Posted on Jul 18, 2003 By Anthony DeBlasi                     <<BACK TO NEWSBOARD

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Jim Ross was on UPN33 News in Miami yesterday. The segment started with clips of RAW's opening montage and Kane grabbing JR's shirt on Monday night. He talked about his new cookbook. He went on to say that he made some bad choices early on in his life concerning his family. He wasn't the best husband. He originally wanted to be a teacher. He talked about being fired twice but said he has a wonderful relationship with Vince. He talked about his debut and said he felt that he finally made it and feels honored that Vince stepped aside and let him to the play by play at WrestleMania 9. In the news piece they called Vince the world's hardest working billionaire. Next week JR will talk about his relationship with Stone Cold and how he'll never have Christmas dinner with Eric Bischoff. Good segment that made WWE look good. In Kelowna, B.C. on The Sun 99.9 FM, they're advertising Brock Lesnar vs. Vince McMahon w/guest referees Stephanie and Sable as the main event for the August 5th Smackdown! taping here. And, they said a "very special" surprise will be taking place also. At the special Sunday night taping in Columbus, Ohio, Zach Gowen wore a black arm-band to the ring. I'm not sure if anyone will recognize why he was wearing it or what it signified, so I thought I would pass along the story. The black arm-band says "Yukon" on it. It is symbolic of one of the most talked about and highly praised Michigan wrestlers of the past decade, "The Raging Bull" Yukon Braxton. Yukon was almost 7 foot tall and was a very menacing figure with LOADS of talent. Yukon was best friends with all of the Michigan workers, including Zach, whom he often gave advice and training to. Yukon was the first ever IWR Heavyweight Champion and made his first title defense in a match where he defeated Jerry "The King" Lawler. After the match, Yukon (real name Jeff Dingess) and Jerry Lawler became close friends, as The King was very amazed with the big man's prowess in the ring. Yukon touched a lot of people with his talent, his charisma and his awesome personality. Everyone just KNEW that Yukon was bound for WWE and Lawler pulled some strings to get negotiations under-way with the fed. Yukon's tryout with WWE was to be in January 2003, just weeks before tragedy. Jeff Dingess aka YUKON BRAXTON tragically passed away in his sleep from a brain aneurysm in December 2002. It was like a bad dream for everyone that knew him. He died at the the age of only 24, yet he was on the verge of major success. The Michigan scene got together and put on a major series of "tribute" shows to benefit Yukon's wife and 2 children. At these shows, we all wore the black "Yukon" armbands in support of the cause. Yukon always told Zach that he'd also make it to WWE one day. So at the Columbus taping, Zach pulled out his arm-band and wore it for the world to see on Smackdown. After Yukon's passing, I opened up a tribute website for my lost friend, if any of you want to learn more about how this man touched so many people: www.YukonBraxtonMemorial.com. On that site, you can view many photos, read many stories from a plethora of wrestlers and get a feel for who he really was.