TCW - The Return of The Return of JK Stallings

[eayragt]

As the old thread is currently broken, I thought I'd restart this off in a new thread, so here's a short catch up.

 

Original Dynasty here (old forum, while the forum lasts):

http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum/showthread.php?t=549323

 

Butchered version in this forum:

https://forum.greydogsoftware.com/topic/51391-tcw-the-return-of-jk-stallings/

 

The Story so Far:

 

2020:

In January 2020 JK Stalling returned to TCW, buying the company off BriCo, and bringing in booker eayragt.  In addition he set up HGC, under the guidance of Plague and Tamara McFly, signing up some of the youngest talents in North American to development deal.

 

At Total Mayhem XXIV Wolf Hawkins defeated TCW World Heavyweight Champion Aaron Andrews and Jay Chord in a Triple Threat match to win his 4^th World Heavyweight Title, while One Man Army took the Television Title (which does occasionally get defended on PPV) off Greg Gauge in a match also featuring Matt Hocking and new signing Mainstream Hernandez.  Mighty Meaty retained their World Tag Team Title over Eddie Peak and Chris Flynn (who had moved from The Syndicate to The Sinner Society), having taken the titles off The Behemoths earlier in the year.

 

Over this time Wolf Hawkins remade The Syndicate, kicking out Doc Hammond and Nate Johnson and replacing them with Joshua Taylor and Ranger.  Eddie Chandler and Joshua Taylor took the Tag Team Titles at Excessive Force, briefly dropping them to Doc Hammond and One Man Army before taking the titles back and holding them to the end of the year.   One Man Army was briefly a double champion but lost both his titles within a month, dropping the Television Title to Matt Hocking who had a poor reign before dropping it at the end of the year the Edd Stone.

 

Wolf Hawkins held the World Heavyweight Title through to end the of the year, feuding with Aaron Andrews, Sammy Bach, Mainstream Hernandez and T-Bone Bright, who won the inaugural Two Stages of Hell Match to earn himself a title shot.  Steven Parker debuted to feud with Jay Chord, with Chord initially teaming with Greg Gauge and newcomer Findlay O’Farraday.  This led to both Greg Gauge and Roderick Remus turning face, joining in a loose alliance with Parker and Mainstream Hernandez of former MAW workers.  Jay Chord did have a great run in 2020 with only 10 defeats all year, winning the 2020 King of Kings with wins over Sammy Bach and Aaron Andrews, while TCW Saturday Night Showcase relaunched as a B show.

 

2021:

The first show of the year saw Mainstream Hernandez and Roderick Remus team up to defeat Joshua Taylor and Eddie Chandler to win the World Tag Team Titles, before Freddy Huggins (who had been solid all of 2020) defeated Wolf Hawkins, Mainstream Hernandez and Roderick Remus to win his first World Heavyweight Title.  As Huggins contract ran down there was some debate if he would leave the company as champion, but he turned face by signing a new contract, before feuding with Mighty Mo who turned heel on Huggins, angry the fanfare of Huggins contract signing compared to him loyally signing a new deal the previous year.  Contract negotiations did not go so well elsewhere as Eddie Chandler left to go to SWF and Sammy Bach joined USPW after they offered more than I was willing to match.  I did fight tooth and nail for Greg Gauge, but was devastated when he choose to join USPW.

 

Jay Chord begun getting stalked by a mysterious masked man, in a feud that seemed to last for ages, partly due to Chord picking up a back injury.  The masked man was eventually revealed to be Enygma, but he was seen off by Jay Chord, before leaving after an unimpressive six month run.  In April TCW introduced it’s first ever Tag Team Tournament, which was won by Doc Hammond and Lenny Brown, who had joined the previous year, defeated Dazzling Dave Diamond and Spencer Spade, who had been on a fine run since recently moving from SWF.  At the same show Wolf Hawkins and Joshua Taylor defeated Mainstream Hernandez and Roderick Remus to take the Tag Team Titles with the assistance of new Syndicate member Ernest Youngman, while Freddy Huggins retained against Mighty Mo, Killer Shark and Aaron Andrews to head into Total Mayhem to face Jay Chord.

 

At Total Mayhem XXV Television Title holder Edd Stone joined his nephew David Stone in tag victory, Matthew Keith had his first TCW PPV match (albeit defeat to Steven Parker), Hammond & Brown won the Tag Team Titles from Hawkins and Taylor, Killer Shark got a huge victory over Aaron Andrews and Mighty Mo, before finally Jay Chord won his first ever TCW World Heavyweight Title with victory over Freddy Huggins in my first ever 100 rated match.

 

Over the coming months Jay Chord cemented his reign by forming The Empire with Spencer Spade, Dazzling Dave Diamond, Hellion and Emma Chase.  Dazzling Dave Diamond and Hellion (who somewhat confusingly also wrestled as “The Empire”) added the Tag Team Titles to their stash of gold, while an injury to Edd Stone at the hands of Jay Chord forced him to vacate the Television Title, which was won by Findlay O’Farraday in a four way with Chris Flynn, High Flyin Hawaiian and Matthew Keith.

 

Jay Chord’s World Heavyweight Title reign ended at the hands of Mr Nuclear (Atom Smasher / Nevada Nuclear), who was inserted straight into Main Event after having a 100 rated match with Chord.  Mainstream Hernandez won the second Two Stages of Hell match to earn a title shot, but lost it to Wolf Hawkins after putting his shot on the line.  At King of Kings Hernandez earned another shot by winning the tournament with a victories over Syndicate members Ernest Youngman and Ranger, while their leader Wolf Hawkins begun his 5^th World Heavyweight Title reign after defeating Mr Nuclear.

 

In December TCW celebrated their 25^th Anniversary with appearances from a number of former stars, including Jack Bruce and Bryan Vessey – Bruce winning a future title shot by defeating Vessey, Aaron Andrews and Mighty Mo.  Findlay O’Farraday’s impressive 14 defence Television Title reign ended to Roderick Remus in a great match, while The Empire dropped their Tag Team Titles to undefeated Englishman Sifu Storm (Ricky Storm and Sifu).  The year ended with Wolf Hawkins defending his title against Jay Chord, Edd Stone (who had returned to cost Jay Chord any chance at reclaiming his title) and Mr Nuclear.  Wolf Hawkins was meant to retain, but in a booking error Jay Chord regained his title to begin his second reign after Scythe debuted from underneath the ring to wreak havoc.  The other notable event of the year was Killer Shark leaving TCW to move to BHOTWG.

Edited September 3, 2022 by eayragt

[eayragt]

2022:

The year started with Jack Bruce and Bryan Vessey playing major roles in TCW… and then reminding everyone why they had retired when they had their PPV wrestling matches.  However, Camoeron Vessey has joined his uncle in TCW, and that promises to be an exciting addition.  Scythe was joined by Dreadnought to feud with Mr Nuclear, while Human Arsenal has retaken his John Anderson persona and rejoined The Syndicate.  We have just come out of the second PPV of the year, with three months to go until Total Mayhem.

 

 

TCW The War to Settle the Score:

Sifu Storm (c) defeated Shockura (Matt Hocking and Pretty Okakura), Roderick Remus & One Man Army and Findlay O’Farraday & Matthew Keith to retain the TCW Tag Team Titles in 11:31 (80)
Hellion defeated Matty Faith in 7:41 (80)
The Syndicate (Joshua Taylor, Ernest Youngman and Mr Anderson) defeated Mainstream Hernandez, Freddy Huggins and Lenny Brown in 18:43 (80)
The Blonde Brigade (Davis Wayne Newton and Nelson Callum) defeated High Flyin Hawaiian and Flying Jimmy Foxx in 7:43 (73)
Wolf Hawkins defeated Edd Stone in 13:47 (90)
Mighty Mo, Bryan Vessey and Cameron Vessey defeated Aaron Andrews, T-Bone Bright and David Stone in 17:37 (79)
Scythe defeated Mr Nuclear in 13:02 (83)
Steven Parker defeated Ranger in 20:50 (93)
Jay Chord (c) defeated Jack Bruce to retain the TCW World Heavyweight Title in 12:50 (87)

Overall Rating 89

 

Current Title Holders:

World Heavyweight Title – Jay Chord (2^nd reign) – 2 defences

World Tag Team Titles – Sifu Storm (Ricky Storm and Sifu) (1^st reign) – 3 defences

Television Title – Roderick Remus (1^st reign) – 7 defences

King of Kings – Mainstream Hernandez

Tag Team Trophy – Doc Hammond and Lenny Brown

Edited August 28, 2022 by eayragt

[eayragt]

TCW Presents Total Wrestling:

 

Jay Chord started the show, goading Jack Bruce about his victory on Sunday.  Jack Bruce came out and accepted the defeat (to the whole Empire), sarcastically telling the champion that Rip would be proud of his boy.  That riled Jay Chord up, telling Bruce that he is the only Chord, and should be respected.  Bruce told Chord that was sad to hear, but he had a job to do – find Jay Chord’s new challenger.  He announced that the winner of the fourway between Aaron Andrews, Steven Parker, Wolf Hawkins and Mighty Mo would go on to Battleground to face Jay Chord.  He also announced that the TCW Tag Trophy would also return at Battleground, but this year only wrestlers who had never won gold in TCW would be able to enter.  That meant holders Lenny Brown and Doc Hammond would not be able to defend their Trophy, although they did team up once more in defeat to The New Syndicate, who the commentary team hyped as a huge threat to anyone else hunting the Trophy.

 

The main event saw a great battle and a huge surprise as Steven Parker pinned Mighty Mo, who was busy celebrating after he had levered Andrews and Hawkins, who were fighting one another, out of the ring.  Parker looked stunned after the three count followed a Future Shock, with Wolf furious outside the ring.

 

Sifu Storm retained the TCW Tag Team Titles against Shockura, while a potential Tag Tournament Team of Huracan Sandoval and El Hijo Del Neutron bit off more than they could chew against Jay Chord and Spencer Spade, especially when Hellion attacked Sandoval outside the ring leaving Del Neutron exposed.  That brought Jack Bruce out again, to tell Hellion that he needed to stick to his own business.  The two went face to face, neither man willing to back down, before Chord pulled Hellion away.

 

The team of Chris Flynn, Nick Gilbert, High Flyin Hawaiian and Joffy Laine all showed interest in the Tag Tournament, with Flynn pinning Raphael.  Matty Faith also wanted to throw his hat into the ring, with Mr Nuclear giving his blessing for him to find a partner (as Mr Nuclear’s title win last year made him ineligible), as did Jared Johnson and Marc DuBois.  Finally, Matthew Keith defeated One Man Army in a match that I thought I must have run before, but I hadn’t.

 

The New Syndicate defeated Hammond & Brown in 10:34 (89)

Matthew Keith defeated One Man Army in 7:27 (70)

Sifu Storm (c) defeated Shockura to retain the TCW Tag Team Titles in 13:19 (82)

Chris Flynn, Nick Gilbert, High Flyin Hawaiian and Joffy Laine defeated Frederique, Davis Wayne Newton, Nelson Callum and Raphael in 10:36 (73)

Jay Chord and Spender Spade defeated Huracan Sandoval and El Hijo Del Neutron in 8:07 (80)

Steven Parker defeated Mighty Mo, Aaron Andrews and Wolf Hawkins in 26:15 (94)

 

Overall Rating 93

 

That is by far away Steven Parker’s biggest victory in TCW – he’s our eight most popular wrestler, above Bruce, Scythe, Bright and Stone, and is consistently solid.  It’s March 2022 and he hasn’t lost a match since the beginning of January – and his last singles defeat came at the hands of Spencer Spade back in November.

 

The Tag Trophy has been pulled a month forward this year to Battleground.  Originally, I was planning to have a massive faceoff between The Empire and The Syndicate at the PPV, but I just couldn’t get it to work.  There will be a couple of multi-man matches, but the Trophy filled the holes.  With the stipulation that no competitors could have previously held gold in TCW before it should be a chance for some of the wrestlers down the card to show their worth.  Until you realise some of the wrestlers who have yet to win gold that I can push here.

 

There was a backstage segment in the show between a group of faces (Mainstream Hernandez, Lenny Brown, Freddy Huggins, T-Bone Bright, Edd Stone, Roderick Remus and David Stone) with them working out who was eligible to enter the Tag Trophy tournament (Bright, Hernandez and David Stone is the answer), which I accidentally booked Davis Wayne Newton in (trying to book David Stone, who I then added later).  Somehow, he came out of this segment with a new promo, so I’m going for “I deserve a chance”, and I might redo his whole gimmick around this.

 

If you were very early you got to see Gilbert Vessey in one of his last chances to impress before getting released, facing Flying Jimmy Foxx.  No chemistry.  Rating of 28.  He’s got a lovely few years in the indies ahead of him.

 

 

TCW Saturday Night Showcase:

Findlay O’Farraday defeated Quentin Queen in 7:38 (70)

Nelson Callum defeated Flying Jimmy Foxx in 9:25 (58)

Matty Faith and Akima Brave defeated Masked Mauler and Torii in 8:12 (64)

David Stone defeated Bear Bekowski in 8:11 (67)

Matthew Keith and Pink Spider defeated Huracan Sandoval and El Hijo Del Neutron in 10:24 (70)

Mighty Mo defeated Jaylon Martins in 4:17 (70)

Roderick Remus (c) defeated Pretty Okakura to retain the TCW TV Title in 12:23 (81)

 

Overall Rating 82

 

 

Tana the Mighty and Dread leave after their 3 month contracts signed before Anniversary expired.  Tana didn’t do too much – Dread appeared with his son when he debuted, but the ring was getting a bit crowded and he wasn’t really achieving anything.  He’ll continue to run HGC day to day.

 

TCW Presents Total Wrestling:

T-Bone Bright and David Stone vs Marc DuBois and Jared Johnson in the TCW Tag Trophy Tournament

Matty Faith and Akima Brave vs Matthew Keith and Cameron Vessey in the TCW Tag Trophy Tournament

Roderick Remus (c) vs Matt Hocking for the TCW TV Title

Doc Hammond vs Hellion

Aaron Andrews, Mainstream Hernandez and The Canadian Animals vs Frederique, Davis Wayne Newton, Nelson Callum and Raphael

Steven Parker and Lenny Brown vs Spencer Spade and Dazzling Dave Diamond

Edited August 28, 2022 by eayragt

[eayragt]

TCW Presents Total Wrestling:

 

The show was headlined by Steven Parker teaming with Lenny Brown against The Empire members Spencer Spade and Dazzling Dave Diamond.  Earlier in the show Jay Chord was incredulous that Steven Parker was his challenger at Battleground, but Parker showed his talent but taking control of the Main Event… until Jay Chord attacked him to leave the match a DQ and the champion making a statement.

 

Elsewhere, the Tag Trophy Tournament kicked off, with first T-Bone Bright and David Stone, and then Matthew Keith and Cameron Vessey progressing.  The first match was regular, the second nothing of the sort as Scythe and Dreadnought appeared after a week off.  They targeted Matty Faith, but tag champions Sifu Storm were out to “uphold the sanctity of the tournament” and were joined by Mr Nuclear.  That helped the face team, but Vessey and Keith showed superb technical skills to slow them down, before Vessey pulled out the Vessey Driver II on Brave to progress.  We also learnt that next week High Flyin Hawaiian and Joffy Laine would be teaming up in the tournament, as would Chris Flynn and Nick Gilbert, along with The New Syndicate.

 

Roderick Remus kept up his superb run of performances with victory over Matt Hocking, although the heel had his best singles performance since I arrived at TCW.  Aaron Andrews challenged Bryan Vessey to a match at Battleground, before teaming with Mainstream Hernandez and The Canadian Animals to defeat the group that I’m calling the 4 Non Blondes in my mind, although only some of them are blonde so it makes no sense.

 

Wolf Hawkins was not happy at missing out on a title shot to Steven Parker last week, and he put forward The Syndicate for an elimination match at Battleground to name the next challenger for the TCW World Heavyweight Title, and commentary telegraphed that it would be Hernandez, Freddy Huggins and Edd Stone answering that challenge.  Finally, Hellion defeated Doc Hammond and, as he was about to continue his beatdown, Jack Bruce came out to make him stop, and that looks like it’ll also be a match at Battleground.

 

T-Bone Bright and David Stone defeated Marc DuBois and Jared Johnson in the TCW Tag Trophy Tournament in 14:04 (75)

Roderick Remus (c) defeated Matt Hocking to retain the TCW TV Title in 14:05 (90)

Matthew Keith and Cameron Vessey defeated Matty Faith and Akima Brave in the TCW Tag Trophy Tournament in 9:33 (76)

Hellion defeated Doc Hammond in 7:39 (77)

Aaron Andrews, Mainstream Hernandez and The Canadian Animals defeated Frederique, Davis Wayne Newton, Nelson Callum and Raphael in 11:30 (89)

Steven Parker and Lenny Brown defeated Spencer Spade and Dazzling Dave Diamond in 12:10 (90)

 

Overall Rating 92

 

Hellion going over Doc Hammond was the fulfilment of an offer from Hammond several months ago, but as per usual I had waited so long that Hellion was now already the more popular worker.

 

Next night we had a house show, and John Anderson (Human Arsenal) hurt his back, and he will now miss Battleground (and may struggle to be back for Total Mayhem).  That leaves the elimination match just announced for Battleground slightly in the air, unless… maybe I can make it work.

 

It’s TCW School of Wrestling time and… it seems that they have focused on hardcore wrestling this year.  Sadly, half decent performance, fundamentals and hardcore isn’t quite enough, but they should be able to find employment in the US at some point.  Dustin Batch actually has some decent technical skills, but the Star Quality of a frog, so we only sign:

 

Ben Horn – 18 year old “technician” with decent performance skills and star quality

Jimmy Nash – 21 year old “high flyer” oozing with star quality

Steve Alvarez – 20 year old who may never make it in the ring, but is already golden on the mic

Earl Watson – 21 year old all rounder who will probably never be any more than a midcarder for a smaller company, but has some potential.

 

That’s it, for the moment – none of the rest were rotten, but nothing was standing out.  I do intend to be a bit harsh when HGC contracts are up this year, so they may get the opportunity to come back later.  Gilbert Vessey leaves, and although he has star quality little else sets him apart from this year’s graduates.  He finished with a 13-34 record at HGC.

 

Okay, one worker got a last moment signing – Bonnie Corvus, the first female TCW graduate to get signed to the company.  She’s a tiny little thing with half decent puro and technical skills and is an absolute scumbag.  Much as it’s tempting to send her to MAW to cause a little bit of trouble there, she’s heading to HGC to shake things up a bit.  Meanwhile I moved a couple of development workers to MAW to make way for my new graduates, and Texas Hangman hit the ground running with a Mid Atlantic American Title victory over Ade Nelson.

 

 

TCW Saturday Night Showcase:

Davis Wayne Newton defeated Astro in 7:04 (60)

Lenny Brown defeated D-Pod in 7:20 (62)

Frederique and Raphael defeated Clark Alexander and Jaylon Martins in 8:50 (52)

Marc DuBois defeated Harry Allen in 7:44 (70)

Dazzling Dave Diamond defeated Tigre Salvaje in 4:22 (70)

High Flyin Hawaiian and Joffy Laine defeated Bear Bekowski and Seth Whitehead in 9:18 (65)

Findlay O’Farraday defeated Huracan Sandoval in 10:45 (83)

 

Overall Rating 81

 

That main event was helped by good chemistry, but even without it was a great showing by the two men.  We also discovered that Marc DuBois and Harry Allen had great chemistry.

 

Wow, Des Davids has been on great form for the last two years, but he was widely thought to be booked as the man to get the pin in the Triple Threat match with Rocky Golden and Tommy Cornell at SWF Awesome Impact, with Cornell widely expected to make the pin.  However, it was Des Davids who took the victory, to earn his first SWF World Heavyweight Title, and rumours are he will now feud with Tommy Cornell.

[eayragt]

TCW Presents Total Wrestling:

 

The Tag Trophy continued with Chris Flynn and Nick Gilbert defeating Davis Wayne Newton and Nelson Callum to progress, with Chris Flynn putting in one of his best performances.  Also progressing were The New Syndicate, who defeated High Flyin Hawaiian and Joffy Laine, but it was announced that they would be pulling either double or triple duty at Battleground, where The Syndicate will take on Freddie Huggins, Mainstream Hernandez, Roderick Remus, Edd Stone and Lenny Brown in an elimination match, where anyone left in the ring would get would get a World Heavyweight Title shot.  Two points to note – The Syndicate are looking for another team member as John Anderson’s injury will keep him out, and if Mainstream Hernandez remains in the ring at the end of the match he will be able to pick the type of match in the Main Event of Total Mayhem for his title shot that he earned as King of Kings.

 

Aaron Andrews versus Cameron Vessey is a match that could be main eventing shows in the future, so this wasn’t going to be a clean finish.  The match went over twenty minutes and was booked extremely evenly, only ending when Uncle Bryan Vessey pulled Andrews off Vessey, and the heels beatdown Andrews while the match was being called off by DQ.

 

Scythe and Dreadnought defeated Matty Faith and Akima Brave, and a post match attack was stopped by Mr Nuclear and Sifu Storm.  That’s looking like another multi-man Battleground match in the making.  Then One Man Army proved the odd man out teaming with Roderick Remus against Syndicate members Wolf Hawkins and Joshua Taylor – the match ending after Taylor made OMA submit to the Josh Lock.

 

In the Main Event, Mighty Mo took on Steven Parker, insistent that he was more worthy of a World Heavyweight Title shot.  However, much as Steven Parker has been talked down by his opponents he has proved his skills over the last couple of weeks.  He continued his momentum with a Future Shock on Mighty Mo, and the commentary team seemed to be coming round to him being a real threat.  Jay Chord also seemed to think so, charging out from the back to attack Steven Parker, before Mainstream Hernandez and then Wolf Hawkins joined in.

 

Elsewhere on the show Jack Bruce vs Hellion was signed up for Battleground, while T-Bone Bright, David Stone and Matthew Keith (who have all qualified for in the Tag Trophy) clashed backstage putting over their chances of taking the Trophy.

 

Chris Flynn and Nick Gilbert defeated The Blonde Brigade in the TCW Tag Trophy Tournament in 7:59 (80)

Aaron Andrews defeated Cameron Vessey by DQ in 21:51 (86)

The New Syndicate defeated High Flyin Hawaiian and Joffy Laine in the TCW Tag Trophy Tournament in 8:59 (80)

Scythe and Dreadnought defeated Matty Faith and Akima Brave in 8:20 (78)

Wolf Hawkins and Joshua Taylor defeated Roderick Remus and One Man Army in 13:01 (78)

Steven Parker defeated Mighty Mo in 13:24 (90)

 

Overall Rating 91

 

Some individual ratings you expect to be high. Aaron Andrews (93). Wolf Hawkins (91). Top performer of the night? Ernest Youngman on 96.  His popularity is up to 81, but he’s never quite looked that good before.  The Tag Trophy semi-finals are set, and The New Syndicate will be pulling out double duty at Battleground in the tournament and elimination match.  That was never meant to be the case, but after having announced an elimination match the previous week, John Anderson’s injury left me little option.  The match has, however, been expanded from three to five men, as some other parts of the card have been moved around.

 

TCW Saturday Night Showcase:

Findlay O’Farraday defeated Razan Okamoto in 10:04 (80)

Shockura (Matt Hocking and Pretty Okakura) defeated Tigre Salvaje and Jaylon Martins in 8:39 (70)

Edd Stone defeated Seth Whitehead in 7:55 (75)

Matthew Keith defeated Masked Cougar in 9:31 (82)

The Blonde Brigade defeated Quentin Queen and D-Pod in 7:30 (52)

Mainstream Hernandez defeated Torii in 10:06 (79)

 

Overall Rating 83

 

Saturday Night Showcase was an absolute joy to watch.  Findlay O’Farraday and Mainstream Hernandez met two BCG legends in Razan Okamoto and Torii, and both matches were superb.  However, the highlight was Masked Cougar returning to the South West to face Matthew Keith.  The two men were told to give it all for the crowd, and they put on a wonderful match, with nearfalls both ways before Keith pinned Cougar with his feet on the ropes.  That is officially Masked Cougar’s best match in TCW, and a reminder that I just have not achieved what I wanted with him – and it’s largely my fault.  We also learnt the Findlay O’Farraday would join Scythe, Dreadnought and Shockura at Battleground after being recruited by Eddie Peak.

 

SWF’s second A show, Elite (which goes out on Saturday Night), has it’s run comes to an add.  They still have two shows, with a B show (Sensations) on Friday night.  Elite ended with The Hand member Remo and Eddie Chandler going over Des Davids and Hollywood Brett Starr in a 97 rated match.

 

With a couple of development offers going out to graduates from various training complexes, HGC is beginning to look a little bloated.  Don Diaz (22 year old ultra-charismatic daredevil from the TITAN Factory lacking actual skill) and Benito Gil (24 year old brawler from Lucha Libre de Phoenix who needs a little polish) get sent on a year excursion to EX2010, who have just grown to Medium size.

[eayragt]

TCW Presents Total Wrestling:

 

An interesting show, where the opener was actually the best match of the night.  It wasn’t entirely unexpected as The Syndicate (in the shape of Wolf Hawkins and Joshua Taylor) where given plenty of time against Roderick Remus and Lenny Brown.  The finish came when Mighty Mo’s music hit, revealing him to be the man who was joining The Syndicate’s teams at Battleground.  This caused the distraction to see Lenny Brown being put a way by a Full Moon Rising.  A threatened post match beatdown was averted when the faces were joined by Freddy Huggins and Edd Stone… largely because there would be plenty of post match shenanigans later.

 

Mainstream Hernandez and Doc Hammond defeated The Empire when Hellion got into an argument with Jack Bruce at ringside, effectively leaving Dazzling Dave Diamond in a handicap match that he was never going to win.  Spencer Spade was out to get into Jack Bruce’s face, and Doc Hammond split it up purely to give Spencer Spade a match at Battleground.

 

Aaron Andrews gave a sit down interview about how he respected Bryan Vessey’s legacy, but he had to focus on himself, and if that meant re-retiring a legend, that was meant to be.  The semifinalists in the Tag Trophy Tournament then joined forces, with the heels taking victory after Ranger delivered a Global Meltdown to David Stone.  Masked Cougar was rewarded for his superb match on Sunday with a non-title match against Jay Chord, and it wasn’t actually quite as good.  That was mainly because it was booked as a Jay Chord warm up against a plucky challenger, with Cougar getting far less offence and being put away with a Cradle Piledriver.

 

That left the Main Event, where Steven Parker joined Mr Nuclear to face Scythe and Findlay O’Farraday in an incredibly overbooked match, that saw Matty Faith, Akima Brave, Sifu Storm, Dreadnought and Shockura brawling around the ringside, but the referee had enough when Jay Chord slammed his title into Steven Parker’s head, ending the match in DQ.  The brawl just escalated after the match, with Dreadnought smashing Sifu through a ringside table, and the show ending after Steven Parker recovered to hit a Future Shock on Jay Chord, before he stared at the World Heavyweight Title as it was pulled away by Emma Chase.

 

Wolf Hawkins and Joshua Taylor defeated Roderick Remus and Lenny Brown in 19:52 (93)

High Flyin Hawaiian defeated Frederique in 8:08 (67)

Mainstream Hernandez and Doc Hammond defeated The Empire (Dazzling Dave Diamond and Hellion) in 7:25 (70)

The New Syndicate, Matthew Keith and Cameron Vessey defeated T-Bone Bright, David Stone, Chris Flynn and Nick Gilbert in 12:28 (81)

Jay Chord (c) defeated Masked Cougar in a non-title match in 8:05 (80)

Steven Parker and Mr Nuclear defeated Scythe and Findlay O’Farraday by DQ in 13:34 (89)

 

Overall Rating 92

 

I fully expected the opener to be the best match on the card, but as I planned the rest of the show it got moved further and further forward, until it ended it being an awesome opener.  I did fear worse from the Main Event, but it worked out pretty well in the end.  With ten matches on the card for Battleground, it’s looking like it might be an epic show.

 

Meanwhile HGC’s Wrestleworld’s run comes to an end, so I move them to Public Access Select.  I also replace Tamara McFly as booker with Terry Smith, who was moaning at being down at HGC, so that should keep him happy (but may upset McFly).  On the plus side, he likes more frequent title changes, which is definitely not an aspect of the outgoing booker, and this could keep HGC a little fresher.

 

Clark Alexander has now left TCW (for the third time), having been relegated to Saturday Night Showcase and pre-show duty (he teamed with Harry Allen in defeated to Marc DuBois and Jared Johnson in his last match at the company).

 

Marc Speed has finally done it – he’s been the star of the show since returning to CZCW, but he defeated Frankie Perez in a great match to take his first ever Coastal Zone Championship.  At 39 I’m not sure that he’ll get another chance at a national company, but he’ll still be highlighting cards for years to come.  At the younger end of the scale, Papa Swoll (who’s appears as one to watch on my creative screen) walks out on GSW, vowing to never work there again.  He still works for L-Ring.

 

Light a candle for Gareth Wayne – he may not have wrestled since 2020, but he will be missed after passing away in his sleep.

 

TCW Saturday Night Showcase:

Bear Bekowski defeated Astro in 7:09 (60)

Huracan Sandoval and El Hijo Del Neutron defeated Pink Spider and D-Pod in 11:22 (56)

The Blonde Brigade defeated Quentin Queen and Jaylon Martins in 9:53 (59)

Matty Faith defeated Seth Whitehead in 6:29 (69)

Marc DuBois and Jared Johnson defeated Flying Jimmy Foxx and Masked Cougar in 11:05 (69)

Dazzling Dave Diamond defeated Harry Allen in 6:31 (65)

 

Overall Rating 74

 

Just the one worker who’s booked for Battleground – and Matty Faith ended up off his game.  The show did get an inflation in rating thanks to plenty of hype for Battleground V.

 

USPW Liberty and Justice – Greg Gauge retains the USPW World Title over Nicky Champion in a 99 rated match.  I need say no more.  Meanwhile Petr Novak completes a successful return from quad surgery to regain the USPW Tag Team Titles with Krusher Karloff for their sixth reign (defeating 11 times champions Natural Storm).  Novak is a shell of his former self, but it’s hard to say that he doesn’t deserve it.

 

TCW Battleground V:

Chris Flynn and Nick Gilbert vs Matthew Keith and Cameron Vessey in the Tag Trophy Tournament semi-final

T-Bone Bright and David Stone vs The New Syndicate in the Tag Team Trophy Tournament semi-final

The TCW Tag Team Trophy Tournament Final

Mainstream Hernandez, Lenny Brown, Roderick Remus and The Canadian Animals vs The Syndicate (Wolf Hawkins, Joshua Taylor and The New Syndicate) and Mighty Mo in an elimination match

High Flyin Hawaiian and Joffy Laine vs Frederique and Raphael

Mr Nuclear, Matty Faith, Sifu Storm and Akima Brave vs Scythe, Dreadnought, Findlay O’Farraday and Shockura

Doc Hammond vs Spencer Spade

Aaron Andrews vs Bryan Vessey

Jack Bruce vs Hellion

Jay Chord (c) vs Steven Parker for the TCW World Heavyweight Title

[Dawn]

Matthew Keith & Cameron Vessey
The New Syndicate
Matthew Keith & Cameron Vessey
The Syndicate & Mighty Mo
High Flyin' Hawaiian & Joffy Laine
The team with Scythe on it lol
Spencer Spade
Aaron Andrews
Jack Bruce
Jay Chord

[eayragt]

TCW Battleground V:

 

The show opened with the semi-finals of the Tag Trophy Tournament, and The New Syndicate were out aggressively, keen to get their match over as they could have been in up to three matches tonight.  However, David Stone has shown that he is not an easy man to keep down, and despite Ranger’s attempt to hit his finisher he could not keep to Canadian down.  This frustrated Ranger and he left himself exposed to a T-Bone Slam from Bright, in what would be considered an upset.

 

The next match was a little shorter, with the technical skills of Matthew Keith and Cameron Vessey proving too much for Chris Flynn and Nick Gilbert, the latter of whom fell to a Vessey Driver II.  Then two of the teams who fell earlier in the competition, High Flyin Hawaiian / Joffy Laine and Frederique / Raphael met in a fun little match, with Joffy Laine getting a rare pin on Raphael.

 

Next up we got Jack Bruce and Hellion, and this one was wild.  The ref tried to show some leniency, but when Hellion picked up the ring steps the ref gave him a final warning.  This was ignored and he cracked the steps over Jack Bruce’s head, getting himself disqualified.  Hellion didn’t stop there, striking a prone Bruce once more with the steps, before One Man Army was out to wrestle the steps off the big man.

 

The Elimination Match to determine the next contender to the World Heavyweight Title was announced as a 30 minute time limit, with whoever was in the ring facing the champion next month at Where Eagles Fear to Tread.  Lenny Brown, Ranger and Edd Stone were the first three to go, before The Syndicate realised that partner Mighty Mo was not tagging himself into the ring.  They forced him to take his turn and jumped down from the ring apron to watch, and although he eliminated Edd Stone The Syndicate still refused to tag in, leaving Mo to fall to Freddy Huggins.  From then on Wolf Hawkins, Joshua Taylor and Ernest Youngman tagged regularly, really putting the pressure on Hernandez and Huggins.  The match broke down and the ref lost track of who was the legal man, so when Hawkins pinned Huggins as Hernandez pinned Youngman the ref counted both men out.  Hawkins and Taylor were furious, which allowed Hernandez to quickly roll Wolf Hawkins up in a small package to get the three count.  The Syndicate leader was raging, refusing to leave the ring and arguing with the referee, until eventually Queen Emily had to lead a posse of referees and road agents out to drag Hawkins away.  That ate into the time and as the match went towards to 30 minute mark, and Mainstream Hernandez and Joshua Taylor exchanged finishers but could not quite finish off the other man as the match ended with them both on the mat, exhausted.

 

We changed pace as Aaron Andrews faced Bryan Vessey – paired with someone like Andrews Vessey  can still go, but he’s certainly showing his age.  He tried a few illegal moves and went for the Vessey Driver, but Andrews pulled himself free to hit his new finisher – the AA Lariat – to win the match. We then went into the second traditional Battleground match, this one being just one fall.  Akima was the odd man out in the match, in his first PPV match since a Battle Royale a year and a half ago at the end on 2020.  It wasn’t a huge surprise to see him take the fall, Dreadnought delivering a Dread Bomb to earn his team victory.  Then Spencer Spade defeated Doc Hammond in a match, which was never going to face’s way.

 

The final of the TCW Tag Team Tournament was next, with T-Bone Bright, David Stone, Matthew Keith and Cameron Vessey all giving it everything in the ring.  The match was quality, and it was T-Bone Bright who ended up taking the pin after being hit by an Omega Driver from Matthew Keith to earn Keith and Vessey the Tag Trophy, both men's first gold in TCW.

 

The final match of the night saw Steven Parker challenge Jay Chord for the World Title.  When Steven Parker first joined TCW almost two years ago his first feud was with Jay Chord, and they capped that match with a fine match.  The two men went one stage further here, pulling out a match that was a true Match of the Year contender.  Over 24 minutes the two men gave absolutely everything, and Chord’s claims that Parker was not a worthy challenger were thrown out of the window as he went toe to toe with the champion.  He even delivered the Future Shock, but Jay Chord managed to kick out, and it was at that point that he swung the momentum around before hitting the Cradle Piledriver on Parker to retain his title in his hardest title defence of his current reign.

 

T-Bone Bright and David Stone defeated The New Syndicate in the Tag Trophy Tournament in 13:01 (90)

Matthew Keith and Chris Flynn defeated Chris Flynn and Nick Gilbert in the Tag Trophy Tournament in 10:48 (79)

High Flyin Hawaiian and Joffy Laine defeated Raphael and Frederique in 9:39 (74)

Jack Bruce defeated Hellion by DQ in 8:10 (79)

Joshua Taylor and Mainstream Hernandez drew in an Elimination Match that had been between Mainstream Hernandez, The Canadian Animals, Roderick Remus & Lenny Brown and The Syndicate & Mighty Mo in 30:00 (87)

Aaron Andrews defeated Bryan Vessey in 12:08 (83)

Scythe, Dreadnought, Findlay O’Farraday and Shockura defeated Mr Nuclear, Matty Faith, Sifu Storm and Akima in 12:29 (83)

Spencer Spade defeated Doc Hammond in 10:39 (80)

Matthew Keith and Cameron Vessey defeated T-Bone Bright and David Stone the win the TCW Tag Team Trophy in 11:35 (90)

Jay Chord defeated Steven Parker to retain the TCW World Heavyweight Title in 24:06 (100)

 

Overall Rating 96

 

What a main event.  Would it have been as good without Duane Fry and Emma Chase on commentary?  Probably not, but that’s why I paid the big bucks for them, as in my first year and a half to announcing team really took away from some of our main events.  But the real stars were Steven Parker and Jay Chord who blew the roof away.  Last year Steven Parker teamed with various midcarders to try and help them develop – will this year be the year where he can break the main event?

 

Elsewhere Matthew Keith and Cameron Vessey won the Tag Trophy (more on that later), while Joshua Taylor earned a World Title shot next month.  Mainstream Hernandez, who was also left in the ring at the end of their Elimination match, will now be allowed to choose the type of match that he gets with the World Champion at Total Mayhem, when he cashes in his King of Kings shot.

 

Top individual performers of the night - Wolf Hawkins & Jay Chord 97, Ernest Youngman 96.

 

Quote

 

I was surprised to see JK Stallings the following day.  He always makes an appearance after Total Mayhem, and for my review at year end after Psycho Circus, but I’m not sure what he was doing here.  He was deep in conversation with T-Bone Bright, so I left him to it and spoke with some on the wrestlers.  Eventually Stalling made his way over, pausing to shake hands with Steven Parker.  When he was done, I went over to him, smiling.

 

“Lovely to see you JK.  What a show last night!”

 

Stalling didn’t even crack a smile.  “Sure.”

 

I was slightly caught off guard.  Battleground had been rated my fourth best event ever.  The main event my second best match ever.  I tried to ignore his reaction.  “Steven Parker vs Jay Chord – that’s the type of match we want to deliver at TCW, don’t we?”

 

“Yes.  They did well.”

 

He was too curt; something was bugging him.  I plowed on.  “The Tag Trophy delivered as well – got some of our other wrestlers involved, but the matches were still great”.

 

“Bright should have won.”

 

That was wierd.  Stallings rarely commented on booking decisions, and if so it was more a comment on pushes, like he did with Dreadnought earlier this year, not with individual booking decisions.  And I don’t think it was a bad booking decision.  “He could have done, but Matthew Keith and Cameron Vessey really shone in the tournament – that could be the making of them.”

 

Stallings sighed.  “The making of them?  These are made men – they have both headlined PPVs across the world.  Most of our viewers know this – this isn’t the 90s, the Internet has their whole history on it.”

 

I frowned.  “Sure, some people know that.  But plenty of people didn’t know who Cameron Vessey was when he debuted.  They may know where to look – but they don’t know to look.  We don’t introduce them as “former CWA World Champion” or whatever, we introduced them as “Bryan Vessey’s nephew” and work from there.  We still need to get these guys over.”

 

“But they will still be CWA guys, or PGHW guys.  Parker’s an SWF guy, like Mr Nuclear, Scythe, Hernandez, Spade, Brown, Ranger – you know what I mean?”

 

“Not really sir.  We’re at war with SWF – their choice.  I accept Mr Nuclear and Scythe were already Main Eventers over there, but we’ve taken guys like Parker and Hernandez from the midcard and put them in the Main Event.  That makes them TCW guys”.

 

Stalling shook his head.  “No.  Aaron Andrews is a TCW guy.  Wolf Hawkins is a TCW guy.  Freddy Huggins, Mighty Mo.  You’re either born and bred in TCW, or you spend years here.  That’s what makes you a TCW guy.  Bright has been here four years now – he can become our next TCW guy, and this was his chance.”

 

I shook my head, I wasn't taking that.  “Bright didn’t need this.  He’s had World Title shots, he won our inaugural Two Stages of Hell match.  He’s a TCW man, and he’s here to stay.  He's not tag man - he's a future singles champ.”

 

JK Stalling looked at me blankly, as if he didn't hear a word I had just said.  “I want TCW men okay?  That’s why I told you not to sign anyone else from the big promotions.  Got it?”

 

“Yes sir” I replied sharply. I didn’t. Everyone on the roster was a TCW man.  But Stalling was beginning to annoy me, and I didn’t want to argue to the boss.  He walked off without another word, and I headed to my office frustrated.  I stabbed the keyboard of my computer, reading some glowing reviews of Battleground, but it frustrated me even more.  What was Stallings problem?  I scrolled down the TEW.com’s TCW roster, smiling at Parker being ranked as a Main Eventer.  I scrolled down – Bryan Vessey had fallen down to midcard, but that was expected.  And then I froze.  There he was.  T-Bone Bright, ranked as a midcarder.  I slapped my forehead.  He hadn’t been ranked there for over a year, and that was one of Stallings objectives.  He technically could have sacked me for this.  I exhaled slowly.  It had all been going so well, but suddenly my job was hanging on by a thread.

 

 

The only problem with that show?  T-Bone Bright’s defeat in the final of the Tag Team Trophy saw his popularity fall from 86 to 81 in the Mid South, failing my goal to keep him at 82 popularity or above.  Everywhere outside Puerto Rico and Hawaii he is more popular than that, but JK Stallings hasn’t taken that into account.  I did recently review my goals and as Bright was so significantly above this level I didn’t consider that this defeat would have taken him below this value.  If I had done, I would have at least kept him strong (or at least not have him taking the pin in the final), although that would have affected the match rating.  Stallings opinion of me has gone from exceptionally pleased to disappointed, but on the plus side Matthew Keith jumped 11 points of popularity last month (66 to 77), as did Cameron Vessey (43 to 54), so I still stick to my guns and say it was the correct booking decision.

 

Although you know what – I’ve just looked back at all my PPV Main Events since I’ve taken over.  The only new signings ever to wrestle the main events are Mr Nuclear, Mainstream Hernandez and Steven Parker (for the first time last night).  So I think I can safely say that the show is based around true TCW wrestlers.  Whatever Stalling says.

 

Well done Dawn for 8/9 correct predictions - I'll exclude the time limit draw, which although looks an awful booking decision, it there were reason for it...

 

TCW Presents Total Wrestling:

One Man Army vs Hellion

Chris Flynn and Nick Gilbert vs The New Syndicate

High Flyin Hawaiian and Joffy Laine vs The Blonde Brigade

Sifu Storm (c) vs Shockura for the TCW Tag Team Titles

Freddy Huggins vs Marc DuBois

Steven Parker vs Benny Benson

Lenny Brown vs Joshua Taylor