Death of the WWF, Revision of the Territory System
It was of course, Vince McMahon Jr. that shattered the traditional territorial system, and exposed the plot holes of it. NWA promoters were furious when McMahon began syndicating WWF television shows to television stations across the United States, in areas outside of the WWF's traditional northeastern stronghold. McMahon also began selling videotapes of WWF events outside the Northeast through his Coliseum Video distribution company. He effectively broke the unwritten law of regionalism around which the entire industry had been based. To make matters worse, McMahon used the income generated by advertising, television deals, and tape sales to poach talent from rival promoters.

According to several reports, the elder McMahon warned his son, "Vinny, what are you doing? You'll wind up at the bottom of a river." In spite of such warnings, the younger McMahon had an even bolder ambition: the WWF would tour nationally. However, such a venture required huge capital investment; one that placed the WWF on the verge of financial collapse. The future of not just McMahon's experiment, but also the WWF, the NWA, and the whole industry came down to the success or failure of McMahon's groundbreaking concept, WrestleMania. WrestleMania was a pay-per-view extravaganza (in some areas; most areas of the country saw WrestleMania available on closed-circuit television) that McMahon marketed as being the Super Bowl of professional wrestling.

The concept of a wrestling super card was nothing new in North America; the NWA had been running Starrcade a few years prior to WrestleMania, and even the elder McMahon had marketed large Shea Stadium cards viewable in closed-circuit locations. However, McMahon wanted to take the WWF to the mainstream, targeting the public who were not regular wrestling fans. He spent loads of money on celebrities such as Mr. T and Cyndi Lauper to participate in the event.

WrestleMania, held in 1985, was a resounding failure. As Gregory Thatus put it in his book, "The Fall of The World Wrestling Federation,"

"WrestleMania was a colossal failure, and crippled the World Wrestling Federation in such a way that it was termed 'Black Sunday' within the promotion, and led to the eventual bankruptcy of Vincent Kennedy McMahon Jr. within months, paving the way for the National Wrestling Alliance's domination."

Sports Entertainment was dead at birth. Within months the WWF ceased operations, and in its wake the NWA launched a new campaign to revamp their Territorial System. Cable Television had changed the business in a way that it could not go back to the way things once were, each promotion while separate had to add to the NWA as a whole.

And one promotion that had a whole lot to offer to the NWA was Ric Flair Promotions, a company based on wrestling skill above all else and the birth palce of the legend "The Man They Call"... Sting. This is there story, told in the present day of January, 2008.

Ric Flair Promotions
Cult, Charlotte, NC, Old School NWA Style, Formerly Jim Crockett Promotions

Jim Crockett Promotions was at one point the biggest, and undisputed best promotion under the NWA umbrella, but tragedy struck in 1975 when a plan carrying Crockett, Johnny Valentine, “Mr. Wrestling I” Tim Woods, Bob Bruggers, and a young prospect in Ric Flair crashed. Flair broke his back in three places and was told that he could never compete again or risk paralysis. Crockett, feeling sympathetic about how Flair's career had been cut short hired him as apart of the booking team.

As time went on, and with pressure from the ever expanding WWF to go bigger, Crockett did just that as he put all of his money into the company, and then some. Crockett however wasn't much of a business man when it came to expanding, and in 1984 he sold the company to Ric Flair for an undisclosed sum and Flair renamed it to Ric Flair Promotions. Flair became head booker and gave a young man by the name of Sting the NWA World Heavyweight Title, and started to build his company around him. The push of Sting was a complete success, and he has since gone on to reach iconic status within not only the NWA, but the entire world of professional wrestling.

RFP carried on even when the NWA Board made the crucial decision to remove the company's exclusive rights to the NWA World Heavyweight Title, and bringing it to Canada. The promotion builds around the technical skill of a wrestler rather than the character like McMahon's Titan Wrestling Entertainment. But don't be fooled into thinking character isn't important, as can be told by the reigning Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion, and top draw 'Lion Heart' Chris Jericho.

The charismatic Canadian proved that he can do what the legendary Sting did the past decade and carry the promotion on his shoulders, as a matter of fact it was Jericho who "forced" 'The Man They Call' Sting to pass the torch to him on the biggest drawing show for the company since Flair took the reigns. Although Sting remains a constant threat to the title, 'Lion Heart' has new challengers coming at him left, right and center with 'Kamikaze' Ken Anderson in particular looking to be the number one challenger for Jericho's title.

RFP Roster
(Roster subject to change)

Main Eventers

Chris Jericho - NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion
Scott Steiner
Sting
- - - - -
"Kamikaze" Ken Anderson [Mr. Kennedy]
Lex Luger

quote WrestlingWeekly.com

RFP "Power Hour" Review
Reported by Dane Smart for WrestlingWeekly.com

RFP "Power Hour" - Charlotte, NC - 2.1.08

That's right it's me again, Dane "The Brain" Smart, your humble RFP reviewer with another Power Hour run-down. We were promised big things this week on the show, but did it deliver? Read on to find out.

The show kicked off with NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho coming down to the ring to talk about his reign as champion and to get fans hyped for the year ahead, but he's interrupted by that rascal "Kamikaze" Ken Anderson. Anderson says that Jericho has been avoiding him for too long and that Anderson is ready for his title shot... TONIGHT! Jericho, in his trademark confident tone tells Anderson to "Shut... the hell... UP!" because he hasn't even come close to earning his shot. Jericho says that he'll make The IV Horsemen's match against God's Gift to Women into a six-man tag match, if Anderson gets the pin then maybe Jericho will consider giving him a shot at the title. The fans cheer, hoorah for the chap, blah, blah, blah. Fairly interesting starting point.
Rating - 83%

In our second segment of the evening the Cuban millionaire manager Armando Estrada is backstage talking about how he's signed a great and very important talent to his services. With the crowd's anticipation rising he announces his signing to be... notorious underachiever "The Gold Standard" Shelton Benjamin. Benjamin comes into shot cockily and spouts off about how he's finally going to go places in this company and get what he deserves, which I assume is titles. Maybe he means money, have RFP been paying him? Either way Shelton has little or no charisma, Estrada was the only thing that made this even the slightest bit interesting and that's only because of his funny accent.
Rating - 64%

Marty Jannetty vs. Shelton Benjamin
Shelton and Estrada came out to the ring with Marty Jannetty already there (Usually the sign of a job on the horizon). From the start Shelton used dirty tactics, but still couldn't get the better of Jannetty. After six minutes of wrestling Estrada tossed Shelton his cane before distracting the referee as Shelton smashed Jannetty in the face as he went for a Rocker Dropper. Shelton through the cane out of the ring and then nailed Jannetty with a T-Bone Suplex for good measure and the victory. Somewhat solid match, Shelton doesn't have it on the stick but I won't put his ring skills down.
Rating - 67%

After that "eventful" match the NWA United States Champion Montel Vontavious Porter came down to the ring and talked about how great and cool and rich and important he is and then said how he's beaten every challenger who's faced him, in RFP and outside of it (Even making reference to his biggest defence, a win against former NWA World Champion Chris Benoit in Mexico, making him tap to his own hold no less). He said that he was so bored of having no one to wrestle that he'd let anyone, ANYONE, challenge for the belt. The now infamous words "My name's Finlay and I love to fight" rang out through the arena as MVP shit a brick. "The Fighting Irish Bastard" Finlay came down to the ring, shillelagh in hand, and took MVP up on his offer. Fairly solid for what it was, hype for the following match. It seems like Finlay may get a face turn soon with all the pops he's been getting recently.
Rating - 61%

NWA United States Title Match
Montel Vontavious Porter © vs. Finlay
The champ really looked off his game in this one, and not in a kayfabe way. I like both of these guys and on their day I truly believe this could have been a very decent match, but MVP really didn't bring his A-Game and all the tech stuff and chains they tried to do just looked sloppy because of it. MVP won by count-out after he decided he'd had enough and left the ring after a European Uppercut, but Finlay chased after him only to get hit with a low blow that the ref missed. MVP then got back in the ring to win as the ref made the count of twenty. Really sloppy showing, not what I'd expect from these two.
Rating - 57%

After the match MVP hightailed it out of there as Finlay began to recover and wasn't best pleased about his defeat. Once both men were gone the six-men for our next and final contest arrived and all got into the ring without any hassle.

Chris Jericho, Nick Dinsmore & Rob Conway vs. Ken Anderson, Idol Stevens & Johnny Lust
Dinsmore and Lust started the match off and put on a pretty good showing before both men tagged out. The match was even for the most part, with all six guys putting on a solid, yet unspectacular match. One spot I will mention is Jericho doing a pretty neat Asai Moonsault to the outside, a move I've never seen him do before. The match ended in the same unclean way the others did, when the referee was distracted by a brawl on the outside between God's Gift To Women and The IV Horsemen Anderson hit Jericho with the title belt and then turned the ref around in time to score the three. Solid match, but nothing to write home about. If I had to pick anything that brought the match down I would say Idol Stevens and Johnny Lust, Stevens in particular still doesn't look great in the ring but he's gotten by on showmanship so far, that's fine for the undercard (Where he's used to), but he's not good enough to be in the main event against the champ. Not nearly good enough.
Rating - 64%

The show ended with Anderson (And to a lesser extent God's Gift to Women) on the entrance ramp, smiling at the champ who was being comforted in the ring by the Horsemen as he held his head.

Overall the show was solid, but really not as good as we're used to from this company. It might be the new feuds getting going and some guys maybe getting pushed in the New Year, but that's not that great of an excuse for this wholly unspectacular event.
Overall Rating - 65%

Personal Notes - Keep God's Gift to Women away from the main event. That is all.

Quick Questions:

1. What do you think of the review style of results?
2. Any comments on the first show?

I <3 iDomination.

I like the review style, was going to do something similar to it, but decided not to in one of my diaries, so meh.

As for the show, it was kind of hard to follow because of all the new names and stuff etc, so perhaps on your roster, you could put in brackets their name in real life, like for example:

Johnny Lust [John Morrison (or is it Johnny Jeter)]

Other than that solid job, looking forward to Anderson/Jericho feud, I've thought that that feud would be money irl.

quote The Blode

As for the show, it was kind of hard to follow because of all the new names and stuff etc, so perhaps on your roster, you could put in brackets their name in real life, like for example:

Johnny Lust [John Morrison (or is it Johnny Jeter)]

1. Great idea for results. Love it.

2. FTW this diary pwns. Shelton pwns and all I have to say is this...

MARTY JANNETTY IN A DIARY = GOLD!

quote NWA.com/RicFlairPromotions

RFP Newswire

• In a major acquisition for the company former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Chris Benoit has agreed to an exclusive contract with RFP. Benoit is the first and only NWA Grand Slam Champion as he has held the NWA World, Jr. Heavyweight and Tag Team titles. Benoit has spent the last year wrestling in Mexico for Konnan's Imperio De Lucha Azteca promotion where he has found great success, but Konnan held out on renewing his contract to try and save some money. Benoit claims to be ready for the challenge of RFP which he believes has "Arguably the best roster of any NWA affiliate". He went on to say that "RFP has exactly the right amount of young and experienced guys, all of them with a lot of talent. It's going to be a great experience to wrestle against them and maybe learn something new myself".

• In a damaging blow this week CW Anderson has picked up an Injury to his ankle while in his home. Anderson, currently a member of "The IV Horsemen" group Anderson is a much needed wrestle for the company and for the faction. The extent of his injury is not yet known, but company Doctors have said that he could miss at least two months of action. We'll keep you posted on that as more develops.

• For a long time now RFP has been expanding into a bigger and better company and now that we've risen to the number 5 promotion in the United States the company has invested in a Developmental Territory for young wrestlers being groomed for RFP. The territory is called Mid-Atlantic Wrestling and will run in cooperation with the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling School, so the trainees will also appear in matches against wrestlers from outside the company. The company has already brought in a few wrestlers for development including the son of for NWA World Champion Carlos Colon, Eddie Colon, "The Puerto Rican Nightmare" Eric Perez who comes in very high regard and was wanted by other NWA affiliates, former collegiate wrestler Jake Hager, young Iowa wrestler Tyler Black who has been wooed away from a career as a journalist to join us and ex-Playboy cover girl Torrie Wilson who management wants to improve her in-ring skills slightly before she debuts on TV. The injured Randy Orton has also reported to Mid-Atlantic Wrestling while he recovers, to stay in shape and to act as a mentor of sorts to the younger wrestlers. More young wrestlers will be signed in the near future to bring up the numbers of the MAW roster as well as some RFP talent going to wrestle there as well.

• And finally, after ten years of running "The Power Hour" the show has been bumped up to Prime Time and given an extra hour of broadcast. This represents a massive step towards challenging the National promotions like TWE and WCCW. The company now wishes to rename "The Power Hour" as it is no longer an hour and has posted a poll for fans to vote on. The winning name will be the new name of our Prime Time TV show.

Other: RFP Carnage



Anyway this is an epic scenario, don't think i've seen an iDomination diary get past one show, so keep it up, looking good (Y).

Gabbo's name goes good.
I'll add a vote to that too.

Other: RFP Carnage.

Push Burke. He has great talent.
Lol @ Person Note btw.
This is great.

quote Cradle Shock

quote The Blode

As for the show, it was kind of hard to follow because of all the new names and stuff etc, so perhaps on your roster, you could put in brackets their name in real life, like for example:

Johnny Lust [John Morrison (or is it Johnny Jeter)]

It's Jeter, and I'll make the changes now. Thanks for the feedback, Blode.

I was happy till you said that.

quote Me

Shelton has little or no charisma

That's just the excuse he uses so Armando can receive a push.

quote WrestlingWeekly.com

RFP "Carnage" Review
Reported by Dane Smart for WrestlingWeekly.com

RFP "Carnage" - Raleigh, NC - 9.1.08

Hello again and welcome to another RFP review with me, your humble host Dane "The Brain" Smart. This event was a big one for RFP as their weekly TV show "Power Hour" was bumped up to a prime time slot and given an extra hour. Fans were asked to vote on a name and the name that was chosen was RFP "Carnage". An extra hour of broadcast means an extra hour of action, but more importantly an extra hour of reading my reviews!

The show began with the NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Champions The Diamond Exchange backstage with their title belts. DDP talked about how, despite his loyal service to the company for more than ten years, guys like Scott and Rick Steiner have always been pushed over him. He then claims that tonight he and his partner want The Steiner Brothers in a tag team match so that they can prove to everyone that The Steiners aren't worthy of the limelight. If it weren't for DDP's charisma this would have been awful, but Matt Michaels dragged it down when he got on the mic towards the end. Clearly charisma isn't carried down in the Michaels' genes.
Rating - 68%

Brent Albright vs. Chad Collyer
Two really talented guys who, if they had the looks and the charisma, would be main eventing this company. Sadly they don't and therefore they aren't. Good showing from these two, but a lot of the fans in the crowd weren't too familiar with them so there wasn't much reaction. Albright won in a quick bout by hitting Collyer with a Half-Nelson Suplex.
Rating - 58%

After the match we were backstage with Armando Estrada and his latest client Shelton Benjamin. Estrada talked about his Benjamin's victory last week and how that's just the start of Shelton's rise to the top. Unfortunately they let Shelton on the stick again and he spouted basically the same stuff as last week about how management has been holding him back, but not anymore. Benjamin finished by saying that he was orchestrating a hostile takeover of RFP, one... wrestler... AT A TIME! Basically the same sort of thing as last week, I think they should have Estrada do more talking and just let Shelton finish with a one liner. However, I did like the whole "Hostile Takeover" thing.
Rating - 70%

Elijah Burke vs. Shelton Benjamin
Oh dear god what a dreary little match they threw together. Burke basically came out to job to Shelton, something which he STILL made hard work of. Shelton tried to nail The Gold Rush (Spiked Reverse STO, for those who aren't aware), but Burke botched the sell and Shelton ended up looking bad. Thankfully the match wasn't too long and Shelton picked up the win in heel fashion when Burke went for his Elijah Express, but Estrada grabbed his ankle in the corner while Shelton recovered and managed to hit The Gold Rush properly for the three. God awful match with the majority of it being Burke's fault. Since they've opened up that new development territory I think it might be an idea to send Elijah. Or just release him, whatever's cool with me.
Rating - 53%

The Blue Bloods vs. The IV Horsemen
There wasn't any build up to this one, just an exhibition match to show off The IV Horsemen who have recently been out of the ring, following Jericho around like puppy dogs. This match almost made me forget about that last, horrific effort, but it wasn't quite that good. Really great technical showing, particularly from Nick Dinsmore who rarely gets to show his talent since he basically became Jericho's follower. There weren’t any big spots or anything, just great technical wrestling which I wholeheartedly support. Good show, fellas, good show.
Rating - 70%

After that one the United States Champion MVP came down to the ring to brag about his "cunning" victory over Finlay last week, but his arrogance only brought The Irishman out to the ring. Finlay (Who doesn't have great charisma, but I can forgive him because I mark for him) got in MVP's face for not retaining his title cleanly and then challenged him to another match. MVP said that Finlay had his title shot and he lost, fair and square, so he wouldn't accept the challenge. Finlay then challenged him to a non-title match; if Finlay wins he gets a shot at MVP's title at Bunkhouse Stampede. MVP accepted, but only if when Finlay lost he could never challenge for the title again while MVP was champion. Finlay accepted and then came down to the ring.

Finlay vs. Montel Vontavious Porter
This was a much better match than last week with both guys stepping up their game from their last match. MVP played the heel well again with Finlay, now seemingly face, getting a lot of love from the crowd. At the end of the match Finlay locked MVP in his signature Irish Knot, but MVP got to the ropes and then rolled out of the ring. MVP then began to leave like last week, but Finlay followed him again. Finlay caught up with him and then threw him back into the ring before following after, but MVP got to the corner and grabbed Finlay's shillelagh. Finlay came running in to attack MVP, but only ended up running into a headshot with the club. The referee disqualified MVP, leaving us in the dark about a title shot at Bunkhouse Stampede. Solid showing with both guys playing their parts well.
Rating - 66%

After that match we went backstage to the officer of Commissioner JJ Dillon where Dillon was sitting behind his desk as "Kamikaze" Ken Anderson argued with Chris Jericho in front of him. Anderson claimed he earned his shot at the title and he wants it tonight, but Jericho said he wasn't getting anywhere near the title because he cheated to pick up the victory. Dillon told them both to shut up and then said that Jericho was right, Anderson didn't "earn" his shot, but he also said Anderson was right when he said he beat Jericho. Dillon then said that since it was his decision Anderson would have to earn his shot tonight in a match against a third party, "All-American Male" Marcus Bagwell. Dillon then told them to get out of his office. It was a decent angle to progress the feud, but nothing too spectacular.
Rating - 58%

The Diamond Exchange vs. The Steiner Brothers
After the last segment we had a non-title match between The Diamond Exchange and The Steiner Brothers. The Steiners dominated the whole match, showing DDP and Michaels that they're not as good as they like to think. After getting beaten down for the whole match DDP decided that The Steiners "aren't worth it" and told Michaels to leave the ring, but after DDP was out The Steiner Brothers stopped Michaels' escape. DDP, too scared to get back in the ring, watched as The Steiners nailed a Steiner Bulldog on "The Diamond Kid" before Scott Steiner applied The Steiner Recliner to an unconscious Michaels for the victory. The Steiner Brothers showed they haven't lost a step and The Diamond Exchange played the cowardly heels really well as usual.
Rating - 74%

Ken Anderson vs. Marcus Bagwell
The match got going quickly with it being fairly even in the early goings. Both guys got in some good offence, with Anderson using dirty tactics to try and get the win. About ten minutes in the end was near and Chris Jericho's music hit the speakers, causing everyone to turn towards the entrance ramp. Jericho came out onto the stage to try and distract Anderson, but all he did was distract Bagwell while Kennedy rolled him up for the quick three count to "earn" his title shot.

The show came to a close with the once again victorious Ken Anderson smiling in the ring as his hand was raised by the referee. The scene faded as Jericho scowled from the entrance ramp with the title over his shoulder, but how much longer could he hold onto it?

Overall the show was an improvement on last week, only one match dragged it down and that was Burke vs. Benjamin. I recognise that Benjamin is getting pushed, which I'm happy about because he's talented, but next time he needs someone to job for him pick someone who can actually sell his moves. Other than that the show was pretty decent, with two stand-out matches being the opener (Held back by a lack of popularity of both men) and The Blue Bloods vs. The Horsemen.
Overall Rating - 65%

Personal Notes - Elijah Burke should be banned from the ring until he can sell a Reverse STO. I hope Brent Albright gets a push because he's talented and nowhere near as bland as Chad Collyer.