Phoenix Fury Legdrop

Actual development with the Rave and Assault Squad...yeah, I know, I've been lazy with them. Also, build is coming for a big match for the Great Angle Bash.

First off, I don't know if you've ever seen Nate Webb, but while he is lanky, he isn't that small. He could have more muscle to him, but it's not like he's a tiny person. And one more thing: Ryan Boz in KOTDM? Wow. That's...um, interesting.

I have no clue what happened with the linking of the Powerpoint graphics thingy for the European Rounds match, but here's the link: http://www2.musatcha.com/frigidsoul/OAOAST/eurorules.ppt Oh, and great show. Crystal/Zack rocked my socks off, and Black T/GPX was a triumphant return to PPV for our current tag champs.

I don't know if this is too soon or what, but if anyone doesn't have any plans for their face characters for June, lemme know. I need volunteers for an idea I got.

I definately agree with NateRizzle and Michrome's posts, as Petey is way better than he's been given credit for. I've only seen the Canada/Mexico X Cup, the five or six-way (I forget who all was in it, and therefore the number of workers in it) and his three-way with Jerry Lynn and Juvy, so I can't judge his TNA work based on what I've seen. But, he does not, in any way, suck. In fact, if you want to see him in a really great match designed for spots (much like any TNA X match ever), watch his six-way elimination match against Jimmy Jacobs, Emil Sitoci, Roderick Strong, Nate Webb, and Arik Cannon from IWA's Simply the Best, which was about as smartly worked as a six-man cluster can get.

I've had a problem over the last six months or so where I'll buy a set of blank CD's, and then find out that I can't burn ANY of them since my computer reads them all as not being blank. It's hit-or-miss, as I seem to have to literally try burning a CD with at least one out of each set to see if they're useable. Does anyone know what the fuck is wrong with my computer or the discs or anything?

According to the IWA Message Board "Upcoming Events" section, Sabu vs. Jerry Lynn has been added as a non-tourney match for 5/29, the tag tourney show.

Alongside the Women's Tournament, Ian Rotten announced tonight on the IWA Message Board that it will be, in a six-man elimination match dubbed "Survival of the Stiffest", CM Punk teaming with Samoa Joe and BJ Whitmer to face the team of Chris Hero, B-Boy, and Homicide.

I need the webspace for something else that I'm wanting to do for the Sly/Calvin match at School's Out. I would volunteer to run it, but I don't have the time to update it regularly and such.

Sly Sommers vs. Tom Goran in a demonstration of the European Rules Format match, in preparation for Sly vs. Cal at School's Out.

European Rounds Format Match (12 Rounds): Sly Sommers vs. Calvin Szechstein

My version of Windows didn't come with Powerpoint on it; any clue where I could get the program?

Have these actually happened? If so, that is a REALLY shit show. Yep, October 2002 Intergalatic Wrestling Federation show in Crawfordsville, Indiana. To add to #26, they were also selling Legion of Doom shirts that Dale Gagne's version of the AWA produced.

24. The promotion does two shows at the same gym/armory, and then advertise Ronnie Vegas vs. Bobo Brazil Jr. in a cage match for the next show at the end of the second show. The promotion then doesn't come back for two years, and pulls the EXACT same scam the next time they come back. 25. Your main event heel/booker is wearing the facepaint for the clown gimmick he's doing in the opener, while wearing his usual ring gear as a heel while taking tickets at the front door. 26. Bootlegged WWF/E toys and shirts are sold at the gimmick tables by one of the workers' seven-year-old daughter. 27. Every show opens up with DJ's from the local radio station wrestling either a redneck heel or winning a battle royal. 28. A face challenges a heel to a match, the heel turns it down, and the ring announcer then grabs the mic to announce himself as the "Secret Commissioner" and orders the match to happen right then and there. 29. You have a guy doing a leprechaun gimmick...and he has both a Confederate flag tattoo on his bicep and the deepest Southern accent you've ever heard in your life. 30. You go to a show with a TLC match advertised...and they end up using one ladder, one table, a trash can, three plungers, and a stop sign. 31. One of the faces gets so mad that everyone's not paying attention to his match that he leaves the ring mid-sequence, grabs the mic, and attempts to get a "Peter Pan" chant started to get heat. Thing is, the heel that he's accusing to look like Peter Pan is a 40-something, skullet-owning three-toothed redneck. 32. You waste your money on a show promoted by Ronnie Vegas.

Skittage to set up for Sly's PPV European Rounds format match. Btw, I'm pretty sure I got another obligation again this Thursday, so whoever wants to post, please volunteer. I'd appreciate it.

"You've Got the Touch (w/ HUSS! Intro)" by Sam Bush (Jimmy Jacobs) "Teenage Dirtbag" by Wheatus ("Spyder" Nate Webb) "Another Body Murdered (w/ Godzilla Intro)" by Faith No More (Samoa Joe) "The Right Stuff" by New Kids on the Block (G-Rated (Sal Rinauro & Seth Delay back in their "Kid Xctasy and Kid Kool" days))

I hadn't heard that being an affiliate lets you avoid the new NWA booking hassles. Plus, I've already heard horror stories of NWA affiliates booking AJ for shows, and then Bob Ryder pulling him off to do an un-affiliated show. Also, Ian and Behrens had been working together without Ian being a member since November.

I went to both shows, but due to exhaustion and such, I'm just going to give some general notes instead of an entire review of both nights: - Ian stopping the KOTDM didn't seem like a popular decision to the crowds both nights, but I honestly think it's a smart one. With the direction that IWA's going in, a yearly deathmatch tournament will just throw everything off-kelter. Also, I was quite disappointed when Ian announced that IWA-MS is the newest NWA member. Basically, being an NWA member entails that you pay some outrageous number each year for a title belt, some crappy t-shirts in your merch stand, and the right to call yourself "NWA (whatever)", which doesn't draw a dime. - Morat Posphorus is someone to look out for. When I first saw him come out in Lafayette, I thought to myself that this guy didn't look like he'd be too good. But, once that bell rang, he showed some really impressive stuff. I hope he's in IWA for awhile. - Petey Williams and his Canadian Destroyer (front-flip piledriver) are over like a motherf-cker in IWA. The move got the biggest pop of the night in Lafayette, and the crowd nearly turned Nigel McGuinness heel due to the outright support of Petey in Highland. Speaking of the Petey/Nigel match, it was really, really awesome. Petey tried using the Sharpshooter on Nigel four times, but figured out the fourth time that Nigel had found a way to apply himself so that he wouldn't have to tap to it like he did when Petey beat him in the series, so he moved on from it. The Canadian Destroyer out of nowhere was an amazing finish to the match. - I didn't think that the European Rounds match in Lafayette was as fun as the first one, but then again, I don't like Chad Collyer nearly as much as I like Chris Hero. They didn't seem to try and get the crowd into it that often. However, I will give them points on a creative finish. - Samoa Joe murdered the hell out of Arik Cannon and Steve Stone this weekend. To put it simply: if you like watching guys getting beaten to a pulp, Joe's matches this weekend are for you. To give credit where credit is due, both guys got in some pretty good shots on Joe, but once you watch the matches, all you will remember is Joe killing them. - The women's tag match on the first night blew away the ODB/Angel Williams match on Saturday. Mickie is so far ahead of most rookies that it's scary. The angle after the tag match where it took Nate Webb and Petey Williams to get Rain and Lacey out of the ring, as well as Rain being fearless enough to slap Ian Rotten, helped the women storyline cred-wise in IWA as much as the big Allison Danger/Daizee Haze pull-apart at "A Matter of Pride" where it took the entire roster to get them apart instead of the usual four referees. - Red didn't pull out as much of the flippy stuff as he used to, but he still was really good on both nights. I thought he clicked with Aries a lot better than he did with Matt, but neither match was nowhere near not being good. - Speaking of Matt, the Delirious/Sydal-B-Boy/Homicide tag match on Friday was incredible. The basis of the match was that B-Boy and Homicide came in to beat the hell out of a couple of guys and qualify in the tournament, while Sydal and Delirious used their speed and agility to avoid being pounded as much as often. Homicide plastering Delirious in the middle of his weird "twirling the opponent's arm in armbar position" thing was hilarious. Delirious didn't mind dying in this match, between taking some stiff-as-hell forearms from both opponents, as well as the running bootscrape and facelift double-team that left his mouth bloody. - I didn't really find BJ Whitmer's matches on either night to be as impressive as the other stuff. BJ can put on some really good stuff when he wants to, but for one reason or another, couldn't put it together this weekend. - Dunn and Marcos coming out during Ian's opening speech in Highland was the mark-out moment of forever for me. I'm about as big of a mark for those two as it comes, and seeing them in person was awesome. Ian's reaction to those two ("Do you two always drive tens of hours to shows that you aren't booked on?") was tremendous as well. Boz & Bradley ended up murdering them in the tag match after a spurt of really cool fast-paced double-team moves, but it was a really fun murder. - The four-way tag match from Saturday was really fun as well. I was wishing that Nate would have come out with Mister ZERO, seeing as if the four guys that came out before Nate were all Chikara-based. Icarus took a beating with some brutal, brutal chops and his chest really showed it. The Wildcards were a riot, hiding behind people in the bleachers during the ring introductions so that the other six wouldn't think that they were there (DP: "Ladies and gentlemen...the WILDCARDS!" Kingston: "We're not here! Shut up!") Eddie Venom didn't impress that much in the two Lafayette matches I saw him in (Friday night, and the January show), but he was pretty good here. He brought the stiffness, as did Kingston, Ian, and Stone. The dive sequence, ending with Kingston suplexing Ian over the top rope and onto the other six, was great. - Homicide/Hero was really awesome, as expected. The dickwads who apparantly came just to get themselves over by "being clever" and booing/chanting crap at Hero were so obviously ignorant that it wasn't even funny (though Hat telling them to "Shut the fuck up!" was tremendous). It was a bit slower-paced than their KOTDM match, but still really great nontheless. Overall, both shows were really great and once again, you'd be crazy to pass them up when SMV releases them. One last note: I'd like to pass on condolences to the family of Ian Rotten. Ian announced over the mic after his match with Danny Daniels on Friday that his grandmother had passed away.

Reminder: Everything needs to be sent in to me by 5 PM Central Time tomorrow. Thank you.

Going by the ones I've seen... Delirious Character-wise, he's a combination of Sabu, the Missing Link, and a science experiment gone wrong. Work-wise, he can do just about everything. I've seen him have some really awesome spot-based matches with Matt Sydal, and I've also seen him hang on the mat with Chad Collyer and Nigel McGuinness. Strengths: One of the most versatile guys on the indies today, can work any style asked of him; he has enough charisma and a wacky enough gimmick that he doesn't have too many problems getting over in new places. Weaknesses: No real complaints about his actual work, but the gimmick only seems to work as a face. I haven't seen any of his Gateway stuff, though I am soon; but from what I've seen of him in Wildside and IWA, he's funny and entertaining as a face, and kind of annoying as a heel. Scorpio Sky I've only seen his stuff from Bad Ass Mother 3000 and Are You Adequately Prepared to Rock?, but he seems like a fun lucha-style worker. I haven't seen him work much US-style psychology. It doesn't mean that he can't, just that I haven't seen him do any. Super Dragon He works US-indy strong style, combined with an occasional lucha spot here and there. He's as intimidating as a pudgy, short guy wearing pajamas gets. Strengths: He gets his point across very well when he's on, and is really good at the bully role in a match. Weaknesses: His stiff strikes and beatings come across like senseless beatings for the sake of senseless beatings sometimes; seems to half-ass a lot. Brad Bradley He works a very large, mean monster-type style. He also has one of the more superstar-like looks on the indies, as he really is quite the large man. Strengths: The more athletic of the two in his tag team; wrestles like a man his size should (sounds silly, but nowadays on the indies, you got a lot of guys Bradley's size wanting to work like they're 5'6 and under 200 pounds, or junior heavyweights wanting to be monsters) Weaknesses: When in singles matches, he seems more move-based and not necessarily story-based; in-ring personality can be a little bland at times. Never seen Babi Slymm; only seen one Joey Ryan match. Steve Stone He can work the current US-indy style, and has had some really great matches against both Danny Daniels and Chris Hero, but he's more apt for brawling, which he's getting to be excellent at. Strengths: Great at being a face; brings a higher energy to his brawling than a lot of guys Weaknesses: Not too great as a heel; can get carried away with his strikes during offense (just ask Skeeter Frost or Zack Gowan, hehe) Never seen O'Doyle.

BJ usually is, but it seems like he hasn't worked a single show since winning the belt, save for jobbing to Samoa Joe at Simply the Best. B-Boy's actually booked on more upcoming shows than Whitmer, it looks like, so I wouldn't be surprised to see a title switch.

Update on this weekend's shows...and not a good one: (from the IWA-MS Message Board)

Using my good pal Jason's style descriptions... Messiah Traditionally wrestles a hardcore, ECW-type style while doing occassional deathmatches. However, I have seen him tech it up on a couple of occassions. -Strengths: ECW-style brawling, one of the more adaptable indy deathmatch guys in America. -Weaknesses: Haven't really seen him be able to carry anyone. Matt Sydal Highflyer, looks like AJ Styles if you shrunk him a bit more. In terms of wrestling, he's also like AJ Styles Jr. (Tom's note: he looks more like an Osmond brother from the neck up than AJ, imo) Strengths: Has unreal agility; really inventive worker (not in the Nova way), heck of a babyface; doesn't go back and repeat his (rare) complicated botched spots like a lot of indy guys seem to do Weaknesses: He literally reeks of "babyface", and if he ever turns heel in IWA, ROH, or Wildside, I think he'd have to do a hell of a lot to get the crowd against him...and that's just about it. Austin Aries Another highflyer, pretty adaptable, had a bunch of really fun matches with Nate Webb, Danny Daniels and Jimmy Jacobs in IWA:MS. Stood out at the 2004 Super 8 apparently. (Tom's note: I think we can say that Sydal is AJ Jr. circa his 2001 work, and Aries is AJ Jr. circa his current work.) -Strengths: Again, very adaptable when it comes to who he works. On two back-to-back shows, I saw him have a pretty good match with Brad Bradley, and then a really good match with Matt Sydal, both matches utilizing a different style (Bradley/Aries being underdog vs. small guy; Sydal/Aries being limbwork and big moves) -Weaknesses: In a way, he works too much like AJ Styles. He doesn't rip off AJ's spots or anything, but he has the same build as AJ, carries himself a lot like AJ, and does a lot of his moves like I would imagine AJ would do them. That might eventually work against him. "The Tremendous" Emil Sitoci He's very much like Chris Hero, if Hero did a lot more of the high-paced arm-drag/dropkick Southern pretty-boy babyface style. Sitoci's really great at being a face, and you can tell a lot of Hero's influence in him via occasional wacky Euro mat-trips and the ultimate happy. yet underdog babyface style that he works. Strengths: Tremendous babyface, no pun intended; moves around the ring like someone well beyond his experience level (and I'm not trying to stereotype my Dutch friends, but I doubt he's gotten near the type of experience there since 2001 that he's gotten since coming to the US in November 2003); looks like he actually has potential to be something amazing in the near-future, unlike a lot of the other guys who get pimped as having "potential", and then bombing Weaknesses: Like Sydal, I can't see him being too great of a heel due to how good of a babyface he is. Chris Cash: The best student of the CZW Wrestling Academy, has tremendous energy and in-ring charisma, trademark match is the ladder match. -Strengths: Can bump like a maniac -Weaknesses: I've never seen him have an actual good match, much like the rest of the CZW Training School students (though I heard Joker carried his own and had a good match with Jimmy Rave at "In Da Club"). Ryan Boz Older vet of the Midwest indy scene. Good power wrestler, has found a nice niche with Brad Bradley. Looks like Hulk Hogan if Hulk was less orange and had more hair. (Tom's note: that look encourages the "Hogan!" yells from many people in the crowd, in which Boz will sometimes play into, and do a Hogan mock routine) -Strengths: Seems to be able to put together a regular match better than his partner Bradley; weird charisma about him that I think you can usually pick up live much better than on tape Weaknesses- Boz only looks old in the face, but that's still a big damper when it comes to upward movement on the indy scene; Bradley works better as a monster killer. Nick Gage: The upper-midcard mainstay of CZW. Incredible impact moves- chokebreaker, brainbuster...execution is very crisp. Works well as part of the H8 Club tag team. Strengths: Like Messiah, a very adaptable deathmatch worker. -Weaknesses: Isn't a great seller; doesn't look like the type of guy to be doing his "monster-style" stuff; not the greatest look Adam Pearce: Made his name in the midwest before making his way to SoCal, working for APW-LA, PWG and other feds. Great at both the old-school Memphis brawl and the new-age hardcore brawl. Cuts a pretty good promo. -Strengths: Really good brawler; great at the legit old-school style (not what Steve Corino wants you to perceive as "old school"); can carry a lesser talent really well -Weaknesses: Like Jay said, he works a style opposite from a lot of SoCal guys, and even indy workers in general, today.

About Heenan...notice that Ian has no hardcore booked for 5/8. He's allowed to book hardcore in Highland, and often does hardcore in Highland (other than thumbtacks after someone complained about Necro Butcher throwing them wildly during a thumbtack match in December and some landing in the crowd). But, it looks as if he's not choosing to do the one-off deathmatch this month to pay respect and impress Heenan. Either way, I'll be marking out huge on Saturday at the show. About Joe's challenge...I could see the following scenario taking place: Joe comes out, announces his challenge over the house mic, Hero comes out to answer it, and Ian or Prazak says they cannot wrestle each other until the night of the tag tournament in their non-tournament match. Hero and Joe still want to wrestle, so Ian/Prazak turns around and books them against the debuting Havana Pitbulls. Either that, or Joe beats the crap out of Emil Sitoci to get Emil over like they did with Trik Davis getting killed by Cash Flo. Overall, these shows look really great. I'm honestly surprised that a good-for-nothing craphole like Lafayette gets B-Boy, Homicide, Red, and the Havana Pitbulls. But, I'm thankful for Ian bringing guys like this to Indiana. This weekend looks to be an excellent weekend for independent professional wrestling.

Does anyone know of any good sites where you can customize your own t-shirt, but they don't make you mass-buy the product?