UWA Hardcore Wrestling 3/24/06

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

Ok, below has to be the longest thing I have ever written for this board. Well, maybe that storyline I wrote last Summer was bigger, but this is certainly in the top 3 (4000 words~! 7 pages~!). The show review is just the context for my thoughts on wrestling in general. I think it's worth a look as I'd like to think some of the stuff I write and my perspectives on todays wrestling scene are pretty unique and other stuff I think are things that some people know and have been in practice for years, but aren't fully realized by a lot of people. Odds are I wrote this for naught, but hopefully some will get through it all and maybe it could stir up some discussion and maybe even edumacate some as well

 

Here goes.

 

So I went to see an Indy show tonight. UWA Hardcore is a promotion that runs out of Mississauga and has monthly shows that features a mix of guys that you’d see wrestling for TNA, ROH, CZW, and IWS, along with their own local guys who also wrestle for other Ontario indies. This was my third show, my previous one being the Ultimo Dragon show in January, and the first one I wrote about here last June. The Ultimo Dragon show was an improvement upon the June show, and though some problems still remained, I enjoyed the show for the most part which could be in part due to low expectations. Since tonight’s show didn’t have the benefit of coming off a horrible show like the UD show had, it came off much, much worse.

 

Were the matches bad? Not really. They weren’t anything special, but they were better than most matches you’d see on television, and could be considered on par with stuff offered by other favoured indy promotions. So if the matches weren’t bad, then how could the show have been bad?

 

And so begins my Rant.

 

UWA Hardcore is a very poorly booked company. It is poorly booked in several different ways and facets, a lot of which are more important than the actual quality of matches placed on a card.

 

If you think the job of a wrestling promoter is to put on as many great matches as possible, then you are wrong. If you think there is no place for jobber matches, squashes, and “sports entertainment” in wrestling, then you are wrong. If you find yourself chanting whatever comes to your head more than you find yourself reacting to the work done in the match, then you are an idiot. But that’s not your fault, it’s the promoters and wrestlers fault.

 

So, with that in mind, I will begin with the fans. If you’ve been to any wrestling show, from the biggest arena to the smallest hole in the wall, you’ve been to a show that had loud-mouthed fans. Fans that don’t go to a show to watch wrestling, but rather, go to a show to have fun. Granted, everyone goes to a wrestling show to have fun, but they also go with the idea of the wrestling itself being the fun part, not the fun being in coming up with “clever” chants and screaming it out in hopes that the wrestler sees it or the other fans laugh at it. These are fans who want to “get over”. They want to get over with the audience and they want to get over with the wrestlers.

 

In the indies, it is unfortunate, because not only are these type of fans more common, but due to the size of the crowd, they are more audible, and they certainly tend to ruin the night for those who came to actually watch the wrestling. Those like me. I swear, there must’ve been a 30 chants… PER MATCH… if not more. The job of wrestlers and bookers is to control the crowd. This is the purpose of wrestling. Because when you control the crowd, you control their wallets. An out-of-control crowd reflects an inability to work, and when the audience cares more about getting over than the wrestlers do, then there is a problem.

 

So how do you solve the problem? It’s difficult, because these fans are conditioned to chant and there’s only so much wrestlers can do (though the majority of the wrestlers tonight didn’t do nearly enough to work the crowd and take control – they were merely content with doing flashy moves to get a reaction and the odd gesture). One idea, which I think would do well, is to have plants. Have a select few audience members spread out in the arena to dictate how the crowd should react. Those loud-mouths? Have the plants call them out and tell them to shut up. Most of the wrestling fans there tonight wanted to see the wrestling, only maybe 5% of the audience were jackasses. Odds are, the crowd would go along with a plant telling the loud-mouth to shut up and maybe the peer pressure would get them to stop. This may be counter-productive in that it gives the loud-mouths the attention they desire, however it is worth a try. Another idea is what leads me to my next point, which is: Stop giving the audience so damn much!

 

What wrestling fans want and what wrestling fans need are two different things. Wrestling fans do want great matches, they do want long matches, they do want competitive matches, they do want lots of cool moves and excitement in the matches. However, they do not need for every match on the card to be long, and competitive, and exciting, and to be filled with lots of cool moves. Not everything has to be great. This was something I noticed during both previous shows I went to and here I find it again. It’s not smart booking. It’s just plain wrong. And how it influences and affects the audience is, if the audience is expecting every match to be competitive, then they will react accordingly - which is why there is a duelling chant in seemingly every match. Do you think there would be a duelling chant in a squash? You have to take the audience out of their comfort zone so they don't have time to chant or develop a personality. You have to take control. But every match was the same, so the crowd reacted the same way to every match. It was badly booked. So let me run down the card, and explain more in-depth just how badly this card was booked.

 

The show started with a promo from Josh Prohibition – the companies top heel and leader of the PWA, a stable of heels all of whom we see later-on. Josh has been feuding with UWA founder Osiris for a year-and-change and in the last show was able to win the rights to the company (the stipulation being, if he lost, he would leave for good). He changed the companies name to PWA, replacing the UWA banners with his own, and switching the colours from blue to red. While Josh is not a bad promo man, this promo sucked for two reasons – one, the sound wasn’t very good, and two, he talked WAY too fast. This was a problem throughout the night, and it resulted in the audience missing most of the stuff the wrestlers were saying. Here’s a suggestion, TALK. SLOWER. You don’t talk to an audience the same way to a buddy, cause people process things at different rates, which means you talk to them just above how you’d talk to a child. Anyways, I assume he said something about being head of the company now and I think he said he’d fire anyone who didn’t give it their all. This was pretty much the extent of the PWA storyline. Aside from the banners, it was a standard UWA show.

 

Darkstone d. Wellington, Paysan and Impact

 

This was a Pseudo-Comedy match as Wellington, Darkstone, and Paysan are comedy guys and Impact is always just there. Relatively short, actually the only match that was too short given the amount of guys in the match. I would have liked to have seen more comedy from Wellington, cause he was the reason I was there, but there was a spot where Darkstone put a protective barrier around himself and Wellington ran into it and fell down and then did some mimery, so it wasn’t all for lost. It was, however, a lil inconsistent with the comedy, as I like my comedy matches full to the brim with the funny, and this just had its moments.

 

The high spot was Darkstone having Impact and Paysan both on his shoulders in a firemans carry position just for Wellington to jump off the top with his dreaded ass punch. There was also a good spot where Wellington and Darkstone 69’d each other in the corner, complete with head movement. Darkstone won with the Canadian Destroyer, for those who like that sorta thing. The match itself wasn’t that bad, though there were certain chemistry problems and time issues that didn’t allow it to get going, however, I do question the placement of it on the card.

 

You see, the first 4 matches on this 9 match card were varied. You had a 4 way, a tag, a hardcore brawl, and a storyline-driven match. The rest of the 5 matches were all the same – singles. I don’t see why Sabian vs. Sweeney couldn’t have gone on first, followed by the tag, then by the hardcore match, with Sonjay vs. Claudio following it up, then the storyline match, then Alex Shelleys match, _then_ and have the 4 way, and finish it off with the top two matches. Pacing-wise, I think that would have worked a lot better. This isn’t the WWE. Guys don’t get paid on their card placement. To put Sonjay/Shelley/Steen and MDogg/and Lynn continuously after each other doesn’t make sense, to me, because you require your audience to maintain a level of high excitement for 4 matches, and well over an hour. The four way would have provided a lil bit of a break, but certainly not a lull.

 

Nick Watts and Jeff Flury d. Brad Martin and Phil Atlas

 

This match wasn’t very good. The UWA doesn’t have a tag team division, so why they have tag matches doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. The purpose behind this match was to push the PWA guys – Watts and Flury – and get the heel stable off to a good start. Something I think they goofed on, in regards to the takeover angle, was that Watts and Flury were announced as “representing the PWA”, but since the company is now owned by J-Pro, then shouldn’t _everyone_ be announced as “representing the PWA”. It’s a small touch, but it’s one that helps enforce this reality the promoter is trying to create. Also, having the faces come out to music that is not their choice would have been another nice touch. Standard NWO stuff, but it –again- helps enforce the reality. This is not a UWA show, this is a PWA show. What they did tonight simply was not enough.

 

Asylum d. Sexxxy Eddy

 

If you need any proof that todays fans can be worked, then this match is pretty good example of it. It started with the two leaving the locker room in a brawl, in their street clothes, and people thought it was legit. They thought two guys were actually having a fight and they had to do a double take to see if it was really happening and gradually-then-immediately, rushed over to see what was happening. After a minute or two it was clear it was a wrestling match, but those initial moments were still a good enough indication that with some creativity, a new form a kayfabe can exist today. The match itself was one of the better ones of the night, it was a lil rougher and focused less on counters and built towards their high spots better than the other matches (particularly because they were big table bumps… I think… the fucking audience got in the way).

 

Anyways, my point here is Asylum. On every show that I have seen, this dude is consistently hated. He’s one of, if not thee, biggest guys they have in regards to size (which isn’t saying much, but it’s saying something) and if you need a visual, the guy could pass for Rhyno’s younger brother. He’s a solid big man and he tends to go over his opponents. So here’s my problem. Asylum isn’t really going any where. He’s not in the title pictures, he’s not in the storylines, he’s nowhere. So why the fuck should I care whether he wins or loses? Something as simple as him getting on the mic and calling out the champ, or saying he is in the hunt for the title, would have accomplished something. But this? It’s nothing. Even someone acknowledging that Asylum is gaining momentum and could be a force in the promotion would have put this match in context.

 

And Sexxxy Eddy started the match off with red on his forehead. It wasn’t blood, though I think we were supposed to believe it was.

 

Osiris no-contest Chris Bishop

 

Alright, here is the biggest part of this rant.

 

This match was a loser-leaves-town match, put together by Josh Prohibition. Both guys are fan favourites. Osiris is the founder of the company (or was), and Bishop is an exciting face who is the reigning Grand Prix champion. This was great booking because it made sense – it was the dickish heel owner fucking around with the former face owner, and also fucking around with another fan favourite, putting the two at odds.

 

The match didn’t really begin as the PWA heel stable ran around the ring and circled the two faces – Bishop grabbed a chair to defend himself – the heels ran in, Bishop shooed them away, and then hit Osiris with the chair and turned on him. The PWA jumped on him and it was great. I didn’t see it coming, at least not until Bishop grabbed the chair. Here is my problem. The match ended in a No Contest. Talk about a missed opportunity.

 

They could have had Bishop turn on Osiris and then have Osiris LOSE THE MATCH and get KICKED OUT of the company. That would have worked so much better because it actually gives weight to the turn, to the PWA taking over, and to Osiris’s revenge. You have Osiris get kicked out of the dressing room in front of everyone. Then, at intermission, when the announcer talks about tickets going on sale for the next event, you have Osiris BUY A TICKET and show it to the audience (it’s not a very big venue, it isn’t hard to draw attention to yourself). Right there you have the storyline continue.

 

Osiris is going to be at the next show, but as a fan. He could have been in line at the next show, shooting the shit with all the other people pissed off that the doors open at 8 despite saying on the website that they open at 7. Can you imagine how effective that would have been? You have his brother, the lead announcer for the show – Joey Slick, who is a very nerdy guy and who the fans love -, and they could have had him get fucked with by J-Pro throughout the entirety of the next event while his brother has to sit by and watch, and that would have got so much heat, and they don’t do anything.

 

The ultimate issue is this: UWA runs monthly shows out of the same venue, and the majority of the fans are regulars. Yet they continue to not run big storylines. They don’t really serialize their shows. Their only storyline is the PWA one and they don’t push it nearly as far as they should. There aren’t really any feuds besides J-Pro and Osiris (a promoter only thinking about himself? Get outta here). Yet there’s the clear opportunity to do something more and they don’t take it. Here’s why it’s important. While the majority of the fans are regulars, there are people like me who aren’t. These people can be converted, however. Storylines are what keeps people coming back for more, not the matches. Storylines are what make people go “I can’t miss this next show” and with the UWA, if I miss a show, it doesn’t really bother me. I don’t feel like I missed anything other than a bunch of matches I can see done every month. Hell, I can see them whenever I want, really, I can put in a tape or look on the internet and I can find something comparable. Right now UWA relies on “names” like Jerry Lynn, Ultimo Dragon and Alex Shelley to bring in fans, but there are only so many names they can bring in. If they want to grow beyond their regulars, if they want to covert people like me, they have to hook people with storylines.

 

Sabian d. Larry Sweeney

 

This match was supposed to be Sabian vs. Ruckus, but Ruckus didn’t show so we got Larry Sweeney instead. Sweeney was great, cause he had something that a lot of guys lack – personality. He was straight out of the 80’s, and because he had purple tights and a boa, he played to the fans’ homophobia quite well. Sweeney was one of the highlights, for me. The guy continually worked the crowd, even though he kinda sucked in regards to moves and whatnot. I would have liked it if the whole match was Sweeney doing a bunch of low-rent moves to control Sabian just to piss the crowd off more, because Sabian is more of a spotty guy and to deprive the fans of something they think they deserve would have been a great heel move. In the end, Sabian got off a bunch of his spots at different points, so there that went. Sweeney did some mic work before hand and had similar problems to Prohibition.

 

Sonjay Dutt d. Claudio

 

Aside from the deal where he rotates around the dude with a head scissors, Dutt was pretty underwhelming and I think my fandom sorta died tonight. Don’t get me wrong, they were great spots, but it really wasn’t much more than that. Claudio did some nice stuff as well, including some nice European uppercuts. Back and forth, lots of pin attempts, the crowd was probably the hottest for the near falls in this match and progressively got less hot as the night went on for the false finishes. Which is a point I will get to soon.

 

Alex Shelley d. Lionel Knight

 

Standard Shelley match with the whacky Lucha submissions. Nothing really notable, just back and forth with near falls. Shelley needs to know how to work those submissions in better, IMO, because they are rather pointless as they don’t generate much heat and don’t influence the match at all or build towards or around anything.

 

M-Dogg 20 d. Kevin Steen

 

Kevin Steen was, by far, the performer of the night. The guy is very charismatic and continually worked the crowd and drew a bunch of heat. He was a mystery opponent and I was very happy when I saw him come out. He picked out and picked on this one fan in particular, who had a flannel, Foley-style, shirt on and it was great. The match was 90% Steen, just dominating M-Dogg for the most part, and in between the beating he would taunt the fans. I dug it a lot. I think that maybe he gave M-Dogg too much offence, because the end of the match came off as if M-Dogg won the match, rather than getting a fluke pin, which I think would have been better and would have protected Steen a lil better as well. I think if Steen had gotten on the mic and said “I dominated you, and you won cause of luck” and them setting up another match for whenever would have been more productive.

 

This was the MOTN, but because it was wedged in between matches that were long and competitive, it didn’t really stand out as much as it should have. While it did have elements that were different from other matches, there was too much similarities in regards to the high spots, the back-and-forth action, and the time it was given. Like, very few of these matches went under 10 minutes. That’s ridiculous. All the matches were competitive. That’s ridiculous. All of them had big near falls. That’s ridiculous. If every match is long, if every match is competitive, if every match has false finishes, then none of them are special.

 

You want the fans remembering distinctive things when they leave the show, and by having every match laid out the same way –just different moves used- nothing stands out, nothing is remembered. Really, all the fans need is 1 great match. 2 at the most. One match that goes long, that is over the top,that has them on the edge of their seat. The other matches should be used to build challengers for titles, to develop storylines and characters, to entertain the audience but not to suck them dry. It may not be what they say they want, but that’s what they need. I was reading some replies on the UWA MB and someone brought up that the fans were drained by the last match, and I would be inclined to agree. They didn’t react nearly the same to the last two matches and their near falls as they did the matches before it.

 

Jerry Lynn d. Josh Prohibition

 

Lynn comes in and beats J-Pro, the top heel. Normally that would be stupid, but the post match stuff sorta made up for it. The end had Osiris comes out and thank Jerry. Now THAT was stupid because Osiris was in his Owner-of-the-Company role, and it was breaking kayfabe. Then he and M-Dogg took a banner and tried to put it over the PWA banner. Then the PWA heels came out and stopped them, Lynn got involved and got beat down, J-Pro did a promo to try and get his heat back. Lynn closed the show saying that he can’t let the post-match beat down go unanswered and that he would be back. He didn’t specify when, thus rendering it pointless in any money drawing way. They didn’t announce anything for the next show, actually, so unless they have someone I am interested in seeing, I probably won’t be going.

 

In the end, I am frustrated that wrestling promotions aren’t trying to work the fans anymore. They give up, because they think that the fans are too smart and see right through it. They don’t bother. So instead, we get this perversion. What I saw tonight, for the most part, wasn’t professional wrestling. It was a gymnastic routine under the pretense of two guys trading moves until the end. Not in any match was there a story beyond “two guys trading moves until the end”, except for Steen/M-Dogg, which was “Big Steen beats up lil M-Dogg, uses power to overwhelm and is very confident while underdog M-Dogg uses speed to take out Steen”. And they half-ass the storylines because they don’t want to look too goofy in fully immersing and putting effort into a storyline. As if the banners and the promo and the turn were enough to establish that this was a PWA show and that Prohibition was really in control.

 

The takeover storyline is a perfect one, but it’s one that has to be done to it’s fullest potential to work. Even if the fans don’t believe it when they enter the building, or when they leave, if you keep surrounding them when they are IN the building with this reality, then they will eventually let their guard down and buy into it. If you do it well enough. Fans are smart to it, which isn’t a hurdle, but another opportunity. When fans think they can’t be fooled, it’s the perfect time to fool them. Not overtly like ROH and CZW is doing with the message board crap, but subtle. These type of fans notice the details, and that’s where you stick in the work. And leave a little to the imagination.

 

CZW shouldn’t have took over ROHes website and put up a big banner that said “LOOK WHAT WE DID! ROH SUX!”, they should have built it up and fucked with the fans longer, without the ID. I won’t go in-depth, as it is a bit of an aside, but on the internet information is power, and you can control information and manipulate the message in a way that can have the fans spread the word that a CZW fan or employee is fucking with the board and then it becomes REAL, because if it was a storyline, then they would have been more overt. Osiris in the line, just standing there not drawing attention to himself, it becomes real. It’s right there for the fans to think about and process. Fans can be worked, it just requires more effort.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

(Another thing, which just peeved me off, was the fact that there were people IN THE FRONT ROW, standing up, and also standing on their chairs. There is no need for that, as it causes a ripple effect and soon everyone is standing on their fucking chairs and anyone not sitting in the first 2 rows can’t see shit. I don’t know if it would be possible to have bleachers rather than a chair set up, but it would be much better because I was really wanting to beat the shit out of a bunch of the fucks sitting in front of me. Did I say sitting? Silly me. I don’t even know why they had chairs. Why do you need to stand during a high spot when you can see it perfectly sitting? God I hate wrestling fans.)

[bob_barron 0]

I hate when ROH fans feel the need to stand on their chairs when they sit in front, so I agree Rudo