A Watcher's Diary

[James Casey]

Welcome to my watcher's diary.

 

This is an idea I've been kicking around for a while. Watcher's diaries aren't new, of course, and I'll be doing the usual highlights of the obvious and not so obvious events that occur as the game plays out.

 

What I also want to do throw up bios of workers - random workers, key workers, total nobodies... Guys you might never come across, or might already be so familar with you haven't stopped to check their bio.

 

And then there's the shows. Each month I'll pick a show to write up. The style will differ from month to month as I figure each fed would have different ways of reporting.

 

So, without further ado, let's take a look at the first two weeks of 2010!

[James Casey]

Week 1, January 2010

- Emma Chase is the most-searched star on tew.com

- Remmy Skye stars for CZCW in their Revolution event, pinning Matt Sparrow

- GCG rise to Cult on the back of the first show of their Wrathchild Tour

- Kiminobu Kuruki wins the GCG Openweight title from Mabuchi Furusawa on the show

- Paul Huntingdon is tipped as a future star in SWF

- Rich Money put in the top performance, losing to Marat Khoklov in a B rated Supreme TV

- Tommy Cornell was the star of Total Wrestling, losing a non-title match to Rocky Golden

- AAA sell out the 1,000-seat Portland Center with a well-booked show

- Giant Redwood is rumoured to be playing politics backstage in USPW

- GCG and SWF are linked with new signings

- NOTBPW can’t get 4,000 fans to a B rated show while USPW turn away fans after selling 5,000 tickets to a C rated event

- The Rainbow Girls topple the Serpents for their second Five Star Tag Team titles

- Ginko Kuroda announces her retirement from in-ring competition at just 29

- RAW Attitude! was a fun show, marred by a controversial incident as staff tried to get fans to flash anti-DIW signs. Many fans refused in clear view of the cameras

- USPW, SWF, GCG, SOTBPW and 21CW all announce new PPV deals

 

Week 2, January 2010

- Jacob Jett signs with GCG in addition to his 4C deal

- Mainstream Hernandez signs for CZCW

- Aaron Andrews wins the TCW All Action title from Edd Stone

- Remo stars for SWF even in an average encounter with Steve Frehley; SWF fans enjoy the match, but it’s been done too many times

- Gregory Black and Lobster Warrior are rumoured to be turning heel in SWF. Who said SWF wanted to just appeal to kids?

- NOTBPW score back to back A matches as The Natural topples Sean McFly and Johnny Bloodstone pins Dark Angel

- Canadian Dragon strains his wrist, which may explain why his match with Harrison Hash was the weakest of the night

- GCG are still being linked with several new wrestlers

- Melody Cuthill releases a statement saying she plans to work more of a Japanese Junior style in coming matches. Should get her a lot of North American bookings

- SWF When Hell Freezes Over features twelve matches, leading some to speculate that hell has froz-

- Oh.

- WLW are putting out great bang for your buck with three Bs and a B- despite a high crowd of 1,485 so far

- FCW pair off Hocking and Zonk, and Chavez and Peverell as all signs point to the tag division being the one to watch in Puerto Rico

- NYCW sell out the Weston Gymnasium for Rush Hour, with Black Hat Bailey retaining the Empire title over Steve Flash in the main event

 

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q81/jamescasey_photos/AkimaBrave.jpg

Malili "Akima Brave" Umaga is a solid worker, a part of the extended Samoan family of wrestlers (his older brother is Rav "Rhino" Umaga of Golden Canvas Grappling fame). He graduated from the Supreme Wrestling Federation training camp in 2005, making his pro debut in December of that same year.

 

He is best known as one half of The Samoan Wildboyz tag team, alongside Kid Toma. A hard-working team who give their all in every match, they have become respected members of the SWF roster. In 2008, with their momentum stalling somewhat, the Wildboyz were turned heel in an atttempt to kick-start their careers - so far, it has not had the desired effect.

 

Next: Who shocks SOTBPW by getting a B- out of El Fuerza? And who'll win the 2010 Rip Chord Invitational?

[20LEgend]

This is cool, Pablo Rodriquez or C Lover must have been the ones who got El Fuerzo b-

[Blake Trask]

Hey fun idea. Watching how things pan out is always interesting. Some stuff is by rote, other times, well, real eyebrow raisers. I'll definitely be keeping my eye on this.

[James Casey]

Week 3, January 2010

- Ryu Kajahara puts on a stunning display in retaining the WEXXV Warrior’s Heart title over Gareth Wayne

- Mystic Dragon is called up from development to the BHOTWG main roster

- Alicia Strong is named ‘Best Young Prospect’ on a tew.com webpoll

- 31 fans attend ACPW Terror Rising. It’s a decent effort by the smallest of the pro companies

- Greg Gauge spreads his wings to sign with UEW as well as GCG

- Eddie Peak pins Joshua Taylor for the TCW International title. Anyone still think Peak wouldn’t fit into the worker’s paradise?

- Frehley and Remo team up to beat Bruce and Money in a great match on Supreme TV

- Hell Monkey becomes GCG’s first signing of the year

- Kevin Jones and Joss Thompson but on a great match for 21CW on Best of British Wrestling

- PSW Doomsday is a strong show, most notable for the Deadly Alliance dropping the tag belts to JD Morgan and Tank Bradley in their first defence

- 5SSW rise to Regional on the back of a very good show capped by DEVIL Karube beating Saori Nakadan in a great match ©

- Ultimate Phoenix carries El Fuerza to a B- match on SOTBPW Lucha Libre, and it’s their best match of the month. It’s both wrestlers’ first appearance of the year. At time of writing we’re still waiting for no. 2

- The Swarm seem to have fallen out in OLLIE as Swarm I teams with El Critico and Rafael Ruiz to win the Campeones de Trios from the Monteros and Tricolor

- PGHW call up Eiyen Miyamoto from development

- Red “Phenomenal E” Panther is being topped for success in BHOTWG

- NYCW’s youth vs. experience split continues apace as Mikey James joins his fellow twenty-somethings (5), along with those in their thirties (3), forties (5) and fifties (2) on the active roster.

 

Week 4, January 2010

- Ring of Fires hit a bad patch, releasing Lance Martin, Martin Heath , Rhys Vali, Jon Michael Sharp and Gob Narfi

- 4C Cage Rage attracts rave reviews with Jacob Jett given as the star

- Supreme TV was headlined by the first World title match between Eric Eisen and Rich Money. It got a B, and was overshadowed by Remo and Christian Faith. This may seem familiar...

- Troy Tornado beats Rocky Golden in the main event of Total Wrestling, with Minnesota/Hawkins a solid semi-final match in a B rated show

- Haruki Kudo and Samoan Machine pull in an A for GCG in the semi-final slot of their Tuesday show

- Stone Yoshikawa is released by PGHW just a few days after being called up from development

- NOTBPW hold the second A show of the year (they got the first, too) with Jeremy going over Bloodstone in the main event. The Stones may have taken a tumble, but they know how to get back up again

- Lassana Makutsi stars in RIPW’s Reclaiming Pride, toppling Kentucky Bill to retain the RIPW title

- Cameron Vessey equals Mainstream Hernandez’ record by winning a second Rip Chord Invitational

- The RCI show earns strong reviews for MAW, although star performer Jay Chord was knocked out by Vessey in round one

- 5SSW March of Darkness puts in a late shout for indie card of the month, scoring a C+ with Yuma Maruya toppling DEVIL Karube to retain the World title in the main event

- Stars of RAW 11 pulled a decent rating, with Luke Steele being the star of the show.

 

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q81/jamescasey_photos/RyuKajahara.jpg

Ryu Kajahara is something of an enigma in Japan; while he's pretty dire in terms of in-ring talent, he's gotten hugely over with the fans. This is primarily because he is an absolute psycho, willing to take the most insane risks imaginable, and he has charisma to burn. His appearances on popular Japanese TV shows have made him a huge star, despite the fact he has never worked for any of the big promotions. In 2005 he set up WEXXV, his own hardcore promotion. In recent years he has been troubled by knee and back problems, but seems intent on continuing wrestling until he has absolutely no choice but to retire, and it hasn't stopped him continuing to win titles in his own promotion.

 

Next: A night out in Japan...

[James Casey]

Show of the month: WEXXV Whiplash From Impact

Tuesday, Week 3, January 2010

 

From: anime_dude36@hawaii.com

To: reports@tew.com

Subject: So totally awesome hardcore!

 

Hey dude, listen, just wanted to say I’m a big fan of the site. Don’t often get to see wrestling being out here in Hawaii, but I just got back from a show in Japan and I figured I had to tell you guys about it!

 

First a little bit of story. I’m over here for Otaku-Con. I’ve been coming here the last five years, always with some sort of costume cuz let me tell you, brah, the chicks love to see some burly gaijin like me filling out some kick-ass costume, am I right?

 

Anyway, I’d been here two days, marking my territory, punking out some kid who probably spent the last six months making his costume and thought it meant he could slide up to one of my girls. Well, forget that – I whacked him in the jaw with my sword hilt and he left in no time flat. Yeah!

 

Anyway, my buddy Kenji says if I liked that, maybe he should take me to see Warrior Engine. I figured it was some band or something and went along in my costume. Boy was I wrong!

 

We got to this grungey arena about 8 local and I noticed some big old guys looking at me and laughing. I would have said something but, you know, Kenji said not to – said if I tried it, they’d show me what they’d do with my sword. Well, they looked like they could so I kept it closed.

 

I gotta say, Kenji told me this girl I met might be there, so I didn’t want to get in trouble.

 

Anyway, we got inside and there was this raised platform in the middle of the arena, and maybe a thousand seats all around. I figured we were early cuz nothing was set up, but Kenji told me they set the ring up different for every match.

 

See, told you I’d get there! This Warrior Engine 25 thing is a wrestling show! Kenji told me it was hardcore wrestling. I asked him if he meant like DaVE, dude, and he said no – DaVE was watered down like American beer in comparison. Well, I nearly put Kenji down, girl or no girl, because I’m a guy who likes his beer, but then the first match started and holy ---- brah, these guys were right next to us! It was two of the guys from outside and they just came up through the crowd through a door near us. One of them was Travis Century, the other one some Kajiwara or something. Anyway they were throwing down right by us, just going all out beating each other with anything they could get their hands on. Century got Kaji down and I tried to give him my sword. He seemed real confused at having another American around, and that let Kajiwara jump him. The two guys took a tumble down a whole flight of stairs and it seems like they got legit knocked cold cuz the referee stopped the match.

 

Man, there were some unhappy folks around. Kenji had to do some fast talking, and I was glad, brah, cuz some of them looked mean. I mean, how was I to know if any of these guys were wrestlers either?

 

Anyway, they put another gaijin on next called Larry Wood. He seemed to really know his stuff – the crowd were hating on him beating on the local guy, Hiroshi something. Eventually he got him into the ring – they set it up during the match – and Wood did a piledriver off the second rope. Looked sick as ---- from where I was, I’m tellin’ you.

 

Next we had one of the McWade brothers. I told Kenji that this was just some DaVE rip-off after all, but holy ---- this Morioka guy set him on fire! I mean honest-to-God fire! McWade was wearing that nasty flannel shirt he always wore and Morioka just burnt it off him with a lighter and some petrol or something. I guess Morioka won that one. Good job there’s a spare McWade, huh?

 

That’s where it started to get really crazy. Kenji told me the next match was for something called the King of the Death Matches title. I figured this was the last match – I mean, that has to be the top title if you gotta risk being set on fire, right? No – it’s not! This company is crazy-ass bastards! Anyway, turns out the champion is Doug Peak but I didn’t say anything to Kenji this time because his opponent was Battle Sakata, and that crazy mofo came out wearing a barbed wire sweater. You think I’m joking? He had this thick sweater on, and barbed wire wrapped around his arms and chest. Everytime he hit Peak or whatever the fans went crazy. Peak got ripped up pretty bad, but then... Some crazy stuff. He managed to pull the sweater up over Battle’s head so the wire was on the inside and then he powerbombed him three times! And then he came off the top rope with a crazy legdrop! You shoulda heard the screams! Man, I reckon Sakata must’ve been in there if he wasn’t out cold, but the fans were loud, brah. Man, Peak won but he was nearly out from the blood loss. Then the medics got Battle untangled and brah, that was it. He looked like raw meat he was so much of a mess. It was sick!

 

Man, I couldn’t wait to see what happened next. Kenji went for a leak – he said they’d do some weak stuff to follow that, but I stayed in my seat. The girl showed up – said she saw my costume and was I enjoying the show. Damn right I was!

 

Anyway, the next match was two Japanese guys with barbed wire strung up around the ring and Kenji wasn’t there to say who they were. He was right, though – it wasn’t anything especially gory. One guy got his nose broken I think, but the girl said that happens all the time. Apparently these guys break them so often they never heal right. That’s pretty hardcore. Kenji got back just as it finished. He said they were Mamoru someone and something Senmatsu. The second guy won, anyway.

 

Then, oh, brah, then something amazing happened. I was watching the ring and there was this old guy in the middle telling people what to do to get things set up. There was this big box of thumbtacks he had put in the middle of the ring. I was waiting for him to get out and get the match going when some dude vaulted the guard rail and jumped him. The match was on! The old guy was Ryu Kajahara, Warrior’s Heart champion, and the guy who attacked him was Kimitada Ohishi. They did everything! Kajahara is a crazy sonuvabitch, let me tell you brah. Inside a minute he was bleeding and the bald old crazy was covered in his own blood inside five. Ohishi just kicked the ---- out of him at first, then Ryu got hold of a kendo stick went berserk. He wasn’t just hitting Ohsihi with hit – he did a moonsault with it. He came off the top rope with a legdrop through a ringside table with it beneath his knees. He snapped it in two and played Ohishi like a drum kit. The fans were nuts and so was I! I got down to ringside and when Ryu got close I offered him my sword again.

 

Brah, Ryu Kajahara punched me clean in the face!

 

It took me a couple of minutes to get my act together and when I did Ohishi was wailing on Ryu with a chair and my guy had clearly gone into the pinbox cuz he musta had about a thousand of sticking out of his head, back and arms. Every time Ohishi hit him, they musta got driven in deeper and deeper. But the crazy old ba----d took it all with a smile on his face, because then he got his hands on a baseball bat and the crowd went bat----. I’m telling you, Sam Strong has nothing on this guy. I was cheering him on, calling for him to hit a home run, and then the guy next to me picked it up, and then Kenji and the girl, and then it seemed like the whole crowd was singing along with me!

 

And then he did it – he turned to me, nodded, and teed up like Babe Ruth on his best day and hit Ohishi so hard between the eyes that the damn bat snapped in two! My man won!

 

Brah, I’m telling you, this is where it’s at! I’m already booked to go back in a couple of months, and I can’t wait to see more. Ryu is my hero. Next time I go to a convention I’m shaving my head and taking a baseball bat. The dude is sick – but I guess then so am I!

 

- Kurt

 

Next: The first major injury, and the first A show...

[James Casey]

Week 1, February 2010

- Fuyuko Higa graduates from the 5SSW dojo and signs for the parent company. Women’s wrestling fans pay close attention

- Pro Wrestling SAISHO drop to Small size. The company had been forced to cancel its show last month, and fans are speculating the company could soon be no more

- TCW Malice In Wonderland was a very good show (B) highlighted by Tommy Cornell beating Bryan Vessey and Wolf Hawkins toppling Ricky Dale Johnson

- Mikey James was the star of CZCW Vendetta, picking up the Xtreme title from Masked Cougar in the process

- Haruki Kudo and Shingen Miyazaki score an A for GCG – on a show with a C main event

- Ed Monton is to step away from the ring

- Whipper Spencer Marks is to step away from the business

- Emmy gets the call from RIPW to SWF

- Idaho Punisher’s book ‘Punishment: My 25 Years In Pro Wrestling’ sells out. The book reveals the secret behind his name, which is-

- In a move that has stunned the industry, Acid has agreed to tour with a Japanese company. BHOTWG in this instance. Samoan Machine and Champagne Lover will also be on the tour

- As will Rhino Umaga

- 40 fans for ACPW this month, and it’s a great show for the World’s Littlest Fed

- Lassana Makutsi proved to be a cut above once more for RIPW, this time defending the RIPW title against Primus Allen

- WLW hold an ‘average’ show for them - That’s still several steps above average for almost any other company their size. Hell Monkey is the stand-out performer

 

Week 2, February 2010

- CGC draw nearly nine thousand (nearly 9000!!!) fans in BC. The show’s a good one, with Jack DeColt and Eddie Chandler drawing in the match of the night

- Torch Nakazawa called up to PGHW only to be released

- Vengeance re-signs with SWF

- Stevie Stoat is getting mentioned in dispatches from 21CW a lot

- SWF Nothing to Lose is headlined by Eric Eisen defeating Jack Bruce. It’s a good show

- SWF are being linked with a slew of new faces after rising to Global

- Recent winner of a vote for ‘worst name in wrestling’ Pookie Possum re-signs with RAW

- Julian Watson is benched for a month with a torn stomach muscle in the year’s first serious injury

- ZEN hold Way of the Scholar, with Halloween Knight retaining the Master title in a good match against Lone Shark in the main event

- Goemon Komiya follows Torch Nakazawa out of development and out of PGHW

- Magnum Kobe knocks back PGHW to stay with WLW

- NOTBPW set the standard for card of the year with Clash Classic, an A rated show headlined by Steve DeColt retaining the Canadian title over Jeremy Stone

 

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q81/jamescasey_photos/HarukiKudo.jpg

Haruki Kudo is one of the most famous and influential wrestlers of all time, especially in his home of Japan. A great worker and showman, he is most closely associated with BHOTWG, where he was a major star for nearly three decades under a mask as the legendary Hooded Kudo and was also a hugely successful booker for the promotion. On top of that, he also undertook several short international "tours" where he headlined for promotions in America, Mexico and Europe.

 

In 2009, Kudo shockingly left his long-time home of BHOTWG, resigning as a show of protest after his friend Kaneie Komine was ousted from power. He joined their biggest rivals GCG almost immediately, and now seems intent on helping them stage an unlikely comeback to challenge BHOTWG. As the Hooded Kudo character is a trademark of his former employers, he now works solely under his real name.

 

Next: A stinker from the Steel City...