411Mania’s Squared Circle News Report 05.02.09

Welcome back inside the Squared Circle! As always it’s been a busy week in the homeland here. I finally got to watch The Wrestler last Sunday. I really didn’t have a whole lot to do that day so it was either that or read Randy Harrison’s “Bell to Bell News Report”. Either way, they both take about the same amount of time. I will have a little mini-review of “The Wrestler” down below, it will be filled with spoilers so make sure to avoid it if you haven’t seen the movie yet!

Unfortunately this week, we saw the end of the Trail Blazers in the NBA playoffs. It’s a shame, but the team is extremely young and LOADED. It’s not like this team is going away any time folks. Houston was an extremely bad match-up for Portland and one that I hated from the second it was announced. I look for the Rockets to give LA a little bit of a headache but the Lakers should pull it off in 5-6 games. As for Portland, look for Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, and hopefully Greg Oden to dominate for the next few years baby!

Now, as promised……

The Wrestler Mini-Review

WARNING: SPOILERS!!!

As I mentioned I received The Wrestler on DVD from those wonderful folks over at Netflix finally and sat down to watch it last Sunday. All in all I must say it’s a very good movie. Mickey Rourke did an amazing job as you have heard by now. The only thing I didn’t really like was the ending because it just reeked of “The Sopranos”. We were sitting here watching this man have a heart attack in the ring and he’s about to perform his finishing move and then FADE TO BLACK…. write your own damn ending! While I liked it when “The Sopranos” did it, I’m not sure I liked it as much this go round. Either way, you can’t hate on a movie just because of it’s ending so I still give “The Wrestler” a high recommendation!

Now, on to some wrestling news……

LET’S GET IT ON!!!!!

---

Biggest News Of The Week:

“Playboy” Buddy Rose Dead At 56

Rest in peace big guy……

Wow. In less than a month’s time we lose two Portland Wrestling legends in Steve Doll and “Playboy” Buddy Rose. Let’s hope Scott Levy is taking it easy right now because it’s not a good time to be an ex-Portland Wrestler. According to The Wrestling Observer, Rose was found dead in his home in Vancouver, Washington on April 28. Rose had reportedly complained to friends about having blood sugar problems relating to his diabetes but unfortunately was found dead by his wife of 18 years while sitting in his favorite chair watching TV.

Rose was always a guilty pleasure of mine. I have mentioned numerous times that I was a huge Portland Wrestling fan growing up and while I was too young to see Rose in his prime Portland days when he feuded with “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, I remember hearing all about it as a young child. I was “lucky” enough to catch Rose’s WWF stint as a jobber on the “Blow Away” diet and when he forced the ring announcer to introduce his weight as a “slim and trim 217 pounds” even though he was more like 315.

I do have one good story involving Rose and myself. I remember seeing an ad during Portland Wrestling for a carnival at Sandy Barr’s Flea Mart in Portland. The carnival was set to feature many wrestlers doing various things to interact with the fans. Well it just so happens that when I showed up…”Playboy” Buddy Rose was sitting in the dunk tank. This was a dream come true for a little tyke like myself. Here was one of the best heels in PW history and I got a chance to dip his ass into a tank of cold water!

Needless to say when I walked up to attempt my throw, Buddy Rose was running his mouth in usual heel fashion. I got three tries to attempt and soak him but somehow (must have been the nerves) I whiffed on every single throw. However, there was a “carny” sitting by ready to please the fans who let me walk up and press the button and dunk Rose’s ass into the cold water! It may have been cheap, but it got the job done and got me a handshake from the “Playboy” himself.

Buddy Rose will definitely be missed by this writer. Everyone here at 411wrestling.com would like to send our condolences to the Perschmann family. Another one gone way too early……

---

Elix Skipper’s Son Murdered

Horrible news for Skipper…..

And we have even more bad news. Unfortunately the son of former WCW and TNA star Elix Skipper died after being shot numerous times. According to the report, Skipper’s son opened the door of his apartment in the afternoon and two men barged into the house firing a weapon. Skipper lived in the apartment with his Godmother, who was home at the time of the shooting but was unharmed. This is the worst kind of news that a parent can get. Now of course all the conspiracy theorists will come out…with good reason of course.

Why? Because apparently this guy did something to make someone mad. Perhaps this was a robbery gone wrong, but something doesn’t smell right about the fact that the alleged shooters barged into the house with guns blazing and his Godmother is unharmed. I don’t really have the whole story right now so I can’t really comment on the situation myself…I’m just informing you what other people might assume.

As for Elix Skipper, I honestly don’t know what the man is up to. I was always a huge fan of his during his run with TNA and WCW and I sincerely hope things get better for him and his family. I hope to give you more details on this story next week when they are revealed….

---

Remember This Guy???

Big Josh

Last week I spoke about “The Real Man’s Man” William Regal…this week I’m talking about a guy who may even be more of a “man’s man” than Regal himself. The man I’m talking about is none other than WCW veteran Big Josh (sorry for the picture…it was impossible trying to find a decent one)! Josh exploded onto the WCW scene in the early 90’s as a lumberjack from the Pacific Northwest. That was all fitting because Josh was actually Matt Borne, who hailed from the Pacific Northwest. His stint with WCW didn’t last long but it did include numerous tag team appearances with “Rapmaster” P.N. News! OH JOY!! Needless to say, after a brutal stint with WCW, Josh was sent back into the woods never to be seen again.

Of course if you want to believe the rumors, Borne signed with the WWF after being released by WCW and became one of my favorite gimmicks of all-time….Doink The Clown. Man I miss Matt Borne!!!

---

Random News Bits:

– Jay Lethal has re-signed with TNA. That’s a good move by TNA seeing as Lethal is extremely talented and oozes MACHISMOOOOO.

– Cute Kip is booked on this weekend’s house shows even though he is no longer scheduled to appear on television. Consider this the GREATEST NEWS EVER.

– TNA may be looking to bring in Lance Cade, however Cade currently has previous commitments with the HUSTLE promotion in Japan. That would be a great move for TNA as I personally feel Cade didn’t get a fair shake during his WWE run.

– Mick Foley recently started work on his fourth autobiography. It’s expected to focus on his jump to TNA and how he is now having more fun wrestling than he has in years. I don’t expect to read the thing if it turns into a “bash WWE book”. Those kind of things just leave a sour taste in my mouth. We get it….Vince McMahon is crazy and out of touch, I don’t need to be constantly reminded of these things.

– The WWE had no interest in bringing Bobby Lashley back into the company. They aren’t interested in someone who wants to be a part-time worker or anyone currently affiliated with an MMA promotion. Can’t say I really blame them much. Lashley was a lost investment for the WWE and they should just move on and forget about him.

– The early favorite to land WrestleMania 27 is Indianapolis, Indiana. Indiana offers nothing I want to see in person so chalk down another WrestleMania I won’t be attending live. Why can’t they go back to Vegas?

– After watching The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels and Ricky Steamboat’s WrestleMania appearance, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin reportedly told a friend that he missed being in the ring. That’s the first time Austin has given any sort of indication about a possible return to the ring. Will he wrestle at WrestleMania 26? START THE RUMORS NOW!!!

– Former WWE Women’s Champion Trish Stratus recently sat down with a newspaper in Moncton, NB and had the following to say regarding the current WWE women’s division:

“It is disappointing. I think what it is, they have too many women. And I think they can’t even see who’s who because there’s so many of them.”

I couldn’t agree more. I tend to watch WWE television with people who aren’t frequent viewers and they find it next to impossible to identify who’s who in the women’s division. They don’t ALL have to be pretty with big titties Vince….not that I’m complaining or anything!

– TNA veteran Lance Hoyt signed a developmental deal with the WWE this past week. I wonder what name he will get upon his WWE debut? Is “Braden Walker” taken?

– There is talk of a possible Ted DiBiase face turn. The company wants to turn him into a top babyface by the time “The Marine 2” is released on DVD. There’s another movie that I don’t expect to watch.

– The writing is on the wall as far as R-Truth’s WWE future is concerned. He was recently squashed in a dark match against Umaga that saw R-Truth not get a single offensive move in. That’s usually not a good sign…..

(Credit goes to The Wrestling Observer for the above news!)

---

Wrestling Top 10 Lists:

My Top 10 Worst WCW Gimmicks

(These are my personal top 10 worst WCW gimmicks from the time I started watching it in 1990 to it’s demise…..)

This list IS IN a particular order……

Honorable Mentions:

Roadblock – Roadblock was a bad ass. Nothing is scarier than an ugly out of shape dude who carries a traffic barricade to the ring. FEAR HIM!!!

Trucker Norm – Norm the Lunatic….as a trucker. SMELL THE MONEY! This wouldn’t be Norm’s last craptastic gimmick however. He went on to become Friar Ferguson and Bastion Booger in WWE.

Seven – “Goldust” Dustin Rhodes leaves the WWE, sign with WCW and gets saddled with this horrible gimmick.

AND NOW…..THE TOP 10!!!

10) Johnny B. Badd

Marc Mero as a Little Richard impersonator….kill me now……

9) “Rapmaster” PN News

Remember this piece of work? I don’t know if WCW was trying to be “cool” with this gimmick or if they were trying to be funny. Either way….it was neither.

8) Oz

Kevin Nash as the “man behind the curtain” in Emerald City. COUNT ME OUT!

7) Alex “Das Wunderkid” Wright

I don’t actually know if this was a gimmick or if it was just this guy being himself…which was a big douchebag. It’s pretty bad when I think of an old WCW gimmick and all I remember was this jackass dancing like a moron. Can you tell I really didn’t like this guy yet???

6) “KISS” Demon

Craptastic band + Craptastic wrestler = Me changing channel.

5) Disco Inferno

You know what happens when you mix extremely shitty music and mix it with extremely shitty dancing? You get this wonderful gem. For some reason this gimmick lasted a few years and Disco is even kind of considered a “WCW legend” in some neighborhoods.

4) American Males

I’m sure Marcus Alexander Bagwell and Scotty Riggs would’ve made a fine tag team with ANY other gimmick. Unfortunately they get saddled with this “male stripper” type gimmick with horrendous entrance music to boot.

3) The Shockmaster

How do you know when a gimmick doesn’t work? When it’s a joke from the minute the guy appears. For the two of you who have yet to see it….you can do so below!

2) The Yeti

This marks the second time this atrocious gimmick has appeared in my news column. I must love talking about shitty gimmicks!

1) The Renegade

While WCW had some horrendous gimmicks over the years, none of them were as bad in my mind as this “generic” Ultimate Warrior. I was a huge Warrior fan growing up and I remember the minute I saw The Renegade I was just taken back at WCW’s blatant rip-off. For all the horrible gimmicks that WCW managed to squeeze out in it’s existence…none of them were as bad as this one in my opinion.

---

YouTube! Find Of The Week!

As previously promised, the debut of “The Shockmaster……!!

---

And that’s it for me this week. Remember, don’t be a stranger to 411! Bookmark the site and visit it countless times a day. Hell, be brave and make it your homepage! Trust me, it will make you a better person……

See you next Saturday back in the Squared Circle! Until then, you can find me on MySpace or Facebook! I also recently broke down and got a Twitter as well!