C12 - Cornellverse Update

[shamelessposer]

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WAR!

There's A New East Coast War

And This Time, Everyone Wins

Original Publication Date: July 24, 2010

 

You'd be forgiven for not being familiar with New York City Wrestling. Founded in 1988 by veteran wrestler The Stomper, NYCW has spent much of its existence as an unofficial retirement home where the laziest of veteran wrestlers could work a slow-paced, undemanding style right up until the date they qualified for Social Security. Roger Cage made a name for himself there, and Grandmaster Phunk's transition from manager to wrestler took place in an NYCW ring, but even now much of the company's main event is over the age of fifty.

 

You'd also be forgiven for not paying much attention to Pittsburgh Steel Wrestling. While the company was founded by DAVE announcer Mitch Naess and had many members of the old DAVE roster in its earliest shows, the company seemed happy to get by on nostalgia acts and not do much of anything that was particularly interesting. While great young workers like Matthew Gauge and Nelson Callum got their start with PSW, there was always a feeling that anyone with any sort of technical aptitude was just slumming until something better came along.

 

Despite these limitations, the two companies have become the talk of tape traders all over the country due to a series of unusually savvy business moves by two men: NYCW owner Larry Vessey and PSW head booker Brent Hill.

 

Larry Vessey purchased NYCW from The Stomper in late 2010, as The Stomper had decided to retire from the wrestling industry altogether. A slow period of modernization started for NYCW after The Stomper's departure, with a slightly greater emphasis on extended storylines over one-off angles, as well as a shift in attitude toward a more intense in-ring product.

 

Only a few months before Vessey's purchase of NYCW, Alex Braun left his head booker position at PSW for a prominent role as SWF's onscreen commissioner. Owner Mitch Naess shocked the wrestling community when he announced three weeks later that internet darling Brent Hill would be taking over for Braun. While the very idea of a wrestler like Brent Hill joining the ranks of PSW would have been unthinkable even in 2009, Hill had grown dissatisfied with what he perceived as TCW's mismanagement of his character and felt a strange sort of kinship with PSW's anti-authority attitude. As these changes, big and small, piled up in New York and Pittsburgh, the stage was soon set for an exciting confrontation.

 

Desperate to retain his PSW championship, Frankie Future used his status as a roster member in NYCW and PSW to cut scathing promos about the wrestling style of each prmotion, labeling NYCW "a retirement home" and PSW "a circus sideshow for a bunch of sociopaths." Fans of each company reached near-riot attitudes, which boiled over into the unforgettable conclusion to this year's NYCW Gang Wars.

 

The main event was Team Future (Frankie Future and The Ring Generals) versus Team Tradition (Whistler and The Old School Principals). The match was a furious battle, nonetheless conducted according to the NYCW traditional style, and easily one of the best the company has seen since the start of the Vessey regime. However, just as Whistler hit the Rebel Yell and was about to go for the pin, the ring was swarmed with members of the PSW roster! Immediately, the NYCW locker room emptied as well, and as the event ended in a twenty minute brawl between the rosters of two whole promotions, it wasn't until the battle had come to an end that wrestler and audience member alike realized that Future took the opportunity to escape from the arena.

 

Damages to The Ministry are estimated to have totaled $4,500. Larry Vessey and Mitch Naess each cut checks to cover the damages. This initial conflict between the two promotions seems to indicate a larger story that is about to take place between two opposing companies, two opposing philosophies on wrestling, and there's no telling how it's going to pan out. I, for one, am excited to see the next NYCW show. When's the last time anyone has said that?

[shamelessposer]

I'm back.

[Truth]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/shamelessposer/C12%20Hype/wrestlecircle.jpg

WAR!

There's A New East Coast War

And This Time, Everyone Wins

Original Publication Date: July 24, 2010

 

You'd be forgiven for not being familiar with New York City Wrestling. Founded in 1988 by veteran wrestler The Stomper, NYCW has spent much of its existence as an unofficial retirement home where the laziest of veteran wrestlers could work a slow-paced, undemanding style right up until the date they qualified for Social Security. Roger Cage made a name for himself there, and Grandmaster Phunk's transition from manager to wrestler took place in an NYCW ring, but even now much of the company's main event is over the age of fifty.

 

You'd also be forgiven for not paying much attention to Pittsburgh Steel Wrestling. While the company was founded by DAVE announcer Mitch Naess and had many members of the old DAVE roster in its earliest shows, the company seemed happy to get by on nostalgia acts and not do much of anything that was particularly interesting. While great young workers like Matthew Gauge and Nelson Callum got their start with PSW, there was always a feeling that anyone with any sort of technical aptitude was just slumming until something better came along.

 

Despite these limitations, the two companies have become the talk of tape traders all over the country due to a series of unusually savvy business moves by two men: NYCW owner Larry Vessey and PSW head booker Brent Hill.

 

Larry Vessey purchased NYCW from The Stomper in late 2010, as The Stomper had decided to retire from the wrestling industry altogether. A slow period of modernization started for NYCW after The Stomper's departure, with a slightly greater emphasis on extended storylines over one-off angles, as well as a shift in attitude toward a more intense in-ring product.

 

Only a few months before Vessey's purchase of NYCW, Alex Braun left his head booker position at PSW for a prominent role as SWF's onscreen commissioner. Owner Mitch Naess shocked the wrestling community when he announced three weeks later that internet darling Brent Hill would be taking over for Braun. While the very idea of a wrestler like Brent Hill joining the ranks of PSW would have been unthinkable even in 2009, Hill had grown dissatisfied with what he perceived as TCW's mismanagement of his character and felt a strange sort of kinship with PSW's anti-authority attitude. As these changes, big and small, piled up in New York and Pittsburgh, the stage was soon set for an exciting confrontation.

 

Desperate to retain his PSW championship, Frankie Future used his status as a roster member in NYCW and PSW to cut scathing promos about the wrestling style of each prmotion, labeling NYCW "a retirement home" and PSW "a circus sideshow for a bunch of sociopaths." Fans of each company reached near-riot attitudes, which boiled over into the unforgettable conclusion to this year's PSW Gang Wars.

 

The main event was Team Future (Frankie Future and The Ring Generals) versus Team Tradition (Whistler and The Old School Principals). The match was a furious battle, nonetheless conducted according to the NYCW traditional style, and easily one of the best the company has seen since the start of the Vessey regime. However, just as Whistler hit the Rebel Yell and was about to go for the pin, the ring was swarmed with members of the PSW roster! Immediately, the NYCW locker room emptied as well, and as the event ended in a twenty minute brawl between the rosters of two whole promotions, it wasn't until the battle had come to an end that wrestler and audience member alike realized that Future took the opportunity to escape from the arena.

 

Damages to The Ministry are estimated to have totaled $4,500. Larry Vessey and Mitch Naess each cut checks to cover the damages. This initial conflict between the two promotions seems to indicate a larger story that is about to take place between two opposing companies, two opposing philosophies on wrestling, and there's no telling how it's going to pan out. I, for one, am excited to see the next NYCW show. When's the last time anyone has said that?

 

Fantastic read. Looking forward to this mod. While the evolution of NYCW is suggested in the current data, putting Brent Hill in as the booker of PSW is an inspired move. I can see Brent giving PSW a bit of a pure edge, moving them away from being the DAVE retirement home, while retaining the rebel attitude and feel of the promotion, with Larry doing the same with NYCW.

 

This leads to the two promotions fighting to some degree over the same set of fans, so working together in an ROH/CZW style feud makes great business sense and should make for some great shows.

 

Can't wait!

[shamelessposer]

Life's been hectic the last week, so I haven't gotten the chance to do a long-form writeup of a promotion like I'd hoped. Instead, here's a look at the card for Kanzen Pro: Kings of Wrestling 2011.

 

Winners are italicized.

 

Quarterfinals

Team Can-Am (American Elemental & Jet Stream) vs. Team Robot (Wrestlebot 9001 & The Titanium Monster)

Team Japan (Hachigoro Maeda & Japanese Phoenix) vs. Team Evil (The Red Menace & X The Eliminator)

The Luna Twins (Luna Clara & Luna Oscura) vs. Team Skincare (Dragon Del Arco Iris Jr)

Team Bug (The Tic & Amazing Fire Fly) vs. Team Skullhead (Canadian Dragon & Mister Skullhead)

 

Semifinals

Team Can-Am vs. Team Evil

Team Skincare vs. Team Bug

 

Finals

Team Can-Am vs. Team Skincare

[Truth]

Kanzen is the promotion I'm most interested in. A quick question. Who is the owner of Kanzen? Did you go with the option that others seem to go with in Monty Walker filling the Quack role, or someone else?

[shamelessposer]

Kanzen is the promotion I'm most interested in. A quick question. Who is the owner of Kanzen? Did you go with the option that others seem to go with in Monty Walker filling the Quack role, or someone else?

 

American Elemental is the company's founder. He grew disillusioned with the puro scene after he was snubbed for the role of Elemental III, then failed to get a decent push with WLW. Near the end of 2010, he founded Kanzen Pro in an attempt to introduce Japanese and Mexican values to American wrestling fans. A lot of dirtsheet writers have mentioned that he and booker/announcer Carlton Angelo (a popular wrestling podcaster) are pretty clearly cribbing from New Zealand promotion ZEN, but the company puts on such smark-pleasing shows that no one really minds.

[DrunkCobra]

As a huge Alan Parent mark I'm looking forward to checking out TRH. Did Cal Sanders and Thomas Morgan finally make somethings of themselves as well?