PWInsider - WWE News, Wrestling News, WWE

NUTS AND BOLTS: RICK BASSMAN BACK IN BUSINESS, BIG UK INDY EVENT THIS FALL, CHRISTIAN CAGE, UPDATE ON THREE FILMS FEATURING WRESTLERS, TONY ATLAS, THE 'STRO AND MORE

Rick Bassman, most famous for discovering Sting and the Ultimate Warrior, has reopened his wrestling school in the Los Angeles area, utilizing Joey Ryan as the head trainer.  Bassman is said to be working on securing local television and running regularly in the area as well.  His UPW promotion helped a number of names, including John Cena and current TNA World champion Samoa Joe, during their early years.   

For those of you who like the independent scene, I interviewed NWA Pro TV champion Judas Young yesterday for the PWInsider.com Elite section.  The one hour discussion covers, among others topics, Young being mentored by the late Ted "Flyboy Rocco Rock" Petty, Public Enemy's legacy, working the New Jersey independent scene, helping train current WWE Diva Cherry and thoughts on her success, working the NWA Pro events, dealing with Sid Vicious, working a WWE TV taping from the perspective of an independent wrestler booked as an extra, mistakes some indy guys make, trying to be old school in today's independent scene, hosting this Saturday's Fanslam event, the worst road trip of his life, future goals, New Jersey names Young feels have a chance to move onto something larger in the business and much more. Other recent interviews that touch upon the independent scene, territories and WWE developmental in the Elite section include Axl Rotten, Danny "Inferno" Giomondo, Tommy Fierro, Al Snow and Headshrinker Samu, among others.  For details on how you can sample the Elite section for free for three days, click here. 

Alex Shane, who promoted the recent TNA events in Great Britain and promoted ROH events there before a falling out with the company, announced plans to hold "Indypendence Day 2008" weekend from 9/25-9/27 featuring an Awards Ceremony and live wrestling event for the British scene.  Announced as appearing thus far are Nigel McGuinness, Davey Richards, Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe, Doug Williams, Delirious, Austin Aries and Roderick Strong.

Christian Cage vs. Jimmy Rave has been announced for the 6/28 Jersey All Pro Wrestling event in Jersey City, NJ.  Also set for that event are LAX vs. Jose and Joel Maximo, JAPW champ Kenny Omega vs. Grim Reefer, Danny Demanto vs. Eddie Kingston and more.  I've heard nothing but positive things about JAPW's recent string of events in Rahway, NJ.  One JAPW regular who worked for ECW in the past compared the atmosphere in the Rahway venue to the glory days of the ECW Arena, right down to the frenzied, eclectic groupings of fans that are at every show.

The Mickey Rourke film "The Wrestler" which was filmed at a number of independent events in the Northeastern area, including shows promoted by Ring of Honor, WXW and JAPW, is tentatively slated for a 2009 theatrical release.

Meanwhile, The Fangoria Weekend of Horrors convention this weekend in Secaucus, New Jersey will feature a screening of the new Mil Mascaras horror film on Friday.  The plot for Mil Mascaras: Resurrection features, "The legendary Mexican wrestler Mil Mascaras defends the world from a resurrected Aztec mummy" according to the Fangoria website.  WWE's Chris Jericho will also be there Friday promoting the horror film "Albino Farm" that he has a role in.  That film will screen on Saturday as part of the convention.

CZW heavily teased that the first-ever Trent Acid vs. Drake Young bout would take place at their 6/21 Vineland, NJ event at Kashmir's Gentleman's Club.  Acid, at one point the MVP of the company, returned to CZW last weekend.  Young, who won the CZW Tournament of Death in the past, is considered one of the best performers working regularly for CZW at this point, in that he's a strong in-ring worker and also does the bloody death match style as well.  The one question that stands out to me about Acid's return to the company is how long-time friend and partner Johnny Kashmere feels and stands, since he and Acid have always been more or less one in the business when it came to business dealings and Kashmere has been working on the 7/26 relaunch of Pro Wrestling Unplugged for next month in the wake of Tod Gordon's retirement.

Tony Atlas, Thunderbolt Patterson and Tommy Young.have been added to the bevy of guests for this August's NWA Legends Fanfest in Charlotte, NC.  That gathering is (in my opinion) one of the highlights of the wrestling year and well worth the time and financial investment involved in attending.  For details, visit www.nwalegends.com.

The Tito Santana book signing on 7/22 at Bookends in Ridgewood, NJ I mentioned yesterday will be at 4 PM.  MMA star Randy Couture will be signing at Bookends that evening at 7 PM.

Former WCW and WXO (remember that for three episodes?) announcer Chris Cruise will appear tonight on www.inyourheadonline.com at 8 PM.

Where Are They Now: Former WCW star Maestro, best remembered for a "feud" with Ernest Miller that resulted in the legendary James Brown appearing on a WCW PPV, is still active in the Carolina independent scene, using ring name "The Stro" due to copyright concerns after WWE's purchase of WCW.  Stro writes regular columns at his website www.thestro.com as well.

Dan LeFever sent the following....the one and only Buff Bagwell, modeling clothing for www.hotbodz.com can be found at  www.hotbodz.com/hypercart/PictureFrame.asp?Sku=2555.  Just remember, no one is making you click.

WWE Hall of Famer Tony Atlas and Ox Baker (who I'm sure is in a Hall of Fame for something, somewhere, perhaps his cookbook?) will be appearing for UCW in Dade City, Florida on 620 and Spring Hill, FL on 6/21.  Florida regulars The Heartbreak Express (a great team), Steve Madison and more are also appearing.  Ox Baker is actually listed as wrestling, which sounds crazy to me, but we'll see.  Our own Richard Trionfo regularly covers Florida on with detailed live reports and The Sunshine State column on www.pwinsiderxtra.com.

Canada's NovaNewsNow.com featured an article today on the Grand Prix wrestling event that took place 6/7 at the Berwick Arena, which featured such names as former WWE star Rene Dupree, "former TNA star 'Nature Boy' Buddy Austin" (WHO?), Butcher Vachon and the Cuban Assassin, among others at this link.

For detailed press releases and information on many of the events mentioned in Nuts & Bolts, visit www.PWInsiderXTRA.com daily.  

Come across something interesting?  Mike Johnson can be reached at Mike@PWInsider.com.

If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!

• Tweet