----Just thought I would throw together a “Coach’s Corner” to give everyone an idea about what “Book Tour 2009” meant to me. As you can see, it meant a lot of wrestling, a lot of travel and overall a pretty good time. Below are some Tour Four along with “More on Mississippi” to finish this edition.
Tour Facts
-13 shows
-151 different wrestlers
-75 matches
-1568 fans total
-121 average fans per show
-1840 miles traveled
-Average match rating: 2.28
13 Shows – 13 Best Bouts of the Tour
13: Syn/DJ Stunner vs Tommy Redneck/Jon Biscuit [***] NBW Newbern, TN 4.18.09
12: Dustin Starr vs Baron Malkavain [***] DCW Dyersburg, TN 4.11.09
11: Christopher Lee/Tommy Wayne vs Cody Murdoch/Cason McClain [***1/4]3.07.09
ASWF, Tuckerman, AR
10: Kid Nikels vs Greg Anthony [***1/4] NEW West Memphis, AR 5.09.09
9: Brian Christopher vs Seth Knight [***1/4] DCW Dyersburg, TN 4.11.09
8: “Genocide” [Albino Rhino/Maxx Corbin] vs Shawn Reed/Greg King Jr [***1/2] EWE Ripley, TN 4.04.09
7: Devon Day vs Kilo [***1/2] TIWF Trenton, TN 4.25.09
6: Blalok the Blazer vs Pokerface [***1/2] RWA Jonesboro, AR 3.14.09
5: Greg King Jr vs Kid Nikels [***3/4] 3.06.09 NEW West Memphis, AR
4: ECBB vs Pokerface/Derrick King [***3/4] MCW Osceola, AR 4.03.09
3: Dustin Ring vs Eric Wayne [****] NEW West Memphis, AR 5.09.09
2: Greg King Jr vs Eric Wayne vs Kid Nikels [****1/4] 3.15.09
1: Austin Lane vs Derrick King [****1/4] ASWF Tuckerman, AR 5.09.09
-Best Match featuring a legend –
Bill Dundee/Jeremy Moore vs Sarge O’Reilly/Brandon Barbwire [***] NBW Newbern, TN 4.18.09
-Best Crowd Reactions
Rodney Mack, Austin Lane and Dustin Starr
-Top 3 Best Shows [featuring 4 or more matches]
1: NEW US JR Title Tournament – 5.08.09 West Memphis, AR
2: NBW Spring Breakout 2009 Newbern, TN 4.18.09
3: RWA Jonesboro, AR 3.14.09
-Top 3 Worst Shows
1: EPW DARE Benefit Thrasher, MS 5.01.09
2: EWE Ripley, TN 4.04.09
3: ASWF Tuckerman, AR 3.07.09
-Most Improved Wrestler That Wears A Mask
Demon X
-Most Improved Wrestler Without a Mask
Jeremy Moore
-Best Backstage Brawl
Brian Christopher vs Bishop
-Markout Moments
1: Dustin Ring beating Eric Wayne
2: Jon Michael doing moonsault to floor
3: Plaque hanging at ASWF Valiant Arena
-Best Heel
Derrick King at ASWF
MORE ON MISSISSIPPI
----I wasn’t even going to put over the fact that “Axeman” Randall Lewis wrote an article about my comments about Mississippi wrestling, but since my good pal Gene Jackson just haaaaaaaaaadddddd to mention it, I have to make a quick statement here.
-----Ok, did I maybe exaggerate a bit about wrestling being 10 times worse?? Yeah maybe. It might have been since it was such a long trip that I was a bit bitchier about it being bad wrestling. It really was the worse show I attended during the tour and that was calculated by match ratings. EWE [TN] and ASWF [Arkansas] also had two pretty bad shows, but I do want to point out that both of those shows produced one of the top 13 bouts of the tour. Also those crews have more than three guys that work every week that are good – I can not say that about EPW.
----My main point of the whole wrestling is better in Tennessee/Arkansas than in Mississippi could be argued easily as Gene made note – there is bad wrestling everywhere. LOL But, I guess I was highly disappointed more that the members of the crew minus just a few were still the same guys that were good during the IWF days. It is like no one cares to help anyone and everyone goes out doing stuff wrong – over and over. And aside from three or so of the ones I put over, they don’t work on a regular basis.
----I did disagree with Gene questioning my objectivity. The way I review matches or give my opinion of matches has nothing to do with being close to the guys. You need to ask guys like Psycho, Christian Jacobs, Dustin Starr and Sarge O’Reilly about whether I give my opinion no matter who you are?? There is probably been one 4 star match between all four of those guys in 3 years of this site. My match rating is based mainly on structure – the psychology of the match – does it flow as it is SUPPOSE to?? Are the workers smooth in their execution?? Polished?? I remember guys like JR Manson, Crazy Train and Jeremy Moore, who actually knew psychology better than some guys with way more experience, but they couldn’t have good matches, because their execution was bad. Next is the crowd into it?? Are the workers doing what they can to get people into it?? Seriously it doesn’t matter if there are15 in the crowd if they are actually 15 fans that are INTO IT. That is better than 225 who could care less; right?? The final thing is really a personal enjoyment factor and if workers are doing all the before mentioned stuff, then I usually enjoy it.
----I have to agree with Gene that “Axeman” and his view of Mississippi wrestling is a bit slanted. Why?? He works for the promotion. His job is to put over that promotion and he does a good job doing that. That was the main reason I did not feel a need to respond to his rant on me. I would have been disappointed if he wouldn’t have responded. His view of what makes a good match has nothing to do with structure and such – I don’t even know if he knows what good psychology is?? It usually is just about whom “Axeman” works for and that is who “Axeman” likes. Nothing wrong with that – I promise you he gets a lot less hate mail than I do.
----After all was said and done, I still do think Mississippi wrestling is worse than shows in Arkansas and Tennessee. It has nothing to do with who I know or like – it has everything to do with quality of the matches. I will agree though – every promotion has their own Bonecrusher, Johnny Hawk or Leroy Hambone – things like that will never change. And my final note is to Cassonova Kid – Jimmy Buffett once said, “Elvis was the only man from Northeast Mississippi who could shake his hips and still be loved by rednecks, cops, and hippies.” Please think about that the next time you do whatever you call yourself doing with your hips!!
