ECW alum Lena Yada announced on MySpace that she has been cast in two upcoming films, The Mortal Vampire and The Lee Sisters: Legend of Xu.

Lena will play the role of Detective Hill in The Mortal Vampire, a horror flick/ murder mystery based on a book by the same name.  In The Lee Sisters, filming in April and May, Lena has been cast as Lee.

More more info, check out the archive of Lena’s recent interview on The Mortal Vampire show on BlogTalkRadio.

It’s too bad MsChif can’t get more exposure. She’s been involved in some truly hardcore matches and is a solid indy performer known for giving fans more than their money’s worth. Despite being a multiple time NWA champion and a Shimmer champion MsChif is virtually unknown among mainstream wrestling fans and there are precious few videos available online of her.

Aside from an extremely abridged match from a Japanese wrestling expo in 2006 where MsChif carries Kyoko Kimura through a match before hitting her with her version of the scissor DDT called The Desecrator the best video I have found of MsChif in action is this two part match against Awesome Kong. Skip to 3:30 in the first video if you have no sense of drama:

Part II:

Good stuff. Part scream queen, part super villain and 100% Old School, MsChif would be a great addition to the WWE or TNA but far be it from me to make suggestions to people who are doing so well handling talent and story lines.

There were rumors of her appearing on TNA a few weeks ago, but unless I missed it (possible since I usually don’t watch it) that must have fell through. Oh, well. We’ll see her in the big leagues soon enough.

The branding geniuses at the Sci-Fi Channel think that in 2009, the name “Sci Fi” is just too geeky sounding.  The solution?  Rebranding as “Syfy.”

To that end, the 16-year-old network—owned by NBC Universal—plans to announce that Syfy is its new name March 16 at its upfront presentation to advertisers in New York.

“What we love about this is we hopefully get the best of both worlds,” Mr. Howe said. “We’ll get the heritage and the track record of success, and we’ll build off of that to build a broader, more open and accessible and relatable and human-friendly brand.”

Sci-Fi Channel execs had long speculated that the channel’s name was holding the network back from becoming everything they thought it could:

“The name Sci Fi has been associated with geeks and dysfunctional, antisocial boys in their basements with video games and stuff like that, as opposed to the general public and the female audience in particular,” said TV historian Tim Brooks, who helped launch Sci Fi Channel when he worked at USA Network.

But here’s why they think Syfy is totally different:

“It gives us a unique word and it gives us the opportunities to imbue it with the values and the perception that we want it to have,” he said.

“Imagine Greater” will be the network’s new tagline.  Look for the change to take effect during the next six to 12 months.

Former WWE wrestler Andrew Martin, known to most fans as Test, was found dead in his Tampa, FL apartment on Friday night.  The Tampa Tribune reports:

Police say at this time there is no indication of foul play. Martin was 33.

At about 8 p.m., police responded to the Post Harbour Apartments, 725 Harbour Place Drive, to check on Martin, according to a media release. A neighbor reported that she could see into his apartment through a window and that Martin appeared motionless for several hours.

Officers entered the apartment and found Martin dead. He was transported to the Medical Examiners Office for an autopsy to determine the cause of death. The date of the autopsy is undetermined at this time.

The next of kin has been notified of the death.

Martin was released from his WWE contract in early 2007 following a violation of the company’s wellness policy.  In 2008 he was jailed on a DUI charge, and later credited girlfriend Barbie Blank (aka Kelly Kelly) with helping him get back on track.  Martin and Blank split up earlier this year.

We will bring you updates as this story unfolds.

Update: Barbie Blank posted the following message on her MySpace profile on Saturday:

You were my world my best friend the one i always ran to u were always there for me..what happened to our plan…Why did god take u away from me…my heart is always with u and u only..I know your in heaven watching over me now my angel…

ECW and WWE alum Amy Dumas will be performing with her band The Luchagors at The Graveyard Tavern tonight at a memorial concert for legendary frontman Lux Interior of punk’s second greatest band (the first being The Misfits of course) The Cramps. The Luchagors put on a hell of a live show and people hearing Amy live for the first time will be shocked by how good she is. She’s reminiscent of the old school punks that defined the sneering attitude and air of danger the interchangeable Hot Topic bands of today try so hard to imitate to this day:

Not quite a Wendy O. Williams, Amy is still as worthy of punk queen status as Wendy was in her heyday, and The Luchagors are destined to be the 21st century’s template for underground cool. Lux would be proud and you would be remiss to miss out on one of their performances.

If you’re in Atlanta check it out. I’d go but I rarely leave my hermitage. The outside world scares and angers me.