Sharpshootin' With The Franchise

Good Call: Before we get to the Wrestlemania business at hand, there are a couple of MMA tidbits we need to touch on. First up, Tito Ortiz was supposed to fight his boss, UFC President, Dana White, in a three-round boxing match this past weekend. This sparring session came about after Ortiz returned to the UFC a couple of years ago and had it written into his contract. It’s one thing for Vince McMahon to step into the ring with a wrestler in a “worked” environment but I never understood what benefits both sides would derive from this event. If Ortiz loses to a former amateur boxer wouldn’t he lose all his credibility as “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy”? And if White gets his ass kicked then wouldn’t his aura as the tough boss disappear? And what if either man injured himself in the bout, what good would that do for the UFC (especially if the injury would have cost Ortiz a big payday)? Anyhow, after all the hype, Ortiz never showed up to the weigh-ins and the whole thing was called off. Cool, thanks for wasting our time.

Worlds Colliding Update: The worst-kept secret in MMA was officially announced on Tuesday when Pride president Nobuyuki Sakakibara announced that the company was being sold to one of the UFC owners, Lorenzo Fertitta. Details are still a bit unclear but it appears as though both companies will be run completely separate with one or two supershows scheduled each year. Clearly, Pride was in a lot of trouble so this appears to be the best-case scenario for them. I am just happy that the Fertittas will not be pulling a Vince McMahon by combining both companies. There is a lot more money to be made by separating the two entities and joining forces once a year for a World Cup-like event. For the boxing fans out there please don’t confuse this with the WBO merging with WBC. No, this would be comparable to the AFL buying the NFL or the ABA buying the NBA. Some of the dream matches that were mentioned were: Fedor Emelianenko vs. Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell vs. Mauricio Shogun Rua, Dan Henderson vs. Anderson Silva, Josh Barnett vs. Andrei Arlovsky and Georges St. Pierre vs. Takanori Gomi. My mouth is watering just thinking about some of those.

Anything you can do, we can do better: Fighting Entertainment Group, Showtime and Pro Elite announced that they will be holding their own super(duper)show on June 2nd at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Say what now? I hope they are talking about some other L.A. Coliseum that I don’t know about because there is no way they are thinking about selling out a stadium that holds 92,000, right? Apparently not. Some of the fighters signed to to fight on the card are: Royce Gracie, Antonio Silva, Jake Shields, and, everyone’s favorite fight girl, Gina Carano. In addition, former WWE champ, Brock Lesnar, will be making his MMA debut against Choi Hong-Man. Oh, and former NFL star Johnnie Morton will also be fighting on the card. Yes, Matt Millen’s favorite football player has hung up the wide receiver gloves for MMA gloves.

Wrestlemania Recall: Since we’ve pretty much run down this year’s WM card, I thought it would be interesting to go back exactly 20 years today to WM III from the Pontiac Silverdome. 93,000 fans (in reality it was more like 79,000 but we’ll give WWE the benefit of the doubt) witnessed the pageantry of ‘Mania on March 29, 1987. When comparing both cards I’ve got to give the nod to WM III over WM 23. Why? More matches, better personalities and a MUCH BETTER main event (for more on WM III stay tuned to tomorrow’s final installment of The No Mas Top 23 Wrestlemania Moments). Take a look and enjoy this weekend’s festivities:

• Can Am Connection def. Cowboy Bob Orton & Magnificent Muraco
• Full Nelson Challenge
Billy Jack Haynes vs. Hercules went to a double count-out
• Hillbilly Jim, Little Beaver & The Haiti Kid def. King Kong Bundy, Lord Littlebrook & Little Tokyo by DQ when Bundy flattened Little Beaver
• Loser Bows Match
King Harley Race w/ Bobby “The Brain” Heenan and Fabulous Moolah def. Junkyard Dog
• The Dream Team (Brutus Beecake & Greg "The Hammer" Valentine) w/ Luscious Johnny Valiant and Dino Bravo def. The Rougeau Brothers
• “Rowdy” Roddy Piper def. “Adorable” Adrian Adonis w/ Jimmy Hart
• Hart Foundation & “Dangerous” Danny Davis w/ Jimmy Hart def. British Bulldogs & Tito Santana
• “The Natural” Butch Reed def. Koko B. Ware
• Intercontinental Championship
Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat w/ George “The Animal” Steele def. Randy "Macho Man" Savage w/ Elizabeth to capture the WWF Intercontinental Championship
• Honky Tonk Man w/ Jimmy Hart def. Jake “The Snake” Roberts w/ Alice Cooper
• Nikolai Volkoff & Iron Sheik def. Killer Bees by DQ
• Main Event for WWF Championship
Hulk Hogan def. Andre the Giant w/ Bobby "The Brain" Heenan to retain the WWF championship

Welcome to the Hall: Not only does this weekend mark the 23rd edition of Wrestlemania but it’s also WWE Hall-of-Fame induction time! Other than the year Piper and Hogan were inducted this seems to be one of the most impressive classes of all-time. A portion of the 2007 WWE HOF Induction ceremony airs this Saturday on USA at midnight (technically Sunday Morning). Let’s take a look at the list of inductees and inductors:

• Matt "Rosey" Anoa'i and Sam "Samu" Anoa'i will induct their fathers, The Wild Samoans (Aka & Sika)
• MLB Hall-of-Famer Wade Boggs will induct "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig
• Star Trek Superstar William Shatner will induct Jerry "The King" Lawler
• “The Magnificent” Don Muraco will induct his former manager Mr. Fuji
• Cody & Dustin Runnels (aka Goldust) will induct their father, "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes
• Bobby "The Brain" Heenan will induct AWA legend Nick Bockwinkel
• Sabu will indict his uncle “The Original Sheik,” Ed Farhat*
• Stone Cold Steve Austin will induct Jim Ross*

*Rumored

I’ve often felt that the Wild Samoans get overlooked when discussing the greatest tag-teams of all-time so I am really happy that they’re getting the recognition they deserve. In the spirit of HOF wrestling, enjoy this rare match involving six of the greatest wrestlers to ever live: Andre The Giant, Junkyard Dog & Dusty Rhodes vs. Ernie Ladd & The Wild Samoans.