Whattup Horsey-holics !!! It is, once again, your certified “Cult Leader” here to share some thoughts with you on things going on.

--- The Rock, Booker T, Golddust interview on the PPV was awesome. Those dudes kill me.

--- The FIW show went pretty well, except the aftermath that took place. It’s a shame when something like that happens, but hey, that’s wrestling I guess.

Dale and I worked Brian Beech and Andy Douglas. The match went pretty well. I rate it a “7”. (For the record, I never rate a match a “10” unless it is something special because I believe that no matter how good the match was, there is always room for improvement or there is something that could have been done to make the match even better).

The reason I rate it a “7” is because I took a point away for the botched opening. Even though nobody on this planet except for the 4 men in the ring knew that the opening didn’t go as planned, it still “didn’t go as planned”. Don’t get me wrong, we all recovered nicely and no one even knew, but the thing is - - - I knew.

I also took a point away because 2 minutes into the match I twisted my knee. I didn’t do any major damage to it but it was enough for me to hobble around the whole match like a bird with a broken wing and in the process, we had to make some changes in the middle of the match because of it.

Great job, by the way, to the other three worker’s for compensating and working around my injury. It was a good match in all though. We got a lot of positive reviews from the workers and the fans, and we had some great heat throughout the match, so I couldn’t ask for a better match considering the circumstances. The next scheduled show is July 12th, in Columbus, OH at the VFRO Bingo Hall. Be there.

--- This past Saturday, Shank and Dale defended their VCW Tag-Team Titles against “The Fraternity” consisting of Zach Avery and Mark Mattress . I rate this match a “6” and that’s being generous. I took a point away because it was like 125 degrees in that freaking building….. Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating a little, but it sure felt like it to me. I took another 2 points away, maybe not for the match itself, but because I was a little disappointed with certain things in the match. (Remember, I only rate matches up to a 9 unless it’s something special)

From the feedback I’ve gotten, everyone liked the match and said it was good and we did get the most crowd response of the night, just like a typical Shank and Dale match usually does ;-) – but I, personally was not pleased and I’ll tell you why.

You see, Mark Mattress and myself have a history of “bad feelings” towards one another, but a mutual respect for each other, so I thought. And even though we don’t like each other all that much, when we are booked against each other, we will act like professionals and do what needs to be done. Mattress has been doing some extensive training and working hard, so I was literally excited about this match. I wanted to see, for myself, what he has learned and what strides he has taken. Before I go on, I just want to point out that this was the first time I have ever worked Zach Avery, and I thought he did very well for himself. He held up his end of the match, unlike some people I know. Now back to Mattress.

Mark Mattress gets on his Web Site on a regular basis and talks all kinds of trash about me. He’s even going so far as to coin the phrase of “Shanking a match”. In his terminology, to “Shank a match” is when the wrestler stands on the ring apron during the tag match and doesn’t get in very much. Well, if you review the match that we had, you will clearly see that I was in the match a hell of a lot longer than he was. So maybe we should call it “to Mattress a match”. Now, let me get this off my chest so I can get out of here.

I hadn’t worked Mattress in a long time, and when we got to the show, I noticed a small scent of cockiness coming from Mattress. I didn’t know why, but I could sense it in his actions and certain things he would say in a certain way. Now don’t get me wrong, attitude is a part of wrestling, but I just wasn’t digging the vibe I was getting from this punk. So during the match, I laid a couple of “snug” chops in on him. I haven’t thrown a chop in probably a year or so and I wasn’t doing it to try to hurt him (or maybe I was), I was doing it to try and pump him up and make him realize who he was in there with. I wanted 110% from this guy and I wanted to let him know it. Did I get 110%? I say --- absolutely not !!! I felt like I was in there with DDK …. hahaha, I kill me sometimes. J

Every time I step in that ring I give 110%, no matter who I am in there with. It’s the professional thing to do in my eyes, but it seemed to me like Mattress would tag out every chance he got, he blew a couple of spots with me alone, not to say if he blew anything else. I was not pleased with his performance to say the least. And here’s the capper, after the match, he didn’t even offer any kind of apology. He tried to make excuses and push the blame off on me or some other reason. And on top of that, the big nosed punk didn’t even have the decency to shake my hand before he left the building. Now, if that isn’t disrespect for a fellow worker, I don’t know what is.

All I know is this. Mark Mattress cried and complained to the top guns of VCW to get that tag match. Now if he doesn’t like what I am saying then he can go to them and cry and complain again and request a singles match against me and we will see if I am capable of gaining his respect back, if you know what I mean. I know one thing Mattress; I’ve been through a lot of shit in this business so I think I can take anything you can dish out. The question is, can you?

The only thing I know is that if your 50 or 100 dollars a week is affecting your performance like that, then I think I’ll just take my money and buy more cigarettes because the fact of the matter is this. You may be bigger, you may be stronger, you may be in better shape, but I am still BETTER. And when you were on your back, counting the lights, you found that out first hand. In the words of Rip Malibu --- I’m just keeping it real.

And never forget, “If you ain’t Yard-bird, You ain’t shit !!!” and some of us need to start acting like it.