The Steel Cage

Long-Island based independent wrestling promotion FTW is coming to Lindenhurst on September 13th with its “Rise Against” show. The action will take place at Lefty’s Bar & Grill at 543 W. Hoffman Avenue with a 4 p.m. start time. Tickets are $15 on FTW’s official website, which you can access here.

FTW officials tell me they pride themselves on delivering a product that’s high on production value and star power, as evidenced by their upcoming show, which features such recognizable names as Brutus “The Barber” Beefake, The Sandman, and Balls Mahoney.

I caught up with Mr. Mahoney [I’m not sure Newsday editorial style allows me to print his first name too often] and he sounded excited about working for FTW, as well as the unique stipulations to his upcoming match.

In this extensive interview, Mahoney also talked about the cirsumstances behind his WWE release, his future aspirations in WWE, TNA and even ROH, his thoughts on the new ECW, being left out of the “ECW Originals” angle, the dangers of chairshots in pro wrestling, and portraying one of the most peculiar wrestling characters of all time – Xanta Klaus.

AC: Do you like working the indie scene? I imagine that’s a pretty crazy pace.

BH: I enjoy having the freedom of creativity. And I enjoy being able to be myself and have more interaction with the fans. Like in the last couple of weeks, two of my shows have been canceled, and that kind of hurts the paybook. I mean you go from WWE back down to the indies. Yeah, I’m making a lot more money, but I have a lot more expenses. I have a son now.

Here's the second, and last (I promise), part of my recent interview ith the Ultimate Warrior. You can read the first part here.

In this part, the Warrior discusses getting into "ring shape" for his return, and rumors of him getting involved with TNA or being part of WrestleMania:

Warrior on training for his return alongside RVD:“That was one part of the deal too that was workable, too - the timing of it. I had three months to get ready. So in my head, I know what my self discipline is. I know what I continue to do. Of course, I’ve taken some long hiatuses in the past. The longest one was from 1992 to 1996. I didn’t get back in the ring and get any training before then. I knew I definitely needed to do that this time.

As corny as it may sound, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a pretty big thrill for me to sit down with the Ultimate Warrior last week. As I told him, it was my fascination with pro wrestling that led me to pursue a career in journalism. And, although I was a wrestling fan as far back as the early 1980s, it was the Warrior's "Ultimate Challenge" victory over Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania VI that converted my interest in wrestling into a passion.

So in some ways, a lot of who I am today, I owe to the Warrior. I told him that, and his response to me was something to the effect of, "Don't hold me responsible for that."

Touché, Mr. Warrior. But seriously, in recent years, the majority of the Warrior's press has been negative, due to his somewhat curious antics. But truth be told, he couldn't have been more gracious to me or the many fans who turned out to see him Sunday.

This is only a small portion of our interview. I hope to have the transcript up of the entire thing in the coming days.

I have to thank Jared Gladtstone at PSI Marketing for setting this up. You can visit his site at psimarketinggroup.com

John Cena was a guest on the Opie & Anthony radio show this morning, and while it was mostly playful banter, Cena did cover some interesting ground.

A couple of months ago, Cena was quoted in the UK Sun as saying the following: "“What I kind of get peeved about — and this is my Achilles’ heel — is that I've wanted to do this my whole life. At one point Rock loved wrestling and wanted to do this all his life. So explain to me why he can't come back."

O&A producer Sam Robert asked Cena to clarify his statement today, and Cena reiterated much of the same. He said although he believes that the Rock always wanted to be an actor, his "beef" was that he said he'd never leave wrestling behind, and he very clearly has. He said Rock's about face "makes my job harder" because nobody believes him when he says he will always remain a part of pro wrestling, even if he finds success in acting. He said it's similar to the way that nobody believes he doesn't do steroids because fans have "pre conceived notions."

"I'll find a way to make it work," said Cena, who said has a passion for working in front of live crowds on a regular.

On the subject of steroids, Cena said that the proof that he doesn't use them is that he has remained the same size even as other wrestlers' bodies have gotten smaller over the years.

Asked whether he's be interested in taking part in mixed martial arts, he said while he had "nothing but respect" for MMA fighters, he has no desire to compete in their sport. He said he couldn't accept training for six months for a fight that might last just 30 seconds and end with him getting his "a-- kicked." He said he loves going out night after, wrestling as many as 270 dates a year.

Asked by a caller what he does to relax when he's stressed out, he said he'll often tip back some Coors Lights at a local bar, work on his muscle cars, or visit "an establishment of ill repute." Asked by the hosts if he was serious, he said he was.

I can just see Cena walking into a brothel with a wad of cash of exclaiming, "The champ is here!"

Ring of Honor makes its debut in New York City's Hammerstein Ballroom this Saturday for what is being talked about as one of the biggest shows in the six year history of the promotion.

Every match on the card has the potential to be something special. I'm especially looking forward to seeing Bryan Danielson vs. Naomichi Marufuji and Austin Aries & Jay Briscoe vs. The Age of the Fall for the ROH tag titles. The Briscoes-AOTF match at Final Battle 2007 was one of the best I saw all year. You can find out more information by visiting ROH's official web site.

In the main event, ROH champion Nigel McGuinness is defending his title against the popular Swiss heavyweight Claudio Castagnoli. For those of you who've never seen Castagnoli in action, you are really missing something special. At 6'3" and weighing more than 230 pounds, Castagnoli certainly has the look to be a star in most any promotion. In fact, about a year and a half ago, WWE signed him to a contract, but then dropped him before he wrestled his first match. WWE's loss was certainly been the gain of fans in ROH, where over the last two years Castagnoli has risen to become one of the company's top stars.

With his impressive combination of size, agility, and an innovative offense that makes use of his European wrestling roots, it would not surprise me to see Castagnoli leave the Hammerstein with the belt.I recently had the opportunity to talk to "Double C" about his big match this Saturday.

Alfonso Castillo: Is your match against Nigel McGuinness one of the bigger ones of your career?

Claudio Castagnoli: Oh, it’s the biggest. I would say it’s by far the biggest match. It’s for the ROH world title, it’s in the middle of New York City, and it’s the Hammerstein Ballroom. That’s pretty big to me.

I've been sitting on this for a while - just haven't found the time to give it the proper intro. Nor do I have the time now.

For my money, A.J. Styles has always been the best thing in TNA, so it was a thrill to interview him backstage at the iMPACT! Zone over WrestleMania weekend. There are a ton of great wrestlers that WWE has missed the boat on, but I don't think any are the complete package that Styles is. He's exciting, dynamic, can work a main event style, has a good look, and most recently has shown that he has a ton of personality. That said, I'm glad WWE hasn't come calling for Styles. I expect he'd be relegated to ECW filler.

The back story to this interview was that I spent my afternoon shopping for some formal slacks for my wife to wear to WWE Hall of Fame ceremony - and ran so late that I missed the entire iMPACT! taping. Nonetheless, I was able to get backstage after the show and interview some guys. Unfortunately, I ran so late doing the interviews that I didn't have enough time to get back to my hotel room to change into my suit, so I ended up attending the blacktie HOF with the Ivan Drago T I'm sporting in this interview, and I believe my wife wore a Little Mermaid shirt. Shameful.

And for the record, Drago is the greatest movie character ever ever ever.

Your life isn't complete until you've been licked by a Bushwhacker.

Remember Linda Miles? She played the forgettable role of the Bashams’ dominatrix/manager Shaniqua. She disappeared off the face of the wrestling world in 2004. Few fans noticed.

Jackie Gayda stuck around a little bit longer most recently in TNA - but her impact was almost equally negligible. Her biggest claim to fame in wrestling was marrying Charlie Haas.

If the forgettable wrestling careers of those two women are not enough evidence that the wrong person won the second season of WWE’s Tough Enough six years ago, I would refer you to look up whatever happened to the first runner up.

Some of you might recall that “Kenny,” as he was simply known at the time, showed tremendous athleticism and heart during the MTV reality series, and was considered a lock to win one of the two WWE contracts. But, instead both of the spots went to the ladies.

Well, while attending a Ring of Honor show in Orlando over WrestleMania weekend, I noticed a familiar face walking into the ring as a member of the stable of flashy, arrogant heels, "Young, Rich and Ready for Action." I later recognized “Kenny King,” as he is now known, as the former WWE hopeful. King, a regular in ROH’s Florida-based sister promotion Full Impact Pro wrestling, really shone on this night, and did not at all look out of place among the elite athletes of ROH.

Even after being dealt a pretty big blow six years ago, it was nice to see Kenny was still at it - if only for love of the game.

After the show, King was kind enough to talk to me for a few minutes. Check it out.

I caught up with the former "Big Daddy Cool" in the parking lot of Universal Studios at the conclusion of TNA's Saturday afternoon event on the weekend of WrestleMania. In this interview, Nash talks candidly about his thoughts on wrestlers from different companies fraternizing, his WrestleMania memories, the competitive environment in today's wrestling scene, and the distinction of being one of the fallen opponents in The Undertaker's 16-0 Mania winning streak.