*Sigh*

I was doing my regular rounds of wrestling-related websites and came across a blog that stated that something sent shockwaves through the local wrestling industry this past weekend. I don't know how I could have missed these shockwaves but I must have. Oh well, I once again accurately predicted the take my ball and go home mentality would rear it's ugly head.

I don't want to get into a childish war of words since that only benefits the child who gets off on such things to the detriment of those around him, but I'll take a moment to address a few things and clarify this "greatest angle of all time" that was only ruined by my lack of vision and the best efforts of my inner circle who don't have anything better to do than figure out ways to undermine Shane Madison.

Firstly, Shane Madison is a strong contributor to a wrestling show. But he's a much better human being when he's not being manipulated by Mike Davidson. As I told people as recently as yesterday, I'd still be thrilled if Madison wanted to be apart of our team and committed to our team. Unfortunately, that seems unlikely to happen as we're inundated with a whole lot of idiotic bullshit that is happening locally. And I suppose I have only myself to blame.

A few months ago, at Mike's behest, I mediated a reconciliation between the two of them. The purpose of which was Mike's desire to come work for PCW and turn his "shoot" with Madison into a work. As a result of the meeting, Madison was directed by Mike to write a scathing blog about him. After he did, Mike called me, angry that Madison didn't write it the way he wanted. The backburnered that angle.

I repeatedly asked Madison what he wanted to do moving forward once Cutler had gone to WWE. Madison didn't have any ideas but did tell me he wanted to work. Great. That gave us plenty of options. Mike got in touch with me, again asking to come back and suggesting that he retire on the show and then join Madison to take over wrestling. I preferred the idea where they worked each other since I didn't see a lot of options with two guys who were essentially managers being a team. Madison kept telling me they had the greatest idea of all time but he couldn't actually tell me what it was.

I gave them the leeway to do what they wanted on the first show. I put up the announcement of Mike's return and retirement on the website. Contrary to popular belief, I think Mike can be creative but he misses the logic boat a lot of times. He was insistent that the angle play out like when Khari Jones signed a one day contract to return to the Bombers and retire. I pointed out that the idea of him signing a one day contract didn't make a lot of sense since no one has a contract and since the idea was that he would continue to work for PCW, wouldn't that violate the contract? He wasn't interested in logic, pointing out it's just like Khari Jones. Ok. No problem.

A few days before the show, Madison contacts me to say Mike won't show up unless he's in the main event. I tried to explain to him that the angle would get over more in the undercard where it could be allowed to grow into something big rather then throwing it out in the main event with the expectations that come with that. I was not remotely confident it would get over and told both of them that the crowd might not go for it. Mike sent me a text saying he was in, if they were on top. I was pretty pissed off that I was being held up in such an unprofessional manner, but I rolled with it. Ok. No problem.

Madison requested additional promo time early in the show to put over the Cutler/Knight match. I suggested the WWE contract signing (honestly, the only part of the multiple promos that got some heat...oops there I go being right again). Madison had helpfully blown the live contract signing by breaking the news on his blog that Jon had already signed it (something which Jon was very upset about as he had asked Madison not to reveal that publicly).

Knowing we were promo heavy already, I tried to convince Mike to combine his promo with the Knight/Cutler match. The idea had been that Mike would come out early, announce his retirement, bask in the adulation of the fans and then make a shocking return following the last match. Since this added yet another promo segment, I requested that he combine this retirement announcement with a stint as guest ring announcer for the main event, for old times sake. I felt this would hide the extra promo segment and give Mike a reason for being around the ring during the main.

Mike rejected the idea and insisted on a separate segment. He further insisted that the entire locker room, heel and face, empty out before the match to embrace and congratulate Jon. I brushed this idea of several times but Mike was pretty insistent. I finally just said we couldn't do it. Clearly, it was a terrible idea. Not only would it have killed the heat for the actual match and added further non-wrestling segments to the show, but it would have killed heat between other guys unnecessarily. I don't mind guys making legitimate shows of emotion like that, but not if we were going to expose it as an angle ten minutes later. It would have been sacrificing everyone else to help get Mike over in an angle that wasn't going to work anyway.

I'm wrong from time to time. Not many other promoters have made public apologies for bad shows. But if I am right about wrestling more often than I am wrong, so be it. It's just the way it is. I tried to give Mike some words of encouragement before his segment, telling him that there was a good chance he would receive silence from the crowd and not to let that rattle him. I hoped that would not happen, but I knew, being a guy that is almost always right, that it was the likely outcome. And it was. There were no mic issues. The crowd just didn't really remember Mike or care that he was retiring or they smelled the work. Whatever the case, they were mostly silent. The only thing that garnered a reaction was Mike using someone else (Robby Royce) to get a pop.

Following the segment, Mike was getting antsy because he wanted to leave. This pissed me off a bit since he had threatened to no show if he didn't get the main event. He stuck around and he and Madison joined forces. But not before another fuck up. Madison and Davidson both heavily criticised me for Jon and Knight singing after the show. They first said it broke kayfabe because they had just worked each other, forgetting that they had wanted the ENTIRE locker room to come out and embrace Jon. Then they said that Jon had to no-sell Madison's finisher to do the singing. Well, the booker of record specifically called for the finisher to be cut off. That was changed in the back by Mike because they wanted their assault to leave Jon totally laid out before he left, which ran totally counter to Madison's pissy attitude that Jon had to lay down at all.

Side note: Madison was upset that only Kenny Omega got to win his last match on the way out. Nope. Kenny lost back to back matches, laying down for Rawskillz before he left.

Long story short, the entire kick off to an angle that didn't make any sense to begin with was pretty terrible. Rather then accept that, Madison went to the internet to criticise the rest of the show and put over his segments. He hedged his bets by saying if the angle was successful it was because he and Mike got total creative control but if it failed it was because my inner circle got in my ear. What a crock of shit and a huge insult to guys far more talented and successful. My so-called inner circle (a pretty good band back in the day, BTW) are the LAST guys to pull that shit and the FIRST guys to be willing to do whatever asked of them. I knew it was going to be pretty difficult to welcome them back after that and to salvage the angle, but I considered them friends and I wanted them on the team.

It was also a crock of shit when Mike suggested the problem was the show was promo heavy and the Angels/Scorpio segment should have been cut when the Madison/Davidson angle had FOUR segments.

Frustrated, I finally demanded to know what this incredible angle was and where it was going. Madison told me I had to let Mike book the whole thing and to trust them. Trust them? He told me he didn't really know the details and to ask Mike. I asked Mike who told me he didn't really know the details either but that Madison wanted certain things. Either they were both working me, working each other or completely fucking clueless about what was happening. All I was told was that they would appear on Oct 9th and announce they were both coming out of retirement together (Madison never retired to begin with) and would wrestle as a team on the 30th against a suitable opposing team. That team would be green guys whom they would squash. They would then squash another green team at the next show before working with Knight and Kaos. Madison continued to explain to me how I didn't get the business and that we had to book shows for casual fans and not our regulars because he felt the regulars would show up no matter how shitty the show was. Maybe. But I respected my regulars.

Reluctantly I agreed but wanted to know who these green guys were. It seemed Madison didn't really want to tell me. I found out from someone else that one of them was an underage guy being trained by Danny Duggan. I told Madison he was out and he got hot over that. I asked around for second opinions and it confirmed what I already knew - the idea was bad. I tried to convince them to go right into a high profile match for their comeback and make it really mean something but they didn't want that. This was all about attracting casual fans. The idea would have turned off our regulars and the casual fans wouldn't have understood that a bad match against two green guys was a storyline "joke". Perhaps I am wrong.

In any event, I was still going to give them the benefit of the doubt. But Mike quit. Apparently the idea that I made a deal with Ernie Todd and Robby Royce to get PCW guys more bookings somehow offended him. He told me he didnt want to be on a show with Ernie, though I am not sure why. He probably didnt want to be on a show with Royce either given the hilarious look of shock on his face when I told him Royce was coming down to the show (followed by some furious text messaging as I understand it). I am not really sure why Mike was so against the guys getting extra bookings and he wasn't overly forthcoming. He would only say if Ernie was at our next show, he wouldn't be.

Actually I think Madison quit first because I didnt like the angle, then Mike quit. Then Madison came back. Then Madison ignored my emails last week. We finally exchanged emails yesterday where Madison inexplicably stated that he would not want career advice from Mike Angels. Which makes sense since Mike Angels is a teacher and Madison sells insurance.

Before everyone thinks I am shooting on Madison, I am not. I am clarifying reality. Madison sometimes gets a bad wrap because of the company he keeps which isn't fair. I don't care if he wants to work for RME or SPW or NWN or anyone else. But a professional would have told me especially a professional who has openly criticised other guys for doing the same thing. But so be it. Madison was always fairly easy to work with and pretty enthusiastic about what we were doing. Combining him with Mike was a recipe for disaster. It was a mistake honouring Mike's request to bring him back. I was wrong.

The insults and criticism are pretty hollow. You'll see Mike and others insult me and PCW when very recently they sang our praises. It exposes reality. I can understand if feelings were hurt and egos bruised because I made a deal with guys Mike doesn't like. But we're adults and we should be able to handle it rather then resorting to childish bullshit. If wrestling is all you have and it's passing you by, I can understand the insecurity. As a friend, I could be supportive. Some things are a lot more important than this business...or at least they should be.

I wish Mike the best of luck with his attempted merger with RME. I am sure Angus will regret it eventually but considering he was about to fold a month ago, you can't begrudge a guy doing whatever he has to do to deliver options for his loyal crew, even if it means selling out to guys who don't care about the success of the promotion.

In PCW, we're very used to guys changing their tune and criticising us. When you're the best at what you do, it's par for the course. I would expect the bullshit criticism to continue and the efforts to minimize our success. And if it doesnt affect us, they can always make things up. Yeah, that might work. Really, it's just same old, same old. It happened in fall 2003. It happened in 2005. And yet we're still here.

Mike's efforts have resulted in some pretty good things for local wrestling. His "highs" have been great. It's his "lows" that are sad. As a person I once considered my best friend, I really hope he gets it together.

What it comes right down to, what really kicked off the bullshit, the "ribs", and Mike's childish acting out was the informal agreement I made with Ernie and Royce to share talent on our shows. It's a win-win. Will it last? Who knows. But if it's beneficial to the boys and the local industry, I'm all for it. Even when I was pissed off at Royce during the summer, I openly suggested that RME would be wise to give Royce the book. He's a quality creative guy and I am sure his shows will be well worth it. And who knows, maybe the "deal" has a few other details designed to be beneficial to our team that no one yet knows about.

Stay tuned...

...and tune in this Thursday to see a rare appearance of the man who made Mike quit, Ernie Todd!