A Show Review...and MORE!

Where shall I begin...

PCW's Back to School Bash is two weeks away! There has been a very strong interest in tickets and we're all very excited about the show. Samoa Joe is a fantastic performer and the card looks great!

Kenny Omega recently returned following a couple matches, most notably with JAPW. All accounts are that Kenny blew away the fans and management. Kenny told me that he thought it would take a few trips to really get his foot in the door, but apparently, one was all the needed. Good for him!!

I conversed with Mentallo earlier today and he advised me to plan to not have him back anytime soon which is fantastic news for him and his fans because it means he's staying in Mexico longer then anticipated. I couldn't be happier to "lose" a guy!

PCW announcer (and host of The Squared Circle) Mike Arnott and I took in the RME show last Friday night. From what I understand Glendale is their "premier" venue and I was looking forward to a "stacked" card and a great show.

I won't get as detailed as I did for their Canada Day show because at that time, I was witnessing the event mostly on a dare by their promoter Angus. Last week, Mike and I went because we wanted to check out a wrestling show. It's good to see what your competition is doing (though no member of RME management has seen a PCW event in years for some reason...).

I will say that it was a stronger effort then their Canada Show but they are hindered by their obvious lack of depth. Oddly enough, I still haven't heard from Angus who continues to pursue members of my roster who continue to decline or advise him to "talk to Andrew".

Depth aside, the show was notable for two seemingly legit retirements - TJ Bratt and Justin Tyme. Though Bratt and I have been at odds more often then not, I wish him luck in his post-wrestling life. He certainly made an impact on the local industry. I was surprised that the retirement happened when it did as I was under the impression he was planning to work the rest of the year. And if he is really retiring, I am surprised he didn't request it to happen at the LID.

Bratt will be remembered by many as "lightening in a bottle" - a guy who was the right person booked in the right angle at the right time back in TRCW in 2001 at the Palladium. I don't think it would be unfair to describe Bratt as somewhat self-destructive but perhaps he fell victim to "too much too soon". He definitely helped make me a wrestling fans back in 2001 and put on some fantastic performances over the years.

His "Doin' it Alone" gimmick and angle against MVP was gold, though it ultimately suffered due to a change in booker. I recall being somewhat confused when Bratt lost the climactic encounter with Madison and then disappeared for awhile. When he came back, Rob Stardom had become the top babyface attraction doing hardcore every week and TRCW was declining every week.

Justin Tyme won't be missed by many in the business. His career began with a lot of promise. I remember hearing about this kid as having a ton of potential, but he never lived up to it. We recently exchanged emails where he expressed his shrinking desire for the business and how he had often been encouraged to take steroids to improve his look. My advice was, 'you don't need juice, but a gym and some training wouldn't hurt'. I think Tyme was a guy who never really wanted it as much as others wanted it for him. When he was in PCW briefly, it was clear he just didn't have the commitment to live up to his hype or the push he was getting. At the RME show, he was so totally lost in his match with Rob Stardom, I was embarrassed for him. Following the pin, he immediately jumped to him feet and no-sold. Brutal. Bye bye.

Some other observations about the show (these are my opinion, afterall, what do I know):

- A too-long promo to start the show. Especially with kids, it's best to start with a fast paced opener. But the promo did set the stage for the show. However, what was the point of stripping Jon Cutler of the title if you're going to have a tournament a month later when he's healthy? Why not just wait for him to get healthy or drop the strap that night or do an injury angle building to a big match with a major issue? It didn't make sense to me and, in my opinion, hurt the belt and hurt the next guy to get it. I'd be very interested in hearing the shoot reasons behind that decision (someone in the know please educate me) or why that decision is good for business.

- Another lack of depth issue is the fact RME was forced to use guys in positions far above their pay grade. For example, Bradley Scott. Scott needs a gimmick. I'm not going to say he sucks and should be out of the business at all. He's been around awhile, he's training, he seems like a nice guy. He needs a gimmick. Generic, babyface isn't cutting it and exposes him as bland and uninteresting. What bothered me about this match is that he worked Moses Luke who is supposed to be their top heel, yet Mo struggled to win. I realise this was likely a matter of needing the matches to put in some time to give the fans a reasonably lengthy show, but Mo should have squashed him (and there are ways to drag a squash out for timing issues). The other problem was Scott's hot comeback. When Mo missed a second rope leg drop, the fans popped. He kicked Mo in the back and the fans popped. He then applied a chin lock, killing the heat. Chin locks should not be used in hot comebacks in my humble opinion. But I suppose it's a learning experience.

Dick Walker is the spitting image of Paul Giamatti. He even sounds a bit like him. There's got to be a gimmick there...

Speaking of separated at birth, how about Robby Royce and John Ferguson Jr??

Putting Kory Kinkade and Cory Diamond together is at least something...but what else can you do with those two? There doesn't seem to be any other tag teams, especially babyface ones, so maybe doing a program where The Two Cory's get closer and closer before finally upsetting the champs might get the kids behind them, I don't know.

Gene Swan worked the hardest of anyone on the show though his match was short. He actually did something other then a kick, punch, or chop. And his match was booked smartly as a glorified squash. He may be their best option for a top face since they have no one after Cutler. Merc can't be a top guy because he can't work and looked terribly lost in his match with Bratt, though he got the biggest pop of the night from the 40 kids in attendance.

My only beef with the main event would be, if you're going to promote a no-DQ match, you should probably do something that might normally garner a DQ, otherwise, just work a straight match.

The best match was probably Stardom vs Chris Dion because it was booked smartly. ie. it was a glorified squash to get Stardom over as he was winning the strap later in the show. It's the same thing they should have done with Mo - let him destroy some guys and get over.

I'm pretty hard on RME, but why wouldn't I be. If you're going to make bold statements about being a "growing company" or claim that everyone is jumping ship to work there or that PCW is on the decline and RME is going to surpass it, then you better be able to put your money where your mouth is. So far, RME has failed miserably to do that. I noticed their depth issues have caused them to be unable to even post a top ten ranking on their website.

I spoke to a member of their management and I must say, their entire way of thinking is warped. They claim they work the way they do because it was a kids show and if they had an adult-oriented event, the show would be different. Really? How so? Dropping F-bombs and bleeding does not make a show great. Great work makes a show great. Good work is good work regardless of what the audience looks like and bland, boring work is bland, boring work. I think the management team over there could really benefit from checking out our upcoming show and seeing what the best work in Manitoba is. It might open their eyes a bit.

I'm always open to constructive feedback and anyone who offers to help. The feeling I get from RME is that they have a very defensive, closed-minded attitude. Angus is like the emperor with no clothes.

All in all, I enjoyed the show as it was an experience. I like to watch live shows and it's nice to have someone run Winnipeg other then us. I'll probably try to check out their next couple of shows too.

For those that enjoy blogs, check out: http://meccaholic.blogspot.com/ the official blog of Shane Madison.

If you have the movie channels, you have to watch Californication. Starring David Duchovny, it's probably the smartest written show on TV right now and produced by Showtime.

I've always been a huge fan of Sid Vicious, who appears for Mike Davidson's WFX later this month. I would expect to see him in WWE again shortly and I question those people that think that's a bad idea. He was always super over and has mainstream appeal since he was well known during the Monday Night Wars. WWE might want to look at Scott Hall and X-Pac as well. Mentallo was working out with X-Pac this month and passed his information along to me actually.

One thing I miss about not conversing with Davidson as much is our spirited discussions regarding soap operas. He's much more educated about daytime then I as I am only a diehard Y&R fan. Y&R is a great example of how a bad booker with a great crew can kill a show. How anyone could take over that show and write it into the ground is beyond me, but it's happening. I'd like to hear Davidson's opinion on that.

I understand there will be a NWN show in Winnipeg later this month with some PCW Superstars.

http://www.premierchampionshipwrestling.com/