as appearing on the show by a number of extremely reliable sources including 1wrestling.com, PWTorch.com, wrestlingobserver.com and ECWWrestling.com, so keep your eyes peeled for developments there. The main reason for him appearing is to substitute for Jerry Lawler as colour commentator, but he may also announce the cancellation of Sunday's ECW Living Dangerously PPV as well.
WCW
Johnny Swinger worked a match on last weeks Nitro, which was just a trial. Management were pleased with his efforts and he may be offered a contract in the near future. EZ Money should be on Thunder teaming with Scotty O as a replacement for Jaime Knoble in the Cruiserweight Tag Team Tournament.
A table, ladders and chairs match has been added to the FWA event in Bolton, England on the 21st of April, as Stunning Stuart Fury will battle Bas Van Kunder.
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JAP ATTACK - by Martin Walton
The biggest bombshell of course is the preliminary meetings between the advisors of New Japan and Mike Tyson about a possible shoot fight in the future. Zach Arnold reports that despite what Tyson’s camp is saying, negations are taking place with Antonio Inoki about a possible fight around June with three names in Naoya Ogawa, Kazuyushi Fujita and Don Frye being lined up as possible opponents. Tyson’s camp doesn't want any of Frye and have made it clear that they would only face Ogawa if the match had a worked finish. Tyson is asking for around $45m although New Japan and Inoki in particular want Tyson to accept an offer of around $35m. Although that may seem a huge figure, remember that New Japan could raise that money through the gate from the Tokyo Dome, PPV sales in Japan through SKYPERFECTV and American PPV company ShowTime which has Tyson under contract.
Scott Hall made his long awaited debut for New Japan this weekend, he teamed up with Scott Norton, Satoshi Kojima and Hiroyoshi Tenzan to lose against the team of Manabu Nakanishi, Yutaka Yoshie, Yuji Nagata and Kensuke Sasaki in the main event of a big spot show in Nigata, which drew a great sold out crowd of 3’800.
Shinya Hashimoto's Zero-One (New Japan really) ran their super show at the Tokyo Sumo Hall on March 2nd drawing a sell out crowd of 11,000 for a huge gate of $1.4m. In the main event, the team of Mitsuhara Misawa and Jun Akiyama defeated Shinya Hashimoto and Yuji Nagata when Misawa pinned Hashimoto with a release German suplex. This booking was very strange since the general feeling was that Akiyama would get the win as he’s going to be pushed as Pro Wrestling NOAH’s top star during the summer months since Kobashi will be out for the rest of the year. In other major results from the show, Takao Omori and Yoshihiro Takayama defeated Alexander Otsuku and Tatsuhito Takaiwa and Kazunari Marukami defeated Shinjiro Otani by referee stoppage. Overall the show was said to be solid but let down by the weak under card.
New Japan announced the line up for its upcoming Osaka dome show on 4/9 over the weekend. The major matches line up like this:
1) Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Masa Chono vs. Taiyo Kea, Jinsei Shinzaki and Keiji Mutoh
2) Kazuyushi Fujita VS "Mystery opponent"
3) Yuji Nagata VS Manabu Nakanishi, in a number one contenders match
4) Kensuke Sasaki VS A "mystery opponent" from the shoot world
5) Riki Choshu VS Toshiaki Kawada
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WHAM!
For ECW fans in the UK - the essential web site to get all your ECW videos is Wham! Videos at:
All the latest ECW PPV events and a back catalogue of ECW commercial event videos from 1994 onwards are available. It's ECW - it's Hardcore - it's Wham!
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EDDIE GILBERT CAREER PROFILE PART ONE - by Martin Walton
Real Name = Thomas Edward Gilbert Jr.
Legitimate Height = 5'9".
Legitimate Weight = 195lbs.
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Eddie Gilbert grew up in the wrestling business, his pro wrestling father Tommy Gilbert was a big star in Tennessee and Kentucky and he would often take Eddie and his brother Doug on his weekly road trips throughout Tennessee during the summer months. In addition to this, Eddie ran a local wrestling newsletter and often worked as a photographer at the Memphis mid-south Coliseum. During this time, the top star in the area was Jerry Lawler and as a result Eddie grew up idolizing Lawler and his life time ambition was to be the top star in Tennessee.
After leaving high school in 1979, Eddie fulfilled his ambition and immediately started wrestling after being put through some training sessions with his father. Eddie originally started off as a low-level jobber working on the regular Saturday morning TV show as well on the regular Monday night Memphis mid-south Coliseum show. After a few months learning the ropes, Eddie started teaming with his Dad and the two soon left Memphis for a spot in Leroy McGuirk's Oklahoma territory. The two soon settled in and captured the regions Tag Titles and were immediately a big hit. Eddie soon drifted away from his father and formed a team with Ricky Morton, straight away catching the eye of several promoters throughout the south. It was at this point that Eddie and Ricky went back to Memphis and were pushed into a feud with Tojo Yamamoto and his team of Mr. Onita and Mr. Fuchi (Atsushi Onita and Masa Fuchi). Their rivalry peaked in 1981 when the two teams clashed in the legendary 2nd Tupelo concession stand brawl which resulted in carnage as the two teams brawled throughout the arena including a stop at the concession stand where the two teams brawled amongst ketchup, mustard and soup. This match was seen by the big promoters in the States and Vince McMahon Sr. offered Eddie a spot on the WWF roster in 1982.
Although promised a big push, it never came and Eddie was back in his old role as a jobber on TV tapings often tagging with Curt Hennig. However, just when things couldn’t get any worse, they did. Eddie was involved in a serious road accident on his way back to the hotel following a TV taping in Allentown, PA. Doctors told him that he would never wrestle again due to injuries to his neck and spine. Eddie ignored the advice and soon recovered, and then went back to Memphis for a few weeks until Vince McMahon Sr. contacted him again claiming that he had a good short-term spot for him. McMahon was soon to be proved as a man of his word as Eddie was brought back as the protégé of the then WWF World Champion, Bob Backlund. This all led up to an angle where the Masked Superstar injured Gilbert by delivering a swinging neckbreaker on the concrete floor during a TV taping which was the perfect set up for a number of Backlund VS Superstar matches.
Following this, Gilbert was hot property and was in demand by a number of promoters. However, the lure of a good spot back in Memphis was just too much for Eddie.
Eddie’s return to Memphis resulted him being brought back as Tommy Rich’s partner in a new version of Jackie Fargo’s Fabulous Ones (the original Fabulous Ones had just left the area for Florida). Despite a big push and weeks worth of hype, the new team were a big failure as the fans saw the two as a cheap rip off of the original team. In early 1985, the main promoter of the area, Jerry Jarrett, decided to split the group up after a few months and it was decided that Eddie was the one that was going to turn heel which resulted in one of the most famous heel turns of all time. It all came about when the team was voted tag team of the year in the territory and even though the team had already split up, Gilbert and Rich came out to accept the award. Eddie started bad mouthing Rich in the ring which resulted in Rich attacking him and leaving him in a pile of blood pleading for mercy. Gilbert immediately apologised for his actions and made up with Rich after literally being destroyed by Rich only moments before. Then in a split second, Eddie backstabbed Rich and split his head open with a cowboy boot which resulted in that angle becoming one of the most famous Memphis moments ever. Eddie was a great heel and took on Jimmy Hart as his manager. He soon broke free of his feud with Rich and moved on to a feud with the area’s top face, Jerry Lawler. This was a dream come true for Eddie as of course his lifetime ambition was to wrestle Jerry Lawler. The two feuded throughout the latter end of 1985 until the big blow off match which resulted in Jimmy Hart being forced to leave the area. At this time, Eddie was suggesting booking ideas to Jerry Jarrett and was developing a reputation for being a very creative guy behind the scenes. This reputation brought him to the attention of UWF/Mid South owner Bill Watts who ran shows in Louisiana, Oklahoma and Mississippi and in late 1985, Bill Watts offered Gilbert a spot as assistant head booker for the promotion, which would mean Eddie would be the second most powerful person in the organisation.
Eddie was soon a fit in the promotion and went on to set up his own stable which consisted of the Blade Runners (Sting and the Ultimate Warrior), Rick Steiner and Missy Hyatt. Eddie and Missy grew close and the two eventually married in 1986. After doing such a good job with the promotion in 1986, Vince McMahon Jr., son of Vince McMahon Sr., offered Eddie a great spot as a manager in the flourishing World Wrestling Federation. However, Gilbert had signed an exclusive contract with Bill Watts, which meant he was unable to take up the offer. So, Gilbert did everything in his power to get Bill Watts to fire him including changing match finishes and arriving late for shows. To counter this, in the fall of 1986, Bill Watts offered Gilbert the head booker spot. This was the position that Eddie craved for and he didn't take much time in accepting the job offer. He immediately booked the most famous ever angle in the history of the Mid South territory, as he had by now taken a trio of Russians under his wing (Nikita Koloff, Ivan Koloff and Krusher Korchenko), and the four jumped Bill Watts at a TV taping, draping a Russian flag over his body which almost caused a riot in the arena, and it would result in Eddie becoming the hottest heel in the southern states. All of Eddie’s good work counted for nothing by 1987 when Bill Watts sold the territory to Jim Crockett Promotions due to escalating costs that Watts couldn’t cope with. Sensing the writing was on the wall, Gilbert quit the promotion and took a month off to rest nagging injuries from the car wreck in 1983 which by now had really caught up with him...
LOOK OUT FOR PART TWO NEXT WEEK!
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T & A (Trivia and Answers!) by Andrew Evans
1. Who gave Peter Polaco the name, "Justin Credible"?
2. The IWGP Title was first won in which year and by whom?
3. Which wrestler formed the "Zero-One" promotion in Japan?
4. Who did Dino Bravo win his only WWWF / WWF Tag Team Title with?
5. Name the first two men to play the Tiger Mask gimmick.
6. Dean Malenko and Eddie Guerrero wrestled to a draw in their last ECW match at which event?
7. What is Jerry Lawler's middle name?
8. The name "Rhino" was given to Terry Gerin by whom?
9. What is the name of the Dynamite Kid's autobiography?
10. What is Jushin Thunder Liger's real name?
ANSWERS ARE GIVEN AT THE END OF THE NEWSLETTER!
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WRESTLING HUMOUR - by Marc Lessard
Hogan Sues Satan for Breech of Contract
Yesterday evening, it was learned that ex-WCW World Champion, and president of the Rogaine fan club, Hulk Hogan, has filed a $1 billion law suit against the prince of darkness himself, Satan.
Sources say that the bickering began when Satan promised Hogan a life of no-selling for his soul. Hogan apparently accepted at the time, and Satan brought himself out of the deal recently, causing Hogan to be fired from WCW.
Hogan himself was quoted as saying, "I can't believed I trusted him, but the life of no-selling is so promising. There is nothing more that gives me a rise than holding young people down in their careers are making them look like wusses in front of the millions and millions of Hulkamaniacs out there, brother!"
The court date is set to be held sometime in the near future. Satan himself will be unable to go to the court date, but his right-hand man, Vince McMahon, will be there accordingly.
WARNING: THIS IS PURELY HUMOROUS, MEANING, A WORK OF FICTION.
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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH RECKLESS YOUTH by Martin Walton
Note that the questions are in this text and Reckless Youth's responses are in dark red.
First off Tom, what are your thoughts about your time under a development deal with the WWF for the last couple of years?
I was only on a 1 year development deal with the WWF. I signed in September of 1999 and the deal ended in September of 2000. During the first few months I felt good about it and believed that it would only be a matter of time before I went to TV. The longer I was in Memphis and the lack of interest the WWF had in that territory, I began to start to get frustrated. When my deal was about to end and they still had no interest in me, I felt it was useless to resign.
I understand you were at one time set to be introduced as the manager of Lo-down, any truth in this rumour?
D'Lo and I grew up together and are very good friends. He suggested that idea as a way for me to be able to come up to TV. The idea never got that far with respects to me in that spot.
What attracted you to wrestling as a kid?
David Crockett. I know that sounds strange but bare with me. I always loved to watch wrestling but the WWF didn't attract me to wrestling the way David Crockett pulled me into the NWA. He brought me so deep into the storyline that there were times that I wanted to jump off the couch and clothesline the TV. There isn't a wrestling buff that doesn't talk about the "NWA Glory Years" or the "old" NWA. Right in the center of that was David Crockett commentating in such a way that you would pop for a broom if that's what he wanted to get over.
How did you get started in wrestling?
I had a group of friends that were "backyard" wrestlers which included D'Lo Brown. We got in touch with Larry Sharpe and he let us rent his ring. We rented his ring once or twice a month for about 4 years. One day he asked if we wanted to work on one of his shows. We had to sell so many tickets which would go toward a down payment to his wrestling school and the rest was history.
Was your first match any good?
I thought it was surprisingly good for my first professional match. It was about 8 minutes, very basic, but told a good story and the crowd seemed very entertained.
You were often called the "King of the Independents" in your earlier days, was that a difficult title to live up to?
I have Dave Prazak to thank for that title. A group of northeast Indy wrestlers, including myself, were doing an invasion angle in a Midwest independent known as NSWA. During an interview segment, our manager Dave Prazak referred to me as the King of the Independents. Shortly after that it was all over the internet and in many wrestling sheets. It quickly became a source of grief, not from the fans, but from many Indy wrestlers. I always thought it was funny that the most angered wrestlers were the guys that wrestled once a month around the counter from their house while I was traveling ALL over the country at my own expense to get my name out there. What was more difficult than anything was that it took something I enjoyed and made it a stressful job.
The Indy scene is notoriously tough, how tough was it financially and physically?
If you wrestled around the counter from your house once a month it wasn't that tough at all. I drove 16 hours for $7, paid $300 for a plane ticket and got a $25 handshake, worked 5 days week for 3 months in a boxing (not wrestling) ring, I bruised, sprained, fractured, and concussed myself and kept wrestling. I lost time from family, friends, and loved ones. One year I made $800 wrestling and spent $7,000.00. It's called "paying dues" and there are very few guys on the Indies or on TV these days that know anything about that. What I did may make me a superstar one day or it may not but I wouldn't trade it for anything. Wrestling is very tough but I love it too much to let tough stop me from wrestling.
Where do you see yourself in say, 2 years?
I can only hope that I'll be healthy enough to keep wrestling. I would like to be working for a major company so I could actually make a life off wrestling.
And finally Tom, why wrestling?
In 1995, everyone in and out of the business told me that it was a waste of time for me to even try to do anything in wrestling because I was too small. Now my family asks me for tickets to shows, my friends have me sign autographs in the magazines, and wrestlers ask me to help get them work. Finally, because I was hoping that David Crockett could've commentated one of my matches.
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TRIVIA ANSWERS by Andrew Evans
1. Bill Wiles / Bilvis Wesley. 2. 1983, Hulk Hogan. 3. Shinya Hashimoto. 4. Dominic DeNucci. 5. Satoru Sayama and Mitsuharu Misawa. 6. Hostile City Showdown 1995. 7. O'Neil. 8. D'Lo Brown. 9. Pure Dynamite. 10. Keiichi Yamada.
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