I just got a chance to read Johnny Kashmere's column. It is getting mixed reviews on the board. I happen to like Johnny and think he is a talented worker. He made some solid points but there are a few issues. Before I get into that I also read Carmine's new column and liked and agreed with what he had to say about Johnny's column. A union is great but unless you work for WWE it is not possible on the indy scene. I also admire that he wants to be for the boys. One problem is that NO PROMOTER CAN BE FOR THE BOYS OR YOU WILL GO OUT OF BUSINESS. That's not to say that a promoter cannot care or take care of there talent but they just cannot be for the boys. You can not let the inmates run the assylum. I ran into that problem about 4 years ago. I had a partner who was a worker and he was all for the boys and taking care of the boys before the promotion made money. That partnership lasted 2 shows. If a promoter does not make money then it is very difficult to run future shows. I feel that the talent should be paid fairly and market price. That of course differs from promotion to promotion. I do not feel that they should be overpaid because they have a name, or are talented or what have you. I wish Johnny a lot of luck with his new promotion but just keep in mind that you are the boss and a boss cannot be over friendly with its workers. You need to make money in order to survive. If you do not then you know the results.

I also read the Mic's column about rating the women in this business. I liked that column and I might do a parody of that my style in the future.

That leads us to this past Wednesday, as NWS ran there summer show in Long Branch, NJ. They had me book George " the Animal " Steele for that show. Normally come show day I handle all the outside talent that I book for the promoters here in NJ. Unfortunately this show happened to be a mid week show and I have a real job so I couldn't do what I normally do. We arranged for George to fly into Philly. The Kahuna had the job of picking him up and transporting him to the show. Somehow George took an earlier flight due to either maintenance problems or weather problems as it was overcast here in the Northeast. As it would have turned out both flights got in with in 20 or so minutes of each other. A problem arose as George did not communicate this to me or anyone else. The Kahuna and his crew went looking for him on his original flight but he was not there at the airport. This made for some tense moments. Kahuna called me and I told him what to do at the airport only to no luck. Lucky for me my boss gave me an easy day driving and doing deliveries. I was able to make it back home where I called the hotel where the NWS had put him up. Thankfully, George was there and I sent Gino over to the hotel to pick him up. They made good time getting to the building. George looks very good. After I got him situated we hit the gimmick table for some good business. I love being around George as he is a wealth of knowledge. I just love learning and hearing old war stories. George is a total professional and a smart business man. Backstage George was showing off his skill and speed by grabbing a quarter out of a person's hand before he was able to close it. The person getting this done to him was in total amazement as he thought he could beat George at his own game. He tried many time gallantly but failed every time. If you watched the movie Bloodsport with Jean Claude Van Damme where he grabbed something out of the persons hand in the hotel scene this was similar. I asked George to do it with me. He beat me to the punch the first time. I asked him to do it a second time. This time I was lucky enough to be quicker than he was. He was very impressed and amazed that I beat him. He asked me about my martial arts experience and I just smiled and winked at him. George was the manager in the 6 person oddities match. George had them eating out of the palm of his hands with his shtick. George even ate all 4 turnbuckles to the delight of all the fans there not to mention the promoters. Backstage, while with George, I was telling Chris Candido and who ever else would listen back there that when I tell the younger kids about psychology to watch a George Steele match. I asked them what does he do in his match. The answer is nothing. I always preach less is more. All agreed. Someone asked George what his best match was and he said his match with Dean Ho. He said he went 30 or so minutes with him and they did not even lock up for the first 25 minutes and the crowd was going crazy. I wish some of that psychology existed today. Balls Mahoney was at my table with George selling his gimmick. He sells this silly string in a bottle. It is a big money maker for all the kids. Chris Candido and Big Vito had a hell of match. It was a stickball lumberjack match. I am going to date myself a little but for all the parents out there do you remember playing stick ball in the yard back in the day. This was big in Brooklyn. Actually, it was a broomstick that the lumberjacks had a ring side. The match was very entertaining. As a rib Balls Mahoney had all the kids shoot the silly string at the lumberjacks and Chris Candido. It was the funniest thing I have seen. Only Chris Candido can make silly string look good. Not only did he wrestle the silly string but he sold for it, took a bump for it and even put over the silly string. This only furthers my feelings that Chris is one if not the most entertaining wrestler on the circuit today. He really deserves a big break. He gets it. He is the one of the few that really gets it. Another person that really gets it is Mick Foley but I will do a Mick Foley piece at a later date. This was a good show only made better by the stylings of George Steele and Chris Candido. Both are great entertainers who GET IT.

The second half of the double shot week was on Saturday as the NWS had there intergender tag team tournament. Luminaries in attendance were Stiffsots himself Robert Payes and Dani the photographer. Wherever April Hunter and 4 of the top indy girls go the king of the pervs ( Stiffshots that is ) shows up as well. No leather pants at this show. I guess I can fit in that category as well. Some of the highlights include the opening match which had Slyck & April Vs Jay Lethal & Alicia. This was one hell of a way to open the card. Both teams worked hard and looked good. Jay Lethal is one hell of a performer and has come into his own recently. He looked real good here. Somehow both teams weren't ready to go on first and April was a little nervous. I told her she has to do it on the fly. She gave me that look but she knew I was right. As it turned out everything worked out great and both teams looked good. Powerchild worked Johnny Candido with Chris Candido at ringside. The match itself was OK nothing bad but was made great by the antics of Chris outside doing his entertaining shtick. If you haven't noticed that I am a big mark for Chris and schill for him all the time as we have been friends from the beginning. I couldn't do that if he wasn't talented. When the ring announcer who was a sub because all the ring announcers that NWS uses was not available screwed the name of Johnny Candido who one the match Tammy " Sunny " Sytch who was at the time keepers table and heard the announcer screw up the name even after being told the correct name took matters into her own hands. The Kahuna and I had that look of horror in our eyes as Tammy took the mike and told the announcer outright that he sucked big time. The expression on the announcers face was priceless. Tammy came over to Kahuna & I and was going off big time. They decided to switch ring announcers and made Tammy the new ring announcer. It literally saved the show. The ring announcer can make or brake the show. Tammy wanted me to announce here in my column that she is available for ring announcing work. The same goes for the referee's. In the middle of all the theatrics going on Chris and his brother had an impromptu match which was all done on the fly and looked great. Chris was doing all is Ric Flair and Terry Funk spots and made the match very entertaining. Chris is also doing a great job with his brother in getting him ready for the wrestling business. Johnny has come into his own and looks good and with some more time and the Candido polish that only Chris can give he will be great someday. Again this only furthers my statement that Chris is probably the best entertainer and performer on the indy scene now and better than most of the guys you see on TV. Other highlights included a strap match between TNT & Jc Rage. This was better than expected. This was sort of an old school strap match. Balls Mahoney was the special ref and got a nice for being in his home town. When they went to the belt spots and started whipping each other, they put a little extra effort into it. Somehow Rage brings the best out of TNT and it showed here. The end result was a title change. TNT won the belt back. They set up a Balls Vs Rage match for return show in DEC. Slayer worked a match as well. I am a fan of his. I had a long talk with him after the show and told him to work the crowd more as his gimmick warrants that. With slayer the less is more principle applies. I gave him my George Steele speech. He agreed. Lets hope he listens and applies what I said. In the finals it was Slyck & April vs Julio Dinero & Kara. Another good match in which Julio & Kara went over. Chirs & Tammy gave the crowns to the winners. Tammy passed the torch over to Kara and did one of the best soap opera Days of our Lives quality crying routines. Of course Chris told Julio that he wasn't retired which led Chris into attacking Julio to set up Julio & Kara Vs Chris & a partner to be named later at the return show in DEC. You never know Tammy could come out of retirement for this one. I thought this tournament was well done. It had only 4 teams which was good instead of the usual 8,12 or 16. Everyone worked hard and had fun in the ring. After the show the Kahuna and his crew and I went to the diner which is are usual thing. This trip we had special guests join us as April Hunter and Slyck Wagner Brown wanted to get something to eat as well. The young helpers in Kahuna's van were vying to see who got to sit next to April. As luck would have it I got to sit next to April. Dinner was good and the conversation was great.

Eric Simms
www.esspromotions.com
ESS316@aol.com