NFW: Is Perception Reality?

Week Five in NFW marks a potential watershed moment for the Western Conference. The show was huge, interesting, probably the best single NFW show all year in either conference. There were about a million matches, and everything, from the formation of the new Windham/Garvin/Carlton alliance to the appearance of Kodiak Vic Creed, it just oozed "Show of the Year."

In stark contrast the Eastern Conference show was probably the lowest in quality all season. Only three matches and two really overarching angles on the show, one of them being mine. It also got panned, especially on this blog by a certain commenter.

To me, it was just another week at the office. The East was a bit off and the West bounced back from their worst show of the year. It's just the basic ebb and flow of any fed, only this fed has two separate and vastly different conferences, in roster and structure.

But I was talking to another person who follows NFW today, and he was telling me that he thought the East was taking a backseat to the West. I don't know whether it was an observation from the entire season or just a knee-jerk reaction to Week Five, but on the surface it might seem like the case.

BUt I think if you look at it on the whole, it's not, at least it's not intended to be. It might be the perception though, but in this case, is perception reality?

There seems to be a lot more meat on West shows, the West shows have had a lot more hype going into their transactions, and of course, the Miles/Mayfield blood feud is taking place out West.

But let's remember a few things here.

The West is predominantly an angle fed. Sure, there are RP threads in the OK Corral forum, but most matches are decided amongst the players from my understanding. And because it's more angle fed than RP fed, most of the writing is done on the actual cards. Remember, for the East, some of those RP threads can get out of hand in a hurry, especially when you have guys who gel together as opponents so well. Just take that six-man tag match. It was so hot it went overtime on RPs. A lot of what needs to be said gets said, so there isn't as much need for on-card segments.

Another thing to remember is while the West gets all the heralded transactions, the most recognizable names and handlers in the FWC world exist in the East, and the East has been a lot more stable than the West thus far in the season. What Katz has done with the West this year has been to assemble a veritable all-star cast from the PTC and angle-fedding universes to come to FWC and compete in NFW. There are recognizable names... Troy Windham, Eddie Mayfield, Miles 'n Randalls, Tom Adler. But then you have characters like Rook Black, Alias, Angelo Deville... handlers like Seth Silver, Devin Woods and the Wonderfully Eccentric Pants... these are guys who were unknown quantities to the FWC world, and no matter how well-known NFW West was going to be to the outside world, if you're hosting a fed on FWC, you should probably get your roster familiar with the natives.

Therefore, you pretty much have to advertise your ass off. And that's what Katz has done. DOes it make the West seem more "important" sometimes? Maybe, but that's the price you pay to try and get these names over with the people here.

Of course, some of the advertising has gone to waste, seeing that we've had massive turnover out West. That's why it seems we're getting big announcements on mystery opponents and new roster additions every week out West. But while the West has added Brandon Youngblood, KVC and others, they've also lost Gabriel Brown, Deville, Deacon, Steve Christ. The East? Outside of Levinson/Kazuo Shizaki, we haven't really lost a character/handler since Week Three really (although Wong Fei Hung was booked Week Four, I don't think anyone expected Aston to show after he dropped off the face of the Earth Week Two). We also really haven't gained anyone new since Yori Yakamo, Damian Stone, Kevin Powers and Kin Hiroshi Week Two. The East has broken the tradition of NFW turnover madness, at least for now.

But for now, the ULTRATITLE winner resides in the East (Michael Manson). And many recognizable names are still there as well (Dan Ryan, Felix Red, Lindsay Troy).

Sure, the Miles/Mayfield blood feud has been majorly hyped ever since Crashmas. It pissed a lot of people off, but it's going somewhere. Still, I can't help but think some people still are pissed off by it and still think it's being propped up over the ULTRATITLE chase.

Well, the Week Two match was INTENSE, almost seemed bigger than the fed. But the key word is almost, because in the weeks following, the Miles/Mayfield stuff has been toned down and blended in more with the stories of guys like Seymour Almasy, Jeff Garvin, Black, Alias, Windham and Adler.

But still, I can see how the West might seem to have more importance.

What more explanations do I have though? Well, I think it might just come down to this.

What were the main criticisms of the East show? I think if you look there, you might have your answer. The East show seemed quirky and weird. A lot of the humor didn't connect with the people who were criticizing it.

I think the West has a lot fewer quirks too, Rook Black excluded. They have a lot of good wrestling matches and some really good, solid angles going for them.

So maybe that's why the West seems bigger.

But who knows. There's still more than half the season left. I still think the East will turn out to be on equal or even greater footing than the West before it's all said and done.