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Post by Joe Neglia on Jun 29, 2015 20:49:16 GMT -5
Between the time WCW shut down and TNA became a thing, there were a number of companies vying to take WCW's place. Hogan's XWF is probably the most well-known, followed by WWA, which had a couple of interesting Australian PPVs (where the world was introduced to Nathan Jones, who actually showed a hint of promise at this point) before crashing and burning during their first PPV held in the U.S.
Then there was John Collins' MECW (Main Event Championship Wrestling) which made huge promises before managing put on one trainwreck of a show (and that's not counting the "invasion" angle they did where they invaded some indie fed with a crowd of about 35 people) and Collins getting into trouble with the law. The John Collins story is even crazier than Herb Abrams in a lot of ways (plus, nobody dies at the end, though John did fake a heart attack at one point to try to worm out of something or another that he was in trouble for and getting railed on about).
There was also Court Bauer's MLW (Major League Wrestling), which kicked off just a couple of weeks before TNA and showed a lot of promise, focusing as much on ROH types as it was WCW cast-offs. I remember it got on one of the satellite sports channels I could get (Sunshine, I think?) and really liked the couple of eps they aired before it disappeared.
I almost included DiBiase's WXO, but I think they were running neck and neck with the final days of WCW, not after.
Any I'm missing? One I didn't include was the new UWF, which I think turned out to be a total scam and the workers (Nash was one, I remember) weren't even all aware they were being advertised for it.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jun 29, 2015 21:13:46 GMT -5
NWA Wildside?
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Chainsaw
T
A very BAD man.
It is what it is
Posts: 90,480
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Post by Chainsaw on Jun 29, 2015 21:24:19 GMT -5
Man, I had such high hopes for MLW. It was mostly picking up the pieces of ECW, but I thought it could have gained a foothold, especially when it got the TV deal. I wonder if there's anyplace where those episodes are floating around...
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jun 29, 2015 21:25:59 GMT -5
Man, I had such high hopes for MLW. It was mostly picking up the pieces of ECW, but I thought it could have gained a foothold, especially when it got the TV deal. I wonder if there's anyplace where those episodes are floating around... MLW was my favourite wrestling show when we got The Wrestling Channel in the UK, it had that ECW feel but also had it's own identity, shame it didn't last.
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Dragonfly
Samurai Cop
...is no Barry Windham.
Posts: 2,478
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Post by Dragonfly on Jun 29, 2015 21:45:32 GMT -5
International Wrestling Cartel (IWC). If I may extremely long-winded for a moment: Pittsburgh-based promoter Jim Miller took over for Howard Brody as president of the NWA in 2001. At the time, Miller was the undisputed king of Western Pennsylvania wrestling, running three separate promotions (PWX, PWL and NWA East) and helping book a fourth (CWF). In February, Miller and his head booker, wrestler/popular DJ/general local celebrity Bubba the Bulldog were approached by DirecTV about starting a TV show for their fledgling Freeview network. A local wrestling talk show was already doing decently for them, and they wanted to see if they could expand. The new promotion would be owned and booked by Bubba, but have full the backing of Miller and the NWA. It was dubbed the "International Wrestling Cartel" by the network, a name that everyone else hated. (DirecTV specifically went with the word "cartel" because it sounded "dangerous.") Twelve episodes were filmed, using a combination of local/regional talent and few Indy/WCW/ECW names that worked on the cheap - namely Evan Karagias, Tracy Smothers, Chris Hero, Minoru Fujita and a then-unknown Briscoe Brothers. The announcing duties were handled by Pittsburgh/Cleveland mainstay Jeff Gorman and Mark Madden. It was, as far as everyone was concerned, going to be a sure-fire hit. It was such a sure thing that former Steel City Wrestling (PWX's main competition in the 90s) promoter Norm Connors started running official IWC house shows using talent who were deemed "too new" for TV (and Hero). The show never made it to air. In between the TV tapings and their scheduled premiere, the wrestling loving execs were fired. Their replacements got rid of everything, including the talk show and IWC. With the chance of national exposure gone, Miller and the NWA pulled their backing. All of the local talent, which was 95% of the roster, chose the sure thing (the recently reunited NWA East) over the seemingly dead upstart. Madden left as well. Left with no roster and no TV deal, Bubba fell into a deep depression. In a last-ditch effort, he sold the rights to IWC to Norm, under the proviso that he could get booked whenever he wanted. The Norm promoted, NWA-free version of IWC would eventually make TV, but it would be a far cry from DirecTV. Low-power Pittsburgh station WBGN is a lot of things, but "glamorous" certainly isn't one of them. Miller would never again step foot into an IWC ring. Notes: - Bubba the Bulldog is credited for training Kurt Angle. He also was the person who got the family of Connor Michalek in touch with the WWE. Bubba says that the shows still exist, but are "sitting in a warehouse somewhere." - Freeview is now known as "The Audience Netowrk." The executives that took over in 2001 run the station to this day. - Norm Connors' "no-name" house show roster included the likes of Christopher Daniels, CM Punk, Colt Cabana and a bit later on, Sterling James Keenan (Corey Graves). - While it technically evolved from the house shows instead of Miller's TV project, the modern version of IWC counts the tapings as a part of their lineage. The results for both the show and the house shows can be found here. - PWX is still in business. They left the NWA when Bruce Tharpe took over a few years ago. IWC is now owned by former backstage announcer Justin Plummer and is booked by Wrestlezone's Justin LaBar.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2015 4:09:57 GMT -5
Why didn't XWF and WWA work out anyway?
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,254
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Jun 30, 2015 4:52:18 GMT -5
XWF never got on any channel. Plus WWE raided them. Took most of their names. WWA ,I always heard it was money issues.
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,254
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Jun 30, 2015 4:54:54 GMT -5
What was the ,I think Canadian based,fed that had lots of names. But turned out to be a front for money laundering? All I can remember was they made it into EWR,Bob Holly worked there a few times and someone edited their WIKI page and put up all the dirt on them.
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Post by kingoftheindies on Jun 30, 2015 7:19:14 GMT -5
MLW was entertaining to me as they did try to remain different from the rest of the indies at the time. But some of their angles were rather boring.
I remember enjoying WWA's show they did in Vegas
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DjZonk
Don Corleone
Where's my cat?
Posts: 1,325
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Post by DjZonk on Jun 30, 2015 7:44:00 GMT -5
I have a soft spot for MLW, they hosted some nice random matches.
Also worth noting 3PW, which was like a spiritual ECW continuation with a lot of their original stars, and the likes of X Pac making his re debut to the indies with Sabu, Lawler, Sullivan, Dustyaing cameos and up and coking stars like some young rascal called CM Punk making appearances.
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Sephiroth
Wade Wilson
Surviving
Posts: 28,830
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Post by Sephiroth on Jun 30, 2015 8:53:16 GMT -5
XPW-a promotion that could fill entire chapters of a new Wrestlecrap book.
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Post by Can you afford to pay me, Gah on Jun 30, 2015 9:05:51 GMT -5
MLW was the one I thought could been something and had a great combo of the best in the indies and veterans. I was a fan of the Extereme Horsemen idea and loved that old school feel when they did War Games the right way as in two rings and a cage. It was a mix of ECW and the NWA. I enjoyed stuff like seeing Dr. Death again. It allowed me to see Kojima and get my first look at him.
There TV shows was just matches from there monthly event so if you can get all of those you have there TV collection. It was cool to seen Joey Styles back in action calling the matches for a while.
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Post by Joe Neglia on Jun 30, 2015 11:00:12 GMT -5
XPW-a promotion that could fill entire chapters of a new Wrestlecrap book. They were around before WCW's demise and were an active "competitor" to ECW for a brief time, even trying to "invade" their shows.
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DjZonk
Don Corleone
Where's my cat?
Posts: 1,325
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Post by DjZonk on Jun 30, 2015 11:13:23 GMT -5
I was watching the Rob Black shooting on Heyman after Heat Wave 2000 on YT the other day as it goes. Funny how cringe it is.
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Post by Joe Neglia on Jun 30, 2015 11:30:27 GMT -5
Oh, and Dusty's Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling. It started small, before the demise of WCW, but once that happened, they started using a lot of ex-WCW and ECW guys and were at one point even eyeing a possible PPV show.
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Post by Joe Neglia on Jun 30, 2015 11:34:17 GMT -5
They certainly had as much a shot as some of the others. Though they'd been around a while in various incarnations, and had been used as a developmental for WCW (and later TNA). I can remember getting their show here in Dallas (pre-WCW closing) and it was pretty good; but then something wonky happened and they stopped sending footage out or something, because we ended up getting the exact same show 5 weeks in a row in reruns before they took it off the channel.
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Juice
El Dandy
Wrong? Oh he can tell ya about being wrong.
I'm the one who raised you from perdition.
Posts: 8,172
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Post by Juice on Jun 30, 2015 11:48:14 GMT -5
International Wrestling Cartel (IWC). If I may extremely long-winded for a moment: Pittsburgh-based promoter Jim Miller took over for Howard Brody as president of the NWA in 2001. At the time, Miller was the undisputed king of Western Pennsylvania wrestling, running three separate promotions (PWX, PWL and NWA East) and helping book a fourth (CWF). In February, Miller and his head booker, wrestler/popular DJ/general local celebrity Bubba the Bulldog were approached by DirecTV about starting a TV show for their fledgling Freeview network. A local wrestling talk show was already doing decently for them, and they wanted to see if they could expand. The new promotion would be owned and booked by Bubba, but have full the backing of Miller and the NWA. It was dubbed the "International Wrestling Cartel" by the network, a name that everyone else hated. (DirecTV specifically went with the word "cartel" because it sounded "dangerous.") Twelve episodes were filmed, using a combination of local/regional talent and few Indy/WCW/ECW names that worked on the cheap - namely Evan Karagias, Tracy Smothers, Chris Hero, Minoru Fujita and a then-unknown Briscoe Brothers. The announcing duties were handled by Pittsburgh/Cleveland mainstay Jeff Gorman and Mark Madden. It was, as far as everyone was concerned, going to be a sure-fire hit. It was such a sure thing that former Steel City Wrestling (PWX's main competition in the 90s) promoter Norm Connors started running official IWC house shows using talent who were deemed "too new" for TV (and Hero). The show never made it to air. In between the TV tapings and their scheduled premiere, the wrestling loving execs were fired. Their replacements got rid of everything, including the talk show and IWC. With the chance of national exposure gone, Miller and the NWA pulled their backing. All of the local talent, which was 95% of the roster, chose the sure thing (the recently reunited NWA East) over the seemingly dead upstart. Madden left as well. Left with no roster and no TV deal, Bubba fell into a deep depression. In a last-ditch effort, he sold the rights to IWC to Norm, under the proviso that he could get booked whenever he wanted. The Norm promoted, NWA-free version of IWC would eventually make TV, but it would be a far cry from DirecTV. Low-power Pittsburgh station WBGN is a lot of things, but "glamorous" certainly isn't one of them. Miller would never again step foot into an IWC ring. Notes: - Bubba the Bulldog is credited for training Kurt Angle. He also was the person who got the family of Connor Michalek in touch with the WWE. Bubba says that the shows still exist, but are "sitting in a warehouse somewhere." - Freeview is now known as "The Audience Netowrk." The executives that took over in 2001 run the station to this day. - Norm Connors' "no-name" house show roster included the likes of Christopher Daniels, CM Punk, Colt Cabana and a bit later on, Sterling James Keenan (Corey Graves). - While it technically evolved from the house shows instead of Miller's TV project, the modern version of IWC counts the tapings as a part of their lineage. The results for both the show and the house shows can be found here. - PWX is still in business. They left the NWA when Bruce Tharpe took over a few years ago. IWC is now owned by former backstage announcer Justin Plummer and is booked by Wrestlezone's Justin LaBar. I'm actually friends with Sam (Shirley doe) and some others. Sjk. This wrestling scene defined my teen years.
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Chuck Conry
Dennis Stamp
zombies DON'T Run
Posts: 3,716
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Post by Chuck Conry on Jun 30, 2015 11:50:03 GMT -5
I got all the MLW DVDs, got them for a steal on High Spots years ago. They have all the matches, but I figure the TV show probably had promos and such that aren't on the DVDs to help fill the shows and move along the storylines.
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Dragonfly
Samurai Cop
...is no Barry Windham.
Posts: 2,478
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Post by Dragonfly on Jun 30, 2015 14:48:58 GMT -5
Why didn't XWF and WWA work out anyway? I have the first three XWF episodes on DVD. I can tell you firsthand that it failed for one reason and one reason only: It sucked. Highlights include: - Evil, "McMahon-like" CEO Sable (referred to as "Rena" by the broadcast team of Tony Schiavony and Jerry Lawler) versus the rebel commissioner, Roddy Piper. - Buff Bagwell: Main event face. Never mind the fact that the crowd kept chanting "you got fired" at Buff. The other major face was Vampiro for some reason. - Constant reminders from both Schiavony and Piper that the cruiserweights, while talented and athletic, can't hold a candle to the heavyweights. Said cruisers include AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Low-Ki (called Kwick Kick because he "kicks quickly'), Juventud Geurrera, Psychosis and Kid K(r)ash. Oh... and all but Kash were afterthoughts. The real star was Josh Matthews. - Former WCW jobber Emory Hail was the big monster heel. He even had Jimmy Hart with him, complete with a custom Hail jacket. As you can guess, 95% of the promos were Hail/hell puns. (Line of the shows goes to Lawler: "Someone has to tell Jimmy that that coat looks like Hail.") - The Shane Twins (The Gymini), the only people in the tag team division under the age of 35 (and barely at that), were completely buried in favor of The Road Warriors, The South Philly Posse (Public Enemy) and the freaking Nasty Boys. - Not only did they had Curt Henning working the Mr. Perfect gimmick, they even had Bobby Heenan in his corner. Was he the main heel? Nope! Henning and The Brain played second fiddle to Sable and this man (spoilered for size): {Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Spoiler} That is former bodybuilder "British Storm" Ian Harrison. He spoke with a Dickens era cockney accent and was absolutely clueless in the ring. Interesting side note: Initially, Jerry Jarrett wanted TNA to be the "pay-per-view wing" of the XWF. The idea was that XWF was going to be TV-only and cater towards families, while the "more adult" TNA would live exclusively on PPV. There would be some overlap in storylines and talent, but both shows could ultimately be watched independently of the other. Jeff wanted to do something similar using the WWA, but Jerry wouldn't hear of it. He trusted XWF co-owner Jimmy Hart and felt that Kevin Sullivan "could book a good show." He thought that WWA owner Andrew McManus, on the other hand, was a glorified con artist that would leave the talent high and dry at the first sign of trouble. He also felt that head booker (and Russo protégé) Jeremy Borash was terrible at his job and wanted nothing to do with him. (Note: The elder Jarrett's opinion on Borash would change damatically a few months later.)
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DjZonk
Don Corleone
Where's my cat?
Posts: 1,325
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Post by DjZonk on Jun 30, 2015 14:56:47 GMT -5
XWF failed because Hogan was signed by WWE whilst they were shipping the pilot episode around.
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