Power struggle in CZW?

[LucharesuFan619 0]

CREDIT: DOI, so take it for what it's worth

 

The DOI has been receiving several emails from several employees/talent/staff of CZW, talking about an incident involving CZW Owner, John Zandig and CZW Production Assistant, Michael Pancoast. According to several people in CZW, apparently there was a physical altercation between the two, at Cage of Death VII.

 

During Cage of Death VII, former CZW IronMan Champion, Chris Hero, cut a promo, challenging American Dragon Bryan Danielson for a match at the next event. When Zandig heard the promo live, he was fuming and irate. Apparently, Zandig did not know about the deal that CZW booker, Mike Burns arranged with ROH Booker, Gabe Sapolsky. The news of CZW working with ROH, made Zandig go into a frenzy.

 

Upon hearing the news, backstage, Zandig was going nuts, and even threatened not to wrestle in the main event of Cage of Death. Why Zandig would sabotage his own company is not known, as of press time.

 

Michael Pancoast, who many might not know, but is very valuable to the company, as he handles the website, the graphic/designs for CZW, the CZWtron, the Ultraviolent Underound and other numerous oddjobs, went to approach Zandig as Zandig was flipping out. Pancoast asked Zandig why would you do this to CZW, especially after all the work that everyone in CZW put into Cage of Death? Zandig told Pancoast not to raise his voice with him, but Pancoast was visiably and understandably upset.

 

After having a very vocal argument, where Pancoast was trying to look out for the best interests of CZW, John Zandig couldn't control his anger, and allegedly, pushed Michael Pancoast down a flight of stairs, from the Crows nest. It is not known if Pancoast was able to break the fall, by holding the rail, during mid flight down the steps, or if he had a crash landing on the locker room floor.

 

Allegedly, when Zandig pushed Michael Pancoast down, he was quoted, to me, by one CZW staff member as saying, "Make sure to grab the rail on your way down."

 

After this incident, and after being pissed about the Chris Hero/Dragon ROH Deal, it has come to the DOI's attention, that CZW booker, Mike Burns has left CZW.

 

What is not known as of right now, is if Mike Burns quit CZW or was relieved of his duties by John Zandig. What is known was that Zandig was steaming mad at Burns for setting up a deal with ROH, without telling him first.

 

Mike Burns has been credited with turning the company around this year, and has been largely responsible for CZW's success this year.

 

According to several CZW employees, Zandig was overheard saying he's going to turn the company back to the way it was. Zandig also made reference to Burns departure at the end of Cage of Death, when he said he was going to change the company back to the way it was, which could be a good or bad thing. As of right now, Mike Burns is not going to be at CZW's next event. However, his company, Smart Mark Video, is still believed to be taping the event. Glen and Gary of SMV, are supposedly going to be manning the camera's at CZW's next event in January.

 

While speaking of CZW's next event, CZW is advertising a "No-Ropes-Barbed-Wire" match between CZW Owner, John Zandig and Indy Hardcore Journeyman, Necro Butcher. According to state officials that the DOI has been in contact with, John Zandig has been told in the past that he can't do this type of match, under the PSAC rules & regulations. Apparantly, Zandig is attempting to defy the PSAC's power to enforce the rules, as Zandig is promoting the match without clearing it with the PSAC first.

It should be noted that when Hardcore Homecoming did their "No-Ropes-Barbed-Wire" match, officials from Hardcore Homecoming asked the PSAC what they could do ahead of time and cleared the match before promoting it. That is why Hardcore Homecoming was allowed to do their bout. In addition, Hardcore Homecoming didn't use a "No-Ropes-Barbed-Wire" match in their advertising for the event, and drew a large crowd without using the gimmick match to draw fans.

 

In an attempt to gather more information about all these occurrences, I checked out the official CZW website, at CZWrestling.com. Upon arriving at the website, I noticed that the original site and archives have all been taken down. It is known that Michael Pancoast runs the website and is in charge of maintaining it. However, if you go to CZW's website today, you'll notice that the site, which was Flash heavy and graphic heavy, has been reduced to one page of straight up text. There was no explanation given to why the website was changed, when it looked so good in the past.

 

As of right now, the DOI doesn't know the status of Michael Pancoast in CZW. It is alleged that Zandig has tried extending an olive branch to Michael, but several in CZW have told the DOI that Pancoast would be nuts to accept it.

 

The one thing that really sticks out to me, from a personal note, is the fact that so many people in CZW were willing to provide this information to the DOI. For a company that has been close knit for many years, I couldn't believe the abundance of information that I was receiving. Having been covering the indies for several years now, whenever controversy like this is spread, and openly talked about to people like myself, and others who cover indy wrestling, usually the writing is on the wall.

 

In an attempt to shed more light on these events, the DOI has been in contact with someone with knowledge of this situation. We will attempt to do an interview with this person on Thursday, here on the DOI site.

 

CZW returns on 1/14 at the New Alhambra.

[King Cucaracha 0]

So, from reading this, Zandig is pissed that the best wrestler in the world was asked to work against the best wrestler in the world that Gabe whatshisface thinks sucks?

 

If so, methinks he may have taken one too many lighttubes to the head. Or, he doesn't want his deathmatch stuff to be over-shadowed by an actual wrestler. Either way, assuming this is accurate, Zandig's an idiot. Having Danielson in CZW could be nothing but a good thing. Nothing.

[Placebo Effect 0]

It should be noted that even I could kick Pancoast's ass. He's a skinny, tall guy with a goatee and for Zandig to push him down the Eagle's Nest is awful.

 

I haven't watched a CZW show for two years. I've been meaning to though.

[Guest Happy Go Nowhere]

So, from reading this, Zandig is pissed that the best wrestler in the world was asked to work against the best wrestler in the world that Gabe whatshisface thinks sucks?

 

Meh, that's a bit subjective really. Personally I think Danielson is a bit dull. And this whole: Not selling certain people's holds thing that he does now just isn't my idea of good wrestling.

 

That's probably just me though.

[nl5xsk1 0]

I think that threatening to no-show your own main event might be among the funniest things I've heard all year. What, exactly, would that accomplish?

[Guest Happy Go Nowhere]

He'd learn not to book himself in the future, because not only would he see he was an awful worker, but that he's just not reliable and throws fits for no reason.

 

Zandig would be a fool to keep Zandig on the payroll after that.

[daileyxplanet 0]

Zandig makes every other promoter look sane.

[EMAXSAUN 0]

You guys do realize that the DOI "reported" this story, and by reported I mean used rumors and took every chance they could to take cheap shots at CZW.

[Guest Happy Go Nowhere]

Yup, but there's little things that indicate parts of it might have some grounding.

[EMAXSAUN 0]

its possible that some little things might be half true, but i think this is just a case where the doi is taking every little thing and blowing it out of proportion.

[Sideburnious 0]

As New Jack said "Zandig is the kid with the ball. When he doesn't get his own way he takes his ball and leaves" or something to that effect.

[JustJoe2k5 0]

As New Jack said "Zandig is the kid with the ball. When he doesn't get his own way he takes his ball and leaves" or something to that effect.

 

I refuse to believe New Jack could say that without expletives peppered throughout.

[LucharesuFan619 0]

UPDATE:

 

 

 

Ever since breaking some of CZW's recent developments (which I've included the original story after this update), the DOI has been receiving a ton of email about the latest CZW occurrences.

 

The DOI can confirm that Mike Burns is no longer booking for the company, but will continue to film all future CZW events under his Smart Mark Video company banner.

 

The DOI can also confirm that Michael Pancoast has left the company, but the door to return is always open for him. He could even return to the company in time for CZW's 1/14 event. However, at the moment, Pancoast does not want to return, as it might make him look "weak", as one CZW wrestler told me.

 

As noted earlier, the CZW website, which was maintained by Michael Pancoast, has been altered drastically. A message saying that the site is "Under Construction" is currently posted on the site, which you can read for yourself at CZWrestling.com. There was a message on the site earlier this week, saying that the site has nothing to do with Pancoast Productions, but that message has since been taken down.

 

From the wrestlers and staff of CZW that I've talked to, many feel that if Pancoast is gone for good, the company will suffer a crippling blow. The same wrestlers and staff of CZW that I talked to, also thought Zandig taking back the booker job from Burns is a huge mistake, and the company will revert back to what it was 5 years ago.

 

It also should be noted that Burns and Pancoast want nothing to do with the spotlight and just want to stay behind the scenes. Their biggest goal is to make CZW the top company around, and not to be involved with any drama or internet stories. That is why you probably won't hear a statement from either, as they would rather do their business and not be the center of attention.

 

As far as the No-Ropes-Barbed-Wire match that CZW has been advertising for 1/14, between Zandig and Necro Butcher, that match will go on as planned.

 

Originally, Zandig announced the match, at Cage of Death VII, without clearing it with the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission first. However, Frank Talent confirmed today, on his radio show, that he had a meeting with several state officials and with Maven Bentely (The CZW licensed promoter) earlier this week, to get everything straightened out.

 

As noted before on this site, the PSAC are not heavily opposed to these barbaric matches as they were in the past, but they want to know what's getting announced ahead of time. Using the barbed wire as a gimmick way to draw fans or not, is not an issue. Clearing the match before announcing it to the public IS the issue.

 

As we reported in an earlier article, CZW's belltime, which was scheduled for 7:30 PM on 1/14, then moved to 2PM, has now been changed back to its original 7:30PM start time. Frank Talent announced earlier on his radio show, that due to the "courtesy law", no two groups in Philadelphia can run head-to-head. With that announcement in place, it should be interesting to see what happens with the heavily hyped Chris Hero vs American Dragon match. If ROH gets moved to the week after (1/21), like Talent alluded to, this match could be in jeopardy.

 

With all the recent developments, such as Burn's dismissal as booker from the company, as of right now, I see the Hero/Dragon match taking place in ROH, and not in CZW, if it still goes on as planned. Zandig is not a fan of this match, and wants to go back to the blood, guts and no-selling type of wrestling, rather than booking matches for the smart mark Philly fans.

 

Jim Cornette, who now has a greater role in ROH, and is taking care of some of the booking responsibilities of ROH, cut a promo hyping up Chris Hero. It wouldn't make sense for ROH to hype up another promotions match, which is why many believe the match will now take place in ROH, rather in CZW as originally planned. It is odd, or perhaps coincedental, that after years of rejecting Chris Hero in ROH, that the second a RF Video associated promotion, PW Elite, announces Hero as a main eventer for them, ROH now has a sudden interest in using Hero as a regular.

 

With Zandig now controlling all creative aspects of his company, the following matches are announced for CZW's 1/14 return date:

 

No Ropes, Barbed Wire:

Zandig vs The Necro Butcher

 

Nick Gage vs JC Bailey

 

Joker vs Justice Pain

 

I have to say that all this drama surrounding CZW's 1/14 has been great, in my opinion, for the company. January, the month after Cage of Death, has been notorious over the years, for having some of the lowest gates in CZW history. Now, there is alot of talk about CZW's January date, and fan interest for this January event is higher than any other previous CZW January show. Burns, who was responsible for originally booking Hero/Dragon knew what he was doing in this regard. However, Zandig is reaping the benefits with some of his less than perfect decisions, such as his altercation with Pancoast, letting Burns go, etc. While CZW has alot of hype now, it should be really interesting to see what happens in February, after the January show has taken place.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

Belltime is 3:30.

[Guest Psycho_Freak]

Hopefully The Show will be awesome

[Guest The Showcase]

People still care about CZW? Shit, news to me.

[HollywoodSpikeJenkins 0]

Only since this CZW vs. ROH/Chris Hero vs. American Dragon feud.

[Cuban Linx 0]

Hey now, CZW was good in 2005. Too bad Zandig's going to fuck it all up though.

[Guest The Showcase]

I don't know. CZW has always been nothing more than over the top spotfests and boring ass deathmatches.

 

Yawn.

[King Cucaracha 0]

They had a lot more good wrestling last year, which is why I got into the promotion more.

 

But apparantly, they're determined to bring back the 'old CZW' with guys like Justice Pain, Joker, Zandig et all hitting each other with the same old tired junk, when the real money is in a Kingston/Hero wrestling feud. I honestly couldn't care less about any of the three matches they announced early.