Hi, kids. My name is Michael Humphreys, and according to "The Studd" Scott Porteau, I'm the fat kid with the video camera who wants to watch his MySpace buddies do flips. I really can't argue with him there. Anyway, my short lived experience in the wrestling business basically involves doing some training back in 2002, going off to college, hosting my own award winning radio show called "The Wrestling Rewind" (after which this column is named), and then coming back home to Mississippi to do some ring announcing and commentating for The Future of Wrestling in Tupelo and Golden Triangle Wrestling in West Point. I'm now a money mark for my friends, and I think CHIKARA is the greatest promotion in the history of the world.
I absolutely hate politics in the wrestling business, and I can't understand why people just can't have fun at the matches instead of following a bunch of traditions and booking methods from the 1980s. I think people in this area need to get out of the "Memphis Wrestling Bubble" although it does have its place. I hate stupid booking and am very opinionated but no one seems to listen to me because I haven't been in the "biz" that long at all. Others tell me that I understand this whole wrestling thing more than I'm given credit for. I tell them not to let anyone hear them say that lest they get jobbed out. I want to promote wrestling shows one day similar to CHIKARA and InterSpecies Wrestling out of Canada. It'll be fun and whacky and there will be lots of lucha masks. I'll call it Southern Impact Elite because I hate the use of the word "wrestling" in the names of groups. I hate it when people wear T-shirts when they wrestle. I like to think I'm a tiny bit responsible for the success of The Southern Saints although they do all the work. I just send e-mail and keep up MySpace pages. I'm currently sick as a dog right now, but it does give me an excuse to sit around and do nothing but watch the entire first and last season of Wrestle Society X. I demand you all to purchase this right now if only for the shear greatness of Scott Colton a.k.a. "Classic" Colt Cabana wrestling as "Matt Classic". His gimmick is that he has awoken from a coma after forty years and still thinks Lou Thesz is the champion.
Brian asked me to help with some nominations of the 2nd annual RasslinRiotOnline awards, and I gladly obliged. He asked me to post these here, so I figure that might serve as a good debut column, if you want to call it that. I am very sorry if some people don't like what I have to say, but I really don't care. I tried to take out some of the negative stuff, but some I kept in because the truth hurts. Keep in mind, I haven't seen much except the shows in Mississippi, and a few in Alabama, which I'm not sure even counts, so if I include any Alabama guys and it doesn't count, just ignore them. Also, my picks are in no particular order. I'm going to try explaining my picks although I'm sure I'll go into way to much detail.
- Rookie of the Year:
1. J-Kid: Member of the tag team CNS with his partner CurlyMoe; both picked up things very, very quickly although J-Kid has shown that he's progressing along better than his tag partner; I do think he and Curly do have the same problem that a lot of the newer TFW talent has in that they'll get a couple of months of training and then be put on the shows, regardless of whether or not they're ready to work in front of a live crowd.
2. Gladiator (K-Hill): I saw him work a few shows in TN last year for Bill Dundee, I believe and was rather impressed.
3. Josh Hendrix: North Alabama fixture; started his training and worked referee for a while; I thought he did just fine in his tag match against The Southern Saints (Chris Styles and Shawn Reed) in Full Throttle Wrestling earlier this year.
-Promotion of the Year:
1. The Future of Wrestling: Continues to draw a big crowd every week anywhere between 100-150; a lot of that really has to do with the family atmosphere and the familiarity so many of the fans have with the same guys, since they've been watching them grow for five years; their fans really do have fun at the shows.
2. IWA: Deep South: Doesn't get a lot of recognition around here probably because they only run about six shows per year, but when it comes to a promotion in the Southeast who probably has more name recognition that anyone else around here, Deep South is above the rest; in the last year, they've had Necro Butcher, Jimmy Rave, Chuck Taylor, Ricochet, Eddie Kingston, Hallowicked, Larry Sweeney, Mitch Ryder, the Armstrong's, and their champion is Mike Quackenbush. They run primarily in the Birmingham market, although that may change as some of the old guard around there is making is hard for them to get buildings any more; also runs in the Full Throttle Wrestling building in Elkmont, AL and just recently ran a show in Pulaski, TN.
3. Full Throttle Wrestling: North Alabama Indy fed which features a lot of Indy talent making a name for themselves in IWA: Mid-South, IWA: Deep South, and CHIKARA; draws a steady crowd of around 150 every two weeks. If Alabama was covered more on the site, this would definitely be probably the top pick of best promotion, considering the talent they have, the type of shows they put on, and the frequency of their product.
-Booker of the Year:
1. Tony Dabbs: Here's a bit of honesty: I don't like his booking, and I'm not afraid to say it. I'm probably not the only one. BUT, what he does book is drawing the numbers at TFW, but I think anyone with the book there would probably still draw just as well. You have to give him credit though for longevity, and people don't realize how hard it is to book shows by yourself week after week, especially when the group has ran for five years and you never really know who is going to show up from week to week. I don't think he GETS a lot of things like CHIKARA, Ring of Honor, and IWA: Mid-South which are your three big indies nation wide these days. A lot of that probably has to do with being firmly rooted in the Memphis style and mindset.
2. Chris Castle (Full Throttle Booker/Owner/Promoter): FTW has been running for about two years now and still draws really good on a regular basis; they have a strong following in the Elkmont, AL area and in parts of middle TN; a lot of this is due to Castle's booking; he understands putting on an entertaining show for the fans, and refuses to let guys work his shows unless they have gear and actually look like pro wrestlers; takes a lot of his booking philosophy from Ian Rotten and Mike Burns.
3. Mike Burns (Booker for IWA: Deep South): I'm not sure how he ended up having the book for IWA: Deep South as he's actually from Pennsylvania and owns and runs SmartMarkVideo; apparently, he used to run the FWA promotion up north which became a break out federation for guys like Mike Quackenbush and Low-Ki; he then got the book to Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) and stayed there for a few years until being pushed out at the end of 2005; Definitely puts on a different style show than any of the others in the area; actually does a good service in that he'll let a lot of Mississippi/Alabama guys work his shows against some of the more nationally known Indy types in order to help them get exposure through their DVDs.
-Announcer of the Year:
1. Michael Ward: Whenever I've asked about someone who could come in a do a real professional job doing ring announcing/commentary, I've always heard Michael Ward mentioned first; he also has plenty of connections with various people which is always a good thing.
2. Axeman: He's kayfabe all the way, and he always put me over as one of his favorite people to announce with because we played well off each other; I can't argue with him on that one. If paired with the right person, he can be a fine color commentator.
3. Kimble Winstead: I've only seen him do stuff for Kenny Valiant's All Pro promotion, but he did a fine job carrying the show.
As a side note on this one, I'm not actually a big fan of live commentary during live events unless its being done live-to-tape for a DVD release and isn't actually going out over the speakers for the crowd. I just feel that its distracting from what's actually going on in the ring, although I can see why people still use it.
-Gimmick of the Year:
1. "The Babyface Killah" Shawn Reed: Sadly, an awesome gimmick that only those in Tupelo and West Point saw for the short couple of months it lasted before switching to the Southern Saints gimmick. He was a white thug who smoked and drank and he did this all because his former tag team partner Josh Matthews was Straight Edge and that just pissed him off to no end. The highlight of this gimmick was when TFW did a drug testing storyline where "EVERYBODY PASSED EXCEPT TESTOSTERONE WHO TESTED POSITIVE FOR THE MANGE". Now, as you can imagine, this pissed off Shawn Reed very badly because he claimed to be a drunk who smoked all sorts of stuff, and for him to pass a drug test was the ultimate insult. He would just snap on people due to his being "drunk" and the such. I was on the receiving end of a Randy Orton soccer kick during this gimmick, mainly because it had gotten over on TV and actually involved very little effort on my part. Like I said, few people saw this, but it was great while it lasted.
2. Special Ed: One of those gimmicks that's been done for years, but Gary is so awesome at it, and you truly believe that there is something wrong with him mentally. He'll be normal in the back, but when its time to kick it in gear, he does it just fine. He hasn't worked on a regular basis in the last couple of months, but I think his stretch from April to August working the gimmick allows him to qualify for this award just fine.
3. Chuck Taylor: He wrestles every IWA: Deep South show and wrestled for TFW and USWO; I'd like to think that qualifies him for being in this area; His gimmick is that he hates children and old women and loves to make them cry and he is absolutely great at this. Another part of his gimmick is that he refuses to do flips even though a lot of the people he wrestles uses those a lot. He says, "Contrary to popular belief, I was actually trained to wrestle, so I don't have to go out there and do a bunch of flippy shit and ROH MOVEZ".
I probably went way into detail there, but I knew that a lot of people may not be familiar with many of these workers/bookers/groups, even though in reality, they actually have more a national following than we in the MEMPHIS AREA BUBBLE actually realize. I'd like to think this might open these groups for more people to take a look at.
Well, that's it for this very, very long column. E-Mail me at hljpromotions@gmail.com. Go visit my MySpace at www.myspace.com/chickmagnethump. Check out the Southern Saints at www.myspace.com/southernsaintsofwrestling. Go to CHIKARAFans.com and tell Dan that Hump sent you. Support local Indy wrestling, regardless of how bad it may suck at times. Don't be afraid to watch something different. Finally, don't work strong style 'cause you're not Samoa Joe, even though you want to be.
