Fans looking for the GAWF (Great American Wrestling Federation) on Gulf Coast Wrestling Online will be disappointed to find the link gone. Depending on who you talk to, the reason ranges from vengance for some unspecified transgression, to megalomania on my part in which I want to "control wrestling on the Gulf Coast."
It's ridiculous, but absolutely somebody's opinion in the offices at GAWF.
The reason behind GAWF's decertification as a member of the Gulf Coast Wrestling Online family is much more mundane and far less melodramatic than that. Simply put, their message board had fallen of the edge. Message boards in general are only as family friendly as their moderators. Over the years, Skip Skipperman has alternated between keeping his message board clean and obscenity free and being a scratch pad for the lunatic fringe of wrestling to scribble pretty much anything they want to. In order to remain linked to GCWO, one's message board must be as close to family friendly as possible given that it's wrestling. Failure to do so is grounds for disconnection by agreement.
So along comes Goins.
Now Goins is the GAWF Booker. This means he is responsible for acquiring and utilizing talent (read as wrestlers) who come to Hosford to work. He is the go to guy to get "booked" or awarded a spot to wrestle. In other words, second to Skipperman, the promoter/owner, Goins is the voice of the promotion.
Goins decided to make a video putting down SPW (Southern Pro Wrestling) and SXW, both out of Dothan, Alabama. Well, that really didn't qualify as any of my business except for the "F" bomb in the video. Now "F" bombs in plain english, spoken by the #2 honcho of a "family friendly promotion on a "family friendly" message board is a breech of both protocol and, I might add, common sense.
So I waited to see when it would be removed and when it wasn't, I issued a warning.
I also commented, as I have been known to do, about the poor taste and unprofessional demeanor of both the video and Goins.
What I got in return were two more videos, each more tasteless than the previous one, along with a personal attack (video) aimed squarely at me, my disabilities and my credibility as having "never gone anywhere or done anything for wrestling."
People who know me know I have logged more than 40,000 miles and more than 2000 hours in behalf of Gulf Coast Independent wrestling in the last 14 years. What I know about public behavior of pro wrestlers comes from constant contact with the sport and its people.
In the same way you don't have to be a pilot to lobby for change in the airline industry, you don't have to have laced up boots to have a sense of what's right for wrestling.
It is my opinion that public hooliganism outside the form and structure of "work" is an abomination and should be chastised when it gets out of hand. The fact that any moron with a video camera can become a "YOUtube" promo producer simply cheapens the product. Adding the "F" word and its derivatives to "yellow promos" does not help. All it does is to confirm to the non-wrestling public that pro wrestling at the Indy level is shotgunned with punks, hooligans, and stupid people.
That said, the GAWF owes an apology to its fans and a removal of objectionable material from its message board. Only then will the promotion be reconsidered as a GCWO associate.
My guess is that Hell will freeze over before that happens, because Skipperman made a video of his own, denigrating me and several promotions in our area using lies and half-truth as his weapon of choice. As far as I am concerned, his bed is made.
Being as how Hosford, FL is two cornfields past the far end of the cornfield, 176 miles from my front door, I'm not feeling much loss, anyhow. Don't look for a GAWF expansion anytime soon either, because they have neither pot nor window.
Wrestlers looking to wrestle there, consider the distance from your base, amount you are being paid and the locker room climate. Then do what you think is best for you.
Fans, the same. Is GAWF worth driving a very dark road back into the toolies? You will know when you check it out whether the promotion is right for you.
We haven't seen much action out of ALL PRO since they vacated their Pensacola building a couple of weeks ago. But they are scheduled for a roaring comeback at the Brewton, Alabama National Guard Armory on Friday, Dec 11th.
I know what you're thinking - isn't that where Johnny Angel's DSPW works?
Yep.
Tiny's move is a part of a sea change around here, where pro wrestling promotions are concerned. Everybody is "on the move" so to speak; repeated attempts to broaden their fan base are thought to result from going "to a new town."
Well, APW's move to Brewton can hardly help but improve their bottom line, because they are not attached to a town right now at all.
DSPW's expansion into Castleberry, Alabama, which had in the past been served by SPW, has been good for the organization. DSPW hasn't abandoned Brewton. For now they will be sharing the Alabama National Guard Armory there, running on (we hope) different nights.
The former Terry Ryker, now Waylon Barley and associates, moved New Heights Wrestling from Florala, Alabama to Defuniak Springs, traditionally where Southern Pro offers monthly shows. NHW acquired the Boys and Girls Club of Defuniak Springs as their venue, located less than 3000 yards from SPW's Walton County Fairgrounds front door.
That set off a little tension, but strangely, more so between NHW and Culture Shock, out of Mossy Head, during a fund raiser being offered by the latter. Defuniak Springs is not so large a place, but nonetheless, the two promotions are battling it out, with SPW offering $1 tickets the weekend of DEC 12th, and NHW offering a talented lineup that is tantalizingly tempting.
That Milo is quite the whiz kid.
Meanwhile, DSPW has announced a Florala show on Jan 2nd, and is confident of at least 6 more, thus completing a triangle of promotions in, around and near Mossy Head, where CSW labors before a dedicated audience who will seldom accept anything less.
2010 will be interesting.
Rumors are flying that 3 different promotions are taking a hard look at Hosford and that area, to see if battling GAWF for supremacy in the plowed rows is economically feasible. My advice is don't bother. GAWF fans have stuck with Skipperman through thick and thin and changes of booker and misadventures in Georgia and Tallahassee. I doubt they would be intrigued with an unfamiliar show coming into town.
Rumors also have ICON wrestling coming to Pensacola at the Fairgrounds, an attempt to do battle against Ultimate's dominance of the port city scene. Tex Galento is rumored to be looking at "high value former WWE stars to supplement an all-star cast such as he has worked with before. If that means the return of CzR, then surely fans will get a workout.
Come to think of it, CzR VS Goins might be a benchmark match.
With Ultimate running two shows a month in key venues (Pensacola and Milton), nothing seems likely to unseat them. Truth is they have earned their fan following with solid personalities, good matches and an ongoing Grade A concession stand. I gain 3 pounds at every show.
Inhibitions have been set aside between promotions.
Yellow promos have tainted the waters and caused some fans (me for one) to question why the hobby of wrestling fandom is even viable anymore. Why bother taking to the road and driving 5o miles to see a show at all?
That kind of fan thinking will fragment the fragile grip that Indy wrestling in our area has on profitability. We could end up a dead zone very easily if promoters don't pay attention to not only their own image, but the image of Gulf Coast pro wrestling as a whole.
Denigrate one, denigrate all.
Let's all pull together for the health of the sport. There are tickets to be sold, and if somebody is selling them in a town YOU work, just work harder. You don't win a contest by being dumber than your opponent.
Don't be like GAWF and throw out the baby with the bath just for cheap heat and quick cyber bully laughs. The loss is yours and ours as well.
