Well, hello there readers! It's another edition of the long-overdue Chock Full o' Rumors, but this time? I'd figure I'd sprinkle in some musing and "pearls of wisdom" - Larry King style, baby!
- It was reported that earlier this week, one of IGA's top wrestlers, Steve Greedy, applied for a contract in River City Wrestling. From what my Chock Spies tell me, RCW's talent management took a glance and quickly denied the application. They apparently stated that Mr. Greedy would have a hard time competing with the talent level in RCW and rejected him for his own good. My take? I'd have to agree. It's a different world between the IGA's top stratusphere and the likes of Juan Vasquez, Luke Kinsey, Alex Martinez, Shane Destiny, and many many others. He'd have a hard time competing in the undercard.
- Speaking of RCW, one will note that two RCW'ers recently have appeared and signed onto top competitor, UWF. A couple weeks ago, Rick Marley made his first appearance on UWF and is now the fed's Rampage Champion. And just this past Saturday Night Rampage, RCW mainstay Luke Kinsey showed up and said he was signed on the dotted line. It's been rumored that some other RCW'ers were close to signing with UWF as well to join duel-fedders Marley, Kinsey, Alex Martinez, and Alex Extreme.
Don't take this as an "invasion" of UWF or UWF stealing away RCW's talent, but rather as an effect from the long hiatus that RCW took in the third quarter of 2004. Many wrestlers felt that RCW closed and sured themselves up by signing with the biggest fed left standing, Universal Wrestling Federation. When RCW's management stated that the fed wasn't closed, but rather just on hiatus due to financial and technical problems, some wrestlers found themselves stuck with a contract for both feds. There's a kind of stigma in RCW for wrestlers joining with the main competitor, but management has let that slide for those who couldn't back out of contract.
Other than Kinsey & Marley, one report had Shane Destiny close to inking a contract with UWF, which would've been equally as huge as Kinsey's signing. Another said that UWF was in negotiations with former EMWC star and now RCW manager, Mark Langseth, but the talks broke down once RCW came back.
- I got to say, there's nothing better than a hot dog with mustard while watching a wrestling show.
- Some people were up in arms over the recent "awards" doled out for the end of the year 2004. Some claimed that there was some tomfoolery going on, others asserted shenanigans, and others plainly said "bollocks!" Ok, maybe no one said those words, but one thing's for sure is that is was the worst awards to date. The fact that more people argued over the thing than voted is one clear indicator that the whole awards system is as dead as a doornail [why are they dead?].
- If you didn't see, make sure to enter in your prediction for the next BATTLE*DREAM show at the SquareTable forums - the topic can be found at this address: http://s7.invisionfree.com/JTF_Squaretable/index.php?showtopic=60. The prize are two entertain tapes [a joshi tape - women's japanese wrestler; a copy of a DVD from one of them good federations - Vangaurd Championship Wrestling] and a CD of B*D's wrestling themes! Don't miss out on this opportunity! It's free to enter, people! Just got to register with the JTF!3K1 SquareTable forums [which is free to do] and you post to that thread. EASY!
- Some people were surprised with the low-key announcement of the added stipulation to the PWR main event for their show at Tradition. The new stip to the Pacific Title Texas bullrope match between City Jack and champion Calisto Dufresne is that if Jack loses, he'll be out of the fed for a period of three months. When City Jack first took up an offer to wrestle in the fed back for its first card in March '04, it was assumed that he would come in, do one match and put over PWR's then top talent, Kenta Kitzukawa and go on to other ventures. But the SoCal fans took to Jack quick and he became an instant draw. Since then, he's upped his salary demands while working injured in the fed's top angle. Some have said that this could be an out for City Jack to rest up.
However, some of my other PWR spies [and trust, they don't like us snoping around over there] have said that it's management's way to cut costs. That line of thinking goes that over the span of three months, the fans will flock to someone else already developed by PWR for much less cost per show - that City Jack's already served his purpose by putting over various talents and would just be more a costly burden as time went by. Though, with him going up against the LONG reigning and recently fading star Calisto Dufresne, one could very well imagine him with the Pac Title and make City Jack and the PWR fed even more marketable with a big indy star as its champ.
- Speaking on PWR, some of the management has been butting heads with owner Todd Michaelson about taking the fed to "the next level". Michaelson feels that it would be better for everyone to keep the fed small and as a developmental area for wrestlers new and those in need of help. Others, though, at the helm feel that financially - with the J*STAR DVD set to come out soon and exposure from some big names, that PWR is set to possibly get a TV contract and go for a bigger audience. Michaelson has misgivings on going further up with the fed because then advertising, TV rights, and more "other" management would get in the way of doing what he wants - developing young wrestlers into tomorrow's stars. More news as this progresses.
- I saw the Oscar nominations and I got to say that the Passion of the Christ got nailed in the nominations... oh, uh... Forgive me Father, for I have sinned...
- Actual musings, I see 2005 as the return to normalcy for the wrestling world. The past year was dreadful with dreck and wrecks dominating the wrestling scene. Seeing crap - yes, crap as in totally worthless and of no redeeming value - like Adam Mitchell get accolades makes me ill.
- The last vestiges of the failed NEO-Pro International venture is the just starting NEO-J promotion. It looked like a rocky start for the promotion, but they've finally reached their roster goal and, from what I've heard, have some pretty impressive names signed. Expect a about half of the roster to have been successful junior champions in big time feds elsewhere, while the other part of the roster of good up-and-comers.
And that's all I've got... Ok, a short musing & rumors this time around, but there'll be more where that came from!
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