McPinions
By: Sean “The MiC” McCaffrey

Hello everyone. I am Sean “The MiC” McCaffrey, and I am the newest member to join the Declaration of Independents. I am really excited about working for this fine publication, and I will make sure to put in a good column for every issue.

For a little background of myself, to let you know what I’m about here you go.

I am 21, and have been following wrestling since WrestleMania IV. Living in NY, WWF was the only thing that I really watched. My favorite wrestlers growing up were The Million Dollar Man, Big Boss Man, Mr. Perfect, and of course like everyone else Hulk Hogan. I never did have a single #1 favorite wrestler at this time, until Shawn Michaels dumped Jannetty threw the plate-glass window of the Barbershop. Ever since then, I’m the number 1 HBK mark, and a fan of anything he does. Right now my other favorites include Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle.

Enough about the WWF/E. Around 1997, I started writing regularly about wrestling for a newsletter called Inside Ringside, which was published by Bobby Reidel. I did that for 2 years, until Inside Ringside called it quits. It was a great newsletter and had many subscribers. Around this time, after Inside Ringside, I started following independent wrestling. I went to and saw bunch of shows, but mainly USA Pro. Through my writings I was contacted by Stars and Stripes Championship Wrestling (SSCW, based in NJ) owner, Carmine Sabia and got a job writing for their web site about all forms of wrestling. To see it, view http://www.sscwwrestling.com. I currently have other duties for SSCW, such as helping Carmine promote and help out, but writing is my favorite part of working for SSCW! After writing for SSCW for 2 months, I started sending in some of my columns and reviews to Brett Schwan, who runs a independent wrestling website. I am now a full-time columnist for that site Wrestling Clothesline as well as the SSCW site. Now fast forward to now, I got an email from Mike Zevon, who runs this newsletter asking if I could do original material for his newsletter. After signing a multi-million dollar contract, I decided to hop aboard!

This column will be my general thoughts and feelings about independent wrestling for the month. I will also say what I think is good, and what I think is bad. I will also be doing the Rankings section for this newsletter as well as show reviews. I hope you enjoy my work, and if you’re still with me here, let me start this initial column for Declaration of Independents.

The northeast, mainly NY/NJ/Philly has some of the hottest talent around. With many promotions in business and using big names with hot indy stars, most shows that I’ve attended have been really good. My favorite indy stars right now are the Dirty Rotten Scoundrelz, Deranged, Dixie, Paul London, AJ Styles and Homicide. I’m omitting other people, but I don’t have all the space to add everyone that I like to watch.

One thing I’d like to comment on is promotion identity. With so many promotions using the same wrestlers, it’s hard to find out what a promotion is all about. Right now New Jersey has 4 main independent promotions- SSCW, JAPW, JCW, and IWF. They all use a bulk of the same workers, besides the IWF, which is more of a training promotion. It’s hard for independent wrestling promotions to get a real name out, but that really has succeeded is the ECWA in Delaware. With its Super 8 tournaments, ECWA is one of the most prestigious promotions around. I’d seriously urge anyone, to get down to Delaware via bus trip or driving and check out the Super 8.

Promotion Rumblings-

JAPW has been having solid shows as of the last couple of months. With Mafia just recently defeating Homicide for the World Championship, it has to make you wonder if Monsta Mack will be needed in JAPW. We’ll soon find out, as JAPW has 3 events scheduled in 3 weeks! DRS have just won the tag team titles, along with the JCW tag team championships. By the time you are reading this, we’ll find out if DRS pulled the trifecta against the SAT at USA PRO Wrestling. JAPW also has an all women card coming up. All perverts must attend! Check out all the cards and match listings at Jersey All Pro Wrestling

JCW is another promotion that has been making waves. With former ECW standout, Simon Diamond as world champion, they have been having great shows as well. I’d really encourage people to make the drive out to Paramus to see their next card. It’s even featuring a bikini contest as a perk to all the great wrestling that’s going to be on the show. Go to http://www.jcwwrestling.com for the full card. Insane Dragon, Don Montoya, DRS, LiveWyre, Rob Eckos plus many other top indy names are scheduled to be there.

SSCW is a promotion I work for and it’s an exciting time for us. With Justin Credible vs Devon “Crowbar” Storm in the main event, it’s going to be an unforgettable show. SSCW was the first promotion to land JC, and I know the SSCW Fans won’t be disappointed. In major indy news, involving the SSCW, SSCW, NWS and JCW have all teamed up to form the UWS. (United Wrestling Syndicate) Basically, this is a team of promotions set up to recognize one set of champions and use talent exchange. With 3 promoters knowing all different people, it will just increase quality of the talent running through there. Talking with Carmine he let me know that the UWS will be expanding in the future, and once news gets more available, I will release it here. Check out the rest of the SSCW card, set for March 28th at Stars and Stripes Championship Wrestling

Another promotion in the NY area that has started running shows is NYWC. For 5 bucks you get to witness the guys from LICW. Great talents that work there are Grim Reefer (if you haven’t seen this guy, DO!) Livewyre, John Curse, Mike Mayhem and many more. They also have Dan Barry, who is starting to become a great cruiserweight star. Check them out at NYWC NY only has another indy rival, so check them out, for 5 bucks it will be the best money you spent.

Another promotion that I’d like to quickly mention is ROH. They ran a show here in NY that was great. I finally got to see Paul London live, and after having a major impressive NY debut, he’s now a regular on NWA TNA. This is the man to watch along with Xavier and Low-Ki’. Check them out at Ring of Honor

Finally bringing me to USA PRO. USA Pro have been signing major names right and left, and the show March Madness looks to be a good one. I am writing this before hand, and you probably have seen the show as of this writing. The matches that I am looking forward to, and which should be the highlight of the show are: DRS vs SAT in a Ladder Tag Team Title match, Deranged vs The Amazing Red and Raven vs Sandman. With a stacked show, and probably a 7 hour marathon, it should be good. Check out any more news at USA Pro Wrestling

That about does it for this month. This was just an introduction column, so wait for more meat and sauce at the next column. You can always see me online at:

Wrestling Clotheslineand at Stars and Stripes Championship Wrestling

Let me know what you think about my work, send an email to:

themic@sscwwrestling.com
or
SSCW THE MIC on AOL IM

Thanks for reading my work, it’s appreciated!