I was watching this week’s Championship Wrestling From Hollywood, and I was bored by it. More than usual. The show has just been sucking a lot lately. So rather than just ramble about how much this show sucks, I’m gonna just make a column where I rewrite this episode of Championship Wrestling From Hollywood. I know my version would’ve been better than the mundane drivel you always see.
To watch this episode of Championship Wrestling From Hollywood, or to check out shows from promotions such as ROH and CMLL, check out the Fite TV. If you’re a fan of MMA, check out ACB on the Fite TV app as well.
Let’s recap the episode first.
-The debuting Matt Knicks of Freelance Wrestling in Chicago, Il is interviewed by Ashley Daniels about his match against Peter Avalon. This wasn’t anything special or decent.
-Ray Rosas vs. Big Duke in a #1 Contender’s Match: This was boring. Ray lost cleanly in about five minutes, so now his stock as a title contender has dropped.
-Josh Shibata interviewed Peter Avalon. He talked about Duke and Matt Knicks. I could’ve done without it.
-Peter Avalon vs. Matt Knicks: This was an uneventful match. Peter went over in about four minutes. Knicks had a decent showcase and seemed solid in the ring, but there was not enough to really get a good impression of him.
-Ashley Daniels interviews Rob Matter of Freelance Wrestling. He’s a skinny guy pretending to be a huge killer. He’s facing Tyler Bateman. I’m really not interested in this.
-Tyler Bateman vs. Rick Matter: Bateman is selling Oliver Grimsly’s fireball by wearing a simple eyepatch. His skin looked fine though. Bateman won in about three minutes. This was a total waste of time. After the match, Bateman was interviewed by Josh Shibata and he cut a promo on Grimsly.
-Kevin Condron interviewed Big Duke. This wasn’t good, and it was like two minutes long. Sheesh.
-Watts (w/ Ty Matthews) vs. Astro Viajero (Adrian Quest) (w/ Espiritu [Fidel Bravo]): This was a decent four-minute match. The finish didn’t look that good, as Astro Viajero overshot Watts on a running Standing Shooting Star Press, and had to crawl back into position to complete his spot with Watts.
-United TV Title Match: Scorpio Sky (c) vs. Todd Chandler: I was pretty underwhelmed by Chandler, but Sky had a really good performance. Ricky Mandel got involved in the match by attacking Sky. Sky still won cleanly in twelve minutes.
Overall, this wasn’t a very good show. It was very bland and formulaic. Nothing on this show was built up well, and it just felt like there was a lot of nothing on it. So for this edition of my CWFH reviews, I decided to just rewrite this episode to show that I can write a better program than this show.
Now, onto the rewrite.
With this rewrite, I tried to be realistic as to what I’d have to work with. I mean, this is a small time wrestling show that isn’t on anyone’s radar. Not only that, Dave Marquez has a certain mindset when it comes to wrestling, so what appeals to him doesn’t necessarily appeal to modern wrestling fans. Still, there’s a way to satisfy the taste of a guy like Marquez while also creating an exciting product that’s not only television friendly, but also internet fan friendly as CWFH’s biggest platform without a doubt is the Fite TV app. Marquez needs to realize that modern professional wrestling thrives on internet based platforms, and that audience wants to see exciting shit. I also went into this trying to stay in tune with the current direction of the show. Personally, I’d change the direction if I could, along with the roster. Some matches and segments got cut, but that’s because I felt they were wastes of time and that some of the performers should’ve been utilized better. And now, without further Apu, here’s my rewrite of Championship Wrestling From Hollywood Episode #307.
-The opening segment would start with the announcers introducing the show in front of the crowd, running down the card: Peter Avalon vs. Matt Knicks from Freelance Wrestling, a six man tag with the tag title contenders, appearances from Scorpio Sky and Tyler Bateman, and the opening match of Ray Rosas vs. Big Duke. This would lead to a 30 second, pre-taped backstage promo with Ray Rosas talking about his upcoming match while audio from the crowd plays in the background so that there is life and energy in the promo rather than just a canned environment. Towards the end of the promo, Duke’s music would play, and after Ray’s promo we go back to ringside where Duke is entering for his match.
-Duke vs. Ray would be the first match, and it would get 10 minutes of TV time with a commercial break in between. Duke also wouldn’t go over so easily. I’d write it so that Ray would kick out of several finisher attempts by Duke to keep him credible as a title contender, and to bring some excitement to the show. Post match, Peter Avalon would come out and have a stare down with Duke to build up their eventual title match before the show goes to commercial with the announcers mentioning Sky making an appearance was up next.
-After a commercial break, Josh Shibata is in the ring and introduces Scorpio Sky. Sky would come out, and Josh would ask him about his previous encounter with Ricky Mandel and the post match attack. Sky would say a few words, noting that he was still the champ and that Mandel’s actions showed that he would never be one. This would lead to Mandel coming out, saying that a true champion is one that is standing tall at the end, and Mandel challenging Sky one more time. Then I’d have it so that would Sky accept and play to the crowd as it seems Mandel is about to leave, only for Mandel to try to attack Sky again only this time with Sky catching him before he does anything, sending Mandel to the back. This segment would go on for about three minutes, tops. After the segment, I’d have a backstage promo with Matt Knicks to build up his match with Peter. After that, Watts would come out to ringside with Ty Matthews before the show goes to a commercial break as the announcers hype the upcoming 6 man tag that is up next. All in all, this block would ideally last about four and a half or five minutes.
-Now for this next segment, I’m going to go with two different ideas. The first is to help advance the Pac 3/Dicky Mayer angle while building up to the tag title match, and the second would be based on what I think would be the best possible match while also building up the upcoming tag title match.
For the first idea, once the next commercial break is done, Watts, the Spirit and the Stars, and Classic Connection would be in the ring and the Pac 3 would make their entrance. Coach Flexo would have Dylan Bostic, Dan Joseph, and Dicky Mayer lined up. Bostic and Joseph would be eager and want to be put in, while Mayer would be disinterested. Flexo would then choose Mayer against his will to team with the Classic Connection and would leave with the rest of Pac 3. The purpose of this match would be to hype the upcoming 4 team tag team title match between these guys.. Mayer would be doing most of the work with Espiritu and Viajero since they’re familiar with each other (Espiritu is Fidel Bravo and Viajero is Adrian Quest, and all these guys come from EWF’s school) with Watts coming in from time to time. I’d have this go about seven minutes with the Classic Connection not doing much to help Dicky. Pac 3 would come back to ringside as Dicky is about to win the match to distract him, allowing Buddy Royal to get a blind tag after Dicky is taken out by the Spirit and the Stars, who would then hit dives on the Pac 3 to take them out. Watts would be in the ring and the Classic connection would go over with Levi Shapiro hitting Watts with one of the old tag belts, allowing Buddy Royal to get the pin. The Classic Connection would be standing tall in the ring with the old tag belts and current United Tag Team Titles while everyone else is down before a commercial break, with the announcers mentioning there’d be a message from Tyler Bateman and the main event.
The second idea, Pac 3 vs. Watts and the Spirit of the Stars. Mayer would be catching heat the whole match from his teammates, but the match would be focused on just being good and selling the audience on why they’re gonna want to see a future match involving these guys. This would also get about seven minutes, and I would end it with Astro Viajero going over Mayer after Flexo, Bostic, and Joseph leave Mayer on his own in the finishing sequence. After the match, the Classic Connection would run out and attack Watts, Espiritu, and Viajero, and I’d end this segment the same way, with the Classic Connection holding up both sets of belts with the announcers mentioning there’d be a message from Tyler Bateman and the main event right before a commercial break.
-After the next commercial break, I’d have the announcers at ringside go over the lineup for the show next week before transitioning to talking about the issue between Tyler Bateman, Jarek 1:20, and Oliver Grimsly. Once they recap what happened, they’d go to footage that was sent to them from Bateman. Bateman would be in a dark place, and I wouldn’t have him show his face. After he got hit with a fireball, Bateman’s face shouldn’t be seen at all until a big reveal on an important episode. This segment would go on about 2 minutes, so all together the show would be about 30 minutes long or more at this point. Factor in commercial time and other shit, there’s probably about 15-18 minutes of TV time left. I’m probably off, but I’m too lazy to check my math, but that is more than enough time for a solid main event segment.
-Now onto the main event of Peter Avalon vs. Matt Knicks. Both guys would get their full entrances, and before the match would start I would have Big Duke come out to ringside and do guest commentary to help build his match with Peter. I’d also have Peter get upset and get into a verbal confrontation with Duke before the bell. The match would get a commercial break and go about 10 minutes with Peter going over. Now there are several different ways I could end this episode. One way is to have a stare down between Duke and Peter the same way they did earlier, another way would be to have Duke attack Peter and pose with the belt as Peter runs away, or have Peter lure Duke into the ring where he would be attacked by the other members of Avalon’s stable with the possibility of Ray Rosas and Tito Escondido running out to make the save to close the episode. Any of these could work.
Personally, if there is time to be added, I’d add it to the Ray/Duke match. If there’s time to be cut, I’d trim some from the six man tag and main event matches. Still, I would want to have a simple show that kept angles flowing, gave the audience incentive to stay tuned in, focus on the important angles while also keeping fans reminded of things like Tito Escondido’s feud with DJ Hyde and Peter Avalon, and most importantly to give the fans motivation to come out to the taping that was happening the next day. Usually these shows are cluttered with bullshit, and there is never build up. The matches are also usually pointless. With my booking, none of that would be going on. I’d also make sure that the matches taking place on the next episode are advertised.
Another big problem with CWFH is that their shows don’t build to anything major. They have events like the PP3 Cup, Coastline Clash, and Red Carpet Rumble, but they’re not really special. They’re just glorified episodes. CWFH needs to have their TV show build up to something like a two or three-hour special or something. Maybe it can’t be aired fully on TV and best suited for internet release, but it would be vital for CWFH to have something like that for their bigger events. I really feel like CWFH has limited itself to an outdated way of thinking, and really need to evolve more. I’d like to go more into it, but I’m not going to give Marquez my ideas for free.
