Over the years, it's been my privilege to write for wrestling magazines and websites. Currently, I'm writing for a e-zine called The Wrestling Press
But I've also written for
• SLAM Wrestling (1998-2007)
• Mat Magazine (1997-1999) – Founder and Editor
• Live Audio Wrestling’s Subpeona (2001)
• Wrestling Press Digest (1997-1998)
• The Armchair Wrestler (1997)
• The Stone Cold Truth (1996-97)
• Wrestling Fury (1992)
• Wrestling ’91 (1991)
• The Wrestler (1991)
In the coming days, weeks and months, I'll post some of the articles I've written, but for today I'll post some links to some of my favourite SLAM Wrestling articles.
One of my favourite wrestling articles, about the Peterson Cup
My infamous interview with Chris Benoit
My interview (at Masonville Zellers, of all places) with Booker T
The first wrestling interview I ever did - with "Sexy Baby" Jamie Jackson
An overview of Jesse "the Body" Ventura's movie career
One of the ton of wrestling bios I ended up doing for SLAM!, this one is about Eddie Guerrero
Friday, February 26, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Wrestling Photos
I haven't taken a lot of wrestling photos over the years, but I figured I would post that I have on this site from time to time. This first batch is from an indy show in London in about 2002-2003. Not sure I can identify too many of them here, save that I know Tyson Dux is in one of them, and the promoter of the show is in couple of them. If anyone has any better memories of this show (how 'bout you, Jay?) and can fill in some of the details, let me know.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Listing the Last 25 Years
As with any retrospective, you have to include some lists. Here are a few of mine. Keep in mind, I may change these up a bit between now and September.
Let's start off with my Top 25 Favourite Wrestlers of the Last 25 Years
1. Ric Flair
2. Hulk Hogan
3. Mick Foley
4. A.J. Styles
5. Triple H
6. Randy Savage
7. Edge
8. The Rock
9. Bret Hart
10. Ricky Steamboat
11. Chris Benoit
12. Kurt Angle
13. Barry Windham
14. Shawn Michaels
15. Brian Pillman
16. Rob Van Dam
17. John Cena
18. Owen Hart
19. Rey Mysterio
20. Curt Hennig
21. Roddy Piper
22. Al Snow
23. Steve “Dr. Death” Williams
24. Kurt Angle
25. Tommy Dreamer
Top 15 Favourite Tag Teams
1. The Hart Foundation
2. The Steiners
3. Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard
4. The Impact Players
5. The Midnight Express
6. The British Bulldogs
7. Edge and Christian
8. The Rock and Roll Express
9. Miz and Morrison
10. The New Age Outlaws
11. The Hollywood Blondes
12. The Dudley Boys
13. Steve Williams and Terry Gordy
14. The Can – Am Connection
15. The Rockers
Top 10 Favourite Announcers of the Last 25 Years
1. Gorilla Monsoon
2. Jesse “the Body” Ventura
3. Bobby “the Brain” Heenan
4. Jim Ross
5. “Mean Gene” Okerlund
6. Jerry “the King” Lawler
7. Ed Whalen
8. Vince McMahon
9. Tony Schiavone (The NWA Years)
10. Gordon Solie
Top 5 Matches I Saw Live
1. L’Artiste vs. Derek Wylde vs. Jamie Jackson vs. The Custom Made Man (1999, HWF)
2. The Jumping Bomb Angels vs. The Glamour Girls (1987, WWF)
3. The Ultimate Warrior vs. Hulk Hogan (1990, WWF)
4. Sabu vs. Scott D’Amore (1999, UCW)
5. Haku vs. Jimmy Snuka (1990, WWF)
And just to brag...
Top 9 Wrestlers I’ve Interviewed
1. Chris Benoit
2. Booker T
3. Rhyno
4. Harley Race
5. Joe E. Legend
6. Cody Deaner
7. Derek Wylde
8. Sonjay Dutt
9. Maven
Let's start off with my Top 25 Favourite Wrestlers of the Last 25 Years
1. Ric Flair
2. Hulk Hogan
3. Mick Foley
4. A.J. Styles
5. Triple H
6. Randy Savage
7. Edge
8. The Rock
9. Bret Hart
10. Ricky Steamboat
11. Chris Benoit
12. Kurt Angle
13. Barry Windham
14. Shawn Michaels
15. Brian Pillman
16. Rob Van Dam
17. John Cena
18. Owen Hart
19. Rey Mysterio
20. Curt Hennig
21. Roddy Piper
22. Al Snow
23. Steve “Dr. Death” Williams
24. Kurt Angle
25. Tommy Dreamer
Top 15 Favourite Tag Teams
1. The Hart Foundation
2. The Steiners
3. Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard
4. The Impact Players
5. The Midnight Express
6. The British Bulldogs
7. Edge and Christian
8. The Rock and Roll Express
9. Miz and Morrison
10. The New Age Outlaws
11. The Hollywood Blondes
12. The Dudley Boys
13. Steve Williams and Terry Gordy
14. The Can – Am Connection
15. The Rockers
Top 10 Favourite Announcers of the Last 25 Years
1. Gorilla Monsoon
2. Jesse “the Body” Ventura
3. Bobby “the Brain” Heenan
4. Jim Ross
5. “Mean Gene” Okerlund
6. Jerry “the King” Lawler
7. Ed Whalen
8. Vince McMahon
9. Tony Schiavone (The NWA Years)
10. Gordon Solie
Top 5 Matches I Saw Live
1. L’Artiste vs. Derek Wylde vs. Jamie Jackson vs. The Custom Made Man (1999, HWF)
2. The Jumping Bomb Angels vs. The Glamour Girls (1987, WWF)
3. The Ultimate Warrior vs. Hulk Hogan (1990, WWF)
4. Sabu vs. Scott D’Amore (1999, UCW)
5. Haku vs. Jimmy Snuka (1990, WWF)
And just to brag...
Top 9 Wrestlers I’ve Interviewed
1. Chris Benoit
2. Booker T
3. Rhyno
4. Harley Race
5. Joe E. Legend
6. Cody Deaner
7. Derek Wylde
8. Sonjay Dutt
9. Maven
Monday, February 15, 2010
Where This All Came From
In September 1985, I sat down to watch one of those Fall Cartoon Preview specials they used to air back in those days. For the uninitiated, every fall the three major networks (NBC, ABC and CBS) would put together a half-hour show (usually airing on a Friday night in prime time) to showcase their new lineup of cartoons. You know, they'd show what series were returning, as well as the new cartoons for the season.
In 1985, the first wave of pro wrestling popularity in a generation had hit. Vince McMahon had taken Hulk Hogan and to a lesser degree Roddy Piper, Wendi Richter and others and decided to go mainstream. Wrestling events like "The War to Settle the Score" aired on MTV and celebrities like Mr. T and Cyndi Lauper became involved in wrestling, leading up to the very first Wrestlemania card.
Not satisfied with simply presenting pro wrestling, McMahon decided to branch out, believing his wrestlers had main-stream appeal. This thinking brought us The Wrestling Album, wrestling action figures, lunch boxes, etc.
And it also brought us Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling, a cartoon series that lasted all of one season on CBS.
But as the 1985-86 cartoon season began, CBS (and McMahon) had high hopes for the series, so much so they decided to make Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling the centrepiece of their preview show.
Although Herve Villechaize (Tattoo on Fantasy Island) was initially announced as the host, WWF/WWE heel "Rowdy" Roddy Piper quickly stuck him in a closet and "took over" the show. Hulk Hogan, meanwhile, would later show up to save the day and Villechaize.
And somewhere along the line, I became a fan of Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling and began to watch the show every Saturday at 10:00.
While most of the show was devoted to the animated exploits of Hulk, Captain Lou, Andre, JYD and, of course, Mean "Animated" Gene, in between were live-action sketches featuring many of the WWF/WWE wrestlers and managers.
After a few weeks of watching the cartoon (and buying the WWE bubblegum cards), I decided to watch some real wrestling. And one Saturday in late September 1985, I tuned in WWE Championship Wrestling to see Brutus Beefcake and Greg "the Hammer" Valentine take on a couple of jobbers, followed by a "Not Yet Adorable" Adrian Adonis do the same.
And the rest, as they say is history.
25 Years of History, to be exact.
I don't know the exact date that I began to watch wrestling, but somewhere along the way, September 25th has been chosen as the day I became a wrestling fan, so that's the day I observe. (Laugh all you want but experts agree Christ wasn't born on December 25th but that's the day we celebrate Christmas!)
And since it's been 25 years since I started watching wrestling, I decided to do something to mark the occassion. At first I considered having a party and inviting people in to watch wrestling and hang out...but since I know so few wrestling fans, I decided to do this as an on-line thing.
Basically, over the next several months, I will blog about various wrestling-related topics, including excerpts from my manuscript for "When Wrestling Was Golden", wrestling interviews and articles I've written, reminisces about personal wrestling-related events of the last 25 years and even the odd wrestling photo I've taken.
So, check back periodically as I look back at 25 Years of Being a Wrestling Fan.
In 1985, the first wave of pro wrestling popularity in a generation had hit. Vince McMahon had taken Hulk Hogan and to a lesser degree Roddy Piper, Wendi Richter and others and decided to go mainstream. Wrestling events like "The War to Settle the Score" aired on MTV and celebrities like Mr. T and Cyndi Lauper became involved in wrestling, leading up to the very first Wrestlemania card.
Not satisfied with simply presenting pro wrestling, McMahon decided to branch out, believing his wrestlers had main-stream appeal. This thinking brought us The Wrestling Album, wrestling action figures, lunch boxes, etc.
And it also brought us Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling, a cartoon series that lasted all of one season on CBS.
But as the 1985-86 cartoon season began, CBS (and McMahon) had high hopes for the series, so much so they decided to make Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling the centrepiece of their preview show.
Although Herve Villechaize (Tattoo on Fantasy Island) was initially announced as the host, WWF/WWE heel "Rowdy" Roddy Piper quickly stuck him in a closet and "took over" the show. Hulk Hogan, meanwhile, would later show up to save the day and Villechaize.
And somewhere along the line, I became a fan of Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling and began to watch the show every Saturday at 10:00.
While most of the show was devoted to the animated exploits of Hulk, Captain Lou, Andre, JYD and, of course, Mean "Animated" Gene, in between were live-action sketches featuring many of the WWF/WWE wrestlers and managers.
After a few weeks of watching the cartoon (and buying the WWE bubblegum cards), I decided to watch some real wrestling. And one Saturday in late September 1985, I tuned in WWE Championship Wrestling to see Brutus Beefcake and Greg "the Hammer" Valentine take on a couple of jobbers, followed by a "Not Yet Adorable" Adrian Adonis do the same.
And the rest, as they say is history.
25 Years of History, to be exact.
I don't know the exact date that I began to watch wrestling, but somewhere along the way, September 25th has been chosen as the day I became a wrestling fan, so that's the day I observe. (Laugh all you want but experts agree Christ wasn't born on December 25th but that's the day we celebrate Christmas!)
And since it's been 25 years since I started watching wrestling, I decided to do something to mark the occassion. At first I considered having a party and inviting people in to watch wrestling and hang out...but since I know so few wrestling fans, I decided to do this as an on-line thing.
Basically, over the next several months, I will blog about various wrestling-related topics, including excerpts from my manuscript for "When Wrestling Was Golden", wrestling interviews and articles I've written, reminisces about personal wrestling-related events of the last 25 years and even the odd wrestling photo I've taken.
So, check back periodically as I look back at 25 Years of Being a Wrestling Fan.
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