9 FEB 09: Grappling for Every Fan
The Sunday evening news offered nothing unusual, until a surprise guest showed up - a spokesman for Great Championship Wrestling. And to make things even more surprising, the man didn't threaten to systematically destroy an opponent three times in the next five days.
Taylor McKnight was on the evening news to promote the next Great Championship Wrestling card - only this one will be very different. All the proceeds from Thursday night's matches will help a Smiths Station family, which has a seriously ill seven-year-old child in an Atlanta hospital. For once, the "good guy" wrestlers seem to have the upper hand.
This is obviously a nice gesture by Great Championship Wrestling - but part of me wonders if it's being done for the organization's necessity as well. To be honest, I'd almost forgotten this troupe existed. It's still quietly holding Thursday night matches at a Phenix City roller skating rink - so quietly that I think my Thursday poker nights are getting more local attention.
At least Great Championship Wrestling has updated its web site, since the last time we reviewed it last spring [7 Apr 08]. It's promoting this week's special card, as well as a "babes and body slams" night Wednesday at Hooters. Tip the servers well, or they might have to take second jobs as wrestling divas.
The GCW web site has another surprise - the special guest grappler planned for Thursday's show. It's Buff Bagwell, who appeared in Columbus for the rival Independent Wrestling Network last April. Some of these wrestlers amazingly can change from heels to heroes overnight....
So whatever happened to IWN? One wrestling web site indicates it left Columbus last June, possibly because it couldn't pay the rent. Perhaps GCW celebrated its competitive success by holding a "barred from the building" night.
In recent drives near Burnham Boulevard, I've noticed a sign indicating yet another wrestling troupe has taken over the old "GCW Arena." It's called "Prime Time Pro Wrestling" - but a Google link to its web site wouldn't work when I tried it Sunday night. Some hacker must have put it in the ol' sleeper hold....
A check of other web sites indicates Prime Time Pro Wrestling had a card last Friday night. And one recent night of action had a wrestling promoter in the crowd named Jimmy Oxendine. The candidates for Georgia Governor are looking for voters anywhere they can.
Back at Great Championship Wrestling, Thursday night's main event is a title defense by the champion "J-Rod." After seeing his body on the GCW web site, I'm more likely to suspect him of steroid use than A-Rod.
As we said, the rest of Sunday's news offered nothing unusual - so you'll have to settle for these:
+ WLTZ showed an on-air message warning it will make the "Big Switch" to digital television at 12:00 noon on 17 February. This will allow all the TV reporters to be back at the station at 5:00 p.m., to take calls from angry Oprah Winfrey viewers.
+ Louisiana State lashed Alabama in men's college basketball 76-62. CBS Sports "insider" Seth Davis said Alabama is willing to spend two million dollars or more on a new head coach. Wow - how hard is proration hitting Nick Saban?
+ The Sunday Ledger-Enquirer featured a front-page column by Sonya Sorich on the Grammy Awards. Don't ask me why it was on the front page. I doubt even the newspaper in "Music City U.S.A." would put a Grammy column on page one - especially when they're being presented 2,000 miles away in Los Angeles.
+ Instant Message to whomever votes for the Grammys: You still don't get it, do you? I've heard of the Jonas Brothers. But you gave the Best New Artist award to - Adele?! As in "Dude, you're getting...."?!
SCHEDULED TUESDAY: Why someone sent us photos of an empty parking lot....
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