Pete Rose in the WWE

Pete Rose is quite possibly the greatest baseball player of all time and is the current all time hit leader with 4,256 hits.  The closest active player is Ichiro Suzuki with 3,030 hits.  But this blog isn't about Pete Rose the baseball player, this blog is about Pete Rose in the WWE.

Mr. Rose first appeared in the WWE at WrestleMania XIV in Boston March 29, 1998, I was there incidentally.  Rose was slated as the guest ring announcer for the match pitting the first encounter of Kane vs. The Undertaker.

The Fink announced Rose to a warm reception from the Boston crowd, then Rose got on the mic opening with "Last time I was here we kicked your ass!" to a chorus of boos.  He then further insulted the Red Sox faithful saying "You can't win a World Series", "I was going to leave tickets for Bill Buckner but he couldn't bend over to pick them up" and finishing up calling us losers.  He then introduced Kane who came to the ring and promptly scooped up Rose for a tombstone piledriver.  Jay and I, like everyone else, popped big time.

Looking back it doesn't make a lot of sense because Kane was the heel, not the babyface and Rose just heeled all over the crowd.   Rose was stretchered out of the arena.

Rose next appeared in the WWE at WrestleMania XV March 28, 1999 in Philadelphia.  Kane was coming to the ring for his match against Triple H.  When Kane got to the ring he was attacked from behind by the Famous San Diego Chicken.

Kane ripped off the head of the chicken revealing Peter Rose.  Once the crowd realized who he was they popped for him, but he was quickly put down again with the tombstone piledriver.  Rose was helped to the back by Tony Garea and Jimmy Korderas.

At WrestleMania 16 on April 2, 2000 in Anaheim, California Pete Rose once again returned to the WWE.  Now a babyface Kane was teamed with Rikishi in a tag team match against X-Pac and Road Dog.  Kane pinned X-Pac following a tombstone piledriver winning the match for his team.

Too Cool: Brian Christopher and Scotty 2 Hotty came down to the ring to celebrate with the traditional dance that they and Rikishi did at that time.  The Famous San Diego Chicken entered the ring to celebrate with them.  Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler immediately starting saying that Rose was in the chicken suit.  Earlier in the night Rose has been interviewed by Michael Cole and Rose said he was there to get his revenge on Kane which is why they believed him to be in the suit.

Too Cool, Rikishi, & The Chicken danced together and when it was over Kane confronted the Chicken backing him into a corner, Pete Rose then slid in the ring with a baseball bat. Rikishi grabbed the bat and Kane floored Rose with a chokeslam.  He was then dragged to the corner and Rikishi delivered a stink face to Rose.

In 2002 Pete Rose would return to the WWE this time in a commercial for the Pay-Per-View No Mercy which took place on October 20, 2002.  The commercial was Halloween based and featured Trick or Treaters dressed as WWE Superstars coming to Pete's home looking for candy.  Rose tells them to scram in various humorous ways denying them candy.  Then Pete opens the door and sees Kane who grabs Pete by the throat.  The camera cuts away advertising the PPV then comes back to Pete on the ground apparently falling victim to the chokeslam.

Pete Rose was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2004 as the first inductee into the Celebrity Wing.  He was, of course, inducted by his nemesis Kane who in his induction speech made a joke about Pete not betting on ever getting him back at WrestleMania.

Rose opened his acceptance speech with "I didn't know you were that ugly." As Kane was unmasked for this segment, the first time Rose seeing him that way.  He kept it brief thanking Vince McMahon and talked about sitting in the Gorilla position at WrestleMania XIV and how much the wrestlers respected each other.  He stated that wrestlers and nascar were the two places where they treated the fans the best.

Pete's final WWE appearance to date was as guest host on the March 22, 2010 episode of Raw from San Jose, California.  Rose would booked Shawn Michaels in a match against Kane to finally get his revenge on the Big Red Machine in a match with no count-outs and no disqualifications.  Rose was seen again backstage wishing Michaels luck in his match.

The final time he was seen on the show was backstage with Christian, Rose was excited about Michaels victory over Kane insulting the San Francisco Giants along the way stating that his luck had changed.

When he opened the door to his dressing room he was greeted by Kane who seethed "your luck has changed huh, well don't bet on it!" Grabbing Rose he pulled him into the room closing the door where it sounded like Rose was being beaten up.

Although not seen on the show Rose was mentioned in name by Kane on the August 27, 2012 episode of Raw.  Daniel Bryan and Kane are in an anger management segment where Kane admits, "for reasons never quite explained, I have an unhealthy obsession with torturing Pete Rose."

Rose's appearances in the WWE were few but they were very memorable and each and everyone was tied to Kane.  Of all the celebrity appearances in the WWE Rose rates up there as one of my favorites because of his interactions with Kane as one long storyline over a dozen years.

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Roy's Review: NEW King of Bethany 11/12/2016

Here is my review of Northeast Wrestling's King of Bethany on November 12, 2016 in Bethany, Connecticut.

Match 1: Donovan Dijak defeated Jimmy Preston to advance in the King of Bethany Tournament
This was really kinda average and slightly boring. Dijak is awesome and Preston is solid but for some reason they just didn't click.
5.75/10

In Ring: Ron Zombie comes out and says that he was injured in a Final Deletion Match with Matt
Hardy vs. Team Sazaam the week before and he blames it on Dan De Man.

Match 2: Vinny Marseglia defeated Keith Youngblood to advance in the King of Bethany Tournament
Solid match. A good match from Marsgelia. It looked like Youngblood was going to win but in the end Vinny got the win after a Swanton Bomb.
7/10

Match 3: Big Jym Anderson defeated Sully Banger w/The Warlock
This was a quick squash
2/10

In Ring: Big Jym Anderson says that since Ron Zombie is out of the tournament, that means there is an open spot to face Wrecking Ball Legursky. Wrecking Ball comes out but is kind of hesitant. Anderson then calls him Wrecking No Balls. Wrecking Ball then accepts the challenge.

Match 4: Wrecking Ball Legursky w/Marshall McNeil fought Big Jym Anderson to a double DQ in a King of Bethany Tournament Match
This was quick but they beat the hell out of each other. They continued to fight after the bell until Legursky hit a World's Strongest Slam and left.
3/10

Match 5: Flip Gordon defeated Mike Bennett to advance in the King of Bethany Tournament
Good match with Bennett working Flip's arm for a portion of the match. A good comeback for Flip with a few false finishes. Flip got the surprise upset win with a springboard superkick.
8/10

Match 6: TK O'Ryan defeated Warbeard Hanson to become #1 Contender to the Northeast Wrestling Championship
Great match that spilled to the floor early. Lots of great back and forth action. Hanson tweeked his knee early and TKO took advantage of that by getting a submisson win with the Glue Factory. These two guys put on a hell of a match.
9/10

Ringside: Vik Delicious and Ant Battle come out from the back fighting. Hale Collins comes out and he helps Delicious double team Battle until Chris Battle comes out with chairs and chases off The Now.

Match 7: Flip Gordon defeated Donovan Dijak to advance in the King of Bethany Tournament
Solid match that saw Flip take a vicious chokeslam on the ring apron, then get dominated by Dijak. Flip got another surprise upset win, this time with a West Coast Pop. After the bell Dijak wrecked Flip with a Feast Your Eyes.
7/10

Match 8: Mark Shurman defeated Scotty Slade by DQ
This was the battle of former Team Friendship partners. This only lasted a few minutes and was really average. The DQ came when Donovan Dijak came out and attacked Shurman until Jimmy Preston chased off Slade and Dijak. Apparently in NEW Slade is a member of The American Destroyers.
3/10

In Ring: NEW Champion Brian Anthony and his manager Steve Stamos came to the ring for a championship celebration. Stamos had a video package created for Anthony. They put each other over for a few minutes then a cake is brought out. TK O'Ryan comes out and says he wants some of the cake. TKO then gets a ton of cheap pops until he goes in the ring and jams Stamos into the cake.

Flip Gordon

 Match 9: Flip Gordon defeated Vinny Marseglia to win the King of Bethany Tournament
Good main event with Flip playing the underdog very well. Vinny introduced a chair but the referee took it away allowing Flip to get the advantage for a few minutes. Vinny hit a Swanton Bomb and surprisingly Flip kicked out. Flip then hit a 450 Splash but Vinny kicked out. Flip then hit a Corkscrew splash off the top for the win.
8.5/10

Overall this show scored a 53.25 out of 90 for an overall score of 59.16%. I have always enjoyed the tournament format and this show was no different. There were some bad matches but also some really good ones. Check this show out for the great performances by Flip Gordon as well as O'Ryan vs. Hanson.

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The Last Match: Pioneer's of the Ring

In this edition of The Last Match I couldn't think of a title then Pioneer's of the Ring came to me.  I'm not sure if it's accurate but I'm running with it, enjoy: 

Don Leo Jonathan
July 12, 1980 Catch Wrestling Association, Graz, Austria
was defeated by Otto Wanz

Debuting in 1949 this second generation star tour around the world but made is home in Canada.  He competed in the AWA, several NWA territories and the WWWF.  Nicknamed "The Mormon Giant" Jonathan competed in several Battle of the Giant matches with Andre the Giant.  In 1973 he headlined two consecutive shows at Madison Square Garden challenging champion Pedro Morales.
Currently he resides in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.  

Killer Kowalski
March 14, 2008 Top Rope Promotions, Fall River, MA
defeated Gino Giovanni

A Canadian native, Killer debuted in 1947 competing under various names until he was given the nickname Killer after an incident on October 15, 1952 in Montreal when a errant knee drop ripped the cauliflowered ear of Yukon Eric.  In December 1972 Kowalski pinned Andre the Giant in a Battle of the Giants in Quebec City.  He also had an impressive run in the WWWF headlining matches against champion Bruno Sammartino.

After retirement he opened a very successful wrestling school with students including; Triple H, Chyna, Perry Saturn, John Kronus, Big John Studd, Albert, Frankie Kazarian, Fandango, and more.

He stopped has full time wrestling in 1977 wrestling 8 matches over the next 31 years.  Kowalski died August 30, 2008.

Billy Robinson
May 8, 1992 UWF-I, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
wrestled Nick Bockwinkel to a 10 minute time limit draw

Known around the world as a master catch wrestling specialist, Robinson debuted in 1955 in Britain.  In the mid 60's he won both the British & European Championships for Joint Promotions.  He traveled to North American competing in the AWA challenging Verne Gagne for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship.  In 1974 Robinson starred in Vern Gagne's movie The Wrestler as Billy Taylor the challenger to Mike Bullard's, played by Gagne, championship.  He would also challenge Bob Backlund in 1982 for the WWWF World Championship to a time limit draw in Montreal.

Billy Robinson toured Japan and became revered for his catch wrestling ability and was part of the Japanese shoot style movement.  He spent a lot of time there training wrestlers in catch style wrestling.  James Maritato, aka Little Guido, was a student of Robinson.  Robinson died March 3, 2014 at the age of 75.

John Tolos
September 19, 1992 FMW 3rd Anniversary Show Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
wrestled Killer Kowalski to a 10 minute time limit draw

Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada Tolos began wrestling in the 1950's teaming with his brother Chris as the Canadian Wrecking Crew.  On December 28, 1963 they captured the WWWF United States Tag Team Championships from Gorilla Monsoon & Killer Kowalski only holding the titles a short time.  Tolos would travel to the LaBell Family Los Angeles Territory where he feuded with Fred Blassie over the Americas Championship.

In 1991 Tolos would join the WWF as a manager for Mr. Perfect & The Beverly Brothers going by the name Coach.  He left after a short run.  Tolos stopped full time wrestling full time in 1984 however returned in 1992 for the match in FMW with Kowalski.   He died May 29, 2009 at the age of 78 in Los Angeles, California.

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