by: Bob Magee

In the latest adventures of this column's flagship site, PWBTS.com was hacked last Thursday morning at 12:44 am ET.

I've been given information by our webhosting company regarding the hacking of the site, and will deal with it accordingly if it can conclusively be proven who was responsible. This individual was also presumably responsible when the PWBTS newsboard briefly went down the preceding day. Passwords have been changed, and we're making other arrangements so this sort of thing doesn't happen again.

In other PWBTS.com news, an "anonymous" person claiming that I was "slandering" XPW sent anonymous e-mails to a number of the websites that run this column (and that I post news items on) yesterday claiming that I should be "fired". It appears to have been someone posting on the XPWTV.com message board that sent these items around.

In relation to those comments, Jonathan Siderman, who was cited on Socaluncensored.com as having made a statement on the XPWTV.com message board that "...the complaint came from someone in the Philly wrestling community. Just another Philly dirty trick. I hope the name of the lowlife that did this is revealed, so we can choose who to support knowing they are dirtier players than Black EVER was."; sent me an e-mail that he did not make the statement in question, but rather that his brother had made the statement.

If that note serves as clarification for Mr. Siderman, fine...but the point really was that there are XPW supporters that believe that someone other than the Bush Administration and Attorney General John Ashcroft are responsible for the legal charges filed against Rob (Black) Zicari and Janet (Lizzy Borden) Romano. That fact is still true, regardless of which member within the Siderman family that made the statement.

Those fans of XPW that are angry at unnamed individuals within the Philadelphia indy wrestling community for supposedly being the cause of Zicari's indictment might also want to note, at least in my case, that I clearly stated the following in the The August 11th AS I SEE IT column:

"...As for the premise of the indictment...as far as I'm concerned personally, as long as the tapes in question involve consenting adults and they were shipped to a consenting adult, it shouldn't be anyone's business, including the Federal government. I personally find some of what is shown on their tapes distasteful, but it doesn't mean I think those tapes should be illegal.

Despite what XPW's loyalists will tell you, my beef (and that of many others) with Rob Zicari and XPW concerned the fact that XPW and its employees refused to follow the same Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission regulations that other promoters in Pennsylvania had to, as well as inexplicably trying to DENY XPW's connection to Extreme Associates."

In short, I wouldn't help someone indict him for the simple reason I don't believe that he ought to be indicted in the first place. Nor would most wrestling fans. If they had, that would be wrong...and no better than the sorts of things that XPW was accused of and/or did during its time in Philadelphia.

Further, I said that in that same column:

The First Amendment applies to a depraved, sick bastard like Rob Zicari just as much as you and I... and Rob Zicari is entitled to its protection."

And I believe it...

Enough about all of that.

In Philadelphia related wrestling items... this past week, CZW featured the farewell match of longtime CZW preliminary wrestler Hurricane Kid (he's getting married) against CZW's Junior Heavyweight Champion Ruckus on their TV this week. It was nice to see this farewell featured in such a positive and prominent way on CZW's TV, especially at a time when certain major promotions don't even take the time to note those who have passed away within the wrestling business... forget those who've left their promotion.

Hurricane Kid was what many wrestling fans would call "enhancement talent"...or at best, someone who worked early matches on CZW shows. He didn't look like some Chernobyl steroid mutant monster from hell...hell, he probably didn't weigh 170 pounds soaking wet. He wasn't a star within the promotion or even within local independent wrestling. But he busted his ass, did what he was asked to do, and helped out whenever and wherever he could for the company as much as anyone within CZW.

Many other promotions would do well to show that sort of "team spirit" toward people who have to leave for family or personal reasons, or for those who retire after years in the wrestling business.

In other wrestling news, last week also featured a creative new type of match on NWA-TNA's PPV called the "Ultimate X" match with Michael Shane, Frankie Kazarian and X Division Champion Chris Sabin. If you get a chance to see a copy of this match on tape or replay, by all means do so. Think of the concept of this match as something like Ladder Match v 2.0.

Until next time...

(If you have comments or questions, I can be reached by e-mail at bobmagee1@hotmail.com)