Exclusivity, LPW, Steve Corino, and George W. Bush

As I stated in my profile, I have no intention of utilizing this blog simply to cause heat or offend anyone. However, I have chosen this forum to share my thoughts, feelings and opinions at an arms-length from PCW's official website. I have come to really enjoy Jim Ross' personal blog for that reason and his willingness to share his thoughts on many matters he would never discuss in an official WWE forum.

Exclusivity

One of the "debates" I hate the most is about so-called exclusivity. I've discussed this subject before in multiple forums and multiple times, but I wanted to touch on it briefly as I am sure it will come up constantly as this blog moves forward.

There is no exclusivity in pro wrestling in Manitoba. Those that argue against it do so for selfish political reasons and probably because they are under the mistaken impression that the entire industry lives and dies by their opinion. In the early says of PCW, Mike Davidson and myself certainly did use the term "exclusivity" to describe the relationship we required from the wrestlers who worked there. But we hardly invented the term or the concept, even in Manitoba. At the time of PCW's inception, TRCW and the CWF both had "exclusive" relationships with their talent and when someone "jumped" it was a big deal. It was the world we lived in when we started the company.

Fast forward to today and some people will argue that I make Nazi-like demands on talent and insist they remain "exclusive" to PCW. That is totally untrue. What I request is guys buy into the team concept and dedicate themselves to making a positive contribution to the local industry. Quite simply, without PCW having existed the past five years, the local industry would be in shambles. I cannot imagine anyone being able to make a logical argument against that statement.

In 2006, PCW talent appeared locally for the CWF, IWM, ACW and others. How is that exclusive? We insist that PCW be the priority in Manitoba and why wouldn't we? PCW provides the best shows, the best talent, the most shows, the biggest shows, the best "names" and a mostly political-free environment where "pushes" are given to guys who deserve it regardless of whether they're my personal friend or not.

With so many "promotions" (and really, these sporadic spot shows are mostly the same "promotion" under different names) running in Winnipeg, no show would ever be "special", no program or match would ever be "special" and the fans would never care about where they went to see a show if we at PCW did not "demand" a buy-in to the team concept. The sacrifice and contributions that myself, Tom Manos and many of the boys make come with only one price tag - be apart of the team.

And that brings me to my next topic for discussion...

LPW

As I write this, we are only a few short hours away from the "Live Pro Wrestling" event at Coyotes Nightclub. Maybe this is a nitpick but as an aside, is that really the most creative name they could come up with? If anyone asked me (and they didn't of course), I would have suggested "Red Hot Wrestling", but what do I know?

With wrestlers such as Wavell Starr, Jon Cutler and Danny Duggan wrestling, I have no doubt there will be some solid performances. But those three guys alone cannot make a show great and the LPW show will not be as good as it could have been had politics and ego not intervened to give the fans less than they deserve for their money.

I bring this up because I've been asked about it, argued with about it and read some mis-truths concerning why PCW talent are not on the show. The simple answer is, I was asked, I agreed but no compromise could be made that would be fair to PCW to see their talent contribute to a competitors success on a spot show down the street from our venue.

Two days after Ryan Wood announced his show on the Internet, he left me a voice mail asking me to call him to discuss the inclusion of PCW talent on the show. As it was a Thursday, I wanted to sit down with Adam Knight who had been announced as taking part, to discuss the details. Knight explained that he was asked to work TNA star Abyss. I have never, ever denied any PCW talent the opportunity to work with a "name". Even at the height of the acrimony between Mike Davidson and myself during the AWE days, I told guys they had my full endorsement to work for the "competition" if they were working a "name". I told Knight the same thing. My only request was that he decline the spot if he was only going to be working another local guy on the show unless Woody and I worked out a suitable compromise to make it happen.

The next day I called Woody. I told him I had three main concerns: 1) That Ernie Todd was involved in the show in any capacity. 2) That a couple of guys that left PCW on bad terms would stand to benefit from the inclusion of PCW talent. 3) That the show was taking place at a venue that was competition to our own and it was an insult to Tom Manos who has contributed more to the local industry than any other venue owner in history.

Woody tried to put my mind at ease saying that Ernie Todd would have absolutely nothing to do with the show. He would not be on it, he would not promote it, and his ring would not even be used for it. (More on Ernie and why I steadfastly refuse to ever do anything that is remotely associated with him in future blogs). Woody's position on the guys that had recently left PCW under bad terms was the classic "They didn't do anything to me" line. That is one of the most over-used excuses in the local industry. In this case, I believe it to be true, but it doesn't change the fact that anyone hurting the local industry through their actions is a negative to us all. My feeling was, if those two guys wanted to work with PCW talent, they should have been professional and mature when they were in PCW. The third concern of mine was not something easily reconcilable. I explained that if I went to Tom and said our guys were working a spot show at a competing venue, that I should have a damn good reason for endorsing it. And quite honestly, I have my doubts that Tom would really care. But that's beside the point. I would care and the guys who had a true appreciation for the contributions Tom has made would care.

Woody explained that he only wanted to use Knight and AJ Sanchez and maybe Mentallo. He told me that Knight was "absolutely" working Abyss and that he wanted Sanchez to win a mini-tournament involving Danny Duggan, Kevin Chevy and Don Douglas. I was fairly strongly against the idea of PCW talent working with Chevy or Douglas due to their actions when recently leaving our promotion even if we did agree on talent working the show. I told Woody I doubted I could endorse it but I would give it some thought. I did say that I had absolutely no problem with Knight working Abyss no matter what and that I looked forward to seeing that match.

I conferred with some members of my "inner circle" and e-mailed Woody, letting him know again that Knight was fully endorsed to work the show against Abyss but as far as anyone else goes, I would like some sort of compromise that made it mutually beneficial. I made a few suggestions including Woody working a show for me or him not using Chevy and Douglas but other PCW guys instead (which my "inner circle" advised me to be willing to compromise on).

Woody said he'd work a PCW show but "would not lay down", and needed a finish that "made the CWF look strong" which was obviously not going to happen on my show (and really, is there any way to make the CWF look strong at this point?). Woody was totally against de-booking Chevy or Douglas, which I can respect actually. He explained that they were important "for other reasons", which I later learned meant "setting up the ring". I asked Woody if he had any ideas for a compromise. He suggested that I buy a sponsorship ad in his program which I didn't see as being a beneficial compromise at all or otherwise, he could send Douglas and Chevy to work a final PCW show (both of them having no-showed their final bookings). I felt no desire at all in paying those two guys to work my show (again, that seemed to benefit everyone but me).

At that time, I again reiterated my full and complete endorsement for Knight working the show and suggested that we "agree to disagree" for now and talk in the future concerning other shows. My point was, if we were only talking about one guy at that point (Sanchez), it was something we could all live without. I wished him luck with the show.

While those discussions were happening, I was being sent repeated e-mails from multiple sources explaining that Knight was not working Abyss. Zack Mercury and Jon Cutler were also offered the same spot. I shudder to think of a Mercury/Abyss match (Merc is a great guy who I like personally, but a terrible worker and totally undeserving of a match against a "name"). I was specifically told that Shane Madison had "guaranteed" that Cutler was getting the spot. I ofcourse, let Knight know what I was hearing and he confirmed with Woody that he was, in fact, working Abyss.

Woody was now painted into an uncomfortable corner. He knew he had no intention of having Knight work Abyss, but how would he break the news to him without looking terrible? Simple - blame it on me! Unfortunately, Woody and Madison failed to get their stories straight before commenting publicly. Madison said in a Slam! wrestling story that they had to de-book Knight because they could not trust me to "let" him work the spot. I have never, ever asked anyone to "no-show" a booking they had committed to nor would I. Madison cannot say the same thing, by the way. And of all the people not likely to be one of my "boys" and no-show a match against a "name" at my request, Knight is the guy. He simply would not have done that even if I asked, which I did not. Woody's position was that he de-booked Knight because I was "unprofessional" in filming a "rib" on Ernie Todd (once again, when stupid shit happens, Ernie somehow factors in). As a result of my "unprofessionalism", Knight was being de-booked and there would be "no PCW" talent on the show. Sound plausible? Nope. Ridiculous is more like it. And Woody ended up asking 5 or 6 PCW guys to be apart of the show after the "rib" (they all declined, by the way).

Now this entire story might sound stupid and serve as a perfect example of how bullshit politics can adversely impact a show and the local industry and I would agree with that. However, the politics were most certainly not coming from our end. I have always said I would support anything that is a positive for the local industry or the boys and PCW's continued successful existence is the biggest contributing factor to that. If I only ran one show and wanted to use guys that wrestled for another promotion, I would compromise with that promotion to make it happen and appreciate their contribution to my event.

I wish all the boys luck with the show and hope it is a rousing success. I might even buy a ticket myself to support them. My hope is that in the future, a compromise can be struck so that the fans paying $15 for future shows get to see the best show possible in this market.

Steve Corino

I had the chance to converse with Steve Corino the past couple of weeks. He's a terrific guy and a fantastic worker and continues to enjoy a lot of success in the business. I remember when we booked him the first time in August 2005, many people said we were crazy. Two other promoters in the business said he "wouldn't draw flies". Not only did he draw very well, he did it twice. But more important than the draw, Corino had two fantastic matches and imparted his considerable wisdom on myself and the guys he worked with.

Steve and I have talked ever since his last appearance about his next one. We've had a couple of ideas kicking around and I have no doubt Steve will once again appear in a PCW ring in the future.

George W. Bush

Most people that know me, know I am a devout Conservative (and you'll see Stephen Harper's name in this blog many times in the future). I strongly believe George Bush is not only a good thing for the world, but he was necessary for the world. I hate when politics get put before the greater good. Every single democrat in Congress favoured the war. But now it's not popular so they change their mind. It must be nice to have that luxury. Bush doesn't have that option - he has to consider the greater good.

I don't really mind if people disagree with Bush's policies if they have a logical reason for doing so, but the idiotic rhetoric that Bush started the war on terror to get a hold of the world's oil supplies or that Bush was responsible for 911 are laughable at best and terribly, terribly pathetic and sad at worse.

I don't blindly follow Bush - he's made mistakes and his team greatly under-estimated the will of a group of people who believe it's a Godly honour to die for their cause and take innocent victims with them. But imagine if Al Gore had been President when 911 happened...I shudder to think (but in fairness, Gore is an intelligent and thoughtful guy - check out his documentary "An Inconvenient Truth").

Speaking of "real" politics, the 2008 Presidential election could be the most interesting in history. It's early, but I see Hillary Clinton getting the Democratic nomination. The Republican side is a bit tougher but Rudy Giuliani is the popular choice (but may not be the favourite of the party). John McCain might be the best choice for Republicans but in an election with younger, more dynamic people on the opposition side, his age might work against him. I really like John Edwards as a Democrat and I think Barack Obama is a flash in the pan (though pairing him with Clinton on the same ticket might create an unstoppable duo).

I spoke to a staffer for a local Conservative MP who told me they believe an election in the near future is a real possibility. Personally, I don't see it. I don't Stephane Dion will win over western voters and I question whether he'll get enough support in Ontario. If we don't get a Conservative majority in the next election (and we should if the voters have any sense), it will be a minority either way. The Liberals have a lot of experience and veteran savvy...not much character, but savvy.

Feel free to email me questions or comments or discuss here.