Wrestle-net Weekly News for April 12th, 2008

Welcome to Wrestle-net Weekly News for April 12th, 2008

First on behalf of myself and the rest of the WNWN Staff I would like to welcome all of our new readers from Wrestling Desres ! We will have more Raw and WrestleMania pictures next week, as the GFX and pictures combined could make the newsletter slow to load for some subscribers.

[b]GFX Art Of The Week
trew23


Akuma


FaithRiley



the 808



EdgeFan4



Trey Union


kittie


TiTcH


Carnage


[img]http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/1971/ricflair2zb5.jpg[/img]
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Video Of The Week, Credit Jaysen Platinum

Xtreme Intense Championship Wrestling (XICW)
Sunday, February 17, 2008

7 man Tag Team Gauntlet (Winners become #1 contenders for the XICW Tag Titles)

Team 1: The Cold Brothers (Ice & Stone)
Team 2: Malibu's Most Wanted (Jamie and DJ Malibu)
Team 3: "The Prettyboy Redneck" Levi Blue and "Tha Ghetto Superstar" Jaysen Platinum
(I have no clue why they teamed us up, I've been feuding with Levi for 3 years now and this match is no different, you'll all see what I'm talking about)
Team 4: The Motor City Wrecking Crew (Tony Tyson & James Havoc)
Team 5: The Bumpin Uglies (Josh Movado and Bubba McKenzie)
Team 6: The Psychos
Team 7: The Devil's Own (Devil Dogg & "Pitbull" Skull Gangz)

http://www.viddler.com/explore/KingProd ... videos/14/

ENJOY!!!

As promised, more Ric Flair Tibutes from our readers

By Jaysen Platinum
I was holding back tears because people are at work around me but here ya go!

When I first saw Ric Flair on television it was in July of 1986. He was cutting a promo with Tony Shiviane. What caught my attention the most about Flair was his suits and it just so happened that he was talking about his suit, his $700 shoes, his thousand dollar Rolex watch, and something about the month of July which we all know is the Great American Bash, that’s all I remember about that promo. Flair was the first wrestler I ever saw doing promos in a suit…well the IV Horsemen were the first wrestlers I’ve ever seen doing promos in a suit. It was something about Ric Flair that kept me a huge fan of his for 22 long years.

As I sit here and think, Flair is the first and only heel that I loved, because 22 years ago, when I was 8 years old, I was a big fan of WWF, and thanks to syndicated TV I caught UWF and the NWA and that’s when I started to watch Flair. As a fan of wrestling, or as we call it today “mark”, I marked out for all the baby faces, NEVER the heels, the only heels I marked out for was The Horsemen, it was a long time before I started marking out for heels, in fact the first heel I was a fan of after Flair was Shawn Michaels when he turned on Jannety, I remember that plain as day, I had a stomach virus and I was throwing up, but when I saw Shawn toss Marty thru that glass window, I never felt better.

I don’t know why I was a fan of Flair, he was the dirtiest player in the game, he pulled tights to win matches, he hit people with brass knuckles to win matches, he and his Horsemen beat the crap out of people when provoked and not provoked, why did was I such a big fan of his? I have no clue and I doubt I ever will, but I’m glad to have been apart of the Ric Flair era for the past 22 years.

In the NWA/WCW my favorite Flair match has to be the rematch against Ricky Steamboat for the World Title. Flair is the number 1 reason I watched NWA because I was a major WWF fan and when Bobby Heenan appeared on WWF television with Flair’s belt and claiming “The REAL World Champion Ric Flair” was coming, I was so excited, I couldn’t wait for his arrival. At that time I was tired of Hulk Hogan with the title so I was hoping Flair would come to WWF and beat Hogan. I remember going to the Survivor Series 91 where Flair caused Hogan the title against Undertaker. I remember making a sign on yellow poster board saying “THE REAL WORLD CHAMPION RIC FLAIR”. If you have that on tape or DVD you can see that sign on camera….well, I was sitting in the nose bleeds so all you can see is yellow cardboard. I felt like I was the only one in the Joe Louis Arena that was a Flair fan, he had the biggest heel pop of the night, I remember when he caused Hogan the title, intermission followed that match and I saw kids crying while I was laughing.

Its obvious Ric Flair was my favorite wrestler in the early 90’s. I followed his career from the NWA to WWF and for the short time he was there, I marked out heavily for him. I remember the Royal Rumble that took place the following January and I was at a family member’s house watching it on PPV. The winner of the rumble match would be the undisputed champion. Nobody believed me when I predicted Flair would win…NOBODY in that house. Maybe because they hated him and they wanted Hogan to win. When he came out as the 1st entrant I got scared…really scared…but when I heard Heenan say “HE CAN DO IT!!!” I thought the same thing but I was still worried, and when he tossed Hogan out with the help of Sid Justice, I jumped for glory while everyone else in that house just sad there with anger. Little did I know I would be angry three times.

1. When Flair lost the title to Randy Savage
2. When Flair lost the title to Bret Hart
3. When Mr. Perfect beat him in a “loser leaves WWF” match, sending him back to WCW

I wasn’t a happy camper when this happened, I really enjoyed Flair’s WWF tenure. But as a Flair fan I was, or still am, I followed his career back to WCW where he defeated Barry Windham to become the 10 time World Champion, something that wasn’t heard of, at least not to my knowledge. Not to mention the last 6 world titles he won in the last days of WCW.

When Vince McMahon bought out WCW and decided to kill it completely, the first thing I thought about was “is Ric Flair coming back to WWE?” When his music hit and he walked down that ramp I was excited to see him back because at that time I thought he was retiring. I wasn’t ready for him to retire, I wanted to see classic matches like Flair v.s Undertaker at Wrestlemania XVIII, Flair v.s Triple H “Last Man Standing” which took place here in Detroit, Flair v.s Triple H in a cage at Taboo Tuesday. But the fans of the wrestling world and whomever reading this don’t remember those matches stated, they sure as hell will remember Wrestlemania XXIV, Flair v.s Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair’s last match. Wrestlemania was exciting enough for me but predicting that Flair’s last match would be at the extravaganza, made it more exciting for me, I had to be there. Him also being inducted to the WWE Hall of Fame was mandatory for me to buy a ticket and be apart of too. I have to admit it was hard watching Flair’s match against Michaels and not have any kind of emotions, especially when Flair walked that aisle for the last time. Several times during that match I found myself cheering for Flair, hoping it wasn’t his last match, I still had some hope but that was crushed once Michaels nailed him with the super kick for the second and final time.

A couple weeks before I left for Florida, I bought a ticket to the Raw following Wrestlemania, and I’m glad I did because that was the best Raw show I’ve seen in the 15 years of Monday Night Raw. It was Flair’s very emotional retirement speech and farewell address. He stated that he would never wrestle again and we’ve all heard that from previous retired wrestlers, but this time I believe it. That was the saddest moment in wrestling for me to see the greatest of all time finally retire. Although Wrestlemania was very anticipating, it was also sort of dreadful. Flair paved the way for a lot of wrestlers including myself. He is the reason why I can call myself a wrestler, he is the reason why I go in the ring and bust my ass for very little or no money and not ~~censored~~ and complain about it. He is the reason why I broke my ankle December 16, 2006 and went against my family’s will and made a comeback.

Ric Flair went out to that ring and gave 100% every night, not once did he give less than that. I am living my dream because of Ric Flair and for that, I felt I needed to take the time to write this in honor of him, I hope one day he gets to read this because he deserves every ounce of respect from me and everyone else involved in wrestling either actively, or just as a fan. And if he does get a chance to read this, in closing, I say thank you. WOOOOOOO!!!


By C-J

Ric Flair is truely the greatest wrestler of all time.His matches agianst Ricky Steamboat are true classics in every sense of the word and should be required study for any one male or female who wants to be a pro wrestler.I am honored to have seen him wrestle live twice.Thank you Ric Flair for all you have done for pro wrestling.

News Highlights

WWE To Institute New Concussion Awareness Program

Chris Nowinski's Sports Legacy Institute issued a statement this afternoon announcing that WWE will be instituting a new Concussion Awareness program. WWE superstars will be tested several times a year as part of the program. This is a really, really good thing for the company to be doing. A "wellness" policy in pro wrestling is incomplete without

Here's the official statement form the Sports Legacy Institute:

WWE STEPS UP TO THE PLATE

Chris Nowinski has heard from anonymous professional wrestlers in World Wrestling Entertainment that WWE management has instituted a concussion management program. At a mandatory meeting for all performers in early March WWE performers took a computerized neuropsychological testing protocol, which evaluates such things as memory, cognitive skills, and reaction time. They will be re-tested aggressively every 6 months to look for long term issues, as well as re-tested after suspected concussions to help determine when it is safe to return to in-ring action. Nowinski heard conflicting reports of whether or not any concussion education was provided along with the baseline testing. One current wrestler told Chris that if it wasn't for recent concussion awareness efforts by organizations like the SLI, he still wouldn't know what a concussion is or why he took the test.

Congratulations to WWE for taking a proactive step in protecting the health of their athletes. The Sports Legacy Institute is proud that the analysis they performed on the late WWE performer Chris Benoit's brain, which found extensive brain damage caused by concussions and other head trauma, directly led to this action. SLI believes efforts like these will help prevent events similar to the Benoit family tragedy of 2007 from happening in the future.

Upon hearing the news, Chris Benoit's father Michael Benoit said, "I think it's great. I think the industry has to embrace the medical science. If they don't take actions like this, they just care about the talent." SLI encourages other sports leagues to take similar measures to protect athletes, especially youth athletes, and is available at sportslegacy.org to help make it a reality.

WWE Diva Torrie Wilson Forced To Retire Due To Back Problems

WWE Diva Torrie Wilson teased that her in-ring career is likely over in a blog written on her Myspace.com account:

"My health is doing ok as far as back problems. I must say there are days that I wake up and ask myself why the heck I put my body through what I did the last few years but it's all worth it. I can never trade all of the awesome experiences that I have had in the WWE and of course all of the great lifelong friends that I have made along the way. I have been told by 2 back surgeons that I should never set foot in a wrestling ring again if I want to be moving around in a few years on my own. Pretty depressing if you ask me....I don't even have some awesome memory of what my last match even was or who it was with. Hopefully it was with Victoria and I beat her! (-: I guess everything happens for a reason for sure."

Wilson, who was in attendance at Wrestlemania XXIV, is working on a clothing line and is still doing WWE-related public appearances, heading to Japan the week of 4/17 to promote the company.

Angle Talks About John Cena's First WWE Match

TNA Champion Kurt Angle was interviewed this week by EagleTribune.com. One of the notable parts of interview was Kurt Angle talking about defeating John Cena in Cena's first televised WWE match:

"I remember he was really green," recalled Angle of Cena's first match. "He was really nervous that first night. My job that night was to make him look good. I was going to win, because I was the established guy and the company thought I needed to keep that momentum, but I wanted to make John look good. I set it up with him so I would win, but he would look better than me. He kicked out of my finisher, and I won with a quick pin."

Kurt Angle continued by praising Cena, recognizing his natural ability and work ethic. "I knew John would be special. I give him a lot of credit; he works so hard at it. He's a great kid, and when I worked him, we were on TV every week, but my job was to teach him, and he was a great learner. He's one of the guys in the WWE I still really respect. I'm proud of him, and I'm proud to say I helped him a little bit."

Samoa Joe Conference Call Recap

This afternoon TNA star Samoa Joe did a media conference call. The most newsworthy item discussed was Joe setting the record straight about his contractual status with TNA. Joe said his TNA contract does in fact expire soon and that he and TNA are currently "talking". He said "details still have to be worked out" and "hopefully it'll be over soon".

Thanks to Chris Johnson for this detailed recap:

- Joe was asked if Sunday’s match at Lockdown will be an MMA style match as Kurt Angle has said. Joe said he is going in there to win a pro wrestling match and nothing else.

- Joe said his contract status right now is up in the air. They are currently negotiating things and it will hopefully get done soon.

- He and Nash didn’t get along at first but over the last 4 or 5 months he has really grown to respect Kevin and thinks he has a great mind for wrestling.

- He wasn’t afraid of his spot when guys like Christian and Angle came in.

- His favorite TNA matches were with Styles and Daniels while his favorite match in ROH was with Kenta Kobashi.

- There is concern within the company that the fans may not take to them going in an MMA direction.

- Joe feels 100% that he and Kurt will have there best match yet on Sunday.

- Joe says a lot of his old injuries are now healed and he feels much better than he has in a long time.

- His contractual status has no barring on how hard he works in the ring and how much of himself he is willing to give for the product.

- Joe is very excited for the TNA video game and thinks it will be much better than the Smackdown vs. Raw series who he is not a fan of.

- Wrestlemania weekend in Orlando was a ton of fun for himself and worked out well for all three companies.

- If Joe does lose on Sunday he is looking into possibly working at Starbucks.

- The best advice Nash has ever given him is “Once your on top trouble always falls behind you”.

- He would love to go back to Japan and work for either NOAH or New Japan but with TNA’s busy schedule he has his hands full with that at this time.

- Broken ribs was the worst injury he has ever suffered.

- He said Dutch Mantell and The Bully have the two best mustaches in wrestling history.

- If he could have anyone in ROH history to face in TNA it would be CM Punk.

- Of the TNA guys he hasn’t worked with he would like to feud with Booker T.

- He thinks Kaz and Curry Man are currently the two most overlooked guys in TNA.

- He loved the Ric Flair sendoff and would have loved to work with him.

- When asked if he could ever see himself in WWE he said he doesn’t know but he is very loyal to TNA and he doesn’t want that to change anytime soon.

- He feels that TNA’s roster is talented enough that they don’t need to book all the gimmick matches that they do.

- Aside from his match he is most looking forward to seeing what Booker and Roode do on Sunday.

- Joe ended the call by saying "Go team Cage".


Hitman Bret opens his Hart

http://thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/ ... 027280.ece

[img]http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00467/Bret_Hart_Owen_Hart_467461a.jpg[/img]
FAMILY RESEMBLANCE ... Bret and Owen Hart wear matching casts in one from the album



By ROB McNICHOL

Published: 10 Apr 2008


BRET HART is quite simply a living legend of the wrestling business.


In the ring, he can lay claim to his catchphrase of being the best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be.


And outside of the squared circle, Bret is one of the most intelligent men you’ll ever meet.


In our exclusive interview, the former WWE champion opens his heart on the highs and lows of his personal life and grappling career.


Bret – who is set to release his warts and all autobiography Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling in the UK soon – was as honest with us as he is in the book.


So to find out more about Bret’s pain on losing his brother Owen, his favourite matches, the steroid scandal that is hurting wrestling and to read his thoughts on a possible return to the WWE, take a look at our in-depth chat with him below...


Hi Bret, thanks for taking the time out to talk to us. What’s been the response to your book so far?


I still haven’t heard a whole lot from people in my family. Some of my nieces and nephews, some of the younger generation of the Hart kids have all really liked it, but some of my brothers and sisters have yet to get back to me. I don’t know, maybe they are just slow readers!


The book, at times, can maybe be a little overwhelming. I think it’s hard for them to read it.


They are learning a lot about me and about how I saw the family that they didn’t know before.


Did you write everything yourself or did you have a ghost writer?


I wrote every word. I was always determined to do it my way. I even did my own hand-drawn cartoon on the inside of the book. I think everyone worked really hard to give me the book I wanted.


How difficult was it for you going through some of the more harrowing times in your life? Did you find it cathartic getting your feelings out there?


It was really cathartic for me. It was an outlet for me to let it all out and get it out of my system.


Especially after my stroke, I think the writing at the end of the book is very emotional. Probably because a lot of it was written not long after my stroke.


It was really good for me to put it all into words and to express myself. I’m really glad that I didn’t rush it.




HITMAN ... Bret in heyday



Yes, I believe it was quite a long-term undertaking. When did you first start putting it together?


I actually started the book, believe it or not, about a month before my brother Owen died.


I started to write then. I kind of stuck with that and kept going. It seemed like everything got harder and harder.


So many tragedies and so many things were to come that all happened one after another within a few years, including my stroke.


Do you think it’s helped the book in a way, then, that you were writing when your feelings were still so raw?


Well, by the time I got to writing about Owen, I was in the home stretch of the book. It took me seven years to write it.


A lot of people doubted that I could finish it.


I really bared my soul in that book. I let people walk in my shoes and I was very honest. I’m glad for the honesty. I know that sometimes being honest can be a double-edged sword. You can be too honest and hurt yourself, or you can be not honest enough and hurt yourself.


In my case, I just let you see what I’m all about. I’m pretty honest about life on the road and a lot of my own failings.


I think this is important if I am going to be a little judgmental about some of the characters in my life, like Vince McMahon or Shawn Michaels or whoever.




STAR NOW ... Hart on a visit to the UK in 2006



One of your most memorable matches was with your brother-in-law Davey Boy Smith at Wembley Stadium at SummerSlam ’92. You go into quite some depth about the match in the book, so I take it it’s a match which really stands out in your mind as being very important to you?


In a lot of ways it was maybe my greatest match of all time. It was always a match that, despite the fact that I came out of it on the losing end, I also knew when I lost that night that it was probably the match that got me the championship.


I was certain that my wrestling fans would only love me more after I lost, and they did. It was an overwhelming tide that landed me in the spot of being the champion.


I was perfect for the company. I was drug free, steroid free and it was critical that someone could prop up the company and could step up and wouldn’t drop the ball.


The steroid testing, much like it is right now, was a major news story that was really hurting the company in a negative way.


They were losing toy deals and merchandising deals, even commercials on television, so it was a critical time to find someone who could be the champion and centre everything around, and that was me.


Even now you can see that when I was champion, wrestling was steroid-free. I was steroid-free. Wrestling was a cleaner machine back then.


There was more harmony amongst the wrestlers in the dressing room. In a lot of ways it was the last truly great period in wrestling. The wrestlers were really content.


It’s now coming up to a year from the tragedy involving Chris Benoit. What are your feelings about it now? Do you lay any blame at anyone’s doorstep, be it Chris, the WWE, or wrestling in general?


Maybe because I’m so close to it, but I do feel there’s a link to multiple concussion injuries.


Anyone who is dropped on the top of his head, off the top turnbuckle, diving off the top rope every night for several years...


There’s a strong argument that the Chris Benoit that went off and killed his family that day was totally out of control. He’d lost his mind. I want to believe that.


I don’t think you can blame WWE any more than you can blame the post office when postal workers go crazy.


It just happens, people go crazy, people do crazy things. It just happened to be a wrestler, that’s all.


I don’t think it was steroids.




NO CARTOON ... Bret's book


The situation of steroids in wrestling has been opened up again by this though. Perhaps that may be something positive to take from that incident in the long run. Do you think that things will be solved more readily? Do you think the WWE are doing enough to eradicate the problem?


All I can say is that if the WWE really wants to eradicate steroids from wrestling, they can do it like they did before. Have legitimate testing and put penalties in place and take it from there.


I know that wrestling was drug free - at least the WWF was drug free. Ironically, it was the same week that they screwed me in Montreal that they screwed up the drug testing policy. From that point on, all these wrestlers got much bigger.


Moving back to great matches, a lot of people would argue that your greatest match was not with Davey Boy, but with Steve Austin at WrestleMania 13. Do you think that maybe had the same effect on his career that the Wembley match had on yours? That was the day that made him?


I think that, for both of us, it was definitely a defining moment. For Steve - yeah maybe, I hadn’t really thought about it like that before.


We were both great storytellers, telling the story so well. You can look at the emotion, the physical reality of that match.


I always compare wrestling to figure skating, you pick each other up, throw each other around. Steve Austin and I just worked really well together, really complimented one another.


The storyline on TV was that while you were taking time off he was calling you out, wanting to wrestle you. Was it a scenario based on real-life, that he asked to work with you? Or maybe the other way around; that you said “give me Steve Austin”?


We always had a great chemistry. I think that I was instrumental in Steve getting to the WWE in the first place.


I was always talking about him and saying “you should go get Steve Austin.” Right from the start we had great matches together.


Steve has always told me he learned so much. You know Steve was a bit erratic sometimes, a bit out of control, especially at the start of matches. I managed to calm him down, relax him under pressure, and after that he progressed even more because he had that composure.


It was Steve who inducted you into the Hall Of Fame, and looking back is that something you look back fondly on and are glad you did it?


I’m glad I did it, I’m my own worst critic but I thought I could have done a better job.


I was more nervous than anything, it was really hard to get up there in front of an audience.


It was really important to me not to lose my composure. I was worried what I was going to say, I had so much on my mind. So many people to thank. I’m happy with what I did but I think I could have done better.


Maybe in the future I’ll be able to induct my brother Owen or my father. I’ll be more composed then.






The only time we’ve seen you then on the WWE screen was a brief promo on the ‘Vince McMahon Appreciation Night’ in June. What was it that made you come back for that and is that the last time we’ll see you?


It’s the last time that I know of.


I don’t know why I did it. I guess I wanted to show that I could bury the hatchet, that I could have some fun with it.


I think at the time I was trying to get permission from the WWE for some pictures to use in my book.


I thought that if I didn’t do it or if I don’t show that I’m not going to co-operate I might not get them. I thought I could have some fun with it and not take it too seriously.


What if next year they give you a call and say there’s a special show on and they want you to do something again¿


I always tell them they can always ask. There’s no harm in asking. If I thought I could have fun with it, my whole attitude is ‘can I have fun with it’, you know?


I was in a good place, I’ve got my life here in Hawaii. I was at the gym, and I thought filming it would do the gym good.


The scary thing is that I didn’t realise it was going to be perceived that I was back in wrestling.


Finally Bret – Is there anyone in modern day wrestling who you watch and say, “I think I could have a hell of a match with him”?


I really like Kurt Angle. He’s the kind of guy I really wish I could have worked with.


I would have loved to have worked with Rey Mysterio, would have loved to work with Big Show.


There’s another guy I saw in the WWE that they haven’t done much with and that’s Dysktra. I thought he was really good.


I look at him and he reminds me of Steve Austin when I first saw him. I think he has a lot of talent. He could be a big star down the road.


And my nephew Harry Smith, in fact. It would have been lovely to wrestle him.


I try to help Harry all the time. Harry and I are pretty tight. I think I’ve helped him in terms of keeping his confidence up.


I try to give as much support to Nattie Neidhart, and my nephew Teddy Hart as I can. They all have a lot of talent.


I think I have a lot of advice to give.



Quotes Of The Week

"I don't have 30 days and 30 nights, to show you why all the hoochies say there's nothing finer than Scott Steiner, but all I need is one night to have your wife call me for the rest of her life, the big bad booty daddy, so this goes to all my freaks out there, Big Poppa Pump is your hook up, hollar if you hear me." -- Scott Steiner1`

"Why put off kicking somebody's *ss next week when I can do it right now." -- The Undertaker

"It doesn't make you bad losing to Rob Van Dam... it just makes you like everybody else." -- Rob Van Dam

"This leg will be known as Christmas, and this leg will be known as New Year's! So ladies, why don't you all come visit the Big Valbowski between the holidays?" -- Val Venis

"Win if you can, lose if you must, but ALWAYS cheat!" -- Jesse Ventura