The Custom Made News Report 01.13.08

Posted by Ryan Byers on 01.13.2008

The Rock may be headed to Wrestlemania, news on John Cena's future plans, Charis Harris' career opportunities examined in-depth, and another unfortunate passing in the wrestling community.

Welcome, one and all, to the Custom Made News Report for January 13, 2008. We're two weeks out from the Royal Rumble, which means that we're two weeks out from the beginning of the Road to Wrestlemania. That's a very busy period for most of us who write for the site, and I'm definitely enjoying the downtime while I can. Of course, don't think that means that I'm slacking off here, as I've still got plenty of thoughts on the latest news from the squared circle.

All the Stuff from Stamford

Rocky to Wrestlemania?

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter is reporting this week that WWE has been in contact with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson about getting the former Great One to make an appearance during Wrestlemania weekend. There has not been any talk of Johnson wrestling on the sport's biggest event of the year. Instead, the role that WWE has in mind for Rocky would be an appearance at the company's annual hall of fame induction ceremony. He would most likely be used to induct his father Rocky Johnson and his grandfather "High Chief" Peter Maivia in to the hall. No agreement between the two sides has been reached yet, but we do know that there was a time last year at which Rocky Johnson was being considered for an induction, only for the plan to fall through when the Rock's filming schedule prevented him from attending the ceremony.


Dwayne Johnson

A few different thoughts popped in to my head after reading this story. The first is that I'm not entirely certain what WWE hopes to accomplish by having the Rock present at the hall of fame ceremony. It is true that the event is being held in a rather large stadium this year, but one would think that between the bevy of wrestling fans who will already be in the area for Mania and the legends who will no doubt be lined up for induction that WWE would not need the Rock's help to pack the venue. Furthermore, it's not as though the hall of fame ceremony rakes in tons of revenue for WWE side from their live gate. Granted, the past two years have seen one hour of the ceremony broadcast on the USA Network, but, with WWE getting next to no ad revenue from commercials sold on Monday Night Raw, I can't imagine that they would be profiting all too much off of television specials either. The only possible rationale that I can see for WWE pursuing Rock for the ceremony would be to convince him to also appear on Wrestlemania the next evening, which could no doubt get a few extra fans to purchase the event on pay per view if properly promoted. Of course, WWE would have to be careful with such an appearance. If they provide too much hype for a Dwayne Johnson cameo only for him to come out and wave to the crowd a couple of times, they run the risk of destroying a lot of goodwill with their viewers. If WWE's goal is ultimately to promote the Rock as appearing on Wrestlemania, they need to be certain that they can convince him to at very least cut a promo, as otherwise fans would view the moment as a letdown.

There's also an additional issue to address in conjunction with this story. I can already see a group of wrestling fans lining up to complain that Rocky Johnson and Peter Maivia do not belong in the WWE Hall of Fame and that they're only getting in because of their famous relative. This seems to happen every year, as certain individuals within the wrestling community anoint themselves the hall of fame police, attempting to shout down the candidacy of everybody that they personally feel doesn't "belong." Every year that this has happened, I've tried to deliver the same message to these individuals, and I will do it one more time this year: Shut up. First of all, if you honestly believe that Peter Maivia doesn't belong in a professional wrestling hall of fame, you need to hit the books and brush up on some history, because the man was a major star in numerous territories throughout the 1960's and 1970's. He was also the individual who inspired an entire generation of Samoan wrestlers to get involved in the sport, meaning that his influence has lasted for many decades after the peak of his career. Granted, Rocky Johnson is probably more of a "borderline" candidate, but what you have to understand is that the WWE Hall of Fame never has been and never will be about making sure the absolute best in the history of either the company or the sport are inducted. If that were the case, Bruno Sammartino would've been in the hall's first class fifteen years ago, and Vince McMahon, Sr.'s chauffeur wouldn't have been inducted in 1994. Given that we're never going to get a one hundred percent "legitimate" hall of fame from the company, we may as well all sit back and enjoy the annual induction for what it is: An opportunity to honor individuals who have made sacrifices in their careers, their family lives, and their physical health to entertain us. Whether they were the most popular or the best in their profession is irrelevant. Virtually any wrestler has made sacrifices in at least one of those fields for no other reason than the entertainment of fans, and I will welcome any opportunity to honor one of them.

Cena to Go 12 Rounds

The fine folks over at PWInsider.com have published a story which states that shooting of the next WWE Films project will begin on February 25. The movie is entitled 12 Rounds, which stars John Cena as a detective who attempts to rescue his kidnapped girlfriend during Mardi Gras. (Mmmm . . . Marine-y.)

It will be interesting to see how WWE treats this film. Obviously the theatrical run of The Condemned was a flop from both a business and a critical perspective, although the movie did wind up making a fair amount of its losses back in the DVD market. After that picture, it appeared that WWE Films had decided to focus its efforts strictly on direct to DVD releases. However, I would assume that if there is one wrestler WWE would trust to deliver the goods at the box office, it is Cena. This is because The Marine, the company's prior John Cena vehicle, did the best business of any of the three WWE pictures. Many individuals (including yours truly) speculate that this is because The Condemned's Steve Austin is not seen as a star by many of the younger fans currently watching professional wrestling, while See No Evil's Kane is barely a blip on the radar of the current WWE landscape.

Whatever the reason for Cena's past success and whatever WWE's plans are for 12 Rounds, I don't think that the filming could have begun at a more convenient time for the company. Obviously Cena is currently recovering from a major muscle tear, which means that he is unavailable for WWE television programming. If he is capable of filming scenes despite his injury, it would be best to get those scenes taken care of while the former Heavyweight Champion is still recuperating. This minimizes the time that filming would keep Cena away from WWE TV once he is healthy. (Many fans will recall that Cena had to be put "out of action" with a worked kidney injury for several weeks while filming The Marine.) Given that Cena is consistently one of the promotion's top pay per view and house show draws, they cannot afford any more John Cena absences than are absolutely necessary.

Kafu to WWE

In a story that has largely flown under the radar here on 411mania, independent promotion All Pro Wrestling announced earlier this week that one of its wrestlers, "Brazilian Beast" Kafu has signed a developmental deal with World Wrestling Entertainment. The wrestler has one key attribute that WWE always looks for in its signees, namely size. The Beast stands at a legitimate 6'4" and clocks in at over 250 pounds. He also brings two full years of experience on the California independent circuit with him to developmental, and he has had one prior opportunity to work for WWE as an enhancement talent. That match was broadcast over the internet on the March 2, 2007 edition of WWE's Heat program, and it can still be watched here.

Kafu's initial training came from the All Pro Wrestling Boot Camp, and his signing with WWE continues the APW school's proud tradition of preparing its students to compete at a high level. A young wrestler named "Marvelous" Matt Hyson was one of the school's first successful graduates, as he was recruited by ECW to play a character by the name of Little Spike Dudley. A few years later, fellow Boot Camp alumus Erin O' Grady would sign on with the WWF and adopt the persona of Crash Holly. Despite Hyson and O' Grady's success, many professional wrestling fans did not become familiar with the APW school until the release of the 1999 documentary Beyond the Mat. In that movie, APW owner Roland Alexander was shown accompanying two graduates of the school, Michael Modest and Tony Jones, to a WWF tryout. Jones, despite being a very good wrestler, never progressed much beyond the California independents, but Modest earned a WCW contract shortly before the death of that company. He, along with fellow Boot Camp graduates Donovan Morgan and Bison Smith, would eventually become regular foreigners on tours of Pro Wrestling NOAH, the most popular wrestling promotion in Japan. Since that time, the school has also given the wrestling world female sensation Cheerleader Melissa and was responsible for breaking in current SHIMMER Champion Sara Del Rey (though Del Rey would go on to become a much more well rounded competitor in Los Angeles' Inoki Dojo).

The Word from Dixieland

The Wild-Cut

If there's been one name on the lips of internet wrestling fans this week, it's been Chris Harris. The Harris discussion began on Thursday, when wrestling website Gerweck.net reported that the former NWA Tag Team Champion had signed with WWE. Unfortunately, the people who began feverishly discussing that report forgot to take in to consideration one important fact that EVERY fan who follows such stories on the world wide web must remember: If you found it on Gerweck.net, it's probably either an outright falsehood or a wild exaggeration of a true story. However, the false Gerweck report became so widespread that eventually legitimate news sources had to respond to it. Both PWInsider and the Wrestling Observer noted that Harris was still under contract to TNA, which would make signing with WWE impossible. The two sites did note that Harris had very little time left on his TNA deal, though it wouldn't be until the next day that we realized just how little time there was. It was on Friday that TNA Wrestling officially confirmed through their website that Chris Harris was no longer with the company.

Of course, the natural question to ask at this point is, "What's next for Chris Harris?" Unfortunately, in the current professional wrestling landscape, he doesn't have that many options. Obviously WWE would be the first choice of many professional wrestlers in this situation, as it provides its talent with the most pay and worldwide exposure. This would irrefutably be the best choice for Harris and his career, though one has to wonder if it would be the best choice for fans who enjoy seeing the Wildcat featured as an upper card wrestler who has very good matches week in and week out. Harris is not an individual who works the typical WWE style of match, and the promotion would most likely require that he conform to their standards upon receiving a job. In the past, we've seen that some highly experienced wrestlers who are not nearly as adept at the WWE style as they are others (see: Punk, C.M.), which has resulted in their bouts not being nearly as entertaining in the E as they were elsewhere. Furthermore, there are certain aspects of Harris' game outside of the ring that may not fit in with WWE conception of a top level wrestler. Despite all of his talent in the squared circle, Harris is not the best promo in the world, which would hurt him. Combine that with the prominent gut that has been spotted on Harris in his last several TNA outings, and one begins to wonder whether the man who was at one time pegged as the breakout star of America's Most Wanted would really do all that well in World Wrestling Entertainment.

So, what should Harris do with his career if he doesn't sign a WWE contract? I know where I would like to see the Wildcat go, although it's a bit of an unconventional selection. I think that, if they will have him, Chris Harris should sign on the dotted line with Ring of Honor.

I feel that a relationship between Harris and ROH would be mutually beneficial for the two parties. First of all, though I'm not going to pretend to be privy to Harris' financial situation, I would not be surprised if an ROH deal, indy bookings, and a foreign tour or two could come close to equaling the pay that he was receiving in TNA. Furthermore, the aspects of Harris' game which are likely to be seen as liabilities in WWE will not matter nearly as much in ROH. The promotion isn't nearly as concerned with aesthetics as their competitors, meaning that any changes in Harris' body would likely be ignored. Plus, ROH has a better track record of hiding mens' weaknesses on the mic, either putting poor promo cutters in to roles where they don't need to speak or are given a partner who can talk. On top of that, chances are very good that the promotion wouldn't ask Harris to alter his in-ring style in any way . . . and it is Harris' style that I think would be beneficial to ROH.

The Wildcat's best matches have all be fairly old school, Southern-style brawls. Granted, he integrates a few more modern wrestling moves in to those matches, but the bulk of what he has done in the ring against the likes of the Disciples of the New Church, Triple X, and even against his former partner James Storm looks like it came right out of the glory days of Memphis' Mid-South Coliseum. Meanwhile, Ring of Honor's cards have recently been home to some insane brawls, but they've been brawls of a different sort . . . brawls that are not nearly as safe, with many wrestlers suffering concussions and various other injuries. Despite the fact that they may not contain nearly as many eye-popping moves, the best brawls in which Harris has been involved are just as good as the best brawls in which members of the ROH roster have been involved. Bringing him in to the mix and allowing him to introduce the somewhat safer Southern style of street fight to men like the Briscoe brothers and the Necro Butcher could go a long way in saving the promotion the hassle of wrestlers constantly being concussed.

Additionally, I'm not the only person who follows Ring of Honor that feels the promotion is in dire need of some new upper card talent. Nigel McGuinness is the reigning champion of the company and is due for a long reign with the belt, though what the promotion can do with that championship once Nigel's time comes to an end is anybody's guess. The two men with the most credibility behind McGuinness are Bryan Danielson and Takeshi Morishima, but Morishima is no longer a full-time member of the roster, while Danielson was already given a lengthy title reign in which he wrestled virtually every opponent possible. Jimmy Jacobs is gaining in popularity with a certain segment of the company's fanbase and has been given several major wins recently, but it now appears that he will be tied to the tag team division for quite some time. Austin Aries is another possibility, but the results from this weekend's shows tend to indicate that he is being used to put over some of the company's up and coming talent. Harris, if booked as a top level wrestler right out of the gate, could be exactly what the main event picture in Ring of Honor needs. He is a fresh face who has never worked in the promotion before, and he has the talent to immediately put on excellent matches with the rest of the upper card. Though some ROH loyalists may reject him for being a "TNA guy," that could easily become a part of his gimmick, much as being portrayed as an WCW loyalist was able to make Mick Foley in to a massive heel in ECW. (I'm imagining a t-shirt with Dixie Carter's face airbrushed on it as we speak.)

Of course, I realize that there is very little possibility of this actually happening. In fact, there's a part of me that isn't completely sold on the story that Harris has left TNA. After all, the promotion has been attempting to pull off some ridiculous angles lately in which they try to work the internet, with Samoa Joe cutting his infamous promo on Kevin Nash and Vince Russo convincing Traci Brooks that it would be a great idea for her to do a worked faint on a pay per view without telling anybody about it. And, correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't Karen Angle been walking around just fine on television after we got reports a few weeks back of her breaking her leg at an Impact taping? Though he could really be done with the company, it wouldn't surprise me in the least to see Chris Harris doing a run-in by the end of the month, accompanied by Mike Tenay's shrieks of "HE DOESN'T EVEN WORK HERE ANYMORE!"

. . . and perhaps that is the best example of why the Wildcat should get out of TNA and go work in a place where the folks behind the scenes have a clue.

Random Video Interlude

This week we've got a special treat, as I present video of what I consider to be one of the greatest entrances in professional wrestling history. It's up there with the Sandman. It's up there with the Undertaker. It is the swagger of Dragon Gate's own Magnum TOKYO.

(The entrance itself begins around the 1:05 mark of the video.)



To view videos that have appeared in previous editions of the Custom Made News Report, be sure to check out my new YouTube page.

Foreign Fanatics

NOAH Rows Boat to UK

In a bit of a surprising announcement, Japan's Pro Wrestling NOAH has made it known that they will be running their first international event on June 21, 2008. The show will take place in the United Kingdom's Coventry Skydome, and tickets are already available through this website.

Matches have not yet been announced for the card, but several key pieces of talent have been. Though this may not be a situation in which the entire Pro Wrestling NOAH roster is brought over to jolly old England, virtually all of the company's major players will be. Reigning GHC Heavyweight Champion and company founder Mitsuhara Misawa is being advertised, as is his long-time rival Kenta Kobashi, who made perhaps the most dramatic comeback in pro wrestling history just last month. They will be joined by three members of the promotion's younger generation, as former GHC Champion Naomichi Marufuji, former ROH Champion Takeshi Morishima, and junior heavyweight standout KENTA will all be appearing. Names familiar to Ring of Honor fans will also be on the card, with "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson, Doug Williams, the Briscoe Brothers, and reigning ROH Champ Nigel McGuinness all slated to wrestle. Finally, at least two local British wrestlers will have the opportunity to impress NOAH officials on the show, as Martin Stone and Joel Redman will both appear on the card. I've heard virtually nothing about Redman, but Stone has recently been tied to a few United States independent promotions, popping up on Pro Wrestling Guerrilla cards when that company toured Europe and being signed to compete for CHIKARA in late February.

I will continue to provide updates throughout the first half of the year as new talent is announced for the card and as that talent is paired off in to matches. There are also already rumblings that the U.K. card is meant to test the waters for an eventual NOAH show in the United States, and I'll certainly be keeping my eye on those rumors as well.

Inoki Genome Project

Antonio Inoki's current project, the "Inoki Genome Federation" is preparing to hold its third card on February 16. On its previous two shows, IGF has featured a bizarre mix of traditional Japanese wrestlers, American grapplers, and mixed martial artists who are completely without experience in the pro wrestling world. From the talent announced so far, it looks like the 2/16 show will continue that trend. Booker T. was scheduled to appear on the promotion's last card, but he wound up no-showing because IGF officials failed to obtain the proper Japanese work visa for him. It was announced on that show that Booker would make this up to the fans by returning in February, though it remains to be seen whether this is actually the case or whether it was simply a line dropped by a promoter attempting to pacify a somewhat angry crowd.

There are some individuals who we do know will be appearing on the show, though, and the lineup features names that will be familiar to American fans. Veteran competitor and former top gaijin for All Japan Pro Wrestling "Dr. Death" Steve Williams has been announced as wrestling on the card. Williams had a battle with throat cancer in 2004 and has since made sporadic independent wrestling appearances, so it should be interesting to see what sort of condition he is in. Also on the show will be Too Cold Scorpio, whose friendship with Vader landed him numerous bookings in All Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling NOAH throughout the years. Scorpio, who recently made a guest appearance on the Monday Night Raw Fifteenth Anniversary show, has been keeping up a fairly heavy schedule on the American independent scene lately, particularly in Ian Rotten's IWA Mid-South and Pennsylvania's Pro Wrestling Unplugged. Also on the card will be a man known as "Wakashoyo," a former sumo wrestler who has also made forays in to mixed marital arts. To be best of my knowledge, he has no pro wrestling experience whatsoever. Knowing Inoki, that probably means he'll be placed in the main event and booked to go over a rising Japanese star. (Anybody know if Shinsuke Nakamura is available that night?)

Indy-Sent Headlines

Arman Hussian Passes Away

Last week, I was saddened to note the first wrestling death of 2008, as long-time southern enhancement talent Randy Barber passed away. Now, in the second week of the year, I am sad to note the second death of the year. Southwestern wrestler Arman Hussian passed away on either December 31, January 1, or January 2 depending on the report that you choose to believe. However, news of his death did not hit wrestling circles until this past week. Currently information is not available about Hussian's cause of death or even his age.

Hussian was born as Mike Barber in the southern United States but ultimately wound up adopting his ring name as his legitimate moniker due to his Islamic belief system. Most believe that he began his professional wrestling career in the late 1950's. Far more certain is the fact that one of his first major runs as a wrestler came in Minnesota and Michigan, where he honed his craft until the middle of the 1960's. At that point, Hussian moved to the Pacific Northwest, where he would bill himself as a Sudanese wrestling star and form the tag team that would give him the majority of his fame. His partner was none other than Abdullah the Butcher, and the two men caused havoc on both sides of the US/Canadian border, at one point wrestling the NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Titles away from a team that included future WWWF World Champion Stan "The Man" Stasiak. Throughout the next decade, Hussian would have brief stopovers in several different territories throughout the United States, including a promotion in Arizona, Puerto Rico's World Wrestling Council, and even the World Wide Wrestling Federation, where he teamed on at least one occasion with the legendary Bruno Sammartino.

By the 1980's, Hussian had settled in Texas and began working with Fritz Von Erich's World Class Championship Wrestling. It was in this promotion that the man alleged to be from Sudan would receive attention on a national level. He wrestled on the lower end of many of Von Erich's cards, doing battle with the likes of Jose Lothario and David Von Erich. In 1982, a car accident ended the in-ring portion of Hussian's career, as the wreck left him with a broken hip that became badly infected. Though he could no longer wrestle, Hussian became a WCCW manager for several months, forming a stable with fellow manager Gary Hart that the two called "H & H Limited." Their group would last until 1983, when Arman was pinned in a handicap loser leaves town match by the Giant Kamala. For the remaining twenty-five years of his life, Hussian would not participate in another wrestling card.

All of us here at 411mania send our condolences to the friends and family of Arman Hussian.

Indy Preview: UWA Hardcore

One of the real breakout promotions on the independent circuit in 2008 was UWA Hardcore, a group based in of Toronto, Ontario, Canada who largely built their name by bringing in Japanese legends like Jushin Liger and Ultimo Dragon as well as top American indy names like the Murder City Machine Guns. DVDs of the company's bigger events are available through their official online store, and the group is returning to action on Friday, January 18 at Downsview Park in Toronto. Tickets are available through the promotion's website. The card doesn't feature quite as many big names as the company's past shows, but it should still be a solid evening of professional wrestling. With that said, let's run down the matches!

Josh Abercrombie vs. Lionel Knight

Josh Abercrombie (who was recently interviewed on 411 spin-off The Cool Kids' Table) is perhaps one of the most underrated talents on the independent circuit today. IWA Mid-South was his primary stomping ground, but, with that promotion on hiatus, he's seen very little action in major independent groups. This is odd not only because Abercrombie is talented but also because he received some national television exposure last year as a part of Wrestling Society X, where he played the role of Josh "Jug" Raymond in th Trailer Park Boys tag team. I'm not nearly as familiar with Knight's work, but I do know that he also has a lot of experience in tag action, working fairly regularly with partner Christopher Bishop in a unit known as "Checkmate." Even if Knight proves to not be the greatest wrestler in the world, this should at the very least be a fine showcase for Abercrombie, who will hopefully be moving up the independent ranks soon.

Don Paysan vs. Johnny Gargano

This match features two young wrestlers who are attempting to make a name for themselves in the professional grappling world, although they've used quite different means to achieve that end. Don Paysan had a bit of a coming out party in the United States in 2006 after wrestling on the Canadian independent circuit for a couple of years. Thanks to a berth in CHIKARA's annual Young Lions' Cup Tournament, people who had never heard of Paysan were beginning to take notice of the master of the "Last Kiss" finishing maneuver. Since that time, he has been given some big matches in UWA Hardcore, going head-to-head with visiting Japanese wrestlers Passion Hasegawa and Daisuke Hanaoka. Paysan was victorious in both of those matches, but this time around he'll be facing a more conventional adversary. Gargano, a wrestler out of Ohio, has logged many more major matches than his age of twenty years would lead you to expect. In fact, he's even got an appearance on WWE Smackdown under his belt, wrestling Montel Vontavious Porter while posing as a foreign wrestling champion.

Ricky Reyes vs. Arik Cannon

Now this should be a hard hitting affair. Reyes initially rose to prominence as a tag team partner of Rocky Romero. Unfortunately for Ricky, Romero has basically left him in the dust. While Romero has gone on to become a fixture on Ring of Honor cards and a semi-regular gaijin on Pro Wrestling NOAH tours, Reyes has languished in relative obscurity. That doesn't make him any less of a talented wrestler, though, and hopefully this UWA appearance can be his first step in regaining some of the national notoriety that he lost after the Havana Pitbulls stopped teaming regularly. To do that, he'll have to get past the "Anarchist" Arik Cannon, who has also seen his star fade a little bit over the past year or so. Though he remains active in various midwest independent groups, Cannon lost a lot of the exposure that he had in 2005 and 2006. This can be almost directly linked to his departure from the popular CHIKARA wrestling promotion. Hopefully the Anarchist is able to put his repertoire of stiff strikes and massive suplexes to use in reestablishing his name north of the border.

The Ring Crew Express (Dunn & Marcos) vs. The Flatliners (Asylum & Matt Burns)

I'll freely admit that I know nothing about the Flatliners aside from the fact that the team is comprised of men named Asylum and Matt Burns. However, I do know plenty about the Ring Crew Express of Kevin Dunn and Kirby Marcos. They were fixtures on early Ring of Honor shows, playing the role of Mikey Whipwreck-esque loveable jobbers. Eventually the team was involved in more and more significant matches, and they even managed to pick up a win or two. Though they haven't been appearing in ROH recently, the Express has remained active throughout the northeastern United States, particularly in New York's NWA Upstate. The two are every bit as good as they used to be in Ring of Honor – if not better – and watching them should be a treat for UWA fans if their opponents are anywhere near competent.

Delirious vs. Tyler Black

Speaking of Ring of Honor, two of their current wrestlers will be squaring off in this UWA match. These two men are both at a crossroad in their indy careers. Tyler Black is working his way up in the world, having ended the record-breaking ROH Tag Team Title reign of the Briscoe brothers in December. This came just months after Black made his official debut with the company, teaming with Jimmy Jacobs, the Necro Butcher, and Lacey to form the much talked about Age of the Fall faction. The AoTF has done more for Black's career than anything else, even his brief stint on MTV early in 2007. He now stands poised to take the rest of the indy circuit by storm, beginning with the UWA. Delirious, meanwhile, is beginning to see his popularity wain with several fans. Though he remains an excellent performer in the ring, there is a certain segment of the ROH fanbase (and the indy fanbase as a whole) who is growing a bit tired of the lizard man, particularly his rivalry with the black hole of charisma known as the Hangmen 3. Delirious needs to do something to reinvent himself in the eyes of those fans, and hopefully his effort can begin in Toronto later this week.

BLK Out (Sabian & Joker) vs. Up in Smoke (Cheech & Cloudy)

BLK Out may be the most prolific independent wrestling tag team not yet to break through to Ring of Honor. The group, which usually consists of various combinations of Sabian, Joker, and Eddie Kingston, has regularly made appearances in CZW, JAPW, CHIKARA, and now UWA Hardcore. Their style is a unique blend of high flying and hardcore, and they'll be putting that style up against Up in Smoke, a team consisting of Cheech and Cloudy. Cheech and Cloudy are, in many ways, comparable to the Ring Crew Express. Their physiques are similar, their in-ring styles are similar, and they both have done plenty of work in NWA Upstate. Cheech and Cloudy have also recently been on fire in CHIKARA, wrestling numerous excellent tag team encounters filled with innovative double team maneuvers. It is obvious that they can fly just as well as the BLK Out team, but it will be interesting to see whether Cheech & Cloudy are able to keep up with Sabian & Joker in the brawling department.

Ruckus vs. Josh Prohibition

If you like two men doing flips, this will definitely be the match for you. Ruckus, hot off his stint in Ring of Honor with the Vulture Squad and his time carrying around a blinged-out ladder in Wrestling Society X, will clash with Josh Prohibition. Prohibition got his start in the world of backyard wrestling several years ago before going "legitimate" with partner M-Dogg 20 (currently known as Matt Cross.) Prohibition and M-Dogg formed the exciting high flying tag team of "Youthanazia" in CZW and in the ill-fated east coast version of XPW for several years before both of them fell largely off the indy wrestling radar. Now, with M-Dogg gaining a sizeable following for his work in ROH, Josh Prohibition is hoping to use this slot to make sure that he doesn't become Youthanazia's Marty Jannetty.

All in all, this appears to be a night of wrestling that will be well worth the ticket price. If I were in the Toronto area, I'd definitely be checking it out. All of you Ontarians can do just that by heading over to the UWA Hardcore website and picking up tickets to the show.

Following Up

Here are a couple of small updates to stories that I have discussed in previous editions of the report:

~ After beating cancer and returning to the ring in December, Kenta Kobashi made what I believe will be the first of two in-ring appearances on Pro Wrestling NOAH's January tour. He teamed with Tamon Honda and Go Shiazaki to defeat Akira Taue, Takuma Sano, and Masao Inoue.

~ According to the Observer, WWE has offered Ron Killings a contract, which he plans to sign. This comes on the heels of a Konnan interview we discussed in the column recently in which K-Dawg stated that Killings and WWE were having talks with each other.

~ Several weeks ago I wrote about a Japanese independent show which was to commemorate the anniversary of Big Van Vader debuting in the Land of the Rising Sun. The show was also notable as it would be the site of the Japanese debut for female wrestlers Daizee Haze and TNA's Angelina Love (or so we thought). Some odd things happened on the card. The first was that Vader missed his own anniversary show because he was ill. Additionally, American fans were confused when they read results involving Angelina Love (under her indy ring name Angel Williams) making it to the finals of a predominantly male tournament. Well, it turns out there was some confusion. Love was never actually scheduled for the show, and the "Angel Williams" in the tournament was a male wrestler who coincidentally was using the same ring name as Angelina. Fortunately there was no confusion surrounding Daizee Haze's match, as she made it to the venue and wrestled in a tag team encounter with partner Yuu Yamagata. The duo lost to Arisa Nakajima and Io Shirai.

Feeding Back & Wrapping Up

Before we head out, let's address a few comments and questions from you, the readers. Karlos kicks things off with a simple inquiry:

Hey, Ryan, is there a reason why you won't refer to TNA guys by their current names? (Ricky Banderas, "Bobby" Roode, Christian [no Cage], Dudley Boys, etc.)

It's not a situation in which I won't use the names. It's more of a situation in which I don't use the names. I'm not engaging in an active campaign in which I refuse to use the new monikers. I just refer to the wrestlers by the first name that pops in to my head. In most cases, that's the name that the wrestler had when I first gained exposure to him or her. I've noticed that, for whatever reason, I'm more likely to use new names when they actually correlate with new gimmicks as opposed to being name changes for the sake of name changes. For example, the New Age Outlaws are still the New Age Outlaws in my mind, but I usually refer to their valet as "Roxxi LaVeaux" instead of "Nikki Roxx," even though I'd seen her wrestle for quite some time before she became Roxxi. I have no clue why this is. It's just the way that my mind operates.

Up next is Melissa, who wants to continue to the discussion of 411mania's Year End Awards:

I've never had the opportunity to see Ring of Honor, but it seems only natural to me that WWE would win most of the year-end awards because they and TNA are the only real promotions out there (and yes, we all agree TNA sucks). Ring of Honor has no television exposure outside of PPV which makes it non-existent to 99% of wrestling fans. That may be why so many WWE fans are scratching their heads about some promotion they've barely heard of being held up as WWE's equal, especially when WWE has the history of success and exposure.

I agree with this sentiment to a certain extent, but I'm curious as to how the WWE fans who complained so much can read 411mania without being aware of the fact that ROH is a.) covered heavily on the site and b.) is held in high regard by most of the staff. Granted, I'm not expecting a John Cena loyalist to read Ari's Column of Honor every week, but I'd imagine anybody who reads more than an article or two per week on the site would have some inkling about the staff's general feelings towards Ring of Honor. Maybe my view on this topic is clouded by the fact that I interact with our writers more than virtually any of the readers do, but the fact that so many people were caught off guard by our choices still caught me off guard.

Now comes the portion of the news report in which I shamelessly plug my other projects:

~ After a week's hiatus, I returned to reviewing TNA Impact. My first TNA review of 2008 wound up being a largely positive one, and I also began a series of special "2007 in Review" features by running down what I considered to be the company's five worst storylines of the year.

~ Impact isn't the only wrestling show that I've been reviewing these days, though. For those of you who may not have heard, ESPN Classic is now showing an hour's worth of Herb Abrams' old UWF promotion at 1 AM EST every weeknight. I've been taking a look at those shows, and you can read my recaps of the shows at the following links: 1/8/08, 1/9/08, 1/10/08, 1/11/08, and 1/12/08.

~ I don't do all of my work alone, though. Sometimes I like to team up with other members of the staff, as I did in our special 2008 Roundtable Preview of WWE and our 2008 Roundtable Preview of TNA.

~ Finally, if you're just sick of reading about professional wrestling, I work in the Movie/TV Zone as well. This week I checked in with a review of the third season of Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.

~ As you can see, I do a lot of writing for the site these days. If you want to be informed of every new article that I post, add me as a friend on MySpace. I post a bulletin there every time I have new content on the site.

And that's it for this week. Be sure to come back in seven days when I will be beginning a special ROYAL RUMBLE PREVIEW~! which is so large that it is being stretched over two editions of the report. If you like my typical pay per view statistics, you'll love this one, as I'll be taking an in depth look at the Rumble match itself and the history that every 2008 Rumble entrant has in the match.