1PWfan Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 NYCW- Old School Lives On New York City Wrestling is arguably the oldest independent promotion in the world. Opening in 1988, its record is passed by a handful of promotions, many of which have gone on to become global phenomena. Indeed, in its lifespan NYCW has survived the early 90’s dominance of the SWF, the legendary East Coast Wars and a host of other wrestling landmarks (or should that be landmines?). It’s had a lot of famous years over it’s history, some good, some bad. But arguably none were as significant as 2010, the year that saw the company begin possibly the most exciting phase of it’s history yet. To find out what made 2010 so significant, we need to go back to July 2001, and the arrival of Hugh Dansigny… *** http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g165/Looneyboyo/NYCW/SuperSonic_alt2.jpg “I came to New York from NOTBPW- I’d quit in 2000 for personal stuff, mostly ‘cos I’d fallen out with pretty much the entire Stone family…” Hugh Dansigny’s sat in his Long Island home, relaxing in a chair that’s part-throne, part-giant office chair. “Long story short, they didn’t appreciate my attitude- by 2000 I was pretty much a great steaming ball of negativity- or my marrying Tamara McFly when I was five years and one spectacular divorce up on her. Anyway, after walking out of North of the Border I figured that my career chances in Canada were pretty much zero so I moved down to the US and tried looking for work down there. New York was close to my old stomping ground from my Rapid Pro days and I’d seen a few of their shows in The Great White North, so I knew what to expect. Seemed like a good deal at the time. “Of course, then the Stones got involved and a lot of lawyers got very, very rich, but then I had left with middle fingers raised, so to speak…” *** http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g165/Looneyboyo/NYCW/SpencerSpade_alt1.jpg The more long-term NYCW fans may recognise Salvatore ‘Sal’ Plumelli from his occasional onscreen appearances back in the early 90’s, but for most fans the only clue to his identity is the caption that identifies him as NYCW’s head of Legal. “It’s a long and incredibly boring story- trust me, I was there- but basically Hugh’s contract had a whole bunch of exit clauses, specific conditions he had to meet if he was leaving before the end of his contract. He had to give a month's notice, he had to keep making dates he was scheduled for right up to his departure date, and if he signed a contract with another company during that time he had to notify North of the Border. Hugh hadn’t actually done of those things; he’d given ten days notice then basically gone on holiday and not showed up to any shows he was scheduled for. It made life very difficult for us- we had to go a long way to prove we hadn’t encouraged any of Hugh’s behaviour or instigated his departure, that being kind of illegal depending on how it looks in court. To be honest, it took about four months for everything to get sorted out and get Hugh onto our shows, and by that time I think Stomper was starting to question whether or not Hugh was really worth all the hassle” *** http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g165/Looneyboyo/NYCW/TheStomper-1.jpg The Stomper grins ruefully, the backdrop dominated by a huge NYCW banner. His voice emanates from somewhere near his boots, deep and gravelly like Nick Nolte on an extremely rough day “The whole lawsuit bullsh*t almost turned me off him altogether, but our colour guy back then was Kenny O’Quinn, who was a nice guy but you had to remind him how to turn a microphone on. After that, anyone was an improvement, and we figured even if Hugh wasn’t as good as he had been a few years previous, and all the signs were that he wasn’t performing up to his best, he could still get the job done for us, right? And to be fair, when he finally got here Hugh actually managed to justify the trouble- sure he was no Peter Michaels, and he could be a difficult sonofab*tch some days, but he knew his stuff, and him and Rock were just fantastic together” *** http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g165/Looneyboyo/NYCW/SuperSonic_alt2.jpg “I’d been with North of the Border for, what, 3 or 4 years? And I’ll admit that by the end I’d gotten lazy- great wrestling is great wrestling, but after the tenth time you have to do colour on a Dan Stone/RK Hayes match you start to really lose interest. Moving to New York…I wasn’t at my best when I started but at least I was motivated, eh? Besides, the big advantage of NYCW is that it was more of a challenge- frankly you could stay completely quiet during a Dan Stone Jr. match and nobody would really care, but when you’re having to cover for American Machine or Jumbo Jackson it really stretches you as a commentator, and that’s what I needed. In a weird way, having to commentate lower quality matches got me back on form- I needed that kind of challenge, that real need to fill space to get my form back. “The other big reason I really started to enjoy myself was working with Rock Downpour. We had that really natural interplay of personalities on commentary- him the big straight-talking guy who maybe isn’t the brightest but knows his stuff, me the weaselly jerk who’s smarter than everyone else and takes the mick because of it. Working with Tommy I’d never had much to play off of- his whole style is like an actual sports guy, analysis and clarity without personality on top of it- but Rock and me could go back and forth all day. It’s part of the reason why we wound up supplanting Marv Earnest and Herb Stately on commentary, especially when The Old School formed and Herb started doing a lot of managerial work again. “The big thing, though, the one that really pointed to a huge change in how much I enjoyed working NYCW, was when Larry Vessey joined up in the second half of the decade, I don’t remember when exactly. But me and him- it was a real tight friendship, eh?” *** http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g165/Looneyboyo/NYCW/LarryVessey.jpg Larry Vessey sprawls in the seating at The Ministry, the NYCW Ring visible over his shoulder “I’d been working in Japan with Bryan for a few years, but the schedule over there was insane. Seriously, those guys work two or three shows a week, beating the p*ss out of each other and for what? A few hundred bucks per show? No thanks. So we said screw it and came to the States, where you get more money for fewer shows and don’t have to actually kill each other every show. Bryan went to TCW- he still had a run at the top left in him and I think he wanted to have a chance to work with Sam Keith- and I moved to the East Coast to be nearer Cam and wound up getting an offer to come to New York and do the odd show, as and when I felt like it. I got the feeling Stomper liked me, and we had some of the same ideas about how a company should be run. We never actually mentioned me taking over, though- I know a lot of people started talking about that when new got out, but it was never something that was officially said, at least not to me. “Anyway, me and Hugh just bonded. We have a similar sense of humour, watch the same kind of TV and anytime we got bored we could get together, crack open a few beers and b*tch about the problems with Japanese wrestling. It was good times, man, the best I’d had since the early days of HGC travelling with the Coach.” *** http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g165/Looneyboyo/NYCW/BlackHatBailey-1.jpg “It was like being in high school” Black Hat Bailey shakes his head, a rueful grin on his face and his trademark cigar clutched between his teeth. “Larry acted like the star quarterback, y’know? The big star of the squad that can get away with whatever he likes because of how big and tough he is, with Hugh playing court jester and chief toady. The only difference, and the one thing that kept them from being totally unbearable, is that in a wrestling company you expect people to give sh*t back, y’know? Larry could be a real @sshole but he wasn’t gonna get down on you because you ribbed him, and everybody was used to Hugh being full of it so he wasn’t what you’d call a problem. Sometimes he even managed to keep Larry from going off on one, though that was only if Stomper or one of the big sponsors was around, usually Hugh’d be the guy winding Larry up. As long as you could take it, though, they were okay. @ssholes, but not bad guys, right? And to be honest if you can’t take it you shouldn’t be in this business. I remember my days in Supreme, you got guys a lot worse than them there. Larry and Hugh at their worst couldn’t match some of these real bad guys in this business. Heck, I spent a couple of months in the same locker room as Big Smack Scott and I wanted to kill him. Compared to that, Larry and Hugh were small fry- like I said, they always expected people to give ‘em hell back, it’s kind of why they kept on at some of the guys. No trying to rise above it, y’know? They didn’t take to that “So when I decided to step down from being the booker I honestly had no problem with Hugh taking over. At least he got it, y’know?” *** http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g165/Looneyboyo/NYCW/SuperSonic_alt2.jpg Hugh pauses, clearly considering how to frame his next words “Bailey had done a good job, but he was starting to talk about retirement and I think everybody knew he was more value as a road agent or producer or whatever Supreme call them now than as a wrestler. So he decided to step down as booker and hand the job over to somebody else, so if one of the big leagues came calling he was available- I don’t blame him for that, the money alone was always real good at the top level, especially when you look at how much easier it is as a road agent. And with Larry in line as a potential successor- at least, that’s my theory, even though it wasn’t an official thing or anything- I think Stomper was looking at somebody who could work with him without getting difficult. Larry’s not an easy guy to work with and no independent company has ever survived having booker and owner at loggerheads. I’m not gonna claim I was the only guy who could have handled it, but there’s also the fact that I’m not a wrestler. You look at guys like The Mauler or Frankie, they’re fantastic writers and bookers but they’re always in the locker room, they’re too keyed into what’s happening there and it kinda…I don’t want to say it warps their perspective, but it does affect it. Me, I’m an outsider- I’m not affected by whatever’s going to the locker room. It’s that kind of mostly unbiased, uninvolved perspective that I think Stomper went for.” *** http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g165/Looneyboyo/NYCW/TheStomper-1.jpg The Stomper frowns, a look that seems to suit his face rather better than a grin “You wanna know the reason why I appointed Hugh? Characters. Back when he was working for the Stones, everyone talked about how he made the wrestlers into characters, gave you a reason to care about them beyond what they could do in the ring. Around 2010 we needed that in New York- Bailey was doing an okay job of that with some guys, but Hugh’s the kinda booker who has fourteen ideas a day and that’s always a good thing. Okay, so of those fourteen ideas only about three were really useable, but that’s why I cut Steve in on the booking too” *** http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g165/Looneyboyo/NYCW/SteveFlash-1.jpg Steve Flash is every bit as comfortable in front of a camera as he is uncomfortable in front of a microphone, the twinkle in his eye hinting at the fun loving prankster that’s a world away from the serious persona he plays onscreen “I’d known Hugh when we were both working for the Stones, and the big thing he’s always needed in his booking is someone to kind of shape his ideas. Hugh’s great for characters and gimmicks, but his feuds tend to be a little bit rote- y’know, he only has three kinds of story and they all boil down to the same beats. When he was working for the Stones that wasn’t a problem- they’re more about the wrestling than the storylines- but in New York we’ve got a lot more emphasis on storylines, and that means that Hugh really needs someone around who can shape his storylines, make sure they actually work without seeming too derivative of what we’re already doing- using a storyline from another company is one thing, but you don’t want to be recycling you own ideas” *** http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g165/Looneyboyo/NYCW/SpencerSpade_alt1.jpg Sal Plumelli grins “Thing I always find funniest about the co-chief booker deal? We were the first people to ever do that. People always go on about how NYCW never does anything new, all its ideas have been seen before, and here we are starting the new year doing something nobody’s ever seen before “I figure, you start a year like that, anything might happen. And it did” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psycho Sam Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 FIRST! Will be reading, hopefully your computer doesn't kill the diary again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1PWfan Posted July 10, 2012 Author Share Posted July 10, 2012 FIRST! Will be reading, hopefully your computer doesn't kill the diary again. It shouldn't do- a lot of the problems I've had of late have been down to the age of my machine, but after a couple of big overhauls it should all be functional and ready to actually support the game. As for continuity, this is actually quite different from this dynasty's previous incarnation- a lot of the big names like the Towers of Power that really made this exciting are locked into written deals with USPW that won't expire for a while yet. I've also some signings from last time that I didn't do a lot with, like Singh or 'Dozer, and moved some guys around to do different things with them. For example, Phil and Cameron are both in this from day one but they're in a tag team rather than being pushed as singles competitors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regis Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 And here we go, as NYCW's biggest fan rides again! You know I'm in for this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1PWfan Posted July 10, 2012 Author Share Posted July 10, 2012 http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g165/Looneyboyo/NYCW/SteveFlash-1.jpg “The first thing you do when you take over as a booker is look at the roster and figure out what you need. Who’re we gonna push? Who are we going to move down the card? Who’s in a tag team, and who should be? What gaps do we need to fill? These are all important questions, especially at the kind of level we were at- the whole basis of an independent company’s success rests on the quality of their roster. Ours was…okay, is probably the best word. We had a good strong group of guys in key positions- The Ring Generals were a great young tag team, and we had a couple of good young guys in the Doll and Sammy the Shark. “The problem was, we didn’t have a lot of depth. Guys like Lee Wright and Black Hat Bailey were good but really getting old, and then you had guys like Whistler or Roger Cage who sold tickets and had a lot of upside but weren’t that great in the ring. Plus we knew Rog had been receiving interest from Supreme so we needed a replacement for him, as well as a new second face tag team to keep the division’s strength up. Fortunately for us, Hugh had already started putting together a whole long list of names he wanted to look at…” *** http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g165/Looneyboyo/NYCW/SuperSonic_alt2.jpg “The biggest problem we had was USPW” Hugh frowns, a look that seems oddly out of his place on his rodentian profile “They’d gone on a big signing binge in late 2010 and started putting a lot of their guys on written deals, which shrunk our potential talent pool right down, at least at the main event level- dudes I would've killed for like The Towers of Power or Nicky Champion weren't available, and what was left tended to be older guys that weren't capable of delivering in the ring. As for the midcard, when you take out the guys who didn’t fit our product and the guys who just plain sucked, our prospective talent pool was about six guys; look at the tag division and it was even worse, nobody seemed interesting in developing the number of tag teams needed to really support the scene. We wound up with a huge shortlist of guys to keep an eye on but a tiny list of guys worth signing. Not such a great time, I’ll tell you” *** http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g165/Looneyboyo/NYCW/SteveFlash-1.jpg “Hugh has a tendency to overstate the case when it comes to our options. It’s true that a lot of the guys who inspired him, who he felt he could come up with excellent ideas for, weren’t available, but there was a lot of young talent around that we could adapt to fit our product. Really that was Hugh’s problem- he wasn’t interested in polishing young guys to fit what we did, just taking young guys who already fit in and helping them improve. To put it really simply, if Rip Chord takes a rough diamond and polishes him into something usable in MAW, Hugh's interested in taking something that looks right and making sure they get as good as they can be. That’s not an inherently wrong way of doing business, really, it’s just…it wasn’t suited to the options we had at that point in time. “Of course, Hugh being Hugh he spent about two days moaning about the state of wrestling, then suddenly snapped back and became the same old swaggering jerk-@ss he’d always been. But then he was who he was- best way to make sure he behaved as badly as possible was to have a problem with it. I think what helped was when he was declared ‘the best colour commentator in wrestling today’ twice in three days, that kind of thing always soothes his ego.” *** http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g165/Looneyboyo/NYCW/SuperSonic_alt2.jpg “Yeah, being called the best in the world is always nice, but what actually made the difference was firing Land Mass and Herb Stately. It gave me gaps to fill if you see what I mean- when they were around, they were guys I couldn’t do anything with, plus I didn’t really like them very much to begin with.” Hugh pauses, listening to a muted question from offscreen “Why? Personal stuff, mostly. Herb had never really gotten over being dropped from the commentary desk- it wasn’t his idea to go back to managing and I think he resented having that decision made for him. As for Land Mass, I didn’t dislike him personally but he had a knack for alienating people and could be a real politician backstage. Take the Kingmans, for instance- I don’t know why, but Land Mass had real heat with them and thanks to that we lost a great young wrestler and one of the finest road agents in the business. Then, to compound that he killed The Big Problem’s push- I’m not saying the kid would’ve been a huge star or anything but I figure we could’ve found something better for him to do than teaming him up with Land Mass. So yeah, getting rid of him was definitely a pleasure “As for their replacements, I managed to dig up some pretty promising names from around- I had to look a further afield than I’d originally planned, but there were actually quite a few guys out there who were a good fit for our product. Cameron Vessey, Larry’s kid, was one of our first big signings- I didn’t really agree with Larry on the kid’s prospects but he was a talented hand and could always fit in our tag division if we found him a partner. Phil LaGrenier from Canada was another young guy with a lot of promise- he wasn’t as solid in the ring as Cameron, but he had that extra charisma that made him a very effective worker. We picked the Atlantic Connection from MAW- they were the very definition of ‘needs some work’ but what the hey, they were a reasonably cheap jobber team and at least they were a good fit for our style. The real key signings, though, were Marc Speed out of California and Brad Peverell from FCW in Puerto Rico. Those two had future star stamped all over them” *** http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g165/Looneyboyo/NYCW/MarcSpeed.jpg “The big thing with New York was that it fitted my style better” Marc Speed is at home, a refined-looking apartment that’s rather jarring for those only familiar with his tough-guy persona “I’d been working in CZCW for a few years by that point, and I was definitely the odd man out, working a more technical, submission based style in a company that’s famed for it’s high-fliers. I’d considered switching to more of a Japanese style, mixing it up a bit more to fit in with what Cliff was doing- I was in a team with Al Coleman but he’s famous for his attitude and I didn’t figure on it lasting long- when Hugh got in touch, wanting me to work New York as well. To be honest, I wasn’t convinced by his schtick, all that I’m-gonna-make-you-a-star stuff, but then I’d worked with Cliff too long to buy into any amount of copious bullsh*t. No, what brought me on board was that it just fit better- in California I had to adjust my style to work with all the high fliers and entertainers, the more spot-based style they worked out there, whereas in New York I could just go out and wrestle the way I wanted to.” *** http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g165/Looneyboyo/NYCW/BradfordPeverell.jpg Bradford Peverell thinks, then shrugs “It just sounded like fun, y’know?” *** http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g165/Looneyboyo/NYCW/SteveFlash-1.jpg “The other name we picked up around that time was Greg Henn, who’d worked Supreme as Grey Rayne. He’d been working as The Rayne Man, trying to capitalise on the name value there, but virtually the minute he signed on Hugh says ‘right, now let’s ditch that stupid Rayne Man name and get you something different’. That was Hugh all over- he didn’t want Greg to have anything that reminded people of his run with Supreme, Hugh was all about creating identities for people himself. Plus, to be fair Greg hadn’t accompanied an awful lot at Supreme, so you could see his logic- we had Greg down to fit into our Tri-State division and a failed jobber doesn’t have that credibility. It was around that time that we started putting together plans to rebrand The New York Doll and Sammy the Shark, move them in a different direction. That was really Hugh’s idea, though, I focussed on putting together our first set of storylines.” *** http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g165/Looneyboyo/NYCW/SuperSonic_alt2.jpg “Rebranding the Doll just involved giving him a name- the whole New York Doll thing felt like a nickname, not a name. As for Sammy, his whole Vegas card-shark thing worked when he was partnered up with Roger Cage but when Rog left for the SWF I figured he needed something new to launch himself as a singles competitor. Even with Brad ahead of him in the pecking order I still saw a lot of potential in Sammy as a worker, and if he was going to make it as a top star for us he needed to come off as tougher. Not the same kind of thing as Lee or Brad, y’know the no-nonsense stuff, but definitely someone with a bit more fight in them. “First, though, we had to get through our first show, Back in the New York Groove. Normally our January shows aren’t that important- with New York State of Mind in September and Fairytale of New York at Christmas the New Year tends to properly launch about February or March time- but with a new booking team and all the new signings there was a lot more attention on January than usual. It made for a tense dynamic backstage- not bad as such, but we were aware how much pressure there was on everyone to deliver” *** Card for NYCW Back in the New York Groove: FOR THE NYCW EMPIRE TITLE Whistler vs. Black Hat Bailey © Steve Flash vs. Honest Frank Lee Wright vs. Bradford Peverell FOR THE NYCW TRI-STATE REGIONAL TITLE Sammy the Shark © vs. Marc Speed FOR THE NYCW TAG TEAM TITLES The Ring Generals (Marv Statler & Dean Waldorf) © vs. Excellence Inc. (Philippe LaGrenier & Cameron Vessey) The Atlantic Connection (Curtis Jenkins & Riley McManus) vs. Old School Principals (Rick Sanders & The Masked Mauler) Animal Harker vs. Gregory Reigns vs. “The New York Doll” Filth Sylvain I'm not sure when the show will be up guys- I'm still working on it, but I'm wanting to see if working to a tighter deadline makes me write faster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaded Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 Great to see this back! Card for NYCW Back in the New York Groove: FOR THE NYCW EMPIRE TITLE Whistler vs. Black Hat Bailey © Steve Flash vs. Honest Frank Lee Wright vs. Bradford Peverell FOR THE NYCW TRI-STATE REGIONAL TITLE Sammy the Shark © vs. Marc Speed FOR THE NYCW TAG TEAM TITLES The Ring Generals (Marv Statler & Dean Waldorf) © vs. Excellence Inc. (Philippe LaGrenier & Cameron Vessey) The Atlantic Connection (Curtis Jenkins & Riley McManus) vs. Old School Principals (Rick Sanders & The Masked Mauler) Animal Harker vs. Gregory Reigns vs. “The New York Doll” Filth Sylvain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midnightnick Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 FOR THE NYCW EMPIRE TITLE Whistler vs. Black Hat Bailey © Steve Flash vs. Honest Frank Lee Wright vs. Bradford Peverell FOR THE NYCW TRI-STATE REGIONAL TITLE Sammy the Shark © vs. Marc Speed FOR THE NYCW TAG TEAM TITLES The Ring Generals (Marv Statler & Dean Waldorf) © vs. Excellence Inc. (Philippe LaGrenier & Cameron Vessey) The Atlantic Connection (Curtis Jenkins & Riley McManus) vs. Old School Principals (Rick Sanders & The Masked Mauler) Animal Harker vs. Gregory Reigns vs. “The New York Doll” Filth Sylvain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voeltzwagon Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 FOR THE NYCW EMPIRE TITLE Whistler vs. Black Hat Bailey © Steve Flash vs. Honest Frank Lee Wright vs. Bradford Peverell FOR THE NYCW TRI-STATE REGIONAL TITLE Sammy the Shark © vs. Marc Speed FOR THE NYCW TAG TEAM TITLES The Ring Generals (Marv Statler & Dean Waldorf) © vs. Excellence Inc. (Philippe LaGrenier & Cameron Vessey) The Atlantic Connection (Curtis Jenkins & Riley McManus) vs. Old School Principals (Rick Sanders & The Masked Mauler) Animal Harker vs. Gregory Reigns vs. “The New York Doll” Filth Sylvain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiberious Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 Great to see this back up and running. FOR THE NYCW EMPIRE TITLE Whistler vs. Black Hat Bailey © My head says Bailey, but my heart says Whistler. Steve Flash vs. Honest Frank Could see this going either way really, but Flash is the man. Lee Wright vs. Bradford Peverell Lee Wright collapses in the ring, but when Peverell goes to check to see if the old man has finally croaked he gets caught in a surprise roll roll up for the three count. FOR THE NYCW TRI-STATE REGIONAL TITLE Sammy the Shark © vs. Marc Speed No change on the first show. FOR THE NYCW TAG TEAM TITLES The Ring Generals (Marv Statler & Dean Waldorf) © vs. Excellence Inc. (Philippe LaGrenier & Cameron Vessey) Same rule applies here. The Atlantic Connection (Curtis Jenkins & Riley McManus) vs. Old School Principals (Rick Sanders & The Masked Mauler) Old School Principals are the better team. Animal Harker vs. Gregory Reigns vs. “The New York Doll” Filth Sylvain I was tempted to go with Reign, but I'll take the re-branded Doll instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tigerkinney Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 FOR THE NYCW EMPIRE TITLE Whistler vs. Black Hat Bailey © Don't see Bailey dropping the top belt in his first defence of the year Steve Flash vs. Honest Frank Seeing as I have Bailey retaining, Flash at the top face goes over here to set himself up as the next challenger. Lee Wright vs. Bradford Peverell Peverall has a strong showing, to the point that he dominates most of the match but the wily veteran still comes away with the win. FOR THE NYCW TRI-STATE REGIONAL TITLE Sammy the Shark © vs. Marc Speed Speed makes an instant impact by winning the Tri-State Regional belt in his first match for NYCW. FOR THE NYCW TAG TEAM TITLES The Ring Generals (Marv Statler & Dean Waldorf) © vs. Excellence Inc. (Philippe LaGrenier & Cameron Vessey) Match will be competitive but I don't see The Ring Generals dropping the belts to a newly thrown together duo. The Atlantic Connection (Curtis Jenkins & Riley McManus) vs. Old School Principals (Rick Sanders & The Masked Mauler) Got to go with the veterans for this one. Animal Harker vs. Gregory Reigns vs. “The New York Doll” Filth Sylvain Could go any of the three ways here, but the punk rocker is the most established NYCW name here and on that logic I'll tip him to win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Occasional_Z Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 Welcome back FOR THE NYCW EMPIRE TITLE Whistler vs. Black Hat Bailey © Bailey is decent in the ring despite his age, think Whistler usually retires before him too. Steve Flash vs. Honest Frank Flash vs Bailey seems logical Lee Wright vs. Bradford Peverell Wright to win here, then Peverell to beat him later in the year FOR THE NYCW TRI-STATE REGIONAL TITLE Sammy the Shark © vs. Marc Speed Speed to win here, giving Sammy a reason to drop the card shark gimmick and evolve into his gimmick from the last diary FOR THE NYCW TAG TEAM TITLES The Ring Generals (Marv Statler & Dean Waldorf) © vs. Excellence Inc. (Philippe LaGrenier & Cameron Vessey) Always more fun to chase the heels The Atlantic Connection (Curtis Jenkins & Riley McManus) vs. Old School Principals (Rick Sanders & The Masked Mauler) Easy one for the OSP Animal Harker vs. Gregory Reigns vs. “The New York Doll” Filth Sylvain Push for the Rayne Man. Have Harker's stats been improved like last time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psycho Sam Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 FOR THE NYCW EMPIRE TITLE Whistler vs. Black Hat Bailey © Steve Flash vs. Honest Frank Lee Wright vs. Bradford Peverell FOR THE NYCW TRI-STATE REGIONAL TITLE Sammy the Shark © vs. Marc Speed FOR THE NYCW TAG TEAM TITLES The Ring Generals (Marv Statler & Dean Waldorf) © vs. Excellence Inc. (Philippe LaGrenier & Cameron Vessey) The Atlantic Connection (Curtis Jenkins & Riley McManus) vs. Old School Principals (Rick Sanders & The Masked Mauler) Animal Harker vs. Gregory Reigns vs. “The New York Doll” Filth Sylvain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regis Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 FOR THE NYCW EMPIRE TITLE Whistler vs. Black Hat Bailey © I think not; Whistler might retire soon anyway, and BHB can bring it in the ring more. Steve Flash vs. Honest Frank Steve is a natural challenger for the Empire Title, and a good fit for the next man to carry the belt, and by extension, the company. Lee Wright vs. Bradford Peverell I never bet against Lee Wright. FOR THE NYCW TRI-STATE REGIONAL TITLE Sammy the Shark © vs. Marc Speed Nah, not yet. A title change on show one? I think not. FOR THE NYCW TAG TEAM TITLES The Ring Generals (Marv Statler & Dean Waldorf) © vs. Excellence Inc. (Philippe LaGrenier & Cameron Vessey) I like the look of the challengers. You're gonna go far, kid. The Atlantic Connection (Curtis Jenkins & Riley McManus) vs. Old School Principals (Rick Sanders & The Masked Mauler) JOBBERS! Animal Harker vs. Gregory Reigns vs. “The New York Doll” Filth Sylvain His overness alone gives him a strong springboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hyde Hill Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 <p>FOR THE NYCW EMPIRE TITLE</p><p> Whistler vs. <strong>Black Hat Bailey ©</strong></p><p> </p><p> <strong>Steve Flash</strong> vs. Honest Frank</p><p> </p><p> Lee Wright vs. <strong>Bradford Peverell</strong></p><p> </p><p> FOR THE NYCW TRI-STATE REGIONAL TITLE</p><p> <strong>Sammy the Shark © </strong>vs. Marc Speed</p><p> </p><p> FOR THE NYCW TAG TEAM TITLES</p><p> <strong>The Ring Generals (Marv Statler & Dean Waldorf) ©</strong> vs. Excellence Inc. (Philippe LaGrenier & Cameron Vessey)</p><p> </p><p> The Atlantic Connection (Curtis Jenkins & Riley McManus) vs. <strong>Old School Principals (Rick Sanders & The Masked Mauler)</strong></p><p> </p><p> Animal Harker vs. <strong>Gregory Reigns</strong> vs. “The New York Doll” Filth Sylvain</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1PWfan Posted July 14, 2012 Author Share Posted July 14, 2012 Just to say that the show will go up either tomorrow evening or Monday afternoon- life got busy so I've not had as much time to write the show as I'd hoped. Either way, the follow-up to that will go up a couple of days after that, as I'm going to try and generate some more material this time rather than posting as I write. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1PWfan Posted July 20, 2012 Author Share Posted July 20, 2012 NYCW Back in the New York Groove Live to DVD from The Ministry Saturday, Week 4, January 2010 Audience: 774 Pre-Show/DVD Extras Animal Harker vs. Ant-Man This was a bit of a rubbish match, but to be fair it wasn’t like I expected anything great from it to begin with. Harker’s fundamentals have shot up just recently- somebody compared him to Wild Man Sullivan in an article online a couple of weeks back and he’s been training like a nutcase ever since- but he’s still pretty boring on offence, and doesn’t have the charisma to make up for that just yet. As for Ant-Man, he has the look of a star and the charisma to go with it but needs to spend less time in the gym and more in the ring; he’s the definition of ‘green’ and needs to improve quite a bit before he’s ready for anything other than jobbing. Although to be fair his power is always good for a couple of spots- tonight he showed them off for the first time with a big vertical suplex on the much bigger Harker before Animal came back with a volley of headbutts before going for Off the Chain, his big spear finisher. What with Ant-Man being a jobber, it figures that that was enough to secure the victory. Winner: Animal Harker Match Rating: E+ The Show Dazzling Dave Diamond vs. Greg Reigns vs. “New York Doll” Filth Sylvain This was a solid match to kick off the show, although all three men have their weaknesses. Dave, for instance, is a phenomenal athlete and charismatic enough to sweep the crowd along but tends to run out of gas very quickly, whilst Sylvain is still developing as a worker and is a little rough around the edges. Reigns was the big disappointment, though- he’s not a bad worker but he’s kinda dull and the audience clearly weren’t into his offence. Considering what I’m paying him that’s kind of a pain- at nearly a thousand bucks a show I’d hoped for something better than ‘popular enough but bland’, which is basically what he is at the moment. Still, he’s only 23, and provided we can stop him getting too big-headed there’s plenty of time for him to improve and become a solid name for us. As for the victory, we gave this one to Dave Diamond- he’s on a hot streak at the moment, and provided his stamina improves he’s got a lot of avenues to explore. He got the win after Filth scored a New York Death Drop (Reverse DDT) on Reigns, catching the Doll off guard with a flying forearm from the other side of the ring before nailing the Dazzle Driver for the pinfall. Winner: Dazzling Dave Diamond Match Rating: D+ * It’s time to head back to the Promo Position (a big ol’ NYCW poster in the locker rooms with a camera pointed at it) to hear from Queen Emily, NYCW’s newest manager, on the title match “Simple truths here, Whistler- last time you faced off against Bailey you lost the match and the Empire title. What’s changed since that makes you think you can beat him? The only thing that is new here is that Black Hat Bailey has me in his corner, the finest manager in independent wrestling, and with the rest of The Old School watching his back, there is no way that Bailey is walking out of this match as anything other than the winner. No way, no how. And you know why? Because Old School Rules.” The combination of Emily’s fine mic skills and Bailey’s menace made for a well received angle. Rating: C * The Atlantic Connection vs. Old School Principals After Emily’s match this was a come-down; not a deep one but pretty rough nevertheless. The problem is largely with the Connection- they’re an experienced unit but seem kind of awkward together, and individually they’re both as green as Ant-Man and will need a lot of improvement if they’re going to make it out of the job squad. Still, I’m willing to give them a chance, and if it does turn out that they’ve got bad chemistry as a team then I’ll just have to think of something else to do with them. As for the Principals, they’re a veteran pairing and have the right combination of tag experience and individual skill to carry them through most matches, though Mauler’s not really strong enough to carry other people in the ring yet. They both showed some improvement here, though (Rick in his aerial work- still bad, but that elbow drop wasn’t as ugly as it could’ve been; Mauler in his brawling, performance and technical skills, which is awesome) and scored a neat-looking victory that reaffirmed their heel credentials. They took Riley down with Old School Discipline (Drop Toe Hold/Elbow Drop Combo) before Mauler went for the pin whilst Rick took care of CJ with his trademark low blow (a kick to the nuts). Winners: Old School Principals Match Rating: D- * Sammy the Shark vs. Marc Speed If the last match was a disappointment then this was a pleasant surprise- I hadn’t been certain what to expect from Marc’s debut, but if this is anything to go by then he’s tipped for something pretty special down the line. This was a really good match that played up both guy’s strengths whilst still telling a solid story- Marc was the no-nonsense submissions specialist who tried to slow things down and take it to the mat, Sammy the easy-going chain wrestler who kept it standing to try and out-wrestle his opponent. In truth Marc’s actually a better chain wrestler than Sammy anyway, but his speciality is definitely on the mat so we kind of play that up for the benefit of his opponents. What Sammy can do, though, is throw in some really solid brawling and aerial spots to liven things up- Marc can brawl and fly a little, but he’s much more comfortable on the mat and tends to stick to pure technical wrestling. Sometimes that can get a little dull (though not the way this guy does it), but whenever it looked like the crowd were starting to get a little burnt out on the exchanges of holds Sammy starting throwing fists or went up top for a diving axe handle to break things up. That started to give him the edge, but just as he was about to go for the Ace in the Hole (his stunner finisher) Frank emerged from backstage to distract him. Sammy was on guard against his old mentor’s cheating ways, but Marc caught him with an O’Connor Roll for a two-count, and when Sammy kicked out Marc was sure to get tangled up with the ref. That gave Frank a chance to get into the ring, and his brass knuckles were out and impacting on Sammy’s arm, leaving the younger man clutching at it in obvious pain as Frank quit the ring. Marc was quick to slap on the cross armbreaker, sinking it in deep and forcing Sammy to tap out. Winner: Marc Speed Match Rating: C * After the bell has rung Frank gets back into the ring, brass knuckles in hand and murder in mind if the look on his face is anything to go by. Sammy tries to fight him off, throwing a series of wild punches to keep Frank at arm’s length, but when the older man kicks him in his injured arm he goes down hard, and Frank starts stomping away at him before getting a chair from ringside. This time Michael Bull’s on hand to try and stop him but one swing of the chair and Bull’s sent flying whilst Frank wraps the chair round Sammy’s injured arm and goes to the top rope. Dave Diamond, Animal Harker and Whistler are all quick to come tearing out from backstage, but by the time they’ve made it to the ring Frank’s already come down on Sammy’s wrist. The younger man’s left crying in pain as Frank bails, chased by Dave and Harker whilst Whistler makes sure Sammy’s okay. Rating: E+ * The Ring Generals vs. Excellence Inc. This was a solid match, and I figure it’ll be even better in a few months time. For a start off, Cameron won’t have just been through the Rip Chord Invitational the night before, which clearly left him exhausted and struggling to keep up with the others in the ring. That meant Phil was left to carry the ball for his team, and whilst he’s a solid worker and has a lot of charisma and star quality his psychology isn’t great and he wound up being a little exposed by being in the ring on offense for too long. Fortunately for him he was in there against arguably the best tag teams on the independent scene right now, and once they stepped up and went on the attack the match settled down into a much smoother bout. Cameron finally made his presence felt when Waldorf nailed Phil with the Waldorf Salad Toss, coming in to break the fall and getting wrapped up in a fierce brawl. Unfortunately once again his energy flagged (to be fair, both me and Rock pointed out that he’d run through the Invitational the previous night and was still feeling the effects), and he was caught off guard going for a lariat when Dean and Marv nailed a double hotshot that dropped Vessey and left Phil on his own. The Canadian Phenom did his best, but Marv caught his attempted low blow and threw him into the corner, setting him up for the Squared Circle Assault (Double Superplex). Nobody comes back from that in a hurry. Winners: The Ring Generals Match Rating: D+ * It’s promo time again, as we head backstage to hear from Queen Emily ahead of Wright/Peverell “Welcome to New York Peverell, and I hope you take it personally when I tell you that I really hope you break every bone in your body. How dare you come into this company and claim to be the toughest man here? I mean, what have you done to earn that? Gone sixty minutes with Shawn Gonzales? Stepped into a cage with Leper Messiah and won? Please. You’re not Lee Wright, so you’re not the toughest, and after tonight, you never will be. Lee is gonna break you in half, wreck your career and send you packing, you presumptuous little puppy.” This was another good promo from Emily, and also demonstrated one of her favourite tricks for getting people over: mention all their accomplishments elsewhere, then dismiss them without ever giving a good reason. Instant heel heat for her and the fans know more cool stuff about the good guy. Rating: C * Bradford Peverell vs. Lee Wright This match was a good solid one, as you’d expect from these two. Okay, so it wasn’t full of refined technical wrestling, in fact it was pretty much a straight-up brawl from bell to bell, but like any single-style match that can work if the participants are talented enough and the crowd’s into it. In the case of this match, we had both- Brad’s an excellent brawler for an indy-level fed, and whilst Lee’s not quite the all-conquering force he used to be back in Japan he’s still got enough in him to hand out a lot of punishment. As for the fans, our crowds are always up for a brawl, or at least some of them were (we tend to get two kinds of fan; hardcore pure wrestling fans with a love of technical bout, and more traditional fans with a love of straight-up brawling and broader characters). Story-wise, we pushed this one as a battle of equals- Lee got in Brad’s face early on about his alleged toughness, only for Peverell to unleash a barrage of punches that sent the veteran reeling. Naturally enough Bradford attempted to press his advantage, staying close to Lee and pounding away at the older man to try and wear him down for the dream left hook (which is basically just a big left handed punch to the head, but Brad winds it up like he’s punching out Jupiter). Lee didn’t get where he is without learning a thing or two, though, and it wasn’t long ‘til he was back in the game, matching Brad’s punches with vicious puro strikes of his own. The match proceeded along those lines for quite a while, with both men on equal terms, but as we entered the final stretch it was clear that Lee was starting to tire, his energy levels and ability to take protracted punishment not what it used to be. As Brad started to properly take control, however, Queen Emily interjected herself, distracting Mikey Bull every time it looked like Bradford might go for the Dream Left Hook. In the end Mikey threatened to DQ Lee if she continued to interfere, forcing Emily to quickly back down. Of course, by that time the clock was running down fast, and with classic timing the bell rang just as Brad finally nailed the Dream Left Hook, leaving the match a Time-Limit Draw, at least officially. Winner: None Match Rating: C- * From there we’re headed back to the Promo Position, where Whistler’s on hype duty for the main event “The last time I held the Empire title, it was you took it from me, Black Hat Bailey, you and your buddies in The Old School. Well the wheel’s turned full circle and now Ol’ Whistler’s challenging for the title, no allies, nobody to watch his back and make sure your boys stay out of it. But you know what? That don’t matter to me. That don’t matter because nobody in this world can stop me from fighting for that title- beat me, wound me, take me out back and shoot me, I’ll just stand back up and keep on goin’! Tonight Bailey, we’re going to war! HOOOOO!!!!” This was solid work from Whistler- he’s always someone you can count on to deliver solid promos. Rating: D+ * From there we cross-fade to Honest Frank, who’s on promo duty ahead of his match with Steve Flash “Well done Steve, well done for getting the next Empire title shot, the way you somehow managed to beat Lee Wright at Fairytale of New York last month- who saw that coming? I’m happy for you, I honestly am, and I genuinely wish you all the best for your title match, whenever it happens. I mean, what kind of guy would I be if I, say, deliberately tried to injure you tonight in order to try and get your title shot? Relax, though, that’s the last thing on my mind, honestly. Tonight is going to be a safe, sporting contest with no foul play or underhanded attempts to take your title shot. “After all…Would I Lie To You?” Steve won a guaranteed title shot last month- hence Frank’s comments here/ Rating: D+ * Honest Frank vs. Steve Flash This was a solid match- not up to the standard of Marc/Sammy from earlier, but a solid match that did the job required of it nevertheless. Really, the only problem here was age- neither Frank nor Steve are exactly in the prime of their career, and whilst that doesn’t really take away from what they can do it does make a difference to how much they’re capable of. It’s also worth pointing out that Frank’s not exactly the greatest worker in the world anyway- he’s a solid brawler, and his fundamentals are pretty reasonable overall, but he’s always been more about charisma and playing to the crowd rather than heavy-duty workrate or top-line wrestling. Of course, Steve’s still one of the finest wrestlers on the independent scene, even if he is showing his age a bit, but there are blocks of wood with more charisma or star quality than him and that can make a difference. As I said though, this was a good bout for a company our size, and whilst it wasn’t the best match on the card that doesn’t really matter- these guys sell more tickets, they get top slots. After all, this wasn’t anything close to a disappointment, so who cares if it wasn’t a 5-star classic? Not me, that’s for certain. As for the finish, this one went to Steve, who’s the number one contender after all; Frank went for The Best Policy (a Piledriver, and his usual finisher when he’s not braining people with the Brass Knuckles), but Steve pulled his leg out from under him and locked in the Sharpshooter, forcing Frank to submit. Winner: Steve Flash Match Rating: C- * Whistler vs. Black Hat Bailey I’d always known that this one wouldn’t match Speed/Sammy or Frank/Steve, so the quality here wasn’t a problem. It wasn’t a bad match, mind you, but neither of these two are quite amongst the top tier of our talent roster so it was merely an entertaining match rather than a classic encounter. To be fair to both guys, though, this is probably about the best they’re capable of: Bailey’s a very capable technician with great fundamentals (as you’d expect from a veteran of his standing) but he just doesn’t have the stamina to go for 15 minutes and it hits his matches hard. As for Whistler, he’s never been a great worker and time has reduced him to a merely solid guy who relies on his charisma to deliver in the ring. That being said, he does have a lot of a charisma, and whilst his psychology isn’t the best he does have a real understanding of how to fit his character to whatever script he’s been given to work with. As for that story, this was all battling babyface vs. brutally cunning heel. Bailey jumped Whistler before the bell and launched straight into a vicious beatdown designed to set him up for the Bailey Breaker, Bailey’s notoriously deadly Texas Cloverleaf finisher. Of course, that just set Whistler up for his big face comeback, and as he was able to get to the ropes to break Bailey’s first attempt at the Breaker he started to get his second wind, throwing out wild punches and shoulder blocks to get on the offensive and take control of the match. Naturally enough Queen Emily was on hand to try and put a stop to the freight-train that is Whistler on the attack, but being as she’s maybe 170 pounds dripping wet and Whistler’s closing in on 300 pounds there was never going to be a lot she could do to stop him. What she could do, however, was call down Marc Speed from backstage, who leapt into the ring and took Whistler out with a huge chairshot to the back whilst Emily had the ref distracted. That left Whistler laid out, and Bailey was quick to go for a pinfall, grabbing a handful of tights just to make sure that Whistler wasn’t going to kick out. Winner: Black Hat Bailey Match Rating: D+ Overall Rating: D+, a god solid rating for our first show of the year. OOC Note: Sorry this is so late guys- life is kind of crazy busy at the mo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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