Don "The Rock" Muraco, top, is the commissioner of Hawaii Championship Wrestling. Kenjiro Katahira (part of the HCW tag team Spirit Shogun) right, and Kaimana will be wrestling.
Return of
the ringmasters
Pro wrestling fans will be in for quite a treat tomorrow night, as local independent promotion Hawaii Championship Wrestling takes its caliber of competition to another level at the Blaisdell Arena.
With solid financial backing from investors, HCW has been able to sign a number of pro wrestlers that local fans will remember from Ted Turner's now-defunct World Championship Wrestling and earlier visits to the islands by Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Entertainment.
Hawaii Championship Wrestling
Where: Blaisdell Arena
-- "Battle Hawaii 2004"
When: 7 p.m. tomorrow
Tickets: $25 to $90
Call: (877) 750-4400
Match Listing:
1. Kaneala vs. Iceman
2. Nightmare vs. Taka Michinoku
3. Big Daddy Frank and Disco Inferno vs. Family Fitness
4. East Coast Connection vs. R.O.D.
5. Taiyo Kea and Jamal vs. Spirit Shogun (HCW Tag Team Title Match)
6. Kenshin vs. Kaz Hayashi
7. Great Muta and Satoshi Kojima vs. Sting and Diamond Dallas Page
8. Kris Kavanaugh and Cholo vs. Rikishi (pictured) and "Surprise Guest"
9. Kaimana vs. Shogun Kensuke (HCW Kamehameha Heritage Title Match)
Tomorrow night's "Battle Hawaii 2004" will feature legends like Sting, the Great Muta and Diamond Dallas Page, along with other familiar faces.
Two current WWE superstars, Rosey and Rikishi, are also scheduled to appear during the event. For Rikishi, it will be both a return to one of his favorite places to perform as well as a return to the ring.
"I've been out for the last couple of months," Rikishi said by phone from his home in Pensacola, Fla. last week. "My nose was busted in four different places."
While seeking treatment, doctors also discovered that Rikishi suffered from sleep apnea, a condition that killed his cousin (and former WWE superstar) Yokozuna. A week after surgery on his nose, doctors readmitted him for the sleep disorder.
"It was one of the most important surgeries of my life," he said.
Currently in contract negotiations with the WWE, Rikishi is also allowed to work as a "free agent," which opened the door for HCW to bring him back to the islands.
"I'm so excited to be able to come back to Hawaii, out of all places," he said. "It'll be my first time to get back into the ring.
"I don't know how I'm going to act ... it's going to be off the hook!"
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