Llakor

Nash Unhappy with Results IWS Xth Anniversary Montreal 05/30 It seems like Kevin Nash is the only man unhappy after the crowded party at the Medley last night for the International Wrestling Syndicate's Tenth Anniversary. Nash was all smiles backstage after tapping out to Pierre-Carl Ouellet's arm-bar, congratulating PCO on the win and the crowd's positive reaction to PCO. The smile never quite reached his eyes however. Once clear of PCO. PCO's ex-tag team partner Brick Crawford and a crowd of PCO's friends from his gym, the mask slipped. Nash's IWS Chauffeur back to the airport, Joseph Fitzmorris, reported to me that Nash spent most of the drive snarling that no one was supposed to touch his arm (still tender from a recent staph infection.) The main event of the IWS Tenth Anniversary started with Kevin Nash coming out to his NWO theme and announcing to the crowd, "I'm a professional wrestler, that's what I do for a living. I'm not a shoot-fighter. I get paid to wrestle not to shoot-fight. I was paid in advance, so if anyone in the back decides to turn this into a shoot, I will roll my old, grey-haired ass out of this ring and go back to Florida." Meeting Nash's demands, the match was a (highly entertaining) professional wrestling match. At the start of the match, the crowd was split,with PCO backed by a slight majority of the crowd, but as the match went on the crowd swung solidly behind PCO, especially after a grumpy Nash's negative reaction to a "Super Shredder" chant. Nash took control of the match after using a pair of scissors to cut off one of the top turnbuckles and (eventually) dropping PCO face-first on the exposed metal. PCO immediately rolled out of the ring, coming up with a face covered in blood. After brawling outside of the ring, Nash rolled PCO in to finish the match with a huge jack-knife power bomb. Nash seemed startled and angry when PCO kicked out of the power-bomb after one. Nash leaned into PCO with a couple of stiff punches, but was caught by surprise when PCO demonstrated some of the MMA tricks that he has picked up sparring with Steve Bosse and grabbed Nash's bad arm for an arm-bar. Nash tapped quickly and was clutching his arm in pain even while acknowledging the crowd's cheers after the match with his famous Wolf-Pac salute. You can see clips from the match here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDHafWra82I ***** IWS Tenth Anniversary Results - Quick and Dirty Saturday, May 30th The Medley, Montreal, Quebec, Canada IWS Tag Team Title: Champions The Untouchables (Dan Paysan and James Stone) vs. 2.0 (Jagged and Shane Matthews) The Untouchables retained their titles in 11:30 with Dan Paysan pinning Shane Matthews after a Jimmy Stone chair-shot. Because of the loss, 2.0 can no longer team together in the IWS. IWS Veteran Battle Royale: More than twenty men (and one woman) from the ten years of the IWS battled in an over-the-top Battle Royale won by Damian who threw Wonder-Fred over the top rope after 14:35. IWS Canadian Title: Canadian Champion Shayne Hawke vs. Twiggy Shayne Hawke retained his title in 11:09 pinning Twiggy MMA Match: EXesS vs. Heavy Maxx Fury Maxx Fury won by submission after 9:58. IWS Title Match: Champion Beef Wellington vs. former champions Sexxxy Eddy and Franky the Mobster Beef Wellington retained pinning Sexxxy Eddy with his E. Coli pile driver after 11:12 Grudge Match: Kevin Nash vs. Pierre-Carl Ouellet Kevin Nash tapped to a PCO arm-bar after 8:38 IWS Death Match: The Green Phantom vs. PCP Crazy F’N Manny The Green Phantom pinned Manny after 13:55 of completely and clinically insane hardcore action ***** .IWS Tenth Anniversary Detailed Results There is so much stress and heart-ache planning an IWS Medley that it is easy to forget until you are in the middle of one, how much damn fun they are. Last night we came within about fifty people of setting a record for a wrestling crowd at the Medley, cramming just over 700 people into a wild enthusiastic celebration of ten years of the IWS in Montreal. Our best-ever crowd at the Medley was the Sabu show at Un F'N Sanctioned 2006 which had the advantages of a better economy, no hockey the night of the show, and we caught lightning in a bottle by featuring Sabu two days before his 2006 debut on Raw, so many people came in from out-of-town to see his last match in the indies. It was a surreal day. We woke up to find out that there was full-page article about the Nash/PCO match in the Journal de Montreal, the biggest source of sports news on the island of Montreal. This was a translation of an article in the Ottawa Sun by Tim Baines - reprinted on SLAM! Wrestling: http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2009/0...624436-sun.html The French Journal de Montreal article can be seen here: http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/7598/iws1w.png We need to thank Tim Baines for the article, the anonymous staffer at Journal de Montreal who translated it, Kevin Nash for agreeing to the interview and especially to Kevin's agent Bill Behrens for making the interview possible at the very last minute. X stared with a quick=paced enjoyable match between the IWS Tag Team champions, the ersatz Italians, James Stone and Dan Paysan, the Untouchables and one of the most successful tag teams in IWS history, Jagged and Shane Mattews, 2.0. The Untouchables retained their title with a pin on Shane Matthew after James Stone clobbered Shane with a chair-shot and then used the chair to ward off Jagged from saving his partner. With the loss, 2.0 can never tag again in the IWS. As a small consolation, Jagged and Shane are about to leave Montreal for a six-show tour of Big Japan with CHIKARA. So while they can no longer tag in Quebec, they can tag together in Japan! We announced a 20 man over-the-top Battle Royale of IWS veterans from the tn years of the IWS. There were some that questioned whether we could come up with 20 IWS veterans. In fact, we ended up with 27 men and one woman entered in the match. IWS ring announcer, "Iron" Mike Paterson started the match by announcing that he was going to win the match because his brother, IWS President Nic Paterson had promised him the win. The other entrants were less than impressed with this announcement (especially since most of them were lured to the Medley with similar promises) and eliminated Mike first. The remainder of the eliminations in order: 2. Former IWS colour commentator Peter Lasalle 3. Former IWS Commissioner and Manager Joseph Fitzmorris 4. Former IWS Technical Director Little Brown Joe (with an impressive back-flip out of the ring 5. From the very first IWS show The Insurance Policy 6. John Fury 7. Alex Silva 8. Former IWS Valet D-Vyne 9. Former IWS Champion TNT 10. Pauly Platinum 11. Carl Choquette (of Above Standards) 12. Lex Lerman 13. The fire-breathing Firestorm 14. Malice (of Evilicious) 15. The Latino Kid 16. Latino Mysterio (hurled from the ring by Tomassino like a javelin) 17. Former IWS Manager The Motivator of Madness 18. Soul Rage (of Eviliciou) 19. Tomassino 20. Manuel Vegas 21. Former IWS Champion The One Man War, The Arsenal 22. Former IWS Tag Team Champion and IWS Canadian Champion Kid Kamikaze 23. Mike "Speedball" Bailey continuing his impressive rookie year. With the match down to just four men, Mike tried to ally himself with Fred la Merveille against the Hardcore Ninjaz. A rookie mistake that saw Fred throw him over the top. 24. Fred la Merveille was no match for the Hardcore Ninjaz as a team 25. Multiple time IWS Tag Team Champion The Evil Ninja 26. Multiple time IWS Tag Team Champion Hardcore Ninja by Wonderfred It appeared that the Hardcore Ninja, an IWS original, had won the Battle Royale until Fred snuck into the ring and threw the Hardcore Ninja out. Fred explained that he had entered the Battle Royale twice, once as Fred la Merveille (who was eliminated) and once as Wonderfred who had won the Battle Royale. 27. Wonderfred by 28. and winner Former IWS Tag Team Champion The God of War Damian Wonderfred's celebrating triggered Damian's music. The God of War came out only to be embraced by Wonderfred who declared the original SLI (Syndicat de Lutte International) reunited. Wonderfred only made three teeny, tiny errors:First, the original SLI was Fred la Merveille and Damian not Wonderfred and Damian, second the original SLI broke up when Damian betrayed Fred and kept Fred from beating Kevin Steen for the IWS Title, third Damian really likes hitting people and with only Wonderfred in the ring, that meant that Wonderfred was going to get beaten. After taking a number of stiff shots, Wonderfred made one of his celebrated rallies, but it was not enough to stop the God of War from spilling Wonderfred to the outside to give Damian the victory. Shayne Hawke and Twiggy had a fun little match. Twiggy is one of the most passionate wrestlers that I now and by far the smartest wrestling mind in the province. Unfortunately for Twiggy, Hawke is no dummy and the raging redhead is the only guy I know with more passion than Twiggy. Add that to Shayne's considerable size and strength advantage over Twiggy combined with Shayne's advantage as champion and it was just not in Twiggy's destiny to win this night despite a valiant effort. EXesS and Heavy Maxx Fury had an official MMA referee for their match: Gerry Calasurdo. Maxx also had David Saxby. the Light Heavyweight Sancho Kick-Boxing Champion in his corner. Maxx is a kick-boxing champion in his own right and while Maxx may have won the match by submission, it was his educated feet that softened up EXesS for the submission with Maxx tagging the IWS Bully repeatedly every time the two men broke from grappling. Since the match was fought with no round breaks, EXesS never had a chance to recover from the repeated kicks and was eventually forced to tap out. To his credit, EXesS for once made no excuses saying that the only reason that he had lost was because Maxx was a better man. Only time will tell if the IWS Bully has turned over a new leaf or if he has only learned that Maxx is the one man in the IWS that he can't bully. In the past year, Beef Wellington has combined the charm of a pit-bull with a toothache with the moral teachings of Jesse Ventura, "Win if you can; lose if you must, but always cheat!" to become the most disliked man in Quebec wrestling. Two former IWS Champions, Franky the Mobster and Sexxxy Eddy tried to take Beef's gold, but the Champion cleverly played the two men against one another and cheated to preserve his title once again. I should probably announce here that originally the three-way match for the IWS title was scheduled to be a four man. Unfortunately, the scheduled fourth man in the match, the man to hold the IWS title longer than any other man, Viking, could not make it. Apparently while drinking his morning six-pack, Viking tripped over his ego and gave himself a concussion. We always organize our IWS shows so that people can leave after the main event and be happy that they have seen a dynamite show, but than we throw in some hardcore topping on the wrestling sundae for those who want just a little bit more. This show was no different. If you had left after the Nash/PCO match, you would have felt like you got your money's worth. And if you had stayed Well you would have seen two men damn near kill each other (along with a couple of referees and IWS President Nic Patterson) as PCP Crazy F'N Manny and the Green Phantom went hardcore medieval on each other using barbed wire, light tubs, chairs, tables, ladders, mousetraps, panes of glass, staple guns, thumbtacks and FIRE! Ten hardcore weapons, one for each of the IWS' ten years. The two men were already a bloody mess before they battled to the second floor of the Medley at which point the Green Phantom in one of the most disturbing, sickest and yes stupid bumps that I have ever seen, gave Manny a Tornado DDT off the balcony through five burning tables. This is not for the squeamish: From another even more disturbing angle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqViM224YdM After that burning car-crash, the Green Phantom added insult to injury by spearing Manny with the leg of a bar stool and then dragged Manny's barely conscious carcass back to the ring to add injury to injury by putting Manny through an exploding table for the win. Somehow after the match, Manny was able to stand and grab a mike after the match. As the ring filled with IWS veterans, Many thanked the crowd for supporting the IWS over ten years and promised another ten years of hardcore wrestling. ***** After celebrating ten years of hardcore violence, the IWS is taking a bit of a summer holiday to catch up on our sleep and heal our various wounds. We will be helping Inter-Species Wrestling during their Vans Warped Tour show on July 11th (Montreal, Ile St-Helene). Then the IWS returns to downtown Montreal for Hardcore Heat at the Just for Laughs Museum Studio, 2111 Boulevard Saint-Laurent on Saturday, August 29th. And this event will prove that Hell has Frozen Over or boiled over or something, because after the last time that we were at Just for Laughs, wrestling was banned from that venue for all eternity, which in this case meant until a new management team desperately needed to bring in an act that can pack the place and sell lots of beer despite the shitty economy. The IWS starts another ten hardcore years with: Hardcore Heat, Saturday, August 29TH, at the happiest place on Earth, the Just for Laughs Museum Studio, 2111 Boulevard Saint-Laurent , near the St-Laurent Metro. Montreal, Quebec, CANADA. Doors open at 8 PM, show starts at 9 PM. VIP tickets are $20, Regular tickets are $15. VIP ticket holders admitted first. No reserved seating. Tickets can be purchased on-line from [email protected]. 18+ Card and times subject to change. For more information go to http://www.iwswrestling.com or write to [email protected] ***** SLAM! Wrestling write-up of the results: http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2009/06/01/9636016.html

When We Were Marks Kevin Nash vs. Pierre-Carl Ouellet The Cliq vs. Jean-Pierre Lafitte Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, welcome to Wrestle Court. Our case today is the Cliq vs. Jean-Pierre Lafitte or as it is sometimes known Kevin Nash vs. PCO. I am pleased to represent and defend my client Jean-Pierre Lafitte, better known to some as Pierre Carl Ouellet or PCO. The prosecutor Kevin Nash has summarized the case against Jean-Pierre Lafitte here: Or here: http://www.iwswrestling.com Footage courtesy of RF Video. PCO’s recollection of what happened can be found here: To summarize the serious charges levelled by Wrestling Prosecutor Kevin Nash, he accuses PCO of insubordination for refusing to job to Kevin Nash or as he was then: WWF World Champion Diesel; of conspiracy for being a member of the Canadian Mafia; of cowardice for refusing to fight Kevin Nash backstage in Quebec City; and finally and most seriously of all the charges, of being a mark in the first degree, the ultimate sin in wrestling: of being a mark for one self. The facts of the case are these: In March of 1993, Jacques Rougeau Jr was looking for a new tag-team partner. His brother Ray had retired a couple of years before. Jacques had had a good singles run as the Mountie, but that gimmick was limited by the fact that Jacques could only use it outside of Canada. (The RCMP had legally blocked him from using the gimmick in Canada.) During a tour of Puerto Rico, Jacques met Carl Ouellet, a strong, agile Quebecois. Jacques called Vince McMahon to arrange a try-out. Carl Ouellet became Quebcker Pierre (hence Pierre-Carl Ouellet.) and by September of 1993, he and Jacques were WWF tag-team champions, beating the Steiners for the belts. Many tag-teams have worked on the dynamic of one guy with wrestling talent doing all the work and his strong-guy partner. The Quebeckers worked on the principle that Jacques pissed people off, PCO was the strong guy and PCO was also the worker. Their relationship as a team is probably best summed up by their finishing move, where PCO climbed to the top-rope, Jacques flipped his wrists and PCO jumped off the top rope with a cannon-ball. After trading the belts back in forth with Marty Jannetty and the 1-2-3 Kid, followed by Men on a Mission, the Quebeckers lost the belts for good to the Wild Samoans. Jacques decided to retire in the fall of 1994. His retirement match in Montreal against PCO, a sold-out match at the Montreal Forum, out-drew the Flair/Hogan 1994 Halloween Havoc retirement match and received massive local press including full page stories in the Journal de Montreal. Framed copies of those stories can still be found in Montreal sports bars. Jacques Rougeau Jr. and Pat Patterson wanted to follow up that success by booking Montreal’s Olympic Stadium for a show head-lined by PCO against Bob Backlund for the title, but the idea was shelved. Instead Vince asked PCO to take time off to grow out his hair and beard and come back as an eye-patch wearing pirate, playing off the fact that PCO only has one good eye, having had one shot out by a BB gun when he was twelve. Before debuting this new gimmick, PCO made one final appearance as Quebecker Pierre at a Montreal Forum show when Shawn Michaels’ scheduled opponent was not available. Foreshadowing his later conflict with Kevin Nash, PCO did not want to job to Shawn Michaels in front of his home-town crowd while Michaels, having just won the Royal Rumble, refused any ending but a victory. They compromised on a screwy ending with Michaels getting the pin despite PCO’s foot being on the ropes. It sounds like one of many ridiculous and failed gimmicks of the time, but PCO made the Jean-Pierre Lafitte gimmick work with his trademark intensity and goofy charisma. The Pirate had a nearly six-month winning streak of enjoyable squashes, ended only by a highly entertaining feud with Bret Hart started when the Pirate stole Bret’s trademark sunglasses and leather jacket. Many people consider their two PPV matches to be amongst the best WWF matches of the 90s. In September of 1995, the WWF were doing a house show tour of Montreal, Quebec City and Toronto. PCO was scheduled to face WWF champion Diesel at each show. Before the Montreal show, road agent Tony Garea informed PCO that he was jobbing to Diesel cleanly and quickly. ( A finish that Nash had taunted PCO with six weeks before during a TV taping.) PCO refused to job despite immense pressure to do so from Diesel and Shawn Michaels. Instead the match in Montreal ended in a stiff double count-out. In Quebec City, Nash objected to a badly-landed top rope leg drop from PCO. Egged on by Scott Hall and Shawn Michaels (yelling from the Quebec Colisee player’s bench) Nash started stiffing PCO in the corner before ending the match with his boot and power-bomb finisher. Tensions ran so high that a backstage brawl nearly broke out with the Kliq (Nash, Michaels, Scott Hall, Sean Waltman, Triple H and Aldo Montaya) on one side and PCO backed up by Sid Vicious, Bob Holly, and the Smoking Gunns. The card was rearranged for the Toronto show with Nash wrestling against Waylon Mercy and PCO facing Fatu (Rikishi). Within a couple of weeks, PCO was demoted to jobber status and within a couple of months he was gone from the WWF. In other words, while I am here to offer a defence for PCO’s actions, the truth is that he was tried by the Kliq, found guilty by them and sentenced to lose his push and his position. I would offer this as proof that PCO was never a member of any conspiracy. The only thing that Bret Hart and PCO conspired to do was to have good matches. In fact, Bret Hart wanted PCO to win the Inter-Continental title, but this never happened because the Kliq wanted Shawn Michaels to have that belt instead. The Canadian Mafia may sound like a good line; but it was an awfully ineffective conspiracy. Especially compared to the Kliq, who orchestrated who would get the WWF belts and when. Consider what the Cliq did to Shane Douglas after they got rid of PCO. Rather than losing the Inter-Continental belt to Dean Douglas, Shawn Michaels vacated the belt, it was awarded to Douglas and the same night Scott Hall beat him for the belt, completely neutering Douglas’ character. Shane quit the next day. The astonishing thing to me is that so many people, so many wrestling fans, so many so-called experts are completely prepared to believe Kevin Nash’s word that PCO did something wrong in Montreal. There are many, in fact who garble the story and would have you believe that PCO wanted to win the WWF title in Montreal. I will simply note that even Shawn Michaels and Kevin Nash never accused PCO of that. There is a world of difference between not wanting to be job and insisting on winning. People say that PCO made the wrong choice. The truth is he had no choice. He could allow his heat to be stolen by the Cliq the way that Shane Douglas lost his heat or he could stand up to them and have them go running to Vince demanding that he be fired. PCO decided to stand up to Kevin Nash and Shawn Michaels. Despite Kevin Nash’s accusation, PCO is no coward. Leave aside the fact that in professional wrestling there are few cowards. Consider two things about PCO. First, he pursued his dream of becoming a professional wrestler despite missing an eye. That is not the path of a coward, and a coward would never have acted as PCO did in the Brawl-For-All. PCO was brought in for the first round of the Brawl-For-All against Dr. Death Steve Williams and was assured that their match would be a shoot. (Although obviously in a tournament designed by Jim Ross in an attempt to get his friend over as a legitimate tough guy, is it any shock at all that Dr. Death’s first match was against the guy with one eye?) Before his match, Road Warrior Animal came to PCO with a message from Dr. Death. If PCO went down quickly, Steve wouldn’t have to hurt him. PCO’s response: “Tell Steve he can fuck himself!” Not the words of a coward, nor the actions of one later when PCO took the match to the limit before the refs called it just before the final bell. So let’s dismiss cowardice and conspiracy off the list of charges, leaving insubordination and being a mark. PCO did not want to lose to Kevin Nash in his home-town. Was this insubordination? Perhaps, but it was in defence of PCO’s career, of the Jean-Pierre Lafitte character and of the WWF. To understand why PCO was acting in self-defence of himself and others, you have to understand Montreal. Jerry Lawler may revile Montreal as “Topsy-Turvy” but the truth is that Montreal is one of the few places where wrestling is still the right way up. Montreal is an old-school wrestling town, where the crowds pay to see their home-town heroes and most importantly to see their home-town heroes win. When Jacques Rougeau Jr. lost his retirement match to PCO, he was passing on a torch handed down from World Champion Yvon Robert, from one generation of wrestling hero to another, each of whom head-lined the Montreal Forum and sold it out. (Including Johnny Rougeau, Maurice “Mad-Dog” Vachon, Dino Bravo and Ray Rougeau.) Montreal wrestling fans do not pay to see their French Canadian heroes lose and especially to lose quickly, much the same way that they get cranky when their beloved Montreal Canadiens bow out of the hunt for the Stanley Cup early and ignomiously. PCO knew that losing to Kevin Nash and especially losing quickly and convincingly would destroy his ability to draw fans in Montreal, especially in his Jean=Pierre Lafitte gimmick, a character that the WWF had invested time and money getting over. Most importantly, PCO knew that without a French Canadian star at the top of the card, the WWF would have a difficulty selling tickets in Montreal and Quebec City. (Which rather neatly explains why Sylvain Grenier won the WWE tag-team titles so many times.) In the old school days of wrestling, the job of the champion was to keep the belt and to make the local guy look good. Old-time wrestling fans in Halifax still speak of Terry Funk, NWA World Champion, cheating to save his title when Leo Burke had him trapped in a sleeper hold after 58 minutes. (Funk spilled them both over the top rope for the disqualification.) Terry Funk kept his title, but the crowd was happy because they were convinced that their Leo should have won. Which allowed the local promoter to pack the place again the next time a World Champion came to Halifax with Leo fighting AWA World Champion Rick Martel to a sixty-minute draw. No one is saying that Kevin Nash should have fought PCO to a sixty-minute draw, but he should have followed in the footsteps of Ric Flair and made the local guy look good while keeping his title. Isn’t the whole point of a house show to maintain the status quo while sending the home-town fans home happy? If only there had been a man in WWF management who could have stood up for PCO! Well, actually, now that you mention it, one of the people that Kevin Nash mentions who did not want PCO to job in Montreal was Pat Patterson. Most people think of Pat as the charter member of the “Kiss Vince’s Ass” club, but Pat was Vince chief booker for most of the Eighties and early Nineties. Most importantly for our purposes, Pat Patterson created and booked the Royal Rumble. (Heck, he still helps book the Royal Rumble to this day.) Beyond being a genius idea that sells itself and has made Vince McMahon millions of dollars, probably more money than any one individual wrestler has ever made for the WWF, the Royal Rumble is important because it was the match that made Kevin Nash a star. Until the 1994 Royal Rumble, Kevin Nash had gone through a succession of failed mid-card WCW gimmicks, most with really bad hair: Steel (orange Mohawk), Oz (silver hair) and Vinnie Vegas (greaser mullet). With the WWF, he was getting some traction as Shawn Michaels’ bodyguard, Diesel, but it wasn’t until the 94 Rumble when he went completely bat-hit crazy and eliminated seven wrestlers in eighteen minutes that fans sat up and realized that Diesel was a bad-ass mother-fucker who would kick you in the face if you looked at him funny. To this day, people talk about the Diesel push. (Who is getting the Diesel push this year?) Some of those people have no idea that the Diesel that they are talking about Is Kevin Nash. Would Kevin Nash have been World Champion without that Diesel push? Would he have gotten the big guaranteed money from WCW? Would the Outsiders have happened? Would the NWO have happened? Maybe, but Pat Patterson’s booking is what made Kevin Nash a star. So, when Patterson said that he didn’t want PCO to job in Montreal, maybe Nash might have wanted to listen to the man who made him a star rather than dismiss him as a member of the “Canadian Mafia”. Because, we know how good Kevin Nash’s booking judgement is, especially when it comes to booking himself. Consider January 4, 1999. Kevin Nash is WCW World Champion having beaten Goldberg for the belt thanks to Scott Hall’s taser. Their rematch is the main event of Monday Night Nitro in a sold-out show at the Georgia Dome. Goldberg is the home-town hero, but instead of getting his rematch he is “arrested”, Hulk Hogan comes out, pokes Kevin Nash in the chest and covers him in the infamous Finger-Poke of Doom incident. In one night, as the booker, Kevin Nash burned the Georgia Dome as a wrestling venue, destroyed Goldberg’s mystique to his fans and began the “It’s Just a Prop” booking of the WCW World Title that turned the belt into a joke. Kevin Nash’s mistake was to misjudge the local fans’ affection for their home-town hero. A mistake which is awfully similar to the exact same error that Kevin Nash made in Montreal. The problem, of course, is that Kevin Nash doesn’t believe that he made a mistake in Montreal, because he truly believes that he is a bigger star in Montreal than PCO is. The same way that Kevin Nash believes that he could have beaten PCO backstage in a shoot match back in 1995 and the way that Nash still believes that he could beat PCO today in a shoot match. For politeness sake, let’s leave cowardice out of the equation and agree that both men are courageous. The fact of the matter is that every crime that Kevin Nash accuses PCO of, are crimes that Kevin Nash is guilty of: Conspiracy (the Kliq), Insubordination (ignoring the wishes of the WWF head booker and the man that made him a star) and most importantly being a mark in the first degree, because really there have been few wrestlers in the history of our so-called sport who are as big a mark for themselves as Kevin Nash is. That is why Kevin Nash is coming back to Montreal on May 30th. Revisiting the scene of his crime. Looking to prove once and for all that he is a more popular wrestler, a more dangerous fighter and a better man than Pierre-Carl Ouellet. I have presented to you the case of the Kliq vs. Jean-Pierre Lafitte of Kevin Nash vs. PCO, but the truth is that you can’t give PCO the justice that he deserves. The only justice that he will ever have is the justice that he takes inside the squared circle. I am not going to sit here and convince you that wrestling is real, but let me ask you: If someone had caused you to lose your dream job and had cost you millions of dollars in lost revenue and you had a once in a lifetime chance to punch that person in the face as hard as you wanted and not go to jail for it. Well? What would you do? And most importantly, when he is given that exact opportunity, what will Pierre-Carl Ouellet do? Yeah. I am excited to find out too. ***** Kevin Nash vs. PCO will be the special attraction during the International Wrestling Syndicate 10th Anniversary show on March 30th at the Medley. Other matches include: IWS Title Match: Champion Beef Wellington vs. former champions Viking, Sexxxy Eddy and Franky the Mobster IWS Canadian Title: Canadian Champion Shayne Hwke vs. Twiggy IWS Tag Team Title: Champions The Untouchables (Dan Paysan and Jamees Stone) vs. 2.0 (Jagged and Shane Matthews) If 2,0 lose they can longer be a team in the IWS. IWS Death Match: The Green Phantom vs. PCP Crazy F’N Manny MMA Match: EXesS vs. Heavy Maxx Fury IWS Veteran Battle Royale: Twenty man over the top Battle Royal with wrestlers from the ten years of the IWS. The IWS proudly presents: X, Our Tenth Anniversary Show. Special guest is Big Sexy Kevin Nash! X takes place Saturday, May 30th, at the beautiful, downtown Medley, 1170 St-Denis, near the Berri-UQAM Metro. Montreal, Quebec, CANADA. Doors open at 7:30 PM, show starts at 9 PM. VIP tickets are $35, Regular tickets are $25. VIP ticket holders admitted first. No reserved seating. Tickets can be purchased online at http://www.ticketpro.ca or in person at the Medley box office. This is an all ages show. Card and times subject to change. For more information go to www.iwswrestling.com or write to [email protected]

Kevin Steen Dominates Sylvain Grenier ROH Montreal results 04/17 by Michael "Llakor" Ryan Kevin Steen led his "Best in the World" Trios team (featuring El Generico and the American Dragon Bryan Danielson) to victory against the team of Sylvain Grenier and the ROH Tag Team Champions, the American Wolves (Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards) in the main eventof the Rong of Honor show in Montreal Friday night. As El Generico prowled the ring, keeping Davey Richards at bay, Kevin Steen trapped Sylvain Grenier in the Sharpshooter while Brian Danielson tortured Eddie Edwards with his trademark Cattle Mutilation chickenwing. While to this observer Edwards and Grenier's submissions were simultaneous, backstage Sylvain Grenier was lobbying anyone who would listen to convince them that Edwards had tapped first. The victory brought the crowd of about 450 to their feet chanting "Meilleur du Monde!" and sent the crowd home happy. The match was arranged when Kevin Steen made a guest apperance during the French broadcast of TNA on RDS (the Quebec sports network), a program for which Sylvain Grenier is colour commentator. Both men are convinced that they are not just the best wrestler in Quebec, but also the most popular. Their clash of egos lead to a war of words culminating in Steen and Grenier agreeing to lead teams against each other at the ROH show. Based on the match Friday night, the only competitions that Sylvain Grenier will be winning over Kevin Steen is the "Best Chickenshit Heel" contest as Grenier used the American Wolves to shield himself from Steen for most of the night. ROH Montreal Results Quick and Dirty Friday, April 17th, 2009 Centre Jean-Claude Malépart, Montreal, Quebec, CANADA Grizzly Redwood and Alex "Sugarfot" Payne fought to a time limit draw (5:25) The Super Smash Brothers (Stupefied and Player Uno) beat Eddie Osiris and Dan Paysan in 4:27 when Stupefied pinned Dan Paysan. Chris Hero pinned Franky the Mobster in 9:44. Daizee Haze pinned Lufisto in 6:01. Rhett Titus and Kenny King beat Necro Butcher and Delirious by DQ at 11:12 when Necro flattened Titus with a chair-shot. Tyler Black pinned Jimmy Jacobs after 15:41. In a four-way match that also included Jay Briscoe and Rodrick Strong, Kenny Omega pinned Austin Aries with a backslide after 10:20. Claudio Castagnoli and Jimmy Rave beat Colt Cabana and Brent Albright in 12:21 with a big assist from Prince Nana. Kevin Steen, El Generico and Bryan Daielson beat Sylvain Grenier and ROH Champions the American Wolves (Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards) in 22:35. ***** ROH Montreal Detailed Results The notoriously tardy Montreal crowd was still filing in as the first ROH dark match featuring Grizzly Redwood and Alex Payne started. The good-naturd crowd cheered on both competitors while still looking for their seats and booed when the time-keeper called the match a time-limit draw after five minutes. To the time-keeper's credit, he let the match run slightly over the five minute mark in the hopes of a decisive outcome and only rang the bell when it was obvious that a quick pin was impossible. In the second dark match, Montreal's preening Italian narcissist Dan Paysan formed an unexpectedly effective impromptu team with ROH's resident stinky vagrant Eddie Osiris, but they proved no match for one of Quebec's strongest (and most popular) tag teams, the Super Smash Brothers. After isolating Dan Paysan, Player Uno stunned Dan with a back-breaker, leaving Dan easy prey for a Stupefied splash off the top rope for the pin. The ROH show proper started with local hero Franky the Mobster facing off against Chris Hero. Franky started a weird trend by turning his back on Hero after the bell sounded, leaving him open to an ambush by the ROH veteran. Chris Hero is no stranger to Montreal, but he hasn't had musch success here, losing to the Green Phantom and Beef Wellington in previous visits. When Franky rallied from Chris Hero's early ambush it appeared that Hero wa about to fall to 0-3 for Montreal matches. In fact, Franky was so convinced that he had won the match that after what Franky perceived to be an especially long two count, he assaulted the ROH official with a snot-rocket. Part of what makes Chris Hero one of the best wrestlers in the world is that he seems to come at his opponents from angles that other wrestlers have never discovered, but while Hero's attacks sometimes caught Franky by surprise, Hero was equally surprised by how quickly and violently Franky rallied. It apeared that Franky was setting up Chris Hero for his finisher, a choke power-bomb, when Chris took advantage of a moment's inattention by the ref to hit Franky in the throat with an international object leading to the quick pin. Lufisto has been doing a goth Anime gimmick in SHIMMER, but the most recent iteration of this gimmick baffled the Montreal crowd, who were trying to figure out when exactly Lufisto lost her mind. Acting like a gothic anime cross between Popeye and Daffney (and dressed the part), Lufisto was equally baffling to her opponent Daizee Haze (dressed fetchingly in a barely-there black and magenta naughty schoolgirl outfit from the back of the Victoria's Secret catalogue.) Lufisto started the match by offering Daizee a decapitated doll's head and when Daizee looked to the crowd to explain what had happened to Lufiato, the crazed Montrealer attacked. Not to put to fine a point on it, but Lufisto beat the hell out of Daizee in a match that many in the audience described as the best of the first half. Courageously, Daizee was able to avoid being pinned on multiple occasions and finally wriggling out of a torture rack, Daizee turned the tables on her attacker, chopping Lufisto in the throat, following up immediately by slamming Lufisto's face on her knee and a flash pin. Montreal loves Necro Butcher and we are pretty fond of Delirious. Barefoot hardcore brawlers? Masked wrestlers who can't speak English? What's not to love? It's just a shame that in our two ROH shows, Montreal has gotten PG diluted versions of both Necro Butcher and Delirious. Not that there was anything wrong with their match against Rhett Titus and Kenny King (and the Montreal crowd is very fond of messing with Kenny King's head) but ending the match with a Necro Butcher chair-shot? Really? In Montreal, that is how we start matches not how we end them. [RANT] Look, this is a city that just crammed 550 paying wrestling fans into a church gym that can only safely hold 400 to watch a fat, slow pension-collectiong Abdullah the Butcher carve someone up with a fork for the "last time and this time we really, really mean it" just a couple of weeks ago. If you told blood-thirsty Montralers that they would get the real Necro Butsher in a real Death Match against the right opponent, you could sell an extra 100 tickets, easy. But putting Necro in a paint-by-numbers Southern Tag match with some comedy? I am sorry but that just is not what Montreal wants to see. I am not saying that Necro can't be funny. The whole crowd laughed when Necro stole Rhett Titus' vest and mocked Rhett's sexy dancing, but we would rather chant "Necro's going to kill you!" and watch our prediction come true then laugh at Necro. [/RANT] Good match - wrong town. At the risk of being all lather, rinse, repeat, the grudge match between Tyler Black and Jimy Jacobs is a perfectly fine match that will probably look great on DVD. And when wrestling fans watch it, they will probably wonder why the Montreal fans were sitting on their hands for almost all of the match. It's pretty simple: First, a grudge match without blood is not a grudge match. Especially in a an Original Six hockey city. Second, Montreal has taken a real dislike to Jimmy Jacobs. We want someone to crush him like bug. We want someone to kill him. Tyler Black wrestled him, with intensty granted, but still Tyler wrestled him. This is not what Montreal wants. Tyler Black sends Jimmy Jacobs to the mat, we want Jacobs sent to the hospital or the morgue. Again good match - wrong town. Shame too because it spolied a perfectly good match that saw Tyler Black countering a Jimmy Jacobs submission with a face plant that Tyler followed up immediately with a crushing kick to Jimmy Jacobs' face. An exhaustd Tyler Black then collapsed on top of Jimmy Jacobs for the pin and the win. How completely pathetic would it be if I timed the Intermission at 17:27? Before the intermission it was announced that ROH is returning to Montreal on Friday, July 24th with special guest Ric Flair. ROH rallied back strongly from the Intermission with an energetic four man sprint that many fans st the show called the Match of the Night. Austin Aries took the mike before the match referring to Montreal as "France", praising Jay Briscoe and Roserick String and singling out ROH newcomer Kenny Omega as not being worthy of being in the same ring as the other three men. This match was filled not just with great wrestling, but great character moments like Jay and Roderick throwing Austin Aries towards the ropes, Kenny Omega dumpinng Austin to the outside and when Kenny called for the High Five, Roderick and Jay chopped the shit out of him. Roderick Strong and Jay Briscoe seemed to have a running contest going on as to who could be the stiffest man in the ring with Roderick loudly winning the chopping competition, Jay winning the forearm contest and both men tying with Aries in the "Who can stretch Kenny Omega the most?" event. Kenny took by far the most punishment in the match, but benefitted from the competition amongst the other three men as to who could score the pinfall or submission on Kenny Omega. To the delight of the crowd, the Canadian Kenny scored a backslide on Austin Aries for the win. The Tag Team match betwen the team of Colt Cabana amd Brent Albright on one side and Prince Nana's Embassy faction of Claudio Castagnoli and Jimmy Rave was another "grudge" match without blood, but it received a much better reaction from the crowd. For a number of reasons: First, we were all in a good mood from Kenny Omega winning. Second, we celebrated Jimmy Rave's return to ROH by bombarding the ring with toilet paper and that was fun. Third, one of the crowd waited for the perfect moment in Prince Nana's dismissive promo and nailed him right in the kisser with a full toilet paper roll just as Nana said "Embassy" Fourth, Colt Cabana has enough charisma for us to forgive the lack of blood and he is a Montreal favourite thanks to his stint in the MTV promotion Wreatling Society X which was a huge hit in Quebec on Musique Plus, our French MTV. And even though Prince Nana cheated to give the Embassy the victory (Jimmy Rave the pin), we were consoled by the fact that Colt Cabana and Brent Albright trapped Prince Nana's stooge Eddie Osiris after the match and gave him the beating that Prince Nana so richly deserves. In the main event, the American Wolves got their cheap heat by coming to the ring wearing Boston Bruins' jerseys and crowing over the fact that they had just recently taken away the ROH Tag Team belts from Montreal hometown heroes El Generico and Kevin Steen. Davey Richards upped the ante, taunting the crowd by singing a rendition of the US National Anthem so bad he made Roseanne Barr sound like Maria Callas. Fortunately, Sylvain Grenier interrupted the anthem. Grabbing the mike and baffling Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards with his French, Sylvain briefly convinced the crowd to rise for the singing of "the most beautiful National Anthem in the world" and then launched into his own rendition of the US National Anthem, a version so wretched it gave dogs migraines for blocks around. This brought out Kevin Steen who advised the American Wolves to treasure their ROH tag team belts because Steenerico will take them back before ROH returns to Quebec. Then to the roar of the crowd, Kevin Steen congratulated Sylvain Grenier on having a job that allowed him to sit on his ass, because Kevin was going to break both his legs and put him in a wheelchair. Sylvain obviously took the threat seriously because he spent most of the match avoiding being anywhere near Kevin Steen. ROH brought another good show to Montreal. The only shame is that they have all the ingredients to give Montreal a great show. They just need to figure out the right matches to bring to Montreal with their roster to take full advantage of what this city loves about wrestling. In addition to being a total wrestling geek, I am the in-house writer for the International Wrestling Syndicate, Kevin Steen and El Generico's home fed and Canada's best Hardcore Wrestling promotion. We are celebrating our Tenth Anniversary May 30th with the main event being Pierre Carl Ouellet vs. Kevin Nash in the rematch of the 1995 match that caused Kevin Nash and Shawn Michaels to lobby for PCO to be fired. Signed for X our Tenth Anniversary show so far: The Grudge Match 14 years in the making: Kevin Nash vs. PCO IWS Canadian Champion Shayne Hawke vs. Twiggy MMA Match: EXesS vs. Maxx Fury Death Match: The Green Phantom vs. PCP Crazy F'N Manny The IWS proudly presents: X, Our Tenth Anniversary Show. Special guest is Big Sexy Kevin Nash! X takes place Saturday, May 30th, at the beautiful, downtown Medley, 1170 St-Denis, near the Berri-UQAM Metro. Montreal, Quebec, CANADA. Doors open at 7:30 PM, show starts at 9 PM. VIP tickets are $35, Regular tickets are $25. VIP ticket holders admitted first. No reserved seating. Tickets can be purchased online at http://www.ticketpro.ca or in person at the Medley box office. This is an all ages show. Card and times subject to change. For more information go to www.iwswrestling.com or write to [email protected]

CP is the Canadian version of AP so this would have gone out over the newswires may have been printed in a avriety of newspapers in Canada. http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/top/news?slug=c...s&type=lgns The official results: IWS Un F'N Sanctioned Delivers! A great show ended in controversy as some charge that Beef Wellington cheated to win the main event of the International Wrestling Syndicate's Un F'N Sanctioned. During the Fans Bring the Weapons match, Beef pukked out a bottle of ether and knocked out Viking for the pin, doing with a cloth what light tubes and barbed wire could not. IWS Un F’N Sanctioned Results Quick and Dirty Saturday, September 27th, 2008 Medley, 1170 Rue St-Denis Montreal, Quebec, CANADA Attendance 624 Extreme Dream Tournament Final for the vacant IWS Canadian Title: EXesS vs Shayne Hawke EXesS beat Shayne Hawke by submission in 12:28. EXesS is the new IWS Canadian Champion and the first ever Triple Crown Champion having won every belt in the IWS. Montreal vs. the Maritimes: 2.0 (Shane Matthews and Jagged) vs. The Maritimes Express (Mr. Suave Josh Aero and Marko Estrada) 2.0 beat the Maritime Express in 11:04. Rock vs. Roids: Twiggy vs. Franky the Mobster Twiggy beat Franky in 15:28. IWS Title Match: IWS Champion Kevin Steen vs. Joey Mercury Kevin Steen made Joey Mercury tap to the Sharpshooter in 14:08 defending his title. IWS Tag Team Title Ladder Match: IWS Champions Up in Smoke (Cheech and Cloudy) vs. The Super Smash Brothers (Player Uno and Stupefied) vs. The Untouchables (Dan Paysan and Jimmy Stone) Chhech and Cludy climbed the ladder to defend their IWS Tag Team Titles in 17:56. For the Love of a MILF: Joey Ryan vs. “Paranoid” Jake Matthews Jake Matthews beat Joey Ryan in 12:22 Hardcore Main Event FANS BRING THE WEAPONS Beef Wellington, Sexxxy Eddy and the Evil Ninja vs. PCP Crazy F’N Manny, the Green Phantom and Viking Beef pinned Viking at 18:40 after dosing Viking with ether. ***** IWS Un F’N Sanctioned Detailed Results The IWS kicked off Un F'N S by crowning a new IWS Canadian Champion in the finals of the IWS Extreme Dream Tournament. EXesS took advantage early targetting Shayne Hawke's left arm and hand, but Hawke much to the crowd's delight rallied and seemed to have the match won when he bounced a cinderblock off EXesS' skull. Unfortunately for Hawke, when he called for his finisher, the Tomahawke, a semi-conscious EXesS was able to slap in his triangle choke for the submission victory, proving that EXesS can in fact cinch in submission maneuvers in his sleep. Josh Aero and Marko Estrada came to the Medley looking to make their mark, and are still looking. The Maritimes Express had their finisher lined up when Shane matthews rallied on the outside giving his partner Jagged to hit a flash roll-up to steal the pin and the win. Franky the Mobster used his size and strength to dominate his former tag team partner Twiggy in their match, but became frustrated as Twiggy showed fighting spirit and rallied time and time again. Finally, franky snapped and grabbed a chair intending no doubt to finish off Twiggy with it. Surprisingly, Franky chose NOT to crush Twiggy's skull with his metal chair; even more surprisingly, Franky was booed for showing compassion; not surprisingly at all, the resilient Twiggy was able to take advantage of Franky's slight hesitation to roll the Mobster up for a fast leveraged pin. Joey Mercury, wearing his trademark fur, announced to the capacity Medley crowd that we were fortunate to have him as a guest, because in january he is returning to the WWE in time for the Royal Rumble. An irritated Kevin Steen got into a war of words with Joey Mercury that ended with Mr. Wrestling leading the crowd in a chant of "Crisse de Tapette!" accusing Joey Mercury of merely posing as a heterosexual. Kevin Steen's biggest weakness will always be his surgically reconstructed knee and Joey Mercury took quick advantage throwing Steen knee first into the ring-side barriers. A hobbled Kevin Steen desperately fought Joey Mercury, hoping to prevent Mercury leaving with the IWS title and appearing on WWE-TV to literally trash the IWS title. What tipped the battle in Steen's favour was his ability to hit the Sharpshooter from virtually any angle. Medley shows have seen great ladder matches in the past, but the one last night has quickly climbed to the top of the rankings. The six men in the match killed each other for our benefit using the ladders as weapons and platforms. My pick to win the match, Jimmy Stone, was poised for victory when Stupefied hit him out of nowhere with a 360 cutter off the ladder. IWS Tag team champions Cheech and Cloudy took advantage of this opening to destroy Player Uno and Dan Paysan leaving the firld destroyed long enough for them to climb the ladder and retrieve their weapons. Joey Ryan came to Montreal looking to fuck Jake matthews manager the MILFy Lollypop. She did fuck Joey Ryan, as it turns out... in the ass with the handle of Jake's shovel. Whatever momentum "That 70's wrestler" built up in the match, Lollypop quickly undermined as Joey Ryan took more low blows in one match than most people take in a lifetime. The IWS main event was a chaotic hardcore brawl that saw its particpants taking a rdiculous amount of damage including the Evil Ninja being press-slammed out of the ring into a burning table; PCP Crazy F'N Manny eating a frog splash dive off the balcony by Sexxxy Eddy. In the end, Beef won the match using a most unexpected weapon, a bottle of ether, to drug Viking into a pin, giveing Beef's team the victory. The IWS next show is Blood, Sweat and Beers at Le Skratch 965 Cure Labelle, Chomedey, Laval, Quebec, CANADA. VIP tickets are $20. Regular tickets are $15. $18+. Card and times subject to change. For more information go to http://www.syndicatewrestling.com or write to [email protected]

When We Were Marks Yes Virginia, Wrestling is Fake Killer Kowalski died on August 30th and in all the many articles that have appeared about him since, no one has really delved into how Kowalski went from Tarzan Kowalski to Killer Kowalski. Sure everyone has the cursory story: In Oct. 1952, at the Montreal Forum, Kowalski kneedropped Yukon Eric, and severed a piece of Eric's ear. – SLAM! Wrestling. Some have gone so far as to mention that the incident was an accident, but none – at least none that I have seen or read – have explained why it was an accident and more importantly why the incident was important. Because that moment is one of the great moments in wrestling kayfabe; a moment that simply could not happen today; a moment that symbolized Kowalski’s era. Kowalski had two finishing moves. The first was a claw to the stomach, a move accepted completely at the time, but that now appears somewhat comical, as though Kowalsi won matches by viciously tickling his opponents in the gut. But his other finishing move? His other finishing move was a piece of art then and now. Kowalski’s other finisher was a top-rope knee stomp to his opponent’s throat. So vicious did this move appear that in every promotion that Kowalski appeared this move was either immediately outlawed or in the process of being outlawed or there would be calls for it be outlawed. In his first book, Mick Foley describes the four types of wrestling moves, reserving his highest praise for the wrestling moves that look deadly but don’t hurt at all. Kowalski’s knee stomp fit firmly into that category. To the audience it appeared that Kowalski crushed his opponent’s throat, but in truth Kowalski hit his opponent in the throat so lightly with his knee that if a butterfly landed on his victim’s windpipe just before Kowalski’s knee connected, the butterfly trapped between windpipe and knee would still escape unharmed to fly away. On the night in question, Kowalski landed the move perfectly. The problem was that as Kowalski flew through the air, Yukon Eric’s body betrayed him and he FLINCHED, turning his head. The “accident’ was entirely caused by Eric. Kowalski was aiming for a point just above Eric’s throat, with Eric’s head turned to the side and Kowalski unable to adjust in mid-air, Kowalski’s shin collided full-force with Eric’s much cauliflowered ear, knocking it off and leaving Eric mutilated with blood pouring out the side of his head. From that point on, the world of kayfabe sprang into motion. The referee began screaming at Kowalski that his top-rope knee drop was an illegal move, Kowalski heeled it up and Eric sold the injury like his life’s blood was leaking onto the canvas. He [Kowalski] did visit Yukon Eric in the hospital, however, but began laughing at Eric's huge headdressing for the severed ear. Reporters caught him laughing, and called him sadistic (despite the fact that Yukon Eric was laughing too). – SLAM! Wrestling. It seems like a direct violation of kayfabe doesn’t it? Kowlaski visiting his victim in the hospital. Some might interpret that as a feeling of concern. Eric’s head was wrapped like one of Boris Karloff’s Mummies. He looked so ridiculous that both Kowalski and Eric laughed. Now, there are many possible stories that could have emerged from that hospital room. How fortunate for the wrestling promoter that the story that emerged was consistent and unanimous and designed to sell the most tickets possible to the Montreal Forum the following Saturday night: Kowalski is a sadistic killer who came to the hospital to taunt and laugh at his victim. And so the following Saturday night, a sold-out Montreal Forum chanted as one “KILLER! KILLER! KILLER!” and Tarzan Kowalski becomes Killer Kowalski forever more. On such flimsy foundations are a nickname earned; a career made; stardom bestowed: a flinch, an accident and a laugh misinterpreted. Great piece of luck for the promoter that all the reporters in the room put that interpretation on the events right? No, there was no luck at all. Every reporter in that room knew that wrestling was fake. Every reporter understood that what happened to Eric was an accident. The reporters probably laughed with Kowalski and Eric. Every reporter in that room was in on the conspiracy and acted to continue and extend the gentle conspiracy that wrestling was real. It was a different era of course. No one wrote that Jack Kennedy slept with every pretty girl in sight – 35 years later Bill Clinton was almost impeached for one blowjob. No one wrote that Mickey Mantle was a drunk – now every time a Cincinnati Bengal opens a beer it is reported on ESPN. No one wrote that Rock Hudson was gay – now today’s gossip is that Lindsay Lohan is getting married to a girl. So the conspiracy that made Kowalski a Killer and a star might not have survived, but we do indulge in similar conspiracies even today. We practically make an international holiday of a glorified rat popping out of a hole to somehow predict the weather and we take this prediction at face value. We waste valuable newspaper space on Astrology. We somehow all agree on the convenient fiction that someone 18 years old is somehow smarter and better able to choose the future of their country than someone 17 years and 364 days old. I am certain that you can think of other similar conspiracies. There was a time when wrestling results were found in most newspapers, when writers and editors took part in the kayfabe conspiracy. Now that conspiracy might have been doomed in any case, but one man killed it. In 1989, New Jersey was planning to tax wrestling events as part of a category of sporting events. Vincent K. McMahon, the owner of the then WWF, testified under oath to the state committee considering the tax that wrestling should be exempted from the tax because it was not a sport, it was entertainment. The irony was that the committee agreed with him… but taxed wrestling anyway. Until that moment, wrestling was a sport for eight year olds. As you got older, sure you realized that wrestling was rigged, but unless you were a grouch you did not spoil it for the kids by declaring it was fake, until Vince McMahon burst the conspiracy once and for all. The son of Vince McMahon, grandson of Jess McMahon, heir to Toots Mondt betrayed the conspiracy that had served his family for three generations. Is it any wonder that to this day, sports reporters and editors want nothing to do with wrestling? With one sworn statement Vince McMahon revealed them all to be either liars or fools. And ever since wrestling has been trapped between two stools – the entertainment section won’t cover it because wrestling is a sport and the sports section won’t cover it because wrestling is entertainment. So while we remember Killer Kowalski and mourn his passing, let us also remember his era and mourn the death of that gentle conspiracy called kayfabe that could turn a flinch and a laugh into a sold-out crowd yelling for blood. KILLER! KILLER! KILLER! ***** Llakor can only hope that on Saturday, September 27th downtown Montreal at the Medley, a sold-out crowd will chant KILLER! at Beef Wellington as that once gentle clown enters the hellish environment of FANS BRING THE WEAPONS with his two hired goons Sexxxy Eddy and the Evil Ninja to rain destruction down on PCP Crazy F’N Manny and his team. The IWS proudly presents: Un F’N Sanctioned, Main Event is FANS BRING THE WEAPONS! Saturday, September 27th, at the beautiful, downtown Medley, 1170 St-Denis, near the Berri-UQAM Metro. Montreal, Quebec, CANADA. Doors open at 7:30 PM, show starts at 9 PM. VIP tickets are $25, Regular tickets are $20. VIP ticket holders admitted first. No reserved seating. Tickets can be purchased online at http://www.ticketpro.ca or in person at the Medley box office. 18+. Card and times subject to change. For more information go to www.syndicatewrestling.com or e-mail [email protected] .

The IWS was Made from SKRATCH The biggest news coming out of Summer Slaughter has nothing to do with results, nothing to do with the build to Fans Bring the Weapons the main event of Un F’N Sanctioned at the Medley, September 27th. It was news that no one saw coming… The International Wrestling Syndicate is returning to Le SKRATCH Laval. Don’t call it a Hardcore Homecoming (because apparently Shane Douglas has that copyrighted) but we are going back to the venue where the IWS went from an obscure regional wrestling promotion, to being Canada’s best hardcore wrestling promotion; the stage where El Generico was born; the arena where Kevin Steen emerged from Jacques Rougeau’s shadow to become an international star… The IWS you see was Made From SKRATCH! ***** IWS Summer Slaughter Results - Quick and Dirty Saturday, July 19th, 2008 Bogey’s, Montreal, Quebec, CANADA Extreme Dream Tournament: Samson beat Vanessa Kraven in 9:16 Extreme Dream Tournament: Shayne Hawke beat Twiggy in 10:25 Up in Smoke (Cheech and Cloudy) beat the Untouchables (Dan Paysan and Jimmy Stone) in 12:28 Extreme Dream Tournament: EXesS beat Vin Gerard in 8:51 Extreme Dream Tournament: Jake Matthews beat Stupefied in 7:57 IWS Champion Kevin Steen and 2.0 (Jagged and Shane Matthews) beat Beef Wellington, Sexxxy Eddy and the Evil Ninja in 12:21 ***** IWS Summer Slaughter Detailed Results Wrestling is often called “Human Chess” and Summer Slaughter saw a chess game play out between two Wrestling GrandMasters: PCP Crazy F’N Manny and his nemesis Beef Wellington. W: KKtP to KKt4 The first move was Manny’s who started the show by announcing that for his partner he was recruiting an old-school IWS Death Match worker, returning to his roots the same way that the IWS was returning to its’ roots by returning to Le Skrach. Before the show proper started, two of the IWS referees and wrestling trainees, Seth Seifer and Sunny D put on a dark match that saw Seth beat Sunny D with a modified version of his trainer, Max Boyer’s Lifestyle.Extreme Dream Tournament In the first round of the , Samson beat Vanessa Kraven with his modified half-crab, prevailing in a slug-fest despite a spirited attack by the women that the Japanese call “The Mountain”. Also in the tournament, Twiggy and Shayne Hawke, two men who trained together and broke into the IWS together, had another brilliant match in their ongoing rivalry. Twiggy was leading the series but on this night Shayne Hawke had the advantage, rolling through a Twiggy pinning combination for the roll-up pin. B: KP to K4 Green Phantom came to the ring to address the IWS Hardcore soldiers and was immediately ambushed by Beef Wellington and Sexxxy Eddy, who attacked our Hardcore Hero with light tubes and put him through a table with a two man version of the Phantom’s own finisher The Phantasm. Beef then grabbed the mike and told the crowd, “How stupid do you think we are? Manny said that he is going to recruit an old-school IWS Death Match worker. Who else could he be talking about than the Green Phantom? Well, Manny we just took out your partner the same way that we are going to take out you at {b}Un F’N Sanctioned[/b]. Despite claims by the ersatz Italians, Dan Paysan and Jimmy Stone (and their manager, Joey Soprano) that Cheech and Cloudy had failed their drug tests, Up in Smoke put on a wrestling clinic that saw “Italy” go down to defeat by the power of “Jamaica” when Cloudy came of the top rope with a Shining Wizard to Dan Paysan (held in place by Cheech) and Cheech immediately power-bombed the dazed Dapper Dan. Continuing the Extreme Dream Tournament Canadian bully EXesS met American bully Vin Gerard, and in a stiff, stiffer, stiffest battle EXesS beat his US Opponent with a side triangle choke, the same way that the Canadian loonie is presently making the US Greenback tap in submission. The final match of the tournament for the Canadian title saw the high-flying Stupefied facing off against the ground and pound Jake Matthews. Unfortunately for Stupefied, the renovations that Bogey’s is presently undergoing made top-rope hi-jinks impossible, essentially trapping Stupefied in close quarters with Jake, a bit like an eagle facing a mountain cat with clipped wings. Despite a valiant effort, Stupefied fell to Jake’s cradle back-drop driver. W: KBP to KB3 The end-game of Manny and Beef’s little chess match saw Manny come to the ring to declare, “You think you’re smart Beef? You think you just took out my partner for Fans Bring the Weapons? I NEVER asked the Green Phantom to be my partner. My partner is the guy standing behind you… The Hardcore Ninja… UUURGGH!” B: Q to KR4 Checkmate No sooner had Manny introduced the Evil Ninja, then the Evil Ninja reminded people why he was EVIL~ by kicking Manny in the face, leading to a three way beat down of Manny by the Unholy Three of Beef, Eddy and the Ninja. Rushing to Manny’s rescue was the unlikely combination of 2.0 (Jagged and Shane Matthews and Kevin Steen). Despite never seeing eye-to-eye before Steen and 2.0 were gellin’ as they brawled with the IWS hardcore veterans in and out of the ring, emerging victorious when they were able to isolate Sexxxy Eddy and finish him off with 2.0’s Sweet Taste of Professionalism followed by a crushing Kevin Steen pile-driver. Sore sports to the end, Beef Wellington and the Evil Ninja were preparing a counter-attack when a bruised and angry Green Phantom stormed the stage, and cleared the ring. The Green Phantom announced that after being attacked by Eddy and Beef, “I am putting myself into Fans Bring the Weapons! Manny didn’t ask me and I am not waiting to be asked!” Phantom followed up by demanding his title shot at Le Skratch in August. Kevin’s reply, “You know Phantom, I remember the last time I held this belt and I was fighting against you and El Generico in a tag team match with Franky the Mobster as my partner. You were coming off the top rope, I was dazed on a table and I was convinced that I was going to die. All I could do was pray for help, and I got it, because something made you slip, miss the table and fracture your elbow. After the match, Franky came and found me and said, ‘We have to get you out of here, Phantom is going to kill you!’ And I ran away with Franky, because I was more scared of you then with one arm, then I am of you now. You’re a shell of the guy you once were. So, you want a title shot with me? You got it! But I don’t want the Green Phantom of today; I want the Hardcore Hero of Le SKRATCH! I want to meet the guy; I want to beat the guy who scared the shit out me with a broken arm!” One final chess note. The chess move described above are what is called “The Fool’s Mate”, but who is the bigger fool, Manny for bringing back the Evil Ninja and falling victim to his treachery, or Beef for out-thinking himself and pissing off the Green Phantom so much that the Hardcore Hero has added himself to the match? And will FBTW be a handicap match between the Unholy Three of Eddy, Beef and Ninja on one side and Green Drugs (Phantom and Manny) on the other? Or will a sixth man join the match to even the odds? No doubt we will find out on August 23rd during Hardcore Heat: Made from SKRATCH! ***** The IWS is proud and pleased to announce that we are returning to our hardcore roots for a show at Le SKRATCH Laval on Saturday, August 23rd. This will be our first show at SKRATCH Laval since December 2003. IWS Hardcore Heat "Made from SKRATCH" 965 Cure Labelle, Chomedey, Laval, Quebec, CANADA Saturday, 23 August. 2008, 18+ Doors @ 7:30; Gala @ 8:30 Tickets in Advance: VIP $15, Reg $10 Order by Paypal: [email protected] Tickets at the Door: VIP $20, Reg $15 Already Announced: IWS Title: IWS Champion Kevin Steen vs. The Green Phantom 2nd round of the Extreme Dream Tournament to crown new IWS Canadian Chmpion: Features: EXesS "Paranoid" Jake Matthews Samson Shayne Hawke www.syndicatewrestling.com [email protected] Card & Times Subject to Change ***** The IWS proudly presents: Un F’N Sanctioned, Main Event is FANS BRING THE WEAPONS! Saturday, September 27th, at the beautiful, downtown Medley, 1170 St-Denis, near the Berri-UQAM Metro. Montreal, Quebec, CANADA. Doors open at 7:30 PM, show starts at 9 PM. VIP tickets are $25, Regular tickets are $20. VIP ticket holders admitted first. No reserved seating. Tickets can be purchased online at http://www.ticketpro.ca or in person at the Medley box office. 18+. Card and times subject to change. For more information go to www.syndicatewrestling.com or e-mail [email protected] .

When We Were Marks When You’re the Hammer, Everyone Else Looks Like a Nail Nigel McGuiness vs. Kevin Steen August 29th, SummerSlam 1992 the great Canadian technical wrestler and champion, Bret Hart lost his Intercontinental Title to the British striker Davey Boy Smith, the British Bulldog, in front of more than 80, 000 ecstatic Brits at Wembley Stadium, in what many consider the Bulldog’s best ever match. At the time, it could be argued that the IC title was one of the best titles in the world: a prestigious belt with a great history in a highly competitive division where good wrestlers had great matches for the gold. In 2008, the heir to the IC title is the Ring of Honor title, fought for and defended all over the world. Its former champions include three men on the top of their respective promotions: C. M. Punk, the WWE World Heavyweight Champion; Samoa Joe, the TNA World Heavyweight Champion and Takeshi Morishima, the NOAH GHC Heavyweight Champion. Like the IC belt in 1992, it is a prestigious belt with a great history in a highly competitive division where good wrestlers have great matches for the gold. And 16 years after SummerSlam 1992, the mirror reverse match of Bret/Bulldog is about to happen. The ROH World Champion, British striker Nigel McGuiness comes to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on Friday, July 25th, at Ted Reeve Arena for ROH’s first show in Canada. His opponent will be the great Canadian technical wrestler, Kevin Steen. ROH won’t pack 80, 000 people into Ted Reeve Arena, but they have already sold more than a thousand tickets - an amazing amount for an independent wrestling promotion having their first show in a new city, not to mention a new country. And the same way that the hometown hero won in 1992, the hometown hero will win in 2008. On July 25th, Kevin Steen will fulfill his promise to the fans to win ROH gold in 2008 and become the ROH World Champion. He will win because it is his time to win; he will win because he will win and he will win because he must win. To non-Canadians, Kevin Steen’s status as a Canadian hero might seem quixotic. Isn’t Steen’s ego and arrogance at odds with the traditional Canadian values of modesty and politeness? To the contrary, Steen comes from a long line of arrogant Canadian heroes - Pierre Trudeau, Guy Lafleur, Wolverine, James Cameron, to name a few. In the same way that arrogant Americans prefer their heroes to feign humility, modest Canadians prefer their heroes to strut and preen and express all the confidence that us common folks lack. There is a cost to heroism in Canada. The price for believing that you are always the most talented man in the room is that you have to be the most talented man in the room all the time. The price of Kevin Steen’s arrogance is that Steen must deliver victory to his Canadian fans and grab the ROH title that has so long eluded him. The irony is that July 25th is the first time that ROH will have a show in Canada, but it is not the first time that the ROH title has been defended in Canada, nor the first time that Kevin Steen has fought for the ROH Title in Canada. Years before his first match in the ROH, in July 2004, Kevin Steen, then champion of Montreal’s IWS promotion and Quebec City’s EWR promotion, fought ROH Champion Samoa Joe to a twenty-minute draw. During a period where Samoa Joe did not lose a match for close to two years, Kevin Steen is one of a handful of men to fight Joe to a draw. Six months later, in January of 2005, Steen lost an ROH title match to ROH Champion Austin Aries, a match he could have arguably won if earlier in the night he had not been forced to beat EXesS, El Generico and Samoa Joe just to get to Aries. Since 2005, Steen has fought for the ROH Title three more times, once against Morishima and twice against Nigel McGuiness coming closer to the gold each and every time. Kevin Steen has made Nigel McGuiness tap in a tag match, but that alone does not fill me with confidence that Kevin Steen is poised for the biggest victory of his career. What inspires me with hope is that Nigel McGuiness is a striker, a great striker, but a striker where Kevin Steen is a wrestler. Consider Nigel’s run at his predecessor Takeshi Morishima. When Nigel fell short against Morishima, time and time and time again, his solution was a striker’s solution - hit harder, hit more. Nigel’s solution was that of a bull’s to a red brick wall - if at first you don’t knock it down, run at the wall harder. Yes, Nigel did eventually beat Morishima, but he did so the day after Kevin Steen came within inches of beating Morishima himself by side-stepping the wall, finding the wall’s weaknesses and exposing them for all to see. Nigel McGuiness threw the lariat that took down Morishima, but Kevin Steen showed him where to throw it. As Steen said recently during a Quebec barbecue in between bites of sweet corn and bouncing his son Owen on his knee, “Morishima was like that jar of peanut butter that nobody can open no matter how hard they try, until one guy loosens the jar enough for somebody else to open it. Nigel may have pinned Shima, but only because I beat the shit out of him the night before. Shima is like a dinosaur, you can kick his ass but it takes him a while to notice that he’s been beat.” Nigel’s solution to Morishima was to hit harder, hit more; Steen’s solution to Nigel is to wrestle smarter. Every match that Nigel faces Kevin Steen, the bigger an advantage that Steen has, because Nigel can only hit so hard, but there is no limit to how much Steen can learn. Like another famous striker, Nigel will learn in Toronto that strength can only carry you so far, charging like a bull at a brick wall ends with you dazed on the mat like Bill Goldberg concussed by the power of Bret Hart’s brain. The problem with Nigel McGuiness is that he is a hammer, and when you’re the Hammer, everyone else looks like a nail. But Kevin Steen does not look like a nail. Kevin Steen looks like the Anvil... But he wrestles like Bret. Tickets for ROH’s show in Toronto next Friday can be purchased at ROHwrestling.com.

If this show sells really well, anything is possible.

Fan Music Video and Official Results ISW Hot Summer RUB-DOWN Fan Music Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsgIj4-E0oo Llakor, the Commissioner with Roadkill the ISW Mascot: ***** Catastrophes and Miracles It was a day (and a night) of catastrophes and miracles for Inter-Species Wrestling and its owner Mike Rotch. The biggest catastrophe being that the ring truck broke down and the ring didn’t show up to Foufounes Electriques until after Hot Summer RUB-DOWN was scheduled to end. The biggest miracle? That the show happened at all. The catastrophes started with a tire blowing out on the ring truck. Tire no sooner fixed than the truck’s starter blew. The replacement truck never showed up and the ring truck in fits and starts took half a day to complete a one-hour trip. The owner of Foufounes Electriques was relatively pleased to have over a hundred wrestling fans drinking for close to three hours patiently waiting in the downstairs bar for the ring to show up, somewhat less so when a brawl broke out between the BADD Brothers and El Hijo del BAMBOO! He finally lost his patience when no sooner had the BADD/BAMBOO! Bar Brawl been broken up, than a street fight between Stinky the Homeless Guy and Gore the Zombie Master broke out. With Giant Tiger threatening to get naked to the roars of the wrestling fans, the owner of Foufs told Rotchy that he would have to either open the upstairs stage and put on the show by 10pm and put on the show or bite the bullet and cancel the show. Rotchy opened the doors, crossed his fingers, knocked on wood… and the ring truck finally wheezed up to the back door five minutes later. You-Tube Teaser: With every member of the crew relaying ring parts up the stairs and the crowd cheering every strut and beam, the ring was put together in under a half-hour and the show started at 10:30 p.m. about when we were expecting to end the show… Once the catastrophes ended, the miracles began… ***** Inter-Species Wrestling Press Release: For Immediate Release: Michael “Llakor” Ryan Inter-Species Wrestling http://www.beyondthebarn.org Hot Summer RUB-DOWN Results Quick and Dirty Sunday, June 29th, 2008 Foufounes Electriques, Montreal, Quebec, CANADA Giant Tiger Presents: Beef Wellington vs. A Bear A Bear forces Beef to tap to the Bear-Hug after 7:01 ISW Multi-Verse Title Match: Player Uno ISW Champion vs. Kevin Steen Player Uno won by DQ after 10:17 when Kevin Steen attacked the ref, Three-Way Dance: Stinky the Homeless Guy vs. Michael Von Payton vs. El Hijo del BAMBOO! M.V.P. pinned El Hijo del BAMBOO! in 4:59 after a second-rope leg sweep. The BADD Match: The BADD Brothers (Chad and Brad BADD) accompanied by Dad BADD in an Invitational Gauntlet… defeated F**k-Face and Bruiser at 0:10 defeated the Priests at 2:22 defeated T-Unit (Big Larry and Dolla-Bill) in 6:34 Barnyard Brawl: Flip D. Berger vs. Moohammad, the Terrorist Cow FANS BRING THE LEGO Match - Winner Kills, Cooks and Eats the Loser Moohammad beat Flip with two Cow Stomps into Lego after 14:21 Teacher and Student vs. Zombie and Zombie: El Generico and Twiggy vs. Izzy Deadyet and Zombiefied El Generico pinned Zombiefied at 18:53. Hot Summer RUB-DOWN Detailed Results The show started two and a half hours late and the first two miracles was that the majority of the crowd stayed for the show and that a heavily liquored Giant Tiger ([i}Yes, more than usual[/i]) was still able to fulfill his duties as Special Guest Referee for the match where he got to choose Beef’s opponent. Accompanied to the ring by a heavily muscled friend that he introduced as “One of the League of Extra-Ordinary Gentlemen, Oily Norman”, Giant Tiger explained that Norman was “not Beef’s opponent. He is just here to oil himself up sensually for my amusement. Beef’s opponent is A Bear!” A Bear would of course be Beef’s opponent from the IWS Fifth Anniversary show V, later Beef’s tag partner in the 2005 CHIKARA Tag World Grand Prix as part of the team B. J. Wellington and the A Bear. A Bear later turned on Beef at ISW Slamtasia Some Special Guest Referee’s go through the motions of impartiality, not Giant Tiger. From the opening bell, a (more than usually) drunk-out-of-his-mind Giant Tiger refused to even do a slow count in Beef’s favour not even after Beef hit A Bear with the finishing move known to be A Bear Kryptonite: The Stone Cold Stunner. In the end, with Beef Wellington trapped in A Bear-Hug, Giant Tiger raised Beef’s hand three times and slammed his arm down three times before declaring A Bear the winner by submission. After the match, A Bear refused to let Beef play dead, worrying the talented Tasseled Titan’s torso like a world champion apple bobber. Eventually, Giant Tiger felt forced to intervene, drop kicking A Bear out of the ring and offering Beef his hand, angrily shouting, "I hate you, but I fuckin' respect you!!!" Giant Tiger & Beef Pre-Match Promos To thank the fans for their patience, I was in the process of handing out free ISW DVDs when Kevin Steen interrupted, dragging Player Uno to the ring by his mask, stealing the microphone from me, throwing me out of the ring, breaking a dozen DVDs over Uno’s head and declaring that he wanted his title shot right away because, “Owen Steen’s babysitter charges double after midnight!” Despite having been ambushed by Steen, Uno put up a valiant defence of his title. Steen’s frustration at not being able to score a quick pin-fall boiled over - leading him to attack referee Yan causing ISW senior official Bakais to DQ Steen, saving Uno’s title. Kevin Steen & Player Uno Pre-Match Promos: You-Tube Match Teaser: Despite cooperation between Stinky and BAMBOO! Jr., and much to the crowd’s displeasure, the hated Michael Von Payton was able to continue his ISW winning streak by pinning El Hijo del BAMBOO! MVP Pre-Match Promo: In their BADD Match Invitational Gauntlet, Chad and Brad BADD along with their father, Dad BADD, destroyed all comers, including the team of F**k-Face and the Bruiser, two priests who wandered into the ring, the hip=hop group of T-Unit and their entire entourage and our full ring crew. (I only escaped by hiding in the crowd. Badd Boyz Pre-Match Promo: ) Flip D. Berger started the Barnyard Brawl by throwing free hamburgers out to the crowd, saving three special burgers that he announced were Moohammad’s brother, sister and mother. An incensed Moohammad attacked out of the crowd gaining the early advantage. ISW fans had been invited to bring Lego to be used during the match and this led to a number of sick spots including a Fisherman’s Buster into the Lego. In the end, Moohammad prevailed thanks to the intervention of his surviving brother, Moooooostafa. One sick Fisherman’s Buster into Lego later and according to the stipulation, Moohammad has the right to kill, cook and eat Flip D. Berger. Moohammad & Flip D. Berger Pre-Match Promos You-Tube Teaser: The main event was a barn burning, kick-ass, ass kicking, old school as fuck, tag-team fun. One fan at ringside called it “The Match of the Decade”, while another commented that the Walking Dead team reminded him of classic AWA heels. (Of course, given that Izzy Deadyet and Zombiefied are, well, DEAD, for all I know, they are classic AWA heels. Despite the best efforts of Gore the Zombie Master and his two-man army of walking dead, Twiggy and El Generico emerged victorious, hitting Zombiefied with a BRAIIINBUSTTTAAAAH! Followed by a Twiggy Swanton for the pin. Main Event Pre-Match Promo: After the match, Gore and Izzy Deadyet attacked Zombiefied, giving him three Tombstone Pile Drivers. The DVD of Hot Summer RUB-DOWN is available now from FortuneVideoEditing.com and will be available very soon from SmartMarkVideo.com The IWS presents: Summer Slaughter, Saturday, July 19th, 2008 at Bogey’s World Bar & Billiard, 3250 Cremazie Est (corner of Cremazie and St-Michel near the St-Michel metro), Montreal, Quebec, CANADA. Doors open at 7:30 pm, show starts at 9:00 pm, tickets are $20 for VIP, $15 for Regular. 18+, card and times subject to change. For more information go to www.syndicatewrestling.com or e-mail [email protected] . The IWS presents: Hardcore Heat, Saturday, August 23rd, 2008 at Bogey’s World Bar & Billiard, 3250 Cremazie Est (corner of Cremazie and St-Michel near the St-Michel metro), Montreal, Quebec, CANADA. Doors open at 7:30 pm, show starts at 9:00 pm, tickets are $20 for VIP, $15 for Regular. 18+, card and times subject to change. For more information go to www.syndicatewrestling.com or e-mail [email protected] . The IWS proudly presents: Un F’N Sanctioned, Main Event is FANS BRING THE WEAPONS! Saturday, September 27th, at the beautiful, downtown Medley, 1170 St-Denis, near the Berri-UQAM Metro. Montreal, Quebec, CANADA. Doors open at 7:30 PM, show starts at 9 PM. VIP tickets are $25, Regular tickets are $20. VIP ticket holders admitted first. No reserved seating. Tickets can be purchased online at http://www.ticketpro.ca or in person at the Medley box office. 18+. Card and times subject to change. For more information go to www.syndicatewrestling.com or e-mail [email protected] .

On January 14th, 2001 during WCW Sin, Sid Vicious loomed from the top rope and hesitated before taking a rare leap from the top rope. An instant later, he was on the mat clutching at his left leg - gruesomely fractured in two places. At the time and for years afterwards, many wrestling observers thought that Sid would never wrestle again. On June 12th, 2004, during V, the Fifth Anniversary show of the IWS (International Wrestling Syndicate), Sid Vicious shocked Montreal and the wrestling world by returning to active wrestling as Pierre Carl Ouellet’s mystery partner in a ten team tag Battle Royale. A one hour edited version of the show aired across Canada on PPV, but, except for those lucky enough to tape it, for a variety of reasons no version of that show has been available for wrestling fans… Until now! Fortune Video Editing, Smart Mark Video and the IWS have finally been able to release V as a DVD. This is the full show including Sid’s hysterical 15 minute rant which started with the crowd chanting “SID! SID! SID!” and finished with them chanting “Please Leave!” It also includes the famous match between Beef Wellington and A Bear that helped inspire the formation of Inter-Species Wrestling, as well as the full main event Old School IWS Death Match that many IWS fans consider the best hardcore match that the IWS has ever done. This is the easily the most requested “lost show” that the IWS has ever done. Watch the IWS and Sid Vicious make wrestling history! Order V today! The DVD Contains: IWS Tag Team Title Match: IWS Champions Syndicat de Lutte Internet (Damian & Viking) vs. The New Breed (D.J. Sick & Hellstorm) Number One Contender’s Match: “Mr. Wrestling” Kevin Steen vs. EXesS 69 Man vs. Beast: Beef Wellington vs. A Bear IWS Title Match: IWS Champion Pierre Carl Ouellet vs. El Generico Tag Team Gauntlet Battle Royale: Match started with two teams with a new team added every ninety seconds. Double elimination rules, so if one partner was thrown over the top to the floor, the remaining partner could still win the match. The Ten Teams: The Kid Kamikaze Experience The Flying Hurricanes (Takao and Kenny the Bastard) 2.0 (Jagged and Shane Matthews) Masked Assassins (Pipe and Wrench) The Mob (Dan Paysan and Tomassino) T-Unit (Big Larry and Dolla Bill) Los Latinos (Latino Kid and Latino Mysterio) Syndicat de Lutte Internet (Fred la Merveille and Mark le Grizzly) Fan Favourites (Crazy Crusher and Motivator of Madness) And finally and famously… The New Shit (Pierre Carl Ouellet and Sid Vicious) IWS Old School Death Match: The Arsenal and The Evil Ninja vs. The Green Phantom and Sexxxy Eddy The DVD features one IWS commentary track and three fan commentary tracks including Llakor (yours truly) Steve Rockamaniak of MainEventRadio.com Big Joe of CZWFans.com (self described “F-list internet celebrity”) Kevin Marshall of the Living Under Marshall podcast & Kevin MarshallOnline.com And Daryl “BrewGuy” Brewer of the-w.com and InThisVeryRing.com To mark the occasion of the release of V on DVD, IWS is offering a DVD & Ticket special. Order a VIP ticket to Summer Slaughter (July 19th) and any IWS DVD including V and pay just $30 plus shipping (normal price $40) Add another VIP ticket or IWS DVD and pay $45 including shipping. Contact [email protected] for details. The IWS presents: Summer Slaughter, Saturday, July 19th, 2008 at Bogey’s World Bar & Billiard, 3250 Cremazie Est (corner of Cremazie and St-Michel near the St-Michel metro), Montreal, Quebec, CANADA. Doors open at 7:30 pm, show starts at 9:00 pm, tickets are $20 for VIP, $15 for Regular. 18+, card and times subject to change. For more information go to www.syndicatewrestling.com or e-mail [email protected] . The IWS presents: Hardcore Heat, Saturday, August 23rd, 2008 at Bogey’s World Bar & Billiard, 3250 Cremazie Est (corner of Cremazie and St-Michel near the St-Michel metro), Montreal, Quebec, CANADA. Doors open at 7:30 pm, show starts at 9:00 pm, tickets are $20 for VIP, $15 for Regular. 18+, card and times subject to change. For more information go to www.syndicatewrestling.com or e-mail [email protected] . The IWS proudly presents: Un F’N Sanctioned, Main Event is FANS BRING THE WEAPONS! Saturday, September 27th, at the beautiful, downtown Medley, 1170 St-Denis, near the Berri-UQAM Metro. Montreal, Quebec, CANADA. Doors open at 7:30 PM, show starts at 9 PM. VIP tickets are $25, Regular tickets are $20. VIP ticket holders admitted first. No reserved seating. Tickets can be purchased online at http://www.ticketpro.ca or in person at the Medley box office. 18+. Card and times subject to change. For more information go to www.syndicatewrestling.com or e-mail [email protected] .

The ORIGINAL Kung-Fu Panda Orphaned by Poachers! Raised by Ninjaz! (from FaberTown, Japan) Trained in Secret Martial Arts! He is (well was) BAMBOO! To thumb our nose at the impostor, we are posting a full Bamboo match up. NEVER FORGET!* BAMBOO! vs. Flip D. Berger - IWS Syndicate Invitational - Sept. 3rd 2005 ***** Also remember that BAMBOO!'s son and heir, El Hijo Del BAMBOO! will be appearing at: Adrenaline and City Styles present: The IWS @ the Fringe! featuring “Iron” Mike Paterson star of the hit Fringe play Macho Man vs. Predator, Friday, June 20th, 2008 near Parc des Ameriques on the corner of St-Laurent and Rachel, Montreal, Quebec, CANADA. Show is 4PM to 6PM; show is FREE and for ALL AGES, card and times subject to change. For more information go to www.syndicatewrestling.com or e-mail [email protected] AND Inter-Species Wrestling should be arrested for presenting Hot Summer RUB-DOWN, Sunday, June 29th, 2008 at Foufounes Electriques, 87 Ste-Catherine Est, (near the corner of Ste-Catherine and St-Laurent, near the St-Laurent metro) Montreal, Quebec, CANADA. Doors open at 7:00 pm, show starts at 8:00 pm, tickets are $15. 18+, card and times subject to change (we should be so lucky). For more information go to www.beyondthebarn.org or write to [email protected] . ***** *For those who don't know, BAMBOO! was tragically killed in the ring during a match with Damian during the ISW "Our Holiday Special" Dec. 9, 2005 - Valleyfield, Quebec, Canada

IWS Champion vs. IWS Champion at Freedom to Fight It is possibly the biggest title match that the International Wrestling Syndicate has ever had. Champion vs. Champion; Title vs. Title; Gold vs. Gold; Kevin Steen vs. Max Boyer. Two men who have been butting heads and grinding egos - setting off sparks - will put everything up for grabs at IWS Freedom to Fight 2008: their title belts, their reputations and their self-respect will all be on the line and only one man will walk away the winner. ***** IWS Freedom to Fight Card – Quick & Dirty Saturday, May 24th, 2008 Bogey’s, Montreal, Quebec, CANADA Main Event – IWS Title Match: IWS Champion Kevin Steen vs. IWS Canadian Champion Max Boyer Title vs. Title – and there MUST be a Winner! Grudge Match: The Green Phantom vs. “Paranoid” Jake Matthews Beef Wellington vs. Jimmy K Rock ‘N’ Roid Express (Twiggy and Franky the Mobster) with Santino Italiano vs. The Untouchables (Dan Paysan and Jimmy Stone) with Samson ***** Freedom to Fight Bloodstream In this first ever "Special Edition" of Bloodstream, we focused solely on the main event for Freedom to Fight '08, IWS Canadian Champion - Max Boyer vs. IWS World Champion - Kevin Steen - Title vs. Title. Hear comments from both men, as well as some of their peers in the IWS - on how they think it'll go down - as they make IWS history - on May 24, 2008. WHAT'S IN A NAME? Twiggy and Franky the Mobster, the IWS' resident odd couple and reigning Tag Team Champions, choose a rather appropriate name for their team. EYE FOR AN EYE Chronicling the recent events between the Green Phantom and "Paranoid" Jake Matthews. UNSAFE WORKING ENVIRONMENT? The Untouchables, Dan Paysan and Jimmy Stone, explain their absence from last month's show. ***** Freedom to Fight Detailed Preview No one can argue with Kevin Steen’s list of achievements; the titles that he has won (IWS Title three times, EWR title twice, PWG title, PWG Tag-team title twice, CZW Ironman title); his ability to have great matches with the best opponents (Pierre Carl Ouellet, Christopher Daniels, A. J. Styles, Samoa Joe, Austin Aries, Steve Corino, Alex Shelley, Petey Williams, Super Dragon, Roderick Strong, Chris Hero, Mike Quackenbush, Necro Butcher, Davey Richards, Chris Sabin, Matt Sydal, Ian Rotten, Jerry Lynn, Morishima and others.); or his status in Quebec (named Quebec’s best wrestler three years in a row). The only thing is… And I preface this by saying that this is going to read like sour grapes, the whiny ranting of a man with an axe to grind. But as Max Boyer would tell you, sometimes the grapes are SOUR. The fly doing the back stroke in Max Boyer’s soup right now, that splinter right below the skin, is that Max has fought his whole life for a fraction of the chances that Kevin Steen was handed on a golden platter. Or as Max bitterly puts it, “Kevin was born on third base and acts like he hit a triple!” They both started the race in the same place: students of Jacques Rougeau Jr. Max was the better student, the harder worker, the more complete athlete, but Kevin Steen was Jacques’ Golden Boy. Things didn’t change much in the IWS. Kevin’s first match in the IWS was against a man that many consider Quebec’s best pure wrestler: EXesS. Within less than a year, Kevin Steen was head-lining the IWS at the Medley (always the biggest IWS show of the year) and shortly after that, Kevin was IWS champion. When Max came to the IWS, was he handed a match against the promotion’s best wrestler? No, he was shoe-horned into a try-out match with five rookies. Was he promoted to the main event once he showed how good he was? No, he was saddled with being one of Fred la Merveille’s goons. When Max killed himself in a 2005 Season’s Beatings Christmas match against Viking, he made Viking a star, but while Viking soared into the IWS main event and the IWS title, Max was left behind - mired in the IWS mid-card. Hell, six days after delivering that painful star turn, Max proved that he deserved to be considered amongst the province’s elite when he fought (and WON) a pitched battle against Quebec’s best wrestler… Kevin Steen. Inter-Species Wrestling Holiday Special, Dec 9, 2005, Valleyfield Quebec, wrestling trivia fans! The man who lost that match, Kevin Steen, toured the world; the man who beat him, Max Boyer, was left behind, again. It has taken two and a half years of training, of toil, of victory after victory for Max Boyer to prove that he deserves another shot at a man that he beat the only time that they ever wrestled! So, next Saturday, Kevin Steen, the man who makes his living rising to the occasion will be given another chance to come up big in a big match against a great opponent. And for Max Boyer, there is nothing at stake - nothing except to prove once and for all, Une Fois Pour Toute!, that he is the better wrestler, the better champion and the better man. Champion vs. Champion; Title vs. Title; Gold vs. Gold; Steen vs. Boyer and there has to be a winner. ***** There’s not really much else going on next Saturday, except – oh yeah – the two mastodons of the IWS will clash, as your Hardcore Hero, the Green Phantom will finally get his hands on “Paranoid” Jake Matthews, the man who attacked Phantom from behind last month with a shovel and stole the Phantom’s mask. Let’s be clear: Jake is CRAZY at the best of times, and the Phantom has never been the poster boy for Anger Management. If Jake’s plan was to drive the Phantom insane, well judging from the daily – sometimes hourly – e-mails, texts and phone calls that I have been getting from the Phantom, well Jake’s plan is working. Now why you would want to piss off the Phantom this much is one of those rhetorical questions that I am going to file under: “Jake is CRAZY” On the other side of that scarred coin, one guy who is starting to make a lot of sense – and frankly, it is pissing me off – is the IWS’ most bitter man, Beef Wellington. After Jimmy K failed to show up for his scheduled title match against Kevin Steen at Scarred For Life because of a family emergency, Beef immediately demanded a match against the goth warrior, pissed beyond belief that Jimmy K would pass up the chance to fight for a belt that Beef has never been given a real chance to win. Actually, I am not sure that Beef has even been given a chance recently to fight in a match to even qualify him for a title shot, which would help explain his crankiness. Also scheduled to fight will be the trio of the Rock ‘N’ Roid Express, Twiggy and Franky the Mobster joined by Santino. Despite the presence on their team of Franky, one of Quebec’s best heavyweights, Twiggy, Franky and Santino will be seriously out-gunned by their opponents: The Untouchables’ Dan Paysan and Jimmy Stone joined by the bully Samson. The Untouchables will be looking to prove that they deserve a shot at the Rock ‘N’ Roid Express’ tag team titles, while Samson will just be looking for any kind of shot at anyone smaller than he is. There will be other matches, but perhaps more important than that, I can announce that PCP Crazy F’N Manny, will be at Freedom to Fight to make a major announcement. Manny has been completely absent from the IWS offices since Kevin Steen beat him for the title in January at Praise the Violence. Will Uncle Manny be flanked by the Sultans of Sycophancy, 2.0? I can confirm that Jagged and Shane Matthews will be at Freedom to Fight, also that they have been frustrated in their latest attempts to get yet another shot at the IWS tag team titles, largely because Manny has been MIA and no one else in the office will give them the time of day. I am however required to mention that Shane and Jagged are at this very moment “Flying in first class on our way to sunny California where we will compete – NO! Where we will WIN PWG’s annual tag team tournament!” I have no idea what Manny will be announcing, but we have already announced that the IWS will be doing an outdoor show as part of the Fringe Festival on Friday, June 20th (sponsored by City Styles and Adrenaline) and that we will be concluding our annual Summer of Violence with a show at the Medley on Saturday, September 27th. Look for more details soon! ***** Freedom to Fight ticket special. Buy one VIP ticket (normal price $20) and the DVD for Violent Valentine 2008 (normal price $20) for just $30 for both. SAVE $10! E-mail [email protected] for details. ***** The IWS presents: Freedom to Fight, Saturday, May 24th, 2008 at Bogey’s World Bar & Billiard, 3250 Cremazie Est (corner of Cremazie and St-Michel near the St-Michel metro), Montreal, Quebec, CANADA. Doors open at 7:30 pm, show starts at 9:00 pm, tickets are $20 for VIP, $15 for Regular. Or buy a copy of IWS Violent Valentine 2008 on DVD and a VIP ticket for just $30. 18+, card and times subject to change. For more information go to www.syndicatewrestling.com or e-mail [email protected] . Adrenaline and City Styles present: The IWS @ the Fringe! featuring “Iron” Mike Paterson star of the hit Fringe play Macho Man vs. Predator, Friday, June 20th, 2008 near Parc des Ameriques on the corner of St-Laurent and Rachel, Montreal, Quebec, CANADA. Show is 4PM to 6PM, show is FREE and for ALL AGES, card and times subject to change. For more information go to www.syndicatewrestling.com or e-mail [email protected] . Inter-Species Wrestling should be arrested for presenting Hot Summer RUB-DOWN, Sunday, June 29th, 2008 at Foufounes Electriques, 87 Ste-Catherine Est, (near the corner of Ste-Catherine and St-Laurent, near the St-Laurent metro) Montreal, Quebec, CANADA. Doors open at 7:00 pm, show starts at 8:00 pm, tickets are $15. 18+, card and times subject to change (we should be so lucky). For more information go to www.beyondthebarn.org or write to [email protected] . The IWS presents: Summer Slaughter, Saturday, July 19th, 2008 at Bogey’s World Bar & Billiard, 3250 Cremazie Est (corner of Cremazie and St-Michel near the St-Michel metro), Montreal, Quebec, CANADA. Doors open at 7:30 pm, show starts at 9:00 pm, tickets are $20 for VIP, $15 for Regular. 18+, card and times subject to change. For more information go to www.syndicatewrestling.com or e-mail [email protected] . The IWS presents: Hardcore Heat, Saturday, August 23rd, 2008 at Bogey’s World Bar & Billiard, 3250 Cremazie Est (corner of Cremazie and St-Michel near the St-Michel metro), Montreal, Quebec, CANADA. Doors open at 7:30 pm, show starts at 9:00 pm, tickets are $20 for VIP, $15 for Regular. 18+, card and times subject to change. For more information go to www.syndicatewrestling.com or e-mail [email protected] . The IWS proudly presents: Show Name TBA, Saturday, September 27th, at the beautiful, downtown Medley, 1170 St-Denis, near the Berri-UQAM Metro. Montreal, Quebec, CANADA. Doors open at 7:30 PM, show starts at 9 PM. VIP tickets are $25, Regular tickets are $20. VIP ticket holders admitted first. No reserved seating. Tickets can be purchased online at http://www.ticketpro.ca or in person at the Medley box office. 18+. Card and times subject to change. For more information go to www.syndicatewrestling.com or e-mail [email protected] . Our DVDs for each show are released through www.smartmarkvideo.com. Our biggest recent release is Un F’N Sanctioned 2007 featuring then NWA World Heavyweight Champion Christian Cage - http://www.smartmarkvideo.com/main/index.p...6b66a85q4734bui . Our best-selling DVD from last year is Un F’N Sanctioned 2006 featuring Sabu’s last match in the indies before his re-debut on Raw (two nights later) as well as the crazy hardcore Fans Bring the Weapons match - http://www.smartmarkvideo.com/main/index.p...;ref=iwsdvd0043 ******************* IWS fans in Germany can now pick some of our best shows from a fed almost as crazy and blood-thirsty as us: wXw. With our permission, they are making available the following shows to German (and European) fans: Un F’N Sanctioned 2003 Medley show Un F’N Sanctioned 2005 Medley show Un F’N Sanctioned 2006 Medley show Un F’N Sanctioned 2007 Medley show Blood, Sweat and Beers 2007 Medley show Scarred for Life 2005 Steen vs. Damian Blood, Sweat and Beers 2005 Steen vs. Damian II Summer Slaughter 2007 Steen vs. Damian III Hardcore Heat 2006 Steen vs. Viking For more details contact: [email protected] ******************* Finally, the Film Festival that I run when I am not Manny’s slave, the YoungCuts Film Festival, is STILL accepting submissions: http://www.youngcuts.com/?q=2008_YCFF The YoungCuts Film Festival is the Premiere Showcase for Great Short Films from the Best Young Film Makers (generally 25 and under.) To see some of the great films that have played at the Festival in the past go here: http://www.youngcuts.com/?q=Film_Tour_Index

Season’s Greetings and Season’s Beatings! Last IWS show of the year, December 1st IWS Bloodstream can be downloaded here: http://www.syndicatewrestling.com/bloodstream/bsdec1test.wmv At this point, I am usually required to say something about how Bloodstream is Not Safe For Work, but really I don't think that this episode is safe for ANYWHERE! On behalf of the extended International Wrestling Syndicate family, I would like to extend the best wishes of the season to all our fans, friends and the readers of this newsletter. The holiday season is the ideal time for family and friends (and wrestling fans) to get together to reflect on another year about to pass, to look forward to another year, to drink a few beers… and to hit each other over the head with chairs. Well, you have your holiday traditions, and at the IWS we have ours! Please, please, leave the actual hitting and being hit over the head with chairs to trained professionals. Don’t do it and tell people that Llakor told you to. This year, the IWS owner and (sadly) Champion, PCP Crazy F’N Manny has decided in the spirit of the season to offer one lucky IWS Superstar a shot at the IWS belt. That Superstar? None other than the reigning Canadian King of Death Match and the reigning IWA-MS Queen of the Death Match, the First Lady of Hardcore, Lufisto. This would be the moment where I channel Dana Carvey’s Church Lady to observe that “Santa” and “Satan” are not far apart, and that Manny may be pretending to be playing Santa Manny and offering Lufisto a gift, when really he is busy playing at being Satan Manny. The most astonishing thing about this scenario? Not that Manny has an ulterior motive; Manny ALWAYS has an ulterior motive. The astonishing thing is that Lufisto knows that this is a trap and doesn’t care. In fact she is downright pleased. “All I have ever asked in the wrestling business is the chance to prove that I can wrestle as well or better than anyone, any woman, but especially any man. The IWS title is the most important belt in Canada, and one of the most important on the independent wrestling scene anywhere in the world. It will be my pleasure to win it, and my honour to defend it. I know what you are going to say Llakor. You are worried that Manny is going to hurt me. I am not worried. I know that Manny will hurt me. The only thing is: I am gong to hurt Manny worse than he is going to hurt me. And that’s why I will win.” It may not be politically correct, it may not be chivalrous, but wrestling has the most extreme form of equality, of fairness that you can find anywhere. This Saturday, on December 1st, at Season’s Beatings, Manny will treat Lufisto the way that he would treat any wrestler trying to take his belt – he will do his level best to beat the ever-living hell out of her. And in the spirit of fairness and equality, Lufisto will prove, as she has proved since the start of her career, that she deserves to be in the same ring as a man, by beating the ever-living hell out of Manny. Cue Llakor knocking furiously on wood. *********************** Season’s Beatings 2007 Card Quick and Dirty Saturday, December 1st, 2007 Bogey’s 3250 Cremazie East (Corner Cremazie and St-Michel) Metro St-Michel Montreal, Quebec, CANADA IWS Title: IWS Champion PCP Crazy F’N Manny vs. Lufisto IWS Canadian Title: IWS Canadian Champion Max Boyer vs. Damian Gangsta vs. Mobster: Franky the Mobster vs. Eddie Kingston Tag Scramble Elimination: (Non Title) IWS Tag Team Champions Super Smash Brothers (Player Uno and Stupefied) vs. The Untouchables (Dan Paysan and Jimmy Stone) vs. The Special Ks (Kid Kamikaze and Jimmy K) vs. Twiggy and Vanessa Kraven 2.0 (Jagged and Shane Matthews) vs. Up in Smoke (Cheech and Cloudy) Three-Way Dance for an IWS Roster Spot: Three Mystery Wrestlers will fight with the winner getting a spot on the IWS Roster. *********************** Detailed Preview In Max Boyer’s ongoing quest to prove that he is the best technical wrestler in Canada, and especially better than Kevin Steen, Max finds himself butting heads with a man who has pushed Kevin Steen to the best (and most violent) matches of his career: The God of War, Damian. He is quite prepared to give Max Boyer the match of his life. Damian is also prepared to make this match, his own personal Christmas gift to himself. With a show at the Medley coming up, Damian would like nothing better than to enter the New Year as the New IWS Canadian Champion. Philadelphia’s Gangsta Number One Eddie Kingston will be coming to Montreal to face Quebec’s Number One Mobster, the man they call Franky. Assuming of course that a Gangsta can get some love at the border. Personally, I am hoping that the border guards wave Eddie and Bryce right through. Franky is already threatening to haul IWS staff into the ring if Eddie can’t make it and I’m not certain if he will stop with broom boys. (Actually hoping may not be a strong enough word. Praying to God, maybe PLEADING with God is more like it.) The IWS Tag Team division is heating up as three new teams, The Untouchables, The Special Ks and the oddest ball couple of odd ball couples, Twiggy and Vanessa Kraven are all going to try and prove that they deserve a shot at the IWS Tag Team Title while the IWS Tag Team Champs try to prove that they deserve to stay on top of the mountain. Throw in the fact that Twiggy is as angry as a beaver with a toothache after having the IWS Title slip out of his grasp at Freedom to Fight 2007 during his match against Manny, AND that the Untouchables and the Special Ks have a beef with each other after Dan Paysan and Jimmy Stone attacked Jimmy K last show taking out Jimmy’s then opponent Kid Kamikaze in the process, well the match might get a little heated, like chestnuts roasting over an open fire heated. Also, looking to prove that they deserve a title shot are the former champions, 2.0, hoping to make a statement (and end their losing streak) by beating up on the Ganja Generals, Up in Smoke, Cheech and Cloudy. As for the Reefer Rasslers? Normally, I might make a joke about their lack of motivation, but if there is one thing that Cheech and Cloudy love better than coming to Montreal, it is coming to Montreal when the IWS is having a downtown party at the Medley. The best way for them to force the IWS to invite them back for January 26th? Beating 2.0. Finally, IWS management has decided to give a shot to three guys who have been begging for a chance to prove what they can do for years, in a three-way dance where the stakes are simple: Winner gets a spot on the IWS Roster and the Losers get nothing. Who will be in this match? Well, that would be telling. Come to Season’s Beatings and find out. I will confirm that none of the three have ever wrestled in the IWS before. Let the SPECULATINGTIONMANIA begin! All of this and the usual gang of maniacs will also be in attendance including EXesS, Kenny the Bastard, Kevin Steen, IWS ring announcer Patrick Lono, manager to the stars Joey Soprano, IWS Play by Play dude Mikhail Q. Rotchy Esquire and others… I am supposed to say that Shit-Hawke will be there and wrestling, but I don’t feel like plugging the annoying maudit roux. The Season’s Beatings Preview should be up soon. Keep checking www.syndicatewrestling.com for more details. And while you are there, read my Strong Style Typings for more details on the matches. *********************** The Llakor Christmas Ticket Special: Buy a VIP Ticket for Season’s Beatings and Praise the Violence for $40. OR Buy a VIP Ticket for Season’s Beatings and Praise the Violence, plus any (one) IWS DVD and a Freedom to Fight poster signed by Christopher Daniels and Max Boyer for $65 (While supplies of signed posters last.) The IWS presents: Season’s Beatings, Saturday, December 1st, 2007 at Bogey’s World Bar & Billiard, 3250 Cremazie Est (corner of Cremazie and St-Michel near the St-Michel metro), Montreal, Quebec, CANADA. Doors open at 7:30 pm, show starts at 9:00 pm, tickets are $20 for VIP, $15 for Regular. 18+, card and times subject to change. For more information go to www.syndicatewrestling.com or e-mail [email protected] . The IWS proudly presents: Praise the Violence, Saturday, January 26th, 2008 featuring Sylvain Grenier at the beautiful, downtown Medley, 1170 St-Denis, near the Berri-UQAM Metro. Montreal, Quebec, CANADA. Doors open at 7:30 PM, show starts at 9 PM. VIP tickets are $30, Regular tickets are $25. VIP ticket holders admitted first. VIP tickets are almost sold out so order them today. No reserved seating. Tickets can be purchased online at http://www.ticketpro.ca or in person at the Medley box office. 18+. Card and times subject to change. For more information go to www.syndicatewrestling.com or e-mail [email protected] . Our DVDs for each show are released through www.smartmarkvideo.com. Our biggest recent release is Un F’N Sanctioned 2007 featuring then NWA World Heavyweight Champion Christian Cage - http://www.smartmarkvideo.com/main/index.p...6b66a85q4734bui . Our best-selling DVD from last year is Un F’N Sanctioned 2006 featuring Sabu’s last match in the indies before his re-debut on Raw (two nights later) as well as the crazy hardcore Fans Bring the Weapons match - http://www.smartmarkvideo.com/main/index.p...;ref=iwsdvd0043

Fallen Angel Wins Fall – Loses Face IWS Freedom to Fight 2007 A journey of a million miles begins with but a single step, and for the International Wrestling Syndicate’s Max Boyer the impossible quest that he began on Saturday night is the goal to prove that he is equal to his classmate, the man many believe is the greatest Canadian technical wrestler of his generation, “Mr. Wrestling” Kevin Steen. In order to do that, Max has decided to walk in the steps of the journey that Kevin Steen walked from regional talent to international superstar. That first step, that first hurdle: TNA’s “Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels. The one-line results will record that Christopher Daniels won the match and beat Max Boyer. What those meager results will obscure is that the true victory was achieved by Max Boyer who proved over seventeen hard-hitting minutes that he was every bit Daniels’ equal. In the end, a desperate Daniels had to practically throttle IWS referee Bakais to get enough leverage to stay on his feet, and it was only the distraction of that maneuver and a veteran tug of the tights that gave Daniels an opening for the pin-fall victory. Results Quick and Dirty IWS Freedom to Fight 2007 Saturday, November 3rd Bogey’s, Montreal, Quebec, CANADA Attendance 341 Unsanctioned Street Fight: Beef Wellington vs. Viking Beef beat Viking like a dog for 5:18 Shayne Hawke and EXesS vs. The Missionaries of Violence (Sexxxy Eddy and Lufisto) EXesS forced Eddy to tap to his modified Stretch Muffler in 16:25 Jimmy K vs. Kid Kamikaze Jimmy K pinned Kid Kamikaze with a variant on the Fisherman’s Buster after 9:25 SLI 2007 (Fred la Merveille and Kenny the Bastard) vs. Jimmy Stone and Dan Paysan Jimmy Stone and Dan Paysan beat the SLI 2007 in 12:06 pinning Kenny the Bastard with Career Suicide, a combined Kryptonite Crunch/Wop Drop. IWS Tag Team Title Match (Best Two out of Three Falls): IWS Tag Team Champions The Super Smash Brothers (Player Uno and Stupefied) vs. 2.0 (Jagged and Shane Matthews The Super Smash Brothers won in two straight falls. Player Uno won the first fall with a flash roll-up on Jagged at 5:25. Stupefied won the second fall with a 450 top rope splash on Shane Matthews at 9:22. IWS Title Match: IWS Champion PCP Crazy F’N Manny vs. Twiggy PCP Crazy F’N Manny beat Twiggy in 10:34 with a Junkie Driver through a table. Main Event: IWS Canadian Champion Max Boyer vs. TNA’s Fallen Angel Christopher Daniels Christopher Daniels won the non-title match after 17:00 with a roll-up while pulling the tights. ********************* Detailed Results Freedom to Fight 2007 began with Manny showing off his new title belt accompanied by his goons, 2.0 (Jagged and Shane Matthews). After crowing about how his run as champion has just produced the best attendance at Bogey’s in nearly a year, Manny asked Beef Wellington to come out and explain why he had got involved in the title match at Blood, Sweat and Beers 2007. Not that Beef was planning on explaining anyway, but before he got much of a chance to, Viking interrupted - sending Manny, Shane and Jagged fleeing from the ring with just his music. There was no bell and no referees and not much in the way of civilization when Beef and Viking clashed. They beat the shit out of each other for more than five minutes before Beef emerged the victor standing over Viking’s beaten, bloody body with a demonic grin on his face. Beef also had holes in his head and thumb-tacks still stuck in his skull, so it was not a victory without its costs. With Viking temporarily beaten, Manny took his chance to rid himself of a thorn in his side and came out of the back with Viking’s gear, throwing him out of the ring, out of Bogey’s and out of the IWS. The “Bad Penny” Shayne Hawke was not even supposed to be on this show (to my tremendous relief), but when Tomassino was forced to cancel his appearance as EXesS’ partner against the Missionaries of Violence, Shayne practically broke his leg rushing to take his place. As would be expected, the IWS’ biggest misogynist, EXesS spent most of the match trying to beat Lufisto into submission, but the IWA-MS Queen of the Death-Match Champion is made of sterner stuff than that and gave EXesS as good as she got. Always looking for the weakest link, EXesS was forced to find his victory against Lufisto’s partner, a man that EXesS has historically has success against, Sexxxy Eddy, forcing Eddy to tap to his modified Stretch Muffler submission at 16:25 while the most annoying man in Quebec, “Le Maudit Roux” Shayne Hawke ran interference and kept Lufisto distracted. After the match, Lufisto chased EXesS and Hawke to the back with a chair. Rather than thanking his partner for the save, Eddy snapped, attacking Lufisto from behind and braining her multiple times with her own chair. As the crowd chanted, “You tapped out!” Eddy grabbed a mike to rant, “I am sick of you Lufisto! I am sick of this team! Have we ever even won one match as a team? Hottie Holly makes me win matches! Lufisto doesn’t! We could have had it so good together the three of us, but you weren’t interested in a threesome. And I was even going to let you fuck me in the ass with a strap-on! Consider this relationship over!” I am now required to plug Holly’s web-site www.hottiehollie.com . And I swear on a stack of Bibles that the above is a substantially accurate quote of what Eddy said. In the Halloween spirit, Kid Kamikaze came to the ring wearing the mask of Dos Caras, a Lucha Libre wrestler that has proved to be an inspiration to Kid Kamikaze in the past, but honoring his idol did Kid Kamikaze little good. For every submission that Double K pulled out of his bag of tricks, Jimmy K answered with a counter and a submission of his own. Those only familiar with Jimmy K from watching the IWS (like say Kid Kamikaze) might believe that he is only a high impact high-flyer. As Kid K learned to his cost, Jimmy K was mentored in old school submission wrestling by legendary Quebec trainer Mark le Grizzly. Jimmy K won the match, dropping Kid Kamikaze on his head with what looked like a modified Fisherman’s Buster at 9:25. After Jimmy K’s victory, an incensed Don Paysan, still smarting over his loss to Jimmy K during Hardcore Heat 2007, attacked with the help of his new tag team partner Jimmy Stone, rolling over Jimmy K like the Capone Mob taking out Bugs Moran. Jimmy was saved by the unexpected help of Fred la Merveille and Kenny the Bastard. Fred, incensed at the loss of the Montreal Canadiens at the hands of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the last ninety seconds of the game on Saturday just prior to this match, came to the ring to beat up some Torontonians and none of those being available decided that a pair of Filthy Italians would do just as well. In a match that I can only describe as “eye-poke-a-riffic”, the SLI 2007 controlled for much of the match only for Kenny to succumb to Jimmy and Dan’s new double team move “Career Suicide” a combined Kryptonite Crunch/Wop Drop at 12:06. Despite 2.0’s protests that it is scientifically impossible, lightning did strike twice as the Super Smash Brothers proved that their victory of the IWS tag team titles at Blood, Sweat and Beers 2007 was no fluke, beating former champions Jagged and Shane Matthews in two straight falls. Player Uno won the first fall at 5:25 with a flash roll-up of Jagged. He was instrumental in the second fall, dazing Shane Matthews with the Goomba Stomp, just before his partner Stupefied hit Shane with a top rope 450 splash for the pin at 9:22. Manny came to the ring for his scheduled title match claiming that no one had answered his open challenge and that IWS referee Yan should announce him the victor by default. Before that could happen, Twiggy’s music hit and the IWS’ pint-size rocker hit the ring to challenge Manny… and to remind everyone that he had beaten Manny once before at Know Your Enemies 2006. Despite some early success, it appeared that Manny would use his superior size and strength to win the encounter, gaining what seemed like an insurmountable advantage after pitching Twiggy from the ring like Tom Brady passing up the middle to Wes Welker… and wiping out most of the front row in the process. Twiggy’s luck turned when Manny angered the wrestling Gods by pulling Twiggy up from a certain three count at 5:43 of the contest. Rallying with the support of the crowd, it seemed like we were about to witness the crowning of the IWS’ most unlikely “heavy”-weight champion ever. To the fans’ dismay, 2.0 hit the ring to save their boss, but right behind them was Twiggy’s tag team partner Vanessa Kraven, who cleared the ring for Twiggy and helped him bring a table into the ring. After the table refused to sell for a Twiggy senton splash on top of Manny, Twiggy crushed both the table and Manny with a top rope double foot stomp. You could have given Manny an old school King Kong Twiggy five count and Manny’s shoulders would never so much as twitched. Unfortunately, for a three count or for a five count, for any count, you need a ref and Yan was busy being yanked to the outside by 2.0. Their interruption and diversion of Vanessa Kraven gave Manny a chance to recover and kill Twiggy with his own table and a Junkie Driver at 10:34. Look, I am not a guy to hand out snowflakes like they were Smarties, and you have no idea how much it pains me to say this, but when it came to straight out FUN, this was the Match of the Night. It had everything. Twiggy playing missile. Manny getting his come-uppance for his arrogance. 2.0 acting like dicks. Vanessa Kraven bringing the crowd to its feet with the timeliest run-in ever. A no-selling son-of-a-bitch table. (Those are always fun.) Twiggy crushing Manny’s chest with a double foot stomp. It even had a Pornstar Juan cameo. Just FUN FUN FUN FUN. And Manny is going to be gloating about being involved in the Match of the Night for months. Kill me now! Christopher Daniels may have gotten the pin against Max Boyer in the main event, but after he made the mistake of calling Max a coward for refusing to put his IWS Canadian title on the line in the match (a decision that was not Max’ to make and a decision that Max strongly disagreed with) it was Christopher Daniels who ended up on his back, seeing stars, as Max taunted him with the Canadian title and challenged him to a match for the belt at the Medley during Praise the Violence 2008 on January 26th . I am required to point out that Max was seriously off the reservation when he made this challenge. If Manny had not been flat on his back on a Ping-Pong table nursing his ribs when Max grabbed the mike, the volume on the mike would almost certainly have been killed. First of all, Max would have to still be IWS Canadian Champion at Praise the Violence, by no means a sure thing. Secondly, and almost as importantly, Manny would have to agree to fly Christopher Daniels back in and risk the chance that one of his IWS champions would be a wrestler who lives a few thousand miles away. Also, I need to address the fact that Eddie Kingston was announced for our next show Season’s Beatings 2007. Given that he had to cancel his Ottawa appearance, it is by no means certain at this time that he will be available to come to Montreal on December 1st, although we certainly hope that he will. More news soon. ********************* A Few Quick Announcements Here is the Freedom to Fight 2007 preview video: Llakor like lots. So, if I can stop procrastinating, I am supposed to be writing a 50, 000 word novel this moth called “Jobber”. You can read why here: http://the-w.com/thread.php/id=34156 I have a very, very, very limited number of posters from Freedom to Fight 2007 signed by both Christopher Daniels and Max Boyer. If you want them contact me by e-mail or MSN at [email protected] Buying tickets to Season’s Beatings 2007 and Praise the Violence 2008 will probably convince me, but I will listen to other offers. ********************* The IWS presents: Season’s Beatings, Saturday, December 1st, 2007 at Bogey’s World Bar & Billiard, 3250 Cremazie Est (corner of Cremazie and St-Michel near the St-Michel metro), Montreal, Quebec, CANADA. Doors open at 7:00 pm, show starts at 8:00 pm, tickets are $20 for VIP, $15 for Regular. 18+, card and times subject to change. For more information go to www.syndicatewrestling.com or e-mail [email protected] . The IWS proudly presents: Praise the Violence, Saturday, January 26th, 2008 at the beautiful, downtown Medley, 1170 St-Denis, near the Berri-UQAM Metro. Montreal, Quebec, CANADA. Doors open at 7:30 PM, show starts at 9 PM. VIP tickets are $30, Regular tickets are $25. VIP ticket holders admitted first. No reserved seating. Tickets can be purchased online at http://www.ticketpro.ca or in person at the Medley box office. 18+. Card and times subject to change. For more information go to www.syndicatewrestling.com or e-mail [email protected] . Our DVDs for each show are released through www.smartmarkvideo.com. Our biggest recent release is Un F’N Sanctioned 2007 featuring then NWA World Heavyweight Champion Christian Cage - http://www.smartmarkvideo.com/main/index.p...6b66a85q4734bui . Our best-selling DVD from last year is Un F’N Sanctioned 2006 featuring Sabu’s last match in the indies before his re-debut on Raw (two nights later) as well as the crazy hardcore Fans Bring the Weapons match - http://www.smartmarkvideo.com/main/index.p...;ref=iwsdvd0043

India Wrestling Tour Controversy A wrestler presumed to be from Ontario was jailed after a one week tour of India by 16 wrestlers, mainly from Canada, disintegrated in controversy and a near riot as the organizers announced that it was cancelled during the initial press conference. According to the Times of India, Tiger Jeet Singh’s Universal Wrestling Stars Inc., a Canadian wrestling company, was scheduled to do a “India vs. Rest of the World - War of Legends” tour in Patiala, Ludhiana and Jalandhar. The shows were cancelled after organizers failed to obtain permission from the Indian security agencies and the sports department. In addition, they were asked to pay a 125% tax on the tickets sold. During the press conference, the wrestlers expressed their anger at coming all the way to India only for the tour to be cancelled. The most angry was the “Russian” Nikita who flipped a table in the general direction of the press, called them “ugly Indian cheats” (which was described as a “racial epithet” by the local press) and challenged any Indian to wrestle him, saying “I am here to kill you.” He was subsequently arrested and his passport was seized. In reality, the “Russian” is almost certainly Ontario wrestler Alexander the Great aka Jason X, travelling with Ontario promoter, trainer and wrestler Ron Hutchison. Various Ontario wrestling insiders confirm that it was him, based on videos of the press conference and posters of the tour. Needless to say, the Indian press accepts that Nikita is Russian and some have even speculated that the incident will affect relations with Russia. From a Tribune opinion article by Shastri Ramachandaran (hopefully with tongue firmly wedged in cheek), “It is a relief that the organisers will be around to put up a fight another day, and leave the country to now proceed with a policy debate on what the fracas means for India-Russian relations. Was this simply a tactical blunder or is it a strategic failure with long-term consequences for India, Russia and all those smaller countries in between? Is it in anticipation of this clash that top Russian politicos gave a wide berth to Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister A K Antony when they were in Moscow recently?” Also on the tour were high profile wrestling stars Sonjay Dutt, Jerry Lynn and Steve Corino. Four joshi (women wrestlers) from Quebec and Ontario were also scheduled to appear: Kacey Diamond, the first champion of ALF (Association de Lutte Feminin) the only monthly joshi promotion in Canada; Josianne the Pussycat, a veteran of Carmen Elektra’s Naked Women Wrestling League; respected veteran Misty Haven, wife of Ontario’s Michael Von Payton; and Portia Perez. Former International Wrestling Syndicate Canadian Champion, Dan Paysan was also booked on the tour, scheduled to feud with Sonjay Dutt as the masked “Mr. India” All of the wrestlers are staying at the Hotel Park Plaza in Ludhiana, waiting for their previously scheduled return. In other words, despite the tour being cancelled, the wrestlers are in India for the duration of what would have been the tour. Information from this article was taken from the following: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Wrestle...how/2490978.cms http://www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20071027/edit.htm http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1130105 ******************************** Dan Paysan is scheduled to appear at the next IWS show, November 3rd, Freedom to Fight. The IWS presents: Freedom to Fight, Saturday, November 3rd, 2007 at Bogey’s World Bar & Billiard, 3250 Cremazie Est (corner of Cremazie and St-Michel near the St-Michel metro), Montreal, Quebec, CANADA. Doors open at 7:00 pm, show starts at 8:00 pm, tickets are $20 for VIP, $15 for Regular. 18+, card and times subject to change. For more information go to www.syndicatewrestling.com or e-mail [email protected] . Main Event scheduled to be TNA’a Fallen Angel Christopher Daniels vs. The IWS Canadian Champion Max Boyer.