I've read several of Jesse books including the "Body" of his experience in Pro Wrestling ... I'm going to be gone until Sunday Night taking a short vacation.

RIP to luchador Mr Niebla, aka Efren Tiburcio Marquez, who died after a blood infection. Never as big a name outside of Mexico, he was a big draw, for a time, for CMLL and was their World Champion (though that doesn't necessarily make him the top draw of the company, with the emphasis on the smaller weight classes and trios matches). He was known for being part of the group La Peste Negra (The Black Plague), with Negro Casas and El Felino (Casas' brother), holding the Mexican National Trios title. He also held the CMLL World Tag titles, with Shocker, and their trios titles, with Atlantis & Lizmark and Atlantis & Black Warrior. He debuted in 1995, in a CMLL-affiliated smaller promotion, before being brought onto their main roster, at Arena Mexico.

In 1999, independent group International Wrestling Revolution Group (IWRG) introduced a different Mr Niebla, claiming the trainer of the original gave it to him and still held naming rights. The original was injured and the rival was brought into CMLL, setting up a mask vs mask match for the rights to the name, which the original won.

He left CMLL in 2007, after losing the World title to Universo 2000 and losing return matches. Feeling he was being depushed, he jumped ship to AAA. He spent about a year there, before quitting on the night of their annual Triplemania event, after his mask vs mask match with Abismo Negro fell through, stating he wanted to work a bigger mask vs mask feud, which usually resulted in big payoffs, in Mexico.

He returned to CMLL and teamed up with Negro Casas and Heavy Metal (Casas' other brother) working a comedy gimmick. They were later joined by El Felino and Heavy Metal, who wasn't comfortable with the comedy, left. What was surprising was that Negro Casas had never worked a comedic style, always a serious champion or contender in both Mexico and Japan (for New Japan).

In 2015, Mr Niebla was booked on a tour of Japan, co-promoted by CMLL and NJPW, but missed the last two nights. He was found unconscious in his hotel room and rushed to the hospital. NJPW was furious with him and made CMLL pay the bill and refused to book Niebla again. CMLL fired him when he returned to Mexico. he later admitted to being an alcoholic and his drinking affected him making bookings and his performance in the ring. he claimed never to wrestle drunk in the ring; but did admit to being impaired (I assume hung over). He was brought back to CMLL later in the year. He was suspended again in 2018 and not brought back until March of this year. In the match that led to the suspension of his license, by the commission, he was visibly impaired and a POd Volador Jr, removed his mask, to gain a disqualification, to get him out of the ring. Niebla then claimed to be injured and was removed from the match, as a cover. The commission suspended his license for 6 months and CMLL told him, upon his return that he was done of he ever worked drunk again. His alcoholism was a major factor in career setbacks and injuries and I wouldn't be surprised if it was related to his death.

Lot of talent that went to waste.

I've seen a bot of KC's wares (many Youshoots, some of the others, including Back to the Territories). The Guest Booker ones are great ways to understand how promotions booked angles and feuds, how they made alterations, and how far out they planned. They then have the guest booker rebook a famous angle, though often with resources not available to the original. For instance, Jim Cornette rebooked the Invasion Angle, with WCW and WWE, with wrestlers whose contracts were not picked up by Vince.

Corny did 2 Youshoots that were huge sellers and very entertaining, leading to a Breaking Kayfabe dvd, where he talked about his time in TNA and Ring of Honor. He also did one of their Timeline series, covering 1997 WWF, including the Montreal Screwjob. He paints a pretty dismal picture of Shawn Michaels, behind the scene, while also throwing heat on Bret for being selfish on the way out, forcing the situation. Corny, on Dark Side of the Ring, has since admitted that he first threw out the screwjob scenario, though he didn't think it would be taken seriously. It was part of the reason he got the hell out of there, to have plausible deniability.

The Timeline series is quite good, depending on who the commentator is. Sean Oliver runs down major events of the year and the wrestler provides background and behind the scenes details. Barry Windham did one for WCW and wasn't particularly engaging, though far more than he was in a shoot interview with Devon Nicholson , aka Hannibal, a Canadian wrestler and promoter. Roddy Piper was a bit mixed, as he brings up some things, then dodges questions to clarify statements, such as issues he had with Pat Patterson, on the West Coast, which affected their relationship in the WWF. It sounded like he was sexually harassed by Patterson, which he denied on his podcast. It was more about heat he had with Patterson, spanning from time on the West Coast. Piper was always working, so you never really knew where the truth lay in his stories.

Lanny Poffo did a Youshoot and a Breaking Kayfabe dvd, where he is pretty honest about his place in wrestling history and on the card, though most questions dealt with his relationship with Randy and Randy's time in the WWF. For instance, he is asked about the rumors of Randy being sexually involved with an underage Stephanie McMahon, which Lanny pretty much says F-off. He points the finger on the heat with Vince as being related to the Slim Jim contract and Randy taking it with him to WCW. He tells a great story of his youth, playing baseball with Randy, and hitting a beautiful line drive to the outfield, but getting tagged out when he admired it too long and the ball got scooped up and thrown back in time to catch him rounding the bases. Randy told him, "next time, you run and I'll admire it for you!"

By the by, the Macho Man was an Honor Student, as well as an athletic standout. He may have been crazy, but he was crazy like a fox, and one with good grades. he also bought their father a Cadillac convertible that was the same model that he drove when they were young, presenting the vintage car to him years later. he also tried to get Angelo booke into a Legends' Battle Royal, in MSG, but was shot down by Chief Jay Strongbow, leading to heat between them and Savage harboring a grudge against Vince for denying his father a bit of glory. Angelo did wrestle some shows in MSG, in the late 50s (or very early 60s) on the undercard; but, he was of a similar notoriety to several in the battle royal, based on his time in Chicago and Detroit, in his heyday. Randy held out on the Hall of Fame unless they inducted the Poffos as a family, as they did the Von Erichs (including Chris and Mike, who were never top draws or Hall of Fame caliber). Lanny eventually reneged on the promise so that Randy could be honored, provided he did the induction speech. he claims his mother was upset and he told her that he was the man of the family, that Randy and the fans deserved it, and the family owed him one on the decision, as he gave up a chance to work in Los Angeles to help the family start the ICW promotion. Lanny felt he had a shot at getting over with the LA crowd, since he spoke Spanish. I kind of doubt it, as LA was dying, at that point and sold out to Vince in the early-mid 80s. ICW began around 1979/80, when the LA promotion was only seen on a Spanish language tv station and the days of Roddy Piper vs the Guerreros or Mil Mascaras as the Americas Champion were long over.

Corny's Back to the Territories are terrific.





ps For a couple of brief periods (when they were promoting spot shows in Springfield, IL) we had the WWA tv; but, they were in their declining days. Wilbur Snyder was one of the few guys I enjoyed watching. he was so smooth and technically sound in the ring, while the rest were either poor heels or bland babyfaces, with generic wrestling styles. The Young Lions team of Spike Huber and Steve Regal (Mr Electricity Steve Regal, not Darren "Steve Regal, aka Lord Stephen Regal aka William Regal" Matthews) was about the only other exciting part of the show, aided by the fact that they were the sons-in-law of Bruiser and Snyder (respectively). David McLane, the creator and original promoter of GLOW was also the WWA photographer and announcer, in the mid-late 80s, in their death throws. He was the most annoying schill ever, apart from the other WWA voice, Chicago promoter Bob Luce, who worked with Bruiser, Snyder and Verne Gagne, promoting the Chicago shows (which were a mix of AWA and WWA talent). Billy Corgan grew up with Bob Luce's show, which spawned his love of pro wrestling, leading to his purchase of the NWA brand.

Animal's take on the Hammond, IN riot...



ps The Road Warriors did not simultaneously hold the AWA, NWA and International tag-titles. They held the AWA tag titles from Aug 1984- Sept. 1985. They held the International Tag-titles from March 1987-June 1988. They were the NWA World 6-Man tag champs (with Dusty Rhodes)from May 1986-Feb 1988 (though the belts were rarely defended), then July-Oct '88; then, with Genichiro Tenryu, From Dec '88 to Jan '89, when the titles were dropped. That overlapped with the International tag titles, in All-Japan. They held the NWA World Tag titles from Oct '88 to Apr '89. They dropped the National Tag title, in Georgia, before coming to the AWA, in May of '84.

They were the only team to ever hold the NWA, AWA and WWF tag titles; but, never held them simultaneously. The only instance of something like that was Tiger Mask simultaneously holding the NWA and WWF Junior Heavyweight titles (as did The Cobra, George Takano), in Japan (though some US NWA promoters created a new stateside version, after Tiger Mask was defending both).

Cornette is right here:






I can't care about a routine like that. There's no time to breathe. Less should be more. It's one move after another, none of which give me a reason to care.

Jake Roberts putting an armlock on Rick Rude made me care; Greg Valentine working over a knee for 2-3 minutes made me care; Earthquake squashing a guy near the turnbuckles made me care.

Less really is more.

Shoot videos, more often than not, were done by fans who sold merch and bootlef tapes of matches from the past and from various promotions. The biggest seller is RF Video, who built their name selling ECW footage, then started Ring of Honor. Rob Feinstein does the interviews and reads his questions from a list and never follows up on what the wrestler says, never challenges false statements and asks the mundane questions like "What were your thoughts on the Masked Marauder?' or "Do you have any stories from that time?" Feinstein was later busted in a sting operation, trying to meet up with an alleged underage male, for sex. That led to him selling out his share of ROH, but he still runs RF Video.

Highspots is another and they sell actual ring gear, as well as compilation tapes and shoot interviews. They have done some decent interviews, including a series hosted by Steve Corino, as well as one with Cornette and Rip Rogers. However, they do some shady stuff and reused excess footage of Cornette as a new interview, which severed their relationship with him.

Devon Nicholson started doing shoot interviews with wrestlers booked for his Greater Northwest Wrestling promotion, in Canada and has expanded them since. He's a rather dull interviewer; but, he has gotten some great stories from wrestlers. He did one with Ronnie Garvin that had some interesting stuff, including his view of holding the NWA title (he didn't care and only did it for a bonus, while the belt was to be transitioned back to Flair). Nicholson likes to weigh in on current controversies, with people not involved, such as asking Shane Douglas his thoughts on Cornette quitting the NWA. Who cares what Douglas thinks? He didn't work for Corgan, and he and Cornette have a history from when Heyman and Douglas double-crossed Dennis Coraluzzo on the NWA World Title tournament, when they revived the belt. Prior to that, Corny was working with Douglas as part of the Dynamic Dudes, with Johnny Ace and got along fine. His opinion has no more bearing than a fan's. he wasn't there.

Kayfabe Commentaries is the Cadillac of the industry and Oliver has extensive media background, which is why he is such a good interviewer. He does his research, asks the right questions, asks follow ups, treats the wrestlers with respect and keeps his word (which is more than Konan did for him, taking money then no-showing the taping). He also does entertaining pieces and gimmicks to add some comedy to the interviews. With Corny, he did a taste test to identify Sprite, among it, 7-Up and another lemon-lime soda. The Timeline and Back to the Territory series are some of the best historical perspectives you will find, outside of some of the wrestling books (especially Scott Teal's Crowbar Press publications) and things like the Wrestling Classics Forum and Cornette's Drive-Thru Podcast.

I agree that Sean Oliver is the best. I read about that Konan 'thing' in Oliver's book.

I hate it when an interviewer just sticks to questions without deviation. If I read an interview with, say, a movie star or singer, in a professional publication, it's great when they expand on a point. I'm sure they have some questions they wish to ask, but it's better to get a person to expand on an unexpected and interesting point. Even with the "Youshoot" series, Oliver doesn't just leave it to the fans' questions in chronological order; he will expand on a question. I like that.