I guess I should start by explaining the fed at that time, what was going on both �on camera� and �off.� I do believe I was solely in charge then but I�m not for sure. I do know that as far as anyone was concerned, I was the guy who got blamed for things. I had just retired the SLR character at about the same time that two other major characters, Bloodhound and Jason Lee were retiring. Those were the last of the major �names� in the fed, at least, from the old era and those departures, along with this match, marked what would be a new era in the fed.
Dark Warrior was the champ at this time and deservedly so, he had literally been on a tear since he�d come into the fed. He was the best in the fed at that point and so when he suggested this match, despite being very against it at the start, I almost had to go with because I kind of had to keep him happy. That�s right, I was against this match at the get go because I was (and to an extent still am) really against matches with gimmicks that were overly complicated and to be honest, when the match was first explained to me, I didn�t get it.
So at this time, you�ve got Dark Warrior who�s leading this stable, Death Wish, that includes Attitude, who was improving rapidly and was ready to start poking through that top level, John Chase, a guy who wasn�t as talented as the other two but was starting to come into his own, and the recently added Raynman, who was beginning to surprise everyone with how much talent he had. So when you�ve got these four guys as your lead heels, you feel a little better about letting go the big names that just left.
On the other side of the coin, you�ve got The New Millennium, led by Dark Slayer, a guy who supposedly was to be the competition for Dark Warrior but at the time, I didn�t really think he was at that caliber. He�s more than proven to me since that he�s a far better competitor than Dark Warrior. No, at the time, I didn�t see Slayer as much of a singles competitor, his draw was in his tag team with Infamous. Together the two were a force. Leading up to the math however, Dark Slayer was proving to be more talented than his gimmick and just needed to expand. Booking him over Dark Warrior was hard for me to do but it was my only choice, he had clearly out rped DW. Infamous had some raw talent but never honed it and his demons have since taken him away from the business. Also in the stable was Rick Jones, another guy who was a better tag wrester than a singles wrestler but had started to come into his own at about this time and was on the brink of a major singles push. Rob Bowen was fourth member on this team, more because of his feud with Raynman. Bowen was a talented guy whose gimmick never really got off the ground.
Leading up to this match, it was clear there was dissention in the ranks of Death Wish, mainly between DW and Attitude. This dissention was both on and off camera. I remember that Dark Warrior hadn�t been as sharp going into the match and Attitude had been red hot and there was the obvious challenge of leadership on the brink. This conflict would carry into the match and soon, there was an intriguing element added to the match, who was the true leader of Death Wish?
So the stage is set for the match and I�ll just make a few closing remarks about the match and the participants in it. Attitude won because he was the best rper for the match. He won that title and he ran with it. He had one of the most dominating reigns in fed history, a reign that only interrupted due to the �Jason Starr Fiasco� and for that I apologize. Slayer (btw, you�ll never know how glad I am you dropped the Dark) rose above Infamous going into that match, taking his game to another level but it was only a glimpse of what we would eventually see out of the man. Chase, I�m glad to see, has improved greatly and looks to have a fine run ahead of him. Rick Jones and I have talked and he claims we�ll never see him in the nWEFF again but you know how you never say never in this game. If I only knew what happened to Raynman, there was a guy I was real impressed with but he dropped off the face of the planet. Infamous, I think, we�ll never see again and it�s too bad. As I said, I think he had real potential and he brushed with having some greatness but never achieved it. I�m not sure how he is these days but I wish him the best. Bowen will never be seen again, unless of course N.I.S.E. gets going again.
That only leaves Dark Warrior. Dark Warrior is on a list of men that includes NightGator, Tommy Brents, Jeff Meidl, and JT Steel. That list? Men Who I�ve Gotten Along With As Much As I�ve Argued With. I think Dark Warrior had a great run as champ but I think he then gave us all he had. He never returned to that level and it�s a shame. He is always welcome back in the nWEFF but I�m afraid it could never be what it was with him. Perhaps someday he�ll prove me wrong.
Anyway, I�ve talked way too much. Let me say, I wrote the match and think it�s very good. I present it to you, unedited. I hope time has been kind to it.
World Title Death Wish Rules Match
Explanation of the Match: There is a cage surrounding the ring and the cage is then subdivided into 4 separate cages. Each cage contains a separate match (Rob Bowen v. Raynman/Infamous v. Attitude/John Chase v. Rick Jones/Dark Warrior � v. Dark Slayer). A wrestler must win the first match by pin or submission and then await the winner of the match opposite him, once a winner is determined in that match, a section of the cage of is raised and the two fight, winning only by pin or submission. Meanwhile, this is happening on the otherside of the cage. When there is one man left on each side, the final section is raised and it becomes a standard cage match, winning only by escaping the cage over the top.
Starting off in Cage 1 where Ray and RB are picking up where they left off. RB having the power edge, Ray with the quickness edge. Ray with the win earlier tonight so you know RB is looking for some blood. They are at it quickly with RB whipping Ray into the ropes but Ray ducks the ensuing clothesline, stops, and nails a dropkick that staggers RB. Ray runs and jumps off the middle rope coming off with a moonsault but RB catches him in mid air and nails a piledriver. RB with a quick cover, 1...2- Ray kicks out quickly. RB and Ray both up to their feet RB whips Ray into the cage with tremendous momentum and Ray bounces off the cage but RB comes charging at him and takes Ray off his feet with a clothesline. RB drops an elbow right across the chest of Ray. RB hooks the leg and the ref counts, 1...2...- Ray again kicks out but with a little less zest. But over in Cage 2...
.... Infamous and Attitude have been battling it out in a brutal one here folks. As we speak, Infamous has the upper hand and he's using the cage to his advatage right now by ramming the head of Attitude into the cage. Infamous has just applied a sleeper hold to Attitude and is using all of his might to crank on the neck of Attitude. Attitude looks to be fading. Attitude starts to shake though and the crowd is alive as he begins to fight out of the hold. Elbows to the gut, he's almost out, but Infamous regains the leverage and the hold is back on. Attitude however has begun to stand up and Infamous is on his back. Attitude now, rams Infamous into the cage with all the force left in his body. Infamous off the back of Attitude now, but both men on the mat. Over in Cage 3....
....RJ and JC are fighting for their respective lives, exchanging blow after blow after blow. RJ looking like he is landing a few more in a row now and he grabs JC and whips him into the cage. JC nails the cage with a lot of force and comes staggering off the cage, RJ grabs him and nails a belly to belly suplex that actually drives the head of JC into the mat. JC looks to have taken that badly and is lying pretty limp on the mat. RJ up and decides that he must continue the attack on the neck so what do we see? A dragon sleeper. RJ really wrenching on that neck but JC looks to be trying to get to his feet, but a pure stroke of genius from RJ as he turns that dragon sleeper into an inverted DDT that drives that already sore head and neck of JC into the mat. RJ with the cover, 1...2...-you could not have fit a page of the bible in between the mat and the ref's hand on that last stroke but he says JC kicked out and who are we to argue? RJ pulls JC to his feet, slings him over his shoulder and then drives the lower back of JC into the turnbuckle. RJ then hooks JC up in the tree of woe! RJ with a baseball slide into the face of JC, again hurting that neck. While we speak, in Cage 4....
....Slayer and DW in a heated battle but Slayer on the offensive. Slayer just hit a powerfull brainbuster on the big DW. Slayer with a cover but only gets a one as the current champion kicks out. Slayer scales the turnbuckle, waits for DW to get to his feet and then comes off with a clothesline that decapitates DW! Slayer with the cover, 1...2..-DW kicks out again! Slayer now simply choking the life out of DW with his boot. Slayer now in a mounted position on DW and driving fist after fist into the face of DW. Slayer to the top rope again, he comes off with a huge body splash but DW moved and there's nobody home! Slayer clutching his stomach as DW attempts to get to his feet. Back in Cage 1....
....Ray and RB are still fighting it out and Ray has the advatage now using some of his high flying moves. RB is on the mat and Ray is up on the cage where he comes off with a twisting plancha. Ray with the cover, 1...2..- RB kicks out with some authority. Ray attempts to keep him down by nailing a standing senton where he hooks the leg again, 1...2..- RB again kicks out. Ray to the top rope again coming off with a leg drop but at the very last split second, RB moves and Ray crashes to the mat. Both men rolling on the mat now attempting to get their feet. RB up first but Ray closely behind and Ray charges, RB lowers the head and back tosses Ray into the cage, brutal. Moving over to Cage 2....
.....Attitude in control of Infamous as he has him in the corner where Attitude is driving knees into the rib cage of Infamous who looks to be in some serious pain. Attitude props Infamous up on the top turnbuckle now and he follows him up, looks like we're going to see a superplex! Attitude gets him up and holds it, I repeat, we are now seeing a stalling superplex from Attitude. What strength! Finally, he slams backwards driving Infamous into the mat. Attitude with the cover, this is it, 1...2...-OH MY GOD! How did Infamous kick out? How in the hell did he kick out? I guess it doesn't matter because the match is still underway. You can see the frustration in the eyes of Attitude but the determination in his eyes is burning just a little bit hotter. Attitude grabs Infamous and drags him over to the corner where Infamous's head is then driven into the turnbuckle oh, I dunno, a good 15-20 times. Attitude now up on the 2nd turnbuckle and he grabs Infamous, what the hell? It looks as if Attitude is attempting to piledrive Infamous from the 2nd turnbuckle. Attitude has him up and what do you know? He did just that. I think it's the first time I've ever seen a piledriver from the second rope. Unbelievable. Attitude with the cover and the win, 1...2..-again, Infamous showing testicular fortitude of unimaginable proportions kicks out. Cage 3 has just as much action going on....
....RJ and JC both showing their exhaustion as they both pull themselves to their feet. JC to his feet first and he comes charging at RJ who doesn't see him, thus getting his face driven into the cage. JC from behind nails a german suplex with a bridge, 1...2..-RJ kicks out, tremendous effort on the part of both men. JC then whipping RJ into the cage and follwing him in with a big splash. RJ falls to the mat and JC hooks the leg, 1...2..-RJ kicks out. Amazing! JC noticeably frustrated now, he grabs the legs of RJ and then slingshots him head first into the cage! RB is busted open! Over in Cage 4...
...DW in complete control of Slayer and has just nailed Slayer with a big boot from hell that leveled ol' Slayer. DW with a cover now, 1...2..-Slayer kicks out. DW grabs Slayer by the throat and drags him to his feet and then into the air and then drives him to the mat. A magnificent showing of strentght from the champion. DW with another cover, 1...2...-Slayer kicking out at the last second. DW dragging Slayer to his feet again and this time gorilla press slamming him above his head! Then DW throws Slayer, face first into the cage!!! UNBELIEVABLE! DW grabs the legs of Slayer who lays limply on the ground, and it's Dark Lock time!!! DW locks the legs, turns it over and is applying some serious pressure. Slayer is screaming in pain but he's not giving up. Slayer has gotten to the ropes but this is a No DQ type match so it doesn't matter, Slayer is doing all he can to fight it. Slayer now, gripping the cage with his hands and he seems to gaining leverage using some unhuman upper body strength and he's actually powering out of the Dark Lock to the point where he has it reversed and now Slayer is using the Dark Lock on DW. DW, after a few moments of pain is able to power out of the hold that he's perfected. Meanwhile, in Cage 1...
.... RB has Ray up in a powerbomb but he rams the back of Ray into the cage before he drives Ray into the mat with a powerbomb! RB with the cover, 1...2..-Ray kicks out. RB shoots Ray into cage again, RB going for a huge clothesline but Ray ducks it and jumps off the turnbuckle and nails bulldog leaving RB out on the mat. Ray again goes to the top turnbuckle, he's looking for a moonsault. RB up though and he knocks Ray off his feet, leaving Ray stradling the top turnbuckle. RB from behind, locks on a Cobra Clutch, he could be going for his finisher, yes, yes he is! RB nails that Destination Unknown from the top turnbuckle and he drives Ray's smaller body into the mat snapping his body in half in a brutal spot. RB with the cover, 1...2...3. RB has moved to the next cage, he awaits the winner of Attitude and Infamous. Let's go there now...
...Infamous is in control and he's grinding the face of Attitude brutally into the cage and Attitude is literally gushing. Attitude looks to be weak from the loss of blood but he's showing tremendous determination as he's driving blows into the gut of Infamous. Infamous however not giving up either as Infamous goes for the Down 'n' Out, but Attitude blocks it with an elbow the the head and then nails a DDT. Attitude with the cover, 1...2..-Infamous kicks out. Both men up again and trading blows once again. Infamous whips Attitude into the cage, but Attitude reverses it and sends Infamous into the cage with tons of power. Infamous stumbles out, Attitude kicks him in the gut, doubles him over and BAM! ACID 8000! Attitude with the cover, 1...2...3! Attitude will face Rob Bowen in the next round. The divider in the cage raises and now they have half of a ring to work with and the bloody Attitude charges at the exahausted RB. But we've got action going on in Cage 3....
.... RJ has just nailed a snap suplex on JC, he rolls it through and nails another one. RJ covers JC, JC kicks out. RJ up on his feet and he drags JC to his feet but JC nails a low blow and hits a stunner like manuever on RJ. JC with the cover, 1...2..-RJ kicks out. JC whips RJ into the corner. JC comes flying in but RJ moves and JC crashes into the corner. RJ props JC up on the top, it looks like RJ is going for that Fun Run!!! But NO! JC ends up shoving RJ off the top rope and coming off with an elbow drop. JC hooks the leg, 1..2..-RJ kicks out one more time! JC visibly frustrated and he's now reaching in his boot for something. What is that he's pulled out? It looks as if he's just pulled out a smaller version of his weapon of choice, a tazer like weapon. He shows it to the crowd and fires it up, he charges for RJ but RJ sees it and at the last second nails a drop toe hold that drives JC into the cage head first and JC attempts to brace his fall on the cage but the shock stick his the cage too and JC gets electrified with his own weapon!!! RJ kicks the shock stick away, falls on JC and the ref counts, 1...2...3. Jones onto the next round! He'll face either Dark Warrior or Slayer, let's go there to see the progress on that match....
...as soon as we go to that cage, we see DW laying lifeless on the mat. What's that all about? Wait a second, we've got a replay to show. (A replay is shown of Slayer whipping DW into the cage but we can see in the back round that DW hit the cage at the same time JC hit it with the shock stick and DW was electricuted at the same instance as was his Death Wish mate. That caused DW to fall to the mat.) Oh my god! Slayer falls on him and he hooks a leg, 1...2...3. Slayer wins, but maybe more importantly DW loses and so that means, we will have a new world champion. So in the next round, we've got Slayer v. Rick Jones, friends, stablemates, but both men want the big gold. But we've got to go to Attitude v. RB...
....Attitude is bleeding like mad and RB is driving into the cage trying to open that wound up even more. RB then nails an inverse DDT and goes for the cover, 1...2..- Attitude kicks out. RB goes for a figure 4 and he locks it on! Attitude screaming, yelling, he's hurting, bleeding. He's at the rope, but again, this is no DQ and RB doesn't have to break the hold. Attitude attempts to roll over and reverse the hold but RB continues his pressure, making it impossible for Attitude to reverse it. Attitude's shoulder's hit he mat and the ref begins to count, 1..-Attitude shoots up quickly, still trying to fight the pain of the hold. Attitude reaching across and reigning fists into the face of RB hoping to force the hold off. RB seems to be taking the blows but he's lost his concentration of the figure 4 and it's allowed Attitude to get the figure 4 over and now RB is screaming in pain. Both men break free but you can tell they're both spent. This is RB's 3rd match of the night and Attitude is on match #2 and he's been bleeding a lot. Over in the other cage....
....Slayer and RJ are exchanging some mat holds putting on a technical clinic right now much to the delight of the fans. Slayer has RJ in a bow and arrow locked on now and putting that super pressure on the back of RJ. RJ breaks free and Slayer to his feet where he drags RJ to his feet and nails a double underhook over head suplex on his friend RJ. Slayer with the cover 1...2..-RJ kicks out. Slayer bounces off the ropes and comes with an elbow drop but RJ rolls out of the way at the last minute and Slayer's elbow hits nothin' but canvas. But Slayer up quickly and he attempts another elbow drop, RJ rolls out of the way again. Slayer up again, showing signs of frustration and RJ up this time. Slayer with a wild swing, RJ ducks it, hooks Slayer's arms and nails a backslide, 1...2...-Slayer kicks out. Meanwhile...
. .... RB has Attitude in the corner and is driving in fists that the crowd counts along, 1...2...3...4....5....6....7....8...9...10! Attitude falls face first out of the corner. RB goes for the legs again and locks on a Boston crab, grinding back on the back of Attitude. Attitude again screaming in pain but he's beginning to power out of the move and he breaks free. RB rolls over and applies a variation of the crippler crossface. RB really showing some techical skill tonight. He's got it on pretty good but the gushing blood makes his grip loosen and Attitude is able to free himself. RB up on his feet and he is more than frustrated but before he can do much about it, Attitude takes him off his feet with a sweep kick. RB only down momentarily but Attitude has managed to get to his knees as RB makes it over to him. Attitude with a double leg take down on RB. Attitude feeling another wind here and now he's on the offensive as he stomps away at RB. But guess who's doing some stomping of their own.....
....RJ is laying the boots into the face and head of Slayer. RJ pulls Slayer to his feet and sends him back down with a standing clothesline. RJ with a quick cover but he only gets a one count. These men are tired as are the other two men but the thought of becoming world champion has made it all worth while and that's their continuing motivation. RJ and Slayer just exchanging wild lefts and rights, some of them hitting, others not hitting. It's kind of like the end of one of those Rocky movies where it seems as if they're using every last bit of energy to hit the guy one more time but then they do it again. And then, in true Rocky form, both Slayer and RJ fall to the mat. But there can be no double ten count in this match. Meanwhile, we'll go to where there's a little more action.....
....RB nailing Attitude with a jaw breaker! RB with a northern lights suplex into a bridge, 1...2..-Attitude kicks out.....
....Slayer up now and he's pulling RJ up to deliver a piledriver and does!.....
.....back to the other cage where RB is ramming the face of Attitude into the cage, a place where Attitude's face has been more than a couple times tonight. Wait a second, RB with the Cobra Clutch on, he's going for the Destination Unknown! No, Attitude with a mule kick low blow and RB has let go of the hold, Attitude spins around and nails the ACID 8000! But he's so exahausted, he can't make the cover!....
....Slayer with the cover, 1..2..-RJ kicks out at the last second. Slayer goes for the DOA but RJ will have none of it and it's back to wild punches for these two members of the New Millenium! Slayer with a wild punch that RJ ducked, steps around and nails a neck breaker out of nowhere. RJ with the weak cover, 1...2...-oh, at the last moment Slayer somehow kicks out!....
...RB starting to show signs of life and Attitude is trying to get to his feet. RB whips Attitude into the corner but Attitude reverses it and then charges in nailing RB with a big body avalanche. RB stumbling around, Attitude with the presence of mind to come out of nowhere with a school boy roll up and he manages to get his feet on the ropes for leverage but remember, that's ok in this match, the ref counts, 1...2...3! Attitude beats RB! Attitude will move onto the final match where he'll face....
....either Slayer or RJ who are duking it out. RJ out of nowhere with a german suplex and another and another, almost reminiscent of another Canadian wrestler we know. RJ bridges on the last one, 1...2...-Slayer some how kicks out again. RJ pulls Slayer to his feet, whips him into the cage-wait, Slayer reverses the whip, pulls RJ in and nails the DOA out of nowhere! Slayer falls lifeless on top of RJ 1...2...3! Slayer has just beaten RJ and will go to the next round to face Attitude. The final division in the cage is raised and Attitude charges at Slayer and the two men are at it. One of these men, Attitude or Slayer will walk out the world champion. Attitude a renewed energy now and he's driving his fists into the head of Slayer. The blood literally flying off the face of Attitude. Attitude then picks Slayer up on his shoulder in a Canadian back breaker type of move and the drives him into the cage. Attitude starts to ascend the cage, remember, you have to escape the cage to win this one. Slayer showing movement and a little more when he sees Attitude half way up the cage so he dives for the cage, hoping to shake it enough to knock Attitude off, no such luck. Attitude notices the move but holds on. Slayer on his feet now and really giving it a good shake and Attitude begins to slip and then fall to the mat in brutal spot that leaves him lifeless. Slayer now begins to climb the cage but only gets part way up and then comes off with a big body splash on Attitude! That was explosive. It took a little out of the already exahausted Slayer and he's getting to his feet but slowly. He pulls Attitude to his feet, shoots him off the ropes, comes off the opposite rope and nails a spear on Attitude right in the middle of the ring. Slayer up now and he's going for the big climb to world championship gold. He's on the cage but moving very slowly up it. Attitude is beginning to awaken and he sees his hopes of becoming world champ climbing up the cage so he begins to follow Slayer right up that cage and start pulling on the leg of Slayer. Slayer begins to kick at Attitude, attempting to knock him off but Attitude hangs on and now the two are battling on the cage at a very dangerous height. Both men, trading blows, Slayer with a huge punch to the face sending Attitude off the cage but Attitude grabs ahold of the leg of Slayer and that yanks Slayer off and both men come crashing to the mat in one of the most unbelievable spots I've ever seen! Both men now, looking like they're dead, crippled in the ring, not moving. The crowd is on fire right now, they are loving every bit of it and so am I! Slayer begins to move, which prompts some movement from Attitude. Attitude, Slayer, both on their hands and knees, crawling to ropes to try and drag themselves up. Both men up now but just barely. Slayer with an uppercut that sends some of Attitude's blood flying. Attitude with a right hook that sends the spit of Slayer flying. Attitude going for a suplex, he gets it up half way but Slayer blocks it and he nails a suplex of his own but it taking all of the energy out of him for a moment. Slayer making his way to his feet again and so is Attitude but Slayer gives him a little help so that he can whip Attitude off the ropes. Slayer, lowers the head and telegraphs a back body drop, bad move. Attitude sees this and nails the ACID 8000 literally out of nowhere!!!!! Slayer is out but Attitude isn't a lot better off. He drags himself to the cage and begins his climb to become the world champion. He's about 3/4 of the way up when Slayer begins to get up. Slayer sees Attitude nearing the top and as quick as he can rushes over to the cage and begins to shake like a madman. Attitude loses his footing but holds on with his hands. Attitude now, showing tremendous upper body strength is pulling himself up the cage with just his hands. Meanwhile Slayer is still shaking the cage like it's his job but Attitude is determined, he's at the top...he gets the last over he's on the other side now, he just needs to make it down! Slayer now trying to climb the cage and the two meet in the middle, Attitude on the outside, Slayer on the inside. They're exchanging blows through the cage and Attitude loses his footing but doesn't fall to the arena floor, his leg gets caught in the cage and he's hanging by just one leg off of the cage. All of the blood running to his head and subsequently gushing out his forehead wound. Slayer is now at the top of the cage and he's making his way down as Attitude attempts to wrench his leg free! Slayer sees that Attitude is almost untangled from the cage and decides he'll need to make a jump for it but at the same time he jumps from about 3/4 up on the outside, Attitude who's 1/2 of the way up gets free and falls to the floor to win the match and become the World Champion. Slayer falls next him a second later but with a much louder thud. The bell rings.
John Randar: YOUR WINNER AND NEW HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WORLD.....ATTITUDE!!!!!!!!
The belt is handed to Attitude who hugs it, smearing the shiny face with a mixture of blood, sweat and tears. The paramedics have come to stretcher out Slayer who took that sickening fall. Attitude is celebrating when out walks Dark Warrior with a smile. Dark Warrior extends his hand to Attitude who looks at it wearily and then shakes it. Dark Warrior's smile turns to a smirk and then he pulls Attitude in and nails the Acebuster on the arena floor leaving Attitude down and out but nonetheless the world heavyweight champion. Warrior begins stomping all over Attitude, and finally spits on him with contempt then turns on his heel and walks away, heading to the back.
Magoo: HOLY FUCK!
Bad BO: That was one of the single greatest events I've seen of all time!
Magoo: Superlatives can't describe it, words don't do it justice, so folks, for Bad Brad Offerman, this is Mic Magoo saying good night from the Skydome, home of possibley the greatest match in nWeff history!
Now hear comments from the two men who made the match special, Slayer and Attitude.
Slayer: The DeathWish Cage Match? Oh shit, man... That was one of the sickest ideas I'd ever heard in my entire career. It was basically the culmination of a fued between DeathWish and my little group: The New Millennium. That fued made my career, you know? But there's only one thing that comes to mind when you think of DeathWish versus TNM... the best 45 minutes the nweff has ever seen.
I remember Niq and Matt had one helluva time trying to decide who to push. DarkWarrior was going to be taking a break after that match, so it was decided that he wouldn't win the match. Attitude was booked to win - which was an interesting storyline for a variety of reasons... most notably DW attacking him after the match. Then everyone kinda looks to me, right? The deal - though nobody ever said it was a deal... if I performed well in this match, I was going to get pushed to the top.
That was huge news for me. I was pretty small time, even then. I had begged and pleaded my way into a fued with DeathWish, because I knew they were the biggest wrestling news at the time. And now, in the culmination of that... I was given a huge opportunity to play a major role in what we all knew was going to be the biggest thing the nweff had ever done.
The only problem with this demand of me... (laughs a little) is that I was asked to do things I just wasn't used to. I was always mostly a brawler in the ring... and everybody - especially when I faced off against stable-mate Rick Jones - wanted to see me get technical. The technical stuff started in the first cage, when I was facing DW and we traded his patented DarkLock.
So, Rick and I put on a technical show for the crowd. In the weeks before this match, I had worked my ass off to get all that stuff down just right. Rick himself was a huge help. That guy was sound, and very good. We were very careful, during the match itself, to have me kinda lose the technical edge at some point. After all, you can't go from brawler to Ringmaster overnight, right? So during the match, I throw this haymaker, and he just took advantage of that.
After that long, exhausting, mentally-draining segment with Rick, 'Tude comes running at me. I remember thinking "Woah, when did he start bleeding?" And then there wasn't much time for thought, you know?
I eventually became hardcore champion of the nweff - but another thing that I was asked to do during this match was eat a lot of cage... and take a huge jump off the side of the cage at the end there. It was the first match that really forced me to give my body a beating... of course, I was a little hesitent to do it... I mean, only psychos leap off the cage from 20 feet or so, knowing there's only concrete waiting for them...
But, hey, they asked me to do that, and I did. I'd also like to think that I took one of the most convincing Acid 8000's that anyone had ever done before... (laughs)
My career really took off after this match for a variety of reasons. Not just the push I got afterward... not just that millions of people had seen the best of my best on an immensely huge stage... but this match opened up new possibilities for Slayer's in ring abilities and strategies.
I'll never forget that match. Like I said, from minute one to DW giving the Acebuster to Attitude at the end... that was just one sick match, top to bottom. I'm glad I was such an important part of it.
Attitude: This match had all the hype in the world. A few of the guys were worried we'd blow it. See, this was the new generation and we had to live up to all the greats in the nWeff who had fought in matches like this one. DW was the champion at the time, he headed our group, DeathWish and invented this match. I guess this was the match the nWeff needed at the time. The new school was in town but had not yet proven we were as good as our predecessors: SLR, Bloodhound, Jason Lee, Ringmaster, Cujo and such. If we were gonna shine, it had to be now. I went into the match knowing I had to win, it was my chance to show I could entertain at the highest level and when I was told by Matt and Niq they had booked me for the victory, I was ecstatic. However, I knew I still had to do my best out there with the rest of the guys or it would be pointless because they'd just take the belt off me the next night if I blew it. People say it was the match where myself and Slayer took charge and really showed how potential became real undoubted talent; they were right, but everyone out there that night performed to their highest. The nerves went when the bell rang and we were all to go through the most important 45 minutes of our lives. The bloodshed was to be extreme and the action was to be unbeatable. Myself and Slayer came back into the locker room last and the ovation was unbelievable, it was perhaps the greatest moment of my career and I personally never looked back. There could be so much said about that match, that i'll do my best to sum it all up right now: it was an innovative classic and proved that all was great at the nWeff and the new school had provided a boom and a high that may have never been reached ever in nWeff history.