THE COUNTDOWN - Top 10 FMW Moments in 2009

This will mark the first entry of what I hope will be a recurring feature at FMW, "The Countdown". In this installment, the top 10 moments of 2009 will be counted down from 10 to 1. "The Countdown" will also provide a bit of an "insider perspective" of each moment: meaning you'll get some of the behind the scenes detail of each moment.





THE BUILD-UP:

Chris Austin had just recently been announced the second-ever Hayabusa Cup Champion and with that victory, was given the opportunity to run the Catalyst pay-per-view from both the "in character" and "out of character" perspective. Deciding to give the power back to the fans, Austin made all matches at Catalyst into "fan's choice" affairs, where the viewers would decide the challengers, stipulations, and gimmicks. Having only debuted in FMW roughly eight shows prior, Chris Austin had already made quite a name for himself and was riding the wave of newfound success and popularity.

While Chris Austin was laying the framework for a successful career, Romeo was waging war with the Original Sin and coming up short on every occassion. Romeo was unsuccessful in two separate attemps (and two different partners in Vengeance and Travis McCart) at Cactus Sam and Matt Dunn, the esteemed World Tag Team Champions. Romeo had also been screwed out of the Television Championship infamously by St. Michael Dreamkiller in what became known as the "Cleveland Screwjob". In a match with then Television Champion, X, Romeo had the monster beaten only for St. Michael Dreamkiller to inform the referee that if he counted X's shoulders down he would be fired on the spot. The hesitant official reluctantly refused to register the three, which gave X enough time to recover and defeat Romeo. The torment of Romeo by X and St. Michael Dreamkiller did not end there. At Circus Maximus 2, X interfered in the Mt. Vesuvius match despite being directly warned by RAMPAGE! to stay away. X had a hand in this match in eliminating both Romeo and Chris Austin.

In the weeks leading up to Catalyst, a reversal of fortune occurred. X began to target Chris Austin instead of Romeo, and Romeo went on to defeat Skyler Striker for the Abandoned Championship.

At Catalyst, Romeo was scheduled to defend the Abandoned Championship against Andrew Shiner. Chris Austin had an opportunity to wrestle away the Ultraviolent Championship from Harlequin in a 15 Minute Massacre. However, very early in the night, Chris Austin was once again assaulted by X. X lured Austin into a parking lot where he was nearly run down by an unknown assailant. Austin was taken to a local medical facility, but made a shocking return later in the evening to contend with Harlequin for the Ultraviolent Championship. It was all for naught however, as Romeo attacked Austin and revealed himself to be the driver of the car that nearly took Austin's career. For the second time that night, Romeo had screwed Austin out of opportunity - first his opportunity to run the show, and second his opportunity against Harlequin.

THE IMPACT:

The heinous assault at Catalyst setup a match between Chris Austin and Romeo at the biggest pay-per-view of the year, Ultimatum 2. Although Chris Austin won the affair, Romeo would also go onto bigger and better things as evidenced by his upcoming FMW Championship match at Death Row 3.

The assault also turned Romeo into a villain. From that point on, Romeo would act in an inexplicably hypocritical and deceitful manner. Romeo had blamed Chris Austin for his own shortcomings, and was noticeably jealous of Austin's success. Romeo also blamed RAMPAGE! for not running a tighter ship and allowing monsters like X to interfere in his affairs. At No Holds Barred however, Romeo revealed that he and St. Michael Dreamkiller had been in cahoots for some time, and that the two together had orchestrated the attack on Chris Austin (thus also explaining why X had been attacking Chris Austin and not Romeo in the shows leading up to Catalyst).

BEHIND THE SCENES:

When discussing the booking of Catalyst with Chris Austin, I had tossed around the idea of turning Romeo into a heel. Prior to winning the Abandoned Championship, Romeo had accomplished very little in his tenure in Full Metal Wrestling despite showing time and time again that he could knock out promo scores with the best of them (Romeo finished in the top 5 at Mt. Vesuvius 2). However, Romeo for whatever reason was consistently losing to the top tier bad guys such as X, C.G. Smitten, Cactus Sam, and Matt Dunn. I felt like something needed to be done to get Romeo noticed, and so I half-jokingly told Chris Austin that we should turn him heel.

The more I joked about the idea however, the better it sounded, and Austin and I laid out the framework for the vehicular assault at Catalyst. But after speaking with Romeo about the potential heel turn, he was hesitant to make the change and thus the plans were scrapped - or so I thought.

I had sent the memo to Austin to change the driver of the car from Romeo to Matt Dunn, thus starting a feud for Ultimatum 2 between Austin and Dunn. But for some reason, the memo didn't get through to Austin and so Romeo was kept in the storyline.

When Catalyst was posted and Romeo was revealed to be the driver, both Romeo and myself were completely shocked as both of us were expecting Dunn. I think this is the first and only time in FMW history that I was legitimately surprised when reading a show, because usually I have a hand in (or at least aware of) everything that's going into a show.

But rather than try to edit the show, we decided to run with it. Romeo struggled with his heel turn at first, and lost the Abandoned Championship back to Skyler Striker and then lost to Chris Austin at Ultimatum 2. During the 9 cycle, Romeo had seriously contemplated dropping the character and starting new.

However, with his recent angle and his character's motivation to purchase Full Metal Wrestling, Romeo's character is more popular and formidable than ever before. Romeo has a shot to win the FMW Championship at Death Row 3 in a match with TyranT and champion, Hostyle. How did he get that shot, you may ask?

He beat yours truly. Not too shabby.

Ah yes...this thing.

Well, since that day, looks like me and Ro have swtched roles/momentum. Eh, what can you do?

That's only because you were involved with II. The future should look bright for you now =)

I think Romeo should get in there twice on another number. After all he did do what no other has done before by defeating Jaro 1 on 1 :O

I offically mark for this thread. I think its great and can't wait to see more

Eric Scorpio wrote:

That's only because you were involved with II. The future should look bright for you now =)

Words wouldn't do justice the myriad of feelings I'd have if that were the primary case.

Oh don't worry, I'll discuss your problems at length later on in this list. You come up again.

Thanks for the positive feedback, PX. Is this feature something you guys would like to see more of at FMW?

It'd keep me entertained

Man, number 10. This thing is starting out great.

Jaro wrote:

Thanks for the positive feedback, PX. Is this feature something you guys would like to see more of at FMW?

What's the most effective way to say HELL YES?

THE BUILD-UP:

At Ultimatum 2, then C-4 Champion Drew Michaels had been brutally destroyed at the hands of Jaro and Harlequin. Presumed to have passed away due to internal bleeding, it was with a heavy heart that Celeste vacated the C-4 Championship. The prestigious championship was put up for grabs in a four-person tournament in the inaugural episode of Ammunition, and therefore it was guaranteed that the new era of Full Metal Wrestling would crown a new C-4 Champion.

The tournament consisted of two members of the Innovative Initiative, Chris Austin and Chris Kelson, as well as a skyrocketing rookie known as Leon Caprice. The fourth and final member was the wily veteran and former Full Metal Wrestling Heavyweight Champion, Eric Scorpio.

Eric Scorpio had returned to Full Metal Wrestling at No Holds Barred to do battle with the future members of the Innovative Initiative. However, Eric Scorpio in essence did not show for the event and therefore his real return took place at Ultimatum 2 in a match with Christian G. Smitten. Eric Scorpio lost the encounter with Smitten, and so his return had already gotten off to a miserable start. The same could be said for his first-round opponent, Chris Kelson, who had unsuccessfully attempted to grab the Television Championship at Ultimatum 2, and failed to wrestle away the Tag Team Championships from HavOc earlier in the cycle. With both Scorpio and Kelson desperately searching for a win, the two waged war in front of Chris Kelson's hometown crowd. Despite the hero's welcome that Chris Kelson had received, Eric Scorpio was the victor and advanced to the final round.

Chris Austin, who was riding a wave of momentum after defeating Romeo at Ultimatum 2 (as I previously discussed in the #10 entry), defeated Leon Caprice and therefore won himself a date with Eric Scorpio at Ammunition 9.2 for the C-4 Championship.

However, Eric Scorpio was cooking up something especially dastardly to ensure himself victory against Chris Austin. Eric Scorpio courted the talents of the dangerous rookie tag team of Danse Macabre as his own answer to the Innovative Initiative. In the end, it was Eric Scorpio's initiative that prevailed and the Hallowed One would add another championship to his trophy case.

THE IMPACT:

In the weeks leading up to the Scorpio-Austin encounter, Eric Scorpio made it a point to discuss that the C-4 Championship meant very little to him. What the championship symbolized, however, meant the world to Eric. It symbolizes a strangehold over the division, and a return to prominence for the once celebrated superstar. Since winning the gold, everything that Scorpio foretold has come true. He has become the main focus of the Ammunition division, and he has made short order of everyone who steps in his path. Chris Austin has simply not been the same since having his legs cut from under him by Scorpio. Both Austin and Kelson have lost to Eric Scorpio twice this cycle, once in singles matches and once in a 6-man tag team match (which Scorpio was the sole survivor). Along the way, Eric Scorpio even managed another victory against archrival and former champion Drew Michaels. To this date, Drew Michaels has never managed to pin or submit Eric Scorpio, whereas Eric Scorpio has done so to Drew Michaels on three separate occassions.

Perhaps the biggest impact of Scorpio's return to prominence is an impending fourth meeting with Drew Michaels, who is hungry to recapture his C-4 Championship. Although that match would only take place should Eric Scorpio survive his match with Chris Kelson at Death Row. Kelson has the opportunity to take the wind out of the sails of this top 2009 moment.

One final impact is the fallout of this moment has solidified Damien Inferno and Gabriel Crow as contenders. The allegiance they formed with Eric Scorpio in order to balance the threat of the Innovative Initiative has been referenced time and time again. In fact, Scorpio's C-4 Championship win may forever be linked to the two members of Danse Macabre. Likewise, Danse Macabre benefit from their association with the acclaimed champion. It isn't long now before this demonic duo could be wearing gold of their own.

BEHIND THE SCENES:

After losing the FMW World Heavyweight Championship to John "Doc" Derrick, Eric Scorpio hit a bit of a funk over the next cycle. After a brief feud with Crazy Ash Killa and a failed attempt to regain the FMW Championship (Scorpio was one of three choices to compete against John "Doc" Derrick and C.G. Smitten at Catalyst for the title, the other two being Skyler Striker and the eventual winner, Nick Bryson), Eric Scorpio announced that he was calling it quits on FMW for the time being to recharge the batteries. Scorpio and I stayed in touch over this time and discussed possibilities for his return, but Eric maintained that he would rather wait until something major came up.

When TyranT bowed out of Full Metal Wrestling and Christian G. Smitten was left without a dance partner for Ultimatum 2, something major indeed had come up. Having already agreed to join Team Bryson at No Holds Barred, Eric Scorpio's return to FMW already had its foot in the door. But when I informed him a match with Smitten at Ultimatum 2 was on the horizon, that proved to be the icing on the cake for Scorpio. As aforementioned, neither of these matches went Eric's way however, and so Scorpio was right to second guess himself for making too abrupt a return. At that point, Eric and I agreed to feature Eric Scorpio as a "part-time superstar" only.

Then he won the C-4 Championship.

Now some (including myself) would say that Eric Scorpio is better than he ever was. Having found his footing again, Eric Scorpio is knocking out better promos than he ever has before. Motivated and purposeful, Eric Scorpio heads into Death Row 3 with a whirlwind of momentum behind him. Eric Scorpio has said before that he won't be around forever, but until that day, let us all enjoy the fabulous work of this most deserving individual.

Hallowed, he truly is.

Jaro wrote:

Hallowed, he truly is.

Amen.


I am loving this Countdown. It's a nice little year in review thing that has me pumped. I feel like I'm watching SportsCenter or something and they're going over the plays of the year.

The layout is great and it's fantastic to see the true mind of a madman in what goes on behind the scenes.

As corny as it is, but it seems to bring (for me) a sense of unity to the board. It's refreshing to know that is in't one person pulling the strings (we all know you swing a hammer) but a collaborative effort between writers and characters.

The feature allows us to not only gain new prospective on storylines but to see a little bit of the thought process that went into them.

Thanks.

These are fantastic Jaro! I'm really loving them. Especially loving the OOC insight into it, which, apart from our own storylines, we really don't get to see from you all that often, if at all.

Romeo mowing down Austin really was a huge turning point for Romeo. It's really helped him to evolve into one of the most intreaguing and threatening characters going. I'm really looking forward to where he takes it post Death Row, and into the future. In fact, I'm upset I'm going to miss it, to be honest.

Scorpio's return has been a blessing for the Fed. He returned really when we needed someone to break the flow of people leaving, and really spark some excitement in FMW again, and it worked. Capturing the C-4 Title was a fantastic thing to see him do, and it was a spectacular match between two of the heavyweights of the Fed. Both men deserved the title for that match, but Scorpio came out with it, and he's really pushing the level of competition up another notch... AGAIN!

Jaro wrote:

Oh don't worry, I'll discuss your problems at length later on in this list. You come up again.

And (sees number 9) there I am.

Woo!

I realize I may have said something incorrect in the #9 write-up when I noted that Drew Michaels has never pinned Eric Scorpio. I think Drew Michaels may have been responsible for eliminating Scorpio in the 5 vs. 5 Winner Take All match between the Resistance and the Original Sin at Lethal Injection. Can anyone verify this?

Yay I didn't even think it was possible to make this list. Great job Jaro. The OOC stuff makes that much more interesting.

Remember who you "originally" wanted me to face at Ultimatum for my last match? I do.

As for your question, yup, Drew Michaels indeed did pin me at Lethal Injection. During the match, John Derrick would strike me in the head with a steel chair which gave Drew Michaels the opening to pin and eliminate me from the match.

Meanwhile, various other things are happening around the ring. Scorpio looks on, still the legal man, and Smitten watches on from the apron. Drew is watching but probably cannot comprehend anything, beaten to within an inch of his life and probably concussed in some way. Derrick, however, is rummaging under the ring for a weapon.

Stone: You can’t possibly hit her with that!

Morpheus: He’s done it before!

Without warning, Jaro is taken by surprise. Not by Drew, nor Derrick, or his teammates, but totally unsuspecting, Jaro is suddenly kicked with force in the balls by Celeste.

Stone: CELESTE WITH A LOW BLOW TO JARO! THANK GOD BECAUSE GOD KNOWS HE’S HAD THAT COMING!

Morpheus: BITCH!

Jaro collapses to the floor, dropping the banhammer. Drew sees this and turns back to the ring, crawling in and looking to get to Scorpio while Jaro is out of commission. Smitten is trying to figure out what is happening, but no-one sees Derrick creep up on Scorpio and blast him in the back of the head with a steel chair. Scorpio crumples and Drew drags an arm across Scorpio.

Stone: PIN! PIN! DREW COVERS SCORPIO, ONE, TWO, THREE!!!!!!!

Morpheus: NO!!!! Derrick CHEATED, damnit!

Cherry: Eric Scorpio has been ELIMINATED!


/\
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I believe it went down something like that

Cheers gentlemen. I stand corrected.

I do remember, and it wouldn't have quite had the desired oomph we wanted (no disrespect to Rogue and the Jaxson Horn character). At the time of discussing your return though, a lot of our other superstars were tied up in program and we had already made some (albeit poorly executed) headway with the Horn-Scorpio feud. In the end though, I think it all worked out marveously. Hence your placement on this countdown.

Number 8 upcoming on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. It's an interesting comeback story in that it didn't quite occur the way comeback stories generally do, and the ending was anything but pretty.

Holy shit how'd I miss this. The nostalgia rules.

I think i could guess at what #8 will be, but can't be sure but I'm looking forward to it

THE BUILD-UP: At the start of 2009 during the Catalyst PPV, the fans had voted that TyranT and RAMPAGE! face in a "high stakes" match, meaning that both man must sacrifice something in the match. RAMPAGE! put his career and role as General Manager of Alchemy on the line, whereas TyranT was forced to defend the torch he had won at Mt. Vesuvius. The torch guaranteed TyranT a match against the FMW World Heavyweight Champion at Ultimatum 2.

Prior to the match, TyranT feigned an injury in order to fool RAMPAGE! into believing he could not compete in the match. TyranT supposedly had hurt himself in a match with Alex O'Rion at Alchemy 7.4. Therefore, when the match between RAMPAGE! and TyranT was set to begin, TyranT reiterated his injury and begged off from RAMPAGE! Knowing his responsibility as a General Manager, RAMPAGE! refrained from attacking TyranT. This provided the wolf with an opportunity to remove his sheep's clothing and, together with Alex O'Rion, they beat down RAMPAGE! TyranT and Alex's plan seemed to have worked, and RAMPAGE!'s career was seemingly finished, but the unlikely return of Peter Saint evened the odds. Saint sent O'Rion packing, and RAMPAGE! was able to defeat TyranT and take his coveted torch.

RAMPAGE! vacated the torch and set a number of qualifiers at Alchemy 8.1. In an act of fairness, RAMPAGE! included both TyranT and Alex O'Rion as participants, but he also included himself and Peter Saint. However, the act of fairness would haunt RAMPAGE! as in the first round, TyranT defeated RAMPAGE! and Alex O'Rion defeated Peter Saint. In other matches, Chris Austin defeated Romeo Vizzini and C.G. Smitten and Skyler Striker fought to a draw.

And so the Mt. Vesuvius torch would be rewarded to the winner of a 5-man Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match at Alchemy 8.2. To the shock of all those involved, Alex O'Rion outperformed the former champion Smitten, his ally TyranT, Skyler Striker, and Chris Austin and retrieved the torch, thus completing his comeback to Full Metal Wrestling.


THE IMPACT: Of the five participants, Alex O'Rion was least expected to travel to Ultimatum 2. He had floundered tremendously since turning on the Resistance at Lethal Injection 2, having performed laughably at best. His four opponents were all in the midst of monster runs. Christian G. Smitten had recently lost the FMW Championship to Nick Bryson, but showed a newfound mean streak by nearly ending Skyler Striker's career at 8.1. Skyler Striker had entered into a rivalry with John Derrick and was set to recapture the Abandoned Championship. Chris Austin had recently won the Hayabusa Cup. TyranT was hungry to regain his Mt. Vesuvius torch. Just when it seemed that Alex O'Rion had made the wrong decision to turn on his fans and his friends, he wins the biggest match of his career. The result sent shockwaves through the organization.

And then at Ultimatum 2, in his fourth different attempt to capture the World Championship, he finally did in a Hell In A Cell match against Nick Bryson. For a moment, Alex O'Rion was king of the FMW world, having worked nearly 3 long years to reach the pinnacle. But would he savor the moment, or was it a victory that would disappear as quickly as it materialized, as so many victories have in Alex's career?

At the very next show, the inaugural Ignition episode, Alex O'Rion lost the FMW World Heavyweight Championship to Hostyle.

BEHIND THE SCENES: I don't even know where to start really. At this point, Alex O'Rion had already missed a number of shows during the Original Sin storyline that I was skeptical of his championship match at Ultimatum 2 to say the least. While we tried our best to hype the match in kayfabe, it was even HARDER to sell the matchup between Alex O'Rion and Nick Bryson behind the scenes. So many people had given up on the characters at that point. Alex O'Rion to his credit, made strong showings since winning the torch up until Ultimatum 2 itself. Nick Bryson however had no-showed 9.3 and No Holds Barred and so skepticism as to the quality of this main event bout was both common and usually justified.

Alex O'Rion and I have always been close friends, but admittedly, when he won the torch I was nervous. I had flashbacks to his letdowns of the past, and wondered if Ultimatum 2 was doomed from the start. Coupled with the fact that Nick Bryson had dropped off since winning the championship, and the main event had disaster written all over its face. Furthermore, although the Alex O'Rion vs. Nick Bryson feud had some interesting subplots stemming back to Alex's betrayal of SPARTA at Lethal Injection, many people found it difficult to get interested in the matchup even once the Hell In A Cell gimmick was added.

Having said that, Alex O'Rion won the voting at Alchemy 8.2 by a landslide. This was an outcome that caused Christian G. Smitten to completely rethink his character. A side-effect of this outcome was TyranT was now free to recharge his batteries without a committment to Ultimatum 2 (and he has since returned and won the FMW World Heavyweight Championship). Striker and Austin went on to their feuds with Derrick and Romeo respectively, and we were left to give Alex O'Rion won last shot at the big one.

Was anyone surprised when both Alex O'Rion and Nick Bryson posted promos on the very last day of submission, neither of which were main event caliber. It was at that time that I decided to allow Flare to cash in his Gold Card and become champion. However, in a conversation with Alex O'Rion, Alex told me that losing the title so quickly after winning it wouldn't sit well with him, and so Alex, Flare, and I agreed to run Alex O'Rion vs. Flare for the championship at Death Row.

Then despite his protest to not lose the title so quickly, Alex O'Rion no-showed his first title defense anyways and lost the title very quickly to the other half of Dangerous by Design, Hostyle.

I sound really bitter about this, because I am. But I certanly wasn't surprised.

Some things never change. The sky will always be blue, the sun will always rise from the east, and Alex O'Rion will always fuck up every opportunity he's given.





ilu alex.

Ah man don't hold out on us J, I need ma fix!!!

^Seconded.

Where's the countdown????

The controversial countdown moment #8 has been posted, see above.

So, so harsh.

But I think even Alex himself will agree.

Well the part about me fucking up EVERY opportunity I ever have kind of hurt. I mean to be fair I ran a show rather successfully for over a year before I had trouble with it. I mean if I can live down the stigma eventually that would be awesome, if not chances are I end up leaving because no one wants to live like Rampage.

No one.

But I figure it's worth the shot.

When I said Alex O'Rion fucks up every opportunity I meant more from a character standpoint. You ran Alchemy for over a year quite successfully and I've told you many times I appreciate that.

I'm just trying to give you a kick in the ass man. This moment on the countdown wouldn't have happened if you weren't an incredibly talented writer. But the stigma is there and you've let down a ton of people because of it, most importantly of whom, me yourself.

And I think you know this or else you'd still be running your Alex O'Rion character. Here's to a fresh start with Eric Ares.

The Ares wrote:

Well the part about me fucking up EVERY opportunity I ever have kind of hurt. I mean to be fair I ran a show rather successfully for over a year before I had trouble with it. I mean if I can live down the stigma eventually that would be awesome, if not chances are I end up leaving because no one wants to live like Rampage.

No one.

But I figure it's worth the shot.

This would apply to me as well, minus the running the show thing.

Dammit Sleg, stop trying to steal the spotlight. Win moar.