Beautiful People courting Palin

Sarah Palin has already proven to the masses that she has a knack for sports and athletic endeavors.

The Alaska governor and former vice presidential candidate is a self-proclaimed "hockey mom" who enjoys hunting and fishing, and earned the nickname "Sarah Barracuda" for her fierce, competitive nature on the basketball court.

She also has a penchant for entertainment, that intangible "it" factor, with an amazing way of filling a room with her presence, as she recently demonstrated during the hard-fought political campaign.

Combine the two, and she'd be a natural for the sports entertainment world.

That's why the gun-toting mother of five got an official offer last week to become an honorary member of TNA (Total Nonstop Action) Wrestling's "The Beautiful People." An elite heel group of TNA Knockouts (that company's equivalent of WWE's divas) led by Angelina Love and Velvet Sky, their gimmick as a duo is that of arrogant blonde Barbie doll types who believe their physical appearance is superior to all others.

The Beautiful People have been successful in garnering mainstream media attention with their offer to Palin. TNA officials went so far as to schedule a Sarah Palin ceremony on Dec. 7 at the company's Final Resolution pay-per-view as part of her honorary TNA Knockout membership in The Beautiful People.

TNA President Dixie Carter, a successful and influential woman in her own right who's head of the second-biggest wrestling company in the country, has offered to fly Palin and her husband from their home in Anchorage to Orlando, Fla., for the December event. The formal invitation to Palin was made on last week's TNA Impact show on the Spike network.

"Governor Palin has combined her experiences as a wife and mother with her political savvy to prove to America and the world that politics aren't just a man's game. I know firsthand what challenges you have to face when breaking a glass ceiling in a male-dominated profession," Carter said in a statement.

The offer, while more of a tongue-in-cheek, headline-grabbing publicity stunt than a serious pitch, isn't as outlandish as it might sound. More than a few folks were surprised earlier this year when presidential hopefuls John McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton all cut wrestling promos on an edition of WWE's Monday Night Raw show earlier this year.

And TNA is throwing in some money to make the offer more appealing. The company has agreed to donate $50,000 to Palin's favorite charity. The company offered to donate the money to the youth hockey association in her native Wasilla if she passed on the charity.

The "Beautiful People" stable of TNA performers is headlined by blonde bombshells Love (Lauren "Angel" Williams) and Sky (Jamie Szantyr), along with "image consultant" Cute Kip (former Billy Gunn character Monty "Kip Sopp").

The 27-year-old Love, who once performed more than 1,500 stomach crunches in a 45-minute non-stop session, thinks it's a perfect fit.

"It's an offer too good to refuse," she told The Post and Courier. "We would make her an honorary member. If she only knew how many requests we get every day from people who would love to be Beautiful People ... she's the first person we've offered it to."

Love agrees that Palin has a number of qualifications for the job.

"She's beautiful for one thing. She was in the 1984 Miss Alaska beauty pageant, so she is a former beauty pageant contestant as we all are. I mean, my God, she took her own campaign money and spent $150,000 of it on a whole new Neiman Marcus wardrobe. She dolled herself up. She knew that being beautiful was a main thing for her campaign. And that's what we are all about."

In addition to being attractive, commanding and confident, Palin is a charismatic communicator who uses classic feminine wiles to woo her audience. And, says Love, that's a must in her book. Love says the governor wouldn't even have to change her name or gimmick to reflect more of a wrestling persona.

"She wouldn't have to change her name at all. She made a pretty good name with her own name, so I don't think we need to worry about that. Her gimmick is why we're giving her this offer."

And, if she ever climbed into the ring, what would she use as a finishing move?

Fox Sports offered a few suggestions: The Bridge to Nowhere? The Pitbull Piledriver? The Wasilla Thrilla? Plumber's Helper?

Love, who sports a dozen piercings and numerous angel tattoos, hinted that perhaps Palin's beauty-queen looks was a bigger factor than her political acumen.

"I'm Canadian, so I'm not big into American politics whatsoever," says the Toronto native. "But obviously I knew who she was and what she did. I researched her for knowledge sake. It was great what she did. I would say John McCain was smart in finding her because a beautiful woman who presented herself well and could speak well could definitely garner a whole lot of attention for the campaign."

And possibly for TNA.

"TNA's all over it," says Love. "All she would have to do is see how we look and see what we do, and she'd be silly to refuse our offer."

Love, who has a degree in Sports Administration, says the two would have another common bond because they both love hockey. And she's convinced that Palin will come over to the wrestling side as well.

"As far as her watching wrestling, she probably hasn't done much of it, since she's been a little busy lately. But she may now when she sees where this offer is coming from."

The Beautiful People wore Sarah Palin glasses when they made the official offer to Palin during Thursday night's TNA broadcast.

"If you join the Beautiful People, you will know what it's like to be part of a winning team," said Love, whose message was officially "approved" by Cute Kip.

Love, whose real name is Lauren "Angel" Williams, worked three years in WWE developmental prior to making her TNA debut in September 2007.

"It just never happened for me," says Love, who made her ring debut in 2000. "I tore my ACL and was out for 10 months. I was probably the most talented girl they had in developmental, but they were more interested in hiring Hooters girls and models and putting them on TV without any experience. They had me up at TV for a few ideas but it never panned out, and I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. So obviously there's a reason why my first run in WWE didn't work. We'll see what happens in the future."

— Christian Cage (Jay Reso) could be reaching the end of the line in TNA. With his contract deadline approaching and an offer on the table from WWE, it's widely speculated that Cage will return to his former company and begin a program with longtime friend Edge (Adam Copeland).

TNA also could be pulling a swerve since it was acknowledged that Christian was likely leaving the company. He was later the victim of a beatdown by The Main Event Mafia on last week's Impact show.

— You've got to give the outspoken Randy Orton credit for not being afraid to speak his mind.

Orton, in a recent interview with GameDaily.com, commented on his latest entrance music.

"I wish we could pick our theme music," he said. "For the longest time, I had the Burning My Light or whatever the entrance music was that started with 'Hey, nothing you can say,' and I hated that - for all four years. I hated it from the first day I heard it. They even tried to tweak it a bit and I still hated it.

"I told Vince (McMahon) and Kevin Dunn, the producer, that I hated my music, so they said they'd get me something new, but it was four years. Finally, I gave them a CD and said that I wanted this music, so they bought the song and they played it for two weeks until Vince said it didn't fit my character. The following week, C.M. Punk debuted, and they gave him my music."

— Ted DiBiase Jr. and his girlfriend, Kristen Tynes, were married Oct. 30 in Madison, Miss.

Not even the mighty WWE is immune to the current economic woes. Stock dropped to its lowest level in a year last week and has continued to dip since the company's third quarter earnings release showed a 37 percent slide in net income.

— The University of Georgia Web site, www.redandblack.com, reported that former pro wrestling star Lex Luger recently gave the Bulldogs a much-needed pep talk after a shellacking on the football field two days earlier by the Florida Gators.

Luger, whose real name is Larry Pfohl, was a teammate of coach Mark Richt during his time at the University of Miami. The Total Package is years removed from his heyday in the ring, but a number of Bulldogs remembered him.

"I used to have a video game on Nintendo 64, WCW Revenge," said defensive back Asher Allen. "I used to play that with the Lex Luger character. I went undefeated with him."

Allen also remembered one of Luger's signature moves. "Torture rack, man. Torture rack," he said.

Richt said he once took recruits to Wrestlemania to see Luger when he was a coach at Florida State.

Luger, 50, has been rehabbing since suffering partial paralysis last year.

Reid Flair's official wrestling debut will be Nov. 22 in Oak Lawn, Ill., against Johnny Mac. The PCW (Pro Championship Wrestling) show, billed as "4 Ever Flair," will feature Ric Flair doing another autograph session.

— WWE is doing its end-of-the-year housecleaning.

Among those recently released include Kenny Dykstra, Chuck Palumbo, Paul London, Elijah Burke and Lena Yada.

Dykstra (Kenny Doane), who was once engaged to Mickie James, commented after his release that he was "happy to be gone from WWE."

"I don't have to do things around their schedule and I don't have to answer to anybody," he wrote on his Myspace page. "I have never felt so free in my entire life. I had been working with WWE since I was 16 so I've never really known anything else."

Dykstra added that creative never used him properly or gave him an opportunity to get over. He added that his future in the business is uncertain.

"WWE kinda puts a bad taste in your mouth after all the politics and garbage that can go on. I may try to go to TNA, but we will see. I have 90 days to think about it and possibly try."

Dykstra later pulled the comments.

— Super Crazy (Francisco Pantoja Islas) also has parted ways with WWE. The 34-year-old Mexican performer had worked on the ECW and Smackdown brands this year.

It also appears that former Raw figurehead general manager Mike Adamle is done with the company. His recent resignation on Raw is expected to be his final appearance with WWE.

— The always astute "Good 'Ol J.R." Jim Ross ripped into WWE undercarders in a recent blog.

"Amazing to see so many wannabe stars contribute literally nothing intellectually to their ring personas. Nothing. Many spend more time in catering or talking to one of seeming two dozen divas than getting with those that can help them develop their presentation and in ring personas. Amazing."

Ross also commented on MVP's current stint in the WWE doghouse.

"MVP's woes seem to be getting worse. It seems as if some fans are beginning to feel for MVP's bad luck. I can see better days ahead for MVP after he hits rock bottom which is seemingly in sight."

— Quote of the week comes from Vince McMahon on legendary women's wrestler Mae Young:

"Mae is still going strong at the age of ... whatever it is ... somewhere around dirt."

The amazing Mae, who is a spry 85, made an appearance on Raw two weeks ago and even took a scary-looking bump for good measure.

— Former pro wrestling star Brian Blair (of "Killer Bees" fame) lost his bid to retain his position as Hillsborough (Fla.) County Commissioner during the recent election. Blair, a Republican seeking a second four-year term to the countywide seat, was defeated by Democrat Kevin Beckner.

Blair, 51, a gym owner, governed as an anti-tax, pro-development commissioner.

— WWE high-flyer Evan Bourne will miss up to four months with a partial tear of the deltoid ligament in his right ankle. It hasn't been determined yet whether the injury will require surgery.

— UFC Hall of Famer and former pro wrestling star Dan "The Beast" Severn will be in town today for an Old School Championship Wrestling show at Weekend's Pub, 428 Redbank Road, Goose Creek. The former NWA champ will square off with Malachi in the main event of the OSCW card. Also featured will be a 10-man tournament with the winner getting a shot at the Hardcore King title at the next OSCW event. Bell time for the show is 6 p.m. Adult admission is $8; kids 12 and under $5. For more information, call 743-4800 or visit oscwonline.com.

— St. Paul's Academy in Hollywood will be the site for Exodus Wrestling Association's "Razorback Rumble 2008" on Nov. 20. "Mr. No. 1" George South will defend his EWA heavyweight title against Midnight Express star "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton in the main event. Also featured will be an 11-man battle royal and many other matches. A meet-and greet will be held at 6 p.m. Bell time is 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 and students with school IDs will be free. For more information, contact the school at 889-2702 or 889-8408.

— The Premier Wrestling Showcase event scheduled Nov. 22 in Andrews has been moved to Jan. 10.

Reach Mike Mooneyham at (843) 937-5517 or mooneyham@postandcourier.com. For wrestling updates during the week, call The Post and Courier Info Line at (843) 937-6000, ext. 3090.