Greetings! I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas- it was a great year for myself & my family, and I hope it was for yours as well! Now, PLEASE turn on a regular radio station!

A few things of note I'd like to comment on, now that things are back to normal.....

WWE/ KAVAL: WWE & Kaval (aka Low Ki, real name Brandon Silvestry) parted company on Xmas eve, with the story being Kaval asked for his release when "creative" said they had "nothing for him".

Kaval is, in his own way, a victim of what I consider WWE's disdain for its own audience: being the fan chosen winner of season 2 of NXT ( basically, an introductory tv show to bridge the gap between "developmental" talent & "main roster" talent) Kaval represented everything the WWE hates: a performer that gets over to audience due his uniqueness and not his size. Mind you, I'm not a huge fan of his work: friends of mine,who have worked with him in the ring in the past, have noted his stiffness (excessively hard hitting) & sometimes less than stellar professional attitude. That said, and I'm sure those issues were addressed with him, and watching his recent tv bouts before his release, I noticed an improvement on those issues.

In recent years, WWE has developed a pattern of hand chosing a  few "top guys" and, whether or not the fans get behind them, jam them down the audiences' throat, with no regard for the talent that the fans have chosen to be the next top stars- a point I'm sure NEVER gets brought up during meetings where the topics of discussion are" the ratings are lower than we want" & "the pay per view numbers are way down" & "why aren't these guys getting over??" Notable: Jeff Hardy 2008, Kofi Kingston 2009 come to mind right away without thought.

Now, I'm not suggesting that Kaval was in their company in terms of crowd acceptance; all I'm saying is that, if the talent all works for your company, why would you purposely hold down guys that the fans are supporting, by puting them in no win situations & having the announcers criticize their every flaw? I think we have all heard of "self fulfilling prophecies", have we not? If given the choice between being "right" & making more money, what would you choose? Maybe Vince just has too much money to care.....
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The history of pro wrestling is something in which I have always took a great interest , and as this project has continued to develop, the history of pro wrestling in Hagerstown,Md, in particular, has become quite alot of fun. For me, its kind of exciting to see how much has happened in my hometown, which was always "WWWF/WWF" country, due to its geographical location.

Today, we focus on the years 1967-1969: research shows only one event in '67 in Hagerstown; which, based on the 1963-1966 totals, its almost as though the town fell offf the map!
April 5, 1967, Hagerstown Armory: full results unavailable: Midget tag match, Tank Morgan vs. The Ox ( Ox Baker???) Gorilla Monsoon & The Kentucky Butcher vs. Antonio Pugliese &Spiros Arion

1968 doesn't improve much, with only 3 events on record:
Oct 1,1968: Armory: complete results unavailable: Betty Boucher & Toni Rose vs. Joyce Grable & Doris Ponds, Spiros Arion vs. Cowboy Rocky Fitzpatrick ( aka Bob Orton Sr.)

three weeks later, the caravan rolls thru again....
Oct 23,1968, Armory, complete results unavailable: Baron Scicluna vs Arnold Skaaland, Rocky Fitzpatrick vs. Earl Maynard, Victor Rivera vs. Apache Bull Ramos, Gorilla Monsoon & Kentucky Butcher vs. Haystacks Calhoun & Spiros Arion

Dec 27,1968-Armory: complete results unavailable: Midgets- Sky Low Low & Lil Brutus vs. Irish Jackie & Little Beaver, Johnny Rodz vs.Pete Sanchez, Baron Scicluna vs. Dom Denucci, Spiros Arion vs. Kentucky Butcher

1969 saw a increase in live events- my understanding is that, overall, business was down during this period, which may necessitated an increase in "spot show" towns like ours to help the overall balance.

March 5,1969-*Armory:complete results unavailable: Skaaland vs. Tom Brandon, John L Sullivan ( Johnny Valiant vs Lou Albano,Sky Low Low & Cowboy Bradley vs. Lil Beaver & Irish Jackie, Haystacks Calhoun vs. Killer Kowalski

April 25,1969-Armory*- CRU- Skaaland vs. Mr. Fuji, Duke Savage ( Dutch Savage??) vs. John L Sullivan, Midget tag match, Haystacks & Victor Rivera vs. Bulldog Brower & Crazy Luke Graham

May 16,1969-Armory-* + CRU: Carlos Colon vs. Buster Gordon, John L Sullivan vs. Baron Scicluna, Crazy Luke Graham vs. Bulldog Brower, Haystacks vs. Prof Toru Tanaka, Battle Royale

June 10,1969-Armory -CRU: Arnold Skaaland vs. Lou Albano, Carlos Colon vs. Duke Savage, Midget Tag, WWWF Title: Baron Scicluna vs. Bruno Sammartino

August 11,1969-Armory-CRU: 2/3 falls Ladies Tag: Betty Boucher & Patty Nelson vs. Fabulous Moolah & Vivian Vachon, 2/3 falls mens tag: Haystacks Calhoun & Victor Rivera vs. Mitsu Arakawa & Prof. Toru Tanaka


notes: the *notation indicates I have the showbills from these events, all but one in quite impressive condition, considering they are now 41+ years old.... the + notates a obvious grudge match set up, as on 4/25, the team of Graham & Brower faced Calhoun & Rivera, then on 5/16, Brower took on Crazy Luke in what was billed as a grudge match! I wonder what in fact took place to set up battle of lunatics  on North Potomac Street! .... 8/11 marks the first card I'm aware of that featured only 2 bouts, both 2/3 falls, which both a mens& Ladies tag team tilt....interesting . 1969 also featured the return of Bruno Sammartino, after a several year absence, to defend the title vs. Baron Scicluna on 6/10...and I'm reasonably sure, given his upcoming championship match the following month, that the Baron laid quite a beating on the future Luscious Johnny Valiant on 5/16!

So until next time....

SSS