Ring Posts: Goodbye, Baltimore Sun; hello, WWE - WWE Raw ...

It was a little more than four years ago that I launched Ring Posts on baltimoresun.com and began a chapter in my career that has been both fun and gratifying.

This entry will mark the closing of that chapter and the opening of a new one.

I am leaving my job as sports content editor and pro wrestling blogger at The Baltimore Sun to become a member of the WWE creative team.

It?s a bittersweet time for me to say the least. While I am very excited to be going to work for the professional wrestling industry leader ? which also happens to be a company that I have been passionate about since I was 6 years old ? saying goodbye to a place where I have so much history is extremely difficult.

I began working at The Sun as a part-time editorial assistant in the Sports department in 1986 when I was a 19-year-old college student. I went on to spend 13 years there before leaving to become the editor of WCW Magazine. After WWE bought WCW and I lost that gig as a result, I was fortunate enough to return to The Sun in 2002. That adds up to a total of 22 years that I have been at The Sun ? literally half my life.

I can?t thank the powers that be at The Sun enough for allowing me to earn a living all these years doing something I enjoy. While working in the pro wrestling industry was a childhood dream, so was being an employee of my hometown newspaper.

I also fully realize that I would not have gotten my old job with WCW or my new one with WWE if not for the experience and exposure I gained through my employment with The Sun.

I wrote my first article on pro wrestling for The Sun in 1994 ? a feature story on Randy ?Macho Man? Savage that focused on his minor-league baseball career ? and with that I became the paper?s unofficial wrestling writer.

Since then, I?ve had the opportunity to interview just about every major figure in the wrestling business, including Vince McMahon, Hulk Hogan, The Rock, Steve Austin, Ric Flair, John Cena, Eric Bischoff, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Triple H and Sting.

In 2007, with the Internet changing how newspapers think and operate, some people at The Sun suggested that I write a wrestling blog. To be honest, I was initially lukewarm to the idea of taking on extra work, but once I got started, the blog became a labor of love.

I can?t stress enough how few jobs there are that could get me to entertain the thought of leaving The Sun for even a second. In fact, this opportunity with WWE may be the only one.

I think this is an exciting time to be joining WWE, which is currently in the process of altering its creative approach. I?ve accepted a position that will allow me to contribute from a creative standpoint and also use my skills as a journalist.

Ring Posts became more successful than I ever could have imagined, and I?d like to thank everyone reading this for making that possible, especially any of you who ever took the time to leave a comment. I truly believe the ?comments? section ? which provided a forum for readers to express their opinions and engage in discussions with me and their fellow readers ? was as important in drawing people to the blog as anything I wrote. While some of the debates I had with readers became heated, I ultimately appreciated the fact that we had at least one thing in common: a passion for pro wrestling.

I?d be remiss if I didn?t take the time to publicly thank Dan McDevitt and everyone associated with Maryland Championship Wrestling for allowing me to become a member of their family over the past several years and furthering my education in the wrestling business.

In addition to being able to serve as a referee and actually getting to wrestle (well, sort of) in a match, the lessons I?ve learned from my association with MCW about wrestling as an art form and locker room etiquette have been invaluable, and I will take that knowledge with me to WWE.

I?ll be moving to Stamford, Conn., and starting with WWE at the end of the month. For anyone who is interested in keeping up with me, feel free to follow me on Twitter (@ringposts) or send me a friend request on Facebook.

In closing, I want to reiterate how incredibly gratifying and humbling it has been for me these past four-plus years to have people actually care what I have to say about a form of entertainment that I?ve been hooked on since I was in first grade.

I only hope that you all enjoyed reading Ring Posts at least half as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Editor's note: The Baltimore Sun plans to continue coverage of professional wrestling. We'll keep you posted.

Source: http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/wrestling/blog/2011/08/goodbye_baltimore_sun_hello_wwe.html

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