Plankton

I just started X-2 over again, this time using a walkthrough so I can get a 100% completion. I missed a lot of stuff the first time around, and this time I'd like to experience the whole game. I think I'll tackle V when I'm done, as I've yet to play it.

Plus, considering actors from shows like Seinfeld and Friends received several million per episode, by comparison, $500,000 is fair for the amount of work they do.

The Friends cast got $1,000,000 an episode for the last couple of seasons, and only Jerry Seinfeld got paid that much on Seinfeld.

Fair enough. I Googled this topic to be more accurate this time. Jerry Seinfeld was offered $5 million an episode for an additional season (which he turned down). The rest of the cast were netting $600,000 an episode. This is according to imdb. So this is still the norm of the business, and I think people would be hard pressed to argue that others deserve the money more than they do. I'm not saying it would be bad to disperse it more evenly among the crew, but few people are more responsible for the success of that show than the actors.

I love the 3D Mario games (Mario Galaxy has been especially amazing so far), but as I played through some of the 2D versions recently, I started to wish that they would make new 2D Mario games. Then I realized that they did on the DS, but I've never enjoyed playing portable games. Maybe they'll be available for download on the Wii sometime.

Fox makes a ton of money off of The Simpsons, and it is in large part due to the talent of the actors (and, to be fair, they do more than just reading off of paper). I think if other people are making a lot of money off of your work, then it's okay for you to demand a large chunk of it because without you, the higher-ups wouldn't be making their money.

And I don't buy the idea that any voice actor could do their work. The famous Homer scene where he sings "I am so smart, I am so smart, S-M-R-T... I mean S-M-A-R-T," was a a legitimate mistake, and improved on the spot. The producers are always pointing out the little things that the actors do to make the show better. Of course they don't do the toughest work out there, but they are an intricate factor of a show that generates a lot of money, so they're certainly within their rights to ask for more. Sometimes it's not just the amount of work you put into a project, it's what your work helps generate, and the producers consistently point out in the DVD commentaries what the actors do to contribute. Plus, considering actors from shows like Seinfeld and Friends received several million per episode, by comparison, $500,000 is fair for the amount of work they do.

Basically, I feel the same way about this as I do about athletes making an obscene amount of money: it is ridiculous, but the money is being made; it has to go somewhere, and actors (like athletes) can make a very solid argument that their contributions are hugely important. The alternative is to either go through the trouble of reworking the contracts of other people who contribute so the money is distributed better (which, as we saw with the writers, is very complicated and would not happen), or a ton of it goes to a bunch of higher-ups. The actors deserve it.

Hopefully they'll release the Transformers and GI Joes on DVD for reasonable prices, unlike the last sets that came out. They're one of the few cartoons from that era that I think still hold up.

I like Roger & Me and Bowling for Columbine. Sicko was good, but seemed like mostly fluff and little substance to me. I like that he showcased the positives of other health care systems, but he obviously dodged the vast majority of the negatives and, in the end, offered no real solution. I was fine with it being left somewhat open, but that created a lack of focus. I wish he would have gone back to the focus of the beginning of the film where he told horror stories of the American health care system, and followed then follow that up by making some kind of plea to how we should try to introduce some of the better ideas from other countries. The ending just felt flat. Although I liked Columbine, I thought it had a similar feel; the overall story was better though. Roger & Me just had a great story in general.

I didn't like Fahrenheit 9/11. It just felt a little too preachy. It was as if he wanted the film to be as fun as Supersize Me and as serious as Why We Fight, and while I think it was a good idea in theory, it didn't work for me.

As a public figure, I like Laid Back Michael Moore, but find Serious Michael Moore to be overly pretentious and preachy. In the past I've defined him as someone who gets people talking, but I think the weaknesses of his films (more specifically, the lack of counterarguments) cause the discussions on his film to be more focused on how biased he is rather than the actual topic. This is why I was mostly disappointed in Sicko. Most of the press that I saw focused more on the counterarguments he ignored. I think if he would have focused a bit of his film on the flaws of the other systems, and then at the end suggested we take the positives and use them to fix the negatives of the American system, there would have been more discussions on what could be done and how it could be done. In the end, Moore's unwillingness to bring significant focus to any counterarguments in his films leave the after-film discussions not nearly as productive as they could be.

That's just me though.

My wife loves dogs and we have a rat terrier/chihuahua mixed breed, so we'll probably end up owning this and watching it several times.

Sons of bitches.

Although chihuahuas typically really do not like children, so a lot of parents are going to buy their kids chihuahuas because of the cute movie and a bunch of kids will get their faces bitten. So at least there's that.

The wife and I watch a lot of Scrubs and The Office. Lately, our go-to movies have been Kill Bill and Borat. Nothing else really comes close, but it looks like Walk the Line might find itself in heavy rotation soon. It's a good fall-asleep-to movie.

GTA IV and the Lego Star Wars game. I barely ever buy games unless I can pick them up used, so I'm just waiting until these are $10-20. I'll probably get the Star Wars game for more, but there will be so many GTA games used in about 6-12 months that I won't spend more than 20. Oh, plus I still need a 360 (a minor set back). But I'm pretty much not going to even care to have one until GTA is a cheap buy.

Plus Myle's Pizza (!!), which I greatly miss.

Toledo seems to get a bad rap, but I always thought it was a nice city. We ended up moving to Kent, but Toledo was our second choice. We could have joined in all the Finkbeiner-bashing.

Voted.

And I didn't know you were from Toledo. I just moved from Bowling Green area about a month ago.

I pretty much am playing some installment of Madden about 6-9 months out of any given year, and especially during the NFL's season. Our PS2 bit the dust recently, so that's stalled. I'd get it on the Wii, but I heard there's no create-a-team mode, so I guess I'll have to wait until I either buy a new PS2 or get a 360.

I also like to either be playing some installment of Final Fantasy (6 and 7 especially) or Earthbound, but again, with no PS2, I'm out of luck with FF, and Earthbound isn't available on the Wii yet.

Lately, with only the Wii, I've been playing a lot of Mario3 and Super Mario World over and over. And Star Fox 64, which is incredibly replayable.

Band of Brothers really is ridiculously good, but extremely depressing about the time they get to the medic episode. But then again, I can't think of any war films that are uplifting. I guess Black Book wasn't a downer, but that was more of a World War II era film than a war film. I don't think they showed any battles.

I just watched and bought Seven Samurai this year and was really surprised with how well the entire movie held up. It's not as if older movies can't still be enjoyable, but when you're watching a mid-50's film and you forget that fact at some point, that's pretty awesome no matter what the era. I would say it's so well-done it will hold up at any point in history.

When I worked as a plumber, occasionally a leaf would fall on my head and I'd grow a raccoon tail and have the ability to fly for short periods of time. The only exceptions were when I was given the leaf by royalty for a good deed; I could fly for quite a while with those.

Coincidentally, my video game habit had nothing to do with that. It did cause me to stab people though.

It would be worth your while to purchase a few cheap Sinatra CDs. All the Way was our first dance song, which worked out well. You can also throw in My Way for fun. We thought about playing that or The Clash's Should I Stay or Should I Go as a joke, but didn't for some reason.

[Hey, everyone. The next few installments to the Florida Wrestling Empire will be very important and experimental. As you may have noticed, updates have decreased due to boring reasons that I won’t bother you with. In the interest of continuing this, I thought I would try shortening stuff and contribute to answering the age old Dome question “does longer mean better?” I never thought it did, but there definitely is a thing such as too short. Personally, I feel pretty good about shorter results, seeing as the AJ Quinn perspective gives extra insight.

All of that said, I want to know what you think, but I want to give both you readers and myself a few shows to get comfortable with the new format before making any judgments. I’ll be honest, my biases lie towards shorter results. I never liked long results (writing or reading them) and I probably never will. But I do know that some of you like it (I’m looking at you, Big Sheep). Sounds good? I hope. I don’t know who most of you people are, but someone’s reading, right? Right, fellas? Hello?]

Chaos TV

December 14, 2006

Miami, Florida

Joey Styles welcomed fans to the show and hyped up some of the matches for the night. He specifically put over the presence of Homicide and Low Ki.

TJ Wilson (w/ Harry Smith) vs. Chad Collyer (w/ John Walters)

Joey talked about the upcoming rematch between The Trinity and The Stampede Bulldogs. He said he felt like the Bulldogs had a pretty good shot at winnin the titles at End of Days.

TJ Wilson made it a point to show off quite a bit during the feeling out process. In fact, he showed off for pretty much the entire match and did quite well against Collyer in the early stages. However, Harry Smith kept yelling at Wilson to get serious.

Styles: Harry Smith is getting almost outright angry at his tag team partner.

Collyer mad a comeback at the expense of Wilson being distracted by Smith. Collyer poured on the technical offensive. This lasted for several minutes until Wilson reversed a suplex into a huge DDT. Wilson then hit some flashy moves and ended the match after a Rolling Stampede.

Winner: TJ Wilson

Smith went in the ring to celebrate with Wilson, but TJ didn’t seem too interested in a group celebration.

[Quinn says: It’s nice to see TJ Wilson shine in singles competition. I’m glad they gave this one about ten minutes. This was fast-paced fun that reminded me a little of Owen Hart and the 1-2-3 Kid’s sprint at The King of the Ring. Collyer was good here, but he was pretty much just keeping up with Wilson. If this is only a taste of what TJ can do, I’m really excited to see him in a longer match.]

Rating: ***1/2

The Doghouse has Arrived

Homicide, Low Ki, Julius Smokes, B-Boy, Boogalou, and Steve Mack entered the ring. Joey referred to them as The Doghouse, the name of Homicide’s wrestling school where he trained Ki, Smokes, Boogalou, and Mack.

Homicide: Fuck Dan Maff and The Chosen!

The fans cheered.

Styles: Well that’s to the point.

Homicide: And fuck the Florida Wrestling Empire!

Some of the fans cheered a little bit, but for the most part, they seemed confused.

Homicide: You see money in Dan Maff? You think I’m going to be some kind of professional? You obviously don’t know who I am. I’m Homicide and I don’t give a fuck about anyone but me and my crew.

Joey made sure that fans knew he was referencing some things said during the podcast.

Homicide: We’re not here to compete. We’re here to kick ass. We’re here to kill The Chosen. We’re here to make Dan Maff pay for the path that he has chosen. Dan Maff has made a big mistake. The FWE…

Homicide made a small sinister laugh.

Homicide: You guys made a big mistake. But we’re not here to fuck with you. Low Ki, Smokes, and I, we’re here to do what we need to do: Raise Hell against The Chosen and Dan Maff. B-Boy, Boogalou, “Brooklyn,” they’re here to raise Hell and make names for themselves. We got our feet in the door, and now it’s time for payback.

Rating: 67

The Chosen (Masada, Hernandez, and Jack Evans w/ Don Callis) vs. The Doghouse (Homicide, B-Boy, and Boogalou w/ Julius Smokes, “Brooklyn” Steve Mack, and Low Ki)

The fans were a bit torn on The Doghouse. Joey said it seemed as though they weren’t against the FWE—they just weren’t loyal.

This was a crazy brawl that eventually spilled to the outside. Masada, Hernandez, and Boogalou pretty much stuck to brawling. Boogalou most notably was working similarly to New Jack.

Homicide was brawling quite a bit, but he hit a few high risk maneuvers, the biggest of which was his signature tope. B-Boy also hit a few high risk maneuvers.

Jack Evans was the real star of the match. He was hitting a ton of aerial offense and was basically getting folded up by The Doghouse. Joey put over his resilience and said that if he added more offense to his strategy, he could be a surprisingly hard-to-defeat opponent.

The match ended after Low Ki and Steve Mack interfered a little to help contribute to Masada and Hernandez getting beaten down. Homicide and B-Boy were alone with Evans in the ring. Cide hit the Cop Killa (Joey made sure to use the edgier title) for the win.

Winner: The Doghouse

As Joey was talking about how destructive The Doghouse had been, Dan Maff ran into the ring by himself, hit B-Boy with a stiff clothesline and nailed a super quick Burning Hammer on Homicide. Ki, Smokes, Mack, and Boogalou ran to the ring, but Maff had already hightailed it out of there.

[Quinn says: This was a fun, standard crazy brawl (oxymoron?). Evans’ ability to nearly kill himself helped raise this above average. This could be a really insane feud if Jack keeps on bumping like that.]

Rating: ***

Colt Cabana vs. Apolo

Joey put Apolo over and called this the biggest match of his American career so far.

This one surprisingly was not a squash. It looked like it would be at first, but Cabana started taking it easy on Apolo in a mocking sort of way, causing Apolo to take advantage of the situation. Apolo started hitting some power moves on Cabana and there were some really close near falls that had the fans jumping out of their seats.

However, Cabana managed to regain control after a few clever reversals. This seemed more like a mental victory than anything else. He then managed to hit the Pepsi Twist followed by the Anaconda Vice for the win.

Winner: Colt Cabana

Cabana mocked Punk’s straight edge pose as he celebrated his win.

[Quinn says: Aside from one minor gripe (that there was no build-up to the Vice), this was a pretty awesome short match. The near falls were extremely well-timed and, due mostly to Cabana, these two were able to get the maximum response out of a fairly meaningless match. Sure, this was here to get the Vice over, but what should have been a squash was a lot more fun.]

Rating: ***

Davey Richards (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. Matt Stryker

Joey talked about how Davey Richards was going to be defeating each of Liger’s opponents until he had defeated them all. Since he had already beaten Punk last week, a win against Stryker tonight would essentially tie him with Liger.

Stryker controlled the early portions of the match with power moves. However, Richards kicked things into high gear near the end. Stryker was able to keep up okay, but Richards’ offense was too quick and brutal. He eventually hit the Go2Sleep 2.0 to win.

Winner: Davey Richards

Richards and Hart beat Stryker down at the end until Liger ran in for the save. Richards and Hart bailed immediately. As they left, Hart demanded that Richards get the final match in the Farewell Tour.

[Quinn says: Really good stuff. Richards is impressing me as a singles wrestler. Like the Wilson/Collyer match, this one seemed more about Richards than Stryker. However, during a few of the sequences, mostly near the beginning and end, Stryker looked really good. His ability to fly and brawl works well against Richards. I’m not exactly a Stryker fanboy, but I wouldn’t mind seeing him more dominant if they wrestle again. Overall though, both guys worked a fast match and sold well. Stryker was working up to the Strykerlock and Richards sold the leg all throughout and convincingly worked around it. I like a good nod towards psychology.]

Rating: ***1/4

The Onslaught Express vs. The Towers

This was pretty even at first. Eventually Luger started to cheat like mad. He kept on trying to get Windham to cheat as well, but Windham was too much in the spirit of competition. The Towers were on completely different pages and both were too stubborn to give up their preferred way of doing things.

The Express quickly took advantage of this by isolating Luger and applying a lot of submission holds on his neck. Luger eventually nailed Parker with a running elbow, but it was only right after Parker made a blind tag to Pawluk. Luger put Parker in the Torture Rack, but Pawluk ran in, clipped his legs, and rolled Luger up for the win.

Winners: The Onslaught Express

Luger was pretty livid and started yelling at Windham.

Styles: It looks like Luger wanted Windham to interfere.

Windham just sort shook his head and walked out on Lex.

Styles: Are we seeing the end of The Towers?

[Quinn says: The Express’ offense was quick and fun. Luger wasn’t exactly on his A game this week, but I really like what Windham was doing. He’s been donning much more of a smashmouth style that suits his age and size limitations.]

Rating: **3/4

Brock Lesnar vs. Necro Butcher

Joey noted the numerous scars on Brock Lesnar’s back from the Deathmatch. He wondered if this match would have a different outcome since it was a straight-up wrestling match. He made sure to add, however, that Butcher was able to defeat Bryan Danielson in a wrestling match only a few weeks ago.

This match was basically just a lot of brawling with Lesnar getting in the vast majority of the offense. Butcher sold like a madman, but every time Brock went for the cover, Butcher would kick out. This was clearly beginning to frustrate Lesnar.

Lesnar started to focus on a lot of body shots as Joey speculated that he was getting prepared to do Butcher away with the F5. However, just as Brock was getting really fired up, Bryan Danielson ran into the ring and started delivering elbows to Brock’s face.

Styles: If there was any belief that Brock and Danielson were going to be civil, it’s been crushed right now!

As Danielson fired elbows away at Brock’s face, Butcher groggily stood up and Danielson ran over and delivered a massive uppercut that sent Butcher stumbling to the outside.

Winner: Draw

Danielson went to the outside to fight Butcher.

Styles: Bryan Danielson wants a piece of Butcher just as much as he does Brock!

As Butcher and Danielson brawled, Brock recovered, grabbed a chair, went to the outside, and blasted both men in the head. All three guys brawled around the ring until every official and road agent came down to split them up.

Styles: Two of these guys in one ring at a time is more than enough for the FWE to handle, what’s going to happen with three?

[Quinn says: Great selling by Butcher. They played up on the strengths of both men. Brock looked like a monster and Butcher looked unpinnable. The ending completely ruined the build-up, but the three-way brawl afterwards was fun to watch.]

Rating: ***

CM Punk Interview

Punk was in the back alone. He said that tonight was about him and only him. He said that he was going to defeat Jushin Liger in a match that will be all about honor and respect. He added that on December 31, at End of Days, he was going to beat respect into Cabana. He said he didn’t give a damn about what Cabana thought about him as a person, but Colt was disrespecting his accomplishments by trying to claim them for himself. He said that Colt could claim that Punk is the biggest son of a bitch in the entire sport and he wouldn’t care, but he’s not going to let Colt deny him of the respect he has earned in his accomplishments.

Rating: 89

Jushin Liger Farewell Tour Match: Jushin Liger vs. CM Punk

This match was awesome. Punk was in clear control in the early portions. Joey wondered if his iffy performance last week was just a product of a bad night rather than Cabana psyching him out.

Liger wasn’t outdone though. He came back with a lot of his signature offense. Once Liger was on a roll, Punk had a hard time gaining his composure. He was pretty much in panic mode for the rest of the match, making a mad dash to nail the tide-changing move.

However, Liger kept his calm and methodically worked over Punk’s neck. When the time was right, Liger nailed a brainbuster and pinned Punk for the win.

Winner: Jushin Liger

Styles: Jushin Liger is now 2-for-2 in the Farewell Tour! Next week, though, he is going to have to either get passed the legendary Ric Flair or the young and hungry Harry Smith.

[Quinn says: Now this is what this tour should be about. Punk and Liger surpassed my expectations by going over ****. Liger’s psychology by working over the neck was sound and Punk’s panicky offense was very well done. It’s really a shame that Liger won’t be a full-time wrestler anymore, but it’s nice that he can go out big.]

Rating: ****1/4

Team Whitmer (BJ Whitmer, Ric Flair, Doug Williams, Juventud Guerrera) vs. Team Andrews (David Andrews, Mike Rotundo, Michael Modest, and Derek Wylde w/ Marty Jannetty and Kevin Sullivan)

Joey noted that Whitmer’s team had more versatility, but, with Modest and Rotundo on the team and Jannetty and Sullivan on the outside, Andrews’ team had more experience.

Whitmer’s team dominated early on by making a lot of quick tags in and out. Ric Flair was pretty adamant about getting his hands on Modest, but Whitmer, the team leader, was aggressively pursuing Andrews and didn’t to consider Flair.

Eventually Flair blind-tagged himself in. This caused a huge rift in Whitmer’s team and they didn’t work nearly as fluidly as before, even though Williams and Juventud tried to hold things together. Even then, eventually Juventud started to work more independently and show off a lot, especially when he was in the ring with Derek Wylde, who he had an awesome sequence with. Wylde looked really good in this portion and Joey said that we were finally seeing his true potential

Once this happened, Andrews’ team hit their stride. They tagged in and out a lot, and at one point, Andrews and Modest worked well as a team and nailed a suplex/crossbody combination on Whitmer for the near fall.

Eventually the match broke down a bit. Rotundo was on the outside brawling with Juventud and Williams when Wylde to the outside from the ring and nailed a double clothesline on Williams and Guerrera. Joey said that Wylde had the ability to pull off risky moves in fluid fashion.

This left Flair, Whitmer, Andrews, and Modest in the ring. Andrews took Whitmer up to the top turnbuckle with him and prepared for a superbomb or something similar. Whitmer fought back and lifted him up for a superplex, However, Andrews struggled to get out of it, causing both men to spill to the outside.

This left Flair and Modest in the ring alone. Flair had been getting pretty beaten down throughout the match, which Joey chalked up to the fact that the champ was going to have a target on his back in any match. He was already pretty groggy as Modest hit a belly-to-belly and applied a bear hug. He then hit another belly-to-belly straight from the bear hug and then a northern lights suplex into a pin for the three count.

Winners: Team Andrews

Styles: Michael Modest has pinned the FWE Champion and there has got to be a lot of doubt in Flair’s mind right now if he can defeat Modest at End of Days.

[Quinn says: It was pretty slow at the beginning, but once Juvi and Wylde got in the ring together, the pace picked up and never slowed down. Speaking of Juventud and Wylde, they both looked incredible in the ring together and I really hope this is the beginning of a push for Wylde. That double clothesline to the outside was a sight to see as well.]

Rating: ***

Chris Jericho vs. Low Ki

Joey talked about how Chris Jericho had to have mixed feelings about this one. On one hand, he was in the main event in a high profile dream match, but it was against someone who is officially not part of the company and is not involved in anyway with the championship. He talked about how Jericho had been calling this bout a glorified novelty match, but that he would use it to make an example of Ki and elevate himself to a championship match.

Joey noted that none of the other Doghouse members were at ringside.

This had a lot of fast-paced, back-and-forth action. Jericho started by trying to go for the big win early on, but Ki was definitely taking a more methodical approach and looked to be preparing for a longer match than Jericho. Ultimately, this worked out better for Ki.

Jericho, though, was able to change up his strategy and began to rely more on submission holds and worked at an overall more methodical pace. Ki turn things up a little though and started to work stiff with Jericho, who surprisingly worked stuff right back.

The match was really heating up as it looked like they were nearing the end. All of a sudden, the entire Doghouse showed up. As the ref, suspicious about interference, yelled at them to get away from ringside, Homicide snuck in the ring and nailed an ace crusher on Jericho, allowing Ki to make the pin and gain the victory.

Winner: Low Ki

Joey mentioned that Ki had been working over Jericho’s neck and speculated that all of his work was in preparation for the run-in from Homicide with the ace crusher.

Homicide grabbed the mic and said they were going to make everyone in The Chosen’s lives a living Hell, whether they wanted to be part of this war or not. All of the Doghouse members then took a lot of brutal shots at Jericho, bloodying him up. They were incredibly stiff with him and Jericho was just getting murdered. He was wearing the crimson mask and looked just about completely knocked out. Joey wondered why no one in The Chosen was coming out to help him as the show came to a close.

[Quinn says: This was really great stuff up until the interference, which killed the vibe they had going. Still, everything before that was awesome.]

Rating: ***1/2

Overall Rating: 69

Sometimes I find Jack's reactions a bit underwhelming, but I usually chalk it up to him being a surgeon. He's used to disengaging himself in difficult times where he needs to find a solution. Being calm until he finds a response that will fix the situation is his second nature. This was established in the very first episode when he told that story to Kate as she sewed his cut up.

That said, I'm sure there are moments here and there that may be inconsistent to that idea. If there are, I don't think it bothers me. I usually try to find an explanation as to why some of the characters act in sometimes unusual ways. Hey, people are different, right?

But I have to admit, this was pretty timely since I just listened to the This American Life podcast Monday night, which had this quote from Dan Savage:

"...But was the portrayal of heterosexuals on television any better? Do real straight people act anything like those crazy ass breeders on Desperate Housewives? Do real straight people act like the fake straight people on Lost? Does anyone act like the people on Lost?"

Touche, Dan Savage.

By the way, I did like the explanation of the Jericho and Brock signings for your fed. It did initially come off as a "Oh he's just trying to sign every big name free agent, realism be damned" but you've given a rational storyline explanation for this. It's good that it wasn't some half assed "Oh they hate WWE and TNA lol" sort of deal.

The FWE Podcast Show:

Styles: Fans, we have a huge show for you tonight. I’m Joey Styles alongside Kevin Kelly and Tracy Smothers. On our show, we’ll be visited by Mike Enos, Jimmy Hart, and the modern day legend, Chris Jericho. But first off, let’s discuss one of the biggest stories going on right now. Last week on Chaos TV Brock Lesnar and Bryan Danielson were defeated by Nerco Butcher and Dan Maff. And it was no secret that Danielson and Lesnar’s lack of cooperation caused them to lose that match and caused a scuffle between the two afterwards. We have just gotten word this morning that Brock Lesnar has asked for a match with Necro Butcher for Chaos and it has been granted. However, word has gotten around that Danielson also asked for a match against Butcher, but was just seconds behind Lesnar’s request and was furious over not getting the match. Kevin Kelly, is this tension between Brock Lesnar and Bryan Danielson going to last?

Kelly: I think what you have here is two of the most prideful wrestlers in the whole sport, and I don’t necessarily mean that as a compliment. It’s their pride that got them involved with Butcher in the first place. So yeah, I think this will last because these guys aren’t just going to walk away. It’s not in their nature.

Styles: So what does that mean for Necro Butcher?

Kelly: I have no idea. The guy is unpredictable. Will he take advantage of the situation and try to harm Brock and Danielson or will he just take the opportunity to walk away? I really have no idea.

Smothers: Well, Kelly, I think that’s the flaw in your argument that this is a long-term situation. Both of these guys hate Butcher too much to just drop it. Now maybe they’ll get into it some more; I don’t know exactly. But I think what it all comes down to is that both of these guys hate Don Callis and they hate Necro Butcher. I think we’ll see these two guys join forces before they late any problems between them get in the way of getting even with Butcher.

Styles: We’ll have to wait and see how it all pans out. Another big news item, of course, is the Jushin Liger Farewell Tour, which officially kicked off last night when Jushin Liger defeated his friend Matt Stryker. The rest of the matches have been announced as of this morning. Now remember, these matches are all at the request of Jushin Liger. Next week we will see Liger wrestle someone he has personally grown very impressed with, CM Punk. And the next two weeks we will see Liger wrestle a young man he favors as the future of professional wrestling, Harry Smith, and a legend he respects a great deal, Ric Flair. There’s no word yet on whether or not that match will be for the title. But what is maybe of most interest is that the opponent for the final match, which will be held at End of Days on December 31, is still undeclared. Tracy Smothers, who do you believe are the frontrunners?

Smothers: I think if it wasn’t for his tag team title match at End of Days, the match with Harry Smith would definitely be the last one in the Tour. Liger has been vocal lately that he wants to pass the torch down to someone. With the exception of Flair, which seems to be Liger’s only self-interested pick, Liger has chosen opponents who have a big chance at being future legends in this business and a victory over him may be a key factor in catapulting their careers. So I think we have to be looking in the direction of younger guys. Davey Richards has made it very known that he wants a shot at Liger. But you still have guys like BJ Whitmer, David Andrews—Jack Evans is out of the picture because he’s part of The Chosen—guy like Greg Pawluk, Ash Parker, Colt Cabana, and Bryan Danielson are all great choices. But I think as far as frontrunners go, I would say Cabana has to be up there considering his victory over Punk. I like Richards too, just for the fact that he’s put himself out there.

Kelly: I like Richards too. His overall career record may not be at a level similar to Cabana’s, but his determination is makes up for that. Cabana’s definitely out though because he’ll be wrestling CM Punk in the Anaconda Vice Match that same night.

Smothers: Oh, that’s right.

Kelly: I think I’ll personally say Richards and Danielson are up there.

Smothers: We’ve already seen a prominent Danielson vs. Liger match in Ring of Honor, and it looks like Liger is going for fresh match-ups, so I’ll replace my previous pick of Cabana and say Whitmer. He’s proven himself and I think Liger will want to test him in the ring.

Styles: Hopefully we’ll be finding out soon. As long as we’re talking about End of Days matches, let’s talk about the event itself. It’s on December 31, the very last day of 2006, New Year’s Eve. The FWE is going to make sure this is the celebration of the year for all who attend. The event will promptly start at 7:00 p.m. and end around 11:00 p.m. After that, the party will continue in the lobby where drinks will be served. But the big news today is about the matches. Already signed has been The Trinity of John Walters and Chad Collyer defending the Tag Team Championship against The Stampede Bulldogs. Just last night we saw Colt Cabana challenge CM Punk to an Anaconda Vice Match. As of this morning, several other matches have been signed. First off, as we speculated, Ric Flair will defend his Heavyweight Championship once more against the man who pinned him last night, Michael Modest. Additionally, we’ll see BJ Whitmer wrestle David Andrews, which I guess takes BJ Whitmer out of the running for that match against Jushin Liger.

Smothers: When were these matches announced?

Styles: Just hours ago and it’s already shaping up to be a huge event; maybe our best ever. But the biggest match announced is also tied into what is probably the biggest news item of the week. At End of Days we will see Homicide take on Dan Maff. This is, of course, unexpected since it was just last night we saw the surprising debut of six men—Homicide, Low Ki, Julius Smokes, B-Boy, Boogalou, and “Brooklyn” Steve Mack.

Kelly: This is big news for a variety of reasons. First of all, as we have mentioned several times already, there was a major falling out between Homicide and Dan Maff, leaving Homicide to make some very damaging and passionate remarks about Maff, culminating to a declaration that he would not work in any promotion that hired Maff. So seeing Homicide in the FWE, even if he is attacking Dan Maff, is quite a shock. What makes this even more bizarre is that both Homicide and Low Ki are full-time employees of TNA and are premiere X-Division wrestlers.

Styles: To clear up any confusion, we have on the program tonight via telephone FWE President Ted Dillard. Welcome to the show, Mr. Dillard.

Ted: A pleasure, as always.

Styles: Mr. Dillard, the burning question is whether or not Homicide and his crew are welcomes guests of the FWE.

Ted: Homicide and his colleagues are, in fact, guests of the FWE, Joey. We were very aware of the situation between him and Dan Maff and once Mr. Maff began showing up on Chaos TV, we contacted Homicide, who was understandably irate. At that point we began negotiations between both Homicide and TNA to bring him in.

Styles: What were the terms of those negotiations and why did the FWE choose to pursue them?

Ted: Well, Joey, to put it plainly, we’re here to make money and we saw money in Dan Maff. However, we understood the potentially dangerous situation we put ourselves and Dan Maff if we pursued his employment. Homicide is a professional within the confines of the sport, but outside… well, we know what he is capable of and we didn’t want to open anyone up to that.

Kelly: So that’s what’s in it for the FWE, but what about Homicide and TNA?

Ted: TNA is, quite simply, getting paid a lot of money. Additionally, they saw the gravity of the situation I just explained, and they would rather do what they can to keep Homicide out of trouble.

Kelly: If Homicide is that much of a problem, then—and I don’t mean to sound tactless here—but why continue to hire him?

Ted: For the same reason we also want to work with him, Kevin. Homicide and Low Ki are tremendous talents and many fans from across the world love to see them wrestle. They’re huge assets and with talent like that, you cater to them. Simple as that. It’s no different in any other sport

Styles: So we know what’s in it for you, we know what’s in it for TNA, but what about Homicide—the guy who swore he would never work with Dan Maff again?

Ted: I think Homicide put it best himself: Dan Maff has to pay the consequences. Let me set the record straight before anyone takes things out of context. Homicide and Low Ki are only here for two months; they are limited employees of the FWE and they are only here to settle a score—not to win titles or compete. This is a blood feud. The agreement with Homicide consisted of this: One, we would allow Homicide a chance to seek revenge on Dan Maff for crossing him both personally and professionally, as long as his vengeance is within the boundaries of the business. Two, we would not let anyone in the FWE, especially The Chosen, know about these negotiations until the night they debuted. Thirdly, Homicide and his entourage operate under relaxed rules. And fourthly, at the end of the two months, Homicide’s trainees Boogalou and Steve Mack, and his good friend, B-Boy, will be given full-time FWE contracts.

Smothers: Mr. Dillard, you mention that the safety of the FWE and its employees and the chance to hire Homicide and Low Ki for two months are the chief reasons you took this course. But, in all honesty, isn’t the opportunity to present this blood feud the number one reason?

Ted: Well, I’m not going to lie. There’s certainly great appeal in the fact that we get to be the company to showcase a feud that the wrestling world never thought would happen. I’m not sure I would go as far as to call it the number one reason though. We’re here to give our fans the best possible entertainment we can. In light of that, next Thursday we’ll see Chris Jericho vs. Low Ki in the main event. This is a match that some never thought would happen and the FWE will be giving it to our fans.

Styles: That sounds like it will be a tremendous match. Mr. Dillard, thank you for taking time out to clear all of his up for us.

Ted: Once again, my pleasure.

Styles: So, with all of this in mind now, what do we make of the situation?

Kelly: It certainly sheds light onto why the FWE was so willing to go along with Don Callis’ stipulations, but I have to wonder, with all due respect to this company, if FWE officials are more concerned with their own well-being. I would think that forcing Dan Maff to be in the same promotion as Homicide puts him at even more risk. How do we know that Homicide is going to be a professional? Has he really earned that reputation?

Smothers: Agreed. It’s a good question. Homicide is more than just a thug. He’s diabolical and smart. I wouldn’t necessarily trust his word.

Styles: There’s definitely a lot to discuss here, but in the interest of time, we have to move on. Let’s bring on another guest real quick. Mike Enos, welcome to the show.

Mike Enos walks on stage.

Styles: Mike Enos, we saw you observing Apolo last night on Chaos TV. What’s your motivation here?

Enos: Joey, I’m on the lookout for a protégé. It’s no secret that I’m passed my prime and politics and circumstances have held me down my entire career. So what Im doing right now is looking to build a legacy.

Styles: With that in mind, did Apolo fit the bill?

Enos: I liked Apolo. I like what he did in the ring, but I’m not sure he’s the best student for me. I’m going to make sure that whoever I pick as my protégé is someone who shares a lot of the same qualities that I do. That’s the mistake I made in mentoring Tony Kozina.

Styles: So should we be expecting a tag team to work under you?

Enos: It’s always a possibility.

Styles: Thanks for speaking with us, Mike. Good luck on the search.

Enos nodded and left the show.

Styles: So who do you guys think would be a good person for Enos to coach?

Smothers: I think the best choice, Joey, is The Onslaught Express. We know they’re good, but they just need that little extra something to put them over the top. Also, Mike Enos is a tag team expert, so mentoring a tag team, as you suggested, would be the best thing for him.

Kelly: I’m going to say that Apolo would be a great fit. They have similar abilities and I think Enos could always pair him up with someone else so that his tag team expertise is taken advantage of.

Styles: Both good suggestions. Let’s move on and discuss some of the other happenings last night. Josh Daniels turned on Vader after another loss for the duo. What are your guys’ reactions?

Smothers: It was obviously going to happen sometime. It’s been no secret that Vader has been a bit passive, but we finally saw some fire in his eyes last night, which I definitely like. I think Josh Daniels is a great talent, but I wouldn’t mind seeing Vader give him a good old fashion beating.

Kelly: I think last night saw a big change in both guys. Like you just said, Tracy, I think we’ll see a much more aggressive Vader and I also wouldn’t be surprised to see a more devious Josh Daniels.

Styles: Do you think that change in attitude would help Daniels?

Kelly: I think he was getting along just fine the way he was acting.

Smothers: A lot of guys have turned their careers around by dropping the good guy act, Joey, and I don’t think it will be much different for Daniels.

Styles: Well, we won’t be seeing either guy next week, and possibly weeks after, as their falling out means the FWE has had to adjust plans without them. Vader will at least definitely be back in January when Tony Kozina returns, but it remains to be seen what Josh Daniels’ future will look like. Also, we saw a huge upset last night when Davey Richards defeated CM Punk. Are Punk’s issues with Colt Cabana affecting his matches?

Kelly: Davey Richards is a great wrestler with a great manager, Joey. It may have been an upset, but that doesn’t mean that Punk is being psyched out.

Smothers: I think it does. If you look at how he wrestled that match, he wasn’t concerned about beating Richards as much as he was about beating him with the Anaconda Vice. Punk’s psyched out. Easy as that.

Kelly: I think that discredits Davey Richards too much.

Smothers: Oh, come on. Don’t pull that on me. Just because Punk’s psyched out doesn’t mean Richards isn’t talented. I admit, Punk was more focused than I thought he would be and it was certainly going to take a very talented person to defeat him, but he wasn’t all in that match last night.

Styles: Right now, let’s welcome Jimmy Hart to the show to weight in on the issue via telephone.

Jimmy Hart immediately began yapping his mouth.

Hart: You know what, Joey Styles? I’m not here to talk about CM Punk. I don’t care about CM Punk. I care about the future of wrestling: Davey Richards. And the future of wrestling isn’t concerned about what happened yesterday, he’s concerned about what’s happening in the future. And the future, as far as Davey Richards is concerned, is the Jushin Liger Farewell Tour. We want that last spot, Joey. We’re campaigning for it. Davey Richards deserves that spot.

Styles: What makes Davey Richards more deserving than some of the other younger guy in the FWE?

Hart: Because if Jushin Liger wants to pass the torch, Davey Richards is the best guy to take it. He’s already beaten next week’s opponent, CM Punk, and right now I am throwing out a formal challenge to Matt Stryker, who I am confident Davey Richards will defeat as well. Bottom line is, Davey Richards is going to defeat every opponent Jushin Liger wrestles in the Tour until Liger realizes that Richards is the future.

Styles: Thanks for weighing in on things, Jimmy Hart. Let’s move on once again, fans, and discuss Thursday night’s matches. Some have already been announced, but here are the rest. TJ Wilson has thrown out a challenge to The Trinity, asking for a singles match. He’ll face Chad Collyer. Wilson was said to be very upset that his team didn’t win last night and said he would show what he was capable of in singles competition. Do you guys think TJ Wilson’s out of line?

Smothers: This is just the case of a confident, young man. I don’t think he’s out of line and I don’t think he’s doing anything detrimental to his team.

Kelly: I agree. I think Wilson’s just talking a bit of trash and trying to stay confident. If he can beat Collyer in singles action, it’s going to give his team a boost going into that title match at the end of the month.

Styles: Not only will Low Ki be in action, but we’ll also see Homicide, B-Boy, and Boogalou take on Masada, Hernandez, and Jack Evans. How civil and professional will this match be?

Kelly: All hell will break loose, Joey. We know what Homicide and his friends are capable of, so I don’ think there is much question.

Smothers: Exactly. They’re going to want to make an impact and Masada, Hernandez, and Evans will be their first victims.

Styles: Colt Cabana will be wrestling newcomer Apolo. Can Apolo make his mark in the FWE in his second match and defeat one of our top wrestlers?

Smothers: No way. Apolo’s good, but Cabana’s on a roll. At best, Apolo is going to look very strong against Cabana, but he won’t win.

Kelly: I think Apolo actually has a chance. We don’t exactly know what all he is capable of yet, but more importantly, neither does Cabana. I think we could see an upset, especially considering that I don’t think it’s above CM Punk to interfere.

Styles: The Onslaught Express will be wrestling The Towers. Who’s going to win?

Smothers: Like I said earlier, I think the Onslaught Express need that little extra something to put them on the top, and without that, I believe The Towers’ experience will help them get the victory.

Kelly: I’m going to go with The Express. They still may need a little something to make them the best tag team in the FWE, but I think they have enough to defeat The Towers Thursday night.

Styles: We briefly talked about Jushin Liger vs. CM Punk. Who do you guys think will win?

Kelly: CM Punk. He may have been a little psyched out last night, but the stakes are higher this Thursday and a win could change his career. Punk’s coming in 100% focused and will win.

Smothers: I still think you’re underestimating Cabana’s effect on him. Punk’s not the same man we knew last month. Liger’s picking up his second win in the tour.

Styles: Here’s a big one. BJ Whitmer and David Andrews were each told to assemble a four-man team to wrestle each other. Whitmer immediately chose Doug Williams and Juventud Guerrea, saying that he wanted two guys who exemplified two different styles. He then requested Ric Flair, and his inclusion was confirmed soon after. To counter, David Andrews chose one of his mentors, Mike Rotundo. He also made a very risky choice—Derek Wylde—based on a reference from Sullivan, who said Wylde has great potential and could be underestimated in the match. He also chose—and this shouldn’t come as a surprise—Michael Modest, who pinned Ric Flair in tag team action last night. So who has the best team?

Kelly: BJ Whitmer. Whitmer, Williams, and Guerrera could easily be contenders for the Heavyweight Title, and considering they’re alongside the champ himself, Ric Flair, they should be quite a force.

Smothers: I agree, but I also think that Andrews’ team is only one step behind. Andrews and Wylde are both unpredictable since I think they will definitely be underestimated by their opponents. But Michael Modest is the real key component. He’s beaten Williams in the past and knows what it takes to defeat Flair, so I think he definitely neutralizes them to an extent.

Styles: You know, speaking of Modest, he’s been causing a bit of a protest, citing Flair’s blatant low blow on Collyer as a sign of favoritism from the referees. The FWE has taken Billy Robinson’s word that he didn’t see the illegal maneuver, but Modest has called him a liar. He has made a formal request to supply his own referee for their match at End of Days. Is this fair?

Smothers: No, I don’t think it’s fair for the simple fact that Modest could hire someone who will rig the match for him.

Kelly: Agreed. It’s a ridiculous request, but perhaps they could come to terms on something and have to have a referee that both men approve of.

Styles: I don’t think that’s a bad suggestion at all. Finally, fans, we’ll leave you with a discussion with Chris Jericho. Chris Jericho, welcome to the show.

Jericho walked on stage and greeted Styles.

Styles: Jericho, you’ve been very vocal about your desire to be in the main event and wrestle for the Heavyweight title. This Thursday you may not be wrestling for the title, but you will be in the main event. How do you feel about being involved in the feud with Homicide and his crew?

Jericho: I’m not happy about it at all, Joey. A chance to wrestle Low Ki is an honor, but he’s not here to compete, so, ultimately, this is meaningless to me. I’m here to be number one, not to be in dream matches for the fans. And I joined The Chosen, Joey Styles, to win titles for them, not to fight their wars.

Styles: Is it safe to say that you and Don Callis are on completely different pages?

Jericho: Don Callis is indebted to me. There’s only one page and it’s the one that I’m on. Low Ki and Homicide are just a bunch of ass clowns as far as I’m concerned and my calling, my destiny, Joey Styles, lies in the Heavyweight Championship. I’m going to use Low Ki as a stepping stone Thursday and show FWE officials that there is no place for Chris Jericho other than in championship matches.

Styles: Don Callis promised that if Homicide and his crew ever stepped foot in the FWE again, you and the rest of The Chosen would give them ten times what they gave Maff. Will you not be a part of that?

Jericho: Joey Styles, I already said that I am in The Chosen to win titles for them, not to fight wars. Homicide and his group are here for blood, not titles, so I don’t give a damn about anything they do.

Styles: Chris Jericho, thanks for coming on the show. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

Jericho half-heartedly said “Thanks for having me” and left.

Styles: Things will certainly be heating up now that Homicide has arrived. I have a feeling that this is going to get pretty ugly. For Kevin Kelly and Tracy Smothers, I’m Joey Styles. We’ll see you on Chaos TV this Thursday.

Chaos TV

December 7, 2006

Miami, Florida

Joey Styles welcomed everyone to the show. He said that tonight was Night 1 of the Jushin Liger Farewell Tour. He said that it would be fans’ last and in some cases only chance to see Liger wrestle some of the best talent in the FWE.

Styles: Tonight we’ll be seeing Liger take on his friend Matt Stryker, and I’m also told tonight that many guys in the back are vying for additional spots in the tour since all matches will be announced tomorrow evening on the FWE Podcast Show. But right now let’s get to the ring!

Chris Jericho vs. Juventud Guerrera

Styles mentioned how the last place Chris Jericho wanted to be was the opening match.

While many people would probably predict that this match would be much like their old encounters in WCW, another large group of people would probably also argue that this would be much more technically-based. Both groups, however, would be somewhat on target. The first half of this match was very technical. Jericho controlled the match for the most part. Juventud would get in a little offense here and there, but it didn’t go very far for the most part.

The match’s pace picked up though once Juventud took control. Jericho seemed to be taking the match home and was laying on some heavy brawling offense. He eventually went for a powerbomb, but Juventud reversed it into a frankensteiner.

Guerrera then took control of the match and the bout then resembled some of their WCW matches in that it was quicker-paced and relied more on high risk offense, although it came mostly from Juventud than it did from Jericho.

Jericho eventually blocked a headscissors attempt by slamming Juvi face-first into the mat. Jericho then attacked Juventud’s legs, making it difficult for the high-flyer to go to the air. He followed this up by applying the Liontamer, which got him the win.

Winner: Chris Jericho

[Quinn: Great, great stuff. Jericho can do no wrong lately; he is on the roll of his career. The match was awesomely paced and they fit in some psychology building off of work they did with each other years ago, although they kept high spots to a minimum. This may go down as one of the best openers in wrestling history, but that’s something you can only really say after a few years have gone by.]

Rating: ****1/2

Josh Daniels and Vader vs. The Onslaught Express

Joey predicted that a win here for the Express could put them in good standing for a title shot and wondered if maybe they would get a chance to compete for the title before End of Days. He added that Daniels and Vader would probably need more than just one win before being considered for a shot since their record hasn’t been too great lately.

The Express dominated this match. Aside from the opening segment between Pawluk and Daniels, where Daniels looked really good, this was a glorified squash. Pawluk and Parker worked over Vader’s legs and Daniels’ shoulder. At one point Parker even targeted Daniels’ wrist, but it didn’t seem to go anywhere. Joey continuously put the Express over as a team that could dismantle any body part that looked vulnerable and added near the end of the match, during the wrist segment, that they could even take apart several body parts in the same match.

The match ended after Pawluk and Parker had Daniels in their camel clutch/boston crab combo for a full minute. During that entire minute, Vader was in the corner and refused to break the rules and disrupt the hold by coming in the ring untagged (something that none of the four competitors did all match).

Winner: The Onslaught Express

As Vader helped Daniels up to his feet, Daniels decked him in the face. Vader staggered back and rage filled his eyes.

Styles: Josh Daniels has just unleashed the beast from within!

Vader charged at Daniels, but Daniels sidestepped him, causing the big man to crash into the turnbuckle. Daniels then punched the back of Vader head a few times. He quickly brought a chair into the ring and attacked Vader’s back for a little bit. Once Vader was lying facedown in the ring, Daniels spit on him and left.

Styles: We knew that the tandem of Daniels and Vader was on thin ice, but I’m not sure anyone knew it would end this badly.

[Quinn says: A nice exhibition match for The Onslaught Express. Daniels didn’t do much but sell and, as usual, Vader spent most of his time on the sidelines.]

Rating: **3/4

BJ Whitmer vs. Mike Rotundo (w/ Kevin Sullivan)

Joey mentioned that David Andrews wasn’t at ringside because The Brotherhood was protecting him by keeping him away from Whitmer.

BJ Whitmer absolutely destroyed Rotundo in this one. Joey talked about how Kevin Kelly had predicted that Rotundo would come into this one with a solid plan, but how it seemed more like Whitmer’s growing expertise and anger was allowing him to dominate.

Rotundo got a in a few cheap shots near the end, but Whitmer no sold a lot of it. He eventually hit the Wrist Clutch Exploder for the win.

Winner: BJ Whitmer

Kevin Sullivan came into the ring to attack BJ, but Whitmer nailed him with a lariat and hit the Wrist Clutch Exploder.

Styles: BJ Whitmer has once again taken out two-thirds of The Brotherhood. The only one left is David Andrews!

[Quinn says: I can’t say I’m a big fan of the no-selling, but Whitmer looked extremely dominant here. Good for a squash.]

Rating: **3/4

Apolo vs. King Kong Bundy

Joey put both men over as they came to the ring. He said that Bundy was a real life monster and that Apolo was a big, agile man who had the potential to be just as dominant as Bundy has been in his career.

As the match started and both men were going through the feeling out process, Mike Enos came out to the ring to observe. Joey wondered what he was doing there, although he didn’t appear to be preparing to interfere.

Bundy took control of the first minute or two of the match by pinching the nerves in Apolo’s shoulders. His offense was mostly pretty basic stuff—elbow drops and bear hugs.

Apolo eventually reversed a whip into the ropes and hit a flying clothesline. He then hit a few elbow drops of his own and actually suplexed Bundy. He then climbed the top rope and hit a body splash. Still by the entrance, Mike Enos looked really impressed.

Apolo went for the pin, but only got a two. He went to the outside apron. When Bundy got up, Apolo hit a springboard shoulderblock and made the pin. He got the three count for the win.

Winner: Apolo

Mike Enos again looked really impressed and then left. Joey Styles put Apolo over once more as an agile big man.

[Quinn says: If the other matches were glorified squashes, this one was just a normal squash. Kudos to the FWE for not wanting Bundy to look like a chump, but his offense didn’t do much for the quality. Apolo looked good, but I’d rather see him go up against someone who could keep up.]

Rating: *1/2

Brock Lesnar and Bryan Danielson vs. Necro Butcher and Dan Maff (w/ Don Callis)

Joey Styles called this Dan Maff’s first official FWE match. He also added that his match against Lesnar would be available on the Evolution DVD.

This was really back and forth for the most part in the early portions. Joey said that he was impressed with how well Butcher and Maff were working together. He did admit though that since Callis was paying Butcher for his services and had given Maff his career back, it’s no wonder they were performing as told.

Danielson and Lesnar, however, weren’t working as well together. Where as Butcher and Maff tagged in and out a lot (as instructed on the outside by Callis), Danielson and Lesnar were mainly wrestling independently from one another and only tagged out when they absolutely had to.

Both men really wanted a piece of Butcher. At one point Lesnar was in the ring with Butcher and Danielson was yelling at him to tag him in. Since he was doing pretty well, Lesnar ignored him. Once Lesnar was near his corner though, Danielson slapped his back to tag himself in. Brock looked visibly irritated, but let it slide.

At this point, the match fell apart a little bit for the faces, as Butcher and Maff took complete control. Danielson almost appeared to not be going for the tag out of a mixture of spite and pride. He would occasionally counter something, but would always try to follow up with something else. Eventually Butcher or Maff would gain control again.

There were a few nearfalls at the end, with Lesnar breaking up the pins, but eventually Butcher tackled Brock between the ropes, causing both of them to fall to the outside. This left Danielson all alone. Maff nailed the Burning Hammer and covered him for the win.

Winners: Necro Butcher and Dan Maff

Butcher actually looked like he took the most damage from the tackle to the outside, as noted by Joey. Callis helped Butcher to his feet and took him to the back before Brock or Danielson could attack him, since both men were gunning for him so much. Joey wondered if this was a bad idea since it left Maff more vulnerable.

However, this didn’t end up to be much of a problem. Maff was recovering in the corner as Brock entered the ring and shoved Danielson, shouting, “What the fuck is your problem?”

Danielson, who was still pretty out of it from the Burning Hammer, slapped Lesnar in the face. Lesnar then brought Danielson to the ground and both men were wrestling around a bit. A group of referees and road agents entered the ring and pulled both men off.

Styles: It looks like Danielson and Lesnar have forgotten who their enemies are! It’s hard to say whether this will be a long term or a temporary problem.

[Quinn says: The first half was really solid, although the match became a bit deflated once Danielson refused to tag out. This was still some solid work and some great selling by Danielson.]

Rating: ***

Dan Maff is Attacked by the Most Unlikeliest of People

As Danielson and Lesnar were carted away, six men ran into the ring and started to attack Dan Maff.

Styles: Who the hell…? Is that… holy sh… It’s Homicide! Homicide is here and he’s brought company!

Homicide had a fork with him and was carving the hell out of Dan Maff. Eventually Joey identified the other five men as Low Ki, Julius Smokes, B-Boy, Monsta Mack, and Boogalou. He added that the FWE only hires wrestlers exclusively and that Homicide and Low Ki were both X-Division wrestlers in TNA, so he had no idea why they were here or why they weren’t being taken away by police or officials yet.

The six men continued their assault for another few minutes, just absolutely bloodying Maff. Homicide eventually grabbed a mic.

Homicide: Dan Maff… you motherfucka… I told you—

He grabbed Maff by the back of the neck.

Homicide: I told you, you piece of shit, never to show your face in this business again. Now you gotta face the consequences.

He then took a blatantly dangerous and nasty fork shot right between the eyes of Maff. All six men then left through the crowd just a few seconds before Masada, Hernandez, and Jack Evans came to the ring to rescue Maff.

Styles: Fans… if you don’t know the circumstances regarding Maff’s departure from wrestling, I’m certainly not going to be the one to tell you, but needless to say, this is completely unexpected and once again… I have no idea what to make of it.

Rating: 63

After the commercials, Don Callis was in the back with the rest of The Chosen (Chris Jericho, Jack Evans, Masada, Hernandez, and Dan Maff). Maff was a bloody mess and Jericho looked pretty uninterested.

Callis yelled at them for not working as a unit, specifically saying the fact that it took them that long to get to Maff was pathetic. Jericho called Callis out on the whole teamwork thing, saying that his boy Butcher was nowhere to be seen. Callis said that Butcher was just a hired assassin and was only involved in things Callis told him to be involved in.

Callis: And right now, Butcher has to deal with Brock and Danielson. Do you want to take care of that, Jericho?

Jericho looked at Callis as if to say that he was not amused. He didn’t say anything.

Callis: I don’t know that the hell those thugs were doing here, but I’m going to make sure they don’t step foot in this promotion ever again; mark my words. But we need to start working as a team. You are the chosen ones for a reason, and it’s not for work like this. If those guys ever come here again…

Jericho: I thought you said they never would.

Callis looked really mad that Jericho interrupted him.

Callis: In the improbable scenario that they do show up again, we’re going to make sure that each one of them get ten times the treatment they gave Maff. Whatever one man does to one of us, they have done to all of us. Remember that.

Doug Williams vs. David Andrews

Joey noted that Andrews had no entourage tonight, as Whitmer took the rest of The Brotherhood out earlier.

There were many reversals in the earlier portions of this match. Williams seemed a little caught off guard with how well Andrews was dishing out reversals of his own, as was Joey Styles, who brought up how much ability it took to go toe-to-toe with Williams in that kind of environment.

Williams eventually began to take Andrews to school though. At a certain point he was just toying with him to get under his skin. Andrews’ temper started to show. He was definitely letting his anger get the better of him, as he began to get too eager to make the big moves. This fell right into Williams traps as he wrestled his usual conservative style, waiting for his opponent to make a few crucial mistakes.

Eventually Andrews went for a desperate clothesline, which Williams ducked, allowing him to grab Andrews from behind and hit the Chaos Theory for the three count and victory.

Winner: Doug Williams

Andrews started to throw a tantrum again when BJ Whitmer ran into the ring and started to pummel him.

Styles: That’ll make Andrews to get over himself!

Whitmer continued to beat down on Andrews and then hit the Wrist Clutch Explosion. Referees then came down and took Whitmer away from the ring as Joey talked about how this issue will have to be resolved soon so things like this don’t happen too many more times.

[Quinn says: A good match by both guys. You can see Andrews improving on a weekly basis almost. He let Williams control this match and he kept up for the whole thing, and even directed certain portions on his own, it seemed. Just overall solid work.]

Rating: ***

Jushin Liger Farwell Tour Match: Jushin Liger vs. Matt Stryker

Both men shook hands before the feeling out process. Joey talked about how much respect they both have for each other and hot they watched each others’ back during their feud with The Chosen. He said that earlier Stryker had told him that even if he didn’t win the match tonight, it was enough of an honor just to learn from Liger as a partner and an opponent.

Stryker actually got the better of Liger in the first few exchanges, but Liger was able to gain control after a palm strike. Liger then went into total teacher mode, applying on a lot of submission holds, mostly focusing on the neck.

However, Striker eventually forced his way out of a dragon sleeper and applied one of his own. He then brought the matches pace up a bit as he went for some risky moves. Liger, though, kept up with the pace and dished out some risky moves himself. Stryker eventually went for a DVD, but Liger reversed out and nailed a brainbuster followed by a Ligerbomb for the win.

Winner: Jushin Liger

Both men shook hands at the end, as Joey put their efforts and sportsmanship over.

[Quinn says: Good, solid, crisp work. If Stryker would have been more over with the crowd, this could have been higher, but as it stands, it’s just very good, but that’s never really a bad thing.]

Rating: ***1/4

CM Punk vs. Davey Richards (w/ Jimmy Hart)

Before the match started, Jimmy Hart got on the mic.

Hart: This is my formal request to Jushin Liger to allow the greatest, the most sensational, and the most exciting young wrestler in the sport today, Davey “Crossfire” Richards, into your farewell tour. I guarantee you, Liger, that this man is the future and he will give you the fight of his life. And if you don’t believe me right now, wait until he beats one of the top men today, CM Punk, in this very ring.

Joey talked about how much more was now at stake, as CM Punk surely was hoping to get a spot in the tour too.

CM Punk certainly looked angry, but there was also a sense of loss in his face. He looked to be missing something. His offense was strong and it looked like he had confidence in what he was doing, but Davey Richards was reversing out of almost everything in the early portions. Styles mentioned the disagreement that Kelly and Smothers had on the Podcast show about whether or not Punk was going to be affected by his recent loss, and it seemed like he definitely had been.

At one point it seemed like Punk had pretty much lost. Richards had nailed him with a few lethal kicks followed by a ghetto stomp to the chest. However, as Richards went for a dragon suplex, CM Punk managed to nail an ace crusher.

Styles: Straight Edge Cutter by Punk!

Punk then found his groove and played to the fans as he regained strength, momentum, and confidence. He started to hit his signature moves, as Joey brought up Cabana’s claims to putting Punk’s arsenal together. Punk was trying hard to get the Anaconda Vice locked in, but it seemed like he was going for it too early, as Richards had enough energy to squirm out of it every time. Finally Punk abandoned that strategy and seemed to be going for the home stretch, but as he went for the facewash, Richards moved away at the last second (thanks to Hart on the outside telling him what Punk was doing). Richards then nailed a german suplex followed by a dragon suplex, and ending with the Go 2 Sleep 2.0 (which Joey put over like crazy). Richards made the pin and got the victory.

Winner: Davey Richards

Styles: In what has got to be considered an upset, Davey Richards has beaten CM Punk clean, which puts Richards in great standing for a match with Jushin Liger.

[Quinn says: Richards looked really good here. I’m not sure how much it hurt the match to have Punk essentially lose his mojo, but it didn’t seem to hinder too much here. Although I do have to admit that the later portions where Punk found his groove was certainly the best.]

Rating: ***1/2

Colt Cabana Challenges CM Punk

Colt Cabana entered the ring with a mic a Punk was recovering. He mockingly congratulated Punk on his performance. He talked about how he had won his match last week by using essentially the same arsenal. He once again called Punk a fraud and said that his poor performance and the fact that Colt was getting in his head was as good as a confession to him.

Cabana: You know, Punk, I was watching your match and you seem to really like the Anaconda Vice. You know what? I like it too. In fact, as we saw last week, I like it so much that I worked on it until I perfected it. I don’t—and I’m just throwing this idea out there—but I don’t think that you quite have it down, do you? That’s weird, Punk, because I seem to recall you thinking that the move fit you so well, that it was practically invented just for you. But I do it better, don’t I? I think we proved that the last time we were in the ring together. Didn’t I?

Punk was still recovering and all he could muster was a dirty look.

Cabana: So here’s what I’m doing, Punk. You and me in an Anaconda Vice Match. The only way to win is to get your opponent to submit to the Vice. And I’m not asking for ownership of the move. I don’t care if you use it, Punk. I just want you to know deep, deep down in the part of your soul that’s actually honest with yourself that I, Colt Cabana, the man who built your career, is better at being you.

Punk, staggering to get to his feet and out of breath, grabbed the mic.

Punk: You’ve got it, you son of a bitch.

Cabana smiled, grabbed the mic, and gave on hard stomp on Punk’s head, causing Punk to fall back to the ground.

Cabana: Hey, thanks a lot, Punker.

Cabana’s music played as he continued to cynically smile. Joey started raving about the Anaconda Vice Match and how we were going to see who was the best with the move as the show went to a commercial.

Rating: 95

Ric Flair and The Stampede Bulldogs vs. The Trinity (Michael Modest, John Walters, and Chad Collyer)

Joey talked about how if Modest pinned Flair tonight, he was about guaranteed a title shot at End of Days. He also made sure to mention that John Walters and Chad Collyer were defending the tag title against The Stampede Bulldogs at End of Days.

Ric Flair and the Bulldogs dominated the early portions of this match and had a lot of fun with the crowd, making a lot of tags in and out. Flair in particular played to the crowd a lot and administered a lot of chops to The Trinity. All three members of The Trinity sold Flair’s offense like death.

Eventually the shenanigans stopped once Modest hit a killer german suplex on Flair. Flair stopped moving after Modest hit the move and Joey began to wonder if he was okay, even going as far as to speculate if the match would have to be stopped.

Modest, though, kept on going and worked Flair’s neck. The Trinity began to tag in and out a lot and kept Flair isolated. Collyer made a big mistake when he kept Flair up in an extended vertical suplex for too long. Flair eventually dropped out of it and when he landed on his knees, he quickly hit a low blow, which the referee apparently didn’t see.

Flair made the hot tag to Harry Smith who unloaded on Collyer. Walters ran in and he unloaded on him too. Modest ran in and the two exchanged some punches, which ended up with Smith nailing a European uppercut followed by a snap suplex.

The fans were out of their seats at this point as Flair and the Bulldogs once again regained control. Wilson was in the ring at some point with Modest and was showing off a lot with some flashy offense. Modest was able to catch his leg in a superkick attempt and nailed a t-bone suplex. Modest tagged in Walters and the tag team champions began to dismantle Wilson, using a lot of tags in and out. Joey put over their teamwork skills and said they have quickly become one of the top tag teams in the entire country.

Wilson eventually was able to hit an enziguri and made the hot tag to Flair. Flair chopped Walters’ chest raw until Modest was tagged in. Modest and Flair exchanged some forearms, with Modest winning out. Modest started to work over the neck again. He then signaled over to Walters and Collyer with his hand. In just seconds, Walters and Collyer jumped into and ran across the ring and dropkicked the Bulldogs to the outside. The four men brawled on the outside for a little while until the bulldogs were out. Modest then hit a suplex on Flair followed by the Reality Check. Once he nailed the Reality Check, Smith appeared on the outside trying to crawl in the ring. Modest made the pin, but Smith was in no place to break it up. Modest got the three count and won the match.

Winners: The Trinity

Styles: Michael Modest has pinned Ric Flair and you can just about guarantee that we will now see Ric Flair defend his belt against Modest at End of Days!

Collyer and Walters raised Flair’s hands in the air as the show faded to black.

[Quinn says: This was a really fun match, especially the first part where the faces played to the crowd a lot. The ending seemed a bit contrived, but everything else was gold.]

Rating: ***1/4

Overall Rating: 74

This Film is Not Yet Rated- **** - Great documentary. I felt there were a few holes in the overall argument, but those were mostly in the smaller points. Good, thought provoking stuff.

Re-Animator- **** - Another great film that I finally got around to watching for the first time. Like Romero's films, I think this one took full advantage of the horror genre to make a moving, smart film without breaking conventions.

FWE Podcast Show:

A picture of Old School was shown with “RIP 1922-2006” written underneath.

Styles: Welcome, fans, to the FWE Podcast. Tonight, we have a lot to talk about and we’ll be joined by FWE President Ted Dillard, who will be commenting on the Jushin Liger retirement comment made by Don Callis and we’ll also have Colt Cabana on the show. But first, let’s talk about Dan Maff. Dan Maff is in the FWE thanks to Necro Butcher’s win against Brock Lesnar last night in what was one of the most brutal matches I have ever seen in my life. Is this a good thing or a bad thing for the FWE, Kevin Kelly?

Kelly: It is not good. No doubt. And I think when you consider the fact that Maff took out Abdullah the Butcher, someone who FWE officials have been looking to reprimand, just last night—well, the whole thing just stinks.

Smothers: I don’t know if we should read into the whole Abdullah incident too much.

Kelly: What business would he have had? Look, even if there was no agreement, it looks bad. We can all agree on that?

Smothers: Okay, it looks bad. But so what? Who really cares? The press isn’t breathing down the company’s neck. Dan Maff is a bad guy. That’s something we can all agree on. But I’m just not convinced enough people who actually matter also care. How many people came to the ring on the outside of the building during Evolution just to see his match with Lesnar? The fans obviously are not turning away and I don’t see anyone else who matters that has a problem with it.

Styles: Let’s not breeze through this Maff/Abdullah incident though. What are the theories here?

Kelly: I know I’m not alone in this, but I believe that Don Callis cut a deal with the FWE. His stipulation he created for that Death Match was a little shaky and I think he bargained to keep it as long as Maff took Abdullah out for the officials in the back.

Smothers: What’s the word on Abdullah’s condition anyways?

Styles: His future is doubtful. Maff swung pretty hard with those chairshots, but Abdullah can withstand a lot of punishment. After so many years though, this might have been the final straw that broke the camel’s back. But that’s all we know right now.

Kelly: But the thing to remember is that Maff was out to take Abdullah out and he may very well have done that.

Smothers: I think The Chosen are just trying to stay dominant. Nothing more than that.

Styles: Speaking of The Chosen, they took a big blow last night. Chris Jericho lost against Matt Stryker and Jack Evans lost against Jushin Liger in what will be the last matches in their feud. Jericho has a chance to rebound, as he will wrestle an old rival next week, Juventud Guerrera. But here’s the big news I want to talk about: Don Callis said that Jushin Liger may be retiring. Right now we have FWE President Ted Dillard to discuss these claims.

Ted joined the three.

Styles: Welcome to the show, Mr. Dillard.

Ted: Thanks.

Styles: So what the fans want to know is are these claims legitimate.

Ted: Well, Joey, this is really unfortunate that this has to be announced like this. Jushin and I talked a few weeks ago and he expressed an interest in declaring semi-retirement. However, he wanted to put this feud with The Chosen behind him so that he could spend his last month wrestling a variety of opponents of his choosing. Among those was Chris Jericho, because believe me, he has a tremendous amount of respect for his talent, but because of Don Callis’ lack of respect, Jericho will not be granted the opportunity to be a part of the Jushin Liger Farewell Tour.

Styles: Based on his reaction last night, do you think he would even want to?

Ted: I guarantee you that this Farewell Tour will go down in history and the fact that Jericho will not be a part of that will mean something to him.

Styles: Can you give us the details about this Tour?

Ted: Definitely. Jushin Liger will wrestle one match each week on Chaos TV, culminating to our next arena event, End of Days on December 31, where he will wrestle the last match in the tour.

Styles: And who will his opponents be?

Ted: Next week he will wrestle his friend and partner, Matt Stryker. His other opponents are under negotiation, although Liger has expressed a great interest in many young men who he has never had the opportunity to wrestle. What we do know is that none of The Chosen will be invited.

Styles: And after that, Jushin Liger will be done with the FWE?

Ted: We’re not ruling anything out, but he won’t be an active wrestler, no.

Styles: I think I know what you’re going to say, but can we get any word on the Dan Maff situation?

Ted: No comment, Joey.

Styles: Okay, well, thank you for joining us.

Ted: My pleasure.

Ted walked off.

Smothers: You should have pressured him more, Joey.

Styles: I’m not here to start any trouble. I’m just here to ask questions. But let’s jump right back into what we were just talking about: Chris Jericho vs. Juventud Guerrera. A win here will do a lot for both men. Jericho needs to regain his momentum and, for an accomplished wrestler like Juventud Guerrera, a victory over Chris Jericho could catapult him into the main event. So who’s taking the win?

Smothers: Chris Jericho. He’s more accomplished, not only in the FWE, but the world.

Kelly: I think Juventud’s going to win. It’s true that Chris Jericho has accomplished more, but Guerrera has still done a lot in this sport, so that’s not too much of a factor, I don’t think. What is a major factor is the fact that Chris Jericho is frustrated, angry, and not feeling cooperative among his stablemates. Guerrera is riding a wave of momentum, albeit a small one, and I think he’s taking away the win Thursday night.

Styles: Let’s stick with predictions for now. Liger vs. Stryker was just announced as the Night 1 Match of Jushin Liger’s Farewell Tour; who’s winning?

Smothers: Liger. He’s more experienced and he’s going into this thing, I would think, wanting to sweep it. He wants to show the world that he is leaving on the top of his game.

Kelly: I have to agree. Stryker may have learned a lot working with Liger, but I don’t think it was enough to put the legend down just yet.

Styles: Another big match that was signed will pit Josh Daniels and Vader against the always impressive Onslaught Express. A victory for either team could put them in good standing for a title shot, so a lot is at stake.

Kelly: More and more, the Daniels/Vader tandem seems very shaky to me. Vader has yet to commit to the tag team fully, as he is waiting for his fulltime partner, Tony Kozina, to return, and Daniels is continually looking frustrated with his partner.

Smothers: Yeah. To say they are on different pages would be an understatement. One more loss and I think things are going to boil over.

Styles: Do you think that loss will happen Thursday night?

Smothers: I don’t know. They’re still a tough team. Parker and Pawluk rely so much on technical offense to take their opponents down, and someone as big as Vader may make that difficult. Couple that with the fact that Josh Daniels can go toe-to-toe with them in a technical match, this one could go either way.

Styles: Let’s talk more about technicians. Doug Williams vs. David Andrews has been signed for Chaos TV. Putting aside that topic of who will win, who do you guys think needs the win more Thursday night?

Smothers: Doug Williams. We’re talking about a main event caliber wrestler here. If you lose a few matches, your position is going to lower a bit. If you lose even one match against a rookie, your position is going to lower big time. Don’t expect a title shot anytime soon after that. For someone on such a high level as Doug Williams, every match counts and he is definitely not on a winning streak. I don’t know if he’s lost enough matches to say he’s on a significant losing streak, but a few more losses could put him in that position. A rookie like David Andrews needs wins to rise up the ladder, but can also afford losses. He’s learning and the office knows that.

Kelly: I’m going to disagree. I think it’s a close call, but a guy like Doug Williams has proven himself. He can afford quite a few losses and officials still know that he is a top notch opponent. They can easily lose faith in someone unproven like David Andrews. Andrews needs wins or else the FWE will chose to invest in someone else. The same could be said for Doug Williams, but his record allows him more grace.

Styles: Good points from both sides. Let’s move on and talk about a huge match that was signed this morning for Chaos TV. With just a week’s rest in their system, Necro Butcher and Brock Lesnar will reenter the ring when Lesnar teams up with Bryan Danielson and Butcher teams up with Dan Maff to take each other on. Both Danielson and Lesnar have a grudge against Butcher now, and I’m sure there’s no love loss between Brock and Maff.

Kelly: This one is guaranteed to get crazy, Joey. But I’m curious to see how Maff will function in his first ever FWE match pairing up with The Chosen’s hired assassin. I’m also curious as to how the fiercely independent Brock Lesnar and Bryan Danielson will cooperate with each other. Both men have made it no secret that they’re out there to compete for themselves, so you have to wonder how happy they will be relying on one another.

Smothers: I think the hate they both have for the other men will override any pride. Danielson’s been in a bitter feud with Butcher for months and Brock Lesnar’s career has been put in jeopardy by both Maff and Butcher, so any pride issues they may have will be put aside.

Styles: What do you think about the decision to not give Butcher and Lesnar the night off after that hellacious Death Match?

Smothers: You know what? You’re here to compete, so you have to compete. A night off would be nice, but the FWE is fast-paced. And let’s face it; I don’t think Brock Lesnar would have it any other way. The guy thrives on competition and you know as well as I do that each night you don’t compete is one less chance at a big opportunity.

Styles: The FWE is certainly a place for big opportunities. And Thursday, a newcomer to the FWE will have a chance to make his name known. Apolo, who has wrestled for TNA, will debut against King Kong Bundy. What are his chances?

Kelly: Apolo is good, big, agile wrestle. But Bundy is a legend for a reason. He’s dominated for the majority of his career. I’ll be honest; I don’t know much about Apolo, but Bundy will be no walk in the park.

Smothers: King Kong Bundy hasn’t made much of an impact yet in the FWE, but I think Thursday could be his night. Officials are high on Apolo. They think he has what it takes to make it big here, so if Bundy crushes him, they’re going to have a whole new outlook on him. He knows this and I think he’ll pick up the win.

Styles: We’ll be seeing another veteran vs. young lion match on Thursday when we see the rematch of the very first FWE bout. BJ Whitmer is going to take on Mike Rotundo of The Brotherhood.

Kelly: This one should be good and I think we’ll see Mike Rotundo’s expertise come into play. Rotundo has, no doubt, been studying Whitmer over the months and that will come into play.

Smothers: I think Whitmer is just going to destroy him. Honest to God. Whitmer dealt with him in the past and I’m sure he’s not happy to have to be dealing with them some more. He wants his hands on David Andrews and that’s it. He’s going to use his body as a weapon and destroy Rotundo.

Styles: There are two more matches that we’re going to talk about and then we’ll get Colt Cabana on the show, so we need to get moving along. First, in our main event, we’ll see Ric Flair team up with The Stampede Bulldogs to take on The Trinity of Michael Modest, John Walters, and Chad Collyer. And to top things off, it was just announced this morning that The Bulldogs will get a shot at the tag titles at End of Days. And you have to wonder if a Heavyweight title shot is far behind for Michael Modest.

Kelly: This match will be crucial for Modest. If his team wins, I’d say he’s a lock for the shot. If his team loses, as long as he isn’t pinned, he still might be in good standing. But if Flair pins Modest, I would venture to guess that Michael Modest will not be in the main event at End of Days.

Styles: And considering that Flair has expressed strong resentment in wrestling Modest again, he should be gunning for him.

Smothers: Don’t forget about the heat between the Stampede Bulldogs and Walters and Collyer. The Bulldogs need to rebound and a win Thursday night might give them enough momentum going into that title match on December 31.

Styles: Very true. Before we run out of time though, let’s get to the next match. I can’t believe we’re getting this one free on TV; this is a huge one; Thursday night on Chaos TV we’ll get the chance to see Davey “Crossfire” Richards take on CM Punk.

Kelly: You’re right, Joey. This is huge. I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw this match-up in the main event some day. Crossfire may need a bit more seasoning, but he looks destined for the big one. I have to say though, despite his recent big wins, it’s going to stop here. CM Punk is one angry man and he has a lot to prove. This is his first match after his loss to Cabana and he’s going to come into this one with a lot of aggression.

Smothers: Again, Kevin, I disagree. Punk’s psyched out. Cabana knocked him out yesterday. Punk’s going into this one with no confidence. I don’t care what he says, but someone schooling you with your own finisher will take away all of your confidence. And not only is Richards coming off a lot of momentum, but he is good. Damn good. And don’t think that he’s going into this one without realizing Punk’s weakness. He’s paying Jimmy Hart for something, right?

Kelly: Okay, to say that most wrestlers would come into this with no confidence is probably right. But… CM Punk is not your average wrestler. There is no way that he isn’t coming into this one focused. The only way that he’s going to lose is if Colt Cabana interferes.

Smothers: Which he won’t. If Cabana’s entire motive is to show Punk that he isn’t as good as he thinks, then what good does it do to make sure he loses unfairly? Cabana knows that Punk is psyched out and he’s going to let that play out.

Kelly: So you don’t think he’ll do anything?

Smothers: No, I don’t.

Styles: Well, let’s just ask the man ourselves. Colt Cabana, welcome to the show.

Cabana came out looking very serious and didn’t respond to Joey verbally, just nodded.

Styles: Well, as we were just talking, Colt, is there any chance that you may interfere in CM Punk’s match Thursday night?

Cabana: First off, Joey, if I was, I wouldn’t be stupid enough to announce it in public. Second, I don’t need to make Punk lose. It’s not an issue of him being psyched out, because he’s not psyched out. He has been exposed for the fraud he is. I’m the real deal.

Styles: Colt, this is a very different side to you than we are used to seeing. For your entire career, you have been fun-loving, carefree, and a prankster. The Colt Cabana that we are seeing now—is this an act, or is this the real Cabana?

Cabana: Have you listened to anything I have had to say over the past few weeks, Joey Styles?

Styles: Yes, I’ve heard everything, and quite frankly, you’ve contradicted yourself and rambled on trying to justify your actions. And through it all, Colt, I’m still not sure what your motives are or where exactly you stand.

Cabana: For the first time in my career, I am being completely honest. CM Punk stole from me. He stole moves, he stole my opportunities—he stole my spot. “Fun-loving Colt Cabana” was a defense mechanism. It was me trying to put on a happy face. Look at my work over the years, Joey. Can you honestly say that I wasn’t over-compensating?

Styles: Well…

Cabana: Hey, look, I’m a fun guy. I like to have a good time. But because of Punk’s selfishness, he took that from me too. Deep down, I want to be goofy Colt Cabana, but I can’t if I am going to be honest.

Styles: Now, see, you’re contradicting yourself again…. Alright, let’s put a stop to this nonsense. Let’s talk about the fact that you gloated last night that you were booked on Chaos while CM Punk wasn’t. You claimed it was because FWE officials saw you as the real deal and CM Punk as second rate. This week on Chaos, you’re not booked and Punk is. What do you make of that?

Cabana: I asked not to be booked.

Styles: Why would you do that?

Cabana: Let’s just say that news about the Jushin Liger Farewell Tour broke out early in the back thanks to Callis. And I want my schedule free on Thursday to negotiate with the influential men and women of the FWE to be a part of the tournament.

Styles: You couldn’t do that with a match?

Cabana: I want my time completely freed up.

Smothers: You say a lot of stuff, Colt Cabana, but I know for a fact that you are gaining quite the reputation in the back for being a bit… inaccurate, if you will.

Cabana: I don’t care what people think. What matters is what I do in the ring. And like I said before, for the first time ever in my career, I am being honest, and that has just as much to do with what I say as it does what I do in the ring. I have hidden my true ability to protect and gratify my friend, but CM Punk has taken advantage of me one too many times. Plain and simple. If people don’t like that, if they think I am lying, I don’t care. This is me. This is Colt Cabana.

Styles: So what can we expect next from the real, liberated Colt Cabana?

Cabana: I am going to shatter CM Punk’s spirit. Just like he did mine. And when I’m done doing that, I’m taking myself and Don Juan to the top. I have plans, Joey. And I’m going to send a message right now to the entire roster. It may not be next month, and it may not even be half a year from now, but when I’m finally through with CM Punk, the title is mine. I want everyone on the roster to commit this to memory. Because when I finally do decide that I want that title, once I’m done with Punk, I’m coming at it full force. This warning won’t even be worth much of anything, other than to let whoever gets in my way know that there was nothing they could do to stop me.

Styles: Is it safe to say that you have a plan?

Cabana smiled.

Cabana: If the world of professional wrestling has learned anything about me in the past few weeks, it’s that I always have a plan a long time in advance, Joey.

Styles: Colt Cabana, thank you for coming on our show.

Cabana kind of glared at Joey and just walked off. Joey looked a bit awkward and there was an uncomfortable silence for a few seconds.

Styles: Um…. Well, fans, I apologize for getting so emotionally involved earlier. This situation with Colt Cabana and CM Punk is truly a sensitive issue and by the looks of it, it doesn’t look like it will be solved any time soon.

Kelly: Definitely not. Colt Cabana wants to take CM Punk out, but, by the sounds of it, not by a Loser Leaves Town Match or anything like that. He clearly wants to break his spirits, and a process like that isn’t a simple one.

Smothers: Especially when you’re talking about a guy like CM Punk. He has a lot of confidence and a loss here and there won’t go a long way. If Colt Cabana is serious about crushing his spirits… well, if he succeeds, that means CM Punk will be going through some major hell.

Styles: No arguments there. Fans, that’s all the time we have for tonight. Thanks for taking the time to download our program, and we’ll see you Thursday night on Chaos TV!

I talked to Eddie after the Death Match. The FWE had really taken off and in the months it turned into something more than just personal pleasure. Old School was starting to see it as a profit machine. Still, he wanted to be entertained. That was the bottom line.

So when Eddie came up to me after the show, I was a bit concerned. Ultraviolence wasn’t necessarily his cup of tea. But like many times before, he surprised me.

“John, I like what you’ve been doing.”

“Hey, thanks, Eddie.”

“And I want you to know that I want you to keep on doing it. Do you understand?”

I didn’t entirely understand, but I had learned it was best sometimes just to humor him. “Yeah. I’m not going anywhere.”

Eddie gave me this knowing smile, as if to tell me that it was okay that I didn’t understand now.

That night, Eddie stayed up and talked for a long time with Flair. Then he went home and in the morning, he was found dead.

-

“Son of a bitch.” Ted was about ready to have a nervous breakdown, which was typical.

We had all been mourning, but our mourning also had a lot of tensions mixed in.

“You know,” Ted said. “Once this gets out, we could be in serious trouble.”

The extent to which I understood Eddie’s business was small. I knew that each guy who signed onto the FWE was promised something. For instance, Liger had always wanted to wrestle for the WWE and when his time was up, he would get just that. Lesnar was set for a deal with the UFC and Jericho’s band was in line for a big record contract. Eddie was a very influential man. Or as Ted put it, he had a lot of people’s balls in a vice.

The only other two things that I knew were that even though Eddie was feared, he was just as well liked; he also had been scaling back on the risky business over the years in preparation for his death. Since he had no living relatives, Ted was set to take over his business and Ted had no interest in being a mob boss.

“Why are we in trouble?” I said. “I thought Eddie cleared up all of the dirty business.”

“He did,” Ted said. “But what about this stupid wrestling promotion?”

“What do you mean?” I said. “This is legitimate.”

“Oh, legitimate, my ass. Think about it. If we were legitimate, do you think Chris Jericho or Brock Lesnar would be with us? Do you think these all of guys would have written contracts? Ric Flair is the only legitimate guy on this roster. He’s the only one who did it as a favor. We owe each one of those guy’s something and each one of those somethings were dependent on the fact that this promotion had the fear and respect that came from Old School Eddie. And that’s gone. No fear, no respect: no payoffs. And with no payoffs, comes something bad. Brock just went through hell. It took us weeks to convince him to do that match and it was all because we had promised him a prime spot in the UFC. A few matches would be thrown and the guy would be a huge prospect in the MMA business. And what if Dana White decides that he wants to keep the integrity he has in his sport by not throwing a match? What are we going to do? I’m a lawyer, not a mob boss. Maybe I could write him a convincing letter using legal talk.” Ted lowered his head and looked up at me after a few seconds. “You see what I mean? These guys might honor their promises, but what is stopping them from not?”

“Respect?”

“Maybe. There are a lot of shitty people in this world though. And Eddie was one of them, so, you know…”

“What do you mean Eddie was one of them?”

“Eddie did a lot of good things in his later life, kid. But not before that.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, so… I guess I’ll get in contact with everyone and see if they’re still on board. I guess you can pack up and end this whole thing.”

“What?”

“You have no obligations. I know a lot about wrestling because I had to before, but I hate it. So I’m closing the FWE. What’s the point?”

“Eddie said he wanted me to keep it going.”

“Oh, come on, kid.”

“That’s what he said.”

“He said that because that’s Eddie. You know that by now. He’s a dreamer. He wanted you to keep his dream alive, but here’s the reality of the situation: if we don’t have him, we can’t take anymore shortcuts.”

“Okay, no shortcuts.”

“You have to be kidding me.”

“We keep everyone on board that we can and we go on legitimately from here on out. I’ll take care of everything. You just do business stuff and take in half the money.”

“Half?”

“That’s a lot of money for what you’ll be doing.”

“75%.”

“55.”

“70.”

“60, Ted. You’ll get 60%, alright? For doing the books.”

Ted smiled. “Eddie was right. You are kind of like him.”

-

As it stood, everyone was still on board. All of the promises were kept in tact and all of the wrestlers agreed to stay. Some even said they would stay without the promise. Sam and Derrin were also still training in the development camp.

The big deal was how Vince McMahon and Dixie Carter still wanted to maintain a working relationship, which essentially meant that they would stay true to their word in keeping a few promises and also that they would honor one or two agreements they had made a month ago. It was big time stuff and some of our biggest angles down the road relied on them wanting to work with us.

But once those promises were honored, we were done with them. Vince was especially firm about that, while Carter looked a little more relieved just to not be involved with us anymore.

The bottom line was that even though these few promises were big deals, we were largely independent for the first time ever. The adventure was just beginning.

[so that’s it for John’s narrative story. I’ll keep you updated on what is “happening” backstage, but much in the same way that we find out what’s happening in promotions in real life. I might introduce a dirt sheet-like column to the diary to make the outside world a little more fully realized, much in the same way I use the podcast show.

So we most likely won’t be hearing from John as a first-person character again (but who knows?). Ted will remain the on-air FWE president and Derrin and Sam will make their way in the ring if circumstances allow it.

My original plan was to kill Eddie off once Flair retired or became a non-wrestler in my game. That hasn’t happened yet and I mostly made this transition early because I wanted to make a clean break from the story aspect of the diary. Again, I wanted to do this because I felt too much attention was being drawn to the story. I like the story and it has helped dictate the wrestling show, but ultimately I wanted the focus to be 100% on the wrestling and I felt that this was not happening. I hope that the current format will keep that backstage world alive and keep all of the focus on the FWE.

So the new format consists of the wrestling shows, the podcasts, the dirt sheet internet reports, and the occasional FWE news report.

I hope you’ve been enjoying the diary as much as I have. And, as always, I’m eager to know what you think of recent developments, so don’t hesitate to leave feedback. As of writing, the number of views is at about 1,500, which tells me that people are reading. I greatly appreciate that and, like I said, I hope you have been enjoying everything so far. Some of the things in the coming months should be pretty wild, so I hope you’re on board. (Y)

-Plankton]

Chaos TV

November 30, 2006

Miami, Florida

Joey Styles opened up the show by going over some of the results from Evolution and announced that Jack Evans will face Matt Stryker tonight and Jericho will take on Jushin Liger yet again. He also hyped the Death Match tonight between Brock Lesnar and Necro Butcher.

Styles: There will be barbed wire, there will be tacks, there will be glass, there will be beds of nails, there will be blood, and at the end of it all, there will be only one winner.

He went over the fact that if Butcher won, Dan Maff would officially be a part of the FWE roster.

Juventud Guerrera vs. David Andrews (w/ Kevin Sullivan and Mike Rotundo)

Styles put both men over and said that they each needed a win badly after their losses from Evolution. He also put over the Chaos TV debut of Juventud and said that this was classic FWE with old versus new. He added that even if Juventud could be considered a veteran, his style is still fresh and innovative today.

Styles: If anything, with mentors like Kevin Sullivan and Mike Rotundo, David Andrews might be the one bringing the old school style to this match.

Guerrera dominated early on, getting the crowd pumped up. He hit a lot of high, flashy offense and played to the crowd. He definitely let a lot more of his Juvi Juice persona out in this match, but still kept his actions face-like.

Andrews, on the other hand, was a full-on heel. When he finally gained control after a low blow (with Sullivan distracting the referee), he used a lot of rest holds and used the ropes for leverage a lot (and sometimes utilized the aid of Rotundo, who grabbed his hand for extra leverage).

However, Juventud finally regained control after reversing a powerbomb into a frankensteiner. The timing on this was really well done, as Andrews was able to calm the crowd down a bit and anger them with his cheating so that when Juvi finally nailed the frankensteiner, they lit up.

Juventud hit a flurry of quick offense, nailing a twisting neckbreaker, spinning heel kick, and then the Juvi Driver for the win.

Winner: Juventud Guerrera

Guerrera played to the crowd and looked extremely pumped after his win.

Styles: Juventud Guerrera has sent a message that he is here to compete and is a force to be reckon with!

As Juventud left the ring and Andrews stood up, Andrews started kicking the ropes and shoved Sullivan and Rotundo away.

Styles: David Andrews is clearly frustrated.

Sullivan and Rotundo finally managed to calm Andrews down after about a minute. He still looked incredibly angry as he walked away.

[Quinn says: Good, solid work from both guys. Andrews has incredible timing and worked the crowd really well. You can see the Rotundo/Sullivan influence. This was nothing Earth shattering, just good work from good wrestlers. Juventud has proven again that he still has it when he wants to work, and Andrews yet again shows that he has a lot of potential.]

Rating: ***

Chris Jericho Refuses to Continue Feud with Liger

Chris Jericho was in the back with Don Callis. He was sitting down looking at the ground as Callis spoke.

Callis: Look, I told you. All you have to do is beat Liger one more time. Just once, and then he’s done. I got a bit of news today. Liger’s retiring soon. If you beat him once more, there’s no way he can bow at gracefully. You’ll have slaughtered him. He’s going to want to go for a title shot and bow out of the business as champion. I know it. If you beat him tonight, there’s no way that he can regain enough momentum. We need this.

Jericho looked up at Callis.

Jericho: When I joined The Chosen, you told me you would lead me to the belt.

Callis: And I will! But you need to finish this job.

Jericho: No way. This feud has barely gotten me anywhere. Right now, I have dominated Jushin Liger and that’s the way it’s going to stay. I’ve been wrestling a long time, Don. I know when to walk away from a feud. And I’m walking. You want me to wrestle Stryker? Fine. But not Liger. You talk about all that momentum he needs. Well, if he beats me, he’s going to take all of my momentum.

Callis: I need this, Chris.

Jericho: Get Evans to do it. That’s why he’s part of The Chosen.

Callis: Evans is part of The Chosen because I have chosen him to be. Because he has potential. Not so he can do your dirty work.

Jericho: Well, I’m done with dirty work. The only thing it’s gotten me is the good position I’m in right now from those wins, and I’m not going to lose that.

Callis sighed.

Callis: Evans is good. He’s damn good. But Liger already beat him once. You can beat Liger and he can beat Stryker. I know this. It’s the safest bet.

Jericho: I thought you felt so highly of him.

Callis: I do. But he needs more time.

Jericho stood up.

Jericho: You give me what I want and I guarantee you that everything will go your way. I wrestle Stryker and Evans wrestles Liger. And I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Callis paused.

Callis: You guarantee it?

Jericho nodded.

Callis: Fine. But this is big. This is a message. You remember, right? We’re in charge; this is important.

Jericho: I know how important it is.

Callis: Good.

Callis walked out and Jericho stood smirking.

Styles: Jushin Liger is retiring? I haven’t heard that at all, and frankly, I’m not sure I fully trust Don Callis, especially when he knows cameras are lurking around backstage trying to catch moments like this. But either way, fans, it looks like we have a rumor at best.

Rating: 94

Chris Jericho vs. Matt Stryker

Joey talked about how Stryker came into the FWE looking pretty good, but his career has been stagnant since The Chosen started messing with him. He said that a win tonight could be just what he needs to get back in the mix of things.

Jericho looked really confident going into this one, but after Stryker reversed some of his halfhearted offense, he became a lot more serious. He appeared to be very cautious, which Joey equated to his desire to want to be back in the title picture and how a loss here could deter that.

Stryker was fired up though. Jericho was using a lot of restholds and tried to keep Stryker from doing very much, but Stryker was so aggressive that Jericho had a difficult time keeping him down. As a result, Jericho couldn’t leave much dead space in between moves. Styles mentioned that even though Stryker’s forcefulness didn’t appear to be getting him anywhere, he was actually managing the pace of the match.

Jericho eventually saw the need to take some risks, but when he did, Stryker took advantage by playing possum. After Jericho believed Stryker was worn down enough, he went for a Lionsault, but Stryker put his knees up just in time. He then quickly got up and was a house of fire on Jericho.

Styles: Matt Stryker was reading Jericho like a book!

The match was all Stryker at this point. His offense was quick and aggressive, and unlike Jericho, he was taking risks that were paying off. He hit a stinger splash, followed by a suplex, and then climbed the top rope and hit a splash. This culminated in a two count, but he was able to keep the match in his favor.

However, Jericho is as highly regarded as he is for a reason. He tried to kick Stryker at one point and Stryker grabbed his leg. He stood there and held it and pointed to his head, showing off that he was being smarter than Jericho. But Jericho hit an enziguri and then looked down at the sprawled out Stryker and mockingly pointed at his head.

Styles: Stryker was maybe getting a little too confident and Jericho doesn’t like that at all.

Jericho was more aggressive this time around and looked to be going for the win. But Stryker again took some risks and was able to hit a flying clothesline. Just as he started to make a comeback, Jack Evans ran to the ring, presumably to help out Jericho. However, Jericho, who had just hit Stryker with a bulldog, was yelling at Evans to get away. “This is my match!” he yelled.

Styles: It looks like Evans’ help is not wanted.

As Jericho yelled, Stryker rolled him up.

Styles: One, two, no! Jericho kicks out!

Jericho looked stunned as he was seconds away from a loss he would earlier have deemed as impossible of happening. He came back and fought Stryker hard, but in his panic, he was a bit reckless. He missed a clothesline that Stryker ducked. Stryker then nailed a german suplex followed by a DVD. He made the pin.

Styles: One! Two! Three! Matt Stryker has defeated Chris Jericho!

Winner: Matt Stryker

Stryker celebrated and Jericho nearly cried as he recovered.

Styles: And what a crucial loss this is for Chris Jericho. Just days after ending a feud with Jushin Liger, which he dominated, he has lost to someone significantly in a significantly lower position than him. Who knows if Jack Evans’ involvement had that much effect on the outcome, but either way, this means great things for Matt Stryker.

Evans tried to say something to Jericho as he left, but Jericho just blew him off.

[Quinn says: Stryker and Jericho meshed well and I would argue this is the best we’ve seen from Stryker in the FWE so far. The ending with Evans didn’t bother me too much because he didn’t directly affect the match, but an undisputable clean win would have maybe bumped this up ¼ or ½ a star or so.]

Rating: ***1/4

#1 Contenders Match: The Stampede Bulldogs vs. The Chosen (Masada and Hernandez)

Joey put over The Chosen’s victory over Vader and Daniels in the dark match and said it was on the DVD, so fans should definitely check it out.

The Bulldogs began this match working really well as a unit. Joey mentioned the Podcast show and how it was discussed that their teamwork was uncharacteristically lacking at Evolution.

But despite their efforts to do better as a team tonight, Masada and Hernandez were working even better as a unit and controlled most of the match. However, TJ Wilson eventually got sick of this and pretty much just started doing his own thing. He really went nuts, hitting all sorts of high risk offense. He even appeared to be showing off a bit near the end and acted as if Smith wasn’t there for the most part.

Eventually Wilson showed off a lot less and got a bit more serious. Smith was definitely more about teamwork and seriousness. Near the end, Wilson started showing off a bit more. He knocked Hernandez, who was not the legal man and was standing on the outside, to the floor with a dropkick. He then nailed Masada with a Rolling Stampede and ended the match.

Winners: The Stampede Bulldogs

Styles: I can’t say that The Stampede Bulldogs showcased a lot of teamwork, but their strategy worked well enough to get them the win from one of the top teams in the FWE.

[Quinn says: The Chosen looked strong early on, but not so much at the end, which kind of bothers me. Wilson was great here and carried this match. Overall good stuff.]

Rating: ***1/2

BJ Whitmer vs. Davey “Crossfire” Richards (w/ Jimmy Hart)

Davey Richards came out first as Joey put him over as one of the future major stars of the FWE. He said that a win tonight would do wonders for his career.

BJ Whitmer came out looking hurt and clutching his ribs.

Styles: Fans… I’m getting word that BJ Whitmer was attacked backstage just moments before this match. It looks as though David Andrews was the culprit. I don’t know if the rest of The Brotherhood was behind the attacks. But from what I’m hearing, after his attacker or attackers left, he got up and came out here, so what we’re hearing about literally just happened and Whitmer is still going to wrestle. This man is dead serious about competing!

Because of Whitmer’s injury, Richards dominated for almost the entire match. While other guys earlier in the show had been using restholds, Richards was much for fierce here and laid on a tremendous beating to Whitmer’s ribs, with almost all of his offense aimed at the stomach, including reverse backbreakers and a few spears.

Styles: Davey Richards is being relentless!

BJ Whitmer was finally able to make a comeback after countering out of a suplex and nailing an exploder that only got two. Whitmer kept control of the match, but it was short-lived. Richards reversed a whip into the ropes and nailed Whitmer in the gut on the way back, sending BJ flipping into the air. Richards continued his assault. He set Whitmer up on the ropes facing the fans, ran up to him, and then hit a lung blower.

Styles: That is it!

Richards made the cocky cover and won the match.

Winner: Davey “Crossfire” Richards

Styles: It was a valiant effort by BJ Whitmer, but it looks as though it was just a matter of Davey Richards finishing the job that David Andrews started. Even so, this will completely deflate BJ Whitmer’s momentum. We talk a lot about momentum here in the FWE, but in a promotion like this, you need big wins, consistent wins, or both to compete at the top. And while this does a lot for Richards, David Andrews has just screwed Whitmer out of any momentum he had coming out of Evolution. And for a guy as angry and competitive as BJ Whitmer, you can bet he’s going to be as pissed off as he can be at Andrews.

[Quinn says: Story circumstances drag this one down a bit, as Whitmer couldn’t really go all the way. But also once again, these guys make the best of it, utilizing great timing to pump the fans up. Whitmer and Richards’ ability to make us believe that BJ would manage to pull the win out made this one as good as it was, but they didn’t really get that point across until the home stretch. Before that, the outcome just seemed inevitable. So we’ll say that at least half of those stars came from the superman ending, with the other *1/2 coming from the rest.]

Rating: ***

The Towers vs. Vader and Josh Daniels

Luger got on the mic and said that Abdullah wasn’t anywhere to be seen tonight because he and Windham ran him off. Windham added that they had better start being respected for the legends they were or else they would make examples out of others like they did with Abdullah.

Luger and Windham managed to isolate Daniels early on. Daniels was fighting hard, but The Towers used their size to really pound on him.

Joey put both men over as legitimate legends and said that their complaining probably wasn’t helping out any.

Styles: They obviously can still compete in the ring and if they would just shut up and wrestle like they are now, they probably would be up higher on the card.

Daniels finally got the hot tag to Vader. Vader came in and destroyed The Towers. Luger was again selling like a madman and Windham was doing quite well himself. They eventually managed to chop Vader down to size and worked over his legs. It was now Vader who was in need of the hot tag. He eventually got it, but when he did, Daniels was already tired from his previous beating and didn’t have a lot left in the tank. He was actually doing a really good job, using his speed to his advantage, which got the crowd going nuts, but Windham nailed a decapitating clotheline, which set up the Doomsday Device. Windham made the pin and won the match.

Winners: The Towers

Styles: The Towers have shown why they are legends, now they just need to shut their mouths and continue to do it!

Abdullah the Butcher all of a sudden came into the ring and started to attack Luger. Windham’s back was turned because he was celebrating, but when he saw, he tried to pull him off. Luger was screaming in panic, yelling “Get him off! Get him off!” as Abdullah tried to choke him.

All of a sudden, Dan Maff ran into the ring with a chair and blasted Abdullah.

Styles: What the hell is Dan Maff doing here?

The Towers looked completely shocked as they watched Maff destroy Abdullah with the chair.

Styles: I think Lex Luger and Barry Windham are just as surprised as we are. What business is this of Maff’s or The Chosen’s?

Maff continued the beatdown for quite some time and no cops came down to the ring.

Styles: Every other time that Dan Maff has appeared in this ring, he has been arrested, but there are no police right now and I do not like the looks of that one bit.

Maff finally threw the chair down on Abdullah and left the ring, leaving The Towers, the fans, and Joey Styles perplexed.

[Quinn says: Well, Luger has shown us that his last performance was no accident, as he sold like crazy again. From what I’ve been reading, he was worried his career wouldn’t ever get another wind and Flair gave him a bit of a pep talk. From what has been coming out of the newsletters, Flair has been mentoring a lot of the young guys; I just thought it was interesting he was helping out some of the older ones as well. Anyways, the match was good, this time due to The Towers more than anyone else. Daniels did well, but I wasn’t a fan of the Vader-in-peril sequence. Give that one to the better wrestler. This is what Scott Keith would call “perfectly acceptable wrestling,” I guess.]

Rating: **3/4

Colt Cabana vs. Doug Williams

Joey welcomed Tracy Smothers to the announcing booth, saying that they were going to get a wrestler’s expert opinion on some of the issues with Colt Cabana. Joey put Colt Cabana over huge, congratulating him for becoming more serious, but said his means in doing so were shady at best. He still wondered what his real motives were.

Both men struggled to gain the upperhand right away. Williams was first to gain control, but that was short-lived, as Cabana, also well-versed in the European style, reversed some of Williams’ holds to hit a brutal german suplex.

Cabana then started using a lot of Punk’s signature offense, utilizing face washes, a shining wizard, a pedigree set-up into a backbreaker, among a lot of other smaller, subtler moves.

Joey said it appeared as though Cabana was merely being cocky, but Smother disagreed.

Smothers: The thing is, Joey, Doug Williams is no slouch. This guy is one of the best in the world. Top ten right now, maybe. That’s why he’s in the FWE. So if you’re Colt Cabana and you want to make Punk mad by stealing his offense, you don’t do it against a guy like Doug because if you haven’t mastered that arsenal and style of moves, Doug’s gonna take you down. So what I see, as a professional wrestler with 24 years experience, is someone who is the master of the style he’s doing. This guy—and I’m not saying he isn’t playing mind games to an extent—but this guy knows this style. I don’t think he just wants to make Punk mad and is being cocky. He’s showing Punk and the rest of the world that he is better than being CM Punk than CM Punk is. That’s a little bit more than being cocky.

Styles: It’s hard to argue with that.

Just as he said this, Cabana went for a second shining wizard, but Williams grabbed his leg, rolled over, and locked in a single-leg boston crab.

Smothers: That’s what I’m talking about when I say Doug’s one of the ten best.

Williams dominated for quite a while until he and Colt did a long series of reversals that ended with Cabana nailing the Pepsi Twist.

Styles: Colt Cabana has integrated Punk’s offense in with his own arsenal so naturally, that someone who is not familiar with either man’s work would not know the difference.

Cabana then worked on the neck for a bit and eventually locked in the Anaconda Vice. Williams held on for a little while, but had to tap out.

Winner: Colt Cabana

[Quinn says: Great stuff here and I’m glad these two finally locked up. I wonder how long they have been setting this up because Styles is right in how Cabana has laced Punk’s offense in with his own so naturally. Although there could be a lot of truth in how two guys who train and have wrestled with each other so much are going to almost naturally be somewhat in synch with each other. But as far as the match goes, it was nice to see so much protection with Williams. He could have went away looking weak to sell the fact that Cabana’s new offense is so devastating. But Cabana and Williams take a different route. Instead of having Williams get beaten easily to make Cabana’s offense look good, they make Williams look strong so that when Cabana hits anything crucial (which always happened to be the Punk offense), Cabana’s new offense looks very effective as a result. So Williams looks good and Cabana’s new offense does too. And Cabana laced his old offense in with the new so well that his old stuff doesn’t look weak in comparison. Just a wonderfully wrestled match.]

Rating: ****

CM Punk Confronts Colt

CM Punk came down to the ring with a mic as Colt Cabana was catching his breath. Williams rolled out of the ring and walked away, not wanting in on this mess.

Styles: CM Punk doesn’t look angry, but he definitely has something to say.

Punk: First off, Cabana, let me congratulate you on your win. Because you earned it.

Cabana gave a half-hearted smile.

Punk: Let me also congratulate you for putting up this façade for so long. You play a good boy scout, Colt, but I know that you were in this for a cheap gain. And you earned it, buddy. So bravo, big man.

Punk sarcastically clapped.

Punk: Let me get one thing straight, though. You won and I won’t dispute that. But I know what you’re doing. I’ve heard you in the back. You can gloat about winning and I’m okay with that. But don’t ever say that you are better at doing what I do. Don’t try to steal my identity, Colt. You may get lucky by catching me off guard by using my own offense. And you may beat other guys using my offense. But you will never take everything that I have worked to create. Not without a fight.

Cabana laughed as he asked for a mic and received one.

Cabana: Stole what you created, huh? Why is it then, Punk, that every time you knew you needed a new big move, you came to me? Remember when the Texas Cloverleaf wasn’t working out too well and you went to me to ask about a new finisher? What did I say? Did I say, “Hey, what about this thing called the Anaconda Vice?” Or did I say that I was working on this thing called the Anaconda Vice? And when one day before a show, when I gave you a look at a move I was doing to replace the frog splash… what was that move anyways? Oh yeah, it was the original Colt 45. I think you call it the Pepsi Plunge now.

Cabana paced around a bit before talking.

Cabana: Almost everything that you do, I suggested to you or you stole it from me. Almost everything. That’s why I’m so good at it, Punk. Everything you do comes from what I think is effective—it comes from my mind. And what I think is effective are things that I am good at doing. Your style came from me. And I’m taking it back and making it better. Tonight, I locked on the best Anaconda Vice that has ever been locked on in this ring. Inescapable. You can’t do that, Punk, because you’re only okay. I’m sick of you being only okay with an arsenal that I created.

Punk: Are you going to do this all day?

Cabana looked bitterly pissed off.

Punk: All I hear from your mouth, Colt, is a bunch of whining. Okay, did you suggest a few moves for me? Yeah, you did. But I didn’t steal anything and you know it. Why the hell would you even call a move like the Pepsi Plunge the Colt 45? I’ve spent a long time trying to figure out if you’re just a liar or if you actually believe that I deserve what you’re doing. But this seals it, Colt. You’re fucked in the head.

The crowd cheered.

Cabana: It’s for reasons like this that I did what I did. Your ego. But look where we’re at. I got a huge match tonight and you got nothing. Where’s your match, Punk? Where’s your opportunity? It’s nowhere. And you won’t be getting any. Because if I do everything better than you, then you’re obsolete.

Punk: You think you have a better Anaconda Vice?

Cabana: You saw what I did.

Punk: Let’s see. Put down your mic. Let’s see who does a better Vice.

Both men dropped their mics and started doing some amateurish wrestling. They both struggled for a little while trying to lock the hold on. Punk got it in barely at one point, but Cabana forced out of it quickly. Cabana eventually struggled over to the turnbuckle while on the ground and slowly stood up. As Punk hammered his shoulders into Cabana’s midsection, Colt grabbed his face and lifted him up a bit. Colt then nailed an STO and strapped on the Anaconda Vice.

Styles: Colt Cabana has the Anaconda Vice on!

Punk struggled to the ropes, but when he got near, Cabana stood up with his hands still locked up into Punk in the Vice, lifted Punk up, and hit a Downward Spiral-like move. When Cabana landed the move, the Vice was automatically locked in because he never let it go.

Styles: There aren’t any roped breaks because this isn’t a match, but this is a matter of pride!

Cabana wrapped his legs around one of Punk’s, leaving little chance for mobility. Punk struggled to stay away for a while, but Cabana synched the Vice on tighter and tighter. Punk’s face began to turn red and spit started dribbling down from his mouth as he yelled. After a while, his yells decreased as he began to lose consciousness. Eventually Punk passed out.

Styles: CM Punk has passed out!

Cabana let the hold go and looked down at a red-face, passed out CM Punk

Styles: Tracy Smothers, do you ever recall CM Punk making anyone pass out to the Vice?

Smothers: Not that I’ve seen.

Styles: Colt Cabana came out here saying that he was the master of the Anaconda Vice and he may have just proven it!

Colt looked down a bit longer at Punk, laughed a little, and then left the ring.

Rating: 94

Jushin Liger vs. Jack Evans

Joey thanked Tracy Smothers as Smothers left the announce booth.

Liger had on the black and white outfit again as Joey wondered if he had the facepaint on.

Liger destroyed Evans for the first half of this match. He ended up hitting the palm strike three times, and each time Evans sold it more extremely than the next.

When Evans did eventually gain control after a headscissors, he kept looking down the aisle, as if expecting something.

Styles: If help isn’t on the way for Evans, it looks like it was meant to be.

This reaction from Evans was only momentary and it appeared as though he quickly understood that what he expected to happen was not going to happen. He kept on hitting high risk offense. He kept control for a little while and got cockier and cockier as time went on (at one point he yelled, “Konnichiwa, bitch!”). His big mistake though was when he got too risky. He threw Liger to the outside and went for the flying space tiger drop to the outside into a hurricanrana. However, Liger caught him in the hurricanrana portion and powerbombed him on the outside.

Styles: Jushin Liger just planted Jack Evans to the ground!

Liger drug Evans to the ring and hit a brainbuster followed by a Ligerbomb for the win.

Winner: Jushin Liger

Styles: Jushin Liger has stood up to The Chosen and regained some of his dignity!

[Quinn says: Jack Evans’ unbelievable offense makes this more than a glorified squash. Liger was on and if the “rumors” about him retiring are true, then maybe that explains how he’s trying to go all out. I’m not sure I buy it, but as far as this match went, it was pretty good and a bit of a step up from their last go, with Evans getting in more offense.]

Rating: ***

After the commercial break, Don Callis was yelling at Chris Jericho backstage.

Callis: The deal was that you would help Evans get the win. None of the other guys were ready. We were prepared for you.

Jericho: Circumstances changed.

Callis: What circumstances?!

Jericho ignored the question.

Jericho: If he was your golden boy, maybe he should have gotten the win himself.

Callis: This is ridiculous!

Jericho grabbed Callis by the shirt collar.

Jericho: Do you want me in your little group or what?

Callis: Look, look. Jericho… this is all going to be okay. I just need you to trust me. Just do what I say.

Jericho: I want what you promised. I want that title.

Callis: And you’ll get it, okay? Smooth sailing from here on out.

Jericho let him go.

Callis: We screwed this up. We screwed this up. Let’s admit that, okay?

Jericho didn’t respond.

Callis: Good enough. We can rebound. You’ll get what I promised. This isn’t a big deal. But you have to do what I say. That’s part of the deal. Okay?

Jericho: I’m not messing around anymore.

Callis: And neither am I.

Jericho: You have a deal. But if you don’t live up to your end of the bargain…

Callis: Don’t worry.

Jericho walked out and Callis called out to him.

Callis: I said don’t worry!

The Trinity Attack Ric Flair

Ric Flair came to the ring. He did his usual bit and said that he should be wrestling tonight. He said that wrestling was a part of who he was and if he had the belt, he should be wrestling every night.

Finally, The Trinity (Michael Modest, John Walters, and Chad Collyer) came to the ring.

Modest mockingly commended his noble words. He said that Flair was trying to hold onto the belt for as many weeks as possible.

Modest: I saw something in your eyes last Sunday, Flair. I saw fear. You know your time is about up and you know who is going to dethrone you. I don’t believe for a second that you didn’t talk one of your buddies in the back into making sure you stayed off the card. You’re a scared old man, Flair. That’s all you are anymore. You got lucky, but you know luck can only get you so far.

Flair: I got cut the same deal your boys did and that was a day off for having the title. I want fight, Modest. I want to fight anyone that deserves a shot at this. But the more you talk, the more I’d rather fight you instead.

Styles: Ouch!

Modest: I do deserve a shot, Flair. I believe in giving people what they deserve. And I believe you have been deserving something for a long time. Everyone deserves to go out with some dignity. And to be defeated by me, well Flair, no one’s going to look down on you.

Flair: I’ve won a lot titles and I’ve lost just as many.

He looked at his belt and then smiled.

Flair: Almost just as many. But the thing about the Nature Boy is that he keeps coming back for more. I can’t do this forever. I know that. I’ve seen a lot of my colleagues come and go. But remember this, Modest. Wrestling is about what’s in here.

He pointed to his head.

Flair: It’s about what you do more than how you do it. It’s about your will! And I’m not going to get beaten by you. Every title I’ve held in the past ten years, I’ve treated like my last. I don’t know if this is my last time, but I won’t let someone like you take the last one from me. Not you, Modest. Because you’re an ingrate. And I’m not going to let an ingrate be the last guy to beat me. A lot of guys have beaten me for my titles. Harley Race, Barry Windham, Dusty Rhodes, Sting, Randy Savage, legend! I respect those men. But I don’t respect you, Modest. And out of all of those men who have beaten me, you don’t deserve to be the last one to take me down. Not you, Modest. I won’t let it…

Modest had had enough. He blasted Flair with the mic and all three members started kicking Flair on the ground. Realizing they didn’t have much time until someone came down to help, Collyer and Walters nailed the Guillotine Drop, and they took off as Stryker, Pawluk, Parker, and Williams came to the rescue.

Rating: 84

Death Match: Necro Butcher (w/ Don Callis) vs. Brock Lesnar

The ropes had barbed wire wrapped thickly around it. On one side of the ring was five boards covered with barbed wire and on another was a long sandbox looking object with a sheet of glass on top. Another side had a bed of nails and the last had two tables set up side-by-side with tacks strewn all about.

Styles: This may be the most brutal match I have ever had the opportunity to call, fans. And I’m not sure how exactly I feel about that, to be honest.

Brock Lesnar came out first in his normal attire: just his tights. Joey talked about how much of a bad ass Brock was for not wearing protective clothing or bringing a weapon. As Lesnar approached the ring, he took a look at the boards covered in barbed wire. He looked a little worried, but mostly he looked ready to hurt someone. Joey said he couldn’t recall ever seeing Brock look this cautious.

Necro Butcher came out second with Don Callis far behind him. Callis didn’t even get close to the ring, out of fear of getting hurt by anything surrounding the ring. Butcher had a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire and ran into the ring. As soon as he entered the ring, he started hitting Brock’s arms and back with the bat.

Styles: Necro Butcher is starting this one right away!

Lesnar didn’t retaliate at first, he just tried to protect himself as much as possible. Butcher kept on trying to go for a head shot, but Lesnar would block with his arms, which were drawing some major blood.

Brock instinctively wanted to retreat to the ropes, but of course this was a bad idea because of the barbed wire. He did get pretty close though.

Styles: Butcher’s knocking Brock Lesnar back closer and closer to the barbed wire ropes.

However, as soon as Brock was really close, he ducked a swing and lifted Butcher up and onto the barbed wire ropes.

Styles: Necro Butcher fell face first onto the barbed wire!

Lesnar immediately put Butcher in a full nelson and started to scrape his face into the barbed wire. He then dragged Butcher into the middle of the ring and nailed a huge dragon suplex. He then screamed loudly and played to the fans. Callis was back by the entrance going nuts

Styles: Brock Lesnar is on fire!

Lesnar got behind Butcher and hit some stiff forearms to the face. He then motioned to the plate of glass and the fans cheered wildly. Bock guerilla pressed Butcher and launched him out of the ring. Butcher landed on his back and glass flew everywhere (fortunately, FWE security had made fans back up moments before the move). Brock went outside of the ring to continue punishment, but as he went to pick Butcher up, Butcher grabbed a big piece of broken glass and started to carve up Brock’s forehead. Brock tried to back up, but Butcher held onto the back of his head and continued to cut him.

Styles: Necro Butcher is relentless!

Finally Brock just grabbed Butcher’s arm, lifted him up, and launched him into the steel steps. They were now near the boards with barbed wire, which was right by the entrance. Brock tried to piledrive Butcher onto the boards, but Butcher reversed the move and backdropped Brock onto the bare ground. Butcher then tried to suplex Brock into the barbed wire, but Brock blocked the move, turned over, and went for a suplex of his own. But Butcher blocked this one as well. Joey put over his recent attentiveness to pure wrestling and wondered if he would have blocked this move a few months ago.

Joey spoke just in time, because Butcher astonishingly pulled a northern suplex out of nowhere and planted Lesnar on the barbed wire. Lesnar’s eyes lit up in horror as he was surrounded by barbed wire. Butcher got up on the apron and then hit a Cactus Jack-style elbow drop.

Styles: Necro Butcher is crazy! He nailed the elbow drop, but put himself in barbed wire in order to do so!

Butcher started to throw a wild series of punches at Lesnar in the barbed wire. Lesnar didn’t look like he wanted to move, but he fought back. Finally the two got up on their feet and were standing in the wire. They were both nailing a flurry of punches, draped in blood.

Styles: You can’t even tell whose blood is whose anymore!

Butcher eventually got the upperhand. He threw the barbed wire and boards into the ring and dragged Lesnar in with him. He continued his assault, using the wire as a weapon. He then set up one of the boards in a corner. He tried to whip Brock into it, but Brock reversed it and sent Lesnar into the barbed wire and board. Lesnar launched him so hard that Butcher flipped forward and landed on the back of his head.

Styles: These men are out to kill each other!

Both men brawled around the ring for a little while, utilizing the boards and wire. The match eventually spilled out near the board of long nails. There wasn’t a lot to do with this other than scrape each other’s foreheads onto the nails. At one point, Butcher did take a backdrop onto the nails, but it was a bit contrived-looking.

The fight spilled back into the ring where they went for a few pins and teased the big bump onto the tables with tacks. Brock showed off a bit more of his wrestling background here to control the match. The culmination of this saw Brock up on the turnbuckle with Butcher. Brock was trying to suplex Butcher at an angle to the outside onto the tables. However, Butcher was blocking the suplex. Butcher then managed to deliver a few punches at Brock and pushed him backwards, sending both men spilling onto the tables.

Tacks flew everywhere. Both men struggled to stand up and started to brawl. They had tacks sticking all over the place. Butcher most noticeably had tacks in his hair, face, and left arm. Brock’s chest, right arm, and right leg were covered. Part of his right arm was practically coated.

Styles: This is one of the sickest things I have ever seen.

Butcher then found the bat right next to him, picked it up with both hands, and plowed Butcher right in the face with it. In a few second, Callis came up to him with a stick wrapped in a cloth. He told Butcher to get Brock in the ring. All three men stood in the ring and Callis gave Butcher the stick.

Styles: Is that… I think Necro Butcher is going to burn Brock’s face!

Callis then got out a lighter and lighter fluid and lit the torch. He then got the hell out of the ring.

Brock slowly got up, not aware of what was going on and Butcher drank some fluid and blew fire in Brock’s face. Brock’s arms flailed in total confusion and shock as he dropped to the floor, clutching at his face.

Butcher then grabbed a broken barbed wired board and dragged it in the middle of the ring. He set Brock up for the Tigerbomb and nailed the move on the wire. He made the pin and got the victory.

Winner: Necro Butcher

Callis ran in the ring with a huge smile on his face. Butcher looked like he was possessed as he stared at Lesnar’s bloody, immobile body.

Styles: This is one of the most brutal, horrible things I have ever seen. Necro Butcher has destroyed Brock Lesnar, and Dan Maff… Dan Maff is in the FWE. This is… this is just horrible, fans.

The cameras got a close-up of Callis’ evil grin and Butcher’s emotionless, bloody face.

[Quinn says: There was a bit of something here for ultraviolent fans and wrestling fans. Lesnar brought the wrestling and Butcher did a bit too. They also teased some of the spots, which brought some psychology to the table. And the brutality was there. I never thought I’d see Brock take the bumps he did. Meltzer reported that he got a huge bonus for this one, and now I understand why. I hope Butcher did too, though, because he was just as crazy. Even though it was brutal and great, it was kind of like a great action flick: intense and crazy, but not Shakespeare. They jumped right into the big bumps instead of building up to them. I was kind of hoping for a bit more of a build-up to the first big bump, but instead, it was like any typical Death Match. All in all, this was a fun match. If you’re not an ultraviolent fan, it’s not a must, but totally worth a look because of the psychology. But if you don’t mind that kind of stuff, this is a must-see. To a point, it’s about perspective. On the Death Match scale, this was probably *****.]

Rating: ***3/4

Overall Rating: 77

Coming Up: More FWE goodness, the last backstages segment ever, information on the format this diary will take into the future, and a healthy dose of surprises (I hope).

Plus, will there be comments? You be the judge!

She was the stewardess (she gave Jack the extra alcohol in season 1) who was part of the tail end group. She disappeared when they were traveling to the other side of the island in season 2.