Pro Wrestling news and notes 1/31/07

By Art Shimko
shimko_7@hotmail.com

-- Pro wrestling news for 1/31...

-- From PWInsider.com: The wake for Douglas Gentry will take place at St. Christopher Church on Thursday February 1, 2007 from 9:30am to 10:30am.

St. Christopher Church
13301 Proctor Road
Philadelphia, PA 19116

After the wake there will be a church mass at 10:30am, followed by the funeral at Resurrection Cemetery on 5201 Hulmeville Rd, Cornwells Heights, PA 19020. Everyone will travel to the cemetery together from the Church. All wrestlers and fans are welcomed to join us.

Directions:
From New Jersey Turnpike/Pennsylvania Turnpike to St. Christopher Church:
1. Follow the New Jersey Turnpike to Exit 6.
2. Exit 6 turns into the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
3. Take Exit 351 on the PA Turnpike (US-1 S).
4. Make a slight right onto Roosevelt Boulevard.
5. Make a right onto Byberry Road.
6. Make a right onto Proctor Road.

From I-95 to St. Christopher Church:
1. From I-95 north or south take Exit 35 (Woodhaven Road).
2. Merge onto Woodhaven Road W.
3. Make a left onto Evans St.
4. Make a right onto Byberry Road.
5. Make a right onto Proctor Road.

-- Ring Of Honor's latest Video Wire features Samoa Joe's farewell to the ROH fans as he will be devoting more time to TNA and the indy dates the company has booked for him this year according to Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com. I remember seeing Joe winning the title from Xavier at the Murphy Rec in 2003 and then losing it to Austin Aries at Final Battle 2004, in between he had great matches with Dan Maff, Christopher Daniels, Bryan Danielson, Homicide, Kobashi, CM Punk and many others helping bring ROH to a level beyond the average indy promotion. Best of luck to Joe, it'll be nice to see him do a special one-off appearance down the road but it's cool to see him moving ahead. Here is a list of Joe's final dates and opponents:
-February 16th, Manhattan: Samoa Joe vs. Takeshi Morishima
-February 17th, Philadelphia: Samoa Joe vs. Davey Richards
-February 23rd, Dayton: Samoa Joe vs. Jimmy Rave
-February 24th, Chicago, Joe's United States farewell: Samoa Joe & Homicide vs. Takeshi Morishima & Nigel McGuinness
-March 3rd, Liverpool: Samoa Joe vs. Nigel McGuinness
-March 4th, Liverpool: Samoa Joe's final ROH match, opponent to be determined

-- Due to a widespread herpes outbreak in Minnesota, high school wrestling programs have been suspended until 2/6 following 24 herpes gladiatorum cases reported by 10 teams. The virus is spread through skin-to-skin contact leaving lesions on the face, neck and head.

-- RAW did a 4.1 and WSX scored a 1.0 rating which isn't bad considering TNA's highest has been a 1.1 and ECW has done a 1.5 lately.

-- There's an article in the Baltimore Sun about Stacy Keibler who appears on the George Lopez show at 8PM on ABC and also will be in a drama series titled What About Brian premiering on 2/12. Keibler says that WWE fired her she was appearing on Dancing With the Stars last year. "My lawyer was in the process of renegotiating my contract ... and they ended up firing me during Dancing With the Stars," Keibler says. "Then I got a call a day or two later saying they're not going to fire me, but they're just going to let my contract run out. I don't know why they decided not to use the term 'fired.'"

"I have a lot to thank Vince [McMahon] and WWE for because I wouldn't have been on Dancing With the Stars without them, but I was really surprised that they ended up firing me."

-- There's an article in the Boston Herald and on WHDH Channel 7 Boston's homepage about Marlborough indy wrestler Chris "The Skunk" Antal (no pun intended) pissing off Brazilians worldwide after footage of him urinating on the Brazilian flag for a storyline aired on the Sunday edition of Fantastico, a Brazilian tabloid show seen by 35 million people around the globe. The footage by Antal originally aired on his public access show Pro Wrestling Monthly, not sure of the impact this angle had locally but Antal can rest assure that he's a real-life heel in Brazil.

-- Spoilers from the TNA Impact tapings Orlando and the Smackdown tapings in Houston.

-- A Press Release from Cablevision: Cablevision and World Wrestling Entertainment Bring WWE 24/7™ On Demand to iO® Digital Cable Customers

-- Undertaker outlasts Michaels, champs retain at Royal Rumble

-- Consecutive Sellouts Start WWE(R)'s Road To WrestleMania(R)

-- Donald Trump Drops Cash on WWE(R) Fans

-- The Sky Sports Magazine is giving readers the chance to win a weekend in London with the stars of WWE

-- Life should be more like pro wrestling
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