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Sandman9000

Backseat Boys gone from CZW

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www.backseatweb.com

 

The BackSeat Manifesto

 

I was out getting a drink after work. I went to the Happy Hour at the Berwyn Tavern where Trent Acid and Johnny Kashmere bartend. Trent served me my drink and Johnny was on the phone with State Athletic Commissioner Frank Talent. I didn't hear all of the conversation but I definitely heard Johnny tell him that both he and Trent were officially finished all business with CZW and John Zandig. The commissioner was very upset about this decision and said he'd get to the bottom of it all. So I had to finally ask Trent and Johnny what in the hell was going on here, and here's their side of the story.......

 

To sum it all up for the sake of time, Johnny and Trent have indeed as of 2/3/04 resigned from CZW. Both expressed that they would miss CZW very much and were thankful for their time there, but have not been at all happy with recent business actions as well as booking changes within the company. The BackSeats were scheduled to appear on the upcoming 2/7/04 CZW show and the 2/7/04 World One show against Rebel's Army in a 6-8 minute opener. Zandig went to the World One office and used his leverage with the building and license to have The BackSeats removed from the show. You may remember, Zandig used the same "blackballing" tactics with Justice Pain when he left the company early last year, however the BackSeat Boyz can hardly be put in a category with Justice Pain as they have remained loyal to CZW for over five years. This is now taking TWO paydays out of the pockets of both Johnny and Trent. Johnny and Trent have served as "good-will ambassadors" for CZW in the past and have been responsible for a lot of the talent that was brought there through the years. Talent such as SAT, Nick Mondo, Red, John House, WifeBeater, Nick Berk, Ty Street, Justin Credible, Tony Devito, Eric Garguillo, Adam Flash, Tony Mamaluke Homicide, Dan Maff and probably a few others were all brought in through the BackSeat Boyz.

 

I then asked them if they would make any announcement about the CZW awards ceremony set to be held at their 2/7/04 show and they had this to say:

 

"We have been made aware from the CZW office and John Zandig that we are slated to win a few awards at the next event. [These awards are for Best Tag Team, Wrestler of the Year (Trent), Mic Work of the Year (Johnny), Fued of the Year (Hi-V vs. Zandig, and Match of the Year (2003 Cage of Death)]. We want to take this rare opportunity to thank all of our supporters. It is overwhelming to see that the fans enjoy watching us wrestle and we thank god that we remain healthy and safe. These awards really do mean a lot to us because if we didn't have our fans we'd just give it all up. We don't get a chance to really express our appreciation to our fans (because we're usually yelling at them )so we just want to say THANK YOU now because we wont have the privlege to do so this Saturday night."----Johnny and Trent

 

I dug a little deeper and Kashmere explained that he attempted to contact John Zandig for over two weeks and he will not answer his calls nor return them. Many other wrestlers and non-wrestlers in CZW have been complaining about John Zandig's apparent "lack of communication skills" but it mostly gets overlooked as he is the owner of the company. Kashmere assumed that he was done with the company once the phone calls weren't returned. Zandig then gave Trent the ultimatum to either leave with Kashmere or stay on board as a singles wrestler, and Trent declined his offer saying that The BackSeat Boyz are a team and are most effective when used in that capacity.

 

There was a bittersweet feel to the evening as it was apparent that both Trent and Johnny were going to miss their friends, family, and most of all the fans as they make the honorable next step into the bigger picture. Let this be a beginning and not an ending. ALL of the BackSeat Boyz energy will now be used to better their tag team and move ahead. They said that they will be around as long as they want to be, and with the fans support it is inevitable. If you are as big a fan of these guys as I am you should really meet them in person, they are really down to earth which is a rarety in a sleezy business such as independent wrestling. The Boyz have put their foot down and will not stand up for something they don't believe in....they now choose their OWN path and not follow the others.

 

Check back regularly at www.backseatweb.com for further updates. The Boyz will also be adding regular commentaries to the page so they can better keep their fans informed of whats ahead for them. Luckily the Boyz, who declined other bookings for CZW, will at least be bartending this Saturday night at the Berwyn Tavern. Check out www.theberwyntavern.com for directions. I"ll be at the show but when I leave I'm going STRAIGHT to the Tavern, I"ll see you all there.

 

 

 

 

 

This has been rumored all day on the CZW fanboys board, and looks like it's true now.

 

A fans bring the weapons match is added to Saturday's card, with participants unknown, since CZW has no main event now. (Homicide/Dan Maff vs. Backseats vs. H8 Club was the planned ME)

 

In the IWA-MS TPI Q&A, Ian Rotten said that John Zandig "needs to stop kissing Trent Acid's ass." If what Ian said is/was true, it's kinda hard to believe Acid would leave such a situation.

 

Who knows what's going to happen now.

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Guest JustinCredible2k

Stinks that they are leaving CZW. But hey, when someone screws u out of money then its time to go. Zandig is a freakin idiot for doing it. I pretty sure he lost alot of respect from the guys backstage. I hope all goes well for the Backseat Boyz.

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Guest Markingout
In the IWA-MS TPI Q&A, Ian Rotten said that John Zandig "needs to stop kissing Trent Acid's ass." If what Ian said is/was true, it's kinda hard to believe Acid would leave such a situation.

 

Who knows what's going to happen now.

I know thats what I said on XIWmedia and I was so confused. I guess it dosent matter too Trent seeing as he wants too be treated as an equal or just wants it better for the team. I thought Zandig loved the loyity of Trent and Johnny. Oh well, its been a great 5 years

 

Justin2k it will go well for the Backseats they still have MLW and ROH. I don't know how long they have MLW though..

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Just a little fantasy/reality/business booking:

 

Right now, if I'm Rob Feinstein, I'm going to take this opportunity to push CZW out of business. You've got the guy Zandig desperately wanted to make a future star out of (Acid), you've got pretty much the only people who would be loyal to a different US company than yours (Homicide might still be loyal to JAPW, but with the joint show they ran, that matter can easily be worked around), you've got the fanbase that's expanding the quickest, with maybe PWG being the exception, you've succeeded more in your first two years than any other company in recent memory, damn near everything is in your favor.

 

What you do is you start to book dates that CZW also runs. You eliminate the talent sharing deal with Zandig, since it no longer benefits you. You force the talent to choose which company to side with, CZW or ROH. This isn't 2002 when ROH first formed and CZW was the big company in Philly. There's no third party to get in the way, with XPW dead and MLW bailing back to Florida after dipping their toes in the Philly water. ROH is the dominant force in the indys today, and you can use that to your advantage. Maff and Homicide would stay with ROH, as they were brought to CZW by the Backseats, Deranged and Azrael are already gone, Shelley and Jacobs can probably be bought off of CZW, Hero's gone to England but you never wanted him anyway (why I don't know), the only person who probably wouldn't jump ship is Sonjay, and he's not a major part of your fed anyway. (I'm not counting one-shot guys like Nick Gage in ROH and Justin Credible in CZW.)

 

You cripple CZW's roster, you start taking away their fanbase by running superior shows with superior talent, force CZW to start using their students more who clearly aren't ready, and you can do all of this without having to resort to using underhanded tactics. If it's at all possible, try to find a way to get the overseas relationships that Zandig has, since those are pumping in money for him. Italy hated hardcore and won't stand for ultraviolence, so if ROH could run a regular show over there for whomever that money mark was, they'd make a killing.

 

I don't want this to happen, but it's a very realistic possibility and if RF is as shrewd a businessman as he should be, he'd jump on this opportunity and drive his biggest competition out of business. 3PW isn't a threat and won't be if they stay the way they are, MLW is a concern money-wise but they balked at running Philly already, though if CZW is gone they might try again. No one else is big enough to really compete. Get a good TV deal (even if it would cut into tape sales, it expands the word and the fanbase more than just the Internet and street teams alone would), and we've got a legitimate #3 promotion on our hands.

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It has definitely been obvious to me that CZW is slowly sinking back into that category of garbage fed that they were in from their inception until '01. You could probably blame it on John Zandig, whose wrestling skills are on par with Stephanie McMahon, giving himself the World title, Wifebeater and New Jack being brought back and put into the main event, and the overall lack of home-grown talent. Sucks that the Backseat Boyz have to leave, as they were the few bright spots of CZW's latter shows, but hopefully it's for the best.

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Wow, so it is true...

 

that's horrible they were a major (and I do mean major) part of what made CZW so fun. Trent was like CZW's franchise... I don't know what CZW will do now.

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I know Deranged was asked to not come back to Ring of Honor because he couldn't consistently be responsible for showing up to the shows, but when and why was Angel Dust let go?

I think Deranged is back with ROH- they smoothed everything over

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Just a little fantasy/reality/business booking:

 

Right now, if I'm Rob Feinstein, I'm going to take this opportunity to push CZW out of business. You've got the guy Zandig desperately wanted to make a future star out of (Acid), you've got pretty much the only people who would be loyal to a different US company than yours (Homicide might still be loyal to JAPW, but with the joint show they ran, that matter can easily be worked around), you've got the fanbase that's expanding the quickest, with maybe PWG being the exception, you've succeeded more in your first two years than any other company in recent memory, damn near everything is in your favor.

 

What you do is you start to book dates that CZW also runs. You eliminate the talent sharing deal with Zandig, since it no longer benefits you. You force the talent to choose which company to side with, CZW or ROH. This isn't 2002 when ROH first formed and CZW was the big company in Philly. There's no third party to get in the way, with XPW dead and MLW bailing back to Florida after dipping their toes in the Philly water. ROH is the dominant force in the indys today, and you can use that to your advantage. Maff and Homicide would stay with ROH, as they were brought to CZW by the Backseats, Deranged and Azrael are already gone, Shelley and Jacobs can probably be bought off of CZW, Hero's gone to England but you never wanted him anyway (why I don't know), the only person who probably wouldn't jump ship is Sonjay, and he's not a major part of your fed anyway. (I'm not counting one-shot guys like Nick Gage in ROH and Justin Credible in CZW.)

 

You cripple CZW's roster, you start taking away their fanbase by running superior shows with superior talent, force CZW to start using their students more who clearly aren't ready, and you can do all of this without having to resort to using underhanded tactics. If it's at all possible, try to find a way to get the overseas relationships that Zandig has, since those are pumping in money for him. Italy hated hardcore and won't stand for ultraviolence, so if ROH could run a regular show over there for whomever that money mark was, they'd make a killing.

 

I don't want this to happen, but it's a very realistic possibility and if RF is as shrewd a businessman as he should be, he'd jump on this opportunity and drive his biggest competition out of business. 3PW isn't a threat and won't be if they stay the way they are, MLW is a concern money-wise but they balked at running Philly already, though if CZW is gone they might try again. No one else is big enough to really compete. Get a good TV deal (even if it would cut into tape sales, it expands the word and the fanbase more than just the Internet and street teams alone would), and we've got a legitimate #3 promotion on our hands.

I can't help it - your post strikes me as really hypocritical. Back during the Philly wars, you were one of the most outspoken on this board against XPW's "invasion." Those posts can still be found by going to the Search section and looking through this board's archives. You said that XPW had no right to begin a "war" and try to put CZW out of business, and suddenly now you're saying ROH does. Please clarify, because either I've misinterpreted you which is probably the case or something's going on here.

 

I'm not trying to make this into a flame war, and it better not degenerate into one. If it does, it's NOT my fault because I'm stating this as politely as I possibly can.

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Just a little fantasy/reality/business booking:

 

Right now, if I'm Rob Feinstein, I'm going to take this opportunity to push CZW out of business.  You've got the guy Zandig desperately wanted to make a future star out of (Acid), you've got pretty much the only people who would be loyal to a different US company than yours (Homicide might still be loyal to JAPW, but with the joint show they ran, that matter can easily be worked around), you've got the fanbase that's expanding the quickest, with maybe PWG being the exception, you've succeeded more in your first two years than any other company in recent memory, damn near everything is in your favor.

 

What you do is you start to book dates that CZW also runs.  You eliminate the talent sharing deal with Zandig, since it no longer benefits you.  You force the talent to choose which company to side with, CZW or ROH.  This isn't 2002 when ROH first formed and CZW was the big company in Philly.  There's no third party to get in the way, with XPW dead and MLW bailing back to Florida after dipping their toes in the Philly water.  ROH is the dominant force in the indys today, and you can use that to your advantage.  Maff and Homicide would stay with ROH, as they were brought to CZW by the Backseats, Deranged and Azrael are already gone, Shelley and Jacobs can probably be bought off of CZW, Hero's gone to England but you never wanted him anyway (why I don't know), the only person who probably wouldn't jump ship is Sonjay, and he's not a major part of your fed anyway.  (I'm not counting one-shot guys like Nick Gage in ROH and Justin Credible in CZW.)

 

You cripple CZW's roster, you start taking away their fanbase by running superior shows with superior talent, force CZW to start using their students more who clearly aren't ready, and you can do all of this without having to resort to using underhanded tactics.  If it's at all possible, try to find a way to get the overseas relationships that Zandig has, since those are pumping in money for him.  Italy hated hardcore and won't stand for ultraviolence, so if ROH could run a regular show over there for whomever that money mark was, they'd make a killing.

 

I don't want this to happen, but it's a very realistic possibility and if RF is as shrewd a businessman as he should be, he'd jump on this opportunity and drive his biggest competition out of business.  3PW isn't a threat and won't be if they stay the way they are, MLW is a concern money-wise but they balked at running Philly already, though if CZW is gone they might try again.  No one else is big enough to really compete.  Get a good TV deal (even if it would cut into tape sales, it expands the word and the fanbase more than just the Internet and street teams alone would), and we've got a legitimate #3 promotion on our hands.

I can't help it - your post strikes me as really hypocritical. Back during the Philly wars, you were one of the most outspoken on this board against XPW's "invasion." Those posts can still be found by going to the Search section and looking through this board's archives. You said that XPW had no right to begin a "war" and try to put CZW out of business, and suddenly now you're saying ROH does. Please clarify, because either I've misinterpreted you which is probably the case or something's going on here.

 

I'm not trying to make this into a flame war, and it better not degenerate into one. If it does, it's NOT my fault because I'm stating this as politely as I possibly can.

There's a difference between saying that somebody has a RIGHT to and that somebody has the POTENTIAL too. What I posted there is something that is a realistic fear in my mind; that ROH has the POTENTIAL to put CZW out of business.

 

It may just be paranoia on my part, but I feel that if ROH plays it's cards right and CZW doesn't rebound, that CZW could be out of business before the end of the year. More than anything else, CZW has failed to make any new starts in the past year who could be considered "main event guys," i.e. someone you could put the world belt on and run the promotion around. The two heir-apparents to the throne, Mondo and Acid, have left the company. Who's left? Ian Knoxx and Chris Cash are getting the biggest pushes as homegrown talents, but they aren't ready.

 

I'm not saying that I want ROH to put CZW out of business, it's the last thing I want. I'm just saying that ROH could potentially put CZW out of business with this latest development.

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Guest DeputyHawk

What are the chances this will all be worked out come the show tomorrow? Zandig's surely not dumb enough to let them go like this.

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Guest Dynamite Kido

This really sucks. I like to see as many promotions flourish as possible. It's good for the business. But I hate the fact that the Backseats have to leave this way. Hopefully(and probably), they will be back in CZW again, but until then I hope there are a ton of indy's out there paying attention. They could do wonders with a team like this on their rosters.

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People are reporting different things, it's all a tad confusing. Some say that Kashmere quit the company over a World1/Corino deal and Trent left with him. Then again Zandig has been known to make the stupidest decisions known to man before so....

 

 

Gonna see how this one plays out, Justice Pain left at the same sort of time last year an in my opinion (I know long term CZW fans have disliked the current direction but for me they're doing some of the most interesting stuff yet) 2003 was a darn good year. So it could do well, or could prove disasterous.

 

Sandman, I think one thing you may have overlooked with your prediction is that CZW fans are very loyal (so are ROH guys but they don't go to CZW shows as much as the other way round) which I guess could hurt them (see XPW, allthough that wasn't just CZW fans). But it's feasible.

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I'm calling Zandig in a few hours to give him the opportunity to comment on the situation for an article I'm writing about the matter that should be up shortly before the show tomorrow.

 

The reason I especially want him to have a chance to respond is because it doesn't really paint him in all that great a light, although I guarantee everyone it's not an "unfair" article or anything like that. When I rip someone, I'm quite professional about it, unlike so many other guys (no one on this board, I'm inferring rather to other sites' "reporters).

 

I'll let everyone know what happens.

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Eh, more than likely, Zandig will let us know all about it tomorrow. Him and/or Rebel.

 

Speaking of which, how in the hell are you able to get ahold of Zandig whenever, Barber, when Zack Malibu here, who has a tape deal with Zandig and can't get ahold of him, and Zandig's own wrestlers can never get ahold of him? Explain that to me.

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Eh, more than likely, Zandig will let us know all about it tomorrow. Him and/or Rebel.

 

Speaking of which, how in the hell are you able to get ahold of Zandig whenever, Barber, when Zack Malibu here, who has a tape deal with Zandig and can't get ahold of him, and Zandig's own wrestlers can never get ahold of him? Explain that to me.

Because he's a stalker. This is common knowledge, motherhusser.

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Eh, more than likely, Zandig will let us know all about it tomorrow. Him and/or Rebel.

 

Speaking of which, how in the hell are you able to get ahold of Zandig whenever, Barber, when Zack Malibu here, who has a tape deal with Zandig and can't get ahold of him, and Zandig's own wrestlers can never get ahold of him? Explain that to me.

The number to reach John at is relatively easy to get ahold of. I'm not going to give it out, but it's pretty obvious. My experiences in the past have been that I've had to call around 25 times in the span of two days to get him on the line, and I can imagine he stays farther away from the line when the shit hits the fan.

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Speaking of which, how in the hell are you able to get ahold of Zandig whenever, Barber, when Zack Malibu here, who has a tape deal with Zandig and can't get ahold of him, and Zandig's own wrestlers can never get ahold of him?  Explain that to me.

I've never had a prob. getting ahold of him in the several times I've spoken to him. I think Rob Naylor has also talked to him before and had little if any trouble, but I may be wrong. All I do is call the CZW offices. He's usually the guy to pick up the phone, unless he's at the CZW school training wrestlers, at which time his secretary, who I think is Debbie his wife, (and sometimes his adorable [at least over the phone] 3-or-so year old daughter, if the sec. isn't there) picks up. I'm also calling Rob Black's office in about an hour. I just may be the only person in the history of the world to speak to both of those two people on the same exact day (exception - Messiah...possibly?). LOL

 

Because he's a stalker. This is common knowledge, motherhusser.

 

You have a proven vendetta against me more than most people, so do you really think anyone will take what you say seriously?

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Speaking of which, how in the hell are you able to get ahold of Zandig whenever, Barber, when Zack Malibu here, who has a tape deal with Zandig and can't get ahold of him, and Zandig's own wrestlers can never get ahold of him?  Explain that to me.

I've never had a prob. getting ahold of him in the several times I've spoken to him. I think Rob Naylor has also talked to him before and had little if any trouble, but I may be wrong. All I do is call the CZW offices. He's usually the guy to pick up the phone, unless he's at the CZW school training wrestlers, at which time his secretary, who I think is Debbie his wife, (and sometimes his adorable [at least over the phone] 3-or-so year old daughter, if the sec. isn't there) picks up. I'm also calling Rob Black's office in about an hour. I just may be the only person in the history of the world to speak to both of those two people on the same exact day (exception - Messiah...possibly?). LOL

 

Because he's a stalker. This is common knowledge, motherhusser.

 

You have a proven vendetta against me more than most people, so do you really think anyone will take what you say seriously?

Yes.

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Guest bort

To me if ROH tryed to squeze out CZW right now it would be a smart move by there part, they have a bulit up fan base, some of CZWs best workers are from ROH, I think it is a very diffrent situation than what XPW tryed to do, XPW wasnt really big in so cal or where ever they ran and they tryed much more underhanded tricks that pissed off fans, if ROH told there workers to not work CZW and instead set them up with JAPW or USA pro or somthing i think that could in turn crush CZW because without some outside workers CZW is very weak now that the BSB are gone.

 

i mean you have Hatred and Gage and Zandiq as top faces and Messiah and b boy as the top heel, the tag divison is very weak right now and unless they can get Pain or Mondo CZW will be very dull to me as Zandiq isnt known as the best booker in the world

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XPW wasnt really big in so cal or where ever they ran

Uhhh. They were huge in So-Cal. A rep of Antonio f'ing Inoki called them to set up a talent agreement (I'm not bullsh*tting) , and that was back in friggin '99. By 2000, they were working with none other than Onita's FMW and consistently drawing 800 non-comped. They were HUGE in So-Cal and forever changed that region's indy circuit.

 

I do agree that RF would be smart to capitalize on it.

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Guest bort

I dont remeber ever seeing XPW beeing huge but i didnt really follow so cal at the time, I dont think they were big enough to invade Philly at the time, I cant really think of any XPW guys who would have worked out in NJPW at the time, Grimes was good but not NJPW style, so i think Inoki would have had to be crazy to work out a deal

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