McPinions
By: Sean “The MiC” McCaffrey

As we approach the year 2006, many stories were broken here on the DOI, and many other stories in indy wrestling occurred. For this column, I'm going to be looking at the Top 10 stories/events, that took place in 2005, in order of how they impacted indy wrestling.

TOP 10 Stories of 2005

10. 3PW Closes Up Shop-
This story, which was broken on the DOI, seemed to be in the works for several months. Once Jasmin St. Claire gave up on the company in January, Michael Hawes grabbed the wheel and steered the company. However, and unfortunately, he steered it in the wrong direction, as too many people were in his year, and alot of money was lost. Fans, who've seen companies been mismanaged before, were skeptical about dedicating themselves to 3PW's product, due to the ownership issues. Eventually, fans would give 3PW a second chance, due to the bloodline of 3PW, The Blue Meanie. While Jasmin receieved a settlement, making her the only one to really profit off of 3PW, everyone else took a loss, as people weren't getting paid and more money was being spent than being brought in. After a political mess between Michael Hawes, The Blue Meanie and Rockin' Rebel, the company officially closed doors in the summer of 2005, as the sagging Philly scene continued to drag. Oddly enough, the company, which presented ECW nostalgia for so long, under the guidance of Tod Gordon, didn't reap any benefits of the ECW rebirth of 2005, and were left in the dust, as better promoters, such as Vince McMahon and Jeremy Borash, pocketed the majority of the ECW love loot. While 3PW leaving the scene isn't as big as a loss as it would've been if it was CZW, 3PW did have alot of hardcore fans, and alot of those fans have now given up on indy wrestling, as a result of 3PW's demise. It is a very sad story, as the company did have alot of great moments.

9. Death of Spider & Chri$ Ca$h-
Two cruiserweight wrestlers, who were known for their high risk styles, in their respective states of Connecticut and Pennsylvania, both passed away due to their high risk lifestyles. Spider, the young buck from Connecticut, died at an indy show in front of 20 people, after landing on his head during move where he wasn't caught correctly from his opponent. His opponent, who was accused of being high at the time, simply didn't catch Spider, and Spider unfortunately became the poster child for "high risk" wrestling. As fans, we take alot of what is done in the ring for granted, as at any moment, anyone can become injured, and in extreme cases, dead. The death of Spider proved that. It's why many people are preaching the old school style of wrestling today, to cut down on all the high risk moves, to increase the possibility of living an injury-free life. Spider was a standout in the New England area, and is continually missed by his friends and peers.

Chri$ Ca$h, who was out for a portion of 2005, due to injuries, made his grand return to CZW in the summer of 2005. Ca$h, who enjoyed the high risk lifestyle, put his body on the line with incredible manuevers and insane bumps. Considered one of CZW's breakout stars, Ca$h went all out to entertain the fans at Cage of Death VI. It was that performance that he will probably be remembered most for. Ca$h, who up to his death, did everything in his will to go all out at 100% for the fans, ultimately died, due to the high risk life style that enjoyed immensely. Ca$h was involved in a motorcycle near his home in south New Jersey. Ca$h wasn't able to be revived and passed away the same day as his accident. Not only was his death a major loss to CZW fans, it was a loss that pains his peers and family today. Like Spider, Ca$h had a major cult following, that continues to reflect happily on the memories he gave them.

8. Companies Open & Close Up Shop in New Jersey-
SSCW. JCW. PW Elite. IEW. These are all companies that promoted shows, with some of them not even happening. For the shows that did happen, most of them closed down after one or two shows. SSCW, the brain child of Carmine Sabia, and financed by Grace Sabia, was always the pioneer in promoting and cancelling shows days before the event. The same held true in March of this year. Carmine eventually called it quits, and now is doing what he does best, and that is graphic design.

Ricky O, who has cancelled his fair share of shows, ultimately stuck the fork in JCW. He attempted a comeback with Smash Mouth Wrestling, but that show was cancelled before it even began, due to a lack of interest on his part. It takes a special breed to be a promoter, and Ricky, who's a big family man, and has a lot of stress in his real life job, decided that wrestling was more of a hobby and not a fulltime job for him. It probably was a wise choice.

IEW, the promotion ran by Danny Demanto, but backed by Jac Sabboth, actually was the only promotion that made money, albeit not alot. IEW had two solid indy events, with something for everyone on them. The shows were a test to show that Danny could promote a show. While both shows probably topped at the 150 mark the most, Danny proved that fans would come to the AWA arena, and actually drew up to 6 times the crowds AWA does in their building, on any given night. However, the stress and the time that went into IEW, to only make $100-$300 in profit, wasn't worth it, and Danny quit while he was ahead. Unfortunately, shows/promotions like these, wind up ultimately hurt, and not benefitted wrestling. When fans can't get into a product because it's only there for a short time, it hurts the overall scene. However, Danny did more than most "promoters", as he sold out his building, made money on the show, and provided moments that will never be forgotten, such as Louie baring all and stapling dollar bills to his ass, the return of the Hit Squad, Monsta Mack winning his first Heavyweight title, etc.

PW Elite, which is actually returning this year, with a new staff, after a years absence, was the company created by Pete Ferriero. Pete, who has a reputation of having decent events, but swimming in the red after every show, wound up losing money on this event, and called it quits after his first comebackbackback show. To Pete's credit, he's one of the few promoters who have sucked it up, and went through with every event he promotes, as he's never cancelled a show. It takes alot of pride, love for wrestling and respect for the fans, to lose thousands of dollars, rather than cancelling an event. Pete should be known for that as much as he's known for other things. Will PW Elite be another in and out company in 2006? Time will tell.

Other promotions closed up shop after having horrible events or after not making any money on their shows. Promotions like NWA Cyberspace, still continue to have decent events, despite losing money every show. NWA-NJ/UWA has fallen off the face of the earth, after having some good shows. It's tough to run in NJ right now, and that's why the people who know wrestling, like JAPW, NWS, and ECPW (See Gino, I didn't forget!), have been around for such a long time, while others with big dreams make small exits.

7. JAPW Continues To Grow-
Like Fat Frank said in his most recent DOI interview, JAPW had their most successful year, from a growth and a financial point of view, in 2005. The company debuted in the Boston area, with two events, while subpar to the normal JAPW product, was better than 90% of the shows in the New England area on any given night. JAPW also ventured back to Philly, and before Hardcore Homecoming and CZW's 7th Annual Cage of Death, drew the most amount of people than any other show in the building (ECW Arena). JAPW also continued to pack in their Rahway building, topping at 700+. Could JAPW break 1000 in 2006? It's possible and a realistic goal. JAPW also picked up a lot of steam with the advent of World Wide, and has been the leader in internet wrestling TV, due to the hardwork of Modtrom Video & their staff. Wrestlers have been clawing to get into JAPW for some time, and now with World Wide, they'll wrestle for free, just for the exposure of being on World Wide, which gets the most downloads than any other internet wrestling TV show. Outside of all this, JAPW also did the unthinkable, and ran a kick ass event in Atlantic City, drawing the most amount of fans to that area, in recent memory, and this is after a show with a big talent roster, bombed two months before. However, the big risk paid off, and JAPW's growing fan base kept getting larger. 2004 saw JAPW change their product for the better. 2005 reaped the benefits of a changed product. Can 2006 be the best year in JAPW history? If the past is any indication, than that should be a big YES, by the time 2007 rolls around.

6. ECW Nostalgia-
ECW! ECW! ECW! are chants still heard throughout wrestling arenas all over the world, despite the company meeting its maker four years ago. The WWE, noticing that fans still remembered ECW, released an ECW documentary in 2004. After it became the highest selling DVD in WWE history, the WWE realized that the market for ECW was still there. In 2005, we had "One Night Stand", which was an ECW tribute show, put on by Vince McMahon. While I don't think ECW could last today, under the McMahon umbrella, as ECW was all about creating new stars, the tribute show was nicely done. Jeremy Borash and Shane Douglas also took notice of the ECW love, and staged several Hardcore Homecoming events, with the first show grossing the most amount of money, since ECW itself. Hardcore Homecoming, held on 6/10, became the highest grossing non WWE event, in America, this year. Like the WWE, Jeremy Borash made his own ECW documentary, filling in the holes with wrestlers not featured on the WWE DVD, like The Sandman, Shane Douglas, Raven, and others, all talking about their roles and memories of company. Even with the ECW nostaligia starting to wane down in November, Borash staged another Philadelphia event, and wound up having a great crowd, and held a Terry Funk "dedication ceremony", where Terry Funk's name was embroidered on a banner, which will now forever hang in the ECW arena. Vince is scheduled to put out another ECW DVD out in 2006. Perhaps if it sells as well as previous ECW DVDs, we'll see another one night stand in 2006.

5. Matt Hardy Hits The Indy Scene-
When Matt Hardy was released earlier this year, for making his love triangle with Edge and Lita public, he became one of the biggest internet babyfaces since The Blue Meanie. Like the Meanie fans, the Mattitude followers staged petitions and wrote into the WWE to hire Matt back. In the summer of 2005, the world was Matt's oyster. Deals came in from all over the place. It seemed like a lock that the Hardy Boyz would reunite in TNA. However, after several indy shots, Matt decided that he'd go back to the WWE, but not without fulfilling his ROH committments first. Matt did several ROH shows, before returning to the WWE fulltime, where he feuded with Edge. After being made out to look like an idiot by the WWE, as he was buried with multiple losses, including losing a "Loser Leaves Raw" match with Edge, Matt was shipped to Smackdown, where he puts over JBL in 5 minute squash matches. While the indy money would've been nice, in addition to having a more relaxed schedule, Matt decided that the indy scene wasn't for him, after dabbling around in it. While Matt continues to be misutilized in the WWE, and makes tons of cash through merchandising, wrestling fans will remember how Matt Hardy was one of the hottest free agents in 2005. However, everything cools off in life. Just ask Matt Hardy.

4. ROH's Relations With Japanese Wrestling Companies-
In 2003, ROH brought us Muta. In 2004, ROH brought us Lyger. In 2005, ROH brought in tons of Japanese talent, culminating with the ROH debuts of Kenta Kobashi and KENTA. ROH, while not as profitable and as big, as it could be, has one sure thing going for them, and that's a positive relationship with the many wrestling promotions in Japan. ROH matches are even sought out from Japanese fans, and ROH, through their association with Japanese companies and quality events, is straddling the "indy fence" where some fans consider them the third biggest promotion in America, while other fans consider them an indy. Myself personally, I thought ROH had a legit stake at the number 2 spot in America, until TNA signed with Spike TV. I think it's safe to say that ROH is not really an indy anymore, as indy companies aren't regularly able to bring in Japanese talent like ROH. ROH, which promotes class, had several class act matches from their Japanese imports, which helped raise the respectability of ROH among wrestling fans.

3. Dan Maff Leaves Pro Wrestling-
From "PUMP-PUMP" to "DUMP-DUMP", Dan Maff was dumped by all promoters who booked him, in the early months of 2005. It's almost amazing to believe that Maff has already been gone for almost a year. Maff, who quit/became unbookable, after a personal incident with Homicide, was the reigning JAPW Heavyweight and ROH Tag Team Champion, at the time of his departure from pro wrestling. Maff was a top 10 indy wrestler, and was having some great matches, and even was hitting his stride as JAPW champion, through his matches with eventual JAPW champion, Jay Lethal. However, that came to a screeching halt, due to bad personal decisions. Maff would return to wrestling, by wrestling in Puerto Rico, but the DOI was told that Maff was in agony after those matches, after being inactive for so long. Maff, who is now gone from wrestling, will always be linked as screwing over his trainer and friend, in Homicide. While promoters and wrestlers did the right thing, in this difficult situation, leading to Maff's exit; for fans, he should be remembered as 1/2 of one of the indies most influential tag teams, and as a solid indy wrestler.

2. TNA Debuts On Spike TV-
TNA, considered a glorified indy for some, finally made the big move they needed, and debuted on Spike TV, in October of 2005. Now, TNA has four weeks/hours of TV time to hype up their monthly PPV's/Jarrett's Guitar shot specials. TNA is now growing faster than ever, and seemingly has hundreds of people under contract. No matter what they do creatively, TNA is making major moves and gaining major acquisitions, such as Sting, Christian and the Dudley Boyz. Will the Monday Night wars be revisited in 2006? Only time will tell, but I know I hope so!

1. Death of Chris Candido-
To this day, 7 months after his death, I still haven't heard one bad word about Chris Candido. Chris Candido was liked by everyone, because he was able to do so much and was able to get along with everyone. Even when he gave harsh criticism, like he used to do daily on The Masked Maniac hotline, the people he was criticizing weren't able to argue his points. Candido loved and knew the wrestling business inside out. Candido was a wrestlers wrestler, as every wrestler wanted to wrestle him. He could have 5 star classics with guys like AJ, Homicide or Kruel. He could have classic carny matches for NWS, with guys like Saddam Insane and the other gimmicks from the brain of Joe Panzarino. He could elevate wrestlers who needed to get to a higher level, with guys like EC Negro and Eric Cooper. He could tango with the best, with guys like Sabu, Terry Funk and others. Not only that, he could cut serious or comedic promos and was simply the best all around wrestler the indies had in 2004-til the time of his passing. Before he passed away, the WWE showed interest in him, but instead of waiting around, Chris signed with TNA, and elevated the Naturals while he was there. It is my belief that he'd be in the WWE right now, if he was alive, because I think he would've kicked ass at ECW's "One Night Stand", and earned himself a job. Chris was one of the best, and should be remembered forever, as one of the best all around wrestlers of our time.

There were many more stories in 2005 that grabbed headlines, such as Jimmy Jacobs trashing the IWA-MS title, Matt Striker getting a WWE job after getting fired from the NY school system, the emerging ROH/TNA battle and more.

For more on these stories, check the DOI archives.

Keep it here for more news, opinions, reviews & all that other grand jive.

Sean "The MiC" McCaffrey
BULLSMC@aol.com