Saturday, March 10, 2012

(Flashback) Tossing Salt - December 26, 2003

Tossing Salt - 12/26/03

What up Informants! Welcome to the most recent edition of Santa Claus's favorite wrestling column, Tossing Salt. From way down deep in the basement of the Wrestling Informer HQ, I'm Doug M. with a special "day after Christmas" edition of the coulumn that celebrates Christmas 24 -7, 52 weeks a year. I hope that everyone had a great Christmas yesterday and got everything they wished for.

Santa was good to your favorite degenerate and Salt-tosser. I asked for the Ultimate Ric Flair DVD - and the Jolly Red Elf - acting in cohesion with my friends Tatz and the nieces and nephews - came through with the goods. I've been watching the Nature Boy all day and all I can say is quite simply, "whoooooooooooooo!!".

But it's time to put up the remote (for a little while anyhow) and time to get to work. And here I am. The news never stops happening and neither does "Tossing Salt!". So, I've got a little bit of news, some match results from a Zero One Christmas Day show in Tokyo, my comments on the latest editions to the Wrestling Informers Hall of Fame,the WWE Smackdown show from Iraq, and a few other things tossed in as well.

Plus, Jerry "the King" Lawler and some of the great quotes by the King. So much to talk about and so little time. So, let's get this party started with some:

ASSORTED SPICES:

If you look at the main page here at the Informer, you'll see that former WCW (and recent Japanese) wrestling star La Parka, along with Sergio Romo Jr. were arrested on Tuesday morning in Nuevo Leon after wrestling a show there the month before. According to the victim, Emilio Enriquez, he was insulted and then beat up by La Parka & Romo for no reason. They then left.

The police figured out who it was the next morning after some investigative work and went to arrest Parka & Romo. Roma went along peacefully, but La Parka decided to resist a little bit. I don't really know enough about the whole situation to comment, but if this is true, it's obviously a black eye for wrestling and could really put a hurting on Parka's wrestling career, especially the overseas tours.

Since 9/11 - the travel restrictions placed on folks traveling international are pretty tight. A conviction for assault, resisting arrest, and inflicting serious injuries could really make the visas just that much harder to get. And I really can't believe they (Parka & Romo) would assault someone wihout any provacation at all.

More than likely, (and I'm just guessing here), Enriquez was probably playing the big man and decided to confront "the wrestlers" to impress his friends, but they didn't want to play and beat the crap out of him. However it goes, La Parka is a remarkable talent - far better than WCW ever allowed us to see, andI hope this matter can get straightened out quickly so all parties involved can move on with their lives.

MSNBC has pulled the plug on former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura's TV show, Jesse Ventura's America. It has been placed on "indefinite hiatus" by the cable network. The show has suffered from poor ratings since day one, doing even worse than the Phil Donahue show it replaced on the MSNBC network. Ventura will continue to work for the network though, acting as a political commentator.

And while he's at it, since Jesse obviously now has way much free time on his hands, he should contact the WWE and go give Jim Ross a hand on RAW in calling the matches. I like Jerry Lawler -which is pretty obvious since I'm using his quotes here tonite, but he's burnt out and sounds like a broken record.

Actually, Ross & Lawler are both burnt out and need some time off to recharge their batteries for a bit. So, why not look up Tony Schiavone's name in the WWE rolodex - contact Governor Ventura through MSNBC - and reunite the nest announce team WCW Worldwide Wrestling ever had to cover RAW for a while. THey were the primary announce team in WCW when Eric Bischoff took control way back when. Now that he has full control on RAW (for the time being), why not have him put "his announcers" who were there for his first rise to power in the RAW position to see if lightning can strike twice. It's just a thought.

Will they ever just shut up and wrestle? Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami are working hard to promote a possible match between the two of them.
There is some legit heat between the two as a result of Inoki's political games at New Japan, but it's obviously not standing in the way of business.

At the 12/23 New Japan show, Inoki & Fujinami had a confrontation in the ring. They both cut promos about wrestling each other and then Inoki, to help plug the upcoming 12/31 Kobe Wing Stadium event, gave Fujinami a ticket to the event and offered to fight him there.

Fujinami, in return, gave Inoki a ticket to the 1/04 New Japan Tokyo Dome show (which is kind of ironic since Inoki is a principal owner of New Japan) and told him they should fight there. Despite the plugs for both upcoming events, it's expected that the actual match itself will take place at Inoki's 12/31 show at the Kobe WIng Stadium.

Congratulations to New Japan wrestling star Yutaka Yoshie. It's been announced that he will be marrying his long time girlfriend on 2/21/04 in Tokyo. Get the old "ball & chain" ready. Wrestling legend Tatsumi Fujinami is expected to head up the wedding ceremony.

Another wrestling legend has been called home to the big "Supercard" in the sky. Yuriko Amami, who wrestled for All Japan Wrestling from 1954 to 1970 recently passed away in Tokyo at age 67. Our prayers and condolences to the friends and family of Miss Amami.

Zero One & Pride have announced the complete line-up for the 1/4 joint promotional Hustle-1 show taking place at the Saitama Super Arena. Looking at the line-up of matches, it's obvious this is the "Wrestlemania" or "Starcade" for Zero One and Pride. They're pulling out all the stops and really filling the card - head to toe - with some great action. The matches announced are:
Mil Mascaras, Dos Caras, Dos Caras Jr., & El Sicodelico Jr. versus Tom Howard,. Low-Ki, Steve Corino, & Dusty Rhodes.
Mikami versus Jun Kasai versus Mikey Whipwreck versus Kid Adamo
Zebra Man versus Ikuto Hidaka
Shinjiro Otari & Masato Tanaka versus Predator & Kevin Randleman
Satoshi Kojima versus Joe Son
Tashiaki Kawada versus Mark Coleman
Shinya Hashimoto versus Vader
Naoya Ogawa versus Goldberg

I'm not sure, but I believe this will be the first time that Dusty Rhodes and Mil Mascaras have ever faced each other as opponents. I know they were tag team partners in the late 70's, but since both have been fan favorites for most of the past 25 years, I don't think they ever actually wrestled. So you have that, plus Steve Corino, Mikey Whipwreck, Goldberg, & Vader. It's going to be a great night of action.

JERRY LAWLER QUOTE OF THE NIGHT # 1:
"Mark Henry just walked in front of me. I thought it was an eclipse."

As most of you know, SmackDown from earlier tonite was taped last week in Iraq. It was a Christmas present for the soldiers, our men and women who are stationed over there, from the WWE. I watched the show, and even though it was a totally fogettable show, it was a great thing for the WWE to do this for the troops. The WWE has really been good about lending support to our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistian and they really deserve a big pat on the back for this.

Too often, we trash the WWE and the things they do, and rightfully so. But when they do something good, they need to be acknowledged for that as well. And Vince & company - you guys and girls did good. It's true - it's damn true.

And while I'm thinking about it, when you go to bed tonite, don't forget to say a prayer for our troops and pray that they come home safely and soon. Whether we agree or disagree with the reasons they're not home, it's all a moot point anyhow. So, don't forget our soldiers.

JERRY LAWLER QUOTE OF THE NIGHT # 2:
(A small child is shown cheering Shawn Michaels)
"Look at her! Now I know why animals eat their young."

The head honcho here at the Informer, Brad Casey has posted on the sight the 2003 inductees to the Wrestling Informer Hall of Fame. Just in case some of you haven't read the post yet, the new inductees are:

Promoters: Eric Bischoff, Verne Gagne
Wrestlers: Andre the Giant, Bruno Sammartino
Tag Teams: Scott Hall & Kevin Nash - the Outsiders & Davey Boy Smith & Dynamite Kid - the British Bulldogs
Female Wrestlers: Mildred Burke, Madusa
Cruiserweights: Ultimo Dragon, Tiger Mask I
Trainers: Dory Funk Jr., Wild Samaon Afa
Announcers: Jesse Ventura, Howard Finkel
Managers: Captian Lou Albano, Jimmy Hart
Referees: Dick Kroll, Dave Hebner

As usual, Brad has done an outstanding job with the selections. Eric Bischoff was really on the ball in the early to mid 90's and turned WCW from a minor league wanna-be into the major power in wrestling. They lost the war eventually, but wouldn't have even been in the fight if not for Eric. No complaints on any of the selections. Glad to see the Outsiders get a little recognition. And I'm sure a certain someone I know will be happy about that selection as well. (What about it, Reesy?) I wouldn't have minded seeing my beloved, Ivory, selected in the Women's category, but I'm sure that Brad is just saving her for next year.

To all you readers - if you get a chance, go check out the Wrestling Informer's Hall of Fame . Check out all the links throughout the site, Nowhere else will you find so much information on this great sport we all know and love. This is a great site, and I'd say that even if I wasn't working here. It's true - it's damn true. And that's the bottom line cause... you get the idea.

JERRY LAWLER QUOTE OF THE NIGHT # 3:
"If Mae Young is going to breast feed, all that baby's going to get is evaporated milk."

ADDITIONIAL SEASONINGS:

ZERO ONE 12/25/05 Tokyo, Japan Korakuen Hall
Attendance: 1500 fans
Yoshito Sasaki defeated Osamu Roko in 7:38
Yoshiaki Fujiwara beat Don Arakawa in 10:00
NWA LIGHTWEIGHT TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT
Dick Togo & Ikuto Hidaka defeated Onryo & GOEMON in 16:44
NWA LIGHTWEIGHT TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT
Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Naohiro Hoshikawa beat Tomohiro Ishii & Takashi Uwano in 11:01
Masato Tanaka stopped Katsuhisa Fujii in 8:34
ALL-ASIAN TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP DECISION MATCH
Mr. Gannasuke & Tetsuhiro Kuroda defeated Tengukaizer & Jun Kasai in 12:37
Shinjiro Ohtani beat Mammoth Sasaki when the referee stopped the match at 9:33
Naoya Ogawa won over Hiro Yokoi in 10:00 by KO
Takuo Omori & Shiro Koshinaka defeated Naoya Ogawa & Kohei Sato in 15:02

JERRY LAWLER QUOTE OF THE NIGHT # 4:
"I saw this guy having a drink in the bathroom before. Then the seat fell down and hit him on the head."

Now, before I close, I have to thank Suzie Q. for all those great Jerry "the King" Lawler quotes. Thanks again, Suzie. I really do appreciate it.

Plus I want to send a shout out to two great friends who live way too far away. My boy, Brent way up in CT. I miss ya much, brother. And to Russ & Marcia & Brooke, also in CT. It was great to e-talk with you today. It made my Christmas, almost as much as the Flair DVD (and Russ, you know how much I like the Nature Boy so that's saying something!)

Lots of love to ya. I miss ya way much. I also want to send out a Merry Christmas and big thanks to all my fellow yahoo chatters - you jknow who you are. Without you folks, life would really suck sometimes. Thank you for everything.

SInce I'm on a roll, let me throw myself a plug and mention the "Time Warp". It's everyday - 7 days a week toasting each day in history. If you want to see it in your mailbox each morning, just drop me a line and I'll put your e-mail address on my mailing list. It's just my little way of saying "Whassup?" to all my fellow wrestling fans out there.

And on that, I'm outta here folks. I've got to go watch Ric Flair and Harley Race go at it, one more time. Diamonds are forever and so is the Nature Boy. Whooooooo!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. I know I did. Take care, and until next time, I'm Doug M. Take it light.

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