|
|
 Time to begin the new era of BwM… without the use of my favorite “writer’s tool”. Oh well, thankfully I never have to worry about the pigs coming in to confiscate my Jager. As you can tell from the opening, the rumors are true… I got nailed for possession this week. Rule one of smoking weed: Never leave it out in the open. Don’t want to talk about it. Just practicing my “ehs” and “aboots” for the day Canada legalizes it (OR… may be about to start learning Portuguese. It’s like the old saying goes: Life gives you lemons, squeeze them in the open wounds of some cocksucker). Now, some may think this (along with a whole fucking slew of other personal issues… this has NOT been my best week) was finally responsible for ending my long-standing record of not going more than a week between posts. Well, if you think that, then you obviously haven’t been checking out my other home: THE RING POST (fucking dickhead). Not only was there a new LOW BLOW last Friday, but as recently as two days ago I made my grand return via MONDAY NIGHT SUCKS, albeit only in a “staff” role. That’s right, I’m no longer in charge of that gimmick. Now handling the admin duties for the legendary roundtable is the lady I have as much respect for as anyone I’ve ever worked alongside in this medium, the lovely and talented GINGER. And for God’s sake don’t just go there for my benefit, check out the whole bevy of new talent. Der Kommisar (RIP Falco), MRFiendish, and Padre and Jesse bringing a whole new gimmick to the genre; a “Crossfire” style that has to be read to be believed. We also have brand spanking new Tony D. and Annie, which is reason enough. My boy Yeaghr has done wonders with the place, and fact is there’s suddenly almost as many people reading TRP now as this joint (mmmmm, bad choice of words. *sigh*). Find out why, bookmark and read daily (and say “whudup” in the new forum). YOU DON’T HAVE TO GIVE A FUCK ABOUT ICP TO FIND HIM! And one final note… on top of everything else this week my fucking dying computer finally took the plunge. I’ll have a suave new one on Tuesday, meaning the recap will return next week (I’m putting this up on a different system, but can’t do the Saturday shows without the TV and computer in the same room). This ALSO means that hopefully by Wednesday I’ll have made my grand return to TOTAL REQUEST LETHAL and maybe SBA will be convinced it really was this POS keeping me away and I still love him. :) Know you missed hearing it, and I sure as FUCK missed saying it… so let’s talk wrestling. So what are we yapping about today? Week One of the SmackDown belt held hostage by Big Show? Shawn Michaels? Big Bad Booty Daddy (which would be a little redundant, since I ALREADY DID THAT)? Bischoff openly professing his love of Satan with his slag on HBK’s religious preferences (anyone who remembers the old “Souled Out” PPV ads should have known for years… as should anyone who remembers what he did to WCW for that matter)? In order: Nope, nope, nope, and nope (but fuck him anyway). Today we’re going to discuss the OTHER news in wrestling over the last week. Something you may not even be aware of, but has some Californians so up in arms they can’t even enjoy their tofu dildos or whatever those weirdoes do for entertainment these days. WARNING: This is fucking LONG (which should go without saying, seeing how we’re already on the second Goddamned page and we haven’t really started yet), but lots of it is cut and pasted news so if you’re already sort of up to snuff on this story you can skim the non-Barbwire parts. Last Sunday the up-and-coming EPIC organization was set to put on what was inarguably going to be a major event. You may remember EPIC as the company that New Jack and Messiah left XPW for and cut the promos that “may have” cost one of them their thumb. Well, they were going to totally outdo themselves. In addition to many of the top indys in the company (not the least of which was the almighty SABU), the show was to feature the in-ring American return of Ultimo Dragon, and big surprises like an unannounced appearance by hardcore badass RUCKUS (who made his first splash in this country under the tutelage of my nigga Jeff Bailey) and others. Fact is, if you lived anywhere in that gay time zone you’d have been a retard not to check out this show. I’m glad I’m saying that in retrospect rather than trying to convince you to go last Saturday… otherwise you’d probably be looking to really fuck me up right about now (of course, what could you do? NARC ME OUT TO THE COPS?) The first problem happened the night before, when Ultimo Dragon jumped the gun and wrestled for another company (which, as it turned out, was very fortunate for all 50 people who showed up). But if that’s all there was to the story this would probably be a post praising RVD for fucking up Hunter (hehehe). In a nutshell, here’s what happened next: Either the venue was never paid for, or the venue reneged on an agreement to hold the show without a written agreement, or the backers that were supposed to pay for the venue backed out, or something completely different from any and all of those (remember, this is professional wrestling. Trying to find the real truth about ANYTHING is like looking for the hymen in Madonna’s vagina). But the long and short of it is that without so much as announcing on their website that there were problems, on the day of the show EPIC knew that there was no way they were going to be able to run in the place they had advertised. So what? Shows get cancelled all the damn time. If the company had been up front and admitted it publicly there STILL wouldn’t much a story here (certainly not one warranting as many words as I’m making you sit through right now). Instead, the people who showed up in Los Angeles were told that the show wasn’t cancelled… it had instead been moved to Anaheim. Now, I don’t know how far away LA is from Disneyville, and to be honest couldn’t give less of a shit. But if this happened in my little rinky-dink town and I’d had to get back in my car and drive across town I’d already be pissed off. And if when I got there the show wasn’t happening THERE EITHER I’d be looking to take blood from somebody. Well, that’s what winded up happening. In the end, the show never took place at either of its advertised locations. Fans drove around for hours for no good reason, and wrestlers showed up at one or both of the spots only to find out they weren’t working at either place. And if you think that’s bad for the local boys, try placing yourself in Ruckus’ shoes. This poor guy seems to get shit on every time he’s booked somewhere these days. And if that’s not enough to elicit a reaction, try looking at it from the standpoint of Ultimo Dragon… who FLEW ACROSS THE GODDAMNED PACIFIC OCEAN for this and brought a whole crew with him (who were “less than pleased” to say the very least. At least one report made it sound like the LAPD arrived just in time to keep the parking lot from turning into an episode of “Kung Fu Theater” with better sound effects). I’m sure it goes without saying that fans in that area are up in arms. The boards have been swamped with opinions ranging from “Another con artist” to “it’s not really Gary’s fault” to “flower power, dude” (fucking hippies. Can’t wait for the earthquake that gives MMN and Pi beachfront property… no offense, Anniekins). One of the ones who’s been right at the center of it is controversial manager/tape trader BOB BARNETT. Here is his first official statement on the whole rigmarole: When I first met Gary Yap, and talked to him about Epic, I really hoped he could pull it off. On the first show everyone got paid, fans were rabid, the workers all wanted to be part of the show. Gary had big plans. But Gary is a dreamer, not a businessman, and he found it impossible to delegate responsibilities. He ran Epic almost as a 1 man show, but somehow was snookered into having multiple bookers. Hell-anyone can book a monthly show. Also I knew he was paying, or at least offering, way too much in payoffs to ever make a profit on the live shows. Thus the delays in getting out the tapes. Customers not getting replies to their e mails. No one getting their calls returned. Then Gary screwed the last guy he should have screwed-New Jack. After Jack went off on XPW giving him a bad check in what may have been his greatest promo ever on the first Epic show, Gary ended up giving Jack A BAD CHECK! And giving him an airline ticket home-TO THE WRONG CITY! And what made Jack even angrier, the airline lost all his gear, including all his weapons. How do you make a claim for staple guns, garbage can lids, and scimitars? Gary had also stiffed almost everyone who worked on the TV tapings. He promised to make good by tonights show, but I had my doubts. The term "unnamed investors" always makes me nervous. I had Vampiro tell Ultimo Dragon (on last Friday's Arena Mexico show) that if he wasn't paid in cash before he went into the ring, not to perform. I was sure the Epic fantasy was about to burst. Especially when Gary laid out shows for the next 8 months while still owing everyone money. But I kept my mouth shut, hoping he could pull it off. It turns out Gary knew as early as Friday there were no investors. He supposedly tried to raise the cash over the last two days-instead of just cancelling the show. But instead he had workers flying and driving in from all over, and they all ended up locked out in the parking lot when Gary couldn't even pay the rent at tonight's show. I wasn't planning to go anyway, with the Raiders vs. Pats, but I expected to start getting calls by early evening. And they came in droves. It's over for Epic-even though I suspect Gary will make the usual heartfelt apology-while everyone involved has had their bubble burst. Pro wrestling is now officially dead on the west coast. The first thing that struck me about this was the part about New Jack. If I’m ever in a situation where I owe Jerome Young a fucking fiver and don’t have it on me I sell a kidney to make good. Some took this as “Gary bashing” (whether justified or not) but it seemed to me to be a pretty open reaction to the events, especially since at the time Yap still had not addressed the issue a good two days after the fact. The last line, while certainly ominous (and perhaps a bit overstated), clearly solidified how poorly this played out. Finally, Mr. Yap did indeed respond… and like Barnett prophesized it was quite the heartfelt affair: Disaster of EPIC proportions: part one The Sinking of "Wrestling Roots '02" By Gary Yap (11.20.02) I was actually going to wait a few more days to write this because I feel I still have so much more to think about. The demand, however, to know what's going on in EPIC is now higher than I ever thought it would be (the site was almost overloaded yesterday, from what I was told - five times more than what we average) and the stories that are beginning to circulate are becoming more and more ludicrous. While, as of THIS writing (the night of 11.20.02), I have no CLEAR end result to all I've been thinking, let's at least START to get into this, okay? First off, my apologies I apologize to ALL of the wrestlers who showed up on Sunday ready to work, but couldn't because there was no show to work on. I have yet to speak to a lot of you one-on-one (I've started the calls tonight) but you can expect it to happen some time within the next few days, as there are many calls to make. A VERY special apology to Ultimo Dragon, Condotti Shuji, Second Doi and the entire Toryumon company, as they were completely disrespected in EVERY way possible by myself and myself ONLY! I wouldn't wish my position right now on anyone (well, almost anyone). EPIC came off looking WORSE than even a backyard fed. To think, we had one of the greatest wrestlers in the WORLD at our show, and all he could do was stand in a parking lot, watching a carnival of confusion dance around him. The degree of shame that I feel is overwhelming and it is a blow that we will NOT easily recover from (if at all) in terms of Japanese coverage/relationships. My former business partner, Excalibur, recently wrote his own column on the matter (which can be read by clicking here) and stated it best when he wrote, "What occurred this past Sunday is in no way indicative of the entire Southern California Wrestling scene, and I would certainly hope that you would not judge the wrestlers and promoters of SoCal for the actions of one man." Of course, he means me. And he's right. More on Excalibur's piece later, though. I apologize to the fans, especially those who came from so far away and had such high expectations for a show that would've been incredible. We had a lot planned that night, including unannounced surprises like Ruckus (will he EVER get a break?), Adam Flash, the Ballard Brothers, and more. You are continuing to speak your minds in the amount of hate mail I'm receiving and I'm reading you all loud and clear. By all means, keep it coming, as I deserve to hear it. It does nothing but help me make whatever decision I may have to make. So what the FUCK happened? I was taught something a long time ago when working on an Indy film that has always resonated with me (but has obviously never fully REGISTERED with me, as you will soon see): When it comes to matters of the "entertainment" industry, do NOT play with your own money! It's a lesson that can be applied to even pro wrestling; the logic being that if you cannot get someone WITH money interested in your product, how can you be sure that you have a product WORTH pushing? While keeping that in mind, please read the following, as well. I love the way that the term "Money Mark" has been thrown around recently. I'm not a rich man at all. I never claimed to be. The fictional stories of me having deep pockets have always left me envious of, well, the fictional ME! I wish I were that guy that everyone claims has millions at his disposal. If I didn't have to rely on others for certain things, we probably wouldn't have ANY problems with venues, videos, bounced checks, etc. So where/how does the term "Money" apply to me? Oh wait…it must be because I PAY wrestlers well; at least better than they're being paid anywhere else. Yeah, I realize that's probably a pretty SHITTY thing to do (and yes, that IS sarcasm, folks). Messiah once called me the worst wrestling Promoter ever because I actually seemed to CARE about paying the guys what I thought they were worth. He told me to become an asshole, don't give a shit about the boys, and THEN I would be a real Promoter. He meant it in a half-joking way but I definitely understand where he was coming from. It's unfortunate that, in the eyes of so many, I can now be considered a Promoter, as many now feel like I don't give a shit about them. And "Mark"? Don't make me laugh. What is a mark anyway? Well, a wrestling mark can easily be meant as someone who pays money to see/be involved with wrestling. Like it or not, folks, we're ALL marks. If you LIKE wrestling, you're a mark. Workers are marks, too. Some, like Excalibur, are marks for themselves. Sabu once told me he's a mark for Jimmy Snuka. But the term used in a NEGATIVE way essentially means a person easily "starstruck" by the business and those who work in it. The comic book equivalent is that of a "Fanboy". But you know what? When the Sandman approached me about jumping ship from XPW to EPIC before "International Collision", I turned him down. When Juventud Guerrera asked Martin Marin about working an EPIC show, I politely declined the offer. When everyone from Konnan to Kronik to the Road Warriors made inquiries about working for EPIC, I always said "no thank you" and left it at that. Hardly the actions of a "Mark", in my opinion. Okaaaayy. And your point is…? When it comes to EPIC, I've not always played with other people's money, but I've tried to. I was NOT the one who covered the payment of the El Rey Theater for the June 16th show. I DID pay for the Legion Hall shows, however. I also pay for the tape costs, t-shirt costs, 8x10 costs, and similar things of that nature. The show venue prices I try to negotiate with others to handle, usually sponsors (I thank Valley Ball for absorbing most of the the El Rey costs, for example). I now regret doing business that way, though, as it has been a huge recurring problem for us in the past few months. Well, ONE of our problems. I'm not sure what other alternative there is, however, aside from finding a venue that we would run in every month consistently, which isn't as easy as it would seem. Wrestling carries a stigma with it that many venues aren't prepared to deal with. Or I could just use my own money (what I have tied up in my 401K and other investments) and REALLY break that ol' "do not play with your own money" rule! More on THAT later, however. Securing the Venue A FRIEND of mine (not a business partner or company) agreed to absorb the costs of renting the Los Angeles Entertainment Center. We wanted a really nice venue to run in for this show because of its importance. All he asked for was at LEAST half of the costs BACK at the gate. The rest would be something that I would eventually pay off to him on the side. I've known this guy for over 24 years (since we were in the 7th grade together) and I would've trusted him with my life. When I didn't hear from him a few weeks before the event, I began to worry. It wasn't like him to leave me hanging. Then again, although he HAD done me favors before, he had never been asked to do something of this magnitude. Not being a wrestling fan/believer, I guess he never really took it that seriously, after all. As of today/tonight, I still have not been able to reach him. But on Wednesday the 13th… He called me from Las Vegas and said he'd bring the payment, in full, to the Valley Ball/EPIC party on Friday night because he was going to be out of town until then. The venue was getting antsy and I couldn't blame them. I spoke to Susan at the LAEC and she said she would still hold the date. Friday night at the Valley Ball… When my "friend" didn't show up at the Friday night Valley Ball/EPIC party, I knew I was in trouble. I hadn't spoke to him since Wednesday and the show was right around the corner. When I talked to Susan at the LAEC, she said that as long as I got there TONIGHT, it would be okay and the date would be taken care of. When that didn't happen, I went into full-blown panic mode. I left a message with an LAEC personnel member late Friday night, telling him to let Susan know that the money had fallen through BUT I was in the process of getting it from elsewhere and that IF it would NOT be good enough, to PLEASE call me back ASAP so I could MOVE the show, if needed. Saturday the 16th I made as many calls as I could to come up with the entire venue payment, but ultimately, could only come up with almost HALF. To be safe, though, I found a few other venue options that we could switch to at the last minute, if needed. I even went so far as to put a $500 deposit down on another beautiful (albeit much smaller) venue IN CASE we needed to go that route (a deposit I subsequently lost). It was now late Saturday night and I must've been crazy, because… When I woke up on Sunday morning… I came to the decision that NOBODY was going to be willing to drive into another city to see a wrestling show, especially when they could just go back home and watch a WWE PPV. The second venue I had obtained last night (and placed a deposit on) was about 30 miles away from the LAEC. In addition, the person who agreed to lend me half of the venue costs last night decided that wrestling wasn't really a "smart" thing to invest in and pulled it away from me at around 10:00am as I was out the door to go pick it up. BUT the LAEC had NOT called me back yet so I figured that MAYBE I could get there, talk to them, and try to arrange some kind of deal. To all those who are now yelling at me for NOT just canceling the show THEN, I'm telling you - I honestly thought it was STILL salvageable! I mean, C'MON! Messiah's return! Ultimo Dragon! It HAD to happen! Worse case scenario, I would just relocate the show to another venue/park/parking lot a few blocks away. Yes, I now had NO money to bargain with but, to be honest, I've never let that kind of thing stop me before! We got to the LAEC and were informed that the show would NOT be happening there, NO MATTER WHAT! I offered everything I could, including my car, all in hopes of JUST DOING THE SHOW! When it was painfully obvious that the show would NOT happen there, David Getz (who met me there) and I began our search throughout the area, hitting up parks, lots, hotel conference rooms, the Los Angeles Convention Center, warehouses, etc. all the while making cell phone calls and, to my surprise, actually finding someone else who would pay for whatever we found, within reason. Okay… So now we had venue money. All we needed was a venue. On a Sunday. At the last minute. Yeah, right. We TRIED, though. Dave and I were so driven and determined to find SOMETHING but, as you can see, were unsuccessful in doing so. When we arrived back at the LAEC… I was given the option of going to either the Legion Hall or the Anaheim Marketplace. The Legion Hall was closed and getting a hold of Legion Hall Larry is sometimes a tough thing on a Sunday. I left a message anyway. It was around 3:30/4:00pm and I examined my options: 1) The Marketplace - ugh. No disrespect to the Marketplace but…it's the Marketplace. Everyone else was up for it, though, and I was DEFINITELY the minority of the bunch. Simply put, I did NOT want to go to the Marketplace. I would rather have cancelled the show. The ONLY people who agreed with me were Messiah and Hailey. Hell, the LAST place Messiah wanted to make his big "return" was at a Swap Meet! I felt like there would be NOBODY, outside of maybe 30 or so people, who would've made the transition/drive anyway. If it were a "normal" show, that would've been one thing, but it was supposed to be SPECIAL! The Marketplace wasn't/isn't SPECIAL! To those who don't understand what I mean by that, I'm sorry. I really don't mean it disrespectfully but I understand if it comes off that way. 2) Move the show to Monday the 18th - This was something that I actually wanted to do more than anyone else. I figured I could get the Legion Hall on Monday since nobody ever uses it then (although, granted, it wasn't guaranteed). I asked around and everyone seemed less than thrilled about it, stating that nobody would show up. I reiterated that practically nobody would show up to Anaheim tonight either! Besides, a number of workers wouldn't be leaving until Tuesday, so it was actually something doable if we really wanted it bad enough. 3) Cancel the show - This seemed like, unfortunately, the way it was going to go by 4:00pm. Sorry, but that's how I felt. Maybe it's because I was tired of looking around all day and just felt defeated. Maybe it's because I was just fed up. I don't know. And you chose…? We chose to go to the Marketplace. I felt that, although it was something I did NOT want to do, the majority had spoken. We told everyone to head on down there and the show would start at 8:00pm! We also FOOLISHLY thought that Martin would be able to get the place without any problem. He had not arrived at the LAEC venue yet so we were not 100% sure of what the outcome would be but C'MON! It's MARTIN, right? Shit, he runs that place! If anyone can do it, he can! Alas, after he arrived and was briefed about the scenario, he couldn't. And it wasn't from lack of trying, either, 'cause he TRIED! It just wasn't going to happen. Not that night. So… Night came. I apologized to the guys who remained there as best I could. It was REALLY hard looking at all of those faces. I felt like I wanted to die. What really hurt me, though, were the looks I received in return from people who, before all of this, claimed to be my friends. As if last night's disaster was something I WANTED to happen! Let's get this straight so there is NO confusion: I FUCKED THIS NIGHT UP! ME! But the looks of sheer fucking hatred I was receiving, despite having done everything I could to try and SAVE the show, let me know real quick that those who I THOUGHT were with me, weren't anymore. I was alone now, and it was only going to get much, much worse. TO BE CONTINUED (You can read part 2 of it HERE. Enough of words not mine in this fucking mini-series) After all this, I find myself torn. On the one hand, Gary fucked up all across the board; from the booking of the arena, to the attempts to save it, to keeping mum on it until Wednesday while the buzz from both supporters and haters got worse and worse. And while I think Bob may have been a little too apocalyptic in declaring this the death of Left Coast wrestling, this goes beyond that. This is the sort of thing that makes one suspicious of ALL independent wrestling companies, especially since Gary really came out as one who would do ANYTHING to keep this from happening… which makes us wonder how much worse this can be when someone else in the same situation doesn’t have as much non-financial love for the business is handling things next time around. And in an era where there’s only one true “major league” company in this country (and they’re chasing fans away in waves), this is the sort of thing that can be the final nail in the coffin to someone already wondering why they remain a wrestling fan in the first place. PLUS anytime Sabu is put into a bad situation I’m ready to go to war, and don’t even get me started on the Ballards who cause me to run the entire gambit of emotions any time I hear their name… but certainly wish no ill will towards them (anymore). On the other hand, I find it real hard to just want to bury Mr. Yap like I would if this was Rob Black or Rick Assman in the same situation. Yeah, it was a horrid outcome, but the same things that made it so bad are those that show how hard he tried to keep from turning out this way. His head was up his ass, but his heart was in the right place. And as someone who’s not afraid to admit he’s made monumental fuck-ups in the past and has also tried some pretty unorthodox and risky methods to undo them, I have total sympathy for the guy. EPIC really did seem like something special, and while it will surprise me if they do, I hope they have at least one more chance to “make right” rather than just fold in disgrace. I’m trying to look for a real nice way to tie this all up, but none are coming and since I figure there's only about two of you left with the patience to make it this far anyway I’m going to go ahead and close it for now. You can write Mr. Yap at gary@epicprowrestling.com with your thoughts on the subject (but I’d discourage the blanket “ur an asshole who suxors and pleez die” as regardless of anything else no one is accusing him of purposely ruining the show and I’m sure his box if full of those already since most of them were written by half-literate elitist Californians). And if you want to see all kinds of feedback on this, both pro and con, I’d suggest heading to the SoCal Uncensored Message Board which really is a pretty groovy place, especially when something like this or something involving XPW happens). Hopefully this isn’t the sort of thing that will sway your opinion the next time a non-WWE show comes to your area. Eat a bag of Hell, then drive to another town and eat another one. Barbwire Mike “Fuck you if you don’t like it” –The Ringmaster |