Time Travel - Rebook a Card

[Iafeta]

The issues with Uncensored were two fold. One, some matches ended in DQ - how can this be? And some titles were on the line even though it was an unsanctioned event.

LOD v Sting and Luger was a Chicago Street Fight. Which meant it was supposed to be extreme to the max. It was so tame. Very lame.

The concepts were good, unlike say nWO Souled Out which made no sense.

 

[Big Pete]

Basically WCW committed to a premise they had no interest in upholding. They couldn't go all out hardcore blood and guts, not with their roster and Turner Broadcasting breathing down their necks so it was a silly concept to begin with.

I actually thought the idea of an nWo themed PPV was great. The execution though was horrid and it really wasn't a well booked show at all. If I was re-booking it, I'd keep it on the books, but would just re-tool it. Less garbage trucks and frat style pig contests, more Pro Wrestling.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As an addendum, here is how I'd book WCW Slamboree '96.

Now the Slamboree Show was all about the Battle Bowl, a Lethal Lottery style tournament which ultimately counted for very little. Instead of doing Lethal Lottery, which I'd save for a Nitro, I'd tweak another WWF idea and make it more of a King of the Ring style tournament. So you'd have eight participants, all competing in singles matches against one another with the victor going onto an Elimination Four-Way to crown the Battle Bowl champion. Winning the Battle Bowl prize nets you a nice pay day and a WCW Championship shot down the line.

So the card would look like...

WCW Championship Match
Macho Man Randy Savage vs Ric Flair (c)

Savage would have the match won, only for Elizabeth to turn on him, setting up the program for the rest of the summer.

WCW World Tag Team Championship
The Road Warriors vs The Steiner Brothers (c)

The Steiners won the tag belts off of Sting and Lex on Nitro in a hard fought contest and this match is just to re-enforce the Steiners as champions. They go over in a straight forward ten minute match and the Warriors are phased out of the promotion much like they were in real life.

WCW United States Championship Match
Arn Anderson vs Lex Luger (c)

A double A sighting! Finally! Unfortunately for Anderson, he's more or less a stop-gap option with Luger doing his duty and defending the belt on PPV. This is basically a story-line reason for this, since instead of focusing on challenging the Steiners to a rematch, Luger is more concerned about his singles career which Jimmy Hart is helping to manage. Jimmy set up a US Championship match on Nitro, which Lex won against Mach after interference from Flair and he's blown the Stinger off. Lex retains clean as the crowd tries to figure out what his deal is.

WCW Battle Bowl Qualifiers
Sting vs Diamond Dallas Page

DDP somehow managed to qualify for the tournament, after a wild card win on TBS' Saturday Night. Unfortunately he was paired off against the Stinger and predictibly Sting proves too much of a handful.

WCW Battle Bowl Qualifiers
The Giant vs Marcus Bagwell

The American Males are beginning to break out as singles competitors, but Bagwell also had his work cut out for him against The Giant who won in convincing fashion. I'd let the Giant show off a bit here and try to win the crowd over with his athleticism and ability to hit innovative offense. I'm slowly but surely building him babyface.

WCW Battle Bowl Qualifiers
Chris Benoit vs Booker T

It's time to put Harlem Heat on ice for a bit and try to get Booker and Stevie over as individuals. In this case, Booker was able to qualify for the tournament and actually goes over Benoit here who gets screwed over by Sullivan who has it in for Chris after the whole Pillman deal. Not only am I advancing that storyline, I'm thinking long term since Benoit/Booker was one of the great rivalries in WCW and you could always use footage from here to showcase how far the rivalry goes back.

WCW Battle Bowl Qualifiers
Eddie Guerrero vs Steven Regal

So inbetween Uncensored and Slamboree, these two had re-ignited their feud, trading verbal barbs in promos. Regal being the shit-heel started it by saying Eddie wasn't man enough to accept his challenge, even though it'd a bald face lie and when Eddie makes the challenge for right then and there Regal makes a bunch of excuses to delay the match. Anyways, both guys win their Battle Bowl Qualifiers and when it's revealed they'd be meeting in the first round, it's go time. I think this has potential to be a really good match-up and Eddie would out-smart Regal and would win with an inside cradle after Regal was in control for the majority of the match. In Regal's mind, he was the better man, but was out-smarted by one of the hot prospects in the company.

Battle Bowl Elimination Match
Booker T vs Eddie Guerrero vs The Giant vs Sting

This would be an agent heavy story-driven match with all sorts of alliances and double crosses. At first it's like two singles matches with Booker going after Eddie and Sting and the Giant duking it out. Eventually, Eddie & Sting would team up, giving Eddie a nice rub, before Booker would shock everyone by pinning Sting in the first elimination. Straight away, the former World Champion is out of the picture and Booker is given the biggest rub of his career. Booker and The Giant then turn their attention to Eddie and while Eddie appears to be in big trouble, Booker gets greedy trying to surprise The Giant with a sneaky pin attempt only to eat a Chokeslam leaving it to Eddie and The Giant. Eddie actually puts up a nice fight and at one point has The Giant in trouble looking for the Frog Splash, only for Jimmy Hart to distract Eddie, allowing the Giant to lift his knees up, kip up and hit a chokeslam for the decisive victory. The thought here is that I'd want to establish the Battle Bowl concept by putting it on somebody the company has faith in, while giving guys like Booker and Eddie a nice rub so fans can get used to the idea of them working with and against the main event stars.

WCW Cruiserweight Championship Match
Dean Malenko vs Shinjiro Otani (c)

They had this match on Worldwide of all places, which in hindsight seems nuts. I'm not sure what the deal was with Otani, so I'm going to assume he's able to wrestle and work a good match here with Dean where he puts Malenko over and Dean establishes himself as the ace of the division.

 

[Manurewa_Marlins]

ECW Heatwave '07 (following on from my booking of December 2 Dismember)

ECW World Championship
Rob Van Dam (c) v CM Punk

The Leader of Change CM Punk to defeat Rob Van Dam, with help from his cohorts Joseph Mathews, Melina and Mike Knox. Punk has now beaten everyone of the old guard ushering in the straight edge era of ECW.

Falls Count Anywhere
Johnny Nitro v Joseph Mathews (w/Melina)

The break up of MNM occurred after CM Punk lured his old friend away from a life of alcohol, drugs and sleeze leading to this blow off match. Nitro to go over and move into a fued with CM Punk as the new leader of extreme in the rebooted ECW, however unlike real life, he is the face.

Grudge Match
"The Real World's Champion" Bobby Lashley v "The Alpha Male" Monty Brown

The match we always wanted to see but never got to. The undefeated Alpha Male up against Bobby Lashley who since dropping his title at D2D has been claiming he never got a rematch and therefore probably would be champion anyway. He even turned on Paul Heyman. This match to goto a no-contest, leading to a huge blowoff at D2D II.

The Quest To BeExtreme Continues...
Matt Striker (w/Test) v Sabu

Striker has been claiming he wants to be extreme and now respects the old ECW, however continues to weasel and worm his way out of matches or fighting alone. Here, he and Test team up on Sabu, only for the latter to be saved by a returning Masato Tanaka. Striker is chair shotted to oblivion for his troubles and the crowd go home happy.

Ladder Match - #1 Contendership
Jeff Hardy v Matt Hardy

Huge match here as the brothers and partners, on opposite sides of the tournament bracket, go one on one in a ladder match for the ages. Jeff to go over, sparking a tinge of jealousy in Matt, something which will boil over in the coming months and explode at D2D II.

ECW Tag Team Championship - 3 Team Dance
Knock Out/Tap Out (c) v The F.B.I. (Little Guido and Tony Mamaluke) v The Hooliganz (Paul London and Brian Kendrick)

A fun 3 team match, with The Hooliganz to go over and be crowned new champs. Turkay and Burke to argue after, only for Turkay to hit a muscle buster. Turkay to go on and work a toughman gimmick, with Burke to rebuild as a midcard heel.

Official Signing - Segment
Paul Heyman w/Umaga and Armando Alejandro Estrada

Heyman, now a face, opens the show with his regular schtick and moves into the contract signing of newest ECW aquisition Umaga. However, there is a spanner thrown in the works as Shane McMahon makes his way to the ring offering to double whatever Heyman has put up, to sign to Raw. This leads to arguing between Shane and Heyman, forcing Umaga to choose. He looks at both contracts, and shakes McMahon's hand, only to Samoan Drop him through the table and sign the ECW contract, much to the crowd and Heymans delight. However, after doing so, he also hits Heyman with a huge Samoan Drop and nails the Samoan Spike. Umaga here, is not working the Samoan Savage gimmick, rather a "street fighter" type character ala Kimbo Slice (who was huge on the internet at the time).

 

[Manurewa_Marlins]

also, Pete, been loving your write ups bro! Otani and Malenko, hell yeah!

 

[Valheru]

@Manurewa - excellent write-up of a hypothetical show that followed nicely with your December to dismember rewrite. I'm intrigued as to how you would transfer guys like punk and the hardy's to the main roster whilst keeping ECW relevant.

@Pete - as i mentioned i haven't watched 1991-june 96 wcw before. However i have seen great American bash 96 and all the shows thereafter and know that a lot of the real life story lines, some of which you have mirrored (like flair/savage) did not have satisfactory conclusions or were dropped completely post NWO debut so i am curious as to how you would introduce the NWO AND give a satisfactory conclusion to those feuds.

Keep up the good work guys.

 

[Manurewa_Marlins]

December 2 Dismember 2007

ECW World Title
CM Punk (c) v Jeff Hardy

After winning the number one contendership against his brother, Jeff has been made to Jump through hoops by CM Punk however finally gets to cash in his Title shot here. Punk has amped up the straight edge stuff, ala his real life fued with Hardy, and Matt has been teasing jealousy which culminated in a live special, where he and Jeff failed to win the Tag Titles against Punks stablemates Joseph Mathews and Mike Knox. Punk to go over here after Matt refuses to help Jeff, leading to a fued between the two. Punk to continue his running fued with Johnny Nitro.

Last Man Standing
Bobby Lashley v Monty Brown

Monty Brown to go over here, still undefeated ending their brutal blood fued. Lashley to move up to Raw, with Monty do begin chasing the world title.

The Quest To Be Extreme Concludes
Matt Striker and Test v Rob Van Dam and Sabu

Hardcore tornado tag Match where the originals go over. However Striker hits a number of sickening spots much to the delight of the crowd. Post match, Test powerbombs his partner through a table drawing the ire of fans and Van Dam alike, leading to a fued between the two.

Grudge Match
Sylvester Turkay v Umaga

Straight up brawl between the two resident toughman. Think Masato Tanaka and Mike Awesome. Umaga goes over, however they will have a trilogy of matches, the final of which to be at the next pay Per view in May.

Three Way Dance - ECW Cruiserweight Title
Chavo Guerrero (c) v Paul London v Brian Kendrick

Chavo defected to ECW bringing his.cruiserweight belt with him. London and Kendrick have a friendly rivalry here, which will,eventually boil over. Chavo to retain sneakily in a fun three way match.

ECW World Tag Team Titles
Mike Knox and Joseph Mathews (c) v Shelton Benjamin and Elijah Burke

Punks cohorts square off against the unlikely team of Benjamin and Burke. Burke and Benjamin are a fun heel team who despite having success, do not want to admit they are a legitimate team and are constantly.lobbying to be broken up though somehow keep.winning. Here, they go over after a referee/manager clusterfk much to the disgust of the straight edge champions.

Unsanctioned Fight Segment
Johnny Nitro and Shane McMahon

Shane McMahon was revealed to be the mastermind behind ECWs revival, and has since been attempting to lure ECW talent away to the other two brands. Still fueding with Punk, it was revealed that Paul Heyman could clear his personal debts with McMahon if he signed Nitro over to Raw. After some worrying signs, Heyman eventually refused and he and Nitro have challenged McMahon to show up tonight. McMahon, flanked by the Big Show does show up, however Nitro is joined by Tommy Dreamer and the four go at it all through the arena, culminating in a huge moonsault from the balcony from Nitro onto the Big Show. No real Match here, however it will blow up in May where Shane will do battle with Rob VAN Dam for control of the third brand.

 

[Big Pete]

as i mentioned i haven't watched 1991-june 96 wcw before. However i have seen great American bash 96 and all the shows thereafter and know that a lot of the real life story lines, some of which you have mirrored (like flair/savage) did not have satisfactory conclusions or were dropped completely post NWO debut so i am curious as to how you would introduce the NWO AND give a satisfactory conclusion to those feuds.

For the most part, I would have WCW chart the same course they were on with only a few changes...

Pillman comes in with his own version of the Horsemen with Benoit, Jericho and The Giant.

Instead of the blow-off taking place at the start of the second hour of some Nitro, Flair/Savage would wrap up at Bash at the Beach '96 with Savage going over and winning the WCW Championship. In his place, it's Sting and the Steiner Brothers taking on the Outsiders and the Mysterious Third Man.

Sting/Lex would remain unresolved and would be a real source of tension leading up to Fall Brawl.

But you know, it's pretty easy to book a company once they come up with an awesome idea like the nWo. Not in a million years would I have ever had the presence of mind to shoot their promos like an MTV style advertisement or have them defile people and championship belts with graffiti.

The only real challenge left would be trying to book Glacier to get over and even then it feels like I'd have to write all sorts of fan-fiction.

I'm going to move on, dig into these Marlins shows and then tackle a different promotion and time period.

EDIT: One thing I didn't comment on, but if I was in charge of creative would have addressed. WCW had some awful PPV names, like who in their right mind would ever order Slamboree? I would have kept some names like Starrcade, Superbrawl, Bash at the Beach and Halloween Havoc but I would have kept toying with the PPV names like the WWF would with In our House. For instance, Slamboree would have been WCW Battle Bowl '96.

 

[Manurewa_Marlins]

ECW Guilty As Charged 2008

Ultimate Jeopardy Cage Match
CM Punk, Joseph Mercury, Mike Knox and Shane McMahon v Johnny Nitro, Rob Van Dam, Sabu and Paul Heyman

This war games style match is the blow off for Punk as he and his movement look to head up to the main roster. Johnny Nitro has captured the ECW title, at Wrestlemania - and Shane McMahon has linked up with Punk, promising him the world if he manages to bring the belt with him to Raw the night after. Shane also has a running fued with Rob Van Dam, failing to lure "Mr Monday Night" to Raw. Punk and co to keep up with the straight edge schtick, though he has some issues with Shane who asks him to put aside his values and do what is best for business. Nitro and the originals go over in a match filled with cool spots and brutal weapon shots. Punk, Knox and Mercury to head to the main roster, and will actually feud with McMahon to begin with...Nitro being the focal point of the new ECW going forward.

Grudge Match
Matt Hardy v Jeff Hardy

Jeff to go over here in a brutal blood feud. Moving forward, Jeff will remain on the roster for one more pay per view before moving up to the main roster for Summerslam. Matt to remain on ECW and adapt a character similar to the "Broken" character we know now.

The Third and Final Encounter
Umaga v Sylvester Turkay

Turkay goes over, forcing Umaga to tap out, winning their series 2-1. Umaga to move up to the main roster with Turkay to move into the title picture.

Number One Contendership
Monty Brown v Tommy Dreamer

Monty Brown wins this and becomes the number one contender. He really amps up the Alpha Male schtick in the months prior and he remains undefeated. To begin a feud with both Nitro and Turkay.

Falls Count Anywhere
Matt Striker v Test

This blowoff match for fued sees the giant get tamed by the underdog as Striker hits a sick picture perfect elbow drop (ala Macho Man) from a scaffold for the win. Striker is playing up the underdog character here, and fans are rallying behind him as an unexpected hero ala Spike Dudley, Mikey Whipwreck, Rey Mysterio etc.

ECW Tag Team Titles
Shelton Benjamin and Elijah Burke (c) v Ezekiel Jackson and Kofi Kingston

Burke and Benjamin are continuing their reluctant tag team partner schtick, whereas Kofi and Jackson are doing a James Brown/soul brother type thing. Xavier Woods, who has recently debuted has been getting in all four wrestlers' ears about the treatment of black performers in the industry, and the match ends in a no contest as the four instead agree to team up as the new "Nation", and berate the crowd, the brand and the industry, and promise to seek justice "by any means necessary...and being that this is ECW, we mean, by any means necesarry". The stable will go on to defend the belts under "Freebird" rules with Xavier as the mouthpiece.

ECW Cruiserweight Title
Brian Kendrick (c) v Paul London

London to go over in this "tag team partners-turned rivals" fued, continuing on in the burgeoning Cruiserweight Division, with Kendrick to continue to chase the belt, developing a stable of misfit cruiserweights, plotting to get the belt back.

This show sees the culmination of two years (aroundabout) of development of the ECW brand, with new stars and characters now being the focal point of the show, with the originals being all but phased out. I look forward to booking Heatwave, which will be the beginning of the next phase of the brand...think of the guys who debuted around this time but the 'E mucked up...I'm looking forward to booking the next couple of shows thats for sure.

 

[Manurewa_Marlins]

@Pete, keep up the WCW stuff, I wanna see how you incorporate Nash and Hall into the existing narratives...especially as you said they essentially dropped a whole bunch of storylines without any explanation, in real life.

 

[Big Pete]

What I liked about your reboot of ECW is that you nailed a lot of the core concepts. I liked how you booked the promotion around CM Punk. He was by far their biggest star, so to give him a stable and have his presence across the show was a smart move.

Umaga Slice sounds like a lot of fun, and it would be interesting to see how you'd distinguish between that persona and Jamal. If it was up to me, I'd have Pulp Fiction style promos where Umaga Slice and his crew are just talking this guy up, calling S'moa Joe out and challenging j'brones on the street to take him on. And Umaga Slice just destroys them...Turkay is the natural opponent.

A lot of these ideas are good but I wouldn't book it for ECW. The Hardys feud for instance sounds very WWE, and I'd be trying my best to distinguish the show from WWE in every way possible. I feel the Hardys would be that great tag team you can bring in like a Steiners, Hayabusa/Shinzaki etc. but that's just me.

I can picture the Shane twist in my head. Joey Styles opening a show up, promising to reveal the man responsible for bringing ECW back, kissing up to him before introducing Shane O'Mac (new theme as well, since a large chunk of ECW was about the music). At first Shane basks in the adulation, talks about all the stars that came out of ECW and how the industry hasn't been the same since ECW died. But then he starts stroking his ego, the fans start getting peturbed and then Shane drops the bombshell. He doesn't see ECW as a competitor, he sees it simply as a developmental brand and he'll take all the responsibility for the guys coming up.

The trick would be trying to stop it from being a Network 2.0 idea, and more that CM Punk will cry like a bitch to Shane to get his way and Shane will constantly piss all over ECW's legacy before eventually getting his on the biggest stage.

At least, that's what I got out of your PPV cards. Maybe you see things differently.

I'll post up some more WCW '96 later. For the most part, I'm simply tweaking what was already a revolutionary time for one of the biggest promotions.

 

[Manurewa_Marlins]

Yeah, its damn hard to book the Hardys without it coming across as WWE-ish, which is why I think they should be commended for the Broken stuff they did in TNA, not necessarily because it was so monumental, but because they somehow managed to break away from their decade-long image.

Re: Shane and Punk, yup thats exactly how I pictured it, though I did love Cyrus and the Network.

I really like Nitro though - I want to see what I can do to move him away from the Hollywood glamour role he was playing at the time.

I'll have a crack at booking the next year, I'll go through wiki and have a look at guys who were being misused by ECW, SD and Raw at this time in terms of the cruisers and the new debutants as well as other guys who were in developmental at the time.

 

[Big Pete]

WCW Great American Bash '96

WCW US Championship Match
Sting vs. Lex Luger (c) (w/Jimmy Hart)

Special Attraction Match
Kevin Greene & Steve McMichael (w/Macho Man Randy Savage) vs. Ric Flair & Arn Anderson (w/Bobby 'The Brain' Heenan, Woman & Miss Elizabeth)

WCW Tag Team Championship Match
Kensuke Sasaki & Keiji Mutoh (w/ Col. Rob Parker) vs The Steiner Brothers (c)

Falls Count Anywhere
Chris Benoit vs Kevin Sullivan (w/The Giant)

WCW Cruiserweight Championship Match
Rey Mysterio Jr. vs Dean Malenko (c)

Singles Match
Diamond Dallas Page vs Marcus Bagwell

WCW TV Championship Match
Eddie Guerrero vs Steven Regal (c) (w/Jeeves)

Singles Match
John Tenta vs Bubba Rogers (w/Jimmy Hart)

Tag Match
The Faces of Fear vs Harlem Heat

The Great American Bash was one of the greatest PPVs WCW ever put together and for the most part I wanted to retain the elements that made it such a good show. From the hard-hitting Falls Count Anywhere match, to the spectacular Cruiserweight bout the show was WCW at it's finest and had something for everyone.

In isolation, I wouldn't change anything about the show but since we've made a few changes going into the show, I've got to tweak the card to reflect that vision.

Starting off we've got The Faces of Fear vs Harlem Heat in what would essentially be a showcase match for the Faces of Fear. I thought WCW around this time had one of the most under-utilised tag team divisions in the history of wrestling, and I'd want to remedy that by building a few different teams up. In my mind, the Faces of Fear would be the short term hoss team that mows through everyone to begin with, but then they drop a couple select matches before riding off into the sunset. This is apart of their run as they shock everybody by making short work of Harlem Heat.

Tenta/Rogers had one of the better non-nWo angles around that time with Tenta being forced out of the Dungeon and having his head shaved. The match only lasted 5 minutes on the PPV, which sounds about right except in this instance I'd have Rogers go over so he can maintain some of that heel heat.

So in-between Slamboree and GAB, Regal would beat Eddie for the TV Championship on Nitro in a match where he used every trick in the book before making Eddie submit. Regal would get great satisfaction out of that victory, bringing it up every chance he got which would really eat at Eddie, causing him to get more aggressive in matches and in promos. It builds into this blow-off match. This is one of those bouts that could go either way, but since I see Eddie as the bigger star, he proves himself on the big stage and moves onto another program.

Meanwhile DDP is starting to gain momentum and faces up against Marcus Bagwell who's amassing a nice streak of wins on Nitro & Saturday Night. These two received 9 minutes on the PPV, I'd probably cut it down to 6 as I just want to get over how powerful the Diamond Cutter is and how it can swing a match entirely. Page has stumbled onto one of the best moves in the business and his life is about to change.

I wouldn't change a thing about Rey/Dean. It was a star-making performance and both guys put the Cruiserweight Championship on the mat.

I can't remember when it happened, but the Outsiders segment is another thing I wouldn't change. The only thing I would change is Nash's promo. Does anyone else chuckle when Nash goes "Look at the adjective...'play'...' ? But yeah, I love the nWo and honestly there isn't much I'd change about them.

Benoit/Sullivan would basically be the same match, except there's one aspect of the match where Sullivan gets greedy, asks the Giant to do something allowing Benoit to recover and win the match. Even though Sullivan only brought the Giant as protection to ensure no other Horsemen would drag their nose into hus business he blames The Giant for the loss leading to a teased defection. This was another quality bout and one of the better matches in WCW history.

One of the biggest changes I'd make to the time period involves the Steiner Brothers. I thought they were underutilised and deserved to be portrayed as two of the more powerful forces and personalities on the show. They'd be a big part of the Nitro broadcast, with Scotty being allowed to tear it up on the microphone and call teams out for being crappy. In truth, this is just an excuse to get more out of the WCW/NJPW relationship but I'd frame it with a storyline. The Steiners dispose of one of Parker's teams despite Parker doing his best to cost the Steiners the belt. Scotty calls him out on it, which really enrages Parker who goes out of his way to bring in this gun tag team from outside of the promotion. I chose Sasaki especially since he has some history with the Steiner Brothers and since Hase was 'retired' by this point and the other guys Sasaki tagged with were just rookies I'd go out of my way to bring in Mutoh. The NJPW guys really push the Steiners and at one point look to have the ascendency except Parker can't help himself, gets in the way and ultimately the Steiners are able to pick up the win. After the match Parker berates the NJPW guys and they take him down for the trouble, turning themselves babyfaces.

The Special Attraction match would unfold exactly as it did. This was great sports entertainment and I liked the long term Greene/McMichael feud, I thought it was one of the cooler aspects of the show.

Then in the biggest change, Sting would face off against his best friend for the US Championship. The story here would be that Jimmy Hart is driving a wedge between the two and it's become very apparent that he's trying to make Lex & The Giant his new gun tag team. Sting is a 'lemons into lemonade' type of guy and rolls with the punches. He beats Booker T is a competitive match, earning the right to challenge Lex for a US Championship match, which the WCW booking committee reveal will be taking place at the PPV via Mean Gene. Lex is hesitant to take on his friend, but accepts his duty and the two square off. In a theme for the PPV, Jimmy Hart tries to give Lex a short-cut, which Lex decides not to use against Sting, costing himself the match and the championship. After the match Jimmy tries to console Lex, but Luger pushes him off, lifts Sting's hand up and the two remain best friends going into the Bash at the Beach showdown with the Outsiders.

Outside of possibly changing the managerial involvement on the show, the only flaw I have with this draft was the lack of women's wrestling. Truth be told, I don't know enough about women's wrestling around this time period and while I'd make an effort, it would be around this time I'd look to branch off from 'Madusa beats everybody' to building up other women from other promotions outside of Japan. Again, I don't know enough and I don't want to educate myself on something that would be a sideshow.

 

[Manurewa_Marlins]

Steiners v Sasaki and Mutoh would be a shitload of fun, and I agree re the leaving Malenko and Rey the way it was, perfection. Im looking forward to seeing the third man...and also the rise of Page, Goldberg and Booker. Will you use Raven...Im into it!

 

[Iafeta]

To answer about the ladies scene, in late '95 and early '96 they had some good joshi action centred around Bull Nukano. They had an interpromotional PPV match with two Japanese tag teams going against each other, and aside from some weird banshee screaming and a lack of psychology, the quite liked it.

Then they bought in Malaya Hosaka and she got a win against Madusa, and then was then turned into a jobber. That was unfortunate as she was a nice piece of tail and could sell well. I'm watching the lead into Halloween Havoc 96 now and they're promoting a woman's championship tournament. They've just brought in some man looking thing called Zero and you can tell she's been booked like an unbeatable chick. Her lack of selling makes her matches appalling though.

 

[Big Pete]

If I was booking the women's division, I'd want to use more than just Madusa and a bunch of international talent.

Otherwise the rest of the card is just going to be name-dropping some Joshi only so Madusa can beat her. While I've been guilty of this so far, it's something I want to remedy on future cards.

 

[Iafeta]

I'd be ok with the internationals if they had more regular appearances to sustain storylines and went over. Zero coming in is a bit strange. Madusa could have played the baby face to Bill Nukano in a face in peril angle. Bull could have been the Chyna of the nWo. Sure she's more flabby, but she was impressive in the ring.

The other problem I think with the women's division along with the cruiser weights is an absolute disregard for in ring psychology. I saw La Parkas debut match v Juventud Guerrera last night. It was about 8 minutes, lots of near falls, thousands of high spots, and absolutely no time to sell a move. So from that I can't really establish who is the face, who is the heel, why a move matters, why they're fighting each other ... La Parka is a beast, but, I ask if you throw all that ammunition in the first match of a card, what else is to come through the card appears watered down and makes it hard for others to get over in ring.

Just my two bobs.

 

[Manurewa_Marlins]

ECW Heatwave 2008

ECW World Championship - Double Elimination Match
Johnny Nitro (c) v "The Alpha Male' Monty Brown v Sylvester Turkay

In the fallout from Guilty As Charged, the undefeated Alpha Male emerged as the top contender for Nitro's championship. Determined to protect his reputation as a fighting champion, Nitro accepted Brown's challenge, however Paul Heyman, in the interest of competition booked Brown in a match against Turkay to determine the top contender in a special live edition of ECW. The two battled to a double knockout, the referee ruling a draw. The rematch ended in a no contest due to time-limit expiration, resulting in a brawl for the ages after the encounter. Nitro, in the meantime, has been showing signs of a heel turn, backing away from both competitors. This three way there must be a winner, and Brown goes over after Turkay eliminated Nitro, and the Alpha Male put Turkay through a table with a vicious pounce.

Spotlight With Striker Segment
"Fallen" Matt Hardy, Sabu and Matt Striker

Matt Hardy hasn't been seen in the ring since Guilty As Charged, though a series of Matrix-ish vignettes has promised to “delete” the virus that is ECW from the mainframe of the wrestling business. In this segment, a visibly different Matt Hardy shows up, with half of his hair shaved off, the other died green wearing a leather trench coat. He attacks Striker, putting him through a television screen, leading to Sabu to run in. The lights go out and when they come back on, Sabu and Hardy are nowhere to be seen.

Grudge Match
"The Ripper" Paul Burchill （w/Katie Lea Burchill) v Rob Van Dam

Burchill has been on a sickening crusade since debuting two months ago, severely injuring a number of talents, which he has been calling his "tropheys". RVD to play roadblock, however Burchill to go over, breaking Van Dam's neck (kayfabe) in the process. The rematch will occur at December 2 Dismember 3.

ECW Tag Team Championships
The Nation (any two of Shelton Benjamin, Elijah Burke, Kofi Kingston and Ezekiel Jackson; w/Xavier Woods) v The Stampede Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Tyson Kidd w/Natalya Neidhart)

The Nation to go over easily, making short work of the Bulldogs. A most match beatdown ensues, leading to a run in from New Jack, to pop the crowd.

ECW Cruiserweight Championship - The Final Encounter - Steel Cage Match
Paul London (c) v Brian Kendrick

Kendrick to go over here in the final match of the feud. Kendrick's cohorts, a group of cruiserweights who have been dubbed 'The Brians' who all have the same haircut and wear the same attire, have been barred from ringside. Post-feud, London to move into the heavyweight division, Kendrick to remain in the cruiser division.

Number One Contendership
Southern Discomfort (Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch) v Los Colons (Carlito and Eduardo Colon, w/Tito Colon)

Cade and Murdoch are doing an Americas Most Wanted southern badass gimmick, Los Colons are doing fun heel stuff, cheating to win ala Los Guerreros back in the day. Southern Discomfort to go over here in a fun tag team match.

Grudge Match
"The All American American" Jack Swagger v Vladimir Koslov

Vignettes have been running for both of these debutants for the better part of a month. Swagger to go over in the first of what will become a best of 7 series.

Long Island Street Fight
Zack Ryder v The Truth

'Long Island Iced Z' Zack Ryder to go over The Truth (Ron Killings) in a match which sees both brawl all over the arena. Truth to move into a program with the Nation, Ryder to move into a midcard program with Test, who will return at the conclusion to the match and powerbomb Ryder off the stage through a table.

 

[Manurewa_Marlins]

ECW December To Dismember 2008

ECW World Championship
‘The Alpha Male’ Monty Brown (c) v 'The Russian Destroyer' Vladimir Kozlov

The Undefeated world champ continues his destructive run, turning the recently Kozlov into another statistic. The Russian Destroyer, despite his 4-3 series win over Jack Swagger, struggled to gain any real momentum and the Alpha Male beats him in under 5 minutes. Post Match, Brown announces he will be entering the Royal Rumble, and plans to be the first man to walk into Wrestlemania as the champ of one organisation and leave with the belt of another. He calls out John Cena, Triple H, Randy Orton, Batista, Samoa Joe, Kurt Angle, everyone, saying that this is his Serengetti and there aint a damn thing anyone can do to stop him. Huge promo getting a lot of heat to close the show.

Detroit Death Match
Rob Van Dam v 'The Ripper' Paul Burchill (w/Katie Lea Burchill)

The rematch after Van Dam had his neck broken (kayfabe). Burchill has been running roughshot over the roster, piling up the bodies and collecting tropheys left right and centre. In this violent death match, Van Dam goes over, getting his revenge and starts to build toward championship consideration once again.

Grudge Match
'Fallen' Matt Hardy (w/Sabu, Paul London and Drew Gallows) v Matt Striker

The Cult of the Fallen has grown to include ECW original Sabu, former Cruiserweight Champion Paul London and former WWE main roster member Drew Gallows (Festus - who was taken after an invasion of Smackdown). All sport new looks, all take their orders directly from Hardy who has been 'deleting' superstars - often without matches even starting. Three weeks prior to the pay per view, Striker returned to cost Hardy a world championship match and reignite this blood feud. Hardy to go over with help from his cohorts, however Striker manages to get to his feet as Hardy was exiting the arena screaming, you still haven't deleted me, Hardy.

The Nation Implodes
Shelton Benjamin v Elijah Burke v Ezekiel Jackson v Kofi Kingston

Xavier Woods' stable capitulated a month before the payperview at a special live edition of ECW, after they dropped the titles to Southern Discomfort. Infighting, backstabbing, manipulating and cunniving has led to the end of a movement. Prior to the match it was expected Woods would side with Benjamin as he had been the most outspoken for the movement, however this was not the case, as it was all a rouze, with Shelton being destroyed in a four on one beatdown. Elijah Burke emerged as the new figurehead of the group with Benjamin left in a bloody mess.

ECW Tag Team Championship
Southern Discomfort (c) (w/The Southern Bellas) v 'The All American Americans' Jack Swagger and Sylvester Turkay

Southern Discomfort, fresh off their tag title win at the live edition of ECW, enter a feud with Jack Swagger and his new tag partner, former NCAA champion, K1 fighter and ECW Tag Team Champion, Sylvester Turkay. The All Americans sporting 'Kurt Angle'-ish attire, took the champions to the limit, only for their valets, the Southern Bellas to interfere and cost them the match.

Grudge Match
Test v ‘Long Island Iced Z’ Zack Ryder

Test, still playing his bully role, has been refusing to fight Ryder, opting instead for unsanctioned brawls, sneak attacks and street jumpings. Three months of these, occuring during Ryder's matches, during bakcstage segments, offsite vignettes, and staged 'shoot fights' in other media (such as talk show appearances and media spots) have led to this showdown. The match ends when Test leaves Ryder hanging with a camera cable from the top rope to the outside. Test then begins to nail Ryder with a chair, only for The Sandman to return and cane the hell out of test. Ryder and Sandman sink a few brews after the match much to the delight of the crowd. Sandman and Test to fight on a live special, with Ryder and Test to have their blow off at Guilty As Charged.

Grudge Match
The Truth v Johnny Nitro

The Truth has bene claiming Nitro has lost his edge since winning the world title, believing in his own gimmick. "The Truth Will Set You Free come Sunday Night" he said on the final show before the pay per view as he vowels to expose Nitro for what he really is - a sports entertainment pretender. Nitro goes over here, and after the match says "screw you and screw everyone here who didnt believe in me, I'm not in for the fame, for the fans, screw it all. I'm in it for one thing, and that's Johnny Nitro."

ECW Cruiserweight Championship
Brian Kendrick (c) v 'The First' Evan Bourne

As one of the Brians, he watched on whilst Kendrick cheated his way to championship opportunities and wins over challengers. After he was berated for screwing up a run in, he found himself bottom of the Brian List. After the silliness began to grow a bit sickening, especially after Kendrick forced the "Bottom Brian" to give up his earnings as an ECW athlete and attend a 'Brian' Conditioning Programme', he could take it no more. Reverting back to his name when he debuted, Evan Bourne, he managed to win a 2-on-1 handicap match against Curtis Hawkins and Kenny Dykstra to earn a shot at the strap. He goes over, much to Kendrick's disgust. Post match, he escapes through the crowd.

 

[Manurewa_Marlins]

ECW Guilty As Charged 2009

ECW World Championship
'The Alpha Male' Monty Brown (c) v John Cena

After entering the Royal Rumble as ECW Champion, the ‘main roster’ members in the ring teamed up to get rid of the Alpha Male, after which he re entered the ring and Pounced everyone in the ring, standing tall before being escorted from the ring by security. The following months have been filled with promos and vignettes from the Alpha Male, questioning the WWE superstars' manhood, their ability to fight, everything. After Cena wins the WWE championship at Wrestlemania, the next night on Raw he is attacked in the parking lot by Monty Brown who leaves him beaten and bloody. Some two and fro promos, leads to Cena showing up at an ECW live special, challenging the Alpha Male then and there, even offering to put his title up. Brown accepts and the match is made for Guilty as Charged. Cena, in the meantime has lost his WWE title, partly due to the injuries inflicted upon him by the Alpha Male. At Guilty As Charged, the Alpha Male beats John Cena to retain the title, much to the delight of the fans.

Ultimate Jeopardy Cage Match
The Nation (Elijah Burke, Ezekiel Jackson, Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods) v Shelton Benjamin, The Truth, The All American Americans (Jack Swagger and Sylvester Turkay)

The blow off to the feud between Shelton Benjamin and his former Nation stablemates, where Shelton recruits The Truth, who has slowly been turning face and calling the Nation "exploiters of the truth", as well as some amateur athletes like himself in the form of Swagger and Turkay. Great racially heated promos, some good build up matches to fuel the fire, and match here mixing brutality, high risk offence and clinical excellence. In the end, it's Benjamin who gets the pin fall on Woods, spelling the beginning of the end for the Nation.

Grudge Match
Johnny Nitro v Rob Van Dam

Nitro has been calling himself the "Show", and has been calling out Rob Van Dam as a result, we have this match. Van Dam has been on a bit of a resurgance of late, and this match continues this run as Van Dam scores the pinfall. It's not the end however as these two will meet in a number one contendership tournament final at the next pay per view.

Live From The Compound
'Fallen' Matt Hardy, Sabu and Drew Gallows with Paul London, Matt Striker and a mystery guest/partner

The first Deletion bit in TNA was great and I with the benefit of makeblieve, I'd simply cut and paste with Hardy, Sabu and Drew Gallows doing battle with former stablemate Paul London, rival Matt Striker who Hardy failed to'delete' and a special guest, who shows up in the end...Christian, making his return from TNA. The faces pick up the win here at the Compound, with Christian getting the fall on Gallows.

Dog Collar Match
‘Long Island Iced Z’ Zack Ryder v Test

In the rematch from December To Dismember, Ryder and Test are chained together via their necks in an ECW classic match stip. The story of the match is that despite being overwhelmingly bigger, Test cant seem to get a grasp on Ryder, who manages to evade him for the first half of the match despite being chained together. Test gains control when the match moves to ringside, putting Ryder through tables and also through chairs. The match ends when Test, carrying Ryder on his back, manages to hit three of the corners, only to be crucixed pinned with Ryder's feet on the ropes for leverage giving LIZ the upset. Post match, Test is furious and hits the referee and Ryder with a double powerbomb before exiting the ring.

ECW Tag Team Championships
Southern Discomfort (Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch w/The Southern Bellas) (c) v Los Colons (Carlito, Eduardo w/Tito)

Southern Discomfort have been tag team champions for six months, beating all comers and having a lot of fun doing so. They had a small program with the All American Americans, however their focus switched to the Colons, who they also have a victory over on pay per view. The Colons in the meantime have really come into their own, managing sneak victories and fun cheap wins on TV, upset wins over single title contenders and even beat Hayabusa and Jinsei Shinzaki on the live ECW. This match sees Discomfort cutting off the ring, with Tito doing his best to keep the Southern Bellas at bey. The match quickly falls apart with plenty of outside the ring action, and ends when Murdoch goes to throw chalk in Carlito's face, only to realise Tito had placed a huge tarantula in the bag. Murdoch freaks out, allowing Carlito to hit the backstabber on Cade and crown new champions.

Vacant ECW Cruiserweight Championship - Ladder Match
Brian Kendrick v 'The First' Evan Bourne

Kendrick managed to beat Bourne in a TV rematch, with the help of the Brians, ending a very short reign as champion. The next week, acting matchmaker Tommy Dreamer reversed the decision, ordering a rematch. The rematch ended in a no contest due to interference from the Brians and the Stampede Bulldogs, leading to the title being vacated. A three way dance was ordered between Kendrick, Bourne and Tyson Kidd, which ended in both Kendrick and Bourne covering Kidd for three. In order to determine an undisputed champion, Dreamer ordered a ladder match, with interference barred. Bourne goes over here, allowing for Kendrick to move on and a new challenger to rise up the ranks.

Open Challenge
'The Ripper' Paul Burchill (w/Katie Lea Burchill) v 'The American Dragon' Daniel Bryan

The opening segment sees Joey Styles open the show, only to be interupted by ‘The Ripper' Paul Burchill.’ Burchill issues an open challenge anyone in the locker room. This brings out a surprise debutant: The American Dragon, who had only just signed with the company. Dragon and Burchill go at it for 15 minutes, with Burchill and his sister eventually walking away from Bryan - forfeiting the match. This leads Bryan to pick up the mic and warn Burchill, as well as the rest of the locker room, that he'll be at ECW this week, so you'd all better man up. Huge pop from the smarks in the crowd who are familiar with the indy darling.

 

[Manurewa_Marlins]

ECW Heatwave 2009

ECW World Championship
'The Alpha Male' Monty Brown v 'The Ripper' Paul Burchill (with Katie Lea Burchill)

The undefeated Alpha Male continues to run through allcomers - this time its the Ripper, Paul Burchill. I'd have Burchill test Brown, using all the weapons in his figurative and indeed literal toolkit, before Monty ultimately gets the pinfall. Joey Styles and Taz put over the fact that it seems no one, in any ring in any form of combat sports in the world can take the Alpha Male.

Tag Team Grudge Match
'Fallen' Matt Hardy and Paul London (w/Drew Gallows) v Christian and Matt Striker

The final match of this feud sees Striker getting the pinfall on London, ending Hardy's 'Fallen' run on ECW. Both he and Christian head to the main roster afterwards as well as Drew Gallows.

Number One Contendership
Rob Van Dam v Johnny Nitro

Far from being over this feud continues to develop, this time as the two rivals have ended up in the final of the Number One Contendership tournament. Nitro goes over here in a fast paced spotfest. Post match Nitro refuses to shake Van Dam's hand, ordering him to get out of the ring, drawing the ire of the fans.

Grudge Match
Brian Kendrick v 'Long Island Iced Z' Zack Ryder

Kendrick, who has lost support from his cohorts (collectively known as the Brians) is up against fan favourite Ryder in a match which came about after Kendrick interupted Ryder's Long Island Iced Z Party segment on the live special. Ryder to go over here, with Kendrick taking some time off after.

5 Minute Test Challenge
Test v ‘American Dragon’ Daniel Bryan

Test has been issuing five minute 'tests' to the roster and so far zero have passed. This brings out the American Dragon, who has been undefeated since debuting and has been playing the role of a giant killer, not necessarily due to size difference but the fact that he wrestles scientifically as opposed to brawling. In the match, much to the delight of the crowd, Dragon taps Test out in three minutes with the Cattle Mutilation. This leads to a big blow off at December To Dismember between ECW's resident bully and the undefeated Daniel Bryan.

ECW Tag Team Championships - Texas Death Match
Southern Discomfort (Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch; w/The Southern Bellas) (c) v Los Colons (Carlio and Eduardo) (w/Tito)

After cheating their way to regaining the straps on ECW TV, this match sees a brawl for the ages, with Southern Discomfort going over, with the help of a debuting ‘Wildcat’ Chris Harris, who becomes the team's (now a stable) enforcer. With the feud over, it leaves opportunities for new opponents for both teams.

Grudge Match
Xavier Woods (w/Ezekiel Jackson) v Kofi Kingston (w/Elijah Burke)

The final show down as the Nation implodes sees the face (Kofi) going over in a match which is essentially a tornado tag. Moving forward, ECW plan to introduce the television title, where all four will be prominant members of the division.

Grudge Match - 2/3 Falls
Jack Swagger v Sylvester Turkay

After tagging with oneanother, the two former All American collegiates go at it in a 2/3 falls match to settle the score as to who is the more complete athlete. It's friendly competition, with both men responding to fan conversations on the internet. Here, Swagger goes over but has to use questionable tactics to score his final fall. They resume tagging afetrwards but the seeds have been planted for a future match between the two.

ECW Cruiserweight Championship
'The First' Evan Bourne v Low Ki

Low Ki has emerged as the next challenger for Bourne's cruiserweight championship, adopting his Ring of Honor personality. Think clean cut high flier versus stiff kicking street fighter. Bourne goes overby the skin of his teeth.