Welcome. You Know The Drill.

[Beeker]

Brilliant first card for the new boss, Driftwood will demand better and luckily you know you sandbagged this whole show so there is nowhere to go but up. Brilliant piece of booking there infinity.

 

See, that's me putting a positive spin on things.

[infinitywpi]

November 2014, weeks 3

 

I decided to get acquainted with my new employer's history. Jethro 'Giant Redwood' Jonas has always had a reputation for being a mean, devious giant. He's seven feet tall, over 450 pounds, and is just under fifty years old. While he has always been halfway decent in the ring, he's never been all-the-way decent; he's big, he hits things, and nine times out of ten, those things fall down. He's never been a big talker or seen as a star... but he's easily one of the most menacing figures in wrestling history.

 

Unfortunately for him, this never really translated into real popularity; While he is a three-time USPW World Champion, those three reigns took place between 2001 and 2005; while it was the height of his popularity, he wasn't popular enough to deserve the title on his own merits. However, Redwood is a master politician, and was able to manuver himself into roughly fifteen months of being a world champion.

 

Despite having last been champion in 2005, Redwood stayed with USPW until April of 2011, when he finally realized that his political clout wasn't as strong as it used to be. He thought he could either call in favors to join the big leagues, or find an easily-manipulated small promotion; he was wrong on both counts. Giant Redwood would spend over three years on the indy circuit, including a running friendship/feud with Clark Alexander that got great reviews... for indy work.

 

To hear him tell the story, he saved every dollar he earned until he had enough to buy his own promotion. The math geniuses in the Zone figured out that if this was true, then was being vastly overpaid. Where the rest of the fundage came from, nobody is sure.

 

 

ACZW (Southeast)

Trying a combination of two things here tonight. We open with Barerra defeating Dean Waldorf in an okay opener, and then three quick squashes: Tigre over Elliot, Panda over Joe, and Mitico over Chill – all of increasing quality. Jordan defeats Remus, and then we get a special CZCW Title ladder match as Valiant faces, and defeats, Giant Redwood... and it's the best match so far. Then we finish things off with Demon Seed challenging El Mitico, and of course Tigre and Panda interfering to let their boss retain the ACZW Title in the match of the night.

 

(Show rating: C-, 300 tickets sold. Thoughts: Valiant/Redwood could almost be good enough to be part of our normal shows. Just not, y'know, a main event.)

 

 

CZCW Onslaught #234

Your opening match: Machine vs Donnie vs Philippe. Good match, Philippe wins, Not much to say besides that. Remmy beats Plague in a 'surprise' amazing match – it's a pity Plague won't do ladder matches. To calm the crowd down, Dean Waldorf beats Jackpot Jordan in an 'average for other companies' match. Then Nelson and I defend the Tag Titles against Poison Moose in another good match.

 

The boss squashes Panda, and that's... okay. Panda shows a talent for being squashed by the big man. Maita gets a big win over Masked Cougar in a match that really should have been better than it was. Finally, Valiant defends the CZCW Title against Amazing Fire Fly. The match is good for a main event, but not great, but we're satisfied with it, with Valiant winning.

 

(Show rating: C+, 5,835 tickets sold. Thoughts: Losing Cliff as an announcer really hurt and it's starting to show. And I'm debating a non-ladder Plague/Valiant matchup sometime in the future.)

 

 

On the next Coastal Zone: Boss Redwood wants a rundown on the competition, and makes the first of many strange business decisions.

[infinitywpi]

November 2014, week 4

 

To: Giant Redwood

From: Fox Mask

Re: Opposition

 

As you know, we're considered the #11 promotion in the world right now. I've compiled a quick summary of the other ten ahead of us.

 

#10) SOTBPW. Owned by J. Ibanez, booked by P. Rodriguez. Their last two shows both placed in their all-time top ten; had their biggest match this past February. Possible weakness: All of their best matches feature Axxis Jr. Main event includes Axxis Jr, El Demonio, El Fuerza, Pablo Rodriguez, Ultimate Phoenix, and Velocidad.

 

#9) CGC. Owned by Alex DeColt, booked by Phil Vibert. Nowhere near as good as they were three or four years ago; no show or match from 2012 or later is in their top tens. Main event includes Alex DeColt, Gargantuan, Joey Poison, Philippe LaGrenier, Ricky DeColt, and Trent Shaffer... a full 1/3rd Zone.

 

#8) WLW. Owned by Koji Kojima, booked by Koki Ishabashi. Had two amazing shows during the tour at the beginning of the year. Possible weakness: Politics and resentment. The owner and booker are also Tag Team Champions. Main event includes Champagne Lover, Eisaku Hoshino, Emerald Angel, Jimmy Cox, Magnum Kobe, The Great Hisato, and Yosuke Narita.

 

#7) GCG. Owned by Hanshiro Furusawa, booked by Haruki Kudo. While nothing this year has been considered their best work... let's face it, when you're near-perfect for years, not much will be. Broke their attendance record four times in 2014... and we've got another month to go still. Possible weaknesses: None. Main event includes Eisaku Hoshino, Giant Khoklov, Haruki Kudo, Hiroyasu Gakusha, Pistol Pete Hell, Roku Sotomura, and Takayuki 2000.

 

#6) PGHW. Owned by Seiji Jimbo, booked by Shuji Inukai. Yes, it's our third Japanese promotion in a row. Yes, I consider them competition. Much like GCG, consistently excellent with few (if any) flaws. Main event is Akinori Kwakami, Eisaku Kunomasu, Masaru Ugaki, Nobuatsu Tatsuko, PRIDE Koiso, Seiji Jimbo, and Yoshimi Mushashibo.

 

#5) BHOTWG. Owned by Tetsuzan Kaneko, booked by Tasuku Iesada. Like the others, near perfect. Unlike the others, still improving. Broke 44,000 tickets sold. Main event is nine guys you can't pronounce and have probably never heard of, so I'm going to save myself the effort of typing them in.

 

#4) USPW. Owned and booked by Belle Bryden. Had great shows in May and June. Possible weakness: Their three best matches were all Randy Bumfhole vs Chris Caufield, and Randy is gone now. Main event is Chris Caufield, Enygma, Nicky Champion, and The Demon From The Deep. Other possible weakness: In the US, we're the guys on the rung right below them. And we're hungry.

 

#3) TCW. Owned by Tommy Cornell, booked by Joel Bryant. On their list of ten best shows, a full seven are from this year. Of course, Cornell is involved in all their best matches. Main event includes Bryan Vessey, Tommy Cornell, Freddy Huggins, Koshiro Ino, Tommy Cornell, Ricky Dale Johnson, Sam Keith, Tommy Cornell, Scout, Troy Tornado, Tommy Cornell, Wolf Hawkins, and Tommy Cornell.

 

#2) NOTBPW. Owned by Dan Stone Jr, booked by Steve Flash. The Canadians are actually taking the fight to SWF in the US, and holding their own. Had a benner year in 2013 with several perfect shows. Possible weakness: Of their ten best matches ever, seven are Johnny Bloodstone vs Jeremy Stone. (Bloodstone has the advantage, 4-2 with one double countout.) Main event includes Dan Stone, Edie Chandler, Jeremy Stone, John Maverick, Johnny Bloodstone, Sean McFly, and Steve DeColt.

 

#1) And still champion, SWF. Owned by Richard Eisen, booked by Peter Michaels. Eight of their top ten shows are this year, showing that the competition with NOTBPW is binging out the best in them. Possbile weakness: Angry Gilmore is easily their best performer, being in every one of their best matches (In second place, Rich Money with five and Lobster Warrior with three). Losing him will hurt... so expect everyone and their brother to try to score him when his contract is up. Main event includes Angry Gilmore, Brandon James, Eric Eisen, Jack Bruce, Jack Giedroyc, Lobster Warrior, Remo, and Rich Money.

 

 

ACZW (Tristate)

Your opening match, because we love you and want you to be happy, is Mitico and Heroic vs Poison Moose. Heck of an opener, with Los Luchas getting the victory, and the crowd definitely warmed up. Giant Redwood squashes new signee Deever Arnold, and the crowd is back to 'cold' in a horrible display of 'wrestling'. To make up for it, Devine Justice defeats Tigre and Panda in a decent match, and then Paradigm defeats Rod Remus to retain the Xtreme Title in a somewhat-short ladder match. For main events, Maita defeats Plague in another decent bout, and Demon Seed retains the ACZW Title against Dean Waldorf with the obligatory Los Rudos interference, but I think the crowd is starting to dislike that.

 

(Show Rating: D+, 2,000 tickets sold. Thoughts: After the show, Redwood sends me an email. “Got an idea. I win the ACZW Title next week. Trust me.” Oy, vey. This is how I'm getting the luchas over, and he wants to change it...)

 

 

 

CZCW Onslaught #235

Before the show, Machine and Callum got into a heated arguement about retirement age. The two are not speaking to each other.

 

Well, if Redwood wants the ACZW Title, let's see how he does in another ladder match. He joins Insane Machine to take a crack at the Tag Titles. Callum and Myself retain, of course, and the match is... okay, really. We try to keep Redwood on the apron as much as we can. Donnie and Mitico are up next – an insurance policy for if Redwood stunk up the place. They proceed to put on a great match, even if Donnie's a bit upset that he's losing. Hey, I gotta get the luchas over somehow, right?

 

For your horrid bathroom break of the night, Jackpot and Remus squash Joe and Deever. It's... bad. Real bad. Dean defeats Panda, and that's pretty decent. Then, a big four-team match as Fire Fly & Mitico, Poison Moose, Devine Justice, and Plague & Brave go out there. Poison Moose gets the win, and it's actually a much better match than I expected.

 

In fact, it puts the next match to shame. I thought a three-way between Maita, Cougar, and Philippe would be good... turns out, merely average. Cougar wins, but this was... slow. Our main event is Valiant vs Skye for the CZCW Title; good match, decent main event, but we're trying to figure out why things aren't going better for us here... Valiant looked like he had amazing potential when he came in. I'm considering taking the title off him for a bit now...

 

(Show rating: C+, 5,972 tickets sold. Thoughts: Things feel stale. Need to change them up a bit...)

 

 

On the next Coastal Zone: Redwood pulls rank; will Fox go along with it? ACZW will never be the same...

[infinitywpi]

December 2014, week 1

I spent the better part of the week resting up, trying to find a way to turn the boss being ACZW Champion into a positive. I... was going to need another week to figure that out, methinks. Besides 'The ACZW Champion doesn't usually do CZCW', I can't find much...

 

 

ACZW (SE)

We open with Paradigm defending the Xtreme Title against Dean Waldorf. It's not bad... they're definitely getting better. Barerra squashes Regular Joe, nobody cares. Tigre and Panda get a rare win over Fire Fly and Heroic in a good match. Then, Redwood defeats Demon Seed for the ACZW Title, despite interference from Tigre and Panda. How this helps push the luchadores, I'll never know. Match isn't that good, either. To make up for it, we have Akima Brave defeat Remmy Skye in a great match, and then Joey Poison defeats Donnie J in an almost-as-good match to end the night.

 

(Show rating: C-, 678 tickets sold. Thoughts: I hope Redwood fills me in on some more of his plans next week...)

 

 

CZCW Onslaught #236

Before the show, someone changed the booking sheet to indicate Giant Redwood would use the ACZW Title to Elliot Thomas tonight. Redwood was... not amused. Luckily, the handwriting made it obvious who was behind the prank – I yelled at Akima in front of the entire locker room, but made sure later to tell him I thought it was pretty funny.

 

We start off with a six-man lucha match, Los Luchas vs Los Rudos. Simply an awesome match as our undercard puts on a main-event-worthy bout. The heels cheat to win after this great match, and then Redwood comes out and destroys them while shouting about how much lucha sucks. I need to find the guy a charismatic mouthpiece... this was baaaaad. To make up for it, Donnie and Remmy put on another great match; Donnie's motivated because he's getting the win tonight, which I guess makes a lot of difference with him. After that, Joey Poison beating Insane Machine is a bit of a letdown, simply 'Zone Average'.

 

Your bathroom break of the night is a ten-man battle royal for the Xtreme Title. Take our entire jobber corps, Paradigm, Barerra, Jackpot, and Remus, and that's who we have here. Paradigm retains, but seriosuly... I'm starting to wonder why I can't get him over. Maybe it's just not going to happen. The Tag Titles are next, Callum and I defending against Philippe and Cougar; good match, not nearly as good as I had hoped, but still good, with us retaining. Then, the main event, Valiant takes on Akima Brave. Good, not great, good enough to main event the show, but not by much. Valiant retains.

 

(Show rating: C+, 5,841 tickets sold. Thoughts: My god, the announcing is getting worse somehow. I need to look into who else is available to hire...)

 

 

On the next Coastal Zone: Redwood's plan is revealed as we try to decide who can convince Valiant to stop phoning it in.

[Beeker]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="infinitywpi" data-cite="infinitywpi" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="26009" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><p> On the next Coastal Zone: Redwood's plan is revealed as we try to decide who can convince Valiant to stop phoning it in.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Driftwood is a visionary, he'll get the luchas over... by tossing them over his shoulder, over the top ropes, over the snack table.</p><p> </p><p> Promise Valiant if he doesn't start working his backside off you're going to put him in an extended program with the boss. And he'll be on his back frequently enough to become a lighting technician at the Grissom.</p>

[infinitywpi]

December 2014, week 2

 

Redwood gave me a quick rundown on his thoughts. Since Los Luchas and Los Rudos mainly feuded with each other, he thought he could get them over by having them join forces against a monster heel: Himself. I... could book that, sure. Don't know how -long- I can book it, but I can book it.

 

 

ACZW (Tristate)

To start things off, Mitico and Demon Seed defeat Devine Justice in a really good match. This one was recommended by Redwood, as was the next: Tigre and Heroic defeating Joe and Chill. Not as good, but passable. A quick break as Remus beats Waldorf, the less said about it the better, and we're onto the ACZW Title match, Redwood defending against Fire Fly. Fire Fly does his best and keeps the match decent, even though he loses. To make up for that, we have Maita defeat LaGrenier in another really good match, and then a six-man match as me, Callum, and Donnie take on Poison Moose and Plague; Moose of all people gets the victory, and this was a great match for the tri-state area.

 

(Show rating: C, 2,000 tickets sold. Thoughts: As long as people can keep carrying Redwood, this could be decent.)

 

 

CZCW Onslaught #237

We open with Insane Machine vs Plague, and... boy, these two are getting on in years. To the point where they can't cover for each other's issues. This was... dissapointing. Machine won, but really... ew. Donnie defeats Akima, and that's much, much better. Tigre and Heroic continue the Luchas/Rudos mixer with a win over Remus and Jackpot, and even this is okay.

 

A possible show-stealer is next as a four-way gets all kinds of awesome between Philippe, Remmy, Maita, and Moose. Philippe gets the win, but all four men had their working boots on. Fire Fly and Panda defeat Devine Justice to give us a bit of a break, and then the Tag Titles are up: Me and Callum against Mitico and Demon Seed. It's a great match, and we make sure to barely retain – Mitico and Demon Seed worked amazingly well together. I hate to say it, but Redwood might've hit gold here. Finally, the main event is a triple-threat match for the CZCW Title: Valiant, Cougar, and Poison. Another great but not awesome matchup with Valiant retaining.

 

(Show rating: B-, 6,117 tickets sold. Thoughts: Well, attendance is back up...)

 

 

On the next Coastal Zone: With two weeks left in the year, will we leave the title on 'decent' champ Valiant, or find someone else to try and run with it? And with F- economy and F industry, how much worse can the US get?

[James Casey]

Not much worse - but a bit.

 

And it won't be quick to get better either.

 

Look on the bright side: 10,000 sellouts for ACZW will be the norm once all that gets sorted.

[infinitywpi]

December 2014, week 3

“Hey, Fox, the accounting guys noticed something... you've been working for the same salary for the last five years, and that ain't right. No raises, no cost of living increases, nothing. So tell you what... double your salary. Get us a TV or PPV deal, we'll double it again. Sound good?”

 

… say what you want about the boss, he knows politics. I'll be staying with him for a while...

 

 

ACZW (SE)

Demon Seed and El Mitico defeat Devine and Remus in a decent opener; Callum defeats Moose in a really bad match; Barerra beats Plague in one that's even worse; let's face it, Redwood defeating Mario Heroic to retain the ACZW Title is the second-best match of the night so far. Paradigm vs Fire Fly isn't nearly as good as we'd hoped, possibly due to Redwood interfering to beat down Fire Fly. And we top things off with me and Joey turning in a really sub-par match that sees Joey get the win.

 

(Show rating: D+, 675 tickets sold. Thoughts: What the heck happened here? It was all downhill after the opener...)

 

 

CZCW Onslaught #238

I'm starting to feel nostalgic for the three-hour, everyone-gets-paid shows. Remind me to talk to the boss about that in 2015. We open with Philippe defeating Donnie, and that's... okay, I guess. Remmy beats Machine, and that's not that good, but passable. We kick things up a notch as Nelson and I face Dean and Maita for the Tag Team Titles... and we lose, giving The Odd Couple their second title run. Then, in a surprising good match, Mitico and Demon Seed (Who we've decided to name Good & Evil) defeat Devine and Moose. I should've co-mained this one.

 

Barerra ends the Paradigm Push and claims the Xtreme Title. The man's as good a flier as he is a brawler now, really. The match isn't anything to write home about, though. Cougar and Fire Fly go at it in a match that's a bit short, but decent and sees Cougar win. Then for the main event, Valiant vs Poison. As has been typical lately, good, not amazing, but this time we pull our third title change in the night and give the reigns to Joey Poison.

 

(Show rating: C+, 6,199 tickets sold. Thoughts: Valiant seemed to peter out after his first few shows... still good, but not amazing. So we'll see if Joey can turn out a few kick-arse matches for us.)

 

 

On the next Coastal Zone: We wrap up 2014 with a Triangle Tournament!

[infinitywpi]

December 2014, week 4

 

 

ACZW (Tristate)

Nice and simple tonight: Heroic def. Waldorf, decent; Maita def. Tigre, ok; Callum def. Plague, good; Redwood def. Panda, ACZW Title, okay; Barerra def. Moose, Xtreme Title, okay; Good & Evil def. Devine & Paradigm, decent.

 

(Show rating: C-, 1,983 tickets sold. Thoughts: The Tristate Area is expecting better from us... we'll have to try to do so.)

 

 

CZCW Onslaught #239

We couldn't finish the year without a little problem backstage; Darryl Devine found out that Redwood thought he was 'unathletic' and wasn't going to get his contract renewed. Add to that the fact it's impossible to book a decent Triangle Tournament in two hours, and we do a quick announcement that Donnie J has won a pre-show match to get into the semi-finals. Nothing wrong with working the crowd...

 

Triangle Tournament Results:

Quarterfinal: Fox Mask def. Insane Machine, Mokuami Maita (Decent)

Quarterfinal: Masked Cougar def. Mario Heroic, Valiant (Good)

Quarterfinal: Remmy Skye def. Amazing Fire Fly, Plague (Decent)

Quarterfinal: El Mitico def. Nelson Callum, Philippe LaGrenier (Good)

Quarterfinal: Akima Brave def. Demon Seed, Barerra (Sub-par)

 

Semifinal: Masked Cougar def. Donnie J, Akima Brave (Decent)

Semifinal: Remmy Skye def. Fox Mask, El Mitico (Great)

 

Finals: Joey Poison def. Remmy Skye, Masked Cougar (Decent... poor for a main event)

 

(Show rating: C, 6,350 tickets sold. Thoughts: What the hell happened in that main event???)

 

 

On the next Coastal Zone: Year In Review 2014.

[infinitywpi]

Year In Review 2014

 

 

 

Let's get the awards out of the way early:

Card of the year: NOTBPW Championship Wrestling (third in a row for the show, four for the promotion)

Match of the Year: Angry Gilmore def. Rich Money, SWF Uprising

Most Improved Promotion: ACPW

Promotion of the Year: NOTBPW (Second win in a row)

Female of the Year: DEVIL Karube

Veteran of the Year: Jeremy Stone (Second win)

Youngster of the Year: KC Glenn (Second win in a row)

Wrestler of the Year: Angry Gilmore

 

CZCW Alumni in the Power 100: #94, James Prudence; #66, Ultimate Phoenix; #44 Bryan Holmes;

 

News stories of the year:

 

Rip Chord, The Stomper, Helen Earth, Guide, and El Hijo De Zonk all retire.

 

WLW falls to Cult, rises to National, falls to Cult again. SOTBPW falls to Cult, rises back to National.

 

Jay Chord inherits MAW, Chess Maniac takes NYCW, Giant Redwood takes CZCW.

 

Cliff Anderson passes away.

 

All in all, a strange combination of unexciting and life-altering...

 

 

Coming up in 2015: Will Redwood succeed in getting the Luchadores over, and will he let go of the title if he does? Did Fox make a huge mistake in the title change? Will we ever see television, pay-per-view, or National status? And will Fox still strive to make three million dollars as a tribute to his former employer?

[Editor6]

Who are your announcers now? You've mentioned the falling grades...

[infinitywpi]

Announcer: Davis Ditterich

Color: The Guru

[infinitywpi]

January 2015, week 1

Well, 2014 was one hell of a year. 2015 can only be better, right?

 

… wait, I've been doing this for five years now? Holy...

 

 

ACZW (SE)

Just six matches tonight. We start with Panda ^ Fire Fly facing Devine Justice; it's a decent match, but Devine hasn't been putting as much oomph into his matches since learning Redwood wouldn't let him be rehired. Remus beats Callum, and nobody seems to care... Remus may be a lost cause at this point. Regular Joe beats Paradigm, just so nobody can say I'm favoring the boy too much, and the crowd is really dying off at this point... so I hit them with Redwood defeating Tigre to retain his title. Which is actually an improvement. Then we kick things up a notch, first with me and Valiant putting on a pretty good match with me going over (against his protests), and finish the night off with Good & Evil defeating Brave & Plague in... a simply average match? Turns out Brave and Plague don't team well together... but that's just an excuse, really. This should have been a better match...

 

(Show rating: C-, 716 tickets sold. Thoughts: Okay, Akima and Plague don't team anymore. Got it.)

 

 

CZCW #241 (Yeah, the numbering got mixed up in there somewhere...)

Your opening match tonight is for the Xtreme Title, Barerra defending against El Mitico. This should be a foregone conclusion, but Barerra is able to put up a fight, and just as it looks like Mitico is getting the upper hand, out comes Giant Redwood to continue his “I hate luchas” feud, allowing Barerra to retain. The crowd... eh, they're into it, but not much.

 

After that, we get a triple-threat tag match Donnie selects Philippe as his partner, Machine picks Plague, and I pick Nelson. Since we've teamed before, Nelson and I have the edge and get the win, and it's a pretty good match... and we now know Donnie and Philippe shouldn't team. After that, Akima defeats Remmy in another good match, and we get Giant Redwood in a one-on-three match against Deever, Elliot, and Cheetah. He wins, of course, but the match is... bad. We follow it with Dean Waldorf defeating Darryl Devine, and that's... sub-par.

 

Next up is Valiant vs Maita, with the Japanese import coming up with the shocking win; it's surpising average, and we're not quite sure why. Finally, in the main event, Poison defends the CZCW Title against Masked Cougar – I know, it's an easy first defense, sure to be a good match. And... it's good, but it's not worthy of main a main event.

 

(Show rating: C+, 5,608 tickets sold. Thoughts: Oh, come on, people! I know things are tough, but still...)

 

 

On the next Welcome: When we can't even put a B- match on a show, something's wrong. The locker room is grumbling... does Fox have a solution?

[infinitywpi]

January 2015, week 2

“Okay, guys, I know there's a lot of... frustrations lately. So, everyone gets a show's salary as a bonus. Hey, I don't have to worry about our bank account anymore, so... why not?”

 

ACZW (Tri)

Your opening match in the Tri-State Area tonight is Good & Evil defeating Moose & Cheetah in... an okay match. Which makes sense, given that team. Tigre defeats Devine, ok again. Redwood retains the ACZW Title over Rod Remus, and that's... not good. Barerra retains the Xtreme Title over Panda due to some Redwood interference again, and that's passable. Nelson defeats Plague, and that's... so-so. And we wrap things up with Remmy defeating Amazing Fire Fly in one hell of a main event for the area.

 

(Show rating: C, 1,998 tickets sold. Thoughts: God, I wish the luchas would get over. Pairing them with Cougar, Remmy, etc would be a series of amazing main events...)

 

 

CZCW #242

Okay, time to pull out all the stops. We're going overboard with this one. We open with Valiant defeating Donnie J in a Zone-average matchup, then move on to Philippe LaGrenier beating Insane Machine, which is... still Zone average. Then an Xtreme Title match between Barerra and Moose sees the champ make another successful defense in a match that's... just as good as the last two. Wow. Makes those other two look like wastes of money.

 

I take on Masked Cougar next, and we have our first main-event-level match in far too long – I feel good about this one, and yes, I get the win. Nelson beats Dean, and that's a huge letdown after my match, and then Remmy faces El Mitico – turns out a good but not as good as we were hoping match. Mitico gets the win, and no Redwood in sight. Finally, the CZCW Title match: Poison defends against Maita, and we kick out our second main-event-quality match of the night that sees Poison retain and justifies my hiring Maita.

 

(Show rating: B-, 6,352 tickets sold. Thoughts: Good show, attendance is up – this is good, this is good! I knew giving people bonuses to improve morale would be a good idea...)

 

 

On the next Welcome: Who gets the next crack at Poison? Will it be Valiant? Philippe? Fox? Nelson? … Redwood?

[eayragt]

“Okay, guys, I know there's a lot of... frustrations lately. So, everyone gets a show's salary as a bonus. Hey, I don't have to worry about our bank account anymore, so... why not?”

 

Basing it on salary, eh? Just after his salaries increased? Hmmm....

[infinitywpi]

Per show, though... Fox doesn't get paid per show.

 

January 2015, week 3

To: Fox Mask

From: Giant Redwood

Re: Shakeup

Time for a bit of a shakeup. Pick three people, cut them loose. Well, two people and Devine. And find some replacements... maybe for lower down the card.

 

ACZW (Southeast)

We try to overload this show as well... it worked so well last time... we open with Barerra retaining the Xtreme Title over Jackpot Jordan, which... isn't that good, of course. Cougar squashes Regular Joe, then The Odd Couple retain the tag titles over Redwood and Devine after Good & Evil interfere and cost Redwood his chance at double gold. The match, however, sucks. Good & Evil stay out for a match against Plague and Remus, which is pretty decent. Then, finally, a four-way match for no apparent reason, Donnie, Remmy, Valiant, and Machine. They go all out and turn out a great match, with Valiant winning.

 

(Show rating: C+, 635 tickets sold. Thoughts: Much better main event than I expected.)

 

 

CZCW #243

In your opening match, Insane Machine defeats Jeremiah Moose, and we're off to a decent enough start to the night. The Odd Couple retain the CZCW Tag Titles over Heroic and Panda, and this is a surprise main-event-level matchup. After that, a bit of a letdown as Barerra loses the Xtreme Title to Nelson Callum in a simply average match.

 

Valiant loses to Remmy Skye, giving Remmy a big win in a pretty goodd match. Plague defeats Paradigm in an okay match, and then Good & Evil defeat Philippe and Cougar in a match that's good, but outshown by the other tag match. Finally, Poison defends the CZCW Title against yours truly, as we go a bit longer than we probably should have but still turn out the match of the night before Joey retains.

 

(Show rating: B-, 5,537 tickets sold. Thoughts:

 

 

On the next Welcome: We've fired Darryl Devine... Rod Remus.. and Donnie J. So what's the roster look like now? And who left when someone else offered them more money?

[infinitywpi]

January 2015, week 4

One of our luchadores had decided not to renew his contract, due to being in negotiations with us and with OLLIE at the same time and OLLIE, simply put, offering him more money than we were able to. So, we'd have to get a few last good matches out of Mario Heroic while we could. We also found that three of our contract offers were rejected without a second thought... although the other two, to former Zoners, were accepted.

 

 

ACZW (Tri)

We open with Nelson retaining the Xtreme Title over Panda Mask; despite a lack of chemistry, they put on a fairly good match. Machine squashes Deever Arnold, and nobody cares, but I think the kid has potential. Heroic and Tigre continue our 'good and evil team up' storyline by facing... Barrera and... Bullet is back, Notorious is back to add some muscle to the tag devision. Bullet's a bit rusty, but this is another pretty good match, with the more experienced team beating the more experienced singles guys. Moose defeats Brave, and it's our best match so far. Fire Fly is out, and his opponent is... the returning Jake Idol, who gets the win and barely edges out Moose/Brave for match of the night. We wrap things up in a steel cage, Giant Redwood taking a break from making Lucha life hell by beating Remmy Skye. Well... I ran out of people for him to face, and Remmy can survive this. Okay match, didn't suck at all.

 

(Show rating: C-, 2,000 tickets sold. Thoughts: Between Notorious and Rich & Famous, I think the tag division has heated up nicely.)

 

 

CZCW #244

We open the show with a massive four-team Tag Title match as The Odd Couple defend against Good & Evil, Notorious, and Rich and Famous. We get, as expected, a great match out of it, and sure enough – this much chaos in a match means new champions, and we've chosen to put the titles on Notorious. We follow that with a possible poor choice in a simple tag match as Cougar and Machine face Remmy and Plague. It's an average match, ending with Skye and Plague getting the victory. The Xtreme Title is next, with Nelson retaining over Mario Heroic (He may be leaving, but he's still a great worker) with a good match.

 

We chill the crowd out a bit with Chill getting beaten by Paradigm (and, hoo boy, did this not go over well). Then, Akima and Moose fight for a bit to re-warm the crowd. Moose gets the win, but the fans are still not quite happy... and I hope I didn't just kill all the momentum this show was building. I needn't have worried... I go out there with Valiant and we tear it up for twenty minutes. And for a main event, Joey defends the CZCW Title against Philippe. They try to outdo us, but don't quite live up to our example... which surprises me a bit. Joey retains, but the fans seem a bit... put off.

 

(Show rating: C+, 5,773 tickets sold. Thoughts: Three B- matches and it's a C+ show. Yeesh. Maybe it was just a bad week...)

 

 

On the next Welcome: Who's the mysterious new guy that Fox has signed?

[infinitywpi]

February 2015, week 1

The newest member of the Zone was one of 2010's hottest rookie prospects when he came on the scene, and was with SWF ever since. With his contract coming up and SWF not having anything for him, we swooped in and made him an offer. He's extremely charismatic, an excellent high-flier and brawler, and no slough in the technical department. More than that, he's a definate star in the making... and if SWF can't use him right, we will... once Spencer Spade's SWF contract runs out, of course.

 

But that's not the only 'jump' involving SWF. Another of their guys... a big star... just jumped ship as well. Rich Money is moving over to TCW. He was ranked #7 on the Power 100 a month ago, so that makes this a seriously big deal.

 

 

ACZW (SE)

I'm not feeling very motivated tonight, so this might not be the best-booked show. Moose fails his attempt to win the Xtreme Title in a poor match; Redwood retains over Plague in a sub-par match; Rich & Famous defeat The Odd Couple in a decent match; Good & Evil squash Regular Joe & Deever Arnold in a poor match; Philippe defeats Machine in a good match; and finally, Valiant defeats Mario Heroic in a great match.

 

(Show rating: C-, 719 tickets sold. Thoughts: That came out better than I had hoped.)

 

 

CZCW #245

We open with a portion of a tag team match as Barerra takes on Jake Idol; It's a perfectly average match, which suits us just fine, and Idol gets the win. We follow it with a surprisingly great match as Good & Evil defeat The Odd Couple, and then Remmy Skye beats a showing-his-age Insane Machine in a sub-par match.

 

To chill the crowd out, Fire Fly beats Paradigm, and I seem to have forgotten they don't work well together. Bullet squashes Jackpot Jordan, and the crowd doesn't care... this really should have been better, but I don't know if I blame Bullet for not being popular or Jordan for being, well, useless without Idol. We come back with a four-corner #1 Contendership match between me, Cougar, Brave, and Moose; Cougar gets the win, but this really wasn't as good as it should have been – I blame the match before it. We wrap things up with Joey vs Valiant for the CZCW Title. Joey retains and, again, the match isn't as good as it should be due to the crowd.

 

(Show rating: C+, 5,441 tickets sold. Thoughts: Wow, attendance is dropping like a rock. In my defense, who knew Skye/Machine was going to be as bad as it was?)

 

 

On the next Welcome: Will attendance drop so far we have to scale back to another arena? And will we remember that Redwood and the Luchas are supposed to be feuding?

[infinitywpi]

February 2015, week 2

QPW opens. QPW hires Chance. The next day, QPW fires Chance. Good job there, Larry Wood...

 

 

ACZW (Tri)

Panda defeats Cheetah Boy in an okay match; El Mitico beats Plague in a decent one; Redwood retains the ACZW Title over Maita in an okay match; Dead Waldorf beats Demon Seed in another okay one; Fire Fly beats Heroic in a farewell match that may turn out to steel the show; and finally, I face and lose to Remmy in a great match that, I hope, makes up for my feeding him to Redwood earlier.

 

(Show rating: C+, 2,000 tickets sold. Thoughts: Redwood keeps insisting it's not time to lose the title, but I can't afford to job the luchas to him anymore... I think I have an idea tho.)

 

 

CZCW #246

We open tonight with Nelson defending and retaining the Xtreme Title over Maita in an average match. After that, Jackpot beats Waldorf in... well, it's bad, but it could've been worse. Then, we introduce our newest acquisition, Spencer Spade, with a huge debut win over Valiant. Then, another rest for the crowd as Machine dominates Chill and Thomas in a match that, one could swear, was done to make Jordan and Waldorf not feel so bad.

 

To pick things up again, we have a six-man tag as Fire Fly leads fellow luchas Panda and Tigre against Moose, Paradigm, and Cheetah; the luchas win, and despite the crowd we still get a decent match out of this. Things pick up with a Tag Title Match as Notorious makes their first defense against Good & Evil, managing to retain their titles in one heck of a match. Finally, we wrap up with Joey Poison defending against Masked Cougar and Jake Idol (whose momentum is too high to waste on a tag title match right now). Unfortunately, I booked this a bit longer than I should have, and while the match is good, it's not really up to our main-event standards. Poison retains, and I'm wondering if his not-as-good-as-expected reign is his fault, the crowd's fault... or my fault.

 

(Show rating: C+, 5,583 tickets sold. Thoughts: Notorious in the match of the night. Wow.)

 

 

On the next Welcome: Can Fox convince Redwood to give up the ACZW Title and put over some of the younger guys?

[Beeker]

February 2015, week 2

On the next Welcome: Can Fox convince Redwood to give up the ACZW Title and put over some of the younger guys?

 

Is it wrong that my gut reaction and hope is that the answer to this question is emphatically NO! Long may the reign of Redwood last!

[infinitywpi]

<p>February 2015, week 3</p><p>

With Mario gone, our backstage feels a bit different... he was our second most-politically connected worker. With him gone, it's now a three-way tie for most connected between Pee-Wee, Barerra, and Paradigm. Although calling it 'politics' was Redwood's idea. I just consider it, y'know, backstage bonding. </p><p> </p><p>

Speaking of Redwood... I convinced him to drop the title. I.. may have said something about dropping it back to him after... but I don't recall if I did...</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>

ACZW (SE)</p><p>

Opening match: Nelson retains the Xtreme Title over Dean. Yawner. Notorious retain the Tag Titles over Tigre & Panda, and that's better. Redwood drops the ACZW Title to... me, in an okay match. Mitico beats Brave in a better-if-it-was-longer match, and we finish off with Valiant and Cougar going twenty minutes until valiant wins.</p><p> </p><p>

(Show rating: C, 633 tickets sold. Thoughts: Kinda surprised Redwood agreed to lose to me...)</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>

CZCW #247</p><p>

Good show tonight, I'm hoping. We start with the Tag Titles, Notorious vs Rich and Famous as we finish up on the tiddal booking from a couple weeks ago. It's a good match, not main-event-level, but damn good, with Notorious retaining. Another six-man tag, with Fire Fly, Panda, and Tigre facing Plage, Paradigm, and Waldorf; the luchas win again, but this one's a bit sub-par. Then we're back to 'darn good' as Nelson and I re-team to face Good & Evil; somewhat shockingly, we lose, to set up a pair of title matches on Tuesday night.</p><p> </p><p>

Redwood defeats Akima as I try to keep the boss happy, and this is... almost passable. Not quite, but almost. A triple-threat is next, Machine vs Maita vs Moose; it's about average, with Maita getting the win. Spencer Spade has his second match, this one against Masked Cougar; it's another really good match that sees him win after a good twenty minutes. Finally, Poison defends the CZCW Title against Remmy and Philippe; and someone must'v etold Poison I was considering putting the belt on someone new, because he works his rear off in this one and puts on the best match we've had so far this year before retaining the belt.</p><p> </p><p>

(Show rating: B-, 6,218 tickets sold. Thoughts: Well, things seem to be looking up a bit. )</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>

On the next Welcome: We finish off Febuary with a pair of title matches on ACZW and a possible surprise classic on Onslaught.</p>

[infinitywpi]

February 2015, week 4

“Look, Machine... you know I owe you. You know I want to keep you here. But we need to face facts. You can't go like you used to.”

“It's not like I'm asking for a raise.”

“I know. But you're worth a third of what we pay you. Maybe half. I can't justify paying you this much.”

“Well... I'm sorry, then, but I'll be leaving when my contract is up.”

“I'm sorry, too. I hope you find someone who'll keep paying you.”

 

 

ACZW (Tri)

Fire Fly beats Cheetah Boy in an okay match; Philippe beats Redwood in a poor match; Tigre beats Joe in a horrible match; Rich and Famous and The Odd Couple go to a double count-out as they get a little too enthusiastic in an okay match; Demon Seed fails to take Nelson's Xtreme Title in another okay match; and finally, I lose the ACZW Title to El Mitico in the match of the night.

 

(Show rating: C, 1,901 tickets sold. Thoughts: Finally, the luchas storyline can be considered over for now... now I gotta find something for Redwood to do... without bringing us down...)

 

 

CZCW #248

Tonight's a hard show to book. I'm intentionally not going for a slam-bang winner, so I'm not sure how to order things, except that the title match won't be the main event. So, we start with Notorious vs Demon Seed & Panda Mask for the Tag Team Titles... and we get a surprisingly good main-quality matchup, ending with Notorious retaining. Bullet must've gotten motivated in his time away from us... the undercard might've just stolen the show here. Notorious retains, but the 'they all look like winners' cliché is in full force.

 

After that, I work with Joe for a few minutes before pinning him... he needs a little more work, but he's not that bad. Then, Fire Fly gets a shot at Callum's Xtreme Title and fails to get it, but turns out a perfectly average match. A three-team match betweer The Odd Couple, Rich & Famous, and Cougar & Plague sees Rich & Famous get the win. It's a little sub-par, but I'm satisfied with it. Machine works a bit with Paradigm, trying to impart some wisdom to him... and from this match, it looks like Paradigm hasn't been learning as much as I had hoped he'd be.

 

The CZCW Title is next, a short, sub-par match that Joey mostly carried as he retains against Giant Redwood... then, one of two contendership matches sees Spencer Spade defeat Remmy Skye in a decent, if spotty, match. The main event sees a rematch between Philippe and Valiant, with Philippe getting the victory here. Unfortunately, it's not quite as good as their previous matches, being merely 'good'.

 

(Show rating: C, 5,939 tickets sold. Thoughts: Notorious and Los Ex-Rudos steal the show in the opener. Who'd've guessed?)

 

 

On the next Welcome: Wrestlers are known to be closely tied to their faith. We try to show some in the undercard, while another company's roster begins praying... in one of the most shocking news stories to hit the wrestling world.

[Big Roguey]

February 2015, week 4

“Look, Machine... you know I owe you. You know I want to keep you here. But we need to face facts. You can't go like you used to.”

“It's not like I'm asking for a raise.”

“I know. But you're worth a third of what we pay you. Maybe half. I can't justify paying you this much.”

“Well... I'm sorry, then, but I'll be leaving when my contract is up.”

“I'm sorry, too. I hope you find someone who'll keep paying you.”

 

 

ACZW (Tri)

Fire Fly beats Cheetah Boy in an okay match; Philippe beats Redwood in a poor match; Tigre beats Joe in a horrible match; Rich and Famous and The Odd Couple go to a double count-out as they get a little too enthusiastic in an okay match; Demon Seed fails to take Nelson's Xtreme Title in another okay match; and finally, I lose the ACZW Title to El Mitico in the match of the night.

 

(Show rating: C, 1,901 tickets sold. Thoughts: Finally, the luchas storyline can be considered over for now... now I gotta find something for Redwood to do... without bringing us down...)

 

 

CZCW #248

Tonight's a hard show to book. I'm intentionally not going for a slam-bang winner, so I'm not sure how to order things, except that the title match won't be the main event. So, we start with Notorious vs Demon Seed & Panda Mask for the Tag Team Titles... and we get a surprisingly good main-quality matchup, ending with Notorious retaining. Bullet must've gotten motivated in his time away from us... the undercard might've just stolen the show here. Notorious retains, but the 'they all look like winners' cliché is in full force.

 

After that, I work with Joe for a few minutes before pinning him... he needs a little more work, but he's not that bad. Then, Fire Fly gets a shot at Callum's Xtreme Title and fails to get it, but turns out a perfectly average match. A three-team match betweer The Odd Couple, Rich & Famous, and Cougar & Plague sees Rich & Famous get the win. It's a little sub-par, but I'm satisfied with it. Machine works a bit with Paradigm, trying to impart some wisdom to him... and from this match, it looks like Paradigm hasn't been learning as much as I had hoped he'd be.

 

The CZCW Title is next, a short, sub-par match that Joey mostly carried as he retains against Giant Redwood... then, one of two contendership matches sees Spencer Spade defeat Remmy Skye in a decent, if spotty, match. The main event sees a rematch between Philippe and Valiant, with Philippe getting the victory here. Unfortunately, it's not quite as good as their previous matches, being merely 'good'.

 

(Show rating: C, 5,939 tickets sold. Thoughts: Notorious and Los Ex-Rudos steal the show in the opener. Who'd've guessed?)

 

 

On the next Welcome: Wrestlers are known to be closely tied to their faith. We try to show some in the undercard, while another company's roster begins praying... in one of the most shocking news stories to hit the wrestling world.

 

A big company in debt? Maybe it is time for some Total Control in CZCW.

[infinitywpi]

March 2015, week 1

The death march is sounding. Yet another company is in financial turmoil caused by the economy and lack of interest in wrestling in America. TCW had taken the big fall to Cult status after months of being bested by SWF and NOTBPW in the battle for supremacy. How bad do things look? The man who has been with them since the beginning, Ricky Dale Johnson, has refused to re-sign his contract.

 

If we're lucky, maybe we can poach some guys...

 

 

ACZW (SE)

We open the show with a ten-man undercard Battle Royal; the last man in the ring gets an ACZW Title Shot tonight, the last man out of the ring gets an Xtreme Title Shot tonight. Cheetah Boy, Chill, Paradigm, Joe, Barerra, Bullet, Deever, Demon Seed, Elliot, and Thomas are in the ring. Not a lot of star power, so it's not the best battle royal, but it does it's job, with Demon and Paradigm eliminating each other, and Notorious using teamwork to win, with Bullet claiming the Xtreme shot and Barerra claiming the ACZW shot. The Odd Couple defeat Tigre & Panda, and that's okay. Redwood & Moose (Giant Moose?) defeat Insane Machine & Plague (The Has-Beens?), and that's not that good. Demon seed defeats Paradigm, that's okay. Nelson defeats Bullet, and that's not that good – Bullet had nerves. And finally, Mitico retains over Barerra, and that's good... but being the blow-away match on this show doesn't mean much.

 

(Show rating: D+, 671 tickets sold. Thoughts: Yikes. That didn't go nearly as well as I'd hoped.)

 

 

CZCW #249

We open with Jake Idol reminding us why he failed at a singles push as he faces Nelson Callum for the Xtreme Title in what turns out to be simply average work. Maita defeats Plague, nobody cares. Valiant and Cougar defeats me and Remmy after a long match, and this is good-not-great. Then Akima squashes Deever, and nobody cares.

 

Insane Machine squashes Dean Waldorf, and that manages to be okay, and we move into our main events. Good & Evil take a crack at Notorious, and we get... not the great match we got last week, but still a pretty damn good one, with Notorious retaining the Tag Titles. Finally, a triple-threat match for the CZCW Title: Joey Poison, Spencer Spade, and Philippe LaGrenier. We get the best match of the night, nothing super-special, but still good, with Philippe beginning his second reign at CZCW Champion.

 

(Show rating: B-, 5,682 tickets sold. Thoughts: Yeah, Poison wasn't really setting the world on fire, so we'll see how Philippe does for a while again.)

 

 

On the next Welcome: TCW rats leave a sinking ship, PPV rats refuse to talk to us, and we ponder ways to make more money.

[infinitywpi]

For a special CZCW Onslaught #250 post, we're coming to you live, not pre-written: Welcome to the Coastal Zone!

 

... yeah, I ran through the buffer of posts and haven't played in two weeks. But if I'm nommed-and-seconded for DOTM, I should put forth the effort to keep updating, right?

 

March 2015, week 2

 

After putting forth several feelers for a possible PPV deal, we learned that, well, nobody wanted to risk money on wrestling right now. C'mon, it had nowhere to go but up... slowly, most likely...

 

Anyway, TCW was suffering from extremely low ratings all of a sudden, so we took advantage of things to try and re-sign an old friend who may or may not be staying with them.

 

And in the 'more successful' part of the industry, NOTBPW held their annual Ed Henson Memorial Cup tournament. The Stone Siblings won.. Steve & Jack DeColt lost in the first round. Not to the Stones. Oy.

 

 

ACZW Tri-State

We're opening with a triple-threat Tag Title match. Notoious are defending against the teams of Demon Seens & Tigre Savaje and the not-seen-in-many-months Zoo of Panda Mask and Cheetah Boy. It's a pretty decent match, ending with the champs retaining, but Cheetah manages to hold his own in there and not look like a schlub. After that, Fire Fly and Plague get nearly twenty minutes to show off before Fire Fly gets the win. It's another decent match, with Plague just not that into it. We take a short break with Redwood defeating Idol in a poor showing, then into the main events. First, Valiant takes on Remmy Skye and give us... another decent match, fairly expensive, but decent. Skye gets the win here as I'm hoping to build him up a little. We wrap things up with Maita challenging Mitico for the ACZW Title, and the crowd... actually doesn't like it as the match goes too long, and our title match is the second-worst match on the card. Mitico retains, but, well... Ug. Lee.

 

(Show rating: D+, 1,965 tickets sold. Thoughts: Must remind myself. Midcarders can't do long matches.)

 

 

CZCW Onslaught #250

We're all geared up for our #250 spectacular, and we're starting things off with tag team action as Notorious defend their belts against Mitico & Fire Fly! It's a high-flying, hard-brawling match that starts off setting the bar high with one our best non-main-event matches in recent years. The champs retain, and are certainly solidifying their claim to being one of our best, if not most unexpected, tag teams in Zone history.

 

We follow that up with a ten-man battle royal. Cheetah, Demon, Dean, Jackpot, Maita, Nelson, Panda, Paradigm, Plague, and Tigre all get paid tonight, and the result is... a perfectly average match, ending with Plague getting a rare-in-these-late-years win, for nostalgia's sake. The multi-man mayhem continues with a five-man one-fall match: Myself, Joey, Akima, Valiant, and Idol. I get a bit lost during this one, at one point forgetting what I had booked for an ending, but in the end it all works out okay; Valiant gets the victory, and I didn't screw up the match too badly. Then, your bathroom break as Redwood defeats Deever Arnold.

 

We begin the trailing part of the show Jeremiah Moose trying and failing to defeat Insane Machine, giving us yet another average match out of it. Remmy and Cougar go at it next with a future contendership on the line; for whatever reason, this one winds up being very uninspired, with Remmy winning and the energy just... flowing out of the crowd. Finally, Philippe LaGrenier defends the CZCW Title against Spencer Spade in a one-on-one match; LaGrenier retains, and once again... Notorious have stolen the show for the night, as this just isn't good enough to be main eventing.

 

(Show rating: C+, 6,412 tickets sold. Thoughts: Maybe it's time to refocus on the tag titles...)

 

 

On the next Welcome: Are the old guard falling apart? How 'old' is 'old' anyway?