Welcome. You Know The Drill.

[infinitywpi]

November 2010, week 3

 

With Donnie gone, Paranoia injured, Moose injured, Al gone, Rayne leaving... the roster was starting to look a bit on the low side. Reluctantly, I picked up the phone and made three calls. Two to people I'd never met... and one to an old friend, begging on my knees.

 

Some of the guys tried to convince me to bring back the title Ladder matches. I refused. They tried getting angry, telling me I was ruining the company. I told them how I spent two weeks with Paranoia's family, doing what I could to help them.

 

They backed down. They just asked me to reconsider later. I told them I would.

 

I lie sometimes. I'm only human.

 

 

CZCW Onslaught #43

 

The show opens with a tag title match, as the Lords of Extreme defend against the unofficially-named Team America: American Elemental and American Flash It's a decent enough match for an opener, and Cougar is the one to retrieve the belts. We follow that up with Jackpot Jordan defeating Jonnie Perez in a horrible, horrible match, and a three-way match between Amazing Fire Fly, Roger Montiero, and Rayne Man. If you guessed Rayne eats a pin, you win! Fire Fly gets the victory there, and the match was slightly better than expected.. of course, we expected it to suck, so... anyway, we finish off the 'warm-up' section of the night with Jake Idol retaining his title over Ant-Man in a horrible match.

 

Once again, the main events need to save the show. First off, I defeat Marc Speed... and yeah, I'm doing horribly, I'm barely turning out okay matches. I've got too much on my mind. Our main event sees Bryan Holmes retain his title over Matt Sparrow in a match that is just a shadow of their former matches. Still good, but far below what they've done before.

 

(Show rating: D, 2,000 tickets. Match of the night: Holmes/Sparrow. Trash of the night: Jackpot/Perez)

 

 

On the next Welcome: The Coastal Mutiny begins.

[MaxxHexx]

Mutiny? Does this mean you ahve brought in Hugh De Aske? LOL Pirate joke.

[infinitywpi]

November 2010, week 4

 

“You realize what you're asking, right? You know my... my reasons, for leaving. To come back, now... I'm risking a lot. You know that.”

 

“I do. But if you saw the tapes I sent you... we need you. We need someone who can show that high flying doesn't need... doesn't need ladders and crazy stunts. We need you.”

 

“... okay. I'm in. But I'm not moving back here... I'm going to have flight expenses. You kick those in.. and I'm here for you.”

 

 

CZCW Onslaught #44

 

Tonight, I can tell, is the night things get back on the right track. Two new debuts that should pop the crowd like a corn kernel in boiling oil We open with the Lords of Xtreme retaining the tag titles over the thrown-together team of California Love Machine and Marc Speed. It's a good match, and I may keep those two together under their unofficial backstage name: The Remnants.

 

What happens next.. ticks me off. Jake Idol comes out for his Xtreme match and motions for the cable to be lowered. He hangs up the Xtreme title and calls out anyone who wants to bring a ladder to the ring. Sparrow's the one who comes down, since I had booked their match... but he brings a damn ladder! It's not like their match was anything special – it didn't need that, it didn't need the risk of them getting hurt! I can't really punish Sparrow for going along with this... but you can bet Idol's going to feel my wrath.

 

I'm so ticked off, I manage to botch far too many spots in my match with Air Attack Weasel. I win, of course, but still... I should look better than this. Maybe I can't book and perform at the same time anymore..

 

Our next match wakes the crowd up, as American Elemental takes on a returning face to the Zone in a losing effort. But when it comes down to it, nobody in the Zone will think less of you for getting pinned by Ultimate Phoenix. Especially if you perform that well.

 

After that, the main event is a bit of a letdown, as Byran Holmes tells us he's defending the title agaisnt a close personal friend of his: Teddy Powell. In a fit of irony, the two PWS/DAVE allumni don't click at all, but still manage to turn in a decent, not great, but decent match, with Holmes retaining.

 

(Show rating: D+, 2,000 tickets. Match of the night: Phoenix/Elemental. Trash of the night: Fox/Weasel.)

 

 

On the next Welcome: Two newcomers to the Zone to help pull us out of our funk Will it work? Or will Fox's funk end 2010 on a down note?

[mistaken]

we've push all the way through a year already.

 

boy how the time flies!

Awesome I went a whole post with out saying it!

[MaxxHexx]

Teddy Powell is a bad influence backstage is he not? It is a sorry day when Fox is in the worst match of the night.

[infinitywpi]

Oddly, no, Teddy isn't a bad influence backstage. But then, Fox's theory is that if you keep them well-paid, they won't mind the occasional jobbing out.

 

December 2010, week 1

 

It figures. I bring in Teddy Powell specificly in hopes of running a DAVE feud between him and Holmes, and the two just don't work well together. Well... I can change plans.

 

As for Jake Idol... he'll get his this week. I said no ladders, I mean no ladders.

 

 

CZCW Onslaught #45

 

We open the show with a tag contest, as The Remnants and Team America face off in an attempt to show we have a tag division. It's a decent enough match, about average; it won't get us any notice, but it'll get the crowd jazzed. We follow that up with Snap Dragon getting an okay match out of Ant-Man, Jake Idol losing his Xtreme Title in a squash... to Amazing Fire Fly in what was a surprisingly decent match, and finally Jackpot Jordan gets a win over Rayne Man, just in case Rayne thought we might decide to kiss up to him and get him to resign. The match sucks, but I don't care. I'm feeling petty.

 

We then get down to business with Masked Cougar and Matt Sparrow clashing, with Sparrow getting the victory in the expected-main-event-quality match. Then, our big tag main event: Team Zone Myself and Phoenix) vs Team DAVE (Holmes and Powell). We go long, we put the effort into making it as good a match as we can... and, well, it's not the amazing match I was hoping for, but it's still good enough to end the show. Surprisingly, the crowd isn't as into the show as those last two matches say they should...

 

(Show rating: D+, 2,000 people. Match of the night: Zone vs DAVE Trash of the Night: Jackpot/Rayne)

 

 

On the next Welcome: With the new guys not working out quite as well as we'd hoped, and three weeks left in the year, can the Zone put out something to really get people's attention?

[infinitywpi]

December 2010, week 2

 

Exodus 2010 -almost- made it through the year before closing up shop The scary thing is, their latest show was about as good as the ones we've been putting on. And I realized. I haven't checked the finances lately. I shouldn't've worried; I've doubled our money in under a year.

 

Rayne Man left us, and there wasn't much sorry over that. Jeremiah Moose came to me and told me his back wasn't hurting anymore, and he was ready to get back to work. And it looks like we wouldn't be convincing another Zoner to return anytime soon; Citizen 'E.M.M. Moe' X got called up to SWF's main roster.

 

CZCW Onslaught #46

 

Wait... what do you mean, Holmes and Elemental are working somewhere else the night of the show? Well... crap. Let's see what we can do here...

 

We open with the Lords of Xtreme defending their tag titles against Rich & Famous. These two teams have started putting on really good matches; not main event level, but close. Jackpot and Idol aren't going to win after Idol's ladder stunt, but they still work well. We follow that up with Jeremiah Moose's return match, defeating American Flash in a short, bad match. Then, Amazing Fire Fly defends the Xtreme Title against Air Attack Weasel, and the little lucha has a better match with him than I did, even retaining his title. I follow that, taking on California Love Machine. CLM wasn't all there tonight, but we still managed ot keep things to an average match.

 

We pick things up with Speedball taking on Teddy Powell in a nice, long match that sees Powell get the victory. For the main event, Ultimate Phoenix takes on Matt Sparrow for the #1 Contendership, and... turn in a merely average match. It... wow, it's a disappointment.

 

(Show rating: D, 2,000 tickets. Match of the night: Powell/Speed. Trash of the Night: Moose/Flash.)

 

 

On the next Welcome: Happy Holidays! Your gift: Drama!

[mistaken]

I take my Drama straight up with just a hint of cinomin, thank you.

[infinitywpi]

December 2010, week 3

 

It was early in the year that I realized Jake Idol and Jakki didn't work well together as a team. There was something... private between them that caused tension. Well, that came to light this week; apparently, Jake had gone on a date with Jakki's daughter... her seventeen-year-old daughter. Jake claimed he hadn't known her age, as he'd met her at a club that was having an 18+ night. One too many veiled comments by Jakki pushed Idol over the edge – between losing his title, the whole 'ladder mutiny' thing, and now this, he picked the easiest target for unleashing some steam and tore her a new one verbally. They now refused to be in the same room together... which was going to be an issue, as she managed his tag-team partner... just the kind of backstage drama I had always hoped to avoid...

 

And then, to make things worse... well, remember how I said Citizen X got called up from RIPW to SWF? Well, they needed a replacement... and Matt Sparrow was the newest developmental talent in RIPW. We'd be getting one more show out of him.

 

 

CZCW Onslaught #47

 

We start things off with Amazing Fire Fly defending the Xtreme Title against Matt Sparrow, and of course the jobber with the title manages to retain it. And the match winds up being worthy of main-eventing a show, which shocks me. As I said, Fire Fly seems to perform to the level of his opponent. Unlike me, it shows, as I put on a really crappy match with American Flash right afterwards. Next up, Jeremiah Moose decides to humble me in a loosing effort to American Elemental – and putting on a better match than I did.

 

Teddy Powell put on a good match with Air Attack Weasel, who seems to be on a roll lately. Performance-wise, not winning-wise. The Tag Title match between the Lords of Xtreme and The Remnants is about average, only with Speedball pinning Cougar to give us new champions (Once more, I found I needed Cougar and Dragon more as singles workers). And finally, our main event saw Ultimate Phoenix take the CZCW Title away from Bryan Holmes in... well, it was a good match, but not a great match...

 

(Show rating: C-, 1,600 tickets. Match of the night: Phoenix/Holmes. Trash of the night: Fox/Flash.)

 

 

On the next Welcome: The future of the Zone in doubt after TCW and RIPW hit key parts of the Zone roster.

[infinitywpi]

December 2010, week 4

 

The newest member of the TCW roster was our own Masked Cougar. On the plus side, we'd just taken the tag titles off him. On the downside, we were hoping to use him. We are now severely low on talent.

 

Even worse, RIPW made a move that had me worry for the future of the company... they made an offer to none other than Cliff Anderson, aka The Boss. And the bastard accepted it!

 

Despite not knowing what was going to happen to the company, I hired on a handful of new names. From Canada, we imported Antix; and then we added in KC Glenn and Panda Mask. The three of them should bolster our undercard; I'm hoping our previous additions will be enough to keep the main event going.

 

The backstage drama continued, as Jakki made it seem that Jake's next date was Rita Charles' teen sister... I told Jakki that it was her last strike. She makes things worse, and she's out of here.

 

And in my haste and unthinkingness, I tell my main event match to do everything that can to top their last one...

 

CZCW Onslaught #48

 

The show starts with Teddy Powell destroying Jake Idol in a sub-par bit of wrestling. We then moved on to Amazing Fire Fly defending the Xtreme Title against one of our new signees, Panda Mask. The two put on a good match that, if these two were better known, would easily main event a show. Fly retains, but Panda could be a force to be reckoned with. The following tag match, however, stank as the Lords of Xtreme beat Going Coastal, and barely managed to avoid sucking. Our next debut saw American Elemental defeat Antix in an average match.

 

For the true festivities to begin, I defeats Marc Speed in what was a fairly decent match... still not on the level I'm sued to performing on, but it's getting there. And in our main event, Phoenix and Holmes had a rematch... but god help me, they took that 'do whatever it takes' to heart and brought out the ladders. I thought I banned ladders from the building? But, it doesn't matter... these two, breaking my rules, put on what is possibly the match of the year, mere days before the year ended, with Bryan regaining the Zone title.

 

(Show rating: C, 1,761 tickets. Match of the night: Holmes. Phoenix. Trash of the night: Xtreme/Coastal.)

 

 

On the next Welcome: Will 2011 start out with a bang... or with a whimper?

[MaxxHexx]

Wow, they are not taking it lightly with the amount of people they are stealing away. You have done wonders building up the undercard and making them stars in less than a year.

[infinitywpi]

Not really. When I can't trust my upper midcard to put on D/D+ marches reliably, I'm in trouble.

 

But then, I'm in April/May 2011 already... I know things you don't yet...

[LucianCarter]

Tease.

[infinitywpi]

January 2011, week 1

 

We had two wrestlers on the 'Hot 100' list for the year – American Elemental was in the 50s, and Ultimate Phoenix was in the 60s. So we had a little something going for us there. And our last show ended the year on a high note...

 

But it was against my rules. Before the next show, I got everyone together and read them the riot act. No more ladders. Period. If you bring out the hardware, you're out of the company. This 'ladder mutiny' ends now.

 

To add more stress to my pile, we had yet another member of the roster looking to move elsewhere – California Love Machine had an offer he was considering. Which meant one of the few decent parts of my undercard was leaving.

 

Just how bad was it? Well... here's the roster. Our main event is made of myself, Holmes, Powell, Phoenix, and Speedball. The uppercard is Snap Dragon, American Elemental, and god help me, Jackpot Jordan and Jake Idol. The midcard is Jonnie Perez, Brendan Idol, American Flash, Moose, a yet-to-debut talent, Weasel, and the departing CLM. Everyone else was in the jobber corps. Things are getting tight talent-wise.

 

At least RIPW was letting Cliff stay as our announcer, since he owned the company...

 

 

CZCW Onslaught #49

 

We open with Teddy Powell defeating Panda Mask... and let's face it, you never would've found that match in DAVE... it's an average match, good to start off with. We follow up with Amazing Fire Fly retaining his Xtreme Title over Jebediah; it's a poor match, but there mainly because we hadn't used the big jobber in months and needed to pay him. We debut the last of our recent signings as Speedball defeats KC Glenn in a fairly decent debut.

 

For the main event stretch, The Remnants lost their Tag Team Titles to Rich and Famous in an average, never-should-have-been-near-the-main-event match. And we finish things up with Bryan Holmes defeating me to retain his Zone Title in a good little match, despite our trouble working together.

 

(Show rating: D+, 1,949 tickets. Match of the night: Holmes/Fox. Trash of the night: Fire Fly/Jebediah.)

 

 

On the next Welcome: Fox gets chewed out.

[infinitywpi]

January 2010, week 2

 

Everyone had packed up and we were leaving the Grissom when I heard a voice behind me.

 

“What the hell was that ****, man? This is the freakin' Coastal Zone! Where's the flying, where's the action, where's the ladders?”

 

I turned around and shook my head at the kid in the wheelchair. “I'm not letting what happened to you happen to someone else.”

 

“Great, so not only did I screw up my own life, now you're telling me I'm responsible for the death of the Zone?” Paranoia scowled at me. “Don't put this on my head, man. You came up with the plan, but I'm the one who jumped off that ladder. Everyone in this company wants to jump off ladders, wow the crowd... and if you don't want to let them, then go sign for USPW and let me book the damn shows.”

 

I had a week to think about that.

 

 

CZCW Onslaught #50

 

… wait, it's a weekly show, there's 52 weeks in a year, but we've been going over a year and we're at #50... um... y'know, I'm not going to even think too hard about that...

 

Our opening match tonight is something we haven't done in at least a year: A four-on-four match. On one side: Myself, Ultimate Phoenix, Snap Dragon, and Jeremiah Moose. On the other, Teddy Powell, American Elemental, Weasel, and Ant-Man. I had fully intended my side to win, but as Elemental and I finished up the match, I called an audible and had him pin me for the victory; all in all, given who was involved, this was a very good match and hopefully got Ant-Man some exposure.

 

However, the next match was disapointing, as Amazing Fire Fly defended his Xtreme Title against American Flash... it would have sucked even more if it wasn't a ladder match. Yes, a ladder match. All title defenses are back to being ladder matches now. Paranoia was right. They're dangerous... but you don't join the Zone unless you're willing to jump off a ladder or three. Next, Brendan Idol got a squash victory over California Love Machine to say 'goodbye', but the match sucked.

 

For our main event festivities, we started with a Tag Title match between Rich and Famous and the thrown-together team of KC Glenn and Jonnie Perez. The champs retain, of course, but I was so hoping this would be a better match... it barely passed muster. But there was hope on the horizon: A Zone title match between Bryan Holmes and Marc Speed that should tear the house do... wow. That... was underwhelming. Average, even.

 

(Show rating: D, 2,000 tickets. Match of the night: 4v4. Trash of the night: Idol/CLM)

 

… okay, that sucked an egg.

 

 

On the next Welcome: We can do better than that, can't we?

[infinitywpi]

January 2011, week 3

 

I spend the week worrying about how things seem to started heading downhill again. And that's about it. Those missing four weeks are really bugging me tho...

 

 

CZCW Onslaught #51

 

Our opening match is an Xtreme Title match, with Fire Fly retaining over Jeremiah Moose. As usual, it's an average opening match. Our next match, sadly, drops into 'sucks' range, as Snap dragon fails to carry Brendan Idol to a decent match. Surprisingly, KC Glenn over Roger Montiero manages to be better than that. We move into Marc Speed defeating Ant-Man in an average match, and I begin praying for the main events to come through.

 

The first one is a tag match between Rich & Famous and Team America. I know I just put the titles on Rich & Famous, but I decide to switch things up in the hopes of using American Elemental to teach a bunch of the kids more about working. The resulting match isn't half bad. Then, the big match. It's a four-way Zone title match; myself, Holmes, Phoenix, and Powell. It's good... not as good as I'd hoped, but good, and ends with Holmes retreiving his title.

 

(Show rating: C-, 1,963 tickets. Match of the night: Holmes/Fox/Powell/Phoenix. Trash of the night: Dragon/Idol).

 

 

On the next Welcome: Okay, maybe we're running out of ideas...

[LucianCarter]

Good stuff, although going on about the 48 week year kind of takes me out of the moment.

[Ranson]

Good stuff, although going on about the 48 week year kind of takes me out of the moment.

 

I personally think he took a shot to the head in one of those ladder matches he worries about so much...

[MaxxHexx]

I just now realized why there were missing weeks. I clearly am not observent to the in game world.

[infinitywpi]

January 2011, week 4

 

A few contracts had come up for renewal; we kept all of them. I tried to convince Cliff to let me offer to take Citizen X if SWF didn't renew him, but Cliff said no... I guess there's still some bad blood there.

 

 

CZCW Onslaught #52

 

Something a little different tonight. No ladder matches, but that's because there's no title matches. We start with myself and Ultimate Phoenix taking on Rich & Famous. We win, of course, but we provider a better opener than most of our shows get. We then sink deep down into 'horrible' as American Flash defeats Antix. Back to average with Teddy Powell defeating Ant-Man, and we stay there as KC Glenn gets a surprise pinfall over Snap Dragon.

 

We kick things up a bit with American Elemental defeating Marc Speed, and then finish it off with a special, non-title, champion vs champion match. Holmes wins, of course, but Fire Fly gets a chance to show he can hang with the champ, putting on a pretty good match.

 

(Show rating: D+, 1,915 tickets. Match of the night: Holmes/Fire Fly. Trash of the Night: Flash/Antix)

 

 

On the next Welcome: We get rid of a locker room cancer.

[Jaded]

Go Para, you tell him!

 

Great stuff, as always.

[mistaken]

still here, even if the awesome's are not flowing as freely.

[infinitywpi]

February 2011, week 1

 

We had decided, enough was enough. Jakki was causing problems, and we were going to have to... wait... RIPW wants her? Well, hell, why don't they hire away the Pit Snakes while they're at it?

 

Hell with it. They want her, they can have her. Maybe we'll hire one of the girls BSC let go recently, have her be a manager...

 

And, irony of ironies, as we're getting ready for Onslaught, Jakki pulls one last 'going away' prank on Rita. It's been a year since I took this job; I finally get to fire someone. Oddly, most of the boys thought the prank was kinda funny... but y'know, enough is enough.

 

 

CZCW Onslaught #53

 

We open with a four-on-four match, since it worked so well last time. This time around, Team Fox consists of myself, Panda, Moose, and Ant. Team America adds Jonnie Perez and Amazing Fire Fly to their roster to complete their foursome. It's a perfectly average match, and Team America wins when Moose eats the pin. Then, we drop into 'horrid filler' territory: Brendan Idol defeats Jebediah, Air Attack Weasel defeats Antix, and KC Glenn defeats Roger Montiero... okay, that last one doesn't suck. It actually holds up well with our opener. These two might have something, here.

 

After that, Teddy Powell and Snap Dragon defeat Rich and Famous in another average match (yeah, I'm not sure why I've got Rich and Famous co-main-eventing, either), and finish things up with a triple-threat Zone Title match between Holmes, Phoenix, and Speedball. These guys come through for me, putting on a great match that really sends the crowd home happy, as Holmes retains against some great competition.

 

(Show rating: C-, 1,647 tickets. Match of the night: Holmes/Phoenix/Speed. Trash of the Night: Idol/Jebediah.)

 

 

On the next Welcome: Did that show give us the momentum we need? We'll find out...

[infinitywpi]

February 2011, week 2

 

Jakki got kicked to the curb, mere days before her developmental deal kicked in. American Elemental decided to add PSW to his working schedule; shouldn't be a problem, but apparently Holmes and Powell had been considering poaching talent from us. We should be careful with that.

 

Meanwhile, CWWF underwent a bit of an odd stretch; a new booker, a half-dozen new hires, and then two fires... including one of the guys hired the day before. J-Ro was one of the ones hired who wasn't fired; good for her.

 

 

CZCW Onslaught #54

 

Triangle Tournament Time! Our opening match is a Triangle Qualifier: Ultimate Phoenix vs Teddy Powell vs Air Attack Weasel. Well, you can guess who -isn't- winning. Phoenix wins, and it's not the main-event match we thought it might be... but we're not really surprised. Our other qualifier is myself, Snap Dragon, and KC Glenn; Dragon gets the victory there, in a sadly average match. We sink into suck with Marc Speed defeating Roger Montiero, and begin to wonder who's to blame for some of the bad matches we've had around here.

 

Before the main event, we get a tag-title match between Team America and the tossed-together American Fire Fly and Jonnie Perez. It's a better-than-expected match, heck, better-than-average match, with the champs retaining after Jonnie 'slips' off the ladder. Then, our main event, Holmes vs Phoenix vs Dragon. It's not as good as last week (which is odd... Speedball gave us a better main event, but failed to get a good match out of Roger... KC got a good match out of roger, but his qualifier was only average... y'know, I give up...), but still main-event-worthy, with Holmes retaining.

 

(Show rating: C-, 1,885 tickets. Match of the night: Holmes/Phoenix/Dragon. Trash of the Night: Speedball/Montiero.)

 

 

 

On the next Welcome: We got lucky... no, not like that...

[infinitywpi]

February 2011, week 3

 

I'm wondering why these things happen in pairs. One again, two injuries in a single show. Jonnie bruised his tailbone falling on his arse off the ladder in his match, but said he could work through it. We'd see. And I twisted my freakin' ankle on the last spot of my match... Hurt like hell, doctor told me to be on crutches for a few days, but it should be fine... just had to be careful not to re-injure it. I decided to remove myself from the active foster for a month while it cleared up.

 

I also decided that, since we'd had such a good year financially, everyone on the roster would get a bonus. Especially now that Jakki was gone.

 

… dammit... RIPW made an offer to American Elemental. This one, we're gonna try and fight.

 

 

CZCW Onslaught #55

 

Our opening match pits KC Glenn against Panda Mask. I figure, we've been doing average matches as openers, why not put the midcarders out there to warm up the crowd? Glenn gets the win, and the crowd seems suitably primed. So, let's dissapoint them. Air Attack Weasel defeats Antix (Sucked), Moose defeats Jebediah (Total suckage), Ant-Man defeated Montiero (Back to suck), and Speedball defeats Bendan Idol (eh, okay after what we just saw).

 

We move on to Snap Dragon going after Fire Fly's Xtreme Title, and failing in a shocking match that almost, but isn't quite, main event quality. Then, our main event, a four-way Tag Title match. Team America defended against Team DAVE, Rich & Famous, and The New Remnants of Jonnie Perez and Ultimate Phoenix (as both Paranoia and I were out). Despite everything, this turned out to be a simply average match, with Team America retaining despite good efforts from all involved.

 

(Show rating: D, 2,000 tickets sold. Match of the night: Dragon/Fire Fly. Trash of the Night: Moose/Jebediah).

 

 

On the next Welcome: After our worst show in a long time, how do we decide to recover? Even more important, what distractions will come up to keep our mind off things?