If you caught Thunder this past Thursday evening, you noticed that Mean Gene was in conversation from the ring with a woman you may have not noticed. That woman is none other than fitness model Pamela Paulshock, and has supposedly signed with WCW, along with other recently picked up; Midajah. Back to Pamela, however, she's been on the cover of "Muscle and Fitness: Hers", and also does quite a bit of regular modeling, and acting. Look for her to do regular spots with the company. Her official website, is "WWW.PamelaPaulshock.COM".

Jumping back to "Guilty as Charged" for just a minute, quite a few familiar faces were backstage, and on hand for the show. Among these: Dusty Rhodes, former WCW jobber Erik Watts, Horace Hogan, Tommy Rich, and Robert Gibson of the Rock and Roll Express. Mostly just visiting with friends, the wrestlers enjoyed themselves, and kicked back; and as of now, it doesn't look like any possible contract negotiations were done. A noteworthy fact on Hogan; he's cousins with Mike Awesome, and has wrestled with him in Japan many times.

Speaking of wrestlers appearances, Goldberg made a quick cameo on TNN's "Monster Truck Madness", last Friday. The show was taped, but it was unknowing to he was at the show until his face was shown on television. Apparently, Goldberg's a huge fan of these kinda' sports and shows.

Lodi has finally updated his website, "LodiPage.com", after two months of hiatus. Obviously, he was very busy settling the disputes with WCW, but now, he's back on WCW television. In his updated commentary, Lodi explained that he had a very busy weekend, buying a new house in Cary, North Carolina, right near Raleigh. And while we're on the subject of moves, Vampiro has moved from his home in Thunder Bay all the way up to Montreal.

Speaking of Lodi, once again, he tells us in his commentary not to look for "Standards & Practices" being on TV any time before the PPV. WCW's devoting tonight's Nitro, and tomorrow's Thunder Taping to concentrate mainly on the upcoming Souled Out PPV. Obviously, you can bet on guys like Terry Funk, the nWo, Benoit, and others to be at tonight, and tomorrow's show.

Thanks to Jimmy Van, who says you can expect Vince McMahon finally returning to WWF TV, tonight on RAW is WAR. If you haven't read the DirecTV Raw Preview, it goes a little something like this:

Hour One: "Stephanie has plans for The Rock"
Hour Two: "HHH has plans for Mick Foley"

And lastly, I have some more sad news coming off of Gary Albright's sudden death, from last week. Below, you'll see a VERY long, and extensive letter from John's father-in-law, Afa, to my friend John Potuk. John's the host of a local wrestling TV show here in Northeast Ohio, "Pro Wrestling Weekly" [SwiftSite.com/ProWrestlingWeekly]. John sent me the letter, so full credit to him. I suggest you read it; I took the time, and it's very touching...

"By now, Im sure the whole wrestling world has heard the tragic news about the passing of my son - in - law Gary Albright.
First I would like to Thank all of the people who respected the grief that my family is going through. For those of you who have held back the rumors to wait for my family to learn the facts, we appreciate the respect.
However, I am sorry to say that many people have been talking through thier asses, posting un - true statements and now it is my time to give the facts and to honor the name and memory of my son.

Gary was a very honorable man who was not only one of the best wrestlers that we have in this business, but also he did not need the TV exposure from the big two to make a name for himself.
Gary's high school and college achievments speak for themselves, and his pro career was very estlabished. He was one of Japan's TOP AMERICAN WRESTLERS. Gary worked for many years with ALL PRO JAPAN.
He and Doctor Death Steve William were the best of friends and tag team partners for so many years.
I have personally know Gary for many years as we all lived in Pensacola Florida. Gary and my oldest son Sam ( Samu ) were very good friends who called each other BROTHER.
You can imagine how delighted I was, when Gary asked for the hand of my daughter, Monica.
Through out their courtship, he made my baby very happy and soon after, I was proud to walk my daugher up the isle as she became Mrs. Gary Albright in a very romantic Samoan style wedding in the island of Maui.

Gary gave my daughter all the love and happiness that she could ever want and need, and together they were raising 3 beautiful children. ( Sam, Angel, & Ali )

Gary and myself were very close, we never missed a day of talking over the PC no matter if he was in Japan or just at home with his family. Gary often told me how thankful he was to have me in his life, because he lost his dad and felt that I could fill that void because we were so much alike.
It was such a plessure for me knowing that Gary felt that close to me.

When Gary found out that he was having some time off from his busy wrestling schedule, he asked his wife, my daughter if he could come up to Pennsylvania to spend sometime with me and the family up here. Of course Monica was delighted to have Gary be with us.

Thursday night Gary arrived in Pa. and my son, Sam picked him up because I was up in Hazleton at my gym preparing things for the Friday night event. As soon as Gary got to Sam's house, he called my home to let me know that he was here and we made plans to get together for lunch on the next day.
( Friday )
He spent a very good night with Sam and the family. They ate a typical Samoan Feast and they talked about how happy Gary was to be part of such a big family and that he thanked God everyday for his beautiful family.

Friday morning Gary called me as soon as he awoke to say good morning and that he was looking forward to seeing me shortly. He was packing up his things because he was coming to stay at my house for the remainder of his stay.
Early afternoon, Sam, my nephew Matti Small's , Gary, my wife and myself met at the Red Lobster for a very nice lunch. We talked about many things and I mentioned how long he would be staying. He said for the week, I asked him to stay an additional week so we could kick back and spend some time together. Gary was so happy that he ran to the phone and called his wife and told her to book herself a plane ticket to meet us here because I had asked him to stay.
For those of you who dont know the Samoan Heritage, we are a close knit family, especially my daughters.

After lunch Gary road up to Hazleton with me. We enjoyed every minute of the drive, and he was telling me all his plans about moving to Montana and opening a wrestling school and indie promotion.
Gary and Monica had so many plans for the future. I promised my baby that I will help her to keep Gary's memory alive and help her in everyway to finish the plans that they started.

We got to the Arena around 4pm and things were fine as usual. Gary enjoyed sitting in the dressing room and talking to many of the WXW wrestlers who were so honored to have here to help us. They talked about different holds & moves that he so graciously offered to teach them this coming week at our training sessions.

Around 9:15 pm, it was Gary's turn to wrestle. His opponent was ( Billy Owens ) Lucifer Grimm.
Billy idolized Gary all his life and he kept saying that this was a dream come true for him.

The match got off and everything was going great, and in the split second all of our lives were changed forever.

Before I state the cause of death, I want to stress the fact that in no way was my Son - in - laws death related to wrestling.

I am so disappointed at the media for spreading false rumors. If only they would put themselves in the shoes of the family before they jump on news paper sales it would save a lot of grief.

( I can't believe how the online newsletters spreaded such trash. I spent so much of my time doing interviews for them & trying to be in touch with all of fans, and it hurts so much that they couldn't have the decency to wait to talk to me or my family first )
I know that everyone has a job to do, but in times of sorrow, a little respect is always appreciated.

You can imagine the horror that my family and myself were facing, watching Gary passing away right in front of our eyes.

That was one of the hardest things that I ever exprecienced. The hardest thing was making the phone call from the arena to my daughter to tell her what was happening to her husband.

The cause of death was cardiac dysrhythmia due to severe coronary therosclerosis and cardionegaly, diabetes mellitus, acute pulmonary edema. Otherwise known as a heart attack.
Gary passed away in my son ( Sam's arms ) all of Gary's family was around him. My other 2 sons, LA SMOOTH ( Lloyd ) Afa Jr, my nephew MATTI SMALLS, my daughter Tovale, my wife Lynn and my Grandchildern and daughter - in - laws.
We rushed Gary to the ER but we all knew in our hearts that he passed on in the ring, ( That he loved so much ) in Sams arms.

The only thing that keeps my daughter going is the fact that Gary passed away among his family.

We have a memorial planned for friday Jan 14th to be held in Pensacola Florida.
Anyone that would like to send cards or donation to Gary's Widow and children can address them to :
Mrs. Monica Albright
c/o Afa Anoai
P.O.Box 251
Whitehall Pa. 18052 - 0251
U.S.A