The Ex WWE Divas of 2010

Since we are coming up on the end of the year, I thought it would be interesting to see which WWE Divas the WWE let go this year...

1. Maria Kanellis
Maria Kanellis was released on February 26th.
Maria has been working on her music career and modeling since leaving the WWE, and on December 10th, she announced on her Twitter account that she would be acting in two horror films.
One of the films is allegedly a sequel to one of the worst films ever made (really, it rivals Plan 9) Manos: The Hands of Fate.
The sequel is called Manos: The Search For Valley Lodge and it also stars another ex-WWE Superstar, Gene Snitsky.
You can keep up with Maria at her Facebook page here:
http://www.facebook.com/OfficialMariaKanellis

2. Mickie James
April 22nd, Mickie James was released by the WWE.
Mickie went on into music and released her first single, "Are You With Me?", on February 16, 2010.
That was followed by her first album Strangers & Angels, on May 18, 2010, released on iTunes.
Then on December 2nd 2010, Mickie released a new country single called, "Hardcore Country".
Of course Mickie is currently working for TNA.

3. Katarina Waters
Katarina Waters (Katie Lea Burchill) was also released the same day as Mickie.
And like Mickie, she has also gone to TNA as Winter.
Currently, Winter and Angelina Love are the TNA Knockout Tag Team Champions.
But be quiet.
No one is supposed to know about that till December 23rd.

4. Angela Fong
On June 23, 2010, Angela Fong (Savannah) was released from the WWE.
A lot of people had high hopes for Savannah, especially that she might move past interviewing and get into the ring.
After all, she was the first ever Queen of FCW, a title she defended for seven months.
After her release, she did get in the ring, although working for the Indys.
On September 26, 2010 she defeated Randi West and won the vacant Ground Breaking Pro Wrestling Ladies Championship becoming their first champion.

5. Serena Deeb
August 20th, Serena Deeb was released.
Allegedly she was released for released for not "living out" her Straight Edge Society persona in public.
After her release, Serena went back to Shimmer Women Athletes and Ring of Honor.

6. Brittany Beede
On October 12th, Brittany Beede (Jamie Keyes) was released.
She really wasn't with the WWE for very long, starting in December 20, 2009.
Brittany didn't get to do much for the WWE, and that disappointed a lot of fans that were very impressed with her physique.
In November, she was in the running for Iron Man Magazine's 2011 BodySpace Spokesmodel search.

7. Jillian Hall
On November 19, 2010, Jillian Hall was released from her WWE contract.
Of course the WWE never used Jillian to her potential.
In the Indys, she has held nine Womens Championships.
So will we see her in TNA?

8. Taryn Terrell
And on that same day, Jillian was released, Taryn Terrell (Tiffany) was also released.
This supposedly stems from an event on August 8th, 2010, when she was arrested in Los Angeles County, California for domestic assault after an alleged argument with her husband Drew McIntyre (Drew Galloway).
Tiffany was released later that day on $20,000 bail and on September 26th all charges against her had been dropped.
But on November 19th, she was released from the WWE.
Besides the trouble with the WWE, Taryn also has some health issues, namely Blebs Disease (Blebs are air filled sacs which look like blisters that develop on the lungs).



The Ex WWE Divas of 2010, posted to http://beautiful-wrestling.blogspot.com/ on December 16th, 2010

Autograph Tales:Jeff Conine

I spent a lot of time sending out cards to players hoping for their autographs. In the 90's, card companies started to make my life a little easier.
The Signature Series produced by Donruss was a beautiful collection of legitimately signed cards. I am not sure how it was decided who would get cards in these sets. There were stars, average players, hot prospects and some players who didn't do much.
I didn't get many of these cards, but I got the ones I wanted. I did not want any card more than I wanted Jeff Conine. Of the many autographed items I have, Conine was not part of my collection until I landed this beauty.  Until I meet this mancrush and get an autograph inperson, this will remain the best.

Jeff Conine's 1998 Donruss Signature Series card.

Ian Ziering in Rosemont 60018

You might be reluctant to admit it, but didn't most of us watch Beverly Hills, 90210 at some point? It ran for 10 seasons and helped launch many careers. One of the co-stars was Ian Ziering, who played Steve, friend of the Walsh family.
The show ended ten years ago, but Ziering looks the same. It isn't a bad-plastic, frozen-in-time look either. Ziering looks great.
He is also a nice guy. I ran out of time one day at the show and I asked him if we could talk the next day. He readily agreed. The next day as I walked by his booth, he recognized me and waved me over.
He has just started to do a few of these conventions and says that he really enjoys them. He likes meeting the fans, meeting other celebrities and seeing different cities. He also said how much he likes Chicago.
Okay, yes, he could have just been saying the right thing, but I don't think so. His explanations, look and inflection gave me the impression that he was being completely honest. He was just fun to meet. Plus, I kept expecting Brandon or Brenda Walsh to come arond the corner and invite us both to the Peach Pit.

Ian Ziering and me in Rosemont, IL-August 2010.

Friendly Encounters

This is a weekly feature highlighting friends who have met celebs.

I recently came across a very interesting blog from a very interesting blogger.  Louis is the creator of Louis Sports Site, a cool site all about Louis and his activities.  Louis is a "kid who likes skateboarding, baseball cards, Cedar Point and hockey".  It must run in the family, because Louis's father is the man behind Core Contrarian, another excellent site.
Louis is a big fan of the Plymouth Whalers, a junior team in the Ontario Hockey League.  He goes to a lot of their games and can often be seen giving high-fives to the players as they exit the tunnel heading to the ice before games.  Louis has made quite a few friends on the Whalers.
Last May, Louis visited with some of the Whalers one last time before they headed home for the Summer.  Below is a picture of Louis with Tyler Seguin and Nick Malsya.  Seguin was drafted by the Boston Bruins and has since made his NHL debut.  Malysa is now in his second season with the Whalers.
Louis Sports Site is a full of fun.  I think it's great that Louis is doing this so well at such a young age  I look forward to seeing what Louis continues to do.  I hope Louis shares more pictures and stories about meeting his favorite players.

Tyler Seguin, Louis and Nick Malysa in Michigan-June 1010.

Bear Down Sunday #13

Nobody really could have predicted that today's matchup would pit two of the NFL's best teams against each other.  The Chicago Bears (9-3) host the New England Patriots (10-2).   This begins a rough four game stretch, as the Bears play for the playoffs.

Last week, against Detroit, the defense was a bit off and the offense clicked.  This week, we will need both, but especially the defense.  Few players epitomized rough defense better than Steve "Mongo" Michael.  Adding a little flair to McMichael's resume for this piece is that he started out with the Patriots, before he starred for the Bears.

When I met Mongo at AU Sports, many people asked him about wrestling.  Maybe they had heard all of the football stories before.  Mongo said that Haku (King Tonga) was probably the toughest man he met in wrestling.  He also said Randy Savage was one of the craziest and Ric Flair really was the same guy on and off camera.  Mongo said without a doubt (and with no disrespect to wrestling) that he (as a football player) would have manhandled basically all of the wrestlers in a legit fight.

We also talked about his new venture as coach of the Chicago Slaughter.  The Slaughter had recently signed Jarrett Payton.  Mongo was happy to have the son of his former teammate, knowing that he would also bring fans.

Mongo is always fun to meet.  He is pretty much what you'd expect.  He was a bit bigger than I'd expected.  While he isn't in playing shape, I still wouldn't like to mess with him.

 Steve McMichael and me in Niles, IL-January 2010.

Natalya versus Melina - Monday Night Raw

On Monday Night Raw we had two of the WWE's most talented Divas in the ring, and it was also a face versus a face.
Natalya took on Melina in a non title bout, and after a back and forth match, Natalya won with the Sharpshooter.
The match was over in about two minutes, so there isnt a lot to talk about except for Melina's really cool looking submission hold that looks like a leg full nelson.



Of course after the match LayCool (who had been sitting at the announce table) attacked Natalya.
Funny thing is...Melina just walked away.
So did she see the attack or not since she was over by the stage?

I love Melina, but I love her more as a heel.
What I would really LOVE to see is Melina do a "Stone Cold" deal with her taking out faces and heels.
A loner with no friends as she goes after the title.
And no, I do not wanna see her ally with LayCool, they would be just as big a target to her as anyone else.

Since Melina seems to be so good at submission moves, maybe they could revive the old storyline they had with Gail Kim and make Melina a "submission specialist".



Natalya versus Melina - Monday Night Raw, posted to http://beautiful-wrestling.blogspot.com/ on December 9th, 2010

Midajah - Melinda O'Hearn - Melinda McCullum

Looking back at the ladies that are the most popular here on this blog, I'm surprised at times just how much interest the World Championship Wrestling (WCW) can still stir up.
Case in point, Midajah (aka Melinda O'Hearn, aka Melinda McCullum).
The favorite "freak" of Scott Steiner was born on March 23rd,1973 in Seattle,Washington.

This five foot three, 100 pound beauty was trained by the WCW Powerplant (a pro wrestling school located in Atlanta, Georgia, owned and operated by WCW) and made her pro wrestling debut in 1999.
As I mentioned, she was one of Scott Steiner's freaks and came into the WCW at the same time as Tylene Buck, April Hunter, Kim (Shakira) Kanner and Pamela Paulshock as nWo girls.

When the WWE bought WCW, Midajah went to World Wrestling All-Stars (WWA) with Scott, and later managed Perry Saturn.
Then she went to Ultimate Pro Wrestling and trained at their wrestling school before leaving wrestling altogether.
(Despite what a few websites say, she did get in the ring occasionally)




Today Melinda works as a personal fitness trainer and has her website up: http://www.midajah.com/.
You can also check out her MySpace page here: http://www.myspace.com/147030260



Midajah - Melinda O'Hearn - Melinda McCullum, posted to http://beautiful-wrestling.blogspot.com/ on December 3rd, 2010