SWF Backstage, Episode 3 6/19/04
We are welcomed to the show by host Dean Bokerlund, who tells us that tonight's show will profile the members of Faith & Devotion, The Breakfast Club (The Principle included), The Good Ol' Boys, Tripp, The Suicide Brothers, and the newcomers Alabama Man & Miss Alabama. He also of course get the never before seen footage of the departed former owner Extreme Superstar to accompany the bios.
Profile of Xavier Hawthorne III
Xavier was born in Danbury Connecticut, where he grew up on professional wrestling. Xavier was a fine young man, as a boy scout, honor student, and even captain of the debate team, which was undefeated under his leadership. Xavier grew up to become an accountant, but always wanted to give wrestling a shot. After seeing the provocative change in his beloved wrestling, Xavier decided that he needed to inject his own conservative views to save it, so he started training, and when the SWF tryouts came to Hartford Connecticut, he made sure to be there. We go to the footage of Extreme Superstar, saying that Xavier impressed him with his "Old school" style, and his right-wing attitude seemed like a good gimmick.
Profile of The Reverend
He was born Curtis Miller in Lincoln Nebraska to a strict, very religious family. As he got older, his beliefs pushed him into a becoming a priest, so he joined the local seminary at age 18. The young man proved to be a very charismatic speaker, and before he knew it, he was the leader of his congregation in his hometown, chosen as the successor by his aging predecessor. While he loved being the head honcho at his church, Curtis wanted more, so he continued his studies, and left the congregation to study at the Vatican! Curtis eventually cracked under the pressure, and when he lashed out at everyone, even the pope himself, he was forced out. With nowhere to go, as he was shunned by his religious community, Curtis decided to pursue wrestling, something he always enjoyed, at least until the "Attitude" years of more adult storylines. With a motivation similar to his future partner, Xavier Hawthorne, the man who now only wanted to be known as The Reverend moved to Seattle, where he trained to become a wrestler. When word of the SWF got out, The Reverend tried out in Seattle, and the rest was history. We get the Extreme footage, where he says how he liked the character he came in with, and the classic wrestling skills he showed.
Profile of The Breakfast Club
Since these guys are new, and not much is known, they all get lumped in here together. Dean says The Billion Dollar Man didn't get much info on the several new talents that have come in, since it was on short notice. Basically, we get exclusive footage of Extreme Superstar with the Breakfast Club(also with James Dingle & Walter) in what we are told to be the SWF training center. Extreme is telling them that he is proud of the next batch of SWF talent, and says it is now time for them to come up with characters. Extreme says film and televison might be a great place to find characters, and basically, he looks at the people right there, and suggests the gimmicks they end up using, based on their similar looks to the characters. After the footage, Dean tells us that Breakfast Club are a group of kids who wanted to be wrestlers from Salt Lake City Utah. The Burnout is Alex Myers, The Jock is Ray Mitchell, The Nerd is Zachary Willard, The Rich Girl is Sabrina Avery, and The Freak is Samantha Warrington. The Principal was not in their clique, he was added later, he is actually Ronald Newsom, an aspiring wrestler from Long Island New York.
Profile of Rory Rogers
Rory was born in Austin Texas, and grew up in rodeo, as his father was a rodeo clown. Rory pursued the rodeo at a young age, and developed into a major player in that field, winning competitions from the juniors, all the way up to the professionals. His only competition seemed to be Charles Gunn (yep, that Charles Gunn), who was a local rival of his on the junior circuit, before they became best friends. Rory & Charles both decided to go pro, and there, Rory won 3 championships, with some of his wins even having to come from beating Charles. Rory suffered a pretty nasty injury in one tournament, and had an epiphany, that he wanted to do what he and Charles talked about many times before, quit bull riding to become pro wrestlers, something they both had the life long desire to do. Rory did so after recovering from his injuries, so did Charles soon after (we'll get to him). Rory trained hard, and when SWF tryouts went through Austin, he was there, and got the job. We go to the Extreme footage, where he says he was impressed with the "Fiery Texas fighting spirit" of Rory, seeing a great brawler in him.
Profile of Charles Gunn
Most of his rodeo experience was covered in Rory's bio, but there is some of Charles' stuff missing. Charles Gunn was born in Dallas Texas, before moving to Austin when he was about 10, where he gave his future friend/tag partner Rory Rogers a run for his money in junior rodeo competitions, defeating the seemingly unstoppable young Rory on several occasions. As said before, Rory & Charles became best friends, then entered the pro ranks of bull riding together. There, Charles, just like Rory, won 3 championships, with some of those wins coming by defeating Rory. Also as said before, Charles & Rory dreamed of becoming wrestlers, and Rory ended up using his injury as an out to do so, while Charles stuck around the rodeo circuit a bit more, then trained to join his friend, which he eventually did. We go to the Extreme footage, where he says Rory recommended Charles, so he had a look at him, and was very impressed, so he signed him to the SWF, bringing him in with the first wave of four newcomers (one actually turning out to be the infamous Julio Maniaco, aka "Extreme in disguise"). Extreme says Charles is quite fast for his size, and not only a great brawler, but a great scientific wrestler as well.
Profile of Tex Gentry
Tex Gentry was born Marty Chase in Memphis Tennessee, where he grew up on southern wrestling, and country music, both of which he dreamed of as careers. Marty learned to play guitar at an early age, and is said to have always been a gifted singer, who used to be in the school choir. When Marty became a teenager, he decided to make himself over, ala Elvis, and develop a flashy new name, and style to market himself as. He chose the name Tex, since it sounded like a good southern name, and Gentry since it means noble. Tex soon left home for Nashville, where he did gigs singing at any bar that would have him, and there he cultivated quite the following. When getting a major record deal didn't seem to pan out, the newly dubbed Tex decided to try wrestling. He trained hard in Nashville for some time, then, he sent a tape to the SWF, which was just starting to take off. Extreme Superstar liked what he saw, and as he says in the footage, he was even more impressed when he saw him live, after he invited him to tryout in person, so he got hired. Extreme says Tex is charismatic, and one great, faster-paced technical wrestler.
Profile of Tripp
Tripp was born Stuart Atkins in Milwaukee Wisconsin, where he grew up loving wrestling, heavy metal, horror movies, and television, but nothing else. Stuart pretty much mooched off his parents and did nothing until they kicked him out, so he decided to try wrestling. We are told he isn't really a stoner, but since everyone thinks he is for his lifestyle, he used it as a gimmick in wrestling. Stuart changed his name to Tripp to reflect his gimmick, and went to the Milwaukee SWF tryouts ready to impress, which he did according to Extreme, using his fast paced style. Extreme also liked the gimmick, since it parodies stoners, and is fun. Obviously, Tripp was hired, and that's that.
Profile of the Suicide Brothers
Mike & Jack Suicide were born Mike & Jack Anderson, in Columbia South Carolina. They were simple down home boys who dreamed of being pro wrestlers their whole lives, so they pursued it. We find out that mike is older by two years, but they started training at the same time. The two eventually heard about the SWF tryouts coming to their town, they went, and got hired. Extreme says they had very exciting styles, and worked well as a team. He says it was apparent the duo would be one of the SWF's top teams, which they are.
Profile of Alabama Man & Miss Alabama
All they had time to find out was that Alabama Man's real name is Mitch Cassidy, and he's from Montgomery Alabama. He trained to wrestle in his home state, then sent in a tape to the SWF, which Extreme saw, and liked. Miss Alabama's real name is Karen Oswald, and she's from Duluth Alabama, where she actually did win beauty pageants, like Miss Alabama. Her connection to Alabama Man is that they are old friends, and also dating. She was on the tape with Alabama Man, and Extreme wanted her to come along with him. We also find out Extreme is the one who gave them their names/characters.
We go back to Dean, who says that next week's show will be good, with profiles on The Janitor, Crazy Phil, Octane, Generation Gap, Ayatollah Sheik, Lt. James Dingle, & Walter!
Before we go off the air, the weird music starts again, and we see a scene of blood raining down onto an empty street. A bold red graphic then appears and says "The blood rains down.....SOON". I'm still at a loss to figure this out, but I am interested to see where this is going.
END OF SHOW