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THE ROAD TO STARDOM...

Photo by Shannon Rose
August 4
BACK ON TRACK! I was warned, and they where right! Summer has been slow for the Indy's around Central Florida and for the workers as a result. But business seem "about to pick up"; and it surely did last Saturday night, July 29 at the Melbourne Auditorium during the Yuel Lovett Memorial show in benefit of Kimberly Baum. It was a great night all around. From the minute we walked in the building. Events like Saturday, show us the best traits of the human heart. I was invited as a rookie to take advantage of an opportunity to interact with most of the workers and promoters of the Florida Indy circuit. What I found, was a promoter that possibly because of the reason behind the show, took most of the other promoters to school with the immeasurable professionalism he showed to all of us; and a group of workers and staff that decided to show as much respect and exellence as humanly possible. We all know that those not familiar with Indy wrestling shows may consider them to fall short of the huge productions they are used to see put on by the big companies. My 11 year old brother (who as expected for his age, is a huge fan and loves to attend WWF and WCW live shows) was siting on the first row for his second ever Indy show. When the show was over he came to me with the same exitement on his eyes that he shows after going to a live monday night production, and told me this was one of the best events he has ever attended! And I agreed with him (considering I attended a WCW house show in that same building 8 years ago!) Thank you Mr. Weaver for the opportunity and treatment you extended to all of us. Thank you to CCN, Buck, Scoot, and the rest of the vets for showing us all how to give the fans their money's worth!
June 19
It was literally a very HOT night in and out of the ring last Saturday Night in Ocoee, FL. It must have been 95 degrees inside the building and about 110 in the ring. But despite all that, The Figgs Brothers had a good match against the Yorks. I was pleased, and impressed with how the Yorks worked the crowd, their experience definitely showed. I prefer the type of match where the crowd's emotions are provoked heavily during the opening minutes, this makes every arm drag, every eye rake, every hip toss, and every punch even that more exciting. Earlier in the week I had discussed with my brother my intentions of having that type of game plan present at last Saturday's match, but never having met the Yorks, nor seen them work before, we were not sure if it was going to go that way. To my surprise and complete satisfaction they did just that, and the had crowd right where they wanted them. I would love to work the Yorks once again down the road and build on what I think was a pretty good Tag Team match. This coming Saturday night The Figgs Brothers will be in Groveland, FL. Hope see our Figg-A-Maniacs there!
June 7
A long awaited match happened on June 2 when I worked O'Callahan at the Thunderdome. I felt fine with how the match was carried out. Yet a few things were a bit off, when I got home and saw it on video it confirmed my theory. So Callahan owes me another match to top our first one. I'm honored to be a part of the Yuel Lovett Memorial show in July, no matter what my role might be, I'm really looking forward to it. I think the entire event will be very exciting for both the workers and the fans who attend. On Saturday Night, June 17 The Figgs Brothers will be in action at the next WWA event, in Ocoee, FL.
May 25
What a show it was! The night of May 21,2000 will go down on my wrestling journal as one of the first memorable nights of my young wrestling career. It was surely a night of mixed emotions. The tag match between the Figgs Brothers and The Doomrunners was a strong 8, although the second half of the match would have been even better had we been given the chance to finish it with a definite 1-2-3 traditional ending. Instead it was booked as a falls count anywhere, so we had to take advantage of the time in the ring to give "Wrestling" fans what they paid for, and I believe we did. Back stage, a few of us had a great time listening to the Veterans tell us what its all about. Successful veterans that is, not the WWF/WCW jobbers from years ago that walk around talking like they've been to the Moon and back. Ax of Demolition was specifically helpful giving us some great pointers, while 2 Cold Scorpio and his wife kicked back and chilled for a while after his match with me and Mrs. Figgs (Lord knows it seemed like we had all the time in the world back there!). Overall it was a great night for the Figgs Brothers, the workers, and fans of the TWF.
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MAY 15
WOW! In case you didn't, you need to read my commentary for last week. I spent most of my time speaking about close calls and actual injuries that went on that weekend. Little did I know that I would have such a close call myself. During my match this past weekend against Python we experienced a much hotter thunderdome, and sweat was everywhere. Python went for a Powerbomb that went wrong when his hands slipped and I found my self inches from spiking my head straight down on the mat with my legs pointing straight up in the air. I should tell you about the match itself, but honestly I can't seem to care much about anything else that happened that night. But moving on, we're less than a week away from the long awaited TWF's MAXIMUM MADNESS weekend. This Sunday, May 21, the young workers of the TWF are expecting to work in one of the most exciting shows in our careers. The TWF has surely been the topic of many conversations in the Florida Indy Wrestling scene, most of it has been critisism, but no one can deny that this up coming show has caught the attention of many, I expect to see all of our critics to come down and see what type of show this group of "too young, too small, too poor to buy wrestling tights" workes can put on. See you this Sunday in Jacksonville.
MAY 11
I had quite an experience this past weekend during my return to the Thunderdome! First of all we arrived at the show later than ever, I'll have to tell you about the late arrivals later. To my surprise the ThunderDome was totally lit up! The second match was in progress, and my brother and I were told we would wrestle in the third one! It would begin as a tag match and turn into a 6 man tag. Call Adrian Street and ask him how those matches usually end up! It was mayhem from bell to bell. But the worse was yet to come, once the "faces" got past the curtains we were told that DWT Bubba Lee was hurt, he was able to shake it off later on in the looker room and turned out to be ok, the bad part was that it happened during a Pile Driver I performed on him. We were able to figure out what went wrong, I excepted my share of the blame, and as far as I know, there were no hard feelings. I imagined how I would have felt if he would've been seriously injured. Later in the weekend I found out about the accident that happened at the SWA show in Starke, FL. involving Barry Thompson, "ANARCHY". I really hope and pray that he will soon be able to heal and leave this ordeal behind, I also wish injuries like these would never happen to anyone else trying to make it in this business, but the truth is that sooner or later it will, and it could happen to any of us any time. This should serve as a reminder that no matter how impresive we might want to look out there, our opponents are not rubber dummies, but living human beings with families and loved ones. I don't want to sound like Jerry Springer, but until next time, "take care of yourself, and each other!"
MAY 3
After the Tag Team Title tournament loss to the Doomrunners on the 21 of April, I found my self resting during the weekend of the 28th. I feel that at this level one could never get enough matches to continue to grow on, but it doesn't always work the way want it in a business that can have so many "Chiefs". I did attend the SWA show in Lakeland, FL. where some of Central Florida's best workers were in action: *Chris Nelson is funny as hell! *The Big Studdhammer keeps looking awesome! *The Crowd was very rowdy. *Some workers need A LOT OF TRAINING! *The Light Heavy's did a great job.
APRIL 25, 2000
Back at the ThunderDome! This past weekend the TWF crowned brand new Tag Team Champions: The Doom Runners, The Big Studdhammer and Python. This was of course at the expense of a victory over the Figgs Bros. It was an exciting match, but I would have to say that I prefered the one from two weeks ago. I felt a bit off in some of my execution, but also felt I improved in some other moves. On Saturday night, The Figgs Bros. had the long awaited opportunity to attend an IPW show in Crystal River, FL. Completely professional from start to finish. Mr. Ron Neimi was very welcoming to the group of visitors and some of the matches served me as a Wrestling Clinc! Particularly the openning match between, Barry Horowitz and Hack Mayers. I look forward to improving my trade and gracing the IPW mat with equal performance. Remember, in the words of former WWF World Champion, and Hometown Hero Pedro Morales, "TALENT WILL ALWAYS RISE!"
APRIL 17, 2000
The wheels keep on turning and Michael Figgs keeps on growing! On April 15 I set out to establish contact with the promoters of New Breed Pro Wrestling during their show in Riverview, FL. What I found was a very comfortable atmosphere, two Professional Promoters, some good matches, and a good crowd. I was asked to work the first match with my brother as my manager vs Pat McGroin. We had a solid match to open the card. The reaction of the crowd was a lot more possitive than the one I mentioned last week at the WWA show. It was one of those matches where just about everything clicks and for two rookies that met just minutes before the match, it was as good as you're going to get. I would like to thank the NBPW promoters for the opportunity and hope to hear from them in the near future. I'll leave you with that for now, and remember: In the words of former WWF World Champion, and Hometown Hero Pedro Morales, "TALENT WILL ALWAYS RISE!"
APRIL 10, 2000
An other two action packed weeks have gone by. First of all if you got to read my brother's commentary about our unpleasant trip to Jacksonville jammed on a two person cabin with a third wrestler on a Mini-Pickup cabin, I want to point out that I was the one in the middle taking the punishment of his weight leaning on me for 21/2 hours! And still got my usual fee of NOTHING for it all, so please give me equal credit for paying my dues as well. That night I defeated Marty Gras, and then went on to get my butt whooped by the Doom Runners on a tag match last week at the ThunderDome! But in the end I really think that all four of the participants in that match are improving greatly (including my self of course!) You can see video clips of both of those matches in the ACTION section of www.Thunderwrestling.com The next night I made my WWA debut in Kissimee, FL against a limited talent worker, my brother! It sure was a the thoughest crowd we've had to work, and we were the opening match to make it worse! I feel we did our job as Lance Storm would say, by getting the crowd going, but not doing a match that the guys coming after us could not top. I liked the friendly, relaxed atmosphere in the WWA lockeroom and hope to contribute with some great matches in their coming shows. So I'll leave you with that for now, and remember: In the words of former WWF World Champion, and Hometown Hero Pedro Morales, "TALENT WILL ALWAYS RISE!"

Email: missiongrip@aol.com