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Pro Wrestling Gunpowder

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Historian Experienced

Historian

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WpgWdmf.jpgLOQYdMt.jpg

 

I looked over at Peter and then we looked back at Mr. Turner.

 

“You’ve got to be kidding?” I asked and Mr. Turner shook his head.

 

“I’m not Ricky. We think this is a great idea and we want you two to head it,” Mr. Turner’s voice was calm and measured. His closed hands rested on his desk blotter and his eyes never left our faces.

 

“I’m retired,” Peter said, “I haven’t called a match since 2015.”

 

“I know,” Mr. Turner said, “But I think you’re the perfect voice for this project. You’ve got experience on the big stages. Wrestling fans know you, but you also cut your teeth in Texas, if I recall.”

 

“I did,” Peter nodded his head.

 

“Exactly. You called Texas Wrestling for what fourteen years?” Apparently, Mr. Turner knew his stuff.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“And Ricky, you were the top star of The Texas Wrestling Leauge in its dying days and then you became the lead babyfaces for TCW. People know and love you. They believe you. You two will add all the credibility we can use to this project.”

 

When I got called to Netstream, this wasn’t what I was expecting. I thought maybe they wanted to do a documentary series. I didn’t think they would be asking Peter and I to helm a project.”

 

“Look,” Mr. Turner continued, “Reverie is starting to kick our ass. Allen Packer is a good businessman and that damn USPW has been a boom to his business. We need something to help get us back up into proper competition with him and we think this is the perfect project.”

 

I looked down at the proposal in front of me. It was for a nine-show tournament. A promotion different than everything else in mainstream American wrestling. A thirty-two-man tournament held over nine weeks.

 

“Where would we run?” I asked.

 

“We would build a venue to suit the aesthetic we are going for.”

 

I looked over at Peter and he shrugged his shoulders. I’d known Peter my entire professional career. He had called my entire TWL career. We were friends but we were friends who had spent two decades on opposite sides of a war for pro wrestling and now we were expected to come together to create something new?

 

“How much creative freedom would I have?” Peter asked. Technically, he was being asked to shape the whole thing. He had the booking experience. They wanted me for my name value and my reputation and my voice.

 

“The two of you would have the freedom to produce the shows in whatever way you see fit. We’re only greenlighting one season. Anything after that depends on the success of the show.”

 

Peter leaned back in his chair and I could see he was thinking. He ran his fingers through his hair.

 

“If I do this… If we do this,” He said looking over at me, “I want it to be different. I want it to be revolutionary.”

 

“What are you thinking?” Mr. Turner asked. He was smiling now. He had Peter hooked. Peter wanted a chance to show that he could exist in today’s marketplace. I get that. The Eisen Family had done him dirty. It wasn’t his fault that USPW threw money at stars and overtook them in the ratings.

 

“I’m thinking we make it heavily produced. Vignettes to showcase characters. Gritty western vignettes. You’ve already decided on a corral theme for the venue, so let’s lean into it. Nine shows at The Corral. A round arena with wagon-style seating. No-tag matches. All singles matches on the shows. No pinfalls. Just submissions and knockouts. No disqualifications. No count outs. No time limits. Bill it as men fight until they can’t fight anymore. It can be bloody and intense and violent.” Peter explained the vision he had come up with in this meeting.

 

I looked over at Mr. Turner. His smile had grown, “Yes damn it. That’s what I’m talking about. Violent but realistic. Gritty. In your face. Use modern technology. Tell a damn story.”

 

Peter looked at me and back at Mr. Turner, “Can we have a second?”

 

Mr. Turner nodded and rose from his desk, “Sure. I’ll give you guys a couple of minutes to talk it through.”

 

He left his own office and Peter grinned at me.

 

“Let’s do it, Ricky.”

 

“You sure?”

 

“Yeah. We could do something great. We could set trends. We could be difference makers.”

 

“We could also fail horribly.”

 

“Sure, Sheriff, but we could also hit it out of the park. They just want nine shows. We can do nine shows, can’t we?”

 

Peter looked at me. He was selling me on this. I hadn’t been ready to be co-running a wrestling promotion, let alone one with such a specific vision.

 

“You think we can pull this off?” I asked him and Peter smiled.

 

“I think we can, big man.”

 

“Then let’s do it.”

 

Coming Soon to

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Pro Wrestling Gunpowder

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Historian Experienced

Historian

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About the Project

 

This project is designed to have an actual duration. Currently, it is to do one nine-show run. A 32-man tournament with the winner winning the Bronze Boot. I'm intrigued by the idea of a diary that has a specific goal with a specific end date. With nine shows to work with, can I tell a successful story with nine shows? I also think it's good for readers. I'm going to deliver nine shows and I'm going to work to make each show well written and compelling but you also don't have to sign up for more than nine shows (I mean, you don't have to sign up at all, but you get the drift).

 

I am also interested in trying my hand at something that is different but familiar at the same time. This is a "wild west" style in terms of characters, but it is also designed to be a TV-specific product and a lot more violent than I normally do. A lot more blood and maybe weapons and violence.

 

I'm going to try to weave narratives throughout and build characters with such a limited time frame. Hopefully, I'll be successful. If I'm not, hell, it was only nine shows. If you choose to follow along, I appreciate it.

 

Show Log

Episode One

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The Dynamite Sid Newbie

The Dynamite Sid

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About the Project

 

This project is designed to have an actual duration. Currently, it is to do one nine-show run. A 32-man tournament with the winner winning the Bronze Boot. I'm intrigued by the idea of a diary that has a specific goal with a specific end date. With nine shows to work with, can I tell a successful story with nine shows? I also think it's good for readers. I'm going to deliver nine shows and I'm going to work to make each show well written and compelling but you also don't have to sign up for more than nine shows (I mean, you don't have to sign up at all, but you get the drift).

 

I am also interested in trying my hand at something that is different but familiar at the same time. This is a "wild west" style in terms of characters, but it is also designed to be a TV-specific product and a lot more violent than I normally do. A lot more blood and maybe weapons and violence.

 

I'm going to try to weave narratives throughout and build characters with such a limited time frame. Hopefully, I'll be successful. If I'm not, hell, it was only nine shows. If you choose to follow along, I appreciate it.

 

Cool idea! Having just seen your product suggestion in the suggestion forum that makes a lot of sense now too.

 

I have to say Historian your energy in churning these things out shames us all

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Historian Experienced

Historian

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<div style="padding: 10px; border: 2px solid #000000; margin:10px;background: #FFFFFF; max-width:80%; ";">

 

The cameras open on a drone shot. The drone is high above the ground and flying over the middle of nowhere. We pass cacti, ocotillo, sagebrush, mesquite, and creosote. The drone pivots down a dirt road. It flies up and over two closed gates. We’re on a ranch. There are cattle grazing and horses in a paddock.

 

The camera switches from the drone shot and we are down near the ground. It’s a steady cam shot approaching a large classically red building. The kind of building used to house indoor rodeos. Standing in front of the building is a man famous to wrestling fans all over the world. Ricky Dale Johnson.

 

LOQYdMt.jpg

 

Ricky is dressed in full cowboy getup. The camera stops right in front of him. Almost inches in front of his face.

 

“We stand on land won by blood. We are a nation of warfare. Of conflict. Of man clashing against man. We are born of that conflict and pro wrestling is the natural extension of man’s very essence. We are a violent species. From the Fertile Crescent to the Pyramids to the hills of Rome and the steppes of Central Asia to the West. We are a species of conflict. It is time that pro wrestling quits pretending to be something its not. It’s time the broadway numbers stop. It’s time that men go back to settling their differences the way they’ve settled them for thousands of years. With their fists.”

 

The camera cuts to a wide angle of Ricky and the barn.

 

“I made my living in this sport and what a good living it was. It made me a rich man. A man who could afford anything and what I wanted was my own temple to man’s primal nature. My own Coliseum where gladiators could compete for a prize. There are no championships here and tomorrow is not guaranteed. Soon, I will open the doors here and thirty-two of the toughest men will descend on my Corral and will compete to prove they are the toughest. Those thirty-two men are:

 

The video feed cuts to the brackets.

 

Cm1oKWW.jpg?1

 

When we come back from the bracket, suddenly we are inside the building. There is a ring set up surrounded by what looks like a horse corral. There are no mats, but there is the hardpacked dirt floor one would associate with a rodeo. There are chairs and then rodeo bleachers set up. Ricky is standing in the center of the ring. There is a covered pedastal behind him.

 

“This ring will house the toughest, most violent competition in pro wrestling history. For nine weeks, my corral will be open to these warriors, outlaws, conmen, criminals, grifters, and grapplers. Each match has no time limit. No pinfalls. No disqualifications and no countouts. You want to win, you have to survive. You lose if you submit or if you are knocked out. The man who is left standing after nine weeks and has outlasted thirty-one other men will take home the bragging rights of being the toughest, they will take home $50,000 in cash, and they will take home this.”

 

Ricky reveals:

 

MSmy9LH.jpg

 

“This bronze boot is the symbol of who is the toughest in the Bunkhouse. Of who is the shining example of the inheritance of man. The West was won in a cloud of dust, blood, and gunpowder. How will the Boot be won?”

 

Suddenly the video cuts and cuts back in and Ricky is shutting the door to the Corral.

 

“The doors to my Corral will open very soon. Who will survive? Find out, exclusively on Netstream.”

 

The video package ends.

 

</div>

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Historian Experienced

Historian

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<div style="padding: 10px; border: 2px solid #000000; margin:10px;background: #FFFFFF; max-width:80%; ";">

LOQYdMt.jpg

 

I looked up at the whiteboard. Pete and I had finished signing all of the talent. We had brought in thirty-two guys on six-month deals. They were paid per appearance and even though we were only running nine shows and would be done well before six months, we wanted to be prepared just in case we wanted to do a second season. We also wanted to make sure we prevented anyone from jumping mid tournament and screwing us. We signed a couple of guys as "just in case" fill ins. We didn't plan to use them and they knew they were only on-call in case someone got hurt and had to be subbed out.

 

IhNLMBr.png

 

It should be a good first show. A statement show. I had managed to convince Bryan Vessey to come out of retirement and give it one last whirl. He was forty-eight-years old and he knew he didn't have a lot of matches left in himself physically but I had appealed to his desire to create something new. We had worked for years with each other in TCW and he trusted me. Plus, he gave us a major league name that we so desperately needed. Him and Texas Pete were really the only two guys who had any national TV exposure that were in the tournament. Pablo Rodriguez had been a big deal in Mexico but had never been a major star in the US. Rhino Umaga, Giant Brody, Findlay, and Samoan Machine had big names in Japan from their work over the years and all had good independent names in America but they were hardly household names. We were relying on their indy buzz and the novelty of it to draw attention. This first show would definitely be eye-catching. Bryan Vessey and Samoan Machine should be a hell of a main event. Hopefully me and Pete weren't wrong.

 

Quick Predictions

Bryan Vessey versus Samoan Machine

Kip Keenan versus Frantic Ali

The Outlaw versus Public Enemy #1

Cowboy Buck Winchester versus Raheem Stash

 

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