Pro Wrestling/Mixed Martial Arts news and notes 3/16/07

By Art Shimko
shimko_7@hotmail.com

-- Well two days ago it was 70 degrees here in the City Of Brotherly Love and today it's in the 30's with a shitty combination of rain, snow, sleet and slush. So with all this bullshit going down let's take a look at lots of news from the last few days...

-- Lots of national press on the passing of Ernie Ladd this past week including articles in The New York Times, The Orange Leader, The Washington Times and The Los Angeles Times.

-- SLAM! Wrestling: Arnold Skaaland dead at 82

-- CZW wrestler Andrew Gulak left a hilarious blog regarding someone naming him as the current booker for the company. CZW fans have been talking about the shitty booking the promotion has delivered throughout 2006 and are curious of who's been responsible. The CZWFans board has been interesting lately to say the least.

-- I was on The Dark Match with James Young Thursday night to discuss WWE's global expansion, Undertaker's Mania streak, Jeff Hardy and much more. James also had special guests Baby Doll and Timber. A great show that you can download here. Listen to The Dark Match with James Young and Wacko Bob every Thursday at 7PM EST.

-- Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com reports that WSX's season finalé which features an exploding cage match will not air this coming Tuesday and there's no definitive answer if it will ever air.

-- Ring Of Honor holds its biggest shows on Wrestlemania weekend in Detroit:
"All Star Extravaganza III"
Michigan State Fairgrounds & Expo Center "Michigan Mart"
March 30th, 2007- 8:00pm belltime
1120 W. State Fair Ave.
Detroit, MI 48203

Tickets are available at www.rohwrestling.com, by calling (215) 781-2500, or at www.tickets.com.

-The legendary Bruno Sammartino will be at the March 30th event only and he will be available for autographs!!!

Eight Man All Star Dragon Gate Rules Match
Austin Aries, Delirious, Rocky Romero, & Claudio Castagnoli
vs.
CIMA, Susumu Yokosuka, Dragon Kid, & Ryo Saito

World Tag Team Title Match
Naruki Doi & Shingo defend vs. Jay & Mark Briscoe

Former Partners Collide
Roderick Strong vs. Jack Evans

ROH vs. Dragon Gate
Davey Richards vs. Masaaki Mochizuki

Special Attraction
Christopher Daniels vs. Homicide

Anything Goes Mixed Tag Team Match
BJ Whitmer & Daizee Haze take on Jimmy Jacobs & Lacey
Four Corner Survival
Matt Sydal vs. Colt Cabana vs. Chris Hero with Larry Sweeney vs. Adam Pearce with Shane Hagadorn

Plus: Nigel McGuinness, Brent Albright, Pelle Primeau, Yamato Onodera & more!!!

"Supercard Of Honor II"
Michigan State Fairgrounds & Expo Center "Michigan Mart"
March 31st, 2007- 7:30pm belltime
1120 W. State Fair Ave.
Detroit, MI 48203

Tickets are available at www.rohwrestling.com, by calling (215) 781-2500, or at www.tickets.com.

Dragon Gate Rules Six Man Match Of The Year Rematch
CIMA, Shingo & Susumu Yokosuka vs. Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito & Masaaki Mochizuki

FIP World Heavyweight Title Match
Roderick Strong defends vs. Austin Aries

Steel Cage Match
BJ Whitmer w/Daizee Haze vs. Jimmy Jacobs w/Lacey

Fifth Year Festival Rematch
Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal vs. Jay & Mark Briscoe

Special Challenge Tag Team Match
Jack Evans & Naruki Doi vs. Davey Richards & the newest member of the No Remorse Corps

Grudge Match
Homicide vs. Brent Albright

Plus more with Delirious, Colt Cabana, Yamato Onodera, Nigel McGuinness, Chris Hero with Larry Sweeney, Adam Pearce with Shane Hagadorn, Pelle Primeau and more.

Please note that some matches for 3/31 will not be signed until after the happenings of 3/30.

-- Fat Frank Iadevaia assures his fans that JAPW will run its show in Rahway, NJ on Saturday despite the inclimate conditions in the Northeast. Go to Jersey All Pro's site for more info.

-- From an M.I.T. press release: "Good Ol' J.R." Jim Ross will be speaking to students on Wednesday, March 21, and Thursday, March 22, to share his thoughts on the growth of pro wrestling into a global phenomenon through his experience as one of the greatest wrestling announcers ever in the business, as well as his role in handling talent relations and business development for World Wrestling Entertainment® (WWE). Ross will share experiences from his many years in the television industry, as the wrestling industry has moved from TV syndication to cable to pay-per-view to prime time broadcast television, and now to digital media, including DVD, video on demand, the web and mobile phones.

His appearance will culminate in a lecture to students and the public in Room 4-370 at 5 p.m. on March 22 entitled, "This One's Gonna Be a Slobberknocker: A Q&A with WWE's "Good Ol' J.R." Jim Ross," moderated by Sam Ford, the class instructor.

-- Speaking of J.R., here's his latest blog.

-- Hunter gives his thoughts on Mania.

-- Great Khali will have a part in the upcoming Get Smart movie which also stars Dwayne Johnson, the movie will be out in Summer 2008. When asked to compare himself to his Mania opponent Kane on the big screen, Khali replied, “I am a much bigger star than Kane.” Shit, I wonder who had to translate for Khali.

-- Even though this has been the plan for some time now, WWE put out a press release stating the company will begin combining the RAW, Smackdown and ECW rosters for pay-per-views following Wrestlemania. This is in response to the low buyrates of the brand-specific pay-per-views last year and probably a way to compete with UFC's high buyrates.

-- WWE.com's Where Are They Now?: Catching up with Luna Vachon

-- You can recieve complimentary tickets to the premiere of Steve Austin's The Condemned movie from Ticketmaster. The premiere takes place at the Fox Theatre in Detroit on 3/30 at 8PM and you must be there no later than 7:30PM.

-- Rhodes, Bockwinkel, Hennig, Lawler & Mr. Fuji to WWE Hall of Famee3

-- Trump vs. McMahon made it on Sports Illustrated's site.

-- America Supports You: WWE Stars Come Out for Wounded Troops

-- Sgt. Slaughter will be at Riley Park in Charleston, SC on 5/16 for Military Appreciation Night.

-- An interview with Rey Mysterio during his tour of Mumbia.

-- Alex Marvez interviews Bill Goldberg.

-- Exposition Continues Without Wrestling Bear

-- Production Company Secures Film Rights to Pro Wrestling Legend’s Autobiography

-- Season 5 of The Ulimate Fighter premieres on Spike TV on 4/5 at 10PM EST, the coaches are Jens Pulver and B.J. Penn and the fighters competing will be: Allen Berube, Nate Diaz, Robert Emerson, Manuel Gamburyan, Brian Geraghty, Corey Hill, Joseph Lauzon, Gray Maynard, Brandon Melendez, Cole Miller, Gabe Ruediger, Marlon Sims, Noah Thomas, Andy Wang, Wayne Weems, and Matt Wiman.

-- Tryouts for TUF Season 6 take place on 4/10 at 8AM PST at the Palms Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, click here to download the application in PDF format and must be postmarked no later than 4/7.

-- Baltimore Sun: One-on-one with UFC's Tim Sylvia

-- From a press release for FightTV: MeTV Network, Inc. the niche Internet protocol television (IPTV) programming specialist, announced today that it has teamed with the IFC, one of the oldest and best regarded mixed martial arts promoters, and Fighting.com to launch “FightTV™”, a 24/7 mixed martial arts channel. FightTV shows some of the best fights from the biggest names in MMA including Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell, Tim Sylvia, Caesar Gracie, Jens “Little Evil” Pulver, Renato “Babalu” Sorbral, Anthony “Mad Dog” Macias, and Vladimir “The Janitor” Matyushenko. The channel contains countless hours of great, hard hitting fights. As an added bonus for viewers, for the first thirty days, FightTV™ will be entirely commercial free!

-- Five Ounces of Pain: Interview with Joe Riggs

-- Fights announced for Pride 34 on 4/8 at the Saitama Super Arena: SOKOUDJOU vs Ricardo Arona; Shinya Aoki vs Brian Lo An Joe; Makoto Takimoto vs Zelg "Benkei" Galesic.

-- Frank Shamrock's Razorclaws take on Bas Rutten's Anacondas Saturday night at the L.A. Forum beginning at 7:30PM PST.

-- SUN Sports & Entertainment Inc., the promoters of the Art Of War MMA show that took place last week in Dallas reported that the show grossed $500,000 and a profit of $150,000 which according to their press release the revenues from the 3/9 American Airlines Arena event 60% greater than the average revenues per match of the International Fight League according to the financial information in the IFLI S-1 filing of February 12, 2007.

-- Mixed martial arts sees spike in popularity
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