Let's Talk About...MECW, XWF, and WWA

[King Kamala 0]

I expect this thread will get a lot less responses than the other "Let's Talk About..." threads but it's a topic that hasn't been discussed since...well since these feds went defunct around the same time five years ago. Now let me refresh your memory. After the death of ECW and WCW in early '01, a few federations quickly sprang up and tried to stake their claim as the new #2 wrestling promotion in wrestling. But as quickly they started, they fell apart. Was it too much too fast? Or was it just a byproduct of an increasing lack of interest in wrestling? Were they just not good enough? Where exactly did TNA succeed where these companies failed?

 

Let's meet the promotions, in case you forgot (and it would be easy to)

Main Event Championship Wrestling: The first of these promotions to spring up and also the first to go belly up. Not surprisingly, there's not too much information about this promotion. It ran one television taping in July of 2001 at The Venue Formerly Known as The ECW Arena. Curt Hennig defeated Chris Michaels to win the World title at the taping and IIRC, they were building a feud between Hennig and Buff Bagwell (How exciting). Being that the center of the promotion was supposed to be Philadelphia, there were a number of former ECW stars who had not been signed by WWF on the roster. The Sandman, Sabu, and Public Enemy (who won the tag team titles at the first taping) being the most notable. I've been told that footage from the TV taping is available from tape dealers but it obviously hasn't been officially released or aired on TV.

 

X Wrestling Federation: Never clear what the X stood for. I've heard both Xciting and Xtreme. Either one is pretty dumb. Founded by informational guru Kevin Harrington in the Fall of '01, this promotion was run by none other than "The Mouth of The South" Jimmy Hart. It ran its first TV taping at Universal Studio in November '01 with Tony Schiavone and Jerry "The King" Lawler. The taping was highlighted by Hulk Hogan's return to the ring against Curt Hennig. The fed's roster was wrestling's crossroads with washed up talent of yesteryear (Hennig, Hogan, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, The Road Warriors, The Nasty Boys, Greg Valentine, Buff Bagwell, Marty Jannetty) meeting up with stars of the future (A.J. Styles, Christopher Daniels, Carlito, Low Ki) with a few guys who didn't do jackshit (Drezden, Hale, The Shane Twins) and castoffs from WCW and ECW (Juventeud Guerrera, Psicosis, Kid Kash, The KISS Demon) thrown in for kicks. They ran brief, unsuccessful house show tours of the Midwest in December '01 and West Texas in February '02. A national television deal never materialized for the group and Hulk Hogan, Curt Hennig, Jerry Lawler, and "Mean" Gene Okerlund were quickly snatched up by the WWF. After not one but two angles where they invaded other federations (One in WWC in Puerto Rico and one in Memphis), the company died.

 

World Wrestling All-Stars: My personal favorite of the bunch (I ordered three of their PPVs) and probably the most prominent. Started by Australian concert promoter, Andrew McManus in October of '01, the promotion initially focused on areas starved for live wrestling (Australia, New Zealand, The U.K.) and was a mild success in the early days. Like XWF, it attempted to combine established names (Sting, Lex Luger, Buff Bagwell, Jeff Jarrett, Scott Steiner, Jerry Lynn, Eddie Guerrero,Sabu, Kronik,Juventeud Guerrera, "Road Dogg" Jesse James) with newcomers (Nathan Jones, A.J. Styles, Christopher Daniels, Shark Boy). This promotion really fell apart after their first and only attempt at an event in the U.S. and at live PPV, WWA Revolution in February '02. The show was plagued with no-shows, show killing interviews with WWA President Bret Hart and Larry Zbysko, and just plain ol' crappy matches. The company limped on for another year or two with tours of The U.K. and Australia with dwindling interest before ending in May 2003 when World Champion Sting lost to TNA World Champion Jeff Jarrett in a Unification match.

 

The common thread in all of these- Buff Bagwell. Can we all agree that Buff is The Ted C. McGinley of professional wrestling?

[bob_barron 0]

Wasn't MECW funded by a money mark that was really shady, and that's why they lasted one show?

 

I remember it was free too.

[King Kamala 0]

Yeah, it was a free show and John Collins, the guy who ran it did seem mighty shady...there were some interesting threads about it back in the day at Wrestling Classics.

 

Here's one of them summing it up.

[gWIL 0]

I have the XWF boxset that was released with the first three episodes and honestly it's worth a pick up for cheap. none of the matches are spectacular, but its a pretty entertaining three hours on unaired TV. Honestly, I'm a bit surprised they didn't make it. They had names, they had talent, great production values and the started a few angles on the shows that would have at the very least kept people watching. They're of a very different style, very family friendly, they feel like early-mid 90s stuff. Maybe thats why they failed.

 

Are there any WWA DVDs out? I'd buy them.

[BruteSquad_BRODY 0]

I went to a XWF House Show in Dec 2001 (?) in Green Bay. Josh Matthews (the WWF announcer) and Kid Kash put on the best match I've ever seen live. (Not that covers a ton of ground - but I'd guess 30 or so shows.

 

Piper got a big standing O, and made fun of Vince McMahon IIRC. Road Warriors and Nasty Boys was fun too. My brother and Knobbs went nose to nose before the match. Drezden was horrid IIRC.

[BruteSquad_BRODY 0]

XWF Results from Green Bay, Wisconsin 12-30-01

Submitted by William Martinez on Monday, December 31, 2001 at 12:48 AM EST

 

 

Thanks to Will "The Thrill" Sentowski for sending this report in!

 

XWF House Show

Sunday, December 30, 2001

Brown County Arena Green Bay, WI (across the street from Lambeau Field...Go Pack Go!)

 

If you've seen the XWF infomercial...the house show looks NOTHING like it. No ramp, no banners, no JumboTrons, no pyro, no lighting truss. They just used the NAWF ring from Chicago, and threw an XWF ring apron on. And around that ring: 2 tiny blue protective mats, 1 on each side. Each was maybe 1/2 the length of the ring.

 

The "aisle" was an alley with curtain walls, and a curving set of chain-link, leading to regular guardrails surrounding the ring. Yeesh.

 

Anyway, on to the show...which hardly differed from the Milwaukee card the night before, except no Rena Mero.

 

I won't even bother transcribing Potzie, the DJ from 107.5 FM.

 

XWF commish ROWDY RODDY PIPER hits the ring to his old WCW music. Some of the shots he took at WWF include:

 

"Not one of you kissed a promoter's bum to get in here."

"OUR wrestlers actually like women."

(when a few fans start with "What?") "None of that BS here."

"Here in Green Bay, we actually drink our beer, instead of pouring it over our heads."

 

Again, Piper threatens to tell a Hart story, and that brings out JIMMY HART with his latest protege, HAIL (who looks a lot like Bill Goldberg.) Piper books a match for the strapping young lad, and it's on right away:

 

 

HAIL vs. GREG "THE HAMMER" VALENTINE

(referee: Mickey J)

 

Valentine is REALLY showing his age and weight...very flabby and leathery. Hail, surprisingly, did all the stalling. Hart had him mock Hogan, doing the big boot, legdrop, earcup to all 4 sides, and legdrop again...but he missed the 2nd time. Valentine locks on the figure-4, Hart rakes his eyes, Valentine goes for Hart, Hart swings megaphone, hits Wall by accident, and The Hammer pins him. Who's carrying who here? A dead opener.

 

 

DREZDEN vs. BIG VITO

 

Vito also kept his old "Mamaluke" WCW music...and gear...and gimmick. Some decent old-school stuff here between the ring and guardrails, I guess. Drezden catches Vito's flying crossbody off the turnbuckle attempt, and hits front fallaway slam for pin. Nothing to write home about.

 

 

JOSH MATTHEWS (from MTV's Tough Enough) vs. KID KASH

(female referee)

 

Now THIS ruled. Good, long matwork sequence to start. Josh's selling is pretty darn good...but neither man could decide who the heel was. Nice little spotfest where Josh baseball slides Kash outside the ring, and Josh hits a flying front somersault over the top rope onto the blue mats...only to have Kash repeat the whole sequence on him moments later. Kash broke out a couple of nice submission holds: surfboard, devil lock (as seen by ACW's Sam Hayne). Kash eventually wins with double arm underhook powerbomb...but he raises Josh's hand aferwards. Easily the match of the night, from a couple of good young kids.

 

 

"THE BRITISH STORM" IAN HENDERSON vs. NORMAN SMILEY

 

Yes, Virginia, Norman Smiley still wears low-cut shoes to the ring, and he still does the "bouncing pecs" gimmick. (Crowd started chanting "USA"...but they're both British, and one lives in Mexico City...ow, my head...) Anyway, after a swinging scoop slam, Norman does the wiggle and gets the female ref to spank him. Uh...yeah...and he gets hit with a falcon arrow (I think) for it. Henderson gets Smiley to submit with some sort of leg scissors headlock.

 

Penzer pimps Polaroids with XGI Girls (too much eye shadow there, Gorgeous George), and we're at intermission.

 

 

THE WALL vs. HACKSAW JIM DUGGAN

 

Duggan comes out to his same ol' march, and stalls to start with broken board comedy, and "USA" chants. Hacksaw pins Wall with 3-point stance, but Wall beats down Duggan and female ref afterwards. Duggan recovers, and Wall bails. Wall looks to be in great shape, but the match was a snoozer.

 

 

TRIPLE JEOPARDY: BUFF BAGWELL vs. "THE ORIGINAL" CURT HENNING vs. VAMPIRO

 

XWF "Triple Jeopardy" rules mean 2 men start, 1 man on apron, can tag himself in or be tagged in at any time. It's supposed to be only 2 men in the ring at once, but you know how rules go in wrestling.

 

A LOT of stalling and mic work (nobody since Hart really had used the mic yet at this point) at the start here, with Bagwell and Henning competing for who's-the-bigger-superstar, until Vampiro announces the biggest one is...Mickey J. Huh? Onto the wrestling...Buff and Vampiro take it into the crowd, and Vampiro jumps off the first-level railing (about 10 feet) onto Bagwell...spot of the night. Typical old-school ending: heels can't work together, Henning swings for Buff and hits Mickey J, Henning goes for the knux, Buff swipes 'em and KO's Vampiro for the pin. Vampiro recovers, clears the ring of heels, and thanks fans for supporting XWF's first tour.

 

So far, a LOT like Milwaukee's card, eh?

 

 

Main Event: NASTY BOYS vs. ROAD WARRIORS

 

Penzer called this one "a grudge tag match 10 years in the making." Huh? Knobbs gets the award for cheapest heat of the night, calling fans "jackasses." (That's as dirty as it gets in the XWF, folks.) Good to see Jerry Sags bumping quite a bit in this match...even smacked Animal with the ringside bell table. Hawk, on the other hand, didn't even get tagged in until the end. Funny chant from crowd to Knobbs: "Cut Your Mullet!" (Too bad half the crowd had 'em.) Textbook send-'em-home-happy ending: Knobbs tosses Mickey J., Sags gets a chair while Knobbs holds Animal, Piper comes down, takes chair and nails Sags with it, Hawk clotheslines Knobbs off top, 1-2-3, Piper and Road Warriors celebrate, end of show.

 

Then Piper repeats the "we drink our beer here" line, and chugs one in the ring. Good night, everybody! (That's family-friendly?)

 

Overall...thumbs down. Many of the old retreads just aren't worth watching these days, and the music's TOTALLY cheesy. Some good workers (Vampiro, Matthews, Kash), and with the right feuds, this could go somewhere. But so far, nothing huge. Maybe getting TV would help.

 

My attendance guess would be around 2,000...in an arena that can hold about 7,000 for wrestling. Lotta empty seats.

 

 

 

[King Cucaracha 0]

The XWF are probably the one that 'should' have made it but didn't. They were really a front-runner for TNA in a lot of ways, since the business models were pretty similar (ex-superstars on top, X-Division underneath, one big star involved in the booking process on top). And they had bigger names than TNA too. Hogan, naturally. Piper. Hennig. Heenan. Lawler, right when he'd left WWE. Plus potential guys with more potential underneath them, like Kash and Vampiro.

 

Looking at them side by side, it's kinda hard to see why TNA succeeded where XWF couldn't, since side by side you'd probably pick the XWF roster over TNA's each time.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

MECW just seemed like yet another cheap knock off of ECW, trying to cash in on the hardcore craze that was basically already passe by that point.

 

XWF really seemed like it was going to be a legit second tier promotion at the time. I mean, you figured with Hogan involved, they would be able to get some decent backing. I just think that by the end of 2001 or so, most networks and such realized the wrestling boom was basically done with. If they had been somehow able to start up like a year earlier, maybe they would have had a better shot.

[BorneAgain 0]

MECW was a glorified indy in the brief run it had.

 

Went to a show back in 2001, that's positively morbid when I think back to it, as half the major talent I can remember being there (Hennig, Rocco Rock, Johnny Grunge, Terry Gordy) are now all dead with Gordy passing less than a week after I saw him.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Not to go too off topic, but does anyone remember a fed called WXO? I think they were on a little earlier...like maybe 1999 or 2000. They were all over TV for a while in syndication, and then vanished just as quickly. I know they had Dan Severn, who I think was going to be their champion. Stan Lane and Chris Cruise were the announcers. Supposedly they were going to bring in Johnny Ace and Mike Barton (Bart Gunn), and even showed the match from All Japan where they won the tag belts.

[Diamonddust 0]

Not to go too off topic, but does anyone remember a fed called WXO? I think they were on a little earlier...like maybe 1999 or 2000. They were all over TV for a while in syndication, and then vanished just as quickly. I know they had Dan Severn, who I think was going to be their champion. Stan Lane and Chris Cruise were the announcers. Supposedly they were going to bring in Johnny Ace and Mike Barton (Bart Gunn), and even showed the match from All Japan where they won the tag belts.

 

I do. Wasn't Ted DiBiase associated with them as well?

[King Kamala 0]

Yeah, WXO was around for about six episodes in early '00. They were supposed to fill the apparently lucrative family friendly wrestling niche. The one episode I saw they were crowing about how there was no swearing, no half naked women, no men drinking beer in the ring, etc. I think it just came at a point when the wrestling market was oversaturated and it just simply didn't have the star power or the talent to compete. I mean who's going to buy into a promotion that's centered around Dan Severn? And Ted DiBiase was involved in an authority figure role and IIRC he played a prominent role off screen.

 

It always seems that these family friendly promotions fall flat on their face. WXO, XWF, that Real Pro Wrestling show on PAX (Though- that was a different beast entirely). I'm sure one could work if done right but so far it doesn't seem like people are buying. Though with WWE toning down their act, we probably won't have to worry about another family friendly promotion popping up anytime in the near future.