Archive for the ‘Columns’ Category

Funk’s Corner – NWA World Championship in St. Louis Dory Funk Jr. vs Gene Kiniski

Information credit Larry Matysik – From the Golden Era, St. Louis Wrestling Record Book.

October 11, 1969, The Arena in St. Louis, for the NWA World Championship Dory Funk Jr. vs Gene Kiniski (att. 15,099)

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Funk’s Corner – Return Match NWA World Championship in St. Louis Dory Funk Jr. vs Black Jack Lanza

Information credit Larry Matysik – From the Golden Era, St. Louis Wrestling Record Book

Sam Muchnick ran a tight ship in St. Louis. No abuse of the officials was allowed, there was a medical examination before participating, no foreign objects in the ring, no two men on the floor at the same time, wrestlers were instructed to keep it a contest and work for the pin fall, and to top that off the ring in St. Louis was one of the hardest in the business. Everyone received a lecture on what was expected of them prior to the show from either Bobby Bruns or Pat O’Connor.

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The Phantom of the Ring

Remembering The Professor

In this business I’ve met many a class act, from Lou Thesz to Dick Hutton to Bruno Sammartino. But there was one class act people told me about whom I never got the chance to meet. And that was Angelo Poffo. Besides being an exceptional grappler he was also an exceptional human being. From all accounts Poffo was one of the true gentlemen of the game, gracious and modest with the fans outside the ring, but also most protective of the rule of omerta. He was one of the few grapplers who took his family with him when he traveled, and thus it was no surprise that he stayed married to the same woman for 60 years. He got his two sons into the game and they also turned out to be stars who didn’t need their father to hand them numerous championship belts in order to be over with the fans. They were already over, and their careers were proof of that fact. His death on March 4th only deepened my regret at not meeting him, for he was an intelligent man, and I’ll bet he had a lot of stories to tell. Now I see him in Heaven’s Cauliflower Alley Club, sitting with Thesz, Blassie and Hutton, sharing the stories I never got to hear.

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The Phantom of the Ring

The Man Who Saw the Future, Part Four


With Martin Karadagian the entertainment wasn’t limited to the ring alone. The audience also was peppered with characters that sometimes rivaled the wrestlers in the bizarreness of their gimmicks.

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April Hunter — Hunting with April

Updates, Morgantown, KY on Sat, Thank You & More!
Beautiful young people are accidents of nature. Beautiful old people are works of art.


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The Phantom of the Ring

Phantom – The February Phannies

Having thoroughly run ECW into the ground, Vince McMahon is looking for something new to put his mark on, much like a dog marks a tree. After assumed brainstorming, he comes up with a concept that, frankly, has us baffled: NXT. The premise is that eight young rookies from developmental will be mentored by eight WWE pros. Sounds good for a mini-series, but where does it go? As for the mentors themselves, we weren’t buying the Miz mentoring Daniel Bryan (Bryan Danielson), figuring it either to be an angle or quickly made into an angle to correct a mistake in the plans. After all, Danielson has probably forgotten more about wrestling than the Miz will ever learn.

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DVD Review: TNA Wrestling Best of 2009
Reviewed by: Steven Wilson of MainEventRadio.com



2009 will go down in many TNA fan’s eyes as the final year in the pre Hogan/Bischoff era. To many that’s a good thing, and to many that’s a bad thing. In this case it doesn’t matter what side of the fence you fall on, as TNA’s latest DVD release features the best wrestling matches of the 2009 calendar year.  Beyond any critcisms of creative that people have had for the TNA product, one thing just about everyone can agree on is the fact that the stars of TNA know how to more often than not deliver a solid wrestling matchup. The Best of 2009 DVD is a prime example of that.

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DragonGate USA Open the Untouchable Gate DVD Review

by Brad Dykens

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DVD Review : Missy Hyatt’s Pajama Party

Reviewed by Steven Wilson of MainEventRadio.com

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Funk’s Corner – Breakfast with WWE Hall of Fame Inductee, the “Million Dollar Man,” Ted DiBiase and Family

Monday night on Raw, one of my early students of professional wrestling, “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase was announced as the first inductee to the WrestleMania 26 Hall of Fame.

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