Hey there everyone. Donnie B here breaking out the keyboard once again to jot some thoughts down and do some reminiscing. I was reading some wrestling dirt sheets the other day and noticed that the one and only ROCK is returning to the WWE. I also heard that Chris Jericho’s 2nd book has become a New York Times Best Seller. Congrats!!!
What is the point you ask? Well, it got me thinking. Do I want to start the game up again? Seeing the Rock back in the WWE has given the dying horse a good shot of adrenaline. Not sure if it was Mark Madden or someone that wrote that the Rock, on his return to the WWE, showed the wrestlers there what it means to cut a promo. Rocky back in the WWE; Steve Austin and now Trish Stratus are going to host the new Tough Enough show; Jericho and Booker T back in the wrestling scene….it all got me thinking. What if I could dedicate time to a new wrestling game? I’ve done it before but if I chose to get back into it, I would need to research and bring in new characters for the game. Sheamus was a world champion…how could I leave him out now? Daniel Bryan and Albert Del Rio…these two would be a good addition to the game but in order to create new cards for these guys, I’d have to start watching wrestling again – both TNA and WWE - to make sure all characters are updated as well as their moves. I’m not sure if I could get myself back into that. Heck, even the WWE was here in town and I easily could have gotten free tickets but I declined. Why you ask? The brands just are not interesting anymore. Do I really need to see Jeff Jarrett and Kurt Angle fight for custody of his real life children? No. That’s an easy one. See what happens when Bischoff and Hogan run the show? Rehashing old crap. I don’t need it anymore.
So you may be asking yourself, “Why come back now”? I got into re-reading some of the posts from 2010 and with the WWE’s Superbowl event Wrestlemania coming up in a few short weeks, I decided to go back and really think about what happened and how the game (Pro Wrestling Superstars) changed and evolved into what became the HWF and CSWA. I was thinking the other day about the longest reigning champion in my game. That was one I won’t forget. It was the Warlord (using the Iron Sheik card since I was too lazy to create new cards back then). He had about 120 title defenses (if the title was defended once a week, he would have held it for over 2 years). Now, I will admit that as his streak continued, I had to “pad” some of his matches; heck, even rig some so that his streak would be kept alive. Keep in mind, this was way before Goldberg. This was back in the day when Ted Dibiasi (with Maggie) took on Ric Flair much to the dismay of one Tricky Dick Murdock. I remember watching as Murdock took exception thinking he should have been the #1 contender and then promptly attacked Dibiasi and brainbusted him on the concrete. Now, back then, I’ll admit that I thought it was all real. Heck, if Pro Wrestling Illustrated said it was and even had an interview with Ted saying how he could have died, who wouldn’t have thought that? Ok, maybe those who understood the business would have known it was all planned but a gullible 15 year old kid didn’t.
I also remember hearing about the stabbing of Bruiser Brody; the deaths of the Von Erichs, Gino Hernandez, Eddie Gilbert, etc. Back then, it was really hard to separate truth from wrestling as those performers had to live their characters. When Gino Hernandez turned on Chris Adams and “blinded” him with the black liquid and then turned up dead less than a few weeks later, who wouldn’t have seen Adams as the #1 suspect in Gino’s death? I remember hearing when Mike Von Erich committed suicide.
I know it is still a very sore subject with plenty of people but I will say that Chris Benoit WAS my favorite wrestler of all time…yes, even more when I (stupidly) cheered on Hulk Hogan. Benoit was the man. Sure, he wasn’t a “Flair” or “Rock” on the mic but he had skills that spoke magic when he was in the ring. I do not condone what he did or the monster he became. I don’t know what was going on in his head and will never know. People will always condone him for being a murderer and I don’t stop them but where is the line drawn when it comes to people taking their own lives? Eddie Guerrero did drugs and even though he stopped, it did enough damage to end his life. What about all the other wrestlers who could no longer handle what life had laid out and decided to end it all? They killed themselves..in a sense, murder. I know the list is a lot more than this but what about Curt Hennig, Crash Holly, Bam Bam Bigelow, Sherri Martel and Miss Elizabeth. With that final one, I remember hearing that Lex Luger was somehow involved – brought in the drugs or something. Does killing oneself diminish the memories of what they gave to us every day of their lives? That is up to you to decide.
So, now on to the real reason I’m writing this today - I wanted to try to go back and reminisce some about matches and feuds that took place in the past (prior to 2003 when I started to put it down on paper and then save it) but I just don’t remember a whole lot. Some of the things I do remember were the Warlords World title reign; at Wrestlemania 6, when WC Hogan and IC champ UW squared off and Warrior won both titles, I was having my own Wrestlemania but had Hogan as the IC champ and Warrior as the WC. If I recall, Warrior still won but eventually Hogan took over the #1 spot. I remember that Sheik and Volkoff as well as White Ninja and Kendo Nagasaki were fantastic tag team champs. The team of Sgt Slaughter and Crusher Jerry Blackwell also dominated the scene. I made up some characters back then (Outback Elmer – a cross between Uncle Elmer and Outback Jack). Why? Who knows. My brother Mark who was the biggest Flair “mark” at the time always had Ric taking on Hogan and watching the Nature Boy come out victorious while I hollered and demanded a rematch for the “real” world champion (not the fake one who’s wrestling organization but mics under the mat to make sounds louder). Little did I know until later that all organizations did that. I even had the Mulkey Brothers in the game and they, like their flesh and blood counterparts lost every match (but one) they were in.
I have reached out to my siblings for help trying to remember what happened back in the day as my memories just aren’t what they used to be. Until I can gather more data, I’m going to fast forward to 2003 (the year I started writing and keeping “newsletters”).
But first, a little background. Starting in 2000, I was living in Colorado Springs and became roommates with Jeff “The Hawk” Meyers (aka MW3). Anytime I would go back to Houston to visit, I’d meet up with Wayne (aka Super Warrior) and we’d run through some matches. It was right around the end of 2002 when I found this guy on eBay selling custom made wrestling title belts. I decided to buy 4. I gave one to Wayne as a birthday gift (at least I think I did), had one created for the HWF World Champion, one for the CSWA World Champion and the 4th was for the winners of our (upcoming) Texas Holdem games. My thought on that last one was why bother with a ring or a bracelet when you can carry/wear a championship title on your shoulder or around your waist (this came a few years later).
It should be noted that before I had the titles created (back when I lived in Texas), we made up some crude cardboard titles – one for the world champion, one for the IC champ, the US champ, Western States Heritage Champ, and tag team titles. Not sure what happened to those but I think Mark and Steven have them stored safely away.
With new “real” titles, it was time to take the game to the next level. By this time, the characters of Donnie B, MW3, Super Warrior, Handsome G, Classy Travis Massie, the Negronomicon and others has been introduced to the game. On a side note, for those wondering where the name Negronomicon came from: Tony and his then girlfriend were watching I believe it was Army of Darkness and she mentioned the Necronomicon (book of the dead) and told Tony he should become the Negronomicon. That was all it took. As soon as Tony became involved in the game, he was the Negronomicon. My character was a cross between Mr. McMahon and well, me with more emphasis on Mr. McMahon. I tried to be the good guy but somehow always came out on the wrong end.
I’m going to stop here but when I start writing again, I’ll take us back to 2003 and recap all the happenings of that year and then the subsequent years. Who knows? If I get the writing bug and it sticks around, I may just brush off some cobwebs and have a Wrestlemania of my own…..
Thanks for reading.
Donnie B.
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