BCW

[Guest Rich F]

First, a little history. The UK scene used to be huge. More than that, it was massive. Back in the days of the Daddy and David Dean Promotions, ½ the country would tune in at 3 every Saturday afternoon. It didn’t last. Some claim it was the wrestling cycle, some Greg Dyke, whilst others say the talent was no longer there, or that the big stars got stale and refused to leave. Whatever the reason, British wrestling left TV and the business died. You’d be lucky to draw more than 100 people to a show in the late 80’s. Of course, a stubborn band of fans and workers refused to let it die, and it continued on life support for a decade or so in a variety of guises. The DaVE revolution in the States eventually reached the UK as Men of Steel Combat started up in Scotland presenting a cut-price version of beer, blood and brawls. In reaction to this, Ring of Fire opened in Birmingham, pure wrestling at its best. It has a small but rabid fan base of fans who get VERY excited at the mention of the phrase ‘work rate’. Meanwhile, from old London Town, we have 21st Century Wrestling – cutting edge wrestling. It claims to have something for everyone, but its insider focused booking has left it too damn smart for its own good, and alienated most of its potential audience. Which really only leaves 5 Star, running the holiday camps as if it were still 1970, presenting not so much a traditional product as a prehistoric one. Now I know that some of you are complaining that I haven’t mentioned No Name Wrestling up in Manchester, or High Impact Wrestling down in Portsmouth, but both are little more than training schools despite HIW’s claims that it’s the premier Lucha Libra league in the Northern Hemisphere.

So why this state of the union address? Simple really – established though they are, these companies struggle to draw over 300 paying customers to any of their shows, yet when HGC or SWF tour in the UK, they sell out Wembley, the NEC and the Manchester Evening News arena in under an hour. Can you say gap in the market? We have a population desperate for wrestling, they just aren’t being offered the product they want, at least domestically. Now I know what you’re thinking, the problem with the UK scene is a lack of TV exposure. You probably agree that when Greg kicked DDP off the TV, he killed the market, and that the only reason Hollyweird and Supreme draw such big numbers is due to Sky carrying their product. I’d be a fool to argue against that, but perhaps you’re forgetting The Wrestling Channel. That’s right, any company with a slot can reach just as many homes as Hollyweird and the Eisens, and I just happen to have negotiated just such an opportunity. Now before you start to suggest that the UK just doesn’t have the talent base let me do a little name-dropping: Cliff Wilson, Tommy Cornell, J.D. Morgan, Jeff Nova, Donny Damage, Jack Giedroyc. The UK has produced some of the best wrestlers in the world.

All of which brings me to the reason I’m speaking to you today. I want your money. I could phrase this as the business opportunity of a lifetime, as your chance to milk a cash cow for all it is worth. I could tell you that I have a hundred potential investors lined up, but I chose you for your foresight and wisdom. But at the end of the day, that stuff is all BS. You have the figures in front of you - you can make the decision for yourself. You have the money, I bring the know-how, the contacts in the business and a TV contract. You may think it ironic that I’m ‘no selling’ you a deal to a business based on selling, but look what no-selling did for Sam Strong! I’ll await your response.

[Guest Rich F]

I made it back to my car before collapsing into a nervous heap, and it took me a good 10 minutes to regain any semblance of composure. I was up to my eyeballs in debt trying to get this project off the ground, and if the moneymen didn’t bite I could kiss goodbye to my house, my car, my credibility and my credit rating for at least the next couple of years. I cast my mind back to my decision to leave the States after 6 years as a photographer, reporter and card-carrying member of the Ring Crew Express. I enjoyed America, but I was worn down by the constant travelling, and despite job offers from a number of promoters, I was too stubborn, too independent to work for someone else. I needed to be my own boss.

It was on a 400-mile road trip to the Great White North that my dreams of being a big shot promoter first came into focus. I’d just mediated a deal between The Wrestling Channel in the UK and CZCW for TV rights, and during the negotiations I had spent a lot of time talking to TWC head Steve Jackson about the state of the industry, the UK scene and a God knows what else. We’d struck up a friendship of sorts, and when I broached the subject of starting up a Sports Entertainment style Fed in the UK, he made the appropriate noises (though he may have thought that everything else was already in the bag). With the TWC support, I had the ideal bait with which to catch some talent. I’m sure most of the boys I approached thought I was just blowing smoke. Hell, I was, but work in the UK is scarce enough that they said if I could produce a contract, they’d sign it. Then again most of the boys say the same thing to every teenage wannabe who thinks he’s the next Richard Eisen, then pay it no further thought, but at least I brought some credentials to the table. Now everything just depended on the moneymen.

Dammit, I hate feeling so powerless, my fate in the hands of a group of strangers. Still, it was a risk I had to take, I just had to pray that it didn’t come back to bite me in the ass, like it did down in Tijuana. I still can’t drink Tequila - cheers Johnny.

Time to stop daydreaming, I have a ring to find, and finding a 20’x20’ ring in this country will be like finding an athletic move in a Bruce the Giant match.

[Beeker00Zero]

Rich F,

Is this a repost of BCW? Or a new rendition? Either or, you know I'm a mad mark for your writing. Ah yes, that's how it goes for me, I seem to find fans of my work in the works I like.

Also glad to see this is with Cornelloverse data. Give Ryland credit, he created quite the starting template for those not wanting the RaveX Real World data.

Hope it's the slow build of the original BCW, coz that rocks. And I love the concept of having a TV show but no wrestlers, ring, backstage staff, cameras, venue...

Beek

[Guest Rich F]

Hi Beek - this is a reworking of the original ABPW, changing the bits I didn't like from the original, so hopefully it will keep you interested until we get to the new material.

Sophie outlined the options we had with regards to the ring. The CWF (Cardiff Wrestling Federation) had recently closed done, and their 16’ x 16’ ring was available on e-bay. Huw Morris, the wheelchair bound announcer, had a hexagonal ring – similar to the one WLW made famous in Japan. Finally, there was the option of a 20’ x 20’ boxing ring that was surplus to requirements in Bethnal Green.

Sophie was keen on the CWF ring as it would be much easier to transport, and would also hide the size difference between our wrestlers and the big American stars. However, I was keen to get as big a ring as possible. The 16’ x 16’ ring was a standard on the UK scene, with a couple of 14’ x 14’ and MoSC’s 18’ x 18’ the only exceptions. Given our target audience, we couldn’t afford to appear second rate in comparison to Hollyweird or Supreme. Besides, the Japanese wrestlers don’t look too small in their rings – and most of theirs are 20’ x 20’. We both agreed that our target audience wouldn’t react well to a hexagonal ring, we didn’t want to be that different. That meant we had a visit to Bethnal Green to arrange.

I say we, but Sophie would be arranging it. She was my PA in this venture, and despite being only 25, she had already worked for the creative team of SWF during a whirlwind year out from university. She had also written a number of papers on the psychology of professional wrestling, and I first met her whilst she was researching US indy’s for her MBA. When I decided to start up BCW, I knew that I needed her help.

As luck would have it, she was growing bored with academia and was keen to get back involved with the wrestling industry. I thought that meant she would be heading back to the SWF, but apparently she’d been burnt by her dealings with Eisen, with politics and personal agenda’s getting in the way of business and storytelling. I was frank, and told her that she was never going to be able to avoid that anywhere in the industry, but I wanted her help in planning the set up. She said she was willing to help, but only if she could be involved from the ground up – not just in the set up. Well I certainly wasn’t going to turn down her help, and so the pair of us travelled to the UK to get BCW underway.

Once we got back to the UK, I approached Razor Valentine to join our merry band. He was a veteran of the UK scene, with a gift for sketching out matches and planning finishes. Unfortunately he was also a merciless ribber – a trait not unusual for someone trained by the old school. This had led to a number of high profile bust up’s across the UK. Sophie was hesitant about hiring him because of this, but after I showed her some of his work, she saw why I was keen to bring him on board. Once she agreed we needed him, I told her it would be her job to keep him in check , he had always had a weakness for blondes and we needed every means possible to try and control him. Besides, the pair complimented each other’s gifts perfectly.

Edited April 19, 2005 by Rich F

[Guest Rich F]

The boxing ring turned out to need a lot of work to make it serviceable, but Stevie C assured me he could make it look spectacular. He described a white canvas - to maximise its size and improve the lighting aspects, with black ropes and turnbuckle pads. It might look good, but it’s going to need a lot of laundering and I thought a red, white and blue ring rope combination would be more fitting so I need to be convinced. Steve Cabrera has been a huge help since I’ve been back in the UK. He’s a freelance production assistant and a huge wrestling mark. We met at the first Weird War fan slam a couple of years ago where he kept me entertained for hours with his priceless imitations of the HGC roster. When I asked him to help me get the TV deal off the ground, he leapt into action, and had already got together his usual production team together to help with lights, cameras and sound. I guess that’s the difference between the wrestling business and the rest of the world.

Of course, this meant that I needed to sort out some venues ASAP. I figured it would be best to start in London, as this gave me the largest possible market, but I was also conscious that we needed to look like a national, rather than a regional franchise, and thus I needed to organise a tour circuit. Despite the fact that the TV show was the driving force behind this whole shebang, I was cognoscente of the fact that the whole point of the TV show should be to make people buy tickets to see the house shows and supercards, not the other way around. The house show circuit was where I was going to make my money – and thus it needed to be central to my plans.

Now I know that the HGC and SWF house show market has been in decline for some time, and some commentators have suggested that the old business model is dead, but I think that USPW proves that to be a lie. They are the fastest growing fed in the States, and they have achieved that without the assistance of a TV show – just regular house shows. 5 Star prove that a regular tour circuit works in the UK, but they are aiming at a much smaller demographic than I am. As far as I can tell, the reason the big two have poor house show attendance is that their house shows are paint by numbers affairs which cannot compare with the PPV matches they offer on free TV. My solution was to tape the TV matches at the house shows. I should get 2-3 hours of material each night, giving me plenty to chose from, and though the lighting requirements will increase my running costs, I think the increased attendance should cover them. Of course, if I’m wrong, I’m going to have an awful lot of egg on my face.

I checked my watch again. I had been waiting here for almost an hour, and whilst the secretary was kind enough to keep plying me with coffee, I think I’d already ingested enough caffeine to keep me up for a week, not to mention my fear of needing to rush to the bathroom in the middle of the meeting. I’d got the call back from the bank to say they were ready to deliver their decision, but a last minute meeting was called just before I got here, and it had been ‘almost finished’ for over half an hour now. I wasn’t sure whether someone had thrown a last minute spanner in the works, or if they just liked keeping people on edge, but all manner of horror scenarios started to flow through my mind. I was struck by the thought that this may all be for nothing, that the last 3 months of my life may have been wasted. Worse than that, I would have wasted the time and money of my team, people who had moved countries and gone into debt because of the dream. I couldn’t believe that to be true … I wouldn’t believe it. Everything was really starting to come together, and even if the bank rejected me, I’d find another way to fund this project, even if it meant using Dino.

Not wanting to consider that, I busied myself with planning the shows. The downside of using assembled house show matches to fill my TV show was that we ran the risk of looking like a HGC/SWF B-show – only with less pyro’s and smaller crowds and no big names. We could get around some of the production problems by using clipped matches, saving the budget for the super card shows. Rest holds and rambling interviews were a big enough turn of for the MTV generation, the internet generation have even less time for them. A tightly clipped show, well done, should be able to hold their attention and pique their interest enough to get our target audience off their arses to buy a ticket to see the full match in person. As long as we kept ticket prices affordable, and ran regular shows (a problem that seemed to plague 21CW) we should be able to turn an evening watching BCW into a habit, and as big tobacco will tell you, addiction is where the money is. I was particularly intrigued by the recent NYCW $1 shows – which seemed to be drawing huge numbers in the Tri-State area. If we could afford to run our first Super Show at a £1 a ticket we could generate a large family audience, and as long as we kept subsequent shows at under £10 a ticket, it wouldn’t be too extortionate for a family of 4 to attend – unless we can tempt them to the concession stand (mental note - I needed to go over some merchandise idea's with the team).

Of course, ticket prices were dependant upon having venues, and whilst I had a large list of potential gyms, nightclubs and arenas I needed hard bookings before I could begin advertising, and we needed to start advertising in a hurry. I already had a couple of sponsors lined up - I wonder how they would react to a guerrilla marketing campaign? Plus, I had Ed MacDonald, my sound and music maestro, constantly hounding me over the look of the TV show so he could develop a suitable theme song.

I was broken from my reverie by the words I had been waiting for, and dreading, all afternoon.

“They’re ready to see you now sir.”

[Guest Rich F]

I popped open a second bottle of Champagne and poured drinks for my team of staff. Even Sophie, who usually refused to drink, was happy to toast our success. We had our financial backing. She was still all business though.

“ What about the kid?”

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll think of something.”

I hoped I sounded more confident than I felt. Stevie seemed to notice the tension, and broke into classic Eisen.

“Well dammit all to hell, we’ll take this young kid – strap a rocket to his ass, and push him to the moon. As God is my witness…”

Thank heavens for Stevie. I didn’t want my team worried about the kid, they had been working flat out for the last 3 weeks, and I wanted them to have a chance to kick back and relax, at least for an evening. Besides, they all had their own things to worry about - this kid was my problem.

I found out the last minute meeting at the bank was because one of the directors had a kid who wanted to get into the business, and he wanted his kid’s employment a condition of the loan. To ensure this, he wanted to be named a director of the business. I told them I was happy to have them as silent partners, but they had to be just that, silent. They didn’t know the business and I’d seen enough independent companies ruined by money men who wanted their say but didn’t understand how the industry worked. He replied he was happy to be a silent partner, on condition his kid was given a starring role on every show. Sometimes you really wonder whether the person you’re speaking to is actually listening to anything you say. I tried to explain that this would not be a good idea, but he was having none of it. He even had a tape his son had made of himself, and claimed once I saw I it I would be happy to agree.

However, I saw that look in his eye that told me he was trying to convince himself, not me, and when I saw the kid in action, I knew why. Even a complete novice could tell the kid was a total putz in the ring. You could see from his promo that he knew his stuff, but also that giving him a microphone would be akin to committing commercial suicide. However, hard as I tried, I couldn’t get a deal without getting him. In the end, I had no choice - Ben Bradley was going to be a part of the company. Now I just had to hope for a miracle.

[Guest Rich F]

It had become clear that I couldn’t put off the decision over the shows look any longer. Advertising, merchandising, set design, costume, the program titles and a 100 other decisions all seemed to depend on this key choice.

“Underground wrestling is still the big look on the IWC … because DaVE isn’t just the coolest, DaVE isn’t just the best … DaVE is Justin Fucking Credible.”

Trust Stevie to try and make every suggestion in character. At first I had been set on an underground wrestling look – it just seemed so perfect with the London Underground being so iconic in the national psyche, but as time went by, a gnawing doubt began to surface that it would make us look too London centric – which might be fine for a studio based show, but not for one filmed from house shows around the country. The obvious next step, at least to me, was to go in the other direction – the LAW. It helped to present us an alternative to all the indy underground shows making the round, and I thought production could have fun with flashing blue lights, sirens and prison bars. My idea was soon shot down by the rest of the team though.

Razor complained that “It would look too bloody over produced, you’d be going back to early 80’s Eisen.” >spit< “even he has realised that shit don’t work for long.”

I tried to sell it by saying we could keep it subtle, but Sophie gently explained that if it was subtle enough to get past the gimmick, then we shouldn’t be running with the gimmick in the first place. Sound logic, but that has never stopped me getting behind one of my own ideas.

“But look as the popularity of Cops and Police, Camera, Stop. Reality TV is where it’s at … and clipped footage from house shows would tie in with that CCTV look”

“We could go with the reality TV look, but we need to dump the police angle. The 18-30 demographic are huge marks for the whole underground shtick because that is how they see themselves. If we present them with a LAW based alternative they are not going to identify with it which means they aren’t going to watch it.”

Sophie could be a real buzzkiller sometimes. Razor was still not sold on the reality TV format as he expressed his hatred of Big Brother, the Games and every other piece of reality TV he had come across. He wanted a more Sports based look.

“The bottom line in wrestling is that it is story as sport. If you forget that, you might as well forget the whole bloody thing. You need to keep it simple stupid and portray it as a sport. And this whole reality TV thing reeks of talentless no hopers whoring themselves for 5 minutes of fame. You might as well go tape a bunch of backyarders throwing themselves off trampolines and hitting each other with garden fucking strimmers!”

Sophie agreed that we didn’t want to be associated with that element of reality TV, but felt that we could get round that with a good commentary team. It was the OTT presentation on these shows that gave them their LCD factor. If we used a traditional British sports commentary team, whilst using the reality TV style camerawork …

“We should be able to provide the realism that was lost by Eisen’s sports entertainment revolution, without turning into a throwback show and insulting people’s intelligence by claiming it was real. We would just imply that it was real with the style of presentation and thus help people to suspend their disbelief.”

We all agreed that it could work, but would depend heavily on having the right commentary team. They would be the hook on which the whole edifice would hang. Now all we had to do was find them.

[Guest Rich F]

We had a large pile of tapes on the table in front of us. We’d decided that a two man commentary team would work best, it was safer than a one man show and provided an added dynamic without the worry of a 3 man dynamic overshadowing the action itself. The main problem came with our decision to 86 the classic play-by-play man supporting the faces, and the colour commentator supporting the heels, and instead adapting the traditional British sporting commentary style, with the colour commentator acting as a technical analyst. However, all I had in front of us were 101 Mitch Naess imitators, a handful of former wrestlers who were still living in the Sixties, a large selection of internet geeks who were obviously terrified of the camera and a couple of Queen Emily’s who were clearly more in love with themselves than with the product. We needed to widen the search.

“Perhaps we should try to get a Kent Walton impersonator?”

Everyone turned towards Stevie, to see if he would break into an impersonation, but Sophie’s suggestion got me thinking. Perhaps that was the answer – to get an experienced broadcaster from outside the industry to run play-by-play.

“Ed, do you know anyone in the industry who’s available right now?”

“Isn’t that what the pile of tapes in front of us are?”

“Not the wrestling industry, the broadcasting industry.”

This started an intense round of debate as everyone argued the pros and cons of getting someone who knew nothing about wrestling into the broadcast booth. It was agreed that it would be a BAD idea to put someone who was clueless into the broadcast booth, no matter how charismatic.

“What about someone who is a fan of wrestling, even if they aren’t actively involved in the industry. They wouldn’t need to know everything - that would be the job of the colour commentator. In fact, it would probably help put over the technical analyst if the play-by-play man didn’t know everything. I just want someone who can carry a show with their personality and not expose themselves or the product.”

Another round of discussion ended with some head-scratching as everyone tried to think of any celebrities who they had seen at a wrestling event, in a wrestling T-shirt, or even heard were interested in wrestling. We got a couple of suggestions, but things were petering out, so I told everyone to think it over and bring a list of names to the meeting tomorrow.

Before we left though, we needed to think about a technical analyst. We had all agreed that a former wrestler would be ideal, but the tapes we had received were not acceptable. Perhaps we needed to widen the search here as well. We needed to think about trainers, promoters, perhaps even dirt sheet writers. Stevie suggested that I could do it, but I knew that I would be better off running around backstage dealing with last minute problems. Even if I was in the broadcast booth, my mind would still be backstage. No, I wanted a dedicated commentary team, I just needed to find them before the show was due to air.

[Guest Rich F]

I sat at home, nursing a bottle of Jack Daniels, as I considered my next move. With the money now in place, it was time to get my workers to sign some contracts. I wanted the best workers in the country on a weekly basis, and this was bound to upset my fellow promoters. That was unavoidable. The question was whether I should bite the bullet, accept my position as public enemy No 1 and steal the stars I wanted or should I try to do some damage limitation? Should I talk to my fellow promoters and try to work out talent sharing arrangements, thereby giving them ample opportunities to screw me every which way? I slugged the last of my JD and dialled the first number on my list.

Things started well enough with my call to Ty Baker at 21st Century Wrestling. He thanked me for not running in opposition to him, wished me the best of luck and even suggested that we run some joint shows. I suspected he was just angling to get his company some TV coverage, but I couldn’t fault him for that, and a joint show could make a good supercard.

My call to McPeterson didn’t go quite so well. The Men of Steel Combat head honcho told me to stay out of Scotland or I’d regret it. He was a big man, with a big temper, but I hoped he’d come round with time. BCW planned to run all over Britain, not just England, but I’d cross that bridge when we got to it. It was bad enough that I was keen to procure a couple of his stars, Hendry Trance and ‘the Ripper’ Stephen Cuthill to be specific, and McPeterson’s attitude was not going to make negotiations with them any easier.

Ring of Fire's Jimmy Morris of was old school, and had always been a vocal critic of Sports Entertainment. It seemed some things never changed. He was worried our product would damage the industry, sending it spiralling into another decline, just like Daddy had done – but then again he thought that there wouldn’t be much of a crossover between our two companies. Then I told him I was in negotiations with Doug Werner, the British 95kg Judo champion. This may have assured him that I wasn’t planning on running some low budget soap opera, but it also meant I was trying to sign a man I knew he was interested in. I told Jimmy that I would be happy to share him as it would be in both our interests to develop him as an all round wrestler, and he grudgingly conceded, but I think, in the end, I left him pretty conflicted, but then what would you expect from a man based in Birmingham who calls himself ‘Geordie’ Jimmy.

Alex Russell of Five Star Wrestling had a reputation as the least trustworthy man on the British scene. Still, he’d been running shows since DDP went under so he knew what he was doing. He wouldn’t give much away, whilst trying to get as much information from me as possible. He didn’t give much for my chances, telling me he’d seen hundreds of promoters come and go, but 'if I wanted to see how to do things the right way, I should buy a ticket to a 5 Star show'. I couldn’t help smiling, whilst I had no intention of copying his business or promoting practises, I was interested in a couple of guys he had on his books. I knew I would need some seasoned workers and he had those in spades, including the best wrestler in the UK today Union Jack.

Tommy Bailey was as straight up as his reputation suggested. The head trainer of No Name Wrestling said he would be happy to recommend to me any graduates of his school who he thought were ready, but warned me to steer clear of his trainees until they were ready, or he would do everything in his power to ensure that that would be the last signing my promotion ever made. Tommy was one of the most respected figures in the UK scene, so I was happy to agree with his terms – after all, what other choice did I have. It did make me wonder who he had in his dojo though…

Arik Sloan of High Impact Wrestling was my last call of the evening. He was pretty enthusiastic, and even managed a couple of jokes at my expense about my last trip to Mexico. Arik invited me down to his next show, telling me he had a couple of trainees he was sure I would be interested in. I told him I’d be there.

I poured myself a final glass of JD and turned on the CD player. MoSC aside, the calls had gone pretty well. As I started to drift off with the music, I wondered just how much damage these phone calls would do to my plans.

[Guest Rich F]

I stepped into my office the next morning to find Ross F’N Jordan sitting at my desk, talking to Stevie. Ross Jordan, who had been there at the foundation of DaVE. Ross Jordan, who popularised the dirt sheet here in the UK. Ross Jordan, who turned the UK Scene on its head in ‘03 with his UCW supergroup – and had been MIA since its spectacular collapse a year later. Sophie quickly brought me up to speed. She had told him about our commentary conundrum and he had a solution – Ross Jordan. I was gobsmacked, and more than a little intimidated. On the plus side, he was extremely knowledgeable with a fantastic mind for the business, had a vast array of experience and held international respect. On the minus side, there was still a lot of bad feeling throughout the industry from the UCW fall out, he had more than his far share of enemies in the UK scene, and there was always the nagging question of whether being a mere commentator would be enough for him. Would he want to take BCW away from me? This question was buzzing through my mind as I went in to speak to him.

Ross put me at my ease within minutes, and we were soon debating the state of the wrestling industry and reminiscing over our favourite matches and feuds. I laid out my plans for BCW and he gave me a host of hints and tips. It was true - the man was a genius when it came to the wrestling business. When we finally discussed his role in BCW, he said that he was happy to be our technical analyst, and would help with booking, but that was all, at least for the moment. He’d been away for a while, and wanted to gently ease his way back into the business. He signed a pay-per-appearance contract that afternoon.

Once we’d signed Ross as our technical analyst, the play-by-play search became our focus, and when Lynn Cox sensationally quit, live on air, our commentary team quickly came together. Lynn had been on Ed’s shortlist of wrestling fans, but we figured her morning radio show would rule her out of an approach. She was the enfant terrible of national radio, a wild child who was always on the gossip pages of all the papers and had, according to Ed, had a couple of dates with Tommy Cornell. Ed managed to get her on the phone within a couple of hours, and persuaded her to come into the office.

We didn’t have much of a sales pitch. National radio to ‘The Wrestling Channel’ is hardly an upward career move, and we couldn’t hope to match her previous salary or media exposure. Further, it was only a part time job. I tried to spin it as a chance to get her face on TV, that joining the wrestling business would add to her outlaw image whilst mentioning that Catherine Quine had been the hottest download on AOL last year.

I needn’t have bothered. Turns out she was a huge wrestling mark, and would love to do the job, especially when she heard she would be working with Ross Jordan. She was one hell of a signing, especially now, as she would give us a lot of free media coverage. Her reputation was perfect for the wrestling business, and hopefully, as an icon of girl-power, she would be able to help bring in some female fans. I just had to hope that her wild reputation was more work than shoot.

We spent the next couple of hours testing her skills with various wrestling tapes from around the world, and agreed that she and Ross should get together over the next couple of weeks to develop their chemistry and help her find her voice. It was then that it struck we what an ass backwards way this was to set up a wrestling company. Everyone else in the world formed their promotion, gradually expanded and then sought for a TV deal once they were ready. Here we were with a TV deal and no promotion to speak of.

I didn’t sleep much that night.

[Guest Rich F]

After my sleepless night, I knew that I needed to focus my attention on the actual wrestling aspects of this project. I decided to let Sophie organise the arena’s and travel schedules – despite my control freak tendencies I knew that I couldn’t do it all and I needed to trust my teams judgement, not just say I was trusting their judgement. It was hard though – I kept phoning Sophie for updates until Stevie told me that if I did it again she was going to “shine my phone up real nice, turn that sumbitch sideways … then stick it straight up my candy ass!”

We all knew I needed something to occupy my mind if I was to avoid a WAP enabled enema, and with our TV deadline fast approaching we needed to firm up the roster. Razor suggested we take in some shows and get a good look at the UK talent before we start “handing out contracts like bloody candy.” With Five Star up in Newcastle this Friday, High Impact running a show on Saturday and 21CW presenting ‘2k5’ Sunday night we decided a road trip was in order. Stevie called shotgun but Razor doesn’t “do that shit” so Stevie was relegated to the backseat for the long drive to Newcastle – further reinforcing my dislike of 3 man commentary teams.

FIVE STAR WRESTLING – Newcastle Civic Centre

‘Sexy Beast’ Dan Gibraltar over Chris Moore

A good opener between two men I had my eye on. Gibraltar was the superior brawler and at 6’9” 295lbs had a significant size advantage over the 6’1” 235lbs Moore, but Chris supplemented his brawling skills with some impressive mat skills, forcing Dan to keep his distance. This should have been your classic David and Goliath match, but to be honest, I didn’t buy Moore as a face, because despite the size discrepancy, he just isn’t sympathetic enough. Chris’s natural arrogance hurt this match, but I do think he could make a tremendous heel. Gibraltar won the match with his Sex Bomb (fallaway uranage).

Heartbreak Inc over UK Wrecking Crew

The Heartbreakers were supposed to be the faces, but the UK Wrecking Crew had much of the support, especially as the match wore on. I blamed that on the booking though, as Newcastle crowds generally prefer ‘real men’ over pretty boy flyers. If this was intended to put me off signing them, it was a mistake. Not only did it hurt the show, but I had no intention of basing my signings on just one viewing. Kid Romeo got the duke with a roll up out of nowhere, after which the Crew inflicted a beat down to popular acclaim.

Barry Griffen over Lee Glendon

A smooth interplay of styles added greatly to this match, as Griffen played the grumpy old veteran to Glendon’s spunky young lion, shame I had no plans for either: Griffen’s bad behaviour is near legendary, which is a shame as he can carry a paper bag to a good match. Lee seems like a good kid, but he looks about 12 - which would look really bad on TV. He needs to put on about 30lbs and then I’ll have another look. Barry started by punking out the youngster, but Lee showed some babyface fire and gave as good as he got, leading the crafty veteran to steal the win with a handful of tights.

Johnny Highspot over UK Dragon

A typical indy spotfest, and the blame lies squarely with the Dragon. Whilst a decent high-flyer, he relies heavily on his gimmick and his opponents to get him over. His psychology is awful, and his dangerous high spots have caused a number of injuries over the years. Johnny on the other hand is high on my list. He’s a good flyer, if a little spotty, but more importantly is over like rover throughout the UK. Johnny took the pinfall after connecting with his Innovation DDT.

Union Jack over Donny Damage

A classic old school match, with a slow build and hot finish that left the fans on their feet – a perfect main event that left the crowds going home happy and talking about the show. I’d already spoken to Donny, but he still saw wrestling as a hobby rather than a career, so he didn’t want to make it a regular commitment. Hell of a worker, but also something of a mark for his own work. Jack can do it all in the ring, and has wrestled all over the UK. Many people have Adam Matravers as the top British worker in the UK, but for me he lacks the charisma of Union Jack and his matwork can be suspect. Jack won this match with the Jacknife Spinebuster.

After the show I made my way backstage to chat with Russell and the boys. I took my time to talk with everyone and made firm contract offers to Union Jack, Johnny Highspot, Dan Gibraltar, Chris Moore and Heartbreak Inc’s combination of Kid Romeo and Love Machine - who seemed a little surprised I was interested in them. Barry Griffen took it badly that I didn’t want to sign him but the rest seemed OK. The Crew in particular seemed very respectful and hoped that I would come take another look at them when they had a little more experience under their belts, a promise I was happy to make.

[Guest Rich F]

HIGH IMPACT WRESTLING – St Mary’s Hall, Portsmouth

John Jones, Jonny C and Jonni Dyslexic over Manchester Flyboy, N8 Manchester and 'Manchester' Chris Cook

This was your standard indy spotfest, fought under scramble rules, with lots of lucha dives and intricate 4, 5 and 6 man spots. Jonny C was a fairly fluid flyer with real star presence. JJ reminded me of Hell Monkey, bringing the hardcore aerial style with chair assisted tope’s and a desire to commit table-assisted suicide. They completely eclipsed Jonni Dyslexic who was really only making up numbers. I had no real interest in any of Team Madchester going into the match, the Flyboy is still very green, but may develop given time, and N8 has a good look but little else. MCC though was a revelation, and had the crowd eating out of his hand with his comical attempts at stooging along with a sense of timing that belied his years. The question was whether he could actually work in the ring? Jonny C grabbed the pin with a Frog splash on Cook.

Dirt Bike Kid vs Davey Celtic vs Eric Future vs Hot Hot Heat

Davey was a decent gymnast, but not much of a wrestler. Future seemed to know his way around a ring, but his arsenal seemed to consist of nothing but dropkicks. DBK was the fearless flyer who brought the insane highspots including a moonsault from the balcony and a triple jump 630 plancha. In contrast, H3 was the glue that held this spotfest together, both in terms of charisma / crowd interaction and with simple, yet effective moves, providing some kind of bridge between the spots. The fan’s favourite, DBK, won this crazy stunt-show with a phoenix splash on Future.

Arik Sloan over Grant Newman

Arik is a hell of a talented wrestler, but is something of a charisma void. Great trainer, but he’ll never be a star, even in his own promotion. He has an astoundingly vast arsenal of moves, and his desire to showcase them all hurts his matches. His set up moves look like they should kill his opponent, but because he uses so many, they lose much of the impact they should have. Newman is a human bump machine, with enough charisma to carry the crowd and Sloan. This was another in their series of their teacher verses student battles, as Newman struggled to finally defeat his teacher. Arik was only able to stay ahead thanks to eye gouges, hair pulls and low blows, but Grant refused to stay down, despite the hellacious beating Arik inflicted on him, and Sloan was only able to grab victory with the aid of the ring ropes, before rolling from the ring and tapping his head to demonstrate his intelligence.

Battle Royal

The show ended with a 12 man Battle Royal, involving everyone from the earlier bouts, which was won by Newman, who managed to gain a measure of revenge by last eliminating Sloan. Chris Cook was again the star of the show with his comical attempts to avoid elimination, impressing even Razor.

After the show, Arik came over to get our thoughts on his trainees. I told him I was interested in Jonny C, DBK, HHH, Grant Newman and perhaps Chris Cook. Arik felt that Grant was certainly ready for the big time, and perhaps DBK and Jonny as well, but he felt the other two still needed some fine-tuning. I told him that I had no intention of gutting his shows, and that I was keen they continue their training with him when they weren’t needed by us. After our chat, we went to see the trainees as they dismantled the ring. I invited my picks down to the office for contract talks, and told the others to keep training and there could be a place for them in BCW. All in all a fruitful night, even if the show wasn’t that great – I’m just not a big fan of spotfests and the drive down form Newcastle was a killer.

[Beeker00Zero]

Even though you haven't done one of your own shows yet, I think what you're showcasing here is the strongpoint of TEW, the other guys shows. I like the brief recap format you have and the fact that you'd pointing out who you may or may not want for your promotion. And displaying the strengths and weakness of the various performers.

I'm almost positive you will end up signing Union Jack, and when you do, you need to change his finisher to the Union Jackknife Spinebuster. At least until he turns heel in spectacular fasion and changes it to the EU Approved Spinebuster! Doh~ I'm booking your shows for you.

Even though much of this is a second edition with bonus DVD features for me, I still think it promises to be a fantastic diary.

[Guest Rich F]

21st CENTURY WRESTLING – Enfield, London

The Amazing White over Ultrafly

The dark match was deservedly named as neither of these men are even close to being ready. TAW was very stiff, obviously influenced by the Japanese strong style, but not yet talented enough to pull his blows resulting in Fly being busted open hardway. Fly had big ideas, but they were way beyond his abilities. Either that or he was having a really bad night. He obviously had a series of elaborate spots he wanted to run through, and he was determined to do them, even if it took 4 or 5 attempts. The pain ended when TAW took the clean win with the Whiteout.

Travis Cool over Stardust and Thunderbolt

The scheduled match between Stardust and Thunderbolt became a 3-way dance when a debuting Travis Cool jumped the rail and insulted both men. Shades of the dark match here as whilst Stardust and Thunderbolt were capable flyers, neither was ready or able to control a match - the result, your standard indy spotfest. Sadly Travis’ contributions dragged the match even further down, as his technical style clashed with the aerial arsenals of his two opponents. However, the match was wrestled at a brisk pace, and both Travis and Stardust were impressively over, almost enough to cover the patchy psychology. Almost. Travis almost botched the finish, as Tara Green turned on Thunderbolt, allowing Cool to score with a Tornado DDT, but luckily the ref was able to cover it up. Post match, Cool cut another promo claiming to be ‘more man than Thunderbolt could ever hope to be'. As he heeled it up with Ms Green.

Genocide Agents - Party Animals no contest

Lack of psychology again a problem here, as neither team was able to pull off the brawling verses flying story they were hopefully trying to tell. Not a complete balls-up though, with both Trance and Genocide demonstrating they have ‘it’. Perhaps in 6 months they might be worth another look. The match ended when the debuting Menace ran in and Jackhammered both Party Animals through tables as the Agents bailed.

21CW announcer Arson Wells then joined Menace in the ring, and cut a promo on the company for holding him back, and that he was now declaring war on 21CW. His tirade was interrupted by DaVE’s Henry Lee, who received a monster pop as he handed out D-D-Lee’s to both Menace and Wells. As the crowd chanted ‘D-D-Lee’, 21CW champion ‘Pit Bull’ Brown stepped out onto the stage and demanded to know who the hell this Yankee thought he was, stinking up the Pit Bull’s yard. The American import told him to ‘put up or shit up’ and after teasing a brawl, the Pitbull turned tail and told him he ‘didn’t deserve a match’. Cue the 21CW President Joan Evans who disagreed with the champ’s assessment and booked the ‘Pit Bull’ against Henry Lee, for the Title, as the new main event.

Johnny Highspot over Red Dragon

The dragonslayer again in action, working a nice little match against the Welsh Warrior. A much better match than the 5 Star one, Red Dragon was more than able to carry his end of the match. Randy is a nice flyer, with a good character and light as a feather in the ring, perhaps a little too light for TV, but certainly worth considering. An Innovation DDT led to the three for Highspot.

Tim Reed over Nick Adams – Ladder match

Reed stooged for all his worth as Adams brought the intensity, determined to finally claim a title shot against the Pitbull who had been ducking him for months. They worked a real old school style match, teasing the ladder rather than shooting their load early, before finally pulling the trigger and unleashing the full on metal mayhem leaving both men wearing the crimson mask after encounters with the ladder. The ref didn’t escape the carnage and was laid out, leading to the dusty finish. Reed was laid out allowing Adams to claim the envelope, but whilst he celebrates atop the ladder, Reed toppled it, sending Adams through a ringside table. He then stole the envelope as the referee recoverd and then awarded the match to the champion's main flunky, Tim Reed.

Pitbull Brown over Henry Lee - Streetfight

The champ cut an impromptu promo, promising to send Lee back to the bingo hall with ‘his tail between his legs’, but when the DaVE superstar charged the ring, the 21CW champ took a powder to the outside and began begging off. Brown was on the run for most of the match as Lee took him on a tour of the arena, battering him with chairs, dustbins and bottles. The champion finally got the advantage when he blocked a piledriver through the merchandise table thanks to a low blow, then sent the American through it with a DDT. The big dog then retreated to the ring, but Lee would not be stopped and beat the countout.

A ref bump allowed the Genocide Agents to run down and aid the champion, but the Party Animals reappeared to even the odds and the tag teams proceeded to brawl to the back. A low blow allowed the champ to hit the Bull Rush, but the second referee was a little slow making his way to the ring so Brown laid him out as well. The champ tried for a DDT on the challenger, but the DaVE star reversed it into a D-D-Lee of his own. This brought out another unannounced import as Lee’s nemesis from DaVE, T-Rex, entered the ring and hit the T-Wrecker, allowing Brown to score the (very) tainted win. The match ended with T-Rex taunting the crowd and the Pit Bull cradling his title.

I spoke with Ty Baker after the show, and did my best to sound positive while telling him it was too early to talk in detail about a joint card yet. I had grave doubts about working with someone who overbooked this much. The US imports overshadowed everyone, weren’t advertised so they didn’t draw a penny, yet cost a small fortune to fly over. Meanwhile, he did his best to subtly warn me off his stars with talk of running weekly shows to raise the profile of 21CW, and whilst I would be interested in Adams and Brown as workers, they are both members of the booking squad, which left me with some reservations. Rather than make an enemy, I told him that Highspot aside, I had no need for any of his workers at this time, but we could re-visit the topic further down the road. By the time we’d finished talking, I barely had a chance to speak with any of the boys and Ty remained within earshot of all my conversations. He’s a canny one that Baker, I’ll give him that.

[Nick Adams]

Hmm...nice little showcase of the other shows. I'd almost forgotten that one of the wreslters in the CornellVerse has my name. Still - yep, slow build indeed. Still, can't wait to see where this is going. Looks to be a good TEW diary.

[Guest Rich F]

Apologies for slowness - real life takes precedence over my on-line life, or so my wife tells me

The internet has been abuzz today after British wrestling star Nathan Creed tore into ‘smart-mark’ wrestling fans, the internet and long time friend Johnny Highspot. During his explosive appearance on The Bagpipe Report Creed claimed that ‘Smarks’ had ruined the business with their obsession over star ratings and microscopic analysis of matches.

“The business cannot continue this way and needs to return to its roots.”

Nathan insinuated that Johnny Highspot was to blame for much of this – his matches resembling a glorified stunt-show, rather than a wrestling match.

“He is one the most respected workers on the circuit, and that means he carries a lot of influence in this industry. Rather than use it responsibly, for the benefit of the industry, the boys and the fans, he uses it to glorify himself. He’s obsessed with people chanting his name, with headling cards and with reading about himself on the internet. He’s his own biggest mark and he needs to wake the hell up. This business is a work, and it requires us all to be on the same page. Johnny has his own bloody script, and as long as he’s OK then screw the rest of us. We’ll I’ve got news for you Johnny – you keep this up and they’ll be no industry left, and who’ll feed your damn ego then? Daddy may have put the British scene on life support, but you’re the one who’s going to flick the switch.”

Taken from Wrestlingx.com

[Guest Rich F]

I looked up from my PC with a smile on my face. Creed’s broadside had come out of the blue, and his signing with BCW was a secret known by only three people – Nathan, Johnny and me. He was now on holiday for a couple of weeks, so the speculation should run wild, building up the anticipation for their first meeting.

Just as I got up to grab a cup of coffee, three faces appeared at my door. They introduced themselves as Alicia Stuart, Scott Hayden and Huw Murdoch – three graduates from No Name Wrestling who had been sent up by Tommy Bailey. Tommy’s a strange one - he hadn’t sent any word of warning to us, just that promise to send us any promising graduates he’d made when I'd phoned him. I exchanged pleasantries with them for about 10 minutes or so before they produced some DVD’s of their work. I sent them to grab lunch with Steve and Ed and then popped a disc into the machine.

Hayden is a worker in the mould of Tommy Cornell, able to fly, brawl and take it to the mat. He’s not the finished article, not by some way, but he is pretty much the latest word in babyface fire - great charisma and he can cut a pretty decent promo.

Murdoch looks to have a pretty decent gimmick, sort of an updated Red Dragon for the 21st Century. A better flyer and technician than Hayden, but his brawling leaves a lot to be desired. However, he more than compensates for that with his captivating ring presence and first-rate promos.

Alicia is simply stunning, both on camera and in the flesh. Despite her appearance, she works not as a valet, but as a referee, and a damn good one too. To be honest though, I wasn’t sure how well a female referee would work. Wouldn't a heel backing down to a woman make him look weak? Sophie interrupted my train of thought with a cup of coffee, so I asked for her opinion. She reminded me that it wouldn’t matter what the gender of the official was when it came to facing down a bad-ass heel. Plus, our commentators could put over how the heel would slap a man, but not a woman. Then when we finally get a ref bump, the heat will be all the higher for beating up a girl. Plus, we could always high a second official for bumping. Finally, she’s a hottie, and that means media coverage and merchandise sales. It’s times like these that I remember why I hired Soph.

I went back to reviewing the DVD’s, trying to work out how to include them into my booking plans, when I was disturbed by an ashen faced Sophie entering the room -

“You’d better sit down, there’s been an accident.”

[Guest Rich F]

I was in a state of shock as Sophie informed me that Jack Bristow a.k.a. Union Jack had been involved in a car crash. She didn’t have all the details, but it appeared he had lost control of a car late at night and ploughed into the path of a lorry. He was in intensive care, and it looked like his wrestling career was over. He was lucky to even be alive.

My mind started to race – what about my main event? I was going to build BCW around Jack, now what was I going to do? Did he sign the contract I’d sent him? Would I have to pay him for sitting in hospital or did the contract have a get out clause? Who could I get in to replace him? I’d have to go abroad, what time was it in Japan now? We’d also have to go through our merchandising material and adverts, taking out any reference to Jack. Damn this was a huge pain in the ass I could do without.

Then it hit me – what kind of a selfish prick had I turned into? What about Jack? It this what happened to Eisen and Stallings? Do I really want to be a wrestling promoter if this is the kind of person I’m going to turn into?

>Ring – Ring … Ring – Ring … Ring – Ring<

My introspection was broken by the ringing of the phone, pulling me back to reality. Should I just leave this for the machine whilst I work out how to spin this, or simply to give me time to sort my head out? No, I’ve got a business to get off the ground, and screening my calls is not going to give a good impression to anyone. I took a deep breath to calm myself, and picked up the phone.

“Hello?”

[Guest Rich F]

Damn!

First Jack, now this. I’d just gotten off the phone with Dan Stone from North of the Border Pro who called to let me know that he would not now be able to send me Rivera and Nelson – Youth Energy. They had been a high profile steal from CGC, but needed seasoning before being entering the NOTBPW tag ranks. However, an injury to Yoshikawa meant that plans had to be changed, and Youth Energy were now urgently needed to replace Double Dragon. To cushion the blow, he promised to send me two recent graduates from MWC, but as talented as they may be, they just wouldn’t have the name value of Youth Energy. Still, it was decent of Stone to send me some guys, there are few guys in the business that would do it.

Sophie knocked on the door to check on me, and I relayed the bad news to her. She tried to cheer me up by telling me that we’d just got three new people from NNW, which equalled the three we lost, plus we were going to get two Canadians from MWC. I flippantly replied that meant we were probably due to lose another two, so she changed tack and informed me that we needed to get our first set of adverts sent out by tomorrow. She’s a smart girl that Sophie, perhaps a little too smart. Still, I don’t suppose anyone ever feels totally relaxed around a psychology graduate, you can never be sure whether or not they’re experimenting on you.

I looked at my watch, Steve and Ed should be back anytime now, and I needed them both to help me review our adverts. We had put four together, but one of them was based around Union Jack, so we couldn’t use that one now. The others were more generic in nature, focusing on Britain. Hell, the Union Jack promo was half based on the flag, which was why the loss of Jack was just so painful – he tied together so well with the British theme. Still I couldn’t dwell on that, I needed to focus on the matter at hand. I popped in the first advert.

>Over scenes of Stonehenge, Westminster Palace, Mount Snowdon, Edinburgh and the Angel of the North a voice begins to narrate<

“This royal throne of kings,

This sceptred isle,

This earth of majesty,

This Britain”

>The scene cuts to a darkened wrestling ring<

“This battlefield.”

>Fade to BCW logo<

[Guest Rich F]

Steve came back from lunch bursting with excitement as he’d managed to score some tickets for a show 'I just had to see!' He then drove me into someone’s actual garden for a ‘British Wrestling Organisation’ show.

The show opened at 1 in the afternoon with some cheesy porno music playing out of a PIMP sound system that took up the entire boot of a car. Classy. There must have been 16 of us in the crowd, including Steve and myself.

The show opened when a man in what I can only assume was meant to be a business suit and briefcase combination strutted to the ring. He grabbed the microphone and gave us some words of wisdom.

“I wonder if I could rent a little of your prime thinking space. I realise you don’t have a lot, so I’ll make this brief. Now my stock may not have enjoyed the most productive couple of quarters. Indeed, some might even say that it has been in recession. I’ve gone from blue chip to cod and chips quicker than Rover, but when you stand tall, in defence of your principles, the tide of adversity eventually subsides. Now here in the bWo, adversity has taken physical form in the guise of a common backyard bully – K-Dawg. I hear you think you're the big dog, the super star of this insipid organization, but that is low praise indeed. You're a small fish in a smaller puddle, whilst I am a Great White. You’re not in my league, indeed I don’t think we’re even playing the same game. However, I’m all about opportunity so I’ll give you your shot at stardom … if you can overcome my chauffer Nathan Cross. Beat him, and I may, just may grant you a match with me. Consider yourself updated.”

I think I’m in love and I didn’t even catch his name

Flash vs the Bull

This was followed by a match between a German Flash Gordon enthusiast, complete with his own sing-a-long entrance theme “Flash – Ahhhhhh, he’ll chop every one of us” and the Bull, a luchadore complete with a cheap minotaur mask and mangled Spanglish. This was a spotfest with little attempt a storytelling. The highlight for me was when the Bull hit a sunsetflip bomb that completed wiped out Flash, causing the crowd to chant ‘You killed Flash’. The Bull went for the easy cover, only for Flash to raise a shoulder at the last moment leading some wag in the crowd to shout out “Gordon’s alive!”

You had to be there

The match ended with the Bull connecting with his patented Bulldust.

After the match, Nathan Cross made his way to the ring, and began propositioning a girl in the crowd who was sipping some sort of cocktail.

“Candy, you know I adore you. I want to ask you, in front of all these fans.”

“There's not that many!”

>Crowd laughs<

“I want to ask you to be my girl. You can wear my cool chauffer’s hat whenever you want. I know I'm not the smartest or the best looking guy, but I'm honest an' I really, really like you. I'll be good to you! Treat you right, an' as soon as I get that gearbox fixed, I'll drive you back home.”

“But I can't drink at home.”

>Crowd cheers her alcoholism. The cheer for underage drinking was the second largest of the night<

Nathan Cross and Flash vs Daniel Reed and the Bull

As Cross sulked in the corner, he was joined by the returning Flash to face off against Daniel Reed (the businessman who opened the show) and the Bull. I’m not sure if I was more confused by Reed facing his own driver AFTER telling K-Dawg he’d have to beat him, or Flash and the Bull matching up again so soon. This was fought under Texas Tornado rules, and it looked like they were all racing through it so they could finish it as quickly as possible.

Cross and Flash seemed to gel better as a team, with the chauffer just whipping the German into his opponents, or whipping an opponent into him. Reed just kept ordering the Bull around the ring. The match ended with the Corporate Cutthroat yelling and pointing at the luchadore's shirt. After pausing to think, the Bull removed his shirt (not an easy task with Minotaur horns) and tossed it to Reed, who wasn't looking at the time. The shirt blinded the wrestling manager, who then fell to a Cross clothesline and a Flash Frog Splash. I’m still not sure if it was a planned spot or not.

This prompted Daniel to begin a long motivational speech at the luchadore, who smiled politely as he fetched his shirt and puts it back on.

This match was followed by the entrance of the Big F’N Giant, K-Dawg. He called for the microphone to tell us “Me fight now!”

K-Dawg vs. Nathan Cross

This was nothing like a classic big man – little man match, as the pair just wailed away on each other with a variety of blows. Cross connected with a Diamond Cutter, which the BF’NG actually decided to sell. That seemed to throw him off - that, and an ill-timed run in from Reed, who tried to hit K-Dawg with his briefcase, missed and took out both himself and his chauffer. Cross collapsed to the mat, and when K-Dawg went to lock on the Texas Cloverleaf he found it impossible to turn Cross over, leading to a pin off a Cloverleaf?

K-Dawg vs Daniel Reed

The main event was for the bWo World title, which DR kept in his briefcase, and was apparently too valuable for us to see. Genius.

This match began on the outside as the BF’NG pounced on the wrestling manager as he struggled to get up after the briefcase incident. The big dog tried to open the briefcase to get at the title, allowing the Corporate Cutthroat to clip him. From there it was just random brawling until the referee fell over a still downed Nathan Cross, allowing Daniel to connect with a briefcase shot and grab the three. Post match he teased showing us the title, but then snapped the case shut to deny us – what heeling.

Cheap as chips, but damn if it wasn’t fun, and I have this deep desire to sign Daniel Reed.

(with apologies to the Mayor and double 0)