The Earth's Mightiest Blog

A Big Change.....

......is a'comin!

Stay Tuned!

...just whatever comes to my mind!

After just getting through mowing my grass, showering and just beating not one but two thunderstorms that are coming toward me right now, I thought I would sit down and just type whatever comes into my mind so here goes......

Yesterday for the most part was spent in front of this computer filling an online application for another job opening at work. This one will probably have two positions and is a pretty sweet position. As always, there are a lot of great candidates for it and I hope that the package I sent in was good enough to make the interview cut. If I do, then its interview time. I am not sweating this one as much as I did the last job opening that I eventually got. If I do not get it, then I am no worse off than I was before. However, I really hope I can swing it. This is a very sweet job.

Nanner's summer school job will be ending next week and for something that lasted about three weeks, it really has dragged along. Good news along the school front is that all the teachers that Mobile County laid off are being rehired. Confusion still reigns at the School Board.

From the "Did I call it!" Department....It seems that politics raised its ugly head and bit off the head of the KC-45 tanker deal. I would love to see the Air Force go ahead and just award the contract to Northrup Grumman anyway just to spite the crap out of them.

Well, the thunderstorm is here. I do not know how long I can write but I will be here until I can't.

In the wake of the recent heart related deaths of Tim Russert, Mike Detjen and George Carlin, Nanners and I are going to see a heart specialist for a checkup next week. Carlin had abused his body for years but Russert and Detjen had hidden heart issues. I hope that this is not opening up a can of worms but better to open that can now than later. A big thank you to Mike Detjen's son Tim who comment on the post I wrote about his father.

I have two big posts planned for The Sagacious Geek and The Summer Woods Gazette. I just need time to do it. Trust me, you are going to love my post for the Gazette.

The bottom is pouring out now. I am glad I got the grass cut. I think I need to run for now.

Here we go again......

I have had about three blog posts on the tip of my mind but I have been swamped with little things here and there.....but the largest thing is...

...a couple of great jobs are coming open where I work at and I have VERY LITTLE time to get my stuff together.

more later.......wish me luck!

Party Time!?!

This is my third attempt at a post and hopefully it will make this time. For whatever reason, my posts would get accidentally by myself, power outages and / or ghosts and goblins. Maybe it was just that they didn't meet Typepad standards.

Anyway, let me try again......

Later this week, the Government Accountability Office will release its report on Boeing's challenge to the awarding to the Northrup Grumman company of the Air Force refueling tanker, the KC-45. Mobile, of course will benefit by having the final assembly plant placed at Brookley Field. Reports have been running rampant the last few days about the decision of the GAO. The latest has been that the Air Force has finally admitted that it flawed in the selection process. An aircraft analyst said that he believed that Boeing stands a good chance of getting the decision reversed. Northrup Grumman says that even though there might be irregularities, they will prevail this week. Who knows?

In the meantime, what does the city of Mobile do?

They plan a party.

I could see them planning some sort of celebration, but geez come on. Lets get the dang thing first before the city starts pumping out money for a parade. We can have the obligatory Mardi Gras parade and the little dance recitals and whatever form of sublime entertainment that Mobile is good for. However, lets make sure that the ink is at least wet on the paper before we start grabbing plastic beads.

If for some reason, Mobile comes up short in Washington, then our city leaders who were instrumental in planning said extravaganza might be out of office after the next election.

Common sense people....is that too much to ask?

RIP Mike Detjen - "Little People, Big World"

This is really sad news.

Mike Detjen, the business partner and family friend of the Matt Roloff family and featured in the TLC reality series "Little People, Big World" , passed away earlier this week from a apparant heart attack. He was at a soccer meeting when he suddenly collasped and died while in surgery to repair a torn aorta.

Detjen was featured in many of the episodes assisting the Roloff family with many endeavors. He was seriously injured along with Jacob Roloff two years ago when the trebouchet malfunctioned while being used to fling pumpkins during the Roloff Farm's annual pumpkin sale.

Its amazing how we as viewers "adopt" these families who appear in these reality shows as our own. Nanners and I are big fans of the show and seldom miss an episode.

Rest in Peace, Mike.

Ender's Games

He is back.

He is rested.

He is tanned.

He is finding phallic shapes on Hurricane Evacuation maps.

He has a game controller in one hand. 

He has a box of diapers in the other.

His name is Ender.

He reviews games.

and...

He is back on The Earth's Mightiest Blog.

"Whatcha goin' to do, Brother!" - Roddy Piper, The Dudleyz, and Austin Idol

(Many apologies, but Typepad's spell check feature is on the blitz.)

Today, I am going to finish my little look at my love of professional wrestling by two of my favorite grapplers and one of the most successful gimmick groups of all time.

Roddy Piper - If there was ever a person that prozac or zoloft was made for it was Roderick Toombs, better known as "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. Piper came on to the mainstream by being the heel to Hulk Hogan's face during the WWF's initial expansion period known as the "Rock N' Wrestling" connection. However, Piper's infamy began much earlier than that.

The Scottish villain ( actually, he is Canadian but his parents came from Scotland ) began his career out west, at I believe the age of 15. Roddy Piper began his rise to stardom California then moved to the Pacific Northwest territory where he had a series of matches with Playboy Buddy Rose. From there, Piper decided to move east and began wrestling with Jim Crockett Promotion's Mid Atlantic Wrestling and this is where the legend was truly born.

Piper was perfect at playing the out of control, wildly emotional villain. It didn't take long for an interview to degenerate into Piper becoming extremely flushed, shouting loudly and making his trademark gulp of air when about to scream again. He is great on the stick.

In the Mid-Atlantic, Piper immediately began a program with Ric Flair over the U.S. Championship. From there, he wrestled all the top stars and alienated every fan in the process. Here is where Piper's career really began to take off. Piper was hired by Georgia Championship Wrestling not as a wrestler but as a color commentator along side Gordon Solie. This is believed to be the first time that a active wrestler portrayed a "heel" commentator and commented how great the bad guys were doing over the babyfaces. Soon however, and I do not know if this was planned or this just evolved, Piper began to jell with the serious Solie and the two actually made a great announcing team. Even Solie gave Piper credit on his commentating skills. Of course, this being wrestling, it didn't last long as one of wrestling's greatest face turns occured when Don "Magnificent" Muraco was being interviewed by Solie and began to poke his finger in Solie's chest. Solie even at this time was considered so sacred that people couldn't not believe that he was being physically assaulted. In fact, it was the fact that Solie stayed away from the phyiscal aspect of the sport that brought a sense of realism to the over the top action. When Muraco began to punch Solie with his finger and starting pushing him back, it was Piper who jumped in and saved the dean of wrestling announcers. It was another of wrestling's greatest moments.

Piper hit the mainstream by moving to the WWF not long after this and was paired against Hulk Hogan for the WWF's huge national expansion push. All of this culminated with Wrestlemania 1 where Hogan and Mr. T went against Piper and Paul Orndorff. Piper has been known to say since ( and correctly,I may add ) that Hogan would not be as popular if the fans were not hating him. Why Vince McMahon never put the WWF title on Piper is beyond me. In fact, Piper has never held the World Championship in his whole career. A travesty because Piper could have been a fantastic heel champion.

Piper has made numerous appearances in film and television with his greatest role being that of John Nada is John Carpenter's cult classic movies They Live. Piper recently completed treatment for Hodgkin's Lymphoma and still can be seen on WWE programming from time to time.

One of the all time greats.

Roddy Piper's famous face turn on Georgia Championship Wrestling 1982

Wrestlemania 1 facing Hulk Hogan and Mr. T.

Roddy Piper in They Live

The Dudley Boyz - In my opinion, the geatest gimmick idea of all time. To tell the story, there was a wrestler in the territory days called Big Daddy Dudley. Big Daddy traveled from area to area wrestling and in every area he wrestled Big Daddy produced an offspring. They were all known collectively as the Dudley Boyz. Off all the Dudleyz produced the most famous were Bubba Ray, DeVon and Little Spike Dudley.

The Dudley gimmick was created in Extreme Championship Wrestling by wrestlers and bookers Raven and Tazz. It brought to wrestling the idea that was presented in the hockey movie Slapshot about the infamous Hanson Brothers complete with their horned rimmed glasses. The Dudleys were originally more of a comedy wrestling team with all the different named brothers trying to make a mark in wrestling. After a while, the final team of brothers, Bubba Ray and DeVon would begin to less comedic and more violent. Always opposed by Little Spike Dudley who was a face, The Dudleyz carved out their tag team legacy by destroying one team at a time and inciting the fans to near riots with their comments in and out of the ring. After a few years, the Dudleyz moved to the WWF where their characters were softened some and the Dudley family gimmick was lessened considerably. Little Spike would eventually join the group but the group would never be as creative successful as they were in ECW. The Dudleys would eventually be cut from the WWE roster for cost cutting reasons. When they left, they assumed they had the rights to the Dudley name but the WWE had bought that when they acquired ECW and would not give the team the rights to use it. They are now with TNA wrestling as Team 3D and living in the Orlando area.

The Dudleys are definately a guilty pleasure to watch.

A Classic video of The Dudley Boyz inciting the fans. THIS IS NOT SAFE FOR WORK!!!

The Dudleys Table Rampage. Not Politically correct but you have to love Bubba Ray's "Orgasmic Trance".

Austin Idol - Gorgeous George began what some consider the "modern" age of professional wrestling by being the "pretty boy" heel wrestler. George would come to the ring and along with his valet begin a series of prematch rituals like the exaggerated removal of the robe, spraying of the perfume, wiping of the boots, etc. All the time, the fans would become more and more irate. Another wrestler who was in the same vein as George was a man called Superstar Billy Graham who had a few of George's mannerism but had a chisled body to go along with the attitude. Graham had many imitators but one of the most successful and a favorite in southern wrestling rings was Austin Idol.

Idol is a southern wrestling legend who feuded with every major star in the late 70's and early 80's between Mobile and Memphis. It was in Memphis where Idol had his greatest years as he was the main nemesis of Jerry "the King" Lawler. In fact, The Mid South Coliseum in Memphis recorded some its record attendance numbers when these two were wrestling. Idol was also a main stay in Mobile and Pensacola.

I had the chance to speak with Austin Idol a couple of times in my younger days. He was always polite and gracious. He is currently living in Pensacola, Florida and is making a career flipping houses. Not physically of course, but he renovates houses to sell then moves to another. My uncle dealt with him some while working for Federal Express. He told me that he would pass him from time to time cutting grass in his yard while wearing a pink thong swimsuit. LOL

Austin Idol in all his glory. This is a great example of early 80's wrestling.

Well, thats my look at some wrestling legends from my youth. I really miss those days.

"Whatcha goin' to do, Brother?" Ric Flair, Von Erichs and Gordon Solie

Now that I have thoroughly bored you about my past obsession with grappling, I thought I would end this series of posts by sharing with you some of my favorite rasslers and why I have enjoyed them over the years.

Ric Flair- The. Best. Ever. Ric Flair recently retired after wrestling 35 years and having amassed 16 (official, actually there are more...) reigns as World Heavyweight Champion. As work rate is measured, there is simply no one who could touch him. He could wrestle, he could talk, he simply fit the mold to what a champion wrestler should be. Personally, he survived the sport with his health relatively intact. Even though he has been married three times, he has raised a stable and successful family and enjoyed the respect of his peers. You might even see the Nature Boy supporting various Republican candidates as he is a staunch converserative.

Flair's heyday to me was his first and second run as champion. His first run did not last very long, obviously to see how he would fair as the champ. Apparently, he did well enough to be crowned a second time not too long after and would hold the belt for sometime to come. During his first couple of reigns as champ and before the days of WCW and the rise of the Four Horsemen, Flair carried the banner to every corner of the world. His schedule was horrendous. Comparing Flair to Babe Ruth, Michael Jordan or Wayne Gretzky still would not do him justice since Flair not only had the toll of the intense traveling but the grueling physicality of wrestling ( staged or not, wrestling is not as physically friendly as you would think ) would have worn a lesser man down to nothing. An example of Flair's schedule would be something like this.

Friday - Dusty Rhodes in Tampa, Florida, Saturday Afternoon - Kevin Von Erich in Dallas, Saturday Evening - Kerry Von Erich in Fort Worth, Sunday - Harley Race in Kansas City, Monday - Jerry Lawler in Memphis, Tuesday - Bob Armstrong in Mobile, Wednesday - Tommy Rich in Atlanta, Thursday - Roddy Piper in Charlotte. The next week would start over with maybe an off day here or there. This is not even counting trips to Japan, Puerto Rico, New Zealand and Canada.

It is safe to say that there will be no one that will even come close to what the man did in and out of the ring. Its just sad that most young wrestling fans today do not even know the legacy this man leaves behind.

YouTube - Ric Flair's WWE Hall of Fame Induction Speech

YouTube - Ric Flair being honored on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives

YouTube - Ric Flair Defends World Championship in New Zealand 1983

The Von Erich Family-  World Class Championship Wrestling was at its peak in the early to mid 80s with the Von Erichs as their stars. David Von Erich's death began a slow decline of the promotion and even more tragic, the family itself. Their famous feud with The Fabulous Freebirds made history and is remembered today as one of the most exciting storylines in wrestling history. They were fantastic.

YouTube - Faded Glory:The Von Erich Story

Gordon Solie-  Professional wrestling's most celebrated announcer. Solie was often called "The Walter Cronkite of Professional Wrestling" due to the intense respect he commanded. Solie called the matches like legitimate sporting events complete to the point of learning the correct muscle and limb structure names so that he could emphasize wrestling holds and the impact they would have to the body. When a grappler would apply a "sleeper" hold, Solie would consistently throw in a disclaimer for children "not to do this at home since these men were professionals and this could be a potentially dangerous hold". He was correct because the hold if held tightly could indeed do what it claimed. It would cut off blood to the carotid artery and it would put you to sleep. Permanently. ( It was strange, however, he said nothing about being piledriven in the floor. ) Solie traveled from Tampa to Atlanta every week to tape shows in those cities and later would even add Birmingham to his work schedule. He was to wrestling announcing to what Ric Flair was to wrestling.

YouTube - Gordon Solie interviews Sterling Golden ( Do you recognize him?)

Next time, Roddy Piper, The Dudleyz and Austin Idol.

"Whatcha goin' to do, Brother?" part 2

...so the cat is out of the bag.

As I sat there, it must have been in the early 80's, maybe 81 or 82 at the latest. I had just realized that something was afoot about pro wrestling. However, I still enjoyed it.

During this time for me, it was wrestling's golden age. Not only was Georgia Championship Wrestling running three hours of wrestling on the weekend, there was the great World Class Wrestling out of Dallas that showcased the great Von Erich brothers. Mid-South Wrestling out of Louisiana and Mississippi (which I could get on UHF band on my old television on Sunday afternoons if the weather was perfect.) and not to be forgotten, my bread and butter, Southeastern Championship Wrestling that ran Mobile, Pensacola and all places in between. I was lucky enough to grab the first tickets sold in my hometown when they came to Sibert Gym on the campus of Faulkner State Community College one evening. My fondest memory of that night was as we were leaving former Freebird Terry Gordy came in through the front door of the building. Someone exclaimed," umm, aren't you kinda late. It's all over." They don't start rasslin' until I get here!", Gordy exclaimed. He had gotten lost driving to Bay Minette.

Like I said, it was the Golden Age of Wrestling for me. I was having a blast. Even though I had a deep feeling wrestling was not all what it billed itself to be.

Then, it was Black Saturday.

Everybody turned ou their televisions on July 14, 1984 and were shocked to see old Georgia Championship Wrestling commercial announcer Freddie "Beeee There!" Miller standing there with a microphone in his hand. At first, I thought that regular announcer Gordon Solie had died. Instead, Miller introduced Vince McMahon who had bought the timeslot as a way to expand his World Wrestling Federation nationwide. It was quite a moment.

This is one of two events that began the decline of pro wrestling for me. Even though I knew by this time that everything was scripted and decided beforehand, the illusion or kayfabe was still there. Now the business aspect was beginning to creep more and more to the forefront. The illusion of wrestling was starting to fade.

The second and sadder event happened on February 10, 1984 when the wildly popular David Von Erich passed away while on tour in Japan. Von Erich, whose real name was David Adkisson, died from a heart attacked attributed to ruptured intestines which caused acute enteritis. Many people believe Von Erich might have died from a drug overdose but this has never been proven. Only in his mid 20's, Von Erich was tapped to be the NWA World Champion but never lived to win the belt. Von Erich's death shattered the Texas wrestling community and again kayfabe was broke again when news of his real name hit the newspapers. I remember reading the story in The Mobile Press Register. Even though World Class Wrestling would be extremely popular from years to come, Von Erich's death began the slow decline of the promotion and the beginning of one of the worse tragedies that any family should ever have to endure. After David Von Erich's death, five of the six Von Erich brothers would die from either accidents or suicides over a six year period.( The oldest brother was electrocuted as an child.) Kevin Von Erich is the only remaining member of the family still living.

It is a very, very sad story.

After 1984, I began to have less interest in wrestling. The WWF's national expansion destroyed the territory system and forced the strong promoters to start banding together (WCW) and the battle was on. Vince McMahon did not try to maintain kayfabe and skirted the steroid issue and rules that enforced wrestling like boxing by declaring that wrestling was sports entertainment not a legitimate sport therefore did not have to submit to drug testing and other rules that state boxing and wrestling commissions had in place. The Chris Benoit incident is the worse event the sport has seen since the Von Erich deaths. Wrestling had indeed changed so much from the early days that now emphasis is placed on creating perfect bodies and absurd storylines as opposed to basic mat action and the slow build up of storylines. In the past, storylines took months to complete with the payoff being a sold out arena of fans seeing the babyface finally defeating the hated heel wrestling to the delight of the thousands of paying fans. Now corporate sponsors, million dollar wrestlers and agents, and bloodthristy fans who are demanding more and more outrageous stunts are the norm for the sport now.

Wrestling is an amazing sport.... when done right. If someone on a national level could run a business like the great Les Thatcher, who runs a wrestlng school in Missouri and writes a column addressing the way "new school'  wrestling could benefit from "old school" wrestling traditions, then maybe the sport could have its cake and eat it too. Like any sport, wrestling has had its share of tragedies but it seems that wrestling, unlike other sports, is scrutinized more due to its former past of secrecy about the industry. Much of the criticisms are deserved while some are not. Wrestling has tried to correct problems and turning its face to others. Instead of being proactive about deaths of wrestlers and trying to start strong programs ( drug testing, rehab, financial management for retirement, establishing a union and health care, having counseling available, etc ) it seems more emphasis is placed on the bottom line and turning a profit. WWE is beginning to install drug testing and wellness plans that have teeth so maybe they are getting the message. Its sad that it took the Benoit case to cut those teeth. Vince McMahon does have a heart. Over the years, he has taken care of both current and former employees who has had drug and health problems often time without fanfare. However, the more preventative measures that are put in place now the better.

Next time, my favorite grapplers. I may even tell the story of when one of my friends got chased by a Bushwacker. The wrestler, not the drink.LOL

"Whatcha goin' to do, Brother?"

Over the past few weeks, I have been taking short trips down memory lane. No, I haven't been stalking ex girlfriends or going back to my old high school.

I have been recapturing my love for professional wrestling.

Yes, you heard that right. Pro Wrestling.

When I was a kid, I was mesmerized by watching professional wrestling on local television. My first memories of wrestling were watching matches that came on late on Saturday night on Channel 3 from Pensacola. I loved seeing the fan favorite The Wrestling Pro, white mask, tights and all, grapple with and defeat the dreaded German Kurt Von Hess and seeing both of them swap the coveted Gulf Coast Heavyweight Championship. 

As I grew up, wrestling started appearing on WKRG Channel 5. It came on Saturdays at 1pm, a much convenient time. Southeastern Championship Wrestling was syndicated out of Dothan, Alabama and ran shows in Mobile, Pensacola and all areas in between. After much pleading with my mother, she agreed to take my cousin, two neighbor kids and myself to a big wrestling extravaganza one summer evening at the Mobile Municipal Auditorium. The main event was a match between NWA World Heavyweight Champion Harley Race and his opponent, 7''4' 500lb Andre the Giant. The Mobile promoters had outbid all other promoters in the Southeast to get this coveted rematch. Of course, I was eating all of this up. I almost didn't get a chance to go because my cousin and I were "wrestling" ourselves in the front yard and he opened up a huge cut on my chin. My mother threatened not to take us but of course she gave in later in the day. Once we got there, we were all just glad to be in the building but my mother decided that since it was our first time watching wrestling in person, we needed to be as close to the action as we could. She got us as close as she could. We all had floor seats on the fourth row. It was amazing. I can remember it just like it was yesterday. Wrestlers who performed that night besides Race and Andre were Austin Idol (who had a heated feud with Kevin Sullivan), Chief Wahoo McDaniel and Ox Baker along with many others. After that night, I consumed everything there was about wrestling. I read all the trade magazines and started studying all the territories and all the wrestlers that performed there. I followed the three recognized world champions and their contenders. I ate and slept professional wrestling.

The next big thing that fueled my love for wrestling was when our neighborhood finally got cable television. My neighbor received it first and invited me over to watch the famed Georgia Championship Wrestling program on the old Superstation WTBS. For one hour, I was glued to the seat watching all the stars I had read about in the trades. After watching one hour, I got up and thanked her immensely and headed home. The next day she asked me did I enjoy myself and I told her I did. She then asked why did I leave when there was another hour left to watch. What? Another hour? I almost had a geekgasm. TWO HOURS of pro wrestling and I missed it. The next week my house was finally hooked up with cable and I had my drink and popcorn ready and I began watching the show. I remember seeing Austin Idol ( who had left Mobile and started wrestling in Atlanta) and he was cutting a promo (interview) on Kevin Sullivan. He looked into the camera and said, "I can't believe that this Sullivan guy wants to fight me. I have never heard of the guy!!!"

Huh?

"...but I saw you beat the crap out him in Mobile a few years ago", I said to myself. " so what is this crap!"

That is when I realized that wrestling was not all what it seemed to be.

......more to come.