SWF News and Notes

[Toxxic 0]

SWF News and Notes for 1/29/05 from Wrestling Panda Newsletter

 

A new month, and yet another new World Champion. After a seemingly massive win for Landon Maddix to take the title away from Toxxic the booking committee inexplicably pulled the plug on the young Dakotan and put the belt on Sacred. While the veteran Australian’s stints in the SWF have certainly earned him a second run as World Champion it seems a strange decision to kill Maddix’s momentum so early, especially as there was no injury reason for it (as demonstrated by Maddix taking the USJL belt from Sean Davis). Now we will have to see whether Sacred’s time at the top is going to last, or whether January will see its second new World Champion when Mak Francis (currently with one time-limit draw under his belt vs. Dace Night) faces him at Clusterfuck.

 

Speaking of Dace Night, it seems that the High Priest of Horrorcore is definitely on his way out of the SWF. The Visa situation that Dace referred to on the last Smarkdown is genuine, and his Pure Wrestling match against Toxxic at Clusterfuck is scheduled to be his last with the company. There is still speculation as to the outcome since with Dace leaving it would make little sense to put him over the Number One Contender to the World Title, especially since Dace has already jobbed to Spike Jenkins and Todd Cortez. On the other hand the match is being billed as Dace’s last chance to beat Toxxic, and it would seem equally strange to let the Straight-Edge Sensation go over in a match stipulation that, kayfabe-wise, definitely favours his opponent.

 

Wild & Dangerous have now made history as the first-ever three-time Tag Champions in the SWF, and especially with the current tag team division being rather under-strength compared to the glory days of the federation’s past there is no reason why Wildchild and Johnny Dangerous can’t remain on top for a long time. Revolution Zero, Martial Law and the Royal Order all seem to be more involved in singles competition than being actively pushed for the Tag Titles, which is a potential problem of having so many singles titles left over from a time when the roster was bigger. Wildchild has publicly stated that the only other belt he would be interested in competing for is the Cruiserweight Title currently held by Spike Jenkins, but Johnny Dangerous’ status outside of Wild & Dangerous is unclear. His Number One Contender’s match against Toxxic shows that Dangerous can still be used as an upper-midcard or main-event talent, but whether or not the SWF bookers will be willing to or interested in pushing Dangerous back to the main event on a permanent basis has yet to be seen.

 

Tom Flesher’s influence with the SWF can still be clearly seen as the Superior One has already moved beyond his ‘consultant on call’ role and now has a presence on Smarkdown. Rumour has it that Flesher is actually booking the show, but either way he must certainly be one of the hardest-working law students around.

 

‘The Critic’ Scott Pretzler is set to debut in the SWF soon, a move that will be interesting, to say the least. Pretzler is indeed a wrestling critic for a small North-Eastern newsheet in his spare time, and his honest (but not always flattering) opinions of his fellow workers’ performances have caused tension in lockerooms before now, especially when new talent that he has ripped on has arrived in the federation. His opening tirade on SWF.net was evidently a work but although not the target of his greatest ire (presumably because he wanted to get a job there) he has not always been entirely complementary of the federation’s style and booking. If the Pretzler experiment fails right out of the gate then we will know why, in which case he can be expected to return to Ring of Respect where he is something of a cult figure.

 

Finally, it’s Clusterfuck time again. With the small-sized roster available to the SWF bookers, not to mention Toxxic and Dace Night being sidelined in their singles match, the decision has been made to bring in a few old talents to bulk the numbers up to the requisite twenty. Word is that Charlie Matthews will be appearing, although there is no news on whether his neck is in a suitable condition to make a full-time return. Referee Ced Ordonez should have the night off officiating and it wouldn’t be out of the question to see an appearance by the Bernami Cross Wizard, and even the Boston Strangler is rumoured to be dusting off the shorts for the first time since the last Mall Brawl. Rumours that ‘The King of Nightmares’ Michael Craven would be recalled, a year after his very impressive run in the 2004 ‘Fuck, appear to have been unfounded after it was realised that no-one in the SWF office wanted anything to do with him. On further investigation it seems that the rumours may have been started by Craven himself at an indy show while drunk. Craven’s girlfriend Amy is currently making a living as a burlesque stripper doing live shows with Dita Von Teese up and down the West Coast.

[TheBostonStrangler 0]

But who is babysitting for Hollyanna? I NEED TO KNOW!

[Ace309 0]

As always, Mike, good stuff.