The Story of XTREME PRO WRESTLING

[LucharesuFan619 0]

The one and only "Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels has been confirmed to contribute, and I've also just about confirmed with a former-NWA World Heavyweight Champion (whose name will be released shortly).

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

Is that name Sabu? Or Terry Funk?

[LucharesuFan619 0]

Ron Killings

[Guest netslob]

Funk basically broke from script. During his match, Funk did something that he told not to do and swore he wouldn't do. There was a physical altercation backstage after the match between the two. Other than that, I can't really say without spoiling it, as this is obviously one of the drawing points of the retrospective. Sorry.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

i heard Douglas cut Funk's arm up really bad during the match, and afterwards Funk punched him in the face legit.

[LucharesuFan619 0]

That's right, but there was lots more to it than that. The fight was what resulted from the breaking of the script.

[Jericholic82 0]

There is a very touching interview with former-XPW wrestelr Steve Rizzono in the latest edition of the Ring Around the Northwest newsletter. Rizzono goes into detail about his XPW run and the injuries that he currently has. At the moment, he's almost exclusively bound to a wheelchair and can't walk for more than 45 minutes at a time. His spine is basically non-existent. He is seeing 7 different doctors and neuro-surgeons. He can't drive. He has trouble speaking. And to put it simple, the prognosis for his future doesn't look good at all. His condition is a lot more serious than described here, and he goes into it all in the interview. Rizzono speaks about his personal demons, his fondness of Michelle Star, New Jack, and Buddy Rose, his feelings toward Rob Black and Kevin Kleinrock, road stories, and more. To buy the newsletter and interview, send $1 cash to the following address and include a note that you want to buy issue #268 from September 2005 with the Steve Rizzono interview:

 

Mike Rodgers/Ring Around the Northwest

2740 SE Lewellyn

Troutdale, Oregon, 97060

 

You can also e-mail [email protected] for more info.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

oh wow I hadnt heard about that. thats a real bummer. what happened? was it from one match or just a toll of injuries?

[LucharesuFan619 0]

A whole bunch of matches from XPW eventually took their toll on him. He had gotten about 3 concussions in about 6 years of wrestling non-XPW indys, and then in 3 years of wrestling for XPW, he got about 14 concussions. So that right there shows how much guys put their body on the line in XPW.

[Jericholic82 0]

wow 14? He certainly did sacrifice his body. I hope he somehow gets better.

[Jericholic82 0]

Bumped

 

any new info ?

[LucharesuFan619 0]

Nope not yet. I've been real busy lately with school, but I should have some updates over the next month. Thanks again for the interest!

[Jericholic82 0]

Ok, I was just trying to keep this bumped. Take care of school first.

[LucharesuFan619 0]

I'll have two awesome XPW music videos posted within the next few weeks. Both are match compilations (music videos of a particular XPW match). Downloaders will get a good variety, as one is a bloody death match and the other is a high flying, technical classic.

[LucharesuFan619 0]

NOTE: All photos are copyright Slammers Wrestling Federation and may not be used on any sort of web site without the expressed permission of Verne Langdon or El Toro Bravo. If you would like to use any of these photos, please contact me and I will put you in touch with the necessary person.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part 7: The History of Xtreme Pro Wrestling - Bleeding Was Only HALF the Job

 

By Jonathan Barber (published Friday, October 7, 2005)

 

Verne Langdon’s Slammers Wrestling Gym broke into the business a number of people who would go on to wrestle or referee for XPW. There were two main facilities that Slammers students were trained at. Both facilities were located on the border between Pacoima and Sun Valley and were just blocks away from each other. The first facility was located at 12165 Branford Street, Unit N and the second one - nicknamed “The Pit” - was located at nearby 11658 Sheldon Street, Unit A. It was at the Branford facility that Darren McMillan - who is better known today as “Dynamite D” - got his start in wrestling.

 

In the late 1980's, McMillan created and hosted the "Wrestle Talk" show, which aired on a California cable station every Saturday night for a number of years. Ironically, some 10 years later, when he was a member of the XPW roster, McMillan – along with a host of other XPW wrestlers – appeared as guests on that very same radio show, with the purpose of promoting the then-growing XPW product. McMillan used the "Dynamite D" alias on the radio show, even before he got into wrestling. Langdon recalls his first contact with McMillan. "An article about him ran in the local (Tujunga) newspaper,” he explains. “The guy that painted Slammers, John Milsap, lived in Tujunga and brought me the story. I called Darren at the [WrestleTalk radio] station, told him about Slammers. He came over, I got him in the ring, and he was hooked."

 

This was in 1989, the same year that the Slammers training school was established with The Fabulous Moolah. McMillan trained under Langdon for awhile and regularly worked out with Verne’s first student, Jeff Lindberg. McMillan continued his training with Langdon and Lindberg into 1990, when Slammers was starting to get a great deal of national publicity on TV and in magazines. Langdon used Lindberg and McMillan to promote the school in TV stories about Slammers, and arranged for a number of guest instructors - such as collegiate amateur state champion Tom King and friends The Fabulous Moolah, Terry Funk, and Sam Houston - to see them work and offer pointers in impromptu workouts in the Slammers ring. As it turned out, Houston actually ended up using Lindberg and McMillan as assistants in training Deron “Malibu” McBee of the “American Gladiators” TV series. Langdon also recalls that a number of other guest instructors, such as "Karl Von Hess, John Tolos, and Jay 'The Alaskan' York and half of the Cauliflower Alley Club, were stunned at the work level of our ‘SLAM U’ students at Slammer’s first anniversary celebration show."

 

 

Verne Langdon & Fabulous Moolah at Slammers

 

 

Verne Langdon set up a special one-time workout session where Terry Funk could give tips to Dynamite D and “Movie Star Mike” Smith.

 

The next person after McMillan to come to Slammers who would go on to wrestle for XPW was Carlos Torres, better known in XPW as Carlito Montana. Torres began training at Slammers in 1990, took a brief hiatus from wrestling in 1991, and returned to the school in 1992 and finished his training before debuting in the SWF around the latter part of that same year. McMillan was responsible for most of his technical instruction, but Carlos is emphatic about his wrestling training, when he says “…Verne’s the one that taught me the philosophy. If you don’t have the philosophy, you don’t have sh*t.” After completing his training, Torres made his wrestling debut for the SWF as the masked "Hombre de Oro." In regards to wearing the mask while wrestling, he says that it “could be a big pain in the ass,” but that after awhile he got used to wearing it. Torres went on to become a member of the “SLAM U” faculty, alongside McMillan, Langdon, and “Movie Star Mike” Smith, another “SLAM U” graduate-turned-instructor.

 

 

Darren “Dynamite D” McMillan

 

Torres found out about Slammers from Oscar Cecena, who started training with him there in 1990 and eventually was given the “Samoan Kid” persona for his SWF matches (Langdon gave nearly all the Slammers wrestlers their ring names and created their image.). About a decade later, Cecena would become “Pancho Killa” upon entering XPW. Although he only lasted in Rob Black's promotion for a few months, Langdon praises highly Cecena’s ring skills:

 

“He was a great guy, and a really good natural heavyweight wrestler. He was one of the best 'rope-runners' I've ever seen! I had him teach running the ropes to all our other students."

 

As trainers at Slammers, McMillan and Torres helped spawn an impressive number of future-XPW performers, including Homeless Jimmy, Johnny Webb, Damien Steele, The Messiah, and Angel. Homeless Jimmy [REAL NAME WITHHELD UPON REQUEST] was actually convinced by his cousin, Darren “Dynamite D” McMillan, to join Slammers. “My uncle called me and told me my cousin was back in town and was a big wrestling fan,” McMillan says. “He came to the very next Slammers event and signed up on the spot.” Jimmy’s willingness to perform high-risk stunts was evident from the first day of his training, McMillan explains. “I knew he was dedicated and would do anything you asked him to do. I think he took a chair shot the first day of class.”

 

 

Darren “Dynamite D” McMillan and Carlos “Hombre de Oro/Carlito Montana” Tores

 

After being trained by McMillan and Jeff Lindberg, mainly at the original SWF training facility on Branford Street, Jimmy debuted in the SWF as "Jimmie Jaimes" around '95 or '96. While the Homeless Jimmy character was notorious for his disheveled appearance, the Jimmy of old had short hair and virtually no facial hair during his early days in wrestling, making him look like an entirely different person from the guy who went on to portray Homeless Jimmy.

 

 

Homeless Jimmy as you’ve never seen him before

 

The "Homeless Jimmy" gimmick was in part invented by another XPW mainstay [REAL NAME WITHELD UPON REQUEST], better known as "White Trash" Johnny Webb who also got his start at Slammers. Webb first thought about the possibility of training to be a pro wrestler because of his interest in the martial arts. His instruction began at the SWF interim unit at Canoga Park in 1995 under McMillan’s guidance and he made his official debut a year later for the SWF as Pete "Spider" Malloy. Webb continued wrestling for the promotion on its Bakersfield, CA shows for all of 1996.

 

 

“White Trash” Johnny Webb as Pete “Spider” Malloy

 

Webb became close friends with Jimmy, and Tim Fischer (“The Real Deal” Damien Steele in XPW) while training and wrestling at Slammers. He went so far as to categorize the three as being a “kliq” at one point in time because they hung out together so frequently. Webb, Fischer (who competed in Slammers as Buddy “The Body” West), and Jimmy all ended up leaving Slammers and eventually met up in the IWF, SCCW, UIWA, and of course XPW.

 

Tim “Damien Steele” Fischer

 

Tim Fischer broke in at Slammers around the same time as another future-XPW wrestler, Jesse “Tyrone ‘Tiny’ Little” Balin, who went on to portray the short-lived “Cybil” character in XPW. Fischer and Balin started at approximately the same time at Slammers’ Branford facility before moving to the interim Sherman Oaks industrial park unit. McMillan handled most of Fischer and Balin’s training, along with that of the two future-XPW referees who got their starts at Slammers, Patrick Hernandez and Danny Ramirez. Patrick Hernandez was actually a fan of Slammers and regularly attended their shows in 1990 at the Branford venue. He even helped introduce Carlos Torres to the school and promotion. Both referees eventually left the wrestling business temporarily during the mid-90’s, before later resurfacing in XPW.

 

 

Jesse Balin

 

Shortly thereafter, around early 1996, future-XPW mainstay William Welch (known as “Billy” to his family and friends and “The Messiah” to wrestling fans) came to Slammers for his training. Many sources - including XPW’s erstwhile web site - have claimed that Welch was - like Jimmy, Webb, Fischer, and others - trained by McMillan, but that is not the case. Welch was trained entirely by Carlos "Hombre de Oro/Carlito Montana" Torres, not by McMillan. Although he is good friends with McMillan to this day, Torres wants to set the record straight. He was the one who was training Welch. Torres says, “Darren had little - if none - interaction with Messiah [while he was at Slammers].” Torres saw “a lot of athletic ability” in Welch, so although he took him under his wing as a protégé, he also remained “very tough on him.” Torres emphasizes that Welch’s training was especially intense compared to that of other students.

 

Welch made his SWF debut in 1996 (not too long after the start of his training) as “Iron Mike” Ehrhardt on a show in Bakersfield. His opponent that night was Danny “El Espirito” Morales, who would end up serving as both a wrestler and a referee in XPW, under the alias of “Felony.” Welch was identified as the younger brother of another, more experienced Slammers wrestler, Mark Ehrhardt. The nickname, "Iron Mike," was bestowed upon him by Verne Langdon, in honor of the veteran grappler “Iron Mike” Sharpe, who built the Slammers ring. Welch has claimed repeatedly in interviews that the nickname “Iron Mike” came from a drunken fan who attended Slammers shows, but Langdon emphatically disavows that claim. Despite Billy’s Bakersfield debut at Strongbow Stadium in 1996, Carlos Torres continued working with him regularly until 1998 when Welch mutually parted ways with Slammers.

 

 

Billy “The Messiah” Welch

 

Around August or September 1997, John Chavez (“The Hardcore Homo” Angel in XPW/Johnny “Angel-Face” Chavez in the SWF) joined Slammers and began his training at the Sheldon Street facility. However, Langdon sold the facility in 2000 to El Toro Bravo, before Chavez could complete his training, and the facility was moved. So, the only future-XPW wrestlers to formally graduate from Slammers were McMillan, Torres, and Cecena.

[LucharesuFan619 0]

It said I posted the maximum number of images in one post, so here's the last one...

 

 

 

“The Hardcore Homo” Angel

 

Please give me any and all feedback, positive and negative. I hope you've enjoyed this edition. I will try to pump the editions out quicker from now on.

[Jericholic82 0]

Cool Pics. Wow Jimmy looks so different. so Dynamtie D is his cousin? I had no clue.

 

Great job on this. Can't wait for the next update.

[LucharesuFan619 0]

Yup, Jimmy and D are real-life cousins.

[LucharesuFan619 0]

"The Shooter" Tony Jones has been added to the list of contributors. He joins the other star of Beyond the Mat, Michael Modest, in contributing. Actually here's an interesting exclusive fact you won't find anywhere else: the original plan for Beyond the Mat was for Steve Rizzono and Jones to be the stars, but Modest (by his own admission) through a major fit with Barry Blauestein and Roland Alexander and demanded that he get the position, so eventually they gave in and put Modest and Jones in the star spots.

 

Jones will go on the record about his real-life heat with Abdullah the Butcher and Jasmin St. Claire (both very interesting stories), his memories of wrestling Tracy Smothers in XPW, and more.

 

Also, I will have the official XPW: Bleeding Was Only HALF the Job web site up in the next two weeks, probably less. So stay tuned.

[LucharesuFan619 0]

I'm working on setting up interviews with some relatively big name talent in the coming weeks...will keep you all posted.

[LucharesuFan619 0]

Altar Boy Luke has been confirmed to contribute.

[LucharesuFan619 0]

The one and only Chris Kanyon has read the XPW retrospective as it is so far and has given it his unofficial "POSITIVELY KANYON!" stamp of approval. Kanyon supports The History of XPW: Bleeding Was Only HALF the Job...you should, too!

 

Stay tuned folks...

[Guest Coffey]

I'm curious what Lizzy Borden is up to now. Is she back to making porn movies? Just chillin' with Rob Black? I heard they were married but I don't know if that was storyline or not.

[LucharesuFan619 0]

Well she stopped actually being a porn actress (doing sex roles on camera) in 1998. Since then she's been directing pornos and still is doing that. Her and Rob are indeed married in real-life (and have been together since '98) and right now they're concentrating on rebuilding Extreme Associates after the federal government unsuccessfully went after them for obscenity charges.

[LucharesuFan619 0]

The one...the only...

 

KRIS KLOSS has been confirmed to contribute!!!

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

GAHHHHHHHHHHH~!!~!~!

[LucharesuFan619 0]

[BUTT 0]

Question: I remember back in 2000, Black claimed he would soon be introducing a new character into XPW called "Gay Lee Dangerously", a parody of Paul Heyman who would hold a phone in one hand and a vibrator in the other. Nothing ever came of this, did it?

[LucharesuFan619 0]

WOW, I thought I knew it all about XPW. Never heard about that one, though. Nope, nothing ever came of it. Back in 2000, Rob certainly hated Paul E. enough to do a character like that, though? Do you by chance remember where you heard that?

[LucharesuFan619 0]

Sabu's former manager and ex-Danzig (well known rock band) member Josh Lazie is in the process of being contacted.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

Yeah, Barber. Because NOBODY at TSM has ever heard of Danzig...

 

...I mean, it's not like he has something to say, and he just killed your baby today. Well, I suppose it doesn't matter much to him, just so long as it's dead.

[LucharesuFan619 0]

Eh, I'm not a big fan of rock music so I don't know exactly how highly regarded Danzig is. Anyway, Lazie has TONS of stories. He traveled with Sabu all around the world and was Sabu's personal confidant/booking agent/best friend for the better part of two years.