In This Corner... (ARTICLES ONLY)

[Wallbanger]

[CENTER][IMG]http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s59/Wallbanger1071/wbh.jpg[/IMG][/CENTER] ...and that was Large and Wealthy's breakout hit, "Save a Porche, Ride a Plowboy". For those of you just logging into the live stream, this is the Wall Bangin' Hour for February 4th, 2008. This is your host, Wallbanger, podcasting from Colorado Springs, Colorado. Catch my Monday, Wednesday and Friday live streams at 10pm Mountain Standard Time -- GST minus 7 for the international crew, or download the show from my blog and podcast archive at [URL="http://www.wallbanginghour.com/"]www.wallbanginghour.com[/URL]. Turning our attention to the world of professional wrestling and Colorado's own UFW -- as you may recall, in our New Year's Eve podcast I had Titan from Jim Force's Ulitmate Force Wrestling on the show. He went on and on about how HE was the main man in UFW. Now I've been thinking about that interview for weeks now, and I got two questions about that. First, if Titan's the alpha male in UFW, how come he's only been at ONE show all of last year -- the Battle Royale at the very first show when Jim Force won the UFW World title? Oh, that's right, he's being held back, and he's not gonna take it anymore. At least that's what he said. So imagine my surprise when I take my customary ringside seat at last week's UFW show and I hear from a buddy of mine who works the bar that Titan didn't even bother to show up! That's just lame. What's NOT lame, however, is that lovely, luscious Latin lady Jennifer Heat. Note to UFW merchandising folks -- Jim Force tequila! Seeing her every month is worth the price of admission every time. But I've noticed the last couple of shows that Jennifer seems...less than enthused about having to manage Jim Force. Well, 'manage' probably isn't the right word, as that much FORCE cannot be managed, heh. Ya know, it's the same schtick that he's had from back when I watched him on TV when he was with the SWF, but I guess, to coin a bad cliche, you dance with what brung ya. Anyway, I gotta wonder if Jennifer's current attitude is part of the story or she just wants to get the hell out of Colorado, or maybe the hell away from the Forceful one. Well, we'll just have to see how the next show at the Colorado Springs Bar goes down -- I'll have a podcast recap for you after the show. Check out Actarus' diary "The Faces of Force: JIM FORCE!" at [url]http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22440[/url]

[Wallbanger]

[CENTER][IMG]http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s59/Wallbanger1071/InThisCorner.jpg[/IMG][/CENTER] [CENTER][FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium][SIZE=5]In This Corner: Spotlight on IPW[/SIZE][/FONT][/CENTER] [LEFT][FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium]The Twin Cities has a long and proud history of professional wrestling, not just in producing great top-tier talent, but also a solid indy scene. While the business has seen its share of ups and downs in the land of 10,000 lakes, a promising new chapter in that history has been unfolding over the past few months over at the West St. Paul armory -- the IPW![/FONT][/LEFT] [LEFT][FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium][SIZE=4]Current IPW Champions:[/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT] [LEFT][FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium][SIZE=3]IPW Universal Champion:[/SIZE][/FONT] [IMG]http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s59/Wallbanger1071/ArikCannon.jpg[/IMG] [FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium]Arik Cannon[/FONT][/LEFT] [LEFT][FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium]Cannon is a solid performer in the midwest indy scene and it's cool to see him with a new title! Though I gotta tell you, that championship match he had with...damn, I can't remember his name now, but he had that whole 80's Power and Paint thing going...anyway, that match was just crazy![/FONT][/LEFT] [LEFT][FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium][SIZE=3]IPW Tag Team Champions:[/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT] [LEFT][FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium][SIZE=3]Title Vacant![/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT] [LEFT][FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium]Though not for lack of trying! Every title match they've had has been interrupted by this stable of hooded figures. But the tag scene in the IPW looks promising, with teams like The Northstar Express, the Alter Boyz, and even the Bushwhackers! Man, I didn't even know Luke and Butch were still around, but they're still fun to watch![/FONT][/LEFT] [LEFT][FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium][SIZE=3]IPW Impact Invitational 2007 (Tournament Title)[/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT] [LEFT][IMG]http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s59/Wallbanger1071/NigelMcGuinness2.jpg[/IMG][/LEFT] [LEFT][FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium]"BRILLIANT!" Nigel McGuinnes[/FONT][/LEFT] [LEFT][FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium]The Brilliant one beat Bryan Danielson in the finals of the inaugural Impact Invitational, the IPW's most recent event.[/FONT][/LEFT] [LEFT][FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium][SIZE=4]The Rundown: What's Hot, What's Not[/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT] [LEFT][FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium]I think you have to be impressed with the level of talent that IPW is able to put together on what is little more than a backyarder's budget -- hopefully as they get a little more exposure they'll be able to add to their roster and put together some longer shows.[/FONT][/LEFT] [LEFT][FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium]That being said, one thing I notice is that it just seems like these guys are thrown together and pretty much working off the cuff -- there doesn't seem to be a lot of chemistry in the ring -- to be fair, again, look to that budget and the fact that you've got a lot of young guys in there. Over time, I bet this will improve, though.[/FONT][/LEFT] [LEFT][FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium]If you live in the Cities, you could do worse than to spend an evening over in West St. Paul checking out the IPW! They're small now, but with general manager Nick at the helm, they won't be small for long![/FONT][/LEFT] [LEFT][FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium]--Wallbanger[/FONT][/LEFT] [LEFT][FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium]Check out IPW: REALizing the Dream at [URL]http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23368[/URL][/FONT][/LEFT]

[Wallbanger]

[CENTER][IMG]http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s59/Wallbanger1071/InThisCorner.jpg[/IMG][/CENTER] [CENTER][FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium][SIZE=5]In This Corner: Spotlight on IPW[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium][SIZE=5]Who is coming to Night of Death??[/SIZE][/FONT][/CENTER] [LEFT][FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium]All right guys -- you've seen the teaser for [URL="http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum/showpost.php?p=237221&postcount=19"]IPW Night of Death[/URL] and it says that the Altar Boys have a third partner who is a former US and Tag Champion who will debut against the "scary hooded figure stable". Now that makes for some interesting speculation: I've not seen ANYTHING in the usual places on this so we're left to figure it out for ourselves. So who are some wrestlers that fit that description, and how likely is it that they are coming to West St. Paul?[/FONT][/LEFT] [LEFT][FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium][B][I]Tajiri:[/I][/B] US Champ in '01, Tag Champ (w/William Regal) in '05. Since Nick has already debued one Japanese star, it is certainly possible that he would bring another in. Green mist for teh win![/FONT][/LEFT] [LEFT][FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium]Likelihood of this being the guy: 6 (out of 10)[/FONT][/LEFT] [LEFT][FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium][B][I]Chris Kanyon:[/I][/B] US Champ in '01, Tag Champ (w/DDP) also in '01. Also a possibility, but I have no clue where he's been or what he's done recently.[/FONT][/LEFT] [FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium]Likelihood of this being the guy: 4 (out of 10)[/FONT] [FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium][B][I]Dustin Rhodes/Golddust:[/I][/B] 2-time US Champ in '93, Tag Champ (w/Booker T) in '02. While it fits the description, it ain't happening -- IPW is too hardcore and too small for someone like Dustin to bother with.[/FONT] [FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium]Likelihood of this being the guy: 1 (out of 10) (and that's being generous!!)[/FONT] [FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium][B][I]Terry Funk:[/I][/B] US Champ in '00, Tag Champ (w/Mick Foley/Cactus Jack) in '98. GOD, this would be cool if it were true. But the guy is like what, 50 years old by now?? It would be a great fit and he could be a valuable mentor to some of these guys. I really really hope this is it, but I'm skeptical.[/FONT] [FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium]Likelihood of this being the guy: 3 (out of 10)[/FONT] [FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium]Now, I've also heard that one of the hooded figures has an 'E pedigree as well and is a former Euro champ and Tag champ. Again, no source other than me overhearing a conversation at King of the Deathfights, so this could be completely bogus. BUT, my mind started to spin when I heard this...[/FONT] [LIST] [*][FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium]Former Euro and Tag champ[/FONT] [*][FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium]Someone who is comfortable in the "stable member" role, like nWo and DX[/FONT] [*][FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium]Someone who would be local to the Twin Cities and could make shows easily[/FONT][/LIST][FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium]That adds up to one guy -- Minneapolis native [B][I]Sean Waltman, or X-Pac[/I][/B]!! This would give IPW instant credibility, especially in the Cities. Again, this would be so cool if it turns out to be the case![/FONT] [FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium]Now there are a handful of other folks who could fit the "former Euro and Tag champ" as well -- [B][I]Spike Dudley, Crash Holly, Christian[/I][/B], and [B][I]Test [/I][/B]come to mind. Any of them would be a good fit for IPW, and if any of them are in the mix, they would be cool too. But man, I hope it's X-Pac!![/FONT] [FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium]Anyway, that's just my two cents. Half of it (or all of it, possibly) is completely wrong, but the only way to know for sure is to head down to Night of Death at the West St. Paul Armory![/FONT] [LEFT][FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium]Check out IPW: REALizing the Dream at [URL]http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23368[/URL][/FONT][/LEFT]

[Actarus]

[CENTER][IMG]http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u8/Actarus96/UFW%20Dynasty/shows-otr-775x50.gif[/IMG][/CENTER] [B]A.C. Tarus:[/B] “And welcome ladies and gentlemen to “Off the Record” with Michael Landsberg. As you can clearly see, I am not Michael Landsberg, who has the night off. My name is A.C. Tarus, and I am filling in for Michael. We have a very special treat, as my guest tonight is the new head booker of WWE, Mr. Joose! Mr. Joose, welcome to the show!” [CENTER][IMG]http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u8/Actarus96/UFW%20Dynasty/Untitled-5.jpg[/IMG][/CENTER] [B]Mr. Joose:[/B] “Thank you A.C. It’s my pleasure to be here tonight.” [B]A.C.:[/B] “Well, let’s dive on in with the toughest question; how did you get your job in WWE. I mean, you’re a virtual unknown from Cornwall in the UK, and next thing you know, you have what many would consider a dream job with the WWE! How did all that come about?” [B]Mr. Joose:[/B] “Well, let me first clarify that it is a dream job, don’t get me wrong, but it’s a lot of hard work, a lot of time, a lot of sacrifice. As for how I got this job, it’s really funny actually. I worked at my local supermarket stocking shelves all day long…” [B]A.C.:[/B] “You’re joking?” [B]Mr. Joose:[/B] “That was my regular job; the one that paid the bills. But I was a small-time writer for a wrestling website, and I do this feature called: “If I had the book…”, where I wrote how I would book this storyline or feud. And I had no idea that some of my most rabid readers were actually the McMahons. They actually LOVED my ideas! I mean, who would have thunk, right? So I get a phone call to become their new head booker, and the rest is history. [B]A.C.:[/B] “Like winning the lotto, right?” [B]Mr. Joose:[/B] “More or less. I basically came on board immediately after WWE Backlash.” [B]A.C.:[/B] “Now, in the short amount of time you’ve been with WWE, you’ve already booked what many people are calling ‘match-of-the-year’ candidates! The very first RAW you booked Shawn Michaels versus Edge; highly rated, a terrific match. You follow that up on the next RAW with Shawn facing Randy Orton; another highly rated match. The final RAW before Judgment Day, and John Cena faces Edge in a terrific bout! Over on Smackdown! Batista versus Ken Kennedy was also highly rated! All four are being talked about as potential ‘match-of-the-year’ contenders. How does that make you feel? It seems like you put on a ‘match-of-the-year’ candidate once a week! [B]Mr. Joose:[/B] “Well, obviously it’s very gratifying but overall, I still have a lot to learn as a head booker. Like everything in life, you never stop learning and you’re constantly honing your craft, but I think I’ve gotten off to a good start.” [B]A.C.:[/B] Speaking of starts, you’ve also managed to make quite an impact with some rather controversial decisions…” [B]Mr. Joose:[/B] “You don’t say…” [B]A.C.:[/B] “Maybe not controversial, but definitely interesting and unexpected, like bringing back Paul Heyman.” [B]Mr. Joose:[/B] “I lobbied quite a bit to make that happen. As you know, the relationship between Vincent and Paul is…interesting to say the least. But I truly feel that his involvement is instrumental to the present and future success of WWE and the ECW brand in particular. Also, the fact of the matter is the man is a goldmine of ideas! Actually, the night he came back was the first RAW I booked, and it was somewhat disappointing.” [B]A.C.:[/B] “Really?” [B]Mr. Joose:[/B] “Well, not the Paul Heyman part, the show overall. I have to remember that we are a sports entertainment company, and that the crowd expects more interviews, more promos, more angles. I’ve learned the hard way that it’s wise to cater to the audience. Generally, I’m happy with they way we’ve grown in the short amount of time I’ve been there. Ratings and audience attendance all remain steady for the most part; you get the idea.” [B]A.C.:[/B] “Can you share any other behind-the-scenes moves you made since your appointment as head booker?” [B]Mr. Joose:[/B] “Certainly; one thing I’m determined to do during my tenure is make more of the women’s division. I’ve signed Cheerleader Melissa and Sara Del Ray to developmental contracts and they’re in OVW even as we speak. Also, I managed to sign Scott Commodity, TJ Wilson, and Dan Maff to developmental deals at OVW and re-signed Harry Smith there as well. I also signed Ace Steel and Colt Cabana to ECW and added a TV title to ECW.” [B]A.C.:[/B] “It sounds like you’ve been extremely busy. What’s been your favorite feud or storyline going into Judgment Day?” [B]Mr. Joose:[/B] “Well, I’m pleased with everything I’ve booked. Overall, I mean, but if I had to pick one…anything with Edge. He challenges Ken Kennedy for the Money-in-the-Bank contract at Judgment Day, and I think he just may be the top heel in the company at the moment.” [B]A.C.:[/B] “Now, you have your first upcoming Pay-Per-View: Judgment Day, and let me run through the card real quick, because it’ll actually illustrate my point. You have a Money-in-the-Bank Contract Match between Ken Kennedy and Canada’s own Edge. Deuce & Domino vs. the Hooliganz for the WWE Tag titles. The Hardy’s defend their World tag titles against Cade & Murdoch. Melina vs. Mickie James for the Women’s title. Santino Marella defends the Intercontinental title against Kenny Dykstra. Edmonton’s own Chris Benoit will defend his US title against Montel Vontavious Porter, better known as M.V.P. There will be a fatal-four way for the ECW Heavyweight title between Vince McMahon, Shane McMahon, Umaga, and Bobby Lashley. The Undertaker defends the WWE World title against Batista, while John Cena defends the WWE title against Shawn Michaels. That’s nine matches, and eight of them are title matches! And as you’ve said previously, you’re adding a T.V. title to ECW. Do you feel there’s an over-saturation of title belts?” [B]Mr. Joose:[/B] “Well…it’s tough. As you know, by Vincent’s decree, our Pay-Per-Views feature all three brands: Raw, Smackdown!, and ECW. So it’s this huge juggling act that I’ve inherited. I personally don’t feel the problem is that there are too many title belts. Rather, I feel the problem is not doing brand exclusive pay-per-views. For the record, I do have a bit of…trepidation having so many title matches on a single pay-per-view. But sometimes in life, you just have to roll with the punches, and play the cards you’ve been dealt. As long as the belts don’t lose their meaning, their prestige, I think we can make it all work. I meet with all the McMahons on a regular basis, so we’ll see how things turn out in the coming weeks.” [B]A.C.: [/B]“So, I read a couple of rumors from the so-called “dirt sheets”… [B]Mr. Joose[/B] [I](chuckling):[/I] “Oh no, not those…” [B]A.C.:[/B] “Relax, I just wanted your thoughts on them. You can decline to answer if you’d like.” [B]Mr. Joose:[/B] “Okay, go ahead.” [B]A.C.:[/B] “Let’s see here…Santino Marella is not exactly the most popular guy around, and he may lose his title and be sent to OVW soon.” [B]Mr. Joose:[/B] “Santino is a wonderful gentleman, a wonderful human being, and a wonderful champion, in my opinion. As for his push or being sent to OVW, you can rest assured that whatever we, the booking team decide to do will be in his best interest as well as WWE’s. [B]A.C.:[/B] “There’s an upcoming feud between ‘La Resistance’ and Regal & Taylor. Your thoughts?” [B]Mr. Joose:[/B] “I think the fans will really like what they do. It’ll be very funny, a lot of comedy is involved, playing off the stereotypes of the British and the French.” [B]A.C.:[/B] “There are rumors floating around that Kane is unhappy with his upper-midcard status, wanting a main event push. Is this true?” [B]Mr. Joose:[/B] “I think the company and I are concerned about his ability to carry a brand, but we don’t mean that in an offensive way. We love Kane, and respect everything he’s contributed to us and the business. Personally, I think it’s less about status, and more about the way he’s been booked before I got there. Give it some time, because I have some great ideas for him and his character.” [B]A.C.:[/B] “Is it true that Sabu has been constantly late to events?” [B]Mr. Joose:[/B] “Yes, that is true, and I’m not sure what we’ll do about it. I’m meeting with him after Judgment Day, so we’ll see what happens then.” [B]A.C.:[/B] “Now, here’s another item: your annual Summerslam Pay-Per-View will be held in another country. Maybe in Canada?” [B]Mr. Joose:[/B] “No, not Canada unfortunately. Now this I can 100% verify, and you can consider this to be a major exclusive, since no one else knows about this. [B]A.C.:[/B] “You heard it first right here folks, an exclusive from the head booker of the WWE right here on ‘Off the Record’!” [B]Mr. Joose:[/B] “That’s right! This year, WWE Summerslam will be held at Wembley Stadium in London to mark the 15th anniversary of it being held their in 1992. I actually attended that event. I was 13 years old, 10 rows back from the ring. It was just an amazing night. As you may recall, the British Bulldog, Davey Boy Smith, defeated Bret ‘Hitman’ Hart for the Intercontinental title in a great match, and I’m really looking forward to the event being held in, well, my neck of the woods.” [B]A.C.:[/B] “Any special plans for Harry Smith, Davey Boy’s son at Summerslam?” [B]Mr. Joose:[/B] “Whatever plans we may have, you can rest assured that this year’s WWE Summerslam will be one of the best ever.” [B]A.C.:[/B] “Well, your next immediate pay-per-view is WWE Judgment Day, this weekend. Now, watching the latest RAW, there seems to be some unrest going into the fatal four way match for the ECW World title. Anything you’d like to share about that?” [B]Mr. Joose:[/B] “Well, for those that missed it, during the last RAW, Vincent gave the ECW World title to Umaga, who used it to attack Shawn Michaels. But what’s interesting is that after the attack, Umaga refused to give the title back to Vincent. Vincent had to grab the title off him, and the two actually stared each other down.” [B]A.C.:[/B] “A face turn for Umaga?” [B]Mr. Joose:[/B] “You’ll just have to watch to find out.” [B]A.C.:[/B] “Well, Mr. Joose, you’ve been a great guest, and I, well actually Michael Landsberg, will look forward to having you back on the program again. Any final words?” [B]Mr. Joose:[/B] “Well, we have a very special contest going on. I managed to convince Vincent that fan interaction is extremely important, so we have a special contest available at WWE.com. If you go to the site right now, you can go ahead and predict the winners for every match at WWE Judgment Day. The person whose predictions are closest wins the contest, and gets to pick the number one contender for any title of their choosing!” [B]A.C.:[/B] “That’s an incredible prize!” [B]Mr. Joose:[/B] “Well, I’d like to think so. A.C., it was my pleasure.” [B]A.C.:[/B] “Likewise; thank you for coming on the program. You can read more about Mr. Joose at his blog [url= http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23241]here.[/url] Also, you can order WWE Judgment Day on Pay-Per-View this weekend. It sounds like an exciting card, and I’m looking forward to watching. I’m A.C. Tarus, and you’ve been watching “Off the Record.”

[Oldschool]

nice work guys!!!!!

[Oldschool]

MY ITC for NWA; Return To Glory [IMG]http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d43/cpevans31/InThisCorner.jpg[/IMG] we have the: [IMG]http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d43/cpevans31/NWAlogo.gif[/IMG] [B]NWA: Return To Glory by Wildfire[/B] [COLOR="Red"]Taking a quick roll call of Champions:[/COLOR] [IMG]http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d43/cpevans31/BryanDanielson1.jpg[/IMG] [B][U]Bryan Danielson NWA/ROH Unified World Champion[/U][/B] Danielson defeated D'Lo Brown at Showdown 6 Jan 6 (Diary date) in a ROH/NWA unification bout...ROH recently closed its doors and many talents had been signed up by the NWA, however Danielson has really been the only one to have any success in the NWA... Some thoughts are that Danielson may just be a transitional champion as the strap was put on him, because D'Lo had decided to pursue other interests in Japan and Danielson is set to face off against the very over Mr. Wrestling III at Showdown 7. [B][U]"Best In The World" Mark & Jay Briscoe NWA/ROH Unified Tag Team Champions[/U][/B] The Briscoes have been a dominant tag team in the NWA since their arrival, winning their straps back in August (Diary time) in a tournament over the Maximos...And recently at Showdown 6, defeated the team of ROH champions Jack Evans & Davey Richards to unify those titles...Their doesn't seem like there is any end in sight to the dominant reign on the tag titles, although the tag team situation is really beginning to heat up with the addition of "he Blonde Bomber" Chad & Tank Toland, the return of "Monsters Of The Mat" from Japan (Matt Bloom & Matt Weise)... The debut of The "New Age Invaders" Aaron Aguilara & Joey Munoz, as well as The Extreme Horsemen, The SAT and Team Punishment [B][U]Tito Ortiz NWA North American Heavyweight Champion[/U][/B] Ortiz defeated Chris Hero for the NA strap back on Nov 4, 2006 from Chris Hero...Ortiz was one of the NWA major signings at its inception and truly has made his mark with what looks like may be a dominant title run...He is certainly adding credibility to the North American title in comparison to Chris Hero's, what one could say was a cowardly reign as champ...Ortiz defeated Roderick Strong in :47 seconds at Showdown 6 in a unification of the ROH Pure/NWA NA titles ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [B][SIZE="5"][U][COLOR="red"]Whats Hot![/COLOR][/U][/SIZE][/B] [B]MMA Crossovers[/B]: Tito Ortiz is proving to be a dominant North American Champion, Daniel Puder made a nice run against D'Lo Brown for the World Title and still seems to be on track for a title run in the near future, as we've seen some playful kidding between himself and Ortiz that could eventually turn into a storyline...Andrei Arlovski has quietly played "the Enforcer" role in team Punishmnet and now we have seen the debut of Renato "Babalu" Sobral [B]Masked Wrestlers[/B]: Mr. Wrestling III & The Patriot respect feud which saw them go from allies to opponents to a mutual respect, didn't give the fans the ultimate payoff, in that their identities were revealed, however they did continue to build their characters and it will make for an even bigger payoff, down the road if and when it ever happens...Wrestling III who has a tremendous win/loss record is set to take on Danielson at Showdown 7 for the Unified World Title and that match promises to be a scientific classic! The Patriot will participate in a 4 aces 4-way at Showdown 7 Texas Hold'em coming up very soon [B]Colt Cabana[/B]: Cabana is ready for a major push, he was aligned with D'Lo Brown and recently had what one may call an NWA upset victory over "The Extreme Enforcer" Masato Tanaka in televised match-up... Colts promos are some of the best in the NWA in recent months and now may be his time [B]Daizee Haze:[/B] She was the reason, why we saw such a violent feud between Chris Hero & Jimmy Rave as they battled for her love...Daizee went from the "Girl Next Door" to The B!tch across the Street" when in the middle of the bloody Rave/Hero match she called them to stop fighting and then had her "Blonde Bombers" Chad & Tank Toland come out and finish off both grapplers while Daizee proclaimed "Rave & Hero" were just a couple of losers [B]Lauren Jones:[/B] She gets a huge pop everytime she goes out before the main event to toss those T-shirts (somewhere in this diary there is a pic, she's hot!) [B][U][SIZE="5"][COLOR="red"]What's Not![/COLOR][/SIZE][/U][/B] [B]ROH Wrestlers[/B] : Besides Bryan Danielson, who came in winning the Unified Title...Roderick Strong not only lost his unification match to Tito Ortiz, he lost in :47 seconds, then the next TV taping lost in :43 seconds to "Babalu" Sobral... Richards & Evans are not capturing the fans attention as legitimate threats...and even Danielson will have to prove himself against the NWA elite [B]Extreme Horsemen[/B]: Masato Tanaka may be losing his edge as a main eventer... Julio Dinero was once an entertaing character has not been given the air time... It's time to see if Sterling Keenan can become the "Tully Blanchard" of this group or will he turn into the "Paul Roma" of the Extreme Horsemen... And Steve Corino, who still remains quite over in the NWA may be on the verge of a rivalry w/ Satoshi Kojima and Stan Hansen, both of which would keep him out of the title picture... [B]Elijah Burke[/B] Burke came in with a series of Great promo vignettes, but hasn't quite caught on yet in a prominent role... He seems as if he has "main event" potential, but question is will he live up to the hype [B]The British Invasion[/B]: The group of Doug Williams, Nigel McGuinness and Jody Fliesch have been put on the back burner as of late, all 3 are solid wrestlers but perhaps its their characters that just cant relate to the NWA fans... Williams is the 4 ace 4way, but our thoughts are that he is there just to add to the overall action in the match and is not comsidered a prime world title contender...McGuinness is stagnating in the mid card and we haven't seen Jody Fliesch in some time [B]La Parka[/B]: Brought in as a name to draw the fans, La Parka has turn into a glorified jobber, that cannot be happy with his role, our guess is that his NWA days are numbered. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [B][SIZE="5"][COLOR="red"][U]Whats Ahead![/U][/COLOR][/SIZE][/B] Showdown 7 (PPV) is upcoming and is main evented by Mr. Wrestling III vs Bryan Danielson for "The American Dragon's" NWA/ROH World Title...It's possible that this could be a short reign for Danielson based on how over the ROH guys are not and III has the following, the respect level, the fighting spirit that the NWA wants its world champions to have... It is possible a III victory could take a rivalry with The Patriot to even higher levels as The Patriot is a combatant in a 4 way contest that will declare a new #1 contender... Look for the rise of Vampiro, who has been in some strange, yet mysterious vignettes over the past few weeks. We last saw Vampiro back in the fall defeated repeatedly by Mr. Wrestling III, which lead to him having a breakdown in the ring and disapear for awhile... His most recent vignette had him digging his own grave and setting it on fire... Looks like we may be in store for a more violent/arsonic Vampiro... I'd also look for more newcomers to arrive in the future, there are alot of talented ROH performers looking for jobs...could we be seeing a Claudio Castagnali, a Matt Sydal, a Delirious, a BJ Whitmer working their way to the NWA... Also the possibility of call-ups from the dark matches exists with Ricky Banderas, who seems to have a pretty unique character and could fit in well with the Vampiro act (based on WSX days) We've seen some promo pictures from Showdown 8, and judging by the title, I think we are going to see a historic "oldschool" NWA match brought back, that would bring about a violent, bloody, battle, which may just be a bit conduscive to seeing the return of Stan Hansen to the ring !?!?! Until next month this OldSchool giving you 411 on [B]NWA: Return To GLory[/B] with [B][SIZE="5"]"IN THIS CORNER"[/SIZE][/B] [SIZE="2"]for more information on the NWA: Return To Glory[/SIZE] [URL="http://greydogsoftware.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14123"]http://greydogsoftware.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14123[/URL]

[Beeker]

Just bumping this to the main page... Not just to bump (something I LOATHE) but after J Silver's perusal and approval I'll have a recap of his version of USPW sometime in the next day or so. What's more is that I really enjoyed writing it up so if you're a C-Verse diary writer AND you've got more than 10 shows books (if the commitment isn't there I'm not going to put in the effort - I think most will be pleased with what I've written) I'll consider doing an in-depth feature new's story type of report. HOWEVER - I need a copy of the current game file to let me muck about properly. This is why the dynasty creator gets first look priviledge, just to make sure I don't let something major slip. Diaries I'd consider 'in depthing' are Monkeypox's, slipshirt's, infinity's, Gremlinator's (coz we kissed n' made up... without the kissing,) and Acturus (UFW or MoSC - if he ever returns to that one.) Oh yah, and trackersan and payne if they ever get off their lazy rumps and write for my benefit. :P

[Beeker]

In This Corner... USPW by JSilver [CENTER][IMG]http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t206/Jsilver532/ITC.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t206/Jsilver532/USPW3.jpg[/IMG] [B]Stronger than thou[/B] How Sam Strong saved American Wrestling[/CENTER] [B]USPW[/B] (Meta Game View) J Silver took the red headed stepchild of North American wrestling scene and turned it into the golden haired prince. A feat akin to taking RoH to the pinnacle of real world popularity. What’s more is that he did it without gutting the spirit of USPW. Instead he molded and reshaped the nostalgia for days gone by, supplementing that old school feel with some new school attitude, making a distinct brand of USPW. Many people gut the heart and soul of USPW and remake it as CZCW East or DaVE South. But not J, he built from within and added (a fair) few savvy combatants from outside the locker room. Now I’m willing to hazard a guess that there are more USPW diaries (but only one dynasty) being played in an attempt to recapture the lightning in a bottle effect of Silver’s well publicized take on things. [CENTER][B]Ancient History[/B][/CENTER] When most people think of USPW, and few people do, it used to be with disgust and dismay. But not anymore. Not so long ago USPW was the show your grandpappy watched when he wanted to take a trip down memory lane and drag the whole family kicking and screaming and begging for him to ‘pull this car over!’ USPW began as a throwback to those halcyon bygone days, the brainchild of Danny Jillefski, the fallen voice of SWF who grew disillusioned with the bloodletting of DaVE, the cartoonish nepotism of SWF and the ongoing ownership crises of HGC/TCW. The path to hell is paved with good intentions and while Jillefski captured that 70s feel, he also assembled a roster of incompetents and manipulators and after bursting onto the scene amidst fanfare and accolades, the in-ring product’s plodding pace drove away fans almost as fast as they arrived. The term success through failure applies here, as USPW continued to grow but the growing pains proved nearly fatal to the company. Jillefski soldiered on but the financial reality of running a wrestling company wore upon his booking acumen. Things looked bleak indeed. [CENTER][B]Enter Sam Strong[/B][/CENTER] A legend in the industry, Sam Strong once reigned over the North American scene and now wanted to give something back. He respected the vision of Jillefski and unlike many of his peers he’d saved a goodly portion of his lucrative paydays. Enough to buy controlling interest in USPW. Sam Strong brought a larger than life icon to admire, as well as many connections throughout the world. Perhaps his most important acquisition was luring Bruce the Giant (a longtime friend) from semi-retirement to provide another pillar upon which the resurrection of USPW might be built. For a while, it proved successful, but like Jillefski before him Sam Strong found the stamina in his 60 year old body ill suited to the relentless rigors of booking, owning and promoting the company. Oh, and he still had Giant Redwood, the Hillbillies, Sheik Mustafa, Corporal Doom, Captain USA and Jim Force. Things didn’t go strongly for Sam from the outset. His name alone garnered him an excellent spot on television but while Sam owned his name and likeness Tommy Cornell and TCW weren’t about to release the footage of Sam’s last world title victory, those would remain safely stashed in the vaults of SWF and TCW gathering dust. This is too bad, because people would have rather watched Sam Starr jobbing out in the early 70s than a Giant Redwood/Pete the Hillbilly best out of seven series, which alas was what main evented two months of the show. Sam was at his wits' end, he couldn’t continue to juggle being owner, booker and road agent. He vacated the road agent position as best he could to the lesser of evils, ironically the person he gave it to was a former member of the Axis of Evil, Sheik Mustafa. Giant Redwood understood, at least he thought he did, he understood that he didn’t become the road agent because clearly Sam was about to pass him the book. Sam found himself desperate, but not THAT desperate. Instead he did something risky; he put the bookers' position up for auction. [CENTER][B]Enter Stranton[/B][/CENTER] Luck is a funny thing; in this case Sam hit the lottery. Redwood did not find out about the auction, someone foolishly bid $1, and Sam hired (extorted) Jay Stranton to be the new head booker of USPW. And people wonder why Redwood hates Stranton? Cheap bastard that he is, Redwood would have gone as high as $2.50 to become head booker! Of course, things didn’t appear to be the windfall they became as from the outset there were rumblings of discontent and mutiny. Even before Stranton booked his first card he conducted interviews to find some other poor sap to take the rudder of this misguided ship. Despite the (extremely) low requirements, Jay couldn’t jettison the luggage which was USPW back then. Instead he braced himself for some *very* heavy lifting. [CENTER][B]Early Days, Late-Night Daze[/B][/CENTER] The first match he booked was the D- classic of Bruce the Giant over Cheetah Boy and Patrick Cool. Also on that card, a tag team match between the Demons of Rage and the Hillbillies which resulted in an eye-popping (as in wanting to pop your eyes from your skull) E+! As for Stranton’s first main event? How about Freddy Datsun going over the dangerous challenger… T-Rex! A stunning D for that epic encounter! But it gets better, at the start the initial National Champion was none other than Jim Force (yes, that Jim Force!) This was pre-Feel the Fooooooooorce days and Jim jobbed ignominiously (may not be a real word) to Citizen X in his first defense. Jim Force contacted me during the writing of this article to inform me that his Forcechlorian Count dipped to deadly, dismal, dangerous levels of leavening and non-levity leaving him literally lethargic when the conspicuous cutthroat cretin Citizen X toppled him. Buy his merchandise! (Don’t buy a copy of that D- title match though.) Somehow I think that match would have ended much differently were it to be held today. Shortly thereafter a string of events occurred that culminated with USPW being the most popular promotion in the United States. If he’d checked his email ever, Stranton would have realized the end was nigh for the first incarnation of USPW television, but in that month he managed to set in motion the events that would see USPW in an unexpectedly lofty position. He started the New Talent Initiative, sending a slew of fading superstars and never-gonna-shine young talents back to the indies while scouring the globe for fresh young blood who would lower the median age of USPW dramatically and boost the in ring skills exponentially. Vessey, Alicia “Muffin” Strong, William Hayes, Wanda Fish, Giant Oak (for announcing skills mostly), Perez, Hernandez, Shaffer, Fortune, Umaga, plus many more later on. Even without television there was a buzz about the promotion. The matches weren’t epic masterpieces from the outset but the raw talent and undeniable hunger was there from the debut of the New Talent Initiative. Bruce the Giant eventually dropped his title to Freddy Datsun who proved himself to be a near miracle worker as he groomed the undercard, along with Bruce, to be ready to be seen as viable challengers to himself or Bruce. Even Peter Valentine, someone many thought would be dumped, shifted effortlessly from Main Eventer due to friendship with Sam Strong, to comedy gold stemming from his interactions with Darryl Devine and Seduction. (This may well be the only time a pregnancy storyline had a decent payoff – as it was used to debut Casey Valentine to USPW 7 months later.) The biggest beneficiary was (Rhino) Umaga who went on a Samoan Steamroller Ride all the way to the World Title. Some bitchy n’ smarky wanna be insiders claimed this was just a new take on the old booker self-uber-push since Stranton was the onscreen manager of Umaga. [CENTER][B]A Corner Turned[/B][/CENTER] That title change cemented to the wrestling world that this wasn’t your grandpappy’s USPW any more, although ages 65 and over still get in for free. From there things just grew and grew like a snowball tumbling down a snow-packed mountain. Aiming lower a new TV show was acquired, followed shortly thereafter by a second one. During this entire time one thing remained constant, increasingly compelling storylines. Some of the old guard suffered as USPW unabashedly went with a youth movement, although the rock solid midcard additions of Steve Flash and Art Reed showed that if a person could supply a personality or at least consistently entertaining matches there would be a place for them in USPW. Demon Spite never grasped this concept. With Umaga rampant and dominant, right below him arose that rarity of wrestling storylines, a compelling love triangle, then rhombus, of Seduction, Triple D, Muffin (a masked Alicia Strong) and William Hayes. While Umaga cemented his main event status with wins over Datsun (another of the older generation who remains an integral link in USPW’s success) and Bruce the Giant. Under that the odd pairing of Wanda Fish and Giant Oak showed remarkable chemistry, especially in the midst of an underappreciated Brandon Smith’s advances. And of course, Trent Shaffer’s quest for a tag team partner and Maxmillion Productions’ always revealing videos, much to Devines dismay. What’s more is that Stranton allowed the wrestlers to find their voices and find their personalities. He also used a LOT of dark matches. [CENTER][B]Other Causalities[/B][/CENTER] While USPW continued a steady growth, inching ever towards cult, those above them seemed determined to meet the promotion half way. DaVE languished in cult, seemingly stuck in a rut (especially without the deep pockets of say a Mark Cuban or a monkey for a booker) of decent but static cards. TCW took the first tumble, somewhat surprising but the backstage issues seem to be at the fore of their issues. Troubles in the Cornell household? Whatever the reason, TCW sank to cult and seems unable to right their listing ship. Meanwhile, Eisen gloated for upwards of a month before putting on a debacle of near biblical proportions. A single two hour block of television so abysmal that SWF found itself alongside DaVE and TCW in the quagmire which is cult. If momentum means anything in wrestling (and it does) USPW found itself forth amongst equals but with the best chance of pipping their rivals at the post. [CENTER][B]The Turn Heard 'Round the Lower 48[/B][/CENTER] Darryl Devine eventually conquered the seemingly unstoppable Samoan Savage Umaga and went on to be a rather tame face champion. He could put on a good match, but outside the ring he was more concerned with Seduction and Muffin than with the World title. Friends abandoned him and rivals begrudgingly stood beside him. Not long after achieving the holy grail of USPW Devine never felt more alone than after being abandoned by his beloved Muffin, he did what he felt was his sole remaining option. He turned his back upon the fans and Muffin (and precious few others in the face dressing room) with a belt shot that shocked the new and old USPW fans alike. And shook up the roster, giving Triple D a whole new list of challengers and freshening up the top of the card. William Hayes' face turn paved the way for Devines turn as the two offer comparable skills but differing personalities. Only slightly further down the card, the fall from grace of TCW and SWF allowed Stranton to shore up his midcard with additions such as Robert Oxford and Human Arsenal (who seems to be determined to shake off the tag team terror label from SWF despite teaming with Ota.) Much of the nostalgia can be found further down the card, where the in-ring deficiency of Jim Force is more than counterbalanced by his insane rambling promos and Robert Oxford’s tag knowledge (and knowledge of carbonated soft drink products). With them many of the young grapplers of the New Talent Initiative have cut their teeth, growing more comfortable on camera with the veterans while Devine, Umaga, Datsun, Hayes, Bruce and Muffin (apparently being Sam Strong’s daughter means having lived your youth on camera wearing skintight spandex and a muffin mask is second nature.) have led the company to the success it's now enjoying. With a heavy mix of veteran leadership and hungry young bucks the future looks brilliant for the current darlings of the United States wrestling scene. [CENTER][B]Future Unfriendly?[/B][/CENTER] Where next for USPW? Riding high upon their momentum they have surpassed all other promotions in the United States. Think back though, not so long ago DaVE held the title of revolutionary darlings of the American scene, now they’re struggling to survive the fall to cult and the injury to Eric Tyler. One thing USPW enjoys that DaVE never truly did was a good base of strong young talent and a style less inclined to massive injuries. But what happens if Devine or Bruce or Hayes or Muffin suffers a long term injury? Or one the bright crop of midcarders; Davey Wayne or Frankie Perez or Chance Fortune or (heaven forbid) Giant Oak? USPW could survive one or two injuries perhaps but that’s always an unforeseen risk. [U] -Trends change[/U]. Currently this old school revival has caught the publics interest, but trends fade and are replaced. The Explosive Action of CZCW might be the next wave of popularity, or a return to the cartoonish antics of Eisen. USPW needs to solidify its grasp atop the American market while it can or someone will come along and steal their thunder (and their homegrown stars.) [U]-Foreign Invasions[/U]. The biggest threats right now to USPW are NotBPW and CGC up in Canada, and BHOTWG and PGHW in Japan. All four enjoy greater popularity in their home countries than any of the America promotions. The most immediate threat is the nationally renowned NotBPW who have to be eying up an incursion south. If only to the Northeastern areas so close to their own home territory. More than a few USPW stars are known in Canada – indeed Devine, Jett and Shaffer already work for 4C, a small Canadian federation. How tempting will the offer sheets be when NotBPW heads south and finds it possible to insert some skills and known wrestlers into their federation? NotBPW are currently without a TV deal, due to them letting their last deal lapse, speculation persists they allowed this to happen to find an American carrier for those first scouting parties into the states. [U]-Local Insurgents[/U]. Don’t count out Eisen or Cornell or even Vibert. Eisen's at his best when backed into a corner and currently he feels the heat from three different sides. He’s never been anywhere less than number one (in his mind) or number two (in reality for a brief time in the early 2000s. Expect him to fight like a cornered predator. Cornell finally has his goal, his own wrestling promotion, he has the skills to carry TCW back to glory and all it will take is some quality supporting stars. Back on TV already, expect TCWs' resurgence to happen sooner, not later. DaVE finds itself in Viberts' favourite position. The dark horse. The place from whence their initial foray into the limelight shook up the American scene in the late 90s. Can Vibert do it again? With a fresh new crop of skilled kids in the Indies… anything is possible. [U]-Tag team uncertainty[/U]. Everything isn’t rosy in the USPW locker room, nowhere is this more evident than in the tag team ranks. There is OtArsenal and every other team. A division killer who can make any team look good but no team can look good enough to threaten to topple them. That combined with Arsenal’s obvious stock increase in single competition means that getting the belts off Team Seduction could prove tricky. The Hotshots, the Valentines, the Best Tag Team Like Ever, the Dudez!!!1!!!, Veteran Mentality are all capable supporting acts but as of yet, none appear near the class of OtArsenal. [U]-Sum of their parts[/U]. Sometimes adding a second wrestler in the same mold makes both wrestlers appear weaker. So it is with the Samoan Savages. Umaga was an unstoppable heel… now he’s one half of some unstoppable Samoans and it just doesn’t work. Alone he was great, with Akima he seems unmotivated. [U]-Castrations of veterans[/U]. Stranton’s shown no hesitation in jobbing expiring contracts of veterans in the age old tradition of wrestling bookers everywhere. However it’s the current Samoaphobia castration of Bruce the Giant that makes this writer raise his eyebrow. It appears as though Stranton and Strong have booked themselves into a corner. It was cute to watch Bruce try to find ways to hide from Umaga (and then Akima) but the joke is wearing thin. The 494 pound (and dropping) Giant is unable and unwilling for whatever reason to stand up to the Savages. So does this continue on until the Samoans squash Bruce dead? Or does he find a set and crush them back and tarnish the allure of Umaga and Akima? [U]-Lost in the forest[/U]. Hello Red, you know I couldn’t forget you. At some point, Giant Redwood is going to grow tired from being an opening act jobber and continue to manipulate any who will listen about the evils of Stranton. Indeed, rumors persist that the punchline to jokes Giant Oak should be challenging (and winning!) the USPW World title within the next six months. Redwood continues to try to pull the strings to get himself the book back and a more prominent roll on-screen. So far Strong seems willing to listen to Redwood’s rantings but refuses to let him anywhere near anything of any importance. So long as Strong doesn’t lose his mind (which, since he’s opted to step in the ring once more, seems open for debate) then Redwood will have to work that much harder to undermine Needledick Stranton. [U]-The National Curse[/U]. Surprisingly enough this isn’t about going National but about the USPW National title. The intent is to have a good belt for midcarders and upper midcarders to battle over before being awarded a main event program and title chase. Instead thanks to Hayes and Fish the National title seems more a fill station on the way to the Main Event. Both wrestlers grabbed and outgrew the belt in near record time. This has caused a greater rift between the top of the card and everyone else. Not so long ago Giant Redwood ruled the upper reaches and sneered down through the glass floor beneath him at those who thought they should be in the top slot alongside him. Could another glass ceiling be developing? [U]-Divine Reckoning[/U]. Divinity is a fantastic heel group beautifully running amok throughout USPW programming, but already some cracks seem to be showing. Too many members too soon seem to suggest the Divinity might outgrow the heavens. As great as a wrestler as Art Reed is, does the Pantheon need a rapper? Apparently so. Yet even with the size of the Divinity another trouble within it makes it so much more than so many heel groups before it. It started out as a fractured whole. Seduction refuses to forgive Devines past indiscretions. So there is Jillefski and his brood, Team Seduction, freestyle Art Reed and Devine… alone yet atop the USPW and Divinity. That makes for some intriguing possibilities. [U]-Lies about Triple D[/U]. His middle name is Ulrich, not Daniel. Doesn’t have quite the same ring to it now does it? [U]-Don’t let the accountants see[/U]. Without full knowledge of the finances of USPW, just be judging by the amount of dark matches and expensive talents (other than Stranton – you’ll earn that $10 eventually buddy!) and tag teams and stable attacks it’s safe to say that at some point the popularity boost won’t be viable to Sam Strong’s bank account. [U]-The next contract[/U]. Devine and Hayes. Really that’s who this new USPW has flourished around. So who will be the next to go? Devine had connections in Canada and works for 4C when not defending the world title down south. And the allure of the east can be seen in everything Hayes does, from his attire to his wrestling style. Hayes also works for a National Japanese promotion. His absences from USPW in the future might damage storylines as he once more goes on tour in the East. And what of Alicia Strong or Wanda Fish? Both capable grapplers, will the boy’s locker room mentality eventually send them abroad too, Strong was trained by Sensational Ogiwara so the ties are already in place. [U]-The Greatest Threat[/U]. Will be PETA or SPCA, for as soon as those panda huggers find out about the family friendly but animal unfriendly environment of USPW they’re gonna slap a Panda Bear Hug of Submission on Stranton’s Fooooorce Friendly Menagerie. (Rumors that Panda Mask 1 or 2 have been begging for a position on the roster cannot be proved… or disproved.) [CENTER][B]Future Friendly[/B][/CENTER] For all the potential troublespots for USPW, currently their success cannot be denied. Riding high atop waves of popularity and unbridled success, the entirety of the US market and possibly even North America lays at their feet. Will they be able to continue this old school nostalgia trip up and up to heights loftier than Sam Strong could even have dreamed when on a whim he placed his bookers' position up for tender? Check out [B]USPW[/B]: Where Ages 65 and Older Get in For Free at [url]http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21524[/url]

[Monkeypox]

I really enjoyed that USPW writeup.

[Wallbanger]

[CENTER][IMG]http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s59/Wallbanger1071/InThisCorner.jpg[/IMG][/CENTER] [CENTER][FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium][SIZE=5]In This Corner: Spotlight on IPW[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium][SIZE=5]Recent Happenings and Random Thoughts[/SIZE][/FONT][/CENTER] [LEFT][FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium]It has been so cool to see the crowds getting bigger for the last couple IPW shows down at the West St. Paul Armory. I was really worried when they cancelled a show a couple of months back -- I figured their shoestring budget had gottent the better of them and that they'd blown their wad before they could get the crowds up to cover costs. Apparently they have gotten hold of some "creative" financing and that led to their putting on their last two shows, the Impact Invitational and the King of the Deathfights. Both shows were absolutely bitchin', with blood and guts all over the place, and better attendance that hopefully means they are back on track financially. Pulling out all the stops to establish their hardcore cred, too.[/FONT][/LEFT] [LEFT][FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium]There are a couple of guys I've definitely been missing though, Nigel McGuiness and Corporal Robinson. McGuiness, according to OnlineWorldOfWrestling.com, chose to work an FIP show rather than come up and defend his Impact Invitational tourney title. The IPW guys were pretty pissed about the whole thing -- if FIP ever finds themselves in a similar situation I don't think the IPW guys are going to be very sympathetic.[/FONT][/LEFT] [LEFT][FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium]Robinson, on the other hand, had no conflicts, but apparently was holding out on signing a new per-appearance agreement in order to get more cash which IPW doesn't have, but I can see both sides, gotta pay the bills somehow, ya know? I'm hoping with their recent upswing in attendance, they can get something figured out with Robinson, his matches with American Kickboxer were sweet![/FONT][/LEFT] [LEFT][FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium]Now all these guys who showed for the King of the Deathmatches, I don't know if they were one time only appearances or if we'll see more of them in the coming months, but man there were some brutal matches in that show. I kinda have to think they are one shots given the financial situation, but one guy I could see them holding onto, if for no other reason because he's local, is Sick Nick Mondo. They actually managed to coax him out of "retirement" to have him work the KotDF tournament -- all I can say is I hope his insurance is paid up, because he went through three HELLISH matches at KotDF.[/FONT][/LEFT] [LEFT][FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium]What more is coming from the sick mind of Nick Clements?? Only way to find out is to go down to the West St. Paul Armory next month![/FONT][/LEFT] [LEFT][FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium]Check out IPW: REALizing the Dream at [URL]http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23368[/URL][/FONT][/LEFT]

[wrestlinggod]

Here’s my take on theoutlaw’s [COLOR="Blue"]Battlelines have been drawn…. [/COLOR]diary. [IMG]http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x272/wrestlinggod_bucket/trdwrs.jpg[/IMG] [FONT="Arial Black"] [CENTER] [IMG]http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x272/wrestlinggod_bucket/NWA20logo.gif[/IMG] [SIZE="4"][B]A brief history of the NWA.[/B][/SIZE] The National Wrestling Alliance is the governing body for a group of independent wrestling promotions and sanctions various NWA Championships. The NWA was formed and has been in operation since 1948. [SIZE="4"][B]Territories.[/B][/SIZE] Before the NWA was founded in July of 1948, there were many promotions/federations (each promoting its own 'World Champion'); but few received backing outside of their own respective geographic base areas. The concept of the NWA was to consolidate or unify all of these championships into one true world champion of pro wrestling. A champion to be recognized by all of the federations. In 1948, Pinkie George, a promoter from the Midwest, founded the original version of the NWA with the backing of 6 other promoters (Al Haft, Tony Strecher, Harry Light, Orville Brown, Paul George, and Sam Muchnick.) This newly formed board recognized Orville Brown as the first World Champion. Brown was the current holder of the Midwest Wrestling Association World Championship(based in Des Monies.) It was during the reign of the second NWA World, Lou Thesz, that the title was further unified. During Thesz's reign he unified the following titles: >He defeated Bill Longson on July 20, 1948 to become the National Wrestling Association World Champion. >He was awarded the National Wrestling Alliance World Championship on November 27, 1949 when champion Orville Brown is injured in an automobile accident and is unable to make the unification match. >He defeats American Wrestling Association World Champion(Boston) Gorgeous George on July 27, 1950. >He defeats Baron Michele Leone who holds the LA Coliseum version of the title on May 21, 1952. These unifications legitimized the claim of the NWA that its title was a unified World Title with a lineage that continues to this day. [SIZE="4"][B]Breaking Away From the NWA[/B][/SIZE] Over the years several promotions have broken away from the NWA umbrella. In 1957, the American Wrestling Association (AWA) broke away due to a dispute over the booking of the World Champion. Pat O'Connor the present champion was hugely popular. He was booked out of the St. Louis Wrestling Club by Sam Muchnick. The dispute arose from the fact that even though O'Conner was a very popular champ, the board had booked Lou Thesz to win the title back. The AWA who recognized the Omaha version of the title(once part of the unified title but no longer due to a disputed decision in a title match in 1957) that was currently held by Verne Gagne. Wally Karbo and Verne Gagne, cofounders of the AWA, pushed for Gagne to have a chance at the title. They were rebuffed in their requests. This led to the AWA naming the present NWA World Champion, Pat O'Conner, and the new AWA World Champion and giving him 90 days to defend the title against Verne Gagne. Because of contractual obligations to the NWA, O'Conner was unable to defend the newly awarded title. The AWA officially stripped him of the title and awarded it to Verne Gagne, whom they held as the number one contender, on August 16, 1960. Another promotion broke away and formed their own promotion in the 60’s. New York promoter Vincent J. McMahon, who ran Capitol Wresting Corporation. In 1963 the NWA World Title was held by ‘Nature Boy’ Buddy Rogers. He had started his career in the northeast territories and several members of the NWA felt slighted that he rarely defended the title outside of the northeast area. The board had become upset with Toots Mondt, one of the original founders of Capitol Wrestling Corp (along with Jess McMahon-Vince J’s dad.) After much politicking Rogers lost the belt to Thesz in a one fall match in Toronto on January 24, 1963. Mondt and McMahon had wanted Rogers just to keep the belt, but Rogers was unwilling to forfeit the $25000 deposit he had on the title( a requirement of title holders to insure that they would honor their commitments as champions.) The loss by Rogers of the title led to the withdrawal from the NWA by Mondt, McMahon and Capitol Wrestling Corp in protest and the formation of the World Wide Wrestling Federation. The WWWF claimed that Buddy Rogers had won the tournament for the title in Rio de Janeiro in April. Although the AWA and the WWWF(WWF) promoted their own world champion, both had representatives on the NWA Board and frequently exchanged talent with the other NWA members. Rarely venturing outside their home territories; the WWF in the northeast and the AWA in Minnesota and the Midwest. [SIZE="4"][B]The Decline of the Territories?[/B][/SIZE] Vincent Kennedy McMahon founded Titan Sports, Inc in 1980. He purchased Capitol Wrestling Corp from his father in 1982. The younger McMahon began an expansion process against the wishes of his father. He began syndicating WWF Tv shows to TV stations across the US. He began selling videos of live WWF events and then turning around and using the profits to poach talent from other promotions. As his father had feared, he had broke kayfabe and effectively crossed the unwritten laws of the territory system and had led to………… Battlelines being drawn…………….. [SIZE="4"][B]Battlelines have been drawn.[/B][/SIZE] December 18, 1982. Greenbrier Resort at the annual NWA membership meeting. The revelation of Vincent K. McMahon's manifesto. His plan to effectively end the territorial system and go national. A plan is spelled out by Jim Crockett, Jr to return to the roots of the NWA and use the territory system as a way to appear National. By using the existing territories and their TV contracts they can combat the aggressive expansion plan that Vince has concocted. The members all agree to make their workers more accessible to one another. Following this meeting two very important agreements are struck that could go along way towards deciding the fate of the territories. Jim Crockett's MACW strikes a deal with Jim Barnett to purchase and merge Georgia Championship Wrestling into a new promotion renamed NWA, INC. This gives Crockett the national cable deal that Vince has been secretly trying to obtain since summer. Effectively beating him to the punch. Crockett and Verne Gagne also reach an agreement to cross promote between the two companies. This allows workers a chance to work for two of the largest promotions in NA without having to choose between the WWF and one of the others. At this time we are first introduced to the new head booker of NWA, Huston Hartsell. He has worked as a stage hand for Crockett promotions for a number of years. He was recently promoted to this new position. We will learn that he is a strong willed adversary to Vince in the now openly declared war between the two promotions. One that is to be played out on a national stage. [SIZE="4"][B]1983 Opens with a bang![/B][/SIZE] Huston, Crockett and the NWA started off 1983 on the offensive as they signed some huge names such as Lou Thesz, Sam Muchnick, Paul Boesch, and Verne Gagne to work backstage. They inked some of Vince's own champions Bob Backlund and Pedro Morales to appear at the kickoff PPV of the year Homecoming. Dory Funk Jr signed on, as well as Dusty Rhodes and Nick Bockwinkel. And then making their debuts at Homecoming; Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant. But Vince would not stand pat as he fired back in the court room filing an injunction and copyright infringement law suit that barred Backlund from appearing on air and the banned the use of the images of the title belts that were held by Backlund and Morales. This situation came to a head at the end of January when mysteriously a 7 second clip of video appeared on the telecast of The NWA Big Show for January. This brought on the immediate voiding of the contracts of Backlund and Morales and ushered in the court proceedings. Just as everyone had hunkered down for a long drawn out court battle, a settlement was reached between the WWF and NWA on the first night following testimony. Leading to the case being suddenly dropped the following morning. According to sources close to the situation Vince asked for and received concessions from Head Booker, Huston Hartsell. Tough never confirmed by the NWA these appear to include a ban on offering contracts to anyone under contract to the WWF for 6 months. As well as not pursuing the resigning of the Wild Samoans when their contracts were up at the end of February. And the agreement to not book Andre the Giant on Thursdays so that he would be free to appear for the WWF on their weekly PPV telecast. [SIZE="4"][B]Other Happenings[/B][/SIZE] Other interesting occurrences since the first of the year include the holding up of the National Hwt title following the upset win by The Spoiler over Paul Orndorff and then turning around and selling the title to Larry Zybszko. This resulted in a tournament for the title and continues to present. As it has gotten messy with the turn of The Spoiler on former tag team partner Roddy Piper and alignment with Zybszko. This situation is hot and set to be resolved as April opens. We had the possible beginnings of the breakdown of the agreement that was made in December between the members of the NWA as we had the Piper incident where he was paid a huge amount of money to miss a scheduled booking for the NWA. This led to the NWA and MLW falling out and a declaration of war being made. The end of February also saw the sudden departure of Jim Barnett from his role as on air authority figure for the NWA. He left to start a new promotion, Championship Wrestling from Georgia. He has since signed alot of talent also under contract to the NWA. This situation will bear watching. The AWA has fallen on hard times as owner Verne Gagne has mandated that Head Booker 'Fred' trim the roster by 25% following mounting losses and the shocking drop in size from cult to regional. Will Fred make it, or will he be a victim of Gagne's cuts? The month of April begins with the NWA coming off a very successful head to head win against the WWF as Star wars clearly topped Wrestlemania in every way you can measure. Everyone knows that Vince will not sit pat and let the NWA just walk away from them in the head to head war. What will his next move be? Will he be able to catch the NWA who have surged to the top of the mountain? Four months in and we still don't know that much about Huston. Just who is he? What secret is he hiding? Who's Pops? Will he continue to hold his own in the very heated and personal battle with Vince? Only time will tell as [COLOR="Blue"]Battlelines[/COLOR]..... [SIZE="6"][COLOR="Blue"]returns. [/COLOR][/SIZE] [/CENTER][/FONT] You pick the story up here: [URL="http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum/showthread.php?p=243484#post243484"]http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum/showthread.php?p=243484#post243484[/URL]

[Oldschool]

In this Corner....For: NWA Return To Glory [IMG]http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d43/cpevans31/InThisCorner.jpg[/IMG] we have the: [IMG]http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d43/cpevans31/NWAlogo.gif[/IMG] [B][I][SIZE="4"]NWA RETURN TO GLORY: BY WILDFIRE[/SIZE][/I][/B] [COLOR="Red"]Roll Call of Champions:[/COLOR] [B][U]NWA/ROH Unified World Champion[/U][/B] [B][SIZE="5"]"American Dragon" Bryan Danielson[/SIZE][/B] No change here...Last month we considered the fact that Danielson may have been just a transitional champion as he was set to defend his title against Mr. Wrestling III at Showdown 7... Danielson came out of that match champion (despite controversial ending) and is set to face Satoshi Kojima at Showdown 8 "Bunkhouse Stampede".... We think Danielson certainly has to be the favorite to retain, especially as NWA gets set to expand its audience into an area where Bryan Danielson is quite popular.... Danielson is pound for pound one of the best, if not THE best, wrestlers in the world.... NWA prides itself on having great Main Event matches... And for that reason, we can see Danielson possibly holding onto this title for a while.. [B][U]NWA/ROH Unified Tag Team CHampions[/U][/B] [B][SIZE="5"]Jay & Mark Briscoe[/SIZE][/B] They've been on a run since August and perhaps these titles could soon be in jeopardy... Recently on a televised event Mark Briscoe was pinned by Matt Weise in an 10 man tag team match... We're sure to see the Briscoes square off against The Monsters of the Mat soon... In fact it looks as if "The New Age Invaders" Aaron Aguilara, Joey Munoz, Ricky Banderas may possibly throw themselves in the title mix... Add in Blonde Bombers, Hero & Rave, and the Extreme Horsemen, it may become difficult for The Briscoes to maitain their dominence in the tag team scene... [B][U]NWA North American Title[/U][/B] [B][SIZE="5"]Tito Ortiz[/SIZE][/B] Ortiz is still the man, but his reign is not as dominant as it once was... The build-up of the Team Punishment/Extreme Horsemen rivalry certainly can lead us to believe Masato Tanaka and Steve Corino are capable of taking that title away... In fact it seems odd that Corino still doesn't have any gold around his waste. I'd suspect that it only be a matter of time before he is competing for a title and the North American title seems like the next logical step.. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [B][COLOR="red"][SIZE="5"]WHATS HOT[/SIZE][/COLOR][/B] [B][SIZE="5"][U]The Midcard[/U][/SIZE][/B] NWA continues to add wrestlers to it's growing roster... They have certainly almost absorbed what was left of the now defunct Ring Of Honor...They have such talented grapplers like Nigel McGuinness, Roderick Strong, Elijah Burke, Masato Tanaka, Doug Williams and all the Great Tag Teams... It is very conceivable that they may need to add another title title in the not to distant future as a way of finding something to do with all this talent... [B][U][SIZE="5"]Masked Wrestlers[/SIZE][/U][/B] They were hot last month and are getting even hotter now....The Patriot is set to face off against Mr. Wrestling III at Showdown 8... Ultimately the fans of NWA are going to demand the ultimate payoff with a mask vs mask match... In addition to those two wrestlers we have La Parka getting back into the mix of things...Mistico about set to make his debut as is Delirious (both at Bunkhouse Stampede) I also have heard through the rumor mill that a legendary character may also be appearing in the up-coming "BunkHouse" Stampede"... Oh and we cant forget about Lizmark and his once a month duty as a jobber on Fusion... [B][SIZE="5"][U]Tag Teams[/U][/SIZE][/B] The Briscoes have proved themselves as "Best in the World"... The Monsters of The Mat" Matt Weise and Matt Bloom have been dominate...The New Age Invaders are beginning to make a name for themselves... The Blonde Bombers continue to do whatever it takes to get through a match...Jimmy Rave & Chris Hero are now beginning to gell...S.A.T are still around and putting on good matches... And with as crowded as the Mid-card is getting we may see some of these guys form some new teams, or see a bigger focus on tag action from Extreme Horsemen & Team Punishment... [B][SIZE="5"][U]Stan Hansen[/U][/SIZE][/B] Never did I think I could get behind a 58 year old man who has been retired for 5+ years, but "The Lariat" has been behind some of the hottest segments you'll see in NWA... He pulled off an upset win against Steve Corino and will be participating in The Bunkhouse Stampede, which is right up his alley... At the very least Hansen is going to make a current NWA star even bigger, before he's all said and done.. [B][U][SIZE="5"]HOOTERS[/SIZE][/U][/B] Well it seems to be the place where we get the most entertaining promos in all of the NWA... As that is where their camera men always seem to find Colt Cabana...and his growing "Entourage".... Cabana promos may be amongst the best promos in the GDS universe... [B][COLOR="red"][SIZE="5"]WHATS NOT[/SIZE][/COLOR][/B] [B][SIZE="5"][U]Technical Wizards[/U][/SIZE][/B] They put on great matches, but just can't seem to get the following... I'm talking about Nigel McGuinness, Roderick Strong, Doug Williams... NWA has added a few more in recent weeks with Kevin Steen and Hector Garza joining the ranks... so it will be interesting to see the way they go with this group of wrestlers.... [B][SIZE="5"][U]Coast to Coast Color Commentator[/U][/SIZE][/B] Randy Savage was quite colorful and grabbed the viewers attention, but his head became to big and he has parted ways with NWA... We've heard the names Terry Taylor, Stan Lane and Jim Cornette mentioned, but The viewers may be used to that dynamic personality and someone like Michael Hayes, Roddy Piper, Stan Hansen himself if he hangs them up may be better suited. [B][SIZE="5"][U]Vampiro[/U][/SIZE][/B] After a series of strange vignettes and a sit down interview with Jim Cornette The Vampiro character became very intriguing... Essentially we had no idea of where this was going and over the last couple of weeks we've heard nothing...Will Vampiro be the second coming of "The Undertaker" or was his hype machine going to run down the same path as "Blood Runs Cold" (Old WCW faction, that was heavily hyped and fell flat) [B][U][SIZE="5"]Danger Zone T-Shirts[/SIZE][/U][/B] The infamous trio of Necro Butcher, the Messiah and New Jack with Allison Danger just couldn't get over with the NWA fans...and they still cant unload their stock of T-shirts, even at the $3.99 discount rate ;-) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [B][SIZE="5"][COLOR="red"]Whats Ahead[/COLOR][/SIZE][/B] Bigger and better things... Is certainly whats coming ahead.... The NWA will be paying homage to ROH as they will begin using one of ROH's major yearly events as their Title for what will become one of their biggest yearly pay per-view events.... We have recieved word on the Title for Showdown 9 and judging by the name of that PPV, the fans will definately want to be tuning in to see the outcome of what goes down there.... More and More names keep coming in and we certainly can see NWA adding a title to help with their growing roster....NWA is set to make it's way to NYC as a big PPV will be held at "The Manhatten Center" and negotiations are under way to debut at the Old ECW Arena... Paul Ellering has taken over the reigns as Director of Operations and he has a no frills approach and has been giving the fans what they want...How much longer can Stan Hansen go, in the ring....And what will come of The Extreme Horsemen's declaration of War on The NWA are just a few of the questions that will be answered in the coming month Until next month... This is Oldschool giving you the 411 on [B]NWA: Return To Glory[/B] with [B]In This Corner[/B]

[Beeker]

[CENTER][IMG]http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t206/Jsilver532/ITC.jpg[/IMG] [B]The Rebranding of DaVE[/B] (Mark Cuban’s effect on pro wrestling) [/CENTER] [B]DaVE (Meta Game View)[/B] DaVE has been a popular promotion from the initial TEW and remains so today. Things have changed over the course of the series, but the hardcore underdog of a promotion continues to enjoy popularity with players. Although I don’t have any concrete statistics I wouldn’t be surprised if DaVE enjoyed more players than any other US promotion. Monkeypox did something similar to JSilver, in that to make a dynasty stand out; it needs to have a twist. And twist it ‘pox did, removing Phil Vibert as the owner and replacing him with Mark Cuban (billionaire goofball and owner of the Dallas Mavericks.) Instead of the booker being brand new, ‘pox’s user character (Jack Hagen) boasts nearly a decade of experience with DaVE, co-sharing the responsibilities with John ‘Nemesis’ Campbell. But the influx of Cuban’s finances hasn’t been the glorious windfall it appeared, as Cuban’s taken a much more active interest in wrestling and in DaVE. Currently this version of DaVE enjoys more successes than a typical TEW07 DaVE, but also looming ahead are more and differing obstacles than might be expected. [CENTER][B]Ancient History[/B][/CENTER] DaVE grew out of Phil Vibert’s mind, a concept of a gritty and hard hitting style of wrestling, a dose of Strong Style mixed with tough North American Brawl that remained popular throughout the States. DaVE managed to survive and eventually thrive in the brutal “East Coast Wars” and in doing so found themselves ushering in a renaissance in pro-wrestling. From them all, of DaVE emerged victorious over RPW, PPPW, and XFW. (Derek B has an intriguing mod about this timeframe; you can find it over in the Mod section.) HGC and SWF were quick to acknowledge the burgeoning success of the upstart promotion and set about copying the gritty feel that DaVE brought to the show, countered and copied DaVE where needed and signed the stars that helped DaVE establish their legacy outright when necessary. It appeared that the success of DaVE might very well be its death knell. [CENTER][B]Exit Vibert[/B][/CENTER] The reality of DaVE’s success and then setback nearly killed Phil Vibert and threatened to bankrupt him and the company. When it seemed the States beckoned and offered him a bloody-golden crown, Vibert rewarded his loyal foot soldiers and ring generals partly due to his largesse and partly to stem the outflow of talent to the deeper coffers of HGC/TCW and SWF. But the bloody shade of success dried and flaked as the rough and tumble style Vibert dished out, with risqué angles and copious bloodshed and dabbles of gore didn’t suit the taste of the masses. Stuck with shrinking returns and unable to establish DaVE nationwide like he’d hoped and now saddled with expensive contracts for ailing veterans being worn out by the constant demands of a hardcore lifestyle, Vibert realized he needed outside help. The sole person, who offered him respite, was Mark Cuban. Desperate men, desperate times, desperate measures. Vibert wanted nothing more than to succeed in his own venue and on his own terms. Alas, that was not to be. And with great reservation and trepidation, Vibert did the seemingly unthinkable and sold his precious possession (DaVE) over to the foppish muppet, Mark Cuban. The final PPV match of the Vibert Regime came at Counter Culture wherein Chris Caulfield did what he always does, and jobbed in a bloody and brutal war with contiguous rival Eric Tyler in eighteen minutes of barbed-wire insanity. That match, between two aging hardcore veterans garnered a better rating than most of the Cuban Regime so far. Out with the old and in with the soft. [CENTER][B]Enter Cuban[/B][/CENTER] Ah, one of the traditions of my ITC introspective is looking at how the first card went under the new regime. And while the Phil Vibert Exodus Show highlighted all the best of what had been DaVE for the past decade, the new Cuban Regime stumbled out of the gate. MaRK Cuban viewed things differently than Phil Vibert. Gone were the intense competitors, replaced instead with possessions and property and marketability. And on that first, Cuban Era show, MaRK showed up to deliver the expected [I]“expect the unexpected speech”[/I] to the tepid reception of an angry DaVE audience. Ostensibly a babyface, Cuban delivered a monotonous monologue of mediocrity that made the man of Force forcefully flail futilely at the fulcrum of Fooooooooooooorce. (Buy his merchandise – Jim Force will always have a spot in my write-ups.) This due to the hype of the moment somehow managed to garner a C+ despite the litany of clichés spewed by MaRK Cuban. After that Sammy ‘Career Ender’ Bach used Emma Chases’ ‘assets’ to overcome the more talented Scout. Also to a C+ rating. This likely qualifies as the top match in Bach’s tenure at DaVE… which is a bit odd since Cuban likely sees a lot of himself (or would like to) in the charismatic Bach. So far, so good. Hey, know what this needs. The DaVE Unified champ Eddie Peak needs a top contender, so let’s have a Main Event SCHMOOZ and reward the averageness of Shawn Gonzales (sic – pox) with that claim in a C rated battle royale. [CENTER][B]Nowhere to go but sideways[/B][/CENTER] Cuban’s stamp showed up early and often. Gone were superstars and wrestlers, replaced with ‘brandalibity’ and ‘assets’ and ‘property.’ Luckily for Cuban, Nemesis heard none of this or MaRK would likely have ended up in orbit courtesy of a Nemesis uppercut. The early days of the Cuban regime could kindly be called place holding. What MaRK never let slip was that he wanted to evolve DaVE into something more ‘down homed friendly,’ gone went the bloodshed and carnage, replaced instead with same, timid matches. The fans revolted in kind. This brought about the first surfacing of a blogger called Payne. And while Cuban knew what he wanted, he didn’t know exactly *who* he wanted. So Hagen fleshed out the undercard with some hires that would bring differing returns to the new incarnation of DaVE; Black Eagle, Ota, Steve Flash, Kashmir Singh, Cameron Vessey and Brandon Smith. When Jack Hagen and Nemesis tried to explain to MaRK the disappearing ratings stemmed from gutting the heart of DaVE. MaRK had to listen. Much as he didn’t want to, Cuban acknowledged the shift of DaVE from hardcore entertainment to mainstream intensity couldn’t be done overnight. So he capitulated… somewhat… to allow a sliver of savagery back into the Dangerzone. Give Nemesis and Hagen an inch, they take a bloody mile. Immediately table and first blood cage matches found their way onscreen. This combined with Jack’s recruitment led to a backlash and chastisement by Cuban. Cuban said in no uncertain terms that while Jack might write the show, Cuban would be the one signing the cheques and supplying the resources (talent.) From the outset, Cuban set himself at loggerheads with his two most trusted lieutenants. [CENTER][B]Shades of Grey[/B][/CENTER] Jostled between Cuban’s mainstream intensity and the traditional DaVE hardcore entertainment something odd started to appear onscreen. While the reigns were loosened and some of the brutality snuck back onscreen, three major events took place. One obvious, the other subtle, the final rumoured. The obvious was the in-ring injury to Steve Flash. While it appeared to most to be just another top-notch sell-job by the professional Flash, it turned out to be a career threatening injury. This came shortly on the heels of Cuban loosening the reigns AND warning Hagen about damaging his possessions. Sadly… Steve Flash didn’t qualify as a valuable asset in the mind of the Billionaire Cuban. What also happened at this point was a shift in the onscreen depiction of wrestlers. DaVE served up the violence but always with an easy to navigate face/heel divide. Under Cuban’s tenure, the simple stroke of good and evil was swept aside. Instead DaVE showed multiple shades of grey. Ironically enough, it began with MaRK Cuban of all people. He wants to be a face. He craves the crowds’ support. But DaVE fans are a wily bunch and they saw through the owner of the Mavericks and refused to cheer for him. Instead, they made his initial onscreen (and backstage) rival Eric Tyler the effective face. Adding Cammy Vessey as an intern only solidified the heel status of Cuban. (Cammy’s backstage heat with the boys did nothing to soothe the feathers ruffled by the spotlight whore Cuban.) Slightly down the card, The Cult of the Grey Dragon debuted and captured the imagination of the crowd. Faces stealing wins through Ota’s accurate blowgun. While the School of Tradition, heels in every sense of the matter fought tough but within the rules. And then there was Eddie Peak. The alpha shark of DaVE, Eddie Peak is a bloodthirsty predator. Enjoying nothing more than hooking an opponent in his Widow Peak finisher, Eddie enjoyed more popularity than anyone else. No matter how vile or repugnant the action, the crowd cheered. Clearly here was a man living his gimmick and giving his all to the company and to the Unified title. Yes, what he did was often gratuitously violent… but Eddie did it SO damn well. Sadly, his success often came at the expense of his less-than-engaging opponents. Having Nemesis as his onscreen mentor helped too. While the lines blurred between face and heel onscreen, backstage the locker-room fragmented due the divisive nature of Cuban. He’s goofy and funny but he’s not a billionaire by accident. That same effortless charm hides a predator nearly as lethal as Eddie Peak. Behind the scenes the product shift proved more dramatic than any onscreen softening of DaVE. The locker room fractured when Vibert sold DaVE to Cuban. Old veterans; Nemesis, Tyler, Caulfield, Tanner and Gonzalez rebelled against the new regime. Nemesis toiled on the booking team, while fostering dissent in the locker room while still protecting long time friend Jack Hagen. A new flux of young talents entered into the fray. Some humble, some haughty. But those veterans on the bubble feared the youth movement. Yet Art Reed, Joey Minnesota, Alex Braun and Jack Giedroyc found their stars on the rise. Especially Giedroyc. Acid moved into the main event scene while Tyler’s onscreen and in-ring performances were like a man who found a fountain of youth. So some veterans moved up. And there was a youth movement. But young and loyal Vibert wrestlers felt the cold front from Cuban or Hagen. Sammy Bach, the Latino Kings and Hell’s Bouncer found their roles diminished. And then… Cuban dropped the biggest bombshell of all. He wanted to wrestle! [CENTER][B]Who is this Ryland you talk of?[/B][/CENTER] It’s an old joke, but it still works. Ryland holds more sway over the Cornelloverse (and yes, I know it’s called the Cornellverse but I add the ‘o’ for two reasons. The only one you need know of it because it sounds better to my mouth.) In the game, rather than succeeding, DaVE’s benefited from the tumbling fortunes of SWF and TCW. Due to some sort of Rylanditis TCW and SWF find themselves in the unexpected situation, on par with DaVE slumming it down at cult. (I think – pox n’ I haven’t figured out a way to exchange data.) Should patch 1.4 applied, how long will some of the founders of DaVE stave off retirement? [CENTER][B]Whose title is it anyway?[/B][/CENTER] An uneasy balance was formed. Underneath the main event, a compelling cast of performers started to shine. Three men shone on the undercard, the rookie Brandon Smith who’s down-home charm enraptured even the sadistic Eddie Peak, Cameron ‘Cammy’ Vessey who drew immediate heat as Cuban’s intern and Jack ‘Wrath of God’ Giedroyc who took what could have been a comedic gimmick and ran to the main event with it. Rounding out the midcard is the Brass Knuckles Title, originally held by a pre-God Giedroyc; it recently found its way around the waist of a growing-in-anger Joey Minnesota. Art Reed also proves a major threat for the title. As too will the good natured but intense Brandon Smith. The tag team ranks remain chaotic with the New Wave holding the titles and no other teams matching them in terms of in-ring ability or charisma. The New Jersey Devil’s split when Jellybelly found World of WarForce (render by Payne, dynasty by Actarus, The Faces of Force.) The Old Dirty Bastards may make a run, but that remains to be seen. The McWade Twins went polar bear hunting north of Toronto and haven’t returned. Adrenaline Rush delivered a tepid title run and won’t soon be seeing the championship. Sammy Bach’s recent backstage attitude bodes poorly for the team but may free up Teddy Powell. A man named Teddy holding the Brass Knuckles title would draw *huge* heat. And the last time the Latino Kings were seen… was on the side of a milk carton. Hagen continues to aggressively mix and muddle with the tag ranks, hoping to find a face (of grey) team to solidify this division. As yet, no of these experiments have born fruit. Acid and Eric Tyler finished off a fantastic feud, leading Tyler to a program with MaRK Cuban and increasing popularity. While Acid and his cohorts in the Cult of the Grey Dragon seem to be recruiting new members to their guild. Of course, (and this will be touched on later) Cuban’s latest brainstorm is to resolve the inconclusiveness of the First Blood Cage Match between Peak and Big Cat Brandon with the DaVE Playoffs! (It’s not as stupid a concept as it sounds.) Sixteen seeds, single elimination tournament. With the final two facing off for the DaVE Unified title… if Eric Tyler returns the purloined prop. Behind the scenes, things seem little better than when Vibert ran things. Costs are still too high; morale depends precisely on whom one asks. Dissenters plot and sycophants kiss and throughout it all chaos reigns. As of yet, Cuban’s reign of DaVE has enjoyed setback and success and as of yet, it’s impossible to see if Cuban’s rebranding will sink or save the fabled franchise of Danger and Violence Extreme. And if it does, who knows what form it shall emerge through this crucible of Cuban. [CENTER][B]The Future is softcore[/B][/CENTER] Don’t let the name fool you. DaVE is dead, killed by a MaRK. So what’s next for the former independent company? [U]Cuban the creative. [/U] Remember these concepts? The Number One contendership trophy. The Six Man Factions. Rankings based on merit (mostly.) The Wheel of Fortune! (No Vanna.) The Dartboard of Gimmickry. Warehouse Matches without a ring. The Playoffs. A tag team round table. Monthly Performance Reviews. This rebranding is a bit like painting with a paint loaded shotgun and hoping it’ll be showcased on Trading Places. (With the amount of home renovation shows… that actually might work but I digress.) [U]Rats, weasels and snakes.[/U] Cameron Vessey is a talented young performer who may never survive the hazing he seems to be suffering as Cuban’s intern. Is this what Pay Your Dues. Pay It. Pay Them! Truly means? And what of the leak in the locker room? Someone with power actively seeks to undermine and destroy this new incarnation of DaVE. At some point, either the leak becomes a flood or the leak gets plugged. In DaVE that could be one very vicious patch job. [U]The Gayme of Payne.[/U] He’s a blogger. Encapsulating all that is great and horrible in the anachronistic DaVE fan. That Cuban seems to want to address him only encourages more bloggers who knows a guy, who knew a guy, who saw a girl, who once walked past the van holding the DaVE ring. Payne needs to keep the fires of DaVE’s enflamed… but under no circumstance should Cuban acknowledge Payne’s existence. [U]Cuban the performer.[/U] He’s a mark for himself. Clearly. And he’s clearly perplexed about if he’s a face or a heel. A personality or a wrestler. The shades of grey are caused by the wildly swinging spotlight that follows the ever bouncing Cuban around. [U]You know you’re a midcarder if…[/U] You don’t have a gimmick and Cuban doesn’t have a clue who you are. For the success of Giedroyc, Smith and Vessey – what of Art Reed, Sammy Bach, Chavez, Coleman or Martin? It’s already difficult to escape the midcard, especially with the influx of new talent like Black Eagle and Ota. And more rumoured to be on the way. [U]Cuban the flake.[/U] At some point some new fancy bauble will catch MaRK’s attention. Perhaps the Mavericks will accomplish something. Or there will be some European Bacce Ball league he’ll want to buy. Or maybe he’ll do the Iditarod Sled Dog Race. Cuban’s interest will waver, and then wander. [U]Where’s the Danger, zone?[/U] As Dangerzone becomes watered down to the point of being nearly unwatchable, although the next month should be palatable enough with the Playoffs on television, but for traditional DaVE fans, Vendetta is the (non-televised) show they can’t watch unless Cuban starts trucking the Tri-State fans across the country. Which, knowing Cuban, he very well might. The image of Payne stranded in southern Arkansas paints itself like a new reality show, it would definitely enjoy a longer run than the Benefactor. [U]Sharks patrol these waters.[/U] Not Eddie Peak, but in this verse, SWF and TCW domestically, and NotBPW, BHotWG and PGHW internationally loom large around the burgeoning popularity of the rebranded DAVE. [U]In the black… barely[/U] The deeper pockets of Cuban can’t help the heavy financial burdens of Vibert’s written contracts. As they expire, if they expire before Cuban loses interest and DaVE becomes just another part of his media empire, some faces will go. Already Travis Century has gone, while Art Reed and Nathan Coleman signed PPA deals. Which means their success could lead to written deals elsewhere. The biggest fear of losing Eddie Peak seems to have avoided, although with his current onscreen actions who knows for certain if that resigning was as beneficial as it appears. Big Cat Brandon, Emma Chase, Eric Tyler, Scout, Guide and Shawn Gonzales all have contract renewals. It’s safe to say not all will remain in the fold. That is, if Hagen doesn’t bankrupt DaVE before it can be rebranded. [U]Diminishing Returns.[/U] There are a finite number of hardcore, rabid fans. And here’s the paradox without an answer. DaVE can’t grow into an International Hardcore Entertainment Entity. The number of fans who can see the beauty and purity in DaVE’s product doesn’t exist. But shift too far from this bloody tradition threatens to cost those same rabid fans that followed this ‘promotion that shouldn’t’ and raised it up, scars and all, for the nation to notice. [CENTER][B]The Future is HaRDcore[/B][/CENTER] Regardless of what anyone may think. DaVE as a promotion repeatedly proves itself to be tougher and more hardcore than Eric Tyler. It survived the brutal East Coast Wars. It bullied itself into the National scene and refused to go quietly back into the shadows. Instead TCW and SWF revamped and restocked their promotions relying heavily upon the DaVE model. The shades of grey which Hagen so eloquently defended may very well be the next great trend in wrestling. If it is, for the second time in about a decade, DaVE could once more push the envelope of what occasionally makes wrestling hip, cutting edge and essential viewing for millions of people. Be sure to check out Mark Cuban does DaVE at [url]http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19932[/url]

[Beeker]

[CENTER][IMG]http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t206/Jsilver532/ITC.jpg[/IMG] [B]An American Male in Kinki[/B] (How 5SSW continues to shine brighter than ever)[/CENTER] [B]Meta Game:[/B] Women’s wrestling often gets a short shrift, both in reality and in the Cornelloverse. This isn’t fair as many signature moves closely associated with men have been created by women. In Dream a Little Dream, Apupunchau takes the helm of Five Star Supreme Wrestling – the dominant force in women’s wrestling in the world. The initial hook is simple enough, a Japanese Joshi company being run by a relatively young American Male. Although many a young man might envy his position, spending weeks on end touring around Japan with fit and competitive joshi warriors. The challenge of playing 5SSW isn’t survival but continuing success and expansion as Apu attempts to elegantly muscle these ladies up the ladder of popularity in Japan. They may never overtake BHotWG or PGHW but that’s the challenge and the dream. The real question is how high 5SSW can climb and how bright it can shine. [CENTER][B]Ancient History[/B] (And I use that term loosely because I want to stay on Sakurako Kagawa’s good side.)[/CENTER] In 1985 there was a thriving and healthy Joshi scene in Japan. Indeed, 5SSW open its doors that year and was a hungry young challenger in a lioness-eat-lioness market. One thing that 5SSW had in its favour was the financial acumen of its owner Sakurako Kagawa. A popular and successful owner in her own right, an arm injury ended her career prematurely so she combined her love of the sport with a simple yet effective business strategy and started up 5SSW. Her tactics were to put on super-competitive matches, to let the women show their skills in the ring in hard fought and intense competitions. Then she set about assembling the top talent she could afford. That simple formula worked and from 1985 to 1995 the allure of 5SSW grew brighter and brighter like a star going super nova. Each tour seemed to eclipse the last in terms of ability and intensity, naturally popularity followed, allowing Kagawa to charge more for tickets and sign better talent. 1995 might well be seen as the high and low watermark for women’s wrestling in Japan. For it was in that year that the final competitor to 5SSW closed its doors and broke down its ring for the last time. Now 5SSW was the sole light in the Japanese Joshi firmament, and Kagawa complemented her already stacked roster by hand picking the best of the best. For the past 12 years 5SSW has existed in a vacuum of sorts. It hires whomever it wants. Tours whenever it wants, generally 2 month tours and then a 2 month break. It is the promotion which any young girl with wrestling aspirations dreams of touring with. AAA (and I suppose BoSC) and now CWWF are options but 5SSW is the undeniable pinnacle for women wrestlers who want to actually wrestle. [B][CENTER]Right place, right time[/CENTER][/B] Kuniyoshi Chishu enjoyed one of the top positions in wrestling, head booker and lead announcer for 5SSW. The most dangerous game a person can play is getting on the wrong side of Sakurako Kagawa; whether in the ring, in business or over personal matters. It’s not sure exactly what happened perhaps too much sake at New Years loosened Chishu’ tongue, but during the course of the Brightest Star tour things came to a head and Chishu found himself unemployed and watching from the cheap seats the rest of the tour. Kagawa needed someone fast without any political ties to the company or a history within 5SSW. She needed help in all facets of the promotion. While capable of booking shows she couldn’t do that in addition to all the other business related duties upon her plate. She couldn’t both announce and be the colour analyst either. In the locker room, gossip flew over the fate of Chishu and rumours spread like wildfire over who would replace him. Would it be one of the fabled four at the top of the card? Or did Kagawa have someone already in place. Or people? Perhaps the booker and the colour analyst jobs would be split. Not even Joanne Rodriguez would have bet her boyfriend would have won the double crown, becoming in intern booker and commentator simply because he happened to be backstage on the night of thirteenth show of the Brightest Star tour and Kagawa required an immediate game plan for the rest of the show and tour. Just like that, Simon Munoz found himself with the biggest opportunity and under the biggest pressure and brightest spotlight of his life. [B][CENTER]A tale of two tours[/CENTER][/B] [B]The Brightest Star Tour[/B] His first show might have been his last, but due to some odd choices that worked out, the first card under Munoz garnered a C+ rating and over 800 fans to Doshisha Athletic Center in Kinki and Munoz earned the right to be temporary booker for the rest of the tour. Judging from the first match things looked bleak for Munoz’ long term job potential as Connie Morris’ springboard blandsault defeated Chitose Ariwara in an awkward E+ bout. Munoz intended to make his mark on the promotion (hmmmm I wonder if any other booker ever used that line) and did so with the first tag bout between the Bomb Squad and All Business, hot shotting the tag titles to the Bomb Squad. Bomb Squad would enjoy a lengthy run while All Business returned quietly to the purgatory of the midcard. In a secret known by all, Munoz and Joanne Rodriguez share a bed so watching June Butler nearly behead JRo on Munoz’ first card was a welcome surprise. I’m sure pillow talk that night would have been interesting for the two. In the first controversial decision of his new tenure, the world title wasn’t defended on the final match of the card but second from the top as Crusher Ichihara fended off the challenge of Kiko Sakakibara and her bubble gum pop attire while Thunder Hike overcame the find of the tour DEVIL Karube. How does a booker reward one of the stars of the previous show? In Japan, a land of tradition this decision must have raised some carefully plucked eyebrows as the second show brought with it controversy as DEVIL Karube went from jobbing in the Main Event to curtain jerking the next one, albeit in a win, over the cutest jobber in Japan Chitose Ariwara. As the tour went on, one thing seemed certain; the new guy wasn’t a fan of Crusher Ichihara. Despite her immaculate resume and status in the eyes of the fan and the company, she rarely Main Evented a show, she looked strong but concerns about her stamina kept her out of the top spot. More often than not Sensational Ogiwara or Thunder Hike headlined the tour stops against whatever the heel challengers. Inside the locker room and with the fans, few believed Crusher would finish the Brightest Star Tour with the belt. Titles seemed to matter less to Munoz than anyone might have guessed, as the All-Asian title defenses of Yuma Maruya often opened the shows, the World title rarely closed the show. Even the tag titles would often be defended before other midcard matches, such as Card 16 in Chugoka the Bomb Squad defeated Culture Shock and then out came the Rainbow Girls to battle All Business. Oddly enough, despite the jarring look of it at the outset of his booking regime, the fans seemed to buy into it as Munoz flatly stated in an online interview with for the 5 Star Website stated he wanted to triumph the top Joshi performers. The titles were important but the competition more so. On a roll. The Brightest Star tour picked up popularity and momentum, and Munoz made his mark early with an early MotY contender as Sensational Ogiwara defeated DEVIL Karube in an A rated main event, where earlier on the card champion versus champion battled in a good match but if that’s not going to headline a card then clearly things had taken a new shine at 5SSW. Then came Cards 19 and 22. Both are Cards of the Year contenders as Sensational Ogiwara once more headlined both shows in A* rated main event wins. On the undercard matches flowed, chemistry clicked and the reputation of Munoz grew (and after Card 22 the temporary status was removed from his positions in the company,) so too did the prestige of 5SSW. The locker room felt reinvigorated and it was a tight knit group that went into the final show of the tour Super Nova. Although since Ichihara wasn’t even on Card 19, everyone realized that was the beginning of the end of her sixth reign, but Ichihara’s a professional and went out like a champ. At Super Nova there were no real surprises, except perhaps the Bomb Squad retained their titles in the face of the hungry happy challengers the Rainbow Girls. Gorgon finally grabbed the All Asian title from the impressive Yuma Maruya who’s 5 Star Supreme Frog Splash and Cute Japan Pop Rock look really connected with the fans. Meanwhile to the shock of none, Crusher Ichihara watched Ogiwara begin her record expanding eighth title reign. And while not the best of cards, it was a solid B that had noted Joshi-phile Remianen widely announcing the brilliance of the booking… and not just because he impressively called all the matches beforehand. Munoz released a contentious article on the 5 Star Website, giving quick recaps of everyone’s performances. Although Ogiwara ended the tour with a near flawless record, the real standout of the tour came from DEVIL Karube who found success in failure as her record appeared dismal but her popularity within the industry had never been higher. [B]Minor attunements[/B] During the two months between the Brightest Star Tour and Maximum Overdrive few things happened behind the scenes. Munoz feverishly worked on improving his storylines and booking abilities, while Kagawa leveraged the new found popularity and interest in 5SSW into a TV deal with Japanese Sports Vision 3, allowing fans not in the Kinki or Chugoku region a weekly dose of Joshi. The sole hire during this window was Shiori Jippensha. [B]Maximum Overdrive[/B] With job security and the benefit of a half-tour under his belt, Munoz entered into Maximum Overdrive brimming with confidence. Instead of the scattershot but amazingly successful Brightest Star tour, this one had overarching storylines with some intriguing twists throughout. Firstly Munoz added angles and interviews to the action packed show, allowing some personalities to start to shine. To the shock of none, the first interview went to Joanne Rodriguez… which might have come across better if she spoke any Japanese at all. At the top, Sensational Ogiwara fended off her top three competitors; Ichihara, Hike and Butler until forcing them into a series of matches to determine whom would gain a chance to vie for her title at the show closing Speed Freaks. In the end Ichihara earned a chance to reclaim her title and begin a seventh reign but once more fell just short as Ogiwara cemented her legend yet again. And put on consistently strong matches with a variety of opponents. Holding it for the next tour could prove tricky as the undercard continues to sharpen their claws and hone their skills. The destruction of Destruction Inc as after another loss to Sensational Thunder, Ichihara took her frustrations out on a gassed June Butler. Thunder Hike put in another serviceable tour but didn’t seem a major figure in the storylines, as she was on the outside looking in after Crusher Ichihara defeated her to gain a shot at Ogiwara. The real story of the tour was the best of 14 series between Kit Hatoyama and DEVIL Karube. Oddly Karube lost both series but both wrestlers are poised for a main event program. Especially since both wrestlers put in the matches of the tour with one another. The tag titles were sporadically defended with the only three title defenses on the tour but each competitor was successfully repelled by the Bomb Squad. It seems as though Munoz intends to rebuild the tag division with Intercontinental Flight (Connie Morris and Yuma Maruya) being the first ‘new’ tag team he’s added, but rumours of more incoming teams abound. Interestingly enough, Gorgon enjoyed the most victories over the course of the tour and very nearly escaped Speed Freaks with the All Asian title, but one Yankee lost it to another as JRo ‘earned’ her title reign. Some may discount JRo’s abilities since it’s a known fact she’s in bed with the booker but her talent shouldn’t be ignored. While on the topic of Gorgon with the face paint and her now-passable Japanese, might I suggest that she’s just a few Jim Force compilations away from finding a really fun new gimmick for the 5SSW fans. Shiori Jippensha started strong and seemed to be on a serious roll and threatened to go undefeated until an inexplicable loss to the talented Megumi Nakajima who while spend much of the rest of the tour being defeated by Main Eventers. Clearly an odd choice of people to end Jippensha’s streak. Perhaps the rumours of Shiori’s backstage attitude are true and the felt the Young Lion of the tour needed to have her claws clipped? Elsewhere the rest of the tour was fine but not overly memorable. Good matches and some gimmick tweaking lead for a successful but ultimately unmemorable tour. [B]Jade Empress Tour[/B] The upcoming tour promises a slew of new debuts as Kagawa intends to capitalize in the resurgence of support for 5SSW. Negotiations are still underway with some of the talents, but there are Strong rumours of a near doubling in size of the roster! [B][CENTER]Stars burn out[/CENTER][/B] [U]The Glass Pyramid[/U] One thing about 5SSW is the loyalty between Kagawa and her Top Four is that there is them, and then everyone else. But it doesn’t end there. The Uppermidcarders have clearly carved out their territory and are loathe to relinquish it. This happens down each level. Combine that with the new influx and poor Chitose Ariwara should invest in back padding and sunglasses because chances are she’ll be staring at the spotlights for the foreseeable future. [U]Competitive but Repetitive[/U] Yes, this is the epitome of Highly Competitive Joshi but how many times can the same people square off against one another before it becomes routine? The influx of new talent is good, but while I’m here I’d be remiss if I didn’t suggest Apu lowers the Face/Heel divide to Medium so matches between Hike/Ogiwara aren’t marred because the fans can’t pick between two faces facing off. And if I have to read another Hatoyama/Karube match I’ll lose my mind. [U]You might get a push if…[/U] You sleep with the booker. Ain’t that right Joanne? [U]What’s the gimmick?[/U] This is a personal stance but I’d like to see some more gimmicks worked into the recaps. I know it’s highly competitive and with Intercontinental Flight’s blue collar style Apu’s working toward it. I’d like a few more angles and interviews so these characters start to take lives of their own. But then, that’s my personal bias. [U]Big show letdown[/U] Another personal bias, but I’d enjoy if the tour finale write-ups were a bit more in depth than the regular tour shows. (And after 2800 words I think I’m entitled to make that statement.) [U]I know a gentleman never asks but…[/U] The average age of the top four (Crusher, Thunder, Sensational and Butler) is 37. They’re all still viable and compelling performers but the body breaks down, so without some fresh and young blood (which sadly eliminates Saeko Hiroyuki) then when these Long Shining Stars finally hang up their boots, then 5SSW could be in some real trouble. [U]The length of a fad[/U] Right now Joshi is enjoying a renaissance even as interest in the wrestling industry in Japan drops. With the economy recovering hopefully 5SSW can survive the recession and continue to gain new fans, but they need to strike while the iron is hot and sink their lioness claws deeper into the Japanese market. Expanding outside of their safe two territories will have to occur at some point, and that point should be soon. [U]Lack of competition[/U] There is 5SSW and then there is everyone else. AAA stands a distant second to 5SSW and in Japan; only the drive of Kagawa keeps 5SSW sharp and focused. Japan would likely benefit from another rival to 5SSW, although having said that, they currently enjoy more prestige than either WLW or GCG amongst the followers of Puro and Joshi. [B][CENTER]Stars Shine On and On[/CENTER][/B] 5SSW remains THE women’s promotion for a reason, they put on kick-ass competitive matches week in and week out. The current blossoming of popularity under Munoz’ watch is nothing they don’t deserve. If anything it’s the Japanese public who’ve neglected these shining stars of the Joshi style while trumpeting Strong Style or Puro. To read more of Apupunchau's 5SSW Dynasty Dream a Little Dream (just in time for the Jade Empress tour I might add) just follow the link. [url]http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22525[/url]

[Irish Wolf]

A flattering article with some things I hadn't thought about in terms of my booking. With the Jade Empress Tour already written out some of the points made may be addressed. With the article written I can now start the tour so be prepared for more 5SSW greatness as soon as I get back home today.

[Actarus]

[SIZE="3"][CENTER][B]The Rise or Fall of NOTBPW By A.C. Tarus[/B][/CENTER] The Stone family is practically synonymous with professional wrestling in North America. Known for putting on match-of-the-year candidates on a regular basis, their rise to wrestling industry dominance seemed assured. However, in recent months, some rather significant changes to the booking team and the roster have made wrestling journalists everywhere wondering about the future of the wrestling promotion up North. The appointment of JeriLynn Stone, daughter of Jeremy Stone have caused a rapid growth of interest among wrestling fans across North America. Unfortunately, not all of that interest was positive, as quite a few wrestling journalists were quick to point out her youth and inexperience. Yea-Sayers are more than willing to give her a chance, and more importantly, time to prove her mettle and booking skills. Naysayers made up primarily of traditionalists and ‘old-school’ fans have already signed NOTBPW’s death warrant, claiming her changes to the product will ruin everything that NOTBPW has worked so hard to build, faster than a lethal injection of rat poison. A chronological order of key events would benefit all who would like to make a more informed opinion of the current state of NOTBPW [B]December 2006: The New Booker[/B] On December 28 2006, the executive committee held their annual meeting to discus the past, present, and future of the company. It was at this meeting that then head booker Victoria Stone encouraged and supported the decision to make JeriLynn the new head booker. The change of power was officially made at that time, as young JeriLynn replaced her Aunt Victoria. While reports have confirmed that the change of power was amicable and professional, one has to wonder if the youth of a college senior can overcome her lack of experience. Over the next two months, she would prove her mettle and worth with a vast number of significant changes to the product. These would include, in no particular order: [LIST] [*] The addition of more angles [*] Diversifying wrestling styles to include more brawling, puroresu, and high flyers [*] The creation of the surprisingly popular NOTBPW Donnybrook Title [*] The addition of the Mat Masters Touring show to build popularity in Western Canada and the United States [*] Re-Naming the NOTBPW Canadian Championship to the NOTBPW Heavyweight Championship [/LIST] Of all these changes, the addition of more angles has created more controversy among traditional fans than anything else. Internet wrestling message boards have continually complained that they just want to see great wrestling, opposing what some call a pale imitation of the more entertainment oriented Supreme Wrestling Federation. [B]January 2007 – March 2007[/B] Jerilynn wasted no time in making an immediate impact; booking her second television show, she produced a potential match of the year candidate between Jeremy Stone and Dark Angel. Other MOTY candidates included a successful heavyweight title defence, as Sean McFly defeated Dark Angel at Big City Brawl. The two would continue an on-off feud into March in two additional MOTY candidates, the most recent one at ‘The Masters of the Squared Circle’ debut on America Sports-1. She has shown consistency in her choice of champions; the only championship to change hands since her tenure was at NOTBPW’s January PPV event, Big City Brawl, when Edd Stone became the NOTBPW Unlimited Action title. Otherwise, the Can-Am Blondes (Tag Team Champions), Melody Cuthill (Women’s Champion), Tim Westybrook (Donnybrook Champion), and Sean McFly (Newly Re-named Heavyweight Champion) have successfully retained their titles on a vast number of occasions up to the present time. Jerilynn has also booked Sean McFly to be a fighting champion, taking on all comers on seemingly every possible occasion. Perhaps her most successful moves to date was the successful television negotiations, as NOTBPW will debut on GNN Total Sports; this is in addition to the previously mentioned ‘Masters of the Squared Circle’ debut on America Sports-1. That is not to say everything she has done has been an incredible success. In fact, Jerilynn has booked what many are calling “The Worst Match of Sean McFly’s Career”, when he faced Dean McWade in NOTBPW’s touring show. Furthermore, the hiring of Karen Killer, “The First Lady Of The Darkness” to be the manager of Dark Angel has met with negative fan reaction. Finally, the way the Edd Stone / Katie Cameron angle was poorly introduced was a point of contention for fans, though in retrospect it did lead to a strong match between Edd Stone and the debuting Jacob Jett. [B]Rumors Abound[/B] Presently, rumors abound regarding the current state of NOTBPW. A few of these rumors have indeed been confirmed; wrestlers Alysian Scottsfield and Mammoth, have had their contracts terminated. Furthermore, the contract of Mighty Cavanagh was not renewed, either to the delight or chagrin of long time fans. A more personal rumor is the growing tension within the Stone family, specifically between the Unlimited Action Champion Edd Stone and JeriLynn. Edd may very well resent having his younger family member book the show and giving him orders. His complaints about his push (or lack thereof) have apparently lead him to show up late on a regular basis and to pout whenever he is asked to job to someone else. The most prevalent rumor to come out of these family matters is the possibility that the only reason Edd holds the Unlimited Action title is merely an attempt by JeriLynn to appease him. Those quick to judge have already cited the addition of rumored boyfriend Kirk Heidenreich to the roster as proof that JeriLynn Stone is putting her own, selfish needs ahead of the company. It is rumored that the two met at a local tavern in Saskatoon, but in reality nothing has been confirmed at this point. The most prevalent, talked about rumor is the current contract status of superstar wrestler Dark Angel. The latest rumor is that JeriLynn was unable to meet the demands of Dark Angel that he will eventually part ways with the company. Considering that he was involved in every single Match of the Year candidate she has booked, internet wrestling purists and traditionalists have pounced on this point, and heatedly insist that if Victoria Stone were still head booker, she would have found a way to keep Dark Angel under contract. [B]The Future of Wrestling Up North[/B] From everything we’ve seen so far, there is no doubt that JeriLyn Stone has the innate, raw ability to book NOTBPW. There have certainly been some successes, along with some failures. TV ratings and pay-per-view buy rates have remained steady. The company remains profitable, and appears to be growing in popularity at a record pace across North America. It seems that from the very beginning, seeds have been planted to ensure the present and future success of Canada’s largest wrestling promotion. It remains to be seen exactly what those seeds grow in to. And at the very least, no matter how things unfold, it will be exciting to watch; especially with the [URL="http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21424&page=7"]debut of NOTBPW[/URL] on GNN Total Sports.[/SIZE]

[Tigerkinney]

Nice article on Wallbanger's NOTBPW diary ' Generations (C-Verse)' it was a diary that slipped under my radar and is one of the hidden gems on these forums, hopefully more people will read this article and check it out.

[Actarus]

[QUOTE=Tigerkinney;269392]Nice article on Wallbanger's NOTBPW diary ' Generations (C-Verse)' it was a diary that slipped under my radar and is one of the hidden gems on these forums, hopefully more people will read this article and check it out.[/QUOTE] Wait...you mean these ITC articles actually WORK?! :eek: ;) ;) Thanks for the kind words, and yeah, if you aren't reading Wallbanger's [URL="http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21424"]'Generations'[/URL] Dynasty, shame on you!

[tristram]

[B][U][SIZE="4"][CENTER]The Piledriver Heard Around the World[/CENTER][/SIZE][/U][/B] [CENTER][I]By Wrestling's Time Travelling Correspondent, Ima Sunovitch[/I][/CENTER] You know, I thought the world had lost all sense of sanity when your trusty President, Mr Ronald Reagan announced his Star Wars initiative. Now sure, I can understand the need for the Government of your country to invest in a good stock of Ewoks to patrol the native forests from the impending Stormtrooper attacks, but what I saw next when reading my daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper truly shocked me. And then when my cousin Ludvig sent me Beta tape to see it truly did happen, well, all I could say was I thought this would happen when когда рак (на горе) свистнет , that's right, when hell froze over. You see, I'm used to seeing good keen professional wrestling action. In fact, I remember going to Leningrad one year (I refuse to say the name of the Bolshevik ruler of the time who it was named after instead) to watch this professional wrestling sport. It was most enjoyable. We traveled for three weeks along Siberian Express, with the only hold up being mountains of snow dumped on top of the express way. Our mule, which had replaced the family Lada that year could not move too feverishly through the snow, particularly after losing one leg due to intense frost bite. But our challenge was simple, to see our native professional wrestling in action. And what a display of masculinity and power it was. I was so impressed. You see, you Americans talk about how you are so very very much better than us Russians, but a young man by the name of Ivon Koloff was visiting the area and put on an excellent exhibition of wrestling and following the 8 month boat travel, by express to Canoe to your country soon became the World Wrestling Champion. It was an honorable display of power, of passion, of pure Russian excellence. From that time on, we sacrificed many mules to ensure we kept up with the Russian roadshow, and we were very much not disappointed by the huge economic cost that these losses in bloodstock put on the Kremlin. But I digress, so please excuse me thank you very much. You see, Ludwig, a noted lover of your country sent me beta tape, which I put into the city beta player after standing in line for four weeks while some people watched Taxi reruns for our loveable friend Latka, and it confirmed my worst fears. That professional wrestling had lost its scruples. Your American man 'Dirty' Dick Slater decided he must perform this vile act on our World Champion, 'Nature Boy' Ric Flair how you say. In a World Heavyweight Championship match seen around the universe, from the United States of these Americas beamed all the way across the world to Russia and by minor miracle of technology even to Canada, Harley Race was awarded the coveted prize after 'Dirty' Dick Slater ran in and interfered with a .. piledriver. This was not very good. When I saw the footage, I cried, I wept, I was beside myself, how could anyone do something so cruel and rude. That was until I realised my cousin Ludwig had mistakenly sent over first beta of him copulating with wife of several years, when I finally put in the right beta, I was even more horrified. The local towns people stopped branding their sickles, and stood around in disbelief. You see, we were surprised to see that Orville Brown was still no longer champion, but once I read letter from Ludwig explaining that Ric Flair was the champion of some eighteen moves, and this was the way he lost we found it scandalous. How a man who was so very very good at what he did could be hurt so callously is something we do not understand in Soviet Union. Indeed, as word spread by mule news, the entire local region became incensed. At the local whore house cinemas, local productions were taken down and this footage was replayed over and over again. We were vilified. We had heard of recent news of man landing on moon, but this was shocking to us just the same how you say. We in the little old Soviet Union where we have upmost respect for Mr Flair were hurt deeply. So hurt we considered lobbying Mr Andropov, but we realised the country was out of rock and chisels. What we have done though is ask for Ludwig to continue to send us via your fancy smancy formalised mail systems future Beta copies of such NWA frivolity. While it may have been so very very bad and showed up a large piece of American failings, it also made us want to watch Mr Flair get his revenge or Mr Slater. When this happen, let me tell you how you say, this village will be waving golden sickles all around in jubilation and celebrations. Thank you so much for your time, my husband Imahery is calling me now, so I must go and tend to the breeding of the chickens for tomorrow night's square meal for the day. Please do write us Ludwig with more tales of Mr Flair's gallant recovery. Ima Sonovitch [URL="http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20515"]Click here for more legendary tales from this sage wager of wars of 1983 - the Battle Lines have been drawn by Outlaw321 and amannamedFred[/URL]