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So? Are you hungry?
Where do you want to go?
I don’t know. What would you like?
Sit down or fast food?
Friends, I hate the questions above. In fact, I hate food in general, especially when I’m traveling, especially when traveling with pro wrestlers. See, I’m not the type of guy who likes “stuff” on their “stuff”. I like simple foods not drowned in sauces or spices and unfortunately when on the road you have to settle for down right crap food. In my travels, I’ve eaten at every major greasy spoon and hamburger stand and here are my thoughts on several “wee small hour” pit stops.
I can’t stand Waffle House. Although, I have had many great encounters with the local folk at 3 AM, I’m not a fan. That place has nothing on Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles! The first time I visited was in Springfield, MO in about ’94 and I turned green. Many will say I was a spoiled guy from LA, but that was not the reason. Bad food is bad food and every time I step into a Waffle House I get the same queasy feeling. I will say this; Alex Koslov is the King of Waffle House as far as I am concerned, the man ordered a sampler plate! The waitress was in shock and I’m still wondering if it was because he wanted to taste everything they had or if she thought she was being attacked, you know him being Russian and all and us being in Nashville. During that same trip, Photographer Shane Kidder went deaf for like 6 months all because of Waffle House (totally true story too), so Waffle House = NO BUENO!
Now, Denny’s is another pro wrestling haunt because it never closes. There are times when I wished it did though. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to eat there. Now, the food is way better than Waffle House, but its still short order junk and most think its cheap! Well, it really isn’t. Denny’s is whatever and if there’s a choice in where to go, I’d go along with Denny’s over most other places.
Whataburger Vs. In-N-Out
Is this really a question? Over the past 5 years this war has been brewing between everyone involved in NWA Pro Wrestling. For you folks in the dark, In-N-Out Burgers is a family owned chain that just might be the perfect hamburger; complete with secret menu. It’s exclusively west coast and like they say in their Ads: “its what a hamburger’s all about.” I dare any of you to take the challenge, Whataburger in my opinion doesn’t compare. Although, I’d eat at a Whataburger anytime over a diner, I do like the way the supply ketchup though. BTW, C. Edward Vander Pyle will totally disagree with me on this; we’ll see what he has to say.
I’m sure I’ll encounter new places to hate in the future, but in the mean time if you know of any gems I should visit please send me an email at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
, I’ll let you know what I think.
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What you are looking at is a photo of the control room on Stage “B” at CBS Columbia Sq. Studios. It was shot prior to an “NWA Championship Wrestling from Hollywood/Showcase” taping earlier this year. Now there are a lot of interesting things going on in this photo, not to mention the controlled chaos going on out side the door in the locker room, studio arena and the arrival/will call area where the public is waiting to enter.
Now this is what I remember going on:
The guy in the jacket with his back to the camera is yours truly, and I’m going over notes with show producer David Lagana. I remember us having to cut a segment and we needed to think on our feet and come up with a creative way to fill the time without taking away from the story and featured talent. Lagana was pretty much the front line during these tapings, so it was his job to make sure all aspects of the broadcast moves the right way and to his credit it always did. Since we have been in down, Lagana has been producing for HDNet’s Ring of Honor program (Monday nights) and from what I can tell he’s doing a fine job for them too.
The head next to me on the right is my producing partner Kevin Kleinrock, this dude is nuts! Now, this shot is a complete LIE…Kleinrock is never, ever this calm and for good reason, cause he is the executive producer of the whole production. This is a heavy job because he has to act as talent relations, public relations, legal stuff (he’s going through music here with our sound guy Stephen), transportation, hotels, rentals and much more. When the show is running and if I am not in the control room, I can hear Kleinrock “being Kevin” in my ear behind the director changing his mind and yelling commands and that is usually followed up with Lagana (again in my ear) telling Kleinrock to calm down and things will be alright. Today, Kleinrock is still at my side putting final touches on deals for the company that will soon see us back in this type of environment.
Now the fella with the shocked face is line producer Joe LaChance. He is one of the most optimistic people I’ve ever met and I am damn proud to have him as a part of our television team. Here, I’m sure I said something “shocking” and photographer Shane Kidder caught the reaction. I’m pretty good shocking people with what I say in heated or decision-making situations.
The last guy is the blond dude with his hand on his head. That’s GB Young, he’s been with me since 1997 and he usually acts as the technical director of any project I’m involved in, but this time I felt it was time for him to be on his own and call the show himself, hell he’s sat next to me all these years, listening to me bellow commands, I knew he was up for the job and he did not fail. GB fancies himself a “film” guy so live to tape television isn’t really his thing in the way of directing, he’s way more comfortable switching the cameras, but it was time to swim on is own. GB directed all the “NWA Wrestling Showcase” hours. Now for those of you who don’t know TV production well, it’s the director who keeps the show rolling, he has to keep it on track and on time all while keeping the shots interesting. At any one time he is speaking and listening to about 15 techs on the headset and then there are guys like me, Kevin and Lagana who yell stuff in the control room. It is a very high stress situation, but in the end, the final product makes everything better. I think the hardest part for GB was the HD gear. See, we come from that old analog stuff, so this was all new to us, but we figured it out (kind of) and shot some pretty cool TV.
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What you are looking at is a photo of the control room on Stage “B” at CBS Columbia Sq. Studios. It was shot prior to an “NWA Championship Wrestling from Hollywood/Showcase” taping earlier this year. Now there are a lot of interesting things going on in this photo, not to mention the controlled chaos going on out side the door in the locker room, studio arena and the arrival/will call area where the public is waiting to enter.
Now this is what I remember going on:
The guy in the jacket with his back to the camera is yours truly, and I’m going over notes with show producer David Lagana. I remember us having to cut a segment and we needed to think on our feet and come up with a creative way to fill the time without taking away from the story and featured talent. Lagana was pretty much the front line during these tapings, so it was his job to make sure all aspects of the broadcast moves the right way and to his credit it always did. Since we have been in down, Lagana has been producing for HDNet’s Ring of Honor program (Monday nights) and from what I can tell he’s doing a fine job for them too.
The head next to me on the right is my producing partner Kevin Kleinrock, this dude is nuts! Now, this shot is a complete LIE…Kleinrock is never, ever this calm and for good reason, cause he is the executive producer of the whole production. This is a heavy job because he has to act as talent relations, public relations, legal stuff (he’s going through music here with our sound guy Stephen), transportation, hotels, rentals and much more. When the show is running and if I am not in the control room, I can hear Kleinrock “being Kevin” in my ear behind the director changing his mind and yelling commands and that is usually followed up with Lagana (again in my ear) telling Kleinrock to calm down and things will be alright. Today, Kleinrock is still at my side putting final touches on deals for the company that will soon see us back in this type of environment.
Now the fella with the shocked face is line producer Joe LaChance. He is one of the most optimistic people I’ve ever met and I am damn proud to have him as a part of our television team. Here, I’m sure I said something “shocking” and photographer Shane Kidder caught the reaction. I’m pretty good shocking people with what I say in heated or decision-making situations.
The last guy is the blond dude with his hand on his head. That’s GB Young, he’s been with me since 1997 and he usually acts as the technical director of any project I’m involved in, but this time I felt it was time for him to be on his own and call the show himself, hell he’s sat next to me all these years, listening to me bellow commands, I knew he was up for the job and he did not fail. GB fancies himself a “film” guy so live to tape television isn’t really his thing in the way of directing, he’s way more comfortable switching the cameras, but it was time to swim on is own. GB directed all the “NWA Wrestling Showcase” hours. Now for those of you who don’t know TV production well, it’s the director who keeps the show rolling, he has to keep it on track and on time all while keeping the shots interesting. At any one time he is speaking and listening to about 15 techs on the headset and then there are guys like me, Kevin and Lagana who yell stuff in the control room. It is a very high stress situation, but in the end, the final product makes everything better. I think the hardest part for GB was the HD gear. See, we come from that old analog stuff, so this was all new to us, but we figured it out (kind of) and shot some pretty cool TV.
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To many 2010 is a movie. To others is a legends ring entrance. And to me, its crazy Buck Rogers type stuff, you know like the old black and white movies I watched with my Grandfather as a kid. I seriously didn’t think about us entering a new decade until last week when I visited “It’s a Small World Holiday” at Disneyland (those who follow me on Twitter or Facebook knows my band of merry fools take every chance we get to “loose it” at Walt’s original Magic Kingdom) and noticed, over the French themed dancing dolls a flashing “Happy 2010” sign. I was totally floored, then bummed, then happy. Happy because 2009 will be over…2009 has not been kind!
Let’s see, we started the year off the right way by producing a television series with genuine sponsors, national distribution, pretty good set and production values and a wonderful roster. I was on cloud nine and just as quick; there I was pulling the plug on “The Showcase”.
Then there were those wonderful international arena-touring events – OH WAIT! There weren’t many of those now were there?
I’m going to leave the bad of 2009 with these two bits of ugly. If I go on, I just might pull out the 100 proof and I don’t think I want any more of that for a long while. Yes friends, the economy has truly hit everyone. The last year of this decade totally SUCKED!
Now on to some happy times of 2009…
Many of my happier moments of this year happened on the East coast, the Northeast to be exact with NWA Promoter, Ricky Otazu (or “O”). Its always an amazing time to attend his events. They are always well promoted and the East is a totally different world than where I live. The NWA New Jersey crews are amazing guys and dedicated. I can’t say enough about area champion Crowbar, Danny Inferno, the Baby, Josh Daniels and the rest. Its great to see that that pro wrestling is still “family” and I mean that in all definitions, cause we do claw and fight, but end up hugging and smiling when everything is said and done. I love my East coast family (although they all think I hate them).
ED CHUMAN IS STILL ALIVE!
AUSSIE, AUSSIE, AUSSIE!
These guys continue to bring much joy into my life. The management of both Perth and Adelaide promotions do amazing work. I don’t need to hype them, you can see it for yourself the quality they produce. Over the last 5 years of so, I’ve made a many of trip to LAX to pick up one of these fine dudes. This year we’ve had the biggest year yet of Aussies training and working in the States and 2010 will no doubt be no different. I predict that Perth’s Shane Haste (he is featured in this months “The Wrestler” magazine) & Bobby Marshall along with Adelaide’s Damian Slater will be big attractions next year. How do I know? Well, I’ve had conversations with both Marshall and Slater and they’re telling me that they are training hard for a run at NWA Worlds Champion Blue Demon, Jr. These boys are hungry and ready and I’d say Demon needs to watch out! Big thanks to Dave, Shell, Rick, Rhi and Brett.
YOUR NWA WORLDS HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION
Blue Demon, Jr. has been an awesome champion and has defended his title all over the globe. He has allowed the NWA the chance to draw nice, new crowds and expose them to our brand of wrestling. Demon has held the famous “10 lbs. of Gold” for close to 14 months now and I hope for many years to come, but as I mentioned above, those Aussie’s are looking to go after him, NWA Heritage Champion Oliver John has almost taken him down several times and then there is “The Scrap Iron”, yes sir, that old song…he’s itching too! Just last month in Mexico, John & Pearce battled Demon & Incognito to the finish. I can’t wait to see who comes out of the wood works next for our champ, but I have confidence that he’ll come out ahead. He has some kind of luck on his side.
SOCIAL NETWORKING
ALL HAIL FACEBOOK/TWITTER/YOUTUBE…If you asked me in 2008 if I would give a damn about any of these networks, I would have told you “you’re nuts”. But, all three of them have kept me entertained and occupied during this slow time. I’ve been able to vent my frustrations, hear what the people are saying about our brand and just plain “see the world”! These days I can’t think of a day without any of them.
JAKKS PACIFIC
Bob Trobich and Fred Richards did a hell of a job putting together this deal. I am way excited to see where this goes.
TOTAL EXTREME COMEDY
This started out more as a “funny”, but has turned out to be the shining star of ’09 for me. When my buddy Joe Schmo told me that he was putting Mick Foley on stage at the Hollywood Improv I knew he had something. Then he said he added Colt Cabana to the card and I really knew he had something, then the day of the show, the place was packed and I for sure he had something! So about three days after they sold out the Improv, I instructed our Agent Chris MacNeill to add the comedy show to our menu. Since then, we’ve added “Brother” Bruce Prichard to the show and we’ve been having a damn good time traveling and telling stories (on stage and off). I’m sure next year we’ll be coming to your area. www.totalextremecomedy.com
THE LEFT COAST
NWA Pro Wrestling is always (usually) my happiest place to be. Not only is it my home, but also the company is doing everything it can to make waves and turn heads and the best thing we are doing is going back to the basics and scouting new talent. I don’t think since the Inoki Dojo days have I seen so many promising talents, and for good reason too, there are a lot of great places to train in the Golden State. Each area seems to have their own training facility with their own way of instruction. I think this is great because guys cruise from class to class experiencing a different lesson everyday. The newest set up is a located in Anaheim, CA and ran by Jon Ian, he calls it “Pro Wrestling 101” and its great! I encourage folks to check out www.m1wrestling.com for details if you are interested in training. OH and get this…we’re back to promoting small weekly events at the Anaheim locations. That’s right, every Friday night at 8:00 PM…great action for $6.00…now you can’t beat that!
The California staff that I work with is top notch starting with up state with Gabe Ramirez all the way down to Jeff Dino in San Diego. Jeremy Schott is still amazing me with his ability to shoot wonderful things in HD, Shane Kidder (or Shane Photos to his friends) is still keeping up with us and capturing the whole NWA Pro scene and the addition of Mike Mongoose (mostly known for his ROH work) has opened the area to new way of thinking, a good way of thinking. David Lagana & Kevin Kleinrock are still creating new ways of selling our brand I’m excited for Ruben Zamora and his new licensing business “Masked Republic”.
I’m sure as 2010 is close to being a week away I’ll have more to talk about and just maybe an announcement for the future. I know about several great things that are in the works…I just can’t say anything yet.
Thanks again for all the support and I’m going to try and blog more.
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