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Monsters
Of The Mat Put On A Show In South Brunswick: Hundreds
of people packed the South Brunswick High School gym Saturday night in anticipation of seeing a great pro wrestling show, co-sponsored by the National Wrestling Superstars and
South Brunswick PAL, and those who attended were not disappointed.
"This is the first time in 12 years that there has been pro wrestling at this venue
and we want to give them a great show," said Johnny Falco, the Owner of NWS while speaking to a huddled roster of NWS wrestlers
just minutes before bell time.
The night began on a somber note as a 10-bell salute was given by three of his
contemporaries to the late "Macho Man" Randy Savage, who tragically died in a car accident on Friday.
"It's been my privilege to know Randy for many, many years," said WWE Hall Of Fame
inductee "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan. "Macho Man's character was very close to who Randy Poffo was, as most good characters are just
an extension of their personality, and Macho Man was an extension of Randy Poffo's personality."
As the night progressed, as advertised, the show brought a lot of hard hitting,
high-flying entertainment for the near sold out crowd.
"There are no fans in the world like professional wrestling fans, and if you're
a fan from a different sport you would never understand why a wrestling fan is a wrestling fan, unless you're able to see
what we do," said "Rikishi" Junior Fatu. Fatu was also at the event to promote a new venture for him, a UFC/WWE hybrid promotion
based out of the west coast (www.territoryleague.com).
Building up to the night's main event, which featured former WWE star Snitsky facing Danny
Inferno in a door match, the crowd was treated to a once in a lifetime opportunity in seeing "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan face former
WWE talent Kenny Dykstra.
Duggan rallied the crowd with chants of "USA" and "Hoo" all night, pumping up an
already exuberant crowd before delivering his signature 3-point clothesline for the victory.
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An Interview w/ Afa Junior (formerly WWE's
Manu)
After attending a NWS pro wrestling
event on Saturday night I was able to catch up with some of the stars in attendance, one of which was Afa Jr, or Manu of WWE
fame and here’s what he had to say:
Afa has been working with the NWS promotion
for a few dates as one of the more experienced talents on their roster to bring in a door draw. “Yesterday was my first
day, it’s a good experience so far,” he said. “[Judging] from the overall production of the show, there’s
going to be a lot of good talent coming from here,” he added.
Afa (26), has been wrestling since he
was 13 years old in Austria. “I was about 6 ‘1’ 190 pounds, I was a pretty big boy.” While
wrestling has been in his family for generations Afa didn’t intend on becoming a pro wrestler as his future in professional
football was very bright. “I played high school football in Pennsylvania, I ended up becoming a U.S All-American
in 2003, I was rated the #2 defensive tackle in all of America coming out of high school,” he said.
The successes Afa enjoyed in high school
prompted the University of Connecticut to offer him a football scholarship. He helped take UConn to their first ever bowl
game in Toledo where his career path would change. “Unfortunately in that game I blew my knee out, [it was an] illegal
block and the rest is history,” he added.
While the page turned on his football
career Afa took the initiative and began to train and join the family business of becoming a full time professional wrestler.
“I learned a lot from my father so I try to mimic him and my brothers (headshrinkers) as much as possible, I’m
creating my own twist to it,” he said.
So what does the future hold for Afa
Junior? “I consider myself a free agent right now, I have a lot of options at this point, a year ago I didn’t,
but that’s the nature of the business you wait your turn and be patient, next week I’ll be in Paris, after that
I have a deal worked out in India so I’m going all around the world without being affiliated so the future is bright,
whether I choose WWE or TNA in 50/50 right now but it’ll be done before the end of the year.”
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Career Reflections With Tommy Dreamer: Once again thanks due to the good nature of those associated
with the National Wrestling Superstars promotion, I was able to conduct a short interview with “The Innovator Of Violence”
Tommy Dreamer formerly of ECW, WWE, and more recently TNA wrestling fame. “I’ve been wrestling since I was 18 so I’ll
be 40 in February,” said Dreamer. While Dreamer’s character has perhaps wrestled his last TNA match (according
to storylines) he has continued to help TNA in a behind the scenes role. “[I’m in] TNA as a wrestler, behind the scenes
as well, not so much writing just helping out giving suggestions and help produce certain segments,” He added. Dreamer
is no stranger to lending a helping hand, however as he has helped hand in behind the scenes aspects for ECW and the WWE. “I was innamered with every single person, I’ve
loved wrestling since I was 9 years old this has been my dream” he said Dreamer, wrestling as a whole has been a love,
but he noted a few of superstars that he looked up to as a wrestling fan growing up. The American Dream” Dusty
Rhodes was my idol, and Hulk Hogan [because] I think we’re all big hulkamaniacs,” he said. Dreamer was headlining a local Brick, NJ NWS show with former
WWE talent Drew “Luke Gallows” Hankinson and reflected upon the independent wrestling scene. “When I was
growing up there wasn’t a lot of indies growing up, there was territory wrestling then the Indy scene popped up mid
80’s to early 90’s,” he said. Dreamer noted that as with any product there’s good ones and there’s bad
ones. “Some are real real good and some are horrible,” he said. While lack of talent could be a potential excuse
for a poor indy promotion dreamer noted another reason why. “ I think its also promotion some people, I
know a lot of guys think to just put wrestling on a pole or poster, you need to promote everything,” he added. The Brick Elks lodge was expected to hold a close to capacity
crowd for that night to which Dreamer sarcastically asserted “That’s ‘cause I’m on the bill”.
While it is uncertain how much longer Dreamer will wrestle he hopes to have a number of years left in him. “I’m
going to continue wrestling for as long as I can,” Dreamers 40th birthday is February 13th as he enters his 22nd year
in the business. “I’ve been doing this since I was 18, I wish I could be like Ric Flair and keep it going as long
as he has.” Dreamer then optimistically or perhaps jokingly said “so that’ll be another 20 years.”
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