TCW: Victorious

[shamelessposer]

The First Tuesday of January, 2010

"Hi, I'm the new guy." I stuck out my hand, expecting him to shake it. He didn't.

 

"Good for you." He bent over to tie his boots, taking entirely too long. I could tell he was making a conscious effort not to look directly at me. "You know who I am, right?"

 

"Yeah, I do. I was hoping you could tell me where-"

 

"You know where you are, right?"

 

"The V. Thompson Arena. But what I need to know-"

 

"Say my name."

 

"What?"

 

"My name. Say it."

 

"Joel Bryant."

 

Bryant turned to face me, his eyes full of anger. "That's right. I'm the guy whose job you took."

 

"Isn't that a little unfair? It's not even like I applied. They just called me up and asked 'what do you know about wrestling?'"

 

"And what do you know about wrestling, smart guy?"

 

"I know that you've been wrestling for twenty years, that you've held tag team gold three times, twice with this company and once in Golden Canvas Grappling, each time with Robert Oxford. I know that you've won the International and Hardcore titles, back when this company was Hollyweird instead of Total. I can also do everyone else on the roster."

 

"You know jack ****."

 

"I'm sorry?"

 

"You can memorize all the facts and title histories you want, but it doesn't make any difference if you don't know what goes on back here. I had to bust my ass in the ring for fifteen years before Tommy or anyone else would let me book match one, but because someone put in a good word for you you're coming in off the street with no experience and a new office."

 

"Speaking of which, could you point me to-"

 

"On your way out of the locker room, take a right. It'll be the third door on the left. The second is the broom closet, fourth is ladies' room. You do not have what it takes to make it in this business."

 

"I understand that you don't like me-"

 

"Look, losing my position on the booking team I could understand. Last year, everything fell apart, and whether or not it was my fault it all happened under my watch. I expected to be bumped out, and don't hold a grudge against Tommy or you. My only issue with you is that you're more likely than not to destroy this company and everything it's stood for since Tommy took over."

 

"You think I'm going to turn this place into SWF, don't you?"

 

"I think it's a fair judgment."

 

"Well, I'm not going to. It'd be a dumb move. You guys... we don't have the star power to run up against them. We can't fight the Eisens on their own terms and win. Best we can hope for is to provide an alternative, build an audience and a war chest, and then, maybe in a year, we can assess our position and either call ourselves victorious or leave Tuesday to the guys in Boston."

 

He blinked. "You-"

 

"I read your book. And Sneer's. And a few others. I don't have two decades of experience at this, but I'm trying to build on your legacy, not replace it. Third door on the left, right?"

 

VICTORIOUS

[shamelessposer]

The First Tuesday of January, 2010

TCW Presents Total Wrestling

At the V. Thompson Arena, in front of a capacity crowd of 10,000 fans

 

(Match commentary provided by WrestlingHeat.com)

 

 

Jason Azaria: Welcome to TCW Presents Total Wrestling! I'm here with my friend and colleague Kyle Rhodes, and we have got an amazing show for you tonight. To kick things off we have the number one contender, Sam Keith, facing off against Danny Fonzarelli.

 

Kyle Rhodes: I'll tell you one thing, it'll be huge if Fonzarelli can pull off a win here. Sam Keith has held world-level championships in four different countries, and hard as this is to believe he's beaten bigger men than the Love Doctor.

 

Danny Fonzarelli vs. Sam Keith

Sam Keith wins by submission, via Proton Lock

There's no doubt in my mind that the new booking team was hoping for a better inaugural match than this. Despite being sent out there to get the crowd pumped up, Keith and Fonzarelli produced more or less the opposite result. Regardless, my Sam Keith Rule prevents me from giving this match less than a C.

 

After the match, Sam Keith grabbed the microphone from the ring announcer.

 

Sam Keith: "Back in 1980, there were people who said I was too small to hold a world championship. They said 'Oh, but Sam, you're only five-eleven and two hundred and thirty pounds! You know what I said to them? Nothing. I went to Mexico, and I proved them wrong twice. I went to Japan, and I proved them wrong twice. I went to Canada, and I proved them wrong twice. Then I came to the United States, and I proved them wrong four times. These days, people say I'm too old. I say I've already proven them wrong ten times. You want to go for eleven, Rocky? I do." B-

 

Bryan Vessey & Koshiro Ino vs. Rick Law & Texas Pete

Koshiro Ino pins Rick Law following a Kobra's Bite

Now this is the quality of match we've come to expect from TCW... Texas Pete aside, of course. Some great back and forth brawling, with just enough technical wizardry from Vessey to keep things interesting. Rick Law seems to be having a lot of fun as a heel, and he and Ino were taking some really stiff shots at each other. B

 

As soon as Ino scored the pinfall, Eddie Peak rushed out from the back and waffled Vessey with a chair. With Vessey on the ground he took two more swings, kicked him, and then ran to the back laughing. C+

 

The L.A. Connection (Aaron Andrews & Chance Fortune vs. The Tag Team Specialists (Joel Bryant & Robert Oxford)

Joel Bryant pins Chance Fortune following a One Shot Drop

I know, I know. Robert Oxford is a master of his craft, a true ring general, all the young guys could learn a thing or two from him about putting together a match, blah blah blah. I still consider his matches to be the designated "bathroom break" portion of the card. Here we have two talented young guys losing to a disgraced booker and a man whose career is at death's door. Maybe the new guy on the creative team was trying to prove how "traditional" he was going to keep things, but it's hard to see Andrews and Fortune as the future of the company when they're losing to what's essentially been a jobber tag team the last few years. C-

 

The camera cuts backstage. Bryan Vessey has welts on his back from where the chair struck him, and he's running around shouting. Eddie Peak comes out and the two men size each other up for a second and then just start beating on each other. This goes on for maybe thirty seconds before American Buffalo and Genghis Rahn emerge from the locker room to hold back Peak, and Vessey walks off before the three get any ideas. C

 

TCW International Title Match!

Joshua Taylor © vs. Benny Benson

Benny Benson wins by DQ when Troy Tornado is caught interfering in the match

In fairness to these guys, the match was pretty good. Benson and Taylor were booked to be an even match for each other, and to their credit Benson could keep up his end of the technical stuff and Taylor could handle the high flying side of things well. Still, this is TCW, and face/face teamups DO NOT WORK. DQ finishes to title matches don't really work either. Combine the two and you've got audience apathy. It was sad, really, since this was a pretty good match that the fans couldn't get into. The rating should be considered a reflection of booker incompetence rather than any sort of poor performance. D+

 

Rocky Golden vs. Brent Hill

Rocky Golden wins by submission via The Rack

I know I've said it a thousand times, but BY GOD does Rocky Golden suck. When he won the title in August I figured he'd be a one month fluke champion to get the belt onto, say, Troy Tornado, but it seems that either Cornell or Bryant was really high on the guy and want to see him succeed. Meanwhile, he's having mediocre matches with Brent Hill of all people. I didn't think Hill had a lower setting than B-. Still, considering what he had to work with, even a Wrestling Machine is allowed an off day, I guess. C+

 

Coming back from a commercial break, Ricky Dale Johnson and Joey Minnesota are in the ring together.

 

RDJ: "For the last two years, there's been a cancer eating this company alive. Y'all know how it worked. First, Cornell got the shareholders to give him the power to make matches. He used that power to make my life a living hell. Surrounded himself with enforcers and lackeys. For a whole year, seemed like they interfered in every damn match I had. A bunch of us, we got ourselves together and tried to ride them out of town. That didn't work out so well. Joey and Rocky and Bryan me bled buckets in this very ring, but it didn't matter one bit. The Syndicate just kept gettin' bigger. Seemed for a while there that half the damn roster was part of it. Wasn't until those shady investors pulled out that we finally convinced the company to keep Cornell from bookin' his own title matches. We took that fightin' chance, and we fought. We scared off the Machines. Sam Keith ran away, 'cuz he's a damned coward. Rick Law got sidetracked on Koshiro. But there was always two. No matter how many beatings we gave 'em, Wolf Hawkins would just not leave Tommy Cornell's side. So Joey and me, we got the idea in our heads that so long as these two keep teamin' up, keep conspirin' together, it's only a matter of time before whole damn new Syndicate gets together and starts the whole damn mess up all over again."

 

Joey Minnesota: "I came to this company because I was told Total Championship Wrestling is where the best of the best compete. That no matter how many SWF t-shirts get sold, TCW was home to the real athletes. But when I got here, all I saw was a bunch of guys in suits running around like they owned the place, breaking up matches and preventing us from doing our jobs. That's why I fought The Syndicate. Not because I wanted to, but because someone had to."

 

With that, Wolf Hawkins came out onto the entrance ramp.

 

Wolf Hawkins: "You know why it took you guys forever to beat The Syndicate? Because you're both losers. All of you idiots were spending all your time bickering and fighting each other... or did I just imagine Rahn and Baine walking out on your little rebellion a few months in because they realized your 'Freedom Fighters' would never cut it? All we've ever done is cement our position as your betters. It's hardly our fault that you had to fight us, like, a million times before you finally got lucky."

 

Joey Minnesota: "Lucky? Am I the only one who remembers you pulling out brass knuckles in the middle of a press release? You and everyone else in The Syndicate were thugs."

 

Tommy Cornell walks out as well.

 

Tommy Cornell: "Joey, you never fought for scraps of food on the streets of Blackpool. Never had a knife held to your throat before you were old enough to shave. Mind your tongue, because some of us know what it really means to be a thug. To be brutal to another man, sometimes to survive and sometimes for no reason at all. You want to stand around and talk all night, that's fine, but the only way we're going to settle this argument is in the ring."

 

Wolf Hawkins: "Great idea, boss. Joey's never beaten me before, and I don't think he's up for it tonight, either."

 

Tommy Cornell: "No. Tonight, he faces me. Let's see if I can teach him to show some respect." B-

 

Joey Minnesota vs. Tommy Cornell

Tommy Cornell wins via pinfall with La Magistral

This? This is the sort of match TCW should be putting on every night. If I'm reacting with surprise it's only because the rest of the show hasn't been so hot. Joey Minnesota puts in a fantastic showing, but I'm still not sure he's got what it takes to compete at this level. A few more matches like this and I might come around to the idea of him being in the main event more often. All I have to say about Cornell is that he performed to his usual standard: Excellence. B

 

Overall, I'd give the show a C+. I'm not hopeful for the creative team's new direction.