Various: Elix Skipper on Why He Left Wrestling in 2009, Kurt Angle on Drowning Scare, NJPW News, Indies

Jan 11, 2023

Elix Skipper Comments on Reason for Leaving His Wrestling Career in 2009

A recent virtual fan signing event for K&S WrestleFest had former WCW and TNA wrestler “Primetime” Elix Skipper as the guest. One of the topics discussed include Skipper’s reasons why he decided to leave from wrestling in 2009.

“Let me be honest with you. I had an older son who was shot and killed. Once he was killed, I came back to wrestling, but my heart wasn’t in it anymore. The scary part is, I love wrestling, but family comes first. When he was killed, I was scared that I would be on the road again and something else was going to happen. I made a choice between the wrestling that I love and the family that I love. Obviously, my family won. I try not to do no interviews or anything because if he you keep doing the little things, next thing you know, you’re back on TV or back doing something. I just want to spend my time with my family. Now, so many years later, my wife was saying, ‘Get out there, do some more stuff.’ She is the one pushing me.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

Kurt Angle Comments on His Daughter Saving His Life from a Drowning Incident

A recent episode of The Kurt Angle Show podcast featured co-host Kurt Angle revealing that his daughter recently saved his life from a drowning incident that took place during a recent family vacation.

“We went to Miami, Florida. The temperature was 80 degrees. We spent so much time on the beach. They had a wonderful pool at the hotel. It was a blast.
I actually took my kids jet skiing. My first kid that I put on the back for me to ride them – because they are too young to drive themselves – I put her on the back and we went out and when I went to make a turn – I slowed down and stopped, I wanted to make a turn – and I didn’t put the accelerator on when I was turning and we flipped over. We went into the ocean.
Thank God my daughter is like an Olympic-calibre swimmer. I even had the safety vest on but it wasn’t working, I was still sinking. I can’t swim so I’m in trouble. I couldn’t get above water, I was going under. My daughter kept her composure. The jet ski got away from us, it was like 50 feet away from us. She didn’t know whether to go to the jet ski or to me but she came over to me and saved my life. She pulled me over to the jet ski, she swam 50 yards with me in her hands.
I couldn’t get myself on the jet ski, my arms are so weak now because of my neck I can’t push myself up. So now, she’s putting her hands under my ass and pushing me up onto the jet ski and she got me up there. Then she jumped up behind me and I said, ‘You know what, honey? You just saved my life.'”

Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com

NJPW News & Notes

New Japan Pro Wrestling recently announced the full schedule for this year’s New Japan Cup 2023 tournament, which takes place from March 5th to March 21st in Japan.

NJPW also recently announced that this year’s 51st Anniversary Show will be taking place on March 6th in Ota, Japan.

NJPW also announced that their upcoming Battle in the Valley 2023 event on February 18th in San Jose, California recently reached sold out status. The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported in Monday’s Daily Update that NJPW had sold around 600 tickets since the announcement of the Mercedes Mone vs. KAIRI match for the event this past Wednesday.

NJPW also recently announced two new matches for the card of their Battle in the Valley 2023 event on Funerary 18th in San Jose:

Pre-show: David Finlay vs. Bobby Fish
Alex Coughlin vs. JR Kratos

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

WWE’s Xavier Woods, former WWE talent Tyler Breeze, and AEW’s Adam Cole and Claudio Castagnoli recently released a new song titled Can’t Stop Da Party. DaParty is the name of their gaming group on Woods’ UpUpDownDown gaming-based channel on YouTube.

Westside Xtreme Wrestling recently announced that Jurn Simmons and Tristan Archer are the next official entrants for their 16 Carat Gold 2023 tournament, which takes place on March 10-12th in Oberhausen, Germany.

As noted before, Dragon Lee signed an official contract with WWE this past December. Pro Wrestling Revolution recently announced that due to Lee’s signing with WWE, they have stripped him and Dralistico of their PWR Tag Team Championship as a result and will be crowning new champions at their March 31st event in San Jose, California.

The late Chris Candido reportedly will be inducted into the ISPW Hall of Fame this May in New Jersey, according to PWInsider. Johnson reported that Candido’s induction will be taking place as part of the 80s Wrestling Con event on May 6th in Morristown, New Jersey.

Jacob Fatu reportedly suffered a knee injury at Major League Wrestling’s Blood & Thunder 2023 event this past Saturday in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, according to PWInsider.

Indie wrestlers Tessa Blanchard and Daga announced on Instagram that they have recently ended their marriage. Prior to the announcement, Blanchard and Daga had been married since 2020.

Stardom recently announced that they will be allowing vocal cheering for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic at their February 4th event in Osaka, Japan.

Fox, NBC Universal, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, Televisa-Univision, OpenAP, and the Video Advertising Bureau reportedly recently signed a joint statement proclaiming their intent to pursue the creation of a new television ratings measurement system meant to be an alternate to Nielsen’s metrics, according to Deadline.com. It was reported that the group is currently planning to provide an update on April 25th on the status of this new system with the goal to launch it by Spring of 2024.

As noted before, former wrestler Tammy Sytch was arrested this past May in Florida following a police investigation into a fatal car accident involving Sytch this past March. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that the court recently granted Sytch’s lawyer’s request to have this scheduled hearing pushed back to a new date of February 16th, based on recent court records. Johnson reported that the reason was due to Sytch’s lawyer had asked for the scheduled witness depositions be completed first before her next pre-trial hearing took place.

Impact Wrestling recently announced four new matches for the card of their Impact! television tapings on February 14th in Atlanta, Georgia: