Columnists from ImpactWrestling.com

AS I SEE IT 11/16

BobMagee — 11/16/2009

AS I SEE IT Bob Magee Pro Wrestling: Between the Sheets PWBTS.com

In a great plug for indy wrestling in general and Philly indies in particular... Philadelphia City Paper, one of the two major free weekly papers in Philadelphia ran a cover story on Philly Indy wrestling called "Invasion of the Body Slammers... How South Philadelphia became the center of the alt-wrestling universe". It features CZW, ROH. CHIKARA and Dragon Gate, along with plug for each of their shows coming up in November as well as CZW's Cage of Death this December.

It's a fairly sizable article and explains to someone who hasn't gone to indies what each promotion style is...and takes a none too subtle rip at the Tuesday night WWECW show, suggesting the indies are truer to the tradition of the promotion that the building is named after. The article is at this link. It's worth a read.

This week, more news on Holiday related charity events. If you have other news on holiday collections of canned food, Toys for Tots toy collections or other charity benefits, send them to me at this address.

Scheduled events with Toys for Tots colections/holiday benefits are:

Ontario independents are holding "Wrestling for Tina", a one time charity show with all proceeds going to cancer research on December 5 at 16 McKinstry Street, Hamilton, ON with a 7:00 pm belltime. Tickets are $5. Donations will also be accepted.

Matches scheduled:

Ethan Page with Mr. Melo vs Alex York

Joey Kings with Mr. Melo vs Scotty O'Shea

Big Daddy Hammer Vs Moondgo Buddy

Sudden Impact Vs Team Shake And Bake

Sabrina Kyle vs Lou Crank

Shipwreck vs Homeless Bob

Main Event Ashley Sixx vs Michael Elgin

Great Canadian Wrestling will hold their fourth annual SickKids charity event, GCW Seasons Beatings on Monday, December 28, 2009. Frontier Elite Wrestling will hold its Toys for Tots benefit on Thanksgiving night, November 26, at the German American Klub, 8602 S. Meridian Street, Indianapolis, IN with a 7:00 pm belltime (doors open at 6:00 pm). General Admission $8/VIP $10. Seating is limited to 300 seats so get there early. The first 25 toy donations that are presented at the door will receive a goodie bag full of gift cards and coupons and other free items from sponsors Domino’s Pizza, The Incredible Pizza Co., SportsClips Haircuts, Family Video, Vitamin World, Lifestyle Family Fitness and others.

Appearing are Jake “The Snake” Roberts, "Sexy" Sean Casey with Samantha, "The Black Superman" Onyx, Flash Flanagan , Bo Bo Brazil Jr., Tommy Gage with Ally Valentine, "Hollywood Heartthrob" Skip Raddison, Joey "Kidd" Owens, PT Hussla; and a main event battle royal.

For more info call The Wrestling Showcase at (317) 335-4250.

The ECW Arena, as it does every year, will feature Toys for Tots collections at tenshows taking place at the "World's Most Famous Bingo Hall" each Holiday season.

Dragon Gate USA will hold a Toys for Tots collection at its November 28th ECW Arena show, which features Dragon Kid/Shingo vs. Masato Yoshino/Naruki Doi, and a tournament to determine the first Dragon Gate USA "Open The Freedom Gate" Champion.

The four tournament qualifying matches include:

CIMA vs. Mike Quackenbush vs. Super Crazy vs. Jorge "Skayde" Rivera

Brian Kendrick vs. BxB Hulk

YAMATO vs. Davey Richards

Nick Jackson vs. Matt Jackson vs. Jigsaw vs. Gran Akuma vs. Lince Dorado vs. Johnny Gargano

Tournament Finals/Elimination Match style with the four winners of qualifying matches

CZW will hold a Toys for Tots collection at its annual Cage of Death ECW Arena show on December 12, featuring (so far):

Nick Gage vs. Thumbtack Jack

CAGE OF DEATH match: Sami Callihan vs. Danny Havoc

CZW Heavyweight Title match Drake Younger vs. Devon Moore

CZW Junior Heavyweight title match Drew Blood vs. Greg Excellent

CZW Wired TV tournament finals Tyler Veritas vs. Adam Cole

Next, the Tri-State Wrestling Alliance returns to action with its Toys for Tots Holiday Show on December 5 at Saint Matthew's Baptist Church, Route 322/Glassboro Road in Williamstown, NJ. The show will be collecting toys for the Gloucester County (NJ) chapter of Toys for Tots. Those making a donation will receive raffle tickets for a prize drawing later in the evening.

In addition to collecting toys for Toys for Tots, "Wiseguy" Jimmy Cicero will be bodyslamming Autism on December 5th. Cicero has been entered into the Number one contenders battle royal, but he will also be the guest of "Late Night" with your host "The Midnight Idol" Nicky Benz! Jimmy Cicero will be telling everyone about his campaign well as a future venture with the TWA! Cicero has a web page to support BODYSLAMMING AUTISM at http://www.jimmycicerowrestling.com/products.html. Jimmy is selling T-Shirts there to help promote Autism Awareness and the proceeds go to help Autism education and research.

Matches scheduled:

An over the top rope Battle Royal, with the winner earning a title shot at the NEW TWA Heavyweight Champion, Glen Osbourne later in the evening with Chad Diety, "Hitmen" Tony Stetson and Michael Bruno; Ryan Rancid, "Mr. Wrestling" Steve Corino with Rob Dimension, the Blue Meanie, Kid America, Jimmy Jannetty, Don E Allen, "Living Legend" Larry Winters, Breaker Morant, Johnny Calzone, "Wiseguy" Jimmy Cicero, and more

Tag-Team Grudge Match The Hitmen (Michael Bruno & Tony Stetson) vs. Breaker Morant & Johnny Calzone

"Living Legend" Larry Winters has issued an open challenge to anyone in the TWA lockerroom

Red, White & BLUE Express, (Kid America and the Blue Meanie, with Mini-America) vs. Jimmy Jannetty and Don E Allen

"Living Legend" Larry Winters vs. King Kaluha

"Mr. Wrestling" Steve Corino w/ Rob Dimension vs. Shane Harris

VH-1 Reality TV Star, "Mr. 5.5" Matt Riviera vs. Wes Robinson

Ryu Lee vs. White Lotus

Plus a special appearance by "Mad Dog" D.C. Drake on "Late Night....with your host The Midnight Idol Nicky Benz and his special guest "Wiseguy" Jimmy Cicero as Cicero talks about his BODYSLAMMING AUTISM campaign!

Milwaukee area independent Brew City Wrestling will hold a holiday themed fundraiser on their December 11 show, "A Reason For The Season" to benefit a local boy was severely burned in a car fire in July.

Hoosier Pro Wrestling returns to the 4-H Fairgrounds on Sunday, November 22nd at 5PM for a fundraiser for the Columbus, IN Firemans Cheer Fund, one of the biggest groups in Columbus that raises money every year to supply toys, clothes and food for the kids who need help. Hoosier Pro Wrestling is pleased to be able to help this cause. All gate money will go to the Cheer Fund and fans are asked to bring a new or used toy to help out and help a great cause. All tickets for this show are $5 with a Main Event of Diceman Ronnie Vegas vs. Donny Idol.

Insanity Pro Wrestling is doing its yearly Salvation Army benefit on November 21 at the The Fountain Square Salvation Army Corps, 1337 South Shelby Street, Indianapolis, IN. Doors open at 6:00 pm/7:00 pm belltime. Admission $7. Fans are asked to bring in 3 non perishable food Items or a new unopened toy and get in for only $5.

Dynamite Championship Wrestling is doing its yearly Toys For Tots show on December 12th at Sussex Central High School in Georgetown, DE.

United Wrestling Coalition will do its annual Toys for Tots show on December 5 at Burlington County College's Pemberton, NJ campus. Toys for Tots Pro Wrestling Toy Drive is slated for Saturday December 5th at Burlington County College's Pemberton Campus (snow date is December 12th). The doors will open at 6:30 PM with Bell Time slated for 7:00 PM.

Many UWC originals from 15 years ago have been invited for a reunion match, Twiggy Ramirez, Don Montoya, Cell Block Four, Joe Rules and Section 8 are all confirmed.

There will be 8 matches (as in years past) and there is a Toy Drive Competition taking place, where ANY community group (scouts, sports groups, youth groups, church groups) can compete to win prizes/cash for their efforts! If you need information, give UWC a call at (609) 792-9328.

If you'd like to make a direct donation to the Marine Toys for Tots foundation, you can go to this link.

Until next time....

If you have comments or questions, or if you'd like to add the AS I SEE IT column to your website, or if you'd like to add advertising on PWBTS.com (the flagship website of this column), e-mail me at the address above. Advertising consists of banner ads, available for $400 for one year. These ads would appear on each newspage appearing on the newsboard. Cube ads are also available for $200 for one year, which would be placed on the main newsboard page.

AS I SEE IT 11/9

BobMagee — 11/9/2009

AS I SEE IT Bob Magee Pro Wrestling: Between the Sheets PWBTS.com

Scheduled events with Toys for Tots colections/holiday benefits are:

The four tournament qualifying matches include:

CIMA vs. Mike Quackenbush vs. Super Crazy vs. Jorge "Skayde" Rivera

Brian Kendrick vs. BxB Hulk

YAMATO vs. Davey Richards

Nick Jackson vs. Matt Jackson vs. Jigsaw vs. Gran Akuma vs. Lince Dorado vs. Johnny Gargano

Tournament Finals/Elimination Match style with the four winners of qualifying matches CZW will hold a Toys for Tots collection at its annual Cage of Death ECW Arena show on December 12, featuring:

The annual Cage of Death match(es)

CZW Junior Heavyweight Title match

Next, the Tri-State Wrestling Alliance returns to action with its oys for Tots Holiday Show on December 5 at Saint Matthew's Baptist Church, Route 322/Glassboro Road in Williamstown, NJ. The show will be collecting toys for the Gloucester County (NJ) chapter of Toys for Tots. Those making a donation will receive raffle tickets for a prize drawing later in the evening.

Matches scheduled:

Tag-Team Grudge Match The Hitmen (Michael Bruno & Tony Stetson) vs. Breaker Morant & Johnny Calzone

"Living Legend" Larry Winters has issued an open challenge to anyone in the TWA lockerroom

Red, White & BLUE Express, (Kid America and the Blue Meanie, with Mini-America) vs. Jimmy Jannetty and Don E Allen

Both making their in ring TWA debut, VH-1 reality TV star" Matt Riviera and the Sensational Ryu Lee Milwaukee area independent Brew City Wrestling will hold a holiday themed fundraiser on their December 11 show, "A Reason For The Season" to benefit a local boy was severely burned in a car fire in July.

Dynamite Championship Wrestling is doing its yearly Toys For Tots show on December 12th at Sussex Central High School in Georgetown, DE.

Many UWC originals from 15 years ago have been invited for a reunion match, Twiggy Ramirez, Don Montoya, Cell Block Four, Joe Rules and Section 8 are all confirmed.

If you'd like to make a direct donation to the Marine Toys for Tots foundation, you can go to this link.

Until next time....

AS I SEE IT 11/2

BobMagee — 11/2/2009

AS I SEE IT Bob Magee Pro Wrestling: Between the Sheets PWBTS.com

With Halloween over, the countdown to the Holidays begins.

Expect ads for toys and the newest electronic stuff to come soon...just after the Election Day ads end (not soon enough).

So it's also time for me to call on wrestling promoters (and fans who see notices of these shows) to send me their Holiday related charity events, whether collections of canned food, Toys for Tots toy collections or other charity benefits. Send these to me at this address.

The holiday events I've been made aware of are:

First, the Toys for Tots Holiday Show at the Tri-State Wrestling Alliance return to action on December 5 at Saint Matthew's Baptist Church, Route 322/Glassboro Road in Williamstown, NJ. The show will be collecting toys for Toys for Tots at the show. Those making a donation will receive raffle tickets for a prize drawing later in the evening.

Insanity Pro Wrestling is doing its yearly Salvation Army benefit at the The Fountain Square Salvation Army Corps, 1337 S Shelby Street, Indianapolis, IN 46203. Doors Open at 6:00 pm/7:00 pm belltime. Admission $7.. Fans are asked to bring in 3 non perishable food Items or a new unopened toy and get in for only $5..

If you'd like to make a direct donation to the Marine Toys for Tots foundation, you can go to this link.

Moving on...

As most of you know, PWBTS, the flagship site of this column, features lots of coverage of independent wrestling. As someone who happily shills independent wrestling promotions whenever possible, one of the things that's the most maddening to me is the way independent promotions seems to have no sense about the basic sorts of things that they need to do to promote their product.

I'd like to offer some observations as to some of those things I think that promotions need to do to publicize their product online. I realize that some people may find some of the suggestions listed below to be painfully obvious, but trust me...they aren't. All too many independent promoters don't use some or all of these ideas. I've seen all too many cases where promoters don't...well...promote... and crowds suffer accordingly.

But that's not all.

If you want something even more amazing...consider this: Devin Cutting, who submits a ton of independent wrestling news to PWBTS and many other websites...has actually been told by a handful of independent promoters to remove the items he's placed online....with the comment by the promoters that "they can do it by themselves". That misguided handful of promoters should consider going to their locker rooms at the end of the night, and ask their workers if they enjoy working in front of 50 people, and not getting paid... all because their promoter decided he could "do it all by himself".

You don't need to attend the Wharton School of Business to know that the most important thing, no matter whether you're running wrestling shows or selling hamburgers... is to advertise, advertise, advertise. If wrestling websites are ready to help you do so...you've lost nothing, spent nothing...and quite possibly gained a lot. Better yet, you can promote your own company online as well.

Along with the usual (and necessary) grunt work of getting up posters, handing out flyers, as well as getting sponsors to defer the cost of your show, and help sell tickets for you... all of which are necessary no matter what kind of fan base you have, the most cost-effective way to promote your shows is online.

Here's some of the things that can be done...that don't cost much, and can potentially help a lot.

First, does your company have a website? If not, why not? it's one of the easiest ways to promote your product to fans. A website doesn't require technical genius to put up and keep current. Basic ones also aren't expensive. Most internet service providers. allow you to post a personal/hobby page, which could serve as your promotion's page. Do a MySpace page. Use social networking sites as well....there are only dozens of them around...and even the least computer-savvy people seem to scan them.

If you want to spend a bit more money, you can also buy a domain name like mine at PWBTS.com, and pay a basic monthly fee to have it hosted. What should that website consist of? If nothing else, it should use intelligible English. Use spell check. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE use spell check, and ask someone to check it for grammar and spelling mistakes before you send it out. While website owners know you want to push your show...lay off releases sent in all caps and with a dozen exclamation points. Every match is a great one (or you'd like potential fans to think so...we get the point).

After you do all that, just write it simply with items such as these:

Tell fans when your upcoming shows are...far enough in advance to let them make plans, so they don't attend a nearby competitor's show instead.

Tell fans where the shows are, and how to get to the shows. The locations of your shows should be listed on your website, with directions from nearby areas, using local landmarks and major highways. You can also use Yahoo Maps, Google maps, Expedia or Mapquest to illustrate where you're running a show.

It also would be nice to include mass transit directions if you live in an area where mass transit connections exist to your venue. You can find these directions easily enough on your local transit agency's website, then post them in your shills.

Other things to do are:

Tell fans who is on the show and tell fans your current storyline behind key matches, so fans feel there's a reason to come to see them. Do it AHEAD OF TIME...not just days before the show.

Tell the fans what your tickets cost, and where they can get them. If you have standard ticket costs, list them. If you have remote ticket locations (local merchants that sell tickets for you), list them and where the merchants are located. If you have an e-mail address, hotline, or ticket phone line (local numbers or tollfree 800/877/888 numbers are preferable), list those as well.

If possible, have a part of your website devoted to online ticket orders. Some promotions, depending on which venues they run, may have to utilize Ticketmaster.com, Tickets.com, or other regional ticket brokers. If that's the case, you obviously have no problem. Let Ticketmaster do the work. But be sure to post a direct order link for your show, as opposed to just a generic link to Ticketmaster.com. Trust me, Ticketmaster has made it hard sometimes to find an indy show if you're just looking blindly.

For the rest of you, check out Ring of Honor's online ticket reservations site as a way you can use your website to sell tickets to your show. Both allow ticket orders online. Some sites will accept credit/debit cards. Others use PayPal or similar systems. Find out which works best for your promotion's needs and your budget.

Then, sell your merchandise.

Let's face it, if you're an independent promoter, you need every revenue stream that there is....or in English, you need any way you can to make a dime. Some promotions are small enough that the wrestlers just sell gimmicks at the shows. But others can also do so on their website. Promotions can also use tape dealers like Smart Mark Video to sell and tape their shows; or use Highspots.com to sell tapes and a variety of other merchandise.

Those are just some very basic suggestions for what you can include on a basic website, and some examples of how some independent promotions do those very things.

Now, does your promotion send out press releases before a show, or results afterwards to websites like PWBTS...or the Wrestling Observer...or to online wrestling newsgroups?

If not, why not?

First, press releases. They don't have to look like something out of Northwestern University's School of Journalism.

But let me suggest a few dos and don'ts. It's not necessary to capitalize everything...or use exclamation points and asterisks throughout the release you send to a website. We know you want people to come to the show, so write an intelligent sounding release that makes both your company and the show you're promoting look good....in something approaching English, please.

You might even learn a bit of basic HTML so people can just cut and paste the items into our posting script and get it up on our websites. It makes things LOTS easier when posting your releases. Some promotions do...and it makes life a LOT easier for us.

Second, as I've said above...PLEASE use spellcheck.

The things you need to include are largely the things we've discussed above... namely to: Tell fans when the show is, where the show is, how to get to the show, who is on the show, how much tickets cost, and where they can get them.

Again, any basic business course would tell you that a business must make it as easy as possible for a customer to give you their money.

But you'd be surprised at the e-mails I receive that don't provide each of those items. You'd also be surprised at the way some of those e-mails are written. To be blunt, I get some press releases that look like a pre-schooler wrote them.

Again, press releases don't need to look like something out of Northwestern University's School of Journalism...but it would be nice if they had correct spelling and at least reasonably good grammar. That's why Bill Gates put spell check and grammar check in the various versions of Windows.

I've gotten promotional shills for shows that I had to literally spend 15 minutes re-writing in order to post them at PWBTS. I've refused to run shills for certain independents, because I'd asked the promotions time after time to check them before sending them to me, because they were written so poorly that the companies should have been embarrassed to send them out in public. Remember that your press release/shill is how a new fan sees you. If your press release is professionally written (or at least semi-literate), that new fan is more likely to read it, and their money is more likely to come your way.

Send it to widely distributed mailing lists of upcoming shows supplied to websites such as Devin Cutting, as well as newsgroups .

Post them on any one of the million wrestling related message boards that are out there, to regional wrestling websites, such as Socaluncensored.com and Michigan Indy Wrestling that cover a variety of independent promotions in their area. Send releases to the mainstream press, such as your local daily or weekly newspaper. See if that newspaper has a weekly wrestling column. Newspapers like the Chicago Sun-Times, Miami Herald, New York Daily News, the Dallas News, and Charleston Post and Courier (just to name a few) have such columns. They'll often run shills for your show. Mainstream coverage is a Godsend for your promotion. Again, remember the rules I listed above....use spell check and provide basic information. If your local newspaper is a smaller weekly or daily, send it to whoever runs a section for community events, particularly if the event is to benefit a local charity, church, or community group. That's always a good hook.

Send them to your local TV station or cable system, especially if the event is to benefit a local charity or community group. Put together a e-mailing list of regular contacts and send it out to them to plug each and every show you run.

Consider paid advertising on certain sites. Use the major websites or those that cover either your region in particular or independent wrestling in general to advertise your product.

Get your fans to put together an e-Street Team....fans that know how to write fairly well, or provide them with the information to send yourself. Have them talk you up on message boards, websites, and newsgroups.

Make being a fan of your company not just a fun evening, but a responsibility. ECW was the first known example of a company that understood this. Fans all but MADE mainstream wrestling publications pay attention to ECW. Those fans were ECW's best asset, because they felt obligated to let people know about the product. These days, Ring of Honor has benefited from the very same kind of dedication from its fans, who seem to feel obligated to do it.

Now, let's talk about sending out results, including accurate crowd counts.

It's important to realize that most online news sources based crowd counts on what they receive via e-mail, and don't have staff to send on to your show. Thus, if someone sending results to a newsletter or website didn't like the show, or has a grudge against your promotion, they may low-ball you with a ridiculously low crowd count, and make you look bad. Send out your own information...and, as strange as this may sound for wrestling... tell the truth. Provide websites and newsletters with ridiculously high crowd count, and you'll be called on it.

Send them out...to everyone.

I appreciate the ones sent seemingly to just my site. But major sites like WrestlingObserver.com or PWinsider.com get more hits in an hour then PWBTS does in a week. A newsletter like The Wrestling Observer gets at least as many readers on a weekend than I get page views in 2 weeks. The Observer's reputation is also far more well-known and respected by wrestling fans than PWBTS or this column will ever be in my wildest dreams or fantasies. Therefore, giving me information to publicize their product is a good thing, but it'd be far better if they also did the same for PWinsider.com, Pro Wrestling.net, 1wrestling.com, Wrestling Observer, or the Torch.

Promoting means just that...promoting. Sending out shills for your show is one way. Sending out results...and the shill for the next show in the same e-mail is promoting. Also... if they attend your shows, spend some time talking to the reviewer and try to get them to shill your shows. Unfortunately, some promoters seem to subscribe to the Old School of Wrestling Website Interaction...namely, that online reporters and sheetwriters are better off dead, or are "parasites" and "scum" and ignore them. Call me stupid...but if someone's going to help me advertise my product for free...I'd kiss up to them in a New York minute.

Independent promotions that are able to do so should spend some time with the Dave Meltzers, Wade Kellers, and Mike Johnsons of the world, and develop relationships with them so as to get fair reviews for their product and encourage new people to come to shows.

Again, send your results....that night or the next morning to wrestling websites. Give a basic outline of who went over, major storylines that were advanced, how well you drew (especially if the crowd was good for your promotion), and a reminder of when your next show is happening. If you had a good show and drew a good crowd, make a point to get the word out...that's advertising, too.

I'm not a graduate of the Wharton School of Business. I'm just one more mark sitting in the seats, who just wants to see independent wrestling succeed....at a time when the economy sucks...and when wrestling fans AGAIN need alternatives....badly.

Until next time....

AS I SEE IT 10/26

BobMagee — 10/26/2009

AS I SEE IT Bob Magee Pro Wrestling: Between the Sheets PWBTS.com

Back on October 27, 2000, I wrote a column that had nothing whatsoever to do with wrestling, but was a lot more important.

Longtime readers might remember this one:

' Yup....this is going to be another one of those columns where we don't talk about subjects like the reason why WCW's booking sucks these days. So if you want to go to one of those columns written by people who occasionally throw in some wrestling news and opinion in between their links to porn sites in order to get hits, have fun.

I'm not your cup of tea this week.

Instead, I want to talk about something serious that has nothing whatever to do with wrestling. Let me start by saying that I'm always for practical ways to do good things. It's the reason that we use some of the strategies that we use with Wrestling Fans Against Censorship. We try to do something good by doing what works most effectively and easily, while involving others. So I'm for things practical...

But at the same time, one of my favorite comic strips is Tom Batiuk's 'Funky Winkerbean'. So when the strip began a storyline on breast cancer back in January 1999, I stood up and took notice as I read the strip on the way into work on the subway, or with my Sunday breakfast. It explored the storyline of character 'Lisa Moore', who after getting tackled in a football game with friends, felt discomfort, and later did a breast self-examination. She then discovered that she had breast cancer. The last few mornings while reading before my subway stop, I noticed a series of strips that had 'Lisa' talking with other members of her breast cancer support group.

Then this morning, when I read the press release from BusinessWire about this project that follows this introduction, I figured it fit my philosophy of doing something good by doing what works, effectively and easily, and especially involving others. I figured I'd like to give over the column this week to share this with all of you. Concurrently with this being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a book called 'Lisa's Story' has been made of the strips that involve the 'Lisa Moore' storyline in the 'Funky Winkerbean' strip, with sales benefiting the National Alliance of Breast Cancer Organizations. You can order this book from Amazon.com through this direct order link.

Even though I'm male, I find this to be important, because many of my best friends are women. My fellow school counselor I share my office with for eight hours a day is a woman. So are many of the students I serve. For that matter, so are many of my friends, my mom, and many other important folks in my life. I've also known women who've fought the battle against breast cancer. So I find the issue important enough to ask you to take a few minutes and read the information below. For any of the women reading this, I'd also like to suggest that you consider getting a mammogram, as well as practice breast self-examination. NABCO, as well as many local women's and medical organizations can help you get both. For those that have women in their lives that they love, help encourage them to do so, too. To help you encourage women to do this, those who wish to do so can even sign up with an e-mail reminder service sponsored by NABCO; and ten months after your last clinical breast exam or mammogram, NABCO will send you an e-mail message, reminding you to schedule your next exam.

For additional breast cancer information, contact NABCO toll free at (888) 80-NABCO, or if living in the New York metropolitan area, call Christiana Evers at (212) 889-0606, ext. 3006. You can also get breast cancer information by visiting NABCO online at their website.

For those of you men (and women) who feel uncomfortable hearing about this subject, and who think it's stupid for someone writing a 'wrestling column' to be talking about it...think about how much more 'stupid' it will be if someone you love dies, simply because she didn't take the time to be safe."

That was back in 2000.

Since then, I've mentioned the breast cancer charity work of PWBTS writer and UK indy wrestling promoter Peter Staniforth and his significant other and promoted it on PWBTS.com.

Breast cancer has affected wrestling as well. The wrestling business saw Marianna Komlos, who worked together from 1999 with boyfriend Charles Warrington, die of breast cancer in 2004. Better known is the death of Jeff Jarrett's wife, who died of breast cancer died May 23, 2007 at the age of 37 after a recurrence of breast cancer As for the Lisa Moore breast cancer story, it wasn't dropped by King Features and Tom Batiuk; including a storyline arc involving Les Moore and Lisa working to have a child, and the possible risk factor for a recurrence of her breast cancer due to increased estrogen levels. They eventually had a child named Summer.

Beginning in March 2006, Tom Batiuk took the Lisa Moore saga farther, by having 'Lisa Moore' suffer a recurrence of her breast cancer, a recurrence that she did not recover from...all the way through a 20 month storyline that saw her character die on October 4 in a gut-wrenching journey of pain, loss and acceptance as the strip went through the last month of Lisa Moore's life, including her reconcilitation with her birth son who she gave up for adoption in the strip's earlier days.

To read the strips over that final arc, go to this link, then read through the subsequent strips.

Those strips would have been difficult enough to read under any circumstances.

Then, only days before my own 50th birthday, my own mother received a diagnosis of breast cancer. She went through a full regime of one type of chemotherapy, and is midway through another. The tumor, caught at an early stage, has responded well to the chemotherapy; but watching her suffere through chemotherapy's effects, and the other drugs she had to take as part of her regime were particularly painful to watch.

Batiuk, who is himself a cancer survivor, used the aforementioned 2000 'Lisa's Story' book to raise money for breast cancer. Now he and King Features syndicate will donate all royalties from a book called 'Lisa's Story: The Other Shoe' (published by Kent State University Press to the University Hospitals Ireland Cancer Center in Cleveland, OH and a fund to be called 'Lisa’s Legacy Fund for Cancer Research and Education, named in honor of Batiuk’s character and her subsequent story.

The University Hospitals Ireland Cancer Center is one of only 40 comprehensive National Institutes of Health cancer centers in the United States; and has been. operating for nineteen years. The Center is a leading center for patient care, cancer research, and community education about cancer care. 100% of the donations to Lisa’s Legacy Fund will go to cancer research and education at Ireland Cancer Center.

The Center is involved in ongoing research including breast cancer vaccine reasearch, as well as research toward a blood test for colon cancer, breakthrough chemotherapy and radiation treatments for all types of cancer. Ireland Cancer Center is one of only eight cancer centers in the country to have access to a pipeline of new drugs through the National Cancer Institute for early phase clinical trials.

'Lisa's Story: The Other Shoe' includes the initial 1999 storyline arc, and 2007's strips about the return of 'Lisa's' disease, as well as needed resource material about breast cancer.

To read about Lisa's Legacy Fund, go to this link. To donate to the Fund, go to this link.

Until next time....

Ask and you shall receive!

Mark — 10/20/2009

We done some more site updates.

A couple of members complained about the amount of pop up ads the site was showing. So we have now removed some.

Another member told us that IW doesn't work in Apples Safari browser. We made some changes to fix that.