100 PERCENT
By Robert Press
Wrestling Returns to Bx.
(Photos by Robert Press)
BRONX, NEW YORK, MAY 1- ECPW Wrestling returned to Morris Park last Saturday night, and there was no grudge political match between Senator Jeff “I Get it Done” Klein and his likely challenger Oliver “I Was Attorney General” Koppell.
There were however many exciting wrestling matches that were enjoyed by the hundreds of people who attended the event at St. Francis Xavier School. Marty Jannetti, Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, Bushwaker Luke, and many other exciting wrestlers went after each other and at times replied to the calls from the crowd. The wrestlers came out when announced and many either walked around the ring to greet the crowd or went right into the ring to climb the ropes in the corners to show themselves off. Before the program began and during the intermission many of the wrestlers were available for autographs and photos.
The opening match was a tag team event which the good guys won of course. Next came two singles matches, one that involved Bushwacker Luke. When he came out Luke did his famous Bushwacker walk around the ring raising and lowering both his arms. Luke wound up the winner after a tough match, and you can read more and see photos at www.100percentbronx.blogspot.com including the match between Greg “The Hammer” Valentine and ECPW champion Andrew Anderson. The last match had a special note to Marty Jannetti's partner The New Dynamite Kid. After Jannetti and the Kid won, The New Dynamite Kid announced that after 20 years in the ring that he would be retiring. He later told me that it was due to back and knee problems. On the blog among the many photos is one of Marty Jannetti, The New Dynamite Kid, and his mother who was in the audience to see her son's last wrestling match.
Last Saturday was also the renaming of the corner of Matilda Avenue and East 237th Street Mary V. Lauro Way in honor of Ms. Mary V. Lauro who was the President of the Wakefield Taxpayers & Civic League for 25 years until her death last June. Ms. Virginia Sanders the new president was in charge of the street renaming and introducing the many elected officials who came and spoke about what Mary Lauro meant to them. It seemed though that each one said that they listened to what Mary Lauro said to them, and they did what she wanted done. The one sign that many said was that Mary Lauro was still watching over the neighborhood was that when her niece was pulling the cover off the street sign the rope broke. Check my blog for the names of the elected officials and photos of the event.
Bronx Week will be among us soon, as the official announcement of all the activities will be made public on Monday May 5th. Bronx week runs from Thursday, May 8th through Sunday, May 18th ending with the Bronx Week Parade across Mosholu Parkway, and the Music and Food Festival after the parade.
Three Bronx City Council members are holding an Oversight Joint Committee Hearing on Operation Crew Cut and Crime Reduction Strategies at NYCHA. Council members Fernando Cabrera (chair of Juvenile Justice), Ritchie Torres (chair of Public Housing), and Vanessa Gibson (chair of Public Safety) will seek answers from the NYPD, Manhattan DA's office, and others as to why one third of all the shootings in 2011 were committed by youth members of gangs or what is now being called Youth Crews and what is being done to lower that number.
It was typical of the Bloomberg administration to change the names of things he did not want people to remember. This happened most often in city agencies where there were huge problems. Apparently this seems to be another case of that by changing the word gang to crew so people would not know the real problem such as the council members have found out.
Lastly, just why has Mayor Bill de Blasio been pushing the ban on horse drawn carriages in the city? Could it be the contribution to his campaign of $175,000 by NYCLASS a union reported to be tied to his cousin John Wilhelm? The FBI is probing into that, the NYCLASS involvement in the “Anybody But Quinn” campaign, and political consultant Scott Levenson and his consulting firm the Advance Group. Mayor de Blasio has said that he is unaware of any probe into the issue by the FBI. In a statement from the Advance Group Mr. Levenson said that he was proud of his firms role in the mayor’s race. Scott Levenson and Advance Group were the political consultants to Assemblyman Mark Gjonaj during his primary challenge and victory over former Assemblywoman Naomi Rivera.
If you have any comments about this column or would like to have an event listed or covered in this column or on my blog you can e-mail us at 100percentbronxnew@gmail.com or call 718-644-4199 Mr. Robert Press.
