A New Player on the CornellVerse Scene - Northern Star Wrestling

[gbasalmon]

December 2005 - Sensing that there was a serious lack of representation of the Great Lakes region on the American Wrestling scene, a group of shadowy investors has created a new wrestling federation, Northern Star Wrestling. While it is possible that these investors are in fact quite wealthy, they've only given the fledgling NSW a pittance to start out with, $25,000 to be exact. Only a fool would be crazy enough to try to build a promotion from the ground up with not one person under contract, but Dirk Robertson just happens to be that crazy. Only 25 years old himself, Dirk was forced to retire very early from his own wrestling career after suffering a severe neck injury. He had always harbored a burning desire to see what life was like on the other side of the curtain, so he jumped at the chance to be the head booker for NSW. When Dirk signed on, he went about signing some talent for NSW. As he only had $25,000 to work with, he really couldn't do that much. As of the first week of December, there are only seven people under contract to NSW, and two of them aren't even active wrestlers. Every federation needs a referee, and Alan Grey will fill the bill quite nicely, and he comes cheap at only $125 an appearance. Also, every federation needs some one to keep the peace and organize things behind the scenes. However, at $875 an appearance, Curt O'Malley better be able to turn water into wine also. That leaves five wrestlers actually under contract. The first to sign on the dotted line, and therefore the first actual NSW wrestler ever, was Ace Youngblood, who checks in at $600 a pop. He might have to be pushed as at least an upper midcarder to justify that price. The next NSW signee might turn out to be a steal. C.H. Threepwood, an up-and-comer from Indiana, actually signed an exclusive PPA deal with NSW. For 9 months, or all of the upcoming NSW summer tour, he will be exclusive property of Northern Star Wrestling at $450 a show. He wasn't quite sure if that was a good deal and frankly, neither was Dirk. Only time will tell. The next two workers for NSW are Nevada Nuclear and Rick Sanders, signed with PPA deals for $450 and $875, respectively. The consensus is Dirk overpaid for Sanders, but yet again, time will tell. The last active wrestler was a shocker to Dirk. He had no clue who the actual backers were for NSW until he was a few days into his tenure. He was hard at work putting out feelers for a few more talents when a man walked into his office with Dirk barely hearing him. He spoke in a slightly accented English voice. "So, you are Dirk Robertson. I am the principal owner of your Northern Star Wrestling." Dirk looked up, and his jaw dropped. How had Fumihiro Ota gained access to enough money to start up his own promotion? And what did he have in store for Dirk down the road? Stay tuned, the story gets a little deeper...

[gbasalmon]

As he continued talking to Dirk, Fumihiro Ota made the situation more and more dire. He demanded a main event slot and also gave himself a contract of $1,000 per appearance. What a croc! Anyways, Dirk did make Ota slightly happy by tellling him that he had just gotten off the phone with Dermot O'Logical's agent and hammered out a PPA deal with him also, bringing the active wrestler total to eight. He is going to get $425 a show, which should probably slot him somewhere in the midcard. After Ota left, Dirk got back on the phone and talked with the agents of both Too Hot and Jorge Washington, hoping to hammer out the details of contracts for both of them. However, both of them seem to be asking too much, or at least Dirk seems to think so...

[gbasalmon]

Too Hot and Terry Smith sign on, but who might be leaving already? In a conference call with the investors today, who appear to be wealthy Japanese businessmen who have extensive business interests in the Great Lakes area, Dirk Robertson confirmed that NSW has come to terms with Too Hot and Terry Smith and both will be joining NSW on their 2006 tour. Too Hot was signed for $475 a show, and will be used as an upper midcarder, which might be a little too high for him. We'll see how the fans respond to him. Also, with Terry Smith NSW finally has a voice, which the Japanese suits had been clamoring for. Hopefully his NSW dates will not conflict with any 4C dates, as he is currently their announcer also. After the conference call concluded, Dirk also indicated that he heard that Curt O'Malley is fielding offers from many different companies, TCW being chief among them. Would O'Malley desert NSW this soon? We'll find out soon enough...

[gbasalmon]

The CornellVerse Scene In news around the business, MAW has risen to small size. Rip Chord's fledgling promotion appears to be gaining popularity, although their latest show only drew 65 to the Raeford Armory. In comparison, SWF's Christmas Chaos PPV dwarfed that, with 15,000 in attendance at the American Airlines Arena in Miami and 370,000+ buys. There were no title changes, with Runaway Train dispatching Steve Frehley in the main event to retain the World Heavyweight Title. While that show was a financial success, the best wrestling appears to have, not suprisingly, come from Japan. At PGHW's King's Road, Kunomasu & Hoshino defeated Team Dynasty 2000 in an A match which was surely a classic. Of the three other matches on the card, the lowest was the opener, which was still a robust C+. There were two other shows on the day - the latest installment of DAVE's Danger Zone TV, which was nothing to write home about, and OLLIE's Malo Ido Buenas Epocas, which delivered some decent action and two title changes. Oceano and Phoenix I defeated Los Dominquez for the Campeones de Parejas Title and Leonardo Cortez defeated Phoenix II for the #1 Contender's Title.

[damaged1]

keep up the good work..you got a reader here..great start!

[theunholyicon]

Same here, keep it going.

[gbasalmon]

It's Official, NSW is here! At a press conference at the NSW offices in Cleveland, Ohio, Northern Star Wrestling was formally introduced to the public. At this press conference, the first to speak to the public was NSW principal owner, Fumihiro Ota. Ota said that Northern Star Wrestling is going to be his vision of what a professional wrestling organization in America should be, and then referenced his untimely firing from TCW, which got a collective groan from the crowd. Ota fumed briefly, then turned the press conference over to Dirk Robertson, head booker of NSW. Dirk thanked Ota for bankrolling NSW, and stated that the mission statement of NSW was to "provide compelling sports entertainment for the people of the Great Lakes." However, he did say that one very important part of sports entertainment was quality in-ring action, and that NSW will strive to deliver cutting-edge action with up-and-coming superstars. At that point, Dirk introduced the full NSW roster to the public. [U]Main Eventers[/U] "The Natural" Eddie Howard - PPA at $425 a show "Super Ninja" Fumihiro Ota - PPA at $1,000 a show Prince Adam - PPA at $450 a show Rick Sanders - PPA at $875 a show "The Angry Canadian" Fred Head - PPA at $425 a show [U]Upper Midcarders[/U] "The Amazing" Jacob Jett - PPA at $425 a show Ace Youngblood - PPA at $600 a show Champagne Lover - PPA at $425 a show C.H. Threepwood - Exclusive PPA at $450 a show [U]Midcarders[/U] Nevada Nuclear - PPA at $450 a show Dermot O'Logical - PPA at $425 a show American Elemental - PPA at $400 a show [U]Lower Midcarders[/U] Christian "The Stud" Price - PPA at $125 a show "The Blond Bomber" Jerry Martin - Exclusive PPA at $175 a show "Bump Machine" Ben Williams - PPA at $125 a show Harry Wilson - PPA at $125 a show Too Hot - PPA at $425 a show [U]Managers[/U] Chloe Dean - PPA at $425 a show [U]Annnouncers[/U] Terry Smith - PPA at $500 a show [U]Referees[/U] Alan Gray - PPA at $125 a show In closing, Dirk Robertson announced that, for the time being, there is only one title in NSW, The Great Lakes Championship. Dirk explained that he doesn't feel that there are enough established tag teams under contract as of yet and he wants everyone to focus on one goal to create a competitive atmosphere. The title will be decided by an four corners match. Each of the four will have to win a qualifying match to get to the championship match. He also said that this was the last time you would see him in an on-air capacity. He feels that other promotions rely too much on authority figures and the focus should be on the wrestlers, not a former wrestler.

[gbasalmon]

The First Actual Firing in NSW History Dirk Robertson announced in a conference call after the press conference that Too Hot was extremely unhappy with his stature in the company. Dirk informed him that if he was so unhappy, it might be best if the two parties involved parted ways. So, as of Tuesday of the 3rd week of January, 2006, Too Hot is no longer an member of NSW. NSW wishes him well in all his further endeavors. Also, it was brought up during the conference call that Curt O'Malley was not listed as a NSW employee. Dirk apologized for the oversight and announced that Curt accepted a written deal from TCW. Dirk mentioned that the two parted amicably, but there was an audible slam from a phone hanging up. Could it be that Ota was listening in? He cannot be pleased at all that TCW has stolen away NSW's only road agent, even if it is probably better for NSW's books, as he was due to make $875 an appearance. Dirk was undecided as to whether he would handle the duties in house or look for another road agent before NSW got up and running. Dirk ended the conference call by announcing that NSW would be starting up earlier than originally projected, in February. They will tour during that month to give the public a taste of NSW action and also to get the Great Lakes Champion in place so that a promotional tour can hopefully be scheduled for the April and May tour that was previously scheduled. NSW will be dormant in June to allow the NSW some time off and some time to compete for other organizations, and will be active again from July to September. After the July-September tour is completed, Robertson, Ota, and the investors will evaluate the business model and determine whether to continue with a touring schedule for 2007 or switch to a regular schedule.

[gbasalmon]

First Show - NSW Growing Pains, what an apropos title Writeup courtesy of PWTorch.com reader Shawn Morris - History was made Tuesday night when NSW kicked off its inaugural year with a blowout event at the Burkhardt Center in Dayton, Ohio. And by blowout, I mean 68 people who sat through quite possibly the worst professional wrestling show in recorded history. The show itself was only a hour long! The first show ever for this company, and it was only an hour long! Also, I could have sworn I saw on the fliers there would be a match between Fumihiro Ota and Jacob Jett, but it never actually materialized. And then we were informed that the Eddie Howard / C.H. Threepwood match that took place was not an official match and didn't count towards the chase for the Great Lakes Championship. What the hell is going on there? Their show next week had better be light years better, or I might be ready to write these guys off already. [U]Dark Match[/U] Ben Williams beat Jerry Martin. They did seem to click in the ring a little bit, but it definitely was no wrestling masterpiece. I'd still have to give it an F. [U]Rick Sanders vs. Champagne Lover[/U] By far the best match of the night. I've always loved Sanders' style in the ring. How come he never gets over? Anyways, he beat up Champagne Lover pretty bad and took the win in about 10 minutes. I'd give the match itself about a D. After the match, Champagne Lover went nuts, grabbed a champagne bottle from ringside and broke it over Rick Sanders' head. I wonder what will come of that... [U]Dermot O'Logical vs. American Elemental[/U] This match was a little weird, as it seemed like both were being portrayed as heels. It seemed thrown together, and the wrestling didn't change my opinion. O'Logical took the win after hooking the tights, so I guess he was the "heel" for the night. They might want to look into actually turning AE so this would make a little sense. I'd have to give it an E. [U]Prince Adam vs. Ace Youngblood[/U] Wow, Prince Adam seems like such a clod in the ring. I realize he's still really young, but Ace had to carry him through this match. And, of course, Adam ended up winning. This was an F, no doubt. [U]Eddie Howard vs. C.H. Threepwood[/U] This match was so odd. As I stated before, it seemed like this was a dark match that just happened to be at the end of the card. Shouldn't they do run-throughs like this not in front of their first ever audience. Anyways, the actual wrestling was bowling-shoe ugly. Their styles didn't mesh at all, and it was another F. [U]Overall[/U] Wow. This was pretty bad. This first show was too centered around the chase for the Great Lakes Championship. The only people given any development were the people connected to the chase. I don't feel like I know anything about anyone that I saw tonight, save Champagne Lover. And he doesn't even speak English that well yet! Overall, I'd have to give it an F.

[gbasalmon]

NSW Growing Pains Tour continues Come watch NSW as it invades the Hot Rock Sports Bar in Warrren, Michigan! [U][B]Advertised matches[/B][/U] [I]Fumihiro Ota vs. Jacob Jett [/I] - This match that was advertised for the first ever NSW show will finally take place. It will determine the third entrant into the Great Lakes Championship Fatal Four Way. Will the extremely confident Jett take down the high-flyer Ota, or will the "Super Ninja" eliminate Jett before he even knows what happened? [I]Eddie Howard vs. C.H. Threepwood[/I] - After their run-through at the first NSW Growing Pains Tour event, Howard and Threepwood are ready to lock it up! Howard took their first match; can he do it again? Or is Threepwood destined to become the first-ever Great Lakes Champion? [I]Fred Head vs. Ed Monton[/I] - Word has come down that Fred Head was very angry he was not included in the chase for the Great Lakes Championship. When he heard Ed Monton was going to be in the building, he challenged the veteran Canadian brawler to a match. What does the "Angry Canadian" have in store for our newcomer? [U]Also in action...[/U] Nevada Nuclear and the new tag-team of Skin Deep, consisting of Dermot O'Logical and American Elemental!

[gbasalmon]

NSW Growing Pains Tour - Show 2, Blow by Blow Report [U]Dark Match - Harry Wilson vs. Ace Youngblood[/U] - It wasn't really all that bad of a match, seeing Ace take down Harry in 9:11 by pinfall. Note to self - look for a new ref. This Alan Grey clown is dragging everything down. Up and coming referee my eye. [B]RATING - E[/B] [U]Pre-Show Exclusive - Skin Deep formation[/U] - Footage is shown of Dermot O'Logical and American Elemental conversing in the locker room after last week's show. They agree that they are being held back by NSW management and agree to join forces as Skin Deep! Dermot vows that they will be the cucumber and lavender peel to remove all the impurities from NSW, or some crap like that. On the upside, Dermot is getting better at showing his natural charisma and performing. [B]RATING - C-[/B] [B][U]ACTUAL SHOW[/U][/B] Unfortunately, Eddie Howard and Fred Head were not able to attend tonight's show due to prior commitments. I'm sure the 36 people in attendance at the Hot Rock Sports Bar were crushed, especially seeing as though Eddie's match met with such "rave" reviews last week. Anyways, we start out with Terry Smith announcing that Fumihiro Ota versus Jacob Jett will in fact happen tonight! [B]RATING - D[/B] A video prepared by our crack in-house video production team showing some highlights of both Ota and Jett played. The crowd didn't seem too into it at all. [B]RATING - D[/B] [U]Skin Deep vs. Ben Williams & Ace Youngblood[/U] - With all the hype for this new pairing of American Elemental and Dermot O'Logical, oddly enough they fell flat on their faces in their maiden voyage. It only took Ace and Ben 7:43 to dispatch them by pinfall. We shall see what this does for our new tag-team's confidence. On the upside, AE is improving in rumble skills, and Terry Smith has raised the quality of yet another match. On the downside, Alan Grey is still a worthless hack of a ref. [B]RATING - E[/B] Up next was Nevada Nuclear, who appears to be facing Harry Wilson tonight. He runs him down with his verbal skills, and apparently put the crowd to sleep, as there as nothing to say about it. [B]RATING - C[/B] Harry Wilson came out first for the match, but was blindsided by Nevada Nuclear, who beat the tar out of him for what seemed like an eternity. [B]RATING - F[/B] [U]Nevada Nuclear vs. Harry Wilson[/U] - Once the match actually started, Wilson didn't fare much better, only lasting a little more than three minutes before Nukes put him down with a Mushroom Cloud. Yet again, Terry Smith rules and Alan Grey drools. However, even Smith couldn't save this squashing. [B]RATING - F[/B] The crack production team was at it again, this time focusing on the stylings of Jacob Jett, which were set to some god-awful in-house music. [B]RATING - F[/B] Jett then showed his face on camera finally, and declared that there was no possible way that Ota could take him down tonight. He was destined to go on to the Fatal Four Way and become the first ever Great Lakes Championship, because that would be "Simply Amazing". It brought the crowd down, apparently, although so far it's tied for the best rating of the night. [B]RATING - C[/B] [U]Main Event - Fumihiro Ota vs. Jacob Jett[/U] - This one lasted for over 20 minutes, which seemed to be a little too long for our erstwhile owner Ota. However spent he may have been, he still had the where-with-all to hook Jett's tights and take the tainted victory at 21:53. Yet again, Alan Grey = hack. [B]RATING - C-[/B] Our boy Ota couldn't just leave Jett on the canvas sulking. He celebrated in his own special way, then added some insult to injury by beating him down after the match right in the middle of the ring. The closing image for the show was Jett laying beaten in the ring as Ota slinked back to the locker room. Ota is definitely one to be reckoned with in NSW, especially seeing as though he signs the paychecks. [B]RATING - D[/B] [U][B]OVERALL - D[/B][/U] Dirk's comments - The crowd was understandably upset that Fred Head and Eddie Howard were not in attendance, but unfortunately it couldn't be helped due to their first commitments. I can't expect guys to pick to work a Northern Star Wrestling show over the more presitigious Mid-Atlantic Wrestling, where both Eddie and Fred ply their trade (Fred wrestles under the name of Titan in MAW). The show was not a total loss, though. In fact, it seems to have possibly upped our name value a little bit, which is very promising. Hopefully we can tailor our schedule a bit better to accomodate all our wrestlers, especially seeing as though Eddie and C.H.'s match is the only match to go to determine who will be in the Fatal 4-way for the GLC. In closing, we've got to look for a new referee. Alan Grey is killing us.

[gbasalmon]

A Little Post-Event News In a conference call the morning after the second ever NSW event, Dirk Robertson started off by saying that NSW had now risen to small size. He thanked all the wrestlers for their contributions to last night's show and he also thanked the fans for coming out (He probably could have thanked each and every one of them individually). Also, he stated that due to creative having nothing for her to do, NSW has released Chloe Dean from her contract. Dirk wished her all the best in her career, as she is currently employed by Rip Chord's MAW. He also mentioned that with the money being saved from her contract, NSW was looking into hiring another referee, although he was careful to not mention Alan Grey by name (Word on the street is that NSW has approached veteran referee Bret Graveson, who would be a welcome addition, as he is also a locker room leader). In closing, he apologized for advertising both Eddie Howard and Fred Head to be in attendance. He pledged that such faulty advance booking will not ever rear its ugly head in NSW again. [I]In other news around the Cornellverse...[/I] NOTBPW put on a very good show (B) in their regular installment of NOTPBW Championship Wrestling at the Palais des Sports in Quebec last night before 5,000 people. The highlight of the show was the main event, which saw Dan Stone Jr. retain his Canadian Title in a A* gem of a match with his brother, Jeremy Stone (Apparently Jeremy has turned heel). The rest of the card was as follows... April Appleseed beat Helen Wheels (C-) Stone Yoshikawa beat Joey Minnesota to retain the Young Lion Title (C) Tamara McFly beat Junko Hayakawa (C) The Natural beat Brent Hill to retain the Unlimited Action Title (C+) The Kelowna Playaz beat The Demolition Crew to retain the Tag Titles (C)

[gbasalmon]

Breaking News - Nsw And Graveson Come To Terms Dirk Robertson has just confirmed that as of the Saturday of Week 2, February 2006, Bret Graveson is officially an employee of NSW. He signed an exclusive PPA deal, which pays him an astonishing $1,300 an appearance. When asked about this staggering contract, Dirk got slightly agitated, but calmed down quickly. He stated that Bret is both an competant and experienced referee and a locker room leader. He also said that as NSW gets off the ground, they need a strong veteran presence in the back to counteract the youthfulness of the wrestlers. To that end, Ed Monton and Rick Sanders have added part-time road agent duties to their schedules as active wrestlers. Also, Dirk stated that next two installments of the Growing Pains Tour would be moved to Wednesday to accomodate Eddie Howard and Fred Head's schedules, as Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday are the days when MAW runs shows. [I]In other news around the Cornellverse...[/I] On the contract front, it appears that Enygma is gone from SWF. Apparently he doesn't fit into their plans anymore as his contract was allowed to expire. Might be worth a look see... Also, Corporal Doom is gone from USPW and DAVE, as he has apparently signed on full-time with TCW. There was one additional signing, as Danny B. Bling signed a PPA with DAVE, and there were a few re-uppings also (Rafael Ruiz - OLLIE, Evil Henchmen #2 - UCR, Art Reed - DAVE, Runaway Train - SWF, Black Widow - AAA, and Phenomenal E. - 4C). Now, I think I'll stop the journal here for a day or so and let everyone catch up to me. Sorry, I've been bitten by the TEW bug. It seems like after a rocky first show, which was mostly due to screw-ups on my part, NSW is catching on, at least in a small way. I've gotten it up to small status, which is definitely a plus. That might allow me to get enough prestige to have Eddie and Fred pick my shows over Rip's. The Great Lakes Champion will be decided at the final Growing Pains event, as NSW is off the road in March. In April, the spring tour, which I've pretty much settled on calling Spring Fling, kicks off. With the Champion in place, everyone involved in the Chase For The Championship will be freed up to start other feuds and things should start to pick up even more, hopefully. I might even have to extend the shows to longer than just one hour. So, if anybody who's reading this likes what they see, or has any suggestions, don't be shy - REPLY! :)

[gbasalmon]

Restart I hate to say it, but I'm going to have to restart this dynasty. I messed up the tournament, and seeing as though that's the centerpiece of my promotion right now, I've pretty much screwed it right into the ground. Mods, if you want you can delete this thread and I'll start a new one concerning the new dynasty.

[BuddyGarner]

How are you not bankrupt starting with only 25,000 and with that roster?