Phil Vilbert - The Smartest Man in Wrestling (CVerse '14)

ohiodevil · March 18, 2015

We were sitting at the airport in Saint John, waiting for our plane to take us to Toronto for Sunday’s Title Bout Wrestling. That’s when my cell phone lit up. I immediately recognized the number but I was sitting between Alex and Jack DeColt so I knew I couldn’t answer the call with these two within ear shot. I let the call go to voicemail but they didn’t leave a message, they just called again and again and one of the DeColt boys looked at me and made a joke about all my baby momma’s and all I could do at that moment was just make some joke that it was his wife or girlfriend or someone like that and hope they left it alone….which they did. After a few more light hearted rips on each other, they went to the bar to grab a beer and I was finally able to look at the text message that came after the five or six called I had to ignore….it read “Answer your damn phone Phil, it’s a GO….all they need is your signature…CALL ME BACK”. I must have said what I was thinking out loud, because Bobby Thomas looked at me and asked what I just said, I think I just shrugged it off and he just looked at me like I was nuts….but oh well….all I knew is I was going to be back in charge of my own company, I just needed to let Alex know that I was leaving in a couple weeks…..

My name is Phil Vilbert….and this is how I built my new company and returned to the spotlight and showed the industry why I am the smartest man in professional wrestling.

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ohiodevil · March 21, 2015

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The Phil Vilbert Story

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Phil Vilbert leaned back on the leather couch and took a sip of the scotch he had in his left hand and took a puff of the cigar in his right hand. "It's not that I didn't respect Richard Eisen" he said. "I mean, look at all he has accomplished....he has the top company in North America and built a pretty big and lucrative empire for him and that spoiled kid of his".

"The problem I have with them is that he knew what we had going with DAVE was kicking his ass all over the place and he couldn't beat us. Try as he may, we were winning the 18 to 30 year old kids and they weren't coming to his shows any buying the crap he was trying to sell them". Vilbert took another puff off the cigar and leaned forward and said, "And you know what that coward did.....he used his money and what influence he had to lock us out of certain cities and venues, especially when we were within 100 miles of one of their shows....why you ask? Simple....he knew we would take a big chunk of his audience and he couldn't stand that he was losing....that bastard was scared".

"So yeah....the first thing I did was to declare war on that jerk and his empire...sure, people told me it was crazy for a brand new company to go toe to toe with the largest company in the world, but I said F*** it....I knew what I had to do to get under his skin and take a bite out of his action....plus I had a financial backer that had deep pockets....we were ready to hit him where it hurt.....in the wallet".

Vilbert smiled, took another sip of his scotch and sat back, "So now that I had declared war, I needed to hire some people to help on the business side....so naturally my first call was to my old friend, Mitch. Now I knew he was running his own company, and doing a pretty good job....but I knew I needed him if I was going to be successful".

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"I think we were in Erie or Youngstown for a show when Phil called me. I had heard the news that he had left his head booking position with CGC and was working on some new project" said Naess. "Things were going pretty well for PSW, but I owe Phil everything I have in this industry, so of course I listened when he called".

He leaned back in his desk chair, "I told him I would help him with whatever he needed, but when he told me he just went to war with the Eisen's and the SWF, I almost dropped my phone....but I saw what Phil did with DAVE and how he dealt with them as well as Tommy and HGC and even Danny and his USPW. So if anyone could make this work, it was Phil".

"About a week after that initial phone call, we met at Sonny's Famous Cheesesteak in Philly and I told him that I wanted to hire Doc Messing to work the broadcast booth with me....I mean, I figured that if I was going to be the voice of the NWA, might as well have someone that I have worked with sitting next to me".

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"I left PSW when Alex Braun retired and wanted to take over in the announce booth" said Messing in his chair of his late night show on KDKA 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh. "There were no hard feelings, I liked Alex and I knew that once he retired from the ring, this was a dream of his. So I told Mitch that I would step down and could focus on my sports talk show. So when he called me and offered me the job, I said HELL YES".

"Wrestling has always been a passion of mine....and to get in on the ground floor of a new company that had an ideas man like Phil at the top and some unknown source of what seemed to be unlimited money, sounded like a no brainer to me....so I jumped".

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"Ha! Yeah....I remember that phone call....I almost didn't take it" said John 'Nemesis' Campbell. "I had not talked to Phil in a very long time and honestly I doubt I would have still today had he not made that call to me". Campbell cracked open a can of beer and took a swig.

"See....when things ended with DAVE back in '07, I pretty much said goodbye to everyone and went on my way. For a little while, I did keep in touch with the guys who were loyal...you know....guys like Chris Caulfield and Mitch Naess.... it was the ones who sold out to the big money that I never wanted to see again....guys like Monty Walker, Brandon James and Jack Giedroyc....yeah, they all sold out in my opinion and are the reason the industry was where it was back in 2014....you know, S***ty".

"So it took some coaxing from Mitch to get me to agree to come aboard and help out behind the scenes....and as you know, got involved in the action a few times....so yeah.....it was the right decision....plus I got to help bring down that piece of s*** Brother Grimm.....that was the icing on the cake".

ohiodevil · March 29, 2015

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The Phil Vilbert Story

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"Back in 2014 and 2015, I was working for Gil Thomas and IPW as head booker" said Campbell. " That's when Phil called me. Back then if you had asked me what I would do if he had called, I probably would have said I would have hung up on the mother f*****. Well, needless to say, he kept blowing up my phone....and he even had Gil tell me to call him back.....so I said what the hell....so after about two weeks of calls and emails, I finally returned his call".

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"To be honest, I didn't think Phil was going to be able to talk Nemesis into coming aboard, even if the offer allowed him to stay on as the head booker in IPW" Naess said. "We all knew that when they shut the lights off after the final show, John walked away from DAVE and pretty much gave all of us the finger and we never heard from him, until that day in late January 2015....and honestly I think he was the biggest surprise hire out of all of the guys (and girls) we brought on that first year".

Voice behind the camera asks "Why do you think Nemesis walked away and distanced himself from the whole group"?

"Honestly we all knew that John was upset that Phil had to close the company down....I think deep down he felt betrayed by some of the guys who took the big payday from Richard, Tommy and over in Japan. I think he thought that everyone in the locker room had the same loyalty to Phil and the company that he had.....I know he was pretty pissed when he heard that Brandon was going to SWF before our final show...in fact, I heard that Eric Tyler, JD Morgan and Chris Caulfield had to restrain John from going after Brandon in the parking lot outside Pennsylvania Park. Even though he knew this was our last show, he felt that Brandon had sold out and didn't try hard enough to keep the company alive.....we knew that was not the case, Brandon worked his ass off for DAVE.....I think John just was in denial that we had essentially lost to the SWF and HGC/TCW....and he couldn't live with that....and I think that is why he wanted to crush Brother Grimm and the GSW, because as soon as he joined us in the NWA, war broke out between us and them".

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"Phil and I talked about once a month back then....you know....to bounce ideas off one another....see how some of the guys are doing....stuff like that" said Eric Tyler. "Well, this one time we happened to be in the same airport or hotel or something, and Phil said the that he had talked John Campbell to join him on his new project, but he said that John had a few stipulations, and one of them was for me to be brought in to manage a stable of young guys and call them Legacy or something like that. At first I wasn't sure, I mean I had been working for Mitch and PSW for a while and I didn't want to leave him high and dry, but Phil told me that Mitch was coming on board as the main announcer and he would talk with him about me coming on full time, meaning I would have to leave PSW".

Tyler motions that he needs a second, turns and waves some kid to come over, makes small talk with him and then signs some sort of memrobelia and poses for a picture with a group of fans, then returns to his chair in front of the camera.

"Sorry....these conventions can be hectic....anyway....I wasn't sure I wanted to leave Mitch and some of the guys on the roster, I felt we had built some momentum but Phil told me that he was probably going to be signing four or five of our top guys to exclusive deals, so things were going to change around there. Now, I had and offer from the SWF to come on and be the color guy on

their Uprising show, but when he put that contract in front of me and I saw what he was willing to pay me, I had to do a double take....I even think I asked him if he was expecting me to lace up the boots again. I talked it over with my wife and the next day I called Phil back and said I was in.....I mean, I was going to be making more than I had ever made before, but all I had to do was be the mouthpiece to some young guys? Hell yeah....sign me up"!

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Phil Vilbert - The Smartest Man in Wrestling (CVerse '14)

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