Let's set the record straight

PRO WRESTLING HEROS OF THE WEEK
King of Indies participants



IDIOT OF THE WEEK
Bill Belichick


This weeks blog will be about setting the record straight on a few things including me posting on message boards, I could give a damn about SoCal wrestling, King of Indies and an important announcement at the end of this blog....

POSTING ON BOARDS
I don't post on any message boards other the the APW Message Boards. I frequent the idiot boards (NorCal) and am amused at some of the posts made and realize for the most part there are nothing but idiots there.

SO CAL SUCKS
I don't care about SoCal wrestling! Never have never will unless it has something to do with APW wrestling or APW wrestlers and/or graduates. So Cal is so overrated it isn't funny. Their training schools are about as bad as the Nor Cal training schools. There are some that live there, that have wrestled there that I have a tremendous respect for. I think most are in TNA today. Wrestlers like Christopher Daniels, Samoa Joe and Frankie Kazarian are wrestlers I have the most respect for. I don't recall where Samoa Joe did his training but trust me, that guy never got good until he went to Japan. I congratulate Samoa Joe for all his achievements since King of Indies 2001. He has risen to the top in the industry. I will always remember sitting ringside in Japan with one of the Pro Wrestling Noah owners Mr. Nagata. He was not too please when Samoa Joe came up to me and shook my hand out of respect because Joe was with Zero One at the time. Mr. Nagata said something to me regarding that and I told him, "Joe is a true friend regardless of the politics of Japan". I now notice he is booked in October for Noah. I wish him the best. Joe has always been cool with me. He was one of the few who got a kick out of me chewing out midget wrestler Cheezy in Calistoga in 2002.

There isn't much to SoCal wrestling!


KING OF INDIES
Many of the King of Indies wrestlers have gone on to have success. I guess you could say I had a good eye for talent in 2001 and made few mistakes in that tournament although I made some, trust me. What a talented group. When you think of the list, they were as follows:

1. Vinny Massarro - never made it but has nobody to blame but himself. He was lazy and never built a body. He certainly had the ability in the ring and had a heck of a match with Low Ki (Senshi in TNA)

2. Frankie Kazarian - I have always liked Frankie. Please keep in mind, Frankie was trained by legend Killer Kowalski. Frankie has worked hard to get to where he is and is a tremendous athlete. He deserves his spot in TNA and had we done King of Indies in 2002, my bet is he would have gotten out of the 1st round.

3. Doug Williams - great European wrestler. He could have very easily gone to the Semi-Finals or Finals in that tournament. He continues to enjoy success in Europe and Pro Wrestling Noah and is a class guy.

4. American Dragon - probably one of the best mat wrestlers to come along in the 90's. His career could have gone further if he so had chosen to go further. WWE probably never realized the wrestler this guy was. A real student of the game!

5. Christopher Daniels - King of Indies 2000 winner. He was not trained in SoCal either. He was trained in the midwest. One huge talent and athlete. Very gymnastically inclined. His only weakness is wanting to be a heel but I always told him he had too much ability, agility and athleticism to be anything but a crowd pleaser. Fans want to cheer this guy not boo him. Deserves every bit of success he is having in TNA and everywhere else he goes.

6. Super Dragon - went to Japan but kind of blew his chance. Not a bad wrestler. Not a bad high-flyer. Attitude was his struggle. He had problems in the King of Indies locker room but how that changes once he got involved with PWG. Everyone seemed to forgive and forget. He is stiff in the ring which I like but would not have survived the 70's where the complex performing art was an important skill. He is tailor made for Japan but might have blown his chance. I'll never forget Ron Rivera bringing him to Gym Wars in 97 and me telling Ron not to ever bring that guy again. He worked hard and improved his game.

7. Spanky - Became a teenage idol in Zero One and you all know what he has done in WWE. Has lots of natural charisma. Signed up for the APW BOOT CAMP then tried to work me when he found out Shawn Michaels had a school in Texas and changed his mind. I kept his deposit but later returned it to him when he came to wrestle for us and lived at my house for 10 days in 2002. If you can curtail his crazy creativeness, he is very solid fundamentally. To this day, Nick Bockwinkle still talks about his match with American Dragon in the opening round of King of Indies. Solid match!

8. Scoot Andrews - To this day, I can't pinpoint what he lacked. You would think he would have been a sure thing. "The Black Nature Boy". He had charisma and boy could that guy talk and do an interview. If Vince could see him talk, he would hire this guy on that alone. He seemed fundamentally sound, solid body but short. A real class guy from Florida who deserved to make it. If anyone knew history and remembered "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers, WWE or TNA could do something with this guy. Look at what they have done with Jay Lethal.

9. Senshi - Low Ki has struggled with attitude problems from time to time. Good thing he has people going to bat for him. I am impressed with how far he has gone and how he developed his character because he may not have been well trained. He could have easily lost to Samoa Joe in the semi-finals of King of Indies but made an impressive showing in the Finals with American Dragon. Has been to All Japan, Zero One, Pro Wrestling Noah and now TNA. Very intense in the ring and it probably has gone a long way in getting him where he is today. Very believable in the ring.

10. A. J. Styles - This guy can fly. I was sold when watching him in WCW and that is why I put him in the King of Indies. I would have never thought the guy could wrestle until we brought him for a surprise appearance at a Halloween Hell Gym Wars a few years back. He wrestled J. J. Perez in what I thought was a 5 star match. He deserves everything he gets from TNA because he is that good. I love his role with Christian Cage. He has great facials although I know he is left handed and was not trained right because I caught him twice in the last few weeks going through the middle rope the wrong way. He goes through just like a left hander would. But, this guy is very, very good and has come a long way, even since King of Indies where he made a very impressive showing.

11. Bison Smith - Bison did what he had to do to keep his spot doing Noah tours although if Misawa and Noah like him, he would have continued even had he ruffled the feathers of the PWI guys. Not a bad big guy. Not too many big guys can wrestle in our industry and he does good and I have seen him in some good matches in Noah. He did our best as Masked Destroyer and could have had an impressive King of Indies. I will always try to remember him for something other than the worked knee injury. I like Bison and wish him continued success in Puerto Rico and Pro Wrestling Noah.

12. Jardi Frantz - Injuries played a factor in his not going anywhere. Plus, he always struggled understanding the important parts of the wrestling industry. If he could do something simple as get his wardrobe right after all these years, he'd probably have made some progress. His persistence of being a spot wrestler also didn't help. What is amazing is the guy is one of the better mat wrestlers to ever come through our doors.

13. Donovan Morgan - He had lots of heart but he was fortunate to ride the coattails of Michael Modest because without that, I am not sure he would have gone anywhere although he had an impressive tryout match with Modest when Misawa visited our gym.

14. Adam Pearce - I wish he would have made the booking meeting to understand the tournament was not about faces and heels. It would have been interesting to see what he could have done in a Japanese setting. My guess is he has no idea how to wrestle unless he is an old-school heel.

15. Tony Jones - Tony had great NCAA credentials and I wish he could have had the body and made a better transition to pro wrestling. Had he done that, he could have done something in the wrestling business. I don't know how far he could have gone but I believe he could have gone far. He always had good tryouts in WWE and had a great tryout with Bison Smith for Misawa at our dojo. His body always held him back. Many don't know this but he might have had some great success in Japan if he chose to. He had a great opportunity with BattleArts and even instructed at the dojo. My guess is he could have gone far in Japan but chose not to.

16. Samoa Joe - Glad to see someone finally used this guy and used him the right way. I was always surprised when he would only get part-time bookings in Japan with Zero One. I always thought he deserved more. Funny, had we done 2002 King of Indies, he was right up there for contention for the finals. Of course I wish he would get his body in better shape but they have made it work with the way he is. I am glad he has been getting pushed. He is a good guy and deserves it.


I don't know if I ever mentioned this but APW was about to start a Career Management division. We wanted to take a small percentage of graduates we booked in Japan and we wanted to take a larger percentage of non-graduates. We sent Misawa a letter highlighting many of the names above and telling them which we thought were the better ones and we included footage of King of Indies. What caused the big stink with Modest and Morgan was that we were trying to get Lo Ki, American Dragon, Spanky, A. J. Styles, Samoa Joe, Frankie Kazarian etc... into Pro Wrestling Noah. They had a fear that it would jeopardize their positions in Noah. It would have made APW grow and gotten some of the better Indy wrestlers earning a living much sooner than turned out. I truly believe Noah lost out on a great opportunity. But nobody can blame Misawa for sticking with Modest and PWI. Afterall, hadn't Misawa done to Baba's wife and All Japan what Modest and Morgan did to APW? I look back now and it still brings a smile to my face because I know we were on the right track although it never panned out.

I am so happy to see the guys have the success they have gotten. They are all very talented. All APW was trying to do with King of Indies was launch a new division, make a buck and get some of the talented Indy guys earning a living in pro wrestling and you certainly can't blame APW for that.


IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
I don't know how many of you follow the NFL. The coach of the New England Patriots, Bill Belichick has had much success with his team and is known as one of the greater coaches ever in the NFL. I have lost track of the number of world titles they have won. He has been caught cheating and trying to learn what the opposition is doing by spying. He was fined $500,000 and the team was fined $250,000 and they lost a future first round draft pick which is not a good thing either. Supposedly, he had a camera aimed at opposing defensive coordinators with the hope of learning their defensive schemes. That is illegal in the NFL.

I wanted to rest everyone's minds. I cannot afford $500,000 fines nor can I afford to lose a future student so I have decided I will not be spying on other training schools in Northern or Southern California. I will not be attending any Indy show in California that doesn't have APW wrestlers booked on them. I will only attend Indy shows that I endorse such as PCW. Okay, you might catch me at a BTW show because it is local and I sometimes crave a hot dog on a Friday night. I promise not to spy on other training schools to see what we can learn to implement at the APW BOOT CAMP. Even if the state athletic commission continues not to regulate pro wrestling, I will make sure I regulate the spying from APW. I will not allow myself or anyone affiliated with APW to break the rules and spy on other training school or Indy shows for the purpose of learning and stealing something from them.

Until next time, thanks for reading my blog...