Articles by Andy PG

It has been confirmed that “Exotic” Adrian Street, perhaps the greatest Welsh wrestler ever, died on July 24.  He was 82.

At the beginning of tonight’s SmackDown, there will be an In Memoriam graphic for Darren Drozdov, or Droz for short.  Multiple outlets have reported his death at the age of 54.

Droz was first introduced during the Attitude Era as Puke, someone whose entire gimmick is that he can vomit on command.  (Beyond the Mat showed the brainstorming session behind that idea.)  Soon, he was moved to being part of the LOD as Hawk was becoming unreliable.  It ended with Hawk attempting to jump off the TitanTron, and Droz either failing to stop him or pushing him or… well, WWF quickly pretended that never happened and Vince Russo has since apologized for ever doing it.

From there, he formed a misfit alliance with Prince Albert and Vic “Key” Grimes, but everything screeched to a halt at a SmackDown taping when he and D’Lo Brown were to have a singles match.  While taking a powerbomb from D’Lo, something misfired and Droz suffered severe spinal damage.  He would be a quadriplegic for the rest of his life.  Droz held no ill will against D’Lo, who was seconds away from announcing his retirement over despondency.

We at the Blog of Doom extend our condolences to Darren Drozdov and his family.

It has been reported universally that Khosrow Ali Vaziri, the world champion and celebrity known to the world as The Iron Sheik, has passed away.  He was 81.

E. Wayne Coleman, better known to the wrestling world as “Superstar” Billy Graham, has died.  He was 79.

The envelope, please…

Hey everyone… I spoke with Scott and he said that if I ever had a mailbag worthy question, I could just go ahead and open dialog on it here.  I think this one’s pretty good.

So one of the more unusual stories about wrestling is that Steve Blackman was offered a contract by the WWF out of Stampede way back in like 1989.  All he had to do was complete his tour dates and he’d be on the roster.  Well, Blackman went to Africa, and while there nearly died; it took him eight years to get back into ring shape.  Amazingly, in 1997 Vince honored his promise and brought Blackman in.  As luck would have it, at that time Ken Shamrock was making UFC-style wrestlers start to be viable, so Blackman was able to carve out a niche.  The introduction of the hardcore belt only made things better (I still remember him and X-Pac having a legitimate kendo stick martial arts duel in the middle of a Raw match that was awesome).

But here’s the thing: what the heck do you do with him in 1989?  He’d almost certainly get a mouthpiece, and the WWF had four strong managers at the time (Heenan, Hart, Slick, and Fuji).  Do you pair him with one of them?  Or do you have him strike out on his own as a no-nonsense babyface?  Or is he a featured talent at all?  If so, who does he feud with?

Really, the thought of Steve Blackman in the Hogan Era seems out of place, but they’ve made weirder work.  What say y’all?

The PG Era Rant for AEW Elevation, Episode 84 (“All My Rowdy Friends Are Here on Monday Night!”), October 10, 2022.

Taped from Washington, DC.

Your hosts are Ian Riccaboni, Mike Menard, and Paul Wight.

TONIGHT! Brandon Cutler and Serpentico each try to not lose in our main event! DC’s finest indie talent are all over the card as Erica Leigh faces Hikaru Shida; Jordan Blade tackles Nyla Rose (herself a DC native); Trish Adora battles Emi Sakura; and Logan LaRoux joins two others against Dalton Castle and the Boys! Plus, Nese and Woods team up, and Lance Archer is out for blood!

(Note to everyone: don’t expect me to make a habit of this, but it is in DC and people I know on a first-name basis from the indies are on it, so I feel obligated.)

Full Gear comes to New Jersey this November.

https://www.cagesideseats.com/wwe/2022/7/22/23274705/vince-mcmahon-retires-wwe-nda-scandal

Talk about your Friday news dump.

Discuss here.

Wait, there’s no news update?  PARTY EVERYONE!

I think we’ll compromise and have the Independent Match of the Week as part of this thread.  So, from Beyond — we have two of DC’s finest going at it, with Logan Easton LaRoux going against Trish Adora!

All right, everyone — we’ve been over the rules.  You need to obey the mods’ instructions at all times.  I expect a good, clean thread.  Now — touch gloves, go to your keyboards, and come out posting!

Ladies and gentlemen — THE WEEKEND!

https://itrwrestling.com/news/monday-night-raw-moving-to-tv-14/?fbclid=IwAR00wG-OCgplPkvszSMsWoh5fcK03AUTPBQ2sm2mj4HDS_vsdlTb6RadOgU

This deserves its own post.  Now that the PG Era is dead on Mondays, let’s see what else Prichard will blame low ratings on.

Okay, so since the new bosses are taking care of the chat threads, I figure I’d let this stand on its own.  If you’re looking for a good show to watch on stream or attend, let’s see what we got:

• LAKEWOOD, OH — AIW is back in action and presenting the show they’re simply calling 3D (Tonight, 7:30PMET, IWTV)!  The main event is a four-way scramble featuring Shark Boy!  Dominic Garrini goes one on one with Jackson Stone!  Plus — the Rip City Shooters, the Bang Bros, Philly-Marino Experience, and more!
• WESTVILLE, NJ — OPW has some violence on the stream with Nightmare in Westville (Friday, 8PMET, IWTV)!  Brandon Kirk and Marcus Mathers face off in a Dog Collar match!  Matt Tremont takes on Mike Law!  Plus — Jason Kincaid, AKIRA, Jordan Oliver, YDNB, and more!
• SAN FRANCISCO, CA — I’m glad to hype up West Coast Pro, which has delivered, and they’re at it again with Cruel Summer (Friday, 7PMPT, IWTV)!  Jacob Fatu defends the big gold against Tom Lawlor!  West Coast Wrecking Crew get a dream matchup with the Motor City Machine Guns!  Nick Wayne takes on ACH!  Kevin Blackwood and Davey Richards square off!  Plus — Mike Bailey, Masha Slamovich, Alan Angels, and more!
• CLIVE, IA — Pro Wrestling REVOLVER returns with the Cage of Horrors (Saturday, 8PMCT, FITE)!  Besides the 3-on-3 titular main event, we got Mike Bailey defending the IMPACT X Division Title against Steve Manders!  The Kingdom face off against Forgotten Sons for the tag gold!  It’s a tag team dream match as the American Wolves take on the Switchblade Conspiracy!  Plus — Allie Katch, Ruby Soho, Blake Christian, Mance Warner, and more!
• RIDGEFIELD PARK, NJ — Jersey Championship Wrestling is putting out a free anniversary show with the Great American Birthday Bash (Sunday, 6PMET, YouTube)!  ASF and Gringo Loco face Dragon Lee and Dralistico!  Allie Katch and EFFY take on Edith Surreal and Delirious!  Cole Radrick battles Konosuke Takeshita!  Plus — Tony Deppen, Masha Slamovich, Steve Manders, Mike Bailey, and more!

Your Independent Match of the Week comes from the GCW WrestleMania Weekend Collective in Dallas.  Glory Pro, a St. Louis-based promotion, put Grindhouse (aka Besties in the World) (Davey Vega and Mat Fitchett) against a former superteam of Davey Richards and Rocky Romero — the No Remorse Corps!  ENJOY!

And guess what happens over a holiday weekend.  My toilet breaks down.  Thank heaven I rent and they have emergency maintenance.

Congratulations in chess to Ian Nepomniachtchi, who won the Candidates Tournament with a round to spare.  He will get a rematch against Magnus Carlsen for the world title.  Second place in the tournament comes down to one game, as Ding Liren is a half-point against Hikaru Nakamura, but those two will meet and Ding has the white pieces.  (Which is kind of like being the home team in soccer.)

Enjoy the night.

Man, how reckless is AEW, putting on those matches where people can get crippled and making a big deal in the ads about it!  That’s just sad of them!  Oh, hey, who else is watching Money in the Bank?

What?  I’m a mod, I’m allowed to s***post once in a while.

Anyway, it’s Canada Day today and US Independence Day on Monday, so most of you have a long weekend one way or another.  And to our British friends, this is all your fault somehow.

What?  Cause trouble on this blog?  It ain’t me.

All right, folks, we’ve been over the rules.  Obey the mods’ instructions at all times.  I expect a good, clean thread.  Now — touch gloves, go to your keyboards, and come out posting!

ENJOY THE WEEKEND!

Tonight on IMPACT: Chris Sabin and Frankie Kazarian have their postponed match; The Good Brothers defend against PCO and Vincent; Jordynne Grace and Savannah Evans meet in non-title action; it’s a four-way for an X Division title shot with Chris Bey, Steve Maclin, Laredo Kid, and Trey Miguel; Ace Austin battles Alex Zayne; Gisele Shaw looks to earn a tag title shot by beating Rosemary; and on the pre-show, Rich Swann faces Raj Singh in non-title action.

Meanwhile, your report on the Independents!

All right, everyone who’s still healthy is on the show, let’s have some fun!

Later this week on the Blog: our Joshi Spotlight is a JD’ show from 1996; your Dream Match of the week is an actual really good match — Rick Martel vs 1-2-3 Kid.

Baseball’s Game of the Week is LA vs Atlanta.  Colorado may win the Stanley Cup tonight.

Enjoy the show.  Buy-in starts at 7ET.

Let’s get ready for a weekend featuring Forbidden Door finally upon us!  Unless 5 more people get injured before then.

Try to stay off of social media for a couple days.  Nothing good can come from the attention seeking machine that it is.

Thankfully I have a project I can work on.  Anyway, here it is: your Moment of Zen.

(Don’t worry; this screengrab doesn’t make much sense IN context, either.)

All right, we’ve been over the rules.  Make sure you obey the mods’ instructions at all times.  I want a good, clean thread.  Now — touch gloves, go to your keyboards, and come out posting!

ENJOY THE WEEKEND!

Sorry, guys.  I’ve done back to back 12 hour days.  I’m sleeping early.  Talk amongst yourselves — I’ll give you a topic: BOTCHAMANIA.

Have fun and keep it clean.

Who am I kidding, nobody here outside of Tommy Hall can watch Impact.  Which is a shame because they seem to be a lot of fun.

Tonight, Impact celebrates surviving 20 years when they probably should have died after 20 shows!  They’re playing all the hits tonight — Eric Young in a title match!  Monster’s Ball with 24 hours of isolation!  Ultimate X!  King (well, Queen) of the Mountain!  Heck, they’re even doing the Reverse Battle Royal on the pre-show for the memes!

For the rest of us, there’s Sox/Astros as your Sunday Night Game of the Week.

RIP Tim White — I hope he’s having a great time in Heaven with his old friend Andre.

Round 3 of the Chess Candidates Tournament was insanely good.  Here’s top YouTube chess personality Levy “Gotham” Rozman with his recap for your Moment of Zen:

Enjoy the night, and if you’re in a state that gives you a Juneteenth holiday tomorrow, rest well.

Okay, enough with the formalities.  No time for Stephen and the Roots.  Won’t even give the pre-thread instructions.

Tonight, you see, MISTER McMahon — not Vince, MISTER — is addressing allegations of sexual misconduct.

Now, let’s be clear, just because behavior of certain Presidents through the years has numbed us to it — having an affair with a subordinate is very much covered under sexual harassment.  Just about every workplace I know of has rules in place that require people to leave or be re-assigned if a romance does start up.  Vince, were he a normal human being, would be in a bit of trouble.

However, Vince not only doesn’t think he’s in trouble, he has decided (by all accounts, through a vote of 1-0) to use his Lex Luthor Wannabe character to TALK ABOUT THIS.

This… cannot end well.

Enjoy the show, everyone, and enjoy the weekend.

http://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/vince-mcmahon-steps-aside-wwe-113118860.html

Discuss here.