By a PWL Founder
Although we had been running wrestling shows of sorts since the late '70s, it was only after watching an episode of Saturday Night's Main Event in early 1987 that we began to use the name "PWL" and really started booking programs and angles, as opposed to single matches.
The booking team found very quickly that some ideas really seemed to work, and others just did not. And those ideas which didn't work were quickly scrapped in favour of new ideas. This attitude probably explains why the PWL remains in operation all these years later.
Initally, we ran a few "experimental" angles, which involved having the trainees take on personalities of established wrestlers for fun. These weren't considered as part of the PWL storyline, but were, after a fashion, a proving ground for ideas and for our own training. I recall one of the more enjoyable "experimental" angles was one in which NWA mainstay Porkchop Cash would night after night defeat the then-reigning WWF Champion Hulk Hogan. Porkchop would then inaugurate the new era known as Porkchopamania.
This was all well and good, and we enjoyed the booking experience.
Then we had to go and take it too far.
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Yes, it wasn't good enough just to leave well enough alone. No, we figured that if taking on the character identities of 'real' wrestlers while training was entertaining, imagine how much more entertaining bringing those characters into the PWL would be! It'd be great!
Well, I don't recall exactly all who we brought in, but I do remember in particular having involved perennial favourite Sting and the late Eddie Gilbert in the mix. I know we brought Sting in because we liked him. Eddie Gilbert came along, I think, because I had some theme music that I thought would fit him.
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Well, we were sure excited about the idea. For about a week or two.
Then we decided that we just didn't care for it. Neither did the fans. If they wanted to see Crockett talent, they'd go to a Crockett show.
And anyway, by this time, we had already acquired the talent from Gorgeous Greg's Bop 'n' Wrestle concern, so we weren't too worried about the loss of a few performers. Those performers were already well established, as well, so they could afford to be without the work the PWL was throwing their way.
So just about as soon as they showed up, the outside talent disappeared, never to be heard of again. And it's only been rarely that we've ever made any mention of it since.
A few lasting results came from the experience, however:
First, we never tried to do it again. We found that it just didn't work. Odd to see, though, that in the big e-fed explosion of the late '90s, that importing "real" characters had become a mainstay of those organizations. The promoters of those organizations, however, did not have the insight to see what a mistake that was. And where are those feds today?
Secondly, Ollie Dunkerfunk began to use "Alzo Sprach Zarathustra" as his entrance theme. We figured that since there was no possibility ever of there being any conflict between the PWL and NWA ever again, he might as well. And it's such a great theme, we didn't want it to go to waste. (Win a free subscription to The Whirl if you recall how one could tell the difference between the arena area in Louisiana and every other venue.) A pre-Voodoo Curse Frank Jackson also used the same theme, although in a funk version.
İMMII - Adar and Flisto Lembeh
