Mat Matters: In praise of Scott Teal
Scott Teal loves this quote -- with good reason -- and pastes it at the end of his emails. It's from Jim Ross at this year's George Tragos/Lou Thesz Hall of Fame induction ceremony, where Teal was honored. "I want to congratulate Scott Teal. I've enjoyed a great deal of his work. I read a lot of books and for anyone to spend that much time with Ole Anderson, you have to compare it to chemotherapy; it is a fate beyond belief. You are probably the strongest, bravest man in this room, and that includes the Dandies -- Dan Hodge and Dan Gable. God bless you, sir."
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When a giant came for dinner
TORONTO -- For the record, when Robert Maillet, a.k.a. Kurrgan, came to dinner, he did not eat us out of house and home. In fact, he ate a normal portion of beer-can chicken, fries, and veggies. That's good, because we didn't plan on entertaining a giant for supper.
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Tebow 3:16 -- Jesus just whipped your ass!
All of the great storylines professional wrestling has produced over the years pale in comparison to one of the wildest sports tales ever. In an industry where brothers fight each other inside a steel cage, oldtimers well past their primes defeat younger and more talented kids, and employees actually have to kiss their boss' ass just to keep their job, even the writers for wrestling would roll their eyes if someone pitched them the tale of the 2011 Denver Broncos and claim that nobody would believe this was possible.
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Goodbye to "Handsome" Johnny Barend
When I heard that "Handsome" Johnny Barend had died yesterday, at the age of 82, my thoughts immediately went to his widow, Annie. Over the past few years, I had gotten to know both, and had breakfast with them both back in May. It was always evident to me that they were still very much in love, even years later.
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A visit with 'Handsome' Johnny Barend

The sweet irony of a charity deathmatch
Barbed wire ensnares and tears through exposed flesh. Rivulets of blood stream from a laceration sliced open by shards of broken glass. A wooden table splinters into toothpicks as a human being is hurled through it. Generous people donate to a deserving charity. That last line -- the charity bit -- doesn't seem to belong among the previous descriptions of "deathmatch" wrestling.
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Al Gore reveals his love of pro wrestling
Since his stinging loss to George W. Bush in 2000, former Vice President Al Gore has rebooted himself as an environmental advocate, speaking out on issues of climate change. The former Vice President won an Academy Award in 2007 for his documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, largely centered around lectures he had given on climate change problems. But the man who was just a heartbeat away from the U.S. Presidency revealed something new in June 2011: his fascination with professional wrestling.
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There will never be another Macho Man
To me, he will forever be the greatest of the great and one of the reasons I came to love and respect pro wrestling as a fan and later as a journalist. Randall Mario Poffo, known to fans as the maniac Randy "Macho Man" Savage, was killed in a single vehicle car accident on Friday. As seems to be the curse of this industry and like so many before him, Randy left us all too soon. He was only 58 years old. With Savage's passing, a piece of my childhood is gone too.
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Thanks for everything, Coach
I ask wrestlers all the time about who their mentors were, but I don't think I've ever been asked about mine. But "Coach" Glenn Cole, who died Friday, was one of them. He was the Toronto Sun wrestling writer, a Saturday column he wrote with the same flair that he did his countless hockey columns.
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Taking pride in the SLAM! Wrestling family
I know it was Mother's Day that just passed, but I feel compelled to share with you just how I feel like a proud father a lot of the time with my staff at SLAM! Wrestling. See, while I might get a lot of recognition for it being my website, the fact is that it isn't. We really are a team here, and I'm Mr. Brady, looking after a slightly-dysfunctional collection of writers, photographers, and one illustrator, who happens to be the senior member of our bunch (our Alice?).
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Social Media for Dummies Wrestlers
Social media services like Twitter and Facebook have become the defining technologies of a generation, putting unprecedented means of instant communication into the hands of the populace. These technologies can be used for social change -- the recent uprisings in the Middle East were largely coordinated on Twitter and broadcast on YouTube -- or simply for chit-chat and gossip. But social media can also be misused, and one demographic in particular seems hopelessly inept when it comes to online etiquette: professional wrestlers.
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