POGO REFUTES PWTORCH REPORT
by Marty Goldstein on 2001-07-20

One of the great big men in pro wrestling, POGO the Clown, is upset with false accounts of a recent XPW angle that put him at the centre of the Insane Clown Posse's walkout on the promotion. In setting the record straight, Pogo makes strong comments about those who blew the incident out of proportion, starting with ICP themselves.

According to the July 14 issue of Pro Wrestling Torch, "ICP were supposed to work the main event, but left the building when Violent Jay was hit with a stiff cane shot by Pogo the Clown and suffered broken ribs."

"Impossible," Pogo said from his home in the Bay Area." I never hit him with a cane because there was no cane. I don't`like anyone saying I stiffed him with one, it is a lie and makes me look unprofessional."

I initiated this interview, in part, because I watched the angle and was not taking busy pictures of Pogo when he bust past security towards the Black Army and hit the ring. He attacked ICP in an angle that drew pretty heated reaction. I did not remember Pogo using a cane at all.

What I did remember was 2 Pogo clotheslines.The first sent Shaggy 2 Dope into a spinbump that looked great. The second was a heavy short-arm across the 260lb. Violent J.'s chest. Now, by reputation, the 419 lb. Pogo has a clothesline that has been compared to WWFer Bradshaw.But I had never heard of anyone getting broken ribs like that before, and it looked ok, not being in the throat or on the head.

"If some online site reported I broke his ribs with a clothesline, (as at least one did), even that's wrong. He should go to wrestling school and learn how to bump. They've never gone to school, right? He can't bump properly and that's how he got hurt."

After the angle, which was the opening angle before even the first match , ICP went to the back, and with Violent Jay reportedly none too happy, left the Grand Olympic Auditorium for the nearest LA ER.
This resulted in some rapid rebooking of the main event as ICP's close buddy and partner, Vampiro, stayed and was odd man out as the XPW Title match saw Messiah pin Sabu. (More on that later.)

A RESPECTED VET

The wrestler behind the John Wayne Gacy inspired facepaint is Joe Applebaumer. He quickly appeared on the radar screen in his 12th or so indy match when his size, aptitude and Applebaum finishing move popped the house, which included the editor of the "Variety" of pro wrestling, the Observer's Dave Meltzer. The rave review in Meltzer's sheet was the one thing I knew about Applebaumer's career when I met him in May.

Joe is old schooltrained and is well liked and respected. He resents the spreading of the stories as as they portray him as unprofessional in 2 ways. Firstly, the false reports of deliberately causing injury with a weapon. Secondly, by provoking the walkout Pogo ruined the card. (To top it off, another story making the rounds has it that Sabu needed some convincing by XPW owner Rob Black to do the new finish, starting speculation of heat in the locker room.)

Pogo says ICP propagated the story on their website.

"I never could get through to see it, and I sent them an email. I still haven't heard back. Then he was going on about it at the ICP Juggallo cards last weekend,(attended by XPW wrestlers). For some reason after the weekend, his comments were taken off."

Pogo issued a warning to his alleged victim.

"Violent J. needs to stop trash talking about POGO being part of a conspiracy among the boys to get ICP out of XPW. That's ridiculous. He has to stop saying that, saying that stuff about me last weekend."

"There was no conspiracy at all, the boys didn't care. He doesn't know how to bump. I didn't hit him any harder than I hit any other worker in XPW, I didn't stiff him. That's how I clothesline my friends too, are they complaining? I didn't break his ribs with a cane or a clothesline. "