After receiving many, many, many e-mails (4) asking me to discuss the Pro Wrestling Noah deal back in 2001, I've decided to make it my first educational blog. Since APW and NOAH are no longer doing business 6 years later, there should be no heat discussing the particulars from 2001. Doing business with NOAH started in APW but I believe it ended in PWI and I will explain how that is.
Before I get into the story, it is important to make you aware that in the history of APW since 1991, the person that made the most money was Donovan Morgan. At times his job was a cushion job and other times he was a busy bee. Donovan had flexible hours because he was an Independent Contractor. His duties included, training, recruiting/marketing and he was an Administrative Assistant. Other duties included making bank deposits, setting up duties for students to pass out flyers, sell advertising for the souvenir program etc... Donovan got the job when he didn't want to take a similar job with XPW and Modest negotiated for Morgan in 1999 and said he'd do everything in the Front Office for APW if we could guarantee him a salary and commission. He was allowed to do work for himself and come and go as he pleased because he was not an employee. That is also why he would take off during the day to go eat, lift weights, go tan or take a nap. Donovan was very good at recruiting but only worked hard at it if he needed the money and wanted to jack up his commission. I gave him a sweet deal. Instead of giving the guy 10% of the company, I did better than that. I gave him 10% of all monies that walked in the door whether it be Boot Camp, collections, sponsors, souvenir program ads. In less than 18 months, he built his pay to over $3k per month. Like I said in Beyond the Mat,
I am the best payoff guy in Indy wrestling(You should see me at my computer with the tears rolling down my eyes just like Beyond the Mat). I am known for taking care of the boys. Anyone want a fluff job making over $3k a month where you put in about 5 hours a day Monday through Thursday? Apply at roland@allprowrestling.com
In reading David Meltzer's Wrestling Observer, I found out that Mr. Misawa, then President of Pro Wrestling Noah and Mr. Nagata, money guy and probably majority stockholder as well as some of the Japanese media (probably on the Noah payroll because they did whatever Mr. Misawa wanted) were coming to the U.S. to scout U.S. Indy wrestlers and/or students and were hitting 5 locations including the Harley Race training school. They were also headed for Las Vegas for business and pleasure. When I found this out, I asked Donovan to do some research and he was paid for it. I wanted to see what it would take for PRO WRESTLING NOAH to squeeze in a visit to the APW training school. Donovan made some calls and found out they had no time other than a 5 hour layover at the S.F. International Airport when they headed home to Japan. We had to take advantage of that so I took the time and money to set up Limosine service to pick them up at the airport and shuttle them back. We also put out a nice food spread as I felt the two would be the classy thing to do. NOAH didn't have time to eat any food and the wrestlers were too nervous to eat any of it. Well hell, I wasn't going to let it go to waste. I ait all the damn food! It cost APW around $800 but ignore that! According to the Internet World, Roland Alexander and APW are a bunch of cheap bastards and never pay anyone!
Keep in mind, there would be nothing in it for APW other than exposure. Why? When Donovan Morgan left APW, he returned the cell phone with no chip and returned the front door key but he didn't leave the the Modest and Morgan Boot Camp contracts. Somehow the movers took a couple of Championship Belts and the Modest and Morgan files that had agreements stating we would TRAIN THEM FREE OF CHARGE in exchange for 15% of any income they generated. It would have been nice to get 15% of their weekly pay for the 5 years between 2001 and 2005. By the way, we never got anything from Crash Holly, Spike Dudley or Vic Grimes either yet the Internet is under some misconception that we have. I guess some people on the Internet don't have a life and hold a grudge for never being a part of the wrestling business.
Jason Deadrich, the other swine many people love to knock on the Internet because he is part of the APW Management. People are jealous of all his hard work done in APW over the years to earn his way to where he is in the pro wrestling industry. Afterall, the guy is responsible for www.clickwrestle.com and www.chickfight.tv and a board of director at Cauliflower Alley Club. For those that continue to knock him, you do so because you can't be him. Jason took a day away from his busy schedule (time and money) to assist me with the NOAH tryouts at the famous APW GARAGE. He helped gather resume statistics and pictures for NOAH Management. My memory doesn't even allow me to remember if one of the more famous Anderson brothers, Doug Anderson was there or not but damn, he should have been there helping us because according to the very bright Internet world, he owns part of APW. If this is the case and I don't know about it, maybe I should hit him up for some more investment money. It is amazing how some people know everything behind the scenes at APW and yet they have never set foot in the building but that is another story.
IDIOTS, my favorite people!
The tryout day came and we were organized. We had gone around the gym and taken down all the Antonio Inoki pictures and replaced them with Misawa pictures. My biggest surprise was yet to come. As we are pulling away in the limo after the tryouts, Mr. Misawa is sitting in the back of the limo and he lights up a cigarette. I thought I was going to have a heart attack. His translator, Ken (when you are super intelligent and bilingual, and speak better English than most Americans, always make sure you have a translator with you) said, "I hope you all don't mind but Mr. Misawa would like to excuse himself because he is going to have a cigarette". This is where I made my mistake. At this time, I should have had Donovan say, "Roland would like to tell Mr. Misawa excuse me but he is going to have Betty Beefcake hop in the limo, serve him some of his favorite food, Sushi and she will be bobbing on Mr. Alexanders knob". That would have blown Misawa away and he would have at least had a good laugh and said to himself, "It is so awesome to be a Japanese legend, in the U.S., riding around in a limo with a Carny Legend". Now that I think about it, I could have then had Betty Beefcake give him some bisquits and gravy. Can you imagine the photo op that would have been? Here I am, sitting in a limo after APW and its graduates impress Mr. Misawa with the tryouts and he is lighting a cigarette. This isn't any Japanese wrestler. This isn't Sandman. This is the fricking Japanese pro wrestling legend, probably one of the top 3 or 4 wrestlers in the history of Japanese pro wrestling if not the best. This is the guy who has done more 30 to 45 minute matches than you can count and here he is smoking a cigarette in his jean shorts in a limo in Hayward California at the famous APW GARAGE. You'll just never know what you will see behind the scenes in pro wrestling. At this time, I am thinking, "MISAWA IS GOD!" Shit, he probably had his knob bobbed on while in Vegas... well. Uh... Ummm... Strike that, Forget I even said that, K-Fabe. I don't want to get heat with them again for breaking K-Fabe. We leave the Garage to the airport and I am thinking to myself - I wonder what Legend Wrestler, President of Pro Wrestling Noah is thinking about right now as he pulls out of the famous APW GARAGE in a limo. He probably thinks we're all marks, and we were! But in the end after giving him several great tryout matches, he was probably drooling in his shorts because he had probably just witnessed the best trained Indy wrestlers he had seen in his trip to the U.S. and was more than happy to have APW save his scouting trip. I don't really believe he had discovered any decent wrestling talent during this first trip to the U.S. Oh, I am sure there was some talent he would use for political on tours for political reasons but none because of their God-given wrestling talent.
Mike Modest and myself booked the tryout matches and kept them short (5 minutes per their request). Of course, the tryout stealer was Modest VS. Morgan. I tried that match later in the year in Vallejo and it bombed because it was already 11 p.m. and Modest felt the fans were not as appreciative of pro wrestling in the states in the same manner they were in Japan so they went home after 11 minutes when they were supposed to go 24. They mailed it in! They certainly didn't mail it in at the Garage for the tryout and had Misawa cracking smiles in the front row of the Warzone where many a wrestling fan has witnessed some great wrestling. I hope Misawa understood APW history and what it meant to be sitting in that front row chair in the Warzone watching APW trained wrestlers. You think he knew he was sitting in the famous APW GARAGE home of many great GYM WARS shows? Throughout the tryouts, I kept an eye on all of them to see reactions. Most tried to be professional and keep a serious look on their faces and not give away their hand but MISAWA, of all people, broke a smile once or twice during the Modest/Morgan match and again later during the Jones/Bison match. The media was clicking away with pictures and filming the session as they used it later in a video release. I think they also used it on their television show.
Tony Jones and Bison Smith had the next best tryout match. They didn't take Jones because of his body and probably politics. I had a friend translate for me after the Jones tryout what they were saying in Japanese. My friend says Mr. Misawa was saying to Mr. Nagata,
"I think if he builds the upper body, he is in the hunt"I better be careful before Barry Blaustein accuses me of being dishonest again. I can't remember if Tony had been to BattleArts yet or not in 2001 but the politics back then were still somewhat a factor in Japanese pro wrestling decision making.
I know they had to love Christopher Daniels and his athleticism when he tried out against his trainer Kevin Quinn. Chris had done the Sushi gimmick with a smaller promotion, Micho-Pro. They probably felt it would be belittling to book him now that he has jobbed for a smaller promotion in Japan. They must have also felt Chris would be recognized by the very smart Japanese audience (I don't know why Pro Wrestling Noah was so big on practicing K-Fabe back in 2001. It isn't like they don't subscribe to the Pro Wrestling observer in Japan). They liked Kevin and his look and almost took him for the Jr. Tourney but decided they would take Jardi Frantz instead. Nothing against Jardi getting a shot but I couldn't figure out why they took Jardi instead of the impressive Vic Capri. Vic had a better body and was an unknown face in Japan and I believe he could have gotten over but later I found out it was a one-time tournament and they probably had no intentions of bringing back Jardi again. Again, politics might have played a factor because the newest Junior they would eventually push was MARAFUJI. They certainly wouldn't have wanted anyone from the U.S. in that tournament showing up their top Junior stars or Marafuji who was projected to be their next huge superstar. Hell, Kenta was still a student training and wasn't near being ready yet.
As talented as Vinny Massarro was, we all know his body does not look like HHH and that is probably why they didn't like him but he still got the biggest pop from Misawa and his group. He was certainly innovative. Modest and Donovan even bowed at the end of their match to Mr. Misawa to show respect. They took lots of notes during the tryout matches and they huddled to talk before stepping into my office.
After the tryouts Mr. Nagata, Mr. Misawa and Ken asked to meet with Modest and Donovan first with myself present. Mr. Misawa kept staring at Donovan. I have no idea why he kept staring but he was staring at him for the longest time. I think he was trying to picture what Donovan's cheeks and gut would look like when he wasn't on the juice. Later, they met with Bison and Jardi, one at a time. They probably chose to do it this way because all of them were on a different pay scale. Even though Modest was at a higher pay scale than Donovan, I believe they knew they were attached at the hip if not somewhere else. We went to my office where Ken translated for Misawa and said this: "I want to make sure you don't feel offended by the financial offers we will be making and remember, this is only an opening offer. Please don't feel insulted. This is only a starting point and Mr. Misawa wants to make sure you understand this". They made their offers to Modest, Morgan, Bison and Jardi. I figured the guys would come back with a much higher offer and eventually end up in the middle. I did not want to interfere with them for fear I may have cost them a booking and spot on the tours so I let them work their own deals. I probably should have been more involved.
For some strange reason, every one of them accepted the opening offer and I almost fell out of my chair when they did. I could understand Bison and Jardi taking what is being given to them and to a certain extent Donovan but Modest could have gotten them for another grand a week, if you want my opinion. The only thing I could think of is they were desperate. Sometimes, young Indy wrestlers are in a vulnerable position of accepting what is out there for them just to open a door. That might have been their attitudes on taking the opening offer. I felt they could have done much better becuase although Japan had been slowing down on International big-name talent and paying them the big bucks, some of that still existed in 2001. I know with Modest, he might have felt it was his last chance. We had gotten Mike a look with Jim Barnette when he came out to scout the Boot Camp and our wrestlers for WCW and Kevin Sullivan. Jim's word was gold because of the success he had promoting pro wrestling in the 60's in the U.S. and Australia. I heard the phone conversation he had with Sullivan at our show in San Leandro and he said, "I haven't seen him wrestle yet but I watched him teach the APW BOOT CAMP class and I can tell you based on that, he is a keeper". Sullivan said because it was Turner and they had to go through the corporate red tape, he would have to show up for a tryout in Florida but the job was his. J. J. Dillon would fax to APW an intent to sign agreement after the tryout in Florida and Mike should sign it and return it immediately. I believe they were scared Mike would go to WWE because they wanted Vic Grimes and Erin O'Grady (Crash Holly) earlier when Paul Orndorff had called the APW office in early 1998 but they had already made a commitment to WWE. Unfortunately, the Intent to sign never arrived as Sullivan got fired and everyone that was part of that regime got let go as well including J. J. Dillon. They brought in Vince Russo and he certainly wasn't going to keep anyone that was part of Sullivan's group and that included Modest. I didn't know anyone else in WCW so I waited till they let Russo go and then I turned to my good friend Red Bastien, current President of Cauliflower Alley Club to see who he knew in WCW. He asked if I knew Terry Taylor and I said no. He said he'd call Taylor and try to set something up. He was able to set up a NITRO tryout through Taylor and Mike could bring anyone in for the tryout. Hell, we chose Christopher Daniels and to his credit, even after seriously injuring himself during the tryout, he continued the match with his arm and shoulder just hanging. They both received a standing ovation when they got back to the dressing room and were given contracts. Three months later, WCW was going out of business and WWE bought them. Vince McMahon had just hired most of the ECW wrestlers when ECW went bankrupt and now he had to take as many big-name WCW guys as he could and a guy like Modest was out in the cold again. That could have been a reason Modest jumped at the first offer. I am not saying he could have gotten much more but he could have gotten at least a grand a week more. The money lower level guys were getting was about twice what Modest accepted. At first I thought Donovan was lucky because I felt he was taken by NOAH only because they thought they had to to get Modest but later it was easy to see they wanted to market them as a tag-team.
I was very excited for everyone involved but on the way to the airport, they said they wanted Jardi to start on the very next tour which was a Jr. tournament. When I asked when that tour started, they said Jardi would have to be on a plane first thing in the morning because he had to fly to Hawaii first to get the visa. Here I am thinking Jardi would swim if he had to. On the way back from the airport after dropping Mr. Misawa and his group off, I made travel reservations for Jardi. As tradition, he had to fly to Hawaii to get his Visa and once it was ready 2 or 3 days later, he would fly to Japan for his first tour. Modest and Donovan would go on the next tour. Jardi had no money so I put it on my credit card and fronted Jardi the money until NOAH could reimburse me the flight several weeks later. Another example of how much of a piece of crap I can be to the boys. Don't believe me, listen to a shoot interview or two when you get a chance.
My next blog will have part 2 of the Pro Wrestling Noah story. I will tell you why I think the relationship with APW ended, how PWI was involved. I will also tell you about my trip to Japan to visit PRO WRESTLING NOAH to watch Modest, Donovan and Bison wrestle. While there, Mr. Misawa, the translator and myself sat in Mr. Misawa's office and talked business for almost 2 hours about KING OF INDIES and our business relationship, I will talk about that meeting. Tune in to find out how David Meltzer plays a part in all of this? I'll even tell you about running into Samoa Joe at one of the shows on the tour and how politics played into that meeting. Learn about why NOAH pulled out of KING OF INDIES or at least the reason given by Mr. Misawa. I'll even reveal the contents of the letter I wrote to Mr. Misawa and Mr. Nagata after the relationship with APW had ended and how American Dragon, Spanky, Doug Williams, Low Ki played a factor in Modest and Morgan leaving APW and my theory about how they all played a part in our relationship with Pro Wrestling Noah going sour.
I look forward to your comments and to my next blog...
No comments:
Post a Comment