The Journey of Vern Lee: From Fan Fiction to Reality

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Hello,

 

I'm going to get right down to it: Yes, I ran another diary, but quickly lost interest in it. But what makes this any different? Eventhough it's a real world diary, it's got a story about me personally entangled in it with a few twists. While, like my last diary, this will use a website down the road, Vern Lee will post all shows in this thread, whether it be a preview or the full thing, and use this thread for discussion. Any other questions? Feel free to ask! Now....without any further delay...the back story.

 

The wrestling world was rocked when Panda Energy finally pulled the plug on Total Nonstop Action. TNA had long had a stigma due to their business decisions and sometimes, their booking. The talent, however, was mostly top notch. From AJ Styles, to the Murder City Machine Guns, to even former talent like "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels and even an odd appearance by CM Punk, TNA had always featured the stars of tomorrow.

 

But then, July 29th, 2010 came and Panda Energy had enough of TNA's rash and costly business decisions, forcing them to pull their financial support from the company, which had a domino effect and forced TNA to fold.

 

Rewind…...

 

In the wings, a there was a man named Vern Lee. He always dreamed of becoming a professional wrestler, but never got a chance to train due to personal issues. For the past couple of years, he had been running fictional wrestling websites, and you know what? People actually LIKED what they read and often wondered "what if he really owned his own promotion"? Well, Mr. Lee often wondered the same thing, and since he couldn't wrestle, he swore that someway, he'd be involved with the wrestling business one day.

 

Vern had a few connections in the wrestling business. A friend, who is in the wrestling business, saw one of his fictional wrestling websites and wondered if he ever thought of opening his own promotion. Vern wondered where he'd get the money for such a venture, and there was just too much going against him. So the discussion of this idea was dropped.

 

But Vern Lee's friend wanted his best friend, Vern himself, to realize his dream of being in the business. Vern had known since the two were college roommates that his friend has a connection to many Chicago area performers, including Brandon Bishop (who actually trained Vern's friend), Ace Steel, and CM Punk. Vern simply thought his friend was bluffing about having connections with Steel and Punk.

 

One day, Vern was sitting at home and working on his website when he got a call from his best friend with the connections, who we'll call "Joe". Joe told Vern that he had heard about a new Chicago based wrestling promotion that was looking to launch in the fall which needed a booker/writer. Vern turned down the proposal. Vern had major confidence issues all throughout his life, and wondered "what if this venture fails?". Joe told him that he'd never know unless he got his feet wet.

 

So days went by, and Vern continued to work on his websites, until one day he got another phone call, once again from Joe. He told Vern that whether he liked it or not, Vern was going to realize his dream, and he's going to help him. Vern laughed this off, but stopped laughing when he said he told CM Punk about his work, and Punk, while not big on e-feds, liked his ideas and thought he'd make a decent booker. So the conversation ended quickly as an embarassed Vern hung up the phone.

 

CM Punk is a friend of Samoa Joe, who worked for TNA obviously, and who had a connection with Dixie Carter, who had a connection with Panda Energy. What happened next shows the power of word of mouth. Punk told Joe, who told Dixie about a new promotion looking for help in the Chicago area. Dixie said that she didn't want the same bookers nor writers from TNA, and that was final, or else she wouldn't be involved with the venture.

 

On July 30th, one day after the folding of Total Nonstop Action, Dixie Carter was hired as the chief authority of this new promotion, but she still needed a staff. First, she chose her first road agent: The man who had long been critical of TNA, former ECW wrestler Lance Storm!

 

But she needed a booker. It all sounds too weird and too good to be true that Joe was talking with Punk one day, who told him about Vern's work while the two were discussion how lame e-fedding was. Joe went to Vern's website for a laugh, but liked his ideas as well. Even though there was a HUGE difference between booking fictional stuff and booking for real, he also knew that Vern had potential. It was right around this time that Vern decided to help out with the new wrestling promotion. Dixie Carter was skeptical of this virtually unknown booker but realized that North American wrestling needed a new direction, and Vern shared that same sentiment.

 

There you have it, Vern was officially hired as the head booker and writer of this new Chicago based wrestling organization, which was ultra convenient for Vern being from the Chi's south 'burbs. An agreement had been reached, but this was only the beginning of a LONG journey.