SCCW 1998: Wrestling with Class

[etthebrain]

 

Episode 1: Wrestling Lives!

Rocky: Hello and welcome to Wrestling with Class, I’m Rock Downpour and I’ll be your host. And here with me today, my broadcast partner of yesterday, today, and tomorrow: Shane Sneer!

 

Shane: Hello, hello. First time in a long time I’m sitting in front of a microphone and not pissed off. Let’s keep it that way, Rock.

 

Rocky: Sure thing, boss. You wanna tell the people why we’re here today?

 

Sneer: Well, if you somehow tuned into a radio show er clicked into a podcast or whatever without knowin what it was, first of all, you’re too dumb to listen.

 

But with that being said, we’re here to relive the greatest period in wrestling history: the early days of ol’ Southern Class Championship Wrestling. Back when I signed the paychecks.

 

Rocky: You only ever paid me in cash, but I can’t complain. Yes, we are here to break down the start of SCCW, back when it was just a name. I’ll be asking The Bossman some questions and feeding him tape, but if you wanna join in in the future, make sure to boot up your devices and send us some using the hashtag #AskSneer. And please keep them PG.

 

Now, with that out of the way, we’re gonna start where it all starts, with Wrestling Lives 1998. But Shane, before we get into the show, let’s talk about some important backstory: how did you end up hiring my pretty face?

 

Sneer: Ugh. Reluctantly, Rock. Reluctantly.

 

Rocky: I’m sure. But seriously, you’re starting this company in a time for wrestling that’s both hot and heated. DaVE —

 

Sneer: Effin’ DaVE.

 

Rocky: DaVE is pulling ahead in the East Coast Wars, you know, RPW is still making a splash, PPPW is on life support. XWF is doing whatever they do. There’s a couple other companies, like CZCW, making a living, too.

 

Meanwhile, up in the “big leagues” at that time, you’ve got the burgeoning HGC going up against SWF.

 

Sneer: Let me stop you right there, because I can answer your question just off of that. In the regional companies you’ve got no sense of camaraderie outside of maybe PPPW and NYCW, everyone’s kinda fighting it out. And mostly the guys getting buzz are these Dumb and Virgin Extremists who don’t know wrestling from a high school brawl. Even the PPPW guys, Andrew Barber and Marcus McKing, ended up working with us because of how tough a time they were having trying to convince people to watch wrestling in a world of sycophants.

 

So, let’s just say I was unenthused about regional wrestling at the time.

 

Now, up on a national level, TWL had been long dead by ‘97. And to haul out Rip Chord still trying his damn hardest and job him out to AARP-card bearing Sam Strong was an embarrassment. HGC was about 85% crap and 15% toilet paper. But they start to put the heat to Eisen. Now Eisen, to this point, I have a begrudging respect for. He killed the territories for which I will never forgive him, but until then he at least seemed to carry himself like a promoter should. With class and dignity.

 

But the second a new competitor is on the scene, Eisen starts trying to appeal to all of the same sickos that Vibert was. And at least Vibert is creative and consistent. Eisen fires Nemesis and chooses to job out Cornell over some blood because the kids might get scared, then a year or two later he’s rolling out barbed wire. This is when it became clear to me that Eisen would hand his wife over to the milkman for a discount.

 

And to add on to that, he starts handing kids signs at his shows to make fun of Sam Strong’s little vanity company. He gets down in the mud and not only sells wrestling out, but then tries to act like it’s savior.

 

So, suffice it to say, I am not a happy man about the state of wrestling in early 1998. And I get to talking to Angry Barber about it all, which means we’re both sitting around a bottle of whiskey and sending our blood pressure to the sky, and he tells me something I didn’t expect to hear.

 

First he says, ‘Shane, you gotta get in the business. Put on a wrestling show somewhere away from all this.’ And I tell him kindly to go… can I swear?

 

Rocky: You can not, not on our Network.

 

Sneer: I tell him kindly to go have some alone time with a Vaseline bottle and he says, ‘No, Shane, listen. A guy came to me and offered a deal.’ So I says, ‘What guy?’ He says, ‘King Loud.’

 

King Loud? The hip-hop guy?

 

He says yup, King Loud. Turns out just like the Stallings guy, this King Loud is a big mark and he wants in on the business. But unlike Joke Kid Stallings, Loud doesn’t like any of this new hardcore crap. He likes old school rasslin’. And he had tried to cut a deal with PPPW but wanted me to move and they didn’t want to.

 

Now, I’m not a smart man, but I also ain’t a fool. So I ask for the kids number and we get to talkin’ and by May he hands me a company and a $500,000 bank account.

 

Rocky: $500,000?

 

Sneer: Well, $420,000 but that’s beside the point. He hands me a lotta doggon money and he says, ‘Go out and put a show on.’ And I like to listen to the guys who help me out so I get ready to put on a show.

 

Rocky: And that show is SCCW?

 

Sneer: Course it is. I mean I knew with that kind of money we could keep the wheels on this thing for a while. The first thing I tried to do was get TV, I had a friend who I won’t name down at Florida Access TV who I talked to but he said we couldn’t cut the deal. So, the show was always SCCW. But we couldn’t get TV without a resume, so it became Wrestling Lives first.

 

Rocky: Okay, so Shane Sneer is unhappy with what other people call professional wrestling. You get a crazy check from an esoteric music producer who tells you to take the money and don’t tell him what you do with it. If this is in May, that means you have to get things ready pretty quick before the Sunday 2, June. What’s the first steps?

 

Sneer: Well, the first step is to get Barber back on the phone. I told him and Marcus I cut the deal, but I need some hands. Called up Boss Hoss, too, and he came down right away. Me and him sat and started cutting all of these tapes we had, most shot on a hand cam, of various wrestling shows. I mean we dug deeper than a Bush in Texas. The PPPW and my friend at TV helped us put together the crew, I had our first two belts made, and Hoss and I got puttin’ together the roster.

 

And to answer your early question, you were the first on-screen talent I called.

 

Rocky: No way. You’re lying to me.

 

Sneer: Now Rock, why would I lie in a complimentary way? You really were. I may not have liked it but I was watching all of the CZCW tapes since they started. You were rough at first but you picked up quick. I knew that New Yorker talk was fast enough to keep pace with me. And you knew the names of every move, even if you made some up at times. And I liked your look. Big guy, looked like you belong in a wrestling company.

 

Rocky: You don’t even have a TV deal at that point, though.

 

Sneer: No, but I knew we weren’t far. My mindset was do the first show, tape it. Make it good and get the tapes to someone at TV. They’ll cut a deal. And that’s exactly how it worked out.

 

Rocky: That’s right it did. Showing your brilliant mind, as ever.

 

Sneer: That ain’t brilliance, that’s just knowing what’s on your plate. I knew I could get the deal if we threw a touchdown on the first play. I haven’t seen this show in years, but if I remember right it’s worth 6.

 

Rocky: Roll tide on that. Anything else we should cover before we get into the show?

 

Sneer: Nope, let’s roll it.

 

Rocky: Alright then, let’s get to it. You don’t want to break down the roster?

 

Sneer: Man, we’d be here all day. We had what, 40 guys? That’s too much for now. We’ll do it as we go.

Rocky: Well, first a word from our sponsors, the lovely people who keep me and The Boss eating. But when we come back, it’s Shane Sneer and Wrestling with Class on SCCW Wrestling Lives 1998.

[etthebrain]

SCCW Wrestling Lives 1998

 

Rocky: Alright everyone, welcome back to Wrestling with Class and, Shane, what a start to a wrestling company. In with a bang. Later on in the night we’re going to crown the inaugural SCCW Champion and Tag Team Champions, but first we’ve got a little pre-show.

 

First up, we have The Hype reportedly winning a 10-man battle royal. Shane, the other 9 participants don’t appear in any reports, do you remember who we might have seen here?

 

Shane: Sure. I know you’ve got Brent Hill, who is the last out in this one. Jack Griffith, Taylor Morton - later Acid. Dario Shelton, Dead Bolt, Jean Cattley, Randall Hopkirk, Phil Templeton. And a very young, very green Rich Money.

 

Rocky: Not a bad showing.

 

Sneer: No, I mean obviously a lot of those guys would go on to have solid careers. Brent looked like a star that night. Hype had more talent than anyone I’ve ever seen, except for his well documented issues.

 

To be honest, I let Hoss book this one. I just knew a battle royal would get the crowd going and I wanted to get these guys warmed up to our new crowd. It was a filler thing.

 

Rocky: And the record books reflect it. Speaking of, next up we have our first tag team threeway of the night. Before the lights go up, it’s Controlled Chaos, that’s Chris Morisette and a recently masked Enygma, defeating Bart & Brett Biggz and Guide and Scout, The New Wave. Nothing is written of the match itself and our cameras didn’t capture it.

 

Sneer: Don’t worry, if you wanna see this match you can go to a home improvement store and look at paint swatches. You’ll find it under green.

 

I’ve always been a big fan of teams, but I might be the only one. So we found these guys with little to no experience, ‘cept Enygma and Chris. And those guys I always struggled with cause the ringwork was great with them, but they couldn’t figure it out as characters. So this was a training match, get a win on two soon-to-be stars. That’s it.

 

Rocky: Did you ask Gene to wear the mask?

 

Sneer: I did. Angry hated it and to be honest I’m not big on masks, but he connected with the fans so much better with it on.

 

Rocky: Alright, that’s enough questions for this one. Let’s get on to the main show.

 

Now, the first thing this crowd sees is my smiling face and your grimace, as we welcome them to SCCW. You intro me even though I’m irrelevant to them and I cheer to a good show. You tell them all you wish you didn’t have to sell tickets because they won’t appreciate what they’re about to see. That’s a way to make some ROI.

 

But don’t worry, wrestling starts. Some electric guitars start wailing and Boss, that’s Jack Bruce making his way down. Can’t make out how the crowd is reacting but it sure is a lot of noise. His hair’s flowing, people are loving or hating it. Shane, how do we get Jack Bruce in our little indie fed in 1998?

 

 

  

 

Sneer: He was in HGC at the time, but not exclusive. They were hoping he’d work Japan or Mexico. Well, along come I. He was good at his schtick and we needed something loud.

 

Rocky: And loud he is. Crowd still roaring, we get our next competitor: Steve Flash is gonna come down here with Boss Man Brayfield in his corner. Why’s that?

 

Sneer: He can’t talk. Never could talk, never was gonna talk. Simple.

 

Rocky: Fair enough. The bell rings and these two lockup and they’re putting on a clinic. Bruce is gonna win the HGC Cruiserweight title soon and he’s showing it, selling the hell out of Steve’s impact moves but wriggling out of submissions. Steve’s gonna start working the legs because of it, eventually locking in the Boston Crab for the win.

 

Sneer: Don’t forget now. I had you call it the Maryland Crab. Make it a little more Southern, just a little.

 

This was a really solid match and these two could really tell a sporting story. That crowd stayed hot for Bruce. Solid start.

 

  

 

Rocky: And we follow it right up with a backstage segment, which I think we did a version of in the arena. The lovely Emma Chase is asking Black Hat Bailey about his upcoming match and Bailey has some great lines, let’s hear em.

 

Quote

Bailey: Well, Emma Chase, let me tell you why I’m wearing this black hat. It’s what I wear when I’m chasing. And tonight I’m chasing the Southern Class Championship and I’m gonna beat Rick Horn’s old, haymaker throwing ass on the way to it. He can punch and punch and punch and he can try and take my lunch money. But you can’t out bully a bully. So I might be fighting for a title and a prize, but he’ll be fighting for his life. And I want what I want more than he wants to live.

 

Sneer: What a way to build a match. He might not be the best promo ever, but I’d put the mic in Bailey’s hands before a title fight 7 days of the week.

 

Rocky: And well earned. I’m fired up 20 years later.

 

Now, I know how Bailey got here, the old Eisen use-em-up, but how do we secure a young Emma Chase?

 

Sneer: Gotta give the credit to McKing on that. He had an in with some New York wrestling schools that she had stopped into and, well, that man only knew two things. So, he gave me some tape she had made in a promo class and I’ve got two eyes and two ears so we hired her.

 

Rocky: Wonderful eyesight, even better ears. But I have even bigger questions about this next match.

 

First out is Barry Kingman, The Crippler II. Boy he looks like his dad, and some older fans let him hear it for that.

 

But his opponent, on his way out to the slowest hard rock ever, is Tommy Cornell. Shane, how?

 

   

 

Sneer: I touched on this earlier but it’s simple. Tommy had been with Supreme, got color from Nemesis, and got on the Eisen naughty list. His contract ended and everyone thought he’d be off to Hollywood or back in 21. But turns out he had a clause in his contract that kept him out of HGC for a few extra months, but he wanted to stay in America. So, he was on the market. And even a young Tommy here was obviously solid.

 

Rocky: That he is. He and Barry immediately lock up, roll around on the mat, til Barry gives up and starts brawling. This unleashes Tommy who starts to hit back and we get an intense brawl until Barry gets a surprise sleeper. Tommy breaks, hits a DDT, puts on an armbar, we trade submissions for a while. Some catch, back to submissions, Tommy hits a Rough Justice, the ref gets down and

 

The bell rings. The match has ended in a time limit draw. The crowd goes wild.

 

Sneer: 20 minutes in a second. I wanted a draw on the card and here’s a chance to make 2 stars. These kids were young and full of piss and vinegar, let them tear into each other. This was one that got tapes traded for a while.

 

Rocky: Sure did.

 

2-for-2 on the night, and we’ve got some jaw-jacking before the next one. You get up to introduce the

 

Sneer: Ugly as hell Tag Team Championships. Silver was a good choice but man, these did not show up on TV. Fine in person.

 

Rocky: Horrible on TV. And on top of ugly belts, you get interrupted by our good New Jersey stomach ulcer Floyd Goldworthy. He says you asked him to bring his best, and that offended him because he always brings his best. And now because he’s offended, he’s gonna bring his best and he’s gonna being trouble. Big Trouble! The worldly big brawler comes down, alongside the competitors in the next match, the not-yet walking scars The Peak Brothers. And behind them, the no knee having Giant Redwood. The Troublemakers. Any notes?

 

Sneer: Floyd was the perfect heel manager. I was redeemable to this crowd. This guy talked like Sky Stallone and carried himself like a hotshot. Big Trouble got into some deathmatch stuff but not here, so whatever. The Peaks are freaks. And I know a lot of people hate Redwood, but he always had the look. Kids and marks don’t think about ‘he’s stiff,’ they think, ‘That big scary guy is hurting that guy I like.’ So, happy with it.

 

     

 

Rocky: Next out in our championship threeway is The Centurions, Phantoms Freak and Zero, accompanied by Travis Century and the teenager-influencing Scarah. These guys are creepy but no backstory yet. Just a little shouting about the year 2000.

 

Sneer: Tell a Floridian that something opposes God and they’ll start breaking toilets. Good stuff.

 

Rocky: And finally, The Boys in Blue, Officer Easyway and Hardaway.

 

Sneer: I wasn’t getting into any half-face/half-heel mess. These guys were gonna get cheered for playing by the rules but booed for being cops. So I have them playing down the cop angle here. It’s fun get up but not a gimmick. The gimmick is Hardaway’s the hot tag.

 

Rocky: But not here. He never gets into this slobberknocker of a match, as both Doug Peak and Phantom Freak wail on Easyway to start. Then The Peaks drop the rope and start brawling, causing trouble. The Phantoms do a little twin magic, get called for it, but it’s enough to keep Easyway down. The Peaks then start going for the guys on the outside, but Century catches them. That means Good Cop gets 2-on-1’d til Zero gets the pin.

 

Sneer: Like I said, there wasn’t exactly a wealth of teams available. It was always going to be The Centurions. But we had to pull out some of the stops to make it entertaining to get them the belt. Bonus points for putting The Peaks on down South.

 

 

  

 

Rocky: Next out is your boy Barry Bowens, The Runaway Train. He gets trailed by the young Richard Blood who sees a bit of a scared pop. He gets in the ring, here’s the bell, Barry beats the bell out of him. Plays with his food a bit, let’s Rick get a reversal and some offense before finally crushing him.

 

Afterward, Dark EAGLE and Dead Bolt come out to celebrate. On commentary here, you’re gonna sell that these are your guys, your Alliance. They’re here to keep things classy.

 

Sneer: I believe I said that I wouldn’t give them preferential treatment but that these guys were going to play like a team. And that I would coach them to win at all costs except for each other.

 

Barry, obviously from Canada. He had legitimately come down to learn from me. EAGLE had gotten booted from HGC but still wanted to try American wrestling. And Bolt had a good look, although at this point he hadn’t been wrestling long. We figured he’d take losses, at least.

 

Rocky: And Blood?

 

Sneer: In 1998, he’s a job guy. But Barry is very giving. That’s why he gets offense.

 

  

 

Rocky: Next out is Big Trouble, who we’ve met, followed by Shawn Gonzalez. Shawn gets a huge pop from the Florida Latino audience.

 

Sheer: Which is part of why he’s in here. This batch is more competitive than the last, but Trouble is getting up to sone unnecessary roughness. That wears Shawn down, Trouble doesn’t stop, he leaves Shawn beaten in 2 senses.

 

This is textbook stuff. Heel overdoes it against baby face, gaining heat and gathering sympathy. Fine, but next.

 

  

 

Rocky: Well, Boss, you’re next. We see your grimace as you introduce the much better looking SCCW title, then Bailey comes to the ring. I think he smacks a hot dog out of a kids hand here, what a heel.

 

Sneer: I fined him $2.50 for that.

 

Rocky: It gets at least $3 worth of boos, though, and that breaks into cheers for Rick Horn. Rick’s seen better days but he still looks rough and tumble. The crowds eating it up. He hits the ring and Bailey jumps him, leading to an all out brawl. Bailey really does act like he’s trying to kill Rick for that title, but Rick is holding his own. This is basically a boxing match with a few big slams from Bailey until he does get haymakered, giving Rick time for the three count and crowning your inaugural SCCW Champion.

 

Sneer: It may not have been the match of the night, and Rick wasn’t filling arenas any time soon, but here’s a statement of who we are. This is southern rassling right here. And these guys really set that hook, Horn especially looked the part.

 

I’m proud of this as the first main event. I mean it sold tickets, it demonstrated the product, and it gave you a reason to come back. We all knew Bailey wasn’t done, and you knew you had other big tough guys behind him. If you’re building a champion in one night, that’s what you want.

 

So I’m proud of it.

 

Rocky: And that’s the show.

 

Sneer: After some applause. People loved the show, and enough tapes ran around that we sold out. Looking back on it, I think this is an above average show. Expensive, but better than anyone thought it would be. Enough to get us on TV.

 

Rocky: Very solid, and now available on streaming. Just like this podcast. Join us next week for our weekly Q&A, followed by a breakdown of the build to and the first SCCW Action Special. Boss, anything to add before we go?

 

Sneer: Here’s a quick story: in that pre-show tag match, Brett Biggz had been on the road for like 40 hours before. He had to travel between shows and school. So, being a young kid, he hadn’t washed his clothes. Didn’t think he needed to.

 

So, get this. He’s doing a headlock on Morrissette and rubbing Chris’ head against his tights. The next day, Chris calls to tell me he got pink eye from it. Asked if I could cover the meds, So I say yes, then I call the Biggz kid to let him know to wash his trunks. He says yes sir and we never had an issue again, but Morrissette wadn’t happy about it, either.

 

Kids, though. They learn.

Rocky: Just like *you* will when you join us next week for the build to the first Action Special!

Edited September 22, 2023 by etthebrain

[etthebrain]

SCCW TV: July 98 Week 1

Rocky: Welcome back to Wrestling with Class -

Sneer: Off to a hot start, Rocky.

Rocky: That we are, and getting hotter. Last week we talked about the initial SCCW show and how the company came together, this week we’re going to cover the very first SCCW Action Special and the three episodes of SCCW TV leading up to it. Bossman, any initial notes?

Sneer: Just a quick thank you to the fans for all of the clicks and views or whatever, thanks for listening. It’s been awesome going back and watching all of this and seeing all of the appreciation for it.

Rocky: Rasslin ain’t dead.

Sneer: No, it ain’t. Amen.

Rocky: Alright, then on we move to the show and Boss, we’re about to debut SCCW TV; taped on Mondays, broadcasted Fridays at 10 on Florida Free TV. Shane, do you wanna talk about the behind the scenes stuff?

Sneer: I’d love to but there isn’t much to go into. My friend John down at the station liked what we had going on and was willing to give us a slot. Fridays at 10 weekly and every third Sunday, 9-12 for Action Specials. Locked that in for 6 months, figured we could lose money til then. A quick deal and we whipped together a production team in a couple weeks.

Rocky: Why are we taped here?

Sneer: Live costs money and makes mistakes, simple as that. Wadn’t no reason to be live.

Rocky: And is this why we ended up in Florida?

Sneer: Pretty much. Obviously we wanted to be Tennessee-based, but you get TV and a venue in Florida and you don’t fight it. Didn’t make much difference besides.

 

 

Rocky: I guess that all makes sense. Well, let’s boot up our telemachines then and get to work. The show is gonna start here from a high school that we dressed up. We get a shot of you and me in the booth and then this brilliant SCCW graphic. We’re talking up the last show and the crowning of Rick Horn and we’re gonna cut to him.

Sneer: Yup, and right about here is when I knew he was the right first guy but wasn’t going to be our champion for long.

Rocky: We’ve got him talking to Emma, who asks him about his title victory. Rick has a nice line in reply to Bailey, “he said this was going to be a fight for my life but I knew that when we put the title on the line. I believe in the South and I believe in our wrestling and I’d die for it.”

Sneer: That is a nice line but it didn’t land too hot. Rick is authoritative, he’s tough. But he isn’t riling up the crowd. It’s lukewarm.

Rocky: Are you feeling that in the moment?

Sneer: Be honest with you, I felt it before. I knew Rick could tread water but I didn’t think he could swim. He’s a great hand.

  

Rocky: And now we cut back to the ring where Barry Kingman is going to fight over that tie with Tommy Cornell.

Sneer: Feel bad for Barry here. Tommy is just swallowing him up.

Rocky: Yeah, they’re hot for TC.

Sneer: Credit to Barry, he picks right up on it. Isn’t afraid to put Tommy over. He sells the tie up like it’s World War Two. And what a display of chain wrestling here. I mean these guys boom-boom.

Rocky: Boom-boom indeed. They’re gonna go back and forth like that for about 15 minutes. Barry working the leg with crabs and toe-holds, Tommy working the head with locks and sleepers til he can hit a Rough Justice for the 3.

Sneer: No notes. Notice that the final pin was the only attempt for a straight pin fall. Every other time the ref is down is incidental. A masterclass out of the kids.

Rocky: Truly some great stuff. And now Travis Century and his goth girlfriend Scarah are on screen. Travis has an hourglass here and Scarah’s going “tick-tock, tick-tock.”

Sneer: Isn’t this phenomenal? Spooky.

Rocky: Suddenly Travis smashes the hourglass and says, “The clock ticks faster.” And here’s Tayler Morton and The Phantoms with the tag team gold. They say all ghostly “we’re the chaaaaaaaaaampions.” And they repeat and repeat and repeat until we fade to black.

Sneer: We were shooting these on the beach at night which came out so much better than it had any right to.

Rocky: Yes sir and we’re gonna see more of these in the coming weeks. Let’s save some commentary for then.

  

Sneer: What a coincidence that we follow it up with a #1 contender’s match for the tag titles.

Rocky: A real cowinkydink. Here come the wild Peaks and their tamer, Floyd Goldworthy. And after them The Boys in Blue. The story of the match is that the Peaks can’t be contained.

Sneer: Real specialists these guys. They couldn’t wrestle at this point but they had NCAA football backgrounds. Let em fight.

Rocky: And that’s they’re fatal flaw as after ten minutes of flailing about the ring they lose stamina and let Hardaway get Doug in a sleeper for the win.

Sneer: Tick-tock.

Rocky: Now this next one I have questions about. Here’s Randall Hopkirk looking younger than I remember but Shane, he’s alone?

Sneer: Yup, him and Jane aren’t out yet. So we didn’t know.

Rocky: I forgot there was this period. Well, he’s a little bit freer on his own. He’s gonna call out Jack Bruce here and he’s gonna drop the gem about “I don’t like hair metal cause I don’t have any hair” and that’s reason enough for a fight at the Action Special.

Sneer: He’s bald and he’s mad. That’s wresting right there.

  

Rocky: If you say so, Boss. Cut away from that and back to the ring, we’ve got Shawn Gonzalez on his way out, looking serious. Brent Hill comes down a bit after for their fight and this one is as good back then as it would be now. They go back and forth with impact moves, Gonzo turns on the jets at the halfway mark though and starts working his angle. Brent keeps cheating his way out of the Crab but Gonzo eventually gets it locked in for the win.

Sneer: Last week I had you saying the Maryland Crab, now we’ve got the Latino Crab, Shawn’s is special.

Rocky: What makes it a Latino Crab?

Sneer: Well, you see, he’s got both legs but he’s got Brent up a little further than normal so that’s a Latino Crab.

Rocky: Sure, sure. A Latino Crab. How we feeling about the loss on Brent here?

Sneer: Not good, but Shawn needed it. I promised Brent we wouldn’t let him look like a fool but he knew that we needed to build some babies. He was a professional about it, didn’t mind.

Rocky: A main event loss isn’t the worst thing, and that is our finale. We’re gonna wrap up here with an announcement from you: next week we’re introducing the Florida Championship and Dark EAGLE is going to wrestle Chris Morrissette for it. And I’m gonna give you the business for booking one of your guys for the title and you tell me to shit up and remind everyone when our time is.

Sneer: I still don’t see the problem, honestly.

 

Quote

OOC: Now’s probably a good time to acknowledge the dynasty but I don’t have much to say. I simmed CV97 up to the point where SCCW debuts and took over. I loved SCCW on the old 01 mod and felt like there was a chance to do something with it. Obviously things are already diverging pretty hard from canon, and I’ve cheated our story forward a bit. Chose the podcast format because I’m tired of the husks the Conrad podcasts have been and I thought it worked for Sneer. I probably won’t do predictions - can’t justify it in universe - but if y’all want to throw questions out for Sneer please do. Oh and like: long time lurker, been around since TEW10 when I was much younger, new account because of forum changes, now just have some time and space to make something, let’s see how long ADHD lets it go. (Also shows are going to have to get shorter cause just this and the next 3 are like 6k words.)

 

[etthebrain]

SCCW TV July 98 Week 2

Rocky: On to the second episode, we intro again, get that graphic but then boom: Jack Bruce is sitting on his wall of amps to respond to Hopkirk.

Sneer: Who’s with Jane at this point by the way. But I gave him the night off to let it settle in with the boys.

Rocky: Which makes decent sense. Jack’s going to respond to some of Hopkirk’s comments, heel it up. He isn’t what he’s gonna be yet, that’s for sure. But he calls Hopkirk out of touch, says he isn’t radical, says Bruce will always fight for the spirit of the glam.

Sneer: I mean he’s still got the face. This is who you want on TV. We already can’t keep the cheers away but no one wants to see him win yet. Everyone just wants to see who he’s gonna be.

Rocky: If they only knew.

  

Rocky: Down at the ring we’ve got EAGLE coming out for his championship fight. I’m going to keep calling you a cheater and abuser and so on but the crowd is actually kinda into his weird shtick. Morisette gets a big sympathy pop, no one thinks he’s winning.

Sneer: But they want to anyway. And that’s good booking. A decent match too. EAGLE can just dodge everything and hit these Japanese spots. The eyerake, I love it.

Rocky: Short and sweet, but there is a spot here where EAGLE’s gonna try for a hurricanrana and gets some extra torque that almost hurts Chris.

Sneer: I feel bad for him, honestly. He was pretty pissed but cooled off quick. Two pretty safe workers too, just some bad luck on his part.

  

Rocky: And it’s about to be bad luck for you. Boss Man Brayfield is about to walk out with Steve Flash but he’s gonna stop and chew you out on the way. With that thick accent, “You grifter, you fish oil salesman, how come your boys get easy shots but mine get nuttin?” And I’m agreeing with him and giving you even more business.

Sneer: I loved this so much. The memories.

Rocky: You would love getting yelled at.

Sneer: Built companies on it.

Rocky: Meanwhile, we’re going tit-for-tat but Rich Money hit the ring. Flash follows him out and the two engage in some technical wrestling.

Sneer: Steve let’s Rich get in a good couple spots, some taunts, even tries to pay him off. Shows how classy he is, I told him not to.

Rocky: He gets a dominant win regardless.

Sneer: God, here’s Floyd.

Rocky: Yup, we cut backstage to the camera room where Floyd has taken over. Of course this is actually the editing room because we aren’t live.

Sneer: HGC had done an angle like this. I was being mercantile.

Rocky: Regardless, here’s Floyd, Trouble, Redwood and the Peaks to talk. Floyd says Shawn Gonzalez really pissed the boys off but not as bad as Rick Horn winning the title. So we better let Big Trouble get a title shot at Action Special or

Sneer: Or there’s gonna be Big Trouble. Boy growls like a 4x4.

Rocky: Other notes?

Sneer: The Peaks actually shine here, poking around. Like elemental chaos. They’re enjoying it. And you and I actually also mention the Gonzo/Redwood match, just quickly.

  

Rocky: Now Black Hat Bailey comes trudging down to the ring, gives someone the finger which we mess up hiding a little bit.

Sneer: Oops, you hate to see it.

Rocky: And after him is The Hype who the crowd is pretty into here. He’s a looker and he seems to connect. A little glassy eyed if I remember, not that the cameras know.

Sneer: Bailey wouldn’t be in the ring if Hype wasn’t ready to go.

Rocky: He’s working a little snug here, giving him some real haymakers. Hype puts up a fight, gets a crossbody and a snapmare into The Hype Kicks. But Bailey fights back with some big punches and gets him right in the jaw, pinfall, 3 count, Bailey wins.

Sneer: Still chasing. The crowd isn’t happy about this one.

Rocky: Cut to backstage where Emma Chase is talking to Brent Hill about his loss. He says he’s disappointed and he wants to prove himself at Action Special by issuing an open challenge. And before he can finish here comes Tommy to accept.

Sneer: Still has an accent here. That’s starpower, babyfacing in the south with a cockney accent.

Rocky: We plug the show and the new match for Action Special, as well as a slate of title fights. Any notes?

Sneer: We book EAGLE vs Flash but then there’s a Florida Championship match next week. Amateur.

Rocky: Of course that’s what’s on your mind.

 

Quote

OOC: I got sick as hell this week. Is there like a pandemic or something?

 

[etthebrain]

SCCW TV July 98 Week 3

Rocky: Alright, week 3 time. We kickoff with the camera set up in a smoky dive bar, where Rick Horn is delivering a promo on Big Trouble.

Sneer: This is better work than earlier, in my opinion. Rick feels more at home here. I love the line about “I been through trouble and I made trouble but I clean trouble up.”

Rocky: Yeah, and he really does know to sell the championship. He’s willing to go to war, he says. But before he can say too much he gets cut off: Black Hat Bailey walks in. Bailey whispers something to him that we can’t hear. And Horn doesn’t like it, tells him to know his place. The two end up lunging at each other and getting pulled apart. And then we cut back to me and you and a graphic to start the show.

Sneer: Three’s a pattern, so we had to break it up here. Helluva cold open.

Rocky: Despite his extracurriculars, Bailey is down in the ring next. He comes out and riles everyone up, does the title thing around his waist. Meanwhile, Jack Bruce slinks his way over to commentary and he’s gonna let us know just how he’s going to beat Randall Hopkirk’s, he calls it, Hopkirk’s “unruly offense.” What’d you think of Bruce on commentary here?

Sneer: I wouldn’t have made him full time but he did a fine job. Course he had an alright dance partner. But he did a good job of getting Hopkirk over while still heeling it. Kid was always good.

  

Rocky: And now Randall is down for the match and he’s got Jane with him. Boss, talk to me about Firefighter Jane.

Sneer: Hey, Jane Lauper here. She was in the business and dating another kid, Firestarter, in NYCW. Things had gone bad between them but they kept up the work for a while. Word is she ends up meeting Randall in early 98 and the two fall in love but don’t want to say anything. Then the other kid gets mouthy, and it gets outed. We brought her in mostly to make Randall happy. She wasn’t horrible but they don’t work crazy well on-screen. And I’m sorry to say that our audience maybe wasn’t as happy about an interracial couple on their TV screens at the time.

Rocky: Did that get pushback?

Sneer: Of course it got pushback. We got some letters.

Rocky: You ever think about cutting it off?

Sneer: Nope. Maybe if it was just wrestling. But this is real life love we’re talking about, even if it wasn’t destined to work out. I’m not gonna break up a real life couple on screen because people don’t like it. He ain’t Sam Strong’s kid, you know? His momma and his poppa were fine with it, I was fine with it, and way I see it is you should be fine with it. I wrote back to some letters about some of the race stuff going on and told people precisely where to leave their opinions in the future.

Rocky: You know, some people think you’re racist.

Sneer: I probably am, being honest. You know, not bad or nothing. But we’re all a little racist. That’s okay, I just try to be better about it. And I would implore all of my fans to be the same.

Rocky: Roll tide on that, brother. Anyway, we don’t have to linger on it. Let’s talk about wrestling.

Sneer: The booking of this match is really confused. Basically, we need to keep heat on Bailey while also prepping the crowd for Randall on Sunday. Luckily, Bailey is one of the best to ever do it. People don’t talk about him like that but he is. So he let Randall look tough, they beat the hell out of eachother, but Randall stands there and takes a lot of it. It makes Randall look tough while letting you know who the big dog is. Good stuff.

Rocky: Bailey really did put the company on his back. A Greg Jennings of his time.

Sneer: You mean like the Green Bay kid?

Rocky: Something like that.

Sneer: I always feel like you’re saying something I don’t get.

Rocky: Well, you know what you do get? You get to book Shawn Gonzalez and Emma Chase in a quick interview. She asks Shawn how he feels about being paired up with Redwood and Shawn says he isn’t worried about El Gigante, El Arbol. He says that the fight within him is taller than any man could ever be.

Sneer: I would’ve put money on Shawn as the biggest star on our roster at the time. And I loved the way his accent made his promos sound, he has this sizzle. Suddenly Redwood is this mythic figure and so is Shawn. Love it.

  

Rocky: Not much of the same in our next match, The Boys in Blue are here to take on The New Wave. Classic battle here, the police versus the military.

Sneer: Is this the worst thing we’re putting on TV at this point?

Rocky: The tag teams?

Sneer: No, The Boys in Blue. I mean, come on. Guide and Scout are like still taking community college classes here and they sell their gimmick more than those other guys ever had.

Rocky: So, why are they on the screen?

Sneer: Cause they’re a babyface-ish tag team to hold us over for later. I mean look at the match. A couple funny gimmicks, putting on the shades after a suplex or whatever. The wrestling otherwise is fine. But they’re not landing with the crowd and The New Wave are nonames at this point. Ugh.

Rocky: You said it, not me.

Sneer: This is the first thing I’m really unhappy with, and judging by the commentary I wasn’t happy then, either. “Another win for the police, they needed it.” They did, though, so that The Phantoms could get heat.

Rocky: Don’t beat yourself up too much, cause now we’ve got Emma Chase again. This time she’s talking to Tommy Cornell about his success so far and his big match coming up. He tells her that he knows he isn’t the best, but he believes he can be. Brent might have a better resume, but Tommy might be the better wrestler.

Sneer: And we’re gonna see on Sunday. I mean I couldn’t have scripted it better.

Rocky: What are you telling these guys at this point?

Sneer: Depends on the guy. But the younger guys not much. You can’t coach a blank page. You need to know what’s on it first. And Bruce and Cornell and Gonzo coulda written in Sharpie if they wanted. They all started off pretty good.

Rocky: Any coaching points for TC looking back?

Sneer: Don’t believe the heel, kid. Don’t believe the heel.

  

Rocky: True baby to true baby, The Hype enters the ring to challenge for the Florida Championship next. Shane, he lost last week, what’s up with this?

Sneer: He lost to Bailey, which is a good loss. And he’s a babyface who can main event TV so… people weren’t watching weekly, anyway.

Rocky: Following him out is the Florida champ Dark EAGLE, flanked by Barry Bowens and Dead Bolt. Remember Dead Bolt? He’s also part of the team. EAGLE gets a smoother opponent this week, him and Hype go back and forth with what you keep calling their “high risk offense.”

Sneer: Yeah, but I said Hype’s wasn’t calculated like EAGLE’s. Sorta believe that one.

Rocky: And that’s how it ends up going down. They’re switching between these intense, Japanese style sequences and big dives til eventually Hype goes for a big elbow and EAGLE rolls out. That gives him the upper hand, but Hype gets a key hurricanrana reversal into a powerbomb, gets the momentum. Barry then hops in to trip him up, pull him out and beat on him. That gives EAGLE the opening to get the pin.

Sneer: Not the finish you want, but it puts the final pin in Sunday. We got Barry vs Hype and you and I book it right away. Plus, now we know that EAGLE really will fight Flash.

Rocky: Closing it out, we got to another remote location. This time, Travis Century and The Phantoms and Scarah and Tayler

Sneer: You can just call them The Centurions.

Rocky: Right, The Centurions are back out in the dead of night, but this time there’s sirens. Police sirens. Travis is talking about how this is The Boys’ car, how they take what they want when they want. He says none of it will matter in the end, then takes the camcorder and points it at the clock in the car.

Sneer: Expensive rental, but worth it. This at least made the feud look like something interesting and not whatever we had going on. You can buy heat sometimes.

Rocky: And that’ll send us home to the special.

Sneer: Not half-bad for a quick build, I think.

Rocky: I’m certainly hype. Let’s get a quick word from our sponsors and then to the show!