Various: Superstar Billy Graham Dealing with Bone Infection, NJPW Strong Update, Mickie James

Jan 10, 2023

Superstar Billy Graham Suffering Bone Infection Illness

WWE Hall of Famer “Superstar” Billy Graham reportedly is currently dealing with an infection that has spread to his bones in his ear and an area of his skull.

The announcement was first made by Graham’s wife Valerie who relayed the news of Graham’s health issue to those running Graham’s official Facebook page.

“Let’s keep the champ in our prayers please. The following is a message I received from his wife, Valerie. Thank you, Mike (admin) God Bless you Billy!:
Lots of issues… MRI showed he has a very bad infection in his ears that has spread to the bones in his ears as well as an area of his skull…infectious disease doctor was just in trying to decide what antibiotics they’re going to start him on. His electrolytes are still off…his low sodium is especially difficult to treat and they don’t know why at this point.
We need your prayers.”

NJPW Strong Series Status Update

As noted before, New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Strong series was rumored to be ending this past Saturday following comments made by both Hiroshi Tanahashi and NJPW President Takami Ohbari.

Ohbari recently provided an update on Twitter stating that the series will not be ending but instead will be revamped and will go in a new direction at some point this year.

“We started with no spectators in order to “continuously provide matches” in the strict lockdown of the US and the “depletion of professional wrestling” worldwide.
Japan’s box office numbers are recovering. The US has carefully nurtured STRONG as a source of fire, and now it has become a regular show with 2,000 to 3,000 people.
Based on the significantly changed internal and external environment #njpwSTRONGを , we will rebuild to “quality over quantity”.

#njpwSTRONG will be rebuilt to adapt external and internal environment. We started it when the strict lockdown was forced, so we focused obviously on “continuity”.
Fortunately, fan and we are about to overcome the pandemic. We should now focus on “quality” rather than quantity.

#njpwSTRONG will be rebuilt to adapt external and internal environment. We started it when the strict lockdown was forced, so we focused obviously on "continuity".

Fortunately, fan and we are about to overcome the pandemic. We should now focus on "quality" rather than quantity.
— 大張高己/Takami Ohbari (@TAKAMIOHBARI) January 8, 2023

Mickie James Comments on Her Last Rodeo & Her Post-In-Ring Career Plans

A recent episode of the Alliance Pro Wrestling Network podcast had Mickie James as the guest. One of the topics discussed included James’ thoughts on her upcoming career vs. title match against Jordynne Grace at Impact Wrestling’s Hard To Kill 2023 event this Friday being the potential last match of her career.

“I will say that Jordynne [Grace] has been a remarkable champion. I think she’s the perfect representation of this generation of women’s wrestling. I think that she is, you know, held onto that championship very, very strongly and gracefully if I will (James smiled) and she’s a wonderful representation of the brand and a wonderful representation of that Knockouts World Title and what that division represents. So, I would never take that away from her. I know she’s done it the right way and she’s worked really hard to be the champion and to keep that championship and hold it close and so I know it means a lot to her. But it also means a lot to me, my career means a lot to me and it would mean a lot to me to have one more championship run, but if this is the way it has to end, I’d be okay with that too just because, you know, I could go out my way, and I’m okay with that.”

James also gave her thoughts about her current plans for the future of her career following her retirement as an active in-ring wrestler.

“I’ve been studying — and even when I was at WWE, I was working behind the scenes and I was studying commentary, from being a commentator to training to, you know, different things within the industry that I could be more well-rounded in the business of professional wrestling. But I feel like my strengths have always been my creativity and I’m a creative person, that’s why I write. I write songs and I draw and I doodle and I’m an artist, I’ve always been an artist and I always considered wrestling a form of art and artwork but I feel like where my strengths would really be is to help people find that thing about themselves and those — whether it’d be creative-wise or character-wise because that’s what I fell in love with when I fell in love with professional wrestling. I fell in love with the characters, I fell in love with the stories, I fell in love with that over the top, larger than life kind of look at life and if I can help some people tap into that and find that for themselves, that would be pretty amazing. So yeah, I think behind the scenes is a natural fit for me at some point and just creative endeavors but, I don’t know. I don’t know if the company feels that way or other companies. I certainly wouldn’t feel comfortable and that’s kind of another thing, I would not feel comfortable stepping into a role like that unless I was done wrestling because you never wanna blur that line of player-coach. I think that’s a very fine line and I’d want the women to respect me, or men, because I could coach men as well. I would want them to respect me and not think that my motive wasn’t genuine, and so that’s kind of my thing is I don’t wanna switch into a coach role until I’m not one of the players anymore.”

Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com