WWE Daily

Jim Ross has posted his week-end thoughts from the World Wrestling Entertainment world on which he resides in on his personal website.

Here are a few highlights:

Remembering the tragic death of Owen Hart:Today, May 23, is the 10th Anniversary of the death of Owen Hart. Owen died accidentally when a faulty harness malfunctioned while he was making an entrance from the rafters of Kansas City’s Kemper Arena. The PPV event, Over the Edge, is one that I have never watched….since that night a decade ago. I have always said that if I ever write a book about my career in the wrestling biz turned sports entertainment biz turned entertainment biz that I would likely watch Over the Edge so I could adequately address what effect that day had on my life and how I truly felt during those gut wrenching hours. I do remember that I had less than a minute to prepare for an on camera to tell our viewing audience that Owen had died. That wasn’t an easy assignment. I could not repeat what I said on that evening today if you held a gun to my head. I have blocked so much of that entire day out of my memory that it all seems like a blur to me today. I do know that if I watch the show again that all those memories will rush back and at that time I will write down my thoughts but until that day comes this PPV will never be viewed in my home.

As so many have accurately stated on many occasions, Owen Hart was a wonderful human being. Not only an extremely talented, perhaps underrated wrestler, but a loving husband, father, son, and brother. Plus, he was quite the character.

As the head of WWE Talent once upon a time, I had to have a “sit down” with a wrestler before a live TV show I was going to broadcast about the individual’s alleged drug use. I recall the rumor was that this person was allegedly using cocaine. Nonetheless the word of the meeting spread almost immediately amongst the wrestlers, imagine that (telephone, telegraph, tell a wrestler) and of course word got back to Owen. So later that day he purposely and literally ran into me in the hall way in the locker room area as I was walking with my head down looking at some notes for that night’s broadcast. When our bodies collided I looked up and saw it was Owen and he had taken powdered sugar off a donut and put an ample amount of it all under his nose and his eyes were barely open as if he was severely impaired. At that exact moment I did not think it was too funny, but within seconds and after he burst out laughing I easily found the humor in his stunt and it actually allowed me to release some of the stress that I was feeling from the previous “sit down.”

I also remember Owen driving a rental car from the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh across the street to the downtown Marriott in a vehicle that included Owen, Bret Hart, my wife Jan, me and someone else that I can’t recall. Bret was in a hurry to return to the hotel and Owen purposely missed every turn to get us to the Marriott and what should have been a 5 minute, or less, trip took approximately 30 minutes and at the end of the journey I thought Bret was going to assault his younger, prank playing brother. Owen would miss a turn, pass a church or something that resembled a church and then would invoke in the name of Clarke W. Griswold from the film “European Vacation”…. “Hey, look kids….Big Ben!” Owen had the ability to take a 5 minute, mundane drive and turn it into a 30 minute odyssey that was filled with laugher. At least for most of us.

Owen was also thrifty and instead of staying at hotel on the road he often times stayed with fans in their homes. He would sleep on the couch or in the spare bedroom of these fans and save the money for lodging and often times food as well. Some of those stories of “sleep overs” at the home of wrestling fans are classically hilarious. The “ribs” Owen played on is “hosts” are worthy of a movie script.

Owen and I also formed a broadcast team on a South African broadcast emanating from Sun City, South Africa in the late 90’s. I would love to watch that one again as Owen was excellent as a color analyst.

I miss you Owen and I hope that you have stayed on the good side of God with all those practical jokes that I know you are playing in Heaven.

Read the complete blog here.

Visit…The Owen Hart Foundation

This passed Saturday, May 23 is the tenth anniversary of the tragic death of Owen Hart. WWE Diva Natalya remembers that day very well. Here she has posted her thoughts on the anniversary of Owens death on WWE Universe:

Today is a really special day, as it marks the tenth anniversary of my uncle Owen’s passing.

Owen reminds me that there really is so much to be thankful for and so much beauty in the world.

-”Playboy Buddy Rose” Paul R. Perschmann died Tuesday in his Vancouver home, he was 56. The medical examiner said his death was from natural causes. Although Rose was know for his enormous size of over 300 lbs, Rose slimmed down to an 217lbs. For more information.

-Wrestling Daily has classic photos of former WWE Diva Torrie Wilson.

-See photos of former WWF Diva Ivory , go here.

The following is from Howard Finkel’s WWE Universe blog.

When I came into my office this morning here at wwe.com, I received an e-mail informing me of the passing yesterday of Playboy Buddy Rose, at the way too young age of 56. Now I know that a lot of you probably are unaware of this individual from a standpoint of prominence and performance, but for those of you who do remember, the Playboy was one of a kind.

He flaunted his lifestyle when he entered WWE rings in 1982. If it was wine, women, and song, the Playboy was right there, and he knew how to tug on the emotional strings of our fans back then. And his body composition was the exact opposite of what a playboy should look like; that definitely was a key to his getting over with our fans from a “negatively positive” standpoint.

Yet in the ring, he could move with the best of them. Deceivingly quick and cat like, Rose could go toe to toe with the best of them. His first meeting against Bob Backlund in Madison Square Garden even had my jaw dropping in amazement. This man gave the then WWE Champion a run for his money, in addition to the great Pedro Morales, and others as well. And the night that Buddy faced Bob for the first time in MSG, there were two of the Playboy’s fine ladies by his side, accompanying him. They wore top hats, tuxes, and tails, pretty classy. One of those ladies was a very young Sensational Sherri Martel, who of course would go on to manage the Playboy and Doug Summers in the AWA in 1986.

When Buddy returned back to WWE around 1990, he was carrying a little more “excess baggage” around his midsection, and he took that supposed “handicap” and capitalized on that as well. Remember the Blow Away Diet? He was the subject. And in the ring, I would introduce him at his weight of 317 pounds, to which he would come up to me, as cool as a cucumber, take the microphone from me, and say: “Correction. Tonight I weigh in at a slim and trim 217 pounds.” Boy, did he ever get booed for that. But that was the secret to his success. He knew what his role was, and he always seemed to press the right buttons to make himself a most unique character that stood out from the rest of the pack.

Playboy Buddy Rose was one of my favorites, and I’m saddened by the fact that he had to leave us so soon. Godspeed my friend, and the “wrestling arena up above” will now be welcoming one heck of a performer!!!

Playboy Buddy Rose (Paul Perschmann), one of the most unique individuals ever to compete inside the squared circle, passed away April 28 in Portland, Ore., at the age of 56.

At this time, cause of death is known, though he told people that he had been having blood sugar issues with his diabetes.

During the 1990’s Rose returned to the WWE Formerly known as the WWF, and gained even more notoriety by humorously promoting a product known as the “Blow Away Diet.” And despite his even bigger girth of being 317 pounds at that time, Rose would correct the ring announcement of his weight, adamantly saying that he was a “slim, trim 217 lbs.”Watch the video below:

Buddy Rose Blow Away Diet

The following is from Mick Foley’s Myspace account:

Wish I’d called
I had a really great weekend, and planned to share some of it with all of you, and maybe even tease a little bit of upcoming “Impact” for you.

I got home around midnight, and was looking around a drawer for something - a pen, a piece of paper, I guess it doesn’t matter. I ended up finding a folded piece of paper with some phone numbers on it - which is usually what I do with my phone messages. Fold them up, put them somewhere, answer them sometime. Except that this paper had a number that I never got around to calling. It was a call from Andrew Martin.

I once told Test that if I didn’t like him I wouldn’t waste time in my books ribbing him. He knew I liked him, and he was actually one of the few guys I kept in semi-regular touch with when I wasn’t regularly around the business. The calls never seemed that important - he’d tell me he had to “take a Foley” and I’d tell him to make sure to “wipe your Test”. But before he hung up, he’d always say “bye buddy”. Looking at that number on the folded piece of paper now, I sure wish I could have heard him say it one more time.

In RVD’s recent Myspace blog post he talks about the passing of former friend Andrew “TEST” Martin. Here is what RVD said about TEST:

One thing that’s worth mentioning-I’ve been asked a few times if Test’s passing put a dark cloud over the whole trip. We were bummed that we wouldn’t see him again, and all told Test stories to each other, but sadly, we are all used to this routine. After so many of us have died prematurely, it’s almost like we’re trained to handle this, and life goes on. We all took a look at the bus full of wrestlers, and have to admit to ourselves that there’s a decent chance that next time we all get together, we may be a smaller group still.

At 33 years old, Test accidentally ended his life, while my peers continue to push the envelope. Being away from a binding contract that kept me on the road, I often feel like a survivor that made it home from the war. That’s not meant to be insensitive to war vets that have experienced far worse than I have. You can read the full Myspce blog here.

Official TNA Wrestling LOCKDOWN Results

The UK Sun is reporting that the Hillsborough County medical examiner announced that the cause was Oxycodone intoxication and ruled the death was an accidental overdose.

Oxycodone is the addictive ingredient found in the painkiller OxyContin.

After an autopsy Abismo Negro’s death was ruled a drowning. There are numereous stories and rumors that in the last several years his drug use had gotten out of hand and that he would even wrestle for drugs (which suggests a much greater problem for sure), and/or share drugs in lockerooms (yet another problem in general for sure).

Drugs, pills, steroids & more, are easily obtained in Mexico which is definately not the place to go if one has drug related issues, yet too many do go.

AAA paid for his funeral, which was attended by numerous wrestlers and was covered by newsopapers and television.

His body was cremated and the ashes are being taken to his hometown of Villahermosa.

The article below, while in Spanish, does not really break any new ground, but says the “anxiety attack” occurred at 12:30AM last Friday, and early reports said 1:30AM.

It also says that it is assumed the anxiety attack was caused by the consumption of anabolics (Steroids)

Most of the story is similar to what has been reported her previously.

http://www.terra.com.mx/articulo.aspx?articuloId=801622

Source: Wrestlezone.com

Roddy Piper talks to Slam Wrestling about “The Wrestler”, says you hit the nail right on the head with that one.

“As someone who has been in the business for a long time, I don’t mind saying that the movie really got to me,” Piper said. “I had the chance to speak to Mickey, and I told him, ‘I don’t know what kinda research you did, but you hit the nail right on the head.’ What stood out to me as a wrestler was that at no time did that character ever get physical outside the ring. And that’s very typical; most of us are pretty soft outside of the ring.

“Thinking about the friends, the brothers I’ve lost, makes me feel lonesome. I lived with these guys, literally. I wonder why no-one on the outside catches on to what’s happening? I guess it’s because they don’t care. Read the full article here.

Here is the scheduled matches for tomorrow’s ECW on Sci-Fi:

*ECW champ Jack Swagger & Tyson Kidd vs. Tommy Dreamer & Evan Bourne.

*John Morrison vs. Carlito.

*MVP’s VIP Lounge with all the Money in the Bank competitors as his special guests.

-Former WWE superstar Steve Doll who worked for WWE as Steven Dunn in the tag team Well Dunn, Doll passed away yesterday as family removed him from his ventilator. Former WWE Superstar Steve Doll passes away

The following is from JBL’s WWE Universe blog:

Got brand new boots for Wrestlemania, first time to wear them. Not sure why Rey Mysterio is so stupid to challenge me on such a historic occasion, but he will be the one that suffers.

Don’t forget to check out my new radio show at www.webtalkradio.net I think you will like it.

How does the congress get mad at AIG? The government says that they “only” spent $7.7 billion in earmarks from the taxpayers-us, something that would send them to jail if they were in private enterprise-and that they were transparent about them. Also, the government argues that it is only ½ of 1% of budget.

Well, $165 million in bonuses were contractually obligated, but the congress obviously doesn’t care about contracts, after all why abide by the law? And those bonuses were only .01% of the entire bailout-from us, the taxpayers-for AIG. So by Congress reasoning, Congress committed 500 times the egregious act and spent $7.5 billion more of taxpayers’ money for things that they shouldn’t have, and Congress should be happy that at least AIG’s was legal and binding.

But then again, if Congress did that then you would have to look at them and realize that they were the ones that let this happen and they are the ones that really took money from the taxpayers.

I’m not defending AIG, just pointing out how hypocritical the congress is by doing so.

I also want to say that I am pulling for President Obama; he’s not doing what I like for the economy. But I really hate people who bash our president right now when we need to be behind him. And who knows, maybe he is right. After all, our country is the one at stake, so I sure hope he is. I think he deserves a chance and our support.

You need Layfield’s Energy Plus no Pain right now! Go to www.layfieldenergy.com and I’ll send you 6 bottles for free, just pay shipping and processing. That is something the congress wouldn’t do.

Got some news coming this week about Layfield Energy products, you can currently get them at Vitamin Shoppe, Amazon.com, Bodybuilding.com and soon another major web site that is revamping. Also, pick it up at Good Nature in NYC at 55th and 2nd, my good friend Leo’s store.

If you are in Tennessee check out Tennessee mornings with Charlie Chase and Kelly Sutton every Thursday to see me with my good friends there talk economy and politics and what really matters.

I am writing this right before the Bobby Lashley fight, so I hope that by the time you read this that Bobby has won overwhelmingly. Bobby always had “star” written all over him, I hope to one day see he and Brock fighting for the UFC heavyweight crown.

I had my travel plans all set to go watch Brock against Mir, but Mir got hurt in training and now it is pushed back. That’s ok I plan on going to it wherever it is.

I also didn’t get to go to Pamplona to run with the bulls last year and I am already making travel plans for this year. Gonna wear the white with red sash and run like heck and hope to not get trampled.

Well, gotta get ready for Bobby’s fight. And, Rey better be getting ready for Wrestlemania!

-Mike Mooneyham of the Post and Courier has got an great article on the passing of Andrew “TEST” Martin. This is an MUST READ if you get the chance. Go HERE.

Fans of Andrew “TEST” Martin have been leaving tributes in his honor on his Official Myspace account: http://www.myspace.com/7439092

-KILLED BY WRESTLING Daily Star in the UK

-In the passing of Andrew Martin, another reminder by Alex Marvez

Jim Ross has posted on his official website, JRSBarBQ.com. Here is an one long part of where JIM Ross talks about Andrew “Test” Martin’s Death and Drugs in the wrestling.

I have also received several emails after the untimely death of Andrew “Test” Martin asking if I thought that wrestlers could function without the regular use of pain medication. After shaking my head and rolling my eyes, the answer is an emphatic, “Hell yes!”

I wish I could have done something to intervene and perhaps some day when all is said and done I will be able to have a conversation with Andrew in a far better place.

You can read the following blog here.

The following is from Bret Harts official website.

It’s with a very heavy heart that I somehow search for the right words to express my deepest sorrow over the loss of yet another of my wrestling brothers, Andrew Martin, aka Test.

I met Andrew, along with his equally huge friend George, at the Planet Hollywood restaurant in downtown Toronto in 1996. WWE exec, Carlo DeMarco brought them both up to meet me and to see if I’d be interested in possibly training them as wrestlers. Andrew was, as my father would say, a fine specimen; 6’ 6”, lean, hard and handsome with a big, boyish smile. I wasn’t actually looking for any more prospects but I saw something in him and told him if he could get over to Calgary I’d personally teach him, free of charge.

I was working a full WWE schedule back then and was preparing to begin teaching, or fine tuning, some of the many young wrestlers that were starting to pop up everywhere. I instantly liked Andrew and I can smile now at the memory of coming home from the road, physically exhausted, only to remember that I’d promised Andrew a real match in my dungeon. I found myself reluctantly wrapping my knees and lacing up my boots so I could wrestle Andrew on my precious day off. That day Andrew went from dreaming of being a wrestler to actually working with the WWE World Champion in his home. I wrestled Andrew for over a half hour and I knew back then that, with his size and ability, he was going to go far in the business. Unfortunately, my days in the WWE came to an end just as Andrew’s time was beginning. I’d gotten most of my students tryouts at the Raw TV taping in Ottawa, the day after the infamous screwjob in Montreal, and so our paths took a fork in the road. Even with me gone, Carlo, Edge, Christian and my bother Owen helped guide Andrew and he earned his spot on the WWE roster. I lost contact with Andrew for a time, but every now and then I’d catch him on TV and I felt very proud of him.

Death brought Andrew and I back together when we saw each other at Bryan “Krush” Adams’ funeral two years ago. It was during that sad, dark time - after the recent losses of Sherri Martel, Bam Bam Bigelow and the blackness of the Chris Benoit tragedy - I was hearing that Andrew was having drug addiction problems again and I was fearful he might be next.

I saw a need to keep in touch with him and do all I could to encourage him to save himself, and maybe some others too. We renewed our friendship and stayed in touch.

This past November I had the luck of doing a wrestling tour in France for two weeks with Andrew and he seemed to be a new man. He’d completed WWE sponsored rehab and had a new lease on life. Andrew clearly had his demons on the run and we talked about him becoming the poster child for wrestlers that desperately needed a voice urging, “If I can beat this, so can you!” Andrew convinced me he had the commitment and the determination to make a difference. I had a great time with him on that tour.

Following the tour I had painful knee replacement surgery and now it was Andrew calling me to see if I was doing okay. A few weeks ago he talked of coming to visit me here in Hawaii. He seemed so strong and focused that I never thought to question him about how he was doing. I again urged him to use his experience to reach out to the many wrestlers who are still losing their battle with drug addiction.

Now I wish so much that I could’ve somehow known that Andrew was losing his grip on his addictions, beginning to slip. I failed to see the signs of him losing a battle that I thought he’d already won. My heart has been heavy since the news of his passing. In our last phone call, a few weeks ago, I kidded him about how he worked that entire France tour and never took one bump and I smile at the memory of his deep booming laugh echoing over the phone. That’s how I choose to remember my friend. I’m sorry I didn’t see his pain and suffering; had I known I’d have tried harder to save him. He slipped and we lost one of the good ones. Nobody has anything but the nicest things to remember about Andrew Martin. I will miss him. He was a dear friend, one of very few I had left in a profession where too many die too young. My thoughts and prayers go out to him and his entire family. Somehow, as hard as we all tried, we lost another good soul forever.

TNA Wrestler Kevin Nash Discusses Recovery, In-Ring Laziness, Steroids in Wrestling and MORE