Weekend Pro Wrestling/Mixed Martial Arts news and notes

By Art Shimko
shimko_7@hotmail.com

-- Ring Of Honor is back in Liverpool, England on Saturday evening, here's the info from their website:

Ring Of Honor
March 4th, 2007- 5:00pm belltime
The Liverpool Olympia
West Derby Road, Liverpool L6 9BY
Tickets will be available to purchase at the box office on the day of the event.
- Samoa Joe vs. Homicide w/Julius Smokes
- Fight Without Honor: Nigel McGuinness vs. Jimmy Rave
- Jay & Mark Briscoe challenge any team in Europe and they will defend the ROH World Tag Team Titles if they make it past Saturday in Liverpool with the belts.
- Roderick Strong & Davey Richards vs. Shingo & Naruki Doi
*if Shingo & Doi win the ROH World Tag Titles on Saturday they will put them on the line
- Falls Count Anywhere Match: BJ Whitmer vs. Jimmy Jacobs
- Matt Sydal vs. PAC
- Colt Cabana vs. Delirious
- Allison Danger & Sara Del Rey [SHIMMER]

-- Nigel McGuinness in it to win it

-- 23 markets including St. Paul; Nashville; Richmond, VA; Springfield, MA; Charleston, S.C.; Tallahassee; Tampa; Pittsburgh; Flint, MI and Baltimore may lose their CW affiliates and its programming which includes Friday Night Smackdown, all this because of negaotions between Comcast and Sinclair Broadcasting Group Inc. over retransmission fees that Sinclair wants for broadcasting CW's content. Sinclair threatened to pull the plug on the CW a few days ago but with negotiations going on the CW affiliates will remain on the air until 3/10. [sources: St. Paul Pioneer Press; The Baltimore Sun; and Mike Informer/www.pwbts.com]

-- Houston Curtis (CEO of Big Vision Entertainment) released a statement regarding the state of WSX on MTV, for now the show will not be canceled but the channel is taking WSX off its Tuesday night time slot. For now the four previous WSX episodes and WSXtra can be seen at wsx.mtv.com and MTV Video-On-Demand until it's decided when the next episode will air.

-- Bam Bam Bigelow's autopsy report concluded that lethal levels of cocaine and anti-anxiety drug benzodiazetine where found in his system when he died. Another contributing factor to Bigelow's death was arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease (narrowing of small blood vessels that supply blood and oxygen to the heart).

-- Frank Serpe will be replacing Michael Sileck as WWE's new Chief Financial Officer.

-- There's a Raw house show in Albuquerque at The Pit on Sunday, bell time 5PM. On 3/13 Smackdown at ECW are taping at the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton, N.J.

-- The Wrestlemania Fan Axxess tour will be at the King Of Prussia Mall (outside of Philadelphia) on 3/17 from 12PM-8PM.

-- Where Are They Now? Catching up with Smash

-- J.R.'s latest blogs are here and here.

-- Hulkster attends Anna Nicole's funeral.

-- IWC wrestlers Sterling James Keenan, Current IWC Tag Team Champions, Shiima Xion & Jason Gory and Justin Idol will be on next Saturday's CZW card.

-- Layin' down a Smackdown!

-- The tradition of Saturday night Atlanta wrestling

-- Summit Promotions on 3/16 at PULS8 Sport Centre on Gayton Road in King's Lynn, England featuring 'MexiMuscle', the crafty ring veteran and invading WAW star 'Rowdy' Ricky Knight, Flamboyant new star Danny Blaze and many more.

-- UFC takes place on Saturday night at 10PM EST on pay-per-view. We'll be hosting the lastest CARE/Jabronis preview here Saturday afternoon. Casey, Euan and myself did a podcast previewing the show.

-- UFC 68 odds:
- Tim Sylvia -275 vs. Randy Couture +215
- Matt Hughes -625 vs. Chris Lytle +425
- Drew McFedries +200 vs. Martin Kampmann -260
- Rich Franklin -500 vs. Jason MacDonald +350
- Jason Lambert +325 vs. Renato Sobral -425
- Rex Holman +235 vs. Matt Hamill -295
- Jon Fitch -325 vs. Luigi Fioravanti +250
- Gleison Tibau -260 vs. Jason Dent +200
- Jason Gilliam +325 vs. Jamie Varner -425

-- Chuck Liddell had some trouble during his appearance on WFAA's Good Morning Texas Thursday to promote the upcoming movie 300 and talk some UFC. Host Gary Cogill later on cut a promo on Liddell and talked about his experience interviewing a rough-looking Iceman. Liddell sent a text message to Sherdog.com expaining that he consumed Nyquil late the night before.

-- MMA fighter Eric Wray who trained with American Kickboxing Academy passed away Wednesday morning and was pronounced dead on arrival when taken to the hospital. No cause of death is known at press time. We send our condolences to Wray's family and friends.

-- Kazushi Sakuraba vs Jurij Kiselov, Melvin Manhoef vs Yoshiki Takahashi and Yoshihisa Yamamoto vs Katsuyori Shibata have been added to HERO'S 3/12 show at Nagoya Rainbow Hall. [www.sherdog.com]

-- Pennsylvania’s latest decision will help MMA, Next Level grow

-- Ohio Native To Headline UFC Event

-- Putting a Dent in Ultimate competition

-- Sumo wrestling to debut at Arnold Sports Festival
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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!

Pro Wrestling/Mixed Martial Arts media: 1/20/07

By Art Shimko
shimko_7@hotmail.com
-- Wrestling/MMA news/media today...

-- More press on the passing of Scott "Bam Bam" Bigelow:
- Pro wrestler Bigelow found dead (Asbury Park Press)
- Bam Bam Bigelow found dead (The Post and Courier)
- Former professional wrestler dies at home (New Castle News)
- Pro Wrestler Bigelow Dies at 45 (Bucyrus Telegraph Forum)
- Professional Wrestler Scott Bam Bam Bigelow Dies at 45 (Media Newswire)

-- An article in the Calgary Sun about the next generation of the Hart Family in professional wrestling, including Harry Smith, Nattie Neidhart and TJ Wilson in WWE developemental and Teddy Hart who is wrestling on MTV's Wrestling Society X TV show.

-- Audio recap of Chris Nowinski on NPR's All Things Considered from this past week discussing his book Head Games: Football's Concussion Crisis.

-- The New Haven Coliseum, which hosted many WWE live events, was imploded early this morning.

-- From Eric Gargiulo's website: The news is true and I regret to inform CZW fans that January's CZW broadcast was my last. Originally I was not even going to comment as I did not want to make a big deal out of it. I have decided to move on and I want to thank all of the fans, the wrestlers, and the entire crew for making the last 7 plus years some of the best. I may have had my ups and downs with some fans, but the emails and messages I have received over the last several hours have truly touched me. We (the fans and I) may not have always seen eye to eye on everything but anything I ever said or did was always with the best intentions for CZW. I wish CZW and the boys nothing but the best for the future.

-- New Fight Opinion show is online.

-- Stewart Allen reviews Shimmer Vol. 6 on www.f4wonline.com.

-- Brazilian group raises a stink over Marlboro’s ‘Skunk’

-- CMLL (FRI) 01/19 Arena Mexico Results [ova, El Alburero de Box Y Lucha Forum] (www.thecubsfan.com/cmll)
1) Mini Olímpico, Último Dragoncito b Mini Damian 666, Mini Halloween
2) Dark Angel, India Sioux, Luna Magica b Amapola, Princesa Sujei, Rosa Negra
3) Averno, Ephesto, Mephisto b Felino, La Máscara, Sagrado
4) Blue Panther, Maximo, Negro Casas b Eclipse, Olímpico, Sangre Azteca
5) Atlantis, LA Park, Ultimo Guerrero DQ Dr. Wagner Jr., Shocker, Universo 2000

In the main event, LA Park faked a foul from Shocker and got the call for the win. Park worked oppisite Shocker most of the match, not Wagner despite his insertion into this match.

-- From www.puroresupower.com: (All Japan) Weekly Pro reports that Akebono & The Great Muta will work All Japan's 2/17 Tokyo, Ryogoku Kokugikan event.

-- Local fighter David "Do Or Die" Derby rolls with all kinds of fights: on, off, in and out of the ring.

-- Sylvia will show no mercy

-- Maine-iac says fight will be a Natural disaster
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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!

Bam Bam Bigelow passes away (WWE.com)

By Art Shimko
shimko_7@hotmail.com

I found out at work today that Bam Bam Bigelow died, sad to see yet another pro wrestler from our generation pass away so soon, again in his forties like his contemporaries who've passed on as well. Bigelow was a big part of my wrestling watching as a kid, I was amazed at how agile a huge man could be. Rest in peace Scott, hope you're in a better place now. WWE's report is below...


http://www.wwe.com/inside/news/bambampasses

Bam Bam Bigelow passes away

WWE.com has learned that former WWE Superstar Scott "Bam Bam" Bigelow has passed away in Florida.

Kevin Doll, the Public Information Director for the Pasco County Sheriff's Office confirmed that Bigelow was found dead early this morning in his home in Hudson, Fla.

"We can confirm that Scott Bigelow was found in his home this morning. At this time the cause of death is unknown," Doll told WWE.com.

Doll also confirmed that the Pasco-Pinellas Counties medical examiner has taken the body and an autopsy will be performed.

Bigelow, 45, worked for WWE, ECW and WCW extensively throughout his 20-year sports-entertainment career. A former ECW Champion, ECW Television Champion and WCW Tag Team Champion, he is perhaps best known for his rivalry with Lawrence Taylor that culminated in the main event of WrestleMania XI in 1995.

Stay tuned to WWE.com as more on Bigelow's passing becomes available.