The Kokomo Tribune from Kokomo, Indiana • Page 16

KOKOMO TRIBUNE THURSDAY, SEPT. 16, 1999 PRO WRESTLING Jim Ross reports that the World Wrestling Federation is attempting to re-sign many of its promenade young stars. Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy, Miss Kitty, Prince Albert, Droz and Joey Abs all are in line for new contracts, as their old contracts expire at the end of September. Barry Darsow is doing an angle where he took a bump on his head and has amnesia. One week, he was Krusher Kruschev.

He also will be the Golfer guy and Blacktop Bully as well as himself over the next few weeks. Extreme Championship Wrestling wants to sign two more names in the wrestling industry. The first is the man known as Uganda. He has made a short-term agreement with Paul Heyman to wrestle at some ECW events. It appears that the company is close to locking him up for a long-term deal.

ECW also has expressed interest in acquiring the talents of World Championship Wrestling's Chad "Deiiboy" Damiani, who does reports on the WCW Hotline and Web site. WCW has been bumped from the Billboard Top 20 "Recreational Sports" video list. The WWF holds 14 of the top 20 spots. According to Dave Meltzer, the is being credited with giving USA Network a sizable victory in the race to be the top-rated cable network. The Sept.

1 Hollywood Reporter headlined, "With WWF muscle, USA wins s'ummer cable title." Wrestling Qalendar WWF 14: Las Vegas taping). Sept. 18: San Antonio. Sept. 19: Austin, Texas, Sept.

20: Houston 1 Is Sept. 21: Dallas taping). WCW Sept. Va. Saturday Night" TVtapinas).

Sept. 15: Norfolk, Va. Sept. 16: Florence, S.C. TV tapings).

Sept. 17: Greenville, S.C. Sept. 18: Louisville, Ky. Sept.

19: Evansville, Ind. Sept. 20: Cincinnati ECW Sept. 19: Chicago (Anarchy Ruiz PPV). WCW begins housecleaning: Bischoff replaced hrough a press release issued on Friday, Sept.

10, Bischoff was relieved of his duties as the head man of World Championship Wrestling. Bischoff will remain with Turner Sports in an unknown capacity and continue to report to Dr. Harvey Schiller, president of Turner Sports. The press release stated in part, "Dr. Harvey Schiller is pleased to announce the promotion of Bill Busch to executive vice president of WCW.

Effective immediately, he will assume complete oversight of the day-to-day business and creative operations of WCW. Information on Eric Bischoff's role in the organization will be shared in the coming weeks." it is unclear whether served as a key company, Between opes By Steve Gerweck will become the permanent boss. Busch will primarily be in charge of getting WCW back in order and using his economic know-how to make WCW more profitable. There are signals that a house-cleaning might be in store. Brian Hildebrand might have been small in stature, but the man carried an enormous caring heart.

His admiration of the ness was only equal and adoration share friends for this wonderful man. Hildebrand, who was born and raised in Pittsburgh, dreamed of becoming a wrestler. He was trained by wrestling legend Domenic Denucci alongside Mankind and Shane Douglas. Hildebrand was an outstanding worker; however, one thing prevented him from becoming a wrestling superstar his size. Dawning a mask and using a "Ninja Turtle" gimmick, Hildebrand competed for Jim Cornette's Smokey Mountain Wrestling.

Due to his 125-pound frame, Hildebrand moved from wrestler to manager. He used the alias H.R Schwartz and later changed it to Dr. Mark Hildebrand's big break came when WCW hired him, and he became respected referee Mark Curtis. jln 1997, Hildebrand dJBloped severe stomach discomfort. He believed he had ulcers, but was later diagnosed as stomach cancer.

Hildebrand learned the worse: The cancer was terminal. By the fall, he had most of his stomach removed, but vowed he would overcome his affliction. After a leave of absence, Hildebrand returned full time to WCW, However, toward the end of 1998, the cancer had returned. WCW organized a tribute show in Knoxville, Tenn. Ric Flair presented Hildebrand with a replica of the WCW World Title belt.

Following a referee bump, Hildebrand entered the. ring to count the fall in the main event. It takes a special man and occasion to bring wrestlers together from theWWF.WCWandECWonthe same card. Back on July 30 in Rostraver, such a gathering Real Name: Steve Blackman Height: 6 feet, 2 inches Weight: 245 pounds From: Annville, Pa. Sept.

28,1963 Nicknames: "lethal weapon" and the "silent assassin" Finishing move: Guillotine or chest kick In and out of the ring Blackman won several weightlifting awards, bench- pressing 585 pounds. He won a "strongest man" contest in Florida and set an Eastern USA curling record. Blackman contracted malaria when wrestling in South Africa in 1989. He barely survived. Blackman tried making comebacks and'93, but the fatigue was too strong.

In November 1997, Blackman made his debut in the WWF by jumping the guardrail (after posing as a fan) and helping Vader fend off a mauling from the Hart Foundation. Blackman replaced an injured Patriot (Del Wilkes) in the 1997 Survivor Series, competing for Team USA. Blackman remained undefeated for four months following his WWF debut until Jeff Jarrett scored a controversial pinfall over the "lethal weapon." Blackman formed a friendship with "The world's most dangerous man" Ken Shamrock, and they teamed up with Faarooq to defeat Rocky Maivia, D'Lo Brown and Mark Henry at last year's Unforgiven. Blackman also gained some revenge on Jeff Jarrett at Unfor- given by attacking Double during a concert with country music star Sawyer Brown. Blackman came up short in an Intercontinental title match at Capital Carnage against Shamrock when the Big Boss Man interfered.

Blackman defeated the late Owen Hart via countout at the 1998 Rock Bottom pay per view. Blackman scored a submission victory over Droz earlier this year at No Mercy, He defeated Marc Mero in his opening-round contest in the Brawl for All series. Due to an injury, Blackman had to drop out. Blackman was Vince McMahon's "suitable replacement" for the main event at King of the Ring; however, WWF Commissioner Shawn Michaels nixed the plan. This plan established Blackman as a full-fledged heel.

Shamrock and Blackman feuded this summer, resulting in an "Iron Circle" match at Fully Loaded and a Lion's Den match at SummerSlam. Each time, Blackman came up short. Did you He has entertained fans by using glow-iri-'the-dark "Filipino sticks" or numchakus while performing martial arts. Blackman has 12 years of pro wrestling experience and 18 years of martial arts experience. Steve has 2 years ofKenpo, 2 years of Isshinfyu and 4 years of amateur wrestling experience.

Blackman is a 3rd-degree black belt in Shotocon. transpired for a benefit show for Hildebrand. Wrestlers such as Mankind, Shane Douglas, Chris Jericho, Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit and Chris Candido performed on the "Curtis Goes Home" show to help alleviate Hildebrand's soaring medical expenses, On the evening of Sept. 8, at age 37, Hildebrand passed away at his Tennessee home surrounded by family and friends. His loving wife, Pam, survives him, To send condolences to the Hildebrand family, write: The Hildebrand Family, 1351 Gentry Road, Talbott, TN 37877-9015.

Steve Gerweck posts the Web site Ger week's Wrestling News on the Internet. Visit his Web site at: www.gerweck.net or write to him at P.O. Box 74, LaSalle, MI48145. Pay er view Sting turns heel for 9th WCW title ting forced Hulk Hogan to tap out using his Scorpion Deathlock for his ninth WCW Title in the main event of Sunday's Fall Brawl pay per view. It appeared Hpgan had the match won following his patented boot to the face and leg drop.

Then Diamond Dallas Page ran to the ring and clobbered referee Nick Patrick. Page hit the Hulkster with a Diamond Cutter and placed Sting on top of" V'; Hogan. (He revived the Ask away! referee, but Hogan Have a question? kicked out. E-mail Steve Gerweck Bret Hart, at betweentheropes who greeted both men Please include your before the name and hometown. match, did the next run- in and took out Page.

Hart was followed by Sid, whom Hogan tossed out of the ring. Lex Luger was next in with a baseball bat, which ended up in Sting's hands. Sting struck Hogan with the bat and applied the Scorpion Deathlock for the win. After the match, Sting and Luger embraced. Despite outside interference from the New Jersey Triad A Goldberg defeated Diamond Pallas Page with his spear and jackhammer.

Sid captured the United States title from Chris wore the armband in memory of Brian Hildebrand, with the use of a devastating powerbomb. It was announced that Sid is now "80-0." Booker hit Kendall Windham with a missile dropkick from the top rope as Harlem Heat over came the West Texas Rednecks to capture their ninth WCW World Tag Team title, despite outside interference from head Redneck Curt Hennig. Perry Saturn, who guaranteed that the Revolution would have a perfect night (in reality, they dropped all three of their contests), lost to Rick Steiner following a top-rope bulldog, gteiner retained his WCW Television title. World Championship Wrestling returns to pay per view Sunday, Oct. 24, for Halloween Havoc from Las Vegas.

Wrestling mourns loss of referee to stomach cancer hree major stories are happening in pro wrestling. Two are wrestling-related, and the third deals with the real world! You might remember that, a few months ago, I wrote a series of articles talking about Ihe "Curtis Comes Home" benefit show for WCW referee Brian Hildebrand a a Mark Curtis. It is with much sadness that I share with you that he lost his battle with stomach cancer last week, Dave Mellzer of the Wrestling Observer called Hildebrand the toughest man in wrestling. From everything that 1 know, and the way that the boys talk about him, thai statement could not be more true. I wish him all of heaven's gifts, and his family and friends all of God's strength.

After that, I guess 1 must continue to write about the "sport." the Dog Pound By Bubba the Bulldog Eric Bischoff is no longer the man in WCW. This past Friday, Bischoff was demoted! I am not sure if demoted is the appropriate word because he is still with the company, he just is not in charge. I am not going to jump on the "Bash Eric Bischoff bandwagon that I have heard so much about during the past few days. We must remember that this man took WCW from financial disaster to, for a lime, the No, 1 wrestling organization in America. 1 know that there are people who say that the nWo idea was taken directly from an angle that took place in New Japan Pro Wrestling.

This also is Irue, Bischoff was just smart enough to be the first to use it in the United States. The problem is that Bischoff allowed his loyalty to stop the progression of his organization. His loyalty was to Ihe guys who, four years earlier, helped pull WCW out of the trenches: (he over-40 crowd Hogan, Savage, Piper and Nash. His loyalty clouded his judgment. He gave these guys too much power.

The results have been obvious. WCW has not created any new stars. The fans have since lired of these guys and have not been given any new superstars to attach themselves to. What does this mean for WCW's future? The slory floating around is that Ric Flair will replace Bischoff. As if that wouldn't be the biggest slap in the face! The first thing we know is that there won't be any more of the "outside of wrestling" gimmick acts.

No more Kiss, no more Rodman, no more Leno, no more Malone, WCW has apparently recommitted itself to living up to its last name Although the time had come for a change, I give Eric Bischoff credit for doing what he did when WCW was at the top of its game. I hope that whoever takes the reins also brings the knowledge that the one thing WCW needs is to build new superstars. Hey, maybe I will throw my name in the hat! Let me rephrase that. I will definitely contact WCW officials to let them know I am their man! ECW World Heavyweight Champion Taz will be signing with the WWF this week. Apparently, Taz's only deal with ECW is a handshake one.

He was in the process of negotiating a contract, but the WWF placed a better one on the table while ECW played its legal games. The timing could not be worse considering the new TNN deal. The organization must be built around Raven, Rob Van Dam, Sabu and the very injured Tommy Dreamer. To a smart ECW crowd, that could work. To a new mainstream crowd that ECW will be getting on TNN, I am afraid it will not! It is not known when Taz will begin with the WWF.

I'm outta here, so remember to keep it clean because right now, Mark Curtis can see everything! Bubba the Bulldog is East Television Champion and the NWA Heavyweight Champion. Share opinions on pro wrestling with him via.