During his time as "Talent Advisor", Scotty and Ed spoke about opening up a developmental territory in which talent would be "bred" to the high standards of MWF. One man stepped up to the job first of all, Corey Haines. However, it was not long before Haines left the company also and was succeeded by Gino Battisti. Battisti was the man who laid the first building block to the developmental territory, then known as Missouri State Wrestling. With stats such as Samuel Livingston, Leandro, Steven Douglas and more passing through the camp it was a high risk paid off.
However, MSW would soon be looking for a new General Manager when Battisti ran MSW into very near bankruptcy. The company began searching far and wide for somebody who would lift the company from finanacial ruin whilst at the same time prepare talent for the MWF ranks. One man stepped up to the plate with ideas racing through his wrestling mind. That one man was of course Scotty Heart.
Repair Work
It wasn't long before the company began to expand. Taking on guys such as Jack Harley, Gutter Rat, Troy Knight and Fear. With their sales revenue Scotty was looking to be making money until he was rudely awoken by "Debt Collectors". In a shocking edition of eXposure, the arena was crashed and the ring taken away to pay off the hidden MSW debts. Luckily, the MSW Board had saved enough money to purchase a new ring the following week. However, this was the start of the evil genius firing things back up again.
"The 4 Towers" would burst onto the scene with its high-risk and very unique style. The ring consists of four ladders which replace the more conventional turnbuckles. With the addition of the towers came alot of interest from fans in the local area and wrestlers nationwide. But MSW was about to be revolutionised...
The Revolution
Scotty would then take centre stage in what would be his first federation in charge. Sticking to the same team of staff and trademarking "The 4 Towers", MSW split off and away from WEW before it even had chance to snap the company up. After setting MSW up on the finance side and having alot of money to spare, the new Board went about getting more talent in. The company signed guys back to contracts such as Leandro, Kyle Bauer, ViperJ, Anarkist, and more.
So, where would the company go from there? Simple, change the name, change the show, change the way everything was ran and break free. Create a mold of wrestling that had never been seen before. To revolutionise the business strand by strand. That is when Heart realised that MSW would become Next Level Revolution. A wrestling company devoted to being different. Not afraid to be controversial, not afraid to push the boundaries back. New owners Marcus Anderson and "Big" Ed Johnson ran the company like a well oiled machine, pushing talent like Leandro, Grudge, Troy Knight, and Claudio Turbine until mid 2005, the NLR hit a rocky patch, and Anderson left the company leaving Johnson to run the federation to the best of his abilities.
Rough Waters
It was the constant inability of the staff, starting with Johnson himself, then Douglas, then McGuire, that caused it. They allowed egos to run unchecked behind the scenes, and were not capable to unite as a cohesive unit enough to produce the shows they were once capable of. There were no answers that could be agreed upon, save for one.
Finally, the NLR was closed.
The New "Big" Era
MSW Under Heart's Rule
Scotty took to his new General Manager role like a duck to water. First of all he had to reshuffle the finance in order to keep the company afloat. Cut backs were made on the roster and on the staff side of things. By bringing in much younger staff members Heart was able to cut his out-goings by over half. One of Heart's best deals was his new announce team. Paul Clash (24) and Taylor Black (19) would be the new voice of MSW's weekly show eXposure. Clash is the flirty, over the top and very out spoken guy whilst Taylor is the gorgeous, brutally honest and every man's fantasy.
Taking Wrestling To The Next Level
Just when MWF and MSW looked to be working on the same page and getting into the swing of things, MWF CEO, Ed Walker, was taken ill and was forced to sell up. The company would go on offer to the highest bidder with Ben Harlum, owner of WEW, to have first refusal of all talent. It seemed as if Scotty and his MSW crew would soon be working under the regime of Harlum. However, with a very quick get together of capital and lawyers, Heart, along with his father Mr. Jones, were able to buy out the MSW branch of the MWF company.
The Rise And Fall Of The NLR
Anderson was gone. Johnson, a man not best left on his own, was left to run the shop alone, finally left the company in late 2005. The NLR was given to long-time friend, Steven Douglas to run as he saw fit. However, another force had risen up to challenge him in Joyce McGuire and Jeremiah Miller. Some new staff were brought in by both sides, and the "Creative" doors began revolving from week to week, as from his new position in Ben Harlums WEW, Johnson, now a member of the creative staff, and a regular on camera star, watched the once controversial prodigy he had transformed, turn into the place it had started from back in the old MSW days when Battisti had near choked the company to death.
January, 2007. NLR Returns
"Big" Ed Johnson has committed. The date has been set. What is in store for NLR now that it is established with a good television deal nationwide and over seas in the UK? Well, it has many a good gimmick match to pump out, great talent that works just as hard behind the scenes as much as they do on screen. The future is in NLR's hands and we invite you all to share this experience with us.