AS I SEE IT: The Samoan Earthquake

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

The recent disaster in Samoa with a deadly combination of an 8.0 earthquake and the deadly tsunami that followed hit several within professional wrestling, including Samoa Joe and Afa The Wild Samoan.

Samoa Joe is using Twitter to lead an effort to send support and donations to Samoa and the other nations impacted by this disaster, which has seen entire Samoan villages wiped out by its twin effects. As the news of the tragedy came out this past week, Samoa Joe posted his concerns to his Twitter feed while on the TNA European tour and asked those who follow his feed and wrestling fans in general to help. The Seanoa family itself was safe, but with a considerable amount of property damage.

Samoa Joe has asked wrestling fans on his Twitter to give to the American Red Cross’s International Response Fund, which can be done via the following links at here and hereboth of which direct to secure links allowing for online donations.

Wrestling legend Afa Anoa’i (aka “Afa The Wild Samoan”) wasn’t so lucky, as a Florida newspaper report indicates that he has relatives who are missing, with at least two cousins known dead: a school principal and a resort owner. Anoa’i said his cousin Tui Annendale, the resort owner, is one of the island’s richest women and made national news after she was swept away trying to save some children.

According to the article, Anoa’i was nearly there for a tribal naming ceremony within the last two weeks. Fortunately for him, the ceremony was postponed to November.

There’s other sad wrestling news this week, especially for those of us who’ve spent a lot of time over the years at the ECW Arena. Mike Follis, was part of the Atlas Security crew that worked ECW shows (and more recently TNA shows and PPVs), passed away on September 28. For those of you who don’t know, Mike was the guy who looked a little bit like TNA’s Don West.

On a somewhat lighter note, last night’s Heck in a Cell PPV managed to do a pretty good job in killing off the one effective stipulation match WWE has, the Hell in a Cell Match. Three Hell in a Cell matches…no blood…and with the cage as decoration (with the exception of the last match. It ranked right up there with the year that WCW did a War Games match without blood. WWE also made their Heavyweight titles mean less last night by having them one of them as an opening match. I mean, c’mon…Heavyweight title matches don’t always have to be the main event, but they need to be one of the last matches on a show if they are being defended on a show.

If you prefer your stipulation/theme shows to actually DO something with them, CZW returns to Townsend, DE on October 24 for Tournament Of Death “Rewind” (with a scheduled 2:00 pm belltime) in the Ultraviolent Underground, 179 Ebenezer Church Road, Townsend, DE 19734. The location is accessible at this link

To reach the “”Ultraviolent Underground”, aka “Markland Little Acrres”; take Exit 136 off of Route 1 to Middleton/Odessa Road, which becomes East Main Street then West Main Street. Take a left onto Delaware Route 15/Route 299/US Route 301 for about a mile then take a left onto Delaware Route 15 (also named Levels Road,), continue on Delaware Route 15 (which later becomes Dogtown Road and Blackbird Station Road). After crossing Caldwell Corner Road, continue on for about a 1/2 mile and veer right onto Ebenezer Church Road

First Round Matchups: