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Quotes from an Interview With Devin Chittick:
"Real Action has done extremely well for themselves and they had a very talented roster at one point. I know that politics had a role in that disbanding eventually, and that’s what separates them from us. I met some of the "elite" performers there face to face and they’re not very pleasant to talk to. I think that eventually the egos in that promotion will be the destruction of it.......As far as their name goes, I think it’s rather pathetic that they decided to call their wrestling company RAW, just because it bares a close resemblance to the flagship television program of the WWF. Their booking is fair to say the least. The guys who are headlining the main events aren’t in a position to be doing so, and anybody who knows anything about in-ring scenarios knows that it should be done a lot differently. Shameless booking seems to be their route, but that’s their choice. Again, that’s all attributed to ego.
Cutting Edge Wrestling is a thriving promotion and the guys down there in Newfoundland have come a long way. I understand there’s some really good talent there right now and given the opportunity those guys will succeed. Gordon (the promoter) is a really great guy and he loves the business to no end. He has the desire to take CEW as far it can possibly go. The wrestlers that work there are coming along and they’re all doing really well. I don’t like all the hardcore angles but that’s their nature."
Kowboy then responded in a commentary on his site with this:
"When the promoter of another promotion that cant draw flies starts bad mouthing another it doesn't really mean that much. Backyard wrestlers (marks) always seem to have their version of what is good and what is bad in their opinion. Then there is the opinion of real workers, real promoters and agents from the WWF. All whom have stated they could not get over the talent and the size of our talent in Real Action Wrestling. "Psychology in the business is a long lost art.", Jim Ross recently stated, and I have to agree. Fortunately we at RAW have made this a priority. Mr. Chittick wouldn't understand what I'm talking about because his roster of mainly untrained backyarders are never taught this art. With a roster that has been handed down knowledge from some of the best in the business such as Leo Burke, Hubert Gallant, and Sean Morley RAW is well schooled in this art. Not just shown a few moves from other workers such as Jerry Martell and Leroy Brookes.
An example of Mr.Chitticks knowledge is his compliments to CEW. He praised their workers and their direction. Bad Boy Batty Bat (former CEW CHAMPION) told me quite openly that it is just a glorified backyard promotion of untrained workers. His stay in RAW was very short because he openly admitted he thought he knew the business until he got around veteran workers and would have to get properly trained before he would ask to come back. Damien Dredd another of MSW's so called stars worked one show with RAW and needless to say his last. He openly admitted he wasn't used to such a high caliber of wrestling. This guy is a main eventer at MSW. Cliff MacDonald, the big MSW star said he wasn't prepared to wrestle in RAW, yet was prepared enough for MSW. Once again I will state the obvious about MSW why would people pay to see untrained 120lbs wrestlers when they can go to any play ground and see the same thing for free. As far as our elite performers being not pleasant, its a work ! I guess we have fooled all the marks! And one more thing, anybody who thinks Bobby Rude, Gary Williams, etc aren't in a position to be in a main event is retarded."
My response to Devin's comments:
I have a few points to make in response to Mr. Chittick's comments.
First of all it should be stated that I have no problem with Mr. Chittick, or MSW, and my opinions are purely my own and do not necessarily represent any of the Real Action Wrestling wrestlers and management.
I would first like to comment on his statement of RAW having a very talented roster "at one point." I'm sorry, but when their current roster includes guys like Bobby Rude, Custom Made Man, Wildman Gary Williams, Chi Chi Cruz, Massive Damage, the Original Sinn, etc., how can you even use the word "had"? These guys are some of the best that Canada has to offer, as well as guys that do RAW shows not quite as frequently like Joe E. Legend, Notorious TID, and many others. I wouldn't say anyone on the RAW roster is actually not that talented with the exception of Chaos and Flesh.
I don't know exactly what Mr. Chittick thinks he "knows" about what goes on backstage with Real Action Wrestling, but any people that are no longer involved with the Real Action Wrestling roster has really nothing to do with egos or politics. At least not of the current roster. Some guys just don't mesh well in the company, and it's not the guys I assume you are talking about that are to blame for that. Any people that have been dismissed from RAW, did so because their own actions hurt their position.
I also think that it is very disrespectful to judge a wrestler, let alone a promotion, based on one or few altercations with said wrestlers. Some RAW guys have a problem with MSW, yes, but they feel they have just reason too. I personally feel MSW has grown a lot in the past year, I used to also think it was shit, but with making the effort to bring in some outside talent on top of the maybe one or two talented workers MSW already had, they showed they were making the effort, and I respect that. However, some members of the RAW roster may hold MSW's past against them, and if so, well that's their prerogative. Their opinions should not be held against the promotion as a whole, or the entire roster.
These egos that you speak of I can assure you have no effect on RAW's product. Just because the two bookers may involve themselves in the main event, who cares? They are the 2 top heels in the promotion right now, and the crowd reaction will tell you that. Just because they may not have the wrestling skill of guys like Bobby Rude and Custom Made Man, that does not take away from the fact that these guys are great at what they do, and get a lot of heel heat. RAW has managed to do something that for a long time has stopped occurring in the wrestling world...they have the crowd booing the heels and cheering the faces. In a time where it is considered "cool" to cheer for the bad guys, this is a pretty big accomplishment.
Another point I feel should be made is that these bookers with the so called "egos" that you speak of would not hesitate to put over anyone. They aren't afraid to do the job, and they fully understand the fact that wrestling is a work. I've heard them discuss this first hand, I can promise you that they would do the job to my grandmother if it went well with the storyline. Ask yourself when was the last time Kingman had the RAW championship belt? That's right, never. If they were so concerned with putting themselves over, I'm sure they would have given him the belt by now, to feed this "ego" you speak of.
The next matter I would like to address is the name of "RAW." Yes, you're right, they should have gone with something else, but this too is not really relevant. The name RAW was given to the promotion by the former owner Skot Gallant. When New Age Ent. bought RAW they opted to keep the name as it had already been established in the Maritimes, and they didn't want to lose any steam it had built up. You will notice that all Real Action Wrestling posters now advertising their events state "Real Action Wrestling" and not "RAW" on them to avoid the possible confusion.
Now as for CEW, I have not personally seen their product, and am curious as to if you have either, so I am not really in a position to judge their product. However, by examining their website and listening to family of mine from Newfoundland who have seen their shows, it's pretty much a cheesy, "give serious credible indy wrestling a bad name" kind of product as you can get. I find it very amusing that you cut RAW up, a promotion that has seen success all over the Maritimes, but had nothing but praise for CEW, a promotion that has not actually had any real successes to boast to date. It seems to me that promotional jealousy is playing a large part in your opinion Mr. Chittick, that and the fact that you do not know everything that goes on behind the scenes of RAW, nor do you know any of the wrestlers well personally, which causes for an uneducated opinion. You are however entitled to your opinion, but I feel a response from the other side of the fence was in order.
Also, Mr. Chittick, I am curious to know how you feel you have the right to comment on the talent of RAW's roster when you yourself have never attended a Real Action Wrestling show. Since you didn't, I would assume that whatever unpleasant conversation you claimed to have had with some of the members of RAW's "elite" roster would have taken place on their very little spare time. What you have to understand sir, is that these guys get hassled everywhere they go. Sometimes they're not always in the most cheerful of moods when being on the road 7 days a week. They have time to eat, sleep a little, work out, wrestle, and travel, and moments of peace are sacred to them. I'm sure if you were interrupting them during such a time, yes, they might have been a little testy and cranky, quite frankly I can't blame them. I think your comments are unfounded and you're passing judgment on people you don't even know. You might want to stop and think that everyone has bad days.
Devin then sent this email out to numerous people:
A few days ago, I conducted an interview with Matt Henstock from a site on the web
called “The Pro Wrestling Connection”. The response from Real Action Wrestling was
anticipated and expected. Here is my response to those responses that I have read and
received. Read them on www.theprowrestlingconnection.com before reading this.
The first to add their rebuttal was Cathy Yetman, an assistant to RAW wrestler, Gary
Williams. Cathy, first of all, you’re doing the very same thing that you’re accusing me of,
which is making false assumptions based on hearsay. Actually yes, I have seen some
CEW tapes, but nothing recent. Secondly, for your information, I have attended a RAW
show in person. I enjoyed the card I watched and praised it, and all I said in my interview
was that their roster wasn’t as impressive as it used to be, so I did say it was impressive!
Also, if you’ve “heard” that CEW and was crap, then you’re basing your response on
second-hand information, right?
The second person to reply to my statements was Mike Hughes, head booker and
worker for RAW.
We can’t draw flies? Funny, we outdrew RAW on many occassions, not that I’m
counting. However, the most recent event was actually in Windsor, where your promotion
cancelled the show because only a handful of fans showed up. Then you stiffed the
building for rental payment and they didn’t receive it until a month later. The crowd we
had said that they like RAW too, but as far as entertainment goes, they prefered
MainStream Wrestling. Quite a reaction to what you call “backyarders”.
Another statement Hughes made was about the “lost art” in pro wrestling. Have you
ever seen any MSW matches or cards? I don’t think you have, otherwise you would have
seen that many of our matches are nothing but displays of ring psychology. Before you
ramble on about psychology, get your facts straight. And “Mr. Chittick wouldn’t know
what I was talking about”. Have you ever had a conversation with me, Mike? No, you
haven’t. But then again, you are all about professionalism.
As far as Cliff MacDonald goes, you refer to him as being only talented enough for
MSW, yet you and Buddy Lane have been kissing Cliff’s ass night and day for the past
few months practically begging him to join RAW. Why would you be so interested in
Cliff if he isn’t “good enough” for the great and powerful RAW? What an excuse just
because he turned you down. You can’t fool everyone, Mr. Hughes. And what about
hiring MY first cousin, Billy Flynn, in Halifax? You obviously didn’t know he was my
father’s nephew or you would’ve given him an earful of what you thought about
MainStream and me, just like you did with Damien Dredd. Once again, your
professionalism came shining through! Speaking of which, wasn’t “Bad Boy Batty Bat”
an untrained backyarder as well? But he couldn’t have been, he wrestled with Real
Action, and that promotion only uses REAL workers, right?
Regarding the one occasion that I met with a few of the RAW workers, I believe there
was heat between us and that gave me the impression that they were unpleasant to speak
with. Everyone throws around the term “mark”, well what would you call yourself? You
took time off from your busy schedule to sit down and write a response to my WORKED
interview!
It’s rather amusing how many REAL workers and REAL promoters conduct
themselves. These two people mentioned above have never met me in person and all of
sudden have the audacity to rip on me, when if fact, they should be sitting back and
thinking about what they write before they write it. But apparently the greats of the game
never taught guys like the “Kowboy” anything about how it’s not smart to burn your
bridges.
It’s really quite amazing how much effort these WORKERS put into responding to
comments made by a accused“backyarder”, and how well they present themselves around
other workers, who just have a little more knowledge and respect for this business than
the RAW guys think they do. Thank you.
Send your death threats to msw_wrestle@hotmail.com
I responded to those same people with this:
In response once again to Mr. Chittick's comments, I have this to say. First off, I don't know how literate you are, but if you read what I wrote I STATED that I had not seen a CEW show, and therefore was not really in a position to judge it, and any opinions I had based on them were only based on what I've heard second hand about them. Also, you're exact statement in your interview was they "had a very talented roster at one point" which insinuates that they do not anymore, take that and your later comment that the people main eventing in RAW are in no position to do so, and I'm pretty sure I can make the assumption that you were making an attack on the level of RAW's talent. Sounds like you're grasping at straws to me. And one more thing Devin, as a promoter you would think that you would have learned that in this business it is smart to "keep your mouth shut and your ears open." All you're doing is pissing off a lot of people, and doing exactly what you accused Mike Hughes of doing, burning his bridges. You're still young, as is your involvement in the business, I would suggest that you still have a lot to learn. I suggest if you have any further comments to me, that you, or anyone else that feels they have a point to make in this matter, can email me at kittikat@ns.sympatico.ca .
He then emailed me privately with this:
Cathy:
I'm sure you read the response I already to sent to Matt Henstock, but I
just wanted to say a few more things to you.
You are a hypocrite.
You said "I also think that it is very disrespectful to judge a wrestler..."
Funny, you thought MSW was shit at one time. Thanks. You seem to be very
intelligent.
You said "Their (RAW workers) opinions should not be held against the
promotion as a whole". Really? Well that's what happens when those negative
opinions come from the head bookers!
You said "I have not personally seen their (CEW) product, and am curious as
to if you have either". You're curious? Maybe you should have asked me if I
seen it before trying to make yourself sound good.
Promotional jealousy has nothing to do with anything I said. I already said
RAW had a talented roster, what more do you want to hear?
You said "I am curious to know how you feel you have the right to comment on
the talent of RAW's roster when you yourself have never attended a Real
Action Wrestling show." How the HELL would you possibly know if I ever
attended a RAW show???????
You and Mike should seriously take a second to think about how your great,
intelligent responses are being perceived by fans and people in the
wrestling business. To tell you the truth Cathy, my phone hasn't stop
ringing all afternoon with people telling me how ridiculous both of you have
made yourselves look. Think about it.
And I emailed him back again:
My, my, someone is taking my comments to heart now aren't we?
First off I just want to state that I really think you should step back and not take everything so personally, I never meant any disrespect to you, nor do I have any problems with you, I was just stating my own opinions.
And yes, I did think MSW was shit, bascially because what I thought, and it was what A LOT of people thought at the time, was that MSW was backyard, I'm talking about how I felt about MSW over a year ago. But as I stated, I see that you guys are making the effort to improve, bringing in some excellent outside talent, etc, and for that you have my respect.
Insulting my intelligence is really mature by the way, and my intelligence has nothing to do with my opnions. I'll have you know I graduated from High School last year with a 93 average, and am currently in university working my ass off. I really don't appreciate you insinuating that I'm an idiot just because I was one of many who thought MSW was backyard.
And so what if you think the head bookers have bad attitudes? How does that in any way reflect upon RAW's talent? Not at all if you ask me. And I know these guys personally, and despite whatever altercations you might have had with them, they are both very nice guys. If you want to call someone a hypocrite, I'd take a long hard look at yourself, you got angry with Mike Hughes for making statements on your character without ever actually having a conversation with you, well what are you doing? Like Mike said, as for their "egos" it's all a work, I know these guys personally and can vouche for that.
As for you seeing CEW, I really could care less, it still doesn't change my opinion on them, which is also supported by Bad Boy Batty Bat's comments on them, and as a former champion there I think he is a reliable sourse to the validity of the promotion.
As for you never attending a RAW show, before you jump down my throat about it, it was Lincoln Steen that told me you had never attended a Real Action Wrestling show, and he was quite sure of himself, so I thought I had that coming from a reliable source, I appologize for that.
It should be noted that I think you are assuming that Mike and I feel the exact same way about everything, well you are wrong. For the record, I don't agree with some of the things Mike said in his comments, nor do I agree with him attacking MSW as a whole when his beef was with you. I would appreciate it if you refrain from generalizing us like that.
As for what people think about my comments, I really could care less, they're my opnions and if people don't agree with them, that's fine with me. I'll stand up for them no matter what, what people think really doesn't matter to me, I'm not that shallow. However if you want to bring that point up, it should also be brought to your attention that I have also been contacted by numerous people today, offerring their support to my comments, and praising me.
But really I think you'll agree that this is turning into a stupid, pathetic war, and everyone involved should take a step back and a few deep breaths and calm the fuck down.
He emailed me back again, seeing the error of his ways:
I know I jumped the gun a little today in my letter to you, we're all just
really pissed off about constantly hearing the old "backyard" excuse. It's
not true and it's really pathetic that that's some people's only rebuttal.
I know you and Mike had different opinions, that's fine. I don't treat them
the same. And this won't turn into anything more than what it already has,
so we'll leave it at that. I don't know you personally and there's no heat
between us, okay? Sorry if I made you out to be unintelligent, that wasn't
my intent. Please understand I was really upset at the time I wrote that to
you.
No hard feelings here. Feel free to write back. Thanks.
Then he sent me and email with Cliff MacDonald's opinions on all of this:
The following is a rebuttal by MainStream Wrestling star "Iron Man" Cliff
MacDonald in response to comments made by Real Action Wrestling's "Kowboy"
Mike Hughes on www.theprowrestlingconnection.com
today. Here is his response:
"It's amazing how I did wrestle with practically the same roster that RAW
has, in Grand Prix for 2 years. The only thing missing was you because you
weren't invited back! It wasn't because Emille was angry at you for starting
up RAW, it was because of your lack of skill. I for one NEVER said I wasn't
ready for RAW, and point black turned down their offers because of the fact
that "Kowboy" was the booker.
It's also amazing how bad I'm supposed to be, but yet still make the program
on your big Wrestlefest card and never once said I would do it.
Don't get me wrong, the RAW roster has some great wrestlers like Gary, Bobby
Rude, Joe E. Legend, Chi Chi Cruz, Eddie Watts, and Custom Made Man. They
are some of the best wrestlers going. But Mike, you are not. So, by you
trying to tear me down shows how desperate you are to try to make people
believe that "Kowboy" is any good.
Oh yeah, who's that guy who always jobbed to me my first summer of wrestling
with only a few matches under my belt? Oh yeah, it was you!"
- "Iron Man" Cliff MacDonald
P.S. - "As far as being untrained, I was trained by Scott D'Amore in Ontario
and paid good money. How much did you pay? I guess you get what you paid
for!"
The shit has hit the fan in the maritimes boys and girls LOL. Mike has yet to see everything that has happened since his innitial response, but I've emailed it to him, and if he has any further comments I'll post them here.
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