Hello and welcome once again to The Trademark Rants. Bored out of my mind and having nothing better to do, I’ve decided, on a whim, to update my column. Unfortunately, after reading through several websites, looking for SOMETHING to talk about, I found out that 3PW may have, in fact, had their final show over this past weekend. Apparently, 3PW didn’t have enough to pay off the wrestlers, and, just to top it all off, the owner of 3PW, Jasmine St. Claire, didn’t even bother to show up. Low-Ki supposedly kicked a hole into a door and walked out, and yadda, yadda, yadda… early speculation about 3PW is that they now appear to be out of business.
To be perfectly honest with you, I barely know about 3PW. As far as I have ever known, 3PW was simply one of literally hundreds of wresting promotions who have tried to make a name for themselves by staking a claim to Viking Hall (The Former ECW Arena) in Philadelphia. Now, I’m from Ohio, and since ECW actually did shows on a semi-regular basis in Warren, Ohio (a mere 15 minutes from Vienna, where I live now), I’m going to go off on a limb and actually claim to live in part of the expanded ECW territory. Around here, the wrestling fans see Viking Hall as “Mecca”, and it’s very safe to assume that Philadelphians revere Viking Hall even more. So, every time I hear about some promotion trying to stake a claim to the old ECW Arena, whether it be XPW (who crashed and burned), CZW (where crashing and burning take on a more literal meaning), or 3PW, fans here give it the same reaction – “Eh… whatever. They’ll be dead in six months anyway.” Now, remember I’m not speaking for people who actually LIVE in the Mecca of Hardcore. They don’t need a guy like me talking for them. I’m merely sharing the opinions of the fans I know in my area of Ohio, far, far away from that almighty Mecca of Hardcore we call Viking Hall. With that being said, my initial opinion of 3PW was simply, “Here we go, again!” The last time I got into a promotion that tried to stake a claim to Viking Hall, it was XPW, and quite frankly, I really didn’t want to get excited about 3PW just to see it sink, too, so I ignored it. They really didn’t come to Ohio, and since I only have so much money to spend on DVDs and whatnot, 3PW was not very high on my list of promotions I’d want to follow. Besides, like I said, I had already gone through this with XPW…
Now, when XPW first decided to make their way to the East Coast and stake a claim to the old ECW Arena, I was given an opportunity go hop on the bus very early on. My girlfriend at the time was a trainee for XPW, and when she told me that XPW was going to move to Pennsylvania, I was excited, because then I’d have an opportunity to see her more often. Of course, she was later forced to drop out of the program when she broke her collarbone, then later ended up moving to Florida and just decided one day to stop talking to me, which either means she either found someone else or she died. I guess I’ll never know. But, if you’re reading this, Laura Clayborne, I’d appreciate it if you’d write me and explain, well… everything. Please e-mail me at TheMaverickMJ@yahoo.com and feel free to go into as much detail as necessary. If it’s all my fault, then just tell me. All I ask is that you would be willing to give me some sort of closure in this whole ordeal so that maybe, just maybe, I might be able to move on with my life….
Anyway, back to XPW… In January of 2003, I received an e-mail from someone in an important position in XPW by the name of Cody Michaels, in response to my Version 2K3 series. Now, when I first got the letter, I was pretty shocked. I never received a letter from anyone in a major position in a company as big as XPW, and I honestly thought it was a hoax at first. I kept in contact with Cody, though, and found more and more that the guy was legit. In February, Cody invited me to see and XPW Show at the CCBC Golden Dome in Pittsburgh, PA on March 8, 2003 called “The Battle of the ‘Burgh”. Headlining the show would be “The Franchise” Shane Douglas and Justin Credible for the XPW World Heavyweight Title, and, of course, I took the invitation. I, along with my friends Terry Marvin and Chris Mayoros (both of whom I have mentioned in this column many times before), made our way to the CCBC Golden Dome. Terry and I proceeded to have a really great time at the show, while Chris, who has never been much of an Indy Wrestling fan, eventually got into the show himself. I don’t care what anyone says, I thought the show XPW put on March 8, 2003 was pretty good. I hadn’t had that much fun at a wrestling show since Terry, Chris, and I went to WrestleMania X8 in Toronto, and I left the show that night looking forward to learning more about XPW.
I actually got to meet with Cody after the show, so YES, he’s an actual person, and he was rather nice. He was also pretty straight-forward about wanting XPW to get a positive review, which I don’t blame him for whatsoever. XPW had, up to that point, been seen by pretty much everyone as a horrible wrestling promotion, run by some porno tycoon named Rob Black who may or may not have ordered a hit on The Messiah because he may or may not have slept with Rob’s wife. Also, when I mentioned to Laura that I was going to the XPW show, and was asked to write a review, she asked me not to mention her name whatsoever, then she went on about how she wanted to disassociate herself with XPW without going into details. She never explained to me what turned her off about working in XPW when, months before (back when we were “just friends”), she was very excited about getting the opportunity to train with a large promotion. But it’s safe to assume that she had heard some of the stories about XPW…
Anyway, it was becoming clear to me that Cody invited me to the show because he was looking for someone to give XPW a positive review in order to help fix XPW’s image. Shane Douglas had taken over as the booker and had attempted to disassociate XPW with Rob Black’s porn studio. Meanwhile, Douglas had also improved the XPW product considerably, hiring better workers and putting on better shows all-around. The folks at XPW obviously wanted to get that message out to the wrestling fans, and somehow, my column was factored into that image makeover. I, of course, knew NOTHING about Rob Black, the hit on the Messiah, or the possibility that Rob was using underage girls in his porn videos, so I hopped on board. In hindsight, I probably wouldn’t have done this if I had any idea that Rob Black may or may not have been using underage girls in his porn videos, or if I had any knowledge of the situation involving The Messiah. There wasn’t any real way for me to know about any of this unless I was either a big So-Cal wrestling fan (which I wasn’t) or a big CZW fan (which I’m not). But, thankfully (for everyone involved, including myself), I only thought about the wrestling, and I did honestly enjoy the show, so when Cody brought up the idea of me reviewing their show in my column, I was totally on board. I felt, and still feel, that Shane Douglas had done a good job booking the show and that everyone involved did a hell of a job putting everything together. Not only that, but Cody was very respectable, straight-forward, and honest about everything that was going on. I appreciated it then, and still do to this day.
After the Battle of the ‘Burgh, Cody invited me to XPW’s next show at the CCBC Golden Dome, “Xtreme Shock & Awe”, which was set to take place in April. That show, though, never took place. It was canceled at the last minute for reasons I have never been able to figure out. I lost contact with Cody Michaels soon after, and pretty much figured I’d never know what really happened. Well… actually, about 6 months ago, I did find out. I found an internet radio show interview with Shane Douglas, and he explained what happened with Xtreme Shock & Awe. Basically, Rob Black canceled the show about four days before it was supposed to take place for some stupid reason. When Shane Douglas finds out about the cancellation a day or two later, he talks to Rob, wondering why he canceled the show, and more importantly, why Rob didn’t tell him about it. Rob, apparently figuring they could have the show after all, then says that he’ll just “un-cancel” the show. Shane then goes off, telling Rob that you can’t just “un-cancel” a show two days before it’s supposed to take place after you already canceled it. From there, Douglas apparently cut ties with XPW, and it’s safe to say that XPW was dead from that point on. They hadn’t held a show since the Battle of the Burgh, and before I knew it, XPW was done. Then, just to make matters worse, about a month or so later, the XPW offices are raided by the police, and Rob Black and Lizzie Borden (Rob’s wife) are arrested for putting underage girls in their videos.
The XPW website, from then on, was used as a rallying point for XPW fans to support Black and Borden’s legal battle, but quite frankly, I couldn’t care less. After having spent the past couple months putting over XPW in my columns and having become an XPW fan, I was just sickened by the whole situation. Then, just so I could ask myself in what I might have been smoking in early 2003, I learned about the hit on the Messiah, and how Rob Black may or may not have been involved in that assault, which cost the Messiah his thumb. If I’d had known about this in February of 2003, I probably wouldn’t have even gone to the Battle of the ‘Burgh, and there would have been NO WAY I would have become an XPW fan. So, to review, less than a month after I became a major XPW fan, the company basically shuts down. A couple weeks later, Rob Black and Lizzy Borden get arrested for putting minors in porn videos. Shane Douglas goes to TNA, and I feel like a f*cking moron.
Now, some may say that I’m upset because I may feel “used” by XPW, which isn’t the case. I knew going in that XPW was looking for some good press, and me, being the Indy shill that I am, was more than willing to take a look at XPW and see what they brought to the table. Fortunately, the folks at XPW did, in fact, put on a good show, and they got the positive review they were looking for. In fact, I would suggest to any promoter reading this that you find an Internet columnist in your area, invite him/her to your show, get him/her excited about your product, then ask if they’d write a good review for you. 9 times out of 10, if you put on a good show, you’ll get that review. This is especially good for the local promoters. Matt Epic at RCW: Ruthless Wrestling did the same thing. He invited me to the show, gave me reasons to be excited about the product, and, within a matter of time, I began talking about RCW in my column. And yes, if you’re looking for someone to take a look at your show, all you have to do is e-mail me at TheMaverickMJ@yahoo.com. I live in Vienna, Ohio, near the Ohio/Pennsylvania border, and if you’re ever doing a show in the Northeast Ohio area (Cleveland, Akron, Canton, Youngstown, etc.) or even in Sharon, PA (and nearby areas), let me know. I’d love to check out your show, and if you guys put on a good show, I’ll be more than happy to promote your promotion in this column. I’m not a journalist. I’m a fan and a critic. If someone wants to complain that I’m not being “objective”, that’s your problem. I don’t get paid to be objective. Hell, I don’t get paid at all, but that’s a discussion for another time…
What I am upset about, though, was the fact that shortly after I had discovered the company, and just as I was getting excited about XPW, it basically implodes. Somewhere between mismanagement and legal troubles, XPW went kaput less than a month after I had seen my first XPW live show, and THAT is what upsets me about this whole situation. It’s kinda like when the lead singer from Sublime died just as Sublime was really taking off on the radio and MTV. It just sucks, and the last thing I need is to get excited about a new promotion, just to see it fall to pieces just as I am becoming a fan.
I’m sorry to see 3PW fall by the wayside (if they have, in fact, gone broke, as early reports have speculated), because they seemed to have a lot going for them. They had the Blue Meanie booking, which is good considering that he’s very well respected, and wrestlers work harder for promoters and bookers they respect. They also were able to get some great talent, like Low-Ki, Christopher Daniels, Raven, AJ Styles and ECW Fan Favorite “Pitbull” Gary Wolfe, to work their shows. Plus, having the legendary wrestling journalist Bill Apter involved definitely helps. I’ll be the first to admit that I wasn’t really on the 3PW train. I knew they were around and hoped the best for them, but at the same time, they weren’t really high on my “promotions to follow” list. At the same time, I have never heard a single bad review for a 3PW wrestling show, which goes to show that the wrestlers, as well as the people promoting the shows, worked hard to produce the best possible show they could.
Could 3PW have done more to get people’s attention? Probably. Having Jasmine St. Claire trash-talk Dawn Marie on some heavy metal website may help out Simon Diamond, while giving the world yet another unsavory description of Dawn’s genitalia, but it’s not necessarily going to help out 3PW. The only bad thing I ever read about 3PW was about 6-8 months ago on Gerweck.com. In a column by Bob Magee, he talked about how Indy Promotions could easily increase their show attendance if they only tried to advertise their shows, using a recent 3PW show as an example. He said that 3PW, along with most major Indy Promotions, overlook some of the easiest ways to advertise their shows, and perhaps, it was this oversight that hurt 3PW the most. No one ever complained about the booking or the match quality… only that enough people didn’t get to see it. If you don’t give fans the reasons to care about your product, they aren’t going to come see your product, nor are people like me going to just talk about your promotion on a whim. Hell, I bet most of the people reading this, including many columnists, have no idea what 3PW is, let alone why I’m talking about them now! Could I have spent more time talking about 3PW? Maybe. Did 3PW give me, or most of you reading this, any reason to care about them? Hell, have half of you even HEARD of 3PW? I don’t bet on it! And that’s the problem. How are you ever going to get anywhere if most of your potential audience, the people who will buy your DVDs and travel from New Jersey and New York and Baltimore and Pittsburgh and Virginia and maybe even Ohio just to come to Viking Hall to see your show? Just how many fans in Philadelphia knew about 3PW? I don’t know. The ONLY reason I knew 3PW even EXISITED was because of the Bob Magee column on Gerweck.com. Beyond that, I knew nothing about it, and I’m SUPPOSED to know! I’m the person who’s supposed to be giving places like 3PW good reviews for their shows and praise the booking team for giving us something we actually WANT to see, unlike SOME promotions out there! But how am I supposed to do that when I don’t even know you exist? Seriously, the idea of promoting a wrestling show actually involves PROMOTION. Let’s take a look at the thesaurus for a second and find some synonyms for “Promotion”: Advertising, Publicity, Broadcasting… Notice anything? I sure do! Hopefully, I can just end the rant here without having to actually point it out for you.
Well, now that I’ve officially established myself as a “bitter, know-it-all smart mark” once again, I guess I can just let you go for the week. If you have any comments, questions, or anything else you’d like to share, feel free to write me at TheMaverickMJ@yahoo.com. Thanks for reading, and feel free to come back again for another installment of The Trademark Rants!
