So, the rumor is that Facade is actually on the outs with IWC, outside of the kayfabe feuds he's been having. I wish him luck in his further endeavors. Lately, I've been getting a bit more of a viewpoint on the seamy underside of wrestling via Facebook. The last Indy Wrestling Mayhem broadcast commented on how wrestlers need to leverage social media such as Facebook and Instragram, but also noted that they really need to have separate accounts for who they really are and their wrestling persona, even if their persona is "I am a wrestler", as some of them do. I think they have a good point. It breaks the suspension of disbelief when Darky McIncoherentMurderFace replies back to a a message on their page congratulating them on their match with "Why thank you. I have been working on my craft" and even more so when you see them out having beers with Goody McFaceFaceMyBeautifulFace.

Still very much looking forward to the May 9th event. I found a few more clips of Space Monkey on Youtube. I... I will reserve judgment until I see him in action.

edited 7th May '15 6:00:07 AM by FuzzyBoots

I could be wrong, but from what I know, Space Monkey is still a relative rookie, I know is Theory of Evolution and Monkey Burger partners are.

Also, the International Wrestling Cartel isn't nearly as isolationist as WWE(I can't think of a single currently operating company that is, even Kaiju Big Battel has some stuff on WWNLive.com) so I'm not sure how well "Future Endeavors" really applies. Are you sure the guy hasn't been wresting outside of IWC in the mean time, has no ongoing projects elsewhere? I can understand if you don't have time or desire to follow him, but just emphasizing why I'm not sure "future endeavors" really applies.

edited 7th May '15 1:02:54 PM by IndirectActiveTransport

Oh, he definitely wrestles elsewhere (and I just now realized that I was really close to using the WWE line of "future endeavours". "Further endeavours" is just how I speak). There's a whole listing at the Cagematch site and no one on the IWC roster doesn't wrestle elsewhere that I know of (frankly, is there an Indy fed that does enforce exclusivity?). However, the scuttlebutt I've heard indicates that either he's indicated that he doesn't want to wrestle for them anymore, or he's been informed that he's not wrestling anymore. I know there've been a few cases of it over the years, usually guest stars that are on the list to never be invited back (they have a zero tolerance policy on wrestlers agreeing to show up and not doing so, excepting, of course, good excuses), but others were regular wrestlers and were basically told that they were not going to be booked anymore because of their behavior.

Although, as I know I've said before, I still blame McMahon for the intentional blurring of kayfabe when it comes to managerial disputes. It's possible that this is just a storyline or this is a way to make it easier for him to branch out elsewhere, but this one feels different. It may sound weird, but the fact that the official releases via the website indicate there's no problem actually makes me feel like there really is a problem, you know? If they have someone acting up during a match and the postmatch footage discusses them acting up, then they claim they're leaving forever, they're generally back within an event or two. When everything looks hunky-dory on the broadcasts, but the wrestlers and those working in the company are dropping hints of trouble, it sounds less like a work. And, of course, my info could be wrong. I try to avoid asking direct questions of anyone involved in the business because I wouldn't want to put them in a tough spot.

On a side note, the more I start to learn about who the wrestlers are when they're not in the ring, the more I kind of wish that I knew them as wrestlers instead of as people. It's like when you find out that Hulk Hogan was an asshole outside of the ring, while The Undertaker has been consistently a really nice guy. And it's complicated by how, in some ways, our boos and cheers are tied to both the persona and the work. When someone yells at a heel, saying that they suck, how often does that wrestler have a moment when they wonder if they're getting that because they're a bad guy, or because their moves look unconvincing? Darn it... I want the fantasy back, you know?

It's not really a WWE vs Independent thing as it is a WWE vs everyone else thing.

New Japan Pro-Wrestling may be a shadow of it's former self but it can still draw a crowd of 50,000 people(one of the few companies left that can boast draws larger than WWF/E ever did). I wouldn't call them "independent", or really, anyone else who draws 10,000 in this "era". Yet you can still find New Japan mainstays and champions wrestling on independent shows, New Japan even has the NEVER division specifically to accommodate independent wrestlers it isn't ready to put in a higher position. CMLL (also a shadow of its former self, admittedly) has few guys that don't wrestle somewhere else. It's usually an individual thing(Act Yasukawa in STARDOM) rather than a promotional thing, unless the region itself is isolation and lacking in wrestling promotion or you look at WWE, 90 days no compete after you're gone!

WWF wasn't always like that either. They used to let John Cena wrestle in Border City with his old Prototype gimmick, for example, but then he went on national television and said that it would be an insult to the WWE "championship" if he ever wrestled in another company again. About the only crossover you ever see is in WWC(also a shadow of its former self, noticing a trend?) if a WWE "superstar" is a Colon or in a program with a Colon and WWE itself never acknowledges this happens(yet somehow expects it's fans to appreciate Puerto Rico's wrestling culture when they brag about touring there). I use Kaiju Big Battel as a counterpoint because they state up front that they don't hire "wrestlers" but "performers" yet they've had guys from Pro Wrestling ZERO1 and Dramatic Dream Team on their shows, they've participated in the the Chikara tourneys and such. They're only "pro wrestling" in the loosest since of the word but still interact more with the industry and more openly than WWE.

Editing the CMLL page on this wiki made me realize WWE has poisoned our vocabulary. That's why I kind of jumped on "Future Endeavor". We call belts "championships"! A "championship" is a competition between competitors who met previous qualifications, but Vince Jr. doesn't like the word "belt". Look at boxing, mixed martial arts, they still don't call belts "championships", only pro wrestling does that, and only in areas where WWE has a strong influence(or the speakers use English despite having little grasp of it).

"Storyline", it's only recently people started calling wrestling angles "story lines". When wrestlers talk about "my character" it makes me wince. You're not actors, well some of you are but that just makes me wince even more because you know as well as anyone a wrestling gimmick isn't the same as having a "character" to "play". "Writers"(bookers), "scripts"(formats), "dirt sheets"(newsletters, magazines or in our modern age, websites). I know McMahon isn't entirely to blame for our stupider language choices but damn if his taint doesn't run deep.

Wrestlers on the job separate from private/personal? I wouldn't mind that, but apparently this wiki does. I didn't launch a single page with a wrestler's "given" name but that information always gets added, more reliably than gimmicks, red barons, boss subtitles. I can understand when that given name is relevant (The Rock is also an actor, so he's also billed as Dwayne Johnson) but it more often isn't. I've honestly got not idea what Carrot Top's given name is, what Ke$ha, Lady Gaga, Pitbull, DMX, Young Thug, JK Rowling or the Pope's given name is. Do people really greet them with Jorge Mendez or Gertrude Smith?

Big news: WWE will finally honor Owen Hart's legacy with a documentary on DVD/Blu-ray, with the official backing of Martha Hart, announced on what would've been Owen's 50th birthday!

edited 7th May '15 9:09:03 PM by DemonSharkKisame

Borrowing from the IWC Facebook group:

There were some good matches. There were also some pretty mediocre ones.

The Dead Wrestling Society def. Draviko & Space Monkey

I was severely underwhelmed. It started out with Draviko trying to do a mike promo for Space Monkey and it was painful. He apparently has a fairly high-pitched hoarse speaking voice and he was pretty unintelligible. The actual match was a smash match. I feel sorry for Space Monkey as a wrestler. One of the DWS people had him up on their shoulders and their race facepaint noticeable stained Space Monkey's white jumpsuit (in a rather awkward location too... I was amused by the one audience member who yelled out, "Did he just bite down on Space Monkey's asshole?")

Super Hentai def. Justin Idol

This was one of the good matches. They both came out pretty strong. It ended with Hentai apparently slamming Idol to the ground off the turnbuckle and injuring him. No idea how real it was given that, after a few refs ran on and surrounded him, checking his neck, Idol tried to get some heat by telling us how little he cared about whether we were concerned for his health.

Joseph Brooks & "Big Time" Bill Collier w/ Justin LaBar def. Jimmy Nutts and Wardlow

I get the feeling that the "someone on the team is a traitor" is a favorite storyline for the IWC, but it just fell flat for me. Team Big League has lousy luck with people turning on them... shortly after Wardlow laid out Nutts, Nutts and Collier slammed Brooks and left him in the ring.

Alex Daniels & Joshua Singh battled to a time limit draw

This one was painful. They both had some nice spots — Daniels current runs with a tagline about being "The Freerunner" and Singh, despite being a bit on the pudgy side, also pulled some sweet acrobatics — but there were also minute-long bits where they were doing nothing in particular, and they were both obviously getting tired out there. Having the initial 15 minute draw get 5 minutes added to it, and also end in a draw, was just adding insult to injury. These guys need some polish to their act. And Daniels needs to learn how to sell.

Andrew Palace successfully defended his Super Indy Title vs. Aiden Vale

Aiden Vale is apparently now just "Vale", or maybe "Veil". Anyhow, he wrestled for Krimson. Pretty standard match, but good. Vale, unlike his prior highflying Fragile Speedster persona, got to no-sell some of the hits and look strong, but ultimately, Palace prevailed. Afterwards, the DWS got to act all out of control. Some nice bumps by the referrees and Security.

Jock Samson/Bryan Castle def. Dennis Gregory/Jimmy Vegas and Joe Rosa/Darin Dinero

Hee... Jock Samson is just plain fun to watch and Bryan Castle works well with him. They do the whole brawling bruisers thing, complete with back rakes and eye-pokes. Most amusing for me, after a bit of them doing their antics, the other two teams started returning the favor, and Samson and Castle managed a lovely reaction of "Hey, you guys can't do that. That's our schtick" with just their facial expression. I like this tag team.

Dylan Bostic w/ Ray Lyn def. Keith Haught

This was a pretty weak one for Haught. I do have to give both wrestlers credit for the slams they did on the mat outside the ring. Other than that, it's the standard "valet distracts face, by putting themselves in danger to allow heel to attack them" match. As the third match with Bostic and Haught where this happened, I think they're overplaying it. I'm also sad that Haught is out of the running for Super Indy, but honestly, he's not the sort of person you'd believe they'd give the belt to.

Tommy Dreamer successfully defended his Heavyweight Title in a 4 way elimination Dance vs. RJ City, Dalton Castle, and Justin Labar

I'll admit that this one shocked me. I did not expect Dreamer to retain the belt. When Castle got eliminated, I was expecting LaBar to wind up with it somehow. My wife got to provide an "international instrument", a cane that we brought ringside, which was used to hook RJ City. Dreamer also got a little kid to spit water in City's face, and slammed him onto a chair, a ladder, and a prosthesis. At this point, I think Dreamer has wrestled more times for IWC than any other promotion this year, including TNA...

Overall, it was a good night. One lousy match, two iffy ones, but the rest were good. Unfortunately, the wife and I will not make it to Super Indy due to a prior commitment.

That's too bad, you're gonna miss Cedric Alexander. Still, I've never got to provide a foreign object. I take it SMASH means not very good?

I blanked on the proper terminology. I meant to say it was a Squash Match, although Curb-Stomp Battle might be slightly more accurate since Draviko did manage a decent offense at the start. My memory of matches is lousy, especially when my wife has us hitting a karaoke bar afterwards, but my memory of it is that the Dead Wrestling Society members essentially no-selled a lot of the moves and once they got the upper hand, they kept it for the rest of the match.

Part of the reason I launched Black Rose's page is that I figured she wouldn't be showing up on WWE television and was getting sick of all the page launches for wrestlers who accomplished very little but got pages seemingly just because they did something memorable in a single promotion.

I'm happy for her if she does win tough enough/get hired anyway but if you asked me if any of the WWC/IWA women would be on WWE tv I'd have said La Amazona or Sweet Nancy. I don't get why none of them were picked up when the women's division went defunct but the latter two I thought were still young enough. It's nice to be wrong.

Modified Ura-nage, Torture Rack

An interesting commentary by Mick Foley about how our expectations for matches are actually too high because we only remember the highlights of the halcyon days of wrasslin'.

I don't think I was ever a pro wrestling fan during any time period that could be called the industry's heyday. At most, I was a Vader fan, and WCW/WWF did their damnedest to ruin him so I didn't have much motivation to watch. I wouldn't discover my love for professional wrestling till 2003, and that was after seven years of just watching it because various friends of mine insisted on it.

I'm not going to dispute that pro wrestling fandom suffers from unhealthy nostalgia filters. I've been conditioned to gag when I simply hear/read the words "attitude era" or "PG". But good matches from a good show will take that bad taste out of my mouth. This sample features El Barbaro Cavernario vs Extreme Tiger!

edited 20th May '15 5:50:05 AM by IndirectActiveTransport

That was amazing!

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Glad you liked it. Although it was a B Show, Xtreme Tiger usually wrestles for AAA so seeing him in CMLL is a treat.

The commenters were also awesome. LA PATADA DEL BÁRBARO CAVERNERO EN TODA LA CARA DEL EXTRÍM TÁIGER, NO SE LEVANTARÁ DE ESTE CASTIGO!

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

......

Samoa Joe is in NXT.

That's kinda sorta a big deal isn't it?

edited 22nd May '15 11:32:05 AM by HandsomeRob

One Strip! One Strip!

If you watch WWE? I'm going to wait and see how Tough Enough turns out before I consider doing that again.

Joe's long since proved his naysayers wrong, including those in WWE, so him being in developmental doesn't excite me.

What, a Samoan wrestler who's not related to The Rock?

Huh. And apparently Singh vs Daniels (the match I mentioned above from Road to Super Indy is a thing they do. They're known for being involved against each other, and they've obviously worked on coordinating choreography with each other. That said, the execution just does not do it for me. They still botch moves and it lacks a good ebb and flow. And... dang, Singh, but have you heard of cardio? It helps keep you from getting exhausted halfway through the match.

edited 23rd May '15 11:24:58 AM by FuzzyBoots

Tonight, at Elimination Chamber, Kevin Owens just defeated John Cena, CLEAN, in a Champion vs Champion match.

Cue the Flying Pigs

Owens is being pushed to the goddamn moon, this is hardly surprising.

I admit to laughing when Daniels did the Tatsu type snap mare and got worried after the tope. Put off watching the match though. I was sure someone was going to start an "AI-dub" chant. At least "yes" didn't catch, but then again, "yes" isn't a nineteen year old trend that's lost its relevance in 2002.

So I guess we got confirmation that the John Cena push came to its end, 3 three years too late. So WWE put Samoa Joe, who'll likely retire in four years, in developmental. I wouldn't be upset if Joe proves me wrong and wrestles into his fifties like Ric Flair but for reference, he had a hand in John Cena's training. He's not some run of the mill indie wrestler, he's been in two majors already, he's not a foreigner who speaks no English and never wrestled in the United States and he's not someone they've never heard of, he's jobbed on their b shows. Of course Sting was signed a full twelve years after fans voted him wrestler they wanted WWE to hire the most so better late than never? No, I'm going to keep supporting that she got her shot on Tough Enough, but I'm not becoming a WWE viewer again that easily. As annoying as chanting the promotion's name has become, I still can't remember an AIW show I felt angry after watching.

I might catch back up with them when my next check comes. I know Athena is a champion there edit:and To Infinity And Beyond took the belts from the Forgotten.

edited 1st Jun '15 12:35:43 PM by IndirectActiveTransport

International Wrestling Cartel has announced the final list of competitors for Super Indy XIV. They've also announced the bracket. Sadly, I won't see it until the DVD comes out.

Virgil Runnels Jr. aka Dusty Rhodes passed away today at the age of 69.

Yeah, I just heard about that.

Jeez it's bad day to be a Dusty Rhodes or Christopher Lee fan.

One Strip! One Strip!

Huh. So apparently Dalton Castle is doing matches for Ring of Honor. I think I preferred his IWC entrance music of Let Me See Your Peacock.

... That was really awesome. The fight was pretty cool too.

I have mixed feelings about this Gorgeous George portrayal. On the one hand, it's kind of offensive and cringeworthy. On the other hand, he does it pretty darned well, and it's very fun to watch.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.