Combat Tested, Mother Approved

Combat Tested, Mother Approved!
MWR vs WWE vs TNA?

by Josh Ray (MWR Owner/Editor)
inadvertent.nerd@gmail.com

A day or two ago I began thinking to myself about the vice grip that World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has on professional wrestling here in the United States. Sometimes it gets frustrating for me to see talented, believable wrestlers left out of the mainstream simply because they aren’t the son or daughter of a former pro wrestler or aren’t a clone of Randy Orton. I understand that WWE is doing smart business, but smart business can sometimes be the undoing of the business, too.

In addition to the glass ceiling that keeps many wrestlers from reaching full potential, the exit door can be very unforgiving, too. WWE owns the wrestlers’ names in many cases, or changes the names so that when the wrestler returns to the independent scene his name value and drawing power is greatly diminshed. If a wrestler is an independent contractor, they should be able to retain the name when they no longer compete in WWE. It’s actually really sad that WWE conducts business that way.

Total Nonstop Action (TNA) has started conducting business in this way to a lesser degree. I completely understand not letting the wrestlers compete on the independent scene while they work for the respective company, provided they are being adaquetly paid. However, once they are done they should be allowed to retain the name of the character that they have bled and sweat in order to get over.

I’m off on a tangent, I know, but it all leads (sort of) to the point I wanted to make in this post. MWR. WWE. TNA. A face off.

Now I’m not talking about some fantasy rehash of the Monday Night Wars. I’m merely speculating on some of the great matchups that could be over the years if there was more of a 1990′s way of doing things.

Here are ten that I’ve been thinking of the most:

10. Phoenix Twins vs Motor City Machine Guns vs London & Kendrick.

This match would have all the ingredients of a great, fast-paced tag team bout. Personally, I wouldn’t have a favorite in this. Whoever won would be completely fine with me.

9. Northstar Express vs Ted DiBiase Jr & Cody Rhodes.

What could be better than two guys from the WWE who think they are “Priceless” squaring off against one of the most accomplished tag teams in the Midwest? I’d love to see the mind games being played between both teams as each tried to gain an advantage.

8. “Future” Donovan Ruddick vs John Cena.

John Cena is the symbol of success in professional wrestling in the modern era. Personally, I feel like “The Future” symbol of success, Donovan Ruddick, would be up to the task and would make this a very interesting match.

7. Dingo vs Kurt Angle.

The NWA Missouri Champ has proven time and time again that he can adapt to any style to bring pro wrestling fans the absolute best. If Kurt Angle was healthy, this match would be match of the year candidate.

6. Mark Sterling vs William Regal.

Sterling has mentioned in the past that he’s a student of the Regal school of wrestling thought. Personally, I can see it. Sterling vs Regal would be hard-hitting and vicious, with old school ring psychology that makes me more than happy.

5. Michael Strider vs Fit Finlay.

I’ve seen Strider have some great brawls but with all due respect to each and every opponent he had in all of them, this would be the best. Finlay is nearing 50 years old and can still go like nobody else. There is no doubt in my mind that this one would be a classic.

4. Jeremy Wyatt vs Samoa Joe.

They don’t get any tougher than “The Rebel” Jeremy Wyatt. Samoa Joe could put his toughness to the test, but it would leave a great taste in the mouth of wrestling fans with no prior exposure to one of the MWR coverage area’s greatest talents.

3. CM Punk vs AJ Styles vs Tyler Cook.

Mark my words: Tyler Cook will be in WWE or TNA before all is said and done. My faith in this guy as a wrestler would be rewarded if this match was allowed to take place. AJ Styles and CM Punk are no strangers to the indy scene, and their styles would work well with Cook. In addition, Cook has the fitness level to make this match a 30 minute match… or more. The anticipation would nearly kill the audience, and I wouldn’t be surprised to here Tyler Cook’s name announced as the victor.

2. 3-way Rumble (elimination rules):
Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Lance Cade, Chris Jericho & Edge
vs
“Superstar” Steve, Trevor Murdoch, Wade Chism, Dangerous Derek & Haku
vs
Christian Cage, Sting, Booker T, Christopher Daniels & Eric Young

This match is purely a crazy thought on my part. What if we took 5 of WWE’s top guys and matched them up with a team of Harley’s top guys over the years? What if we then added a team from TNA consisting of three top veterans and two of there most successful originals? There are so many stories that could be told in an elimination styled brawl. This one here is probably the least likely to happen, but also one of the most intriguing.

1. Derek Stone & Mason Hunter vs Cryme Tyme.

Most people do not understand how much of a huge fan I am of the Derek Stone/Mason Hunter tag team. I’ve watched a lot of their work and have always enjoyed the antics in the ring and the continuity they had as a tag team. The dynamic of pitting them against thugs who like money and steal things… awesome!

These are just some of the matches I can think of off the top of my head. Hit me up at inadvertent.nerd@gmail.com and let me know some of the matches you’d like to see. I’ll put your name and the match you chose in my next installment of “Combat Tested, Mother Approved!”

St. Louis Pro Wrestling Has a Mouthpiece Again

St. Louis Pro Wrestling Has a Mouthpiece Again
The Return of Absolute Wrestling Radio

by Josh Ray
MWR Owner-Editor
inadvertent.nerd@gmail.com

This summer was a bittersweet time for pro wrestling as it pertains to its presence on the radio airwaves. A radio show known as Absolute Wrestling Radio (AWR) joined another longstanding program on the radio, adding some independent pro wrestling flavor to the Pro Wrestling and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) mix. The good times were short lived, however, when both programs were taken off the air toward the end of the summer.

Now the new kid on the block returns, as Mark Bland and Matt Krueger bring Absolute Wrestling Radio back to St. Louis on Sundays starting October 5, 2008 on Team 1380 AM. The show will air in the 2PM to 3PM time slot. Missouri Wrestling Revival will be hosting the podcast version of the show each and every week for those that live outside of Team 1380 AM’s listening area.

Late this past week, I was able to sit down with one of the hosts of Absolute Wrestling Radio, Mark Bland, and talk about what happened with AWR and what fans can expect in the future.

First of all, welcome back to the radio airwaves, Mark. What brought about AWR’s removal from radio in the first place?

(Mark laughs after hearing the question…)

You get off to the point quick. Fair question. Me and my co-host, Matt, originally had a deal with the radio station in regards to solidifying sponsors for the show. We had a few lined up, but then the economics of life, as if we haven’t heard enough about that recently, required those companies to pull out at the last minute. At that point we (AWR and the station) decided to pull off the air and revamp our game plan. Which brings us to our return on October 5th from 2 to 3 PM on Team 1380AM Radio.

How did you feel your first set of shows went?

The last couple of shows went really well, including the show with TNA star Eric Young. But that first month we felt really disjointed and all over the place. Then we realized that this is what our show is… it’s a fun run through the world of MMA and Pro Wrestling. We are all over the place to keep people on their toes. There is some definite direction in the planning of each show, but that disjointed feel makes us Absolute Wrestling Radio.

What finally got AWR back on the air?

Well, we added a new team member, not on-air, named Dan and he has been helping us solidify sponsors and opportunities. We also had a meeting with our guys at 1380 AM and explained the lack of any other shows currently doing our format of talk and that it was a good piece of entertainment to bring back to the ST. Louis airwaves. Team 1380 AM has had our back the entire time and we are very appreciative that we work with them on a weekly basis.
What can we expect for Sunday’s show?

The same old get in and grind it up discussions you had before. We want the local MMA/Pro-Wrestling fans to look at us as a place to get a little talk about their favorite pastimes. We want them to call in and be a part of the show, give us their opinions and tell us if they think we are full of BS. We only regulate the language used, other than that we are “no holds barred”. All of the Sundays will be just as good as the last, and there will be great interviews with their favorite fighters and wrestlers, up to date news on big happenings, and a chance to voice your opinion.

One thing we don’t really do is the weekly round up of everything that happened on the weekly shows. We tend to choose the bigger or more intriguing stories that come from WWE, UFC, and TNA, among others, and then talk about those. We might discuss the surge of Santino Marella becoming a bigger star as opposed to harping on the Chris Jericho/Shawn Michaels drama. You can get rundowns on what happened from the respective websites of the organizations, but you can only get varying viewpoints from our show. Thats what I think our main point is. Plus we will cover the local scene and try to get some recognition for those guys and gals as they attempt to climb the ladder to the top.
Do you have anything else lined up for future shows?

We are planning on some great give-aways for the fans and interviews with people such as Chuck Liddell, Evan Bourne, Ms. Chif, Awesome Kong, BJ Penn, Kurt Angle, Jeff Jarrett, and even Kimbo Slice if we can get him.
Is Matt Krueger still your on-air partner?

Matt is definitely my on-air partner. More people might know of me from my wrestling days ( or might not), but Matt is new and fresh. He has a great love for pro wrestling and an awesome ability to really ask the intriguing questions regarding current situations. Matt surprises me on a weekly basis and will hopefully do the same for the fans.
Can we still expect MMA and Indy pro wrestling topics in addition to info on WWE and TNA?

YES! That is and will always be a main focus. Our biggest problem is that the organizations don’t know we exist. We plug them on a weekly basis and they have never tuned in. Probably 60% of the organizations on the wrestling side still haven’t found us, and almost 80% of the MMA organizations haven’t found us either. We totally love dishing on the local scene and giving our two cents. One problem is that we are only two people and can’t get out to every show the way we would like, so we have to get a majority of our local info second hand. As we get more recognition that will change and we will be more “in the loop” than we have been. It’s all a day to day building process.

But that is why Missouri Wrestling Revival exists!
What message do you have for indy wrestling promoters in the area?

Get at us! Let us know what is going on and invite us to be your friend. We do a weekly run down of what is coming up each week regionally. So you are already getting free publicity, use it to your advantage. Let us know, call in a talk with us on the show. BUT, BUT, BUT… do not call in to just plug your show. That is why we do the rundown at the end of each show, so everyone gets a fair shot and listen. We have to keep to topic for a majority of the show and if we pose a question on Shane McMahon and you call into plug your company then you disrupt the flow of the show and it kills the topic.

It’s truly simple. You can make all of them happy some of the time and some happy all of the time, but not all happy all of the time. It just isn’t possible. Don’t get mad if you didn’t get plugged. It’s probably because you didn’t contact us or your show is a few weeks out and we tend to promote the ones coming up that week and weekend. Communication is necessary for us to be successful and help you to be also.
Is there anything else you would like to say for those out there as excited as I am about the return of AWR?

Make us your own. Use us to entertain you on Sundays. Help us discuss your favorite topic in the world of MMA and pro wrestling. We do this for the fans of the sport in St. Louis and those that listen to the podcasts online each week. This is your show to make successful or help fail. Either you can have a cool show to talk about what you want to talk about, or there can be NO show at all and nothing comes of it. We are doing A LOT more good being on the air and giving the local and regional promotions a voice than if we were not on the air and no one was talking them up.

So please, tell your friends and family about Absolute Wrestling Radio on Team 1380 AM from 2 to3 PM on Sundays. And we look forward to hearing from all the great MMA, Indy and Professional Wrestling fans in the St. Louis Area.

Mamma Juwanna Energy Juice.

(Mark points at an imaginary Mamma Juwanna bottle and smiles.)

Your Trip to Space Mountain-All American Pro Wrestling at Chester IL

Your Trip to Space Mountain

by Brian “Flair” Kelley
I am back with a new “Your Trip to Space Mountain”. In this edition we find out if an independent show can be a lot of fun without a past or current superstar. Last time, you heard about an ICW show I attended that had TNA Superstars James Storm and Eric Young along with former WCW star Disco Inferno. For All American Pro Wrestling in Chester, IL at the Daniel Colbert Gym, though, there were no past or present superstars in sight.

The weather was beautiful as we arrived to the gym. We were among the first to enter the building to purchase two tickets for the 50/50 drawing. We sat in the middle of the front row so that I could get pictures of the show. While we waited two AAPW wrestlers, Edmund “Livewire” McGuire and The All American J.T. Calhoun, hung out with the fans, signed autographs and snapped pictures. I am sure the fans are bragging to their friends and family about what they missed. This was a positive in another way because when the show started the fans already knew that J.T. and Edmund were nice guys and were people who they should cheer for.

I always feel that it is important to start the night off with a solid match to set the tone of the whole evening and AAPW gave us two wrestlers that could be in the main event as the Cocky Shawn Shultz took on Brian James. Shultz can draw heat with ease and the crowd was thrilled to see James get the win as he upset Shultz with an inside cradle.

I have seen Mark Sterling and Darrien Sanders many times before, but this would be the first time that I would see them in person as The LONRS. These two have been making a name for themselves in the Midwest tag team division lately. The crowd was hot for The LONRS to get what was coming to them before the match even started. The fans were excited to see All American J.T.Calhoun and his partner Mike Masters enter the ring, with chants of “USA! USA!” ringing throughout the gym.

The LONRS dominated Masters with tag team perfection, beating on him and not allowing him to get a tag for nearly five minutes. Finally, Masters made the tag and had words with J.T. before stunning the crowd by walking away. J.T. fought with all his heart, but with The LONRS were on top of their game. It was too much on this night, even for the All American. Needless to say, the fans were not happy after The LONRS collected their victory. Darrien Sanders taunted the crowd with his air guitar skills to add insult to injury.

The next match seemed to be a mismatch, at least on paper, as MWR wrestler of the month for April 2008 “The Future” Donovan Ruddick faced “Playboy” Paul Rose. Rose was accompanied by his manger, Gaylord Stevens. Stevens is one of the best managers I have seen in the indies, because as soon as he walks through a curtain the fans know that they want to see his guy lose. “Playboy” Paul Rose, whom I had seen in action before, has a ton of charisma and can really move for a guy that looks totally out of shape. This may have been the hardest hitting match of the night, and it received my girlfriend’s favorite match award for the night. “The Future” would go on to win the match, but not without a fight as Rose and Stevens gave him fits throughout.

Intermission was here and “The Atomic Dogg” Ali Stevens, who was trained by Harley Race and had a short stint with WCW, was at the top of the stairs selling videos and all along smiled towards the fans. For the wrestlers out there, I may not be able to tell you how to wrestle but I have one small bit of advice: if you want to sell your merchandise, a smile goes a long way. A smile will leave a good taste in the fans mouth when they leave. Fortunately, this is not a problem most of the time and it wasn’t this night in Chester, IL. AAPW’s wrestlers were very professional.

As my girlfriend returned from smoking, they announced that “Serial Thriller” Shane Rich was going to be taking Polaroid’s inside the ring for $3.00. It looked as if nobody wanted to go first for the first five minutes, so I thought that maybe I could help them out by getting in line. I thought I’d try to make it look like it was the thing to do. I got up for my picture and introduced myself to Shane Rich, and as I asked for him to check out MWR I noticed that all because of me the line had become huge!

Hey, I am just joking! It was easy to see why they would want their picture taken with the champ. Shane looked to be in awesome shape and though this was my first time to see him live, I was excited to see him in action.

Intermission was over and AAPW had the card set up perfectly as they re energized the crowd with another good match. Edmund “Livewire” McGuire hooked up with Ax Stevens, who was accompanied by his manger Gaylord Stevens. Edmund used his speed to cause Stevens all kinds of problems, but just when you thought McGuire would get the win, Gaylord would interfere, allowing Ax to bring the pain for Edmund. “Livewire” has been on a roll as of late, but when he went up top for a leg drop, Ax moved and then used a piledriver for a victory that stunned not only myself but the entire crowd.
“#1″ Brett Young and K.C. Jackson entered the ring to demand some action, but had to belittle the Chester natives, too. K.C. and Brett let them know that they were all number two, which made them the first losers. This went on for some time before the intimidating promoter Sean Chambers had had enough. He called the Atomic Dogg to the ring. I am not a fan of a 2 on one contest because I feel as if it makes the wrestlers that are teaming up look weak, but on this occasion the wrestlers had a very entertaining match. It made sense and the Dogg was very over with the crowd. The Dogg would able to with stand the double teams and pin the two wrestlers for the victory.
In the main event of the evening former AAPW Champion, “Homicidal” Steven Davis received his 1 on 1 rematch with the current champ, “Serial Thriller” Shane Rich. Davis entered the ring with his manager, and I think AAPW has the use of managers down to a science. The managers had the right “bad guy” look and really knew how to work the crowd. This was a great match, and the girls in attendance were clearly on Shane’s side. They screamed every time Steven Davis got the upper hand.

Steven Davis was pulling out all stops to regain the title. The match was a back and forth affair, and the fans were really into it when Rich went for a moonsault off the top turnbuckle. Unfortunately for Rich, Davis moved out of the way. Rich landed on his feat but could not avoid a vicious spear from Davis which got Davis the win and his title back! I must admit I did not see that one coming.

AAPW then thanked the crowd for coming and the night was over. My only complaint during the evening was a common problem in independent wrestling, and that is the sound system. The reported 163 people in attendance witnessed what, in my eyes, was a top notch show. Although they did not have TNA stars on the card, I will say that this show was better than most I have seen with one. The storytelling was excellent and the wrestling was very very good.

All American Pro Wrestling was professional and very fan friendly. If you have a chance to check them out, I highly recommend it. I know that in the future that AAPW will be in my wrestling schedule. You can check out AAPW on the net at
http://www.myspace.com/allamericanprowrestling
.

Till next time, Support your local independent wrestling promotion by attending a show. Be sure to let us know what you thought about it .

Your Trip to Space Mountain-International Championship Wrestling

Your Trip to Space Mountain

By Brian “Flair” Kelley

Mr. Kelley explores his trip to International Championship Wrestling’s event earlier this month. Magicians, TNA Stars, brawling, and words with the Tonya Harding! What’s not to like?
At last I find the time to return with “Your Trip To Space Mountain”.

I planned a road trip with my girlfriend for a weekend of pro wrestling, including our first showing of International Championship Wrestling with special appearances by former figure skater/bad girl Tonya Harding and TNA stars “Cowboy” James Storm, Eric Young and Knockout Traci Brooks. The next night we had plans to get a motel so that we could go to Ottawa, KS and see International Wrestling Conference’s first show. The problem that came up was that I happened to be on call that weekend and was afraid they would want me back home (3 hours away). We didn’t want to take the chance of wasting the money, if in fact they did call me.

I won’t lie, though. I did have a couple of concerns about going to the International Championship Wrestling show on the first night of my planned weekend. First and foremost, their was no place on the website to buy tickets. The last thing I wanted to do was drive 3 hours and use all of that gas money only to find out that it was sold out. If you know me, though, you know I am open for anything new.

On that Friday, the doors were to open at 6:30PM. If I was to leave work at my scheduled time then there was no way we would have made it, so I found a way out and left at noon. I visited friends in Marshall on the way to KC. We arrived a full thirty minutes early at 6PM at a National Guard Armory. There were about four people ahead of us, and about that time Tonya Harding and another guy started putting up a sign in front of us that said “autographed pictures and autographed bats for $40.00″ (yes I said $40.00).

This prompted me to say “Who is Tonya Harding?” She turned around and in the saddest voice imaginable said “Me”. I laughed and told her I knew who she was. To be honest, I was proud of this short conversation that we had and truth be told I was being quite a smart ass.

While in line, another fan named Richard Corp entertained us with magic tricks and told us that he was a comedian magician. He said that he did shows around the area and without knowing that one of my favorites is Tommy Chong, he mentioned that he is actually friends with him. He brought smiles to the kids in line as well as my girlfriend, and I am sure we will catch one of his shows in the future.

We finally were allowed to purchase our tickets, which were $20.00, and go to our seats. The ring looked a little shaky and there were no ring rails to boot. We sat next to the Richard magician in the front row. A ton of chairs and no people, but a TV station was in the house with channel 38 personality Holly Starr in one corner.

Tonya Harding was across the room, and after getting to know some of other fans around us we decided to go talk to her. I told her I was playing about what I had said earlier, and that my mother was in fact a fan and wanted an autograph. For $10.00 we got our picture taken with her as well.

Disco Inferno, who was a WCW star back in the day, was there. I had met him at a WLW show a few years back, but I still had him sign a picture for us and take another one for free. Before I knew it though, Eric Young and Traci Brooks were standing nearby talking to fans and signing autographs. I am sure Eric must think that my girlfriend and I are stalkers by now, because we have seen him five times and taken pictures with him in the past year. The first time was when TNA sold tickets for Lockdown in St. Louis. The second time was when we attended an All American Pro Wrestling show in Carbondale, IL for VIP tickets (Traci Brooks was also there that night). We stayed in the Hilton where TNA had a fan interaction event (I met my friend Chuck from Slamzone there). Then we met Eric in Kansas City for the TNA house show. Eric is always willing to smile, so big props to Eric. He helped make it a great evening. Traci is first class, too, as she always comes off as a genuinely nice person. For that reason alone she is a asset to any company she works for, and might I say that on this night she was looking better than ever.

Central States Wrestling star (and I am willing to bet future WWE wrestler) Mark Sterling was in conversation with Traci and Eric, so I asked for him to stay in the picture that we took . I happen to have the goofiest smile ever, but I can tell you that before the first match started I was happy that we had made the trip.

The matches did not start until an annoying hour and a half later, but there really were not that many more fans that showed up. For some reason I always feel bad about that. The ring announcer came out and thanked the crowd for coming and introduced the first match, which had Clarice (who had a gimmick that is almost identical to TNA’s Abyss) defeating Kent Truth. It looked a little cheesy at first, but it was short and for an opener was not bad. Although the crowd was small, they were excited to see wrestling and really added to the night. The next match was a tag team match between the team of Cameron Cage & Sean Vincent and the team of Chaz Wesson & Michael Serious. That match was a pleasant surprise because I have been wanting to see Cage for awhile now and the other three I had seen and knew that they could produce a good match. There were some stiff shots, and the heat that Cage and Vincent were able to bring out from the crowd (as they stole a win from Wesson and Serious) was awesome. After the match, the Ring Announcer impressed my girlfriend as he did a “commercial” for the sponsors of the show.

Two Powerhouses battled before the intermission as John Saxon popped the crowd with win over Adrian Whisper. Before the intermission was over, Dubray and I hung out with fans around us and I encouraged our new friend Lisa to bring her daughter and Richard to CSW’s show on May 3rd in Lawrence, Kansas. Richard had me rolling throughout the night with his comments to the wrestlers and at one time had me nearly crying. For the life of me I wish I could remember what it was that he said.

Traci Books started the second half of the night with the crowd clearly on her side. She took on the snobby Irresistible Danielle and brought laughter into the building when she said Danielle looked like she was twelve years old. They battled in and out of the ring, and at one point Richard told Traci to use his knee and she gladly did as she slammed Danielle head first into it. Traci would go on to get the victory to the crowds delight.

The next match was Disco Inferno and Doink the Clown against each other, and after that match I have to eat my words. I recently told International Wrestling Conference’s current President Steve Scott that I did not enjoy Doink as a wrestler at all and did not understand why anyone would book him. That is not a knock on the wrestlers who have portrayed him throughout the years, it’s just that I do not like that gimmick. In this case, though, Disco and Doink both put on a superb match. Doink was able to excite the crowd with his antics and I have to say I also enjoyed Doink and Disco. They played well off each other.

James Storm came to ring for the main event and was able to draw some monster heat from the crowd. He made fun of several of the fans that approached the ring to let him have a piece of their mind. Eric Young came out and the crowd wanted to see Storm get what was coming to him. The two wrestlers went back and forth and before I knew it the two were right next to us, body slamming each other right in front of our group of people. Lisa and I tried to get as many pictures as possible before Young threw Storm into a bunch of chairs and, to add insult to injury, tossed him into a trash can. In the ring Storm was able to get the decisive advantage and it looked as if he had Young in real trouble. He kicked him out of the ring ,and as the ref restrained Storm from attacking him again on the outside, Young went under the ring and out came SUPER ERIC much to Storm’s chagrin. What must have seemed like a sure victory just a few minutes before for Storm turned out to be Super Eric’s victory, concluding the evening

The night was through for Dubray and I, and the drive had been well worth it as we made new friends, watched some good wrestling and met some of the best wrestlers in the world today. It just goes to show you that you never know what is in store for an independent wrestling show until you actually go. I will keep my eye out for the next International Championship Wrestling show, and though I will be cutting back somewhat in the amount of shows I go to due to the rising gas prices I hope to see you at one very soon.

WHOOOOOOO!