Tag: pro wrestling

Has Pro Wrestling Popped Its Cork?

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

Why CM Punk Isn't AEW Champion: Injury and Backstage Fight Explained - CNET

I never thought I’d ever say this, but I’m afraid pro wrestling has gotten too silly for me.

I’m at a restaurant last night where they have a big screen on the wall, and it’s showing a wrestler getting interviewed in his home. That’s a new wrinkle. But otherwise it was the ordinary wrestling interview–“The title is mine! He’ll never dare to try to take it from me! Grrrwwfff! Ghaaaah!” Et cetera.

Uh-oh… The guy’s rival is at the front door with a sledge hammer. He breaks down the door. The wrestler’s daughter screams and runs away. The two behemoths start to battle it out in the living room. Wrecking the place. And the cameraman just keeps calmly filming it all.

Oh, please. You’d think the wise advice, “Don’t bring your work home with you,” would go double for pro wrestlers. Next thing you know, someone’s gonna get bushwhacked in the dentist’s chair. Or while grocery shopping at the Piggly Wiggly.

Bruno Sammartino, S.D. “Special Delivery” Jones, Nature Boy Buddy Rodgers–come back, guys, all is forgiven!

School Board Meeting Erupts in Violence

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

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You can always go to the school board meeting if the wrestling’s sold out.

All those school board meetings I had to cover as a reporter, and nothing like this ever happened…

During a public meeting of the Flint, Michigan, Board of Education–a finance committee meeting at the administration building–the board president attacked the treasurer, grabbing her hair and slamming her head on the table (https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/03/blood-bruises-flint-school-board-president-fired-choking-punching-treasurer-gets-control-150-million-covid-aid/). Killer Kowalski could’ve hardly done it better.

The board held a special meeting that night to expel the president. The incident was “not one of my highlights,” she admitted.

Why did the president attack the treasurer? The issue seems to be $150 million in state and federal “COVID aid,” and who on the board gets to control the money. Well, it’s a lot of money: I guess it stirred some passions.

But how does the Flint school district rate $150 million in aid? It’s only one of thousands of school districts. Are they all getting this kind of money?

As our government goes about plundering the public, thieves will occasionally fight over the division of the spoils. It sounds like that’s what happened here.

Memory Lane: Gorilla Monsoon

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

Just to show you that even pro wrestling is more tasteful than our politics, these days, here’s what happened in 1976 when Muhammad Ali, the world heavyweight boxing champion, took on the late Gorilla Monsoon (1937-1999).

Ah, Gorilla Monsoon! He was really Robert James “Gino” Marella from Rochester, New York, former NCAA wrestling star. But he hit it big when they billed him as the savage Gorilla Monsoon from the wilds of Manchuria. One of my high school friends attended a wrestling match at Temple Hall in Highland Park, NJ, and became sort of a kid celebrity when Gorilla Monsoon threw an autograph book right back in his face.

And then, with pro wrestling’s traditional penchant for the incredible, Gorilla Monsoon was transformed into a fan favorite, a gentle giant who had no difficulty at all, speaking English, and an all-around good guy.

The Muhammad Ali dust-up was hype for Ali’s coming bout with Japanese wrestler Antonio Inoki. What a hoot that was. But Gorilla never admitted that his meeting with Ali was scripted in advance. So maybe he did wipe up the mat with the champ–ya think?

My wife and I went to a lot of pro wrestling matches, way back when, and saw all the greats of the era. We don’t go anymore: an awful lot of artless zing, with slob appeal raised to a height that had to be seen to be believed (and enjoyed), has gone out of wrestling since then.

But we do have some memories that still tickle us to this day.