Is Dustin Penner planning a heel turn?

In pro wrestling, one of the keys to any good heel turn is a slow simmering build. It's as if the audience knows it's coming like a storm from far off in the distance. They can see it. They're just never sure if or when it will reach land.

On January 23, 1984 Hulk Hogan won the WWF Championship in Madison Square Garden and he was riding high as the top babyface in the business for the better part of the next decade. Then, in 1994, he signed with rival WCW, based in Atlanta, GA. Two years later, after the fans had already begun to boo him, Hogan turned heel and formed the New Wold Order - more commonly known as the NWO.

In June 2007, Dustin Penner won the Stanley Cup. He was the toast of the town and the Oilers agreed - signing him to a big money, five-year contract to get him to jump ship and come play in Edmonton. Late last February he was traded to LA and PennerMania took off. Kings fans couldn't get enough of the team's new left wing.

When his production dried up late in the year though, some fans started to grumble. Throughout the summer he trained, ate his vitamins and said his prayers - and it looked like a new-and-improved #25 was about to emerge. However, injuries have slowed him down so far this season and the once small group of hardcore fans that had turned against him seem to be adding new members at an alarming rate.

Then, this...

During a casual conversation with Penner after practice yesterday, something interesting happened...

Interview with pro wrestling legend Nick Bockwinkel

Marty O'Neill with Nick Bockwinkel
(photo: WrestlingClassics.com)

A sold out throng of fans packed Staples Center last night for the WWE's annual SummerSlam event. It was a glitzy affair, attended by many athletes and celebrities - including NHL defenseman Sheldon Souray sitting in the front row.

It wasn't that surprising really, as there's always been a loose link between hockey and wrestling - after all, they at the very least share the same arenas in most major markets.

One of the building's normal residents, the Los Angeles Kings, have their own ties to the squared circle as well. Ted Irvine, who helped set up the first goal in team history, is the father of former WWE champion Chris Jericho.

However, years before Jack Kent Cooke brought the NHL to Los Angeles - and a lifetime before AEG helped revitalize downtown - one of the hottest tickets in SoCal was for events held just a few blocks from the city's showpiece arena now located on Figueroa Street.

One man who helped make that much smaller venue an icon among sports buildings was Nick Bockwinkel. For those not familiar with the rich history of pro wrestling, he's a mulit-time world champion, Hall of Famer and had many classic matches with the fellow legends, such as Verne Gagne, Dick The Bruiser, Terry Funk, Larry Zbyszko, Andre The Giant and Hulk Hogan.

"Before I came back to the Midwest, Los Angeles was where I first started wrestling and that's where my father wrestled for a number of years," said Bockwinkel. "A lot of my early matches were at the old Olympic Auditorium, back in 1955. The dressing room there was like a dungeon."