[.desire.wrestling.]

[KeepinThatFunkAliveV4]

BACKSTORY : Ch.1

Bad news

Wednesday, August 25th, 2004

Marion, Iowa, United States of America

RING-RING-RING!

I was somewhat startled but no doubt the phone had awoken me. I looked to the side of my bed, towards the nightstand, where my digital clock and my phone was.

6:17

Man, it was 6:17 in the morning. I did not need this shit.

RING-RING-RING!

I rolled my eyes and picked up the phone.

Me: "H-hello?"

Voice: "Jordan?"

Me: "Yeah?"

Voice: "It's your cousin, Joe."

Joe was my Uncle Jim's son. He was one year younger than me, 23.

Me: "Oh uh hey Joe, what's up?"

I knew it had to be something important to call at 6:17 in the damn morning. If it wasn't, there was going to be some homicides. It sounded like he was starting to cry now.

Joe: "Jordan...my dad..Jim...he died in his sleep last night."

My eyes opened wide as my jaw dropped. Jim was the uncle that I was closest to, no doubt. Dead at the age of 53. Wow...this was terrible. Here I was complaining that I was awoken at 6:17 a.m. when the non-immediate family relative that I was closest to just died last night.

Me: "Wh-wh..what happened to him?"

Joe: "His maid got there at 6:00, since you know he's an early bird..usually up at 5:00 or so. She couldn't find him until she went to his room..he died in his sleep. We don't know how yet...I just got word a few minutes ago..so..."

Me: "This is horrible..I'm so sorry."

Joe: "Look I'll call you later...bye.."

I hung up the phone, staring into space. I remained like this for a few minutes thinking about the news that was just passed to me before I tried to get back to sleep. I tried for about 20 minutes but it was no use..this was too big of a shock. I attempted to wake up and start my daily routine as normal as possible, though. It wasn't much of a routine though...2 weeks ago I was fired from the local paper as a sports writer. They said I was too opinioniated for a local paper sports writer, which didn't make sense to me, not to mention I always got the most mail out of any of the sports writer and all the readers always said I was the best. Oh well, it was their loss, right? But my mind quickly went back to the matter of my uncle.

This was the same man who I had watched wrestling with as a little kid and a teenager and talked about wrestling all the time. Not to mention he gave me great advice many times...my next best person to ask after my parents..on some issues even the first person to ask. My favorite uncle...dead...at the young age of 53. Wow...this was too much. I tried to get it off of my mind..at least until Joe called again. I made some coffee and watched TV for a while..not in the mood to do much but wait, really.

3 hours later

I had just received another call from Joe and, while not confirmed, the guess so far was that he had suffered from a heart attack in his sleep and it was a near painless death. He told me the inheritance meeting would be Friday, the Wake would be Sunday, and the funeral services would be Monday.

I didn't do much but mourn and think for the rest of that day and most of Thursday. I was still pretty shocked but I began to come back to reality before I went to bed Thursday night.

Friday, August 26th, 2004

8:56 a.m.

I awoke from sleeping on my side, facing the clock. At least I got a bit more sleep than 2 days ago.

WAIT, SHIT!

I was supposed to be up at 7:40! The meeting was at 8:30 and my uncle's house was about 25 minutes away, not to mention I had to get ready anyways. I got up quickly and got dressed, brushed my teeth, and skipped pretty much everything elsee, making my way to the garage and opening up the garage door. I unlocked my neon and got in, shutting the door.

Oh jesus...this day could not be any worse!

The car wouldn't start..great.

I called a taxi and while I was waiting a called a tow truck to tow my car to the nearest repair shop as I slipped the tow money under the rug as the Taxi arrived about 5 minutes later. I quickly got in and told him where to go and to make it fast.

Later that day

9:32 a.m.

I finally arrived at my Uncle's house and found the only person left there was Joe pacing around, apparently waiting for me.

Me: "Look, I'm really sorry, I forgot to set the alarm and then my car wouldn't start and then I had to call a cab..I'm sorry for making you wait."

Joe: "Don't worry about it. I was going to stay here alone for a little while to think anyways"

After a very long conversation, which had to be almost a half hour I learned that Joe had inherited the house and 8 million dollars, the only child of Jim's. Jim was a VERY successful lawyer and invested a lot of his earnings, especially in a company you might know as "Microsoft" before they hit it big. I also learned that I inherited one thing.

A key.

A god damn key. I wasn't that mad but I was his closest out of any of his nephews or nieces and I figured I deserved more than a key, especially since he didn't even leave a damn note about it.

For all I know it could be a damn key to nothing. I mean, it might as well be as he didn't even leave me a note to tell me what it was a key to.

I called another taxi afterwards to take me around to a few places to pick up some job applications before stopping home at about 11:30 a.m. I just layed around again that day watching TV.

I had thought my relationship with my Uncle was great, and it had really meant something to me. I was still sad for him dying but started to maybe think he didn't think as much of our relationship as I had. I made a point of setting my alarm for 10:35 a.m. for tomorrow to get ready for the wake at noon. I was not going to be late again, plus I had to get up earlier to go pick up my car from the shop.

I went to bed at about 1:12 a.m. that night, or morning, whatever, groggy and somewhat hurt still.

I would not know that I would learn the true importance of the key the next day, as well as what my Uncle thought of me.

[Guest FillerUgliest04]

a key. Wow. Can't wait to see what the key is too. Nice format btw.

[Hellfire]

I like the format too and i cant wait to see what happens with the key. Good Job, it looks like i'll be checkin this diary out.

[KeepinThatFunkAliveV4]

BACKSTORY : Ch. 2

"The Shrine"

Wednesday, August 25th, 2004

12:32 p.m.

I stood looking at myself in a large full size mirror in the main hallway of my Uncle's house. I had brought the key with me to the wake, thinking I was just going to put the key back into the casket with my Uncle.

I had chatted with many relatives, but still mainly Jim. All of the people who were reasonably close enough to come did infact make it.

I walked up the spiral stairway to the upstairs area. I stepped into Jim's room and looked around.

It was almost emptied out as Joe was getting ready to move in. I laid down on Jim's old four poster bed and thought this was the exact place where he died. I wish I could have said goodbye to him properly before he died, instead of waiting 'till his wake (today) and his funeral (tomorrow).

A lot that was left in his room was wrestling posters on the wall. Joe was a big wrestling fan too but definitely not as big as Jim and I were, but I figured Jim would probably keep the posters.

As I turned my head to face the closet something caught my eye. I stood up and looked around the room once more before stepping into the almost empty HUGE walk in closet.

But that was not what had caught my eye.

What had caught me eye was a small black area on the white inside walls of the walk-in closet.

Now, up-close, it appeared to be a hole of some sorts. I pushed on the area of wall put it wouldn't budge. I looked through the hole and all I could see was black.

I figured it was probably just a regular old hole and began to walk away. However as I reached the doorway of my Uncle's room I looked down and grasped the key in pocket that I had brought with.

I might as well give it a shot right? It's not going to hurt anything. After all, it didn't really look like a perfect circular hole, so you never know.

Not that I really thought it was a keyhole. Just for fun you know. Might as well try the key on something, right?

Right.

I turned around and gulped, walking slowly back into the walk in closet. I took a deep breathe and pulled out the key.

At least if it wasn't a key to anything, or if I never found the thing that it opened, it looked cool. I decided I would keep it instead of my original plans, whether this door opened or not. It would be the best way to remember my Uncle, I suppose.

I slowly brought the key towards the "black hole" if you would. I gently placed it into the hole and turned but it wouldn't turn. I pulled down, pushed down, pulled up, pushed up, pushed straight forward, wiggled it, everything. Nope, wasn't working.

I sighed in disappointment and went to pull the key out, but as I did the wall opened slowly as if it was a door, the key remaining in the hole.

My eyes went wide, the key was not only a key when put into the hole, but what had to be used as a...a makeshift doorknob of sorts so you could open it. I saw the only way to take the key out was if the door was open or if you were closing the door with the key in it.

It was infact almost pitch black like I had saw when I looked through the whole. I felt around and almost tripped but I finally found a chain that I had guessed was attached to a lightbulb on the ceiling.

I pulled the chain and my guess was correct as the light came on.

Dim at first, but it slowly began to brighten the room. I gazed around, my jaw dropping to my knees.

I saw a room about 4, maybe 5 times the size of the walk in closet I had came from. Perhaps an office..no..maybe..

It had tons of wrestling posters, ones that were not out in my Uncle's room. It also had a much nicer computer that was in his study. It had all kinds of wrestling memorabilia, a collection of vhs tapes and dvds wrestling related, action figures, foam fingers, almost everything to do with wrestling that you could imagine except Ric Flair actually standing there in a wrestling ring.

Ironically, there was a picture of Ric Flair on the walls, though.

This was not an office. This was my Uncle Jim's shrine. His shrine to his favorite hobby, his favorite thing to watch and follow.

This was my Uncle's professional wrestling shrine. Then I saw a box with a check for $3,000,000 and a note enclosed.

"Jordan,

If you're reading this note you have found my wrestling shrine. Unfortunately also if you have found this note, I have passed on to the afterlife as well. But I wanted you to know how much you meant to me as a Nephew and how much I loved you, whether it was watching wrestling together, going to see a wrestling show, or just plain talking about life. But I want you to have everything here, including the check. Enclosed is also a list of my contacts in the wrestling industry that I have met. I think you'll know exactly what to do with everything and the money. It may not come to you right away, but I think you'll know after some thinking.

Love,

Uncle Jim"

Wow..I never realized he had THIS much money. He was a very successful lawyer in his time and was able to retire early, 2 years ago at the age of 51. I assume the money that Joe inherited was the rest of his retirement money and all of his money that was in the bank. But this, I didn't know what to think, not about what he meant that I'd know what to do, or where he got his money. My only guess was that he had been saving up this money separately. But that didn't matter. I had to starting thinking about what he meant by saying that I would know what to do.

I saw some empty boxes and began to pack away everything in them. There wasn't too much stuff but I was pretty quick because I didn't want everybody to wonder where I was. I wasn't going to tell much about it to Joe, as I didn't want to hurt his feelings.

You see, when Joe and I were teenagers Joe always went out and VERY rarely spent time with his dad. I know as people grow up they spend less and less time with their parents but Joe pretty much spent the minimal amount of time with his dad. I was more shy and I hung out with Jim a lot, watching wrestling, even making it to a few events, and just talking about life. I think I was almost like a second son to him, because I knew he was like a 2nd father to me.

I closed up the passageway and made a few trips to get the boxes out to my car. On one of my trips I passed by Joe and he asked what was in the boxes. I simply told him that it was just some wrestling stuff in his room like posters, and asked him if he didn't mind that I kept the stuff. I was relieved as he told me to go ahead.

I packed all of the boxes into my car and then headed to the line to see my Uncle for the last time.

11:39 p.m.

I laid down on my bed at my house after a long, interesting day to say the least. To say it was emotional seeing my Uncle for the last time was an understatement as well, and discovering that he did appreciate our relationship as much as me in the form of letting me the only one to ever see his wrestling shrine besides him..not to mention that huge sum of money.

But then I finally realized what I had to do.

I had to open my own wrestling promotion. I got it now. The money, the list of contacts. It all made sense now. This is what I wanted to do and I knew it was what my Uncle meant and this is what he would want me to do.

I didn't sleep much that night, scribbling down notes for ideas for the promotion and writing down a list of contacts from his list to call in the morning, including his last secretary before he retired, Sophie. Jim had left a little note by each person on the contact list, and about her he said she knew a little bit about wrestling and what she didn't know she would find via her computer, she was a computer wiz and was very helpful, not to mention she would make a great assistant.

At the funeral the next day I had prepared a speech about my Uncle and what he meant to me and about how great of a person he was. I almost got teary-eyed during the speech but I made it through the whole thing, barely, although I cried when I got home for a couple minutes. Jim had a grand funeral, if you want to bring something positive about remembering something that is so negative, but it was deserving, for he was a grand person.

After the funeral I spent Monday and Tuesday making calls and jotting down more ideas for the promotion in my home office, which would have to do for our "headquarters" for now.

I had finally thought up a name that I thought was good enough and fit for the promotion on Tuesday night.

Desire Wrestling.

It would truly be fueled by desire...and created by family.

Edited August 9, 2004 by KeepinThatFunkAliveV4

[Guest FillerUgliest04]

Although I sorta saw it coming, you wrote it out well. I can't wait to see what you make of Desire Wrestling. I'll be reading.

[Guest Kingy]

Can't wait to see who's on the roster. Good writing as well.

[KeepinThatFunkAliveV4]

Promotion Details

Owner: Unknown

Size: Small

Money: $2,999,100 (Raising production values)

Public image: 50%

Risk level: 68%

Merchandising: 2%

Advertising: 15%

Production Values: 26%

I set a lot of our values accordingly to Sophie's advice. Our first expense was $9,000 from raising our production values to put on better shows, which was suggested by Sophie. She told me we had to try to get at least 100,000 per show from our sponsors. Both of us skimmed my Uncle's contact list and we made a lot of calls and had some discussions with a few companies before we finally reached a few deals.

Sponsors

Main

The Observer (7 months, $100,000/show)

Minor

Pizza Pizza (6 months, $100,000/show)

IGN.com (5 months, $100,000/show)

Hardee's (12 months, $100,000/show)

I was pleased that we were able to reach our goal for money for each sponsor.

Sophie suggested that we make some staff hirings so we burned up the phone lines again. She suggested we didn't hire any staff members for more than $10,000 a month.

STAFF HIRINGS

Writers

Sid Martin (2 years, $5,000/month)

Production

The Sound Guy(Yes it's true, that's his name.)(2 years, $10,000/month)

Medics

Jenny Gordy (1 year, $5,000/month)

OJ Snake (2 years, $5,000/month)

Referees

Rich Bass (2 years, $8,000/month)

Announcers

Jack Douglas (2 years, $10,000/month)

Joe Wheeler (3 years, $10,000/month)

Road Agents

Steve Nickerson (2 years, $10,000/month)

Sophie then suggested that we should hire about 15 workers to start off our roster. Her cap for wrestlers that she suggested was no more than $20,000. I made a couple exceptions for some wrestlers that I thought had slightly more talent.

WRESTLER HIRINGS

(name, age (pay, written/open)

Austin Lee, 20 ($19,000, open)

Black Dragon, 30 ($12,000, open)

Chance Beckett, 24($23,000, open)

Colt Cabana, 24($23,000, open)

Eric Young, 23($18,000, open)

Greg Pawluk, 26($17,000, open)

Havoc, 19($12,000, open)

Jimmy Jacobs, 23($12,000, open)

Justin Sane, 27($22,000, open)

Kid Rageous, 21($15,000, open)

Michael Shane, 24($22,000, open)

Psychic, 22($15,000, open)

Roderick Strong, 18($15,000, open)

Seth Knight, 26($18,000 open)

We also scheduled our first event, The Jim Garretson Memorial Show, will be held on September 18th at the Gold Gym of Marion High School in my hometown of Marion Iowa at 7:00 central time.

FANPOLL

Which title combination should DW use to start off?

A. World Heavyweight Championship, Tag-Team Championship

B. World Heavyweight Championship, Mid-card/Upper mid-card title(Name would be different of course)

Interact with DW and its superstars by sending them fan-mail!

(I used this concept with RSW and I liked it a lot.)

Sending fanmail to DW HQ

E-mail DW HQ by sending me a private message with the subject "DW HQ fanmail". All e-mails will be answered, most will be posted here.

Sending fan-mail to DW Sueperstars

You can also e-mail any wrestler on our roster. They will always answer, and most will even be posted here. E-mail any wrestler on our roster by sending me a private message with the subject "Wrestler fanmail", just replace the word "Wrestler" with the wrestler you want to send fanmail to.

DW PRESS CONFERENCE

Desire Wrestling will be holding a press conference. To send in your questions for the press conference, send me a private message with the subject "Press conference question".

DW Merchandising update

Merchandise featuring Colt Cabana have been the best selling BY FAR, so far at a WHOPPING 64% of our total merchandising sales have been Cabana merchandise. The next nearest worker is Chance Beckett at 3%!!!!!

OOC NOTES:

If you have any ideas for gimmicks for any of our wrestlers, please say so. I do not watch hardly any wrestling besides WWE except for some NWA-TNA here and there so the only wrestler I'm remotely familiar with is Michael Shane. I would watch more indy wrestling but I don't have the access to. I am not going to go by most of these wrestlers' real life personalities, as I can't. I will try to develop them into characters of my own. But if I cross the line, like have them do something they would NEVER do, please let me know. This is my only non-WWE diary that I've ever done besides Rising Star Wrestling at EWB3 and an old XPW one. About the poll, I am thinking of mainly doing choice B, but I wanted to hear your opinion, and that's what I made a poll.

[St. Dubb]

This is looking good so far and it looks like you have picked yourself up a talented roster there. You also have a lot of really innovative ideas for your diary so I hope it works out.

As for the fan poll, I'd have to go with A. I've always felt the Heavyweight/Tag Title combo for indy feds work best in the beginning. If you don't have enough tag teams, you could always just stick with one belt for now and introduce the tag belts later. I just never thought two singles titles in a small fed is a good idea since there's not many wrestlers yet. But that's just me.

Good luck with this and I'll be reading.

[Guest FillerUgliest04]

Poll

A (More Expensive, but it would do better.)

(Great Job, man. You are doing great, Iv'e been reading from the beggining.)

[Hellfire]

B, because tag team belts should come after you have at least 4 or 5 actual tag teams, not thrown together ones. After you have enough teams then you can incorporate the belts into the promotion, i think it would work better too, as then you'll have 3 belts, which i always thought is the ideal number for a company.

[KeepinThatFunkAliveV4]

We have released Seth Knight after he wouldn't agree to work on our already set event dates and demanded much more cash if he was going to work those dates. Replacing him will be Bobby Quance, who will be working for $23,000 per appearance.

DW Roster (will be edited when changes are made)

Face

Bobby Quance

Chance Beckett

Eric Young

Greg Pawluk

Havoc

Kid Rageous

Psychic

Roderick Strong

Heel

Austin Lee

Black Dragon

Colt Cabana

Jimmy Jacobs

Justin Sane

Michael Shane

Tommy Diablo

We're going to be going with a combo of a World Title and a National Title (a mid-card/upper mid-card title) to start off because I agree with the fact I don't want to just throw together tag teams at the first event. However a tag title will come over time, as alliances develop and (as/if) our PI raises.

DW Title Histories

DW World Championship

Current holder: Michael Shane (Won at JG Memorial Show - 9/18/2004 - World Title tourny finals vs Chance Beckett)

DW National Championship

Current holder: Bobby Quance (Won at JG Memorial Show - 9/18/2004 - 10 man Battle Royal)

Edited August 14, 2004 by KeepinThatFunkAliveV4

[KeepinThatFunkAliveV4]

Card for Saturday, September 18th, 2004

World Title Tournament Finals

Finalist vs Finalist

National Title Battle Royal

2 start in the ring, new wrestler comes out every 1:30

Featuring: Jimmy Jacobs, Austin Lee, Bobby Quance, Greg Pawluk, Justine Sane, Kid Rageous,

Psychic, Tommy Diablo, Eric Young, and the winnner of the Havoc/Black Dragon match.

World Title Tournament semi-final

Chance Beckett vs Colt Cabana

Winner gets #10 spot in Battle Royal, Loser gets #1 spot

Bobby Quance vs Jimmy Jacobs

World Title Tournament semi-final

Roderick Strong vs Michael Shane

Winner gets last open spot in National Title Battle Royal

Havoc vs Black Dragon

(Predictions are welcome and encouraged!)

[Mr. X]

World Title Tournament Finals

Roderick Strong vs Colt Cabana

National Title Battle Royal

2 start in the ring, new wrestler comes out every 1:30

Featuring: Jimmy Jacobs, Austin Lee, Bobby Quance, Greg Pawluk, Justine Sane, Kid Rageous, Psychic, Tommy Diablo, Eric Young, and Black Dragon.

World Title Tournament semi-final

Chance Beckett vs Colt Cabana

Winner gets #10 spot in Battle Royal, Loser gets #1 spot

Bobby Quance vs Jimmy Jacobs

World Title Tournament semi-final

Roderick Strong vs Michael Shane

Winner gets last open spot in National Title Battle Royal

Havoc vs Black Dragon

- This looks like a strong card, and has enough Mid-Western talent to where it could draw in the indy fans. I'm thinking Cabana would be a good choice to sit as the promotions top gun. I'd expect this to be a hard hitting match with 'Classic' comedy moments. I think you should look into adding Delirious, Danny Dominion, Egotistico Fantastico, and maybe even Austin Aries to the roster.

[Hellfire]

Card for Saturday, September 18th, 2004

World Title Tournament Finals

Roderick Strong vs Colt Cabana

National Title Battle Royal

2 start in the ring, new wrestler comes out every 1:30

Featuring: Jimmy Jacobs, Austin Lee, Bobby Quance, Greg Pawluk, Justine Sane, Kid Rageous, Psychic, Tommy Diablo, Eric Young, and the winnner of the Havoc/Black Dragon match.

World Title Tournament semi-final

Chance Beckett vs Colt Cabana

Winner gets #10 spot in Battle Royal, Loser gets #1 spot

Bobby Quance vs Jimmy Jacobs

World Title Tournament semi-final

Roderick Strong vs Michael Shane

Winner gets last open spot in National Title Battle Royal

Havoc vs Black Dragon

(Predictions are welcome and encouraged!)

[Jarv]

World Title Tournament Finals

Colt Cabana vs Michael Shane

National Title Battle Royal

2 start in the ring, new wrestler comes out every 1:30

Featuring: Jimmy Jacobs, Austin Lee, Bobby Quance, Greg Pawluk, Justine Sane, Kid Rageous, Psychic, Tommy Diablo, Eric Young, and Havoc

World Title Tournament semi-final

Chance Beckett vs Colt Cabana

Winner gets #10 spot in Battle Royal, Loser gets #1 spot

Bobby Quance vs Jimmy Jacobs

World Title Tournament semi-final

Roderick Strong vs Michael Shane

Winner gets last open spot in National Title Battle Royal

Havoc vs Black Dragon

I'm really looking to the main portion of this diary kicking off. Backstory was good and the roster looks good as well. :thumbsup:

Edited August 13, 2004 by Jarv

[KeepinThatFunkAliveV4]

Pre-JG Memorial Show September News and Notes

Monday, September 6th

Colt Cabana informed me that he had decided to work for 3PW instead of DW. I made him think differently by upping his salary to $27,000 per appearance. After discussing this with Sophie and our financial advisor we came to the conclusion that we believe we can afford this. If not, changes will be made next month. We all agreed that Colt is probably our biggest draw and we didn't want to lose him without even making one appearance.

Thursday, September 16th

I wake up, check my email and I open up an email from a Dale Gagne that informs me that he is my new boss and I have his full support. Wow, this is unexpected to say the least. I'll have him "rubbed out" soon..if you will..BWAHAHA. Just kidding...I think...of course...maybe.

[KeepinThatFunkAliveV4]

The Jim Garretson Memorial Show

Live from Marion High School's Gold Gym in Marion, IA

Saturday, September 18th, 2004

Attendance: 160

Overall show rating: 55%

Pre-show segment

Who else would be better to come out first at the first ever DW event than..ME! Jordan Garretson. JG: "I'd like to welcome this gym packed crowd (Boodum-chh sound over our stereo system we had set up) to the first ever event in Desire Wrestling history, right here in my hometown, MARION IOWA! (Cheap pop for me.) But that isn't the only history you're going to witness and told them that they would witness history tonight as we not only crowd the first ever DW World Champion in the finals of the World Title tournament but also the first ever DW National Champion in tonight's 10 man battle royal! Enjoy the show everybody!" I got the crowd going fairly well to kick off the show with a bang.

(56%)

Winner gets last open spot in National Title Battle Royal

Havoc vs Black Dragon

The crowd didn't stay hot for the match though, I suppose they didn't appreciate great wrestling as this got a 89% match rating from the Dames. Havoc ran in, the 2nd to enter and went straight to work on Black Dragon. He tried to get the crowd going early but like I said it didn't work so they just wrestled a great match. They used good face/heel psychology, with Havoc dominating from the start until Dragon used a cheap move (in this case an eye rake) much to the discretion of the referee. Dragon used a few rest holds to slow the match down before Havoc began to relay back after he rose from the mat during a headlock applied by Dragon. Havoc pushed Dragon to the ropes and set up for a back body drop but did so too early and Dragon stopped. When he realized he had telegraphed it and began to look up, Havoc was met with a spinning heel kick. Dragon ascended to the top rope and went for his patented finisher, the shooting star press, but Havoc rolled out of the way and Dragon hid the mat where nobody was home with high impact. Havoc stood up to his feet and as Dragon slowly recovered he was nailed with Havoc's finisher, a devastating shining wizard! Havoc makes the pin - 1-2-3, Havoc has earned the last spot in the National Title Battle Royal tonight!

(50, 12, 89, TD: **)

World Title tournament semi-finals

Roderick Strong vs Michael Shane

Noooo!!! We are already experiencing the "WWE effect" if you will, a worse match than the last wrestling-wise but the crowd was much more into it. Shane got off to a quick start, attacking Strong before the bell when he was working the crowd during his entrance, which of course then caused the bell to sound. Shane kept the action at a fast-paced speed and hit Strong with one high-flying move after another and Roderick could just not regain his composure and the momentum after being attacked from behind at the beginning of the match. After apparently thinking his work was near finished, Michael Shane ascended to the top rope and went for one of his trademark moves, the Picture Perfect Elbow Drop, ala his cousin Shawn Michaels and nailed it! It seemed it was all over and Shane warmed up the Sweet Shane Music also similar to his cousin in the corner as he waited for Strong to get back up to his feet. Shane shuffled forwards sideways, bringing up the boot sideways as well going for the Sweet Shane music but Strong caught the boot and spun Shane around 180 degrees and hit a german suplex. The "gym packed" crowd was actually on their feet and cheering for Strong! Strong signaled this was near finished as he dragged Shane back up to his feet and held Shane up, apparently going for the CX 02, having him in the crucifix powerbomb position but Shane is struggling to get out of it and some how he wriggles out of the maneauver and lands on his feet behind Strong. Shane turns to his side and backs up and Strong turns around and WHAM! Sweet Shane Music! Cover, 1-2-3! Somehow..someway..Michael Shane has won this match and is going to the finals! Shane celebrates with a far off look in his eyes at the entrance way as Strong is in disbelief in the ring.

(51, 29, 74 TD: *)

Winner gets the #10 spot in the Battle Royal, loser gets the #1 spot

Bobby Quance vs Jimmy Jacobs

I came out just before the match to announce that this match had just been named a hardcore match, and I joined the commentary team for the whole match. Jimmy Jacobs brought out his own shopping cart full of weapons to the ring to supply himself with all the weapons he would need. Jacobs wanted to start the match off hardcore right away as he went for an early trash can lid shot but Quance countered with a dropkick into the lid into Jacobs' face. Quance even went for Jacobs' own signature move, the Contra Code, but Jacobs was obviously furious and countered into a back suplex. Jacobs definitely WAS furious as he proceeded to beat down on Quance with a variety of foreign objects, including the rest of the trash can, the shopping cart itself, kendo sticks, and even THE KITCHEN SINK! Quance eventually became a bloody wreck. Jacobs set up a table near a corner of the ring and went for the Contra Code and he nailed it, not only that, but through the table! After a few moments Jacobs stirred and was able to make the cover on the OUT COLD Bobby Quance for the 3 count to earn the #3 spot. As Jacobs celebrated to the back, EMTs rushed out and put the unconscious Bobby Quance on a stretcher. The commentators noted that Quance probably won't even make it to the Battle Royal tonight by the looks of this.

(58, 32, 84 TD: **)

World Title tournament semi-final

Chance Beckett vs Colt Cabana

This was a technical wrestling clinic. Both Colt and Chance countered back and forth with their own technical moves, but Colt dominated from the start for the most part, besides a couple small spurts by Beckett but they were quickly shot down by Cabana. At one point Cabana hit a huge series of suplexes, from northern lights, to snap suplexes, to consecutive german suplexes, he dominated Beckett at this point in the match. One of the highlights of the match was an amazing move, or a reversal whatever way you look at it. Beckett was fighting back at one point and went for the Chance Encounter but as he was in mid air during the back flip Cabana backed up and caught him and slammed him inot the mat immediately afterwards with HUGE impact with a sick powerslam which cued a "Holy shit!" chant from the crowd.! Cabana could see the finish insight from this point, just wearing down on Beckett some more with some rest holds before he started bringing up the pace again with a few power moves here and there, but the crowd was really into this match. Cabana went for the Colt 45 and BOY did he ever nail it! He went for the cover as the crowd began to boo thinking it was all over but after 2 Cabana pulled Beckett up, apparently wanting to to taunt to the crowd and perhaps inflict more pain on Beckett as Cabana paraded around the ring showboating and making the waist belt taunt, indicating that perhaps he thought that he not only had this match won but the title as well! Once Beckett started to stirr Cabana dragged him up for another Colt 45 but Beckett flipped over Cabana then jumped up onto the ropes and did a backflip and hit the Chance Encounter out of nowhere! Beckett crawled over to Cabana and made the cover - 1-2-3! Another upset in the World Title tournament here as the crowd went bezerk! Cabana has lost it as he would of attacked the referee if he hadn't slid out of the ring! Cabana is throwing a tantrum in the ring and knows that the showboating came back to bite him in the ass but he's trying to find something else to blame it on.

(62, 44, 80, TD: **)

National Championship Battle Royal

Featuring 10 DW superstars

Quance's music hits as losing his earlier match resulted in him getting the #1 spot but it was very doubtful he would make it. A few moments go by with Quance's music playing before the announcer begins to just skip him and announce the #2 competitor, but just as he is about to do so Quance comes liimping out to a huge ovation from the crowd! #2 is Austin Lee and Lee takes advantage of Quance's injuries and goes right to work on him, dominating the whole 1:30 before the next person comes out, and that person, #3 is Justine Sane! Bad news for the face Quance as Sane is another heel as him and Lee double team Quance and beat him down further! Finally, relief is in sight, or at least for the time being, as #4 is Eric Young who cleans house as Quance attempts to recover in the corner. Eric Young goes to work on Austin Lee as Justin Sane attempts to eliminate Quance. Quance is about to go but Young comes up from behind and pushes both of them over! Justin Sane is gone! But wait, Quance isn't! Quance held on and simply fell to the apron then rolled back in as #5, Tommy Diablo runs into the ring and takes advantage of the fallen Quance and goes to work right away on him. Young is still taunting Sane on the outside whom he just eliminated and Austin Lee clotheslines Eric Young from behind and Young is eliminated! Quance is in trouble again as Lee and Diablo team up on him for a while and they both have him teetering over the top rope when #6 Kid Rageous runs out to the crowd's approval and once again is another face cleaning house and saving the day. He even dropkicks Diablo so hard he flies out over the top and is eliminated. Quance is once again left trying to recover as Rageous and Lee go at it. It's time for #7 to come to the ring and Havoc's music plays but he is nowhere to be found. We see a live video on our version of the 'tron (a VERY wide big screen plasma TV) "backstage" (a hallway of the high school) Where Havoc has just apparently been attacked by Black Dragon and laid out with a steel chair and then Dragon spits in Havoc's face and jogs down the hallway towards the entrance way and runs out! What a travesty, Havoc defeated Dragon earlier tonight and now he is unable to compete because of Dragon! This is terrible! Dragon doesn't think so as he waits a while and scouts out the competition outside the ring before entering, waiting so long that the next entrant, #8 Greg Pawluk runs out and decks him from behind and then rolls him into the ring! Kid Rageous and Austin Lee are still duking it out as Pawluk and Dragon wear away at each other and Quance is now just recovering. Rageous attempts a running clothesline on Lee but Lee evades to the side and sends Rageous flying out over the top rope! Kid Rageous is eliminated! #9 runs out and it is Psychic! He too attempts to take advantage of Quance but apparently Quance is sick of that as he absolutely LEVELS Psychic with a spinning heel kick out of nowhere but quickly falls back to the ground as he aggravated his injured leg. Out of nowhere HAVOC RUNS OUT and SLIDES INTO THE RING! He goes right for Black Dragon and hits him with furious left and right hands to the face of Dragon until he eventually tosses him out of the ring to eliminate him and the brawl escalates outside the ring! It takes all 2 DW officials/road agents on hand to break up the fight so that no officials are watching the match and Pawluk eliminates Lee but Lee sneaks back into the ring before they break up the fight. Lee runs up from behind and tosses Pawluk out of the ring! Austin Lee smirks as Pawluk argues with the refs that he already eliminated him but it is no use. Quance meanwhile has recovered again somewhat and battles with the now recovered Psychic and eventually tosses him out himselfAnd now the final entrant, #10's music hits as we all know who it is as Jimmy Jacobs runs out smirking. Jacobs slides into the ring and he, Austin Lee, and Bobby Quance are the last wrestlers remaining. Lee and Jacobs look at eachother with a "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" type of look and decide to team up on Quance. They both approach Quance but Jacobs lets Lee get ahead of him then grabs Lee and tosses him over the top rope! Not a suprising move coming from Jimmy Jacobs. Jacobs laughs at Lee on the outside before turning to Quance and laughing even more like it's already chalked up. Quance tries to get up but as he does Jacobs just levels Quance with a clothesline and then laughs even more, taunting and playing the crowd to get a chorus of boos in response. Quance tries to get up again but Jacobs kicks out his legs and Quance falls back down. Jacobs laughs again and drags Quance up to his feet and tosses him over the top rope then turns around and falls to his knees in the middle of the ring thinking he has just won but little does he know Quance is skinning the cat! Quance gets back into the ring as Jacobs taunts to the crowd and celebrates standing on the opposite side of the ring's bottom rope. Quance charges Jacobs as fast as he can which isn't that fast with his injury but he nails Jacobs in the back of the head with a dropkick and sends him topping over the top rope and to the outside! Quance has won it! Injured and the #1 entrant in the whole thing, Quance is the National Champion! Jacobs is outraged on the outside and tries to get at Quance but is held back by officials as Quance is handed the title and celebrates, much to the approval of the crowd! Bobby Quance is your first ever Desire Wrestling National Champion!

(42, 27, 57, TD: DUD)

World Title tournament finals

Chance Beckett vs Michael Shane

This was the best match of the night as far as The Dames' star ratings are concerned. Shane was definitely the more fatigued one of the two as it showed as Beckett got off to an early advantage as Shane just looked worn out. Beckett at one point went for the early Chance Encounter but Shane wisely got out of the way. Shane then went for the Sweet Shane Music but Beckett ducked out of the way and narrowly evaded it. Beckett then hit a clothesline and ended Shane's hopes at that time for a rally. Beckett now was not going to try end it early as he knew he just had to wear down Shane just a tiny bit more before he went for another Chance Encounter, last time the match was almost ended because Shane almost nailed him with his own finisher. At one point when Beckett went for a suplex, Shane wriggled out of it in mid air and fell behind Beckett. When Beckett turned around Shane was lunging sideways towards him going for the Sweet Shane Music but Beckett dived out of the way and Shane clocked the referee in the

face accidentally, knocking him out! Shane turned around as they were near the ropes and Beckett leapt off the ropes and hit the Chance Encounter! He made the cover but there was no ref to make the pin! Beckett tried to revive the ref but it was to no avail. None other than Colt Cabana ran out, receiving many boos from the gym packed crowd as he slid into the ring and tapped Beckett on the shoulder, who turned around only to be on the receiving end of a devastating Colt 45! The crowd's boos increase as Cabana drags Shane's practically lifeless body over Beckett and then slides out of the ring to watch his "handiwork" as he looked on. The ref slowly crawled over to the pinning predicament and made the count, 1....2....3! MICHAEL SHANE IS THE FIRST EVER DW WORLD CHAMPION! Cabana slides into the ring and pulls Shane up to his feet and shoves aside the ref as he raises Shane's hand in the air along with the belt, practically having to hold up Shane. Roderick Strong runs out from the back which quickly sends both Cabana and Shane to the outside, celebrating near the entrance way. Strong checks on Beckett as he has words for Cabana and Shane that he yells to them as DW's first ever event comes to an end!

(62, 41, 84, TD: **1/4)

[KeepinThatFunkAliveV4]

JG Memorial Show predictions

1 - Jarv (3 out of 6 matches correctly predicted)

2 - Hellfire065 (2 out of 6 matches correctly predicted)

3 - Mr. X (1 out of 6 matches correctly predicted)

[KeepinThatFunkAliveV4]

I searched the internet for any reports of the show but I finally found one by "Engage." Here it is.

Desire Wrestling

The Jim Garretson Memorial Show

From Marion High School’s Gold Gym

Nice opening as Jordan Garretson (who I’m assuming is a relation to Jim Garretson) comes out and welcomes everyone to the show. The turnout is shockingly good for a bunch of guys I’ve never heard of before fighting in a high school gym. Perhaps this Jim Garretson was quite the fellow. It’s announced the National Championship will be determined via battle royal. Yay. And tonight a four man tournament for the World Title will take place. Unfortunately, this isn’t one of those nifty indy feds with a sanctioning body for their title, so it’s just the DW World Title. Too bad (MS Word oddity of the night: it suggested “bad too”).

Black Dragon vs. Havoc: Winner gets a spot in the Battle Royal

I’m assuming the one in the dragon outfit is Black Dragon. I have no idea who these people are. Neither does the crowd. They remain almost perfectly silent as Havoc hits the ring and takes it to Dragon. Dragon (apparently the heel) uses a thumb to the eyes to reverse the momentum and gets a headlock. Havoc finally pushes out but he does the “duck down to early” thing. Dragon stops, becoming the first man in wrestling not to hit a kick to the face. Oh… wait. It just came after. Dragon looks for a Shooting Star Press, but misses. Shining Wizard finishes. Wow, are we in Japan? * for effort. They had the heel/face thing down pretty good, but if the crowd doesn’t care what’s the point?

Roderick Strong vs. Michael Shane: Semi-Final

At least I’m aware of Shane. He attacks during the bell and uses a variety of “high impact” moves. That’s what the announcer calls them. Wow. Anyway, since I’m not from Japan or Mexico I have no idea what these things are called, so I’ll go with “that flipping thing where the guy hits his head”. Come on, use your imagination. Anyway, Shane lands the Elbow from the top rope, but the Sweet Chin Music is countered to a german suplex. Wow… the crowd actually made noise during that. The announcers claimed that the crowd exploded in cheers, but they must be drunk. Strong looks for what I can only assume is his finisher, but Shane slides off the back and hits the Sweet Chin Music for the win. *1/2 for those flips at the start and managing to make this dead crowd stand up.

Bobby Quance vs. Jimmy Jacobs: Winner gets #1, looser gets #10

We’re really moving along here, match wise. This is announced as a hardcore match by that Jordan guy. And since this is an indy show, I’m going to assume I’ll see some sort of lawn cutting instrument at some point. Jacobs brings a load of weapons. He tries the trashcan but gets it dropkicked into his face. You’d think that eventually someone wouldn’t hold a trashcan like that, but what can you do? Quance looks for the Contra Code, which is apparently Jacobs’ finisher, but Jacobs backdrops him to hell! Jacobs swings pretty much everything at Quance, and yes, the kitchen sink is well represented. Quance is a bloody mess. Jacobs lands the Contra Code (and impressive move if I’ve ever seen one) through a table for the win. That was the whole match. ** because it was kind of fun to see someone snap like that simply because his opponent attempted to steal his finisher. And the crowd throught so too. Solid match. Afterwards, EMTs help Quance, who is played as possibly missing the battle royal. I wonder if those are real EMTs. For a show this small, how do you get something like that to show up? At least no lawnmowers showed up.

Chance Beckett vs. Colt Cabana: Semi-Final

Winner faces Shane. I like Cabana, but don’t know who Beckett is. Mat sequence is won by Cabana. Cabana then spends the next few minutes throwing EVERY SUPLEX HE KNOWS at Beckett. That ruled on so many levels. Beckett tries a comeback, but when he goes for something through the air (announcers called it the Chance Impact, but I have no idea what that means) he’s caught and powerslammed nearly though the mat. And since this is an indy show, I’m surprised it didn’t give. That one might have given the ECW ring problems. Cabana rests with some chinlocks before putting Beckett back through the paces with some more sharp throws. Cabana looks for the Colt 45… and nearly kills Becket with it. Sick impact. Cover gets two as Cabana pulls Beckett up. Oh, no. As per wrestling law, cocky heel misses second finisher and takes the face’s finisher (which is actually pretty nice) for the loss. Beckett moves through. So it’s Shane vs. Beckett. **1/2 for those suplexes. Crowd continues to wake up as they were the loudest yet during this one.

National Championship Battle Royal

I hate recapping these. A hurt Bobby Quance is number one, and he sells the injury in the ring. #2 is Austin Lee. Lee works Quance over until Justin Sane comes out as #3. At least they didn’t go with Justin Bred. Sane helps Lee beat Quance. This happens for several minutes. #4 is Eric Young. Young goes crazy on everyone, but when he attempts a double elimination on Sane and Quance only Sane end up going over. #5 is Tommy Diablo. Diablo attacks Quance (he’s a popular target tonight) as Young admires his work. Lee eliminates Young because it’s pretty stupid to turn your back on a battle royal. Quance is beat until Kid Rageous comes out as #6. He dropkicks Diablo out of the ring. That was so set-up I nearly cried. Black Dragon steals #7 from Havoc and chooses to wait on the outside. #8 Greg Pawluk takes sends Dragon into the ring and everyone fights as Quance just tries to stand up. Lee eliminates Rageous. #9 is Psychic. He decides to pick on Quance but Quance scores a kick out of nowhere. Quance hurt himself with that and is back on the ground. At this rate he just might win. Havoc comes out and eliminates Dragon. Karma’s a b*tch. Lee is eliminated but the referees are too busy breaking up Dragon and Pawluk. Lee sneaks back in and eliminates Pawluk. Fun. #10 is, of course, Jimmy Jacobs. Only three in the ring now. Jacobs and Lee go to double team Quance, but Jacobs eliminates Lee when he has his back turned. Jacobs beats down Quance, with an arrogant smirk. The crowd doesn’t really appreciate that, but the crowd is so dead they really don’t make a sound either. Anyways, Jacobs throws Quance over, but in a move NEVER SEEN IN WRESTLING BEFORE Quance skins the cat. He dropkicks a celebrating Jacobs out of the ring for the win and the title. * for a few nice spots, but the battle royal killed the crowd.

Main Event: Chance Beckett vs. Michael Shane- World Title

Let’s see if these two can get the crowd going again. Odd bit as Shane is selling his previous match more than Beckett. After Shane’s relative cakewalk and Beckett being used as a training dummy, I would have thought the opposite. Weird. Beckett gains the advantage off the start. Both men miss their finishers and Beckett lands a clothesline. Beckett uses some “ground and pound” to wear down Shane, and looks for a suplex. Shane floats over and looks for the Superkick. He hits the referee. That was straight out of “HBK’s 1001 ways to bump a ref”. Chance Encounter lands, but there’s no ref. Colt Cabana runs out and the crowd heats back up. Colt 45 to Beckett! Cabana drags Shane on top… and Shane wins it! Way to make your first champion look strong, boys. Good match. ** because of the two cases of odd booking. End of show.

Closing: Mixed bag. Odd booking at the end and a lackluster opener drag this show down. Battle Royal was poor as far as battle royals go, but it served its purpose. Cabana’s near slaughter with suplexes is nearly worth the price of admission here, though.

[Greg The Smooth]

Just some info on Rod Strong. He is known as the "Messiah of the Backbreaker" and he has an arsenal of high impact backbreaker variations. The first show was good, but I'd rather see Strong win.