Tons Of News From Jeff Katz?s Wrestling Revolution
Here are some notes from Jeff Katz's Wrestling Revolution tapings?
* Prince Devitt and Shawn Spers both had visa issues and could not appear. Chris Hero and Brian Cage were brought in to take their place.
* Chris Hero is still expected to go to WWE, but there has been a delay in the hiring process.
* They had an audience of both wrestling fans and extras that were better dressed to give it a better look.
* The ring announcing will be done by actor Keith David (They Live, The Cape, Spawn: The Animated Series).
* Tommy Dreamer, Lance Storm and Christopher Daniels worked as producers.
* Everyone was given different characters and it was played like a 13-week television series.
* No other wrestling would be acknowledged on the broadcasts as producer Jeff Katz told everyone that they are in a world where there is no WWE or TNA
* The idea is this is an underground pro wrestling club open only to people who are involved with illegal gambling. There are no championship belts, but there was a singles tournament and a tag team tournament. Katz said he was modeling it after New Japan's G-1 Climax tournament, with the idea the winners get trophies and a big check.
* If there is a second season, they start fresh and don't have to worry about bringing back the existing champions. And if there is only one season, the end of the tournaments is a strong climax.
* The first day was filled with squash matches, with the stars going over local talent. The star vs. star matches were worked WWE style and pretty good, and any botched spots were shot again.
* The talent is doing similar gimmicks to what they would do in most cases, but with different names.
* Adam Pearce is the same character, but uses the name Ridgeway.
* Psycho Mike Rollins is still a psycho, but his name is Murder.
* Shawn Daivari is named Ferris Gotch.
* Colt Cabana is doing a new character, a heel who is a failed stand-up comedian using the name Punchline.
* Joey Ryan is a babyface who plays the role of being gay, but is as far from the stereotype gay character in pro wrestling. There are no effeminate mannerisms, it's just noted that he's gay. He has actress Trish LaFache as his valet and uses the name Chase Walker.
* Amazing Red works with a mask.
* Kevin Matthews plays a Hollywood slimy actor who texts during his matches.
* Emil Sitoci plays a German Nihilist.
* Dr. Luther plays a Satanic priest.
* Callihan & Alex Zikos are a tag team called Satanic & Profitable
* Shaun Ricker & Brian Cage are a tag team known as John-tourage (Entourage) with a bodyguard named Brick s–thouse.
* Kenny Omega, known as Scott Carpenter, was the star, with strong matches against Chris Masters (Known as Concrete) and Killshot (Karl Anderson). The match with Anderson had an unplanned chandelier glass explosion.
* MVP is now The Lord of War, and dresses up and wrestles like Masahiro Chono, including using the STF and Yakuza kick as his big moves.
* The big angle is when two heels reveal that Chase Walker is gay. But he wrestles like any other underneath babyface, doesn't dress flamboyantly or prance around and do any gay comedy. Katz wanted people to know the gimmick and said he'd love for WWE to steal it, noting they'd screw it up anyway.
* Clarke Duke from the movie "Hot Tub Time Machine" was there on the third day.
* Among the best matches were Hyde vs. Lord of War, Hyde vs. Killshot and Cornerstone vs. Johnny 99 (Luke Gallows).
* The final episode is like a PPV show with a lot of quality matches. It was shot to make it look like a film rather than a TV show.
Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter
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