Your Blogger Answers, batch number one

Well, with the first two commenters, I got enough questions for a full post, so let's get started! Of course, you can still submit your questions for me to answer. In fact, I encourage it. I beg you to ask me questions, PLEEEEEASE~!

Anyway, our first commenter identified himself as "The Lurker Below" and submitted these queries:

1. Do you think any of the play-ins for the TIT stand a chance against their respective top seeds?

Well, the stock answer is that this is e-fedding, not college basketball. Upsets happen more often here mainly because the criteria for victory are so subjective and are dependant on the judge and, more importantly, how well one guy performs in a session. In basketball, if one guy has an off-night, the team can still win. In e-fedding, well, you are the team.

That being said, I can't say that I'm all that familiar with any of the work of the play-ins past their first round performances. However, among the guys who showed up, some impressed and some need work, and if you need work going up against Dan Ryan, well... you know.

2. Do you think PTC's GTT7 will be a success or not? Do you feel that changing the format of said tournament will do any good, when it's tradition has always been single eliminations.

I don't think that format will have anything to do with the success. Rather, it'll be the committment of the handlers involved. that being said, with the high number of no-shows that usually come with a GTT, it'll make it that much harder to pull off a round-robin the way it should be pulled off rather than with maybe one guy advancing because he's the only one that RPed for his region.

However, I think it was the right idea to change things up. They haven't held GTT for over a year, almost two. The landscape of the game has changed, in that I'm not sure how much "new blood" they'll get into the PTC community. We're talking about maybe having 32 or 64 as opposed to the 128+ they've gotten in the past. For the TiT, 32 and 64 works. For GTT... maybe trying something different is the order of the day.

3. Why do you think it's so hard to find an event where both promo style writers and narrative story wrters can compete and be judged fairly? It seems that in FW, promo styles are king, and in PTC it's storyline, and anyone who does differently, puts themselves at a disadvantage

Mainly because of stubbornness on both sides of the coin. Of course, the number of crossovers has been pretty good over the years, but you'll find that the mainstays on either side would rather keep to themselves and write in their style.

I'd like to think that with the ToC, I gave people the most all-encompassing tournament option around, and hopefully, Shinder keeps that going as part of the TEAM tradition. It's too bad there aren't other people as entrepreneureal (sic) as that in other communities.

4. Excluding the big brands, and always famous places like fWo and PRIME, what's a solid fed(s) with a good roster and atmosphere, but maybe not a lot of limelight, that you would like to see more people check out or apply to?

Big is a relative term, but I have three in mind that are off the beaten path, so to speak. And by off the beaten path, I mean they're not located on or affiliated with PTC or FW:

A1E - My home fed and one that's been open for about 10 years now. The roster is great, even without the recent addition of Troy Windham. The atmosphere is welcoming for the most part. It has a rich tradition and history that developed almost independant of the FW circuit until a few years ago, and the roster is smallish, so you can go in and make an impact right away.

NAPW and Rebel-Pro Wrestling - They're sister feds on the indie-scale. One is based out of Alberta and the other North Carolina. A lot of great and quirky talent resides here, and just because they're indie in scale doesn't mean they're small-time in talent. D! won the first ever Tournament of Champions, and Ravager currently holds the Challenge Championship. In fact, he's the only guy who's held it and his reign is approaching two years now. Also, the atmosphere is warm and it's probably the most grassroot duo of feds you'll find.

All three feds get press on the blog, but not a lot of people think to go there as their first choice. They should though.

5. Are tag teams in efedding a thing of the past, or a thing that can only work by creating outrageous angles? Do you feel as if people don't feel as proud to handle tag teams as they do singles? Or is it the lack of a community? or the perception that single(s) championships > team titles?

I don't think they're a thing of the past, but I think it's a lot harder to handle a tag team well than it is a single wrestler. Notice the people handling tag teams nowadays... they're usually older, more mature handlers who've done the singles thing and are looking for something else in wrestling. They're also handlers who remember when tag team wrestling wasn't treated as an afterthought or a joke by the WWE and TNA and are looking to recreate some of the classic tag divisions.

I will tell you this though, NFW has a bumpin' tag division right now, and EPW is looking for tag teams. I can tell you from experience following the latter fed that Brunk treats tag teams right. The people are out there. It's just a matter of folks dropping their preconceptions and going for it in the tag division.

6. In hindsight, when looking back at first opening TEAM, is there anything that you'd change? If so, what?

Well, when I first ideated TEAM, it was totally different from what it became. But assuming that you meant when I did the first TEAM Invitational Tournament... well, there's only one thing I'd change. I wouldn't have invited the malcontents from the WfWA into the ToC in 2007. They had a lot to do with my e-fed related malaise that followed in the wake.

Now, onto "The Rage" who asked the following queries:

1. Who do you think advanced to round 1 of TIT?

Well, certainly not Masked Violator 2, Josh Anderson or Brian Larsen *snicker*

Anyway, Shinder's going to have a tough time deciding who'll take the vacant Anderson/Larsen spot, or whether he's going to go for a bye in that situation. Although Lance Spencer went 3 to 1 on Nate Dakota, I thought Dakota was good enough to make the match close.

In the other contested play-in, I really wasn't feeling either guy... sorry "Rage" but in my honest opinion, I thought that you fell a little flat, but that the potential was there. Still, I wouldn't feel right advancing one loser and keeping the other one home without giving them a chance to do a one-RP shot for it.

2. PTC vs FW in a trash talking contest. (ICly of course) Yay? nay?

Yay if only because the guys who would come out would do it well. I'm not sure who'd do it though. Some of the PTC guys that we'd all want to see might stay home because they would feel it a waste of their time or that they'd get smoked. Some of the FW guys might stay home because they wouldn't take it seriously. But among those that I think might come out for it, it could be fun.

But then again, wouldn't the TiT count as a "trash talking contest"? ;)

3. A big, I mean big 256+ or 512 member roleplaying tournament from feds from every circle, even those email feds, and pay to play, because I hear writers from email feds > web feds. Think it could work?

Of course it could work, but it would take a dedicated group of people to run it and for all the competitors involved not to expect even short-form writeups until the later rounds. IE, it would be really, really fuckin' hard to do.

Alright, hope that answered all your questions... remember, KEEP 'EM COMIN! I'll keep answering these questions as long as you keep asking them!

December's Wrestler of the Month and a Temporary Farewell

This month's honor goes to Chandler Tsonda, winner of PRIME's Jewel in the Crown Tournament. He won two matches in one night at King of Kings, and took the month-long tournament in style, capping off his comeback with number one contendership to the Universal Championship. Congratulations!

This month's runner-up goes to Dan Ryan for retaining the A1E World Championship, dropping a huge bombshell by taking over said company and for his goings on in NAPW. Truly capping off a WotY worthy year.

2007's Wrestlers of the Month
January: Dan Ryan (A1E, NFW)
February: Clinton Sage (FUSE, PTC Events)
March: Nova (NFW, PRIME)
April: Dan Ryan (2) (A1E, NEW, TEAM Events)
May: Big Dog (A1E)
June: Lindsay Troy (PRIME, EPW, NFW, TEAM Events)
July: Nova (2) (PRIME, TEAM Events, NFW)
August: Lindsay Troy (2) (PRIME, EPW, TEAM Events)
September: The Illustrious Face-Eater (PTC Events, PRIME)
October: Dan Ryan (3) (CSWA, A1E)
November: Sonny Silver (PRIME)
December: Chandler Tsonda (PRIME)

---

And now, for something completely different...

In case you're wondering, I'm not doing my year end blowout, mainly because I've been so out of the loop when it comes to the feds and their workings. I don't think I can give advice or credibly dole out awards for anything other than Wrestler of the Year. I've just been so busy lately with wedding stuff and with work and with other distractions that I'm losing a lot of my attention span when it comes to feds that I'm not involved in. It sucks, since everyone seems to look to me as the great connector, but I don't think I can do that right now.

So, what does this mean? I'm closing up the blog for now. I don't want to keep people waiting for entries that are never going to come, and I don't want to keep giving people shittily-written entries of opinion thinly veiled as analysis. I don't know about you, but I haven't been happy with my writing on here for awhile. So, if you're not happy doing something, why keep doing it?

This isn't my retirement from the hobby, not by a longshot. I just want to refocus my energies into TEAM and into RPing in the feds that I'm already in. And this doesn't mean there's no chance the blog won't come back in the future. It's just an indefinitely temporary hiatus.

So, without further ado, I'd just like to say thank you for reading my insane ramblings and making me feel more imporatant in this hobby than I ever had any right to be. Hopefully, I'll be back on here in the future, but until then, I'll catch you in the feds and on the forums.

News and Notes!

Been a long time since I've done one of these!

- First up, NAPW will be celebrating its second birthday on Halloween with Anniversary Assault II. Hard to believe that this fed is only two years old; it seems like it's been around forever. That's the mark of a great fed though. Time is exaggerated in e-fedding. What takes a "real" wrestler half a career to accomplish will take an e-wrestler half a year. Anyway, the card looks pretty good so far. The main event is going to be a Halloween House of Horrors match. The combatants haven't been announced for that, but I'm sure you can count on Ravager, current Champion Bruce Richards and former Champion Donovan Astros to be a part of those proceedings. Billy Kryenik and Tommy Deathrow will settle their feud in a TaiPei Deathmatch. All in all, it should be a decent card at the very least, and maybe I'll get up off my duff and review it ;)

- Intersting note posted over at PTC's advertisement forum. Ben (Steven Caldera) is going to be starting up a new fed, Outlaw Pro Wrestling. Here's the announcement, and it looks like this fed is going to be run on a smaller scale on the local level. It's also going to have a more of an underground feel. Hopefully, Ben either has someone else running this, or he's not spreading himself too thin, because I like the idea of this fed. It reminds me of me when I started up UXW all those years ago. I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for more information about OPW.

- Speaking of notes posted places, it seems that A1E is on the in-character selling block. Jarret posted notes both at A1 and FW noting this, and I think it's probably going to tie in with the ongoing storyline between Nathan Houston and the board of directors. I have to say, even though I've been enjoying Houston's current departure from character in his feud with Spoiler, I'm looking forward to the sale and the eventual replacement of Houston that almost seems imminent. Houston's been the figurehead for A1E for a long time, and I feel like that when Roger stepped down as the OOC head booker, he should have been replaced. I'm guessing Jarret had that plan all along, but he had a storyline for that, so kudos to him for going through with it, even if it's been a bit drawn out.

- One more thing before I sign off this time. The Dupree Cup playoffs will be starting soon, and that means we'll be heading into SuperShow VII. Start thinking about challenge matches or whether you want to participate in the Lethal Lottery Championship or FREE FOR ALL~! Championship matches.

August's Wrestler of the Month

No, I'm not dead. Just been busy and a bit under the weather lately.

Anyway, August's Wrestler of the Month is none other than Lindsay Troy! For the second time this year, she takes home the honors due to her dominating performance in PRIME thus far. She successfully defended the Universal Championship at Colossus IV against Sonny Silver among her other accolades, plus she bested Dusk in the Dupree Cup first week. Congrats again, Lindsay!

This month's runner up is Ravager, for leading his team NAPW against the Crimes at Complete Control II. Ravager scored the pinfall against Rex Caliber, apparently ending the Nexus One's NAPW career.

Honorable Mentions - Lowell Dot Com (OWW), Tsunami Oni (OWW), Jeff Garvin (NAPW), Jason Payne (TEAM Events), Kin Hiroshi (TEAM Events)

Previous Winners
January: Dan Ryan (A1E, NFW)
February: Clinton Sage (FUSE, PTC Events)
March: Nova (NFW, PRIME)
April: Dan Ryan (2) (A1E, NEW, TEAM Events)
May: Big Dog (A1E)
June: Lindsay Troy (PRIME, EPW, NFW, TEAM Events)
July: Nova (2) (PRIME, TEAM Events, NFW)

July's Wrestler of the Month

This month, the honor goes to Nova. It is a bit of cheating, since a lot of his June accomplishments are fresh in my mind, but let's give it up for the man. He's the hottest thing on either circuit, tearing it up both in PRIME and in TEAM events, winning both the ToC and the CoC. Add all that to him being one of the crown jewels of NFW's version 3.0, and he's the clear-cut choice.

This month's runner-up is Ravager. Despite losing his NAPW World Championship on the last day of July, Ravager still had two title defenses, his 10th and 11th defenses. Plus he held onto the TEAM Challenge Championship in another heated defense. Congrats to both Nova and Ravager for the good month!

Honorable Mentions
Donovan Astros (NAPW), Larry Tact (NEW, TEAM Events), Rocko Daymon (NEW, A1E, EPW, TEAM Events), James Irish (A1E, TEAM Events, EPW), Joey Melton (EPW), Tchu (PRIME, PTC Events, TEAM Events), Stylin' Kyle Roberts (REBEL), Foster Nackedy (PTC Events), "Triple X" Sean Stevens (EPW, NFW), Kin Hiroshi (NFW, EPW, TEAM Events)

Previous Wrestlers of the Month
January: Dan Ryan (A1E, NFW)
February: Clinton Sage (FUSE, PTC Events)
March: Nova (NFW, PRIME)
April: Dan Ryan (2) (A1E, NEW, TEAM Events)
May: Big Dog (A1E)
June: Lindsay Troy (PRIME, EPW, NFW, TEAM Events)

Busy busy busy

Yeah, work hit me hard again this week, so I haven't been able to review all the shows I wanted to yet. I did try to get the scoop on the poop for WfWA's International Wars, PSSPW's School's Out, NAPW's Badder Blood and of course, the biggie, NFW's Night One of Wrestlebowl. I feel bad because I promised more show reviews, but I just got hit with another round of digs in Jersey, two hours commute easy and no wireless access.

Still, I'm not too busy to throw out some congratulations. First to Lindz, for capturing the PRIME Universal Championship, becoming the first handler to my knowledge to be able to pull of a World Championship in both PTC and FW. Secondly, I'd like to throw some props out there to Bobby Nickens (Chris Storm, Guy Boudreaux) and Samantha Spinks (Tessa Windsor), who turned an eW relationship into love. After four years of dating, they got engaged recently. Congrats guys, always good to see love wherever it springs up.

More shillage on my part, I'm taking apps for the Tournament of Champions, and if you're interested in seeing if you're eligible, check out the threads at the various eW hubs that I frequent. If you're not eligible and you want in, there's a prime opportunity to get a spot through the FREE FOR ALL~! Match in TEAM's SuperShow V. If you're not eligible and you'd rather not do the FFA~! route, then I need good judges.

Also, a note to all those who are RPing for SSV... You have a little more than 48 hours to RP. If you've got something, now's a pretty good time to put it up.

Write-up roundup

Yep, show reviews. I'm breaking protocol and throwing up some quickie reviews for non-PPV events because, hey, I haven't done any kind of review in awhile and, well, I damn well feel like it.

- I know I probably should have started with this yesterday, but NEW's latest edition of Raucous hit the e-airwaves. Along with the most recent edition of EPW Aggression, this is required reading before you dive headling into the WrestleStock proceedings. A lot of buildup here, and a pretty good writeup for the main event. Yeah, I don't like the fact that there was a no-decision in the title match, but it did inject even more heat than was already there for the Night Two main. Sometimes you have to work in no-decisions in RPed matches to angle things along.

- NAPW's Tagstravaganza II was probably the biggie event that happened in the last week or so. Love the concept behind this event, two gauntlets with the winners facing off. I have to admit that I'm out of the loop concerning NAPW and Rebel, but I don't think you need to know that much. The cardwriters do a good job of filling everybody in. I thought there were a lot of good subplots in each match, and it definitely makes you want to "tune in" so to speak to the next NAPW or Rebel show. The attention paid to non-contending teams like the Celtic Assassins, the Murder City Devils and the Bluegrass Mafia is a prime example of why NAPW is the leader for tag team wrestling, and that's saying something given that EPW, PRIME and A1E all have strong divisions or are in the process of building them.

- Speaking of PRIME, ReVolution 127, live, on the air. I do have to say I'm enjoying really everything surrounding the main event angle. Given the players involved, I'm not surprised. Paranoid Jason Snow is a great twist on the character as well, and it should provide for some sparks after this angle's over. Good to see Chainz get injected here, as he's long overdue for a main event push, AWC or PRIME. I kinda enjoyed the Shakur/Sun Tzu stuff too. The first segment was pretty good, but I thought the attack on Gamble was a bit too inside-jokey and ridiculous. I'm also still not a fan of reprinting song lyrics in toto for entrances. It's not a good match extender... it's just annoying. I like the idea of combining the titles, and the segments worked for me. What doesn't work for me though are these extreme injuries that should take people out for long amounts of time. I mean, Dusk gets shot and he still comes back to win the Intense Title? Pierce Lavelle gets thrown out of a second story window and isn't out for an extended period of time? I'm all for going above and beyond the boundaries of what you can do in "real" wrestling, but some of this is too ridiculous even for my tastes. I feel like PRIME is a mixed bag right now.

The Return of Random Notes

Because it's been a long time since I did these... too long.

- First up, some shameless self-promotion:

Read the EPICENTER for TEAM SuperShow III!
Leave me feedback for said show!
Then sign up for a match on the next SuperShow and if you really liked me, volunteer to write a match!

Yep, the finals are set for TiT, we have a new Champion of Champions, and once again, an NAPW guy is the first to hold a TEAM Championship. It's important that you leave honest feedback, because once again, I have no idea what I'm doing wrong if you guys don't call me out on it.

Speaking of the next SuperShow, right now, I have a bunch of unanswered challenges going on over there. So before you go making challenges, see if you're being called out. I'm probably going to cap it at some point, but once again, you can always participate in the FREE FOR ALL~! match. Now that that's out of the way...

- Speaking of NAPW, a bit of news out of their camp. The talk in the eW world is that tag team wrestling is back, but in the Canadian indie fed, you could argue that it never left to begin with. NAPW's tag team division was one of the best in the land, and now, they'd like for you to partake in it. It's an event called TAGSTRAVAGANZA II! It happens 5/22, and the details are there as you follow the link.

- Staying with that family of feds, NAPW's sister fed REBEL Pro, they're having an open invitational event of their own. This one is geared towards singles wrestlers and is a battle royale for a shot at their Championship. Open-invitational battle royale... groovy! Once again, follow the link for more details. The event happens 5/8, so throw your hat in the ring now.

- I'm pleased to announce some additions to the blog family of feds. First off, we've got Problem Solver South Park Wrestling, a fed that's loosely based off the hit show South Park (duh). I had some reservations about it, but it seems alright from glancing over it. Plus, Kevin Healy, Fusenhoff/Ace Mason's handler, gives it a glowing review, and I hear they're timely with all their shows, which is rare in the world of eW these days. Second up, it's the Superstar Wrestling Circuit, a new RP fed in the world of angle feds. I'm not certain, but I think it's run by Antoine of Malik Roland fame, although I could be mistaken. There are some familiar names and heavy hitters on the roster, and I think it could be a force in the W316 world.

- Keeping with things in South Park land, Mr. Healy also has a blog, the Damn Yankee blog. Give it a whirl if you're thinking about following or if you do follow PSSPW.

- Here's a random question... when are they going to announce the PTC Wrestler of the Year for 2006? It's getting a bit late in the year, and I hope that Ross and Pete didn't forget about things. If they did, it's understandable, seeing both of them have been very busy lately with real life stuff. If they need some help organizing things, I'll volunteer. PTC needs its WotY, dammit!

- Finally, I'm going to end with a surprise of sorts. It looks like WFW is FINALLY getting back on track after more than a year of inactivity. Normally, I'd say that with the combination of inactivity and the general fall from grace that its fedhead took in the last year or so, this fed wouldn't have a chance of surviving. However, there's something to be said about the loyalty of the roster. Guys love this fed for whatever reason. Miller has guys in there that won't even touch other FW feds let alone anything outside of that shell, and the roster regulars have an undying devotion to the fed, even if some of them (like Aston and Edmunds) have had pretty bad dust-ups with Miller in the past. It just goes to show that having a great nucleus of handlers can go a long way and can make up for other deficiencies. For the roster's sake, I hope this is for real. Say what you want about Miller (and believe me, we all have), but I truly believe that FW is a better place when WFW is active.

The Tag Rope Repaired

Just when you think you have a trend down cold, it has to go and reverse itself. In some cases, this is a bad thing, like growth on the stock market that suddenly makes a u-turn and crashes. In other cases, you're left pleasantly surprised. The apparent resurgence of tag wrestling in eW is one of these cases.

About a year-and-a-half ago, I bemoaned the dwindlage of tag team divisions. (To show how dated that post is, WFW still had pretensions of being an active fed then :p) Up until even a few months ago, that post rang true. The only fed that I knew of that had anything resembling a healthy, thriving tag team division was NAPW. Mind you, NAPW's division could stack up with any great tag division in the history of eW, but the truth was that even feds that did have a tag division ran it on life-support.

Then, something happened. People started giving a shit about tag teams again and made efforts to handle them as one handler or, the best part, palled together with other handlers to form tag teams. As a result, you had a great turnout for the MCW Tag Team Tournament, a concerted effort from Jarret and A1E to re-establish the tag division and the overflow in PRIME's newest roster expansion to enthusiastically enter the division and make it viable once more.

Does this mean there's been a sea change in the way people feel about tag teams? I would say no, because I feel that deep down inside, everyone wants to have a tag division. I would say that there's a sea change in the effort put forth to have a tag division, at least initially. It's very, very important to note that with PRIME and A1E, this re-expansion of the tag divisions is still in the infant stages. Who knows if and when people will get bored of it and go back to their selfish singles division exploits. For now though, things are looking up, and I feel that's a good thing.

When you have an active tag team division, you have a battleground for people to enter and do battle with other characters regardless of standing on the card. It's the only true place on the card where position really doesn't matter all that much. It's also the best avenue to show the collaborative side of eW, which is what I feel makes eW so great and sets it apart from other forms of writing.

Hopefully, the interest in tag teams stays up. I have a good feeling that it will though.

Shillings and such

Some new feds, some new projects, some pimpings and everything else that's good in the world of endless promotion. First though, I haven't forgotten about the WrestleVerse review or the Ultimate MBE Tournament. This weekend, I should have stuff up. I've just been swamped with TEAM stuff and RPing for PRIME (both the Dual Halo and the Tag Championship match), so hopefully, we'll have some goodness going.

As for TEAM, tonight, we find out who the other eight wrestlers are who made it to the Sweet Sixteen. I'm personally excited to write the results, and I think now, things will kick into high gear. Remember to make make predictions and leave feedback, both for the last EPICENTER writeup (for which I've gotten none so far =[) and for the RPs.

Onto more important things...

- Rebel-Pro Wrestling is the newest "e-fed indie" on the block. It's based out of North Carolina, and if you recognize names off the roster right away as being from NAPW, don't be alarmed. It's the Alberta indie's sister fed. Brion (Chris Casino's handler) is the booker here, and I believe it's his first foray into fedheading, so wish him luck. This also spells a change in NAPW schedule from weekly to a more "indie" feel, running shows here and there like an ROH. I'm intrigued by the switch-around, and hopefully neither fed will suffer from it.

- Next up is a new FW fed, Premier Championship Wrestling. This is the brainchild of Al Larcher, the man who has brought us the Williams family and lots of good, fun eW radio shenanigans. This is only a temporary name, since Al has found a real life fed with the same name, but the premise will remain the same; indie-styled wrestling in and around the Chicago area. A lot of eW indies popping up nowadays, eh? I actually like that trend, seeing that national is a) overdone, and b) unrealistic in the vein that you don't just start up a company and expect it to be national overnight. But as I did when Al was kicking around this idea at PTC, I'm giving this fed the E-fed Blog Seal of Approval.

- I was remiss not to tell you guys about this fed when I told you about the forums it's related to, Wrestling 3:16. World Wrestling Revolution is the anchor behind W3:16, and it's taking the NFW hybrid approach. However, the way Aidan/Al explained things, this is going to be a "game-driven" approach. Not sure what that means exactly, but I'm willing to observe for myself.

- If you haven't heard by now, PTC is combining the Global and Extreme Championships into one title. Normally, I don't like the condensation of titles unless necessary, but I think this is necessary. Wrestling interest is on a downswing, and the title divisions as they were were not conducive to getting out multiple defenses in a year. They rearranged the divisions (now just division), appointed Ben "Pants" Morrow as the head, and they'll just worry about one title. Hopefully, they'll make the rounds in each PTC fed at least once every six months and have a few I-fed events so that this title becomes a dynamo. I am a bit leery on the match though. It's too big, in my opinion. You have each Champion (Global Champ Clinton Sage and Extreme Champ Dusk) plus Jason Snow (as GTT6 Champion) plus the IG Champion at the time (whoever that is) PLUS fed representatives from XUW, WWA, Global and GCW. That's eight people, about five or six too many. I'd rather see one big unification match between Dusk and Sage and then have the rest of the competitors in the match receive their shots. Snow first, unless he's unable to do it because of real life concerns (which I think is the case right now), then you go into the fed reps. That's just me though, and either way, I think this match should be a great success.

- One bit of sad news, ENN is going to be closing. Brian Jenkins announced it this week, and I think it's a shame. I know that there wasn't a lot of activity there, but that's across the board on most eW hubs anyway. I thought the news page was a good thing, plus the Ray Rosa shoots were a great idea that just never took off. I thought maybe that ToC '07 might have provided a spark, (now that TEAM has taken off a little more) but I guess this is for the best. Fare thee well, ENN. You had a good run while you lasted.

February's Wrestler of the Month!

This month's recipient is a first-timer, and he's also the first representative from his fed to win the award in fourteen tries. He won the PTC Global Championship in a match featuring two former GTT winners and the current Champion and made it look damn easy. He was victorious in a blood-feud match at his fed's most recent PPV, avenging the man who took him out in GTT6. He's also been bugging me to give him this award for the last two months now :p The difference now? He actually deserves it this time around.

I'm talking about FUSE's own Clinton Sage!

Runner-up: This month's runner-up award goes to Ravager of NAPW. He won the NAPW World Championship at their PPV event Cold Snap, won his first round TEAM Invntational Tournament match, plus his match against Ulysis Solian at SSII and placed second in the inaugural FREE FOR ALL~! Championship match. Let's give him a round of applause too.

Honorable Mentions: Rob Franklin (UCW, MCW, TEAM Events), Sun Tzu (PRIME), Lindsay Troy (EPW, PRIME), Ice Tre (!) (EPW), IrishRed (A1E, UCW, EPW), Beast (A1E, EPW, UCW), Nova (PRIME), Angelo Deville (PRIME, PTC Events), Dusk (PRIME, PTC Events), John Covel (FUSE), The Canadian Loonie (TEAM Events)

Previous 2007 Wrestlers of the Month
January: "The Ego Buster" Dan Ryan (A1E, NFW)

NAPW Anniversary Attack Review!

I know it's almost a month late, but I promised you guys. Never let it be known that I welch on a promise :)

Anyway, NAPW, the little regional Western Canadian fed that could, celebrated their one year anniversary on Halloween with Anniversary Assault. My anniversary gift to the home of the first ever TEAM Champion of Champions will be a full, flagship review of the contest. Here goes...

Introduction

Good intro. It did its job very well, getting over NAPW and the many faces who've gone in and out over the last year. As always, the banter between Hewson and Jones is amusing. Gotta love the Leisure Suit Larry get up too.

TV Title Match

Wasting no time getting to the action, as The Yellow Chicken, the wrestler formerly known as Carter Owens, defends his TV Title against Jeff Jones of the Royal Foundation. We start with a flashback from earlier in the evening where Jones tells his stablemates to lay off because he wants to beat Owens himself... I smell a swerve?

Chicken's Halloween costume is Jeff Jarrett, replete with his theme song. Brilliant if done for humor, bad if done as a tribute :p Great match action, they did a good job of opening hot with a match that has heat behind it. Great to see the curtain jerker not be a throwaway match. The finish... I would have liked to have seen Yellow Chicken win because of the tarring and feathering in the previous week, but James earned his title win, no need to let needless angling get in the way of a good RP contest ;)

Pure Honor Division #1 Contenders Match

First we get a video promo for the return of Technique. Pretty neat to see that. One of the many things I like about NAPW, they're very old-school.

The next match is for #1 contendership to the Kiniski Cup (ie, Pure Honor Division Championship). Dez Carter and David Banks. Some pretty good action, although I don't know how a shining Yakuza kick is physically possible. Then again, this is e-fedding; we don't have to obey Newton's laws! (MBE faithful will remember a simultaneous Gilkimission/Web of Deceit in a v. 1.0 writeup.) The finish... it's the crooked ref angle! Good execution here, I like how it was subtly played up at first (Hewson mentioning how it looked like the ref intentionally moved into Carter's path). I'd have to say this is a great way to pile heel heat onto Banks in the Pure Honor division. Good, creative booking.

Ring of Prestige Induction: Chris Casino

Next up, a retrospective of Black Thursday 2005. Afterwards, more nod to history as it appears Chris Casino is getting inducted into NAPW's variant on the hall of fame. My thoughts on e-fed HoFs are well known (I hate them), but I guess this is a good way to honor an integral member of the fed.

Good mic spot, mixing in some of his heel schtick with respect towards the fed and thanks for the opportunities.

Dudes Meet Tiffany

Another segment featuring NAPW HoF inductees, this time, the Dudes, who are meeting up with former manager and current squeeze of Bruce Richards, Tiffany MacIntyre. Wistful segment, looks like it might set up something between the Dudes and NAIDX. Stay tuned...

JC Cook/Crusher

Coming back from the break, and Jones is lavishing us with the tail end of one of his many tales. Ah, my favorite part of any NAPW show :)

Hewson thinks we're going to see the Casino match, but instead, we've got two totally different one-time-only alums going at it, Crusher and JC Cook. Good, short match. No need to take away time from the guys on the roster now with alumni matches. Cook wins, but then gets waylaid by another alum, Misery. Cook gives Misery his comeuppance for that attack and the one that put him out months ago with an impromptu victory. The tying up of loose ends was a good touch.

Dudes Induction

Flashback from Joker's Wild into the Dudes' induction into the RoP. Nice, short segment. Didn't come of as well as Casino's though. Looks like the Dudes wont be back, which kinda negates my feelings from their meeting with Tiffany. Thus is life.

Tag Team Title #1 Contenders Match

SAD vs. The Celtic Assassins vs. Stiff Competition... and Stiff Competition starts things off by mocking the Freebirds. That would have gotten nuclear heat in a real life setting (maybe not for an average WWE American crowd, but a smart crowd, which is what Canada is known for, would have torn them a new asshole!).

Match was good for a tag affair. Celts win, and they'll challenge NAIDX. Should be a good feud (or should have been a good feud if it's already blown off in the gap between posting and the review :p).

Caliber's Induction

Sole Survivor flashback into Caliber's induction. A little vanilla for my taste, but it still gets the point across. Hewson reminds us that evil owner R. Joseph Winchell drove him out of the fed. Could be a beginning for a comeback. Who knows, since no one ever really stays retired in this game anyway.

Royal Foundation/Bruno & Mr. Canada

Mr. Canada! Any relation to Kid Canada? ;) Total rehash of the Hogan/Mr. America angle it seems, with the aforementioned Rex Caliber being strongly hinted at being Mr. C. Rehashes are okay if they're well-played out, and this one seems fun so far.

Match action's pretty good, and the end is how a feud should be paid off.

Kiniski Cup Match

Onto part 2! Kiniski Cup holder Simply Beautiful is dressed up as the least Pure Honor-esque wrestler of all-time, Hulk Hogan. Amusing. Action starts off with the crooked ref from earlier in the night standing in the ring. Hewson is indignant, but Johnston Rawk, North T. Gunderson's (the challenger) partner in crime, lays him out. Nice way to get a nuisance out of your hair, eh?

Gunderson comes out as a Killer Klown, and of course, SB comes out as Hogan. Like the schtick for both guys. As an aside, I like the Halloween stuff. I think it adds to the aura of the show. I like how the crowd is split down the middle for this one. It's a refreshing change from heel/face for every match. Good finish too. I like how these guys run their Pure Honor division. They don't fall into the trap of letting it get boring.

Static Induction, Static/Casino

Another flashback, and then Static comes out for his induction into the Ring of Prestige. Seemed a little ho-hum... Casino's induction speech was the only good one thus far.

Swerve as we find out fan favorite Lobo will officiate the match between the two heels. Nice match with the face getting heat on both of them at the end.

Kryenik's Induction

Another flashback, and our next induction is interrupted by Dextro, who cuts one hell of a "why not me?" promo. He gets interrupted himself by the original honoree, Sick Billy Kryenik, who cuts a mean promo himself and announces he's coming back. I sense this is a huge coup for NAPW. Good segment, so far, it's the best of the HoP ones.

Title Match

Great matchup. I have to say, usually, I don't enjoy the mixed narrative/script style, but I think it worked well here. Props to whoever wrote it for making it look smooth despite the clusterfuckage nature of it. I especially enjoyed the finish, great way to start a title program in that scenario. I would have gone with Cartwright attacking Bickle, but the handshake works too.

Mr. Canada!

Next up we have an amusing segment with Winchell and Mr. Canada. I like this angle, no matter how bad it "pays homage" to the Hogan/Mr. America angle. The writing is fun, and that's all that matters.

House of Horrors

The match itself, like the title match, flows very nicely. I like all the stories being told here, and I thought the emphasis on NAIDX as a team was really nice. There's no surprise in NAPW sending 6 teams to this MCW tag team tournament (more on that in a later entry!). Ravager wins here, but the real story is what happens afterwards, which was one of the best finishes to a PPV I've ever seen.

The D! heel turn floored me. Absolutely floored me. It's a shame he's retired now, because him as a heel has some salivatory possibilities. I liked how the scene with the Dudes and Tiffany actually was leading to something in this segment too. Wow, all I have to say is great cap to a great show.

Final thoughts

Of all the shows I reviewed this year, this perhaps had the best matchwriting. For a supercard/PPV, that's very, VERY important. The segments were a bit off, but that's because most of them were shortish HoP inductions, and only two of them (Casino and Kryenik) were noteworthy. Very solid show though, and this definitely is one of the favorites for Card of the Year.

July's Wrestler of the Month

I may have spoiled this in an earlier post, but this month's choice is Joey Melton! He didn't win any titles, but his work on the NFW West and EPW shows was among the most entertaining all year. The best e-fedders don't just win titles, they keep your attention through segments that may not involve titles, wins and losses or ego-stroking. If there were an award for most entertaining character of all time, Joey might win it walking away. Congrats!

Honorable Mentions: Damien Cruz (FUSE), Red Rock (AWC), Lindsay Troy (EPW, PRIME, NFW), Tony Gamble (PRIME), Pierce Lavelle (AWC), Ellis Nash (AWC), The Spoiler (A1E), Felix Red (NFW), D! (NAPW, TEAM Events)

Previous Winners from 2006
June: AAAHH!! I didn't give one out! Shit... well, retroactively, the WOTM for June is... umm... D! (NAPW, TEAM Events) for winning the Tournament of Champions.
May: The Illustrious Face Eater/Adam Dick (AWC, PRIME)
April: "Triple X" Sean Stevens (EPW)
March: Yori Yakamo, Jr. (NFW)
February: Seymour Almasy (ACW, PTC Events)
January: The Illustrious Face Eater/Adam Dick (AWC, PRIME)

NAPW's Get the Hell Off Our Lawn!

Part one, pre-riot
Part two, post-riot

First off, I have to say Get the Hell Off Our Lawn is the best name for a PPV event I've heard in awhile.

Now, to the results.

This was the first NAPW PPV event I've read, and I have to say, it was pretty good. Definitely on the level of their shows in terms of quality. The only thing I have a problem with is on the matchwriting level, that it seems a little too close to being a regular TV match in some instances. Still, it's a minor complaint.

There was a bunch of stuff going on here, a lot of promos that built up the matches. I love that. It gives the show such an old-school WWF PPV feel to it. Promo, D! and Static stand out for their spots.

I thought the riot was unique. I don't know what else to say about it, because I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, it's something unexpected and interesting. It's a good heat builder for Rex and Ravager and the other of Winchell's minions. On the other hand... it came of a little forced. If a riot really broke out, then the show wouldn't have resumed the next day and used for an angle, and if it was an angled riot, then it comes off a little cheesy. I don't know... I'll probably come around on it, especially if the parties involved build off it into something special.

I personally can't wait to see Tommy Deathrow react to having to wear a dress :)

The title match sequence at the end I thought was pretty good. You had some heel dickery, the underdog face winning against all odds, but there was a twist. I can't wait to see where this new Man in Black arc is headed, and I'm waiting to see how D! plays winning the title in a tainted manner. Diego's such a talented writer, I'm actually excited to see where it's going.

So in closing, I think you should read this show, even if it will be your first NAPW show. It's an overall positive experience, and I think it serves as a great building block into bigger and better things.

Some shows... TAKE TWO

Since Blogger was douchebaggish and ate my original post...

We're going to get some showage out of the way...

First up, I wanna pimp NAPW. They've been hitting on all cylinders the last couple of weeks, and it's produced some really good reads.

Tuesday Night Fights, 7/4
Friday Night Action!, 7/7

My one complaint with the matchwriting is the block text narrative paragraphs can be too long and the announce team, which is pretty good, seems to be underutilized. Other than that, these are fantastic, easy to read cards. Personal highlights for me were Team Man, the goings on with D!, Evan Cartwright and Carter Owens, KETCHUP~! in the ring and of course, the debut of Promo. I'm also really digging this F*NAPW thing they've got going, although I'm not sure how it started. Maybe I could get a little background from certain readers ;)

Next up in the queue is a long awaited show from GCW.

Warpath

Let me preface this by saying this was my first GCW show ever. I won't be too analytical of the deeper angle stuff, seeing as there's a lot of context I've been missing out on, but I will comment very bluntly on the matchwriting. It was underwhelming, and that was disappointing, especially seeing that as a fed, you should showcase your matchwriting at the PPV.

My biggest complaint was that a lot of the matches didn't have enough gravity behind them. I mean, it's hard to explain what I feel is gravity enough, but it didn't feel like a PPV, especially a PPV that's been brewing for a few months. For one, in nearly every match, the intros were too long and focused too much on reprinting lyrics rather than what they should be for, which is providing the annoucers time to give a little backstory for the match and gauging the crowd reactions for each wrestler. The intros in most cases took away from the matches.

Secondly, some of these matches were too short and didn't have enough oomph behind them. The main culprits here were the main event, which is your World Championship, for crying out loud, and the gauntlet match. I felt a lot of these two matches was just thrown together. In both cases, it took away from LeStatt Knight's and Jacob McKail's big moments. I thought, and this is totally a manner of personal taste, that some of the writing was awkward and forced.

I'm not going to dump on the whole show though. I thought the US Championship match was well-written. I liked the Masked Man's interactions in the show, as well as Dorian Ryan's promo. I also thought the interaction between Dawn McFarlane and Shadow was provocative, although I'm a bit perplexed as to why the faction's leader is only at the CW title level. That's probably one of the contexts I missed out on, but it still strikes me as odd.

Anyway, this definitely was not a show that GCW needed after a long layoff, and hopefully, they can rebound. Their roster is too good not to.

CSWA LIVES~! and a new league to cover

First things first, PRIMETIME POOLJAM from Miami is finally up. Chad posted a note in the CSWA fan forum explaining things, and hopefully, this at least leads to a semblance of a comeback with a degree of permanence.

The show itself was pretty good. The swerve at the end of the Randalls/TIMMAH~! match was pretty good, and HOLY CLUSTERFUCKAGE~! with the main event, lots and lots of stuff going on here. But one thing's for certain. Congratulations are in order for Kin Hiroshi on becoming the CSWA United States Champion! Good to see one of the underrated stars on the circuit get some recognition.

Also accompanying this was the debut edition of Versus, which is the proposed RP card. For now, it's just the RPs in the forum put together in show format, but hopefully, if they can get this thing running like they want it to, I think it'll actually be a great thing.

Finally in the queue today, New Alberta Pro Wrestling is the newest addition to the blog family of feds. They're not a brand new fed, but they are the first fed to get some play on here that isn't part of the A1/FW/ENN, EWN or PTC spheres of influence, although they do make great use of the FW front page. I actually checked them out, and they have some pretty good RPers, a good short-form results system going for them, and they're sending two guys to the ToC... D! and Ravager. So check 'em out if you get the chance, they get the thumbs up.