Our forum at www.Wrestling911.com started as a Florida based independent wrestling message board. However, it has changed over the past few years and grown more of a national audience. Check out the stats below and see how the majority of the visitors used to be Florida based. Now they are mostly located in the Eastern US.

We run this site in honor of Marcus Pitt.  He passed away in May.  Here is his obituary.

“With sorrow we announce the passing of Mark Allen Meister, DeBary, on May 12, 2011 at Fish Memorial Hospital in Orange City, Florida, after an extended illness. Mark was born on February 22, 1961 in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. He was the son of George W. Meister and Helen M. Meister, both of whom preceded him in death. He is survived by a son, Cody Allen Meister; and long time companion, Wendy Kuehne, both of DeBary; step-mother, Marjorie Meister of Port Orange; and a brother, George Robert Meister of Port Orange. One brother, Richard O. Meister preceded him in death; two nephews, Joel Allen Meister of Port Orange and Ricky Joseph Meister. Mark spent much of his early life in Pennsylvania and moved to Florida approximately 25 years ago. Before becoming ill he worked for ABC Demolition of DeBary. He loved professional wrestling and liked to be involved in local politics. He was a member of the Port Orange Presebyterian Church. A Memorial Funeral Service will be held Wednesday, May 18, 2011; 2 p.m. at the Shannon Maloney Funeral Home, 4084 Halifax Drive, Port Orange, with the Rev. Richard Hills, Presbyterian minister, officiating.”

Here is a quick glance at our monthly web stats for the past year.

Buy it here:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005BYBZBS/re … RHVE089P6&

Editor’s Notes
For more than a decade, Bret Hit Man Hart and Shawn Michaels engaged in perhaps the most storied rivalry in the history of sports entertainment, from their teams (the Hart Foundation and the Rockers), through battles for the Intercontinental Championship and the richest prize in the business, the World Wrestling Entertainment Championship. Their enmity spilled out of the ring, and led to the most infamous incident in the history of professional wrestling, The Montreal Screwjob. More than a decade later, the two men buried the hatchet as both are now World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Famers. Now, for the first time ever, the two sit down together and rehash their intertwined destinies in Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart. These new, never-before-aired, interviews will shed new light and insight on issues and controversies fans have speculated about for years.

Buy it here:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005BYBZBS/re … RHVE089P6&

External Review
First, this DVD release will end up probably being hated by a vast majority of wrestling fans that view it. Why? Because it shatters several myths that wrestling fans have enjoyed discussing for years. Things that fans have believed and thought were real are denounced by both men in the interview. So, if you prefer to hold onto the myths and legends surrounding these two, you may want to actually skip this release. With that said, this is easily one of World Wrestling Entertainment ’s best DVD releases ever. It’s right up there with The Rise and Fall of ECW and for many will surpass it. This set is all about the lengthy sit down interview between the two men. It’s not all about Montreal, and Jim Ross (the host) stresses that both men’s careers weren’t defined by that one night, it’s a discussion on how both men came up in the wrestling business, first as friends, then bitter rivals and how they managed to make peace in the end. You’ll hear both men talk about their tag team careers and what they thought of one another early on. You’ll hear how excited Shawn was to see Bret become champion because he viewed that as Bret paving the way for him to achieve the same goal. You’ll hear Bret discuss how he admired Shawn Michael’s wrestling ability and would go to bat for him several times to Vincent K. McMahon. You’ll also hear how the seeds were planted for their rivalry, which was a work in the beginning, but became legitimate hatred later on. Both men get emotional, numerous times, during this interview. As a fan of both, it’s hard not to get choked up right along with them as they relive the most emotional parts of their careers. They speak from the heart and hold nothing back. I’ve seen every World Wrestling Entertainment DVD documentary released and this one will move you, especially if you’ve followed both men’s entire careers like I have. Many stories and myths about their rivalry and hatred for one another are squashed by both men, which I still believe will upset a lot of fans. I don’t want to spoil anything, so I wont give away the meat of what was discussed in the interview, I’ll just leave it at that. Just know that many of the cool stories and conspiracy theories people, and wrestling journalists have talked about for years, will be proven to be just that… stories and conspiracy theories.

As for the matches, there’s nothing here we haven’t really seen before, with one exception. They included a rare steel cage match from these two that you wont find on any other DVD, so it’s cool to see it here. The infamous Survivor Series match is not included on this DVD set, but instead is an exclusive bonus match on the Blu-ray edition: World Wrestling Entertainment Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart: World Wrestling Entertainment ’s Greatest Rivalries 2-Disc Blu-ray.

Needles to say, this is a must buy for any fan of Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. It’s a tremendous look back on two of the most important careers in wrestling history. Their discussion is an unfiltered look at what made them great and clears the air on the more controversial parts of their legendary careers.

Buy it here:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005BYBZBS/re … RHVE089P6&

The following chart indicates what I think is awesome in professional wrestling.  The correlation indicates that Dangerous Shit and Real Fights rank much higher than Retards who are Upset with me…

The following graph can be used to explain the relationship between hiring too many shitty workers on your independent wrestling event and your overall attendance. This should be used to help calculate your Shit Worker Coefficient. Essentially, the model shows that if you have 10 or more shit workers, you have no hope of drawing more than 40 paying fans.

Please note that only 10% of wrestling fans are smart enough to understand this graph. If you laughed, you are in the upper percentile.

Below is a full roster of wrestlers who worked in the state of Florida for Championship Wrestling of Florida in the 1960s based on the posters advertised in the Orlando, Tampa and Miami area venues.

Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) was the corporate and brand name of the Tampa, Florida wrestling office existing from 1961, when Eddie Graham first bought into the promotion, until 1987, when it closed down. It is also referred to as Florida Championship Wrestling. When Mike Graham tried a return to promoting, the rights to the name had been acquired by an outside party, forcing him to use another name, Florida Championship Wrestling.

Founding

The original owner and promoter was “Cowboy” Clarence P. Luttrell, a former journeyman heel wrestler who once fought a widely publicized boxing match, resulting from a wrestling angle, with a forty-something Jack Dempsey. It was worked but Cowboy took a severe beating. Cowboy opened the office in 1949, and Eddie Graham bought into the promotion in 1961 and took over completely in 1971, some say forcing Cowboy out.

The office was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance during the entire CWF era, Eddie Graham serving two terms as National Wrestling Alliance president, and loosely aligned before that, with other ‘world’ champions sometimes defending their titles.
[edit] Notable stars/alumni

The promotion thrived with stars such as National Wrestling Alliance champions Lou Thesz and Gene Kiniski, Graham, Don Curtis, Sam Steamboat, the Great Malenko (Larry Simon), Johnny Valentine, Hiro Matsuda, Bob Orton Sr. and later Jr., Joe Scarpa (later Chief Jay Strongbow), Wahoo McDaniel, the Funks (Terry and Dory, Jr.), the Briscos (Jack and Jerry), Buddy Colt (Ron Read), Dusty Rhodes, Barry Windham, Mike Rotunda, Mike Graham (Eddie’s son), Kevin Sullivan – whose cult-like Army of Darkness got tremendous heat from the fans – and, in the words of the promotion’s legendary commentator and a star in his own right Gordon Solie, ‘a host of others’.
[edit] Life after Eddie Graham’s suicide

When Eddie Graham committed suicide on Super Bowl Sunday in January 1985, due to a combination of personal and business reverses, responsibility for the office went to Hiro Matsuda and Duke Keomuka, both of whom bought in the 1960s. The other remaining owners were Mike Graham, Eddie’s brother Skip Gossett, Dusty Rhodes and Buddy Colt. The promotion continued losing money and merged with Jim Crockett Promotions in February 1987.[1] Most of the stars had gone to Jim Crockett Promotions or the WWF by that point.
[edit] Television programs and tape library

CWF filmed and later taped its weekly television wrestling show at the famed Sportatorium at 106 N. Albany in Tampa, FL – really a small television studio with seating for a live audience of about 100 people (1/40th of the seating capacity of its Dallas counterpart), with the wrestling office and gym in the same building. Arena footage was always also used, and full arena show broadcasts began in the early ’80s. CWF Spin-off shows were Championship Wrestling Superstars, Global Wrestling, North Florida Championship Wrestling, United States Class Wrestling, American Championship Wrestling and Southern Professional Wrestling.

On March 2, 2006, it was announced that the CWF library was purchased by World Wrestling Entertainment (World Wrestling Entertainment ) for the DVD on Dusty Rhodes.

Face it, either you like DX or you don’t. That’s how you will judge this book probably. If you think that DX has gone on too long then don’t get the book. I for one still enjoy the light-heartedness that HBK and HHH bring to the business but then they can still perform. Yes there’s backstage events which provides for their dominance, oh well. As for this book, I enjoyed it. Extremely easy flow and readable within one day. It covers the history of DX from shortly after the infamous Curtain Call, up to the recent reforming for merchandise sales. The book is presented as if HHH and HBK were talking to you on camera and more or less in character. They cover it all with glimpses into personal life but again, it’s pretty much told in-character. It could have been helped if it were a bit more ‘authorized’ and done out-of-character and include commentary from the other past members (Chyna, Billy Gunn, Road Dogg, and X-Pac). Even some o-o-c comments about the fall out between certain members.

Anyway, I enjoyed it for a quick read, good presentation from the characters, could have been stronger by telling it from the real personalities and inclusion of other performers. Downside – it’s a straight marketing plot for the money.

This book is good. It has several chapters, diferent stories. Most are very interesting. I really would have liked to have seen Batista and Torrie Wilson in the book. Are We There Yet, doesn’t have many descriptive stories of what their busy lives really are like. It isn’t the best book from the World Wrestling Entertainment , but should be read. It’s funny and interesting, with cool pictures!

Each year, the World Wrestling Entertainment puts out a handful of items that true fans must have … this is one of those items. I received it in the mail a few days ago and read it cover to cover in just two days (and I’m starting it again tonight … not joking).

It’s a very easy read and manages to take the reader through the entire history of the World Wrestling Entertainment . In fact, the book actually starts a few years before there ever was a World Wrestling Entertainment . It talks all about how Buddy Rogers’ National Wrestling Alliance title win in the early 1960s helped form World Wrestling Entertainment . That part was a lot of fun because you rarely get that type of history from a World Wrestling Entertainment product.

Another fun part was Sgt. Slaughter talking about how his life changed for the negative after he won the gold. There’s a lot of good stories like that in there.

Often times while I’m watching an old wrestling match (or browsing some wrestling website) I end up looking an old wrestler up on Wikipedia in hopes of finding out more about him (or her). The World Wrestling Entertainment is, apparently, hoping to capitalize with marks like me with the World Wrestling Entertainment Encyclopedia. As the name implies, this book is an encyclopedia to all things (well most things) that have occurred in the vast history of the World Wrestling Entertainment – wrestlers, television shows, PPV’s, title histories, etc.

The book is written in kayfabe (pretends that wrestling and the personalities are “real”), so you are not going to get any inside information as far as behind the scene stuff goes. To me, that’s perfect – but be forewarned though if you are looking for serious information on the people who played these characters you are going to be disappointed. For example, the encyclopedia has a separate entry for Kane (Glen Jacobs) and Dr. Isaac Yankem DDS with no mention one person played both roles (Glenn Jacobs). This is because in the World Wrestling Entertainment canon they are two separate people (one a crazy guy who is the Undertaker’s brother and the other was an evil dentist – classic stuff) that just happened to played by the same person. Hence, the two different entries. I could see how this will be annoying for some people though who might want to know what the “real names” of these wrestlers are or some information about their real life pasts.

Really the only drawbacks (besides the potential problem for some that the book is written in total kayfabe) are the omissions or errors. I haven’t searched every single page to find these issues (a few other reviews discuss them), but they appear to be very small in number when one stops to consider the thousands of different wrestling gimmicks that have shown up over the years. I certainly wouldn’t let it stop me from purchasing the book because TL Hopper isn’t profiled (there are always going to be errors in this sort of undertaking).

Overall, a great purchase for wrestling fans of all ages who want to either learn or fondly remember the fun and goofy past of the World Wrestling Entertainment .

Bill Alfonso, the Manager of Champions, put together this shoot DVD with SnowMan Jones.  Additional chapters can be seen by clicking here, but the entire DVD can only be purchased from Bill Alfonso.

FUW – Titan Vs Chicago – Tonight in Ybor Poster