First, the anatomy of a wrestling death hoax...one bad enough that it fooled two wrestling promoters who worked with the alleged deceased, and a number of wrestling websites, including several on which you read this column, as well as the Observer and others.

Joe Zanolle of the Delaware/New Jersey based ECWA Pro Wrestling sent the following:

Mike Tartaglia talked to DC Don Drake this morning. He is alive and well. That is great news!!! To say I was down yesterday would be an understatement.

We received two different emails, one to TWA and one to ECWA, from two different email addresses. I don't know if they intentionally started the hoax or were reporting what they read. It had personal information in there like his wife's name, where he works (which I think he has only been at a few years), etc. Knowing that Don has had medical problems for years (and still does) , it was not hard to believe.

The cell I had for Don was no longer current. We only had his work. I called his work yesterday and spoke to a woman who barely spoke English and was clueless. Mike called later last night and spoke to another woman who confirmed he was alive and then Mike spoke to Don this AM

In the middle of the night I did one of those search gimmicks. I paid $15 to trace the IP addresses on one of the emails and all I got was city and state, Tauton, Mass who no other concrete info as to a name.

Just idiots with too much free time and nothing better to do. Pretty sad!

Sorry for all the confusion, just glad Don is OK!!!

You have to wonder what sick bastards did such a thing to the friends and fans of DC Drake, especially during this time of year. I've never understtod death hoaxes. I can understand how a rumor gets started and spread, and digital media just helps that weird process happen. But for people to intentionally do it? Don't get it at all.

Now, on a much happier note, this weekend saw two wrestling shows dedicated to helping others in the Philadelphia area, with the annual Cage of Death leading the way.

Combat Zone Wrestling returned to the Flyers Skate Zone in Voorhees, NJ for CZW: Cage of Death 14 before a standing room only (literally, the venue ran out of chairs, not to mention food despite repeated trips to outside suppliers) last night.


The day saw six huge boxes of toys collected for Camden County's Toys for Tots effort, operated by the Marine Corps Reserve. It's nice to know from Toys for Tots volunteers that Camden County has had 1,000 requests for toys this year, far more than in past years. This collection from Cage of Death and the EVOLVE matinee show will make a significant dent in that need. Much thanks to Maven Bentley, DJ Hyde, Gabe Sapolsky and wrestling fans from the Philadelphia/South Jersey area (along with those who traveled to the show from well beyond the area).



Let those on websites, message boards, or rival promotions say whatever they want about the style of Combat Zone Wrestling. Say whatever you want about

their booking. Say whatever you want to about most anything else. But don't ever knock them as people or doubt the sincerity and effort they put forth on this weekend. At a time when the area economy is still recovering, and then only for some, Combat Zone Wrestling gave and gave and gave some more to this effort. They publicized the Toys for Tots collection in every way they humanly could; and went so far as to contribute themselves.



Again, much, much thanks to all. You gave a lot of children a Christmas they might not otherwise have had.



To the matches:

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