Rapid Pro Wrestling- Nobody Does It Better

[1PWfan]

[I]This is lagrely inspired by a FINisher' DaVE Diary, Phantom Stranger's PPPW dynasty and NoNeck's SWF work. I can't promise it'll be as good, though[/I] [SIZE="6"][B][CENTER]Chris Irvine’s Straight Shootin’ with…‘The Acid Test’ Rick Redman[/CENTER][/B][/SIZE] [CENTER][IMG]http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g165/Looneyboyo/BillyRobinson_alt5.jpg[/IMG][/CENTER] [COLOR="SeaGreen"]“So, by the end of ‘96 you’ve been working for Rapid Pro Wrestling for a year, making a lot of waves in the tag division with Whippy the Clown as The Magical Mystery Tour, a team that a lot of people identified as the real lynchpin of RPW’s fledgling ‘Double Act’ division. Great stuff, but hardly a viable reason for Preston Holt to hand you the booking position come 1997, right?”[/COLOR] [COLOR="DarkOrange"]“To be honest, that’s what I said when he offered me the job! I mean, I’d had a lot of creative input on the tag division- there were shows when me and Warrior would split the booking, with him focussing on the singles stuff and me working with the tag teams. But I had no experience of handling all the other stuff a booker has to do, handling the roster, sorting out business deals, all that stuff. And it wasn’t even like I was the only candidate- Alex Braun was around, after all, and he’d been doing the job over in CZCW for a while, with a lot of good press”[/COLOR] [COLOR="SeaGreen"]“Of course, the standard reasoning for a decision like this is that RPW were your only work- you weren’t as likely as Braun to walk out on them to work elsewhere, and with the East Coast Wars at their height that kind of loyalty would have really been a priority for Holt”[/COLOR] [COLOR="DarkOrange"]“You know, that’s not the reason he gave me for offering me the job, though I don’t doubt it was on his mind, Preston always kept his card real close to his chest. No, the reason he gave was that I was an ‘unknown quality’- like you said, the East Coast Wars were real intense by ’97- and he needed someone who wasn’t well known to Vibert and Barber and Big Dunc over at the competition. That’s pretty much all I got told, to be honest- there’s no big story behind my hiring, it was just one meeting, a 10 minute conversation and boom, I was in charge of Rapid Pro Wrestling”[/COLOR] [COLOR="SeaGreen"]“So, let’s move onto your impressions of the RPW roster cum 1997. Obviously you’d been around for a while by that point, but as a booker it must have been a very different viewpoint”[/COLOR] [COLOR="DarkOrange"]“Not so much, actually, just a whole load of added data on top of what I already knew. But yeah, looking at the roster as a whole did show up a couple of problems that were pretty major”[/COLOR] [COLOR="SeaGreen"]“Such as…?”[/COLOR] [COLOR="DarkOrange"]“Well, the big one was the dynamics of the roster-we made a point of good vs. evil in our storylines, but we were hugely overstocked in the face department. And added to that was the problem of padding- a lot of the lower card, guys like Panda Mask and Peregrino Soto- just didn’t have any direction at all.”[/COLOR] [COLOR="SeaGreen"]“Speaking of your views on the roster, I’d just like to throw a few names out there, get your opinion on some of the key players in RPW at that time”[/COLOR] [COLOR="DarkOrange"]“No problem, fire away”[/COLOR] [COLOR="SeaGreen"]“An obvious one to start with- Steve Flash”[/COLOR] [COLOR="DarkOrange"]“That’s an easy one- Flash was our franchise player, no two ways about it. He might not have been the biggest name we had, but he always gave 110% no matter who he was up against. A real lynchpin, no two ways about it”[/COLOR] [COLOR="SeaGreen"]“Brent Hill”[/COLOR] [COLOR="DarkOrange"]“Aside from Steve, Hill was probably our best in-ring performers, and was seen by a lot of the fans as our biggest star. Only problem I had with him was that he was almost [I]too[/I] popular- it was only a matter of time until he left for the SWF or HGC”[/COLOR] [COLOR="SeaGreen"]“Moving away from the main event a little- Cousin Ezra”[/COLOR] [COLOR="DarkOrange"]“Aw man…look, Ezra’s a buddy, okay? So I’m gonna pass on that one. As a person, he was a really nice guy, and what he did worked, so there we are”[/COLOR] [COLOR="SeaGreen"]“Okay…Jungle Jack?”[/COLOR] [COLOR="DarkOrange"]“JJ was one of a lot of guys we had that looked like they were going to be great down the line, but didn’t have any kind of focus at that point. He looked to be even better than most of our guys could be, but in January 1997, I had nothing for him”[/COLOR] [COLOR="SeaGreen"]“Moving into the tag division, now, what about Double Dragon?”[/COLOR] [COLOR="DarkOrange"]“Man, those guys were great- the UK Dragon in particular was a real pleasure to have around, and Snappy more than held up his end of the equation. They were low on the card, but I already had them marked down a future Double Act Champions”[/COLOR] [COLOR="SeaGreen"]“And what about your tag partner, Whippy the Clown?”[/COLOR] [COLOR="DarkOrange"]“Sucked worse than Tommy Cornell”[/COLOR] [COLOR="SeaGreen"]“That bad huh?”[/COLOR] [COLOR="DarkOrange"]“Oh yeah. Almost as bad as Sam Keith or Christian Faith”[/COLOR] [COLOR="SeaGreen"]“Wow. And on that bombshell, we’ll go to our final question in this section of the interview: what were your plans for RPW in 1997?”[/COLOR] [COLOR="DarkOrange"]“The big focus was the East Coast Wars: we needed to get ahead and stay there. And we were going to do that in one very simple way: by putting on the best shows, featuring the most modern wrestling styles and best quality in-ring action in a setting that appealed to everyone across the wrestling fanbase, whether a dedicated fan in their early 20’s or a 6 year old kid who loves Sam Strong. If you thought 1996 was intense then boy are you in for a surprise, ‘cos in the words of the great philosopher Bachman… You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet”[/COLOR]

[FINisher]

Awesome! You got a fan :) As you have been reading my diary and posting even in the early WEXXV days, I'll be more than happy to follow this! RPW is really easy right from the start with their product and with the help of Steve Flash. They have whooped my ass in the regional battles :( Doesn't it seem like we have a "[I]Diary East Coast Wars[/I]" here in the forums? :D You with RPW, I'm with DAVE, and Phanton Stranger with PPPW. (And I'm flattered that I somehow inspired you to start this diary. That's a nice comment to hear.)

[1PWfan]

[I]OOC note: Thanks for the response FIN. Yeah, the 'East Coast Diary wars' was one of the reasons I went for RPW, as the idea just inspired me a lotm, and of the two left over they were the one I preferred. As for inspiration, yeah, WEXXV in particular helped me get back into writing these, and you do a good job of making very simple but readable diaries with great hooks, the thing you've got with DaVE of writing it like Vibert's doing all the booking and your character's just kidna there is a fantastic idea[/I] [SIZE="6"][CENTER][B]COMING SOON[/B][/CENTER][/SIZE] [CENTER][IMG]http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g165/Looneyboyo/RPW.jpg[/IMG][/CENTER] [SIZE="5"][CENTER]RPW: NOBODY DOES IT BETTER[/CENTER][/SIZE] [CENTER]SHOWCASE MATCHES INCLUDE: [B]STEVE FLASH vs. BRENT HILL: The war for the RPW World Title continues[/B] [IMG]http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g165/Looneyboyo/SteveFlash.jpg[/IMG]vs. [IMG]http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g165/Looneyboyo/BrentHill.jpg[/IMG] [B]COUSIN EZRA and LANCE HENDERSON vs THE MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR: The final fight for the RPW Double Act Titles[/B] [IMG]http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g165/Looneyboyo/AlTheHillbilly.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g165/Looneyboyo/JoshJones.jpg[/IMG]vs.[IMG]http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g165/Looneyboyo/WhippyTheClown.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g165/Looneyboyo/BillyRobinson_alt5.jpg[/IMG] [B]BLUE SKY vs. CANADIAN DRAGON: The Crowning of RPW's Inaugral East Coast Champion[/B] [IMG]http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g165/Looneyboyo/UltimatePhoenix.jpg[/IMG]vs[IMG]http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g165/Looneyboyo/CanadianDragon.jpg[/IMG][/CENTER] Prediction Key: Steve Flash vs. Brent Hill Blue Sky vs. Canadian Dragon Cousin Ezra and Lance Henderson vs. The Magical Mystery Tour Snap Dragon vs. Pete The Hillbilly UK Dragon vs. Panda Mask Alex Braun vs. Jungle Jack

[FINisher]

[B] Steve Flash[/B] vs. Brent Hill This is going to be a showstealer, C+ at minimum, maybe even B. [B]Blue Sky[/B] vs. Canadian Dragon Blue Sky takes the victory over Dragon in the second best match of the night. Cousin Ezra and Lance Henderson vs. [B]The Magical Mystery Tour[/B] Skill goes over popularity. [B]Snap Dragon[/B] vs. Pete The Hillbilly Never liked that Pete Hillbilly. [B]UK Dragon[/B] vs. Panda Mask Never liked that Panda Mask either. [B]Alex Braun[/B] vs. Jungle Jack Braun takes the win. Jack is great but just too far away to go over Braun.

[Rathen4]

I'm so tempted to run the XPW diary to finish off the East Coast Wars diaries :D But it would ruin my APW one, so :( Liking the premise of this, anything using UK Dragon is gold in my book.

[foolinc]

Son of a... Looks like I've been beaten to the punch to making a RPW '97 diary. It's probably for the best because I always get a huge case of writer's block. Good luck with this. I guess I'm down to NYCW or XWF. Decisions, decisions. On a side note, I hope you use Holt's "sparkling" personality to the fullest. The fact one of the friendliest promotions in the C-Verse being owned by such a dick is just to good of a conecpt to pass up. I'll be very interested in seeing how you fix RPW's face/heel ratio.

[Midnightnick]

[quote=foolinc;512171]Son of a... Looks like I've been beaten to the punch to making a RPW '97 diary. It's probably for the best because I always get a huge case of writer's block. Good luck with this. I guess I'm down to NYCW or XWF. Decisions, decisions. On a side note, I hope you use Holt's "sparkling" personality to the fullest. The fact one of the friendliest promotions in the C-Verse being owned by such a dick is just to good of a conecpt to pass up. I'll be very interested in seeing how you fix RPW's face/heel ratio.[/quote] Fool, whatever one you don't do, I'll do, so we can establish the East Coast Wars upon the GDS forums. And RPW has the most talent out of all the East Coast war promotions. Good luck with it. I'm reading.

[foolinc]

[QUOTE=Midnightnick;512173]Fool, whatever one you don't do, I'll do, so we can establish the East Coast Wars upon the GDS forums. And RPW has the most talent out of all the East Coast war promotions. Good luck with it. I'm reading.[/QUOTE] After some careful thought, I'm going with my favorite promotion, NYCW. And to not totally derail the thread, here's my predictions. [b]Steve Flash[/b] vs. Brent Hill I can't go against Flash, but I wouldn't be surprised if I was wrong. [b]Blue Sky[/b] vs. Canadian Dragon There isn't a reason to transfer Blue Sky's overness at this point. [b]Cousin Ezra and Lance Henderson[/b] vs. The Magical Mystery Tour Kind of hard to pick since I don't know how over your user character is, so I'll play it safe and take the champs. Snap Dragon vs. [b]Pete The Hillbilly[/b] I like the Hillibillies more than most, but to be honest, they aren't very good. Still Pete a good amount more than Dragon at this point. [b]UK Dragon[/b] vs. Panda Mask Another face vs. face matchup. Going with the Englishman here. [b]Alex Braun[/b] vs. Jungle Jack There isn't a way Braun is going to lose to Jack.

[Midnightnick]

Then XPW will be all mine to control. And I forgot my predictions. [B] Steve Flash[/B] vs. Brent Hill [B]Blue Sky[/B] vs. Canadian Dragon Cousin Ezra and Lance Henderson vs. [B]The Magical Mystery Tour[/B] [B]Snap Dragon[/B] vs. Pete The Hillbilly UK Dragon vs. [B]Panda Mask[/B] [B]Alex Braun [/B]vs. Jungle Jack

[Irish Wolf]

[B]Steve Flash[/B] vs. Brent Hill [B]Blue Sky[/B] vs. Canadian Dragon Cousin Ezra and Lance Henderson vs. [B]The Magical Mystery Tour[/B] [B]Snap Dragon[/B] vs. Pete The Hillbilly [B]UK Dragon[/B] vs. Panda Mask Alex Braun vs. [B]Jungle Jack[/B]

[Derek B]

Another diary that I can't possibly neglect. :) Steve Flash vs. [b]Brent Hill[/b] Blue Sky vs. [b]Canadian Dragon[/b] Cousin Ezra and Lance Henderson vs. [b]The Magical Mystery Tour[/b] Snap Dragon vs. [b]Pete The Hillbilly[/b] [b]UK Dragon[/b] vs. Panda Mask [b]Alex Braun[/b] vs. Jungle Jack

[Regis]

Good to see you going again, dude! Prediction Key: Steve Flash vs. [B]Brent Hill[/B] [I]Because a heel champ works on an overbalanced Face roster, plus I do like the long shot.[/I] [B]Blue Sky[/B] vs. Canadian Dragon [I]CanDrag is good, but the future Ultimate Phoenix is a better bet right now with more potential.[/I] Cousin Ezra and Lance Henderson vs. [B]The Magical Mystery Tour[/B] [I]For God's sake, get the midcard title off your Main Event Monster![/I] [B]Snap Dragon[/B] vs. Pete The Hillbilly [I]Keep Double Dragon strong at the expense of this... lump.[/I] [B]UK Dragon[/B] vs. Panda Mask [I]Like I say, although this might be closer.[/I] [B]Alex Braun[/B] vs. Jungle Jack [I]Simple enough: Main Event Trumps.[/I]

[Phantom Stranger]

Woo, Diary Wars! I welcome all of your different takes. Here's to all of us winning our respective wars... Even though in my case it'll book me into a major hole.

[Tigerkinney]

Prediction Key: Steve Flash vs. [B]Brent Hill[/B] [I]Could go either way but as someone else said, there's more opportunity for faces of chase a heel champ, rather than the other way round. [/I] [B]Blue Sky[/B] vs. Canadian Dragon [I]Just better at this point, to be honest better an any point as Can-Drag is quite possibly one of the most mediocre super junior/cruiserweight wrestlers in the history of the cornellverse.[/I] [B]Cousin Ezra and Lance Henderson[/B] vs. The Magical Mystery Tour [I]Safer to go with the champs for now[/I] [B]Snap Dragon[/B] vs. Pete The Hillbilly [I]The Hillbillies are flat out terrible[/I] [B]UK Dragon[/B] vs. Panda Mask [I]Double Dragon should be kept lookign strong[/I] [B]Alex Braun[/B] vs. Jungle Jack [I]If this was 2007, I would go the other way, but it's not it's 1997, it's ten years earlier and Jack's just someone with raw potential at this stage.[/I]

[1PWfan]

Just to let y'all know, I'm still working on the show (my computer's playing up a tad at the mo), so it will probabyl go up sometime in the next week or so.

[1PWfan]

[I]From the Booking Journals of Rick Redman:[/I] [B][CENTER][SIZE="6"]RPW Better than the Rest [/SIZE] [SIZE="5"]Live to DVD from the Delaware Auditorium Audience: 983[/SIZE][/CENTER][/B] [B][U]Pre-Show/DVD Extras[/U][/B] [B]Snap Dragon vs. Pete the Hillbilly[/B] There’s a reason why we have Dark Time- it’s so we can hide matches like this piece of cr*p. Pete is a talentless hack, and unlike Ezra doesn’t even have much overness to cover for it. Snappy, meanwhile, is still developing as a worker, and doesn’t yet have the ability to carry this guy to a decent match (not that many could: even Brent or Steve would probably get back pain trying). Still, at least he got the win here, boosting his momentum and hopefully his overness. [B]Winner:[/B] Snap Dragon [B]Match Rating:[/B] [I]E-[/I] [B]UK Dragon vs. Panda Mask[/B] I’d hoped for better from this match, but unfortunately Harrison- Panda Mask- and the Dragon don’t click, and in a high-flying match like this one that can really make things look awkward. Plus, the audience clearly don’t like having to sit through 8 minutes of Panda Mask, and this really killed their mood going into the show. Dragon got the win here: c’mon, Panda Mask is pretty good, but he’s not on the level on the UK Dragon. [B]Winner:[/B] UK Dragon [B]Match Rating:[/B] [I]E[/I] [B][U]The Show[/U][/B] [COLOR="DarkRed"]“Hello, fans, and welcome to Rapid Pro Wrestling Better than the Rest! I’m Rock Downpour, and joining me as always is The Samoan Warrior!”[/COLOR] [COLOR="Navy"]“It’s great to be here, Rock, especially with the card RPW have put together for their first show of 1997. In tonight’s main event Brent Hill and Steve Flash will be facing off once more for the World Title, whilst The Magical Mystery Tour will be challenging Lance Henderson and Cousin Ezra for the Double Act Titles- and if The Acid Test and Whippy The Clown don’t win tonight, they cannot challenge for the titles for the rest of Henderson and Ezra’s reign”[/COLOR] [COLOR="DarkRed"]“But we’ll be kicking off tonight with Alex Braun facing off against Dylan Sidle in a change from his previously advertised match…”[/COLOR] [COLOR="Navy"]“Braun was originally scheduled to face Jungle Jack tonight, but the Wild Man picked up an injury this morning that rendered him unable to compete- it’ll be interesting to see what impact this change of opponent will have on Braun’s game plan…”[/COLOR] [B]Alex Braun vs. Dylan Sidle[/B] This was a disappointing match, although that might just be down to overly high expectations on my part. Dylan’s a very grounded, technical wrestler, and that area’s not one of Braun’s strong points, so the style clash didn’t work in our favour this time. Plus, the crowd was still down from the two matches that went out in the dark, so these guys were fighting an uphill battle to get the crowd into this. Still, given that it didn’t turn the crowd off altogether I’m gonna class this one as decent start, with Alex getting the unsurprising win with the Braun Damage. [B]Winner:[/B] Alex Braun [B]Match Rating:[/B] [I]D[/I] The camera cuts to backstage, where The Magical Mystery Tour are cutting a promo on the Double Act Champions [COLOR="DarkOrange"]“Tonight, me and Whippy here are facing the champions for the Double Act titles. Apparently if we lose this one, we’re through in the Double Act division, thanks to Brains McGee, Agent of The Man, no doubt. Now, Ezra, Henderson, I just gotta ask…Why you gotta be so heavy? I mean, we’re good, you’re good if you’re not cheating, why can’t we all just relax? [/COLOR] [COLOR="darkorange"]“But hey, if you wanna play it tough, we’re more than good enough to take you on. This is the Age of Aquarius, man, and The Magical Mystery is Coming to Kick Your Ass. Yeah!”[/COLOR] [COLOR="Green"]“Hey, Ezra, Lance, I gotta joke for ya. The Man walks into a bar-ouch!”[/COLOR] This wasn’t one of our finest promo’s- this feud’s been going on so long that it’s hard to come up with decent stuff now. [B]Rating:[/B] [I]D-[/I] Meanwhile, Brains McGee is backstage getting interviewed on the title match. [COLOR="SlateGray"]“If there’s one thing I absolutely hate, it’s a pair of goddamn hippies like the Magical Mystery Tour. Y’know, the reason why this match has the stipulation? I couldn’t get the management committee to agree to a loser leaves town match. “I want you gone. And my boys, Lance Henderson and the Mighty Cousin Ezra, they’re gonna destroy you. All your Dr. Feelgood crap ain’t gonna work here, ‘dudes’- the party’s over, and the so-called Magical Mystery Tour better get ready to roll right on out of time- or they’re gonna get a beating they ain’t never gonna forget”[/COLOR] This was unexpectedly poor. I mean, sure, the Dr. Feelgood thing made no sense whatsoever (put that one down to Mr. Jack Daniel’s having had his usual pre-show pow-wow with Brains), but Brains is a good talker, and he’s done a pretty good job of playing the right-wing killjoy foe of me and Whippy. I guess the fans really, really can’t stand our matches anymore [B]Rating:[/B] [I]E+[/I] [B]Cousin Ezra and Lance Henderson vs. The Magical Mystery Tour[/B] I’ll admit it now, I made a bad call here. I’d decided to keep this match down to 5 minutes, so that Ezra wouldn’t get tired out. Not so bad, you’d think, except that the time-frame meant this match essentially devolved into a chaotic brawl that might have gone down well in the competition but went over like a lead balloon hitting a kitten shop in RPW. I got the win here, busting out the Sunshine Superman (somersault corkscrew leg drop) for the first time in quite a while to put Ezra down and take the titles. Here’s hoping this wasn’t an omen for the reign [B]Winners:[/B] The Magical Mystery Tour [B]Match Rating:[/B] [I]E+[/I] After the match, Double Dragon come out to congratulate the new champs on their win (we’d been building a mutual respect storyline around these two). And, rather predictably, promptly turn on the champs and demolish them, leaving us down in the middle of the ring. This segment bombed, somewhat inevitably given the lack of name value here, but the Double Dragon turn was a complete success, which was the sole reason for the segment, really [B]Rating:[/B] [I]F+[/I] [B]Donnie J v. Inky the Squid Boy vs. Daniel Cano[/B] This was largely filler, and an excuse to get some of our best young talent on the show. Unfortunately, it was hamstrung by the lack of name value on display here- all of these guys are low down on the card. Still, it wasn’t a bad match in terms of what happened in the ring, and the only way these matches are going to improve is if I keep using these guys so they can get over. [B]Rating:[/B] Donnie J [B]Match Rating:[/B] [I]E+[/I] We follow that with a training video, showing Steve Flash training for the main event. This was standard montage stuff- running over bizarre terrain, lifting weights, grappling with some young talent or other. It got a pretty good reaction, though: the fans are definitely behind Flash [B]Rating:[/B] [I]D[/I] [B]Blue Sky vs. Canadian Dragon[/B] This match was kinda disappointing, although given that the combined ages of these guys isn’t even 45 maybe I was just expecting too much out of them. Both guys are pretty good prospects- Blue Sky in particular seems marked for stardom- but still have some developing to do. Still, they did an okay job here, and if it wasn’t quite as good as I’d hoped, well what can you do? JJ was injured, and none of the other young talent are even half-way ready for a title. Sky got the win here, putting CanDrag down with the Blue Sky Splash. [B]Winner:[/B] Blue Sky [B]Match Rating:[/B] [I]D-[/I] We then go to a montage of Brent training up for the main event. In contrast with Flash’s, though, we made it clear that Brent had the money behind him: his running was done in a fancy stadium, his weights were in a fully equipped gym, and his grappling was done against top talent (the advantage of a working relationship with CZCW- we used Tayler Morton and Chris Perkins, two of the hottest prospects in the US). Same reaction, though, not that I’m complaining [B]Rating:[/B] [I]D[/I] [B]Brent Hill vs. Steve Flash[/B] …and Brent was off form tonight. ****. Ah, well, this was still a good match to end the night with- he may not have been bringing his A game, but Brent’s still as good as anyone in the SWF, and Steve can match him every step of the way. This probably wasn’t their best match, but hey, it was still more than good enough as a main event, and it saved the show for sure: not that the undercard was bad, but compared to DaVE and XFW we were rather lagging behind quality-wise. I had this one go to a draw: no clear winner means we can have a rematch down the line. [B]Winner:[/B] None [B]Match Rating:[/B] [I]C-[/I] [B]Overall Rating:[/B] [I]D+[/I], good enough to raise our popularity but not up to the standard of DaVE’s show (C) or XFW’s (C-)

[FINisher]

Wow. Hugely disappointing rating with that D+. But yeah, first show ever (?). That "being off his game" takes a huge toll on any match. Are you going to do just one show per month, or will you do what I did (4 weekly events and 1 annual)? Got my predictions kind of right, the main event was a draw. ^^

[1PWfan]

[COLOR="SeaGreen"]“So, first show of 1997 out of the way, and you’d got a nearly sold-out venue and a very positive reception from the internet- how did you feel about it?”[/COLOR] [COLOR="DarkOrange"]“To be honest? Not that positive. I’d made the classic error of new bookers and tried to be too ambitious, with the result that I got very disappointed when I didn’t get a classic show. Plus I was real aware of the fact that we were third at best in the war- I was really hoping we’d start out with a win that we could turn into talent raiding”[/COLOR] [COLOR="SeaGreen"]“You were hammered in the regional battles that month-only NEW and Awesome Max Wrestling did worse”[/COLOR] [COLOR="DarkOrange"]“That came within inches of killing my passion for the job right there-first month of the war and we’d lost, basically speaking. But one thing that gee’d me back up was the finances-we made 42 thousand profit, which was pretty big for a promotion our size”[/COLOR] [COLOR="SeaGreen"]“That money did help you make a couple of big signings in the form of Pistol Pete Hall and Super Joshuya- was that a case of panic buying to boost show ratings or simply an investment in further talent?”[/COLOR] [COLOR="DarkOrange"]“Not really. I mean, I was aware that we couldn’t count on Brent and Steve to bail us out every month, but Josh was largely bought in to put Snap Dragon so he could build his overness, although that changed once I realised we needed options in the main event. Pete, though, that was just luck- I figured we wouldn’t be able to afford him, but it was worth a shot anyway. Of course, when I looked at his wages I almost changed my mind-I think I was paying him something like 2 thou a pop, which was twice as much as the rest of our main event.”[/COLOR] [COLOR="SeaGreen"]“So, let’s talk about the run-up to the next how, RPW Highway to Heaven. Things were a lot more positive going into that show, weren’t they?”[/COLOR] [COLOR="DarkOrange"]“Oh yeah. The SWF had been making talent raids, and the competition had been hit hard. Vengeance, Eric Tyler, Whistler, Chris Morrisette, Jesse Christian, Frabkie Future-they’d all left for the big leagues, and it really showed in the quality of the shows they put out”[/COLOR] [COLOR="SeaGreen"]“Meanwhile, RPW were safe from talent raids-you’d signed a non-aggression pact with the SWF prior to your first show”[/COLOR] [COLOR="DarkOrange"]“That was pretty much the first thing I did as booker- I wanted to make sure we kept hold of Brent and Alex for as long as possible”[/COLOR] [COLOR="SeaGreen"]“Finally for this section, before we head on over to footage of the next show-there’s an old saying that Plans never survive the first contact with the Enemy. Well, you’d had your first contact, you’d learnt from that, how had your plans changed?”[/COLOR] [COLOR="DarkOrange"]“The big thing was I went from an aggressive plan to what you might call a ‘Long Game’ scenario. It wasn’t about winning; it was about surviving long enough for our superior profit margins and protection from talent raids to really make a difference. Then, once we were in the strongest position, that’s when we’d go to town on the competition, and really lay into them. First, though, we had to survive, and a lot of that lay on the results of Highway to Heaven”[/COLOR]

[1PWfan]

[center][b][size="6"]Coming Soon To The Delaware Auditorium[/size][/b] [IMG]http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g165/Looneyboyo/RPW.jpg[/IMG] [SIZE="4"][B]RPW HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN[/B][/SIZE] SHOWCASE MATCHES INCLUDE: [B]ALEX BRAUN vs. BRENT HILL: A bout to determine the number one contender[/B] [IMG]http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g165/Looneyboyo/AlexBraun.jpg[/IMG]vs.[IMG]http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g165/Looneyboyo/BrentHill.jpg[/IMG] [B]INTERNATIONAL LUCHA SHOWCASE: OLLIE'S EL BANDITO vs. MPWF'S SUPER JOSHUYA A bout exhibiting the finest in Mexican lucha libre[/B] [IMG]http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g165/Looneyboyo/ElBandito.jpg[/IMG]vs.[IMG]http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g165/Looneyboyo/SuperJoshuya.jpg[/IMG] [B]FOR THE RPW WORLD TITLE: STEVE FLASH v. COUSIN EZRA[/B] [IMG]http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g165/Looneyboyo/SteveFlash.jpg[/IMG]vs.[IMG]http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g165/Looneyboyo/AlTheHillbilly.jpg[/IMG][/CENTER] Prediction Key: Dylan Sidle vs. Jungle Jack Blue Sky vs. Lance Henderson for the RPW East Coast Title The Magical Mystery Tour vs. Underwater Enforcers (Silver Shark & Inky the Squid Boy) for the RPW Double Act Titles Steve Flash vs. Cousin Ezra El Bandito vs. Super Joshuya Alex Braun vs. Brent Hill

[Phantom Stranger]

Yowch. Two thou for Pete? I managed to secure him for fifteen hundred and a grand downside. At least you've probably got him for a while like me.

[Regis]

Prediction Key: [B]Dylan Sidle[/B] vs. Jungle Jack [I]JJ's still being built up, while Sidle is more of a proven commodity.[/I] [B]Blue Sky[/B] vs. Lance Henderson for the RPW East Coast Title [I]Although I predict a DQ win or other screwy non-finish, as Henderson resorts to heelish tactics.[/I] [B]The Magical Mystery Tour[/B] vs. Underwater Enforcers (Silver Shark & Inky the Squid Boy) for the RPW Double Act Titles [I]First defence? No change.[/I] [B]Steve Flash[/B] vs. Cousin Ezra [I]No, seriously. Ezra. Made of fail, at least compared to Steve.[/I] El Bandito vs. [B]Super Joshuya[/B] [I]Joshuya needs to be kept strong to put Snap Dragon over.[/I] Alex Braun vs. [B]Brent Hill[/B] [I]Although I wouldn't be surprised either way, to be honest.[/I]

[FINisher]

[B] Dylan Sidle[/B] vs. Jungle Jack [B] Blue Sky[/B] vs. Lance Henderson for the RPW East Coast Title [B] The Magical Mystery Tour[/B] vs. Underwater Enforcers [B] Steve Flash[/B] vs. Cousin Ezra El Bandito vs. [B]Super Joshuya[/B] [B] Alex Braun[/B] vs. Brent Hill

[Tigerkinney]

[B]Dylan Sidle[/B] vs. Jungle Jack [I]At this stage Sidle's more over[/I] [B]Blue Sky[/B] vs. Lance Henderson for the RPW East Coast Title [I]I mark for Blue Sky/Ultimate Phoenix[/I] [B]The Magical Mystery Tour[/B] vs. Underwater Enforcers (Silver Shark & Inky the Squid Boy) for the RPW Double Act Titles [I]You only just won the belts, and I can't see you dropping them to a pair of cruisers with fishy gimmicks.[/I] [B]Steve Flash[/B] vs. Cousin Ezra [I]If you put the title on Cousin Ezra, could I suggest a Lobotomy[/I] El Bandito vs. [B]Super Joshuya[/B] [I]I'll give the edge to Joshuya in this one.[/I] Alex Braun vs. [B]Brent Hill[/B] [I]Could go either way but I think Brent earn's himself another title shot.[/I]

[Marcel Fromage]

[B]Dylan Sidle [/B]vs. Jungle Jack [I]More established guy wins[/I] [B]Blue Sky [/B]vs. Lance Henderson for the RPW East Coast Title [I]Don't know much about Henderson[/I] [B]The Magical Mystery Tour[/B] vs. Underwater Enforcers (Silver Shark & Inky the Squid Boy) for the RPW Double Act Titles [I]Can't see the titles changing hands first time out, and Double Dragon look like chasing them anyway[/I] [B]Steve Flash[/B] vs. Cousin Ezra [I]Ezra for the win! Go on, you know you want to![/I] El Bandito vs. [B]Super Joshuya[/B] [I]I'll take Joshuya because I think he looks better. Simply, really![/I] Alex Braun vs. [B]Brent Hill[/B] [I]Hill disappointed you by being off his game in his main event last time out, so I think you'll want to give him another shot when he's hopefully on his game.[/I]

[Irish Wolf]

[B]Dylan Sidle[/B] vs. Jungle Jack Jack will get his day in the sun at some point but this isn't it. [B]Blue Sky[/B] vs. Lance Henderson for the RPW East Coast Title Blue Sky will one day be Ultimate Phoenix, Lance Henderson well not so much. [B]The Magical Mystery Tour[/B] vs. Underwater Enforcers (Silver Shark & Inky the Squid Boy) for the RPW Double Act Titles First defense plus pushing the user character. [B]Steve Flash[/B] vs. Cousin Ezra Really, Cousin Ezra, I don't think so. El Bandito vs. [B]Super Joshuya[/B] I think at this point Joshuya is more over both in the US and Mexico. [B]Alex Braun[/B] vs. Brent Hill Braun still has star quality at this point in time, plus more stamina and he's not saddled with Tank yet. I think he'll get a go at the titles.