The Wrestling Spotlight: (One Year Later Mod Watcher's Diary)

Jaded · May 27, 2012

The limited success I've had with diaries seems to be from watcher's games, rather than ones where I actually play it, so I figured I may as well try one with the excellent One Year Later C-Verse mod. Huge thanks to Nachtfalter for creating such a great mod - grab it here if you haven't already got it.

I'm planning on bouncing around the world and looking at a different fed/wrestler/storyline every month. Suggestions and feedback would be very welcome!

The Wrestling Spotlight - January

Oh Canada - What Happens Next?

At the start of 2010, NOTBPW was an established federation which was generally thought of as having the best in-ring action in North America, perhaps even the world. Just 12 months later, Dan Stone’s promotion is no more. If you haven’t been keeping up with wrestling news over the past year, you’d be forgiven for wondering what the hell went wrong.

In no particular order – greed, egos, arguments, mistrust, rumours, and Steve DeColt. Perhaps the biggest mistake Dan Stone Sr ever made was one that was widely thought of as a positive move, when he snatched Steve DeColt from his own family’s CGC promotion. While there’s no question that DeColt’s 9 month run with the Canadian belt in NOTBPW led to some truly outstanding matches, particularly against Dan’s sons Dan Jr and Jeremy, insiders say that he was causing problems in the locker room from the moment he joined North of the Border. Indeed, reports that he and Dan Jr brawled for real just half an hour before they main-evented Mid Summer Madness have never been denied, and while he was initially said to get on well with Dan’s siblings Victoria and Jeremy, their relationship clearly took a turn for the worse towards the end. In fact, some speculate that it was DeColt’s constant insinuations to both Jeremy and Victoria that they could do a better job of running NOTBPW than Dan Jr – considered front-runner to inherit – that sparked the civil war between the three.

As a war, it was explosive, nasty, and surprisingly short. Dan Sr abruptly announced that he felt choosing any of them would be unfair on the others, instead closing the federation down. Perhaps realizing what they’d missed out on, it took just a few months before Dan Jr and Jeremy ended up in PGHW together as a tag team – they may no longer be as close as they were, but with Danger Kumasaka taking much more interest in them as a duo than as individuals, money talked, as always in wrestling. It’s also believed that younger brother Duane Stone, currently a top star with PGHW’s rivals BHOTWG, has been a calming influence on the pair and met with them on several occasions since they moved to Japan.

Meanwhile, Victoria shocked everyone when she opened up the Canadian Women’s Wrestling Federation, although looking back it’s hard to see why it was such a surprising move. She has the contacts, it’s clear from the debacle at the end of NOTBPW’s life that she wanted to be involved in booking, and with no women’s division in CGC then there were several Canadian workers looking for a new home. The signing of Tommy London as lead announcer immediately gave their shows a real aura of respectability, and the internet-PPV model they’re using is intriguing. It helped that they got off to a great start when Nirvana in November featured two contenders for women’s match of the year, with Principessa and Melody beating Cherry Bomb and Kristabel Plum in a very good technical encounter to gain the Tag titles before Tamara McFly defended her All Canada belt – which is the renamed NOTBPW Women’s title – against Nikki Power in a wild brawl.

As for DeColt – already the most hated man in Canada with so many fingers pointing at him for the closure of NOTBPW, he was then snubbed by his own family when Alex DeColt gained one-off permission to use NOTBPW footage to pay tribute to the federation at their Apocalypse show. A roll-call of Canadian champions pointedly featured every star to have held the belt except Steve – although given that Steve would just three days later hurl the belt in the trash at the opening Canadian Wrestling Revolution show, then set it on fire, it’s doubtful as to whether the insult particularly bothered him. He also had few issues persuading wrestlers to join him in CWR, with even NOTBPW mainstays like RK Hayes, Derek Frost, and the Can-Am Blondes hooking up with him. Of course, the biggest signing was a non-wrestler – Phil Vibert, who was generally thought of as having pushed Steve DeColt out of CGC by taking the head booker position that Steve wanted for himself. Ironically, Vibert was DeColt’s own pick for the CWR head booker job and has quickly made an impact both off-screen and on, as he’s also managing champion Bobby Thomas. DeColt seems to be relishing the challenge of getting over as a face despite his recent actions, and it’s clear that he’s marketing towards those who were bored of NOTBPW. Time will tell if he’ll succeed.

There’s no question that the loss of NOTBPW has been a bad one for the Canadian fans. They’ve gone from being able to see Dan Stone Jr, Steve DeColt, Jeremy Stone and The Can-Am Blondes on TV every week to having to catch their matches weeks later on DVD, or on internet streams. That may change – with both DeColt and Victoria Stone’s experience, few would be massively surprised if a TV station or PPV provider took a chance on giving them a deal. For the moment, though, there appears to be a space in the Canadian landscape.

And while they say nature abhors a vacuum, Richard Eisen may just see it as an opportunity to aggressively expand the SWF…

Timber · May 27, 2012

These are always a fun read. Depends on how you set up the world, what cheats you use if any. Either way. i'll check it out.

Jaded · May 29, 2012

Thanks for the feedback - hope you continue to enjoy it! <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="33885" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div> <div style="text-align:center;">The Wrestling Spotlight - February X-WA – The Little Fed That Might</div> They said it couldn’t be done. They said he was crazy to try. He knows they’re probably right. But dammit, Steve Flash has worked the indies for years, saved his money, found a few minor investors, and he’s giving this insane idea the good old college try. The insane idea, of course, is presenting wrestling as a sport again. Win-loss records, rankings, one-on-one competition, no managers, no tag teams or stables, interviews lasting perhaps 30 seconds used simply to call people out, accept challenges, or comment on a performance. If it wasn’t for the matches, you’d think this was MMA. The matches themselves, of course, quickly show that’s not the case. When Steve Flash and John Maverick step in the ring, you know it’s classic professional wrestling you’re getting. That was certainly the case at To Crown A King in September, when the pair collided in the X-WA’s first ever main event and Flash made Maverick tap out to a Boston crab in a 40-minute bout which would have been worthy of inclusion on just about any American PPV of the year. It was definitely the case at last month’s Apocalypse Now! where Flash beat Art Reed, Maverick went over Harrison Hash, and Sean Deeley pulled off a slight upset in going over William Hayes. I was one of 300 fans at that card, and I’m fairly sure that every one of us left the building happy – of course, the question is, with names like Deeley, Reed and Maverick undoubtedly not working cheap, is 300 fans enough to keep going. I hope so, for the sake of everyone who likes pure wrestling, and in particular of Steve Flash, an unlikely visionary. XWA Rankings: 1. Steve Flash (5-0) – Owner, champion, and bona fide legend of the indies, Flash may be in his mid-forties but swears he has five years left in him at least. Few who’ve seen him wrestle for XWA would disagree. 2. John Maverick (3-0) – Most expect The Silent Threat to get the next shot at Flash’s title, and the former CGC champion is no stranger to gold. 3. Sean Deeley (3-1) – The Shooter has made it very clear that his touring commitments in Japan with PGHW are his main concern at the moment, to the point where he walked out of CGC when they tried to stop him signing with the foreign federation. However, he’s a great technician with a massive future ahead of him who looks likely to play a big part in the XWA when he’s around. 4. Art Reed (3-1-1) – He came up short against Flash last month, but as matchmaker, Reed is well-placed to insert himself back into the title scene sooner rather than later. That’s not a suggestion that it would be an abuse of his power, either – the Canadian is an excellent technician who’s worthy of main eventing far bigger feds than XWA. 5. Marc Speed (3-1-1) – Speed exploded onto the scene in his second XWA match back in October, when after a debut victory against KC Glenn he took on Art Reed in the semi-main. Few gave him any chance in the match, but he took Reed to a thirty-minute time limit draw which saw both men get a standing ovation at the end. While he was struggling by the last few minutes, it was still a strong performance, and the willingness of the booker to draw with someone significantly less well-known has got to be a good sign for Speed’s future. 6. William Hayes (3-2) – While Hayes lost last time out to a Deeley roll-up in a hard-fought contest, he’s still in a strong position in XWA. The deal that Flash has cut with PGHW to get some footage from the Japanese fed’s extensive library means that there’s plenty of tape that can be used to hype him, while he’s also charismatic enough to be able to get the crowd pumped up in a brief pre-match or post-match interview. 7. Barry Kingman (3-2) – Despite being nearly twice the age of his last opponent KC Glenn, many viewed Kingman’s win in that bout as something of an upset. Glenn may have more potential than anyone else in XWA, and there were growing rumours that he was set for a super-push in the fed. However, Flash doesn’t look like he’s the type to do much with guys until they’ve paid their dues, and there’s no question that Kingman, in his 18-year career and in learning from his father ‘Crippler’ Ray Kingman has more than paid his. 8. Masutaro Kataoka (2-1) – Virtually unknown on these shores, and hardly a household name any more in his native Japan, since he’s been gone for 8 years from BHOTWG, Kataoka was a surprise pick-up by Flash. However the 43-year old, the only non-North American on the XWA roster, is fitting in well and did a great job of putting over Marc Speed last month. 9. CH Threepwood (1-1) – Personally recommended to Steve Flash by both former boss in NOTBPW Dan Stone Sr, and mentor Acid, Threepwood is more used to tag competition in recent years as half of The Fighting Irish. He’s unlikely to be a breakout star any time soon, but he’s only 24 so has time on his side. 10. Al Coleman (1-1) – Like Threepwood, Coleman is a slight oddity in that his recent experience is in tag action (as half of Shoot Club with Marc Speed) but Flash appears adamant that XWA will be singles matches only. Looked reasonably good in his two appearances so far, putting over KC Glenn and then beating Mark Griffin, to be fair. 11. KC Glenn (1-2) – Joey Minnesota’s protégé just oozes star quality, both in the ring and out of it. The 19-year-old has surely got a great future ahead of him, and he’s helped by being in a promotion which really plays to his strengths – both in the long matches, and short interviews where his charisma can shine through without his heavy southern drawl grating on people much. 12. Harrison Hash (1-2) – If there was ever any doubt that the Panda Mask persona was dead, Hash signing with XWA has erased it – we can’t really see Flash encouraging the gimmick. Instead, he’s playing the same role he did for the last year or two in NOTBPW, a very good technician who seems to be used as something of a gatekeeper. Did an excellent job of making Kataoka look deadly three months ago when he lasted two and a half minutes in the Japanese wrestler’s figure-four before finally tapping out and needing a stretcher to leave the ring. 13. Remmy Honeyman (1-3) – Honeyman will almost certainly never be a world champion, as his strengths are far more based on getting his opponent over than himself. However, he’ll also almost certainly never be out of work for long – his three losses, to Kataoka, Kingman and Deeley have all seen the winning guy look great, and that makes him a valuable commodity. 14. Mark Griffin (0-2) – One of the last ever graduates of the House of Stone, former amateur star Griffin was also one of the only guys Jeremy Stone personally recommended to anyone. He told Flash that Griffin was a star in the making, and while his two short appearances so far have done little to confirm or deny that, when Jeremy Stone says it, who are we to argue? As you can see from those rankings, there’s a ton of talent in XWA. We’re not saying it will revolutionize the business – but fans of pure in-ring action owe it to themselves to check out at least one DVD. </div></blockquote>

Jaded · May 31, 2012

I've got the next couple of articles typed up, but any requests on feds/wrestlers/stables/countries people would like to see in the second half of the year would be welcome. <img alt=":)" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/smile.png.142cfa0a1cd2925c0463c1d00f499df2.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="33885" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div> <div style="text-align:center;">The Wrestling Spotlight - March Stars of the Future: Five Who Could Be TCW’s Next Big Thing</div> The last few months have seen an influx of new talent into TCW. Tommy Cornell has apparently been scouting the indies both in this country and abroad, and has chosen half a dozen men he feels have the potential to succeed. (In addition to the five recent signings listed below, there’s one more we believe has a verbal agreement to join very shortly. We couldn’t possibly tell you who that is, but as a clue, he’s very close to one of the below five and to a more established star on the TCW roster…) Malili Umaga – The former Akima Brave has enough name value from his SWF run to make a big impact in the fed, and looked impressive tossing Joshua Taylor around like a rag doll in his first match. Since then, he’s lost a couple through being disqualified for being excessively violent – with constant rumours that TCW is set to become more edgy to counter Richard Eisen’s supposed ‘strong commitment to family values’, that may be a sign that Umaga has a bright future ahead. Acid – When Acid dropped the World Level Universal title to Kazuma Narato a few weeks ago, many thought he would be leaving the federation – but both PGHW and BHOTWG seemed likelier destinations than the States, and TCW. Debuting on TV last week as the mystery opponent of ‘Kill Switch’ Frankie Perez, he was on impressive form and the two combined for a great match. A future All-Action title run looks likely, to say the least. Mikey James – When TCW announced the signings of James and long term tag partner Frankie Perez on the same day, most people were no doubt expecting they’d be teaming up again as the Cali Dragons. With Perez being packaged as ‘Kill Switch’, that’s looking less likely now. James is talented enough to do well by himself, though, and bumped like crazy for Malili Umaga when he debuted at The War To Settle The Score, eventually picking up a DQ victory when the big man blasted him with three hard chair shots in full view of the ref. Kill Switch – Given the hype videos for a month for Frankie Perez’s new identity and TCW debut, it was surprising to see him job his first match to Acid. However, the pair came close to stealing the show on an action-packed episode of Total Championship Wrestling, so it may not have done him too much harm. If the gimmick fails, expect him to lose the face paint and for the team with James to be brought back. Matthew Keith – Many were surprised when Sam Keith’s sons weren’t immediately brought into TCW to join their famous father when they debuted a few years ago, but there’s no question their indie experience will stand them in good stead in the future. Greg is (at the moment, at least) working on three different continents, wrestling for GCG, UEW and APW, but Matt has finally made it to TCW. While it’s early days for him yet, he put on a strong showing in a losing debut effort against Sammy Bach. He’s also attracting the romantic interest of Laura Huggins, undoubtedly the federation’s top manager. If he were to get together with her, he’d presumably slot into the New Era stable and the fed’s top angle – on the opposite side to his father. Lots of potential there for the 21-year-old to hit the big time. … And One Who Won’t Be. Mighty Mo – While the five men above will no doubt have dreams of superstardom, they should take a look at Mighty Mo to see how it can go wrong. Despite – or perhaps because of – getting a super-push, defeating Tommy Cornell in his debut and going on to win a battle royal a few weeks later which included Cornell, Rick Law, Joey Minnesota and Ricky Dale Johnson, the fans never took to the School of Pro Wrestling graduate. A heel turn on RDJ did little to help matters, and he turned face quietly again last month when he was on the receiving end of a New Era beatdown. Fans barely seem to have noticed. </div></blockquote>

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