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New York City… where we’d got so big in some areas we couldn’t get any bigger… That’s right, the last show was the first for us to receive a message saying that our growth had been restricted in one region because of limited numbers. I didn’t know quite what it meant, but I didn’t like it. It might be time to look into a TV show on a bigger network. For now though, we were heading towards The King of New York tournament and we had a number of big feuds peaking beautifully towards the end of the year Showdown. And Fro Sure was back from tour. NYCW Welcome to New York 9 Sunday, Week 1, October 2022 Weston College Amphitheatre, New York City, New York Attendance: 8,081 SINGLES MATCH: Fro Sure vs. Davis Wayne Newton In a bout that had good wrestling and a decent reaction from the crowd, Fro Sure defeated Davis Wayne Newton in 10:10 by pinfall with a Sure Thing following interference from Danny Hagman. Rating: 62 Having cost him the Tri-State title, DWN gets his immediate comeuppance. Fro Sure returns and picks up where he left off. This match was a superb opener too as the future looked bright for NYCW with this talent. ANGLE: Davis Wayne Newton grabs a microphone and he’s disgusted by the cheating Pittsburgh Punk. But mark his words; when you threaten the pride of Canada, you always, always lose. Hagman is going to have to grow eyes in the back of his head. Rating: 58 SINGLES MATCH: Animal Harker vs. Denny King In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Animal Harker defeated Denny King in 8:19 by pinfall with a Stump Piledriver. Rating: 51 Solid midcard action between two of our solid in-ring workers with little else going on. ANGLE: Backstage the Cross River Connection and Charlie Corner are admiring their new titles, when Whistler approaches for an interview. Prime Time puts his hand up to stop Whistler talking. “Whiss, old buddy, old friend, old pal. Now is not the time for your questions. Just look at what we’ve got here. These shiny new titles should answer any questions you have.” “Prime Time is right,” Charlie adds. “Y’know people have been asking me; when you gonna make a name for yourself out East. When’s the big win coming? Well my dude’s, Charlie’s only gone and done it.” “Too true,” Perfect Pepper adds. “I mean, I feel bad for those Dishonest guys because I bet they’d love these titles. But as my dear old grandma used to say when it came to gold. Finders keepers, losers sleepers.” “Don’t you mean weepers?” Whistler asks. “Whiss, you’re old. But you definitely didn’t know Grandma Perfect. That’s some fake news.” Everyone else just stands and stares at Whistler who finally apologises. Rating: 67 COTT WORLD SIX-MAN TITLE MATCH: Spike Sylvain & The Chop Shop vs. Charlie Corner & Cross River Connection © In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Charlie Corner and Cross River Connection defeated Spike Sylvain and The Chop Shop in 10:11 when Charlie Corner pinned Sal DiMeo with a Corner Cutter. Charlie Corner and Cross River Connection make defence number three of the COTT World Six-Man. Rating: 52 It seems that the Charlie and the CRC have been touring and getting wins. And here’s another as we firmly establish The Chop Shop as our new job team. We’d probably move them slowly up the card in time. But for now we were focused on LA Stars, Fantastics, CRC and Honest Enterprises. NYCW TRI-STATE TITLE MATCH: Freedom Eagle vs. Greg Black © In a bout that had great heat and good wrestling, Greg Black defeated Freedom Eagle in 9:32 by pinfall, illegally using the ropes for leverage. Greg Black makes defence number one of the NYCW Tri-State Regional. Rating: 56 Having accidentally put the title on Greg Black, I didn’t want to ruin the prestige by having him drop it immediately. I hate the quick switch in anything other than specific circumstances. And certainly not to bail me out from my own stupidity. NYCW TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Fantastic Express vs. The LA Stars © In an exceptional match, The Fantastic Express defeated The LA Stars in 9:48 when LA Star #1 was disqualified while fighting Rafe Sashay. Rating: 74 YES!!!!! Check out that match. Holy moly. Our Best. Match. Ever. On a throwaway show before one of our big events. Isn’t that always the way. It even got this result with a cheap finish and no title change. I was mildly concerned moving the Fantastics into the CRC spot, but turns out I had no reason to be. Incredible stuff all round, with LA Star #1 in particular bringing the goods. NYCW EMPIRE HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: The Masked Mauler vs. Angry Gilmore © In a bout that had fantastic heat and great wrestling, Angry Gilmore defeated The Masked Mauler in 22:40 by pinfall with an Anger Management. Angry Gilmore makes defence number eight of the NYCW Empire Heavyweight. Rating: 62 This was obviously going to bomb after the tag team match. I felt sorry for Masked Mauler, who stepped into a big match a bit cold. Angry Gilmore has been talking to me backstage about how much upside he thinks Mauler has. So I gave him a chance to impress. ANGLE: Angry Gilmore has mic after the match having barely broken a sweat. He knows that The Georgia Pup wants the title more than he wants to breath. And he can respect that. But if he thinks he’s going to get the title off him, well the champ has news for him. He doesn’t have the mental strength to do it. He’s a cheat, he’s weak and when push comes to shove, Angry Gilmore always gets the win. Rating: 78 GANG BATTLE MATCH: American Machine, Bart Biggins, Danny Hagman & Brutus Milano vs. Riley McManus, Thom Barrowman, Richie Riggins & Andrew Harper In a bout that had great heat and good wrestling, American Machine, Bart Biggins, Danny Hagman and Brutus Milano drew with Richie Riggins, Riley McManus, Thom Barrowman and Andrew Harper in 21:39 when the referee lost control and stopped the match. Rating: 61 This was disappointing and I had no one by myself to blame. I would of course publicly blame Brutus Milano. OVERALL RATING: 62 Once again just a 15 region increase. Also a disappointing 89,258 viewers considering we had our best match ever. Despite that, LA Star #1 wanted a pay rise to $1,040 and while that number was shocking, a quick look at his matches, skills and popularity showed that he’d risen very high in a short space of time. Was he a potential break-out star? NYCW Old School Wrestling Sunday, Week 2, October 2022 McGraw Arena, New York City, New York Attendance: 8,433 SINGLES MATCH: Brutus Milano vs. Denny King In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Brutus Milano defeated Denny King in 10:19 by submission with an Italian Backbreaker. Rating: 56 No matter what else is happening, Brutus always gets wins. I actually think I was having an aneurism. GANG WARS MATCH: Charlie Corner, Freedom Eagle & Fro Sure vs. Honest Enterprises In a good match, Honest Enterprises (Andrew Harper, The Masked Mauler and Magnum Kobe) defeated Charlie Corner, Freedom Eagle and Fro Sure in 10:22 when Andrew Harper pinned Fro Sure with a Spike Slam. Rating: 58 Charlie Corner couldn’t get CRC on his side for the evening, so brought in two of his other Dudes to go up against the best Honest Enterprises has to offer. And predictably, the red hot heel stable got the win. Good match and a loss for Fro Sure as I’m keen to passive-aggressively let him know that touring with a band was not a good use of his time. NYCW TRI-STATE TITLE MATCH: Perfect Pepper Pelton vs. Greg Black © In a bout that had great heat and decent wrestling, Greg Black defeated Perfect Pepper Pelton in 9:40 by pinfall by using underhanded tactics. Greg Black makes defence number two of the NYCW Tri-State Regional. Rating: 54 Now a little test for Perfect Pepper in singles competition and the results were not amazing. They were fine, don’t get me wrong, but it’s good to know when tag team wrestlers should consider singles runs. Clearly not yet for CRC. SINGLES MATCH: Prime Time Jack Pryde vs. Thom Barrowman In a bout that had great heat and good wrestling, Thom Barrowman defeated Prime Time Jack Pryde in 10:27 by pinfall, illegally using the ropes for leverage. Rating: 58 This was better, but Prime Time had a better opponent. On the plus side, he establishes his credentials if we ever choose to go that route by pushing Barrowman to have to cheat to win. TAG TEAM MATCH: American Machine & Danny Hagman vs. Richie Riggins & Davis Wayne Newton In a bout that had great heat and good wrestling, Richie Riggins and Davis Wayne Newton defeated American Machine and Danny Hagman in 10:28 when Davis Wayne Newton pinned Danny Hagman with a Fisherman's Suplex. Rating: 63 Clean win for the heels and a pinfall over Hagman for DWN. Great match too as we were able to mask American Machine’s lack of stamina with the talent of the others. ANGLE: Riley McManus and Fern Hathaway are backstage with Whistler and Riley is asked about New York City Showdown. “I haven’t spoken much this year Whistler,” he says in downbeat way. “You see a year ago, I was screwed out of the King of New York tournament title and busted out of the main event. I was ready for the Empire Title and yet, I ended up facing a former champion instead. One I dispatched without breaking a sweat. All year I’ve been trying to get back to my rightful place. I refocused my efforts and put everything I have into being better. I always knew I was the best, but I didn’t have the luck that others around here rely on. So I worked harder to reduce the element of luck. And now; now the luck has run out. Angry Gilmore is a champion, no denying, but he’s not a Bulldog and once I have won the King of New York, I’ll go on and at New York City Showdown, I finally step up to take my rightful place as the man.” Rating: 69 GANG WARS MATCH: Bart Biggins & The LA Stars vs. Riley McManus & The Fantastic Express In a bout that had fantastic heat and great wrestling, Bart Biggins and The LA Stars defeated Riley McManus and The Fantastic Express in 21:37 when Bart Biggins pinned Riley McManus with a B-Dropper. Rating: 66 The tag team title feud and the Biggins/Riggins feud collide and deliver a good match. The heels take the loss, but both teams ultimately win as their momentum remains sky high. Once again LA Star #1 was the standout performer. NYCW EMPIRE HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Magnum Kobe vs. Angry Gilmore © In a bout that had fantastic heat and great wrestling, Angry Gilmore defeated Magnum Kobe in 22:28 by pinfall with an Anger Management following interference from Prime Time Jack Pryde. Angry Gilmore makes defence number nine of the NYCW Empire Heavyweight. Rating: 63 This was disappointing considering the talent involved. I really thought Kobe had won enough to get a better match out of Gilmore. Still, the champ continues his domination. OVERALL RATING: 64 We seem to be levelling out in terms of viewership as we got 90,540 viewers this time. The news following the show was mixed as we had to give Zippy a pay rise to $880 and Rafe Sashay to $990. LA Star #2 wanted $1,080, which we gave him, only then to find out that his tag team partner had relocated to Calgary Alberta, Canada. Sam Keith’s son Matthew Keith won the BHOTWG World Championship and Riley McManus had changed his bodytype to ‘ripped.’ NYCW The King of New York 2022 KONY Final: A vs. B KONY SEMI A: 1 vs. 2 KONY SEMI B: 3 vs. 4 KONY Q1: Danny Hagman vs. David Wayne Newton KONY Q2: American Machine vs. Riley McManus KONY Q3: Bart Biggins vs. Richie Riggins KONY Q4: Brutus Milano vs. Thom Barrowman NYCW Empire Heavyweight Title: Andrew Harper vs. Angry Gilmore © NYCW Tag Team Title: The Fantastic Express vs. The LA Stars © NYCW Tri-State Title: Fro Sure vs. Greg Black © Cross River Connection vs. Honest Enterprises (Magnum Kobe & Masked Mauler) Next time… regal intent…

New York City… home of criminals for as far as the eye can see… NYCW Welcome to New York 8 Sunday, Week 1, September 2022 Weston College Amphitheatre, New York City, New York Attendance: 6,818 ANGLE: Sweet Sal is out and he’s happy to introduce his new tag team partner… Eric ‘Howlin Mad’ Mortenson. He’s been looking for a partner in crime for a while, and the mad Canadian cigarette smuggler is exactly what he wanted. Eric used to cut down trees and Sweet Sal is a man who knows how to sell. Together, they are The Chop Shop. Rating: 48 Cheesy, ridiculous and over-the-top. They fit in perfectly in NYCW. TAG TEAM MATCH: The Casey Brothers vs. The Chop Shop In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, The Chop Shop defeated Chuck Casey and Tully Casey in 5:47 when Eric Mortenson pinned Tully Casey with a Tree-Feller. Rating: 36 We hired back Chuck and Tully for one-night just to put over the new team. Match actually reminded me of our product from 2020 and it’s nice to see how far we’ve come. SINGLES MATCH: Charlie Corner vs. Denny King In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Charlie Corner defeated Denny King in 9:40 by pinfall with a Corner Cutter. Rating: 53 Good match-up and a clean win for Charlie. ANGLE: Honest Enterprises come out to the ring and tonight, they’re extending the hand of peace to the Cross River Connection and their be-masked buddy Freedom Eagle. There’s room in the group for all three men. Eagle, Prime Time and Perfect Pepper come out and for a moment it looks like they’re really thinking about it. But then all three laugh, take off their jackets and call for the bell. Rating: 47 Looks like Cross River have finally made up their mind. Feud on. GANG WARS MATCH: Freedom Eagle & Cross River Connection vs. Honest Enterprises In a good match, Honest Enterprises (Andrew Harper, The Masked Mauler and Magnum Kobe) defeated Freedom Eagle and Cross River Connection in 10:17 when Magnum Kobe submitted Perfect Pepper Pelton with a Magnum Deathlock. Rating: 55 Oof! Despite having the upper hand going into the match, it’s Honest Enterprises who pick-up the clean win. Despite being a predominantly midcard stable, the Enterprise (and Kobe in particular) are picking up quite the series of wins. Honest Frank Jr was relegated to ringside work as we’re using him for wrestling on the pre-show to help improve his skills before bringing him back into the fold. SINGLES MATCH: Bart Biggins vs. Richie Riggins In a bout that had fantastic heat and great wrestling, Richie Riggins defeated Bart Biggins in 9:42 by pinfall by using underhanded tactics. Rating: 62 Richie smashed his handheld mirror into Bart’s face to knock him out and get the pin. Because he’s 100% a heel and sometimes that’s exactly what the world is asking for. Good match in a series of them for the formerly mediocre in-ring Riggins. TAG TEAM MATCH: American Machine & Brutus Milano vs. The Fantastic Express In a bout that had great heat and decent wrestling, The Fantastic Express defeated American Machine and Brutus Milano in 9:40 when Rafe Sashay pinned American Machine with a Fantastic Flashbang. Rating: 59 Big, big win for the Fantastics here. American Machine’s fall from grace has been as fast as it has been surprising. It doesn’t help that he’s losing stamina in-ring at an alarming rate. As the veterans always say; it’s not a long, drawn out affair; when you can’t go in the ring anymore it happens almost overnight. NYCW TRI-STATE TITLE MATCH: Spike Sylvain vs. Danny Hagman © In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Spike Sylvain defeated Danny Hagman in 10:27 by count out. Rating: 56 Hagman was counted out while fighting DWN outside the ring, which lead to the lamest of all finishes; the count out. Spike probably didn’t gain much from the win. But at least he didn’t lose. NYCW TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Thom Barrowman & Riley McManus vs. The LA Stars © In an exceptional match, The LA Stars defeated Thom Barrowman and Riley McManus in 22:15 when LA Star #2 pinned Thom Barrowman while using the ropes for leverage. The LA Stars make defence number two of the NYCW Tag Team. Rating: 69 Great match and another big win for an NYCW tag team over two established main event stars. Our continued attempts to improve our tag team division were not going unnoticed as the prestige of the titles was rising with each month. NYCW EMPIRE HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Greg Black vs. Angry Gilmore In a bout that had fantastic heat and great wrestling, Angry Gilmore defeated Greg Black in 23:13 by pinfall with an Anger Management. Angry Gilmore makes defence number seven of the NYCW Empire Heavyweight. Rating: 62 Greg Black goes the distance in the match. BUT, the match was a disappointment. Black’s stock was falling as fast as American Machine’s, only he didn’t have the history and popularity of the former champion. OVERALL RATING: 61 85,354 viewers for that show, which marked a large decrease. Disappointing was not the word. But things could be worse; CWA in Canada had been hit with a bullying scandal, which had crippled their popularity. In the year 2022, you cannot be bullying your staff. I mean, technically you can’t do that at any time. But especially not at the moment. NYCW Old School Wrestling Sunday, Week 2, September 2022 Weston College Amphitheatre, New York City, New York Attendance: 7,429 COTT WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Denny King vs. Aldous Blackfriar © In a good match, Aldous Blackfriar defeated Denny King in 9:53 by pinfall with a Batwing. Aldous Blackfriar makes defence number nine of the COTT World Heavyweight. Rating: 56 We thought we’d thank Denny by giving him a shot at the COTT World Heavyweight Title. It also gave us an opportunity to showcase what the alliance had with Aldous Blackfriar and to be honest, the kid has ‘IT.’ I still couldn’t verbalise ‘IT,’ but I know it when I see it. TAG TEAM MATCH: Animal Harker & Freedom Eagle vs. The Masked Mauler & Spike Sylvain In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, The Masked Mauler and Spike Sylvain defeated Animal Harker and Freedom Eagle in 9:59 when The Masked Mauler pinned Freedom Eagle with a Piledriver. Rating: 55 Well look at that. Animal Harker and Freedom Eagle have good chemistry. I’m already regretting have them lose clean Mauler and Spike. After the match Spike was officially welcomed into Honest Enterprises as the stable begins the traditional BLOAT element of its existence. Good match though. SINGLES MATCH: Brutus Milano vs. David Wayne Newton In a good match, Brutus Milano drew with Davis Wayne Newton in 10:24 following a double disqualification. Rating: 56 I’m now convinced that Brutus Milano occupies a special place in my brain. There’s absolutely no reason he should ever really be in any matches of note, yet when it comes to booking matches, I’m always favourable. This was obviously a chance for DWN to get a clean win over a former champion. And what do I do? I book a draw finish. What is wrong with me? NYCW TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Fantastic Express vs. The LA Stars © In an exceptional match, The LA Stars defeated The Fantastic Express in 9:34 when LA Star #1 pinned Zippy Deverell by using underhanded tactics. The LA Stars make defence number three of the NYCW Tag Team. Rating: 68 Woah! Amazing match. It seems our work building up the success of our tag teams is paying off. With more work these guys could be producing NYCW Match of the Year contenders. LA Stars keep the titles, but only with their fingertips. NYCW TRI-STATE TITLE MATCH: Greg Black vs. Danny Hagman © In a bout that had great heat and good wrestling, Greg Black defeated Danny Hagman in 9:39 by pinfall with a Fade To Black following interference from Davis Wayne Newton. Greg Black wins the NYCW Tri-State Regional. Rating: 60 You know when you’re booking something and someone asks the finish and you have a moment of distraction. This is the result. In arguably the most surprising outcome in years, stone cold momentum Greg Black defeats seemingly unstoppable Tri-State champion. Should’ve been a DQ, was actually a pinfall. Dammit COTT WORLD SIX-MAN TITLE MATCH: Charlie Corner & Cross River Connection vs. Invincible Team © In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Charlie Corner and Cross River Connection defeated Invincible Team in 9:49 when Charlie Corner pinned Miguel Rivera with a Corner Cutter. Charlie Corner and Cross River Connection win the COTT World Six-Man. Rating: 45 A title win for Corner and Cross River. The alliance wasn’t at all convinced by Invincible Team, so I agreed to take control of the Six-Man again. Corner is a natural third for the Connection as he fits with their slightly eccentric behaviour. Plus they look the part. This also allows us to build up the feud with Honest Enterprises. COTT UNITED STATES TITLE MATCH: Andrew Harper vs. Teddy Powell © In a bout that had great heat and good wrestling, Teddy Powell defeated Andrew Harper in 10:01 by pinfall with a Motion Censor following interference from Prime Time Jack Pryde. Teddy Powell makes defence number seven of the COTT United States. Rating: 59 Great match as we consider switching all the COTT belts onto our champions, but know, deep down that it would be bad for business. We still weren’t the biggest promotion in the alliance and if we went rogue, the others could too and that would spell trouble. Playing fair was always a detriment. COTT WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Chop Shop vs. Cheetah Boy & Seth Whitehead © In a decent match, Cheetah Boy and Seth Whitehead defeated The Chop Shop in 9:31 when Cheetah Boy pinned Sal DiMeo with a handful of tights. Cheetah Boy and Seth Whitehead make defence number one of the COTT World Tag Team. Rating: 45 They might be a new tag team, but they are not The Fantastic Express, so they’re not getting the gold in one of their first matches. GANG WARS MATCH: Angry Gilmore, American Machine & Bart Biggins vs. Riley McManus, Thom Barrowman & Richie Riggins In a bout that had fantastic heat and great wrestling, Riley McManus, Richie Riggins and Thom Barrowman defeated Angry Gilmore, American Machine and Bart Biggins in 24:30 when Thom Barrowman pinned Bart Biggins while using the ropes for leverage. Rating: 69 A classic ‘throw them into a big match’ approach pays off beautifully with an awesome match to end the show. ANGLE: After the match all six men get into a big brawl. Rating: 70 OVERALL RATING: 68 92,388 viewers was an improvement. As the month came to an end Larry finally gave us a COTT update as Boriken Love Machine Jr had won the COTT United States title in EMLL. Over in GSW Eddie Peak was crowned King of California 2022. We ended the month with a $93,867 profit and immediately had to give the following pay rises: Davis Wayne Newton to $740 Fro Sure to $400 Danny Hagman to $800 Next time… we begin the build to King of New York 2022…

New York City… where three-on-three is the soup du jour… NYCW Gang Wars 2022 Sunday, Week 4, August 2022 Weston College Amphitheatre, New York City, New York Attendance: 7,102 GANG WARS MATCH: Brutus Milano, Animal Harker & Freedom Eagle vs. Greg Black, Denny King & Spike Sylvain In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Brutus Milano and Animal Harker & Freedom Eagle defeated Greg Black, Denny King and Spike Sylvain in 9:49 when Animal Harker pinned Spike Sylvain with a Stump Piledriver. Rating: 54 A nice opening event win for the faces here against a constantly struggling lower-card heels. Greg Black’s fall continued and I was struggling to care. I actually cared more about the loss for Denny King of all people. GANG WARS MATCH: Charlie Corner & Cross River Connection vs. Honest Enterprises In a good match, Honest Enterprises (Andrew Harper, The Masked Mauler and Magnum Kobe) defeated Charlie Corner and Cross River Connection in 20:38 when Magnum Kobe pinned Prime Time Jack Pryde with The Glorious Red. Rating: 56 Big win for Honest Enterprises here as the feud between them and the Cross River Connection continues to escalate. The constant attempts by the Enterprise to recruit both Pepper and Prime Time were falling on deaf ears, but would that last forever? GANG WARS MATCH: Danny Hagman & The LA Stars vs. Davis Wayne Newton & The Fantastic Express In a bout that had great heat and good wrestling, Davis Wayne Newton and The Fantastic Express defeated Danny Hagman and The LA Stars in 22:20 when Rafe Sashay pinned Danny Hagman with a Forward Russian Legsweep. Rating: 60 A rare loss for Hagman as The Fantastic Express continue to build their case for being one of the top teams in the entire promotion. DWN’s performance stood out as good, which when you consider the talent on display was amazing. ANGLE: Riley McManus, Thom Barrowman and Richie Riggins cut a promo hyping their upcoming six man match with Angry Gilmore, American Machine and Bart Biggins. McManus and Barrowman seem furious and focused, while Richie just looks at himself in a mirror for the majority of the segment. When asked a direct question about why they’re going to win, Riggins flexes his bicep and says “That’s why” and walks out. Rating: 68 I had a massive soft spot for Richie. Guy had massively stepped up to the plate since dropping the Tri-State title and the better he did, the more interested I was in pushing him. GANG WARS MATCH: Angry Gilmore, Bart Biggins & American Machine vs. Riley McManus, Thom Barrowman & Richie Riggins In a bout that had fantastic heat and great wrestling, Riley McManus, Thom Barrowman and Richie Riggins defeated Angry Gilmore, Bart Biggins and American Machine in 21:36 when Richie Riggins pinned Bart Biggins with a Body Bag. Rating: 63 Told you I liked Richie. Guy gets the pin on Bart having spent the rest of the show simply admiring himself in a mirror and then most of the match flirting with Cheerleader Nicki on the outside of the ring, shows what a megastar he was becoming. OVERALL RATING: 63 88,814 viewers tuned in to watch a glorified advert for Richie ‘The Body’ Riggins. And we ended the month with $119,312 profit. Lovely stuff. Next time… a new team is formed…

New York City… home of rock stars… I couldn’t believe we were already in August as the year was threatening to get away from me. With the King of New York tournament approaching and a series of top-level feuds beginning to bubble away, I decided to take the first week of the month to figure out a detailed and comprehensive plan for the next two months. I’d received word that ACPW, our fellow COTT member had reached out and signed The LA Stars to contracts. Part of me was furious that another company were ignoring the unwritten rules of the alliance, but more matches meant more experience for our young team. Plus they’d get to spend time around new fellow ACPW signing; Lucy Stone-McFly. I’d been a huge fan of the Stones for years growing up and any chance I had to get to know them better, the happier I’d be. Flicking through Pro Wrestling Reporter after finishing my two-month plan, I read articles about the Tommy and Jennifer Cornell divorce, about The Crippler’s rotator cuff injury and subsequent surgery, Straight and True (Jaylon Martin & DT Kingman)’s victory in the Sam Keith Classic XII and how Chris Flynn was injured again, only this time with a broken neck. The later pages of the magazine were dedicated to rumours; Tommy Cornell dating Dawn Gemmell for example. When I saw an advert for a local band performance. It was apparently the start of a two-month tour for Fro-Zen Funk and the Rainbow Collective. I double-took… Was that Fro Sure on lead guitar? NYCW Welcome to New York 7 Sunday, Week 1, August 2022 Albany Fields, New York City, New York Attendance: 5,444 SINGLES MATCH: Billy Chase vs. The Masked Mauler In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, The Masked Mauler defeated Billy Chase in 8:06 by pinfall with a Piledriver. Rating: 42 In the absence of Fro Sure, we brought up our most advanced young rookie for a main show moment. Billy Chase, the Native American also known as Wild Red Stallion, was a decent brawler and could one day be a solid midcard talent for us. I suspected that might be his ceiling, but I’ve been wrong before. He gave a great account of himself against Mauler, before finally succumbing to the deadly piledriver. SINGLES MATCH: Howlin Mad Mort vs. Andrew Harper In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Andrew Harper defeated Howlin' Mad Mort in 7:56 by pinfall with a Spike Slam. Rating: 51 The curse of too many heels strikes again, as the slimmed down Howlin Mad Mort was forced to lose to a fellow heel. Match was great, as the slimmed down Mort had better in-ring stamina. ANGLE: Sal DiMeo is out after the match in shades and a leather jacket. Mort is on his knees punching the mat in frustration as Sweet Sal approaches. “Listen to me big fella. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of being ignored round here. I’ve been looking for a new partner to get involved in some… business. I wondered if you were interested?” Howlin Mad Mort looks at Sal, thinks for a moment and shakes his head. “That’s ok fella, but if you change your mind, I’m always on the lookout for talent. And you, my friend, have talent.” Rating: 46 My desperate attempts to make something from nothing right here. It falls on… disinterested ears mainly. TAG TEAM MATCH: Cross River Connection vs. The Fantastic Express In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, The Fantastic Express defeated Cross River Connection in 10:06 when Rafe Sashay pinned Perfect Pepper Pelton after using a foreign object. Rating: 52 Disappointing match between two of our hotter, more talented young teams. But a heel win via cheating puts the Fantastics more in line of a title shot going forward. SINGLES MATCH: Bart Biggins vs. Thom Barrowman In a bout that had fantastic heat and great wrestling, Bart Biggins defeated Thom Barrowman in 10:01 by disqualification. Rating: 62 Two of our great in-ring workers clash in a good match, which like the previous match, ends in a somewhat sketchy manner. I was trying to heat up Bart a bit for a future feud, and Thom could afford the loss. GANG WARS MATCH: American Machine, Brutus Milano & Freedom Eagle vs. Richie Riggins, Greg Black & Spike Sylvain In a bout that had great heat and good wrestling, American Machine, Brutus Milano and Freedom Eagle defeated Richie Riggins, Greg Black and Spike Sylvain in 10:28 when American Machine pinned Spike Sylvain with an Old Glory. Rating: 59 Poor Richie gets lumbered with a dreadful team and loses. In his defense he walked out on the time towards the end, because he’s become a master of protecting himself in these matches and that’s why he’s one of our fastest-rising stars. Fair play. Crowd were very into this match, even with Brutus included. SINGLES MATCH: Animal Harker vs. David Wayne Newton In a decent match, Davis Wayne Newton defeated Animal Harker in 10:28 by submission with a STF after blatantly cheating. Rating: 54 DWN continues to assert himself in our roster with wins. He cheated, but the history books will forget that. What they’ll remember is that he beat midcard gatekeeper Animal Harker. NYCW TRI-STATE TITLE MATCH: Denny King vs. Danny Hagman © In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Danny Hagman defeated Denny King in 22:02 by submission with a Steel Curtain. Danny Hagman makes defence number nine of the NYCW Tri-State Regional. Rating: 50 The Pittsburgh Kid is truly a rising phenomenon in NYCW. He’s come from almost complete obscurity and fought his way to a singles title and is now steamrollering the midcard on his way to becoming a true established name. What was even better is that his in-ring skills are getting better all the time and one day he’d be a bonafide main event star. NYCW TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Honest Enterprises vs. The LA Stars © In a superb match, The LA Stars defeated Honest Enterprises in 9:49 when LA Star #1 pinned Honest Frank Jr. with a Double Stomp. The LA Stars make defence number one of the NYCW Tag Team. Rating: 64 If there’s one thing I can rely on, it’s The LA Stars putting on a great match against almost any opponent. Here they’re matched with a super green Honest Frank Jr and still-getting-over Magnum Kobe and the match is fantastic. ANGLE: Angry Gilmore is backstage with Whistler. “Mr. Gilmore, tonight you are facing one of your toughest match-ups to date. The Georgia Bulldog Riley McManus. How do you feel?” “I feel angry Whiss. I’m DAMN ANGRY. This punk steps into my ring, with the gall to challenge me for this title? Why? Because he’s got a funky nickname? Or a gorgeous broad? What do I care about that? I’m here for one thing and one thing only; to prove I am the best wrestler in the world today. I’ll leave the nonsense outside the ring to people like The Georgia Pup. But right now, it’s Gilmore’s time.” Rating: 81 NYCW EMPIRE TITLE MATCH: ‘The Georgia Bulldog’ Riley McManus vs. Angry Gilmore © In an exceptional match, Angry Gilmore defeated Riley McManus in 22:19 by pinfall with an Anger Management. Angry Gilmore makes defence number six of the NYCW Empire Heavyweight. Rating: 68 Fantastic match between these two supreme talents. Never let it be said I don’t know when to move the title at the right time. Angry is the most popular, talented and versatile worker on the roster. And with the likes of Barrowman and McManus he also has some of the best opponents. OVERALL RATING: 67 We were back on the rise with 100,196 viewers, which was good. Freedom Eagle wanted a pay rise to $520, while Spike wanted $350 and we’d happily give in to both demands. In somewhat disheartening news, LA Star #2 relocated to Quebec to be closer to ACPW. Perhaps I shouldn’t have offered to pay for the travel of my boys. But I’m a generous soul and Larry doesn’t allow us to offer many perks. NYCW Old School Wrestling Sunday, Week 2, August 2022 Albany Fields, New York City, New York Attendance: 6,273 SINGLES MATCH: Animal Harker vs. David Wayne Newton In a decent match, Davis Wayne Newton defeated Animal Harker in 10:01 by pinfall with a Fisherman's Suplex. Rating: 59 The rematch is even better than their first match and this time DWN gets the win clean to further establish himself. Harker had the upside (and curse) of easily connecting with the crowd, so could lose indefinitely and still be popular and over. SINGLES MATCH: Charlie Corner vs. The Masked Mauler In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, The Masked Mauler defeated Charlie Corner in 9:38 by pinfall by using underhanded tactics. Rating: 49 Mauler and Corner are somehow connected in my booking head. The two of them just look right fighting one another and I could easily see this feud lasting an eternity if I wasn’t careful. The matches were decent, but I’m not sure it was great for either man’s growth going forward. ANGLE: Sweet Sal is out to once again offer Mort a spot in a new team he’s forming. He’s got the work lined up, he just needs some muscle. Mort thinks about it again and politely refuses. Rating: 51 SINGLES MATCH: Brutus Milano vs. Howlin Mad Mort In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Brutus Milano defeated Howlin' Mad Mort in 9:55 by submission with an Italian Backbreaker. Rating: 54 Poor Mort. He just cannot buy a win right now. SINGLES MATCH: Freedom Eagle vs. Greg Black In a bout that had great heat and good wrestling, Greg Black defeated Freedom Eagle in 10:26 by pinfall with a Fade To Black. Rating: 55 A decent win for Black who has been struggling to properly establish himself in the roster following the ending of the FREEDOM invasion. It’s a shame because as the leader of the group, the expectation was that he’d be the easy-to-build star. But it looks like DWN is going to claim that spot. GANG BATTLE MATCH: American Machine, Perfect Pepper Pelton & The LA Stars vs. Richie Riggins, Andrew Harper & The Fantastic Express In a bout that had great heat and good wrestling, Richie Riggins, Andrew Harper and The Fantastic Express defeated American Machine, Perfect Pepper Pelton and The LA Stars in 9:34 when Andrew Harper pinned American Machine with a Spike Slam. Rating: 62 Fantastic match including eight stars from our roster. Riggins stays to the end of the match and his team won. Even better was for Andrew Harper who claimed a big pinfall against the former Empire Champion. ANGLE: Prime Time Jack Pryde is backstage as Pepper walks by. “Sorry about the loss there Pep,” he says. “Don’t worry about that. What’s important is the next match. You’re going to get the win and title for the team right?” “I certainly hope so.” “Why so unsure, you’re a legend my dude. You’re the mouth of North, the son of the South, the best in the West and the… yeast in the East…” “That, got away from you there didn’t it?” “Sure did Prime Time. What I’m trying to say is; I believe in you bro.” The two hug. “That’s a good point Pep.” Rating: 66 NYCW TRI-STATE TITLE MATCH: Prime Time Jack Pryde vs. Danny Hagman © In a bout that had great heat and decent wrestling, Danny Hagman defeated Prime Time Jack Pryde in 22:30 by pinfall after using a foreign object. Danny Hagman makes defence number ten of the NYCW Tri-State Regional. Rating: 40 Well that was a disappointment. Aside from Hagman’s sudden cheating to win, the match itself was not great. Somehow two of our hottest young talents couldn’t get their psychology right and the middle of the match dragged horribly. Back to tag team ranks for Prime Time I think. ANGLE: Bart Biggins is with Whistler. He’s loving life at the moment. He’s winning matches, he’s watching people like The Georgia Bulldog lose matches. The sun is shining. It’s all coming up Biggins at the moment, and tonight, he’s going to get another tick in the W column. Rating: 61 Not many men can pull off smiley babyface these days, but Bart is one of them. TAG TEAM MATCH: Angry Gilmore & Bart Biggins vs. Thom Barrowman & Riley McManus In a bout that had fantastic heat and great wrestling, Angry Gilmore and Bart Biggins defeated Thom Barrowman and Riley McManus in 23:02 when Bart Biggins pinned Thom Barrowman with a B-Dropper. Rating: 69 Great match and big pinfall for Biggins. OVERALL RATING: 67 We got 87,577 viewers, which was great news. But as we planned ahead for Gang Wars, I noticed each day an improvement in the physiques of my boys: Honest Frank Jr – Muscular Perfect Pepper Pelton – Ripped The Masked Mauler – Ripped LA Star #1 – Muscular Sal DiMeo – Average Danny Hagman – Toned Howlin Mad Mort – Average I couldn’t believe it. Prime Time and Perfect had obviously told the others about my apparent love for guys who are in shape, and because they’re all closely knit backstage, they’ve all been on a health kick. The Pro Wrestling Reporter told me that The LA Stars had won the ACPW Tag Team Title, while Cheetah Boy & Seth Whitehead had won the COTT World Tag Team Titles. I remembered the days when I used to hear about the COTT from Larry directly, or even straight from the meetings. I knew we were growing and I was busier than ever before, but still. I’d never felt less involved in the top tier organisation of the company. This played on my mind all the way up to a week before Gang Wars, when Magnum Kobe distracted me with news that he’d moved to New York permanently. I suddenly felt filled with joy. Next time… Gang Wars 2022…

New York City… where you don’t get anywhere unless you’re at least ripped… After seeing the sad state of some of our veterans I made the move to bring in a new star in hopes to give everyone a kick up the backside. NYCW Welcome to New York 6 Sunday, Week 1, July 2022 McGraw Arena, New York City, New York Attendance: 4,771 SINGLES MATCH: Fro Sure vs. Spike Sylvain In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, Fro Sure defeated Spike Sylvain in 10:17 by pinfall with a Sure Thing. Rating: 36 Well, that was a debut. Turns out that these two don’t click, which makes this suck. Turns out debuting with a crappy chemistry note and a bad match is traditional around these parts. Fro Sure was a high-upside superstar in the making. ANGLE: Fro Sure cuts a backstage promo, introducing himself to Whistler. He’s the mack daddy of the West Coast and soon the people here in New York are going to learn his name. And learn to love him. Just like everybody else does. Rating: 53 He’d exclusively plied his trade with Grimm SoCal Wrestling for a few years, so we didn’t mind stepping in and giving him access to the COTT as well as our company. I still had high hopes. His cocky babyface act was new and he had a natural charisma to him that I loved. SINGLES MATCH: Charlie Corner vs. Denny King In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Charlie Corner defeated Denny King in 10:01 by pinfall with a handful of tights. Rating: 51 Charlie Corner back to winning ways as Denny King’s losing streak continues unabated. Still capable of a great match though, so Denny is about as safe as anyone on the roster. NYCW TRI-STATE TITLE MATCH: David Wayne Newton vs. Danny Hagman © In a good match, Danny Hagman defeated Davis Wayne Newton in 9:48 by count out. Danny Hagman makes defence number seven of the NYCW Tri-State Regional. Rating: 54 Danny uses his nous to keep DWN distracted outside with a member of crowd and gets the cheeky win. These two are the opposite of the openers as they have great chemistry and you better believe I’d be rolling that into a future feud between them. SINGLES MATCH: Brutus Milano vs. Thom Barrowman In a bout that had great heat and good wrestling, Thom Barrowman defeated Brutus Milano in 9:36 by pinfall after using a foreign object. Rating: 60 Thom Barrowman obviously gets the win here in a match short enough that neither man would be gassed. I felt desperately sorry for Barrowman. A terrible main event, a dwindling reserve of strength and only able to beat Milano by cheating. TAG TEAM MATCH: Cross River Connection vs. Honest Enterprises (Andrew Harper & The Masked Mauler) In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, The Masked Mauler and Andrew Harper defeated Cross River Connection in 9:56 when The Masked Mauler pinned Perfect Pepper Pelton with a Piledriver following interference from Honest Frank Jr.. Rating: 60 Despite failing to get Corner into their midst; Honest Enterprises officially welcome Mauler into their group and they start with a big win over the former tag team champions. After a title change it’s always good to mix things up and elevate other groups and workers. Enter Honest Enterprises. ANGLE: Richie Riggins is in the ring The Fantastic Express and he has a microphone. “Now you listen to me you fat, New York City sweat hogs. The Body has something to say about the so-called GODDAM AMERICAN HERO. Pathetic. He’s tied of being held down by old, broken-down has-beens and tonight he’s breaking the glass ceiling and announcing his arrival as THE man of NYCW. He’s chosen the best tag team in independent wrestling to counter the masked losers who’ve aligned themselves with Broken Down Machine. Rating: 56 This is more like it. Giving him a bit of space to teach the audience who he is and what he’s like. The answer of course is that he’s an a-hole. But it’s good to know these things for sure. GANG WARS MATCH: American Machine & The LA Stars vs. Richie Riggins & The Fantastic Express In a bout that had great heat and good wrestling, Richie Riggins and The Fantastic Express defeated American Machine and The LA Stars in 20:47 when Richie Riggins pinned American Machine with a Body Bag. Rating: 62 A clean win in a big match against a top star. Say what you like about The Body, he’s good for his word most of the time. SINGLES MATCH: Bart Biggins vs. ‘The Georgia Bulldog’ Riley McManus In a bout that had fantastic heat and great wrestling, Bart Biggins defeated Riley McManus in 21:17 by disqualification. Rating: 59 Riley loses his temper at meeting his match in pure wrestling terms and ends up beating Biggins with a chair until the ref disqualifies him. NYCW EMPIRE HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE: Greg Black vs. Angry Gilmore © In a bout that had fantastic heat and great wrestling, Angry Gilmore defeated Greg Black in 22:48 by pinfall with an Anger Management. Angry Gilmore makes defence number five of the NYCW Empire Heavyweight. Rating: 63 Simple victory in a ‘play it safe’ main event. I couldn’t afford another bad match and event and I trusted both of these guys to put on a passable match. And that’s exactly what they did. ANGLE: Angry Gilmore is in the ring giving an interview to Whistler. Riley McManus slides into the ring alongside Greg Black. He’s gesturing at Gilmore about the title. After some back-and-forth insults, they attack, laying Gilmore out two-on-one. Then, Brutus Milano comes out from the back, hits the ring, and cleans house, saving Gilmore. Rating: 69 Guess whose back… back again… OVERALL RATING: 62 93,165 viewers tuned in to watch Brutus begin to re-establish himself in the main event. Had I lost my mind? Maybe. But it could be worse, I could be Logan Wolfsbaine who broke his leg and was out for a year. Disaster for the young starlets career. With not a lot else going on, we ploughed ahead. NYCW Old School Wrestling Sunday, Week 2, July 2022 McGraw Arena, New York City, New York Attendance: 5,000 (SOLD OUT!?!) ANGLE: Fro Sure is out to cut a promo: “New York City… The Big Apple… A City so great, they named it twice. I gotta say… I like it. It’s chaotic, beautiful and the best. It’s just like me. I just wanted to say, you’re all in for a treat. Welcome, to Fro Sure City…” Rating: 65 Short and sweet as we try to move Fro Sure on from his less-than-stellar debut. He’s already becoming more popular by the week. I love his upside. SINGLES MATCH: Fro Sure vs. Denny King In a bout that had good wrestling and a decent reaction from the crowd, Fro Sure defeated Denny King in 9:54 by pinfall with a Sure Thing. Rating: 57 That’s more like it. These two have great chemistry and knocked it out the park straight away. Top quality wrestling from an old and new star. GANG WARS MATCH: Brutus Milano & The LA Stars vs. Greg Black & The Fantastic Express In a bout that had great heat and good wrestling, Greg Black and The Fantastic Express defeated Brutus Milano and The LA Stars in 10:02 when Rafe Sashay pinned Brutus Milano with a Forward Russian Legsweep. Rating: 62 Brutus is thrust into a feud with Greg Black and is associating himself with the LA Stars, like a true backstage professional. With this number of quality workers, we were able to hide Brutus Milano, which is always the way to do these things. NYCW TRI-STATE TITLE MATCH: Spike Sylvain vs. Danny Hagman © In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Spike Sylvain defeated Danny Hagman in 9:57 by disqualification after Davis Wayne Newton interfered and hit… Spike Sylvain. Rating: 50 Newton was on commentary for the match (and was predictably great with that too) and when the time was right, we slid into the ring and after a moment of smiling at Hagman. He hit Spike to cause a disqualification for the champion. Sure it was cheap, but it helped to tell a compelling story. ANGLE: Honest Enterprises hit the ring and Honest Frank has seen the light. He’s seen the future and it’s at the Cross in the River. Prime Time and Perfect Pepper are the future of wrestling, the future of NYCW and the next obvious additions to his personal roster. With him, they could be champions again. They could rise to the top, surrounded by the talent you see around him. The Cross River Connection dance their way down to the ring. They thank Frank for the offer, but they’re worried he’ll cramp their style. Plus, they’ve already got friends in New York… and here comes Freedom Eagle. Rating: 54 That’s right, while CRC are titleless, we’re going to see what a feud between them and the Enterprise looks like. I expect some good matches and a fantastic mic battle from this. GANG WARS MATCH: Freedom Eagle & Cross River Connection vs. Honest Enterprises In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Honest Enterprises (Andrew Harper, Honest Frank Jr. and The Masked Mauler) defeated Freedom Eagle and Cross River Connection in 10:19 when The Masked Mauler submitted Perfect Pepper Pelton with an Iron Claw. Rating: 54 We kick things off with a loss for the heroes. Fantastic stuff. SINGLES MATCH: American Machine vs. Richie Riggins In a bout that had great heat and good wrestling, Richie Riggins defeated American Machine in 9:51 by pinfall by using underhanded tactics. Rating: 59 The Body loves to win. And he will always cheat if he can. A decent win for him against the former champ and another step along the path to the Empire Title too. TAG TEAM MATCH: Angry Gilmore & Bart Biggins vs. Thom Barrowman & Riley McManus In a bout that had fantastic heat and great wrestling, Thom Barrowman and Riley McManus defeated Angry Gilmore and Bart Biggins in 24:27 when Riley McManus pinned Bart Biggins with a Slingshot Suplex after Fern Hathaway interfered. Rating: 70 Fern Hathaway is always someone to watch on the outside and here she is sticking her ore in once again. But let’s talk about the match. It was amazing and more than makes up for the recent duds in the main event. This foursome has the ability to deliver in the main event and we were going to use and abuse that for as long as we could OVERALL RATING: 68 Back up to 99,089 viewers. Good stuff. Backstage after the show, I looked around at the boys and noticed a marked difference in the physiques of the Cross River Connection. I grabbed Prime Time, who was looking more toned than normal and asked him what encouraged him. “You love big guys,” he said. “Everyone knows it, so we thought it was worth spending more time in the gym. It’s our way of saying thanks.” Well that was a lovely thing to say. It’s funny that you can never be exactly sure how people perceive you. But I was impressed in the effort they’d gone to. I loved those guys. Next time… the Bulldog gets his title shot…

New York City… Barrowman vs. Gilmore IV… NYCW Summer in the City 2022 Sunday, Week 4, June 2022 McGraw Arena, New York City, New York Attendance: 5,000 (SOLD OUT!?!) SINGLES MATCH: Davis Wayne Newton vs. Greg Black In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Greg Black defeated Davis Wayne Newton in 20:13 by pinfall with a Fade To Black. Rating: 46 So not only was this a heel vs. heel gamble of an opener. They also don’t click as opponents. The match was hugely underwhelming to say the least. But at least the right person won. DWN has a bright future in NYCW. Greg Black was someone I was struggling to find a use for long-term. SINGLES MATCH: Freedom Eagle vs. Howlin Mad Mort In a decent match, Freedom Eagle defeated Howlin' Mad Mort in 7:43 by count out. Rating: 51 Unbelievably this was better than the opener and it ended in a count-out, which no-one likes. Mort was looking more svelte than ever before and that was making his in-ring work better. But Freedom had done a better job of marking himself out as a singles competitor. Watching these two fight and my mind drifted back a couple of years when they were both in successful teams trading the tag team titles between them. Good times. SINGLES MATCH: Charlie Corner vs. The Masked Mauler In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, The Masked Mauler defeated Charlie Corner in 9:59 by pinfall with a Piledriver. Rating: 47 A clean win for the old school heel here. A bit of a shock, but Mauler has been carving out a nice niche for himself as a bad ass midcard talent. It’s a rare gift to be able to maintain heat and momentum while losing here and there, which is why wins like this are important. NYCW TRI-STATE TITLE MATCH: Denny King vs. Danny Hagman © In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Danny Hagman defeated Denny King in 9:40 by pinfall with a Missing Piece. Danny Hagman makes defence number six of the NYCW Tri-State Regional. Rating: 58 Clean win for the champion in a superb match. Denny’s losing streak continues as he heads towards his 40th birthday. Danny meanwhile has transcended his underdog face role to become a legitimate in-ring threat and a fired-up young babyface. He’s still a little green, but we were giving him bags of experience in hopes to elevate him further one day. ANGLE: Honest Enterprises hit the ring. Honest Frank grabs a mic and explains that tonight, the Enterprise would cleanse NYCW of some of their long-time stars. Good guy and bad guy are such old terms; when really we should ask whether these people have lived an honest life. He suspects they haven’t. And they’re about to be punished for it. Rating: 43 Decent promo, if a little meh. Still the premise of the stable was still good. GANG WARS MATCH: Brutus Milano, Sal DiMeo & Spike Sylvain vs. Honest Enterprises In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Honest Enterprises (Andrew Harper, Honest Frank Jr. and Magnum Kobe) defeated Brutus Milano, Sal DiMeo and Spike Sylvain in 10:15 when Magnum Kobe submitted Spike Sylvain with a Magnum Deathlock. Rating: 48 Clean win for the new blood (and Harper) against the classic NYCW stars. Brutus, Sweet Sal and Spike are stalwarts of our roster and I have developed a soft spot for them. But the times they are a changing and they were really surplus to requirements at this stage. But I’d be damned if I was going to fire them. SINGLES MATCH: Bart Biggins vs. Richie Riggins In a bout that had great heat and decent wrestling, Bart Biggins defeated Richie Riggins in 10:05 by pinfall with a B-Dropper. Rating: 54 The Epic Biggins/Riggins feud continues. It’s very much a slow-burn compared to the others as neither guy really has any character time. So we rely on the in-ring action, which is decent at the moment. Biggins gets the win here, marking one of only a small number of clean losses for Riggins. NYCW EMPIRE TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The LA Stars vs. Cross River Connection © In a superb match, The LA Stars defeated Cross River Connection in 22:04 when LA Star #2 pinned Prime Time Jack Pryde with a Star Destroyer. The LA Stars win the NYCW Empire Tag Team. Rating: 63 Tough not to springboard the LA Stars to the tag team titles after their performance at the memorial show. This was a great match between our two best teams and just further solidified our top-notch tag team division for the world to see. For once, I had no complaints. SINGLES MATCH: American Machine vs. ‘The Georgia Bulldog’ Riley McManus In a bout that had fantastic heat and great wrestling, Riley McManus defeated American Machine in 9:42 by pinfall with a Slingshot Suplex. Rating: 61 And of course, with no title on the line, Riley gets the clean win over the increasingly old and immobile American Machine. Machine’s time at the top of the card was effectively over, which was a shame because he’d helped us achieve so much. But I was not someone overwhelmed with sentiment and now that the time had come, we’d start to phase him out of major matches and start using him and his gimmick as a special attraction. Riely continues his ascent. ANGLE: Angry Gilmore cuts a promo hyping up his upcoming match with Thom Barrowman. This is the final match-up. Everything is on the line and frankly, he’s sick of seeing Barrowman’s ugly face everywhere he goes. It’s time for Thommy to put on his big boy pants and take his medicine like the child he is. Rating: 80 Fiery words. Hopefully it’s backed up in the main event. NYCW EMPIRE HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Thom Barrowman vs. Angry Gilmore © In an exceptional match, Angry Gilmore defeated Thom Barrowman in 22:42 by pinfall with an Anger Management. Angry Gilmore makes defence number four of the NYCW Empire Heavyweight. Rating: 37 Well. This was their fourth match-up and was definitely the worst. In fact this might be the worst main event in our company history. This hurt both men, and their feud, and the title and our popularity. OVERALL RATING: 41 We got a crushingly disappointing 80,515 viewers, we lost popularity in five regions and the Empire title lost 1 prestige. Grim. On the plus side, we made $67,491 profit so I immediately upgraded our music to Licensed and hoped to distract the long-time audience with shiny new things so they’d forget this abomination of a show. Results: Theheel - 6/9 KyTeran - 5/9 1PWfan - 3/9 Next time… a new star and a new fitness regime for all…

Nope, not randomly generated. But when he debuts he wears a mask and uses the finisher Missing Piece. If you want to go hunting for his alter-ego. *Edit* He’s known as War Piece.

New York City… divorce and a surprise title change… The Stomper Memorial Show had been a success (93,124 viewers - $12,812 profit), but the sombre mood continued in the weeks ahead. The boys were getting snippy with one another too. Thom Barrowman for instance; had issues with Zippy and his selling. Apparently the former One Man Army didn’t think the young kid should be pushed until he could learn to sell. Seemed harsh, but he wasn’t exactly wrong either. In fact the lack of truly talented workers on our roster was startling once I drilled down into it. Very few were out-and-out great in any of the classic modes of wrestling; Brawling, Hardcore, High Flying, Flashiness, Technical or Puro. The tiny number who were, weren’t interacting enough with those who weren’t. That deserved some consideration in the future. The latest Pro Wrestling Reporter had a ‘Stomper; The Life and Times’ article, which had some nice detail and classic photos. There was also information about Ricky Turner surprisingly retiring at only 36-years-old and Big Smack Scott signing with USPW. From our side of things, the only thing of note was ‘The Georgia Bulldog’ Riley McManus asking for a pay rise from $120 to $760. This was definitely a sign of things to come. We paid it of course, as I believed in sharing the love when we were financially viable. NYCW Welcome to New York 5 Sunday, Week 1, June 2022 McGraw Arena, New York City, New York Attendance: 4,628 SINGLES MATCH: Charlie Corner vs. Greg Black In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Charlie Corner defeated Greg Black in 21:59 by disqualification. Rating: 52 Another little nod to the audience that Corner was a future star in the making. It may only have been by DQ, but it still showed that he was on the level of our upper-midcarder. Greg Black was actually a tough prospect because of his age and a lack of focus on booking on my part. ANGLE: Honest Frank leads out his stable to the ring. Honest Enterprises is not just a stable of like-minded individually. They’re the only truth of NYCW. Where others will lie to sell themselves to make money, the Enterprise will always tell the truth. They’ll beat the over-promoted and succeed in spite of a corrupt system. These men are the greatest collection of stars in New York City. Andrew Harper is the muscle, while The Masked Mauler is the mystery workhorse. Magnum Kobe is the international megastar and of course Frank Jr. is the future. Speaking on him, he’s honoured to announce that his son will be adopting his name, in honour of the Enterprise. From now on; he’s Honest frank Jr. and tonight, Milano and Eagle are going to learn the truth of their situations. Rating: 55 Official name change to mix things up and show progress where progress may not actually be. Decent promo with each member getting better at their gimmick. TAG TEAM MATCH: Brutus Milano & Freedom Eagle vs. Honest Enterprises (Andrew Harper & Honest Frank Jr.) In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Brutus Milano and Freedom Eagle defeated Andrew Harper and Honest Frank Jr. in 10:21 when Andrew Harper was disqualified while fighting Freedom Eagle. Rating: 54 The viciousness of Honest Enterprises is laid bear. They dominated the opposition to the point where the referee had no choice but to disqualify them. It didn’t stop the assault though. Also nice to find Frank Jr. has chemistry with Harper as well as Kobe. NYCW TRI-STATE TITLE MATCH: The Masked Mauler vs. Danny Hagman © In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Danny Hagman defeated The Masked Mauler in 9:53 by disqualification. Danny Hagman makes defence number four of the NYCW Tri-State Regional. Rating: 49 Mauler, like his stable-mates, goes too far to send a message to the champion by refusing to let go of the IRON CLAW!?! And forcing the referee to disqualify him. TAG TEAM MATCH: American Machine & Bart Biggins vs. Riley McManus & Richie Riggins In a bout that had great heat and good wrestling, American Machine and Bart Biggins drew with Riley McManus and Richie Riggins in 22:23 following a double disqualification. Rating: 57 It’s spreading. Everyone is getting disqualified at the moment, with the stress of the last few weeks bubbly up in my own booking apparently. Everyone is just going out there and battering each other to the delight of the audience. At this rate we’d accidentally find ourselves transitioning into a more TCW-infused product than the old school one we were used to. GANG BATTLE MATCH: Cross River Connection & The LA Stars vs. David Wayne Newton, Howlin Mad Mort & The Fantastic Express In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Cross River Connection and The LA Stars defeated Davis Wayne Newton, Howlin' Mad Mort and The Fantastic Express in 25:28 when Perfect Pepper Pelton pinned Howlin' Mad Mort with a Fisherman's Suplex. Rating: 60 The powerful double-team line-up were too much for the opposition here as Mort is free to take the pin as protection of DWN and the Fantastics. The match was amazing as our tag teams continue to shine brightly across all of independent wrestling. SINGLES MATCH: Magnum Kobe vs. Thom Barrowman In a bout that had great heat and good wrestling, Thom Barrowman defeated Magnum Kobe in 21:57 by pinfall with a Guided Missile. Rating: 55 And we follow that amazing match with this crushingly disappointing one. It’s not that this match was bad, it was that we had two of our top in-ring workers and they couldn’t put on a clinic. Perhaps because they were both ostensibly heels is the reason for the disappointment. But still, I was expecting better. ANGLE: Following the match, Thom Barrowman grabs a mic and starts ranting about being held down. He’s the true star and he’s being constantly overlooked. This brings out American Machine to remind Barrowman that he’s the former champion and a GODDAM AMERICAN HERO. The Georgia Bulldog, never one to be outshone attacks Machine from behind and with Barrowman’s help the two lay a beating on the former champ until Angry Gilmore storms the ring and chases them off. Gilmore grabs a mic and demands a match… right now against any of the pencil-necked geeks backstage. And he hopes McManus and Barrowman are watching closely. Rating: 57 Not an amazing segment, but our slow transition into more angles was coming along nicely. It gave us extra ability to develop characters without just matches. NYCW EMPIRE HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Denny King vs. Angry Gilmore © In a bout that had fantastic heat and great wrestling, Angry Gilmore defeated Denny King in 22:05 by pinfall with an Anger Management. Angry Gilmore makes defence number three of the NYCW Empire Heavyweight. Rating: 63 Another solid match from Denny and the Champion here to see out the show and send the crowd home happy. OVERALL RATING: 62 88,471 viewers for that show and an immediate request of a pay rise from Prime Time from $190 to $960. I knew once word spread about pay rises, this would happen. We obviously signed Prime Time up and I wondered whether it was worth bringing up exclusive contracts with Larry yet? The locker-room of the McGraw Arena was busier than the weeks leading up. The Stomper’s funeral was drifting from people’s minds and the gossip mill was churning about the news that Sean McFly & Victoria Stone-McFly were getting divorced. Everyone had a hypothetical reason why they were and a number of guys were trying to reach Victoria to… catch-up. NYCW Old School Wrestling Sunday, Week 2, June 2022 McGraw Arena, New York City, New York Attendance: 4,877 SINGLES MATCH: Brutus Milano vs. Denny King In a bout that had great heat and decent wrestling, Brutus Milano defeated Denny King in 9:52 by submission with an Italian Backbreaker after blatantly cheating. Rating: 55 Brutus isn’t above cheating, and here he ends a terrible few weeks of losses for Denny. I didn’t even know why I kept giving Brutus wins. I had literally nothing else for him to do. Habit perhaps? Match was actually decent though, so fair play. SINGLES MATCH: Freedom Eagle vs. Andrew Harper In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Andrew Harper defeated Freedom Eagle in 9:41 by pinfall while using the ropes for leverage. Rating: 51 Honest Enterprises are now back to winning without completely destroying their opponents. They are also back to cheating, with feels antithetical to ‘Honest,’ but I guess that’s the point of a cult-like group. Do as they say, not as they do. ANGLE: Charlie Corner is backstage with Whistler. “Charlie Corner; rock God and future champion in the making,” Whistler says. “What could possibly be on your mind?” “Good question Whiss, the only thing on my mind my dude, is The Masked Mauler. That jabroni has been up in my business for too long. You know they want me to join Honest Enterprises?” “I didn’t,” Whistler replied. “Have you thought about it?” “What’s to think about? They’re a cult and Corner don’t play with no cults. They tend to get in the way of my rock star lifestyle; know what I mean?” “But aren’t you teaming with Mauler tonight?” “Certainly am my man. I figured it was best to difuse the situation. Give them a little of what they want so they might leave me alone. Get it?” “Not really.” “Oh, well, not much I can do about that my dude. Peace out.” Rating: 57 A little bit of intrigue for Corner at last as we looked to slowly introduce him more to the audience. He did ok. TAG TEAM MATCH: The LA Stars vs. Charlie Corner & The Masked Mauler In a bout that had great heat and good wrestling, The LA Stars defeated Charlie Corner and The Masked Mauler in 10:26 when LA Star #1 pinned The Masked Mauler with a Star Destroyer after Charlie Corner ‘accidentally’ struck The Masked Mauler. Rating: 55 Accidentally is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that description of the match. Corner’s smirk and wink to the audience spoke volumes. It seems the attempts by Honest Enterprises to sign him have fallen on deaf ears. NYCW TRI-STATE TITLE MATCH: Davis Wayne Newton vs. Danny Hagman © In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Danny Hagman defeated Davis Wayne Newton in 9:47 by submission with a Steel Curtain after blatantly cheating. Danny Hagman makes defence number five of the NYCW Tri-State Regional. Rating: 56 Solid match here as we continue to be amazed by the positive chemistry between these two. It’s so good that I can see their feud lasting over multiple months or even years. It helps that DWN is one of our best ring workers and Danny is getting better every week himself. NYCW TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Honest Enterprises vs. Cross River Connection © In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Cross River Connection defeated Honest Enterprises in 10:14 when Perfect Pepper Pelton pinned Honest Frank Jr. while using the ropes for leverage. Cross River Connection make defence number ten of the NYCW Empire Tag Team. Rating: 56 We’re not switching the titles with the epic CRC and LA Stars showdown upcoming. Honest Enterprises aren’t the sort of stable who needs to be dominant and they won’t be for the most part. They’re a natural antagonistic group who have replaced the departed DiMeo Family. And let’s be fair, they’ve improved upon them in every way. COTT WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Aldous Blackfriar vs. ‘The Georgia Bulldog’ Riley McManus © In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Aldous Blackfriar defeated Riley McManus in 22:57 by submission with a Gloomweaver Clutch after interference from American Machine. Aldous Blackfriar wins the COTT World Heavyweight. Rating: 52 Oh dear, oh dear. McManus was nothing more than a transitional champion for Aldous. And we’ve tired it in with his main event programme with American Machine too. Was interfering an act of honour and heroism? No. Was it funny? Yes. ANGLE: Angry Gilmore is backstage with Whistler. He’s angry. More angry than normal because of Thom Barrowman and his recent behaviour. He’s just seen The Georgia Pup get his just desserts and now he’s calling on American Machine and Bart Biggins to join him to teach Barrowman and his goons a lesson. Then at Summer in the City, he’ll be putting the final nail in the coffin of Barrowman. Their feud has gone on long enough. It ends at the big show. Rating: 82 He’s just more of a champion than anyone else we’ve got. Top marks. GANG WARS MATCH: Angry Gilmore, American Machine & Bart Biggins vs. Thom Barrowman, Greg Black & Richie Riggins In a bout that had fantastic heat and good wrestling, Angry Gilmore, American Machine and Bart Biggins drew with Thom Barrowman, Greg Black and Richie Riggins in 24:11 when the referee lost control and stopped the match. Rating: 63 Some say draws are a bad bookers way of avoiding anyone looking weak. We absolutely love them and will never change. Especially not on the penultimate show before a big event. OVERALL RATING: 63 91,808 viewers this time and the stage was set for the hottest ticket of the summer: NYCW Summer in the City 2022 NYCW Empire Title: Thom Barrowman vs. Angry Gilmore © American Machine vs. ‘The Georgia Bulldog’ Riley McManus NYCW Tag Team Titles: The LA Stars vs. Cross River Connection © Bart Biggins vs. Richie Riggins Brutus Milano, Sal DiMeo & Spike Sylvain vs. Honest Enterprises (Harper, Kobe & Frank Jr.) NYCW Tri-State Title: Denny King vs. Danny Hagman © Charlie Corner vs. The Masked Mauler Freedom Eagle vs. Howlin Mad Mort Davis Wayne Newton vs. Greg Black We clearly have waaaay too many heels don’t we? Next time… NYCW Summer in the City 2022…

New York City… where we honour the greats, with violence and combat… NYCW The Stomper Memorial Show Sunday, Week 4, May 2022 McGraw Arena, New York City, New York Attendance: 4,621 STOMPER CUP QUARTER FINAL MATCH: Freedom Eagle & Brutus Milano vs. The Pain Alliance In a bout that had great heat and good wrestling, Freedom Eagle and Brutus Milano defeated The Pain Alliance in 8:28 when Freedom Eagle pinned Kurt Laramee with a Freedom Slam. Rating: 58 That’s how you kick off a tournament of tag teams in honour of our founder. The Pain Alliance had agreed to run a couple of shows, and had also agreed to lay down for two NYCW originals. And who is more original than Freedom Eagle and Brutus Milano. Stomper would’ve enjoyed this one. And the crowd were red hot for it too. STOMPER CUP QUARTER FINAL MATCH: American Machine & Bart Biggins vs. The Fantastic Express In a bout that had great heat and decent wrestling, American Machine and Bart Biggins defeated The Fantastic Express in 7:33 when Bart Biggins pinned Zippy Deverell with a B-Dropper. Rating: 53 Sometimes you just want some good guys to prevail. The Fatastics were the team of the future, but on this night they laid down for two of the most over babyfaces we had. Stomper had made a name for himself as an individual who teamed with others. And that’s what we had here. STOMPER CUP QUARTER FINAL MATCH: The LA Stars vs. Honest Enterprises In a good match, The LA Stars defeated Honest Enterprises in 8:14 when LA Star #1 pinned Magnum Kobe with a Star Destroyer. Rating: 48 Another match and another clean win for the babyfaces. The LA Stars were THE team of NYCW and the semi-finals wouldn’t be the same without them in it. Honest Enterprises were new on the scene and could easily absorb the loss without missing a beat. STOMPER CUP QUARTER FINAL MATCH: Danny Hagman & The Masked Mauler vs. Thom Barrowman & Greg Black In a bout that had great heat and decent wrestling, Thom Barrowman and Greg Black defeated Danny Hagman and The Masked Mauler in 9:54 when Greg Black pinned Danny Hagman with a Fade To Black. Rating: 48 And here we have the sole heel team making their way through. Barrowman is primed for a main event run and Greg Black is still one of the hotter heels acts we have. So through they go. GANG WARS MATCH: Charlie Corner & Cross River Connection vs. Riley McManus, Davis Wayne Newton & Denny King In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Riley McManus, Davis Wayne Newton and Denny King defeated Charlie Corner and Cross River Connection in 9:52 when Davis Wayne Newton submitted Charlie Corner with a STF after blatantly cheating. Rating: 62 For those not involved in the tournament, he had them in this awesome gang wars match. It might seem weird not to include the Cross River Connection. But we didn’t necessarily want our tag team champions to win it, but also we didn’t want them to lose their titles. So we put them here instead. It may have been a mistake, but it’s one I’d wear myself. STOMPER CUP SEMI FINAL MATCH: Freedom Eagle & Brutus Milano vs. Thom Barrowman & Greg Black In a bout that had great heat and good wrestling, Thom Barrowman and Greg Black defeated Freedom Eagle and Brutus Milano in 8:29 when Greg Black pinned Brutus Milano with a Fade To Black. Rating: 56 Brutus and Freedom had got their big win for the night. But we wanted an antagonistic team in the final and Barrowman and Black were that team. Good match, even with Brutus involved. STOMPER CUP SEMI FINAL MATCH: The LA Stars vs. American Machine & Bart Biggins In a superb match, The LA Stars defeated American Machine and Bart Biggins in 10:11 when LA Star #2 pinned American Machine with a Star Destroyer following interference from Thom Barrowman. Rating: 62 Massive win for The LA Stars over two main event workers. The fact it was because of Barrowman not being able to control himself did hamper the victory a bit. But in time, that would be forgotten. NYCW EMPIRE HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Richie Riggins vs. Angry Gilmore © In a bout that had fantastic heat and decent wrestling, Angry Gilmore defeated Richie Riggins in 22:02 by pinfall with an Anger Management. Angry Gilmore makes defence number two of the NYCW Empire Heavyweight. Rating: 53 Oh my. This was bad. These two just don’t click and that’s hugely disappointing for Riggins, whose been on fire recently and was hoping for a main event programme. That was out the window while Gilmore was champion of course. Better we know now I guess. ANGLE: Prime Time and Perfect Pepper come out to the ring. They want to pass their regards on to The Stomper’s family. And while they can’t compete in tonight’s tournament, they’ll happily put their titles on the line at Summer in the City to the winners. Rating: 68 Sober and professional from these two clowns. It was a nice touch. STOMPER CUP TITLE MATCH: Thom Barrowman & Greg Black vs. The LA Stars In a superb match, The LA Stars defeated Thom Barrowman and Greg Black in 21:46 when LA Star #2 pinned Greg Black with a Flying Flip Neckbreaker. The LA Stars win the NYCW Stomper Memorial Tag Team Cup. Rating: 66 A clean win and a great match. The LA Stars move themselves into the main event scene with this win and after the match, they cross on their chests and point to the sky. OVERALL RATING: 65 RIP Stomper. Next time…the final build to Summer in the City 2022…

Weston Cemetery, New York City… I stood, drenched in rain in a long overcoat. A gift from Larry for the recent successes. I was starkly reminded of my first visit to New York all those years ago. The more things changed, the more they stayed the same. But really, nothing was the same now. Around me stood familiar faces. Whistler, Honest Frank, Bryan and Larry were directly beside me. Behind were greats of the past; Black Hat Bailey, Land Mass, American Buffalo, Joey Morgan, Nevada Nuclear and Coyote Dynamite. Elsewhere were the likes of Sam Keith, Roger Cage, Bulldozer Brandon Smith, Rick Sanders, The original Masked Mauler, Marv Statler and Dean Waldorf. Even Rip Chord was there, looking tired and dishevelled. It was like looking into the past. Only we weren’t looking into the past. We were gazing, starkly into the future; a future without our legendary owner. I’d got to know Stomper years ago, or was it months. Time worked differently in my life. He was the man who’d taken a shot on an unknown kid. He’d opened the door when others wouldn’t and allowed me to prove myself time and time again. He even put in a word with Larry when he'd taken over NYCW. Stomper was the last of a dying breed of old school worker. I smiled inappropriately at the thought of how angry he’d be with all the faces and heels commiserating his death together. Larry and I had spoken before the funeral about how to honour the man properly and the best we could think of was a tag team tournament for a memorial cup. Stomper made his name in tag teams and he’s the reason our tag team division was always so strong. Word of the tournament spread around the event and it wasn’t long before the likes of The Boys from the Yukon, The Ring Generals and The Keith Brothers were offering their services for the one night event. But I knew they’d never be allowed out of their contracts. There was one well-known team who’d recently been let go, but broadly I knew Stomper would’ve wanted it to be a NYCW-heavy show. Quite right too. Next time… The Stomper Memorial Show…

New York City… Where you can live forever… We had our third April show to go, but without a big show to focus on until June, we were just cruising through storylines as part of a slow build to the event. NYCW Fights on Broadway Sunday, Week 3, April 2022 Albany Playhouse, New York City, New York Attendance: 3,637 NYCW TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Honest Enterprises (Frank Harriet Jr. & The Masked Mauler) vs. Cross River Connection © In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Cross River Connection defeated Frank Harriet Jr. and The Masked Mauler in 9:32 when Prime Time Jack Pryde pinned The Masked Mauler with a Prime Time Perfection following interference from Charlie Corner. Cross River Connection make defence number nine of the NYCW Empire Tag Team. Rating: 46 The Masked Mauler should never have made an enemy of Charlie Corner it seems. Great kick-off to the show as Cross River Connection revel in their new-found success as champions. Frank Jr. has some upside, but for now he’s still lagging behind the others in this match. Mauler’s performance was superb and I can totally see why Honest Frank likes him so much. SINGLES MATCH: Joffy Laine vs. Magnum Kobe In a decent match, Magnum Kobe defeated Joffy Laine in 10:30 by submission with a Magnum Deathlock. Rating: 40 We begin the ‘job them out’ festival with a bad match. It should’ve been much better, but for some reason these two just don’t click in the ring. Still, a nice win for Kobe whose popularity is rising to almost match his in-ring skills. SINGLES MATCH: Kip Keenan vs. Denny King In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Denny King defeated Kip Keenan in 9:36 by pinfall with a Superplex. Rating: 49 Step two here as Keenan does the job to perennial douchebag Denny King. We may not always have something for him to do, but by jingo we still liked him. SINGLES MATCH: Freedom Eagle vs. David Wayne Newton In a decent match, Freedom Eagle defeated Davis Wayne Newton in 9:45 by pinfall with a Freedom Slam. Rating: 55 Nice win for Freedom Eagle here as DWN shows that he can hang with anyone in the ring and despite losing clean, still gained popularity. That is the sign of a fantastic in-ring talent. SINGLES MATCH: Charlie Corner vs. Spike Sylvain In a decent match, Charlie Corner defeated Spike Sylvain in 9:38 by pinfall with a Corner Cutter. Rating: 51 Having cost Mauler the tag team titles, Corner goes on to beat a former tag team champion in another good match in a series of them. In fact, this year is really showing me just how good our roster depth is getting. I was worried when we lost a number of in-ring talents, but the new guys have stepped up and our company-wide popularity, momentum and confidence was at an all-time high. ANGLE: Brutus Milano is interviewed backstage by whistler. Tonight he’s facing an old foe… Andrew Harper. They’ve met so many times that really theirs is the story of NYCW for the last few years. Harper is one of his greatest opponents. But he’ll do what Italian-Americans do every day and fight and struggle and eventually get the win. Rating: 49 He is not as good as a lot of our guys on the mic. He’s also an idiot. SINGLES MATCH: Brutus Milano vs. Andrew Harper In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Brutus Milano defeated Andrew Harper in 10:08 by count out. Rating: 49 Actually a decent midcard match in fairness. Brutus, despite all of his obvious flaws, is actually still popular enough to put on matches of a similar quality as when he was Empire champion. He’s much better suited to the midcard though, so that’s where I’d keep him. GANG WARS MATCH: Bart Biggins & The LA Stars vs. Richie Riggins & The Fantastic Express In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Richie Riggins and The Fantastic Express defeated Bart Biggins and The LA Stars in 21:01 when Rafe Sashay pinned Bart Biggins with a Forward Russian Legsweep. Rating: 57 Massive win for the young douchebags here. Teaming with The Body works wonders for anyone it seems as The Fantastics up their game and pin one of our top-level stars. Doubly impressive as Bart is notoriously a top-tier tag team wrestler. Great, great match to boot. ANGLE: Angry Gilmore is with Whistler and he looks… happy. Whistler, our roving reporter, asks what is going on? “Tonight Whistler old buddy, old pal, I’m not Angry Gilmore. I’m Perfectly Happy Gilmore. Because tonight, I get my hands on Thom Barrowman. The One Man Girl Scout Troupe. He’s a miserable, coward of a performer. Rating: 84 NO.1 CONTENDERS MATCH: Angry Gilmore vs. Thom Barrowman In an exceptional match, Angry Gilmore defeated Thom Barrowman in 21:31 by pinfall with an Anger Management. Rating: 72 And that right there is a NYCW Match of the Year contender. Woah nelly. Even with American Machine on commentary throughout shouting about being a GODDAM AMERICAN HERO, these guys went all-out for a staggeringly good match, the likes of which our audience normally see. Fantastic. OVERALL RATING: 70 A whopping 101,670 viewers tuned in for that show, built almost entirely around the main event. Understandably a number of workers wanted pay rises: Pepper Pelton to $830 Sal DiMeo to $300 Denny King to $390 We saw out the month making a chunky $50,345 profit and even the news that Animal Harker had broken his ankle in Japan and was out a few months couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. Elsewhere in the world Frederique retired for good, Rick Law joined EILL in a genuine surprise and before Welcome to New York 4, we upped our broadcast quality to Industry Standard. Even the notoriously stingy Larry agreed to it. NYCW Welcome to New York 4 Sunday, Week 1, May 2022 Queens Boulevard Theater, New York City, New York Attendance: 3,822 SINGLES MATCH: Charlie Corner vs. Davis Wayne Newton In a decent match, Charlie Corner defeated Davis Wayne Newton in 10:09 by pinfall with a handful of tights. Rating: 51 Young Charlie goes toe-to-toe with DWN and uses some good old-fashioned cheating to get the job done. Fantastic opener as Newton looks to be a potential star in the making. SINGLES MATCH: Sal DiMeo vs. The Masked Mauler In a decent match, The Masked Mauler defeated Sal DiMeo in 9:36 by pinfall with a Piledriver. Rating: 44 The Masked Mauler, buoyed by the constant approval of Honest Frank backstage (despite his son being right there!!) gets a nice win over Sweet Sal. I felt a bit bad for Sal, as he was primed to move up the card a number of times, but I just didn’t pull the trigger and he slipped into midcard purgatory. It didn’t help that a number of our signings had done so well. ANGLE: Cross River Connection are backstage with The LA Stars. “So what exactly is an LA Star?” Pepper asks. “We’re Stars… from LA,” replied LA Star #1. “Doesn’t it feel weird to call yourself by the same name but with a different number?” Prime Time asks. “No,” replied LA Star #2. “I think I’d be Cross River #1,” says Pepper. “I think you’ll find you’re #2… Number 2… heh!” says Prime Time. “Maybe I could be LA Star #0?” Pepper muses. “That’s a good point Pep.” The LA Stars watch the conversation with complete confusion. Rating: 68 I just like to let them do whatever they want. It rarely has anything to do with any match or feud, and ends up like a weird, metaphysical journey into the bizarre. GANG BATTLE MATCH: Cross River Connection & The LA Stars vs. The Fantastic Express & Honest Enterprises In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Cross River Connection and The LA Stars drew with Frank Harriet Jr., Magnum Kobe and The Fantastic Express in 10:05 following a double count out. Rating: 56 Eight men. Four tag team. Two sides. One Classic NYCW draw. Match was a touch disappointing, but I did love all four teams in their own ways. SINGLES MATCH: Joffy Laine vs. Howlin Mad Mort In a decent match, Howlin' Mad Mort defeated Joffy Laine in 10:14 by pinfall with a Tree-Feller. Rating: 44 A nice win for the solo Howlin Mad over the departing Joffy. Mort’s character was almost entirely redundant at this point, but I really couldn’t just bury him or release him. What if Whitehorse returned? I mean, he almost certainly wouldn’t. But he might. Maybe. One day… SINGLES MATCH: Kip Keenan vs. Freedom Eagle In a good match, Freedom Eagle defeated Kip Keenan in 9:53 by pinfall with a Freedom Slam. Rating: 48 Nobody stops Freedom Eagle. Except his partner leaving. Or my booking. Or his natural ceiling. Still, Kip was leaving and Freedom sent him on the way in style. GANG WARS MATCH: Brutus Milano, Danny Hagman & Bart Biggins vs. Andrew Harper, Denny King & Richie Riggins In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Brutus Milano, Danny Hagman and Bart Biggins defeated Andrew Harper, Denny King and Richie Riggins in 21:31 when Brutus Milano submitted Denny King with an Italian Backbreaker after blatantly cheating. Rating: 56 Brutus and Andrew Harper. The most inevitable showdown in NYCW history. These two, no matter where on the card they were, or what stories were running, would always, always find one another. It was actually quite cute in a way. Brutus gets his bi-monthly win. COTT WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: ‘The Georgia Bulldog’ Riley McManus vs. Jonnie Perez © In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Riley McManus defeated Jonnie Perez in 22:09 by pinfall with a Slingshot Suplex. Riley McManus wins the COTT World Heavyweight. Rating: 53 No alliance I’m in is going to have Jonnie Perez as World Heavyweight Champion. He’s not even the champion of his own family for the love of God. Match was underwhelming, entirely because of Jonnie. Hopefully this would send a message to the various members of the spawling COTT that having bad wrestlers holding titles was bad for business. SINGLES MATCH: Greg Black vs. Thom Barrowman In a bout that had fantastic heat and great wrestling, Thom Barrowman defeated Greg Black in 21:45 by count out. Rating: 57 Tough match to know what to do with, so we gave Barrowman the win, but in a cheap way. It was actually a disappointment, in part because Thom’s stamina appears to have decreased. Old Father Time remains undefeated it seems. ANGLE: Angry Gilmore is backstage with Whistler. “Are you ready for tonight’s title shot against the self-proclaimed American Hero?” “Let’s give my opponent his dues Whistler. He’s a self-proclaimed GODDAM AMERICAN HERO,” Gilmore responds. “And I respect him, and all he stands for and all he has achieved.” “Well that’s refreshing to hear…” “But,” Gilmore interrupts. “With that being said. When I step into that ring, I don’t see respect. Or patriotism. Or a catchphrase. I see an opponent. And seeing an opponent makes me soooo angry, I just gotta beat em. And that, is exactly what I plan to do.” Rating: 83 He is superb on the microphone. NYCW EMPIRE TITLE MATCH: Angry Gilmore vs. American Machine © In an exceptional match, Angry Gilmore defeated American Machine in 9:43 by pinfall with an Anger Management. Angry Gilmore wins the NYCW Empire Heavyweight. Rating: 64 A slightly disappointing match all things considered. But it was time to move the belt on to our top star. Machine, for all he’s done was still great, but his body was starting to betray him a little and in a bid to avoid having another champ who can’t go for longer than ten minutes in a match, we moved the belt away. OVERALL RATING: 64 A disappointing 85,850 viewers for that one, which is understandable as it didn’t have the hype surrounding it like the last one. The following week passed with little news. But when the night of Old School Wrestling came, Larry was nowhere to be seen. We made sure that the road agent duties were covered in his absence and got on with the show. NYCW Old School Wrestling Sunday, Week 2, May 2022 The PSW Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Attendance: 4,000 (SOLD OUT!?!) NYCW TRI-STATE TITLE MATCH: The Masked Mauler vs. Honest Frank Jr. vs. Danny Hagman © In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Danny Hagman defeated The Masked Mauler and Honest Frank Jr. in 9:41 when Danny Hagman submitted Honest Frank Jr. with a Steel Curtain. Danny Hagman makes defence number three of the NYCW Tri-State Regional. Rating: 37 Oof. This was not a good choice of opener. I was sure that the combination of high-upside guys would get the crowd invested (like I was). As it turns out, this is just a nice reminder that what I want is not always what the audience wants. TRIPLE THREAT MATCH: Brutus Milano vs. Andrew Harper vs. Sal DiMeo In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Brutus Milano drew with Andrew Harper and Sal DiMeo in 10:00 when the referee was forced to rule a no contest when all hell broke loose. Rating: 52 Another triple threat match. I got the impression the crowd weren’t used to them (too new-fangled I expected). Luckily all the participants here are well-known to the audience and the fact it all descended into an old-fashioned donnybrook brawl no doubt helped. GANG WARS MATCH: Charlie Corner & Cross River Connection vs. David Wayne Newton & The Fantastic Express In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Charlie Corner and Cross River Connection drew with Davis Wayne Newton and The Fantastic Express in 9:35 following a double count out. Rating: 53 Six of the most exciting prospects on our roster combining for a good match. After two triple threats, we also have two draws. Not exactly inspired booking from me. But could you blame me? Larry was missing and I felt very uneasy about it all. SINGLES MATCH: Joffy Laine vs. Freedom Eagle In a decent match, Freedom Eagle defeated Joffy Laine in 10:09 by pinfall with a Freedom Slam. Rating: 44 Noting stops me jobbing out departing stars. Joffy was a high character guy with great entertainment skills to match his great in-ring skills. It was a big loss to us that he was leaving. SINGLES MATCH: Kip Keenan vs. Magnum Kobe In a good match, Magnum Kobe defeated Kip Keenan in 9:37 by submission with a Magnum Deathlock. Rating: 53 Magnum gets the final run from the departing Kip. Looking back at Magnum’s matches in Japan and I realised that he was probably the best pure worker we had. And he is insanely charismatic too. With massive star power. Basically he was the best worker the US didn’t know about. Because if they did, they’d have poached him by now. GANG BATTLE MATCH: Bart Biggins, American Machine & The LA Stars vs. Richie Riggins, Thom Barrowman, Greg Black & Riley McManus In a bout that had great heat and good wrestling, Bart Biggins, American Machine and The LA Stars drew with Richie Riggins, Thom Barrowman, Greg Black and Riley McManus in 22:05 following a double disqualification. Rating: 65 And there we go. Another draw. Jesus Christ. Even for me this show was a mess. The match itself was incredible as it happens. But having the third show in a month was forcing me to burn through ideas at such a rate of knots that I was struggling creatively. ANGLE: Angry Gilmore is backstage with Whistler. He delivers a standard Angry promo about his opponent tonight; Denny King. He understands that Denny has been here for years and he thinks he deserves a title shot. Well, Gilmore agrees that he needs something… a good old ass-kicking was a start. Rating: 80 I think we made the right choice getting the belt onto Angry Gilmore. For the quality of promos if nothing else. NYCW EMPIRE HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Denny King vs. Angry Gilmore © In a bout that had fantastic heat and great wrestling, Angry Gilmore defeated Denny King in 24:05 by pinfall with an Anger Management. Angry Gilmore makes defence number one of the NYCW Empire Heavyweight. Rating: 65 Clean win and surprisingly good match. Denny normally brings the goods in fairness to him. But Angry helped raise his opponents game further than ever before. Solid all-round wrestling entertainment. OVERALL RATING: 65 We got a slightly better 92,149 viewers for this show and gave Brutus Milano a pay rise to $220. In PSW Teddy Powell won the COTT United States Title, while in USPW Hollywood Bret Starr won the USPW World Title. I sat in the PSW Arena awaiting the last of the boys to leave (LA Star #1 liked to get a gym session in after an event like a madman). When the door to the locker room opened and Larry walked in; ashen-faced and exhausted. “Where have you been?” I asked. “Weston, New York. The Stomper passed away a few hours ago.” Next time… Funeral for a friend…

New York City… aftermath of an invasion… Heading into our April shows, confidence was high and our attendance was in a steady upwards stream. With main eventers; American Machine, Thom Barrowman, Riley McManus and Angry Gilmore, we were set for a series of great main event matches. The better they were, the faster our popularity would increase, the bigger crowds we’d get, the more money we’d earn and so on. Eventually we’d reach a tipping point and fun things would start to happen. But there’s lots of pitfalls to avoid before then. Wonderfully, we appeared to have reached a point where the big boys had enough in their rosters that they weren’t looking to gut ours. Long may that continue. We currently had too many on the roster though, so it was time for a night of ‘Fight to keep your job.’ The FREEDOM guys would be placed in matchups where if they won, they stayed. If they lost, they were gone. NYCW Welcome to New York 3 Sunday, Week 1, April 2022 Queens Boulevard Theater, New York City, New York Attendance: 3,135 SINGLES MATCH: Charlie Corner vs. Howlin Mad Mort In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, Charlie Corner defeated Howlin' Mad Mort in 7:57 by pinfall with a Corner Cutter. Rating: 38 A nice opening win for our King of Curtain-Jerking; Charlie Corner. Hopefully that name wouldn’t stick and we were on the lookout for a mini-feud for the young lad to sink his teeth into. SINGLES MATCH: The Masked Mauler vs. Sal DiMeo In a decent match, Sal DiMeo defeated The Masked Mauler in 8:27 by pinfall after using a foreign object. Rating: 43 Sweet Sal gets the win by cheating, establishing himself as the top dawg in the lower card. The Masked Mauler was gaining more and more rave reviews backstage from the veterans, so we were confident we could heat him up at any time. But for now, he loses to an old school NYCWer. GANG WARS MATCH: Brutus Milano, Animal Haker & Freedom Eagle vs. Andrew Harper, Denny King & Ray Snow In a decent match, Brutus Milano, Animal Harker and Freedom Eagle defeated Andrew Harper, Denny King and Ray Snow in 9:52 when Brutus Milano submitted Ray Snow with an Italian Backbreaker. Rating: 43 Somehow Denny King broke his own jaw in this one and it was entirely his own fault too. I couldn’t believe that a year ago half of these guys were in some of our biggest matches and now they were all a bit aimless in their own ways. Life comes at you fast I guess. SINGLES MATCH: Jumbo Jackson vs. Frank Harriet Jr. In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, Frank Harriet Jr. defeated Jumbo Jackson in 6:28 by pinfall with a Roll The Dice. Rating: 37 Bad match, but massive win for Honest Frank’s kid. He actually looked pretty decent, while Jumbo looked exhausted and slow. I think it’s time to cut the big fella loose as I couldn’t imagine anything of note to do with him. And he was too expensive to just keep around as a jobber. SINGLES MATCH: Kip Keenan vs. Spike Sylvain In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Kip Keenan defeated Spike Sylvain in 6:01 by pinfall with a Belly To Belly Suplex. Rating: 48 Kip gets another victory as he’s really hotting up. A fantastic all-round performer, the sky was the limit for him and we were excited for the variety he brought to the main event scene. SINGLES MATCH: Joffy Laine vs. Pablo Rodriguez In an extremely short match, Joffy Laine defeated Pablo Rodriguez in 5:15 by pinfall with a Death Spiral. Rating: 38 Having offered to put Joffy Laine over backstage, it has not gone unnoticed that Pablo put literally zero effort into the match. This was pretty bad, but at least the right worker got the win. I was not impressed with Pablo, who appeared to have completely lost his stamina. SINGLES MATCH: Zeus Maxmillion vs. David Wayne Newton In a decent match, Davis Wayne Newton defeated Zeus Maxmillion in 10:11 by submission with a STF. Rating: 37 Finishing off the theme of the evening, Davis Wayne Newton absolutely buries Zeus Maxmillion in an overly long squash. We were done with the high-profile, high-salary guys. So having them destroyed by the younger, cheaper and (in many ways) better performers brought a smile to Larry’s face. Bless him; tighter than a duck’s butt. TAG TEAM MATCH: The LA Stars vs. The Fantastic Express In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, The Fantastic Express defeated The LA Stars in 10:20 when Zippy Deverell pinned LA Star #2 with a Fantastic Flashbang. Rating: 51 Woof! Big, clean win for the former champs against the even better former champs. I’d got it in my head that the big boys were about to steal the LA Stars from us, and thought it best to deflate their popularity and momentum before that happened. Who says I’m paranoid. Big win for the young team though who look set to build on their already incredible start to their team careers. SINGLES MATCH: Bart Biggins vs. Magnum Kobe In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Bart Biggins defeated Magnum Kobe in 5:50 by pinfall with a B-Dropper. Rating: 31 This was a massive downer. Turns out they don’t click, and we finally learn that Magnum Kobe is not invincible in the ring. I mean, we still want to weave yarn for his belly-button fluff. But in wrestling terms, he was only a man. Poor, poor match though. NYCW EMPIRE TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Riley McManus & Thom Barrowman vs. Cross River Connection © In a bout that had great heat and good wrestling, Cross River Connection defeated Riley McManus and Thom Barrowman in 10:22 when Prime Time Jack Pryde pinned Riley McManus by using underhanded tactics. Cross River Connection make defence number seven of the NYCW Empire Tag Team. Rating: 54 Cross River Connection pull out all the stops to get a win against two main eventers. The fact that American Machine came and sat at the announcers desk and distracted them both cannot go unaddressed. Still, in terms of the size of the win, this for the champs is right up there. At this rate, our tag team titles would have more prestige than the Empire Heavyweight. NYCW TRI-STATE TITLE MATCH: Richie Riggins vs. Danny Hagman © In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Danny Hagman defeated Richie Riggins in 10:20 by disqualification after Richie refused to let go of a Camel Clutch. Danny Hagman makes defence number one of the NYCW Tri-State Regional. Rating: 45 Danny keeps the title, but Richie stakes his claim as main event ready by dominating his opponent and only losing because he’s so vicious. Good stuff all round. SINGLES MATCH: Frederique vs. Greg Black In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Greg Black defeated Frederique in 9:41 by pinfall with a Fade To Black. Rating: 45 Another inter-FREEDOM clash for the rights to stay a member of the NYCW roster. Frederique had indicated he was retiring soon, making this an easy match-up to decide. Greg Black had impressed enough as it was and here he put on another decent match. He wasn’t really a proper main event talent at this stage in his career. But as an upper-midcard guy, he fit perfectly. NYCW EMPIRE HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Angry Gilmore vs. American Machine © In a bout that had fantastic heat and great wrestling, American Machine defeated Angry Gilmore in 9:32 by pinfall with an Old Glory following interference from Riley McManus. American Machine makes defence number six of the NYCW Empire Heavyweight. Rating: 52 Oh my, oh my, oh my. The Georgia Bulldog is making a nuisance of himself as he’s clearly learned more than people knew from his feud with Denny. This was straight out of the King Playbook. Angry Gilmore was the better of the two contestants, but Machine walks out with the win and the title. ANGLE: The match is over and Angry Gilmore is furious at being cost the title. Riley McManus jumps him from behind, beating him down. American Machine tries to save his opponent, only to receive an equally vicious assault from The Georgia Bulldog. Rating: 63 OVERALL RATING: 51 A good ending to a decent show. We got 80,760 viewers and then turned our sights to the unenviable task of releasing a number of talent. The mood in the locker room was sombre out of respect of the following departures: Pablo Rodriguez Jumbo Jackson Zeus Maxmillion Frederique Ray Snow With a much more manageable roster in hand, the week sped by onto our next show. NYCW Old School Wrestling Sunday, Week 2, April 2022 Albany Playhouse, New York City, New York Attendance: 3,161 SINGLES MATCH: Charlie Corner vs. The Masked Mauler In a decent match, Charlie Corner defeated The Masked Mauler in 9:33 by pinfall with a Corner Cutter. Rating: 40 And behold, with clear eyes we began the mini-feud both men had been waiting for. The results were fantastic for two openers. The first match was a win for Corner, which gave Mauler a reason for revenge… ANGLE: Charlie Corner is celebrating the victory in the ring, and watching on is The Masked Mauler. After a moment of watching in anger, he strikes out and beats down his opponent with a chair. When the assault is finished, Mauler raises the chair and then jaws with the audience as he leaves. Rating: 40 Simple heel turn for Mauler to help him progress along the way. SINGLES MATCH: Freedom Eagle vs. Frank Harriet Jr. In a decent match, Freedom Eagle defeated Frank Harriet Jr. in 10:30 by pinfall with a Freedom Slam. Rating: 42 Frank Jr. maybe being primed for better things, but he’s not untouchable yet. Freedom Eagle gets the win in a decent match to teach the youngster a lesson. ANGLE: Greg Black runs into Kip Keenan backstage. The two square up to each other and Greg Black gets close to Keenan and just whispers in an angry tone… “Traitor.” Kip merely raises an eyebrow and walks past the seething former leader of the FREEDOM Fighters. Rating: 62 This seemed like a good opportunity to advance the individual characters we’d introduced in a rush. A feud between two of the best in ring workers would help fans acclimatise to them. SINGLES MATCH: Kip Keenan vs. Greg Black In a good match, Kip Keenan defeated Greg Black in 21:37 by pinfall after using a foreign object. Rating: 54 Keenan’s use of a Puerto Rican flag was a nice call-back to their origins, although actually seeing it unfold between two Americans was perhaps not the best visual image. I might have to drop the flag-shagging nonsense for a bit. NYCW TRI-STATE TITLE MATCH: Magnum Kobe vs. Danny Hagman © In a decent match, Danny Hagman defeated Magnum Kobe in 9:56 by pinfall with a Missing Piece following botched interference by Denny King. Danny Hagman makes defence number two of the NYCW Tri-State Regional. Rating: 49 Denny King, the master of manipulation, accidentally hits Magnum, costing him the match and allowing Danny to retain the title despite being dominated by the far superior in-ring worker. I wasn’t opposed to a Magnum title reign in the future, but he might already be too good for the title. Seriously impressive in the ring and with bags of natural charisma. Lack of English was a drawback. NYCW EMPIRE TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The LA Stars vs. Cross River Connection © In a good match, Cross River Connection defeated The LA Stars in 21:50 when LA Star #2 was counted out while fighting Perfect Pepper Pelton. Cross River Connection make defence number eight of the NYCW Empire Tag Team. Rating: 59 Arguably our two best teams clash in an great match where the challengers get the win, when Prime Time accidentally knocked himself out on the railings outside. Good stuff from our always-strong tag team division here. ANGLE: Angry Gilmore is backstage with Bart Biggins and American Machine. Whistler asks them what the plan for tonight is? “I’ll tell you what our plan is!” Angry Gilmore says angrily. “We’re going to stomp a mudhole in those a-holes” “That’s right Mr. Gilmore,” Biggins agrees. “I miss me some tag team action. And tonight, we three will be known as Team Win. Because all we do is win baby!” “We are Team AMERICAN GODDAM HERO! And we’re going to fight for truth, justice and the American Way,” adds Machine. Rating: 84 Quite why the crowd love the gibberish these guys spout, I don’t understand. But they do, and that made me happy. GANG WARS MATCH: American Machine, Angry Gilmore & Bart Biggins vs. Thom Barrowman, Riley McManus & Richie Riggins In a bout that had fantastic heat and great wrestling, American Machine, Angry Gilmore and Bart Biggins defeated Thom Barrowman, Riley McManus and Richie Riggins in 22:14 when Thom Barrowman was counted out while fighting Bart Biggins. Rating: 69 What a match. The good guys get the win, but only after the bad guys matched them with each move. Barrowman is responsible for the loss after he refused to stop hammering Bart Biggins outside the ring. I have to say; I love our current main event scene. It’s absolutely packed with talent and completely devoid of Brutus Milano. OVERALL RATING: 68 94,824 viewers for the show and the confidence continued, until two of our new stars approached us with the dreaded manilla envelope. TCW were up to their old tricks and had signed both Joffy Laine and Kip Keenan. Goddammit! Next time… a FREEDOM Farewell, a new number 1 contender and a death in the family…

New York City… where it was time to settle some scores… With plenty of major stories put on the back-burner by the somewhat disappointing invasion angle (I will never give invading companies enough of a rub it seems), we were now in a position to tie up the whole thing. We announced before the show that there would be three unification matches with the winner becoming the new holder of the following championships: NYCW Empire Heavyweight Title NYCW Tag Team Titles NYCW Tri-State Title Now I know what you’re thinking, and yes, the only change is to the name of the main title. And even that isn’t that important. But what can I say? Maybe if we were merging with a TCW or an SWF it would be different. But it’s not. NYCW Spring Showdown 2022 Sunday, Week 4, March 2022 Albany Playhouse, New York City, New York Attendance: 3,091 TAG TEAM MATCH: Animal Harker & Sal DiMeo vs. FREEDOM Fighters (Davis Wayne Newton & Joffy Laine) In a decent match, Davis Wayne Newton and Joffy Laine defeated Animal Harker and Sal DiMeo in 6:40 when Joffy Laine pinned Sal DiMeo with a Death Spiral. Rating: 38 The evening opens with a big tag team match. and to the surprise of most, the FREEDOM Fighters get a win. The series begins tough for NYCW. DWN and Joffy are high-upside guys with a future here with us. SINGLES MATCH: Charlie Corner vs. Ray Snow In an extremely short match, Charlie Corner defeated Ray Snow in 4:56 by pinfall with a Corner Cutter. Rating: 25 Should’ve been on the pre-show. Bad match which helped neither man and didn’t push the FREEDOM story. Bad booking from me. SINGLES MATCH: Freedom Eagle vs. Spike Sylvain In an extremely short match, Freedom Eagle defeated Spike Sylvain in 5:19 by pinfall with a Freedom Slam. Rating: 38 Luckily I didn’t learn from my mistake and had another disappointing match. Very disappointing considering the participants too. ANGLE: Cross River Connection cut a promo backstage: “It’s me, it’s me, it’s… It’s Pep…” “That is… not a great start to a promo Pep,” Prime Time adds. “My name doesn’t rhyme with anything cool though.” “That’s a good point Pep. But who cares about that now. Tonight’s the night we unify the prestigious NYCW Tag Team Titles (Pepper cheers in the background), with the almost-invisible, barely-acknowledged, worn-by nobodies Fighting Chicken Wrestling Tag Team Whatevers (Pepper gives the thumb down and shakes his head).” “Who we facing tonight Prime Time?” “Who cares!” “That’s a good point…” “Don’t steal my line… Pep.” Rating: 57 Like two kids hocked up on Mountain Dew. UNIFICATION TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Fantastic Express © vs. Cross River Connection © In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, Cross River Connection defeated The Fantastic Express in 9:38 when Perfect Pepper Pelton pinned Zippy Deverell with a Prime Time Perfection. Cross River Connection win the FCW Tag Team titles. Cross River Connection make defence number six of the NYCW Tag Team. Rating: 43 The series is tied at 1-1 as our fast-moving crazy young men tag team continue to go from strength-to-strength. The Fantastics lose here, but seeing as they won the titles almost upon debuting, I was sure this wouldn’t hold them back. Match was good as our tag team division looked set to step up despite losing some of the older faces. SINGLES MATCH: Kip Keenan vs. Denny King In a decent match, Kip Keenan defeated Denny King in 7:15 by pinfall with a Belly To Belly Suplex. Rating: 51 2-1 to FREEDOM as Kip Keenan, a natural babyface, gets cheered against the consummate heel… Mr. Denny King. Match was great and hopefully shows why we’re so high on Kip. GANG WARS MATCH: Jumbo Jackson, Howlin Mad Mort & The Masked Mauler vs. Honest Enterprises In a decent match, Honest Enterprises (Andrew Harper, Frank Harriet Jr. and Magnum Kobe) defeated Jumbo Jackson, Howlin' Mad Mort and The Masked Mauler in 9:51 when Magnum Kobe pinned The Masked Mauler with The Glorious Red. Rating: 45 Completely separate from the FREEDOM Fight is Honest Enterprises; who are carving a strong position in the card. Magnum Kobe, despite being known by almost no-one in the US, is absolutely incredible in the ring and can win over a crowd and manipulate it as he sees fit. Frank Jr. needs work, but has a natural charm to him already. NYCW TRI-STATE PEOPLE’S UNIFICATION TITLE MATCH: Danny Hagman © vs. Richie Riggins © In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Danny Hagman defeated Richie Riggins in 7:43 by submission with a Steel Curtain. Danny Hagman makes defence number three of the FCW People's Championship title. Danny Hagman wins the NYCW Tri-State Regional. Rating: 51 A great match between the young underdog star and The Body. Richie finally gets beaten, clean in the ring. By submission no less. Crowd absolutely loved it and we have a new name to ride going forward. Richie would bounce back from this easily and I think it might be time to push him into the main event proper. Technically 3-1 to FREEDOM though. SINGLES MATCH: Brutus Milano vs. Zeus Maxmillion In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Brutus Milano defeated Zeus Maxmillion in 8:27 by submission with an Italian Backbreaker. Rating: 43 Nobody puts Brutus in a corner, especially not some called Zeus. Milano shows he’s still got it by submitting the big league former star of FREEDOM. Match was predictably underwhelming, but the former champ brings the score to 3-2 to FREEDOM. TAG TEAM MATCH: The LA Stars vs. FREEDOM Fighters (Frederique & Pablo Rodriguez) In a bout that had great heat and good wrestling, The LA Stars defeated Frederique and Pablo Rodriguez in 10:05 when LA Star #1 pinned Pablo Rodriguez with a Star Destroyer. Rating: 54 What a fantastic match. The LA Stars are comfortable better and more over than either of our champs at the start of the night. LA Star #1 is actually pulling away from #2 in terms on in-ring and entertainment skills. At this stage he could probably move into the main event proper as a singles star. But we weren’t ready to split them up yet. 3-3. SINGLES MATCH: Bart Biggins vs. Riley McManus In a bout that had great heat and good wrestling, Riley McManus defeated Bart Biggins in 20:10 by pinfall with a Slingshot Suplex. Rating: 55 The Georgia Bulldog bares his teeth and finishes his opponent in another great match. Both of these guys can go in the ring, but Riley once again establishes his top title credentials. 4-3 to NYCW heading into the final, deciding match… NYCW EMPIRE PUERTO RICAN UNIFICATION TITLE MATCH: Greg Black © vs. American Machine © In a bout that had great heat and good wrestling, American Machine defeated Greg Black in 10:16 by pinfall with an Old Glory. American Machine wins the FCW Puerto Rican title. American Machine makes defence number five of the NYCW Empire. Rating: 54 The GODDAM AMERICAN HERO finishes the fight. Greg Black has been solid and we’d continue to use him going forward, but on this night; NYCW stands tall and vanquishes their opponents 5-3 on overall score. ANGLE: Larry Vessey is out to congratulate his ‘boys.’ Also he wants to highlight that the following match, is not sanctioned under the rules and regulations of the promotion. The lights dim and the intros begin. Rating: 67 STREET FIGHT MATCH: Angry Gilmore vs. Thom Barrowman In an exceptional match, Angry Gilmore defeated Thom Barrowman in 22:28 by pinfall with an Anger Management. Rating: 67 Hell of a match and the NYCW faithful accepted it for what it was. One of the best matches in the company’s history. This two are both main event stars and after this, Gilmore is next in line for a shot at American Machine’s new NYCW Empire Heavyweight Title. OVERALL RATING: 65 94,437 viewers tuned in for the end of the invasion and we turned a $2,144 profit as the month end, so all in all things were looking up even further. In COTT news Aldous Blackfriar & Notorious won the World Six-Man titles, which seemed like a good decision. We gave Charlie Corner a pay rise to $90 and then news came through idle gossip in the locker room that Supreme Wrestling Federation were about to launch their own network, full of historical footage and every new show they produced. The wrestling world just changed. Results: Herrbear – 9/10 KyTeran – 8/10 Theheel – 7/10 This is more accurate than I care to admit. Next time… Gilmore gets his shot…

New York City… where the invasion will be televised, but short… Yup with the influx of new talent, the new plan was to wrap up the FREEDOM Fighters invasion at Spring Showdown. It was short, but realistically, we could absorb the top workers and turn them into NYCW guys rather than surviving FCW guys. We also had too many titles, so we’d look to unify them all and let our titles gain the difference in prestige. The Confederation of the Territories were abuzz with news that CZCW had signed with OnDem and had left WrestleWorld entirely. They were carving out a potential future path for us too, so it would be interesting to see how they faired. As the eternal indy it seemed unlikely they’d springboard into battle with the big boys. But they might. We upped LA Star #1 to $250 per show and after much soul-searching, we released The Tagg Brothers. Having one out for a year was too much to bear and leaving one without the other was reckless. Both had recently signed with GSW, so we felt better that they’d keep their paycheques from that company at least. TCW meanwhile signed Xavi Ferrera, further hurting Pittsburgh Steel Wrestling in the process. NYCW Old School Wrestling Sunday, Week 2, March 2022 Albany Playhouse, New York City, New York Attendance: 2,873 TRIPLE THREAT MATCH: Charlie Corner vs. The Masked Mauler vs. Howlin Mad Mort In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, Charlie Corner defeated Howlin' Mad Mort and The Masked Mauler in 10:09 when Charlie Corner pinned The Masked Mauler with a Corner Cutter. Rating: 45 Nice opener here with a decent victory for young Charlie Corner. He had upside, but I had to say his skill development, despite wrestling in matches with veterans had been slower than expected. Hopefully now that he was on the main show things would improve. ANGLE: Cross River Connection are backstage. “Eagle,” Perfect Pepper calls. “Eagle… Eagle… EAGLE!!!” “What?” Freedom Eagle responds as he joins them. “DANGER ZONE!” “Good point Pep,” Prime Time says sagely. “Tonight, we’ve found ourselves facing against the hottest stable in NYCW. Tonight, we’re going to teach said stable a lesson. A lesson from the hard knocks of the mean streets of the city. And tonight, the FREEDOM Fighters are going to learn, the hard way, that…” “We’re fighting Honest Enterprises,” Eagle interrupts. “Who?” Pepper responds. “Another good point Pep. But it doesn’t matter who they are, they’re going down…” Rating: 68 Mad as a box of frogs, and I am here for it. GANG WARS MATCH: Freedom Eagle & Cross River Connection vs. Honest Enterprises In a decent match, Honest Enterprises (Andrew Harper, Magnum Kobe and Frank Harriet Jr.) defeated Freedom Eagle and Cross River Connection in 10:21 when Magnum Kobe pinned Perfect Pepper Pelton with The Glorious Red after Honest Frank interfered. Rating: 49 Can’t knock the in-ring talents of Magnum Kobe as he is smoother and more realistic than anyone else we have. This was a strong showing from Honest Frank’s stable too. Frank Jr. was still behind the others in terms of in-ring talent, but we could easily mask that with Magnum. ANGLE: Honest Frank grabs the microphone after the match. “You see, what we have here is the most underated, destructive and powerful alliance in all of professional wrestling. I know you all love these fools we’ve just beaten. I don’t blame you, they’re fun. In a child-like way. But what he have here is an important life lesson. You must kill your darlings. Whatever you enjoy, holds you back from glory. Now we know it’s tough, but that’s why we’re here. We’re here to help you become the best you it’s possible to be. And we’ll do that be destroying everything you love. That’s the way it is on the streets, and that’s the way it is between the ropes.” Rating: 53 Despite his standard conman gimmick, Honest Frank was leaning into a more cult-like vibe for Honest Enterprises. This was all part of the story of the stable, as we try and figure out exactly what they are. SINGLES MATCH: Bart Biggins vs. Spike Sylvain In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Bart Biggins defeated Spike Sylvain in 10:21 by pinfall with a B-Dropper. Rating: 54 Clean win for an upper-midcard star. Good match too. FCW TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Denny King & Sal DiMeo vs. The Fantastic Express © In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, The Fantastic Express defeated Denny King and Sal DiMeo in 9:38 when Rafe Sashay pinned Denny King with a Fantastic Flashbang. The Fantastic Express make defence number four of the FCW Tag Team titles. Rating: 44 Something of a thrown together match here as we’re a little heel-heavy in roster setup. Match was fine and The Fantastic Express continue their strong start. NYCW TRI-STATE TITLE MATCH: Jumbo Jackson vs. Richie Riggins © In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Richie Riggins defeated Jumbo Jackson in 10:04 by pinfall with a Body Bag. Richie Riggins makes defence number twelve of the NYCW Tri-State Regional. Rating: 48 The streak is alive and well. Through no ability of my own Richie has gone and got himself massively over. The combination of his dominant title reign, incredible gimmick and becoming even more of a muscle-bound hunk has really put him over the top. When he finally lost the title, he’d 100% be ready for a main event jaunt. Jumbo Jackson, on the verge of retirement, laid down clean for our big guy. GANG BATTLE MATCH: Brutus Milano, Animal Harker & The LA Stars vs. FREEDOM Fighters In a decent match, Brutus Milano, Animal Harker and The LA Stars defeated FREEDOM Fighters (Greg Black, Kip Keenan, Davis Wayne Newton and Joffy Laine) in 10:21 when Brutus Milano submitted Davis Wayne Newton with an Italian Backbreaker. Rating: 38 The NYCW Defenders (not a name I’d be using on the shows) get the clean win over the invading army as I look to wind-down the story and move onto other things quickly. FCW PEOPLE’S TITLE MATCH: Pablo Rodriguez vs. Danny Hagman © In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Danny Hagman defeated Pablo Rodriguez in 21:56 by submission with a Steel Curtain. Danny Hagman makes defence number two of the FCW People's Championship title. Rating: 57 Massive victory for the young performer. Pablo has already earmarked him as a star for the future and was willing to put him over clean. That is the kind of offer we simply cannot ignore. At this point it felt inevitable that Hagman and Riggins were on a collision course with one another. That looked set to be a massive match. TAG TEAM MATCH: American Machine & Thom Barrowman vs. Frederique & Zeus MaxMillion In a bout that had great heat and good wrestling, American Machine and Thom Barrowman defeated Frederique and Zeus Maxmillion in 10:19 when American Machine pinned Zeus Maxmillion with an Old Glory. Rating: 56 Invasion makes strange bedfellows. And there are no stranger fellows than Barrowman and Machine. Good win for them against two of the bigger name stars of FREEDOM. SINGLES MATCH: Angry Gilmore vs. ‘The Georgia Bulldog’ Riley McManus In a bout that had fantastic heat and great wrestling, Angry Gilmore defeated Riley McManus in 22:18 by pinfall with an Anger Management. Rating: 62 The newcomer has issues with ‘The Georgia Bulldog’ and they fight it out in a great match. Gilmore gets the win, but we’d definitely keep this mini-feud rolling. OVERALL RATING: 61 We got 87,644 viewers and were immediately asked for payrises from both members of The Fantastic Express. Zippy Deverell to $120 and Rafe Sashay to $100. Could argue with either of those. With just one show left before Spring Showdown 2022, we carry on. NYCW Fights on Broadway Sunday, Week 3, March 2022 Albany Playhouse, New York City, New York Attendance: 2,971 SINGLES MATCH: Joffy Laine vs. Sal DiMeo In a decent match, Joffy Laine defeated Sal DiMeo in 7:40 by pinfall with a Death Spiral. Rating: 46 One of the FREEDOM Fighters with massive upside was the big kid from Texas. Sweet Sal could afford the loss to help raise the stakes for the conclusion of the FCW feud. Solid opener. GANG WARS MATCH: Animal Harker, Charlie Corner & The Masked Mauler vs. Denny King & The Fantastic Express In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, Denny King and The Fantastic Express defeated Animal Harker, Charlie Corner and The Masked Mauler in 9:53 when Denny King pinned Charlie Corner with a Superplex. Rating: 44 Denny King, being very Denny King-like, attaches himself to the hottest new tag team in NYCW and immediately gets a win. A lot of this was more a ‘get them on the card and get them a win’ and Denny was in the right place with the right disposition. SINGLES MATCH: Howlin Mad Mort vs. Davis Wayne Newton In a decent match, Davis Wayne Newton defeated Howlin' Mad Mort in 8:14 by submission with a STF. Rating: 42 Another solid win for another high-upside FREEDOM guy. Davis had it all and we were a few years away from him starting to decline, so I decided it was time to get behind him. NYCW TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Spike Sylvain & Ray Snow vs. Cross River Connection © In a decent match, Cross River Connection defeated Spike Sylvain and Ray Snow in 9:51 when Perfect Pepper Pelton pinned Spike Sylvain with a Prime Time Perfection. Cross River Connection make defence number five of the NYCW Tag Team. Rating: 45 The Cross River Connection boys continue their run with the titles in magnificent fashion. Spike, having lost Eddie, was in limbo. But I had to learn that you can’t have something going on for each worker all the time. The industry ebbed and flowed and I had to be ok with that. SINGLES MATCH: Freedom Eagle vs. Frank Harriet Jr. In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, Frank Harriet Jr. defeated Freedom Eagle in 9:35 by pinfall with a Roll The Dice. Rating: 43 Go rookie go. SINGLES MATCH: Brutus Milano vs. Andrew Harper In a decent match, Brutus Milano defeated Andrew Harper in 10:24 by submission with an Italian Backbreaker. Rating: 53 A classic throwback match between two of our former top stars, who’ve each seen a descent down the card for different reasons. When in doubt, Brutus gets the win. SINGLES MATCH: Jumbo Jackson vs. Magnum Kobe In a decent match, Magnum Kobe defeated Jumbo Jackson in 9:42 by submission with a Magnum Deathlock. Rating: 43 The almost unknown Japanese star was carving out a niche for himself as the arrogant, flamboyant a-hole heel of Honest Enterprises. The destruction of a big American name only increased his momentum and overness. Sky really is the limit for someone with his skills. NYCW TRI-STATE TITLE MATCH: Bart Biggins vs. Richie Riggins © In a bout that had great heat and good wrestling, Bart Biggins defeated Richie Riggins in 10:30 when Richie Riggins was counted out fighting Danny Hagman at ringside. Rating: 51 The Biggins/Riggins showdown continues to bring the goods. Richie loses because of his obsession with the FCW People’s Champion, which is 100% a thing; don’t you viewers pretend that it’s not. ANGLE: American Machine is backstage with interviewer Whistler. “It’s almost time for the Spring Showdown. A time when, I, the GODDAM AMERICAN HERO gets to abolish this terrorist group from inside NYCW. Will we rehabilitate some of these wayward young men? Possibly. But first they’ve got to take their medicine. Two spoonfuls of Americana; freedom and justice. And tonight, well tonight those little misguided fools are going to learn what’s in store… first hand.” Rating: 65 He’s just soooo American. TEN-MAN TAG TEAM MATCH: Team NYCW (American Machine, Danny Hagman, Thom Barrowman & The LA Stars) vs. FREEDOM Fighters (Greg Black, Frederique, Pablo Rodriguez, Kip Keenan & Zeus MaxMillion) In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, American Machine, Danny Hagman, Thom Barrowman, LA Star #1 and LA Star #2 drew with Greg Black, Frederique, Pablo Rodriguez, Kip Keenan and Zeus Maxmillion in 21:44 following a double count out. Rating: 56 A big schmozz ahead of the big show. A good match which got the crowd buzzing heading into the main event. SINGLES MATCH: Angry Gilmore vs. ‘The Georgia Bulldog’ Riley McManus In a bout that had fantastic heat and great wrestling, Angry Gilmore defeated Riley McManus in 22:18 by pinfall with an Anger Management. Rating: 64 Similar to their first, but a bit better. McManus can keep up with anyone in the ring. But Gilmore has a little extra on top. We’d work on bringing the ‘Georgia Bulldog’ up to snuff in the months ahead, but for now, Angry Gilmore was our number two star behind the GODDAM AMERICAN HERO. OVERALL RATING: 63 87,978 viewers for one of our better shows. After the event, Honest Frank pulled me aside to tell me that he thinks Masked Mauler is a star in the making and I should consider adding him to Honest Enterprises. Tough to argue against that thinking to be honest. We ended the week by giving Richie Riggins a much-deserved pay-rise to $590. NYCW Spring Showdown 2022 Street Fight: Angry Gilmore vs. Thom Barrowman NYCW Empire & FCW Puerto Rican: American Machine © vs. Greg Black © Bart Biggins vs. 'The Georgia Bulldog' Riley McManus The LA Stars vs. Frederique & Pablo Rodriguez Brutus Milano vs. Zeus Maxmillion NYCW Tri-State & FCW People's: Danny Hagman © vs. Richie 'The Body' Riggins © Jumbo Jackson, Howlin Mad Mort & The Masked Mauler vs. Honest Enterprises (Harper, Harriet & Kobe) Kip Keenan vs. Denny King NYCW & FCW Tag Team: Cross River Connection © vs. The Fantastic Express © Animal Harker & Sal DiMeo vs. David Wayne Newton & Joffy Laine Next time… Freedom vs. FREEDOM…

New York City… we’ve got unification on our minds… The plan going forward would be to run three shows a month. So in months which had one of our named shows, we’d run Welcome to New York and Old School Wrestling. For the others we’d add Fights on Broadway. It was imperfect, but we were still transition as a company to a more traditional wrestling schedule. In personnel news; Larry Vessey of all people had taken a liking to The Masked Mauler and planned to make him ‘his guy’ as his new protégé. Somewhere Brutus Milano was sobbing into a salami sandwich. NYCW Fights on Broadway Sunday, Week 3, February 2022 Albany Playhouse, New York City, New York Attendance: 2,622 SINGLES MATCH: Andrew Harper vs. Ray Snow In a decent match, Andrew Harper defeated Ray Snow in 6:10 by pinfall with a Spike Slam. Rating: 52 Honest Enterprises big enforcer gets an opening show destruction over perennial job squad member Ray Snow. Brutal, effective and surprisingly good quality match considering. ANGLE: Cross River Connection are out with microphones. “Whatsup New York,” Prine Time yells to cheers. “It’s time, time for the big showdown you’ve all been waiting for.” “Cool man, are you getting that rash seen to at last?” “No… shut up. Tonight your beloved Cross River Connection take the fight to the FREEDOM Folks. We do it for you. It’s all for you DAMIAN!” “Quoting The Omen. It’s a bold strategy Prime Time.” “So if we could request that two of the ugly new people with silly names come out. It’s time to learn how we do things in Minnesota.” “But I’m from Wisconsin.” “That’s a fair point Pep. Still, bring em out.” Rating: 57 Absolutely bonkers from start to finish. Young people loved them and their new range of merch. Especially the shirts which say ‘Good Point Pep.’ NYCW TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: FREEDOM Fighters (Laine & Keenan) vs. Cross River Connection © In a decent match, Joffy Laine and Kip Keenan drew with Cross River Connection in 10:18 following a double disqualification after the other FREEDOM Fighters attacked. Rating: 44 A draw keeps all four of these guys clean and elevates Kip and Joffy to rough equals of the CRC. Match was decent considering the audience where still learning to get to know the FREEDOM Fighters. NYCW TRI-STATE TITLE MATCH: Howlin Mad Mort vs. Richie Riggins © In a decent match, Richie Riggins defeated Howlin' Mad Mort in 7:50 by pinfall by using underhanded tactics. Richie Riggins makes defence number ten of the NYCW Tri-State Regional. Rating: 41 At this point Richie could be winning these clean, but he actually prefers to add an element of cheating to wind up the crowd. Which is just awesomely dickish behaviour. TAG TEAM MATCH: Brutus Milano & The Masked Mauler vs. Honest Enterprises In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, Frank Harriet Jr. and Magnum Kobe defeated The Masked Mauler and Brutus Milano in 9:56 when Magnum Kobe submitted Brutus Milano with a Magnum Deathlock. Rating: 41 Big win for Magnum Kobe as he makes the former Empire Champion submit clean. The way he glides around the ring and never misses a cue just highlighted how blinkered our view of wrestling had become after years of watching Brutus in the main event. We also hoped that Frank Jr. would learn plenty teaming with such a high-quality partner. SINGLES MATCH: Charlie Corner vs. Eddie Braddock In a bout that didn't have much heat and terrible wrestling, Charlie Corner defeated Eddie Braddock in 8:14 by pinfall with a Corner Cutter. Rating: 27 Another clean win for Charlie as Eddie’s stock completely implodes in on itself. He wasn’t long for the main show. SINGLES MATCH: Freedom Eagle vs. Davis Wayne Newton In a decent match, Davis Wayne Newton defeated Freedom Eagle in 7:37 by submission with a STF. Rating: 44 Another win for Davis Wayne Newton as he begins to forge a career for himself in the promotion. Freedom Eagle continued to settle comfortably into his role a pure midcard talent. It was a shame really that his career had stalled, but he was still earning regular money, so it could’ve been worse. SINGLES MATCH: Animal Harker vs. Sal DiMeo In a decent match, Sal DiMeo defeated Animal Harker in 10:14 by pinfall with a Powerbomb. Rating: 46 The constant back-and-forth of wins and losses between our directionless midcarders may not be exciting, but I personally was never sure how quickly I may need to reheat one or more of them at short notice. The spectre of raids from bigger companies had slowed to a trickle at this point, but it was never gone entirely. FCW TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Tagg Brothers vs. The Fantastic Express © In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but terrible wrestling, The Tagg Brothers defeated The Fantastic Express in 8:17 when Rafe Sashay was disqualified while fighting Kal Tagg. Rating: 35 While victories are good for our new team, we didn’t want them to be undefeated monsters. So here we have The Taggs get a bit of heat back on them, but without actually switching the titles. Match was ok, if unspectacular. FCW PEOPLE’S TITLE MATCH: Doug Peak vs. Danny Hagman © In a decent match, Danny Hagman defeated Doug Peak in 10:25 by pinfall with a Missing Piece. Danny Hagman makes defence number one of the FCW People's Championship title. Rating: 45 We brought in Doug Peak for a one-shot as we heard he was retiring soon and it made sense to give him a few more paydays. A clean loss to ‘The Pittsburgh Kid’ enhanced both the youngster and the title he held. COTT WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Denny King & Spike Sylvain vs. The LA Stars © In a bout that had good wrestling and a decent reaction from the crowd, The LA Stars defeated Denny King and Spike Sylvain in 9:55 when LA Star #1 pinned Denny King by using underhanded tactics. The LA Stars make defence number two of the COTT World Tag Team. Rating: 56 Eddie Braddock is now at the stage where we’re actively showing the world that he’s finished. His former tag partner is now teaming with other wrestlers and placed into title matches. Great match as The LA Stars show their value as tag team champions. The fact we technically now had three tag team champions did spoil the specialness of the singular set of titles, but I’m sure ACPW would switch the titles to a cleaner and his mum in on time at all. UNIFICATION EMPIRE AND PUERTO RICAN TITLE MATCH: American Machine © vs. Greg Black © In a bout that had great heat and good wrestling, Greg Black drew with American Machine in 9:47 following a double disqualification. Rating: 54 Firstly, these two have great chemistry, which is a good thing to note. Unfortunately, Greg Black was not popular enough and American Machine’s in-ring ability, never amazing to begin with, was dropping at an alarming rate. He’s gone from borderline being able to handle twenty-minute matches to struggling with eleven. ANGLE: Thom Barrowman is backstage with Whistler and he’s angry with the FREEDOM Fighters. To him, they’re nothing but a bunch of terrorists. And if you want to beat terrorists, you’ve got to walk right up to them and punch them in the face. But he’s got bigger things on his mind tonight. He’s going to beat The Georgia Bulldog and gain another shot at the gold. Rating: 65 Solid stuff. SINGLES MATCH: Riley McManus vs. Thom Barrowman In a superb match, Thom Barrowman defeated Riley McManus in 22:24 when Riley McManus was disqualified when Greg Black ran in and attacked Thom Barrowman. Rating: 57 Oooo, further intrigue as the FREEDOM Fighters once again ignore The Georgia Bulldog when attacking the main event. THE match was actually going really well and the interference sort of ruined the ending. But we were telling a bigger story than a single match. OVERALL RATING: 56 February drew to a close and 79,673 viewers had seen our new event. The actually material popularity gains were far diminished from the first show, which was a shame, but we ended the month with a $5,412 profit, even with our production levels higher than any other independent promotions. Combine that with a steady increase in live attendance and I couldn’t believe how far we’d come. Heading into March and I learnt that The LA Stars had lost the COTT World Tag Team Titles to Frankie-Boy Fernandes & Hustle Muvva in IPW at TripleMania 8. At least I’d heard of both of them, which made a nice touch. Before running our next show, I negotiated with Danny Hagman to increase his pay to $370 per show. He was worth double that, so I happily paid. Having bumped Eddie Braddock down to the pre-show again, he nearly killed one of our new rookies by dropping him clumsily and I’d had enough. The big lug looked so disappointed when I explained that he was being cut, but the safety of our money-making stars had to take precedent. After that meeting, Larry called me excitedly. A new free agent had entered the market and he’d already agreed a contract to bring him in for a run. I couldn’t quite believe it, but on the night of Welcome to New York 2, I saw him enter the locker room. And he wasn’t alone. This would generate some interest in our product for sure. NYCW Welcome to New York 2 Sunday, Week 1, March 2022 Queens Boulevard Theater, New York City, New York Attendance: 2,609 ANGLE: Honest Frank is out with Honest Enterprises. Tonight they’re going to make an example of Animal Harker and his two rookie backups. He knows that it’s difficult to watch them destroy all their most popular idols. But, the truth is, this needs to happen. The old must be torn down to make way for the new. And that’s the Gods Honest Truth. Rating: 58 He’s good on the mic old Honest Frank. And he’s making his stable better each week. GANG WARS MATCH: The Masked Mauler, Animal Harker & Charlie Corner vs. Honest Enterprises In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, Honest Enterprises (Andrew Harper, Magnum Kobe and Frank Harriet Jr.) defeated The Masked Mauler, Animal Harker and Charlie Corner in 9:29 when Frank Harriet Jr. pinned Charlie Corner with a Roll The Dice. Rating: 42 Solid match and a good win for Honest Enterprises. Exactly as intended. FCW TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Tagg Brothers vs. The Fantastic Express © In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but terrible wrestling, The Fantastic Express defeated The Tagg Brothers in 7:46 when Rafe Sashay pinned Wolfie Tagg with a Forward Russian Legsweep. The Fantastic Express make defence number three of the FCW Tag Team titles. Rating: 28 The rubber match between these two is an absolute disaster. At the supposed mid-point of the match, Kal Tagg was supposed to accidentally hit his brother Wolfie Tagg with a chair. Which he did. Only he hit him too hard, with an unprotected chair shot. Woflie hit the mat and never got back up. We sent the match home and got the doc to check him after. Turns out he had a major concussion and the doc said he wouldn’t be able to perform for at least a year. Tough break, which left us in a tricky position. NYCW TRI-STATE TITLE MATCH: Zeus Maxmillion vs. Richie Riggins © In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Richie Riggins defeated Zeus Maxmillion in 9:57 by pinfall with a Body Bag. Richie Riggins makes defence number eleven of the NYCW Tri-State Regional. Rating: 52 We bring in Zeus on a month-long tryout contract and the match was… ok. Quite how much of that was down to Zeus is debatable. But if nothing else, Richie looked like a star in victory. NYCW TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Denny King & Sal DiMeo vs. Cross River Connection © In a decent match, Cross River Connection defeated Denny King and Sal DiMeo in 9:42 when Perfect Pepper Pelton pinned Sal DiMeo with a Prime Time Perfection. Cross River Connection make defence number four of the NYCW Tag Team. Rating: 48 Having maintained a certain level of momentum for the King and Sweet Sal, I decided we’d put them in a tag team against the champs. A nice easy defense for the always excellent CRC and a decent all-round match. SINGLES MATCH: Bart Biggins vs. Spike Sylvain In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Bart Biggins defeated Spike Sylvain in 9:44 by pinfall with a B-Dropper. Rating: 55 That’s right folks. Bart Biggins joins NYCW and immediately gets a win against one of our established old hands. Match was quality and Bart looked amazing to boot. I was excited about the acquisition and only wished we could’ve reunited him with his brother Brett. Still, we’d take him as he was; a moderate sized fish in a small pond. GANG WARS MATCH: Brutus Milano, Danny Hagman & Freedom Eagle vs. FREEDOM Fighters In a decent match, Brutus Milano, Danny Hagman and Freedom Eagle defeated FREEDOM Fighters (Joffy Laine, Kip Keenan and Davis Wayne Newton) in 9:59 when Brutus Milano submitted Davis Wayne Newton with an Italian Backbreaker. Rating: 41 A measure of revenge for Team NYCW right here as I was still struggling to get the balance of wins and losses right for the invading team. In fact the whole invasion had turned into something of an extended stable of workers, which was never the intention. Perhaps it was time to wrap it up, unify all the titles and move on? Especially with Bart Biggins now on-board. FCW PUERTO RICAN TITLE MATCH: Jumbo Jackson vs. Greg Black © In a bout that had great heat and decent wrestling, Greg Black defeated Jumbo Jackson in 7:36 by pinfall with a Fade To Black. Greg Black makes defence number two of the FCW Puerto Rican title. Rating: 47 And yet another decent-sized signing. Surely no one thought I’d stop at just one. Jumbo Jackson was close to the end of his career and we agreed to bring him aboard for three months until he hung em up for good. Greg Black needed extra juice too, so this worked perfectly. ANGLE: Greg Black is out and he knows the FREEDOM Fighters have been challenged to a match-up against the ‘former’ World Tag Team champions; The LA Stars. Suh a big match deserves two of the biggest stars from FCW and he’s brought them here tonight. Welcome to the revolution… Frederique and Pablo Rodriguez. Rating: 63 And the new stars keep coming. TAG TEAM MATCH: The LA Stars vs. FREEDOM Fighters (Frederique & Pablo Rodriguez) In a bout that had great heat and good wrestling, Frederique and Pablo Rodriguez defeated The LA Stars in 21:59 when Frederique pinned LA Star #1 while using the ropes for leverage. Rating: 60 What a match and a big win for our two new, high-quality performers. Both of these guys, unlike the last two were keepers. Incredible in the ring, highly charismatic and in the case of Rodriguez a former COTT World Heavyweight champion. I was giddy with excitement. NYCW EMPIRE TITLE MATCH: Riley McManus vs. American Machine © In a bout that had great heat and good wrestling, American Machine defeated Riley McManus in 10:21 by pinfall with an Old Glory after Cheerleader Nicki interfered. American Machine makes defence number four of the NYCW Empire. Rating: 55 A little bit of cheating never killed anyone. Especially not a GODDAMN AMERICAN HERO like American Machine. Riley had been dodging receiving any comeuppance for weeks and this went part of the way to solve that. ANGLE: After the match, American Machine stands in the ring and chastises Riley McManus for betraying his country and this promotion. It sure looks to American Machine that he’s joined the darkside and he hopes this loss proves that he’s made the wrong choice. While Riley argues outside the ring, claiming to be innocent… Thom Barrowman slips into the ring and beats down American Machine. Riley jumps back in and joins. McManus and Barrowman, who had seemed at odds over the FREEDOM Fighters are back aligned with one another once again. Just as it looks like all hope is lost… Break Stuff by Limp Bizkit hits… Angry Gilmore has arrived... Rating: 65 SINGLES MATCH: Angry Gilmore vs. Thom Barrowman In an exceptional match, Angry Gilmore defeated Thom Barrowman in 2:22 by pinfall with an Anger Management. Rating: 68 POW! OVERALL RATING: 66 That’s right, we hid a monster signing among a deluge of smaller signings. And worked beautifully. Angry Gilmore is far and away the best (and most popular) worker on our roster. Why anyone released him was beyond us. But we’d happily pay through the nose for him. Off the buzz he generated, our viewership spiked to 99,588 viewers. It was time to elevate the promotion on the back of one Angry Gilmore. Next time… Angry Gilmore gets involved and we build towards Spring Showdown 2022…

New York City… we’re one man’s freedom fighter is another’s terrorist… I kept reading and re-reading the Pro Wrestling Reporter article about our purchase of FCW. I almost completely ignored the news that Joss Thompson had won the USPW World Title. Or that Des David had won the SWF World Heavyweight Title. Or even the news from Larry that Simony Sentinal had won the COTT World Women’s Title over in ACPW. Despite our company-spanning news, the really big news was not avoidable. CommPlanet had launched a streaming service specifically to rival Reverie, the USPW one which had revolutionised professional wrestling forever. There was clearly an upswing in popularity in the global product of wrestling and everyone wanted a piece. One day they’d want of piece of us. But for now, the only one really paying attention was EILL, the former South of the Border Pro Wrestling. They had approached Larry about signing a developmental deal with us that would allow them to send young workers to us for some ‘seasoning.’ Larry had politely, but firmly declined. A quick conference call confirmed that Mitch Naess and Pittsburgh Steel Wrestling had been offered the same and also turned them down. They had not been so polite and had since declared a sort-of war against them in disgust. You had to admire the hutzpah of Naess sometimes. NYCW Welcome to New York 1 Sunday, Week 1, February 2022 Queens Boulevard Theater, New York City, New York Attendance: 2,421 ANGLE: Greg Black and the FREEDOM Fighters open the show. They’re from Puerto Rico and they’re tough. They’ve come to place with a similar reputation in New York City. And they’ve got to say… they’re disappointed. The people here are so fat, so lazy and so entitled. They’ve never had to go to bed hungry, or learnt to fight for their lives on the violent street. But they’re going to learn… the hard way. And when they were finished, they’d rename this stupid company as FREEDOM City Wrestling. Rating: 62 Fired up promo establishing exactly what they’re all about. 10-MAN BATTLE ROYAL: In a decent match, Thom Barrowman won a battle royal in 9:39. The other members of the 'final four' were Brutus Milano, Howlin' Mad Mort and Denny King, with Brutus Milano being the final elimination. Brutus Milano got the most eliminations over the course of the match. Rating: 52 To make way for the new FREEDOM Fighters, we stuck a lot of our established names in a battle royal. Thom Barrowman obviously won as we looked to rebuild his character after the big loss at the last show of 2021. FCW TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Fantastic Express vs. The Latino Kings © In a bout that didn't have much heat and terrible wrestling, The Fantastic Express defeated The Latino Kings in 8:06 when Zippy Deverell pinned Rudy Velasquez with a Fantastic Flashbang. The Fantastic Express win the FCW Tag Team titles. Rating: 29 In only their second match on the main show proper, The Fantastic Express show just how excited the crowd should be about them by systematically destroying the Latino Kings and claiming the FCW tag team titles. The fact they were more prestigious than our own tag team titles was a joke. But The Latino Kings were a bit too… violent, for us. FCW PEOPLE’S TITLE MATCH: Danny Hagman vs. Tex Tagan © In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but terrible wrestling, Danny Hagman defeated Tex Tagan in 7:31 by pinfall with a Missing Piece. Danny Hagman wins the FCW People's Championship title. Rating: 31 And another title falls to a NYCWer in their second match. Could you argue that we were burying the new guys? Sure. But we didn’t care. NYCW were what we were about and looking at the list of champions they had when FCW folded, it’s hardly surprising they ended up out of business. ANGLE: Greg Black and the rest of the FREEDOM Fighters storm the ring after the match. But rather than attacking Hagman, they turn their ire on Tex Tagan and the Latino Kings. Failure it seems, will not be tolerated as they destroy their own workers. Greg Black then points at the massive Mutant and demands he prove his worth as Puerto Rican champion right now. Rating: 49 FCW PUERTO RICAN TITLE MATCH: Greg Black vs. Mutant © In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, Greg Black defeated Mutant in 9:36 by pinfall with a Fade To Black. Greg Black wins the FCW Puerto Rican title. Rating: 34 And the burial of the champions is complete. If we’re going to run an invasion, we’re doing it with workers we liked and actually wanted to compete. Mutant did not fit the bill. COTT WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The LA Stars vs. Freedom Force © In a decent match, The LA Stars defeated Freedom Force in 9:50 when LA Star #2 pinned Bradford Peverell with a Star Destroyer. The LA Stars win the COTT World Tag Team. Rating: 44 Good match and a change we had signed off with the board before the show. Freedom Force had been a successful team in FCW and in the alliance, but there was something about Bradford Peverell’s attitude we didn’t like. So we’d be gone after this show. Kip Keenan was a keeper however. NYCW TRI-STATE TITLE MATCH: Animal Harker vs. Richie Riggins © In a decent match, Animal Harker defeated Richie Riggins in 10:09 by count out. Rating: 48 The champion, living on borrowed time, takes the loss, but escapes with the title. Riggins was so white hot in momentum that he could spare a small amount to help rebuild the damage we’d down to Harker over the last year. ANGLE: Honest Frank is out with his son and Magnum Kobe. “In a successful attack on an institution, you must always be looking to expand and strengthen. This is why the so-called FREEDOM Fighters will eventually fail. And why we; Honest Enterprises will conquer all before us. Thus I am happy to welcome a new acquisition to the group. This man is a bully, a strongman… a Hoss. And I do love me a Hoss. Introducing the epitome of Honest Enterprises mantra… Andrew Harper.” Rating: 62 Harper needed direction and Honest Frank gave that too him. He was born to play an enforcer-like role for a stable and now he would. Even stood alongside the others made him look like a bad ass. GANG WARS MATCH: Freedom Eagle & The Tagg Brothers vs. Honest Enterprises (Andrew Harper, Frank Hewitt Jr. & Magnum Kobe) In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, Honest Enterprises (Andrew Harper, Frank Harriet Jr. and Magnum Kobe) defeated Freedom Eagle and The Tagg Brothers in 10:28 when Frank Harriet Jr. pinned Wolfie Tagg while using the ropes for leverage. Rating: 43 Honest Enterprises cheat to win. Of course they do. Still, it was another week and another win. Add to that the inclusion of Andrew Harper and the future looked brighter by the minute. Honest Frank is a superb manager and mouthpiece too, sharing chemistry with both Magnum and Harper. Not, however, his own son. Ouch. NYCW TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The New York Dolls vs. Cross River Connection © In a decent match, Cross River Connection defeated The New York Dolls in 21:57 when Prime Time Jack Pryde pinned Eddie Braddock with a Prime Time Perfection. Cross River Connection make defence number one of the NYCW Tag Team. Rating: 46 The new champs finish the old champs clean. Spike looked decent throughout, Eddie didn’t and then got pinned. In case you were wondering where we were mentally with the big fella. NYCW EMPIRE TITLE MATCH: ‘The Georgia Bulldog’ Riley McManus vs. American Machine © In a good match, Riley McManus defeated American Machine in 9:52 by disqualification after the FREEDOM Fighters attacked the champ. Rating: 55 ANGLE: After the match, Riley McManus watches the beatdown occur on American Machine. It looks momentarily like Greg Black might attack him too, but Riley gives him a simple warning by waving his finger and the FREEDOM fighters turn back to attacking Machine. Riley is given room to leave and he does so with a smile. Rating: 60 The FREEDOM Fighters finally make a big splash with a big NYCW star, while Riley McManus walks away looking like the toughest SOB in the entire world. Fantastic stuff. OVERALL RATING: 54 After seeing our viewership dip to 73,024 viewers, we didn’t hesitate to release: Tex Tagan, The Latin Kings and Mutant for their contracts early. We weren’t about to waste anymore time on them than we needed. We’d got the belts off them and were now onto establishing the remaining workers. NYCW Old School Wrestling Sunday, Week 2, February 2022 Albany Playhouse, New York City, New York Attendance: 2,630 NYCW TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Howlin Mad Mort & Denny King vs. Cross River Connection © In a decent match, Cross River Connection defeated Denny King and Howlin' Mad Mort in 10:06 when Perfect Pepper Pelton pinned Denny King with a Prime Time Perfection. Cross River Connection make defence number two of the NYCW Tag Team. Rating: 50 Cross River Connection put on a clinic of tag team wrestling with two old hands. Good opener, good match and another win for the red hot champions. ANGLE: After the match, the Cross River Connection get on the mic. “Hey Pep, you seen those FREEDOM Fighter guys?” “Certainly have Prime Time. Ugly, ugly nobodies.” “No I mean, do you think they’re dangerous? Should we maybe defend NYCW from the invasion?” “Can do my main man. What do you think we should do? Maybe if we beat Eddie Braddock that might help?” “Why would beating one of our own help?” “He was the first ugly nobody who came to mind.” “Fair point Pep. Fair point.” Rating: 67 I love that these two just go completely off-script with a mad series of conversations that only loosely related to what is happening at any given time. Whatever they said,t he crowd loved them more for it. SINGLES MATCH: Freedom Eagle vs. Davis Wayne Newton In a decent match, Davis Wayne Newton defeated Freedom Eagle in 8:08 by pinfall with a Fisherman's Suplex. Rating: 42 New FREEDOM Fighter Davis Wayne Newton gets the first big singles win for the group over an NYCW stalwart. He’s a fantastic all-rounder and exactly the sort of person we would’ve welcomed to the roster in normal times anyway. SINGLES MATCH: Animal Harker vs. Sal DiMeo In a decent match, Animal Harker defeated Sal DiMeo in 9:46 by pinfall with a Stump Piledriver. Rating: 45 The rebuilding of Animal Harker continues in earnest. This time Sweet Sal takes the loss as he’s still maintaining his level of popularity from his COTT World Six-Man tag title reign. FCW TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Tagg Brothers vs. The Fantastic Express © In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but terrible wrestling, The Fantastic Express defeated The Tagg Brothers in 9:40 when Rafe Sashay pinned Kal Tagg with a Fantastic Flashbang. The Fantastic Express make defence number one of the FCW Tag Team titles. Rating: 33 Another win for The Fantastic Express as they continue their red-hot start to main roster careers. It’s also good for them to defend the titles they’ve won as it’ll only increase their success in the long-run if the audience associate them with title reigns and victories. SINGLES MATCH: Joffy Laine vs. Spike Sylvain In a decent match, Joffy Laine defeated Spike Sylvain in 10:15 by pinfall with a Death Spiral. Rating: 43 Another win for a FREEDOM Fighter. These two had pretty good chemistry. Bigger note is that this is the first time in a while that The New York Dolls aren’t fighting as a team. Ominous. SINGLES MATCH: Charlie Corner vs. Eddie Braddock In a bout that didn't have much heat and terrible wrestling, Charlie Corner defeated Eddie Braddock in 5:48 by pinfall with a Corner Cutter. Rating: 27 Awful, awful match with a good conclusion. Charlie Corner is a star-in-the-making and we were definitely looking to propel him to bigger feuds asap. Eddie takes yet another clean loss, which feels like his fifth in a row at this point. It’s safe to say that the aura we’d cultivated for him for months was being destroyed in half the time. ANGLE: Honest Frank is out with Frank Jr, Magnum Kobe and ‘The Enforcer’ Andrew Harper. Tonight they have the opportunity to take on three former top champions from NYCW. Brutus Milano and The LA Stars are three of the biggest names around here. So what does it mean when they beat them clean in the middle of the ring? It means everything Honest Frank has said is true. Which makes him the most honest man in professional wrestling. Rating: 45 I must remember that Magnum Kobe cannot speak English. It sort of ruins the whole interview. GANG WARS MATCH: Brutus Milano & The LA Stars vs. Honest Enterprises In a decent match, Honest Enterprises (Andrew Harper, Frank Harriet Jr. and Magnum Kobe) defeated Brutus Milano and The LA Stars in 8:25 when Magnum Kobe pinned LA Star #2 with The Glorious Red. Rating: 52 Great match and a MASSIVE win for Honest Enterprises. Magnum Kobe might be the greatest in-ring performer in NYCW history and they only thing holding him back (other than the language) is wins. His gimmick is that of a low-key, silent killer. While he keeps winning that is going to propel him up the card fast. NYCW TRI-STATE TITLE MATCH: The Masked Mauler vs. Richie Riggins © In a decent match, Richie Riggins defeated The Masked Mauler in 9:41 by pinfall by using underhanded tactics. Richie Riggins makes defence number nine of the NYCW Tri-State Regional. Rating: 42 Back to winning ways for the champion, who has shown zero interest in getting involved with the invasion, which is about the most on-brand thing for a narcissist like him. Masked Mauler has some very handy in-ring talents. SINGLES MATCH: Danny Hagman vs. Riley McManus In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Riley McManus defeated Danny Hagman in 21:41 by pinfall with a Slingshot Suplex after Fern Hathaway interfered. Rating: 48 The Georgia Bulldog purposefully declined the opportunity to win the People’s Title, because he doesn’t give a damn about the people. Although it will definitely raise more eyebrows about where his loyalty lies. Unusual for Fern Hathaway to be required to get a win. But Danny Hagman was not a normal man. ANGLE: American Machine is backstage being interviewed by Whistler. He says that he’s ready for the main event. He’s seen what the FREEDOM Fighters are all about, and he’s not opposed to fighting for what you believe in. Bring a GODDAM AMERICAN HERO, he believes in and fights for truth, justice and the American Way. But this is New York City. The land of brave and home of the free. And he’s willing to defend that with every bit of energy he has. And tonight, he’s selected a partner who can bring the thunder almost as much as he can. Thom Barrowman steps into shot and asks ‘Almost?’ Rating: 71 Fantastic interview as the long-time rivals put their differences aside to come together in defense of the promotion. Wonderful stuff, which got a massive reaction from the audience. TAG TEAM MATCH: American Machine & Thom Barrowman vs. FREEDOM Fighters (Greg Black & Kip Keenan) In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Greg Black and Kip Keenan defeated American Machine and Thom Barrowman in 22:28 when Kip Keenan pinned American Machine with a handful of tights. Rating: 52 And despite their unique pairing, the two of them still lose. It wasn’t a fair loss, but FREEDOM Fighters aren’t about fairness. They’re about winning. OVERALL RATING: 52 For the first time since we signed with Wrestlerold, we only increased our popularity in sixteen regions and only got a disappointing 74,136 viewers. That wasn’t ideal. Next time… We introduce a third show for the month to try and capitalise on our momentum to make some MONEY…

New York City… New year, new goals, new opportunities… TCW continued their signing spree by adding the awesome and versatile Nelson Callum (poor PSW had lost their entire main event). We’d given a pay rise to Freedom Eagle ($190) and Larry made it clear he had some plans. But for me, I should concentrate on building our audience and I wasn’t allowed to hire any daredevils, powerhouses or anyone over 42 years old. I mean, that was half our roster. We then received word that Mitch Naess had called a meeting of the Confederation. So we packed our bags in mid-January and flew to Charlotte. Naess announced that in light of the talent losses, he was signing a deal with EILL to get some of their development workers. The room bristled, but really no one could object. It wasn’t ideal, but obviously it was necessary. After the meeting ended, the owners started having coffee and broke off to talk to each other. Larry, oddly, was talking to Puerto Rican Power, who normally avoided small talk. The two were in a hushed conversation and, having seen me watching them, called over for me to join. “Listen kid, Power here is having some issues. The athletic commission down in Puerto Rico is bleeding him dry and FREEDOM is on the verge of bankruptcy.” “How, surely that’s not legal?” “Of course it isn’t, but it doesn’t matter,” Puerto Rican Power sneered. “I’ve had enough. But I want my boys to have a chance. I trust Vessey more than others, he’s old school.” “So what do you reckon kid?” Larry said. “Can we accommodate FREEDOM’s finest?” *** $49,859. That’s all it took to grab the tape library, titles and selected worker contracts on from FREEDOM. It barely seemed fair. Larry had been clear; we weren’t running the Puerto Rican territory, but we did have access to everything they’d built. It was a unique and interesting proposition. Annoyingly all my plans for the New Year had to be thrown out the window. But the opportunity to run an invasion angle was too strong. I’m only human. As I read about the career of The Force, who’d been forced (get it) into early retirement after breaking his back in the latest Pro Wrestling Reporter, I barely noticed the small piece about Bradley Blaze winning the Rip Chord Invitational XVII. I had some plans, but in order to enact them, I would have to shuffle some things around. Firstly, I made a call to an old friend and re-hired Ernie Turner to join me on commentary. The break had done him good and he was raring to go. I’d move Honest Frank and Whistler out into new roles to make space. I then looked at my plans for Rush Hour 2022. Could this possibly work? Only one way to find out. NYCW Rush Hour 2022 Sunday, Week 4, January 2022 Queens Boulevard Theater, New York City, New York Attendance: 2,421 SINGLES MATCH: Charlie Corner vs. The Masked Mauler In a bout that didn't have much heat and terrible wrestling, The Masked Mauler defeated Charlie Corner in 8:01 by pinfall after using a foreign object. Rating: 33 The sudden extra space on the card could be filled with some new workers. We kicked it all off with young Charlie Corner, a high-upside guy taking on The Masked Mauler. The match was a fine enough opener, and there was a chance these two could have a decent mini-feud at the start of each show. ANGLE: Honest Frank steps out to a classic nostalgia pop. He’s wearing a smart three-piece suit and has had his hair cut and styled. He walks to the ring accompanied by two new wrestlers and grab s a microphone. “Peoples of New York. I, Honest Frank, your hero, have returned to New York City Wrestling. Now I know this is exciting for you. Your lives are so empty that the appearance of a man you revere has no doubt sent you into a delirium… y’see, you’re so confused by your emotions that you’re booing me… I have returned with one goal. To create the greatest stable of workers in professional wrestling history. And that great endeavour begins tonight. Alongside me are the first two acquisitions. Two future Hall of Famers and the future of professional wrestling. On my left, this handsome devil is my son; Frank Harriet Jr.. Like his old man, Frank Jr. is a top ten in-ring worker, which he combines with incredible skills on the mic and the sort of raw charisma which mean men want to be him, and women want to be with him. You may applaud Frank Jr. now (crowd boos louder). You clearly aren’t aware of how lucky you are to see the birth of this movement. Anyway, it is now my pleasure to introduce the man on my right, although he scarecely needs introducing. Before coming here tonight, I scoured the globe for the best all-round talent in wrestling and he is the only man I considered worthy of joining my stable. All the way from Tokyo, Japan, the Land of the Rising Sun. The man, the myth, the legend… Magnum Kobe.” The announcement draws crickets from the crowd. “Now then,” Honest Frank continues. “Larry has approved our wrestling licesnses, so if there’s a tag team backstage who want to make history by being the first to lose to this alliance. Sack up and get out here and take your medicine.” And here come The Tagg Brothers… Rating: 57 TAG TEAM MATCH: The Tagg Brothers vs. Frank Harriet Jr. & Magnum Kobe In a bout that didn't have much heat and terrible wrestling, Frank Harriet Jr. and Magnum Kobe defeated The Tagg Brothers in 7:50 when Frank Harriet Jr. pinned Kal Tagg with a Roll The Dice. Rating: 31 A little underwhelming after the big intro, but to be expected considering neither of the newcomers are even remotely known. Still, as Honest Frank says… it all begins here. SINGLES MATCH: Freedom Eagle vs. Howlin Mad Mort In a decent match, Howlin' Mad Mort defeated Freedom Eagle in 10:07 by pinfall, illegally using the ropes for leverage. Rating: 45 I was still struggling to find something for both of these guys to do going forward. Each had lost their tag team partner permanently and needed some direction outside of their tag team histories. I was hoping that by spending the year throwing them into different matches that something might click. TAG TEAM MATCH: Happy Elwood & Vendetta vs. The Fantastic Express In a bout that didn't have much heat and terrible wrestling, The Fantastic Express defeated Happy Elwood and Vendetta in 7:48 when Rafe Sashay pinned Happy Elwood with a Fantastic Flashbang. Rating: 28 Our next match featuring newcomers involves the tag team The Fantastic Express. An exciting duo consisting of Zippy Deverell and Rafe Sashay. Much like their precursors the Cross River Connection, they are playing douchebag cocky heels. In order to start building them up immediately I extended an invitation to two local workers, who did what they were paid to do and laid down for the three-count. I perhaps expected too much from this foursome, but The Express were part of the main roster now, and over time we’d build them up as we had previous teams. SINGLES MATCH: Animal Harker vs. Denny King In a decent match, Denny King defeated Animal Harker in 8:30 by count out. Rating: 41 Another match-up between two long-standing NYCW veterans with little going on. I always knew I could count on these two to plug-and-play decent match-ups whenever I needed them. So neither man gets the clean win here. TAG TEAM MATCH: The LA Stars vs. Sal DiMeo & Andrew Harper In a decent match, The LA Stars defeated Sal DiMeo and Andrew Harper in 9:48 when LA Star #2 pinned Andrew Harper with a handful of tights. Rating: 50 The former tag team champions, who’ve already climbed higher than any team before them get back to winning ways against the stable-homeless Sweet Sal and overlooked former main eventer Andrew Harper. SINGLES MATCH: Brutus Milano vs. ‘The Georgia Bulldog’ Riley McManus In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Riley McManus defeated Brutus Milano in 9:57 by pinfall with a Slingshot Suplex. Rating: 50 Clean win for the violent and vicious Georgia Bulldog. We had big plans for McManus throughout this year as he would become something of a focal point. So a clean victory of a former Empire champion here made sense. McManus always got the best out of Milano too. ANGLE: Cross River Connection are backstage and they invite ‘The Pittsburgh Kid’ Danny Hagman to join them for the next match. They’re riding high having proved themselves to be the best tag team on the Eastern seaboard… maybe the world. And tonight the three of them are going to crush the pretenders. Rating: 61 Solid interview segment here as the champs establish them more and more. GANG WARS MATCH: Danny Hagman & Cross River Connection vs. Richie Riggins & The New York Dolls In a decent match, Danny Hagman and Cross River Connection defeated Richie Riggins and The New York Dolls in 21:26 when Danny Hagman submitted Eddie Braddock with a Steel Curtain after blatantly cheating. Rating: 48 First things first; the match was good with everyone (except Eddie) pulling their weight for a great match. Secondly, and more concerningly; at one point Prime Time was nearly dropped on his head by Eddie Braddock. Fortunately Prime Time readjusted and avoided injury and kept his cool. But backstage he went off on one. This was not the first sloppy move from Braddock and we couldn’t afford to have him injuring our up-and-coming stars like that. NYCW EMPIRE TITLE MATCH: Thom Barrowman vs. American Machine © In a bout that had fantastic heat and good wrestling, Thom Barrowman drew with American Machine in 9:50 following a double disqualification after a number of wrestlers stormed the ring and attached both men. Rating: 60 Here we go… ANGLE: After delivering one of the more violent beatdowns in NYCW history. The group of wrestlers in the ring pull out a Puerto Rican flag and begin waving it around to the disdain of the audience. Those in the audience with WrestleWorld subscriptions recognise Greg Black, Rudy Velasquez, Hector Galindo, Tex Tagan, Mutant, Kip Keenan and Joffy Laine. Greg Black grabs the microphone. “We are Puerto Rico. We are the FREEDOM Fighters.” Rating: 57 … the invasion of NYC has begun. OVERALL RATING: 58 That was a big event and the first step on a short-to-medium-term plan for the remaining FREEDOM workers. Eagle-eyed viewers noticed that the relevant champions still held their titles from the last FCW show. We got a whopping 89,546 viewers for the show after word spread online and in the Pro Wrestling Reporter. If we did this right, it would start to push us over the top in popularity. Next time… the FREEDOM Fighters set out their aims… sort of…

New York City… Year End Awards 2021… Wrestler of the Year: Wolf Hawkins (TCW) Young Wrestler of the Year: Robby Griffin (CWA) Female Wrestler of the Year: Brooke Tyler (CWA) Tag Team of the Year: The Amazing Bumfholes (SWF) Independent Wrestler of the Year: Fuyuko Higa (5SSW) Veteran Wrestler of the Year: The Crippler (SWF) Promotion of the Year: TCW Most Improved Promotion: CZCW (Boo!) Show of the Year: CWA Big City Brawl (Aaron Knight defeated Donte Dunn) Match of the Year: Wolf Hawkins vs. Marc Speed (TCW Presents Total Wrestling – October 2021) Announcer of the Year: Duane Fry (SWF) Colour Commentator of the Year: Emma Chase (SWF) Manager of the Year: Krissy Angelle (SWF) Top 10 Workers in the World: 1. Wolf Hawkins (TCW) 2. Aaron Andrews (TCW) 3. Mainstream Hernandez (SWF) 4. Des David (SWF) 5. Mikey Lau (SWF) 6. Rocky Golden (SWF) 7. The Crippler (SWF) 8. Jay Chord (SWF) 9. Remo Richardson (SWF) 10. Greg Gauge (TCW) NYCW Workers and People of Note in Top 500: 49. Monty Trescarde (NYCW Alumni) 53. Cameron Vessey (Larry’s son) 58. Atom Smasher (Nevada Nuclear – NYCW Alumni) 60. Matthew Keith (Sam Keith’s son) 63. Greg Gauge (Sam Keith’s son) 147. Bulldozer Brandon Smith (Former NYCW Empire Champion) 163. Hawkeye Calhoun (NYCW Alumni) 164. Whitehorse Whittaker (NYCW Alumni) 183. Dazzling Dave Diamond (Larry’s Most Hated Rival) 191. Joey Morgan (Joey Minnesota – Former NYCW Empire Champion) 198. Roger Cage (Former NYCW Empire Champion) 216. Tennessee William (Former NYCW Empire Champion) 227. Masked Stranger (NYCW Alumni) 271. Grandmaster Phunk (Former NYCW Empire Champion) 307. Dean Waldorf (NYCW Alumni) 308. Marv Statler (NYCW Alumni) 312. Sammy Smoke (Sammy the Shark – NYCW Alumni) 329. Petr Novak (The Big Problem – NYCW Alumni) 460. Jonnie Perez!?! (COTT World Heavyweight Champion) 491. Alina America (COTT World Women’s Champion) Title Prestige: NYCW Empire: American Machine – 38 Prestige (+4) NYCW King of New York: American Machine – 48 Prestige (+5) NYCW Tag Team: Cross River Connection – 35 Prestige (+4) NYCW Tri-State Regional: Richie Riggins – 33 Prestige (+4) COTT World Heavyweight: Jonnie Perez (CZCW) – 53 Prestige (+6) COTT World Tag Team: Freedom Force (FREEDOM) – 47 Prestige (+8) COTT United States: Dagger (ACPW) – 48 Prestige (+8) COTT World Women’s: Alina America (QAW) – 49 Prestige COTT World Six-Man Tag Team: Captain Lucha, North Star Jr & Sunburst (OLLIE) – 41 Prestige NEW YORK CITY WRESTLING Champions American Machine NYCW Empire Champion Entrance Music: Real American by Rick Derringer The GODDAM AMERICAN HERO is accompanied to the ring by Cheerleader Nicki and stands for truth, justice and the American Way. An ultra-patriot, he is the top babyface in NYCW and his feud with Thom Barrowman has underpin the entire year. Cross River Connection Perfect Pepper Pelton & Prime Time Jack Pryde NYCW Tag Team Champions Entrance Music: Even Flow by Pearl Jam The former douchebag pairing who turned to the light side have seen their stock rise and rise. Two incredible young, in-ring talents, the Cross River Connection have an uncanny ability to connect with the crowd, even if their limited microphone time is… eccentric, to say the least. Their inexperience is barely noticeable now and they recently defeated The New York Dolls to finally claim the NYCW Tag Team Titles. A feud with The LA Stars appears to be in their futures. Richie Riggins NYCW Tri-State Regional Champion Entrance Music: Lady of Darkest Night by Lee Aaron Richie ‘The Body’ Riggins has had something of a breakout year in NYCW. Having won the Tri-State Regional title from Hawkeye Calhoun at Spring Showdown, he has held the title through to the end of the year and the quality of his in-ring ability has increased along with his popularity. The Body is on such a white hot streak at the moment that the main event must soon be beckoning for man with the million dollar body. Roster Thom Barrowman Entrance Music: Fortunate Son by Creedance Clearwater Revival The One Man Army, the bitter veteran and the former NYCW Empire Champion; Thom Barrowman has been a part of the main event all year. He has formed an on-and-off partnership with the Georgia Bulldog, but has been the top heel for over a year. ‘The Georgia Bulldog’ Riley McManus Entrance Music: Southern Flavor by Versatyle tha Wildchyld From the University of Georgia comes Riley McManus, a man whose been through the ringer throughout the year. Following his brutal feud with Denny King, McManus lost complete control of himself and unleashed the inner beast. Since then he’s been fighting in more-and-more important matches in the hunt for the Empire Title. A heart-breaking loss in the King of New York robbed him of his last shot, but he will no doubt push ahead in 2022 to overcome all the obstacles to reach the top of the mountain. Andrew Harper Entrance Music: Mean Man by Wasp NYCW’s resident bully has had a rollercoaster year. His greatest successes came as the unspoken third of a team involving Barrowman and McManus, while his singles performances were underwhelming, including losses to Bulldozer Brandon Smith and Freedom Eagle. It is unknown what the new year ahead will bring, but whatever happens he’ll be looking to further establish himself as a top-level star. Brutus Milano Entrance Music: Saturdays by Mitch Murder The former NYCW Empire Champion and hero to the large number of Italian-Americans in New York, Brutus is firmly out of the title picture now, but had established a secure position in the company as a gatekeeper to better talent. Most of his year has been spent feuding with the likes of Denny King and Andrew Harper, although both feuds were hardly memorable. The New York Dolls Spike Sylvian & Eddie Braddock Entrance Music: Hey Ho! Let’s Go by The Ramones Having been birthed over a year ago, The New York Dolls rose to prominence in 2021 thanks in no small part to the breakup of The Boys of the Yukon. They achieved the incredible success of winning the NYCW Tag Team Titles from The LA Stars and went on an incredible streak of victory which lasted all the way to the last show of the year. Having lost the titles to Cross River Connection, the future does not look too bright for the duo, especially Eddie Braddock whose in-ring sloppiness has nearly caused a number of injuries. Denny King Entrance Music: Surprise! You’re Dead by Faith No More One of the most underrated in-ring talents in the whole company, the aging Denny King has seen his stock plummet throughout the year. Following his incredible feud with Riley McManus; Denny King has set about losing substantial matches against a number of competitors, not least Brutus Milano. A solid midcarder, there seems little else for King to achieve for the time being. The LA Stars LA Star #1 & LA Star #2 Entrance Music: Los Angeles by Blink-182 One of the best tag teams in independent wrestling, The LA Stars lost the NYCW Tag Team Titles to The New York Dolls. Since losing the titles they’ve been embroiled in a number of six-man tag team matches partnering with the likes of Danny Hagman and American Machine. Gaining popularity each week it cannot be long before the LA Stars find themselves back in contention for the tag titles either in NYCW or the COTT World Tag Team Titles. Animal Harker Entrance Music: X by X Japan The former Southern Star has settled into his role of perennial midcard worker. A moderately talented in-ring performer with some good charisma, he loses more than he wins. His bigger problem is his love of Japanese wrestling, which sees him missing from action at different times, not to mention the impact that style of wrestling has on his body. He will likely be in the same position in a year and that suits everyone fine. Danny Hagman Entrance Music: Renegade by Styx The youngster affectionately known as The Pittsburgh Kid is the consummate underdog performer. Despite that he’s only lost two matches all year (pinfall to James Diaz and count-out against Dreadnought) and looks poised to step-up again in the year ahead. It seems that listening to Larry and ditching the mask and War Piece gimmick here was a great idea. Freedom Eagle Entrance Music: Iron Man by AC/DC The loss of Hawkeye Calhoun cost Freedom Eagle dear. That’s not to say his career would be better with his former partner around. In fact there’s a good argument to say that he’s achieved more taking his partner’s spot. A decent NYCW Tri-State Regional Title reign was the highlight for the masked grappler. Since losing the title, he has been floating around the midcard, being dragged into various feuds without actually being centre stage for any of them. Sal DiMeo Entrance Music: Prisencolinensinainciusol by Adriano Celentano What a difference a year makes. Having formed one of the longer lasting stables in NYCW history, Sweet Sal has seen his long-time partners The Italian Americans released due to a lack of progress. Where this leaves Sal himself is unknown at this stage, but it seems unlikely that he’ll be jumping up the card anytime soon. A break from the DiMeo Family is exactly what the audience need right now. The Masked Mauler Entrance Music: None Inhabiting the classic gimmick whole-heartedly, The Masked Mauler (VII) has had a solid 2021. Splitting his time early on between main roster and pre-show, he’s been used more and more thanks in no small part to a growing backstage swelling of opinion on his abilities. Many of the veteran performers speak very highly of his work and see great things in his future and NYCW management are not ones to ignore such positivity. Howlin Mad Mort Entrance Music: Metal Movie Marijuana Massacre Meltdown by Acid Watch Following the departure of his long-time tag team partner Whitehorse Whittaker, the remaining half of The Boys From the Yukon has struggled to get anything going for himself in singles competition. A complete overhaul of his character is likely needed, but for now he splits his time between jobbing on the main show and working with rookies on the pre-show. The Tagg Brothers Kal Tagg & Wolfie Tagg Entrance Music: Southern Justice by Travis Tritt The young brother duo are still relatively new to the NYCW audience having only performed a handful of times throughout the year. But recently they’ve begun to build up some momentum and the crowd are beginning to respond to their work. They have a reasonably high upside and with the right care, they could become one of the teams of the new generation. They’ll have to be successful, because their notoriously prickly backstage attitudes might make it difficult for them to succeed based on personality alone. Where are They Now? Bulldozer Brandon Smith – After NYCW he joined SWF and was packaged American Patriot and teamed with High Flyin Hawaiian as The Chaos Congregation. They’ve won some matches, but no title shots as yet Hawkeye Calhoun – Has been a series of incredible matches in SWF with the likes of Des David, Remo and The Crippler. To date he has won no matches with the company, but his experience must be through the roof by now. Tennessee William – Having been with SWF for over a year now, Tennessee William has established himself as a lower midcard jobber, which is a step up from when he first joined. He’s recently started a feud with Makutsi, who has won three consecutive matches cleanly. Whitehorse Whittaker – Whitehorse has been exclusively used as a pre-show and early card talent. Whenever SWF need a big man to get a win, they bring in the trusty lumberjack to lay down for the pin. He probably deserves better, but won’t until they come for his tag team partner too. Next time… The Vessey Brothers United, a locker room divided… OOC: thank you to all the people who've worked on graphics and renders. The ones used above are created by a number of awesome artists. The only one I know for sure are ReapeR and King Bison. But if anyone else knows who did the others, I'd like to give them credit.

New York City… in a Flash, they’re gone… One day in early December, Larry, myself and the agents were working through the upcoming Showdown. Larry received a call (I spied it was from Sam Keith) and within seconds he was ranting a raving. Everyone stopped what they were doing to listen. After hanging up, Larry sighed and explained that Keith had just stripped Ernest Youngman of the World Heavyweight Title after The Assassin had signed a contract with TCW. They were obviously buoyed by an amazing King of Kings tournament won by Aaron Andrews. I already knew they’d grabbed Justin Sensitive and Logan Wolfsbaine. Now Ernest too. Steve Flash coughed nervously. I looked at him and he pulled a manilla envelope from inside his jacket. I recognised the TCW logo at once. Dammit. Larry had seen it too and to my surprise, he walked up to Flash and shook his hand. Congratulated and immediately got on the phone again. That was not the start to the month I wanted. Larry later explained he was dealing with the lack of Steve Flash by bringing in an old friend. Elsewhere Scythe signed with USPW and Keith confirmed by email that Cliff Anderson and CZCW had earned the right to crown a new COTT World Heavyweight champion. God knows who they’d choose, but I couldn’t worry about that now. The newly joined ACPW also had the rights to Logan’s last match for the territories too. I then got a call. Y’know sometimes it really feels like the world is piling on. Backstage on the night of the show, the air was full of electricity. You could tell that most couldn’t wait to get stuck in. A man in a hoody moved silently through the room, barely raising an eyebrow, despite having his head and face covered. Perhaps wrestlers were used to the weird and wonderful. But I knew why we was there and what he was doing. For a moment the figure stopped and watched Ray Snow yelling at one of the rookies for an almost-botched spot. The figure tilted his head, but didn’t approach. NYCW New York City Showdown 2021 Sunday, Week 2, December 2021 Queens Boulevard Theater, New York City, New York Attendance: 2,379 SINGLES MATCH: Danny Hagman vs. Denny King In a decent match, Danny Hagman defeated Denny King in 10:27 by pinfall with a Missing Piece. Rating: 49 ‘The Pittsburgh Kid’ Danny Hagman takes down a clean win against the wily veteran in an incredible opener. In a nice throwback to his former gimmick, he even wins with the Missing Piece finisher which is about as niche a throwback call as you can get. King never lets us down in a big spot. TAG TEAM MATCH: The Tagg Brothers vs. Dreadnought & Howlin Mad Mort In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, The Tagg Brothers defeated Dreadnought and Howlin' Mad Mort in 8:14 when Wolfie Tagg pinned Dreadnought with a Montana Slammer. Rating: 38 The collapse of Dreadnought is complete. He offered so much promise and this is where we say goodbye. I’d been toying with releasing him from ages, but felt he deserved one last pay day before being cut loose. The Tagg Brothers continue to build something of a streak, although having been burned with The Italian Americans, I was concerned that their upside was significantly smaller than first believed. Howlin Mad Mort was completely adrift. But we’d persevere for now because of nostalgia. NYCW TRI-STATE TITLE MATCH: James Diaz vs. Richie Riggins © In a decent match, Richie Riggins defeated James Diaz in 10:06 by pinfall with a Body Bag. Richie Riggins makes defence number seven of the NYCW Tri-State Regional. Rating: 41 James Diaz’s big moment did not come to pass as Richie Riggins made short work of him. In what might look to outsiders as a burial of an up-and-comer, we can’t be held responsible for our talents career choices. If he wanted to sign up to TCW along with his cousin, we weren’t going to congratulate him. He hadn’t done enough to be considered an alumni. It was a shame, but that’s life. Sometimes it just kicks you in the nuts. GANG WARS MATCH: Animal Harker & The LA Stars vs. The DiMeo Family In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, Animal Harker and The LA Stars defeated The DiMeo Family (Sal DiMeo, Vito Pirelli and Luca Sacramoni) in 10:08 when Animal Harker pinned Luca Sacramoni with a Stump Piledriver. Rating: 39 And just like that, even more changes. We’d lost Steve Flash and James Diaz, while we planned to release Dreadnought AND The Italian Americans. We made sure Sweet Sal was dominant throughout the match in hopes his career can be salvaged. But for the big lads, it was the end of the road. Their spot could be filled by any number of teams; notably The Tagg Brothers. SINGLES MATCH: Freedom Eagle vs. Andrew Harper In a decent match, Freedom Eagle defeated Andrew Harper in 10:16 by pinfall with a Freedom Slam. Rating: 42 Sometimes two guys just put on a match and it blows people away. And sometimes you get something fine but forgettable. Both of these guys deserved more. But they got a midcard spot and we opted for a face win to keep the crowd happy. NYCW TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Cross River Connection vs. The New York Dolls © In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, Cross River Connection defeated The New York Dolls in 21:35 when Prime Time Jack Pryde pinned Eddie Braddock with a Prime Time Perfection. Cross River Connection win the NYCW Tag Team. Rating: 42 And we pull the plug on The New York Dolls title reign just like that. Spike was on the blaze of a lifetime, but Eddie Braddock was a constant anchor around his ankle. We couldn’t in good conscience deny the Connection their big moment any longer. And with two high-upside, good in-ring, charismatic performers holding the titles, a world of opportunity opened up. SINGLES MATCH: Brutus Milano vs. Riley McManus In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Riley McManus defeated Brutus Milano in 10:12 by pinfall with a Slingshot Suplex. Rating: 46 Sometimes you can do everything right, and still lose. Not The Georgia Bulldog though. He’s a winner through and through. And this match, while not quite main event, pushed him directly into the title picture. NYCW EMPIRE TITLE MATCH: American Machine vs. Thom Barrowman © In a bout that had fantastic heat and good wrestling, American Machine defeated Thom Barrowman in 9:37 by pinfall with an Old Glory. American Machine wins the NYCW Empire. Rating: 59 Boom! Solid performance from both guys as they end the year with a wallop. American Machine reclaims the gold having proven himself once again in-ring. And if you’re going to build up a monster show just before Christmas it didn’t make sense to have the heel prevail. OVERALL RATING: 57 74,942 viewers was a comfortable new record and we ended 2021 in style. As mentioned, we bid farewell to Steve Flash, James Diaz, Dreadnought, Luca Sacramoni and Vito Pirelli. They had the good grace not to hang around at the after-show party; packing up their things and leaving with a nod fo thanks. While drinking a cold one with the Connection, Pepper mentioned that Jonnie Perez had won the COTT World Heavyweight Title and Dagger had beaten Logan Wolfsbaine for the COTT United States title. “Frankie’s brother?” I asked. “Was Frankie not available?” Jesus wept. I was all in on the alliance, but without a steady hand to guide them, they sure made some horrific choices. And just who in the Hell was Dagger anyway? As LA Star #1 and Prime Time hugged in congratulations, the man in the hoody had eyes only for Ray Snow. The rest of the locker room started a chant for the departed wrestlers. The man in the hoody moved quickly through the crowd straight for Snow. He gripped him on the shoulder and pointed angrily at the group of wrestlers. Snow reacted as angrily and tried to shoot on the man, twisting his arm into an lock, but no sooner had he done that, that his own arm was twisted into a counter. The noise of the crowd fell to silence as all eyes watched the shoot fight, even the rookies watched on. The man in the hoody moved like liquid, sliding around the body of Ray Snow and applying pressure to force him to the ground. He shot the back and spun a full 360 degrees back into a mount and slapped the back of Ray Snow’s head as he hood fell down. “You either part of the team, or you’re nothing!” he yelled. “Let him go Bry,” Larry said. “You want me to be an agent,” said Bryan Vessey. “This is me being an agent.” Results: Theheel - 7/8 KyTeran - 6/8 Herrbear - 5/8 Next time… Year End Awards…

New York City… Where everyone wants money, all the time… So with our popularity growing and the boys not being stupid (broadly), we were inundated with more pay rise requests: Andrew Harper to $230 - Fine Riley McManus to $190 – Definitely fine Prime Time to $190 – A bit cheeky, but he was worth it The Masked Mauler to $90 – Fair based on other people’s constant talking him up The Taggs to $110 – A little bit much considering they’d achieved very little Eddie Braddock to $150 – He nearly killed two different workers in two matches… We agreed to all the raises entirely, just to keep the backstage environment clean. But the sword of Damocles was swinging over people’s heads at this point. NYCW Fight Club NYC Sunday, Week 2, November 2021 Queens Boulevard Theater, New York City, New York Attendance: 2,000 SINGLES MATCH: The Masked Mauler vs. Sal DiMeo In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, The Masked Mauler drew with Sal DiMeo in 9:54 following a double disqualification. Rating: 41 These two impressed here. We know Sweet Sal has some in-ring chops, but Mauler’s continued growth and talent was genuinely interesting to watch. He didn’t need the rocket treatment, but we’d rather spend the next few years building him up from the literal ground and see where we could go. SINGLES MATCH: Freedom Eagle vs. Dreadnought In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, Freedom Eagle defeated Dreadnought in 9:35 by pinfall with a Freedom Slam. Rating: 39 Another clean loss for Dreadnought, as his stock threatened to hit rock bottom. Freedom Eagle was a consistent midcard hand and we were happy to give him the win here. TAG TEAM MATCH: Cross River Connection vs. The Italian Americans In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, Cross River Connection defeated The Italian Americans in 10:13 when Perfect Pepper Pelton pinned Vito Pirelli with a Prime Time Perfection. Rating: 38 Yet another defeat for the Italian Americans as we seamlessly shifted them down the card into the positions left by Borne and Tubbs. It’s always good to have enhancement talent. ANGLE: The LA Stars, along with Animal Harker come to the ring after the match. They challenge the DiMeo Family to a Gang Wars match at New York City Showdown, but they want it all. If the Family win, all three of them will leave NYCW for good. If they win, the Family must split up for good. Rating: 47 With the constant threat of raids from bigger promotions, it was entirely possible for either teams to lose. High stakes = High drama. Decent promo, carried by LA Star #1. SINGLES MATCH: Danny Hagman vs. Denny King In a decent match, Denny King defeated Danny Hagman in 9:51 by count out. Rating: 45 Denny King’s re-emergence meets the growing juggernaut of momentum that is The Pittsburgh Kid. The result is an unsatisfying count out victory for the villainous King. Without the desire to put either man over properly, you might ask yourself why we put the match on. That was a good question I wasn’t ready to answer. ANGLE: Richie ‘The Body’ Riggins is in the ring with The New York Dolls. He’s here to give the New York City Sweat-hogs a free show. He reminds the crowd that women pay to see the kind of show he’s giving them for free. He begins doing a series of poses while Spike and Eddie applaud him and give over-blown facial reactions like their looking at a masterpiece. The crowd are less enamored with the gorgeous specimen. James Diaz and The LA Stars come down to the ring to laugh at the trio and Richie challenges James Diaz to a posedown. With support from the crowd, Diaz accepts and despite not having anywhere near as good a body as THE body, the crowd cheer him. Angry, the New York Dolls and Richie attack. Rating: 59 I am a sucker for nonsense like this. And so are my audience. GANG WARS MATCH: James Diaz & The LA Stars vs. Richie Riggins & The New York Dolls In a decent match, James Diaz and The LA Stars defeated Richie Riggins and The New York Dolls in 21:50 when James Diaz pinned Richie Riggins with an Asian Thumb Spike. Rating: 48 The future challenger pins the champion. That’s what we call foreshadowing. And momentum building. And story-telling. Match was good too. SINGLES MATCH: Brutus Milano vs. Andrew Harper In a decent match, Andrew Harper defeated Brutus Milano in 10:28 by pinfall with a Spike Slam following interference from Denny King. Rating: 46 Andrew Harper hammers the former champ in a surprisingly decent match. Denny appearance absolutely makes sense as he continues to be an absolute a-hole. TAG TEAM MATCH: American Machine & Animal Harker vs. Thom Barrowman vs. Riley McManus In a bout that had great heat and decent wrestling, Thom Barrowman and Riley McManus defeated American Machine and Animal Harker in 23:59 when Riley McManus pinned American Machine with a Slingshot Suplex. Rating: 57 The heels finish stronger than the faces here in an amazing match. Riley is firmly established in the top-tier of workers in our little promotion, while any concerns about American Machine have largely been dispelled at this stage. Which is a relief. OVERALL RATING: 55 We got a very healthy 68,570 viewers for that show and with one show left until New York City Showdown, things were coming together beautifully. In the week between shows we learnt that Spencer Spade had joined USPW and disappointingly Logan Wolfsbaine had signed with TCW. That second one has been coming a long time and frankly I’m astounded he hasn’t been snapped up before. We hoped this didn’t give his cousin any ideas. NYCW The Final Countdown Sunday, Week 3, November 2021 Queens Boulevard Theater, New York City, New York Attendance: 2,219 TAG TEAM MATCH: The Tagg Brothers vs. The Italian Americans In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but terrible wrestling, The Tagg Brothers defeated The Italian Americans in 10:06 when Kal Tagg pinned Vito Pirelli with a Montana Slammer. Rating: 34 The Fall of the DiMeo Family ™ is almost complete at this stage. The day you’re losing clean to a rookie team in the opening of the penultimate show of the year, things have really gone off the rails. ANGLE: After the loss Sweet Sal and the Italian Americans argue over whose fault all the losing is. Rating: 49 SINGLES MATCH: Freedom Eagle vs. Cerberus In a decent match, Freedom Eagle defeated Cerberus in 7:44 by pinfall with a Freedom Slam. Rating: 38 Desperate times call for desperate measures. We had been wanting to introduce some local workers to shows and this seemed a good opportunity. Turns out Cerberus sucks, so he wouldn’t be coming back with a proper contract. SINGLES MATCH: Danny Hagman vs. Dreadnought In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, Danny Hagman defeated Dreadnought in 7:52 by submission with a Steel Curtain. Rating: 32 Another clean loss for the least effective monster heel in professional wrestling history. Hagman is a proper Giant Slayer at this point though. So there’s always a silver lining. SINGLES MATCH: Brutus Milano vs. Sal DiMeo In a decent match, Sal DiMeo defeated Brutus Milano in 9:55 by disqualification. Rating: 42 Sweet Sal with the most underwhelming victory of all time. He basically cheated by bashing a chair into the mat behind the ref’s back and throwing it into Brutus’ hands and then laying down. The ref thinking he heard Brutus hit him with a chair, immediately disqualifies the Italian Heartthrob. TAG TEAM MATCH: The LA Stars vs. Riley McManus & Denny King In a decent match, The LA Stars drew with Riley McManus and Denny King in 9:57 following a double disqualification. Rating: 53 Surprisingly good match considering McManus and King have no chemistry. Fortunately the LA Stars have enough chemistry for both teams. King’s inclusion in the match was a bit odd anyway, but a lot of this show is to keep the heat on various stars ahead of their big matches at the Showdown. SINGLES MATCH: Animal Harker vs. Doug Peak In a decent match, Animal Harker defeated Doug Peak in 10:09 by pinfall with a Stump Piledriver. Rating: 46 Another local worker steps in, and it’s non-other than the great Doug Peak. The match is pretty good, highlighted by these two’s great chemistry. Shame Peak was too old and broken down to consider keeping on long term. But we had plenty of broken down stars as it was. ANGLE: Cross River Connection cut a promo backstage about The New York Dolls. At the New York City Showdown, their going to achieve their childhood dream of winning the tag team gold. “Is it really our childhood dream?” asks Perfect Pepper Pelton. “Yeah…” replied Prime Time unconvincingly. “Really?” “Well no, not really. But we can’t stand here and say ‘at the Showdown we’re going to get drunk in an infinity pool with some Sports Illustrated cover girls’ can we?” “That is our childhood dream though isn’t it?” “It sure is Pep… Anyway; Showdown… Dolls vs. Connection for the whole enchilada.” “Now I’m hungry dmamit.” “Yeah me too. Match first, Mexican food later?” Prime Time asks. “Perfect!” Rating: 67 Time to give these boys some freedom on the mic. They did not disappoint. GANG WARS MATCH: James Diaz & Cross River Connection vs. Richie Riggins & The New York Dolls In a decent match, James Diaz and Cross River Connection drew with Richie Riggins and The New York Dolls in 22:14 when the referee lost control and stopped the match. Rating: 49 It’s yet another draw. But the crowd loved it (not so much Eddie Braddock) and there even chants for ‘enchiladas’ whenever Perfect Pepper was in the ring. Their ability to connect with the crowd about anything was truly special. SINGLES MATCH: American Machine vs. Andrew Harper In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, American Machine defeated Andrew Harper in 9:59 by pinfall with an Old Glory. Rating: 52 In a sea of draws, this was a BIG win for American Machine. He may have won a lot, but this was a clean win over a top guy heading into our biggest show to date. And it didn’t disappoint, despite being shorter than most big matches we run. ANGLE: American Machine grabs a microphone after the match. “Barrowman. Tick tock champ. It’s not long before you have to face a GODDAM AMERICAN HERO! And y’know what. Time’s up!” Rating: 66 Passionate. NYCW EMPIRE TITLE MATCH: Nelson Callum vs. Thom Barrowman © In an exceptional match, Thom Barrowman defeated Nelson Callum in 23:55 by pinfall with a Guided Missile. Thom Barrowman makes defence number six of the NYCW Empire. Rating: 63 What a match! Nelson Callum was another of those workers who I wished we could keep long-term. But Larry had his rules. It was rare for us to bring in talent on a loan and have them lose. But I wanted as much momentum as possible heading into the Showdown. OVERALL RATING: 61 Great show topped by the hefty increase to 73,439 viewers. We ended the month making a loss of $6,539 and were then hit with two crushing bits of news. NYCW New York City Showdown 2021 NYCW Empire Title: American Machine vs. Thom Barrowman © NYCW Tag Team Titles: Cross River Connection vs. The New York Dolls © NYCW Tri-State Title: James Diaz vs. Richie Riggins © Brutus Milano vs. 'The Georgia Bulldog' Riley McManus Freedom Eagle vs. Andrew Harper Animal Harker & The LA Stars vs. The DiMeo Family The Tagg Brothers vs. Dreadnought & Howlin Mad Mort Danny Hagman vs. Denny King Next time… we fiddle while all around us burns…

New York City… where change is as good as a rest… The year was flying by so quickly I could barely breath. The rate of change in the industry was fast and I was so busy working with production and all the news faces backstage that I’d left Larry in control of our representation at the COTT meetings. To say that their decision-making recently had been suspect, would be an understatement. I had expressed my concerns to Larry who took them to the Annual Meeting. And he came back with changes. Firstly CILL (Mexico) and ACPW (Canada) had joined our ranks. Secondly Freedom Force had reclaimed the tag team titles, which was the right move. Finally we were loaned Frantic Ali and the COTT World Heavyweight Title for the King of New York 2021. He had floundered as champion in a short while and friends were concerned with his sudden, heavy drinking. If he’s been the second coming of Sam Strong then it would’ve been fine. But he wasn’t, and it was time for a change. Andrew Harper returned from his hiatus, refreshed and a positive member of the locker room. He immediately asked for a pay rise. Cheeky devil. We agreed along with a host of other wrestlers: Sweet Sal to $150 Pepper Pelton to $200 Denny King to $210 Andrew Harper $170 The Pro Wrestling Reporter this month told us that awesome young star Gino Montero had signed with SWF, as had Killer Shark. USPW had been busy signing Rogue (of all people), while The Force had recently retired following his serious spinal injury. Son of a legendary performer Barry Kingman had set up his own Training School. That was good, more schools was always a good thing. There was an article about Troy Tornado, which included images from our last show, which was amazing. Then I saw it. A tiny little article, buried in the magazine. FREEDOM Caribbean Wrestling were suffering for financial troubles. Why was this the first I was hearing about that? Did the alliance know? Did Larry? NYCW The King of New York 2021 Sunday, Week 4, October 2021 Queens Boulevard Theater, New York City, New York Attendance: 2,120 COTT WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Ernest Youngman vs. Frantic Ali © In a decent match, Ernest Youngman defeated Frantic Ali in 10:26 by pinfall with The Hit. Ernest Youngman wins the COTT World Heavyweight. Rating: 55 No messing around here. Youngman was a proven commodity, Ali was a bust. We made the switch in a quick affair. Apparently Naess wanted it done on his territory, but screw it. This was a big show for us and what a match to kick it off. KONY QUARTER FINAL MATCH: American Machine vs. Andrew Harper In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, American Machine defeated Andrew Harper in 7:31 by pinfall with an Old Glory. Rating: 49 Surprisingly easy to convince Harper to take the first-round loss after his month off. He looked good in defeat, but the former champ marches his way to the semi-finals in a simple match. KONY QUARTER FINAL MATCH: James Diaz vs. Richie Riggins In a decent match, James Diaz defeated Richie Riggins in 10:18 by disqualification. Rating: 45 The champion, dominating throughout the match, is caught using a steel chair by referee Arnie Plummer and disqualified. Massive win for Diaz as we gets one over of the champ AND makes it through. This match was great, which was something to bear in mind heading into New York City Showdown event in December. KONY QUARTER FINAL MATCH: Freedom Eagle vs. Riley McManus In a decent match, Riley McManus defeated Freedom Eagle in 9:35 by pinfall with a Slingshot Suplex. Rating: 47 The Georgia Bulldog has got to be THE favourite for the tournament after the amazing year he’s had. Here he steamrolls fan favourite Freedom Eagle and looks every bit as vicious and commanding as he has in previous months. KONY QUARTER FINAL MATCH: Brutus Milano vs. Denny King In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Brutus Milano defeated Denny King in 7:39 by submission with an Italian Backbreaker. Rating: 47 And the rubber match proves decisive for the former Empire Champion and former King of New York. On name-merit alone he deserved a spot in the semis. Obviously basing things on ring talent was something else. GANG WARS MATCH: Danny Hagman & The LA Stars vs. The DiMeo Family In a decent match, Danny Hagman and The LA Stars defeated The DiMeo Family (Sal DiMeo, Vito Pirelli and Luca Sacramoni) in 9:44 when Danny Hagman submitted Vito Pirelli with a Steel Curtain. Rating: 44 This feels like a match on the fictional documentary… The Rise and Fall of the DiMeo Family. A few months ago they would won this match-up easily. These days they couldn’t buy a victory. Hagman’s star continues to rise and the cheers and chants for him were proving tough to ignore. NYCW TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Cross River Connection vs. The New York Dolls © In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, The New York Dolls defeated Cross River Connection in 10:26 when Spike Sylvain pinned Perfect Pepper Pelton with a handful of tights. The New York Dolls make defence number five of the NYCW Tag Team. Rating: 38 Disappointing match (mainly because of Eddie) as the champs cheat there way to winning. Their hold on the tag team titles with the likes of Cross River and LA Stars about was seeming looser and looser each week. They’d switched from Champions to Soon-to-be-former-champions in the blink of an eye. KONY SEMI FINAL MATCH: Brutus Milano vs. Riley McManus In a decent match, Riley McManus defeated Brutus Milano in 7:46 by pinfall with a Slingshot Suplex. Rating: 47 Onto the semi-finals and The Georgia Bulldog demolishes yet another foe on his march through the tournament. Brutus is a decent name around here, but on this showing he was made to look like a small child at the hands of the Bulldog. KONY SEMI FINAL MATCH: James Diaz vs. American Machine In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, American Machine defeated James Diaz in 7:54 when James Diaz was counted out fighting Richie Riggins at ringside. Rating: 47 The Body returns to wreck his revenge, which costs Diaz the shot at glory. Good match which protects Diaz and allows the top guy to go through to the final. It also establishes the big showdown for the end of the year between Diaz and Riggins. That one could be very special if we do it right. NYCW EMPIRE TITLE MATCH: Animal Harker vs. Thom Barrowman © In a bout that had great heat and good wrestling, Thom Barrowman defeated Animal Harker in 22:24 by pinfall with a Guided Missile. Thom Barrowman makes defence number five of the NYCW Empire. Rating: 59 Woah! It’s been a long time since Animal Harker had a shot at anything of note. And the moment he does, he steps up and delivers big time. This is what Barrowman is capable of, with no build and a talented opponent too. Fantastic match as they try and steal the show and just might have done it. Fantastic. KING OF NEW YORK TITLE MATCH: Riley McManus vs. American Machine In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, American Machine defeated Riley McManus in 10:29 by pinfall with an Old Glory. American Machine wins the NYCW King Of New York. Rating: 53 Turns out these two have great chemistry, but Machine’s lack of cardio meant we were restricted in the timings of the match. Plus they had to follow the surprise NYCW MATCH OF THE YEAR CONTENDER, which crippled the crowd response. I mean, I might be being a bot over the top with that level of praise. But Thom Barrowman vs. Animal Harker just blew a load of intricately crafted matches out of the water. Astounding. OVERALL RATING: 52 Somewhat disappointing after some recent shows, but it did the job. American Machine joins the small ranks of King of New York winners and the main event of New York City Showdwon was set. The Rematch of Machine and Barrowman. Add to that the obvious build towards Riggins vs. Diaz and we were over a month away with two good matches already set. I caught up with Larry after the show and he was delighted that we’d ballooned up to 65k viewers. I asked him about FREEDOM and he told me that they all knew, but no one wanted to openly discuss it out of respect of Puerto Rican Power (respect or fear I wondered). He did bring me up-to-date with other things I may have missed. CZCW had signed Steve Flash to a contract. Larry had agreed to help Cliff Anderson out. Gossip from SWF came next as they’d apparently signed Jay Chord, Sean McFly and Mighty Mo. While Emma Chase and Eric Eisen had split up, which was a genuine shock. Finally, and I was amazed he’d kept this under wraps, his son Cameron had signed a massive contract to join USPW. Larry was over the moon and told me that the family’s money problems were over. I asked him what money problems he was talking about and he waved me off. I sometimes feel like there’s a whole other world happening around me, but I never bother to look up from the book to observe it. Next time… One pay rise too many and the final build to New York City Showdown 2021… Results: Theheel - 9/11 KyTeran - 9/11 Herrbear - 8/11

New York City… Home of the brave and land of the soon-to-be-retired… I’d had a thought after Harper’s departure for the month and set about reaching out to a wrestler for a special one-shot appearance. I didn’t get it done in time for the first show of September, but it would be by the second. NYCW Brooklyn Brawl Sunday, Week 2, September 2021 Yonkers Field, New York City, New York Attendance: 1,821 NYCW TRI-STATE TITLE MATCH: Animal Harker vs. Richie Riggins © In a decent match, Animal Harker defeated Richie Riggins in 10:16 by disqualification. Rating: 48 A stumble from the gorgeous champion here as he realised Harker might beat him fairly, so he grabbed a chair and battered the green-haired former Southern Star to the mat, leaving referee Matthew White no choice but to DQ him. Richie just smiled at the decision and flexed the gunshow to audience in response. HAH! Amazing. SINGLES MATCH: Danny Hagman vs. Dreadnought In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but terrible wrestling, Dreadnought defeated Danny Hagman in 9:42 by count out. Rating: 32 Not a good match here. We knew that losses hurt Dreadnought more than Danny. But we didn’t want him crushing another rising star. We split the difference and caused a mess of a match. In retrospect, we should’ve made a choice and lived with the consequences. Poor Dreadnought. SINGLES MATCH: The Masked Mauler vs. Riley McManus In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, Riley McManus defeated The Masked Mauler in 10:16 by pinfall with a Slingshot Suplex. Rating: 38 Riley McManus takes one of the youngsters out for a spin and beats him comprehensively. But fair play to Mauler, who more than upholds his end of the bargain. His performance is so good actually that Honest Frank would comment after the show that he sees him as a great worker and a future star. SINGLES MATCH: James Diaz vs. Howlin Mad Mort In a decent match, James Diaz defeated Howlin' Mad Mort in 10:18 by pinfall with an Asian Thumb Spike. Rating: 46 Now we’re getting somewhere. Diaz, when paired with a big fella, can properly display his power moves and chain-wrestling and the results are… great. He was starting to gain popularity and momentum, which was exactly what we’d hoped for both him and Dreadnought. One we’d got right, the other not so much. SINGLES MATCH: Brutus Milano vs. Denny King In a decent match, Denny King defeated Brutus Milano in 10:19 by pinfall after using a foreign object. Rating: 44 Denny King is back baby. Back to his cheating ways and back to winning. We’d missed him since shunting him down the card to cool-off since the McManus feud. But here he beats our top face (outside of the main event), which anyone whose followed us knows we must have plans for him. Good match too. TAG TEAM MATCH: Cross River Connection vs. The Italian Americans In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, Cross River Connection defeated The Italian Americans in 9:40 when Perfect Pepper Pelton pinned Vito Pirelli with a Prime Time Perfection. Rating: 40 Everything here is as it should be. SINGLES MATCH: American Machine vs. Sal DiMeo In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, American Machine defeated Sal DiMeo in 9:34 by pinfall with an Old Glory. Rating: 52 And here too. NYCW TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The LA Stars vs. The New York Dolls © In a decent match, The New York Dolls defeated The LA Stars in 21:55 when Spike Sylvain pinned LA Star #2 with a Sedation. The New York Dolls make defence number four of the NYCW Tag Team. Rating: 53 Clean win for the champions over the former champions. And a great match too. Eddie remains a constant weak link in these matches, but for now we were invested in the story of the Dolls. The fact they’d come from nowhere to be crowned tag team champions gave them enough legs to keep going for now. Perhaps with more time and success Eddie would develop quicker. ANGLE: Thom Barrowman cuts a promo explaining that while American Machine relies of jingoism and vacuous phrases, he, the real American Hero (not trademarked because he’s not a douche) is out here, night after night, earning his success. Like a man. Something American Machine knows nothing about. Rating: 68 This was a nicely face-inspired promo, but with so much bitterness that it became heelish in nature. That’s nuance baby. Our crowd obviously ignored all of that and just boo’d the bad man. Which also worked to be honest. NYCW EMPIRE TITLE MATCH: Freedom Eagle vs. Thom Barrowman © In a bout that had great heat and good wrestling, Thom Barrowman defeated Freedom Eagle in 23:41 by pinfall with a Guided Missile. Thom Barrowman makes defence number three of the NYCW Empire. Rating: 49 Oh Freedom. This was not good enough for a main event match and it certainly wasn’t Barrowman’s fault. When given the opportunity, and with momentum behind him, Freedom still couldn’t grab the brass ring and prove his main event status. This was not great news. OVERALL RATING: 50 60,404 viewers was a small increase. Brutus came to us after the show and asked for a pay rise from $90 to £140. Managing to keep a straight face, I just gave it too him. Elsewhere Ultimate Phoenix signed with SWF, American Flash won the King of California 2021 and Logan Wolfsbaine lost the United States title to Captain Lucha from OLLIE. I refused to get drawn into a conversation about that title change. Let’s just say, I didn’t think it was a great idea. Onwards. Tonight we’d signed none other than Troy Tornado to a one-shot event. We even advertised in advance and tried to build some hype for it. No point dropping a big surprise on a normal show with a decent-sized name like his. NYCW Knockout in Queens Sunday, Week 3, September 2021 Queens Boulevard Theater, New York City, New York Attendance: 1,894 SINGLES MATCH: The Masked Mauler vs. Dreadnought In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, The Masked Mauler defeated Dreadnought in 10:09 by pinfall with a Piledriver!?! Rating: 33 Honest Frank thought Mauler was a star in the making and nobody had said that about Dreadnought in about a year at this point. So we do the right thing and have Mauler beat him, clean, with a bog standard Piledriver!?! As the Mauler gimmick insists. SINGLES MATCH: Danny Hagman vs. Ray Snow In a poor match, Danny Hagman defeated Ray Snow in 10:18 by pinfall with a Terrible Towel. Rating: 36 Ray Snow reappears from his pre-show exile to do for Hagman, what he used to do. The match wasn’t amazing, but Hagman got the clean win, and introduced his new non-submission finisher, the Terrible Towel. Which is a massive lariat which sends opponents into a tailspin. For a small and skinny guy, his moves look absolutely lethal. GANG EXTREME WARFARE: Animal Harker, Freedom Eagle, James Diaz & Cross River Connection vs. Riley McManus, Howlin Mad Mort & The DiMeo Family In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, Animal Harker, Freedom Eagle, James Diaz, Prime Time Jack Pryde and Perfect Pepper Pelton defeated Sal DiMeo, Vito Pirelli, Luca Sacramoni, Riley McManus and Howlin' Mad Mort in 22:04 when James Diaz pinned Howlin' Mad Mort with an Asian Thumb Spike. Rating: 45 We’ve upgraded from a standard three-on-three, to a monstrous five-on-five. And the results are great. While this represents the first loss for the Georgia Bulldog in a while, there were so many people involved it was barely noticeable. What was noticeable was James Diaz getting the win. It made him look like a star. Fantastic stuff. SINGLES MATCH: Brutus Milano vs. Denny King In a decent match, Brutus Milano defeated Denny King in 10:28 by submission with an Italian Backbreaker after blatantly cheating. Rating: 46 Revenge is sweet for Brutus as Denny does everything he can to get Brutus to snap (like he did McManus), but struggles because you can’t set-up shop in the brain of a man with no brain. Advantage; Milano. GANG WARS MATCH: American Machine & The LA Stars vs. Richie Riggins & The New York Dolls In a decent match, American Machine and The LA Stars defeated Richie Riggins and The New York Dolls in 24:07 when American Machine pinned Eddie Braddock with an Old Glory. Rating: 49 Eddie Braddock takes the pinfall once again in a fantastic Gang Wars match. He was now the go-to guy for pinfalls in the team as we didn’t want to damage the popularity of Spike. Which was not something I ever imagined I’d say out loud. What was going on?!? ANGLE: Thom Barrowman is out to the ring to the sounds of Fortunate Child. He heard that Troy Tornado was stopping by. And he couldn’t wait. He got inline backstage, got a headshot photo of the ‘big star’ and when it came to meeting him, Thom just ate the photo and slapped the taste out of Tornado’s mouth. Apparently we didn’t like that treatment and now he; THE Empire champion has to fight the ‘ahem… legend’ in a match. That’s no problem, the champ faces tougher challenges just walking along a street in New York City. Rating: 81 Amazingly sarcastic and dry interview here, showing Barrowman’s depth as a talker. NYCW EMPIRE TITLE MATCH: Troy Tornado vs. Thom Barrowman © In an exceptional match, Thom Barrowman defeated Troy Tornado in 10:04 by pinfall with a Guided Missile. Thom Barrowman makes defence number four of the NYCW Empire. Rating: 71 Kept the match short for the retiree and my God the two of them tore the house down. This is not only our best match of the year, it’s the best match ever. In our entire history. I was suddenly completely gutted that Tornado was retiring, because after this I was sure we could use him indefinitely. OVERALL RATING: 69 Best match ever tops best show ever. We got a big bump to 69,992 viewers and Tornado, a man of his word, retired the day after. I even tried talking him out of it and he rejected. Dammit! We also lost $20k for the month. Ouch. The King of New York 2021 KONY Final KONY Semi-Final: A vs. B KONY Semi-Final: C vs. D KONY Quarters A: American Machine vs. Andrew Harper KONY Quarters B: James Diaz vs. Richie Riggins KONY Quarters C: Brutus Milano vs. Denny King KONY Quarters D: Freedom Eagle vs. Riley McManus COTT Heavyweight: Ernest Youngman vs. Frantic Ali © NYCW Empire Title: Animal Harker vs. Thom Barrowman © NYCW Tag Team Titles: Cross River Connection vs. The New York Dolls © Danny Hagman & The LA Stars vs. The DiMeo Family Next time… we crown a King…

New York City… Where two tribes go to war… It was almost time for our annual Gang Wars show. We were riding some positivity heading into the show, and unlike previously, I was determined to keep the streak alive. The latest Pro Wrestling Reporter had news of Troy Tornado’s imminent retirement. Ade Nelson and Josh Jacobs teaming up to win the Sam Keith Classic XI. Rocky Golden reclaiming the SWF World Heavyweight Title and the sudden (and unexpected) news that Nicky Champion would no longer be the Figurehead for USPW. I wonder if Mr. Cornell’s signing had something to do with that? We spent a lot of the month renegotiating contracts as everyone wanted their fair share of the profits. I couldn’t blame them: Riggins to $240 Danny Hagman $130 Dreadnought up to $100 And finally, just before the show proper we got two big pieces of news. Firstly, Ernest Youngman had finally been toppled as COTT World Heavyweight champion, losing after twenty-nine defenses to none other than… Frantic Ali from IPW. Underwhelming was not the word for that disastrous choice. I planned to speak to Larry about why they’d agreed on that switch, when Richie Riggins walked into the locker room. He appeared to have grown approximately a small wrestler extra in size, while maintaining his ripped physique. “Heavyweight now boss,” he said with a wink and then dropped a gunshow on me. Any thoughts on Frantic Ali disappeared immediately. What a hunk. NYCW Gang Wars 2021 Sunday, Week 4, August 2021 Pennsylvania Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Attendance: 1,891 GANG WARS MATCH: James Diaz & The Tagg Brothers vs. Richie Riggins, Howlin Mad Mort & Dreadnought In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, James Diaz and The Tagg Brothers defeated Richie Riggins, Howlin' Mad Mort and Dreadnought in 9:52 when James Diaz pinned Howlin' Mad Mort with an Asian Thumb Spike. Rating: 42 Despite his amazing new look, we need Richie to team with two other heavyweights to take the loss for our up-and-comers. Match was good, with Richie in particular looking fantastic. We protected the champ a bit by having him leave the match before the end, resulting in the loss to Mort. GANG WARS MATCH: Danny Hagman & Cross River Connection vs. Denny King & The New York Dolls In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, Danny Hagman and Cross River Connection defeated Denny King and The New York Dolls in 20:17 when Danny Hagman submitted Eddie Braddock with a Steel Curtain. Rating: 41 Part of our plan to transition the Cross River Connection into tag team title contention happened here. Annoyingly Pepper Pelton sprained his wrist, because of a botched move by Eddie Braddock. Some people can handle success, others struggle and he was struggling as a tag team champion. To send a message we had him tap clean for the first time to Hagman’s now-lethal finisher. GANG WARS MATCH: Brutus Milano, Animal Harker & Freedom Eagle vs. The DiMeo Family In a decent match, Brutus Milano, Animal Harker and Freedom Eagle defeated The DiMeo Family (Sal DiMeo, Vito Pirelli and Luca Sacramoni) in 22:27 when Animal Harker pinned Luca Sacramoni with a Stump Piledriver. Rating: 43 Revenge after months of losing in different combinations. The DiMeo Family are clearly on borrowed time. Was it fair? Probably not, but I really didn’t want to waste anymore time on a duo with less upside than some of our undebuted rookies on the pre-show. ANGLE: American Machine, LA Star #1 and LA Star #2 cut a promo hyping their upcoming six man match with Thom Barrowman, Andrew Harper and Riley McManus. It seems that three cry-babies have teamed up together. It seems misery really does love company. But that’s ok, as a Goddam American Hero (trademark), he’s used to bringing hope to the hopeless. And you three are three of the most hopeless wrestlers American Machine has ever seen. American Machine ends his bit with the words dozens of people had been hoping for… “Tell em Stars…” And then, for the first time since their debut years ago, the LA Stars are handed microphones. “Well Machine, it seems to me that our opponents like throwing their weight around. That’s fine, I LIKE THROWING THEIR WEIGHT AROUND TOO! (crowd cheers) And tonight, we’re going to prove one and for all why The LA Stars are the greatest tag team in professional wrestling today. Isn’t that right Two?” LA Star #2 cracks his knuckles, “You GODDAM right.” Rating: 67 First things first.. The LA Stars have some gravelly, bad-ass voices. They’re also much better on the mic than two masked wrestlers in New York have any right to be. Finally, even I was fired up for the match. And I wrote the thing! GANG WARS MATCH: American Machine & The LA Stars vs. Thom Barrowman, Andrew Harper & Riley McManus In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Thom Barrowman, Andrew Harper and Riley McManus defeated American Machine and The LA Stars in 24:34 when Riley McManus pinned LA Star #2 with a Slingshot Suplex. Rating: 54 Despite the amazing promo, it is Star #2 who eats the loss. The match itself was pretty good, although Harper was a noticeable weak link, which was a surprising disappointment. Watch the might Georgia Bulldog though, a true rose amongst thorns. OVERALL RATING: 53 59,977 viewers was a step in the right direction as I question whether there’s a delay on boosts to viewership based on previous events? Probably not in the digital age. We made a solid $10,956 profit though, so at least Larry would be happy again. Andrew Harper, who’d been struggling with burnout seemed to have become a negative on the backstage area. After his last performance, I decided to give him a month off (fully paid) to get his head straight, which delighted him. Bless him, the gigantic lug. Next time… Where one bully fades, another rises…

New York City… Where legends fly to us, just to join someone else… The news had been quiet since Summer in the City and with Hawkeye’s last matches the only pressing matter, we ploughed straight on to the post-big even show. NYCW Vengeance Sunday, Week 2, July 2021 Yonkers Field, New York City, New York Attendance: 1,724 SINGLES MATCH: Danny Hagman vs. Howlin Mad Mort In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, Danny Hagman defeated Howlin' Mad Mort in 10:22 by submission with a Steel Curtain. Rating: 41 Much better match-up for Danny. He’s a small fella, which helps with his gimmick of ‘regular tough guy from the street,’ but against a behemoth like Howlin Mad Mort he looked tiny. I’d already spoken to him about bulking up a bit, which he seemed to take in his stride without confirming what he was going to do. Still the visual of him trapping someone of Mort’s size in an elevated Boston Crab was fantastic. TAG TEAM MATCH: Ray Cavalero & Wild Red Stallion vs. Denny King & Dreadnought In a terrible match, Denny King and Dreadnought defeated Ray Cavalero and Billy Chase in 7:52 when Dreadnought pinned Ray Cavalero with a Dread Bomb. Rating: 31 We brought in some of our younger rookies for a squash match and they performed fine. They were still too green for a permanent spot on the roster, but they did ok here. Our continued attempts to rehabilitate Dreadnought continue with a tag team pairing with Denny. On paper it made sense, in the ring, not so much. Another misstep in an endless line of them. SINGLES MATCH: Hawkeye Calhoun vs. James Diaz In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, James Diaz defeated Hawkeye Calhoun in 10:23 by pinfall with an Asian Thumb Spike. Rating: 33 Hawkeye steps up to put over one of our newcomers here and somehow the match is disappointing. It a boost for Diaz for sure, but eventually we had hoped that he’d start having great midcard matches to justify a further push. At the moment it wasn’t materialising. TAG TEAM MATCH: The Italian Americans vs. Cross River Connection In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, Cross River Connection defeated The Italian Americans in 9:58 when Perfect Pepper Pelton pinned Vito Pirelli after using a foreign object. Rating: 34 Sure the Cross River Connection cheated, but they still won. The Italian Americans would be cooled off for a while, because they didn’t bring enough to the tag team division to justify them going over everyone all the time. SINGLES MATCH: Brutus Milano vs. Sal DiMeo In a decent match, Brutus Milano defeated Sal DiMeo in 10:11 by disqualification. Rating: 42 It’s as cheap a win as possible, but even though Brutus was an underwhelming performer, he was still a former Empire Champion and we’d be damned if we’d bury one of the those. The prestige of the title is closely aligned to former champions and how their perceived, so Brutus remains a respected performer. Even if I hated him. NYCW TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Tagg Brothers vs. The New York Dolls © In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, The New York Dolls defeated The Tagg Brothers in 10:07 when Eddie Braddock pinned Wolfie Tagg while using the ropes for leverage. The New York Dolls make defence number two of the NYCW Tag Team. Rating: 40 The Tagg Brothers step into the title scene and are defeated by the champions who are perfectly happy to cheat to win. And cheat they do, regularly. Constantly watching Eddie Braddock be the weak link in every match always had me second-guessing my decision to stick the titles on them. But we were running this train now regardless. Victory or death. NYCW TRI-STATE TITLE MATCH: Freedom Eagle vs. Richie Riggins © In a decent match, Richie Riggins defeated Freedom Eagle in 9:31 by pinfall by using underhanded tactics. Richie Riggins makes defence number four of the NYCW Tri-State Regional. Rating: 45 Freedom Eagle spins his victory over Hawkeye to get a Tri-State Regional Title shot. He gives a good performance, but Richie is too much for him… when he cheats. Match was decent all round. ANGLE: Thom Barrowman, Andrew Harper and ‘The Georgia Bulldog’ Riley McManus are out with some words for American Machine and The LA Stars. True Patriotism comes not from masks and make-up covered in red, white and blue. But from behaviour. They are the true patriots and they’re sick of anyone claiming to be something more than they are. Unlike most people though, they’re happy to take out their frustrations on their opponents. Rating: 53 Not the best promo, but these three had a cool visual look stood alongside one another. GANG WARS MATCH: American Machine & The LA Stars vs. Thom Barrowman, Riley McManus & Andrew Harper In a bout that had good heat and decent wrestling, Thom Barrowman, Riley McManus and Andrew Harper defeated American Machine and The LA Stars in 25:22 when Riley McManus pinned LA Star #1 with a Slingshot Suplex. Rating: 45 Another main event, with another sub-standard performance. It seemed that American Machine really was struggling with the pace set by the others and that was dragging down proceedings. Further attention obviously required. OVERALL RATING: 45 52,640 viewers this week as we prepared for a journey to Yonkers for the next show; hoping for a better performance all round. NYCW Wrestling from Yonkers Sunday, Week 3, July 2021 Yonkers Field, New York City, New York Attendance: 1,755 FOURWAY DANCE MATCH: ‘The Georgia Bulldog’ Riley McManus vs. Denny King vs. James Diaz vs. Howlin Mad Mort In a decent match, Riley McManus defeated Denny King, Howlin' Mad Mort and James Diaz in 9:32 when Riley McManus pinned Howlin' Mad Mort with a Slingshot Suplex. Rating: 45 Sometimes you just want to get some workers into a match, with the sole goal of putting one of them over. The Georgia Bulldog gets a tough win and James Diaz comes out of it looking great too. At last something to be positive about with his push. SINGLES MATCH: Hawkeye Calhoun vs. Dreadnought In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, Dreadnought defeated Hawkeye Calhoun in 10:02 by pinfall with a Dread Bomb. Rating: 40 And the good fortune continues as Hawkeye does a better job than anyone else of making Dreadnought look like an unstoppable monster. This was a great match for the young star and Hawkeye proves why he’ll be missed in the future. NYCW TRI-STATE TITLE MATCH: Freedom Eagle vs. Richie Riggins © In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, Richie Riggins defeated Freedom Eagle in 10:02 by pinfall with The Body Bag. Rating: 41 Clean win for the champ this time as he continues to look more and more dominant. Freedom had the benefit of being easily re-heated quickly, so the losses didn’t matter as much for him as the wins did for The Body. GANG WARS MATCH: Animal Harker & Cross River Connection vs. The DiMeo Family In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, The DiMeo Family (Sal DiMeo, Vito Pirelli and Luca Sacramoni) defeated Animal Harker and Cross River Connection in 9:32 when Sal DiMeo pinned Animal Harker while using the ropes for leverage. Rating: 41 We were struggling to let go of the DiMeo Family idea completely. Mainly for the well-being of Sal DiMeo, so he gets the win here by pinning the non-future-tag-team-champions. Match was fine, if a little worse than expected considering some of the talent in the ring. SINGLES MATCH: Brutus Milano vs. Andrew Harper In a decent match, Brutus Milano defeated Andrew Harper in 10:10 by submission with an Italian Backbreaker after blatantly cheating. Rating: 44 Strong match-up between our two big hoss upper-midcarders. Andrew had been flirting with main event consideration, but we needed people to know that Brutus was still in the mix (he wasn’t really), so we went with a protected loss for Harper. NYCW TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The LA Stars vs. The New York Dolls © In a decent match, The New York Dolls defeated The LA Stars in 22:19 when Spike Sylvain pinned LA Star #1 with a handful of tights. The New York Dolls make defence number three of the NYCW Tag Team. Rating: 42 The new champs get a cheating win over our top team, thus further establishing their credentials. Eddie Braddock continued to look a bit lost among the others, despite orders to protect him. That was not a great look for the champs. Winning helped though. ANGLE: American Machine cuts a promo hyping up his upcoming match with Thom Barrowman. Tonight is the night for his comeback. You can’t keep a GODDAM AMERICAN HERO down for long. He’ll be raising Old Glory to the skies and waving it in victory after tonight. Tonight, American Machine does it for all the little Machine-a-Maniacs around the world. Rating: 54 I couldn’t help but love his cheesy, 80s-inspired schtick. NYCW EMPIRE TITLE MATCH: American Machine vs. Thom Barrowman © In a bout that had great heat and good wrestling, American Machine defeated Thom Barrowman in 10:13 by disqualification after Riley McManus and Andrew Harper attacked him. Rating: 60 Great match. Thom did the bulk of the carrying, but Machine did his part too. I should never have doubted him. Add to it that he is robbed of success because of McManus and Harper and I’ve got multiple ways to go with the top-tier feud. OVERALL RATING: 58 59,195 viewers for our most positive show in a while gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling. We also made $9,595 profit thanks to the increasing gate size of our shows. While enjoying a rare night on the town with the boys afterwards, Spike read the breaking news from his phone. Tommy Cornell was returning to the United States having signed a contract, along with his brother, to United States Pro Wrestling. That would shake-up the industry and no mistake. Next time… Gang Wars 2021 and Inflationary pressure…

New York City… Summer in the City 2021… In the build-up to Summer in the City, Larry spent most days on the phone. I would then be given a list of talents we’d be working with and had to come up with a compelling card which showcased what the Confederation of the Territories had to offer. The fact that the names on the list kept changing did not help matters at all. We’d already decided to up our production values to High Quality for the show, thanks to the profit we were now making. And our refusal to host a women’s match meant Farrah Hesketh stepped in and Alina American won the vacant title. While waiting for the next changes to come through, I watched highlights of Nicky Champion winning the USPW World Championship for the seventh or eight time. He was simply the biggest star in wrestling by quite a margin. I looked at the book and noticed a gap next to my name in the announcer’s booth. A quick check through our employees and I realised Whistler was contracted by had nothing else to do. So I made the decision to move him alongside me. The big problem was that he wasn’t anywhere near as good as Ernie. We’d ideally need a third person to join us. Then I had a brainwave. Minutes later after a brief phone call, I’d added Honest Frank to the roster. Partly so he could enjoy training with his son and partly to be our third announcer. With the finalised card in place and having ignored CZCW’s complaints about the high quality of our production, we watched the locker room fill. To our surprise NYCW Empire champion Thom Barrowman appeared to have taken ‘Pittsburgh Kid’ Danny Hagman on as a protégé. I suddenly felt pretty good about the kid’s future. Any happy thoughts were crushed by the news that Hawkeye Calhoun had signed a contract to join SWF; no doubt because of his incredible run as Tri-State champion. NYCW Summer in the City 2021 Saturday, Week 4, June 2021 Yonkers Field, New York City, New York Attendance: 1,824 SINGLES MATCH: ‘Pittsburgh Kid’ Danny Hagman vs. Andrew Harper In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but terrible wrestling, Danny Hagman defeated Andrew Harper in 9:40 by pinfall with a roll up. Rating: 25 Oh Goddammit. This was Danny’s first ‘big win’ opportunity and yes he won with a flash roll-up pin, but the moment was partially ruined by the complete lack of chemistry between them. This should’ve been a match to fire up the crowd and was in fact one they just didn’t care about. It was so underwhelming that they chanted for Joey Minnesota throughout. HE’S NOT COMING BACK!!! TAG TEAM MATCH: The Tagg Brothers vs. Denny King & Howlin Mad Mort In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, The Tagg Brothers defeated Denny King and Howlin' Mad Mort in 7:45 when Wolfie Tagg pinned Howlin' Mad Mort with a Montana Slammer. Rating: 40 The Taggs are back and back to winning. Denny was in-between feuds and we had already earmarked Howlin Mad Mort as a developmental worker to help bring on the rookies. And what better way to do that that laying down for them. The Taggs were a fun team, but Wolfie’s attitude was not… NYCW material broadly. Always complaining about losses and generally being a bit of a nuisance. Still, the upside was there and we’d ride that all the way to the bank. SINGLES MATCH: Animal Harker vs. Riley McManus In a decent match, Riley McManus defeated Animal Harker in 9:45 by pinfall with a Slingshot Suplex. Rating: 43 Unlike the opener, these two had great chemistry, which was awesome. Just a shame it was something of a throwaway midcard battle to be honest. Still that was worth keeping in our back pocket in case of emergencies. COTT WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The LA Stars vs. American Cobras © In a decent match, The American Cobras defeated The LA Stars in 7:36 when Marvel Malloy pinned LA Star #1 with a Cobra Strike. The American Cobras make defence number seven of the COTT World Tag Team. Rating: 49 Fantastic matchup here between the COTT champions and one of our top teams. We’re always happy to put over top-tier talent from other territories for the good of the alliance, especially when our fellow independent companies put the belts on top-quality in-ring workers. The LA Stars in-ring ability was not to be sniffed at either, as both men were two of our top ring generals. COTT WORLD SIX-MAN TITLE MATCH: Team OLLIE (Captain Lucha, North Star Jr & Sunburst) vs. The DiMeo Family In a terrible match, Captain Lucha, North Star Jr and Sunburst defeated The DiMeo Family (Sal DiMeo, Vito Pirelli and Luca Sacramoni) in 7:44 when Captain Lucha pinned Sal DiMeo by using underhanded tactics. Captain Lucha, North Star Jr and Sunburst win the COTT World Six-Man. Rating: 37 Speaking of putting the alliance first. The DiMeo Family had been given the ball to run with and had failed in our eyes. Sweet Sal had some fantastic traits, like size and charisma, but The Italian Americans had been supplanted in the tag team ranks by the likes of The Tagg Brothers, Cross River Connection and we had more quality tag teams waiting in the wings. It seemed to me that these two big lugs had fallen behind the curve and we didn’t want them representing the company in other territories going forward. SINGLES MATCH: Hawkeye Calhoun vs. Freedom Eagle In a decent match, Freedom Eagle defeated Hawkeye Calhoun in 9:38 by pinfall with a Freedom Slam. Rating: 47 We paired the former tag team champions and best friends against one another for Hawkeye’s last big show. We were sad he was leaving, especially after the last six months. But business was business and we’d now look for Freedom Eagle to step into his shoes going forward. But before his contract was officially up, we’d be jobbing him out (respectfully), starting here. Good match from these two. NYCW TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Cross River Connection vs. The New York Dolls © In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, The New York Dolls defeated Cross River Connection in 10:15 when Eddie Braddock pinned Perfect Pepper Pelton while using the ropes for leverage. The New York Dolls make defence number one of the NYCW Tag Team. Rating: 44 Cross River Connection are without a doubt future tag team champions, but not yet. Half of the fun is in the chase, plus The Dolls were riding their own wave of success and we wanted to give them (and especially Eddie Braddock), every opportunity to succeed. NYCW TRI-STATE TITLE MATCH: The Masked Mauler vs. Richie Riggins © In a bout that had a decent reaction from the crowd but sub-par wrestling, Richie Riggins defeated The Masked Mauler in 9:35 by pinfall with a Body Bag. Richie Riggins makes defence number three of the NYCW Tri-State Regional. Rating: 35 Clean win for the champion here as Masked Mauler is set as the sacrificial lamb to The Body. Richie’s improvement as a worker recently cannot be overstated and he is on the verge of becoming both; a great in-ring worker and one with an incredible look and raw charisma. We’d need to be careful he didn’t get too big or he’d be poached at this rate. COTT UNITED STATES TITLE MATCH: James Diaz vs. Logan Wolfsbaine © In a decent match, Logan Wolfsbaine defeated James Diaz in 10:22 by pinfall with a Belly To Belly Suplex. Logan Wolfsbaine makes defence number fourteen of the COTT United States. Rating: 50 James asked specifically to be put into this match, so that he could wrestle his cousin. We’re not ones to deny such a request and the results were fantastic. Most of the heavy-lifting was done by Logan, but James didn’t mess up, which is half the battle. NYCW EMPIRE TITLE MATCH: Brutus Milano vs. Thom Barrowman © In a bout that had great heat and good wrestling, Thom Barrowman defeated Brutus Milano in 9:50 by pinfall with a Guided Missile. Thom Barrowman makes defence number one of the NYCW Empire. Rating: 56 Brutus gets back in the main event scene for a sniff of his former glory. Obviously (OBVIOUSLY!) he loses clean to the new champion. But Brutus’ status and tenure within the company meant he could be considered a rubber stamp to a new champions reign. It signified that each new champion was a step in the right direction. ANGLE: American Machine is out to Real American, with Cheerleader Nicki waving pompoms to the crowd as they walk. Once in, he grabs a microphone. Apparently he’s heartbroken about losing the Empire Title to the bitter old man. But when Freedom closes one door, it opens another. And that door is the World Heavyweight title. He knows Ernest Youngman is a talented young man… from Chicago (crowd boo), but tonight, The Assassin, is going to learn what happens when you awaken a GODDAM AMERICAN HERO from his slumber. Rating: 59 Decent promo from the former champion. COTT WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: American Machine vs. Ernest Youngman © In a bout that had great heat and decent wrestling, Ernest Youngman defeated American Machine in 10:27 by pinfall with The Hit following interference from Thom Barrowman. Ernest Youngman makes defence number twenty-seven of the COTT World Heavyweight. Rating: 46 Defense number twenty-seven. Sweet Moses and all the children. The man was a machine. Not an American Machine, who was actually a little underwhelming here. Despite being a great character, with a rich history in NYCW (which we obviously loved), his in-ring skills appeared diminished. With Barrowman now the fighting champion, the idea of switching back to a slightly more charismatic and polished version of Brutus Milano did not fill me with confidence. But we didn’t want to lose American Machine’s popularity for now. OVERALL RATING: 47 Considering it was our big show of the year, I have to admit to being somewhat disappointed by the main event and overall feel. I know we did a lot right, but that main event decision was a bad one and it ruined a perfect opportunity to springboard to greater things. At least 53,441 viewers tuned in, although as the month ended, we’d lost $2,746. But that was negligible. Now the goal was to switch focus going forward and start building some new storylines. Next time… Hawkeye’s Last Stand… Results (sorry about the Hawkeye rug pull): KyTeran - 8/11 Herrbear - 7/11 Theheel - 6/11