Since Certain 'Journalists' Don't Know How To Get Their own Content, Let me Show You Some Examples Of How it's Done

 

On the heels of the stories we here at WP&P have posted about how certain ahem... "Journalists" over at Wrestlinginc have been caught blatantly stealing from PWInsider Elite and Fightful Select. I openly said that these people just aren't capable of coming up with their own content so they 'think' stealing from paid subscription sites 'makes' them, a 'journalist'.

Back in the 90's and again a few years back I wrote for monthly wrestling newsletters, these were dirt sheets that people paid a subscription for and were sent out snail mail. Those included The Wrestling Edge that was based in NYC, and as you see by the above screen shot of it's old Angelfire webpage, Wrestling Then And Now, ran by Evan Ginzburg, as well as Dann Lennard's Betty Paginated which was based in Australia.

There was no cutting and pasting, or 'stealing' from another's paid site or sheet back then, you actually HAD, to come up with your own material. So thankfully, Evan's old Angelfire page is still there I'm gonna put the two articles I wrote that are posted on that site, here. I'm gonna post screen shots of them as well as transfer the actual wording in case you can't read the screen shots. 

I'm ALSO.. Gonna show something that's quite the 'irony' when it comes to the stories about Wrestlinginc. Something I forgot about that Steven Howard sent me to remind me about. It'll be a nice slap in the face of those current 'journalists' over at Wrestlinginc.

So since the majority of these journalists have never did a fucking thing thing in the wrestling business, this first one will be perfect because unlike them, and this includes ones at Wrestlinginc, Wrestletalk, Bleacher Report Wrestling, and I can name at least ten more other 'news sites' where the staff or owner never did a thing in the business? I.. Actually DID work in the wrestling business, and actually wrote about it.

These others have never, set up a ring, set up chairs, locally promoted a show, talked to state boxing and wrestling commissions, nothing.. They just sat there like Meltzer, watched wrestling and wrote about it. I was able to work for the late Sylvano Sousa's Atlantic Wrestling Federation which ran shows in NH (Manchester was a main town for him) and Massachusetts. World Wrestling Alliance New England, which was owned by former WWF referee Fred Sparta (and both he and Sousa used students from Walter 'Killer Kowalski's wrestling school, as well as bringing in 'name' WWF guys like Snuka, Tito Santana, Sgt. Slaughter, etc. I also worked for the Eastern Wrestling Alliance in Maine as well. So unlike the marks turned journalists, I actually worked in the business they write about. 

I learned so much about the inner workings of this business by sitting under the learning trees of Sousa and Kowalski. The knowledge was there, all I had to do was seek it out, and I did. Just s I did when WWA New England had a working agreement with the WWF's Training Dojo, which was run by Dory Funk Jr. Bruce and Tom Prichard. Every month when the Dojo came I picked the brain of those three since i was as Sparta called me. the 'resident historian' because I was in tape trading and selling, grew up on AWA, WCCW, Bruiser's WWA in Indiana and was a territory fanatic. I learned a lot of both Prichards, Funk Jr. as well sas Jim Cornette who was making appearances with the Dojo as well. 

I had the opportunity to become the local promoter in NH for the WWA. NH has a state Boxing And Wrestling Commission (as does Maine) so I got to learn about what commissions in NH and Maine required, what towns were 'permit towns', to where you had to get that city's city council to give you a 'permit' (show put in my name, not the company's) to run a show in that town. You try to run a show in a permit town without that permit? You WILL, be shut down, immediately. Saw another company try that in Rochester, NH (a well known 'permit town' in NH) and the cops shut it, right down, before it could even get a chance to get started.

So after al this long explanation to set this up, here's the article I wrote for Evan Ginzburg's Wrestling Then And Now (both Cornette, and Kowalski were subscribers to it back then) about locally promoting my very first shows, in the very 'permit town' of Rochester, NH. 

Here's the screen shots, then the wording in case you can't see/read the screen shots.

SO, YOU WANNA BE A PROMOTER, HUH?

by Bill M. Walkowitz

I recently acquired the job of New Hampshire promoter for the World Wrestling Alliance, a New England based independent group owned by Fred Sparta. This was gotten through my meeting with the owners, along with giving honest reviews of their shows, and giving them coverage in the sheets I write for. Plus, I've had this longing desire to bring live wrestling back to the city of Rochester, N.H. as it's been years since they had it. The group that came in before wasn't received well, and another organization that tried to come through allegedly didn't go through proper channels; they were shut down the night before their show. This article is to give you, the reader, an idea of what promoters go through in order to put a live show together.

Rochester is known in the business as a "permit" town. Because of the bad experiences the town has had in the past with wrestling, one has to leap the hurdles the Boxing and Wrestling Commission place in front of you. It is known as the toughest town in the state to promote a show, so in case they were to turn us down, I wanted a backup plan. So I went to the public library and went through several different phone books looking for cities that have armories, high schools, ice arenas, and anything that could accommodate a show.

Farmington has a high school gym that holds over 700 people, but they turned us down. Meanwhile, I was pleasantly surprised that Rochester did in fact give us the go ahead and sent rental agreement forms, which were signed and approved by the school superintendent. But we still needed a city permit to use Rochester Middle School's 500 seat gym. This was easier said than done, as getting shows like this usually needs some kind of sponsor. This isn't always easy, as some sponsors have been ripped off in the past by promoters who didn't give them their share, or possibly even used their name without permission. (Actually, I've even seen sponsors try to rip off promoters as well!) We needed the city permit which involves getting a rental agreement with the school, copies of applications to get a promoter's license, copies of insurance policies used during the show, etc. Having done all that, I still had to go to the City Council to see if it would be approved.

In the midst of all this, we did attain a sponsor, but it was later changed to the Jaycees. We decided to go with a benefit for a little girl who was crippled after being hit by a car. To add to her woes, the motor of her handicapped van blew. It was a worthwhile cause that we were proud to support. But there were, of course, other things to attend to. I wasn't sure if the middle school gym would be big enough, but the Spartas assured me it was. I felt a lot of pressure going into my first show, as I had been a skeptic of indy wrestling and wanted to prove that I could draw. As a sheet writer, irate indy promoters had told me, "If you think you know it all, co-promote a show of your own and prove it."

This was my opportunity.

Meanwhile, the day of the City Council meeting, my permit application was second to last on their agenda, and the meeting took four hours (such meetings in some cities take almost a week sometimes with all the bickering!). There was a short dispute on whether the middle school gym would be appropriate, would it hold enough, etc. I threw in the fact it was a fund-raiser and that unlike our predecessors, we wanted to do it "the right way." The Fire Chief acknowledged that I had called him about the fire code and the number of people that the gym could hold. I got full council approval that night.

The next hurdle was the city's licensing committee.

Meanwhile, another New England promoter I knew called me and was mad that I had chosen to work with the WWA. He went as far as to call me a "sleazebag" for using a fund-raiser to get a wrestling show, even though we had every intention of doing right by them. We weren't even off the ground yet, and I was already getting heat.

I put up numerous posters and flyers, and kept making sure that the ads the charity we were involved with (the Jaycees) were running like they were supposed to. Some were. Some weren't. I got three radio stations to plug the show. An ad appeared on cable access. Two newspapers also ran press releases leading up to the show. Even though the posters and fliers were taken off the poles, I kept putting new ones up. My suspicion was that a rival promoter was taking them down, but persistence paid off as they actually stayed up for more than a week.

Here's the other one which I wrote about the American Wrestling Association. Which was and still is, my favorite promotion growing up.

AWA WRESTLING--AT ONE TIME ONE OF THE BEST

by Bill M. Walkowitz

Growing up in Chicago, we had (before Crockett, McMahon, etc.) Bob Luce's Chicago Championship Wrestling (which I'll detail at another time) and the American Wrestling Association. Long before their regular tapings at casinos in Vegas, there was that dinky, tiny TV studio. Verne Gagne and Wally Karbo made that TV studio into one of the best places for mat action anywhere. The following is a spotlight on the AWA, and what made it unique and my all-time favorite wrestling promotion.

JIMMY DOO & JAKE MILLIMAN: You knew that every time these two went to the ring, either in singles or as a tag team, they had a snowball's chance in hell of winning. But the WWF had Barry Horowitz and Crockett had the Mulkeys, so we had these two. It was always fun watching the "Milkman" try and make that comeback, get two good moves in, and always lean his head down to have his comeback squashed. I don't know which was better, watching their attempted comebacks or the facial expressions on their opponents when they got the two moves put on them.

GREG GAGNE: They say he worked hard even though he was the owner's son, but seeing him in Sgt. Slaughter's "Camp Slaughter" didn't do much for me. He was good with Jim Brunzell as the High Fliers but didn't really have the size to hold the International TV Title, and his "skip, skip, skip to my loo" across the ring when he made saves made for good laughs.

PATERA AND BLACKWELL: Indeed one of the best teams anywhere. Before Bigelow, there was Blackwell doing dropkicks and actual wrestling holds. Patera had the build and talent to make this a formidable team. I had wished Verne had pitted Animal and Hawk against them for the tag straps rather than give them to Von Rashke and Crusher; a more solid match would've been the result.

THE CRUSHER: Call me nostalgic (and what better place than WT&N to be just that, eh?), but Crusher's interviews always hooked me. When I was younger and didn't know better, I loved one of his interviews, his classic, "We're gonna murder the bums and then go up and down Halsted Street and throw people out of the bars and taverns." I called my friend Denny who lived on Halsted Street and told him I couldn't come over that weekend because the Crusher was coming, and bringing the Bruiser with him. Denny wasn't a wrestling fan, so unlike myself, he didn't buy it. But those interviews to me were what made this area so great. If Verne wanted a sellout in Chicago, just put Bruiser and Crusher on the card and the house went up every time.

WALLY KARBO: Had to hand it to him, he wanted to fine every heel who did a dastardly deed "throughout the world" on TV. Probably the funniest figurehead ever; tons better than Jack Tunney.

AL KASSIE: The Indian turned Iranian, one had to wonder what was it about AWA wrestling that he always had to be reinstated and work there (besides the fact he probably couldn't get booked anywhere else). Brody's "I work for the Sheik, and the Sheik pays me alotta money" interviews made it entertaining (especially when on Saturday nights on WCCW you'd see Brody working as a face, so you got both sides of the fence when watching him on TV). Kaissie had some of the best known heels in the business though: Abby, Mongolian Stomper, Blackwell, Kimala (for a short time) and more. He was no Bobby Heenan mind you, but then again, those shoes would always be hard to fill.

Besides the humorous individuals, the AWA also had great talent. Bobby Heenan's family had Bockwinkle, Duncum, Lanza, Mulligan, and more. The REAL Steve Regal had a feud with Buck Zumholfe that was about as long as Tommy Rich/Buzz Sawyer over that lightheavyweight title. Brody, Hansen, L.O.D., Freebirds, Wahoo, Curt Henning, Billy Robinson, and oh yeah, a steroid nut named Terry Bollea all appeared. As years went on and most left, we got other classic stuff. Buddy Rose's "217 pound" weight angle, Tommy Rich ripping off Sherri Martel's dress, Dick Slater, Tully Blanchard (both in for a short time), Adonis and Orton after Vince finished them up, as well as Manny Fernandez continuing his war with Wahoo.

From 1980 to 1983 the AWA ranked as one of the best companies in wrestling, and with a talent base like that, it's hard to argue any differently. Shortly after, Bishoff got some power and Verne didn't change when it came to promoting or payoffs, and things got bad. While we did have Zybysko and Lawler as champs, we had the Destruction Crew, Patera and Brad Rheinghans, Johnny Stewart, Derrick Dukes, as well as failed attempts to recapture that magic. The AWA started to descend to a space next to the Titanic.

Many may make wisecracks about the AWA and how they were back then, but unlike other groups going today, they didn't need to rely on constant chairshots, two dozen precut tables, excessive blading, and swear words. They had the talent to make the product work. If someone wanted solid wrestling, the AWA came through. It was done the way it was supposed to be done, by promoting the local card coming to town and running angles that meant something to those paying fans. People should get old tapes of the AWA where less made more.

Yeah... These current era 'journalists' obviously don't know how to actually WRITE their own original content. I might be old, but at least I haven't been stealing from paid subscriber sites, like SOOMMEE 'journalists' have to do (smiles).

And speaking of those 'journalists', this I'm so glad Steven Howard sent me. While Ella Jay, max and Daisy have whined and bitched about getting caught stealing so they can get a paycheck from Wrestlinginc. HERE'S something I contributed to that was featured, WWHHEERREE? OOHHH that would be, Wrestlinginc.

When Sylvano Sousa passed away, Wrestlinginc writer at the time Joshua Gagnon had made a very small mention of it on Wrestlinginc. I went ahead and sent him the story that was covered here on it ( https://wrestlingpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2020/11/former-wwf-enhancement-talent-and.html ) which had the video links, etc etc. Joshua got my email, and he went ahead and added what I sent him.

And WHO, got credited with assisting on an original (not stolen from someone else's paid site)? 

Damn there it is, my name. Who better to slam Wrestlinginc 'journalists' for stealing than someone who actually contributed something based on KNOWLEDGE and actual fucking, RESEARCH.

Say all the shit you want about me and this site, but at least we here at WP&P, do research and don't have to have subscriptions to PWInsider Elite, Fightful Select or Wrestling Observer in order to 'get a story' to keep claiming to be a 'journalist'. 

Of course, all of this will fall on blind eyes and deaf ears of these current writers. Doing research and original stuff is way 'too much work' for them, just better to steal from elsewhere.