Partial Source: Pwinsider
— WWE has signed the younger brother of Alberto Del Rio. The WWE NXT website lists Memo Montenegro on the roster. His real name is Guillermo Rodríguez and he is Del Rio’s brother and the son of Mexican wrestling legend Dos Caras.
Rodríguez had previously been training in Florida with Pablo Marquez for a deal with the company WWE.
NBC’s new reality show, Stars Earn Stripes, is drawing criticism for a perceived trivializing of war and US troops. Radar Online reports that the show, which includes WWE Diva Eve Torres, Dean Cain and others challenged to execute military exercises as a training facility, has come under fire from the non-profit organization Swords to Plowshares. Swords to Plowshares helps veterans transition back into the civilian world after their time in the military.
The organization’s Director of Policy Amy Fairweather commented on the show, saying, “I was speechless when I first saw this. People have to realize that war is not a game. The real warriors who go out there and come home from war don’t win a reality prize. They live with the consequences of being exposed to the dangerous elements they survived.”
She continued, “I think it is trivializing war, where the consequences are not that you are knocked out the competition next week, the consequences are you don’t get to go on with your life — period — or in your life as it was before as an able–bodied individual. They show explosions in the show, how cool! But then most soldier’s experience with an explosion is debilitating injury or — as in J.R. Martinez’s case — severe burns, plus the psychological side effects of being wounded such as post traumatic stress disorder.”
The show has the contestants win cash prizes, which then go to a veteran or military charity.
Fairweather said, “I am sure the training is tough so the contestants may think they know how difficult it is and the hell soldiers go through, but that is nothing compared to the hell of war.”
