Buy Wrestling Items on eBay!

Since 2003, the WWE has held a unique talent search contest known as the WWE Diva Search. This competition involves some of the most beautiful and talented women around, vying for a spot on the WWE Divas roster. There’s usually one female crowned the winner each year, but this is never a true indicator of future success. In fact, several of the runner-ups and losers in the contest have gone on to more success than the winners. In this article, we’ll take a look at the winners and losers who’ve achieved success in the WWE brand of pro-wrestling and beyond.

The main purpose behind the diva search has been to find a new diva for the WWE Raw, Smackdown or ECW television shows who acts as an interviewer, wrestler and/or manager for other wrestlers. Past winners have included Ashley Massaro, Christy Hemme, Layla El and Eve Torres. Each of these women has achieved careers in WWE following their diva search victories. So far, Ashley may have achieved the most fame of these lovely women. She not only was a competitive wrestler in WWE for some time, but she also had cameo roles on TV shows, was on Survivor: China and appeared as one of several **** WWE divas in Playboy. Eve Torres is the most recent diva search winner and currently is a backstage interviewer on Smackdown. The lovely latina is training for her WWE wrestling career daily. Ashley and Christy are no longer with WWE, as both have moved on to other endeavors. Christy Hemme is currently on the TNA Wrestling Knockout roster, still bringing her beauty and skill to wrestling.

Although they’re technically considered “losers” of the diva search, they’re hardly losers by any means at all. Several divas have been eliminated early in the contest or were runner-ups and still went on to WWE Raw and Smackdown careers. Four great examples of this are Candice Michelle, Michelle McCool, Maryse Ouellet and Maria Kanellis. Candice, Maria and Michelle were all contestants in 2004’s Raw Diva Search, but Christy Hemme was its winner. Despite this, all three girls are still in WWE wrestling. Candice has held the WWE Women’s Championship while Michelle McCool is current WWE Divas Champion. Both Maria Kanellis and Candice Michelle have appeared as **** WWE divas in Playboy magazine.

Other women who’ve been hired by WWE despite losing the diva search include Joy Giovanni, Amy Weber, Taryn Terrell, Kristal Marshall and Maryse Ouellet. Maryse currently stars as one of Smackdown’s WWE Divas, while Taryn Terrell, also known as “Tiffany” is the assistant to ECW General Manager, Theodore Long. Another name or face you may recognize is Leyla Milani. She’s been featured in USA’s “members of the Raw nation” advertisement, and currently works as on the hit NBC show, “Deal or No Deal” as one of the girls with the briefcases. So the next time the diva search rolls around, don’t worry if your favorite contestant bows out early. She may still have a successful career in WWE wrestling or the entertainment industry.

Posted by Nikhil Gupta

MCStylin asked:


WWE Wrestling has been no stranger to using beautiful women wrestlers for its promotions over the past decade or so. Fan favorites like Trish Stratus, Torrie Wislon, Sable and Sunny seemed to show that the fans favored blondes in the ring. In recent times, there appears to be more of a shift towards more ethnicity amongst the beautiful WWE divas. The Smackdown show in particular has 3 examples of these multicultural beauties, with Eve Torres, Natalya and Maryse gracing the roster.

Eve Torres was the winner of the most recent WWE Divas Contest in the Summer of 2007. This Latina diva loves dancing, kickboxing, aerobics and running to keep herself in shape. She debuted on the Smackdown show officially on February 1st, 2008 in Pennsylvania. The 24 year old Eve was born in Denver, Colorado, and brings a Latina flavor to the scene on Smackdown, where she currently serves as a Smackdown reporter. Her first interview was with the current World Heavyweight champion, Batista. The beautiful diva brightens up the set wherever she is, and has hinted that she’s been training and will soon be a part of in-ring action.

Nattie Neidhart is a French-Canadian diva and the neice of Jim “the Anvil Neidhart” of The Hart Foundation fame. She’s better known under her wrestling name of “Natalya”. The 26 year old was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She made her debut on the Smackdown scene April 4th, 2008. She may be just 5′3″ in height but she comes to the ring ready to fight, as a brutal brawler who didn’t hold back in her matches or tactics. Natalya was quickly put into the title picture as she faced Michelle McCool for a newly created WWE Divas Championship. However, Michelle McCool made history as Smackdown’s first diva to capture the title. Don’t expect Natalya to fade out of the picture anytime soon as she will continue to be one of the top divas on Smackdown.

Finally there is Maryse Ouellet, yet another French-Canadian diva. The blonde beauty portrays a cocky female wrestler known simply as “Maryse”. She was amongst the finalists in WWE’s 2006 Diva search, but eventually lost in the final eight. WWE decided to bring her to observe Ohio Valley Wrestling training sessions later that same year. The 25 year old wrestler and diva was born in Montreal, Quebec and has spoken French on several Smackdown promos and appearances. A former beauty contest winner in 2003, she flaunts her good looks and *** appeal in the ring as she beats up opponents. She started out making promo ads for the Smackdown show, appearing before and after commercials and speaking partly in French. Her in-ring debut came May 16, 2008 against fellow diva, Cherry, with Maryse losing in her first contest. This didn’t stop the diva from building enough momentum by taking out the competition. Maryse recently fought Michelle McCool for the Divas Championship at the 2008 Unforgiven Pay-Per-View event. Michelle was able to hold off the cocky diva Maryse, but Maryse continues to challenge her. Maryse is definitely another bright spot on the Smackdown roster and for WWE divas wrestling picture in general.

It seems more than ever, WWE has been giving fans a selection of beautiful divas from all around the world. Representing various cultures and locations, there’s sure to be an influx of beauty and talent present to satisfy the fans!



Posted by Nikhil Gupta

Cristi asked:


If you are a wrestling fan, then you probably enjoy collecting memorabilia that is associated with your favorite sport of superstar. Everything from t-shirts and books to trading cards are available, but perhaps the most popular is that of action figures. The reason is because these small collectibles bare the resemblance of a wrestling superstar and take up very little space in the display case. In addition, when they are first released, wrestling action figures are very inexpensive.

As the years progress, wrestling action figures can significantly increase in value. As a general rule, anything that is left in it’s original packaging is more valuable because, you guessed it, most people take them out and play with them. Action figures are very popular among children, which is why it is so often difficult to find a specific wrestling action figure in it’s original packaging. In addition, collectibles that are kept in mint/near mint condition inevitably increase in value much more than something that has visible scratches or other defects.

If you are a collector who is also purchasing wrestling action figures for investment, it’s not a bad idea to buy two of each item. With this approach, you will have one wrestling action figure for the display and one that you can keep in it’s original packaging for investment. If you are thinking like an investor, then you already know that any collectible that is produced in a limited edition will prove to be the most valuable in years to come. Additionally, those limited edition pieces are often higher in value if they have a low serial number. For instance, if there were to be 5,000 wrestling action figures produced of a certain superstar, the ones that may prove to gain in value the most could very well be those with the lowest number in that edition. An example would be 10/5,000 or 100/5,000. As a general rule, the closer you can get to the first collectible made, the more valuable your object becomes.

There is no shortage of ways to find wrestling action figures, with the newest releases being made widely available at most retail stores. The more rare collectibles will often be found in a sports collectibles store or at an annual memorabilia show. If you opt for the latter, be ready to shuck out some bucks if you plan to shop because show dealers are knowledgeable in the products that they sell and they aren’t likely to be offering a bargain. It is significantly expensive to set up a booth at a memorabilia show, so dealers tend to bring their top dollar merchandise for just such an occasion.

The internet is a virtual haven for all things collectible, including wrestling action figures. If you are looking for a rarity or just browsing for a mini replica of your favorite wrestling superstar, you are more likely to find it online than anywhere else. With a world of retailers, there really is no other place to shop that offers a better selection. If you want to be the one to set the price, check out the online auction sites and see if you can snag a bargain.



Posted by Nikhil Gupta

James Allen asked:


Professional wrestling in Japan, or “puroresu,” is a popular fighting sport. It had its boom years in the 1960’s and 70’s, but it is still widely enjoyed today.

Rikidozan and the Early Days

Puroresu began in Japan after World War 2. It didn’t really take off until Rikidozan came along. Rikidozan was a Korean-born sumo wrestler. In 1951, he began the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance, or the JWA. It was modeled after the pro-wrestling associations in the United States.

The first 10 years of proresu are dominated by Rikidozan. He helped set up virtually the whole pro-wrestling industry. He was the first to compete internationally, and he began bringing international pro-wrestlers to Japan to compete. He basically put Japan on the map in the pro-wrestling world.

In 1963, Rikidozan died at the age of 39. Although he’d done much for puroresu in the last ten years, he died leaving many projects unfinished. It was decided that the JWA would continue with all the new talent that had emerged.

Rival Camps

In the 1970’s, there were lots of famous puroresu stars in Japan, including Giant Baba and Antonio Inoki. At this time, the unity of the JWA was starting to break up. Both Baba and Inoki started their own wrestling organizations and went into vicious competition with one another. Giant Baba started All Japan Pro-Wrestling and Antonio Inoki started New Japan Pro-Wrestling. The next year, JWA went under.

Puroresu has always been less gimmicky than American pro-wrestling, and Antonio Inoki has done a lot to try to elevate its status to a real fighting form. Throughout the 1970’s, he tried to elevate the sport’s legitimacy by fighting karate fighters, judo fighters and boxers. In 1976 he fought Muhammad Ali in a fight that was very heavily promoted, but not well fought. With all the restrictions on what the fighters could and could not do, it became a joke. Still, he tried to legitimize puroresu with his slogan, “civil rights for puroresu.”

Women in the Ring

Women have always been active in wrestling in Japan. The All Japan Women’s Pro-Wrestling Association was started in 1955, but women’s wrestling in Japan really began to pick up speed in 1967, with the establishment of the Japan Women’s Pro-Wrestling Association. In the early days of the AJW, Japanese wrestlers would fight wrestlers from other countries, in order to try to promote the fights. In 1975, Mach Fumiake won the WWWA Championship, and since that time only 2 non-Japanese women wrestlers have won it.

There were a number of great pro-wrestlers in Japan throughout the 1980’s and 90’s, including Jushin Luger, Manami Toyota, Lioness Asuka and Akira Hokuto. With the dissolution of the major men’s wrestling federations, women wrestlers have taken the main stage. Today, women’s wrestling is much more popular in Japan than men’s wrestling. While the men’s wrestling fighters have generally splintered off into other fighting styles, women fighters tend to stay true to puroresu.

Puroresu Today

As K-1 and other mixed martial arts gain popularity in Japan, the popularity of puroresu has been on the decline. This is due also to the gradual disintegration of both Baba’s AJPW after his death, and the decline of the NJPW.

Although pro-wrestling is not as popular as it once was in Japan, it still draws huge crowds. As it has become mixed with other sports in the new hybrid fighting styles, it has lost some of its purity, but it still remains popular.



Content

Wrestling Game asked:


This is the 15th “Balistik Blabber” article and in case you just joined the bandwagon, I’m your host Wrestling game, bringing wonderful and sometimes awful memories of ex-WWE stars back into the spotlight! To my regular readers, thanks again for all the support! Your suggestions for this article are always appreciated!

I promised you something “awesome” for this week’s article… and after researching the history of this guy, I am elated to say he is more than just “awesome”; he could very well be EPIC. I bring you one of the most agile heavyweights to grace the ring.

MIKE AWESOME!!

Nowadays we see a lot of “power” wrestlers doing lots of “power” moves like chokeslams, sidewalk slams and powerbombs. Unfortunately, most of them stick to just those moves causing critics to label them Joe-”5-moves”-Wrestler or something like that. Then we have Michael Lee Alfonso~

The cousin and childhood buddy of Horace Hogan, Michael and Horace were impressed at the success of Horace’s uncle Hulk Hogan during the 1980s. Before I continue, I just want to point out people don’t seem to think this 2nd degree connection makes Mike and Hulk Hogan related but oh well, you decide~ After training under Steve “Doink 2″ Keirn, he started wrestling for Steve in Pro Wrestling Federation (PFW) in 1989. After that he wrestled for the United States Wrestling Association (USWA) for awhile and suddenly got a big break appearing in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) for the first time as…

A LUCHADOR!!!

As “The Pro”, he basically jobbed but that is irrelevant. The following year (1990 to those not doing their math), Mike was on his way to Japan to work for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW)!!! He used the name “The Gladiator” and began wearing face paint as part of the gimmick.

Standing 6 feet 7 inches, this guy was a sight to behold in Japan! Even more surprising, he was fast! He could run, he could jump, he would even do planchas and top rope maneuvers! It was in this fashion he made an impact in the company! It was here he would begin his monstrous feud with Japan’s rock-headed Masato Tanaka and carry it over to Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW)! Working between FMW and ECW from 1990 to 2000, he got his first major title victories. These include the “FMW Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship” together with Rick “Big Titan” Bogner in 1993 and then the “FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship” against none other than the company’s top performer HAYABUSA in 1995!!! After the match the two warriors embraced and showed respect for one another, truly a classic match… and it is now YOUR assignment to find and watch this match on YouTube! It’ll be worth your while trust me~

Mike was forced to vacate the title due to an injury but later recaptured it in 1996. In a grand victory over W*NG Kanemura later that year he unified it with “FMW Independent Heavyweight Championship” making him a double-belt champion! The guy was ON FIRE as he added the “FMW World Street Fight 6-Man Tag-Team Titles” to his record the following year and thus making him a triple-belt champion!!!

Just a random story during his stay in Japan: he got in trouble with the Yakuza! To those who don’t know, the “Yakuza” is Japan’s version of the “Sicilian Mafia” or the “Chinese Triad”. It happened in one FMW show where some Yakuza were beating the crap out of his friend Sabu (!) and he made the save. This forced Mike and the rest of the foreign talent of FMW to hide out in their lockers because the other members of the Yakuza were waiting to do evil things to them in the hallway! Thankfully, FMW veteran Atsushi Onita was able to grant them safe passage out of the arena and into safety!

Soon after the fall of FMW, Mike returned to ECW (1998) for his second run, along with Masato Tanaka to continue their hellacious feud. With each man picking up the victory after every other match they had, it seemed neither man would be the clear cut winner… until that year’s “August Heat Wave” PPV where Tanaka got the win at the end of Mike’s second ECW run. It would be on his 3rd time with ECW would he earn its top prize in a slobber knocker of a 3-way dance. Fighting against Taz and Tanaka, Mike would end the bout with his signature “AWESOME BOMB” on Tanaka to become the “ECW Heavyweight Champion” in 1999! The gold keeps on pouring with the attainment of the ECW World Tag Team Titles with Raven in 2000!! It seemed like everything was going Mike’s way until that faithful April of 2000… Mike jumped ship to WCW while still the ECW champ, causing mayhem between the 2 companies! Before things got ugly with legal mumbo jumbo, a compromise was reached and Mike Awesome relinquished his title to Taz and continued on with WCW which would lead to one of his most embarrassing gimmicks ever… “The Fat ***** Thriller” and then later… “That 70’s Guy”… I’d like to skip the details but that wouldn’t make this a “fair” look into his career so instead, I’ll summarize: both these gimmicks were “so-so” compared to his “neutral character”. Thankfully, being the great wrestler he is, he still managed to put up impressive matches with these gimmicks. These matches include a grudge with Vampiro and the Insane Clown Posse. Other highlights of this time would be when he Awesome Bombed Hulk Hogan through a table (seriously, not a lot of people got to do that) and also when he threw Chris Kanyon off the first level of a three-level steel cage. Oh yeah, did I mention that “That 70’s Guy” got a talk show segment called the “Lava Lamp Lounge”? Check this one out; he looks like a certain “Shame”.

After nearly a WHOLE YEAR of having these gimmicks, he finally dropped them and became “The Career Killer”. Surely you get the point just by reading those three words? It got changed to “The Canadian Career Killer” when he joined “Team Canada” with Lance Storm and Elix Skipper (I miss these guys…). Together they did great, except one time when Mike lost to Konnan in a “Hair VS Hair” match, costing him his mullet~ In 2001, WCW was finally purchased by the World Wrestling Federation (GASP! THE WORD THAT MUST NOT BE SPOKEN!!!) thus officially tying him to the biggest wrestling company of the country. He was put into the “Invasion” storyline and even got his first title, “The WWF ******** Title” (how befitting) when he attacked Rhyno who had just beaten Test for said belt. This was the only decent push he had until he lost the title to Jeff Hardy. Not happy with how the WWF runs things and completely livid at the intense backstage politics, he was extremely (no pun intended) overjoyed when he was fired. After the release, Mike went back to the indies, even appearing on Total Nonstop Action (TNA), and then for “Major League Wrestling” (MLW) in 2003. Here, he became MLW champion for 10 minutes after beating All Japan Pro Wrestling’s (AJPW) Satoshi Kojima. It wouldn’t be until 2 years later we would see him again facing his long-time rival Tanaka on the 1st “One Night Stand” PPV. Although Joey Styles and some of the fans seemed to **** him for his past actions, the crowd still cheered both men and gave a standing ovation to its finish: Awesome Bombing Tanaka to a table outside the ring, followed by a slingshot plancha and the pin.

In the following year of 2006, Michael Alfonso announced his retirement from professional wrestling. He wanted to be with his family and said that the only thing that would bring him back to the ring was a “decent pay”, something he claims he rarely gets. It seemed like a pretty good end to a high-octane wrestling career…

Sadly on February 17, 2007, Michael was found lifeless in his Tampa, Florida home. He was 42 years old and survived by his wife and two children. Why it had to end like this we may never know but wherever he is, I can assure you he’s still as awesome as he was when he was in the ring giving us great wrestling entertainment!

Thank you Mike… rest in peace!

Thanks for reading and I’ll catch you all on the next issue of “Balistik Blabber” to see which ex-WWE talent will be remembered!



Posted by Nikhil Gupta

Yoshi Kundagawa asked:


Shuai Jiao is probably the world’s oldest martial art. In modern Chinese, its name is used to refer to any wrestling sport. Outside of China, though, it means the ancient Chinese and Mongolian wrestling styles. Legend has it that Shuai Jiao is descended from a sport called Jiao Di, where the contestants wore helmets with horns on them and tried to head **** each other. I don’t know about you, but I bet getting hit by one of those hurt! In 2687 BC, the Yellow Emperor’s army even used Jiao Di to gore rebel soldiers.

Jiao Di didn’t keep its horns, though. In the Qin Dynasty, it combined with the grappling sport called Jiao Li turned into a public sport for amusing the Imperial Court, and recruiting the best fighters for the Emperor’s bodyguards in the process. I bet you didn’t know that some contests could last a while week and have over a thousand wrestlers involved. Wrestling in some form or another was taught to soldiers for all of China’s history, but it wasn’t called Shuai Jiao until 1928 when the rules got standardized for competition. Now it’s popular among the Mongols, and is taught to police and soldiers in China and Taiwan.

Now, when the Emperors were using Shuai Jiao to pick out the best bodyguards, fighters did their competitions bare-chested. Now training is done in a heavy cotton jacket for better protection. However, it’s important to know that in Shuai Jiao, you don’t try to get a hold on your opponent’s clothes. Instead, you grab his muscles through the clothing and use that to throw him. The jacket you wear if you’re learning Shuai Jiao has another use, too. It helps you control and throw your opponent by being close fitting and having short sleeves. You generally wear Chinese martial arts pants when learning how to do Shuai Jiao. You can practice barefoot, but a lot of people wear wrestling boots.

Although Shuai Jiao is the oldest martial art, it’s split up into a bunch of different styles. In different regions of China, they practice Shuai Jiao with a little bit of a different flavor. So Beijing has its own style. Other major kinds of Shuai Jiao are Tian Jin, Mongolian or Boke, and Bao Ding, as well as a lot of minor variations in different provinces. You’ve got to expect that a martial art that’s been around for thousands of years would have a few different ways of doing things.

Since Shuai Jiao developed from combat techniques on the battlefield, it doesn’t beat around the bush. The grappling techniques it uses are no nonsense and practical, and they get your opponent on the ground as fast as possible. However, almost every martial art has some philosophy thrown in, and Shuai Jiao isn’t an exception. The advanced fighter uses the principles of Yin and Yang to balance and complement each other. Shuai Jiao has been around for a long time as a fighting discipline, and it looks like it’s here to stay.



Content

Jon Murray asked:


Sometimes in life we need to take a step back, ignore our hearts and go with our heads. UFC 68 on March 3rd, in Columbus Ohio is one of those times. The main event on the UFC 68 card is Tim “The Maine-iac” Sylvia vs Randy “The Natural” Couture. Tim Sylvia stands 6′8″ and weighs in around 265 pounds and is 30 years old. Randy Couture is 6′1″, 205 pounds (probably 10 or 15 heavier for this fight and is 43 years old. Almost everyone I know wants Randy to defeat Tim Sylvia, but they are thinking with their hearts, not their heads.

I am also guilty of wanting a couture victory. Sure, Randy, do it for us old guys. Show those big young lads that there is still a little steam left in the over 40 crowd. Recapture your glory and go out on top as champion of the UFC heavyweight division. I’m positive that Randy thinks he can do this and he certainly has the background for it. Randy is a 3 time Olympic wrestling alternate. He’s won the UFC heavyweight title on two seperate occasions and also won the UFC light heavyweight title defeating Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz and Vitor Belfor along the way.

Here’s my best 5 reasons why I don’t think Randy Couture will be able to win (despite my intense desire for a Couture victory).

5) Striking - As much as I **** to admit it, Tim Sylvia is a great striker. He’s shown this by defeating Ricco Rodriguez, Tre Telligman and Andrei Arlovski twice. You can talk about lucky punches all you want, but when these things happen over and over again, you’ve gotta give Tim Syliva his due.

4) Weight - At 270 pounds, Tim Sylvia will likely out weight Randy by 50 pounds or more on fight night. If Randy attempts to come in heavier to counter this advantage he might find his timing off and speed advantage reduced. Randy Couture will have a hard time pushing Tim Sylvia around the ring and if Tim gets on top of Randy, it’s going to be tough work to get him off.

3) Strength - Tim Sylvia is an animal, a mountain of a man and he’s incredibly strong. This is the strength that comes both naturally and from his intense training program at the Miletich camp, run by UFC great Pat Miletich. While Randy is strong for his size, and very talented, Tim Sylvia should be able to out muscle Randy Couture in most situations.

2) Height - Tim Sylvia is too big for Randy. Jeff Monson is a good wrestler and an excellent ground fighter, but he had a lot of trouble taking down Tim Sylvia, and when he did get Tim to the ground, he basically could not reach Tim’s head to punch while he was in Tim’s guard. It’s anyone’s guess why Jeff didn’t lean back and attempt a leg lock or heel hook, especially as Tim Silva’s been caught before in one of those by former heavyweight champ, Andrei Arlovski.

1) Age - It’s a simple as that, over time we all slow down, even Randy Couture. Muscle doesn’t recover as well in training and putting on new muscle gets harder with each passing year. Sure Randy is pretty much super human, entering the eco-challenge and competing at the top level of mixed martial arts and wrestling for most of his life. However, we all slow down.

The Randy Couture fans out there, of which I am one, will tell you that Randy’s superior conditioning, wrestling ability and take downs will be more than enough to counter and physical advantages that Tim Sylvia has. That’s wishful thinking. On fight night, I’ll be rooting for Randy Couture, cheering on the old guy, but in my head I know that’s just a dream.

Take it easy, and keep watching the fights!



Posted by Nikhil Gupta

Michael Greeves asked:


Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is a full, contact sport which includes techniques such as striking and grappling. This sport can serve as a workout that helps improve many different areas of your body. There are different styles in mixed martial arts and the stand-up style helps improve your punching, kicking, elbowing, kneeing and footwork techniques.

Striking

A strike is an attack with a part of your body or with an object such as a weapon. Punches, kicks and headbutts are all forms of strikes. Although, headbutts are prohibited in many MMA organizations because of the amount of harm it can cause a person. Your back, hips, forearms, shoulders, wrists and fingertips can also be used for striking in some martial arts. Judo and wrestling are sports that do not employ striking.

Grappling

Grappling is controlling an opponent without the use of striking. You would use gripping and handling in order to control your opponent. There are various hold attempts such as grappling holds and choke holds.

Sprawl-and-Brawl

There are various nicknames for the different styles of mixed martial arts. The sprawl-and-brawl is a stand-up fighting method that focuses on striking and avoids ground fighting. Ground fighting is when both combatants are on the ground in hand-to-hand combat. In a sprawl-and-brawl, combatants use sprawls to defend against takedowns. The sprawl is executed by scooting your legs backwards in order to land on the upper back of your opponent undertaking the takedown. A takedown is a term used in combat sports and martial arts for a technique that off-balances your opponent and brings him or her to the ground. In a takedown, you should be the one that lands on top.

Sprawl-and-brawlers are usually boxers, kickboxers, Thai boxers and full-contact karate fighters. They are trained in wrestling and try to avoid takedowns and keep the fight standing. This style is very different from regular kickboxing styles. The sprawl-and-brawler must adjust his or her techniques to incorporate ground fighting and takedown defense.

Stand-Up Grappling (Clinching)

In stand-up grappling, two combatants start fighting from a stand-up position. The aim and purpose of this style varies depending on the combat sport or martial art you want to do. Stand-up grappling can be offensive such as it is in wrestling or Judo, but it can also be defensive as it is in Aikido.

Stand-up grappling revolves around throws and takedowns. A throw is another martial arts term for grappling where you cause your opponent to be off-balance or you lift your opponent up and toss him or her to the ground. In some sports, the fight is over once the combatant has fallen down.

For MMA, some fighters train in multiple styles with multiple coaches or train in teams. Some important parts of an MMA fighter’s training include flexibility, speed drills, strength training and energy system training.



Posted by Nikhil Gupta

Massimo Martinini asked:


A happy, upcoming, and very early Chinese New Year to you all! Today marks the first Balistik Blabber for 2009! I’m your host, bringing you back to the days of Wrestling Past in this article series dubbed: “Ex-World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Talent” and to begin let’s feature a guy who very well may be the closest thing we can get to “Haido Gey” (misspelled intentionally)… the “KING OF SIDEBURNS”…

RICO!

Randy Orton may have been in the army but he never quite got far… then there’s Bobby Lashley who was a 2-time Army Forces champion… now let me introduce Amarico Sebastiano Constantino!

Amarico, an American-Italian, led a pretty normal life until he signed up for the Northwestern Military and Naval academy. Gifted with an athletic streak in him and at 6 feet and around 230 pounds, he graduated with flying colors and even considered going to WestPoint aka THE United States Military Academy! Ultimately the Las Vegas Nevada native decided to return home to pursue a career as a paramedic but his nature refused to let him just be that. Amarico went on to sign up for the local police academy and graduated as the top cop in the whole Nevada State! Somehow he was always a part of something exciting such as a member of the SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) team, a bodyguard and even a stuntman portraying “Batman” and “Conan the Barbarian” in Six Flags California! He even became a small television celebrity, by becoming a contestant of the original (aka ‘pre-Hogan’) “American Gladiators”! He was challenged by the show’s jousting champion “Gemini” whom Amarico beat, becoming one of only eight people to do so! He went on to beat the other gladiators and became the champion from 1991 to 1992! He was also recruited by “The Power Team”, a Christian group that added various martial arts exhibitions in their preaching lectures. They even ordained Amarico a minister to allow him to counsel kids, including children who join the Special Olympics awww~ Then out of nowhere, Amarico decided to start a career in professional wrestling!

He started training in Bill Anderson and Jesse Hernandez’s Empire Wrestling Federation (EWF) based in Southern California, and an affiliate of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). This federation had the likes of Peter Maiavia, The Honky Tonk Man and even Tony Atlas amongst their rosters. Another notable item is that the entire roster of this fed (including the founders) participated in one of WWE’s skits for the 1999 Royal Rumble as the guys who lured Kane out of the ring! Soon enough Amarico’s talent caught the eyes of WWE talent scouts and was recruited for a developmental contract after ONLY TWELVE (12) professional matches… to put an emphasis on this, it takes other guys over 40 matches or even MORE to even garner the interest of the WWE…

Of course prior to the big-time, he was sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) to learn a few more tricks. He completely DOMINATED his first opponent “Rasputin” and on November 10, 1999 he defeated Rob Conway to earn the OVW Heavyweight Title! He even teamed up with “The Prototype” (aka John Cena) in one of 2001’s largest heat generators of OVW history! Even at this stage, Amarico was nominated as “Pro Wrestling Illustrated” rookie of the year for that same year! He was also sent to the “Heartland Wrestling Association” (HWA) for further training where he formed a tag team with the first “Tough Enough” winner Maven who also happened to be there for training purposes. Amarico’s big time debut happened on the March 21, 2002 (what the HELL? THREE years in developmental territories??! that’s PATIENCE right there if I ever saw it!) episode of Smackdown! as the heel RICO, a stylist for the tag team champions Billy Gunn and Chuck Palumbo (eeew~ NASTY times!)… things went sort of smoothly until the “Judgment Day” pay-per-view when Rico was “forcefully” paired up with Rikishi to take on his two “clients” Billy and Chuck for the tag title belts… and WON!

Of course he promised Billy and Chuck that he would pay them back and it happened the very next week by helping them regain the belt. He would go on to be their “stylist” until the infamous “Billy and Chuck Commitment Ceremony” as he jumped ship to RAW along with Eric Bischoff and “3-Minute Warning” (Rosey and Jamaal aka Ro-Z and Umaga). Amarico would defeat the legendary Ric Flair in his first RAW match on September 16 (still 2002 folks)! He mostly played as the manager to “3-Minute Warning” May 19, 2003 when he suddenly walked out on them after a loss to the “Dudley Boyz” (Bubba and Devon Dudley)…

After nearly a month Rico returned to RAW on June 16 with a new “Adrian Street” gimmick. To those who haven’t heard of Adrian Street, he was a professional wrestling known for his flamboyant in-ring personality including distracting opponents with varying acts of affection on his very male opponents… a strange opposition since Amarico has always been such a “dude” before his wrestling career~ Rico would distract his opponents in the same fashion, smooching pinned opponents or slapping their ***** if given the chance which infuriated them! In this manner, Rico was able to beat the likes of Maven, Scott Steiner, Rene Dupre and even the crazy poet Heidenreich! What? You don’t remember Heiden… erm, never mind then… At the same time he started this new gimmick he also got himself a valet, the lovely Miss Jackie! On the 2004 WWE Draft Lottery, they BOTH get picked to switch back to Smackdown!

Back in Smackdown! Rico would continue the Adrian Street gimmick and beat Charlie Haas via count out after kissing him and Haas refused to go back in the ring! In a surprising twist yet again, Rico and Haas team up to take on, and defeat the “Too Cool” team of Rikishi and Scotty Too Hotty… and win the WWE Tag Team belts! The odd ball team would defend their titles repeatedly against the likes of Paul London, Billy Kidman, the Basham Brothers, The Full Blooded Italians (FBI) Nunzio and Johnny Stamboli and more! It was only after a few days short of a 2-month reign that they lost the titles to the Dudley Boyz on June 17. It was later found out that Amarico had injured his hamstring and would be out of action for at least 2 months which of course, we can conveniently skip~

On September 16, Charlie Haas was fighting Spike Dudley when Bubba and Devon decided to get themselves involved… Haas is in trouble… WAIT! IT’S RIIICOOO!!! He’s back and makes the save!! They team up again with Miss Jackie of course and were able to beat the Dudleyz and their own valet Dawn Marie in a sort of grudge match on the “No Mercy” PPV (still 2004). It seemed Rico was on the verge of another successful run… when suddenly… he was released from his WWE contract on November 4…

Seriously though, I wasn’t that big a fan of Rico but I didn’t want him to leave so soon… Amarico brought fun into the ring and his moves weren’t that bad either. He has some of the most impressive kicks next to Tajiri and those sideburns were just plain ********! He did continue wrestling after WWE over at All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) where he once again earned tag team gold! On February 2, 2005 he beat the team of Mitsuya Nagai and Masayuki Naruse with fellow WWE alumni Bull Buchanan to become the All-Asian Tag Champions! They held onto the titles for over FOUR months until Amarico announced his retirement from professional wrestling on July that same year, forcing them to drop the title and allowing him to retire as a champion. Today, Amarico is once again an officer of the law in his home state of Nevada. He’s not exactly Hall of Fame material but I miss his mix of crazy in-ring shenanigans and super kicks, something that we don’t see anymore these days~ Good luck Amarico!



Posted by Nikhil Gupta

D Southard asked:


Were you considering about acquiring few straggle boxer shorts for your MMA? Does your personal combination of MMA include: Jiu-Jitsu and wrestling? Besides, are you in a dilemma wondering as to which would accommodate you more adept the split seams or the closed seams? Go through the following before coming to a decision!

In case, it is a Mixed Martial Arts combo that includes Jiu-Jitsu and wrestling that you practice, it is most effective that you opt for Closed and No split shorts! Since you won’t be executing whatsoever high kicks, besides you will be in constant reach with your adversary, where there is a bit much chance of getting the shorts arrested under your challenger, go for Closed MMA Shorts! Nonetheless, without any split, and all the same to get the maximized total freedom of motility, pick out the briefer shorts which don’t come down onto the thigh the least bit.

In person, a few people favor the ones having no slits but even so come with expansion panels, similar to the variety Clinch gear produces. In them, you have virtually every last the mobility of the split shorts (as 99% of it unless you are doing head kicks with somebody a good deal taller than you); in addition, they don’t have the split that can be grabbed in places.

Many MMA pros also opine that Clinch gear makes the most well fixed fight back shorts of all time to be gotten into. They are bar tacked in strategically places for bestowed enduringness; feature High-density Super Stretch nylon-based expansion panels on the sides and crotch that provides level best tractability; also boasts Triple-needle flat fell (lap seam) stitching on center back, inseam, and sidelong panels for lasting wear!

However, in the end it is up to your own penchant. Many pros have both types. Those who are more frequently a high kicker choose the split shorts. All the same, please note that your antagonist could catch split shorts largely whilst you are grappling. So, while you do just MMA, wear the splits that yield a lot of flexibility; besides, they look stylish if you’re a kicker. You have a bit additional motility in the shorts with split lines. The downside to them is the “flapping” could be caught underneath your opponent.

Moreover, while practicing jiu-jitsu grappling, bear the no split brand!

Other MMA Gear & Resources

Not sure what type of apparel or gear you really need? No problem, head online. Search for MMA forums by opening your browser to Google.com and searching for, “MMA forum” or ” MMA discussion board” and see which ones turn up. Then review ones that look active, meaning there are current posts dated today and daily in the past; i.e. don’t choose an inactive board that only has like 100 posts and no one has been there to continue for three years, etc. That’s a dead board - or a start up, if the dates are current.



Posted by Nikhil Gupta