Pro Wrestling/Mixed Martial Arts news and notes 5/02/07

By Art Shimko
shimko_7@hotmail.com

-- Pro Wrestling/Mixed Martial Arts news and notes 5/02/07

-- Stanley Shenker, whose company provided licensing for WWE, and James K. Bell, a senior VP of licensing and merchandising in WWE, were both sentenced to prison in Bridgeport federal court for taking part in a kickback scheme that cost WWE $1 million. The sentencing that took place on Tuesday resulted in Shenker receiving 33 months in prison, three years of probation and owing $2.8 million in restitution to WWE and Bell receiving an eight-month sentence, three years of probation and must pay a $6,000 fine and more than $950,000 in restitution. Both men defrauded WWE when Shenker paid Bell close to $1 million between 1998-2002 and concealing the payments, and Shenker used fake invoices to write off the expenses when filing taxes. The fake invoices had stated that Bell had earned the money for consultation.

-- From WWE.com: Matt Cappotelli, former Tough Enough winner and Ohio Valley Wrestling Champion, underwent brain surgery today to remove a growing brain tumor. Doctors called the surgery a success.

-- Following a Raw house show at Freedom Hall in Johnson City, TN this Friday, an after-party will be held at Gatsby's with metal bands Down From Up, Seventh Seal, and Shadows Of Light performing. Admission is $7 and the bands begin at 10:30PM.

-- The Las Vegas Sun has an article on Mike Tenay discusses how he became interested in wrestling and also reveals that Tenay hit a milestone in his broadcasting career by appearing on his 2,000th wrestling show on TV recently. "I have considered every day I have been on TV a bonus," Tenay says. "I consider myself fortunate to have fallen into this job. But I don't think of myself as having been lucky. I was opportunistic. And when my time comes to leave, I hope I can be the gentleman Gordon Solie was."

-- The opening match for CZW's Tournament Of Death VI this June will be Necro Butcher vs. "Simply Marvelous" Mitch Ryder in a no rope barb wire match. The finals will be 200-light tube lumberjack match where the participants will have to go through the lumberjacks, retrieve the TOD trophy and bring it back to the ring.

-- Mike Quackenbush will be wrestling at ROH's 6/9 show in Philadelphia.

-- J.R.'s latest blog

-- Aspiring professional wrestlers, and their fans, live their dreams in Lawrenceville

-- Wrestling Reality power slams Shiretown

-- Wrestle-mania in Decatur

-- Ex-doctor reaches deal in steroid case

-- Tito Ortiz will be a special guest at an Armed Forces Day program at the Banning Armory [99 E. Ramsey St.] in Banning, CA on 5/19 where he'll speak at a ceremony and do a meet and greet with soldiers. The event begins at 9AM PST. "It is a privilege for me to be invited to this event," said Mr. Ortiz. "I try to support our troops in any way I can and will continue to do so. Whatever I do, however, doesn't even come close to what our guard and other soldiers do for us every day. My heart is always with the families of those who serve our country and especially with those whose loved ones have made the ultimate sacrifice."

-- Tito makes an appearance on MadTV this Saturday (11PM EST) where he'll be in a mock deodorant commercial.

-- Five Ounces of Pain: Conversation with Tito Ortiz, Part I

-- Sean Sherk on fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr. in an MMA match: I don't think that fight would last longer than a minute, to be honest with you. And I don't think he should be talking about something that he can't back up, because I'll fight him tomorrow. I literally would, if they called and asked me to fight Floyd Mayweather, Jr. tomorrow, it's done. He's not going to fight me though, and he's just running his mouth. I don't really respect that a whole lot."

-- Matt Lindland will be hosting the The Team Quest Northwest World Team Grappling Qualifying Trials on 5/19 at Olympia High School in Olympia, WA. 15 men and 12 women will qualify for the U.S. Grappling World Team Trials in Las Vegas on 6/8-6/10. From there wrestlers will advance to the World Wrestling Games in Antalya, Turkey on 9/7-9/9.

-- I.D. Systems, Inc chairman and CEO Jeffrey M. Jagid joined the IFL Board of Directors on Tuesday. Jagid, who joined I.D. Systems, Inc in 1995, became the company's CEO in 2000 and chairman in 2001.

-- An IGN interview with FL Battleground co-host and former Miss Georgia and 2005 Playboy Playmate of the Year Tiffany Fallon.

-- Mixed Martial Arts Coming to the Big Screen

-- Local promoter not keen to have King of the Cage come and 'invade his territory'

-- The Iceman looks to end UFC string of upsets when he meets Rampage Jackson
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note to webmasters/reporters: When recapping news or referencing commentary from this site please include a link to meanfilipine.blogspot.com as opposed to "Strong Style Shimko", "From The Mean Filipine Blog" or derivatives. Thank you~!

You can now receive up-to-the-minute updates from Strong Style Shimko in your email account through feedblitz.com by clicking this link.

You can also subscribe by going to meanfilipine.blogspot.com, scroll down the page and on the right side of the page you will see this bar:

Enter your email address in the white bar, press the "Subscribe me!" button and you should begin receiving Strong Style Shimko articles and updates in you inbox.

Note: you may have to check your spam inbox for these updates and mark them and "not spam" in order to receive the emails in your regular email inbox.

Again, we here at Strong Style Shimko: TheMeanFilipineBlog thank you for your continued support~!