Hello everyone! Your week of wrestling results will be posted later this evening or early tomorrow morning. Sorry for the delay! In the meantime, let’s take a look back at a tiny promotion that flickered out too soon, yet left a profound impact on the wrestling world.
It was October, 2006. I was at a ROH show, just coming back from the change tables. (Still looking for an Abyss figure to this day.) I recall seeing Nigel McGuiness, Delirious, Pelle Primeau and some fans standing atop the bleachers. Somebody mentioned that Wrestling Society X was coming to MTV and had asked Nigel and Delirious if they were headed there. Nigel pretty much said that WSX could sod off at that point. He spoke about how he had flown out to the WSX tapings, only to be told “we want you, no… we don’t. WAIT we DO” and before anything got done, MTV had put a cap on the roster, leaving no room left for anyone else. Someone then asked Delirious about the tryout matches he had filmed with WSX before MTV got full of themselves. Delirious folded his arms and shook his head. The only English he chose to speak was this:
Mmm-mmm. No a good feeling about that.
To this day, I always trust wrestlers over reporters, as Delirious was right.
Soon after this, WSX made it’s long debut on MTV, however there was one immediate flaw that spelled out the promotion’s doom upon debut.
Some MORON decided to put Wrestling Society X on at the EXACT same time as ECW.
Now granted, the current WWECW is no place near the original, but even on a BAD day, ECW has more notable names than WSX had at the time. The week of WSX’s debut, they were going up against ECW’s Sandman, CM Punk, Tommy Dreamer and Balls Mahoney. Not to mention a superior commentary table of Tazz and Joey Styles.
It’s just BAD buisness sense to go head-to-head with the big bad wolf of the forest while you’re still in diapers. Wolves tend to munch toddlers like popcorn.
With that said, I had to wait for the afternoon replay the next day, in order to catch the stars of WSX.
I even petitioned MTV to move WSX to Wednesdays, since there would be no immediate schedule problems with other wrestling shows, and Wednesdays DESPERATELY NEED a wrestling show. MTV’s reply? To sum it up, their answer was something akin to:
“We need to add more competition to the televised wrestling scene. Our hip, new, edgy approach is to go head to head with the top spots of the “other guys” so that fans can choose the right future to follow.”
… Fans chose to watch the wolf snap the toddler up like so much popcorn. rather than assist WSX-chan.
MTV has never really understood wrestling, and that’s why shows such as “Sunday Night Heat” and “Tough Enough” were either cancelled or moved-THEN cancelled after only a few years on the non-music channel. MTV even moved WSX to all three MTV stations at one point, with the best showings of WSX having aired-English only- on MTV Tres. At 2 in the morning. Every other Tuesday~Wednesday and weekends at oogedy-boogedy o’clock in the a.m.
… Yep, the even took pictures of the wolf tossing WSX-chan in the air a few times in a teasing motion before ol’ Wolfy swallowed it whole.
Once the now infamous “Fireball” incident took place between Ricky Banderas and Vampiro, MTV had already began pulling the plug on the whole thing. WSX editors were even kind enough to replace the fireball with a DiC-edited-Sailormoon inspired “Ki Lightning attack” to make it more TVY7, but their fate was sealed. February 24, 2007, I went up to Chicago to the Windy City Fieldhouse for Samoa Joe’s last Chi-town ROH match. (COME BACK JOE!!) Greeting me at the door was a shivering young assistant with two other cohorts, handing me thick, glossy cards~ ads for WSX. Telling the truth, I smiled “Hey! I tape this show every week. :-)” The three WSX people sniffled and smiled. “Thank you! You’re the first one to watch consistently AND like it, and with no snide comments!!”
Later that night, the snow was piling up in a hurry. As wrestlers and fans alike started huddling up by the door, those same three WSX members handed anyone with a hand extra cards. The one dude of the three just shook his head, saying “Here, we all know we’re getting cancelled any second now, and these are thick. Use them to dig out your cars.” Looking behind me, Lacey, Jimmy Jacobs, and Matt Sydal were all nodding their achy heads, silently admitting that the WSX experiment was at an end. ROH wrestlers and fans each took cards, and we all shoveled ourselves and each other out of the snow. The Briscoe Bros. and ROH booker Gabe Saplosky even cleared out a small walkway for the fans, and everyone took turns clearing up the area. The WSX cards stood up to the bad weather quite nicely.
But for as short lived as WSX was, it did provide exposure for a small group of stars. Some of them returned to their fans at ROH and PWG, some etched out new paths, and some went to the tv teams that they fought so hard to take down:
Arik Cannon: Recently featured in DragonGate, Arik owns his own promotion, known as F1rst Wrestling. The cards are held on First Ave. in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Babi Slymm: Also known as Tony Drake, Slymm is in a tag team with Cyber Kong in the DragonGate promotion in Japan.
6-Pac: X-pac recently participated at the XPW reunion show just a few weeks ago. He is also on leave from AAA in Mexico, where until recently he would be escorted to the ring by fiancee Alicia Webb aka Ryan Shamrock.
Delikado: Also known worldwide as B-boy, is sadly retiring. The former student of Christopher Daniels, B-boy (age 29) is currently rehabbing a torn ACL.
Disco Machine: Currentley retired, though he makes an occasional appearance.
El Hombre Blanco Enmascarado: The wrestler also known as Quicksilver has not been back in the ring since 2007, due to a severe concussion. He was last seen in PWG.
Chris Hamrick: The former ECW star also wrestled for TNA two years before his cameo match for WSX was filmed. He was last seen on television last August as the fake HHH, placing a crown on Booker T’s head.
Genki Horiguchi: Currently wrestling in DragonGate with the heel stable Muscle Outlaw’z. His younger brother Hiromi is working for Toryumon Mexico.
Human Tornado: Human Tornado scored a small, one match role in the film “Nacho Libre”, playing the part of El Snowflake. Since the end of WSX, he has wrestled for Juggalo Championship Wrestling, CZW and Ring of Honor. Part time to this day with Ring of Honor, Human Tornado was sidelined by a torn ACL and a dislocated knee cap. He will be out for the rest of the year.
Jack Evans: Currently on leave of absense from ROH, Jack has formed a new tag team with Teddy Hart in AAA. The duo, known as The Hart Foundation 2, are currently wowing fans and angering other luchadors, since Jack gets ALL of the women. Jack still makes trips to Japan as well. Jack’s flips and pretzel like moves are causing the older, slower luchadors to rethink their training and beef up their repitiore.
Aaron Aguilera: The former bodyguard of Carlito in WWE, Aaron is doing quite well for himself. He has made apperances on Mind of Mencia, Faking it, and is also a trainer on Trick my Trucker. Currently, his is a bright star in All Japan Pro Wrestling, where he wrestles under a mask as ZODIAC.
Jimmy Jacobs: Jacobs eventually did get Lacey. Shortly afterwards, he formed The Age of the Fall. However, Jacobs went mad and has tried to kill the Briscoe Bros. on more than one occasion. Jacobs recruits outcast wrestlers who wouldn’t fit in most other places, and frequently sent Lacey ahead to get the message across to potential members. However, this plan backfired and Lacey dumped Jacobs for Austin Aries. Furious and sad, Jacobs stabbed Mark Briscoe, who had diddly squat to do with this!! Jacobs now carries a pimp spike with him, and scares other ROH employees~including his own team. Jacobs is set to face Austin in Chicago on June 28th.
KAOS: Still wrestling on the indy scene, he made a brief appearance on WWE Raw in a squash match against Snitsky.
Joey Ryan: A jack of all trades and certified hero to oucast and asthmatic fans alike, Joey wrestles, writes and books for PWG as one of the company’s six owners! Joey also made an apperance earlier this year, being KO’ed on SmackDown in a handicap match against Big Show. Joey is aslo a Rabbi.
Josh Raymond: Josh Ambercrombie still wrestles for various indy places all over the midwest. He is an active member on the PWO roster and you can catch up on his latest happenings on my blog every third weekend.
Luke Hawx: Still wrestling with various indy companies, Luke has been in two SmackDown squash matches, Three 6 Mafia’s “Lolli Lolli (Pop That Body)” video, and has recently filmed a new movie called “The Dead Sleep Easy”.
Matt Classic: Colt Cabana left ROH in 2007 for a WWE developmental contract. Currently, he is being misused in FCW against his will.
M-Dogg 20 Matt Cross: M-Dogg is a full time PWO wrestler, though is currently out due to a sprained groin. Like his fans, he hates Johnny Gargano. M-Dogg is gymnastically trained, and I think he would make a great Ninja Warrior competitor, due to his abilities.
Matt Sydal: Matt left ROH in 2007, for a WWE contract. After several months in OVW and FCW, Matt debuted on ECW against Shelton Benjamin. After wowing audiances, he suffered a name chance to “Evan Bourne” and was repackaged against his will. He beat the daylights out of Matt Stryker, Tuesday.
Nate Webb: Spyder was last seen in CZW.
New Jack: Retired again, New Jack still makes occasional apperances.
Justin Credible: Still wrestles on the independant circut.
Puma: After years of bouncing from place to place, Puma has found a home in PWG.
Ricky Banderas: Now known as Mesias, he had a brief stint in TNA, but currently works for AAA, fretting over Vampiro, who never forgot the fireball incident. At least he’s stopped bugging Cibernetico…
Ruckus: Currently in ROH, Ruckus has had new life breathed into him, as he is now a part of the Vulture Squad. The former CZW star now finds himself with BLK OUT still clammering for his services. Ruckus’s new moveset is similar to Molly Holly.
Scorpio Sky: Though full time with PWG, he was recently at ECW a few weeks ago, cleaning out Armando’s office for Teddy Long.
Teddy Hart: Teddy spent a few loooooooong months teaming with his cousins D.H. Smith and Natalya Niedhart as the new Hart Foundation, but left OVW after an altercation verbally with an idiot writing team. Today, Hart now works for AAA, teamed with Jack Evans, accepting any honeys Jack doesn’t have time for. Teddy is also a father.
Tyler Black: Now a member of The Age Of The Fall, Tyler has improved quite a bit since his WSX tenure, and currently holds the ROH tag belts with Jimmy Jacobs. Jacobs, acting as both a friend and older brother figure to Tyler, has trusted Tyler with main blog duties at ageofthefall.com. Tyler is the only one who can bring Jacobs back to Planet Earth during his spirals, and often is the first one to let the other Age Of The Fall members know, it’s gonna be okay.
Vampiro: Recently returned to AAA in a higher up role. Mesias has tried to kill Vampiro in the past, but it only makes Vampiro angry.
Masato Yoshino: Currently fighting for the TNA World X CUP with Naruki Doi, representing DragonGate!
Nic Grimes: Sara Del Ray was the first SHIMMER champion, but lost the belt back in April to MisChif. Sara is a reluctant member of Sweet N’ Sour Inc. and may return to single competitor status if Larry Sweeney doesn’t learn to shaddup soon.
This by no means is a complete list of WSX members, but serves as a small guide to the main stars of the 10 episode experiment. Lost in the shuffle, the show might have lasted, had it been picked up by G4 or some other “out of the box and stay out” network.
Last Christmas, I surprised my younger brother with the WSX DVD set that I bought from rohwrestling.com. He watches it from time to time, remembering the late night taping sprees as I would tape the censored episodes on any tape I could find. Though WSX fell early, the impact is felt worldwide. The wrestlers who wrestled quietly under the radar for so long are now spoken of in PWI every month and on websites every day. It just goes to show that even the tiny efforts of a few can benefit the masses. Learn from every mistake.
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