TNA signs Hulk Hogan

Tuesday October 27, 2009 3:54 PM By Alfonso Castillo

Total Nonstop Action announced today that it has signed Hulk Hogan to be part of its company.

Here is the announcement, as published on TNAWrestling.com

"Hulkamania" is back! The biggest name in professional wrestling history, Hulk Hogan, is joining Total Non-Stop Action Wrestling (TNA), the fastest rising wrestling organization in the world and home to one of cable television’s highest rated shows for young men, TNA iMPACT! The announcement was made today by TNA Wrestling in conjunction with Spike TV at a press conference held in New York City.

"Hulk Hogan is one of the world’s top pop culture icons and the biggest superstar in the history of professional wrestling. We are truly excited to welcome him into the TNA family," said Dixie Carter, President of TNA Wrestling. "Our goal is to become the world’s biggest professional wrestling company. Hulk defines professional wrestling and we look forward to partnering with him in a variety of ways as we continue to grow TNA globally."

"I’m thrilled to be jumping back into the world of professional wrestling," said Hogan. "My fans have been asking me to return to the business for many years on a full time basis, but the timing or the opportunity has never been right until now. TNA Wrestling is a great company with an already excellent fan base, business and broadcast partner. I firmly believe now is the time for some change at TNA as they are positioned to jump to the next level in their development and I’m here to work with Dixie to help make that a reality."

Through Hogan’s partnership with Bischoff Hervey Entertainment Television, the deal with TNA was negotiated by longtime Hogan colleague Eric Bischoff. Additionally, BHE TV has inked a first-look deal with TNA and will be working with the organization to develop new programming extensions of the TNA brand.

"Hulk Hogan adds yet another level of star power that positions TNA iMPACT as Spike TV’s version of ‘Must-See TV’ on Thursday nights," said Kevin Kay, president of Spike.

Hogan most recently penned an autobiography with Mark Dagostino, "My Life Outside The Ring" with St. Martin’s Press.
 

Hogan made the announcement during a press conference here in New York City to promote his new book.

While it may seem peculiar that TNA would sign Hogan just as TNA President Dixie Carter has launched an initiative to marginalize the role of wrestlign veterans, and push young stars, it’s hard to argue with any wrestling company doing business with Hulk Hogan.

Quite simply, Hulk Hogan is the biggest star the wrestling business has ever created, and if Vince McMahon could come to a mutually beneficial agreement with Hogan tomorrow, he would.

I am not so naïve to think that Hogan – nor any single person short of John Cena or the Rock – will have have any noticable impact on TNA, I can certainly understand TNA’s desire to get in bed with Hogan, and perhaps gain a little bit of legitimacy in the main stream media by being affiliated with such a recognizable star.

How exactly this will work remains to be seen. My guess is that it will be a short-term relationship, and that Hogan’s top priority is to have a national television outlet to promote some of his business ventures, including the book and his forthcoming "Hulkamania" tour of Australia, where he is set to wrestle Ric Flair. Could this mean the Nature Boy may not be too far behind Hogan in joining TNA?

Along the way, Hogan may "wrestle" a match or two for TNA, but it’s hard to imagine how that would work. A quick glimpse at the TNA roster does not reveal any obvious "dream matches" for Hogan – if you even believe that Hogan could be half of a dream match these days. What’s more, it will require a special kind of wrestler to put something together that even remotely resembles a wrestling match with the 56-year-old Hogan. Shawn Michaels was able to do it four years ago. Kurt Angle may be able to get something watchable out of Hogan, but these days, you have to worry about Angle sacrificing his body to make another wrestler look good.

Hogan-Sting is old news. Hogan-A.J. Styles wouldn’t mean much to most wrestling fans, but could give Styles some much needed rub. Hogan-Samoa Joe may have meant something four years ago, but TNA has managed to all but completely squander the "next big thing" star power that Joe had when he came to TNA from ROH.

My bet is that, if Hogan wrestles at all, it will be against Styles in Hogan’s latest "passing of the torch" match.

But it could very well be that Hogan doesn’t wrestle at all, and rather only shows up for a couple weeks of TV to cut some promos, plug his tour and his book, and collect a paycheck.

And when it’s all said and done, he will not have made a lick of difference to TNA's business.

Thoughts on Bragging Rights, logic holes in Iron Man Match, new WWE title challengers

Tuesday October 27, 2009 2:28 PM By Alfonso Castillo

I’d give Bragging Rights an overall thumbs up as a pay per view, but I’d say the show was actually less than the sum of its parts. What I mean by that is that, while individually several of the matches were quite good, the entire show as a "concept event" never quite clicked. The Raw vs. Smackdown theme seemed forced, and was further hurt by the fact that the night’s two top matches were not inter-brand.

It’s seemed to me especially peculiar that WWE would replace Cyber Sunday, which I thought was a pretty solid gimmick show (at least until they started charging to vote) with a Raw team vs. Smackdown team concept weeks before the Survivor Series – where such a concept would work better. Now WWE is in the position to either abandon the team match tradition at the Survivor Series, or risk having the show look like a rehash of the previous pay per view. In fact, I’d argue that Survivor Series, with its built-in team format, is probably the better show to do an annual brand vs. brand theme show.

. I quite liked Batista’s heel turn. As soon as he started threatening Mysterio at the end of the match, it was like something clicked. "Oh, THIS is what Batista was missing." The gimmick of the heel bully immediately fit Batista, and hopefully this will rejuvenate his stagnating career. I’m quite intrigued by the possibilities in a Batista – Mysterio match, as long as Rey is not completely buried in the feud. I don’t mind Batista winning the war against Mysterio. He probably should, if the plan is to make him Smackdown’s top heel. But it’s important that Mysterio come out of the program strong.

. My thoughts about the night’s 60-minute Iron Man match are similar to those of the pay per view as a whole. While it was consistently entertaining, when I step back and look at it as an entire body of work, it doesn’t quite knock my socks off. That said, I really enjoyed the match, and would certainly have it in the four star range. Just the fact that the match never got boring is quite the accomplishment.

There had been five previous Iron Man matches in WWE history (only four of which lasted an hour or more.) I have to admit to only remembering three others well –Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels, the Rock vs. Triple-H, and Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar.

I’d have the Cena-Orton match a notch or two under Brock-Angle, and probably right around Rock-Triple-H. I’ve always thought Bret-Michaels was tremendously over-rated, and the least compelling and entertaining of them all.

Cena and Orton managed to make the match their own, and told a good story along the way – with both men trading falls until the end. There were some very entertaining and original spots – no the least of which was the simultaneous RKO/Attitude Adjustment. I liked the move, but not so much the overly-cute double pin.

Unfortunately, the determination to make this match feel as original as possible also led to some very lame spots, and gaping holes in logic. The biggest problem is the same one you often run into you do an "anything goes" match between two arch rivals. And that is the selective use of underhanded tactics by the heel. The lamest spot of the night was obviously Orton’s attempt to blow up Cena with the pyro. As I watched it, all I could think about was, "If Orton is OK with killing Cena to win the match, why not just go back into catering, find a knife, and come back and stab Cena to death?"

Of course, that sounds ridiculous – but really it’s no more ridiculous than Orton trying to murder Cena with an explosive device. Once you’ve presented the absurd notion that one wrestler is trying to take the life of another, then you are just begging for criticisms of your internal logic.

Similarly, if Legacy could come out in the mid-way point of the match to attack Cena to help Orton get a pin, why not just be out there for the entire match? And, if anything goes, why bother to respect the rule that you have to give your opponent a 30-second breather after a pinfall. What happens if you don’t? Will you get disqualified – even though the match is no DQ? These are all questions WWE’s writers, and Cena and Orton themselves, should have been asking – because, I assure you, many fans were asking them.

The biggest problem in the match’s logic came in the finish, when Orton tapped out to the STF with seconds to go on the clock. I know, Orton is the heel and should be presented as gutless, but this didn’t make much sense to me. Assuming Orton knew the match had seconds left – and we saw that he was monitoring the big clock, and fans were counting down – why tap out? The reason wrestlers tap out in matches is that, unless they do, they will continue to be in excruciating pain indefinitely. That was not the case here. Cena was going to let go of the hold in five seconds anyway.

I suppose I could be convinced that Orton lost track of the time, and didn’t know whether he might be in the hold for several more minutes, but it’s a stretch.

While the last several paragraphs may give the appearance that I was down on the match, I really wasn’t. In fact, I quite liked having the rare opportunity to appreciate wrestling similar to a real sport – complete with a scoreboard, a time clock, and a point system. I actually watched the pay per view in a room full of people also watching game 6 of the American League Championship Series, and it was amusing when someone would ask "What’s the score?" and I wasn’t quite sure what "game" they were referring to.

To that end, I appreciated some of the strategy employed by the wrestlers, including Orton sacrificing the first fall so he wouldn’t be stuck in the STF any longer than he had to. Good stuff.

But we all know what the best thing coming out of Bragging Rights was – no more Cena vs. Orton – at least for the next few months. Both men deserve credit for putting on a series of good to great matches against each other over the last couple of years, but I am not alone in saying that the feud had more than run it’s course.

And so, it was quite rewarding to see some new, young talent get elevated into the world title picture on Raw last night. You know, fresh faced up and comers who have waited for years to get that big break headlining a WWE show.

Of course, those men are Triple-H and Shawn Michaels.

Will WWE ever learn?

WWE Bragging Rights preview and predictions

Sunday October 25, 2009 3:28 PM By Seth Mates

Been a while since I've done one of these things ... and it's been a while since I've even watched WWE programming ... but I'm trying to get back in the swing of things so I thought I'd do a quick write-up of the newest addition to WWE's PPV schedule, tonight's "Bragging Rights."

(And while I make no assumptions about where WWE might or might not have gotten this name from, I should point out that former WWE creative team member Chris Gough has been hosting an Emmy-award winning show called "Bragging Rights" on MetroSports Kansas City for years now. I'm just sayin' ...)

So here we go:

Seven guys from Raw vs. Seven guys from SmackDown. You know, the single-biggest problem since the brand split in 2002 has been trying to keep the brands unique and separate. "Special matches" like this that see the brands fight each other seem to happen all the time, and I honestly couldn't tell you who's on what show right now. I'm also quite puzzled about why they'd do a match like this just a few weeks out from Survivor Series, since the SS Elimination matches are one of the few things that still hold any value in the current era of 19 PPVs and constant hot-shotting. I just looked at the people in the match and I don't see anyone on the SmackDown side who I think can beat anyone on the Raw side. So I'll pick Raw in the match.

Iron Man Match: Cena vs. Orton. I know I'm not breaking any new ground by saying this, but does anyone really want to see these two go at it for an hour? And going to my point from earlier, does the Cena stip mean anything? So let's say he loses and goes to SmackDown. Six months after that he'll just be on Raw again, won't he?

I'd love to see Orton win here. It would put him over as a legit champ, and would send SmackDown another top guy, which they need. Plus, they've already done Cena-Orton in Hell in a Cell, and now Iron Man. They need to get these two as far away from each other as possible.

(And while we're on the topic of Iron Man matches, am I the only one who thinks the Bret Hart vs. HBK one from WrestleMania XII is the most overrated match in history? The WWE flunkies can put it over all they want, and I'm sure it was a huge physical feat, but zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz ...)

World Title: Taker vs. Mysterio vs. Punk vs. Batista. If Cena winds up going to SmackDown, this match result becomes a lot more interesting. Four-ways usually serve one of two purposes: Either protecting a top guy who's injured and can't work a traditional one-on-one, or switching the title without making the champion look bad. In this case, I think it's a little of both. I'm gonna predict Punk takes the title back here (possibly beating Mysterio). From there, you have a lot of natural match-ups -- Punk/Taker rematch, Punk/Cena, and any number of combinations. Punk is a fresh character who deserves a run.

John Morrison vs. The Miz: Are both titles on the line here? Oy. Haven't seen much of either but The Miz seems like a charismatic dude. I'll pick him.

SmackDown divas vs. Raw divas: Don't care.

Enjoy the show. As usual, I'll be working and watching the Yankees!
 

TNA teaches WWE a lesson on how to make a star

Friday October 23, 2009 5:01 PM By Alfonso Castillo

Now that’s how you make a wrestling star.

We don’t get to say this very often, but WWE could learn something from TNA.

On last night’s edition of Impact, TNA did a better job of creating a new wrestling star right out of the gate than WWE has in seven years. I am speaking of course of the memorable debut of "Desmond Wolfe" – better known to many wrestling fans as former Ring of Honor heavyweight champion Nigel McGuinness.

In case you hadn’t heard, McGuinness was set to join WWE alongside longtime ROH rival "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson. But weeks after McGuinness and Danielson left ROH a month ago, WWE had still not finalized a deal with McGuinness. Earlier this week, news surfaced that negotiations between McGuinness and WWE fell through, and that TNA seized the opportunity and signed McGuinness out from under WWE.

Then last night, McGuinness debuted as "Wolfe" in a backstage segment with newly-turned-babyface Kurt Angle. Seconds after humbly introducing himself to Angle, Wolfe attacked the Olympic gold medallist.

Then in the final segment of the show, Wolfe again came out and attacked Angle at ringside, and then left him laying in the ring after executing his "Tower of London" top turnbuckle neckbreaker (I’m not so sure it’s a good idea for Angle to be taking such a move, but such arguments tend to fall on deaf ears.)

And sure enough, the Impact following TNA’s biggest pay per view of the year closed with the image of Nigel McGuinness looking dominant in the ring after having destroyed TNA’s biggest star.

Check out the video below.

If that’s not a push, I don’t know what is.

Now, it’s worth bringing this up: Where was TNA when McGuinness was building a reputation as one of the country’s best workers over the last several years? He held the ROH heavyweight title for 15 months, was ranked in the top 10 of the PWI 500 for two consecutive years, and was repeatedly having match of the year contenders on pay per view. Meanwhile, TNA was headlining pay per view after pay per view with broken down Monday Night Wars relics like Booker T and Scott Steiner.

TNA could have signed McGuinness years ago for relatively little money. But, not surprisingly it took WWE showing interest in McGuinness to make TNA officials (WWE’s biggest fans) take notice.

While McGuinness may be a little disappointed in not fulfilling his dream of working for WWE, which he grew up watching as a boy, it may very well be a blessing in disguise. Unlike TNA, which is guilty only to being oblivious of McGuinness’ reputation, WWE may have actually held it against him. If we’ve learned anything from Vince McMahon over the years it’s that, unless you became a star in WWE, then you’re not a star.

There was virtually no chance that McGuinness would be headlining shows in WWE within his first year in the company – if he ever did. More likely, he would have spent months in WWE’s developmental system, "Learning the WWE style," and then be introduced in a relatively small role on WWE, likely on ECW. With some luck, he might be an upper-mid carder in about two years. He’d be in his mid-30s by then.

It’s WWE’s stubborn insistence that wrestlers who are not related to other wrestler pay their dues that has led to the company’s main event roster being as stagnant as it has in history. The last "star" they created was Jeff Hardy – who was with the company on and off for 15 years before he won his first world title.

Don’t bring up C.M. Punk, because he’s still not close to the level of a Randy Orton, Batista or John Cena.

In fact, the last time WWE gave a newcomer the mega-push that McGuinness appeared to get in his TNA debut was when Brock Lesnar arrived in the company in 2002. He was world champion within five months.

And maybe Brock is the very reason why WWE does not take this tact anymore. After getting pushed to the moon, it turned out that Brock’s heart was not in pro wrestling, and he walked away from WWE after just two years. WWE may have been left gun shy to roll the dice on someone not as invested in the company as say a wrestler with family ties to it.

But, in all forms of entertainment, the hottest stars don’t arrive in a slow burn. They do so in an explosion.

The test of whether WWE gets that point may come with their handling of Danielson. In "American Dragon," WWE actually signed, arguably, the hotter of the two ROH free agents. But, as I’ve written before, Danielson will only mean something to WWE if WWE tries to cash in on the reputation he’s built for himself in ROH and on the independent wrestling scene. Without that reputation for being "the best in the world," Danielson is just another short, pale, doughy wrestler.

None of this is to say that TNA won’t royally screw up their handling of McGuinness. In fact, if you were a betting man playing the odds, I’d bet that they would. But so far, so good.

I don’t even mind McGuinness’ new name. While I think the name "Nigel McGuinness" is a good one – and comes with a certain amount of credibility built in ROH over several years – I can understand why TNA would want to re-brand McGuinness with a TNA copyrighted name that McGuinness can’t take with him if he decides to leave the company one day. I don’t think it was a situation of TNA trying to ignore McGuinness’ history, especially since they had him tell Angle that he is "currently known as Desmond Wolfe" – suggesting that he was previously known as something else. As far as wrestling names go, I think Desmond Wolfe is a good one. And I can almost guarantee that he would have been saddled with something far worse in WWE. Just ask "Marquis Cor Von" or "Braden Walker." Ugh.

For the record, I’m not ready to bash WWE for dropping the ball on signing McGuinness. There were widespread reports that McGuinness failed a medical screening conducted by WWE. While McGuinness had denied that in an interview with the Daily Star, I don’t doubt that WWE may have shied away from employing a wrestler with the kind of wear and tear that McGuinness has put on his body in recent years. So while there is no question that McGuinness could have been a big star for WWE, I’d respect there decision not to sign someone with medical issues, if that is indeed true.

Whatever the case, I can assure you of this much: I’ve just become a much bigger fan of TNA than I was last week. McGuinness has been one of my favorite performers for several years now. And the prospect of an Angle-McGuinness feud – no matter how rushed – is certainly more exciting than just about anything on WWE television right now.

Bound For Glory showcased TNA mostly at its best

Monday October 19, 2009 6:48 PM By Alfonso Castillo

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed last night’s TNA “Bound For Glory” pay per view.  The show was good for much the same reason that TNA house shows often receive rave reviews – because it seems TNA’s bookers didn’t get much involved.

To be fair to Vince Russo and his cronies, the reality is that he was probably very involved in putting together last night’s show – arguably the biggest in the history of the company. And much, like the woman who spends hours putting on make-up just to make it look like she’s not wearing make-up, Russo did a good job making it feel like he took the night off.

While there were no match of the year candidates last night, nor any jaw-dropping surprises or angles, there were also no pull your hair out, bang your head against the wall, mind numbingly-stupid booking decisions that are usually par for the course for TNA. As such, this was one of the company’s better shows in some time,

First off, TNA deserves an A for the build up to this show, which included some UFC-inspired promotional packages in which wrestlers gave serious, sit-down interviews about the importance of the show and of their matches. Heading into this show, TNA’s video production team did some of its very best work – and the graphics showcasing the various matches on wind-rippled banners looked top-notch.

As well, TNA did a very good job of making the Irvine, CA crowd look great on TV. When I attended TNA’s Hard Justice pay per view last year in Trenton, it was rather sad that TNA had to literally hide about 75 percent of the mostly-empty arena from the camera’s view. It didn’t look like that was the case last night. I’m sure the UCI Bren Events Center was far from full, but TNA’s production team did a nice job of making the crowd look good on TV. I’d guess there were a good 5,000 fans in the building, which is quite respectable.

Most of the night’s matches delivered on the high side of expectations. And while I’m usually the first to criticize TNA for relying to heavily on gimmick matches, on a pay per view billed as the biggest in TNA’s history, the special stipulations did mostly add – and not take away – from the show. Of course, they would all have meant so much more if TNA used the gimmicks more sparingly. I can’t believe TNA was up to its 17^th Ultimate X match. That’s just pathetic. I couldn’t name you the winners of more than two or three of them.

The Ultimate X is a great concept that TNA came up with, and the company should do more to protect it – similar to how WWE has (at least until recent months) protected some of its top gimmick matches, like Hell in a Cell or TLC, by only breaking them out once a year.

That said, the Ultimate X is beyond dangerous – and not the fun, tongue-in-cheek kind of dangerous that is inherent in Hell in a Cell or the Elimination Chamber. I’d have to think that if TNA did 100 Ultimate X matches, someone is bound to die or at least become paralyzed in one of them. It seemed for a moment that Christopher Daniels might be that person.

And so, while I really enjoyed the action here, it’s hard to endorse such a dangerous match. I think the answer, as I mentioned before, is for TNA to keep the frequency of this kind of match to an absolute minimum. And when they do use it make it count. Put it in a main event slot, or just below.

I won’t spend too much time on the rest of the mid-card. The Beautiful People are a good act, but were better with Angelina Love. The Legends Title three way was forgettable. Kevin Nash looked as old as ever in the ring, but deserves credit for being willing to work and put over young guys – which seems to be a rare thing among TNA veterans these days.

The three-way Knockouts title match was fine, and I thought the finishing sequence involving the chair was well executed. Lashley vs. Joe was weird. And it was too short. As talented as Lahley is, he’s in danger of suffering the same kind of fan backlash that plagued him in WWE – especially if he refuses to do a job out of concern for hurting his reputation in mixed martial arts.  Samoa Joe looks awful. I certainly don’t subscribe to the philosophy that all wrestlers need to look like bodybuilders. But they should look like athletes, and Joe does not. He needs to lose some serious weight, hit a gym, and get a tan.

The four-tag team full metal mayhem match was fine for what it was. TNA needs to get rid of the silly IWGP tag team titles that mean nothing to TNA fans.  And I certainly hope the rumors are true and that’s the last we see of Booker T and Scott Steiner.

If you’re going to do Mick Foley vs. Abyss, then it has to be a garbage match. And so, that’s what we got, and I have to admit to having been largely entertained by it – even if I have no use for either competitor, or this outdated style of wrestling.  But I thought it told a decent story, and that Abyss came out of the match a little stronger than he went into it, which is all we could ask for.

I quite liked Kurt Angle vs. Matt Morgan, and was happy to see Morgan have the kind of “breakthrough” performance that a lot of people have been hoping to see from him. He held up his end of a dramatic and intense big match, and at the end of it, came off more like a star than in the two years that TNA has been promoting him as one. He still has a long way to go in his promos and some of his mannerisms (That pointing at his imaginary watch thing is so lame), but for the first time, we started to see hints of the kind of star power that TNA has hoped to get out of him for a long time now.

As for Kurt, once again he gave the performance of the night – all the while making wrestling fans feeling guilty for cheering him on despite the mounds of evidence that he has no business competing anymore. From a physical standpoint, Angle looks as bad as I’ve ever seen him. He’s pale, skinny, and his mobility seems quite limited. And still, he is the best wrestler in TNA. It’s quite the problem.

In the main event spot, A.J. Styles vs. Sting was just OK – and no better than that. The match seemed to be squeezed for time, and never kicked into “third gear” with a dramatic final sequence. The end just seemed to come out of nowhere, and even looked a bit botched because Styles did not have the space to properly execute his springboard 450 splash.

The intrigue over whether this was Sting’s final match was not intriguing at all. I give credit to Sting for avoiding the same mistake that Ric Flair, Foley and so many others have made – vowing that they will never wrestle again only to come out of retirement within a few months. Sting has refused to commit to never wrestling again, and that’s fine. If he wants to take some time off now, but leave the door open for a special return match some day, he should be able to do that. But if that’s the case, it was just absurd for TNA to try to sell this pay per view on the notion that it “very well may be” Sting’s final match. Well, every match of every wrestler’s career “very well may be” his last. The hype was just stupid and unnecessary.

Ah – “stupid and unnecessary.” Now that sounds more like a TNA pay per view review.

But all jokes aside, this was very much a step in the right direction for TNA. A few good matches. Young wrestlers being put over strong against aging ones. Some thrilling spots, a little bit of gore, Kurt Angle defying doctors, and TNA’s best homegrown performer leaving the building with the world title. That’s about all you can ask for out of TNA.

On Shane McMahon Leaving WWE

Monday October 19, 2009 3:45 PM By Seth Mates

I know it's been a while since you've heard from me -- my day job has kept me furiously busy and I figured you'd quickly get bored of me complaining of a total apathy towards wrestling these days -- but I woke up Friday to some incredible news.

Shane's departure, Me vs. Bruno and Bound for Glory thoughts

Friday October 16, 2009 5:58 PM By Alfonso Castillo

A few notes as we kick off the weekend.

Cyndi Lauper comments on Albano's death

Thursday October 15, 2009 11:53 AM By Alfonso Castillo

I reached out yesterday to representatives for Cyndi Lauper to get a comment from the pop music icon on the death of Capt. Lou Albano. Lauper's relationship with Capt. Lou, which included a memorably cameo by Albano in the music video for "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun," helped launch one of the biggest business periods in WWE's history. It culminated with the involvement of Lauper, and several other celebrities, in the inaugural WrestleMania in Madison Square Garden in 1985.

Today, I received this comment from Lauper regarding the death of her friend:

"Today I found out that Capt. Lou had passed away at home with his family beside him. I am sad for his family and I'm just sad. But I know he's at peace now, he had been ill for a while. My heart goes out to his family.

Capt Lou and I became famous together. He always made me laugh. He made all of that promotion we did so much fun. He graced me with a lot of video performances that I will always treasure. He was a great, gregarious, hilarious fellow who had this lovable presence. I was lucky to work by his side. I will always look back on the absolutely hilarious times and the magical world of Wrestling he introduced me to and shared for that brief time. As he said, he took me up the charts from 10, to 5, to 4 to 1, to minus 5 and back up to 1 again. And it was great fun too.

So let me just say this; I love ya Lou and I can picture you up there somewhere explaining that PEG principle to someone. Or maybe you're having a good laugh with Freddie Blassie. But where ever you are, I am sure you are causing a hilarious rucuss. And I will be sad to miss out on that. "
 

WWE Hall of Famer Johnny Rodz on Albano, his career, McMahon

Thursday October 15, 2009 11:41 AM By Alfonso Castillo

Among the who’s who of names that occupy the WWE Hall of Fame, Johnny Rodz may be easy to overlook. But the journeyman wrestler was a staple of the World Wide Wrestling Federation product throughout the 60s and 70s, and did his best to make many top names look good in the ring.

Rodz may have carved out his most important legacy in the sport after he retired. His training camp out of "The World's Famous" Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn has long been the most well-known wrestling school in New York City, and has produced such notable names as Taz, Team 3D, Tommy Dreamer, Hugh Morrus and Matt Striker.

Rodz is still training future stars, and promotes shows with his students each month. You can learn more about his school and his "World of Unpredictable Wrestling" promotion by visitinghis site.

Unfortunately, I was the one to break the news to Rodz about the passing of his longtime friend, colleague and traveling partner, Captain Lou Albano. In this interview, Rodz shares some fond memories of Albano, wrestling in the New York territory during the old WWWF days, and his induction into the Hall of Fame.

Rodz began by talking about his how he met Albano on his way to Staten Island a half century ago:

Johnny Rodz: The Verrazano Bridge wasn’t built or nothing. It was one of my earlier matches. It must have been my 1959, or lie in the middle of 1958. I was going to a place called Crossboro Stadium in Staten Island. It would be somewhere down near the ferry. I had to take the ferry. And this was the beginning of my life traveling. You take the train, the bus, the ferry – whatever. I’m in the boat going to Staten Island, the ferry. And I’m looking at the water and right next to me there’s a guy standing and we look at each other and it’s like, "Hey, amigo!" And that’s where we met – in the ferry going to Staten Island to wrestle for the first time. I was wrestling around, but I hadn’t met him yet. That was the first time I met him, and gee whiz, we’re talking 50 years or more that I know him. We traveled up and down the road – you name it. All the way from Prescott, Maine down to the end of the 95 going toward the Carolinas. Everywhere on the East Coast, we would travel together… We must have done more traveling between him, me, Arnold Skaaland, Bruno Sammartino, all these guys together – all the old timers… You’d meet in certain areas. I lived on the East Side of NewYork in Manhattan. I used to go to the Holland Hotel to meet Arnold Skaaland there. And then it would be him, me, Pete Sanchez and maybe Bruno Sammartino, whoever was in the area. We traveled to Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Boston, you name it.

Alfonso Castillo: I imagine Lou would keep those drives pretty entertaining?

Well, I tell you – he was one of the number one characters in the business. I tell you what, sometimes you know these guys better than you know your own brother, you know? You know their habits, you know their attitudes. Whatever it is. You know, because you mingle so much. It’s like a club.

What was it that made Lou so special?

JR: He was special. Lou was two characters. One minute he was happy-go-lucky guy and the next minute he might put his punches up and be ready to fight. He had a quick temper, but he was one hell of a guy. He was a friend. He was a regular character.

AC: Can you talk a bit about his gift of gab? I know technically he wasn’t the greatest wrestler in the world, but he was such a great talker, and that’s what made him such a great manager for so long.

Yeah, as a worker or a wrestler, they had gimmicks. Him and Tony Altimore – they were partners from the get-go with the "Sicilians." And then, for years he just wrestled as a singles guy, back and forth. And then one time he was just a good heel as a manager. He talked a lot of stuff and was good for the business, for the heel. So he was one of the number one managers as a heel, because he could get you over. He could get the people rowdy. He was good for that.

And he could get people in the seats I imagine.

JR: Oh yeah. He has a tremendous run for years. They must have fired him 13 times and hired him 13 times. He was a character. He was very unpredictable.

AC: Were you surprised that he was able to translate that ability to be a villain and be so hate-able, to being such a beloved character in the 80s?

JR: It’s the business. You travel, you get into this business, and if you have it and you love it and this is what you like to do, you can almost do any kind of character. You can relate to the crowd and make them do whatever you want – make the crowd follow you around. He was a character for the business. I spent 35 years with him on the road before we went different ways. And you don’t retire. You’re always working. I’ve been signing autographs with him for the past few years, and I saw him not too long ago and he didn’t recognize me. He recognized me after a minute later. He was getting senile… I said hello and he looked at me and then five minutes later he said, "Hey Johnny!" I said, "Oh Jesus, he didn’t realize it was me."

AC: What do you think it was about him that allowed him to transition from wrestling into this pop culture, mainstream character – with the Mario Brothers, and Cyndi Lauper and some movies.

JR: The thing is that those stars you mentioned are characters themselves. They dress weird, they do weird things and they’re very gothic, you know? And, to make people notice him as a special person, he put the pins on his face, on his nose, the rubber bands, and he dressed weird and he got the long beard. He was just a weird character. This was his way of drawing the attention of the crowd. And these people, when they put them all together, people remember them as a weird group doing things together. Capt. Lou had attention for a while, and that’s what Vince wanted to promote – something new and wild with the wild rock n’ roll and all that crazy stuff.

AC: Did you guys get inducted into the Hall of Fame the same year?

JR: Yeah, I was 96 – with the father, Vince McMahon Sr, too. We were all inducted together.

AC: Was Skaaland that year also?

JR: Well, Skaaland was the one that presented me.

AC: Was it special for you to go in with Lou, considering all the time you spent together during your careers?

JR: It was something that we enjoyed together. It’s like a surprise. You never know who they’re going to pick, and I didn’t believe it myself. You get chosen and then you sit back and you wonder, "Why was I chosen?" And you must have been the best at whatever the heck you were doing. You do it for the love of it, and then you get chosen for something like that, then you really feel proud because they chose you for something that you were special at. They don’t just choose you because, you know – certain guys have the body, and they were inducted too. And I look at them and I say, "Well, they were not the best workers. But they were the best performers of a flamboyant style." They drew. A lot of people, when they were pushed, they drew a crowd because they were very flamboyant. In that era, that’s what the people… got in for. As a performer – in the sense of workers, like we call it, where you can just go in there and work with anybody – well, that was my part. I could go in there and work with anybody. Just give me a broom, I’ll work with it.

AC: Yeah, you could bump. I know when you went in a lot of people were scratching their heads like, "Johnny Rodz?"

JR: Yeah, when they chose me I was like, "OK, I know why they chose me." It didn’t matter what side I took or which way I’d go. I just worked. And I was good for that. I learned it the hard way, hanging around the old timers from the beginning. The old school.

AC: Is it sad for you that that group of the old time New York guys is slowly going away? You mentioned yourself, Arnold Skaaland, Bruno Sammartino.

JR: I tell you who’s very sick right now is Baron Mikel Scicluna. Davey O’Hannon is sick. Dick Worley is not doing too hot.

AC: He was a referee, right?

JR: Yeah, one of the best referees. You know, there’s quite a few guys who aren’t doing too hot.

AC: But. You’re OK, right. Are you a good deal younger than those guys?

JR: I’m 68 right now. Some of those guys are older than me. Scicluna’s older than me, and Bruno, and Worley.

AC: Albano was 76… How do you think Albano will be remembered or should be remembered?

JR: Well, how do you remember him?

AC: Well, I was pretty young during the 80s. I have his action figure at home. I’ll remember a very colorful, funny, little round guy.

JR: He’s a character that when you mention his name, people remember him. Of all the characters during my part – and there was a lot of characters in my time, a lot of workers, a lot of boys. You try to think, and you can’t remember too many. But you mention my name, and you remember it. So I was a character that people remember. It’s almost unbelievable. You say, "unpredictable," and people say, "Oh, Johnny Rodz." It’s funny, you carry a name, and people remember. You mention Lou Albano – there’s only one guy. Johnny Rodz – there’s only one guy. There is no other name of Rodz. What I did was I shorted it from Rodriguez to Rodz. To tell you the truth, when I first started, it was in Sunnyside Gardens and in Commack, Long Island. That was my first shot, and then I went to Sunnyside, and Arnold Skaaland said, "I forgot your name." And I said, "Johnny Rodriguez." And he goes, "Another Rodriguez? I’ve got three of them here. Get another name." And I said, "Well, jeez. That’s my name." So he goes, "Well, see if you can come up with something different. I had five minutes to do it and I just tried to write a few names with my last name down. I put "Rod," R-O-D, and I said, "That’s no good." Then I took the "Z" and I abbreviated it, you know? And it worked. So I said, "How about Johnny Rodz," and he said, "That works."

AC: And 50 years later, you’re still Johnny Rodz.

JR: And Junior and the Old Man, as the years passed, they started to call me, "OK, Mr. Unpredictable, what are we going to do tonight?" And they kept calling me Mr. Unpredictable until it stuck. That’s how it started. And the same thing with Lou. It was "Crazy" Lou Albano, the wild man. And everybody remembers the name.

AC: You’re still training guys.

JR: I still have the wrestling school… I’m there Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

AC: And I see that you still promote shows out of there.

JR: Yeah, my next ones are November 7 and December 12… I do one every month.

AC: I know a lot of your guys have done real well – The Dudleys, Taz…

JR: Not only that, I got quite a few, four, or five or more, that are doing great for us right now. The last guy was Matt Striker. Big Vito, all those guys… I got a few guys who are going down to Florida.

AC: So you still have a relationship with Vince McMahon?

JR: (Laughs) He knows me for sure. He better know me. He owes me money. He better remember me ever other month. He’s all right. We don’t have a problem. We never did.