More NWA wackiness. NWA World Champ loses shoot, gets pinned in front of fans.

[Warner2BruceTD]

The NWA is having a rough week to say the least, first one of the most high profile and arguably the number one promotion after Championship Wrestling from Hollywood was drummed out, Ring Warriors announced they would no longer be part of the governing body even going so far as to call the NWA “irrelevant.”

Then on Saturday night at a Florida Underground Wrestling event, which was billed as a charity show sponsoring “Bodyslamming for Toys” an incident occurred between current NWA World Heavyweight Champion Kahagas and Ring Warriors Champion Bruce Santee. According to those close to the situation Santee did not want to do the job for Kahagas partially due to bad blood between Ring Warriors and the NWA and by laying down for Kahagas it could have hurt Santee professionally.

Santee turned the heat up on Kahagas and the match turned into a shoot at which one point Santee had Kahagas pinned for at least a 10 count by those in attendance but certainly more than a three count from video I have seen but referee Randy Eller, a friend of Kahagas, refused to make the count. The match was ruled a no-contest but the two wrestlers would continue their fight outside the ring and into the back leading a number of officials and other wrestlers to keep the two apart.

Statement from the NWA:

Last night in St. Petersburg FL at NwA Fuw Pro NWA World Heavyweight Champion Tokyo Monster Kahagas battled Bruce Santee to a double count out. As a result, Kahagas retains his title. Contrary to erroneous reports, the only 10 count occurred when the referee counted both wrestlers out of the ring and called the match.

Congratulations to NWA FUW and promoter Dontay Brown on another successful event.

lol

[Warner2BruceTD]

Statement from Vito Denucci of Ring Warriors

For wrestling fans/friends. This is a tad lengthy, but it's my take on the whole NWA/ Ring Warriors split, the Bruce Santee/ TokyoMonster Kahagas/ Dontay Brown/ FUW shoot last night... If so inclined, enjoy, (or don't).

Ok… My take on what went down last night in St. Pete, FL at the NWA-FUW show during the match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship between current champion “The Tokyo Monster” Kahunas and current Ring Warriors Grand Champion “The Marquee” Bruce Santee… Business was handled. A “wrong” was “righted”. A “snub” was addressed. Most importantly, a message was sent.

First, let me be clear on one thing; this wasn’t personal, (at least not towards either Kahagas or NWA-FUW owner/promoter Dontay Brown), it was business. Neither I nor my business partners, Howard Brody and Paul Jones, have any personal issues with either Kahagas or Brown.

For me personally, I consider Kahagas to be a friend. We came into the business at, roughly, the same time, have known each other for years… Hell, let’s be real about this; my booking of Kahagas against then NWA National Champion, “The Dark Child” Chance Prophet had a great deal to do with “putting him on the map”, so to speak, of the NWA as a whole. If you remove the circumstances in which the NWA World Heavyweight Championship tournament took place, no one was happier to see Kahagas emerge from the tourney as the champ, (he’s a friend and a Florida-based guy), then me.

As far as Dontay Brown goes, I don’t really know the guy. We’ve met a couple of times, he didn’t seem all that concerned with getting to know me and, consequently, the feeling was mutual. Brown does a decent job running his promotion, has his niche, and I have no problem with the guy.

It should be noted, even last night after the event, in talking directly with Bruce Santee, he still considers both Kahagas and Brown to be friends and is emphatic in stating that the incident wasn’t personal towards Kahagas/Brown/FUW, but was simply what he had to do for himself, Ring Warriors, and the business as a whole.

The only thing that Kahagas, Dontay Brown and FUW are guilty is being in the wrong place at the wrong time against the wrong guy.

Most of you are aware that Ring Warriors split from the NWA a couple of weeks ago. This was a decision that was truly “painful” for us to make, especially Howard and myself, given our backgrounds with the NWA, (Howard, as the former NWA Presdent, Me, as a former three-time NWA World Heavyweight Tag-Team Champion). As much as it hurt us to make this decision, we knew that it had to be done.
The NWA had been floundering for several years under the inept leadership of Bob Trobich. Earlier this year, NWA member Bruce Tharp put forth litigation that, ultimately, led to the removal of Trobich from office. Many within the organization were hopeful that this change at the top would lead to better days for the NWA; it would be obvious, very shortly thereafter, that this was not to be the case.
Without getting into a ton of details, the “new” NWA had modified its business/affiliate structure, members became “licensees”, new parameters were put in place, in regards financial structure, marketing, requirements, etc… Many existing members left, (some by choice, some by not being invited to remain). We at Ring Warriors weren’t really big fans of what we were presented, but, after numerous conversations, concessions, and numerous promises, (on both sides), agreed to remain as a part of the NWA. File this under “wrong decision”.

When Adam Pearce and Colt Cabana finished their “7 Levels of Hate” feud, the current politics of the NWA convinced Mr. Pearce, (whom I have the utmost respect for, both as a person and as a worker), made the decision that he no longer could effectively function as the NWA World Heavyweight Champion and Mr. Cabana decided that, due to the same politics, (as well as a very packed schedule of upcoming commitments), he was not interested in being the NWA Champ either. The belt was, essentially, abandoned in Australia. The NWA put together a tournament to crown a new Champion, which was to include the “top contenders” in the NWA. While several deserving wrestlers were a part of the tourney field, several were not, most notably Ring Warriors Grand Champion Bruce Santee, who had been reigning Champion since March of 2012 and had defeated Giant Titan, Chance Prophet, (who was included in the tournament, for what it’s worth), and Big Van Vader, amongst others. Complete disrespect towards Santee.

It should be noted that Kahagas was not included in the tournament draw as well, (ridiculous; he’s been the NWA National Champion for several months, had traveled and defended the title extensively). As we all know, he was added to the lineup the night of the show and came out with the title.

Another situation had a new NWA promotion, FUW, led by Dontay Brown, request to run a show in West Palm Beach, FL. The request was granted by the NWA board, in spite of the fact that West Palm Beach was absolutely a part of the Ring Warriors territory. We brought this to the attention of the NWA, who, after “looking into it” acknowledged that they had screwed up, but refused to tell Brown that he would not be able to run in our territory. Brown ultimately cancelled his show, not due to the conflict, but due to other circumstances, (not sure what they were, don’t really care). Great example of the NWA “taking care” of one of its highest profile promotions, huh?
Another big factor in our decision to leave was broken promises and/or “waffling” on behalf of the NWA in regards to promises that were made in reference to titles, title runs, etc… What we were told when we agreed to remain a part of the NWA and what we were told as time moved forward were two completely different things. A man’s word is his bond; break it, (and break it consistently); we can no longer do business together. Period.

At the end of the day, we, as the owners of Ring Warriors, felt misled, disrespected, and disgusted with the piss-poor leadership and direction of the new “brain-trust” of the NWA. When the new group took over the NWA several months ago, we felt that we truly did not need the NWA, but, the combination of loyalty to the brand, concessions on terms, and promises for the future, swayed us to stick around. Our loyalty was misplaced. We are loyal to the NWA of a bygone era. The NWA of today is a rudderless ship, lacking in leadership and direction, run by far too many people with misguided fantasies of “making it” in the wrestling business, wielding imaginary “power” as if they had relevance. They do not. Their only relevance will be that it could very well be under their watch that the once-mighty NWA finally does its best “Titanic” impression and sinks into the abyss of permanent obscurity for which it seems destined.

Bruce Santee is a ridiculously talented performer. He has size, an excellent build, good looks, charisma, mic skills, athleticism, is intelligent, etc… This guy is the complete package, in regards to what is looked for in a wrestler. To say that we at Ring Warriors are both happy and proud to have him as our champion is an understatement. We are also both proud and appreciative of his loyalty and understanding of how business is done. Bruce is a true professional, not one who “go’s into business for himself”, but, in the situation that he was faced with last night, he had to. Given the current circumstances of the Ring Warriors spilt from the NWA, anyone that thought that Bruce could/would go into FUW and put over the current NWA World Champion is a fool.

My only criticism of Dontay Brown, in all of this, is that he would have even asked Bruce to do so, given the circumstances.

Bruce was not instructed to do what he did last night; I was fully aware that it was a possibility, but my only requests of Bruce were to not take a clean pin and to “do what he had to do”. What he did was his own choice, but it was the right choice. This was about more than one simple match,(Hey, Bruce just put over Sedrick Strong in a match at the recent IPW reunion show in St Pete and I had NO problem with him doing so. It was Sedrick’s final match and he is a dear friend of Bruce’s; Santee wanted to send him out a winner and I thought it was fantastic!).

Bruce did what was right for business; his, ours, and the business as a whole. I appreciate what he did last night. I applaud what he did last night. I’ll always have Bruce’s back and I know he’ll always have mine. Bruce is a throwback, a young guy that understands the business. I could not be more proud to have him as our Champion; I could not be more positive that both "The Marquee” and Ring Warriors are on a path towards greatness.

lol

What a buffoon. If Ring Warriors had beef with FUW, and didn't want Santee doing a job to Kahagas, Santee should have never worked the show in the first place. This isn't 1920 where you send in the company shooter to "handle business", at least in the case of something like this.

I would love to get some of these people on the podcast, but the NWA side always completely ignores me. Maybe we can get this Denucci clown or Santee.

[dave]

The NWA champion died years ago. When that title is decided in a high school gym in front of 100 people, it is no longer anything but a backyard title.

[BigBiss]

Not a NWA apologist at all but some things from my perspective as the "forgoten son" of this new NWA management group

Nothing in there looks shoot, If he was shooting he has little knowledge of amateur wrestling ...

This is right up the party's involved alley as far as trying to get people talking ...

If it is legit keep in mind its hard to be a world champion from Florida ... if this Bruce dude dont want to travel how is he going to be on a card in New Jersey.

im going to stop there before i start getting personal

[BigBiss]

Also if it is legit and they just let some assclown film shit in there locker room they are not worth there salt anyway. this goes down in my lockerroom i would of droped the cam guy

also Tarver is such a class act

[Warner2BruceTD]

Not a NWA apologist at all but some things from my perspective as the "forgoten son" of this new NWA management group

Nothing in there looks shoot, If he was shooting he has little knowledge of amateur wrestling ...

This is right up the party's involved alley as far as trying to get people talking ...

If it is legit keep in mind its hard to be a world champion from Florida ... if this Bruce dude dont want to travel how is he going to be on a card in New Jersey.

im going to stop there before i start getting personal

by all means, please, get personal

[Warner2BruceTD]

As is always the case, a lot of people think this is a work.

I still don't understand the beef from the Santee/Denucci side. FUW tried to run "their territory" once. Ultimately they ended up not even running the show. So what are they 'mad' about? Plus, they claim they "like" Kahagas. None of it makes sense.

[BigBiss]

So my take on what likely happened is this ...

Santee likely wanted to be part of the title picture but was likely unwilling to travel for what the NWA was offering

once the new NWA office decided Santee was unwilling to travel any major title push was off the table as part of the new affiliate agreement includes booking major champions X amount of times a year (a step in the right direction if you ask me)

once Santee was excluded instead of looking inward and saying well who the hell am i to be demanding big money to travel (Id never heard of him before this and its my job to have heard of him) he blamed the new office for being inept (they make that part easy some times) after all he pinned Vader and abunch of other fucks no one cares about ...

Denucci likely stuck with the NWA in hopes of getting his buddy a title run now that that was off the table all the other clauses didn't seem worth it so he backed out

Dontay Brown im sure was booking two big ohffs because he thought it would sell tickets, Im guessing the political land scape of Florida indy wrestling was not in his mind ...

Santee/Denucci get together and jack off at the Idea of doing something "oldschool" like they did "In the territory days" because there both Marks for the Business but have no historical knowledge of how it really happened (you cant go by drunken vet tall tails)

Santee uses so elementary judo to take paul down but can not get a legit pin on him because all he has really been taught is "Pro Wrestling" he rubs his elbow in his face ... and throws some stiff worked shots because A: he has no idea how to throw a real punch or B: every one is in on it

things spill over to the locker room were every thing is caught on film either A: so Denucci can Jack off to it later and the FUW management have no clue that some one filming what could break down into assult in there locker room is a bad idea or B: Every one is in on it

Tarver remains the peace maker though out because despite his lake of talent is just a nice dude

[dave]

Please stop calling this the NWA title. It may be a Johnny Smith Backyard Wrestling title, but it ain't the NWA title.

I am not dissing indie wrestling. It is absoultely necessary, but this crap barely even qualifies as indie wrestling ... much less the NWA moniker. NWA World Title is dead ... or it's the current WWE world champion belt, but it certainly isn't this Mickey Mouse belt.

[BigBiss]

Please stop calling this the NWA title. It may be a Johnny Smith Backyard Wrestling title, but it ain't the NWA title.

I am not dissing indie wrestling. It is absoultely necessary, but this crap barely even qualifies as indie wrestling ... much less the NWA moniker. NWA World Title is dead ... or it's the current WWE world champion belt, but it certainly isn't this Mickey Mouse belt.

I have no interest in protecting the belt the linage of that belt is this belt, how far it has fallen is part of the story, what ever found memories you have of that belt have been pissed on for the most part of the last 20 years by crooks and thiefs

[dave]

I have no interest in protecting the belt the linage of that belt is this belt, how far it has fallen is part of the story, what ever found memories you have of that belt have been pissed on for the most part of the last 20 years by crooks and thiefs

I agree ... so stop calling it the NWA Heavyweight Championship. It is not that.

I have no problem with indie promotions calling their belts heavyweight championship belts, you need to sell your product ... but calling this one the NWA title is embarrassing and stupid.

[BigBiss]

I agree ... so stop calling it the NWA Heavyweight Championship. It is not that.

I have no problem with indie promotions calling their belts heavyweight championship belts, you need to sell your product ... but calling this one the NWA title is embarrassing and stupid.

what im telling you is, it is the same belt. It has fallen this far.

[dave]

what im telling you is, it is the same belt. It has fallen this far.

The WWE should buy that shit out ... and get a cease and desist order. I'm not defending the WWE, but they would give it a bit of honor. Hell, I should be the NWA champ. That's how far that shit has fallen.

[FedEx227]

The point is, as sad as it's become, it's STILL the NWA title. You can just make the connection in your head that this isn't the NWA Title you grew up with. Carries similar lineage though and even though it routinely gets shit on it's STILL the NWA Title.