Phoenix Rising Wrestling

TEOL · April 21, 2010

(A few things to note here. First off, this diary is being reposted from EWB. Within time I'm sure it'll catch up to where I'm up to over there. Second, I have to give credit for some of the pictures in this diary: the logo was made for me by foolinc, as was the belt picture that I've used sporadically, plus the picture of Disco Daredevil was made by someone on this board and sent to me by foolinc. Not sure who it was, but if they see this, I owe you one.)

<div style="text-align:right;">backstory part one</div>

"The following contest, scheduled for one fall, is a number one contendership match for the RIPW Championship! Introducing first, from Chicago, Illinois, weighing in at 205 lbs... TRENT LYNWOOD!"

I raised my arm at the sound of my name as I slid into the ring, trying to look confident and trying to swallow down the butterflies in my stomach. I'd come a long way from the indies, after all; this was very different from working for fifty bucks a night in a bar back in Chicago. Even from proper arena work like I'd done in the past. This was Rhode Island Pro Wrestling, and I was signed to a developmental contract with the biggest wrestling organization in the world, the Supreme Wrestling Federation.

This was my first main event match for RIPW; with the champion Valiant injured, the focus had shifted to who would get the shot at his title when he returned next month. According to the booker, Professor Nero, that was set to be me. Which meant that the scouts from the SWF would be paying close attention to this match, as they always did when the title was involved. They knew that Nero was very old school, and didn't put anyone even near the title picture unless he had a lot of faith in them.

Granted, there was no way I was going to win the title; Valiant's just been on fire lately, there's no way he's not going to be the first guy called up. He's not losing the title until the day before he shows up on Supreme TV, I'll bet. But a good performance here, and a good performance next month... I could get that belt down the line. I could get that phone call from Richard Eisen. It was all finally starting to happen for me. Everything I'd worked so hard for was finally within reach.

"And his opponent, from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, weighing in at 350 lbs... BEAR BEKOWSKI!"

Unlike this guy, who hadn't worked a day to get where I was. Bear Bekowski was a talentless ******* and everyone knew it. But the SWF guys were high on him because he was huge and had a killer look, so they were always going to push him. And boy, did he know it. Only started training three months ago, and already he acts like he owns the place, showing no respect to the veterans backstage and generally being a jackass.

As I waited for the bell to ring, I wondered how I was going to approach this one. Bekowski had neither the skill, nor the inclination to be safe to work with - but this was potentially my big break. Could I afford to hold back in this one? If I just looked tame in the ring, didn't pull off some of my flashier moves, who knew how long that might put off that call up, the fulfillment of my dreams?

**** it, maybe I'd be sore in the morning but right now, it was all about doing what I did best. As if propelled by my own sudden thought, I charged across the ring and nailed him with a jumping forearm to the face followed by a series of chops in the corner.

Naturally, it being Bekowski, he no sold all my offence, then whipped me into the ropes and nailed me with a stiff reverse elbow. He always stiffs me when I'm in the ring with him. I don't know if he's afraid I'll no sell him right back, or if he's just too incompetent in the ring to even judge whether or not he's pulling his punches. Either way, it doesn't really matter. I'm actually a professional, so I sell it like I've been shot in the face at point blank range with a shotgun, and again when he picks me up and plants me with a press slam.

He picks me up and whips me, and I've already had enough of him on offense. I jump onto the second rope, springboard back and land on him perfectly for a DDT... but he stays standing, as I just hang there like an idiot. "Go over, you moron!" I whisper in his ear, but it must have somehow come out as 'powerslam me' because that's what he does.

Wonderful, so it's going to be like this the whole match. What's he thinking? He knows he's booked to lose, is he going to pound me for the next ten minutes and then go down to a fluke roll up? Even if he is stupid enough to think that, I've got other ideas. I roll to my feet as quickly as I can without looking too unrealistic, then throw a pair of dropkicks at him and an enzuigiri to send him down before clutching my back in pretend agony.

I need to come up with something that he won't be able to just ignore... perhaps if I use all of my weight? I doubt he can catch me, his strength is all show - he can only pick people up when they're helping him. I go up to the top rope as he gets back to his feet, try to get the crowd behind me by waving my arms a bit, then stand on my perch and leap, somersaulting forward in midair, aiming to land on his shoulders with a flying standing senton...

He doesn't go down! He staggers backwards but he did manage to catch me, somehow. I didn't think he'd be able to, and either way he shouldn't have... he's trying to powerbomb me, I can feel it. Well, there's nothing I can do about it now, have to go along with it.

And time seems to slow down.

I pull my head up and prepare for the full back landing...

... realise too late that he's trying to flip me over, plant me on my face again...

... I can see, upside down, the look of horror on the faces of the fans...

... and then I hear a loud CRUNCH.

And I black out.

*****

When I wake up, I'm lying face up staring at a hospital ceiling, and I'm just able to see someone out of the corner of my eye... is that Mom? I try to turn to get a better look.

"Don't move your head, sweetie," she says, standing up. "You're in traction. Doctor! He's awake!"

This... does not sound good.

*****

Six months passed.

In the hospital, I've been spending most of my time reading, watching TV, wondering what I'm going to do with my life. I can't say I've been watching a lot of wrestling. The doctors made it clear to me that I'd be lucky to walk again, never mind step back in the ring. I'd been determined to prove them wrong, at first. But as the weeks became months, and the road to recovery proved to be slow, I started to think that maybe it wasn't worth all the effort any more. Maybe I should just call it quits. Besides, although I could hardly bear to admit it to myself, I was terrified by the thought of stepping back into the ring. Every time I even thought of it, I recalled that horrible moment, my last match...

Either way, as far as I was concerned, wrestling was out of the picture. I'd spent a while now trying to wean myself off it and look to a new future. I mean, I still had a degree, I could get a job doing something - no idea what, especially with the recession, but hell, I'd figure it out. I was almost able to walk again, even if I still needed a cane to keep myself steady. I'd find something to do. Preferably something that would allow me to spend most of the day sitting down.

And yes, maybe some desk job wasn't as glamorous as being a professional wrestler...

And yes, maybe this was me turning my back on what I'd dreamt of since I was nine years old...

But it's not like I had a choice. This isn't my fault.

I can't change what's happened.

"Mr. Lynwood?" A nurse pops her head around the door. "There's a phone call for you at the front desk, would you like me to send it up?"

Huh. That's weird. Everyone I can think of who would bother calling me has my cell phone number. Why would someone have to call the hospital? Only one way to find out, I guess. I nod to the nurse and move over to the phone in my room.

The nurse's head disappears. After a few moments, the phone starts ringing, and I pick it up.

"Trent Lynwood? My name is Richard Remus, and I have an offer for you..."

TEOL · April 21, 2010

backstory part two

"So let me get this straight... you're starting up a new wrestling promotion, and you want to hire me to work for you?"

"That's right."

"In Phoenix?"

"You got it."

"I'm sorry, sir, but either you've been misinformed or you have the wrong person. I'm out of the wrestling business with a broken neck. And even if I wasn't, I've never worked further west than St. Louis in my life so I doubt any of the fans in Phoenix will know who I am."

"Believe me, Mr. Lynwood, I know all about your accident. And I can tell you that there are at least two wrestling fans in Phoenix who have heard of you; my sons. They'd go out of their way to get tapes of your indy shows, clips of your matches off the Internet... you should have heard them when you were signed by the SWF. They were just sad that you never came and worked for CZCW, since they're pretty much the closest name promotion to us. Because of men like you, they wanted to become pro wrestlers too."

Wow. I had no idea I was that well known. "I'm flattered. Have they become wrestlers, then?"

"That was the plan. They spent months training, and a fair bit of my money too, I don't mind telling you. They wrestled a few small time shows around the state... and then, just like that, it happened. One of my sons was in a motorcycle accident that destroyed his left knee. His career as a wrestler is over."

"I'm very sorry to hear that. But... what does this have to do with me?"

"Well, I own a large bar here in Phoenix, have done for years, and my sons have convinced me that a good way to attract customers and increase revenue would be to open our own wrestling promotion in the room I have for special functions like conferences and the like. Plus, it would create a company here in Phoenix for my sons to work for, one as a wrestler and one as the announcer. They've got big plans, they want to film shows and burn them on DVDs for fans, bring in big names, the whole deal. I don't know enough about wrestling to know what's a good idea and what's not, and I figure I need someone who can book shows and have the business sense to keep things under control. That's where you come in. I understand you've got a degree in Business & Administration?"

It was true, but... "OK, I think I see where you're going with this. Can I just ask exactly what kind of resources you've got available for this venture?"

"I've already agreed to invest twenty-five thousand dollars into the company."

WOW. That was a LOT more than I was expecting, and a lot bigger budget than most start up promotions have. But even so... "Look, I hear what you're saying, but... I'm just not sure I'm right for this job. I've been out of wrestling for quite a while, and I'm still not sure I want to get back into it, even in a backstage capacity."

"I understand. But I really hope you'll join us. At least fly out to Phoenix, see how you like the place. You never know when an offer like this is going to come along again."

I really don't.

*****

So I did.

When I said I'd never worked further west than St. Louis in my life, that wasn't the whole truth - I'd never even been further west than that. Growing up in Chicago, studying in Pennsylvania and being a indy wrestler paying for my own gas, I'd never had much reason to leave the Northeast. If CZCW had ever wanted to book me, I'd never heard anything about it.

I'll give the west one thing, though; it is HOT here. It's December and if it was this hot in Chicago they'd be calling it a heatwave, but no one here seems to be that bothered by it. I'm sweating buckets the moment I step off the plane, not exactly ideal for what could technically be classed as a job interview, but oh well. I called a cab and asked for the address he'd given me; the Pelican Bar on 24th Street.

I pushed the door open with some difficulty, the flight over having already more than tested my ability to walk with my cane, and headed up to the bar. It was the middle of the afternoon, not much in the way of customers to serve. I could see one good reason to stop in here, though; behind the bar was the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen in my life. Holy crap. Why have I never been to Phoenix before? "Um... I'm looking for Richard Remus?"

"Oh, you must be Trent, right?" I nodded, and she smiled. My insides went strange at the notion that she was pleased to see me. "Come with me, we've all been waiting for you."

She ducked under the bar and headed to the back, me following and trying hard to resist the temptation to look at her ass. "Through here," she said, pushing open a door that led into... well, this must be the function room Richard mentioned, complete with wrestling ring and seats already set up in it. The man who I assumed to be Richard turned to see who had entered, saw me, and smiled. "Not bad, huh? Me and the boys put it together for you today. Thought you might like to see exactly what you've got to work with."

"Not bad at all. You could fit, what, 200 people in here?"

"300, actually, though it's a bit of a squeeze... and not as much fun when you don't have ring crew to do it for you," said a voice off to my side.

I turned, and saw two kids who couldn't be any older than twenty heading towards me, each the double of the other; they had to be identical twins. One was limping noticeably, I guess he was the one who had the accident. A pang of pity - and self-pity - came over me. "I'm Rod Remus," the other one continued, "and this is my brother Remy. We're big fans of yours... such a shame you aren't still in the business."

"Thanks. I had no idea people this far out West even saw my matches." Rod, Remy and Richard Remus? Someone wasn't very imaginative.

"We sure did!" Remy said eagerly. "Like your matches with Joey Minnesota in NYCW, or when you wrestled Acid in DAVE right before it closed down... you had some awesome matches, man. It was my dream to get to wrestle you someday..."

As much fun as that sounded to dwell on, I turned back to Richard. "So, is there anything else you have to show me?"

"Nope, this is everything. Me, the boys, and I see you've already met my daughter Olivia." Well, there went that idea. "If you want to stay in town for a while, we've got space for you here - I want you to be part of the family. That is, if you're planning to take the job..."

And by this point, really, what else could I say?

I said, "OK."

TEOL · April 21, 2010

Once I'd agreed to the job, of course, it was time to sit down and hammer out some of the details with Richard.

"So what's the promotion going to be called?"

"... I hadn't really thought about it. I guess Remus Family Wrestling or something like that?"

"No offence, but call it something like that, and fans are going to think this whole thing is just a vanity project for you and your sons." Not that I was entirely convinced that it wasn't, so giving other people that idea was hardly a good start.

"True. Uh, how about Pelican Bar Wrestling, then? Or even Phoenix City Wrestling?"

"We don't want to tie ourselves down just yet. Sure, we're going to be running shows exclusively in the bar right now, but if this thing starts taking off... I'd prefer something non-specific. Even Phoenix is too small. It does give me an idea, though... how does Phoenix Rising Wrestling sound?"

"Sounds cool. I can definitely see that catching on."

It had a personal significance for me, too. I'd committed to this by now; I'd felt welcomed here, a new door of opportunity had opened where another one had closed. I could still make it to the top of this business, albeit in a very different manner than I'd ever imagined. I really felt like a phoenix rising from the ashes. And Phoenix Rising Wrestling it became.

"Next: who are we going to have on the shows?"

"The boys have recommended some local talent to me that they've worked with on shows around Arizona... they're not exactly amazing, I'll admit, but they're the best we've got, and they don't have to travel far to get here."

"OK, I'll review what I can find and bring some of them in. I also want to bring in a couple of guys who I used to work with... they'll be more expensive, but if we have a couple of solid hands on the roster then we can be sure of having at least one or two top class matches that will get people talking each night. Is that OK?"

"Sounds good to me. Any other ideas?"

"I also thought since we're so far south and close to the border with Mexico, maybe we could get some luchadores based out of Mexicali and Juarez to think about working some dates with us? The scene down there's crowded enough that some should be willing to work for us fairly cheaply."

"Look into it. From that, we should have more than enough to be going with. Oh, there's one other thing I should mention - Rod's girlfriend, Jemma, usually comes with him to ringside. Will that be OK?"

"I don't see why not, although she'll have to be paid like everyone else." This also presented a good window for me to suggest something that might have sounded awkward if I'd just randomly thrown it into conversation. "Actually I think your daughter could be useful in that role too..."

"Olivia? If you think so, but why would anyone come to see her?"

I tried to think of a way of phrasing 'because she's smoking hot' in a way that took into account that I was talking to her father, but luckily (although somewhat annoyingly), Olivia burst into the room right then, having obviously been listening at the door. "Oh, please, Daddy! The boys never let me get involved in any of that wrestling stuff, and I've always wanted to!"

I left that argument to them, confident that Olivia would get her way. It certainly seemed like she usually did.

*****

The next few days were spent researching and making some phone calls as the inital roster got put together, and eventually I had a list of names to refer to when booking shows:

Ace Youngblood (23, Middleweight, Entertainer): One of the few native Arizonans who I had worked with in the Midwest, I naturally thought of Ace early when trying to find people to bring in, and he was happy to come and work in Phoenix. He has some national name value on the indy scene, which certainly can't hurt as we try and get our name out there, and he's a skilled and athletic worker with a popular Native American gimmick calling on his legitimate Navajo roots.

Air Attack Weasel (26, Lightweight, Spot Monkey): I wanted at least one semi-major indy name to give us immediate credibility, and Air Attack Weasel fit the bill. He's got a hell of a lot more experience than most of the roster, having worked from Florida to the East Coast to up in Canada, and he has the moves to wow the fans as well as his crazy Comic Book Villain gimmick to keep them entertained.

Disco Daredevil (18, Small, Luchador): A young Phoenix backyarder who I mainly agreed to hire because he's willing to basically work for free. He has potential, though, I'll give him that, although his bland 'Daredevil Aero' gimmick was quickly thrown out in favour of the first thing that came to mind - a Disco Stud. It should distract the fans from his current almost total lack of ability.

El Ladron (19, Middleweight, Regular Wrestler): A young Mexican worker with a good look and size, he's still polishing his skills but isn't bad at all right now. His name, meaning 'The Thief', refers directly to his gimmick, although since his English isn't too good, I doubt that'll come into play for a while.

El Medico (21, Lightweight, Cruiserweight): Another luchador, this guy is actually American so it wasn't hard convincing him to work for us, and he's solid in the ring with some good high flying moves. I plan to push him as a Staff Member, acting like he's our actual medical personnel. Like we could really afford that.

Fearless Blue (19, Small, Spot Monkey): This guy has quite the cult following here in Phoenix. Apparently even small shows he appears on get an attendance boost thanks to the small army of loyal groupies and hangers-on he's accumulated, so it makes sense to make him a big part of our shows. He gets by with his Dude gimmick most of the time, so we'll stick with what works here.

Oni (23, Lightweight, Entertainer): This guy's currently based in Mexico, but he's actually Japanese, having moved over to get some experience. Since he's looking to improve, I figured he'd be glad to come work with us. His gimmick is basically that of a Maniac who's completely uncontrollable, who thinks he's some kind of Japanese evil spirit.

Rex Reeves (28, Lightweight, Cruiserweight): Probably the most experienced guy on the roster, though definitely not the best. He worked on pretty much every show of the five year run of Southern Class Championship Wrestling, and never progressed past jobber stage there. I doubt he'll go anywhere fast, so I'm just going to use him as a Lackey for the main star of the show, who will of course be...

Roderick Remus (19, Lightweight, Cruiserweight): Son of the company's owner, Richard Remus. This will be his first run as a singles star, though, as he's been a tag team specialist with his brother for his whole brief career. Apparently he's got big plans, having described his character as 'like a sort of Pretentious Artist'. OK then...

The Desperado (21, Lightweight, Regular Wrestler): Real name Ben Williams. This guy has worked EVERYWHERE, under every gimmick you could imagine. We nickname him the 'Bump Machine' because he's happy to get paid to get his ass kicked pretty much anywhere. He'll have a generic Cowboy gimmick here, although God knows he has the costume to play anything else we could possibly need.

The Redneck Luchador (20, Small, Luchador): Also known as Super Sonic, this guy is another Phoenix backyarder who has just enough talent, or at least potential talent, that I'll actually hire him, and he's happy to work for almost nothing since he was going to throw himself of a roof for free anyway. His White Trash gimmick serves its purpose well enough, i.e. to differentiate him from the other guys getting their asses kicked.

Velocidad (21, Lightweight, Luchador): The last guy out of Mexico on our roster and easily talented enough that it's practically criminal that we're able to hire him. If anything we're paying him less than the other Mexican guys, though. With some stunning aerial moves and a natural charisma, he doesn't find it hard to connect with fans and a generic Fun Babyface gimmick should serve him fine.

To that, add our announce team of Remmington Remus (duh) and Kenny O'Quinn, who's actually an experienced retired wrestler who worked for the Texas Wrestling League back in the eighties and might be a useful sounding board for me when booking. Xander Summer will be our referee, being basically a regular at Richard's bar who can count to three, so not exactly skilled but at least he's cheap. And we have two managers: Rod's girlfriend, Jemma, now known as Muse to fit his artist gimmick, and Olivia Remus, whose name I edited to Olivia Diamond to play down he connection to Rod considering she'll be working as a face foil to Muse, managing Fearless Blue for the time being. (There didn't seem to be much point changing Remy's name considering they're identical twins and all.) And the road agent role will be filled by me.

With all that put together, and the fairly simple idea of starting off with an eight man title tournament in mind, it was simple enough to put together a poster for our first ever show and get to work putting it up around the streets to hopefully drum up some interest.

Introducing LIVE at the Pelican Bar on 24th Street, the debut of the hottest new wrestling promotion in Arizona - PHOENIX RISING WRESTLING! Stop in for a drink and get in to see the hour long wrestling show for just three dollars on Saturday of Week 3, January, 2008. The following matches will be featured:

FIRST ROUND MATCHES IN THE PRW PHOENIX CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT
Air Attack Weasel vs. The Desperado
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/weasel.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/desperado.jpg

Disco Daredevil vs. Roderick Remus
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/disco-1.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/rod.jpg

Ace Youngblood vs. The Redneck Luchador
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/ace.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/redneck.jpg

Fearless Blue vs. Rex Reeves
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/fearless.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/rex.jpg

PLUS LUCHA LIBRE TAG TEAM ACTION LIVE FROM MEXICO!
El Ladron & Oni vs. El Medico & Velocidad
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/ladron.jpg & http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/oni.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/medico.jpg & http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/velocidad.jpg

"How does it look?" asked Remy anxiously, showing me the poster once he'd finished making it.

I just smiled at him. "Perfect."

John Lions · April 21, 2010

Not going to predict since I read this on EWB already, but I have to say this is definitely one of the main reasons I would check back there every couple of days, since this was one of my favorite diaries to read up on. It was kind of sad that no one really gave you any feedback (probably because it was Cornellverse and not real life) but hopefully on GDS you get at least some responses.

borman_48 · April 21, 2010

Air Attack Weasel vs. Desperado

Disco Daredevil vs. Rod Remus

Ace Youngblood vs. The Redneck Luchador

Fearless Blue vs. Rex Reeves

Most of the first rounders are pretty easy. Blue v. Reeves made me think, but Olivia's managing of Blue probably helps him to a victory.

El Ladron and Oni vs. El Medico and Velocidad

Velocidad put on some solid matches, just need to get his name out there.

I like the looks of this, and the backstory was great. Easy to follow without being to long for me to give up on reading. Good start to this TEOL.

cappyboy · April 21, 2010

Count another who loved the backstory and who's looking forward to reading more. Also doesn't hurt that aside from maybe the distinct lack of Bob Casey, this roster sounds like one of my training fed games. Although it's appears you're using realistic financing and scheduling so the analogy isn't perfect. Still, it should be fun seeing how you book these guys.

And heck, I'll play the prediction game here.

Air Attack Weasel vs Desperado

Weasel is the bigger name and you've gimmicked Ben in a way that doesn't fit for him getting pushed very high.

Disco Daredevil vs Rod Remus

Your marquee player vs a project. Seems pretty obvious.

Ace Youngblood vs Redneck Luchador

Youngblood seems like he'd be your top face in the near term.

Fearless Blue vs Rex Reeves

I'll play the contrarian here and take the veteran. I get the thinking that you go Blue because of Olivia being blood and I wouldn't fight with it. But that's also a good basis for putting Blue in a sympathy feud to get the new crowd behind him. Putting Reeves over him in a shady manner is a good first step on that path.

El Ladron & Oni vs El Medico & Velocidad

This is more pure hope than a prediction actually. I've had issues with Oni during training games in the past. So I'll go with the faces on principle.

9 to 5 · April 21, 2010

Been following this on EWB so I won't spoil, but I think it's safe and accurate to say you lot are in for a real treat with this effort from TEOL.

TEOL · April 22, 2010

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/logo.jpg

PRW: FROM THE ASHES

Saturday, Week 3, January, 2008

The Pelican Bar, Phoenix, Arizona

We didn't bother setting out the room for a massive number of people, only a hundred or so seats being set up by me, Richard and a few of the boys who offered to help. Even so, it was gratifying when 77 of those seats were filled as the hour long show was set to begin. Not a bad turnout at all based on a bunch of flyers, I guess people like seeing the first ever of something. Hopefully they'll want to see more after this too.

I sat in the Gorilla position, reminding people of the booking as they headed out and watching with my fingers crossed. If this ended up falling on its face, I knew full well there was no one else to blame...

El Ladron & Oni vs. El Medico & Velocidad

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/ladron.jpg & http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/oni.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/medico.jpg & http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/velocidad.jpg

This seemed like the best way available to me to kick off PRW's inaugural show - colourful masks, over-the-top characters and high flying action were definitely the sort of things I want this company to emphasise. Admittedly the high flying action was only really coming from the tecnico side of this equation, as El Medico quickly found out to his cost. Although he was able to catch Oni early on with a running tornado DDT, he was stopped dead in his tracks by a big clothesline from El Ladron, who's actually one of the biggest guys on the roster right now, second only to Ace Youngblood in terms of size - and second only to his tag partner in terms of brutality.

Oni demanded the tag in and started beating the hell out of El Medico, keeping him grounded to the mat with what was actually some impressive technical skills before continually stomping him down hard. He threw El Medico in the corner and starting pummelling him, looking for all the world like an uncontrollable beast. That got the better of him, though, as he missed a charge in the corner allowing El Medico to tag in his partner. Velocidad slingshotted himself over the ropes and took Oni down with a dropkick and a headscissor, electrifying the crowd with his speed. He locked his hand with Oni's and ran up to the top rope, kicking El Ladron off the apron in the process, before flipping and catching Oni with a beautiful Velocirana straight into a pin! That got the victory!

El Medico & Velocidad def. El Ladron & Oni (pinfall, Velocirana on Oni) E-

The music of Fearless Blue hit, and he headed down to the ring as the crowd got their first look at his new valet, Olivia Diamond - who caused quite a stir, given that she came out wearing nothing but a bikini top and cutoffs. Not quite sure how she got that one past her father, because I know I wouldn't want my daughter walking around in a room full of on-the-way-to-drunken men, but as it was, I merely allowed my infatuation to increase as she sat on the middle rope to allow Blue to get in the ring and pose.

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/olivia.jpg

Blue: "Yeah, I can see all of you guys are thinking the same thing I was when I first laid eyes on this beauty, and that is DAMN! Her name's Olivia and she's the one who brought me here tonight, because baby, who's the greatest wrestler this city's ever seen?"

Olivia: "You are, Blue!"

Blue: "That's right. So if we're holding a tournament to see who's the Phoenix Champion, of course I've got to enter. And whoever's dumb enough to think otherwise, get your ass out here and I'll show you why I'm Fearless." E-

Phoenix Title Tournament Quarter Final

Fearless Blue w/Olivia Diamond vs. Rex Reeves

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/fearless.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/olivia.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/rex.jpg

For all his talk, once the match started it was quickly evident that Fearless Blue was not exactly the greatest wrestler of all time. That's why I put him in there against a nine-year veteran who had plenty of experience in this sort of environment in the form of Rex Reeves for his first PRW match, hoping that Reeves would carry him to something passable; and while he managed to cover over a lot of Blue's botching well, psychology-wise this match was something of a train wreck, the crowd having trouble getting into it due to the lack of flow, with each guy just doing whatever moves they could think of.

Luckily, both guys know how to sell, so at least the moves looked pretty good, and Olivia was doing her best at ringside to get the crowd behind Blue. Most of them had already been drawn in by his easy-going charisma, though, and Blue was getting a good response for everything he was doing, especially as he started to build up some offense towards the end of the match. Taking down Reeves with a pair of flying forearms, he signalled to the crowd that it was over and slammed Reeves down by the corner before going up to the top rope. He posed for the fans before connecting with a beautiful Heart Stopper (sky twister press) for the win!

Fearless Blue def. Rex Reeves (pinfall, Heart Stopper) F+

Phoenix Title Tournament Quarter Final

Ace Youngblood vs. The Redneck Luchador

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/ace.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/redneck.jpg

Ace got a pretty good reception as he came to the ring wearing a Native American war cloak and getting the crowd to chant along with him. He unloaded on The Redneck Luchador early on with a series of tomahawk chops (well, really, what else?) and threw him to the outside before turning back to the crowd, who are responding better than I expected to a pretty outdated gimmick, although Ace has certainly perfected his routine on various indies. Following the Redneck out proved to be a bad idea, though, as he found himself on the wrong end of a drop toe hold into the barrier and got slammed into the apron, taking away his momentum.

The Redneck rolled him inside and started with some typical heel offense, choking Ace over the ropes while mouthing off to some fans in the front row. He showed off what he can do in the ring as well, though, executing a nice spinning headscissor takedown for a two count. Ace started shrugging off his blows, though, going into his trademark Indian war dance routine, getting himself fired up as he walked around the ring ignoring the Redneck's punches. Finally he caught one and came right back with a series of big chops, driving him back into the corner, before getting stopped with a thumb to the eye. A whip attempt was countered, however, into the Ace Crusher from Youngblood! That got the three count!

Ace Youngblood def. The Redneck Luchador (pinfall, Ace Crusher) E

The crowd got their first look at Muse now as she came out from behind the curtain, as had I when Jemma had introduced herself to me earlier in the day, and it was pretty clear that the crowd was divided in opinion between her and Olivia. I doubt any of these fans were expecting even one smoking hot valet on our show, never mind two. Even so, she was still just a valet, which meant she was here to signal the arrival of Roderick Remus, who made his way out with a smug sneer to the instant hatred of the fans, rolling into the ring and waving with his hands to demand quiet.

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/muse.jpg

Remus: "You cretins will be quiet while I'm talking! Gentlemen and - well, just gentlemen apparently, unless some of you got your imaginary girlfriends to come here with you, allow me to introduce myself. I am Roderick Remus and I am the man who will be wearing the PRW Phoenix Championship at the end of this tournament. Why? Believe me when I say that I am the greatest artist who ever lived, better than Picasso, Da Vinci or Rembrandt. The only difference is that the canvas I craft my art on *points down* is this one. Tonight I face a joke, a dancing fool who does not even deserve to be in the same ring as me, but it does not matter. One way or another, he will become another part of my masterpiece, as will everyone who stands between myself and championship gold." E

Phoenix Title Tournament Quarter Final

Disco Daredevil vs. Roderick Remus w/Muse

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/disco-1.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/rod.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/muse.jpg

The crowd actually popped pretty big for Disco as he danced his way to the ring, slapping hands with fans, although that might have just been because he was presumably out here to shut Roderick up. He actually offered a handshake at the start of the match, which Remus of course ignored, jump starting things with a series of punches to the face. He tried to whip Disco, but got reversed, allowing Disco to use his dance moves to dodge Remus' clothesline attempts before catching him with a jumping calf kick to the face as the crowd cheered. A dropkick almost sent Roderick to the floor as Disco started getting fired up.

That momentum got cut off in a hurry when Remus caught him with an atomic drop and following up with a running knee to the back. Remus worked over Disco's neck with a chinlock while continuing to taunt the crowd as Muse applauded her man at ringside. Disco got the fans clapping, though, and worked his way to his feet, elbowing out of the hold and coming off the ropes with a flying crossbody for two. Disco got the fans behind him again as he set up for one of his trademark moves, the Murder On The Dancefloor (a sort of running flipping neckbreaker), but as he came off the ropes Muse grabbed his ankle from the outside! Disco turned around, yelling at Muse to stay out of it, which was his last mistake, as Remus quickly came up behind him with a Russian legsweep and converted it into the Remus Clutch (grounded octopus hold)! With nowhere to go, Disco had no choice but to quickly tap out!

Roderick Remus def. Disco Daredevil (submission, Remus Clutch) E+

Phoenix Title Tournament Quarter Final

Air Attack Weasel vs. The Desperado

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/weasel.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/desperado.jpg

I don't think the crowd knew exactly what to think of AAW's goofy costume as he made his way to the ring, though there seemed to be a general consensus of 'he's a guy who thinks he's some kind of flying weasel? And he's bad? Well, OK then'. A few people there had definitely seen him before, though, which was the whole point; main event our first show with two guys who were at least dependable in the ring and who people might recognise, although hopefully they won't recognise the Desperado past his bandana as 'that guy who got his ass kicked at every indy show ever'.

It didn't take long for AAW to justify himself being on the roster, though, as he took Desperado down early with a spinning heel kick and it quickly became obvious that he was a class apart from the rest of the roster skill wise. Desperado looked like he was having trouble keeping up with the Weasel, which didn't bode too well for the match as when he caught Weasel with a back body drop and tried to take over with a sleeper, the crowd were having none of it, and it pretty soon became obvious that it didn't matter that AAW was supposed to be the heel.

AAW didn't take long to grant their request, getting back to his feet and hitting the Desperado with a neckbreaker. He nailed a back suplex and mocked the crowd, trying to get back some heat, before hitting a low dropkick to the face of Desperado. Dragging the exhausted Desperado to his feet, he set him up and taunted the crowd again before dropping his opponent with the sleeper slam that he calls (against all possible reason) Plop Goes The Weasel! From there it's an academic three count, and he celebrates while again mocking the fans as our first show ends.

Air Attack Weasel def. The Desperado (pinfall, Plop Goes The Weasel) E

Attendance: 77
Best Match: Roderick Remus def. Disco Daredevil
Worst Match: Fearless Blue def. Rex Reeves

Overall Rating: E

TEOL · April 22, 2010

"Whatcha looking at there, honey?"

I looked up and smiled as Olivia walked over to me sitting at the bar, having just served a customer. I had been finding myself spending more and more time in Phoenix over the last couple of weeks, getting things ready for the second show. I still wasn't 100% ready to stay with the Remus family yet when I did so - it was almost weird how welcoming they were - but luckily Richard was happy to put me up in motels on his dime when I was here. And I'd found the Pelican bar was a good place to sit and think with a beer, not least because of the service.

I showed Olivia the notebook I was writing in. "I've got most of the card sorted out for the next show. I'm just trying to decide whether or not to put the tournament final on this show or leave it to the next one."

"But if you put the final on this show, doesn't that mean the guys will have to work twice in the same show?"

"Yeah, but it's about momentum, you know? We need to get our storylines moving and our characters established quickly, otherwise people are going to find it hard to follow our product... sorry. I'm boring you, aren't I? I never really got the impression you were into wrestling."

"Are you kidding me? I love wrestling! Me and my brothers watched it all the time when we were kids. I wanted to train to be a wrestler too when they did, but Daddy wouldn't let me." The look on her face clearly showed that she hadn't appreciated that bit of parental concern.

"He probably did you a favour. Trust me, the wrestling business isn't that wonderful to get mixed up in. I should know."

"Kind of a funny thing for you to say, though, seeing as how you put me on my first ever wrestling show." She stuck her tongue out at me. Crap. That was technically true.

I tried to think of a comeback, but luckily I didn't have to as Richard came by just then. "Hey, Trent. I hope I don't sound too concerned, but I've been looking at the numbers and overall, we lost more than seven hundred dollars on the January show."

"Well, that was somewhat to be expected. Small time wrestling promotions take a while to start turning a profit." If anything I was surprised that our losses on the first show were that small. But something about the tone of his voice told me that I shouldn't mention that fact.

"I don't mean to sound like I'm telling you how to do things, but I did trust you with my money. Is there any way we can try and shore that up?"

"Um... if we complete the title tournament this month, we should have enough matches that we don't need to pay for any of the luchadors to come up from Mexico to fill out the card. That ought to save some money in worker costs."

"Well, give it a shot. Twenty-five thousand dollars is a lot of money, you know. Olivia, there are customers to be served." And with that, he just turned and walked away. Clearly he wasn't in the best of moods.

I turned back to Olivia. "Well, I guess that answers that question... I guess I'll go help Remy start making the posters for this month's show."

"Sorry about Dad, he just takes business things too seriously. I'll see you later."

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/logo.jpg

Phoenix Rising Wrestling returns to the Pelican Bar on 24th Street this Saturday with BLOOD TIES! Whether you saw our huge debut last month or just want to try something new, we hope you'll put down the three dollars to see the hour long show featuring the crowning of the first ever PRW Phoenix Champion! Blood Ties will feature the following matches:

PRW PHOENIX CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT FINAL
Winner of Semi-Final 1 vs. Winner of Semi-Final 2
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/no_picture.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/no_picture.jpg

PRW PHOENIX CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT SEMI-FINAL 1
Ace Youngblood vs. Fearless Blue w/Olivia Diamond
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/ace.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/fearless.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/olivia.jpg

PRW PHOENIX CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT SEMI-FINAL 2
Air Attack Weasel vs. Roderick Remus w/Muse
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/weasel.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/rod.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/muse.jpg

NUMBER ONE CONTENDERSHIP MATCH
The Desperado vs. The Redneck Luchador
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/desperado.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/redneck.jpg

SPECIAL ATTRACTION MATCH
Disco Daredevil vs. Oni
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/disco-1.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/oni.jpg

foolinc · April 22, 2010

Glad to see you posting this diary on the site, though I am a little shocked that you are too lazy to change the PRW logo.

borman_48 · April 23, 2010

Disco Daredevil vs. Oni

I'm going against my better mind and going with Daredevil. Love the render on that guy.

Desperado vs. The Redneck Luchador

Because I just can't see Ben Williams as the number one contender in any promotion.

Ace Youngblood vs. Fearless Blue

Experienced wrestler gets the win here.

Air Attack Weasel vs. Rod Remus

Tough one here, best known wrestler vs. Owner's son. Going with Remus almost purely on that fact, although I think Weasel will get the title belt soon enough.

Youngblood vs. Remus

Pretty Much same reason as above.

TEOL · April 23, 2010

Glad to see you posting this diary on the site, though I am a little shocked that you are too lazy to change the PRW logo.

lol, I completely forgot about that. You're also right, though, I'm too lazy to change it even now I have noticed so you'll have to wait for whichever show I started using it on <_<

*****

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/logo.jpg

PRW: BLOOD TIES

Saturday, Week 3, February, 2008

The Pelican Bar, Phoenix, Arizona

I looked with some trepidation out through the curtain to see how the room was filling up. It didn't look like we'd managed to get nearly as many as we had for our debut, though. Richard wasn't going to be happy about that... still, it was early days. If he was expecting us to sell out any arenas, even one as small as this, after we'd just started then he'd set his expectations too high. No one could do that from this sort of beginning. I could only do the best I could.

And hope that it was good enough...

Phoenix Title Tournament Semi Final

Ace Youngblood vs. Fearless Blue w/Olivia Diamond

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/ace.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/fearless.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/olivia.jpg

A potentially interesting bout to open, the closest we could possibly get right now to a power vs. speed match on this, our roster full of tiny indy guys - the SWF might be able to get six foot eight guys like Runaway Train, but the closest to that we could afford right now was all 235 lbs of Ace Youngblood. This was also interesting as I thought it would be useful to gauge which of the two popular local guys was getting the better reaction from the fans, and it looked like my original guess had been correct - while Ace might be more well known in general thanks to being better travelled, and the crowd did dig his Native American gimmick, here in Phoenix Fearless was a lot more popular, and the crowd went nuts for him as he ran at Ace with a flying forearm.

Ace recovered quickly, though, and countered another charge with a powerslam. He tried to ground Fearless, holding him down on the mat with an armbar as Olivia banged her hand on the apron, trying to rally the fans behind their favourite. Blue managed to fight his way back to his feet, whipping Ace into the ropes and catching him as he came back with a jumping calf kick. Blue showed off his gymnast background by connecting with an impressive cartwheel splash, firing up the fans before going up top... Heart Stopper! That gets the three count! The styles of the two guys clashed pretty badly, but otherwise it was decent.

Fearless Blue def. Ace Youngblood (pinfall, Heart Stopper) E-

Phoenix Title Tournament Semi Final

Air Attack Weasel vs. Roderick Remus w/Muse

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/weasel.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/rod.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/muse.jpg

This was also a test, but rather than seeing who was more popular with the fans, this was about seeing who was more hated, although with a better mix of styles. And, again, what I had seen last month held up - although Air Attack Weasel wrestled like a heel, his goofy gimmick combined with the fact that he was probably the best wrestler on the roster meant that the fans tended to cheer for him. Roderick, on the other hand, they saw as an ******* (albeit a talented one) who had the heel charisma to get the fans to hate him, leading to the crowd quickly getting behind AAW.

Weasel snapped off a rana and went to pick up Remus to do more damage, but referee Xander Summer somehow didn't see the low blow Remus delivered, turning the tide back in his favour. He slapped on a chinlock, but Weasel fought his way to his feet and hit a back suplex as the crowd cheered. A spinning heel kick got a two count, but as Weasel set up for another attack, he found Muse was grabbing onto his ankle! He turned around, trying to kick her away, and that allowed Remus to quickly recover, sneaking up behind AAW with a Russian legsweep transitioned into a Remus Clutch! Trapped in the centre of the ring, AAW had no choice but to tap out as Remus picked up another win the same way he did last month!

Roderick Remus def. Air Attack Weasel (submission, Remus Clutch) E+

AAW rolled out of the ring as Roderick Remus turned his attention to the crowd. He helped Muse into the ring before cutting a promo for later tonight.

Remus: "Once again, you ungrateful Philistines are allowed to view a part of my masterpiece. Believe me, I understand. I understand why you wish for me to fail. My quest to create artistic perfection just exposes the flawed and imperfect nature of your own lives. But I am driven by a higher force than that. They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I will produce a work of art that no one can dispute the perfection of. For one can debate the aesthetic merits of a piece of art, but no one can dispute the fact that at the end of tonight, I will be the one holding the PRW Phoenix Championship. And another part of my masterpiece will be complete." E-

Special Attraction Match

Disco Daredevil vs. Oni

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/disco-1.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/oni.jpg

The fans actually gave Disco Daredevil a pretty good reception as he danced his way to the ring, clearly his gimmick having caught on a bit in his first appearance. His opponent didn't even stop to acknowledge the fans, though, as the crazed demon Oni charged straight to the ring and goes straight on the offensive, hammering away on the Daredevil with punches. Disco looks completely unequipped to deal with Oni's uncontrollable offense, his attempts at kicks simply brushed aside as Oni took him down to the mat and started pounding him with strikes. Disco finally managed to get back some control by going to the ropes and then nailing a dropkick, but a charge was cut off with a boot followed by the Dead Calm Drop II (hangman's neckbreaker) for the pinfall.

Oni def. Disco Daredevil (pinfall, Dead Calm Drop II) F+

Number One Contendership Match

The Desperado vs. The Redneck Luchador

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/desperado.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/redneck.jpg

The first ever Phoenix Champion will be crowned tonight, but two men who already know they won't be the guys lifting that belt battle it out for the chance to get the first shot at the new champion. The fans are willing to cheer The Desperado based on his gimmick alone, but after they turned on him based on how quickly he blew up against Air Attack Weasel, I was more than a little concerned about how well the fans would continue to react to him. But they seemed alright in the early going of this one, as he exchanged armdrags with The Redneck Luchador, who was getting plenty of mockery from the crowd for his white trash status.

The Redneck managed a nice flapjack and a low dropkick to gain control of the fight, quickly locking him up with a surfboard and taking the opportunity to mouth off to the fans, making sure that the crowd was firmly on the side of the Desperado. Desperado got back to his feet, flipping the Redneck over his head to the mat and then catching him with a dropkick when he got back up. The Desperado looks exhausted again, and the Redneck takes advantage of that to come off the ropes... but he may have been playing possum, because he turns and connects with a huge Outlaw Lariat! You can forget about this one!

The Desperado def. The Redneck Luchador (pinfall, Outlaw Lariat) E-

We take a short interlude to show to the fans for the first time the PRW Phoenix championship belt, which will be presented to the winner of the next match, and Richard even gets into the ring to give some special intros for the competitors as we really try to both hype up our first championship bout as a big deal, and waste time since we didn't bring in the Mexicans this month. E-

Phoenix Title Tournament Final

Fearless Blue w/Olivia Diamond vs. Roderick Remus w/Muse

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/fearless.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/olivia.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/rod.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/muse.jpg

And finally we get a clear cut heel vs. face bout tonight, as the crowd shower Remus with boos and give Fearless an ovation. The only thing they seem split on is having both valets at ringside as they lock up, Remus just slapping Blue around the face and mocking him as the crowd gets fired up into this one. Remus whips Blue into the corner, but Blue leapfrogs over the turnbuckle onto the apron and catches Remus coming in with a kick to the head that takes him down, almost getting pulled off the apron by Muse in the process but leaping over her hands as Olivia Diamond comes over to chase Remus' valet away.

Remus takes back control, though, taking him down with a deep armdrag and holding on with the armbar. Blue fights back with kicks and a dropkick, putting him down on the mat, and again hits a cartwheel splash, scoring a two count. A running calf kick gets another two count. Blue comes off the ropes, but Muse grabs his ankle, turning him around! Not this again... Olivia Diamond comes over again to chase Muse away, and as Remus comes in looking for the Russian legsweep, he gets caught with an elbow to the face! A sunset flip puts Remus' shoulders down... but he kicks out at two!

Olivia and Muse are in a semi-catfight on the outside as Fearless looks for a quebrada, but Remus dodges it. Fearless lands on his feet, though, and quickly hits a monkey flip and floats over for another nearfall. The referee Xander Summer leans through the ropes, trying to pull the two valets apart, as Rex Reeves runs down the aisle with a chair! Well, I did say he was going to be Roderick's lackey. Fearless goes for an O'Connor roll, but Remus ducks down and Blue eats the chairshot! Blue crumples backwards and Reeves hides under the ring as Remus pins Blue and puts his feet on the ropes... Xander turns around and counts the three, giving the belt to Roderick Remus!

Roderick Remus def. Fearless Blue to WIN the PRW Phoenix Championship (pinfall, feet on the ropes) D-

Attendance: 58
Best Match: Roderick Remus def. Fearless Blue
Worst Match: Oni def. Disco Daredevil

Overall Rating: E

TEOL · April 23, 2010

It was only a few days later that I found myself sitting once again in the Pelican Bar, and in truth I hadn't spent that long back in Chicago before flying back to Phoenix. I was buzzing; I still remembered the way the fans had showered the ring with boos as Roderick posed with the belt over his head, laughing at his masterpiece having come to fruition. That was what I had missed, moments like that. I had tried to suppress that feeling within myself when I knew I would never be part of it again, but in a way, I was wrong. Yeah, I would never be the guy in the ring again, but I was still part of it. I made it happen. And we'd all celebrated the success together.

Granted, it wasn't a financial success yet; despite cutting down on the number of workers we'd brought in, we'd still lost money, around four hundred dollars. I was a little worried that Richard would be annoyed about it again, but after seeing how happy Roderick was after the show, I think he mellowed out over it a little. Now he sees it as his job to bring in more sponsors to help make money rather than my job to cut the quality of shows for his gain.

Of course, now I'd booked myself into a corner by making Ben the number one contender, pretty much guaranteeing that after our first title match had been stellar for a promotion of our size, the first defence of the belt was going to be nowhere near that in terms of quality. Still, that was just transitional as we moved from the company's beginning into a schedule. What we really needed was more of a hook to get our storylines moving. I had a few ideas; I'd been asking some of the guys if they had any ideas what they'd like to use as entrance music as well as coming up with some myself that I thought would fit. It was much better hearing what they had to say, though, since most of them could tell me about smaller, local bands that I hadn't heard of, but would be over with the fans in Phoenix.

Storyline-wise, though, I wasn't sure what I wanted to move forward with. There had been some suggestions, and good ones, but I had to pick and choose what the promotion should run with, and this was not my forte; I was a wrestler, not a booker. So I was back where I found myself increasingly these days, scribbling various show ideas in a notepad and drinking a beer.

"Hey, Trent."

Richard had come up behind me along with a huge man, easily around 6'4" and powerfully built. I smiled. "What's up?"

"I'd like you to meet the son of one of my friends, a guy who owns a hotel downtown. This kid was a standout with Arizona State's football team, but when he heard about our wrestling show, he decided to give this a shot."

I looked the guy up and down. "You... want to wrestle?"

He smiled. "Yeah."

"Do you know how?"

"Kinda," he said, waving a hand.

Richard cut in. "I thought you could help with that. I mean, everyone keeps saying you were one of the best in your in-ring days."

Hmm. Me? A trainer as well? If nothing else, there would be immediate benefits to having this guy on the roster; he was way bigger than anyone we already had, and by the sounds of it, had all the athletic skills needed to be something special. "What's your name, kid?"

"Primus Allen."

"Primus... give me some time, and I can make you a star. How does that sound?"

His smile widened. "Sounds good to me."

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/logo.jpg

Phoenix Rising Wrestling will present our third show at the Pelican Bar on 24th Street this Saturday, entitled BURNING DESIRE! For just three dollars you can see the new PRW Phoenix Champion, Roderick Remus, make his first defence of the title against The Desperado! Plus Air Attack Weasel and Fearless Blue fighting it out for the number one contendership! Check out the full card:

PRW PHOENIX CHAMPIONSHIP
Roderick Remus © w/Muse vs. The Desperado
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/rod.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/muse.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/desperado.jpg

NUMBER ONE CONTENDERSHIP MATCH
Air Attack Weasel vs. Fearless Blue w/Olivia Diamond
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/weasel.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/fearless.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/olivia.jpg

Disco Daredevil vs. The Redneck Luchador
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/disco-1.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/redneck.jpg

El Ladron vs. Velocidad
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/ladron.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/velocidad.jpg

El Medico vs. Rex Reeves
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/medico.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/rex.jpg

TEOL · April 24, 2010

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/logo.jpg

PRW: BURNING DESIRE

Saturday, Week 3, March, 2008

The Pelican Bar, Phoenix, Arizona

Attendance looked more or less the same as last month, so I guess there was a spike for our big debut and now we'd settled into what we should expect attendance-wise for the time being. Despite that, I was a lot more relaxed than I had been before. We were over the first couple of hurdles, and we'd put on shows that people seemed to have enjoyed. Now that we had that momentum, now that we had settled into a sort of routine, we could start focusing on the challenges that lay ahead.

The fairly crappy speakers (but hey, it's not like they needed to be that fantastic for the time being) were fired up for the first time to play Igor Stravinsky's 'The Rite of Spring', not exactly the kind of song you might expect to hear at a wrestling show, but all was explained quickly as Roderick Remus walked through the curtain, wearing the PRW Phoenix Championship around his waist and flanked by Muse and Rex Reeves. The fans (at least, those who were here last month) jeer the trio as Reeves holds the ropes open for the champion and his girl.

Remus: "Last month, this promotion witnessed the beginning of a new era in professional wrestling, as I ascended to my rightful place at the top of this promotion. This belt only symbolises the beginning of what will become my masterpiece. I now have everything an artist needs to make his mark on history. The talent and determination I already had, and with it I now have the prestige this belt gives me. But I also have the right people.

"After all, all the greatest artists have their disciples, pupils eager to learn from their master. This man, Rex Reeves, may not have had the skill to progress in this title tournament, but he was sensible enough to recognise greatness when he saw it. That's why he joined up with me. And, of course, all the greatest artists have their muse who provides them with inspiration, and of course I have that. Together, we are the Art Class. And we dominate this company.

"That's why I've decided to cancel the first match of the card tonight, so that instead we can focus on what's really important; celebrating my title victory. All of you fans may come into the ring now and appreciate my brilliant victory and congratulate me on my success, as long as you don't get too close. You should be grateful to be allowed to come so close to greatness..."

But before he can continue, El Medico runs out from the back, waving his arms! He rolls into the ring as Remus looks at him in disgust.

Medico: "With all due respect, senor, you don't have the safety clearance to hold a celebration in the ring... the ring might break, people could get hurt, and then who'll have to take care of them? I will..."

Remus just looks at him.

Remus: "Rex... take him out."

Rex Reeves decks El Medico with a clothesline as Roderick and Muse head to the back, and we have a match! A previously announced one, but whatever. E-

El Medico vs. Rex Reeves

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/medico.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/rex.jpg

Even in the unlikely event that El Medico had a chance in the first place, the jump start leaves Rex in total control, just stomping down PRW's resident doctor in a clear attempt to show his new mentor that he was worthy of being a member of the Art Class. Reeves shows off some of his skills, being as he is probably one of the most experienced members of the roster, and he demonstrates it with a series of suplexes on El Medico. El Medico manages a brief comeback, getting in some token offense before getting kicked in the gut and eating the RexPlex (swinging fisherman's suplex) to pick up the victory, which will certainly put him in Roderick's good books.

Rex Reeves def. El Medico (pinfall, RexPlex) F+

El Ladron vs. Velocidad

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/ladron.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/velocidad.jpg

Some luchador action as El Ladron and Velocidad return to Phoenix, this time in one on one action. Ladron has the immediately obvious advantage, being that he has almost half a foot height advantage over his opponent, but Velocidad tries to make his speed count early by flying at Ladron with a spinning forearm, sending him back into the ropes. He follows up with a clothesline sending him to the outside, and a plancha over the ropes that fires up the crowd. A whip into the barricade is countered, though, and Velocidad finds himself sent into the steel himself, and then gets thrown powerfully into the ringpost as well as El Ladron establishes a big advantage.

El Ladron rolls Velocidad back into the ring and stomps him down into the corner hard, leaving him gasping for air. He then picks him up and whips him hard into the opposite turnbuckle, leaving him facedown on the mat. A brief comeback attempt from Velocidad is cut off by a clubbing blow to the back of the head; another by a big clothesline. The third works, though, as a flapjack attempt from El Ladron is countered into a DDT! Velocidad gets the crowd behind him, nailing an enzuigiri and a headscissor takedown. He quickly leaps up to the top rope and comes off with a Velocidad Tornado (twisting moonsault)! That gets the win!

Velocidad def. El Ladron (pinfall, Velocidad Tornado) E-

Disco Daredevil vs. The Redneck Luchador

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/disco-1.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/redneck.jpg

'Le Freak' by Chic plays over the speakers as Disco Daredevil dances his way to the ring, the crowd clapping along in support of the fan favourite. It's an important match for both of these guys, though, as both are on two losses from PRW's first two shows and both really need a win in order to start establishing themselves as potential threats to the PRW Phoenix Champion. The Redneck Luchador certainly looks all business as he heads to the ring, starting the match very aggressively and catching the fun loving Daredevil off guard with a running dropkick and a series of punches and kicks in the corner.

Disco pulls himself to his feet in a manner most funky, however, and gets his feet up as the Redneck charges in to stagger him while flipping himself up to the top rope. He then leaps off with a high crossbody, scoring a two count on the Redneck. The Redneck catches him with a hotshot onto the top rope, then clotheslines him in the back of the head for a two count. The Redneck signals for the end, perhaps looking to set up Disco for his Sonic Boom finisher as he whips Disco into the ropes, but makes the mistake of setting too early for a backdrop, allowing Disco to counter with the Murder on the Dancefloor for the victory!

Disco Daredevil def. The Redneck Luchador (pinfall, Murder on the Dancefloor) F+

The speakers fire up with 'Pop Goes The Weasel' by 3rd Bass as Air Attack Weasel makes his way to the ring with a snarl on his face, clearly not in the mood for playing about as he has the chance to secure a shot at the PRW Phoenix Championship tonight. But he has something on his mind to share with the crowd before that.

Weasel: "Don't think I don't know what you people think of me. Don't think I don't hear you laughing at me! You think you shouldn't take me seriously just because I wear this costume, just because you don't believe in the power that the Lord High Weasel has bestowed on me to perform His will in the world! Well, tonight you shall see. Tonight you shall see the power I have at my disposal, as I destroy that fool Fearless Blue tonight! Yes, you will see, and when I wear the PRW Phoenix championship around my waist, I will rule over the entire world of PRW! Ahahahaha! Ahahaha..." E

Number One Contendership Match

Air Attack Weasel vs. Fearless Blue w/Olivia Diamond

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/weasel.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/fearless.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/olivia.jpg

He gets interrupted by Jimmy Eat World's 'Sweetness', as Fearless Blue casually walks down the entrance aisle clearly not too impressed by Air Attack Weasel. And as the match begins, it certainly looks like he has no reason to be - he quickly takes control of the match, Weasel selling a series of Blue's chops like death in the corner before eating a springboard dropkick. Fearless snapmares Weasel down to the mat and connects with his cartwheel splash, scoring a two count and looking in firm control of the match. He drags AAW over to the corner of the ring and heads up top, perhaps looking to hit the Heart Stopper and finish this one, but Weasel was playing possum (or possibly weasel) and gets to his feet, knocking Blue down. Weasel turns to the entrance way then, yelling 'now, Primus! Now!'

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/primus.jpg

A huge man runs down the entrance aisle and makes a beeline straight for Olivia at ringside, grabbing her and lifting her over his shoulder, as Blue tries to fight off Weasel and go to help her. Weasel takes him down with a rana, though, and laughs at his plan coming together - until Ace Youngblood runs down to ringside! Youngblood attacks Primus with punches, clearly filled with righteous babyface indignation at the big man laying hands on a woman, but Primus doesn't seem to feel the blows. He does release Olivia, though, and Weasel starts yelling at Youngblood from the outside. He turns back around to see Blue on the top rope, leaping off with a springboard lariat! That puts AAW down for the three count!

Fearless Blue def. Air Attack Weasel (pinfall, springboard lariat) D-

The bell rings and Fearless gets his hand raised, but gets taken down from behind with a clothesline from Primus! Him and Weasel start angrily getting revenge on Blue for the loss, but Youngblood rolls into the ring and throws Weasel to the outside! He stands up to the big man, hammering him with punches before clotheslining him over the top rope to the floor! Ace and Olivia help Blue back to his feet and they stand tall in the ring as the heels slink off back to the locker room. F+

PRW Phoenix Championship

Roderick Remus © w/Muse vs. The Desperado

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/rod.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/muse.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/desperado.jpg

'Don't Take Your Guns Into Town' by Johnny Cash plays over the speakers, and the crowd cheer as the Desperado makes his way to the ring to challenge for the PRW Phoenix title. He may not be the most popular face on the roster, but this crowd seems happy to cheer for anyone who's trying to take the belt away from Roderick Remus after Remus' 'celebration' earlier in the show. Muse leads the champion to the ring, holding the ropes open for him as he poses with the belt ahead of his first defence of that title.

In the early going, it becomes pretty clear why Remus is the champion, as he outclasses the Desperado with armdrags and a big dropkick before posing again to a chorus of jeers but the applause of Muse on the outside. He snapmares the Desperado down and ascends the turnbuckles, but it's way too early in the match for that as the challenger gets back to his feet and knocks him down into the tree of woe, getting the crowd behind him as he goes to the opposite corner, then charges in with a dropkick to the face of the upside down champion! Remus collapses out of the corner in a heap and Desperado goes for the quick cover, but he's too close to the ropes.

That gives the advantage to the challenger, though, who works over Remus with a surfboard on the mat to wear the champion down. Remus makes his way to his feet, but gets caught with a drop toe hold into the second rope, draping him there for a charge into the back. He tries again, but Remus moves out of the way and the Desperado lands groin first on the rope! Remus follows up with a spinning kick and a German suplex for two. He ascends the turnbuckles and poses again for all the fans to see... then dives off and connects with the End of Perfection (flying neckbreaker)! That's definitely the end of it, and Remus retains!

Roderick Remus def. The Desperado to RETAIN the PRW Phoenix Championship (pinfall, End of Perfection) D-

Attendance: 57
Best Match: Roderick Remus def. The Desperado/Fearless Blue def. Air Attack Weasel
Worst Match: Rex Reeves def. El Medico/Disco Daredevil def. The Redneck Luchador

Overall Rating: E+

TEOL · April 24, 2010

"Are you OK?" I quickly asked Olivia as she and Primus came backstage again, doing a bad job of keeping the concern out of my voice - which was easily to tell by her reaction, which was to stick her tongue out at me.

"Don't be such a baby, Trent. He only picked me up and put me down again. It wasn't exactly a Biggz Boyz ladder match. Besides, I'm tougher than I look." She dusted herself off. "And besides, Primus here may be big, but he was careful with me. Which is more than I can say of most men, after all..."

I wisely decided to let that pass. "So how was your first exposure to the live crowd, Primus?"

"More unnerving than I expected it to be," he admitted. "Man, they're really in your face when you're standing at ringside like that... it's going to take some getting used to."

I chuckled to myself as I thought of the first time I was in a packed bar in Chicago with fifty-odd drunken, rowdy fans. People thought that being in front of sixty thousand fans for the Supreme Challenge was tough, but in my experience, it got easier as the arenas got bigger. "OK, Roderick and Ben are out there right now, but I was thinking about what we're going to do next month. That angle should set you up for your debut next month against Ace. He was younger than you when he had his first match, and he's well travelled, so you should be in good hands. You up to it?"

He grinned. "Hell yeah."

"Cool. I'll be sure to fly out a couple of times between now and then to go over things, make sure you're ring-ready, if that's OK with you."

"Man, I've seen you like every week since I started working here. Why don't you just move out to Phoenix? At the very least Arizona, I'm sure my dad could hook you up with somewhere in Tucson."

I looked over at Olivia, who was peeking through the apron, her occasional shouts of "Come on, Roddy! Kick his ass!" indicating that she was the only person in the arena currently cheering for her brother.

And I smiled.

"Maybe... maybe."

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/logo.jpg

Phoenix Rising Wrestling will be back in the Pelican Bar on 24th Street for COLLISION COURSE this Saturday! Fearless Blue will get his rematch for the PRW Phoenix Championship against the champion Roderick Remus, and the monstrous PRW newcomer Primus will make his in ring debut against Ace Youngblood in a grudge match! For just three dollars you can watch the whole card:

PRW PHOENIX CHAMPIONSHIP
Roderick Remus © w/Muse vs. Fearless Blue w/Olivia Diamond
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/rod.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/muse.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/fearless.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/olivia.jpg

GRUDGE MATCH
Ace Youngblood vs. Primus w/ Air Attack Weasel
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/ace.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/primus.jpg w/ http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/weasel.jpg

Rex Reeves vs. Velocidad
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/rex.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/velocidad.jpg

Disco Daredevil & El Medico vs. El Ladron & The Redneck Luchador
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/disco-1.jpg & http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/medico.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/ladron.jpg & http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/redneck.jpg

Oni vs. The Desperado
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/oni.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/desperado.jpg

TEOL · April 25, 2010

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/logo.jpg

PRW: COLLISION COURSE

Saturday, Week 3, April, 2008

The Pelican Bar, Phoenix, Arizona

Primus looked pumped up as we waited behind the curtain. "You ready, man?" I asked him. "Want to go over anything else with me or Ace before we go out there for real?"

"Don't worry about it, man. I got this."

He really did. He had the power and the athleticism to be a big deal, there was absolutely no question of that. The only question in my mind was how long it would be before he grew too big for PRW... and whether or not I had the guts to stifle that development to keep him with us.

And we get the show started in a hurry, as The Desperado makes his way through the curtain... in fact, is sent rolling through the curtain, quickly followed by Oni! The Japanese madman chases him with kicks and punches all the way down the entrance ramp before throwing him into the ringpost! The Desperado crawls into the ring, well, desperately to get away from the punishment, but Oni follows him in, and the referee, clearly deeming this fair conditions for all parties involved, commands the timekeeper (Richard) to ring the bell and the match is on! F

Oni vs. The Desperado

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/oni.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/desperado.jpg

Unsurprisingly, Oni is in firm control from the get go, the go having already been gotten, so to speak. Oni pummels the hell out of Desperado in the corner with a flurry of punches, refusing to follow (or possibly just unable to comprehend) the referee's admonishments. With The Desperado dazed in the corner, Oni gave him the facewash with a clear level of demented glee before coming off the ropes and charging in with a boot to the face for two. Clearly thinking that was three, Oni screams at the referee in Japanese, allowing Desperado to recover a little, pulling himself up on the ropes and throwing some punches to the midsection to stagger Oni, who came back with a big knee to the midsection. Staggered, Desperado has no defence against the Dead Calm Drop II, which picks up the win for Oni.

Oni def. The Desperado (pinfall, Dead Calm Drop II) E-

Disco Daredevil & El Medico vs. El Ladron & The Redneck Luchador

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/disco-1.jpg & http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/medico.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/ladron.jpg & http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/redneck.jpg

'Freak out!' El Medico and Disco Daredevil certainly seem like a mismatched pair, but as this tag team contest gets underway it becomes clear that as different as their personalities (or more accurately, one-dimensional gimmicks) are, they match one another in terms of their wrestling styles. The Redneck Luchador finds himself on the receiving end of a dual aerial assault from the tecnicos, taking a rolling splash in the corner from El Medico who tags out to Disco Daredevil, who flies in with a bulldog. He dances for the fans, showing off his moves, but that gives the Redneck time to tag out to El Ladron, who takes the Daredevil's head off with a clothesline.

El Ladron delivers a series of stomps to Disco in the corner before dragging him back to his feet and sending him into the ropes, taking him down with a Samoan drop. He tags in the Redneck Luchador, who is clearly more focused on his rudo side than showing off any of his considerable high flying skills, simply choking Disco over the ropes and standing on his back to press down with all his weight. An attempted quebradora gets reversed into a tilt a whirl headscissor takedown, though, and Disco makes the tag out to El Medico! Medico takes the Redneck down with a pair of dropkicks and takes a swing at El Ladron, who ducks and hangs Medico over the top rope. Redneck takes Medico down with a back suplex and heads up to the top rope... Sonic Boom (shooting star press)! This one's over.

El Ladron & The Redneck Luchador def. Disco Daredevil & El Medico (pinfall, Sonic Boom on Medico) E-

Rex Reeves vs. Velocidad

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/rex.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/velocidad.jpg

'Tiempo' by Bocafloja plays, signalling that the high flying action is going to continue as PRW's most impressive aerial competitor Velocidad makes his way to the ring. The crowd cheer for him, his aerial ability definitely having won him a place in the hearts of the Phoenix fans, but they certainly weren't happy to see who his opponent was, as the sycophantic Rex Reeves made his way down the aisle to 'Rite Of Spring'. He certainly wasn't making any effort to endear himself to the fans, taking a little time on the apron to turn back to the fans and making it clear that he considers himself better than them, but gets a big boot in the back from Velocidad for his troubles, sending him to the floor to the delight of the crowd!

Velocidad keeps up the pressure, coming over the ropes with a plancha that puts Reeves down on the floor before rolling him back inside. Reeves quickly gets to his feet, though, taking the opportunity to connect with a low dropkick as Velocidad re-enters the ring, putting him on the mat. Reeves locks in a camel clutch to try and wear down and ground the high flyer, but Velocidad fights his way back to his feet and rams Reeves into the turnbuckle, breaking the hold. Velocidad kicks him upside the head and takes him down with a Russian legsweep before rushing up to the top rope, coming off with a beautiful Velocidad Tornado! That's enough to get the win!

Velocidad def. Rex Reeves (pinfall, Velocidad Tornado) F+

'You Should Be Ashamed Of Myself' by The Bled plays as PRW gets its first look at Primus in wrestling gear, as he heads to the ring ready for his debut match led by his apparent partner in crime, the Air Attack Weasel. The previous semi-face reaction that Weasel was getting with his goofy gimmick isn't nearly as evident when he has a 6'4", 315 lb monster behind him, and the crowd happily let the two have it as they enter the ring.

Weasel: "You people don't get it, do you? You still don't get it! I'm not a joke any more, am I? No, the guy with the most vicious monster in this promotion on his side is someone you've got to take seriously! And yet, it's still Fearless Blue who's getting the shot at the title tonight while I don't even have a match! And it's all the fault of you, Ace Youngblood, for sticking your nose in business that had nothing to do with you! Well, tonight, you're going to find out the hard way why you don't mess with my plans! Now get your ass out there!" E

Grudge Match

Ace Youngblood vs. Primus w/ Air Attack Weasel

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/ace.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/primus.jpg w/ http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/weasel.jpg

Ace makes it clear that he doesn't have to be challenged twice, as he comes straight through the curtain and runs to the ring, charging straight at Primus! AAW runs for the hills but Primus stands ready, meeting Ace's punches and answering in kind! The two trade blows in the centre of the ring, Ace giving as good as he gets but soon being driven back by the sheer power of the big man. He ducks a haymaker, though, and clotheslines Primus over the top rope like he did last month, sending him to the floor. Clapping to get the crowd behind him, he runs into the ropes on the opposite side and charges at full speed with a baseball slide, sending Primus staggering back!

Ace sends Primus into the ringpost before turning and punching out Weasel, who had been sneaking up behind him, presumably to attack him while he was distracted. When Ace goes back to Primus, though, the big man picks him up and bodily throws him into the guard rail! Primus throws Ace back into the ring and beat him down with huge forearm blows. Ace dropkicks him in the knees as he charges, though, taking him down to the mat, and quickly rolls him up with La Magistral... for two! AAW jumps up onto the apron, but gets knocked down by Ace again. The distraction is enough, however, as Ace turns to find himself being lifted onto Primus' shoulder... Running Powerslam! Primus picks up the debut win!

Primus def. Ace Youngblood (pinfall, running powerslam) E-

PRW Phoenix Championship

Roderick Remus © w/Muse vs. Fearless Blue w/Olivia Diamond

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/rod.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/muse.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/fearless.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/olivia.jpg

The fans get to their feet as 'Sweetness' by Jimmy Eat World starts playing and Fearless Blue makes his way to the ring with Olivia Diamond, some of them clearly remembering how close Blue was to taking the title when these two last met at Blood Ties. Blue certainly looks a fair bit less of his usual carefree self, with his focus clearly on making sure that there is no repeat of last time and Remus does not cheat his way to keeping the title. Remus, on the other hand, looks as confident as ever as he comes out with the belt around his waist and Muse at his side.

Blue starts very aggressively, his mind clearly not only on claiming the PRW Phoenix Championship but also on revenge for the way he was cheated out of the belt in the tournament final, and he blasts the champion with forearms and chops before whipping him into a jumping calf kick. Olivia is once again keeping tabs on Muse at ringside, but that doesn't stop Remus from dodging an attempted dropkick and delivering a big legdrop across the throat, trying to wear down the challenger with a surfboard in the centre of the ring.

Remus looks to finish, going for the Remus Clutch, but Blue counters into a roll up for two! He hits a quick side slam and heads up top, but Muse is able to provide enough of a distraction at ringside to allow Remus to crotch him up there. Remus goes up... big superplex! But Blue gets his legs up and turns it into a pin... for two! Blue gets a kick in before Remus can regain his bearings and goes for a DDT, but gets countered with a Northern Lights suplex for another two count! Remus goes up to the second rope, perhaps thinking about using the End Of Perfection, but gets caught with a running palm strike and a Frankensteiner! As Blue goes for the cover, though, Remus rolls him over into his own pin attempt... and grabs a handful of tights for the three!

Roderick Remus def. Fearless Blue to RETAIN the PRW Phoenix Championship (pinfall, handful of tights) D-

Remus barely even waits for the bell to ring before continuing to beat down Fearless, stomping him down into the mat. The message is pretty clear; Remus knows he's lucky to be walking out with the title, and he doesn't want to have to face Fearless again. He locks Blue in the Remus Clutch and refuses to let go, Muse shoving the referee away when he tries to convince the champion to let Fearless go... but here comes Velocidad down the entrance aisle! Velocidad stomps Remus to break up the hold and send the champion scurrying for the locker room, but still clutching hold of his title. E-

Attendance: 60
Best Match: Roderick Remus def. Fearless Blue
Worst Match: Velocidad def. Rex Reeves

Overall Rating: E+

TEOL · April 25, 2010

"Hey, Trent. Come and look at this."

I had been sitting at the bar (like usual, these days) when Remy had fetched me into his room, where his dad was already looking at the computer screen with a mixture of surprise and curiosity. I thought he wanted me to look at the poster he was making, which he usually did to make sure everything was OK; but Photoshop was minimised, and instead an Internet browser was open on a wrestling news website. I took a look, and quickly found myself just as intrigued as I read a report:

'Checked out Phoenix Rising Wrestling again last week, and if you live in the Phoenix area and haven't seen at least one of their shows yet, you really need to at least consider it. They may not be quite on the level of indy darling promotions like CZCW or MAW yet, but they're definitely getting there and their last couple of shows have really shown that, featuring some superb action which is a hell of a lot cheaper than getting the DVDs from the bigger promotions or getting a ride out to California. Their last show was Collision Course, which featured another top class match involving Roderick Remus and Fearless Blue, who have got to be on the radar on bigger promotions soon...'

Richard turned to me. "Were you... expecting something like this?"

"No. But I'll tell you, stuff like this is how a promotion like ours can measure success, not profit margins. Someone came to the show, saw it and liked it enough to try and get other people to come back with them - that means we're getting our name out there. We need to strike while the iron is hot if we want to capitalise on this."

"You're going to ask me for more money, aren't you."

"Well... yes. Or at least, let me take a bit of a risk with the money you've already given me. We'll make the next show a big deal, up the advertising budget so we can put out some radio ads, bring in some new wrestlers, more recognisable faces to bring in new fans, like a second beginning. Only this time, people already know who we are, and what we can do, so they'll already have their eyes on us. We'll go out of our way to really blow them away and make them think we're something special. THAT'S what will bring in more fans - and more fans means more money."

"Look, I've trusted you with a lot so far, but don't you think you're asking a bit much?"

"Perhaps. But you have to believe that I will only ever do what I think is the best way to help this promotion succeed. Building a wrestling company is all about expansion. Even the SWF is continuing to expand, and they're already the biggest promotion in the company. If we're going to survive in the short term, we need to expand quickly to a level where we aren't losing money every month, and that means taking a few risks. But I need to know you're behind me one hundred percent, man."

He thought about it for a few seconds. "... look, I'll make you a deal. I'm going to take this to some local companies, see if I can get more people interested in sponsorship seeing as how we can show that we're attracting fans. It is, as you were so quick to point out before, my job in this thing, after all. If attendance goes up next show, if losses go down, and if we get another review like that one... then you can go ahead with your idea, not this month but the month after. You think you can do that?"

"Deal."

And as I walked out of the room, I was already thinking in my head of some names who might be good to bring in for this little supershow...

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/logo.jpg

After the events of last month, there can be little doubt that the heroes of Phoenix Rising Wrestling are facing DARK TIMES! The ever-popular Fearless Blue will be out of action following his assault at the hands of Roderick Remus, but Velocidad has stepped up to the plate to challenge Remus for his title! Plus, Ace Youngblood looks for revenge on Air Attack Weasel and Primus, with a shot at the title next month for the winner! Just three dollars will get you in to see the full card:

PRW PHOENIX CHAMPIONSHIP
Roderick Remus © w/Muse vs. Velocidad
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/rod.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/muse.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/velocidad.jpg

NUMBER ONE CONTENDERSHIP
Ace Youngblood vs. Air Attack Weasel w/Primus
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/ace.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/weasel.jpg w/ http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/primus.jpg

El Medico vs. Oni
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/medico.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/oni.jpg

Disco Daredevil vs. El Ladron vs. The Redneck Luchador
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/disco-1.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/ladron.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/redneck.jpg

Rex Reeves vs. The Desperado
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/rex.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/desperado.jpg

sabataged · April 25, 2010

Very nice shows/results...I am enjoying this.

TEOL · April 26, 2010

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/logo.jpg

PRW: DARK TIMES

Saturday, Week 3, May, 2008

The Pelican Bar, Phoenix, Arizona

As I looked at the fans filing into their seats minutes before the show was set to begin, I couldn't help wondering who it was that had written that article about us, whether or not he was here tonight. I had to hope he was - it was him I had to impress, essentially, if my plan was to come together as I hoped. He was the one who'd given me the air I needed to breathe in, without the crushing weight of lost money suffocating me.

Still, I had to admit I was pretty hyped for tonight's show. I didn't have much choice but to assume that everything would go to plan, and that I would get to put on the show next month that I wanted to, and that meant tonight I could prepare for that. For once, it didn't feel like pressure, despite the heightened stakes. Because the review had given me something else too - confidence. As I gave out instructions to people from the Gorilla position, I knew we were going to blow them away.

Rex Reeves vs. The Desperado

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/rex.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/desperado.jpg

The fans come alive for the first match of the night (well, the first match on the card - the actual first match in this ring tonight was a brief encounter between Primus and myself, to try and teach him a bit more about psychology, but the only people who saw that epic contest all had the surname Remus) as the Desperado makes his way through the curtain, to a decent reception as he's still apparently riding the wave of his extremely short time spent as a title contender. But he's back to where he's used to being now, opening shows and getting taken down to the mat almost immediately by his opponent, in this case Rex Reeves, who executes a nice headlock takedown in the early going.

Desperado manages to work his way back to his feet, but ends up on the receiving end of a tackle from Reeves, who quickly moves to the Boston crab, wearing down the fan favourite. That gives the fans the chance to rally behind the Desperado, and he's able to make his way over to the ropes, only to get stomped in the back of the head for his trouble. Reeves hooks him up for a DDT, but the Desperado reverses it into a small package for a two count. Reeves plants him with a spin kick as soon as he gets back to his feet, though, stunning him for long enough for Reeves to hook him up and hit the RexPlex for the three.

Rex Reeves def. The Desperado (pinfall, RexPlex) F+

Disco Daredevil vs. El Ladron vs. The Redneck Luchador

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/disco-1.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/ladron.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/redneck.jpg

PRW's first ever triple threat match features three guys who could all certainly use the win in order to push themselves up the card and show that they deserve to be considered as possible title challengers. It doesn't look good for the Disco Daredevil in the early going, though, as El Ladron and The Redneck Luchador clearly haven't forgotten tagging up last month, and they quickly join forces again in the name of stomping the ever loving crap out of Disco in the corner. The Redneck tosses the Daredevil out of the ring and offers a high five to Ladron, clearly proud of his handiwork. Ladron high fives him with one hand - and chops him hard across the chest with the other!

Still holding the Redneck's hand from the high five, Ladron quickly jumps up the ropes with surprising agility and comes down with all his weight, delivering a blow across the Redneck's back, sending him sprawling to the canvas. He tries to wear him down with a grounded surfboard, but the Redneck fights his way back up and kicks him low while the referee is distracted helping Disco up. The Redneck goes over to knock Disco off the apron, but gets hung up on the ropes and then eats a powerbomb from El Ladron! Ladron covers Redneck, but Disco's up top... Aerosault on both men! He drapes an arm over Ladron and gets the three!

Disco Daredevil def. El Ladron and The Redneck Luchador (pinfall, Aerosault on Ladron) E-

El Medico vs. Oni

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/medico.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/oni.jpg

'Me-Devil' by Sigh hits over the speakers, and the crazed Japanese demon Oni charges to the ring, screaming at any fan unwise enough to try and touch him on the way there. And the crowd... not only goes mild but gives out an almost audible sigh when they see who's coming out to face him. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised considering Oni is undefeated in singles competition and has been beating the hell out of guys, while El Medico is a jobber. And to make matters worse, El Medico doesn't look like he's in the mood to put on a five star classic, probably linked to the fact that he had to go without his ring jacket tonight as Air Attack Weasel thought it would be a high-larious idea to scrawl 'EL FAGGOTO' on it in marker pen.

The result was probably the worst match in Phoenix Rising Wrestling's short history. Oni beat down Medico with his usual fairly crappy brawling which at this stage of his career is still really all he can do, his personality and charisma getting it over far more than any actual skill. And it wasn't helped by Medico doing a terrible job of selling and basically causing Oni to botch spots by not being in the right place for them. Given how it was going, it was probably for the best that the crowd just seemed to see it as a jobber match and didn't pay much attention until Oni hit the Dead Calm Drop II and put the match out of its misery.

Oni def. El Medico (pinfall, Dead Calm Drop II) F

In an attempt to get some heat back after the poor match, Oni continued beating El Medico down after the bell, doing his best to look like he'd honest to God lost his mind, but Medico's selling wasn't any better than before even as Oni practically tore his bare back to shreds with his fingernails. His head wasn't in the moment at all, and it came off as looking horribly lame. I put my head in my hands. There was still a good half hour of the show left and this was not what it needed. I was going to have to have a word with Weasel... later. F

PRW Phoenix Championship

Roderick Remus © w/Muse vs. Velocidad

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/rod.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/muse.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/velocidad.jpg

As Oni and El Medico were coming back from the ring, I made some quick changes in the back and told Roderick and Velocidad that their match was being moved up - after the heat drain that was that last match and angle, this show needed the guaranteed hatred Remus generated and Velocidad's high flying to get kick started again. Sure enough, the crowd popped when Bocafloja's 'Tiempo' played and PRW's fastest high flyer made his way to the ring, and booed the arrogant champion. Ah, heat. How I missed you.

Velocidad gets the crowd going quickly by pointing at the championship and making the universal 'me wanty belt' symbol before rushing Remus with a running forearm to the face. He whipped Remus into the ropes and caught him with a back heel kick, quickly running to the ropes and jumping onto the second rope, perhaps looking for a quebrada - but Remus rolls to the floor, pointing to his head in the equally universal 'me so smart' symbol. Velocidad flies through the ropes, though, connecting with a tope on the champion for his trouble!

Velocidad rolls Remus back into the ring, feeling the title is within reach, and goes up to the top rope - but of course, Muse is there with the distraction, allowing Remus to get back to his feet and follow Velocidad up. He hooks him for a superplex, but Velocidad knocks him down and looks for a crossbody from the top - but Remus ducks it, and the challenger goes crashing to the mat holding his ribs! Quick as a flash, Remus dives onto him and has the Remus Clutch cinched in! Velocidad is in the centre of the ring with nowhere to go, and he has no choice but to tap out.

Roderick Remus def. Velocidad to RETAIN the PRW Phoenix Championship (submission, Remus Clutch) D-

Number One Contendership

Ace Youngblood vs. Air Attack Weasel w/Primus

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/ace.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/weasel.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/primus.jpg

I wasn't entirely sure about this one going on last, especially since it seemed like I was tacitly rewarding Weasel for his behaviour by bumping him up to the main event, but as Blackfire's 'No Control' hit the speakers and Ace Youngblood made his way to the ring, I reflected that at least this was probably the hottest feud we really had going at the moment, and the fans did want to see AAW get his scrawny little neck wrung by the Native American. Of course, that discounted the presence of Primus at ringside, who you had to know would be getting involved in this match one way or the other, casting a menacing shadow over the proceedings.

Ace certainly wasn't about to back down, though, and he took the fight straight to the Weasel, chopping away at him in the corner while Weasel, to his credit, did his usual awesome job of selling it, literally screaming in pain as Ace laid into him. Weasel tried to escape to the outside, but Ace dragged him back and bodily picked him up, connecting with a German suplex. A whip was reversed, though, and Ace just happened to get sent into the ropes that Primus was holding down, low bridging him out of the ring and to the floor while Weasel distracted the referee. That allowed Primus to slam him into the apron a few times before throwing him back inside, much to the disgust of the fans.

Weasel takes full advantage of this new state of affairs, diving on the weakened Ace and pummelling away. He hooks Ace in an STF, wrenching away at the hold, but Ace makes it to the ropes, clearly to Weasel's annoyance. Weasel starts repeatedly smashing Ace's head into the turnbuckle, dizzying him... but all of a sudden Ace comes back and reverses it, smashing Weasel's head into the turnbuckle over and over! The fans count up to ten and Ace goes straight past it, clearly knocking AAW a pit loopy as he finally staggers away from it, giving Ace the chance to set him up... Youngblood Neckbreaker (wheelbarrow neckbreaker)! He planted him! That gets the three!

Ace Youngblood def. Air Attack Weasel (pinfall, Youngblood Neckbreaker) E+

Primus is already in the ring, though, heading for Ace... who sees him coming out of the corner of his eye, ducks a clothesline, and sends Primus back out of the ring! He doesn't see the Art Class heading down the aisle, though, as Roderick Remus smashes him in the back of the head with his title belt! There's a brief standoff between Remus and Weasel before Primus and Rex Reeves starts stomping away at Ace, and it's clear that none of these guys want Ace to make it to his title match next month - Weasel for revenge, and Remus to protect his title. All four men beat down the helpless Ace...

But wait! It's Fearless Blue! He was supposed to be out of action this month, but he's here and handing out superkicks for everyone! The heels are sent running to the hills as Fearless grabs the title belt and poses with it in the centre of the ring! Ace is back on his feet... he looks grateful, but also less than happy that Fearless has the belt. They argue a bit, and that gives Remus the chance to snatch his belt back from Fearless before fleeing. Ace and Blue stare each other down... before shaking hands! The fans cheer as the two head to the back and this show comes to an end. E-

Attendance: 65
Best Match: Roderick Remus def. Velocidad
Worst Match: Oni def. El Medico

Overall Rating: E+

TEOL · April 26, 2010

"Why are you just sitting in front of your laptop hitting the refresh button every thirty seconds? Don't you have anything better to do?"

It was tempting not to look up at Olivia as she addressed me, but I guessed ignoring her was hardly going to get me into her good books. "I thought I explained this to you already. If that review of the show is going up, it should be up today, first of the month, like last time. And it's important, because if it doesn't go up, I have to rethink everything I've planned for this month's show."

"The way I remember you explaining it, we had to make money as well. And there were, like, five extra fans at the show last time."

"Thanks for reminding me. Luckily, your dad was right: the added word of mouth about PRW has meant that sponsorship money has soared. Last month costs remained the same but we actually ended up making about ten thousand dollars, which officially makes Phoenix Rising Wrestling -" I paused to savour the word in my mouth "- profitable."

"No way."

"I didn't believe it myself, but I looked at the numbers and those are the facts. We actually have more money than we started with. All I have to do is find things to spend it on."

"You could start by buying Dave a new personality." By Dave, she meant Air Attack Weasel; I'd noticed that Olivia almost never referred to our roster by their ring names except when she was actually out there. Luckily she still seemed under the impression that 'Trent Lynwood' was my actual name, something I was happy to let her go on thinking. I'm sure she'd rather be Olivia Diamond full time than Olivia Remus, anyway. "How did he take that talk you had with him after the show?"

"Better than I expected. Oh, there was complaining about me 'singling him out', as if everyone else had been running around pulling **** like he did on Medico and I didn't talk to them, but I did my best to ignore that and just be stern to him. At least he does seem to respect me, and the company." I shook my head. "Just not the other wrestlers who work for it."

Olivia gave me a sidelong look. "So... the internet rumours about him... are they true?"

"How do you mean?"

She leaned in, and lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "That he... you know... did time in prison a while back?"

I looked around quickly to make sure Richard wasn't there, then nodded. "Yeah, but it was only ninety days. I think he got busted trying to steal a TV or something and refused to apologise cause he's just like that. Please for the love of God don't tell your father, though. The last thing I need is him firing one of our top stars for being a liability like that."

She sat back, apparently processing this information. Which was fine by me, it gave me a chance to focus back on hitting refresh. When was that damn article going to go up? It HAD to go up.

Apparently the silence was making Olivia uncomfortable, because she broke it. "So... did you catch Total Mayhem 13 last night?" she asked casually.

"Yeah, I caught it when I was in Chicago, before I flew out here. Weird, I didn't think you were actually that into wrestling."

"I told you, like, months ago that I love wrestling! I knew you never listen to what I say."

I put my hands up defensively. "I'm sorry... I'm only here for a few days every month, you know. I guess I didn't remember about it."

She rolled her eyes. "I even told you the only reason I didn't go and train with Roddy and Remy is because Daddy wouldn't let me. I've always wanted to be a wrestler. I've been watching SWF and TCW ever since I was a girl, and I always go and see their shows when they're in town, and I'm always going out of state to see CZCW and BSC..."

There was a pause as we both realised that she had said this last bit.

"BSC? Babes of Sin City?" I spluttered, unable to keep the surprise out of my voice. "You call a bunch of lap dancers and strippers rolling around the ring... wrestling?!"

"It's not all like that!" she protested, getting flushed. "Well... OK, a lot of it is like that, but they have some really passionate wrestlers on the roster! Women who aren't good enough to get hired by the Angel Athletic Association or travel to Canada or Japan, but still want to perform! It's not like there's anywhere else for them to go. I'd work there if I didn't know Daddy would kill me when he found out... and didn't know that he would find out. The desert bus to Vegas is only a few hours."

She calmed down a little. "I mean, where does someone like me go? I feel that passion for the business, Trent. You must have felt it too, else you wouldn't have gone and got trained. When I was watching Total Mayhem, watching Sam Keith lose his retirement match to Troy Tornado and thought back to how I watched him on TV holding the SWF title when I was ten years old, watching Tommy Cornell and Scout wrestle a thirty minute time limit draw for the title... I wish I could do that, but I can't. I'll never main event a PPV in front of 15,000 fans like that. But I still wish I could be part of it, even in a little way. You know?"

I had to admit that despite my surprise, a lot of what she was saying made sense. In a way, I was lucky; sure, I'd been pretty close to being that guy, the guy making the big money in the PPV main events, and had it taken away from me - but Olivia had never even had that. No major promotion in the country had a women's division, besides USPW, and that was just a vanity project for the daughter of the owner Sam Strong. You could only get into AAA if you had plenty of training and experience, and there was no way for her to get either. Where did someone like her go, if they still wanted to wrestle that badly? BSC was literally the only place - and that was the laughing stock of the industry.

Evidently she could see that I was actually thinking about this, because she seemed to gain confidence. "I wasn't going to bring this up, but since I've come this far, I might as well say it; I was talking to a girl I saw on a BSC card after the show and I think we could bring her in to work here. Yes, she did used to be a stripper, but she told me she's really interested in moving into wrestling and her gimmick would fit absolutely perfectly for us. What do you think?"

More women on the roster? I'd racked my brains for a while trying to think of ways to make PRW stand out from the million other competing indies, and that hadn't been one of them, but in a way it could perhaps work. If nothing else, more hot women standing at ringside would hopefully bring in extra fans for a relatively low cost. I hated thinking like that, but having a guy constantly bugging you about when he was going to get his money back will do that to you. "I'll think about it. It's weird, back in the day I knew this female wrestler who I thought would fit perfectly for an idea I had for the next show, but I was just going to drop it instead."

This did not discourage her as much as I had hoped it would. "That's awesome! You should do that as well!"

"I don't know... she and I didn't exactly part on good terms..."

I trailed off. Finally, after all this time, something on the screen of my laptop had changed.

"Halfway through the last Phoenix Rising Wrestling show, I thought that things had fallen flat for them," I read aloud. "The crowd were clearly not enthused by a less than stellar encounter between the usually entertaining Oni and the at-least-reliable-for-his-gimmick El Medico. But I was soon proven wrong, as Roderick Remus defended his title against Velocidad in an aerial war that featured the kind of action that's made me fall in love with this company, and then followed up with a big grudge match between Ace Youngblood and Air Attack Weasel and finished with a hot angle as Fearless Blue returned. Another excellent show from this company, and if you haven't seen them already, you need to..."

I looked up at Olivia. "We did it. We really did it! Pass me my phone, I have some calls to make."

"To who? Anyone I know?"

"Depends, have you ever heard of Elijah Harris and Ernie Turner?"

The look of genuine surprise on her face was exactly the effect I had been hoping for. "No way! I used to watch them on TV back when Southern Class was still around! They're really going to be working here?"

"Yeah, they've been working the indies lately as a tag team called The Hustlers and I thought it would be a cool act to try here, plus hopefully the name value will attract fans. Everything's already sorted out, I literally just have to tell them they can book their flights to Phoenix."

"Who else? Any other big names?"

"Sorry, all my star power allowance was used on those two. I also have to call a guy calling himself California Love Machine, who's more the typical PRW worker - tons of talent, but no one's heard of him. He worked a CZCW dark show that I saw a couple of months back and I have no idea why they didn't pick him up - sure, he's not polished yet, but he's got the flashy moves and the charisma. With experience, he could be a star."

"Wow. CZCW having tryout matches? They've sure grown quickly, haven't they?"

"Well, getting a TV show will do that. Even if it's only on a regional network." The landscape of wrestling changed so quickly these days. Still only feels like yesterday that DAVE closed... how is anyone supposed to keep track?

Olivia quickly scribbled down a phone number and handed it to me. "Well, while you're at it, ring that BSC girl I told you about. Pretty please? And bring in that old friend of yours you were talking about. Promise me!"

God, you've given me so much in my life... you really couldn't find some spare room for an ability to say 'no' to a pretty face? "OK, fine, I'll call. But if your dad doesn't like it, it was all your idea."

"Yay! I'll leave you to it then." She quickly threw her arms around me, then skipped off, leaving me alone. With the phone.

This meant I had to actually call, of course... and maybe part of me had been looking for the excuse. Maybe it won't make a difference anyway. Maybe she'll say no. But I knew damn well that she wouldn't say no. And I'd feel so guilty if I didn't call. Not because I broke my promise with Olivia, but because... no. No good going back there.

Well, if I was going to do it, I might as well get it out of the way. I found the number in my phone and pressed the call button.

"Paige? Hey. It's me. Don't hang up..."

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/logo.jpg

Are you prepared? You'd better be, because Phoenix Rising Wrestling is ready to present its biggest ever event, BURNOUT! This Saturday, the PRW Phoenix champion Roderick Remus must defend against not one, but TWO challengers in the form of Fearless Blue and Ace Youngblood! Plus, the PRW debuts of The Hustlers and the California Love Machine! Ticket prices have been raised to four dollars, but you'll agree that you get a lot more bang for your buck when you check out the full card:

PRW PHOENIX CHAMPIONSHIP THREE WAY DANCE
Roderick Remus © w/Muse vs. Fearless Blue w/Olivia Diamond vs. Ace Youngblood
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/rod.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/muse.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/fearless.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/olivia.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/ace.jpg

TAG TEAM ENCOUNTER
The Hustlers (Elijah Harris & Ernie Turner) w/Britney Hollywood vs. The Weasel Warriors (Air Attack Weasel & Primus)
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/elijah.jpg & http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/ernie.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/britney.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/weasel.jpg & http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/primus.jpg

SPECIAL ATTRACTION MATCH
California Love Machine w/Paige Croft vs. Disco Daredevil
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/clm.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/paige.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/disco-1.jpg

TRIPLE THREAT MATCH
Rex Reeves vs. The Desperado vs. The Redneck Luchador
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/rex.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/desperado.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/redneck.jpg

LUCHA LIBRE ACTION
El Ladron vs. El Medico
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/ladron.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/medico.jpg

Oni vs. Velocidad
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/oni.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/velocidad.jpg

TEOL · April 27, 2010

Good news, foolinc! The new logo finally shows up again! God I love that thing.

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/prw.jpg

PRW: BURNOUT

Saturday, Week 3, June, 2008

The Pelican Bar, Phoenix, Arizona

The morning of the show, as I woke up in my motel room in Phoenix, I was convinced that I had been a complete idiot. There was no way a company our size could possibly pull something like this off after being in existence for just six months. The extra marketing, the new signings, the storylines... none of it would make so much as a blip on anyone's radar. The whole thing would be shown up as a colossal waste of money.

I was wrong. VERY wrong.

There had to be at least a hundred people already there when I looked out from behind the curtain (having got to the arena late, convinced that everything I'd done in PRW had been a waste) and it was still quarter of an hour till show time. More people were arriving, and they looked impressed that we had an actual set up stage complete with spiffy new logo. This was easily the biggest crowd we'd ever had. Score one for word of mouth.

Now we had to reward them with a show that would keep them coming back for more.

The crowd popped as Fearless Blue made his way to the ring to open the show, accompanied as ever by the (dare I? I dare) lovely Olivia Diamond. This was a chance to show off one of the first things we'd picked up as part of the 'new' PRW - we actually had a microphone to cut promos with now, connected to our sound system! Boy, that would have sure been embarrassing if the same number of people had shown up to hear it. Blue seems to hold the microphone very easily as Olivia shows off to the fans like she usually does.

Blue: "What's up, Phoenix? I tell you, it's good to see so many of you here tonight to see one of the fastest rising promotions in this country. And you people know that I'm not going to disappoint you tonight when I bring home that PRW Phoenix title tonight and prove once and for all what all of you know, that I am the best wrestler in this city. But right now, I have some business to take care of. So Ace Youngblood, get out here because there's some stuff I got to say to you, and I'm going to say it to your face."

Sure enough, Ace Youngblood hits the ring with a somewhat confused expression on his face, but indicates that he's willing to hear Fearless out.

Blue: "Last month, I came out here while you were getting your ass kicked, and I beat up the guys who were doing it and chased them off. I want you to understand that I didn't do that for you. I did that for revenge. I wanted to send a message to that jackass Remus for thinking he can put me on the shelf to stop me taking his title. And tonight, I don't have any beef with you brother, but I will do whatever it takes to get that belt, to show him not to mess with me. If you get in the way of that, you'll have to accept the consequences. Understand me?"

Ace: "I hear you loud and clear, man. But I think there are a couple of things you should understand. First off, I EARNED the right to challenge Remus, and you didn't. I could have stopped this from being a three way dance, but I didn't because I figured I owed you. Second, I'm also willing to do whatever it takes to walk away tonight wearing that belt, including pinning your shoulders to the mat. And third, you and me arguing like this is exactly what Remus wants. If there's one thing we can agree on, it's that he isn't walking out the champion tonight. So how about a truce, at least until then?"

Ace extends a hand to Fearless, who thinks about it... then accepts! The two walk to the back as we prepare for our opening match of the show. E+

Oni vs. Velocidad

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/oni.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/velocidad.jpg

Damage control from last month, part one. It's pretty clear now that the fans aren't buying into the Oni character as well as I hoped they would at first, so time to transfer his momentum to someone who they do seem to care about. The fans are not happy at all at first to see Velocidad apparently becoming Oni's next victim, but their opinion changes when Oni's initial mad charge is met with a big spin kick from the high flyer! Velocidad busts out some of his standard offense, getting two off a hurricanrana. He backdrops Oni by the corner and heads up top... Velocidad Tornado! That gets three as we say farewell to Oni's winning streak. We hardly knew ye.

Velocidad def. Oni (pinfall, Velocidad Tornado) F

El Ladron vs. El Medico

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/ladron.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/medico.jpg

Damage control from last month, part two. El Medico really deserved some sort of reward for putting up with the constant jobbing and Weasel's crap without complaining, so we get another fairly short match pitting him against someone he's certainly had plenty of PRW encounters with up to this point, El Ladron. This match is a bit more balanced than the opener, though, with the two men trading offense in the ring and the fans showing some appreciation for their efforts. The finish came when Ladron hooked Medico up in a full nelson, but Medico battled out of it and ran into the ropes, coming back with the Emergency Procedure (running enzuigiri)! And there is El Medico's first singles victory in PRW!

El Medico def. El Ladron (pinfall, Emergency Procedure) E-

Rex Reeves vs. The Desperado vs. The Redneck Luchador

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/rex.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/desperado.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/redneck.jpg

Following up from the first PRW triple threat last month, we have another one here as Art Class member Rex Reeves takes on The Desperado and a guy who was unsuccessful in triple threat action last month, The Redneck Luchador. Redneck is clearly fired up and ready to make up for that here, though, as he charges straight at Desperado - who ducks out of the way, sending the Redneck past him and to the floor! Reeves takes advantage, though, attacking Desperado from behind and putting him on the canvas with a back suplex. He goes to work with a chinlock, trying to wear the Desperado down, but the Redneck Luchador flies in with a springboard dropkick that breaks the hold and sends Rex running for cover.

The Redneck puts Reeves down on the floor with a baseball slide and then quickly goes for a cover on Desperado, but only gets one. Desperado reverses a whip and sends the Redneck up high with a big back body drop, firing up as the crowd get behind him! He drags the Redneck over to the turnbuckle and hooks him up... Desperate Measures (tornado DDT)! He goes for the cover... one... two... but the count is broken by Reeves, who comes off the opposite turnbuckle with a Flying Headbutt! The Desperado gets to his feet, but he's stunned, and he falls easy prey to the RexPlex as Roderick Remus' student picks up another win, showing what he's learned.

Rex Reeves def. The Desperado and The Redneck Luchador (pinfall, RexPlex on Desperado) E-

The fans look around somewhat confused as 'Troublemaker' by Weezer plays over the speakers, but the situation is soon explained as California Love Machine makes his PRW debut, accompanied by Paige Croft who walks beside him dressed in what looks to be some kind of maid's outfit. Paige goes out ahead of him and holds the ropes open for him, allowing the Love Machine to enter the ring and pose to the crowd who boo his smug attitude as he takes the microphone.

CLM: "Allow me to introduce myself to all you fans. I am the California Love Machine and this is my servant, Paige. Why have I come to PRW, you ask? Believe me, my parents asked me the same thing. Growing up in Orange County, I had everything exactly the way I wanted it. When I decided I wanted to wrestle, my parents ensured I was trained by the very best. So why would I waste my time in a pathetic little bar in Phoenix? Because I can. Because this promotion is my plaything, and all of the wrestlers in it are my puppets. So if I say I'm going to win the championship here, you'd better believe that's what's going to happen. Because if there's one thing you need to remember, it's that I ALWAYS get my way. Now bring out whoever's stupid enough to try and stop me first." E

California Love Machine w/Paige Croft vs. Disco Daredevil

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/clm.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/paige.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/disco-1.jpg

Almost needless to say, California Love Machine didn't look impressed in the slightest when he saw Disco Daredevil dancing down the aisle to face him, slapping hands with the fans as he did so. Daredevil rolled into the ring and offered a welcoming handshake to the newcomer, who responded by slapping him around the face! CLM quickly put a headlock on Disco, going to work, but Disco started using some of his dance moves and was able to escape the hold and slap on one of his own through the sheer power of his funkiness. CLM demonstrated the effects of his 'elite training', however, reversing out of it and taking Disco down to the mat with a wristlock.

Disco shows off some surprising athleticism, kipping up and whipping CLM into the turnbuckle for a monkey flip and a two count. He goes for a DDT, but CLM reverses it nicely into a Northern Lights suplex for two. He keeps on the pressure with a series of kicks, but the fans are rallying behind Disco, who ducks a big roundhouse and rolls CLM up for a quick two count! CLM nails a quick step up enzuigiri, though, dazing Disco enough for CLM to follow up with a quick snap suplex. California Love Machine heads up to the top rope and signals that this is the end... LAX Departure (shooting star legdrop)! The crowd were blown away by that one! It picks up the three count!

California Love Machine def. Disco Daredevil (pinfall, LAX Departure) E-

The Hustlers (Elijah Harris & Ernie Turner) w/Britney Hollywood vs. The Weasel Warriors (Air Attack Weasel & Primus)

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/elijah.jpg & http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/ernie.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/britney.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/weasel.jpg & http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/primus.jpg

Hot off the heels of California Love Machine's debut, we have another one that the crowd seem a lot more enthused with, as The Hustlers of Elijah Harris and Ernie Turner make their way to the ring accompanied by Britney Hollywood, another BSC girl I somehow got talked into hiring when I called the number Olivia had given me. Considering the Hustlers' gimmick of being streetwise pimps, though, it only made sense that they'd have a chick with them, and at least she came dressed for the part. As usual, though, the crowd weren't exactly pleased to see the newly dubbed Weasel Warriors as they made their way out to face the newcomers.

Weasel told Primus to stay in the corner, telling him that he's 'got this one', and stared down with Elijah Harris - perhaps not the wisest move considering he's got to be giving up at least forty or fifty pounds to the twenty-five year veteran and former SCCW champion. Sure enough, a big right hand to the face sent AAW scurrying back to the corner, where he got stomped down before Harris tagged out and Weasel received a further beating at the hands of the 'Slick Pimp Daddy' Ernie Turner.

A thumb to the eye allows Weasel to tag out, and big Primus comes in, overpowering Turner with a huge flapjack and a big backbreaker to follow up. Turner tries to fight back, but runs into a powerslam hard enough that Harris runs in to break the count. Together, the Hustlers kick away at Primus and try for a double suplex... but both of them get taken over by Primus' raw power and slammed to the mat! Primus picks Harris up and drapes him over his shoulder, but Harris drops out the back and sends both men tumbling to the floor. Meanwhile, AAW flies in at Turner, but gets swatted down. Turner goes for a back suplex, but Weasel lands on his feet and quickly hooks Turner up when he turns around... Air Attack Ace (shiranui)! With no Harris to make the save, that gets the victory!

The Weasel Warriors def. The Hustlers (pinfall, Air Attack Ace on Turner) E+

After that exciting tag team contest, the crowd are amped up for the main event... so naturally, Stravinsky's 'Rite Of Spring' plays over the speakers and the PRW Phoenix champion Roderick Remus heads out with the whole Art Class of Muse and Rex Reeves in tow and demands the microphone, clearly looking more interested in talking than fighting for the time being.

Remus: "Tonight is a defining moment in the history of art. Tonight, I demonstrate that I am the greatest artist of my generation. For after all, no other artist in history had to face what I must face. Yes, Rembrandt and Van Gogh may have laboured in underappreciated poverty, but at least their problems were the inevitable oppression of society. They did not face what I must face: a conspiracy, a deliberate and intentional subterfuge to take away my masterpiece, take away my title.

"And so, like Gauguin in Tahiti, I must wonder if there is a place left for someone like me in this world. Can you people not see, not appreciate what it is that I'm trying to do? To create beauty from nothingness, something that will be remembered and stand on its own for eternity? Art for its own sake? I simply - I do not understand it, I don't know why -"

And Muse walks over and takes the microphone from him! He looks at her in shock as she speaks.

Muse: "The others don't matter. I stand by your side. The masterpiece will be completed, one way or the other."

Apparently suddenly filled with resolve, Remus nods, hands the belt to her and his ring jacket to Reeves. It seems we're finally ready for our main event! E-

PRW Phoenix Championship Three Way Dance

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/phoenixbelt.jpg

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/rod.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/muse.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/fearless.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/olivia.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/ace.jpg

As they did at the start of the show, Fearless Blue and Ace Youngblood each make their way to the ring to cheers, eyeing one another uneasily as they pass as it's clear that despite their earlier agreement, there's still some tension between them. The three men stare each other down as the bell rings, each waiting for the others to make the first move... and Fearless blasts Ace with a superkick! The crowd don't seem too pleased with that as Remus takes the opening to attack Blue from behind, clubbing away with forearms as Blue goes on the defensive.

Ace rolls to the floor as the action quickens, Fearless running the ropes and connecting with a big running dropkick to Remus. He bowls over the seated Remus with a senton for a two count, then whips him into the ropes, only for Youngblood to trip him from the outside and drag him out to the floor. Ace jumps onto the apron and catches Blue coming in with the tomahawk chop. He goes back in the ring and whips Blue into the ropes, but instead of bouncing off them, Blue goes flying over them and lands on Remus with a corkscrew plancha that brings the fans to their feet!

Fearless gets cut off as he tries to re-enter the ring with a low dropkick from Ace, who picks him up and plants him with a rib breaker for a two count. He whips Fearless into the corner, but Blue hops over the ropes to the apron and comes back in with a springboard cross body for another near fall. A dazed Ace charges at Fearless, who ducks down and pulls down the top rope, sending Ace to the floor! He gets the crowd ready for another dive to the floor... but doesn't see Remus on the top rope behind him, and he turns right into the End of Perfection! One, two, three, and Fearless Blue is eliminated from this one!

Remus takes some time getting his bearings back, allowing Ace to get back into the ring and nail him with a series of tomahawk chops. He goes for the Ace Crusher, but Remus pushes him off and connects with a leg lariat. He quickly locks in the Remus Clutch, but he's far too close to the ropes, and Youngblood is able to break the hold after a little struggling. Remus charges straight into a big clothesline from Ace, who departs from his normal game and heads up to the top rope... but Muse is quick to jump up onto the apron and provide the distraction, allowing Remus time to recover and follow him up. He looks for a superplex as Muse watches on, satisfied... but she doesn't see a woman in Native American dress coming up behind her! Tomahawk chop to Muse! Remus looks shocked, allowing Youngblood to fight back as the two balance precariously on the top rope... Ace Crusher from the top! Both men crash down to the mat! The crowd wills Ace on as he puts an arm over the champion... one... two... three! Ace wins the title!

Ace Youngblood def. Fearless Blue and Roderick Remus to WIN the PRW Phoenix Championship (pinfall, avalanche Ace Crusher on Remus) E+

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/alexis.jpg

The woman who attacked Muse rolls into the ring holding the title belt and helps Ace to his feet, handing the belt to him. He looks exhausted, but embraces the woman and holds the title high for all to see as the Art Class look distraught on the outside. And that would be the end of our show! E-

Attendance: 147
Best Match: The Weasel Warriors def. The Hustlers/Ace Youngblood def. Fearless Blue and Roderick Remus
Worst Match: Velocidad def. Oni

Overall Rating: E+

TEOL · April 27, 2010

It's not something that's easy to describe unless you've felt it yourself, which is odd, because I think all of us have felt it at one time or another, for one reason or another. It's something intensely personal, I suppose. I felt like someone had literally punched me in the stomach, and that wasn't me using the word 'literally' like some idiotic SWF announcer might, but that's seriously how it felt - all the air was driven out of my body and I just sat there, in my apartment, staring at the computer screen and trying to process what it said.

'We are saddened to report that legendary wrestling hall of famer Rip Chord has passed away in his home in Baltimore at the age of 59. Best known to recent fans for his run in TCW back when it was still called HGC, and to independent fans as the owner of Mid Atlantic Wrestling, Chord held twelve world titles all over the world in his career, and will be greatly missed by wrestling fans everywhere. We send our deepest condolences to the family...'

I... honestly don't know how to deal with that. I mean, of course I knew his body had suffered from his years of alcohol and drug abuse, everyone did, but still, it was hard to believe...

I'd been lucky enough to meet Rip a couple of times when I worked some MAW shows, although it wasn't long afterwards that I'd found myself on the way to Rhode Island. He'd been a lot different that I'd expected, actually. Based on the rumours I'd heard about him, I was expecting to find a broken down drunk old man, but it was clear that he'd worked hard on reforming his act and he was genuinely passionate about getting young rookies ready to be next generation stars, for there to be an industry for him to leave a legacy to. That was what MAW had been all about.

According to the article, the company had passed into the hands of his son Jay. Poor kid. He'd been flying high in USPW, already on TV and becoming a star, and now he had to take the focus off that career to deal with the death of his father and the sudden responsibility of running a successful, full time promotion. Apparently some veterans who were friends of Rip's, like Puerto Rican Power and the Masked Mauler, had offered to help the kid out, but... only eighteen years old, and having to deal with all that.

Reluctantly, my thoughts turned to Paige. I'd done my best to steer clear of her on the day of the show, figuring she wouldn't want to talk to me face to face, and judging by the way she'd walked straight past me without so much as a glance the only time we'd really been in the same place that day, I was correct. It's not like I was particularly looking forward to any such conversation myself, at that.

But... Rip Chord was Paige's favourite wrestler. He was every reason she got into the business. She used to go see him every week with her parents when she was a girl and he was headlining the SWF in their early days. I knew she'd be devastated.

I looked at the phone, guiltily. She probably wouldn't even want to talk to me anyway... what was the point?

I picked it up and dialled anyway. "Paige? It's me. I'm guessing you've heard the news about Rip."

"Why the hell are you calling me at a time like this?" It was easy to tell by the sound of her voice that she'd been crying, but that didn't take away from the venom in it. "Leave me alone! I don't want to talk to you!"

"Look, calm down. I'm pretty shocked myself, and I know how much he meant to you -"

"**** you! You don't know the first thing about me!" And with that, the line went dead.

... that went well.

My eyes were drawn back, as they inevitably were, to my notepad, where I had been scribbling ideas for the next month's card. Typical. The job really never ended, did it? The show must go on. How the hell did companies with weekly TV shows do it? And compared to a guy like Jay Chord, I've got it easy. Although I admit a couple of recent e-mails I'd got were troubling me.

The first wasn't too big a deal, I thought - California Love Machine had been picked up by CZCW. Well, I'd pretty much been expecting that, since he lived out that way, he suited their style, and if anything I was surprised they hadn't picked him up before. And if anything, the arrangement suited me too - he'd still appear on our shows while getting added exposure and match experience with them. More worrying was the news that Primus had been scouted by NYCW, and would be working shows for them. I was happy for him, as he'd been working hard and he definitely deserved it, but worried for PRW - NYCW wasn't at CZCW's level yet, but it was growing fast, having moved out of the overly old school mindset and positioned strategically in the Tri State area. That meant it was more likely to be watched by scouts from the bigger promotions. And that meant trouble.

I sighed. This was what my life has been reduced to, I guess. I started typing up the e-mail I was going to send to Remy.

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/prw.jpg

This Saturday, at the Pelican Bar on 24th Street, Phoenix Rising Wrestling presents FLASHBACK! For just four dollars, come and see the rematch for the PRW Phoenix Championship pitting new champion Ace Youngblood against the former champion Roderick Remus! Plus, Air Attack Weasel and Fearless Blue face off for the number one contendership, and the return of The Hustlers and California Love Machine! Here's the full card:

PRW PHOENIX CHAMPIONSHIP
Ace Youngblood © vs. Roderick Remus w/Muse
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/phoenixbelt.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/ace.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/rod.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/muse.jpg

NUMBER ONE CONTENDERSHIP
Air Attack Weasel w/Primus vs. Fearless Blue w/Olivia Diamond
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/weasel.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/primus.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/fearless.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/olivia.jpg

The Hustlers (Elijah Harris & Ernie Turner) w/Britney Hollywood vs. El Ladron & The Redneck Luchador
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/elijah.jpg & http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/ernie.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/britney.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/ladron.jpg & http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/redneck.jpg

California Love Machine w/Paige Croft vs. Velocidad
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/clm.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/paige.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/velocidad.jpg

Disco Daredevil vs. Oni
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/disco-1.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/oni.jpg

TEOL · April 30, 2010

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/prw.jpg

PRW: FLASHBACK

Saturday, Week 3, July, 2008

The Pelican Bar, Phoenix, Arizona

Remy stood solemnly in the ring. "And now, would you all please stand and bow your heads as we hold a ten bell salute for the recent passing of wrestling legend Rip Chord."

The whole crowd fell silent. I'd requested a spot as guest timekeeper for this one... I wanted to be out there, to be the one responsible. The impact a guy like Rip had on the career, and the life, of someone like me. And not just me, of course.

I rang the bell ten times. Then a moment of silence.

Then the crowd cheered once again, and I knew it was showtime.

We kick off with 'No Control' by Blackfire as the crowd rise to greet the new PRW Phoenix champion, Ace Youngblood, along with the woman who helped him win the title last month, both dressed in traditional Navajo warrior costumes. Ace poses with the belt in the ring before taking the microphone (yes, production values have been cut but we still have one!) and addressing the fans.

Ace: "Last month, I was preparing for my match for this title when I realised something. I realised that the only person in that match who didn't have any backup was me. Fearless had Olivia in his corner, and Remus had his *rolls eyes* 'Muse'... but I was alone out there. So I put a call out back to the reservation for help. And when, as I expected, Remus tried to cheat to hold on to his title... my sister, Alexis, was there to help me out."

Alexis poses in the ring, drawing more than a few wolf-whistles - she is a former stripper, after all.

Ace: "With her help, I was able to finally achieve my goal, and win gold in PRW. I'm here to promise all of you that I will be an honorable and fighting champion. I don't plan to attack people to get out of having to fight them like a coward. Anyone who wants a shot at this title just has to earn it, and I will -"

But before he can continue, he gets (somewhat ironically) attacked from behind! It's Air Attack Weasel! The Weasel stomps him down, but eats a tomahawk chop from Alexis! AAW doesn't waste time trying to fight back, but runs for the hills as Alexis helps her brother back to his feet. E

Disco Daredevil vs. Oni

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/disco-1.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/oni.jpg

Oni comes into this match looking a lot more animated than usual, charging down to the ring and around it a few times before rolling inside and continuing to charge about before Disco Daredevil's music even plays. The referee has to forcibly restrain Oni, who keeps trying to attack Disco before he can even get into the ring - and Disco takes advantage, springboarding into the ring with a clothesline! Oni tries to get straight back to his feet, but is clearly dazed, and Disco is able to keep control as the bell rings by taking him back down to the mat with a headlock takeover. Oni just won't stay still, though, and forces himself back to his feet, taking Disco down but then looking exhausted and resting in the corner. Disco takes advantage by charging at him with a dropkick and hits a hurricanrana before waiting for Oni to get back to his feet... Murder On The Dancefloor! That gets the three as Oni looks visibly frustrated, kicking the apron before leaving.

Disco Daredevil def. Oni (pinfall, Murder On The Dancefloor) E-

California Love Machine w/Paige Croft vs. Velocidad

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/clm.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/paige.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/velocidad.jpg

California Love Machine returns to PRW and is certainly a lot better known now than he was when he first debuted having already scored wins over guys like indy darling Frankie Perez during his appearances on CZCW's TV show One On One. Of course, One On One only airs in California, and since we don't have an abundance of fans busing in from California every month (yet... who says I can't be optimistic?), most of the fans who didn't see him here last month have only heard about what he can do.

As you might expect, this is a high flying aerial contest, as Velocidad looks to quicken the pace early with a running crossbody and a dropkick, sending CLM out to the floor. Velocidad sets up for a dive and flies through the ropes - but Paige Croft runs over and pushes CLM out of harm's way, eating the impact herself! Velocidad tries to check on the fallen Croft, but CLM has already hopped up onto the apron, and Velocidad looks up only to get hit with a hurricanrana onto the concrete! He looks out of it, but CLM rolls him back inside anyway and climbs up to the top rope... LAX Departure! The three count is academic after that as CLM picks up a strong victory, simply throwing his 'servant' over his shoulder and carrying her with him, unconscious, to the back.

California Love Machine def. Velocidad (pinfall, LAX Departure) E+

Another return from last month is that of The Hustlers, as Elijah Harris and Ernie Turner make their way down the entrance aisle accompanied as ever by their, er, employee, Britney Hollywood. The fans are certainly into the gimmick as Harris and Turner make their way into the ring, high fiving fans as they go, before Harris takes the mic.

Harris: "Everybody, this is the 'Soul Man' Elijah Harris saying what's up to everyone here in Phoenix! *predictable pop* Now last month, me and my buddy here, the 'Slick Pimp Daddy' Ernie Turner, got ourselves beat by... some dude in a weasel costume? What the hell? That ain't right. That can't be right, but that's the way I remember it. So tonight, we've decided we're going to make things right. Tell 'em, ET."

Turner: "Any two guys who think they can take on me and the Soul Man here, come on down to this ring right now and we'll show you exactly why we're here in PRW, to win matches and make some money. And as an added little incentive, if you win, I'll give you a discount with Britney tonight! Not free, of course - she's too classy for that - but believe me, she's worth the effort. So come on out and let's have ourselves a match!"

The fans seem to like that idea... for some reason. It's not like she's going to do it to them in the ring, guys. And given what she's wearing, there isn't a lot left to strip off. Still, cheap pops are cheap pops, I guess. D-

The Hustlers (Elijah Harris & Ernie Turner) w/Britney Hollywood vs. El Ladron & The Redneck Luchador

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/elijah.jpg & http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/ernie.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/britney.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/ladron.jpg & http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/redneck.jpg

The Redneck Luchador certainly seems excited by the prospect as he heads to the ring with El Ladron, licking his lips as he looks at Britney who reacts with rather understandable disgust. Why El Ladron is out here, I'm not entirely sure, but it certainly helps the Redneck out as he can decently match either of the Hustlers in terms of size - so naturally the Redneck insists on starting first, and promptly gets nailed with a huge clothesline from Harris and stomped down in the Hustlers' corner. A tag to Turner doesn't change his fortunes, as the Slick Pimp Daddy powers him into the air and slams him down with a flapjack.

El Ladron gets tagged in, but doesn't end up faring much better as Turner cuts off a punch and answers with a few of his own before whipping Ladron into the ropes and nailing him with a big boot. He picks Ladron up and drops him with a piledriver before going for the cover, but the Redneck, desperate to save his 'date', breaks up the count. Harris comes in and nails Redneck with a knee, though, throwing him to the floor while Turner picks Ladron back up... Slick Pimp Spike (Air Raid Crash)! He pins him and gets the three, allowing the Hustlers to leave victorious, Britney Hollywood laughing at a clearly distraught Redneck.

The Hustlers def. El Ladron & The Redneck Luchador (pinfall, Slick Pimp Spike on Ladron) E-

Number One Contendership

Air Attack Weasel w/Primus vs. Fearless Blue w/Olivia Diamond

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/weasel.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/primus.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/fearless.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/olivia.jpg

The crowd aren't especially pleased to see Air Attack Weasel after he interrupted Ace Youngblood's victory speech, a lesson he probably could have learned from Kanye West... but I digress. Besides, with the monstrous Primus at his side, he doesn't look overly concerned what the fans think of him. Blue looks fired up, clearly keen to get back into the title hunt after falling again at the final hurdle last month, and wastes no time getting the match underway, clearly focusing on the fact that he can get right back into a title match with a win here tonight.

Weasel isn't about to just let that happen, though, and he absorbs Blue's initial assault before cutting off a charge with a drop toe hold into the middle rope. He then quickly chokes Blue over it before distracting referee Xander Summer so that Primus can come over and continue to choke Blue from the outside! Olivia tries to break it up, but that just earns her a glare from the 315lb Primus before he nails Blue with an uppercut. The pleased Weasel takes full advantage, stomping Blue down in the corner as the crowd jeer.

Blue gets back in the match with a pair of boots to the face in the corner, sending AAW to the mat. He ascends the turnbuckles, but finds himself distracted by Primus stalking Olivia on the outside. That just allows AAW to get back to his feet, though, crotching Blue before going up top himself... superplex! Weasel crawls over to make the cover, but Blue kicks out! Frustrated, AAW hauls him up, but Blue fights back before running the ropes... AAW ducks... Plop Goes The Weasel! That gets the three count, and Weasel earns himself a title shot for next month!

Air Attack Weasel def. Fearless Blue (pinfall, Plop Goes The Weasel) E+

PRW Phoenix Championship

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/phoenixbelt.jpg

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/ace.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/alexis.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/rod.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/muse.jpg & http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/rex.jpg

It seems almost strange to see Roderick Remus coming out to the ring without his title (or, indeed, failing to apparently dominate the entire show), but at least he still has his entire entourage with him. Noticeably, Rex Reeves is actually at ringside with the challenger this time along with just Muse, presumably to ensure that Remus gets his belt back and to cancel out the presence of Alexis Youngblood in the champion's corner. Ace gets a good reaction as he comes out, which is encouraging; no point having a belt unless we have standards for it.

Remus attacks early, jumping Ace as he's taking off his ring jacket and belt and beating him down before taking him over with a vertical suplex. Remus is going for the Remus Clutch, but it's far too early in the match, and Ace fights out of it before getting to his feet. He whips Remus into the ropes and takes him over with a back body drop. He fires up the crowd, but finds Muse hanging onto his leg - only for Alexis to come over and nail her with a tomahawk chop! Reeves rushes over to help Muse as Blue runs at Ace, but Ace sidesteps him and sends him to the floor, wiping out Rex!

Ace follows Remus out and slams him into the apron a few times before rolling him back in. Remus recovers quickly, attacking Ace on the apron before trying to suplex him over the ropes, but Ace floats over with a roll up for two! Remus quickly gets to his feet and nails Ace with a series of forearms, whipping him into the ropes and hitting a spinning back elbow for two. He's going for the Remus Clutch again, but Ace powers out and gets back to his feet. Remus goes low! The referee didn't quite see it, but suspects enough to give Remus a talking to. Remus reassures the ref and goes back to finish Youngblood off - only to get hit with the Ace Crusher out of nowhere! Three count, and Ace retains the title!

Ace Youngblood def. Roderick Remus to retain the PRW Phoenix Championship (pinfall, Ace Crusher) D-

Attendance: 73
Best Match: Ace Youngblood def. Roderick Remus
Worst Match: Disco Daredevil def. Oni/The Hustlers def. El Ladron & The Redneck Luchador

Overall Rating: E+

TEOL · April 30, 2010

I was feeling good after Flashback, better than good in fact. We had a strong champion, our storylines seemed to be moving along well, we were making money - a LOT of money, far more than I had expected to by this stage. Overall, for a promotion that didn't even exist eight months ago, and had very little in the way of funding or advertising, we'd grown an amazing amount in such a short -

"Ah, Trent... I want to talk to you about the way things are going. I'm not entirely happy with the last show..."

Of course you aren't, Richard, I said to myself. You seem to want us to be on the same level as the SWF in no time at all. Out loud I said, "What seems to be the problem?"

"Well, don't you think some of the content at the moment is a bit... racy?"

"Racy, Richard?" Oh. So it was like that. I should have seen this coming.

He gave me a level look. "Please don't play dumb with me, Trent. That tag team you brought in, the Hustlers, appear to be managed by a prostitute. And a lot of these women you've brought in - without consulting me, I might add - would appear to be trained more in the skills of pole dancing than professional wrestling."

That he was absolutely right with that last statement, or that it had been more his daughter's idea than my own - trying to figure out which one I wanted to tell him less wasn't easy. "I admit none of them have actually wrestled for us yet, and not many of them are very good in the ring, but then neither are most of our male wrestlers. We're a small company. To be honest, the only woman on the roster who probably wouldn't be able to pull her weight in the ring would be Jemma, in my opinion."

"And Olivia too, of course."

"Oh, uh, yeah. Her too. Of course." A change in subject seemed advisable. "Look, you can blame me if you want, but the fact is that it's the SWF who turned up the raunch meter of what was acceptable in wrestling, and what fans have come to expect from it. They've got women parading around on national TV in their underwear. The Hustlers are an established independent act, there's no way I could bring them in and change their whole gimmick around to suit myself -"

"This isn't an option, Trent. Tone them down."

I bowed my head. Clearly I wasn't winning this argument. "Yes, sir."

"Now, about these new wrestlers you want to bring in... don't you think our roster is big enough as it is?"

I'd thought he'd say that. "I thought you'd say that. But as we grow, we need more talent; that's just inevitable. And besides, I've cut some deadwood off the roster to make space."

"Really? Who's leaving?"

"El Ladron is gone, but that was pretty much inevitable. He's been working dark matches for South Of The Border Pro Wrestling - they're the hottest promotion in Mexico right now - that have been taking him further and further south, pushing up his travel costs, and now they're high enough that it's not worth the cost of bringing him in every month. And The Desperado's gone too. He wasn't happy about being used as a jobber, and I was never planning to do anything more than that with him. Dude has delusions of grandeur."

Richard scratched his chin. "Fair enough. But listen. In order to make up for this whole incident, I want one of these guys you're bringing in to have a family friendly gimmick. I don't want people to think PRW is some farce like those wannabe strippers in Vegas, got it?"

"Um... OK."

"So what about this first one, Grease Hogg. What can you do with him?"

"I wouldn't advise doing anything with him. He's actually a former SWF guy, used to be one half of the Dirty White Boys tag team there before they got released last year. We should be capitalising on his name value more than anything."

"OK, I concede the point. How about Dermot O'Logical?"

"... as the name sort of implies, he comes with a built in gimmick. Given that he's spent years honing it on the independent scene, it hardly seems productive to make him stop using it when he joins us."

Richard shook his head. "You really don't wanna budge, huh? OK, this last one, Brady Prince. What's his gimmick?"

"Um... he's from Maryland." I was suddenly hit by the realisation that for all the preparation I'd done for this, I'd forgotten one crucial element.

"Well there you go then! Let's do something with him. Let's see. Brady Prince, huh? Prince of what?"

He seemed to be waiting for my response, because he left a gap in the conversation that I idiotically attempted to fill. "Prince... of... the jungle?"

There was another pause as he digested this. When he finally spoke again, he said the three words I had been dreading the moment that nonsense left my mouth.

"That... is brilliant," Richard said.

"No, it isn't. It really isn't. I was just babbling..."

"No, it is! It's perfect! Kids love that kind of thing! Tarzan and all that stuff... make it happen. I want to see it on the next show. Prince Brady of the Jungle! Now that's going to bring in the family demographic..."

As he walked away, I put my head in my hands. I had a couple of suddenly-awkward phone conversations ahead of me.

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/prw.jpg

Things are heating up in Phoenix Rising Wrestling, as it looks like we're all suffering from the SUMMERTIME BLUES! This Saturday at the Pelican Bar on 24th Street, PRW Phoenix champion Ace Youngblood must defend his title against his hated rival, the nefarious Air Attack Weasel! Also, Fearless Blue takes on California Love Machine, The Hustlers face off against The Art Class and three new wrestlers will debut! Check out the full card:

PRW PHOENIX CHAMPIONSHIP
Ace Youngblood © w/Alexis Youngblood vs. Air Attack Weasel w/Primus
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/phoenixbelt.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/ace.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/alexis.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/weasel.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/primus.jpg

NUMBER ONE CONTENDERSHIP
California Love Machine w/Paige Croft vs. Fearless Blue w/Olivia Diamond
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/clm.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/paige.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/fearless.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/olivia.jpg

The Art Class (Roderick Remus & Rex Reeves) w/Muse vs. The Hustlers (Elijah Harris & Ernie Turner)
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/rod.jpghttp://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/rex.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/muse.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/elijah.jpghttp://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/ernie.jpg

Prince Brady of the Jungle w/'The Lion Queen' Roz Larren vs. The Redneck Luchador
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/brady.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/roz.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/redneck.jpg

Grease Hogg vs. Oni
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/grease.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/oni.jpg

Dermot O'Logical w/Nurse Darla Knight vs. Velocidad
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/dermot.jpg w/http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/knight.jpg vs. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/EMPLEHESAELP/PRW/velocidad.jpg

KrisKatana · May 1, 2010

PRW PHOENIX CHAMPIONSHIP
Ace Youngblood © w/Alexis Youngblood vs. Air Attack Weasel w/Primus

NUMBER ONE CONTENDERSHIP
California Love Machine w/Paige Croft vs. Fearless Blue w/Olivia Diamond

The Art Class (Roderick Remus & Rex Reeves) w/Muse vs. The Hustlers (Elijah Harris & Ernie Turner)

Prince Brady of the Jungle w/'The Lion Queen' Roz Larren vs. The Redneck Luchador

Grease Hogg vs. Oni

Dermot O'Logical w/Nurse Darla Knight vs. Velocidad

Loving the Diary, it is the first C-verse one I could get into. Your actually making me think about starting a C-verse game.

Sign In

Phoenix Rising Wrestling

Recommended Posts

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Archived