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NUTS AND BOLTS: BRET HART OUTBURST MARS CEREMONY, DANNY MAFF RETURNS FROM THREE YEAR DISAPPEARANCE, CORINO, MOLLY, PILLMAN, DORING, BOOKS AND MORE

I am back from a much-needed mental break from life after a few days in the Sunshine State.  After spending five days bouncing around there, I can certainly understand why John Laurinaitis wanted WWE developmental moved there.  Onto the Nuts and Bolts:

MAFF RETURNS

Perhaps the biggest independent wrestling news of the weekend was the return of former JAPW champion and ROH Tag Team champ Dan Maff to the wrestling scene following a three year hiatus at the Jersey City, NJ Jersey All Pro Wrestling event.  

Maff quickly disappeared following a personal falling out with Homicide, who was one of his mentors and closest friends at the time.  Neither side has discussed the issue on record, so there's not much to go into in that respect except Maff pulled away from the business so quickly, he never lost or returned the ROH Tag Team belt at the time.  When I interviewed BJ Whitmer last week in the PWInsider.com Elite section, he noted that it was a rough time for all involved as he was friends with everyone and was just starting to click as a team with Maff and then Maff was gone in a flash.  I believe he worked one weekend in Puerto Rico and that was it.

In his return, Maff hit the ring and teased facing off against JAPW champion Kenny Omega, but instead attacked Grim Reefer and Danny Demanto.   Maff will face Danny Demanto on 8/16 in Bayonne, NJ.  

Homicide and Maff finally settled their issues about a month ago, which paved the way for his return to JAPW.  Maff had remained close with several members of JAPW during his time away, including Ray Sager, Frank Iadevia and referee Sean Hanson.  At this point, he's only going to be working for JAPW.  JAPW posted the following video:

The JAPW event over the weekend also featured TNA star Christian Cage defeating Jimmy Rave, plus JAPW and TNA Tag Team champs LAX defeating The Heavy Hitters, Monsta Mack and Havoc.  Don Juan, Chris Marvel (who some may remember breaking his ankle on an early ROH event against Paul London), Scott McKenzie and Danny Matthews all came in from Texas for the JAPW event working a Four-Way with Juan winning.  JAPW claimed an attendance of 800 for the event.

BRET HART OUTBURST

The other news coming out of the weekend was Bret Hart basically derailing the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame weekend that took place over the weekend in Waterloo, Iowa by using his time to accept an award on behalf of his late father Stu and using the podium time for his speech to take out a grudge on authors Greg Oliver and Steve Johnson, who were also being honored for their excellent "Hall of Fame" book series that ECW Press has released.  Hart's issues apparently stemmed from being listed as the #14 Best Canadian Wrestler in a book focusing on the stars and history of the Canadian wrestling scene.  

This is just my own opinion, but even excusing that such a book (and such discussions) are almost always subjective, the actions of Hart really, really lends an air of credibility to the criticism made about him that he took the business too seriously.  If Hart had an issue with Oliver and Johnson (or anyone), the time and place to handle it was privately, not during a public event designed to celebrate the legacy and history of the business.  For someone who fans consider as someone who carried himself with class, Hart showed an amazing lack of it with that outburst, not to mention disrespect to the other legends and their families, who came to be honored.

On the www.wrestlingclassics.com message board, Oliver responded to the incident, writing, "Having known and interviewed Bret even more than you -- even got to go to his house in 1997 after the screwjob for a Q&A -- I agree wholeheartedly on the perception of a changed man. Add in the stroke to the tragedies and it is hard not to feel for the man.   I have certainly moved on, disappointed that it came to this, with no warning and no attempt to discuss prior to a public attack.  In the end, very little will change, I think, except that Bret's picture won't be on the plaque for next year's Jim Melby Award."  Oliver also disputed claims that some of wrestlers assembled left the ceremony with Hart because Johnson and Oliver did not when Hart demanded it.

Oliver's Slam! Wrestling posted the following articles about the events of the weekend (but showing Oliver's class, did not mention the Hart incident) in the following article:

Piper, Saito, Jacobs enter Tragos/Thesz HOF

BOLTS

Speaking of the Wrestling Museum and Institute, they are seeking donations to help repair and rebuild their Hall of Fame building, which was severely damaged by the floods a few weeks ago in Iowa.  Greg Oliver wrote a piece about visiting the Museum, post-flood, this past weekend at this link.

Steve Corino announced he's going to return to action on 7/24 from his separated shoulder and fractured collar bone.  Either he was working the severity of the injuries, or he's insane.

Nora "Molly Holly" Greenwald will be making an appearance on 7/19 signing autographs at the Second City Wrestling event in Midlothian, IL.  Becky Bayless will face former WWE developmental talent Tracy Taylor on the event.

Tammy Sytch announced that she is selling Brian Pillman's leather ring jacket, which he wore during his first WCW heel stint in 1992, on Ebay at this link.  Sytch purchased the jacket during one of the Pillman Memorial events a few years back.

NWA Upstate Heavyweight Champion "Dastardly" Danny Doring defeated TNA Wrestling's "Showtime" Eric Young to successfully retain the title in the main event of the NWA Upstate event in Rochester, NY over the weekend.

Former ECW star Chris Hamrick will appear on www.InYourHeadOnline.com at 8 PM Eastern tonight.

Balls Mahoney and Doug Basham will be touring with Irish Whip Wrestling in Ireland from 7/3-7/14.

Greg Valentine, Zach Gowen and King Kong Bundy have been announced for the 8/3 Wrestlelution event in Cleveland, Ohio.  Josh Prohibition vs. "M-Dogg 20" Matt Cross to crown the first PWO champion will headline the event.  Given their history with each other, that should be a really good bout.

Lacey Von Erich, Spike Dudley and Al Snow are scheduled for a weekend's worth of events for New Jersey's NWS the weekend of 7/24.

The Gorgeous George autobiography I wrote about last week has an official release date on 9/2.

For those of you looking forward to Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler, he will be releasing a book detailing the making of the film next year.

That's all the Nuts & Bolts for now.  Come across something interesting?  Mike Johnson can be reached at Mike@PWInsider.com.

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