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Costello Out For Revenge At Cove

Posted: Aug 29th 2009 By: CMBurnham

They were supposed to be brothers in the ring, pro wrestling tag-team superstars working together toward a common goal.

Mishawaka?s Brian ?The Crippler? Costello and Greg ?The Hammer? Valentine may have entered the ring at ?Clash at the Cove 10? last year as teammates, but they left the ring as enemies.

?Last year, the main event was Greg ?The Hammer? Valentine and myself against Demolition Axe and Smash, and Valentine turned on me, leaving me out there to fend on my own against Axe and Smash,? Costello says, the veins in his neck throbbing with anger. ?Needless to say, I got smashed. This year, I?m after Valentine. There?s bad blood between us. We?ve always had a love/hate relationship. Sometimes we get along, sometimes we don?t. This year, I?m after him, plain and simple.?

Costello is plotting his revenge for this Saturday, when he and Valentine are part of the main event in ?Clash at the Cove 11.?

Action starts at 7 p.m. with an undercard that features ?Superstar? Seth Clash vs. Pit Bull; Sgt. Jay Peterson vs. The Ripper, Dr. Love vs. Mr. Smiley and C.R. Rage vs. A.C. Knight.

?Cowboy? Bob Orton takes on Andy Chene in the semi-main event, which is a TV title match.

Saturday?s main event is the tag-team brawl featuring Costello and Jim ?The Anvil? Neidhart taking on Valentine and ?Nasty Boy? Brian Knobbs.

Costello says there is no love lost between him and Valentine. He is still fuming about what he called a betrayal in the ring.

?You would think you can count on somebody,? Costello says. ?I don?t like the guy, but I always had respect for him. I should have known better, because it?s not the first time that he actually turned on me. We work well together, but there?s the possibility of him turning on me, which is what he did.

?Now, he?s gone out and gotten his brother-in-law, ?Nasty Boy? Brian Knobbs. They figure blood is thicker than water. Well, there may be blood on the mat, but not mine. I went out and got one of the best tag-teamers ever, Jim ?The Anvil? Neidhart.?

Neidhart says he?s primed to attack Valentine and Knobbs.

?I?m in the best shape I?ve been in,? Neidhart says. ?I?m benching 425. Knobbs was on reality shows with Hulk Hogan, and I hear he?s been eating a lot and not training. I?m looking forward to picking him up and throwing him out of the ring. I promise I will do that.?

Valentine says that Costello is the one to blame for last year?s debacle in the ring.

?It was a tag-team match, and I didn?t feel that ?The Crippler? was protecting me in the ring, and Axe and Smash doubled up on me,? Valentine says. ?I felt ?The Crippler? wasn?t on the ball. He missed a couple of tags. Now that it?s done, I miss Brian as a friend, but that happens in this business.

?I got mad and turned against him,? Valentine continues. ?I made my money in pro wrestling by being a bad guy, not by kissing babies and helping old ladies across the street. It?s going to be personal. There?s going to be high energy. The great matches in pro wrestling have been ones that are personal.?

Valentine says he looks forward to the prospect of pinning an embarrassing loss on ?The Crippler? in his home venue.

?Brian and I had been partners for a long time,? Valentine says. ?We were always on the same side, but now it?s a whole different twist. It?s his home territory, his home fans, but it?s not like I?m coming in unarmed. I?ve got ?Nasty Boy? Brian Knobbs as my partner.

?Of course, he went out and got Jim ?The Anvil? Neidhart, who?s been a thorn in my side. You can?t get a bigger name than Jim Neidhart, but ?Nasty Boy? and I will be ready. We?ll coming crashing down on ?The Crippler.? ?

According to Costello, professional wrestling has been well accepted in the area, and ?Clash at the Cove? is the premier event.

?Each year, it gets bigger and better,? Costello says about ?Clash at the Cove.? ?We bring in bigger stars and try to make it the best event in the Michiana area. This year, we have two stars who haven?t been to the area since their WWE days. We?re bringing in ?Nasty Boy? Brian Knobbs, and Jim ?The Anvil? Niedhart.?

Neidhart says that pro wrestling has maintained its popularity through a tough economy.

?Baseball attendance is down, and that?s weird because people love baseball,? Neidhart says. ?Boxing is down, but pro wrestling is going crazy.

?We?re the last live vaudeville entertainment you can get,? Neidhart says about pro wrestling. ?It?s real, believe me, it?s too real. Old people like it, young people like it. People release their anxiety by coming to our matches. They?d love to kick their boss, but instead, they watch us kick each other around.?

Costello says professional wrestling is affordable, fun entertainment for fans of a wide age-range.

?It really is fun entertainment,? Costello says. ?It?s kind of like the good old days of good vs. evil. We have good guys, we have bad guys. In a sense, sometimes we?re like magicians. It?s an optical illusion. And as far as violence, have you seen some of the movies nowadays? You can sit back, relax, escape some of the tough times going on in the world, and be entertained, and it?s a pretty good bargain. This is our 11th year, and we?ve never changed our prices.?

Tags: Greg Valentine, Smash, Jim Neidhart