Who Asked You Anyway ?
By RAWF Columnist “Mr. Nice Guy”(The following comments are those of Mr. Nice Guy and do not reflect the opinions of RAWF) Greetings and all that happy horsecrap everyone, it’s time for another installment of the world’s best column… “Who Asked You Anyway”. It’s me, everyone’s favorite RAWF Columnist…Mr. Nice Guy. Now this week’s show was certainly one hell of a wild ride as the Television, United States and most importantly World Title all changed hands. I’d congratulate all the winners, but other than Shawn Dee I’m still scratching my head about the other two. That, however is something I will address later in this column. Right now I have something far more important to talk about…and that’s the current status of the X-Net Fed Rating System.
Or as I like to call it “The Fickle Finger of Totally Arbitrary Reward”.
How does that strike ya as a tag line ? I’m rather proud of it myself. Back to the topic at hand though and why it is this week’s gripe. As we all know X-Net has a 1 to 5 Star rating system for the promotions that fall under its banner. This system is meant to provide everyone with easy reference as to who is what in terms of overall quality, at least in their view. There is only one problem with this though and that is that the system of promotion seems to be totally arbitrary and based on a quota system. I’ll explain what I mean. This week we had seen the closing (and then reopening) of the promotion BLOOD due to internal reasons. This is indeed regrettable because the promotion was a quality organization from top to bottom that was well deserving of its 5 Star rating. In its place we saw the as yet relatively unheard of promotion of NWC (Northern Wrestling Council) promoted to a 5 Star federation. Now, in all due fairness I am not overly familiar with the newly advanced promotion, I have done some cursory research on it after witnessing the promotion and that’s about it let me say it now and get it out of the way…
Based on what I’ve seen so far I’m totally baffled as to why this promotion has been elevated to 5 Star status. There are clearly those who are still rated below them that appear (at least to me) far more deserving of such an accolade.
I’m sure that some of what I said will draw heat both for me and my bosses, especially if any rabidly pro-X-Net people are reading this. This is not to say that I’m anti- X-Net, I’m not. I just don’t really grasp the rational behind some of their more important decisions. Granted I’m sure that some of the comments I’ve already made will draw some sharp criticism and condemnation from someone. My remarks against NWC are not personal; I’m not doing it because I hate them. My reasons are simple. First: Their main site, while visually decent is horribly disorganized. It looks like a backyard wrestling promotion website that was done by a twelve year old. Second: The results are decent, but overall rather uninspiring. I don’t just mean visually, although solid red throughout makes the read look rather bland from a visual standpoint. In terms of content I found myself rapidly disinterested in what was going on. I grant you, not everyone is a master of the written word or a creative genius. This is not meant as a personal attack on anyone in NWC as I am sure that they put a great deal of effort into their product. I’m just saying that from a personal standpoint they excite and entice me about as much as a nail gun enema. (Ok, that’s a tad harsh.) Third: They just strike me as slightly inexperienced and a little too green to be rated so highly. I personally think that NWC is on the right track and has a ton of potential. With that said though they are not, in my view, deserving of a 5 Star rating.
I’m sure there are already those who are preparing very unfriendly litanies at my expense after having read this. To all of you who wish to do so I have but one thing to say…relax. As I made sure to point out I did not write this article as a shot against NWC, they are merely the poor promotion that happened, in my eyes anyway, to be the best example. Now, I grant you that I possess a very strong bias towards RAWF. I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t. Compare RAWF, which has been the quintessential 5 Star promotion for just about as long as it’s been on X-net and then look at promotions like NWC and even CWF. Take your time. Be picky and anal about it please. After taking a careful look you can’t tell me that RAWF doesn’t have at least a slightly more professional look to it with some of the most well presented and consistently high quality results on the entire network. Deny it if you like, but anyone with half a functioning brain knows that I’m right in this.
How then can it be that NWC came up to replace a Promotion like Blood in the ratings ? To me it seems that those who run X-Net just want to keep the number of 5 Star promotions the same, no matter what the cost to the overall credibility of the rating system is. Does this rating system function with an established quota, thereby making the entire rating system totally meaningless, or does a 5 Star rating actually mean something? Maybe someone can tell me the answer to this. Perhaps they were promoted as a way to push them to kick it up a notch and earn the rating. If that is the case the intention is incredibly noble. The reasoning however is also badly flawed. I’ve looked though the lists and I am personally going to name a few 4 Star promotions that I think deserve a shot at the 5 Star ranking or are very close. Here they are:
1. XHW- Overall this is just a solid promotion. The presentation of the site is smooth and easily accessible, the results are well done and the storylines (from what I could see anyway) were interesting. Oh…and they (said results) weren’t monochromatic. God I hate that.
So far only XHW gets the nod from me, but UCW and WWC are both very close. At the rate they’re going they’ll be 5 Star in no time. That is of course assuming that promotions are done on the basis of overall quality and not to keep up with some kind of bull*hit quota.
With that out of the way it’s time to meander into the Chaos that capped off another week of RAWF action. This week saw three titles change hands, a feud gain in intensity and two of the more powerful factions in RAWF show growing cracks in their foundations. So…where to begin with all of this action and excitement ? Well…why not start at the top ? It always seems like the logical place.
This week’s Chaos might have been the best show that RAWF has aired in weeks, and for a company that so consistently airs great material that’s a hell of a statement. They did everything from building storylines, to creating subplots to ending three Title reigns. On the building end the matches between Kris Wayne and Blackout, The Brotherhood vs Arsenal X and Deadman K, Adz and G-Sex, Higgerson and Pickles, Baggs and Zak Hackett and even the World Title match between Blake Zulu and Shawn Dee served well to push some storylines along. We’ll see how they shape up going into Philadelphia Freedom. I’m sure they will play a large part in it one way or another.
I will admit to not quite understanding why Matt Higgerson was made the Television Champion I’m sure the bosses have a reason for it. I can think of a couple of reasons, but I still don’t think that giving him a Title that’s gained so much prestige in the last few months is a good idea. I don’t mean to be cruel, but Matt isn’t exactly taken serious by most of the promotion. I know that most of the men in the locker room, other than his stable mates in the New Blood, really don’t take him at all seriously. Hopefully this title will inspire Matt to kick it into high gear and make people take him seriously. If he can’t do that the only thing that will suffer for it is the value and prestige of the Television Title. I guess only time will tell.
The second Title to change hands was the United States Title. Adz had held it for a few weeks and done a very solid job as that champion. He had defeated credible threats to retain it and there was no reason to believe that G-Sex would be any different. The beautiful thing about this change of hands with the title is that it gives G-Sex a genuine chance to prove all of his self spoken hype while freeing up Adz to finish up the X-Net Interfed Tournament and then pursue Croc once he gets back. I’m sure that Kit has ideas brewing in her head already for how to use Adz as a nemesis for Croc. Having Croc cost Adz the US Title was a great way to kick of a feud between them and I’m willing to bet that it’s gonna be one hell of a slugfest once it gets underway in earnest. One note to G-Sex though…you might want to reconsider your penchant for referring to yourself as “The Franchise Player”. I have it on good authority that there is at least one member of the roster who is not pleased by that and is willing to do something about it.
The final title to change hands was the big one of them all, the RAWF World Heavyweight Championship. The great thing about this match, other than the profound and obvious mutual respect that exists between Dee and Zulu is that undercurrent story between Dee and two of his Elite Establishment allies. The match itself was fantastic, easily one of the top matches in the history of the promotion. Both men pulled out all the stops in this one and it showed how much they both wanted it. It was unfortunate that for whatever reason that Blake Zulu couldn’t put into the buildup of this match what I’m sure he would have wanted to, but that aside he still did one hell of a job in helping to make this match a possible “Match of the Year” candidate. For his part Shawn Dee put on one hell of a match as well, after all a truly great match does require at least two participants who are willing to make it all go over smoothly. Now, I know that at least two of his EE allies are upset with him over this, but when you look at recent history Shawn really does deserve this. He’s been a consistent performer ever since he was signed to his RAWF contract. Both within the EE and on his own Shawn has set a standard that many would do well to follow. I for one am thrilled for him and have already told him as much. He might only hold it until the Pay Per View, but if that is the case it was certainly a worthwhile two weeks, both for the promotion and the credibility of the Title itself. I’ll get to the subplot of the match later on.
We also had a fantastic running vignette series from Croc, claiming that he was earning the amorous attentions of Kit, the First Lady of RAWF. The great thing about this series was that, although most people were pretty sure it wasn’t serious or real, the scenes with Croc and about Croc being with her were orchestrated and shot so well that it made it hard to believe otherwise. This was perfectly supplemented by Brad and Doc, who did a superb job hyping it up from the announce table. Most people may see Croc as an absolute prick, but personally I think the guy is a riot. His only mistakes were trying to force Kit into doing something and perpetuating this “love story” deal between them. All that has served to accomplish is to make her hell bent on making him lose his Title belt instead of only enthusiastic about it. Croc has been a great heel personality for this promotion since he signed on and once he found his rhythm within the federation his career took off. While I’m on the topic of the Aussie Icon I might as well discuss his other two storylines at present, the first one being The Brotherhood. Personally the whole thing has yet to really take off. Part of this is due to the injury of the third musketeer, StreeX. Once he’s back from the DL it might help pick the storyline up a little more. Aside from that I do find the chemistry between Ralph and Norton to be quite entertaining and definitely something that should inspire further elaboration in the future.
It’s been two weeks and already the New Blood is apparently collapsing. This week saw Seann Storm turn his back on his former teammates while playing mind games with their leader, the new Television Champion, Matt Higgerson. We all know this doesn’t and won’t sit well with his former allies, but Stormm doesn’t seem to care. This all goes back to a couple of weeks ago when Mr. Stormm was declared the #1 overall wrestler of the X-Net top 10. Most people take this honor with a very even and somewhat humble perspective, not so with Mr. Stormm. This accolade went straight to his head and apparently it made him believe that he was better than the rest of the New Blood. Higgerson and Rian didn’t seem to notice this change (or perhaps didn’t care), but Zak “The Axe Man” Hackett certainly did. It ate at him like a cancer; he became obsessed with it to the point where he started to hate Stormm. Still nobody listened. Then Stormm and Rian won the Tag Team Titles at Conquest and everyone though all was well. Unfortunately for the New Blood it wasn’t, all that did was further inflate Stormm’s ego. Then this past Monday the wheels came off and Stormm finally left. At least he was polite enough to tell them to their faces, even if the arrogant ass hogged all the…*ahem* “credit” for himself. If I were Stormm I’d hire someone to watch my ass for me because he’s racked up a ton of enemies in a very short amount of time. As far as the rest of the New Blood goes the important thing for them is to rebound from this…and get a little revenge. But only at the right time, for now they have to worry about keeping those newly won Titles in their camp and that won’t be easy. It’s time to see just how strong that “New Blood” is. Will it rise to the occasion or will they choke on it ? Personally I hope they stock up on paper towel…if you catch my drift.
While I’m on the topic of vignettes the two exchanges between Shawn Dee and his EE teammates were certainly an interesting twist. It’s clear that there are cracks in the foundation of EE, most of it stemming from what some perceive as jealousy from Baggs and Magnum towards Dee. I myself don’t really think it’s a jealousy thing so much as a loyalty thing. Baggs and Magnum have both been extremely loyal members of the Elite Establishment and both seem to consider the World Title to be Dirge’s. They both seem to see Dee’s possession of it, as well as his personality to be a stab in the back to everything that EE stands for. Magnum also has the added bitterness of losing the Tag Team Titles to the New Blood without even getting to face them for the straps. He blames Dee for their loss and not whoever jumped him as he should be. It’s clear that his frustration is clouding his judgment in this matter, but it could also badly hurt the cohesiveness of the Establishment as well as destroy a friendship that he has had for some time. Magnum might want to consider those things before labeling Shawn a traitor and goody two shoes. For Baggs part his irritation seems to stem from the fact that he’s the pitbull of the Establishment. He might not always win, but he’s a loyal member who does what’s asked of him without question. Dirge recruited him for these very aspects of his personality and to Baggs what Dee is doing cannot be justified. Sure, Dee brought the World Title back to “the family” as they sometimes refer to themselves, but that doesn’t change the fact (to Baggs) that Dee has been a different man in the last few weeks. He obviously doesn’t care for Dee’s personality change and has no trouble expressing it. It’ll be interesting to see what will become of this in the next few weeks. It’ll also be interesting to see how their unofficial “leader” (despite his protestations to the contrary), the former World Champion Dirge will respond to this. If his reactions on this past Chaos are any indication he finds the entire situation a little unusual and probably none to thrilling. It should be interesting to see how the reintroduction of him to the equation changed and influences things.
Let’s see…where to next ? Hmm…well…how about this upcoming show, and maybe a few random musings while I’m at it as well, that sounds good to me and this is my column so I can meander wherever I want with this. Now, coming off last week’s incredible show we’re now a mere two weeks from Philadelphia Freedom (personally I think the city should be renamed “Filth”adelphia, but that’s just me. With that said things are really heating up and this upcoming Chaos should serve to intensify the avalanche of bad blood that’s rolling down on RAWF right now. The bottom of the card has three preliminary matches in it before they get to the big ones. The first amongst these is the opener between Jza Rian and Draven. Draven has yet to get a victory since joining RAWF, losing in two close matches that have deeply wounded his pride as a wrestler. It’s also made him extremely bitter, feeling that those who make the decisions in RAWF have viciously and intentionally put the screws to him. I for one do not feel that it would be going out on a limb here to say that he may not be around next week when this match is to happen; I have it on good authority that he is seriously pondering his future with the promotion.
Match two pits New Blood member Zak Hackett against Apocalypse. Last week we saw Hackett face the man he had cost the RAWF US Title in Elite Establishment member Baggs. That match was hard fought, violent and full of mutual hate. Although Hackett ended up the loser in that match he put up a good show and was almost put through two tables (he did go though one head first). This week he faces Apocalypse, the man who Big Kahuna ended his losing skid against. I think that if Apocalypse approaches this match the right way and doesn’t underestimate Hackett he could come out the winner. Playing off of his Sean Stormm distraction wouldn’t hurt either. A smart man takes every advantage he can, if Apoc can play it right he’ll walk out the winner. For Zak to win he has to concentrate on Apocalypse and not on his former stable mate, Sean Stormm. This is not to say that he shouldn’t look over his shoulder for Stormm, because the arrogant former New Blood member seems to be hell bent on proving his superiority over his former friends. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him sticking his nose into as many New Blood matches and matters as he possibly can. Hackett will have to keep an eye to his back for Stormm but not let Stormm monopolize his attention of he hopes to win this match. No matter what happens this problem between Stormm and the New Blood is far from over and with all the other enemies the New Blood has that’s one more headache they do not need. Both men can accomplish a lot with a win in this match. I’m not sure that a loss for either man will make much difference in the long run. They both have paths to follow in this promotion that can take them far…and those paths do not include one another. This match is a time filler and a potential storyline builder for the whole New Blood soap opera, nothing more.
This is followed up by Blackjack Grier and Jason “Bad Boy” Bryant. I can’t profess to be paying much attention to either man very much, although Grier took a step towards the upper echelon’s of RAWF when he assisted Big Kahuna this week, this favor was reciprocated later in the show when Baggs was looking to put Grier through the second table of the match. Is there an alliance forming between the two of them ? I honestly don’t know, but it certainly wasn’t a bad idea on Grier’s part to align himself with the big Hawaiian. As far as this week goes both men are looking to continue their winning ways against each other. Having Seven in his corner, if that is the case after last week, won’t hurt Bryant’s chances of winning any. Once again the match is a filler, a way to keep both in the people’s eyes while the bookers find something for them.
Match four is where the show will really start to pick up. Baggs and Pickles both have a lot to gain from this match. Pickles is coming off of the loss of the RAWF Television Title to none other than the leader of the crumbling New Blood, Matt Higgerson. Personally I agree with everyone who’s been saying that Higgerson just got lucky. If Higgerson were a good TV Champ he’d give Pickles another shot at that strap, of course that is providing that he wants one. Pickles may have bigger, or at least other, fish to fry now. Beating Baggs would not only put him back on the right track but give Higgerson or any other champion notice that he is to be taken seriously. My only gripe about Pickles, and anyone facing Baggs for that matter, is this constant “you’re boring” nonsense that I’m hearing. Let me say one thing right now…you don’t have to find your opponent entertaining to kick his ass. It might help in the promo cutting process, but this is professional wrestling…not a “Mrs. Universe” pageant. Charisma is a good thing to have, but inside the ring charisma doesn’t win matches…wrestling talent does. Shelve this “you’re boring” sh*t ok ? It’s not critical. Now, since I’m on the topic of Baggs this match is important for two simple reasons. First off it keeps his forward momentum running after his victory last week. Momentum counts for a lot in wrestling, enough of it leads to Title shots. Keeping his winning ways going could do a lot for him, especially in whatever title scene he wants to get in to. Reason two is simple…Shawn Dee. Baggs has clearly stated that he wants a shot at Dee, for the title if he has it or just for the fun of kicking his ass if he doesn’t. Of the two other members of the EE (not counting Dirge), Baggs seems to be taking Dee’s behavior the most personally. From what I’ve seen and we’ve all heard he considers Dee’s World Title victory bad enough, what Dee did afterward when EE was leaving was totally unforgivable to him. If Baggs wants a serious shot at Dee at any point he’d better beat Pickles or that wait will get a lot longer.
“Fatal Four Way”. This combination of terms usually makes people think of Pay Per Views, not weekly shows. This week’s Fatal Four Way is not just a FFW for the sake of having one, it’s to decide the number one contender to the RAWF United States Title at Philadelphia Freedom. I’m gonna say this straight out instead of tap dancing around it. To put it bluntly…Blackout and StreeX don’t belong in this match. Now, I’m not saying this because I don’t like them or think that that have the potential to challenge for the US Title some day. I just don’t think that either has done enough to earn this shot. Deadman K and Kris Wayne have been consistent in RAWF for a while now and although they’re not considered top tier just yet they always put a ton of work into what they do and they’ve paid their dues in the promotion. Had Blackout stayed in RAWF and had a sustained run with the TV Title fine, I’d have no problem with this. But he left and no matter what the reason he’s only been back for a week. I know it works because he and Wayne are feuding right now, but I think it would be better to pit him against StreeX in a match just to see who deserves at shot at even the TV Title. It’s too soon for them to be contending for the US Title, let them establish themselves a bit first. The other contenders however to deserve this push, they’re both hard workers who perform consistently. I think either would make a good United States Champion and I look forward to whichever one ends up facing G-Sex at Philadelphia Freedom for that title. Speaking of G-Sex I’d like to congratulate him for making #1 on X-Net’s top 10 list this past week. Way to go kid, keep it up and you’ll go far. (No, I’m not being sarcastic when I say that either.)
Let’s see…what’s next on the hit parade for next Monday ? Ah yes, Seann “My. Ego is Bigger than Russia” Storm and Matt “God Did I Get Lucky Last Week” Higgerson. I’ll be up front once again and say that the only reason that this match even interests me at all, other than it is the chance to see the TV Title on someone other than Matt Higgerson, is because it involves two parts of this whole New Blood soap opera kicking the hell out of one another. Here’s my advice on what everyone in attendance should do when this match comes on…get up, use the toilet and go to the concession stand for another round of beer and cheese fries. When you get back ask the person next to you who won (if it’s mercifully over at this point and that person’s not sound asleep) and then go about your life and remember that eventually the TV Title will end up being the hands of someone who’s not about as pleasant as an IRS Tax Audit. I think that if you do this you’ll leave the show feeling satisfied with what you saw. If you happen to be a fan of either man in this match (and god help us if there are any) then do yourself a favor and find a door to repeatedly slam open and closed on your head, that way you’ll know what the rest of us are feeling like when that match is happening.
The pre-main event match is the much anticipated Tag Team match between RAWF World Champion Shawn Dee and RAWF Commish Thomas Highway facing former Ironman Champion Big Kahuna and a mystery partner of his choosing. I personally liked the way this unfolded last week when Mr. Highway tried to put the screws to Big K. This entire mini drama between the two of them has made for some fantastic television and I’d like to see it continue in some form for at least a couple of more months before they put it to bed. As far as the match itself goes it’s hard to really say how this one could come out because of that “x” factor in it. I also think it fair to say that Shawn Dee might not be completely in the corner of Commissioner Highway given his recent change of disposition. Of course with Dee involved the possibility of seeing Jarek Magnum (whose new disposition is downright creepy) and Baggs come down and voice their thoughts on things with their “buddy” Shawn. This match just has too many intangibles in it to really get into detail on other than to say that Highway better hope he’s never in the ring with Kahuna because if he is he’s going to have to move faster than a cheetah to avoid getting killed by his very angry nemesis. I’m expecting big things from this match, it could be taken in a number of directions storyline wise and I for one am excited at the possibilities it presents.
Speaking of possibilities the Main Event for this coming Chaos has so many that I won’t even get into them. Suffice it to say that all three men involved can make very big statements here, plus there’s always the whole Croc/Kit subplot. We all know that she’s obsessed with having the arrogant Aussie lose that Title of his and he’s equally as obsessed with not only retaining that title but also with winning her affections. Good luck there Croc, well all know that you have such great odds at accomplishing that obsession. Anyhow, this Main Event pits the current aforementioned Ironman Champion Croc against the current Triple Crown Champion Arsenal and throws in former United States Champion Adz for yucks. It’s no secret that Croc and X utterly loathe each other and by the same token it would feel great for Adz to cost Croc the Ironman Title to repay him for costing Adz the US Title. Overall this match is just a wonderful bubbling cauldron of hatred and animosity. It’s just a violence fest waiting to explode. I wouldn’t be surprised if Adz and X team up for a little while to put the hurting on or even eliminate Croc from the match before concentrating on one another. A mutually held hatred can be a strongly unifying element and if these two men are as smart (wrestling wise) as they have looked in the past Croc might have a very short night. (Which would make Kit positively ooze with pleasure.) I wouldn’t be surprised to see both titles change hands on Chaos, but by the same token and being one who has some understanding of the tendencies of Wrestlers it wouldn’t surprise me if Croc was left holding the other title that’s up for grabs when the night is over. All in all I expect a real barnburner. These three won’t disappoint.
That’s about all I can think of for now, should I consider anything else that I could enlighten the lot of you with I’ll be sure and place it into next week’s column. Until then do whatever it is that you do, I’m outta here.
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