Folks who grew up in the ‘60s and ‘70s can still recall those Saturday afternoon pro wrestling matches on TV, a primitive (and often corny) forerunner of today’s Friday Night SmackDown. During Black History Month, it’s only fitting that we pay tribute to the athlete who broke down racial barriers for the sport, Bobo Brazil. The 6′6”, 270-lb. Michigan native is regarded as wrestling’s Jackie Robinson, rising to popularity during an era of segregation when African-Americans were banned from many hotels and restaurants. He handled the adversity with an inspiring dignity.  Bobo spent parts of five decades in the ring, capturing nearly 50 titles and stoking rivalries with such legendary personalities as The Sheik, Andre the Giant, Killer Kowalski, Dick the Bruiser and Abdullah the Butcher. Several of his crowns were won right here in Ohio, which has embraced the spandex superstars for nearly a century. Bobo made his wrestling debut in 1951 and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 1994. Today’s flamboyant grapplers like MVP, Mark Henry and King Booker can certainly appreciate the difficult path that Brazil paved for them during the early years of pro wrestling. Click here to see the pioneer in action, along with a bevy of beefy brutes—an unusal 3-ton, 2-ring free-for-all!

Friday Night SmackDown brings its traveling road show to Quicken Loans Arena on Tuesday, March 4th for a televised event that will be aired three days later on WBNX.  Tickets for the pro wrestling rumble go on sale tomorrow, February 9th at 10am at The Q box office, Ticketmaster outlets and ticketmaster.com.  Superstars making the trip to Cleveland (at this point) include Batista, Edge, The Undertaker, Rey Mysterio, Kane, MVP and The Great Khali.  SmackDown is one of the biggest live spectacles in sports entertainment, with awesome lightshows, fireworks-and-music themed intros, and some very talented (if not downright scary) athletes squaring off in the ring.  Not to mention the bizarre soap-opera storylines (Hornswoggle is Vince McMahon’s offspring—who knew?).  And it’s a chance to see yourself or someone you know on national television.  The Cleveland SmackDown comes only three weeks prior to the WWE’s premier annual event, WrestleMania 24, which sold 41,000 tickets in 30-minutes for the outdoor venue: the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, FL.  WBNX will be giving away a trip to WrestleMania next month, so be on the lookout here for details!

Cleveland’s own Bob Hope made a career of entertaining our Armed Forces, hosting around 60 USO tours between 1941-91. Vince McMahon and his WWE superstars have taken up where the comedian left off, having recently returned from their fifth annual Tribute to the Troops visit in Iraq.  Friday Night SmackDown stars Rey Mysterio, Mark Henry and Mr. Kennedy were joined by other wrestling icons like John Cena, Randy Orton, Shawn Michaels and several divas during their weeklong holiday overseas.  Highlight of the journey was a full-scale event at Camp Speicher in Tikrit, where Mysterio defeated “the world’s strongest man,” Henry.  More than 80 soldiers taped video greetings to their family and friends, which you can access here, along with full coverage of the well-received tour.  Now in its 9th season, SmackDown is WWE’s only all-new weekly “free TV” broadcast, and remains a rock-solid hit for The CW—in recent weeks achieving the #1 rating for its time period in numerous major cities.  Further capitalizing on their popularity, three SmackDown favorites have penned autobiographies:  To Be The Man, by Ric Flair; Adam Copeland on Edge, by Edge; and The Animal’s just-published Batista Unleashed.  Watching pro wrestling on Friday nights has become a family rite of passage in many homes…something campy that fathers and sons can enjoy together.  Do you have a ringside memory to share?

When the network was auditioning talent for its new CW Now magazine-style show, finding someone to blend with the eco-friendly Free 2 Be Green theme wasn’t a qualification.  It just happened to be an ironic bonus with co-host Chris Balish.  Last year Chris authored a book, How to Live Well Without Owning a Car, in which he explains the true cost of four-wheeled gas hogs—and how it’s possible to exchange our ride for a cool million in savings.  Sound far-fetched?  Start adding up the monthly payments, insurance, gasoline and maintenance/repairs.  Then consider the nest egg you’d generate investing all of that money each month, instead of contributing more fumes to the ozone.  Chris is a Dartmouth grad who spent ten years (and over 4,000 live interviews!) reporting in St. Louis, before peddling further west toward Hollywood.  He’s collected seven local Emmy Awards, and is never timid about immersing himself in the story, whether it’s taking the world’s highest bungee-jump…or racing Friday Night SmackDown star Ashley on the new Spyder Bike.  After all, Chris notes, staying in great physical shape is another benefit of trading the car for a nice walk or bike ride.  You’ll find more cutting-edge lifestyle trends in fashion, tech, entertainment and more on CW Now.  It’s new every Sunday, with no commercial interruptions.

Among all networks, The CW may be the most equipped to endure the current work-stoppage by film and TV writers. Everybody Hates Chris began taping early this year due to its young star’s growth spurt, and they’ve completed all 22 episodes. The other Monday comedies are also far ahead in production, says Variety, and new sitcom Eight Days a Week—with Justin Hartley, Mario Lopez and Christina Milian—has 13 episodes ready for midseason. On the drama side, One Tree Hill has a good portion of its 22 episodes (or scripts) ready to roll in January; Smallville will have seven new stories to air after tomorrow night; and Supernatural has four more in the can—with another five scripts ready to shoot, according to the LA Times. Gossip Girl producer Josh Schwartz says the hit soap has five fresh hours completed, following tonight’s jaw-dropper, while Friday Night SmackDown is new every week and not affected by the writers strike. Where The CW is especially strong, however, is in popular reality series…five, to be exact. New cycles of Top Model and Beauty & The Geek are in the works, along with season two of Pussycat Dolls, in which they’ll be assembling a brand new group. The mother-daughter beauty pageant show, Crowned, looks hilarious (click here for a preview); and you can scroll down a bit to read about Farmer Wants a Wife—a must-see for NE Ohio cowpokes. Nobody likes a strike, especially the talented folks carrying picket signs in freezing temperatures, but we’ll get thru it on-air…hopefully without missing a beat.

The WWE was here in Cleveland last night, with Tribe DH Travis Hafner and first baseman Ryan Garko ringside. And as big as that event was, the real intrigue comes in a few days on WBNX. When Friday Night SmackDown announced that 5-foot-6 Rey Mysterio would face 7-foot-3 monster The Great Khali this week, I wondered if it’s true: the bigger they are, the harder they fall? The popular masked-man is outweighed by the “Punjabi nightmare“… 420-lbs. to 165-lbs. World Heavyweight Champion Batista defeated both of these wrestling legends in a recent Triple Threat Match at Unforgiven, but Rey’s on his own against “Goliath” this time! Who will win the epic battle Friday night? Cast your vote!

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