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Friday, February 1, 2019
Mat Memory- IWA Championship Wrestling - Rock & Roll Express vs Iceman King Parsons & Johnny Mantel
Rob Russen's IWA became the most popular and successful indie promotion in the 90s by matching big name stars in action packed, family oriented matches like this one pitting the 6 time world tag team champions The Rock & Roll Express vs Texas legends Iceman King Parsons & Johnny Mantel from the Horseshoe Casino in Bossier City, LA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tT19TUHlrk
Insane Championship Wrestling - ICW- ICW Fight Club #116
Featuring Lionheart vs. Shigehiro Irie for the ICW World Heavyweight Title!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wdz8rS2plMg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wdz8rS2plMg
Gail Kim On Why A Women's Ultimate X Match Wouldn't Work, If She Would Wrestle One More Match
Current producer for Impact Wrestling and Impact Hall of Famer Gail Kim was on a media call recently. Kim spoke about a women's Ultimate X Match and why she didn't think it would work, her controversial refereeing Impact Homecoming, and if she could come out of retirement for one more match.
Kim was asked if the Knockouts division should give an Ultimate X match a try. At Impact Homecoming, Rich Swann defeated Ethan Page, Jake Crist, and Trey Miguel to win the X Division Championship in an Ultimate X Match. Kim said she was approached during her days as an active wrestler about the match, but felt like the women may not have the upper body strength to pull off a comparable match to those in the X Division.
"Someone just asked me that the day of the PPV as they were setting up for that match," Kim began. "It's funny because when I was active years ago, one of the writers had approached me about that and they said, 'Do you think that we should do one?' It's going to probably sound wrong when it comes out of my mouth [Laughs] but I am one who wants the best, so I want the girls to have the best match, I want them to steal the show, and I always felt that way as an active wrestler.
"Truth be told - maybe some women can prove me wrong, but I think that match is a lot of upper body strength and I'm not sure how many girls can execute it to that degree, and I feel like we would be compared to the X Division. Maybe if we come up with something similar, but not the same, I think that would be more realistic. For me, if I had a magical match that I was so proud of, and I had to work the same person after that again, it was always about topping that last thing and being the best. If I didn't feel like I could, I wouldn't want to disappoint, or be less than. In that [Ultimate X] match, I don't know if we would be able to surpass those division guys because they are so super athletic."
At Impact Homecoming, Kim was the special guest referee for Tessa Blanchard and Taya Valkyrie's Impact Knockouts Championship match. Near the end of the bout, Kim ended up getting very involved in the match by accidentally hitting Valkyrie with the title and giving her finisher, Eat Defeat, to Blanchard, which ultimately would cost the former champion her title.
"Yes there was a lot of controversy around my officiating at the Homecoming PPV, but that moment built up to what happened," Kim said. "I'm going to defend myself, Tessa was abusing authority at that point, and a lot of people said, 'Why didn't you just disqualify her?' and that was the easy way out in my mind. When I went into that match, I knew I wasn't going to disqualify her because I just had a feeling of that that's where she'd go."
Kim wrestled her final match last February in the UK, and then took on a producer role with Impact Wrestling where she has worked predominately with the Knockouts division. She has noted previously, and again in this call, that her back is a big reason for her retirement, and still troubles her from time to time. Kim was asked if she could ever do another match and said a lot of factors would come into play for her to give it another go.
"That's a hard question to answer," Kim admitted. "I guess I would say it depends on the circumstances and how far I'm pushed. Also, I think it goes, honestly, by how my body feels at that moment because still to this day since I retired last February my back gives me a lot of problems, on and off. I pretty much look normal in day-to-day life, but that doesn't mean I can have a wrestling match. I am getting an update on my back just to see where it was at because it's been bothering me. If I did feel good and the circumstance did arise, I wouldn't abject to it. There's a lot of factors that play into it, I'd want to see how bad the fans want to see it."
Former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ron Garvin Says Dusty Rhodes Was 'Overrated'
WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes has been widely viewed as one of the best minds in pro wrestling history. Throughout his career, in addition to being a top name in the NWA, Rhodes was also a head booker for many years during his time with the company. Rhodes would go on following his retirement from full-time competition to be a head creative mind for both TNA, FCW, and NXT. Despite his highly acclaimed creative abilities, one person, former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ronnie Garvin, feels much different. Garvin shared his thoughts on the latest episode of Under the Mat Radio.
"Dusty Rhodes was overrated. He was the booker most places he went, Florida, Carolinas," said Garvin. "I didn't like what he done a lot of times. A lot of politics, he put himself in places he should've been, he didn't draw the big of money. When he was in the main event, he booked 30 men on the card and had more gimmick matches. Rock n' Roll Express, those kids were so over. So over, that they would sell out and Dusty Rhodes would book them in small towns because he didn't want them on the same card as him because he wanted the thunder."
Garvin reached the pinnacle of his career on September 25, 1987. In a steel cage match, Garvin defeated Ric Flair to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Although Garvin stated that he made more money in a short peiod of time than he ever had, he also admitted that he "didn't go crazy" when he won the title.
"You know I've had a lot of title matches, I don't want to diminish the World Title, it was great," said Garvin. "But I guess with luck and staying healthy long enough, I got to the very top. To me, and I'm being honest, wrestling was a job, pure and simple. I didn't go crazy because I was the world champion. I'll tell you, the World Title is probably the most money I made in a short period of time.
"I was in wresting five years before Flair showed up. I don't know the guy, I mean I know him (speaking as in working with him), but I never visited with the guy, never had a meal with the guy, never traveled with him. I ran into him a few times in the dressing with and said hi and [bye], but know nothing about the guy. We had two different lives. He had the party life which is fine and I don't begrudge it. One thing about Flair no matter how I hard I hit him he never complained."
Impact Wrestling Notes
There was some grumbling among talents that Impact announced their 4/7 event had been moved from Queens, NY to New Jersey publicly without telling the talent first. It wasn't so much about the move as it was the talents being caught unaware when they are also trying to strategize other appearances and bookings on the biggest weekend of the year. More than one talent commented to various news sites that this was a good example of where Sonjay Dutt will be missed as he was the most communicative member of management when it came to talent.
A big part of the reason for the move to New Jersey was concern about the New York State Athletic Commission curfew on pro wrestling. In New Jersey, there is no commission, hence relative freedom. One thing Impact will have to make sure is that their event on Thursday 4/4 is over before the last New Jersey Transit train back to NYC leaves Rahway, NJ, which as of the current scheduled, would be 1:52 AM as the next train would not be until after 4:30 AM. With an 11 PM start, that's going to require their live production to be really right.
Eddie Edwards was announced as returning to Pro Wrestling NOAH, where he once held the Global Honored Crown Championship.
There are still plans to work with House of Glory in NYC down the line.
For those of you with Verizon Fios, please be aware that if you did a series record for Impact Wrestling last week, the network listing featured the two hour broadcast as FOUR different half-hour episodes with only the 8-8:30 PM segment listed as a new episode. So, unless you set your DVR to record new episodes AND repeats, you are chancing the possibility of not getting the entire episode. We have heard Impact has made the network aware of the issues with the program guide, but Pursuit has been slow in responding in general.
mpact will team with Smash Wrestling this Saturday for a live Twitch broadcast tomorrow from London, Ontario at The London Music Hall with Impact Champion Johnny Impact vs. Sami Callihan on top.
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