G.S.W.: The World's Most Dangerous Promotion

[Poet Justice]

A USA Sports 1 Special...

GSW, the World's Most Dangerous Promotion

 

 

 

Episode 1: A Grimm Outlook

 

 

 

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/sCsoi8i.jpg

Paul Harris Jr.

USA Sports 1 Personality/Narrator

 

http://media.breitbart.com/media/2015/12/Black-Lives-Matter-BLM-Ferguson-Missouri-Reuters-640x480.jpg

(Scenes from Ferguson Riots in 2014)

 

Paul Harris Jr.:

Civil unrest. Anger. Revolution. Those were things that went through the minds of Americans after the killings of unarmed black Americans. Peaceful protests, angry demonstrations and violent riots were the backdrop for race issues in the United States at the turn of the decade, as the 2010's came around. To some, the violence was not new.

 

Through that anger, came different forms of protest. Some times, that protest came in forms of art. In rap music, artists performed songs directed towards the injustice black Americans faced each day. On the gridiron, football players protested the national anthem.

 

http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/d44bf9ac740cfa2e4c015e985cf20e4ec8d6fdc9/r=540/http/videos.usatoday.net/Brightcove2/29906170001/2016/09/29906170001_5122992766001_5122975659001-vs.jpg

(Football players protest the anthem)

 

That anger, demonstrated something deep, something violent, something raw, oppressed for centuries of abuse and injustices. That raw emotion manifested itself through one of the most culturally impactful series of events in history: Grimm SoCal Wrestling.

 

http://i.imgur.com/e1ArgcK.jpg

 

I'm Paul Harris Jr. of USA Sports 1, and this is GSW: World's Most Dangerous Promotion, a series documenting some of the most key events within the history of the world's most controversial, and often contentious wrestling events.

 

1995

 

The debut of south Los Angeles rap group Blood Brothers rampaged onto the scene after controversial singles during the summer of 1995. "Police Dog" and "Fairy Tale". Consisting of Jerrell Woodley Jr., aka Brother Rite, an angry, powerfully-voiced gang-member from Compton, known for his violent outbursts and unrivaled wordplay, Winston Boe, aka Brother Grimm, a smooth-voiced, charismatic drug-dealer from South Central, and Kendrick Floyd, aka Brother Jonas was a highly-touted DJ, originally from Fayetteville, North Carolina, but had moved to LA to pursue his dreams as a producer. "Police Dog" provided angry cyphers towards police brutality towards inner city youth provided a shocked response from Americans everywhere, as many angry mail towards Blood Money Muzik© offices. "Fairy Tale" drew controversy as it perpetrated horrific homophobic narratives, as members rapped about graphic hate crimes towards the Los Angeles gay community. Despite the outrage towards the Blood Brothers, they skyrocketed on the top of the charts and in the mainstream.

 

http://media.istockphoto.com/photos/portrait-of-three-black-gang-members-picture-id143176847?k=6&m=143176847&s=170667a&w=0&h=PUuT0qhIR45b2XabQbw4ifNzbqotndjkYyTCP6582u0=

(Blood Brothers Members left to right: Brother Rite, Brother Grimm, Brother Jonas)

 

http://i.imgur.com/InPEflp.jpg?1

MC Motormouth

Rapper/Former GSW Announcer

 

Growin' up, Blood Brothers was the life-blood of the inner-city. I grew up in Oakland, and back when I was a kid on the streets, cats would be blastin' "Police Dog" in the speakers of they car. I remember them bein' so damn cool, every kid in the hood wanted to be them.

 

You had these young dudes, 20 years old, with a bunch of money, girls, cars but still outchea fightin' for us hood dudes. And at that time, that was crazy. When someone around the block went to school, college for like education, or sports, they never looked back. No matter how much money these dudes had, they never forgot where dey came from.

 

By the end of 1995, Blood Brothers were the most influential rap group at the time. Their first album, Watts Towers, hit triple-platinum, and the group soon etched their name in rap history.

 

However, the Blood Brothers were not destined to remain united. In 1997, Brother Jonas was arrested in Atlanta, Georgia on the possession of illegal automatic-weapons. After refusing to "snitch to those f##king pigs", and several violent outbursts in court, Jonas was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

 

http://il9.picdn.net/shutterstock/videos/4389218/thumb/1.jpg

 

With their main producer in jail, the two remaining Blood Brothers had a falling out in the creative direction of the group. Brother Grimm wanted to team up with large Hollywood producers, while Brother Rite was vehement on the Blood Brothers remaining true to the original message. By the late 90's, the feud had came to an apex, and the two mutually agreed to break-up, thus, squashing the beef.

 

In 2001, tragedy once again struck the iconic rap group one fateful September night. Rite had left the historic Raul Hughes-Cesar Hernandez Jr. boxing match in Las Vegas and had headed to a nightclub where he was robbed at gunpoint. Unwilling to surrender his jewelry, the unarmed Brother Rite attempted to fight several assailants and was shot eight times. Found by his bodyguards, Rite was rushed to a local hospital where he later died from his injuries. His killers are still today, at large.

 

Severely affected by the death of his comrade and former best friend, Brother Grimm cashed out his street checks. Making clean, mainstream rap hits, as well as producing several pop hits, Grimm reinvented his image as a club artist. Making the charts regularly in the early to mid 2000's, Grimm worked with some of the most well-known artists in the world, and toured hundreds of music festivals.

 

By the time the decade turned, Grimm was a near billionaire, and one of the richest artists in the world, regardless of genre. Through this time period, Grimm invested in several escapades. Grimm Leaper, a children's show featuring Grimm as the main character flopped after the pilot. Blood orange flavored Vitamin Water©, "produced" by Brother Grimm was a popular novelty for 2008. Brother Grimm's son played basketball for the University of Southern California for three-years, usually riding the bench.

 

By 2011, Grimm had made several appearances to professional wrestling giant Supreme Wrestling Federation.

 

http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss39/Kamchatka863/SWF_kamalt3.jpg

(Supreme Wrestling Federation)

 

Rumors of Brother Grimm attempting an in-ring debut circulated rapidly throughout the internet wrestling community. Many believed SWF was capable of this stunt, due to past endeavors of non-wrestling celebrities participating in ring-related shenanigans. Grimm was seen at several wrestling gyms, including the world famous CZCW Coastal Resort, known for producing some of the greatest independent wrestling talent. Rumors only gained steam when former SWF legend "Nemesis" John Campbell was seen hanging out substantially with Grimm.

 

However, these rumors were laid to rest for an even more bizarre truth. Brother Grimm had decided to go to business within the wrestling business, as a promoter; teaming up with knitwear millionaire Gil Thomas and "Nemesis" John Campbell, Brother Grimm created Invincible Pro Wrestling, or IPW for short. Using the Blood Brother's legendary club "The Warehouse", bloody brawls took place, featuring local hardcore wrestlers and aspiring rappers seeking to gain Grimm's attention. It seemed like a triple-threat that was about to take the wrestling business by storm.

 

Preview for Episode 2:

With IPW's struggles, big changes had to come...

[kingjames]

Interesting premise for a diary, lots of great story potential. The South West region in TEW can be killer hard to succeed in with, what, 4 companies working in that territory? Even a "losing" game could be a fascinating read, a perfect hip-hop rise-and-fall story!

[Cro Cop Rules]

I love how you were able to expound upon the vague backstory of Brother Grimm, and intertwine real hip hop history and the CornellVerse into such a compelling tale. Definitely excited for the next episode!

[Poet Justice]

A USA Sports 1 Special...

GSW, the World's Most Dangerous Promotion

 

 

 

Episode 2: GSW: The Start

 

 

 

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/sCsoi8i.jpg

Paul Harris Jr.

USA Sports 1 Personality/Narrator

 

Paul Harris Jr.:

Historically, Los Angeles has not been kind to small businesses. The constant climate of competition within almost any market in Southern California was cut-throat and difficult to survive in yet, not to say thrive. Often times, newness is the only appeal to Angelinos. A year after IPW’s inception, it had begin to show cracks.

 

2011

 

Blood, sweat, beer. These were the smells around 600 Cahuenga Blvd. in Hollywood, California. The Warehouse was one of the most prominent hip-hop clubs in the world. Rappers from all over the globe would frequent the unassuming lounge in hopes of kick-starting their careers by impressing Grimm. Culturally, IPW was not your traditional fight club. Bloody brawls without much psychology created a primal bloodlust among patrons, many who did not know the fights were even scripted.

 

http://pictures.amazingdiscoveries.org/MediaDeceptions/4901-Flickr-rapper-audience-musicx320.jpg

(Scenes from the Warehouse)

 

The characters themselves were severely one-dimensional. Most competitors fell under one part of the blacksploitation archtype. Rappers, gang-members, drug-dealers and athletes were a majority of the gimmicks, which really did not cause too much controversy amongst the fans of IPW. It was entertainment, and Thomas, Campbell and Grimm were making plenty of cash providing it.

 

Soon, IPW found its way into being a cult favorite in Los Angeles. Anyone who wanted to see an IPW show needed to find tickets months ahead. With its newfound attention came significant consequences, however. West coast wrestling giants AAA and CZCW began noticing IPW, and contesting it’s shows by hosting coinciding shows when matches were going on in IPW. With much of its one-dimensional characters growing stale, IPW began to struggle.

 

A divorce between the three giants behind IPW was inevitable. Thomas was focused on profit, Campbell was focused on the product and Grimm was focused on continuing the hype of the Warehouse. Things came to a climax in the summer of 2012, where a meeting between Campbell and Grimm ended in a fist-fight that was separated by the entire security staff of the Warehouse, and the LAPD taking both Campbell and Grimm to holding. Thomas, a traditional promoter, decided to keep Campbell on board, bailing him out and giving him sole control of creative. Grimm, upset at this choice, decided to fully pull his investments from IPW, migrating a large majority of IPW’s talent and the Warehouse to his new promotion.

 

http://i1005.photobucket.com/albums/af173/ewanite/th_Nemesis2.jpg

Nemesis

Wrestling Legend/Promoter

 

Honestly, looking back on it, there was a lot of potential between the three of us. All great minds, Gil was a legend in creating a market, I had a first hand experience with the business and Grimm was one of the world's most recognizable artists.

 

It went to hell, mostly because of our egos, primarily mine and Grimm's. It's unfortunate, IPW was on the rise, but our stubbornness cost us.

 

If I could re-do things, I'd definitely keep Grimm on board, at least on my part. All hindsight of course.

 

2012

 

The Warehouse re-opened its doors a few months after Grimm’s fallout with IPW under the guise of Grimm SoCal Wrestling, a similar product to the original IPW. With much of its roster gutted by the IPW originals jumping ship, IPW focused more on a traditional hardcore pro-wrestling product, hiring professional wrestlers around the greater LA area.

 

Most of IPW’s original roster showed significant loyalty to Grimm, many who saw IPW being Grimm’s company, not Gil Thomas’. The loyalist fans of IPW quickly flocked to GSW, while more traditional wrestling fans began to take notice of the once “garbage” wrestling IPW. Grimm, despite his lack of experience in the industry, continued to book the wrestling and had full control over the creative department of GSW.

 

http://i.imgur.com/gA7tr1I.jpg

Busta Cap

Rapper/Wrestler

 

You see, Grimm was our homie, our man. We signed up for those fights, not cuz wrestling, sh*t, half us weren't even trained. We were some street kids, hood n***az, dudes with no outlooks and a thirst for fame.

 

Grimm didn't go hire no Sam Strong lookin' muthaf**kas. Nah man, he coulda, he that kinna pull for a star like him. Nah, but he went out and got us up-and-comers, mostly rappers, failed ball-players, street fighters.

 

Yeah he get sh** for not bein' no traditional wrestlin' promoter. But there enough of those. Sh** there is around 5 hours of pro-wrestlin' on manistream TV each week these days. What Grimm gave the fans, and the dudes under him, was way different. That's why we respected him, and even tho Gil offered us more cheese, we stuck with our dude.

 

By the time 2014 rolled around, GSW fans began to once again become disoriented with Grimm’s booking. GSW failed to grow within the industry because of his stubbornness toward providing “hood entertainment”, and even his big name could no longer bring fans to GSW shows. His reliance on young rappers with a lack of actual wrestling experience began to significantly inhibit GSW’s ability to gain traction with new fans and substantially alienated current fans who were seeking something new. Despite its resources, GSW started to seem like another failed endeavor for Grimm.

 

Seeing this, Grimm hired Charles Weston, a retired independent wrestler known best by his stage-name Citizen X. With Weston giving GSW a more "professional" direction, the company was able to continue production with a fresher scene.

 

Grimm continued an arms race with IPW by hiring successful former MMA fighter and street-fighting legend Big Magic as one of the most hyped personalities for his club.

 

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w43/Uncrewed/GSW/Big%20Magic_zpslhcaxtye.jpg

Big Magic

Retired MMA Fighter/GSW Personality

 

GSW did its best. It leant from every direction in hip-hop, and I think in turn, it created some tension between Grimm and the fans who actually cared about traditional pro-wrestling.

 

Grimm would get angry messages on forums and all almost everyday about how he was exploiting the wrestling business to promote his music. I'd like to think Grimm had his own vision on what pro-wrestling was, and it wasn't a bunch of white men fighting for a piece of gold.

 

I think it was really important to give black men a way to see wrestling in a different light. Remo was portrayed as a thug in SWF, while Steve Frehley was being criticized for doing what was best for his career in USPW. Dudes like Mo Barrett and Des Davids were money, but the up tops couldn't see it, cuz of their skin color.

 

Not all wrestling was gonna be for 18-45 white dudes. We got black kids watching SWF asking their moms to be Jack Bruce, when the entire message of it was tellin' them that they were gonna grow to be Remos.

 

There weren't no black heroes in wrestling. Even Steve Frehley, a babyface or good guy, was ruthless, cold, unempathetic.

 

GSW wasn't for kids, but it gave us a chance to gather as a community and confront our problems. It let us show that we aren't just one type of ruthless bad guys. That we were more than just an obstacle to overcome.

 

However, with IPW continuing its pursuit to shed its "hood" image, wrestling became a main focus, and in turn, created rave reviews from critics while GSW was still looked at like low-brow entertainment. It seemed inevitable that IPW put GSW down...for good.

 

2016

 

On the ropes, GSW was looking for someone to steer them in the right direction...

 

Preview for Episode 3:

 

(Question for the audience)

Who replaces CJ Weston as GSW's new head booker in 2016..

[Poet Justice]

Interesting premise for a diary, lots of great story potential. The South West region in TEW can be killer hard to succeed in with, what, 4 companies working in that territory? Even a "losing" game could be a fascinating read, a perfect hip-hop rise-and-fall story!

 

It took me several tries to get familiar with GSW's product to be honest. It's not a fun product to book in the beginning, and it's often a choice to stay true to the product or to gut it.

 

I love how you were able to expound upon the vague backstory of Brother Grimm, and intertwine real hip hop history and the CornellVerse into such a compelling tale. Definitely excited for the next episode!

 

Brother Grimm is definitely a compelling C-Verse character. He's a major celebrity who is similar to a Snoop Dogg/Eazy-E sort of character, and is responsible for nearly doubling the population of black wrestlers in the game.

 

I hope you enjoy the new episode I wrote!

[DarK_RaideR]

Big fan of GSW ever since they were introduced and even bigger after reading Voeltzwagon's Dynasty. Planning to do a GSW Dynasty of my own pretty soon too. Will be following yours f®o sure.

 

(Question for the audience)

Who replaces CJ Weston as GSW's new head booker in 2016..

Is this a guess or do we get to choose and affect the game?

 

From my little experience, gutting GSW's roster and product is too sudden of a change for the company and the time it takes to adapt is longer than the breathing space its finances allow. On the other hand, if you want to grow, eventually you'll have to water down some of it.

 

Interesting take on the company's message too, buiding heroes for the black community instead of pushing stereotypes. Real nice portrayal of Brother Grimm's background too, I'll agree he's the Snoop Dogg of C-Verse on the "gangsta rapper becoming mainstream pop celebrity" part. My interpretation of how he got into wrestling though is a mix of Karl Malone in WCW and Billy Corgan in ECW/TNA.

[Poet Justice]

Big fan of GSW ever since they were introduced and even bigger after reading Voeltzwagon's Dynasty. Planning to do a GSW Dynasty of my own pretty soon too. Will be following yours f®o sure.

 

 

Is this a guess or do we get to choose and affect the game?

 

From my little experience, gutting GSW's roster and product is too sudden of a change for the company and the time it takes to adapt is longer than the breathing space its finances allow. On the other hand, if you want to grow, eventually you'll have to water down some of it.

 

Interesting take on the company's message too, buiding heroes for the black community instead of pushing stereotypes. Real nice portrayal of Brother Grimm's background too, I'll agree he's the Snoop Dogg of C-Verse on the "gangsta rapper becoming mainstream pop celebrity" part. My interpretation of how he got into wrestling though is a mix of Karl Malone in WCW and Billy Corgan in ECW/TNA.

 

I honestly haven't played GSW until '16. Just always seemed like the least popular promotion but it provides a real challenge for TEW vets.

 

Grimm is very similar to Snoop Dogg in the sense that he came into the game making gangster music and rapped about crime, etc, but he evolved as an artist and realizes that he is no longer in the same situation and elevates himself to mainstream attention. A significant portion of the diary will be focused on modern day narratives so stay tuned!

 

And super duper clarification, I have already chosen who the PC will be, just seeing if anyone can guess the correct character!

[MisterRomanini]

I honestly haven't played GSW until '16. Just always seemed like the least popular promotion but it provides a real challenge for TEW vets.

 

Grimm is very similar to Snoop Dogg in the sense that he came into the game making gangster music and rapped about crime, etc, but he evolved as an artist and realizes that he is no longer in the same situation and elevates himself to mainstream attention. A significant portion of the diary will be focused on modern day narratives so stay tuned!

 

And super duper clarification, I have already chosen who the PC will be, just seeing if anyone can guess the correct character!

 

Holy s***, not only you've explained to me Brother Grimm's character, but you've opened my eyes about the career of Sasha's cousin (lol). Good luck with GSW, I like this promotion, even if I always had some difficulties to have some progress with them.

 

Also, is that the GSW logo that I've made months ago?

[DarK_RaideR]

And super duper clarification, I have already chosen who the PC will be, just seeing if anyone can guess the correct character!

GSW starts with a big enough roster that stretches its finances. Add the need to include Brother Grimm in angles since he's one of the few who can rock the mic, plus the need for attractive females and it's easy to go overboard. I therefore like to pick someone who's already on the roster and will keep being there for a long time, in order to cut expenses. My top picks for that are either Rumble Roper or Big Magic (who's only useful for his Popularity and Menace). I've thought of picking Fro Sure, but it feels like cheating.

 

From what you've written so far, I'd say Big Magic's interview portrays him as the man whose mindset is closest to your vision for GSW. If not him, it's probably one of the people he mentioned (Remo, Steve Frehley,Mo Barrett or Des Davids)

[kingjames]

Big Magic seems like a probable pc, as you've got him explaining the philosophy of why G.S.W. (I like the N.W.A. stylings you got there) fills a need. The way he explains it, your version of G.S.W. seems like it will fill a void in the CornellVerse the way Luke Cage filled a hole in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

 

Call me Mojo Rawley, because this diary is making me stay hype!