I'm having some iPad issues and internet issues here in New Orleans, but I wanted to update you on our Wrestlemania weekend. We actually drove to New Orleans, leaving southern Illinois Wednesday evening and making a stop in Tunica, Mississippi. That's the site of the Jerry "The King" Lawler Museum. It's filled with lots of great memorabilia including old costumes, crowns, artwork, belts, and photos. We'll post pics on the Facebook page soon. We arrived in New Orleans Thursday night. Chad has a friend who works with WWE and we were able to hang out with her and some of the NXT guys on Bourbon Street. For me the highlight was Drew McIntyre coming up to me and shaking my hand. Friday afternoon we met Jake "The Snake" Roberts. He was doing a meet and greet at a restaurant here. That night we went to the Legends of MidSouth show where we met Mickie James. I had interviewed her back in 2011. Thanks to Burt Prentice for the hookup. The show was pretty good. The Rock n Roll Express won the TCW tag team titles. I also got to see an old friend in "Golden Boy" Greg Anthony wrestle and win. "The Pope" Elijah Burke won the Junkyard Dog Memorial Battle Royal, which was cool too. Burt also hooked us up with WrestleCon tickets for Saturday morning. We didn't do any wrestling photos, but we talked with a few of the guys. It was fun and I love seeing the wrestlers up close like that. They're all pretty cordial, and yes I realize they're hoping you'll buy something. Tonight is Hall of Fame, I'm hoping we're able to do a video update for the YouTube channel then. Thanks for reading. We've run into several readers already, which has even very cool!
Congratulations to Trish Stratus, the most recent name added to the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2013. I must say I was surprised by this announcement, mostly because I've tried to avoid any HOF spoilers before actually hearing them on Raw. I somehow managed to do that with Trish's announcement.
Trish is obviously a great choice for the Hall of Fame. She is one of the best women to compete in the WWE through the years and she's not been gone long enough for current fans to have forgotten her.
When she first arrived on the scene more than a decade ago, I figured she'd just be another asset to the Attitude Era because of her looks. She managed Test and Albert in a team appropriately known as T&A (insert your own joke here) But once Trish started wrestling she proved she was more than a pretty face. I feel like she earned her spot and the titles she collected while wrestling in the WWE. She was involved in some great matches with competitors like Lita, Mickie James, and Jazz.
Snooki & Trish Wrestlemania 27 Photo courtesy: WWE
She left when the time was right for her, not overstaying her welcome. Two years ago she teamed up with Snooki at Wrestlemania 27 and it didn't look as if she missed a step. She has also passed her knowledge on to future superstars by helping judge Tough Enough.
It pains me to see someone younger than me (Trish is 37) be inducted into the Hall of Fame, but it's great to see she's being recognized for her accomplishments in and out of the ring. She truly is deserving of the honor. Just please tell me that Snooki won't be the one doing the ceremony.
This is more of a personal year in review. I'm going to talk about some of the highlights of 2011 for me in terms of wrestling, and quite honestly there are so many. I'd have to say this was the best year for me terms of wrestling. It was the first full year that this blog has been up and running and as of this entry, we're at more than 104,000 page views since September 2010. The My 1-2-3 Cents YouTube channel is also picking up steam, something that I'm proud of and vow to work harder on in 2012.
The most popular aspect of the YouTube channel is all the One on One Wrestling interviews I have posted. In 2011 alone, I've interviewed Mickie James, D'Lo Brown, Lex Luger, Nikita Koloff, and Hacksaw Jim Duggan. All of them were awesome to talk with. There's no way to pick just one specific highlight from doing these interviews, so collectively I would say having the opportunity to sit down with all of them throughout the year has been an amazing experience. I will say that my interviews with Lex and Nikita (they were at a local church together) went more than 20 minutes. Much longer than I had anticipated because I knew they were both busy, but I thank all these legends who took the time to talk with me.
Another highlight of 2011 was getting the chance to serve as a "manager" to Impact Wrestling Knockout Velvet Sky. It was part of the summer Basebrawl event at our local ballpark. I won a contest on ESPN Radio. She wrestled Angelina Love that night, who had Winter in her corner. I basically wondered around outside the ring and prevent Winter from interfering. It's something I never imagined I'd get the chance to do, and while I didn't look like Bobby Heenan or Jimmy Hart out there it was a great time.
The My 1-2-3 Cents Posse
Attending my fifth Wrestlemania was a lot of fun this year too. Chad and I were joined in Atlanta by our fellow My 1-2-3 Center Travis. Travis and I flew down together and ran into Mean Gene Okerlund at the airport. He agreed to let us get a picture with him. Very cool considering it was a busy airport and he probably had other places to be. Of course the posse dressed the part of Wrestlemania as well. We went as the Heenan family, I was the Brain. Chad played the Red Rooster and Travis dressed as the Brooklyn Brawler. One thing that sticks out to me about that day wasn't so much Mania, but earlier in the day we attended the WrestleReunion event a few blocks away and Terri Runnels spotted me in the crowd and asked to have a picture taken. That was plain awesome. Travis and Chad had moved ahead in the room, but when she got a glimpse of them, we posed for another shot.
The Ryder Revolution really took off this year too with Zack Ryder creating a YouTube channel in an effort to get over with the fans. Clearly it worked, as he is now the reigning U.S. Champion. As he was rising to the top, he asked viewers to submit videos to become the esteemed "Broski of the Week." I'm proud to say that I'm Episode 22's BOTW. Woo, woo, woo! You know it! While there's no cash prize involved, it's one of those things that just makes you feel good.
Me and my broadcast colleague Chris Hagstrom
While all those events were awesome this year, I'd have to say the biggest highlight was being asked to be the color commentator for All American Pro Wrestling. I've talked about it a lot on this blog, but having the opportunity to be a part of a local independent wrestling show is something I've dreamed about for years. Now I'm living that dream. AAPW Collision is going strong and showcasing the talents of a lot of local wrestlers.
Yep, I'm wrestling on January 14
Something else I'll be doing in the new year, which will likely be a highlight for the 2012 blog is wrestling in my first match. The Masterpiece Mike Masters has challenged me, and I've relunctalently accepted. I'll be sharing more details about that in the coming days, but I can tell you if you live within a driving distance of Marion, Illinois, it'll worth the drive. Besides the hard working stars of AAPW, internationally known wrestlers PAC, El Generico, and Colt Cabana will be coming to town. It's Saturday, January 14. Click here for ticket info!
Of course without you readers, this blog wouldn't even exist, so once again, I thank you for your readership and look forward to writing more stories in 2012. Your feedback (good and bad) is always welcome too. Don't forget, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
It's hard to believe, but it's been one year since I created My 1-2-3 Cents. I had already created a personal blog called "I'm Just Sayin'" in which I talked about my life and family, my job, and my love of wrestling. I only wrote a few times about wrestling though.
It was a friend of mine who does a lot of blogging and vlogging, Certified Financial Planner Jeff Rose, who encouraged me to start writing about wrestling. Honestly, I wanted to write about wrestling and share my opinions and memories for a long time, I just didn't figure anyone would care about what I had to say. Jeff is not a wrestling fan, and I thought if someone who doesn't like wrestling is suggesting I do this, I'm sure people who do enjoy wrestling would read it. So I wrote that first blog back on September 3, 2010.
The My 1-2-3 Cents at Wrestlemania 27
It didn't take long for me to become addicted to the idea of doing this. Soon, I was writing something every day. My two buddies, Chad and Travis, had been emailing each other a couple of times a week for years, sharing our thoughts on shows and storylines. Soon they were contributing articles and ideas. My co anchor, Emily Eddington, is a YouTube guru who has a very successful channel called Beauty Broadcast. She encouraged me to create a My 1-2-3 Cents YouTube channel as well. At first I did a bunch of boring reviews of shows and shared my opinions on things in the world of wrestling.
Meeting Hacksaw, HooOOOooo!
Then, Jeff suggested spicing things up with a few crazy characters. While I did that, but it didn't have much of an impact and soon I was spiraling out of control with the silliness. I've decided to go back to the original format, and focus more on landing wrestling related interviews. To date, I've posted "One on Ones" with Mickie James, D'Lo Brown, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, Lex Luger, and Nikita Koloff. It's been a lot of fun and I look forward to meeting with more wrestlers and sharing their stories with you.
The biggest boost to the blog in the first year was being named a "Blog of Note" by Blogger. That happened back in February and the site picked up 25,928 hits. I was shocked by this and excited. Obviously, the honeymoon with that is over and we are working hard to network and get the word out about My 1-2-3 Cents. To date, there have been nearly 74,000 page views. My goal is 125,000 by the end of 2011. Let's make it happen! If you like what you're reading, please share it with your friends. Also, post comments and offer suggestions here. You can also "like" us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter. And subscribe to the YouTube channel.
Wow, the last few days have been amazing in terms of meeting wrestlers. Friday night, I had a one on one interview with Impact Knockouts wrestling champion Mickie James. Tuesday night, I got to meet WWE Hall of Famer, Hacksaw Jim Duggan.
Duggan was at Rent One Park, home of the Southern Illinois Miners, signing autographs and meeting with fans. The Miners are a member of the Frontier League in the world of baseball.
Anyway, back to the point... Duggan was there as a special promotion. He signed small pieces of 2x4 for fans who bought a special ticket. They could also chose a signed 8x10 photo instead. Duggan was so down to earth with everyone. He laughed and joked. Here's the link to my One on One interview with him.
Signing 2x4's at Rent One Park, tough guy!
My wife was out of town at the time, so I brought my young daughter again. She met Mickie James the other night too. She was a bit intimidated by Hacksaw. He extended his hand to her and she refused to shake it. She's pretty shy anyway, then you throw a nearly 300 pound stranger bellowing at her and she got real quiet. I had to physically take her hand and make it slap 5 with Hacksaw. He's a really great guy!
A couple of funny things he said while signing autographs was the Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan are the only two these days who call him "young man", everyone else calls him "old timer." I got a chuckle out of that. He also told fans he and a few other Hall of Famers would be at an upcoming SmackDown! He talks a little more about it in the video.
I also asked him about his thoughts on the passing of Randy Savage. The two feuded briefly in 1989 when Savage beat Duggan and became known as the "Macho King." Duggan also shares his feelings on his induction into the WWE Hall of Fame and the highlight of his career. Check it out, and subscribe tough guy!
You know the drill now, "like" us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter. Thanks for reading and watching!
This is a guest post from my wrestling buddy, Travis.
A strange thing happened at Wrestlemania 22 in Chicago. The event was packed with memorable moments, from Edge spearing Mick Foley though a burning table to Rey Mysterio winnnig his first World Heavyweight Championship. But on the grand stage of Wrestlemania, those things are to be expected. In this case, the strangest thing to happen that night was a Divas match stealing the show thanks to the most unlikely person in the card.
Relative newcomer Mickie James, appearing in her first Wrestlemania and booked against immensely popular WWE Women's Champion Trish Stratus, won the city of Chicago over in one of the best women's title matches in recent history. The match was given a fantastic buildup, with newcomer James "stalking" WWE Women's Champion Trish Stratus for weeks, then turning on her when Trish had enough and told Mickie to hit the road, spurning both friendship offers and sexual advances.
Even with the buildup, you could tell Chicago just wasn't excited about the match. Pitted in a two-match filler between the highly anticipated Edge vs. Mick Foley and Shawn Michaels vs. Mr. McMahon contests, the crowd saw the divas match as just that - filler. Even after a slickly produced pre-match video package which documented the history between James and Stratus aired on the TitanTron, when Mickie's silly cheerleader-style music hit, fans started heading for the bathrooms.
But then...Mickie James started to wrestle. In fact, James wrestled the best match of her young WWE career that night, and she and Stratus put on an amazing show. You could even sense (and still can by watching the DVD) when the tough Chi-town crowd first started to respect, then began to actually cheer for Mickie. Filled with high spots and big moves, the ladies were wrestling like...men. And wrestling better, in fact, than the previous boys in the ring (Booker T and the Boogeyman).
When the match ended and James raised her hand in victory, Jim Ross capped off the moment with the perfect call..."the nutjob has won the title! I think some fans got a hall pass from the home, they're actually cheering this psychotic woman!"
The nutjob also won the Chicago fans over, as muffles of "best match of the night" were heard from fans filing out of the arena at the end of the evening. Nowadays, Divas matches don't offer much in the ring besides eye candy. This match should be required viewing for today's ladies. It was the most memorable Divas match in recent years - and quite possibly of the entire night at Wrestlemania 22.
