Saturday, July 09, 2005

CSWA 17

CSWA's Anniversary show is in promos now. It's generally considered the biggest show on the oldest fed's calendar. I don't feel it yet, but that's because I'm relatively new to the whole FW circuit, but this is the sort of lynchpin to their whole reboot. New Presidential and UNIFIED World Champions, Eli Flair's retirement match against THAT DAMN HORNET, a fraudulent cancer patient in a cage, and of course, myself going for Greensboro gold.

But looking at the main event, I can't help but be reminded of A1E's biggest show last year, at least in the main event. A four-way World Championship match that's happening because the Champion vacated. Only this time, there's no facsimile for Torment, who was the A1E Champion going into Golden Dreams IV. The title very well might have been vacant.

I've come to grips with that after a long time. It's not Justin's fault that he was in the right place in the right time. But it doesn't really change the fact that there was no way he was making it out of that match the Champ. Even if there wasn't a distaste for his style at the time among the voters, from my observations, the voters in A1E respond to more than just the promos you put up. I'm a firm believer that Cross' A1E title reign was a clear sign of that. Not that he wasn't a deserving Champion, but there were political undercurrents that went into his defeating of Gladiator in my opinion, and once he went up against Euclid, who was pretty much not going to be denied the World Championship, well, it was all over.

And just like that, Torment was doomed from the start. But it was all for the best anyway. Ken Cloverleaf's title reign brought balance and stability to the A1E Title, and now this year, I'm getting my shot to take it at Golden Dreams with little controversy (knock on wood).

But enough about me and A1E.

There is a lot less turmoil surrounding the CS-Dub situation. Although Jason, much like Dave in A1E, had to vacate all his spots in e-fedding due to real life pressures, there wasn't an immediate question of succession, if only because the CSWA was somewhat dormant.

But now, Chad and Steve got the ship running again, and we're finally here at CSWA17. This Final Four is an intriguing lot, and it's pretty hard to handicap who's gonna come out with possibly the most prestigious belt in all the hobby. We have...

"Superstar" Vince Jacobs - No offense to SVJ's handler here, but I think this is the weakest link in the final four. I thought Boogie had him beat at the last PRIMETIME, but he's here and he's got a chance. I'm thinking though that he has to pull a really good effort out of his rear end to come out on top.

Vacant - He has an interesting enough gimmick, and I'm really interested to see who's behind the mask. However, I don't think he's gonna pull it out either.

To me, it's between Dan Ryan and Troy Windham. Both have had great tournaments so far, and both are CSWA lifers. Troy's got some more momentum behind him, but Ryan also has a built in storyline having been stripped of the CSWA title without ever losing it.

This match is too tough to call. Much like the A1E match last year was too tough to call. Last year, I thought James Irish was going to win, but it was Cloverleaf. So I guess whoever I pick this year will have my kiss of death, eh? But there's not stopping destiny.

So I'm sorry Gregg, but I'm picking Troy Windham to win this match. Hopefully for you, I'm less jinxy than last year.

But regardless of any outcome, CSWA 17 should be a great card. And who knows, maybe we'll get an ID on this hacker...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just read your blogs. Great stuff! But I was intrigued by this particular paragraph (I wonder why?):

"I've come to grips with that after a long time. It's not Justin's fault that he was in the right place in the right time. But it doesn't really change the fact that there was no way he was making it out of that match the Champ. Even if there wasn't a distaste for his style at the time among the voters, from my observations, the voters in A1E respond to more than just the promos you put up. I'm a firm believer that Cross' A1E title reign was a clear sign of that. Not that he wasn't a deserving Champion, but there were political undercurrents that went into his defeating of Gladiator in my opinion, and once he went up against Euclid, who was pretty much not going to be denied the World Championship, well, it was all over."

I've always suspected this but never said anything about it. Now I read your blog and I don't feel alone on the issue. I've had a hard time getting Cross back into championship form since because I do feel I should have beaten Euclid or at least drawn with him. I was in a champion mind frame , but lost the belt before being given a chance to run with it, then ignored for any kind of title rematch. Nothing. The loss to Euclid IN MY OPINION has killed any credibility of Cross becoming a champion again.

Any thoughts or more insights on my losing the title? I'm intrigued because I left A1E due to the stifling of Cross' character as a serious contender.

Keep the blogs coming! I love to read your stuff.

TH said...

I thought that Cross beating Gladiator was a reaction to the handling of Gladiator's winning of the A1E Title. From my knowledge, the vote for the original Glad/Dog match was Dog winning by one vote, but then with Fly casting his vote to make it a draw to prolong the feud.

Then, in the return match, Gladiator won the vote by one, but Fly did nothing. A lot of people thought that was pretty bunk at the time (I didn't know about it until Lindsay told me about it when she came and visited Philadelphia last summer... I was intrigued to say the least), and so I'm guessing the first time Gladiator had a title defense, he was going down. That just happened to be against Cross.

So you were the beneficiary of some politics, but so was Euclid. I mean, I wasn't really around for everything, as I kinda distanced myself from A1E and e-fedding in general at that time, but from what I heard, it was said that you were just a transitional Champion. Plus Euclid had been one of A1E's lifers for whom it was but a matter of time that he was taking the belt.

It's no offense against you, because your work in EPW and A1E and the MBE Cup has been really good though.