<3/15/10 @ 2:28 AM PST>
- Let's get an update in under the wire so we don't go three months
without updates. Fun fact: this was originally going to go up on January 31 for
the same reason, but not everything got written, and all of a sudden it was,
like, February 5. Then we were like, "Ah, might as well wait until after BXCW,"
which was February 21. So now, a week after THAT, here we are.
... The above was written on February 28, in order to get a February update in.
And actually, a lot of the stuff below got written on February 28 as well. But
not all of it. So now, on March 15, here we are.
- So where were we? Last update was November 29. Well, the very next day, Scott
Henson got on a plane to Australia for Tournament of Hate (and what ended up
being several other shows), and two days later, Zeus McFly did the same thing.
We unfortunately can't tell you much about TOH until the music video and/or DVD
comes out, but what we can tell you is that Scott Henson had an excellent match
with an excellent opponent, and Zeus McFly did something REDICULOUS (and no,
that's not a typo; it was so ridiculous, he did it twice). We can also tell you
that an impromptu Tournament of Love broke out the night before, featuring a
totally stupid (and awesome) 7-on-6 elimination match featuring Henson and
McFly, as well as Siege, Niven, Ryan Butler, Ruthless Ron, Dinga, Adam Chunky,
Devin Cutajar, Nathan Sensation, Smoo Dogg, Scotty Richter, and HVWA's Nick
Fury. Speaking of HVWA, they were the best known Australian fed to North
America, and comprised most of the best known Australians (minus Ruzty, Niven,
Razor Blade, etc.). However, HVWA hasn't run for years, and the vast majority of
them either don't wrestle anymore or strictly wrestle pro shows. So it was quite
a surprise and a treat to not only meet, but wrestle, four of them (Nick Fury,
Gene Knite, Branden X, and James Synite). CJ Phoenix, Sychotic, JT Blaze, Jay
Static, Sadistic Steve, and Poo Muffin: you're still on the list. So as we said,
TOH on December 5 was expected to be the only show Henson & McFly wrestled on
before they left on December 11. TOL the night before was a fun bonus, but
surely that was it. Not so. As December 11 RAPIDLY approached, everyone quickly
realized that 10-ish days was nowhere NEAR long enough to stay. So Russ (Ruzty)
graciously paid for me (Are we in the first person now? Good, that's easier.) to
change my ticket, as well as Zeus's (if his change had ended up costing
anything). This only scratches the surface of the generosity of the Butler
family (with whom Zeus & I stayed for 90% of the trip). They welcomed us in,
wanted us to stay, and treated us like family. Honestly, some of the best
memories of the entire trip were the couple of nights we stayed up for literally
HOURS talking with Mr. (and sometimes Mrs.) Butler, usually first about
wrestling, and then delving into a plethora of other subjects, from American
politics to French horror movies. They probably offered to extend our tickets
AGAIN when we finally left on December 22, but we did, unfortunately, have to go
home sometime. So back to the shows. Since we didn't leave on December 11, we
were able to go to a small show about 5 minutes walking distance from the Butler
household at PHWA, who had quite a decent little ring. Zeus McFly took on Ryan
Butler in a No-DQ featuing a Superplex to the floor, armpit hair being lit on
fire, a Supernatural Driver onto a pile of rocks, and an Abdominizer into barbed
wire, which happened to be the finish. Scott Henson teamed up with Ruthless Ron
to take on Zane and Ruzty (who REALLY shouldn't have been wrestling because of
his back, but he insisted) in an excellent tag match despite the ropes breaking
twice. Ron and Henson got the win with a Lariat followed by a CRITICAL!
Championship Edition on Zane. The very next week, December 18, we were back at
PHWA. Zeus McFly got a big win in the main event, reversing Ruthless Ron's
Powerdriver and hitting the Abdominizer. Scott Henson teamed up with Niven and
the returning Davie "Razor Blade" Smalls in probably the most awesome team ever
to take on Ken Mitchell, Kane Mitchell, and Sickness, whose combined age is
probably less than Jonah Block. Perhaps it goes without saying, but the first
team won. Then came the weekend of December 20. LCWA in Sydney were running one
of Australia's biggest shows of the year (since Auzfest stopped running in
2008), South Coast Fest. Keep in mind the Butlers are in Melbourne a 90 minute
flight from Sydney. They had been asking Siege to go, but there was never really
any commitment on his end, and Adam Chunky, Sydney's one representative at TOH,
was an obnoxious, drunken loudmouth the entire time and did not help Sydney's
chances. But Siege eventually decided to make the trip, and I opted to come with
him because... why not? It ended up being a great decision, because the two
shows (LCWA's South Coast Fest) were excellent. The LCWA setup was fun, with a
trampoline beside a ring base, leading to lots of innovative ideas. Siege and
Chalis had a nutty Falls-Count-Anywhere match featuring a Trapper Keeper through
a metal slide and a Pyramid Driver off the trampoline to the ring. The first
ever VCW vs. HVWA singles match then happened (at least 5 years in the making),
with Scott Henson taking on Gene Knite. Knite, despite being the hometown boy,
did not endear himself to the crowd, and they got thoroughly behind Henson. They
picked the right horse (cat), as Henson was able to hit a You Sunk My Battleship
off the trampoline, followed by a series of CRITICAL!s, despite his badly
weakened arm from Knite's work on it earlier in the match. Day 2 of the show had
what I described as the craziest thing that's ever happened at a supershow I've
been to, and I stand by that. Two matches into the show, there was quite a
commotion coming from the front of the house. As it turns out, the mother of the
wrestler who owns the house is a lunatic, and this is not an uncommon
occurrence. Usually, the show just gets cancelled. However, this was a supershow
with two people from another hemisphere on it, as well as several other people
from out of town, none of whom had wrestled yet that day. So what to do? Well,
it seems the only logical solution would be to MOVE THE ENTIRE SHOW an hour and
a half up the coast to IYHWA. So everyone on the show (minus one or two who were
unable) packed into cars and trains, and headed up to IYHWA for a night show in
their professional ring. So LCWA South Coast Fest Day 2 became IYHWA South Coast
Fest Day 2. Scott Henson and Siege teamed for the first time ever as "Oh!
Canada!" taking on Brynx & Zane, as well as the HVWA veteran team of James
Synite and Branden X in a 3 Way Tag. The match was ridiculous, as anyone who was
watching could tell you. To list every crazy thing that happened would take too
long, just wait until the video comes out. The finish came after a struggle
between Scott Henson and Zane on the top rope, resulting in Henson hitting You
Sunk the World, only the fifth one he's ever successfully hit and certainly the
first one in Australia, for the win, a fitting end to his final match in
Australia. Mere hours later, Henson was back on a plane to Canada, as was Zeus
McFly, but on a different plane, thankfully. Siege stayed with the Butlers
through Christmas and New Year's, heading back in early January. And here ends
the story, a story I had no idea I'd be telling even two weeks before I got on
the plane, it happened so fast. So first off, HUGE thanks need to go to Siege,
because without him, no one from VCW would have gone to Australia. Period.
Secondly, I believe Ruzty, Niven, and Scotty Richter all contributed money to
Siege to help with my plane ticket, so my eternal thanks go out to them as well.
If I can someday repay the favour, don't hesitate to ask, guys. And I believe
Siege paid for Zeus's entire plane ticket himself, so Zeus basically owes him
his life. A second thanks to Ruzty for paying my flight change fee, doubling the
amount of time I was able to spend in Australia. And please, if anyone else
contributed money toward our plane tickets, please let me know so you can be
properly thanked. Some non-monetary thanks are also very much in order. Big
thanks to Scotty Richter, who hosted us the first day and made us some awesome
BBQ, thanks to Nathan Sensation for hosting us during TOH and for letting
everyone COMPLETELY DESTROY HIS YARD BEYOND RECOGNITION, thanks to Niven for
dropping close to $1000 of his own money on TOH itself, resulting in it being
the most awesome tournament ever, thanks to entire Butler family as mentioned
earlier for hosting us, feeding us, and clothing us for close to 3 weeks, thanks
to the Mitchells for letting us fuck around in their backyard and for letting me
ruin their towels when my lip bled for 3 hours, thanks to Benny Slater for
hosting South Coast Fest and turning out to be an awesome kid in spite of his
mother, thanks to Chris Cryptic and IYHWA for SAVING South Coast Fest Day 2,
thanks to Brynx for hosting us and feeding us after Day 1, thanks to Jonathan
Cross for hosting us but NO THANKS to the 12-INCH MOTHERFUCKING SPIDER IN
JONATHAN CROSS'S HOUSE, thank you to everyone I had a match with (I loved all 6
matches I had), thank you to everyone that had a match that I watched, and thank
you to EVERY SINGLE PERSON I MET. You made this trip wonderful.
Editor's note: HOLY FUCK do Australian kids hit each other in the face hard.
There were at least 5 matches over the course of two days at South Coast Fest
where I said to myself, "That's the hardest fucking forearm I've ever seen."
Editor's note #2: Most non-Australians on the BYWL and elsewhere really only
know of HVWA and YWF/TVW people, as far as Australian wrestlers go. But that
unfortunately doesn't cover the AWESOME new crop of Australian wrestlers that
has sprung up in the last 3-4 years. Hopefully everyone, like myself, can get to
know these newer, equally talented guys like Brynx, Chris Cryptic, Ruthless Ron,
Zane, Benny Slater, Chalis, AC Nirvana, MC Cooper, Adam Chunky, Curt Unearth,
and Kip Carnage. And there's an even YOUNGER up-and-coming group after them,
with guys like Jonathan Cross, Taboo, Genocide, and a bunch more. So Australian
wrestling is going to be fine for a long time.
- Next up on the schedule was Scott Henson and Yakuza heading down to Washington
on January 10 for BXCW. Their scheduled opponents, World Champion Jazon Kross
and US Champion James Diesel, were both conspicuously absent from the show, so
Henson and Yakuza ended up facing a makeshift team of arguably the two best
wrestlers in BXCW, Cole Crazy and Lincoln McManus. Henson and Yakuza had the tag
experience on their side, and it ended up being the difference, as McManus had
Yakuza in a rear naked choke and Crazy tried to come down with a Spiral Tap on
it to seal the deal, but Yakuza rolled over causing Crazy to land on McManus,
and Scott Henson swooped in with a roll-up on a bewildered McManus. Just 4 days
later, Henson and Yakuza hopped a plane to Sandusky for their first appearance
in Beyond Wrestling, the evolution of the BYE shows. They both had strong
showings the first day, getting big singles wins over SoyBoy and Robert Paulson.
Henson was particularly happy getting some revenge for his 10-second loss to
SoyBoy at BYE6 three years ago. On Day 2, it was all about the tags. Henson and
Yakuza (billed as The VanCougars) were in a 3-team round robin with Team Beyond
(Chase Burnett & Zane Silver) and the Garden State Gods (Myke Quest and Corvis
Fear). The VanCougars were able to defeat the upstart Team Beyond via Assisted
You Sunk My Battleship. However, they fell via double submission to the Gods via
Dragon Clutch and Cobra Clutch Crossface from Fear and Quest. The two tags were
considered among the best matches of the night, and the entire weekend. The Gods
also defeated Team Beyond in the third round robin match, putting them to 2-0 and
giving them the win in the round robin. Scott Henson stayed another week, and
worked the Mega Championship Wrestling show on January 23. He worked a reurning-to-Ohio-indy-wrestling Steve Shilson, and was able to defeat him with
the Ka-Blamo 2K6. The show was help at the Lorain County Community College in
Elyria, Ohio, where the day before in that very gymnasium, Barack Obama had
given a speech, prompting Henson to tell people that "Obama had opened for him."
Big thanks to Drew Cordeiro for hosting us the entire time.
- It was back to Washington on February 21. Yakuza J took on James Diesel,
who had already got a decisive win against Matt Christ earlier in the night with
a Pepsi Plunge. So what should happen in this match, but Diesel hits the Pepsi
Plunge on Yakuza the FIRST MOVE of the match. Yakuza was fresh enough to BARELY
kick out and eventually mount a comeback. The finish came when Diesel was going
for a second Pepsi Plunge, but Yakuza was able to reverse it into a Top-rope
Northern Lights Bomb for the win over the former US Champion. Since their Time
Limit Draw at BXCW in September '09, Daniel Makabe has been stewing. He promised
a mystery opponent for Henson at the October '09 BXCW show that didn't happen.
But apparently he stayed in contact with that mystery man, as he brought him out
4 months later in February. That man was none other than Matty Kincaid, who
hadn't been seen since that September BXCW show where he injured himself
defeating Craig Young for the US Title, and having to vacate it shortly
thereafter. The reaction for Matty was huge, and became even greater when it
became apparent that he was not very closely aligned with the not-well-liked
Daniel Makabe and was only using him as a vehicle to get back into BXCW.
Nevertheless, Makabe stayed at ringside, still wanting Henson to lose,
regardless of the status of his relationship with Matty (possibly "It's
Complicated"). As Matty reversed a Screwdriver Frosion and went for his second
Southern Justice (Backpack Stunner) of the night, Makabe jumped on the apron,
Henson escaped from the move, pushed Matty into Makabe, and Matty stumbled back
to Henson, who rolled him up with the Cat's Cradle for the win. Makabe entered
the ring, enraged at Kincaid for losing, and was about to give him the Trapper
Keeper until Scott Henson returned to the ring and chased him off. Tacoma-based
fed IFW was also at the show. They were INTERESTING.
- VCW will be heading back to Washington next Sunday, March 21, to participate
in what may be, but hopefully isn't, BXCW's last show, as they are losing their
venue. We'll hopefully have Scott Henson, Yakuza J, Daniel Makabe, Special K,
and maybe some others making the trip.
- In other news, the 2009 VCW Awards are up, along with the accompanying Best
Spots and Best Moments clip packages. An in-progress copy of the VCW All-Time
Awards is also up in the Awards section. No word on when voting will start (not
for a while), but in case you want to check out how stupidly long it is, it's
there. Also, an overhaul to the Multimedia section is forthcoming, featuring the
addition of all of VCW's clip packages, previously only available by combing
through the message board.
Old News:
2009:
January, February,
March, April,
May, June,
July, August, September,
October, November, December
2008: January, February, March, April,
May, June,
July, August,
September, October,
November, December
2007:
January, February,
March, April,
May, June,
July, August,
September, October,
November, December
2006:
January, February,
March, April,
May, June,
July, August,
September, October,
November, December
2005:
January, February,
March, April,
May, June,
July, August,
September, October,
November, December
2004:
January, February,
March, April,
May, June,
July, August,
September, October,
November, December
2003: January,
February, March,
April,
May, June,
July, August,
September, October,
November, December
2002: November, December