Wednesday, August 4, 2021
Damien Wayne VS Benny Conley | AIWF World Title Match
Damien Wayne defends the AIWF World Heavyweight Title against Benny Conley at ICS 20!
MEMPHIS WRESTLING PERSONALITY & PROMOTER BERT PRENTICE PASSES AWAY
USA Championship Wrestling has reported the passing of longtime Memphis wrestling personality and independent promoter Bert Prentice following a battle with cancer. Prentice is believed to have been 59 at the time of his passing.
Prentice initially debuted in the USWA in 1991 as Christopher Love, managing The Dragon Master and the PYTs as heel foil to all the top babyfaces of the territory, including Jerry Lawler, Jeff Jarrett and even Randy Hales. Eventually, Prentice would drop the Love moniker and in 1993, would be the manager for all the WWF talents who would come in to feud with babyface Jerry Lawler, including Giant Gonzales and Bret and Owen Hart. Lawler at the time was a heel for the WWF, but was still a babyface in Memphis so when WWF talents would come in, they would switch roles and play heels to the "The King."
Prentice feuded with WWE Hall of Famer Jacqueline Moore during her time in the promotion as Miss Texas, claiming that she was really a man named Bubba Johnson. This led to a series of different stipulation matches, including a boxing match and a street fight, with Miss Texas soundly beating Prentice every time. Prentice was one of the first hosts (alongside Jeremy Borash) in the early days of NWA: TNA's Xplosion series.
Prentice also promoted a number of independent promotions, including Music Wrestling Wrestling, Ozark Mountain Wrestling, Ozark's successor North American All Star Wrestling and more, all of which had a Southern 'wrassling flair. In recent years, Prentice had been running USA Wrestling in the Memphis area, regularly using Jerry Lawler as a top babyface and bringing in Memphis legends for signings and undercard attractions. Yesterday, Prentice announced that his sister Marilyn would take over the day to day operations of the promotion so he could concentrate on his health. The promotion has dates for August and September scheduled.
Prentice wrote, "As I continue to manage my cancer treatments and rehabilitation. I so appreciate all USA staff and talent, fans, and thousands of friends who have reached out to me with care and love."
He was also a manager of Tully Blanchard for a time as well.
Here's a the news story on his death from WBBJ. https://www.wbbjtv.com/2021/08/04/usa-championship-wrestling-owner-bert-prentice-has-died/
NWA 73 PPV SELLS OUT IN ST. LOUIS
The National Wrestling Alliance 73 PPV at the Chase Ballroom in St. Louis, Missouri has officially sold out.
Tickets are still available for the NWA Empower PPV and the subsequent TV tapings.
Nice to see another company besides AEW and WWE announce a sell out.
MEXICO'S THE CRASH CO-PROMOTING EVENT WITH MLWS'S AZTECA UNDERGROUND
The Crash Lucha Libre will hold its first show since the start of the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic on September 11 in the 4,500-seat Auditorio de Tijuana, co-promoted with Major League Wrestling’s Azteca Underground brand.
The show will take place on the same day as MLW’s Fusion taping in Dallas, Texas, so it remains to be seen how MLW’s roster will be split between the two events.
MLW World Heavyweight Championship holder Jacob Fatu, MLW National Openweight Championship holder Alexander Hammerstone, MLW World Middleweight Championship holder Myron Reed, “Filthy” Tom Lawlor, Calvin Tankman, Marshall Von Erich and Ross Von Erich are among the names confirmed for MLW’s show in Dallas (seen here).
Conversely, El Hijo del L.A. Park, L.A. Park, L.A. Park Jr. and King Muertes are the four luchadores listed on Azteca Underground’s website (seen here).
The Crash has teased Andrade will appear at its first show with live fans back in attendance, though one has to imagine Andrade’s contractual status with All Elite Wrestling would prevent him from appearing on MLW’s Azteca Underground show (if or when the show comes to fruition).
The Crash’s last show was on February 22 last year, marking a 567-day gap between live events.
The Crash was set to hold a show on March 28 last year, but was forced to cancel the show due to the pandemic. Ring of Honor stars Adam Brooks, Bandido, Dragon Lee and PCO were all confirmed to compete, as well as Chris Dickinson (who has since joined ROH). MLW has held co-promoted television tapings in Mexico before, collaborating with Lucha Libre AAA World Wide to hold a taping last March also in Auditorio de Tijuana.
Chris Jericho Gets "Checked", Twice
Chris Jericho really makes this too easy to do, and since no other wrestling writers will ever have the balls to call this first part out (Meltzer won't, Scherer is too chickenshit, Mike Johnson? NNAA, WrestlingInc? You'll hear the sounds of a chicken coming from that camp), it'll have to be up to me to do what the others won't have the balls to do.
In an Interview With Inside The Ropes Jericho said the following.
