Plankton
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FWE Chaos TV
October 5, 2006
Local Station
Miami, Florida
The show opened up with a bit of a different look. For starters, the name had changed. Additionally, there was some scaffolding outside that hung FWE banners and the ring had an apron now that said “FWE Chaos TV.” There was more lighting, some small pyro, and the entrance to the ring had a screen above it.
Joey Styles welcomed everyone to Chaos. He went over the already announced matches for the night and then said just moments before the show went on air, Callis booked CM Punk and Ric Flair in a tag team matches against The Towers. Joey wondered how Flair and Punk would coexist. He mentioned that even though they seemed to respect each other as athletes, they did not respect each other as people.
Matt Stryker and Jushin Liger vs. The Chosen (Hernandez and Masada) w/ Don Callis
Joey mentioned that Callis wanted to take Stryker and Liger out of the FWE, as they weren’t in his vision. He hypothesized that Callis did not (yet) have enough pull in the booking committee to hire and fire whomever he pleased. He also added that Hernandez and Masada were part of his chosen elite.
This was a really energetic match. Stryker and Liger controlled the majority of the first half, prompting Styles to put over exactly why they should be allowed in the FWE.
Stryker was specifically gunning for Masada since Masada backstabbed him last week. Masada got a bit of leverage though at the end as he and Hernandez took control by isolating Liger. Masada took it upon himself to taunt Stryker. Every time he would hit a good power move on Liger, he would drag Liger near Stryker, just out of reach of a tag.
Hernandez really poured on the offense on Liger. He took a lot of pleasure punishing him and at one point even tried to take his mask off. Joey guessed that the unmasking of Liger could very well damage his career greatly and that was precisely why Hernandez was attempting it. But while Hernandez focused so much on trying to take the mask off, Liger connected with a quick stunner and made a desperate leap to tag Stryker in.
Stryker charged in the ring and clotheslined Hernandez to the ground. Hernandez fell near Masada and tagged him in. Masada and Stryker slugged it out for a little while. Eventually Stryker was able to get the Strykerlock on Masada. Hernandez ran in to break the hold, but Liger cut him off with a dropkick to the gut. Hernandez fell outside and Liger followed him with a tope.
Stryker kept the lock on, but since he hadn’t worked over the legs at all, Masada was holding on strong. Stryker let the hold go and as Masada slowly stood up, Stryker nailed a DVD for the win.
Winners: Matt Stryker and Jushin Liger
Callis, Hernandez, and Masada retreated as Joey said this war looked far from over.
[Quinn says: Everyone knew their role and they played them all perfectly for an eight minute match. Overall good stuff.]
Rating: ***
Don Callis Puts Chris Jericho in the Main Event
Jericho caught up with an upset Callis in the back.
Jericho: We need to talk.
Callis didn’t look interested.
Callis: We can talk later.
Jericho: We’ll talk now.
This caught Callis a bit off guard, but by the looks of it, that wasn’t a bad thing.
Callis: What do you want?
Jericho: To prove that I’m the best thing that the FWE has to offer. To show the world that I am the best damn wrestler in the world.
Callis: Why should I care?
Jericho: Because you’re going to put my match with Bryan Danielson in the main event tonight so that when the show closes, I’m standing tall. To show that I’m the reason to watch the FWE.
Callis: And you think that if we put your match in the main event and you win, that will make it so?
Jericho: I’m main event material and you know it.
Callis: Whether what you’re saying is true or not, Jericho, I like the way you do business. So I’ll do what you’re asking. Tonight, you and Bryan Danielson will be the main event.
Callis walked away as Jericho looked pleased.
Rating: 79
Tony Kozina w/ Mike Enos vs. Jack Evans
Styles: Both Tony Kozina and Jack Evans haven’t had the best luck in the past few weeks, but tonight one of them will get a win.
Kozina relied on a lot of high flying offense, but also added in a few nice power moves on the very light Evans. Enos was shouting at Kozina to destroy Evans. For the most part, Kozina stayed focused on just wrestling his match though.
Evans sold like crazy for Kozina, but also got in a nice little sequence where he took control and got in a few really close calls that had his corner of supporters going crazy.
However, Kozina was eventually able to nail a huge Tornado DDT and get the victory.
Winner: Tony Kozina
Styles: Tony Kozina gets the win and proves that even though he may have difficulties beating Vader, he’s still a damn good wrestler!
[Quinn says: Kozina can definitely go and this proves it. It doesn’t really hurt that you have someone like Evans selling your offense, but Kozina undeniably has the goods.]
Rating: ***
Doug Williams, Harry Smith, and BJ Whitmer vs. Michael Modest, Chad Collyer, and John Walters
Joey mentioned that Whitmer and Modest had a great match a few weeks ago and Modest was still pretty bitter about his loss.
This was a pretty old school style match, with the heels doing the vast majority of the work. Modest was able to isolate Smith into their corner within the first few minutes and there was quite a long sequence where Smith played Ricky Morton.
Eventually Smith hit an enziguri on Collyer. As he went for the pin, Walters ran in to stop him, but Smith spilled Walters to the outside by means of a back body drop. He then made the tag to Whitmer, who was a house of fire.
At this point the match became much more of an even contest, with Williams and Whitmer doing the bulk of the work for their team, giving Smith time to rest. Collyer and Walters were mostly fodder for the faces, but Modest was a real powerhouse. Eventually, when he and Williams were in the ring together, Williams nailed the Chaos Theory on Modest out of nowhere for the win.
Winners: Doug Williams, Harry Smith, and BJ Whitmer
Joey put the Chaos Theory over as a move that could be hit with little warning and said that it might expose a real weak point in Modest.
[Quinn says: This was a good match that showed that sometimes less is more. The face in peril stuff really helped build up the tension. The isolation of Smith happened maybe a little too quickly and I thought the ending was too abrupt. I think I like the idea that the Chaos Theory is Modest’s kryptonite, but it doesn’t quite have the out-of-nowhere appeal that a move like the Diamond Cutter has, so I’m not sure it helped the match in this case. Still, an overall great match.]
Rating: ***1/4
Necro Butcher vs. Don Juan
Joey was really negative about Necro Butcher. He said that he was a great athlete, but his style was hazardous and that he is a danger to all FWE wrestlers. He said that Butcher had no respect for the safety of his opponents and even went as far as to say that he should be banned from wrestling.
Necro Butcher just slaughtered the young Don Juan. His offense here basically consisted of a bunch of punches. Juan was busted open hardway eventually and the sight of blood seemed to just make Butcher even more aggressive. Don Juan sold the beating like a pro and, with his yelling and facial expressions, really sold the match like Necro was out of his mind. Necro eventually won the match after a Tigerbomb.
Winner: Necro Butcher
Styles: Joey raved a little bit more about how dangerous Butcher was and again said that he should be banned from wrestling.
[Quinn says: This was a really short match, but Butcher looked like a crazy man, which seems like what they were going for. Butcher’s punches looked legit and extra props for actually using a wrestling move. But it was sill a pretty short match. Juan looked good though and sold the offense like Butcher was trying to murder him. Good stuff for what it was.]
Rating: **
Colt Cabana vs. Marty Jannetty
Out of a sign of fair competition, Ace Steel did not accompany Colt Cabana.
Joey mentioned how Jannetty was pretty bitter about Cabana parting ways with him and Cabana was just hoping that this match would be about solid competition and help Jannetty burn off some steam.
It was obvious that Cabana was feeling very reserved and Jannetty felt like being aggressive. Jannetty stuck to brawling and Cabana tried to mainly reverse everything. For the most part, Jannetty had the most momentum throughout the match.
At about the five minute mark, Cabana started to get more aggressive. But as he gained some momentum, a man (Derek Wylde) came down to the ring. As Cabana hit the ropes Wylde tripped him.
Styles: Is this guy with Jannetty?
Jannetty then took advantage and soon hit the Rocker Dropper.
Winner: Marty Jannetty
Styles: It looks like Marty Jannetty has found a new partner and that probably won’t settle well with either Colt Cabana or Ace Steel.
[Quinn says: This was another pretty bland performance by Marty Jannetty. Cabana shined here, as he got his reversal-heavy offense over, but it was way too short to be much of anything. It will be nice to see what Wylde can do with Jannetty though.]
Rating: **1/2
The Onslaught Express vs. Lethal Connection (“Crossfire” Davey Richards and “Scrap Iron” Adam Pearce) w/ Jimmy Hart
The Express came out first followed by Jimmy Hart’s team. Joey really praised his choice in wrestlers.
Styles: Jimmy Hart promised us a great team and it looks like we got just that! Davey Richards and Adam Pearce may be new to a lot of fans, but for those who have followed the independent scene in the last year know that these are two of the toughest wrestlers out there with some huge potential. With Jimmy Hart’s help, it appears that they have indeed created a lethal connection.
Hart had his megaphone with him and was yelling encouragements at Lethal Connection the whole time. Joey repeatedly complained about how obnoxious Hart was despite his great managerial talent.
The Express dominated early on, using a lot of dropkicks to keep Richards and Pearce at bay. But eventually Pearce planted Parker to the ground with a stiff lariat.
Styles: “Scrap Iron” Adam Pearce just obliterated Parker with that lariat!
Richards and Pearce then isolated Parker a bit. Richards got in the ring with him and kept him at bay with a series of kicks and a german suplex. Parker eventually reversed a whip into the ropes and fired back with a spear. Both men crawled over to their partners and both made the tag. Pearce and Pawluck slugged it out a bit, with Pawluck gaining the upperhand in the end. He kept control for a bit until Richards got tagged back into the ring. Pawluck was fine for a bit until Richards hit a spinning backhand, followed by a kick to the face and a jumping enziguri. Richards then said something to Parker, causing Parker to run in the ring, which provoked Pearce to come in too.
Styles: Everything is breaking down! Referee Robert Brisko has lost control!
Hart started yelling at Lethal Connection to hit the Bottle Rocket. Pearce gorilla press slammed Pawluck to the outside and then picked Parker in the air for a powerbomb. Just as he went to slam Parker to the mat, Richards jumped up and hit a lung blower. Pearce made the cover for the win.
Winners: Lethal Connection
Styles: Lethal Connection has made an immediate impact in the FWE!
[Quinn says: Great debut by Richards and Pearce, both guys I am a fan of. Even though this was way, way too short to be what it inevitably could be, all four of these guys looked great. Despite that, the crowd was dead, dead, dead. But neither of these teams should have troubles getting over in the longrun. Once they do that and are given more time, we could be seeing some epic matches here based on what they did tonight. I just hope the FWE sticks with both of the teams as the potential is tremendous.]
Rating: **3/4
Vader vs. Mike Enos w/ Tony Kozina
Kozina observed by the ring for this one. He was clearly not there to interfere, but rather to examine. Before the match started, Enos looked at Kozina and said, “This is how a real man does it.”
But as Joey mentioned after the match, a real man must get his ass kicked, as Vader just destroyed Enos. Enos lasted a mere three minutes, less than Kozina, and, after a lot of stiff fists and suplexes, ended with a Vader Bomb.
Winner: Vader
Styles: Wow! Vader decimated Mike Enos!
Kozina helped the groggy Enos out of the ring and into the back as Vader celebrated.
[Quinn says: I expected something at or near DUD territory, but thanks to Vader’s stiff offense and Enos’ ability to sell alright for the big man, this was somewhat enjoyable. The shortness probably helped quite a bit.]
Rating: *1/2
Brock Lesnar vs. Josh Daniels
Joey put over Daniels as the future of professional wrestling and said that he thought Daniels had a chance at beating Lesnar tonight if he played his cards right.
Unlike last week’s match, Lesnar once again took it to the mat. Daniels didn’t hold back though and really gave Lesnar a run for his money in the early portions. However, Lesnar’s MMA-influenced style really helped out as he got in a few stiff strikes in on Daniels. Lesnar dominated for the most part, except for one sequence near the end where Daniels pulled off a few big suplexes. However, around the ten minute mark, Lesnar locked in a dragon sleeper and got the submission victory.
Winner: Brock Lesnar
[Quinn says: Another solid outing by Lesnar. Daniels also shows a ton of promise. I like how Lesnar is continuously reminding the audience that he’s incredibly versatile. It’s nice to see the mat wrestling side of his abilities shine like they never did when he wrestled for WWE.]
Rating: ***
Ric Flair and CM Punk vs. The Towers
Flair and Punk looked incredibly reluctant. Judging by the smug looks on Luger and Windham’s faces, Joey wondered if The Towers knew about this match well in advanced.
This was another old school style tag match. There was a lot of back and forth action at first, but eventually The Towers isolated Flair in their corner. There were a lot of sequences where Flair would do some underhanded maneuver and almost make it to Punk for the tag, but would be desperately cut off by either Luger or Windham. This actually really helped get over the fact that the FWE were enforcing the tag ropes, as Punk would just be out of reach of the tag every time. There were also a few times that Flair did make the tag, but the ref was being distracted, so he had to argue with Punk to get him back to his corner, which allowed the heels to double team Flair.
Eventually Flair eye raked Luger, stomped on his foot, and threw him to the outside. As he went to tag in Punk, Windham ran in, but was stopped by Flair with an eye poke. Flair then finally tagged in Punk, who went after Windham immediately. He nailed a shining wizard in short order and went for a pin, but the ref wouldn’t make the count because Windham wasn’t the legal man.
After swearing at the ref, Punk quickly hit a suicide dive to the outside on Luger and dragged him back into the ring after some brawling.
Styles: CM Punk is unstoppable right now!
Punk, though, was stopped dead in his tracks after Luger reversed a bulldog into a back suplex. Joey mentioned the experience that The Towers brought to their matches. This lead to another face in peril sequence, this time with Punk. This one didn’t last nearly as long though, as Punk, after a few minutes, was able to nail Windham with a sidekick and tag Flair in. Flair and Windham both slugged it out as Joey mentioned that these two headlined the first show in the FWE. Flair was doing really well, but his pin attempts were being broken up by Luger. Eventually Punk just ran into the ring and knocked Luger off of the apron, climbed the turnbuckle, and dived to the outside on top of him. Flair then put Windham in the Figure Four and got the submission victory.
Winners: Ric Flair and CM Punk
Styles: CM Punk and Ric Flair not only coexisted, but did incredibly well as a team!
Punk grabbed a mic.
Punk: Don Callis, you can try all of the mind games that you want, but when it comes down to it, CM Punk and Ric Flair are going to do what’s best for them. And right now, what we did in the ring, not clawing at each others’ throats, we know that’s what’s best for us. So whatever you think you can throw at us next, go ahead. Bottom line is, as far as I’m concerned, you can do whatever you want.
He handed the mic to Flair.
Flair: You see what that is, Callis? That’s respect! Two guys who respect each other in the ring. You want more tag matches? We’ll give you tag matches! You want to put us in matches against each other? We’ve already beaten the hell out of each other before and we’re not afraid to do it again! Bring everything you’ve got, you piece of garbage! Whoo!
[Quinn says: Great old school stuff. Punk and Flair timed everything really well and The Towers played their roles perfectly. On the negative side, The Towers were a bit sloppy. This was great though and Punk fit in with the older guys very naturally.]
Rating: ***1/4
Chris Jericho vs. Bryan Danielson
Styles: Here it is, ladies and gentlemen, our main event. This one isn’t for a championship. It’s for pride and it’s about climbing up the ladder. Both of these men need a win tonight to be in top contention for the FWE Heavyweight Championship, so you know that they are going to give it their all tonight.
Danielson and Jericho really let it all out. The match started as a striking contest with Danielson being the clear victor. It was obvious from the get-go that Danielson was controlling the tempo and Jericho was merely trying to keep up. Jericho eventually realized that this was not working in his favor and utilized some rest holds to slow things down in his favor.
At this point Jericho got a good strategy going on. He would keep Danielson grounded and then let him appear to almost muscle out of a hold before tightening the hold back up again and firmly locking it in. This did a lot to frustrate Danielson and made him more concerned with those frustrations than having any real strategy.
This worked out really well for Jericho until he started to fit in a little bit of his heel offense. He began elevating his legs on the ropes and grabbing the ropes while having Danielson in the abdominal stretch. The fans started yelling at Jericho, prompting him to yell back at them. This gave Danielson enough time to recover and dropkicked Jericho’s legs. As soon as Jericho hit the ground Danielson started to work the legs over. He mixed up his arsenal quite a bit, using a variety of strikes, submission holds and power moves. One of the bigger moments came when Danielson went to the top rope and dropped a knee on Jericho’s left leg.
Styles: Bryan Danielson has been pouring on the offense for nearly ten minutes. Jericho won’t be able to stand much more of this.
Jericho did gain the advantage back though. He ended up planting Danielson with a huge DDT from the top rope (when Danielson was attempting a superplex). Jericho brawled around with Danielson for a little while, clearly controlling the match. Danielson fought back hard though, striking Jericho’s legs with kicks. But Jericho hit one of the more crucial moves of the match when he hit a desperate german suplex that sent Danielson landing on his stomach. Jericho then quickly went for the Liontamer. However, not only had he not really worked over Danielson’s legs, outside of small sequence, his own legs were hurting quite a bit and he could not keep the hold locked in. Danielson had been waiting for this and once Jericho collapsed he quickly applied the sharpshooter. Jericho held on for only a few seconds before tapping.
Winner: Bryan Danielson
Styles: Bryan Danielson wins the match and continues to prove that he is one of the most dominant forces in the FWE!
As Jericho stood, he looked enraged. Danielson, with a hint of cockiness, offered a handshake. Jericho glared at him and, without saying anything, turned away and left the ring.
Styles: Chris Jericho has disrespected Bryan Danielson!
Bryan Danielson stood in the ring celebrating as the show faded to black.
[Quinn says: Bryan Danielson is on a roll. I’m not suggesting that Chris Jericho doesn’t have what it takes, but Danielson controlled this match. But like I said, that’s not to say that Jericho didn’t do a hell of a lot himself. He was completely convincing as a desperate man who was slowly feeling the win slip from his grasp. He transitioned really well throughout the match, becoming more and more desperate. And the fact that he totally let Danielson control the pacing says a lot beyond just his ability to hit moves. And the ending was built up well with Danielson neutralizing Jericho’s two key moves (the Liontamer and the Lionsault) by taking the legs out. It was even better when the fact that Jericho ignoring the pain and going for the Liontamer anyways ended up being the thing that cost him the match. The rest hold sequence was a little on the dry side at times, but that’s such a small deal. Brilliantly done by both guys.]
Rating: ****1/2
Overall Rating: 71
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Yes! I was hoping you'd reply back to that one, Midget. And I'm also glad someone appreciates Cave Dwellers as much as I do. The doorbell bit with the pec is one of my favorite MST3K gags ever. "Ding.... dong."
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Men In Tights was made in 1993, whereas a 1991 Mystery Science Theater 3000 featuring "Cave Dwellers" has Dr. Forrester using the exact same quote.
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FWE News Update from FWE.com
-Jimmy Hart is set to debut his talent next Wednesday. Hart will be representing a tag team that will face the Onslaught Express. So far there is no word on who the tag team wrestlers are, but Hart has mentioned several times that he sought out the best indy talent around.
-Chris Jericho has asked for another big match on FWE TV to redeem himself and specifically stated that he wanted to wrestle Bryan Danielson. The FWE booking committee has agreed and we will see that match this Wednesday.
-Marty Jannetty called out Colt Cabana after the show last Wednesday and has challenged him to a match on the next show. Cabana has accepted, but has stated, for the record, that he has no hard feelings towards Jannetty and hopes that they can get past everything after wrestling the match.
-Also added to the card this Wednesday will be Matt Stryker and Jushin Liger vs. Hernandez and Masada; and a huge 6-man tag team contest pitting Doug Williams, Harry Smith, and BJ Whitmer against Michael Modest, Chad Collyer, and John Walters. We’ll also see Brock Lesnar vs. Josh Daniels, Ton Kozina vs. Jack Evans, and Vader vs. Mike Enos. Also, Don Callis has promised a surprise in store for CM Punk and Ric Flair.
-Speaking of Callis, Punk, and Flair, many were very confused by Callis’ recent behavior. There has been no known alliances in the FWE booking committee, which has left some feeling a little paranoid and untrusting of the current system. There could be some changes in store to even out the process a bit more.
-Expect some updates soon on the FWE’s next big show on October 21 as well as the new look and feel that is in store for FWE TV.
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FWE TV
September 28, 2006
Local TV Station
Miami, Florida
Ric Flair: The FWE Champ is Here
The show opened up with shot of the ring. An FWE official (Ted, actually) was in the ring holding the FWE Heavyweight Championship. Flair’s music almost immediately played and Flair made his way to the ring in typical Flair fashion.
Once he entered the ring and played to the crowd a bit, he was presented with the belt and given a mic.
Flair: Ric Flair is back, baby!
The fans went cheered in agreement.
Flair: The past two months has been the craziest roller coaster of my life. I came here to the FWE, my playground, my domain, and in just the second night I was humbled right here in this ring by some kid who I didn’t believe was fit to carry my bags. And after I was humbled a second time, I had my doubts. I started thinking hard. I started thinking maybe it was time to give it up. Maybe I didn’t have it anymore.
The fans booed.
Flair: But then something happened. Don Callis shows up one night and calls Hernandez the future of professional wrestling. And he’s going to anoint him as the future by defeating Ric Flair. Well, maybe I don’t know as much as I always say I do, but I do know one thing, beyond a shadow of a doubt, when the Nature Boy hangs up the towel, when I close out my career, there won’t be some jackass in a booking committee making that decision for me. Ric Flair—Whoo!—Ric Flair makes his own decisions! When I go out, I’m going to go out with a bang, baby! And I knew, at that moment I knew that that night was not the night! I knew that the Nature Boy still had something in him. And that deep down CM Punk beating me twice, Don Callis trying to usher me out, that lit a fire under my ass! I knew that the Nature Boy was headed to the top of the tournament and was going to bring the gold home. And now here I am! Miami, Florida, here I am! Ric Flair! First ever FWE Heavyweight Champion! I got through Hernandez, the young monster. I got through Brock Lesnar, one of the most complete athletes in professional wrestling. I beat the first ever Undisputed World Champion, Chris Jericho. And I defeated Bryan Danielson, maybe the greatest pure wrestler in the world right now. I beat ‘em all because I’ve still got it. There’s no doubt—no doubt—that the Nature Boy is at the top of his game. Whoo!
Just then Don Callis came out with a mic and a smile. He entered the ring.
Callis: Congratulations, Ric Flair. You did what I honestly thought you had no chance of doing. But all of those accomplishments you just listed off there, that’s only going to be the beginning. So you beat Hernandez, Brock Lesnar, Chris Jericho, and Bryan Danielson. But remember: you only beat them all once and you’ve already lost against Jericho before. What are you going to do when you have to wrestling CM Punk again? Or when you wrestle Michael Modest, or BJ Whitmer, or Doug Williams, or Colt Cabana?
Callis paused.
Callis: Ric Flair… what the hell are you going to do if I decide that you have to wrestle Necro Butcher? The art of professional wrestling has surpassed your skills, old man. You’re just a relic here.
Callis paused again.
Callis: But don’t think for a second that you aren’t in my vision, Flair. You are. And you are an intricate part. You have had too long of an illustrious career for me to just throw you out like you were some nobody named Matt Stryker or some has-been Japanese wrestler like Jushin Liger. You are Ric Flair, dammit. And you will be one of my center pieces. You see, every great wrestler comes to the point where they must sacrifice themselves, where they take everything they have done in the business and they pass it down to one man. And you, Ric Flair, will be the FWE’s great sacrifice. You will take the FWE Heavyweight Championship and you will hand it down to the man who I envision leading the FWE into legendary status. And it will be with your great sacrifice that will propel the FWE to stardom and will allow us to thrive.
Flair: I don’t know who the hell you think you are, but…
Callis: Don’t you see, Flair? This was meant to be. I didn’t believe it at first. I truly, truly believed that Hernandez would defeat you that night. But did you notice that I didn’t interfere? I wanted to see what fate had in store. Fate made you champion. And fate, Ric Flair, will bring you and my vision together.
Flair: You talk about a sacrifice, but I don’t think you heard what I was just saying earlier. I’m calling the shots. And maybe fate will bring my career to an end soon and maybe it won’t. By I know two things. One, I’m not ready to quit. And two, I won’t be a sacrifice to anything you have in store. This is my playground. This is my time. And if you want in on it, you’re going to have to get through the dirtiest player in the game first. And whoever the hell you have planned for me to sacrifice myself to will have to get through me too.
Callis smiled wide.
Callis: The receiver of your sacrifice, I’m afraid, Flair, will have no problem defeating you. When I first came here, my vision was foggy. Certain wrestlers caught my eye. Hernandez and a few others. But one man in particular, when I saw him, I knew he was the future. I saw, in my head, a clear picture of him standing in this ring, FWE Championship in hand, standing over your bloody, limp body. And then when he beat you twice, I knew that this was destiny. That CM Punk was at the head of my vision.
Flair: You’re insane.
Callis: You can call it whatever you want, Ric Flair. But you talk about what you know. About not being ready to stop. Well, it’s not about what you want, Flair! It’s not about what anyone wants! It’s about what fate has in store for us! It’s about my vision! It’s about shaping the FWE into the best promotion…
Punk: Hold on one damn second.
Punk emerged from the back and entered the ring. He had a mic with him.
Punk: If you’re going to throw my name around, you better be damn sure that I like what you’re saying. I thought I made it pretty clear that my alliances are few and far in between, so if you think I’m going to join a cult because you had some dream, you have another thing coming. Everyone’s been asking me the past few days about what I think of Flair. And I’ll tell you right now that my opinion of Flair as a man hasn’t changed a bit since I entered the FWE, but my opinion of him as a wrestler has changed. I don’t care how you spin it, this man won that tournament. As a man who prides himself at being a professional in this sport, I can’t deny what Flair has accomplished. And if I beat Ric Flair for that belt—and I know I can—Then I’ve beaten him. It’s my accomplishment. I don’t believe in fate. I believe in CM Punk. I believe in what I do in that ring. So you can take your cult, you can take your fate, and you can shove it up your ass.
Callis laughed.
Callis: CM Punk, you must understand. It doesn’t matter what you think. That’s destiny, isn’t it? You can deny it all you want, but at the end of the day, you will be the man to deliver the FWE into fame. The FWE has another big showing coming up in the Old School Arena on October 21. And you, CM Punk, will headline that show against the champion. You are not going to earn this. You are getting it because of fate, because I have envisioned it. You cannot turn it down because it is fate.
Punk: I can’t turn it down because, whether you like it or not, I earned that shot when I beat Flair twice.
Callis: Well, I’ll tell you what, Punk. If you want to make winning and losing so important, then tonight you’ll wrestle Bryan Danielson. And when Danielson beats you for the second time, you’ll know that you did not earn that title shot. You only got it because of my vision.
Callis looked at Flair.
Callis: And Flair, your match tonight—it’s been a heated debate in the back. And over the past few weeks I have been gaining more and more followers to my vision in the booking committee. And the debate over the #1 contender was my biggest victory yet. Because tonight I will be reinstating the man who was just suspended four days ago. Ric Flair, tonight, in the main event, you will wrestle the mad man, the heartless, psychotic, Necro Butcher! And we’ll see just what fate has in store for you.
FWE TV cut to a commercial after zooming in on Callis’ wide smile.
Rating: 85
Jushin Liger vs. Michael Modest w/ Chad Collyer and John Walters
Joey Styles officially welcomed us to the program.
As Jushin Liger walked down to the ring Hernandez ran from behind and clotheslined him. He kicked the crap out of Liger and left quickly. Joey was outraged and mentioned how this match was less about athletic competition and more about Don Callis trying to weed people like Liger, who isn’t in his vision, out of the FWE. He did make sure to mention though that Modest has wanted a one-on-one encounter with Liger for quite some time.
Since Liger had already taken a beating, Modest took control easily in the early portions. The pace was mostly very slow in these early portions as Modest relied primarily on rest holds. Eventually the match picked up midway through was Liger made his comeback. Liger initially relied mostly on a few high impact moves to gain momentum, then tried to scale back and use simpler moves as the momentum went in his direction. Modest, however, targeted the back of Liger’s neck since it was already fairly sore after the beating from Hernandez. Modest was eventually able to get the tainted win after the Reality Check.
Winner: Michael Modest
Styles: Michael Modest finally got his win on Liger, but after the beating Hernandez gave Liger, I don’t think Modest should feel too proud of himself.
[Quinn says: This was some all around solid stuff, but that pre-match beatdown from Hernandez caused the match to be unnecessarily slow.]
Rating: ***1/4
Mike Rotundo w/ Kevin Sullivan vs. Josh Daniels
Joey hyped up Josh Daniels and compared his wrestling style to that of the Dynamite Kid’s and Chris Benoit’s.
Rotundo controlled the very early portions of the match, but Daniels quickly took control and dominated.
Styles: Josh Daniels is taking complete control of this match!
Daniels nailed a few german suplexes and then ended the squash after a swandive headbutt.
Winner: Josh Daniels
Styles: Josh Daniels has made quick work of Mike Rotundo, but knowing his and Kevin Sullivan’s records, I’m not sure if that will settle well with them.
[Quinn says: Kudos for putting Daniels over immediately, but I hope we won’t be seeing a repeat of Whitmer vs. Rotundo. As for the match, it was really too short to be much of anything, but Daniels looked really good in there.]
Rating: **
As Colt Cabana was in the back getting ready for his tag match against the Onslaught Express, Jannetty stopped him.
Jannetty: Colt, what’s going on? You get a tag match against the Onslaught Express and you choose Ace Steel as your partner and not me?
Cabana: Ah, come on, Marty. Crazy Ace and I go way back.
Jannetty: I thought we were a team.
Cabana: Hey, we had a good time, but…it’s over, man. Sorry.
Cabana patted Jannetty on the shoulder and walked off. Jannetty looked pretty pissed.
Colt Cabana and Ace Steel vs. Onslaught Express
This was the longest match the Express had in the FWE so far and they were finally able to show off their skills a bit more.
The beginning portions of the match were really back and forth as Joey put over how even the teams were. He said that Pawluck and Parker were especially impressive since they had not been teaming together for that long.
Eventually the Express were able to isolate Cabana. At this point they came off as a little more heelish, not necessarily because they were heels, but because Cabana was really playing to the crowd and the Express’ more serious approach came off as antagonistic. Cabana made some smooth European style reversals and eventually made the hot tag to Steel, who was a house of fire. The Express, though, were on top of things and were eventually able to isolate Steel too. Joey noted that their excellent tag team work made it very difficult for Cabana and Steel to gain any momentum. He added that the Express seemed more like a unit and it was as if they could read each others’ thoughts.
Steel was able to make the hot tag to Cabana after an enziguri. Cabana rolled both Pawluck and Parker up a few times for some near falls. He was also just seconds away from getting the win after hitting Pawluck with a piledriver. Parker made the save though and all four guys were soon in the ring brawling. Parker was able to dump Steel and he and Pawluck hit Cabana with a german suplex/superkick combo for the win.
Winners: Onslaught Express
Styles: The Onslaught Express gets another huge victory as they continue their winning streak!
[Quinn says: This was good and energetic. Pawluck and Parker are really gelling well and I like their no nonsense attitude. I enjoyed seeing them get more time, but two Ricky Morton sequences was too much and kept this one from getting a higher score. Overall, though, this is definitely good for the future tag division.]
Rating: ***
Vader vs. Tony “The Tank” Kozina w/ Mike Enos
Joey talked how much of a bad idea it was for Kozina to challenge Vader so early in his training.
Styles: But if Tony Kozina feels that he is ready, maybe—just maybe—he is.
This was almost a complete squash. Kozina got in a surprising amount of offense early on by taking Vader down with a dropkick from the top rope followed by a few other quick high risk maneuvers.
Styles: Tony Kozina might get lucky here!
But the momentum was short-lived. Vader eventually nailed Kozina with a big boot and poured on the offense from there on. He finished the match with a Vader Bomb.
Winner: Vader
Vader helped Kozina up and gave him a pat on the shoulder.
Styles: A little bit of sportsmanship from the big man.
However, Enos ran in the ring and pushed Vader away. Vader and Enos had a staredown as Kozina came to. Eventually Enos left the ring with Kozina, yelling at him for doing such a horrible job.
Syles: Mike Enos may not have appreciated Tony Kozina’s work, but it looks like Vader respected his effort.
[Quinn says: Tony Kozina bumped like a king in this one. It was the sort of over the top bumping that you would expect to see from Curt Henning after getting hit by Andre the Giant. Over the top, but not so much that it looked stupid. Vader played his role well too. As far as a squash goes, this was up there.]
Rating: **1/2
Chris Jericho vs. BJ Whitmer
Styles: Chris Jericho said he wanted a big match for tonight and the momentum BJ Whitmer has going into this event doesn’t get much bigger. This young man is on the roll of his life!
This was a real knock-out, drag-out fight. There was some trash-talking to begin with and as soon as the bell rang these two slugged it out, going 100 mph. With the match clocking in just under 10 minutes, it was quite easy for them to keep this pace going the entire time.
There was really no momentum gained by either man here, just cool spot after cool spot. Jericho was heeling it up again, but it didn’t do him much good as it was Whitmer that got the most offense in, hitting a lot of sick suplexes in the end. He eventually grabbed the win after a Wrist Clutch Exploder out of nowhere.
Winner: BJ Whitmer
Styles: BJ Whitmer just won the biggest match of his career so far!
[Quinn says: I have a feeling a lot of people are going to overrate this match. Let me make one thing clear right away: I really enjoyed this. However, there was zero psychology. They just basically hit each other with a series of moves until Whitmer decided to go for the win. But what they did in that 9 minutes or so was great. I just can’t really go higher than *** without feeling as though I am blatantly overlooking the negative aspects. I’d love to see what they could do with twice the amount of time though.]
Rating: ***
Matt Stryker vs. Masada
Styles: Don Callis has promised that the new member of his Elite group will show themselves tonight and attack Matt Stryker, so who knows what could be in store for this match!
Stryker looked real cautious, as did Masada, who obviously didn’t want his match ruined too.
The bout went by for some time with no incident. Stryker and Masada were really getting into a groove, with Masada in control for the most part. Joey noted that Stryker’s mind was definitely not on the match.
Eventually Hernandez came down to the ring.
Styles: We already know that Hernandez is part of the Elite!
Hernandez yelled at Stryker and while Stryker was distracted, Masada came from behind and hit a Roll of the Dice for the win.
Winner: Masada
Hernandez ran into the ring and both he and Masada started to beat Stryker down.
Styles: It was Masada all along! He’s the new member of the Elite!
They stomped Stryker down for a while until Jushin Liger finally ran into the ring and chased them off.
Styles: The battle lines are beginning to be drawn among those chosen by Don Callis and those rejected by him!
[Quinn says: The beginning stuff was pretty good, as I really enjoy Masada’s offense, but the ending was just angle development and totally killed the match. I’m glad they are investing in Masada though.]
Rating: **3/4
Doug Williams and Harry Smith vs. Chad Collyer and John Walters
Joey assured fans that Smith had no real involvement in the feud and was just here because Williams picked him as a partner.
We finally got to see what Collyer and Walters could do in a longer, more even match. Their tags were quicker and they generally worked better as a team. Williams and Smith both looked really good, but, as Joey noted, they were not as lucid as a team.
Because of this, Collyer and Walters controlled the vast majority of the match, mainly isolating Smith. It wasn’t until Smith made the hot tag to Doug Williams that things picked up in favor of the faces. Williams was able to gain a lot of momentum by utilizing a lot of reversals. He eventually tagged in Smith who just unloaded on Collyer and Walters with a ton of offense. Once Williams got back into the ring he was able to hit the Chaos Theory for the win.
Winners: Doug Williams and Harry Smith
[Quinn says: Collyer and Walters looked real dominating up there until the end. At that point they were pretty much just fodder for Williams and Smith. But the ending sequence was really good and Collyer and Walters showed a lot of promise here as a team. I particularly appreciated how they controlled the face in peril portions of the match.]
Rating: ***1/4
Brock Lesnar vs. Jack Evans
Joey noted that Evans’ record in the FWE hadn’t been that great, but his performances were gaining him a lot of support from the fans and this is what was pretty much keeping him on the roster.
Notably, there was a small corner of fans who were the unofficial Jack Evans fan club. They chanted “Jack’s going to kill you” at Lesnar, who glared at them.
This match was an absolute massacre. Lesnar was all over Evans in the early portions and obliterated him with some stiff offense that almost always sent Evans flying and twisting in the air.
Styles: Forget winning! Evans is going to be lucky to make it out alive tonight!
But Lesnar got too cocky. He set the seemingly dead Evans up on his shoulders and tried to hit an F5, but Evans reversed it into a huge DDT.
Styles: DDT! DDT by Evans! The momentum Evans had going into that sent Brock reeling!
Evans desperately crawled for the cover.
Styles: One! Two! Thr—kick out by Brock!
The fans were all going crazy at this point. Jack Evans climbed up the turnbuckle and did a twisting senton onto Brock as he stood up, but Brock caught him in a powerbomb position and nailed it. He lifted him up and hit another powerbomb, then a third one.
Styles: Jack Evans is done!
He then nailed an F5 for good measure and made the pin.
Winner: Brock Lesnar
Styles: It was a more than valiant effort by Jack Evans, but Brock Lesnar could not be stopped.
[Quinn says: Wow. What good a few well-timed spots will do for a match. You know, it wasn’t even just the timing of the spots, it was the timing of the match as a whole. Sure, when you get down to it, this was merely a squash, but when you realize that it was just over 9 minutes long, you realize how good of a job they did at keeping your attention. Great stuff by Evans as usual and Brock looked like more of a monster than he ever has before thanks to the fantastic bumping.]
Rating: ***
CM Punk vs. Bryan Danielson
Joey mentioned the major psychological implications in this one.
Styles: Punk has, whether he likes it or not, a shot at the Heavyweight title on October 21. And to feel validated and not like he is a part of Don Callis’ fanatical vision of the FWE, he must win tonight against bitter rival Bryan Danielson. But if he does not, this will reinforce to Don Callis that his plan, his vision, dictates what goes on in the FWE. And for Bryan Danielson, this is merely another match for him to climb the ladder. You can bet he’s not to happy about this not be a #1 contender match and he’s going to take all of that frustration out on Punk.
Bryan Danielson was definitely very aggressive here and controlled the early portions of the match. It was interesting that Danielson, the face, was acting much more villainous than Punk, the heel. Danielson acted really smug as he dominated Punk, showing his bitterness at Punk getting a title shot. Joey noted how this might further ostracize Punk in the back, which may be part of Callis’ plan. He said that if Punk gets special treatment because he is part of Callis’ plan, whether he officially joins the Elite or not, the boys in the back will still resent that preferential treatment.
Styles: That makes this match even more important to Punk. If he wins this match, not only will he feel like he has earned it, but the rest of the workers in the back will too.
Danielson continued to dominate for quite some time, focusing on Punk’s back. However, Punk soon made a comeback after reversing a whip to the rope and nailing a spinebuster. Punk then hit a shining wizard and continued to lay the offense on Danielson. He was going through a real adrenaline rush until Danielson stopped him in his tracks with a german suplex. Danielson then applied a few submission holds, most notably, a bear hug, which Joey referred to as part of Danielson old school influence. Punk just about faded out to the bear hug, but broke out of it at the last second with some forearms to the face.
Styles: Punk’s not ready to give up yet!
Punk hit an uppercut that sent Danielson to the corner. He then nailed Danielson with a dropkick to the face. When Danielson stepped unsteadily forward, Punk rolled him up for the surprise three count.
Winner: CM Punk
Styles: CM Punk has won this match, which doesn’t do much for the mental game Don Callis is trying to play with him!
[Quinn says: Once again, these guys bring the goods. And leave it to Danielson to pull out something like the bear hug and make it look exciting and convincing. My only small gripe is that the ending kind of came out of nowhere. Danielson needed to look strong, but if a better built-up ending would have been tacked on there, this could have been dangerously close to ***** and definitely would have gotten ****3/4.]
Rating: ****1/2
FWE Heavyweight Championship Match: Ric Flair © vs. Necro Butcher
Styles: Ric Flair has wrestled a wide variety of wrestlers in his long career, but never has he wrestled someone like the Necro Butcher!
Flair looked very reluctant as Necro refused to tie up with him. Necro threw a few wild punches, but failed to connect with any of them.
Styles: Necro is refusing to do anything but brawl.
Flair dodged one of Necro’s punches and connected with a punch of his own, followed by a chop, another punch, another chop, and so on. This sent Necro reeling to the ropes. Flair delivered a few more rights until Necro fell out onto the floor.
Flair, not wanting to go to the outside, where Necro is most dangerous, waited for him to reenter the ring on his own. Joey wondered if this was a smart move because it was allowing Necro to recover.
When Necro returned to the ring Flair used every underhanded trick in the book to keep him down. He was desperately trying to stay away from starting a slugfest. However, Necro’s wrath could not be contained for too long. Knowing this Flair tried almost desperately to roll him up for the early win, but inevitably, Necro let a series of wild punches loose, three of which hit Flair—once in the ribs and twice in the arm. Flair responded with a poke to the eyes.
Styles: A poke to the eye is going to hurt you no matter how crazy you are!
Flair really lost his temper at this point, which was quickly noted by Joey. He started throwing punches, chopping, and kicking like a madman. Joey said that clearly Flair had thrown all of his strategy out of the window and was fighting a Necro Butcher match—one of sheer brutality.
Joey was right, at least in part. Flair had thrown all of his strategy out and let his well-known temper get the best of him. He was just concentrated on doing whatever he could to beat the crap out of Necro Butcher. If Butcher was going to disregard the art of professional wrestling at the risk of his health, he would disregard Butcher’s well-being. He even went as far as to hit three consecutive kicks to the groin, which the ref let slide. But make no mistake about; this portion of the match was mostly Necro’s fight. He was controlling most of the brawling, leaving Joey to wonder if we would see a new FWE Heavyweight Champion already.
However, Flair quickly changed his strategy and went back to a real plan. He knew that taking Butcher to the mat and getting the Figure Four on him would be too much of a struggle, so he instead targeted the legs with the intention of getting a roll-up. Instead of applying submissions, he went for chop blocks and just generally butchered the legs with kicks. Butcher was still a force to be reckon with and, even while acknowledging the pain that was being put on his legs, he never stopped swinging. Eventually though, Flair hit another chop block and quickly rolled Butcher up for the three count.
Winner: Ric Flair
Flair had little time to celebrate before Butcher attacked Flair from behind. Flair fell forward and Necro jumped on topping, swinging wild punches. The refs ran down to try and stop, but Callis quickly caught up and stopped them. After another minute or so of Necro beating Flair up, Punk ran down to the ring.
Styles: Punk’s here!
Punk was all over Butcher, clobbering him with kicks and punches that eventually sent Butcher to the outside. Punk helped Flair up as Joey said that we were seeing a whole new side to Punk, or perhaps just seeing the same person react to a different situation.
Either way, the show ended with Callis on the outside helping Butcher up and faded to black as Punk helped Flair out in the ring.
[Quinn says: This had train wreck written all over it, but it really came off well. There was a little too much of the punch and kick stuff, but there was a lot of emotion here. Necro is a believable brawler and Flair can definitely bring realism to a fight. They actually blended together really well, surprisingly. If Flair would be 10 or 15 years younger, this would have been insanely good. I’m not sure if I was wild about Punk’s face turn, but he’s essentially still the same character. And I can’t see him keeping his truce with Flair for more than a little while.]
Rating: ***1/2
Overall Rating: 73
Comments are welcomed and encouraged. (Y)
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-First of all, nice work on getting everyone up to speed on what was going on around in 2001. The first post was thorough and helpful.
-I like how you format the dialogue. What do you think about alternating the colors between speakers though? Perhaps that could create a quicker flow for the reader. It's something to think about.
-The Flair twist and his most recent promo were nice. You have a good general feel for most of the guys you write for and I thought this particularly came off well.
-The APA stuff is entertaining and makes me realize what I liked about the Hardcore belt. Hopefully, though, you allow it to evolve, as I thought this was the division's biggest problem. Comedy situations like that are great, but after a while it's the same thing with a new twist. Chances are, if I'm sick of Pepsi, I won't be wild about Vanilla Pepsi either. But I like the twist at this point.
-I really enjoyed the Stamboli stuff so far. The guy never got the chance he deserved and it's nice to see that you are doing something with him. The promo felt real and was convincing.
-Overall, I can't really find many negative things to say, although the positives don't stick way out. The diary, IMO, still has some time to take a shape of its own. A big problem with some diaries is that they either try to deviate too much from the past all in one month or they don't evolve much at all. A lot of the things you are doing here makes me think that you will progress storylines in a way that is unique to your own diary though and in the longrun will be really good. Hopefully in a few months game time this will all have evolved quite a bit.
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A cheesy B horror movie from the 50's. Bought it at Wal-Mart for $50. I got what I paid for. Kinda boring at times and stiff acting. Somewhat enjoyable though.
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I think playing a sequel without any major reocurring characters would just make me more nostalgic for the original than anything else. I'll still probably play it though.
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FWE New Update from FWE.com
-First off, we here at the FWE want to congratulate Ric Flair on becoming the first ever FWE Heavyweight Champion. We look forward to his first title defense in the main event next Wednesday on FWE TV. The booking committee has been in intense debates over who the first challenger to Flair’s belt should be. Anyone who was a victor at The Night of the Champion is certainly going to be one of the leading candidates in the debate, but ultimately Don Callis has the most power since he holds a very large portion of the voting percentage.
-Don Callis has been obsessed with molding the FWE into his image. There have been a few FWE wrestlers he doesn’t see in his vision. Matt Stryker and Jushin Liger have both been huge targets on Callis’ list of wrestlers to eradicate from the FWE. Don Callis has said that next Wednesday on FWE TV a new wrestler will join ranks alongside with Hernandez in Callis’ Elite (those he sees as major players in the FWE) and that Matt Stryker is the main target. Stryker is already signed up to wrestle Masada next Wednesday, so the match may be subjet to change if Callis wants to replace Masada or if Stryker is attacked beforehand.
-Callis has also signed Jushin Liger vs. Michael Modest for next Wednesday, which leaves some speculating that Modest could be part of The Elite. This match too is subject to change should Modest be given the title shot.
-In surprising news, Tony Kozina has called out Vader for their rematch. It has only been a few weeks since Kozina started his training with Mike Enos, but Kozina feels he is ready to take Vader down. Enos is said to have been strongly urging Kozina to train longer, but Kozina has been pretty stubborn about it. At the reuqest of Kozina, this match will take place this Wednesday.
-Chris Jericho is said to be furious over his loss to Ric Flair at The Night of the Champion and has demanded a match with one of the FWE’s best to cement himself at the top. No match has been set since the debate over the #1 contender has not been settled, but expect to see a big match with Jericho on Wednesday.
-Also set for this Wednesday is John Walters and Chad Collyer vs. Doug Williams and a partner of his choosing. Williams has expressed an interest in Harry Smith, but has not committed to choosing him since he could be pulled out of the match to be in the main event. Sources say that some of his other top choices include Colt Cabana and Bryan Danielson.
-Abdullah the Butcher sustained several nasty gashes all over his body and was immediately treated at a hospital following his match with Necro Butcher. FWE officials are keeping him off the Wednesday show and have also temporarily suspended Necro Butcher out of fear of what he might do at the show. He has already taken out Sabu and Abdullah, two of the most violent wrestlers in history, and there is a big concern for the safety of the rest of the locker room. There is a continuing debate on whether or not Necro Butcher should even be in the FWE, but Callis has been a big supporter of Butcher’s. Some feel that Callis is the only reason Necro is still even in the FWE after what happened to Sabu.
-FWE officials have had very little contact with CM Punk after The Night of the Champion. No one in the back seemed to expect him to show respect to Flair last night and this has left many wondering if he has some ulterior motives. Kevin Kelly has been put in charge of tracking Punk down on Wednesday night and finding out what is going on.
-Jimmy Hart has been in contact recently with FWE officials about bringing in some new talent. Jimmy Hart has managed some of the best wrestlers in the business, including Dino Bravo, The Hart Foundation, Hulk Hogan, Lex Luger, The Nasty Boys, Rhythm and Blues, Rick Rude, and the Big Bossman. Hart said he won’t reveal who he wants to bring in, but he has said that he has been negotiating with some of the best, well-known indy talent around.
-Expect to see Josh Daniels make his debut soon on FWE TV.
-Speaking of FWE TV, the show could be given a bit of a face lift soon with a new name and other features. Don’t worry, though. The show will still take place outside and will continue to be free.
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Even though the character is a shell of its former self, Homer Simpson. I don't think any one character has had so many consistently funny and geuinely sentimental moments (at least for a time). I'm sure there are other characters that could be well argued as being better, but Homer always hits the right note for me.
Currently though, I am really enjoying Locke (Lost). The development of his character and how his past experiences have dictated his current actions making him incredibely compelling.
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There have been and will be a few changes to this diary. Most notably, if you look back at some of the earlier posts, I've begun dividing things into chapters. In the longrun of how I view this diary progressing, things have just started and a lot of the more major elements haven't even been introduced. I don't know how many chapters there will be, but like I said with the IWF, I'm in this one for the long haul and I hope you stick with me.
Secondly, I have begun my very last semester in college. I'll be done in December and will then have a lot more free time. As of now I hope to keep updating consistently, but it will be at a slower rate. Like I said earlier though, I'm committed to this, so it won't be abandoned over the semester as the pressure from classes increases. I can see the light at the end of the academic, so I'm not concerned about dropping this.
I debated calling everything that I had written so far the Prologue, since so far everything has been done to set up the major elements, but as we go on I hope you'll agree with my decision. In retrospect things should be a little clearer, for better or worse.
Anyways, if you're hanging in there with me, I appreciate it.
Plankton
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The Night of the Champion
September 24, 2006
Local Station
Miami, Florida
DVD Extra Match: Tony Kozina and Mike Enos vs. The Onslaught Express
Once again, Ash Parker and Greg Pawluck showed how affectively they could tear an opposing team apart by tagging in and out quickly and by targeting a specific body part with a variety of high impact moves and submissions. In this case they were able to target Enos’ legs and Kozina’s neck.
Kozina and Enos did an okay job, but Kozina was way too reliant on Enos, and when Parker and Pawluck worked over his legs, a lot of his offense had less impact and he needed to rely more on Kozina. The Onslaught Express, though, really worked over Kozina hard and they ended up sealing the win after they put him in the boston crab/camel clutch submission.
Winners: The Onslaught Express
[Quinn says: Pretty okay stuff, but nothing to write home about because of the length. Enos looked a bit out of place, but the sequences with Kozina looked rather good. I don’t know if I’m a big fan of the Kozina/Enos tag team, but I like the Onslaught Express so far. Let’s just see them in a long match though.]
Rating: **
Joey Styles officially welcomed the viewers to the show. He ran down the card. He announced that, unfortunately, the Necro Butcher had injured Sabu on the last show and that the three-way match was officially a one-on-one encounter. He added, though, that it would be in a cage to ensure that no one else other than the two men in the match would be getting hurt. After he was done going over the card, he really put over the crowning of a champion.
Styles: Ultimately though, tonight is the champion’s night. No matter who wins the feud in the 8-man single elimination tag match, no matter who walks out of the hardcore steel cage match, no matter who wins the Doug Williams/Michael Modest match, or who wins the Brock Lesnar/Harry Smith match, tonight, we are here to celebrate our first champion. There’s champagne in the back. The balloons are ready to fall. A party will be started, but for who? All we know is that Chris Jericho, Ric Flair, Bryan Danielson, or CM Punk will be at the top of the FWE today and their victory will be celebrated at the end of the show.
Semi-Final Tournament Match: Ric Flair vs. Chris Jericho
Styles put over each man as a top competitor in the business and said that either could win. He did mention, though, that Jericho has one win over Flair already in the FWE.
From the very beginning of this match, Jericho flipped his heel switch on and cheated like crazy. Joey said that he was getting close to that championship and was maybe getting a bit desperate since this was the most conniving we had seen him thus far in the FWE. However, this strategy, if that’s what it was, didn’t work out too well because Flair had no problem playing a few underhanded cards of his own. After a while he began to outwit and out-cheat Jericho at nearly every turn.
Styles: You’re not going to win a cheating contest with the dirtiest player in the game!
But Jericho quickly changed his strategy after seeing his weak results. He referred back to his previous winning strategy and tried to out maneuver Flair. Flair had learned from his previous match though and actually countered a lot of Jericho’s offense. Jericho, in his panic, relied heavily on all of his offense he had used time and time again because it was so natural. Flair had obviously done his homework and was able to reverse and avoid almost every move, which sent Jericho into even more of a frantic state and caused him to rely even more on tried-and-true offense. Flair was then able to get the momentum rolling easily in his way and worked over the legs of Jericho before making him tap to the Figure Four.
Winner: Ric Flair
Styles: Ric Flair is going to the finals tonight! He’s had his ups and downs in the FWE and we’re finally going to see, once and for all, if the Nature Boy still has it in him!
[Quinn says: The psychology was absolutely solid, as they built really well on their previous match, but Jericho looked kind of weak there at the end. I see the need to put Flair over as a master strategist, and maybe Jericho’s a guy who can take booking like this and bounce back pretty easily, but it was a bit underwhelming. But make no mistake about it; this was a very good match. The cheating stuff was a bit overkill and Flair cheating kind of negates the heel effect that could have been had from Jericho cheating, but whaddaya gonna do? Good stuff from both men. Ultimately, I do wonder if we would have seen the same match had this been in the main event since it would have been given more time and, I would argue, would need much more drama to feel like a good finale.]
Rating: ***1/4
Semi-Final Tournament Match: CM Punk vs. Bryan Danielson
Styles said that while Flair and Jericho had already accomplished a lot, these were two guys who still had a lot of prove.
Both these guys were mad men during this match. Danielson started the match out with a heavy set of offense, mostly consisting of chops and forearms. Punk fired back with some kicks and chops of his own. Neither man got much of an advantage for a little while.
Styles: This is an all-out brawl between two of the best young men in the business! They’re holding nothing back!
Danielson was able to get a bit of an advantage after hitting a slick and swift dragon suplex seemingly out of nowhere. Punk landed hard on his neck and bounced backward onto his stomach.
Styles: That could take Punk out already!
Danielson, however, did not go for the cover. He started to pound and stretch the neck instead.
Styles: Bryan Danielson is either showing bad judgment by not going for the pin and giving Punk time to recover, or showing a great deal of expertise in his own offense by quickly targeting that neck.
Danielson controlled the match a great deal, but this only lasted so long. Punk eventually was able to escape Danielson’s dominating offense and started to fire back with some stiff brawling offense. Danielson backed down though and, instead of fighting back, went on the defense. Joey wondered if he was playing it safe or if Punk was wearing him down a lot. Either way, Joey figured that Danielson was at risk in giving Punk too much time to gain momentum.
However, as soon as Punk’s guard went down, Danielson was back in control. Punk had been beating down Danielson for quite a while was going for the shining wizard, but Danielson, who had been playing up on the beating, stood up quickly, caught Punk in a t-bone suplex position, and launched him backwards. Danielson then began to target the neck once again. His offense, this time, was not so slow and easy-going. At this point he realized that Punk would be getting desperate and Danielson did not want him catching him off guard by pulling a risky move out of nowhere. Truth be told, the beating that Danielson was trying to absorb had taken its toll on him and he needed to go in for the kill. Punk was determined to win though and came back with stronger offense that was now beginning to obviously wear Danielson down. At one point Punk began to climb the ropes to attempt something, but when he was on the second rope, facing the crowd, Danielson caught him in a dragon suplex, launched him backwards, rolled him on his stomach, and then clinched in Cattle Mutilation. Punk tried to hold on for a minute or so, but the pain was too intense and he tapped out.
Winner: Bryan Danielson
Styles: Bryan Danielson has won! Ric Flair vs. Bryan Danielson will happen tonight and it will be for the FWE Heavyweight Championship!
[Quinn says: Phenomenal, energetic stuff. The first submission segment by Danielson slowed things down a bit more than I would have liked, but other than that, these guys went a mile a minute and never slowed down. I loved how Danielson was ruthless and went for the first weak spot he saw in Punk. I also liked how Punk was obsessed with making this a striking contest. Both guys were stubborn and it was fun seeing them try and get their own way. Just great stuff all around.]
Rating: ****1/2
8-Man Elimination Match: Colt Cabana, Ace Steel, Marty Jannetty, and BJ Whitmer vs. Kevin Sullivan, Barry Windham, Lex Luger, and Mike Rotundo
Styles: We’ve seen these two teams battle each other over and over, now we’ll finally get an official winner.
Sullivan’s team utilized some good old fashion heel tactics in this one, immediately isolating Steel in their corner after a feeling out process with Whitmer and Rotundo. Steel continuously went for a desperate tag, but the heels had him well scouted out and were eventually able to get a pin on him after a shotgun by Rotundo.
Styles: Cabana’s team suffers their first casualty!
Whitmer immediately ran in and destroyed Rotundo with a series of clotheslines and suplexes. Fortunately for Rotundo, he was able to roll out, grab his bearings, enter back into the ring, and make the quick tag.
There was a lot of back and forth action at this point and many tags. Whitmer was eventually able to get Sullivan alone and they isolated him in their corner. Cabana made the pin after a double superkick from him and Jannetty.
Styles: It’s three-on-three now!
Noticing that Cabana and Jannetty were dangerous together, the heels targeted Jannetty. However, they had a difficult time keeping him in the ring. Being a tag team expert, Jannetty made a lot of tags in and out and his team began to rarely have one person in for very long at any given time. It wasn’t until Windham hit a really hard lariat on Jannetty that they were able to finally isolate him. They worked him over for a bit and eventually got the pin after a powerbomb/neckbreaker combo from the Towers (which Joey called The Old School Drop).
Styles: Cabana and Whitmer are on their own now!
Despite their brief past differences, Cabana and Whitmer worked really well as a team. They had obviously taken advice from Jannetty, as they kept on making quick tags and worked together in the ring when possible. At one point Whitmer whipped Cabana towards Rotundo, giving him an extra bit of velocity. Cabana leaped over Rotundo and delivered a sunset flip. Rotunduo was so caught off guard by the speed of the flip that he barely even struggled when Cabana got the three count.
Styles: Cabana and Whitmer have just evened it up! It’s not 2-on-2!
Cabana started to get a little cocky. He began to mock Luger once again for the goofy video of his that popped up on the internet. He screamed repeatedly at Luger, “I don’t know!”
Styles: That’s what started this whole thing!
Luger came back hard though and Cabana immediately got serious again. He and Whitmer kept on pouring on the double team offense and were able to eventually get the pin on the irate (and off his game) Luger after a superkick/roll-up combo.
Styles: And the odds are finally stacked up in their favor!
Windham attacked Cabana and Whitmer right away and kept his offense coming quick and heavy. He actually dominated for a little while and got a few near falls on both of his opponents. The numbers were stacked too high up against him though and he eventually fell victim to the second double superkick of the night.
Survivors: Colt Cabana and BJ Whitmer
Styles: Colt Cabana and BJ Whitmer have finally won the feud! Lex Luger had apparently promised Sullivan revenge on Whitmer, but thanks to his alliance with Colt Cabana, that never came into fruition.
[Quinn says: I much preferred the Falls Count Anywhere tag match that last took place. This felt slow. All of this isolation sequences were just too much. It picked up near the end, but at that point there was only so much salvaging that could be done. Cabana, Steel, and Whitmer will be especially better off exploring other feuds. Jannetty too. I don’t know how I feel about Sullivan and his crew yet, but they didn’t exactly work wonders here. Don’t get me wrong, it was fun and everything, but it had its limitations.]
Rating: **1/2
Matt Stryker vs. Jushin Liger vs. Hernandez w/ Don Callis
Styles: This match was originally scheduled to be Matt Stryker vs. Jushin Liger, but Don Callis, the head of the booking committee, added Hernandez, one of the wrestlers in his vision of the FWE, into the match to put both Stryker and Liger out of action. Callis says that both Stryker and Liger are not included in his vision, but, even though Hernandez is quite the powerful wrestler, it might be too much of a task to take out two of the best wrestlers in the FWE at once.
Stryker and Liger double teamed Hernandez to start the match off. However, the alliance was short-lived. Joey noted that, while Hernandez’s order to destroy his opponents was an important element to the match, the real goal here was to move up the ladder. He reminded us that these are all still competitors trying to make it in the business.
There wasn’t necessarily a lot of psychology to his match, just a lot of spots. Matt Stryker was the workhorse of the bout. Whereas Hernandez stuck mostly to brawling and hit a high spot here and there and Liger stuck mostly to groundwork and a few high spots, Stryker was the more versatile all-around worker of the match.
However, Hernandez’s strength could not be matched (although Stryker did pull off a few impressive power moves on him). Hernandez utilized what was around him to the best of his ability, using Stryker and Liger’s own bodies against each other. He continually whipped and threw his opponents into each other.
This strategy eventually got him the win. Hernandez whipped Stryker into Liger, causing Liger to fall out of the ring. Hernandez then gave Stryker a spinebuster and hit a senton bomb off of the top rope for the win.
Winner: Hernandez
Callis looked mildly pleased.
Styles: Hernandez has won the match, but I don’t think he has eliminated Stryker and Liger from competition. This issue very well may be far from over.
[Quinn says: This was a really good spotfest, but it didn’t really expand much beyond that. Hernandez and Stryker are showing a ton of potential and Liger is still great.]
Rating: ***
Doug Williams vs. Michael Modest w/ Chad Collyer and John Walters
Michael Modest came to the ring with Chad Collyer and John Walters. Joey said this pretty much cemented the fact that the three were in cahoots, although there was little doubt in the first place.
It was pretty obvious that Modest wanted to beat Williams clean because Collyer and Walters didn’t interfere in the early portions of the match, although they did try to intimidate Williams from the outside.
The feeling out process eventually progressed into a submission showdown. Williams aggressively and consistently targeted the neck while Modest’s strategy shifted a bit. He originally tried to focus on the back, but once Williams reversed one too many of his submissions into a neck submission, Modest tried to focus on Williams’ right arm. This strategy went even worse and all the while Williams was making more and more progress on Modest’s neck. Modest really started to feel the strain on his neck and panicked. He went back to applying back submissions on Williams, but it didn’t take him long to realize that Williams had full control of the match.
Modest quickly abandoned submissions all together and started brawling. He gave the signal to Collyer and Walters and they made sure to stay near Williams to psyche him out. This took Williams off his game and allowed Modest to take control of the match and make sure they stuck to brawling. Williams fought back hard and soon the two started pulling off a lot of strong style power moves. At one point Collyer actually tripped Williams, which gave Modest a chance to hit a lungblower and roll Williams up for the win.
Winner: Michael Modest
Michael Modest had Walters and Collyer lift him up on their shoulders to celebrate.
Styles: What an arrogant ass! He may not have even won if it wouldn’t have been for Walters and Collyer!
[Quinn says: Another fantastic match between these two. The submissions stuff had a lot of psychology in it and I loved the progression of Modest’s strategy. I wish they wouldn’t have redone the roll-up ending and I could have done without the interference, but all around fantastic stuff by these two.]
Rating: ****1/4
Hardcore Cage Match: Abdullah the Butcher vs. Necro Butcher
Styles: The Necro Butcher has been callous and dangerous force in the FWE in the past few weeks. He put Sabu out of action last Wednesday and he’s looking to do the same to Abdullah tonight.
Abdullah came to the ring with his fork, while Necro brought two garbage cans full of junk with him into the cage.
Styles: Both of these guys are ready to kill each other!
Joey also made sure to remind the viewing audience that either man needed a pin or submission to win. The only reason the cage was there was to protect the audience.
This match was a complete mess, in a sloppy, semi-intentional hardcore way. Necro did the vast majority of the effort, whether he was selling like crazy for Abdullah or creating believable, stiff offense.
Abdullah, for the most part, just hit Necro with stuff, usually his fork. Necro was the first one to bleed, but he was quickly followed by Abdullah. Necro was able to eventually use Abdullah’s fork against him and took control of most of the offense.
The high point of the match was when Necro wrapped a steel chair with barbed wire, climbed the top of the cage, and came falling down, cracking the chair on Abdullah’s head. Necro made the only pin attempt in the match and got the win.
Winner: Necro Butcher
Abdullah was notably not moving after the match and eventually had to be helped out as Necro stood by, watching and laughing.
Styles: The Necro Butcher has claimed another victim! Who is going to stop this maniac?
[Quinn says: There was zero psychology here, just a bunch of sick spots. Normally I don’t have a problem with that (I think some of my past reviews of Necro’s matches are proof), but when the participants in a match barely bother to go for a pin and, you know, win the match, it takes me out of the moment. This was basically Jackass in a steel cage. Regardless, Necro took some sick, entertaining bumps. If you would have replaced Abdullah with someone who can actually work a good match and added in at least a few pin attempts, this could have been a lot better. As it stands, it was pretty much a DUD outside of the sick bumps.]
Rating: **1/2
Brock Lesnar vs. Harry Smith
Styles: Brock Lesnar has been bullying Harry Smith practically since day one. He’s assaulted Smith, he’s assaulted his family, and tonight Harry Smith has promised that Lesnar will finally get what he deserves.
Brock Lesnar dominated the early portions of the match. There was a small feeling out process, but Lesnar soon took over and kept control for quite a while. He mainly relied on submission holds, but also liberally used power moves when he felt he needed to. Smith, though, did not look frustrated at all.
Styles: Harry Smith is visibly keeping his cool, but he better do something soon, or Brock Lesnar is going to continue to decimate him.
Brock was really starting to pour on the submission offense and looked to be trying very hard to make Smith tap. He was screaming at the top of his lungs, using all of his strength to stretch Smith. Smith, in the meantime, while visibly in pain, would not submit and would not give Lesnar the pleasure or encouragement of screaming in pain. Whether this pissed Lesnar off or just made him think he wasn’t getting anywhere was hard to tell, but either way he completely dropped the submission offense and started hammering Smith with some pretty basic and affective big man moves. Joey noted Lesnar’s amateur wrestling and small MMA background and said that Smith probably can’t match his submission skills, but he stood more of a chance now that Lesnar was taking the match in a different direction.
Styles: Brock Lesnar may be pouring on most of the punishment, but Harry Smith has definitely just dictated the pace right now.
Smith used his speed to minimize Lesnar’s influence in the match and, for the most part, it worked. Lesnar was getting very frustrated, but he had already made up his mind to wrestle a brawling match. His stubbornness was something Smith had counted on. Smith had definitely done his homework over the weeks, noticing that Lesnar rarely changed up strategies on a whim.
Smith kept his offense fairly simple. His main objective was to slowly wear Lesnar down and frustrate him. He wasn’t trying to rush to a finish, he was just taking it one step at a time. He utilized a lot of dropkicks, legscrews, vertical suplexes, bulldogs, and drop toeholds, among other things. This proved to be really successful and eventually Smith started to work over Lesnar’s left leg. Lesnar began to get more and more frustrated and after taking quite a bit of abuse to his leg, pulled out some huge power moves that got a few close pinfalls. Finally, after pretty much exhausting his entire arsenal (minus the F5), Lesnar began to climb the ropes, although he had some problems getting up because of his left leg.
Styles: Smith’s leg work is coming in handy.
Finally, Lesnar reached the top rope and looked to be going for the shooting star press.
Styles: Brock Lesnar could be going for the shooting star press!
However, Lesnar had stalled much too long and Smith was able to gather up enough strength to run to the corner and nail a huge belly-to-belly from the top rope.
Styles: A belly-to-belly from the top rope! I can’t believe Harry Smith had enough energy to do that!
Both men were down on the mat for quite some time and both stood up at the same time. They slugged it out for a little while. Smith then chop blocked Lesnar’s legs out from underneath him. He followed up with a series of german suplexes.
Styles: Harry Smith’s going to the ropes. He’s going to hit a diving headbutt!
Smith hit the diving headbutt and immediately the adrenaline kicked into his system. He popped up and signaled to the crowd that he was going to finish Lesnar off. He first, though, lifted Lesnar’s head and delivered a few stiff kicks to the face.
Styles: Harry Smith’s getting a bit of revenge on Brock Lesnar right now with those hostile kicks to the face. He’s fighting more with his heart than he is his brain right now. This could come back to haunt him.
Fortunately for Smith, it didn’t. After he was done kicking Lesnar in the face (which was now bloody), he hit a final german suplex, bridged, and got the three count for the victory.
Winner: Harry Smith
Styles: Harry Smith has done it! Harry Smith has done it! He has finally defeated Brock Lesnar!
Smith walked up to Lesnar, who was in the middle of the ring, out cold, and shook his hand, somewhat sarcastically.
Styles: I don’t think that’s a formal sign of respect from either man, but Harry Smith is getting the most out of his win!
[Quinn says: This was a bit sloppy and slow at points, but there was a lot of emotion there. It reminded me, in a way, of Lesnar’s match with Eddie Guerrero, in that they didn’t rely on a lot of big time moves for the most part. Despite the few sloppy points, Smith looked like a champ and I’m curious to see where they go with him from this point.]
Rating: ***1/4
FWE Heavyweight Championship Match: Ric Flair vs. Bryan Danielson
Styles: This is it, fans! In just a few moments, the first ever FWE Champion will be crowned. It will be either Ric Flair or Bryan Danielson. But no matter who it is, I, for one, will be damn proud of our champion! But enough talking, let’s finally crown our champion!
The feeling out process lasted quite a bit, with neither man gaining an advantage. Joey noted how even their skills were. Flair eventually won the feeling out process and sent Danielson to the corner with a long series of hard chops. Flair just kept hitting Danielson with the chops over and over again until the fans were going crazy.
Styles: No one quite delivers a chop like Ric Flair does!
Danielson’s chest was bright red and after Flair was done chopping him, he fell to the floor in pain, protecting the sore area, really putting over how sensitive the area was. Joey predicted that this would limit Danielson’s ability a bit during the match.
Flair definitely had the opportunity to slow the match down, but instead he kept the match going at a quick pace, brawling with Danielson all across the ring.
Styles: Flair is really taking it to Bryan Danielson! And I’d venture to guess that Danielson didn’t expect these tactics from Flair going into this match.
Danielson absorbed punishment for a while but eventually stopped Flair dead in his tracks by delivering a huge headbutt. He then seized his opportunity and immediately began to work on the back of Flair, hitting a few nice backbreakers and stretching the back. Joey wondered if either man had learned anything from each other when they tagged together last Wednesday.
Flair eventually was able to gain some momentum and worked on Danielson’s legs. Danielson, though, was the superior mat-worker on this particular night and was able to shift the momentum back into his favor. Flair, realizing that he could not win the match if it stayed focused in this direction, poked Danielson in the eyes and tried to take the match back to a brawl. Danielson looked to be willing to brawl, but quickly put Flair in a chicken wing.
Styles: The last thing Bryan Danielson seems to want to do is trade blows with Flair. I’d be willing to bet that those chops took a lot more out of him than he originally believed they would.
Flair was eventually able to reach the ropes and break the hold. Danielson slowly backed away and raised his hands up in the air, leaving him wide open for a rapid-fire series of chops to the chest by Flair. Danielson backed quickly into a corner, clearly in pain, cementing Joey’s feeling that the chops were really bugging him. Once Flair got Danielson in the corner, he used his experience and skill to keep the match in his favor.
Styles: Flair’s wrestling the match that he wants to wrestle right now.
The fans were really eating up Flair’s offense, as he threw in a lot of textbook underhanded Flair maneuvers here and there. But after quite a while of this, Danielson was able to connect with a European uppercut. Flair looked woozy. Danielson went to the ropes and came back with another hard uppercut, causing Flair to do the patented Flair flop.
Styles: Flair’s down!
Danielson went for the quick cover, but Flair kicked out at two. Joey praised Danielson for seizing an opportunity some men his age would pass over. Danielson left no room for Flair to rest though. He kept on the assault and this time varied his offense a bit. At one point, after Flair had been thrown outside (the only time the match actually left the ring), Danielson hit a huge tope, which Joey noted was not part of his typical arsenal.
Styles: Both of these men have been pulling out all of the stops tonight!
After the match reentered the ring and stayed there for quite a bit, Danielson started to go for Cattle Mutilation. But Flair had the move well scouted and would squirm like crazy when Danielson attempted to lock it in. After several tries though, Danielson was finally able to put the move on Flair.
Styles: Bryan Danielson has Cattle Mutilation on Flair! It could all be over right here!
Flair hung on for quite some time and eventually got one of his feet to the ropes. Danielson dragged him into the middle of the ring after breaking the hold. He tried for Cattle Mutilation again, but Flair rolled over just in time and kicked Danielson in the face. This sent Danielson back a bit. He quickly ran back towards Flair, only to be met with a foot to the crotch.
Styles: That’s something that will hurt any man!
The referee threatened to disqualify Flair, but Flair seemed to be maintaining that it was not intentional. Joey wondered if the ref would even have the guts to send this crowd home without declaring a champion.
Flair hit Danielson with a few of his key moves and finally locked in the Figure Four. Danielson screamed in pain as he slowly made it to the ropes. But Flair took a page out of Danielson’s book and dragged him to the middle of the ring and reapplied the move. This time, as both men lay facing each other, Flair made sure to chop Danielson in that already brutally sore area on his chest. This left Danielson in enough pain that it made it very difficult for him to concentrate on moving to the ropes. Eventually, after being in the Figure Four for a long time, Danielson tapped.
Winner: Ric Flair
Styles: Ric Flair is the winner! Ric Flair is the first ever FWE Heavyweight Champion!
Ric Flair was awarded his belt as balloons and confetti fell from the ceiling. Flair celebrated for quite a while in the ring. Danielson eventually approached him and, with just a hint of reluctance, shook his hand.
[Quinn says: This is probably the best Ric Flair match in years that didn’t rely on hardcore spots. Not only that, but they only left the ring once. This says a lot about Ric Flair’s ability to still work a good, smart match and it also says a lot about Bryan Danielson’s ability. I’m really tempted to go the full ***** with this one, but I couldn’t do it without feeling guilty. I loved the match, but I think there were a few awkward spots. However, like Rock/Hogan, this match was more about atmosphere than anything else and it provided a great moment.]
Rating: ****
Most of the FWE locker room came out to celebrate Flair’s victory. Surprisingly, CM Punk came out too.
Styles: The last thing we need is CM Punk ruining this moment!
The locker room, who was down on the floor, sort of backed off as Punk entered the ring. Flair looked cautious and a bit upset as he saw that Punk had a mic.
Punk: You know, Flair, I gave you a lot of shit when I first came into the FWE. I swore to you that you didn’t have what it took to be The Man anymore. I told you that I had no respect for you. But here I am at your celebration. I don’t take back what I said about you and your boozing, Flair. I meant that and I will never take that back. That’s something that you can’t undo. But look at my record, Flair. Look at my past. I’ve made mistakes before and I’ve never—never—had hang-ups admitting I was wrong.
He got up face-to-face with Flair.
Punk: And Ric Flair… I was wrong. You still have it.
Flair, off mic, said “Thank you.”
Punk: But I’ll tell you one other thing. Tonight may have cemented the fact that you still have it. But we also know that Bryan Danielson has it. And Chris Jericho has it, Harry Smith has it, Michael Modest has it, BJ Whitmer has it, Colt Cabana has it. And I have it, Flair. I guarantee you I have it more than anyone else.
Punk backed up a bit.
Punk: Tonight is your night and I’m not going to take that away, but remember that from now on, you’re a marked man. And don’t forget, Flair: you have never beaten me in a one-on-one match. But this is your night. You’ve earned my respect. There’s no doubt about that. But you just remember that you have never beaten me one-on-one.
Punk shook Flair’s hand and left the ring as the celebration continued.
Styles: I’m not sure what to make of that show of respect, but one thing I know that I agree with wholeheartedly is that tonight is Ric Flair’s night!
The shows faded out with Flair celebrating in the ring with the majority of the locker room.
Overall Rating: 79
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I caught up with Classic at the party after the show. Joey hadn’t been making anything up when he said there was a party waiting in the back. Eddie, champagne glass in hand, greeted me with a smile.
“John,” he said. “I’m so happy for everything you have done for me. You have made what would be an otherwise stressful time in my life very enjoyable. At my age, these are the things that are important. Money doesn’t mean much to me anymore. I just want to die a happy man. And you cannot be happy with stress. You have exorcised my demons.”
“Well, Classic, I would have never done it unless I felt very, very threatened.”
I immediately regretted joking about it. Eddie’s face got very serious. He looked at me hard and the few seconds that passed felt like an eternity. Finally, he busted out laughing.
“I… apologize for my forwardness. And that punch in the stomach, it was not my idea. Not my orders, you see? I heard you took it…almost too well.”
“I was too scared to do anything else. I just kept quiet. I thought those guys would have killed me if I didn’t.”
Eddie shrugged. “They might have.”
I laughed, but Eddie didn’t.
“You have a good head on your shoulders, John. An instinct for the business.”
“Well, I’ve been watching wrestling since I was a kid. Kind of like you, I guess.”
“No, not the wrestling business,” he said.
I was really caught off guard. “Eddie, I don’t…”
But Eddie interrupted; his train of thought seemingly shifted. “We are kind of alike though, aren’t we?”
“Well, in that one way, a lot, yeah.”
“I know you more than you think, John. And I have a feeling there is more to me than you realize. So trust me. We are alike.”
Initially, I didn’t know what to make of this. Was he talking just about wrestling, or his personal business again? And I knew Eddie was involved in mob activity, but to what extent? What exactly did he do? I knew Eddie at this point. He was my friend. But he was still such a mystery to me.
As the months went on, I found out more. And as the years continued, I learned to quit being surprised when I dug up more information.
But that night at the party, Eddie was still an enigma to me. I cared about the guy though. There was just something about him.
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Delicatessen- ****
I'm a sucker for a good, weird French film and there's something about cannibalism that is intriguing in a creepy sort of way. The visuals were great and the characters were bizarre. This certainly isn't something everyone would love.
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Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Love the Bomb- *****
This probably doesn't need much of an explanation, but the film is brilliant.
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Ted came up to me in a hurry just hours before the show.
“Sabu’s going to wrestle,” he said.
“What?”
“He found some idiot doctor to clear him. It’s far from legit, I think. It looks like he’s afraid of Old School.”
“Why?”
“You haven’t heard any of the stories yet?” Ted looked surprised.
“I, uh… get the general idea.”
“Some guys think they need to be a little more concerned than they should be. Make sure not to book him in a match though. We don’t want him hurting himself anymore than he has.”
“Is he on for the show this Saturday?”
“I’m trying to talk him out of it, but for now, keep him on the show tonight in some capacity.”
FWE TV
Wed. September 21, 2006
Local TV Station
Miami, Florida
Joey went over the card for the night. He said we would be seeing a special Falls Count Anywhere Match between The Towers and Colt Cabana and BJ Whitmer. He also hyped Doug Williams vs. Chad Collyer, Abdullah the Butcher vs. Tracy Smothers, Matt Stryker vs. Hernandez, Harry Smith vs. Jushin Liger, and the main event, Chris Jericho and CM Punk vs. Ric Flair and Bryan Danielson. He also noted that Brock Lesnar was suspended for the night because of his actions last week.
Falls Count Anywhere: TheTowers vs. Colt Cabana and BJ Whitmer
Joey said that Kevin Sullivan, Mike Rotundo, Ace Steel, and Marty Jannetty were banned from ringside. He also questioned the decision to have Whitmer in this match instead of Ace Steel since Cabana and Steel have tagged with each other a lot in the past. However, he did note that Whitmer had been on on a huge roll lately.
This was a real bloody match. Luger and Windham dominated in the early portions of the match. Joey noted that the Towers had been in some of the most brutal brawls in the past and their experience was showing. However, the youth and energy of Cabana and Whitmer matched this experience. The brawl spilled all over the ringside area, but once it entered back in the ring, Cabana and Whitmer had complete control over what was going on. With blood on both of their faces, Cabana and Whitmer played to the crowd and signaled that they were going to end the match soon.
However, Luger and Windham were able to make a comeback while Cabana and Whitmer were too busy playing to the crowd. After dumping Cabana out of the ring, Luger and Windham hit a powerbomb/neckbreaker combo (with luger hitting the powerbomb) for the win.
Winners: The Two Towers
The fight didn’t stop though. Luger and Windham kept on beating Cabana and Whitmer up. After a while though Cabana and Whitmer fought back. Things got completely out of hand when Kevin Sullivan, Mike Rotundo, Ace Steel, and Marty Jannetty ran in the ring and joined the fight. Sullivan and his crew took complete control and left Cabana’s team lying on the outside as they celebrated in the ring.
Styles: This feud has been complete anarchy! And it will all come to an end this Saturday after the 8-Man Tag Team Elimination Match!
[Quinn says: This is exactly the kind of stuff this feud needed. I like Jannetty’s involvement and everything, but the focus on his tag work with Cabana just didn’t come off as well as this. Luger and Windham were also in good form tonight, relying primarily on their brawling skills. This match gives the feud just enough feul to make me interested in the blowoff match this Saturday]
Rating: ***
Joey Styles took this time to announce the card for The Night of the Champion.
Semi-Final Tournament Match: Ric Flair vs. Chris JerichoSemi-Final Tournament Match: CM Punk vs. Bryan Danielson
Final Tournament Match: Ric Flair or Chris Jericho vs. CM Punk or Bryan Danielson
Necro Butcher vs. Abdullah the Butcher vs. Possible Replacement for Sabu
Brock Lesnar vs. Harry Smith
Matt Stryker vs. Jushin Liger
8-Man Tag Team Elimination Match: Colt Cabana, Ace Steel, Marty Jannetty, and BJ Whitmer vs. Kevin Sullivan, Mike Roundo, Lex Luger, and Barry Windham
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And if you ever get a chance to watch Storm Of The Century, do so. Absolutely King at his best.
No. Absolutely not. Storm of the Century was four and a half hours of dull, unmitigated garbage. I was so hyped to watch it before it aired, and it ended as the biggest crapfest I could have possibly imagined. My friends and I still refer to Storm of the Century as "five hours of my life I'll never get back".
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Characters who once served as brilliant examples of satire have been destroyed for the sake of cheap jokes . Take Skinner, who was the archetypal disciplinarian (with even his name being a reference to that). The Armand Tamzarian episode (which wasn't that funny any way you slice it) rewrote his past, and then retconned it at the end- all to provide a mediocre 22 minutes. The same is being done with Ned Flanders, though more gradually. When the show started, Flanders and his family were perfect. That was it, no real puzzle. They only served to show how dysfunctional The Simpsons were, and more importantly, to show what a jerk Homer was for hating him. These days, Ned has turned up the bible thumping to the point where he's a tool for the writers to get their own political jokes across ("I finished first in the race for the cure... for homosexuality!").
The show has become cheap joke after cheap joke, like Family Guy. To be honest, I don't think it's horrible, nor do I think FG is horrible. I just think that they're both really, really unmemorable, which is sad considering what The Simpsons used to be.
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H20 is pretty decent if you're into that kind of thing. Hope you have a good time. Rancid puts on a pretty good show. Do you know if they will be mixing up the songs a bit or pretty much playing the same set every night?
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1. Any of you going to get Season 8 on DVD?
-Yeah, but probably not until Christmas. Assuming they release 9 for the holidays, I'll get that one as well. I did that with 6 and 7 last Christmas and it was kind of nice being able to watch two seasons in a row like that since the gaps in between new release are about 6-8 months. But if I had the cash, I'd probably get it now.
2. Did the Season 3 DVDs come with an episode booklet? Mine didn't.
-Mine did.
3. What would you all consider to be the last great episode of the Simpsons?
-The last? I don't know. Around season 9 or 10 I stopped watching regularly. However, I think one of the biggest problems with the Simpsons lately is that the characters don't seem as rich and real as they once did. The last episode I remember watching where the characters felt real to me was Alone Again, Natura-Diddily, way back in the 11th season when Maude dies. But take that with a grain of salt, because I haven't watched every episode.
4. What would you consider to be the best episode ever of the Simpsons?
-I don't have one episode that I think is the best, but I especially enjoy Homer Loves Flanders, Bart of Darkness, Lisa's Wedding (I really enjoy all of the future episodes), Lemon of Troy, Bart Sells His Soul, Two Bad neighbors, Bart's Comet, Marge vs. the Monorail, and Homer's Enemy.
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For those not totally familiar with some of the wrestlers used in this diary:
Doug Williams hits the Chaos Theory
There were a few that I could not find any videos for, but this is pretty good. I just thought this would help put some visuals together for anyone who might be reading this regularly.
Also, I might as well note it here, but Milano Collection AT has been injured for a weeks and will be out for quite a while.
Thanks for reading and I hope you're enjoying this as much as I have enjoyed writing it so far.
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FWE TV
Wed. September 14, 2006
Local TV Station
Miami, Florida
Joey opened the show by announcing some of the matches for the night. He said that we would see the second round bouts in the tournament to crown the first FWE Heavyweight Champion. We would be seeing Bryan Danielson vs. BJ Whitmer, Chris Jericho vs. Jushin Liger, CM Punk vs. Vader, and, in the main event, Ric Flair vs. Brock Lesnar. Joey said that all of those matches could go either way. He also wondered what, if any, kind of influence the chief of the booking committee, Don Callis, would have tonight.
Styles also made sure to announce that their next big event, the second show to be held in the arena, would happen a week from this Saturday and would feature the two semi-final matches of the tournament. He said that more matches would be announced as the night progressed. He also noted that it was going to be titled The Night of the Champion.
Second Round Tournament Match: Bryan Danielson vs. BJ Whitmer
Styles: Bryan Danielson, who is undoubtedly one of the best wrestlers in the world, has been on quite a roll lately, but you also can’t deny the momentum that BJ Whitmer has going into this match tonight.
This match started out as a slugfest, thanks mostly to Whitmer. Joey noted that Danielson typically likes to be the aggressor, but Whitmer was showing much more aggression tonight. He also noted you could see in Whitmer’s actions how hungry he was to win that title.
Danielson, though, was not outdone by Whitmer. While Whitmer may have shown a lot of intensity, Danielson was a bit of a smarter wrestler. To match Whitmer’s aggression, Danielson pulled out some moves that he rarely uses, like a spinning heel kick, to knock Whitmer off his game. He wanted to throw him off by doing things outside of his opponent’s expectations. When he was able to gain some momentum in his direction, he took Whitmer to the ground. It was obvious that Whitmer wanted to fight more than he wanted to mat wrestle, so Danielson did all that he could to keep the match on the ground. Whitmer was obviously frustrated with this and generally did poorly during the submission sequences.
However, Whitmer was able to slug it out with Danielson near the end of the match where he made his comeback. Joey, who was noting Danielson’s strategy, thought that Danielson seemed really off his game against Whitmer when they were brawling. There were a ton of near falls, which had the crowd popping huge. Fortunately for Danielson, he managed to hit a few crucial moves near the end of the match, including a brutal dragon suplex. He ended the match after locking in Cattle Mutilation, which forced Whitmer to tap.
Winner: Bryan Danielson
Styles: Bryan Danielson is going to the semi-finals to wrestle the winner of the Vader/Punk match later tonight!
Danielson acted a bit smug after the match, which was pretty consistent with his earlier actions, since he was heeling it up a bit. But he offered Whitmer a handshake, which was accepted.
Styles: Bryan Danielson may not be the most humble guy in professional wrestling, but he definitely respects his opponents.
[Quinn says: The opening stuff was pretty good, the middle portions where Danielson controlled the match were a bit boring, and the ending was some intense stuff. I feel a bit conflicted. Although the middle parts, where Danielson kept the match on the mat, was pretty slow and dragged on, it really helped make the crowd go nuts when the match picked up speed. Danielson made sure that the audience didn’t get too bored, but I thought it was a bit weak even so. Still, the rest of the match was either good, or off the charts.]
Rating: ***1/4
The Onslaught Express (Greg Pawluck and Ash Parker) vs. Chad Collyer and John Walters
This was pretty much a complete squash. Joey called Pawluck and Parker technical experts and they proved it in this match. They made a lot of quick tags in and out and hit Collyer and Walters with a barrage of quick moves.
Styles: Not only are Pawluck and Parker technical machines, but they are also apparently great tag team workers!
The Onslaught Express won the match around the 4:00 mark after making Collyer submit to a boston crab/camel clutch combo (Pawluck with the crab, Parker with the clutch).
Winners: The Onslaught Express
Styles: With tag team talent like this, you can’t help but think a tag team championship may just around the corner for the FWE.
[Quinn says: Quick and inoffensive. I’d like to see Walters and Collyer actually do something other than job, but Pawluck and Parker make a good team and I’m glad they look to be starting a division.]
Rating: **3/4
Brock Lesnar Attacks Harry Smith
Harry Smith was backstage with Kevin Kelly.
Kelly: Harry Smith, so far in the FWE you have been very impressive, but you haven’t yet had your first big victory. How has this affected your performances?
Smith: You know what I’ve noticed in the past few weeks, Kevin Kelly? There are a lot of people out there who support me. A lot of people who believe that I have what it takes to be the greatest wrestler in this sport. And there are just as many people who think I’m just some overhyped kid from a famous wrestling family. And while I appreciate all of those who support me, it’s the doubters out there that keep me motivated. So you ask me how my performances have affected me lately? Well, the more time goes on, the more motivated I get. The hungrier I am, the ore intense my performances will get. And I have my sights deadset on one man: Brock Lesnar. Brock, you think you may be one of the biggest monsters in this sport, but when you mess with the wellbeing of my family, you’re going to see me…
All of a sudden Brock Lesnar attacked Smith from behind. He knocked him to the ground and destroyed him with a barrage of punches. Lesnar then stood up and smirked a little, looking down at Smith. He then turned to Kelly and grabbed his mic.
Lesnar: This is the future of professional wrestling? This piece of crap lying on the floor? This kid I just knocked out? Harry Smith isn’t the future. He’s a joke.
Lesnar laughed a little, dropped the mic, and left.
Rating: 69
Tony Kozina vs. Matt Stryker
Kozina came to the ring with a mic.
Kozina: Vader, a few weeks ago I wrestled you and you destroyed me. I’ll admit, when I made an open challenge, I didn’t expect someone like you to answer the call. But you know what that tells me? That deep down, you fear me!
Styles: Is he joking?
Kozina: Oh yeah, you heard me right, big man. You fear me, Vader. You see my potential and you want to dispose of me before the The Tank takes you out. Well, I’m not going anywhere, Vader. In fact, I’m training for the rematch I rightfully deserve. So when you see what I do to Matt Stryker tonight, remember: you’re next!
Styles: You know, I have to applaud Tony Kozina for his guts, but he was manhandled by Vader the last time they were in the ring. This is just my opinion, but I don’t think he’s anywhere near the level he needs to be to beat Vader.
This was a pretty short, energetic match. Kozina started off really cocky, but that did not last long. Stryker poured on the quick offense, taking Kozina down with shoulder blocks and suplexes. Joey noted that if Stryker could take Kozina down with shoulder blocks, what would he do if Vader tried?
Stryker eventually won after a Death Valley Driver.
Winner: Matt Stryker
Styles: If Tony Kozina is training for a rematch with Vader, I think he has a long way to go!
[Quinn says: Both of these guys really stuck to the basics and didn’t try to wow the audience with spectacular looking moves, which really worked. It was a little on the short side though. I hope the stuff with Kozina doesn’t lead to a burial, because that’s where it looks like it’s headed. Good to see there is some faith in Stryker though.]
Rating: **3/4
Second Round Tournament Match: Chris Jericho vs. Jushin Liger
This was a bit similar from their first encounter, but Jericho definitely heeled it up a lot more. He didn’t resort to cheating at all, but he definitely acted very cocky and at one point went for the patented arrogant cover.
Liger was really at the top of his game though. Every time Jericho showed a lot of arrogance, Liger would come back with some strong moves, as one point hitting a massive palm strike that got a close two count.
At about the halfway point, Don Callis came out and watched the match from the entrance.
Styles: Who knows what Don Callis is up to, but you have to bet that it has something to do with his quest to mold the FWE into the image he has created.
Neither man paid any attention to Callis, so the match was unaffected by his presence.
The fairly even match started to pick up eventually and Jericho really started to target the legs, after a few successful dragon screws. He finally got Liger in the Liontamer and forced him to submit.
Winner: Chris Jericho
Styles: Chris Jericho goes 2-0 with Liger and will face the winner of tonight’s main event in the semi-finals.
Don Callis looked really interested in the outcome of the match and left the ringside area as Jericho helped Liger up.
Styles: Jericho’s looking much more cordial now than he was a few minutes ago.
[Quinn says: Another awesome match from these two. I actually think they stepped up their game from last time. Jericho’s gradual shift to his heel persona is intriguing, but I do think that Liger needs to be in some kind of program before he becomes stale. But this was just a fantastic match all around. Maybe the best yet in the FWE.]
Rating: ****3/4
The Two Towers (Barry Windham and Lex Luger) w/ Kevin Sullivan and Mike Rotundo vs. Colt Cabana and Marty Jannetty w/ Ace Steel
Joey announced that The Night of the Champion would feature a big 8-Man Single Elimination Tag Match pitting Kevin Sullivan, Lex Luger, Barry Windham, and Mike Rotundo against Colt Cabana, Ace Steel, Marty Jannetty, and BJ Whitmer. Joey said that this would end the feud once and for all and also wondered if Whitmer wasn’t present for this match because he just finished a brutal match against Bryan Danielson or because he wanted to distance himself from his teammates.
This was a pretty standard affair, with Cabana and Jannetty doing a lot of double team maneuvers. Cabana utilized a lot of old school offense, hitting arm drags, atomic drops, and the like. He kept his offense really simple. Joey called it an ode to the golden days of the Rockers.
However, this wasn’t enough to get them the victory. Although Ace Steel did his best to keep Sullivan and Rotundo busy, it was a two-against-one affair and Sullivan and Rotundo were able to distract Cabana and Jannetty during some crucial moments.
There were a series of near falls for Cabana’s team near the end of the match, but eventually Windham was able to dispose of Cabana by clotheslining him out of the ring, giving Luger enough time to lock in the Torture Rack and make Jannetty submit.
Winners: The Two Towers
Anarchy let loose at this point, as neither team had to worry about disqualification anymore. Steel went apeshit on Rotundo, diving on top of him from the ring apron and throwing wild punches all around. But while Steel was occupied, Sullivan lifted Cabana into the ring. Luger launched Jannetty out of the ring, prompting Windham to follow outside of the ring and keep him at bay. Sullivan then grabbed the mic.
Sullivan: This is what I promised you, Luger. You help us with our little Whitmer problem and we’ll help you get revenge on Cabana.
Sullivan then pulled a spike out of his pants pocket and handed it to Luger. Luger grabbed it and started beating the hell out of Cabana’s forehead with it, making his enemy bleed. Steel tried to run in the ring, but he was pretty worn out from fighting with Rotundo. Sullivan easily stomped him to the ground and threw him outside. Luger beat on Cabana for quite a while more and finally stood up, smiling. Sullivan screamed at him to give more punishment. But just then BJ Whitmer ran in the ring. He clotheslined Sullivan out. Luger ran at him, but Whitmer caught him and delivered an exploder. As Luger rolled out of the ring, Rotundo ran in, but Whitmer grabbed the back of his head and launched him right back out over the top rope. Windham then entered the ring. Whitmer and Windham stood tow-to-toe and slugged it out. Whitmer was eventually able to hit the Wrist Clutch Exploder and threw Windham out afterwards. Steel and Jannetty entered the ring and helped Cabana stand up, as the four men stood beaten and defeated, yet tall.
Styles: Kevin Sullivan may have helped Lex Luger get his revenge on Colt Cabana, but his Whitmer problem has been far from solved. It looks like their last chance will be at The Night of the Champion in the 8-Man Single Elimination Tag Match!
[Quinn says: Jeez, I wonder why Luger and Windham aren’t going by their old name. As far as the match goes, it was completely standard stuff. Nothing new from these guys at all. And after Cabana’s match last week with Jericho, I think that’s a shame. Nonetheless, the post-match happenings were exactly what this feud needed to give it just a bit more fuel until the blow-off match. I’m not horribly excited, but at least Cabana has some much needed motivation to defeat Luger.]
Rating: **1/2
Abdullah, Sabu, and Necro Butcher Brawl
Abdullah the Butcher came out for his match against Mike Enos, but was jumped by Necro Butcher.
Styles: It looks like the Necro Butcher hasn’t forgotten about the forking he got last week!
Necro was really taking it to Abdullah before Sabu came out. The Butchers were fighting on the floor, so Sabu got up on the ring apron and hit an asai moonsault.
Styles: An asai moonsault on the Butchers! And now is probably the best time to announce that at The Night of the Champion, a Hardcore Three-way match between these men will go down.
As Joey said this, Necro threw some wild punches at Sabu, sending Sabu flying into the crowd.
Styles: But I’m not sure if an arena can hold these three!
All three guys went crazy fighting all over the place. At one point Necro sent a large light post crashing down, narrowly missing Abdullah and Sabu.
Styles: The Necro Butcher is out to kill!
There were also a few fans (that were plants) who got in the way of the fighting and were knocked out in the process. Abdullah basically spent the whole time forking the hell out of Sabu and Necro, while Sabu and Necro were responsible for some of the crazier spots.
Finally, the entire locker room (minus CM Punk, Ric Flair, Brock Lesnar, Michael Modest, Sullivan and his crew, and Cabana and his crew) came out and broke the fight up. The whole ringside area was a mess from the brawl and Joey wondered if the Three-way match would be called off.
Rating: 69
Second Round Tournament Match: Vader vs. CM Punk
Joey said that Punk had been very impressive in the FWE so far, but he had not fought someone the size of Vader yet. He added that there were a lot of wrestlers who, despite a solid record in many other circumstance, failed to achieve greatness because they could not equalize the advantage some of the great bigger men had in their size.
Punk stalled like crazy in the beginning portions of this match, which really frustrated Vader. He was finally able to take Vader down after frustrating him enough by clipping his legs.
Styles: Tony Kozina might want to take some notes on Punk’s strategy!
Punk’s upperhand was short-lived though, as Vader soon caught Punk in a bodyslam and continued to deliver some quick punishment to him by delivering a series of power moves. Joey noted that Vader didn’t leave a lot of room for his opponents to breath.
However, Punk kept working on Vader’s legs and it eventually wore down the big man. Punk locked in the figure four at one point.
Styles: CM Punk is using Flair’s own move!
But Vader was too powerful to keep in the middle of the ring, as he kept reaching the ropes. Punk kept working on his legs though and eventually was able to roll him up for the win.
Winner: CM Punk
Styles: The first official semi-finals match is set! Ten days from tonight CM Punk and Bryan Danielson will square off for the second time in the FWE and the winner will be in the finals of the tournament!
[Quinn says: This was a bit disappointing, but Vader definitely isn’t the man he used to be, so I’m not sure why my expectations were as high as they were. However, Punk worked a really smart match, as he substituted flashy ring work for a simple strategy. This gets a lot of credit for solid psychology, but also loses a lot for the stalling.]
Rating: ***
Punk Isn’t Done Yet
Punk, who was still in the ring, grabbed the mic.
Punk: If there was any doubt before tonight as to who the top wrestler in the FWE is, then this damn well better silence it. What more do I have to prove? I’ve beaten Ric Flair twice. I’ve beaten Bryan Danielson. I’ve beaten Doug Williams, one of the best wrestlers in Europe. And now I just beat Vader, one of the best big men in wrestling history. What else is there left for me to do? Who else is a threat? Chris Jericho? Jushin Liger? I already pinned the guy who beat them. Those garbage wrestlers who were just out here wrecking the set? What they do is a joke and they don’t deserve to be in the same ring as me. How about Harry Smith? Are you going to throw that overrated piece of crap at me? Brock Lesnar? Michael Modest?
Punk paused.
Punk: I’m not here to play games. I’m not here to pretend to be an MMA wrestler, to carryon my family’s honor. I’m here for myself to prove to the world that I am the best professional wrestler in the world! I’m serious about what I do. I don’t give a damn about living up to my family’s expectations. I don’t give a damn about MMA. And I don’t give a damn about respecting veterans. I’m here for me. For CM Punk. And in ten days, at The Night of the Champion, at the night of CM Punk, I’m going to prove to everyone that I am the best wrestler in the FWE.
Rating: 84
Michael Modest vs. Doug Williams
This was a really intense match. Michael Modest looked like he was in a bad mood and Williams knew he was in for a fight, and thus looked a little less cheerful than usual.
Styles: That grumpy bastard Michael Modest is clearly angry that he didn’t advance in the tournament last week and I think he plans on taking his frustration out on Doug Williams tonight.
As the match progressed from the feeling out process to more heavy-hitting moves, Joey noted that Modest had taken BJ Whitmer to the limit in one of the best matches so far in the FWE. He also said that Williams was quickly becoming one of the top wrestlers in the world.
Williams showed much more aggression in this match than he normally had been. However, Modest came back with some real heavy offense, causing Williams to quickly go back to his normal tactics of playing it safe and waiting for his opponent to make a mistake. This strategy worked very well, as Modest, who assumed Williams was going for an outright brawl, was completely caught off guard and a lot of his offense was initially reversed as soon as Williams switched up his strategy.
Styles: Doug Williams is teaching the experienced Michael Modest a thing or two about reversals.
Modest looked furious, which seemed to take him off his game even more. Joey noted that anger can sometimes further motivate a wrestler or further discourage them, and in this case it seemed to be discouraging Modest.
Modest, though, was able to utilize a lot of reversals of his own. And at one point the match seemed to be more about who could torture the other the most by using submissions. This was a bit of a more even bout, but ultimately Williams seemed to come out on top, as Joey reminded us that he was the Human Torture Device.
Near the end of the match there were a ton of near falls, as Modest started busting out a variety of suplexes, but Williams was able to get the win after nailing Modest with the Chaos Theory.
Winner: Doug Williams
[Quinn says: I was really surprised by this, as I didn’t think they would give it enough time to be as good as it was, considering there are seemingly more important matches on the card. But the reversals and submission exchanges here were real intense. It’s refreshing to see two guys make submissions seem so important. However, it would have been nice to see them work on more specific body parts. As it was, it seemed more like a submissions version of a spotfest. But that’s my only complaint. Both of these guys broke out the good stuff. Modest is quickly becoming one of the FWE’s best and Williams isn’t far behind.]
Rating: ****
Second Round Tournament Match: Ric Flair vs. Brock Lesnar
Joey noted that this may be Flair’s biggest challenge yet, as Lesnar has been a champion in both the United States and Japan. He also noted his amateur background, football training, and recent MMA training.
Styles: Of all of the men in the FWE, Brock Lesnar is the single most all-around athlete that this promotion, and possibly all of wrestling, has to offer. But, when it comes down to it, no matter what kind of a physical beast he may be, Brock Lesnar will still have to get through the dirtiest player in the game. And I don’t care if you’ve been trained in ever sport known to man, when Ric Flair nails you with a low blow, it damn well is going to hurt!
Flair and Lesnar stared each other down and talked trash for a bit. Joey talked about how their styles were so different from each other, it would be very difficult to predict this one.
Lesnar was the first one to take a swing, prompting Flair to come back with a chop. They went back and forth like this for a little while until Flair backed Lesnar into a corner, stomped on his feet, and delivered a few quick chops to the chest.
Styles: It may not be the most graceful strategy, but it’s working!
After a while, Lesnar’s chest started to become very red.
Styles: Look at the chest of Brock Lesnar!
Lesnar finally had enough of the chopping and came back with a lariat and suplex. Lesnar started to dominate the match, using simple offense to wear Flair down. However, at one point, Flair rolled to the outside and it looked like he was hurt. The ref started counting him out and at nine, Flair rolled in and out again.
Styles: It looks like the match may need to be stopped.
Lesnar looked irritated, but he knew that if Flair didn’t return to the match, he would have the match won. But Flair eventually got in the ring and stayed in. He was limping around.
Styles: Flair might be vulnerable enough for an easy win for Lesnar.
Lesnar charged in for the kill, but Flair ducked him, moving just fine now, and came back with some boxing fists to the face.
Styles: Flair was playing possum!
At this point Flair resorted to every trick in the book to the frustration of Lesnar. Lesnar wasn’t counted out though. He spent a good amount of time dominating, but just didn’t gain a lot of momentum due to Flair’s dirty tricks. At some point though, Flair was able to low blow Lesnar behind the ref’s back and roll him up. Lesnar kicked out at three. Flair then kept Lesnar down, grabbed his legs, and kicked him in the chest a bit. He then locked on the Figure Four.
Styles: Figure Four! Flair’s locked in the Figure Four! But Brock Lesnar’s legs are thick as tree trunks and Flair hasn’t worked on them very much this entire match!
Flair kept the Figure Four locked in for quite a long time, keeping Lesnar in the middle of the ring. Lesnar, however, refused to submit. When he eventually reached the ropes, it took him a bit to climb up. As soon as he did, Flair kicked his legs from underneath him.
Styles: Lesnar’s legs hadn’t been worked over earlier, but they’re not in the best shape anymore! And without a sufficient amount of leg power, Lesnar will be unable to do a lot of the power moves that he favors.
Flair continued to target Lesnar’s legs as Lesnar tried to apply some MMA-style submission holds. However, Flair had him well-scouted out and kept the match off the ground. When it seemed like Lesnar’s legs were shot, Flair reapplied the Figure Four. Lesnar refused to tap for quite some time. He rolled over and reversed the move on Flair, but could not hold it for very long due to his hurt legs. Flair then reversed the move back into the original Figure Four. Lesnar again held on for a while, but eventually had to tap.
Winner: Ric Flair
Styles: Ric Flair has won! He’s going to wrestle Chris Jericho ten days from now in the semi-finals at The Night of the Champion!
Ric Flair, exhausted, celebrated as the show faded to black.
[Quinn says: Boy, that early portion was pretty boring, but as soon as Flair started working on the legs, it really picked up. I also didn’t mind the cheat-to-win stuff before that, but it wasn’t really picking up the pace enough. But the leg work was really good and it made Lesnar look like a tough bastard since he refused to give up for so long. Everyone looked good after this one.]
Rating: ***1/4
Overall Rating: 71
Ted approached me after the show.
“Bad news, kid. Sabu got hurt during that brawl.”
“How bad is it?” I asked. “Will he be able to wrestle at the big show?”
“I’m not sure if he will ever be able to wrestle again. But listen, Old School’s going to take care of his bills and everything. You just figure out what to do about the show.”
“Yeah, you guys have to get those fliers out, don’t you?”
“No, we’re not doing anymore fliers. As of tomorrow, we’ll have the website up and running. The hype for our promotion is getting pretty big. The DVDs are selling well and we want to make sure we can reach as many people as possible. This is actually becoming profitable.”
“That’s great news.”
“But about that Sabu match…”
“Right, right. I don’t think we’ll need a replacement. If there’s a neutral party in the match, then it will take away from the hatred. Unless we added someone who is friends with Sabu. Let’s wait a bit on this. As far as I’m concerned now, we’ll keep it a one-on-one match. But I have a few ideas that may or may not pan out.”
“Good. We’ll talk about that all later. I gotta get to the hospital to tae care of some business with Sabu.”
The Night of the Champion Card (so far)Semi-Final Tournament Match: Ric Flair vs. Chris Jericho
Semi-Final Tournament Match: CM Punk vs. Bryan Danielson
Final Tournament Match: Ric Flair or Chris Jericho vs. CM Punk or Bryan Danielson
Necro Butcher vs. Abdullah the Butcher vs. Possible Replacement for Sabu
8-Man Tag Team Elimination Match: Colt Cabana, Ace Steel, Marty Jannetty, and BJ Whitmer vs. Kevin Sullivan, Mike Roundo, Lex Luger, and Barry Windham
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The Big Lebowski, since it gets better every time.
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The sequel is apparently going to be called Fantastic Four and the Silver Surfer.....which pretty much gives away what its about.
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I'm really happy to see Ben Folds on the list, as I forgot to vote for him. Hendrix is good too and so is STP (I think I voted for them). I slightly happy to see U2 there, as I'm not a huge fan, but I think they are good nonetheless. 3 Doors Down being in the Top 100 is a shame though. Beause I said so. And I'm in college, so I know what I'm talking about.
The Florida Wrestling Empire
in The Dome Retro Room
Posted
FWE News Update from FWE.com