Rosenberg Wrestling Report: October 24th

Harry Smith, son of the legendary Davey Boy Smith, debuted this past Monday night on Raw. He is the first wrestling prospect that I have ever eagerly anticipated, which makes sense. His dad was my first favorite wrestler. Over time Bret Hart and Ric Flair became my favorite wrestlers, but Davey Boy is one of the all time greats. He was a pure wrestler with awesome power and great speed and agility for guy of his size (think a more compact HHH with twice the ability).

Harry, who performed under the name DH Smith, made quite an impression. His finish (a win over Carlito on his dad’s running power slam) may have gotten the biggest reaction of the night. He dedicated the match to his father (who died in 2002) and the similarities were strong enough to have him way over with the crowd. Here is his first match with Carlito (in England last week) from WWE.com :

http://www.wwe.com/content/media/video/vms/raw/2007/october15-21/5681918

Look familiar??

As messed up as wrestling has gotten (think Extreme Expose—though those girls are unbelievable), there are still some old school traditions that make me smile. As unfair as it may be to other young wrestlers, wrestling is still a family business. Look at the list of current stars whose dads we grew up watching:

Carlito (Carlos Colon Sr)

Cody Rhodes (Dusty)

Randy Orton (Cowboy Bob)

Harry Smith (Davey Boy)

Chavo Guerrero (Nephew of Eddie)
Deuce (Jimmy Snuka)

The WWE is also currently developing Natty Neidhardt (Jim’s daughter) and Ted Dibiase Jr–which leads me to a sadder note about this family business. A few weeks back, Teddy Hart was released by the WWE. Hart was supposed to debut in the WWE with his first cousins and Dibiase Jr, as the “New Hart Foundation”. Hart is widely regarded as the most talented young talent in the business, but has suffered from attitude problems. I’ve heard he’s hot headed and can be a bit of a diva and the WWE decided to let him go weeks before their planned debut. Hart is in town this weekend for an indy show in Jersey and I plan on talking to him about what actually went down with the WWE.

Speaking of talking to wrestlers–this Sunday we will be joined on the phone by “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair. As you can imagine, I’m sort of excited.

Also a big shout out to Talia Madison, who just signed with TNA. I worked with her on the PWS show last week in NY. She’s a great wrestler and I’m siked she got another shot at the big leagues. Ok that’s enough wrestling nerd talk.