Steve Corino's LiveJournal

The Corino Chronicles XXXVII: It’s Almost Baseball Time!

 

Spring time is upon us. OK, close. But when pitchers and catchers show up to their teams training facility, it makes me happy. Screw that dumb groundhog that is supposed to or not supposed to see his shadow. Now is that just a Pennsylvania thing or is this dumb tradition nationwide? Please say we are the only nerds that do it.

 

Anyways, this edition of the Corino Chronicles will have a lot of the same dribble I put in most of my columns but it will also be the first annual “Steve Corino Pre-Season MLB Predictions”. Oh yes, a baseball geek like me will give my thoughts on the 2011 season even before the first spring training game is played.

 

As I released on Twitter and Facebook, the “Thumb In The Bum” shirts will go on sale through www.IHateSteveCorino.com on March 1. I am going to do a pre-order next week to save fans money but they will ship on the 1^st. Below is a picture of them (if you are reading on IHateSteveCorino.com). I am pretty proud of the design.

 

I will also be getting some new shirts from OneHourTees.com, the home of Colt Cabana’s t-shirts. As soon as I have the design down pat I will post it on Twitter (@SteveCorino by the way).

 

Last week ended Colby’s freshman year of wrestling for his high school. I am so proud of him. He actually wrestled a few matches at the varsity level. Not bad for a freshman. Now we are going to beef him up for next season!

 

Speaking of Colby, he did an amazing job last weekend at the Pro-Wrestling WORLD-1 event. He wrestled in a 4-way decision match for the U-30 title vs. Lance Bravado, Ty Hagen, and Reiko DMF. All of these guys have more experience then Colby, but he held his own. As a father, it is tough to watch your kid in the ring. I am always worried that he is going to get hurt but he seems to love it and is a natural. Working against and with guys that have the experience like Bravado, Hagen, Rockwell, Shields, Kid America, and more he will get even better.

 

By the way you can follow Colby on Twitter at @CCorino.

 

Last Sunday’s WORLD-1 show was a lot of fun. It was also the first time that I didn’t wrestle while booking. Trying to wrestle and book a show is two tough jobs. I was very lucky when I was booking 1PW in 2006 because I placed myself in a program with Abyss and knew he would lead me, but if I had my way I would have just been back stage the whole time. It is an aspect of the wrestling business that I just love. It’s a never ending learning cycle. Every show you have to see what works, what doesn’t work, who is getting popular, who the fans don’t give two craps about, and more.

 

The Pro Wrestling Respect crew was in Sunday for WrestleBowl. These young guys are some of the hardest workers and their company name is perfect for each and every one them. They all have this great level of respect for the vets, peers, guys from other companies, staff, and the business as a whole. Delirious, and Punk before him should be commended for their progress.

 

I hope that fans that haven’t seen W-1 before can come out to our next event, Sunday, March 20. That day my sister, Allison Danger, will debut her Pro-Wrestling SUN at 2pm and then we will produce our W-1 event at 5pm. Two great shows in one building. Visit www.WORLD1Online.com.

 

As millions of fans witnessed, Monday Night RAW marked the return to the WWE of The Rock. I admit a lot that I do not watch the WWE much. It is not that I am a disgruntled wrestler that never made it to the big time, but it is more that there is a not a lot that is grabbing my attention. It also doesn’t help that two of my favorite shows, Family Guy and Its Always Sunny In Philadelphia, are on at the same time. But there were small rumors that The Rock would be on and I didn’t want to miss it. For me, The Rock was a guy that made me tune in every week during the Attitude era, He didn’t even have to lock up with someone. It was just the electricity that he had. The match he had at WrestleMania against Hulk Hogan was one of my favorite matches of all time. I can barely remember what they did in the ring but it was the beginning of the match that will stay with me. How they waited and reacted to the fans reaction. Whatever you think of professional wrestling, there is no way either The Rock or Hogan could foresee that. That was magic.

 

It was 1999 again in my house at 10:56pm on Monday when I heard “If you smell what The Rock is cooking” played. For almost 20 minutes he had every wrestling fan in the palm of his hand. For kids that only know him as Dwayne Johnson, movie star, this was a chance to see what I loved about pro-wrestling. As much as I love the early 80’s NWA style of wrestling, the Attitude era was just awesome.  Would I love a Rock vs. Cena match? Hell yeah, but I will just be as happy to see The Rock shoot another great promo on the big stage.

 

While we are on The Rock, he was so funny in the “Other Guys” movie. I won’t ruin it for people that haven’t seen but him and Samuel Jackson should star, as the characters they play in this movie, in a movie of their own. Comic genius. A great movie all around and will definitely pick it up on DVD before taking off overseas in a few weeks.

 

I got a chance to read Goldust’s “Cross Rhodes”. Although I bought it as a gift for Roxie Cotton, I read it too. Colby is actually reading it as I write this. The book is just great. Heartbreaking at times but just so well written. I’d love to see Dustin write another book, going into detail on some of his great feuds. But the message of “Cross Rhodes” is there and it is a book that every wrestler AND their families should read. I am proud that Dustin is a friend of mine but more proud of the person he has become.

 

OK, baseball time!

 

I am so excited. In my house, MLB Network is on almost 24 hours a day. Hot Stove and Front Burner replay over and over again but I don’t care. I love it. I love the specials. Hell, this channel even made me a fan of Bob Costas.

 

Off subject a bit, love the commercial for the MLB game commercial with San Francisco Giants closer Brian Wilson. I enjoy when you see the personality of players and especially when they don’t take themselves so seriously. Fun stuff.

 

Another thing I enjoyed about MLB Network this winter is the special they did on the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates “Family” World Series run. ’79 was the first season I can remember as a kid. Seeing Willie Stargell, Dave Parker, Omar, Garner, Madlock, Bibby, and Big John again brought back memories of being a 6 year old kid.

 

But its 2011 and baseball is back. With Albert Pulojs looking like he may walk from the Cardinals at the end of the season OR even be traded, my picks are still pretty solid. It is easy for me just to say the Phillies will win because I am a true homer, but they do have a great chance. But so do many teams. Below are my picks. Send me yours to Steve@CorinoWrestling.com.

 

National League

East

1. Philadelphia Phillies
2. Atlanta Braves
3. Florida Marlins
4. Washington Nationals
5. New York Mets

 

Central

1. Cincinnati Reds
2. Milwaukee Brewers
3. St. Louis Cardinals
4. Chicago Cubs
5. Houston Astros
6. Pittsburgh Pirates

 

West

1. San Francisco Giants
2. Los Angeles Dodgers
3. Colorado Rockies
4. San Diego Padres
5. Arizona Diamondbacks

 

American League

East

1. Boston Red Sox
2. New York Yankees
3. Baltimore Orioles
4. Tampa Bay Rays
5. Toronto Blue Jays

 

Central

1. Minnesota Twins
2. Chicago White Sox
3. Detroit Tigers
4. Kansas City Royals
5. Cleveland Indians

 

West

1. Los Angeles Angels
2. Texas Rangers
3. Oakland A’s
4. Seattle Mariners

 

NL Wild Card: Milwaukee Brewers

AL Wild Card: Chicago White Sox

 

NL Playoffs:

1. Phillies over Brewers in 3
2. Reds over Giants in 5
3. Phillies over Reds in 6

 

AL Playoffs

1. Red Sox over White Sox in 4
2. Angels over Twins in 5
3. Red Sox over Angels in 4

 

World Series

1. Phillies over Red Sox in 7

 

NL MVP: Dan Uggla, Braves

AL MVP: Mark Teixera, Yankees

NL Cy Young: Cole Hamels, Phillies

AL Cy Young: CC Sabathia, Yankees

 

I know, I know “Steve loves The Phillies” and I do but it is going to be hard to beat us down the stretch with The Four Horsemen. I truly believe that guys like Utley, Rollins, and Howard will relax more at the plate because they know that at least four of the five guys in the rotation can give them 7+ innings of 2 run baseball. Plus J-Roll is in a contract year. I expect big things for him.

 

The Braves will be competitive but don’t have enough to comepete. The Nationals will improve and play spoiler a bit. Florida could have a $7 payroll and somehow still scare me. The Mets will be awful. This scandal will hurt the team. I see them being a big seller by the All-Star Break.

 

Milwaukee is going to shock people. They mean business and will keep the Central close. I say it will go down to mid-September with the Reds and Brew Crew trading the top spot. Houston, St. Louis, and Chicago will not be a factor. I wonder if Pulojs will even be a Cardinal by the break. I hope he is because its good for baseball but if the Angels are only ahead by a game or two, I could see a huge blockbuster trade. The Pirates will do their best not to lose 110 games. What a shame.

 

The west is all San Fran. Their pitching is amazing. Second best in baseball and a very, very close second best. The Dodgers under Donnie Baseball will do well but the Giants are for real. Look for Colorado to be competitive.

 

In the American League, the Red Sox just look AWESOME on paper. They made all the right moves and will be hard to beat. The Yankees are just tough but not getting Cliff Lee and Andy Pettite screwing them late in the winter is going to hurt. The O’s will be the most improved team in MLB. I see them going 82-80. The Rays are tough but losing Crawford will move them from a 2^nd place team to a 4^th place team. The Jays are just a good team in a great division. The AL East is just so tough.

 

I love the Twins. Strike that. I love Jim Thome and any team that has Jim Thome is OK by me. They just seem to always be there in the fall. I like them a lot. The Sox and Tigers will both be fighting for the second spot and the wild card spot. I just think the Sox have an edge. The Royals will be the second most improved team in MLB. They are young and going to get younger. Watch out. 2016 is their year. But for now they just should be happy with 75 wins. Cleveland is going to need Major League 4 to boost them back up.

 

The Angels are tough. Vernon Wells will be huge for them. Texas is tough too but I like the Angels by at least 5 games. A’s and Mariners are getting younger but Angels are going to have 93 wins.

 

Lets see what you guys have. I love baseball talk!

 

Until next time, play ball!!!!

The Long Road To Redemption

 

My first Chronicle of 2011. Of course it took a whole month to write it. Why? Well, duh, Wawa has had $1 coffee all of January and I was too busy getting my coffee fix on. Now that is back to $1.48, I have to cut back and make more coffee at home.

 

Another reason I took a long time to write is fans, especially in the United States, are seeing a “change” in Steve Corino, the wrestler. I’ll be honest, it is not easy to try and wrestle and act a different way after being a certain way for so long. Some people are babyfaces and some are heels. I am a Forever Heel. In fact, up until Final Battle I had plans on producing “ForeverHeel” brand shirts. I got used to over the years. 16 years ago, former ECWA promoter Jim Kettner gave me my first chance to “play the bad guy”. That was the night I tasted the forbidden candy and never wanted to go back. It was comfortable. But what you read on www.ROHWrestling.com in my “The 2^nd Generation Is Ready” is all true. Being a heel started to bother me. If you read my Chronicles or know me in my personal life, I am very different then the role I play in the ring. Bare with me though fans. Besides Europe, I have never really had a good babyface run. I was only one in ECW for about 2 ½ months before changing back. Even when I was on Punker’s side in ROH, I was still a d*ck.

 

I’m going to be more like me. And I hope the fans like it. If they don’t, I understand. At my age, its time for me to help out the younger generation more. I love what I am doing in ROH right now because I think these guys need a boost. Plus, selfishly, they are boosting me to get in better ring shape, learn some new stuff, and push myself to be the best I can be in 2011.

 

This “new” Steve Corino persona (I say new but its very Twitter-like to say ‘Real Steve Corino’) is going to be good also because of my behind the scenes work at Pro-Wrestling WORLD-1. As a few people know, my partner, Ryan Kavangh, and I book W-1 with a lot of young talent but now we have the addition of the Pro Wrestling Respect roster to make it even more exciting. I enjoy watching guys like Chris Rockwell, Ryan Sawyer, Bobby Dempsey, Roxie Cotton, Sam Shields, Tommy Thunda, GPS, Bobby Shields, Colby Godwin, and even my own son, Colby grow and learn as wrestlers. Our next event is Sunday, February 13^th at the Knights Of Columbus in Jackson, NJ. Jackson is the home of Six Flags, so go two more exits and enjoy our show! We start at 2pm and we are done before 4:30 so that people can get home. REVIEWERS: Get your pencil pushing asses out to the show and write about it! LOL.

 

On a side note, please tell me how you go to a show and write about it in such detail. That’s not a shot. I go to Colby’s high school wrestling matches and I don’t know if it is A.D.D or I just get lost in the excitement, but I could never write it in detail. Wrestlers say they hate fans that review but we don’t. We just hate the ones that bury us! J

 

But back to WORLD-1. Come on out next Sunday afternoon to have some fun. Tickets are cheap ($15, $10, & $5) and there are no bad seats. Get more information at www.WORLD1Online.com.

 

My first two shows of the year and the start of my “Pro-Wrestling Recovery” tour took place in Richmond and Charlotte. If you follow me on Twitter (@SteveCorino and if you aren’t, why not?), you could tell I was very nervous about the matches and reactions. Everything I wrote is very real, sometimes too real, and I think show a bit of my insecurities but I also think that fans need to know what we go through sometimes. My Pro-Wrestling Recovery is a step at a time and I appreciate the well wishes (and the nay-sayers) who took the time and wrote me.

 

The Philadelphia events marked the end of the HDNet television deal for ROH. When I first found out that ROH and HDNet were parting ways I got concerned. I won’t lie. Both Jerry Lynn and I were there when ECW lost TNN (now Spike) and it was pretty much the end of the company. But this time, no one seemed concerned. Cary, Syd, Hunter, and the guys were all upbeat about the future of the company. And to think I already had the joke ready, “What do Steve Corino and Roderick Strong have in common?” Answer later (so I know you will read the rest of the Chronicle). HDNet, even though they have a small viewership due to availability, was a great starting point for Ring Of Honor. Trust me, it definitely didn’t hurt. For me personally, coming from ECW and ZERO-ONE (now ZERO1) where TV matches were done just like house show matches and then clipped, I had to learn how to do TV style matches. And trust me, its not easy. My first few TV matches were drizzling. But Adam Pearce and now Hunter had faith in me. More faith then I had. Plus the boys had faith in me too and it helped me learn. The guy that doesn’t get enough credit though is Dave Lagana. This is a guy that not only cared about the TV product, but he cared about the TV crew AND the wrestlers. Without Dave, ROH would have just been an unorganized product of great wrestling. He put it together for TV, which is not an easy task when you are taping six weeks at a time, and with the amazing minds of Adam and Hunter, made it make sense. Thank you Dave. And thank you, HDNet crew. Scott Ferrier in particular was a big help behind the scenes. Finally, sorry to the camera man that both Kevin and I accidently hit on back-to-back tapings. I know you were pissed, but we didn’t mean to hit you.

 

And while we are talking about Dave, make sure you visit his site, I Want Wrestling, at www.IWantWrestling.com. Lots of good stuff over there.

 

What is next for ROH? Who knows. I’d like to see them (us) get on a new and more available network, but the reality is that we just need the same great fans checking out the product on the DVDs until that time. This is such a mega talented crew and they deserve to be showcased to the fullest.

 

Last Sunday was fun. For the first time in YEARS, we purchased a pay-per-view and sat to watch the Royal Rumble. Claudio Castagnoli, Sara Del Ray, Roxie Cotton, Colby, and I had a blast watching (and Tweeting) as fans. I thought the whole PPV was wonderful. Edge-Ziggler was a strong opener, Miz, who can do NO wrong in my book, vs. Orton had a great ending and the Divas match went from a totally disappointing start (I was hoping Amazing Kong was the 4^th) to a real entertaining match. I was upset that the fans didn’t really give it a chance.

 

When it came time for the Rumble, the five of us picked eight random numbers out of my Phillies helmet. I don’t know if anyone reading this has ever done that but it has to be the equivalent to a Super Bowl block pool.  Here is how it broke down:

 

Steve: 1 (Punk), 5 (Regal), 10 (Chavo), 11 (Henry), 12 (JTG), 28 (Shemeus), 36 (Jackson), & 38 (Del Rio).

 

Colby: 4 (Ryder), 7 (Morrison), 14 (Masters), 23 (Hornswoggle), 30 (Barrett), 35 (Big Show), 37 (Santino), & 39 (Orton).

 

Roxie: 6 (DiBiase), 13 (Hennig), 17 (Koslov), 18 (Truth), 20 (Ryan), 24 (Kidd), 26 (Kofi), & 27 (Swagger).

 

Claudio: 2 (Bryan), 8 (Yatsu), 9 (Harris), 22 (Cena), 25 (Slater), 31 (Ziggler), 34 (Riley), & 40 (Kane)

 

Sara: 3 (Gabriel), 15 (Otunga), 16 (Tyler), 19 (Khali), 21 (Booker), 29 (Rey), 32 (Diesel), & 33 (McIntyre).

 

To say it was fun, it would be an understatement. Just five fans hanging out eating pizza (well Colby, Roxie, and I were!) and enjoying wrestling. The way it should be.

 

Answer: “We both killed companies as World champion!”

 

If you visit my site often, or even at least once in the last two weeks, you will see a YouTube trailer of a project that Rob Dimension and I are working on called “The Extreme Odd Couple”. Basically it will be web shorts of us being us. If you follow us on Twitter (He is @RobDimension) you will see the battles we have. This war has been going on for 12 years and now we will bring it to the Internet. You’ll be able to watch them on both my site and his, www.RobDimension.com. The cool people can come to my site and the dorks can go to his!

 

OK, that’s it for now but I will keep trying to update the blog as much as possible but don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @SteveCorino and keep visiting www.IHateSteveCorino.com.

The Corino Chronicles XXXV: Anything But Wrestling Talk

I wonder if that title turns people on to the commentary or off. Well, if you came here for 100% no-wrestling talk I lied. It won't be much but I do need to fill space! And I promise if it is wrestling talk, it will be fun.

I hate football. Not soccer. Don't really care for that either but I really hate American football. Just do. For gosh sakes (saving my cursing for later), my hometown teams Quarterback is a dog-killer and it doesn't bother the people. Most of these Eagles fans would kill their own dogs to win a Super Bowl. They are nerds. Michael Vick playing for the Eagles doesn't bother me.

Why? Because the guy paid his debt to society. He was found guilty of an awful crime, went to prison, and now is back.

Do I like him? Once again I hate football so he already has a strike against him, and no. I don't like him. I love my dog and I think it takes a weird person to kill a dog for sport. I also don't hunt and don't get how someone gets the thrill out of killing a deer (i.e. Shawn Michaels. It wasn't a shot, just showing a comparison of how people change. Stay with me.) I eat meat so I am kinda a hypocrite, but like Shawn Michaels people should give Michael Vick a second chance. If you watch Shawn's DVDs he talks about being a jerk and his demons. He came back, showed he changed and was a good person, and is almost universally respected.

HBK also didn't kill dogs. Vick has a few more years of redemption for me, but I'm willing to give him a chance. I still won't watch football.

Luckily I have the MLB Network to keep me from going nuts from the beginning of November to the middle of February. But with the pleasure of being able to watch the winter meetings, comes the displeasure of Jayson Werth leaving the Phillies and signing with the Nationals.

OK, OK, I get it. $126 million over seven years is amazing and of course I wouldn't turn it down. But I am not a baseball player. I'm a fan. A Phillies fan. How can I be a real, diehard Phillies fan and wish Werth good luck? He's an enemy now. Hell, he even chose a team in the National League East. He didn't pick the West Coast. He didn't pick the American League. He is in our division. 19 times over the course of 2011, I am going to have to see his now-awful face. 19 times. All the times I cheered him will be overshadowed by the amount of boos I will give him. He is now the heel. He just turned on my team. He isn't like Jim Thome, who left the territory and is treated like a hero.

He and the Nationals are enemies.

Would I cheer him if he returned to the Phillies one day? Shit yeah. I'm a Phillies fan!

Its almost Christmas time and I am not even close to being ready. And when I say not even close, I mean I haven't bought anything yet. Call me a procrastinator and I will say you are right. After this weekend I will scramble and get angry at the lines and tell myself that next year I will start early.

People always ask me why I wait so long and I'd say its 80% procrastination and 20% that I hate waiting on giving the gifts. They sit under the tree and I get all antsy in my pantsy waiting for Colby to open them. Oh yeah, I don't have a tree yet either!

While I have everyone's attention if you are not following me on Twitter DO IT! And follow Colby, Allison, Ares, and WORLD-1 also.

Steve: @SteveCorino

Colby: @CCorino

Allison: @AllisonDanger

Ares: @AresWrestler

WORLD-1: @WORLD1Wrestling

It does make me chuckle and the amount of followers Colby has. At last look he had 413 followers. His tweets are pretty funny. He is like a junior comedian. Pisses his mother off but I think its funny.

And please add @WORLD1Wrestling to Twitter. I have taken a more active role in the booking and our December 5 show was one of the best we have ever done. Now with the influx of Pro Wrestling Respect wrestlers coming in starting in February, it will even get better..

2011 will be a fun year. W-1 is going to do “concept shows” before the regular WORLD-1 events. They do it in Japan a lot, especially NOAH, but I actually got the idea after a long night of drinking with Riki Choshu. Yep, I name-dropped.

He had just taken over the book at New Japan Pro-Wrestling and told me about the idea of running smaller shows called Lock Up. They would feature different stories and also help the younger guys get more experience. Granted this was seven years ago and it has taken me this long to get it going.

Basically every show or two a different wrestler will have a chance to produce their own “brand”. For example (and going how we type up press releases):

WORLD-1 Sports presents “Bobby Dempsey Produced Pro-Wrestling DEMPSEY”

2pm

then

WORLD-1 Sports presents “Pro-Wrestling WORLD-1 Dead End”

4pm

That wrestler would then get to promote, book, and produce that show their way. It will teach the W-1 and Respect wrestlers a different side of the pro-wrestling industry. And for the fans, it should be a lot of fun. It will make W-1 more of a developmental company for Ring Of Honor so that Hunter can concentrate on ROH more. It is not to say that there will not be Respect shows. There will be. W-1 will just help add to the Respect wrestlers experiences. Come out of have some fun!

Also I am happy to announce via Allison Danger that Yoshiyuki Nakamura from First On Stage (Pro-Wrestling ZERO1) in Japan has give his blessing for us to re-open Pro-Wrestling SUN in the States.

The following is what I stole off our WORLD1Online.com site.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Pro-Wrestling SUN was a women's company that First On Stage produced for two years in Japan and quietly went into hibernation when its top two stars, Hikaru and Seki Maemura, retired. The WORLD-1 Women's title, EWA Women's title, now defunct AWA Superstars of Wrestling title, and WDB Mixed tag team titles were recognized.


Allison Danger will serve as the 2011 President of the new SUN and plans to run events before the regular WORLD-1 events. The WORLD-1 Womens title will be the recognized title for SUN and Ms. Danger has not announced if there will be a tag team title.

'Being the President of the new Pro-Wrestling SUN will give me the creative outlet that I have been looking for. Women's pro-wrestling in the States over the last two years has been on the rise and with SUN we will have a chance to do something different.

Both SHIMMER and WSU have done an amazing job of bringing real women's professional wrestling to a new auidence and with SUN we will try different things.

In no way are we trying to compete with the other women's organziations and I look forward to working with both companies to help everyone. I believe 2011 will be the year of womens pro-wrestling.'

The first event will take place Sunday afternoon, March 20 at the Knights Of Columbus in Jackson, NJ with a 2pm belltime.

So much for no wrestling talk. Oh well.

Let's talk wrestling. In fact lets play Q & A with Steve Corino. Some questions I will make up, others I will steal off the ROHForum.com message board.

Q: Why is there so much Miz-hate on the Internet?

I don't get it. This kid is amazing on the mic, looks great, and I think he is the PERFECT choice to be the WWE champion. I don't tune into RAW much but if I do see The Miz I don't turn it off. I loved the match he had a few weeks ago with Jerry Lawler.

I hope he keeps the title through WrestleMania. He's a great choice for a long-term champion. He just needs a new title belt. That spinner-style belt has always just been yuck.

(From the ROH Message Board)

Smell writes: any chance this rivalry will be and made me renued? in 2011

Steve writes: 100% no. Wait, let me say it again-NO. No chance, hasn't been talked about, and I am sure neither one of us wants to do it. My feud with Homicide was great (sans the final match) and although it never gets recognized, it did put him a step up. I am very proud of the feud, but its over. It didn't end the way I wanted to, but I also don't want to go back and re-write history. Bitter Friends Stiffer Enemies and War Of The Wire were brutal matches that left us both hurt. In the words of “Seabass”-please no.

Q: Step Brothers or Dude Where's My Car?

I can't believe there was even a debate on this one. If you were following my tweets last Friday you could see that Colby's girlfriend and I debated it while Colby competed in his wrestling tournament. Granted she is 15 and doesn't know good humor yet, but I couldn't believe the amount of fans that voted Dude Where's My Car. Come on.

(From the ROH Message Board)

Choasphere writes: I hope not the only one in saying this, but I really would love to see Corino stay in ROH even if Steen leaves after Final Battle. He's just got so much talent when it comes to promos and angles that he could really put that to use with one of the younger talents.

Say Steen does leave, Corino could search for a new protege and that could be none other than Kyle O'Reilly!!!

I think they'd make a brilliant pairing.

Thoughts please people

Steve writes: Let's hope that Steen isn't leaving. I enjoy my role in ROH. I have said it before to Kevin , Adam, Cary, and anyone else who wants to listen that 2010 has been the most fun I ever had in pro-wrestling. Being a supporting player in the instant classic Kevin Steen vs. El Generico feud has been awesome for me.

At this stage of my career I don't need to be a major player but I do believe that I have a place in ROH. I'll never be Davey Richards or Roderick Strong in the ring, but he will never be Steve Corino on the microphone. I also think that I can help the younger guys get to the next level. After almost 17 years in wrestling, I have done a lot and learned a lot. I think I can help ROH.

Q: Will you return to Japan for ZERO1?

I wish I could say yes but I don't know. Right now the company is in a tough time and it is not economically feasible to bring me over as much as they did from 2001-2007. ZERO1 will always be my home and I loved it, but I don't see myself being back there anytime soon. Maybe one day.

(From the ROH Message Board)

TelkEvolon writes: What would everyone like to see get done with these 3 "ROH Legends" next year?
I say heel faction! : P

Steve writes: No way. The three of us have nothing in common character wise. And let me reiterate what other people wrote: “Corino is NOT a ROH legend.” I'm not. I have done a lot and a lot in ROH but to me a company legend is someone that spent most of their time or a certain era in that company. Although I have been in ROH a long time over the years, I took a lot of time off to concentrate on different things. If you said I was a ZERO-ONE legend, that would be more accurate. Not really true, but more accurate then an ROH legend.

Homicide is Homicide and Colt is Colt. The three of us shouldn't be together. In fact the feuds that we all had with each other over the years should keep us away from each other.

ROH Legend-no, Pro-Wrestling Legend-Hell yeah :)

(From the ROH Message Board)

Yokosabin writes: I do not order many events live because I have a very limited budget so I prefer getting the DVDs to ordering them live since I get to keep the disk. However, I really feel like I need to see Steen/Generico live in order to get the full experience. What should I do?

Steve writes: It's $15. So cheap to see one of the best cards of the year. I am one of the cheapest people I know and I would order it if I wasn't going to be there! Sell some aluminum cans and then sit your can in front of your computer. Enjoy

That's it for me for this edition of the Corino Chronicles. In the next edition (probably after Christmas but you never know) I will discuss a release date for my autobiography, ROH's involvement, Thumb In The Bum merchandise (Oh yeah), and more W-1 stuff.

Thanks for reading. Don't be afraid to pass it around!

Happy Holiday's to everyone. Except if you are on my list.

September 25, 2010
Marburg, Germany

There is something about the air in Europe that makes me miss Finland so much. Maybe it smells cleaner or maybe it's just the memories. But the air is different here then in the States.

It's a crisp, Saturday morning here in Marburg. A gorgeous, small city that looks like it hasn't had a new building built in 50 or so years. All of the homes look cozy, the hotels feel like bed and breakfasts, and no one speaks English. Sure it is tough to communicate but its authentic. Real Europe. Inspiring in fact. How so? Well I am writing aren't I?

Things were very different when I was here this time last year. I was still getting my life and self-confidence back together after Puerto Rico plus it was a last ditch effort to save my marriage. My then-wife and I had a wonderful weekend in this city. In all of the years we had been together, we barely took any pictures together. Our weekend in Marburg was different. Maybe we just knew that was it. Although painful to deal with, the memories are something I would never trade in and forget. I may be American/Canadian, but I will always have a Suomi heart.

Sleeping in is a concept that is foreign to me anymore. Almost everyday I am up and out around four or five in the morning preparing for life after pro-wrestling.

I am very fortunate that I still make a decent living through this great sport of ours. Especially without ever being a WWE guy. But I can't wrestle forever. I'll try but it's impossible. At 37 years old and wrestling for over 16 ½ years, I know that I can still go hard, but it won't last forever. This year in ROH has really been a re-birth for me. I never wanted to be that guy that hangs on too long. Don't over read into this as I am retiring (Hell, I tried that in '01 and '08 and couldn't stay away) because I am having more fun now then I ever had. Sure I hurt more with every match but this past year has been the greatest year of my career professionally.

Being involved in what I consider the Feud Of The Year between Kevin Steen and El Generico is like taking a step back in time when feuds in pro-wrestling lasted nine to twelve months.

Older fans and I can complain about today's feuds that last two hours or till the next pay—per-view, but it is just the evolution of the industry. The fact that the fans have not only stayed glued to this feud is amazing to me, but uplifting to know that all four of us are being appreciated for the pain and emotion we have put into this program.

Before I get off the subject though, I need and want to publicly thank Adam Pearce for his hard work that he has/had done in all of this. Adam is one of the good guys in this sport. He walks that fine line between the office and the boys. He fought and defended Kevin and I more times then I can count. Even when we were wrong. And we have been wrong a lot. He is a guy that can yell, scream, and argue with, but then give you a hug five minutes later. He would tell me the hard truth, even when I didn't want to hear it. But he had faith in me to return to ROH, when I didn't think I could contribute. He is a leader and a man I would go to war for.

Once again don't try to read into this and think that I have no confidence in either Hunter Johnston or Jim Cornette. Being the booker for ROH is the hardest job but both Gabe and Adam set the bar high. Hunter is very creative and will do a great job.

I do think that Adam Pearce would be the perfect producer for TNA wrestling. He knows how to talk to executives but also knows how to say no. That is one of the most important aspects that fans don't get to see. As a booker, you want to make everyone happy but it is impossible. Adam is always upfront and honest. I hope one day I get to work either with him or for him again. Thank you Adam.

As I mentioned earlier, time restraints and responsibilities have kept me from writing as much as I would like to. It sucks because, even though I am not a good writer, it is a passion for me. Even a therapy of sorts for me.

I have been working on an autobiography for the last five or so years featuring all the fun stories of my life and career. Will it ever be done? One day. I sound like Brian from Family Guy regarding his novel huh? I will most likely self-publish the book so that it sounds like how I talk. Grammatical errors, run-on sentences, and babbling. Exactly like how I talk and write. It's not perfect, but it's me.
I know a lot of people who didn't enjoy Dusty Rhodes' book because it didn't sound like him talking. It is a darn shame because all of Dusty's stories are not only amazing, but amazing in how he tells them. When he was running Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling, we would drive together and he would tell me about the old Florida promotion or how he came up with ideas. I wish the book would have had those stories. I want my book to be a book that if you close your eyes, you could picture me telling this story.

One of my other favorite things to do on the road is read. Yep, I am a HUGE nerd. I brought three books on this tour of Germany and as I write this I am already through one and a half with two days to go. I knew I should have brought that other book!

The first book I picked up was the Jeffrey Ross kinda-autobiography “I Only Roast The Ones I Love”. Earlier in the week I procrastinated about spending $25 on the hardcover version but when I saw it at the airport for $15 (in paperback) I knew it was a winner.

Ross is one of my favorite comics at the moment and this book made me like him even more. I have always loved comedy and after doing stand-up for the first time in March, I started to really study it. What an art form it is to make people laugh. I try to get to as many open-mic nights as I can with my busy schedule. I am no where near Cabana good, but I try. Of course you will NEVER see my list them on my schedule, Facebook, or Twitter because I am not ready. But it is a lot of fun. Like cutting a promo but not having to get beat up in the process. My comedy style is more stories then one-liners. No wrestling though.

The next book I am working on is “For Phillies Fans Only”, which is a collection of stories about my beloved team by real fans.

Much to my surprise, and it shouldn't be, on pages 26-27, is a great story from my writing mentor Rob Mattaliano. Mr. Matt, as his students called him, got me through high school as my Grammar tutor. It was through him that I discovered my love for reading and writing. To this day, every time that I buy the Philadelphia Daily News I think of him.

I imagine I will have this book done by belltime so hopefully my pal, Joe Legend, gets to the building early to entertain me!

The last book I have is by my favorite author, Richard Matheson, called “Button Button”. “Button Button” was made into a movie last year called “The Box”. I haven't seen it and won't until I read the book. This book is a collection of short stories.

I first started enjoying Matheson's work as a young kid when I saw “Somewhere In Time” with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. Somewhere In Time is based off the novel “Bid Time Return” and is a book that I had searched for for almost 20 years (It is out of print) before finding a used copy on Amazon.com late last year.

In a small, nerdy fact I actually named my finisher “Eternal Dream” (Sliding Lariat) after a story in “Bid Time Return”. Out nerd me wrestling fans!

Matheson's other work ranges from “What Dreams May Come” and “I Am Legend” (which is actually the next Steve Corino t-shirt coming soon). Highly recommend his books (and my shirts!).

Although I don't speak a lick of German, I like German TV. Last night I watched the classic movie “Psycho”. The dubbing was perfect and even though I couldn't understand a word of it, I loved it. I liked it better in German then English.

Right now I am watching President Obama in a great extended interview on BBC.

I love Obama. Do I think he is doing a good job? Oh hell, does any politician do a good job? I think he is doing the best he can and I enjoy hearing him talk.

He doesn't use big words, he doesn't sugarcoat anything, and he seems to really care. All things that George Bush couldn't do. Obama could be full of shit for all I know but like a sheep, I will follow him.

The other thing I enjoy on German TV is MTV. Unlike MTV in the States, German MTV actually plays music videos. I just watched Eminem's “I Love The Way You Lie” and it is my new favorite song. It's not only good, but freaking Charlie from LOST is in the video! It is so ironic that I would see him in this video because I sat on the plane over here next to a guy that looked just like Charlie. I almost asked him to sing “You Are Everybody”. Too much? Hey, I was a big fan.

For some dumb reason I didn't bring my laptop on the road with me this weekend. I did though bring my PS2. Yeah, yeah I know “Why don't you have a PS3 yet?” One, its none of your stinking business (hehe) and the main reason is that I have about 20 games left on my MLB The Show season. But dumb me brought my Finnish adapter for electric and not my German one. Why can't we all have the same damn plug? Without the computer and PS2, I get a chance to read and write so its all good.

Oh nice! “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” by IZ was just on. One of my favorites. On my MP3 player (Shut up, I know) I never get tired of “Somewhere Over The Rainbow/What A Wonderful World”. Reminds me of great times in Hawaii.

Speaking of Hawaii, it is awesome to see that one of my mentors, Mr. Wrestling II, is on the road to recovery. I wanted to catch up with him at this years NWA Legends Fest but I wasn't invited. I hope he feels better soon. He is a kind man and a real person that you can look up to. When he offered me the Mr. Wrestling 3 mask, it came with great responsibilities. I really wish that the gimmick would have taken off because I would enjoy to do. It is not dead yet. Not by a long shot. Look for more Mr. Wrestling 3, the masked wrestler, in 2011. Get well soon Mr. Wrestling II!!!

Ah shit, this is going to be a long chronicle! Right now I am around 2000 words and I have a ton to go. Hope you filled up your coffee!!!

I do most of my best writing on the road. As much as I enjoy being on the road, I have equally been enjoying having a lot of events close enough to drive. Most times I drive with the Kings Of Wrestling, who not only do I consider the best tag team on the PLANET right now, but awesome travel partners.

Being on the road by myself can be lonely, but also good to recharge the inner batteries. Of course this weekend is tough due to the memories of this city, but its cleansing.

Words can not describe how excited I am about my next tour in Germany because Colby will be with me. There is nothing more fun then being on the road with him.

***Note: The following I wrote at 4am on Sunday after a fun night of drinking! LOL. I laugh because I have great handwriting and if you could see how I wrote this, you would laugh! Here is why people that are drinking too much should never write! Enjoy

“I am not a good dancer. Tonight, me and a guy who I don't know. I think he helps out at GSW. He had a “Stussy” hat if that helps. We, along with the other GSW boys, found a “Flower Night In Marburg”. I guess it was a 60's night but they played 70's music more. I drank too much. Any funny stories escape me at the moment, although I met the German Gallagher. No shit. The GSW announcer took a pic of us together. He did not break any watermelons. Marburg is a great city. Gorgeous. I wish Saana was here with me to have fun. She would have enjoyed this night.”

Crazy right? I am not a good drinker!

Sunday, September 27 2:30pm
Waiting might be the worst part of my job. OK, the constant pain is worse but waiting is a close second. That is why I enjoy driving myself instead of flying. Master of my domain (king of the castle).

Checkout time was noon. I got in around 4am, up by 8am for breakfast, and while I got ready “I Love The Way You Lie” played 22 times between videos and ring tone commercials but I still like the song.

I was surprised that I didn't have a hangover, took a long shower, cried that my arm was on fire, and checked out.
Now I have been sitting here for two and a half hours waiting for someone to pick me up.

I can't complain too much because I finished my Phillies book. So good. I can't wait to listen to the Harry Kalis CD. I'm even going to send over a few Phillies stories to the author with the hope of getting it published in the second edition. Sounds like a “mark” right? Damn right it does and I am proud of it.

Well, since I have time let me go back to last night. No, not the bar scene (we already went over that).

Last night was a fun and interesting night at GSW.

GSW is taping their first set of iTV out of Marburg, which happens to be their main city. Their fans are used to a certain style of GSW wrestling and this is a bit different. Not worse by any stretch of the imagination but different. When you tape for TV, the matches have to be shorter and certain people need to be a focus instead of a certain match.

Being a veteran of screwing up ROH TV matches over the last year I gave the crew a little “This isn't what you should do. You should do it this way.” speech.

When I arrived, my partner-in-crime Joe Legend, was already there and armed with material that would keep me laughing the rest of the night.

Looking at the lineup sheet I noticed I was scheduled to face Joe in round one of the GSW title tournament (My brother-in-law, Ares, had to vacate the title).

I have wrestled Joe twice before in good matches but not for about three years. Over the years we have become closer and I thought it might be hard to wrestle someone that makes me laugh so much. I was wrong. That big lug hit me with an elbow in the first second of the match that rocked my world.

By the way Joe, F your birthday! LOLOLOL

2:45 Where the hell is someone?

The match was good and my first since getting injured at the ROH iPPV two weeks ago (More on that later). It wasn't big news, nor should it be, but I had tore my left tricep in the double chain match. I don't exactly know when it happened but the tear is small enough to work through for the time being. Main my elbow is killing me though. Instead of taking six weeks off, like the doctor prescribed, I took one. Hurray for stupidity.

And while I am talking about the ROH iPPV, not to sound like a baby but “Kill The Kid”? Really? You classy New Yorkers couldn't think of anything better? Figures.

Kevin and Colby loved it. I thought it was stupid. I never liked New York City. Never will.

There is one “fan” that I really hate. I wish ROH would stop selling tickets to a guy named Paul Whogivesashitwhathislastnameis. Known as the Green Latern Fan. Fuck this guy. Even fans chanting “Kill The Kid” is less annoying then this guys face. This guy is a piece of shit. I don't know how much he spends on tickets for him and his boyfriend/girlfriend (I couldn't tell) but I would wish he would save that money, buy a gun, and shoot himself in the face. He can time it too. While he is dying, he'll realize that no gives a shit about his timing of the matches.

Ohhh, back to GSW. Sorry, I got off the subject.

Joe Legend should be doing stand up. I know it is tough because he lives in Germany but he is up there with Big Sal, Chuck LeGrande, Cabana, and Kevin Nash as one of the funniest guys I have ever met. But his elbow is still stiff. Easy up Otani!

I also wrestled in the bonus match against UK's Martin Stone. As I have written before, Stone is one of my favorites in Europe. If 1PW would have continued, and I would have continued booking, Stone would have been one of my top guys.

Wrestling two matches with a torn tricep and something wrong in my elbow (I hope its just inflammed) is not easy. As I write this, the pain is pretty intense.

3pm How can they not know I am not at the building? When does the show start?

Ahhh, time for some more reading.

7:03 EST, September 27
Four hours into the flight home and I haven't slept a wink...since Saturday.

Last night I checked into a real nice Frankfurt airport hotel but couldn't get comfortable. Left elbow/tricep is a mess and my right hip feels like I am 73, not 37. What is wrong with me? I didn't realize that the more I hit my finisher, the more I come down hard on that hip. Geez, I am falling apart.

And if you were wondering, I finally got picked up at 4pm!

12:37EST, September 27
Ohhh, New Yorkers. How I hate you all.

I arrived at JFK a bit late because a woman had a heart attack on the flight. Yep, a freaking heart attack. Well, she had it while we were boarding but it still made us late getting in.

I am on a train FINALLY back to home and right before I boarded the train I grabbed a coffee from Seattle's Best Coffee (I sure hope not). I was just too lazy to walk 100 meters to the Starbucks. The woman in front of me looks at my (way cool) Phillies retro jersey and says “Shame our guys creamed your guys.” Our guys? You mean the Mets?

I don't condone violence. OK, a bit, but I knew I had to be diplomatic in this situation because all Mets fans are dumb so I said, “Easy lady. We'll see you in the playoffs. OHHHH wait, you won't make it again. Enjoy your coffee.”

Worst part is that she was HOT. Like piss in a microwave hot. But I had to defend my team. Plus how could I date a Mets fan? I wouldn't be able to live with myself!

Well, that is what I had written from Germany to now. As I write this, it is 1pm on Monday morning, October 4. I am still recovering from the ROH TV weekend. That is a lie because I drive home every night so I don't really recover.

TV was fun this weekend. I wish I would have been able to do more but I did the most I could.

As I wrote before, my elbow and tricep were in pain but I didn't know the extent until I had to go to the hospital on Thursday morning.

When I arrived home from Germany, I noticed that the tempature in my left elbow compared to my right was totally different. A big difference. I knew something was wrong but I procrastinated on getting it looked at again.

Finally on Thursday morning, one of the ladies at the gym told me that I looked pale. Add that to the night before I couldn't keep anything down and was even throwing up my morning coffee.

As I went to the hospital they immediately took three veils (Is that the right wording) of fluid from my elbow and had to hook me up to an IV with two bags of antibiotics. While I was getting a little color in my face they asked me to explain what happened in my arm. As I explained my wrestling injury, which is weird to do to a nurse and doctor, they asked if my elbow had been X-Rayed. I didn't think anything of it because only my tricep hurt after the iPPV.

Once they did the X-ray they noticed that my elbow was actually fractured too. Nice right?

So I am on antibiotics for the infection and I am trying to work the next few weeks with the tear and fracture. There is no way in hell that I am going to miss GSW on October 9 in Berlin or anything ROH related.

October 16 is the I Quit Match between Colt Cabana and myself. If you think for one minute that I am going to let this arm work against me you are wrong. The pressure on me for this match is going to drive me to do stuff that will push the limits of anything that I have ever done. The injury is only going to make me more focused on making this match the one people remember. Look at the card. Stacked. Cabana and I have the hardest job in the world that night. There are even a few people on the ROH Message Board that are “disappointed” in our last two singles matches. That is fine. That is your opinions. Go into Chicago with a clear mind though. People will remember this match. I promise.

Until next Chronicle, suck on it New York.

Go Phillies!

The Corino Chronicles XXXII: On My Soapbox
August 7, 2010

Before I start (and offend), I would like to wish my parents a very happy 39th wedding anniversary! 39 years old? Geez, I can't get over three. I suck.

My writing has been sparse at best lately due to having a few different projects going on at once. I do write everyday, but don't update The Chronicles as much as I would like to. Although the plan is to make mini-Chronicles and try to update every day or so. With the popularity of Twitter and Facebook it is hard to direct people to the website daily. I will try though!

In this edition, like the title says, I am going to go on my soapbox about issues in the world today. Stuff like:

Gay Marriage in California (and a repeat of how it could help stimulate the economy)
The mosque that is being built in New York City near Ground Zero.
Weed research
The BP mess (with a funny story from an actual owner)
A-Rod's 600th Home-run
My severe hatred for Rob Dimension
W-1 Hashimoto Tournament
...and...
How my idea for TNA would bring ratings (well not really)

I know that people from other countries read this Chronicle and don't know how it works in your country, but in this backward country of ours the state-recognized marriage between two homosexuals is banned in most States. Stupid right?

It's 2010 people. Why do we want to forbid people that are in love to be married? That is what it is right? Who gives a crap if they are the same sex. Do we not want gay people to marry for a legit reason? Ah don't get me on what it says about homosexuality in the Bible. The Bible is a book. So is Shoeless Joe. I could go on but I don't want to lose my high percentage of born again Christian fans. The point is that this is supposed to be the United States of America. Aren't we the country of freedom? Why this piss do we care who marries who? Is it all right that there are arranged marriages but not gay marriages?

A few years ago (I think) I wrote a Chronicle about how I believe that allowing gay marriages across the country would help stimulate the economy. How? Glad you asked.

Note: I couldn't find which Chronicle my diatribe was in so I may repeat a bunch of stuff.

It is estimated that nine to ten percent of the US population is gay. That's 28 million people. Yep, 28,000,000 people. That's a pretty big number. Say ten to 15 percent of those 28 million want to get married. It's probably a bigger number but I have been married twice, thus making me anti-marriage for everyone, and will estimate low. OK, ten percent is easier to figure out. That's 1.4 million marriages. For those of you that are married, think about what even a cheap wedding costs. Now it might be a stereotype (and my attempt at a joke) but aren't gays known for doing things a bit over the top? Say a wedding would cost them upwards of $10,000. That is not $10,000 they are going to spend outside the US. $14,000,000 back in the economy. That is money that would get spent on a building, reception hall, flowers, food, condiments (maybe even condoms), etc. That doesn't include the honeymoon, which would spread money to the airlines, hotels, and Vegas of course. Say $5000 for the honeymoon. Now we are at another $7,000,000 to add to the $14 mil and you get $21,000,000.

YES, that is right. Dumb 'ol pro-rassler Steve Corino just figured out how to help the economy.

But lets be honest, why the hell do we need to even debate this? Let people be. I hate the institution of marriage. In my opinion, and the only one that matters ;), is that marriage is a tradition that's time has come and gone. People don't get married forever anymore. I've been married twice and both ended. It sucks. It's no fun to get divorced. If gay people want to get married, let em. They aren't hurting anyone. They don't make your property value go down. They aren't messy. So they like the same equipment. WHO CARES.

It's 2010, get over it.

Why are people up in arms that there is going to be a Islamic Cultural Center built at Ground Zero?

Once again, don't people in the US have the freedom of religion? Ahhh, because a few Islamic radicals attacked the United States in 2001, we now shun the whole Muslim world? There are 1.5 billion Muslims in the world? Are they all terrorists? No. Once again, religion is a touchy subject (and that wasn't a Catholic joke) with me and pretty much everyone. Believe what you want!!! Which religion is right? Probably none of them, but we all have our beliefs and we are entitled to them.

Maybe if we took the time to learn a bit about Judaism (reading Colt Cabana's site does not count), Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Shinto, or even Scientology we would be more open to everyone's beliefs.

It's 2010, open your minds.

Medical Marijuana? If it's natural and it can help, what the piss are we thinking about fighting this? OHHHHH, because the government doesn't know how to make money off it. But now they do.

Tobacco causes cancer and its still legal. In 2006 alone 17,941 people died in alcohol related accidents. That is one year. In seven years, there has been just over 4400 deaths in the Iraq War. That's a Phucking WAR! But alcohol is still legal. My point is that I wouldn't want to see my kid smoke up, but why would I vote down or be against something that is going to help people. Treat marijuana like medicine. That is what it is right? I know if I need a painkiller I have to call up Dr. T and get a prescription. Do that with weed. Will it stop black marketing? Nope. But how many people do you know that can get drugs that they don't need on the black market.

Medical Marijuana will once again create jobs, which will help the economy.

It's 2010 and for some reason Butt-Love and Doobage could save this country.

Wow, I thought this would be a quick Chronicle. I was wrong. Hmmmm, next topic.

This one will not be an economy helper but how many people used BP during the 100 days that their explosion caused the Gulf Of Mexico look like Rob Dimension's toilet (He doesn't flush. He's weird.)? This company made excuses and sat on the fact that their product will be responsible for killing wildlife for years. How could you use them?

I consider myself a very laid back person (aka LAZY). Most times I like to multi-task and get coffee plus cheap gas at my local Wawa, which is 2.9 miles from my house (yes, I count). There is a BP 1.1 miles that has the same prices (not the same delicious coffee. Wait, time to make a pot. Stay there.) and I even like the guy that owns it. He grew up in India and Toronto (us Canadians stick together...some of the time) plus I got over with him when I told him I was friends with Tiger Jeet Singh (Name dropperrrrrrr). For over 100 days I would not go to his station but I finally decided that my boycott was over. Most of the reason was that I was really out of gas and didn't want to role the dice over a little oil spill.

Raji is happy to see me and small talks a bit with me. I finally ask him how business was and he told me that he was six weeks away from closing. In fact, he was so pissed off about the oil spill that he was trying to find a way to switch his station to something else. I even asked what he did for gas. He looked up, smiled and said "Wawa. I couldn't get gas at BP." What a great guy. Cap that spill and maybe I can bring Raji some Wawa coffee and use his gas.

Eat shit BP.

I love baseball. If you read this Chronicle regularly, and you should, you would know that I would sacrifice Dimension's dog (Maybe not a good Philadelphia joke but I'm in it to win it.) for another Phillies World Series appearance. That is how much I love baseball. I would lie to you and try to consider myself a purist, but like anything regarding me in real life, I am a walking contradiction.

That being said, I don't care about baseball players that are on steroids. Sounds cruel, but lets face it (I love that phrase): They are adults. If they want to poison their bodies for their ego, and that is what it is in most cases, then I reserve the right to be entertained by them. I don't want Barry Bonds to have a * next to his accomplishments. If Bonds gets one, so does Ruth. He broke a law. He cheated on his wife and adultery is still a crime. Frowned upon (go ahead, use your Hangover line) but still a crime. He still has 714 home runs.

Alex Rodriguez is a guy, like Enimem, Kid Rock, Seth Rogan, and the Pittsburgh Pirates, I would like to hate. I read Joe Torre's book. We know that A-Rod loves A-Rod. Who can blame him? This dude hits home runs. My favorite was Kate Hudson. That to me, gets a pass for the failed Gas test.

I'm 37. Baseball broke my heart in 1994 when they went on strike and I ended up having to get a serious girlfriend (She ended up being my first wife and Colby's mom.). When baseball came back in '95 I was one of the people that didn't want to go back to it. I said no. I came back to it in 1996 because my favorite player in the entire history of baseball, Ryne Sandberg, returned from retirement. His return was not long but it was enough to wet my whistle again and remember why I loved baseball.

Fast forward to 1998 and we had the race. Mark McGwire and the now Caucasian Sammy Sosa electrified the country and the game with their home runs. The Steroid Era had begun and America could not be happier. But who pops up? Jose Canseco. Canseco becomes the Eddy Mansfield of baseball and tells America what we probably already knew: These guys weren't just eating Flinstone's vitamins. If a booger eater like me figured it out, you are telling me that MLB owners didn't?

Baseball was saved in 1998. For the last 12 seasons, the Golden Age Of Baseball, has been amazing. I watch the MLB Network at least four to five times a day. I am addicted to baseball as I am coffee.

The bottom line is that MLB history books are already flawed (much like the Declaration Of Independence but that's for another Chronicle). The fact that Bud Selig did not use the technology in front of his big Brewers-loving, Pete Rose-hating nose when Armando Galarraga threw a perfect game but first base umpire Jim Joyce obviously and admittingly made a mistake, killed the legitimacy of anything in the books. Whomever throws the next perfect game will have to hear about how Galarraga's game should have counted. And it's true. If A-Rod used drugs to help him hit 600 home runs then oh well. Let's hope he doesn't regret that decision.

Astrix don't matter to me. Keep hitting that ball 500 feet and pitchers keep frustrating hitters. In fact, I saw a 11 inning 1-0 game this July with my friend, and we both loved it. Baseball is my sport. I love it. Leave me my imagination that these guys are awesome guys. Some of them are.

Because in my world Santa is still debates which day he will give presents (I say 25th, my ex-wife says 24th), Nikita Koloff really does speak Russian, and baseball players (with the exception of List members JD Drew and Chipper Jones) are given this amazing gift of entertaining me. Let them apologize and move on. Do we really want a repeat of the 1968 season? Say yes to steroids!!! LOL.

One of my true joys in life is texting Rob Dimension every morning on my way to the gym. Seems boring right? Ahhh, this is where it gets good. I am usually at the gym around 5 or 6 AM. I text that mo-fo everyday with a different insult!!!



****See www.CorinoWrestling.com for the photo***



As you can see from this picture why I hate his face. I mean FACE!

In reality Rob is an awesome dude and even better wrestling manager. The crap we get into at TWA makes me giggle after because its so ridiculous.

He does a fun show called Late Night Horror Hotel. You can find it on Facebook. Fun stuff out of him and Pigmortis.

OK, and finally, my idea for TNA.

One of the best wrestlers on the roster, Homicide, is usually left with nothing to do. He's been the TNA tag team champion, the TNA X-Division champion, and my biggest rival ever.

No no no, before you ask, this is not my way into TNA...Read on.

I say they do a program where they clone Homicide. Yep, clone him. It's not the most stupid thing ever done in pro-wrestling. Close but follow me.

They clone Homicide but it goes wrong. The clone is gay.

He is as mean as Homicide but likes men. Loves them. He wears the same gear as Homicide but its pink. Instead of coming out to whatever awful rapper he uses, his clone comes out to Beyonce.

Homicide's clone's name? HOMOCide

Dixie, you can reach me at Steve@CorinoWrestling.com. LOLOLOLOL

Give me a good wrestling joke. Send it to Steve@CorinoWrestling.com or send it to @CorinoWrestling on Twitter. And whatever my fan page on Facebook's address is. Hell send it everywhere.

For those that have asked, and weren't smart enough to read EVERYWHERE, I will NOT be at the TNA pay per view on Sunday. Wasn't asked. Wasn't interested. ECW was a great place to work and learn. Two great years but I have been wrestling 16 years. I don't need a reunion show. I am happy that they are doing it. Especially for the guys that don't have that national television expose. Guys like CW, Kehner, and Sal I feel great for. Hopefully TNA will realize that all three can only help their company and give them jobs. For me, ECW was done in 2001. I am glad that they wanted to keep the name alive but I didn't want to go backwards. Plus the Collegeville Raiders softball team having a very, very important double header in the morning. Kick ass Raiders!

I failed to mention when I was talking about the Pittsburgh trip, that while driving I got a text from a friend of mine from Los Angeles. He asked me if I wanted to do a comedy show with Mick Foley, Cabana, Austin Aries, and Prince Nana during the Phoenix ROH/WrestleMania weekend. At first I just laughed because I am no where near funny. But Roxie and then a text from my son had me at least intrigued about the whole thing.

Comedy has always been an interest to me but I never thought I would actually be able to do it. If you have watched me do a good promo on ROH (on HDNet, cheap plug), you know that 99% of my stuff is improve. How was I going to write stuff down? I text Joe back and tell him I am in, immediately regretting my decision and the anxiety starts. It won’t end until the end of my set over two weeks later!!!

Back to the Phoenix weekend. After a harsh and I mean F’n harsh winter in Philadelphia I was really looking forward to being in the sun for a while. Armed with the Joe Torre book I was ready for a weekend of wrestling, reading, maybe a bit of partying, sun, and shitting the bed in my comedy act!

Because of Wrestlemania, ROH, and Dragon Gate USA being in the same city for the weekend, it was like “Wrestling City” when I arrived at the airport. I had an early flight so I broke my own rule and wore sunglasses in the airport.

Speaking of that, why in the hell do people wear sunglasses indoors? They aren’t Jim McMahon. If you are old, you understand that one. Only THREE types of people can wear sunglasses inside: Blind People, Austin Aries, and Assholes. If you are not Stevie Wonder or A-Double then you look like a total tool.

The hotel we had was perfect. Free coffee and a clean bed. And people call me standoffish. That is all I need to have a good time. And when you have a roommate as crazy as Kevin Steen, you never know!

Friday’s event had me vs. El Generico in a singles match. I am not afraid to admit that I was super nervous going into this match. Confidence has been a problem for me since I returned from WWC last year and working for ROH. There are times I think I don’t belong or can keep up, but I am fortunate that Adam, Jim, and the boys have faith in me. They have no idea how much they have helped me realize that I don’t have to be something I am not. Just be me. For me, it is a matter of not being able to deliver to not just the fans, but to the wrestlers that I am fighting. But this match really made me feel proud. I am sure that I will go back a year from now and say I could have done things different but I am proud that I could keep up with a guy like Generico.

Saturday afternoon was a flashback to ECW with Jerry Lynn and myself going at it. I don’t know if there is a guy I respect more then Jerry Lynn. From the moment I saw him in 1992 on ESPN with the GWF promotion I was a fan. Shoot seven years forward to ECW and I was shaking when I saw that I had to wrestle him. But Jerry Lynn is such a professional and amazing wrestler that not only did he make me look good, but he gave me confidence.

Phoenix was a return to the style of match that we did ten years before in Los Angeles. Both of us, ten years older mind you, giving each other as much punishment we could handle. I was very proud of the match and hope that everyone enjoys it on DVD. The yelling Adam gave me after the match was worth it! LOL.

I told all the boys the same thing: I have NOTHING for the comedy show and it was true. I was so nervous and then ashamed that I had nothing written down. I think most of them thought I was working them because I had nothing. To be honest, I always had my “LeGrande story” in my back pocket but that is more of a story then a joke.

Now when Schmoo told me that we were doing a comedy show, I assumed that the show was at a comedy club or bar. I was wrong. It was at the theater at Arizona State University! Holy shitburger this place was big. And now I am super nervous. Maybe throw up stage.

I see Mick Foley and he makes me always feel good. Mick is one of those guys that just knows how to talk to someone. Fan, wrestler, anyone. I remember that Mick met my now ex-wife in Germany. They talked for maybe one minute. Nothing more. Two years later we were in Detroit and I was heading to Tokyo, she was heading to Philadelphia. My flight was before hers so I gave her a kiss and left. I didn’t realize that some of the WWE boys were staying in the same hotel. While Saana was getting coffee, Mick Foley looks at her and says “Sonya from Germany?” This guy meets a million people a year and I just thought it was so cool that he remembered a girl that he met for a minute in Europe. A true person.

I was scheduled to be on second after the very funny Prince Nana. Nana was a great opener and warmed the crowd up. I was so thankful because Nana and MC Adam Pearce talked me up. So I go out there, suit and two Band-Aids (thanks JL), and only a racist start and two long stories. But it worked. Once I hit my first joke, it flowed. I loved it. And it was only my first time. Will I do it again? I hope to. A little bit at a time.

Everyone on the bill was awesome. Aries, Cabana, and Foley were so different in their styles that it just made the time fly. I would pay money to see either one of these guys are their own.

And thank you to Chuck GUILLOTINE LeGrande for not getting hot as I told all of Phoenix his legendary story! But remember, 50% of that story was true. You pick the 50%...

Thank you to everyone that came out and laughed. And to you comedy promoters out there in Steve Corino WrestlingLand, you can email me at Steve@CorinoWrestling.com for comedy bookings (hint hint!!!).

Quick note: It is now Sunday, May 30 and I promised my son Colby that I would finish a Chronicle that I have been slowly working on for almost three months. I apologize for not getting these out monthly, even though I would like to do them bi-weekly. So I hope you enjoy.

Another quick note: It’s now June 7 and I still have about 3000 words to go so I am going to post this Chronicle in two sections.

February 27: It’s 11:20 am on a brisk but bearable Saturday morning in Trios-Riviers (Three Rivers), Quebec. Well, it’s a ton more bearable then the crazy weather in Philadelphia right now. I’m sitting in a small café drinking coffee from a small town pretty waitress. I say pretty but she has to be close to six foot.

The theme of the café is the “50’s”. Elvis is playing non-stop in the background, pictures of classic cars some of which my father owned, and tons of Marilyn Monroe photos. It always amazed me the international popularity of Ms. Monroe, even almost 50 years after her death. She is super popular in Japan. A ex-girlfriend of mine there was obsessed with her and there is a story about Marilyn Monroe/Japan that I will save for the book.

I am starting to think this a family owned restaurant. The waitress is in her 20’s (she must have started there after her run in the WNBA). There is a cook and cleaner in their 50’s. I would think that they are the tall girl’s mother and father. I guess I really won’t know for sure because I don’t speak a lick of French and no one hears wants to speak English. Nuts to think that I can order food in restaurant or even order a pizza over the phone in Japanese but I can’t speak the secondary (that’s my shot) language in Canada. I know Kevin Steen will get hot but come on now. OK, it’s more due to me not listening enough in Mrs. Reilly’s French class in high school. Let’s face it, I am lost.

Maybe “lost” could end up the theme for this edition of The Corino Chronicles. And you will read why.

Sipping on my second cup of coffee (I hope they have free refills) I am reminded of the great Eagles song “The Sad Café”. Ahhh, what a good song. Sitting here with a good cup of coffee (mmm, that’s good coffee), a book, a napkin, a pen, and my thoughts (always something I try to avoid). This café is located right across the street from the “Miami Motel” that Ricky Reyes, Alex Anthony, and Ryan Sawyer stayed in after the NSPW show. They are all still sleeping after a tough 12 hour drive. Pu$$ies.

Do a lot of young indy wrestlers still jump in a car and drive forever just for the chance to wrestle and get their name out there? When I broke in I used to ride the coattails of Tom Brandi every moment I could. I never cared about the money back then. All I wanted to do was go out and wrestle. Learn from every match. Wrestle in different states. I had a full time job but I would take each trip I was lucky enough to be invited on by Tom. Most times I didn’t make enough money on the shows and ended up losing money, but I loved every moment of it. Some of the best times in my life. If you are an indy guy, get out there. It doesn’t matter if you live in the States, Canada, or Europe. Not only do you get more in ring experience, you get to experience life.

During the ride to Quebec with Alex and Ryan I could tell they were absorbing everything Reyes and I said. Old road stories, mistakes we made along the way, jokes, and breakings down a pro-wrestling match are among the things that guys on the road talk about. It’s on the job training.

Shit, no free refills. Hope Alex has some Canadian money on him…

Alex and Ryan are the two remains of the Revolution Dojo that Reyes and I started in 2008. We started with eleven but now down to two. A few quit because of injuries, girlfriends, finances, and some were asked to leave. Only Alex (who was actually trained by CW Anderson before coming to us) and Ryan survived. I am proud of both of them and here is an example of why:

At last nights (February 26) event, Ryan and Alex did a great job during their 4-way tag team match. But the story of the night revolves around my match (of course right?). My story is a bit different then most, but yet falls right in line with everything that involves the life of Steve Corino. Crazyness.

The last time I had wrestled for the NSPW in Quebec I was a fan favorite (I hate the term babyface because I am not pretty. Well a bit.) and had a good match with Michael Style and Dan Payson. But for an unknown reason this time around I was my normal rulebreaking self (that term I LOVE!). I don’t know why either. Fans and younger wrestlers always ask me if I prefer babyface (rrr) or heel (blah but ok since I put it on t-shirts) but to be completely honest its all the same to me. After 16 years, most fans have gotten used to my styles so it is easy to do both and I let them decide. Doesn’t matter to me.

Anywho, NSPW decides to put the now no-reason rulebreaking Steve Corino with a “partner of his choosing” against the babyface tag team champions. Unfortunately for comedy sake, Pat Games was not around. I guess he figured out that he might be the worst pro-wrestler alive. But I enjoy bad wrestling. I watched and road with them last time I was in Quebec and enjoyed their stuff as a team. They have a decent big guy/smaller guy team that is rare today. The only problem with this match was that my partner was a fan favorite too. Confused? Me too. But I like a challenge and this story just gets better.

It’s the time for the match and all is well until two minutes into the actual match and my partner gets hurt. Yep, hurt. To the point where they had to take him to the back. Broken neck? Nope. Broken nose. Oh yeah, a fkn broken nose. Are you kidding me? Over the last 16 years I have broken my nose three times during a match. Did I take my ball and go home? Shit no. When Kohei Sato broke my jaw THREE minutes into a 15 minute match on the second day of the tour did I stop? Nope. Maybe I am being a bit insensitive but WTF? Pro-Wrestling is not ballet. Although entertainment, it is a sport. A rough one. This is a sport where you man up and work through injuries. This kid didn’t. Although I feel bad he got hurt, he showed a real lack of heart.

So now I am alone in the match, no partner. I think I have been 1-1 in Handicap Matches over the years and now I have to decide what to do. Plus it is not like it’s guys that I am used to wrestling. If it was Masato Tanaka or Jerry Lynn, I could have easily gotten through it. With the original plan out the window I had to go into thinking mode. After thinking for a minute or two (the arena rose 6 degrees), I decided to yell to the back and have Ryan Sawyer join the match. Mind you, Sawyer already worked a 15 minute match earlier, showered, and was in street clothes. But this kid, 18 years old and a little less then two years in pro-wrestling, came out and finished the match like he was part of the plan. That is how you can tell if someone has it. Ryan Sawyer has it.

The four of us jumped right in the car after the second show because we had a 12+ hour ride home and get ready for a matinee WORLD-1 show. I was super excited about the W-1 show for a few reasons. One being that my sister, Allison Danger, was up for the event. Well more so I got to hang out with my gorgeous niece, Kendall! Secondly, we had such a great show on January 31 I wanted to see if we would carry that momentum into February. We needed it because, due to scheduling of the Knights of Columbus, we weren’t going to be able to return until May. Although the house was down a bit, the show was great. Ricky Reyes, as North American champion, and Chris Rockwell, as W-1 heavyweight champion, have been doing an amazing job on top. W-1 returns to the Knights Of Columbus in Jackson, NJ on Sunday afternoon, May 23 with a 4pm belltime. We will also be sponsoring a Jerry Lynn seminar from 12-2 at the building. The cost is $35. Email Ryan at WORLD1Wrestling@Gmail.com and visit our site at www.WORLD1Online.com.

The next weekend was the Ring Of Honor television tapings. The March set was a lot better then February. One reason was that there wasn’t six feet of snow falling during the show so it didn’t take me 2 ½ hours to get home. On a good night I live about 45-50 minutes from The Arena in Philly. The other reason they were better for me this time is because I am finally starting to get a bit more comfortable working the TV style of matches.

For nine years I have been spoiled by Japan (and countless indies) where I am not given a certain segment time. I can work slow and build a story. In Japan, for TV, if you go too long they can just edit it down but with ROH you need to be on time. If you are not, you can lose your spot pretty quick. It’s been nerve wracking but Adam, Cary, Jim, and especially the boys have been so helpful and supportive. I know my role in ROH and understand that I am also the old guy of the locker room (You can’t count Jerry Lynn because he never ages!) and I enjoy the challenge. I have been fortunite to where I have been against young, hungry talent like Bobby Dempsey, Andy Ridge, Lance Lude, and Bobby Shields. All four of them made me look better then I was feeling at the time.

As you could see on TV, my segment with El Generico caused a bit of controversy and that is OK. I am not happy that they would bleep out what I said because I did not use foul language but I also understand that what I said was a bit off-color. I am not sorry though. When I am in “King Of Old School/Mr. Wrestling/Mr. Ratings/Legend” mode I am going to do whatever it takes. I watched the segment on You Tube and it is a shame that the crowd noise doesn’t come across on TV like it does there. That is the only negative to our TV. The matches are great, the promos are very well done, and it flows. Just wish they could get the real crowd energy. It is amazing live. The next ROH TV Tapings in Philadelphia are Friday May 21 and Saturday (afternoon) May 22.

The next night, Jerry Lynn and I went at it in the Arena that we wrestled in ten years before and it was like a “throwback night”. I am not going to say much about it until it shows on TV (I think June 7).

March 12: I hate to be unorganized. I really do. It’s not to say that I am organized. I just like to make a plan. I hate last minute stuff. It’s probably why I dislike flying so much but that is for another paragraph (or 100). Plus I enjoy to drive. I can take my time, pee when I want, eat actual food, and even take my dog.

So as the Friday (March 12) approaches Certified Genius Rob Dimension and I have an easy plan. Meet at a certain time with Roxie Cotton and go. Five hours. 300 miles on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. EASY. But oh no, Rob went from Certified Genius to Certified Moron. He decides to invite Blue Meanie and his girlfriend to ride along. That would be great, but how the hell are we going to fit five people in a car for five hours? Dummy. So I left Rob! He was out and it was just Roxie and I. It was a fun and easy ride. Rob would have enjoyed it. The show was the first for the EPW (Eastern Pro Wrestling) group and they did a wonderful job of actually promoting the show. If I remember right there was about 750-800 people. A totally fun crowd made up of what we call “casuals”. OK, I might be the only one that uses that term but I used it a lot when I booked 1PW in 2006.

Casuals are fans that generally only watch the WWE. Most of them don’t read the wrestling sites and companies, even though on TV, like ROH and TNA are foreign to them. Try mentioning EVOLVE, WORLD-1, or Japanese wrestling and you will get a blank stare. Doesn’t make them unimportant but it just makes them different. They enjoy that WWE/Sports Entertainment style and that’s not a bad thing. As wrestlers, if we want to be successful, we always have to adjust our styles to the crowd that we are wrestling for. Sometimes it is easier.

My opponent for the evening was a good looking local kid named Ryan Mitchell. He has a great look that the WWE goes for. In the ring he is even better. Without a doubt he is going to make a real nice living off pro-wrestling.

The only downside to the night was that my friend, SJK-Sterling James Keenan, wasn’t on the event due to a prior commitment. Well I guess that is what the UK is for! Oh jeez, Corino, Lynskey, and SJK all on the same show in the UK on May 30? Trouble’s a brewing!!!

For most people, a five hour ride is long but for pro-wrestlers it’s easy. Like I said before, you can learn a lot during these rides. In ECW, CDub and I would just sit there and listen and learn from the great Jack Victory. It was such an education. It amazes me that neither the WWE nor TNA have hired Jacko as an agent. He could help the younger generation out so much.

Once I got home it was time to repack, hang out with my dog Sandy for a bit, and then head off to the airport for a quick trip to England.

This was going to be one of those short-long-short trips that I hate but have to do but because I was flying in the day of the show due to having a Friday event, it was my fault. Its not that I don’t like being busy but I do enjoy getting the UK the day before so that I can get my bearings and make sure I feel 100% before going out and wrestling.

I had to actually go through London Heathrow this time instead of the normal Manchester. Once in London, it was a four hour drive to Sheffield, get situated, stretch, wrestle, and then drive all the way back to London for an early flight home. Not much time to socialize but it was fun while I was there.

It was also nice to be back in front of the UK crowd. After all the lies they were told in 2007 they now realize that I was right. They are some of the best fans in the world and honestly, I was hurt that they would believe some of the stuff that was told to them by some a-hole. But once they realized the truth it was all good. It’s funny that no matter how much fans hate me in Ring Of Honor, I think I will always be a sort of fan favorite in Pro Wrestling 101. For me, it’s the only place besides Germany that being on the other side of the fence feels natural.

The match with Martin Stone was exactly how it was supposed to be: Hard hitting. Stone is one of those breakout stars in Europe and I am right he is currently the Pro Wrestling 101, 1PW, and FWA heavyweight champion. For me, when I was the 1PW booker, he won me over after his match with TNA’s Samoa Joe in 2006. That, of course, was the famous match where Joe said he didn’t want to work with a “ham sandwich”.

In Joe’s defense, he was not feeling well that day, he was tired, and mad at me for putting him in a program with Jay Phoenix. Joe’s an awesome guy and just didn’t know Martin Stone. His frustration with me caused him to say what he did. What people that heard the story don’t realize that Samoa Joe was so happy after the match that he wanted me to put him in a long term program with Stone and not Phoenix. If I would have continued booking I would have done something more with the two of them but I couldn’t end the Joe-Phoenix program because it was so hot. It’s great to see Martin Stone finally getting the credit he deserves.

March 19/20: The next weekend was the Detroit/Toronto loop for Ring Of Honor. I am really enjoying the ROH weekends and with our first stop in Motown (ok, Dearborn) it gave me a chance to see my good friend, Steve Goff. I am trying to think when the last time I saw Steve was but it might have been at my wedding in 2006. Whatever it was it was way too long of a time. I was hoping to make it to his wedding last year but I had a booking in England and couldn’t make it. Steve is just one of the nice, genuine guys that went from being my fan to being my friend. He even tried promoting in Bay City, Michigan for a few shows in 2005 but quickly realized that some independent wrestlers are just awful people and got out before it got to him. Smart.

Kevin and I wrestled Player Uno and Pee Wee. I find it funny that the “best” things that some fans can say to try and get a reaction is how “fat” I am. Keep it up, you are just wasting your time. If we having a bit of a stomach is what gets you all hot and bothered then you are funny. I like to eat. And I am not going to drop to 215 and be miserable so that you guys stop your insults. The days of Steve Corino being 200 pounds as ECW World champion are over. I am happier at 240 and feel better in the ring. Who gives a shit if I don’t look like Randy Orton or Tyler Black. Dick Murdoch, Adrian Adonis, Eric Embry, and others were very successful in this sport and didn’t look like Superstar Billy Graham. But some fans will just be negative either way. Keep the chants up, I don’t care. I train hard and feel like I am moving better in the ring then I have in about 6-7 years when I gained the initial weight. I am not going to change my habits or hide under a shirt so that fans can find something else. It’s pro-wrestling and you can say whatever you want.

And to make me look like a total fool, I ate wings and had a few beers after the show at Buffalo Wild Wings! That is because of you fans! LOL. And they were goooooood.

After what should have been a four hour drive to Canada for the ROH show near Toronto. I say four hours, but the Canadian border and immigration made sure to make it a little bit longer. I understand the whole paranoia with the post 9-11 world, but sometimes the borders can be a touch ridiculous.

But we got to the show in plenty of time and had a great time. I have written about this plenty of times, but being a Canadian-born pro-wrestler (even though I was there only a few years), there is a certain pride about being able to wrestle in your home country.

The crowd was a little split in my match with Cabana and that was alright with me. I think I am starting to get a real feel for what my role in ROH is and it might take me a few more months to get it down. Is it a pun to use “A work in progress” when it comes to pro-wrestling?

The Corino Chronicles XXVIII: Oh Where Do I Start?

It’s been about five weeks since I have sat down and wrote a Chronicle and of course when it gets to past two or three weeks, you can guarantee that it is going to be LONG! And since ROH wisely canceled last night’s TV tapings due to this massive amount of snow the Philadelphia area got, so I have no more excuses.

For the most part I am going to try and go current and then work backwards to my last entry on December 25th.

I guess the big news and one of the main questions people have emailed me with this is “How cool are those new Steve Corino shirts?” LOL. OK, it was not that (even though two new styles are available plus new Allison Danger shirts at CorinoWrestling.com). It was “What do I think about Vince McMahon shutting down ECW?”

That’s a great question and the answer could be something that fans might not understand or even be a little shocking. But hopefully my explanation will answer a few questions of why I have stayed away from ECW reunions.

I loved ECW. Extreme Championship Wrestling gave me the opportunity to work in pro-wrestling full time. When I debuted for ECW in late 1998, I was doing well working for a dairy full time and getting two to three bookings a week on the Independent circuit. Most fans have an idea in their mind that Indy wrestlers make no money and they are half right. Unless you have that national (US TV, sorry to offend the great people in Europe) television exposure, as an indy wrestler, you can hit a glass ceiling. You can do OK if you live cheap, but you might not be able to make a living. Paul Heyman changed my life by allowing me to not only make a living from pro-wrestling but learn under some of the best wrestlers ever.

When I debuted there were no promises. Nova (Mike Bucci/Simon Dean) pushed for me to get a tryout. I was lucky enough that Nova wanted to work with me and allowed me to shine a bit. Paul and Dreamer liked me enough to offer me a spot. Still there were no promises. I used to look around the locker room and see the amazing talent that we had: Shane Douglas, Taz, Dreamer, Rob Van Dam, Lance Storm, Jerry Lynn, Justin Credible, Tracy Smothers, The Dudley’s, New Jack, Jack Victory, Rod Price, Balls Mahoney, and Axl Rotten. If I am forgetting someone I am sorry. Then you had the young, hungry guys like myself, Nova, Chris Chetti, Danny Doring, and Roadkill working our asses off just to be lucky enough to get an opening match spot. It was a great time to be there and just learn.

As guys went on to bigger things and better salaries I made my way up the card. And you can’t get upset with guys leaving ECW. It was never because they hated the product or fans but you have to look at it like it was Major League Baseball. Guys earn that chance for free agency and they go to a bigger market team. Sometimes bigger salaries don’t mean they will be happier. I am sure most guys that talk about their ECW experiences they talk positive. The bigger companies were good for them and even better then their families. Paul knew this and most times promoted within. That gave the young guys even more incentive to work harder.

When Paul Heyman’s ECW closed in early 2001, everyone was upset. Of course we would be. Paul took almost all the heat but after a while I realized that Paul Heyman did everything he could to make the company stay afloat. Running a major wrestling company is one of the hardest things ever. Heck, I have tried to run a few independent companies and usually they only last a year or two because we don’t have the capital to keep it going. Paul Heyman wore the hats of many. He edited the TV, wrote the shows, met with executives, etc. I can’t imagine how burned out he became. To me, the two best wrestling minds I have ever worked for are Paul Heyman and Jim Cornette. Paul Heyman made me what I am today and for that I thank him. He took a skinny kid from the suburbs of Philadelphia and made him the ECW World heavyweight champion. He let me learn this craft from some of the best and the business and paid me for it. Paul will never get the credit he deserves.

For Steve Corino, Extreme Championship Wrestling died in 2001.

In 2005, Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Entertainment had the concept of bringing the ECW brand back for a pay per view. Although I wanted nothing to do with it I loved the idea. I even watched the pay per view and enjoyed it. Why did I want nothing to do with it? It’s because I moved on. For me, ECW was a place to learn, work, and have fun. My dream was always to go to Japan and in 2005 I had already started my fourth year in Pro-Wrestling ZERO-ONE. But for the other guys and fans that missed ECW, it was great.

When the WWE brought back ECW as a brand, I thought it was a good idea. I knew, as most of us did, that it would never be the ECW that it was from 1993-2001. It didn’t have to be. The WWE is not stupid. They knew there was a market for the old ECW footage and the older fans would buy it. Without Paul Heyman booking the new ECW and Tommy Dreamer at his side to be the buffer between management and the boys, the new ECW would never be like the old one. The old ECW was a renegade. The new one was corporate. But that is how it had to be.

In 2007, when I had a tryout as a writer, I got a lot of heat from the writers when I said that the WWE should re-name the ECW program into a brand called “WWE Xtreme”. It didn’t have to be hardcore. It had to be NEW. Three years later, Vince McMahon re-names ECW “WWE NXT”. I love it. I will never claim that I had the original idea because I am sure that thousands of people had the same idea.

As the 2005-2010 version of ECW is put away all I can say is THANK YOU to Vince McMahon. Not for putting it away for good, but for keeping it alive for the fans that wanted that little bit of nostalgia back. Chanting E-C-Dub was something that fans loved to do. And thank you for allowing the wrestlers that worked for ECW to create a legacy. My ECW has been closed for nine years now and there are fans ranging from ages 10-16 that were too young to remember the old ECW stuff. Keeping those letters around made fans watch the old stuff and see the great wrestling that we put out.

We can say that the WWE stripped the original ECW of everything but they didn’t. Time did. I am happy that the WWE kept it going as long as they did. Just like how the NWA tries their best to survive and how Dale Gagner tried to build a new AWA; fans enjoy the old school wrestling. It is so hard to re-create the past and instead of thumbing our nose at them, we should applaud them.

Will I watch WWE NXT? Sure…but after LOST goes off the air! LOL.

Speaking of LOST, holy shitburger what a first episode of this season! I could spend a whole Chronicle talking about LOST. Actually one of the Pro-Wrestling BLITZ referees in Chicago sent me a website, http://www.4815162342.com/forum/index.php, and if you’re a LOST fan you could lose yourself with the amount of ideas and scenarios that they come up with. I nerd it up on that site a few times a week!

As I write this it is Sunday morning, February 7th, and I am lacking the motivation to write. I have no idea why. I have tons to write but I think I need another cup of coffee. Be right back…

…NICE. Wawa coffee always awakens the mind of Steve Corino.

Friday night was the ROH TV tapings at The Arena in South Philly. I want to thank all the fans that did come and braved the weather. For me, I live about an hour west of Philadelphia, so going home was quite a battle. It took a little over two hours to get home but better safe and slow then fast and in a ditch. I thought it was a good idea to cancel Saturday night, even though we did need to tape TV. Putting the fans at risk driving through a blizzard to watch us wrestle is not worth it.

Going backwards, I had the rare double shot on Sunday (January 31) in Jackson and Voorhees, NJ.

The Jackson show was produced by WORLD-1 (www.WORLD1Online.com) and if you read this Chronicle much you know that W-1 is a company that I part own. I was so thrilled and proud that we drew our biggest house ever at that building, which is great because that is our new monthly home. Everyone worked hard and the crowd just ate everything up. It was amazing! Can’t wait for the next show on Sunday, February 28 at 2pm. And if you live near Jackson, the W-1 television show is on Wednesday nights. We have really found our niche and if you come to W-1 you know it’s a fun atmosphere and it is so cool to see all of the guys that are on our TV be treated like stars. It does go to show that the right TV promotion will help bring people to the buildings. And our company offers something different then other promotions. We don’t try to re-invent the wheel but we also try to keep the rules a mix of American sports entertainment and Japanese Royal Road. We have a 20-count on the outside, earned title shots, and try to push everyone to a middle card status instead of having 7 top guys and 7 bottom guys. This way you never know who is going to win or lose. Much like mid-90’s All Japan. I hope the fans keep coming out to enjoy the product.

After losing the W-1 heavyweight title I had no time to grieve because Colby and I had to run right to the TWA “Bodyslamming Autism” event in Voorhees. The TWA and especially Wiseguy Jimmy Cicero worked so hard to promote this event and made it a huge success. During the event I won my 62nd different championship of my career, the Tri-State Wrestling Alliance heavyweight title, in a 3-way match with Glen Osbourne and Tony Hitman Stetson. Wow, 62 different titles? I think people don’t realize that each and every title I have won means a ton to me. It’s the ultimate honor a promotion can give you. For me, winning the TWA is a dream because I was a TWA fan back in 1990-1992 when they were changing Philadelphia wrestling. ECW always gets the credit but if there was no TWA, there would have been no ECW. It is almost an extension of the Extreme Championship Wrestling history. TWA lead into Eastern Championship Wrestling, which lead to the Extreme! And for you history buffs, I would be the first guy to ever hold the Tri-State Wrestling Alliance title AND ECW World heavyweight title. Sorry, couldn’t help but mark out for myself on that one!!!

The weekend before this (January 21 and 23) was what felt like one long day! It started out on Thursday the 21st on a trip to Winnipeg and ended when I finally got home around 4am on Monday the 24th. It is weekends like this that make me ask why I wrestle and once I recover, I go “What a great weekend!”

Just off the subject for a second: I was just looking back at all of the Live Journal postings I have made and it has been almost five years there! I usually post them on there at the same time as I upload them on CorinoWrestling.com and I am copy/pasting them to include in my (one day to be published…one day!) book. Some crazy stuff in there.

OK, back to Winnipeg. As many of you know, both A-Danger and I were born in Winnipeg. We moved to the States when we were young but we are still proud to say we are from Winnipeg. I always love going back. And when I go I like working for the PCW promotion. Every time I have come, they always treat me so well and they have a real fun fan base. Smart marks that enjoy a good show. They know some of the guys are new and not polished but they treat them well. Believe it or not fans, that helps the young guys with confidence. I always like when I see that.

This time in PCW was different. Where usually I am spilling blood with Robby Royce, I find myself on his side. Our opponents are ATM (I didn’t want to ask the meaning either..hehe) and Adam Knight. This guy is freaking big. I saw him when I walked in and thought he was big and then I got in the ring with him. Holy jeez, this guy is blocking the ring lights! Big, strong guy.

I don’t want to ruin it if you didn’t see it but what went down at PCW was pretty brutal. For Royce maybe! Check out www.PremierChampionshipWrestling.com or PCWAction.com to see the video’s. Can’t wait to come back on March 25 and cause some more trouble!

Because of running shows in a bar, PCW’s belltime is 9:00PM (aka way way past my bedtime). By the time the show gets going its 9:15ish and ends around midnight. My flight is 6:00am. You see where this is going…

…I don’t drink much. Maybe a beer here and there. I rarely get drunk. Usually once a year and I try to save it for Milwaukee while hanging out with Steve Stone. But I had a few beers and then a few more beers in Winnipeg. By the time we left the bar there was no sleep time! None. But more important then sleep was the great time I had back in Winnipeg. Like I said before, the guys at PCW treat me so good and I enjoy being there every time. I can’t wait for March 25! Royce get ready because we NEED to make history.

By the time I got home on Friday with flight delays I was beat. I was going to go up to the Newark area and hang out with Masato Tanaka before the JAPW show but decided that a good night’s sleep would be better. I hate driving when tired and more then that it is super dangerous.

So Saturday morning I picked up Rob Dimension (yeah I know…LOL) and went to Rahway to pick up Tanaka-san for some shopping. If you have seen Tanaka in the last few years you will see what kind of shape that he has gotten into. Just amazing. This guy works so hard and I am so proud that what a transformation he has made. Its inspirational to be honest. When I was in Japan in December he was there to help me stay the course with my diet.

I wish I could say the same for his trip to the US! I blame Rob because somewhere during the day, Rob suggested we eat Chinese. This poor guy had to go off his diet but Tanaka did seem to mind.

The JAPW show was long but a lot of fun. It felt good to be the second match. With no story between me and Azerial (who is a great wrestler) it was a perfect spot. Now after the show we all decide that we are going to eat. Ryan and Carolyn suggest a diner that they saw on their way in. Now I love diners. Rarely do you get a bad meal at a diner. Notice I said “Rarely”. This is was one of those times. It wasn’t the fact that the 300 pound woman with dirty band-aids on her fingers was serving the food, but worse then that was the sight I had in front of me. Well actually it was behind me. There are certain things that people shouldn’t wear if they don’t have the body for them. You would never see me in a wife beater so why would young girls wear jeans that are too small for them? When I say that I saw crack, I saw CRACK. Worse then my grilled cheese was these two girls’ butt cracks in my view. Tanaka figures this out, takes a picture, and emails it right to Kanemura. Awful food but great fun and that is what counts.

Back tracking to the January ROH TV tapings, it was good to be back in Philadelphia. I would be lying to say that I am not nervous going out there and doing shorter matches. While I can do 20-30 minute matches in my sleep, the thought of doing a 4-6 minute match is stressful. I know it doesn’t make sense.

While I wasn’t happy with the tag team match between Kevin and myself vs. Dempsey and Sugarfoot, you live to fight another day. Colby told me they didn’t clip the bad parts and at first I was a bit upset but then I thought about it. Pro-Wrestling matches are not perfect and when mistakes happen they should be shown. Plus if they show them there is a better chance that I could appear on another edition of Botchamania! And if you don’t know what Botchamania is then you need to stop reading, buy a shirt, and then go over to You Tube and check it out. Awesome pro-wrestling bloopers. Real fun stuff.

For the record, the match with Bobby Dempsey on next week’s edition of ROH on HDNet is much better.

A friend of mine sent me a review of last night’s ROH show where a guy wrote “Man, I was kinda excited to see Steve Corino back in ROH and I was happy to see that he'd also be wrestling at some shows, but after seeing him for the first time tonight, I no longer want to see him in an in ring role. Corino has really let himself go. He's only about 36 but he looks about 50. Corino makes Adam Pearce look like Brock Lesnar.” I popped for this. I look 50? LOL. Little does he know that I feel 55!

Obviously he didn’t see me at my worst in Puerto Rico last year. I will never say I am perfect but at 234-238ish I am happy. Healthy too, so if he thinks I look 50 I am going to take it. Pearce looking like Brock? I love it!!! I think people imagine most wrestlers get mad when someone is burying them online but I am different. I am pretty much just appreciative that people are watching and feel inclined to make comments. I would be upset if it was a guy that didn’t watch the show just making generalizations. Last week there was some moron on Facebook that tried to post on my wall that ROH was not a big deal because HE doesn’t watch. I never get that. At least the guy that said I looked 50 watches the damn show! People can say whatever they want but at least watch what you are burying. It would be like me burying the Super Bowl when I didn’t even watch it. Why would people even care what I had to say if I didn’t even watch it? People need to stop being stupid. My goal is to keep working harder and the next time this guy does a review of the TV show says I look at least 48!

Speaking of Facebook, I am starting to enjoy some of the messages I get once I delete people for putting those stupid F’n surveys on my wall. Don’t people get that they are just flooding other people’s shit? And they always try to make it YOUR fault that they posted something dumb. Those people get deleted. Without question. Especially with Facebook only allowing a 5000 friend limit, these spots can go to real fans. Fans that will not spam other people’s wall with stupid apps. Ladies and gentlemen, Steve Corino is getting off his soapbox now!

Quick edit: Thankfully I didn’t upload this before I got this story. I was telling my son about the guy that buried me about looking and this is how the conversation went.

Dad: Can you believe he said I looked 50?
Colby: Well dad it is in HD.
Dad: So do I look 50 in HD?
Colby (giving me the 80’s movie nod): Yep.

Damn you HD, damn you! LOL

Before I go I would be amiss if I didn’t talk about the deaths of Steve Williams, Ed Chuman, and Jack Brisco.

I didn’t know Jack Brisco very well but he was all that was good about the NWA World championship. Men like Brisco, Race, Flair, Thesz, and others carried the title and themselves with such class. And sad as it is to see someone that you watched and admire pass away, Jack Brisco led a good life and his book is one of my favorites. I actually re-read it while traveling to Winnipeg on January 25.

One day if I actually publish my autobiography I have quite a Jack Brisco story that involves Dory Funk Jr. and Missy Hyatt! But that story is definitely for a book!!!

Dr. Death Steve Williams was a cool guy. I first met Doc at the WWF Funkin’ Dojo in 1998 while I was training. He was rehabbing and joined the Dojo to get the ring rust off. Being a huge fan of Japanese wrestling, I watched as Doc would drop the All-Japan favorites on the top of their head and beat them within an inch of their life. To say I was a bit intimidated about getting in the ring with him is an understatement. But Doc knew what he had to do to get over and try not to hurt guys, even though he could. I enjoyed talking to him and learning from him.

A little known fact is that Doc actually threw a word in for me to go to All-Japan Pro-Wrestling in late 2000 while I was still ECW World champion. I had asked Paul Heyman if it was alright to take dates with them while ECW was trying to survive and he gave me his blessing. I never did get to go and ended up going to Pro-Wrestling ZERO-ONE and stayed.

When I was ½ of the AWA Wrestling Superstars Live tag team champion we were doing a show in Louisiana and Dale Gagne asked me who I wanted to wrestle and the first name that came to me was Doc. I knew he would be over right away because of the Mid-South/UWF connection and he teamed with The Patriot (Tom Brandi, the best version). The match kicked ass and it was something both Tom and I, even though we don’t talk anymore, wanted to take to other AWA/WSL shows.

And finally Ed Chuman. Ed was one of those promoters that I just loved to work for. Never gave me any compliments but that was his way. He was totally old school and honest. I remember that he was not in favor of me getting the nod for the NWA World title in 2001 but was man enough to call me and tell me why. Six months later he told me he made a mistake and said I deserved the title and really enjoyed my reign. That meant a lot to me.

I stayed in contact with Ed over the years and since the summer of 2009 I worked for his NWA affiliates a bunch. At first, he wasn’t sure if he wanted me to run with one of his titles and I think that Frankie DeFalco convinced him it was the way to go and he went with it.

I used to kid Ed all the time about getting healthy because I needed the bookings, which always got a big Ed Chuman laugh and a “F you Corino”. Right before he died I texted him and told him that he looked like Patches from the movie Dodgeball. He called me and told me to kiss his ass! We laughed and that was the last time I talked to him.

Ed Chuman lived a good life. He loved pro-wrestling, he loved the NWA, and he loved the boys. But Ed was sick for a long time and as much as I will miss the banter we had, I feel good to know that he is in Wrestling Heaven and in perfect health. Thank you Ed.

OK, everyone until next time remember the important things in life: Family, Being Nice To Everyone, & Spring Training Is Right Around The Corner!

The Corino Chronicles XXVIII: A Christmas Chronicle
Well not really, just posted on Christmas

December 20-Am I really flying home to a blizzard?

It’s about an hour into my return flight from Tokyo to Newark and like most of my long flights I got the urge to write.

Note: Some of the stuff I wrote on the plane and the rest I have written on the morning of December 25 at my home computer so I apologize if it bounces a round a bit.

I have a ton to cover in this edition of The Corino Chronicles but my thoughts are on this freaking snow storm waiting for me. I can’t even imagine how bad my porch is right now. But I am excited to get home because I miss Colby and my dog Sandy tons.

Christmas is right around the corner and besides a few gifts for family and friends; I am way behind but will play catch up. Most people I won’t see until after Christmas so I can shop the day after Christmas and save some money! (shhhh, I hope those people don’t read this column!)

Like most of my Chronicles, I usually write a ton of notes that range from thoughts on stuff that I have done or just random shit. Finally, I sit down with a pot of coffee and write it down. I wish I had the discipline (and time) to write once a week and post it on CorinoWrestling.com. Maybe that will be one of my New Years resolutions for 2010: Write the Corino Chronicles at least twice a month.

2010 will actually be the first time in years that I am going to be making resolutions. 2009 (well, the first eight months) was a total nightmare for me. If it wasn’t for Chuck, I would have driven myself insane in Puerto Rico. But after my Australia tour in late July I decided that my luck would only change if I did it. I am lucky that I had some great family and real friends that helped me become me again. Thank you to all of you.

12/25-Sitting at my computer reading over my notes I have realized that this Chronicle is going to be WAY too long. Long but hopefully entertaining as I cover issues like: The craziness of the train ride home, the November WORLD-1 shows, my Thanksgiving trip to Finland, a deer chasing my dog and I, news on my ACE appearance, the TWA event on December 5, my trip to Japan, ROH’s Final Battle, and general thoughts including taking new trainees.

I should have known that my trip home would have its bumps and bruises. It always does. With 12 inches of snow waiting for me in Philadelphia I figured my flight would either be canceled or really, really delayed. Neither. Flight was going to Newark AND on time. Something’s up.

After a long 14 hour flight, where nothing went wrong. No one bumped my elbow. The dude in front of me didn’t recline his seat into my lap. The food was OK. The movies were good. How is it that nothing has gone wrong yet? Oh, but wait.

Customs and immigration was easy. So I figured it out. Something will have to go wrong on the train ride and I was right!

Because I flew from Newark and live outside Philadelphia, I had to take a train from the airport to Trenton, where certified genius Rob Dimension would be waiting for me in my car (Or his). So as I am paying for my train ticket, a guy walks up to me and asks me how to get a ticket for New York Penn Station. So I show him what to do and he goes on his merry way.

Somehow I looked like I worked there because this little old Latino lady walks up to me and tells me she has no idea to get to Trenton. Being a nice guy (not the Christmas spirit, which is total bullshit. Be nice to people all the time. Unless his name is Rob Dimension) I told her to follow me because I was going to Trenton. She is probably thinking “What a nice young man. There is no way he can screw this up.” Well I did. This poor woman.

I see on the screen that the next train to Trenton is 5:36pm. Its 5:37. Shit, we missed it. Gotta wait. 6:17 is the next one. 40 minutes isn’t so bad. But five minutes into waiting I see a train. I figure that maybe the 5:36 was late due to the weather and this was it. Someone in the waiting room said it was going to Trenton so we jump on. Remember this Latino lady is following me like I know where I am going. I don’t.

After being on the train for a moment or two, I hear (and other did too) the conductor or whoever makes those miserable sounding announcements, say that this train is going to New York Penn Station and the next stop is North Elizabeth. I think “shit” and that we are going north on the wrong train. Smart guy Steve thinks that we can get off at North Elizabeth and just get on the next train going south. That is what the normal person would think is correct right? At least I thought so too.

I was wrong.

As six people including me and my new BFF get off at North Elizabeth, I quickly realize that North Elizabeth is the first stop SOUTH. Dammit, I was on the right train. And I am guiding this poor old woman around.

OK, once again, a normal person would just assume that the 6:17pm train to Trenton from Newark would just stop in North Elizabeth. So I am thinking this is not a problem at all and I (and my lady friend) will just wait 30 minutes or so.

I was wrong again.

6:19 comes and here I see the train. I am so smart. Wait, there goes the train. WTF?

No way that this thing could have just passed us. Well, something was up, and I can wait another 30 minutes before the next one would be by. Now here is the scene: It’s deserted at North Elizabeth except for the lights of the train station, me, and my new friend. Let’s call her Rosario.

So “Rosario” and I are sitting there, alone, as we watch two Amtrak trains fly by kicking up snow onto an already freezing Steven Corino.

6:52 now and I see our train. There is a God. I am imagining how nice and warm it is going to be on the train to Trenton. How good it is going to be to get home. And then this train goes right by us AGAIN. WTFlyingF?

Now I am totally confused. How in the piss is this train going to not stop at North Elizabeth two times in a row? There has to be a map around here. Ahhh, here you are. And the last stop at North Elizabeth is 5:51pm. As I look at my phone I notice that it is now around 6:57pm. I, and now “Rosario”, are screwed.

Ok, ok, what to do…what to do. I think that I can just us back on track, no pun intended, if I find a taxi to take us either to Elizabeth station (south) or back to Newark Airport (north). Easier said then done. Ever try to get a taxi in North Elizabeth? Not very easy. I called seven, yes 7, different taxi companies and got told no at each one. Only on the eighth, yep 8th, attempt I get a taxi. She has in her bitchy style, 15 minutes. And hangs up.

Are they coming or not? And how do I explain this to this poor woman, who just an hour ago thought I was going to get her to Trenton safely, that a taxi may or may not come in the next 15 minutes? And this wrestling fans, is the life of Steve Corino…

I take “Rosario” and I wait near the opening of the North Elizabeth Shop & Save. Ever gone there? Don’t. Two people sitting there ask me “Do you know where to get a taxi?” and I thought, “Why would you ask me? Jeez, today I am the train ticket operator and now, obviously being way out of place in North Elizabeth, I know the local taxi system.”

Of course I don’t say that and say “Well, actually I do. Here is the number.” They thank me, call, get the same sweet lady I got, and then it comes to me: What if they want to steal my cab? Me and “Rosario’s” cab I mean.

20-25 cold minutes go by and I am not thinking “I have my Japan fight money in my pocket. What if I get robbed?” Come on now, sympathize with me here. I just wrestled, drove 8 hours, flew 14, took the wrong train, and have an old woman following me because she has no idea how to get to Trenton. I think a bit of paranoia is understandable.

The taxi finally comes and the driver is a total worker. I ask him “Kind sir, what is closer? Elizabeth or Newark?” and he says, without missing a beat, “Hey man, it’s all money to me.” What does that even mean? This guy is out to work me.

The Wile E. Coyote in me thinks for a second and then asks the couple who also called a taxi, “Where are you going? Anywhere close to Elizabeth?” They say yes and now I am thinking to myself “there is no way he can work four of us!” And for the first time tonight, I am right.

I give the cab guy $20 for the four of us and “Rosario” and I are off to Elizabeth Station. Now I figure that I just have to catch the south train but I was no longer taking chances. “Rosario” is about 10 minutes from stabbing me if I screw up one more time.

The next train, that says Long Branch on it, pulls up. Like I said, I am not taking any more chances, so I ask the conductor or whatever the piss he is, “Hi, is this going to Trenton?” and he looks at me like I’m the dick and says “Does it say Trenton? No, it says Long Branch?” Yes, of course I wanted to punch him right in the teeth but what would have “Rosario” thought? And I think it’s against the law or something.

So I say “Does it make stops before Long Branch?” and once again, I’m the dick, he says “Yeah” and I stop him and say “well then how the piss am I supposed to know that? You could just say Trenton is the next train. Geez.”

Finally after a switch of trains, “Rosario” and I get to Trenton. Late but healthy. Now before we said our goodbyes, I ask her if she needs help getting to the River Line. She smiles and says “No. I think you have done enough tonight.” Is that good?

Nothing is easy in the life of Steve Corino.

This past Japan tour was one that was fun and very different. I will get into it in a little bit but I will actually go in order from November 22 to December 25 to make it easier to follow.

November 22 was our first WORLD-1 doubleheader in years from Neptune, NJ. Now these were not our normal W-1 show, this one was attended by ZERO1 official Hiroki Asai to look at talent for future tours.

The shows were really good for the most part. Asai saw a bunch of things he liked, some things he didn’t, and things we could do to get better. All stuff that we are going to work on for 2010. Plus in 2010 you will see us at W-1 bring some Japanese talent in. It is really a fun place to watch a pro-wrestling show. Visit www.WORLD1Online.com.

On the opening show I defended the W-1 heavyweight title against my old friend Ace Darling. I have known Ace for almost 15 years now. When I was training to be a wrestler in ’94 guys like Ace, Devon Storm (Crowbar), Terminator Crash (Hugh Morris), and Johnny Gunn (Tom Brandi/Sal Sincere/Patriot) were the young indy standouts. Crash and Tom were heavyweights so there was no real chance I would be wrestling them, but Ace and Devon were jr. heavyweights and that meant that I had to wrestle them.

I was totally intimidated by Ace and Devon. To me, they were the future of wrestling, and in the fall of 1995 I found myself intertwined in a story line with them, the future Billy Kidman, and Simon Diamond.
In 1995 I was still in my rookie year. I barely had 20 matches in when I went to Jim Kettner’s ECWA in Wilmington. If there is one guy that all young guys need to work for to really get it when it comes to wrestling, is Jim Kettner. Jim gave me the opportunity to work in his company when I am sure he knew I didn’t belong. I was so green and knew it. But Jimmy believed in me and to this day I don’t know why, but appreciate it so much.

I am an opening card wrestler for the ECWA my first few months and then it happened. During the ECWA tag team title program between Ace Darling and Kid Flash (Billy Kidman) vs. Lance (Simon) Diamond and Devon Storm, Devon either got hurt or signed with WCW. I never really remember this part. You can watch my first or second shoot with RFVideo to see me debate that very same question. But it was Ace and Simon that went to Jim and recommended that I should take Devon’s part while he was recovering (or appearing on Nitro. Either or.) and it was a position that a 1995 Steve Corino had no business being in.

So the stage has been set for Steve Corino and Lance Diamond to take the ECWA tag team titles from Ace Darling and Kid Flash, as they split up as a team afterward. The only problem is that I messed up every little thing with Ace. If there were five things to remember I screwed up seven of them. And I could tell that Ace was hot that I was making him look bad but what I always remembered that he never yelled at me or took a shot at me. He sat down afterward and told me what I did wrong and what I needed to do to get better. That always meant a lot to me. Of course the next three times I wrestle Ace I just screw up. Again. And again. I have to be the worst wrestler ever to face him. I mean, I just screwed up looking at him. But each time he never got hot at me and always tried with me the next time. Then one of my greatest fears happens…he wants to come to wrestle in W-1!

Being one of the people in charge I can usually make sure I wrestle who I want to wrestle but Ace made it perfectly clear that if he was coming to W-1 he wanted to wrestle me. Ah shit. What made it even worse is that Ace has gotten in amazing shape over the last few months and I had to not only worry about screwing up 14 years later, but trying to keep up with him in the ring.

Luckily the match was really good. A totally old school style match and I don’t think I screwed up once. I was really happy with it and I hope Ace was too. Well that was my Ace story. He has a Steve Corino story. You should ask him about it!

The second show I wrestled a totally different style against Ricky Reyes. I never can understand the “internet hate” that Reyes has from some of the smart marks. The guy is put together great, his work is excellent, and loves our sport. You would think that the internet fans would be all over him in a good way.

The match was as strong style as you can get. What I love about Reyes is that he doesn’t care if there are 50 people in the house, 500, or even zero. Once he gets in there it is all business and he has something to prove. This was the first time we have wrestled one on one. I think we had a tag match against each other once in ROH a few years ago, but this was our first singles match together and I can’t wait for the next one.

Thanksgiving weekend I was off from wrestling so I took a quick trip to Finland to take care of some business. It was nice to get away for a few days and it was also a good time to make things right.

I survived the Finn Air strike long enough to get home and return back to the normal world of Steve Corino. Of course “normal” really doesn’t apply in my world.

The day after I returned I had a scary, yet funny in a sick way, experience. After a 4am workout session I came home at about 6:30. It was cold but beautiful out. I live near a big creek and with all the leaves gone and the creek so calm; it was just the perfect morning to take Sandy (my dog) for a walk.

I grabbed my cup of Wawa coffee and my girl and I head out to the trail. Usually the walking trail is about 50 meters from the water but with no leaves there was a little opening to where the dog and I could walk near the creek.

Now here I am walking and thinking to myself “This is the life” and how nothing could ruin this moment.

I was wrong.

With Sandy by my side I hear ruffling ahead of us. We both stopped. About 100 meters in front of us is a deer. A phucking deer. And like a old western this thing has stopped and is just staring at us. Both the dog and I look at each other in amazement and then look at the deer. It’s a standoff…but not for long.

All of a sudden this deer starts running towards Sandy and I. We both look at each other for a split second and take off. Yep, the dog and I were on the same wave length and neither of us wanted to be raped by this deer. I think it saw a white guy with a beard and thought “HUNTER without a gun. I am going to get him.”

Lucky for us we made it to the house before this Moose-like deer caught us and tore us limb from limb. I don’t think I ever ran so fast in my entire life. Thank God I lost a bunch of weight or that deer would have been eating my man fat. For the next hour besides trying to catch my breath, the dog and I went back to the window to see if the deer was waiting for us!

The reality of the situation is that the deer probably ran the opposite direction when we did but it makes for a more fun story if the deer chased us. Shit I was scared!

The next weekend was the Tri-State Wrestling Alliance show in New Jersey. Before I get into the TWA, I want to apologize to the ACE promoters and fans. I totally F’d up and literally wrote the ACE date down as December 4 and not 5. It was my screw up. When Mike Morgan, the promoter, informed me about it, I attempted to see it was possible to do a double shot but I had to wrestle a Battle Royal early, then a singles match, and then the main event for TWA. I am usually more responsible then this and apologize to the ACE promotion.

TWA is a lot of fun. Like I said in the last edition of The Corino Chronicles, I was a huge TWA fan so wrestling for the new TWA is a dream come true. It was also a rare night when I had to wrestle three times on one show. Three times at my age? Well I was pumped because I was getting to wrestle one of my heroes, Tony HITMAN Stetson, in the main event. The first match I was in a battle royal where the winner would be the number one contender to Glen Osbourne’s TWA heavyweight title. In over 15 years in pro-wrestling I have NEVER won a battle royal. Can you believe that? I have won over 60 titles, wrestled all over the world, been in the ring with most of my heroes, but never won a battle royal! Well I was the co-winner of this one! Does that count as a win or half a win?

The second match I wrestled in was against young Shane Harris. Harris is a heckuva talent that Mike Kehner just brought to W-1 and he is going to do well with both TWA and W-1. Big, strong, and a great attitude. Then it was onto the main with Stetson. I was really nervous because I used to watch Stetson have these awesome battles with Larry Winters, DC Drake, and Johnny Hotbody and now I am in the ring with him.

I think for how first matchups go this went well. I think it will only get better in the next coming months. The fans ate it up too, which is great. For some reason the TWA fans just love to attack Rob Dimension.

Speaking of Dimension, the tandem of Corino/Dimension has really taken off in the past few months. I love the chemistry and the fans hate us together so it’s a really good partnership. More on Rob Dimension later.

The next day I was to take off for my 73rd tour of Japan but thanks to an asshole named Daniel Balcam at Newark Airport made sure that wouldn’t have happened.

You have to realize that Newark Airport is two hours from where I live but the price for the air ticket from Newark was half of what it was from Philadelphia, so ZERO1 asked me to fly from there and it was no problem. I was going to leave my car at Dimension’s and then he would drop me off at the Trenton train station. Hey, Dimension takes this managing thing seriously. He’s my Rick Pecker.

Everything is cool when Rob drops me off at the train station. I get on the train and head to the airport. I was running a bit later then I wanted but I was going to make it to the Continental line within the one hour I needed before check in closed. So I get there with an hour and 11 minutes remaining and of course, like Newark Airport is always, it is under staffed. If there were 500 people in line I would not be BSing. So I go up to this dipshit worker named Daniel and inform him that there is no way that I am going to be able to get through this line in 11 minutes and he says “Wait here for a moment” as he goes off to play with himself or give someone else bad advice. 25 minutes later he comes over and now I am hot because I know what is going to happen. I say “Hey, I talked to you almost a half hour ago about my flight. Its taking off in less then 45 minutes.” He once again says to me “Where are you going?” and I say “Tokyo Narita” and he gives me a look like I am a dick and says “Oh you are too late for that flight.”

Now I am hotter then hell. I walk right up into his personal space and tell him that I came to him 30 minutes ago and that HE f’d up, not me. Like a coward he literally caved almost like he thought I was going to hurt him. Puss. I have to now wait in this line to get a new flight. Guess what? There is only ONE Continental flight per day from Newark so I had to go all the way home. I was pissed. But they did give me a free upgrade so my anger was short lived.

The next day I arrive at the airport about three hours early and who is the first person I see? Yep douche bag Daniel Balcam. He looks right down at the ground and quickly walks away. Now, DANIEL BALCAM, I hope you are happy. Because you are rude and bad at your job I will publically bury you. Learn how to be either a man or nice to people. Actually you should learn how to do both. Dick.

Right as I arrived in Tokyo, I found out that I would have to stay in Japan until December 20 instead of my original date of December 16 due to Kintaro Kanemura and my last two tag team tournament matches would be on December 18 and 19, knocking me out of Ring Of Honor’s Final Battle weekend. That bummed me out because I was really looking forward to getting in the ROH mix. 2010 will be different as I will dedicate a lot of time to ROH and it will be the first time that I have done that. Even though I have been in and out of ROH for the last almost eight years, I was never a full time player. Hopefully that will change in 2010. I really want to prove myself and be in the ring with some of the greatest talents in the world. Selfishly, to see what this old man can still do. This is the kick in the ass I needed.

This tour was a “back to basics” tour for me. Meaning that instead of staying in a hotel, like I usually do, I stayed at the Dojo house with six other young boys. It is a dorm style set up and it was perfect for me to stay focused. I would wake up early, around 5:30am, and run through Shiba Park, then go to the Temple and watch them pray and clear my head, and then by 6:30-45 I was at the Dojo training for two hours. I needed this to stay disciplined with weight training and cardio. I knew that if I stayed in a hotel, I would have had the tendency to relax a little more and not train as hard.

The whole tour was built around ZERO1’s first tag league tournament. I was paired with the XWF’s Kintaro Kanemura and I couldn’t have been happier. I have known Kanemura since the old ECW days and he has always been so good to me. I never forgot that both him and Shinya Hashimoto made sure that I was the only gaijin on the 2003 Kudo Fuyuki Memorial Shows. I don’t know what it is, but Kanemura and I (plus CW Anderson and Testuhito Kuroda) have always had a good time together.

I did post a lot of the daily results on my Twitter (@CorinoWrestling) and on Facebook. I was actually surprised that we ended up with 3 points but was also happy. Our goal every night was not to win, but to make sure that all the Japanese fans were entertained.

Random shit file: While walking to the dojo, a guy passed me with a top hat on. A top hat?

Akebono was on tour with us and it was the first time that I got to sit down and talk to him. What a CMF (Cooooool Mo Fo). I was super impressed with how much he knew and loved pro-wrestling and you can see it in his matches. Sometimes guys come from other sports and are total assholes (see Matt Ghaffari) but Akebono is definitely not one of them. It was a pleasure to get to know him on this tour. Great guy.

While you are on CorinoWrestling.com make sure you go over to my sister, Allison’s, blog “Dangerous Thoughts”. She is about to celebrate her 10th year in pro-wrestling next year. 10 years already? Kiddo, you have come a long way and you should be very proud of your career. I wish TNA would smarten up and get you on TV.

Unfortunately I only brought two books with me on this tour. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown and Bid Time Return by the great Richard Matheson.

I really enjoyed the first 95% of The Lost Symbol. Usually Dan Brown’s books start off really slow and then pick up after the 50th or so page. This book starts out hot but the ending was a little off. And now when I read Dan Brown, the lead character is always Tom Hanks to me!

Bid Time Return is a book that I have wanted to read for at least 20 years. I am a big fan of the movie version (called Somewhere In Time) and the book has been out of print. I finally found a copy on Amazon and it was worth the $31 I paid for it. The book is way different then the movie and it really could be two different stories, both of which I love. Highly recommended.

The big thing I missed while being away, besides Colby and Sandy, was MLB Network. With all the trades and free agent signings I would have wasted away in front of that channel!

I still don’t know how I feel about the Roy Halladay trade. Time will tell on this one. I was really happy with the job that Cliff Lee did with the Phillies during the stretch and was hoping that the Phil’s rotation would look like this: Lee, Hamels, PEDRO, Happ, and Blanton with Moyer in a long relief/spot starter role. I know Moyer wants to start but he is 93 years old and needs to be put in a spot where he can pitch out of situations and still help Cole Hamels and J.A. Happ become big stars.

Polonco was a good pickup I guess. To me, he is a #7 hitter on this team and hopefully he will hit 20/75/.300. I don’t know if he is good protection for either Jayson Werth or Raul Ibanez but if he hits for average and helps turn the lineup over, then I am going to be happy.

I do hope that the Phillies try and sign Pedro Martinez again for a full year. 5-1 last season, he really was great for the team and city. I hated Pedro Martinez. I hated him until he put on that Phillies hat. Does he have enough in the tank for a full year? I don’t know but I would take a chance of an 8 day rest period between starts and start Moyer in between. That way both pitchers would get about 16 starts in and if push comes to shove they have enough rest that they could be used for long relief.

The Thursday before I left was my last free day before the end of the tournament. I totally planned to sleep in but was woken by a freaking earthquake. EARTHQUAKE. And here I am on the top bunk in the dojo house.

While I was away I got the news that Umaga had passed away. And once again I have to hear it from 1000 different people that I don’t know telling me on Facebook like they were a reporter. I hate this. Why do people think they need to break the story like they are TMZ? To everyone out there in FB land that wants to “break a story” to me, don’t. Mike Kehner is my go-to guy when it comes to wrestling news. Kehner will text me if he has news or something that I would be interested in. I don’t want to hear it from people I don’t know.

I didn’t know Umaga well. Met him maybe a half dozen times. He was an OK guy to me but he was not my friend. I feel bad for his family, who have lost a father and husband, and the whole Samoan family. Death at 36 is always sad, but I hate that we have to make a huge negative issue out of it. Let the family mourn and enjoy the entertainment that he gave you.

Speaking of Facebook, I enjoy FB so much more then I ever did with MySpace. But there are things I do not enjoy. Putting stupid surveys or cards or asking me to play “Mafia games” makes me crazy. I have just started deleting people that do it since I can only have 5000 people on there. That is why I had to create a “fan page” so that everyone that can’t be added to my regular FB can join that. It is pretty much the same thing. So every week or so I send out 150 or so messages (it’s the same email) to people waiting to be added and tell them that I can not add them and please join the fan page. Can you believe I get some idiots that write and say “Oh, the great Steve Corino wants me to join his fan page. Sorry dude.” WTF? These people request ME and get hot when I tell them that I can’t add them but give them an alternative. You know what? From now on when I get these stupid emails I will post them.

And speaking of posting, my manager Rob Dimension came up with the funniest thing about posting on my page. He originally did it to see if he could drum up some heel heat but for the most part everyone has loved it. I think the only people that would be offended are the ones that are guilty of the violations. Here is what he posted:

Regardless of how many times Steve tells most of you, you still don’t understand how things work. Steve has asked me to make it simple so everyone can understand. While he does enjoy hearing from his fans, he hates people who don’t follow common sense.
If you are a fan of Mr. Corino, thank you, he appreciates your support. What he doesn’t appreciate are the following:

1. Chatting - While Steve is online, he is often available to chat. Please be courteous and understand if Steve does not know you, don’t expect the conversation to be long. Believe it or not, he has a life, has friends and doesn’t remember everyone he meets. He also doesn’t want to hear “wow, you bleed a lot” or anything dumb or un-clever…since if you worked at McDonalds, Steve would never message you with “Wow, you get those fries down quick”. Don’t start the conversation with “Hey”. This has been said on numerous “Corino Chronicles” and interviews. Have a full sentence worked out or don’t bother.

2. Bookings – This is where common sense really takes over. I have known Steve for 10 yrs. I will get booked before you. When you see me go to Japan, then ask him for the “Hey..um…can I get on the Zero One tour?”. This is his answer – “No, get some gear, pay your dues, hit the gym…don’t call us..We will call you.” He really hates when he is asked for bookings, I have seen people get deleted instantly or be told “Fuck Off”. The Wrestling business isn’t nice, if you plan to cut corners, don’t expect things to end well.

3. Social Questions or Virtual Pets – This is grounds for immediate deletion. These are time consuming to delete, take up space and clutters the page. Please keep your fake animals, mob wars invites and random questions on your own page. Steve trys to answer all emails, messages and comments on his page. With nearly 10,000 friends and fans, please cut him some slack and avoid this at all cost.

4. Insider Terms - Since the Internet is everywhere and regardless of how much money you make, any moron can have access, Steve wanted me to pass this along. Please refrain from messages containing “Insider” terms. Yes, it’s totally hip to call Professional Wrestlers - “Workers” or calling that microwavable Burrito a “Gimmick”, but not to us. We know that you’re a Fan, we hope that you come to realize that you’re a fan also. So, if the notion comes over you to message Steve with “Hey, that gimmick you did tonight, with the Dusty Finish, where you went over, was cool”…think better or be deleted.

5. Degrees of Separation – Yes, we know your Steve’s “Biggest” fan and you just happen to notice that some other Corino’s (Son, Sister, Mother) are on Facebook. They don’t know you (unless they ACTUALLY know you), so please refrain from hitting the “Request Friend” button. It’s weird and honestly…creepy. Steve enjoys his family’s privacy, they don’t care that you just met Steve. They deal with enough Wrestling, trust me, they are happy you enjoy what he does, but not enough to make you their friend. Mr. Corino will not hesitate from deleting you and possibly messaging you, in an uncomfortable manner.

6. Connecting the Dots – Steve has many Friends that he speaks with on a daily basis. Knowing us does not mean we can “Get you booked”. We can’t!! Plain and simple. Steve usually just adds you to the list of “Don’t book” because you tried to cheat the system. Plus, if you suck, then it just puts heat on the friend that put in a word for you. Steve knows who and what he likes, he doesn’t want to hear that “I know Mike Kehner” or “Dimension managed me once” or “I was (fill in the blank)’s Champion”. I will tell you that this statement is 100% TRUE. Yes, Steve has connections but that doesn’t mean that he is the “Booker” everywhere he goes. Asking who is in charge is always encouraged or politely asking for the companies email address is a great way to get some respect.

I hope you read and follow the above – it will make your Facebooking experience with Mr. Corino much better. If this offends you, chances are you are the moron mentioned above, if you don’t do anything above, then relax and enjoy your friendship with Mr. Wrestling.

Funny stuff. Who’d a thought Rob Dimension was funny. I have known him almost 10 years and I can count on one hand how many times he popped me.

Well after 6500 words you guys are probably sick and tired of reading my dribble.

Until next time have a wonderful holiday season and don’t forget to follow me on Twitter.

The Corino Chronicles XXVII: You Can Go Home

You can never predict anything when it comes to life and pro-wrestling. And its even worse when you are a wrestler and trying to live a life! Haha. Less then six months ago, I felt at my worst mentally and physically. I couldn’t kick out of the funk that I was in. I felt that my shoulder, my weight, my personal life, and my career were in a tail spin. Nothing seemed to go right until I figured out that the only person that could truly change my luck was me.

With the support of some great friends and family I started to climb out of the self-imposed cellar I was in and decided it was time to either change or go further down the crapper.

And that is when it hit me. Stop making excuse, get off your ass, and start from the bottom. That is what I did. I got as healthy as I can (shoulder still is a mess but I am down 30 pounds), and changed everything that was stale.

It wasn’t and isn’t an easy road.

I write this because I am happy to announce (well, the office did already) that I will return to Pro-Wrestling ZERO1 for my 73^rd tour from December 8-18 and take part in the ZERO1 Tag League with my partner Kintaro Kanemura!

Excitement would be an understatement because not only have I always been a fan of Kanemura but he has been a good friend over the last eight years. I always think back of the way he treated me, not just as a wrestler but as a guy he considered a friend, at the 2003 WEW event for Kudo Fuyuki.

We are in the A-Block which will give us a chance to wrestle four different teams including a few fighters I have never wrestled before.

It goes to show that just when you feel your lowest, you can change your destiny and recover. With returns to ZERO1, UK (for 101 and 1PW), and ROH I finally feel that even though I am a bit older and the bumps hurt a bit more, that I am ready for the next phase of my career.

Usually in my Chronicles I go in order from the last writing but this time I will go backwards. Just a change in pace (plus that is how my notes go! Haha).

As I am writing this it is 24 hours before the WORLD-1 events in Neptune, NJ. We have been slowly increasing our attendance month by month and tomorrow we will go with our first double header in a few years. It gives W-1 the chance to not only further our stories (which are good!!!) but it gives a chance for newer wrestlers to show their stuff in front of Mr. Asai from Pro-Wrestling ZERO1 in Japan. ZERO1 announced last month that WORLD-1 and Simon Inoki were the exclusive bookers of foreign talent for their company and I am very pleased. For seven years I was in charge of being the gaijin agent for the company and now with Z-1 and W-1 working together again it will get our wrestlers a chance for international work.

Tickets are only $5 for each event tomorrow. That is cheaper then a pizza! Come on out and have some fun. You can come right to the building for tickets or visit www.WORLD1Online.com for details.

Last weekend was my first return to the United Kingdom in a year wrestling for Steven Gauntley’s Pro Wrestling 101 and 1PW. The trip over was easy. Maybe 30 people on my flight so I got a good seven hours of rest. I had planned on a cramped trip so I bought Dan Brown’s new book The Lost Symbol to read but luckily I was off to nap time. When I arrived in the UK I sat and read waiting for a 1PW official to pick me up. Two hours later he got me. Not that he was late but I don’t think he recognized me since I was wearing my glasses and my hair was up in my hat!

The companies put us up at a real nice hotel near the Doncaster Airport and it was great to see Sterling James Keenan right off the bat. After some rest, I went to the Dome to host a seminar. Although 15-20 contacted Steven about coming, only five showed up and that was fine for me. I like teaching the young guys and sometimes a smaller class gets more. Of the 10-15 that didn’t show, only one emailed me which I thought was very professional of him. I would have never know that he was scheduled but he showed that he wanted to learn.

After the seminar, who do I see? My European PIC (Partner In Crime) Steve Lynskey! Lynskey is just one of those funny guys that I love hanging out with. We have been all over Europe together and its always story time when you get us together.

It was also a lot of fun to hang out with Keith Myatt. Keith, to me, is like King Kaluha. A guy that just is so nice and has so much knowledge of pro-wrestling that you learn new things everytime you are around them. Keith has such great stories of World Of Sport and is a guy that all young wrestlers should flock to so that they can learn.

The shows were a lot of fun. And it was nice to talk to the UK fans again. Thank you to everyone that came out. Even those who don’t like me! LOL.

I was supposed to go from UK to Finland for a few days of holiday but unfortunately it wasn’t going to happen thanks to EDreams.com. EDreams is a shitty internet travel agent that screwed me on my ticket. You ask how? Thank you for asking. I ordered my ticket for X amount of Euro’s and got emailed my confirmation number. Should be all good right? Well, just by chance I checked my email between the 101 and 1PW events and what do I see? An email from these dicks telling me that they “made an error on the fare” and that it would cost me another $200 for the ticket. How do you do that? How do you take the money, send a confirmation number, and then ask for more money? Assholes. They still haven’t returned my money. They told me it might take 7-10 days before I get it. So www.EDreams.com, welcome to The List.

Another person that made The List this week gets it for being a total douche and thinking he is smarter then wrestlers. In fact, he was proved to just be a stupid kid. His name is Fusent or something like that and he was the “owner” of Parliament Entertainment Promotions in Ontario. He contacts me on Facebook asking me about a show he was going to run on November 27. We agreed on price but right after it started to go downhill. I tell him how I need my flight and he asks me to come in a day earlier. That was strike number one. He had no idea how to book a flight. Then when it came to the deposit (I require a deposit with first time promoters and so does my agent Bill Behrens for EVERYONE) I told him he could send it via Western Union or PayPal. He tells me that he will send it via PayPal on Friday, October 30. The 30^th comes and goes so I figure that I am not on the show. No deposit, no show. Then I get emails from fans and wrestlers in Ontario warning me about this kid AND telling me that he is advertising me. Note to fans-if you DON’T see it on www.CorinoWrestling.com then I am not scheduled. I contact the guy and he lies (LIES) and says that he tried to call me twice and wanted a reassurance that I would be coming since The Honky Tonk Man wasn’t requiring a deposit. After telling this shithead that the reason for a deposit is a guarantee of appearance he still didn’t get it. I told him to take me off his advertising and he wrote back about me being unprofessional. HA! Guess what this kid did? Canceled his show. Next time try getting talent from Bill Behrens, since in this kids world no one requires a deposit. Luckily my buddy Gordo over at Ontario’s Indy Elite (http://ontariowrestlingsindyelite.com/) warned me about this kid. Hey kid, now who is stupid? LOLOL.

Back to fun stuff.

The weekend before was a stressful but fun weekend featuring my return to Ring Of Honor and winning the ACE heavyweight title from Danny Maff on November 7.

ACE, once again, was a lot of fun. During the match my injured right shoulder got crushed by Danny Maff on his dive (Trying to do the math of Danny’s weight plus his speed of him coming through the ropes makes me cringe!). By the time I tried to hit my finisher, now named the Sliding C Special (why Sliding C Special? Because it is more special then the Sliding D! Eat that Tanaka-san!!! LOL), three times I was about to cry. Maff has a barrel of a chest and one sliding lariat hurts me. Three was like having a baby, or really bad gas. Just killed me.

I wore all of my Phillies stuff, because I knew the pro-Yankees locker room would be ready to give it to me and I was right! But I took it like a man and it was great to talk baseball with EC Negro.

The two nights before marked my return to ROH for the first time in three years. Nervousness was the understated word for these shows. Over the last 15+ years I have wrestled about 2300 times. In those 2300 times, I have probably done three matches that lasted under three minutes in my favor. I have been on the receiving end a bunch of times but being on the offensive end is nerve racking for me.

Luckily I was against two really good kids that were amazing. Plus I had the help of Colby putting stuff together including a new move I debuted called “ColbyShock”. I hope the fans enjoy it. I saw that I am scheduled to debut on the HDNet TV show on Monday, December 7. It is great to be back and although I was totally intimidated by some of the styles of the ROH guys, I look forward to the challenge of keeping up with them! Plus I have a built in feud with Kenny Omega, since we are both from Winnipeg. Apparently Bobby Cruise only thinks that one wrestler can be from a certain city! God forbid that me and Omega both get announced from Winnipeg right Bobby, you hairy hairy man! Bobby Cruise is so hairy that bears are jealous of his coat. Bobby Cruise is so hairy that Big Foot thinks HE is Big Foot! Ohhh, Cruise I got a bunch of them for you!!! So from now on, in memory of Bobby Cruise, I will be introduced from my birthplace, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada! Think of Bobby when you hear it! LOL.

That is about it for this edition. Thanks for reading and supporting me!