A Grappling Grab-bag
By Sir Lawrence Alegdrop

Well, Wormwoodians, it’s been a long time since I’ve stepped into this article and a lot has happened in the underground wrestling world. There are a lot of updates to stories I’ve written in the past few articles, and plenty of new things happening every day. Seymore Snott has been going places, Southern Championship Wrestling is not, tape trading suffered a setback, and NWA-TNA has gotten a push. That’s why I’d like to take this opportunity to talk about all of these items in succession.

NWA-TNA Receives TV Deal

We’ll take the news that has the biggest impact on wrestling as a whole first. National Wrestling Association’s Total Nonstop Action, owned primarily by Jerry Jerrett, recently received a deal to air its shows on Fox Sports Network. Times vary since FSN runs a lot of local sports, so check your local listings. This is great news for wrestling fans since the more promotions to choose from the better quality of product, and the more wrestlers get a chance to make it big. NWA-TNA had, up until this deal, been running solely on PPVs without TV to promote them. This will give the promotion a huge and much needed boost to reach new viewers.

I wouldn’t consider NWA-TNA real competition to the monopolistic WWE however. They use primarily cruiserweights and high fliers.Their biggest stars right now are probably Jeff Jarrett, A.J. Styles, and Jeff Hardy. Occasionally, they bring in some older stars whose best years are gone, and they also have regular TV spots for legends like Dusty Rhodes and Larry Zbyszko. The matches are mostly spotfests by guys who legitimately couldn’t be anywhere near 200 pounds. But the action is exciting, and unlike most attempts at a national promotion, they run good angles. (Sometimes they do...and sometimes they don't--Dr. Mality)

This does mean that TNA now enters the big leagues. I’ve seen a few of their TV shows so far, and it does look a little like WCW if it were still around today. Except TNA has gotten this ridiculous idea of an eight sided ring, which hits me as interesting at first, but after the initial curiosity, overly gimmicky. But at least they’re trying something new. I would also like to see them differentiate their TV appearance from the WWE, and get away from the entrance ramp. Find something more innovative there, but give me back my 4-sided ring.

Overall, the promotion is nowhere near challenging WWE for any top spot, but they are now a viable alternative, even if not a contender, and I wish the promotion the best of luck in the future.

Tape Trading Raid!

The next biggest news is that the WWE has run a huge tape trading raid since my last article, and that’s why you’ll find many of those links no longer work. Anyone with a website trading or selling tapes has been forced to shut down. The WWE claims they are doing this because they are planning to open up a full time wrestling channel on cable TV called WWE 24/7 and does not want the competition. Again, this information does not necessarily mean that I or anyone at Wormwood condone or participate in trading or selling copywritten material.

If they really are planning on starting up WWE 24/7, and I hope they are, I wish them too the best of luck. WWE now owns the rights plenty of footage, including their own library going back to 1963 (not sure how many tapes from that far back still exist though), WCW, Crockett Promotions, AWA, ECW, and Smokey Mountain. That is an impressive list. It will be great to revisit legends of the game from years gone by, if they are serious about starting up the network.

However, I have my doubts. Why would the WWE go after tape traders, who if you think about it are just creating a market for the station they are planning to open. I mean do they really think tape traders will prefer seventh or eighth generation copies of their favorite stars when there’s a station that gives them pristine master copies of the same thing? I sincerely hope they are serious about flagshipping the station and this isn’t another case of the McMahons being control freaks who want to make sure nobody gets any kind of alternative to their crappy current product. (That's exactly what they are doing...they don't want anybody to see how great oldschool wrestling was. I'm goddamned if I am going to pay money to watch the AWA and give it to the man who put it out of business!!!--Dr. Mality)

Seymore Snott Works California Show

Now onto updates of people I know in the business. My protégé, Seymore Snott, recently worked a show out in California for Mike Modest and Donovan Morgan. Although their promotion, Pro Wrestling Iron, which I’ve also covered in previous columns, is a no-nonsense promotion concentrating on the in-ring product, Seymore was allowed to use his nerd-gimmick, and the fans were into it. Suffice it to say Pro Wrestling Iron is still doing well, and working with the Japanese promotion NOAH. Modest liked Seymore’s at the two shows he worked, and would like to bring him back. Seymore was even offered a chance to work for them full time, but will have to check in with his day job to see if it’s a viable option at the moment. He did say that he enjoyed working the shows very much.

Southern Championship Wrestling Cancels Shows

Meanwhile, Seymore’s usual promotional employer and the place where I work as his manager (as Ulysses S. Snott), Southern Championship Wrestling, run by Count Grog, cancelled it’s August show, which was to feature a stop on the retirement tour of “Boogie Woogie Man” Jimmy Valiant. It was the first show SCW had scheduled since their “Over the Top Rope” show in February. There’s talk SCW could be shutting its doors temporarily, or even permanently. The reasons are that Grog has been working extra hours at his day job and that attendance has been down for recent shows, putting a strain on his budget (many indie leagues run above cost, meaning the promoter has to actually spend out of their own pockets to keep them running). Seymore and myself are now on the lookout for any other promotions running in the Raleigh, N.C. area.

Sir Lawrence Alegdrop is a disgraced member of the British nobility with an interest in professional wrestling.. He is ably assisted by Bill Camp.