I have decided to document the entire Beyond Wrestling weekend experience in my Blog of Professionalism for one purpose: To see how it would turn out in theory. People might read it, people might not. You decide. Hopefully this was a novel idea and can be used again when another opportunity shows itself.
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DAY 1: Beyond Weekend – Travel Day to Swamp Sessions
THE BUILD
Going into this Beyond Wrestling, it definitely was a redemption weekend for me. Ever since forming the Professional Revolution back on July 23, 2011 in Danbury, CT at About Time, I’ve had grandiose visions of what #professionalism would be about. My ultimate goal would be to create something different in Beyond so I would be able to establish something different and creative to help take Beyond to another level. Granted, I knew it would be difficult, especially since I have an intense vision on what I wanted to deliver.
I feel as if the final show in February, the Revolution came together with LSG, JT Dunn, Mark Shurman and Stan Stylez and had that IT factor. March 3rd was our albatross. It started with the advertised #KOA vs Professional Revolution match in AIW not coming together due to travel issues. Then Stan went down with a serious shoulder injury and hasn’t been heard from since. Finally, May 12 weekend, LSG and I had our personal and business issues to deal with those few days. All of that combined into one giant knot into my stomach. In my personal opinion, it was time to bring back the meaning of not only what I stand for, but what I can bring to the table. Swamp Sessions was a shot of adrenaline into the Professional Revolution.
THE TRAVEL
Having to get ready for such a busy weekend is a hassle and a half, especially when you have to do the drive, such as getting your financials ready, pick-up schedules, enough sleep; only three of the factors going into the travel of a long road trip. I have always said that doing road trips to wrestling shows really personify what being a wrestler is all about. The camaraderie of making bonds is what these trips forge. My car definitely had characters to make the ride interesting, especially with JT and Shurman already in Massachusetts.
TIM HUGHES: I have said it a multitude of times: I have absolutely nothing against Mr. Good News. When it comes to the whole professionalism versus Beyond argument, we realize that it is better to leave well alone. However, when it came to the car ride up, especially with Tim and the feeble minded Turtle facing my Revolution, I knew there would be a lot of silence. That is why I am blessed I made the bet with him from The Hardway Podcast. Here is the picture that, for me at least, is priceless.
===
DAY 1: Beyond Weekend – Travel Day to Swamp Sessions
THE BUILD
Going into this Beyond Wrestling, it definitely was a redemption weekend for me. Ever since forming the Professional Revolution back on July 23, 2011 in Danbury, CT at About Time, I’ve had grandiose visions of what #professionalism would be about. My ultimate goal would be to create something different in Beyond so I would be able to establish something different and creative to help take Beyond to another level. Granted, I knew it would be difficult, especially since I have an intense vision on what I wanted to deliver.
I feel as if the final show in February, the Revolution came together with LSG, JT Dunn, Mark Shurman and Stan Stylez and had that IT factor. March 3rd was our albatross. It started with the advertised #KOA vs Professional Revolution match in AIW not coming together due to travel issues. Then Stan went down with a serious shoulder injury and hasn’t been heard from since. Finally, May 12 weekend, LSG and I had our personal and business issues to deal with those few days. All of that combined into one giant knot into my stomach. In my personal opinion, it was time to bring back the meaning of not only what I stand for, but what I can bring to the table. Swamp Sessions was a shot of adrenaline into the Professional Revolution.
THE TRAVEL
Having to get ready for such a busy weekend is a hassle and a half, especially when you have to do the drive, such as getting your financials ready, pick-up schedules, enough sleep; only three of the factors going into the travel of a long road trip. I have always said that doing road trips to wrestling shows really personify what being a wrestler is all about. The camaraderie of making bonds is what these trips forge. My car definitely had characters to make the ride interesting, especially with JT and Shurman already in Massachusetts.
TIM HUGHES: I have said it a multitude of times: I have absolutely nothing against Mr. Good News. When it comes to the whole professionalism versus Beyond argument, we realize that it is better to leave well alone. However, when it came to the car ride up, especially with Tim and the feeble minded Turtle facing my Revolution, I knew there would be a lot of silence. That is why I am blessed I made the bet with him from The Hardway Podcast. Here is the picture that, for me at least, is priceless.
DARIUS CARTER: I’ve known “the Debonair Millionaire” since he broke into the sport of kings. Dude has always had one goal: to display his wealth en-route to the top of the rankings in the world. Even though Darius and I have different views when it comes to our professional careers, we personally get along famously.
JAKA: Now, to pick up a hybrid Samoan wrestler who recently took up a vow of silence is a tough thing to do, especially when it comes to location and knowledge of when he would be ready. However, since I drew short end of the stick, my ride would have to pick him up. Luckily, we found him and started on the journey.
Knowing we had a four hour drive upon us, we left pretty early en-route to Bridgewater, MA. 12:00 pm through the Garden State Parkway is a catch-22 situation, particularly on a Friday afternoon. It could either be extremely busy, or WIDE OPEN to drive. Thankfully, it was WIDE OPEN to cruise on through. However, the jinx of having the luxury to cruise through to the Tappan Zee Bridge came back and bit us hard on the rear, as we were caught within Connecticut traffic.
For those that have had the privilege of hitting I-95 traffic right before Stanford, you know the randomness that transpires. Stop-and-go traffic absolutely drives me bat-crap crazy.
After two hours of stop-and-go, the car finally hit Rhode Island. And that’s when the heavens opened up and the skies rained down in heavy fashion. I legitimately was tempted to pull over and wait out the storm. But with objections from Hughes and Carter, and a grunt from Jaka, I continued onwards into MORE traffic, this time from within the RI/MA border.
6 ½ hours later, our crew rolled into the Bridgewater Knights of Columbus. Although we were tired, cranky, even a little gnarly with our attitudes, we knew all 4 of us had different objectives for Swamp Sessions that we had to meet. Hopefully, we all would be successful.
THE EVENT
Now, for those that do not remember, JT Dunn had gotten in my ear that his agent, Vernon Somoza, was a viable man to manage himself and Mark Shurman during Burst the Bubble back in May. With me totally incapacitated with business and taking JT at his word, Somoza accompanied them to ringside against that “Kei Igawa in Training” Dan Barry and Johnny Cockstrong. After ensuring victory for that match, they LOST. It led me to release this audio clip on the Blog of Professionalism HERE: http://www.thejonharder.com/1/post/2012/05/make-or-break.html
I arrived at the venue and immediately wanted to meet up with Juice and Shurman. However, almost immediately, Somoza was there as well. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. JT was in his own little world; something I have not noticed before within him, while Somoza was calling battle plans, something I was not used to nor prepared for. Poor Shurman was so confused and quite frankly, I couldn’t blame him.
Right before I had the opportunity to get everything back on track with my Revolution, I received word that Smart Mark Video needed a commentator to get through the evening doing play-by-play, since Denver was going to attempt to promote or something. I looked at both sides of the sword: Do I actually go and bring professionalism to commentary and hopefully help advance the saga of what my Revolution is all about? Or do I attempt to rectify this little rift with the Revolution and help get us prepared for a victory?
JT told me to set the DVD and VOD world on fire with my commentary and that everything was fine. His exact words: “Professionalism is stronger than ever”. My mind was set, but my gut was gnawing at me. Something was wrong.
After going out and calling a great opener with ACH as Jaka defeated WWE developmental talent Matt Taven, I knew on the format sheet we were up next. So before Sugar Dunkerton, the MC for the evening, had a chance to botch my team’s introduction, I ran in, stole the microphone, and properly introduced my team out first.
JAKA: Now, to pick up a hybrid Samoan wrestler who recently took up a vow of silence is a tough thing to do, especially when it comes to location and knowledge of when he would be ready. However, since I drew short end of the stick, my ride would have to pick him up. Luckily, we found him and started on the journey.
Knowing we had a four hour drive upon us, we left pretty early en-route to Bridgewater, MA. 12:00 pm through the Garden State Parkway is a catch-22 situation, particularly on a Friday afternoon. It could either be extremely busy, or WIDE OPEN to drive. Thankfully, it was WIDE OPEN to cruise on through. However, the jinx of having the luxury to cruise through to the Tappan Zee Bridge came back and bit us hard on the rear, as we were caught within Connecticut traffic.
For those that have had the privilege of hitting I-95 traffic right before Stanford, you know the randomness that transpires. Stop-and-go traffic absolutely drives me bat-crap crazy.
After two hours of stop-and-go, the car finally hit Rhode Island. And that’s when the heavens opened up and the skies rained down in heavy fashion. I legitimately was tempted to pull over and wait out the storm. But with objections from Hughes and Carter, and a grunt from Jaka, I continued onwards into MORE traffic, this time from within the RI/MA border.
6 ½ hours later, our crew rolled into the Bridgewater Knights of Columbus. Although we were tired, cranky, even a little gnarly with our attitudes, we knew all 4 of us had different objectives for Swamp Sessions that we had to meet. Hopefully, we all would be successful.
THE EVENT
Now, for those that do not remember, JT Dunn had gotten in my ear that his agent, Vernon Somoza, was a viable man to manage himself and Mark Shurman during Burst the Bubble back in May. With me totally incapacitated with business and taking JT at his word, Somoza accompanied them to ringside against that “Kei Igawa in Training” Dan Barry and Johnny Cockstrong. After ensuring victory for that match, they LOST. It led me to release this audio clip on the Blog of Professionalism HERE: http://www.thejonharder.com/1/post/2012/05/make-or-break.html
I arrived at the venue and immediately wanted to meet up with Juice and Shurman. However, almost immediately, Somoza was there as well. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. JT was in his own little world; something I have not noticed before within him, while Somoza was calling battle plans, something I was not used to nor prepared for. Poor Shurman was so confused and quite frankly, I couldn’t blame him.
Right before I had the opportunity to get everything back on track with my Revolution, I received word that Smart Mark Video needed a commentator to get through the evening doing play-by-play, since Denver was going to attempt to promote or something. I looked at both sides of the sword: Do I actually go and bring professionalism to commentary and hopefully help advance the saga of what my Revolution is all about? Or do I attempt to rectify this little rift with the Revolution and help get us prepared for a victory?
JT told me to set the DVD and VOD world on fire with my commentary and that everything was fine. His exact words: “Professionalism is stronger than ever”. My mind was set, but my gut was gnawing at me. Something was wrong.
After going out and calling a great opener with ACH as Jaka defeated WWE developmental talent Matt Taven, I knew on the format sheet we were up next. So before Sugar Dunkerton, the MC for the evening, had a chance to botch my team’s introduction, I ran in, stole the microphone, and properly introduced my team out first.
Man, did JT and Shurman really steal the show at Swamp Sessions! Firstly, we FINALLY got the monkey off our back with the feeble minded Turtle and Tim falling victim to the NUMBERS game. Tim claims I hit him with a weapon of some sorts, but I don’t recall that. All I remember is a SPINE ON THE PINE from Shurman to Hughes, and a 1-2-3. After that fall, I made sure to rub into Dan Barry’s face about the Spine on the Pine. Thankfully, the heartless wonder was sitting at the commentary table and looked disgusted as I did so. Then, Julian Starr and that Elia fellow brought their A-game, but we came through the other side. Hell, Starr attempted to kill Shurman with the Aero Star dive to the floor, but PROFESSIONALISM persevered. Finally, Kellan Thomas and the man whose number we have, Anthony Stone brought the fight. They had us rockin’ and reelin’. At one point, it got to my mind where we had to go into Plan B. We had to throw the rulebook out of the window. I got on the apron and pulled out the great equalizer: my taped pipe. I started waving it to get JT and Shurman’s attention. But that’s when everything went awry.
Vernon Somoza got on the apron and started waving a pair of brass knucks. I was in shock. Somoza was going into business for himself. In mere moments, we were both fighting for attention of the team. Then, the pre-pubescent referee got fed up and, via using useless profanity, ejected us from ringside. As we were leaving, thankfully JT and Shurman overcame and got the final fall. Just like I said episode upon episode of the Hardway Podcast to Tim Hughes, we would run the gamut. PROFESSIONALISM won the tag team gauntlet.
But that’s where the fun ended. Almost immediately, Somoza followed me back out to the ring and immediately started running his mouth about how HE led the team to victory. A guy who couldn’t help me the one time I needed him in May is taking credit for the win? I say absolutely not, at least in my eyes. Vernon and I started to bicker in public, in the ring, something I did not want to do. But it degenerated into a bicker fest and the entire crowd had the fortune to see it. As I went to go towards the locker room, I remembered I had to do commentary for the rest of the show. In what could have been my biggest regret, I didn’t complete the argument with Somoza and instead went back to the broadcast table.
Vernon Somoza got on the apron and started waving a pair of brass knucks. I was in shock. Somoza was going into business for himself. In mere moments, we were both fighting for attention of the team. Then, the pre-pubescent referee got fed up and, via using useless profanity, ejected us from ringside. As we were leaving, thankfully JT and Shurman overcame and got the final fall. Just like I said episode upon episode of the Hardway Podcast to Tim Hughes, we would run the gamut. PROFESSIONALISM won the tag team gauntlet.
But that’s where the fun ended. Almost immediately, Somoza followed me back out to the ring and immediately started running his mouth about how HE led the team to victory. A guy who couldn’t help me the one time I needed him in May is taking credit for the win? I say absolutely not, at least in my eyes. Vernon and I started to bicker in public, in the ring, something I did not want to do. But it degenerated into a bicker fest and the entire crowd had the fortune to see it. As I went to go towards the locker room, I remembered I had to do commentary for the rest of the show. In what could have been my biggest regret, I didn’t complete the argument with Somoza and instead went back to the broadcast table.
From that point on, I stuck to my guns and continued doing commentary for the rest of Swamp Sessions. I feel that being able to call so many good matches throughout the night brought my confidence back, even after Dan Barry called me a chubby lesbian in the ring after his team win for no apparent reason. But it was a fantastic night of play-by-play and being able to have the revolving door of wrestlers joining the booth. You can hear the charisma of guys like ACH, Johnny Cockstrong, Sugar Dunkerton and Eric Corvis through the airwaves. Hell even froze over when Denver and I called a match together.
Commentary made me feel great, but there was still the elephant in the room no one wanted to notice or discuss. JT and Somoza secluded themselves away from me at their merchandise table, something I was vehemently against back at Burst the Bubble and especially on that night. I decided to step away from blowing up in public and just step away from the situation. Shurman and I talked in the locker room and came to realize that, as the catchphrase states, BUSINESS IS BUSINESS, and that I had to sacrifice my feelings for success. I did and got through the night.
NOTES ON THE SHOW
During the entire event, I wrote down some notes I thought would be good for the documentation from my inner sanctum. Here they are, verbatim from my notebook.
- Drew Gulak and Biff Busick brought back a semblance of throwback scientific wrestling and really showed what is missing in this day and age.
- Dan Barry looked like a fool coming out with his ill-fitting shirt.
- Dan Barry has a face only his mother can love, and I highly doubt even his mother loves him.
- RD Evans is the personification of class, and was cheated out of his match.
- Sugar Dunkerton and Eric Corvis, despite their affiliations against my Revolution, are two guys that get the greatest sport of them all.
- Darius and Mar-Phony, erm, Marconi tore the entire venue apart.
- Kobald is legitimately the creepiest man I’ve ever called during a wrestling match.
- Dan Barry looked stupid in his Yankees hat.
- Dave Cole and Aaron Epic might have had the greatest match in beyond history with the 3 out of 5 falls stipulation, and that is saying something.
Commentary made me feel great, but there was still the elephant in the room no one wanted to notice or discuss. JT and Somoza secluded themselves away from me at their merchandise table, something I was vehemently against back at Burst the Bubble and especially on that night. I decided to step away from blowing up in public and just step away from the situation. Shurman and I talked in the locker room and came to realize that, as the catchphrase states, BUSINESS IS BUSINESS, and that I had to sacrifice my feelings for success. I did and got through the night.
NOTES ON THE SHOW
During the entire event, I wrote down some notes I thought would be good for the documentation from my inner sanctum. Here they are, verbatim from my notebook.
- Drew Gulak and Biff Busick brought back a semblance of throwback scientific wrestling and really showed what is missing in this day and age.
- Dan Barry looked like a fool coming out with his ill-fitting shirt.
- Dan Barry has a face only his mother can love, and I highly doubt even his mother loves him.
- RD Evans is the personification of class, and was cheated out of his match.
- Sugar Dunkerton and Eric Corvis, despite their affiliations against my Revolution, are two guys that get the greatest sport of them all.
- Darius and Mar-Phony, erm, Marconi tore the entire venue apart.
- Kobald is legitimately the creepiest man I’ve ever called during a wrestling match.
- Dan Barry looked stupid in his Yankees hat.
- Dave Cole and Aaron Epic might have had the greatest match in beyond history with the 3 out of 5 falls stipulation, and that is saying something.
AFTERMATH
Once the show completed, it was time to leave. JT and Somoza were nowhere to be seen, however I high-fived Shurman on a job well done. After finding the silent Jaka and the angry-at-me Tim, we got on our way to the place we would rest at for the night. (Darius rented a limo after the big win. He wanted to celebrate beating Mar-Phony.) We got some grub, sat in silence, ate and got on our way again. After minutes that seemed like hours, we arrived at our spot, got changed and within 5 minutes, both Jaka and Bad News were out like a light. I, however, was up.
There was a lot on my mind. What was going on with PROFESSIONALISM? How did something that was picture perfect in theory start to fall apart in reality. Without LSG and Stan, WITH Somoza trying to interject himself, and with Shurman and JT in the middle, I was worried. My plan to change Beyond Wrestling for the better was splitting at the seams.
Jon Harder
jon@thejonharder.com
Once the show completed, it was time to leave. JT and Somoza were nowhere to be seen, however I high-fived Shurman on a job well done. After finding the silent Jaka and the angry-at-me Tim, we got on our way to the place we would rest at for the night. (Darius rented a limo after the big win. He wanted to celebrate beating Mar-Phony.) We got some grub, sat in silence, ate and got on our way again. After minutes that seemed like hours, we arrived at our spot, got changed and within 5 minutes, both Jaka and Bad News were out like a light. I, however, was up.
There was a lot on my mind. What was going on with PROFESSIONALISM? How did something that was picture perfect in theory start to fall apart in reality. Without LSG and Stan, WITH Somoza trying to interject himself, and with Shurman and JT in the middle, I was worried. My plan to change Beyond Wrestling for the better was splitting at the seams.
Jon Harder
jon@thejonharder.com
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