Charlotte, NC (May 26, 2008) – The National Wrestling Alliance® is pleased to announce the addition of The Midnight Express: “Lover Boy” Dennis Condrey and “Beautiful” Bobby Eaton to the NWA™ Hall of Fame. To many the “Midnights” (and with their Manager, NWA™ Hall of Famer James E. Cornette) are the very definition of tag team wrestling. Condrey, Eaton and Cornette are the most popular and most acclaimed version of the team and is celebrating their 25th anniversary together this year.

Over the year’s the Midnight Express has battled just about everyone on the Pro Wrestling scene. They were involved in memorable feuds over the NWA™ World Tag Team Championships with Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard, The Fantastics and The Road Warriors. Most fans would argue that the “Midnight’s” greatest foes were and still are NWA™ Hall of Famer’s The Rock and Roll Express.

“We’ve always planned for something special for the people of Atlanta and with inducting the Midnight Express into our Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Express confirmed for the date our matchmakers have come up with a special attracting featuring these two great tag teams, ‘The NWA™ Hall of Fame Match,’ it is our goal to make the NWA™ Hall of Game Match a special part of our larger events world wide” stated Robert K. Trobich, NWA™ Executive Director.

The Midnight Express joins Tommy “Wildfire” Rich and The Iron Sheik as the announced honorees in the Class of 2008. More inductees will be announced soon.

Tickets to this event are on sale now at ticketmaster.com or the Philips Arena Box Office. For more information on the National Wrestling Alliance® please visit nwawrestling.com.

CAMERA MAN...ZOOM!

Charlotte, NC (May 21, 2008) – Khosrow Vaziri better known as The Iron Sheik has “terrorized” his opponents while entertaining generations of Pro Wrestling fan’s for close to four decades. Although The Iron Sheik turned “Pro” in 1972 he has been competing on the grappling scene since the mid 1960s and was a member of his native Iran’s Olympic Wrestling Team during the 1968 Mexico Olympics. In 1971, he won the AAU Greco Roman Gold Metal. Vaziri was also once a bodyguard for the family of the Shah of Iran.

The Iron Sheik was always a feared man in the ring because of his deadly armature background and “win at all costs” attitude. Throughout the years The Iron Sheik feuded with many of the best the National Wrestling Alliance had to offer including Dusty Rhodes, Tommy Rich, Dick Murdock, Ronnie Garvin and Sting.

Championship gold did not elude The Iron Sheik, while competing with the NWA™ he earned several NWA™ titles, but it wasn’t until 1983 when he won the WWE® Championship from Bob Backlund ending Backlund’s 6 year reign as Champion. His run as WWE® Champion ended 4 weeks later loosing that title to Hulk Hogan in Madison Square Garden. The Iron Sheik would then move into the tag team ranks with partner Nikolai Volkoff winning the WWE® Tag Team Championships under the watchful eye of Manager “Classy” Fred Blassie.

The Iron Sheik is a true legend of the mat game. In 2005 he was inducted into the WWE® Hall of Fame and today is retired from in ring action, but is till very active as he is being re-discovered by a new generation of fans as a regular on the popular “Howard Stern Show.”

Tickets to this event are on sale now at ticketmaster.com or the Philips Arena Box Office.

Charlotte, NC (May 19, 2008) – On June 7, 2008 the National Wrestling Alliance® kick’s off their 60th Anniversary at the Philips Arena in Atlanta, GA. Not only will the night feature great pro wrestling from the brightest and best the NWA™ has to offer, it will also feature the 2008 NWA™ Hall of Fame inductions.

“This is our third Hall of Fame class and I am very pleased with who the selection committee selected. I am also please to announce that NWA™ Hall of Famer Jim Cornette will be the MC for the ceremony,” said NWA™ Executive Director Robert K. Trobich.

The first inductee of the Class of 2008 is one time NWA™ Worlds Heavyweight Champion “Wildfire” Tommy Rich. Rich began his 34-year in-ring career in the Southern parts of the NWA™ and was a multi-time regional Champion through out the late 1970’s and 80’s. On April 27, 1981 Rich became the youngest NWA™ Worlds Heavyweight Champion by defeating NWA™ mainstay Harley Race. Rich is also known for his hard hitting bloody matches, considered by many as some of the bloodiest in Georgia wrestling history. “Wildfire” is still very active in the pro wrestling scene and still one of the most popular pro wrestler’s in the State of Georgia.

“Wildfire” Tommy Rich will be participating in a match against one of his biggest rivals on June 7th when he faces the “Madman from Sudan” Abdullah the Butcher.

I FELL IN LOVE TONIGHT!

...and in true "David Marquez" fashion its something to do with television. About a year ago I found this great series of interviews done by the TV Academy called the Archive of American Television. It's just about everything I've wanted to know about television, its a series of interviews with TV pioneers, everyone from Q Card guys to video tape editors to boom microphone operators to producers to directors to talent! Its amazing! These people are amazing. Just think of the crap they had to go through to make a business out of a glowing box. I was taught by folks just like these because in recent times I have been called "out of date" in my method of production and hell are these new TV people wrong! I know what I was taught was 100% correct...you don't have to switch cameras just 'cause you have 14 cameras, the magic in TV is making that one camera catch you and that is what I try to do! Anyhow, if you find the time please check this out http://tvinterviewsarchive.blogspot.com.

IT TOOK THREE DECADES...

Tonight (or this morning) I have come to the conclusion that Post Fruity Pebbles are way better that Cap't. Crunch cereal. It has been an inner war for a very long time, but the antic of Bedrock's best won the battle! Sorry Cap't., watch out for the soggy's.

HORAY FOR HOLLYWOOD?

Wonder what this is all about?

Diamond Jubilee

2008 marks the 60th Anniversary of the National Wrestling Alliance and we are going to try and milk it for all its worth (all those years with Disney taught me that millstones equal profits)...Currently the plan is to kick off the year long celebration in Atlanta on June 7 in the Philips Arena, but we are starting the campaign this month at our event in Enid, OK on May 31.

The decision of the kick off came when the our kind internet fans started a "broohhaha" over our June 7th card. Although this is the largest venue we've produced a show for in our minds it was business as usual cause arena's are nothing new to us anymore. When we learned that the fanatics in Georgia made our date nothing short of WrestleMania (sarcasm) I knew we needed something to grasp on to and try (AND I MEAN TRY) to meet their perceptions and expectations, thus the 60th Birthday kick off!

I must admit that at first this was just a marketing gimmick, but after some though it really became reality, especially after I was emailed the speck logo (created by Mike Mondragon AKA Disco Machine http://www.myspace.com/discomachine) and thought..,"hmmm, we can do something with this!"

At that moment I called Bob Trobich and pitched the idea of the year celebration and Atlanta and all and he said "sure." SURE?! Thats it? That's all I needed (I guess) and we started blues skying and coming up with other promotional ideas. Anyhow, the June 7th show is already being called a flop by critics (you see only WWE runs major buildings; everyone else is a failure) and the best part is that they are dead wrong!

From a business stand point it is a great relationship with the folks at the building, they are happy with the show we've produced for them on paper and knowing the financial's they will do better than good. Am I saying we are going to draw tens of thousands for them? NO! And they know that (you see I'm an honest wrestling person; go figure)! The other reason its a success is that we have built a reputation within the Arena world for producing a quality, entertaining product. I am very proud of my staff, everyone! They have helped us go so far! I ask the question to everyone I talk to about this:

"Why run a rec center or H.S. gym if you can run the Orleans or American Bank Center?"

Now, don't think I'm against gyms (we have a card at Santa Ana H.S. on June 1 and the JFK Rec Center in Newark, NJ on June 14) but we have evolved and in 20 years I have gained a lot of knowledge on how arenas work and partnering with real entertainment promoters - SUE ME FOR WANTING TO DO BIGGER THINGS!

There is always hate when people are uneducated. That is 100% of the pro wrestling business and the so called "internet reporters." I rarely get calls to verify a story or a statement, its just gossip and rumor for the most part and these "reporters" are not responsible for their "reports." They have no idea how damaging their words can be to a business like ours, they forget that non-wrestling people read them too, especially in today's world with access to info the way we have it and can get it! WOW, it wasn't my intention to get on a rant like this, but MAN!

Anyhow, hope to see you on June 7 in Atlanta! We're putting our best foot forward...Thanks for your continued support.

YO MA!

Seeing that today is Mother's Day in these United States (of America) I figured that this would be a good subject to blog about. Although I have many MOTHER'S in my life (you'll get that later; I hope) I want to write about two women that are very special to me, they are my actual Mom and her Mom.

My Mom's name is Dorothy. I never asked why she was named that, I always thought that was a very old sounding name and never matched her personality, you see my Mom is kinda crazy (in a good way) and I guess to figure her out we have to go to her Mother, Awilda (who is crazier and I did ask her once where her name came from and she told me her Mom...SEE!) and analyze.

Both of them have been a big part of my life and not just in the "Mom" way. At times they have not been supportive at all! They are very (VERY) opinionated and LOUD (their both full blooded Puerto Rican)

People who know me know that I'm pretty fun to be around and I want to say I get that from these two. I can remember at the earliest of my days, my Mom dancing around the house to Disco or Motown or Salsa, I can't remember a time back then when I wasn't watching American Bandstand with her and us goofing off. I also remember her taking me and my Sister to a Roller Rink not that far from our house in La Puente, I still enjoy roller skating, although I wasn't that good at it; she was. My Mom had me young, she was still in H.S. and I guess that is why we did simple youth type things for entertainment (not to mention that we were dirt poor and that type of stuff was cheap!)

Then there's GRANDMA, she's a hoot! I don't think I've been on so many adventures with anyone else. She has been the only constant in my life. I can't remember a time when she wasn't there or if I was away not on the phone with me if only for a few minutes. She was born in Puerto Rico in the '30s and moved to New York very young. She was a member of the "Pink Latinettes" (a girls gang) and her nick name was "Cheena" (cause of her slated/Asian type eyes). She is your stereotypical "Puerto Rican," I remember a few years back I questioned her on the validity of the gang, and she came out of her room like she was Wonder Woman wearing a pink satin jacket with the word "Cheena" on the front. She still dyes her her hair a type of blond and like my Mom is very youthful herself. There are times she breaks into song and dances around and then there are times when she'll do something absolutely insane (but that's for another time).

Both of these ladies have been through hell! Some of it was self inflected, but most unwarranted. I really feel for them, I was around for most of it.

But these two really follow "every cloud has a silver lining..." and to a degree I do too. Anyhow, thanks for reading about my crazy ass MOM'S! I know I will write more about them soon...there's a lof of material there ;) Happy Mothers Day!

Tonight I did something new...

RELAXED! Yes friends, since my last post I have not had more than a few hours sleep. My days and nights have been a full on whirlwind! Tonight I sat, alone in the living room in a vintage cigar chair and smoked a nice Punch "Maduro-Maduro" accompanied by an orange juice glass full of Southern Comfort with a few pieces of ice floating. I grabbed the first book I could find ("Andrea Mitchell: Talking Back") and threw on a set of head phones and listened to the ipod and read.

The book was a memoire of her days in TV news at NBC covering the White House. It was whatever, but I for once in a long while say I sat and "did nothing," that is until now.

Now I am working on what we will be doing next with the "NWA Wrestling Showcase" and the expansion of a project called the "NWA Television Network." This is a hell of an undertaking and we are getting ready for the NWA's 60th birthday and a pretty big show in Atlanta at the Philips Arena.

Well I will update this again soon. We have lots of work ahead of us and not a lot of time (or man power).