Flair Leaves TNA UK Tour, Ventura Sues TSA

Courtesy: TNA Wrestling

A couple of quick news headlines in regards to wrestling legends Ric Flair and Jesse the Body Ventura.


Ric Flair Leaves Tour: 
Several wrestling websites are reporting that Ric Flair has left TNA's overseas tour.  The Pro Wrestling Torch reports that Flair asked for advanced payment from the tour manager.  When the manager refused, Flair reportedly felt disrespected and did not join the others on the bus from Ireland headed to Germany.


The company named this particular tour of Europe "Maximum Wooo!" in honor of the 16 time world champion.  


Again, these are online reports.  Not sure exactly what the situation is.  I haven't seen any official word from TNA via Twitter or their website.  I would assume cooler heads will prevail and we won't see Flair as a surprise entrant in the Royal Rumble Sunday, although I would mark out if it happened.


Jesse Ventura Sues:
This info comes from CNN.  They're reporting that WWE Hall of Famers Jesse "the Body" Ventura has filed suit against the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Safety Administration.  The suit alleges those pat-downs and full body scans going on at airports now violate Ventura's rights under the Fourth Amendment, which protects Americans from unreasonable searches and seizures.


Reportedly, the Body isn't seeking financial gain from the suit.  He just wants an acknowledgement from the court that his rights have been violated and a court order that would stop the government from subjecting him to the screenings.  


Ventura has a titanium hip and flies a couple times a week according to his attorney.

That's What He Said

Courtesy: WWE

One of the benefits of the vast library of archives Vince McMahon owns is that there are some really good DVDs out there to relive the past.  I'm a fool for old school, so whenever I have a chance to watch something from the 80's, I'll jump on it.  Mostly because it's something that I watched as a kid/tween/teen and want to see how things use to be.

Today as I was running on the treadmill with my "Best of Saturday Night's Main Event" DVD (thanks Chad) fired up, it really showed me the big differences between the mid to late 80's and the modern day product.  Of course, that doesn't take a genius (not Lanny Poffo) to figure out.

During today's workout session, I watched a best two out of three falls match between the Hart Foundation and the British Bulldogs.  The Harts were the tag team champs.  The Dogs won the first fall by DQ and the second by pinfall.  Of course, that meant no title change.

Obviously the big difference with that match and today's WWE is the fact that this was a tag team title match and it was not only something that was just rushed through or thrown together at the last minute, they were given a lot of time to tell a story in the ring.  Two falls worth in fact.  In my opinion the Bulldogs and the Harts were the best WWF tag team rivalry in the 80's.  I think a large part of that was because these guys had all worked together in  Stampede too.  (I'm currently reading Bret Hart's book)

Another factor that made this match work (and the original point of this post) was the men calling the match.  While I wasn't a big fan of Vince's work as a commentator, he and Jesse Ventura sold the fans the match in the ring.  They did that every time.  Yes, they'd argue with one another through the course of a match, but the focus was on the action INSIDE the ring.  Not like today when we here about the matches coming up later.  Or what's going to happen on the next pay per view.  Honestly a lot of times, you can watch a match on Raw or SmackDown! with the volume down, because it's either Michael Cole kissing up to the Miz or someone hyping the next pay per view.

The next match on the DVD was Honky Tonk Man vs. Randy Savage.  The one where Elizabeth gets shoved down to the mat and brings Hulk Hogan out and the MegaPowers form.  This time it was Bobby Heenan and Vince on the commentary.  And again, they stayed focus on the task at hand.  We didn't even hear Hulk Hogan's name until the man appeared on screen.

Watch Raw tomorrow night and count how many times the Miz is mentioned without being on screen.  Or Randy Orton or John Cena.  I promise if you pay attention, and go back and watch some vintage (sorry Cole haters) WWF footage you'll see the difference too.  Maybe this is just another Capt. Obvious post, but it's something that I guess I forgot about until watching some classic footage.

I understand it's a bigger business now and self promotion is the best way to get yourself over, (I'm quoting him again) as Gorilla Monsoon would say "Give me a break!"

A Salute to Wrestling Vets

Today is veterans day, so I decided to to dedicate this post to the men and women who serve our country.  I'm also having a little fun remembering some of the more memorable military wrestling characters, and others who were real life heroes.  Let's start with them.

He may not look like it in that picture or in any of his ring attire for that matter, but Jesse "the Body" Ventura was a member of the United States Navy for about six years.  This was during the Vietnam era.  Ventura was a part of the Underwater Demolition Team.

Of course the "Body" went on to have success in the ring and on the mic as an announcer before becoming the governor of Minnesota.

Thanks Jessie for your service.

The Road Dogg was more than just a member of the DX Army in the late 1990's.  He served in the United States Marine Corps too.  Six years to be exact.

Brian James was also a platoon sergeant during the first Gulf War in 1991.  He was responsible for 33 men during that conflict.

Thank you Road Dogg for your service to the United States.

Jesse Neal is a member of Ink, Inc. in TNA.  But before he hit the ring he was putting his life on the line for our freedom.

Neal spent four years in the United States Navy.  He was also on board the USS Cole in 2000 when it was attacked by a suicide bomber in Yemen.  17 sailors died that day, including Neal's best friend.  If you look close enough, Neal honored his friend's memory with a tattoo on his forearm.

After that experience, Neal suffered from post traumatic stress disorder.  He finished his service to our country and joined the ranks of professional wrestling.

Thank you Jesse Neal for putting your life in danger for our country and God bless your fellow sailors who died or were hurt that day in October 2000.

Thanks also to my friend Chad for pointing this story out to me.

Sgt. Craig Pittman served our country in the Marine Corps.  After his time there was done, "the Pitbull" joined the ranks of WCW.  He came in as a heel and feuded with the patroitic "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan.

Pittman's character in the company was a tough as nails kinda guy.  The storyline said he had left behind one of his men while serving in the Gulf War.  That man was Cobra and while he was abandoned, he learned to wrestle and made his way to Atlanta to sign a contract with WCW.

Crazy, right?  That's the fun of wrestling.

Pitmann would eventually turn face but never really achieved anything more than the midcard status.  He left WCW in the late 90's.

Thanks to Sgt. Pittman for serving our country.

Other real life veterans include the late Bryan "Crush" Adams.  He joined the military after high school and served in Japan.  That's where he also started training for a career in the ring.

Former ECW champion turned MMA Fighter Bobby Lashley served in the Army.

Sgt. Slaughter of course is probably the most memorable and most popular wrestling "veteran."  In the 1980's, while this country was at odds with Iran and Russia, Slaughter became America's hero.

He stood toe to toe with the evil Iron Sheik and his side kick, the big Russian brute Nikolai Volkoff.  Of course in that feud, the sarge was in charge.

His popularity lead to a G.I. Joe action figure and a cameo on the cartoon series.  That made Slaughter a real American hero as they used to say.

In 1990, something happened to Slaughter.  He returned to the WWF, but this time he was anti American.  It was the start of the Persian Gulf war.  Slaughter embraced Gen. Adnan (an Iraqi) as his manager and Col. Mustafa (the Iron Sheik) as his second.  He even won the WWF World title, but lost it to the company's resident patriot and all around do gooder, Hulk Hogan.

Of course this change of heart didn't last forever.  It was about two years later that Slaughter broke his ties with the villians and taped several vignettes proclaiming "I WANT MY COUNTRY BACK!"  If I remember right, a tear even streamed done his check.  In the years that followed, Slaughter retired and has come back from time to time to plenty of admiration and fan fare.

When Sgt. Slaughter left the WWF in 1985 or so, we needed a new hero.  So we got this guy, Corporal Kirchner.  He was no sarge.  That's for sure.

But I'm not going to knock the guy.  He resumed battles with Sheik and Volkoff, but ended up jobbing to them a lot more than Sgt. Slaughter ever did.

Probably the biggest highlight of his run in the WWF was a victory over Volkoff at Wrestlemania 2.  That was in a flag match, perhaps the first one ever.  I don't know about that.

When he left the company after a suspension over drug use, Kirchner changed his persona and became Leatherface.  He's wrestled off and on through the years and most recently was thought to have died.  WWE had written a statement on their website a few years ago memorializing the former superstar.  But Kirchner is indeed alive and well.

As I wrap this up, I decided to include the Misfits in Action.  Basically just so I'd have an excuse to post a picture of Major Gunns.  Sorry, it's true.

This band of mid card guys included GI Bro (Booker T), Gen. Rection (Hugh Morris), Lt. Loco (Chavo Guerrero), Cpl. Cajun (Lash LeRoux), and Major Stash (Van Hammer).  This was a lame gimmick I thought and of course it didn't last long.

The group started crumbling when Major Gunns turned her back (and her guns) on Gen. Rection and joined Team Canada.  Lt. Loco went loco a short time later and turned heel too.  That led to the demise of this group.  And with the expection of Chavo, you don't hear much about any of the others involved.  There's probably a reason for that.

So there you have it.  Some seriousness mixed with a little comedy.  My salute to the men and women who really do (and did) serve our country and to those who played veterans on TV.