BHK1978 Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 As far as the Candlelight Chats goes, I think it would be cool to see Sam Keith being interviewed. I cannot think of any questions but I feel he might be a good subject for an interview. TCW Presents Total Wrestling (faces listed first) live from The V. Thompson Arena (South West) Harry Allen vs. Sam Keith Koshiro Ino vs. Charlie Thatcher Aaron Andrews vs. Rick Law Giant Tana vs. Eddie Peak Danny Fonzarelli vs. Troy Tornado Bryan Vessey & Joey Minnesota vs. Tommy Cornell & Wolf Hawkins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eidenhoek Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 Obiously Cornell or Chuck himself could be interesting. Golden, what with your love of pointing out he's been doing nothing. Oxford, just to get with Bryant somewhat again. OH OH! Jennifer Cornell. Also, she's hawt. Harry Allen vs. Sam Keith Really? Koshiro Ino vs. Charlie Thatcher Really? Aaron Andrews vs. Rick Law Good old RickDom, laying down for youngsters. Giant Tana vs. Eddie Peak I'm picking the guy that doesn't suck. Danny Fonzarelli vs. Troy Tornado Dunno why, but I'm pulling for a tie. Bryan Vessey & Joey Minnesota vs. Tommy Cornell & Wolf Hawkins Jump on the Vessey train. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purple Cowboy Posted March 13, 2011 Author Share Posted March 13, 2011 WEEK 3 January 2010 TCW Roster 2010 Part 4by Fred Jones - PW Candle Senior Columnist http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r203/gratefulcowboy/pw%20candle/Fred.jpg We’ve past the halfway point with this fourth part of our roster overview. I suspect we’ll be done in seven parts the way the editors are taking their time with my literary gold. In some ways I can understand their concern and thoroughness. At my age I sometimes forget exactly where I am and I can be sitting right in my own kitchen chair. The worst is when I forget when I am and during a Tommy Cornell match you see me cheering for Dick the Devastator or Ed “The Strangler” Henson. It’s happened. Far more often than I care to admit. In other ways, they could be breaking internet records at the Candle if they just put these up more quickly. And, now in my sunset years, I could maybe bask in and soak up some of that before I bow out. Aww, well. These are the compromises we make when we work for the man. I go roughly in alphabetical order by first name. You can check out Part 1 of my profiles (Aaron Andrews, American Buffalo, Benny Benson, Brent Hill, Bryan Vessey) HERE. Part 2 (Chance Fortune, Charles Alexander, Charlie Thatcher, Clark Alexander, Danny Fonzarelli) are HERE. Part 3 (Eddie Peak, Edd Stone, Flying Jimmy Foxx, Freddy Huggins, Genghis Rahn) are HERE. Giant Tana – At 32-years old we may have already seen the best that Giant Tana has to offer in-ring as his 400-plus pound frame is taking a heavy toll on his knees. Despite being fodder for The Syndicate in recent years, he has maintained a degree of popularity in TCW which has always been deemed “unusual,” almost as if the general thought was that Tana would be a better fit in SWF. He had one brief TCW International championship reign a couple of years back and if I were Charles Alexander I’d give the guy one more run with the belt. Why not? He’s easy to get behind, and you can build a fresh, new star heel out of whoever beats him. Guide – Of course one half of The New Wave, one of the most dominant tag teams in recent wrestling history. They were 4-time tag champs in DAVE (and the last team to hold the titles), and are now in the midst of their second reign with the TCW World Tag Team belts. Guide is the brawler of the team which compliments Scout’s technical precision. But, sometimes when a match is centered on his tag partner Scout, Guide will look visibly disinterested when he’s standing on the ring apron. This could be the year where, at 31-years old, we start seeing more singles matches from Thom Barrowman. Harry Allen – 32-year old Allen is one of the most loyal and longest-serving members of the roster. He was a mainstay in the old cruiserweight division and one half of the The Young Guns, a tag team that holds a special place in the hearts of a generation of TCW fans as they held the titles on four occasions. Since the departure of Steve Gumble in 2009, Allen has been spinning his wheels a bit and dropping down to All Action title range instead of International title range as originally projected, but he remains a popular member of the roster. “Straight Shooter” Joel Bryant – The 38-year old ex-Head Booker is still probably best known between Japanese and American audiences for his work in tag teams rather than his 4-year run with the TCW Head Book. While The Syndicate storyline was good for TCW, TCW couldn’t close the gap on SWF during his tenure and Bryant seemed to lose the plot completely this fall when he refused to book title matches. Bryant still has a role to play with the fed in helping to work with younger wrestlers and here’s a scenario for you to consider: the Tag Team Specialists each go their own way, pick a rookie to work with, and wager with one another about whose team gets the belts first. Wrestling gold. Mr. Cornell you can just send your royalty check c/o Fred Jones right to me here at the Candle. Thanks. Joey Minnesota – Sometimes when TCW tells you a guy is a superstar, you kind of raise one eyebrow in that suspicious way and stroke your chin while bracing yourself for a good giggle. But with 27-year old Joey Minnesota, they just might have a superstar. If nothing else, he at least looks like a superstar. After finally learning how to work for the man himself and politic his way into good graces, he was elevated to the Main Event scene and helped bring down The Syndicate. Now it looks like he’s going to have to help stop a new alliance between Tommy Cornell, Wolf Hawkins, and Troy Tornado. Seems like TCW has big plans for Minnesota in 2010. If I were to nitpick, I’d tell him to work on his good stamina to make it great, and I’d say focus on one wrestling area and become great. Right now he’s equally good at brawling, mat or chain wrestling! While the versatility is nice and we’ve cited it before for guys like Benny Benson, here we’re talking about a very top guy in the company. Make him the technical master or the brawl master or something. Just my take. Thanks for reading and be well. Later tonight Brint Williams will have LIVE COVERAGE! of TCW Presents Total Wrestling. And tomorrow, Frank Jackson should be announcing the next guest for his Candlelight Chat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisKid Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 Harry Allen vs. Sam Keith Koshiro Ino vs. Charlie Thatcher Aaron Andrews vs. Rick Law Giant Tana vs. Eddie Peak Danny Fonzarelli vs. Troy Tornado Bryan Vessey & Joey Minnesota vs. Tommy Cornell & Wolf Hawkins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rathen4 Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 Harry Allen vs. Sam Keith - A rub, but not a boost. Koshiro Ino vs. Charlie Thatcher Aaron Andrews vs. Rick Law - I love AA. Giant Tana vs. Eddie Peak - If he was Giant Tuna, I'd go the other way. But he's not. Danny Fonzarelli vs. Troy Tornado - I hate Fonz. Bryan Vessey & Joey Minnesota vs. Tommy Cornell & Wolf Hawkins - Something funny is going to happen.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purple Cowboy Posted March 14, 2011 Author Share Posted March 14, 2011 WEEK 3 January 2010 LIVE COVERAGE! of TCW Presents Total Wrestling by Brint Williams - PW Candle TCW Columnist http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r203/gratefulcowboy/pw%20candle/2009-04-07-businessman.jpg Week 3 January 2010 Venue: The V. Thompson Arena (South West) Attendance: 10,000 - SELL OUT! Live! on GNN Total Sports Before the show went live there were two dark matches: D1 – Rocky Golden & “The Dancing Fool” Flying Jimmy Foxx vs. The Tag Team Specialists What a crazy booking. Foxx was introduced first and after his theatrics you had Golden’s music hit and fans scrambling over each other to get to their seats in time to see what was happening! The Tag Team Specialists as opponents was just odd, but then when you saw Foxx get the win with a Flying Foxx (frog splash) on poor old Joel Bryant after 8 minutes it made a little more sense. My rating: 70: This was actually a high C+ if you can believe it, thanks to whatever’s left of Golden’s quickly fading star power. Seemed like a comedy spot to me. If anyone has any information on what Joel Bryant has done to deserve this please drop me a line. D2 – The New Wave vs. The Keith Brothers No titles on the line, just the dark debut of Matt & Greg Keith against the champs New Wave, and Guide got the win at 8:22 with his Guided Missle (northern lights powerbomb) on Greg. My rating: 71: Not bad for the dark matches. Looks like they threw the Keiths in there dark with the champs to see how they would stand up in front of a big crowd with a lot less pressure and they seemed fine. With a little build this could be a hot contest. - Show begins with a short video package recapping the attack on Ricky Dale Johnson. Paramedics are shown rushing RDJ out of the arena last week. Jason Azaria & Kyle Rhodes speculate that there are two strong possibilities – the new alliance of Tommy Cornell, Wolf Hawkins, and Troy Tornado, or possibly Eddie Peak with the persistent rumors that his brother Doug shall soon be signing with Total Championship Wrestling. Azaria and Rhodes then officially introduce their new announce colleague Swoop McCarthy, and the camera pans to a big, bad looking guy wearing shades and a smirk on his face. Swoop says he’s tired because he just flew in from Australia but he’s excited anyway because he’s been a TCW fan for a long time. Azaria welcomes him, and Rhodes seems scared of him. 1 – The Alexanders vs. The Machines The long-awaited debut of new Head Booker Charles Alexander & Clark Alexander teaming up as the cleverly named “The Alexanders” probably wasn’t worth all of the words wasted wondering about it. The Machines, who have been rolling towards a title shot at Malice in Wonderland next week, took care of Clark Alexander when Brent Hill hit the King of the Hill (high elevation flying legdrop) for the pinfall. Some good action. Some dead spots. My rating: 72: There were a couple of short-lived “dark matches were better” chants after this one. Charles Alexander may be booking Joel Bryant and Rocky Golden into the ground but he’s also booking himself into the ground as well. Charles still without a win in his TCW career. 2 – Harry Allen vs. Sam Keith Keith pretty much had his way with Allen in this match, and ended it by submission with a Proton Lock (scorpion deathlock bridged w/ reverse necklock) at 8:24. Referee Ray Johnson had to pull Keith off of Allen to get him to break the hold. After the match Greg & Matt Keith came down to ringside and congratulated their dad, who held their arms up in the center of the ring to some nice heat. My rating: 71: The match itself wasn’t bad. Pretty much the standard win we all saw coming. The new Keith Family alliance was pretty cool at the end. - A one minute video plays hyping Malice in Wonderland. 3 – Koshiro Ino vs. Charlie Thatcher This match was worse than the dark matches, no doubt about it. Ino dominated and took Thatcher out at 6:30 by pin after a sloppy Kobra’s Bite (roll inverted DDT). There was some good comedy commentary from newcomer Swoop McCarthy who kept trying to root on Charlie Thatcher, and Kyle Rhodes had to correct him that his job was to provide color and not take sides. McCarthy retaliated by saying that he was providing color by taking sides. My rating: 60: Likely the worst match on TV in 2010 for TCW thus far. Thankfully it will be remembered more for the brief commentators war than anything else. 4- Aaron Andrews vs. Rick Law After that sort of lead-in you might expect the crowd to be pretty flat. Add to the fact that this match could have and should have been booked so much better than it was led to a near-disaster. Rhodes and McCarthy kept up their barbs at each other to keep things lively, with McCarthy endorsing Rick Law (who he twice called “Rock Law,” I’m not sure if it was on accident either) and Azaria playing the role of moderator. Law ended up taking a rather routine victory at 8:30 by pin after a Long Arm of the Law (his vicious lariat clothesline). My rating: 63: Instead of this being a nice open match where we could get a good look at what Andrews could do, it turned into a straightforward establishing win for Rick Law to strengthen him up for the PPV. What a disappointment. 5- Benny Benson vs. Sammy Bach (with Karen Killer) This contest, like the opening match between The Alexanders and The Machines, wasn’t announced prior to the card. But Benson and Bach brought the energy and ended up with the best match of the night thus far. The two seemed to have great chemistry in the ring and it showed in the performances. It was a really excited contest with a couple of believable near-falls before Benson pinned Bach after a Shockwave from Next Year (running enzuigiri kick) at 8:12. Karen Killer with her typical good work at ringside got some complimentary attention from Swoop McCarthy. My rating: 80: After those last two matches the crowd needed something to cheer about and Benson & Bach gave it to them. 6- Danny Fonzarelli vs. Troy Tornado Wow, how quickly things turn. After seeing a great match with good chemistry, we saw a match with some good action but really bad chemistry making for an awkward bout between Danny Fonzarelli and Troy Tornado. Now, this was supposed to be a showcase match, that’s why they got a 16-minute slot, but it really just didn’t work at all. Tornado ended up with the victory at 15:34 with a Star Maker (high velocity flying forearm) and got out of the ring quickly. My rating: 64: The weird thing about this match is that it’s hard who tell who is to blame for the poor performance. Considering the poor chemistry, probably both equally. - After this match the cameras go backstage and they show Bryan Vessey and Joey Minnesota getting ready for their Main Event tag match against The Syndicate later in the show. But from out of nowhere, Tommy Cornell and Wolf Hawkins jump Vessey and Minnesota, leaving them down and out. 7- Giant Tana vs. Eddie Peak After that angle the V. Thompson Arena crowd was ready to get back into things and they received a surprising treat of a match here. Peak came down to the ring during his introduction with a big smile and Azaria and Rhodes made mention that there were rumors that Eddie’s brother Doug Peak was in the building. Eddie even stopped near a sign that read “DOUG” and gave the guy holding the sign a thumbs up before heading into the ring to lots of boos. Giant Tana ambled to the ring and Peak immediately attacked, gaining the upper hand. After a brief comeback by Tana, Peak regained control and smiled wide and motioned to the back. But, RDJ’s music hit to a huge pop, and RDJ was shown recuperating from his bed on the monitors inside the arena. RDJ told a shocked Peak that he knows what Eddie’s up to, and if Eddie was behind the attack on him that he’d better watch his back. Peak turned around to be avalanched by Tana for the surprise victory at 8:08. My rating: 80: I’m happy to say my prediction for a Giant Tana victory was spot-on, although the manner of it was completely shocking to me. The crowd really liked it and it was one of the better matches of the night. Eddie Peak now has some work to do. Doug Peak never did show up after the match even though Eddie kept looking towards the back. 8- Bryan Vessey & Joey Minnesota vs. The Syndicate Vessey and Minnesota took their time getting to the ring, still hurting from the beatdown they received backstage not long ago from Cornell and Hawkins. Bryan Vessey grabbed the mic and said that he didn’t want any part of the war between The Syndicate and Joey Minnesota and RDJ, but now the Syndicate had forced him to choose sides, and he was siding with RDJ & Minnesota. He got a great pop at that and Minnesota nodded in agreement. Tommy Cornell and Wolf Hawkins interrupted by jumping out of the crowd and into the ring and the match got underway. Great action all the way around and at about the half hour point the match spilled to the outside. A visibly tiring Joey Minnesota dropkicked Hawkins over the top rope and out of ring but Minnesota’s own battered body hit the canvas so hard he writhed in pain and rolled out of the ring. Cornell and Vessey were already out of it from their own brawl on the outside earlier, and as Hawkins was getting up Troy Tornado tried coming through the crowd to aid his friends but he ended up accidentally hitting Hawkins as Tornado came over the security barrier. Minnesota couldn’t get back into the ring in time either, so the match ended as a double count out at 35:30. My rating: 94: An amazing match. One of if not the best match we’ve seen in all of wrestling in the United States in 2010. Way for TCW to redeem themselves with this one after an up-and-down card. Great finish and a high A rated match to what turns out to be a high B+ overall card. Should they have saved this one for the PPV? An argument can be made either way, but the way the storyline is going I think it was okay for some variation of these guys to see each other in advance. Thanks all for following, and for all of the picks this week. I'll be back soon with further analysis of the comments, show and other industry reaction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eidenhoek Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 So close to HoI moving for those four guys. Good job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purple Cowboy Posted March 15, 2011 Author Share Posted March 15, 2011 WEEK 4 January 2010 TCW Report by Brint Williams - PW Candle TCW Columnist http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r203/gratefulcowboy/pw%20candle/2009-04-07-businessman.jpg QUICK HITS:TCW Presents Total Wrestling jumped from 5.22 to 5.94 on GNN Total Sports last Tuesday. SWF Supreme TV fell from 7.63 to 6.67 on the same night on C.A.N.N.. The addition of Swoop McCarthy to the announce team of Jason Azaria and Kyle Rhodes has gone over well. Many fans were taking to the internet after the show to talk about Swoop, saying his presence breathed some life into Rhodes especially. The night after Total Wrestling, Rocky Golden gave a radio interview where he said the more he gets pushed, the more nervous he gets, feeling that he has more to prove. Luckily for him, seems like a de-push is already on. Doug Peak was supposed to be on the last episode of Total Wrestling even though a contract hadn’t been finalized, but the idea was nixed at the last moment for insurance purposes. It’s unclear whether or not he’ll now be brought in. Unconfirmed rumors surfaced this week saying CZCW rejected a proposal by TCW to be a developmental partner fed. Despite the “stockpiling” of young talent, no new details have been released on the new TCW “concept show” that will be pitched to networks next month. 24-year old Australian star Captain Wrestling II recently won a PW Candle internet poll naming him the best young prospect in wrestling today. The Captain, one of the original stars of Revolution Australian Wrestling, shockingly left RAW this week for Australian Pro Wrestling. On NOTBPW Championship Wrestling, Johnny Bloodstone defeated Jeremy Stone in an early Match of the Year candidate. (Rated 99) COMMENTARY: TCW 1 SWF 0 That’s how I score things after last week as Total Championship Wrestling scored the first clear victory of 2010 with an outstanding episode of Total Wrestling that ended up outshining SWF’s When Hell Freezes Over PPV. It would have been an awkward show to judge without the big Main Event, obviously. The Benny Benson victory over Sammy Bach and Giant Tana’s surprise win over Eddie Peak after RDJ distracted Peak were standout matches on what was otherwise a standard card. The Troy Tornado vs. Danny Fonzarelli match was a disappointment, and no one wants to see Charlie Thatcher on TV right now. The Main Event match, featuring Tommy Cornell, Wolf Hawkins, Bryan Vessey, and Joey Minnesota, was great, with Tornado trying to interfere on behalf of The Syndicate and contributing to the double count out instead by accidentally hitting Hawkins. With four of the biggest stars in the company in the Main Event it’s no wonder TCW saw a significant ratings jump to 5.94 after two straight weeks at 5.22. But, long-term, I don’t think TCW can keep giving away big Main Event matches on TV. Eventually we’ll have seen everything which means that short-term viewer spikes will even out, and there’ll be no reason to buy the PPVs. For now, we’ll keep a close eyes on the ratings and see where TCW goes from here. There was obviously a slight curiosity factor about new announcer Swoop McCarthy too, and by all accounts audiences really liked what he had to contribute. He looks like he can handle himself as well; the few reaction shots they showed of a scared-looking Kyle Rhodes after certain McCarthy comments were priceless. Jason Azaria took over the role as “lead announcer,” and, as I noted in the Live Coverage, he pretty much played moderator all night. The backstage atmosphere has really turned around in the three weeks that Charles Alexander has been Head Booker. To even out some of the new restrictions we’ve covered earlier (no drinking backstage, everyone must stay until the final match is over), Alexander has agreed to arrange for transport to and from venues for workers. The strong shows the last few weeks has some workers feeling relieved, at least for the moment, that the unknown Alexander will at the bare minimum be able to tread water as a booker. And the fact that Alexander is winless in TCW has certainly worked in his favor in terms of his standing with other workers. What’s unclear, still, is the role of TCW World Heavyweight Champion Rocky Golden. Putting him in a dark tag team match with “The Dancing Fool” Flying Jimmy Foxx of all people as his partner, and, having Foxx dominate that match against the Tag Team Specialists and get the victory must have been embarrassing for Golden. But, to his credit, he did his job on the ring apron and cheered Foxx on like a true professional. My initial reaction was that someone high up the chain must have instructed Foxx not to tag Golden into the match. But immediately after the show we began hearing rumors from good sources that Golden had been sick and so requested the severely toned down role this week. Usually TCW aren’t masters of spin-control so having that info come out right at the end of the show makes me believe Golden was under the weather. Still zero news on this rumored new “concept show,” aside from speculation after the new signings last week. The introduction of McCarthy as a regular event commentator probably means that both Shawn Doakes, and Jasmine Saunders, who are under contract to TCW but haven’t been heard from in 2010, are in the position of being the likely announce crew for the new show. I’m guessing it’s going to be some sort of B-show to give exposure to the younger talent. But the way they keep saying “concept show” I’m a little afraid about what the final product will be. Are wrestlers going to be voted out of the ring? Please don’t let it be so. And, shocker of shockers, TCW will apparently be announcing the first TCW International title defense by Joshua Taylor on the next Total Wrestling in advance of the show itself! Will miracles never cease? It’s going to be extremely tough for TCW to top last week, and maybe they peaked a week too early considering Malice in Wonderland is just after this week’s show. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sebsplex Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 Still enjoying this one. Giving Swoop a seat on the announce table is something out of left field, but I liked how you've introduced him so far (Azaria and Rhodes are a struggle to write genuine banter for). Poor Rocky Golden. Sure, TCW has plenty of potential champions who'd pull better match ratings than Golden, but he grows in overness easily... though obviously not so much when he's dark matching with the likes of Foxx. But yeah, I understand there's a story behind it all and the way you analyse your own booking through the medium Brint Williams is part of what makes this diary such an intriguing read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purple Cowboy Posted March 16, 2011 Author Share Posted March 16, 2011 As far as the Candlelight Chats goes, I think it would be cool to see Sam Keith being interviewed. I cannot think of any questions but I feel he might be a good subject for an interview. Obiously Cornell or Chuck himself could be interesting. Golden, what with your love of pointing out he's been doing nothing. Oxford, just to get with Bryant somewhat again. OH OH! Jennifer Cornell. Also, she's hawt. Thanks for the suggestions. We'll certainly have to have Keith (especially now that the boys are on board), Tommy & Chuck. Rocky Golden might be a good next choice, but I might want to wait until after the PPV for that. I was also thinking along the lines of Eric Tyler (he's unemployed), or some other outside voice. Maybe Gregory Black talking a little SWF and then about how Benson's been doing in TCW. So close to HoI moving for those four guys. Good job. Still enjoying this one. Giving Swoop a seat on the announce table is something out of left field, but I liked how you've introduced him so far (Azaria and Rhodes are a struggle to write genuine banter for). Poor Rocky Golden. Sure, TCW has plenty of potential champions who'd pull better match ratings than Golden, but he grows in overness easily... though obviously not so much when he's dark matching with the likes of Foxx. But yeah, I understand there's a story behind it all and the way you analyse your own booking through the medium Brint Williams is part of what makes this diary such an intriguing read. Thanks for the support! Swoop is kind of Charles Alexander's first "play" in the organization to shake things up. I also picture it where Chuck is bringing in a completely unknown guy that in theory should be completely loyal/grateful to him. And, Swoop could be Chuck's "pipeline" to Australian talent. I thought it might be fun to do a bit of a Michael Cole parody but instead of having the guy a coward heel he's a bad ass heel. But for now he'll sort of be the "cool" heel announcer. I've tried to be brutally honest about the booking through the character writers. I'm also really running the shows in real time as I do the Live Coverage updates so I can't make any changes, I just live with the decisions I've made so that helps give plenty of room for the analysis. A note about that too... I may have to pause for a short break after Malice as my laptop likely needs a new fan. EDIT: Actually, I'll be able to keep updating with some articles and post-PPV fallout, just won't be able to run a show until the lappy comes back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purple Cowboy Posted March 17, 2011 Author Share Posted March 17, 2011 WEEK 4 January 2010 TCW Roster 2010 Part 5by Fred Jones - PW Candle Senior Columnist http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r203/gratefulcowboy/pw%20candle/Fred.jpg Part 5 is always an important part of any 7-part series. Without Part 5, you’d never get to Part 6. Or, if somehow you did get to Part 6 without Part 5, you’d likely have a lot of questions. I answer those questions. Since so much time has gone by and whatnot, I have been able to add more recent comments to the final three batches. So enjoy that! I go roughly in alphabetical order by first name. You can check out Part 1 of my profiles (Aaron Andrews, American Buffalo, Benny Benson, Brent Hill, Bryan Vessey) HERE. Part 2 (Chance Fortune, Charles Alexander, Charlie Thatcher, Clark Alexander, Danny Fonzarelli) are HERE. Part 3 (Eddie Peak, Edd Stone, Flying Jimmy Foxx, Freddy Huggins, Genghis Rahn) are HERE. Part 4 (Giant Tana, Guide, Harry Allen, Joel Bryant, Joey Minnesota) are HERE. John “The Human Arsenal” Anderson – Had to partner with Rick Law for a while when Brent Hill was injured during The Syndicate storyline that dominated recent years. Now officially out of The Syndicate and back teaming with Hill, The Machines seem to be cruising to a tag title shot. There are rumors (that I pretty much started) that Brent Hill is willing to step aside at the end of the year to give Anderson a shot as a singles star but Anderson, at least publicly, has remained quite loyal to his tag partner and said he knew nothing about it. He’s 34 with a good look and skillset, he might be pushed into the singles scene before the year is out whether he wants to or not. Joshua Taylor – I was like, do I really have to write three sentences about this guy? The editors said: “Fred, he’s the reigning TCW International Champion. Just say that for a 27-year old he’s really mature in the ring thanks to his six years of PGHW experience. TCW probably has big plans for him in the future as he fits the product perfectly.” I said, “fine.” So there you go. Koshiro "The Cobra" Ino – The 32-year old former BHOTWG heavyweight star has come to the United States to test himself beyond the competition he faced in Japan. He seems to be headed towards a match against Rick Law at Malice in Wonderland but I’m not sure too many people are interested at the moment. Ino’s only appearance on TV this year was in the first week of January in a makeshift team with Bryan Vessey that beat Texas Buffalo handily. Not sure what Charles Alexander might have in store for Ino, maybe we’ll get a true indication of what the big man can do at the PPV or this week’s Total Wrestling. Editor's Note: Ino appeared on the last episode of Total Wrestling, but even at Fred's advanced age he can be forgiven for not remembering the forgettable bout between Ino & Charlie Thatcher. Rick Law – Now 27, the heavyweight turned heel for the first time during The Syndicate storyline, and now that that has come to an end he seems to be dangling on his own. He was the temporary tag partner of John Anderson when Brent Hill was injured, but was replaced immediately upon Hill’s return to action. Rick Law has the dubious distinction of losing to Rocky Golden in Golden’s first TCW World Heavyweight title defense a couple of weeks back, but bounced back last week with a solid win over Aaron Andrews. Can’t really see where they go with him unless maybe he aligns with Eddie Peak and the Hellfire Club, or maybe as “protection” for Sam Keith’s two sons. Ricky Dale Johnson – Many say his Total Mayhem XII moment with Joey Minnesota, where they effectively ended The Syndicate, will be what RDJ will always be remembered for in TCW. The 39-year old heavyweight has been with the company since 1996 and is a TCW cornerstone. He’s also playing a prominent role in the current major storyline concerning a new alliance with Bryan Vessey, and old friend Minnesota. I’ve liked where this has been going in recent weeks and I hope they don’t cut it short at the PPV. I for one would like to see it culminate later in the summer. By then you likely have the World title involved as well. As always, please feel free to submit questions about any workers and I'll try to get to them in an future column. Should be seeing Part 6 soon as well, tomorrow Brint Williams will be giving his TCW Update which will have the pick results from last week and this week's picks, and, hopefully the announcement of Frank Jackson's next Candlelight Chat. And, come on Frank, get your picture uploaded to the site already! Thanks for reading and be well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BHK1978 Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 Joshua Taylor – I was like, do I really have to write three sentences about this guy? The editors said: “Fred, he’s the reigning TCW International Champion. Just say that for a 27-year old he’s really mature in the ring thanks to his six years of PGHW experience. TCW probably has big plans for him in the future as he fits the product perfectly.” I said, “fine.” So there you go. Love this write-up because while Joshua is a talent, he does seem like he would be bland if he was a real life wrestler in my opinion. In fact he is one person that I would love to push in my TCW game but I just never do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purple Cowboy Posted March 18, 2011 Author Share Posted March 18, 2011 WEEK 4 January 2010 TCW Update by Brint Williams - PW Candle TCW Columnist http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r203/gratefulcowboy/pw%20candle/2009-04-07-businessman.jpg BREAKING NEWS! Ton of matches announced for this week’s Total Wrestling, the last show prior to the month-ending Malice in Wonderland PPV. I suspect that what we have here below will be the full card barring any dark matches or last-minute changes. Big news also leaking out that Rocky Golden intends to address some of the rumors swirling around about his recent situation and clarify a few things on Total Wrestling. This hasn’t been confirmed but chances are looking very good. TCW also plans to leave the South West after two consecutive weeks at the V. Thompson Arena and venture to the South East’s Louisiana Auditorium. Golden will also be facing former Head Booker Joel Bryant on Total Wrestling in a match of two guys who have had serious changes in their fortunes since Tommy Cornell handed over the book to Charles Alexander. Who knows what kind of finish is planned for that one. Benny Benson looks to get back at Troy Tornado on this episode. Back at the beginning of the month when Tornado was proving his loyalty to Cornell and Wolf Hawkins, Tornado cost Benson a match against Cornell. Now Benson gets a chance to get his hands on Tornado one-on-one. And Danny Fonzarelli, who lost to Tornado last week in a fairly weak match, now has to step up his game even more against Cornell this week. Is this all toward getting Danny so frustrated he brings back Jay Darkness? We shall see (and keep pushing for it!). Thank you. Prediction Pool BHK1978, newcomer ChrisKid, and of course I, all went 4/6 on the picks for last week, a three-way tie for first. Rathen4 (3/6) and Eidenhoek (2/6) also gave respectable showings for new prognosticators. Woodsmeister didn’t pick this week so that his perfect 4/4 and 100% winning percentage stayed intact. Overall, BHK1978 and I are in a dead heat with 10/14 correct picks while everyone else has their one-week totals to build on. I’m going to be pretty straightforward this week. I don’t expect too many surprises going into the Malice PPV, let’s just hope it’s not a big letdown card after last week. I suspect we’ll get a lot of Malice match announcements on this show as well. Compete against me in my TCW prediction pool this year and win signed photos of your favorite PW Candle writers! BRINT’S PICKS TCW Presents Total Wrestling (faces listed first) live from The Louisiana Auditorium (South East) TRIPLE THREAT MATCH: Giant Tana vs. Sam Keith vs. Charlie Thatcher Bryan Vessey & Joey Minnesota vs. The Keith Brothers The L.A. Connection vs. Troy Tornado & Wolf Hawkins TCW INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP: Joshua Taylor © vs. Eddie Peak TCW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP: Rocky Golden © vs. Joel Bryant Benny Benson vs. Troy Tornado Danny Fonzarelli vs. Tommy Cornell Prediction Key: TCW Presents Total Wrestling (faces listed first) live from The Louisiana Auditorium (South East) TRIPLE THREAT MATCH: Giant Tana vs. Sam Keith vs. Charlie Thatcher Bryan Vessey & Joey Minnesota vs. The Keith Brothers The L.A. Connection vs. Troy Tornado & Wolf Hawkins TCW INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP: Joshua Taylor © vs. Eddie Peak TCW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP: Rocky Golden © vs. Joel Bryant Benny Benson vs. Troy Tornado Danny Fonzarelli vs. Tommy Cornell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BHK1978 Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 TRIPLE THREAT MATCH: Giant Tana vs. Sam Keith vs. Charlie Thatcher The most talented and popular guy in the bunch should get the win here. Bryan Vessey & Joey Minnesota vs. The Keith Brothers The Keith Bros. are good but at this point in time I doubt they will be any match for Joey and Scott Stein...I mean Bryan Vessey. The L.A. Connection vs. Troy Tornado & Wolf Hawkins TCW INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP: Joshua Taylor © vs. Eddie Peak I could see Eddie getting the win here because he has more popularity IIRC. However, this could be a big win for Joshua. TCW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP: Rocky Golden © vs. Joel Bryant Benny Benson vs. Troy Tornado I have a feeling that Troy is going to lose one of his matches tonight and to me this one makes the most sense. Danny Fonzarelli vs. Tommy Cornell Sorry bout your damn luck Danny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisKid Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 TRIPLE THREAT MATCH: Giant Tana vs. Sam Keith vs. Charlie Thatcher Bryan Vessey & Joey Minnesota vs. The Keith Brothers The L.A. Connection vs. Troy Tornado & Wolf Hawkins TCW INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP: Joshua Taylor © vs. Eddie Peak TCW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP: Rocky Golden © vs. Joel Bryant Benny Benson vs. Troy Tornado Danny Fonzarelli vs. Tommy Cornell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purple Cowboy Posted March 20, 2011 Author Share Posted March 20, 2011 WEEK 4 January 2010 TCW Roster 2010 Part 6by Fred Jones - PW Candle Senior Columnist http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r203/gratefulcowboy/pw%20candle/Fred.jpg Be sure to join us tonight for Live Coverage! of TCW Presents Total Wrestling from the Louisiana Auditorium in the South East. Tonight is the final Total Championship Wrestling show prior to Malice in Wonderland! I go roughly in alphabetical order by first name with this whole roster review. Only four wrestlers left after this update but three huge name included (Texas Pete, Tommy Cornell, Troy Tornado, Wolf Hawkins). We'll wait a bit before we profile the new guys so we have a bit to go on. You can check out Part 1 of my profiles (Aaron Andrews, American Buffalo, Benny Benson, Brent Hill, Bryan Vessey) HERE. Part 2 (Chance Fortune, Charles Alexander, Charlie Thatcher, Clark Alexander, Danny Fonzarelli) are HERE. Part 3 (Eddie Peak, Edd Stone, Flying Jimmy Foxx, Freddy Huggins, Genghis Rahn) are HERE. Part 4 (Giant Tana, Guide, Harry Allen, Joel Bryant, Joey Minnesota) are HERE. Part 5 (John Anderson, Joshua Taylor, Koshiro Ino, Rick Law, Ricky Dale Johnson) are HERE. “The Tag Team Master” Robert Oxford – The 49-year old middleweight is the oldest wrestler in TCW and despite that is still a great performer who has a lot to offer. Of course, at his advanced age the dreaded “r-word” had crossed his mind on several occasions, but he seems to still have a great passion for the business. So old school that he doesn’t even need a gimmick, Oxford would likely make a great trainer if TCW had a developmental fed. There have been rumors that Oxford and tag partner Joel Bryant are going to issue each other a challenge to see which one can bring a rookie with them to the tag titles to prove who is the best tag team wrestler of all-time, but there has been no mention of it on TV as yet. Rocky Golden – One of the biggest talking points since Charles Alexander took over as Head Booker has been the perceived treatment of TCW World Heavyweight Champion Rocky Golden. Last week it came to light that Golden may be suffering from some sort of serious health problem, and the chatter has only become more persistent with each passing day. In my opinion putting the title on an unproven 26-year old that still needs some in-ring seasoning was a mistake, regardless of whether or not Golden is suffering from health issues. Golden is set to make an announcement on the next episode of Total Wrestling about his condition, and I for one won’t be surprised if he is announcing that he needs to take a few months off. Sam Keith – 48-year old middleweight Sam Keith is the classic old school heel and a legend of professional wrestling. He’s the second-oldest wrestler on the roster behind the above mentioned Robert Oxford. Keith’s two sons Matt & Greg recently joined TCW, and joined up with their father as The Keith Family stable. Most wrestling fans that I would consider “true” would tell you that it is still very odd to see Sam Keith in a TCW ring. The future Hall of Immortal member is certainly still best-remembered for his run in SWF where he was 4-time World Heavyweight Champion. Keith has reportedly provided every luxury available to his two sons throughout their lives, and the youngsters exude a brashness and self-confidence that most view as being the product of a spoiled upbringing. The boys are not popular in the locker room. “The Elation Sensation” Sammy Bach – At this point in his career 31-year old Sammy Bach is a cruiserweight spot-monkey that attempts, and fails, to be a show-stealer. He’s got a great look, good aerial skills, and has been aided by the work of Killer Karen as his manager. If you’re looking for great wrestling, Sammy Bach is probably not your man. But he’s an exceptional performer and that makes him a very valuable part of the roster at this point in time. I could see him becoming involved in the International title scene in the coming months. Scout – The 31-year old middleweight (real name, Jeremy Finch) is the other half of The New Wave, one of the most dominant tag teams in recent wrestling history. They were 4-time tag champs in DAVE (and the last team to hold the titles), and are now in the midst of their second reign with the TCW World Tag Team belts. Scout is the talented technician that compliments his partner Guide’s brawling style and makes The New Wave one of the best tag teams to watch in the entire world. As always, please feel free to submit questions about any workers and I'll address them in a future column. Thanks for reading and be well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purple Cowboy Posted March 21, 2011 Author Share Posted March 21, 2011 WEEK 4 January 2010 LIVE COVERAGE! of TCW Presents Total Wrestling by Brint Williams - PW Candle TCW Columnist http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r203/gratefulcowboy/pw%20candle/2009-04-07-businessman.jpg Week 4 January 2010 Venue: Louisiana Auditorium (South East) Attendance: 9,892 Live! on GNN Total Sports After a great Total Wrestling last week, TCW goes into the final episode of Total Wrestling before Malice in Wonderland live tonight in the South East region. Swoop McCarthy got a nice hand from the crowd as the announcers took their places much to the dismay of Kyle Rhodes. Before the show went on the air there were two dark matches: D1 – The Alexanders vs. Texas Buffalo (with Floyd Goldworthy) It looked like Charles Alexander was well on his way to his first win in TCW, but a distraction by Floyd Goldworthy led to a surprise attack from Texas Pete, who grabbed a handful of Clark Alexander’s trunks and got the quick pinfall from ref Ray Johnson at 7:55. My rating: 62: Some good action. Thought for sure The Alexanders were going to take this one once I saw the entrances. Charles Alexander has been a complete jobber thus far. Goldworthy good again, he should probably be on the main TV show more often. D2 – James Prudence & Steven Parker vs. The Canadian Animals (with Laura Huggins) This match saw the debut of two new signings, Prudence & Parker, against TCW All Action Champion Edd Stone and his partner Freddy Huggins. Huggins and Stone had the run of the action and Stone eventually ended it at 8:02 by pinfall with a Party’s Over (seated face plant) on Parker. My rating: 67: Not the best way to debut for Prudence & Parker, but at least it was off the main show and Stone needed a win heading into the PPV. - Show begins with a video package recapping recent events surrounding the new alliance of Tommy Cornell, Wolf Hawkins, and Troy Tornado getting the upper hand over RDJ, Bryan Vessey, and Joey Minnesota. It then cuts to a long spot that freezes on a forlorn-looking Rocky Golden. It then changes to hype graphics for Malice in Wonderland. Jason Azaria says that Koshiro Ino will face Rick Law at Malice, and that The New Wave will defend the TCW World Tag Team Championship against The Machines, making official the first two matches that we know of for the PPV. Azaria says that more shall be revealed tonight on the last Total Wrestling before Malice. Azaria then goes on to introduce the Triple Threat match up next. Swoop McCarthy notes that Keith’s experience should really be a positive factor for him in the upcoming contest, eliciting a slight sigh from Kyle Rhodes in the process. 1 – Giant Tana vs. Sam Keith vs. Charlie Thatcher After Tana’s surprise victory over Eddie Peak last week, you got the feeling for a moment that perhaps this was going to be an open contest. It quickly became a guessing game as to which one of the big men was going to be on the receiving end of the Proton Lock. It was Tana. My rating: 69: It was an opener. Probably could have been better, but Charlie Thatcher was involved so you got what you got. Interesting to me that Thatcher, who fans hate and can’t work, has been on TV more than the guy he’s supposedly the bodyguard for, Edd Stone. - Tommy Cornell, Wolf Hawkins, and Troy Tornado came down to the ring to good heat from the South East crowd. Cornell said that things in TCW were clearly changing, added that “you don’t even have to be following the TV ratings to know that,” and that Joey Minnesota and RDJ have indeed put an end to The Syndicate. After the crowd settled down Cornell then said that even as things change, some things always stay the same. One thing that always stays the same is the treatment that a certain class of people gets to enjoy on a daily basis. Cornell said that he, Wolf Hawkins, and Troy Tornado are exactly those kind of people. He said that people who go First Class always get what they want. He said that he, Hawkins, and Tornado were now to be referred to as First Class. 2 - The L.A. Connection vs. Troy Tornado & Wolf Hawkins Great action from Tornado & Hawkins, they always looked the likely winners and took care of business in style at 7:39 when Tornado hit the Star Maker on Aaron Andrews. My rating: 78: The official debut of First Class is a successful one, and after that angle the crowd was in the mood for the great action. Good showing for both Chance Fortune & Aaron Andrews in the losing effort. 3 – TCW INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP Joshua Taylor © vs. Eddie Peak This was a really good match in the ring and we have the first title change of the Charles Alexander era, as Doug Peak ran down to the ring to distract referee Sam Sparrow allowing Eddie Peak to hit Joshua Taylor with brass knuckles. Sparrow turned around to count three and crown the new champ. The Peak Brothers celebrated in the ring and were joined by American Buffalo, Floyd Goldworthy, and Genghis Rahn as Hellfire Club graphics appeared on the Auditorium’s screens. My rating: 68: The match felt rushed. There also was also more anticipation last week for a Doug Peak appearance, this week it kind of feels tacked on. Did like how they ended with The Hellfire Club, though. Apparently that is still a real stable (and they have more gold than First Class). 4 - TCW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP: Rocky Golden © vs. Joel Bryant Golden looked in really bad shape as he made his way to the ring. The TCW World Heavyweight Champion was noticeably skinnier than we’ve seen in recent weeks, and looking quite pale. He also took a long time in between moves, and had to try twice before barely being able to lift Bryant up into The Rack. Bryant signaled immediately to end the match by submission at 16:17, and Golden collapsed to his knees and dropped Bryant after the bell rang. “The Dancing Fool” Flying Jimmy Foxx, Harry Allen, and Chance Fortune came down to the ring to assist Golden back to the locker room. My rating: 77: Good match. Looks like Golden is legitimately sick. - Jasmine Saunders is seen backstage in the locker room with Rocky Golden, who is breathing very heavily and coughing into a towel, looking like he can barely stand. Golden begins to say that he needs to take a break from professional wrestling, but he is cut off by Sam Keith who enters the locker saying “oh no, no, no.” Keith says that Golden is in the prime of his career, and that they are just 5 days away from Malice in Wonderland. Keith says he doesn’t know how many matches he has left in him, especially if he has to keep going through giants like he faced earlier in the night. Keith says that Golden has a responsibility to the company to put the title on the line at the first PPV of 2010, and that it should be against him. Golden says he does have a responsibility, but it’s to the fans which gets a big cheer. He says he will face Keith at Malice. 5 - Bryan Vessey & Joey Minnesota vs. The Keith Brothers Straight up squash here as Joey Minnesota got the pin on Greg Keith after an Empire Spiral at 8:03. My rating: 80: “Cool down match” my arse. Great action here, the best of the night thus far even in a squash. The Keith Brothers will soon find themselves on the winning end of things with performances like this even in a losing effort. 6 - Benny Benson vs. Troy Tornado Tornado with the Star Maker for the victory for the second time this evening, this one at 16:03 after successful interference from Wolf Hawkins. Hawkins mockingly motioned to Tornado as if saying “that’s how it’s done” after Tornado’s botched interference last week. It looked like Tornado almost laughed. My rating: 71: Great action, good crowd but they didn’t like the finish. Looks like this was the actual cool down match. 7- Danny Fonzarelli vs. Tommy Cornell Great action, good crowd. Cornell by submission at 35:24 after a Guilt Trip (Judo choke sleeper). My rating: 86: Strong Main Event for what is another good episode of Total Wrestling. Bit of a rub for Fonzarelli but far from an open match. Cornell has been a bit of a workhorse lately it will be interesting to see where Alexander goes after the PPV. Overall, the show is not as good as last week, but better than the first two weeks of the month. And, this was another episode that at least on the surface looks a bit stronger than tonight’s SWF Supreme TV. Solid footing on the way into the PPV. - Jason Azaria ends the night saying that two more matches have been confirmed for Malice in Wonderland – Joshua Taylor invoking his rematch clause against Eddie Peak for the TCW International Championship, and, in the Main Event, RDJ, Bryan Vessey, and Joey Minnesota against First Class! Thanks all for following, and for the picks this week. I'll be back soon with further analysis of the comments, show and other industry reaction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purple Cowboy Posted March 22, 2011 Author Share Posted March 22, 2011 WEEK 4 January 2010 Candlelight Chat Announcement; Steroid Rumors Trail Vessey http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r203/gratefulcowboy/pw%20candle/RockyGolden_alt.jpghttp://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r203/gratefulcowboy/pw%20candle/BryanVessey.jpg by Frank Jackson - PW Candle Founder & Editor-in-Chief TCW World Heavyweight Champion Rocky Golden shall be the next participant in our famous Candlelight Chat series. Golden will talk about his recent health issues, if he’s really planning (or needs) some time away from the ring, and how he feels about the way he’s been portrayed thus far in the Charles Alexander era among other things. Also, steroid rumors continue to pop up around Bryan Vessey. There are unconfirmed reports that after the last show Charles Alexander read him the riot act after finding out that Vessey had failed a steroid test, causing Vessey to storm out of the Louisiana Auditorium. This could certainly lead to some tension in the backstage area between the veteran and the new Head Booker. Once again, these are just RUMORS, but they have been mentioned in multiple places by multiple people since the last Total Wrestling. Brint Williams will be up tomorrow with a special Pre-PPV TCW Update which will contain all of the confirmed matchups for the Malice in Wonderland supercard, plus his analysis of Total Wrestling from Tuesday. Slight spoiler, Brint thought it was ludicrous that they didn’t announce the PPV Main Event until the closing credits were basically rolling. You’ll certainly want to hear his point of view on that, the Eddie Peak International title win, and more. After the PPV, Brint Williams, Fred Jones, and I will publish a special TCW PPV Roundtable where we’ll run down the card again and give our individual thoughts on what happened and where TCW goes from there. You won’t want to miss it! ____ OOC: If this particular TCW diary isn’t floating your boat, I encourage you to check out any of these other fantastic dynasties: Phantom Stranger's award-winning TCW: A Quiet Retirement LoNdOn's TCW: The Never Ending Journey Blake Trask's TCW: Day of the Wolf And as always you can submit questions for any of the writers or make requests for future Candlelight Chats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purple Cowboy Posted March 23, 2011 Author Share Posted March 23, 2011 WEEK 4 January 2010 TCW Update by Brint Williams - PW Candle TCW Columnist http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r203/gratefulcowboy/pw%20candle/2009-04-07-businessman.jpg PPV Update Malice in Wonderland is just days away, and there’s a lot to discuss before we get to the first PPV of the Charles Alexander era. TCW is in an odd place right now. They’re looking to close out what has been a very solid month for the company with a strong pay-per-view show. When I say a very solid month for the company, I mean they’ve been putting on better shows than SWF for four straight weeks. That is not a bad way to start 2010. At the same time, if you’re TCW, your World Heavyweight Champion looks to have legitimate health problems, one of the company’s biggest stars is being dogged by steroid rumors, and your Head Booker is an unproven 21-year old. That’s the lay of the land as it stands right now, so in my opinion Malice in Wonderland will be a nice measuring stick for Total Championship Wrestling. I understand the main argument going the other way – that there is still a “freak show” element to Charles Alexander that is getting TCW some extra viewers right now and the real test will be next month’s PPV. There’s some validity to that too as Alexander has pretty much kept with the existing storylines from the Joel Bryant era and just tweaked them slightly in the month of January, if at all. But come on, this is the kid’s first PPV! I think we’ll get a pretty good idea about how the February show might go based on how this one stands up. I don’t buy the idea that Alexander is on cruise control right now and next month will be chaos. There’s no precedent for that theory so I’m not buying. Now on to this week’s Total Wrestling. As I speculated earlier in the week, in terms of momentum going into the PPV TCW peaked a week too soon with the great double count out Main Event last week where Tommy Cornell & Wolf Hawkins drew with Bryan Vessey & Joey Minnesota. But in some ways I understand the booking given the Main Event for Malice as you don’t want to be showcasing those same guys twice in one week, especially if you’ve just given it away on TV why would people then want to go and pay for it? The Main Event for Malice. A six-man match. Honestly? In this day and age?! There were many, many disappointed TCW fans writing in to the Candle about that one. And I loved how at the end of last week’s Total Wrestling Jason Azaria was like “oh, by the way, the Main Event at Malice in Wonderland will be First Class against Vessey, Minnesota, and Ricky Dale Johnson.” RDJ? Is he recovered now from the injuries he suffered from unknown attackers that has kept him out of the ring for two weeks? You’d never know because they didn’t mention it on Total Wrestling! If they were going to give us a six-man match they should have been hyping it from the opening credits LAST WEEK. So frustrating when the company keeps making the same mistakes over and over and over. Eddie Peak’s title win over Joshua Taylor for the TCW International belt came as a surprise to me, but as soon as Doug Peak appeared I thought that was the likely outcome. Interesting that The Hellfire Club might be in line for some sort of push. I doubt we’ll see Eddie drop the title back to Taylor in their rematch at Malice. I didn’t think Troy Tornado was going to have to cheat to beat Benny Benson, but I guess that’s just what happens when a member of First Class takes on Benson. I did like the little interplay between Tornado and Wolf Hawkins which referenced the double count out from last week. TCW has announced that new signings James Prudence & Steven Parker will be in a regular tag team that for right now shall be called Prudence & Parker. “The PP Express” was apparently rejected as a possible name by Charles Alexander. Lastly, the Rocky Golden situation looks like will be resolved at Malice. Assuming Golden is actually sick, I think there are two likely scenarios: you throw the belt on Sam Keith as a transition champion to one of the top three babyfaces (RDJ, Vessey, or Minnesota), or Golden retains and the belt goes vacant for a tournament. I have no insight as to which way TCW intends to go at this time and will just be watching with interest like everyone else! Compete against me in my TCW prediction pool this year and win signed photos of your favorite PW Candle writers! BRINT’S PICKS MALICE IN WONDERLAND (faces listed first) live from The Nevada State Armoury (South West) Danny Fonzarelli vs. Sammy Bach The L.A. Connection vs. The Keith Brothers TCW ALL ACTION CHAMPIONSHIP: Charles Alexander vs. Edd Stone © Benny Benson vs. Texas Pete TCW INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP: Joshua Taylor vs. Eddie Peak © TCW WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPSIONSHIP: The New Wave © vs. The Machines Koshiro Ino vs. Rick Law TCW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP: Rocky Golden © vs. Sam Keith RDJ, Joey Minnesota & Bryan Vessey vs. Tommy Cornell, Wolf Hawkins & Troy Tornado Prediction Key: Danny Fonzarelli vs. Sammy Bach The L.A. Connection vs. The Keith Brothers TCW ALL ACTION CHAMPIONSHIP: Charles Alexander vs. Edd Stone © Benny Benson vs. Texas Pete TCW INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP: Joshua Taylor vs. Eddie Peak © TCW WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPSIONSHIP: The New Wave © vs. The Machines Koshiro Ino vs. Rick Law TCW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP: Rocky Golden © vs. Sam Keith RDJ, Joey Minnesota & Bryan Vessey vs. Tommy Cornell, Wolf Hawkins & Troy Tornado __________ OOC: Will probably run the PPV on Friday night rather than waiting until Sunday which has been Total Wrestling night. Then going to give an OOC update over the weekend about the shifts in popularity since the first month of game time will have ended. Also check where the auto-pusher is pushing people. I mean IRL, not "game days." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eidenhoek Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 Prediction Key: Danny Fonzarelli vs. Sammy Bach Deadpool & Darkness together at last. The L.A. Connection vs. The Keith Brothers Why does everyone pair them up o_O TCW ALL ACTION CHAMPIONSHIP: Charles Alexander vs. Edd Stone © Jobber! Benny Benson vs. Texas Pete Jobber! TCW INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP: Joshua Taylor vs. Eddie Peak © Brother! TCW WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPSIONSHIP: The New Wave © vs. The Machines Hm...I make it a title change, I guess. It's a great go-to match, in any case. Koshiro Ino vs. Rick Law I'll go with the one I underestimate. TCW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP: Rocky Golden © vs. Sam Keith Golden is a faker. HEEL TURN! RDJ, Joey Minnesota & Bryan Vessey vs. Tommy Cornell, Wolf Hawkins & Troy Tornado Roid-man can't get pushed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BHK1978 Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 Prediction Key: Danny Fonzarelli vs. Sammy Bach The L.A. Connection vs. The Keith Brothers TCW ALL ACTION CHAMPIONSHIP: Charles Alexander vs. Edd Stone ©Benny Benson vs. Texas Pete TCW INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP: Joshua Taylor vs. Eddie Peak © Eddie just won his title so I highly doubt you are going to hot shot it back to Joshua. TCW WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPSIONSHIP: The New Wave © vs. The Machines Koshiro Ino vs. Rick Law TCW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP: Rocky Golden © vs. Sam Keith Everytime I play as TCW, this is usually the first feud that I put Rocky into. And it pains me evertime to put him over Sam. RDJ, Joey Minnesota & Bryan Vessey vs. Tommy Cornell, Wolf Hawkins & Troy Tornado Tommy C. loses to nobody. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purple Cowboy Posted March 26, 2011 Author Share Posted March 26, 2011 Thanks for the picks thus far! I'll be updating either tonight or first thing tomorrow morning (EDT) with the final part of Fred Jones's roster overview and then Malice shall be tomorrow for certain. Apologies for the delay, but unforeseen visitors this evening! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purple Cowboy Posted March 26, 2011 Author Share Posted March 26, 2011 WEEK 4 January 2010 TCW Roster 2010 Part 7by Fred Jones - PW Candle Senior Columnist http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r203/gratefulcowboy/pw%20candle/Fred.jpg We’re just hours away from our exclusive Live Coverage! of Malice in Wonderland from the Nevada State Armoury! Still some time left to get your picks in to match up against the Candle’s Brint Williams! This is the final part of the initial TCW roster overview; I’ve gone roughly in alphabetical order by first name. I’ve been given the order to wait a bit before we profile the new guys so we have a track record to go on (even though James Prudence has previous TCW history, but I digress). You can check out Part 1 of my profiles (Aaron Andrews, American Buffalo, Benny Benson, Brent Hill, Bryan Vessey) HERE. Part 2 (Chance Fortune, Charles Alexander, Charlie Thatcher, Clark Alexander, Danny Fonzarelli) are HERE. Part 3 (Eddie Peak, Edd Stone, Flying Jimmy Foxx, Freddy Huggins, Genghis Rahn) are HERE. Part 4 (Giant Tana, Guide, Harry Allen, Joel Bryant, Joey Minnesota) are HERE. Part 5 (John Anderson, Joshua Taylor, Koshiro Ino, Rick Law, Ricky Dale Johnson) are HERE. Part 6 (Robert Oxford, Rocky Golden, Sam Keith, Sammy Bach, Scout) are HERE. Texas Pete – At 28 years old there is a growing consensus that Peter Goldman is one of the biggest flops of his generation of professional wrestlers. His reputation as being one of the hardest partiers in the business hasn’t helped. This is one of the lowlights of the Joel Bryant era, signing Pete right after he was fired from SWF in 2006 to be a big heavyweight cowboy. He’s been that, and done nothing else. His tag team with American Buffalo isn’t taken seriously by anyone, and his unreliable reputation in the ring has prevented him winning any titles or even from becoming a member of The Hellfire Club (of which his tag partner is a member). This is a make-or-break year for Texas Pete, and I could see him being released before next January. Pete’s backstage feud with SWF’s Eric Eisen is the stuff of legend, and hopefully the topic of a future Candlelight Chat with Frank Jackson. Tommy Cornell – From one of the biggest flops to one of the greatest wrestlers of the modern era, Tommy Cornell is 5-time TCW World Heavyweight Champion, the owner of the company, and a sure bet Hall of Immortals member once he retires. The 31-year old English middleweight was reportedly furious behind-the-scenes with Joel Bryant for costing him millions of dollars in the last two years and replaced Bryant as Head Booker with Charles Alexander. Cornell has been one of the recent focal points of the company inside the ring, as you might expect for someone of his caliber, and from the ashes of The Syndicate has risen First Class, a new stable with protégé Wolf Hawkins, and Troy Tornado. Tommy was ranked #1 in PW Candle’s Power 100 for 2009. Troy Tornado – 32-year old Tony Rennie has been slowly making the climb to Main Event status in TCW since joining the company from CZCW 7 years ago. Some would say that despite a nearly year-long TCW International title reign in 2006, Tornado has been an underachiever despite his head down, nose-to-the-grindstone approach and climb. With Painful Procedure now a distant memory for TCW fans, his new alliance with Tommy Cornell & Wolf Hawkins in the wake of The Syndicate’s demise comes along at just the perfect point in his career. I’m one of many commentators that think if Tornado doesn’t become TCW World Heavyweight Champion in 2010 then he never will. Tornado has allegedly been helping Charles Alexander scout talent from CZCW and was instrumental in bringing James Prudence back to TCW. Wolf Hawkins – The only man to be personally trained by Tommy Cornell and a man ranked #23 in the Power 100 for 2009, the sky seems to be the limit for Wolf Hawkins. When you’re the hand-picked chosen one by the owner of the company you can kind of get away from yourself and feel a bit invincible, and we’ve heard reports of a growing backstage ego for the 24-year old middleweight. To me, it would be interesting to see how patient Hawkins would be if Cornell & Alexander decide to put the world title on Troy Tornado. We know that Hawkins will one day be champion, but I don’t think we’ll see it in 2010. And since no one asked, here are my picks for Malice: Danny Fonzarelli vs. Sammy Bach -Bach hasn’t had a bad month, Fonzarelli has. Hopefully this loss brings us one step closer to a Jay Darkness return! The L.A. Connection vs. The Keith Brothers -People have been impressed, if they lose again they run the risk of becoming jobbers. TCW ALL ACTION CHAMPIONSHIP: Charles Alexander vs. Edd Stone © -Alexander is finally going to get a win here. I think Stone’s contract is up soon. Benny Benson vs. Texas Pete -Will Pete be off his game, even at the PPV? TCW INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP: Joshua Taylor vs. Eddie Peak © -Looks like the Hellfire Club is getting some sort of push. Haven’t figured it out yet though. TCW WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPSIONSHIP: The New Wave © vs. The Machines -I think the belts go to the Machines and they go on a long win streak until a late Spring PPV. Koshiro Ino vs. Rick Law -Is this a feud? I’m confused. TCW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP: Rocky Golden © vs. Sam Keith -I don’t think Golden will be medically cleared to wrestle and Keith will be awarded the win, but not the title. Fans will be upset, but this is TCW. RDJ, Joey Minnesota & Bryan Vessey vs. Tommy Cornell, Wolf Hawkins & Troy Tornado -I think the heels will exploit the returning RDJ who hasn’t wrestled since his mystery beatdown and get the win. As always, please feel free to submit questions about any workers and I'll address them in a future column. Thanks for reading and be well. OOC: Malice in Wonderland later today! After the PPV there will be a special roundtable featuring Frank Jackson, Brint Williams, and Fred Jones. That will go up tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purple Cowboy Posted March 27, 2011 Author Share Posted March 27, 2011 WEEK 4 January 2010 http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r203/gratefulcowboy/pw%20candle/TCW_Malice.jpg LIVE COVERAGE! of Malice in Wonderland Pay-Per-View by Brint Williams - PW Candle TCW Columnist http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r203/gratefulcowboy/pw%20candle/2009-04-07-businessman.jpg Week 4 January 2010 Venue: Nevada State Armoury Attendance: 30,000 – SELL OUT! Live! on PPV (U-Demand, Premier Pay CAN-TV, Seleccion Mexico) The first PPV of the Charles Alexander era is here and TCW seem to be in the rare position of being able to make a statement in their ongoing war with SWF if they can put on a strong show tonight. Thanks to a month of Total Wrestling episodes that were better than SWF Supreme TV shows, they could really fire the first shot of 2010 by capping the month with a great card. Some fans I’ve spoken with tonight and in the days leading up to this evening are disappointed that the Main Event of the PPV is a 6-Man Tag Team match. But after the build we’ve seen it is the logical first big move of the year for TCW and maybe we get all of the juicy singles matchups at The War to Settle the Score next month (which would also make some sense). According to our live correspondents at the event there is great vibe in a sold-out Armoury tonight; looks like TCW spent a little extra on the set as the place not only has a “big event” feel to it, but there’s a “big event” look too. There’s a special seating area for the announce crew that looks like it will rise up to allow the presenters to see the in-ring action from a slightly elevated position. And there’s also a special rampway from the locker room area to the ring which are both good changes from the things we see each week on Total Wrestling, even if the announce booth is a little gimmicky. Before the show went on the air there were two dark matches: D1 – “The Dancing Fool” Flying Jimmy Foxx & Harry Allen vs. American Buffalo & “The Arizona Assassin” Genghis Rahn (with Floyd Goldworthy) “The Dancing Fool” Flying Jimmy Foxx came out dressed like the Mad Hatter. TCW fans have been bashing Foxx lately for the corny two nicknames gimmick he has going on - “The Dancing Fool” and “Flying.” The members of The Hellfire Club just dominated the action in a match that seemed to drag on forever until Genghis Rahn hit the Rahn to the Hills (spinning Death Valley driver) on Foxx for the pin at 8:13. My rating: 56: This match went 8:10 too long. D2 – Prudence & Parker vs. The Tag Team Specialists A good, open match here that showed us a little of what James Prudence and Steven Parker will be able to do as a team at some point down the road. Joel Bryant got his first win of the Charles Alexander era after a frustrating month of January by pin after using the One Shot Drop (overhead flip slam) on Prudence at 8:25. My rating: 72: Another loss for Prudence & Parker, but they haven’t been on the main show yet and I suppose this is a way to throw a bone to Bryant for being a good trooper this month. B- match, probably could have been on the main show. Polite applause for the announce crew as they made their way down to their table, with more than a couple of fans yelling “Swoooooop” as Swoop McCarthy passed by. McCarthy acknowledged most of them with a smirk and a quick faux-salute by tipping his sunglasses. Kyle Rhodes shook his head and rolled his eyes in frustration once they made it to the announce table. As the announce booth elevated to a position just a few feet off the ground a big cheer rolled through the Armoury. - Jason Azaria introduces everyone to the event and the announce team, hypes the Main Event and the fact that all 4 TCW titles will be on the line at a PPV for the first time in months, and then asks for predictions from Rhodes and McCarthy. Rhodes says that no matter what happens in the Main Event, all eyes will be on TCW World Heavyweight Champion Rocky Golden and his scheduled matchup with the legend, Sam Keith. McCarthy predicts title wins for The Machines and Sam Keith, and successful defenses for Edd Stone and Eddie Peak. Swoop then says he likes what he’s seen from The Hellfire Club recently. 1 – Danny Fonzarelli vs. Sammy Bach (with Karen Killer) Great action in this match but with some crowd members still filing to their seats the atmosphere was just OK, not the type of electric crowd you might expect at the beginning of a PPV. Regardless, Bach put Fonzarelli to sleep at 9:28 after a Bach on Your Back (bodylock reverse sleeper) after a distraction from Karen Killer. My rating: 72: B- opener, Karen Killer has been quite useful for Bach lately in a couple of mild upsets, of which this has to be considered. Interesting match, with Bach rumbling more and Fonzarelli trying to be technical and slow Bach down with a couple of leglocks. This match would have been fine elsewhere on the card, but I think they should have had a stronger opening match. 2 – The L.A. Connection vs. The Keith Brothers The fans that were in their seats got up during this one to get their snacks or souvenirs. A nice long look at two young teams and The L.A. Connection got the win at 10:08 by pin after Aaron Andrews hit Greg Keith with a Flying Body Press. My rating: 70: You had a lot of sappy commentary from Azaria and Rhodes during this match about the bright future of TCW, and how explosive the tag team division seems to be getting, but the match will be remembered for a Swoop comment. When Andrews went to the top rope at the end of the match McCarthy said: “Oh my God no, not the Flying Body Press!” Swoop then said the move should be outlawed and it wasn’t fair on the Keith Brothers for Andrews to be allowed to use it. I swear even Rhodes giggled a little at that but covered it in a cough. You can hear it. 3 – TCW ALL ACTION CHAMPIONSHIP: “The Natural” Charles Alexander vs. “The 24-Hour Party Animal” Edd Stone © Charles Alexander was introduced as “The Natural” for the first time ever, and that raised some eyebrows in the crowd. And it should have, as Alexander put on a great display and won the TCW All Action Championship in 10:05 after suplexing Stone out of the ring, dragging him back in and pinning him. The match lifted the crowd. My rating: 78: It might be a “low B,” but it is a B rated match nonetheless. There were rumors weeks ago about a possible program between Stone & Alexander over the All Action title and with the great action we saw here that might be fun to watch heading into February. 4 – Benny Benson vs. Texas Pete Some good action here but just a bad matchup of styles and they killed a lot of the energy that had been building up in the Armoury. Everyone knew the eventual outcome, Benson got the win at 8:19 by pin after a Shockwave From Next Year (running enzuigiri kick). My rating: 60: Probably should have been the second match on the card. Surprised that Benson seemed to be the one off his game tonight, maybe he was afraid of the shape Pete would be in and never got comfortable. Swoop McCarthy is getting good at comedy commentary when rooting on heel jobbers, and did a great job trying to rally for Texas Pete. “Power punch there from Pete!” trends ever-so-briefly on Twitter in the USA. 5 – TCW INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP: Joshua Taylor vs. Eddie Peak © The first stretched out match of the evening was a really good, open contest with strong back-and-forth between Joshua Taylor and Eddie Peak. Just when it seemed like no one was going to be able to get the upper hand, Doug Peak raced down to ringside and blasted Taylor who was out of the ring as referee Ray Johnson was busy fixing one of the turnbuckles. Doug threw Taylor back in and Eddie hit the Peak of Perfection (crucifix powerbomb) for the win at 15:35. My rating: 73: I think this match was actually right on par with the All Action title match earlier in the night, it was just that Taylor and Peak had to overcome a dead crowd from the Benson-Texas Pete match. And, since it was a long match, it took a while for the fans to get back into things. This is the second time Doug Peak has cost Taylor, looks like Taylor is going to have beef with The Hellfire Club. 6 – TCW WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP: The New Wave © vs. The Machines This was probably the best tag team match we’ve seen from TCW thus far in 2010. A great contest right from the opening bell as The Machines rushed Guide & Scout and tried to come out with a hyper-aggressive attack against the champions. It kind of backfired a few minutes in as Scout got the momentum back with a hot tag to Guide and The New Wave were on their way from there. Rhodes commented that The Machines were gassed from their early high-energy attack and they certainly seemed to sell it that way as the match wore on. The match ended with a Wave of Mutilation (spike piledriver) on John Anderson at 18:26, Guide getting the cover. My rating: 82: Almost a B+ match here, probably would have been but I think it was just a tad too long for the little amount of build these two teams have had. Maybe that changes between now and The War to Settle the Score. Still, a great tag match. 7 – Koshiro Ino vs. Rick Law We saw more great action in this contest, but we also had more of the crowd wondering why they’re supposed to care about the matchup. In the end it was Ino with the pin at 16:15 after his Kobra’s Bite (roll inverted DDT) finisher. Ino is supposed to be trying to run Rick Law out of TCW, but there was never a word of it mentioned this month. Maybe now we’ll get into it heading into February. My rating: 76: These two can probably put on a better match but this one will likely be relegated to being one of the better forgettable matches from the PPV. - Tommy Cornell is sitting in the locker room. He doesn’t say a word, he just tapes up his hands. Swoop has another classic line, saying: “no one in the world tapes their hands better than Tommy Cornell.” 8 – TCW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP: Rocky Golden © vs. Sam Keith Keith looked all set to take the title from Golden, who is either actually sick or doing a really, really great job of acting sick, but Keith squandered a huge opportunity by calling his sons out to the ring to witness his title win. As the boys were coming down the rampway Golden had enough time to recover and rolled Keith up for the quick win. Golden didn’t celebrate at all though, as Matt & Greg Keith stormed the ring and laid the boots to the champion. Sam Keith then applied the Proton Lock to Golden as Matt & Greg fended off ref Sam Sparrow. After two excruciating long minutes Keith released the Proton Lock and hit a Neutron Plex (head and arm suplex). The Keith Family left the ring to big heat . My rating: 82: Good match considering we’ve seen little of Golden doing anything of note recently. Bad night for The Keith Family, although their beatdown of Golden after the match let them get some frustration out. 9 – MAIN EVENT: Ricky Dale Johnson, Joey Minnesota & Bryan Vessey vs. Tommy Cornell, Wolf Hawkins & Troy Tornado Excellent in-ring action from the top guys in TCW and they had a nice hot crowd after what had gone down in the previous match. RDJ did a great job selling that he still wasn’t fully recovered from the beatdown that sent him to the hospital, and Cornell especially was vicious exploiting that point. Bryan Vessey had a noticeably reduced roll in this one and literally spent the final 10 minutes of the match laid out on the outside of the ring after being hit by a Wolf Hawkins piledriver at the ringside area. First Class then took advantage of the numbers game and wore down Joey Minnesota in their corner while RDJ watched helplessly. Then, as ref Ray Johnson checked on Vessey’s status on the outside of the ring, Benny Benson ran down from the back and hit the Shockwave From Next Year on each member of First Class! Alerted by the commotion, Johnson returned to the ring just in time to see Minnesota tag RDJ. Johnson cleared out Benson and all of the First Class members except for Tornado, and with Tornado still reeling from Benson’s shot, RDJ blasted Tornado with a Southern Justice (scissor kick) and got the pinfall win at 40:13. My rating: 91: Great twist there at the end I thought, especially since I think Benson getting some measure of revenge was nice to see after the month he’s had with Tornado and Hawkins interfering in his matches. Does he get elevated to the Main Event scene as an ally to the face group? Kind of a dark, more brutal turn to the PPV, but you can’t argue with an A rated Main Event! Overall I think the card gets an 89, just the very top B+ you can get without being an A. If the World title match had been the opener, maybe we’re looking at a really strong PPV. This is still very good for TCW though. - After the match there’s a brief scuffle with Benson getting the upper hand over the tired First Class, but Hawkins slows Benson with a kick to the gut and First Class beats him down. They then give RDJ the business again and leave to tremendous heat. Swoop comments “now this is Malice.” Kyle Rhodes I think speaks for a lot of younger fans by saying, “you can’t end the PPV like that!” but Azaria brings the proceedings to a close and signs off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purple Cowboy Posted March 27, 2011 Author Share Posted March 27, 2011 WEEK 4 January 2010 Malice in Wonderland Post-PPV Roundtable http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r203/gratefulcowboy/pw%20candle/TCW_Malice.jpg with Frank Jackson - PW Candle Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Brint Williams - PW Candle TCW Columnist, and Fred Jones - TCW Senior Columnist Frank Jackson: Welcome to our first TCW pay-per-view roundtable for 2010, this is a comprehensive look back at Malice in Wonderland and some of the key moments and storylines we should be looking at going into February. First, by all internet accounts the show is getting awesome feedback and fantastic reviews. Let’s just go around and give our general impressions, starting with Brint. Brint Williams: Like I said in the Live Coverage! I thought the show was good. It could have been better even with the same exact matches they put on if they just had a little more sense about where certain matches appeared on the card. I liked the big event look of Malice and the fact that they invested a little bit of money to make sure it looked that way. The show was stronger than SWF’s When Hell Freezes Over earlier in the month and it caps a month where TCW was outright better than SWF for the first time in a long time. Fred Jones: Yes this was a good show for TCW. But this PPV was the culmination of several of Joel Bryant’s storylines and I don’t think we'll have a true indication of where Total Championship Wrestling is until April, or June. Frank Jackson: Well, you can’t deny that TCW have had a stronger month than SWF, right Fred? Fred Jones: They’ve put on some better shows recently, yes. But again, is this just a short-term pop because of the Head Booker change and you have some fans that have fallen off in the last couple of years checking the promotion back out for curiosity factor? Will those people stay? Who knows. I’m not ready to jump on the bandwagon, I’ve seen too many false starts from this company in the past. http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r203/gratefulcowboy/pw%20candle/african_american3_med.jpgFrank Jackson: Brint? Brint Williams: He makes a valid point but I think there’s still room to feel optimistic about what’s been going on, even if you’re being realistic. And I think Malice shows that. Frank Jackson: Okay, let’s get to the matches themselves. Biggest surprise? Probably Benny Benson’s interference? Fred Jones: This is something I’ve said a million times and I’m going to say again because I can’t stand it. I mean, I know Benson has legitimate beef because members of First Class cost him two matches in January. But, he’s supposed to be the babyface and here he comes rushing in to sneak attack the heels. To me, he’s supposed to be better than that, especially since he’s this almost goofy character that panders to the fans, not some avenging angel or mercenary or something that would make having a run-in make more sense. Brint Williams: I think the rules kind of go out the window a little bit here in the PPV Main Event. I didn’t think it was that bad considering the recent history and it was a nice rub for Benson at the same time to be featured near the end of the PPV. Plus this feud has been pretty violent and unpredictable and is still coming together. Maybe Benson now joins up with RDJ, Bryan Vessey, and Joey Minnesota. Fred Jones: Or maybe takes Vessey’s place. Frank Jackson: Yeah, that could be with the steroid rumors going. Normally Fred I agree with you on this point about the faces using heel tactics but I side with Brint after seeing the match now a couple of times, I think they pulled it off well when you couple it with the build on TV this month. Was this a Main Event we’ll remember fondly 10 years from now? Probably not. But I think it is fine for a momentum-builder and if they’re topping SWF then that’s exactly what they’re getting. Let’s get into the TCW World Heavyweight title situation – Brint, you picked Rocky Golden, and Fred, you thought Sam Keith was going to be awarded the win but not the title because Golden wouldn’t be cleared to wrestle. How do you think this one went? http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r203/gratefulcowboy/pw%20candle/2009-04-07-businessman.jpgBrint Williams: I thought the whole medical issue thing was a work, but Golden simply hasn’t looked like himself out there for the last couple of weeks. Golden performed well but didn’t look well. And despite the fact that he seems to have had a bad month or maybe wasn’t always portrayed as a major threat, he’s somehow snuck three title defenses past us this month. Fred Jones: I’m not clear on what’s going on here. Unless he, being Golden, really needs a hiatus and we find out on the next Total Wrestling. Maybe then we get the tournament for the TCW World Heavyweight Championship which would likely culminate at the PPV next month. I didn’t think he would wrestle. But I also have to reason to believe that if he’s as seriously sick as the announcers and the backstage chatter have been letting on then he wouldn’t be out there. Frank Jackson: Personally, I didn’t like the ending of the match where Keith was rolled up after a distraction. This, to me, is just more of the odd needling at Golden we’ve seen in recent weeks. Sam Keith is a legend but his only wins lately have come over Harry Allen, and in a Three-Way Match with Charlie Thatcher and Giant Tana. He lost his only match against a legitimate opponent, Joey Minnesota. So I felt the need for Golden to use a roll up instead of getting a decisive win was probably a poor one. Fred Jones: I understand your point but also you DO want a title match to end with a rollup from time-to-time so that the element of surprise is there in the mind of the fans. They need to be going into that match thinking that anything could happen at any moment. This one helps set the stage for that in future title bouts. Frank Jackson: Fair enough. What about the surprise decision of Charles Alexander to put the TCW All Action title on himself? We had been writing, and especially you Brint, that TCW workers were warming up to the new Head Booker after he had been putting everyone over. But his first win in the company is a title win at a PPV! What do you think the reaction will be and where does this go now? http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r203/gratefulcowboy/pw%20candle/Fred.jpgFred Jones: Well, he’s been there an entire month already, he’s paid his dues, right? Frank Jackson & Brint Williams: (laughs) Fred Jones: I think I was the only one to pick Chuck for the win here. I don’t think it has anything to do with anything other than Edd Stone’s contract being up in a week or so and Alexander wanting to have the upper hand in the bargaining session. Frank Jackson: Brint, do you think it’s as clear cut as that? Brint Williams: That’s always a possibility. I actually did pick Alexander here too, by the way. And I ‘m pretty sure Fred’s right I believe TCW can start negotiating with Stone in about 10 days so the timing certainly seems coincidental at the very least. The match wasn’t bad at all, and I’ve been reporting that these two (Alexander and Stone) might be getting into a program on a couple of occasions so I think that’s where they go next. Alexander will likely have the upper hand for another week I guess Fred until the new contract is signed?! Fred Jones: (deadpans) Sounds about right. http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r203/gratefulcowboy/pw%20candle/african_american3_med.jpgFrank Jackson: I for one am pretty surprised that he put a title on himself so quickly, especially when he had done nothing to earn a title shot except lose a lot. Brint Williams: That’s a gripe that many fans, myself included, had in the feedback to this match. Alexander at the very least should have had something on the line as well. But it was in my opinion the 4th best match on the card out of 9 so not a bad job overall and you’ve got an instant feud with Stone furious at the loss and vowing to win back the belt. Frank Jackson: Okay, briefly if you can, thoughts on the other two title matches? You both picked The Machines and Eddie Peak and got one of two correct there. http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r203/gratefulcowboy/pw%20candle/2009-04-07-businessman.jpgBrint Williams: I was surprised at how good the tag title match was, and after that showing I expect some sort of revenge from The Machines on the next Total Wrestling to get them kick-started for another month. I wasn’t really picking The Machines out of any feeling other than I thought this might be a random title change. In the other match, I didn’t think we’d see Doug Peak interfering again so I guess Joshua Taylor is going to have to go through Doug Peak first before getting another shot at the TCW International belt. Fred Jones: I went with The Machines just because I wanted to see The Machines win, and then go on a machine-like roll through the company’s tag division to remind some of these guys of what professional wrestling is all about! But as Brint mentioned about the good action, this is setting them up for bigger matches down the line. On the other hand, I did expect Doug Peak out there again during his brother’s match, more for raising the profile of The Hellfire Club at this point than anything else. Frank Jackson: There have been rumors surfacing lately Brint that Floyd Goldworthy is going to be the official manager for The Hellfire Club now, and that the Texas Buffalo tag team will be officially disbanded. Have you heard anything about this? Brint Williams: I haven’t, although Floyd was out there helping both American Buffalo and Genghis Rahn in their dark tag match at Malice. Also, Eddie Peak seems to be the leader of this group so if Floyd is officially becoming a “member” I think he’ll have a background role to begin with. Frank Jackson: Finally, last question to close things out. People seem to love Swoop McCarthy on the announce crew. How do you both think he did? Fred Jones: He’s clearly not an idiot. He’s getting over amazingly quickly from what I see and it really burns up Kyle Rhodes which for some reason I find hilarious! I don’t like the whole rooting on the jobbers gimmick, but as long as he’s only doing it with the heels I guess it’s okay. Some clichés here and there, but he’s already been getting better in my opinion in only a couple of weeks on the air. And, he has clearly been a fan of TCW as he claimed when he first arrived because he does seem to know the wrestlers and the product. Brint Williams: I think he’s been annoying, which I guess is the point so in that respect he’s doing a fine job. Fred’s right though there were fans at Malice with “Swoooop” signs, and Kyle Rhodes has discovered some personality while Jason Azaria has slotted nicely into that “lead announce” role. There have been some rumors, too, that Swoop is helping Charles Alexander bring Captain Wrestling II to TCW from Australia. Frank Jackson: More newcomers? Brint Williams: You won’t believe the list that’s been making the rounds. It includes people like Jack Griffith, Oscar Ozymandias, Regular Joe, and Murderous Mikey who would revive his Canadian Executioner character. This all might be a joke; as always, everything is unconfirmed until it’s confirmed in triplicate. http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r203/gratefulcowboy/pw%20candle/Fred.jpgFred Jones: Sounds like a bunch of jobbers. These guys are for the new TV show?! Brint Williams: I would suppose so. Apparently they’re prepared to contact USA Sports 1 and CBA about a possible B show. Frank Jackson: Well, I’m sure you’ll keep us up-to-date on that. Thanks Brint, and Fred. Stay tuned for more exciting TCW coverage coming soon! ____________________ OOC: Next post will be an OOC post looking at some of the popularity & momentum shifts in the fed, workers, storylines, titles, and stables over the month of January. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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