CWF To Resume Status as a Travelling Road-show

One thing people know about me, I love to say "I WAS RIGHT!!!". And about 2 months ago I urged Andrew Shallcross, promoter of Winnipeg wrestling group Premier Championship Wrestling to rethink a working relationship with Ernie Todd, promoter of Winnipeg travelling wrestling group Canadian Wrestling Federation. I had many points, most notably, "What's the point?" "Ernie's a supreme asshole".

Last week Ernie made his long awaited, highly trumpeted return to running shows in Winnipeg, as the CWF Extreme Wrestling invaded Wiseguys on Campus, with booker Robby Royce in tow. I wonder if people remember me making a comment on "The Squared Circle" radio show back in August, where I suggested as a booker Royce was an "impotent old man" which was my way of saying he was a bit out of touch.

The fans who attended the show have spoken, and the show was labelled "not very good" (and I'm being far too kind). In fact, it seems other than 5 wrestlers, Team Impact (a sign Royce should stick to wrestling and not booking), Mentallo, JP Kaos and Nate Hardy the show was critically panned.

How does Promoter Ernie Todd respond, with an all-out internet assault against the paying customers calling them amongst other things drunken smart marks. Consider two things Ernie, you are running a show in a bar, it's a good thing if your fans drink because it impresses the venue. Second, if your fans are totally drunk it maybe a statement that they needed the booze to enjoy watching your product. If you're running a bar show, alcohol is a promoters friend.

Further impressing me, Ernie has now done something I've been always accused of, and that's pointing fingers in every other direction away from himself. Who could blame him, it's a brilliant strategy. He's publicly saying that he didn't even promote the show, that it was Robby Royce and Scotty Styles. Of course he waits until 48 hours after the show, in which he tried to say was "deemed a success" the next day, to say he wasn't the promoter, after he confirmed there was no positives to being the promoter of record. The next unaccountable action on Ernie's part is to suggest that his actions on the internet ripping on paying customers (he went as far as to ask fans not to come to the next show that they would be doing him a favor, that he doesn't need their $10 and in fact they should shove the money up their ass), were requested by fellow promoter Andrew Shallcross. Andrew maybe silly sometimes, but I can assure you that he would never suggest it's a good idea to legitimately rip on the fans who loyally buy his tickets.

To summarize, last weeks debacle, was in no way Ernie Todd's fault, but rather the fault of Robby Royce and Andrew Shallcross.

Oh and my personal favorite from the guy who constantly rips on me as a promoter who "doesn't pay his bills", Ernie neglected paying young wrestler Bobby Fox, because Bobby didn't help 53 year old Ernie lug Ernie's wrestling ring around the venue. I always love the suggestion "Kid, you gotta pay your dues." That came after booker Robby Royce sought after Bobby for weeks to be a Chris Jericho/Jerry Lynn character (those two are carbon copies in the gimmick department). Both Jericho and Lynn have impeccable reputations for helping out the staff with the ring before and after the show. Of course, I can't say I'm innocent, during AWE and WFX there were bills that the corporate entities didn't pay, so Ernie you're right I'm guilty and you've just proven to be a hypocrite. And doubling the hypocrisy is entering into a business relationship with a promoter who didn't pay two names. SO, that's why the phrase "Don't throw stones if you live in a glass house" was created.

Now, everybody will strongly urge Andrew to end the working relationship with Ernie immediately. Fans maybe can recall when Ernie was introduced as "The Man who Ran Mike Davidson out of PCW", well I can be introduced as "The Man Who Told Andrew Shallcross Ernie was an idiot". But listen to this great advice. Rather than fire Ernie Todd, and end the working relationship, I would urge Andrew to push Ernie to the moon, completely force feed him to the audience, give him 15 minute promo segments, make him a character who is trying his hardest to take over PCW. The fans will absolutely get on this guy as a heel, and at the appropriate time, Ernie bumps his ancient ass off for a top babyface, I suggest Adam Knight because his punches are proven to be safe and seemingly pulled, and the fans can actually get their $10 worth for this failed PCWF experiment. I might add, Andrew has not made a habit of listening to my advice, and may not be likely to start now. But there is money to be drawn off of Ernie Todd's ridiculous antics, and unfortunately it will never be on a CWF show. So someone should definitely capitalize.

This should be a lesson to the promoter who constantly needs to put himself over. If you need to shamelessly put yourself over, stick to writing a blog, like me. It's cheap and effective, and it generally pisses people off just the same. But what do I know, Danny Duggan and I are just two ribbers who rip peoples lives apart right? Sure...

What will really happen moving forward? Ernie will constantly talk about his 12 private functions, in remote communities. Those communities used to pay as much as $5000 for a live wrestling event, and now pay as low as $1800, not because of competing low bids, but because Ernie has a knack of taking 6 wrestlers on the road and putting over Mike Hammer as the heavyweight champion. Go figure, if Mike Hammer is the best wrestler on the show, the promotion is in trouble. So its a reflection of quality, why the guaranteed Private Function business is dieing, not other promoters, but again, the strategy of blame everyone else is proven to work.

Now if I could just prove I wasn't the Rokeby Ribber, I could once again say "I WAS RIGHT!!!".