Up at the BEAT

an article about CHIKARA's wacky comic book-themed DVD covers.

My trip to OVW and DCW

Thinking Outside the Box (and the Squared Circle)

All men may be created equal, but that cannot be said for wrestling fans. Just as a Lucha company is different from a Japanese company is different from WWE, so to are the fans of particular companies around the world.

I learned this first-hand this week. After seeing shows in the Northeast and in the Mid-Atlantic for years, I got an up-close look at old-fashioned Southern Wrestling and their fans.

Our story begins in the Louisville suburb of New Albany, Indiana, home of XCW Midwest and wrestler Mitch Ryder. Ryder is no stranger to fans in the Northeast, having worked for companies like CZW and CHIKARA of late. And while the show did have some familiar “indy names” on the card, like Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli, fans expecting ROH-style matches would be sorely disappointed.

Like many indy shows, the show was not held in an area, but in a National Guard Armory. One, unfortunately on this night, that did not have air-conditioning. And, being the first day of a 100 degree heatwave in the area, the atmosphere was stifling and most of the crowd could be seen making frequent trips to the snack bar for drinks or fanning themselves with the evening’s programs.

The show had a mixture of wrestlers on it. Some, as mentioned above, were Internet favorites, some were legends (Gypsy Joe, Bill Dundee), some were regional stars (Jamie Dundee, Bull Pain) and some were local workers I admittedly had never seen before (LA Warren, The Prophet).

The crowd, like the ones I would see later in the week in Louisville, was very old school. Families of all ages could be found in the building. Mothers were scurrying after small children oblivious to the matches in the ring. There were grizzled old-timers and young toughs. The one thing that appeared to be in short supply was “the smark fan.” There were only a handful of t-shirts for the likes of Larry Sweeney and Hero. There were more WWE and even WWF/WCW era t-shirts to be found being worn. And there were no real “smart” chants, other than the obligatory “You Fucked Up” chants. Mostly, it was “Go, person, Go” or the traditional stuff yelled at heels, usually questioning their sexuality.

The most unusual thing seen that night was probably the match scheduled to be Castagnoli vs. Necro Butcher. Word was that there was a locker room incident involving the Butcher and the card had to be shuffled. So, Claudio, all 6’5” of him ended up wrestling former WWE talent Zach Gowen. Yes, Zach Gowen. Sadly, we did not get to see Claudio execute a one-legged Giant Swing, which would have been something to behold. Instead, the match was more about Claudio not getting along with special guest referee Gypsy Joe and it ended up being a schmozz when Claudio attacked Joe and just left the ring.

When the night was over (which admittedly came early for me, thanks to the heat and a seven-hour drive that day), a few hundred fans went home happy as Ryder won the main event by DQ over Todd Morton. But this was just the beginning.

Wednesday night was my first trip to see Ohio Valley Wrestling. I had been getting OVW tapes since the “glory days” of the company under Jim Cornette, when the shows were built around Doug Basham, The Damaja and Nick Dinsmore. Interestingly enough, while the product in the ring these days might not match that era, the company is still doing quite well, filling up Davis Arena every week for TV and having successful spot shows all over the area.

I was told to get there by 6 o’clock for the doors to open at 6:30. I came a few minutes before 6:00 and there were already a couple hundred people queued up in line outside the building (in an industrial park on the outskirts of Louisville). There was camaraderie between many of the people milling about, showing that these folks have been seeing the same faces week after week for who knows how long.

After an all-too-long wait in the blistering sun, the crowd went in and the show began in a short time. Thankfully, Davis Arena has air conditioning. Like the night before, the crowd was boisterous, loudly cheering and booing, although not always for the designated babyfaces and heels. There was a strong continent opposed to former Spirit Squadder Johnny Jeter and the recently-arrived (from the Indy scene) Colt Cabana perhaps had the most cheers, but had one extremely-loud non-fan.

OVW, being a developmental territory, is not going to be full of five-star matches (if you’re one who goes for that sort of thing). The workers are learning, getting on-the-job training in front of live fans and television cameras. You could tell there were varying levels of skills on display, especially with former RAW performers like Armando Estrada and Eugene (the former Nick Dinsmore, still doing his “special” gimmick) on the show. On the other end of the spectrum, you had young guys, obviously green, not quite hitting all their marks or not quite exactly nailing a particular move.

One new wrinkle for OVW booking is the addition of the Derby City Wrestling show the next night. This allows them to shoot angles that carry over to the show. On this night, an angle between the James Boys (KC James and Cassidy Riley) and the new babyface team of Jeter and Christian York led to a main event match on OVW that resulted in a rematch the next night on DCW.

Many of the fans in the building Wednesday night were back the next night for DCW. Since the TV tapings for DCW were only about a month old, there was not the same level of attendance (plus, the weather, still hazardous to one’s health) as the night before, but it looks like almost everyone there had been there the night before.

Derby City is made up of wrestlers from OVW’s “intermediate” training school level. These are guys not under WWE contract, like most of the OVW roster, but were in fact still paying tuition to go through the school and still having jobs in the real world to make ends meet. They were just hoping to make it to the next level, which was one step closer to the major leagues. To use the sports analogy, DCW is AA, OVW is AAA and the WWE is The Show (not to be confused with the Big Show).

Obviously, the DCW workers are even less-polished as their OVW counterparts, which doesn’t diminish their willingness to learn or try in the ring. As someone who watches a lot of CHIKARA (another promotion full of young workers fresh out of wrestling school), there are always varying levels of quality you can find in the ring when you have green wrestlers still learning their way. Good fans can forgive miscues in the ring if they can tell that the effort is there. Also, the ring-work is very basic and sound. It would seem odd to a fan of Northeast wrestling that the first highspot (a straightforward plancha) didn’t occur until the fifth match on the card.

Again, there did not appear to be many “smart” fans in the crowd, which doesn’t stop DCW from running an extremely-inside angle. Ted “The Trailer” McNailer is currently having what could be called a one-sided feud with wrestling newsletter writer Bryan Alvarez. McNailer has been cutting promos on Alvarez, who has been reviewing the DCW TV show in his Figure Four Weekly publication. But, as of this writing, it is not building towards anything, as Alvarez, a part-time wrestler, says he has no desire to go all the way to Louisville to deal with McNailer. This likely is both a way for McNailer to practice his promo skills and provide an amusing in-joke for Alvarez, DCW trainer Rip Rogers and their mutual friend and wrestling school trainer, Buddy Wayne.

The one drawback with running very fundamental matches is their repetitiveness. On this night, they were in the middle of running the DCW Tag Team Title Tournament. So, the crowd saw four tag matches that were very formulaic and even saw the same spots in a couple of the matches. Had there not been four of them in a row, it would not have been so plain. They also had the misfortune of running an injury angle (with Sweet Stevie) and later having a real injury take place a few matches later (with the J-Man), but those things happen.

Again, like the night before, everyone in the crowd appeared to have a good time and went home happy. Of course, you can have small expectations for your entertainment when you’re not paying anything for it. (yes, attendance at both TV tapings is free.)

All of this goes to show that the obvious that there are many different kinds of wrestling out there and if you are just a fan of one kind, maybe you should try going outside the box for a new kind of entertainment to watch. If you’re a Northeast fan, try some Southern wrestling and vice versa. Fandom shouldn’t be limited to one particular kind of person.

xxx

Easy Come, Easy Go

Wagner and Ultimo lose the CMLL campones de parajes back to Negro Casas and Mistico after only a week.

what's the point?

three words that go great together

RUDO DR. WAGNER~!

1000 % RUDO~!~!

RIP Chris Benoit

apparently, not an angle.

Meltzer and other news sources say Benoit and his entire family found dead today.

Lucha Flyer 21 July 2000

While looking through my archives today, I came upon this flyer that I picked up in Tiajuana when I saw a Lucha Show there in July 2000. I was in SD for Comicon and this was the first time I finally got to see Lucha in person (thanks again to Eric from Hollywood Book and Poster). This is what all you comics folks missed by always going to the Eisners every year.

A plague wind fill'd with insects

A PLAGUE WIND FILL’D WITH INSECTS

a malevolent convesation with UltraMantis Black

[Editor’s note: It had been a long time since we heard from our old friend Dr. Alquimia. For those that don’t remember, we had been contracted to publish his comic book, but a number of suspicious incidents led to problems with the first issue. After we published that issue back in 2001, some more odd things happened (too numerous to mention) and we suspended publication of the book until we could talk to Dr. Alquimia himself. Well, until a few days ago, we had been unable to contact him for over five years. Shockingly, we received an email from him (or someone claiming to be him), asking if we could publish an interview he had just conducted. After we confirmed it was indeed him, we agreed and hope that this return of the Master of the Egyptian Art will not be short-lived. We still want to chronicle his adventures and hope to have news on this matter during the summer comic book convention season. Sadly, but not surprisingly, it appears that, since the last time we saw him, Dr. Alquimia has returned to his rudo roots.]

The great English visionary William Blake once said, “Active Evil is better than Passive Good.” And, to the great consternation of tecnicos everywhere, I am proud to say that I am once again both Active and Evil. I must humble apologize to my former tag team partner, El Caido, for ever abandoning my rudo ways. I hope that I will be able to earn back both his trust at some point.

But that is neither here nor there. I have not returned today to sing my own praises (hard as that may be), but to extol the virtues of another man who walks the path less chosen, the leader of the Order of the Neo-Solar Temple, UltraMantis Black.

The evil insect mastermind graciously took a few minutes out of scheming and plotting nefarious conspiracies to talk to me about his career, current plans and assorted other Machiavellian pursuits.

DA: When you began your wrestling career, you were a tecnico. What made you turn to the dark side?

UMB: I prefer to call it the light-deprived side. If I remember correctly, it had something to do with a holly-go-lightly chap known as Mister ZERO and a heated dispute over shoes and socks. I suppose it all snowballed from there although, at this point, I can't really point to any logical reason for my rudo-wing leanings.

DA: Is this when you stopped wearing boots and started working barefoot? (I apologize for only having seen a few of your tecnico matches, but noticed that you did wear footwear at the time.)

UMB: Ah, this was not the precise moment when I began this practice; however it was indeed a turning point in the journey toward my enlightenment. Most footwear is merely a tool of the multinational corporations to keep us subservient and poor -- blind to the blight of the sprawling civilization around us and the unfair wage system which keeps us in chains. No gods, no masters.

DA: Do you have any evil role models, in wrestling or in popular culture? Kevin Sullivan? Curtis Ieukea? Lex Luthor? Dr. Doom? Montgomery Burns? One imagines you must be close personal friends with Zorak from SPACE GHOST.

UMB: Hmm. When I think of evil I think of Wal-Mart, the John Birch Society, and [former] US Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton. So I can not say I am influenced at all by such. However, it is interesting that you reference Kevin Sullivan. I find myself quite influenced by his work in, what they call, "the old Florida territory". Genius. Sadly I was not privy to much of King Curtis' early work. However, any man or woman who can tame both the Ugandan Headhunter as well as The Yeti is OK in my book. Plus, the forehead. I am not familiar with these other individuals of which you speak. SPACE GHOST?

DA: Do you have a favorite “giant insect” movie”? BEGINNING OF THE END with the giant grasshoppers? I’d think you would have a fondness for THE DEADLY MANTIS.

UMB: The 1954 classic THEM!, featuring a young James Whitmore and the legendary and wonderful Edmund Gwenn, star of the unforgettable MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET.

DA: In addition to your wrestling training at the Chikara Wrestle Factory, have you ever studied the Praying Mantis Kung Fu style?

UMB: I have a background in Krav Maga. I also enjoy listening to the music of Red Sovine when I take long car rides, often pretending to be navigating my big rig heading for Bear on I-10 about a mile out of Shakey Town.

DA: How and where did you discover the man-monster Hydra? Is he at all connected to the infamous Marvel Comics evil spy organization HYDRA, once led by the nefarious Baron Wolfgang von Strucker?

UMB: You are speaking of "comical books" characters, yes? Such frivolities are meaningless to The Order. But back to the question at hand, Hydra was born of fire -- a great oceanic fire, one similar to that which engulfed the engine of Oceanic Flight 815 one fateful day. Hydra is what I like to call a young, virile monster-in-training. A "twink" if you will. I foresee much greatness in Hydra's future if he remains under my guidance and continues to walk in the Shining Path of the Order.

DA: What do you think of Hydra’s chances in the upcoming Young Lions’ Cup?

UMB: I'm going to be brutally honest here -- his chances are not good. With that said, Hydra's goals are unrelated to that of gold, riches, and trophies. Hydra fights in service to The Order and while we have yet to reveal the exact nature of our own goals to the viewers, we are quite secure in our belief that our cause is a just one. However, one never knows what will happen in such tournaments. For example, if the entire roster were to be afflicted with a horrible case of food poisoning, and Hydra -- a man-monster known for his all air and water diet -- was to remain unscathed, well then I believe his chances would improve vastly.

DA: Is there an insect rivalry between you and the members of the Colony?

UMB: As my friends The West Coast Rap All-Stars so eloquently once put it – “we're all in the same gang.”

DA: Were you able to have an “evil genius” summit with Kaiju’s Dr. Cube last month when you both were in Philadelphia for CHIKARA’s Anniversario! show?

UMB: Unfortunately, no. However, Cubey has my number and he knows I anxiously await his call. Perhaps the good doctor would enjoy a delightful evening out in the Village together. I'm thinking a nice dinner of risotto and gazpacho at the Yaffa Cafe on St. Mark's, catch a show at the Winter Garden (have you seen MAMMA MIA yet??), and perhaps a nightcap of all-night canasta playing at my friend King's house.

DA: Have you patterned your commentating style on any one person? Would you say your style is more Gordon Solie or something more modern?

UMB: Solie, Lance Russell, Bob Caudle, Mid South-era Jim Ross. I always thought Ken Resnick was a good interview. David Crockett for purposes of unintentional humor only, of course.

DA: Do you have a favorite commentary partner? You seem to have quite the rapport with “Sweet and Sour” Larry Sweeney on the stick.

UMB: “The Palomino” is a true golden god amongst men. The man is a verbal Van Gogh. He paints such vivid aural pictures with his words. A genuine treat to share the commentary table with him!

DA: You know evil and you know baseball. Who is the most evil player in the show today: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Curt Shilling or someone else?

UMB: True evil is every anabolic junkie who besmirched the game with their dope shooting-enhanced on-field performances. And Billy Wagner.

I once again would like to thank the incredibly insidious insect UltraMantis Black for generously speaking to your not-so-humble servant. You can be sure the next time I see him at the International Brotherhood of Rudos, the first one is on me.

CHIKARA’s annual Young Lions Cup takes place this weekend, June 22-24, in Reading, Barnesville and Hellertown, PA, respectively. For more information, visit the CHIKARA website at Http://chikarapro.com. You can find UltraMantis Black on the web at http://www.myspace.com/ultramantis.