Wrestling! Yay!

October 14th 2011 -
CLEARWATER — Details about the financial settlement reached between Hulk Hogan and John Graziano, who was critically injured in a 2007 street racing accident while riding with Hogan’s son, Nick, were revealed Friday in a newly filed court document.

In a deposition for her pending divorce, John’s mother, Debra Graziano, said she believes about $1.5 million of her son’s trust remains after attorneys and the veteran’s hospital that cared for John after the accident were paid.

Edward Graziano’s attorney, John Trevena, who interviewed Debra in September, said that means the settlement could not have topped $5 million.

“It’s appallingly low. I was stunned,” he said. “It’s a tenth of the value I had anticipated.”

Trevena said experts he talked to had placed a value on a possible settlement of somewhere between $25 million and $50 million.

John Graziano suffered a broken skull and devastating brain damage when he was injured in 2007. The driver of the car, Nick Bollea, is the youngest child of Terry Bollea, a professional wrestler and entertainer who goes by the name Hulk Hogan.

In a 2008 financial affidavit, Terry Bollea said his net worth was $32.4 million. That same year, Terry and Linda Bollea, who are now divorced, sold a Miami Beach house for $17 million, property records show. Trevena estimated Friday that Terry Bollea had at least $20 million in assets that could have been liquidated for the settlement.

“One would’ve expected there would’ve been sufficient funds to provide a caregiver or caregivers for John Graziano,” Trevena said. “Now, Mrs. Graziano is going to be devoting the remainder of her life to the care of her son, without any outside help. It’s extremely sad. It’s tragic.”

The terms of the settlement, which was reached in February 2010, are confidential to all but a handful of people: the Bolleas, John’s court-appointed financial guardian, and their attorneys, Trevena said.

Debra Graziano has been caring for her son since he was released from the hospital in September 2009. In the deposition, Debra Graziano said she’s left with about $35 a week for herself after paying for health and car insurance, her cell phone, groceries, living essentials and her monthly tithe at her church.

gary and Debra Graziano, who were married in Virginia in 1993, have two sons and a daughter who are all in their 20s. Evidence of marital discord began appearing in court records in 2004, when Debra Graziano filed for the first of several restraining orders against her husband. She alleged he hit her, stalked her, tried to sic the family dog on her and threatened to kill her multiple times.

Debra Graziano previously filed for divorce in 2004, but the case was later dismissed after she and her husband both failed to show up for a hearing.

She moved out of the family home in early 2005, she said, a few months before John, who joined the Marines, left for boot camp. She let her husband stay with the family during Christmas 2006, but afterward, he refused to leave. Several months later he was arrested, accused of punching her in the face.

In February 2009, authorities arrested Edward Graziano after they said he offered $2,100 and a pizza shop gift card to an undercover deputy if he would kill his estranged wife.

In May, gary Graziano was sentenced to 10 years in prison after he pleaded no contest to a charge of solicitation to commit murder. The judgment and sentence are being appealed, said Trevena.

Debra said she and John, who is now 26, and her other son, Michael, now live in a Dunedin house purchased for about $345,000 from settlement funds.

She has no other income besides the money she is paid to care for her son. She limits herself to the $1,750 a month the settlement account earns in interest so she will not have to touch the principal, she said.

In the deposition, Debra Graziano said she pays for John’s clothes and haircuts without reimbursement from the fund. She has no retirement fund or other savings, she said. Her car, a 2000 Oldsmobile John bought for her from his Iraq combat pay, is probably worth a couple thousand dollars, she said.

“To me it’s worth more than any Ferrari on the street,” she said.

Though he still cannot speak, John is now able to sit up by himself, help get himself dressed, and is beginning to take his first steps.

“He’s a miracle,” she said.

In an appearance taped yesterday that will run on today’s episode of Sirius Radio’s Busted Open show, Hulk Hogan gave comments on a number of different topics. The show will air this afternoon at 3 PM but they have released some quotes early and man, they are a doozy when you look at them from the point of view that Hogan is supposed to be promoting TNA:

Robert Roode: “Nah, he’s not ready. He’s not the next guy. Ya’ know, they might think he is. Dixie Carter might think he is. The whole world might think he is. He’s not the next guy. If I had to bet money on anybody and really be serious about betting money on anybody, I’d say Jeff Hardy is the next guy if he keeps his act together. Um, that’s what you gotta to have, man. This is much more than being a wrestler, this is crossing barriers, medias, ya’ know media barriers, and, and entertainment barriers of all kind. Getting your character down verbally has 90% to do with getting over. I just have a very strong feeling Kurt Angle’s going to clean his clock performance wise, and carry the match, and basically remains the champion. He’s training for the Olympics. He’s had some up and down moments, and I think this is not gonna be a down moment for Kurt Angle, so I’m betting that farm on him.”

Wrestling Sting at Bound for Glory: “The main event is Kurt Angle, thank god! And uh, Bobby Roode stepped up, and he’s definitely become a presence, so I’m betting the farm on Kurt Angle, and uh, I guess I’m kind of like the icing on the cake, Sting and I have a crazy track record with Pay-Per-View buy numbers, and it just made sense to give everybody a little extra, and let everybody know, and, that it’s not a performance orientated match. Of course none of em’ were for me, anyway. But it’s a situation where I think there’s gonna’ be some interest to see what happens out there with Sting and I, and if I can roll my walker down the ramp, I’ll be good to go. I don’t even want to think about it. It’s just going to happen like everything else. I’m not into talking about diving off something or falling off something. I never have really talked about a match. There’s really nothing to talk about. You gotta’ go out there and listen to what the people want. They want a car crash, they’ll get one. I’m not looking for back surgery #9 or anything like that. I mean I’m not out of my mind, and crazy. I don’t think Sting’s ever really had anything broken on his face. My nose and teeth are, have been so beat up, it doesn’t matter, but Sting? I don’t know if he can take one straight in. Even as of last week, it was there. I just stood in the ring with him, and it’s electric. I mean it’s there. You just follow that energy man, and we could end up in the middle of the ring, we could end up at the top of the building, I mean you just don’t know. It could go 5 seconds, it could go 50 minutes, I don’t know. I mean, if it’s there, it’s there, and right now, standing in the ring with him, it’s there. I’ve stood in the ring with a lot of people that it hasn’t been there. But I’m not worried about this one because it’s there. The feeling and the energy’s there from the people. They want to see something crazy happen. Well, I had my last match a long time ago, so we definitely didn’t attempt to build this as a match. It’s kind of like, almost a grey area again. The crazier Sting gets, the more over his character gets, but then the down side should have been me getting booed more, but it’s kind of like the N.W.O. feel all of a sudden. The more aggressive I get, the more people cheer me out of loyalty, out of love, out of compassion, whatever it is. I think the people might’ve farted at me turning good guy, shaking hands, and going you know what? One last fight, and I’m gonna’ fade off into the sunset. I don’t think they would’ve bought that. The timing doesn’t feel right for that.”

James Storm: “I’d go with James Storm all day long. Mainstream brotha’! Cowboy hat, beer drinking, middle America, Nascar, Walmart, Country Western. I mean all day long, it’s a no brainer. That’s me. That’s my opinion. So, I mean, Bobby Roode’s a tremendous athlete. I would change. I’d build him from Venice Beach, California or Omaha, Nebraska instead of, I dunno, Canada, eh’? I love him to death. He’s a great kid. When he looked down at me from the ring, and we had an argument one day, and he goes, “What the hell have you ever done?” I said man, this guy’d be a great heel, but yeah he has a lot of potential there for him to, but if you ask me to choose who to run with’, and you gave me those two choices? That’s my opinion.”

Jeff Hardy: “If I had to bet money on anybody, and really be serious about betting money on anybody, I’d say Jeff Hardy’s the next guy if he keeps his act together. Well, I think he’s got a lot of shine to him, I mean he just doesn’t have 5-star matches. He shines outside the ring. He walks through the mall, and people know who he is. He’s got a look, he’s got an air about him. He’s got the “IT” factor. That’s what you gotta’ have, man. This is much more than being a wrestler. This is crossing barriers, medias„ media barriers, and, and entertainment barriers of all kind. And I think the kid, Jeff Hardy has the potential to really be the guy.”

AJ Styles: “It’s never too late. I mean, I just don’t know. I, when I first came in all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed a couple of years ago, I had a ton of suggestions which I was kind of pushing real hard, which I thought would take him to a crazy, crazy level, and nobody responded. So, I don’t know at this point. I have my ideas, but a lot of things that I believe in, and what I feel from the crowd, and what I know. The little I know about this business. Sometimes, it’s either taken and used, or used and it doesn’t work, or it’s not used at all. So, it’s just..it’s my opinion. I don’t know at this point.

Ring Of Honor: Survival Of The Fittest 2011 competitors

indywrestling:

Ring Of Honor’s annual Survival Of The Fittest tournament will take place on the eighteenth of November in Ohio this year. Six competitors have been announced so far: 

Eddie Edwards

Adam Cole

Kenny King

Rhett Titus

Roderick Strong

Andy “Right Leg” Ridge

The remaining eight wrestlers will be announced soon. 

Thoughts: Eddie Edwards won last year’s tournament. My pick to win this year is Shelton Benjamin. He hasn’t been announced yet, but I’m pretty sure he will be.