11/11/11 Platinum Championship Wrestling – Ten Years: A Retrospective

From Stephen Platinum: We join the Academy Theater on the night of 11/11/11, ten years ago, already in progress.   Team EMPIRE is taking on ...

From Stephen Platinum:

We join the Academy Theater on the night of 11/11/11, ten years ago, already in progress.  Team EMPIRE is taking on Team PCW in a 10 versus 10 elimination match to determine which company will live, and which will die.  A number of the wrestlers have been eliminated already.  We are getting down to the nitty gritty.  The crowd is triple the seating capacity.  The wrestlers had to enter the ring through the crowd that left an aisle that was barely big enough to squeeze through.  The party was about to begin.  Or was it a wake?  Below is Larry Goodman’s recap of the events.  My notes are in [brackets]

Miss Rachael and Litigator [that’s me, Stephen Platinum reviving my old wrestling gimmick as the Lethal Litigator one last time] had their long-awaited physical confrontation. This was way better than it had any right to be. Tension [Rachael, who was once known as the ultimate heel Dwight Power’s girlfriend Rachael Tension] locked Litigator in a series of submissions.[These did look great because I ran a small school where I taught women mixed martial arts known as the Pretty Bandage Fight School] Litigator buckle bombed his way out of a triangle choke and lit her up with ridiculously stiff chops. Tension had Litigator pinned but pulled him to dish out more punishment, [always put people over.  Always.] but before she could do so, Union Jack grabbed her leg. Litigator then hit a Black Hole Slam on Tension for the pin. [Union Jack was a masked wrestler that had been with the EMPIRE for months and months, racking up wins.]

Union Jack let Litigator pin him. Jack unmasked. The revelation that it was Simon Sermon under the hood got a great pop. [This was meant to be the satisfying payoff to “what trick would PCW pull out of the bag to win this thing?”  Simon Sermon, beloved babyface and star of the PCW shows at the Jungle where he feuded most notably with the white supremist Dwight Power not only was a deep plant mole in the EMPIRE, but also got the final laugh in the feud against Dwight Power by embarrassing his once girlfriend more than a year later when it counted the most.  BOOKING, MOTHERFUCKERS]

Litigator was DQed for a blatant low blow on Cross. [This made sense.  After all, I had pulled off (technically) two eliminations and now lowblowed one of the two guys left on the EMPIRE team, with the PCW team still having its two absolute aces, Jay Fury and Shane Marx.  Victory was assured, and the party for the crowd could now begin…right?  This was PCW’s 28-3.  Ouch.]

It was down to Cross & Zach Daniels vs. Fury & Marx. Empire beat on Fury and when he got that last gasp chance to tag, Marx had other ideas. Like running his head into the support beam and the ring post. The crowd absolutely did not want to believe this was happening. Marx was their first champion, locked in as the top babyface. His facial expressions in doing the turn were tremendous. The things that separate Marx from achieving a higher level are all cosmetic. Fury was bleeding and nothing but dead meat. Marx rolled him into the ring, and the front slam by Cross was a mere formality.

Marx slugged referee Frank Earl for an intentional DQ, [while seemingly unimportant, this was super important to me.  Shane Marx was technically the last member of the PCW team in an elimination match.  Why not have him just mockingly lay down for a pin?  Because he was now the monster heel and there’s no way I would show him vulnerable now, even in jest.  And we established that DQs could happen by having me get DQed.  So…viola!  Attention to detail, kids.] and it was over. Empire busted out the cheap champagne but the fun was just beginning

Attorney Jeff G. Bailey sauntered down to the ring with a shiny new belt on his shoulder. [What it took to get Jeff G. to start doing PCW shows is a whole story in and of itself.  I’ll tell you this much – it started with me asking everyone at PCW, “Who is the best talker.”  The answer was, of course, “Jeff G. Bailey.”  Followed by “But he would never work here.”  I ignored the second part.  For real heat, for real greatness, to honor the angle and our audience and everything else, you GET THE BEST and USE THEM CORRECTLY and allow everything to flourish.  Everyone should try it sometime.] Some fans recognized him but most had no idea who he was. Bailey said PCW was nothing but frauds, posers and pretenders, but he had been planting his sleeper cells. [You’ll hear after this description of 11/11/11 about all that entailed.] Bailey said Platinum couldn’t run a bath much less a wrestling promotion, and now PCW was dead and EMPIRE stood in its place. Bailey said Marx almost became the NWA World Heavyweight Champion and yet PCW deprived him of a rematch. Bailey presented Marx with the EMPIRE belt. [Many have asked.  Was the plan all along to create a second title, with the idea that they would be merged almost a year later?  Yes.  How hard was it to stick to the two champions (Mason the PCW champion, Marx the EMPIRE champion) for a year?  Not very.  Because THAT WAS THE BOOKING PLAN.  Was a ever approached by the boys (and girls) with their idea that they could beat Marx or Mason but then they would just lose the title right back?  Of course.  What was my response?  No.  In my mind?  “FUCK NO.”]

Pandora hit the ring with a steel chair. What was she thinking? [This was important for many reasons.  Pandora was one of the main symbols of PCW – a woman who went toe to toe with the guys.  We had no women’s division.  The matches between Pandora and Aesha (now WOAD) are the stuff of legend and constituted the only women’s wrestling stuff in Georgia worth a damn.  She was fearless and eternally loyal to PCW.  I also wanted the horrific image of a bunch of men abusing a woman.  HEEL HEAT fuckers.] Only mowed her down with a vicious lariat. There is no ban on man-on-woman violence in PCW. Hell, it’s encouraged.

The crowd reaction, which started as anguished disbelief, had worked through the stunned silence phase, and now these people were getting PISSED. The PCW fans will play along with just about anything, but this was getting legit heat. Bailey had some choice words for them. [In the front row – two-time referee of the year Daryl Hall and multi time Manager of the Year and all-around Georgia Wrestling icon in the making Matt Hankins.  PCW – we turn jaded fans into joyful fans, and joyful fans into foundational wrestling people.]

Platinum came to the ring to plead his case, telling Marx they could find a way to fix it. Marx teased a change of heart, and started to hand the belt over, but he wouldn't quite let go. I don't need to tell you what happened next. Platinum was a bloody mess. [For the record, I got better color than anyone else that night.  There are a number of great stories attached to this for another time.] The scene was utter carnage. Platinum was busted open. Fury was still laid out. Empire added insult to injury by pouring champagne on Pandora’s privates. [HEEL HEAT guys.  Not just a stunt that amounted to little a couple of shows later.] The disgusted fans let Empire have it bigtime on their way out.

Bailey called it the dawning of new era. The PCW theme music played for the final time.

https://youtu.be/W48XgTPcHho

From there, PCW was no more.  I wouldn’t appear in a show for seven months.  In that time, I lost 30 pounds and grew a beard so I could look completely different upon my return.  I took inspiration from “Castaway.”  Yes, we worried and obsessed about details like this.  In that time, by the way, “The Booker” came out, a documentary about PCW and me.  And it showed all over the place.  And it is awesome.

But when did it start?  What led to 11/11/11 which wouldn’t find the ultimate payoff until Sacred Ground: Chapter Three which took place on September 29th, 2012? 

The idea and the move towards all of this started in October 2010.  I knew we had a problem.  Dwight Power had run his course.  Dwight Power, white supremist wrestler had served as the main heat magnet for PCW in the early days.  His creation started with a simple question – in this day and age of wrestling, who was a heel that everyone could agree to hate?  And hate they did.  But after the first Sacred Ground, Dwight Power was effectively done.  Simon Sermon had beaten him thoroughly on the Jungle Shows, and Cassandro had defeated Dwight completely at Sacred Ground: Chapter One.  We had other heels to be sure, the Konkrete Gorillaz among them, but even they were adored by a section of the PCW faithful.  They were too cool.  Too interesting.

So I asked the question again, “what is the only kind of heel that could really resonate with our now established fanbase?”

And I finally realized – the ultimate, unforgivable sin in PCW was disloyalty to PCW itself. 

I also realized that the only way to really hurt our fans was to take away PCW.

April 2011.  Shane Marx had been the first and only PCW champion for 14 months (shoutout to all those who hotshot their titles, or consider 6 months and a handful of title defenses a “championship reign”.) In that time, the PCW faithful grew to love and respect him.  They didn’t at first, not really.  But after defending the title dozens and dozens of times (against notables like NWA World Champ Adam Pearce, ROH Champ Davey Richards, Xavier Woods and a ton of others) and NEVER having help doing it (that was important – I wanted everyone to know that Marx handled his own business for good or ill.  Including the unlikely team up between the Konkrete Gorillas and Dwight Power’s “Violent Majority” faction who only stomached one another in an attempt to beat Marx.

A brief overview of a part of Marx’s initial run:

https://youtu.be/COejHQHcoyM

Marx went into a title defense at the Masquerade (which had grown from a crowd of 25 to one in the hundreds at this point to a peak of how-many-could-fit in the top space Wrestlemania week, anywhere between 600-1000) against three others.  The promo clip is here:

https://youtu.be/XJZmSuGA4RQ

Marx would get eliminated first, shocking the crowd and setting the stage of who would win the title – the surging Vandal?  The favorite Chip Day?  Surely the monster Grotesque wouldn’t win…but he did.  Managed by the evil Miss Quinn, Grotesque would win the title and have the exact opposite reign of Marx.  Filled with Grotesque never pinning anyone, just getting DQed for removing teeth from opponents, attacking fans, chasing people with chainsaws, or bringing about referee stoppages from making wrestlers bleed out (yes, really on all of this).  A few months in, Miss Quinn was going to leave, but did a great thing on the way out – she basically anointed the once Rachael Tension and now Miss Rachael as the manager of Grotesque. 

Around this time, wrestlers who had never worked in PCW started showing up and just attacking people.  They would occasionally do things like beat up me and Shane Mackey my co-commentator.  They would chain the doors so fans couldn’t leave and then assault wrestlers.  Finally, three managers all managing various heel entities teamed up.  Marty Freeman, Jonathan Malik and Miss Rachael.  The attackers all had EMPIRE shirts.  And their assault continued.  Sometimes PCW guys got it together and fought them off, sometimes not.  At Sacred Ground: Chapter Two, EMPIRE guys won every match they were involved with…except in the main, Mason, freshly minted babyface managed to beat Grotesque in a cage and claim the PCW title. 

On that same card, Shane Marx was in a Platinum Trinity match with Jay Lethal and Kyle Matthews (my, my, look who can book unreal wrestling matches as well?  Anybody else book a technical match this good this year?  As the kids say, “I’ll wait.”) where Kyle Matthews came out on top, earning a match with Davey Richards (who at the time was the “best wrestler in the world” by most accounts).  Shane Marx has defended the PCW title against NWA World Champion title vs. title at Sacred Ground: Chapter One (which was supposed to be a three way with ROH Champion Roderick Strong, but that’s a story for another time) and now at Chapter Two he fell short because of the rules of the Platinum Trinity and watched Mason, his long-term rival get the glory and the love and the PCW title.  [BOOKING.]

The EMPIRE continued to act like assholes, of course.  This came to a head when a match was finally made for the visually coolest date of 11/11/11 – a winner take all match between team EMPIRE and team PCW.  The week before, Kyle Matthews would indeed have his match with Davey Richards which is linked here:

https://youtu.be/7EhTF9HvfHg

By the way, yes, that is 88,000 views.

At the end of that match, the EMPIRE guys attacked both Kyle and Davey and beat them down…until the PCW guys showed up to start brawling.  At the end of it, I cut the now infamous “If you don’t come to see the show next week, I’ll go to your house and rape your housepets” promo.  That’s another story for another…nah screw it, here’s the story.  I had always considered myself a good promo.  Davey recalled in the back that I always did great on the mic and remembered a challenge I would do in training where I would let people give me seemingly disparate words and I would find a way to still cut a great promo.  So on this night, Davey told Tony Kozina to give me a word.  I said whatever word he and Davey each gave me I would get the crowd to chant.  (Cocky motherfucker, me).  Davey said, “housepets.”  Okay, weird but not impossible.  Tony Kozina, the great trainer now at NJPW New Zealand, said “rape.”  Um, gulp.  But I did it.

11/11/11 appeared to anyone that mattered in the crowd and to anyone who followed PCW (including Larry Goodman, writers for Creative Loafing, AJC, and various popular weirdos around the state like Phantom Troublemaker and much of the theater community) that this would be a party – PCW finally vanquishes the EMPIRE after seven months of their shit.  (Keep in mind that PCW did MINIMUM two shows A WEEK at this point.  We had also recently added the twice a month Porterdale shows, the monthly Masquerade shows, etc.)

But, as you can see above, that didn’t happen.  The EMPIRE won.  And for near seven months, they ran roughshod before I returned, and for months after THAT.  The shows were changed to EMPIRE.  They booked the shows differently (going to more of a dream match format where I indulged bringing in most everyone.)  Notables from other promotions came in on the babyface end to try and beat Marx for the EMPIRE title (Terry Lawler, Big Wood, etc.) and heels were brought in addition to the huge EMPIRE roster to try and beat Mason for the PCW title. Matches that happened for both title holders included one-hour time limit draws, the coolest variations on Dusty finishes ever, defenses on other promotions.  But nobody could quite pull off beating either for their title.  Then seven months later I returned.  A match was made where it would be Mason vs. Marx, title vs. title, the greatest rivalry in PCW history from its inception in March 2010, paying off in the biggest match two and a half years (and hundreds of shows, not dozens) later.  Marx with the now four evil managers of the EMPIRE in his corner, Mason with the hopes of everyone in his. 

Again, Larry’s words with my [bracketed] comments. 

Mason defeated Shane Marx (with Jeff G. Bailey & Miss Rachael & Jonathan Malik) in 12:10 to unify the PCW and EMPIRE Championships. The crowd was 1000 percent behind Mason. [But…there are no babyfaces and heels, Stephen] Cautious start to this one. Business picked up huge when Mason did a dive to the outside and split his head wide open on the corner of the bench. His face was covered in blood. [A interesting note of redemption – Mason wanted to get color against Grotesque and Sacred Ground: Chapter Two but couldn’t get it.  This made up for it and then some.] This is deep and is going to need stitches. The drama level amped up exponentially, as there was genuine concern for Mason's well being. Mason appeared to be out of it, but dug down deep for a comeback out of the blue. [Marx, ever the pro, said they should take it home.  Mason said, “no way we’re not doing everything.  I can do it.” And Marx helped him get there.  Anyone do anything that great lately?] He hit the Scales of Justice [TKO] with ref Frank Earl getting knocked down in the process. [Marty] Freeman got nailed trying to interfere. [By kicking his cane out from his hand, which popped me huge along with the crowd] Malik got on the apron. Mason cut him off, [with an Occam’s Razor, to make sure the crowd knew that was his finisher – BOOKING] but Rachael jumped on his back. Mason gave Rachael the Scales of Justice for a pop that was off the hook. Bailey applied the ether rag to Mason, and put Marx on top of him. The still addled Frank Earl made the slowest count in PCW history, and Mason rolled a shoulder at 2 and ¾ for another insane pop. [We decided milking that tension would work.  We were all right.  We earned every bit of that spot.] Marx silenced the crowd with a superkick. Marx went up top rope, but Mason caught him with Occam’s Razor. Marx fought it off. Mason got it again, slamming Marx to the mat with the submission still locked in. The crowd was going absolutely berserk and Marx was mere inches from the ropes when he tapped. A superhuman effort from the Demigod. [It truly was.  Here’s a clip of the video that played at the beginning of Sacred Ground: Chapter Three by the way.  This kind of dope stuff was PCW regular goodness:]

https://youtu.be/LEPcQm_PAtE

The ring filled up with PCW wrestlers. Marx put on his pouty face and relinquished his EMPIRE belt to Mason, then shook the champion's hand before slithering out of the ring.

Bailey got in Mason’s face. Platinum stepped in between them…and laid Bailey out with a belt shot. Platinum ripped his green jacket off revealing the PCW shirt underneath, and the crowd went nuts again. Yet another “Mason” chant erupted.

Mason, a blood soaked bandage wrapped around his head was confronted in the aisle by Rachael and her new pet, Fifth Column. [Um, what?  Yes, we ended it officially with Mason being confronted with his next challenger.  And that challenger would end up beating Mason the NEXT SHOW.  And that masked man was…Shane Marx.  WHAT?!?!?!  People forget about this.  But how could Mason POSSIBLY have topped this?  He couldn’t.  And we had a promotion (the now returning PCW) to kickstart.  This thing of everything dead stopping and starting over is DEATH to booking.  I knew we needed to find a new babyface for people to get behind.  So that meant the heel Marx as the combined unified PCW/EMPIRE champion.  Which led to finding a very unexpectedly over babyface.  But that’s another story…

Sacred Ground 3 was an unbelievably great show -- a balls to the wall thrill ride for the entire four hours with heart out the wazoo. A lot of top flight shows fail to provide a main event that tops the undercard. Platinum gets closure. The main event at Sacred Ground Three was a spell binding, mind boggling peak to the existence of PCW. Props to the entire crew. They gave it everything they had. Any number of wrestlers came through with performances that exceeded all expectations. The annual GWH awards doesn't have a Show of the Year category, so Sacred Ground 3 will have to be the unofficial show of the year for 2012. [A show so good that it CREATED the category.  Yeah.]

PCW will carry on in Porterdale. Whatever it becomes, there's no way it can be what it was under Platinum. New booker Shane Mackey and company face an unenviable task. [Which they managed to maintain.  And from Mackey to a collective, to Matt Hankins.  Safe to say, PCW is alive and well.]

Unlike most independent wrestling promotions that wither and die, [insert every other one ever, and a few that currently look precarious] Platinum's PCW run had a true ending, a storybook ending the likes of which don't come around very often in life, much less in the pro wrestling business.

Platinum can leave Georgia secure in the knowledge that he advanced the wrestling careers of many of the people that trained with and wrestled for PCW. More importantly, the PCW experience helped them grow as human beings.

Platinum and PCW dared to be different, and Georgia wrestling is all the better for it.

You are welcome.  And thank you to everyone who made it happen.

11/11/11

But really it spans from October 2010 in concept but the EMPIRE debuted in May 2011 and Sacred Ground: Chapter Three on September 29th, 2012.  In that time?  140 shows.  That’s the greatness.  That’s the heat. 

Booking.  Greatness.  Magic.  And vision.