INSIDE THE MWF
by Dan Mirade
January 16th, 2010 --- #1
Note: the following is a column of thoughts, opinions and observations. It's written with a deep passion for the professional wrestling industry as a whole, for the fans of wrestling and the athletes driven to live their dreams. Whether you agree or disagree with these words, remember that there's a voice that cares behind it, one that only wants to see every hard working wrestler and promoter succeed, and for every fan to leave a live event feeling they got value for their dollar, wanting to see live wrestling (both independent and major league) again and again. For that, I do not apologize.
For more Mirade madness, including a look at the sad state of independent wrestling in New England and the demise of Hulk Hogan, visit DanMirade.com
I've been holding off on writing this column on purpose. . . but in the end, you can't avoid it. Words can't describe how I felt watching this "Christmas video" that John Cena Sr. allowed to be put on the web and on ULTRA, followed up by an article on the web-site that our former CEO and I broke up over the summer. In the past, I haven't held back in my hammering of people on-line and in person, but when it comes to peoples personal lives and families. . . . .an announcement that she left the company because a lunatic stole a picture of her with Santa Claus would have been suffice. Don't know what else to say. For the MWF, we lost a person who had a big heart and was behind many of our fundraising ideas to show the world that yeah, there is a lot of good in professional wrestling. On the personal side, I lost my best friend, the one person that showed me a life outside of wrestling that I met when I was 22 years old. When there are little people involved, it's even harder. . . .the rest of the story is better off told in an autobiography that will never be sold. . .
SOUL SURVIVOR VI is shaping up to be a big one fans, what a double main event. The retirement of the Iron Sheik as he teams with "Black Machismo" Jay Lethal against psycho "Stalker" Dylan Kage will be one for the history book. The MWF Heavyweight Championship match between current title holder "Slyck" Wagner Brown of JBL's Uprising and Chris Sabin will be one of the most hottly contested matches in company history. And that's just the beginning! It truly is the "hot stove" season here in the MWF, as the legends of yesterday, today and tomorrow come together for one huge live event and fanfest Saturday, April 24th back in Melrose, MA. Tickets go on-sale to fans Saturday, February 13th (and earlier for our Superfans). If the pricing I'm hearing for VIP's is true, it's borderline insanity!
Also upset about the loss of one of the sports true bad a$$'s, "Dr. Death" Steve Williams. We had Steve on MWF television a couple of years ago talking about his autobiography. Steve and our "doc" Commissioner Von Johnson both battled cancer and had a very interesting, non-wrestling related discussion about it. Everytime I hear that one of the brotherhood passes away, it's tough. The man suffered horribly, beat it, then it came back again. President Cena put together a tremendous video tribute to Williams, as he did to Umaga, which are both worth going out of your way to see. My best to his friends in the business and family. . .
Hopeful to add more content over at DanMirade.com, which was to be my baby since the president wasn't happy with many columns we had over on the MWF side of things. Real life and insanity behind the scenes have kept me busy, but I put together a "live-to-tape" column of the Monday Night Wars from January 4th that I'll have up shortly. It was the most exciting night in pro wrestling in years. . .I was glad our January ULTRA was a part of it, as well.
Independent wrestling on local television has been discussed a lot of late. Very interesting topic, to say the least. If you look at history, it's never been a success as no one has ever had a lengthy run. We had the chance to have a weekly, half hour television program not too long ago, and after a heated internal debate, decided to keep things status quo. There are hundreds of television programs on at this very moment, but that doesn't mean a lot of people are watching them. Paying to have the privelage of saying we're one of them isn't the most frugal thing we can do. I've been doing a lot of work with a national media company over the past couple of years, and television, how it's watched, how it's presented, etc., is changing and evolving not even yearly but monthly. We'll continue to produce our local television programming as is, and continue to expand the BOSTONWRESTLING.COM supersite. As far as doing what "other people" are doing, right place, right time?? Sure. We have some "outside the box" ideas that we're ready to execute that will truly seperate us from the rest of the pack, and we're very excited about that. We'll know a few years from now if we've made the right choice or the wrong one. . .
I thought the January ULTRA was a tremendous professional wrestling television show, very different than Raw and Impact the same night. We have superstars, athletes and scenarios that capture your attention. The show opens with President Cena, known worldwide from his WWE appearances, with a blockbuster announcement about the Iron Sheik's final match at SSVI teaming with "Black Machismo" Jay Lethal against "Stalker" Dylan Kage at our biggest event of the year. First match of the first year of a new decade was TNA superstar Abyss against the massive Max Bauer, and believe you me, Bauer took it to Abyss big time in a battle of the big men. There was a quick interview with Scott Reed, giving fans the chance to get to know this ready for prime time athlete better. . .who he is, where he's been, where's he going. We had to relive the Kage home invasion video, which to a wrestling fan not personally involved, was interesting. Program ended with two fine athletes in Reed and "Hurricane" John Walters going at it in a spirited athletic contest, with JBL's Uprising attacking as the program went off the air. A little bit of everything that delivered the hype. . .
The January Xtra: The John Cena Sr. Show should be a good one with the return of my friend John Bradshaw Layfield. President Cena isn't looking forward to this one as much as I am, but despite what I think of what JBL has done in (and even out of the ring in some ways), I respect him as a human being. . .in all of my dealings with him, he has been a man of his word and up front. What he's done with The Uprising faction is a different story for a different time. Nonetheless, everything he touches turns to gold and into a success. . .just take a look at "Slyck" Wagner Brown's waist. . .
The February MWF TV shows are going to be very interesting. No one seems to know if myself, the Jackal or even both of us are going to be removed from the broadcast booth. Change is in the air and Cena is keeping this one close to the glove. The Jackal's broadcasting contract expired December 31st and was so insulted by Cena waiting until the WWE Raw house show January 8th that he did not wind up going, which is very interesting. ULTRA itself is loaded, as "Straight Edge" Brian Fury defends against "Million Dollar Investment" Tommaso Ciampa of the Uprising, Nikki Valentine debuts against TNA Knockout Awesome Kong, and Terri Runnels will hopefully be unsuccessful in her bid to become John Cena Sr.'s personal assistant in the Fabulous Women of Wrestling. Our new, third program Superstar Zone is slated to debut in February itself, as we continue to expand our online content and give newer fans a chance to know the history of some of our superstars...
That's all for now. Don't forget to visit the MWF Store, there are some great deals on our state of the art Studio Shoot Interview DVD's and other items. Every little bit helps when you're trying to present the best quality product possible in the land of the giants. . .thank you for your support and have a happy new year. . .
Take care,
Dan Mirade
"Slow it down" - Eddie Sharkey, Las Vegas, June 9th, 2006
"It's sad what's become of our business. . .when we started, we had to earn the right to be in the ring" -- Tito Santana, being interviewed by Les Thatcher January 15th, 2008
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