The story of an indie: Empire Championship Wrestling

[tobin834]

reserved for history

[tobin834]

reserved for history

[tobin834]

 

<img src="https://i.imgur.com/yHmvA2n.png" alt="Chapter One" align="middle">

 

 

YOUTUBE SHOW: CRIME SCENE

Announcer: Rob Naylor

Commentary: Rob Naylor & Noell Foley

Backstage: Noelle Foley

 

 

HOLLIDAY IS CONFIDENT

 

The show opens with a shot of the small crowd packed inside the small warehouse off in Brooklyn. The camera shots are tight cut and fast making it seem more chaotic then it truly was. A small disco ball is above the ring so it's used to project lights everywhere on the dark warehouse. The ring with the most light shined onto it made it stand out in a sea of fans. The generic, royalty-free theme song of Empire Championship Wrestling is heard playing.

 

The camera quickly switches to the backstage where “The Most Marketable Man” Richard Holliday is seen arriving to the building in a full suit. Holliday looks very put together and confident as EMPIRE backstage correspondent Noelle Foley comes running up to Holliday. Holliday looks annoyed he has to take his air pods out of his ears as she stops him. Foley asks Holliday if he's ready for his match tonight against former WWE star Nick Dinsmore. Holliday scoffs at the remark after he hears “star” and looks at Foley for a second as if she is crazy before answering. “star?” says Holliday. He continues to say Dinsmore never was a star and they made a fool out of him on national television while in WWE. Holliday said Dinsmore was a never-was and he finds himself on the way down, clinching to whatever attention he can get and whatever fans even remember him. Holliday says he finds himself accelerating to the top in just a few short years, taking out anyone in his way, and doing it with a class that has been unseen in decades. Holliday says this is where the past gets run over by the future. He then dismisses Foley and tells her to say hi to her dad for him in an arrogant way before adjusting his clothing, putting in the air pods while looking at her annoyingly and turning the corner. Foley looks disgusted and sends it back out to the arena.

 

 

TIM ZBYSZKO VS. BRUCE MAXWELL

 

Bruce Maxwell wasn't listed on the regular roster but as they say in indie wrestling, “bring your gear, you never know when you might need it.” This happened to be the case on this night for both Tim Zbyszko and Bruce Maxwell. Ace Austin and Tracy Williams was originally the plan but both had prior commitments at the last minute that left two spots open. Both impressed, but it was Zbyszko who would win the match in 9:31 via pinfall in a match that frankly, wasn't very good.

 

The match wasn't the important part though as after it, Tim Zbyszko was celebrating and out from the crowd Anthony Gangone ran into the ring and attacked him from behind. Gangone, wearing a black leather jacket and looking rough, stood there looking at the shocked crowd in attendance. Gangone continued to attack Zbyszko until wrestlers from the back ran him out of the ring. Gangone ran out into the crowd and left that way with cameras close to him as he repeatedly said “You know why I did this!!”

 

 

GOOD FRIENDS MAKE A BETTER TEAM

 

KC Navarro is backstage with Noelle Foley in front of an EMPIRE banner. Navarro is jumpy and full of excitement as Foley smiles at his energy and looks on. Foley introduces Navaro then asks him how he's doing tonight. Navarro says he's doing great but he didn't have anything scheduled for the night. He was hoping to find something and he ended up convincing his good friend Jordan Oliver to team with him tonight to try and capture the EMPIRE Tag Team Championship titles. Oliver is seen strutting into the shot. Oliver has a baseball jersey on that is unbuttoned and a bandanna around his head. Navarro points out both of their individual skills, their familiarity with one another, and the fact that they can trust one another to have the match if it gets to a two on one situation. Oliver jumps in and says him and KC go back a long ways and tonight good friends will make a better team, and walk out as the new Tag Team Champions. Both leave the shot hyped as Foley sends it back to the inside the warehouse.

 

 

AFA ANOA'I JR vs. GORY

 

Afa Anoa'i Jr is in the ring already when we come back out to the building. Just then Gory's music hits. The strange man in the half-mask walked to the ring with a strangeness that Afa Jr didn't seem to like, pointing at him while saying something to the referee. The referee didn't look to be ready to say anything to Gory. As the bell rang Gory quickly jumped out of the ring and walked around for a second, further confusing Afa Jr and frustrating him. To the blind eye Gory seemed to be hesitant to get in the ring with the bigger samoan, but to the trained eye Gory was a genius. Realizing that Afa Jr's short temper would work against him, and frustrating Afa Jr until he got impatient and rolled out of the ring in pursuit. Gory rolled into the ring being quicker than the large samoan, and got the upper hand that way by attacking Afa Jr while he was on the ground rolling into the ring.

 

The match would end up going Afa Jr's way for the most part and he would defeat Jason Gory at the 13:20 mark with “Lights Out.”

 

 

RICHARD HOLLIDAY VS. NICK DINSMORE

Richard Holliday was sure confident in his entrance into the building earlier tonight. Holliday not respecting Dinsmore or where he's been. Holliday was the first to come out to the ring where he waited for Dinsmore. As Dinsmore's music came on in the building Holliday mockingly laughed but the fans were happy to see the former WWE star. Dinsmore did not look like the character he had portrayed in WWE, Eugene. Instead, Dinsmore was here and pointed directly at Holliday as he came to the ring. He had heard Holliday's comments earlier in the night and was ready to make the arrogant kid pay for it.'

 

Dinsmore and Holliday brawled for a good portion of the match. It was Holliday who grabbed a handful of tights to win the match at 15:06. Afterwards, Holliday rolled out of the ring laughing and using his index finger to point to his head as if to say he had outsmarted Dinsmore. The crowd really let Holliday have it on his way out.

 

 

D'LO BROWN VS. LANCE ANOA'I

 

Lance Anoa'i and D'Lo Brown had a great match that lifted the crowd. D'LO Brown was the guest for the evening as he signed autographs before the show as well. The two went back and forth with Lance Anoai getting a lot of time in this match as well. In the end Brown would end it with a Lo Down at 12:02 that he can still hit. At the end the two showed mutual respect for one another and shook hands.

 

 

EMPIRE TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH

team tremendous vs. the heavenly bodies vs. the awakening vs. navarro/oliver

 

The main event of the first show was to crown the EMPIRE Tag Team Champions. The rules of the match were simple. It was a tornado-tag ruled content where tagging wasn't necessary. If one partner gets pinned or passes out, the other partner is eliminated. Match ends when there is one team left in the match.

 

As the Heavenly Bodies made their way to the ring, in a smaller box in the corner of the screen Noelle Foley was with the Awakening, Stockade and Matt Tremont. The big men talked about how they weren't here to joke around, wear robes, or have some fun with their friends – they were here to kick @$$ and get paid well for doing it. They then walked off the set and to the ring.

 

The match itself was started and immediately the Awakening threw Dan Barry out of the ring. This made the bigger Bill Daly roll out to protect his partner. From there we had a two way contest for about five minutes between Team Tremendous and the Awakening, and Navarro and Oliver taking on the Heavenly Bodies in the ring. Oliver and Navarro were too quick for Dustin and Justin Corino, and it showed. The two friends were using beautiful tag-team combinations to get the upper hand until finally Oliver pinned Dustin Corino, leading to the Heavenly Bodies elimination.

 

From there Stockade, having just threw Dan Barry into the ring steps, rolled into the ring to take out Oliver and Navarro. As he stepped in, the two grabbed him and threw him to the ropes in hopes of a tag-team combo. Stockade stopped himself impressively, knocking off their timing, then ran full steam at them with a double clothesline. He was quickly joined by Tremont and the two took control of the situation – specifically Navarro's knee. As Navarro began to hobble around, it was Oliver who took control of the situation in impressive fashion. Using speed and quickness, he took both men out of the ring and got a second to catch his breath. That was until Dan Barry rolled into the ring. After a one on one for a few minutes with Barry, Oliver was able to roll Barry up and get the pinfall, eliminating Team Tremendous.

 

As Oliver rolled off of Barry who had just been pinned, the Awakening then took advantage of the situation by taking out Oliver. They beat Oliver senseless and used every combination on him until it seemed like it was all but wrapped up. Navarro still lay in the corner, obviously hurting from the abuse to his knee. The Awakening then picked up Oliver and threw him over into the corner where Navarro was. They were just toying with the two at this point and were ready to wrap it up. As Navarro came back to his feet he would courageously fight off both men until Oliver could rejoin him. The two began to use their quickness on the two larger men who were exhausted by this point in the match. Oliver then hit Tremont with the double knee in the corner, and quickly kipped up and planted his foot on the jaw of Stockade, knocking him out and quickly pinning him for a three, and winning the EMPIRE Tag Team Championship titles!! The fans were going out of their mind, sent home happy.

 

END OF SHOW

 

 

ANALYSIS

 

- Used Holliday far too much on the show

- Production Values hurt quality of the show

- Live Event Experience hurt quality of the show

- Broadcast Quality hurt quality of the show

- Music Quality hurt quality of the show

- Not enough interesting storylines

- Lost Popularity in 1 region

[tobin834]

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

PO Box 1229, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593

WEEK OF FRIDAY MORNING, WEEK 2, 2020

 

PREDICTIONS FOR NEXT WEEK'S EMPIRE CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING “CRIME SCENE”:

Matt Tremont vs. Afa Anoai Jr

Nick Dinsmore vs. Jason Gory

EMPIRE Tag Team Title Match: Jordan Oliver and KC Navarro vs Team Tremendous

 

TOP NEWS:

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla inks a deal with Internet PPV provider.

Seth Rollins has been caught saying “I carry the roster at WWE” making some in the locker room furious with him.

Tenille Dashwood has signed a pay-per-appearance agreement with Major League Wrestling

Brandy Rhodes shockingly has accepted a pay-per-appearance deal with Combat Zone Wrestling

 

RETIREMENTS, AGE, AND FUTURE:

Terry Funk – 75 - Hopes to continue in business in backstage role.

CMLL Star Atlantis – 57 - Hopes to continue in business in backstage role.

Emi Sakura - 43 - Hopes to continue in business in backstage role.

Tony Atlas – 75 - Hopes to continue in business in backstage role.

Blondie Barratt – 68 - Hopes to continue in business in backstage role.

Chaos – 46 - Hopes to continue in business in backstage role.

Kacee Carlisle – 39 – Hopes to continue in business in backstage role.

Notorious TID – 48 - Hopes to continue in business in backstage role.

 

NEW CHAMPIONS THIS WEEK:

[AAW] Zachary Wentz defeated Mance Warner to win the AAW Heavyweight Championship.

[CHIKARA] Blanche Babish defeated Ricky South to win the CHIKARA Young Lions Cup

[DRAGON GATE] Dragon Kid defeated Yasshi to win the Open the Brave Gate Championship

[EVOLVE] Matt Sydal defeated Josh Briggs to win the EVOLVE Championship.

[iCW] Kobra defeated Nemesi and Mori to win the ICW Italian Heavyweight Championship.

[PWA-AU] Luciano defeated Caveman Ugg to win the PWA Heavyweight Championship.

[ROH] Silas Young defeated Ryu Lee to win the ROH World Television Championship.

[sTARDOM] Kagetsu defeated Jamie Hayter to win the SWA World Championship.

[WRESTLE1] Yoshioka and Mitomi defeated Pain and Agony to win the Wrestle-1 Tag Team Championship.

[wXw] T-K-O defeated Bobby Gunns to win the wXw Unified World Wrestling championship.

[ZERO1] Fuminori Abe and Ikuto Hidaka defeated Ken Kid and HUB to win the ZERO1 International Lightweight Tag Team Championship.

 

NOTABLE SHOWS:

[AEW] AEW Dynamite – Attendance: 2,892 – MVP: Jake Hager – AEW Dynamite drew a 0.28 rating

[iMPACT] “Impact Wrestling TV” - Attendance: 2,523 – MVP: Sami Callihan - Impact Wrestling TV drew a 0.52 rating

[NWA] NWA Powerr – Attendance: 1,290 – MVP: Homicide – NWA Powerr drew less than a 0.01 rating (2,100 hits on Youtube)

[NJPW] New Japan Cup 2020 – Attendance: 20,000 - MVP: Kazuchika Okada – Hiroshi Tanahashi won the tournament, his third win of his career.

[NXT] WWE NXT – Attendance: 3,272 – MVP Tyler Breeze – WWE NXT drew a 0.40 rating.

[WWE] Monday Night Raw - Attendance: 8,154 – MVP: Randy Orton – Raw drew a 23.71 rating!!

 

A LOOK AT USA PROMOTIONS AND PRESTIGE:

89 - World Wrestling Entertainment

55 - Ring of Honor

45 - Pro Wrestling Guerrilla

45 - WWE NXT

40 - Combat Zone Wrestling

40 - EVOLVE Wrestling

40 - All Elite Wrestling

40 - Shimmer Women's Athletes

30 - CHIKARA

30 - National Wrestling Alliance

30 - Shine Wrestling

25 – All American Wrestling (AAW)

20 – Empire Championship Wrestling

20 – Championship Wrestling from Hollywood

20 – Absolute Intense Wrestling

20 – Full Impact Pro

15 – Major League Wrestling

0 - Keystone Championship Wrestling

0 - New England Championship Wrestling

 

See you next week!!!

[tobin834]

OOC: Hey guys, thanks for reading. Just getting this setup so the first few weeks will be getting a lot of things straight. Plan on writing out a lot more per week for the card, so thanks for being patient. - iwc.

 

 

VLOG 001

 

The rain hit the metal roof that hung over the entrance to the old warehouse. The old warehouse stood as a sign of what used to be. The former factory was positioned in the former industrial section of town, a place that hadn't had consistent workers in twenty years. The buildings stood tall to anyone who wanted to rent them, which given their current conditions were usually seedy companies, or those that were just starting out and didn't have a ton of capital. Depending on who you asked, Empire Championship Wrestling fit into one or both of the demographics just stated.

 

I sat and smoked my cigarette outside the building and let myself begin to think about the last show. D'Lo couldn't have been better. Humble guy who's been all over who came into our building and put on a great match. He could tell we were new and I'm sure I did a million things wrong that I'm not even aware of to him. He thanked us for the opportunity and told us he'd love to come back whenever we'd have him. The talent were all respectful to him as he was to them, so D'Lo if you're watching this – which I'm doubtful you are – you are a great guy and thank you.

 

I really thought Noelle Foley was great in the backstage correspondent position. She also obviously joined Rob Naylor on commentary and though those two have a lot of chemistry to build, and though Noelle is very green, we're hoping to get her up to a level where she is going to stay on commentary. Right now, admittedly, she has been in that role because we needed to save money on hiring another talent at this point, and she felt right since she was backstage as well. She handled it with professionalism and class. We're very happy to have her as part of the television/online show production. Our production as a whole needs to improve and we're going to be looking at that and the financial aspect of that in the next few weeks.

 

A lot of people talked to me at the show about Nick Dinsmore. Dinsmore, who was Eugene in the WWE, is back on the indies under his real name and a different gimmick – himself. Dinsmore said though playing Eugene was the highlight of his career, he also felt it overshadowed who he was as a performer and person, and Dinsmore is now ready to try and rectify that with a solid singles career. I thought this past weekend he was our top performer as far as individual performances worked out.

 

The thoughts coming out of this show were a bit negative. We honestly weren't sure what we were getting into fan wise and with only a limited amount of money I felt we played it too safe. Maybe by our third show we'll be able to get this ship steered in the right direction.