Welcome. You Know The Drill.

[infinitywpi]

January 2012, week 3

 

Nigel rejoined ROF, the company with which he'd wrestled one match for back in 2010, then did a show in the indies, then... nothing, until we grabbed him. How he stayed untaken for so long, we'll never know. Also, Fire Fly joined up with MHW, and Pee-Wee agreed to help out 4C.

 

 

CZCW Onslaught #99

We're doing two-and-a-half-hour shows, and we -still- do a pair of pre-show matches to get everyone on the card. Wow. Let's hear it for rising stamina levels. Our first pre-show match suchs, as Rich & Famous squash A-Game and Thomas. Our second is more average, as California Love Machine defeats Ant-Man.

 

The actual show starts with the Xtreme Title, in accordance with the prophecy. Nigel Svenson faces his largest opponent yet in Giant Brody, and it turns out... he knows how to work with the big man, as this is an oddly enjoyable match, with Nigel retaining. Not as good, Happy Elwood defeating Brendan Idol. Not sucking, but not as good. Better, but oddly not-really-good, Snap Dragon defeating Kashmir Singh.

 

In a better match, Speedball gets a big win over Ultimate Phoenix. We drop down to average with Moose & Weasel (Yes, that's a Rocky & Bullwinkle reference) defeating P-n-P in an average match. Then, things kick back into high gear with a really good match between Los Luchas and Los Rudos, with Los Luchas retaining the tag titles... but damned if Los Rudos don't look like they'd belong in the main event. We follow that up with Donnie J defeating James Prudence in another good match, and finish things off with Randy Bumfhole defending the CZCW Title against... me. And sure enough, I've booked myself another title run. But with a match like this, I feel it's justified.

 

(Show rating: C, 2,600 tickets. Match of the Night: Fox/Randy. Trash of the Night: Elwood/Brendan.)

 

 

On the next Welcome: Yes, it's Fox in charge of the henhouse again. Who's the first to be fed to the now-eight-time champ?

[LucianCarter]

How is Donnie J's attitude with you? He is giving me some problems, despite a solid push and he is also having success with you.

 

Keep his morale high. I can't prove it but I suspect his particular combination of personality traits makes morale have a larger impact in both directions.

 

Try a bonus, see how much it helps.

[infinitywpi]

January 2012, week 4

Wow. Slow week. Let's take a look at the competition in the Southwest, shall we?

 

Our closest competition is AAA; for a while, they were winning the regional wars on quality compared to our quantity, but there hasn't been a 'war' for a while; we're the obvious winners. AAA is ranked 21st in the world, and is still Regional. Their prestige is low (E-), but momentum is stable ©. They have the notable ability to put on great matches, jut not enough of them to fill an entire show; they have two matches that are better than our best match, and they actually have a B- card from August 2011. Their strongest workers are Kat Quinn (Involved in five fo their top ten matches; all of them in the top five) and Suzanne Brazzle (Five of the top ten, all in the top seven). Other notables include Sarah Marie York (three of the top ten), Gorgon (two), Grace Harper (One), Nadia Snow (One), and Zone alumni Joanne Rodriguez (four off the top ten). They have the strange honor of counting Alicia Strong among their main eventers, but seem unable to get a spectacular match out of her.

 

The other... 'competition'... is Babes of Sin City. Ranked 26th, they are Small. They... let's say their best matches involve workers better known for other companies, and even those aren't that good. They're best known for having the guts to hire Hustler D as their color commentator; the only man in the company. They have no prestige and very little momentum.

 

 

CZCW Onslaught #100

We start our epic 100th Show with a tag team match, as Rich & Famous defeat the thrown-together team of Brendan Idol and Ant-Man. Surprisingly, it's an above-average match and that bodes well for the rest of the show. We follow it up with an Xtreme Title match, with Nigel Svenson defending against Jeremiah Moose. Moose puts some effort into his game tonight, and the result is something that, had Moose been in matches like this two years ago, he'd be on the short track to the main event. Nivel retains, but Moose is justifying my decision to bring him back. Next up, a three-way tag tag title match between Los Luchas, Los Rudos, and Happy Giant. And holy freakin' hell, this is a good match for having so many inexperienced workers and teams in there. Demon Seed, claims the titles for Los Rudos, but the cliché stands: All these teams are winners.

 

Next up, a match we suspected would rock, but were surprised by just how much, as Randy Bumfhole takes twenty minutes to get past California Love Machine; this is a possibly match of the year contender, and might steal the show tonight. It certainly does better than our filler match, as Speedball and Singh defeat P-n-P. When your lowest match is a D+, that's nothing to sneeze at.

 

Our main event festivities begin with a three-man ladder match for the #1 Contendership. It's Donnie J, James Prudence, and Ultimate Phoenix. Having seen Bumfhole's match earlier, these three give it their all and put on one hell of a match; in the end, it's Ultimate Phoenix who gets by the warring ex-partners to claim his title shot. And in the main event, it's myself vs Snap Dragon; we're both riding waves of momentum, so I'm hoping the crowd is able to give us plenty of energy to feed off of... and they do. For over half an hour, we go back and forth... and when I springboard off the ropes, off Dragon's back, and up the ladder to claim the CZCW Title, I know that we may have just set a new record for Best. Match. Ever.

 

(Show rating: C+, 2,583 tickets sold. Match of the Night: Fox/Dragon. Trash of the Night: None.)

 

 

On the next Welcome: Now that's the way you celebrate a milestone. The only way to go from here is up... right?

[dPro]

Holy smokes! That was an awesome show!

[infinitywpi]

February 2012, week 1

 

So, some roster shuffling results from the last few months of work. Our main event is, obviously, myself, Donnie, Jimmie, Randy, and Phoenix; the uppercard is Jackpot, Jake, CLM, Dragon and Speedball. What's surpising is that Singh has dropped to the midcard; Demon Seed has risen up from the ranks of jobberdom to the midcard while Fire Fly is still on the low end of things and Ant-Man has tumbled down to being an afterthought.

 

So of course, we made one more contract offer... just to shake things up a bit. What the heck; we might move to three-hour shows at this rate. The guy signed, as we slotted him into the upper-midcard... we'd see how he did there. There was potential for a main eventer in him, but we'd have to see how he did.

 

 

CZCW Onslaught #101

We start things off with a pre-show match with a special stipulation, the “Be in this match and get paid” match. It's Kashmir, Fire Fly, Brendan, Weasel, Moose, and Perez for fifteen minutes of action, ending with Fire Fly getting the victory in a pretty dang good match... for a cold opener.

 

The actual show starts with Speedball squashing Ant-Man. It... doesn't go over well. Things get better as Rich & Famous lose to a team they can't possibly complain about losing to: The Uneasy Alliance of Donnie J and James Prudence. It's a good little match, and Donnie and James still 'have it'. Things get even better when Nigel Svenson defends his Xtreme Title against El Mitico; the man just lost the Tag Titles, and he is now your new Xtreme Title – and the match is nothing to sneeze at. After that, the Tag Titles match has to be a letdown, and it's a nice, calm change of page as Los Rudos defeat Happy Giant.

 

Up next, California Love Machine welcomes the newest member of the Zone in a losing effort, giving Antonio Del Veccio a win in his debut match... and not a bad match, either. Randy Bumfhole defeats Snap Dragon in a match that, honestly, should have been better. And finally, I defend the Zone Title against Ultimate Phoenix. It's... a good match, but not the blow-away good we were hoping for. I'm begining to remember why I dropped the title last time around...

 

(Show rating: C, 2,533 tickets sold. Match of the Night: Nigel/Mitico. Trash of the Night: Speedball/Ant-Man.)

 

 

On the next Welcome: Perhaps this will be a shorter reign than I had intended...

[infinitywpi]

February 2012, week 2

 

Another slow week. Um... I got nuthin' for ya this time around.

 

 

CZCW Onslaught #102

 

We open with the expected Xtreme Title match; this time El Mitico defends against Jonnie Perez. And Jonnie... Jonnie, you've come so far, so fast. I'm proud of you, boy. You don't win tonight... but starting the night with your best match ever is no small feat. After that, the Tag Titles match between Los Rudos and Moose & Weasel is a slightly letdown – but only slightly, with the champs retaining in what is still a good match.

 

After that, we put Randy Bumfhole to the test and see what he can do with Giant Brody. The result? A win and a pretty good match. Okay... we're impressed. We get back into 'really good' territory as The Unseasy Alliance team up to face We Make You Tap (Nigel apparently has space on his dance card after losing the Xtreme Title). Donnie and Jimmy win, but it's a hard-fought victory. Next, the worst match of the night so far... and it's a D+... as California Love Machine defeats Jake Idol. Another match on the same level as Ultimate Phoenix defeats Jackpot Jordan.

 

And now, the main event festivities. Antonio Del Veccio defeats Snap Dragon in a long match that isn't quite what we hoped it would be. And finally, I defend the CZCW Title against Amazing Fire Fly. I'm hoping just being in this match will earn him some respect in the eyes of the fans – he just can't seem to get over, and maybe this'll help. We easily have the match of the night, a fast-paced 'flip-fest' that sends the crowd home happy.

 

(Show rating: C+, 2,596 tickets sold. Match of the Night: Fox/Fire Fly.)

 

 

On the next Welcome: You know it's been building up to this; time to see if the new guy has bad chemistry with me or not. Everyone else we hire does, so...

[infinitywpi]

February 2012, week 3

 

We tried to convince Insane Machine to come home. He wasn't interested. I don't blame him... he's only got a few years left. Might as well make the big money while he can. We also decided it might be a good idea to keep Pee-Wee around.

 

 

CZCW Onslaught #103

 

We open with... a CZCW Title match? No, that's not a booking mistake – that's me not putting myself in the main event with someone I've never faced before... again. And it's a good call, as we do okay, but it's not main-event-quality or anything. I retain, but Antonio needs a bit of work before he's ready to be main eventing. I ponder giving him some Xtreme time. Up next, a totally average match as Randy Bumfhole fails to carry Paradigm to something good, only something okay. We get new Tag Champions as Los Rudos lose to We Make You Tap in a decent match. Then, back to average as Moose & Weasel get a win over Happy Giant.

 

We're back to decent as James Prudence defeats Kashmir Singh, then we kick into high with the match I thought was going going to be our take-a-break match; the team of Amazing Fire Fly and Rich & Famous defeat California Love Machine, Brendan Idol, and Jonnie Perez. And so far, it's the best thing on the card. Until Ultimate Pheonix meets Donnie J for over twenty minutes and blows the crowd away.

 

I... feel sorry for our main event, as El Mitico defends the Xtreme Title against Snap Dragon. They have to follow one hell of a match, and the pressure is just too much for them. It's still a good match... but not good enough.

 

(Show rating: C, 2,760 tickets sold. Match of the Night: Phoenix/Donnie.)

 

 

On the next Welcome: Okay, minor mis-step. Well... let's try something new, shall we?

[eayragt]

On the next Welcome: Okay, minor mis-step. Well... let's try something new, shall we?

 

Minor indeed - considering the Zone Title opened and the Extreme Title Main Evented, it wasn't exactly a banker show, was it?

[mad5226]

I'm excited to see how Antonio performs, I've never been able to get anything out of him

[infinitywpi]

February 2012, week 4

 

Awww. The Natural and Cat Quinne broke up. How sad.

 

Yeap. Another slow news week. Doesn't matter, this'll be a great show. The main event: CZCW Champ vs Xtreme Champ.

 

… whaddya mean, Mitico and Fire Fly are working in Mexico tonight????

 

 

CZCW Onslaught #104

 

Okay, new plan. We open the show with... a triple-threat between Brendan Idol, A-Game, and Elliot Thomas. As expected, it sucks... but not as bad as we feared. We follow it with a Tag Title match as We Make You Tap faces Happy Giant and carries them to an above-average bout before retaining their titles. Then, in a surprisingly average match, Snap Dragon beats Kashmir Singh. Donnie J then faces Demon Seed and does better than Dragon and Singh. Wow.

 

Things kick up a notch as Rich & Famous defeats the team of Ultimate Phoenix and California Love Machine. Randy Bumfhole defeats Antonio Del Veccio, and once again it's not as good as I had hoped. We wrap things up with myself defending the CZCW Title against James Prudence; it's not our best work, but still enough to get the match of the ni-- what do you mean, another match?

 

… who told Moose & Weasel to face P-n-P after my match? Aw, crud...

 

(Show rating: D+, 2,612 tickets sold.)

 

 

On the next Welcome: This is why you shouldn't book before bedtime...

[ReapeR]

February 2012, week 4

 

… whaddya mean, Mitico and Fire Fly are working in Mexico tonight????

 

 

what do you mean, another match?

 

… who told Moose & Weasel to face P-n-P after my match? Aw, crud...

 

 

On the next Welcome: This is why you shouldn't book before bedtime...

 

There's the old Infinity we're used. Love it... I do the same damn things all the time. Booking dark matches without clicking the box and having it become my main event.

 

Enjoy your simple writing style as always, great work.

 

R

[infinitywpi]

March 2012, week 1

 

It looks like, between the three Lucha promotions we had people working for, we'd be missing someone half the time on Thursdays. So, we're re-moving Onslaught back to Tuesdays. Which didn't give us much time to plan the next show.

 

Oh, who're we kidding. Like we plan these things? (Okay, okay... we do. Just trying to save some face. Heck, if this current plan works out, we may get a new Best Match Ever... or, y'know, not.)

 

Turns out, we made the right call – USPW got a TV show on Wednesdays. So we'd've been without an announcer.

 

Freakin' Cliff. Maybe he's just joking when he says he'd work for them over us...

 

 

CZCW Onslaught #105

Tonight's preshow: P-n-P over Ant-Man and A-Game, with Elliot Thomas earning a paycheck for reffing. Doesn't suck, actually. Odd.

 

We start the show with Ultimate Phoenix defeating James Prudence – which rocks the house. And if that's my opener, what'm I holding for the main event? It's not the next match, as CLM defeats Antonio in what could generously be called 'average'. Things get a bit better as We Make You Tap retain the tag titles over Moose & Weasel. And that's not the best tag match of the show, as Jackot Jordan and -Brendan- Idol lose to Snap Dragon and Kashmir Singh. Then, more high gear, as Donnie J does a job to Jake Idol in a match every bit as good as our opener... and we're still not to the main event.

 

Los Rudos defeat Happy Giant, to give the fans a bathroom break. Then, our main events. El Mitico defends the Xtreme Title against Amazing Fire Fly for our third C match of the night. And that only leaves two people unused, as Randy Bumfhole gets his CZCW Title rematch. We still don't quite get each other's styles, but it doesn't matter... the plan worked, and we tear the house down. Randy's a bit miffed he didn't win... but meh, we'll deal with that come renegotiation time.

 

(Show rating: C+, 2,876 tickets. Match of the Night: Fox/Bumfhole. Trash of the Night: None. Not even the preshow match.)

 

 

On the next Welcome: Was it a new Best Match Ever?

[LucianCarter]

So is Cliff's plan to improve as an announcer working? I know he rose to A level pretty fast in my game but he was also working for TCW there.

[infinitywpi]

Sadly, it seems USPW was using Cliff as a color commentator, something I didn't bother to check until just now; he's become a far better color man than a play-by-play man. We'll have to do something about that...

 

 

March 2012, week 2

 

In a word: Nope. Fox/Dragon still holds that honor. It did replace Fox/Donnie at #2 tho.

 

Donnie got hardline in his contract signing. We decided he was worth it – the benefit of making money is that you can spend money, right? Granted, with the longer shows, we're now more-or-less breaking even each month... but that's fine for now. Cult status is still a long way's off. Tho we're charging more for tickets again, so that's good.

 

 

CZCW Onslaught #106

Your pre-show match: Brendan Idol defeats Ant-Man. Not half bad. Not good, but not bad.

 

Our opening match has El Mitico defend the Xtreme Title against Air Attack Weasel. Nice little match. Jeremiah Moose drags Ultimate Phoenix down a bit; Phoenix wins, but can't work miracles. Moose is... that odd 'solid and reliable' type who is never going to be good, but he hasn't sucked since returning. Amazing Fire Fly, however, does manage to work a minor miracle as pulls jobber Elliot Thomas to an above-average match.

 

Kashmir Singh defeats Antonio Del Veccio, and it's another okay match. Antonio isn't fitting in as well as I had hoped. Randy Bumfhole defeats Jackpot Jordan, and it's one of Jordan's better matches in recent memory; in other words, somewhat good. Turns out, the two work well together. Surprisingly, Snap Dragon doesn't do so well against California Love Machine; he wins, don't get me wrong, but the match... it was nothing special. How 'nothing special' was it? It was on the same level as our next match, a three-way tag between Los Rudos, Happy Giant, and P-n-P, which sees P-n-P get the surprising win.

 

We move into the end of the show with The Uneasy alliance ('The Fly Boys' is trademarked, it turns out) defeats We Make You Tap for the Tag Titles, which was okay. Then, I take a big risk and put Jake Idol in the main event with me. And the two of us? We tear it up. Idol seemed nervous, but still turned out a great performance. He may not be 100% ready now, but the kid's gonna be a great main eventer someday.

 

(Show rating: C+, 2,530 tickets sold. Match of the Night: Fox/Idol.)

 

 

On the next Welcome: Well, we can add Jake Idol to the list of people who might be worthy to be the next CZCW Champion. Who else can we find?

[infinitywpi]

March 2012, week 3

 

Wow. It was time to renew Jonnie Perez's contract again. And this time... Cliff didn't care. Awright! Always nice to be able to keep people on the roster without the boss getting mad at me. Also time to renew El Mitico... that's gonna cost me a bit more than he was getting, I can tell.

 

 

CZCW Onslaught #107

Your pre-show matches tonight: Moose & Weasel defeat A-Game and Elliot Thomas in a horrible squash, and Nigel Svenson defeats Ant-Man in an average bout that introduces Ant-Man's new 'Mysterious' gimmick... which seems to have potential.

 

We open the show with Happy Giant losing to P-n-P after a lucky rollup, which doesn't go over as well as intended. El Mitico defends his Xtreme Title in a strangely sub-par (for him) match with Kashmir Singh; but it's Singh who comes out of the match the new champion. Demon Seed defeats California Love Machine, which was okay, but we've still yet to hit 'good'. And James Prudence, for some reason, can't even get an average match out of Jackpot Jordan.

 

Ultimate Phoenix fought a long, losing bout to Amazing Fire Fly; Fly won suddenly at the end. It's an okay match; we had hoped for more, the the crowd seems to be in a bad mood tonight. Jake Idol gets a victory, but it's not a pretty one as he gets dragged down by Antonio. We get desperate and have Randy Bumfhole defeat Marc Speed; a long match, but again it barely reaches what we consider 'good'... for midcarders. For main eventers? This was an expensive, worthless match. We have to put faith in our main event: Myself, Donnie, and Dragon in a three-way ladder match. Even this gets nowhere near what we were hoping for. I retain, but let's face it... this was dissapointing after such a string of good shows.

 

(Show rating: C, 2,880 tickets sold. Match of the Night: Fox/Donnie/Dragon. Trash of the Night: Moose & Weasel/A-Game & Thomas)

[infinitywpi]

March 2012, week 4

 

Contract renewals: Mitico, Ant-Man, Perez, and we signed up a former Coastal Resort student who Cliff didn't let us hire last time around. And we're still going strong with a perfectly harmonious backstage atmosphere.

 

… so, why did last week bomb? We have no idea. It didn't even really 'bomb'... but it really wasn't up to our expectations.

 

 

CZCW Onslaught #108

 

No pre-show tonight; we go right into it with a Lucha Libre match between El Mitico and Demon Seed. We already have a better show than most of last week. Mitico wins, but it's two-falls-to-one. Up next: Tag Team Titles: Ladder Gauntlet! The Uneasy Alliance faces three teams; first off, Happy Giant (which gives us a decent match). Second up, Moose & Weasel, which is even better, Finally... Rich & Famous, and the champs are so tired out (and had apparently been expecting someone else) that they're unable to keep their hold on the titles. All in all, a fun set of matches.

 

Up next, the Xtreme Title. Kashmir Singh defends against California Love Machine; It's another okay match, not the best but at least we're doing better than last week. Singh retains. In a triple threat match, we get Antonio, Dragon, and Speedball; it's the worst match of the night so far, being simply average, and Dragon gets the win. It looks like Antonio isn't going to get re-signed – he's dragging everyone else down. Next, our designated bathroom break, with Jonnie Perez defeating newcomer Frankie-Boy Fernandez. It doesn't suck... but barely.

 

Let's hope the main events work out better. Our first one, Randy Bumfhole in a long, well-fought match against Ultimate Phoenix; Randy gets the win, but this was a damn good match. And our main event, I take on Amazing Fire Fly again – heck, it was great last time, and it's great this time as well. I retain, but I really hope this gets Fire Fly over.

 

(Show rating: C+, 2,792 tickets. Match of the night: The main events. Trash of the Night: Perez/Fernandez.)

 

 

On the next Welcome: Yeah, I know, we didn't need a new jobber. But, what the heck.

[infinitywpi]

April 2012, week 1

 

Speaking of new jobbers, two guys graduated from the Resort; tho they were more brawlers than our typical fliers, we figured there was a chance they could still learn, and snapped them up. After what I just said about jobbers, too. Oh, well.

 

 

CZCW Onslaught #109

 

We open with yet another Xtreme Title match as Kashmir Singh defends against Amazing Fire Fly... and Fire Fly pulls it off to begin another reign as Xtreme Champion in an excellent match. Randy Bumfhole then drags Giant Brody to an above-average match, picking up a victory in the process. Rich & Famous successfully defend the Tag Titles against Moose & Weasel in a pretty good match, and strangly The Uneasy Alliance have a merely average match with Los Rudos.

 

The crowd doesn't improve much as Nigel forces Antonio to tap out, but they wake up a bit for Snap Dragon defeating CLM in a decent bout. For a bit of a break, P-n-P defeat our new team of Notorious, and the match threatens to suck, but doesn't quite get there.

 

Our sub-main event sees Ultimate Phoenix defeating El Mitico in an excellent match, followed by me defending the Zone Title against Marc Speed. Speedball hasn't been impressing me lately, and I think he knew it – because he stepped up his game one hell of a lot. Not only is it Match of the Night, but I'll be damned if he doesn't outdo Bumfhole and Dragon to help me deliver the best match of Zone history.

 

(Show rating: C+, 2,812 tickets. Match of the Night: Fox/Speed. Trash of the Night: PnP/Notorious.)

 

 

On the next Welcome: Three months in a row, we've had a Match Of The Zone candidate. Can we keep this up?

[mad5226]

I'm sad it isn't working out with Antonio guess he was just destined to suck

[infinitywpi]

April 2012, week 2

 

We tried to convince Masked Cougar to come back home; he turned us down. If I was making his money, I'd probably do the same thing. It's one heck of a pay cut to come here after being in the big leagues.

 

Bumfhole was proving himself to be talented, popular with the crowds, and a total **** backstage. His latest prank involved switching out water in drinking bottles with... well, another liquid. I tried to tell him that such a thing was a) not okay and b) a health code violation. He wasn't impressed with me invoking state health authority. I was getting pretty worked up over his dismissal of me; Donnie came in and suggested we kick out for beers after the show. It's something we used to do, years ago... the 'main eventers' would head out for drinks, with the guys who turned out the match of the show getting a free drink from everyone else. I hadn't gone since getting the book... it seemed wrong, somehow. But Donnie's offer... he reminded me, I'm still one of the guys at heart.

 

 

CZCW Onslaught #110

 

We open with a lopsided three-on-three, as Air Attack Weasel, California Love Machine, and El Mitico take on the jobber corps of Elliot Thomas, Frankie Fernandez, and A-Game. It comes out much better than I expected, definately above-average. Kashmir Singh then faces Jonnie Perez and loses, and it's not as good as our opener... I begin to wonder who's fault it is. Then, Rich & Famous get the test of their career, as we give Notorious a title shot. Naturally, this is a total squash, and even Rich & Famous can't drag a good match out of these two. We apologize to the fans with an Xtreme Title match between Fire Fly and Demon Seed; Fire Fly gets the victory, and it's definitely a giant leap forward from that last match. We then sink down to 'bad' again, as Jeremiah Moose gets a victory over the only person I don't feel bad jobbing out to him, Antonio. Antonio, somehow, still can't work Zone-style it seems. Snap Dragon then shows us how it's done against Brendan Idol carrying him to a decent match before getting the victory.

 

Giant Brody squashes Ant-Man in another nigh-unwatchable match, and we move into our main events. The Uneasy Alliance defeats We Make You Tap in a nice, long match that doesn't quite do anywhere near as well as I had hoped it would. Finally, I defend the Zone Title against both Phoenix and Bumfhole; after all the crowd has been through, I hope they'll be kind to us. They're more than kind. We work our asses off, and the crowd cheers us on. I retain my title, and we've got another match-of-the-year candiate – seems like we've got so many of them, and it's only April...

 

(Show rating: C+, 2,706 tickets. Match of the Night: Main event. Trash of the Night: Tag Title, Brody/Ant-Man.)

 

 

On the next Welcome: Seems like we're setting a new standard for main events. Who'll be the first to break it? And how long until the big leagues take notice?

[infinitywpi]

April 2012, week 3

 

I'll give Jackpot Jordan this... he may not be the most talented guy on the roster, he may be popular beyond his ability, but he works cheap.

 

 

CZCW Onslaught #111

 

Our show opens with Los Rudos defeating Happy Giant. It's your average match... I stop for a moment and debate raising my definition of 'average'. We'll see. Give it a few more shows. Up next, a triple threat match between Snap Dragon, Kashmir Singh, and Antonio; Dragon gets the win, Antonio eats the pin, and it's a good match all around. I'm getting a good feeling about this show.

 

In an Xtreme Title Match, Fire Fly defeats CLM in a decent bout, and then Paradigm defeats Brendan Idol in a not-decent bout. Then, one of the four matches that I debated on if it should be in the main event, as Ultimate Phoenix defeats Jake Idol in a good matchup. Then, in the second of the four matches, I defend the Zone Title against Jackpot Jordan. I retain, and the match is... well, sore than even I thought it was going to be. Calling it 'Average' is being nice to it. Thankfully, Paradigm and Idol prevent me from being in the Trash of the Night.

 

… I speak too soon, as Moose & Weasel defeat Notorious in a short squash that definitely wins Trash of the Night 'honors'. But it's a breather before our main events. First, Donnie J defeats Speedball in a really good match, and I'm wondering if I should have made that the main event... but no, the main event is Randy Bumffhole vs James Prudence, and yes, I should have switched these two matches around. I'm not saying it's a bad match; it's good. Just not as good as Donnie and Marc do. Randy wins, and that's our show.

 

(Show rating: C, 2,553 tickets. Match of the Night: Donnie/Speedball. Trash of the Night: Notorious vs Moose & Weasel)

 

 

On the next Welcome: Okay, so, what have we learned? Put Donnie in the main event. Keep Notorious in pre-show matches until they get better. And Jackpot Jordan doesn't get anywhere near the main event.

[infinitywpi]

April 2012, week 4

 

It's another slow week as nothing really happens... anywhere. Um, The Wolverine is retiring soon, I guess. That's about it.

 

 

CZCW Onslaught #112

 

Your pre-show matches tonight: Low Rudos over Notorious, and A-Game over Happy Elwood (who is not happy about it). Amazingly, Notorious has their best match so far, as they hit average; the other match sucks.

 

The actual show begins with Nigel Svenson defeating Ant-Man, and it's your average opener. We follow it with a Tag Title match as Rich & Famous get an easy win over P-n-P in a decent match. Air Attack Weasel defeats Brendan Idol and threaten to have a bad match, but don't quite get there. Amazing Fire Fly is given a nigh-impossible task of carrying Antonio to a good Xtreme Title match, and he almost succeeds; it's one of Antonio's better matches lately, but that's not saying much.

 

El Mitico and California Love Machine proceed to steal the show with a great match, with Mitico going over; I think it's time to do do the 'Los Luchas fight each other for the Xtreme Title' bit again. Marc Speed shows that he -can't- carry Jeremiah Moose to anything above average. Giant Brody gets an extended squash over Kashmir Singh, and the crowd actually likes it.

 

For your main events, a huge tag team match as The Uneasy Alliance faces Ultimate Phoenix and Randy Bumfhole; Phoenix gets the pinfall victory, but this is one heck of a match and I'm fearing that, despite our past history, there's no way Dragon and I can top that. But, we go out there and we try... Annnnd we fail, underwhelming the crowd. We don't stink... on any card card, it would be a good midcard match. But we can't live up to that last tag... oh, right, and I retain the title, that might be important to know.

 

(Show rating: C-, 2,865 tickets. Match of the night: Donnie & Jimmy vs Phoenix & Bumfhole. Trash of the Night: A-Game/Happy)

 

 

On the next Welcome: One of these days, I need to decide who I'm dropping the title too... but not anytime soon. Let's see if we can re-capture some of that big-match excitement...

[Nightshadeex]

How popular IS Jackpot Jordan?

[infinitywpi]

May 2012, week 1

 

We found part of the reason Masked Cougar had turned us down earlier; it turns out, he had been scheduled to win the TCW All Action Title this week, and he didn't want to get away from that. Well, when TCW is done with him, we'll take him back.

 

RIPW is making a play for Randy. We'll try to counter-offer; we'll see what happens.

 

… and Masked Cougar loses the title to Mikey James in the same week, and then TCW dumps him. Well... time to offer him a contract again... and there's one other name we want to make an offer to, too. If this works out, we'll cut some of the dead weight we've got... think of this as an upgrade...

 

Oh, and Cliff has decided, for some strange reason, we're not supposed to hire anyone who doesn't have at least a little charisma. I asked him which promotion he thought he owned. He laughed. I didn't.

 

 

CZCW Onslaught #113

 

Your pre-show: A-Game's mini-push continues with a victory over Ant-Man, and Giant Brody squashes Brendan Idol, both average matches.

 

Our opening match, chosen because we don't think it'll be a blow-away match, is Snap Dragon vs Nigel Svenson vs Kashmir Singh. Nigel gets the victory, but man, the crowd is into this match – it could be a main eventer on any show last year. We follow that up with the Xtreme Title match with Fire Fly retaining over El Mitico – and this match could main event a show -now-. I fear for the rest of the show after the bar has been set this high.

 

Our fears are well-founded, as Randy Bumfhole faces Donnie J, and the resulting match is.. .well, still good, just nowhere near as good as it should be. I think the crowd is too burned out. We then hit our scheduled bathroom break match (a bit late), as California Love Machine defeats Antonio Del Veccio in an average piece of... match. A bit better is Jake Idol defeating his partner Jackpot Jordan, and our pre-main chill-out match, a four-way tag match between Moose & Weasel, P-n-P, Los Rudos, and Notorious. P-n-P win, and it's a decent, not-quite-good match that makes us a bit proud of our tag division.

 

We hope our ending is as strong as our opening here... first up, James Prudence vs Ultimate Phoenix, and this one's every bitt as good as our opener, with Phoenix getting the victory – he's on the short list of people I want to try and recreate amazing matches with. The final match, my defense against Marc Speed, isn't as good as the last time we met, but it's still good enough to rival the Xtreme match for match of the night.

 

(Show rating: C+, 2,714 tickets. Match of the night: The title matches. Trash of the Night: CLM/Antonio.)

 

 

On the next Welcome: With momentum building up in challengers, will a new signing bring some chaos into the mix?

[Astil]

I do love how Nigel's getting some sort of a push.

[infinitywpi]

To answer a previous question: Jackpot Jordan jumped from an E+ to a D in two months; he's now settled into a D- holding pattern.

 

May 2012, week 2

 

Dammit. Even with no job offers on the horizon, Cougar insisted we were too small for him. Well... hell with him, then. And we found out the reason nobody else had taken a big name was that he was in prison until the end of the year. So... no new signings for us, then. We'd have to keep trying for those B- matches on our own.

 

Tonight, the Gorski seemed more full than normal. We could all feel it; a lot more people had showed up than we were expecting. We all hoped to put on a show to make them happy.

 

 

CZCW Onslaught #114

 

Our opening match is Amazing Fire Fly defending the Xtreme Title against Nigel Svenson. And... I need to yell at these two. A lot. It's the first match of the night, and they put on a match-of-the-year candidate. Seriously, what the hell? How do we follow that? When our next match is Kashmir Singh over Happy Elwood? We can't follow that! Anything is going to suck after that!

 

After that mini-squash, as have Los Rudos defeat the thrown-together team of Ant-Man and California Love Machine in an average little bout, and then Snap Dragon and El Mitico clash. A win here would show the midcarder was ready to move up in the world, but after a hard-fought bout, Dragon puts the youngster in his place in a match that, any other night, could have main-evented. Then, a bit of a breather that the crowd totally turns on as Jonnie Perez tries, and fails, to carry Frankie-Boy Fernandez to a decent match.

 

We get a tag title match between Rich & Famous and Moose & Weasel. After last week's match, Idol and Jordan don't seem to be on the same page, and the challengers are able to take advantage of that to win the titles and cause a meltdown between partners afterwards. Giant Brody squashes Antonio to prep us for the main events, and we're hoping the opening match doesn't overshadow them. Up first, James Prudence defeats Marc Speed, and it's good... but not good enough. Finally, I put the Zone Title on the line in a four-way ladder match with Donnie J, Randy Bumfhole, and Ultimate Phoenix. We try... we try hard, and in the end, Randy's the one claiming the CZCW Title... but the fans are still talking about that opening match.

 

(Show rating: C+, 3,350 tickets sold. Match of the Night: Fire Fly / Svenson. Trash of the Night: Perez/Fernandez.)

 

 

On the next Welcome: Okay, boys. Let's see if you can do that again.