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.

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] .

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] .

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.

When We Were Marks Kevin Steen vs. Takeshi Morishima … It Smells Like Victory! I got contacted on-line the other day by a ROH-bot who knew that I am a friend of Kevin Steen’s and he asked me this really weird question, “What cologne does Kevin Steen wear?” I broke out laughing… because to anyone who knows anything at all about the history of wrestling, especially the history of Quebec wrestling, the answer is obvious. It turned out that the question was merely a set-up for a long and not terribly funny put-down about how Kevin Steen would “stink of fear” in Boston on October 5th when Kevin gets a shot at the ROH title against the monster Takeshi Morishima. The argument being that Kevin Steen has never faced a monster like Morishima and has never been in a match with this much at stake. Naturally, I told him that he was an idiot. First of all, just to spotlight my inner geek, if Abin Sur were to crash land on Earth today, I am pretty sure that Kevin Steen would be wearing the ring and not Hal Jordan or John Stewart or Guy Gardner or Kyle Rayner. I am not entirely certain that Kevin Steen is smart enough to know fear. Which is not to say that Kevin is dumb, just that he has all the common sense of a bag of hammers. To stay on the geek theme, Kevin probably has an Intelligence score of 15 or 16, but his Wisdom score is about a three. He would make a lousy cleric. More to the point, not only has Kevin Steen fought AND BEATEN monsters like Morishima in the past, Kevin Steen has also fought for the ROH title before. In fact, before ever setting foot in ROH, Kevin Steen had already fought for the ROH title TWICE! Admittedly, the first time that Kevin Steen fought for the ROH title is a match not without some controversy, and there are many who do not recognize it as an official ROH title match. In July 2004, respected Montreal wrestler and trainer, Mark le Grizzly organized a spot show called Mid-Summer Madness. His special guest: then ROH champion Samoa Joe. There was a great deal of scepticism that Mark would be able to pull off this show, so Mark took the precaution of bringing in Samoa Joe early and then filming a video promo that was rushed on to the internet - showing Samoa Joe arriving to Montreal to the tune of “The Champ is Here!” and getting into a stare down with his scheduled opponent: IWS and EWR champion Kevin Steen. When the match started, Samoa Joe came to the ring with his belt and Kevin Steen came to the ring with his two belts. Kevin claimed the advantage because he had two belts to Samoa Joe’s one, but Joe retorted that his belt was worth more than both of Kevin’s combined. Conventional wisdom says that there is a game plan to beating a monster like Samoa Joe… or Morishima. Call it the “Life of Brian” strategy: run like hell and hope that the monster has a heart attack. Or that the monster gets frustrated and makes a mistake that you can capitalize on. Kevin Steen does not believe in conventional wisdom. I am not entirely certain that Kevin has a reverse gear and on July 2nd, 2004 he proved it - by walking up to Samoa Joe and spitting in the Samoan’s eye. I am not going to lie to you, on that night Kevin Steen paid dearly for his impudence. Samoa Joe beat Kevin Steen like a dog. Only, the thing of it is, he may have beat Steen physically, but he never broke Steen’s spirit and he never pinned Steen and he never made Steen tap. To break out the wrestling cliché, Samoa Joe was ahead on points, but every time he knocked Steen down, Kevin surprised him by getting back up and taking the fight right to the Samoan. In the end, Samoa Joe may have had the advantage, but he could not beat Kevin Steen and the two men fought to a twenty minute draw. (Franky the Mobster and Chase Ironside prevented a definitive conclusion to that match when they crashed the show complaining that Kevin Steen did not deserve to be facing Samoa Joe for the ROH title, that other more deserving Quebec wrestling veterans should get the chance first. Kevin Steen and Samoa Joe teamed up on the spot to face Franky and Chase, beating them as a team.) The point is that in that match, Kevin always had a puncher’s chance of winning. Need proof? More than a year later, on November 18th, 2005, Kevin Steen successfully defended his PWG title in California… against Samoa Joe. Samoa Joe is not the first man to underestimate Kevin Steen, nor the last to be surprised by Kevin Steen’s resilience and courage. The list of his conquests is distinguished: Pierre Carl Ouellet, Christopher Daniels, A. J. Styles, Alex Shelley, Petey Williams, Super Dragon, Roderick Strong, Chris Hero, Mike Quackenbush, Necro Butcher, Davey Richards, Chris Sabin, Matt Sydal… to name just a few. The second time that Kevin Steen fought for the ROH title was in another Marc le Grizzly show, January 22nd, 2005: New Year’s Madness. This time, the title defence was officially recognized by ROH. To earn the chance to face Austin Aries, all Kevin Steen had to do was beat Samoa Joe, and El Generico, and Kevin’s long time Quebec rival, perhaps the best pure wrestler in all of Canada: EXesS. Kevin fought his way past all three to get his shot at Austin Aries. He did not beat Austin Aries that night, the ROH champion having the advantage of only wrestling once on the show, but Kevin Steen pushed him to the very brink. Afterwards, as Austin Aries packed to go home, the rattled champion asked Samoa Joe, “Who the fuck is this Kevin Steen kid?” Samoa Joe chuckled and replied, “I told you that the son of a bitch could wrestle.” Austin Aries is not the first star to rescue a victory from the jaws of defeat against Kevin Steen and wonder afterwards what the hell just happened as their easy night got inexplicably hard… and stiff. Steve Corino, Ian Rotten and Jerry Lynn could all tell stories of facing someone whose name they barely knew and finishing the evening feeling lucky to have escaped with the win. I have been watching Kevin Steen for a long time and if there is a secret to his success it is this: Kevin Steen truly believes that he can beat anyone in the world. In fact, I am fairly confident that right now Kevin truly believes that it his not his job to prove that he can beat Takeshi Morishima and win the ROH title. Actually, I can confirm that that is exactly what he believes. He just hung up on me - he was cutting a promo on me over the phone, “Yeah, Morishima is a Japanese monster. Sure, he’s Godzilla. But you have to understand, I’m Kevin Steen, I’m King Fucking Kong. And maybe I never watched that dumb movie all the way to the end, but I know that King Kong beats Godzilla every single God-damn time!” As far as Kevin Steen is concerned, on October 5th, in Boston, it will be Morishima’s job to prove that he can beat Kevin Steen. Oh and that cologne that Kevin Steen will be wearing? It is the traditional cologne of Quebec wrestling champions, of course. Rick Martel may have brewed the initial batch, but today his successor is Kevin Steen. And Kevin Steen? Kevin Steen wears Arrogance. ****************************** Kevin Steen Career Highlights • February 6, 2004 - EWR: Kevin Steen defeated Excess 69 and Kevin Martel in a 3-WAY to become the first EWR Champion! • April 10, 2004 - EWR Revolution 1.0: Kevin Steen defeated The Fallen Angel Christopher Daniels. • May 18th, 2004 – CWE: Jerry Lynn beat Kevin Steen. • June 15, 2004 - IWS V: Kevin Steen defeated Excess 69 in a #1 Contenders match. • ~~~Later that night, Kevin Steen defeated El Generico to win the IWS Heavyweight title. • July 2, 2004 - Marc Le Grizzly's Mid Summer Madness: Kevin Steen fought Samoa Joe to a twenty minute draw. • ~~~Later that night, Samoa Joe & Kevin Steen beat Chase Ironside & Franky the Mobster. • August, 28, 2004 - IWS: Kevin Steen beat PCO to retain the IWS Heavyweight title. • October 30, 2004 - JAPW Halloween Hell: Kevin Steen defeated Roderick Strong to retain the IWS Heavyweight title. • November 6, 2004 - EWR Elite 8: Steve Corino defeated Kevin Steen. • January 22, 2005 - New Year's Madness 2: Kevin Steen defeated Excess & El Generico & Samoa Joe to earn a ROH Title shot. • ~~~Later that night, Austin Aries defeated Kevin Steen to retain the Ring of Honor title. • March 12, 2005 - PWG: Kevin Steen beat El Generico and Christopher Daniels and AJ Styles in a 4-WAY. • March 15, 2005 - Zero-One: Kevin Steen beat Takashi Sasaki • April 2, 2005 - PWG: Kevin Steen defeated Jonny Storm. • May 14, 2005 - CZW: Kevin Steen defeated Chris Hero • July 10, 2005 - PWG: Kevin Steen defeated Super Dragon. • August 6, 2005 - PWG: Kevin Steen defeated AJ Styles to win the PWG Heavyweight title! • August 6, 2005 - CZW: Kevin Steen defeated Franky the Mobster to win the CZW Iron Man title! • September 2, 2005 - WAR: Kevin Steen defeated Davey Richards. • September 3, 2005--PWG: Kevin Steen defeated Super Dragon. • September 24, 2005 - IWA Mid South: Kevin Steen defeated Mike Quackenbush. • October 1, 2005 - PWG: Kevin Steen defeated Chris Bosh. • October 14, 2005 - PWG: Kevin Steen won a three-way over Chris Bosh and A.J. Styles. • October 28, 2005 - UWA: Kevin Steen beat Alex Shelley. • November 5, 2005 - EWR Elite 8: Kevin Steen defeated Petey Williams to win Elite 8 Tournament and the EWR title. • November 18, 2005 - PWG: Kevin Steen defeated Samoa Joe to retain the PWG Heavyweight title. • November 19, 2005 - PWG: Kevin Steen defeated Chris Bosh to retain the PWG Heavyweight title. • December 10, 2005 - CZW: Kevin Steen defeated Chris Sabin to retain the Iron Man title. • March 11, 2006 - CZW: Kevin Steen defeated Super Dragon to retain the Iron Man title. • April 1, 2006 - IWA Mid South: Ian Rotten defeated "Mr. Wrestling" Kevin Steen.. • September 1, 2006 - PWG: Kevin Steen defeated Matt Sydal. • April 7, 2007 - PWG: Kevin Steen defeated Jack Evans. • April 8, 2007 - PWG: Kevin Steen defeated Joey "Magnum" Ryan. • April 13, 2007 - ROH: Kevin Steen defeated Pelle Primeau. • April 14, 2007 - ROH: Kevin Steen & El Generico (Steenerico) defeated Jay Briscoe & Erick Stevens when El Generico pinned MARK Briscoe. • May 11, 2007 - ROH: Steenerico defeated Jason Blade & Eddie Edwards. • May 12, 2007 - ROH: Steenerico defeated Irish Airborne and Adam Pearce & Jimmy Rave and Pelle Primeau & Mitch Franklin. • May 20, 2007 - PWG: Kevin Steen defeated Ronin in Burbank, California. • June 8, 2007 - ROH: Kevin Steen defeated Mark Briscoe with a Package Piledriver. • June 9, 2007 - ROH: Steenerico defeated Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw. • June 22, 2007 - ROH: Steenerico defeated Irish Airborne (Dave & Jake Crist). • June 29, 2007 - PWG: Steenerico beat PAC & Roderick Strong to win the PWG Tag Team titles. • August 10, 2007 - ROH: Steenerico defeated The Briscoe Brothers in a Street Fight in a Non-title match.. • August 11, 2007 - ROH: Kevin Steen defeated Jay Briscoe in a Lights Out match • August 31, 2007 - PWG: Steenerico defeated Dragon Kid & Susumu Yokosuka.

Our latest Bloodstream can be found here: http://syndicatewrestling.com/bloodstream/0707/bs0709.wmv ****************************************** PWI names 21 Quebeckers to PWI 500 Including 16 IWS Regulars With IWS Blood, Sweat and Beers at the Medley merely days away, the wrestling bible, Pro Wrestling Illustrated, released its annual list of the best 500 wrestlers on the planet this week, the PWI 500. Quebec had a record number of wrestlers on the list, 21, including 16 International Wrestling Syndicate regulars. Recognized for their wrestling ability were the following: Kevin Steen (IWS), El Generico (IWS), Sylvan Grenier, Max Boyer (IWS), Viking (IWS), Jake Matthews (IWS), Dru Onyx (IWS), Sexxxy Eddy (IWS), Dan Paysan (IWS), Franky the Mobster (IWS), Bishop, Beef Wellington (IWS) (not the deceased Bif Wellington of Calgary), Player Uno (IWS), Chakal, Jagged (IWS), Tank, Justin White (IWS), MVP (Ottawa’s Michael Von Payton not the WWE’s MVP, both made the list), Pierre Carl Ouellet (IWS), Shayne Hawke (IWS), and Shane Matthews (IWS). Being named one of the top 500 wrestlers in the world is always an honour, but this year more Quebeckers made the list than ever have before. In fact according to Pat Laprade, editor of the Quebec Wrestling Almanac, 21 Quebeckers on the PWI 500 more than doubles the best showing by Quebec on the list and even that would be going back to the mid 90s when the PWI 500 was still young. So how do we celebrate this recognition that some of the best wrestlers in the world come from La Belle Province, something which most of us knew, but that the world is just starting to recognize? Let me suggest two ways: First, go out and buy a copy of the PWI 500 magazine. Its official release date is June 25th, but it can be found now on the shelves of most large magazine stores. If nothing else it makes a great autograph book. Even a confirmed psycho grump like “Paranoid” Jake Matthews can probably be persuaded to sign the magazine that lists his name as one of the best in the world. Secondly, come see IWS Blood, Sweat and Beers this Saturday. Scheduled to wrestle are 14 of the 21 Quebeckers who made the PWI 500 list. In addition, Team 3D, the team formerly known as the Dudleyz, will be appearing, as well as the Briscoe Brothers who are invading Canada to get some payback on Team Steenerico (Kevin Steen and El Generico) who have been making their lives miserable all over the Northeast. Needless to say, all four of those men are on the PWI 500. My math is a little rusty, but 14 plus 4 equals 18, which begs the question why my boss, PCP Crazy F’N Manny is bragging that he is going to try and push the number of PWI 500 members at Blood, Sweat and Beers up to an even 20? We have always bragged at the IWS that the best wrestlers in the world show up for our Medley shows. This time around, we have proof. ****************************************** IWS Blood, Sweat and Beers 2007 Card: Saturday, September 22nd, 2007 Medley, 1170 St-Denis (corner Rene Levesque) Metro Berri-UQAM Montreal, Quebec, CANADA IWS Hardcore Match for the IWS Title: IWS Champion Viking vs. IWS Owner PCP Crazy F’N Manny Special Attraction: TNA’s Team 3-D (Brother Ray and Brother Devon) and Franky the Mobster vs. Pierre Carl Ouellet and “Paranoid” Jake Matthews and Brick Crawford Cross Border Feud of the Year Match: Steenerico (El Generico and Kevin Steen) vs. The Briscoe Brothers (Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe) Ladder Match for the IWS Canadian Title: IWS Canadian Champion Max Boyer vs. EXesS vs. Jimmy K vs. Kid Kamikaze IWS Tag Team Title Match: IWS Tag Team Champions 2.0 (Shane Matthews and Jagged) vs. The Super Smash Brothers (Stupefied and Player Uno) Grudge Match: The Green Phantom vs. Sexxxy Eddy Inter-Gender War: Damian vs. Lufisto Tag Team Turmoil: Madkastle (Dru Onyx and Justin White) vs. SLI 2007 (Fred la Merveille and Kenny the Bastard) vs. Twiggy and a Mystery Partner ****************************************** The full preview for the show can be found here: http://the-w.com/thread.php/id=33695 IWS Blood, Sweat and Beers 2007. It promises to be the wrestling party of the year. The Hardcore Soldiers of the IWS are all invited. Bring friends. Blow their puny little minds clear off. ****************************************** The International Wrestling Syndicate proudly presents Blood, Sweat and Beers 2007 Saturday, September 22nd 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 future shows: November 3rd, 2007 Freedom to Fight at Bogey’s December 1st, 2007 Season’s Beatings at Bogey’s January 26th, 2008 Praise the Violence at the Medley Tickets for all three shows will be on sale during Blood, Sweat and Beers. We do plugs department I have just under TEN VIP tickets left. If you want them email me at [email protected] or call me at my office (Monday to Friday 11-6) 514.285.4591 Also, I have been writing my Strong Style Typings, brief profiles of the matches here: http://the-w.com/thread.php/id=33663 (More will be added the closer that we get to the Medley.) Matt Fortune would like you to know that his web-site is http://www.fortunevideoediting.com/ And that you can now order the five thousand hour epic Kevin Steen shoot interview from him. (OK really it’s 2 ½ hours. That boy has a mouth on him though.) For some strange reason, Matt would also like you to know that you will also be able to order it from Mike Burns at Smart Mark Video. Mind you, not to take any money out of Mike Burns' pocket, but Matt Fortune desperately needs a new wardrobe and to get laid, so buy it from Matt Fortune mmmm-kkkaaaay! (Yes, I can speak with some authority about the need to get laid. I recognize Matt’s desperate thousand yard stare from my own mirror, thanks.) Non-Wrestling Plug the One: You can read my reviews of the films that played at the 2007 Fantasia Film Fest here: http://the-w.com/thread.php/id=33250 Non-Wrestling Plug the Two. The film festival that I was organizing the YoungCuts Film Festival had a very successful run at Cinema du Parc August 16th to 23rd. Thanks for asking. I am working at getting the majority of the one hundred films on line for you to see at www.YoungCuts.com Our DVDs for each show are released through www.smartmarkvideo.com. Our best selling release of 2007 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

Team 3D and Franky the Mobster Will Make Three at the Medley Blood, Sweat and Beers September 22nd, 2007 in Montreal What are the ingredients for a show that you know will be great in advance? Take a promotion with a history of delivering the goods: the International Wrestling Syndicate in Montreal. Prepare a great venue: the beautiful downtown Medley where the IWS has never had a bad show. Hell, never had a show that was less than great. Invite a Special Guest: TNA’s Team 3D (formerly known as the Dudley Boyz). Mix in the Feud of the Year: the Briscoe Brothers vs. Montreal’s own Steenerico (Kevin Steen and El Generico). Toss in a Hardcore Main Event with two men known for taking stupid amounts of punishment: IWS Champion Viking and IWS Owner, PCP Crazy F’N Manny. Put every title on the line. Add Ladders. Have two stars return from injury: Lufisto and Dru Onyx. Include all the regular IWS maniacs. Invite the Hardcore Soldiers of the IWS. And tell the world: It’s Blood, Sweat and Beers 2007. It serves a thousand. Order your piece now, before it’s too late. ****************************************** IWS Blood, Sweat and Beers 2007 Card: Saturday, September 22nd, 2007 Medley, 1170 St-Denis (corner Rene Levesque) Metro Berri-UQAM Montreal, Quebec, CANADA IWS Hardcore Match for the IWS Title: IWS Champion Viking vs. IWS Owner PCP Crazy F’N Manny Special Attraction: TNA’s Team 3-D (Brother Ray and Brother Devon) and Franky the Mobster vs. Pierre Carl Ouellet and “Paranoid” Jake Matthews and Brick Crawford Cross Border Feud of the Year Match: Steenerico (El Generico and Kevin Steen) vs. The Briscoe Brothers (Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe) Ladder Match for the IWS Canadian Title: IWS Canadian Champion Max Boyer vs. EXesS vs. Jimmy K vs. Kid Kamikaze IWS Tag Team Title Match: IWS Tag Team Champions 2.0 (Shane Matthews and Jagged) vs. The Super Smash Brothers (Stupefied and Player Uno) Grudge Match: The Green Phantom vs. Sexxxy Eddy Inter-Gender War: Damian vs. Lufisto Tag Team Turmoil: Madkastle (Dru Onyx and Justin White) vs. SLI 2007 (Fred la Merveille and Kenny the Bastard) vs. Twiggy and a Mystery Partner ****************************************** IWS Blood, Sweat and Beers 2007 Preview They are the most decorated tag team in history: nine times WWE Tag Team Champions, eight times ECW tag team champions, and WCW Tag Team Champions as the Dudley Boyz, as well as Tag Team Champions of NWA, TNA and Japan’s Hustle as Team 3-D. And now they are coming to Montreal and they will wrestle for the International Wrestling Syndicate at the Medley in a team with Franky the Mobster against Manny’s Mastodons, the most fearsome group of heavyweights ever assembled in Quebec: Three time WWF tag team champion, veteran of WWF, WCW, ECW and Japan, Pierre Carl Ouellet and his partners, the shovel-waving maniac “Paranoid” Jake Matthews and Brick Crawford. Franky the Mobster will be looking for revenge after being put though a table by these monsters at IWS Hardcore Heat 2007, but he also has to worry about watching his back. Is IWS Owner PCP Crazy F’N Manny flying in Brother Ray and Brother Devon so that PCO can prove that he is still one of the best heavyweights in the world? Or will Franky the Mobster find himself double-crossed by Team 3-D, who are after all being paid by Manny? Will Brother Ray be yelling, “Franky! Get the tables!” or will he be putting Franky through a table? (Of course on the other side of the equation, how reliable do PCO and Brick Crawford consider “Paranoid” Jake Matthews to be? After going bell to bell in the main event of Hardcore Heat 2007, the eight man “Bastard child of Survivor Series and War Games” match, Jake shook the winner of the match (Kevin Steen)’s hand. Only the influence of Jake’s wife and manager, Lollypop, kept Jake from turning on Manny then and there. The hall of mirrors question is: Can Manny and PCO and Brick Crawford trust Jake Matthews? And even twistier: Can the man known as “Paranoid” Jake Matthews trust Manny and PCO and Brick Crawford to trust him?) Team 3D may be the best tag team of our generation. The best tag team on the North American independent wrestling scene just might be a team from Quebec going by the odd moniker of Steenerico: Kevin Steen and El Generico. They have made their name and reputation by crossing the border and invading the territory of Jay and Mark Briscoe, the Briscoe Brothers. That feud has become the feud of 2007, helping to sell-out arenas all over the place. Now the Briscoes have been given a chance to cross back over the border and to invade Kevin Steen and El Generico’s turf and to inflict a beating on these hometown heroes in their backyard. I did not understand why the Briscoes demanded that we jack up the air conditioning in the Medley on September 22nd. We thought it an odd request, until they explained that “Revenge is a dish best served cold!” More than a year ago at Breakout 2006, Manny fast counted to give EXesS a victory over Viking and help EXesS keep his IWS title. Beef Wellington led a walk-out of the fans and staff of the IWS until Manny, in a panic, agreed to restart the match leading to Viking’s victory. In the confusion of the near-riot, the IWS title belt disappeared. Ever since, Manny has refused to pay to make a new belt to put around the waist of a man that he despises, and Manny has done everything in his power to crown a new champion that he could be proud of. Finally, after throwing everything including the kitchen sink at Viking, Manny has decided that if he wants the job done right, he will have to do it himself. The irony is that what Manny sees when he looks at Viking is a younger, Frencher version of himself: a brawling, beer-swilling, drug-hazed madman willing to do anything and everything in and out of the ring to win. I need to warn people: this will not be a wrestling match. Manny was never much for wrestling even before El Generico retired him at Blood, Sweat and Beers 2002. And like Manny, Viking is more partial to chairs than chain wrestling; more interested in arms meaning weapons than arm bars; more likely to inflict head shots than head locks. No, this will not be a mat wrestling classic, this is going to be a war. You want Blood? You want Sweat? You definitely want Beers! This match will have your fill of all three. Also defending his title at the Medley will be IWS Canadian Champion, Max Boyer. Already known as one of the best pure wrestlers in Canada, Max wants to prove that he is a complete wrestler and in order to do that, Max has asked to defend his title in a ladder match. You don’t get much tougher than his opponents: the young, fearless IWS rookie, Jimmy K; a veteran of every IWS ladder match at the Medley, and former IWS Canadian Champion, Kid Kamikaze; and the most hated wrestler in Quebec, EXesS. The Baby Oil Bully did not qualify for this match the way the other three men did by beating someone in a qualifying match. (In fact, Maxime Boyer beat EXesS at Hardcore Heat 2007 in his qualifying match.) EXesS demanded his place in this match, threatening to ruin the match for the fans if he was refused. He may not come into the match with momentum, but EXesS may be the most dangerous man in the fight, having won every title in the IWS but the Canadian title and with a ruthless streak a mile long and a ladder high. The Dukes of Delusion, 2.0, Jagged and Shane Matthews are putting their titles on the line at the Medley as well. They would like to reassure their fans that there is no way that the Super Smash Brothers, Player Uno and Stupefied are walking out with the belts, despite the fact that the Super Smash Brothers just beat Up in Smoke, Cheech and Cloudy, at Hardcore Heat 2007, a team that beat 2.0 earlier this year during the Candido Cup. Explained Jagged, “It’s really very simple. We had no desire to face Up In Smoke, we freely admit that we blocked that rematch from happening in the IWS, but see Up in Smoke are like PAPER.” Interjected Shane Matthews, “Rolling paper.” Jagged continued, “Exactly. Uno and Stupefied are like SCISSORS, so they cut that PAPER, they beat Cheech and Cloudy. But at the Medley, they are going to find out that me and Shane, we are ROCK. And we are going to break their SCISSORS with our ROCK and then bash our ROCK all over their stupid heads!” One of the most anticipated matches at the Medley will be the one featuring the resident IWS God of War, Damian, going up against the First Lady of Hardcore, Lufisto, in her first match in the IWS since seriously injuring her back late in 2006 and forcing her to take a break from the IWS (and relinquish her CZW Ironman Title) An injury she suffered in a match against Damian, a match she won. So, not that they needed an incentive to turn the violence dial up to eleven, but let’s recap briefly: Lufisto will be looking for revenge for the injury given to her by Damian that put her on the shelf for more than six months, while Damian will be looking for revenge for what he has told me he considers “A humiliating loss. Women have no business being in the same ring as men and they especially have no business beating men in the ring. She ruins the credibility of our business every time she gets in the ring. Well, I will show her some credible strikes. By the time I am finished, she will regret ever thinking that she was the equal to a man.” Two men no strangers to violent confrontations in the IWS are en route to a mid-air collision at Blood, Sweat and Beers 2007: Sexxxy Eddy and the Green Phantom. From the very first days of the IWS at Wally’s Pub, these two men have disliked each other, but their brief run as tag team champions has turned antipathy into hatred and the feud seems to be bringing out the worst of each man. Eddy had a major tantrum at Hardcore Heat 2007 and the Green Phantom is so on edge that when he was featured as a guest on Mitch Melnick’s radio show on Team 990, rather than defending wrestling the way that I spent four hours briefing him to do, he snapped and put Mitch’s co-host Andie Bennett through a table with a pile driver. (You can see that footage here: ) Speaking of YouTube footage, Twiggy has been auditioning for a new partner and you can see his rather dismal choices here: If Twiggy can find himself a partner by September 22nd, he will be allowed to compete in a match featuring the new team of Madkastle (Dru Onyx and Justin White) and the established team of the SLI 2007 (Fred la Merveille and Kenny the Bastard). If it was up to Dru Onyx, Twiggy would be unsuccessful in his quest, not because Onyx has one iota of fear of Twiggy, no matter who his partner is, but because Onyx does not want to be distracted from his goal: putting a hurt on Fred la Merveille for humiliating Onyx’ prize graduate of the Torture Chamber, Justin White, by beating the Superbrat with a dollar store fake hand at Hardcore Heat 2007. As for Fred? He just wants to dance, dance, dance… Course, if I was Fred I would be worrying about the Crazy Dru Onyx walking around with blood in his eye. IWS Blood, Sweat and Beers 2007. It promises to be the wrestling party of the year. The Hardcore Soldiers of the IWS are all invited. Bring friends. Blow their puny little minds clear off. ****************************************** The International Wrestling Syndicate proudly presents Blood, Sweat and Beers 2007 Saturday, September 22nd 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] . We do plugs department I have just under thirty VIP tickets left. If you want them email me at [email protected] or call me at my office (Monday to Friday 11-6) 514.285.4591 Also, I have been writing my Strong Style Typings, brief profiles of the matches here: http://the-w.com/thread.php/id=33663 (More will be added the closer that we get to the Medley.) Stay tuned to www.syndicatewrestling.com for Bloodstream coming soon. Matt Fortune would like you to know that his web-site is http://www.fortunevideoediting.com/ And that you can now order the five thousand hour epic Kevin Steen shoot interview from him. (OK really it’s 2 ½ hours. That boy has a mouth on him though.) For some strange reason, Matt would also like you to know that you will also be able to order it from Mike Burns at Smart Mark Video. Mind you, not to take any money out of Mike Burns' pocket, but Matt Fortune desperately needs a new wardrobe and to get laid, so buy it from Matt Fortune mmmm-kkkaaaay! (Yes, I can speak with some authority about the need to get laid. I recognize Matt’s desperate thousand yard stare from my own mirror, thanks.) Non-Wrestling Plug the One: You can read my reviews of the films that played at the 2007 Fantasia Film Fest here: http://the-w.com/thread.php/id=33250 Non-Wrestling Plug the Two. The film festival that I was organizing the YoungCuts Film Festival had a very successful run at Cinema du Parc August 16th to 23rd. Thanks for asking. I am working at getting the majority of the one hundred films on line for you to see at www.YoungCuts.com Our DVDs for each show are released through www.smartmarkvideo.com. Our best selling release of 2007 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

You are entitled to your opinion naturally, but my continuously flooded in-box tends to confirm that there are a lot of indy wrestling fans interested in the promotion started by Sexxxy Eddy, where El Generico made his debut, and where Kevin Steen and Max Boyer first came to the attention of indy wrestling fans. ****************************************** Strong Style Typings: Blood, Sweat and Beers Onyx is Back! Onyx and White = Ebony and Ivory It was never a question of IF, it was always a question of WHEN, and it probably should come as a surprise to absolutely no one that Dru Onyx is leaving his post at the commentary table next to IWS play by play man Mikahail Q. Rotch, Esquire, to lace back up the wrestling boots, nor that he is choosing to do so at the IWS’ biggest show of the year. Onyx has always had a great sense of drama. He has also, always been a man with a great sense (or is that scents?) of opportunity. With the Hardcore Ninjaz banished to Japan on a training sabbatical, the team of Scarred and Sexxxy imploding and 2.0 winning the IWS tag team belts using vulture tactics, there has never been a better chance for someone to enter the IWS and “bring terror to tag team wrestling”, especially given that Dru Onyx was IWS tag team champion and NEVER LOST THE BELTS. His injury forced him to return his share of the belt to his partner The Green Phantom who found himself successfully defending the belts with surprise partner Sexxxy Eddy at Un F’N Sanctioned 2007. What is surprising is who Dru Onyx has chosen as his partner and why he claims that he is making his return. You would think that now that Dru Onyx is healed and ready to go that he would reteam with his former tag team partner, The Green Phantom, but Dru Onyx wants nothing to do with the IWS Hardcore Hero, claiming that his former partner in “Mean and Green”, “has lost what little sanity that he had left. Let’s be honest, in this business, unless you were born in or within spitting distance of Mexico, you wear a mask because you are ugly or because you are crazy or both. Before Phantom got a chunk taken out of his arm and lost the IWS tag team belts at Know Your Enemies 2007, he was just ugly. Now he’s ugly and crazy.” At the risk of actually agreeing with the Lip from Laval on ANYTHING, I should point out that The Green Phantom does not appear that sane in this particular you-tube clip from a recent appearance on a Montreal radio sports show: Dru Onyx has decided to pair with his top student from the Torture Chamber, Justin White aka Superbrat. This does make a lot of sense. They are both former British Commenwealth Champions. They are both veterans of tours of the States and Europe, usually travelling together. Justin White is not just Dru Onyx’ best student, he is his most obsessive. You could almost call Justin, Onyx’ stalker except that Onyx has the sort of ego that welcomes being stalked. Instead of Single White Female it’s Single Black Wrestler! The name of the team is “Madkastle” and here is their team philosophy: Madkastle is simply a state of mind in which one uses insanity as a structured form of fuel to reach all goals and accomplish all dreams. Not a physical place, but an ideal using chaos as a spiritual foundation to reinforce a barrier of superiority and arrogance in which extreme force of will is applied. Madkastle’s mentality is the application of negative energy manipulated in a positive way. One simple thought embraced by a selected few. Anarchy; mayhem; destruction; terror; strength in numbers; pain and laughter. Welcome to Madkastle!” Ummm… is Onyx forming a tag team or starting a cult? Whatever happened too “That damn fool better not get in the ring or I will break him in half!” “That damn fool better not get in the fucking ring or I will rip his fucking arms off and beat him to death with them. Him and his fucking pet lizard too!” That’s more like it. This would bring us neatly to the WHY Dru Onyx is forming Madkastle with Justin White and making his return to the IWS. Seems that the Bajan Bomber was less than impressed when he found out that Fred la Merveille beat his prize pupil at Hardcore Heat 2007 with a dollar store fake hand. “Don’t get me wrong. I respect Fred. He acts the clown, but only because he knows that if you play his game, he can make you look foolish. Justin never should have given Fred the opportunity to play the fool. This is why I am coming back – to teach Justin the lessons that he has not yet learned. And his first IWS lesson is that you do not swap jokes with a clown. YOU KILL THE FUCKING CLOWN! And at Blood, Sweat and Beers, there will be blood in the ring, the blood of a clown, there will be sweat, the honest sweat of real wrestlers and there will be beers, the beers that Madkastle are going to raise in victory!” “And once we are fininished with Fred and Kenny, we will take on any Tom, Dick and Harry that wants to get in the ring with us. Cheech and Cloudy? They are weeds and we are the lawnmowers! The Super Smash Brothers? It will be Game Over for those freaks! Twiggy and a mystery partner? I have had bigger shits than Twiggy. Unless his partner is Godzilla, we ain’t breaking a sweat! 2.0? Those two mouths that walk will learn that 2 is just the middle number in the One Two and Three when we beat them. You find anyone and put them in the ring with Justin and me. We will hurt them and we will beat them. We are here to hurt people, to win gold and to wear gold.” Blood, Sweat and Beers 2007 Card: Saturday, September 22nd, 2007 Medley, 1170 St-Denis (corner Rene Levesque) Metro Berri-UQAM Montreal, Quebec, CANADA IWS Hardcore Match for the IWS Title: IWS Champion Viking vs. IWS Owner PCP Crazy F’N Manny Special Attraction: TNA’s Team 3-D (Brother Ray and Brother Devon) and Franky the Mobster vs. Pierre Carl Ouellet and “Paranoid” Jake Matthews and Brick Crawford Cross Border Feud of the Year Match: Steenerico (El Generico and Kevin Steen) vs. The Briscoe Brothers (Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe) Ladder Match for the IWS Canadian Title: IWS Canadian Champion Max Boyer vs. EXesS vs. Jimmy K vs. Kid Kamikaze IWS Tag Team Title Match: IWS Tag Team Champions 2.0 (Shane Matthews and Jagged) vs. The Super Smash Brothers (Stupefied and Player Uno) Grudge Match: The Green Phantom vs. Sexxxy Eddy Inter-Gender War: Damian vs. Lufisto Tag Team Turmoil: Madkastle (Dru Onyx and Justin White) vs. SLI 2007 (Fred la Merveille and Kenny the Bastard) vs. Twiggy and a Mystery Partner The International Wrestling Syndicate proudly presents Blood, Sweat and Beers 2007 Saturday, September 22nd 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] .

Strong Style Typings: Blood, Sweat and Beers David Gives Goliath an Indian Burn The Twiggy Tryouts Nothing makes my day quite so much as someone putting something over on Manny. When that someone is the diminutive Twiggy, pound for pound the smartest wrestler in Quebec, well that just makes my day so much sweeter. Twiggy came into the IWS headquarters last week on a mission: looking to find out who his opponent or opponents would be at the Medley. Manny laughed and laughed and laughed... and then explained to Twiggy that there was no way in hell that he was going to have the IWS embarrassed by having someone wrestle at the biggest show of the year who weighs less than one of the Olsen twins (before one of their bulimia and botox diets), especially with TNA’s Team 3D coming as special guests. Twiggy pointed out that Brother Ray and Brother Devon hang out with a Runt who does not outweigh Twiggy by that much and have never seemed to have a problem with that. Manny was less than impressed with the argument. That was when Twiggy dropped his bombshell. It seems that when Manny forced Twiggy and Juan to sign the contract for their “Winner Keeps His Job” match back at Scarred for Life 2007 that the Rock and the Cock Express inserted a clause into the contract ensuring that the winner did not just get to keep his job, but that he was guaranteed a match at the Medley. Twiggy won that match, forcing Pornstar Juan into retirement and breaking up the Rock and Cock Express… It is easy to tell when Manny is about to lose it, he looks like a pressure cooker that is about to explode and send its lid into orbit. After Manny nearly broke his foot kicking the new IWS ring, he calmed down a bit and told Twiggy that if he wanted to wrestle at the Medley, he would have to find himself a tag team partner. From what I am told, Twiggy has been holding auditions ever since and you can see those auditions online here: (NSFW) Blood, Sweat and Beers 2007 Card: Saturday, September 22nd, 2007 Medley, 1170 St-Denis (corner Rene Levesque) Metro Berri-UQAM Montreal, Quebec, CANADA IWS Hardcore Match for the IWS Title: IWS Champion Viking vs. IWS Owner PCP Crazy F’N Manny Special Attraction: TNA’s Team 3-D (Brother Ray and Brother Devon) and Franky the Mobster vs. Pierre Carl Ouellet and “Paranoid” Jake Matthews and Brick Crawford Cross Border Feud of the Year Match: Steenerico (El Generico and Kevin Steen) vs. The Briscoe Brothers (Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe) Ladder Match for the IWS Canadian Title: IWS Canadian Champion Max Boyer vs. EXesS vs. Jimmy K vs. Kid Kamikaze IWS Tag Team Title Match: IWS Tag Team Champions 2.0 (Shane Matthews and Jagged) vs. The Super Smash Brothers (Stupefied and Player Uno) Grudge Match: The Green Phantom vs. Sexxxy Eddy The International Wrestling Syndicate proudly presents Blood, Sweat and Beers 2007 Saturday, September 22nd 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] .

Strong Style Typings: Blood, Sweat and Beers Damian, the Sequel Actually, It’s More Like a Remake Earlier this year at Summer Slaughter 2007, IWS Owner PCP Crazy F’N Manny booked Damian in Damian vs. Steen III, on the grounds that, “I know that those two crazy fuckers will kill each other. The fans love that so they will buy tickets and I will make money. Plus I hate both of them, so I will enjoy watching those two murder each other.” For the Medley, Manny wanted to continue the theme of booking Damian in matches that he wanted to see and that the fans wanted to see and that would see Damian and someone that Manny also dislikes killing each other for everyone’s amusement. So, this would be the bit where I shamefully admit that – YES – I did give Manny the idea for the match. Manny was ranting about finding Damian the perfect opponent and enumerating all the reasons why he hates Damian and I just blurted out the name. I couldn’t help it. It’s the same reason why I can’t watch Jeopardy, I am compelled to shout out the answers. A few years ago, I got thrown out of the preview screening for Quiz Show for doing that. This match was born out of why Manny hates Damian so much. Last year after wrapping up his feud against Steenerico with Beef Wellington as his partner and in the run-up to a feud with Franky the Mobster that looked really promising, Damian walked away from the IWS. He had a lot of valid reasons: he needed to heal some nagging injuries and he was about a year behind on watching his puroresu, plus apparently there was some paperwork related to being “The God of War” that he had to take care of. Who knew? Manny was pissed that Damian and Franky the Mobster never had their pay-off match, but he was even more pissed off at Christmas time when Damian made a return to wrestling for a very special match… only that match was not in the IWS, it was for Canada’s only regular joshi promotion, Montreal’s Association de Lutte Feminin in a match against the First Lady of Hardcore and (at the time) CZW’s Ironman Champion, Lufisto. I think you can see where this going can’t you? I was not at that show unfortunately. Naturally, Lufisto and Damian tore the house down… in front of an impressive crowd for an non-IWS show. Still more people claim to have seen that match than were actually in the hall. Also, according to Pat Laprade, editor and publisher of the Quebec Pro Wrestling Almanac, they killed each other in front of even less people in Shawinigan. Originally, they were planning on doing a rematch at ALF, but before that could happen Lufisto’s back gave out. You could blame Damian for that a little… along with Necro Butcher and CZW’s Cage of Death. Still, Damian was the straw that broke Lufisto’s back although calling Damian a straw recalls the story of how a straw blown by a hurricane can punch through steel. Now, Lufisto is back and Lufisto’s back is back and you have to think that given a chance to get some revenge against the man who put her on the shelf, she will take it… and then some. So, Damian vs. Lufisto 3 is going to be a little bit less like Halloween 2 and a little bit more like Evil Dead 2, where they remake the first movie with a bigger budget because everyone has heard of the first film, but no one has actually seen it. In other words, at Blood, Sweat and Beers 2007 on the biggest and best stage for independent wrestling in Quebec, in front of the biggest and best crowd for independent wrestling in Canada, Damian and Lufisto are going to FUCKING KILL EACH OTHER, and when they do… Uncle Manny will be smiling and counting his money. Blood, Sweat and Beers 2007 Card: Saturday, September 22nd, 2007 Medley, 1170 St-Denis (corner Rene Levesque) Metro Berri-UQAM Montreal, Quebec, CANADA IWS Hardcore Match for the IWS Title: IWS Champion Viking vs. IWS Owner PCP Crazy F’N Manny Special Attraction: TNA’s Team 3-D (Brother Ray and Brother Devon) and Franky the Mobster vs. Pierre Carl Ouellet and “Paranoid” Jake Matthews and Brick Crawford Cross Border Feud of the Year Match: Steenerico (El Generico and Kevin Steen) vs. The Briscoe Brothers (Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe) Ladder Match for the IWS Canadian Title: IWS Canadian Champion Max Boyer vs. EXesS vs. Jimmy K vs. Kid Kamikaze IWS Tag Team Title Match: IWS Tag Team Champions 2.0 (Shane Matthews and Jagged) vs. The Super Smash Brothers (Stupefied and Player Uno) Grudge Match: The Green Phantom vs. Sexxxy Eddy Inter-Gender War: Damian vs. Lufisto The International Wrestling Syndicate proudly presents Blood, Sweat and Beers 2007 Saturday, September 22nd 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] .

A Birthday with Barbed Wire and Blood What do you do when you gather to celebrate eight years of amazing memories of the best in Canadian hardcore wrestling? Well, if you are the International Wrestling Syndicate, you try and create eight year’s worth of memories in one night. I do not know if we managed to cram a full eight years into one night, but we must have come awfully close. Body Count 2007 was a show that people will remember for a long, long, long time. It was a night when some old friends returned and some old friends said goodbye. It was a night of champions. It was a night of barbed wire and blood and boobies. Body Count 2007 June 16th, 2007 Bogey’s World Montreal, Quebec, CANADA Attendance 287 Results Quick and Dirty Pictures of the show are here: http://syndicatewrestling.com/images/iwssh...0706/index.html WARNING – These photos are for MATURE Audiences. Not for the weak of stoumach. Shayne Hawke vs. Jimmy K Shayne Hawke won in 6:39 with the Tomahawk. Super Smash Brothers (Player Uno & Kenny the Bastard) vs. SLI 2007 (Kenny the Bastard and Fred la Merveille) The Super Smash Brothers beat SLI 2007 in 10:42 when Player Uno and Stupefied combined for a an elevated spike pile driver on Kenny the Bastard. Twiggy vs. Shane Matthews Twiggy beat Shane Matthews after 4:23 with a wheelbarrow converted into a victory roll. The Destiny of Hi-5 Match: Kid Kamikaze vs. Beef Wellington Hi-5 must break up forever since Kid Kamikaze made Beef Wellington tap to the Kamikaze Klutch B after 12:19. Mixed Tag Team Match: EXesS and Tomassino vs. ALF Champion Stefany Sinclair and Vanessa Kraven EXesS was trapped in Stefany’s butterfly lock when Shayne Hawke ran in and hit Stefany in the head with a chair. EXesS quickly scored the easy pin on Stefany for the win at 14:27 IWS Canadian Title Match: Max Boyer vs. IWS Canadian Champion Dan Paysan Max Boyer won in 11:47 to become the 7th IWS Canadian Champion. Pierre-Carl Ouellet, Brick Crawford and IWS Number One Contender “Paranoid” Jake Matthews vs. Kevin Steen, PWG Champion El Generico and IWS Champion Viking Jake Matthews pinned Viking at 15:58 after giving him the Regal-plex through a table. IWS Tag Team Title Match - No Ropes Barbed Wire Match: IWS Tag Team Champions The Hardcore Ninjaz vs. Scarred and Sexxxy (The Green Phantom and Sexxxy Eddy) The Hardcore Ninjaz retained their titles with the help of a returning Arsenal. The Evil Ninja pinned Sexxxy Eddy at 18:04. ************************************************** Detailed Results for IWS Body Count 2007 Before the show, Bloodstream Part One was played: http://www.syndicatewrestling.com/media/bl...ms/2007/bs07062 Body Count 2007 began with Shayne Hawke facing off against Jimmy K in only the K-Man’s second match in the IWS. Shayne Hawke was just back from a very successful tour with CHIKARA and the experience obviously helped improve both Hawke’s skill and his confidence. Despite a valiant attempt from the toilet skirt wearing foot stomping goth weirdo, Jimmy K, Shayne Hawke was able to pull out the win dodging a top rope move by Jimmy K and immediately nailing him with the Tomahawk for the win. The downfall of Fred la Merveille has always been his inability to take anything seriously including himself and that doomed his relatively new team with Kenny the Bastard, the SLI 2007. Worsening the situation was the fact that Fred and Kenny were acting as individuals while Player Uno and Stupefied, the Super Smash Brothers, were acting as a team. Don’t get me wrong, Fred and Kenny had their moments in this very competitive match, but at this moment the Super Smash Brothers are simply a more advanced team than SLI 2007. The Super Smash Brothers won as a team isolating Kenny the Bastard and then planting him with a double team elevated spike pile driver for the win. Mike Rotch, the IWS play-by-play man, would like me to inform the world that Stupefied’s new pants were inspired by Vega from Street Fighter 2. To chants of “We Want Pornstar”, Twiggy came to the ring and called out the owner of the IWS, PCP Crazy F’N Manny, the man responsible for firing Twiggy’s former tag team partner in the Rock and Cock Express, Pornstar Juan. Summon the Devil and he will appear, except in this case he sent one of his henchmen, Shane Matthews. An impromptu match broke out after Twiggy called Shane “The Human Bobble-Head”. I have frequently mentioned that Twiggy has the arsenal, the passion and the brains of Dusty Rhodes; he just lacks the mass of Dusty Rhodes. On this day, it was Twiggy’s brain (and a cunning instinct for using his opponent’s mass against him) that gave Twiggy the win. After he survived Shane Matthews initial offensive onslaught, Twiggy converted a wheelbarrow into a victory roll for the pin. After the match, a returning Jagged chased an incensed Shane Matthews from the ring with a chair. Taking the mike, Jagged made a brief, but heartfelt promo that ended with Jagged concluding, “Shane Matthews was RIGHT!” and following up that bomb with a clothes-line that damn near took Twiggy’s head off. The reunited 2.0 gave Twiggy their finisher The Sweet Taste of Professionalism and announced that at the IWS’ next show Summer Slaughter 2007 they would be challenging for the IWS Tag Team Championship against the team that survived the No Ropes Barbed Wire Match. Two things to mention here: First, how cunning are 2.0 to lay in wait for the perfect opportunity to reform and claim a title shot. Wait until the Hardcore Ninjaz and the Green Phantom… and Sexxxy Eddy kill each other in a No Ropes Barbed Wire Match and then take your shot. Secondly, the theme of this show was apparently “Work Llakor” because Jagged has been feeding me anti-Shane Matthews propaganda since January, most recently describing to me, just last Thursday, in graphic detail how he torments Shane on indy wrestling road trips. Throughout his career, the one wrestler that Beef Wellington has never had real success against is his best friend, Kid Kamikaze. With the fate of their team hanging in the balance, Beef brought in some unexpected help: former WCW star Buff Bagwell, or rather a life-size poster of Buff Bagwell taped to a table. Rather like a real-life Buff Bagwell match, he did not do much and proved completely unhelpful to his partner, as Kid Kamikaze drove Beef Wellington through Buff and the table, weakening Beef enough to force him to tap moments later to what Double K calls the Kamikaze Klutch B. Despite being unhappy with the result of the match (the Kid Kamikaze win breaks up Hi-5 forever) the fans at ring-side immediately concluded that this was the best match that Buff Bagwell has ever been involved with. We knew going into Body Count 2007 that EXesS had recruited his protégé, the Hulking Tomassino to be his tag team partner against Association de Lutte Feminin Champion Stefany Sincliar. We did not know who Stefany’s partner would be until she cancelled out EXesS’s Hulk by bringing out her own Hulk, or rather She-Hulk, in Vanessa Kraven. EXesS’ matches have been well… excessively violent lately and it only raised the violence level to put a man with a hand the size of a frying pan against a woman with the reputation of hitting as hard as if she was using a frying pan to hit with - instead of her bare hands. With Tomassino neutralized, Stefany appeared poised to win trapping EXesS in a pretty (and pretty effective) butterfly hold… until Shayne Hawke hit the ring and hit Stefany in the back of the head with a chair. EXesS’ pin was a pure formality. Three things to mention: One, Mike Rotch and I are totally opposed to the booby abuse displayed in this match. Two, Tomassino’s second story enziguri – still sick. Three, I had just about decided to stop calling “Le Maudit Roux” Shit-Hawke either “Le Maudit Roux”: or Shit-Hawke. I figured that after doing so well in CHIKARA that he had earned my respect. Well, he earned my disrespect right back again with one chair shot. Maudit de Callisse d’Asti de Roux. At this point Beef came back out to announce, “I started in the IWS back in April 2002. In five years, I missed just one show. I have never given my school the commitment that I gave the IWS. I never gave any of my jobs that much effort. I never gave any of my relationships that much heart. I never gave anything what I gave to the IWS. I gave everything that I’ve got to this company… And I can’t do it anymore. I am taking some time off. You won’t see me for a while. I am just glad that I got to go out the way that I came in, wrestling my best friend Kid Kamikaze.” Allow me just to say, that I knew this was coming for a long time and that for the good of the company Beef put this off when really he should have taken a break six months ago. There was a time when this company was falling apart. Manny was distracted; I was sick; a lot of guys were either retiring or taking time off for school or getting so many outside bookings that they were gone for half of our shows. When that happened, for more than a year, Beef literally did everyone’s job for them. If he had not stepped up, there might not be an IWS right now. I am sad to see him go, but he has earned his rest. For those who care about these sorts of things… (Hi Mom!) At this point in the show, Kid Kamikaze came over and threw me off colour commentary so that “Someone who actually knew something about wrestling could take over.” Max Boyer and Dan Paysan have had their confrontations before, but never with so much on the line, never with so much emotion and never in front of an IWS crowd. I have seen there other matches against one another and this was by far their best. In their previous meetings, Boyer had only ever been able to beat Dan in the States; Dan had always emerged victorious in Canada. At Body Count, Max finally got that particular monkey off his back, getting the win and becoming the new IWS Canadian Champion. The Canadian Title has been since its introduction at Extreme Dream 2005 our most competitive belt, its champions have always been fighting champions. I expect no less from Maxime Boyer. His first challenge may be his toughest however as former IWS Canadian Champion Kid Kamikaze used his power as IWS colour commentator to book himself as Max Boyer’s first opponent at Summer Slaughter 2007. Before the huge six man tag, Bloodstream Part Two (minus the Twiggy promo) was played: http://www.syndicatewrestling.com/media/bl...ms/2007/bs07061 The Steen promo is AMAZING. Throughout his career, Pierre-Carl Ouellet has been known as an ass-kicker – an innovative, agile, athletic ass-kicker – but still an ass-kicker. In the biggest six man tag match that the IWS has ever had, PCO directed traffic and used Jake Matthews and Brick Crawford and IWS Owner PCP Crazy F’N Manny as virtual puppets to lay waste to his opponents. It is a shame that so much ingenuity and so much strength has to be used for evil and not good. As for our heroes: Kevin Steen, El Generico and Viking? They fought with honour, they fought with courage and at times they fought with the upper hand, but the numbers told. Not just the three hundred or so pounds that they were giving up to the veteran heavyweights, but the additional numbers of D-Vyn and Lollipop and most of all of Manny at ringside. Ultimately, it was their presence that provided the distraction that gave Jake Matthews the chance to hit Viking with a regal-plex through a table for the pin and the win. Jake Matthews is the first man to pin Viking in more than a year. He is the Number One Contender for Viking’s title. If he can duplicate that feat during Summer Slaughter 2007 he will become the new IWS Champion and will claim the new IWS title belt that Manny has had made, but refuses to put around Viking’s waist. After Viking was pinned, Manny led a verbal and physical assault on Viking, Steen and El Generico. A returning Franky the Mobster came to the rescue, but he seemed to be a little bit too little, too late. Manny was crowing victory when the lights went out and the “God of War” Damian hit the ring sending many running for cover with his army. To the biggest pop of the night, Damian announced that after a year of drinking beer and watching Japanese wrestling DVDs in his basement that he had missed hurting people alongside his best friend Viking. He told us (in French) that he was back to do what he does best: hurt people and that he and Viking were forming the Angry Quebeckers. I have been so persistent in bugging, well begging, Damian to come back that he threatened to block me on MSN. It was a total and very welcome shock to hear his music hit. While the IWS broom-boys covered two sides of the ring in barbed wire, Sexxxy Eddy came to the ring to do what he does best. Find a beautiful woman in the crowd (in this case one wearing a very naughty Catholic schoolgirl outfit) and get her to help him take all of his clothes off. In this case, we lucky fans had the pleasure of her taking most of her clothes off too, leading Eddy to do the Hogan call for cheers to see which side of the ring she should flash next. Truly, for eight years in the IWS, Eddy has been a GOD amongst men. Eddy’s assistant is named Hottie Hollie from http://www.hottiehollie.com/ Kid Kamikaze left the commentary booth at this point clearing my way to return to close out the show on colour commentary. The No Ropes Barbed Wire Match was one of the nuttiest, most extreme matches that I have ever seen. Mike Rotch and I had already concluded that we had seen more Barbed Wire bumps than in any NRBW match that we had ever seen and that was before the Ninjaz threw Eddy into the barbed wire. And these were not casual bounces off the barbed wire, these were grown men being throw, slammed and bombed deeply into the barbed wire. The Green Phantom entered the match looking to exact revenge for the Evil Ninja ripping his arm to shreds with a barbed wire chair… and to win back his IWS Tag Team Titles. Call it a split victory: the Phantom got more than his full share of revenge, but the tag team titles remained elusive. Sadly, in matches like this, Eddy feels compelled to break out his special occasion trash can, to wriggle it over his head and to attempt the Stupid-Sault - a move with about as much chance of success as Ric Flair going to the top rope. In this case, Eddy never even got a chance to try it. The Ninjaz sensing their opportunity grabbed Eddy in the trashcan, flipped him upside-down and nonchalantly jumped off the apron with the trashcan allowing Eddy’s own weight to pile drive himself into the metal. No doubt Eddy’s ears were still ringing when the Arsenal hit the ring to distract the Green Phantom with Hardcore Ninja Number One as the Evil Ninja got the pin on Eddy to defend the titles. The Arsenal, Derek Arsenault, is a distant cousin. (My Mom’s Mom was an Arsenault. One of her uncles moved to Cochrane Ontario. Someone else can do the genealogical math.) Point is we’re family and he didn’t even tell me that he was coming back. The return of Tomassino, of Franky the Mobster, of the Arsenal and especially of Damian is a huge influx of talent that is leaving fans buzzing. I should probably also point out that old school IWS referees, P-Nut and one of the best refs in the indies, Bakais, made a special return for our Eighth Anniversary. This concluded an enormously successful show that the Hardcore Soldiers of the IWS will be talking about for years. Already scheduled for our next show Summer Slaughter 2007 July 14th are the following matches: IWS Canadian Title Match: IWS Canadian Champion Max Boyer vs. Kid Kamikaze IWS Tag Team Title Match: IWS Tag Team Champions The Hardcore Ninjaz vs. 2.0 (Jagged and Shane Matthews) IWS Title Match: IWS Champion Viking vs. Number One Cantender “Paranoid” Jake Matthews The dates that Kevin Steen has confirmed with the IWS: July 14th, Summer Slaughter August 18th, Hardcore Heat September 29th, Blood, Sweat and Beers at the Medley Plan Accordingly. The IWS presents: Summer Slaughter 2007, Saturday, July 14th, 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 8:30 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] . Our DVDs for each show are released through www.smartmarkvideo.com. Our most 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

That was probably right around the time that he "graduated" from trainee to wrestler. **************************************** This is the IWS Bloodstream - free web video Kevin Steen delivers an OUTSTANDING promo It also has the build for the Hardcore Ninjaz vs. Green Phantom and Sexxxy Eddy NO ROPES BARBED WIRE MATCH, Twiggy reacting to winning the "Winner Keeps His Job" match against Pornstar Juan and Viking wigging out. • Bloodstream Part 1 - 11:15 • Bloodstream Part 2 - 6:02 Here is the card: http://the-w.com/thread.php/id=33026 Here is a collection of odd and assorted writings about the show: http://the-w.com/thread.php/id=33007 Watch. Share. Discuss.

Get The Birthday Cake Ready! One of our fans – one of the hardcore soldiers of the IWS - has a recipe for chocolate cake with thumbtack icing. We had better get one of those suckers ready, because this Saturday, June 16th, the International Wrestling Syndicate celebrates its’ Eighth Birthday. That is eight years of tables, ladders and chairs; eight years of thumb tacks, barbed wire and light tubes; eight years of bumps, bruises and blood; eight years of stories, fables and legends; eight years of wrestling. We started at Wally’s on June 17th, 1999. We were called “Le Fed Canadian Tire” and no one in Quebec gave us a chance. Now we are known around the world as the home of Pierre Carl Ouellet, Kevin Steen and El Generico; the only Canadian fed to ever do a show in the ECW arena; the first Canadian fed to have its own PPV; the promotion where Sid Vicious returned to wrestling; the Canadian home of hardcore wrestling. We are celebrating this Saturday with the biggest six man tag match we have ever had - pitting our Champion Viking and our two resident stars of ROH, Kevin Steen and the PWG Champion El Generico, against three of the best veteran heavyweights that Quebec has ever produced: Pierre Carl Ouellet, Brick Crawford and the Number One Contender to Viking’s title, “Paranoid” Jake Matthews. And in a very special, very hardcore main event, the Hardcore Ninjaz will be defending their IWS Tag Team Titles against the man they scarred with a barbed wire chair, the Green Phantom and his partner Sexxxy Eddy in a NO ROPES BARBED WIRE MATCH. Come witness the violence inherent in the system. Come celebrate eight years of the best in hardcore wrestling. Come and be a hardcore soldier of the I – W – S. ****************************** Scheduled for Body Count 2007: Jimmy K. vs. Shayne Hawke Super Smash Brothers (Player Uno and Stupefied) vs. SLI 2007 (Fred la Merveille and Kenny the Bastard) EXesS and Tomassino vs.ALF Champion Stefany Sinclair and a partner of her choice. IWS Canadian Title Match: Maxime Boyer vs.IWS Canadian Champion Dan Paysan Bogey’s Street Fight: Beef Wellington vs. Kid Kamikaze If Beef wins, Hi-5 stays together and BFF Beef and Kid K have to get matching tattoos. If Kid Kamikaze wins, Hi-5 split up forever. Six Man Tag: Pierre-Carl Ouellet, IWS Number One Contender “Paranoid” Jake Matthews and Brick Crawford vs. “Mr. Wrestling” Kevin Steen and PWG Champion El Generico and IWS Champion Viking IWS Tag Team Title Match - NO ROPES BARBED WIRE: Scarred and Sexxxy (The Green Phantom and Sexxxy Eddy) vs. IWS Tag Team Champions The Hardcore Ninjaz ****************************** Last month at Scarred For Life 2007, the toilet-skirt wearing goth weirdo Jimmy K made his debut and the IWS fans demanded his return. One wrestler not too happy with Monsieur K’s sudden success is our resident red-headed shit-disturber Shayne Hawke. Mr. Persecution Complex is outraged that he took one IWS show off to star at CHIKARA and the fans found someone new to cheer for, so he has decided to give the K-man a proper IWS welcome by beating the crap out of him… or at least trying to. Maybe someone should tell Shayne Hawke that no one was cheering for him BEFORE he left, so it is not like Jimmy K stole his spot or anything. After Stupefied’s solo star turn at Scarred For Life 2007 he reunites with his Super Smash Brother, Player Uno, for some eight bit flippy fun against the newly formed SLI 2007 with Fred la Merveille and one of the IWS’ outstanding high flyers Kenny the Bastard. Last month, Association de Lutte Feminin Champion Stefany Sinclair took another beating from the IWS resident bully EXesS, but unlike Violent Valentine 2007, she rallied to win her David vs. Goliath match. In retaliation, EXesS went out to recruit a true giant to tag with im: his protégé, his student, the hulking Tomassino, absent from the IWS since being fired by IWS Owner PCP Crazy F’N Manny almost a year ago. Everyone expected Stefany to name Justin White as her partner for the match after he helped her beat EXesS, but he is injured. Stefany has promised her fans that she has found someone willing and able to even the odds against EXesS and Tomassino. After ROH stars, Kevin Steen and El Generico, arguably the two most popular IWS stars outside of Quebec are Maxime Boyer and the IWS Canadian Champion Dan Paysan. The two men have fought each other all over Quebec, Ontario and the United States with Boyer emerging triumphant in the States and Paysan winning in Canada, but the two men have never fought in the IWS. This month, they face off again, but suddenly, all of their previous matches have become just warm-ups. Both men perform at their best in front of the IWS fans. Both men hate to lose at home. And this time they are fighting for gold, the IWS Canadian Championship that Dan Paysan has defended so often and so well and that Maxime Boyer so desperately wants. It should come as no surprise that Beef Wellington’s first ever professional wrestling match was against Kid Kamikaze. Also, not much of a surprise that Double K won that match. Over the years, these two men have been the best of friends, BFF in fact, but also the best of rivals. While Beef Wellington has arguably had the more successful career, Kid Kamikaze is the one opponent that he has never had success against. This month in their most important match ever, Beef fights for the very future of their tag team partnership together. If Beef wins, Hi-5 remains united as a team and the two men will get matching tattoos. If Kid Kamikaze wins, as far as he is concerned, Hi-5 splits forever. Keep in mind here that when Kid Kamikaze says forever, he means a time significantly longer than a Terry Funk retirement. Remember that he beat Beef Wellington at Blood, Sweat and Beers 2003 in a “Loser Leaves Westmount” and Beef is still not allowed to return to Westmount. (I understand that Kid Kamikaze does make an exception for Hannukah, but only if Beef gives him half the loot.) In addition to the huge six man tag match and the hate-filled NO ROPES BARBED WIRE MATCH main event and the matches mentioned above, expect Twiggy to have something to say about the forced retirement of his tag team partner Pornstar Juan. Also scheduled to be present are Jagged and Shane Matthews, formerly united as 2.0. For more information about the show and the scheduled matches, read my collected announcements for the show - Strong Style Typings - here: http://the-w.com/thread.php/id=33007 The dates that Kevin Steen has confirmed with the IWS: June 16th, Body Count July 14th, Summer Slaughter August 18th, Hardcore Heat September 29th, Blood, Sweat and Beers at the Medley Plan Accordingly. The IWS presents: Body Count 2007, Saturday, June 16th, 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] . 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

Strong Style Typings Body Count These are the collection of my writings about the upcoming IWS show, Body Count 2007, our Eighth Anniversary. The Last of Rock and Cock At Scarred for Life 2007, Twiggy and Pornstar Juan received Japanese Ring Intros. Pornstar Juan was announced as: “From Deep in Her VAGINE... Weighing Lionel Knight’s Right Nut.” Twiggy was announced as: From the Church of Scientology... Weighing Lionel Knight’s Left Nut.” So, not to be a shit-disturber or anything... Who in the BLUE HELL am I kidding? Someone tell Lionel Knight that unlike UWA Hardcore and its fans, the IWS and its fans don’t think that Lionel Knight has small balls. We just think that his right ball is significantly and slightly freakishly larger than his left... Or something like that. ******************** That Kevin Steen Promo There is a reason that they talk about Quebec and the ROC (Rest of Canada). It is because when the ROC zigs, Quebec just naturally zags. Whether this is because Quebec is just different or whether Quebec feels that it has to be different is a matter for sociologists to debate. All that matters for me is that it is true. Take Kevin Steen. Since February 2004, when Kevin Steen shocked Quebec at Violent Valentine 2004 by ambushing his mentor Pierre-Carl Ouellet, Kevin Steen has been the wrestler that Quebecois love to hate. Never more so than when he lured El Generico to the dark side and the two men began inciting fans to the point of rioting. Just when the rest of the world caught up to Quebec, when Kevin Steen and El Generico have become amongst the most hated villains in the States for daring to touch the Briscoes, when they are about to be featured on PPV as ass-kicking villains, Quebec did a 180 and decided that Kevin Steen was awesome. Not hurting the effort was a series of blistering promos by Kevin Steen. I am told that Kevin cut a promo backstage after Scarred For Life 2007 with the blood still flowing down his face that must be seen. While waiting for that to show up online, let me do an extended transcript of the promo that Kevin Steen gave earlier that night as he confronted his mentor PCO. I included a portion of Kevin Steen’s promo in my report on Scarred For Life 2007 which can be found here: http://the-w.com/thread.php/id=32898 “Last time I saw you Peece, I didn’t see you. I turned around and you clothes-lined my fucking head off. You know in my humble, humble beginnings in Jacques Rougeau’s promotion, Jacques Rougeau came up to me and said, “I just talked to PCO and he told me, ‘That Kevin Steen kid, I don’t like him.’ But we became friends.” Short interlude while Kevin Steen gets heckled and somehow anal sex comes up while Kevin is shutting the heckler up. “Anal sex notwithstanding, let me get back to my story. In 2004, PCO, you won the IWS title and I saw that if I wanted to take my career to the next level, I would have to do something drastic. I attacked you. When I attacked you, I was a dumb-ass kid. I’m going somewhere with this...” “You attacked me from behind. I think that’s because when you look at yourself in the mirror, you see that you are a little bit older, a little bit slower. I think that you are scared of me. Prove me wrong! Hit me while I am looking you right in the fucking eye!” ...Which is when Jake Matthews hit the ring to attack Steen from behind ******************** That Hi-5 Promo This is off my notes, so inaccuracies are bound to slip in. After the match between the Hardcore Ninjaz, Scarred and Sexxxy and Hi-5 ended with the Ninjaz getting the vulture pin on Hi-5 after the Green Phantom and Sexxxy Eddy killed Beef Wellington and Kid Kamikaze dead Dead DEAD! ... Kid Kamikaze took the mike... Beef... enough is enough. This can't go on anymore. Don't get me wrong. You're still my BFF, my Best Friend Forever, but the problem with the team isn't you. it's me. I think that it's time that Hi-5 took a break. Beef: Wait, Wait, Wait! Are you breaking up with me? No way, next month we are teaming together just like always. Kid Kamikaze: What is it going to take to get it into your thick skull that I don't want to be your tag team partner anymore? Beef: You don't want to be my tag team partner anymore? Fine. All you have to do is BEAT ME! Kid Kamikaze: OKAY! You vs. Me. One on one at Body Count. If you win, we stay a team and we'll get those matching tattoos that you have been harping on about. If you LOSE, then Hi-5 breaks up forever! Beef: What kind of match are we going to have? Kid Kamikaze: Our match will take place in the confines of a THIRTY FOOT ELECTRIFIED STEEL CAGE! Beef: We don't have any cage at all, let alone one that is thirty feet tall, and it wouldn't fit in Bogey's if we did have one. Kid Kamikaze: You have a point. OKAY, Fine! We do it old school. The match will be a Bogey's World Street Fight. No Rules and we both get to wear Jeans! ******************** I AM CANADIAN! From its very beginnings in the IWS Extreme Dream 2005 Tournament, the IWS Canadian Title has been a belt for fighting champions. It has been a belt for men who have built their reputation by their deeds and not just by their words. Chris Bishop, the first champion did not utter one word on the mike in the IWS before becoming champion. Kid Kamikaze can talk, but wrestles better. Kenny the Bastard and Player Uno are both mute (as far as we know). Jagged used to let Shane Matthews do most of the talking. Our most recent champion, Dan Paysan, is the best talker ever to hold the mike. He has also defended the title more and in more different places than any man to hold the belt to date. There is a wonderful contrast between Dan Paysan and Maxime Boyer. Dan is flashy; Boyer is plain. Dan has a trim swimmer's body; Boyer has the compact frame of a classic wrestler. Dan can wrestle on the mat, but prefers to fly; Boyer can fly, but prefers to keep things grounded. Dan wrestles with joyful abandon; Boyer wrestles with utter seriousness. Last year Boyer beat Arik Cannon, a former IWA-MS champion; Boyer beat Petey Williams. In fact check out their accomplishments for the past year. These are swiped from the PWI500 submissions for both men prepared by myself and Pat LaPrade: First, the challenger, Maxime Boyer Maxime Boyer (5'8, 170, Longueuil, Quebec, June 2nd, 1984, 7, 387) First was match was October 13th, 2001. Lost to Bobby James. CHIKARA Young Lions Cup Champion, Ranked #4 Wrestler in Quebec. Wrestled for IWS, CZW, CHIKARA, RWE, UWA, UWA Hardcore, XQW, ToW, CWR, MCW, ISW, MWF, and R2W. Wrestled in CHIKARA'a Young Lions Cup Tournament. Beat Tournament winner Arik Cannon for the Cup on October 28th. Won the IWS Extreme Dream Tournament. Saved tag team partner, then NWA World Heavyweight Champion Christian Cage, from being crushed by a Pierre-Carl Ouellet Cannonball yanking him off a table in the nick of time at the IWS Medley show in March. Was featured along with Pierre Carl Ouellet on VRAK-TV as wrestling trainers. That's a pretty good year. And the Champion, Dan Paysan: Dan Paysan (5'10, 189, Combobasso, Italy, January 11th, 1985, 7, 472) First Match: 2000 in NEW win against Headhunetr. Also known as Don Paysan. IWS Canadian Champion, BSE Suicide 6 Champion, CWR Junior Heavyweight Champion. Ranked #9 Wrestler in Quebec, Wrestled in IWS, CHIKARA, UWA Hardcore, BSE, NCW, NSW, RWE and CWR. Held four titles simultaneously. First winner of the BSE Suicide 6 Belt beating (with a separated shoulder) Ash, James Champagne, Bobby Roode, Chris Sabin and Christopher Daniels. Won the IWS Canadian Title on December 2nd, beating Jagged. Won the NCW Inter-Cities Title Dec 16th, beating James Kraven. Lost it to Samson on March 17th in a 30 minute Iron Man match. First winner of the CWR Junior Heavyweight Title on January 27th. Wrestled in the UWA Hardcore Grand Prix Tournament. Master of the Gimmick match. Beat Arik Cannon and Petey Williams. Wrestled Puma and Alex Shelley. Wrestled in front of 16, 000 people during the Vans/Warped tour. That's an even better year. It seems almost destined that these two men should collide for the highest stakes in the IWS... They have faced off before: at ToW (where Dan beat Boyer) and at UWA Hardcore (where Dan beat Boyer) and at CHIKARA (where Boyer beat Dan), but this match will mean that much more because this time, it will be for the IWS Canadian Title in front of the IWS Hardcore Soldiers. ******************** EXesS Picks a Partner I keep forgetting the most important factor about life in the IWS. BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR! It is probably a daily wish on my part that someone get the better of Manny. Someone did that today. but not in the way that I would have liked. EXesS came to the office today to announce his partner for his match against Stefany. EXesS asked if there were any restrictions to who he could bring in as partner, explaining that since Stefany was OBVIOUSLY going to choose Justin White as her partner that he was worried that it would appear unfair for him to bring in a heavyweight to partner with him against two midgets. Manny said, "FUCK FAIR! Take anyone you like." EXesS,"N'importe Qui? T'es Certain?" Manny, "ANY BODY. I don't care." EXesS, "B'en j'appelle Tomassino d'abord!" Manny, "WHAT? I FIRED him!" EXesS, "B'en tu viens juste de lui reengager!" Manny, "FUCK!" No surprise that EXesS would ask for Tomassino back. He is Tomassino's trainer and has always looked out for his career. The best match of Tomassino's life was against EXesS in Philadelphia on Freedom to Fight 2005. So, yeah the good news is that Tomassino is back. The bad news is that Tomassino is back. Getting thrown by that monster is like falling out a second story window. ****************** Tomassino IN - Justin White OUT I have been informed that Justin White will be unable to partner with Stefany Sinclair at Body Count 2007 due to an injury. Stefany has assured me (despite my panicky concern that she is going to be killed) that she will have a partner next Saturday able and willing to deal with the hulking Tomassino. ******************** Evil is as Evil Does The good that men do, so Shakespeare tells us, is oft interred with their bones. Good is fleeting, good gets buried. It is EVIL that lasts; EVIL that endures; EVIL that is covered in glory. Or so the EVIL Ninja would have you believe. First, we called him Hardcore Ninja Number Two or just "Two" as in, "Did you see the dive that "Two" made?" We first met him coming to the aid of his brother, The Hardcore Ninja who was immediately re-christened Hardcore Ninja Number One. Their opponent? Naturally, the Green Phantom. As time went on we started calling "Two" the Yellow Ninja, because of the yellow sash that he wore. We felt a need even then to individualize him from his brother, which was odd because the whole point of ninjaz is that they are many and any one can replace any other, but we sensed something different about THIS Ninja. It was at Payback's A Bitch 2002 that we first understood his true character. He and his brother, Hardcore Ninja Number One were defending their tag team titles against Beef Wellington and Kid Kamikaze (Hi-5) in a Barbed Wire Ladder Match. Hardcore Ninja Number One was about to grab the belts when Kid Kamikaze kicked the ladder over. In the pile-up, Hardcore Ninja Number One became entangled in the barbed wire and was unable to prevent Hi-5 from climbing another ladder and claiming the titles. "I had an epiphany," Two told me later through an interpreter, "I realized that the reason that we lost, besides the fact that my brother is a putz, is that we did not use enough barbed wire. Too much is barely enough." We, the fans, also had an epiphany as we watched Two super-kick his brother to punish him for losing the belts, this Ninja was EVIL. Other ninjaz do what they do for money, because it is a profession, the Evil Ninja does what he does because he ENJOYS it. This is what makes him different; this is what makes him EVIL. The EVIL Ninja enjoys inflicting pain and he is very good at it. This is probably why he keeps ending up in matches involving the Green Phantom. No one in the IWS can absorb as much pain as the Green Phantom. This is what brought the Evil Ninja into conflict with the Green Phantom in the Fans Bring the Weapons match at Un F'N Sanctioned 2003 or in the IWS Old School Hardcore match at V or at Vans Warped in a Caribbean Barbed Wire Ropes match. They are old enemies. They know each other well, and the Green Phantom has been scarred for life more than once in their meetings. Is Green Phantom the mad Captain Ahab chasing the EVIL Black whale that haunts his dreams? Or is it the Evil Ninja who chases the Green whale scarred by a lifetime of encounters? What is certain is that it is the Evil Ninja who has manipulated things to this point. I am reliably told that the Ninjaz' translator begged on their behalf for the Green Phantom not to demand a No Ropes Barbed Wire Match. In its' history, the IWS has had two No Ropes Barbed Wire matches, the Evil Ninja has won both. Next Saturday, he goes for the three-peat. At Freedom to Fight 2003, the Evil Ninja beat his own brother Hardcore Ninja Number One. At Scarred For Life 2005, the Evil Ninja beat his former tag team partner, the Arsenal. No one wins a No Ropes Barbed Wire match without being totally committed to destroying their opponent's flesh and spirit. To the extent that the twisted, violence-loving, sadistic sociopath the Evil Ninja can be said to harbour feelings for others, he likes his own brother, and he is friends with the Arsenal. If the Evil Ninja was prepared to unleash HELL on his own brother and the man who, for lack of any other candidate, could be described as his best friend... You have to ask yourself... What would he do to a man that he hates? A man like the Green Phantom? ******************** The Forgotten Man I was at ALF last night. Once again, amongst the biggest pops were reserved for Sexxxy Eddy. After the show, he gently chided me for the article that I posted yesterday about the Evil Ninja and the No Ropes Barbed Wire match, because I mentioned the Evil Ninja a lot, Hardcore NInja Number One not so much and the Green Phantom just in passing... and Eddy NOT AT ALL! Mea Culpa. My Bad. Sexxxy Eddy was not the first man to hold the IWS (then the WWS) title, but he was the first man to hold the DWF title which became the CIWX title which became the WWS title. Depending on how you count it, he has been the IWS champion three or four times. No one else has held the title more than once. Sexxxy Eddy was not the first man to jump off the balcony at the Medley. On the other hand, every one else has fallen off the balcony in one way or another (albeit some more impressively than others.) Eddy LEAPT from the balcony in a frog splash at Born to Bleed 2001. Sexxxy Eddy was not the first IWS wrestler to travel to the States, but he was the one who rivetted people’s attention to the IWS and to Quebec with his performance at CZW Tournament of Death 3 when, during a second round match where he beat the Arsenal, Eddy pumped his scarred bicep and squirted blood into his mouth. Sexxxy Eddy was not the first IWS wrestler to travel to Europe, but when he did, he built connections that paved the way for El Generico and Kevin Steen to make regular trips to Europe. Sometimes we take things for granted. Sometimes we overlook the dependable ones, the perennials, because they are dependable, because they are perennial. What we see every day, what is familiar, begins to become invisible. Eddy has always been the flashiest wrestler in the IWS. The guy who has been there since before day one. The guy whose ambitions were so large and whose antics were so outrageous that the IWS had to be invented to contain him. At Body Count, Sexxy Eddy will wrestle in a No Ropes Barbed Wire match. It is an unforgiving match, one that leaves men scarred and bloody. Just like always, Eddy will be wearing boots. He will be wearing a red bow tie. He will be wearing a thong. AND THAT IS ALL! In a match that many veterans would not wrestle in without wearing body armor, Eddy will wrestle it just like always - virtually naked. How ever did we begin to overlook the naked man in our midst? ******************** Who is Brick Crawford and Why Do I Hate Him? So, just who is this Brick Crawford fellow and why do I hate him? Well, let’s start by saying that Brick Crawford is one of the most talented heavyweights in the province. He has been Pierre-Carl Ouellet’s tag team partner in tours to South Africa and through Europe. He fits IWS Owner PCP Crazy F’N Manny’s mold of guys who look like they are wrestlers. Next Saturday he will team with his old tag team partner, PCO and “Paranoid” Jake Matthews against “Mr. Wrestling” Kevin Steen, PWG Champion El Generico and IWS Champion Viking in what is certain to be a wild and crazy brawl. He is also an old school fuck who makes Sunny War Cloud look like a bleeding liberal. And there are more legends associated with Brick Crawford than practically any Quebec wrestler that I can think of. People love to tell me stories about Quebec wrestlers, some true, some distorted, some wildly exaggerated. For some reason, the craziest stories are almost always about Brick Crawford. Here are three stories about Brick Crawford. One I saw with my own eyes. The other two I have been told repeatedly from various Quebec wrestling fans and I have no way of verifying if they are true, but it is interesting that they are great examples of the kinds of stories that float around the world of Quebec wrestling about Brick Crawford. The one that I know personally took place at a spot show that Fred la Merveille was involved in somewhere in the boonies of Quebec. This was during the worst of my energy crash while my doctors and I were still struggling to work out my appropriate insulin dosage. Pornstar Juan and Twiggy basically (with my parent’s cooperation) kidnapped me and dragged me to the show. To give an idea of how out of it I was at the time, I did not have my stop watch on me and I did not even take any notes. Juan and Twiggy dropped me off at the venue and then decided to get something to eat at the local Subway. Rather than eating it there, they came back with it and brought me back a small tuna sub. Before we started eating, Brick Crawford came up to us and asked Twiggy what sub he had. A puzzled Twiggy told him it was grilled chicken. Crawford thanked him and left with it. I have heard it said that Brick Crawford once stole Twiggy’s lunch money. Untrue. I was there. He stole Twiggy’s LUNCH. The second story that I have heard told about Brick Crawford concerns one of the many small federations that dot the Quebec countryside. Apparently this federation had a problem. Their champion was a complete idiot, but essentially unpinnable despite the promoter’s best efforts. Brick heard about the problem and told the promoter that he would take care of it - just book him in the title match and pay him ten dollars extra - in advance - in quarters. Brick gets to the venue and the promoter gives him a zip-lock bag with 40 quarters in it. Brick looks at him like he’s an idiot and growls, “En rouleau, asti d’espece d’idiot!” So Brick goes out to the main event with a roll of quarters in his fanny pack and during the match he pulls out the roll and knocks out the champ legit with it and gets the pin. At which point, the promoter realizes that now he has an even bigger problem because Brick Crawford is his champion. (At least that’s the punch line everyone uses when they tell this story. I am not certain that it would be such a disaster having him as your champion.) The final story, though by now means the last story that I have heard about Brick Crawford, just the best one, concerns a guy from outside of Montreal who kept getting touted to us as prime IWS material - a great hardcore wrestler. We were excited about him until we saw him for ourselves and realized that he was basically Undertaker’s midget retarded brother - immune to pain and impossible to hurt. Our interest dwindled rapidly as we realized that basically to get the guy to sell anything you had to stiff him repeatedly. Some time after we lost interest in him, this clown was booked in a match against Brick Crawford. Everyone at the show went into paroxysms of joy over the match. From what I have heard, all that it was was Brick Crawford hitting this guy as hard as he could and getting repeatedly frustrated at the fact that the human punching bag that he was fighting showed no reactions to punches that should knock out a ox. A rematch was scheduled. According to the legend, Brick Crawford had no interest in participating in any sequel, but was convinced. His opponent decide to mark the occasion by buying new ring gear, which cost him about $500. The day of the show, Brick was alone in the dressing room, so he took all of his opponent’s ring gear new and old and threw it into a nearby dumpster. When everyone was rabbitting around in a panic, Brick calmly suggested that they make the match a street fight - that way they could both wear jeans. A solution as quickly suggested as adopted. Brick came to the ring in jeans and steel-toed Kodiak boots, not exactly the best gear for a long match, but that was sort of the point behind Brick’s plan. When the bell rang after a few moments of jockeying for position, Brick punted his opponent in the balls. Since he was not wearing a cup which, like the rest of his gear, was in the dumpster, Brick’s opponent collapsed into a ball and was quickly pinned. (From here some versions of the story say simply that the poor kid had to go to the hospital, while others insist that Brick ruptured the kid’s left testicle. Those who include this final detail in the story are always very specific that it was the left testicle and not the right.) All versions of the story agree that Brick did not throw away the new ring gear because it was new, but simply because it was his intention to face his opponent while the kid was not wearing a cup and that simply throwing away the cup might have raised suspicions before the match. I have heard this story from more than a dozen wrestling fans from all over Quebec. I have even been told this story by a fan from Germany who wanted to know if it was true. On the other hand, no one has ever been able to tell me where or when this match took place. On the gripping hand. even if this is an urban legend, even if Brick Crawford never did what he was supposed to have done, doesn’t it say something about the man that people are prepared, even eager to repeat these stories about him? ******************** Our next show, Body Count 2007 is our Eight Anniversary show. The first World Wrestling Syndicate show Blood, Sweat and Beers 1999 was held at Wally’s on June 17th, 1999. Scheduled for Body Count 2007: The NEW Hotness vs. Mr. Old and Busted and Maudit Roux! Jimmy K. vs. Shayne Hawke Eight Bit Flippy Fun for the Whole Family Super Smash Brothers (Player Uno and Stupefied) vs. SLI 2007 (Fred la Merveille and Kenny the Bastard) EXesS Mixed Tag REVENGE EXesS and Tomassino vs. ALF Champion Stefany Sinclair and a partner of her choice. IWS Canadian Title Match Two of the most successful indy wrestlers in Canada... And this time there is GOLD on the line! The Challenger Maxime Boyer vs. The Champion Dan Paysan Bogey’s Street Fight: Beef Wellington vs. Kid Kamikaze If Beef wins, Hi-5 stays together and BFF Beef and Kid K have to get matching tattoos. If Kid Kamikaze wins, Hi-5 split up forever. Six Man Tag: Pierre-Carl Ouellet, IWS Number One Contender “Paranoid” Jake Matthews and Brick Crawford vs. “Mr. Wrestling” Kevin Steen and PWG Champion El Generico and IWS Champion Viking IWS Tag Team Title Match - NO ROPES BARBED WIRE: Scarred and Sexxxy (The Green Phantom and Sexxxy Eddy) vs. IWS Tag Team Champions The Hardcore Ninjaz The dates that Kevin Steen has confirmed with the IWS: June 16th, Body Count July 14th, Summer Slaughter August 18th, Hardcore Heat September 29th, Blood, Sweat and Beers at the Medley Plan Accordingly. The IWS presents: Body Count 2007, Saturday, June 16th, 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] . 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