Not just reasonable, but overwhelming too!
Man alive, this summer is shaping up to be awesome. The CWF schedule is just awesome featuring something like 17 shows in the 14 weeks of summer. It's been awhile since I've actually looked forward to a summer like I did back in my youth, but I'm as jakked about what's to come in 2005 as I was on the last day of school years ago. The entire thing is getting the All Japan "Summer Action Series" moniker and includes three special Clash of the Champions-like "Friday Night Fights" events which will emanate from the CSA including, for the first time ever, exclusive non-televised bouts that will be commentated LIVE by Randolph and yours truly and going direct to DVD release as part of the new AWA series. My only concern at all is getting Troxler up to speed enough to handle the main camera duties for those shows cause it's certainly a heck of alot harder than it looks as many will attest to.Add another site to the fam as the MIA Kamakazi Kid opened up his own BLOG this past week. Even in it's infancy, it's probably as revealing and as open as any wrestling journal I've ever read. Absolutely incredible stuff that really hits hard. That crazy kid is one of my boys, but I never expected to read ANYthing like this.
American Idol Season 4 has come and gone with an extremely anti-climatic final between Bo and Carrie, who is by far the "who gives a crap" winner they've ever had. Her generic looks combined with an incredible lack of generic charisma will make her a long-lost trivia answer by...oh, say this time next year. On the other hand, Bo (along with Constantine) are gonna be true breakthru superstars, as much if not more than any Idols of the past. However, as much as the season finale lacked for in drama, in more than made up for in entertainment. Much like a SuperBowl blowout that is frequently saved by the glitz and glamour of the hoopla surrounding the event itself, that is what they've done with the AI Finale. A wonderfully fun 2-hour package that is far more memorable than the final outcome. The Hasselhoff cameo, the recap packages, Constantine doing the Beach Boys & Aerosmith, and Bo with Lynard Skynard almost made you forget that somehow, someway Carrie won the damn thing.
It was during the show that I got to lay my eyes upon the "Dukes of Hazzard" movie commercial for the first time. I was very, very nervous about this whole project in the first place since "Dukes" was, more than any other show, my baby when I was a kid. I was definitely a little nervous that they were gonna completely fuck it up with this movie version...I mean, I like them and all, but Johnny Knoxville and Sean William Scott as Bo and Luke??? Seriously?? But after seeing the promo, I can rest a little easier. It looked like a ball of fun with Jessica Simpson actually sounding like an acceptable Daisy and Burt Reynolds (as Boss Hogg) and Willie Nelson (as Uncle Jesse) just being some 5-star casting.
Holy shit do I love me some T-shirt Hell...
Gone back and forth as to where I should even bother touching on this subject at all as Feeche pretty much handled it himself as far as these columns go, but good lord, how ridiculous is this war of words between a certain wrestling promotion and the one I, and many others, work for. Just cause I GOTSTA do it before I go nuts, I want to take a few direct comments from some of the back and forth posting and give my brief rebuttals. Not naming names on the original posters cause I have no heat with said individuals, I'm just gonna take a few minutes to counteract the Kool-Aid THEY are drinking. I ain't even gonna touch on the "Dollar General" comment cause even I don't have a clue what that's supposed to mean either.
"i know your (Feeche) drinking on the cwf kool aid now"
Accusing Feeche of drinking CWF Kool-Aid is kinda like accusing Bruiser Brody of supporting Vince McMahon.
"with the lies that they have ties to japan"
-Multiple wrestlers that have wrestled for CWF have also wrestled in Japan for multiple organizations over there
-CWF is part of the AWA along with Zero-One
-uhhhh...Highspots.com? Hello
-Yeah, no ties whatsoever
"and ties to wwe and all this other big time smoke up the butt bs"
-Yeah, because Mikael Yamaha, Amber O'Neal, Krissy Vaine, Brad Attitude, Chuck Coates, Otto Schwanz, etc, etc have NEVER EVER done anything with the WWE. Oh, let's not forget Shane Helms, Matt Hardy, Lita, Shannon Moore, etc, etc. No ties. Not us.
"why the hell does the supposed awa site linked from indy insiders event calender only advertise cwf shows, not one single othere supposed awa show is listed"
AWA USA.com...I'm looking at the events calendar for May and I see 17 events listed...3 are CWF.
"ever notice how the indy year end awards only go to guys working for cwf"
God this is so old right now and has been covered so many times, I hate to waste any more time on it. Awards are determined by promotions we cover which, since the inception of the awards we have covered CWF/AWA Mid-Atlantic, TWE, ACW, RCW, NEW, ACPW, WCEW, SWA (TN), SWA (NC), EWA, USIWF, ACWA, BCW (KY), BCW (NC), NFW, Memphis, CCW, WWA, ODCW, NDW, VCW, CAPW, PGWA, NACW, NMCW, BTW, MLW, NAWA, and a few others that the names escape me on. Our apologies for not covering more areas. Yes, the majority of awards do go to wrestlers that wrestle for CWF more often than anyone else but let's face it, no one RUNS SHOWS as often so obviously the % is going to be higher. I would have no problem seeing more shows in other areas if time permitted but unfortunately that's not always possible.
"who are they being judged against, only thos working for free for free"
This is the one that drives me nuts more than anything else. That damn "CWF guys work for free" BS. This is the one most overused slam on the company that comes from a completely uneducated perspective. By my count, CWF has ran 95 live shows in it's history. 51 of those are TV tapings which, as the wrestlers know, are free shows intended to raise the revenue that keeps the TV product on air and to make the overall improvements in the promotion necessary to continually improve the platform for the competitors. Simple math will tell you that leaves 44 shows unaccounted. 44...oh my lord, could it be? PAYING house shows??? I'm in shock. How dare they ever pay the talent?? And maybe it's just me, but there's not a whole lotta promotions out there that can claim they've ran 44 paying shows in their history either, much less 95 total. Personally, I think a near 50/50 split between paying house shows and free TV tapings is pretty darn reasonable, especially considering any non-paying events are only helping the talent out as well. You would think that if pay was really, TRULY an issue and we screwed the wrestlers on that at every possible chance then you would THINK that such incredible talent as Ric Converse, Corey Edsel, Xsiris, etc, etc, etc would just go where they would be treated properly since they obviously have the abilities to demand it. But if the pay rumor is false and my statements are true, then doesn't it make much more sense as to why talent of that level would rather work, even a free show at CWF, rather than a paying booking elsewhere? Think about it and YOU decide the truth for yourself.
"not 'allowing' them to work for other promoitions"
Since day one, I (and many others) have been told repeatedly that we are MORE than willing to take bookings elsewhere. I have no idea where this even came from but it's an outright lie and anyone who's ever worked there could tell you that. In FACT, one specific wrestler from this promotion was specifically invited to a CWF show by ME on April 16th, so there goes that rumor.
Personally, I'm not going to take shots at ANY promotion (well aside from WWE) on television. It's called professionalism. Anything even the least bit controversial you can find in this blog where I'll down myself for fucking up quicker than anyone else. With that being said, a few easily glossed over facts from the other side of the Kool-Aid stand.
-CWF has never showed up at another promotion's show selling tshirts with their show on it but OUR name.
-It's hard to take any criticism seriously from a booker that was actually booked as name talent on CWF shows for nearly two years straight, advertised for a good deal of them, and no-showed over HALF of his advertised appearances.
-Let's not forget that the promotion in question came to US for help with their product much like ECPW and SWA did as well. And virtually every wrestler for those promotions was welcome with open arms and still wrestles for CWF to this very day. So what makes this particular promotion different? Could it be that they didn't come to us for help as much as they came to us to try and figure out exactly how to put together quality shows and a viable TV product? They certainly had the financial resources (far more than CWF) to do anything they so desired but needed the guidance of a proven commodity to actually put something watchable together. And once they accomplished that, they simply made a roster out of the booker's friends, untrained kids, bitter non-CWF wrestlers, disgruntled former CWF wrestlers, and a random name talent here and there. Ya know honestly, that's not a BAD way to start if you are gonna do it. Kinda shaddy and backhanded, but it COULD work if you had a clue what to do with all individuals. Personally if I HATED CWF and wanted to create my own identity with a new promotion, I would start with the better talent from WCEW, ACPW, and NACW and build my promotion out of talent and the occasional name rather than out of bitterness and the occasional name.
Like I said, this is my one and only rebuttal to this whole issue. Obviously I'm brainwashed when it comes to my CWF love but as I've said many, many times I simply love wrestling and that's why I'm there. I'm as critical as anyone when we do something or a worker does something that doesn't meet a certain standard. I want to be part of simply the finest pure wrestling product in the area and if I didn't believe it was indeed just that, I wouldn't defend it.
GRANT "STATMARK" SAWYER
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