Phantom Stranger Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 [Additional OOC: This diary began in TEW08, and as such, we started with the TEW08 data. To those joining us who only know TEW10, the Syndicate had just come to our attention, being formed sometime during 2007, Rick Law was face, Tyson Baine was still in TCW, Painful Procedure were all still on the roster... That's about all you might need to know ahead of time. ooc: Hello one and all! Welcome to my new diary. While there will be occasional references to the Philly Pro diary, this takes place in the standard C-Verse data - there's no need to be familiar with Philly Pro itself. Hope to keep your interest as we get rolling... PLEASE NOTE: The 'play' button image I used to cue music in this diary vanished shortly before the end. There already being over two hundred instances of it spread across three thousand posts, I didn't feel up to editing all of them. If you see a 'missing image' picture, you may assume it's one of the music cues. I apologise for the disruption.] http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm75/trenchcoatbrigand/TCW/cover.jpg FOREWORD A little over three years ago, in the run-up to Christmas 2007, I was pulled aside after a show by the man most people reading this know as RDJ. This isn't a book which keeps to the time-honoured story, so I'll drop it here, too; Ricky wanted to talk to me as the company owner because, ultimately, that gives me the final word. I don't plan out our shows, but I'm there when it happens and if I don't like it, it doesn't. "Boss," he said, "I'm thinking it's time I bowed out of the title chase." I didn't get it. The championship - the TCW World Heavyweight Championship, and a prettier piece of gold the industry doesn't have - is defended last. The main event. To duck behind the curtain a moment, main event players have to carry the show. They have to make the crowd feel for them. They have to produce in the ring and out of it. And for this, we pay them the biggest bucks. Ricky could do all of this, and the two of us had worked together for... And then I got it. Tune into a show from late 2006 and you'll hear Jason Azaria list all of Ricky's accomplishments. Kyle Rhodes will sell you on his heroic one-year struggle to take the championship from me, and how hard he's worked to keep it. Tune into a show from late 2007 and... well, he doesn't have the belt anymore, but not much else had changed, right down to the heroic one-year struggle. We relied on Ricky to keep the crowd behind him and against me. Ricky just wanted some variety, a chance to rebuild himself, a chance to do something different. I think he had his eye on Sammy Bach as a man to watch and a man to build. That was all he asked for, because Ricky is a great wrestler - but he's a wrestler. I own one of the biggest wrestling companies in the world, and it took Ricky's focus to make me realise we'd become stale. http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm75/trenchcoatbrigand/TCW/JoelBryant.jpghttp://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm75/trenchcoatbrigand/TCW/TommyCornell_alt5.jpghttp://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm75/trenchcoatbrigand/TCW/SamKeith_alt2.jpghttp://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm75/trenchcoatbrigand/TCW/KarenKiller_alt.jpg The TCW booking team, December 2007: Joel, Tommy, Sam 'Legend' Keith and Karen Killer At the time, my old friend Joel Bryant was writing the shows. He wasn't doing a bad job - but we'd entered a rut. We needed to shake ourselves out of it. I told Joel that he had three months to wrap up what he'd been doing and ease a new man into that job. And word leaked. I'm told the Internet went berserk with rumours, most of them revolving around the same two names. Phil Vibert - the man who built DaVE and made legends out of so many wrestlers (including not a few men who work for me now). And Nemesis - the creative genius, once he made the jump, behind DaVE's near ten years as the biggest player on the independent scene, and a man who gave my career new direction when he made that jump. It's not unfair to say that without Nemesis - John Campbell, to give him his real name - I wouldn't be here. But if we'd brought these men in, they would have come with expectations from the fanbase. More hardcore matches. T&A. Insane stunts. The sideshow aspect in wrestling has its place, but I don't want that place to be the headline places in my company. Who else, then? Joel picked his own replacement, in the end. A man who'd orchestrated early days in my career, a man who'd worked with Joel - and Ricky, and others - before. A man whose career had been built around the tradition of wrestling. Two years ago, Harry 'Horatio' Dangerous talked to me about the TCW Books line. Here, then, is the record, the diary, of a creative mind who had to pick up from Joel and move on. I've pulled the lawyers off almost everything they complained about in here, and what's been cut has been cut only due to the target's tendency to sue. If you want to follow along with the entries our old shows are available online, and the pay-per-views are all on HD-DVD. And that's the one plug I'm allowing myself. http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm75/trenchcoatbrigand/TCW/HoratioDangerous_FIN6a.jpg A portrait of the booker as a cranky old man Alt credit to FINisher Harry has been talking about retirement for as long as I've known him. After PPPW went under, he lasted six months before starting a wrestling school, and when he packed that in the competition came calling for their PPPW retrospective. He finished filming that just in time for Joel to secure him for TCW, and he hasn't stopped talking about retiring since. I think this book may end up with a few sequels before that happens. Oh - and something I should do before I stop talking and let you get on with this - Sorry, Maggie, for keeping your husband busy. At least I cut his road time down... Tommy Cornell In flight from Philadelphia to Memphis January 2011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FINisher Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 Awesome. I'll be reading. <img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/smile.png.142cfa0a1cd2925c0463c1d00f499df2.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlameSnoopy Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 <p>I'll try to follow this, as I really want to get into one of your diaries. </p><p> </p><p> So is this set in 2011. If so, cool.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tigerkinney Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 <p>Looks good so far. </p><p> </p><p> I never got into your ROF diary for TEW 07 (but I think that was because I was so attached to Marcel Fromage's), and though the PPPW one looked good.. I'm one of those who finds it hard to get into old diaries.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlameSnoopy Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Tigerkinney" data-cite="Tigerkinney" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="23671" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Looks good so far. <p> </p><p> I never got into your ROF diary for TEW 07 (but I think that was because I was so attached to Marcel Fromage's), and though the PPPW one looked good.. I'm one of those who finds it hard to get into old diaries.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I must agree with you. Now that I can follow from the beginning, I hope that I can 'get into' this diary, if you know what I mean. Cool beans.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astil Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 Very well done, but that is to be expected from you. <img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/smile.png.142cfa0a1cd2925c0463c1d00f499df2.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoNeck Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 <p>Outstanding, Stranger.</p><p> </p><p> And making it a book? Kudos.</p><p> </p><p> I thought of that at one point and didn't know exactly how to make it work, but I'm sure you'll continue to be as innovative as ever.</p><p> </p><p> I can't wait to watch it unfold.</p><p> </p><p> <img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/smile.png.142cfa0a1cd2925c0463c1d00f499df2.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Stranger Posted July 14, 2009 Author Share Posted July 14, 2009 <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="FlameSnoopy" data-cite="FlameSnoopy" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="23671" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><p> So is this set in 2011. If so, cool.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Not quite - that's when the book comes out. (At least volume 1).</p><p> </p><p> The diary itself is going to pick up just after Just Another Day?, which is to say with the first show in April. There's a few pieces coming before that, though, notably a roster review.</p><p> </p><p> I'm glad to get some people joining the ride - I know what you mean about jumping on midway. I can never do it without starting from page one and going through the whole thing, which is a heck of a timesink.</p><p> </p><p> The posting rate is likely to start off slower than Philly Pro, at least until PPPW rounds off. That being said, with the size of a TCW roster it may even stay lower.</p><p> </p><p> I want to give FINisher his props, while I'm OOC, for somehow managing to get a suit onto Horatio. I'm sure you'll agree it's a hell of an accomplishment.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigpapa42 Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 Been waiting for this. You know I'll be reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nedew Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 Whilst initially finding it difficult to get into PPPW, I eventually managed it... and ended up completely avoiding your shows and reading all the interview segments instead, in all their fantastically characterised glory. Maybe I'll manage to do both this time! <img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/tongue.png.ceb643b2956793497cef30b0e944be28.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Stranger Posted July 14, 2009 Author Share Posted July 14, 2009 <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Nedew" data-cite="Nedew" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="23671" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Whilst initially finding it difficult to get into PPPW, I eventually managed it... and ended up completely avoiding your shows and reading all the interview segments instead, in all their fantastically characterised glory. Maybe I'll manage to do both this time! <img alt=":p" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/tongue.png.ceb643b2956793497cef30b0e944be28.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Heh. So long as <em>part</em> of it grabbed you then it did its job, so I'm happy.</p><p> </p><p> And I had a LOT of fun doing the interviews. Amazing how often facts worked out right for it...</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AzzMartin Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 <p>I'll definitely be reading. </p><p> </p><p> Great backstory and my favourite promotion <img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/smile.png.142cfa0a1cd2925c0463c1d00f499df2.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcel Fromage Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 Great start, as you'd expect from one of our best writers! A fantastic, long-running TCW diary is probably long overdue on these boards! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foolinc Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 All I have to say: This should be fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hyde Hill Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 TCW! TCW! TCW! from zero to 1 promising and one established writer should be fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeel1 Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 TCW! TCW! TCW! from zero to 1 promising and one established writer should be fun. That's me, right? 'Cause I don't know if Tuesday Night Wars counts.. So this is that competition I was promised? Looks stiff..this may be bold of me, coming from a rookie, to a...non..rookie, but dare I say "BRING IT!", good sir? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juggaloninjalee Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 T-C-W equals G-O-L-D!!! I love TCW diaries since it is my favorite promotion to play as. Should be interesting to see where you go with this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astil Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 That's me, right? 'Cause I don't know if Tuesday Night Wars counts.. So this is that competition I was promised? Looks stiff..this may be bold of me, coming from a rookie, to a...non..rookie, but dare I say "BRING IT!", good sir? Yeah, I think that's you. Yours is promising. Also, will we see any Dangerous kids here? Perhaps a zombie Hype? Please? Zombie Hype vs. Space Force Tuna for the World Championship... ... ...please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Stranger Posted July 14, 2009 Author Share Posted July 14, 2009 <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Astil" data-cite="Astil" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="23671" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Yeah, I think that's you. Yours is promising. <p> </p><p> Also, will we see any Dangerous kids here?</p><p> </p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Most of the answers to these questions are going to be 'wait and see'. That said...</p><p> </p><p> No, Richard, Adrian and Kate Dangerous are all elsewhere and busy. From Horatio's viewpoint, they're over now, they don't need Dad's help, and they should be allowed to stand on their own. </p><p> </p><p> From my perspective - this isn't about them. I debated on whether or not to use Horatio for this diary, and while I eventually went with it, I don't want to make this PPPW Redux. There is one worker not currently under TCW contract who, if I signed, would revert to their PPPW gimmick, and that wasn't one I came up with so much as a spin on it I refined. </p><p> </p><p> No Zombie gimmicks. No Space Tuna, hilarious as the alt is. Giant Tana actually won't be around for a while. (He's not the only one. Texas Pete is... Elsewhere, too.)</p><p> </p><p> There is only one guy who's departed who will not return; Genghis Rahn's contract came up in the first two months and he opted not to re-up with me, jumping to the SWF. Which annoys me, as I had plans for him - witness the Turisas facepaint alt Marcel was good enough to make, and which sadly will not be showing up.</p><p> </p><p> Everything else is coming up as we go...</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Casey Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Bigpapa42" data-cite="Bigpapa42" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="23671" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Been waiting for this. You know I'll be reading.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Ditto - and purely going off ^ this guy's diary, I'm fond of works that start once the writer has their feet under table, so to speak. Should be interesting to see how much things have changed in the last few months...</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Stranger Posted July 14, 2009 Author Share Posted July 14, 2009 <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Zeel1" data-cite="Zeel1" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="23671" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><p> So this is that competition I was promised? Looks stiff..this may be bold of me, coming from a rookie, to a...non..rookie, but dare I say "BRING IT!", good sir? <img alt=":p" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/tongue.png.ceb643b2956793497cef30b0e944be28.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> So long's we both entertain, that's all anyone can ask for, I figure. I doubt we'll be going in *quite* the same directions...</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigpapa42 Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Phantom Stranger" data-cite="Phantom Stranger" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="23671" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>So long's we both entertain, that's all anyone can ask for, I figure. I doubt we'll be going in *quite* the same directions...</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> You know, even if the booking was pretty much identical between two diaries, I think the presentation and writing would likely make them different enough. Which has always been an idea that would love to see explored at some point by some good writers...</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angeldelayette Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 Like with everyone else, looking forward to this and will add in comments as you go. <img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/biggrin.png.929299b4c121f473b0026f3d6e74d189.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Stranger Posted July 15, 2009 Author Share Posted July 15, 2009 <p></p><div style="text-align:center;"><span>http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm75/trenchcoatbrigand/TCW/bookbanner.jpg</span><p> <span>http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm75/trenchcoatbrigand/TCW/book_open-2.jpg</span></p></div><p></p><p></p><p> </p><p> Any diary worth its salt has Notes pages near the front. I'm just filling these in last. And that tends to happen, too, I've noticed.</p><p> </p><p> I wrote what you are going to read over the space of a couple of years in what I'd intended to be my retirement, very aware that if I did anything worth noting in my new job Tommy Cornell was going to ask me, one day, to write an autobiography – or let someone write it, anyway – to go out in TCW colours. I had other ideas.</p><p> </p><p> I've got my study* just the way I like it these days (don't worry, this is going somewhere) and there's a bookshelf just to the side of my desk, in easy reach. Most of what's on it are autobiographies from people I've known in the business, and frankly, the good stories I was involved in have all been taken before I even thought about starting. Since I think anyone interested in my story is interested in the story of the territories, I don't see the point in asking you to pay for it again.</p><p> </p><p> (For those wondering: Dread neatly covered my time in Japan as we overlapped almost exactly, during my SWF time I went drinking with Sam and Rip so either one has the stories you want and more besides, Mike Nero's book is THE definitive story of the TWL and gets in most of the PPPW stuff that wasn't, as I write this, just on TV.</p><p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align:center;"><span>http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm75/trenchcoatbrigand/Dangerous/SWF%20Footage/CripplerRayKingman-1.jpg</span><span>http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm75/trenchcoatbrigand/Dangerous/SWF%20Footage/HoratioDangerous.jpg</span><p><span style="font-size:10px;"><span style="font-family:Garamond;"> The Crippler in Danger: Promotional image from CPW, 1985 (Author's own collection)</span></span></p></div><p></p><p> </p><p> (Preston Holt's book has all the good stuff from CPW and tops it off by pointing out exactly how much I screwed him over when I walked out, and Jackson Andrews covered my time with George and Dan in Canada pretty well. Heidi Brooks has known Maggie for years, and my home life shows up in her book from time to time, including how we met.</p><p> </p><p> (Mexico? Nothing happened in Mexico I can legally admit to.)</p><p> </p><p> So, knowing Tommy, I wanted something different. Most of the rest of my shelves are sports books of one kind or another, and there are a few really good reads out there where one journo or another has shadowed a coach over a playoff season, and you really get a sense of what matters to their decisions.</p><p> </p><p> Everyone admits wrestling's faked these days, and while I'm not exactly alone in thinking that's a shame, I'm also not alone in thinking it was inevitable. It occurred to me that the booker (in wrestler-speak, the guy who puts the shows together and determines where the feuds are going) could benefit from something similar, but as our storylines often take a lot longer than a playoff to play out, there was no way a journalist would spend the time they needed.</p><p> </p><p> I figured I'd do it myself. What's coming was written from the start with the idea it'd make a book, which is why I often go quiet on upcoming story details where if I were doing this level of detail just for me I'd put them in. </p><p> </p><p> I've gotta thank Tommy, Joel (Bryant, the booker before me and still part of the creative team) Cliff Anderson and the guys at Coastal Zone, and the rest of TCW Creative; the legend Sam Keith, Karen Killer, Jason Azaria's encyclopedic wrestling brain (but not the rest of him) and my old buddy Floyd Goldworthy. Without them, this book would be very different.</p><p> </p><p> * - Study, noun, a place you can hide when your wife has been right too many times already today. Maggie's smarter than me, so mine gets a lot of use.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlameSnoopy Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 Interesting. I must say, that this is THE diary to follow for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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