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08.30.05
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| 02.05.04
Seize The Moment #5: The Flip Side
by Samir
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February 7th, 2004 will be something of a special day for me. That day, NCW will hold it's annual Night of The Blizzard Event (la Nuit du Blizzard). Although it has not yet been one year since I've begun training to eventually wrestle at NCW, Blizzard still represents a kind of a one-year anniversary for me. La Nuit Du Blizzard in 2003 was the first time I ever attended an NCW show, it was the first step in the thousands that have followed to bring me to where I am today. So in a way, it marks my one-year anniversary - as a fan. That's what I want to talk to you about today, because as a guy who sees some of the inside of NCW and many other companies, I never want to forget what the other side is like. I have some vague memories of the 2003 shows, but I do have some strong ones. I remember arriving at the NDR center for the first time, not knowing a single thing about Montreal's Independent Scene, not knowing what to expect and not knowing much else, to tell you the truth. I guess a year later, I still don't know a whole lot, but I know a little bit more.
The first match I ever saw NCW put on featured Manuel Vegas and Chakal. I didn't know Chakal was a former 3-time champion or that Vegas was about to go on to have a career year in NCW, going from the middle all the way to the top (twice) in a little bit less than 11 months. It was also the first time I saw Under Construction 2.0 (now just 2.0). I didn't think that night that Shane Matthews from 2.0 would eventually become one of the better friends I have in wrestling and that Manuel Vegas would become the first person I'd ever conduct a live interview with for 514wrestling.com. Especially since the first thing I ever, ever said to him was a catcall, during Night of the Blizzard 2003, when I yelled "Big Money, you suck!" to which he answered "That's not what your mother told me." And of course, I never ever thought I would meet Jon, aka The Sign Guy, perhaps Montreal's biggest wrestling fan EVER.
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The Sign Guy
Before I started training, Lonely Soldier Boy and I would regularly attend NCW shows as fans. In the crowd, we stood out. While others were white, we were both brown. While 95% of the fans spoke French, we spoke English. And of course, whereas most of NCW's fans were quiet, we were loud. We didn't go to shows to fall asleep or sit on our hands. In fact, I'd have to admit, the anticipation of yelling stuff at wrestlers in and of itself was half the reason we'd go. It got us noticed by a few people. I still remember the day I yelled "You're nothing but Marty Janetty" to Shane's partner Jagged, which got his attention. The next show, LSB followed up the gag by bringing a big Marty Janetty poster to the show and flashing it for Jagged. Both members of 2.0 loved the running gag so much they made a point to thank us after the show for giving them a few laughs. But whatever we did paled in comparison to Sign Guy.
After a few shows, during a match featuring 2.0, we keep hearing a coarse voice yelling something at Shane. To me, it sound like "Va chier" (a French insult) but not quite. I asked Lonely Soldier Boy, but he wasn't sure what was being shouted either. Then, in a moment of clarity, it dawned on me. The guy was yelling "All Hail Shane!" at Shane Matthews. I looked to LSB and said, "Hey, he's English!" LSB proceeded to introduce himself to the guy, who told us his name was Jon.
Eventually, Jon would start sitting with us and we formed something of an interesting triad, and quite frankly, some of the loudest fans NCW had at the time. Before shows, we'd spend time talking on the phone about what signs to bring and what insults we were going to shout. Week after week, he would come up with the show-stealing signs. I still remember the brutally honest but accurate "WORST GIMMICK EVER" sign he dared hold 3 inches from the face of Soopa Eddy, who eventually ditched the "Soopa" gimmick for his usual Sexxxy Eddy character. There was a few other gems in there, such as "FOREIGN OBJECTS FOR SALE HERE". Eventually, Lonely Soldier Boy referred to him as Sign Guy once on a show report and the name stuck.
Sign Guy attended shows at a host of federations on a regular basis, including NCW, IWS and CWA. Eventually, he started wearing one of LSB's old Lizmark Jr. masks, which only added to his notoriety. Sign Guy, a fellow who once almost got into a scuffle with Teddy Hart while living in Calgary, was more known than some of the wrestlers themselves. It's happened more than once that I'd introduce a wrestler to him, and the wrestler would say "Oh, that's the Sign Guy!", but Sign Guy wouldn't know who the wrestler was. How's that for a weird situation?
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I don't have time for regrets.
I never regret my decision to begin training with NCW. I think, as an experience, it has taught me a lot of things I may have never learned, mostly about myself. A wise man once said that in matter what you do, you eventually face the same questions. This truism goes for the accountant like it goes for the homemaker like it goes for the aspiring wrestler. As I train, I am constantly faced with questions about what I want out of it, how I am going to go about doing it, and, in the quietest moments where I am alone with my thoughts, why I'm doing it at all. When you sit down alone and intropsect seriously, it's very hard to lie to yourself. Anyone who has worked hard toward any goal of any kind should know what I'm talking about here.
However, every decision has its opportunity costs. These days, I don't watch NCW shows in the crowd with my friends. More often than not, I'm usually at my post, either being security or doorman (and who could forget my incredibly unsuccessful stint as DJ?). I'm helping out NCW, just like a good trainee should. I still talk to Sign Guy and Lonely Soldier Boy at shows, but I never ever shout with them. Sometimes, when I see a wrestler coming down the ramp, an insult waiting to be shouted just pops into my head. And it stays there, because heckling is for outsiders.
It's sort of made me realize how lucky fans are, in some ways. Not being associated to a company, even as a trainee, gives fans the ultimate independence. They know no master, they live by no rules other than their own. If they act in a self-degrading manner, their actions taint only themselves, not a company. So, there are days, especially when I see Sign Guy yelling in the crowd and having a blast, where I wonder what I'd be doing if I had never crossed the line. There's something to be said about being nothing but a simple fan.
Of course, I never think about that long. I had about two decades to be a wrestling fan. It's a world where freedom of expression is king, but it's also a world I know very well. I've watched shows from more federations than I can name, I've seen shows inside, outside, in churches, in gyms, at a school, in arenas, etc., etc. I've seen big shows, I've seen little shows, I've seen downright tiny shows. I've seen heels, I've seen faces, I've seen heels turn face and faces turn heel. While Lonely Soldier Boy, Death Studio and I were watching Raw the other day, it occurred to us how little the show ever surprised us anymore. That's when it dawned on me again. Imagine I'd have stayed nothing but a fan for another 20 years. How much more could I have really gained? Being a life-long fan is good enough for some, but it wasn't for me.
That's why I had to try it out. That's why I, like any good, hard-nosed investigative journalist or chronicler, had to experience it first-hand. I can sit on the sidelines for my whole life, theorizing and critiquing, but unless I tried it myself, I'd never learn what it's really like, and most importantly, I'd never face those questions that tell me so much about myself.
CWA: The Awakening
I know a guy called Llakor who once referred to the Montreal Indy scene as an "Alphabet Soup" of federations. Off the top of my head, here goes: NCW, IWS, WTA, CWA, MWF, CWE, ICW, FLQ, and NEW (R.I.P.). For many of these federations, carving out an identity and establishing a product that is easily differentiable from the others is something of a challenge. This is doubly difficult because many of them share wrestlers. I have seen Sexxxy Eddy appear at FLQ on a Friday, at NCW on Saturday and then at IWS later that same Saturday night.
CWA is a newer federation, backed by a varied group of people. It began running in 2003, and despite bringing in Don Callus, never got off the ground. People just weren't interested in another federation. CWA was often referred to as the worst fed in Montreal, and was commonly an object of derision on Internet boards. In 2004, CWA added Patrick Lono and Steve Charette to the mix, to help improve the product and make a splash in the already cluttered Montreal market.
Before launching their first show in 2004, "The Awakening", the CWA invited all Montreal fans to come see what CWA was capable of with new management. The show, which took place at Bogey's World right off the St-Michel exit of Highway 40 in Montreal, was headlined by Dru Onyx and Tank, who took on Sunny War Cloud and Brick Crawford, two guys who came all the way down from Quebec City looking for a fight and featured the return of LuFisto, aka Precious Lucy, one of the more successful active female wrestlers in Quebec. After the show, many pundits said it certainly was a step in the right direction for CWA, and I'd be inclined to agree. The show featured a lot of talent from out of town that Montrealers don't usually see and some of the students from the Dru Onyx and LuFisto's training school, things which will certainly help CWA be different.
I attended the show, and although I had to conduct an interview which will soon appear on 514wrestling.com, I went with the intention of being a fan once again, just like in the old days. It was also a great reunion, since it would mark only the second time in about half a year that Sign Guy, Lonely Soldier Boy and I would be in a crowd together again, just as fans. And be a fan I was. I think, for one night and one night only, I was at least as loud as Sign Guy. I yelled so much that, by the end of the night, I had terrible migraines. I had fun sitting with the crowd, talking to other fans, and of course, trying to get heel wrestlers to break character and laugh.
There were a few weird moments, like when 2.0 came out. When I was "just a fan", Shane Matthews and Jagged were quite obviously the object of many of my yells and screams, where I would spew out anything from insults to praise to life advice on women. And they'd always find a way to answer me, which is what made them great. Of course, I only saw them at NCW, so seeing them work at CWA was the first time in a long time I could interact with them again as nothing more than a fan. So what did Lonely Soldier Boy and I do? If you guessed that we dragged out that Marty Jannetty joke from 6 months ago, you guessed right. Our first sign of the night was a Rockers poster from an archaic issue of WWF magazine. Then, when a wrestler called TNT came out, we resurrected the oldest running gag of all time, the armbar request, something we used to bug TNT about back in the summer. Being the consummate showman that he is, he obliged, but only once his match was over. It was just great to be back in the saddle with my riding mates once again, even if it was for one night only.
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Well, that edition turned out to be something different than what I expected. For those of you who are wondering about my training, it's going well, I suppose. Progress is at the same slow and steady pace that it has been since I started. No major developments to report other than the fact that I've started working at an accounting firm, which may slow me down a little. Even at that, though, I'm determined to get in the ring one day, on a show, where people have paid to enter the building. I guess this means I'll have my hands pretty full juggling part-time school, Tai Chi, full-time work, wrestling, running 514wrestling.com along with my 3 colleagues and, when I can find time, hitting the gym. Honestly, I don't think I'd have it any other way.
I'll catch you on the flipside.
Samir
NCW: http://www.ncw.qc.ca/
Manuel Vegas: http://www.manuelvegas.com/
CWA: http://www.wrestlingcwa.com/
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