Llakor
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Since: 2.1.02 From: Montreal, Quebec, CANADA
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| #1 Posted on 6.10.05 1802.20 Reposted on: 6.10.12 1803.30 | The IWS - What We Did During Our Summer Vacation A When We Were Marks Photo Essay Part TWO! of Two
We Visited Our Nation's Capital
... but because shows in Ottawa are governed by the Ontario Sports Athletic Commission and shows in Gatineau aren't, we decided to stop in Gatineau just across the river from Ottawa and put on a show in the Palais de Congres which is a fancy French word meaning: Convention Centre.
Again, our first visit to the Capital region (Ottawa/Hull/Gatineau)
We Put On a Show Without Any IWS Stars On It
IWS - Syndicate Invitational Palais de Congres, Gatineau, September 4th, 2005 Click Here (smartmarkvideo.com)
In the afternoon, we put on a show featuring wrestlers from all over Quebec, Ontario and the United States invited by us to show off their stuff for the IWS fans and the IWS management.
Amongst the People Trying Out Was ME! (image removed) Fear the Llakor
One of the nice things about the respect that the IWS gets as a leader in Canadian Wrestling is the cooperation that other feds give us. Amongst the feds accepting our invitation to appear at the Syndicate Invitational were: MWF, CWA and NCW from Montreal, UWA Hardcore Wrestling from Ontario and ISW from Parts Unknown...
ISW stands for Inter-Species Wrestling (image removed) BAMBOO! and Flip D. Berger "Wrestle"
Most observers, including my boss Manny, agreed that the match of the afternoon was the one featuring ROH's Cheech and Cloudy facing "The Phenom" Phil Stamper and LUCKY!
They Call Him LUCKY! (image removed) Phil Stamper Looks On In Disbelief
Backstage rumours suggest that Cheech and Cloudy will be making their Official IWS debut as soon as schedules can be worked out. Meanwhile Stamper and LUCKY! will be making appearances with CWA, a smaller Montreal fed that Manny books for.
We were also fortunate that CZW stars Sabian and Niles Young made the trip from Philly to appear on our afternoon show...
"I Came to Gatineau For Weed, Biscuits and To Stretch Niles Young!" (image removed) "Manny, Do We Have Any Biscuits?"
The Sabian/Nile Young match was a great, great match... until some asshole with delusions of power stopped the match 15 minutes in and declared it a time limit draw.
Oh WAIT! Asshole is MOI!
See, the afternoon show was my baby. (Well mine and Mark's - our Ottawa promoter. HEY MARK!) As long as I stayed within my budget, I could do whatever I wanted. Which is probably how a McJobber and a Panda ended up dancing in the middle of the ring.
The other budget that I had to respect was my TIME budget. The show absolutely had to finish on time to give the IWS stars time to work out in the ring before the evening show. So every wrestler/every match in the afternoon show were given very strict time limits. Other than the main event, every match was scheduled for fifteen minutes and I did warn every wrestler that if they hit fifteen minutes, I would stop the match.
If I had to do it over again, maybe I might have mentioned that to the crowd during the show, because when I stopped the CZW match, the crowd was less than pleased.
In order to save my ass (already bruised from being knocked down in the ring after a stiff fore-arm from CWA wrestler Pistola), I announced that Sabian would be competing in a match against UWA Hardcore wrestler Lionel Knight in the evening show.
Speaking of the UWA Hardcore Wrestling promotion, we gave them a chance to put on a six man hardcore tag match, away from the restrictions of the Ontario Sports Athletic Commission... and well, we mean it as a compliment when we say, these guys are CRAZY...
CRAZY About the Barbed Wire (image removed) Jeff Fleury Being Put Through a Table by Osiris
As I say, these guys remind US of US say back around 2002-2003. I mean, take Chris Bishop. He is already over with the IWS fans based purely on his PURE Wrestling Ability.
So Why is Chris Bishop Wrapping Barbed Wire Around His Leg? (image removed) Note to Self: Chris Bishop is a Sick FUCK!
Also, at one point, Chris Bishop and Mickey Knight had a table with a broken leg that they wanted to put Lionel Knight through. So Chris Bishop replaced the broken table leg with his own body! In-FUCKING-Sane.
On the other hand, given the way that Lionel "Eddie Murphy" Knight is constantly being dissed by the IWS fans, I can understand him trying to earn their respect, still...
You're Wrestling Sabian, The Black Jesus in Three Hours... (image removed) Maybe You Should Hold Something Back? Guess Not!
This would be the part where The Green Phantom would pick up the phone and say, "Yeah, When We Were Young and STUPID!"
(Nothing wrong with being stupid by the way...)
Now, the Green Phantom has a bit of a point in that after UWA Hardcore used not one but TWO barbed-wire tables in the main event of the Syndicate Invitational (plus chairs and ladders!) It made it a little difficult for the Green Phantom and the Evil Ninja to top the match when they did some hardcore themselves during Hardcore Heat...
IWS - Hardcore Heat Palais de Congres, Gatineau, September 4th, 2005 Click Here (smartmarkvideo.com)
The key is and this is I think the difference between UWA Hardcore and the IWS at this point... the veterans like the Green Phantom know how to get a bigger reaction while using less.
(This is not to say that they both weren't good matches. They were. Both matches got great reactions from the crowd. It's like the opening sequence of Colors where Robert Duvall explains to Sean Penn that instead of running down to Fuck One Cow that they are going to Walk Down and FUCK THEM ALL and Sean Penn looks at him like "We're in Fucking L.A., I don't see no Fucking Cows!" Now UWA Hardcore right now = Sean Penn and there is nothing in the world wrong with being Sean Penn, but the IWS = Robert Duvall and that's your maximum Fucking for your minimum effort.)
Let's take one move to illustrate the match. The Green Phantom has the Evil Ninja down and grabs a table which is broken - a total loss. Thinking quickly, Phantom grabs the Evil Ninja, gives him a Phantom Menace and use the momentum of the Phantom Menace to launch himself to the opposite side of the ring... in the process practically giving Mike Burns tongue through the camera and putting himself right beside an unbroken table.
It's all right there - plan thwarted, new plan, control your opponent, the ring presence to know where the material for your new plan is and knowing also where the camera is, to pose dramatically for it without squandering time for your plan to win the match. Smart, SMART match.
(Also, and maybe this goes without saying, but at the same time that Phantom was doing all that he also got a huge pop from the crowd for the Phantom Menace.)
Other things that became clear during Hardcore Heat...
Tomassino is a Monster (image removed) Tomassino Measures the Ceiling Using Player Uno as a Ruler
Like Kid Kamikaze, there came a point during the Summer when our perceptions of Tomassino just flat changed. Somewhere along the way, he went from "tall, skinny, yellow pants" to "Who the Fuck is that Monster?" Granted he added a few pounds, but maybe he just stopped slounching and started acting like a monster.
Unlike Kid Kamikaze, there wasn't one moment that you could point to. Maybe it was getting Joey Soprano as a manager? Could be, although ironically, the two best matches of the summer for Tomassino were without Joey Soprano. The first at Freedom to Fight where Tomassino fought his trainer EXesS.
(That match for me was the eye opener. The precise moment when I jumped on the Tomassino band-wagon was when he picked up EXesS in a vertical suplex outside the ring, walked the vertical suplex halfway around the ring and then finished the move. Very impressive.)
But maybe we should mark the passage of Tomassino to monsterdom here against Player Uno, in the first match where you could say that Tomassino acted like a Goliath and faced a David - in this case David being played by Player Uno. In fact, let's boil it down to one perfect, well ALMOST perfect move.
The ALMOST Perfect Move (image removed) The M.Bison Double Foot Stomp from the Top Rope to the Outside
Anytime that Player Uno uses a move stolen from a video game, that's a great moment, and when he swiped M. Bison's vicious VICIOUS double foot stomp and when Uno did that move from the top rope to the OUTSIDE... on to Tomassino's HEAD... it's just such a perfect mark out moment. Besides the video game moment, there is the fact that Uno feels compelled to pull out the most violent sadistic move that he can think of, a Giant-Killer move because otherwise Tomassino is going to wipe the floor with him. And it is a move that Uno wouldn't use against anyone else because it would probably kill them.
(Also oerfect that it is the move of the baddest villain in video game history. Uno is going right to the edge here.)
What Uno finds out though is that because Tomassino is SO FUCKING TALL, instead of putting Tomassino down for the count, the M. Bison just rattles him a little and frankly visibly pisses Tomassino off. So, ALMOST perfect... at least from Uno's point of view.
Man, Sabian Really is Black Jesus (image removed) Air Sabian Now Landing on Lionel Kight Runway
Second Best match in the afternoon, Best match in the evening.
There were high expectations for this match, and not just from the fans. To be honest, most of the locker room and all of the IWS management were almost giddy with excitement over this match. I should explain that the IWS locker room is one of the best in the business, supportive like a family, very few disagreements - except when its business to disagree. The only thing is our locker room is - how shall I put this? - white and not just a little white, we're down right pale. When Takao, El Generico and the Hardcore Ninjaz are your minorities and the Green Phantom is your "wrestler of colour"...
(WHAT? Green is a colour!)
(And actually I'm not sure where Kenny the Bastard fits into all of this.)
Point is, we were overjoyed to add Lionel Knight to our roster. Not just because he is black, but because he is good, damn good... and black. And then Sabian was in town and all of a sudden we could do this match and we had to do it.
...
...
...
It has suddenly occurred to me that from a certain point of view this wasn't so much a match as a hate crime committed by a bunch of whiteys jonesing on black vs. black violence.
Excuse me while I grapple with white middle-class Canadian guilt...
FUCK IT.
This match was TEH AWESOME.
The Bravest Person in the IWS Locker Room (image removed) HINT: I am NOT Talking About Elsa
(Not that Elsa isnae awesome or anything)
Watch this get me into more trouble in the back than anything that I have ever written. Look, here's the thing about D-Vyn, she's gorgeous... and she is about as dangerous as a de-fanged, de-clawed sex kitten. I swear she could swat a fly without actually injuring the fly in the process. But man does she ever get beat up.
Quick Flashback: April 24th, 2004 - Scarred For Life - Montreal - Le Plaza
Sexxxy Eddy is fighting (and losing) to PCO, the IWS champion. Kevin Steen comes out to get in PCO's face. D-Vyn, at this point Eddy's valet, tries to stop Kevin from getting involved. Mistake. Big Mistake. BIG FUCKING MISTAKE. Kevin takes one look away and then just DRILLS her with a forearm that would have made Fit Finlay weep and given Ole Anderson a boner that would last as long as a Minnesota Winter. Naturally, D-Vyn dropped like a rock.
This is what I admire about D-Vyn: she takes shots like that and then she sells them like death. Now admittedly that maybe be because Kevin hit her hard and knocked her out, but still you have to admire the dedication.
So, this Summer has been the summer of "D-Vyn Gets the Shit Kicked Out of Her... By Girls."
Started right out with Freedom to Fight. Dan Paysan is fighting Kid Kamikaze. D-Vyn tries to get involved. Vanessa Kraven slugs D-Vyn like Vanessa was Rocky and D-Vyn was Clubber Lang or Ivan Draco in the last reel. D-Vyn goes down, stays down. A few people at ringside got concerned about how long D-Vyn stayed down.
In case you weren't paying attention... if it should ever come to it and you get hit by Vanessa Kraven... STAY THE FUCK DOWN. Getting back up just pisses her off. And you don't want to make Vanessa angry, no, no you definitely don't want to do that.
Stop number two on the D-Vyn gets beat up tour was at Hardcore Heat. She got into Elsa's face, they did the cat-fight thing for a while and then Elsa decided to end it by giving D-Vyn a Suplex. Yeah, Elsa's a bitch. Naturally, D-Vyn sold it like she had been shot. And for all intents and purposes, she had been. I mean it's not like D-Vyn has been driving back and forth between Montreal and Philadelphia to receive training at the hands (and feet I suppose) of Mike Quackenbush and Chris Hero and Skayde. Right? D-Vyn vs. Elsa is like putting Snapper Carr against CatWoman. Or putting Elle Woods against Poison Ivy...
(Actually, why am I imagining Vanessa Kraven cracking her knuckles and saying, "CatWoman? Poison Ivy? I could take them." It's almost eerie how I can hear her knuckles... She's standing behind me again, isn't she? Right. All future super-hero references to Vanessa will begin and end with She-Hulk. "The John Byrne version." The John Byrne Version.)
Let's Just See That Suplex Shall We? (image removed) Elsa Looks Great. D-Vyn Landing Right on Her Head - Japanese Style
Which brings us to Blood, Sweat and Beers, the end of the Summer and pretty near the end of D-Vyn as she eats a Vanessa Kraven Power Bomb. What? Are you kidding? I know guys who have taken bookings in another province to avoid a Vanessa Kraven Power Bomb.
Speaking of Blood, Sweat and Beers...
Wasn't that one hell - No wait.
Didn't we put on the sickest - Strike that.
We finished the summer with one of the best mother - Eh. Let me restart.
We ROCKED the FUCKING HOUSE DOWN (image removed) After the Madness, Kevin Steen Reflects
IWS - Blood, Sweat and Beers Le Break, Montreal, September 17th, 2005 Click Here (smartmarkvideo.com)
Look, I'm not saying that the previous five shows that we did during the summer were bad. None of them were worse than very good. I think that the two Extreme Dreams are better as a set. I think our two shows in Gatineau are better as a set. But there is a moment after a show ends when you exhale and you smile and you say, "Now that was a fucking show." This, this is THAT show.
(Scary thing is we have done that twice now just this year. Because Un F'N Sanctioned was just as good and Scarred For Life is so close to those two it hurts.)
just buy it
Just Buy It
JUST BUY IT
Fred la Merveille Reformed the SLI (image removed) Or Should I Say: SLI-USA?
Ask any Canadian what they notice first when they visit the Unisted States. Almost invariably they will answer, "Flags. There are flags everywhere." Now this is not to say that Canadians aren't patriotic. They are, just that they tend to be more restrained in their patriotism and flag-waving. We tend to let it all out in one big celebration on July 1st.
All of which is to say that Canadians, more specifically Quebecois, even more specifically Montrealers are not prone to suddenly start waving the Canadian flag and are even less likely to suddenly burst into singing the Canadian anthem.
BUT... Fred la Merveille has provoked IWS fans into doing it twice. Once, when the SLI was formed originally during the historic Body Count 2003. And a second time when Fred formed the SLI-USA.
Understand, Fred never said, "Chanter l'antheme Canadienne!" No, it's more like the entire crowd got so pissed at Fred that they all spontaneously decided, "Damn you Fred la Merveille... You make me so angry! You give me no choice but to sing our National anthem!" Believe it or not, but for a Canadian this is on par with rioting.
I should also mention, and this may sound like heresy, but I almost believe that the SLI-USA is a stronger unit than the SLI. First of all, Fred is a full-fledged heel now. Before Fred was a heel to anglophones and a face to francophones. Now everyone hates him. There might be a couple of Yankees who bleat a weak U-S-A chant, but push come to shove even they are willing to admit that they are not admirers of George W.
(It should also be said that Fred is a better wrestler now and hard as it is to believe a better shit-disturbing heel.)
Then there is Shayne Hawke and Maxime Boyer - light and dark, matter and anti-matter - the mouth and the muscle. On one hand, you have Maxime, the dark, silent but deadly technician trained by Jacques Rougeau already good and getting better all the time, and on the other hand you have Shayne Hawke, the fast-talking chicken-shit red-headed heel. It's a great team dynamic and under Fred's tutelage only good things can happen.
Damian Inspired a Chair Riot (image removed) Damian Asked For Two Chairs - He Got Two Rows!
Nowhere but in Quebec could a reformed White Supremacist turned French Seperatist betray his leader, return to his Aryan roots and in the process become one of the biggest faces in the federation. If we needed any confirmation that Damian has become a full-fledged star with the IWS, it came during the incredible Last Man Standing match against Kevin Steen where Damian beat Steen for the second time... with a minor assist from Beef Wellington and a major assist from the crowd.
ONG BAK! (image removed) Is It Wrong That This Pictures Makes Me Grin Like Shark?
Finally, shockingly, El Generico turned on his room mate Beef Wellington and joined forces with his Cali running buddy, Kevin Steen.
K-K-K-Kalifornia (image removed) Shit OLE!
I know a lot of people don't understand how El Generico turned heel... or at least so easily. The truth is that IWS fans have a huge emotional investment in El Generico. From their point of view, they helped turn a one night joke into an indy wrestling superstar. They were naturally happy for El Generico's success, but not at the cost of their own enjoyment. So, when El Generico missed a few IWS dates, a certain amount of frustration and resentment began building amongst the IWS fans.
The IWS fans were also distraught that El Generico was breaking up the Beef/Generico team. This was never really a tag team as much as it was a comedy team on some of the best BloodStreams put out by the IWS. Breaking up that comedy team was a betrayal of all that humour and good will.
Finally, even if the BloodStreams are put aside, El Generico turned heel by attacking Beef Wellington. I think we can now safely say that there is no one in the IWS as beloved to the fans as Beef. He is the class clown, but he is capable of tossing the tassles and getting serious when he has to. Even if they had no prior history, El Generico would have gotten booed for attacking Beef Wellington.
So there it is at the end of Blood, Sweat and Beers...
The Death of a Friendship...
The Death of a Partnership...
The Death of Summer...
And revealed that even in the hearts of Angels a Devil can lurk...
And coming October 29th, we will see what destruction those Devils can cause in the ring during their night - Devil's Night.
The IWS is pleased to present Devil's Night, Saturday, October 29th in Montreal at Le Break, 20 Boulevard Cremazie, corner of Saint Laurent, near Metro Cremazie. Restricted to 18+. Tickets are $20 for VIP, $15 for Regular. Doors open at 7:30 pm, Show starts at 9:00pm. Card and times subject to change. To order tickets in advance contact Llakor@hotmail.com Promote this thread! | | ALL ORIGINAL POSTS IN THIS THREAD ARE NOW AVAILABLE |
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