Show review...nothin more, nothin less
Yet another quality show went down this past Saturday at the CSA in Burlington with yet another sellout crowd. These past few months have legitimized the promotion as much as any period of time in company history between the continued Mid-Atlantic heritage, the AWA merger, the quality of the cards from top to bottom, the constant sellouts, and the now weekly expansion of shows into not just our normal home territory, but in new places as well. Anyways, onward with the recap -
1. Ultra Dragon pinned Xsiris in 8:07 -
Fascinating match on so many levels, with both men being at a distinct crossroads in their career (and a damn hot opener too as they had the crowd "oooooing and ahhhhhing from the get-go). No real death-defying moments as you MIGHT expect, but still very solid, albeit spotty, stuff. **3/4
2. Brass Munkey and Classic Rock ("Classic" Chris Collins and "Rock N' Roll" Matty D) battled Drake Tungsten, Tank Lawson, and Mitch Conner to a no-contest in 3:57 - My new favorite tag team becomes an unintentional reality in the form of "Classic Rock"! Basically the babyface equivalent of "Tremendously Wonderful" and I'm already dreaming of a title match vs. Mitch & Sean just for my own personal amusement and to have one false finish to scare everyone half to death. Anyways, Munkey rounds out the team which only adds that much MORE charm to it. The match itself is inconsequential to the finish in which Corey Edsel comes in and cleans house and murders Munkey. This presents the probably unintentional hilarity of the night as "Classic Rock" prove what kind of MEN they are, and take the form of Miss Elizabeth in '88, running to the back for help, retrieving GEE in the role of the Hulkster to "save the day". Think about that one for a second. Of course Gee gets brushed off by Corey as well and hands over the emotion that she's so damn good at. Yet another fantastic episode in the Corey-Crew angle as it's breathed new life into Corey and given Munkey more "character" than he's ever had before. Match was an energetic little * for the 4 minutes.
3. CWF/AWA Mid-Atlantic Television champion Jesse Ortega defeated Scotty Blaze by submission in 9:50 - Ortega's TV title reign continues to go smoother than many of us ever dreamed (aside from the understandable Quinson hiccup). This time it's against Scotty Blaze, who had a somewhat less-than-memorable run in CWF in 2002 but more than made up for it here. Physical stuff as Ortega gets brutalized by chops once again and both guys play their roles to perfection. Crowd was eating out of the plam of their hand in that final 30 seconds. ***
4. CWF/AWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight champion "Slick" Ric Converse pinned Otto Schwanz in 13:43 - The most serious match Otto has probably wrestled EVER in CWF and that is a very good thing. Solid technical stuff with no tom foolery at all (Speaking of which, didn't he sing "Proud Mary?" You know...Tom Foolery...ahhh forget it...). ***1/4
5. Garry "Madd Trucker" Stevens pinned "Rock N' Roll" Matty D in 3:14 - Garry's squashes continue with little else to say about this one. 3/4* Random Matty D thought that I attempted to explain to him on Saturday. His gimmick is probably flat out one of the worst ones ever to see the light of day in CWF. Not that it's BAD as in Fun Lovin' Criminal kinda bad, it's just "Ohhhh man, this PAINS me...but...I can't look away...this is horrible...but I like it...in spite of myself...no....I can't...I musn't....not cheer...hehehe...I can't stop myself...GO MATTY GO!" It's one of those things that's so painful to watch, it does the complete 360 and you end up cheering for him in spite of yourself. Personally, I have officially given up on even trying to NOT like the gimmick and now just mark out for the utter damn goofiness of it.
6. CWF/AWA Mid-Atlantic Rising Generation League champion Kid Justice pinned Gregory Vercetti in 9:33 - I am SO glad the "Where's My Pizza?" chant for Vercetti carried over from Seagrove. It's reasons JUST like that that are turning our crowd from the "blah" crowd of late 2003 into something to actually be proud of. Not ECW like by any means, but with stuff like that, "Shrek & Donkey", and even the occasional "CWF" chants, I can't help but be proud of even our crowd coming of age. Match itself was expectedly solid including a beautimous moonsault from KJ that, as we all know by now, should have been the finish but alas, it was not to be. **1/2
7. "Boggie Woogie Man" Rob McBride pinned Mikael Yamaha in 14:01 - Wonderful CSA debut for Rob's Boogie gimmick against Yamaha, who was quiet honestly at the top of his game here. His heel mannerisms and selling were superb and complimented Rob's super-babyface role perfectly. Seriously great match and one to remember in their careers of both veterans. I would be remiss without mentioning the fantastic Stutts-Gemini promo to set the matchup with Stutts even getting in a little nod to Eddie Gilbert, who passed away 10 years (to the day before). On a side note of everyone being at the top of their game, I thought Katie did one of her best jobs ever ref'ing this match. ****
8. The $outh$ide Playas (J-Money and Will B. Smooth) defeated Donnie Dollars and Jay Sinn in 14:16 when Money pinned Sinn to become the #1 contenders to the CWF/AWA Mid-Atlantic tag team titles - If someone had told me just a few months back that Will Smooth would be main eventing a CWF show, I would have rolled over in my yet to be dug grave. But there he was and somehow, someway after a great night of action THIS thing held together enough to actually LOOK like a legitimate main event. Between the passable babyface love for the Playas and the insane heat Team Adonis is getting right now, it totally worked which pretty much says just HOW deep the roster is as a good 80-85% of our current lineup could main event without it being questioned at this point. Formulatic old school stuff with the youngsters in there, ending with a pretty spirited finish after some dueling Hart Attacks and a hall of fame clothesline by Money on Dollars. ***
Overall thoughts - The lineup was passable at best on paper and seemed almost backwards in it's construction, but once again, everyone brought the goods and by and large, did exactly what was needed to get themselves over, get their opponents over, and give the crowd the experience we would want them to have.
Must go play videogames now, back later in the week...maybe!
Various rambling...
A wrestling-free post by god on various topics as we head into another weekend...
Much to my Dad's dismay, I am one clueless mo fo when it comes to automobiles. He is one of the premier mechanics for the Department of Transportation in Chapel Hill and has been since March 24, 1981 (how do I remember that? Cause WrestleMania VII took place 10 years to the date later...god I'm sad). His Dad owned his own car shop and junkyard for pretty much his entire life. I come along and pretty much squash that family tradition into the ground. Now, I'm not QUITE as bad as my boy Winterstein who was 20 years old, been driving for a solid 4 years and had made the trek from Omaha to Savannah before finding out that he MIGHT want to check the oil in the car at some point. I hooked him up there but on the other hand, this is coming from a guy that, on a previous occasion, has replaced a flat tire...with an equally flat tire. Today, I learned a new trick about cars - it is best if you change your car's air filter more often than once every 60,000 miles.
I love me some
T-Shirt Hell and by god, I am gonna get a photo of either Gee or Annie Titus wearing this shirt one day...
That is if Rick doesn't kick my ass first...
Classic restaurant conversation overheard the other day:
Patron: "I'll have the BBQ Salad"
Waitress: "BBQ Salad??"
Patron: "Uhhhh....Yes, it's on the menu."
Waitress: "Well I'm glad YOU like it. I've worked here three months and nobody's ever ordered that thing."
Now that is some 5-star customer service.
Don't you hate it when your girlfriend's schedule changes and that in turns screws up your entire masturbation schedule?
Hey! Movie Reviews -
Taxi- Painfully unfunny, especially when you take into consideration that Jimmy Fallon was one of the greatest modern-era SNL performers and he's now been reduced to THIS. Possibly the biggest stretch for a plot I've ever seen as a renegade taxi driver is forced into working with a cop that drives badly. Good lord. The first thirty minutes or so are as bad as any movie you will probably ever see and thankfully, the last hour becomes SLIGHTLY more bearable (at least to the extent that it kept me from burning my DVD player to the ground). I'm willing to suspend some belief for movies, but when a movie is so far out there that I of all people go "Yeah, ok, this is ridiculous", you've got problems. There's probably 60 seconds of enjoyment in here, beating "Along Came Polly" by about 55 seconds, so it's not the worst of the past year but it's way up there. 3/4*
Frostbite- This movie has a lot going for it considering I watched it after "Taxi". And sure enough, Traci Lords and a cast of no names put together a FAR more enjoyable flick. Not necessarily a good one, but a heck of alot better. Pretty forgettable for the most part, but there are a couple of secondary characters in it that just deliver some classic performances and totally save the film. Since no one is ever gonna see this thing aside from me probably, and the entire selling point IS T&A, I should probably pull out the old
Joe Bob Briggs breast count (like anyone reading this knows what the fuck I'm talking about) and notae this movie at 8 (if memory serves). **1/4
Saw- Me and this film actually had a lot of heat back in the day. See it came out around the time of Grudge which my boy Sam worked on, and by god, NO horror movie is gonna come out around a Sam pic and think it's gonna be top dog. Well, I've seen them both now and I give...Saw kicks the Grudge's ass. Dammit. Fist off, let's note that Sam did NOT direct Grudge and by no means was Grudge bad as I've reviewed before. But holy balls, Saw was just awesome. It's kinda borderline on that whole horror/thriller border which I'm not big on, but it pulls it off easily. Tremendously original plot, one creepy mo fo clown dummy in a suit (nothin gives me the willies more than a dead guy in a tux), and flat out one of the greatest "Holy shit" finishes I've ever seen. At first it seemed like this movie was actually starting to fall apart on the finish as the characterization turn seemed to be a bit of a stretch but the actual finish trumped it so soundly, it's easily forgiven. If it's a thriller, it's the best I've ever seen...if it's a horror movie, it's still pretty damn good. ****1/4
Love to all, be back next week with the latest show review!
Monster weekend recap
Weekends don't get much bigger than this past one as we packed two big shows and this one little football game into a 36 hour or so madcap whirlwind that left me feeling my age waaaaay too much.
Headed off to Seagrove on Saturday for the 3rd annual supershow, where traditionally attendance far outweighs the workrate but to say the least, things evened out a bit this year as the crowd of...hell, I don't know...800? 900? 1000? were treated to one hell of an entertaining show that had something for everyone. I think it's a fair assessment to say that it's not a coincidence that the best Supershow just happened to coincide with the supershow that Jeff officially had the book on, rather than having to share it with the ACW braintrust. Speaking of which, Pat Friday needs a swift kick in the nads for having the audacity to try and hawk "TWE Night of the Legends" tshirts during the show. No offense to anyone in ACW that actually matters (Tim, Jerry, etc.), but that alone pretty much puts the kibosh on me ever working for that company.
1. "**3/4" Joey Silvia pinned Otto Schwanz in 13:25 - Fine opener that set a great tone for the night. Fast paced, plenty of heat, and aside from some clowning early on, both guys had their working boots on. Too long for an opener but a crowd this size can easily sustain stuff that runs a touch over. Fun, stuff...I have nothing to bitch about Joey! Heck, I'll even add a 1/2* for smacking that little punk ass kid in the eye with the beads. ***1/2
2. Quinson Valentino, Tank Lawson, L.A. Wild One, and "Suicide" Shawn Mayhem defeated Ultra Dragon, Rob Killjoy, "Mighty" Orlo Helmer, and Rising Generation League champion Kid Justice in 7:45 when L.A. Wild One pinned Killjoy - And THIS was why the phrase "5 stars" was created. Whew bajeez...reminds me of the old episodes of Animaniacs where they would throw all the different cartoon characters into the big stew pot, mix it up, and see who ends up where when they fish them out. You've got the leader from up north, the aging ACW vet, the young up and comers, and the trainees all in one match. Thankfully, it went a very bearable amount of time as the gods must have been smiling down upon us. The match itself pretty much consisted of Kid Justice getting the snot kicked out of him for 5 minutes and then the expected frenetic finish which had Mayhem jobbing to a L.A. clothesline. I should note that Mayhem could have possibly the worst look of anyone to EVER step in a CWF ring. I'm talking Chris Amos, Kid Kourageous, Delinquent...EVER. 1/2*
3. Garry "Madd Trucker" Stevens pinned "Wild" Shane West in 7:35 - Sadly enough, even though this match was only 100 times more solid than the previous one, it lost the interest of the crowd more so than any other bout of the night. Stevens-West have those kinds of matchups where if they're not just beating the tar out of one another the crowd falls asleep, and unfortunately, that was pretty much the case here. *
4. Gemini Kid, Don, and Rocky Kernodle (with Nikita Koloff in their corner) defeated Alex Adonis, Jay Sinn, and Donnie Dollars in 9:54 when Don Kernodle defeated Dollars with the cobra clutch - Quiet possibly the feel good match of the year (although it would lose that honor later in this same show). This would be Gemini Kid's first match since 2/21/03 as (in Stat-booking logic) he was permitted to perform on this show as it was a "Legends" show whereas he wouldn't be able to on a traditional CWF event due to the retirement clause. I've pretty much detested ever Kernodle entrance ever but there was something magical about Gemini walking back out to the ring again and you couldn't help but smile. Of course, the crowd goes apeshit for Nikita doing his traditional pose and scaring the ba-jesus out of Stutts. Match wise, it could have also been the BEST Kernodle match in CWF history (there's been 9 of the damn things) although that's more for the breakdown of Team Adonis vs. Gemini than everything. *1/2 Oh, and nice right-arm suplex there Paul...
5. The Barbarian and Rob "Boggie Woogie Man" McBride defeated "Dangerous E" Corey Edsel and "Red Hot" Tim Blaze in 12:26 when "Boogie" pinned Blaze. "Boggie Woogie Man" Jimmy Valiant was the special guest referee - If you couldn't enjoy this match then you're more uptight about workrate than I am. Back story: Edsel turns heel and murders Rob last month; Rob cuts promo and bails on promotion, distraught over Corey's actions; Commish comes to the ring to introduce Barb's partner - none other than Rob, in complete old school Mid-Atlantic Boogie gear, hair and all as with Valiant's retirement, he adorned McBride with the Boogie gimmick so "the Boogie Man will never die".
For the record, this angle is pretty legit as far as wrestling angles goes with the passing of the torch from Boogie to Rob to keep the gimmick alive is very real and Rob plays it to an absolute tee. The match is just beyond surreal, as Rob Boogie kisses Boogie and the spot of the night as Rob and Boogie Boogie Kiss Blaze who feeds to Barb who then freezes as if he's going to do a Boogie Kiss as well but headbutts instead. A million billion stars. This whole time, Corey continues to play the killer role to perfection by not selling any of the comedy and continues to try and plow through everyone (triple Yakuza kick to Barb!). Typical Boogie like chaos (to the 2nd power) then continues for 10 minutes until Boogie nails Blaze with the chain gimmick, but Boogie makes the cover and Rob (as Boogie) makes the 3-count. If someone had tried to explain this match to be beforehand my head would have exploded, but it was a thing of beauty live. Post-match has the best heel hug spot ever as Corey shows he could have murdered Blaze as well but lets him live. Match was probably **3/4, but an easy ***** on the magical memory scale.
6. CWF/AWA Mid-Atlantic Television champion Jesse Ortega pinned Gregory Vercetti in 9:27 - A rematch from the CSA a few weeks back as Ortega continues to look better than ever here in early 2005. On an equal par with their CSA match but with a much bigger stage here. The finish also psychologically sets up for the finish in the main later in the night. Nice. **3/4
7. Sean Powers and Ivan Koloff defeated Brass Munkey and American Steel Ninja in 14:50 of a double chain match to win the CWF/AWA Mid-Atlantic tag team titles when Powers pinned Munkey. Michael McAllister was the special guest enforcer - Backstory: Powers and Mitch Norris have been chasing the titles since Munkey and Ninja won them last March so this one blowoff-style match had an insane 10 month build. Problem being that Mitch doesn't make it so stepping in as the third member of the team is Powers' own trainer, Ivan Koloff. Great stuff on the surface, but what about the match? It actually comes off as well as can be expected as theory but the actually execution is a little difficult because...well, you're tied to a damn chain! My original thought was "Well, Munkey and Powers are the workrate portion of this match" as Ninja and Ivan were tied together but shockingly, Ivan seriously dishes it out and takes it (including a sharpshooter?!!).
In edited TV form, this match will come off as just pure GOLD, the live version was expectedly here and there due to the constraints of the chain. Still, it was a fine payoff to a long build and about as good as you could expect from a chain match. ***
8. CWF/AWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight champion "Slick" Ric Converse pinned Brad Attitude in 20:12 -
I automatically want to knock this sucker down a few notches just cause of Atty proclaiming that they were about to deliver MOTY beforehand. But nah, I can't bees like that and this sucker did indeed deliver as one of the great title matches in modern-day MA history. A fine, fine old school build through the early portions, climaxing in a "Holy balls, the heel went over CLEAN!" finish. Major props on that alone and it was great seeing Atty live up to the potential (inside one of our rings) that he obviously has. Every reversal sequence in the match was insanely crisp and I'd wager to say very few workers here in the states could have pulled off sequences to perfection like these two did on this night. Southern Indy scale rating: *****
A fantastic show overall and despite it's length, held up remarkably well. Post-show was the traditional IHOP meal where they treated us FAR better in Asheboro than they do in Burlington, thank you very much. Crashed at the Stutts clan afterwards for about 4 hours and the next morning it was off to the By God Greensboro Coliseum (and it's adjoining Special Events Center) for the "2nd Annual Southeastern Import Car Show", otherwise known as the "2nd Annual Wiggers and Small Penis Convention". The first time we ran some matches during this sucker was two years back at the Classic Car Show and let me tell ya, the cliental for the classic cards is a WHOLE lot more respectful than it is for import cars. Leave it to some idiot fans to pretty much kill the magic that is the GBoro Coliseum (on this one particular day anyway).
1. CWF/AWA Mid-Atlantic Television champion Jesse Ortega pinned Quinson Valentino in 10:11 - Not pretty. Jesse hits a roadblock on his current streak as him and Quinson click very little, if at all, and then are forced to drag it out to a 10 minute draw (which actually only went like 8...shut up Stutts) in order to do the "time extension" with Ortega quickly going over with a small package. The crowd and overbearing DJ guy on the mic certainly do not help matters. 1/4*
2. J-Money won an 18-man Cadillac Battle Royal in 13:04.
Order of elimination: Gregory Vercetti by Orlo Helmer in 00:28...Jesse Ortega by Quinson Valentino in 2:53...Tank Lawson by Kid Justice and Orlo Helmer in 3:07...Michael McAllister by Garry Stevens in 3:20...Ultra Dragon by Corey Edsel in 3:21...Jay Sinn by J-Money in 3:41...Brass Munkey by Alex Adonis in 4:15...Will Smooth by Quinson Valentino in 5:22...Shane West by Alex Adonis in 5:28...Orlo Helmer by Quinson Valentino in 8:37...Rob McBride by Xsiris in 8:41...Kid Justice by Alex Adonis in 9:02...Quinson Valentino by Xsiris, Corey Edsel, and Garry Stevens in 9:44...Alex Adonis by J-Money in 10:42...Xsiris by Corey Edsel in 11:36...Corey Edsel by J-Money in 12:06...Garry Stevens by J-Money in 13:04 - Yeah, like you needed to know every elimination, but that's what I do. Pretty generic battle royal until the last 2 1/2 minutes when the final 5 kick it up a notch. Xsiris brings a brief moment of respect from the crowd by dying on his elimination, which was pretty much a bodyslam from the ring to the concrete floor that destroyed the flimsy ring barrier in the process. *1/2
3. "Dangerous E" Corey Edsel pinned Rob "Boggie Woogie Man" McBride in 6:56 -
Leave it to Corey to get finally fed up with the hecklers, rip through the same barrier that Xsiris had just destroyed and basically offer a punk a chance to step up to the plate. Not surprisingly, he didn't do anything but talk smack as soon as Corey got BACK in the ring and to say it was a tense situation from that point through the rest of the show was an understatement. It felt very much like the old Mid-South/Crockett shows that Cornette talks about where he was scared to death of getting shot or stabbed. I wouldn't have been surprised in the least if a good portion of the audience had some form of knife on them. Anyways, the match was only a backstory to the other events occurring although the incident made Rob easily the #1 babyface of the day to that point. **1/2
4. Amber O'Neal and Xsiris defeated Mikael Yamaha and Krissy Vaine in 7:39 when Xsiris pinned Yamaha. GeeStar was the special guest referee - And of course, as soon as Corey leaves, we have Stutts, Yamaha, and K to rile up the "fans" even that much more. And just to make SURE that we've done everything in our power to cause a riot, K gets on the mic and calls them "Dirty Hispanics". Now THAT is 5-stars. The match itself was more than fine although not everyone was quite on the same page. **
5. CWF/AWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight champion "Slick" Ric Converse pinned Brad Attitude in 6:32 -
A rematch already from the classic the night before and obviously, they weren't going to even try half of what they did the previous night (nor should they have with the disrespect from the fans). Still very solid although not quiet as fluid as the night before. **1/2, and believe me, I could not WAIT to get the heck out of that place.
The show actually ended up running a little later than expected as well which put me behind schedule to get the hell back to my place for SuperBowl XXXIX. And whew boy, if there was ever a time we needed a damn motorhome as trying to get this blasted convoy of cars all together and then actually continuously running without breaking down all the way to my house was a chore in itself. Actually made it back during the opening coin toss which was some fine, fine timing. Unfortunately, after a few drinks, I was seriously getting tired after the frenzy that was the past day which sucked but it also robbed attendees of a much-requested table dance that they'll just have to keep begging for. A few friends were actually going to my house for the first time which is the biggest problem with living so damn far away from the hubbub of the regular shows. God knows I would love to have company on a more regular basis although I always feel like I suck as a host.
I should comment on the game itself, as it pretty much went the way I expected. Phily hung in there but in the second half you never really got that feeling that they were gonna pull it off and the Pats victory seemed extremely academic. Now we're on to the offseason which freakin' KILLS me (God lord, can you imagine what I would be like if wrestling had an offseason? I would seriously need some kind of buffalo sedative on opening day). Thank god for NFL Network....the season never ends there, ya know?
Oh, and in case I have mentioned it, as always major love to Randolph for letting me go crazy, freely stealing all of his beautiful photos from the Insiders site. Since he was gushing over many of us on his blog, let me take a sec to put my boy over here as well. When we first started CWF TV, I wasn't very confident in my own announcing abilities (and god knows they still need work to this day), and I didn't see how Hedd was gonna help matters much since I never got the impression that he would be able to pull off any form of credible announcing either. Well, low and behold, Randolph makes me eat my thoughts and pretty much carries my ass through those early shows and comes off far more capable than you would ever dream. Even now, when I sometimes get a little too carried away in the David Crockett carnival-barker style, Randolph is always there to throw a bit of levity into the commentary and pull me back down to reality. Of course, aside from our tv camaraderie, he's also one of the few completely unselfish people in this biz and like myself, just does it out of his absolute undying love for it. Plus he lets me touch his baseball cards when I visit.
Before I sign off on the love fest, I should also give props to the rest of my female contingent that made this past weekend (and many others) so much fun and keep it interesting all year round: Kris, Zoe, Ashley, Liz, and now...Cass!
Someone else I wanted to touch upon briefly is a fine worker around here named Justin Feeche. I've worked with Feeche a few times over the past few years but nothing on a regular basis, mainly because of an issue between him and CWF. I actually remember getting Feeche's demo tape in the mail back in 2001 in the early days and thinking then that there was definitely something we could do with this guy. Now, years later, there's apparently been some heat that's getting smoothed over finally as some kind of miscommunication occurred which led to Feeche getting the impression that we disrespected him when it came to a "tryout with the company". I mentioned probably a year back in an editorial how much I would love to have Feeche with us on a semi-regular basis cause workrate aside, he has as much intensity as anyone on the circuit. I think him and I have a different perspective on hardcore wrestling, but no question can he be any asset to any company that would want to use him. And man, just the fact that him and Corey have NEVER met one on one...whew boy...there's an angle right there that I'd love to see go down in 2005. Anyway, as I conclude my love fest this time out, check out Feeche's live journal...it's not as cool as a BLOG, cause it's called a live journal, and not a BLOG, but check it out anyway. Hell, he's not a starting Defense End on my ESPN NFL 2K5 game for nothin'. ;)
My god, I'm on the home stretch of this blog and as usual, we close it with some quick movie reviews:
Mr. 3000- The Bernie Mac baseball movie and of course, sports movies always get a little extra bit of lovin' from me. Fine little waste of time - fun, albeit forgettable and as usual, the #1 problem in movies today, the heel of the movie makes a babyface turn with little to no provocation near the finish to turn in that Hollywood ending. God, I hate that. **1/2
The Grudge- Perfectly fine little horror movie with my boy Sam doing some Executive Producing. I wouldn't put it in the same category as the Ring, but it's heaven on earth compared to the "Village". ***
Shark Tale- A fine piece of animation that I'm sure is loved and adorned by many although I couldn't really get into it ala Shrek. By and large, Shark Tale's best characters are barely on par with the worst ones in the Shrek movies. Not bad by any means, but the standard has been set just SO much higher **1/2
Napoleon Dynamite- Easily the best of the bunch this time out although this movie is NOT for everyone. The pace is insanely slow and it's totally dependent on the delivery of the actors which do a tremendous job. As original as any movie you'll see this year. Fun stuff and filled with automatic catchphrases. ***1/4
Until next time..love to all!
1/29 thoughts, and away we go to one spaztacular weekend
God I've had a million topics on my mind over the course of the past week and a half and just no time to get any of it down here.
Last Saturday (1/29), CWF ran it's first show at the AC Fitness Center in Greensboro in front of a much larger crowd than anticipated due to the inclimate weather. Weather that was actually inclimate enough to keep me at home. And for those not familiar with my relationship with the company, that is a rather large deal. For the streak has ended. Since day one of the company (12/30/00), I (alongside Gee) had never missed a show. Ever. Something no one else pulled off...not Jeff, Danny, Stutts, Yamaha, Fun Lovin' Criminal, no one. 80 consecutive shows spanning 4+ years and over 16,000 miles. Through that damn Clayton show where the weather was actually FAR worse and caused my car to be hauled from a ditch on the trek up. From the Coliseum show last year that didn't even happen cause of the weather and it took me 5 hours to make the normal 90-minute journey. Through the funerals of grandparents on show days. Through it all I was at every damn one of them and it absolutely KILLED me last Saturday night to be stranded at home while CWF was elsewhere. If I had missed a dozen shows during that timespan, my standing in the company wouldn't be any different than what it is now. It wasn't a streak that meant a damn thing to anyone else. It didn't mean I was better than anyone, or deserved recognition. But it meant something to me and I freakin' hate winter for taking that away from me. Winter robbed me of my first car - a boat if there ever was one, a 1969 Ford Galaxy during my winter in Wisconsin in 1997. But that was my baby and winter took it from me. And now winter has robbed me of my streak and my show. God do I hate winter.
Anyway, in keeping with the traditional format of this page, here are the quick results from the show just for those that actually keep track of this stuff by reading this blog:
1. "Dangerous E" Corey Edsel pinned "Rock N' Roll" Matty D in 5:11
2. Alex Adonis and Gregory Vercetti defeated the $outh$ide Playas (J-Money and Will B. Smooth) in 8:04 when Vercetti pinned Money
3. CWF/AWA Mid-Atlantic Television champion Jesse Ortega battled Garry "Madd Trucker" Stevens to a 10:00 time limit draw
4. Brad Attitude pinned Xsiris in 11:22
5. "Mighty" Orlo Helmer and Ultra Dragon defeated Jay Sinn and Donnie Dollars in 7:43 when Helmer pinned Sinn
6. CWF/AWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight champion "Slick" Ric Converse pinned 1/2 of the CWF/AWA Mid-Atlantic tag team champions American Steel Ninja in 10:15
Thankfully, video does exist from this show and not just to preserve the legacy of Ortega's chest (or more accurately, Garry's handprints). After the second bout, there has been a much talked about, but little publicized incident that I HAVE to touch upon although I question what approach I should use in doing so. In short, if you're a regular reader here, you'll know who I mean and if you're not, don't sweat it, cause names aren't important. There was a shoot on a fellow wrestler and the promotion in general in what was well...I guess you would call it an attempt to further a career or jump start an angle that ended up failing miserably. The shoot itself did not fail...in the grand scheme of things, it was actually fascinatingly brilliant in it's execution. The failure came in the cloud of judgment (or lack thereof) of actually attempting this in the first place. With Jeff out of town and the reigns turned over to Danny, this shoot (while I'm sure this was not the intent), came off as a major slap in the face to a man that has done everything under the sun for the company. To say it was an ill-advised decision would be an understatement. Without the stardom certain Indy guys have to be able to pull stunts like this and get away with it (see Teddy Hart), you're putting yourself in the position to slit your wrists when it comes to future bookings within your territory. I'm not saying that is the case here at all, but the risks certainly have to outweigh the potential rewards, at this stage of a career at least. Even though some may not see it as such, Jeff (and Danny) have always been extremely open to any booking ideas from anyone that can show the benefits of doing a specific angle and have gone out of their way to help those approved angles see the light of day. For any wrestler to take it upon themselves and do something that you know is, at very best, going to be questionable into the eyes of the men who have given you a platform to perform on, well...you have to expect the potential repercussions. I hate that something I've said, in this very blog and in person, had something to do with the origin of this whole situation. Words that were meant sincerely, but came with the glaring disclaimer that "it would never work here". Personally, I've ran the gambit on this from shock to anger to honestly...sadness. Cause this situation is really just that sad...beyond the surface of this entire situation, lies a very sad, dark story of a man, his demons, and that an ending is a long ways from being written.
Unfortunately, there was a second, albeit much more subtle incident, at this last show that requires a bit of attention as well. I won't drag on about this, but basically, for the first time in CWF history, the locker rooms were separated. And I don't mean in a babyface-heel fashion either. I mean in a "one clique in this one, and everyone else in this one". It's not the general clique thing that bothers me. We're all in them. Without laying claim to any side, I'll automatically be placed in certain ones by others because of who I associate with more in my time away from the shows. However, when it comes to the shows themselves, I think it goes without saying, that NO one on this level should be separated from the rest of the boys in the "HHH/superstar" kind of sense. Heck, I don't think Triple H deserves his own locker room, much less a pretty solid conglomerate of Indy workers in North Carolina.
Ok, onto happier topics as I'm barely even going to get this sucker posted before heading out the door on a whirlwind weekend that includes one of our largest shows on the year at Seagrove, followed by the by-god Greensboro Coliseum on Sunday afternoon, before I bust my ass back home for the by-god SuperBowl XXXIX! Yeah, that's gotten spaztacular written all over it.
I would be remiss without doing a SuperBowl pick, that being New England without even having to think hard about it. You gotta pick the champs until someone beats them, and with the way this team manhandled Indy (with the better passing game than Phily) and Pitt (with a better running game than Phily), I just see NO way of the Eagles being able to pull this off. I think McNabb WILL step up and single handily put this team on his shoulders and do everything he can to win it, but he's destined to fall short. New England 27-14, and I really don't foresee it being close in the 4th quarter aside from a couple of solid drives that the Pats are able to snuff out.
GRANT "STATMARK" SAWYER
