Mid-Atlantic Gateway

 Well since this was really ahead of my time and only got some inkling of this through the internet, it's great to see the Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling TV get its due especially for wrestling fans through the MidAtlanticGateway.com. You may have seen such wrestlers as Roddy Piper, Ric Flair, and others on this program that aired in the Carolinas.

I feel as if I seen this site before in a different iteration in the past. Either way great to see it's still going strong and you can catch the old episodes of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling on the WWE Network. Although the theme has been overdubbed on the network - doggone corporate concerns over licensing - you can check out the original open to the program [VIDEO]

I do have some sad news from this week, the promoters of the aforementioned Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling a man by the name of Jim Crockett who owned Jim Crockett Promotions passed away during the week. I had just became aware of an interview which one has to purchase that Crockett had with one Conrad Thompson. Certainly it's one of those shoot style interviews and it would be cool to watch a promoter who tried to go toe-to-toe with Vince McMahon during the initial pro-wrestling boom of the 1980s.

However by 1989 or so Crockett had sold JCP to Turner Broadcasting and thus programs such as Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling had been folded into the new entity known as World Championship Wrestling.

Grand Canyon 2016

 

[VIDEO] As we go through the cold and snowy winter in Chicago which we seem to be experiencing a thaw, let's take a look back to a summer time visit to the Grand Canyon, Arizona back in July 2016. 

We took a one-way trip to the Grand Canyon from Las Vegas via a company Grand Canyon Tours who allowed us a one-way trip there My party left from the Grand Canyon to Flagstaff, Arizona via a shuttle to wait for the Southwest Chief back to Chicago.

Feel free to subscribe to lbj79us or to Levois J - which is at 67 subscribers. I should add YouTube buttons for both of those channels in the future. Need a real plan though one for vacations the other for something else.

Wrestletalk: 10 Worst Mistakes WWE Made With Roman Reigns

 

[VIDEO] I have to admit how much I've enjoyed watching the development of Roman Reigns as the "Tribal Chief" or the "Head of the Table". A man who will do anything to stay at the top even bowl through his family although his cousins mainly Jey Uso are with him. And the promos, light years different from when he was the babyface being pushed down the throats of the WWE Universe.

As a villain as a Tribal Chief his promos have been much better. The way he dressed down his fellow world champion Drew McIntyre before Survivor Series and especially the way he dresses down Kevin Owens or anyone else who goes up against him. Very heelish, very much delivered the message of what motivates the Tribal Chief. He will call you out for disrespecting him and his family.

This video shows how WWE got Roman Reigns wrong until now. I didn't know WWE creative had him wear blue contacts and I don't think they mentioned some of his odd promos as a babyface having him recite lines from Loony Tunes. It seems in the beginning they pushed his character all wrong and found a winner with him as a heel.

Adam Blampied gives us his hilarious take on what WWE does wrong and let's us know to from this point forward follow him on his YouTube channel partsFUNknown.

#StarTrek: Starship Diorama With Realistic Phaser Effect

 

[VIDEO] I had to watch this creative project involved Star Trek models the USS Enterprise or a Constitution class Federation starship firing phasers and damaging a Klingon battlecruiser. The creativity of this young man to get the models just right and the electrical work. To make it look so real though humanity has yet to build starships and so far no indications of a Klingon civilization in real life 😜

The Real World's Championship #RoyalRumble

 

[VIDEO] I vaguely remember this as I anticipate this year's Royal Rumble of which overtime Ric Flair participated in his prime. This clip was likely on WWF's Wrestling Challenge where Bobby Heenan shows of the then WCW/NWA World Heavyweight Title or the Big Gold Belt. As a kid starting off watching wrestling I didn't view this as particularly shocking, but I knew the separation between the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling at the time.

The drama is that Flair was going through negotiations with WCW back in 1991. His stature with the company was fading owing whatever was going on with then WCW President Jim Herd. There is a clip out there where Herd strips Flair of the Big Gold Belt, but one problem. Flair wanted his deposit back per some form of stipulation, Herd never gave him his deposit back and according to Flair the Big Gold Belt got sent to the owner of the World Wrestling Federation Vince McMahon.

I wonder if this was controversial. Perhaps if a financial obligation wasn't met then this definitely made since, though certainly it has to be controversial since well this belt represents another wrestling company. I understand that at some point during this gimmick they started using a different title belt and sometimes they actually pixelated it adding to its credibility. The creative folks at WWF made this work and Flair remained with the company for two years before returning to WCW. And Flair had a couple of runs as WWF champion during that run.

I have to add the Alundra Blayze aka Madusa angle, this I don't really remember she came to WCW and threw into a trash can the WWF Women's Championship. That was controversial for sure and Vince McMahon didn't want a repeat of that so that's where the Montreal Screwjob comes into play by 1997. McMahon didn't want Bret Hart to take the WWF championship with him onto WCW TV and especially after he refused to do business with Shawn Michaels.

I think they chose the right promo person with Bobby Heenan to begin selling this angle. And it's sad that all the three men you see in this brief clip are all gone. Starting with Gorilla Monsoon, then Heenan, and then Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart.

The Reddit revolt against Wall Street #Meme

 Meme's are allowed here, I don't think I have limits on the subjects of meme's here. Especially those that sort of make a statement about real life as illustrated here. Don't understand, read this post over at "the blog".

For the record, Trading Places starring Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd, Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche, and Jamie Lee Curtis is one my favorite all time movies. The funniest scenes took place on Amtrak's Metroliner train. :P 

July 2016: Hollywood/Beverly Hills Tour

 

[VIDEO] This is the video I promised last nite. This is a reworked and edit video of that time I went on that Hollywood/Beverly Hills Tour in July 2016. I changed the music and added some photos of that tour and it was very fun & entertaining day to see the sites I rarely see. Perhaps see the homes of famous performers and even at one point our driver stopped to speak to a paparazzi. 

As it is winter right now in Chicago, heavy snow fell and it's very cold out it's great look back when the weather was much nicer and warmer. Yes for this video we are talking about California, however, here in Chicago the sun and warm weather will be back before we know it.

Enjoy.